daveydave

I know I've mentioned unsporting behaviour by a certain Monsieur Henry in an earlier post - and I certainly stand by that - but I have to say I am absolutely delighted to see Portugal dumped out of these finals by France. You could jump to the conclusion that this is simply because they beat England in the quarter finals, but I can assure you this is not the case. I am happy to admit defeat when we are fairly outplayed - see earlier post covering the England v Sri Lanka cricket international . There are actually two reasons I go for France over Portugal. Firstly, when he's on form, I just love watching Zidane: he's a wonderful player, sickeningly skillful and a joy to behold. Secondly, and probably the main reason I am so happy to see Portugal lose, is the manner in which they play. What was heartening however, was hearing the crowds reaction to certain players. I'm not usually a fan of such behaviour, but I think we have the situation where the fans have seen quite en...

Despite the best efforts of Blatter and his FIFA cronies to turn football into a dull, no-contact sport, I am happy to report that the beautiful game is alive and well. Much has been made of play-acting and bad sportsmanship over the course of these finals, Henry's face-cluthing display against Spain being a prime example. However, the game tonight was played, by both sides, with passion and commitment. There was no rolling around on the floor for no good reason, diving head-first into the penalty area if breathed on, and so on. Instead, we had handshakes and a quite fantastic spirit about the game. The result? A truly remarkable game of football. Easily the best 120 minutes I have seen during this year's World Cup finals. Both teams were an absolute credit to the game and their countries. I have to say the brilliant performance of the Mexican referee played a part in this. He let a number of firm but fair challenges go throughout the game that free-kicks would have been awarde...

I am a bit of a fan of Japanese films as you may have noticed. This most certainly includes the animated variety. Ghost in the Shell is 11 years old now, but what a fine Anime. Exploring the question of what make us human, this is an interesting and most enjoyable film. Set only 23 or so years in the future, we see a world inhabited by cyborgs: humans who have had varying amounts of their bodies replaced by machinery. Human spirit/soul, call it what you will, living in a mechanical box - the ghost in the shell - at what stage do we stop being human? This film follows a character who has become mainly machine, and a piece of software that now has human form. The questions of humanity come to the fore. What happens when you die? How do you produce offspring that are not simply carbon copies, but different from the parents - how to be more human. A fascinating watch.

(or motorbike for that matter) and get away with it. Just read an interesting article on the BBC website . Apparently some theives made off with this young chap's moped. The police refused to make chase because the theives weren't wearing helmets. The logic being that if there was an accident and the thieves injured themselves, they'd sue the police. So it would seem the more laws you break the more likely you are to get away with it. If I went out on my motorbike without a helmet on I'd quite rightly get stopped. If I went out and pinched a bike but foolishly wore my helmet, I'd get arrested. Break both laws however, and I'd be fine. Personally, if there is an accident and the theives get mashed up a bit, I don't much care. Involving innocent bystanders is a different matter of course, but just to let people go for fear of being sued is ridiculous. Firstly, it's just another example of the law abiding types getting no useful support from the police and...

On a recent trip to London, a friend and I spent a very enjoyable evening at Sadler's Well Theatre watching some Kabuki. Kabuki is a peculiarly Japanese theatre tradition, where all the parts are played by men. It is an arresting sight, hugely colourful and massively skillful. The story is played out by the many tiny details of posture, costume and music as much as the dialogue. Most of the subtleties were well beyond my grasp, but this did not spoil what was a truly fabulous experience We were fortunate in having two of the best known Kabuki actors gracing the stage, and tickets very close to the front. It's quite difficult to explain Kabuki unless you have some knowledge of Japanese traditional arts - being highly stylised, it is a very different experience to anything you'd expect to see in the West. Basically though, you have a small number of actors on stage, as well as the musicians. There isn't much in the way of dialogue, and what there is is not exactly deliver...

While most of the nation's sports fans are focused on events in Germany, other national teams are also playing their respective games. Yesterday I was at Durham CCC's Riverside ground in Chester-le-Street to watch the third in a series of one day internationals against Sri Lanka. This is the second time I've seen an England ODI at the Riverside, the first being a couple of years ago against New Zealand. We were soundly beaten then and were even more so yesterday. I know the squad is short of key players and I know Steve Harmison is only just getting back after injury, but this was an awful performance. Ian Bell put in a handy 77, but did it at a very leisurly pace - it took him over 100 balls to get there. In comparison, Sri Lanka's Jayawardene piled on 126no from 127 balls. On the plus side, it was a good day out and a great atmosphere. We also saw some fabulous cricket, it's just a shame it was pretty much all from the Sri Lankans. Look out for them in next year...

