‘Human Identity is no longer defined by what one does but by what one owns. Owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.’ The Minimalists.
My first blog back
Hello to the one person who is going to read this! I am stuck at home along with the rest of the UK with not a whole lot to do due to the Corona-virus outbreak. My girlfriend has been pestering me for days to do something productive, so I am coming back to this blog that I haven’t updated for about five years now.
Five years ago, on this exact date, I started a fantastic job working as a Cricket Systems Operator for Hawkeye Innovations, jetting off to Barbados for the first day of my contract. This enabled me to immerse myself into learning about technology and electrical engineering whilst getting to travel the world and work on international and franchise cricket matches. I also got to add a sprinkling of Badminton and Volleyball tournaments, work on the French and Australian tennis opens (playing a match on Centre Court) and helped set up goal line technology in 5 Premier League stadiums, scoring goals on the pitches at the Emirates, Liberty, Upton Park, White Hart Lane and Vicarage Road in the process. 3 World Cups, 4 IPL’s, 21 countries, 85 stadiums and 380 matches later, having got to meet the likes of Joe Root, James Anderson, Harry Kane, Virat Kohli, KP, Rafael Nadal, Graeme Smith, Shaun Pollock and Sunil Gavaskar to name a few, I handed in my notice and left the company in November.
I took some time off to relax and enjoy being in England over Christmas for the first time in a fair while, partaking in some work as an Extra on season four of the Crown to keep my finances ticking over. The opportunity to take up a freelance role working with the ICC and its match officials arose, setting up and acting as the technical guarantee for their visual and communications equipment. I had just returned from Bangladesh where I worked on the one sided dire spectacle that was Zimbabwe versus the hosts and was about to jet off to Sri Lanka for the England tour and then work on a couple of jobs during the IPL when the world started going into lock-down and my plane was grounded. My girlfriend then managed to catch and pass on the delights of Corona-virus to me so here I am, isolating with her in her Surbiton flat and being pestered to do some writing to keep me busy whilst all sport has been put on the back burner, alongside all future chances for me to work.
Which brings me to now! Five years older and wiser, fatter with a less generous sprinkling of hair on my head. Time has not been kind. But I am back at my keyboard writing posts and sending them off to be swallowed up by the great abyss that is the World Wide Web. With everybody stuck indoors perhaps my blog views will get to the giddy heights of two as people try to fill the ominous void that has been left by the absence of sport and any form of social activity. Only one way to find out…
‘That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.’
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.
My Literary Quiz- Published on the Guardian website
I have expanded my Guardian portfolio to include a literary quiz on where authors get the inspiration for their titles from. Hopefully I shall soon be publishing another article where I get to showcase my writing ability. Having access to a widespread, global audience for my work is a really good opportunity and I am really looking forward to having a chance to write on a topic that I find very interesting. I look forward to sharing it with you all when the time comes! In the meantime please do my quiz.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/quiz/2015/mar/03/quotation-literary-titles-quiz
‘Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.’
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
My First Published Piece!
Hello everyone!
I have been doing a two week long internship at The Guardian recently and thought I would share my first ever published piece which is pretty exciting regardless of the fact that it took me ten minutes and was edited for the worse by my editor!
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/mar/02/veronica-roth-two-new-books-divergent
‘I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.’
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre.
“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.
Oscars 2015 Predictions: Who will win, who should win
I am not a gambling man but if I was, these are the people I would be betting on to win the ultimate accolade in the film industry. I recently saw Birdman and Foxcatcher so that I could pass fair judgement on the Best Picture category, my reviews for both will come later in the week when I am less busy.
Best Picture
American Sniper (Clint Eastwood)
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
Birdman (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum)
Selma (Ava DuVernay)
The Theory of Everything (James Marsh)
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
Who will win? Birdman
Who should win? Boyhood
I have seen all of the films up for Best Picture this year bar Selma which only came out in the cinema here on Friday and The Imitation Game. Birdman’s show-business satire is a direct nod to the Academy who will probably vote in droves in its favour. It has already won top honours from the Producers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. These three awards combine practically combine to a sure thing. The last film to win all three awards and fail to secure the Best Picture award at the Oscars was Apollo 13 in 1996. It is a brash and abrasive film which has galvanised enormous industry support. Whilst all things point to Birdman, the romantic in me would like Linklater’s Boyhood to secure top honours. It is a revolutionary film, taking twelve years to film and it is a fantastic character piece. It might also be helped by how the voting for Best Picture works at the Oscars. Whilst all other categories work on a First past the post system, the Best Picture category is decided in a different way. All voters list their favourite film from best to worst, 1 to 8. So whilst Boyhood might not secure first place, Birdman is a bit like marmite, you either love it or hate it and so whilst it might win lots of first place votes, it might well win a few eighth place votes too. It might be worth keeping an eye on American Sniper for a late surge, it has been hugely successful at the Box Office and for other awards so we do not know how it has done in comparison to the other films at other ceremonies.
