That was the year that was 2011

So its the last day of 2011 and its been a bit of a mixed bag this year, some good things and some not so good things went on this year for me.

On the plus side I did a few more little bits of acting with the Ramshorn just before its untimely closure, although the STG still carries on without the bulding.  But when I was there I got involved in a couple of the a la carte events, the first being the comedy one which I did the Python argument sketch with the great Will Spiers, which was a lot of fun and we got alot of people request to see our sketch at the time, and despite a few loose goes, we eventually got it right and it was fun to do.  The second one later on in July was Shakespeare at Large, which was a collection of scenes performed by actors from various plays written by the bard.  In this event I did a scene from Measure for Measure, whom I played the Duke, the main part, as it was only one scene, it was alot of fun to do, and I sprouted some heavy facial growth for it too!

I also have this year gained a new addiction as I have become an absolute tennis nut, and I have been avidly watching and following all the tennis matches on both the mens and ladies tours.  This year has seen the emergence of Novak Djokovic, who has risen his game to the highest level and has become the new world no.1 in the process.  I also have managed to go and see a few live matches at the Braehead Arena, where Great Britain have played two ties against Hungary and Luxembourg and emerged triumphant in both.  It was also great to see the British No.1 in the flesh, Andy Murray, and you really appreciate how good he is when he is live.  And of course if you look at this blog, its about 85% all tennis!

I also managed to keep up with my IT qualifications through Whitebox Digital based in Rutherglen, and also with Routes to work south, who are based out in Rutherglen. So I have done my CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications, and I am currently still in the middle of doing the Windows 7 exams.  Whether or not this will lead somewhere remains to be seen, but it has kept me busy.  Although unfortunately I did have the mispleasure of working briefly out at Teleperformance based in Airdrie, where I was going to be a tech support guy working with Virgin media  However I found the job was very stressful and wasn't quite for me so I ended up qutting it after the first four days.  And as usual in these jobs, you don't so much get support, or proper training, you get bombarded with facts and background info and are expected to just ask and get on with it.

Another low this year for me has been unemployment in between Whitebox and Routes to work, and of course RTWS is training for work which is basically not employment, but training, so the lack of money has been a pain.  On a personal level I have also had to deal a few personal anxieties, where I went and spoke to someone about it (a heid doctor basically) as I was having almost agoraphobic reactions out in wide spaces.  I could get out and about, but when I was walking down a street or in a big spacious place, like say George Square and Central Station, I would feel anxious and a bit panicked and felt like I needed to keep walking to get away from it.  It wasn't the most pleasant of feelings, but thankfully I feel they have mostly gone away, but I also sometimes think the acting had sparked this anxiety, as it was like being in front of an audience for the first time in a big room, you feel exposed and like there is nowhere to hide.  So it wasn't the most pleasant of times dealing with this, however, in time things get better and you move on from it.

And of course on a personal level I think confidence is one of the areas that I need to work on for next year, and it has to be said there is nothing worst for someone's confidence than being unemployed and not having something to occupy your time.  But things sooner or later sort themselves out.

Sooooooooo that was 2011, not the best of times, but not the worst either.  So here's to 2012 being a better and brighter one.  

Alien anthology part 3: the bitch is back....and the resurrection.....

So onto part 3 of my analysis of the Alien Anthology, which will actually combine the last two films together, Alien3 and Alien Ressurection.

Naturally I will start with Alien 3, which is by far the better of the two, and the film re-introduced the concept of the single alien, running rampant and killing everyone, rather than a whole hoard of them.  This time the film takes place on a penal colony, on the planet Fiorina "Fury" 161, of which its inhabitants are all convicted criminals, guilty of rape or murder.  During an electrical fire on the Sulaco, Ripley and the remaining crew (Newt, Hicks and Bishop, who is badly damaged) still in hypersleep are ejected in an escape pod, which lands on Fury 161.  Ripley, who is the only survivor, is soon found by the inhabitants of the planet, and brought to the colony, where there criminals are kept in order by a small staff of prison officials, lead by the warden Andrews (Brian Glover).  Ripley is also treated for her wounds from the crash, by the prison doctor Clemens (Charles Dance) whom Ripley soon becomes romantically involved with.  Ripley however is concerned by the nature of what caused the ejection of her escape pod and Hicks and Newt's deaths.  Due to the nature of Newt's death (drowning in her cryotube) Ripley requests an autopsy of her body to see if there was any possible chance of her being impregnated by an alien, however the results showing nothing.  And at round this time, a dog wandering round encounters what appears to be an alien creature which attacks the dog, which one of the inmates later finds that dog.  Ripley also being the only woman on the colony, is a temptation to some of the criminals, and narrowly avoids being raped by some of the inmates, when their religious leader Dillon (Charles S. Dutton) stops them.  Ripley also soon finds the mangled remains of Bishop's body from the escape pod, and manages to get him working long enough to find out there was indeed an alien onboard.  At the funeral for Newt and Hicks, during the proceedings, the dog elsewhere starts convulse violently, and soon enough a baby alien bursts from its chest.  And before we know it, the alien grows in size and starts to pick off the inmates, leaving the Ripley and the criminals to fight for their own survival against the alien menace. 

Alien 3 while not as strong a film as the first two films, definitely remains a credible sequel and its setting on the prison planet gives the film a welcome moody atmosphere.  The film also features a strong cast with Sigourney Weaver once again playing Ripley perfectly, with the usual mix of toughness and vulnerability.  Particularly among the cast is Charles S. Dutton who gives an excellent performance as the religious leader of the inmates, Dillon, who is the only really spiritual member of the group, and despite his past crimes, utilises his faith to keep himself from temptation and helps Ripley in the latter half of the film.  Charles Dance is also good and plays Clemens, in a very understated way, as the prison doctor with a troubled past, and Brian Glover and Ralph Brown are also very good as the prison officials.

The film despite its unremittinlgy grim tone, also has a few little moments of humour too, especially when Ripley arrives in the mess hall and speaks to Dillon for the first time, who says to her "You don't wanna know me lady, I'm a murderer and rapist of women!", and Ripley replies "well, I guess I must make you nervous."  Ralph Brown's character, Aaron, is also target of ridicule of the inmates as they one time secretly grabbed a look at his file, which reveals his IQ as 85.  There are also some very good scenes in the film, one highlight is where Ripley (PLOT SPOILER HERE!!) finds out she has been impregnated with an alien, and she begs for Dillon to kill her, which he doesn't.  The film's resolve which takes part in the prison's leadworks, is also worthy of mention, where Ripley once again is victim of the company's duplicity where a man, Michael Bishop (Lance Henriksen again), whom apparently created the Bishop android, comes and offers to take Ripley away, where they will operate and remove the alien from her chest.  Ripley then refuses and throws herself into a pit of molten lava just as the alien bursts out her chest, she grabs hold of it, as she and the alien are incinerated in the pit.  Even though this part is in itself ridiculous, in the director's cut, they changed the scene to just have Ripley fall into the pit without the alien bursting out (which works better to be honest).

For me though the films only negatives are perhaps the film's overall tone is so grim, that it threatens to alienate (no pun intended!) the audience, especially with pretty much every single character being killed off, except the gobby inmate Morse (Danny Webb).  I also think, while I guess it is appropriate that there is too much swearing in the film, as it feels like we are at a football match at times, with all the "shut the fuck up, ya fucker!!" etc etc.  But again it is set in a prison so they won't be saying "Oh crumbs, there is an alien in here!", the language has to be raw and it certainly is, I just feel there is a bit too much of it at times.

But despite that the film is definitely helped along by David Fincher's excellent direction, who at the time, made his film debut with Alien 3.  Fincher himself was previously a music video director, and he did a great job here in creating a visually superb, bleak view of the future, also with some great camera work, especially in the scene where the inmates run around the corridors, using themselves as bait to lure the alien into the leadworks.  Fincher at the time, also endured some terrible flak from the executives at 20th Century Fox, as he had to deal with the pressure of schedule and the problems he encountered during the making of the film.  The film itself remains one that Fincher refuses to talk about, so obviously his memories of the film's production were far from pleasant.  Regardless of Fincher's misgivings of Alien 3 and his experiences on it, it was the film that jump started his career in cinema.  

Also worth of note in the film is Elliot Goldenthal's excellent score, which complements the mood and atmosphere of the film perfectly.  One of my favourite passages of music in the film is where Ripley examines Newt's body, and we hear some haunting piano played in the background (perhaps the pianist was sitting playing next to Ripley! ;-)).  Goldenthal's music from them film has also been used many times for various film trailers since, so it definitely has a memorable quality to it.

And with that, that's my Alien 3 critique done with.  Now onto that other one....

So.... Alien Ressurection to be honest in my opinion is undoubtedly the weakest of the four films, and it really doesn't deserve too much analysis, so this will be fairly brief. 

Quickly the plot of the film, which takes place far in the future, where Military scientists have created a genetically enhanced version of Ripley, taken from a sample of her DNA prior to her death.  And with her DNA sample, they have not only recreated Ripley, they have also managed to extrapolate from that a tissue sample of the alien that was in her body at the time.  As a result the scientists are able to create many aliens, which they use for their experiments, however as usual, the humans underestimate the big double jawed menaces, who soon escape and wreak havoc on the ship, but eventually some of the crew escape, however so do the aliens.  Ripley along the way meets up with a crew of mercenaries lead by Frank Elgyn (Michael Wincott), among them the gruff Johner (Ron Pearlman), the parapleigic Vriess (Dominique Pinon), and Annalee Call (Winona Ryder) who is later revealed to be an android sent to kill Ripley.  But of course the events of the aliens wreaking havoc and killing everyone gets in the way of all that, and before we know it, its up to Ripley to help them fight for their survival.

