5 Entertainment Highlights in 2013

Its almost 2013! A new year, a new start, etcetera etcetera. Another year of stuff happening and things to experience. To help you start planning for a new year of activities, here are 5 entertainment highlights in 2013 that you should know about.

5. Detox

The long awaited third album from Dr Dre was originally scheduled to be released in 2005, but it has been put back continually since then. As Dr Dre is an artist who has only ever released two solo albums, 'The Chronic' and '2001'; two albums which are widely recognised as classics, Detox is highly anticipated and has taken on almost a mythical status. Tentative whispers have put a release date of April 2013 for it, but it remains to be seen whether that will be put back again.

4. Man of Steel
A dark-looking film reboot of the Superman franchise scheduled to be released in June 2013, 'Man of Steel' stars Henry Cavill, aka the Duke of Buckingham from the television drama series 'The Tudors'. The film will portray Superman's origin story, and try to recover the franchise after the disappointing 'Superman Returns' with a darker tone that would have been encouraged by Kevin Nolan's Dark Knight film trilogy. The film's producers will be hoping that Man of Steel can imitate the success and critical acclaim enjoyed by 'Batman Begins', 'The Dark Knight', and the 'Dark Knight Rises', and trailers released so far do look intriguing.  

3. Game of Thrones

The epic fantasy drama returns for its third series in March. This gives anyone who hasn't caught this show yet time to catch up on the first two seasons, which have some of the best plots and characters of any show on television ever. Many people may be put off by the swords and sandals fantasy genre, but give Game of Thrones a chance and you will not regret it.

2. Arrested Development

One of the funniest comedies on television and a cult classic, the show was cancelled after three series in 2006, but a fourth season will be released on Netflix early in 2013, to much rejoicing from fans. Arrested Development focuses on the formerly wealthy and hugely dysfunctional Bluth family, in a comedy that rewards viewers with long-running jokes, amazing characters, and surreal storylines. A film adaptation is also said to be in the works.

1. The final series of Breaking Bad

After five fantastic seasons, Breaking Bad comes to a conclusion in 2013. The evolution of Walter White from meek high school chemistry teacher to crystal meth kingpin will come to an end with what will hopefully be a suitably dramatic climax. The best show most people have probably never seen, due to it criminally not being shown on English TV, Breaking Bad is a show that deserves to be seen by more people because of its unflinching realism, great characters, and excellent acting performances from former bumbling dad on 'Malcolm in the Middle', Bryan Cranston as Walter, and Aaron Paul as his assistant Jesse Pinkman. Following the cliffhanger ending of part one of series five earlier this year, it seems as if there are only a few ways it can end for Walter, and none of them look good. Do not miss it.

An open letter to my game collection

Dear pile of games on my living room table,

As I look at you, stacked up all pretty with your beautiful box art, its saddens me to think how little time I get to spend with you now. Since I was a little boy you have been one of my biggest passions; from the moment mum first brought home that NES and I fired up Super Mario Bros, I fell hopelessly for you.

Since then we've had a beautiful relationship, I've watched you grow through generations, from NES to SNES, to Playstation 2 to N64 to Gamecube and beyond. Even when I couldn't afford you, I'd throw longing glances at you through game shop windows, game magazines and the internet. Early this year I rejoiced when I became a gamer again with the purchase of a PS3. My list of games to play is long, and I set to it with gusto.

Whole days were spent with you, playing FIFA, and God of War III, and Burnout Paradise. I picked up gems like Red Dead Redemption and Arkham Asylum second hand for bargain prices, and built up a wonderfully genre-spanning collection.

Then one day LIFE happened. Work got real, social life intervened, and things changed. Now I barely have time for you, I come in at the end of the day, tired and unable to dedicate myself to you like I used to. If I'm lucky I can snatch half an hour with you if I get home early enough. I ask myself, when did I grow up? 

I made a promise to myself not to buy any more games until I complete the ones I have, and so I've been watching triple A releases pass me by. SSX, FIFA 13, Need For Speed, and more have gone by while I try to complete the God of War Trilogy, Red Dead Redemption, Arkham City and Borderlands 2 half an hour at a time. 

That's the irony of it all; now I can afford you, I have no time for you. If I want to eat, if I want to do things like buy more of you, this is the way it has to be and I guess I'll just have to keep sneaking time with you when I can. Whatever happens though, know that I love you.

Jude

P.S. Don't even get me started on trying to find time to play Football Manager

The Derby of Italy

Tonight possibly the biggest game in the entire Serie A calendar takes place as Juventus and Inter go head to head in the Derby d'Italia.  Although both teams have a strong rivalry with their city cousins, Torino and AC Milan, there is no doubt that Juve and Inter are each other's bitterest rivals. 

The match gained its grand name in 1967, when Inter were the Italian team with the most international titles, and Juve had the most league wins. These two teams are also the first and second most supported in Italy. In addition, before the Calciopoli scandal in 2006 when Juventus were demoted, both teams were the only ones in Italy never to have been relegated from Serie A. This has added to the rivalry even more, with Juventus outraged at the awarding of the 2005/06 Scudetto to Inter after it was stripped from them.

Even without the historical rivalry, tonight's match is highly important, as it is a top of the table clash between a seemingly unstoppable Juventus team, and an Inter team that has hit an excellent run of form and emerged as Juve's most likely title contenders. While Juve are on an unbeaten run which now stands at 49 matches, Inter have also begun rolling and have won eight straight matches in all competitions. Inter are four points behind Juve in second place, and are now looking like the only realistic challengers with a chance of stopping the Juventus juggernaut claiming another league title.

