CAUROSEL

So i'm late again for another Grand opening for a West End show, this time it's Caurosel at the Savoy Theatre.

After light refreshments at the bar, whilst waiting for the next chance to get to our seats I take a look around the Savoy theatre. I quite like it, the staff are friendly the service good and having once worked at the Savoy Hotel, taking coats, I can't help but feel slightly nostalgic.

So we're Kindly shown to our seats, people stare, as they do, and I get the chance to watch the latest reincarnation of Richard Rodgers musical. This time starring Lesley Garrett as Nettie Fowler.

As I sit down I'm instantly stuck by the behind the stage Graphics which I have yet to see the like of in other productions. At times my interest in this exceeds that of my interest in the play.

It's not that the play is not interesting, It's a classic story, well told and features excellently coriographed dances and fighting. I enjoyed the shows songs , i had to refrain myself from joining in with the chorus of ' you'll never walk alone' on several occasions. However i'm a dialogue man.

I like the Sopranos because of how it happens, rather than what actually visually happens and in the second half of the play a girl dances for forty minutes without and dialougue. It's a nice dance full of meaning and development. None of which is lost on me, please don't misunderstand my meaning, the dance is .... great, but is still a forty minute dance.

So in conclusion a good play, but not really my type. Lesley Garrett does well and the dancing and fighting is both well choreographed and prolonged. The Savoy theatre is now one of my prefered theatre's in the West End and I'm sure unlike oterh recent shows which opened recently Caurosel will survive comfortably.

6/4

MOSCOW

For good and bad, I love this city.

From the dry chilled air to the warm friendly people, this city has it all. Over my last 8 weeks I have spent 3 of them in this Vortex of a cit, and i'm pleased to say not only have i lived to lived to tell the tail but grew and discovered a new way of life.

Only in Moscow do you get phone calls from friends at 2:30 am requesting your presence at any number of clubs 'Propaganda' in this instance. Then leaving your apartment in zero degree weather jumping into the first car that stops and shout at the driver "PASHALUSTA KLUB PROPAGANDA!" then "SKOLKAH?" and after a rough frantic minute of head shaking finger pointing smiling and laughing do you eventually pay over the odds to get to your destination.

The city is hard as nails, their are few benches, smiles and frivoluties on the streets, on the stunning Metro you can expect to be charged down by the type of middle aged business man that in London you would never have dreamt would act so bullishly.

You can get lost in syrillic alphabets, pronunciations, womens eyes and in apartment court yards. If you are foriegn some may say Muscovites are suspicious of you and watch you like a hawk. I'd rather say they are interested, why the change in perception? Simple, almost everybody in Moscow I met was bloody , almost embarressingly kind, friendly and helpful.

From the young lad who stopped, organised and arranged my first solo gypsy cab adventure, to the Georgian gypsy cab driver who just wanted to talk about Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

This is not to say Moscow is full of angles. Like all big cities and some small ones naturally it is not. I saw the ugly underbelly of Moscow when I went to the Luzniki Stadium with my friend Ibrahim and we were made to feel quite uncomfortable and in the end decided to leave without seeing the match. This was no surprise the enterance to the San Siro is littered with ultra graffiti and English grounds would still be a meeting ground for certain types if we did not have the forsight and resources to change our games image.

It would also be unfair to tarnish all the fans with the same brush, i spoke to one Spartak Moscow fan who was going on a 16 hour away trip the next day who, although in a slightly UN PC manor, explained how he just prefered his team playing Russians or Moscovites over foriegn players, purely because the related to them more. This isn't a completely alien concept to any football fan.

I was almost beaten up in a resteraunt queue for speaking English to my friend Ibs by a drunkard only to be saved by a beautiful Belarussian girl called Kristina (she could proabably tell you more accurately what the mans obvious grievance with me was).

But that is Moscow and it's brooding, bolshy, crass but essentially well meaning nature make it such a wild place and somewhere so many people want to visit the place but so few people would.

When I was out there first time a friend called it the 'wild west', I know what he means but the term is too loose and dare i say it, American. Moscow isn't Russia and it certainly isn't American, I fear one day it might become so. My Russian friends accept and greet the Wests offerings and Starbucks , Mcdonalds, Subways and Pret A Manger can all be found easily. This is not a bad thing, i'm not one to hark on about globalisation, but i would say the rough and chaotic side of Moscow would certainly be reduced by an increased presence of Western corperation. Is it the 'wild east' no, that's just too rubbish. It's just wild wild Moscow I guess.

My Moscow factfile.

Visa's allow two weeks to organsie and get them. Doing it in person is the cheapest and quickest way, but also the most hassle. Forms , queues etc.

Best Club: Propaganda

Where to eat: Try My My , it's a Russian fast food resteraunt. I have fond memories of the place.

What to eat : Chicken Noodle soup

Where to stay. Obviously the closer to Red Square the more expensive and probably better. But anywhere within the Purple circle metro line is adaquate.

