Microlight pilot dies in charity flight attempt....

Martin Bromage a microlight, has been tragically killed on the first leg of an attempt to travel by microlight, 11,000 miles from the UK to Australia. Apparently (and subject to confirmation) Martin encountered particularly bad weather that even forced the rescue helicopter dispatched to assist him to return under emergency conditions. Media reports have stated that he was in radio contact with french authorities who were attempting to assist him and they had suggested alternate airfields for him to land at but he elected to return to the U.K.

Martin died in the English Channel just three hours into his six week charity flight, he made a series of distress calls before he crashed in low cloud and mist, it has emerged. Martin Bromage was due to land at the French coastal airport of Le Touquet at around 3pm but was forced to divert by mist, fog and low cloud and appealed to the French air traffic controllers for an alternative place to land.

Martin’s trip was a charity attempt and he was hoping to raise money for Help for Heroes which supports wounded British soldiers, he has a JustGiving charity page here and if you are minded to do so it would be nice to continue to donate to the charity to support his efforts.

Another film review....

This time Guy Ritchie's remake of Sherlock Holmes.

I like quite a bit of the work that Ritchie has done in the past like Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch & RocknRolla so I hoped that this new film might fit into the list of Ritchie films that I enjoyed.

Luckily it does, and comes in at #2 in the Ritchie list behind Snatch which is probably one of my top 5 favourite films ever.

Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law seem to bounce off each other very well, it is clear that the budget increase by working with Warner Bros. has helped quite a bit in making this a very polished and extremely enjoyable film.

The door is left wide open for Holmes & Watson to re-appear in a further installment to persue the evil Professor Moriarty, let's hope the returns on the first film make the 2nd possible and equally enjoyable.

It was so enjoyable, I will probably end up seeing this again at the cinema, and will definately buy it on DVD when released.

Avatar 3D

It seems that yesterday was the day to see Avatar in 3D, purely by coincidence it seems that about 6 of my friends went to see it (in different places) on the same evening.

My 10 simple observations.....

1. It's way too long - 2 hours 45 mins even in a comfortable new cinema chair is too much.

2. Amazing 3D effects work really well, much better than I expected.

3. If you wear normal glasses and have the choice of switching to contact lenses for the viewing do it - I will be going back to watch it with my lenses in.

4. Book early and get the seats right in the middle of the cinema.

5. If you go this week and are driving to cinema take de-icer, because when you come out after 3 hours your car will be iced over again.

6. It does actually have a story and some good characters.

7. George Lucas HAS to make another Star Wars film using the 3D technology.

8. Go the loo before you go to the theatre, even if you don't need to go, just go and try.

9. The switch between live action and CGI works - something that I thought would be difficult.

10. Go see it!