On Nico Rosberg's Retirement

Rosberg’s retirement didn't surprise me as much as it seems to have shocked other people. The timing surprised me, I am not Nostradamus, but not him retiring.

Rosberg has always struck me as a sensible person, in both senses of the word.  I think he knows he’s not a better racing driver than Hamilton and that one World Championship is likely to be as good as it gets.  I think he also knows that there’s no point in carrying on doing something you don’t enjoy when you’ve achieved all you can and have all the money you will ever need.  There was also a certain amount of writing on the wall about his future given how slow Mercedes were being to renew his contract in mid-season.

I have no idea what Rosberg plans to do next, but I hope he has a lot of fun.

I think part of the reason people were so taken aback by his retirement is that most of us would do any number of truly terrible things to become Formula 1 drivers. Yet, there he is, walking away from the best car in the pack, a car that’s still likely to be the best next year, even with the rule changes.

Of course, I suspect that being an F1 driver is one of those things that looks a lot more fun than it actually is.  We get to see the best bits, the actual racing, not the hours of testing, simulating, and work that goes into it.  While it’s about F1 mechanics, there was a really interesting article on the BBC website about the realities of life in Formula 1 which I would recommend.

There is a large part of me that respects Rosberg for leaving as much as anything else he’s done because there must have been great pressure on him to stay.

One thing that does interest me is the number of people who refuse to believe that Rosberg has retired because he wants to spend more time with his family.  Now I know that it’s the traditional fake reason for politicians, but look at Rosberg’s life.  He’s got a wife and a new daughter, that the job kept him away from.  He’s made all the money he’s ever going to need, so he doesn’t need the job, and the job has already killed someone he knew.  If you look at it like that, it makes a lot of sense.

I’m also interested in the way that when a female sportsperson retires to start a family or spend more time with hers, it’s treated as perfectly normal, but if a male sportsperson does it, the sportsman is lying.  People either have a really skewed view of the world, or they don’t think that men love their families as much as women do.  Either way, I feel so sorry for people who feel like that, they seem to be missing out on rather a lot of joy in their lives.

Perfectly Gentlemanly Conduct

I’ve got no problem with what Lewis Hamilton did at the Abu Dhabi grand prix. This is for two reasons :

1 - I am a Ferrari fan and while the team motto isn't “we lie, we cheat, we steal” it easily could be. I have no room to complain about anyone bending the rules.

2 - Hamilton was fighting for the world title. Nothing he did endangered anyone's safety, and Mercedes had already won the constructors World title. There was nothing wrong with what Hamilton did and I'm still not sure why the Mercedes team management tried to interfere.

My only problem comes when he tries to pretend he didn't deliberately slow down to try to help Vettel and Verstappen try to overtake Rosberg. It's like “Lewis, who do you think you’re kidding?” The superiority of the Mercedes to the other cars has been a theme for the past few seasons. It was half a second faster than the next nearest car in qualifying. You can say all you want about tire and fuel management, but there are limits. If he’d said it while tipping a wink, it wouldn’t be so bad. Instead he bald-facedly said he was driving the car at its maximum, when it was clear to everyone from team management down that he wasn’t.

Nobody would think any the less of him for trying everything he could. All of us would have done something similar for such an important prize.

So why lie? 

It’s not like Formula 1 isn’t a sport known for its skullduggery. For example Red Bull’s flexible wings, Brawn’s F-ducts and everything Ferrari did in the years 1996-2009.

I can only imagine he’s either trying to live up to his image of Senna or he’s trying to protect the Lewis Hamilton brand. I’m not sure if either of those two are reasonable.

That image of Senna bares no resemblance to the Senna I remember. The real Senna punched Eddie Irvine and rammed Prost off the road. I think everyone loved Senna with all his flaws a lot more than they would have loved the milquetoast saint he’s sometimes made out to be. For similar reasons, I’m not convinced that Brand Hamiliton wouldn’t profit from him showing a more fighting side. Because of the technical dominance of Mercedes, the last two of Hamilton's title wins have had the air of coronations about them. I think people love a fighting champ a lot more than a serene one. Being willing to show a little steel would have endeared him to people more than 'I didn't do it' does.

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange is a brilliant example of the danger of expectations.

I expected cool SFX and Mads Mikkelsen.  I got that, and bonus Benedict Wong, so I was happy.  L expected a film that actually worked on its own merits and was left disappointed.  It is quite a flat film, that spends most of its time setting up its own sequel and whatever the Marvel Cinematic Universe equivalent of the Infinity Wars is going to be.

