Following on from last week's press release related game, something came out of that which covers today's Friday Fun as well.
All you have to do is pick a band, and then write your press release quotes, fitting in as many song titles as you can. Craft your press release well and they should fit in without anyone noticing.
Here's an example:
B*Witched
"It was not a good race out there today, a bit damp, but we can only Blame It On The Weatherman. I would have liked to win but C'est La Vie. When I crashed, it was pretty scary and I just thought oh, Jesse, Hold On.
It's been a very long time since I was left in charge of covering daily duties, I was beginning to worry Christine no longer had faith in me. I shall not let the good ship Daily Post down though, despite very little happening in the F1 world.
Before dishing up a couple of noteworthy links, I would like to plug some site updates that have been consuming vast amounts of time these past few weeks. Ever since we introduced our first on site opinion poll the damn things have been causing us grief. As a result we've rebuilt the polling system from the ground up, it still has issues but it's good enough to make its debut today. I've sneaked a little poll into the bottom of this post (a first for the daily?), by all means give it a try and yell if you spot anything amiss.
It was a great return to racing... I felt 100 per cent and I'm ready for the next one.
Felipe Massa made a triumphant return to competitive racing yesterday, finishing third in his own kart race, behind Michael Schumacher (bleugh) and the legend that is Liuzzi in second. A number of other F1 drivers took part in the event including Rubens Barrichello and those of an altogether lesser significance. After the event Massa was happy with his work "It was a great return to racing. I wish I could've won the race, but it was a victory to come from the back and finish where I finished. I felt 100 per cent and I'm ready for the next one." It looks like a fine day was had by all, and the action continues with a second race today.
Joe's super pleased about the return of Canada to the calendar and speculates that it can open the right doors to allow for the reappearance of a Grand Prix in the USA. Formula One fans stateside deserve no less, so let's hear it for the achievements of race organisers in Montreal, and keep our fingers crossed for even more good news in the future.
I struggled to find any notable news beyond the above and I'm still 18 links short of my daily quota. However, the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed the small "quote box" that appears further up the page. There's probably a fancy official name for it, but it beats me what that might be. We're playing around with the idea of highlighting small parts of an article, Christine is less sold on it than me, but do let us know if it works for you. What's the best way to give feedback you say? Why, a poll of course.
Just how good do those block quotes look?
I cannot get enough of that boxed-out goodness 33% (14 votes)
Do you not have anything better to poll us on? 33% (14 votes)
You so stole that idea from the newspaper 33% (14 votes)
Total voters: 42
I believe that covers anything and everything that comes to mind. A certain lady seems to be on a mission to post more articles in a week than we normally do in a month, so keep an eye on the homepage for more updates throughout the day. As ever, let us know what you're up to, and don't forget to plug any blog posts you've published recently.
As it is the off season now, and there is supposed to be a lack of news (eh-hem, are you listening teams? No news!), I thought it would be a good idea to have a bit of a game to play on Fridays, in place of Free Practice.
This week, I had an email from Iain who dreamt up this little game for us.
Here’s an idea for the off-season – things you never hear F1 drivers say.
I really love that sequence of second gear corners
There really aren’t enough tracks designed by Tilke in the calendar
I find that half a lap flat out at Silverstone a bit boring really
Hi Martin, well folks you’re not going to see any overtaking here, isn’t there a Bond film on the other channel?
You know what excites me most about a racetrack – the size of the garages...
I’m sure there’s a few more out there too!
So, what are your thoughts? What sentences would you never hear from a Formula One driver?
Also, if you have any ideas for Friday Fun games for the next few weeks, please let me know at christine@sidepodcast.com.
Continuing on from the first part of our look back through live commenting, we review the second half of 2008 through the eyes of those who watched. We're grateful to everyone who left a comment throughout the year, but I've hand picked out a few that are so much more significant with the benefit of hindsight.
Canada
A lot of the Canadian weekend was dominated with talk of Hamilton's pit lane incident, and the BMW win. But there was one very important thing that shouldn't be forgotten.
If they don’t improve the track situation, it might give Bernie an excuse to replace the race with one in Saudi Arabia. Dom
What have we said about giving the short one ideas?
France
A snippet from France:
We managed decades without a single penalty now there is one for about every twenty minutes of racing. I wonder whether the stewards decision was assisted by Max’s boy Donnelly. Steven Roy
If only we'd known that the worst was still to come.
