My top five deals in the January transfer window!

In the life of any football fan, transfer deadline day is the day when all work is put on hold, sick days are pulled and the home television set is purely reserved for Sky Sports News and the likes of Jim White. This one day every year in January and August excites football fans across the land, as tension builds up towards the dreaded deadline with questions being thrown about everywhere - will my club sign anyone? How many will 'Arry Redknapp sign today? Will Ronaldinho move to Blackburn!? Oh what a wonderous day.

But alas, it has been and gone. Until August we must wait... But last month's transfer window brought the excitement we all needed, with big deals being concluded throughout the land. One of my teams' did sign a big player - Matthew Upson went to Brighton AH - and the other signed a player to start in the Summer - Wilfred Zaha to Manchester United, even more AH -  but it was other clubs were my eye was caught for the majority of the window. So low behold, here are my top five transfer window deals!

1. Lewis Holtby 
Signed to Tottenham Hotspur from Schalke. £1.75m

This, for me, was one of the best deals I had seen in the January transfer window for a while - Lewis Holtby. As an attacking midfielder, Holtby had been catching Premier League clubs (and my) eye for a number of seasons and finally, it was announced he'd sign for Spurs in the Summer. However, Spurs' injury woes forced the club to sign the highly-rated German international sooner - and to be honest, I couldn't wait until the summer to see him in the Premier League! Outstanding player who is bound to settle in well and make a big impact; he's the midfielder England have missed out on terribly. His vision and his passing will work well with Tottenham's play - absolute bargain too at £1.75 million.

2. Moussa Sissoko
Signed to Newcastle United from Toulouse. £2.5m

 Another fantastic signing who is already showing his worth in the Premier League. A bargain at £2.5 million, a part of Newcastle's new French legion is strong, pacy and attacking; just the player Newcastle needs after letting star player Demba Ba leave. We all saw how easily he got past Ashley Cole - yes ASHLEY COLE - the other day against Chelsea, and then scoring the equalising and winning goals; making him an instant Toon favourite. Only 23, this player is a star for the future.

3. Daniel Sturridge
Signed to Liverpool from Chelsea. £12m

A good move by Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool has seen English international Daniel Sturridge make to Merseyside, and switched for blue for the red of Liverpool. Quite frankly, a very decent signing - Sturridge is a good quality, young striker but he needed (and deserved) to be at a club where he is going to get playing time. Liverpool on the other hand, only had Luis Suarez as their recongized striker, so this move works out well for all parties. Maybe 12 million is a bit excessive, but a very good player with lots of potential - could force his way back into Roy Hodgson's England plans with more playing time.

4. Mathieu Debuchy
Signed to Newcastle United from Lille. £5m

This saga threatened to rival the Cesc Fabregas 'will he-won't he' tale between his move from Arsenal to Barcelona but finally, Newcastle landed their man - left back Mathieu Debuchy. Debuchy impressed with his performances for both former club Lille and for the French international team during Euro 2012, and I really rate this player. He's solid at the back, but he's also great at attacking and getting forward with his team - your perfect left-back so to speak. I'll tip him to impress in the Premiership - really is a top player.

5. Demba Ba
Signed to Chelsea from Newcastle United. £7m

I do feel sorry for Newcastle fans by the way Ba acted but hey, at least it wasn't as bad as Peter Odemwingie! Demba Ba has proved himself as a profilic goal-scorer in the Premier League, and he's your typical centre forward - powerful, good in the air and he has that goal scoring instinct. He'll do well at Chelsea - how long he'll stay there is anyone's guess - and he'll provide good competition for Fernando Torres. He's the striker Chelsea needs up front to replace the big hole Didier Drogba left. 
   

 Who is your top five transfer deals? Were you happy with who your club signed? Drop a comment below!

Les Miserables review

Review time! 

So in between my rather busy schedule recently, I (of course) just had to make time to see Les Miserables hit the big screen and I'll tell you simply now - I was blown away. 

Here's the trailer before, and caution - there are spoilers beyond it...

So I'll make a little confession before I start... Before I went and watched this film, I actually hadn't seen Les Mis before. I KNOW, I'M SORRY! But like most people, I had of course heard the majority of the songs and I had watched a little bit of my Mum's tenth anniversary DVD with her. But that was all my knowledge of Les Miserables expanded to.

So for my first time ever seeing Les Mis all the way through, I can tell you now I loved every second of it. I found the story was relatively easy to follow - probably a little easier than I may have done on the stage. Although the ending is sad (incredibly sad may I add), I left the cinema so happy because I was just blown away by what I had just watched; no wonder it has been nominated for so many awards, and any award it does win, will be fully deserved.

