Harry Potter Signals The End Of An Era

July 15th signals the end of an era, as Part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released across the world.

It will have been 14 years and 16 days since the release of J.K Rowlings first novel (The Philosopher's Stone) and £9.2 billion has been amassed along the way along with countless awards for both the movies and novels. Author Joanne Rowling was listed as having a $1 billion fortune when Forbes latest billionaires list was published and in October 2010 she was named as 'The Most Influential Woman In Great Britain', 15 years ago only her friends and family would know who she is and now she has sold over 400 million copies of her Harry Potter books and had an effect on many peoples lives, including mine.

Harry, Ron and Hermione aged 11 in The Philosopher's Stone

I have grown up around the progression of Harry Potter, books being released, acting becoming better and SFX massively advancing. My experiences of growing up around it will be nothing compared to those of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint (Harry, Hermione and Ron for those who have lived in a cave for 14 years). All three started filming for the first film when they were just aged 11, the screen has seen them grow from innocent young children into young adults with more to tell about their lives than most people. Collectively they have picked up 15 awards, £85 million and the admiration of the world.

Many famous lines have come from the Harry Potter films and people all over the world reciting them in conversation, but perhaps the most recognisable of all is the most nostalgic. 'You're a wizard Harry.' The moment when Harry realises he is magical and the journey of the viewer begin. Since that point of magic Harry Potter has gone on to be the highest grossing film series of all time by totalling £3.93 billion at an average of £562 million a film and with Part 2 of the Deathly Hallows arriving soon, both of those figures will sky-rocket as I believe it will be the highest grossing of the series, which interestingly is The Philosopher's Stone.


Even though the series will have been concluded the franchise will not stop there, as with the Lord of the Rings and more notably Star Wars which was originally released in 1977 it will stay fresh and continue to sell merchandise to great effect due to the massive effect it has had across the world. Harry Potter World at Universal Studios will still attract as many customers as it does at the moment because so much money and time would have not gone into it if people would not visit it when the film series is over.


On July 15th 2011 we will continue our adventure with our heroes still trying to destroy Voldemort's horcruxes. It all ends where it first started, in the beauty of Hogwarts Castle and its grounds. With what promises to be an epic battle and struggle to overcome the darkness Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will provide an apt ending to a near perfect series of novels and films. On July 15th 2011 we will end our journey and forever remember the Harry Potter novels, films, games and all manner of merchandise as one of the best selling most influential ever to grace this earth.

Mavericks 1 Win Away From Glory

After the first 4 games the 2011 NBA Finals was tied at 2-2. Dirk Nowitzki - arguably the MVP of this years finals so far - came through a bout of flu to pull the Mavs square in Game 4. And last night Dirk had his supporting cast on hand as they battled offense against offense and came out on top 112-103.

Nowitzki scored 29 to lead everybody yet again. On hand to give the Mavs an extra push over this checkpoint line were J.J Barea, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd who collectively shot 10-15 from behind the 3 point line. Although Miami did play well offensively and shot 53% from the field they just could not execute down the stretch missing 4 of their last 5 shot and committing 3 turnovers over a 2:44 period. Miami turned the ball over 18 times compared to Dallas' 11 and although there was not much separation anywhere else on the Box Score, Dallas' 13 3-pointers proved to be the difference.

Mid-way through the 2nd Quarter Dwyane Wade has hurt after being fouled by the Mavericks Brian Cardinal. He would leave the game twice for treatment and return both times to good effect. Top scoring for Miami with 23 points and shooting 10 for 12 at the free throw line. With Wade off the floor LeBron James needed to take up the reins and dominate the game and despite having a triple-double (17 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) he was yet again not his dominant self bringing into question his proficiency when the game is in the line.

With 33 seconds remaining and the shot-clock winding down, Dallas found themselves up by 4 but needing another basket to put the game to bed, Enter Jason 'Jet' Terry, he was left with nowhere to go and heaved up a miracle from way deep. 20433 people inside the American Airlines Center were holding there breath. The ball hit nothing but the bottom of the net and Jason Terry started up the jet engines as he wheeled away to the Mavericks bench knowing he had just hit the dagger that showed Miami they were ready to win the championship and gain revenge for 2006.

