The title of my entry kind of says it all for the 2011 Australian Open as far as Andy Murray is concerned as a result of his disappointing final after Novak Djokovic ruthlessly beat him in three straights sets, scoring 6-4 6-2 6-3 against the World No. 5 (strangely enough its the same result David Ferrer won against Nadal!).
As a viewer and a supporter I felt really disappointed for him, but it is high pressure tennis at the highest level and it has to be really tough for him to try and live up to that. I also think even though he can usually play fairly consistently throughout a tournament, when it comes to the Grand Slam finals he just folds under the pressure of the event. Without a doubt it would be daunting for any tennis player. I was really hoping watching Murray play especially in the 1st and 3rd set that he would be able to break back and hold his serve against the formidable Djokovic, but unfortunately for Andy, Novak just outclassed him as a player. This isn't surprising considering that Djokovic had played so consistantly well against all the other players in the tournament only dropping one set, and going by his performance against Federer defeating him also in straight sets, Djokovic appeared unstoppable, and most probably he would have even beaten Nadal even if he was in good form and in the final.
And while Murray certainly didn't give the best account of himself on court, he was just up against a superior opponent, not only to him but everyone else on the tour, but Andy has at least reached another Grand Slam final, his 3rd already, which is far more than most British players have ever managed in their careers. It is in itself no mean feat. But its a shame we didn't get to see the Andy Murray who battled it out like he did in the previous game against David Ferrer, or even his gutsy performance against Nadal last year at the ATP World Tour Finals. That Andy Murray would have had a chance. Instead Murray just looked tired, drained, and beaten pretty much from the word go.
In fact perhaps if Murray played Nadal in the final, just maybe, well maybe not, he would have had a better chance, if he didn't at least beat him, he could have taken a set off him, because Murray has played Nadal alot more and he can go toe to toe with him. And that's probably another reason why Andy got beat as he hasn't played Djokovic in a major, even though he knows his playing style is similar he hasn't seen face to face how he has developed as a player in the Grand Slams as they have always been on the other side of the draw.
But as Djokovic said in his post win interview he is a tennis player and he believes in the dream, and that is something Murray clearly didn't show enough of, again although he claimed he would try and go out on the court calm and relaxed, he resorted to his usual negative responses, beating himself up and swearing indiscriminately to himself, which after a while I found to be a bit annoying (and can he just smile once in a while??? Well ok he did once throughout the match!). It just shows if Murray is going to win he has to re-focus and play with a far more positive attitude, as well as try and improve on his game, specifically his serve and keep up his consistency, on good days he can play great, but its just a shame he can't do that all of the time. But Murray did at least take his loss on the chin better this year, he didn't have to hold back the tears, he just congratulated Djokovic, his team and the fans, and in post interview he said he felt better about it this year, so hopefully this won't affect his attitude for the rest of the year. I don't think it will somehow as Murray's personal life is much happier this year since he rejoined with his girlfriend Kim Sears after their split in 2009, and he has plenty of other things outside tennis in his life, so its just a case of working hard and improving his game, keeping his nerve, and maybe just one day he will get there.
But perhaps not this year though on hard court, as it looks like this could very well be Djokovic's year, he's off to a great start having won his 2nd Australian Grand Slam, so Roger and Rafa will seriously need to watch out this year and so will everyone else, including Murray. And let's not forget Djokovic had a hit a slump in his career a while back, retrained and work really hard with his team and also use to have a negative court attitude, but this is something he has changed around.
The next grand slam isn't until May at the French Open, but clay isn't Murray's best surface, so I'm guessing he will need to wait until Wimbledon before he can try and seize his next chance, but again it will purely depend on his attitude, nerve and ability. We can only hope for the best for Andy and that's about all we can do for him, the rest is up to him, and until he stops beating himself up on court it ain't gonna happen.
Anyway that's the start of the new season for tennis, so we will see how 2011 unravels for the sport, in the meantime I hope Murray has a better year this year, he's off to a good start, so let's hope his loss won't dent the rest of his chances for the year. Best of luck, cheery! :-)
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Murray vs Djoky showdown!