The cast was a stellar, blockbuster cast that you'd expect with a big film such as this, easily one of the many anticipated films to come out recently. Hugh Jackman was wonderful as the lead of Jean Valjean, displaying his versatility and talent within not just his singing voice, but also his acting. It was a wonderful performance; however, I feel that Jackman didn't have the best voice of the cast. I'd give this award to Eddie Redmayne, though I suppose it's hardly surprising with Redmayne having ample experience on the Broadway and West End. But his voice was to perfection, and I felt Redmaybe played Marius wonderfully - this performance has definitely proved he is one to look out for in the future. The women of the cast were equally as fantastic - Anne Hathway's rendition of 'I Dreamed A Dream' was beautiful enough to give anyone goosebumps, and Amanda Seyfried displayed her singing talent very well, despite having a lesser role. Even Helen Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were hiliarious as the Thenardiers, a wonderfully cast pairing.

I mean, even Russell Crowe wasn't bad! I thought his singing voice was not too shabby at all - his performance of Javert was actually one of my favourite performances in the film, displaying the ruthless and cold persona you'd expect from his character. He and Jackman worked together very well, the relationship between their characters was very well exploited. So before you slate him, please take a look at the video underneath and remind yourselves of Pierce Bronson 'singing' in Mamma Mia.

Just so I thought.

Full credit must go to the producers and the director, Brit Tom Hooper, for the wonderful cinematography provided throughout the entire film. The beginning scene with the prisoners pulling the ship, to the ending scene with the entire cast who had deceased in the film singing "Do You Hear The People Sing?". Just stunning.

Rating out of 10 - I'd give it 9/10. I really couldn't find any flaws to this masterpiece and I for one, will be hoping it sweeps the board at the BAFTA's on Sunday. Bravo! 

Look out soon for more trailer reviews and for you Football fans, my top five transfer window deals - coming soon to a computer screen near you!

New year, new challenges

Helloooo everyone!

Many apologises for the lack of posts on this blog, but as you're about to find out, I've been hugely busy the last few weeks... oh the life of a Journo student!

As you may be aware, I'm currently studying Multimedia Journalism for my degree and as part of our course, we are encouraged to take up work experience. Anyone who knows the world of Journalism, gaining experience is hugely important. It's a great way of gaining contacts, becoming familiar of that environment of working and it looks great on your CV to future employers. It's so important - my Uni tutor hasn't got off my back nagging to complete some!

A couple of weeks back, I completed two weeks work experience at football magazine FourFourTwo. For my first proper placement, it was perfect - I love football, so to spend two weeks writing about a sport I play and love was great. And to make things better, some of my work got recently published in the latest issue of the magazine, as well as a news story also published online. I loved every minute of it, and left after the two weeks supremely happy.

But my work experience was not to end there! I emailed the editor I kept in contact with at FourFourTwo once I got back to University, thanking him for the opportunity and asking if I could come back in the Summer months to complete some more experience. What I didn't expect was an reply back asking if I was interested in completeing another two weeks work experience the following week, at another magazine run by the same publication - Haymarket. This magazine was What Hi Fi - at first I was a little unsure admittedly; I'd only just gone back to University and wanted to spend time back there with friends and carry on with my studies yet, this was another fantastic opportunity. So I said yes, and low and behold, I'm currently sitting in the What Hi Fi office, writing this blog whilst doing work with FourFourTwo just down the corridor. Again, I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience (despite being ill with the Flu the last few days, and trains being delayed every day) and I'm so glad I decided to do this. Furthermore, I am receiving pay for this so I guess this kind of makes me a freelance Journalist. Awesome.

It's also been so nice to spend more time at home; before the Christmas holidays, I didn't go home as much as I did last year, preferring to work more at my job down there but also it's always nice to spend time with my friends at University. However, I found myself pining for home - particularly after New York - so it's nice being home and being to catch up with friends who are also away studying in different parts of the country at Christmas, and see my family. I've also been able to play football more back home over the last few weeks - albeit only training, having only played one whole game of football due to the snow arriving and the adverse rain! But it has been nice - it'll be weird going back to University again and getting back into the swing of things, and dealing with new assignments. Oh joy...

So that's just about my round up of the last few weeks for me - I did go and see Les Miserables in the cinema in between all that, so I shall write a review for that soon - I SHALL!

I'd also like to thank everyone - because you guys - yes YOU - this blog has received over 1,000 views! Yippee! Thank you all so much, it is such a comfort to know that people are actually reading my ramblings.

Take care, and watch out for my review of Les Miserables heading to a computer screen near you!