The Lions Squad - 7th April 2013

Gatland announced the squad this month! This'll be the penultimate squad, done just after the Quater-Finals of the Heineken Cup, the final reason time to impress. I'll do one the day before the team itself is named. Interesting to see how it's evolved...

September - October - November - Didn't do one in December - January - February - March

1. Gethin Jenkins
2. Richard Hibbard
3. Adam Jones
4. Richie Gray
5. Jim Hamilton
6. Sam Warburton
7. Justin Tipuric
8. Ben Morgan

9. Mike Phillips
10. Dan Biggar
11. Alex Cuthbert
12. Jamie Roberts
13. Brian O'Driscoll
14. Tommy Bowe
15. Leigh Halfpenny

16. Rory Best
17. Ryan Grant
18. Dan Cole
19. Alun Wyn Jones
20. Tom Wood
21. Ben Youngs
22. Johnny Sexton
23. Manu Tuilagi

24. Paul James
25. Mike Ross
26. Ken Owens
27. Ian Evans
28. Paul O'Connell
29. Chris Robshaw
30. Ryan Jones
31. Toby Faletau
32. Greig Laidlaw
33. Owen Farrell
34. Jonathan Davies
35. Ashley Beck
36. George North
37. Stuart Hogg

Have to take one of Twelvetrees, Henson or Beck. At the moment, I'm leaning towards Ash, although that may be an Ospreylian bias in me. Had to drop Visser in order to make way for an extra back-rower. So, so difficult to select.

The Lions Squad - 18th March

The Six Nations is now over. So here's the 37 I'd take...

September - October - November - Didn't do one in December - January - February

1. Gethin Jenkins
2. Richard Hibbard
3. Adam Jones
4. Richie Gray
5. Jim Hamilton
6. Sam Warburton
7. Justin Tipuric
8. Ben Morgan

9. Mike Phillips
10. Dan Biggar
11. George North
12. Jamie Roberts
13. Brian O'Driscoll
14. Alex Cuthbert
15. Leigh Halfpenny

16. Rory Best
17. Ryan Grant
18. Dan Cole
19. Alun Wyn Jones
20. Chris Robshaw
21. Ben Youngs
22. Owen Farrell
23. Manu Tuilagi

24. Paul James
25. Mike Ross
26. Ken Owens
27. Ian Evans
28. Joe Launchbury
29. Tom Wood
30. Toby Faletau
31. Sean O'Brien
32. Greig Laidlaw
33. Jonathan Sexton
34. Jonathan Davies
35. Gavin Henson
36. Tim Visser
37. Stuart Hogg

A film-isophical post worthy of a better pun

I do not look like this.

I think I always wanted to be into film. It always struck me as the area in which geekiness, a quality I am more than capable of exuding, was most commonly accepted. Not just within the enthusiasts, but from outside. Film is engrained in the public consciousness, and experts are, therefore, looked to for approval. I never intended to become one, and still question whether it's fair for anyone to see me as such. However, just over one year ago I made a significant step forward with the purchase of the rather lovely red piece of plastic portrayed to the left. Since then, I have sat through 134 films with mixed success.

My favourite film, without a doubt, was The Muppets. An exuberant celebration of the human capacity to smile, it's a near-perfect example of how to properly execute a kids' film. "Jokes only the adults will get" is an overrated concept- laughs should be universal. The excuse "The kids enjoyed it" is not good enough, everyone should be swept along. I'm not looking for a Christopher Nolan plot, I'm looking for something that works.

The Lions Squad - 10th February

Here we are, another Lions squad, this one after two weeks of the Six Nations. September - October - November - Didn't do one in December - January

1. Paul James
2. Richard Hibbard
3. Adam Jones
4. Joe Launchbury
5. Richie Gray
6. Tom Wood
7. Justin Tipuric
8. Toby Faletau

9. Ben Youngs
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. George North
12. Jonathan Davies
13. Brian O'Driscoll
14. Alex Cuthbert
15. Leigh Halfpenny

16. Rory Best
17. Cian Healey
18. Dan Cole
19. Alun Wyn Jones
20. Ryan Jones
21. Danny Care
22. Owen Farrell
23. Jamie Roberts

24. Ryan Grant
25. Mike Ross
26. Ken Owens
27. Ian Evans
28. Donnacha Ryan
29. Sam Warburton
30. Ben Morgan
31. Sean O'Brien
32. Mike Phillips
33. Dan Biggar
34. Tim Visser
35. Manu Tuilagi
36. Stuart Hogg
37. Chris Ashton

The Lions Squad - 5th January

 My teams from - September - October - November - Didn't do one in December - Now (Below. Obviously.)

