Good Luck Carlos

After years of service - and being part of another amazingly succesfull United team - Carlos Queiroz has decided to move on to manage his national team which would be hard for anyone to turn down.

Carlos has been a loyal servant to United and has been a great figure for the foreign contingent (especially the Portugese speaking part).

I would like to wish Carlos the best of luck on his new venture…he deserves all the success.

Amazing Batpod

One word - and its “wow” - this is a pic of the upcoming amazing Hot Toys Bat Pod: -

 

My First Bonsai

 Brought my first Bonsai tree 2 weeks ago - its a Chinese Elm Evergreen, which apparently are good for beginners.  I’ve had my first watering of the tree, lets see how long this baby lasts.

 

The Hot Toys Tumbler

Okay here it is, a 1/6 scale Tumbler from Hot Toys and I’ve been crazy enough to prebook myself one of these bad boys from Hong Kong.  This is on top of orders for the new suit Batman, the Joker, the orignal suit Batman and the Bat Pod…don’t ask me how much all that is going to cost, I perish the thought.

Credit to Eddie Wong for the below pic taken from the Tokyo Toy Show.

TDK Hot Toys Batman

Only one word for this and its “wow” - the below pic is from the Tokyo Toy Show - 2008 is gonna be a expensive yeah for Batman freaks….

 

Dutch Batter Sorry Italians

Netherlands 3 - 0 Italy

 After the usual limp start to a major tournament - Van Basten’s men tonight showed the rest of Europe how it should be done, destroying the World Champions Italy 3-0.

It wasn’t that the Italians were so bad, it was that the Dutch was so good.  The Italians were never outplayed, and to be fair the Dutch opening goal was obviously offside.  However, the Italians failed to cope with the Dutch counter attacking flair.  This was almost a premier league display at its finest.

Sneijder for me was the man of the match - the Real Madrid man was everywhere to be seen and his goal (Holland’s second) was one of the great counter attacking goals of any major tournament.

I nervously backed Holland from the start - and true there is a long way still to go, but I will hope the Dutch can keep this up.

So far the Portugese with all their flair and quality still struggle to score for my liking and probably will be undone at the later stages.  The Germans don’t have to play particularly well to get a result so they are always a threat.  The France look poor, lacking in any conviction or drive and if any big team that will be going out (and with the group of death there definately will be one) its looking more likely to be the French (so hopefully that will shut Platini up about the failings of English football, and allow him to concentrate on the failings in his own country.)  The Italians although got beaten tonight still look strong and will come out of this fighting and I can see them still going far.  The Spaniards always flatter to decieve and I think they will again - they have very few players in their team they just don’t have the experience to see themselves through all the way.

How about the dark horses???? For example the Greeks???  They are the holders after all…well I really think an established footballing nation will win it this year…I can’t see anyone outside of Italy, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Spain or even France winning it.  My favourites are Italy, Germany and Holland.

COME ON YOU DUTCH!!!!

TOP OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!

2008

1999

1968

CHAMPIONS!!!!

Wigan 0 - 2 Man Utd
In a nervy Sunday afternoon of football, where United had to win to ensure 3 points to gurantee top spot - United in the end did what was required and won by 2 nil against a resolute Wigan team who never lay down and did the Premier League proud.

Down south in London - Chelsea who were convinced they would get their win regardless of the result in Wigan were in for a surprise.  Bolton was equally as stubborn as Wigan and 30secs before the end of the game Bolton surprised everyone by scoring an equaliser.  This meant United’s goal difference was not necessary, it was helpful in keeping United in front should it come to it.

I would say United has had a bit of a dip in form in recent months - but the Barcelona test has proven United can still hold out against the best and triumph.  Now for the biggest test of all since they won the treble.

Big Annoucements for 2008

Medicom has announced they will be releasing one of my favourite armoured Starwars troops the Emperor’s Guard.

The cloak looks a bit weird, but I’m sure the figure will be up to Medicom’s usual high standard.

Hot Toys on the other hand have mentioned they will be releasing a 1/6 Iron Man (YES!) we all know this is going to be brilliant.  HT will also be doing the TDK Batman - Takara’s Batman last time round was superior to the HT.  But with very few TDK annoucements from other companies, lets hope HT improves on their last try rather than reuse the poor Bale scuplt.

