Welly welly well. Welly well well well. Or should I say Indian Welly Welly Well. OK to the point now.
The ATP Paribas Open 2011 tournament from Indian Wells California is now over and Novak Djokovic has just transformed from a top player into the tennis terminator, as he's just defeated Rafael Nadal in 3 sets at the Indian Wells, scoring 4-6 6-3 6-2. Its the first time he has beaten Nadal in any final and its certainly payback for his defeat at the US Open last year, but its an unbelievable result for the young Serbian, with an undefeated run since the beginning of the year, having won 20 matches. No one is safe now from the Djokoniator. I honestly thought Rafa might beat him but this was a real surprising turnaround, this is undoubtedly Djokovic's year and his time. Just as Nadal is the king of clay, Djokovic is now the king of the hard court. I bet Murray will be quaking in his boots right now, he might as well pray for an early exit in Miami, cos beating this man is now a seemingly impossible task. I've not seen anything like it since Federer in his heyday, who is a man who has now it seems past his best, although he did produce some fine tennis against Djokovic in the semi-final.
But the question now remains: can Djokovic dominate the other surfaces now? As we know Nadal is still the king of clay, so he will have to work pretty hard to defeat him, even on grass Roger Federer could make a resrugance, its hard to say, but if Djokovic can, he will be number 1 easily by the end of the year. Its a shame for Murray too, as he's worked so hard to try and win a grand slam, but I think Novak has ended that dream altogether for him, unless Djoky gets injured before a slam, then maybe he might get a chance, but its looking mega doubtful.
But I have to say a big well done to Djokovic, he has proved himself to be a truly great player this year alone, his country winning the Davis Cup, winning the Australian Open, victory at Dubai and now Indian Wells, its best the start to a year one player could ever have dreamed of. Novak said after his Aussie win, he is a tennis player and he believes in the dream, and he has certainly proved it. Doubtless he will win at Miami as well, the hard court season is his, we'll see how the rest of the year pans out for him, but I think things are looking ultra bright for the Djoker.
On a final note of the Indian Wells tournament, I was really pleased to see Alexandr Dolgopolov take his first tennis title with Xavier Malisse, winning the men's doubles against the Swiss team Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka. The two of them went on an unstoppable run of their own, defeating all the top singles players playing doubles enroute including the world best doubles players, the Bryan brothers, as well as the Murrays, and finally Roger and Stan. It was a big win for a first title, so well done to the Dog, he is up and coming too.
Moving onto the WTA tennis at Indian Wells, Caroline Wozniacki took her first title there in the woman's single finals. I must admit I wasn't so keen to watch the final because I thought it would be a pushover for Wozniacki as most of her matches appear to be, so I thought it would be a short and disappointing final, but it was actually far from it, as it was stretched to a 3 set battle packed with some terrific rallies, the match lasting 2 hours and 8 minutes. In fact it was so good I thought the much anticipated Nadal vs Djokovic showdown paled in comparison. In the final Caroline faced off a very tough opponent in Marion Bartoli, who after blowing her off the court in the first set, Bartoli came back into the game and blew Wozniacki off the court in the second set! Leaving the world number 1 needing to dig down and fight back in the 3rd set, where she battled it out with a tired but still game Bartoli, with the final result 6-1 2-6 6-3. It was good to see Caroline earn her title as I always felt a bit frustrated by seeing some of her easy winnings in the past, but with more at steak, the opponents will take up the fight and it certainly was a great match, in fact it was one of the best matches I've seen this year so far, so well done to Caroline. One advantage I must say the runners up of the men and woman singles have is at least they don't have to hold that massive bloody glass trophy as it looks like it weighs a ton!!
I also really admired Marion Bartoli's battle and her tennis play throughout the tournament has been pretty strong so it was good to see her in a final as prestigious as the BNP Paribas Open. Unfortunately for Marion, Caroline was a much fitter more agile opponent but she put up a great fight and I'll certainly be watching her with interest from now on. I also really like her style of playing which is very unorthodox, she always uses a two handed forehand and backhand, fires shots with great speed and aggression at different angles, as well as her quirky on court behaviour such as jumping up and down on the spot, swinging her racquet, and her unusual but very balletic serve. Which is another great thing about Bartoli and players similar to her who are unorthodox in style, such as Gael Monfils, Alexandr Dolgopolov, they bring something fresh and interesting to tennis, which is always welcome.
Anyway enough of my tennis ramblings. More will doubtless follow when the Sony Ericsson Open rears.
Monday, 21 March 2011
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Acting and guess what? Yep, tennis!!!
OK acting first cos my tennis paragraphs always are bigger, and yes I know its become a real obssession of me, or OTD if you like, but I'll try make the tennis one a bit shorter (well no one is reading this anyway, that I know if that is!).