After a summer of big changes and player departures, Inter were not expected to be in this position, and did have a slow start to the season. Since a 2-0 loss to Siena in September however, they have been surprising everyone, with a new-found strength showing in their eight match winning streak. Credit for Inter's play goes to Andrea Stramaccioni, the young former youth team coach who took over as manager towards the end of last season. Stramaccioni has been managing to get the best out of his players, and switching to a three man defence after the Siena match has seemed to suit the team. Players like Esteban Cambiasso, defender Juan Jesus, Diego Milito, and Antonio Cassano are also in great form. Cassano, a boyhood Inter fan, has flourished since moving from AC Milan in the summer, and has five goals and several assists already.

Juventus are a formidable side, the only criticism that possibly be leveled at them is a lack of a 20 goal a season striker. This hasn't seemed to affect them too much though; along with Roma they are the joint top scorers in the league with 22 in 10 games, with goals coming from all over the team. Players like Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, and even Paul Pogba have been chipping in with goals, relieving the pressure from their strikers. Definitely the strongest side in Italy at the moment, and with home advantage, Juve will be Inter's biggest challenge so far.

Both these teams will come into this Derby d'Italia relishing the chance to break each other's streaks, and inflict a potentially morale-destroying loss. With two teams with such a fiery history now fighting for the championship, although this match will probably not be decisive this early in the season, it should be a hugely interesting spectacle.

Best Moments in Football Manager

Football Manager is one of the biggest selling games around. Since it began life as Championship Manager back in 1992 the series has sold over 7 million copies, won several awards and been named in at least 35 divorce cases. A game that started out as a glorified spreadsheet with flashing commentary, and that even today still sees the player spending much of their time looking at screens filled with numbers; many people wonder what the attraction is and how it can steal so many hours of time from seemingly normal people. With this in mind, and with the release of Football Manager 2013 in a couple of weeks, here are some of the best moments that keep me coming back every year.

1. Managing the club you support
One obvious reason to buy the game every year is the updated squad lists for each team. The game usually doesn't comes out before at least October, giving the developers time to see what moves are made in the summer transfer window and update the squads. It also means they can see how players and teams perform at the start of the season and adjust their stats accordingly. Knowing this, as soon as I've installed and loaded the game for the first time, I can't do anything other than start a save with my team, to see how good (or otherwise) the squad is, and how far I can take them.

Top tip. For added realism, turn off transfer budgets in the first window so that no team can buy players before January and squads stay similar to real life.

2. Watching your star striker score 20+ goals a season
I'll take goals wherever I can get them; if all members of my squad can chip in with a few then I'm happy. However, there are few better feelings than watching your strikers scoring prolifically. At the moment I'm playing a save as Napoli, and Edinson Cavani is riding high at the top of the league scoring charts. It is truly a joy watching him put away chances, grabbing hat-tricks, and scoring important goals that pull out results for the team.

3. Finding out about the stars of the future before anyone else
I've been playing Football Manager since about 1999 and the amount of players I heard about before they make it in real life is ridiculous. Having scouts find players like Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Arturo Vidal, Hatem Ben Arfa, Gonzalo Higuain, Eden Hazard, the list goes on. Signing them as youngsters, watching them develop into stars in the game, and then seeing the same thing happen in real life is a nice feeling, and you feel like you know a player a little bit when you see them in real life for the first time.

4. Watching a youth player you've trained become world-class
Its great signing big stars, bringing in a marquee players that excite the fans and boost shirt sales. Even better though, is bringing youth players through. Watching a player you've developed carefully from the age of 17 or 18, over several seasons turn into one of the best and most valuable players in the game is time well spent.

5. It never has to end
Won everything there is with your team? Made it into the manager's hall of fame? Do it again with a different team. Manage a big team and make them the best in the world, or bring a small team up from the lower leagues, or manage an international team to the World Cup. One of the absolute best moments in the game is winning everything with a team, doing a Jose Mourinho and resigning, ready to move onto a new team, where it all begins again...

So those are my best moments in Football Manager. Agree? Disagree? Maybe I've missed something out? FM fans let me know.

A hard season ahead for Internazionale?

I viewed the result of Inter's match with Siena yesterday with a feeling of resignation. A 2-0 loss at home at San Siro to a team Inter would normally expect to beat, with all due respect to Siena, doesn't signal a great season ahead. After an extremely poor last season, where we scraped into 6^th place, there were high hopes for a return to winning ways. However, results so far haven't been great.

Way back at the start of August, things looked rosy with a 3-0 win away to Hajduk Split in the Europa League 3^rd Qualifying Round first leg, but that was followed up with a 2-0 loss at home in the second leg. Two more promising wins followed away to FC Vaslui and Pescara, but things have seemingly gone downhill since then. This month has seen a 3-1 loss at home to Roma, and although we won 2-0 at Torino in the next match, this was followed with a scraped 2-2 draw with Rubin Kazan and Sunday's 2-0 loss to Siena, both at San Siro.


During the summer the notoriously poor pitch was relaid at San Siro, in an effort to improve the playing surface. Some in Italy have said that this has caused a curse on the stadium, as both Inter and AC are yet to win a single game there in all competitions. I'm not so superstitious though, as I can understand that a period of rebuilding is happening with several former leaders of our team such as Maicon, Lucio, and Julio Cesar having left, and several young players now stepping up to try and fill their shoes; a few bumps in the road are to be expected.