Right, this is going to be a long post, so grab yourself a cold one. Those of you who persevere with this blog may have read a post back in November about the search for my ancestors. You may recall that I was having a spot of bother with my great-great-great-great-grandfather. A couple of weeks ago I was in London for the weekend - one of the main reasons being to visit the National Archives at Kew and browse the mariner records for the mid 19th century. The plan was to go in there, find one William Miller of South Shields in the master mariner lists and that would be job done. Well, obviously it wasn't that easy. The list of masters wasn't yielding anything useful, so I had to trawl through the standard seamen indexes and found 16 William Millers from South Shields. After some further work I managed to get this list down to 5, any of which could have been the man I was after. I was stuck. Anyway, that was the Saturday and I was in London until the train left on Monday afterno...

I'm not one of those rabid Eurovision fanatics, but I do find it quite an entertaining couple of hours once a year. However, this year is special and I urge you all to witness the wonderment that is Finland's entry . Not your typical Eurovision fare by any stretch and I'm delighted to see they made it through the semi-final stage. They will be gracing a TV near you on Saturday: there is a God after all.

If there were any doubts over the rise of the money set in Newcastle I think yesterday squashed them. I saw not one but three Aston Martin DB9s in town yesterday. Not the same one thrice either. I'd gone out for a walk at lunch and while heading back to the office passed a brand new, black convertible DB9, top down, parked up and abandoned - rather brave I thought. While I was casting my gaze over that, a silver coupe drove by. Then, walking down to the car park after work, I saw a black coupe. This is an exceptional, but not altogether unique catch. I've noticed, over the last year or so, a steady increase in the number of flash wheels driving around the north - particularly Astons, Range Rovers and Bentley Continentals. We're certainly no match for the South-East, but there sure is some money up here these days.

A brief follow up to my previous post on Alan Shearer . I watched his Testimonial match last night (surely the first decent thing aired on ITV4!) and I've got to be honest, I was welling. A very emotional event. I was one of the thousands who turned up on a wet lunchtime in July 1996 to welcome Shearer home, and I still can't quite believe that we won't see Alan in the Newcastle number 9 next season. I'd like to add huge thanks to Celtic Football Club for coming o'er the border and giving us a very enjoyable game. Especially playing along at the end to allow Shearer, who I'm sure would have much preferred to play the whole game, to score the winning penalty. Yes it was an orchestrated end to the game, but it showed a huge level of sportsmanship and really was a credit to that team. Slainte.

At the risk of being labelled a racist, national front-supporting nazi by the über-PC idiots: Happy St George's Day. Not just to the good folk of England, but also the citizens of the following countries, regions and cities where St George is also patron saint: Georgia, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Aragon, Catalonia, Genoa, Istanbul, Moscow and Venice. I'm not a jingoistic flag-waver by any stretch of the imagination, but I do find it wierd that we English types seem to celebrate St Patrick's Day and even Australia Day more than our own patron saint. Shame really. Have yourself a nice warm ale and a bag of chips. External links: BBC: St George's Day Royal Society of St George

I haven't been a season ticket holder as St. James for some years now, but I felt I must say something about Shearer and his retirement from the game. I was there, outside the Leazes end 10 years ago, when Alan Shearer signed for Newcastle United. I had a very extended lunch and endured what seemed like hours of that idiot Alan Robson telling me what I should sing, just to see Shearer lift his arms to the sky that first time in black and white. Last week, at the Wear-Tyne derby, we saw that action one last time. It is such a sad way for Shearer to finish his career, limping off 3 games early after tearing a ligament in his knee. If there was any justice he would have been scoring a hatrick against Chelsea on the last day of this season. Sadly it's not to be. Shearer has been a fantastic asset to Newcastle and England, a fabulous sportsman and almost impossible to replace. All the best Alan, in whatever you do in your retirement - it's been an absolute pleasure watching you.

