quick review – tropic thunder

Ben Stiller & Robert Downey Jnr.

Although I had some high expectations for this film, I thought it would be more likely I would be leaving the cinema after the film disappointed with the story and structure rather than the jokes. But tbh I just didn’t find it that funny, only the odd scene here and there, shame. Similar to my opinion of ‘Be Kind Rewind’, it failed to live to it’s potential.

+ Some good scenes, story not as daft as expecting, good comic performances away from the big three (Jack Black, Robert Downey Jnr. and Ben Stiller).

- Failed to live up to expectations especially when it came to the comedy, didn’t laugh as much as I should’ve done with Jack Black and Ben Stiller in a film together.

5/10

when you have a moment

Three very different ‘things’ I came across in the course of today, thought I’d share…

1) Live Video Streaming Snowman Cam – Find out how the snow is coming along in a funny sounding place in Michighan.

2) Unsolved Mysteries…..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – A collection of interesting/bizarre occurrences/findings from around the globe, including an ancient battery capable of producing electricity from ‘2500 BCE’.

3) Fans hit hard by petrol price increase – Cost of going to a game has raised by 21% in the last three months.

a still from the exciting live snowman cam

who yer gonna call?

52 room mansion complete with 17 bedrooms, private gym and its own cinema for £3.2 miilon. Sounds impressive, oh yeah, it also comes with haunting ghosts!

Clifton Hall

Only 8 months after buying and moving into the property the Rashid family were forced to move out and hand the mansion back to the mortgage company. Their first encounter with the ghost occurred on their first evening after moving in, where they heard a knocking on the wall followed by a voice asking “Is anyone there?”. Another encounter was witnessed by Mrs Rashid when she saw who she thought was her daughter watching TV downstairs one evening only to then find her fast asleep upstairs in her bedroom. The last straw came when they found specks of blood on their baby’s quilt… damn right time to flee, proper carzy stuff going on, Mr Rashid compares his family’s experience to the highly rated (by me) film ‘The Others’.

Well touchwood, our modest mid-terraced house which we moved into earlier this year has not shown any signs of spooks, gholies or other scary forms of paranoia, well until our Halloween party in little over a months time!

Millionaire spooked from mansion: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7628098.stm

quick review – Croatia 1- 4 England

Theo Walcott

+ Walcott’s coming of age, a great performance rounded of with a very well taken hat-trick. The team seemed to have plenty of ideas and didn’t resort to the long ball game. A comprehensive display against a team ranked 5th in the world.

- Yet another weak, disappointing performance from the officials. Lampard’s above average game adds more fuel to the debate that he & Gerrard can’t fit in the same team. Cole’s clattering (hope it is not too serious, if only for my fantasy footie team).

8/10

it gives you no faith

Just heard that Hamilton has lost his first place finish at today’s Belgium Grand Prix. He was given a 25 second penalty for ‘gaining an advantage by cutting a chicane’ so dropping him into 3rd place. This came 2hrs after the race had finished.
Two weeks after the Valencia race and Raikkonen and and Ferrari are yet to be given a penalty for releasing their driver into the path of another car. Complete double standards by the heads of F1, also in a year of the Max Mosley allegations (where he say’s his private life is his alone, like to see him tell that to his wife and kids) and in winter practice with racist actions from the Spanish crowds towards Hamilton, this latest move gives me complete lack of faith in the governing bodies of F1. Hamilton did gain a place by cutting the chicane, only after Raikkonen pushed him off. Hamilton did let Raikkonen back through and was so much quicker and confident in the wet conditions took the inevitable first place.

Kimi Raikkonen & Lewis Hamilton

Typical, I don’t want to sound like a cynical conspiracy theorist, but I have the feeling someone working high up in the world of F1 doesn’t want Hamilton and Mclaren to do very well.

The (new) current F1 driver standings:
1. Lewis Hamilton, 76pts
2. Felipe Massa, 74pts
3. Robert Kubica, 58pts
4. Kimi Raikkonen, 57pts

well who was expecting that?!!

Normally the end of the transfer window ends in a bit of an anti-climax. This summer was different, probably the most exciting and most unexpected! Monday morning and it looked like it was going to be a summer of transfers that never were; Barry to Liverpool, Berbatov to Man Utd, Robinho to Chelsea etc etc. But what happened later in the day no one seemed to expect. The events that occured at the City of Manchester Stadium have the potential to turn the Premier League on its head, Man City now have more financial power than Chelsea, they even managed to capture Chelsea’s summer long transfer target Robinho.

The reports that came out on the 1st were hard to believe, first bidding for Berbatov, then capturing Robinho and since the window has closed more reports are coming through of Man City’s new found self confidence in the transfer market (see below).

Obviously the ambition is there and it going to be tough on the current top four, Chelsea can now be easily outbid for a player, how long will Man Utd continue to be the top team in Manchester and how will Arsenal and Liverpool cope as they contiue to try and play catch up with Man Utd and Chelsea with Man City via for the Champions League spot!

Well it’s looking to be a very interesting season, especially when the next transfer window rolls around!