Scholes Blasts Man Utd to Moscow!!!!

Man Utd 1 - 0 Barcelona

YEssssssssssssss! We did it…! nothing has been won yet - but what an achievement…to book a place to the European Champions League Final…..

The game was not a classic - the passing game that Barca played was totally sublime.  Barca passed the ball around United like they weren’t even there.  But beautiful football it may be…but winning football it wasn’t.  At the end of the day no matter how you stroke the ball around you still have to put the ball into the back of the net.  Scholesy showed how it was done…only his second goal of the season and boy was it a critical goal…from a defensive mistake outside the area - Scholes blast shook Old Trafford.

No man of the match tonight - it was a collective performance - each man played his part each man sweated his share….if United can play like this against West Ham and then Wigan there is no doubt the Premier League is ours too….

Owen Sends Utd One Step Closer

Man Utd 2 - 1 Arsenal

What a game - Arsenal outplayed United for all of the first half.  Second half, for what was really a mistake from Ferdinard for allowing the ball to pass him into the hand of Adebayor, yes “hand”.  After the goal, Arsenal again proved they could not handle a bit of pressure and after what was a nothing ball into the box, Gallas leaned accross to allow the ball to touch his hand.  The ref had no choice but to give a penalty.  Up steps Ronaldo who had an extremely poor game, but after the first penalty was disallowed for Park encroaching, Ronaldo had to have the nerve to take the penalty again.  And the boy slid it cooly pass Jens who dived the right way both times.  A lesser player would of allowed the situation get to him, not Ronaldo. 

After a bit more pressure United earned a freekick about 26 yards out.  Ronaldo looked like he was ready to take it.  Owen Hargreaves, places the ball sets himself up - and bends it over the wall into far right hand corner where Jens could only stand and watch.

Arsenal will feel hard done by as they had countless chances, played the better football throughout.  But their fault has been the lack of capitalisation.  Basically playing alot of football and having very little end result.

Wenger needs to address this lack of cutting edge in the Arsenal team, at the back they’re in disarray and to be honest lacking a bit of leadership.

United in contrast, looked every bit like champions.  Soaked the pressure, somewhat desperately at times.  Did not let going down phase them, and clinically finished off the job with three points.

What this means now is that if United can beat Blackburn and Chelsea then they will be crowned Champions.

What is more likely is that United will draw at Chelsea and United will probably win it after the Blues drops some points somewhere which is long overdue especially when they will be having an eye on the upcoming Liverpool tie in the Champions League.

The title hasn’t be won yet - but its very close….lets not screw up now.

Man of the moment will have to go to Owen Hargreaves, his last few performances has been outstanding.  He looks alot more comfortable on the wing rather than in the position in front of the defence.

Day of Reckoning

In 30 minutes United will go out and face the first of two major tests to win the Premier League title for this year.  First and foremost United must avoid defeat.  If they can get a win then that sends them one step closer to retaining the title.  Chelsea play Wigan tomorrow and will be pushing them all the way.

Iron Man is Coming

Sneak pic of the upcoming Iron Man movie - I sure hope we get a decent 1/6 scale figure of this….

Free Tibet

Great Games

After getting back into the PC gaming world I thought I’d write a little post on the truly great games that I have encountered over my gaming life, so here goes in no particular order: -

DOOM

Almost everyone’s introduction into  the virtual reality FPS gaming world.  Yes there was Wolfenstein before Doom - but this was the game that entered popular culture. and certainly it was the game that blew me away for the freedom it had to allow you to roam into any available room and pick up weapons and shoots monsters that were waiting for you.  To be honest this format hasn’t changed too much over the years and Doom is still a landmark game that introduced me to first person gaming.

SIMCITY 2000

Addictive as hell and with no real ending it can go on and on - this was both a bad thing and good thing.  I always felt that the transport system in this game could of been so much better - however this game introduced me to the God management gaming world and with its isometric 3D like graphics it was mind blogging in those days.  In fact the first PC game that I paid full price for.