Those of you who keep an eye on this blog may have noticed a couple of posts on clay pigeon shooting. In order to keep a reasonable level of focus on this new interest of mine, I've started a dedicated blog: Breaking Clays . There isn't much there at the minute but, as I progress and learn more about the sport and the equipment, that is where I will post my thoughts and findings.

A Japanese film based on a comic I believe (aren't they all) The story revolves around a group of 10 kids who have been brought up and trained to serve one purpose: assassination. The central character, Azumi, is the only girl in the group. Once the scene of early life and the training has been set, we quickly move on to the real task in hand. The group leave their mountain retreat, where they have been living in splendid isolation learning their craft, out into the outside world to await their orders. Many battles ensue leading, naturally, to a big final fight. And boy it's a big one. This film is not all about killing, however. Loyalty, betrayal and the questioning of your destiny all come out over the course of the 2 hours. Azumi is full of quality acting, breathtaking martial arts and wonderfully interesting characters: this is a gem of a film. Quality moment: Azumi dispatches an arrow heading directly for her forehead with one swift application of her sword - the arrow is ...

For those of you who trot off to Europe on your hols and are used to dropping by your local Post Office for an E111 form: they are no more. The humble E111 has now been replaced by the European Health Insurance Card. They are free and easy to get online by pointing your browser at the online EHIC application form . I applied for one on Wednesday night and it arrived this morning (Saturday) which seems like a pretty speedy turnaround time if you ask me. The EHIC does the same thing as the old E111 - that is, allows you to claim health services throughout European Economic Area countries and Switzerland. Very handy. It only covers treatment that becomes medically necessary during your visit to that country - so no free boob jobs. You should also get proper travel insurance too - particularly those of you who love zipping down mountains on planks of wood. Further information is available on the FAQ page . This information is only valid for UK residents, not including Channel Islands or Is...

...you were ordered to leave your home by your government, moved to some place 800 miles away that you've never been before, and told you could never return? Pretty upset I'll bet, annoyed even. So here's a question: who do you reckon did this to a community 35 years ago. China, perhaps? North Korea? Guess again. The community in question are the Chagos islanders and the government responsible is the British Government. During the late 60's the British Government leased the island of Diego Garcia to the Americans for use as an airbase. Diego Garcia was part of the Crown Colony of Mauritius at the time. The people living on the islands to the north of Diego Garcia were served eviction orders and moved. Some ended up dumped in Mauritius or the Seychelles, others resettled in the UK. They have never been allowed to return, until last week. And then only for a short visit. Diego Garcia is now part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, one of 13 remaining territories belong...

After an entertaining shooting lesson last week, I went back for more... So, today was shooting lesson number two. Last week my instructor started me off shooting one clay at a time before moving on to report pairs (second clay launched on hearing the first shot.) Today it was straight on to pairs, so your 25 booms go by pretty sharpish. We moved on to the second stage today: starting with the gun down from the shoulder. Shout pull, watch for the clay, gun into the shoulder, track and bang. I only missed 4 today, so I was well pleased. I've got to say, Jack is an excellent instructor and has got me comfortable with the shotgun very quickly. His words to me on leaving the range were basically, you've got the basics, get a gun and practice. Next stop: a gun case.

I watched this film again the other night, even though I didn't really enjoy it when I saw it at the cinema after its release last year. The script is poor, the acting highly questionable in places and Orlando Bloom is totally wrong for the lead part. The reasons I decided to watch it again were twofold: the look of the thing and the performance of Ghassan Massoud as Saladin. Totally believable in the role and projecting an on-screen presence that Bloom and others can only dream about. This guy seems a very fine actor indeed. I'm hoping to track down some of his other performances. His latest film appears to be Valley of the Wolves: Iraq.

It's less than 24 hours after installing the new visitors tool, and I have a message from the other side of the world. Hello to Ivan in Brazil, thanks for your visit. His blog is in Portugese but why not drop by: Ivan Goulart - Professor e Pedagogo

Those hawk-eyed readers out there may have noticed a new addition to the righthand panel of this blog. Nestling comfortably between my flickr preview and the Google adverts lies a nifty little gadget that shows where visitors to this blog are from. Looks a bit sad and lonely at present, as it can't take into account those who visited before the thing was activated. However, it should be interesting to see who actually wanders into this blog other than the 5 or 6 UK-based people who I know keep half an eye on it. You can get this thing from NeoWorx