Sam Raimi’s second outing with Spider-Man featured deep emotional drama, great performances and brilliant action sequences. This movie is really about love and how far you can fall without it. Molina’s Doctor Otto Octavius (Dr. Octopus) is driven mad when a failed experiment causes the death of his wife while Peter Parker’s spider powers fizzle out on him when his broken heart can’t get over the loss of Mary Jane. This movie also features much more of the classic Sam Raimi style than the first – the dramatic raising of a surgical saw during an entire Raimi-esque operating room scene and, my favourite scene, Peter adjusting to life without his Spider-Man alter-ego while “Raindrops Keep Falling’ on My Head” plays to name a couple. This sequel from opening minute to the final, ominous shot of MJ watching Spider-Man head out to protect the city is funny, tender, and exciting all rolled up into a ball. It’s really one of my favourite superhero movies ever made, but you probably can already guess why it didn’t land in at no.1 at the box office – Shrek 2 another sequel.

I’ve made the mistake before where I have been inducted to a gym and was pleasantly pleased with all the equipment that was to my disposal and the members in the gym on the day. After signing on the dotted line however I experienced that a lot of the equipment was often out of use and it would take weeks sometimes to be serviced. Gym equipment was outdated and weights were missing and false promises were made that it would be either replaced or updated. The new equipment obviously never materialised and had I had the chance to try out the gym on a couple of occasions first,  I would have realised that the gym was lacking quality equipment and had poor in-house management and customer service.

So with gym membership prices often being extortionate, free guest membership passes are an excellent opportunity to try the gym out first to get a real feel of what you can expect from joining that gym.

England came from behind to beat Hungary with a Gerrard brace and all is well in the world again and England will almost certainly win the Euro 2012! Hold on, England are not a dominant force in world football and haven’t been for a long time and shouldn’t be rated so highly anymore until they do actually perform well at one of the big tournaments. Hungary are 62^nd in the world and we didn’t sweep them aside like Spain, Germany or Brazil would have done without getting out of first gear. The realisation has taken its time to embed in the minds of our patriotic of all fans, that England simply do not belong in the same league  as Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina and even Uruguay and Ghana.

Whether this is due to the amount of foreigners that play in the Premier League that make our players look better than they actually are or that none of our England players ply their trade abroad or that we have no winter break, excuses can no longer be made for our nation, we have to accept that we are simply not a force in world football and with this being our supposedly ‘golden generation’ I fear it will be far off in the future before we are considered as a dominant force once again on the world stage of the beautiful game.

You are obviously getting a better deal as you are getting twice the amount for your hard earned cash than you originally would. This does not however signify that companies are losing money, the margins decrease yet the volume of sales on these particular products increases and you are more likely to buy more of them. Companies often apply this strategy once they have reached the desired level of profit for particular products and are able to shift large amounts at reduced priced products still generating profit and also improving relationships with their customers, as these deals are often purely seen as beneficial to the customer by the customer.

Aside from the dreary explanation of why businesses apply these strategies and concepts, we all love buy one get from one frees. Especially in the bar and restaurant industry where you can often get these deals on some fantastic cocktails in what is known as ‘happy hour’ and meals in all kinds of restaurants. Although responsible drinking is a major subject of discussion and in line to be changed by the government with new laws bringing ‘happy hour’ to an end in bars and clubs. For those of you that enjoy responsible drinking the BOGOF offer can really light up your evening and getting a great restaurant deal will make an excellent starting point for your night’s adventures.

Bryan Singer’s ultimate superhero opus pits the X-Men against a crazy and dangerous military man who plans on using mutants in experiments and even going far enough to control them to create havoc in order to turn the government against those with powers. Not only that, but he has some serious history with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. So, in order for the X-Men to defeat the madman, they must do something they would never count on – team up with Magneto and Mystique. Though the first X-Men movie was as good as one could hope for, it pales in comparison to the sequel.

X2 benefits from X-Men’s low budget blockbuster status allowing it to up the ante and have more cool scenes and special effects. The world expands as Colossus makes his first appearance in an X movie. There are several other characters that appear briefly here and there that puts smiles on many comic fans. But the best addition to the movie is Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler. Cumming’s portrayal of the lonely and demonic looking teleporter is both funny and heartfelt with a touch of sadness that he’s really a good guy who just happens to be scary looking. The dramatic climax proves that even people who shoot beams of energy from their eyes or has the ability to create storms or have claws coming out of their hands can carry a deeply emotional scene. X2 let the world know that comic book movies were here to stay.

Manchester United were too much too handle for West Ham and their awful run of form at Old Trafford continued. Hot and cold Nani was the man of the match with Berbatov also continuing his sublime early season form and finally Rooney got on the score sheet scoring for the first time since against Bayern Munich back in March. Arsenal were in impressive form away to Blackburn and look like this season they have more steel to their backbone which last season they didn’t have and saw them lose such games. That could be the difference from fighting for top spot or falling behind the top 2. Transfer deadline today needs to see them bring in a goalkeeper to be true contenders to the title.

Bobby Zamora was the first man to score at Bloomfield Road since Blackpool’s arrival to the big time. Blackpool battled hard and nearly took all three points on the home debut but Etuhu scored to deny Blackpool all three points. Elsewhere Torres came to Liverpool’s rescue to score and see them win for the first time this season. With today’s transfer deadline and international break ahead, we may see some changed teams, as the season really doesn’t start until transfer deadline day is over as some players want to leave and the dressing room morale is affected.

Team of the week!

