Gwen Stefani – Sweet Escape In Toronto.

Gwen dropped by the ACC last night along with Lady Sovereign and Akon as opening acts.

The whole show got under way at 7:30 sharpish and even though the place was only half seated at that point (lots of people were still milling about outside) the pint sized Ms. Sovereign put forth a really fired up set. At one point she was rapping so fast that she sounded like a professional auctioneer. Well done indeed, will be keeping my eyes on this one. I especially liked the song "Love Me or Hate Me". She comes across as an anti-Avril Lavigne peppered with the attitude of the Clash. Very refreshing and cool.

Next up was uber-popular Senegalese reggae-rapper Akon. Now with more people seated, he and his DJ really got the place hoppin. He went through his current hits in a set, which lasted about 30 min. Sometimes it was hard to hear the words because all the girls were screaming so loudly, especially when he doffed his shirt for them.

Then came Gwen.
She put on an excellent show for 90 minutes with multiple costume changes and let me just say she’s even better looking in person. This girl is fit fit fit with killer abs. I must say though, she was looking a little tired but she didn’t let that get her down. It’s understandable, she’s half way through a tour and she did admit that she was in a bitchy mood before the concert. One nice move was when she went right by me on the way down to the back of the house where she promptly jumped up into the audience at three locations while she sang the song “Cool”.
Funny thing, people in other cities that have seen this concert all say that Gwen can’t sing her ballads properly and that they are the weak point of the show. Not the case last night, she handled all of them perfectly and the only thing I noticed was that half the audience sat down. But hey, not my fault half the people can’t stand up for more than 15 minutes at a time. I guess that concerts are all measured these days on their ability to make you leave your seat, which is complete shite anyway. The concert and Gwen were excellent. End of story.

Gwen also confessed that her next album would be with No Doubt. All in all it was a great evening. Set list is included below.

"The Sweet Escape"

"Rich Girl"

"Yummy"

"4 in the Morning"

"Luxurious"

"Early Winter"

"Wind It Up"

"Danger Zone"

"Hollaback Girl"

"Now That You Got It"

"Don't Get It Twisted"

"Cool"

"Wonderful Life"

"Orange County Girl"

Encore:"The Real Thing"

"What You Waiting For?"

FIA Finds McLaren Actions In Monaco Legitimate.

The following is the press release from the FIA dated 30 May 2007.

Official FIA Press Release

2007 Monaco Grand Prix30.05.2007

Having studied the radio traffic between Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (McLaren) and its drivers, together with the FIA observer’s report and data from the team, it is clear that McLaren’s actions during the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix were entirely legitimate and no further action is necessary.

The facts:

1. A two-stop strategy is the optimum at Monaco unless the safety car is deployed, in which case one-stop can sometimes be better.
2. The safety car has been deployed during four of the past five Monaco Grands Prix.
3. Under current rules the choice between a one-stop and two-stop strategy must be made before the final qualifying period.
4. It is clear from FIA measurements taken after qualifying that McLaren fuelled Hamilton for five more laps than Alonso.
5. This allowed Hamilton the option of a one-stop strategy should the safety car have come out during his first stint.
6. The safety car was not deployed.
7. The McLaren was significantly faster at Monaco than any other car.
Background
The primary objective of any team is for one of their drivers to win. If this can be achieved they will try to ensure their other car finishes second.
With no safety car during Alonso’s first stint, there was a small but finite risk that it would come out during the five laps before Hamilton had to refuel. This would have put him behind the field and at a significant disadvantage to any car on a full (as opposed to optional) one-stop strategy. The latter cars would be expected to refuel around lap 40 – ie after the safety car had pitted if it came out during Hamilton’s extra laps.
For similar reasons Hamilton was called in early for his second pit stop, thus assuring his second place, with or without a safety car.
Had the car in front of Hamilton not been his team-mate, McLaren might (probably would) have decided to risk the safety car and let Hamilton run for as long as his fuel load allowed in the hope that he would come out of the pits in the lead after one of his pit stops. There is, however, no obligation on them to take this risk in order to overtake their own car. Indeed it would be foolish to do so.
It is standard procedure for a team to tell its drivers to slow down when they have a substantial lead. This is in order to minimise the risk of technical or other problems. It is also standard practice and entirely reasonable to ask the drivers not to put each other at risk. McLaren were able to pursue an optimum team strategy because they had a substantial advantage over all other cars. They did nothing which could be described as interfering with the race result.
Note to Editors:
At its meeting on 28 October 2002 the Formula One Commission decided by 23 votes to nil, with 3 abstentions, that it should be “prohibited to use team orders to interfere with the results of the race”. This decision was confirmed by the World Motor Sport Council and appears as Article 39.1 of the 2007 Formula One Sporting Regulations: “Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited.”
For further information on the FIA, please consult our Internet site:www.fia.com

