Why hello there once more, it seems you've ended up in Friday. Here's a fact you may not know about Friday - it happens to be a day after Thursday but it often turns up before Saturday in most cases. Also, did you know that today is Nico Hulkenburg's birthday? Happy Birthday, Nico! This week I've had both a brother and sister celebrate birthdays so it's nice to say happy birthday without being poor because of it. I kid, it was worth it! Also, it's only one more week until Formula 1 is back, hurrah! Not long now guys... the wait for Spa is almost over!
Paddock News
Team Queens Park Lotus Rangers Renault - Tony Fernandes has begun his Lotus takeover of football by buying 66% and majority ownership of the Queens Park Rangers football team. Maybe he just likes buying teams lower down the ranks in their class. Whatever the reason, this does mean it'll get Flavio Briatore off Match of the Day which is a wonderful thing. It makes me laugh that referees are sponsored by Air Asia. Ooh I do love a good conspiracy theory, me.
Testing times for the Teams - Hurrah for the Big Brawn Bear giving us a little bit of news as to what be happening with testing in the future. It seems that teams want to spread out the testing about which is fine, but I don't think he totally understood the name 'pre season testing' only for it to be in the season itself. That's mid-season testing you silly Bear man you. Anyways, I hopew mid season testing returns, of course. Along with Brawn GP. And 2009 in general.
Elsewhere...
It's the final countdown! - Yesterday I decided to unveil my little plan for the next seven days and that's to bring you plenty of new content on Gridwalk Talk to lead back up to the return of F1 after the summer break! Hurrah! Well it's only fair I get everyone else back into the mood for Formula 1 isn't it? Seven Days of Formula 1 begins this morning with a brand spanking new post going up so keep an eye out for it...
Fakest. Theme Park. Ever. - Gosh, I'm disappointed. You know I do love to make my dailies as positive as possible but I can't hide my disappointment at the unveiling of Theme Park on iOS. It's going to be a free-to-play game, but nothing like the original Theme Park, but one of those things where you pay for stuff to get there faster and all sorts of money grabbing nonsense. We want the proper, classic Bullfrog title, damnit! Tiny Tower found a nice balance of free to pay greediness and a normal game to play, so I hope EA don't go overboard with greediness for this. On a much, much nicer point, did you know one of the best games ever Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 is now available on GOG.com? Sure, it's $10, but you have no idea how many times I've been annoyed that I can't find my RCT2 disk and really want to play it! Finally, a digital version!! Woohooo!!
The Wonderful Creations of a Child's Mind - Goodness, I love this. It's impossible to look at that link and just not smile at what it creates. Some geniuses' with their artistic awesomeness have taken the creations of the imagination of children and put it into properly made images. Plus it's just awesome to see what children can do with a few felt tip pens and a visual idea in their head isn't it? Such a fun idea.
And Finally
And now for a few little things to end the daily on...
- There's something oddly calm and reassuring about the sleepy people in this week's Big Picture... Mmmmm, sleep...
- Apparently the almost-extinct Otter has very much increased in numbers which is excellent news, as otters are just awesome little things
- Danny Wallace clearly knows now the importance of a good business card in this little story of his. He always makes me laugh.
- Have you read Christine's post expressing her play by play thoughts of In the Shadow of the Moon? It's also worth reading for Steven's comment too. He knows too much clearly.
- I love the fact that the new Chelsea boss Andreas Villas Boas is a huge Football Manager fan, as revealed by the man behind the series Miles Jacobson.
And that'll be that. Hopefully today will be full of goodness and awesome, and we'll head into the final summer break weekend with no F1 with plenty of smiles, and hopefully a bit of sunshine. Yesterday was so cold! It's August, weatherman! Anyways, have a lovely day whoever you may be, and I'll see you in the comments.
wahhh being a nice person is preventing me from getting my davis cup tickets until Tuesday. It's been reported in the Swiss media over night that Roger is definitely coming so I hope they don't sell out the whole stadium before I get a chance to buy :(
Great Daily Lukeh!
I was going to call you out on that...
... but then you said this :) Tiny Tower is odd - it works because you don't feel you have to buy loads of crap to play properly like Tap Zoo...
Morning all,
Anybody about today?
I am.
