Hopeless

Hello everyone, I'm Luca. No funny intro, no quirky lines from me, I'm hoping to put forward a serious tone to you.

So this is in someway, my 56th entry on this blog if you discount my 'update' (By the way, my internet is fixed) and also an article I deleted that I wasn't proud of that I'll attempt to redo soon. 56 is my favourite number, so you'd think my '56th' article would be a positive one, and whilst negative is what I'd expect something that wasn't positive to be, I'd say it was real perhaps?

2017 was a year of realisation for me, and not for good. We all go into the following year with a resolution and it's always something we know we won't complete, that won't be the case for me as I'll always be striving to be a better person, you can hold me to that word. So it isn't self realisation that's bothering me at the moment, it's the realisation that the world is dominated by evil.

I have always refrained from using labels like that because I still truly believe that calling something all good or all bad is a weak thing to do, to pour all that's wrong with the world into whatever you disagree with and live in ignorance. Because what I have realised is that we can scream bigotry and human rights all we want, that whatever we have been told is morally right, that from an early age we are placed in front of the television or we listen to our elders and are taught to be respectful, what good is it?

Realising a lot of things in 2017, from something as personal as a director of my favourite movie really screwing with the fans of that movie, to also seeing how close we all are to seeing that moron in the white house really screw with us.

Having seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi for the second time today - I have some issues with it but overall it's a really great movie - but when I was watching it, I remember thinking about what the basic formula of a Star Wars movie has always been, the very basic premise of good vs. evil, the grey area inbetween the light and the dark and what makes either side of the coin. It began to hit me, what makes good and evil, doing good is fighting for those who can't fight back, and evil is doing whatever it can at the expense of those who can't fight back. Having asked myself that for years, I now know the truth.

I don't want to spoil the Star Wars movie for you guys incase you haven't seen it, so if somehow you haven't then slight spoiler warning ahead, the Resistance is down to only a few members by the end of the film. However despite that, you hear throughout the film that there's still hope even after what they all go through, that there's always hope that the Sith, the Empire, now the First Order will be taken down, they will not win. We lose ourselves in this arrogant view of "We will win against evil", but really, will we?

Back in around 2015 or 2016, I went to see Dave Gorman and we were treated to a supporting act from a comedian named Nick Doody, and he was brilliant. He spoke about the 7/7 bombings in London, something which hits home for me as my parents were there a year before that happened and could very well have been there that year instead for the same reason, and how the British spirit keeps hope alive, and I loved hearing that. But having seen terror attacks happen this year especially, I won't hold back when I tell you just how scary it is, but not just terror attacks but also the people that are in charge.

In America, you have a president who quite openly is discriminative against LGBT people, believes black people who protest against the American flag because of police brutality are sons of bitches and Charlottesville racists have some decent people, and also who has now deprived the poor of health insurance and will openly allow them to die because of poverty, what is America exactly? Is it its people or its money? Because I have yet to find a redeeming quality about the Republican party, no matter how hard I try.

I have come to realise just how this world really is ran by evil, that evil is defined by doing what you can but at the expense of someone who is unable to fight back. A cowardly way of winning. It saddens me, because along with that nutter known as Trump doing all of that, we also have legitimate fears that Kim Jong-Un is going to go to nuclear war with Trump, and I can't bare the thought of it.

The other thing I realised this year, your heroes can be just as egregious. Matthew Vaughn could do no wrong in my eyes, but it's almost as if he tried. After I found out he killed Roxy in Kingsman and the manner in which he did, I won't mince my words when I say that I did cry, a lot. I broke down in public, I had to go to a private place and get my mum on the phone, I was a helpless mess. You have all heard enough from me about my reasons for being so passionate about Roxy in Kingsman to last a lifetime, and whilst my petition is fast approaching 700 on its way to 1,000 I still can't help but feel helpless still and hopeless.

It still disgusts me how the Kingsman official Twitter accounts have joked about the demand to see Roxy, the Kingsman mobile game Twitter account even used Roxy as a means to entice people to play the game, saying "She is still kicking butt in the Kingsman mobile game". They know that they fucked up! I know of some people who have confronted Matthew Vaughn but they have been civil with him, like he's going to listen to someone like that. Mark my words, I will confront that sexist troglodyte one day, but the fact I say it means I have to act on it and I am going to find that difficult to physically do. I won't have any issue going up to him in person, I just have to find a way to see him in person.

Anyway, small little tangent there, but overall, powerlessness. Going back to the Republicans, when they passed that bill that deprived 13 million people of their health insurance, I remember seeing a video of a few protestors who said that Republicans were laughing at them, one even trying to have a conversation with another Republican politician and they ran away. A great irony of the Republican way is being a heavily religious Christian party, when Jesus Christ even says "Heal the sick, feed the hungry, care for the weakest among us".

I'm well aware that it may sound like I'm trying to do a hit piece on all Republicans, I'm sure there are some people out there who have either voted for the Republican party in America or identify as a Republican that don't vote that way just at the expense of anybody who can't fight back. I always want to see the good in everyone, I'm just struggling with those sort of people who don't have basic decency like that.

I say this knowing I'm not perfect. I have gone through life making shitty slip ups at the expense of people and I can't live with myself, and I say I'm going to be better not because I don't think I was not deserving of any sort of criticism, but because I want to continue to improve. It would be wrong of anyone to believe they have peeked, and I will always focus on improving myself, it's just incredibly discouraging to know that there are people that do wrong in this world.

Not really the people who do despicable things, but the ones who have the power and abuse it for their own good, we have seen more than the fair share of that in 2017. I am all out of hope for the better of this world, I will continue trying to be a decent human but I know that more people are going to have to die in order to satisfy the greed of these abusive people of power, and that upsets me, not because only is it happening but nothing can be done about it.

You elect a person of the people, there will always be conservatives with some legitimacy somehow, and the many bigots who we turn the left shoulder on and pretend they don't exist when they still do.

You trust someone you idolise to do something decent and they'll exercise their ego at the expense of a beloved character in a movie which on face value, doesn't matter but it really does to some people, myself included.

You have hope, that tiny little spark that will light the flame that will burn down your enemies, they still live in that similar bubble that means they'll continue to fight in the same way you will. In the end, we don't matter to anyone who doesn't care about us? Pass a law that will allow another corporate tycoon to buy another yacht at the expense of the health and pension of a Thomas, Richard and Harold, what can we do about it?

Write a blog post about how pissed off you are, what will it do? Don't be naïve. At the end of the day, what is it that makes us believe that we matter to them? We don't and we never will, we can't win by spirit alone, what is there to do? No point getting all wound up about it, we have no power. Remember my blog post about a voice with no power, Heyday films did respond to me and tell me they'll keep me in mind but honestly, I doubt they have, they probably just told me what I wanted to hear and dismissed me.

I'm sorry if this is bringing you all down, I needed to get this off my chest and tell you all that I feel hopeless. Another case of injustice in America is the FCC most punchable face guy repealing net neutrality, he made a very condescending video that used Star Wars in a segment, and that was when Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) went to town on him, saying how the Jedi would fight for good and for people who couldn't fight back. That parallels really well with a casino scene in The Last Jedi that whilst a bit meh in execution, still showcased how people make their money at the expense of everyday folk.

This is why I feel lost, and almost devastated at the state of this world. I have a lot of good in my life, great friends and a supporting family who are very well off, and I know I haven't done perfectly in my short 21 years in life but I want to be better. I want to do good in the world, and that's all I can say to all of you, do good and do what you think is good, do good by your fellow person and when you see something wrong and the whole world is telling you that it's right, plant yourself like a log and do, not, budge.

That's the note I want to end this on, that evil exists and just do what you think is right. You have some amazing people in this world, like Edward Snowden who is in exile in Russia because of his 'crimes' when it wasn't a crime, Snowden exposed an invasive NSA practice of spying on everyone, and he did it because he knew it was right. Be good people, even when you're all out of hope like me, just do what's right.

Thank you all,
Luca.

Temporary delay

Hello everyone.

I know I haven't posted in a couple of days and that's because my internet for some reason isn't hooking up to my laptop.

I'm typing this on my phone incase you're wondering, downloaded the Blogger app. We got a new internet provider whose name I won't say as I don't think it's a fair reflection on them, and it connected to my phone, PlayStation, all of my family's devices but not my laptop.

Hopefully it'll be sorted soon and I can get back to posting articles for you lot. So if you don't hear from me beforehand, Merry Christmas everyone!

Until we meet again,
Luca.

Why I love Eevee

Image courtesy of http://pokemonwikia.com

Hello you, the name is Luca but you can call me Luca. So I bought into the Pokémon franchise back when Diamond and Pearl came out, and literally none of the others afterwards, and I had such a blast! I don't play the games anymore but if I did, I have my dream team which consist of the following; Lucario, Absol, Blaziken, Milotic, Togekiss and last but not least, Eevee.

Probably an odd choice considering the fully-evolved, cool and elegant Pokémon that you see one like Eevee, but there's a lot of person sentimental value in my choosing of Eevee, allow me to take you on a history lesson. Beginning when I first got into Pokémon, I really do wish I was able to tell you all how I saw Eevee for the first time but I can't but I will try.

