My Three Lions 2018

Being English, specifically an avid supporter of English Football this week is extremely hard to bear, the hope, the wish, the fear the turbid mix on the street, wafting on the radio airwaves and in nearly every news report.

I love English football, the agony, the pleasure, that moment the wife storms out the room declaring "I'm stopping watching this" only to see here peeping around the door-frame thirty seconds later.

We love you England, we do.

And I find a tear in my eye whenever I think back to that warm summer of '96 as here in Nottingham we saw the Turkish team play at the City Ground and the hurt that followed.

I stand up to be counted.  I am English.  We are United.  We will play.  I hope they can win.

But whatever the weekend brings, we still have our Lions, three of them, proud and loud.

Hear Us Roar.

Kdenlive : First Impressions

They say first impressions count and that's certainly true for any tool I utilize.  In what little free time I've had over the weekend, I've been starting to edit up all the clips I took of the workstation upgrade & rebuild.  This is my passage from the pedestrian Core i7 950 to a Xeon X5670.

I've elected to update my video editing software and Kdenlive seemed to be the answer to visual challenges I had at hand, and oh boy was I right.

Following a seamless download of the Appimage version, a simple startup and about ten minutes orientating myself, then about a further ten to just get used to the S X and M control core points I was applying effects to clips, setting up spacing in between others and saving to perform a test render.

I am utterly and totally so impressed with Kdenlive, this is the first time in a long while I've been equally surprised and delighted by a piece of software.

World Cup 2018 Group First Leg Predictions

Before all the Octopi, Squirrels, Cow-Pat Bingo and whatever else gets rolled out for the Football (yes, not Soccer folks) World Cup in Russia I thought I'd give you my game by game predictions... It might be worth an accumulator?  But you may just find lots of my own personal bias.

Group stage - First 16 Games Predicted...

Game 1:  Russia v Saudi Arabia - Russia 2 to nil, as hosts I think they stand a real chance to put a stamp on the game.

Game 2: Egypt v Uruguay - Egypt 1, Uruguay 1 - I feel that Egypt have some talent for them and this will over arch Uruguay's historic tenacity.

Game 3: Morocco v Iran - Morocco 1, Iran 0 - This is a pretty even match in my opinion, however, I believe Morocco will pip it.

Game 4: Portugal v Span - Portugal 1, Spain 2 - Very hard to pull this one, it's going to either see lots of goals or not very many, but I'm going to edge Spain over the Portuguese as they'll want to put a mark on the score card against their regional adversaries after the Spanish turmoil of 2017.

Game 5: France v Australia - France 2, Australia 0 - I'm sorry to say I don't think this'll go anywhere except France's way, Aussie still rules!

Game 6: Argentine v Iceland - Iceland 1, Argentina 0 - As the chap whom has helped save the wife's life from cancer is Icelandic, I'm voting with my heart and my hopes.

Game 7: Peru v Denmark - Denmark 2, Peru 0 - I've got to say the Danish will enjoy this one, with no real rivalry on the international stage I can only say this may feel like one of those  wonderful friendly world-cup matches.

Game 8: Croatia v Nigeria - Croatia 1, Nigeria 1 - I think things maybe slightly swayed on the Croat side, but Nigeria squad isn't to be sniffed at, pulling things even.

Game 9: Costa Rica v Serbia - Serbia 2, Costa Rica 0 - One of those one-sides group matches, but I believe the Costa Ricans won't let the Serbs have it all their own way.

Game 10: Germany v Mexico - Germany 3, Mexico 1 - My git feeling is of course for German dominance, however I don't think Mexico will let it go into a Teutonic slide.

Game 11: Brazil v Switzerland - Brazil 2, Switzerland 0 - Very one sides I'm afraid, though I think the Swiss will play good structured football.

Game 12: Sweden v South Korea - Sweden 2, South Korea 1 - I actually think this maybe nil nil in the full-time mark, but if I'm taking my head at true value Sweden should pull through.

Game 13: Belgium v Panama - Belgium 2, Panama 0 - The Belgians, if they can hang together as a team, will walk over the tiny Panama offering, however it'll again be a friendly feeling game.

Game 14: Tunisia v England - England 1, Tunisia 0 - We English will probably cock this up mightily, giving everyone at home heart failure to just about pull a head.  However, if the English score early they'll go off the boil; as we always do; and there's potential for a real upset.

Game 15: Colombia v Japan - Colombia 2, Japan 1 - I think the Japanese will play well, however can they over come the South American side?.... I'm not certain.

Game 16: Poland v Senegal - Poland 1, Senegal 2 - I think the African side will push up forcing the Poles to equalise, but there'll be a last minute push from one or the other, I'm very split on this it may go even, but ultimately I think it'll be down to whom is most hungry.

That's the end of the first match in the Group Stages from me, more will follow...