Face/Off review.

In this epic cat and mouse thriller, super Villain Nicolas Cage (Leaving Los Vegas/Con Air) takes on Super Cop John Travolta (Grease/Pulp Fiction) in the city of Los Angeles.

Anti Terrorism agent Sean Archer (Travolta) is tracking one of Americas most sinister and dangerous terrorists in Caster Troy (Cage) When Archer is getting to close, Caster Troy takes matters into his own hands and attempts an assassination on Archer when he is most vulnerable, when he is with his son in a playground.

The attempt, however goes wrong, and instead of Archer been killed, the bullet goes through his shoulder and kills his son instantly, setting up an agent obsessed with getting revenge, no matter what!

After six long years, endless encounters and constant bloodshed, agent Archer finally gets his man. After an exhilarating gunfight in a Los Angeles airport, it comes down to Troy v Archer, with Archer prevailing, leaving Troy in a coma.

Archer is over joyed, having seen Troy nearly destroy his life and his family, he can go home to his wife, Eve (Joan Allen) to finally say he caught the man who killed their son and they can start to put their life back together after so long.

After been congratulated on the capture of one of the most dangerous terrorists have ever known by the CIA and FBI, evidence comes to light that there is a massive bomb in a Los Angeles building which is set to go of in just weeks. The problem is however; only two people know where it is. Caster Troy and his Genius but troubled brother, Pollux Troy (Alessandro Mivola), who was arrested just before his brother Caster had been caught.

After been shown the design of the bomb on a laptop that was found in the Jet Caster and Pollux was trying to escape in, Archer knows full well that that this is no hoax and they are going to have to do what ever it takes to find the bomb that could destroy 10 blocks of Los Angeles. One thing was certain; the only person that Pollux Troy would talk about that bomb to would be his brother.

After interrogating all of Caster Troy’s friends and family, the only information they find is the date the bomb is set blow. There is only one thing that can be done, something only Sean Archer can do, but it means going behind his wife and daughters back in a thrilling covert mission and most dangerous task Sean Archer has ever engaged in. Sean Archer must swap identities with Caster Troy, go to the Maximum-security prison Pollux Troy is been kept in and get the information of him, as his enemy, Caster Troy.

Sean Archer’s worse nightmare comes to life however, when his mortal enemy Caster Troy walks in as Sean Archer, pretending to be an Anti Terrorist Agent to tell him that he is going to be staying in prison for the rest of his life and he is going to live out his life as an agent to cause havoc in the city of Los Angeles.

There is only two things that Archer can now do, give up or fight, and fight he does.

Director John Woo (Mission Impossible 2) makes an absolute classic Cat and Mouse thriller in surely one the best Action Films of not only the 90’s but of all time staring two actors in Travolta and Cage in the prime of their career’s, and based on this film, this is evident.

Throughout this film, any first time viewers will no doubt be sitting on the edge of their seat in a faced paced action packed typical awesome John Woo film which was nominated for an Oscar and won an MTV movie award for best Action Sequence and best on screen duo in Cage and Travolta.

The action scenes are phenomenal and are only superbly enhanced with the audio and editing quality. Face/Off will truly grip all audiences and only leave them wanting more!

Lord Mayor’s big blood pressure Birmingham challenge

Get Birmingham into the Guinness book of records with high blood pressure challenge

By Daniel O’Sullivan 

You could help get Birmingham into the Guinness book of records, simply by getting your blood pressure checked!

The event, put on by Lord Mayor, Coun Len Gregory, is set to take place at Star City in Birmingham on April 2^nd 2011, between 10am and 6pm. All you have to do is go down to Star City, near Nechells in Birmingham, to get your blood pressure taken.

At the moment, the record for the amount of people to have their blood pressure taken is 2,331, held by Cardiff, capitol of Wales, which beat Florida’s record of 2,075 people. The Lord Mayor though would like to smash those records and get a massive 3000 people to participate in just 8 hours.

This event is not just about making history, it is also to raise awareness for High blood pressure, which Is more commonly known as ‘The silent killer’ because it has no symptoms yet is one of the main causes of a person suffering a stroke. A blood pressure test is quick and painless yet it is something that is very important that can be done for your heath, no matter what your age.

It is believed that 35-40% of strokes could be prevented from happening if high blood pressure is caught and treated from an earlier stage, which is a massive amount and makes this event very worthwhile.

At the event, there also going to be stalls, free secure parking, celebrities and all round family fun, so not only will you be helping your heath, you will also be taking part in history and having a fun day out.

This record-breaking attempt to get Birmingham into the Guinness world book of records is being run with The Stroke Association

To register with this event, which is completely free, then register at https://www.lordmayorschallenge.com/ and help Birmingham make history!

