So, My inspirations……what I look to for a need to succeed, to be the best I can possibly be. To ‘make it’.

Hmmmm………….

Well, World, Viewers, Shelly……I’m 20 Years Old…….Why Wouldn’t It Be Anything Else But The Choice Of Miss Pixie Lott Or Miss Frankie Sandford…Think About It

(P.S Blog People And Moderators…Real Ones Below…Just Wanted To Give You A Different Start To A Blog)

Chris Nathaniel- Rio Ferdinand’s Business Partner In Coventry

10.2.2010

By Ross Waters

COVENTRY University students were gathered in the Ellen Terry building today listening to England captain Rio Ferdinand’s business partner Chris Nathaniel discuss everything from Rio’s recent appointment as captain to the future of football.

 With the recent appointment as captain of his country, Nathaniel said that Rio Ferdinand was “delighted and proud” to become England captain with the World Cup in June

 Nathaniel, as well as being involved with England centre-half Rio Ferdinand, is the agent of Brazilian playmaker Robinho, who recently returned to his homeland with Santos. Nathaniel commented on the Samba star’s future, saying that “We hope” Robinho may well return to the Premier League after the World Cup.

 Aside from the names of the sport, Chris discussed football finance and how footballers are paid such a vast amount of money. With recent wages sky-rocketing, for example, Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent transfer to Real Madrid seen the winger pick up a reported £200,000 per week deal, Nathaniel simply stated that players are being “paid to their market value” and “ if you’re worth £200,000 per week, you won’t say no”. However, he does agree thats some clubs, like Portsmouth’s business model “doesn’t make business sense”.

 As an enterpriser, Nathaniel gave advice to the students in the lecture hall, saying you must “have focus, never give up, know what your business does” and to “go out and get it”.

By Ross Waters

Ultimate Team Is Back! Following the huge success of FIFA 09: UT, EA Sports have once again released the Downloadable Content, so you can put together your dream team to take on the rest of the world.

However, what’s the point? Why should I buy it this year? And does that mean I can make Wayne Bridge and John Terry play on the same team?

Fortunately, FTL has spent the last weekend glued to their 360 to give you the low-down on whether its worth spending a fiver on again this season.

The Basics:

Simply put, if you have played the old one, the main aim is still the same. Assemble your dream team (or as not in FTL’s case, having Bramble and Boumsong at the back wasn’t a stroke of genius) and take on every other player to prove your the best manager and the best player of FIFA online.

However, there are a few tweaks. Firstly, the amount of players. Around 7,500 players this year compared to the 4,000 Fifa 09:UT had. This means more depth, more variation in the teams, and more chance to find that lower league gem (e.g. Jermaine Beckford) who can destroy other lower clubs with ease.

Another new feature is tourney restrictions and multiple squads. Instead of just having one team with the Ronaldo’s, Messi’s and Rooney’s, you can have as many squads you feel you need to win every trophy. With the restrictions on such tourneys, like ‘only bronze players allowed’, ’5 players from the same nation allowed’ etc, finding that 90 pace, Bronze striker is just as important as getting the world-class playmaker on the cheap. Therefore, depth and quality are hugely important this year.

The Gameplay:

Once again, the key emphasis is on team chemistry. However, this year, in-game, the level of team chemistry is massively different. With a 100% team chemistry, passes from player to player seem to always find each other, compared to teams with 10% chemistry, where simple, five-a-side 10 yard passes seem to miss.

A good point to the changes is the shift of importance away from nationality. For Fifa09:UT, the only way to have a good team chemistry was to have players from the same nation. However, this year, you can have teams with full chemistry with different nationalities (there’s even a Xbox360 achievement for it!)

In FTL’s view, the use of team chemistry is very clever, although it can stop you from assembling your ‘dream team’. So, YES, you can put Wayne Bridge And JT together, but they won’t shake hands on it!

How Do You Get The Players?

If you’re not a Ultimate Team player last season, it seems very strange. It has once again kept the auction and pack system. Players can be brought in packs, and each pack has a different level (Bronze, Silver And Gold). Higher cost packs increase your chances of better players. So, to get Rooney, you’re best bet is a gold pack. However, if you don’t want to chance it, or are head-hunting that last signing, there is still the auction system.