Hi Gavin,
How are you today?
Um, OK I suppose. You?
Not too bad. A bit on the frazzled side, but looking forward to World Series tomorrow.
Good stuff. Glad that you're going.
Going to listen to last night's Trackside in a minute. The IndyCar nonsense is rumbling on like a poorly made Marx brothers film now.
Someone seems to have decided that any kind of publicity is good publicity.
Always a risky strategy. A few folks alluding to the series potentially bowing to TV pressure to get the race going again - which I would believe, sadly.
This truly is NASCAR land, where safety cars are regularly brought out for TV commercial windows - allegedly.
I seem to have excellent peripheral vision - about 100m away outside the window is someone taking professional flash photography and I keep seeing the flashes!
That must be somewhat distracting.
Eh, it's not too bad TBH!
tiny tower has it so right. I won't stop til I've built everything but I haven't spent a cent of real money and don't intend to.
Totally Agree. It's so much fun, and although it could be considered a bit of a "cow clicker" there's a lot of thought and a bit of stratey involved too...
Great daily lukeh.
if you'd had said you could have had my CD's.. i can't play them anymore/don't have time..
Speaking of iOS games, I found Speedball 2 the other day - and it's ace!
in good news, I have a Davis Cup ticket to at least one days play as one of my twitter friends is going in a group of people but one of them couldn't go on the Friday and since I was going by myself on Friday I'm using her ticket instead :D
and Swiss media was reporting overnight that Roger has committed to coming again! Yay! :D
Friday Factoid:
Did you all know that on Tuesday, the full version of "Swan Lake" was performed at the Proms for the first time ever..?
yaayyy!!
and Kait comes home from Thailand tomorrow so she'll probably be right to get the other tickets on Tuesday. I didn't realise she was coming home so soon :)
It's only four weeks away. Tennnnnissss! eeeeeek!
yaay! im very jealous! i have to wait until November for my next live match.
the WTF will be so much more epic than Davis Cup though :D
How well do you know your Formula 1 history?
The book That'll be the Day: 365 F1 Stories takes a look at significant moments or quirky happenings on this day in Grand Prix history. Can you guess what event the following describes?
Mark Donohue, wasn't it?
Awesome. I saw that performed with Cranes once :)
Indeed. Steven has some interesting info about him...
It is a fabulous ballet
Reminds me of Billy Elliot. What a great film that was!
Still haven't seen it to be honest. When I get paid next week, I'll be picking up the first ten Star Trek films from Amazon.
Can't wait.
:D
Oh, I also went to see the best of Tchaikovsky performed by the NZ Symphony Orchestra (I knew a lady whose parents performed for it).
Seeing an orchestra live really should be on everyone's bucket list - the feeling you get from the sounds is amazing!
I get to the South bank and Barbican for performances whenever I can. While I really like a lot of Tchaikovsky's stuff, I've always found Brahms, Shostakovich and Myaskovsky of course Mozart and Bach really get me going.
:)
awesome :D
#LondonPerk
;)
I've looked into going to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra a few times but it's so expensive
oh actually its not too bad, turns out all this time I've been looking at series packages instead of individual performances :D
Go see that, or a choir. Well worth it.
I'd love to see the MSO when they do shows with awesome people. They did one with Stevie Nicks a few years back. I love Stevie Nicks :D
What is it? Sounds like SimTower. :)
its similar but easier :)
The main aim of the game is to build a tower, and manage all of the establishments on different floors, and the residents (called Bitizens, a play on the word citizen) who live within the tower. The player's role is to manage the stock of the businesses and Bitizens of the building, whilst strategically expanding and making a profit in the form of coins, which is earned by the purchase of stock and the rent from Bitizens.
Sounds addictive, may give that a try later!
Very. It's fun too!
I like games that I can ignore a lot and they play in the background without me. I don't take my iPad to work so I stock all my levels up in the morning before I go to work and then I make sales throughout the day while I'm not there :)
Oooh I'd love to see something like that.
Hah.
I put SimCity on the iPad so I could play it whilst doing other things but never really carried on with it, I should really.
That's what I'm doing. In theory you can play it all the time or just a couple of times per day.
one of my friends is playing it constantly but my tower is still bigger than hers. muhaha.
