G1 Climax 36's Semis Set

The semi-finals of this year's NJPW G1 Climax have now been confirmed following today's final round of Block B matches.

Saturday's semis will see A Block winner - Yota Tsuji - take on B Block runner-up: Yuya Uemura. Then, in the other bout, Callum Newman - who topped B Block - will square off against Ryohei Oiwa, who finished second to Tsuji in their block.

The winners will go on to Sunday's final with the overall victor securing a main event match at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th 2027.

Yota Tsuji is the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Should he end up winning the G1, Tsuji will get to choose his dance partner for New Japan's opening event of next year.

The other three potential G1 Climax winners will obviously get to challenge whoever is holding the strap come January. 

Earlier this year, I predicted Shota Umino would win the G1. That guess fell after the first hurdle due to Umino sustaining a concussion in his opening night loss to Zack Sabre Jr. The injury ended my pick's tournament.

My reserve choice is still in it. 

Come on Uemura!

Partial Solar Eclipse '26

Ahh, a partial solar eclipse in the news.

Takes me back to 1999. It seemed the entire UK was hyped up for that one. I couldn't find any of the eclipse viewing glasses back then. I tried, though.

I also tried to create my own viewing device. All I recall from that experiment was standing out my backyard with my dad and our next door neighbour as we tried to 'view' the eclipse on a white bit of paper.

The Three Stooges would have done a better job.

That was one of the many fond memories I have of our neighbour, who passed away in the mid-2010s. 

As for this year's eclipse - things are set to begin at around 18:17. They forecast 93.24% of the Sun will be covered by the Moon at approximately 19:13.

Maybe I should get some paper. You know - for old times' sake.

A Few Words About Jimmy Cricket (And How Cool He Was To Me)

I looked through a few pages of my autograph collection last night. I was on the hunt for Benny from Crossroads (don't ask!), but came across one I really should have written about long before today.

Here is a personalised autograph from none other than Jimmy Cricket.

Jimmy passed away last week at the age of eighty.  I consider him to be one of the most iconic comedians from my childhood. I suppose a good part of that is knowing he had gone out of his way to send me the autograph when my dad wrote to him - on my behalf - back in the mid-80s.

It wasn't just the 1980s when Jimmy did me a favour, though.

During the 2000s, I contacted Jimmy myself. I had told him one of my friends had enjoyed looking through my autograph collection and one of the names which stood out to her was his. Jimmy sent over an autograph for me to give my friend on her  birthday.

That was very cool.

What others said about Jimmy Cricket

It seems the consensus all shared how genuinely nice Jimmy Cricket was. Following his passing, some other people who knew Jimmy shared their thoughts on the late comedian.

Roy Walker stated that Jimmy was a 'sincere wee fella..' and that he 'loved everyone and everyone loved him.' Christopher Biggins also shared his opinion that Jimmy was 'unbelievably fantastic' and reasoned that he had never met anyone nicer.

Those two examples, added to mine, prove Jimmy Cricket was the genuine article.

I've Finished The End Of The World As We Know It

I finished reading The End of the World as We Know It yesterday.

It's a collection of short stories based around Stephen King's The Stand. As I'm sure I've written numerous times over the years, the hefty apocalyptic novel is my favourite works by King. Checking out the anthology which spins off from it was a no- brainer.

To be frank, I ended up giving the collection four stars out of five. The sole reason is because there are some stories which seem to be too similar and it threw me off somewhat.

With all that said, the writers who worked on this project served The Stand well. It's absolutely something I'd recommend to those who have read The Stand in the past. Or, better yet, I'd push BOTH The Stand and this newer book, serving as its sidekick, to new readers.

Buy The End of the World as We Know It

This Morning's Breakfast

Look what I had for this morning's breakfast.

I bet the first thing you thought was 'he had Reese's Puffs? Big deal'. To you, I' shall say 'WRONG! kinda'.