Britain
We were on the spot reporters during the British GP and could only be in the comments for a few minutes throughout the race. However, Scott was encouraging everyone for us:
i say that because it’s silverstone and the British GP, we do everything we can to get 1000 comments. agreed? Scott Woodwiss
Remember when getting 1,000 comments was the big goal?
Meanwhile, answering a question about who was going to have the first off track moment, Poppy put her money on a safe bet.
Vettel's win was the tonic that we all needed after the naivety wore off:
Well I’m glad I didn’t boycott the rest of the season now. Andy Taylor
Singapore
With hindsight, quite a lot of the blame for Massa's unsuccessful championship campaign can be laid at his team's door. He's not the only one suffering though.
Look at Ferrari- not surprised Kimi needs to drink….ALOT. Superhot
Japan
Roll on Japan, and we thought we'd had enough duff penalties to last us a lifetime. Unfortunately, there was still another one.
Presumably Bordy can’t hold Massa up for too long. Christine
Turns out Bordy didn't hold him up, and got penalised for it anyway.
Brazil
Hamilton won the championship in the epic final race, but it wasn't a good day for all involved.
None of the guys in the press conference look happy. Steven Roy
To which Journeyer replied:
Yup. Indeed. Surprised the FIA hasn’t said anything yet. Journeyer
And of course, it's only right to finish on a happy note:
As ever, we're bound to have missed some. With so many wonderful contributions it's impossible not to, but please do let us know if there are any specific moments from the comments you remember. Anything you predicted that turned out to be true, or anything you regret come the end of the year?
Here's to as much fun in the live comments in 2009.
Our ongoing end of year series takes a look back at the inaugural year of Live Commenting on Sidepodcast. It's been an incredible season in the comments, and we appreciated every single person who took the time to hit submit. Here, I've picked out some of the classic comments that we can read more into with the benefit of hindsight.
Australia
As we like to point out quite often, Massa started the season really badly.
Massa stacked it for no reason. Just can’t handle the pressure. Michael Roberts
Yes, he did. Considering how much pressure he was under by the end of the season, it's amazing that it's the same person. Having said that, though, Ferrari weren't exactly making it easy on themselves.
ferrari struggling to pass an aguri, bring on the ‘09 aero regs. me
Would you like to reconsider?
Malaysia
Mr C again, and this time he's writing off some of the early race results:
martin [brundle] thinks hamilton needs the points… wtf? he’s still leading the championship. me
I think he is right. The championship could be decided on who picks up the most points when they don’t have the best car. Steven Roy
As Steven rightly pointed out, championships often come down to one point here, one point there. This year was one of those.
Bahrain
On to the third race of the season, and Alex reminded us that we were in for a calm season, with little in the way of politics.
Ron basically said they won’t play politics this year - so no appeal. Alex Andronov
There may not have been an appeal in Bahrain, but by the time Belgium had finished, McLaren found themselves back in Paris again. Let's hope next year is more peaceful.
Those BMW’s are going to win soon. Kubica only 1.6secs behind Kimi. Michael Roberts
Spain
After watching a few too many crashes by Coulthard, we were all starting to wonder if his time had come.
Radio 5 just said that DC is moans that his car is understeering, glad all that testing at this track was worth it then.
Although is ‘understeering’ just code for ‘I’m getting to old for this’? StevenintheUK
Just a few short races later, and the man announced his retirement.
Turkey
There's a rumour circulating the Sidepodcommunity that I tend to get crushes on a lot of people. During the Turkish race, Mr C was trying to pinpoint another potential candidate. I was quick to quash it.
No. He’s making that up. I like him, because everyone else in Ferrari is all Italian or whatever, and then there’s Rob with his Manchester accent. It makes me smile. But no, not a crush. Christine
Of course it turned out to be one of those "she doth protest too much" things.
In Formula 1 related comments, Lou came up with this next one. Perhaps it was the positive thinking that turned everything around.
Renault really are best of the rest aren’t they?! thats what i like to see! Teams improving! lou
Monaco
The most remembered bit of Monaco is probably the Sutil/Raikkonen incident. Although a shocking moment, apparently for one person it was entirely predictable.
Raikkonen should get Sutil at the tunnel exit. Steven Roy
What could have been a dull race was saved by the last few laps. Hamilton vs Raikkonen, McLaren vs Ferrari, and guess what? It's not over yet. Hear all about it in this F1 Digest recap.