Alien resurrection is definitely the most disappointing film in the series, and with the director being Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who was responsible for such cack as Delicatessen and Amelie, I really didn't expect much from it.  Overall the plot is pretty ludicrous and very disappointing, the effects are also overly gory, and a bit too OTT, even for the Alien series.  In the end, the film offers precious little in the way of subtlety, suspense or even interest, of which there are too many scenes that are just nothing but chronic.  Especially towards the end, where we see Ripley comfort her new alien "son" with the malicious (and at that point cocooned) Dr Gediman (Brad Dourif) looking on in awe.  And the ridiculous scene where one of the ship's crew is about give birth to an alien as he grabs one of the baddies and thrusts he chest against the baddie's head, and the alien bursts through the guy's head.  Just plain daft! 

However to be fair though, Resurrection does have one or two redeeming qualities, the main one again being Sigourney Weaver, who plays the android Ripley, as being somewhat almost aloof, sarcastic and more assured than her original counterpart.  The film also has a couple of good sequences, the best probably being where the mercenaries are being chased by the aliens underwater through the ship, and they have to try and climb their way out.  Also the scene where Ripley meets the mercinary crew and toys with them by playing basketball and refusing to give the ball to Johner. 

But overall Alien Resurrection is a big letdown, and not the best way to (presumably) end the series.  I only hope that maybe they will make another sequel to make up for the lacklustre way in which the series has so far finished up until now.  Because three out of four of the films are definitely worthy, just a shame about the fourth.

Annnnnndd on that note I shall end my analysis of the chest bursting, double jawed menaces.

Scuttle, scuttle, hiss, hiss.  (OK enough).  

Alien anthology part 2: Game over, man, game over!!

So onto part 2, with Aliens, James Cameron's much anticipated sequel, which scored massively at the box office, and while not in the same league as the original, is still a worthy addition.

To start with a summary of the plot, the film kicks off, many years after the events (57 to be precise) of the first film, with Ripley's shuttle, drifting aimlessly through deep space, which a salvage team eventually find, who board the ship and take Ripley to a space station.  Ripley now, the only survivor of the Nostromo, has to explain her actions to a company commitee who suspend her flight licence as a consequence of her destroying the Nostromo in order to try and kill the alien.  Ripley herself, still suffering from post traumatic stress, has nightmares from her harrowing ordeal on the Nostromo.  However, one of the company execs, also informs Ripley that on the alien planet, now named LV-426, now has colonies of family living there, which has now been made habitable through the implementation of air processing stations.

Ripley herself is horrified at this revelation, and pretty soon after, one of the company execs, Burke (Paul Reiser) visits Ripley and tells her that they have lost contact with the colony, and that they want her to go with a team of marines, as an advisor to help them know what they are up against.  Ripley eventually agrees reluctantly to go with the marines, accompanied by Burke to the planet.  Some of the crew include, the hardened veteran Sgt Apone (Al Matthews), the down to earth Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn), the cocky Hudson (Bill Paxton), the helpful and cool headed android Bishop (Lance Henriksen) and the gutsy and muscly female Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein).

On arriving at the planet, they find one of the colonies to be deserted, with alot of interior damage and acid burns found on the floor decks, however they do find one young girl, Newt (Carrie Henn) who has been left traumatised, as her family were killed by the aliens.  Hudson eventually manages to track the location of the colonists, at an atmosphere processing station, on arriving, the marines to their horror find some of the colonists have been cocooned by the aliens, and pretty soon the aliens themselves emerge and attack and kill most of the marines.  Ripley soon drives the reinforced military vehicle to rescue the remaining marines, and from there they decide on their plan of action what to do.  On trying to hail the APC, their dropship, an alien infiltrates the ship and kills the flight crew, thereby destroying the ship.  Now stranded on LV-426, Ripley and the remaining crew, have to fight for their survival against a hoard of aliens, and find a way to escape the planet. 

Aliens, while certainly not as big a classic as Alien, does actually have alot going for it, mainly Sigourney Weaver's superb performance as Ripley.  Ripley in this film, after the events of the first film, decides to go back and face her fears on the alien planet, and the aliens themselves almost at times seem to fear Ripley herself, as if she is their biggest threat (which she is).  Ripley also is the strongest and toughest character in the film as well, as after the alien attack on the marines, she takes control of the situation.  And Sigourney provides just the right amount of bravery, vulnerability, and stubborness.

The film's other characters are also quite memorable, particularly Hudson, who is actually quite annoying in the film, and he is so cocky in the first half, but after the alien attack, he becomes quite cowardly and scared of the alien threat.  Bishop is also a good character, as after Alien, Ripley has developed a mistrust of androids, and its a nice touch, toward the end when we think Bishop has abandoned Ripley, by leaving in the dropship, with the cooling station about to blow, that he comes back for her.  Hicks, while not the strongest character in the film, does provide a strong, down to earth quality, much needed for the man remaining in command, and in the director's cut, is it hinted that he is attracted to Ripley, although that is mostly cut out from the theatrical release.  Burke is another good character, as he is a sleazy executive, who accompanies the marines to the planet, only really to protect the companies best interests, as the company still wants an alien specimen brought back.  Although I have to say one of the film's biggest flaws is why the hell would anyone want to live on a barren shithole such as LV-426 anyway???! As its hardly the prettiest of planets is it????  Brutal winds, lovely atmosphere, scenic barren wastelands, oh yeah, families want to live there for sure!!  It also shows just how far the company will go to endanger so many innocent people, by letting them live on such a dangerous, creature infested planet.

But the film does have some cringeworthy dialogue as well, as the marines provide so many cheesy moments, and the whole hoo-rahhh, gung-ho mentality of the marines is almost embarrassing to watch at times.  One particularly cringeworthy scene is where Hudson shows off to Ripley at what high-tech weaponary they have "high particle beam phalanx!! Whoahh!! Fry up city with this puppy!".  Also Newt, while naturally just a little girl and you would expect to say some pretty child-like things gives another cringing line when Ripley jokes with her about her doll, Casey, having bad dreams, "Ripley, Casey doesn't have bad dreams, because she is just a piece of plastic".  Nonetheless the film does have some memorable and funny lines too, such as when Ripley angrily knocks a tray of cornbread out of Bishop's hand, to which one of the marines quips "I guess she don't like the cornbread either!".  And Hudson mocks Vasquez for her muscly physique, "hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?" to which Vasquez replies "Nope, have you??".  We also can't forget other classics such as Ripley when she faces off the queen alien near the end who is about to kill Newt "Get away from her you bitch!!", and Hudson's "That's it, man, game over, man!  Gamer over!!".  

The set design again, model effects creature effects, are all terrific, and James Cameron effectively brings the barren alien planet to life once more.  James Horner score is also pretty good, and brings the menace and fear to the fore, especially in the main Aliens theme, and the memorable titles, where the word A L I E N S slowly appears.  Stan Winston also contributed a great deal to the special creature make-up for the aliens, and deserves much credit for enhancing the design of the aliens, and this time, we have not just one guy in a suit, we have six! 

And quickly a word about James Cameron's direction as despite a few of the film's already mentioned shortcomings, he does a terrific job at building up the tension throughout, especially as its quite a long long build up to the first attack, and keeps it going.  I also don't think there was another director out there that could have pulled off such a feat as bringing a worthy sequel to a great original, even if it doesn't scale the same heights.  Cameron also did incredibly well in producing such a film, under great pressure from a cynical British crew, who at the time slagged off Cameron, for his inexperience and work ethic, as the film at the time was made at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.  This was also similar to what George Lucas endured while making the orignal Star Wars.

Rrrrright so that's my critique of Aliens, its a fine sequel, worthy movie, and if you haven't seen it, give it a try, I can't guarantee its for everyone, but it definitely worth a go, if you are after a few frights and thrills an that.

Cue part 3.....

 

Alien anthology part 1: In space no one can hear you scream....

The title of this document of course refers to the Alien anthology, which will be the topic of this post as I would quite like to say a bit about the Alien series, as naturally the first one is one my favourite films, so I will start with that, and to reduce the length of the posts, they will be split up for the films.

In Alien, to summarise the plot quickly, it takes place in deep space with a mining spaceship called the Nostromo, and a crew of seven onboard, who are awakened from the cybersleep on orders from their employers, the company Weyland Utani.  They receive orders from the company to investigate an alien planet for life signs and to investigate what appears to be a request beacon message for help.  On landing on the planet, three of the crewmembers, the Captain, Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Kane (John Hurt) and Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) go outside in spacesuits to investigate the planet, which is barren and very windy.  They soon come across what appears to be an alien spaceship, and on investigation inside, they find what appears to be a vast cavern full of eggs, Kane, goes down into the cavern and looks closer at one of them, which opens a strange creatures pounces out on his helmet.  Dallas and Lambert soon take the unconscious Kane back to the ship, where the third in command, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) refuses to let them aboard, due to quarantine laws, but the science officer Ash (Ian Holm) lets them in anyway.  After getting Kane to medical bay, they cut off his spacesuit helmet to find that the alien has attached itself to his face, on attempting to remove it, the creature bleeds what appears to be an acidic blood, which eats into the floor of the ship, but it stops before it does any damage to the ship's hull.  Soon after the alien detaches itself from Kane's face and it dies due to blood loss, and shortly after Kane regain consciousness, apparently fine, but when they sit around having dinner, Kane convulses violently on the table, and before we know a small alien creature bursts out of his chest, and scuttles away, and that's when their troubles really begin, as the alien grows in size and starts to pick off the crew one by one.

Alien is a classic no doubt it, the cast are all excellent, particularly Tom Skerritt as the cool headed captain, Yaphet Kotto as the sarcy ship engineer, Ian Holm as the science offier Ash who isn't what he appears to be, and of course Sigourney Weaver herself as Ripley, the warrant officer.  Ridley Scott's direction is top notch, and the visuals, set design and alien and spaceship miniatures are all stunning.  The alien itself is a real achievement in terms of design and originality, as the conceptual artist H.R. Giger designed the alien himself, and ultimately it was played by a tall skinny Nigerian (Bolaji Bedejo) in the alien suit.  And the appearance of the alien in the film is extremely effective, creepy and very unsettling. 