The auction system operates like eBay. Players are brought and sold with other users, and the winner is the highest bidder. There is no negotiating of contracts like on Football Manager, they are renewed with Gameplay cards. This year, however, there is less risk of losing players as FIFA have quite rightfully brought out a little reminder pre-game to show you what players are injured, tired, or contracts expiring. This addition is very useful, as last year FTL lost plenty of great players through simply forgetting and playing in-game and realising they had no stars left!

However, the auction system is very clever and a success with Fifa 09:UT, so why change it?

So….Anything New?

The key addition is the use of the website www.easportsfootball.co.uk . Instead of just checking it with Facebook broken and nothing else to do, you now have a real reason to go on it. This is through an ‘Ultimate Team’ section online. Paul Hossack, the man behind Ultimate Team is really excited about this addition, describing the addition of the feature as “whether you’re at work, whether you’re at school, put on the laptop, jump in and start playing with your squads”. It seems a really good idea and a good way to kill time, get ready to go home and put FIFA on and destroy your classmates with your newly assembled team.

FTL Thinks..:

That it’s very much worth the money. For about 4 quid (the equivalent of a week’s Red Bull), you can have access to a highly addictive, very deep game mode which is a lot of fun. There is many questions in the FTL office on why it’s not released as part of the game, but, nonetheless, it’s very much worth getting. The gameplay is solid, if sometimes laggy (but what game isn’t?) and the level of management options is very good, and a great way to waste away your upcoming Easter holidays.

20.01.2010

By Ross Waters

GUARDIAN editor Alan Rusbridger refused to comment on which political party his paper will support in the upcoming general elections in a recent video conversation at Coventry University.

Rusbridger, entering his 15^th year as editor of the paper, has said that the Guardian will “wait and see what the campaign throws up”, refusing to follow suit of newspapers such as The Sun in declaring their support for a certain party.

 In the video conference, Rusbridger discussed the current status of the journalism profession to a lecture hall of media students, in which he described the industry as a “period of great insecurity”, but also a “fantastically interesting time”.

 He also commented on the future of the newspaper as well as the technological advances of news, saying that digital is “cannibalising” print. However, The Guardian as a digital format is succeeding well, with the iPhone application having around 70,000 downloads since its launch on the 14^th December, and a £2.39 per download, is having plenty of potential compared to The Independents free app, which has been downloaded around 60,000 times.

 Alan also gave any future journalists advice and to what he looks for in hiring staff for his paper, with such things as “correct ethics, curiosity and to be able to communicate” and to “tell accurately”. He also stressed the future need for journalists to be able to master all forms of digital media from”blog, link, flash and data” to gain an advantage on the previous generation of writers.

Well, the first year of University is pretty much finished. Quite the year. Quite the eventful year. Changes galore (except for the ‘Arsenal disappointing’ thing), plenty of new friends

So, right onto it and the first main change, University. However, this hasn’t been much of a change. After a few weeks, I realised that, instead of going left out of my road, I go right. Coventry is practically a bigger Nuneaton and University is just college but harder, and an easier place to get lost. But thats a good thing…..really!. University is a lot of fun, I’ve met some good friends (although they are a lot different to my old college bunch) and had a really good time, and got incredibly good at pool (Thank You 54!). And then the work hit me. Its very strange. You seemingly turn up to the lectures and seminars for 6-7 weeks and do very little in that time, then you’re absolutely hit with work, with it all due in the same week. This is the big lesson for University. You actually have to plan your work and do it over the 10 weeks per term, or you are very much left in the **** come the end of term, when you’re planning the time off and how much drinking you’re going to do. The second big thing with University, whether its just me or not, is flies by. I mean, before you’ve settled into a weekly routine, its the end of term, and a whole new routine to learn, repeat once more and you’re done. It goes that quickly. Before you know it, its the summer and the planning begins.

 With other things, football got very strange this year. I left Wolvey (but we both know why!), came back, realised why I left and will look for a new team at the start of next season. Fortunately, I’ve been keeping fit at the Etone with my old friends from college every week, which has been a real good laugh (and, at times, good target practice too).