I've been too busy to play it lately, but I'm back now ;)
I went on a mass evicting spree last weekend, if you don't have level 9 skills in the same category that your dream job falls into you're not welcome in my tower!
Sergio Perez is still safe in the bakery though :)
Good plan.
Oooh
Sorry about that. Sounds interesting though.
I've just bought the online edition of AUTOSPORT this week because it's a special 1986 F1 season commemorative edition and Martin Brundle is the guest editor. Sounded too good to miss!
When does free practice start? AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!
Next Week! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!
how is it a year since i hopped on that plane, hoooooooow
#SidePodTimeTravel
my friend is flying to London on the same day I left last year, just one hour earlier than I did. Spooky :D
Been thinking a lot about that trip. Can't believe it's already a year ago. I must write up a blog post on it!
I keep wondering why I haven't got on top of my finances in the last year but then I remember all the extra travel I've done since and will be doing soon. I'd be so much better off if I could stay in one place :)
Yes, but wouldn't life be somewhat duller?
:)
When I lived in NZ I took one weeks annual leave in the whole five years I worked at my old job, I was happy enough :D
But ooh, travel is fun too!
oohh JB's new mclaren is beautiful! - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2027711/Jenson-Button-avoids-fine-charming-2-traffic-wardens-170K-McLaren-sports-car.html
wish i'd gone to the posh part of london yesterday while i was there.
tut tut jenson, you can afford to pay for your parking :D
oh he did. as you were.
He nearly got a ticket for the same reason we did - he paid but failed to display properly.
:D
I'm good at that. I think I'm very lucky that I've never had a parking ticket because I certainly have deserved a few :)
Yeah. We did it once and got pinged. Car Park company wouldn't even entertain writing it off.
I should add this is for resident parking outside my flat, and we always park in the same space so it's not like they never saw our car before...
Interesting; Re: BBC
http://pietboon.wordpress.com/bbc-response-after-stage-2-of-bbcsky-complaints-procedure/
Can you summarise that? It's too long for me to read right now.
Not really to be honest. It's all various responses from the BBC regarding the status F1 and the complaints, etc...
It's probably one of those "save it for later" type posts.
I'm quite enjoying it. Gosh, people will complain about anything
Yep.
Are you complaining that people complain?
As long as you don't complain about people complaining about other people complaining.
I adored this story :D
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/5443017/Viewer-fined-for-time-wasting-complaint
Ok, I'll read it in bits then.
Bloody Hell.
Ping -->
Something for the Weekend: Halo Halo "Manananggal"
http://theweekendpollution.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/something-for-the-weekend-halo-halo/
5% of all complaints must be quite an effort. I used to listen to The Rock breakfast show and they had one listener who generated most of the complaints about them too, why listen to something if you want to complain about it 100 times a year?
A few years ago a friend of mine worked at the BSA and hearing some of the stories of complaints she dealt with were so hilarious that now sometimes when I feel like a laugh I read about their recent decisions because they publish them all on their website. 99% of complaints are so so so stupid.
Do you remember Havoc? They used to read out the TVNZ complaints in funny voices and it was pretty amusing...
oooh yes that was great :D
I think it's a rather nerdy way to amuse myself, but thats all good :D
ooh oooh I've found a good one!
The complainant argued that, while it was true that Prince William was the next King of England, he was also the next King of New Zealand. He considered that news items about the Prince “should be reported from a New Zealand context with appropriate recognition of his New Zealand royal title and constitutional position”. The complainant argued that omitting Prince William’s “New Zealand title” was inaccurate and unbalanced.
wow, I bet he's fun at dinner parties.
He's technically right, but very sad!
you have to argue it via specific parts of the broadcasting act and he tried to argue that calling him the next King of England is 'inaccurate and misleading' which it really isn't :D
Well it is I guess, because Charles is next, not William :D
Like you said, he must be a barrel of laughs!
I complained to Danish TV once because they missed the end of the Monaco GP. I got a reply very quickly which simply said "You are right. It won't happen again."
Wow. Now that's a result.
that was good of them :D
I'd like to say it hasn't, but I haven't really checked ;)
ooh with an hour til the tennis starts on ESPN there is Speedway on Speed. RG would be so proud if I watched it.
