Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category

Season 7 Finale

Posted on in Media, Sport, TV.

I’m really not sure that the script writers for Season 7 of Rugby World Cup have done a very good job.

They’ve continued the habit from previous seasons of writing out fan favourite characters such as Tonga or Wales before the finale, and have decided that the season finale would be a rematch of the one from season one. So what have they added that’s new?

Well, in terms of character development, previous seasons have hinted towards France’s mental instability but this season the writers flirted with pushing them over the edge into insanity. But then the went and bottled it and failed to follow through on this development in the finale itself.

Deciding the make the England character the focus of multi-media spin-offs rather than a core part of the series itself was an odd way to treat a character with such a large fan base and which had been such an integral part of previous seasons.

The running gag about New Zealand fly halves is in rather poor taste and is just ripping off Spinal Tap anyway. And the gag about no one at all being able to kick straight is rather clumsy attempt on the writers’ part to counter criticism of too much kicking in previous seasons.

The finale itself was a rather scrappy affair, almost as if there wasn’t enough budget left for any spectacular special effects sequences. I can’t tell whether having the teams play in black and white was supposed to be some sort of post-modernist statement or not.

All in all not a classic season, but I kept on watching anyway so they must have done something right. I just hope the writing team has some fresh ideas for Season 8.

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Wales 8, France 9, Alain Rolland -1

Posted on in Sport.

What a sad way to leave the world cup.

That tackle was dangerous, it deserved a penalty. And it likely deserved a yellow card. But a red card? No *%!$ing way!

Wales scored the only try and ended up losing by just one point after playing three quarters of the game with only 14 men – they were the better, braver side.

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We’re all Welsh today

Posted on in Sport, The World.

Pretty much the only decision of David Cameron’s that I’m ever likely to whole heartedly support is the flying of the Welsh flag above Downing Street today.

Wales have been playing well this tournament, a close loss against South Africa and then four good wins. France have taken their customary unpredictableness to a level that somtimes approaches insanity. If we get the France that lost against Tonga then we should win easily. If we get the France that beat England then it will be a close match.

Wales have only made the semi-Finals once before and have never been in a Final. Forty minutes to go until kick off. Fingers crossed.

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Oook!

Posted on in Sport, The World.

Do you like hairy, sweaty Essex boys1 making themselves even hairier and sweatier?

Um. Let’s start that again.

Do you like gorillas?

Awwww. Look at the cute baby gorilla...

Then check out my idiot colleague good friend Chris who is running in this year’s Great Gorilla Run and sponsor him

[1] Though if you do, Chris would probably like to hear from you and an introduction could be arranged.

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Quiz like it’s 1997

Posted on in Books, Films, Games, Music, My Life, Science, Sport, The World, TV.

So I found this file, last modified 10 June 1997, on a set of back ups and it’s a pub quiz that I ran in Balliol bar. In fact considering the date I suspect that this is the night that [info]pink_weasel first clapped eyes on me and thought “nice guy, shame about the jumper”.

People on facebook and twitter said that they wanted to see the quiz, so here goes.
Read the rest of this very true thing…

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Wales 20 – Italy 15

Posted on in Sport.

That was far too close for comfort. Wales made far too many errors and only two good tries saved the day.

Very True Mood: (relieved) relieved
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23-15

Posted on in Sport.

Yes. Result.

My prediction before the tournament started was that it would be scrappy with no grand slam. Scrappy it certainly is, as for the rest? We’ll see.

Very True Mood: (pleased) pleased
Very True Music: Uncle Johnny - The Killers
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Grand Slam.

Posted on in Sport.

I’ll say that again, Grand Slam.

:-)

Very True Mood: (jubilant) jubilant

Wales 26 – England 19

Posted on in Sport.

Well, how about that then?

:-)

Very True Mood: (jubilant) jubilant

January catch up

Posted on in My Life, Sport, Work.

I met Jeremy Beadle once. He was hosting a charity quiz night that WW sent a team along to.

No one had him on their lists for this year’s Deadpool game.

This morning we launched a revised version of the Visit London home page. Along with a tie up with Trip Advisor, a new Japanese site and a site for the China in London season, as well as lots of behind the scenes improvements, it’s been a really packed January.

One thing that crosses over from behind the scenes to public is the addition of microformats to the site. hCard, hCalendar and hReview are all in use. Whilst hCard was straightforward to implement I found the hCalendar and hReview formats a little tricky to apply to our data. Anyway, install Operator and take Firefox for a whirl on the site and see what you find.

Rugby tomorrow. Oh yes, it’s Six Nations time again.

Very True Mood: (accomplished) accomplished
Very True Music: Coin-Operated Boy - The Dresden Dolls
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