On paper the team put out against Siena looked relatively strong: Samir Handanovic, a good goalkeeper who replaced Julio Cesar. Nagatomo, Rannochia, Juan, and Alvaro Pereira in defence, Cambiasso, Gargano, Guarin and Wesley Sneijder in midfield behind Diego Milito and Antonio Cassano. Nagatomo is a hard-working fullback who likes to get forward, and who scored the last minute equaliser against Rubin. Rannochia and Juan are young centrebacks with a lot of promise, who until yesterday's game were receiving praise as a centreback pairing. The midfield seems solid, with the ever-reliable Esteban Cambiasso, Walter Gargano, a tough midfielder, and Guarin supporting Wesley Sneijder and allowing him to go create for two top strikers, Diego Milito and Antonio Cassano. The match was also notable for being the first time 39 year old Javier Zanetti, or Captain Fantastic as I like to call him, was rested since December 2008.

Despite the strong team, we were caught on the break twice, with Siena scoring two counter attacks in what was an exciting and pretty open match. I was most disappointed about how disorganised the defence was for the goals, with our defenders seemingly panicking as the Siena players ran at them. Again, these players haven't played together many times, and they are young, so hopefully this will improve as the season goes on.

Inter have the chance to bounce back away at Chievo on Wednesday and despite how much they frustrate me sometimes, I'll be supporting them as usual. I remember the 90s and early 2000s, with the long period of failing to win the league, and especially the gut-wrenching Sunday afternoon in 2002 where we lost the Scudetto to Juventus on the last day of the season with a 4-2 loss to Lazio. Since 2004 it's been better days, with league wins, and the treble-winning season of 2010 where we won the Champions League again after 45 years, on my birthday. After all that success I can handle a couple of less than perfect seasons. Forza Inter.

Does football need a salary cap?

The Guardian's website reported last Thursday that the Premier League is thinking about trying to put a salary cap into place before the money from the next televison deals for 2013-2016 comes in. Footballer wages have been climbing for years, and led to a lot of discussion about whether players deserve so much money for kicking a ball on a field. As football, and the Premier League continue to expand and with TV deals getting bigger, it seems the trend will be for wages to get even higher in the future if left unchecked. With this in mind, I think a salary cap has got to be seen as a good idea.

Salary caps are used pretty successfully in North American sports, including Major League Soccer, and in rugby in England, France and Australia, with teams having a maximum amount they are allowed to pay out for player contracts each season. In 2011, the NFL salary cap was $120 million, while the NBA's 2010-11 cap was $58 million. Caps are agreed before each season, and take into account team revenues, so the cap is at a reasonable level for every team and it's level of income for that year.

Benefits of a salary cap are that, in theory, it prevents rich teams from signing a large number of highly-paid stars and dominating because they perhaps have a wealthy owner. It should also level the playing field so that leagues stay competitive, and you don't have the same teams winning everything every year. European football could probably benefit from being more competitive, with most of the top leagues now being won by the same teams that spend the most each season. The second main benefit of a salary cap is to guard against teams signing high contracts to try to gain success, then ending up with financial problems down the line; aka Leeds United syndrome. Because a cap has already been worked out based on the team's income, it can't live beyond its means and so should be relatively protected financially.

The drawbacks to bringing in a salary cap seem to mostly centre around how to go about implementing it. For the Premier League to be able to bring one in, 14 out of the 20 teams would have to agree, and as the Guardian article mentions, the teams have not seemed too interested so far. Another drawback is whether there would be any player related problems. In 2011 the NBA experienced a lockout where the start of the season was delayed from November 1 to December 25 because of a disagreement between owners and players about the salary cap. Could we see a similar thing in football?

The next drawback is deciding how salaries should be capped. Should teams have a total amount they have to be under with their entire squad like the NFL and NBA, should they have a maximum amount they can give a player, £180,000 a week for example, or should they be restricted to spending a percentage of their turnover from the previous few seasons?

The final potential drawback I can see is whether a salary cap would need to be applied by every league in Europe at once to be effective. Like governments always warn when asked to tax high earners more, there could be an exodus from England and the Premier League to other leagues without salary caps. However, even if European leagues managed to get together and agree a cap we could see players following Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o to places like China and Russia on huge contracts, or anywhere teams didn't have to worry about a cap. I could argue though that this could be a good thing, with talented footballers bringing up the levels of developing leagues, and adding another factor that could increase competition.

All in all, a salary cap could bring seismic changes to football, changing the game for the better in my opinion. In the NFL, the New Orleans Saints went from finishing their 2008 season with a record of 8 wins and 8 losses, not even making the playoffs, to winning the Superbowl in 2009. That sort of unpredictability would make football even more exciting, and I think a salary cap could help do it. It seems as if a cap would be extremely hard to bring in, with a lot of parties in football possibly not seeing it in their interest, but I think it would do the game a world of good.

Serie A Returns

Calcio lovers rejoice, Serie A is back today! The Italian league usually starts after most of the other big European leagues have kicked off, which is quite annoying for those of us eager to get underway. However, it always feels like the football season has started properly once Serie A is off and running.

This term Serie A feels quite strange. Firstly there's the matchfixing scandal that has been running all summer, with a large amount of players and teams charged and punished. These charges have led to points deductions, player bans, and the strange sight of champions Juventus having their coach Antonio Conte suspended for pretty much the whole of this season, although bizarrely he will be training the team on a day to day basis, he just won't be allowed to sit on the bench or give instructions during matches. For that a member of his coaching staff, Massimo Carrera, is standing in.