Since last year I've become a bit of a tennis nut, so I've been religiously following the coverage of 2011 Australian Open since it began on 17 January and tomorrow is the big final and Andy Murray is up for one of the biggest matches of his life against the contender and one time Aussie Open Slam winner Novak Djokovic. This Grand Slam is especially exciting because for once the number 1 and 2 seeds, Nadal and Federer have been knocked out the tournament and Andy is playing a player that is closer to his level (Murray is No 5 and Djoky No 3), which means he could come closer to his ultimate goal. Also Murray and Djokovic are both superb hard court players so both have the opportunity to play to their strengths.
But the big question on every one's lip is of course: can Andy Murray actually win this grand slam? Well in my opinion he could very well do it and it would be terrific to see him take the title, but it all depends purely on how well he'll play tomorrow. Andy is also really up against it with the Djokovic, who has played consistantly well throughout this tournament so far and hasn't even dropped a set even when defeating the great Roger Federer. Andy on the other hand has dropped two sets, but despite a few dips in his performance he has also come through the tournament playing really well. But again he did struggle against his semi finalist opponent David Ferrer who put on a gutsy performance yesterday, Andy thankfully did turn it around and found his groove as he played on but he kind of lost it again in the 4th set letting Ferrer back in the game again but ultimately though Ferrer lost in the tiebreaks.
I'm certain that on a level of wanting to win the Australian Open grand slam that both Murray and Djokovic want it really badly in equal measure, but the question for Andy is, does he believe in himself enough? When Murray loses points or sets he tends to beat himself up and get angry at himself, but Djokovic goes out with a more positive attitude (well ok he does get annoyed at times, e.g. he knocked over his chair at Wimbledon last year in the semis in frustration when playing Berdych in the semis). Djokovic said after his semi final match in interview that he does belief in himself and its that sort of belief Andy Murray really needs to show tomorrow in order to win this final. He has the guts to win and he has the ability, and even if he struggles against Djokovic a bit tomorrow, he might just be able to turn it around, but it all boils down to how well he'll play.
So Andy this easier said than done and am not the best person to give this advice but here goes: keep the unforced errors down, hold your serve, keep strong and (I can't believe I'm going to say this) don't stop believin! (Cringe!!!!!!). And don't let Djokovic turns this into a demolition derby for you. Then we might just see that great miracle; the first British player to win a tennis singles grand slam final in 75 years.
Its gonna be a hell of a match, and we are all behind you (well thousands of miles actually! ;-), so the very best of luck tomorrow, sir!
But the big question on every one's lip is of course: can Andy Murray actually win this grand slam? Well in my opinion he could very well do it and it would be terrific to see him take the title, but it all depends purely on how well he'll play tomorrow. Andy is also really up against it with the Djokovic, who has played consistantly well throughout this tournament so far and hasn't even dropped a set even when defeating the great Roger Federer. Andy on the other hand has dropped two sets, but despite a few dips in his performance he has also come through the tournament playing really well. But again he did struggle against his semi finalist opponent David Ferrer who put on a gutsy performance yesterday, Andy thankfully did turn it around and found his groove as he played on but he kind of lost it again in the 4th set letting Ferrer back in the game again but ultimately though Ferrer lost in the tiebreaks.
I'm certain that on a level of wanting to win the Australian Open grand slam that both Murray and Djokovic want it really badly in equal measure, but the question for Andy is, does he believe in himself enough? When Murray loses points or sets he tends to beat himself up and get angry at himself, but Djokovic goes out with a more positive attitude (well ok he does get annoyed at times, e.g. he knocked over his chair at Wimbledon last year in the semis in frustration when playing Berdych in the semis). Djokovic said after his semi final match in interview that he does belief in himself and its that sort of belief Andy Murray really needs to show tomorrow in order to win this final. He has the guts to win and he has the ability, and even if he struggles against Djokovic a bit tomorrow, he might just be able to turn it around, but it all boils down to how well he'll play.
So Andy this easier said than done and am not the best person to give this advice but here goes: keep the unforced errors down, hold your serve, keep strong and (I can't believe I'm going to say this) don't stop believin! (Cringe!!!!!!). And don't let Djokovic turns this into a demolition derby for you. Then we might just see that great miracle; the first British player to win a tennis singles grand slam final in 75 years.