When generation four material began hitting the forefront of my awareness, I had been watching from a distance at my brother playing all the generation two games (and subsequently having a Level 100 Feraligatr as a result) as well as all my other friends, I decided I'd give it a go. My parents bought me an out of date Pokémon game guide that went up to Generation Three and I gave it a flick through, and very few Pokémon really stood out to me. This was until I found Pokémon number 133, that being Eevee, the evolution Pokémon. (My mum believes it was because of my brother allowing me to have his Pokémon cards and an Eevee was in there, I honestly can't remember.)

What was it that caught my attention at first? Bare in mind I was a barely 11 probably at the time but I've just turned 21 now and my opinion is no less true, I just thought Eevee was the cutest thing I had ever seen. I adore its design, with the rabbit ears, thick mane, big eyes, tiny legs and paws as well as its big fox tail, there is nothing in Eevee's design that holds it back in my opinion.

But there was more to Eevee than just being cute, as I have already said that it's known as the Evolution Pokémon. Evolving in Pokémon is something I believe a lot of you will know very well but for those who don't, allow me to teach you; depending on particular circumstances, a Pokémon will evolve and result in becoming an all new kind of Pokémon, such as with the one that everyone knows being Pikachu, which evolves from Pichu if the bond between Pokémon and trainer is maximised and then can go on to become Raichu should it be exposed to an in-game item called a Thunderstone.

Different Pokémon evolve in different ways, mostly from levelling up as a result of winning battles but in most cases, the evolved forms always result in never steering too far from its previous form in regards to type. The Pikachu family remains Electric-Type throughout and it's very rare that you see a Pokémon have a vastly varied evolution chain, which is why Eevee is so unique.


Image courtesy of www.game7.de

Eevee can evolve into one of as of now, eight different kinds of Pokémon. Initially back in the first generation of Pokémon, the Normal-Type Eevee was joined by its three vastly different evolutions, which were the Water-Type Vaporeon, the Fire-Type Flareon and the Electric-Type Jolteon, all of which evolved from Eevee when exposed to a Water Stone, Fire Stone or Thunderstone. Followed up in the second generation, the Psychic-Type Espeon and Dark-Type Umbreon, both of which evolved when the Eevee has fully bonded with its trainer although it would evolve into Espeon during the day and Umbreon at night.

Skipping a generation and we arrive at four, and added to the list were the Grass-Type Leafeon and the Ice-Type Glaceon, which would evolve from Eevee should it level up within the vicinity of a Moss or Ice Rock located on a Pokémon game's map. Finally we find ourselves at the Fairy-Type Sylveon, the generation six addition that Eevee would evolve into should it know a Fairy-Type move and have at least two levels of Affection points from Pokémon-Amie game mode.

Eevee evolutions or as the portmanteau is, 'Eeveelutions', are incredible and if I had to pick a favourite out of the eight, it would probably be Espeon though I may have a different pick each day. It is said that Eevee's unstable genetic code results in its many different evolutionary forms due to the need to adapt to harsh surroundings, which is fascinating to me even though it's fictional.. sadly.

Also what is to say that with the juggernaut that is the Pokémon franchise at this point, that Eevee won't get more evolved forms? We may see a Dragon-Type called Dracoeon, a Poison-Type called Toxiceon or a Ghost-Type called Spookeon. But whatever joins the Eeveelution tree, one thing won't change, that being how I wouldn't evolve my Eevee.

I have always pictured myself as a Pokémon trainer with an Eevee perched up on my shoulder, because we can dream right? Boy wouldn't having Pokémon be real just be awesome? We have all had that thought, haven't we? I'd have my Eevee as my starter Pokémon, and yes I am aware of how much of a child I sound. But that never stopped me.

I'm also very aware of how much of a weird vibe this gives off because Pokémon has always been seen as a kids game, and I'm gawking over a Pokémon that is traditionally seen as quite girly since I'm only really supposed to like the cool Pokémon like Lucario, Absol and Blaziken. But I am not ashamed, because as I write this, I have my Build-A-Bear stuffed Eevee under my arm (Build-A-Bear is incredible by the way), and on my walls I have two separate Eeveelutions posters, and a few letters from my close friend Nadine. We both love Pokémon.

We will be meeting in June when I go over to her home country of the Netherlands to watch the MotoGP with her and I am so excited to finally meet her! She has drawn me a picture of an Eevee which looks incredible, she has also drawn us both as Pokémon, me as a Riolu (The pre-evolved form of Lucario) and her as an Eevee since I gave her the nickname Eevee. One time being in a Christmas card which looked like it was done very impromptu but still unbelievably detailed and emotive, and another time she drew a picture for my birthday last Monday that she has made plans to make it look even better so we can take it home and frame it.

Oh and lastly, I got her a Build-A-Bear Eevee wearing pajamas that its ears and tail can stick through that is actually sat on the end of my bed and we will be sending off to her house for Christmas. I have no clue where I was going with any of this now, I just wrote it all down and I don't want to get rid of it.

My point is, I'm not ashamed with how much I love Eevee. I used to get weird looks from my peers back in primary school but it's over 10 years later and will be another ten years and I doubt I'll grow out of it. After all, it's not how old you are but how you are old!

Finally as cheesy and cliché it may sound, I saw a fan edit of Eevee back when I was just getting into Pokémon, which was really inspirational to me. It was a load of clips from the anime revolving around episodes to do with Eevee and the Eeveelutions, and it was set to this song called No One by Aly and AJ, and seeing it as a 10 or 12 year old (Maybe even 11 lol), it was something I sat on at that point in my life.

The lyrics went something like "And I ask myself, who do I want to be? Do I want to throw away the key, and invent a whole new me? I tell myself, no one but me", and the song really suited the idea of Eevee as a whole. You have a Pokémon that has so many paths to go down in regards to what it can become, and whilst the whole world may tell you to be one thing, nobody should feel obligated to become anything other than the best version of themselves.

Ending this off, I want to know what is your dream pick of six Pokémon? If they were real, ideally what would be your selection and which one would be your main one? As you know, for me it's Eevee of course, Lucario, Blaziken, Absol, Togekiss and Milotic.

Also I highly recommend everyone goes to experience how Build-A-Bear makes their stuff. It's incredible to witness the amount of love, care and detail goes into making a Build-A-Bear, having made my Eevee when I went to Scotland having been really upset after finding out Roxy's fate in Kingsman to be cheered up with my Eevee cuddly plushie, it warmed my heart so much. I'll be heading back up to Build-A-Bear to have mine fitted with a sound device to make the noise an Eevee would.

I know it's seen as girly and childish but I'm a 21 year old man and it makes me happy. I will not compromise myself to maintain an image of forced societal manliness and close off my emotions for anyone, heck I've never held back before so why should I stop now? Eevee is one of the few things that never fails to make me happy, and if that makes me seem like less of a man then so be it.

Image is my own

Alright! That will be all from me, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to see more of my stuff then either follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or have my articles sent straight to your inbox, go to the 'Follow By Email' option if you can find it to the right of your screen.

So until we meet again!
Luca.

Making enemies

Hello you. My name is Luca but you can call me Luca. So I would be very naïve to say that this world was only ever full of love, it's unfortunate but we know fine well that there are bigots among us, and don't get me wrong, I will not stand for bigotry or discrimination in any way. But we are very quick to label someone as the enemy, and I do think it's wrong.

I won't go full Donald Trump and say "There are some fine people" among the Charlottesville protestors (Because really, there wasn't from what I could see), but I do believe the attitude of always labelling the slightest bit of opposite thinking as wrong, it isn't healthy. I remember watching a video with I believe John Cleese in it, and he spoke about how the most popular groups of people are the ones who rile people up with their opposing groups, and how the neutral middle man won't ever get anywhere near the support. This does ring so true.

Allow me to be transparent. I am a UK resident born in late 1996 so my first general election was 2015, and in both elections that have taken place whilst I can vote, I have voted for Labour in my region and I don't want anyone of you to send me an email saying how I've given power to the anti-Christ and that I'll be murdered by them because of it and I should have voted Conservative, none of that bullshit thank you.

This year's snap election was infuriating for me, not for the result but for the lead up to it, reading the very obviously biased newspapers and there was one columnist who had wrote an article pretty much demanding parents to prevent their children from going out to vote for Labour, which is disgusting. If I ever have children who don't vote for the party I vote for, the only thing that will make me question their choice is why they're voting for them.

In conversation with a close friend one time regarding the confusion over free speech and hate speech, it was really screwing with my head, but she told me something really clear to me that I honestly wish was so clear to me before. With all these people trying to legitimise a lot of hate speech and pass it off as "Oh you don't think they're entitled to being able to say anything, are you an advocate for censorship?". The very fact that this sentence was uttered is such a huge issue.

But whilst the most complicated questions in life should never have a simple answer, my friend really helped me here. The very clear answer to this question was, that unless what someone says is infringing on the rights of anybody, discriminating against them or just plain thinking that they are superior because of their race, gender or sexual orientation, that it's free speech.

I had been sitting on what she told me for a while and came to realise how toxic every environment can be due to the applied logic that everyone who doesn't confine to your beliefs is always the enemy, is just really self destructive. I find that hearing opposing views can help you see past the confines of your own echo chamber, as I do believe that it's quite destructive to only listen to people who agree with you and as a result, you could go your whole life doing wrong and you would never know by a count of your ignorance.

