Nick splits with Ferrari, Schumi returns.

29 07 2009

In a day when no one cared about BMW withdrawing from Formula One, Ferrari continued to be the center of attention. Earlier this morning we exclusively revealed that Nick Sparkes would be driving alongside Kimi Raikkonen for the remainder of the 2009 season. But after an unsuccessful test where Nick was frustrated by the lack of cup holders, boot space and a stereo in the F60, Nick has decided to disconnect himself from the team less than 24 hours after signing a 2 billion pound deal with OK! Magazine.

EXCLUSIVE PIC: Nick drives the F60 for the first and only time

EXCLUSIVE PIC: Nick drives the F60 for the first and only time

The Ferrari team then went on to announce the return of Michael Schumacher, who will be coming out of retirement to the excitement of  billions of fans around the world.

“I was meeting this afternoon with Stefano Domenicali and Luca di Montezemolo, and together we decided that I will prepare myself to take the place of Felipe.

“Though it is true that the chapter of Formula 1 has been completely closed for me for a long time, it is also true that for loyalty reasons to the team I cannot ignore that unfortunate situation. But as the competitor I am, I also very much look forward to facing this challenge.”

If Autosport are reporting it, it must be true?





EXCLUSIVE: Massa’s replacement revealed

29 07 2009

There is much speculation over who will be driving the second Ferrari for the remainder of the this years Formula One season. Felipe Massa suffered a huge accident in qualifying for last weekends Hungarian Grand Prix where the young Brazilian suffered a fractured skull after being hit by a spring which had fell off the Brawn car of Rubens Barrichello. But whilst the world speculates that 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher is expected to make a shock return to Formula One, NSPK can exclusively reveal who will be driving the Scuderia.

Sadly, TV hunk Andi Peters has not be selected after he was linked to the drive after being seen training in a gym

Sadly, TV hunk Andi Peters has not be selected after he was linked to the drive after being seen training in a gym

NSPA’s own Nick Sparkes has been selected to drive alongside Kimi Raikkonen for the rest of the 2009 season. He is expected to test the car later on today where he will get his first taste of the F60. Nick who has never driven a Formula One car but once tested for Aston Martin down the streets of Berlin back in 2006 is excited about driving for Ferrari,

“I mean, how difficult can this be and what’s the worst that could happen?”

“I’ve had a couple of minutes of training on my PS3 to warm myself up, but I did win the Grand Prix championship back on my PC back in 1993 although some of the graphics have changed a bit since then.”

The full interview can be read in next months OK! Magazine where Nick has reportedly signed an exclusive £2 billion pound deal.

But Nick has kindly lent us a photo of him at the Ferrari factory last night where he tried on some red overalls for the first time. The team are expected to hold a press conference within the next few hours where Nick is expected to be announced officially as a Ferrari driver in front of some Italian media.

Massa's replacement is exclusively revealed as Nick Sparkes

Massa's replacement is exclusively revealed as Nick Sparkes





Death Cab for Cutie Project Idea

23 07 2009

Since the announcement of the latest Final Cut Studio and my huge investment in the Apple company it begs the question why I haven’t made a film? Well, the main reason is pure laziness, I have the equipment just can’t be bothered to put it all together. Then I started thinking what’s the easiest way to get back in? Make a music video!

Now I’m probably going to get some stick for this, but making a music video is easy – Level 1 stuff. The music gives you the beat to cut to, the lyrics tell you what to shoot so you just need to go out there and find it, put it together and your done. Okay so maybe I’ve made it sound a little easier than it really is, but come on, isn’t this one of the first things your sent out to do at college? Anyway, I’m going a little off radar here.

So the project. Well recently I’ve become a huge fan of Death Can For Cutie and have been thinking about shooting a couple of music videos one of those being Tiny Vessels. I really like the track, the lyrics especially, they seem to capture so much in such a short amount of time. Also I feel the video wouldn’t have to be something fixed to the beat, it can tell a story and lead its own path with the music acting more like the soundtrack to the video, than the video made to match the music. So there I am thinking about what to do and so I decided to check out YouTube. YouTube I have found to be great place for idea’s, and it didn’t disappoint.

