World Cup Predictor - Final Results

Please excuse the slight delay, I am currently in Stuttgart, on the eve of the England game, and the place is going ballistic. England fans are arriving in their thousands before the game, and of course, the Germans are amassing in the square in their thousands for today's big game against Sweden. At the moment, everyone is drinking plastic Steins (2 litres) of premium export-strength lagerbier (picture your measuring jug in the kitchen, and you've pretty well got it). They are currently fronting up to each other in a friendly way .. let's see what 8 hours sustained drinking and 30 degrees heat does to the mix!

Anyway, on to the final leader board. Congratulations to Mo, Rob B, Ginny and Richard, who all take the money. Not sure on the Goals total, but will post that as soon as I find out. Bry will let you all know about your money presently. The esteemed wooden spoon goes to Ben, who still scored over 100 points, so 'respeck' due all round.

To turn on/off the leaderboard listing, click here.

Place	Name	Points	GTD
1	Mo	175	104
2	Rob B	171	97
3	Ginny	150	99
4	Richard	150	108
5	Mike	148	85
6	Jimi	147	91
7	Jon R	147	130
8	Tim	143	97
9	David O'L	139	127
10	Andy H	135	111
11	Bryan	134	107
12	Jenny	132	119
13	Matt H	132	116
14	Nigel	131	122
15	Tony	131	139
16	Patrick	130	86
17	Joerg	129	98
18	Mick	127	101
19	Keith	126	112
20	Ian R	125	99
21	Kirk	124	79
22	Bob O	122	192
23	Rick	122	131
24	Jon L	117	135
25	Morne	117	141
26	Naomi	117	117
27	John B	115	132
28	Aaron	112	118
29	Ija	112	113
30	Sean B	112	112
31	Ian H	109	126
32	Mucka	107	101
33	Paul B	107	113
34	Steve H	105	138
35	Ben	103	119

WC Predictor (as of Wed 21st 10pm)

Two day's updates today, on account of getting home well late last night, and in a deeply drunken stupor. Yesterday was ground-breaking in that 6 people scored over 20 points, topped by a magnificent 27 from David O'L.

Today was different, the scores were much lower. No one experienced this contrast more than Nigel. Yesterday he scored 22 points, and today he scored an unfortunate 0. No contrasts for Mystic Mo, who scored 19 points on both days. This awesome consistency has extended his lead at the top to 13 points. Still catchable, but only if others score heavily when he doesn't. We're gettng near the finish now. Just two more days

To turn on/off the leaderboard listing, click here.

Actual Goals To Date = 97

Place	Name	Points	GTD
1	Mo	162	82
2	Rob B	149	81
3	Richard	136	89
4	Mike	130	71
5	Ginny	127	83
6	Bryan	124	91
7	David O'L	121	106
8	Jon R	121	112
9	Jimi	120	72
10	Tim	119	83
11	Patrick	113	73
12	Andy H	112	94
13	Matt H	111	91
14	Nigel	111	107
15	Bob O	109	160
16	Ian R	109	82
17	Kirk	109	69
18	Jenny	108	97
19	Mick	108	77
20	Tony	107	114
21	Keith	106	91
22	Naomi	104	98
23	Joerg	103	82
24	Jon L	102	114
25	John B	99	103
26	Paul B	97	90
27	Rick	97	109
28	Morne	94	119
29	Mucka	92	82
30	Aaron	91	101
31	Ija	91	96
32	Sean B	90	95
33	Ben	89	99
34	Ian H	85	102
35	Steve H	77	110

Top 100 Movie Posters

This site's great. This man has rated his Best Movie Posters of all time.

The Jaws poster (left) is at number 8 in the list of 100. I believe it should be higher that that, cos the completely unrealistic size of the shark's head compared to the naked girl swimmer really whipped up audience expectation when the movie came out. Plus I own the poster, and have it hanging in my study. No bias. Honest.

Thanks to JWalk.

Puzzle Bowling

A clever little game. Drag puzzle pieces to hit all the pins on the board. 26 levels from easy to very hard! Click and drag groups of puzzle tiles to shift them. Hit the pins with the same colored balls as their platform. Hit the trophy with the black ball at the end of the level. You can drop up to four balls per level.

Thanks to Ursi.

WC Predictor (as of Mon 19th 10pm)

Tony is today's maximum scorer with 24 points, another set of unbelievable predictions. Mystic Mo managed to get another good tally with 19 points, and levels up with Rob B at the top, following his fantastic score yesterday.

