Williams

I had always been fascinated with Formula 1. Not just at the glamour of it all, but at the engineering and the skills behind it.

In the last decade, with the retirement of drivers such as Schumacher, certainly some of the charm from Formula 1 had been lost. They are no more than a commercial ventures nowadays. Gone were the risk-taking and attitude which made racing so enthralling to watch. They are now sterile.

After work the other day, I was flipping through Netflix and came across this documentary about of the characters in motor racing, Sir Frank Williams. The title was simply "Williams". And it told the story of the great man.

Fascinating watch and at the end, I couldn't help but appreciate that the gentleman was from a different time. A different breed, from the era where motor racing meant something else. Well worth a watch. And I will be supporting Williams next season on the back of that ...

Here is the trailer of the documentary of you are interested.

Man on Wire

My initial intention was to watch "The Walk" on the Apple TV, but I found out that a documentary about the Philippe Petit's crossing of the the two towers of the World Trade Centre was going for 99 cents. I decided to watch "Man on Wire" first as it would give me some insight into the actual feat.

And it was fascinating. It certainly wetted my appetite for the main movie. And I could understand his sadness to see the destruction of the towers on Sept 11. I was also rather impressed with the reaction of the Police after he did his tightrope walk. I was sure he would have been shot dead today if he were to repeat that. Security and people's attitude were certainly different now.

A highly recommended documentary and now for the main feature .....

Jiro Found His Sushi?

I heard about this documentary for quite some time, but never actually got around to have a look at it. On New Year's Day, while recovering from the on call the evening before, I rented the documentary on my Apple TV. They were doing 99c rental at the time.

Fascinating insight into the commitment of these sushi chefs looking for perfection. Jiro must be approaching 90 today and he hosted Barack Obama and Prime Minister Abe in April 2014 at his modest restaurant - which only sat 10. Such was the regard held for him - not to mention the Three-Star Michelin award that he had.

After watching this, I appreciate the art a lot more. Now I remembered why the sushi bars in Kyoto were small and homely. With not too many items on the menu.

Searching for Sugar Man

I learned about this documentary just before this year's Oscars. It was about a musician who despite such a profound music, did not hit the big time and folded into the unknown.

But such was the power of his music, he gained fame in the repressed Apartheid era of South Africa. The youth of the day picked the music up without knowing much about the musician behind it, and it took the effort of a couple of music writers to trace him up using the powers of early internet.

So, Sixto Rodriquez was rediscovered from the unknown and he became an overnight sensation, at least in South Africa. And this sweet journey was documented with such passion into this wonderful short movie by a couple of Swedish documentary maker, Searching for Sugar Man.

An insight into this fascinating man, who even today remained through and humble, undeterred by this overdue-found fame. I caught this movie last night on the Sundance Channel. It was an independent documentary movie at its best, and fully deserved its Oscar and Bafta awards which they won. Highly recommended. And I've surely found my Sugar Man.

Alive

A few years back - more like 20 years ago, I remember watching a movie called Alive with my housemates in Sheffield. All of us were Medical Students back then and the subject behind the movie interested us. It was about survival, and what happen if you were to neat another human being.....

Funny then kind of things that interested us back then. Anyhow, it was a real story of survival and it was based on a true tale. A group of rugby players from Uruguay was on the way to Chile when their plane crashed at the top of the Andes Mountains due to what turned out to be pilot's error.

There were no means for escape for the survivors and after the rescue mission were called off, they had to find their way out ton alert the public. And it took them more than a couple of months before they were rescued after a daring trek down the mountain by a couple the fellow survivors.

As their food store depleted, they had to resort to eating the passengers who perished. A lot ethical issues here, but it was a matter of live or death.

Ten days of trekking in such treacherous condition. They were finally rescued after 72 days in the mountains. They were taken out just in time for Christmas 1972.

This afternoon, I watched a documentary on Discovery in what actually happened. And the actual survivors from the flight were interviewed. A group of mountaineers also went to trace the actual route that they took to take them back to civilisation. The survivors also returned to the site, and the story of their lives since the event were also told.

Fascinating stuff.