Sam's Movie Reviews....

Trying to think of thing to blog about can be a thankless task. Thinking of new ideas that people are going to want to read about...

I'm going to start a few weekly Blogs with varying themes...

Today - and each Friday from now i will be reviewing films that i have seen the week prior and letting you know what i think about it.

Is my opinion really one you should be listening to?...possibly not, but in my other life i like to think of myself as somewhat of a Film Buff.

Liverpool Vs Manchester United

Good Morning,

Today I am going to blog to you all about the biggest fixture in the Premier League calendar.

Liverpool Vs Manchester United

Let me first start by telling you I am an avid Manchester United fan. I will try my hardest to remain impartial throughout the blog, but i can't promise anything.

So on Sunday the 25th October @14:00 we will have this seasons first clash between the nations 2 most successful clubs. I for one cannot wait.

All the talk this week has been about beach balls, fans losing confidence in the once loved Rafa Benitez and a ramifications of a potential 5th straight defeat. Talk of Benitez getting the sack may seem a little farfetched - but for a team who were favourites to win the league in the summer to now be out of the race by October...fingers must be pointed.

Don't get me wrong, i think Sir Alex has made some horrible signings in the past (Djemba Djemba for example, 'so bad they named him twice'!), but the team has always been winning trophies even with or without the likes of Djemba-Djemba & Kleberson. Rafa Benitez on the other hand has really failed to dominate any competition...especially the one the loyal Liverpool fans covet the most "The Premier League Trophy". Some of Benitez's signings have been exceptional, Torres (Is there a better striker out there?), Pepe Reina (quality stopper) & Glen Johnson (I know, i know a lot of money, but the best RB in the league by a distance). Now let’s look at a few who didn’t quite make the grade, take a deep breath.

• Dossena
• Babel
• Ngog
• Pennant
• Keane
• Morientes
• Sissoko
• Nunez
• Fowler (2nd time round)
• Gonzalez
• Carson
• Voronin
• Lucas

Nearly £70m of rubbish here.

I could go on, but I won’t. But the point i am making is Benitez is terrible in the transfer market. He has spent a fortune, they had their best chance in 15 years of winning the league last year and blew it. If he does get the axe...i think he can have no excuses, crazy American owners or not.

I digress.

The game on Sunday sees 2 rivals currently in very different from. Manchester United back on track following a hiccup against the very impressive Sunderland, and Liverpool who are on a 4 game losing streak...ouch. But as the pundits always tell you, "On Derby day...the form books go out the window". This is definitely true, especially when these 2 teams lock horns. Unfortunately for Man Utd last season we were subjected to 2 convincing defeats by Liverpool, the game at Old Trafford was truly horrible, i will however tip my hat to Liverpool, that day they were brilliant. I will now add though that the most influential player in those 2 games (no not el Nino), will not be playing in Sunday - Xabi Alonso, anybody who didn’t notice his influence before certainly does now. I could talk about Liverpool’s decision to sell him for hours, but that’s for another blog.

So lets do some more player analysis for the fixture. Where are the battles going to be won & lost? are Torres, Gerrard & Johnson going to be fit? Will Rooney, Giggs & Evra be fit? The answer i imagine is likely to be yes to all 6. The head to head i would most like to see is Torres VS Vidic round 2. There can be no doubt who won round 1, but even the most hardened Liverpool fans would admit Vidic was surprisingly atrocious that day. Another clash will also be in the middle of the park, we will expect to see Fletcher (is there a more improved player?) attempt to put the shackles on gerrard, will Mascherano be able to break up the play of Scholes &Giggs? And how will the much maligned Carragher cope with the much improved Dimitar Berbatov?

Lots of exciting battles there to be had. For me, the team who wins this game will be the team who take a chance, the team who throw caution to the wind.....the team we refer to as :

Manchester United.

So much for the impartial view!! :-)

Alan Partridge - The Movie!

It looks like the Alan Partridge film may yet become a reality, with co-creator/star Steve Coogan admitting as much on Radio 1 recently.

Coogan was doing the publicity rounds for the Night at the Museum sequel when he revealed that Norwich's most popular DJ could yet hit the big screen.

"Yeah, we are planning on making a movie," he explained. "We're talking about it at the moment. What it is we're not sure. But yes, there are plans afoot to make a film."

Partridge is a fictional character who shot to television fame as the sports presenter on spoof news show The Day Today. His big break came when he landed his own chat shot -- Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge -- although a tragic accident involving one of Lord Byron's duelling pistols, followed by a disastrous encounter with the head of the BBC, resulted in the show being cancelled.

This is the best news i have heard in ages !!

Cooking Doesn't get any tougher than this!

So this is it, BLOGGING!! I guess the first thing I need to really consider is what am i going to use my blog for?

• Am i going to use it as a marketing tool to promote my business?
• Am i going to use it as a way of sharing my inner most thoughts with the world?
• Am i going to use it as a way of having a good old whinge at things that annoy me?

Yes...i think i probably will, and perhaps more!

So that's that bit sorted. Panic Over.

Today I am going to "Blog" about something nice and light hearted as it is after all, Friday.

One of my favourite things is food, especially cooking it. Another of my favourite things is watching the TV. What happens when these 2 personal faves go head to head, Mano et Mano?? Well they both run at each other like stampeding bulls colliding and out of the puff of smoke they create comes....BBC2's MASTERCHEF!!!

I particularly like the current series 'Masterchef : The Professionals'. Mainly due to truly intimidating and menacing performance by Michel Roux Jnr. Getting this culinary powerhouse on board is a true master(chef)stroke by the BBC. I have been watching the entire series and have never seen him blink once - that in itself is impressive. Watching these young chefs cook for him can be truly painstaking, as you see their layered towers of fillet steak & fondant potatoes with savoy cabbage falling down the plate...as their hopes fall even faster, down the sink.

Then you have the best supporting actor Gregg "The Spoon" Wallace. He can be a little annoying when judging these chefs, especially when you bare in mind that he sells fruit & veg for a living and has never cooked anywhere near the level he is supposed to be judging. But...all is forgiven when you see his perfectly spherical face beam with joy as he spoons in the biggest ever spoonful of Tiramisu since records began into his mouth. "That my friend is an absolute joy". Watching him eat is rather like watching a JCB pick up tons of dirt and drop it into a chasm. Not my best anaolgy, granted.

Best newcomer must go to Monica Galleti. Monica is Michel Roux Jnr's soux chef at his Michelin star restaurant in Mayfair 'Le Gavroche'. Her job is to vet the 4 chefs at the start of the episode down to 3 by watching them complete a skills and palet test. She is possibly even more menacing than Michel and I have also noticed she too has the blink less stare down to a fine art! On a recent episode she nearly had a full grown man in tears as she tore apart his rather dismal effort at scrambled egg.

It really is a TV recipe worthy of 3 Michelin stars in my opinion.