What not to do: Go to the football

YOU MUST WATCH THIS FILM!!

I was quite taken by Liam Neesons latest action thriller, Neeson seldom puts his name to a bad film and this time he is the star of a great one. Taken's tangibilty is it's real strength and makes it real and gripping film.

The plot is simple one man losses his daughter to an Albania womens trafficking ring and uses his 'acquired set of skills' to find her. Neeson plays the all action dad and somehow manages to turn a somewhat one dimensional character into someone who is much more.

Some synics could claim the idea of a middle aged Neesons attempting such a task is ludicious, but this is where the plots tangibilty and the directing of Pierre Morel turns the film into something abit special.

He does this through uncompromising and rough action, and an easy to follow and oh so believable plot. Anyone who has travelled with a friend and knows abit about the world can relate to it.

And the choice of location ,Paris, a somewhat innocent tourist location just adds to reality of it all.

This isn't to say the film is just an action thriller with no real depth, as some have labelled it. The film does lack the soft lovy dovy scenes, hours of character building and sweet nostalgic music but this doesn't mean the film lacks any emotion it just means the film is refreshingly short , just an hour and half and this leaves you wanting more.

Rating: 5/6

WATCH IT!!!

So you know where you are standing with the rating

1/6:Rubbish avoid at all costs

2/6: I would make no effort to see it

3/6: Think i'd watch it when it's on TV

4/6:Think very good film you might watch at the cinema but will get the dvd

5/6:Think very very good film that you plan to see in the cinema The Dark Knight,Platoon,

6/6:Think a must watch epit like the Godfathers , LOTR's, The Sopranos ,

Der Deutsche Fussball Bund

A few people have asked me what I make of the current state of the German national football team, given that I am a devoted fan.

So as I sit here on the Sports Desk on a slow Sunday afternoon desperatly trying to find a fresh angle on a Kelly Holmes interview from yesterday, and studying the Russian Open for a interesting angle I think I will give you my thoughts.

My starting off point is from an article I read on Goal.com ,a fantastic football, website. The article argues Germany's decade of not winning anything is abit of a failure, as this is the first time we have doen this since the 60's. My arguement is ...

Germany have done what is expected of them over the past decade and Euro 08. In Euro 08 specifically, we got to the the final relatively comfortably and were beaten by a better team.

We truimphed over our weaker opposition such as Turkey, Austria and Poland efficiently and as we knew we would face Portugal at some stage, we were prepared and stepped up our game for them.

The squad, however, did not have the strength and depth to evolve and beat Spain. It also could be argued this was the only game in the competition we could not really prepare for given the nature of the draw.

As for the squad we took to Euro 08 and in previous tournements Michael Ballack is our only World Class player, but other players have stepped up in other individual tournements.

In 2002 it was Oliver Kahn and Klose, in 2006 Podolski and Klose ran were the heroes, and in 2008 Schweinsteiger was the man.

Obviously it can be argued who did what in these tournements, but fundementally the German teams have been solid units from which only Ballack can consistently be considered a class above.

Euro 08 was no different, and our limitations were obvious, Lehmann is a stop gap Keeper likewise Fritz and, when he is not fit, Frings.

But our unit was one of the strongest in the tournement.

To go one further and win the competition like in 2006 and 2002 what we have needed is an additional World Class offensive player, someone who could play up front and allow Pod to play on the wing or on the wing so Pod could go upfront.

I thought it would be Gomes this time around, needless to say, it wasn't. In 2002 we needed a pace merchant like Podolski but he was still in nappies.

And in 2006 we needed... i dunno, something. But then again we were at home so everyone stepped up.

A decade of failure? No !, A decade of success? Not really.

I'm willing to put our poor performances in Euro 2000 and 2004 down as results of internal disputes, a tough draw and a gearing up for hosting the World Cup.

It has been a decade of beating teams that are worse than us and losing to better teams, very German.

The next Generation will be of a similar ilk, Neuer, Kroos and Marin will be just as effective and good, plus a few guys like Klose will come good out of nowhere.

But like all German teams , and this is sitting on the fence abit, they will do as well as can be expected and maybe abit better. A very high quality of average sometimes crossing over to World Class.

Student ID Cards

Here is another one of my packages from University.

Boris Johnson slams Labours plan to test their controversial identity card scheme on students. Jacquie Smith, claims using young people is the perfect way to test run the programme. But critics think the Home Secretary is trying to introduce the cards without on the sly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NleCEum7JBY

Walpole Park

This was my first go at making a package and i hope i have added the one with the voice over. If i haven't, enjoy the pictures.

Sound of Music

A new Maria will be gracing the stage in the West End show The Sound Of Music. Summer Strallen's switch from teen Tv soap Hollyoaks to the London Palladium is meant to attract a younger audience, but will it work?

Our showbiz reporter Edward Asta caught up with her to see if it will work.

(A big thanks to Neil Sean for helping me arrange this interview)