Overall the film is highly effective and has many tense and creepy moments, especially where Dallas crawls around the airshafts with a flamethrower trying to seal off the ducts and zap the alien into space, as well as the "chest burster" scene, the scene with ship engineer Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) looks for Jonesy the cat, and the scene where Ash is revealed to be something else.  The score is also superb, one of Jerry Goldsmith's best, and he later revealed that he was never happy with the score, as he had to rewrite the title theme, from originally being romantic and idealistic sounding, to the sinister utterly memorable theme that is in the film.

The script by Dan O'Bannion and Ronald Shusset is terrific also, and their concept of the alien and its life cycle are great too, and if you look at it, the aliens only do two things: have sex and kill people, in a bizzare way, that's quite a good life isn't it???? (well ok, the killing part isn't so good).  The characters themselves are all very well drawn, with Dallas being in command and refusing to be drawn into debate or argument, Ripley being stubborn and very headstrong, Lambert being hysterical and highly strung, Ash being controlled and somewhat inhuman himself, Kane is curious and ambitious, and the two engineers Parker and Brett, who have a weary cynicism.  Also if you look at the film, it mirrors very nicely the politics of a business even in outer space, with a corrupt, duplicitous company, forcing its crew to go out and investigate an alien lifeform, regardless of whether its hostile or not.  Its also a nice touch how the crew are split into a hierarchy with the captain (Dallas), executive officer (Kane) and warrant officer (Ripley), all on a higher pay grade, while the engineers Parker and Brett bitch and moan about not getting the same money.  Even in space its still all about money.

Later on there was of course a director's cut released under the approval of Ridley Scott, which brought in a couple of scenes that were cut from the original theatrical release.  The scenes included a row between Ripley and Lambert after the bring Kane back on the ship, as Lambert is furious at Ripley for refusing to let them in the spaceship with Kane.  Another scene is toward the end where Ripley stumbles upon Dallas, who has been cocooned by the alien, and he begs Ripley to kill him, and she does with her flamethrower.  While these scenes don't add a great deal to the film, they don't detract from it either, however Ridley Scott himself said his preferred version was the theatrical release, which leaves me puzzled as to why he released the director's cut in the first place.  It probably seemed more of an excuse to remaster the film print, and enhance the soundtrack and add in a few new things, but in a way it seems redundant, as the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and Alien sure isn't a film that needs fixing. 

Right so that will just about do it for Alien, its a classic film, and to this day it is still as creepy, spooky and as effective as it was when it was originally released back in 1979.

Cue part two.....

Intel inside..... and a bit of gaming!

Well haven't blogged up much of late as not too much has been going on except for a bit of study, looking for work and a little bit of shopping for Xmas, not to mention forking out a little bit on my Intel based system as my Christmas present.  So yep got an Intel Core i5 2500 CPU, Gigabyte Intel GA-P67-DS3-B3 board, and I'm about to get 8GB of Corsair DDR3 RAM, lovely eh???  All for a bit of gaming.  So I have to say there is some geeky stuff ahead here of a computer based nature. 

The idea behind this is of course is to build myself a very decent gaming rig, as I had heard Intel processors are supposed to be better for gaming overall.  Although I have always used AMD in the past, and the last Intel based system I built was back in 2001 so this will be a switch up from that, as that was only a Pentium III at 800MHz.  I have already tested out the board, memory and cpu and they all work really well, and I was even surprised to see that when I ran the 3D gaming benchmark, 3DMark Vantage that the Intel 2500's CPU score was actually higher than the AMD Phenom II 1090T, which I have, as the score reached 1000 marks higher!  Most of the Intel processors right now are based on quad core technology, and while AMD have already branched out to six and eight core, AMD still appear to be a bit behind the race in the market, as Intel while more expensive, still are the market leaders.  Regardless though if you want a decent system, you can't really go wrong with either Intel or AMD, as they both rule the roost on the computer hardware market.

So I look forward to swapping my main desktop case around for the spare computer system I have (which is in a smaller case) so I can start to use the system properly as my main system, and hopefully all being well it all will be fine (well hopefully!).  But I won't be doing this till nearer Christmas, most likely on Christmas Eve, and well as I type this we are less than a week away from Christmas just now, so it really won't be that long now. 

Naturally I will be also quite keen to check out some games, as I have already tried Call of Duty Black Ops, an excellent FPS from last year, which saw the COD series really get back on track, after the somewhat disappointing Modern Warfare 2.  In Modern Warfare 2, I could see that they were making a move toward making the series that bit more edgy and disturbing, and to anyone who has played the game, call me a wuss, but I didn't like the scene where you gun down innocent people at the airport, its just a bit heavy (and yep I didn't take part in it either!).  But I'm drifting away here a bit, Black Ops, however is a great addition to the COD series, and a breath of fresh air, as it added a new dimension to it, by covering the time of the cold war, and the Vietnam war.  The single player campaign itself is quite gripping and very entertaining as well, and features some excellent voice acting from Sam Worthington, Gary Oldman and Ed Harris.  The game is also fairly demanding for a PC system, so if you want to run it at max settings, you will need a decent rig (which I think the Intel will be up to!). 

So that's just one game I will check out quite a few others, such as Splinter Cell Conviction, the latest in the series of stealth games, which sees the hardened veteran stealth agent Sam Fisher forced back into going undercover to bust a conspiracy wide open, and Prince of Persia the Forgotten Sands, a very entertaining platform action game.  I also quite fancy playing Batman Arkham City, which I haven't got yet, but hopefully I will get it in time for Christmas (or as a present maybe!), as I had previously played Arkham Asylum, which is a great game in its own right, and Arkham City is supposed to be the same.  Although the trouble with new PC games, such as BAC when they come out, is the bugs that can be found in the game, and the game is supposed to be optimised for DirectX 11, but there have been many bugs found with the DX11 features of the game.  However the game itself has been found to run really well in DirectX9 from what I have read, and its surprising just how many of today's games still utilise the DX9 technology, and these games still look amazing.  In a way DirectX 11 technology feels like it has still to be fully utilised, and while there are quite a few games that use DirectX 10, DirectX9 is still the main one used in PC gaming today.  At the end of the day (to pardon the cliche) technology such as DX11 just adds some more fancy effects, or the new bells and whistles, but it isn't ultimately what makes the game great.

Anyyyywayyyyyy that's enough for now, I'll probably put up a bit more once the gaming rig is fully set up, and just maybe if I play Batman Arkham City, I'll put up something about it here.

Till then, the Christmas countdown continues, more posts will follow.

 

Hush hush

Movie review time again, this time I've picked another one of my favourite films, L.A. Confidential, which is a modern noir classic, although if you look at the timeline its more a tribute to noir as its set in the 1950s, not the 1940s, but its along the same lines.  So here's a bit more about it.

The film begins on Christmas Eve 1952, where the hot headed, thuggish police officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe) stops a violent domestic dispute between a married couple, Bud himself has a thing for not tolerating women beaters.  After that, Bud and his partner Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel) go back to the police station, where six Mexican suspects are brought into the station who apparently attacked two of the station's officers.  In a vengeful mood, Stensland goes down to the cells and beats up on one of the Mexicans, and before you know the whole place erupts into a riot, with the press labelling the riot as "Bloody Christmas".  In the aftermath of the event, Bud refuses to testify against his partner Stensland, and is suspended from duty, meanwhile one of the officers Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) who was witness to the attacks, is more than happy to testify against Stensland the other officers who attacked the Mexicans.  At his insistance, in order to play ball, Exley requests that he be made detective lieutenant, something which his late father Preston Exley once held the mantel of.  However in snitching against the other officers, Exley soon makes himself very unpopluar with the other officers.  But the police captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) re-instates Bud, and uses him in his scheme as one of his muscle men to beat up and intimidate any criminals who try to make a name for themselves in LA.

But the crux of the film comes when Bud's ex-partner Stensland, is found murdered in a coffee shop, the Nite Owl, with some other people, among them was a female associate of the millionaire, Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn).  The LA police dept then arranges a full man-hunt to try and catch the killers, and soon find three young black men as prime suspects for killings.  On interrogating the men, Exley finds out they actually are holding a young Mexican woman hostage in a house, who has been raped and beaten.  On the scene of the crime, Bud sneaks into the house and kills the black man in the house.  Later on the young suspects escape the station, but Exley soon tracks them down and kills them, which finally garners him some respect from his fellow officers at the station.  But something doesn't sit right with Exley about the negros being the killers, as he investigates further, he receives help from local cop celebrity Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) who has a sideline in acting as a technical advisor on the show Badge of Honor, as well providing some hot press collars for local sleazy newspaper journalist Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito).  Likewise Bud also thinks something is strange about the suspect negros, and also investigates, meanwhile he dates Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) who is a movie star look-a-like of Veronica Lake.  As the film progresses, the three men start to uncover the police corruption behind the Nite Owl murders.

L.A. Confidential is without a great film, and one of the best films of the 1990s.  Curtis Hanson who after directing some fairly pedestrian thrillers such as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild, arrived as a terrific filmmaker here.  The film itself is of course based on the same titled novel by James Elroy, and the book features many more characters and detail which isn't in the film, but what the film presents is surely a great representation of the book.