Everybody got some points today though, which is nice.

To turn on/off the leaderboard listing, click here.

Actual Goals To Date = 75

Place	Name	Points	GTD
1	Mo	124	69
2	Rob B	124	65
3	Ginny	108	66
4	Mike	101	54
5	Richard	100	72
6	Mick	96	64
7	Bryan	95	69
8	Jimi	94	58
9	Bob O	93	128
10	Tony	90	92
11	Nigel	89	85
12	Andy H	86	75
13	Tim	86	64
14	David O'L	85	87
15	Jon R	85	90
16	Matt H	85	75
17	Naomi	85	80
18	Ian R	84	68
19	Kirk	83	59
20	Patrick	82	60
21	John B	81	83
22	Rick	80	87
23	Joerg	77	62
24	Ben	75	76
25	Mucka	75	62
26	Jon L	74	95
27	Jenny	73	85
28	Ian H	72	86
29	Paul B	72	74
30	Aaron	71	84
31	Morne	71	98
32	Ija	68	79
33	Sean B	68	76
34	Keith	67	75
35	Steve H	62	88

Be John Terry

This cool little game has you pitting your wits as John Terry against a range of different defences in the World Cup.

Top Tip, read the instructions on this one.

Thanks to Kukla.

WC Predictor (as of Sun 18th 10pm)

Well, who could have predicted all of today's results? France drawing to South Korea? No goals between Japan and Croatia? .. Rob B, of course. He had a blinder, predicting all three games exactly, scoring a maximum 24 points, and managing to knock Mystic off the prized Kingpin position. Who also scored heavily? Kirk! Yes, the king of the random scoreline scored 19 points, and in so doing moved himself up 16 places .. it's clearly a game of two halves.

The vast majority incorrectly guessed that Asia would have a bad day, i.e. that France would prevail against the plucky Koreans, and Japan would also lose to Croatia. As such, these two individuals made massive gains against others.

I'm smarting cos the ref denied France a goal that did cross the line, and denied me 8 points .. plus, following some good-natured pasting, Kirk is now above me in the table. Humble pie is duly eaten.

To turn on/off the leaderboard listing, click here.

Place	Name	Points	GTD
1	Rob B	118	56
2	Mo	105	61
3	Ginny	101	60
4	Mike	98	50
5	Richard	94	69
6	Bryan	86	61
7	Mick	82	56
8	Bob O	81	116
9	Jimi	80	51
10	Nigel	80	77
11	Tim	80	62
12	Naomi	79	72
13	Matt H	78	68
14	Ian R	75	63
15	David O'L	74	80
16	Kirk	74	51
17	Patrick	73	54
18	Andy H	72	68
19	John B	72	78
20	Jon R	71	84
21	Jenny	70	82
22	Mucka	69	60
23	Aaron	68	79
24	Paul B	66	71
25	Rick	66	80
26	Tony	66	82
27	Morne	65	93
28	Joerg	63	56
29	Sean B	62	72
30	Ben	61	69
31	Keith	61	67
32	Jon L	60	87
33	Ija	59	71
34	Ian H	58	77
35	Steve H	56	81

WC Predictor (as of Sat 17th 10pm)

Yesterday was a good day, with 3 entertaining games (which makes a change), and Deco further confirming my view that this World Cup will have more spectacular goals than any other. Whether it's this new ball, or that the defences of all countries, even the so-called 'lesser' nations are good enough to force more long-range efforts .. who cares, it's great to watch. "Mystic Mo" is still way out in front (good to see you yesterday fella), with Rob B moving up from 10th to 2nd. There's still plenty of time yet, even Kirk's managed to move off the bottom .. plenty of time to end up drifting back down there.

To turn on/off the leaderboard listing, click here.

