F1 Lefty watch

So hello.
I just want to let you know that I'm right handed.

A random way to start a post but I will explain.
Since the age of about six. I have always been fascinated with which hands people write with. Especially anyone who wrote or did anything with their left hand.
I was always jealous of the kids who got to use the green and yellow scissors whilst I, being a boring right hand soul. Ended up with the generic red handed scissors. Boo, hiss.

This is something I thought I would grow out of and not notice anymore.
But as I got older, it started to get worse.
Every class I ever studied in. I knew who all the left handers were.
(So if anyone from school, college or university is reading this. I wasn't staring at you. I was just staring at your hands. Honest.)

Most people who are either left or right handed. Usually do something with the opposite hand they write with.
My sister is right handed but eats left handed.
My friend can throw right handed but is actually left handed.

I thought I couldn't do anything left handed until at the age of eighteen whilst playing a game of pool. My friend told me that I played left handed.
I never even noticed. I just thought that was how everyone played.

And since then my left handed obsession seems to have got a little bit out of hand.
To the point where I even started the hash tag #Leftywatch on twitter.
(Still immensely proud of this achievement)

So lets get this post back to F1 and not my life and its boring ramblings.

So F1 has had some amazing 'Southpaws' over the years.
These aren't all of them but here is a small sample of the best ones.

Jenson Button. 
The only left hander on the grid in 2012.
He may be in the minority in terms of dexterity but not in terms of driving.


Johnny Herbert, David Croft and Anthony Davidson 
These three together are a winning F1 commentating/presenting combination.
They also make up a third of the Sky F1 presenting team. How many left handers do the BBC F1 team have? None.
Hoorah for lefties.

Giancarlo Fisichella.
Remember him. Seems like so long ago since he was about in F1.
But he's also another lefty to add to the bunch.
In fact along with Jenson Button in 2001 they also have the title (I think) of being the only both left handed team mates.


And on to the last lefty F1 driver for this post
Probably the best ever left handed driver ever.
I am of course talking about.
The one, the only.

Ayrton Senna


Need I say anymore.

So to all the left handed people out there.
I support and salute you.

And if you see and F1 left handed-ness about.
Remember folks. Hash tag #Leftywatch on twitter.

If you want to hear more of my love for lefties or for Giraffes even you can also follow me on twitter @squiffany

Senna Watch

So this Sunday (8th January) at 8pm a special twitter event is taking place.
Senna Watch.


Senna watch is basically a mass tweet up whilst simultaneously watching the Senna movie.

Now I'm excited for about this for several reasons.

One.
When I went to the cinema (Twice) to see Senna. I went with two very different people who experienced Senna in different ways. The first was my brother-in-law who being 12 years older then me. Remembered all the Senna action and watched the races live at the time. The second was a friend of mine who being five years younger then me. Knew less about Senna then I did.

This made for great conversations after the film had finished.
I'm looking forward to having even more conversations during the mass tweet up.

Two.
Rumour has it that producer of Senna Manish Pandey is also getting involved. So not only are you tweeting comments to other Senna film lovers but also to the people who made and loved the Senna movie.
An extreme rarity.

And finally.
It's the Senna film.
This literally was one of my highlights of 2011.
I went to the cinema to see it twice.
I pre-ordered the DVD months in advance.
I even wrote a review about it. (You can see that here)
And has an ex film student. (That was three years well spent... ish)

It appeased and reminded me of my love for the beauty of film.
Something I had missed since leaving university.

So at 8pm GMT time in the UK.
I shall be watching Senna.

I hope that you will be too.
Wherever you are.
Whatever country that be

Australia. 7am (9th Jan)
USA NY 3pm
USA San Fran 12pm
Germany 9pm
Russia 12pm.

Just don't forget to bring your tissues.

For more details of Senna Watch.
Follow them on twitter @SENNAWatch

You can see my live Senna watch tweets at @squiffany

Retro F1 Fitty of the Week. Ayrton Senna.

Now after months and months of speculation. (By no-one)
I have finally decided what to do about F1 fitty of the week, since I can't do any more current ones.

So I have decided instead to do a retro F1 fitty of the week.
The best thing about it. All the choices won't be mine. (Hoorah)

I will also be spreading it to other female members of the F1 community.
So if your interested in sharing a few words about who you think should be a retro F1 fitty of the week then contact me on twitter @squiffany or you can email me at squiffany87@gmail.com

So back to this week's retro F1 fitty and I'm going to start retro F1 fitty with a link to my last current F1 fitty. (Which if you missed you can see here.)