Your next guess would - or should - be the Aldi version of Reese's Puffs. You know, the ones I claim to be superior to the original. Well, that would also be an incorrect guess. In fact, it's a colder guess to your first.

What I had are Reese's Puffs, but with a twist.

Coming straight outta Canada are these. Dark Chocolate Reese's Puffs. I came across them when I was searching through Amazon earlier this week. It was an instant purchase. I had to give them a go. Especially today.

They weren't bad. But, I felt that the dark chocolate flavour undermined the hint of peanut butter. 

I suppose, seeing as the main gimmick is dark chocolate, it's fair to consider that it should be the predominant taste.

So, yeah, they're okay. Aldi's version of the original Reese's Puffs are still number one when it comes to peanut butter cereal, however.

This one wins the award for 'Best Packaging' though. Look at the use of the neon lighting effect. Superb.

Is That Bait?!

You know the 'that's bait' meme, which pops up every now and again on social media? Well - I was browsing through TAFKA Twitter today and saw something which triggered me. 

Before I replied to what was written, the Tom Hardy Mad Max (well, I believe it's from Hardy's rendition of Mad Max) appeared in a dream bubble above my head.

It must be bait, I thought to myself.

I was set to react to a post by someone who claims that FIFA fixed the 2030 World Cup host nations to guarantee Argentina will make it to the tournament. 

That's not completely true.

Who are hosting the 2030 World Cup?

The World Cup is currently set to be played in SIX countries. However, there are three main hosts. 

Let me explain.

Morocco, Portugal and Spain have all been named as hosts for the 2030 tournament. As well as that trio, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will field an opening match each as a way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the World Cup.

The first-ever tournament was hosted, and won by, Uruguay. So, hosting the special centenary game makes sense on paper*.

What also seems reasonable - on paper again* - is seeing Argentina in the mix. They were the runners-up to Uruguay in the initial World Cup.

I don't know for sure why Paraguay are also involved other than to suggest FIFA wanted to give three South American countries the privilege. 

With all that said, these plans could very well change if the current standoff between UEFA and FIFA isn't resolved in time.

UEFA has threatened to boycott everything involving FIFA unless there is a change in the hierarchy. That could result in Portugal and Spain (the current World champs nonetheless!) missing out.

Argentina aren't going to miss out.  They're in, but not for the reason I read this morning.

*FIFA giving European, African and South American hosts for one World Cup paved the way for Saudi Arabia to leapfrog the traditional rotation system securing the 2034 tournament.

Football Is Back. Almost.

I went to bed with NFL GamePass playing on my bedroom TV last night. 

 

It has been months since I've been able to write the previous sentence. Football is back. Almost.

Last night saw the NFL host its annual Hall of Fame game. I caught the first few plays of what turned out to be the Carolina Panthers' 33-30 win over the Arizona Cardinals. 

I've seen the closing moments of the match as well. Quite a fun ending, to be fair. The Panthers' third string-quarterback, Haynes King, ran in a touchdown on 3rd and Goal as the clock hit zero.

Let's hope we get denouements like that all the way through September to February. 

Who is Haynes King?

Haynes King was signed by the Carolina Panthers, as an undrafted free agent, earlier this year. He currently sits behind Bryce Young and Kenny Pickett on  the team's quarterback depth chart.

King began his college career at Texas A&M in 2020 before transferring to Georgia Tech a couple of years later.

What's next for the NFL's 2026 preseason?

The Hall of Fame game was the first fixture of the NFL's preseason schedule for 2026. The full preseason schedule will heat up from Thursday 13th August. 

When does the 2026 NFL regular season begin?

The first regular season game of the 2026 NFL season will see the defending Super Bowl Champs - the Seattle Seahawks - greet the New England Patriots on Wednesday 9th September.

Season kick offs traditionally occur on Thursday nights. For this year, the game has been brought forward by a day because the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams are set to meet in the first-ever NFL fixture from Australia on Friday 11th September (due to time zone differences, the kick off will air on Thursday in the USA).