Spooks! Holy crap!

I have to say, that was the best episode of Spooks ever! Proper wounded they left it on such a cliffhanger! Whoever came up with the story on that one deserves nothing less than a BAFTA. No nominations, no ceremonies, just give the dude an award! Bugger it, give em all an award! And for the next 12 months, the question on the lips of every fan of the greatest show produced by the BBC EVER will be, did Adam kill Jo? The best bit of TV I've seen in absolutely ages!

Now this is FUNNY!!

Oh how I laughed my ass off...and it has a handy message to boot! Freedom to the net!!

Viva la resistance!!

The things people say when they think no one is looking...(another racial issue)

So had a quick play on good ol' XBox Live last night and generally I'll throw the headset on which will allow me to have a chat with other players as I play. Anyways - talking to a couple of guys from down south and there was a little banter going on which is generally the norm. Anyways, one of the guys proceeds to say something along the lines of "Christ...I'm running like a N****R".

Call it racism, naivety or whatever else, but I'd just refer to it as just plain dumb! From my own stand point, I'll admit I was a little offended and this was not only because of the fact that I'm a black man and simply don't like to hear that word being used by anyone (black or white) but on a whole, racist comments whether they are meant to harm or not are still offensive to me (regardless of whether they're talking about black people, asian people etc). I've been on the end of racial abuse when I was younger and knowing a fair bit about black history and how ignorant people had been to others simply because their skin colour was different to that of their own - I just don't like to hear racist comments in any capacity whether it be a joke, passing comment or out right ignorance.

Anyways - when I pointed out the fact that I was indeed, a black man, an awkward silence ensued followed by and apology and one of them attempting to give an anecdote..."Yeah...I met this black fella once and he was well funny...proper nice bloke". Thank you ever so much for telling me that - and on the basis of your anecdote I feel that we have made an ever lasting connection...(obviously I'm being sarcastic).

It's a difficult one when talking about racial issues being as there are those like myself who have been on the receiving end of racial comments which in a predominately Caucasian environment causes you to feel extremely uncomfortable and on the basis of this, it's not something that I would do to someone else. On the flip side of that, there are others who feel that because their comments were said without any malicious intent they are cleansed of any wrong doing. With that said I feel it is important to remember this. The fact that you do not intend to cause offence does not stop others from being offended, and it's a shame that even though we should all relate to each other as human beings - we are still a far cry from doing so.

Just goes to show that it's amazing what people will say when they think no one else is listening.

Technology and the world gone wrong

I think I may have 'bricked' my ipod! I plug it in to charge at work and it kept coming up with an option to update it so I figured "why not". I've updated the firmware tons of times before without any problems, so why should this time be different right? WRONG! Comes to the end of work and I go to 'plug myself in' as usual and when I look at the screen it comes up with this symbol like it needs to be plugged back in! I reset the fucker...same bloody thing. Now I hear you all cry 'well plug it back in' which sounds like a good idea, but to be honest, I just couldn't be bothered. Will see if I can sort it when I get home.

Meanwhile, was having a spy at http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com (I visit it sometimes, its a pretty good site and is ran by a friend of the chief exec of the law firm I work at) and he was talking about the war in Iraq. Now I've made a few comments about this before and one thing that does really piss me off about this entire thing is the fact that it shows if you got enough power, no one is gonna stop you. Did the US get any ramifications on the basis of ignoring the UN? Not that I heard about. They basically came up with some tripe about weapons of mass destruction - glossed over the fact that they couldn't find any and no one has done shit about it. Anyways, I have every intention of talking about this more later, HOWEVER some complete C*NT has decided to play mobile DJ on the bus. Execute all the fuckers I say, would help with the over population problem and one less chav in the country aint gonna be missed by no one. Just told the little doushe bag to turn it down and he gave me a look like he was well 'ard. Don't give it the biggun sunshine or I'll beat the fuck out of ya infront of your girlfriends! Sometimes I'm sure that these fuckers know that this irritates me and I'm very close to beating the ever loving shit out of this wanna be gangster!

GSP, Baaah Humbug and Hi Def Movies on the XBOX

So even though I've been aware of this for some time...George St. Pierre (who by the way...NEVER updates his website) has another title shot at UFC 79 : Nemesis, and while I'm a touch disappointed that I won't get to see Matt Serra pound on Hughes while I chant "Kill! Kill! Kill!" (OK...maybe overstating a bit but I don't like the dude) the fact that I get to see my favourite fighter go and serve up some grade A, satisfaction guaranteed or you money back whoop ass is certainly making me feel better about things. When Serra beat GSP (and I have nothing against Serra at all) I have to say that GSP looked like a different fighter - even worst than he did when fighting Hughes the 1st time and I'm of the opinion that the person who has a better change of winning is the fighter who has prepared himself both mentally and physically. GSP seemed like he was else where to me and it caused him to lose the title. I think if we can see the GSP who is even remotely close to his peak - Nighty Nighy Mr Hughes! And even George says it himself "No one can 'andle my riddem" (the best imitation of a French man I can muster through text). Plus they got Silva vs Liddell which may or may not be superb (Chuck's been a little disappointing of late) and also...I'm quite sure that Layoto Machida should be in the main card that actually gets shown on TV. So if you're in the UK - Sunday 30th December - 9pm - Bravo (I've actually rearranged bits of my Christmas break so that I'm back in time to watch it!!).

