Danny Westhorpe

Liverpool - Everton Match Report (13/03/12)

Another short and sweet post this month because the deadlines are really starting to come think and fast now were into March. I've took ten minutes out of my busy day though to get a quick entry online.

As part of my Sports Journalism module we have to do a live match commentary on a football game. Since I've never really done one before I thought it'd be useful to get a few under my belt before I take a crack at the real thing.

The following is from the Merseyside derby that took place last Tuesday (13th March).

The wait goes on for David Moyes who’s still looking for his first derby win over Liverpool. The Scotsman celebrated ten years in charge this week but the celebrations will have been bittersweet as Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 victory over their fierce rivals. Steven Gerrard scored a hat-trick on his 400th appearance for the reds as Liverpool reigned supreme over a lacklustre Everton.

The blues where in good form in the run up to the game, taking ten points from their last four matches. Liverpool by contrast seemed to be suffering from a Carling Cup hangover, with losses against both Arsenal and Sunderland in the league. Kenny Dalglish’s boys though bossed the game from start to finish and the bragging rights always looked like going to the red half of Merseyside.

Liverpool set the tempo early on and only last gasp defending from Everton stopped a Gerrard volley and Jordan Henderson follow-up giving the reds an early lead. The early pressure continued with centre forward Andy Caroll latching on to a Pepe Reina clearance and knocking it down for Suarez to let fly and force a smart save from Tim Howard.

Everton got their act together towards the half hour mark and won a couple of corners that came to very little. They seemed to have weathered the early storm before Gerrard showed his class and fired Liverpool in front ten minutes before half time.

A Suarez cross looked to have gifted Martin Kelly a tap in but for a goal line clearance from Sylvain Distin. The ball rebounded to the edge of the eighteen yard box where the Liverpool skipper was poised waiting and chipped a first time ball over the mass of bodies and into the far corner.

Everton went into the break lucky to only be trailing by one and with just a glimmer of hope that they could salvage something from the match. Gerrard though squashed that hope five minutes after the restart. Once again clever work from Suarez down the right saw him skip past Distin before l...

Posted by Danny Westhorpe on March 19th 2012.

WorthAWatch Updates! TheQuad Competition! Newgrounds Re-Design!

Thought I'd swing by this neck of the woods and talk about three sites that I regularly frequent these days, all of which have had a bunch of interesting stuff happening lately. The firsts my own, WorthAWatch.net. The second is my universities independent online newspaper, TheQuad.org.uk. Lastly is Newgrounds.com, which I've been visiting for close to a decade now.

First up, WorthAWatch. The sites been coming along nicely since my last post and the designs pretty much complete bar a few tweaks. As far as reviews go, there starting to take shape too. I've got another guy on board, Jessy, to do a few for me and hopefully he'll stay on and continue contributing when the site launches. I'm cranking them out pretty regularly as well and we should have at least fifty done between us before it goes live. After that I'll keep publishing them a few times a week and I'll be looking to get another writer or two to join the site as well.

A month or two after Version 1 is finished I intend to start work on Version 2. It'll be pretty identical in terms of layout and design but offer much more in the way of user interactivity. I've got a script developed to track every review posted and allow viewers to comment on them and add their own rating/review. All in all things are starting to take shape nicely and I'm happy with the progress being made. Especially since I'm juggling this with work, university assignments and regular trips to whatever boozer I happen to be near at the time.

Second on the list is TheQuad. They've got a competition running at the minute to win an iPod touch for the best article submitted (see http://www.thequad.org.uk/news/journalism-competition-win-an-ipod-touch/ for details).

The websites only been online for a few months now but there's some great content up, especially if you're from the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne area or Northumbria university itself. Articles range from sports entries (covering local teams right up the mighty toon army themselves) to information about what's going on in the area (music gigs, local pub and bar reviews, special one-off events, etc) and weekly columns on a variety of subjects. There's some really talented writ...

Posted by Danny Westhorpe on February 17th 2012.

Newest Project - WorthAWatch!

Apologies again for the lack of updates recently, but December and January have been extremely busy months. What with Christmas, New Year, work and university I’ve been doing a lot recently and as such, the blogs had to take a back seat. However, I’ve finally decided to put everything to one side for an hour or so and get a new entry online. The timing couldn’t be better either, because I’m finally able to announce my latest project – WorthAWatch.net.

I think I might have mentioned it in a post a few months back, but not by name because there was still a bit of secrecy about it. Since its part of my degree I’ve got to be careful about what I post online and what-not. But because were drawing ever closer to April when it’ll have to go live, I figure now’s a good as time as any to start drumming up a bit of publicity.