So yesterday I helped Richard Pears, who of course directed Abigail's Party and The Glass Menagerie in the Patter Merchants drama group, with filming a short coporate video for a friend of his Del Shields, who works for Dell (Del of Dell eh?). The video I think is about trying to make Dell sales people or staff to be aware of the customer's needs when it comes to IT solutions in their business, and I was a plumber with a small business looking to expand, and in the next scene I am dressed as a businessman (still the plumber) who's business has grown. Now this video all in all wouldn't be more than 5 minutes in total, but by heck it was one tough shoot for me, since I've not done any acting in front of the camera before (although it was just a wee digicam). I wasn't so worried about the camera being there, morely about trying to remember my lines!! As every time I got to a certain paragraph or sentence I lost the thread, so it was a case of one hundred takes at least (well maybe not quite but couldn't be far off!). All in all it took over four hours for me to be able to finally deliver all the stuff Richard needed, so it was the toughest thing by far I've done in acting yet! Despite that it was fun to do and a good challenge to finally do some acting in front of the camera, so best of luck to Del and Richard with their video, I might end up on TV yet (big gulp!!!).
Anyway onto the tennis with the ATP/WTA Indian Wells Masters now into the semi finals for the ATP and the soon the upcoming finals for the WTA. First the ATP which saw the first quarter finals get under way with Novak Djokovic taking on Richard Gasquet, who gave Djoky a little bit more trouble than his previous opponents, with a straigh sets defeat of 6-2 6-4, but it was still as comfortable win for Novak. And in the other quarter final Roger Federer successfully took on his fellow Swiss friend Stanislas Wawrinka, whom he comfortably defeated in straight sets 6-3 6-4, ironically his game took just over an hour, as Djoky's took 1 hour 35 minutes! So that sets up a very intruiging semi final between Fed and Djok, with the odds stacked in Djokovic's favour I have to say since he's beaten Federer in their last two meetings but who knows. Also Nadal faces next the resurging Del Potro, which could be a very tough match for Nadal, infact this could be one of the most exciting matches of the tournament if it goes the distance, it also could be a replay of the US Open 2009 if Del Potro beats Nadal and Federer makes it into the final. If so could Del Potro win this time too?? We'll see.
Onto the the WTA, Caroline Wozniacki again comfortably breezed through to the finals against Maria Sharapova, winning in 6-1 6-2, much as I appreciate Wozniacki's skill, her one sided matches can be boring to watch as she doesn't have enough tight matches to really challenge her. Marion Bartoli is set to take her on in the final, but as I remember in Dubai, Wozniacki steamrolled over her, which means this could be another quick Wozniacki demolition job, which could make for another one sided match, I hope not cos it would be great to see Bartoli really take her on. But we shall see.
Right that is enough for now.
So yesterday I helped Richard Pears, who of course directed Abigail's Party and The Glass Menagerie in the Patter Merchants drama group, with filming a short coporate video for a friend of his Del Shields, who works for Dell (Del of Dell eh?). The video I think is about trying to make Dell sales people or staff to be aware of the customer's needs when it comes to IT solutions in their business, and I was a plumber with a small business looking to expand, and in the next scene I am dressed as a businessman (still the plumber) who's business has grown. Now this video all in all wouldn't be more than 5 minutes in total, but by heck it was one tough shoot for me, since I've not done any acting in front of the camera before (although it was just a wee digicam). I wasn't so worried about the camera being there, morely about trying to remember my lines!! As every time I got to a certain paragraph or sentence I lost the thread, so it was a case of one hundred takes at least (well maybe not quite but couldn't be far off!). All in all it took over four hours for me to be able to finally deliver all the stuff Richard needed, so it was the toughest thing by far I've done in acting yet! Despite that it was fun to do and a good challenge to finally do some acting in front of the camera, so best of luck to Del and Richard with their video, I might end up on TV yet (big gulp!!!).
Anyway onto the tennis with the ATP/WTA Indian Wells Masters now into the semi finals for the ATP and the soon the upcoming finals for the WTA. First the ATP which saw the first quarter finals get under way with Novak Djokovic taking on Richard Gasquet, who gave Djoky a little bit more trouble than his previous opponents, with a straigh sets defeat of 6-2 6-4, but it was still as comfortable win for Novak. And in the other quarter final Roger Federer successfully took on his fellow Swiss friend Stanislas Wawrinka, whom he comfortably defeated in straight sets 6-3 6-4, ironically his game took just over an hour, as Djoky's took 1 hour 35 minutes! So that sets up a very intruiging semi final between Fed and Djok, with the odds stacked in Djokovic's favour I have to say since he's beaten Federer in their last two meetings but who knows. Also Nadal faces next the resurging Del Potro, which could be a very tough match for Nadal, infact this could be one of the most exciting matches of the tournament if it goes the distance, it also could be a replay of the US Open 2009 if Del Potro beats Nadal and Federer makes it into the final. If so could Del Potro win this time too?? We'll see.
Onto the the WTA, Caroline Wozniacki again comfortably breezed through to the finals against Maria Sharapova, winning in 6-1 6-2, much as I appreciate Wozniacki's skill, her one sided matches can be boring to watch as she doesn't have enough tight matches to really challenge her. Marion Bartoli is set to take her on in the final, but as I remember in Dubai, Wozniacki steamrolled over her, which means this could be another quick Wozniacki demolition job, which could make for another one sided match, I hope not cos it would be great to see Bartoli really take her on. But we shall see.