TRANSPORT TYCOON

This game took the responsibility of building a city away from the player and concentrated on transporting goods and people accross the map.  The vast number of transport methods and the ability to easily build tracks accross the terrain got me addictved.  Filled with bugs like trains and planes crashing all the time this was not enough to take away from the joys of this wonderful concept.

CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER

Looing more like a spreadsheet than an actual game - CM took management simulation to another level.  The key was depth and tha player database the game possesssed.  Yes there were games like this before CM - but others included trivial things like setting price for hot dogs on match day etc. - CM purely concentrated on managing players and this was the beauty of the game.  Lost many a day playing this.

SUPER MARIO KART

Never for one to play too much on consoles - this was certainly one game that got me addictive racing other human players - fun fun fun.  Not everything has to be about amazing graphics.

GOD OF WAR

The game on the Playstation - this game stretched the console to its limits with its amazing graphics and great gameplay.  Puzzles are easy and end of level bosses aren’t frustratingly hard.  Great game.

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME

The ‘God of War’ for the PC - kinda forces you to learn the moves to get through the levels.  Got me coming back for more and then more and then more.

UNREAL TOURNAMENT

This game is here for many reasons - techincally the engine has continued to be adopted by other games - and two the game has revolutionary in the way it took away a real stoyline and threw you in a map where the point is to kill more than your opponents whether they are human or AI.  This is the forerunner to games like Battlefield and the likes.

DUNE II

The forerunner to the Command and Conquer series, but this was the first RTS game I ever played and boy was this game addictive.  For the first time I could control whole armies send them accross the map and destroy my opponents base - EXCELLENT!

GRAND PRIX 4

Its a real shame that this series no longer exists - other developers have got into the GP racing and really pushed this game to one side.  Theres’ no mistaking this series brought GP simulation to the masses - the racing was fun too!

PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER

Orignally ISS, but this was back in the day when I was playing EA’s Fifa Soccer (I know shoot me) - until Konami made the wise decision to bring PC owners the amazing Pro Evoultion Soccer series to the PC - and what a revelation.  Still has its faults and still a long way off from emulating the game, but this continues to be the best on the market.

 TETRIS

So many incarnations of this game now - but the gameboy version was the version that introduced me to this amazingly addictive game.  Simple yet hugly addictive fun.

BATTLEFIELD 1942

Take Unreal Tournament and put it in a World War Two scenario and you have Battlefield 1942 - not quite that simple but that was what the basic premise was and boy was this a great game.

TOTAL ANNIHILATION

The game that brought massive amounts of units to the RTS genre- build and destroy, simple concept but again highly addictive.

 JEDI ACADEMY

Multiplayer lightsabering at its best - with a decent single player and tons of mods online.

ROGUE SPEAR

In the midst of break neck FPS - Rogue Spear was the thinking man’s FPS - not a true FPS in the sense you had the option to switch to 3rd person view - the tangos were renowned to be not to be very bright and your AI team mates weren’t much better either - but the game still gave huge enjoyment and the maps were great.

SHOGUN TOTAL WAR

True 3D comes to RTS gaming - the whole imerssive world of warfare was superbly recreated in what was an amazing game that evolved into a superb series.

 SPORTS CAR GT

This game had its faults - it was far from perfect.  However, it had a good blend of arcade and simulation, add to that the superb graphics and damage engine made it a great racing game.

RAINBOW SIX VEGAS

The newest game in the list - this is truly the return of Rogue Spear.  I’m sure this game will be joined or replaced by Vegas 2 when it comes out on the PC in a few weeks.

Rainbow Six

Oh how the world has changed over the years - terrorists aren’t what they used to be - once upon time they used to hijack planes and demand to be flown to some sympathic country or take an embassy only to be smoked out and shot up several times in the head…since 9/11 we all know that terrorists aren’t just weirdos with foreign accents, they’re weirdos with foreign accents and prepared to die rather than be caught by any sort of anti-terrorists force.

 Which leads me nicely to Rainbow Six - this series of games have been with me since Rogue Spear.  I loved it - played it to bits online and offline.  It was the one online game in those days really worth going online for. 