It's also telling that the memorable scenes are the ones with very little in the way of obvious SFX, where they give the actors are given something to do.

I want 16 films of Rachel McAdams's Nurse Palmer going 'oh FFS' at superheroics.  But then again I am entirely happy with the idea of 16 films with Rachel McAdams in.  Dear Hollywood, please cast her in more things.

Spoilers Underneath

For all that I'm supposed to think Doctor Strange is a bit much, he's not actually that much worse than several doctors I know.

I know that Marvel have said that the flyer with a broken spine is not Rhodey, but 1) I think they're lying and 2) if it's Sam Wilson, I riot.

I can't help but feel more sorry for Doctor Strange in the scene where he shouts at Christine than the film wants me to, not least because he was a lot more polite than I would have been.  I don't know if that's because I know how much time and effort you have to become a neurosurgeon, never mind one at the top of his field.  I did like the irony of other surgeons saying to him re: his condition.

One interesting thing is how much Kaecilius thinks that what he's doing is the right thing (as does Mordo, and the Ancient One).

I can see why people make the Tony Stark / Stephen Strange parallels, except it misses the important thing about them.  Tony is driven by not wanting to let his father down, while Stephen Strange is driven by his belief in his own greatness.  Strange doesn't have the same self-destructive tendencies as Tony.  Tony would happily get himself killed several times over to save the Earth or Universe, but I doubt he'd have come up with a plan that got himself out of it alive too.

They've also got very different attitudes to killing people.  I like how seriously Doctor Strange takes the whole try not to kill thing.  The fight scenes did lead to me going hallo there Scott Adkins.  He has joined that select group of people that I recognise from their shoulders.  Maybe recognise isn't the right word, because I couldn't put a name to the shoulders, but I did go 'I know those shoulders from somewhere else'.

Like lots of superhero films, both Marvel and not, the end boss is a bit of an anti-climax.  Although I am deeply amused by the method used to defeat him, it all seemed so easy, and the cost doesn't become apparent until the end stinger.

Saying Chiwetel Ejiofor is good is telling you stuff you already know, but he was oh so good when the film finally gave him something to do.  It meant that for all that this film was flat, I am looking forward to the sequel just for Mordo vs Strange.  But that's exactly what I mean when I say the film spent a lot of time setting up its sequel rather than being its own film.

End Spoilers

Disney Marvel are missing out on oodles of money by not having a Doctor Strange replica cape for sale.  As this isn't like them at all, I do wonder if it's to avoid lawsuits from parents of children who try to levitate.  If they do ever bring out a replica cape, I will be all over that.

I am very aware of the film's flaws, but I am the target audience so I enjoyed it.  To paraphrase N on Facebook, "make a competent films with Marvel Studios at the beginning and I'll enjoy it".

On Poppies

I wear a red poppy.

Yes, it's a political act and I've no idea why people pretend it isn't.  I've stood up for peoples's right not to wear one, or to wear a white one, and would happily do so again.  My choice is to wear a red one.

I wear my poppy for my great-grandfather, this year more than usual, because it is 100 years, almost to the day, that he died in the First World War.  He left behind a wife and four children.

I wear my poppy for the American branch of the family, who were founded by two GI War Brides, and have had servicemen since, including my cousin who met his wife while on service.

I wear my poppy for my friends that joined up straight from school.  They've now mostly served their time and left, and nothing bad happened to them, but it's good to know the British Legion are there to help if it had.

I wear my poppy for the three lads I met on the Manchester train who were on weekend leave from Army training, because Lord love 'em, they might need help and I can't trust the government to be there for them.

That's why I wear a poppy.

An Apology To The Buffalo Bills

I feel I owe the Buffalo Bills an apology. I fear their terrible start to the season might be partly my fault. It's a complete accident I swear.  And I meant well.

I brought my friend a Bills painted skull back from Mexico and I think it might be cursed.

It was bought with good intentions, I even hunted for it when, because of their previous uselessness, Bills paraphenalia was hard to find.  I am not kidding.  It was easier to find Calgary Stampeders and BC Lions gear.  I finally found the cursed artefact of doom on the last day of the trip.  I thought it was a sign.  And it might have been, but not the good kind.

Possibly the skull should not have been bought.

Although if the Bills somehow win the whole boondoggle from that sort of start, I reserve the right to take the credit for that too.

Blog Update

Unfortunately, I have no internet connection at home, and probably won't have until the middle of November.