Right that is enough for now.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Bugsy, wee bit a acting and more tennis!
Not feeling so well today think I picked up some kind of bug (its hard to know just what bugs they are!), as I had an upset stomach earlier on, I feel a bit better now but my head still feels not quite right, so I think I will stay off work tomorrow. Unfortunately that means I will need to cancel my exam for the A+ Practical Applications course, which I was hoping to get out of the way, but I guess needs must and its better to sit and pass it when I feel better.
On the acting side things are a bit busier again as I've got a part in a play coming up with the theatre group Estrado, as they are putting on an adaptation of playwright Jim Cartwright's play Road. Road was originally based in Thatcher's England back in the 80s and how the lives of the unemployed felt totally disaffected by the government. Its a big cast with over 35 people in it, so I'm very much looking forward to taking part in it, as I will be playing the part of McVay, a nosy cantankerous neighbour, probably much like a younger version of Mr Heckles from Friends (except he has a wife of course and is probably much dimmer). But anyway rehearsals will start very soon so it should be fun. Also I will be helping out my ol Patter Merchants director, Richard Pears with a short coporate video he's making for a friend, so I've to do that hopefully this Friday, which will make my first foray into acting in front of the camera. Yikes! Just hope I feel better enough to do it by then.
Finally onto more tennis coverage, I've been watching it once again. There have been quite a few good matches, a few upsets along the way too lately. Robin Soderling for example was knocked out yesterday by the German player Philipp Kholschreiber, today Jelena Jankovic the defending champion for the ladies title has been knocked out by fellow-ess Serbain Ana Ivanovic, and finally Kim Clijsters has retired from the tournament due to a shoulder injury while playing Marion Bartoli. But one man who is almost certain to win this tournament and in the singles matches hasn't even dropped a set yet is Novak Djokovic. To say that Djokovic has been on form ever since his victory at the Australian Open is an understatement, I've never seen Djoky play so confidently or aggressively since before this year. His last two matches at Indian Wells has seen him utterly crush his opponents, with his latest win over Ernests Gulbis he steamrolled over him with a 6-0 6-1 win and the same again against his doubles partner and compatriot Victor Troicki in 6-0 6-1. I think its a safe bet that Djokovic might take the Indian Wells title, but it remains to be seen, he will overcome Federer I'm sure, but he might end up playing Rafa in the final or even the returning to form Del Potro, although Djoky is playing so well I don't think Del Potro would upset him too much, whatever way it goes it will interesting to see how it turns out.
And that's enough for noow.
On the acting side things are a bit busier again as I've got a part in a play coming up with the theatre group Estrado, as they are putting on an adaptation of playwright Jim Cartwright's play Road. Road was originally based in Thatcher's England back in the 80s and how the lives of the unemployed felt totally disaffected by the government. Its a big cast with over 35 people in it, so I'm very much looking forward to taking part in it, as I will be playing the part of McVay, a nosy cantankerous neighbour, probably much like a younger version of Mr Heckles from Friends (except he has a wife of course and is probably much dimmer). But anyway rehearsals will start very soon so it should be fun. Also I will be helping out my ol Patter Merchants director, Richard Pears with a short coporate video he's making for a friend, so I've to do that hopefully this Friday, which will make my first foray into acting in front of the camera. Yikes! Just hope I feel better enough to do it by then.
Finally onto more tennis coverage, I've been watching it once again. There have been quite a few good matches, a few upsets along the way too lately. Robin Soderling for example was knocked out yesterday by the German player Philipp Kholschreiber, today Jelena Jankovic the defending champion for the ladies title has been knocked out by fellow-ess Serbain Ana Ivanovic, and finally Kim Clijsters has retired from the tournament due to a shoulder injury while playing Marion Bartoli. But one man who is almost certain to win this tournament and in the singles matches hasn't even dropped a set yet is Novak Djokovic. To say that Djokovic has been on form ever since his victory at the Australian Open is an understatement, I've never seen Djoky play so confidently or aggressively since before this year. His last two matches at Indian Wells has seen him utterly crush his opponents, with his latest win over Ernests Gulbis he steamrolled over him with a 6-0 6-1 win and the same again against his doubles partner and compatriot Victor Troicki in 6-0 6-1. I think its a safe bet that Djokovic might take the Indian Wells title, but it remains to be seen, he will overcome Federer I'm sure, but he might end up playing Rafa in the final or even the returning to form Del Potro, although Djoky is playing so well I don't think Del Potro would upset him too much, whatever way it goes it will interesting to see how it turns out.
And that's enough for noow.
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Achhh Murrayyyy!!
Dear oh dear, well that's another great upset for British tennis this weekend with Andy Murray again struggling to keep his head above board by losing in straight sets in his first match at the Indian Wells Masters, having been defeated by the unseeded Donald Young by 6-7 3-6.
