Monday 31 May 2010

That time I tried to predict the Eenglad squad.

So, this time last year I decided to make a stab at predicting who would make the English World Cup squad. That squad which was just announced. I was aiming to get 20 of the 23 right... and now to see how I have done.

GKs:

I had predicted James, Foster and Green to make the journey. Well, James and Green go, but Foster is left out for Joe Hart, and I have to say that is the right decision. Last September, Ben Foster was given his chance for Man Utd... with VDS injured, he was between the sticks for some high profile games, but put in some poor performances and didn’t make the step up I was expecting. Joe Hart gets the nod instead, and given the “quality” of the other options, that makes sense. Anyway, the third choice keeper has only been used three times in the history of the world cup, and one of those time it was a managers decision, not due to injury, so frankly our third keeper doesn’t matter.
2/3

DEF:

So, the core of this I predicted, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, John Terry, but that is where it goes very wrong. I thought Fabio would only take 7 defenders, but he has decided to take 9! How was I to know that Lescott would become a pathetic defender? Still, it was to be expected that Wes “injury prone” Brown might miss out. Not so expect was the inclusion of Ledley “actually injured all the time” King in his place. Upson is for some reason consider worthy, even though he is shockingly bad, especially when compared to Michael Dawson, and Warnock gets Baines’ spot, which is hard to argue with as they are both pretty bland left-backs. But the shock here is the return of Jamie “I never cared about England” Carragher. When someone retires from internationals, and writes of how little he values international football in his autobiograohy, it looks pretty weak to phone him up, begging him to come back, when we are trying to compete seriously in a major tournament.
4/9

MID:

Well, this looks slightly better. I correctly said that Hargreaves would not recover in time, which is a huge shame, and I correctly argued that Walcott would miss out. I even predicted James Milner, which now looks a good call. Of course, Beckham would likely have been there if not injured, so that is understandable... but I look a right idiot for predicting Downing to make the cut, missing out SWP.
7/8

FW:

Finally, things looks good. I got all four, which is a nice way to end things. And given our options, it is clearly the right four.
4/4

So what can we learn from all this? Well, sometimes average players like Downing will be finally dropped, and sometime average players will continue to get picked for no discernable reason... I am looking at you Upson. Of course, our first 11 has not changed for the past year, so getting that right is no huge surprise. It was picking our second choice backline which proved the problem... mainly because England have such poor options in that field at the moment. When we have to take the permanently injured King, and beg Carragher to return, you know things are going badly. Considering I was aiming for the 20 mark, it seems I was slightly overconfident. You could argue that it was injuries to Brown and Beckham which set me back there, and given how close it must have been when choosing Warnock over Baines, I was actually closer than it looks.
My Final Score: 17/23
Anyways, here’s hoping that all 23 can give us a World Cup to remember.

Saturday 29 May 2010

New Scott Pilgrim Trailer

This is going to be so very, very, awesome.

Tuesday 25 May 2010

Valve Speculation

So... there is some almost news that Valve, (those guys who make Half Life) are planning a surprise for this years E3 Expo.

This led to a fair bit of internet humour as to what Valve could be doing. A fair bit of parody at how slow they are at doing anything, for example. Of course, I immediately thought of joking how "the surprise is a lie" before realising that was pretty much the joke everyone had made, instantly, and so I was already five minutes behind the entire internet.

So. Yeh.

Warning: From now on this is pretty much just me speculating what Valve are gonna do this E3. If you don't know what E3 is, or who Valve are, then don't worry, it is not really that important. But if you don't know, this post is either going to make little sense, or be pretty dull. Maybe both. Who can tell.

But what could this surprise be? The most obvious would be for a sequel to be announced... but of the various IPs Valve have, we already (pretty much) know the status of these. Portal is definitely getting a sequel sometime "soon", Half Life Ep3 is in "development", and since Team Fortress still has a few class updates to go, so I doubt there would be sequel talk there. That leaves Left 4 Dead, but that just had a new title last Christmas, and I don't think Valve are gonna try to make that an annual thing. So I don't think the "surprise" is going to just the announcement of a new game. We already know, kinda, how those series are playing out. I doubt a "big surprise" would involve any of those.