Goalkeeper:       Friedel – Villa

Defender:           Ferdinand – Sunderland

Defender:           Young – Villa

Defender:           Ward – Wolves

Defender:           Gohouri – Wigan

Midfielder:         Walcott – Arsenal

Midfielder:         Malouda – Chelsea

Midfielder:         Nani – Man Utd

Midfielder:         Y Toure – Man City

Striker:                 Berbatov – Man Utd

Striker:                 Rodallega – Wigan

Superhero movies do make much more difficult task to rework on to the big screen, as the readers have built such a history with the stories and trying to adapt that to a two hour movie is often extremely hard as the expectations are so high. The success of any film cannot rely solely on the dedicated fans, so producers have to find a balance between attracting the general public on a large scale but also attracting the diehard fans without attracting too much controversy and debate about the film. This can be a hugely frustrating task for any director no matter how good they are, however some excellent movies have been produced so with no further ado our superhero movie list arrives at number 5 with The Crow.

The Crow which stars Brandon Lee, who was sadly fatally wounded on set as he was shot with a dummy bullet that had become lodged in one of the prop guns, comes in at number 5.  Eric Draven (Lee) is stabbed to death and thrown out of the window and his fiancée raped and killed too. Eric a rock musician is then revived from the dead to avenge his own murder, as well as that of his fiancée. Despite the incident, the film was a critical and commercial success after its release, opening at the top of the box office.

Not too sure what to do with the bank holiday weekend breaks, undecided if  you want to either be boogying along to the reggae sounds of the Notting Hill Carnival or taking a short break, or simply watching X-Factor in between  completing DIY jobs, there are thousands of things going on all round the country this August bank holiday.

If you need some inspiration and motivation to maybe tackle some laboured DIY jobs or treat yourself to some top brands without having to spend ridiculous amounts of your hard earned cash Voucherboy has sourced you some excellent deals and voucher for you to use.

If you are however travelling around the country to one of the amazing annual events that are listed all over the country whether that be to the North West to take part in the Manchester Pride’s Big Weekend, or in the North East watching BALTIC presenting a dynamic, diverse and international programme of contemporary visual art or popping to Yorkshire to the Forest of Galtres Festival, we wish you all amazing bank holiday weekend breaks.

TV adrenaline junkie shows have been on the rise recently with Jack Osbourne’s ITV show taking prominence over all others and the recent Channel 4 documentary ‘The Men Who Jump off Buildings’, pulling in thousands of viewers. The latter looks at the most dangerous of all adrenaline sports, base jumping. Base jumping if you have not heard of it, is jumping off buildings with a parachute, not condoned or recommended that you try it, I would opt for something a little less life threatening as you could easily plummet to your death with base jumping.

So if you are an adrenaline junkie why not try bungee jumping, skydiving or white water rafting to fulfil your adrenaline cravings, obviously all dangerous but not as life threatening as base jumping and all can be enjoyed in the safe hands of experienced professionals. Ever had dreams of free falling, feeling the rush as gravity pulls you towards the ground? Why not experience it all with the knowledge that the bungee will propel you back in the opposite direction and bring you eventually safely back to ground.

Or maybe you fancy heading down a wild river on a dingy. Be assured that the inflatable raft isn’t as fragile as it sounds and you will have an experienced instructor that will help guide the team down through the rushing waters and powerful currents. Before you set off through the rapids you will be professionally informed on safety and instructed on all aspects of rafting. Then you head off on a swirling experience that will leave wet and breathless.

Paintballing is a favourite of mine; maybe not the most exhilarating of these extreme sports but still it gets the pulse going. Although with paintball prices being quite extortionate at times visits to these venues limit themselves. If you have ever been it is a fantastic day out for you and all your friends. You can really get absorbed in the experience and imagine yourself as Rambo or a soldier in battle running through the wilderness, ducking and diving, hiding under fallen trees and in bushes picking off your opponents one by one as you try to complete your mission.

You get so involved in the occasion that you start planning in your head what you will do next. Imagining yourself in the real life situation of battle and every decision you make is vital to the glory of your team by defeating the enemy. Nerves and panic consume you as your team members get picked off one by one and you are their last hope. Gun in hand you charge screaming towards the enemy lines, firing ammunition, round after round, picking off soldier after soldier until you stand triumphant, beads of sweat forming on your face as you raise your weapon aloft and scream victoriously to the rapturous applause of your fallen allies.

The comic superhero film Watchmen comes in at number 6. The film is revolved around superheroes that are wrapped up in mystery and trying to prevent world war 3 based on the classic series by Alan Moore. The superheroes in this film were one time big stars but are now mostly forgotten and washed up past heroes. The film directed by Zach Snyder being based on the classic story that had so much detail it was hard for any viewer to comprehend had a huge amount of detail and storyline to fit in if it was to be anything like the 12 part series. The film version would therefore definitely not be without its haters and critics especially as the ending was changed.

There was no way Snyder could fit everything in one film that happened over the 12 part series, it would have at least taken 2 films to do so. Yet the casting of Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the Comedian), and Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl) were inspired and their performances exhilarating in this comic superhero film. The stunning visuals and brilliant performances by the previously mentioned actors make this movie a purely special experience. The film is a fascinating watch and makes a truly great superhero film. A lot of superhero films have a dark side to them which gives them that extra edge and makes them more captivating to watch. The opening scene is an amazing sequence which has to date never been paralleled in any other comic book movie and gives the entire history of the movie in its opening credits. There were critics in their abundance but I immensely enjoyed this film and would recommend to any superhero movie fan.