With both teams now heading back down to Miami, Dallas only needs to win one of 2 games to be crowned champions. Do not count out the Miami Heat yet, the reason they acquired James and Bosh to accompany Wade was to win titles, they will not go down without one almighty fight. Sunday night 8pm ET will see Game 6 and the Miami Heat fighting for their season and the Dallas Mavericks fighting to make history. Expect a classic, and expect a certain Mr. James to finally show up and show his worth.

Game 1 & 2 NBA Finals

The First 2 games of the 2011 NBA Finals were split, the Miami Heat won Game 1 and the Dallas Mavericks Game 2. In both teams wins, they used their trademark assets to great effect. Miami's suffocating defense won them Game 1. Dallas' fighting spirit and Number 41, won them the second.


Dallas' Shawn Marion said: "You hold a team to 38 percent shooting and 92 points, for us, that's usually a victory,"


In game 1 neither team shot the ball well, Miami shot 38% FG and won by 8. Dallas was held to 37%. A credit to Miami's defense when they can win a game whilst shooting a meagre 38%. Former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh got off to a good start scoring 6 of Miami's first 8 points and it wasn't until 14 minutes had passed with the score at 20-18 (DAL) that a 'non-big 3' Miami player scored when Mike Miller drilled a 3 to put them back up by 1. With 13 points at the half Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Bosh were leading all scorers.
Another big factor to Miami's win was that they out-rebounded Dallas by 10. Although both teams had 30 Defensive rebounds. Miami had 16 offensive compared to Dallas' 6. Giving the Heat 10 shot-clock resets and much more momentum especially with a loud, passionate Miami crowd on hand.


In the 2nd Half Dwyane Wade took over the ball game scoring 15 of his 22 points. Dirk Nowitzki tried to keep his team close throughout shooting 12-12 from the free-throw line and finishing with 27 points, leading all scorers. Miami's three-headed monster proved too much for the Mavs. LeBron was fed by with for an alley-oop pass with just under a minute to go that provided a fitting exclamation point as Miami proved they have awesome offense to go with their defense that helped them through game one. The Mav's fell behind in a play-off series for the first time this year.


Thursday night at the American Airlines Arena, Miami saw Game 2 of the Finals. Question marks were raised over Nowitzki's head as to how he would perform, due to the torn tendon in his left finger. By the end of the night, there were no question marks. Nowitzki had 24 and a game winner to cap a brilliant comeback from Dallas. "Dirk knew it was coming to him," teammate Jason Terry said. "He does what he always does. He comes through in a big way." They were down by 12, then D.Wade nailed a corner 3 which sparked a celebration with LeBron James. They seemed confident of the win, so did all in attendance apart from the team wearing blue, they would have nothing of it. Miami's defense was nowhere to be seen down the stretch with Nowitzki scoring Dallas' final 9 points. So many times over his career Nowitzki has come up clutch for the Mavs, but this may be the most important yet. Going down 2-0 and facing a confident Heat side is the stuff of nightmares. for the Heat now they need to win one of the next 3 games in Dallas for the series to head back to Florida.

Wade had his best play-off game this year scoring 36 (13-20) but it was to be in a losing effort. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra will be looking for the same kind of output in the remainder of the series. How long that will be is too hard to judge. We are where we were before any baskets had been made. Miami has undoubtedly the better roster, but Dallas has strength in depth and a man that can seemingly make any basket when the going gets tough.

Sunday night 8pm ET sees Game 3 and a chance for one team to get another edge in this back and forth contest. I predict Miami in 7. LeBron James will take the finals MVP, however do not be surprised at all if I a way off with this prediction.


Were in it for the long haul!

Rockstar Games - Top Of The Charts

Are Rockstar Games the most consistent game developer out there? Some of you may believe EA or Treyarch bring out the best games, but can it be argued that Rockstar games have not released a bad game?

Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, Red Dead Redemption and now L.A Noire. For many of you, your favourite game may have just been mentioned. All of these games have an open world, free roaming settings in their games, which gives the player a sense of being there and more control over their player, be it John Marsden from Red Dead or CJ from GTA: San Andreas.

They are not however free from controversy. All of the GTA games have caused controversy at some point or another, but it is nothing compared to what came about when the game Manhunt was released. The game was linked to the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, 14, by his friend Warren Leblanc, 17, on the 27th of February, 2004. The game was subsequently dropped by GAME and Dixons. As well as being removed from these stores, it is completely banned in many countries, including Germany, Ireland and New Zealand.

Controversy aside, Rockstar's figures do not lie. GTA is considered by many as the best franchise in the gaming industry, with its sense of freedom and 'no-good attitude'. It has generated perfect or near perfect reviews and scores on almost all of the games, and has sold over 100 million copies worldwide. The GTA series was started in 1997 and has continued to grow ever since that day. In my opinion the best installment is San Andreas. IGN has San Andreas at the top of their 'Greatest Ever PS2 Games' http://bit.ly/mwtNaq. I may have to disagree with them there as I believe NFS Underground 2 is. Rockstar though are not satisfied with bringing out a few top level games and have just released L.A Noire.

Based in post-war LA, which is a perfect recreation of the real-life post-war LA. It has the same recognisable HUD as its predecessors and the same feel to it. Some aspects have been changed though as you control a Cop and not a Serbian War Veteran as in GTA IV. You cannot simply wreak havoc and get police chases because, well, you are the police. Civilians will always jump out the way of your car as well so running them over is out of the question. The Xbox 360 version recieved a 91.3% rating by GameRankings, which is obviously a good score.

I believe the reason why Rockstar always deliver great games is because they do not have the contract to release a game every year as with Call of Duty and many sports games. They have all the time they want to create a perfect game and have done on many occasions. With L.A Noire set in a 'real-life' L.A, Rockstar have gone the extra mile in bringing what is great about their games into action. Making them perfect. What the future holds i do not know, maybe another GTA game. Lets hope so because it is guaranteed to be a hit.

Last Weekend of the Premier League

With only 1 team relegated (West Ham), that means there are another 2 up for grabs. Blackpool seem to be doing there best to take one of those places after having an amazing start to the season. Wolves are extremely erratic, having beaten Chelsea and Liverpool this season, they cannot seem to string wins together. Charles N'Zogbia is single-handedly helping Wigan, Birmingham and Blackburn have just been sucked into the battle although they have a good squad of players.

Blackpool, Wigan and Birmingham are all on 39 points whilst Wolves and Blackburn are one 40. With Blackpool away at the Champions Man United I fear for them and their mercurial manager Ian Holloway. Birmingham face Spurs whilst Wigan go to Stoke. Many possible outcomes are available but I believe Birmingham's stay in the top league may be over. As I previously mentioned Charles N'Zogbia is saving Wigan on his own and if he plays well against a downhearted Stoke Wigan may well stay up.

At the top Man United will be presented with the trophy at the end of their game vs Blackpool. Chelsea are virtually guaranteed 2nd. Arsenal need Man City to drop points at Bolton if they are to reclaim 3rd having been in the title hunt not too long ago. A massively rejuvenated Liverpool squad can benefit if Spurs drop points and take 5th having been 18th earlier in the season. As for the Golden Boot, Berbatov and Tevez top the charts with 20 each whilst Darren Bent and Robin Van Persie are on 17. Tevez looks to be the player who will win it as Berbatov may not start again for the Champions.

DJ Campbell of Blackpool said, "I'm trying to let the lads know it's not a nice feeling to be relegated". Whether this will fire up his team remains to be seen. By 4pm on Sunday they will need to be or it would have been a short stay in the Premier League.

End Of The Road For This Bunch Of Lakers?

They struggled to overcome the Hornets, eventually winning 4-2. Then got cleaned up by an inspired Dallas Mavericks squad. Are this group of Lakers finished?