Already I can see a familiar pattern to last year after Murray suffered his first defeat at the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, although this year Murray says he is in better frame of mind than he was last year, and judging by interviews I've seen he does appear to be. But it hasn't helped with his game, having both crashed out in Rotterdam and now Indian Wells it really makes you wonder about Murray and how well did he take his defeat at the Aussie open. He had said that while working with his trainers that he has changed a few small things in his game and tactics, but obviously they didn't work, which brings back the old maxim: if ain't broke don't fix it!
I do sincerely hope Murray can come back from this sudden slump, its the Miami Masters in two weeks time, but if he falls again at the first hurdle it really will be worrying for him not only that it could affect his world ranking and see him plummet out of the top 10 into the 100 even. On a more positive note though he has been performing well as a doubles player as he got to the semi final of the Rotterdam tournament with Jamie Murray last month, and already they have won their first two games at Indian Wells, which means they are now into the quarter finals, maybe they can do better here as well, it would really be satisfying if they managed to claim the tournament trophy for the doubles, probably not but you never know, it would also be a nice comeback against been defeated by Rafa and Djokovic, should Andy (with Jamie) face either of them in the next doubles meetings and defeat them! But again we'll just need to wait and see.
But Murray hasn't been alone in the knockout department, David Ferrer, the world number 6 also has been knocked out in his first singles match at Indian Wells, in addition to that were two players within the top 20, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis. But its Murray belief system on court that really needs re-examining, whether he is defeated in a grand slam or a masters tournament he just needs to press on and not let it get to him and affect his game. Perhaps he can sort himself out for Miami in two weeks time, but frankly who knows? One thing we know for certain is Murray despite a few lapses is without a doubt a top player and one of the best British players in the history of the game, and while he hasn't won a major, he has made 3 grand slam finals and he has won 6 ATP Masters titles, which is more than most British players have won in their lifetime. In fact its more than most of the top 10 players just now, Soderling has only won one, Tsonga one, Ferrer none, Berdych one and so on, it does show the guy has undeniable talent, but winning a grand slam is sheer pressue for any top player no matter how good they are. Anyway regardless Murray hopefully will regroup for Miami. So watch this space.
One good piece of news from the Indian Wells tournament was seeing the growing resurgence of Juan Martin Del Potro, as he successfully defeated last year's defending champion Ivan Ljubicic in 3 sets, which shows gentle Argentinian giant coming back into the foreground. This could indeed be the start of a really good year for Del Potro, he could even possibly be within a shout of winning this tournament if he carries on the way he is playing, sealing his potential first Masters win. More space watching ahead. :-)
Another good bit of news is of course the WTA coverage of Indian Wells is on Eurosport ramorra so I can start watching that, it would be good to follow the mens tennis but sadly I don't have Sky Sports, but I'm sure the ladies tennis will be just as good to watch. So yet more space watching looms.
Anyhoow I'm looking forward to the remainder of this tournament to see how it pans out, can Del Potro win the singles? Can the Murray brothers take the doubles trophy? We'll see, stranger things have already happened. So watch.... ok that's enough!
Already I can see a familiar pattern to last year after Murray suffered his first defeat at the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, although this year Murray says he is in better frame of mind than he was last year, and judging by interviews I've seen he does appear to be. But it hasn't helped with his game, having both crashed out in Rotterdam and now Indian Wells it really makes you wonder about Murray and how well did he take his defeat at the Aussie open. He had said that while working with his trainers that he has changed a few small things in his game and tactics, but obviously they didn't work, which brings back the old maxim: if ain't broke don't fix it!
I do sincerely hope Murray can come back from this sudden slump, its the Miami Masters in two weeks time, but if he falls again at the first hurdle it really will be worrying for him not only that it could affect his world ranking and see him plummet out of the top 10 into the 100 even. On a more positive note though he has been performing well as a doubles player as he got to the semi final of the Rotterdam tournament with Jamie Murray last month, and already they have won their first two games at Indian Wells, which means they are now into the quarter finals, maybe they can do better here as well, it would really be satisfying if they managed to claim the tournament trophy for the doubles, probably not but you never know, it would also be a nice comeback against been defeated by Rafa and Djokovic, should Andy (with Jamie) face either of them in the next doubles meetings and defeat them! But again we'll just need to wait and see.
But Murray hasn't been alone in the knockout department, David Ferrer, the world number 6 also has been knocked out in his first singles match at Indian Wells, in addition to that were two players within the top 20, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis. But its Murray belief system on court that really needs re-examining, whether he is defeated in a grand slam or a masters tournament he just needs to press on and not let it get to him and affect his game. Perhaps he can sort himself out for Miami in two weeks time, but frankly who knows? One thing we know for certain is Murray despite a few lapses is without a doubt a top player and one of the best British players in the history of the game, and while he hasn't won a major, he has made 3 grand slam finals and he has won 6 ATP Masters titles, which is more than most British players have won in their lifetime. In fact its more than most of the top 10 players just now, Soderling has only won one, Tsonga one, Ferrer none, Berdych one and so on, it does show the guy has undeniable talent, but winning a grand slam is sheer pressue for any top player no matter how good they are. Anyway regardless Murray hopefully will regroup for Miami. So watch this space.
