My last post was on 14th February, and today is 14th April. 2 months since I last posted something on my blog, so in case people are wondering where I was, well I was just a bit lazy maybe, and I didn’t find/think much to write about. But just to fill that void, here is the first post in two months. So what did I do all this time? Well pretty much the same old stuff, office, gaming, music, movies, sleep. I’ll start with the movies I saw, so I’ll start off with Race

Race Review
Race was a good movie, I liked the cinematography, the performances of the main starts, and for its music. The plot had too many twists in it, and for once you did feel like what was going on. That said, its a good watch, and worth the penny. The car race in the end of the movie was pretty good. Saif Ali Khan was very good, and Akshaye Khanna was even better. His performance was very impressive. The same can’t be said about the girls though, I felt Bipasha was somewhat off in the film. Didn’t impress me much, neither did Katrina Kaif, infact she rarely does impress me. Sameera Reddy’s role was small, and she was only used for being the center of the jokes from Anil Kapoor, who himself was pretty much ok in the movie. Music was the strength of the movie, and some of the tracks are really very good. Overall a good and entertaining movie with lot of style and substance.
Rating: 7.5/10

Sunday Review
Then I saw Sunday, a little late, it was a ok movie, not great, but the suspense factor with some comic scenes saves the movie. Ajay Devgan gives an ok performance, Ayesha Takia, was good. The plot was main strength of the movie. Arshad Warsi and Irfan also did a good job in their comical roles. Vrajesh Hirjee was also a nice character in the movie. The starting scene of his was pretty awesome. Anjana Sukhani looks very pretty. Music wise, other than the title track not much was there in the movie. So overall its an ok watch.
Rating: 7/10

Shaurya Review
I went to this movie, with no clue whatsoever about the movie. Which is quite rare for me, as I usually have something in mind as to what to expect from a movie, but this was a different case. The movie was good but had some flaws in it, but not that big to make it a disaster. Acting was the main strength here, and Rahul Bose, Kay Kay Menon, Javed Jaffrey and Minissha Lamba all did a good job. Minissha Lamba looks very good, and acts very well too. Kay Kay Menon gives a solid performance, especially in the end. Rahul Bose was ok, Javed Jaffrey was in a different role, much different from the comic roles we have seen him in recently, and was quite fine. Music wise not many songs in the movie, but one song was very good. The guy who played the role of Javed was very good, his expressions were very good and impressive. Overall its a nice movie and delivers the message it wants to give. Flaws wise, the movie could have been better on some occasions, especially the build up to the whole story.
Rating: 7.5/10

Juno Review
Juno is a comedy about a 16 year-old who gets pregnant. Ellen Page plays the role of Juno, with Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman also starring. Its a very fine made movie, and Ellen Page gives a great performance. Its a great performance for a 21 year-old, and she was nearly flawless in the movie. Michael Cera wasn’t much in the movie, but was pretty ok. The direction was pretty good, and I liked the simplicity of things. Overall its a very good movie with Ellen Page taking the center stage and delivering a great performance. A good watch.
Rating: 8/10

So thats all about the movies, now for some music. Well not much to write about in here, but recently I’ve been listening to 2 albums quite a lot: Jannat and Tashan.

Jannat Music Review
Pritam makes another musical hit for Bhatts. After some great music in movies like Gangster, Woh Lamhe and Awarapan for Bhatts Pritam gives another album with great music. The first track, “Zara Sa” is a lovely track with the main tune capturing the mind of the listeners. Its superbly done, and KK always sings such songs beautifully. Then the song “Judai” was another good song in the album. Sung, written and composed by Kamran Ahmed, its a nice song, well sung by Ahmed. ‘Door Naa’ is a somewhat slow paced track, but its pretty good. Lots of areas where the song really grab your attention. The other songs were good as well, but the ones I mentioned were my picks from the album.
Rating: 8/10

I have done music review of Tashan separately. Please click here to read it.
Apart from these two albums, I got some Elvis Presley albums which I’ll listen to. I’m also listening to some old tracks as well for a change.

After music, its time about some gaming. Well pretty much the usual gaming, FIFA 08, Need for Speed: Most Wanted. But I played a new game, Aliens versus Predator 2 and its expansion pack Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt. I like the AvP franchisee so this game was surely I wanted to play. It lets you play as the Alien, as the predator or as a marine soldier. I completed the Predator levels in the game and its expansion pack. I started the Alien campaign as well and completed some half of it. Its a pretty good FPS and AvP fans will love it. Its kinda old, released in 2001, so the graphics look like of old games, but it still is very good to look.

Now about some sports. I haven’t played much football over the last few weeks, but Manchester United has been putting up some good performances, and so was Ferrari. Manchester United entered the semifinal of the UEFA Champions League and is also comfortably on top of the Barclays Premier League to retain their title this season as well. Ferrari got a 1-2 in Bahrain as Massa took the win after some forgettable first two races.