Century is the landmark..

 Century is the landmark!

By Daniel O’Sullivan

New evidence has found that one in four children aged 16 and under will live to celebrate their centenarian birthday!

A study undertaken has shown that with the medical advancement of the NHS, less people smoking and improvements in diet and exercise, 3.3 million children can expect to celebrate their 100^th birthday, with 1 in 6 people alive in Britain now, expected to be 11 million, will also be alive to celebrate their centenarian birthday.

These statistics was revealed in Mid April as evidence for increasing the retirement age and reforming pensions. This article has hit newsstands the day after the statistics were revealed, but how does this contrast with Obesity, smoking intake and alcohol intake in the UK and has the evidence provided taken this into account?

One of the main talking points over the last couple of years has been Obesity in the UK. A study revealed in 2011 that more people in Britain are dying from being overweight then anywhere in Europe, with 1 in 11 people dying due to carrying excess fat, 50% more than France!

It is estimated that over half of Britons are overweight, if not Obese, with 17% been male and 21% been female. The difference between been overweight and been obese lies in a person’s body mass index (BMI), which is calculated from a person’s height and weight. An adult with a BMI of more than 25 is classed as overweight and one with a BMI of over 30 is classed as obese.

Britain is not only known for been the ‘Fat Capital’ of Europe, but also for Binge drinking, which according to experts, is getting out of control and some have blamed it on Alcohol advertisements.

Sir Ian Gilmore, professor of Hepatology said that drastic action is needed because “alcohol is pervasive”

“It has become impossible to have a celebration in this country without drinking. Alcohol has never been more available or cheaper. We need a complete ban on alcohol advertising”.

Over £800 million is spent a year on advertisements and sponsorships for beer. Football, possibly the countries post-popular sport, have one of the main cup competitions named after a beer, the Carling cup, and big clubs such as Liverpool and Everton are sponsored by beer, with Liverpool having the brand Carlsberg written across their shirt. In Rugby, there is the famous competition The Heineken Cup and in tennis the tournament at Queens club is sponsored by Stella Artois.

Gilmore continued, “It sounds out the wrong message, I am looking at the consequences of the culture that we have got”

Current rules state that an advert for Alcohol cannot imply drinking will help with their sexual attractiveness, popularity or the success of a social situation. Professor Gilmore has said that Britain should take a leaf out of France’s book and ban advertisement for Alcohol all together. Since France has done this, they have seen a drastic fall in drinking levels.

‘Alcohol Concerns charity’ has backed up Gilmore’s concern that alcohol is a major danger in today’s society and says something desperately has got to be done. Like Gilmore, Campaigns officer for Alcohol Concerns Frank Soodeen says that the Government should put taxes up on Alcohol to stop as many people buying; especially children, and also any advertisement should be done post-watershed so that children do not have to watch them!

Statistically, drinking is a major hazard in Britain, with an estimated 9000 people dying directly from alcohol consumption every year, with that figure only increasing.

Obesity and Alcohol are major health concerns in today’s society, with one of the only positive things to say is how less people now are smoking over the past 50 years.

Smoking can lead straight to major health concerns such as lung cancer or heart disease, however with the Government rules that have come into play over the last 10 years, more and more people over the age of 18 are quitting.

In the last couple of years, it is estimated that around 39% of adults smoke, which does seem like a lot. However this has been compared back to the 50’s where almost 90% of people smoked some sort of tobacco. 

The bad thing is, however, more and more children in today’s society are smoking, despite the Governments attempt to stop this.

The Government has introduced rules such as no smoking in public areas and people only over 18 can purchase cigarettes. There are also disturbing images like lung cancer on the packs of cigarettes and soon, packs will not be allowed to be on show in shops, instead they will have to be hidden under the counter.

This comes after evidence that 15% of 15 year olds and under smoke regularly, despite it been illegal to sell tobacco to under 18’s. 21% of boys and 19% of girls, at the age of 15, have been found to have some levels of active smoking.

Compared with the obesity and alcohol intake in Britain, not many people diet and exercise, however more and more people are now doing it. In a questionnaire done in 2010, a quarter of people who responded regularly do exercise, however if compared to the amount of obese and overweight people in Britain, which add up to 46%, this is nothing.

Clearly the articles in newspapers on how 1 in 4 children under 16 will live to be 100 have not considered the consequences of Obesity, smoking and binge drinking in the country and how out of hand it is, and how much worse it is going to get if something isn’t done.

The government done something about smoking, and smoking went down drastically over the last decade and now something has to be done about obesity and alcohol intake too. There has been a start with school dinners offering a healthier range, but this is clearly not enough.

