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!

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. 

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.

Ah well another chance gone!

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! :-)  

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!            

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.

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.