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Out with 2020 and into 2021: The Mind of Rowan in 2021…

Happy belated New Year readers and welcome to 2021. What on earth was that 2020 I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how much everything would change 12 months ago and makes last years annual new year post with its predictions look like wishful thinking.

2020 was anything but a normal year. Covid-19 first identified in Wuhan, China spread into a worldwide pandemic as officially declared by the WHO on March 12th. Everything changed. We saw horrific scenes as the virus spread into Italy and the UK went into a lockdown of sorts in March and nothing has been the same. We’ve all stayed at home more than we otherwise would have done. There has been the Zoom quizzes with friends and work colleagues and as well as writing, I sued the time to read some books too. There was also the inevitable binging on streaming tv and movies. I still can’t get over the ending to series 2 of The Mandalorian! read more

Avengers Endgame (2019).

Producer: Kevin Feige 
Director: Anthony and Joe Russo
BBFC: 12A
Starring: Robert Downey Jnr, Chris Evans, Brie Larsson, Scarlett Johnsson, Chris Hemsworth, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Gweneth Paltrow, Paul Rudd, Josh Brolin, 
Supporting cast: Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Samuel L Jackson, Chris Pratt, Dave Battista, Vin Diesel, Sebastian Stan, Natalie Portman, Danai Gurira, Chadwick Boseman, Letitia Wright, Benedict Wong, Evangeline Lily, Elizabeth Olsen, Tilda Swinton, Tessa ThompsonPom Klementieff, Zoe Saldana, Taika Waititi, Hayley Atwell.
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97%
IMDb rating: 8.7/10
The Mind of Rowan Rating: 10/10.

This is it. After 21 different films spanning 11 years since Iron Man (2008) preceding it and at three hours the longest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it all comes down to this; the endgame. Trust me though, it does not feel like three hours when watching it.

If you are reading this and have not yet watched the movie yet then this is your one chance to click away and avoid spoilers. It has been out more than a month now. You have been warned! read more

Premier League Predictions 2018/19: January 12th-14th

After an extended break over the festive period and I am back with the Premier League predictions! There have been four sets of Premier League fixtures in that time. The outcome of these predictions was intended to be published before this post but things have not gone to plan.

The Mind of Rowan in 2019…

The clock has turned on 2018 and we are now in 2019. It was certainly an interesting year but much like half of the Avengers at the end of Infinity War (surely everyone who wants to see it has seen it by now), that year is now dust and in the past.

On a personal level, I certainly got to chuck a few things off the bucket list; I visited the Olympic Stadium and the Houses of Parliament in February/March time just as the Beast from the East hit. I actually embarked on my first ever political protest in October. The summer was glorious and long and I got to be there for the wedding of two of my University friends; not to mention the stag do. Sorry, Tom. Then there’s football and the so far disastrous 5 a side Sunday league he signed us up to with the team name taking inspiration from my Fantasy Football team. For anyone who knows it, it hasn’t served any favours yet… read more

Hamilton dominates as Ferrari struggle and Grosjean causes first lap chaos: 2018 Spanish Grand Prix Review

After the chaotic race in Baku, who would have thought we’d see a more dominant Mercedes in Spain. That’s what we saw at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as they controlled most of the weekend.

Lewis Hamilton led away from pole position and won as he dominated the Spanish Grand Prix [Image from MotorAuthority.com].

Lewis Hamilton took pole position by just 0.040 seconds from his teammate and despite all the drama of the race was dominant to win. Mercedes secured their first one-two race finish of the season as Bottas finished seconds despite being passed by the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel into turn 1. The Finn stayed out for a one-stop strategy while Vettel two stopped on his way to a 4th place finish. The change to slightly slimmer tyres to avoid degradation that was seen in winter testing was attributed as a contributing factor by Vettel and Ferrari. The second stop allowed Max Verstappen to finish on the podium in 3rd while Daniel Ricciardo finished 5th in a much quieter race for Red Bull. read more

2017 Australian Grad Prix Review: Sebastian Vettel wins Down Under

The clocks went forward the weekend before last and for some of us, that meant an hour less sleep before watching the opening race of the F1 season live. It was a naughty 6 am race start UK time but the Australian Grand Prix was worth it. After two winter tests, the 10 teams raced their cars for the first time in Melbourne and we may have a title battle on for sure…

Circuit map of the Albert park Circuit, Melbourne [Image from formula1.com]

The Race Weekend

The Grand Prix weekend format

A lot of the regulations may have changed but the format of a race weekend has not. The weekend still consists of two practice sessions on a Friday (P1 and P2), a practice session on Saturday morning (P3). Qualifying still consists of three elements. The first (Q1) sees the slowest five eliminated and the same in again in the second session (Q2) before we have the top 10 shootout (Q3). The race is on Sunday. read more