Saturday 16 October 2010

X Factor

I absolutely hate X Factor but I can't help but admire it. Simon has managed to increase the revenue stream in three more ways
1. Being able to buy the track during the show so even the people who lose are making him money and the winner will have made him money on approximately twelve tracks before they even release their own songs/ album.
2. Setting up a link with Tesco to sell X Factor merchandise and then having one of their employees get through so they can mention the name of the store throughout the show (product placement anyone)
3. Nokia apps exclusively linked to the X Factor
Cynical moi? Certainly. Just see his bank balance explode when X Factor US starts and he tries to ruin their music industry.

Party night

Last night C and K came to visit A and we all went out drinking. I can't remember the last time I was awake for the purposes of drinking and partying at 2 am but it has been a while. Thankfully no hang over or any ill effects.

House situation

It is still for sale. I have had any number of viewings but believe that I need better prepared viewers as if they have even a little more cash they go for a house with an extra reception room but in poor condition.
It is now getting to the point where I am beginning to hate my house and am second guessing every decision. Should I have painted it that way? Is there any thing else I could do? Was that the correct carpet? Did I put the loo seat down and will that affect whether they buy it.
it is also a pain to have it looking immaculate every time I leave and my cupboards are filling up with stuff that is shoved out of the way as there is a viewer coming in a couple of hours.
I JUST WANT IT SOLD.
It is especially annoying as a friend who put their house on the market later than I did have now sold, have had an offer accepted on a house and look like they will be in by Christmas.

Feeling old

This year the new NQT in the department is an ex-student of mine who I started to teach GCSE in my first year of teaching.

The trainee in the department is a girl who I played korfball with and I am sure she was 14 about three years ago but turns up ready to teach aged 22.

Conclusion - I am getting old.

The Town

A team of four lifelong friends — Doug MacRay, James "Jem" Coughlin, Albert "Gloansy" Magloan, and Desmond "Dez" Elden, from the tough streets of Charlestown, a neighborhood in Boston Massachusetts — rob a Cambridge bank, taking bank manager Claire Keesey hostage. After her release, Doug follows Claire and they begin a relationship.

A really promising set up to a film with the promise of level of intrigue as Doug and Claire get more and more friendly with the secret that he took her hostage hanging over them. As she is introduces to more and more of his friends and other hostage takers will she realise what her boyfriend did. Will the tattoo clue she saw during the robbery lead to her an unpalatable conclusion? Will she tell Doug that she thinks one of his friends is a bank robber without realising he is? Will this put her life in danger and how will this affect the friendship between the gang of robbers?

How knows because they decide instead to have lots of guns, shooting and more robberies forsaking tensions for action. A reasonable film but could have been so much better.

The other area that was well used was the scenery of Boston with numerous aerial shots of the down town sky line and the Bunker Hill monument. The shoot out at Fenway Park baseball stadium was another land mark that was used that I had visited and at least when the plot meandered I could admire the scenery and think back to my holiday.

It was also interesting to see the rivalry between the Townies (blue collared Irish immigrant residents) and the Tunies (white collared middle class) with the gentrification of the Charlestown suburb. An interest comment on the movement of people within a city.
And why did we need to know about the tattoo?

Tamara Drewe

A film based on the book "Far from the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy and a graphic novel combining farce, bawdy comedy, silent stoicism, killer cows and two naughty foul mouthed schoolgirls.
Tamara Drewe, a young and attractive journalist, returns home to a small village with the intention of selling her now-deceased mother's house which she has inherited. Locals are amazed at the improvement to her appearance after she had a nose job while away. Andy had been interested in her when she was a girl, and when he sees her now it is clear he is attracted. Across the valley is a neighbour's house where authors stay to work on their stories, but the husband, Nicholas, keeps having affairs while his wife stays at home providing food and lodging for her patrons.
Hilarity ensues and I really enjoyed it. I was surprised by the amount of bad language (am I getting old) although the two school girls stole every scene that they were in. The other scene stealer was the magnificent countryside with the director using it at every turn and producing a film that at times almost felt like a tourism commercial for US tourists. The turns and twists are nicely done and it is well worth a viewing.

Norwich City 4 lost to Stingers 2 by 11 goals to 5

Getting a settled team this year has been a nightmare and we seem to have different players in the team every week and this lack of consistency is showing. Add into the fact that the half of the team were not really good enough for the sixth team last year playing in the third division and results like this are inevitable. We played okay but too often our team made stupid errors or just weren't up to the task against this level of opposition. On the bright side I scored a delicious penalty (still 100% this season) and played switch defense really well. In attack however the urge to shoot on sight rather than trying to build up to better attacking positions was really annoying.

Norwich City 4 beat Dragons 2 by 8 goals to 5

Another game another incomplete team but at least this time it was the opposition. Playing against 7 brings certain advantages and disadvantages. In our end we had an extra boy which means that he cannot score but get lots of possession and should be aiming to set up a lot of the play. In the first half I was able to score but my teammate G was so slow at distributing the ball that we had a small number of chances and one off attacks. At half time we swapped so I was the free player and I set up 5 goals by keeping the ball moving with quick paces and hanging around the post so that all of the attacks were extended and not just ending after 1 attack. Good win.

Norwich City 3 beat Stingers 2 by 6 goals to 3.

Having just played for a team without enough players the team that followed did not have enough players so I was playing back to back which nearly killed me. Fortunately I played bit better and scored two goals. The second was a penalty and it was good to see that I am still as accurate from the spot as always (100% so far this season) but the first goal was sensational with a long shot from the half way line straight down the centre of the basket barely touching the sides. A nice pass set up a third goal and a satisfying victory occurred although the opponents were a little unfortunate as they hit the top of the basket on a number of occasions. Still they get a losing bonus point for their efforts.

Norwich City 4 v Knights 4: ????

The first game that I have ever played where both teams managed to lose. You are allowed to play two players from your third team "down" and no-one is allowed to play two teams down. If you do play an illegal team you automatically lose 5-0. Suffice to say that to get enough players on the pitch both teams had to revert to an illegal team so both teams should lose 5-0, however, There illegal team was more illegal that ours so completely outplayed us but as to what score appears in the official records who knows.