Meanwhile - it seems the closer to Christmas I get - the more bitter I feel! I dunno...I just don't like Christmas! It's not Christmas that I don't like but more the fact that it's turned into a period of time where you're damn near obliged to buy people gifts!! Pagan ritualism gone mad if you ask me! Anyways - this year I have decided that I will be buying 3 presents. 1 for me dear old mum, 1 for my best mate and the remaining present for my dearest cousin and favourite family member Max. Everyone else expecting a present will be expecting for a great deal of time! I'm also opting to not wrap any presents and I won't be buying cards either. The reasons for this are 2 fold.

1. To do my bit to save mother earth
2. Cos I ain't forking out coin on decorated paper and card that will get thrown away post December 25th!

Finally - as of yesterday, if you live in the UK you are now able to score movies on the XBOX Marketplace - they've only got 24 movies thus far but it's a start, and I think it's way cool that some of these movies come in High Definition (Woo Hoo!) - the only problem is that I have already own all of the good movies on DVD anyway and the remainder I wouldn't fork out coin to buy/rent. Still does not take away from the fact that it's a trip that they're doing it :) Nicely done Microsoft :)

First Bisping, now Hatton...

Yeah, can't really say I'm that surprised about Ricky Hatton, never watched the fight being as I don't really care about boxing (MMA IS FAR BETTER) - and while it would have been nice for the dude to win, that's just how things go in the world of British Sport, Lewis Hamilton, Mike Bisping, England Football team, England Rugby Team - all of them getting to that final hurdle and then what do you know...all ends in misery. Although the only one that bothered me was the Bisping fight...a damn shame as I was REALLY routing for him to win and I hope he'll be back to avenge that loss.

Meanwhile - the Ultimate fighter Finale was on this weekend...was going on til damn near 1am last night and I ain't staying up that long unless there's someone kicking off that I'm REALLY routing for. The fight with War Machine and J-Rock was kick ass, and Mac's fight although quick displayed a shed load of precision and skill, and while he's a great fighter I still think the dude is a total bully either way you cut it. I won't be routing for that dude any time soon I can tell you. Talking of the UFC, I ordered me an Octagon necklace today...they're selling them in the UFC shop...can't beat some of that action (I'm getting very obsessed with MMA these days) - but they don't ship until Friday and with me being in the UK, I'm kinda curious as to whether I'll get it before I bounce to see my mom for Christmas but we'll see.

Finally - I was playing PGR3 on my XBOX 360 last night....ONLINE! I dunno...they should make the game harder. There I am thinking I'm Lewis Hamilton incarnate...turns out I'm more like Ray Charles when it comes to being behind the virtual wheel. All these little kids that can't be more than 15 between em basically kickin the crap outta me at this freakin game. Embarrassing?? To an extent, but luckily I'm able to lie and tell them that my joy pad keeps sticking (although I doubt they believed me!) - ahh well!

First class..went pretty sweet

So had my first MMA class today and it all went sweet, push kicks and knees using the Thai clinch...all good stuff. Feeling a little dodgy right now being as I got a cold but all in all, the entire thing went well. I'll be signing up for full membership with my next lesson and it seems I've suddenly been hit with the Martial Arts bug! Come Thursday...1st Kung Fu lesson :)

Anyways, visit www.kaneacademy.com for MMA classes in Huddersfield town Center.

Take the pebble from my hand grasshopper

Woo hoo! A Martial Arts School has popped up in Huddersfield (where I live) and after a little enquiry, managed to score some information and what do you know, they're teaching Mixed Martial Arts. First lesson it tonight...well up for it, although I ain't got no intention of doing this with competition in mind! As most of my friends know, I'm a big fan of UFC but I have no intention of doing this in any professional capacity EVER! No cauliflower ears for me thank you very much!

Will report back and let you know how good it was...the chic...I mean lady that runs it is 5x World Champion, has over 10 British titles, 2 European Titles and 5 World Silver Medals...I guess that'll have to do.

When good men do nothing...

Edmund Burke said "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" I see no better example of such a thing than this (although "good men" is probably the incorrect terminology to use in this instance). I find it deplorable that any organisation would make such a stupendously idiotic and cowardly decision about the display and exposure of the torture of innocent people. Along with such facts as the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, Russia, France, USA and the UK) are the largest arms dealers on the planet (get your head around that if you can) just makes me feel that the world our children are coming into is on a downhill tumble at an exceedingly scary pace!

At the risk of sounding negative...we're all f**ked!

Movie Reviews

So currently watching Borat and am laughing my ass off! "A man errr yesterday say I must a buy a car with a pussy magnet...if I give you good price will you please put in pussy magnet" - Classic!