One good piece of news from the Indian Wells tournament was seeing the growing resurgence of Juan Martin Del Potro, as he successfully defeated last year's defending champion Ivan Ljubicic in 3 sets, which shows gentle Argentinian giant coming back into the foreground. This could indeed be the start of a really good year for Del Potro, he could even possibly be within a shout of winning this tournament if he carries on the way he is playing, sealing his potential first Masters win. More space watching ahead. :-)
Another good bit of news is of course the WTA coverage of Indian Wells is on Eurosport ramorra so I can start watching that, it would be good to follow the mens tennis but sadly I don't have Sky Sports, but I'm sure the ladies tennis will be just as good to watch. So yet more space watching looms.
Anyhoow I'm looking forward to the remainder of this tournament to see how it pans out, can Del Potro win the singles? Can the Murray brothers take the doubles trophy? We'll see, stranger things have already happened. So watch.... ok that's enough!
Sunday, 27 February 2011
True Grit and more tennis!!
Went and saw True Grit yesterday at the pics in Cineworld, and despite the massive queue to get in (well it was a Saturday afternoon, in fact can't believe the difference between that place and Clydebank where there is hardly anyone and you can stroll in!).
And as it was a Cohen brothers movie it was quite entertaining, while certainly not their best movie it was definitely worth a watch. Having not seen the original I can't say how it compared, but I thought overall Jeff Bridges gave a fine performance as the old chiselled veteran marshall Rooster Cogburn (even though you can't make out what he says half the time!). The rest of the cast were also fairly impressive with Matt Damon (I didn't even recognise him at first!) as a Texas ranger, and most notably the young Hailee Steinfield as the plucky girl Mattie who calls upon Cogburn's services to bring back the man who killed her dad, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) to justice. I thought it was high time the Cohens did a Western as they have sometimes had an affinity about making films about people from the South so why not do a Western. The tone of the film is also surprisingly fairly light hearted for the Cohen's while they are no stranger to comedy there is always a dark tone to their movies, but despite a couple of moments, its all rather jaunty and pleasant. As usual visually its a very appealing movie as the superb Roger Deakins provides the cinematography duties again and Carter Burwell also produces a fine elegiac score befitting the period. The only downsides as I said were the western accents are pretty thick so its hard to make out what some of the characters are saying, particularly Jeff Bridges and or two others, also the timeline of the film appears to be askew, as the young girl Mattie at the end of the film is supposed to be 40, but the woman playing her appears much older! Also Josh Brolin's part in the film was very small, surprisingly he was only in it for maybe 10 minutes at the most! Doubtless his fee for the film would have been very good!
Regardless of that True Grit is an enjoyable Cohen brothers pic, while not worthy of their best work, it is a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
Moving onto the tennis once again, I caught up with watching the finals of the Qatar Ladies Open today, and was really pleased to see that Vera Zvonareva (my fav female tennis player at the mo, and rather nice) defeat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets scoring 6-4 6-4. It was quite a good final although I think the windy conditions made it difficult for the match to really flow, as both girls kept making alot of unforced errors and double faults. But therein I think Vera was able to hold her own in those conditions while Wozniacki struggled to as she was broken several times, it was also good to see her be challenged, and having to respond. Admittedly I did feel a bit sorry for Caroline toward the end when she tried to return a shot in a rally and she lost her balance and missed the ball which bounced just within the baseline, and in frustration she slammed her racquet down. But in the end I think Vera deserved the title, she battled through two tough matches in the quarter and semi finals and she held her composure and pulled through. Also it was her first title in over a year, so well done lass!
Speaking of first titles in a while, I was also pleased to see the return of Juan Martin Del Potro, who this year has made his comeback after a serious wrist injury in 2010 knocked him out of play for the year. After undergoing surgery, he's now back in the game and he won his first title tonight at Delray Beach since winning the US Open in 2009 against Federer. It must be one of the quickest return up the rankings in a while as Del Potro started off the year as about 486, and after making 2 semi-finals this year and winning at Delray Beach, his ranking will go back up to within the top 100. This year could also potentially see Del Potro resurging back into winning the Masters tournaments, if not a Grand Slam, well perhaps not, but you never know. Federer and Nadal watch out!
Speaking of which, onto the last tennis tournament of the weekend I'll mention, it was good to see Djokovic carry on his winning streak at Dubai as he defeated Federer in straight sets 6-3 6-3, proving once again how formidable his standard has become. This has to be Djokovic's year, if he carries this on he will certainly win a couple of Grand Slam titles, so Wimbledon and US Open definitely might be in the cards. Unless Del Potro beats him there first, mind you that could take a miracle for that to happen again, but as Federer once said "tennis is a crazy game".
Anyway enough blogging for one night. Tara!
And as it was a Cohen brothers movie it was quite entertaining, while certainly not their best movie it was definitely worth a watch. Having not seen the original I can't say how it compared, but I thought overall Jeff Bridges gave a fine performance as the old chiselled veteran marshall Rooster Cogburn (even though you can't make out what he says half the time!). The rest of the cast were also fairly impressive with Matt Damon (I didn't even recognise him at first!) as a Texas ranger, and most notably the young Hailee Steinfield as the plucky girl Mattie who calls upon Cogburn's services to bring back the man who killed her dad, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) to justice. I thought it was high time the Cohens did a Western as they have sometimes had an affinity about making films about people from the South so why not do a Western. The tone of the film is also surprisingly fairly light hearted for the Cohen's while they are no stranger to comedy there is always a dark tone to their movies, but despite a couple of moments, its all rather jaunty and pleasant. As usual visually its a very appealing movie as the superb Roger Deakins provides the cinematography duties again and Carter Burwell also produces a fine elegiac score befitting the period. The only downsides as I said were the western accents are pretty thick so its hard to make out what some of the characters are saying, particularly Jeff Bridges and or two others, also the timeline of the film appears to be askew, as the young girl Mattie at the end of the film is supposed to be 40, but the woman playing her appears much older! Also Josh Brolin's part in the film was very small, surprisingly he was only in it for maybe 10 minutes at the most! Doubtless his fee for the film would have been very good!
Regardless of that True Grit is an enjoyable Cohen brothers pic, while not worthy of their best work, it is a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
Moving onto the tennis once again, I caught up with watching the finals of the Qatar Ladies Open today, and was really pleased to see that Vera Zvonareva (my fav female tennis player at the mo, and rather nice) defeat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets scoring 6-4 6-4. It was quite a good final although I think the windy conditions made it difficult for the match to really flow, as both girls kept making alot of unforced errors and double faults. But therein I think Vera was able to hold her own in those conditions while Wozniacki struggled to as she was broken several times, it was also good to see her be challenged, and having to respond. Admittedly I did feel a bit sorry for Caroline toward the end when she tried to return a shot in a rally and she lost her balance and missed the ball which bounced just within the baseline, and in frustration she slammed her racquet down. But in the end I think Vera deserved the title, she battled through two tough matches in the quarter and semi finals and she held her composure and pulled through. Also it was her first title in over a year, so well done lass!
Speaking of first titles in a while, I was also pleased to see the return of Juan Martin Del Potro, who this year has made his comeback after a serious wrist injury in 2010 knocked him out of play for the year. After undergoing surgery, he's now back in the game and he won his first title tonight at Delray Beach since winning the US Open in 2009 against Federer. It must be one of the quickest return up the rankings in a while as Del Potro started off the year as about 486, and after making 2 semi-finals this year and winning at Delray Beach, his ranking will go back up to within the top 100. This year could also potentially see Del Potro resurging back into winning the Masters tournaments, if not a Grand Slam, well perhaps not, but you never know. Federer and Nadal watch out!
Speaking of which, onto the last tennis tournament of the weekend I'll mention, it was good to see Djokovic carry on his winning streak at Dubai as he defeated Federer in straight sets 6-3 6-3, proving once again how formidable his standard has become. This has to be Djokovic's year, if he carries this on he will certainly win a couple of Grand Slam titles, so Wimbledon and US Open definitely might be in the cards. Unless Del Potro beats him there first, mind you that could take a miracle for that to happen again, but as Federer once said "tennis is a crazy game".
Anyway enough blogging for one night. Tara!
Friday, 25 February 2011
Sketches, exams and wummin's tennis!
Well its been a fairly busy time of late, as I'm studying away on my IT apprenticeship program with Whitebox Digital, and I will be resitting my A+ Certification exam(s) this Thursday coming, well one of them, as I previously sat these exam 6 years ago. But since then there's been alot of updates so I needed to retake the course, so hoping to get a pass next week, otherwise its £64 I'll need to fork out to resit it!
Other news is due to my studying its not managed to leave much time for the acting side of things, but I will be performing a Monty Python sketch, the argument clinic one, with fellow Ramshorn member Will Spiers at the Ramshorn's comedy a la carte next Sunday. So far we've had one rehearsal and it was great fun, but the sketch is a tricky one due to the rapid back and forth nature of the dialogue, but the scene is pretty much in my head, it just remains to just batter it out amongst ourselves. It will be fun just hoping we do great job, which we should (we will, Will!). I also recently auditioned for Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy at the Ramshorn as well, unfortunately I didn't get a part in it, but I guess you can't win them all. Rather disappointing as I've been a fan of the show for years and me and my friend Stephen recorded a version of it years ago when we were both teenagers. Ironically I also had some people actually tell me I would be perfect for the part of Arthur Dent, but I guess I lost out to the "favourites", but that's the way it goes, regardless it should be a good fun show and I'll look forward to seeing next month.