And its the characters in L.A. Confidential that make this film work so well, and if you look at it, there actually isn't a morally decent character in the film, everyone is essentially a sleazeball in one way or another, but they are all something of a dichotomy as well.  Exley, may appear to be a stand-up cop with integrity, who refuses to get his hands dirty with planting evidence or beating up suspects, however he does ruthelessly rat on members of the police force, in order to further his own career.  Bud on the other hand, appears to be as Exley puts it a "mindless thug" but he does have another side to him, as ultimately he wants to be a detective also working cases, but his temper and violent streak threaten to alienate him from the audience at times, but behind it all is a guy who wants to escape it all.  Jack Vincennes is also corrupt character in that he gladly takes money from Sid Hudgens, the local Hush Hush magazine reporter, as he sets up arrests and the suspects get unwanted publicity in Sid's mag, but again behind that, Jack starts to feel guilty about his activities and questions himself as the film goes on.

The film also has several excellent supporting characters, particularly Dudley Smith, as the slight yet intimidating police captain who has another agenda, while he looks after the men under his command, he also ironically has a line in corruption and tampering with evidence as well as police brutality.  And Pierce Patchett, the mysterious millionaire, who while he hosts high class sex parties, and makes pornographic films, he has ambitions beyond that to invest in freeway construction.  And there's Lynn Bracken, meanwhile she isn't the most interesting character in the film, she is also another one who is wishing to escape from her sleazy lifestyle, as a wannabe film actress, who is engaging in Patchett's sexual enterpises.

Overall the film's performances are great, particularly the three main leads are very strong, with Guy Pearce, who prior to this was in Priscilla, the queen of the desert, as a transvestite and playing Mike from Neighbours, playing the part of the ice cool Exley to perfection, and his best scene is where Dudley asks him if he has heard of a known associate which alarms him but in a way in which he tries not to show it, and in this moment we see Guy give a very subtle reaction with his eyes.  Its a very subtle deft moment in his performance.  Russell Crowe, is also excellent as the explosive Bud White, two thirds heavy, one third sensitive, and he provides some of the film's highlights with Bud's brutal and volatile behaviour, some of which feature his scene where he faces off against Exley near the end of the film, and another where he dangles the DA Ellis Loewe (Ron Rifkin) out the window of his high up office.  Another amusing scene as a result of Bud's violent streak is after he beats in succession Lynn and Exley, after Exley and Bud make amends, Exley goes to visit Lynn at the station, they both carry the scars of their encounters with Bud, and Exley asks "Are you ok?" to which Lynn says "Are you ok?".

Kevin Spacey who is usually superb, certainly doesn't let the side down, and provides some great moments as Vincennes, one of his best being when Exley asks him "why did you become a cop?" to which Vincennes looks lost for an answer and quietly says "I don't remember".  James Cromwell, also a brilliant actor, before this was in some light hearted fluffy stuff such as Babe, arrived as a great dramatic performer, playing Dudley Smith superbly.  David Strathairn similarly is great as Pierce Patchett, and while his role is somewhat smaller, he definitely makes an impression here.  Kim Basinger, despite the fact, she was awarded an Oscar for her performance in this film, gives a decent account of herself, but it is hardly spectacular stuff, and not what I would quite call Academy award material.  Finally of course, there is Danny DeVito, who actually to be honest plays the film's most irritating character, Sid Hudgens, mainly because he talks such utter bollocks for the most part in the film using phrases you have no idea of what they mean unless you look them up!  

And another great feature of the film is of course the score written by Jerry Goldsmith, one of the all time great composers in American cinema.  Goldsmith's score provides the perfect mixture of sleaze, menace and moodiness to capture the time of the film and the events.  Strangely enough the score also resembles Goldsmith's score for Chinatown, in fact you could almost swear at times that's what you were listening to if you kept your eyes closed.  Overall its a great one.  

So L.A. Confidential is a terrific film and if you haven't seen it, go rent it, buy it or wait for it to come on the box and gie yourself a treat and watch one of the best tributes to film noir in recent years.

Back to square one

Well I haven't said too much lately on a personal level, but I will be careful about what I say here and say a bit about my first week at work, which has been somewhat stressful to say the least.  Last week I got word of my new job with Teleperformance who have contracts with various call centers, such as JD Williams, Argos and Virgin Media.

I went up for a tech support post with Virgin media and I ended up actually getting a job through them except it was for another branch of Virgin, it was called Radial Point, where they deal with customers computer problems via a remote assistance connection, and log chats like Windows messenger.  But they also deal with customers over the phone, although they said this, they implied that the customer contact would be rare, but of course it turned out to be quite the opposite, as their agents can take many calls a day, some of them go on for anything up to 8 hours!  So when I saw the amount of multi-tasking and work juggling involved, I have to say it panicked me and seriously put me off the job.  And last night I came home pretty upset about the whole situation, realising I didn't want to work in such a pressured environment.  But I guess all these helpdesk centre places are all the same, its just a way of scaring their employees into doing an efficient job, but I don't think it will inspire confidence into anyone, it certainly didn't with me.

So today I decided to call Teleperformance and let them know I no longer wish to work for them, as I felt the job wasn't for me, and left it at that.  And while I'm relieved of course, I am also back to looking for work again, it also means that I can no longer be elligible for the training for work program I was doing before for the Windows 7 course (although I can still complete it).  But it does mean I no longer need to trek to Airdrie at hugely unsociable hours and come home stressed out my coupon.  It was a shame that I choose to apply for the job in the first place, as I should have went with my initial instinct and not bothered applying, as I have always steered clear of call centres in the past, and I should have done the same here.  And it has also messed up my benefits with the jobcentre so it is back to the beginning, with signing on again, not too good a prospect, but I'll keep looking for work in the meantime, so what's done is done.  But for me personally I don't regret leaving Teleperformance behind. 

I also will part company with a certain chappie whom I won't mention their name, who was with me at my Windows 7 course in Cambuslang as well as at Teleperformance.  This guy, on the Windows 7 course pretty much managed to piss off everyone on the course as well as the tutor, and I am wondering if he will do the same thing in this job.  For his sake he better not because if he does, he will not last 5 minutes in the place (or maybe just 5 minutes more than I have!).  Anyway I will not say much more on it than that, just in case someone is reading this.....

Anyhoww while its not the cheeriest of posts, thought I'd put it on, so I'll leave it at that, and start anew looking for something else. :-)

More posts will follow on some better subjects than this un. 

Adios ATP 2011

Soooooooooooo that's another ATP tour season over with as today the World Tour Finals drew to a close with a showdown for the third week running between Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The match itself was one that we would hope would live up to its billing, and thankfully it did as Federer had to battle with Tsonga in order to get his hands on another finals title.  Tsonga in the first set came out firing well, but was in trouble after broke at 3-3 on Tsonga's serve and took the set at 6-3.  The second set also threatened to be a similar affair as Federer again broken server early on, however on serving out for the championship at 5-4, Federer uncharacteristically dropped his own serve, to let Tsonga back in the match, which lead to a tense tiebreak, which Tsonga won to take it in a deciding set.  But in the final set, it was Federer who delivered the goodies and broke Tsonga at 4-3, and had no such trouble closing out the match this time, winning his record 6th ATP world tour finals title in 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-3.

For a year end championship this was a really good match, and Tsonga deserves a great deal of credit not only for his contribution to the match, but also for his great achievement in getting to the final of such as big title.  Tsonga really has proved that he is a special talent, and while he had his chances in the match, he did really well to push the Swiss maestro into a decider, and for another thing it certainly was a better match than last year's final with Nadal and Federer.  Tsonga is also back where he belongs in the top 10, and if he carries on like this, he could even break into the top 4, so Andy Murray better watch himself.  As for Federer, while he didn't play his best, he certainly showed once again that he is a real champ and has what it takes, even when he is under the cosh, although it was surprising that he dropped his serve in the second set, as normally its something Fedora wouldn't do, even on a championship serve.  Regardless Federer has ended the year as the world number 3, and unfortunately for Andy, who worked really hard to try and finish at that spot, its kind of backfired for him, however Federer definitely deserves credit for making such a solid comeback, picking up an impressive hattrick of titles himself on the way.

On a side note regarding Djokovic and Nadal, I was quite surprised to see the manner in which they exited the tournament, as Rafa just struggled right through as did Djokovic.  I think their season really came to an end after that US Open 2011 final, as after that they never really recovered, physically or emotionally.  And its amazing the difference between Djokovic at the beginning of the year and at the end, at the start he was invincible, and by the end he was fatigued, exhuasted and burnt out.  The same with Rafa, who has been on the receiving end of Djokovic, six times over, and has since struggled badly to win any titles since the French Open.  But I'm sure next year the two of them will be back strong as ever, but it was ironic to see the world's top two players play so badly.  But as I said I'm sure that next year Djoko and Rafa will gear up for action, I also hope the same for Andy too.  Andy of course has at least not ended the year burnt out, quite the opposite, just injured, which was a great shame, as I really think he missed a trick by not taking time out for Basel and Paris, as he could have used that time to really get ready for the year end finals.  But what's done is done and 2012 is not far away, and I hope next year that Andy will make that breakthrough, whether it be in Melbourne, Paris, London or New York.  

Soooooooooooo while ATP tour season has finished, there is still the Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina, with Rafa and David Ferrer up against David Nalbandian and Juan Martin Del Potro in the singles.  Its on the clay in Seville, so hopefully going back to his favourite surface might inspire Rafa, if he wins, maybe he can have another great year next year. 

Anywayyyyyy that's the 2011 ATP tour season over with, which again ended with Federer as the year end champion, with 70 titles and counting.  It was a great year for tennis and no doubt 2012 will provide more great stuff to come. 

So that's it for now, adios. 

I'm gonna Kill Bill!!

OK time for another change of post, after all that sporty yellow balls bouncing around a square court game taking up too much blog space (almost 85% I'm sure!).  This one is about another modern day classic: Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2, but for the sake of argument its all the same film, so I'm covering them together, so none of this, vol 1 is better than vol 2 because they are both the same film!  And forgive me but THIS DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS! 