The second reason Serie A feels strange this season is because of the global economic situation. A lack of money has meant that there have been no big transfer signings by Italian clubs, with many having to sell their stars, the best example being Milan with Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva. Italian clubs have been forced to make signings on the cheap, mostly using loans and co-ownership agreements. Milan fans expecting a big name to replace Ibrahimovic have so far had to make do only with Giampaolo Pazzini, gained by swapping Antonio Cassano and 7m with Inter, although Kaka has been linked with a return all summer. This transfer drought means that many clubs will start with no recognised world class players, a shocking development for a league that used to be graced with the best players in the world.

This financial situation has contributed to make this look like what will be the most open and unpredictable season for a long time. Juventus start as favourites for the title, as current champions, and also with probably the strongest team as a whole. The Old Lady will still have to deal with their coaching situation though, as well as juggling European football commitments in their return to the Champions League. Behind Juventus, there's a wide field of several teams that could challenge; Milan may not have had the best transfer window ever, but they are still a big team. Inter had a poor last season and have reacted by trying to rebuild, with several new signings, and attempts to move on players like Maicon, Julio Cesar, and Lucio. As an Inter fan I believe this season could go either way, with either a title challenge, or another poor season as the new signings fail to gel. A lot will also depend on how rookie coach Andrea Stramaccioni does in his first full Serie A season. Another possible challenger is Roma, who hired coach Zdenek Zeman, known for wanting nothing less than spectacular attacking football, that can be beautiful but which also sometimes leads to his sides being stung in defence. Possible outsiders for a title challenge are probably Udinese, who qualified for the Champions League for the second season in a row, but who sell some of their best players every summer, and Lazio, who had a surprisingly good last season behind the goals of Miroslav Klose.

Serie A has had a difficult summer, with all the scandal and its financial situation, but this season promises to be exciting and open in a way not seen for a while. I can't wait to see what happens.

Take a look at the first few fixtures of the season here

London Olympics Love-in

After years of build up and 17 sport-filled days the world's athletes are on their way home, and the 2012 London Olympics are over. I must confess to feeling a twinge of sadness, which has entirely caught me by surprise, because like many people I started out as a cynic. For a long time I felt no connection with the games, they were just an event I had nothing to do with, going on in another part of town. Also, with all the money spent on them, the gloomy economic situation, and the typically British pre-event media pessimism, I expected a spectacular cock-up or at the very least to be extremely bored. Then, I sat down to watch the opening ceremony and cynicism died and I became a believer.

I hurried back from the pub with a group of friends to catch the opening ceremony. I think we were expecting nothing more than a slightly scaled up school disco, with some coloured lights and a couple of the sort of fireworks you could find in the back of a corner shop; nothing to compete with the growing financial muscle of China. Salute to Mr Boyle though, he amazed the world and exceeded all expectations, leading to a scene where a group of lads in their 20s gathered in our living room cheering Mr Bean, the Queen's skydiving skills, and the good old NHS. It was beautiful.

From then I felt the stirrings of pride in London, the city I grew up in and have lived for most of my life, and an eagerness to watch as much of the games as possible, best expressed as the thought "Might as well, its the Olympics".

If nothing else, the Olympics are an opportunity to watch sports that never usually would get the time of day on mainstream channels. Handball, water polo, archery, fencing, the list goes on. I tried to dip in and out to see what was going on in different parts of the games and really experience it all. Luckily, the BBC's coverage was formidably comprehensive, with all of its channels including BBC Three and Four putting in overtime. Most of my watching however was done through the amazingly efficient BBC Olympic schedule website. A website laid out for users to choose any sport to watch live, or to catch up if you missed things, that marked each stream with highlights so you could rewind and find them easily; this brought it home to me that we are truly living in the future. Much congratulations to the BBC; this is why it needs to be defended at all costs, so we don't end up with an #NBCfail situation where we have advert breaks in the middle of events and broadcasters making us wait till primetime to see things, instead of watching live.

I also have to comment on the 100m final, aka the most electric 9.63 seconds I can remember. It is amazing how much you can enjoy something that is just so basic and natural as running; enjoying seeing a person go as fast as they can is just human nature, even from childhood seeing who can run fastest in the playground or down the street. Watching the race was my undoubted sporting highlight of the games, with all the anticipation, the absolute silence in the stadium before the starting gun, and then seeing the athletes powering up and going, with Usain Bolt pulling away in the end. Amazing.

So that was the Olympics. I was so proud; seeing how excited everyone was about which big events were scheduled each day, seeing Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park and Big Ben and countless other historic landmarks as the backdrop of events, reading media reports by journalists from other countries on how welcoming the city and the country were and how impressed they were. The only dip was probably the closing ceremony, although could it ever have lived up to our newly raised expectations? Besides, getting absolutely everything perfect is not the British way. Regardless; well done London, you did it.

6 Star Albums

Part 3: The Blueprint – Jay-Z

Ah Jay-Z. Who can fail to love the Jigga Man? For years he's been one of the most respected artists anywhere; hugely popular in the hip hop community, but also with the mainstream. He was the first hip hop artist to headline at Glastonbury, headlined the 2012 Hackney Weekend festival, and is half of one of the biggest power couples in entertainment.

The Blueprint is probably where Jay-Z's road to international superstardom began. Although his two previous albums both reached number 1 in the US charts, The Blueprint was the first to chart in countries such as France and the Netherlands, and the first to make the top 40 chart in the UK. The album was also awarded hip hop magazine The Source's highly coveted 5 mics award, and has been named in top album lists by everyone from Entertainment Weekly, to Rolling Stone, to NME. Something else interesting to note is that The Blueprint also probably marks the beginning of Kanye West's rise, with him becoming known as one of hip hop's leading producers for his work on this album.