So here is my guess. New Counter Strike. Considering how many people played CSS back in the day, a new version of CSS could draw all those people back. Valve have been tweaking CSS in recent patches, maybe testing things out to see how the community reacts. This is because they are planning a new game. Vavle love teasing the community, they love to have anticipation build for a very... long... time. Remember how long we had to wait for the original L4D? Or how long we have already been waiting for Ep3? Valve will drop a bombshell and then wait over a year before bringing results. This would be a big project. That project will be Counter Strike. You heard it here first.

(Of course, this is not what I really want. I want Episode 3. So get on that Valve.)

Friday 14 May 2010

I Bring Terrible News.

So, this is the time of year when all the big American TV networks decide whether or not to bring back their shows for next year. As a result, this is a tense time for people who like our televisions, as at any moment, news may break that a show we love have been cancelled. That a show we enjoyed will not continue. That the show is dead. That is why this is a tense time. Because every year, we get bad news. Sad news.

This year is no different. Some shows have already fallen. Some are safe. Others still hang in the balance. I’ll give you the headlines. Chuck has survived for another year, despite things not looking good for a while. But that is it for good news. Seriously. Every other show I liked has been hit by a terrible fate. Here is the bad news: Better off Ted had died. Scrubs has been sent to the farm. Heroes has been turned into glue. Legend of the Seeker has gone to meet its maker. FlashForward is no more. Dollhouse is finished. What with 24 and Lost already coming to an end this month, that is a pretty huge cull from my TV life. There’s only one piece of solice to take from this, which is some of those shows had been slowly dying for months now. But as a whole, this is some terribly saddening news to hit all at once.

Those were some great shows. Man, a couple of those deserve to get their own Best Show You’re Not Watching at some stage. But it is hard to say that individually they come as a surprise. Better Off Ted was a lucky renewal last year. Despite having an amazing script, and a cult following, it has had mediocre ratings, and looked like it was coming to an end. The scripts in the second season felt tired, you could feel that the jokes flow not as fast as before. But it was still a delight, and to know it will not be coming back hurts. But at least it doesn't leave mysteries unsolved. FlashForward arrived heralded as "the new Lost", with a detailed four-year plan, a complex mystery and complex characters. Instead we got an formulaic show where literally nothing happened for weeks, with a central mystery that didn't make sense, and which never developed. When it restarted after Christmas, I never got the energy to start watching again. And now knowing that it will never get the time to answer the questions is decided to build up, it feels like a huge let down.

We already knew that 24 and Lost were coming to an end, and those two great shows have been winding down in the last few months, which has been great fun. Heroes on the other hand, has been such a huge crapfest for such a long time now, it is hard to believe it has survived this long. It is only because that first season was one of the best things I have ever watched on television, that I still kept watching. Even tho' it has been kicking me in the nuts for years now. This is the one bit of news that actually comes as a bit of a relief, as I am now free.

Now, Scrubs has been going for longer than I thought it would. I thought it was finished two years ago, but then it moved network to ABC. Then last year they finished it off, JD left, and it looked again like it had finished. But it came back this year with a new setting and a new cast, and y'know what, it was funny. Not perfect, I concede, not perfect like before, but still funny. And now it has finished. Dollhouse also finished, but it never deserved a second season. It is only because it has the godlike Joss Whedon name attached that it got a second chance, and I never did catch up, tho' I still intend to at some stage. Oh, and the wonderfully formulaic Seeker has also not been renewed, much to my dissapointment.

So there we have it. In the last few days, this terrible news broke. Terrible, sad news. Hate to break it to you, but these were some wonderful shows. And they are no more.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

Best Worst Movie

They're eating her! And then... they're gonna eat me! Oh my.... Gaaaaaaaaaahhhd!