The Race
The start was good, and the middle was okay, but oh how wonderful the last few laps were. A little bit of rain makes all the difference and we saw a fierce battle for the lead before Raikkonen ended up in the wall. It doesn't end there though, as the controversies, penalties and appeals will continue long after the drivers leave Belgium.
Conclusions
Whilst some of the quotes are irrelevant given penalties and a change of order, we can get the idea from most drivers. Some had frustrating days, Webber and Coulthard aren't that happy, and Trulli and Glock faced a difficult start. But some had a great time even with the adversities, Vettel in particular still has a smile on his face.
I don't know about anybody else, but I don't find personal pronouns that difficult. If you're talking about yourself you say I, if you're talking to someone, it's you. If you didn't learn this from speaking out loud your whole life, then you'll probably have learnt it practicing some verb tables.
Whilst the action at Valencia kept us all talking about what happened in the pit lane, I was more interested in what those in the pit lane were talking about.
I've found something slightly fascinating about the personal pronouns the drivers used over the weekend. For the longest time, we have had to listen to the corporate line from teams and drivers. Sharing in the joy and the pain in equal measures.
Now it seems things are changing, and as the competition hots up, all this "It's not you, it's me" business seems to be over. My first example is Raikkonen, who is still bemoaning his lack of pace going into a Grand Prix.
We need to get things sorted in qualifying...
Yes, you do, Kimi. Okay, perhaps this can be excused because it may just be a mechanical problem that means he hasn't qualified on pole since France. I think perhaps he knows that it is something he needs to sort out himself though. The team certainly believe that Raikkonen has his own issues to sort out.
He isn't happy with the way the car enters corners. He would like it more aggressive, and this influences him. It's up to us to carry on giving him a hand.
Clearly, Ferrari are sure they're giving him the best they can and it's not them underperforming. Which is fine if it's true, but it's very unusual to hear blame being apportioned quite so obviously. Normally you would find carefully constructed sentences that avoid pointing the finger, and share the burden.
As a team sport, you could argue it's the right thing to do, but perhaps this is the way forward - honesty. Bourdais has another take:
I am still having my problem of not finding grip on the "option" tyre, so we need to work on that.
A little bit of both worlds there. He's recognising the problem as his own, but is looking for help from the team for that. This seems a little fairer on everybody.
My favourite example from Valencia, however, is from Button. After bombing out of the early stages of qualfiying, ITV caught up with him for a quick chat. Here's an audio clip:
This is the one that is most telling. It's almost as if he suddenly realised he was blaming the team for the setup choices, and had to suddenly back track. Then he tries to bring it back, but starts to stumble, and the personal pronouns go wrong.
I'm not trying to cast aspersions on any of the drivers with the above, but having read many quotes recently, I wanted to share these thoughts with you. Should the drivers be taking a vocal responsibility for their performances, should there be more team spirit or is apportioning blame the right way to go?
Race day in Valencia finally took place then after weeks of anticipation. Unfortunately it didn't live up to the hype and was marred by controversy rather than action. F1 Digest presents a full round up of events.
The Race
We were probably expecting too much, and as the field got further and further apart, it didn't look like it was going to deliver. In the end, it was a couple of retirements and some pit lane incidents that caused the excitement.
Conclusions
Only a couple of drivers had a good day, Vettel and Massa in particular. Most people were frustrated with their performance, thinking things could have gone better, and everyone is looking forward to Spa.
We were all expecting a dull race, so it's nice to have a bit of a surprise waiting for us on track. Nobody said that all suprises have to be good ones.
The Race
As predicted, there was very little overtaking to be had, except perhaps off the line. All the excitement came from the tyres and from the pit stops, and the odd engine failure as well.
Conclusions
Those drivers having a good day had a supremely good day, count them, Kovalainen, Glock and Alonso. But for those who couldn't make the end of the race, or who struggled every inch of the way there, they can only be glad there's a three week break coming up.
It's been a while since the French GP has been eagerly anticipated, but with such a mixed up grid, today was one of those days. Tune in to F1 Digest for a recap of all the action, plus driver reactions.
The Race
A race of some serious fighting, Raikkonen battling his machinery, Hamilton trying to get through the traffic, Trulli holding off Kovalainen.
Conclusions
Whilst Honda and Force India seem to be feeling pretty low right now, Toyota and Toro Rosso are flying high. The others fall into various moods in between.