Dallas looked more like the 2-time defending Champions and before the play-offs they were being written off completely. Dirk Nowitzki and his Mavericks kept the Lakers under 95 points in all 4 games. Showing that not only was their defense top notch, but the Lakers offense was second pushing on to third rate. The 36 point blow-out in Game 4 to complete the sweep was the story of the series. Dallas were immense and the Lakers awful.

After Game 4, former MVP Kobe Bryant was asked. "How shocked are you at being swept?". He replied with all that was needed a simple 'Very', with a look of a defeated man on his face. In stark contrast to the Lakers and Mr. Bryant. Jason Terry of the Mavericks said. "We're locked in and all have the same goal". The unity and good performances was what won it for them and as if to prove that the Mavericks
bench scored 86 points in Game 4. The final score Dallas 122- 86 Lakers. Yes the Mav's bench matched the output of the Lakers whole team!

Speculation that Laker coach Phil Jackson will retire at the end of the season may have dispirited the Lakers, but to be the 2 time defending champs and getting swept in the Conference Semis is embarrassing. What was also embarrassing was how they lost their discipline, when they knew that it was all over. Lamar Odom was ejected for rasing his elbow to Dirk Nowitzki and Andrew Bynum was ejected for an awful foul on JJ Barea. Barea was inspired throughout the series and it was not the first time a quick, energetic PG had terrorised the Lakers this year. Chris PAul of the New Orleans Hornets. was causing major problems but did not have enough of a backup cast to bring his team past the Lakers. Barea however not being the starting PG evidently did have the players around him to cause major problems to the Lakers.

Without the 11 time champion coach Jackson and with Kobe advancing in years will the Lakers crumble? The uprising of the Clippers and Blake Griffin will also disturb the Lakers camp and fans. Dallas however will be looking forward to the Conference Finals, having slaughtered the Lakers, they will feel they can beat anybody now.

Miami vs Dallas in the Finals. Miami to win.

NBA End of Season Awards

So... The end to another 82 game schedule for 14 teams, whilst the other 16 travelled onto the Playoffs.

The Toronto Raptors finished at a poor 22-60 but promising ends to the season from DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson and new boy James Johnson have given me hope for next season. The top draft pick is in our sights after finishing with the 3rd worst record in the league. The honour of the worst however went to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who ended the season losing 15 straight...

Enough ranting about bad teams and onto the Title of this post, the NBA End of Season Awards. Although the All NBA teams have not been released yet, all of the individual awards have.

MVP: Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls)
Becomes the first Bull to win it since a well known player called Michael Jordan. At 22 he becomes the youngest ever winner. Dwight 'Superman' Howard came in second as he carried a very lackluster Orlando Magic team through to the Playoffs yet again. 2 time reigning MVP LeBron James could only score enough points to finish third and what would an MVP race be without the presence of the ever-green Mr. Kobe Bryant. In my opinion D Rose is more than worthy of this honour. He managed to keep the Bulls on track whilst his supporting cast was getting injured, most notably Carlos Boozer and Joakhim Noah. By keeping them on track he guided them to the best record in the league, this nobody would have predicted at the start of the season.

Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin (LA Clippers)
Slam Dunk Champion, All-Star, numerous records broken. Blake Griffin's rookie year has not been quiet. He was unanimously visited ROY behind John Wall (Washington Wizards), only the 3rd person to do this in the history of the NBA. He had people talking about his scoring, his rebounding, his Clippers reaching the Playoffs and these two monster dunks on the Knicks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2VLEGtRuz4. I am 100% that Flight 32 or Quake Griffin as he has been called will be even better next season and the LA Clippers will make the Playoffs within the next 2 seasons.

Most Improved Player: Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves)
To put it simply, he was unbelievable this season. Posting MVP calibre numbers most nights, he has not helped by the fact that he was on the worst team. 53 straight Double-Doubles.Only 3 other players managed 53 across the whole season. He is the first player for 29 years to average at least 20 points and 15 rebounds a game. When he posted 31 points and 31 rebounds he came the first player to do so in 29 years. To prove he was the 'most improved' he was the only player to rank in the top 10 in biggest jumps from the previous season. PPG went up 6.2, RPG was +4.4 and 3p% was up .089%. An easy decision to make, now all he and Michael Beasley need are other decent players on their roster.

Coach of the Year: Tom Thibodeau (Chicago Bulls (again))
Thibodeau tied the record for most wins in as a rookie head coach with 62 and led the Bulls to their first Divisional Title since the Jordan era. He is only the 7th coach to win the award in his first season. The Bulls defense was what made for their success, Thibodeau drove them to top 3 defensive stats and they were second in points allowed at 91.3

Sixth Man of the Year: Lamar Odom (LA Lakers)
Odom was a catalyst for the Lakers to achieve another playoff season. Starting Centre Andrew Bynum was out for most of the season and Odom could come of the bench more often than not and provide a spark that would win the Lakers many games. He averaged 14.4 PPG, 8.7 RPG and ranked 19th in Double-Doubles. All of this came after coming of the bench more than he started. Jason Terry (Dallas Mavericks) could have won the award for a 3rd time in a row, but that would have been too monotonous.

As for the Playoffs now, Bulls and Hawks are tied at 1-1, I predic the Bulls to go on and win that 4-1 maybe 4-2. OKC and Memphis are also tied at 1-1, OKC will win that in 6. LA Lakers are seemingly in trouble at 0-2 vs the Mavericks, this series will go the full 7 and the Mavericks will win 4-3. Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. The Heat are up 2-0 and Boston isnt showing any sign on resistance, maybe a sweep is on the cards but 4-1 seems the most reasonable result. Although I have just tried it is too hard to predict the Winner, but I think it may go to Dallas, if they overcome the Lakers, if they do not, the Trophy will be heading to South Beach, Miami.

500 Word Speech On The Salaries Of Professional Athletes

This is a short 500 word speech on the Salaries of professional athletes for an assignment.

Do professional athletes get paid too much? How much is too much. More than their clubs will pay them or more than the public deem necessary.

The answer is more than their clubs will pay them, therefore professional athletes do not get paid too much. The average yearly wage of a Premier League footballer is £1,761,136. If the chairmen of all the 20 clubs thought that figure was too much then it would be lower, as the players do not put forward the contract offers.

A common argument that will continue in this country is; should soldiers get paid more than footballers? Whether they should or not is not the point, it is the fact that the government pays the soldiers not Russian billionaires like Chelsea chairman Roman Abramovich who can afford to pay his players large amounts. The average salary of a newly qualified soldier is £14,300 and they take their job knowing what the salary is and also the danger that is involved.

It is not only Premier League footballs that receive high salaries 2 two reigning NBA MVP LeBron James will earn $14,500,000 this year, that is the equivalent to £8,904,446. He is good enough to receive a high wage and the Miami Heat General Manager decided to offer him that amount, would you turn it down? The answer to that question is no, nobody would. James is working in his dream job that he chose to work in and is receiving his wage, no matter how large it is.

Professional athletes are not paid a lot of money just so their teams can secure their services, they are also advertising icons. Wayne Rooney received £600,000 a year from Coke Zero to be the face of their product. Tiger Woods received $90,000,000 a year back in 1999. Again the fact that neither Rooney nor Woods would have asked for this amount and still received it shows how companies as big a Coke and Nike can pay stars that much and still rake in profits.

Everybody in a capitalist society gets paid depending on their value and services in the so called market place. If sport and football is the number one spectator sport in our country then the players will keep on receiving these kinds of wages, because the clubs owners will be receiving money from gate receipts, merchandise and other such oddities.

The argument that sports players receive too much money is completely powerless and will never affect how much they receive in the future. It is only because professional athletes receive much more than the average wage that people argue against it and think they are looking out for the wider public. If soldiers were to receive the same amount as athletes people would then complain about that. Do not say you wouldn’t, people’s thirst for money will overtake any of their morals so Soldiers would receive the same amount of slander as athletes do now. Surely that is immoral?

Inception Move Review

Leonardo DiCaprio has portrayed many characters over the years including the love stricken Jack Dawson in ‘Titanic’ and famous con-man Frank Abagnale in ‘Catch Me If You Can’, but his performance as Dominic Cobb in the multi award-winning ‘Inception’ may just be his best yet.

Cobb along with his companion Arthur played by ‘(500) Days of Summers’ Joseph Gordon-Levitt are seeking to persuade Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) to disband his father’s business after his inevitable death, through the art of inception.  ‘No idea is simple when you have to plant it in somebody's mind.’ Thoughts that are planted in a subjects mind are manipulated by their sub-conscious leading to an outcome, in this case for Fischer to break up his fathers business.

An architecture student (Ellen Page), a chemist (Dileep Rao), an impersonator (Tom Hardy) and a business man (Ken Watanabe) join Cobb and Arthur to create a team capable of performing inception. Tom Hardy brings humour to the high octane action with a number of witty one-liners and relaxed nature, whilst Ellen Page showed her talents to the fullest effect again by performing at a similar level to the outstanding DiCaprio.

The element of sub-conscious and the mind make this blockbuster relevant to everybody as we all want to know what goes on inside our minds. DiCaprio’s portrayal of such distress and desperation is something that keeps the audience on edge as this is Cobb’s last chance of sorting out his life.

 It has become the 25^th highest grossing film of all time and won multiple awards including the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects which after watching it should come as no surprise.

A truly remarkable storyline backed up by great performances and the best ending to a film I have ever seen makes this film a must-see.

A short 300 word review of Inception for an assignment. Let me know what you think.

End of the Regular Season

The NBA's regular season is coming to an end and seeing as the last time I posted it was around the All-Star game, that means I have been lazy.... True.

In the Eastern Conference there have been major changes. The Bulls (54-20) are the #1 seed, the Celtics (51-22) are crawling to the finish line and lots of trade action has seen many of the rosters re-shuffle. Throughout all his change the Cleveland Cavaliars (15-59) are still the worst team in the Association and the Heat (52-23) are still as erratic as Emile Heskey.

Meanwhile in the West, San Antonio (57-17) are still the best team in the League and the Dallas Mavericks (53-21) achieved their 11th straight season of 50+ wins. Kevin Love's seeminlgy never-ending streak of Double-Doubles came to an end at 53 and Jerry Sloan resigned as Head Coach of the Utah Jazz (36-39) after an amazing 23 seasons there.

The trade deadline came on 24th February and with that came some monster deals. Carmelo Anthony was traded to the NY Knicks (37-38) along with Chauncey Billups and most of NY's roster going the other way to Denver (45-29). With many expecting the Knicks to surge up the East and the Nuggets to plummet down the West. Not the case. Since the trade the Nuggets are 14 and 3 whilst the Knicks are 9 and 12. Did it take the Denver Nuggets nearly 7 seasons they maybe better without one of the best players in the League? Kendrick Perkins was traded form Boston to the OKC Thunder. Why? Perkins' presence is possibly one of the biggest intangibles in the league. He has made Oklahoma City a much bigger team and more of a threat in the off-season.

With only about 6 or 7 games left for each team until the end of the 82, my metaphorical money for the Championship is on the top 3 seeds from each conference. The Bulls, Celtics and Heat from the East and the Spurs, Lakers and Mavericks from the West. I believe it to be that tight this year.

Derrick Rose, LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki are my front runners for MVP honours. Blake Griffin has to win the Rookie of the Year, even though he has been a bit over-hyped. The most improved player is nailed down on Kevin Love. Coach of the Year in my opinion is Tom Thibodeau of the Chicago Bulls, he would get Rookie of the Year for me, that is if Coaches were allowed to win it. The best I can hope for the Raptors (20-54) is that we get the best Draft pick possible come June time.

I will try not to be lazy and update this more throughout the Playoffs and with other posts as well....promise.