In the first of a brand new series of blogs Tom Eydmann; The nations 173rd favourite writer, lover and peoples champion has been asked to present a weekly round up of news events and pop culture under the title of a popular Google search to provide him more hits and views. Episode 1 Stakovskys Wife BIG EVENTS
Stakovskys wife. 2013s Pippa Middleton
As always when it doesn't clash with a major footballing tournament Wimbledon fever has hit the nations middle classes. Along with Yoga, an inability to cook a good steak and a strange love of seventies Swedish pop group ABBA; Tennis is one of the few passions and traits I have inherited from my mother. I love the fast pace of it and believe that tennis players are some of the best athletes the world has to offer. I also like the fact that unlike any other sport you do not have to get behind a player just because they are from your country. I am a big fan of Andy Murray and sincerely hope he wins his first Wimbledon this year. However I always supported Federer over Henman back in the day and am still a big fan of Roger now. At the time of writing both R-Fed and Rafa Nadal have made shock early exits leading the path pretty clear for Murray to face Djokovic in the final (unless you're reading this in the evening and Djokovic has been knocked out by some dude we've never heard of). As much as I want Murray to win though I do want Djokovic to make it to the final as a tournament where we lose Nadal and Federer after 3 days, don't have Venus Williams playing at all and my personal favourite Tsonga has also gone could end up being rather boring. Speaking of Venus, her sister Serena will no doubt clean up at Wimbledon again. At least with one of the Williams out though Sharapova should make it to a final again. And spare a thought for Laura Robson. Singlehandedly proving that British women are not completely shit at tennis, she's also turned out to be a bit of a babe in an English looking take her home to meet your parents for a Sunday roast kind of way. And speaking of babes I can't have been the only red blooded male to have noticed Stakhovsky's wife cheering in the crowd yesterday (clearly I wasn't as all the cameras on the courts picked her out every 3 seconds and Twitter pretty much crashed during and after the game). Seeing as we will probably never see her again as we will probably never see Stakhovsky again after the next round I have decided to name my first blog after her. That man is seriously serving above his weight
PRAY FOR MANDELA
Nelsons Column
Whereas in the western world Nelson Mandela is treated something like an African Ghandi he is a much more divisive figure in Africa. Sort of like a left wing Margaret Thatcher; if Maggie had been accused of being a terrorist that is. However his part in ending South Africa's apartheid cannot be overstated and as thousands of fans and followers stage vigils outside his home and hospital we can only pray for Mandela. When he does pass away he will undoubtedly and rightly be held in the same esteem as other activists for civil rights like Martin Luthor King and Malcolm X. As someone who has spent many weeks in South Africa I have seen that the country is far from perfect and whilst Apartheid doesn't exist in name they have a long way to go before achieving true equality. However at a time in the world where racial tensions are high in many countries (including our own) Mandela is a symbol of peace and freedom. A true hero and vigilante; at 94 the old boy has seen more in a lifetime than we can only imagine. Lets hope he isn't suffering too much as from the indications of reports leaking today, that may be all we can hope for now.
TV
Sideways Abbey?
Fan of Downton Abbey? Then you're probably reading the wrong blog; you aren't really my target audience. However you should be please to know that esteemed Hollywood actor Paul Giamatti is joining the cast for the next season. I've been a huge fan of Giamattis for many years (check him out in the movie Sideways; wine guzzling genius) but having an American actor star in a British institution does seem a bit unjust to me. Almost like they're pandering to the fact that it is so popular stateside. Imagine the uproar if Al Pacino had been cast as Dumbledore in Harry Potter or if Wesley Snipes had a cameo in Midsummer murders? Only joking; we all no Midsummer Murders is allergic to black people.
Cut To Black: RIP James Gandolfini
The TV world was rocked this week when James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano) died of a heart attack whilst on holiday in Italy. Along with Fox Mulder, Jack Bauer and Captains Kirk and Picard, Soprano was one of the most iconic TV characters in history. Gandolfini put everything into the role of making a brutal mob boss also sympathetic to the audience and, unthinkably, a person we could all relate to. He won 3 Emmys for he role and should have won much more. Gandolfini also had many small but memorable roles in movies such as The Mexican, True Romance, Crimson Tide, In The Loop and Get Shorty. One thing that can be said about the guy is that he put his all into every part he had and never 'phoned it in'. A tragic loss at the age of only 51. He shall be missed.