It's honestly quite sad that people who are on one side, seeing the other side as the enemy all the time in every case without fail. I for one am not going to become friends with someone, find out that they are Conservative party supporters and cut all ties with them, only if they were racist, sexist, homophobic, that's when I'd take an issue and I don't think it's wrong to think that way.

Another thing, why is it seen as wrong to try and think about something? If we always acted very impulsively without looking at the evidence, so many innocent people would be in prison. I am of the mentality that if something is everywhere, then it's also nowhere, that we become so desensitised to hearing an accusation that may very well be true, be we are always so ready to burn someone immediately even if it isn't true.

If let's say you're a strong Republican party supporter in the USA, I'm not trying to make you vote otherwise as this can be said for all parties as well, why do you support them? I know in the US, the Republican party are attempting to pass a bill to privatise healthcare which I think is an absolute disgrace. I don't think there's any excuse to deprive someone of healthcare just because they can't afford it, and having heard stories about people being unable to have treatment and dying as a result of not being able to pay for it, means that from an outsider's point of view at least, that the Republican party don't like the American people.

Then of course you have the people who voted Republican who are strong white supremacists, who are against LGBT rights, who want to defund or outright remove healthcare funds for anybody who can't afford it, who want to remove women or transgender people from the military, who discriminate against anyone who do not share their religious beliefs, you can't deny their existence. But at the same time, if someone voted for Trump to be president last year, you had people like that but then you had people who just needed an income, and we all need to sit back and think about why we support whoever we do.

If any of you out there vote for racists, or anyone who wants to redefine rape, or deprive people of basic rights just because of who they are, I don't put this lightly at all but shame on you if that's why you voted for them.

At the same time, not all political parties are perfect, like how the Democratic party in America are apparently more in line with sorting social issues as appose to getting the economy going for the good of the country, I believe in a good combination of both but definitely not at the expense of anyone for whatever they are. The fact that we have a president in office right now who is freely reposting stuff from a hate group is inexcusable, and I'm not going to give him the benefit of the doubt because we have seen people act impulsively and attack him for something that wasn't true. Again, if something is everywhere then it's nowhere.

But there's no excuse for hatred and bigotry, and the very fact that people in this world are of that mind-set and are so normalised in their own mind, that we are apparently wrong and unaccepting. To this I say, imagine yourself as the sort of person you hate for whatever reason, who you think you're better than, to think you don't accept them just because of what they are, not who they are, how would you feel?

Give people basic respect and basic rights. Treat others how you want to be treated, and don't stand for hatred in any form. Judge people on who they are as a person, not for their sexual orientation, not for their religious beliefs, not for their race, because everyone really is the same race, the human race.

The very fact I have to say it when it isn't just basic knowledge, it's unfortunate. But if I can end this on any note, it's just letting you know that you're entitled to any view you like as long as it isn't at the expense of anyone's basic human rights. Not everyone is your enemy, know what will constitute an actual bad person over just an opposing viewpoint, because these undermining efforts don't help anyone. When it's everywhere, then it's nowhere.

Alright! Thank you all for reading. If you're new here and fancy knowing when I next post, you can follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or if you want all my blog posts sent straight to your email inbox, look for the 'Follow By Email' option if you're on a desktop or laptop as I don't believe it works on the phone.

Hope to see all of you back here soon, so until we meet again.
Luca.

Best racing game of 2017

Image is my own from Gran Turismo Sport (Polyphony)

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. So I've gone on record as saying over the past few months, I have been obtaining new racing games, being F1 2017, Project CARS 2 and Gran Turismo Sport. Full disclaimer, I know there's also Forza Motorsport and Need For Speed Payback, the reason I am not listing them is because Forza is an Xbox exclusive and I don't have an Xbox, as for NFS, I'm not into that type of racing game, the only times I ever bought into the franchise were the Shift games.

Anyway, for the purpose of this article, it's F1 2017, Project CARS 2 and Gran Turismo Sport. All have their pros and cons, and I'll be going through them all one by one to let you know how I feel about all of them. Offering perhaps a perspective into what you may want to spend your money on, maybe even hopefully having the developers of these games see what they must improve upon. So here goes, starting off our list in chronological order of release, F1 2017.

Image is my own from F1 2017 (Codemasters)

Ever since the F1 titles moved over to the next generation of consoles, the driving feel has always felt very off. On top of that, a lot of the F1 titles made by Codemasters have had a lot of potential and never quite lived up to it for one reason or another, but for what the 2017 title is, it's by far the best F1 game both in terms of quality as well as quantity.

Immediately what puts 2017 up there is the inclusion of classic cars. Along with all the 2017 teams and cars, there is also Ayrton Senna's '88 and '91 McLaren (Though just so you know, the 1988 McLaren requires you to buy it separately, the only one that requires that of you), Nigel Mansell's '92 Williams, the V12 screaming Ferrari from '95, Damon Hill's '96 Williams, Mika Häkkinen's '98 McLaren, Michael Schumacher's two most dominant Ferrari cars from '02 and '04, Fernando Alonso's Renault from '06, Kimi Räikkönen's '07 Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton's '08 McLaren and finally, Sebastian Vettel's '10 Red Bull.

Having originally been introduced in F1 2013 on the Codemasters titles and having been absent ever since, but it really should be a mainstay of the F1 games as it does add so much to what is essentially a copy and paste yearly game pretty much. What was done with 2013 and is expanded upon in 2017 with the classic cars is that you are allowed to race them, and in 2017 the '88 McLaren and all the cars from the 90s are all categorised into a class separate to that of the cars from the 2000s since the performance gap is that much bigger.

Also with the typical track selection, you also get shorter versions of tracks such as Bahrain, Silverstone, Suzuka and USA. Slightly disappointed that we have these instead of classic F1 tracks that were in 2013 but I still find a lot of fun in them, in particular the short version of Suzuka which takes about 40 seconds to lap in a 2017 car, what I like to do is load up a multi-class race with the classic cars, get in a slower C1 car and try and take advantage of the traffic that forms from the C2 cars.

On top of that also, I really love the Championships mode where for example, you can do a Sprint Series where there are two five lap races per meeting with random grids, one-make championships or a Classic Season with classic cars on an F1 calendar reminiscent of early 2000s seasons. Along with that, you unlock invitational events that can include such modes as Checkpoint Challenge, Overtake Challenge and Pursuit, there is so much included that really do make it more than just the F1 drivers, teams and races, before we even get into career mode.

To a further degree than in the previous instalment, the career mode in this game is incredible. Along with unlocking the invitational events, the career mode is heavily invested on developing your car via the resource points you earn for participating in practice programs, where you can improve aerodynamics, the engine, the chassis and overall sustainability. You're always looking to keep developing your car, keeps you invested.

This is before I get to talking about the driving, it feels so much better than the previous two instalments of the F1 game. Putting this into context, I use a Logitech G29 wheel for my car racing games but I did play with the controller for F1 2015 and F1 2016, getting my wheel last year and I did so some driving on F1 2016 and I have to say, the handling model was appalling on those games. On F1 2017, you actually feel the weight of the car all around and you know where your wheels are, it's not just understeering and has absolutely no lack of feel at all.

Of course though I must address the fact that this game being an F1 title, it's not as free as something like Project CARS 2 or Gran Turismo Sport in regards to what it can do and include, but as far as an enjoyable racing game goes then it's definitely up there and I'd highly recommend it if that was what you were seeking. I have some very minor tweaks I'd like to see with the next F1 game, they're relatively small.

One of them is, a bit more authenticity with the way our drivers are presented. If I could point out the photo I used for the top of this section talking about F1 2017, that is an image of myself in a Ferrari next to Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes. You can tell it's me because the race number is 56, and Ferrari's drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen's race numbers are 5 and 7. But my helmet is a copy and paste, my red and yellow helmet isn't branded as it should and I'd love to see that worked on in the next game.

What I mean by that is, if I raced for Ferrari then my red and yellow design would be coated with the Ferrari logo above the visor, with Santander and Shell V-Power along with all the brands that sponsor Ferrari that you will find on their current driver's helmets. But if I switched to Mercedes, their badge above the visor with Monster Energy on either side and Petronas on top of the visor too etc. you get the point. It's a small detail but I'd love to see that, I'm amazed it has not already happened yet.

Same little details go for the driver identification. On a lot of the F1 cars are the three letter abbreviations for drivers, and you're asked to type out yours when you create a driver, I use LMR as mine but on Ferrari's car they don't show it. However if I drove for Renault or Haas, I'd like to see LMR written wherever they have the three letters, which is very nit-picky I know. Moving on.

Other things I'd love to see improved or reintroduced, on F1 2012 and F1 2013, there was the young driver test at the Yas Marina circuit, which acted as a demo and whilst I don't believe it should be forced, maybe have it as an option once you have created your character. It could give you incentive to do it by giving you resource and career points, and perhaps have it forge paths and narrow down team selection. I know there's a system in place on the current F1 games that teams will look at you and think higher or lower of you depending on what you do in races, maybe depending on who you drive for in the young driver test depends on what teams are more likely to be interested.

Something I've blabbed on about for a while now in regards to F1 games, I miss that incredible atmosphere that F1 2010 brought. It always looked so amazing both with how refined the graphics were when you were placed in the pit lane, teamed with the soothing music, I really do hope that the main menu in the next F1 game is reminiscent to that of F1 2010, I want to feel like I'm in the F1 world.