Musically, the album has an extremely soulful sound, created through its use of samples on most of its tracks. Some of my favourite songs such as 'Girls, Girls, Girls', 'Never Change', and the excellent 'Heart of the City' stand out for me precisely because of their 70s style soul instrumentals. Another standout song, 'Song Cry', is an emotional track where Jay-Z uses the soulful beat to discus past relationships and regrets.

Another landmark for this album is its place as part of the first major rap feud since the East Coast vs West Coast battles of the mid-1990s, which ended with the death of 2pac and the Notorious B.I.G. The track 'Takeover' was aimed by Jay-Z at Nas, at a time when they were the two most respected rappers in New York, battling to be best in the city, a title left behind by B.I.G. 'Takeover' is a powerful statement to Jay-Z's rivals, delivered with a driving beat. It was a song that many hip hop listeners thought would leave Nas unable to respond and possibly end his career. This was until Nas came back with the explosively aggressive 'Ether', from his own classic album Stillmatic; a response that surprised listeners and increased Nas' reputation hugely.

Other notable songs that make The Blueprint are 'Hola Hovito', with one of my favourite beats and its singalong chorus, 'Izzo', one of Jay-Z's most popular singles ever, and 'Renegade', featuring Eminem. Renegade was used by Nas to insult Jay-Z in 'Ether', with the line "Eminem murdered you on your own shit". This is a line I've heard many hip hop fans agree with, but me? I'll just say Eminem's flow on the track is amazing and contrasts with Jay's less spectacular lines.

The Blueprint is a damn good listen, and a cultural milestone, with its links to the rise of Jay-Z, Kanye West, and even Nas to an extent. Its legacy has allowed Jay-Z to become the biggest star in hip-hop, make a fortune of over $450 million, and gain a reputation as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

Most Expensive European Transfers of the Summer So Far

Its almost August, and there's just over a month until Europe's summer transfer window shuts. This is one of the most exciting times of the year for football fans, as we wait to see how our teams will shape up ahead of the season and whether we can raise our expectations, or start planning for disappointment. Its also always interesting to see the big money deals teams will spend to try and pick up a star. With that in mind, here are the most expensive European transfers of the summer so far.

Eden Hazard to Chelsea £32m

One of the most coveted young players in Europe for the past couple of seasons, he scored 27 goals and made 25 assists in his last 76 appearances for Lille. Big things are expected from him, with some in the media, probably prematurely, comparing him to Lionel Messi.

Olivier Giroud to Arsenal £13m

Giroud scored 21 goals to help Montpelier to their surprise Ligue 1 championship win last season, persuading Arsene Wenger to make him the latest in his long list of French signings. Giroud has worked his way up to the big time, having had spells in the French Division 3 and Ligue 2 before signing for Montpelier in January 2010.

Shinji Kagawa to Man Utd £13m

Seen as the man to insert more creativity into Man United's midfield and be the heir to Paul Scholes, Kagawa scored or assisted 26% of Borussia Dortmund's 80 Bundesliga goals in 2011-12 (21 in all), according to Opta Sports. If he can replicate that type of form in the Premier League, perhaps Paul Scholes will be able to pass on the mantle, and finally hang up his boots.

Jordi Alba to Barcelona €14m

After having an excellent European Championship with Spain, Barcelona signed him on 28 June, the day after Spain's semi-final victory over Portugal. Judging by his performances in the tournament and especially his well taken goal in the final, he will fit into the Barca system with no problems, and be another dangerous weapon for them as they look to take the title back from Real Madrid.

Ezequiel Lavezzi to PSG €30m

Despite spending big last summer, PSG were shocked by little Montpelier and lost out on the French title. Lavezzi's signing is one attempt to make sure they don't fail next season. Part of the attacking trident that inspired Napoli last season, Lavezzi was a hero to Napoli fans who saw him as the replacement for Maradona they'd been waiting for for years. He often had to be driven around the city in his car boot to avoid being mobbed, and will maybe relish a quieter life in Paris.

Thiago Silva to PSG €42m

Annointed as the heir to Alessandro Nesta at AC Milan, Thiago Silva's sale came as a surprise to most AC fans. He was rated extremely highly in Italy, but AC decided to cash in as the club is seemingly struggling with its finances. His sale has caused uproar from fans, who held a mock funeral for the 'death' of the club, while a particularly persistant group also threatened to file a class action suit for false advertising because Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were on the adverts for the new season ticket. AC's Board of Directors have dismissed these fans however, and offered refunds to anyone who bought a season ticket.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic to PSG €25m

Originally thought to be part of a joint deal with Thiago Silva, Zlatan's deal took longer to conclude as negotiations over wages dragged on. The giant striker seemed to be settled in Milan, he was in stellar form last season, scoring 28 goals in 32 appearances, and had come out to say he wanted to end his career at AC. To be fair to him, it was probably the AC Board's decision to sell him to save on wages, but he's never seemed the type to worry too much about moving clubs and will enjoy the opportunity to strike fear into the hearts of Ligue 1 defenders next season.

Oscar to Chelsea £25m

Tipped to be one of the stars of the Olympic football tournament, Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Junior, to give him his full name, completed a move to Chelsea as I write this. He is the latest Brazilian creative midfielder to be labelled as the 'new Kaka', and will be the chief playmaker for Brazil at the Olympics.

Possible Big Future Moves

• With his contract set to run out next summer, Arsenal look like they will try to cash in on Robin van Persie. Juventus and the two Manchester clubs have made offers, but Arsenal seem to want to hold out for £25m-£30m.