 In terms of working, I’ve had a very strange time recently. I did leave due to differences with management, however, I’ve gone back with the pub under a previous manager who I enjoyed working with. I’m happy to say I do really enjoy working there again, and although I did have a lot of problems with previous management, I wanted to come back and I’m very happy I did. The staff there are great fun, and the job isn’t too bad either.

 So, next year’s plan for me…..plan the work throughout the term. It’s a rookies mistake. With next year being “ the big year” to what I’ve heard, planning pieces of work is paramount. Continue working at the Cedar Tree, get a placement or two in the summer, get back to your best on the football pitch, and go out more!

 Apart from all these things, its the same old, brilliant story. Messing around at Uni, Football Manager Live, Football with my mates, plenty of drinking, and generally enjoying myself…..Long may it continue!!!!!

 Oh, And On A Final Note, Don’t Leave Fabregas!!!!! Were Well And Truly Fcuked without you!

Isabella is a film set in Macau, before the handover to mainland China, the film, directed and starring Chapman To, is a film that revolves around the stories of Shing (Champan To) and Yan (Isabella Leong).

 The film begins with Shing, a policeman who is currently suspended corruption in his force, at a bar and he begins to try and advance on Yan. After being shunned initially, Yan reveals to Shing that she is in fact his daughter. Shocked by the change of events, the film becomes an evolution of Shing and Yan’s character’s as they adapt to their new roles as father and daughter.

 As a character, watching Shing and Yan develop is very interesting. Initially, Shing seems quite a dark and shady character, and seems that his life revolves around him, and nothings else. However, he doesn’t have a cruel and evil side. In the scene where Yan is evicted from the flat, with that news, Shing isn’t really too fussed with Yan, as she simply didnt pay the landlord rent. However, he was upset that the landlord kicked Yan’s dog out without telling Yan, as Shing sees that at harsh and cruel.

 Yan develops in an opposite way to Shing. We initially see Yan living on her own, but as the plot moves, she once again assumes the role of a child to Shing as the two come closer together. She comes across as the person who wears her heart on her sleeve, although to people she doesn’t know, she can be pushy.

 In Conclusion, Isabella doesn’t really entice me as a member of the audience. Whether its the genre of the film that didn’t capture my imagination (I’m more of the action or a comedy man), the films characters do keep the audience involved, albeit the basic plotline outside them of finding Yan’s dog does seem a little basic. What I liked however was how Chapman To exposes Macau as the type of place it really is, with Police officers drinking in downtown bars and using status to try and sleep with teenage girls, something that is seen as quite risky in terms of political correctness.

Breathless (Ddongpari) is Yank Ik-Joon’s first written movie, in which he also directs and stars in a grimacing tale about domestic violence and abuse.

 Song-hoon (played by Yank) is a merciless debt collector who seems to enjoy beating people up and also using the word “c**t”, which is subtitled plenty of times in the film. One of the scenes involves him beating up another person for beating up his girlfriend, and then Song beats his own girlfriend up, using the ‘c’ word to describe her.

 The violent scenes are quite frontal. There’s not really an attempt to hide the violence, and it almost seems promoted, and that abusive parents automatically turn the children abuse. It does happen, which what makes the film very real, but its almost stereotyping.

 Song does meet someone who is just as hard-headed as he is. Schoolgirl Yeon-Hue (played by Kot-bi Kim) also has that defiant attitude. However, instead of a traditional, romantic meeting from across the road or river, Song spits on Yeon’s tie. Romantic or what?

 The ‘beauty’ of the story is that both Song and Yeon have come from abusive pasts, and either of them do not know it. It really gives the reader a look into how everyone deals with problems, and that they try to deal with their inner demons together and they do not know it, in its own slightly disturbing way, is almost touching. Almost

 In conclusion, if the violence and explicit swearing can be dealt with by the viewer, then the film is a very good watch. The acting by the two leads is very good, showing real raw emotion, and the film also puts out a darker side to the world, with every action having a reaction, much like reality. I’d definitely recommend if you want to see real, pure acting, or just to brush up on your swearing!.

When watching T.V or surfing the net, adverts are just a distraction from viewing your link (and whatever you’re doing on the net, well that’s up to you) or is annoyingly in the way of watching that re-run of Top Gear. For the fifth time…..This week. So, like most men in general, I flick channels hoping Skysports News is still on and watch some report on a sport that I don’t even follow. It’s better than adverts…..Right?