Of course it had its faults - mainly in the single player game where you had the ability to plan your AI partners movements throughout the whole level - almost programming a series of macros for that particular map.  Not very fun in the slightlest.  I always found it more fun to have my guys or girls accompany me and maybe I send a sniper in a good position to cover us from long range.  After a number of incarnations in Raven Shield - which felt alot more like a FPS than the traditional Rogue Spear (partly due to the fact that the Unreal Engine was used).  I then went out PC Gaming for a while mainly due to having a inadequate PC spec to play anything new.  Then recently when I managed to get a PC worthy of the name Gaming machine I purchased R6 Vegas - now I expected something more like Raven Sheild than Rogue Spear - but my my how the developers have gone back to the roots of the series on this one.

Just look at the screenshot below taken from the new Rainbow Six and the Rogue Spear shot above taken in the Boeing 747 level….how things have changed.

 

Vegas has a few more moves which take the game away from being a simple Unreal port to what is a game in itself.  I now can’t wait for Vegas 2 to be released on the PC in a few weeks - its probably more of the same but tweaked….this is fast becoming my favourite game ever - only Vegas 2 can confirm that.

United Cruise as Reds Lose Their Heads

Man Utd 3 - 0 Liverpool

 Everyone will have an opinion on the events of yesterday when Javier Mascherano got a second yellow card for dissent, but what it boils down too is that players (especially in the Premier League) treatment of referees’ is now reached unacceptable levels.

Steve Bennett may be  a bit yellow card happy but he had every right to send Javier off.  Anyone who saw the game could see how wound up the player was with his intial booking and at every opportunity since he tried to have a go at the ref before it reached a point where the ref had no choice but book him for the second time.

The sending off may have made United’s job easier, but it is fantasy to think if Liverpool had 11 men that the result would of been different.  Up to that stage United were the better team, creating the more dangerous chances and United were already one nil up before Mascherano stupidly got himself sent off.

Man of the match has to go to Wayne Rooney who should of scored at least one of his earlier chances, however he created two of the 3 goals.  The key being the first goal where he put in a superb cross for Wes Brown to score after Pepe the clown came out flapping.

Super Sunday

 The “Big Four” face each this coming Sunday - and for the first time in a long time the result from these games may dictate the direction the Premier League will be going.  This year the title race has been too close to call and is still a three horse race.  United although still getting results (alas not convincingly) still look like they got a game or two where they will drop points.  The question is whether Arsenal and Chelsea can keep up the pace and even overtake United.  At the moment for me its looking more likely that Chelsea will be the more threatening rival to United than Arsenal.  I may regret saying that, but I feel the games that are coming up will prove too much for the young Gunners and they will probably end up with no trophy this season after such a promising start.  Chelsea look like the best placed  English team in the Champions League, but will the quality of their squad they need not fear anyone.  Liverpool are well out of the title race, but are big threats in Europe, I doubt any English team is strong enough to overcome Barca, but Liverpool will have a strong influence of where the title may end up in the coming weeks.

Personally, I hope both games end up in a draw (a United win is asking alot) - lets see what happens.

Inaccuracte Movies

Found an interesting liittle list of top ten most inaccurate movies:

 Here’s the URL

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/10mosthistoricallyinaccurate.html

 Yes we all know movies aren’t really meant to be historically accurate - thats what documentaries are for….but its an interesting read anyways, and its amazing how many people do take what is shown in movies as accurate portrayals.

Here’s the list anyways: -

  

10,000 B.C.
Director Roland Emmerich is usually a stickler for realism (see: sending a computer virus via Macintosh to aliens in Independence Day). So we hate to inform him that woolly mammoths were not, in fact, used to build pyramids. Heck, woolly mammoths weren’t even found in the desert. They wouldn’t need to be woolly if that were the case. And there weren’t any pyramids in Egypt until 2,500 B.C or so.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

Gladiator
Emperor Commodus was not the sniveling sister-obsessed creep portrayed in the movie. A violent alcoholic, sure, but not so whiny. He ruled ably for over a decade rather than ineptly for a couple months. He also didn’t kill his father, Marcus Aurelius, who actually died of chickenpox. And instead of being killed in the gladiatorial arena, he was murdered in his bathtub.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