Final thing they need to re-add, split screen. They made a big deal out of it in past F1 games, it needs to return, and with Rocket League allowing split screen online as well, I believe it's necessary as my friend Matthew will often pair up with me on Rocket League and we will go online. Whether it be on my PS4 where he's labelled as my PSN ID with a (2) next to it or if I'm at his place and we are on his Xbox.

If you lot want an overall final conclusion for F1 2017 as to whether you should buy it, here's what I would say. It is the ultimate F1 enthusiasts game, it aims itself as being accessible by everyone but to truly appreciate it, you really have to be a Formula One fan, going off how the development influences your performance in career mode and the selection of classic cars, if it had none of that like F1 2015 then I would not recommend picking it up. But F1 2017 is the best F1 game that Codemasters has produced so by all means, F1 fans, pick up your copy of F1 2017 for Christmas.

Now onto number two, and one that I'm still conflicted over, Project CARS 2.

Image courtesy of www.solvetube.com

I really enjoyed the first Project CARS, it was catered more towards the motorsport enthusiast but I did understand a lot of the criticisms that it was met with. The handling model feeling too stubborn and that you couldn't drift, which I rarely did but I can respect those who do want to, so along with all of the content carried over from the first game as well as more features and promised major improvements, I was very much ready to play the follow-up and was convinced it would be the go to racing game. How is it? Well, as you can tell I am very conflicted.

Firstly I must say all the good in this game. There's so much in here, real-time weather along with a whole range of weather conditions to drive in (Including snow!), track condition evolution, rallycross racing, IndyCar and ovals (Which I have a whole new found respect for after racing them), and a career mode that really is reminiscent of a real life motor racing driver's just like in the first game. I also cannot speak the praises enough of the ability to have preset rules for all forms of motorsport to allow authenticity, and the ability to create and save online championships that can progress on for as long as you want, which is a huge step forward for us motorsport fans.

Of course there are road cars for those who love road cars (myself included) but Project CARS games have always been catered more toward the motorsport enthusiast and for the most part, it delivers and then some. However what does let this game down is the handling model.

I've been getting better as of late but it's very nervous and vague even when you're not trying to go so quickly. Personally I do find the braking to be very difficult, even with anti-lock braking I still find the tyres to move around when I am trying to slow the car down, and it makes it difficult to push. Plus saying earlier that the cars felt heavy on the first game, they feel like they've gone too far the other way on this version.

Not only that, but I can't really speak for controller players that much since I don't play Project CARS 2 on the controller but I've been told that the promise to make the handling on the pad easier for this version was not delivered. I did play the first game on controller for the longest time and I found it to be decent, but I haven't done that for the new game and I don't plan on doing so. However one thing that continues to plague this game, is user unfriendliness.

Something I personally criticised the first game for, there's so much that you can change and do to the cars that it almost feels a bit overwhelming. I know that when I raced on the first game, I couldn't set up a pit stop to have my pit crew do what I asked them to do in time for my car to pass my pit box and go back onto the track.

Overall, the game is awfully twitchy and having been getting somewhat the hang of it over the past couple of days, I still can't fully get my head around the handling model. Another really off-putting thing it tends to do is if you turn too hard, you get your side tyres developing a fuck tonne of smoke (I get this a lot in IndyCar oval racing, infact it fixes the tyres often in place), and depending on the car when you're braking for a hairpin, the car will squirm and lose mid corner torque. All very complicated stuff, and it would be considering the scale of this game.

I don't know if this game can have a quick easy fix to its handling model or not but what I can say for a fact is that Project CARS 2 is not for the casual consumer. This has the potential to be the perfect game for motorsport enthusiasts, being essentially a motorsport simulator, but aside from the major criticisms I have, there are things I'd love to see in the next game.

Something that Gran Turismo Sport has is a livery editor which I'll touch upon later, along with overalls and helmet colouring, this is something I believe could be expanded upon in Project CARS 3. Again with Project CARS' motorsport centred focus, this livery editor could perhaps work in a way that would make it possible to have your own team and you create your own custom liveries for the cars you race.

Again I cannot stop talking about the motorsport centred focus of the Project CARS games and its career mode in the first game was the best you could have in my opinion, and the follow-up did also include it though I must say, again as is the case with these games, there needs to be a balance.

The first game, I could not get the hang on the karting circuits and I did very much rush through the karting phase in the first game, though trading that for what you get in Project CARS 2 is no progression at all. If you wanted, you could just jump straight into the top of the motorsport tree rather than have to climb through the smaller ranks. I would very much prefer to begin in Formula Rookie, Ginetta Juniors, Renault Clio Cup etc.

Speaking of the progression system, small nit-pick but the choice to remove the Formula B car was a pretty bad one and to have the top of the single seater category be IndyCar when you had not only Formula A but also Formula X. I do think the single seater ladder needs some tweaks as IndyCar may very well be single seaters but not on the exact same ladder as the Formula championships.

I've already gone on about it before but for a game like this, I'd love to see a racing school that would perhaps place you in certain scenarios such as, when is the best time to change from wet tyres to dry tyres on a drying track or how to save fuel approaching the dying laps of the Indy 500 when everyone else is pitting and winning it like Alexander Rossi did last year. I know that Project CARS has a great toy box to pick from and the potential for this could be game changing, since it's no secret that the majority of the gamers aren't all motorsport diehards. I'd love to learn a lot about these things, rather than the boring cone slalom challenges on Gran Turismo games.

Overall, as much as I want to recommend Project CARS 2, I can't. Especially to the casual consumer, give this a miss but if you're like me with a force feedback wheel and a big motorsport enthusiast then you can work with it and I do hope it would improve, even though I expected it to be great from the start.

Last but not least, we are now going to talk about Gran Turismo Sport.


Image courtesy of https://www.youtube.com/user/PlayStation

If you've followed by blog for a while, you'll be well aware of how vocal I was leading up to the release of GT Sport which I will get to. Now I will say that whilst Project CARS 2 was a very difficult driving game for any casual gamer, GT Sport's handling model and online racing system does make it that much more appealing and accessible to the casual gamer.

Okay let's just talk about what I don't appreciate about this game, that I have been complaining about for quite a while, and that is? The lack of circuits, both real and original. The reason why this annoyed me was because in the last GT game (Gran Turismo 6), we had a whole bunch of great top-line FIA real world circuits like Le Mans, Spa, Monaco, Silverstone, Monza, Red Bull Ring, Fuji etc. and considering the FIA is collaborating to create online racing championships with this game, you'd expect GT Sport to have these tracks. But it doesn't.

Not only that but there's a considerable lack of GT original tracks, some of which I know would have been incredible with the racing that can happen in this game. This incredible racing coming from a sportsmanship system which will match you up in races with people who are as quick and clean driving as you, and couple that with the categorisation system that GT Sport has (Which I will get onto), it's just a shame there's such a lack of circuits.

That categorisation I just spoke about, is incredible. I remember back in the day, I really wanted to put together a racing championship between my friends and I but we lacked any sort of major racing category that would make it interesting, we only had Japanese Super GT's back on Gran Turismo 5 and it never sat well with me having them race on circuits that they wouldn't typically race on. If I still had that ambition and all my friends remained in touch, GT Sport would be the perfect game (If it had a decent amount of tracks).

But back on topic, you have the stock production cars labelled as Group N and are all split up via their horsepower into their own individual divisions. So any car you have that develops let's say around 300 horsepower are placed in the N300 class and only cars with any sort of figure of horsepower around that will be able to race alongside you, which can open itself up to allowing a load of cars pushing the edges of the horsepower whilst being extremely light. Road car races aren't that common but they happen and if you want to use your Subaru Impreza road car and make it as fair as possible, you are at least capable.

Then we have the racing cars. This includes Group 4 which is very basic modified versions of production cars, Group 3 which is a universally beloved category and a step up from Group 3 in terms of car model modifications and performance but still retaining the shell of production models. Both are very balanced and feature a variety of models, some of which are real life GT4 and GT3 race cars and the others which the manufacturers that create the models don't have a racing version of in either of those categories.

Other than that you have Group 1 made up of Le Mans Prototype cars, Group B which consist of Rally cars and finally the Group X category filled without restrictions, any car that doesn't confine to any of the regulations, everything from safety cars to the bonkers 400mph SRT Tomahawk X. You also have Vision Gran Turismo cars, a set of cars that were made in collaboration with the makers of GT and car brands, including that SRT Tomahawk car.

One major criticism though of GT Sport is the lack of single player content, since this game is mainly focused on the multiplayer aspect. However, as of November 27th (My birthday!), the game will include free of charge, new content to satisfy that corner of the community, and by corner I think I mean near damn well the whole room. I've said it before regarding the circuits but this is something that really should be in the game from day one. It seems like these days that games really are not complete and then tacking on extras, but more pieces of the puzzle are dished out every so often, mostly for a cost. Polyphony are doing great here in regards to adding content, Kazunori Yamauchi has promised that all content added to GT Sport is free and I do applaud that.

But this game as of now, isn't complete. I am obviously glad with all that is in this game and how incredibly accessible and easy on the user it is, but it does feel like a lot of what should have been in the game from the start isn't in it, just the basics, not anything extra.