COUNTDOWN TILL THE FINAL SEASON OF BREAKING BAD BEGINS: 45 DAYS MUSIC
Just what every mother wants for her daughter
Rihanna has been in the papers again after she was pictured smoking 'cigarettes' longer than the list of Stuart Halls potential cellmates. Several journalists (mainly from scum sheets such as The Daily Mail) have accused her of being a bad role model for young women with her provocative outfits and music videos and her flagrant drug taking. Frankly I was surprised that any young people actually DO look at Rihanna as a role model. Surely any woman who lets her boyfriend beat her up and then goes back to him after he GETS A TATTOO OF HER BRUISED FACE ON HIS NECK will set alarm bells ringing for any girl over the age of 7? I've yet to see any young girls hanging around park benches and off licences begging their boyfriends to 'give them a Rihanna' so they can be the envy of the playground. Many of the papers also mentioned how Rihannas popularity was also an indication how there are so few positive black role models for young women who only seem to have Ri-Ri and Nikki Minaj who as far as I can tell seems to be mainly made out of injected whale blubber these days. Again though this is rubbish. Firstly why do young black girls have to have black women as role models? When I was growing up I didn't immediately seek out people of mixed race to look up to. Otherwise I would have been in very short company. Just Keanu Reeves, Tiger Woods, Steve Jobs (half Arab) and Bob Marley (half Caucasian). My role models growing up were Ian Wright, Noel Gallagher and Eddie Izzard. So a footballer, a loudmouth northerner and a transvestite comedian. How very appropriate to my image.
M.I.A: or Konnie Huq as my mum called her
Talking of Ian Wright why is it that if you ask many young boys who their idols are many of them will say a footballer or another sportsman when male sports stars are some of the worst behaved on the planet. Whereas if you ask a young female who their idol is they will say Cheryl Cole or some other terrible popstar who again are some of the worst behaved people on the planet. We never hear of teenage ladies saying they want to be like Victoria Pendleton or another female sports star. And if the Daily Mail are complaining that there are no positive black role models for women then why not look at the Williams sisters or rapper/singer M.I.A who writes her own stuff and doesn't have to dress like you're skanky ex girlfriend to sell records.
M.I.A also gets my new song of the week for Bring The Noize. It's a banger but probably won't get as much play as Paper Planes or Bad Girls.
FILM
I'm probably going to get beaten to death by a guy in a Batman suit for this but I can't be the only person on the planet who is getting just a little bit bored of all these superhero movies. People always complain about endless sequels and remakes of previous classics (recent guilty parties have included Total Recall, Mission Impossible 4, Fast & Furious 10 and The Hangover Part 3) but people seem to turn a blind eye when it comes to Marvel and other comic book heroes. I enjoyed Iron Man. Downey Junior was a breath of fresh air and his arrogance went well with the part. But after 2 films, plus The Avengers and several cameos I couldn't give a toss by the time this years Iron man 3 came out.
Henry Cavill doesn't use doors
I enjoyed The Dark Knight Trilogy as I enjoyed the X Men films; but that was because they came years apart so my mind actually started saying 'I wonder when a new super hero films is going to be released?' as opposed to 'How many fucking super hero films are coming out this year?'Of course you can't argue against how much money these films all make but did we really need a Spiderman reboot after what seemed like minutes after the credits for Spiderman 3 had rolled? Could we not have waited a few years before Man of Steel came out so most of us had moved on from The Dark Knight Rises. When I was a kid summer had original blockbuster films like Jurassic Park, Independence Day and Armageddon. The last original big summer film that was any good I remember seeing was Inception in 2010. Even Pixar have resorted to just making sequels now with Monsters University being released this year after Brave flopped in 2012. This 'dumbing down' of cinema is also shown in the fact that every big film of the summer will get a rating no higher than 12A. What happened to the Terminator, Saving Private Ryan and Scream movies that used to be top of the charts? So I've pretty much stopped going to the cinema now. This year I have successfully not seen Star Trek 2: (It's definitely not Khan but it is), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2 (aka Iron Man 3), Hangover 3, Fast & Furious and countless other 3 star movies. In fact the only movie I can see myself going to watch on the big screen in the near future is The Worlds End with Simon Pegg. Because those boys know how to make something original. Having said that I thought Man of Steel was excellent. I've always been a fan of Zack Snyder (Watchmen is so underrated) and I liked the fact that they made Superman a Jesus Christ figure. With zero comedy and more character development than even Bales caped crusader, Steel was more of a gritty drama than a comic book flick. More of the same please.
And lastly check out this trailer for A Field in England starring people from Spaced, The League of Gentlemen and The Mighty Boosh. It will be a cult hit mark my words.