Anyway with that out the way here's a bit more about the plot, which starts with the blood spattered "bride" (Uma Thurman) who lies on the floor of a church in El Paso Texas, after her groom to be and her friends have been ruthlessly gunned down, by her former lover Bill (David Carradine) and his team of assassins, the Deadly Viper squad (Lucy Lui, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah).  Just before Bill puts a bullet in his bride's head, she tells him that she is pregnant with his baby.  The bride however miraculously survives the bullet, as she lies in a coma for four years in a hospital where one night just after that, she finds a big redneck trucker straddling her.  The bride instantly kills the trucker and then kills the hospital worker "Buck" who has been pimping her out during her comatose state to people he knows for money.  The bride then travels to Okinawa to find the legendary swordsmith Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) and she asks that he make her a sword, which he eventually does after she drops Bill's name.  After a month or so, Hanzo finishes the sword and the bride leaves with it, to start her bloody revenge against the Deadly Viper squad, starting with O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) who is by now the leader of the Tokyo yakuza.  What ensues is a very bloody (not to mention very spurty!) fight sequence as the bride takes on O-Ren's bodyguards, her crazed 17 year associate Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama) and also the "crazy 88" who are O-Ren's hit squad, and ultimately O-Ren herself.  So cue part two.... 

And the bride carries on in the second part of the film in her journey to kill bill, where she seeks out Bill's brother, Budd (Michael Madsen), who shoots her full of rock salt and buries her alive in a coffin.  But of course with the luck of a handy straight razor tucked away in her boot, and her incredible punching skills she learned from her former master Pai Mei (Gordon Liu), the bride manages to break free of her coffin and crawl her way up out of the earth back up to the surface, ready for more revenge.  After this Budd calls up one of his ex-viper squad members Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah, complete with cool eye patch) and asks if she would want to trade the bride's Hanzo sword for a million dollars.  Elle comes along to Budd's cabin the next day and secretly stashes a black mamba snake in the suitcase of money, which kills of Budd.   Then the bride, who by now, Elle has given away her real name as Beatrix Kiddo, confronts Elle in an intense fight, which Beatrix eventually wins by plucking out Elle's only remaining eye (the other one was plucked out by Pai Mei during her instruction).  This now only leaves Bill and well you can imagine what goes on there........

For me Kill Bill has to be Quentin Tarantino's best film, as it is such a brilliant combination of different styles of film, from action to thriller, to western, to eastern to anime and so on.  And at the centre of it is a terrific performance from its lead actress Uma Thurman, who plays the part of the Bride (or Beatrix) so brilliantly.  In fact one of the interesting aspects of the film is how the character of the bride develops, as in the first volume, we see her as a remorseless killing machine, who is purely on a mission of revenge, but in the second film, we get to see her become more human as a person.  And in a way if I had to pick a favourite part it would be volume 2, simply because it is more character driven, and it helps to humanise Beatrix as well as rationalise Bill as a person too (well perhaps not rationalise but we do get where he was coming from in his actions).  But both volumes add up to the same film and overall it is some achievement from Quentin Tarantino.

On a technical level I don't think Tarantino has made a better film either, as his mix of skilfull camera work, and brilliant use of Japanese anime, and superb photography from Robert Richardson all add up to a visual treat for the viewer as well.  And without a doubt, his choice of soundtrack is as ever terrific, especially in volume 1 where it opens up with Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang", the cheesy but highly effective use of the theme from "Quincy", and in volume 2 his effective use of Ennio Morricone's western music, and "About Her" by Malcolm McLaren which is used to great effect also.  I also can't forget to mention the infuriatingly catchy 5, 6, 7, 8's "Woo-hoo" which is annoying but at the same time you can't help but listen to it.  In general Tarantino has a like for 1970s funk music, and plenty of it permeates throughout the whole film, abd he uses it very well, especially tracks like Ray Fan Ray by Isaac Hayes in the anime scene with O-Ren killing one of her targets as an assassin.  I also love the way Tarantino particularly in the scene where Beatrix receives the cruel instruction from her kung-fu master Pai Mei, how uses the typical camera zoom-ins like you get in the old martial arts films.  Its a great touch.  

The film also has several harrowing scenes which stick in the mind also, and while the over the top bloody scenes in Volume 1 are never disturbing, in fact they are quite silly if nothing else, its the scenes where we see Beatrix suffer so much herself.  A couple of scenes in particular are firstly the one where she wakes up from her coma, she looks down at her stomach at a wound where presumably her aborted child was taken from, and she screams and sobs uncontrollably.  Its a great moment in Uma's performance, and for that brief moment she has to deal with her grief all at once, before she is interrupted, by the scumbag hospital worker, who has used her inert body for sex.  Which I have to say is one of the film's more disturbing aspects is the misogyny that it occassionally displays particularly in this scene, it reminds me of the scene from Pulp Fiction where Marcellus Wallace is being raped in a basement by hillbillies.  Its almost like Quentin is going for the shock effect once again, just by making you think of the unthinkable.  Another harrowing moment is when the bride, after she has been put in a coffin by Budd, we see her reaction from the inside as her coffin is trundled into the grave, and we hear the heavy sound of the dirt crash against the outer side of the coffin itself, with Beatrix panicking and crying each time she hears the dirt being shovelled on top.  Its probably the film's most potent and distressing sequence, and it definitely captures that sense of intense claustrophobia too.  One of Uma's best scenes though is when she enters Bill's house near the end of Volume 2, armed with a gun and she finds Bill, much to her amazement with their daughter, she almost falls to her knees, with shock, its a great moment in her performance. 

But that's not to say that Kill Bill doesn't have any fun moments in it, of course it does, its a Tarantino film!  The action sequences in particular a spectacular to watch, especially the bloody showdown at O-Ren's House of the dead leaves, with Beatrix/The Bride slicing and dicing her way through her enemies, and her fight with Elle in the second film is a particular highlight also.  Another favourite for me is Beatrix's training under the cruel old Kung-fu master, Pai Mei, as he rides her hard in instructing her on the ways of kung-fu.  There are some amusing characters along the way and plenty of enjoyable and crude dialogue, one of me favourite lines from the Bride is "As I sat in the back of Buck's truck, trying to will my limbs out of entrophy I could see the faces of cunts that did this to me and the dicks responsible!". 

Performance wise there are plenty of good ones, David Carradine is especially good as Bill, the man himself, who has a world weary charm but also shows that he's a killer and a vicious bastard through and through.  Michael Madsen puts in a decent performance also as Bill's younger brother Budd, who once a high paid assassin, is now subjected to working in a third rate strip bar as a bouncer.  And Daryl Hannah also is very good as the evil and sly Elle Driver, and after seeing Daryl give some pretty so-so performances in films from the 1980s such as Roxanne, and Wall Street, what she does do really well in this film is ham it up, and shows that she is a capable actress.  Lucy Liu is also great as the deadly and foxy O-Ren Ishii, and her best scene is where she stampedes down the table in her conference room and beheads one of her impertinent associates (complete with blood fountain spurting!) and calmly tells her people that if you have problem with her, tell her so, before she shouts "so if any of you sonsabitches has anything else to say NOW'S THE FUCKING TIME!!!".  Sonny Chiba's cameo appearance is also very entertaining as Hattori Hanzo, once a great swordswith, who vowed never to make another sword again, and now spends his time as a Sushi chef, arguing with his suborindate employee ("lazy bastard, get your ass out here!").

Perhaps though the only poor scene in Kill Bill is the end credits with Robert Rodriguez's fairly annoying Mexican music playing in the background, and how it shows all the character's over the music and his final caption for Beatrix's charcater that says "Beatrix Kiddo, aka Black maba, aka the bride, aka Mommy".  Its just a bit cheesy.  But its just one scene out of the film, the rest is grand. 

However Kill Bill is definitely one of my favourite films and one of the best films in recent times of modern cinema.  Tarantino has definitely contributed a great deal to American cinema over the years and here he gave it his masterpiece. 

An actual job, whoddaa thunk it???!!

Well some good news to post to myself as this week I went for an interview with Virgin Media out in Airdrie, and after a group assessment, I got news back that I passed, and then I got another call asking if I would like to come in and do a test for another job, which is more techy based.  So on Wednesday there I went back over to Airdrie, took the IT tech test, which was basically 10 questions, 2 or 3 of which were pretty tricky, and today I finally got word that I passed the test, and I can start on Monday!!!

So very good news, as it will be the first proper job I will (or attempt to at least!) hold down since Clydebank College, as Whitebox Digital was only for 6 months it doesn't quite count.  So I'm looking forward to getting started, the only snag though is the location, as its out in Airdrie, its not exactly close by for me.  But the train ride is quite direct so that's so much a problem, although there is quite a long walk to the actual building (which is owned by the company Teleperformance) from the station, so all in all it might take me about 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to the front door, also getting up early in the morning is bound to be a bit of a killer, as there are shift patterns, with two shifts between 8am and 4pm and 2pm to 10pm (so I will get both extreme ends of the spectrum!).  So naturally it will take some getting used to, and my body clock will be well out of kilter for a while. 

But on the upside it is a job in IT, which is something I've been trying to get into for ages, and another plus is that there is no strict dress code, so I can go in casually dressed (no nipple tassels allowed I'm sure though!).  It will also be good to be back in paid employment again, although it will be a bit duff having to wait a full month before I get any wages!  (no advances of course lol!).  However it is a real opportunity to finally get my foot in the door and get some experience in the industry, so I'll see how it goes from here.

So I might as well try and enjoy my last weekend of freedom before I start the early morning rises, which means I will need to get to bed early from now on (after midnight will be no more during the week :-(). 

Aaaaaannnnd well there is not much more to say than that so more will follow once I get a feel for the job and what its like, although I will try not to say too much just in case.