Though with that being said, the social features in this game are great. You can create liveries for cars and share them online for other players to download, which I have been doing with my friends. I helped my friend James create a black and green livery for his Group 3 Lamborghini Huracán, along with my friend Charlie with an incredible chrome-blue livery with an immense arrangement of decals on the rear of a Group 3 Audi R8, and finally my other friend Ahmed who loves Mercedes so if he gets GT Sport, we created a Group 3 SLS livery consisting of his signature grey and orange colour scheme. Couple that in with my red and yellow McLaren 650S Group 3 car and I know we are going to have some great races. (You can actually see my McLaren, Charlie's Audi and James' Lamborghini in the picture at the start of this article)

I can say without a doubt that GT Sport is worth buying, and it's Black Friday weekend so it's on discount on the PlayStation Store so get it while you can if you want to have great and fair, balanced online racing but bare in mind that this game really doesn't have everything. You do run into a wall very quickly (not literally), plus the cars have to be bought with currency that you win whilst racing unless you win them on a lucky spin after completing daily mileage of completing a challenge (though I can say from experience, it can be bullshit sometimes).

But overall GT Sport is a great game and by no means am I saying that it's the best one to have in every circumstance and category. F1 2017 has great racing but is in its own little bubble, Project CARS 2 is immense and vast in scale but you need to be precise, isn't as user friendly and you need to be very into the complex side of racing.

However, I say this for you non PlayStation users, GT Sport is a PS exclusive and the Xbox alternate Forza Motorsport's latest entry is apparently very arcade-like in its handling physics but still maintains a slight sense of realism. It also utilises a very controversial loot-box system that have been mentioned in the same breath as Star Wars Battlefront 2 and the recent Call Of Duty titles, and I am going to write an article in the coming weeks about such a thing so stay tuned for that.

I can say for PlayStation users that GT Sport is by far the best game to pick but of course it all depends on what you like, and for Xbox users then Forza is probably also your best bet but don't quote me on it. We are all very deprived of range, really.

Let's say that on a graph, the left is arcade-like racing games and the right is very much simulator style racing games, where do we put these games on a scale? At least for console peasants like myself, you PC master race people with your iRacing, Raceroom etc. can shush for a moment. Need For Speed is very much on the left and it works for what it is, Project CARS is the right and a bit to its side but still on the right are F1 2017 and Gran Turismo Sport, then we have Forza Motorsport 7 which is slightly in the middle riding that line. There are different consumers for these different games.

As we are on Black Friday sales weekend and we are coming up to Christmas, take all of this information as you want but above all else, enjoy racing and enjoy it with your friends or whoever you meet in racing communities.

Alright! Thank you all for reading and I do hope I have helped you out here. If you are new here, either follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or put your email in the 'Follow By Email' option in the top right if you're on a computer version of this site as appose to a phone. Hope to see you all back here very soon.

So until we meet again,
Luca.

Streaming Service Takeover

Image courtesy of www.twitter.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. We all love binge watching Netflix, don't we? Assuming you have Netflix. What, you don't? Peasant.

Nah don't worry, I get it. You probably can't afford it and honestly with all the pies you need to put your fingers in these days, but that's something I want to talk about because with the understandable attitude of making money that corporations have, how much is too much? Well I can already answer that so allow me.

So to put this into context, I already have Netflix and Amazon Prime. My brother lets me use his Netflix and my parents bought into Amazon Prime, on top of all the sports channels that we have which eats into our savings, I try to remain as grounded and grateful as I can be in regard to what my parents allow me to have. But for the purpose of this article, I will talk about the streaming services that we have.

I wanted Netflix after I heard that Marvel were developing shows to stream exclusively on the platform that were all interconnected, they being Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, the team up show The Defenders and last but not least, The Punisher. I have gone on to enjoy plenty of other exclusive shows such as Stranger Things and Gypsy, as well as finding a load of movies I wouldn't have been able to find elsewhere. As for Amazon Prime, we got it after The Grand Tour was announced but I don't really use it for much else since we can't use it on any other device other than the TV in the living room, and I don't like depriving my parents of their own source of entertainment.

The impact that these services have had are really becoming a pain for traditional broadcasted television, since the modern day consumer doesn't align with broadcasting's placing of time, meaning it's more now becoming if a consumer has time for their media rather than the media having time for the consumer. Even before streaming services were popularised, I remember my parents buying a Sky box for our TV when I was young because I wanted to watch Dora The Explorer right when the school bus arrived.

So with this growing demand in mind for streaming services, it seems that every single production company now want a bite of the pie. This coming as Disney have announced that they will be pulling all their properties from Netflix and other streaming services, and placing not only their existing movies and shows (this including Disney owned brands such as Marvel and Star Wars) but also original content onto their own streaming service.

Now, this worries me ever so slightly. If I could liken it to anything, it's like Britain leaving the European Union or Catalonia leaving Spain, by that I mean it could spark a whole chain reaction of other production companies breaking off and making their own streaming services. All the power to these companies because I can't expect them to appeal to the convenience of the consumer at the expense of losing a shit tonne of money, I feel like there's a line that may be crossed here.

Just putting aside for a second the belief that Netflix may lose out big time, I honestly believe with the original series' and the small independent movies, that this could mean for a big boost for the indies and Netflix as well as all the other streaming services. I think they'll be fine, what concerns me is the possible hit in the pocket for us, the consumer.

Think about it, imagine a household of people who want to watch all these amazing movies by these studios as well as all these great shows they're hearing about, like that upcoming Star Wars TV show, but they're already paying way too much as it is. I mean, such a high profile show as Star Wars would probably be on top of their priority list but my point is, if Fox make a streaming service and Warner Brothers make a streaming service as do Universal and DreamWorks as well as Paramount and MGM, okay maybe a some of those wouldn't as they're a bit obscure.

Regardless, do you see my point? I call this the 'pizza' effect, no not the kind it has on me where I can't move for a few hours after consuming it. What I mean is, if you make the pizza too big with the same amount of cheese, then eventually it'll become hallow and not taste as nice. I'd hope that metaphor works because I think it does.

I honestly believe this will majorly screw with the consumer, with too much being asked of them for too little of a reward, I honestly think this will backfire. It just takes the companies big enough to be able to have their own separate service to do it before the much smaller money hungry people to perform a reactionary move, think the demand is there for their properties to be successful in their own right on their own streaming service, see how weak it does and temporarily screw over the consumer.

Again, I can't fault them for wanting to make money, it's how the world works, but there has to be a balance because if these companies try and break off into their own individual streaming services then we won't be able to pay all of them unless we were all very rich, which we aren't. This is why I have a proposal to make, and this applies to all streaming services.

Okay so let's say we can have an incredibly basic membership, the service is free (Hold on, it isn't all clear cut) but, advertisements play. I would hope people would understand that if they don't part with money, then they'll have to watch advertisements and I don't see that as a bad trade off, I mean one issue could be if someone installs AdBlock then maybe a workaround could be this type of membership only be allowed on gaming consoles or part of a TV package as appose to a computer which can utilise AdBlock.

I know that sounds a bit too good to be true and it probably is, an alternative would be paying an extremely small sum and still getting advertisements running, but maybe a free membership where you have to pay to buy the films or series that you want to watch, like what they do on YouTube. Which sounds shit, like getting a mobile game where it's free but to do literally anything, you have to buy it, but I don't mean it as in a progression necessity but more just buying what you know you want to watch.

If Amazon had it, I could just buy all episodes of The Grand Tour and be on my way. Maybe if I was interested in watching Preacher or definitely the upcoming Hanna series, I would buy those as well and not bother looking elsewhere. Maybe you could charge per series and only have access to them either on rent for a fraction of the cost for buying them completely.

I am of course trying to strike a balance between consumer engagement and corporate profit, I don't claim to be an expert in any of these areas of course so if there's a detail I have missed, feel free to tell me in the comment section below. That's the thing about me, I have the basic outlines for an idea that I wouldn't have proposed if I didn't see a benefit everywhere, and leave it to the actual experts to refine it ready for execution or discussion.

However, don't say I'm being naïve because I'm not, I know for a fact that the head of Disney won't read this and act on it thinking it's in the best interest. I'm just worried for the future of entertainment should everyone start thinking they need to divide everything into their own piece of the consumer pie and really screwing us over. That's why I'd like to see my solution implemented, but I know it won't happen, at least not now when the corporations have the dollar sign eyes.

If there's anything I'd like to end on, it's again that we need to be hopeful but remain realistic, this inevitable implosion of greed will be a huge inconvenience of us but as ever, we are all part of this environment and either it will destroy us or it will change. If we speak with our wallets, of course it will change but because of how I see it going, not only will it be a case of us having to speak with our wallets or refusing to bow to the system, we will just be physically unable to do so.

So let's brave this corporate storm and I'll see you out on the other side.

Thank you everyone for reading. As ever if you're new here, follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat and if you're on laptop, look for the Follow By Email option if you want to have my articles sent straight to your inbox. Before I bid you my farewell, I want to ask, if I gave this blog a new name, what would you guys come up with? I kind of want to include the word 'Blab' in there, I kind of like the word and it works with my articles being very much blabs. Keep the word Red in there, so right now I have Red's Blab. Not sure how I feel about it on its own, let me know any ideas you have.

Anyway, so until we meet again.
Luca.

Dean Stoneman - A recovery drive

Image courtesy of www.autosport.com

Note from Luca: Hi everyone, I have a personal update after the article but I didn't feel like it was appropriate to ramble nonsensically about myself at the start. If you give a shit, read what I have to say after my article. Thank you.