So that was my update about the last 2 months. Hopefully there won’t be another gap between the next post.

Kimi Raikkonen won the Brazilian GP to win the 2007 Formula One World Championship by just a single point! F1 hasn’t been so closely fought over the recent years, and it was a fitting finale to a dramatic and eventful season. I’m glad I saw the race, exiting from start to finish.

Lewis Hamilton got so close to winning it, and even Alonso, but for Kimi to take the title eventually by a point’s margin. It must be said still that Hamilton came on the verge of making history by winning a F1 world championship in his maiden attempt, he still created waves nevertheless and it hit Fernando Alonso as well. I don’t quite imagine that I will see Alonso in McLaren next season. Its going to be tough for the relationship that he has with McLaren to get better and last another season. Anyways its Ferrari’s day and it was a fabulous teamwork in the end which saw them winning the crown. Kimi’s in-laps for that final pitstop made all the difference. Those scorching laps gave him enough gap over Massa that he could just come out ahead of the Brazilian to win the race. Some might want to call it a team order, but I don’t quite think so, it was Kimi’s pace rather than anything else which won it for him. I do feel for Massa that he couldn’t win the home Grand Prix again, but then I’m sure he will get more chances for that. Kimi deservingly won the title and after all those heartbreaking season at McLaren he won it with Ferrari in his first attempt. And also I think that the first corner of the race defined a lot of things, but ultimately it was the gearbox problems which ruined the day for Lewis. I’m sure he must be feeling bad about that but still his achievements have been far more impressive. Rosberg, Kubica and Heidfeld too had a great battle of their own for the fourth place. It was Rosberg’s best finish till date. Kubica and Heidfeld were as always consistent and BMW finishes as the runners up in the championship. I must admit its a great achievement for the team.

It was a really memorable season and certainly provided a lot of excitement, be it the spy scandal, be it Lewis Hamilton or be it anything. F1 wins in the end as still being among the most exiting sport.

Its a great day for Indian football fans, they finally have a football magazine which they can call their own. Its an e-magazine, free, and for everyone out there who loves football. So go ahead and grab your copy now

Cheers

http://www.sportzforumz.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9652

The Spy Saga finally comes to a close with a decision finally out (Read my earlier blog post regarding the issue) :
“McLaren have been excluded from the 2007 constructors’ championship and fined US$100 million following Thursday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris. Drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have not been penalized and are free to continue their fight for the drivers’ title.”

Now I’m sure a lot of people will have different opinion on this issue, some will strongly agree (primarily Ferrari fans) and some will strongly disagree (primarily McLaren fans). And I won’t be surprised to see someone accusing FIA of favoring Ferrari, like Stewart did a few days back. But the thing is pretty simple, FIA has had some evidence in this case and thats what prompted such a decision. Formula One is not an easy sport, a lot of money is involved here, and a fortune is spent on the car’s development, and if someone takes that information from you in an unfair fashion, you have all the right to contest it in court and claim justice. Now how much did McLaren benefit from the documents they got? I have no idea, but FIA certainly has, no wonder they have made this decision, so if McLaren were found guilty of something, only then FIA has taken such a step.

The most important thing against McLaren was that there was evidence that the information was passed onto McLaren, but in the last hearing it was not proved on “lack of evidence” grounds, but it was clearly mentioned that if in future any further evidence is found, the issue will be again brought up into the court, and now it has. Since there were some evidence that some communication was done by Coughlan with McLaren drivers, so this might have been a big cause of this decision, and maybe even something which we don’t know yet.

Anyways, the issue will be more clearly be in news over the next days, but those you are still willing to contest this decision, I have a question for you. If you were Ferrari and carrying out car development work costing millions of dollars, and you come to know that your biggest competitor has the information, what would you do? I think your answer will be pretty much be the same as what FIA has.

Exclusion from the championship was quite an obvious thing, but I believe that the financial penalty is a bit too harsh. Its too big a money, and although its not what McLaren will have to pay, they’ll still get the television money and will pay somewhere around £25m. The issue will be more transparent when the full report comes out on Friday, and I’m sure there is something in it, which we don’t know yet. Ron Dennis is not happy ofcourse, and its really going to dent the McLaren image. But then its F1, the world moves on as fast as the F1 cars. The drivers’ championship is still in McLaren’s hands, and it was always the case to be, FIA wouldn’t have imposed any penalty to the drivers’, and this had to be the result. So now its all on the final four races, who will win the title…Alonso or Hamilton, in either case, McLaren retains the #1 badge next season, and is the winner.

“Beckham… into Sheringham… and Solskjær has won it!”
these words from Clive Tyldesley during the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final are forever going to remind us of the great night at Camp Nou in Barcelona on 26 May 1999. Manchester United won the European Cup and sealed a Treble season. All thanks to one man…Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The legend now retires from football, but he will be always remembered and missed at Old Trafford.

