AHA….. Partridge is back!

29 10 2010

Armando Ianucci has just tweeted the new trailer for the new Partridge film. It looks like he now has the mid-morning slot on Radio Norwich and is potentially some sort of Jeremy Kyle problem solver.

Suffice to say, we are very excited here at Goldfingers FC Towers!

GFC 4EVA





Great effort by the Online Picture Editors at The Daily Telegraph

28 10 2010

Courtesy of the eagle-eyed guys at The Daily Poke and thanks to @Gav33 for flagging, check out this genius piece of online picture editing from The Daily Telegraph:

She works hard for the money...

GFC 4EVA





Bizarre Pepsi advert starring Carlos Tevez

27 10 2010

Just a quick one I saw – this very strange advert for Pepsi and 7up starring Tevez and, I guess, an Argentinian comedian. Apparently the premise is that the promotion is so simple, that even Tevez can explain in English….ish. His face at 20 seconds too…

Very bizarre

Ah, Tevez – you’ve got to love him….. (unless you are a Man U fan, of course).

GFC 4EVA





Rick Astley blog – who is the student?

22 10 2010

Just seen the number of retweets and views on the page. Thanks to everyone.

The question now stands – who is the genius that drafted this Opus Magnus?

Get in touch in the comments below if it is you and take the global recognition you truly deserve!

GFC 4EVA





Rick Astley in thesis

22 10 2010

Check out the effort this student has gone to weave the lyrics to “Never gonna give you up” into his essay on broadband networks

Never gonna get an A

Great effort

GFC 4EVA





The atmosphere at Wembley – an enigma or not??

21 10 2010

Regular readers of this blog, prepare to be surprised. I am going to attempt a semi-serious blog about sport.

Since the new Wembley opened, I have been twice, bizarrely in the last week or so. I was “lucky” enough to witness England vs Montenegro and Saracens vs Leinster. Two different sports obviously, but there was one thing that struck me as even more different – the atmospheres at the respective matches.

The England game, a competitive game I hasten to add, attracted more than 75,000 spectators – not capacity, but that is still a full Old Trafford, meaning a LOT of people. The rugby match was viewed by around 45,000 fans – which is a great figure for a Heineken Cup fixture.

However, despite having 30,000 more voiceboxes, the football was like a library in comparison to the rugby. It got me thinking why is this the case?

The first thing that struck me is that I felt that the fans seemed to feel a strange hybrid of emotion. There still seemed to be a bitter resentment from the World Cup, yet, despite the performance, they still expected England to steamroller the oppostition. And when they didn’t, this resentment reared its ugly head and clearly got to the players. The band tried to rally the troops, but it ended up sounding more like a troupe of buskers in a echoey subway unfortunately to the extent where it got a bit repetitive and irritiating.

On the other hand, at the rugby, everyone seemed considerably more engaged and eager to back their team. So why was this? Admittedly, club teams do not get to play at grounds that big very often and the tickets were very cheap, meaning it was a grand day out for many. But I feel the key was that people felt it was a real CONTEST. Leinster are European Champions. At one stage last year, it looked like Saracens were going to win the league without losing a game (and they only narrowly lost the grand final). So it was a potentially evenly matched contest and both sets of fans rose to this occasion admirably – plenty of “standing up for the saracens”, and the Leinster fans were in fine voice.

It’s not to say that Wembley can’t deliver spine-tingling atmospheres. I’m a Sunderland fan and have been since late 1998, not long after the epic play-off final between Sunderland and Charlton. I have a couple of friends that were at that match that day and they say, despite the heart-breaking result, it was a day that will live with them forever, because of the occasion and ultimately, the atmosphere. And I’m pretty sure Blackpool fans would agree there.

Yes, this is comparing club with country, but there are still 75,000 people (at least) turning out to support their country and they should at least do that. Support.

I asked some of the members of the Football365 Forum for their opinions on this and received some interesting insights.

Gah highlighted that England fans can create atmosphere at Wembley, citing the equaliser against Croatia to make it 2-2 in the Euro 2008 crunch qualifier (again, this made it a CONTEST).