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca, and motorsport this season has been quite the enjoyable ride for myself in all disciplines. I am always looking toward not only the top level championships like Formula One, MotoGP, World Endurance, Touring Cars etc. but also as you know, looking down the ladder for the upcoming champions of tomorrow.

However back when I was just getting myself invested in just Formula One and not knowing too much about the junior formulae, I remember hearing about the battle going on for the 2010 Formula Two championship between now former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer and a guy named Dean Stoneman. Whoever ended up winning would participate in a young driver test with the Williams F1 team at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi after the season had concluded.

Stoneman ended up winning the championship, he participated in the young driver test and was poised to race for the following year in the Formula Renault 3.5 series alongside now Red Bull F1 race winner Daniel Ricciardo, but was forced to withdraw after Stoneman was diagnosed with very severe testicular cancer.

From what I had been researching, Stoneman's cancer was so severe that he was scheduled to go in for treatment immediately and very nearly had to have his legs amputated, with it having been Stage IV which had spread to his lungs and abdomen. This story as you can probably already tell, has a happy ending and Dean is still thankfully alive and seemingly in good health, despite a few of the side effects that continue to plague him, that being lack of feeling in his legs.

What followed has been a remarkable story, Stoneman returned to motor racing in 2012 competing in powerboat racing (Where his father Colin had been a previous champion), with the aim of returning to full fitness. Stoneman went on to claim the championship in P1 SuperStock UK championship that same year and he was fully focused on getting back into cars, and made his return with the BTCC support series Porsche Carrera Cup GB for 2013.

This is where it hits close to home for me because I went to Croft that year with the sole intention of meeting Deano. His return to car racing had caused many strong headlines as he was setting the world alight with his Carrera Cup results, including a double win on his debut at Brands Hatch. He maintained a strong level of results, including a win the day before I attended the Croft BTCC race day event, before seemingly taking victory on that day, though later he got excluded.

Dean was disqualified for a very aggressive manoeuvre on reigning champion Michael Meadows and the rails came off of his championship charge, with a race meeting ban after accumulating too many points on his racing licence for overly aggressive racing. He ended up fifth in the final championship results, which was an incredible effort anyway considering the circumstances, and I believed Stoneman would have a great GT career ahead of him since an enclosed cockpit of a single seater may prevent him from moving his legs around as much as he needed. I was wrong.

In the twilight of that year, Stoneman was drafted in to race in the season finale for the GP3 championship in Abu Dhabi, with the intention to just be there to test the car after the event. Stoneman surprised everyone with a very respectable sixth place in race one which meant a third place start for the second race, and improving to second place in the race. Again, one remarkable result and propelled Stoneman right back in the thick of it in single seaters, looking at an attempt to reconquer.

For 2014, Stoneman remained in GP3 and took victories at Catalunya, Spa and Monza with the Manor team before jumping ships to Koiranen (who he raced for in the previous year's final round) and taking further victories at Sochi and Yas Marina. He ended the year second in the championship behind Alex Lynn, and was snatched up by the ever trying Red Bull Junior Team at the expense of Lynn for the following year.

Back where he had intended to go before he had to stop racing, Formula Renault 3.5 for 2015 and Dean delivered some very respectable results but not setting the world alight, and after a late bargain in GP2 in the latter part of that year, Stoneman didn't look set to make it to Formula One. So he began looking over the Atlantic, and sealed himself a drive in the IndyCar feeder series Indy Lights with the Andretti Autosport squad for 2016.

This gamble looked to have paid off, as Dean Stoneman took two victories including the Freedom 100, Indy Lights' equivalent of the Indianapolis 500 after an incredible last-lap battle with eventual 2016 Indy Lights champion Ed Jones, separated by 0.0022 at the line! He finished fifth in the championship and as far as I am aware, spent this year pretty much on the side-lines with only a guest drive in the Blancpain GT Series.

I know this is almost written out like a Wikipedia page but I want to get across how great of a driver Dean is and that he deserves a race seat in IndyCar and I so hope he does get one. With the Carlin team moving into IndyCar as early as next year, I'd love to see Dean as well as another great British driver who I have had the fortune of meeting, Jack Harvey possibly race for them, though I'm aware Carlin already have one drive taken so it would have to be between those two for the other ride. Either way, I'd hope they both make it into IndyCar full time but I am talking of course here about Dean.

With this incredible story about his recovery, and considering IndyCar being an American sport, I think Stoneman would fit perfectly over there when you take into account the coverage he would get. Which sounds quite shallow without context but considering sponsorship plays a huge part in helping drivers get into racing, I don't think it's particularly wrong to say it.

Of course if there's anything I can say, it's that Dean Stoneman isn't just "the racing driver who had cancer", it happened and it derailed probably a much more successful career but he has risen above it. He doesn't deserve to have the wheels come off of his racing car, and the moral of this article is that neither does anyone else.

I purposely wanted to write this for a November release, since we now are all thinking about cancer awareness. Cancer affects all of us whether it be actually us or someone we love, and whether that battle is lost or won, things are never the same but it's always up to us to overcome it.

Speaking for myself, my mum had cancer back when I was too young to understand, and thankfully she is alive and well to this day, and I feel like if I didn't have her, my life would have turned out so incredibly differently and not in any way for the better. I can't speak really for the countless families because I was too young to understand what was going on and it wasn't until years later that I learned of the gravity of the situation.

At the time and over time, I didn't suffer the emotional trauma of the possibility of my mum dying and of course she is still alive so it's no place of mine to speak on behalf of the countless numbers out there. I do however know that I will more than likely go through it in some way, and I think I'll be ready and I'll try and rise above it, whatever form it takes.

My hope is one day, maybe in my lifetime or maybe not, that cancer can be beaten. But until then, take it from Dean Stoneman as one of the many examples of rising above this awful disease, thank you all for reading.

Personal update: Hello everyone, hope you enjoyed my article. So it has been a fair few weeks after my last blog post saying I'd take a break. I am motivated to write and I have a few ideas for articles to write here, but I'd be lying if I said everything was perfect, because of course it never is.

I'm still absolutely furious and devastated about the new Kingsman movie and how they've disrespected the characters and the cult following, and I have not budged. My petition now has over 550 supporters (Link here if you'd like to sign: https://www.change.org/p/matthew-vaughn-bring-back-roxy-in-kingsman) and I also volunteered to write for LRM Online about it all, which I believe is my best work yet (Link to that here: http://lrmonline.com/news/how-kingsman-the-golden-circle-screwed-over-female-fans/).

I wrote an email to Marv films a few days ago and I'll be phoning them on Monday to see if they got it. This will not go away for me as this means too much to me, I know my own state as I do reset back into getting incredibly worked up about this and it's the new norm for me with something distracting me and lifting me up temporarily, but it's manageable. I have some amazing and supportive people around me and I can smile despite this shitty situation. I won't be making a habit of these rambling personal updates.

We all fight our own little battles, I just chose to make mine public because I needed a way out. Where I can put my thoughts and not go nuts, of course there's a privacy line but I know where to cross it, at least I would hope that I do. So I appreciate a lot of you who were concerned for me, and I will want to continue posting at the rate that I wanted to, at least three articles per month, but I won't push myself considering the circumstances.

Thank you again everyone, so until we meet again,
Luca.

Taking a break

Hello everyone. Sorry to have to spring this upon you, but with the Roxy in Kingsman situation, I feel incapable of thinking about anything else.

I sense that my mental health is deteriorating, and I won't stop until I have some closure and/or an answer. Last night, I plucked up the courage to watch the scene in the new Kingsman movie of Roxy diving under her bed in the Kingsman mansion before it is blown up and collapses.

I haven't slept since, and I am on a mission like a man possessed to find an answer. As pathetic as it sounds, this does mean a lot to me and your concern is appreciated but not necessary.

The reason why I feel the need to post this here is because I did plan on writing so many articles on here during October and the subsequent months. But this has consumed me and it wouldn't be fair on you to turn my blog into a Roxy from Kingsman ritual or whatever you would call it.

If anything, my return may be a lot earlier than even I expect. As is always the case with all my articles, they're always written in a very impromptu and sporadic manner which is how I like writing my stuff, so who knows? Maybe tomorrow, something will happen that I feel very keen to talk at length about, and I'll go back on my promise of taking a break.

But as of now, I'm not in a good place. I know how pathetic I come across as, I know fine well that this is "just a movie" but it was always so much more than that to me.

Regardless though, I don't think it's fair on all of you if I continue pouring my heart out regarding all of this and you lot get fed up of it. So I will be taking what I plan to be an extended break from writing on here, and either I'll return every so often to write something I believe to be worth writing about, or full time once this shitty situation is sorted.

My apologies to all of you. I want to be better, I want to wake up from this awful dream where I don't have so much hatred, so little power and influence, so much frustration yet so little in the way of actual resolution. Because nobody is going to change anything out of pity, I wouldn't want that.

So I'll see you all soon. I hope there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

Bye for now.
Luca.

Kingsman is ruined for me

Image courtesy of metro.co.uk

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. I'm sure you've already read my last blog entry, which technically isn't an article but an open letter to the director of both Kingsman movies, Matthew Vaughn. As you've probably guessed, I am no longer a fan of the Kingsman franchise, since I am disgusted by the new movie and how Matthew Vaughn has given us Kingsman fans a massive middle finger.