The main thing I'm missing is the ability to edit Wikipedia. At some point the giant secret data visualisation project turned into a giant secret data visualisation and Wikipedia improvement project.  This is at least partly due to poor data quality and non-updated Wikipedia articles.  There will be more details when I finally finish the giant secret data visualisation project.  At this point that looks to be some time shortly before doomsday.

Other than that, I've got a few blog posts lined up.  They cover travelling, film and science stuff rather than sport.  Although I do have one American football post lined up.

Ta-ta for now.

Suicide Squad

Was far better than it had any right to be.

As in was actually fun.  And Will Smith is amazing.  As is Margot Robble.  And I <3 Diablo, and Katana and Captain Boomerang.

Joel Kinnaman looks terrifyingly like Carmine Giovinazzo, so I apologise in advance if I make any Danny Messer on steroids jokes.

It's only as I'm reading back through this that I realise that I've gone through the film character by character rather than thematically or chronologically.  This wasn't deliberate but may well show one of the weaknesses of the film.  It's a series of character bits strung together with action scenes.  Now I don't mind that at all, but other people will.

Some spoilers for Batman vs Superman follow (because they're in the film) and mention of most of the Marvel Filmverse.

Spoilers Beneath

The story mostly makes sense.  There's a couple of moments of 'that move was too boneheaded for that character to make' but we will forgive them for this.  The characters work as versions of themselves, even if a few people have had some of their rougher edges smoothed down.  It is interesting, for instance, that the film does flash up that Harley was involved with Robin's death but it is blink and you'll miss it.

The film is tightly tied to Batman vs Superman, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.  On the one hand, Suicide Squad does its bit to set up Justice League with a much lighter, easier and more fun touch than B v S did.  On the other hand, I feel that this means that the Batfleck solo film we're going to get (thank you, whoever) is going to be Bats vs the Joker, again.  And while I am all over that, because ... oh I'm hopeless, I do feel it's been done and is only going to be compared to The Dark Knight, and that may not end well.

I am aware I am the only person that liked the Leto Joker.  He doesn't quite work, but it is at least blatantly not based on the Ledger-Joker (no diss against him).  Given that other films keep turning other characters into the Ledger-Joker it's a refreshing change.  Also Jared Leto is the only person who looks more terrifying out of Joker make up than in it.  Harley's fantasy is legitimately eerie.

Deadshot is lovely, and it's one of the interesting things about the film, that he is clearly a good guy and a bad man at the same time.  And Will Smith is good at both.  Better at being the good guy but ... Deadshot so lovely.  As is his daughter.  Whose name I didn't catch.  In the film's defence, I can't hear out of my right ear properly at the moment so I don't think it was their fault.

The film gave me an Amanda Waller who was just right.  Because yes.  Although it does worry me somewhat that her line on the topic of Superman is mine.  No good comes of me and Amanda Waller agreeing.  I also liked that the film let the "heroes" (well, you know) call her out when she does things that are really not good, see also *that* scene in the bunker.  One of the things that annoyed me about the first Avengers film and the second Captain America film is that Nick Fury kept doing things that were decidedly shades of grey and no-one shouted at him.  I don't mind Nat and Clint not doing it, but I refuse to believe that Tony would be able to keep his opinions to himself.  Also, I think she knows about the Bat and that makes me want to yell at Bruce going 'Bruce, you really don't want her to know'.

Harley Quinn was, well, she was herself.  I can see why people might be annoyed that she always goes back to her Pudding.  But the whole thing with her character is that she would (and indeed is) lovely, if only she avoids the Joker.  And they got that over.  Margot Robble is far better than I expected her to be.  My favourite scene was the one just after the helicopter is shot down when the rest of the Squad find her again.  The minute she sees them she tries to fake being alright, and then Deadshot holds his arms out so she can get down and she just melts into his arms.  It's so lovely.  Because Deadshot is lovely.

Actually, the whole escape sequence is lovely.  From Deadshot not telling anyone about Harley's plans to him pulling his shot (and the rest of the squad being happy about it) and Captain Boomerang, who is by someway the member with the least empathy, trying to comfort him when the helicopter is shot down.

Joel Kinnaman does a bang up job in what could have been a thankless role.  Because Flagg is the least bad of the good guys (because that's how this film does it's shades of grey), and less interesting than the bad guys and could just have been a bland GI Joe a-like. Instead Kinnaman gives him a reality and just enough human weakness to believable and real and solid.  (Although the rest of the military squad were pretty much misc. disposable military types and hello Scott Eastwood.  Because Scott Eastwood is always hello!)

