FOOTBALL-Trip to Wembley for Carling Cup Final

Not that anyone has slept much for the last few days but it was an early 7am rise to make our way through a deserted Canton to leave Cardiff ready for the Carling Cup Final 2012.

Leaving a really sunny and bright Cardiff for a much more cloudier England and also one passenger behind who had failed to get to the pick-up pint on time! Ok he was still in bed totally leathered and slept through his alarm so it was time to begin our journey to Wembley – still loads of time ready for the 4 o’clock kickoff.

RUGBY-Six nations England v Wales

A massive weekend of sport awaits us in Cardiff with Nathan Cleverly fighting at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff City taking on Liverpool tomorrow in the Carling Cup final at Wembley but first it’s the best battle of the Six Nations campaign – England v Wales at Twickenham.

Here’s a little video that I made of my favourite Wales v England game made even more so sweet by wiping that smile off Jeremy Guscott’s face!. For some reason there are certain phrases that Eddie Butler says that still sends shivers down my spine now! Enjoy!

Let’s hope Wales can kick start the winning weekend by bringing the Triple Crown home!

FOOTBALL-Cardiff City leave for Wembley

With just 48 hours to go until Cardiff City take on Premiership side Liverpool in the Carling Cup Final 2012 at Wembley – fans were given a chance to cheer the lads off in style from the Cardiff City Stadium.

From about 12:20 on Friday 24th February the players dribbled out of the Cardiff City Stadium to rounds of applause and cheering before getting on the coach that will take them on their fourth trip to Wembley in the last four years!

MASHUP-Adele-Rolling in the deep(DJ Leekee Mix)

Taking THAT famous hit from the amazing Adele and taking it on a slightly different journey with help from Juelz Santana, Underworld, Tiesto and High Contrast!

Possible tweakage to follow! Click the Soundcloud player above to play or save to favourites or download via the link below.

http://www52.zippyshare.com/v/6268778/file.html

RUGBY-Wales training session

The Millennium Stadium threw open it’s doors again for another free Wales training session on 15th February, 2012. Thousands queued from around midday and were allowed access from 2pm ready for the main event kicking-off at 3pm.
Fans were promised an exclusive glimpse of the squad being put through their paces and normal training preparations in front of a 13,000 strong crowd.

Everyone had to register on the WRU website initially so they could staff the event properly and make sure the whole event went smoothly (which it did!)

GRAFFITI-Lembo work around Cathays and Roath

Ever walked along a street around Roath, Cathays and even the City Centre and spotted a small cat lurking on a lampost or street sign?
Well it’s probably by local street artist Lembo. I don’t actually know anything else about this character apart from to say that they predominently feature cats, stencils and the odd bit of political graffiti.

Recently Lembo has taken his cat theme a bit further and featured a lime green cat near the Elm Street lanes but also a much more fantastic full size cat-face on the side of Home Bargains on Albany Road.

QUESTION-Vicious sticker outside Cardiff Arms Park

Just spotted this horrendous sticker at one of the entrances to the Cardiff Arms Park rugby stadium on Westgate Street.
I was initially drawn to the Cardiff Blues sign to see if any further details were on display concerning the amount of Cardiff Blues games now to be held at the site. But instead I found this quite offensive sticker!

 
It appears to illustrate a dark shadow/silhoutte attempting to cut someone’s throat! Is that supposed to be an activist in the hat complete with megaphone in his hand? Does anyone recognise this sticker or the artist involved?

PHOTOS-Ant and Dec at Britains Got Talent auditions

ITV hit talent show Britains Got Talent held auditions in a very cold Cardiff Bay in late January. Hosts Ant and Dec quickly met and greeted the audience before recording a few links with the crowds patiently shivvering behind them.

I always thought Dec was a bit short but seeing them both stood next to each other it was easy to see that they are BOTH infact incredibly short! Ant stood on the left and Dec on the right as they do for every link! Within a few minutes all the links were recorded and they headed back inside before new judges Alesha Dixon and David Walliams arrived.

VIDEO-Newport Bouncer by The GLC

Every now and then a tv programme comes along and really strikes a chord with the viewing public, it could be a person (Joey Deacon), an accident, (Michael Lush), a death (Tommy Cooper) or just a memorable drama (shower scene in Dallas) They really stand out and become such a talking point that they become well-known and sometimes too well-known for the wrong reasons!

In this instance it was a Channel 4 documentary following around a small group of bouncers around the South Wales city of Newport titled as ‘BOUNCERS’. Or as it featured in the tv guides:-

Newport – the gateway to Wales. Celebrated in the cult YouTube hit Newport State of Mind, the birthplace of Goldie Lookin’ Chain and home to LRS Security, who look after many of the city centre’s bars and clubs.

PHOTOS-Blaen y Glyn trip

It was Saturday the 4th February and the weather forecasters had predicted a band of warm air coming in from the West forcing the current cold air to push back – thus creating the first decent snowfall of 2012. As this snow wasn’t predicted to fall until late afternoon it seemed a great idea to take a photography session with expert Nick Jenkins up to the Brecon Beacons area to test out our skills.

So a 7am rise in Cardiff and heading straight out to a glorious sunrise over the Millennium Stadium. Oh how the weather was going to be such a contrast today! Even though it was bright and cheery to look at it was bitingly cold but luckily the heaters in the car kept us warm and ready for the journey to the small village of Talybont on Usk.

It did snow a little on the way up so it took slightly longer than planned for but arriving just after 9 am we set off past Talybont Reservoir and began our walk upto Blaen Y Glyn.

RUGBY-Ireland v Wales

The Six Nations 2012 tournament kicked off on Saturday with a few warm-up games before the main event of the weekend – Ireland v Wales at the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin. All the pundits and experts seemed to have Ireland down as favourites to win but this game was to be anything but predictable!

What an absolute stormer of a game with both sides giving us all an amazing match full of skill and excitement in every twist and turn. In the first half Wales were the stronger side and had the lions share of possession and territory but this wasn’t reflected in the score! Rhys Preistland is a great player but his kicking wasn’t upto standard and dropped us some vital points.

After the interval both teams took the game up a gear with much more pace and tempo but it was marred by two dodgy tackles – one definatly a RED card whereas the other was at most a yellow. Leigh Halfpenny took over kicking duties for Wales and managed to score the vital winner in the dying seconds to get Wales a 23 – 21 victory and possibly setting up Wales to get another Grand Slam?

It's the right result achieved the wrong way.—
Nathan Hamer (@njhamer) February 05, 2012

Boys were class !!!!!!—
Dan Lydiate (@dan_lydiate) February 05, 2012

Just fell over my sofa but do I care? No. I FACKING LOVE YOU WALES.—
Nathan Walker (@NathanWalkerr) February 05, 2012