I feel like such an idiot for supporting this franchise, expecting something as huge as not killing off Roxy but then believing that they would never stoop as low as they did in terms of blatant sexism. I am getting ahead of myself, and for what it's worth, spoiler warning for Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and you could probably say "Spoilers? You've already just told me that Roxy dies", and to that I say, well she dies within the first 10 minutes and is treated like nothing so it's no spoiler at all.

So it isn't just killing off Roxy immediately that has got my blood boiled, and even the fact that JB the pug is killed in the explosion along with Roxy. Yes, you want the audience to root for Eggsy but it seems absolutely needless to kill off Roxy, it honestly feels like a proper punch in the gut, when she was such a great character and they could have done so much with her. Plus you could say they go after Poppy to avenge Roxy but they don't mention her at all afterwards and for the rest of the movie.

Let's transition to the overall sexism, because what better way than to kill off the sole woman Kingsman agent who we got so much of in the first movie? Ignoring Roxy (Like Matthew Vaughn did) for a moment, how about we move swiftly to the scene in this movie that has gotten everyone talking, and not in a good way. Eggsy goes to a music festival and has to seduce the ex-girlfriend of Charlie and place a tracking device in her for whatever reason, and what results is Eggsy inserting it into her vagina and you see a CGI animation of Eggsy's finger inside her and the device settling in there, using a woman's body as a means to provide comedic value.

Okay so in the first film when Eggsy was offered anal sex by the Swedish princess Tilde, I could chuckle at it since I know it was referencing Moore era Bond, but could understand why people thought it was sexist since Eggsy asked for a kiss after freeing her. Also beforehand, Roxy who had actually won the Kingsman candidate position was sent up to take out one of the villain's satellites whilst Eggsy fought on the ground and got the reward at the end.

I have defended the first film for this, because Eggsy's mum was in an abusive relationship and Eggsy still loves her despite being unable to muster the strength to leave her abusive partner, and Eggsy wants what is best for her and his little half-sister. Because Roxy was never portrayed as playing up to being a woman among a predominantly male environment and infact bonded with Eggsy due to the fact that they were a lower class and a woman among higher class men, and that they broke the trend of the upper class male only agents. Roxy was never overly sexualised, that her make-up was always at a minimum and the only time she wore anything over than trousers was a long and sleeved dress.

So now we are where we are today. Roxy dead within the first ten minutes without even five minutes of screen time after feeding exposition to Eggsy and looking up information on Tilde's parents (Since Eggsy and Tilde are now dating), before being sent to meet her fucking maker. We have an actual fingering scene which Taron Egerton has stated that he did not feel comfortable filming, and also how at the end of the film when Jeff Bridges' Agent Champagne offered the vacated role of Agent Whiskey to Eggsy and Harry, with Halle Berry's Ginger having to beg to be considered. We even had the President of the US' female chief of staff cower in his presence, like it couldn't be more obvious.

Kingsman felt like a great platform to go against stereotypes and with Eggsy being the main character, I felt there was so much potential to utilise these amazing set of characters in such a unique world. I hate how I suckered myself into this and believing with all my heart that they wouldn't stoop this low, and I know all of you are thinking "Well they brought back Harry, they'll bring back Roxy", let me put it this way.

The fact that we have to rely on that, is an absolute joke. Little known fact, Roxy never existed in the Mark Millar comic The Secret Service that Kingsman is loosely based on, and whilst none of the other characters did either, there were characters in the original comic that inspired the movie characters. Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin was Gary 'Eggsy' London, Harry Hart was Eggsy's Uncle Jack, Merlin was Rupert Greaves and Arthur was Sir Giles, but Roxy never had one so they could just not have bothered.

But they did, they created such a great character who was never exemplified, and any effort for me to be noticed here is not so Kingsman becomes the Roxy Morton show, but to treat this character with some respect and to treat the audience with some respect. I say that not only because the cult following that made Kingsman what it is, but also because in this world of Kingsman to be suckered into any sort of emotional investment with character deaths to only bring them back will lose its tension. It is a lose lose situation if they choose to bring back Roxy, JB and Merlin in the same way they brought back Harry and even Charlie for fuck sake!

But at least with Harry and Merlin, their characters have been fleshed out and I could understand why they killed Harry off in the first Kingsman, and Merlin in the second although be it to a lesser extent. Roxy is killed immediately and swept under the rug, she never had the time to develop and what is even more insulting is that if they had not killed her, she may very well have been reduced to being the one behind the computer (Like she pretty much was before she was fried) a lot like what Ginger was. Despite the fact that she won the test to become a Kingsman field agent.

Shelving Roxy so we get more Tilde too, ey? Oh if it puts things into perspective, the Twitter account @EgertonUpdates put out a poll asking who everyone's favourite Kingsman duo alongside Eggsy was, out of Harry, Merlin, Roxy and Tilde. 62% voted Harry, myself and 20% voted for Roxy and 18% voted for Merlin. Add that up in your head (or on a calculator) to work out what percentage voted for Tilde.

If it wasn't bad enough, Tilde is constantly pushed as a main character so much and whilst I was onboard with Tilde going against the Bond trope of throwaway girls to have sex with and not think about again, it becomes overbearing to think that they shelved Roxy for her. According to an article I am looking at, she apparently nags Eggsy and tries to distract him, and at the end, this was the cherry on the cake, they marry and Eggsy retires from Kingsman.

The first movie was all about making something of yourself, so for Eggsy to become a Swedish prince and retire from the Kingsman completely undoes all of that.

Fuck Kingsman: The Golden Circle and fuck Matthew Vaughn for ruining the Kingsman franchise, steering it in the worst direction, never expected to say that at the start of this year. I know I've been foaming from the mouth but this shit meant so much to me, and I feel like an absolute idiot for supporting the franchise. I know for a fact that I probably won't have any effect since the movie was released last weekend and it has already made its production budget back.

But for what it is worth, I want to see Roxy back and if I was in a perfect world, to undo all that Golden Circle did but beggars cannot be choosers. The fact that I had to do this is infuriating, but I created a petition which as of now has 120 supporters, and I will never shut up about it until I have an effect. Link to my petition here: https://www.change.org/p/matthew-vaughn-bring-back-roxy-in-kingsman

If anything, I'd really want to see Vaughn ousted from his own franchise as I believe he is irredeemable and indefensible, but it won't happen. Fuck me right? Getting so invested in these characters to only be told "Fuck you", who to trust other than myself? I guess it's better to be deluded and live in your own little world where people have basic decency.

Roxy deserved better. The Kingsman cult following deserved better. We made this franchise as beloved as it was, but I guess expecting these characters to be expanded upon and treating women with respect was too much to ask for the Kingsman franchise. I am just exhausted, I have shed too many tears because of Roxy and this movie infuriates me. I was the biggest Kingsman fan and the fact that I have condemned it as much as I have should speak volumes to you. I'll be betting all my money and all my body parts that Ginger will be killed off in Kingsman 3.

That will be all. Fuck Kingsman.

Luca.

An open letter to Matthew Vaughn

Image courtesy of 20thCenturyFoxUK

Dear Mr. Vaughn,

My name is Luca and I have been one of your biggest supporters and a former diehard fan of the Kingsman franchise, and since the first trailer was revealed in April this year for the upcoming follow-up to that incredible first movie, I have wanted to be excited, but could not for one reason. And now, my reason is seemingly, justified.

You introduced us to this amazing world that we all fell in love with, and some amazing characters like Eggsy, Harry, Merlin, and the subject of this open letter, Roxy.

People criticise the first film for some sexism, a lot I can understand where they're coming from, like how Roxy is cut out of the final action scene despite out of her and Eggsy, she actually was the official Kingsman agent. The other one being Eggsy being offered anal sex if he saved the world by the Swedish princess, and I have defended you with these choices Mr. Vaughn, but now I can't.

My fear ever since the first trailer was revealed back in April was that Roxy was killed in the attack on the Kingsman HQ, since we didn't see her past that point in any of the marketing and the fact that she never had her own character poster - or she eventually did after the uproar from social media but using a photo from the first film - and I held out hope because I believed in what you would do would be right, and I was a fool!!

ROXY DIES IN THE NEW KINGSMAN MOVIE!!!

Matthew Vaughn, I reserve this statement for only when it is really necessary, I am so disappointed in you.

Roxy was such an amazing character with so much potential, who has been thrown in the refrigerator so that Eggsy is motivated to go after the big baddie Poppy.

You know, as I am writing this, I am constantly checking Twitter to see if I'm an idiot and it turns out she isn't killed off but from what I have heard from reviewers that I watch on YouTube and from what I have read, she is. Also, don't give me that bullshit that Roxy can be resurrected like Harry has been for the new film, Colin Firth is a name that sells movie tickets and that's why he's back, Sophie Cookson isn't.

On the other hand, this could all turn out to be Cookson's call. In which case, I am disappointed in her but I very much doubt that it was her call, though I won't rule it out. But I can't see that being the case.

I rewatched Kingsman multiple times, I saw so much potential in this franchise because of the characters and lore, I have even written off to games companies, trying to get in touch with Millarworld at Netflix to try and push for video games and a TV show of the Kingsman. I even had a perfect voice actress in mind to voice Roxy being Cara Theobold, I had not thought of anyone else who could voice the rest of the characters!