Ping: http://www.f1minute.com/news/tony-fernandes-takes-over-football-club-queens-park-rangers
Great blog on the moon landings...gave my 2p's worth :-)
Oooh, who was it?
it was the one you posted in your daily the other day. There was a painful looking crash and then I started watching volleyball instead.
I am still trying to get my head around the fact "speedway" isn't cars. Being a Kiwi has confused me.
Wait, hang on. Those are Filipino words.
*clicks link*
Ahh yeah. That happens more than it should really, but I think 7/10 of the time it looks worse than it actually is.
Left a comment, Leigh. Nice!
Afternoon peeps
I thought the statement was a load of blah, personally
Hello again. I see Lukeh's had a fun afternoon: http://t.co/wtQ5H9N
:) :)
Hi Pat
Yes, bored Lukeh :D
Wow that's a lot to wade through, I just did though. I thought it explained their reasoning well enough albeit in waffle-mode.
I suppose the answers we want aren't gonna arrive. I still think it's a flawed decision but these are strange times
Enjoy a little something from the Sidepodcast back catalogue.
- Forgotten F1 Teams - Toleman Motorsport
Originally published 10 October 2009.
What answers do you want?
I think faced with a budget cut they were left with no choice, something had to go.
How they think a delayed replay is gonna cut it in this instant media & data sport, for one?
I'd rather they dropped it altogether but then this becomes a repetitive statement and I get frustrated
So, Friday's here :D
They'll say it is still available live..
I don't think that would be sensible at all.. at least we've got terrestrial coverage still.
Nice and sunny too. I should go for a walk or something.
Ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/five-reasons-boombastic-singapore-is-the-future-of-f1
to a point, so do i. but f1 teams need the exposure.
i'm either buying sky or not watching anything, so it doesn't bother me if it's 10 races, 5 races or just the british gp on the bbc.
take f1 off the bbc altogether and what happens to williams, virgin, renault and probably everyone else? less exposure = less sponsorship.
great daily lukeh, shame about theme park :(
I guess I'm keen to accelerate it to it's natural conclusion and see what happens. Not wishing to prolong the slow decline. Or get used to the paid model, either way
yeah same here. can't plan without knowing packages, prices, deals etc.
Well, that's all there now, probably will be some deals to get people to sign up before Christmas. I'm waiting until the Thursday before FP1 in Melbourne to see if I crack.
I only have to request a SS package, not the full monty though
we don't know:
- which channels content will span?
- all sessions in HD, or just the two?
- discounts - new customers, f1 packages?
- additional viewing options, apps etc
if sky provide live positioning, that saves on the cost on the soft pauer app etc.
Yup, if SS1 & SS2 then cost will greatly increase
Anything more than Sunday would be a bonus
New - yes, F1 - doubt it
I suspect Bernie is keen to keep these deals separate. They can't can't cope with the data they have currently! :D
So many unknowns
why? qually is in HD now. anything less, is less.
he's gone on record saying broadcasters have the rights. he says it's up to them to do something. he may be lying, but he has said those deals are not separate.
indeedy.
Broadcast rights, data...?
yup. sky should have the rights for secondary onboard streams if the bbc have them. will they use them? bbc have a live data tracker for positioning, will sky?
I suppose this is our fault for not responding to ads on Channel 4 that would have paid for a great package by them :)
i don't believe a word of the C4 proposal. they just don't have the money. have they asked bernie the costs of archive footage?
£1m per 10 minutes (no-repeats) i heard. given they have 4+1, that's £2m per 10 minutes of footage.
C4 don't have that money, they couldn't even afford to keep LOST.
30 minute brisk walk around town and surrounds, nice. :)
Managed to avoid tempting fresh pizza as a costsaving measure..
All SS channels are in HD so I would be surprised if F1 wasn't, I suppose that makes your question, 'will Sky show FP entirely?'
evening gang :)
Evening
You can tell it is a quiet news day when HRT saying they are not going to join FOTA gets into AUTOSPORT and two writers get a byline for it. What is it with AUTOSPORT constantly crediting two writers for every garbage story they publish?
I bet FOTA are gutted about HRT not joining. If you ran FOTA what would your response be or what would you do to get HRT to join?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93825
Oh while I am asking questions I thought of a good one for a Leigh type quiz.