Its gonna be a hell of a match, and we are all behind you (well thousands of miles actually! ;-), so the very best of luck tomorrow, sir!
Sunday, 9 January 2011
The new year
Well its 2011 and its another year, so far of course its too early to tell what is in stock. But already still studying away at my IT apprenticeship, so working hard on that, good also to get a little bit of money for a change. On the acting front not much on the go, but hopefully I will be auditioning for the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy at the Ramshorn (to be put on later in March this year) later this month (here's hoping!) which would be great as I've been a big fan of the Hitch Hiker's for many years (I even still have the original radio script book that came out 25 years ago! Showing my age I think!).
So apart from that, that's all the news fer now, will see how the rest of 2011 goes in future posts. Ta the now.
So apart from that, that's all the news fer now, will see how the rest of 2011 goes in future posts. Ta the now.
Monday, 27 December 2010
Ghost of Xmas past
That's another Christmas out the way then, in a way I'm glad but also in a way a little bit sad, cos it is a nice time of year and it was fun to go down to my sister's house to the wee ones (my nice and nephew wreak total havoc of course!). I've got a bit of a cold too and wasn't feeling so great last night but I'm getting a bit better now. Thankfully we are starting to get a bit of a thaw also but we need a bit more aswell as the ice out there on the pavements is pretty treacherous, so hopefully in January things will turn tropical! Fat chance of course.
Onto other things, not much on the telly, about the best things I've seen where the Peep Show and Tell documentary about the comedy show eveyone (just about) loves with David Mitchell and Robert Webb chatting about the history of the series. The Christmas episode was also quite funny where Mark invites his parents round to tea with disastrous consequences, and poor Dobby his girlfriend (the ever strangely cute Isy Suttie) is subjected to Mark's thoroughly obnoxious father, but the end where he stands up to him is great (the best use of a shredder ever!).
On Christmas day we had the Doctor Who special A Christmas Carol, which to be honest was a bit disappointing, the specials tend not to be too great and this was no real exception. To be fair there were some funny moments, and Matt Smith is still very likeable as the Doctor (especially the bit where he fiddles about with the console at the beginning and he says "there is no such thing as isomorphic" then he tries to work it no avail and says "this is isomorphic!". But the story seemed to be lacking something that the series episodes have, an extra bit of spark and ingenuity. Michael Gambon does very well as the Scrooge part and Katherine Jenkins if nothing else looks rather nice (they had to work in a bit where she sings of course!). I also felt there wasn't enough of Amy and Rory, the Doctor really needs his companions too to keep the dynamics of the show going, and there presence was largely sidelined by the storyline.
Anyways that's it for now will be back soon with more blogging entries.
Onto other things, not much on the telly, about the best things I've seen where the Peep Show and Tell documentary about the comedy show eveyone (just about) loves with David Mitchell and Robert Webb chatting about the history of the series. The Christmas episode was also quite funny where Mark invites his parents round to tea with disastrous consequences, and poor Dobby his girlfriend (the ever strangely cute Isy Suttie) is subjected to Mark's thoroughly obnoxious father, but the end where he stands up to him is great (the best use of a shredder ever!).
On Christmas day we had the Doctor Who special A Christmas Carol, which to be honest was a bit disappointing, the specials tend not to be too great and this was no real exception. To be fair there were some funny moments, and Matt Smith is still very likeable as the Doctor (especially the bit where he fiddles about with the console at the beginning and he says "there is no such thing as isomorphic" then he tries to work it no avail and says "this is isomorphic!". But the story seemed to be lacking something that the series episodes have, an extra bit of spark and ingenuity. Michael Gambon does very well as the Scrooge part and Katherine Jenkins if nothing else looks rather nice (they had to work in a bit where she sings of course!). I also felt there wasn't enough of Amy and Rory, the Doctor really needs his companions too to keep the dynamics of the show going, and there presence was largely sidelined by the storyline.
Anyways that's it for now will be back soon with more blogging entries.
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Apprentice Finale!