I even had the idea for the third Kingsman film to begin with Eggsy and Roxy going to an F1 Grand Prix in London as a part of Lewis Hamilton's VIP guests (Since I went to Huntsman and saw Lewis had his suits made there). There they meet the villain played by Leonardo DiCaprio and a terror attack happens in which Eggsy and Roxy are forced to go into hiding when they're exposed and falsely accused of the attack.

Just mentioned it briefly there, I did go to Huntsman and I met Carol Pierce, and she promised me that she would forward every idea I had about Kingsman to you, and to be honest I didn't want to be too comfortable with that. I obviously heard nothing back from you, and I don't hold that against you but the least you could do is respect the audience.

I obviously can't sit here and expect you to compromise your artistic vision for the sake of appealing to the audience, because nothing coherent would ever work. But at what point did you sit down with your pen and paper or your laptop, decide to kill off Roxy and for us to be okay with that?!

Being a fan of something or someone doesn't mean you have to be okay with everything they do, be a yes man and let said entity walk on through life making constant mistakes, if anything we should call them out on their shit. That's exactly what I am doing with you.

I bet once you heard about the constant uproar on Twitter with people demanding more Roxy did you think that you had made a fatal error? That the marketing team had to pull an old image of Roxy from the first film to give her a character poster because nobody would fucking shut up about her.

Again, you can't resurrect her now like you've done with Harry and Charlie. Harry was your only card to play, that if you kept resurrecting dead characters that the audience would realise "Why bother getting emotionally invested, they'll be alive in the sequel anyway!". Why do you think that Marvel Cinematic Universe movies don't grip their audience anymore, and that people are waiting for Pietro, Yondu and The Ancient One to be resurrected in Infinity War?

The people I feel sorry for the most here, are the ones who were completely oblivious to this possibility, the Sophie Cookson fan accounts who are excited to see their woman in action to then only be buried in the rubble all burnt whilst Eggsy saves the day.

I have been sleepless at night because I was worried for Roxy's fate, and I refuse to watch this movie since my worst fear has been realised.

You're going to have some explaining to do when the internet attacks you for killing off the sole Kingsman woman, and they'll be justified in their actions when they say you're sexist. I don't care how much it's about Eggsy, why did you even bother introducing Roxy? She didn't even exist in the original Secret Service comic by Mark Millar so you could have just not bothered and the world would keep spinning.

But you had to hold this metaphorical piece of chicken over your dog's face to only throw it out the window and tell us to sit down and shut up. I am not exaggerating, I am seeing the live feed right now on my Twitter and it's full of "If they kill Roxy in Kingsman, I am not watching". Looks like you've just lost a huge chunk of your audience!

You are a disgrace, you're irredeemable and indefensible, I am so disappointed that you decided to do this and I cannot bring myself to support your work again. Don't even bother bringing Roxy back, you had a good thing going and you fucking ruined it by killing off such a great character even when you already had a lot of potential by bringing back a seemingly deceased character in Harry.

I will not support anything you are attached to in the future, and it saddens me that it has come to this.

Your former supporter,
Luca.

P.S. We, will, NOT, shut up about this.

#JusticeForRoxy
#BoycottKingsman

Why Leia should be recast

Image courtesy of www.bustle.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. I never grew up with the Star Wars movies, and I am waiting on the original trilogy to be restored to their original cuts before Lucas ruined them, but I have seen The Force Awakens and I loved it. I loved the characters, the feel of the storytelling as it very old school, the scale of the film, the incredible visuals, the energy, all of it made for such a great film.

I have also followed the other films that are being made which also exist within the Star Wars universe, such as Rogue One which I thought was amazing. I am highly anticipating the upcoming ones like the seemingly troubled Han Solo movie, potentially an Obi-Wan standalone with Ewan McGregor and of course, the two remaining episodic movies including this December's The Last Jedi.

However as you all know, the Star Wars universe was hit with some tragic news last December when the absolutely wonderful Carrie Fisher - who played Princess Leia - suddenly passed away after suffering a heart attack. I was distraught as I had only really come to know Carrie Fisher during the build up to The Force Awakens, so I can only imagine how upsetting it was to everyone who grew up watching her as Leia.

With the very unfortunate news that Fisher had passed, the question had to be asked eventually, what happens to the character? Because with the new trilogy not finished yet, what will happen to the Leia character, considering the highly sensitive nature of this question. The answer? With LucasFilm confirming that Leia had a very large role in the yet to start production Episode 9 and Fisher having completed all of her filming on The Last Jedi, they confirmed that Leia would be written out of Episode 9.. and to me, this is the worst thing they could do.

Remember my article about Hugh Jackman retiring as Wolverine? A lot of what I said there will probably be repeated here, and whilst the situations are not the same, they are very similar. Hugh Jackman didn't die whilst he was still playing the character of course, but after he capped off his time as a character that he had served for the fans after 17 years, I heard endless amounts of fans saying "NEVER HAVE ANOTHER WOLVERINE, IT'S DISRESPECTFUL!", which annoys the shit out of me.

So translating that same point into this regarding Leia, I know that LucasFilm doesn't want to get any backlash regarding this and so they have done a reactionary move to not get any bad press, and that isn't a bad thing on their part, they can't control public perception and reaction. However, when Paul Walker died during production of Furious 7, they didn't write him out at all and infact, gave him a proper send off by having his brothers stand in for him.

Paul Walker like Carrie Fisher, his life's work was on the Fast & Furious and in my eyes, anyone saying that the respectful thing to do is to write out the character or stop the franchise, it baffles me! I've always said that no film, story or character is built to service the actor, that the actor is brought in to service them, and when you have someone like Carrie Fisher who spent a lifetime bringing to life this beloved character, it is obviously devastating to lose her, but does that mean we should not have Leia at all?

These characters are immortalised for all of us, they will exist longer than we ever will and they exist for all of us. I am not saying that these actors are interchangeable and expendable because they are not, and I know a lot of people will see what I am saying as undermining Carrie Fisher's legacy but again, but I know I am not. I know I cannot speak for Fisher but honouring this amazing character and servicing the fans who have watched these movies for over 40 years now, to just write her out for Episode 9 to me, completely undermines her legacy.

Again, I am not saying that Fisher was interchangeable because had she lived, no doubt in my mind would anyone have been for recasting Leia but I am here to tell you, I know who can finish Leia's story in the Star Wars universe for Episode 9, Holly Hunter.

Image courtesy of www.thedailybeast.com

Hunter may or may not be a name you remember but to list off what IMDb claims are her biggest credits, The Incredibles, Batman V Superman, and her Academy Award winning performance in The Piano, as well as recently appearing in The Big Sick. I don't know about you but I think this is champagne casting, as Hunter has proven herself as being a great actress in her own right but she's the right age, looks very similar to Fisher and sounds just like her, it's uncanny. I believe that Hunter would do more than just an imitation, she could bring a vulnerability, leadership and a quality that Fisher also oozed in spades, charisma.

I do feel the need to reiterate, this isn't me saying that Carrie Fisher is easily replaced because she isn't, she will always be our Princess Leia, but let's honour Fisher's memory and legacy by carrying it over the finishing line to finish out the new trilogy. Please do not for one second think that I am trying to dishonour Fisher, just because if you think by not finishing out the story with the character she spent her whole life serving is honouring her, then at least our intentions are the same, but our methods are different.

As for these rumours about a standalone Leia film, I think this is a terrific idea also. Feel free to have an opinion on this as well, outside of this whole casting someone to play Leia in Episode 9 is the possibility of a movie set around Leia aged 13 being granted political power and influence and being on her way to earning her PhD at age 19. Quite the unique story and honouring exactly what made Leia an idol to all the women who have grown up both with her and afterwards too.

Stranger Things' actress Millie Bobby Brown is apparently in line to portray Leia if such a movie were to happen, and whilst I haven't seen much of her since I haven't seen Stranger Things yet (Please don't hurt me, I think I'll do so before season two is released), I hear she's brilliant. Plus, she's the right age for the timeframe of the movie and looks spot on as far as looking like Carrie Fisher and Natalie Portman (Who portrayed Luke and Leia's mother in the prequels).

As I've said countless times throughout this article, Carrie Fisher is no longer with us and it still upsets me considering how loveable and just truly amazing she really was. I know this will not make LucasFilm see eye-to-eye with me and Leia will be unfortunately written out of Episode 9 because the general public believes it is disrespectful to 'replace' Fisher when really, it isn't replacing at all.

I can only speak for myself here but if I die before something I had put my life, soul and hard work into had been completed, I would like to use this article that will hopefully still be around when I do get round to dying, to let the world know that I want it finished. Because we are what we leave behind, our legacy lives on. Steve Jobs didn't ask for Apple to shut down completely before he passed away, he made sure that it would continue to thrive in his absence, and I am certain that none of you want what you had set out a lifetime to achieve to then be halted because you had passed away, don't let your legacy die with you.

So if anything, I hope this article has at least opened your eyes to the mentality of how it is disrespectful to recast Leia because it isn't, and I do hope somehow LucasFilm see it fit to finish out Leia's chapter. As for Carrie Fisher, Rest In Peace you wonderful woman, you made me laugh so much when I went looking at YouTube clips of you, we miss you.

Until we meet again everyone,
Luca.