So, as part of my degree I’m required to put together a dissertation like substitute relating to the field of journalism. This could be a magazine, newspaper, radio broadcast, etc. Something that can clearly be linked to journalism e.g. a website. Since I’ve had a fair amount of experience creating them I decided to opt for the easy option where I could concentrate more on the content than on learning new skills necessary to create say, an entire newspaper. And so the idea for WorthAWatch was born. I’ve always liked the idea of having a film review website, since these days I seem to spend a lot of my time sat around watching them. The DVD collections rapidly nearing 700 titles and I think it’s time I turned those hours of entertainment into something.

The site will focus on primarily positive reviews of films. Movies will be split into one of ten categories, meaning visitors can search a particular category for a film they like the look of, or search for a title directly. At the minute it’s going to start out pretty basic. Interactivity will be limited at the beginning because the focus of this project (as far as the marking board are concerned) is the content. Meaning rather than pouring hours of work into complex PHP code I’ll be sat with Microsoft Office open instead, trying to sum up just how exceptional The Shawshank Redemption really is.

However, once the university side of things is over I intent to keep the project going, and it’s here that things start getting interesting. With my studies finished I’ll be able to spend some time m...

Posted by Danny Westhorpe on January 25th 2012.

Cult TV - Joss Whedon's Firefly (2002)

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. It's December which means things start getting a bit hectic. University assignments are due in throughout the month, the Christmas rush means more shifts at work, not to mention getting my own shopping done and out the way.

Speaking of assignments, I've just finished one and thought I might as well share it online. In it I discuss Cult Television and Film, focusing in particular on Joss Whedon's fantastic Space-Western, Firefly. If you've not seen it already I'd recommend checking it out. It really is a fantastic piece of viewing and it's a real shame that it was cancellation after just the one season. You can pick the complete box set up pretty cheaply these days (Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com) and it's definitely worth a look.

Anyway, on with the piece.

To what extent does Cult TV, in particular Joss Whedon’s Firefly (2002), challenge the general conventions of mainstream programming and differ itself accordingly?

Firefly was an American television series created, written and directed by Joss Whedon. It premiered in September 2002, on the Fox network channel. The show was defined as a “space western” and “typical Whedon”, and received high praise from fans and critics alike. Despite this Firefly was cancelled after just one season, with only eleven of the already produced fourteen episodes having aired. Fox cited low viewing figures for the reason behind this. In contrast however, Firefly went on to have a hugely successful DVD release and follow up movie, Serenity. The loyal fan base, mixed hybrid of genres and subsequent media franchise make Firefly a typical cult programme that sets itself aside from other, more mainstream shows.

One of the first things viewers picked up on when Firefly originally broadcast was the unique genre the show fell under. At the time Space Western was considered a fairly unheard of classification, with one of the few notable exceptions being the hugely popular and successful, Star Trek series. However, Firefly manages to set itself apart in comp...

Posted by Danny Westhorpe on December 08th 2011.

Newcastle United – Where's It All Gone Right?

A group of Journalism students at my place of study have set up an independent online newspaper focusing on issues in and around the university and the general Newcastle Upon-Tyne area. Feel free to head on over to the thequad.org.uk and check it out. I'm hoping to get a few stories published in the coming months, but in the meantime there's still plenty of interesting stuff to read.

I thought I'd post my first piece here, in the hope of getting a bit of constructive criticism before I start submitting things regularly. So, if you're a fan of football, in particular Newcastle United F.C, give it a read and let me know what you think!

Newcastle United – Where's It All Gone Right?

I can only imagine that amongst the thousands of students currently enrolled at Northumbria University, a good proportion of those are fans of football, and more specifically, fans of Newcastle United. Most students coming from up and down the country probably choose their university based on things like academic results, course structure and lesson plans. But I’m willing to bet a small percentage (myself included) picked Northumbria University simply because it was the closest place of study to St. James Park, and the mighty Toon Army.

After the heartbreak of relegation two seasons ago and the endless days thereafter of drowning ones sorrows, Newcastle United enjoyed a successful promotion campaign, finishing top of the Championship in the ‘09/’10 season, with a mouth-watering 102 points.

So, back in the Premier League they followed that up with a respectable twelfth place finish thanks in no small part to the likes of super-striker Andy Carroll and midfield-maestros Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton. Having sold all three players in the January and Summer transfer windows, Newcastle United F.C seemed to be heading for troubling times. How could they compete in the world’s best division having offloaded arguably their trio of best players?

Few pundits expected the black and whites to still be in the Premier League come May and those that did expected them to be stuck in a relegation battle from day one (not helped by an opening league game against the once mighty Arsenal). As ever though, the Geordie’s remained faithful and their loyalty has undoubtedly paid off. With a qua...

Posted by Danny Westhorpe on November 14th 2011.