OK the end. 

Rrrrright who's it gonna be????

Although the AWTF is far from over yet, I'm already wondering just who is going to be in with the biggest show of winning the event, so here is some of my thoughts on the matter, and on each of the remaining players in the groups:

Tsonga - it has to be said that without a doubt that Tsonga has had a great season this year so far, having made the Wimbledon semis, defeating Federer in the process, and reaching the US Open quarter finals (but losing to Federer in that one!).  And his match against Federer on the first day at the o2 was quite a good one, but he dropped the ball and serve at the crucial moment, so I don't know how his chances will stack up.  But when he's on top of his game, he is very tough to beat, and right now he is on top of his game.  Next up for Tsonga will be Rafa, does he stand a chance?  Actually yes he does, because he beat Rafa back in June at Queens, and Rafa hasn't been a 100% at all this season, more like 60% there ever since losing at the US Open.  But do I think Tsonga will win the title????? To be honest no, I think there are a couple of players in there that could definitely get past him, but then there is always a chance.

Berdych - Berdych has just won his first match against Janko Tipsarevic who filled in the for injured Andy Murray who pulled out of the tournament, so that will give him a much needed boost after suffering such a defeat at the hands of Djokovic in a very close match.  Next up for Berdy will be David Ferrer, who plays Novak Djokovic later on, but what chance does he stand against Ferrer when they meet??  Welllll actually I'm surprised in a way to learn that Ferrer actually leads their head to head, 5-2, so it really will be a tough one to decide, based on that I'd have to go with Ferrer.  But overall how does Berdy's chances stand????  Overall I'd say not too good, he's a contender and a dangerous player, but again he always falls that little bit short against the very top players.

Ferrer - without a doubt Ferrer is a really talented player, and probably one of the gutsiest fighters in the sport, who has incredible stamina and athletic prowess on court, and while he has no big weapons in his game, he knows how to punish players into playing long rallies and his return game is virtually second to none.  So far Ferrer has beaten Andy Murray in his only match, and next up he has Berdych and he leads the head to head as stated above, but does he stand a chance of winning the ATPWTF??? Again no, because while he is a terrific player, he lacks the big serve, the weapons and ability to outfox the big three guys left in the draw.  But..... tonight's match against Djokovic showed a different player altogether, as Ferrer took a lacklustre Djokovic apart in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, if he carries on like that there is no reason he can't get to the final.

Nadal - well last year I would have said that Rafa would have been the flat out favourite to win this event as he had such an incredible year, just like Djokovic has had this year.  But that was last year, and this year Rafa has had to endure defeat many times, particularly at the hands of Novak Djokovic, who has beaten him six times in a row now, and if they were to meet in the final here, I'm positive it would number seven.  Rafa who was once like a feral lion, is now like a neutered dog, who has lost his bite,  and coming into this tournament he has played very poorly by his standards, narrowly avoiding defeat at the hands of the now out Mardy Fish, and getting crushed by Federer in his second match.  But Rafa still stands a chance of staying in as he faces Tsonga next, and while it will be no easy match, if he can defeat Tsonga then it will give his confidence a big boost, so its way too soon to write him off yet, but to ask if I see him as the overall winner of the title, I'd really have to say no.

Djokovic - what can you saw about the Djokster????  He has had the year of his life on the tennis court and most very likely off the court as well in 2011.  Three grand slams, five Masters titles, and wins in Dubai and Serbia, has seen Djokovic put on a winning streak that ranks as one of the most impressive in the modern era of the game.  Earlier this year Djokovic was indomitable, however as the year has gone on after having played so many matches, fatigue and injury have caught up with him a bit, and his level had dropped a little somewhat.  Regardless of his level Djokovic can still dish out the winners when he really needs them, and with an amazing win loss match record of 70-4 so far this year, is quite something in itself.  So the question has to be asked, does he stand a chance to win the title and end his year's achievements in style????? Absolutely yes, but he will be most likely up against one man who will prove to be the sternest test in the event, and more on him in just a bit.  But to dismiss Djokovic's chances would be insane, he is the current World No.1 and with very good reason, and if anyone knows how to win a match and overcome adversity, its this man.

However.... tonight, his match against David Ferrer was a real shocker, as Djokovic tonight played what was easily the worst match of his season, with Ferrer gubbing him in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, which marks his 5th defeat of the year.  This again raises the question of Djokovic's fitness, and it looks like his possible shoulder injury has come back to haunt him, even Djokovic himself said in his post match press conference that he felt tired and drained, due to the long season he has had, and judging by this performance, its tough to see him come through, but then again it was just one match, maybe Djokovic will yet bounce back (no pun intended). 

Federer - I left Federer to last because to be quite frank, he is the absolute favourite to win this title, after coming back into the game after taking time out last month, Federer has displayed some incredible tennis.  Despite the occassional dip here and there, Federer's level of tennis has been quite extaordinary and he is currently stuff that belongs to his heyday back when he was unstoppable, and that's the way I see him in this tournament.  The same as last year, Federer was utterly incredible at the o2 arena, in fact I think he only dropped one set against Rafa in the final, and in that final Federer taught the Spaniard a lesson in how to play.  So this year he has done the same and then some, as he crushed Rafa in their match last night, putting on a masterclass display.  But for my money, Federer is already the champion of the ATP World Tour Finals, he's saved his best for last and is peaking just at the right time.  And if Djokovic can beat him then I'd be very impressed, he's about the only one who can, but it most likely will be the Swiss maestro who will use his Fed express powers to pick up that nifty trophy on Sunday.

So that's it for now, more posts to follow on this subject, oh and I will finally post up some entries that are nowt to do with tennis.  Its long overdue!!

But toodly pipsky for now.

Is it over???? It is now.

OK the title of this post is a little misleading, the world finals is far from over yet, but unfortunately for one man it already is, and that one is the British number uno, Andy Murray, who regretfully withdrew from the tournament today due to a groin injury.

Andy already said that after his loss to David Ferrer that he had injured himself prior to coming into the event, a few days after the Paris Masters he pulled a groin muscle while training.  And even when he reached the o2 and practised on the Sunday there, he still said he didn't feel good on court, so it was a bad omen for sure.  In retrospect it seems to be a bit of a mistake for Andy to have aimed to finish as the World No.3 this year, as it looks like the hard work he put into that, especially during his success on the Asian swing of the tour, has been in vain.  Because with Federer still going strong at the o2, who is also with a strong shout of getting to the semi finals, if he does get to that stage, he will reclaim his World No.3 ranking, and if he wins the title he will almost certainly get it back.  So it feels like Andy once again has peaked at the wrong time of year, as he really did play some great tennis during the Asian leg of the tour, its a shame he didn't hold back a little and try and make sure he peaked at the right time.

Andy even admitted himself in the press conference after his announcement, that perhaps he should rethink his schedule for next year, and it would be a good idea to definitely prioritise around the big events and miss out on some of the smaller ones, so that way he will be in good shape for the year end championships next year.  But he did make the right decision in withdrawing as he said himself that he still felt sore in the morning, and there is no way he could have gone out on court and taken on Tomas Berdych in that condition, it would have been a write off.  Andy also wisely made the decision so it would allow him ample time to recover for next year, as he has already put his name forward for the Brisbane Open in Australia at the very beginning of next year (starts on New Year's day of all days!) and he will need that crucial time to get ready for Melbourne.


Soooo that is the end of Andy Murray's 2011 season, sadly it ended on a sour note, with a straight set loss, unlike last year where he played one of the best matches of his career despite losing to Rafa also at the o2.  But overall he has had a great year and he has reached all four grand slam semi finals, and one final for that matter, won 5 titles, beaten Djokovic, beaten Rafa, not Federer however, as they never played each other this whole year, for once!  And yes ok he still hasn't won that elusive major, but as 2011 has been Djokovic's year, just maybe 2012 could be Andy's year.  But next year, you get the feeling that things have to happen for him, and it is crucial that he tries his absolute best to win in Melbourne for starters.  However that's a bit off yet, for now, Andy, take heart in that you've had a great season, regardless of how its ended, and all the best to you for next year.

And just briefly an update on tonight's match between Roger and Rafa, which was another hugely anticipated showdown, but once again it didn't live up to its hype.  So far to my knowledge this year, Roger hasn't beaten Rafa, but Roger drastically turned that around and made mince meat out of the Spaniard, by producing an exceptional display of tennis of the likes that heralds back to his glory days, crushing the World No.2 in 6-3, 6-0.  Even I was surprised to see just how little Rafa got involved in this match as Roger ruthlessly dismissed virtually every shot he made, it wasn't that Rafa played bad, it was just the Swiss maestro was on absolute fire.  In that regard I think Andy totally made the right decision to withdraw, as there is no way he could have lived with Federer in that mode, nor anyone else!  So that is Roger safely through to the semi finals, and if I were Djokovic, I would be quaking in my tennis shoes by now, cos Roger means business!    

But I have to say I do have a bone to pick regarding Federer, as he made a comment in the press about how Andy overtook him in the rankings, and depsite his impressive run in Asia, the only reason he won there was because he and Djokovic weren't playing there.  Which basically is Roger's way of saying there is no way Murray would have beaten me if I was playing.  This again really does bring up what I dislike about Roger Federer, that he can be an arrogant egotistical twat at times, and he can also be a sore loser when he loses out to some players too.  Mind you after winning 16 grand slams I guess your ego inflates until its the size of a zeppelin, and then you almost look down upon everyone else.  It doesn't take away from the fact that the man is a magnificently talented player, one of the all times greats without question.  But when Federer makes comments like that, that's when I'd like to see Andy stick it to him, and it would be great to see him gub Federer sometime next year in a slam.  Andy also wisely refused to rise to the comment as he simply said he doesn't pay much attention to stuff like that and he'll let the tennis do the talking (unfortunately though Andy as we know didn't get that far).  Further to Federer's comment Andy also said "Well for Roger in Paris, I was injured, Rafa didn't play, Novak withdrew, and at the end of the day, you can only play against what's in front of you."  Very well said.  And that's the great thing about Andy Murray, he is reassuringly down to earth, and he doesn't have the arrogant ego of some other players (one of whom I just mentioned!).   
   