Shane Falco and Lt Col Kojak Slaphead III both observed that the problem has a lot to do with the location and that tieing these kind of matches to one location, so far away from many, is a handicap. They felt that taking games round the country allowed so many more people to make a day of it, similar to the Saracens game, and that this should be re-implemented at least for friendlies and possibly some qualifiers.

Nuts ‘n’ gum said “I went to Everton v Manchester United FA Cup semi-final.The Everton fans were unbelievable, and the noise when Jagielka scored the winning penalty was fantastic. Never heard anything like it at Wembley. The England crowd is very weird, they sit back and want to be entertained, the goals are cheered out of relief and expectancy rather than joy.”

So what needs to be done to remedy this veil of silence that has descended upon the national team.

For me, there needs to be an acceptance that England is not the powerhouse it was even touted to be, both by fans and the media. We are simply not in the same league as the likes of Spain, Germany and Holland and we have no god-given right to be there, just because we did well 46 years ago.

The media aren’t really helping this cause. Anyone remember the front page of The Sun when England’s group was drawn in the World Cup? Check it out here.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing....

For all it’s foibles, The Sun remains the most highly influential paper out there today and this really doesn’t help. There is one thing getting behind your country and another just assuming that because you are from that country, you are the best. The media need to clear these seemingly blurry lines

Yes, admittedly Montenegro are a very lowly ranked team and despite our weakened team, England still could have beaten them. However, we need to prove ourselves again and properly start from scratch, not just assume we can thump everyone because we comprehensively beat Croatia a couple of times in the run up to the World Cup. I think the sooner the fans accept this, and start treating ALL opposition as just that, opposition, not just cattle fodder, the sooner international matches will get their spark back.

Admittedly, they could just start selling booze at the football, like they do at the rugby, and risk the rucking. I had a Coke and a bag of Minstrels at the football – it felt like I was at the cinema, except with a few broken speakers…

GFC 4EVA





Goldfingers FC on the RED carpet

20 10 2010

Last night, Goldfingers FC was exclusively invited (read:won a couple of tickets in a competition on Twitter from Empire Magazine) to the European Premiere of RED – the new film starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren.

Red is the colour...

It was chucking it down, but it was still entertaining enough. We were stood on the carpet next to Willis and Mirren. Managed to resist the urge to butt into one of his interviews and say “What choo talkin’ about, Willis”.

Anyway, here is a cool exclusive snap from inside the cinema, as they introduced the film. From left to right, you have Bruce Willis, Dame Helen Mirren, Mary Louise Parker, writer Warren Ellis and some goon presenter.

What choo talkin' about, Willis?

Other celeb spots on the night itself included Graham Norton, The Ting Tings, Jermaine Jackson, Deborah Meaden, Brian Friedman and ….er, Mel Smith.

As for the film itself, it was alright. The sort of film where you can turn your brain off and let your eyes chew gum for a couple of hours. There were lilting moments of comedy. Secretly, I think that this was a bit of a distraction for Mirren, Freeman and Malkovich – all of whom normally play pretty straight roles. Their RED is a bit like Scorcese’s Shutter Island or Tarantino’s Kill Bill – a bit of a whimsy. Fair play to them, I say.

However, for a proper review of the film, I would recommend hitting I Don’t Watch Cool Movies for a real breakdown.

GFC 4EVA





Union 2 – 3 Goldfingers FC

20 10 2010

After a disappointing loss to Claremont FC at Fortress Battersea last week, Goldfingers FC faced a daunting trip to a ground they had only won on once in numerous occasions, to play a team who beat them 6-1 in the corresponding fixture last season.

What was missing from last week? The sentiment was that it was positivity, so The Cranager insisted that everyone help each other, rather than getting on each other’s backs, and foremostly, enjoy it. After last week’s team contained a number of people playing out of position, due to absence and injury, a strong squad returned.