Well….yes, you’re right. Music and SkySports News is more fun. Unless, in the advert, is a celebrity. A celebrity you know. Or even better, a celebrity you probably quite fancy and have their music videos ‘Sky plus’d', just in case they stop rolling. So I’ve heard.

So, naturally…you pay attention. Whether you knowingly are being told a message or have just stuck the advert on mute.

However, in the example, would Mrs/Miss Cole/Tweed (No bias here to Miss Tweed..errr) be used in the adverts if she did not have a clean bill of health? Would L’oreal, a giant company worth billions, have still advertised with the singer or would they have gone with someone else?

Well, apparently, L’oreal directors would’ve probably have been on the phone to another young singer to do the advertisement.

This is because that disabled people are not just under-represented, but when represented, there are in a negative way. According to Paul Hunt, disabled people are represented in 10 different, and notably negative, ways:

“

 Another key reason was  the media stereotyped people to be just medically disabled like, such as, confined to a wheelchair, or being born without a limb. This is the point that personally really annoys me and frustrates me. I agree completely that people with a disability should be given not just more exposure, but a more positive exposure, but that the term ‘disability’ can mean much more than a physical difference.

 One of my closest friends has autism. After once first meeting the lad, apart from the fact he was a 6 foot 2, 15 stone giant compared to my 5 foot 9, 9 ish stone frame, the first thing I noticed was that he was very shy. However, with a little persistance, and with me just being around, bashing the Xbox at my house, he became a different person. And that’s where I realised that it’s a comfort thing. I also notice there is no adverts that exposes disability without the physical difference. People with autism (in the case I have experienced) are just uncomfortable around new people and a new environment, but they still play football, beat me on the Xbox (which he lets me know about) , and still go down to the pub with their friends…oh and still break their mates foot messing about (Okay….I shouldn’t have tried to lift him!)

But anyway…I’ll leave you with this. It admittedly, on first watch, will bring you a smile. But hopefully, you can see my earlier point about him letting me know about the smashing’s I got on Tekken!

Sources:

 http://www.youtube.com

 http://www.disabilityplanet.co.uk/critical-analysis.html – Paul Hunt 10 Points

 http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Barnes/Media.pdf – Paul Hunt Essay

 http://www.thinkdifferently.org.uk

So really, the main way Journalism has affected me out of University is the wider range of Journalistic work I’m now looking at. Instead of just checking up on the latest transfer talk, or which Arsenal player is injured this week, I’ve become a regular buyer of the Guardian, occasional buyer of the Daily Mail, and also someone who is quite intersted in politics.

Before University, I had this stereotype that all politicans are the same. Maybe it’s due to a lack of exposure, a lack of interest or just something I’ve been brought up with but over the past few months, that has certainly changed. The best example I can think of is the explanation of the 2010 General Election to my friends on holiday not too long ago. After insisting all week that I’m watching the General Election night on BBC (which is an achievement in its own right, as the coverage is well…long winded to say the least), everyone else stayed in too, therefore pushing me to explain why were at the chalet instead of out in town at half 9 at night, and what everything means. Two of the lads got it just fine, maybe because they were sober. However, my quite drunk best mate, after hearing me go on for about a good hour of Question and Answer, simply sat back, necked the pint, gave his underlying (and quite funny) opinion on Gordon Brown and asked if I wanted another drink. Instead of debating (it was midnight by that time), I took the drink offer and carried on watching. Ross a year ago wouldn’t have even took an interest in politics, he would’ve turned around and told the rest of them “Lets go out” instead of “ Were staying in, this is important, this is the future of our country, it affects us all”.

This is where University has definitley changed my stance on life. With most of my friends from school not at University but in employment, they have the same views as I had a year ago. Don’t get me wrong, SkySports is the most watched show in the house, The Sun is our chosen newspaper and football news is the single most important topic in the household….and probably always will be. However, every so often, normally when the rest of the family aren’t about to complain that this has nothing to do with sport, I’ll put Sky News on, just to see whats going on in the world. In conclusion, its important. Being aware of the world you live in, whether directly affected or not, is something I take great interest in and like to keep up-to-date with hard news, as well as sport and motoring journalism.