So 5 points for the first person to tell me what the accronym TAG stands for.
We all know TAG are associated with McLaren but there are 3 bonus points for anyone who can tell me which team ran the TAG name in full rather than the accronym on their car
Techniques d'Avant Garde.
I don't know that one.
Was it Alex TAGliani?
#groan
That was obviously not as difficult as I thought
:)
Nice try but nope
:) :)
He tweeted this earlier: "Pssst. I know a shortcut..." http://lockerz.com/s/131053879
Got to love Speed! Instead of showing the Rolex race tomorrow, LIVE (11am local) we get Sprint Cup PRACTICE! Fortunately local TV has it live... though I may hope that RLM or someone else does a broadcast.
NASCAR practise must be dull
RLM doesn't cover Rolex series and anyway this week they are at Elkhart Lake for ALMS.
I wouldn't know, I watch the weather channel when it is on, or I calibrate my TV, or I wash my hair.
Mais zut!
questions for rob: https://twitter.com/#!/lisamccormick/status/104611769674244097
Does phone Massa in the morning and talk him through getting dressed and making breakfast?
"that's it lad, cereal's on, 'ere comes the spoon, open your mouth and we'll get this down in one go"
I just realised why Tony Fernandes bought QPR. It was all due to a spelling mistake
Their home ground is called Loftus Road
:)
:D
That's genius :) :)
:-) Haha...
#blameChristine
It occurred to me while listening to F1 Minute
Don't be so sure... I was watching the Badminton World Champs in London last weekend (my 2nd sport) and they shifted it to the non HD RED BUTTON (!) half way through!! ... I thought Sky had enough channels not to need a red button!
See y'all later.... off to see Senna. Couldn't make it for the first showing. Got confused between 14h25 and 14h55 for the second showing... Third time's a charm!
And the answer to the early question was Williams
http://media.photobucket.com/image/%22Tag Williams%22 F1/alexnjoo/Formula 1/World Champ Series/DSC07996.jpg
Enjoy
ooooh!!
McLaren nicked TAG from Williams
Oh have fun, am jealous..
I knew that after all, how could I forget the big TAG letters on the side.
Here's the problem with sports not on terrestrial. The other day I was all excited because England beat India in the cricket by quite a lot, but I've only just found out they are playing again this week and have been since yesterday.
Wow, James Dean bradfield's album is short.
I think I'll skip Nicky Wire's solo album :)
Any good?
It's alright. It's certainly not bad but when you're so used to the Manics you can see the difference. As an album it;s not bad though, very tame but nice.
Just kind of felt like a load of rejected B sides though if you get what I mean :)
Ah I see. Still sounds intriguing though, must check it out.
I'd say give it a go :)
Indian GP venue on BBC2 now
Oh not for long, just a few seconds. Programme is about India's growth in car ownership, showing it via a road trip, quite interesting.
Will do
I finally got around to writing up last Saturday's golf game - so near but so far. Includes a table of potential scores, something to work for..
http://thoughtsofpat.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/a-round-of-golf-13-august-2011/
Enjoy
5 blog posts written in one evening, a new record :)
That and tweets on paper all on the same day?
I think my afternoon dullness needed some mega productivity to rebalance things
Wow.
Just replied to the tracks post but still haven't thought of what I'd pick.
Worth linking here to the link I put there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkbGbS7QhlI&feature=related
Jos 'The Boss' Verstappen in a Tyrrell at Zandvoort last week or the week before
Ohh woww! Gosh it's really nice seeing that car again...
I *really* miss V10s
I realise it's quite random when it's a generally unremarkable tyrrell but it was the car I associate with Tyrrell from first watching F1. Just nice to see it :)
Sounds so good.
Even for a demo he was taking that really easy. The engine sounds great though
theres a two tone sound to it I hadn't noticed before.
Still quick for Zandvoort though, I wouldn't go quicker with barriers that close.
I was pleased to see it too, I can imagine there's not much demand for it.
He is not even within 2 feet of most of those kerbs let alone using them. The thing most likely to cause a crash at that speed is lack of attention because it was too easy for him. It would take about 1% of his ability to drive like that