Well, Ron and the boys escaped this one, but rest assured they will be watched closely the rest of the season. Your very lucky Mr. Dennis.

Ron Dennis & McLaren Under Investigation

Well, once again Mr. Dennis is screwing around with the rules and reg’s of Formula 1.
Today, McLaren are under an intense investigation as per the FIA quoted below:

“The FIA has launched an investigation into incidents involving the McLaren Mercedes team at the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix in light of a possible breach of the International Sporting Code, Article 151c.
The relevant evidence is under review and a further announcement will be made in due course.”

This is what happened folks.
Following Ron Dennis' frank admission that he instructed his drivers to maintain position once the first pit stops were completed and the team's superiority established, he negated Lewis Hamilton from really racing for the win against his fellow driver Alonslack for the remaining Two Thirds of the race.
This would explain why Lewis was always pulling right up to Slacklonso and then backing off, and then catching up again for the whole race.
Talk about shite eh? I sincerely hope McLaren gets nailed for this and stripped of their One-Two finish as well as all points that were gained.

It is fine to “Hold Position” for the last 10 laps and it is readily accepted in racing, but not the last 52 laps. That is completely unacceptable.
More updates will be posted as I get them…stay tuned.

Alonso Wins In Monaco, Hamilton A Close Second.

Alonso won in Monaco yesterday in what was a pretty tame race; such is the way on a track that is to small for today’s F1 cars. It is clear that this race is purely for the sponsors and if they were to suggest this track as a new race in these modern times it would not pass the safety test at all. But either way it is still nice to watch it every year.

I did not like Saturdays qualifying when both McLaren cars were on their last laps and Alonso was down on his pole time but Hamilton was on his way to snatching pole back and all of a sudden the team shut it down. Lewis was green through the first section on a legitimate lap and then backed off all of a sudden. It is clear that they wanted Alonso in the front slot as they are paying him waaaaaayyy more than Lewis and it makes good press.

I say Lewis will win in Montreal in a fortnight’s time; he is much better than Alonso and has more stamina to go the entire race distance full on, whereas Alonso seems to get tired just after the midway point to the end. This can be verified by looking at the both of them during the after race press conference. Alonso will be covered in sweat and Lewis will look like he just arrived at the circuit ready to go to work, as you can see by the picture below.

Massa grabbed the obligatory Third for Ferrari, but one has to wonder if they will yank Kimi out in mid season and tell Mike to suit up. You gotta know that Mike still has his drivers suit handy and after seeing him during yesterdays broadcast, one could tell that he was wishing he could be out on the track beating the hell out of the McLaren boys. Kimi had best get it together and fast or he will find himself out of a front line job. Ferrari is not in the habit of paying drivers like Kimi 30 million for shite results.

See you in Montreal on the 10th of June.

Paris to have wonderful summer.........

WELL, I see Idiot girl is at it again.

Paris' shrink claims that Hilton is "emotionally distraught and traumatized" from the May 4 hearing where she was sentenced to 45 days in jail for breaking probation in her DUI bust, and asked a judge to allow her sufficient time to recover. In the document, the doctor goes on to explain that Hilton "Cannot effectively respond to examination as a witness or provide any significant input into her defense." As well as that forcing Paris to participate at her May 21 trial would "exacerbate her current mental condition." As a result, the judge has postponed the trial date until August 22.

What a pant load of crap, this mistake of breeding is so distraught that she’s out partying every night and shopping all day. Ya she’s really hurtin bad. Now, by getting the trial put off until August she has guaranteed she won’t have her summer fun disrupted. Stupid Ho.