1. Andrew Sheridan
2. Richard Hibbard
3. Adam Jones
4. Richie Gray
5. Joe Launchbry
6. Danny Lydiate/Tom Wood
7. Justin Tipuric
8. Sean O'Brien

9. Danny Care
10. Johnny Sexton
11. Tim Visser
12. Jonbathan Davies
13. Brian O'Driscoll
14. Alex Cuthbert
15. Leigh Halfpenny

16. Rory Best
17. Paul James
18. Dan Cole
19.Alun Wyn Jones
20. Sam Warburton
21. Mike Phillips
22. Jonny Wilkinson
23. George North

24. Cian Healey
25. Gethin Jenkins
26. Ross Ford
27. Paul O'Connell/Ian Evans
28. Stephen Ferris
29. Tom Wood/Danny Lydiate
30. Ben Morgan
31. Toby Faletau
32. Ben Youngs
33. Dan Biggar
34. Jamie Roberts
35. Manu Tuilagi
36. Rob Kearney
37. Ben Foden
38. Stuart Hogg

GRAND OWEN AWARDS 2012: THE RESULTS SHOW

And now, it's time for the Grand Owen Awards 2012, the first in what is soon to become the most prestigious awards ceremony in the history of the film industry, with your host, Claudia Winkleman!

Grand Owen Awards 2012 Nominees announced!

Cast your minds back to last year. You undoubtedly weren't reading this blog, but if you were, you'd be about to come across an article in which I decided that Rise of the Planet of the Apes was my favourite film of 2011, an award I pretty quickly decided was more deserving of The Artist. All the same, this year, I'm going for a full-blown ceremony. A proper, Oscar-style affair, in which, instead of an Academy worth of snotty old critics, you get me. I'm none of those thing, but only because I have a remarkably sound immune system. I'm about to nominate a foreign language film and a documentary for Best Picture, so don't get too up on me being some mainstream-teen-attention-seeking-so-and-so.

I've only been able to go on what I've seen, and so as I've only seen 5 foreign language films this year, (And one being the 7 Days in Havana, which was, to put it mildly, boredom Cubed. [There's a gag there. It's a Cuban film. Fine, don't laugh, it's alright.]) I've gone with just 4 nominees. No Rust and Bone, no Untouchable, but plenty of Mads Mikkelsen. If a film hasn't been released in the UK yet, (Zero Dark Thirty, I'm looking at you) I obviously can't count it, but it shall, instead, be open for nomination in 2013.

I introduced two *ALL-NEW* categories as well. 'Most Enjoyable' allows me to nominate some of the experiences that made me smile the most, even if they're not a technical marvel. My favourite film of the year is The Muppets, thanks to the lighthearted performance, sharp script and upbeat soundtrack. That's not a spoiler. It is, however, not nominated for Best Picture. I felt there had to be a distinction between 'Best' and 'Favourite, something I've tried to explore before. No films have been nominated for both categories, although I was on the verge of putting both Paranorman and Moonrise Kingdom down for both. I think I'm going to say it's banned, but I may not stick to that come next year.

The other new category is Best Cameo Performance. In order to qualify, a character must be playing a character, (I.E. not themselves) but appear for less than, roughly, 5 minutes of the film. I'm not sure how much Chuck Norris was in The Expendables 2, but seeing him was so much fun I had to include him anyway. And I'm going to spoil this one a bit too, but it is a straight fight between him and Zac Effron's laugh-out-loud appearance in the loveliest film of the year, Liberal Arts.

I've also got three awards for the worst of the year, which are somewhat dominated by bone-crunchingly dull bum-log Battleship. That said, Top Cat was pretty dire as well, and has the addition problem of me being a fan. Could be a tightly fought category, that one.

In terms of pre-empting the inevitable write-ups from other website, Skyfall (The best Bond film.) leads the way with 6 nominations. Danish period masterclass A Royal Affair, Gyllenhaal-fueled cop thriller End of Watch and Christopher Nolan film The Dark Knight Rises pick up 4 apiece. Battleship gets 4 nominations in 3 'worst of' categories. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

The winners shall be announced in the first week of January. It's going to be very exciting. The nominations, including a few surprises (Just look at the best actor category. I'm shocked at myself.), are below...