It is 02.37am, as the first few precious hours of 2007 come and go. I should not really be on my computer but for some reason I am. Anyway, housekeeping down, 2006 archives updated.

West Side Story was being shown on Sky Cinema this afternoon at 3.20pm. There was a minor “temporary fault” so the titles did not play. Never mind, that was not a major issue for me. I had seen the opening twenty minutes before, on TCM, back in May 2005. I was about to do the same thing this afternoon. Why? Well, I suppose I need to explain the story in full (and perhaps even upload a video to You Tube if there is not one already available.). There is no video there so perhaps I will have to upload my poor copy at some point. The BBC used an instrumental version of “America” from the musical as their score for the World Cup in 1994. For many years I wondered where the theme tune was from and it is perhaps only in the past seven or so I discovered the film. But it was not until two years that I actually saw it on television, even though by then I had the mp3 for some time. A fantastic song, but perhaps one day I should actually sit down and watch the movie in full.

This links me cleverly into my next item. I do not come from a football family, I discovered football at quite a late age and actually gained an interest through a different avenue from many other kids. My friends taught me the game at school and we played but I had little interest in the game as it was played every Saturday at 3pm. It was, however the 1994 World Cup, or referred to more commonly as US ’94. My Uncle watched the games and this was perhaps my first interest in the game began. Then I bought Championship Manager for the PC. I was hooked over night. My football education had begun. Fast forward over a decade and as an Arsenal fan I have been listening to the Arse Cast pod casts from Arse Blogger. The are sponsored by Classic Football Shirts and I headed over and wondered if they had a US 94 home strip, famously called the ‘Stars & Stripes’ was available. It was not, so I e-mailed them and got a response from Matt. The search was on. Now, I know what you are thinking, why the hell would I be interested in a football shirt for a country that deems the sport as “soccer” and secondly why would I want a used second-hand shirt over twelve years old. The shirt is not to be worn. I have the strong believe that you should only wear the shirt of your country of your birth. Therefore I will only ever where an England shirt. The US shirt is a souvenir, a memory, a reminder that my love for football started when the US team qualified for the second round and played Brazil on 4th July 1994. I am not sure if I will get the shirt framed or yet not. I think once I get the Alexi Lalas to sign it, I will definitely have it framed. In any case I, they found me a shirt in great condition and held it for me as I wanted to receive it in time for Christmas.

Watched the final part of the The Fast & Furious Trilogy with Tokyo Drift. Having now seen all three movies, almost effectively back to back I can judge the whole franchise. First, let me focus on this, the most recent movie. The story was slightly far fetched, more so than the first two and in the end there is no real sense of justice. Although it does wrap up the three movies together nicely. I enjoyed it, it was aesthetically very pleasing to watch. The whole concepting of ‘drifting’ was both a joy to watch and understand. The magical movie moment, when you are lost as the car slowly drifts across the tarmac, was Although when the movie was released in cinemas last year, Daniel told me to catch the movie Initial D which is in his opinion much better, and the basis for this movie. I will try and catch that if I can. (I doubt I will be attempting such maneuvers on the hilly inclines, just across into the Berkshire border.) The story aside, which is relatively week, the cast are all quite fresh, including an appearance from Bow Wow (formerly the artist known as Lil’ Bow Wow). Then there is, Nathalie Kelley, to paraphrase a line from the The Phantom Menace, “We shall watch over her career very closely”.