Finally onto my latest crazed addiction, which is nothing other than the tennis, in fact my addiction has reached to the extent I am now watching the women's tennis as well. And I'm pleased to say its pretty much as good as the men's tennis, admittedy the fact they only play the best of 3 sets in Grand Slams is actually irrelevant, as 3 set matches can last almost as long as 5 setters at a real push, as Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kunetsova's match during in the Australian Open proved, as it lasted nearly 5 hours! Also unfortuantely due to Eurosport only covering the women's tennis, I can't watch the men's unless I had Sky Sports but I guess in a way its no big deal.
While the men's players have some true greats such as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic and Murray, the women's tennis also has some real greats just now, such as Kim Clijsters, Francesca Schiavone, Jelena Jankovic, and my current fav Vera Zvonareva (pretty nice she is too!). In fact I've been watching the ladies open at Qatar all week and its been pretty good overall, but Vera's games have been the real highlights, especially her great 3 hour long quarter final yesterday with Huntachova, and today's semi with Jelena Jankovic. Unfortunately the one woman's player I'm not as impressed with or frustrated with is the current number 1 Caroline Wozniacki, while she is a great player, I get frustrated at how one-sided alot of her matches are. I guess its good to see a great player play really well, but she breezes through alot of her matches too easily, it would be better to see her get challenged more, but alot of the player's seem to fold under her game. It just makes the match more disappointing and boring to watch, Vera plays her in the final tomorrow at Qatar, but no doubt Wozniacki will beat her, but I hope Vera gives her a mighty hard time in the process.
Acchh anyway that's enough for one posting, later.
Other news is due to my studying its not managed to leave much time for the acting side of things, but I will be performing a Monty Python sketch, the argument clinic one, with fellow Ramshorn member Will Spiers at the Ramshorn's comedy a la carte next Sunday. So far we've had one rehearsal and it was great fun, but the sketch is a tricky one due to the rapid back and forth nature of the dialogue, but the scene is pretty much in my head, it just remains to just batter it out amongst ourselves. It will be fun just hoping we do great job, which we should (we will, Will!). I also recently auditioned for Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy at the Ramshorn as well, unfortunately I didn't get a part in it, but I guess you can't win them all. Rather disappointing as I've been a fan of the show for years and me and my friend Stephen recorded a version of it years ago when we were both teenagers. Ironically I also had some people actually tell me I would be perfect for the part of Arthur Dent, but I guess I lost out to the "favourites", but that's the way it goes, regardless it should be a good fun show and I'll look forward to seeing next month.
Finally onto my latest crazed addiction, which is nothing other than the tennis, in fact my addiction has reached to the extent I am now watching the women's tennis as well. And I'm pleased to say its pretty much as good as the men's tennis, admittedy the fact they only play the best of 3 sets in Grand Slams is actually irrelevant, as 3 set matches can last almost as long as 5 setters at a real push, as Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kunetsova's match during in the Australian Open proved, as it lasted nearly 5 hours! Also unfortuantely due to Eurosport only covering the women's tennis, I can't watch the men's unless I had Sky Sports but I guess in a way its no big deal.
While the men's players have some true greats such as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic and Murray, the women's tennis also has some real greats just now, such as Kim Clijsters, Francesca Schiavone, Jelena Jankovic, and my current fav Vera Zvonareva (pretty nice she is too!). In fact I've been watching the ladies open at Qatar all week and its been pretty good overall, but Vera's games have been the real highlights, especially her great 3 hour long quarter final yesterday with Huntachova, and today's semi with Jelena Jankovic. Unfortunately the one woman's player I'm not as impressed with or frustrated with is the current number 1 Caroline Wozniacki, while she is a great player, I get frustrated at how one-sided alot of her matches are. I guess its good to see a great player play really well, but she breezes through alot of her matches too easily, it would be better to see her get challenged more, but alot of the player's seem to fold under her game. It just makes the match more disappointing and boring to watch, Vera plays her in the final tomorrow at Qatar, but no doubt Wozniacki will beat her, but I hope Vera gives her a mighty hard time in the process.
Acchh anyway that's enough for one posting, later.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Jack Bauer's last 24
WARNING: PLOT SPOILERS AHEEED!
Well this weekend I finished watching the last season of 24, which brought an end to one America's most entertaining and enthralling, yet preposterously over the top series. Perhaps that was one of the flaws of the series, at the start 24 was quite incredible but as the series progressed the scenarios get more outlandish. Jack Bauer has been through more than most soldiers in war have even gone through in their lives maybe! (well perhaps not). One of the minuses of the show in a way has always been that annoying digital clock which chimes throughout the show, I can swear the clock is actually saying "Cheekbones, cheekbones". Listen to it, I maybe mad but I can swear it is lol!
But I must admit I always get a kick out of the watching it, especially when the main baddie gets their comuppenace from Jack, or Jack torturing one of the real bad guys of the show. Although I do think at times 24 crossed the uncomfortable line of what is acceptable in a TV show and what isn't, as torture is a frequent inclusion of the show, and Jack Bauer is frequently shown as a man who will do whatever it takes to get information out of one of his enemies. Its also funny how you see Jack go from a loving family man with a daughter and looking for her, to becoming a vicious agent who will shoot, garrote, torture to get what he needs. One such incident in the last series (PLOT SPOILER coming up!) is when his lover Renee is killed by an assassin, Jack eventually captures the assassin, whom he beats, attacks with pliers, sprays with oil and a blowtorch, and finally disembowls him in order to obtain a SIM card from the man's chest. By 24 torture standards that one was pretty strong.
