London Calling/ New York, New York.

Well I know its been a while but we've been pretty busy with our uni work of late. We're now on the home straight with only our review portfolios (the majority of which we have already written) and our essays to go. In other news, on Friday I received a phonecall telling me I've won tickets to go and see Arsenal play Standard Liege tomorrow night! So I'm currently bouncing off the walls with excitement preparing for my trip tomorrow.
Then at the end of the week I'm off to New York for a few days. So mega exciting stuff this week and frantic attempts to finish my uni work in time.
Spazibo and look out for my London updates!
Ruth

Ruth's Sports Desk - Moto GP Season Review

Here I am officially bereft for the Winter so as part of the coping process I'm writing my 2009 season review! And what a season its been, there may have been ups and downs but it was never anything less than thrilling, exciting and of course utterly STONKING.

Best victory- Dani's win in Laguna Seca. It came off the back of difficulties and DNFs and on the day he totally stormed it. Plus his unrestrained joy (and Vale's able assistance) on the podium was the cutest thing ever.

Best celebration - A tie between Vale's chicken and Jorge's space helmet and moonwalk.

Most exciting moment- Vale's last minute overtaking on the last corner on the last lap in Catalunya. Adrenalin rushes don't come better than this.

Biggest 'nightmare in a bubblecar' moment - Dani's crash in Mugello. Already injured he slides off at a corner and curls into a tiny, heart-breaking ball and has to be stretchered off. Cue wailing and tears in my house.

Best off track extra-curricular fun- a tie between legendary, stick-man Loris riding an elephant and the Yamaha crew's 'day at the office.' Colin Edwards has missed his vocation in life as a hardcore security guard/all round comedian.

Sweetest Moment - Senor Toothpaste himself Toni Elias giving Dani a lift back to the Parc Ferme after his bike ran out of gas. And every single time Dani and Vale are anywhere near each other.

Special award for all round dorkiness, adorableness in the face of adversity, biggest fanboy, hardest worker, Miss Congeniality and biggest smile - Andrea Dovizioso.

Best Race - Donnington for drama, Malaysia for joy and giggles, Brno for unpredictability, Valencia for a perfect joyous season finale.

So raise a glass and says 'cheers' to an awesome season and 'for suuuuuuure' an even better one next year. Huggy Dani and Vale wish you a happy off season and look forward to (ahem) doing it all again in 2010.

Movie Reviews - Up, Zombieland, Michael Jackson, Mr Fox.

Recently I've seen four really excellent movies. First I saw Up. Its the story of Carl Fredricksen a lonely old man who doesn't want to be evicted from his house and ends up finding adventure and friendship in unexpected places. Its a truly moving and wonderful experience (I cried a few times) with the most beautiful story and wonderful characterisation. Its a treat for the heart and for the eyes too with magical 3D and stunning visuals. Its sad and heartrending but funny and uplifting and you will leave the cinema feeling exhilarated. I thoroughly recommend it to everybody. I then went to see Zombieland which is a totally different type of movie, its a fast-paced and hilarious Zombie movie (clue in the title.) Its gross but brilliant and everything a zombie movie should be. Woody Harrelson is an absolute revelation in his finest role since Cheers and possibly the finest character in cinema history. It seriously kicks ass. Then I went to see Michael Jackson (This is It.) Now, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this that much but I was really pleasantly surprised. It looked like a seriously impressive show with Michael Jackson himself looking and sounding good. His band and dancers were absolutely fantastic and the set -list was mind-blowing. We were singing and dancing along in our seats. The arrangement and staging was so so impressive especially a beautiful version of Human Nature, Just Can't StopLoving You a wonderful duet with a supremely impressive female singer named Judith and an version of Billie Jean in the encore that in a real concert I'm sure would have brought the house down. So whether you're a fan or not go and see it and gain a new appreciation of MJ. Finally I went to see Fantastic Mr Fox, based on the book of the same nameby Roald Dahl. It was an old school delight with stop-motion animation and retro looking puppets. It was charming, quirky, funny and sweet. The characterisation was excellent, the script was sharp and the voice cast was top-notch. Another big hit for me.
Spazibo and amore to you all.
Ruth

Happy Friday!

Dani and his flight helmet wish YOU a happy Friday!!!

Well today something exciting happened to Nicola and I. We were in Northumberland Street and noticed we couldn't get past halfway down the street because there was a big crowd of people, it turns out that the Queen was visiting Newcastle today. But we couldn't see anything because of all the people so we decided to head back to uni and when we got around the corner we saw the police escort and the black car with the little flag on it. And sure enough the Queen was sitting in the back! She looked very little and very nice she was wearing a pink jacket and a lovely pink hat. We were very excited and could hardly believe that we'd just seen her on the off chance.

Spazibo everybody and much luuuurve.

Ruth

TV, and stuff.

Ruth and I are both eagerly awaiting the release of Nine (the musical, not the Tim Burton film 9, which also looks good), so keep your eyes peeled for a review when it comes out!

In the meantime, I'm beginning to forget what the real world looks like - my life has been overtaken by utopias and dystopias, and vampire fiction. True Blood is one of the best things on TV right now, and I can finally watch it now it isn't on an obscure satellite channel. The only bad thing is, there are always spoilers in magazines! I really don't see the point, who likes spoilers?? It takes away the whole point of watching the program. Then of course there's the annoyingness of Anna Paquin and the girl who plays Tara to contend with, but I love how weirdly realistic it is. And I really love Bill, and the guy who owns the bar (Sam? I think.)

If vampires aren't your thing, there's always X Factor and Strictly. I suspect Jedward might be in with a chance of winning on X Factor, which would be the end of reality TV as we know it! They are hilarious, but come on, it is meant to be a talent show! My favourite is definitely Joe to win, he's just awesome! And how great is Cheryl this year, I wish people would stop slating her. The media love to build somebody up then send them crashing back down again. Her live performance was spot-on. I couldn't even guess who might win Strictly... Ricky Whittle? Ali? They're too close to call this year.

And then there's Ugly Betty and Gossip Girl...... you can predict what's going to happen week after week but sometimes that's a good thing! I have stopped watching Gok though. :( Sorry Gok, I do love you, but I feel you're just on TV too often. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, take a break!
Nicola