The Apprentice Final tonight was very entertaining and a little bit surprising in a way too. The two finalists Chris and Stella, were given the task of creating a brand new alcoholic drink to bring to the over 25 year olds market. With the help of some ex-apprentices (notice the distinct absence of Stuart here!) the two finalists had a surprisingly good level support from their team mates, with little bitching, apart from during Stella's pitch rehearsal. But both of them struggled to come up with their ideas initially, admittedly though both of them were quite good, although I think Chris's idea of an unusual design of drink bottle (shaped like a sharp pyramid type murder weapon!) and the idea of a Prism showing different sides to your life was very innovative. Stella's advert was a little bit bland with her voice over, but during the pitch she did show to be a bit more endearing to the audience, while Chris resorted to his usual dull monotone, he delivered it clearly but it was that one note again, blu blu blu. Regardless both of them did well in leading their teams and pulling together their ideas.
However the surprise was in the final boardroom decision making, when Stella and Chris had to justify why Lord Sugar should hire them, and ok Chris sounded a bit arrogant in his defence and saying he's outperformed everyone and he's the man they come to for everything. But Stella in response launched into a rather personal attack on Chris by saying he wasn't passionate about wanting the job and she was, which I thought was really unfair and it also for me it soured Lord Sugar's decision to make Stella the next apprentice. I would have been a bit more appreciative if Stella didn't make things personal, and I think that really went in Chris's favour when he responded to Stella by saying I didn't talk about you, so keep it to being all about you and not me, he didn't make things personal. That aside though Stella was a very worthy winner as she worked very hard throughout and performed very well in every task. But I was gutted for Chris as well, despite his monotone voice and his own big headedness, he is a nice guy and he also showed plenty of flashes of humour and business innovation and creativity, and I was inclined to want to see him as the winner. But hey ho that's the way it goes.
So that's it for another series, it was a great one, with plenty of different characters and the legendary arrogance and cockiness of the annoying yet amusing twonk that is Stuart Baggs. So here's to next year's contestants heading for Lord Sugar's meat grinder.
However the surprise was in the final boardroom decision making, when Stella and Chris had to justify why Lord Sugar should hire them, and ok Chris sounded a bit arrogant in his defence and saying he's outperformed everyone and he's the man they come to for everything. But Stella in response launched into a rather personal attack on Chris by saying he wasn't passionate about wanting the job and she was, which I thought was really unfair and it also for me it soured Lord Sugar's decision to make Stella the next apprentice. I would have been a bit more appreciative if Stella didn't make things personal, and I think that really went in Chris's favour when he responded to Stella by saying I didn't talk about you, so keep it to being all about you and not me, he didn't make things personal. That aside though Stella was a very worthy winner as she worked very hard throughout and performed very well in every task. But I was gutted for Chris as well, despite his monotone voice and his own big headedness, he is a nice guy and he also showed plenty of flashes of humour and business innovation and creativity, and I was inclined to want to see him as the winner. But hey ho that's the way it goes.
So that's it for another series, it was a great one, with plenty of different characters and the legendary arrogance and cockiness of the annoying yet amusing twonk that is Stuart Baggs. So here's to next year's contestants heading for Lord Sugar's meat grinder.
Helmeeeet
There on Friday I finally managed to get to see one of my favourite bands of recent years (and maybe all time maybe?) Helmet, who played the Cathouse to a small but very enthusiastic audience. I loved their music since I heard them strangely enough back in 2004 when Grand Theft Auto San Andreas came out with Unsung on the soundtrack, and funnily enough that was the opening song of the set. If you want to sound cynical you could say that Helmet are now one old guy and three young guys, but that old guy Page Hamilton (now 50 and sort of looking it) is one heck of musician and still carries a great frontman presence, even breaking in some nice humour and camradarie with the audience
They play a great set with what must have been at least 20 tracks, some of my favs of the night were definitely the oldies from the original Helmet days, especially Ironhead, Wilma's Rainbow, Birth Defect, Milquetoast, and some of the newer songs from Helmet's comeback such as See You Dead and tracks of the new album Seeing Eye Dog. The only sad thing is that due to the Cathouse's opening hours for the nightclub peeps coming in to dance/mosh/drink they had to finish their set early, which left out so many good songs they could have played. To top it off I didn't bring my digital camera for fear of being searched, which I didn't, so I could have got some great pics since its a small venue and your so close to the band, so unfortunately I took some crappy pics on my shitty camera on my mobile.