Advertisement is a major factor in both of these, with fast food restaurants like McDonald's and KFC been advertised everyday. These have got to be cut, if not dropped completely, the same with Alcohol adverts and maybe then the country will start to see the affects of a healthier lifestyle!

Aston villa crisis..

Villa in freefall

By Daniel O’Sullivan

For the past 3 seasons, Aston Villa had got 3 successive 6^th places finishes in the English Premier League under Northern Irishman and former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill.

This year however, Aston Villa have struggled at the wrong end of the premier league all season, now seemingly having a very low chance of even getting into the top half.

Villa’s season got off to the worst possible start with Martin O’Neill quitting the midlands club just five days before the start of the Premier League season, a move which shocked not only Villa fans, but all football fans across the country!

With Villa having a mediocre pre season, they started the first game in the league with Kevin McDonald, reserve team manager, as caretaker manager of the first team and he got of to a great start, with Villa beating West Ham 3-0, a game to be influential midfielder James Milners last for the club. Milner, voted Villa’s player of the season in the 09-10 season, was sold to Manchester City for £24 million, with Stephen Ireland coming in the opposite direction.

This was to be the only transfer activity of the summer transfer window for Villa, and with a credible 1-1 draw against Rapid Vienna in the Europa league, Villa’s season started to go downhill, and fast. Losing to Newcastle at St James’ park 6-0 in a battering by the recently promoted North East club, villa then went out of Europe, losing 2-3 to Rapid Vienna in the Europa League second leg.

With no new manager in site, Kevin McDonald carried on as caretaker manager, getting 2 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses in all of his 7 games, a run which convinced Villa owner Randy Lerner he would not be the man to lead Aston Villa’s team forward.

Then a move that left Villa fans with some optimism for rest of the campaign. Aston Villa introduced Gerard Houllier as new manager. The former Liverpool and Lyon manager has had an impressive record at club level, winning the treble of League Cup, FA cup and UEFA cup, as it was then known, in 2001 with Liverpool as well as winning the League twice with French club Lyon and enjoying the role of technical director when France won the World Cup in 1999, with Gerard Houllier been recognized for his contribution to this achievement. 

This sort of manager left Villa fans hopeful they could still break into the top four and resurrect a so far disappointing season. They, however, would be mistaken.

Despite 2 wins in his first 2 games, draws against Chelsea home and away and a draw against Manchester United, Villa went into the January transfer Window after a 4-0 hammering against Manchester City and 15^th in the table, a record which didn’t sit well with Villa fans or Gerard Houllier himself.

With the arrivals of Michael Bradley, Jean Makoun II and a 24 million pound record deal for Darren Bent, Villa fans were again left hopeful something could be salvaged from this so far disappointing season, especially with Bent scoring on his debut with the only goal as Villa edged past Manchester City.

Again, however, in the coming couple of months, the excitement was diminished which saw Villa crash out of the FA cup to Manchester City and has saw Villa only win once in seven games since the close of the January transfer window, which saw them drop into the relegation zone, albeit only for a week!

Now with recent loses to Bolton and local rivals and fellow strugglers Wolves, Villa now lie just 1 point above third from bottom Wolves with 8 games remaining in what is surely 8 of the most important games in Aston Villa’s Premier League history!!

Wine of the month..

Wine of the month – January

Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Shiraz 2008 is a deep red wine brought to us by the world famous Robert Mondavi from the Napa Valley in California, USA.

With magnificent flavors of black fruit, mixed spices and black pepper, this wine would go perfect a various amount of dishes, from lamb Curry to Pasta!

Woodbridge Shiraz 2008 is based in Napa Valley, who have been distributing commercial wine since 1858 when founded by John Patchett and is now one of the leading wine regions in the United States. 

Robert Mondavi, who died in 2008, was a leading California vineyard operator provided quality technical development and marketing policies brought worldwide acknowledgement to the wines coming out of Napa Valley and in his recognition, the University of California opened a Robert Mondavi institute for Wine and Food Science!

Price: £8.06

Food and drink..

This summer is going to be quite big for food and drink in Birmingham, with the Food and Drink expo coming to the NEC, the biggest food and trade show in 2012!

At this show, there will not only be 500 suppliers but there will also be many companies within the food industry as well as famous TV chefs. Last year, chefs John Torode, James Martin and Rachel Allen all attended and put on demonstrations on how to prepare inspirational summer dishes in no time at all! Some chefs attending this year’s expo include Sophie Wright, Paul Hollywood and Gregg Wallace!