Anyways, watched America Gangster today, not what I expected as I thought it would be an action flic but it's not. At the same time, it's still a good movie though and tells a story very well. Only thing is, I knew Denzel Washington was meant to play the bad guy which is one of the reasons I wanted to watch it (after seeing him in Training Day, seeing him play a bad guy again seemed class) although I've never actually watched a gangster movie where I was actually routing for the bad guy. I dunno, could have been just me or it could have been intentional but all in all I'd give it 7 outta 10.

One thing I will say is that 2 of the trailers I watched intrigued me, the first being Alien vs Predator : Requiem (visit www.avp-r.com) and also I Am Legend. The 1st looks like an "Easy watchin' movie", but all in all I reckon it would be entertaining. The 2nd looks absolutely DOPE! Go see the trailer... I think it will be released here (UK) the 1st weekend of the new year (2008) so yeah...check out the web site... http://iamlegend.warnerbros.com

Back in England!

Yeah, so Amsterdam was the bomb! 3 days of being damn near a vegetable but the relaxation was class and well needed! Only thing is, the way I feel now, a long weekend is not what was needed, more like a week! Going from coffee shops, outstanding food and traffic lights that show a countdown until the green light kicks in (I was like a cave man seeing fire for the 1st time) to back home in England and working (but thankfully not living) in Bradford, feels like a kick to the knackers. Not taking anything away from England cos if you go to the right places its a great place to be but being as I am a fan of the city delights (and I'm not talking about chics for sale), coupled with the fact that I just need a 'real break' right now, I think I would have been better off opting for the full week.

Anyways, I actually went to the Van Gogh museum this time round (wasn't actually my idea) but being as it was recommended by others as an apparent "life changing experience" I decided to go. Now I'm not totally lacking in culture and while I'll admit that it was kinda cool seeing the real life pic of the sunflower (my mom had a print when I was a kid), life changing experience? I don't f**king think so! Not putting it down (but I'm about to) and maybe the build up was way too much but either way, if you have not been and get dragged along, make a stop at a coffee shop before you go (trust me on this, its the equivelant of biting down on wood as someone chops your leg off. Barely makes a difference but it feels like it helps).

Anyways, off to wallow in self pity, farewell Holland, I will see you soon! *sniff* *sniff*

UFC 78 (part 2)

OK, so my prediction did not end up as expected, went to a judges decision and who wins it? Evans! Fucking gutted! Was a draw at best! Fucking judges! Shit shit shit shit!!

UFC 78 (part 1)

Well just seen Houston Alexander get beat in the first frigging round! Fair play to Thiago Silva, but I was expecting more of a war! Ahh well. Next fight, Bisping vs Evans, this better be worth staying up for cos so far pretty much all of these fights have been boring as shit! What the bloody hell is going on?

Feeling Guilty

So this is just a very very quick post and as the headline says, I'm feeling a touch guilty. Currently coding the intranet for the company I work for and thought it would be an idea to code in a "bad word filter". I've currently come up with 89 "bad words" and it's suddenly occured to me..."how the hell do I know all of these!!"

I also have the sinking sensation that if I had the consultation of a 14 year old I could easily hit the century mark!!

I was thinking of posting the word list here in XML format or something for other developers but having another think...I don't think I will.

UFC 78 : Validation

So being from England myself and knowing our history with falling at the proverbial "last hurdle" when it comes to sport I must say that I've been a little sceptical when it comes to Michael Bisping. Nothing to do with his skill level or even his attitude, I'm just convinced that most British athletes are cursed when it comes to representing this country, from the England football team (or "soccer" as the Americans call it) to the rugby team and of course not forgetting our Olympic athletes that for the most part are never quite up to par when it comes to collecting medals on behalf of Great Britain. And while I'll admit that I have been doubting if Bisping will walk out with the win due to this plague that has afflicted so many British athletes before him (albeit in different sports) I must say I suddenly feel very confident that Mikes following fight will be for a shot at the title! Why the sudden turnaround? Well I had a catch up on the UFC blogs written by both Bisping and Evans in the run up to the event and I gotta say on the basis of that, my coin is on Mike to win. Mike's final post referring to the fact that Evans has been talking total bollocks made me laugh my ass off! And it's true too. Mike made an extremely good point with regards to Evans talking about his intentions to 'bring the pain' as it were, only thing is, he did this with Ortiz and came out with a draw (on a side note I think it was very disrespectful of him to talk that shit about Tito!). The fact that Mike has not fought any 'popular' names in the UFC means nothing. This guy is pound for pound the best fighter in the UK if not Europe. Evans saying that Mikes belief in himself is what has gotten him this far is a joke at best (I'm quite sure skill drops in at some point you prat!)

So, here is my prediction. I think Bisping will win it with a stoppage in the 3rd round!

Call it blind hope, British pride or whatever else you wanna call it but as good as both fighters are, I think Mike is just that much better and either way, someone will be coming out with a loss on this one. I really don't think that it will go to a judges decision therefore having no possibility for a draw and Bisping will be the one with his hand raised at the end of the fight. I just hope the boo's from the American fans don't get to Bisping (seems some of the guys over there ain't got too much love for the dude)