Cranners shows up.... branded

A 4-4-2 formation was adopted. Pembo, who you may not know starred on Fash FC, started in goal. Terrier JB at right back, with Liam at left back. Mamma Mia Stars Benny and Bjorn reinstated their partnership in the “heart” of defence. Berry and Pano in centre midfield, returning sk on the left and Kenwyne on the right. Leroy and Diamo, the latter of which you may not know starred in Fash FC, led the line. A very strong bench of Ketchup, Nobber-lay and the Cranager waited in the wings, ready to pounce, like Ben outside Infernos at 2.15am, equipped only with a balaclava and a hammer.

The fresh attitude was plain to see and the level of play was instantly better. The ball was being played along the floor much more and the game was played at our pace. Chances began to appear, Ben and Bjorn were solid at the back, which allowed Liam and JB to get forward to support the wings. However, after 20 minutes – DISASTER. Sk’s ankle gave way and the Cranager was forced to make a unscheduled change, bringing himself on. How would the team cope after losing such an influential, witty, talented, charismatic, handsome character?

Not bad as it happens.

A few minutes later, a throw by the Cranager down the left found the gleaming bonce of Diamo who flicked it into the path of the marauding Pano, who smashed the ball into the top left from 18 yards. Great finish.

Union were shell shocked and Goldfingers FC did not relent. Leroy and Diamo were holding the ball up. Pano and Berry were surging like demons, Cranners and Kenny J were hitting the bylines. We had a good few corners too. Unfortunately for us, Leroy was not able to gather that one arm meant near post and two meant far post. We are sending him on a picture card course this week.

The pressure was relentless as it soon paid off, as another ball in the area dropped to Diamo, who fired past the keeper to make it 2-0 and things a little more comfortable. We relaxed a little and allowed them back into the game a bit to give them a free header, which they put over the bar. And just before halftime, a long throw was flicked on by Cranners, allowing their striker to head goalwards. Pembo pulled off a great save to palm it away and it looked to have gone safe, but their right wing followed up and nodded in from a very tight angle to make it 2-1 at half time.

The second half was a scrappier affair and a few errors crept into our game. Pembo, usually solid produced a complete miskick. Fortunately the cameras were there to capture the moment – it happens on 0.25 of this video:

Union pulled level after about 15 minutes when one of their players played an incisive pass through to their centre forward, who was able to fire past Pembo. When I say one of their players, I mean Ben.

We rallied and chanced came for both teams. Pembo kept us in it with two superb one-on-one saves from their lanky goon centreforward, who their sub informed me is regularly called “Crouchy”. Charlie came on to shore up the defence a little, while Ketchup came on to add more fire power.

We slowly found our rhythm again and five minutes before the end, a lovely move ensued. Leroy, now playing on the right, played the ball along the line to Ketchup, who swivelled and played the ball into Diamo on the edge of the box. He managed to create a yard and dink a ball to the back stick, where the unmarked Berry, fell in episodes to connect with a diving header to seal the match.

A lovely end to the match and a deserved win.

MOTM: Pano

The team were jubilant. So much so, that later that evening, Bjorn was simply sick all over a table in Belgo.

Basics.

GFC 4EVA!





Bill Murray – legend

18 10 2010

On the back of last week’s news that Ghostbusters is one of @sheffieldmick’s favourite film, this picture caught my eye and reconfirmed how much of a legend Bill Murray actually is.

At the Scream Awards last night, which Michael J Fox filmed a trailer for as Marty McFly, Bill accepted the award for best horror film for Zombieland. Did he go in black tie, casual… his outfit choice was a joy!

Who you gonna award?

GFC 4EVA!





Massive Zoological Breakthrough! Ducks don’t have beaks!

15 10 2010

The Goldfingers FC blog is proud to announce another world first. For years, the duck has been characterised by its colourful beak. But now, it has been brought to our attention that they aren’t actually beaks.

We can now exclusively reveal that, for all these years, ducks have been actually in disguise, by simply wearing…. DOG MASKS!

All is revealed below

The game's up, duck.

The Goldfingers FC blog – debunking science’s greatest mysteries.

GFC 4EVA