I am going to presume that they cast Cara Delavigne for her ability to gyrate convincingly in very little for that bit at the end with the Enchantress.  It doesn't work.  Then again, I don't think anyone would have been convincing doing those gyrations, Josephine Baker notwithstanding.

Jay Hernandez is good as Diablo, who gets to be the regretful one of the squad.  I think he's literally the only one who regrets their crimes.

Captain Boomerang, on the other hand, really doesn't.  He's, I think, the only one of the Squad who isn't given some excuse or reason or redeeming feature.  He's fun, nonetheless, and it makes those moments where he is vaguely human more effective.  It's interesting that they choose him, who is the least dangerous and deadly Squad member as the one without redeeming features.

His accent is merely ludicrous.  I have no idea if Jai Courtney just can't do an Aussie accent, or if he's an Aussie they told to put on the most stereotypical and ridiculous accent ever.  All I know is that it sounds even more bizarre given that Margot Robble occasionally breaks into 'Strine next to him.

I <3 Killer Croc, which I really didn't expect.  He's one of the few Bat-villains I know more from the comics than any adaptation, and I'm used to feeling sorry for him, but not loving him.  Because he knows what he is, and he's okay with it - see the scene in the bar.  (Also, just cast Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje in everything.)  I'm also trying to figure out if his line about 'being born into the sewers' is supposed to be a call-back to Bane.

Nothing about Katana makes any sense.  If she's got Flagg's back, then why does she leave him and join the rest of the Squad in the bar scene?  But if she's one of the Squad, why is she allowed to roam free?  She's cool, but as I said, makes no sense.

It's not a classic by any means, but its a fun way to spend a couple of hours, and if nothing else, it has a cracking soundtrack.  I really don't want to know how much Warners paid to get that soundtrack.

Star Trek Beyond

Was fun.

In a way the other two Reboot films haven't been.

 I think it's because the creatives this time got that Star Trek's job is to be the positive sci-fi franchise, the hopeful one, the one where people do make mistakes but learn from them.  It's job is not to be grimdark (DS9 never was, no matter what people tell you) or to get lost in continuity loops to amuse the fanboys (Enterprise, here's looking at you). I liked the film's message and its positivity.

I also approve of the fact the story was original. It wasn't based on a previous story, instead it was based on the experiences of these characters, not the experiences of their TOS versions.

Justin Lin should be allowed to direct anything he wants.  The thing I liked most about his directing style is how well he (and the SFX crew) conveyed the three-dimensional nature of space.  The establishing shots of the Yorktown were incredible.  I do wish he'd use fewer cuts in the hand-to-hand fight scenes.

I know at least one person is going to complain that my main objection to JJ Abrams is his flashy style so how can I love Justin Lin's directing so much? It's because the flash in Lin's style helps the story while Abrams's is just there to look cool. Lin used flashy tricks to show, not tell, the size of space, its three-dimensionality and the Escher-esque qualities something like the Yorktown [or a zero-G battle] is going to have.

Chris Pine's Kirk was much less punchable in this one, which helped matters enormously.
I am utterly in love with Jaylah, but I think everyone is.

SPOILERS BEYOND HERE

It wasn't perfect. I thought that Spock was too emotional and the twist was predictable. The minute you heard Edison's name you could guess that nothing good had happened, but that's a Star Trek tradition too. Seriously, Star Trek pulled "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" way before Batman ever did.

It's clear that someone in the writing staff liked Enterprise, and treated it with more respect than its own finale did.

I liked the way the film gave you enough detail to get what was going on but allowed you to fill in the blanks yourself. I am intrigued by the alien tech. I wonder if Krall's appearance was down to how the machine worked. Maybe it transfers more than life energy but also some part of the victim's DNA. I'd also love to know how the swarm actually worked.

That's how you use "modern" music in your sci-fi film! It turns what was a pretty cringey moment in the first Reboot film into a moment of awesome. "I like the beats and the shouting," indeed.

I do worry that I am turning in to Urban-Bones though ;)

Book Review - The Piranha Club: Power and Influence in Formula One by Timothy Collings

The ever wonderful L got me this as a present a couple of years ago and has been very patient waiting for me to read it.

I almost want to write two reviews, one for F1 fans and one for other readers.  Because, despite a few flaws, I would utterly recommend this for anyone with more than a passing interest in F1.  If you've not got an interest in F1, you're really not the target audience.