I hope they put her in general pop. when they finally send her up.
Only in America folks…only in America.

Massa Wins, But Hamilton Is In Charge

Massa won with no problem in Spain yesterday and Hamilton became the youngest person ever to hold the lead of the World Championship, taking that title from Bruce McLaren after all these years. Not to mention that Hamilton also finished on the podium for his Fourth consecutive race. This kid is good let me tell you.

As for Slacklonso and his completely amateur rookie assed move on corner one of lap one...........Well let me just say this........HEY ROOKLONSO, PUT THE YELLOW STRIPE BACK ON YOUR CAR AND RE-READ YOUR RACING MANUAL. PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE SECTION ON RACE STARTS WHERE IT SAYS YOU CAN'T WIN THE RACE ON THE FIRST CORNER.

I think after Four races it's very fair to say that Hamilton has the psychological advantage over Slowlonso and will for the remainder of the season. The biggest part of that was yesterday after the race, now McLaren has to back Hamilton full tilt because he leads the championship and his teammate is third.

I also saw Schumi at the race yesterday and I swear you could see him telling Ferrari management to secure Hamilton's services ASAP, which I hope they do very soon.

This will be the last season for alonso at McLaren, next stop.......Spyker....as weekend test driver.

See you in Monaco.

No Relief From Toronto Gas Prices Anytime Soon.

The following is an excerpt from this mornings Toronto Star.


“Drivers expecting relief at the gas pumps this summer aren't going to be happy.
Gasoline prices in the province are at a nine-month high, with some retail stations in Toronto charging as much as $1.09 per litre yesterday for regular unleaded fuel.

"I expect prices to remain higher than they normally would be," said Spencer Knipping, petroleum adviser to the Ontario Ministry of Energy.
It wasn't supposed to happen this way. In February, prices spiked above $1 per litre after a fire at Imperial Oil Ltd.'s Nanticoke refinery restricted supply in Ontario.
A temporary blip, we were told. Once that mess was cleaned up, the expectation was that prices would inch lower.

Or not. Industry experts say the Nanticoke fire merely masked a larger problem south of the border, which sets the wholesale price for gasoline in Canada.

I find it pretty hard to believe this line of crap thinking. For one, we are the biggest supplier of oil to the U.S. in the world as I have stated in previous posts. Two, with that kind of abundance in oil sitting out west why in the hell would we let the “South of the border gang” set our gas prices? I know Canada follows the States for the most part but come the fuck on.
"There has been an unusually high number of refinery glitches in the United States," said Knipping, adding the disruptions have led to declining U.S. gasoline inventories for 11 straight weeks.

What the hell????????? Now everybody’s refineries are all of a sudden running into problems both north and south of the border? But you watch, Exxon will report another solid quarter of billions in profit again as will the Canadian companies and the gas reserve which was “running on empty” will all of a sudden replenish itself around mid-July when they’ll decide to give us a price break for a few weeks.

Most recently, a lightning strike caused a fire and explosion at a small refinery in Oklahoma, while a power outage closed part of a Texas refinery.
The U.S. Energy Department said last week that U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell by another 2.8 million barrels to an 18-month low. Inventory levels are now below their five-year average. It's a bad sign with the May 24 Victoria Day holiday, the unofficial summer kickoff, just three weeks away.

The previous statement is nothing but pure fear mongering folks.

"It exacerbates an already difficult situation," said Knipping, who added that stockpiles "should be increasing this time of the year so inventories can be rebuilt for the summer."
Analysts are concerned that the next U.S. inventory report, to be released today, will show a continuing decline.

"There's a fear built into the market that there won't be enough gasoline for the summer driving season," said Erit Wittenauer, an energy futures analyst at A.G. Edward & Sons in St. Louis.”

Those Seven words above are huge keys to the way things are run today and also why John Q. Public is always run roughshod, never knowing the real story.
Especially the first three words people……………..the most recent juicing of the public began back in 2001 and it will never stop. The people who write the rules can smell your fear and because of it we will all pay dearly. There will always be a perpetual shortage of something and as I said to one of my friends a few weeks ago….”You have seen the last of $.99/litre gas.”