As well as the demonstrations from these popular chefs, there will be dining ideas, how fruit and veg are grown and quality recipes for you to try at home

On the Saturday and Sunday of this great show, any paying adult can bring up to two children to the show for free as well as on the Sunday there will be some family entertainment such as giant gardening games, face painting and pot planting as well as other entertainment on offer!

Tickets are now on offer for this great food and drink show and can be purchased from http://www.foodanddrinkexpo.co.uk/

Travel - 5 must see destinations!

Around the world, there are places that just make you breathless, places where you can just look on and be absolutely speechless. Traveling stereotypically is known for students on gap year or when they have just finished their studies, but that doesn’t mean that you have got to take a year off work and disappear visiting every continent on the planet!

Some people simply can’t go traveling until they have worked for a few years and saved up, especially in this economic climate, but once you do have the money to go somewhere breathtaking, where do you go? Ideally you will want to go somewhere, which suit your needs and your personality! So here at Mesh magazine, we have looked at some of the most beautiful and different places in the world for people with different likes and dislikes and have chosen 5 worldwide destinations.

We will start of with site seeing. You might love to go around a city and look at buildings that have been there for hundreds and hundreds of years, what better place to go to then Rome!

Rome is known for having the biggest empire in history with some landmark buildings standing today! In Rome you will find places such as the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, the famous 36-meter tall Pyramid, the Trajan’s markets, the 2^nd Century equivalent of one of today’s every day shopping centers, St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in the world and center of Christianity, with the infamous St Peters Square leading up to this famous church!

One of the most beautiful sites one could ever see in the world is also based in Rome, and that is the legendary Colosseum. This is the most famous building in all of Roman Empire history seating a staggering 55,000 people and was a stadium where gladiators fought wild animals for entertainment.

None of these however would compare to Vatican City, home of the leader of Christianity! Vatican City is the world’s smallest state, houses St Peter’s Basilica and is most famously known for when there is a new election to become Pope, with thousands upon thousands visiting every month.

Rome truly is a beautiful historic city and a city that anyone with a love of history or famous landmarks must go and see!

Not everyone wants to go walking around a City though; maybe you just want to go and relax, to get away from the stress of your home life. If this is you, then there is arguably nowhere better than Palawan Island in the Philippines.

On the Palawan Island, all your stresses will be gone and you can simply sit on the beach, or by the pool with a cocktail and a book! The island is almost 2,000 kilometres of Rocky coves, jagged coastline, white sandy beaches and clear blue waters! Add in the beautiful rain forest, reefs and caves around the Island, really, what more could you need to have the ultimate relaxing holiday?

On a holiday, something that may be a necessity is Nightlife, and if so, Barcelona would most certainly be somewhere to visit! Barcelona has some of the most diverse bars in the world, with many partying the night away until the early hours of the morning! Of course, this could be because the Spanish people dine very late and so the peak time in on an average night out is 3am, with most clubs closing around 6 or there about!

In some of the nightclubs in Spain’s second city like the recently refurbished   Shoka, Elephant or Sutton host not only some of the best DJ’s in the world but also gets visitors such as Nicolas Cage and various other A Listers at their VIP bar! So, if you’re a party animal then Barcelona is most certainly the place to be, no matter what time of year you are planning on going!

If it is adventure that you are after, then why not try out Tignes in the south of France in the Winter! There is quite an amazing ski resort called Val d’lsere, which hosted the freestyle skiing in the 1992 Olympics! Even if you have never tried the sport of Skiing or snowboarding then why not try your look with there been schools that teach it, and what a better place to learn! There are luxury hotels as well as quality restaurants, bars and clubs! If skiing isn’t quite your thing, then head to Tignes in the summer and try your hand at a number of activities including an airbag jump, where you launch yourself onto a huge airbag without any danger! There is also archery and shooting, Cannoning, Glacier walking, mountain biking or even going into ice caves! This is really a holiday for the adventure orientated person and one that is guaranteed to be enjoyed!

If none of this takes your fancy and you are looking for a family holiday for both the kids and the adults, then why not head to Italy and go to Canevaworld, one of the worlds most famous water parks! Just imagine the fun you and the kids could have with 100,000 square foot of a water park! As well as this there is also a night festival every year showing various artists for the pleasure of the tourists! As well as this there is also movie-land, the first theme park in Italy devoted to the American film productions. Designed in the image of the original Universal Studios in LA, this theme park has a studio that plays attractions and film sets of America’s most successful films.

With all of this to enjoy, whether you are a kid or an adult, you are guaranteed to have one of the best times of your life and is really worth the trip for all of the family!

These five places really are all five star and destinations that are a must see, and with the summer coming up in a few months, there will no doubt be offers you simply can’t resist!