That aside it was a great gig, and apart from seeing my brother's band a few times this year, its the only other gig I've been to. Hope they don't wait too long before they come back.
They play a great set with what must have been at least 20 tracks, some of my favs of the night were definitely the oldies from the original Helmet days, especially Ironhead, Wilma's Rainbow, Birth Defect, Milquetoast, and some of the newer songs from Helmet's comeback such as See You Dead and tracks of the new album Seeing Eye Dog. The only sad thing is that due to the Cathouse's opening hours for the nightclub peeps coming in to dance/mosh/drink they had to finish their set early, which left out so many good songs they could have played. To top it off I didn't bring my digital camera for fear of being searched, which I didn't, so I could have got some great pics since its a small venue and your so close to the band, so unfortunately I took some crappy pics on my shitty camera on my mobile.
That aside it was a great gig, and apart from seeing my brother's band a few times this year, its the only other gig I've been to. Hope they don't wait too long before they come back.
Friday, 17 December 2010
Hand Baggs at dawn
My favourite episode in the run of any series of the Apprentice is Week 11 - the interview stage, and this year's Week 11 episode did not disappoint. It had plenty of enjoyable highlights as the remaining 5 contestants got grilled by four of Lord Sugar's interviewers, who were the ruthless bulldog Claude, incredibly shrewd Borden, litigation lawyer Alan Watt, and of course the surprise return of Margaret Mountford, Lord Sugar's ex-aide.
Again through the interview process the contestants skeletons were all well and truly dug up, Jamie's 3rd nipple claim, while ridiculous was quite funny but at the same time why bother put it in a CV???? Joanna who actually came off really well in the interviews she did show a complete lack of business knowledge and again she fell foul of the many candidates who do not do their homework and look into Lord Sugar's companies and their history. I mean it doesn't take much to google or look up Wikipedia for him is it??! Chris also came across quite well in his interviews although he did come across as being a bit too self congratulatory of his academic career, while he sorely lacked work experience in the real world, something which Claude grilled him on, but Chris did hold his own and gave very articulate answers throughout. Stella also came through really well as she was the only one who had a complete set of very good interviews, the only complaint was she was a bit of a cold fish and was maybe more suited to a corporate environment.
But I have to devote a whole paragraph to the last but not least candidate, the legendary Stuart Baggs, who throughout the previous 10 weeks showed incredible arrogance, immaturity, as well as some of the best TV cringe comedy moments of recent times. But here Stuart couldn't hide behind his cocky persona, as he got grilled on the comments in his CV where he said he would step over anyone to get ahead, also lying about telling the press about a competitor who went bust when they didn't. But worst of all he lied about having a full telecomms licence for his business, when in fact he didn't have one at all, he just had a simple ISP licence for broadband who anyone could buy for £350. It was great to watch Borden who is usually a very composed interviewer grow more and more impatient with the young Baggster as tried to bluff his way out of this one until he finally admitted he was lying.
Back in the boardroom of course things got ruthless almost straight off starting with Stuart as Lord Sugar berated him for lying about his telecomms licence and some of the arrogant comments he made in his CV, not to mention the stream of bullshit he presented last week in his boardroom BAFTA winning performance. I too felt quite annoyed for Liz last week when I saw just how much this little knob managed to lie his way out of being fired, when he really should have gone last week as he was the one who messed up the most. So after that Lord Sugar fired Stuart without mercy ha ha, good riddance, one of the most satisfying moments in TV this year. :-)
So of the remaining candidates, starting with Joanna, she came off really well when Lord Sugar commended her for starting her own business so young and advised her to stick with it and expand on it and regretfully let her go. Jamie to be honest didn't stand much of a chance with his 3rd nipple but also he was unable to articulate why he should be in the final, just blethered about being a vital cog in a wheel, also he tried to blame everyone else in his life when things went wrong, not exactly a good candidate for the Sugar, he was entertaining though but not apprentice stuff. Which left the two finalists Stella and Chris: To be honest I think they are both very deserving finalists, although I would like to have seen Liz in the final as well, its just a shame that Bawbaggs was too good a bullshitter to have let that happen. Stella while a bit wooden in personality, she is a very strong candidate is able to get things done, is very level headed and she also got commended as one of the best team leaders on the second task. Chris is on the other while being a bit cocky and having a monotonous voice (as Nick said he sounded like a heavy bomber flying home!) is also really good, quite shrewd and also has shown some flashes of personality throughout the process, especially his sob stories in the buying task and eyeing up the German girl and afterwards saying to Liz he'd like to give her some of his bratwhurst (spelling??).
