Who’s your daddy?

The world is changing perhaps much faster than one can keep up. Growing up, I remember the victorian outrage that inevitatbly accompanied the prospect of any young lady (a somewhat loose term there) that was expecting a child out of wedlock.  I suppose the cause of the indignation wasn’t just the issue of a ‘fatherless’ child (or bastard if you will) but rather the irrefuatble evidence of ‘damage’ to the lady’s virtue. Fertile imaginations aren’t neccesary to guess at the goings-on in the subjects free time. Interestingly, the ‘gentleman’ responsible would be at best an afterthought or at worst conspiciously absent from the collective psyche of the affronted. 

Hypocrites.

These days the chap’s role in these affairs has diminished, single-moms are less of a taboo subject and that, I suppose is good news all round. Except maybe for the children growing up in a single-parent environment. But then I guess, it’s better than growing up in an abusive household with both parents are there, sets a bad example you see. 

Bloody hell, everything’s a mess these days.

Audiophile: Asa – Fire on the Mountain
Off my shelf: Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
Midday Matinee: The Good Shepherd  [2006]
Starring: Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Robert DeNiro, Angelina Jolie, Tammy Blanchard, Joe Pesci, Billy Crudup and Michael Gambon
Directed by: Robert DeNiro

Runaway Applecart

My Mom’s in hospital.

The old girl’s feeling a bit poorly I’m afraid. Blood clot in her leg.  Sawbones said she’d have to take a load off her feet for a bit so she’s now laid up in a rather nice private room with a couch for visitors (that’s me) and Cable Television (flowers not supplied). I’ll see her everyday and read to her when I can. It’s rather unsettling for me to be the one taking care of her for a change. 

I hope she gets better soon.

Audiophile: Pink Floyd – The Wall
Off my shelf: Yann Martel - The Life of Pi
Midday Matinee: Raging Bull [1980]
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty and Frank Vincent
Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Losing Track

Those blasted race stewards. Where the devil were they with their time penalties in Valencia when Felipe Massa exited dangerously from the pits? Clearly they seem to want to hand this season’s championship to the Brazilian on a silver platter rather than have Hamilton bag it. Oh yes, those sodding spoilsports really know when to pick their moments, don’t they? Ruining one of the most spectacular F1 races we have seen in a long time.

To fans worldwide, F1 seems really bent on promogulating this self-destructive streak it has been on for a while now. All we want to see is a good race, a memorable race a fantastic race. Spinning & crashing is allowed getting hurt or dying isn’t and that’s what safety technology is for. It should free up the drivers to take more risks like their real racing predecessors did until the early 90’s. After the bittersweet dominance of Michael  Schumacher and the Ferrari team, the brief entry of Renault with Fernando Alonso and the rise of McLaren Mercedes team under Lewis hamilton comes as a breath of fresh air.

Hamilton’s a talented, daring, exciting driver who pays for his mistakes on track like any other with spinning and crashing and engine failure. He’s taking the sport back to a higher level challenging and dragging the other other drivers to realise their potential. What happened on Sunday was a disgrace and only serves to dampen the spirit of fair play in the sport. Winning in formula 1 should be taken out from the boardrooms and courtrooms and back to where it belongs: On the race track.

Audiophile: The Hives - Hate to say I told you so
Off my shelf: Goshawk Squadron – Derek Robinson
Midday Matinee: Gone with the wind [1939] Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Hattie McDaniel and Leslie Howard Directed by: Victor Fleming

The Outrage

It was intermittently wet at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium and with that came the promise of a dramatic race. Lots of spinouts and agonising tyre choices to look forward to then. And indeed the race did not disappoint.

www.f1.com

Lewis Hamilton took pole position in the qualifying stages ahead of Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen and a harried Kimi Raikkonen who seemed overwhelmed by having to contend with both his team mate Massa and the sophomore driver. 

The Briton was in bullish mood following an early spin in the race that lost him the lead. Thereafter he was constantly on race leader Raikkonen’s tail badgering him to let him by. Then the heavens opened and sprinkled the track to make for a wet race and here Hamilton came into his own. Risky maneouvre, diving past Raikkonen on the bus stop chicane two laps to the end Hamilton went over the grass and took an unfair lead.

He then did the gentlemanly thing and surrendered the lead by allowing Raikonnen to pass him on the home straight. It was gloves off again as they went into the final lap and the ‘iceman’ cracking under the strain of keeping Hamilton at bay, spun and crashed into the wall. Hamilton kept his cool and passed through to take the chequered flag and (ostensibly) win the race.

Two hours later after all the bubbly had been drunk and the post-race conference wrapped up, Hamilton was slapped with a 25 second time penalty which effectively  snatched the win from him and handed it to the eager clutches of Felipe Massa. Hamilton wound up in 3rd place after they were done with the beatdown.

f1.com

Audiophile: The Shins – Pink Bullets
Off my shelf: Goshawk Squadron – Derek Robinson
Midday Matinee: Lolita [1962]
Starring: James Mason, Sue Lyon, Shelly Winters and Peter Sellers
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick