Formula 1: Monaco GP Overview

Mark Webber makes it six winners in six races

The Monaco Grand Prix itself might not have set pulses racing but 2012 on the whole is shaping up to be a classic season - six different winners from six races has left the title wide open and anyones for the taking. 

Mark Webber drove an impeccable race around the streets of Monte Carlo to take his first win of the year and his second in the small Principality, the first Australian ever to do so. What was most impressive about his race was the cool head and calm demeanour he kept under the immense pressure of having Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and Massa all breathing down his neck in the closing stages. Added to that the ever present, if anticlimatic, threat of rain, the rapidly degrading tires and the closeness of the barriers, it can't have been easy keeping it all together in the Red Bull cockpit.

On the whole though, this year's Monaco Grand Prix was fairly processional and dull. Could we have expected anything less on a track with such little room for overtaking? Probaly not, as that's Monaco for you. It's not so much a race but a dance to see you can keep it out of the wall. It's safe to say that the next race in Canada will be the complete flipside of Monaco, a prospect that is positively mouthwatering. 

In true Monaco fashion, the start was chaotic and ridden with carnage. A consetina effect caused by a slow starting Lewis Hamilton caused contact between Alonso and Grosjean, the latter also squeezing Schumacher into the wall and spinning into the path of a soon-to-be-airborne Kamui Kobayashi. Apart from Maldonado and de la Rosa, it was surprising that so many behind the collision got through unscathed.

It was a frustrating and premature end to the race for Grosjean who had done well to out-qualify team-mate Kimi. For others, like Vettel, the start was a close shave that turned out to be a blessing; the German had managed to get ahead of Raikkonen by diving across the run-off at St. Devote. It was lucky for Vettel as it meant he didn't have to spend his race stuck behind the Finn and Schumacher. Vettel would end the race a solid fourth.

Someone who had a quiet, albeit impressive, race was Nico Rosberg. Keeping Webber in sight from start to finish, the young German admitted post-race that he had the pace to win but couldn't find a way past the Australian. He took a well deserved second, keeping him in the picture for the title. Likewise, Alonso did well in a rapidly improving Ferrari to finish third. He put in some fantastic laps to get ahead of Hamilton at the stops and from there managed his tires to the end. 

Contact between Grosjean and
Schumacher at the start of the race

Hamilton must feel grieved to only come away with fifth after such a promising qualifying. He got a terrible start and was lucky to not be demoted by Alonso there and then. From there he kept the leaders in sight and would have no doubt been a contender (as would have Vettel and Alonso) had the predicted deluge reached the harbour. He'll hope for better in Canada, the track where he took his maiden win, in two weeks time.

On the flipside, Button seems to be going backwards more and more as the season goes on. Stuck behind Kovalainen's Caterham, Jenson must feel like his win in Australia was a long, long time ago. Will he bounce back? Only time, and development on that Mclaren, will tell. 

Speaking of, Kovalianen and Caterham did a fantastic job in Monaco. Astutely defending his position from Button and Perez, the Finn brought his car home in 13th, a great finish for the team. Petrov had a contrasting end to the race, a mechanical issue leading to retirement.

A double points finish for Force India was good to see, as was a point for Bruno Senna in the Williams. Raikkonen had a disappointing race and trailed home ninth.

The Monaco Grand Prix has come and gone then for another year. A great drive from Webber has ignited his title bid and thrown him right into the mix with Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton. Should he build on this result, the Australian could soon be back to his 2010-best, an exciting prospect indeed. Roll on Canada!

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Verdict: Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy

Noel Fielding is handed the reins to his own sketch show, Luxury Comedy, and the result is a canvas that nurtures the comedian's wildly expansive imagination. Luxury Comedy however is an ambitious title and one that is maybe, a little too ambitious for Fielding to pull off.

Continuing in the same vein as The Mighty Boosh, Luxury Comedy is a psychedelic blend of kooky characters and wacky locales. Fielding is well and truly in his element here, relishing in the strange and imaginative ideas that he cooks up. Whether it is a talking chocolate finger, an incompetent New York cop with a talking stab wound (!) or a clay-motion figurine of Joey Ramone, each character and situation it seems is as outlandish as the next.

Fans of Fielding's previous work on The Mighty Boosh are bound to get a real kick of seeing Noel further delving into his seemingly endless well of ideas. For newcomers however, Fielding's escapades may fall a little flat on their face. Not being familiar with Fielding's "schtick" would no doubt bemuse and confuse viewers rather than make them laugh. 

That said, I myself found my sense of humour tested by Luxury Comedy. The first few episodes are fairly refreshing and entertaining but the format and humour starts to feel tired by just the third time around. Whilst Noel's jokes and input on Never Mind The Buzzcocks are alleviated by the different guests and hosts each week, here, the absurdity quickly gets repetitive and annoying. He doesn't fail to raise a smile all of the time; it really is hit and miss as to whether you "get it" or you don't.

"If you don't like something" Fielding remarks in the opening scene of episode 3 "just get up and leave. Don't sit there tutting all the time." Strangely apt, given that that is exactly what I did next.

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Formula 1: Spanish GP Overview

It has been a long time coming for Williams, but their triumphant return to the top step of the podium has finally come at last at the hands of Venezuela's Pastor Maldonado. In what is proving to be a surprising season of twists and turns, Maldonado put in a gritty performance to seal his first victory, and Williams' first since 2004.

With five races gone, we have seen five different winners from five different teams. Who could have predicted that before the start of the year? 2012 is shaping up to be a classic season that runs right to the final race.

Following Lewis Hamilton's qualifying exclusion, Maldonado was promoted to pole position ahead of Alonso. What was surprising about this was that the Williams driver got there on pace alone. He outpaced the Ferrari, both Lotus drivers, Perez and Rosberg. He didn't inherit the pole, but earned it. The same can be said for the race win. Dropped to second after the first corner, Maldonado kept focus and stayed with Alonso throughout the race. Keeping a driver of Alonso's calibre honest on home soil is no mean feat. Pitting on lap 25 before Alonso, Maldonado put in a blinding fastest lap of the race to move ahead of Fernando.

From there on it was a matter of just managing the tyre wear and keeping the Ferrari at arms length. Once or twice in the final stint Alonso was close enough to the Williams to open the DRS on his rear wing but, much to the dismay of the Spanish crowd, was never able to find a way past Maldonado.

Raikkonen and Grosjean finished a strong third and fourth, highlighting the pace Lotus continue to develop. It won't be long before one of them is also on the the top step of the podium, with my money on Raikkonen being the first of the two.

Kobayashi put in some daring moves to finish an impressive fifth, whilst Vettel recovered well from a drive-through penalty to take sixth. It was a day to forget for both Button and Webber. For Jenson, it must be frustrating to know that in Melbourne he was out and out the fastest. Here, only two months later, he can only manage ninth, in a car that he struggles to understand and maximise. Webber didn't come in the points and hardly featured in the race at all. His qualifying performance put him on the back foot but I did expect more from him in the race.

Lewis Hamilton put in a mature drive to recover from his penalty. 24th on the grid must have been hard to swallow for the Brit but he put it behind him and drove admirably. His move on both Toro Rosso's was impressive to say the least. What he could have done starting from the front is hard to say. His run of bad luck is bound to end sooner or later. He will hopefully take heart in the fact that he is only eight points behind Vettel and Alonso.

The Schumacher and Senna incident into Turn One was pretty clear cut from my perspective: Senna held the racing line and was moving to hit the apex of the corner when Schumacher misjudged the braking point and put them both out of the running. For Schumacher to heft the blame on Senna was pretty unfair on the Brazilian. Three retirements from five races must be disappointing for Schumacher but he needs to accept the blame for something at some point in his life, this being one of them.