Best Director
Wes Anderson
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu
Richard Linklater
Bennett Miller
Morten Tydlum
Who will win? Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu
Who should win? Richard Linklater
Usually, the Best Picture and Best Director awards go hand in hand, the past couple of years aside. Because I think Birdman will win the Best Picture award, I duly feel that Inarittu will be a deserving winner of Best Director. It takes serious balls to take a risk and pull off a film like Birdman, a scathing satire of show business and pretty much every voter and member of the audience that will be there this evening. But if the Academy continues its recent policy and gives the Best Director to a director that didn’t direct the Best Picture then Linklater will win for his equally brave Boyhood.
Best Actor
Steve Carell
Bradley Cooper
Benedict Cumberbatch
Michael Keaton
Eddie Redmayne
Who will win? Michael Keaton
Who should win? Eddie Redmayne
In a hotly contested category which is still very open, I think Michael Keaton will walk away with the top honour. The Academy is a stickler for tradition and Keaton’s comeback role will appeal to their sentimentality. This will also count against Redmayne, a newcomer to the Oscar ceremony and still relatively unknown in America. It would be a massive shame were Redmayne not to win though as he is magnificent in The Theory of Everything. His physical transformation might also count in his favour as, like Matthew McCounaghey before him, the Academy reward people willing to do everything they can to get into character. I don’t think it will be a case of third time lucky for Bradley Cooper either.
Best Actress
Marion Cotillard
Felicity Jones
Julianne Moore
Rosamund Pike
Reese Witherspoon
Who will win? Julianne Moore
Who should win? Rosamund Pike
This category has been seemingly wrapped up since September. Julianne Moore is pretty much a sure thing and it would be a huge surprise were she not to leave clutching the golden statuette for her electrifying performance as a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in Still Alice. I personally feel Rosamund Pike should win, she is absolutely fantastic in Gone Girl and my fingers are crossed for her.
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall
Ethan Hawke
Edward Norton
Mark Ruffalo
- K. Simmons
Who will win? J. K. Simmons
Who should win? Edward Norton
J.K. Simmons is nailed on to win this and it would be highly surprising were he not to add to his collection of virtually every Best Supporting actor trophy out there. I am hoping that Edward Norton might rob him at the last moment though. An under-rated actor, Norton is brilliant in Birdman and he might be successful if Birdman comes away with top prize for Best Picture and Best Director.
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette
Laura Dern
Keira Knightley
Emma Stone
Meryl Streep
Who will win? Patricia Arquette
Who should win? Patricia Arquette
Most competitors who find themselves in a category with the majestic Meryl Streep in usually just sit aside and watch as the darling of the Academy walks away with top prize. However, this year it is Patricia Arquette’s to lose. Fantastic in Boyhood, she has won most Best Supporting Actress gongs at other ceremonies and it would be a big shock were she not to make it a clean sweep.
Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguja
Who will win? The Tale of the Princess Kaguja
Who should win? How to Train your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie’s shock snub from this category has opened it up and realistically, any of the above could walk away with the top prize. I would love How to Train your Dragon 2 to win but it is very rare that sequels ever win at the Oscars, Return of the King and Toy Story 3 aside. Despite not having seen either, it is rumoured that the Japanese pairing of Song of the Sea and The Tale of the Princess Kaguja might win. In a very open category I genuinely have no idea who might do so.
Best Cinematography
Birdman, Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Robert Yeoman
Ida, Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr Turner, Dick Pope
Unbroken, Roger Deakins
Who will win? Birdman
Who should win? Birdman/The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game, Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar, Hans Zimmer
Mr Turner, Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything, Johann Johannsson
Who will win? The Grand Budapest Hotel
Who should win? The Theory of Everything
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