Month: February 2019

Vice (2018).

As someone engaged with politics and tries to follow it where possible, I was intrigued when I saw the trailer for Adam McKay’s political satire; Vice. It is the recent biopic film focusing on former US Vice President Dick Cheney. Personally, I had never heard of him until I heard about this movie but with its release in the UK last month, I certainly felt compelled to see it. This one I thought would be the opportune moment for me experiment with pushing into the realm of film reviews on The Mind of Rowan.

The film is described as a ‘biographical comedy-drama’ and before viewing had me perplexed as to how it could be a comedy? That is answered in the opening frames where Mckay speaking to his audience stresses ‘this is a true story’ or as close as possible given Cheney’s secretive manner before exclaiming, ‘we tried!’. That certainly gets you into the mood and then there is the casting of Steve Carrell as Cheney’s mentor Donald Rumsfeld adds to the comedy feel. Even Cheney’s heart attacks are depicted with humour with one of them bringing him to shout, ‘I’m having a heart attack you idiot’ when he’s asked if he is ok after collapsing. read more

2018/19 Premier League Predictions: February 22nd-24th.

The predictions are back after a slightly extended absence. In that time, I missed a set of Premier League games on the weekend of 9th and 10th February which had some significant results. Chelsea suffered their heaviest Premier League defeat losing 6-0 to n impressive Manchester City side at the Etihad while Tottenham and Liverpool kept the pressure on with a 3-1 win over Leicester and a 3-0 win over Bournemouth respectively. At the other end of the table, Southampton thought they’d salvaged a draw with Cardiff City when Jack Stephens equalised in the second half only for Kenneth Zohore to give Cardiff a second goal and a crucial win; but also their first back to back win in the top flight since 1961. Marco Silva did not have a good return to Vicarage Road as his Everton side lost 1-0 to Watford. There were also significant wins for Manchester United, Burnley and Arsenal while Crystal Palace drew with West Ham and Wolves snatched a late equaliser against Newcastle.

How did the predictions fare between myself, Paul Merson and Mark Lawrenson? As I have been doing this season, I have been comparing the predictions made by these two pundits with those of my own using the scoring system Sky Sports use for their Super 6 game. That means two points are given for the correct result and five for the correct score. read more

Shocking and Surprising comments from Tory MP’s: January 2019.

I am back with another one of these Tory bashing posts where I dismantle some of the more shocking, surprising and alarming comments made by Government MP’s. At the third time of asking, I think I have come to a title for this series of posts that I like and it is the one above.

January was not a good month for the Conservatives. As a Government committed to delivering Brexit, 118 of their own MP’s voted down their flagship policy to help inflict the largest parliamentary defeat for a government in British history; 230 vote majority. They then saved their skin to survive a vote of no confidence motion that could have triggered a General Election. That said, it wasn’t a great month for other parties too with Labour having an MP sent to prison and a Scottish MP making controversial claims surrounding Winston Churchill but that could make for a separate post altogether. read more

Premier League Predictions 2018/19: February 2nd-4th

The midweek football threw out some amazing results. Manchester City were stunned at Newcastle having taken a 24-second lead to lose 2-1; Newcastle’s first win against them in the league since September 2005 while Tottenham left it very late against Watford but they salvaged a 2-1 win. Liverpool, therefore, had the chance to go 7 points clear but they were pegged back by Leicester City at Anfield, 1-1. Manchester United had to come from two goals down to clinch a draw at home to Burnley as Ole Gunner Solskjear’s 100% start ended; Arsenal maintained pressure in the battle for the top four with a win over Cardiff while Chelsea slipped up badly being roundly beaten 4-0 at Bournemouth! Wilfreid Zaha had a personal nightmare for Crystal Palace as he was sent off at Southampton in their 1-1 draw while Jan Siewert did not get off to a winning start with Huddersfield and meanwhile, there were big wins for Wolves and Fulham!

This was a troublesome round to predict. Now, as I have been doing all season now, I have been making predictions on the Premer League fixtures and comparing them made by pundits Paul Merson and Mark Lawrenson. For the comparison, I have been using the scoring system used by Sky Sports for their Super 6 game meaning two points are rewarded for the correct result and five for the correct score Here is how it got on in midweek… read more