• Juventus have identified their attack as the key area they need to strengthen and have also been linked with Fiorentina's Stevan Jovetic, although Fiorentina have slapped a €30m price tag on him.

• Manchester United and Internazionale are both making approaches to try and sign 19 year old Sao Paulo midfielder Lucas Moura

• Luka Modric is trying to force through a move to Real Madrid, but Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy is playing hardball and refusing to sell for less than £40m. PSG are also now reported to be interested.

• Malaga midfielder Santi Cazorla has agreed personal terms with Arsenal, who are now waiting to see if their €20m offer will be accepted by the Spanish club. 

Rio Ferdinand and Ice Cream Flavours

Just as everyone was waiting for the dust to settle after the John Terry racism trial, a new race related football story broke over the weekend. Every newspaper has been reporting that Rio Ferdinand replied to a Twitter user and appeared to agree with them calling Ashley Cole a 'choc ice'; an insult that could be interpreted as saying that Cole is black on the outside and white inside. 

Now I'm not writing this to condemn or defend anyone. I can't interpret what was in Rio's mind or how he meant the comment, and he has already come out and said he didn't mean it in that way. Ashley Cole has also come out to say he is cool with Rio and hasn't taken offence. What I want to do is explain why there is all the uproar over what seems to be a pretty tame insult, and why I feel insults like that are about the worst you could hear as a black person.

When I was about 12 years old, I was spat at and insulted during a breaktime by a boy who was a few years above me, because he saw me talking to a girl of a different race. The boy was Indian, and he was angry at me, a black guy, for talking to this white girl, who I only happened to be friends with from my form class. 

Calling someone a choc ice, or a bounty, or anything similar is the same sort of principle. Its someone saying that you're a traitor to your race, and want to get in with people of a different race because you want to get ahead, because you want to be a different race, or because you hate who you are.

It is today's equivalent of calling someone an Uncle Tom; saying that they would sell people down the river just to look good to another race. Insults like this are also basically saying that everyone should stick to their own race and fit a certain racial stereotype, otherwise they are betraying their people. I'm not having that. Its the 21^st century and we should be past this. Therefore, I do hope that people can see why I hope to see terms like 'choc ice' die out.

Almost Andy, Almost

The dust is settling for another year on the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, or really, just Wimbledon to most people. I'm not usually a tennis fan but you have to make an exception for Wimbledon as a summer tradition. For two weeks every summer the country takes falls in love with the sport, even though it rains most of the time and there hasn't been a British singles winner in many people's lifetime. But then I guess that's what Britain is about, bad weather and losing gracefully but giving 100%.

For the rest of the year, apart from Wimbledon, Britain doesn't seem so interested. I think its possibly because a lot of people feel isolated from the sport, as it is rarely on free TV, because you don't many tennis courts around, and because it does seem a little like a sport for the more priveleged who can get access to tennis courts, can afford good equipment, and can get good coaching.

When I was at secondary school the school got some concrete courts and would put the nets up during the spring and summer. Kids would eagerly borrow racquets and balls from the PE department and spend break times happily trying to have rallies with their friends, but there was little in the way of proper coaching and most people lost interest after a few days of trying to hit to each other and then having to run round and fetch the ball after missing it for the millionth time.

Still, Wimbledon is always enjoyable, and this year Brits had the added bonus of seeing Andy Murray become the first British male to get to a final since Bunny Austin in 1938, facing Roger Federer, who will surely go down as the best to ever play the sport.

After a close start where Murray took the first set, and looked to be troubling him, Federer started motoring in the sixth game of the third set, a set that lasted 20 minutes and in which Murray tried his best to hang on, but was unable to live with shots from Federer that sent him all over the court. That game was probably a turning point, and Federer went on to win with some truly masterful tennis. Credit to Murray, he took the first set well and played some good tennis, trying his utmost to give the fans their first home winner. His reputation will be enhanced by him breaking the long wait for a British finalist, and for making a good fight of it with Federer, the now seven times winner. 

The Beauty of Cosmos

Recently I've been watching Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, a documentary series about the universe. If you like Wonders of the Solar System, or just documentaries in general, you need to watch this. Although the show was first broadcast in 1980 it still holds up today as a very informative and interesting series.

An amazing programme, Cosmos is both absorbing and educational, like the best documentaries. I've always been interested in space and the mysteries of the universe, and this show is an excellent way to learn about them.

As well as the interesting content, the best part of the programme for me is the host, the late Carl Sagan; who I like to imagine was creating this series while Brian Cox was somewhere learning keyboard scales. A man whose enthusiasm is obvious in every word he says to the viewer, Sagan is highly intelligent, and with a background as a hugely respected scientist, he is completely knowledgeable about the subjects he talks about. His passion for everything from the largest, farthest away galaxies, to the tiniest, most basic form of life is infectious, as he pulls the viewer along on what is truly a personal voyage.

I admit to having a little man crush on Carl Sagan, because of his intelligence, his love of his subject, his ability to take complex theories and make them interesting and easy to understand, and because he was simply a person who was passionate about the world and its people. He was a protestor against the Vietnam War and against nuclear weapons, and the thirteenth episode of Cosmos, called 'Who Speaks for Earth' explores where humanity may be heading in the future, and features a plea from him for people to make changes to enable peace; a message that is still relevant today.

Unfortunately Carl Sagan died in 1996, before I was even aware of his work. However, his ideas and message live on. His Wikipedia page makes for interesting reading as a record of his impressive achievements and fascinating life, and Cosmos: A Personal Voyage has been viewed by over 500 million people around the world and remains one of the best documentaries ever produced. 

