Why ask a question you know the answer to????
Earlier this afternoon at approximately 2.30pm I settled down in front of the television eagerly awaiting news of Steve Coppell’s future at the helm of Reading FC. I was utterly relieved when John Madejski revealed at a press conference that Coppell would remain at the club at least for next season. I must admit that I was interested in this two-fold; one is obvious because I just told you but the other is because I wanted to know how a press conference worked and what the process was. Now, I’ve watched football press conferences before, but never once have I taken notice of how they were organised, or paid more attention to the journalists and their questions than the….footballers, for example. I passively viewed them shall we say? This time I took an active viewing and imagined myself there and thinking of questions I would ask. I also found myself criticising the journalists’ questions, I thought a fair few of them were crap and bared no real relevance to, well, anything.
Once that press conference finished I was fortunate enough to be able to continue my education as it was immediately followed by another; this time I was in Moscow with Sir Alex Ferguson seated across from me like a Mafia boss being flanked by two of his cronies, one in the shape of Rio Ferdinand, and the other, Wes Brown. These journalists were even worse though. Sir Alex would have much preferred my questions, each one would reveal an epic journey into his football pysche, and his discourse would be woven together in a knot of in-depth critiques on the state of world football, tactics, and the infamous pizza throwing incident. I would also ask him why he never does post-match interviews with the BBC. Why does no one ever ask him that?
I am almost certainly jumping the gun here, but I am sure that I could have asked better questions than the other journalists. Some Spanish fool decided to ask Sir Alex if Cristiano Ronaldo would still be at the club at the beginning of next season. Needless to say Ferguson gave him a dressing down; the word ‘idiot’ was used more than several times. He finished by telling the Spanaird that he would be willing to place a large bet in favour of Ronaldo moving nowhere, does Sir Alex know something we do not? No, simply. Chief Executive David Gill has reiterated several times this week that Ronaldo will not be leaving, despite continued interest from Real Madrid. Ronaldo himself has revealed his desire to stay at the club for the forseeable future. I could not believe that he asked a question that everyone knows the answer to, he has wasted his chance to ask a thoughtful, well constructed question that would receive a reply that he could in his story. All he can say now is, “Upon being questioned on Cristiano Ronaldo’s future, Senor Ferguson called me an ‘idiota’”. Not really riveting stuff.
Anyway, it just annoyed me that he would ask such a silly question that has already been answered on several occasions. I wonder what his editor will say to him when he goes back to his office… probably ‘idoita’.
A Summer Of Comic Book Blockbusters
Although the summer weather doesn’t look to be gracing us with its presence yet or anytime soon, the summer months certainly are approaching (what with the calendar year being a fairly concrete and stable concept). Anyway, every year, within the months of May, June, July and August, we, the public are treated to a barrage of cinema but, for this year in particular, we, the geek are treated to a barrage of highly anticipated comic book adaptations which will have any self respecting nerd salivating on to his World of Warcraft t-shirt.
Iron Man, released 2nd of May is the first to hit our screens, a piece of inspired casting sees Robert Downey Jr as billionaire Tony Stark, the world’s foremost weapons designer who is kidnapped and forced to build a weapon of mass destruction, but instead builds himself a high-tech suit of armour and escapes captivity. Whilst this movie will focus largely on Stark creating the suit for the first time and becoming Iron Man, fans of the comic book will know he later spirals into alcoholism. So it’s a good job Downey Jr spent a vast number of years doing method research for potential sequels in this role.
June will play host to The Incredible Hulk, Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner in this Louis Leterrier directed all action CGI extravaganza. Not much is known about the plot but with our first glimpse of Hulk at minute three and rumours of a 26 minute final battle between Banner and super villain The Abomination, it certainly won’t be short of a few larger-than-life fight scenes.
Perhaps the most highly anticipated comic book adaptation this year is………ready for it??…………The Dark Knight! (I forgive you if you weren’t as excited about that as I) Now, those of you that have seen the two minutes and seven seconds trailer will know that it is essentially ‘geek porn’, it is that good. Joker, played by the late great Heath Ledger looks truly very scary. The very unfortunate death of Ledger means that the tone of this film may change slightly, so what I propose is to view it in two ways; one, look at it as a homage to a very talented actor and fully appreciated his final screen performance (and probably his finest). Two, forget about the former completely and just view the film for what it is, ‘The Dark Knight’, Batman vs. Joker vs. Two-Face, soak it all up.
Last but by no means least is Hellboy 2. This sequels predecessor had a fairly low profile release, but fairly high critical acclaim. It didn’t rake in the big bucks that studios desire though so it was somewhat of a surprise to hear of a sequel, never the less, here we are. Everyone’s favourite Mexican Guillermo Del Toro is back in the drivers seat and Ron Pearlman will once again assume the role of Hellboy, the beer drinking, evil fighting demon who despite his best efforts is destined to destroy the world and bring about Armageddon. Nice.
Radio News Story – House Prices Soar by a Third
A new survey has revealed that house prices in Winchester have risen by an enormous third in the past twelve months.
The average cost of a house in Winchester is now three-hundred-and-forty-nine thousand pounds – up thirty-two percent from last year. It means that properties in the area cost almost double that of the national average, which is currently at one-hundred-and-ninety-six thousand pounds.
Whilst this is great news for home-owners, it means that some people, who are desperate to get on the property ladder in Winchester, simply can’t afford to.
Record Turnout for Winchester 10K
Record Turnout for Winchester 10K
The 26th annual 10k road race took place last Sunday, 24th of February and saw just under 900 entrees, a record for the prestigious event.
Spring-like temperatures and little wind provided the race entrees with idyllic racing conditions on an undulating course that weaves past the city’s historic sights as well as through its rural surroundings.
Just before the race was due to start, all the competitors had congregated at the starting line, the tension in the air grew as the crowd fell silent and the timekeeper, Ken Littlejohn raised the starter gun. In the same instant that the clock changed to 10.30am Littlejohn shattered the silence with the starter gun; and the race began.
Local racer and fresh from his win at the Wokingham half marathon a fortnight before Toby Lambert fronted the leading pack from the off and was looking strong throughout the course, reinforcing his status as overwhelming favourite for the win. Lambert pulled away from the pack as they reached Kings Worthy but Aldershot and Farnham District runner Chris Bolt followed, and it became a two horse race for first place. The race drew to a close with a titanic battle to cross the finish line first with both Lambert and Bolt taking the lead over the last kilometre. But in the in the last 100m it was Chris Bolt who was in the lead and kept a cool head to cement a place on the winners trophy with a time of 31.14, 4 seconds faster than Lambert.
The Winchester 10k was special this year not only for the huge turnout of competitors but also for the large amount of women who entered. The field was made up of 286 women, over a third of the entire field. It was Joanna Rodriguez of Woking AC who came in first out of the women, with a time of 38.14. She won comfortably with Joanna Emery of Rugby and Northampton AC just over a minute behind her.
At the prize giving Chris Bolt had this to say for his win, “I’m very pleased to have won, especially against Toby (Lambert) who has been on great form at the moment”.
Race Director Roger Wakeling is now looking forward to the 27th Winchester 10k and said that “I hope we can have even more competitors next year, I would love for there to be over a 1000.”
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