The video below is basically what I’d like to do, shoot some footage with only the theme of Tiny Vessels in mind and paste it to the music telling its own story. Even though the owner of this video states the footage used was never designed for the track I think it works really well, have a look and listen…

Just after viewing that video I came across an unofficial video for Transatlanticism which I think is amazing. Very well shoot and edited, loved the use of colour and setting. It shows off a lot of skills as well which I think is always difficult when doing any type of film. This film has clearly had a lot of time and thought put towards it, you can tell in the use of shoots and how they edit together, even the use of colour to convey emotion is just right. I’d love to do something like this as well.





The new Final Cut Studio is here!

23 07 2009

I’ve been a huge fan of Final Cut Studio ever since my days at college. It’s a user-friendly suite which is so much more than an editing software, although for me the main attraction is Final Cut Pro, FCP. So you can imagine the wet patch on the floor when I read about the latest version this morning, I’m still mopping the floor as I type.

Can you make the best better? Apple think so!

Now I’m not going to throw my 2 pence worth into the ‘Avid vs. FCP’ war because I’m bias towards FCP, I can’t stand Avid and never will. I’ve been brought up on FCP and thats that. The great thing about Final Cut Studio is that it’s so affordable for not just the film and TV industry, but for anyone who wants to make a film. I’m currently going through the stages of putting together a mini-production studio which has Apple stamped across it from top to bottom. Their equipment works, their software works, its affordable so I invest in it. This has never been possible before unless you have 2 billion pounds. The thing is and again this is a point for FCP is it’s very easy to make a film, but it does require skill to make an amazing film. In order to make an amazing film you really need to make the most of all the applications which Final Cut Studio have to offer. Check out the Apple website and your hear from the industries best why they use Final Cut Studio but I think this video on the TV series Leverage really brings home just how amazing Final Cut Studio is – in fact, I want that studio!

Anyway, I feel I’ve moved away from the point a little, the latest version is here and I’m going to get it because its amazing, with over a 100 new features to boost thats enough of a reason if I wanted. Another reason I buy Apple.





The German’s gain a sense of humour at last…

23 07 2009

You may recall last week I mocked the German’s over their lack of humour when a Nazi gnome ‘accidentally’ entered the country and that the golden gnome was at risk at being sent to prison or at worse, gassed. Well it seems that with the world more interested in us being all killed off by swine flu, they have decided to let the gnome walk away free and to continue saluting Nazi German.

A German Dictionary, which we could have all potentially owned.

A German Dictionary, which we could have all potentially owned.

But the German’s have warned against any attempt to copy the idea and that gnomes have  a certain abuse potential, in fact it shouldn’t be al-Qaeda we should be fearing, it’s gnomes boarding planes and heading to Germany that are the true threat.

Sticking with Germany, they have recently added 5,000 words to their Dictionary, or Duden as they call it. Now to show you how young this fine nation is, the word “Kreditklemme” (credit crunch) is making its first appearance, which sounds and looks like a breakfast cereal containing Lemon.  But what I liked most was this, “Vorratsdatenspeicherung”, those 23 letters mean telecommunications data retention to us and I’ll give a pound to the homeless donkeys for every time you use that throughout your day.

Now I go searching around the BBC news website searching for entertaining, maybe informative and non-educating articles every week. For me it has to be their coverage on swine flu. A quick look down the side of a swine flu story and your see articles titled  ”How to make a swine flu vaccine“, “Can masks helps stop flu spread” and my favourite “Swine flu: Your experiences. Now is it me or is this whole swine flu craze becoming a bit Michael Jackson? Do we need all these stories, is it really going to help? I don’t even think these swine experiences are real, they are probably hand picked by the BBC to give the most extreme side of the flu to side with the Government’s crazy guidelines on not going into public places, drinking water, eating bread, not even touching your own face. We should all sit in a dark room for 20 years and disconnect ourselves from civilization. But that isn’t the best thing. What I really love is this graph outlining how many could catch swine flu:

If the news reports, pictures wont scare you, maybe this will?

If the news reports, pictures won't scare you, maybe this will?

I’ll admit, the most extreme side to swine flu outlined by the BBC is well… extreme. But its another case of everyone going a bit over the top and viewing a few deaths as an epidemic. I mean when you consider how many people are killed on the roads each year, your still more likely to be knocked down by a bus tomorrow than being killed by swine flu next month.

Let’s stop restricting our lives as if this is the worst thing the world has ever faced, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen anyway?








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