Anyway more will follow on the remaining ATP World Tour Final matches, and with Andy now gone, Janko Tipsarevic takes his place, so again we have two Serbs in a big event, and yes they shall meet, and lets hope this match is another cracker, like the one they had at the US Open.  One thing is for sure, that match is getting taped!

Aaaaaaand that's it for now.

Oooooohhhhh dear

Well this isn't the news I wanted to open this post with, as its to do with the ATP world tour finals matches that have taken place so far.

Quickly an update on the first day's matches, which featured a brief but entertaining 3 setter between Federer and Tsonga, who after a set apiece, Tsonga had a chance to take things further, unfortunately however he dropped his own serve at 4-4, and handed Federer the break to take the match.  On the other match of the day (or evening) was a real battle between an ailing Rafa Nadal and the American No.1 Mardy Fish.  Rafa right from the start didn't look right, as he apparently had struggled with an upset stomach after apparently having salmon pasta (I must admit I wouldn't like to try that!) prior to the match.  Despite that Rafa managed to take the opening set easily, but in the 2nd that's when Fish mounted his fightback, pushing the World No.2 to a decider, which had its share of breaks, but in the end it needed a tiebreak to separate the two men, which Nadal won 7-3.  So the final result was 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3).

It has to be said that Rafa definitely does not appear to be in good form, struggling with a bad stomach isn't the way to come into a tournament, but he did get the win, even if it was by the skin of his nads.  And his next match will prove to be a real test as he faces Roger Federer on Tuesday, but it all depends on how well Rafa is feeling, hopefully he will get better and be prepared to give us a really good match.  But Roger could definitely have the upper hand, but time will tell on that. 

Now onto today's opening match which was between Britain's Andy Murray and Spanish No.2 David Ferrer.  By reputation we knew that this would be a tough match, but Andy was straight off pegged to be favourite to win it.  Unfortunately however things didn't pan out that way, as Andy from the start looked quite drawn and tired, and despite gaining a break of serve early in the first set, he struggled really badly with his own serve and at one point had a medical timeout for his hip.  This ultimately allowed Ferrer to break back and before we knew it, the Muzza was a set down.  In the second set, Andy started off better with a break, but again he squandered it and let Ferrer back into the match, and toward the end at 6-5, Andy failed to hold serve once more, letting Ferrer win his first match of the group in 6-4, 7-5.

This certainly wasn't the result that we were all hoping for, and I am myself pretty disappointed for Andy as well.  After the match Andy revealed that he sustained a groinal injury in training a few days after the Paris masters tournament, and that if it wasn't the season end championships, he would not have played.  Andy also has stated that he will decide on Tuesday (22 Nov) whether or not he will quit the event, and given the nature of his injury, it might regretfully be the right decision to withdraw.  I sincerely hope he doesn't withdraw as despite his loss, he could still be with a chance, but it is a very very slim one, as he will have to play the loser of the next Group A match, Djokovic vs Berdych, which most likely could be Berdych.  And Berdych himself defeated Andy the last time they met in Paris, and it would seem given his current condition far more likely that Berdych would beat him again.  But it would all hinge on Andy preparing and getting better for the next match, and it may well be unlikely that he could do so, however it would be great to see if Andy could get revenge on Berdych for his loss in Paris, but again if he does play Berdy it will be a real physical match, and he may just not be up to the task. 

Speaking of which as an update Djokovic did indeed defeat Tomas Berdych but it was a very very close match, and Djokovic himself saved one match point before taking the final set to a tiebreaker, which he won.  So it will be Berdych, after all, that Andy is scheduled to face, but judging by Berdy's current form, if I were Andy I'd probably save any humiliation, pain and hassel and quit now!  As Djokovic had a narrow scrape there, and if Berdych can push the World No.1 that far, then he is sure to punish Andy physically and mentally even further! 

So it all hangs in the balance for Andy Murray at the ATP World Tour Finals, and it would be a great shame and a big disappointment if he decided to withdraw, so a big question mark hangs over the Muzza's bonce on this one.  But in the end, health has to come first and if Andy has to withdraw, then that's what he'll have to do, and its a great shame to see what has arguably been his best season so far, end on such a sour note.  However time will once again soon tell all. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaannd I'll leave it there the now.

The ATP finals clash

Just when you thought you wouldn't see yet ANOTHER tennis post, another one creeps along and here it is!!  Just a quick one about the ATP World Tour Finals, which is coming up next week in London, as the draw for the event has been announced this week and it looks like quite an exciting set up (well we know that anyway).

The format of the event is pretty much the same as the WTA, as there will be two groups, and four players in each group, and it has been announced that in Group A there will be Djokovic, Murray, Ferrer and Berdych, while in Group B we will have Nadal, Federer, Tsonga and Fish.  So its a mouth watering set up and without a doubt each player will have their hands full with whoever they play at each stage.  But the big question is, who out of those eight players stands the best chance of winning the title?  Its a tough one, but for me personally I think the two players that have best chance are Djokovic and Federer, and if I was a betting fella I would probably wager on Federer.  I say Federer because since he has come back into the tour, he has been playing some incredible tennis reminiscent of his glory days, and on that kind of form, he is impossible to beat.  But on the other hand, Djokovic has had the best year of his life on the tennis court and has played tennis that has been at times out of orbit, especially earlier in the year when he was on that amazing 41 match winning streak.  So to dismiss Djokovic would be insane, and if he has recovered sufficiently from his shoulder injury he would be an utterly formidable opponent.

Then we have Rafa, who has taken some time out from the game to get himself prepped for this event and the Davis cup, but I have to say I wouldn't rate his chances quite as strongly as the other two guys, simply because Rafa for one has been beaten by Djokovic six times in a row now, not only that he was defeated by Roger last year.  But however given that extra training time, Rafa might just be in with a shout all the same of lifting that elusive year end championship trophy.

Now we get on to Andy Murray, and overall Andy has had a great season, 5 titles, one slam final, and three semi finals, he is also the home favourite, and will get the best support, but can he win what would be the biggest title of his career???? Hmmmmmmmmm, against these other guys it seems doubtful, he can do it for sure if he serves and plays well enough, but it is a mighty big ask.  Andy also has to contend with Djokovic and Berdych in his group, and depending on how Djoko is, he could again prove to be very tough.  Also there is Berdych who last week defeated Andy in Paris, who again could prove to be a tricky customer, so there is a danger that Andy could go out early from the tournament.  For Andy's sake I hope he doesn't and hopefully he will get revenge on Berdych for his loss at Paris, it would also be perfect place to do it.  In fact out of those players, Ferrer should be the easiest for Andy to play, but having said that, Ferrer is no pushover either, so all round it will be tough for him.  But just maybe with the home crowd behind him, it might prove possible for Andy to move to those later stages. 

After that we also have Tsonga and Fish, but I have to say I don't rate either of those players chances quite as much, particularly Fish, who despite being a very talented player, hasn't quite got the chops to win a big title.  Tsonga on the other hand does have the chops, but he can appear to fall that bit short on the big occassions, regardless though, he could do very well as he has already beaten Federer and Rafa this year, but with the year end championships, it is a bigger deal, and the big guys will bring their A-game to the proceedings.

So there's not long now before the event starts, its going to be a great one, and plenty of terrific tennis awaits, till then that'll do for now.

Back and to the left

I thought its time to continue my little selection of movies to critique and look at, and this time I chose  rather appropriately on as its nearing the anniversary of the JFK assassination (on 22 November) so I'm going to have a look at Oliver Stone's acclaimed epic drama JFK.  JFK is a dramatisation of the events that surrounded John F. Kennedy's assassination that took place on 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Texas and the aftermath of its investigation.  So here's a bit more about the storyline of the film:

On the day of the assassination, in New Orleans, District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is informed by one of his staff Lou Barnes (Jay Sanders).  After Kennedy's death is announced officially on television, the suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) is arrested and taken to the station for questioning.  Garrison then plans to investigate any suspects and associates of Lee Harvey Oswald's that might be under his jurisdiction in New Orleans, however before he can do that, Oswald is assassinated live on TV by Dallas mob man Jack Ruby (Brian Doyle Murray).  Regardless of Oswald's shock assassination, Garrison brings in one of Oswald's alleged known associates, David Ferrie (Joe Pesci) who naturally denies he ever knew Oswald.  However Ferrie gives a very shaky account of his activities on the day of the assassination which Garrison quickly disbelieves and has Ferrie detained for more questioning by the FBI, regardless of this though Ferrie is let go, after which Garrison decides not to continue investigating any further.

Three years later in 1966, after sharing a conversation with a senator (played by the late great Walter Matthau) on an airplane, Garrison starts to have serious doubts and suspicions about the events of the assassination and that Oswald was the lone gunman.  After more digging around, and reading over the 26 volumes of the official assassination investigation, published by Warren Commission and conducted by chief judge Earl Warren, Garrison decides to re-open the investigation of the crime.  With his small team of staff, Garrison questions many different witnesses to the shooting, and potential suspects that may have been connected to the assassination.  As Garrison and his team investigate further, a name that keeps popping up is Clay Bertrand, who is later revealed to be Clay Shaw (played by Tommy Lee Jones) a well respected businessman and entrepeneur.  However on bringing Shaw in for questioning, Shaw categorically denies any knowledge of Oswald, Ferrie or any one else potentially involved in the conspiracy, as well as denying his Clay Bertrand alias.  But soon after their meeting, Garrison's investigation is made public and soon the press and media come down hard on him.  Now forced to operate out in the open, Garrison faces tough choices ahead of him in carrying out his investigation, after receiving various death threats, crank calls, and narrowly escaping frame ups to discredit him.  Eventually after rigorous investigations, including a discussion with an ex-military figure who simply calls himself "X" (Donald Sutherland) who provides him with important background knowledge to the events surrounding the assassination, Garrison decides to arrest Shaw and prosecute him for his possible involvement in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.