The link is quite simply family.

So this week's retro fitty of the week is Ayrton Senna.


Now like I have said in previous posts, I'm not into the tall, dark and handsome stereotype but has we know with Ayrton.
He was more then that.

His eyes told more of a story then any book.

Not only that but he had a voice that could melt butter.
*Shivers*


But even better then Ayrton's looks or voice.
Was two things: His intelligence and his driving ability.
Ayrton had both of these in spades.

This made him the most rarest of drivers and the most alluring.
A beautiful man who had a lot left to give.

A beautiful man that will live on in Formula One forever.

F1 confessions.

A few years ago I fell in love with post secret.
Post secret is where you write down your deepest darkest secrets, thoughts and feelings and send them in postcard form and every Sunday a selection gets put on the post secrets website.

Here is some examples.





Now recently @tenacious_sd pointed me into an F1 related version of post secret called F1 confessions.
Now the website is at the end of the post but here are just some of my favourite F1 confessions.












Now I have put two confessions in myself as well.
(I had to, I couldn't resist and people who know my F1 tastes might have a good clue what they might be about)

But I am loving this tumblr and I'm hoping that by spreading the word. More F1 confessions will come out the woodwork and into the light of day.

After all a F1 confession shared is a F1 confession halved.

To see and submit your F1 confessions go to.
http://formula1confessions.tumblr.com/

To see the post secret postcards go to.
http://www.postsecret.com/

Senna.

Last year I graduated from university with a degree in Film Studies.
In the last year I have done nothing with my degree at all.

Fast forward to June of this year and I went to see the Senna movie.
I was supposed to write a review on it soon after.
But life got in the way and at the time it seemed too late to write a blog post about it.

Then twitter reminded me that America and Australia still haven't been lucky enough to see the film yet.
So I think I have found my chance to do my review and remember why a degree in film could be still useful.


The review in brief is simple.
Senna was a beautiful, thought provoking and an emotional rollercoster
From hurt to anger. From love to war.
The Senna film had something else... as well something which most documentaries don't have.

A soul.

It showed you how a man who just drove a Formula One car actually... ticked.
It felt like you saw how the clogs of how Senna's mind worked.
Not only just through the voices of family, friends and colleagues but through his own words.

That was one of the biggest emotions for me.
Hearing Senna talk.

I didn't watch Formula One when Senna died. So hearing him talk for such a long period of time. Was strange because I felt like I knew him personally when I clearly didn't. That made the pain even more unbearable because you knew what was coming next.

It's wasn't just Senna's crash that draw the biggest silence in the cinema.
I have watched Formula One for thirteen years and I thought I pretty much youtube-d every Formula One crash.
Then I saw Martin Donnelly's crash for the first time.

There are no words for that.
At all.

In the cinema that needs to be seen to be believed.

This does take me neatly to the soundtrack, which was breathtaking. It matched the mood of all the destruction and emotion so well. It reminded me that a film could have so many layers and depth. If the Soundtrack doesn't win an Oscar come next year. I'll be shocked.

To me the film was perfect.
But of course the film has drawn some criticism for being biased. For not putting Alain Prost or Jean Marie Balestre side over more clearly and for forgetting talking heads of other characters in Senna's life like Michael Schumacher and Murray Walker.

But what people forget is two things. One. The film is only 90 minutes long. I have seen rough copies of the film at 145 minutes long and even that was amazing but the amount of footage that Asif Kapadia and his team have had to condense is mind blowing and a six hour documentary is not going cut it in the cinema.

I'm hoping for a directors cut on DVD instead, which I know would please a lot of fans.

Secondly time restrictions in the edit are going mean some people's Senna moments aren't going to be included even people F1 fans relate with Senna.
All that mattered were the major characters who were involved in Senna's life and career.

Of course it is going to be slightly bias.
It's about Senna.
The clue is in the title.

The Senna film. Did something no other Formula One film/documentary has ever done.
It appealed to everyone.
Because it didn't feel real.

The Senna movie felt like a fairy tale and people like Alain Prost and Jean Marie Balestre were the villians and Ayrton Senna was the hero trying to defeat them and he did defeat them.

It's just this story didn't have a happy ever after.