Both reviews would make one similar complaint - what Collings needs, even more than someone to thoroughly proof-read the book (I'd complain less, were this not supposed to be the revised edition), is someone to help him organise his thoughts.

The book follows a mostly chronological path, beginning with Enzo Ferrari and carrying on to the present day (which was 2003).  Which makes sense, and it was interesting to get an overview of how the sport developed and changed, through the prism of the teams and team bosses.

Only sometimes the book randomly jumps so Ron Dennis and Frank Williams get introduced before Ken Tyrrell, for no obvious reason, especially as Ken Tyrrell was also a garagiste.

And then we suddenly get a section on the skulduggery of the 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2003.  And each individual section is very good (especially the 1997 bit, which, as a Ferrari fan, I remember *differently*), but the whole would have been so much better with an introductory paragraph to the chapter (which is called Tempestuous Times) and and intro to each section.  For the price of five extra paragraphs, the chapter could have gone from 'really good' to 'excellent'.

Following that chapter we jump back to 1997 (admittedly to a really excellent chapter on Jackie Stewart, Stewart Racing and how to organise an F1 team).  

The jumping also affects the flow of his introductions to team managers, so we get Paul Stoddart doing his thing in the 2003 section of 'Tempestuous Times', before he, Minardi, and why he bought Minardi are introduced a chapter and a half later in '2001 - A Political Odyssey'.

I think the lack of organising principle is why, particularly in the early chapters, you quite often get an anecdote on one page, only to have it be repeated over the page.

All those complaints are utterly unimportant if you're an F1 fan though, because the book has so much interesting stuff, especially about how things work (or don't work) on the business front, and some of the personality background on the team leaders.

And Bernie.  Oh the Bernie stuff was interesting.  Particularly Stirling Moss saying that Bernie was a half decent driver.  There is a man whose opinion I respect in these matters.

I keep forgetting how old Bernie really is.  Because I always assume that he's Ron Dennis's age, and he's not, he's 16 years older, which I think is because one reaches one's business years about 20 years after one reaches one's racing years.

Collings also tries to predict the future, and while there's a reason that's a mug's game, he does get some of it right.  The imbalance in the prize money has lead to other teams going bust, and is still causing ructions between the remaining teams.  He's right that it will probably be the EU Commission that eventually gets it sorted (courtesy of complaints from Sauber, where Peter Sauber has left F1, rejoined, and then sold his team).

He's also right in predicting the rise of manufacturer teams such as Renault, and teams that are part of larger organisations, where they're basically extended marketing departments (looking at you so much Red Bull), at the expense of truly privateer teams.

Where he's wrong is the effect that that's had on who the team bosses are.  Contrary to what Collings predicts, they are still mostly ex-racers and mad petrolheads, for example Christian Horner (and if anyone wants to horrify us all by digging out *that* centrefold of Horner, now would be the right time) and Toto Wolff.  The bosses of big companies don't have the time to devote to just one part of their brand that it would need for them to truly run a Formula 1 team, so they're going to try to hire the best they can and those people are going to come from the same motorsports-enthusiastic places they've always done, they're just not doing it under their own names now.  And I don't think you could.  Gene Haas apart, and time will tell if he stays, you need a pre-existing business empire to enter F1 nowadays.

And Bernie still prevails.  As I suspect he always shall until he's bored of it.  The book was written before the present Concord agreement was signed and therefore ends on a note of 'how will the teams ever agree to a new one, and how will Bernie cling on to power?'  Sound familiar?  The book also has a fantastic anecdote that explains why Bernie remains,

"At various times, he has left a room, during a meeting, after suggesting that the team principals present decide among themselves who the new leader should be, only to return and find they had spent so long arguing about the air-conditioning levels, or something similar, that no-one had even proposed a replacement leader." (pg 137)

Now, yes, it's one of those anecdotes that's probably far too good to be true, but it sounds infinitely plausible and I suspect the same thing would happen now.  He is what keeps F1 moving, and I actually do worry about what happens post-Bernie, and I think the 'Bernie out' people should consider that before they get too vociferous. But yes, in short, definitely read it if you're an F1 fan. Not so much if you're not.

Film Locations

An update to this post about where the films I watch are set, now update to the 22nd June 2014.

As you can see, they're overwhelmingly set in the US or UK, but less so than the books I read.

The ones in the UK are mainly set in England.

If I include fantasy and non-terrestrial locations, its not much better, although US and UK-set films no longer make up more than half of all locations.