300
Though this paean to ancient moral codes and modern physical training is based on the real Battle of Thermopylae, the film takes many stylistic liberties. The most obvious one being Persian king Xerxes was not an 8-foot-tall Cirque du Soleil reject. The Spartan council was made up of men over the age of 60, with no one as young as Theron (played by 37-year-old Dominic West). And the warriors of Sparta went into battle wearing bronze armor, not just leather Speedos.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

The Last Samurai
The Japanese in the late 19th century did hire foreign advisers to modernize their army, but they were mostly French, not American. Ken Watanabe’s character was based on the real Saigo Takamori who committed ritual suicide, or “seppuku,” in defeat rather than in a volley of Gatling gun fire. Also, it’s doubtful that a 40-something alcoholic Civil War vet, even one with great hair, would master the chopsticks much less the samurai sword.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

Apocalypto
This one movie has given entire Anthropology departments migraines. Sure the Maya did have the odd human sacrifice but not to Kulkulkan, the Sun God, and only high-ranking captives taken in battle were killed. The conquistadors arriving at the end of the film made for unlikely saviors: an estimated 90% of indigenous American population was killed by smallpox from the infected Spanish pigs.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

Memoirs of a Geisha
The geisha coming-of-age, called “mizuage,” was really more of a makeover, where she changed her hairstyle and clothes. It didn’t involve her getting… intimate with a client. In the climactic scene where Sayuri wows Gion patrons with her dancing prowess, her routine - which involves some platform shoes, fake snow, and a strobe light - seems more like a Studio 54 drag show than anything in pre-war Kyoto.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

Braveheart
Let’s forget the fact that kilts weren’t worn in Scotland until about 300 years after William Wallace’s day and just do some simple math. According to the movie, Wallace’s blue-eyed charm at the Battle of Falkirk was so overpowering, he seduced King Edward II’s wife, Isabella of France, and the result of their affair was Edward III. But according to the history books, Isabella was three years old at the time of Falkirk, and Edward III was born seven years after Wallace died.

Movie Info |  Production Photos

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
In 1585, when the movie takes place, Queen Elizabeth was 52 years old - Cate Blanchett was 36 when she shot the film - and was not being courted by suitors like Ivan the Terrible (who was dead by then). And though the movie has her rallying the troops at Tilbury astride a white steed in full armor with a sword, in fact she rode side saddle, carrying a baton. She was more of a regal majorette than Joan of Arc.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

The Patriot
Revolutionary War figure Francis “The Swamp Fox” Marion was the basis for Mel Gibson’s character, but he wasn’t the forward-thinking family man they show in the flick. He was a slave owner who didn’t get married (to his cousin) until after the war was over. Historians also say that he actively persecuted and murdered native Cherokees. Plus, the thrilling Battle of Guilford Court House where he vanquishes his British nemesis? In reality, the Americans lost that one.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

2001: A Space Odyssey
According to this film, in year 2001 we would have had manned voyages to Jupiter, a battle of wits with a sentient computer, and a quantum leap in human evolution. Instead we got the Mir Space Station falling from the sky, Windows XP, and Freddy Got Fingered. Apparently the lesson here is that sometimes it’s better when the movies get the facts all wrong.

Movie Info |  Trailers & Clips |  Production Photos

FA Cup: What the Heck Went Wrong???

Manchester United 0 - 1 Portsmouth
Okay think of a million and one excuses, yes blame the referee, but at the end of the day what it boils down to is that United couldn’t score against a resolute Postmouth at home to get to the Semi’s of the FA Cup.

Later in the day Barnsely embarrassed the millionaires of Chelsea to send the Blues crashing out too.  The so called ‘Big Four’ have now all been dumped out of the England’s premier cup tournament.  Oh well lets hope a non premier team can do it as they’ve worked so hard to get this far.

On a positive note United know now they have to go all out for the Premier title - with Arsenal drawing away to Wigan on the following Sunday - this paves the way for United to take the lead back.

 There is still alot to do and the big four still have to play each again and then there is the slight inconvenience of the Champions League which all four are still in.

Lets hope theres no more screw ups from now and until the end of the season - but this is where the screw starts to turn and the men will be seperated from the boys.