So the final next week, not sure who is going to win, would quite like to see Chris win, but I don't mind which ever way it goes as they are both very good. So here's to the final on Sunday. :-)
Again through the interview process the contestants skeletons were all well and truly dug up, Jamie's 3rd nipple claim, while ridiculous was quite funny but at the same time why bother put it in a CV???? Joanna who actually came off really well in the interviews she did show a complete lack of business knowledge and again she fell foul of the many candidates who do not do their homework and look into Lord Sugar's companies and their history. I mean it doesn't take much to google or look up Wikipedia for him is it??! Chris also came across quite well in his interviews although he did come across as being a bit too self congratulatory of his academic career, while he sorely lacked work experience in the real world, something which Claude grilled him on, but Chris did hold his own and gave very articulate answers throughout. Stella also came through really well as she was the only one who had a complete set of very good interviews, the only complaint was she was a bit of a cold fish and was maybe more suited to a corporate environment.
But I have to devote a whole paragraph to the last but not least candidate, the legendary Stuart Baggs, who throughout the previous 10 weeks showed incredible arrogance, immaturity, as well as some of the best TV cringe comedy moments of recent times. But here Stuart couldn't hide behind his cocky persona, as he got grilled on the comments in his CV where he said he would step over anyone to get ahead, also lying about telling the press about a competitor who went bust when they didn't. But worst of all he lied about having a full telecomms licence for his business, when in fact he didn't have one at all, he just had a simple ISP licence for broadband who anyone could buy for £350. It was great to watch Borden who is usually a very composed interviewer grow more and more impatient with the young Baggster as tried to bluff his way out of this one until he finally admitted he was lying.
Back in the boardroom of course things got ruthless almost straight off starting with Stuart as Lord Sugar berated him for lying about his telecomms licence and some of the arrogant comments he made in his CV, not to mention the stream of bullshit he presented last week in his boardroom BAFTA winning performance. I too felt quite annoyed for Liz last week when I saw just how much this little knob managed to lie his way out of being fired, when he really should have gone last week as he was the one who messed up the most. So after that Lord Sugar fired Stuart without mercy ha ha, good riddance, one of the most satisfying moments in TV this year. :-)
So of the remaining candidates, starting with Joanna, she came off really well when Lord Sugar commended her for starting her own business so young and advised her to stick with it and expand on it and regretfully let her go. Jamie to be honest didn't stand much of a chance with his 3rd nipple but also he was unable to articulate why he should be in the final, just blethered about being a vital cog in a wheel, also he tried to blame everyone else in his life when things went wrong, not exactly a good candidate for the Sugar, he was entertaining though but not apprentice stuff. Which left the two finalists Stella and Chris: To be honest I think they are both very deserving finalists, although I would like to have seen Liz in the final as well, its just a shame that Bawbaggs was too good a bullshitter to have let that happen. Stella while a bit wooden in personality, she is a very strong candidate is able to get things done, is very level headed and she also got commended as one of the best team leaders on the second task. Chris is on the other while being a bit cocky and having a monotonous voice (as Nick said he sounded like a heavy bomber flying home!) is also really good, quite shrewd and also has shown some flashes of personality throughout the process, especially his sob stories in the buying task and eyeing up the German girl and afterwards saying to Liz he'd like to give her some of his bratwhurst (spelling??).
So the final next week, not sure who is going to win, would quite like to see Chris win, but I don't mind which ever way it goes as they are both very good. So here's to the final on Sunday. :-)
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