Permalink to this topic

It was a great Sunday! Lots of sports action, it started off with the Turkish Formula 1 Grand Prix and ended with the Manchester United v Tottenham Premier League match. Ferrari was looking good at Istanbul for a win, and they did win the race. A much needed win, Massa really drove a great race to win his second Turkish Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen too drove superbly and was able to match Felipe all the time. Hamilton finally ran out of some luck and suffered a tyre puncture which dropped him off the podium and he eventually finished 5th. It was a great result for the Ferrari team and they have now closed the gap to just 11 points from McLaren in the constructors championship.

Manchester United finally won their first match of the season at Old Trafford, playing home to Tottenham Hotspur. United were 19th before this match, and were desperately looking for a win after a disappointing start to the new season. There was still no sign of Saha or Anderson, but Hargreaves did start the match. It was goal less at the halftime, but Nani then struck a beauty to give United the vital lead in the match. Spurs were sharp and were constantly attacking, but United held onto the lead. Spurs came close to scoring in the first minute itself, when Robbie Keane hit a dropping shot only to hit the crossbar. Spurs had to penalties turned down, one which was quite close when Wes Brown cleared the ball with is chest, which appeared to have touched his hands. Anyways United went on to register their first win of the season, and with Saha and Anderson fit, United have something to cheer upon.

All in all a great day for Reds.

Premier League 2007-08 Preview

The sixteenth season of top flight English football begins the next weekend, the 11th of August 2007, when the English premier league kicks off one of the most interesting seasons of premiership. Its been a big spending transfer season, and teams like Manchester United and Liverpool have now started to match Chelsea in the spending department. Chelsea interestingly didn’t do much on the big money deals but still managed to get some quality players in free transfers. But it was United and Liverpool who grabbed the limelight with big deals involving some big names like Torres, Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and that much controversial deal of Tevez . Defending Champions Manchester United will be fighting to win the tenth Premier League title, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal trying to stop that from happening.

The pre season is always an exiting time for any club, new players coming in, some going out, new kits, new sponsors, lots of new things. Clubs have high hopes from a new season, the new players bring that fresh feeling, and then you always feel that this is your season to do and improve over last season. Not every club is able to do that, some fail, some succeed and some just about does it to satisfy the board and the fans. Lets see then whom do we feel will succeed and who will not.

Permalink to this topic

These days one kid is attracting the media’s attention. Rhain Davis.

Now first watch this video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hG47FDenyXw

Now you must be awestruck at the stuff this young kid does. Stepovers, 360s, dribbles like a pro, I mean no wonder Manchester United invited this nine-year-old to the academy. He’s already being said as the next “Wayne Rooney”. The kid’s grandpa send a DVD of Davis playing with an Under-10 team in Australia to Manchester United who were impressed and invited him all the way from Australia to England.

A lot is being said about the young lad, but its a big test for him to take, and only if he manages to pass the tests and survives in the football world. He will have to pass the annual cut and then earn a full time scholarship at age 12. And if he does that, who knows we might see him someday playing at Old Trafford! Good Luck kid! The world is watching you.

I went to the mall on Sunday, and I saw that Nike had some new range of football boots. The new Total 90, Tiempo, the Ronaldinho 10R, (the Mercurial were still missing) and amongst them there was one which attracted special attention from me. They were the T90 Lasers!!!

Here is the official word about it:
“The Nike Total 90 Laser is the new boot choice of England and Manchester United’’s Wayne Rooney, creating a revolutionary enhancement of the Total 90 series.

Applying the learning from sports like golf or tennis, the expanded Sweet Spot on the Nike Total 90 Laser allows the athlete to maximise shooting and passing accuracy through better boot to ball alignment and targeting.

Unique precision rings create optimum trajectrory, spin and distance control. Twisted medial rings provide more agggressive contact, enhancing ball spin and swerve opportunities.”

I could recognize those bright yellow boots anywhere! I just went and picked it up in my hands and boy it was amazing! I’ve been viewing the Nike site quite often of late and saw the new boots there, but never thought when I would ever see it in real, but there it was. I was delighted to see and touch them! It had amazing quality finish, the sole had a good pack of studs and blades. The uppers were just oozing quality. Awesome sweet spot, I wish I could have them, but the price tag was way beyond my reach. Anyways was a great boot to have a look at.

Please do visit the Nike site for more cool videos and stuff about the T90s. The “Put it where you want it” Video is great, with the kick showed in various angles. Do watch it!
www.nikefootball.com

Some Pics:

These days, two controversies have grabbed the sports media’s attention. First being the Carlos Tevez’s ownership question and the other being the Ferrari espionage controversy. Both have questioned some issues, the solution to which isn’t easy to find out. Lets see what exactly happened:
Permalink to this topic