6 Star Albums

Part 2: 8701 - Usher

Back in the day, before Usher discovered Euro-Dance beats and signed a boy named Justin Bieber, he released this masterpiece; arguably the best R&B album in the last fifteen years.

Released in July 2001, hence the name, 8701 shines as a relaxed, chilled out, and well produced album. From the opening bars of the first song, the album springs to life, and flows seamlessly through each track, making it an album than can be listened to from start to finish, with barely a need to skip any songs.

The album's best songs fall into two categories, firstly, slower paced songs such as 'U Got it Bad', and 'Can You Help Me', whose sparse instrumentals leave Usher free to provide a masterclass in vocal gymnastics. The second category is made up of faster paced songs such as 'You Don't Have to Call', with its bouncy beat that perfectly suits its message of moving on after the end of a relationship. Other high-quality upbeat songs on the album are 'Pop Ya Collar', and 'TTP', and the accompanying videos for these songs are a treat for any dance fans. The man is undoubtedly talented, and his dancing shows how his hero Michael Jackson influenced him.

8701 is not without its faults, and a couple of songs fail to hit the same heights as the others. These are 'Hottest Thing', which is maybe too much of a standard R&B song, with not much to say, and 'U-Turn', maybe some kind of attempt to create a new Macarena, but which lacks the catchiness needed to start a dance craze. 

Those songs apart, 8701 is a classic album, with a tracklist of great songs; an album which runs the full range of emotions, and has a song for every mood.

Legends Leave Serie A

After 19 years in the black and white stripes of Juventus, Alessandro Del Piero will move on this summer, leaving the team he has been a symbol of for so long. Del Piero is one of the best examples of a player who has represented the essence of their club for many years, and with players such as Steven Gerrard of Liverpool, Carles Puyol of Barcelona, and Francesco Totti of Roma, is a breed of player that is getting rarer. It seems criminal, but Del Piero's contract will expire this summer, with the board of Juventus having decided not to offer him a renewal. As an Inter supporter, Juventus are probably our biggest rivals, and not a team I'd often want to compliment, but Del Piero has always been a player you had to respect.

Worthy of respect not just for his skill and ability, especially during the glory days when he and David Trezeguet formed one of the best strike partnerships in Europe, he has always been a model professional and followed Juventus down into Serie B after Calciopoli, when he could have gotten a move to any of Europe's top clubs. Del Piero should be respected for being a player who led by example, and who was a gentleman every time he stepped onto the pitch.

Del Piero played his last match for Juve yesterday, but could not sign off with a win, as Juventus lost 2-0 to Napoli in the Coppa Italia final. Luckily he will not yet hang up his boots and has been tipped to move either to the United States, or the English Premier League. I would love to see him in England scoring more of his trademark free kicks for a new audience.

As well as Del Piero leaving Juventus, this season there seems to be a changing of the guard as a whole in Serie A, with so many legends leaving their clubs. At AC Milan, Filippo Inzaghi, goal poacher extraordinaire is also out of contract, while Alessandro Nesta, who formed one of the best centreback pairings ever with Fabio Cannavaro for Italy, will also move, probably to play in the United States. Gennaro Gattuso is another who won't be renewing his contract at Milan; he has expressed a desire to return to play for Glasgow Rangers, but may be stopped by the club's transfer ban.

Clarence Seedorf, the only player ever to win the Champions League with three different clubs, and always an awesome pundit for the BBC, could move to Brazil where he already owns a home, to play for Botafogo. At Inter Ivan Cordoba will leave, but I would like to see him back in some capacity as a member of the backroom staff, as for many seasons he was a stalwart in our defence and a leader of the team. Finally, Marco Di Vaio, perhaps unjustly underrated as a striker, but a hero to Bologna fans for the past four seasons, will also leave his club this summer.

It seems like the end of an era in Serie A, and I want to say buona fortuna; good luck to all the departing legends, and thanks for the memories.

Chelsea and Inter: Twinned for 2011/12

This season there have been more than a few similarities between the Premier League's Chelsea and Serie A's Inter Milan. Both clubs started the season aiming to challenge for their respective championships, but now sit in lower positions than they would want. Currently both are 6^th in their leagues, with fading hopes of qualifying for the Champions League through league position, although Chelsea still do have the chance to qualify directly by winning it on May 19.

Both clubs have faced accusations of having aging squads, with their senators being accused of being past it. Players such as Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard for Chelsea, and Diego Milito and Esteban Cambiasso for Inter, who in the past have been key to the success of their teams, have all come under fire.

Another similarity the teams share is that they both sacked established managers in March, and promoted younger individuals from within their existing set-up; Roberto Di Matteo, former Assistant Manager to Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea, and Andrea Stramaccioni, who was the Inter primavera youth team coach, replaced Claudio Ranieri.

Both Di Matteo and Stramaccioni were initially brought in as caretakers, to steady teams that were desperately underperforming. In Villas-Boas' last few weeks Chelsea had been on a run of just three wins in twelve matches, and senior players were unhappy with his team selections. At Inter, after seven straight league wins in December 2011 and January 2012 seemed to herald a new dawn, the team slumped to a run of one win in ten league matches and Ranieri was accused of not being able to fit Wesley Sneijder into his formation.

Since taking over, both Di Matteo and Stramaccioni have managed to turn their teams fortunes around, with Chelsea winning the FA cup and reaching the Champions League final, and Inter going from being 10 points behind the final Champions League qualifying position in Serie A, to within three points now. On Sunday Stramaccioni also led Inter to a 4-2 derby victory over AC Milan.