Place	Name	Points	GTD
1	Mo	96	56
2	Rob B	94	52
3	Mike	90	42
4	Ginny	89	54
5	Richard	86	65
6	Bryan	83	51
7	Bob O	78	104
8	Tim	77	54
9	Mick	76	47
10	Naomi	76	61
11	Nigel	72	68
12	Matt H	71	60
13	Patrick	70	47
14	Jimi	69	44
15	John B	69	67
16	Jon R	68	73
17	Mucka	68	54
18	Jenny	67	74
19	David O'L	66	71
20	Aaron	64	69
21	Ian R	64	55
22	Rick	63	69
23	Tony	63	71
24	Morne	62	82
25	Sean B	62	64
26	Andy H	61	62
27	Joerg	60	49
28	Paul B	60	62
29	Ben	57	62
30	Keith	57	58
31	Ija	56	61
32	Jon L	56	79
33	Kirk	55	45
34	Ian H	54	69
35	Steve H	52	72

England 2 Trinidad & Tobago 0

Wow, what a night. some of the guys at work were confident we'd put 4 or 5 past Trinidad and Tobago, but I was fairly sure that we wouldn't. I even suggested that it would be 0-0 at 80 minutes, and that it would end up as a nail-biting affair, similar to the German game.

On that matter, I had a conversation with Joerg, my German chum, and he said that when the Oliver Neuville goal went in 2 minutes from the final whistle, the whole of Stuttgart started several hours of mayhem partying. You see, when you coil up a spring that much, it justs launches itself with more energy.

Some time later, I ended up on a train, after several more export strength lagerbiers, and everybody was in celebratory mood. Then this photographic gift came up (see photo). The Right Reverand was reading the late edition of the Evening Standard, the one that graces the streets of London before normal people wake up. He very genially agreed to pose for the photo. What a time to find your scoring touch, Crouchy. What a headline, what a game.

World Cup Predictor Leaderboard

Here are the standings after the lucky German late winner, and Mystic Mo is still way out in front, with Bob O coming up closely behind him (!).

To turn on/off the leaderboard listing, click here.

Place	Name	Points	GTD
1	Mo	62	34
2	Bob O	55	68
3	Mike	53	28
4	Jimi	52	29
5	Naomi	52	35
6	Richard	52	41
7	Bryan	50	33
8	Ginny	50	34
9	Tim	49	35
10	Rob B	48	32
11	Matt H	47	40
12	David O'L	44	45
13	Nigel	43	44
14	Morne	41	52
15	Ben	40	39
16	Patrick	40	32
17	Ian H	39	42
18	John B	39	40
19	Tony	39	43
20	Rick	38	40
21	Paul B	37	40
22	Jenny	36	51
23	Aaron	35	44
24	Andy H	35	43
25	Joerg	35	35
26	Jon R	35	52
27	Jon L	34	53
28	Sean B	34	42
29	Keith	32	34
30	Mick	32	31
31	Ian R	31	33
32	Ija	31	38
33	Kirk	31	27
34	Mucka	30	36
35	Steve H	30	43

Film Review: Da Vinci Code

It was a movie that had to be made, really, One of the biggest literary phenomena of modern times, a book challenging core values and beliefs in the Christian faith, which has dominated all the bestseller lists. Hollywood needed to release it - it needed a big lead actor (in this case Tom Hanks), and the two biggest French stars on the planet (Audrey Tautou and Jean Reno), and it needed to have a big name director. Someone who could take a massively familiar story, and spin it out on film.

I don't blame Ron Howard for taking this - but he was on a hiding to nothing really. The central core of the book is the revelations on the bloodline of Christ and the representation of the feminine within Christian doctrine. And therein lies the problem. Whereas the book could tease out a little more of the theory a bit at a time, under the backdrop of a police hunt and a race against time, the film struggles to establish its identity. At times the music gets a bit racy and i feels like a thriller. Then you have massive periods of down pacing where the talkie theoretical bits are. It all adds to a disjointed feel - a detailed faithhful teling of the bok, but not a great movie.

Howard does not ask much of his actors either - the screenplay has to fit so many fatual details in that there is no latitude given to character development. As such, Hanks is wooden, the wonderfully talented Tautou is underused, and Jean Reno never gets out of first gear. Paul Bettany plays the only really interesting character, but as a man-robot following Opus Dei directions, he is asked to suppress his emotions, until a little flourish at the end. An actnig masterclass it is not. Perhaps the most disappointing outcome of all this is that th lead pair have absolutely no chemistry at all. I mean, they even snogged in the book. But with all the plot to cram in, there was no space allowed to develop their fondness for each other.

In other areas, everything was competent, without being great. The score was ok, the editing was ok, the direction solid. the only thig that stood out was the lighting; in the many churches filmed, the lighting and camera work was excellent. But coupled with mediocre acting, wooden performances, and a disjointed pacing, the film serves only as a faithful, if soulless reproduction of the book, and all the poorer for it. 6/10