As Harry Redknapp is famous for muttering, it’s now Manchester Uniteds time to be down to the bare-bones with no less than almost a full Premiership challenging XI out injured, the latest being 4 injuries at the midweek Derby Carling Cup game. Having recently gaining the top spot in the Premier League after failing to set the world alight this season we have now been reduced to a squad of players playing out of position, the latest victims being my favourite player, Anderson, out for 3 weeks with an ankle injury (it was originally suspected to be broken and despite this, Anderson played on the last 5 minutes), Jonny Evans, like Anderson with an ankle injury, again for 3 weeks, Nani is out with a groin strain for 1 week (though knowing him, it’ll probably be a month) and Rafael has a hamstring tweak, so that’s 3 weeks minimum.
Those players now join Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Ji-Sung Park as sidelined players, a total of 10 players, if we had a goalkeeper out injured you would literally have a team who could even compete for the Premier League injured. Now more than ever we need Berbatov to start shining, along with Tevez and Ronaldo and as long as Vidic remains fit we will have someone who will fight for everything at the back.
January into February could be a gruelling few weeks, though we may get to see more of young James Chester and Rafael’s twin brother, Fabio. Sadly, at the one time this season Anderson was almost guaranteed a solid run of games he gets injured, so we have to keep putting up with Darren Fletcher in the middle of the park. The only real highlight is that we do have some truly key players still fit in Tevez, Ronaldo, Carrick, Vidic and Van Der Sar, the latter two of which are crucial as we’ve seen in the past when we’ve lost them to injuries.
Every year I try to, but often forget, to list my favourite things about the previous year from my areas of interest, sadly I lack any form of conistency, but after originally posting this on Jan 1st then removing it to add more detail, I don’t have the time, nor inclination to write up my reasons, although that may change in the future. Sorry about the awful layout too 
.
Below are a selection of personal opinions on the best of 2008 in the area’s I’m interested in with honourable mentions. Hope you enjoy.
Continue reading ‘2008 Awards’
Well, little bit of spring cleaning, my overly ridiculous catagories list has been shrunk down to a more manageable size and posts have been edited to have the correct and more often, less tags than they originally had.
That is all.
Last night I watched the newest movie in the challenge list, the new Darren Aronofsky movie, The Wrestler featuring Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. It revolves around legendary wrestler Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, once one of the biggest stars in Wrestling, as he works the Independent wrestling circuit as a near-retired wrestler who still holds his own against the up-and-comers of the industry but whose heart is struggling to take the strain of competitive matches.
Seperated from his wife, no friends and a daughter he never saw grow up, played by Evan Rachel Wood, his performance is both fragile and powerful in equal measure but without the sentimentality and fakeness that is usually the mainstay of American movie making. Aronofsky’s The Wrestler takes direction as an almost documentary approach through Rourke’s life as Randy The Ram, leading the viewer believing they are living his life with him and are often left hanging on to every word. The direction is certainly a highlight of this movie, never has professional wrestling looked so real with scenes so gritty and real looking it’s sure to draw a grimace or two whilst keeping the integrity and no doubt, appreciation from professional wrestlers and fans alike.
Mickey Rourke’s performance is sure to land him an Oscar nomination for a powerful, heartbreakingly real performance he deserves all the accolades that have been thrown at him for his portral of ‘The Ram’ in this movie.
If I enjoy every movie on the list as much as I enjoyed The Wrestler than I am due for a real enjoyable time throughout this challenge. I recommend you see this movie.
After seeing all the talk of people having 365 challenges regarding photography over at a forum I frequent I have decided to go through with something I’ve been toying with for a while.
I’ve always enjoyed watching movies from long before I have memories, probably out of the womb. I used to watch Disney movies religiously as a child and quickly moved onto movies of all kinds not long after, not because it was cool to watch 15 or 18 rated movies long before I was old enough according to the government to view them, but because I wanted to. I’m now 24, 25 next week and still watch movies, although not the numbers that I used to, regular readers of this blog will know that the majority of my viewing time is steered towards watching TV shows, my major vice, and too many times my friends have stood aghast when I state that “I haven’t seen it” to whatever movie they are discussing, probably surprised knowing that I used to watch so many.
So on we get to the point of this challenge, my goal is to watch the top 250 movies according to the movie mecca IMDb.com. My chance to finally see those movies I’ve never seen but always wanted to like Raging Bull, Psycho and The Apartment, but also gives me a push to see those that I would happily ignore like Casablanca and Singin’ In The Rain.
Over on the right menu is a link to the 2009 Challenge where you can keep constant updates on my progress with all movies seen being highlighted and the number seen stated above the list. I also hope to do weekly, or most likely, monthly updates on what I’ve seen and what I thought regarding them (time allowing). I’ve already heard some state they don’t think it’s possible but the challenge also allows for 115 days off if I were to watch 1 a night.
Happy New Year everyone, hope you have a cracking 2009. And get sticking to those resolutions!