Following the derby win Inter's billionaire owner Massimo Moratti confirmed that Stramaccioni will be kept on the bench for next season. Personally, I hope he is given time and patience to build a team, as it would good to see a young Italian coach given the opportunity to take Inter back to the top.

Despite the FA cup win and scheduled Champions League final appearance, Di Matteo has not yet been given the same backing by Chelsea's own billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich. Chelsea's owner has never been known to make sentimental decisions on the club and despite a lot of calls from the media for Di Matteo to get the job permanently, Abramovich may still decide to go for a glamour name. It has been rumoured that he hopes to try and persuade Pep Guardiola to forget about taking a year out of the game, and move to Stamford Bridge instead.

As we approach the end of the season, both these parallel clubs will now look forward, in the hope that young managers can take them into the future.

Match of the Season

The stage is set for the biggest match of the Premier League season so far. The red and blue halves of Manchester will face each other tonight in a confrontation that will have a huge impact on who wins the title this year.

The match was always going to be a big occasion, but its taken on a new significance since Man United's unexpected and uncharacteristic 4-4 draw with Everton last Sunday; a result that let City move back to just three points behind United, and gave the Sky Blues renewed hope that they could still be crowned champions for the first time since 1968.

Pundits and journalists are calling this the biggest game in the Premier League's history, and although I don't agree with that (Personally I think Man United and Arsenal have probably had the biggest matches), no football fan can deny the excitement and anticipation that has been building throughout the last week.

Whatever happens, its sure to be interesting. As well as the football, I'm looking forward to seeing what video montages Sky Sports have come up with. I know its bound to be something suitably epic that expresses the gravity and importance of the match; my money's on some kind of gladiator theme (the Roman kind, not the John Fashanu "Awooga"/rubbish Sky revival version). I'm also waiting to see whether Gary Neville will better his 'goalgasm' from last week's Chelsea-Barcelona match if United manage to get a killer winning goal.

The game itself is a tough one to call; City are in great form, and have scored 12 goals in their last three matches since losing 1-0 to Arsenal on 8 April. Man United's defence has been questioned after that draw with Everton, and everything will rest on whether it can hold up against the strike partnership of Sergio Aguero, a striker in top form who has had a blinding first season in the Premier League, and Carlos Tevez, who has come back from exile and gone straight back to being an integral part of the team.

Despite City's firepower however, I have a sneaking suspicion that Man United will come away with a result. United don't need to win, whereas City do. A draw would be good for United, keeping them three points clear, with only two games to go.

Manchester United have all the experience of being in this position at the end of the season, I've seen them hold off rivals when it matters for the last 20 years; its what United do. I won't be surprised at all to see Fergie smiling at the end of 90 minutes.

6 Star Albums

Once in a while, an album comes along that is quality all the way through. There aren't many better things in life for me than discovering a new favourite album. I want to share that feeling, and so I want to make some personal recommendations, from me, to you, of albums you might not have heard. On iTunes, ratings go up to 5 stars, but these... I call them 6 Star Albums...

Part 1: Total Life Forever - Foals

Total Life Forever was released in 2010 by Oxford's finest export, Foals; the second studio album from the group. Fittingly described by the band as sounding "like the dream of an eagle dying", it has an emotional vibe running through it that really appeals to me.

The album opens with the excellent 'Blue Blood'; a hymn to the angst of adolescence, tinged with both sadness and hope, with an accompanying video that sums up all the feelings the track attempts to convey.

Another stand-out song is 'Black Gold'; personally my favourite track on the album, with its unorthodox structure that takes the listener on a journey from a relatively upbeat beginning, through an instrumental breakdown, to an atmospheric and slightly dark conclusion.

The album as a whole carries the feeling of teenage life and its agonies and ecstasies, with another song, 'This Orient', striking me as a song dedicated to the joy of new love. 

This is an an album that is well worth a listen by anyone who remembers the awkwardness of their teenage years. Its thoughtful and well crafted, and an excellent listen from start to finish. Cop it.

Classico KO?

Well... hands up who was expecting that? The first leg of the Champions League semi-finals are done, and Chelsea and Bayern Munich, the two teams most people would have seen as underdogs, ended up with unexpected wins. I was expecting a Barcelona-Real Madrid classico final, but that may not be on the cards any more.

Bayern gave a strong performance against Real on Tuesday, spurred on by their fans and by the fact that the final is in their home stadium. They do have the ability and the players to win this tie, but Real have their away goal and I expect them to score at home. Jose Mourinho will be quietly confident of robbing Bayern of their fairytale final.

Chelsea beat Barca with a goal that came from good work by Ramires, who did well to make a pass to Drogba while falling over, with Drogba finishing calmly first time and showing more of the recent good form that Chelsea will miss if he leaves this summer.

From there, Chelsea's stubborn defending won it for them, shown by the fact they didn't have a single shot in the entire second half. Barcelona should definitely have scored, hitting the post and crossbar, and having several other good chances they would expect to put away. Lionel Messi was kept locked down for most of the match and continued a run of never having scored against Chelsea.

For Chelsea to get anything in this match they needed their senators, Terry, Drogba, and Lampard to have good games, and they did that. Ashley Cole and Petr Cech also gave solid performances, with Cech making some important saves. Chelsea will need that same solidarity next week, when they can look forward to a siege in Barca's Nou Camp. I expect them to face an onslaught, but I wouldn't put it past them to nick an away goal that I don't think Barcelona would be able to overcome.

The Beginning

Welcome to BlogLife, a window on music, football, and whatever else I find worthy of writing about. I'm probably more interested than anyone to see what I come up with, so come with me, lets find out.