Felipe Massa is bound to be really feeling the pressure now. At this rate, there is no doubt in my mind that Ferrari bosses Luca di Montezemolo and Stefano Domenicali will be looking to replace him before the end of the year. With Alonso heading the table alongside Vettel, Massa is languishing in 17th, still just two points to his name.

So onto Monaco in two weeks time. It's the jewel in F1's crown and, if 2012 so far is anything to go by, it'll be a classic. For me, I'd love to see a Lotus win it. They have been on the cusp for the last two rounds, and to win at Monaco would be a real boost for them. Either that, or Lewis Hamilton. He's had a poor run of luck and Monaco would be the perfect place to turn it all around and seal that elusive first win of the year.

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Film Review: Dark Shadows

The latest in a long line of adaptations, Tim Burton's Dark Shadows is quintessentially his own; all the ingredients are thrown in that make up a "Burton" film, and yet, like Alice in Wonderland before it, Dark Shadow's fails to make optimum use of these ingredients to make a delicacy.



With a cast comprising of Burton regular's Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Lee, Dark Shadows should really have been titled "Tim Burton and Friends" but that probably sounds a little too much like a kid's TV show. Depp of course is the protagonist, Barnabas Collins, a cursed vampire locked away in a coffin for 200 years by ex-Bond girl Eva Green, as the wickedly evil witch Angelique. When he awakens in the mysterious and alien land that is, (dun-dun-dun!) 1972, he finds that his ancestors, Elizabeth (Pfeiffer), Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), David (Gulliver McGrath) and Carolyn (the brilliantly grumpy Chloe Moretz) have let the family estate fall into ruin and despair.

First off, it is worth noting the brilliance of Depp's performance as Barnabas Collins. Depp is in his element here, in a character that channels so many of his other Burton roles, such as the wonderfully meek Ichabod Crane from Sleepy Hollow, as well as his turn as the blood drenched Sweeney Todd. He is awarded 80% of the laughs (the other 20% go to Chloe Moretz) as Barnabas explores the world of 1972. Another stand-out for me was Eva Green. Every word she uttered as the evil witch, consumed with somehow destroying and loving Barnabas, dripped brilliantly with malice and she makes a great villain.

Bella Heathcote's dual role of Victoria and Josette was also good, but it did feel that the former's blossoming relationship with Barnabas wasn't built upon as much as it should have been. Whilst Victoria was pitched as a central (and likeable) character in the opening scenes, there were periods in the film's middle third where she was made to battle for screen-time against Green and Bonham Carter.

As is sometimes inevitable with any ensemble cast, characters duel with each other to get screen time, and this is very much the case with Dark Shadows. An example of this is Jonny Lee Miller's role as Roger Collins. After the initial set-up, Miller was relatively unimportant and ignored, a bizarre sub-plot that never really came to bear fruit in a satisfying way.

Something that struck me about Dark Shadows was its attempts to cover all of the bases. Was it a comedy? A fantasy horror? A romance? It tried to blend in each and every one of these which, at times, meant it lacked direction. This was most evident in the film's middle stint; was Barnabas' story one about finding love,  rebuilding the family business, getting vengeance on Angelique, or battling with his vampish tendencies? Again, it attempted to mix in all of these ideas with varying success.

A huge plus point was the film's soundtrack and score. The mix of 1970's disco was fun and Danny Elfman, who has previously worked on Burton's Batman films, Edward Scissorhands and Planet of the Apes, was on top form again. His score was haunting and magical, and a great accompaniment to the Gothic aesthetic of the film.

Overall, I'd rate this film somewhere around 5 out of 10. It is another great addition to the library of Tim Burton cinema, a complete indulgence of his style of film making and casting, with a brilliant score and visuals to boot. It did however have one or two missteps in regards to the overall direction of the narrative, leaving this audience member feeling a little underwhelmed.

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