All the same the show was great for melding its multiple plot strands together, also many of the major twists and turns involving the main characters over the years can be quite thrilling and unpredictable. Some of the best characters of course have included the seemingly good Nina Myers who went on and killed Jack's wife (Jack gets revenge and shoots her in season 3 of course), President Palmer, a man of strong conviction and decency, although he resigns his presidency and later only to be assissinated. Jack Buchanan, another decent guy who later on also gets killed in an act of self sacrifice during an attack at the Whitehouse. And of course there is Tony Almeida, who once was the Director of CTU and also a decent guy, but he turns bad in Season 7 after he felt betrayed by the Government after the death of his wife.
But of course one of the best characters of all is Chloe O'Brien, the mouthy analyst who helps Jack immeasurably throughout the show, she may engage mouth before brain, but she sure has a brain! Chloe quite often was the most intelligent character in the show as she frequently showed great tenacity as well as technical skill. Of course she has some ludicrous moments as well, one of which I think was in season 4 when she was in a position where she had to kill a bad guy, so she took out an M14 (or whatever the gun was) and blew the guy away. Ridiculous but great fun of course.
Which also reminds me of one of the show's most ridiculous scenes where Jack dresses in full bullet proof armour suit in Series 8 in order to abduct one of the series primary sleaze ball characters. Great stuff but very silly.
In the end though, the show is about basically fighting terror with terror, Jack Bauer is the perfect anti-hero, but he gets the job done, even if he has to kill, maim, torture and dismember as many baddies as he can throughout the show. But 24 has always been about high thrills entertainment, and definitely will be missed after its 9 year long run, a feature film is in the works so we will see how it goes for Jack Bauer in the future.
Well this weekend I finished watching the last season of 24, which brought an end to one America's most entertaining and enthralling, yet preposterously over the top series. Perhaps that was one of the flaws of the series, at the start 24 was quite incredible but as the series progressed the scenarios get more outlandish. Jack Bauer has been through more than most soldiers in war have even gone through in their lives maybe! (well perhaps not). One of the minuses of the show in a way has always been that annoying digital clock which chimes throughout the show, I can swear the clock is actually saying "Cheekbones, cheekbones". Listen to it, I maybe mad but I can swear it is lol!
But I must admit I always get a kick out of the watching it, especially when the main baddie gets their comuppenace from Jack, or Jack torturing one of the real bad guys of the show. Although I do think at times 24 crossed the uncomfortable line of what is acceptable in a TV show and what isn't, as torture is a frequent inclusion of the show, and Jack Bauer is frequently shown as a man who will do whatever it takes to get information out of one of his enemies. Its also funny how you see Jack go from a loving family man with a daughter and looking for her, to becoming a vicious agent who will shoot, garrote, torture to get what he needs. One such incident in the last series (PLOT SPOILER coming up!) is when his lover Renee is killed by an assassin, Jack eventually captures the assassin, whom he beats, attacks with pliers, sprays with oil and a blowtorch, and finally disembowls him in order to obtain a SIM card from the man's chest. By 24 torture standards that one was pretty strong.
All the same the show was great for melding its multiple plot strands together, also many of the major twists and turns involving the main characters over the years can be quite thrilling and unpredictable. Some of the best characters of course have included the seemingly good Nina Myers who went on and killed Jack's wife (Jack gets revenge and shoots her in season 3 of course), President Palmer, a man of strong conviction and decency, although he resigns his presidency and later only to be assissinated. Jack Buchanan, another decent guy who later on also gets killed in an act of self sacrifice during an attack at the Whitehouse. And of course there is Tony Almeida, who once was the Director of CTU and also a decent guy, but he turns bad in Season 7 after he felt betrayed by the Government after the death of his wife.
But of course one of the best characters of all is Chloe O'Brien, the mouthy analyst who helps Jack immeasurably throughout the show, she may engage mouth before brain, but she sure has a brain! Chloe quite often was the most intelligent character in the show as she frequently showed great tenacity as well as technical skill. Of course she has some ludicrous moments as well, one of which I think was in season 4 when she was in a position where she had to kill a bad guy, so she took out an M14 (or whatever the gun was) and blew the guy away. Ridiculous but great fun of course.
Which also reminds me of one of the show's most ridiculous scenes where Jack dresses in full bullet proof armour suit in Series 8 in order to abduct one of the series primary sleaze ball characters. Great stuff but very silly.
In the end though, the show is about basically fighting terror with terror, Jack Bauer is the perfect anti-hero, but he gets the job done, even if he has to kill, maim, torture and dismember as many baddies as he can throughout the show. But 24 has always been about high thrills entertainment, and definitely will be missed after its 9 year long run, a feature film is in the works so we will see how it goes for Jack Bauer in the future.
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