JFK is without a doubt a great achievement in its own, as Oliver Stone took a controversial subject and turned into a film that is fascinating, intelligent and gripping.  If you look at the events and evidence that are presented in the film, it certainly does a great job at convincing you that there was a possible conspiracy involved.  Jim Garrison himself showed tremendous moral courage and character in bringing such a trial to the public eye, as he himself faced great danger in pissing off the government and endangering his own life in the process.  But Garrison is never potrayed as anything else other than a very decent man who in reality at first was never really keen on Kennedy at the time, but during his investigation came to admire him for what he stood for and tried to do in the United States.

But whether or not a conspiracy took place in Dallas that day or not, no one really knows, but I do think there was potentially enough evidence to point towards one.  One of key aspects of the assassination as highlighted in the film was that it seemed highly unlikely that Oswald could have fired 3 shots that from the book depository window, at a moving vehicle with trees and heavy foilage in his way, especially considering the poor quality of the firearm.  It would seem more likely that a team of riflemen could have had a much better chance of killing Kennedy from fixed positions.  Another crucial crux of the film and the case was, there had to be more than just 3 shots, as if for no better reason, there were four known wounds, three to Kennedy (in the throat, back and head) and one to Governor Conally (one in the back).  This is where the Warren Commission presented the ridiculous "magic bullet" theory that one bullet accounted for the wounds between Connally and Kennedy.  It also seems unlikely that if after Oswald committed the crime, that he would be able race down the stairs in about 90 seconds, only to face a police officer who was checking out the building, to ask whom he was, and appear not to be out of breath, which the policeman testified later that Oswald was absolutely not out of breath. 

And overall too much evidence points toward the possibility of a conspiracy, with so many witnesses later on dying in mysterious circumstances, or being bribed in order to be kept quiet, the events after the assassination regarding the car also appear strange, as the car is washed and rebuilt before any forensics can be taken.  There were also many different documents, interview notes from suspects that were also either torn up or burnt.  But the one piece of evidence that does remain however is the film footage, taken by an onlooker Abraham Zapruder, which shows the assassination itself, and gives possible clues of the direction of where the bullets came from.  The footage itself is terrible to watch, as it signified the start of several public assassinations (Oswald, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy followed), and Garrison himself later subpoenaed the Zapruder film for his trial (the footage itself was later televised for the first time in 1975 on American television).  Another key point was surely, if Oswald was even the lone gunman, he would not have acted alone, as he must been acting on behalf of powerful people behind the scenes, in this regard Oswald himself could well have been a sleeper cell, who was set in motion at the key moment, but again this is just a bit of speculation.

But back to the actual film, JFK is without a doubt fascinating to watch, and features so many great performances and cameos from its a big cast.  Kevin Costner, while not the best actor in the world, does give a fine performance as the DA Jim Garrison, who takes on the massive task of bringing the JFK assassination to trial, he also shows Garrison as being a man of moral decency, as well as being very strong and stubborn in the face of adversity.  Joe Pesci also probably gives the film's best performance as Dave Ferrie, the crazed suspect (replete with a ridiculous wig and eyebrows!) who later admits to his involvement with Oswald, as he shows a mixture of malice and remorse.  Tommy Lee Jones gives an excellent performance also as Clay Shaw, and he depicts as a very sly businessman, who is clearly also very manipulative.  The other smaller character roles are equally impressive, with fine stuff from Michael Rooker as Bill (one of Garrison's staff), Laurie Metcalf as Susie, another staff member, and of course Jay Sanders as Lou Barnes, who was in reality one of Garrison's key members of staff (although the film depicts Barnes as quitting the investigation, in reality he didn't).  Also Kevin Bacon, is excellent as the homosexual Willie O'Keefe (who in reality was based on one of Garrison's key witnesses, Perry Russo) who claimed to have known and had sexual relations with Shaw.  Donald Sutherland is similarly great as the mysterious "X" who delivers a very lengthy 17 minute dialogue giving Garrison the background info surrounding the events leading up to the assassination.  Also there is the superb Jack Lemmon as Jack Martin, who worked for another one of the possible key people behind the assassination, Guy Banister (played by Ed Asner) who died shortly after in 1964.  And last but by no means least, there is Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald.  Oldman is great as Oswald, and potrays him as a complex and private man, who remained a mystery even after his death.  Gary Oldman also facially resembles Oswald a fair bit, and does an excellent job at reproducing his unusual American accent, which had a tinge of Russian to it.  

Overall the film moves at a great pace, but also is on the verge of bombarding you with too much information at times, so it definitely takes a few viewings to get the gist of all the details.  The only other thing I would say about the film that probably lets it down slightly is the melodrama of Garrison's home life, as he argues with his wife Elizabeth (Sissy Spacek) who is frustrated by the amount of time he devotes to the case.  It is however key to the film as well I guess, as it is important to show how the events of the investigation impacted on Garrison's personal life, and later in reality, his first wife Elizabeth did divorce him.  But not to take away from Sissy's performance, as she herself does very well with her role in the film, for her all she wants to do is get her normal life back.  Another slight problem with the film, and probably the case in general is there is not much evidence that cold links Shaw to knowing Oswald, as it ultimately is just the word of people who have witnessed seeing Shaw and Oswald together in the past.  But it was later revealed in 1978, four years after Shaw's death, by the at the time CIA director, Richard Helms, that Shaw did actually work for the CIA as a contractor.  And based on the Richard Helms testimony, it proved that Shaw was guilty of perjury.  But as Garrison in the film says people like Shaw can "walk between the rain drops" and indeed get away with murder (or assassination in this case).

However Garrison's trial definitely did raise enough questions about the dubiety of the Warren Commission's conclusions and of the many loose ends that peppered the investigation.  And as portrayed in the film, a key moment where Clay Shaw gives away his alias as Bertrand to a police officer after his arrest, the officer in question Aloysius Habighorst's testimony wasn't allowed and was ruled inadmissible by the judge.  This in itself seems very peculiar that the testimony wasn't allowed, and as the film almost shows that even the judge and court system was corrupt enough to cover things up.  In the end of course, Clay Shaw is acquitted of the charges and found not guilty and allowed to go free, once again to "walk between the rain drops".  It also does raise that Clay Shaw could also been as Ferrie in the film states as being "untouchable, with the highest clearance".  Whatever way it was, Shaw was also an enigma and in the end he got away, guilty or not. 

Soooooooo after that rather exhaustive entry, JFK is definitely one of my favourite films and its great to revisit it once in a while, kind of like a fine wine (don't buy (or watch) it too much in other words).  And if you haven't seen it, then it certainly will be an eye opener behind the events one of America's most disgraceful crimes.

So that is that.

The Fed express returns

All things come to an end, and that is nearly the end of the ATP tour season, as the final 1000 Masters series event has come to a close at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.  In the final Roger Federer took on the previous champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a chance to lift his first Paris trophy. 

So more on the actual match, in the first set, Federer proved once again to be totally dominant, as he raced past Tsonga, breaking early on and winning the set in 6-1.  The second set was however more tightly contested as Tsonga held serve, and also had a chance to break Federer at 4-3 on Fedora's serve, however Tsonga overcooked his shots and missed the boat.  Tsonga continued to hold serve and push the set to a tiebreak, but in the tie, it was the ol Swiss maestro that came out on top, as he won the tiebreak, set and match to clinch his first Paris Masters title (well there is a first for everything!), the final score reading 6-1, 7-6(3).

You could tell right from the start of this match that there really would be only one winner as Federer, having come back into the game after his rest, has been on top form, and the rest has left him fresh and fit, as well as giving him a chance to play some of his best tennis.  Tsonga however did well to take the second set to a tiebreak, but ultiamtely he had no stanglehold over Federer, and when it came to the break points, Federer was able to save them.  Regardless of the loss though Tsonga has had an excellent season and return to form as well as to the top 10, where he belongs and he has opportunity ahead of him at the o2 arena next week.  And it was good to see how much the win meant to Federer also, as he nearly shed a tear after the win, and its also his biggest title win this year.  So big well done to Fed, and its good to see him back into winning in the big tournaments again this year, even though the BNP Paribas Paris Masters trophy is an ugly looking thing that resembles a black spider on a brick!

And with that, all is left for the season is the ATP World Tour Finals, which takes place next Sunday at the o2 Arena in London, and there is a very strong set up for the top 8, as we have Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Federer, Ferrer, Berdych, Tsong and Fish.  Its quite a list of players and it promises to be a great finale to a terrific year of tennis.  Out of that lot you really would have to favour one of the top four to lift the title, but you can never write off the bottom four's chances either (just look at Delpo and Davydenko two years ago who both got to the final two years ago, with Denko winning as none of the other top guys had a look in).  And its hard to call a favourite to win, as I said Federer in his current form stands a strong chance, and with the extra preparation and time out, you can never dismiss Nadal either, and there is also that Serbian chap who has had the year of his life, and has been lifting nearly every trophy in sight.  And of course there is Andy Murray, who has so far only got as far as the semi finals at the ATP World Finals, like he did last year in that amazing match against Nadal when he fell in a nail bitingly close battle.  It would also be the biggest title of his career if he can win, and I hope he does, but the field is so strong, I have to say the other three guys might stand a better chance.

But we'll soon find out, and it promises to be a great end to a stellar year in the sport.

That's it for now.