nuzzaci - an online journal

My Formula One interest started in the mid to late nighties. I followed and watched a few races during the Ayrton Senna era, but it wasn’t until 97, in the echo of Jacques Villneneuve’s debute season and in the prospect that Michael Schumacher was going to bring Ferrari their first driver’s title in 19 years, that brought me close to the sport, business circus of Formula One.

My interest in Formula One came from the Italian side of the family; my uncle, Franco Mangione, to name names. Every summer that our family went down to Taranto, Pulgia, I watched at least one race with Franco. The race normally occured during Sunday lunch. Live kitchen noise mixed with engine sounds via the TV.
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After Michael Schumacher won the 2002 driver championship by 67 points over his team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, Bernie Ecclestone (Formula 1 “boss”), in an attempt to close the gap and spread the points, decided to change the point-scoring system so more points went to drivers finishing 2nd place down to 8th — from top six finishers (10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1) to top eight finishers (10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1).

That same scoring-system put in place in 2003 is still used today, but Bernie is planning to change it once again in 2008, this time in an attempt to do the opposite of what he wanted to achieve back in 2003 — make the win of a race matter more; encourage drivers (and teams) to fight for first place rather than settle for second and third.

Many people argue that the system never should have been changed back in 2003. Since it was done for the wrong reasons, a reason that left the sport at the end of 2006 — Michael Schumacher.

And I agree.

The current system is wrong. When introduced I remember drawing similarities to amateur golf and it’s handicap system — which enables golfers of all skill levels to compete on an equitable basis. There were also discussions about adding extra weight to the Ferraris…

If you look at the current stand in the 2007 Championship, after three races, we have three drivers on the same points.

But isn’t Fernando Alonso’s 1st, 2nd, 5th, and Kimi Räikkönen’s 1st, 3rd, 3rd worth more than Lewis Hamilton’s 2nd, 2nd 3rd? As well, if you look at the current 4th and 5th place, only 2 points difference Felipe Massa and his 1st, 5th, 6th and Nick Heidfeld’s 4th, 4th, 4th. Theres a thought, thought, thought.

If we apply the old point-scoring system to the current standing, it would look like this:

And if we would introduce 1 point for the fastest lap and pole position as well, it would look like this:

If we do the same three lists for the Constructors Championship, it would look like this:

Personally I believe that the old 10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 system (introduced 1991) is the best, and the above lists prove it. If you have followed this years season the 2nd and 3rd lists reflects better what has happened so far.

10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 rewards the winner and consistency.
A 2nd and 3rd place is equal to a win and not better.

Giving 1 point for pole position and 1 point for the fastest lap might be interesting… but i’m not sure how that would pan out with the current qualifying system and it’s race fuel tank in Q3. A bit worried that some teams then would put more value in getting those points than fighting for them in the race (a bit like Toyota’s political pole position attempt at the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix).

So… how would the tight 2006 Championship have looked if Bernie never introduced the Schumacher-golf-handicap-system?

Well, the same really.

It’s easy to sit here now and analyse the above graph and say,

“Well, with the old point-scoring system, leaving race number 16 (China) M. Schumacher would have been in the lead and not just tie with F. Alonso, and then maybe have a different and less aggressive strategy going into race number 17 (Japan) where the engine blew”.

But so many other things would have been totally different along the way if the old point-scoring system was in place so it’s not fair or reasonable to draw these kind of conclusions.

BUT! Having said that.

If the old point-scoring system was in place in the 2006 season, Ferrari would most probably have won the constructor championship. Felipe Massa’s 6 podiums (2 victories, 3 second places and 2 thirds) would have been more rewarding against Giancarlo Fisichella 5 podiums (1 victory and 4 thirds) and given Ferrari the Constructors title. And I have a hard time believing that any change in strategy would have changed that.

So intstead of a 5 point win for Renault (206 Renault against 201 Ferrari), Ferrari would have won with a margin of 3 points (159 Renault against 162 Ferrari).

So, Scuderia Ferrari, with a cheeky smile on my face — congratulations ;)

So, we are now a few weeks into 2007 and it’s about time to look back at 2006 and see what actually happened. Since I have had this digital online journal for almost a year (1st of May), 80% of what I’m mentioning here have already been documented earlier.

2006 for me started with coming back from San Francisco (where I had celebrated Christmas (in Lake Tahoe) and New Years (San Francisco) with my girlfriend Willow and her family) and began moving in with Willow to her flat.

During 2006 we had done quite a few improvements to this flat. First we extended the loft so the bedroom got a bit bigger, then we changed the flooring and built a loft bed in one of the bedrooms. But 2006 has just been the beginning… If everything goes as planed, during 2007 I will tell you all about the new kitchen, the new bathroom and the new staircase up to the loft.

 

Work

I don’t talk much about work on this journal. And that’s not because I don’t do any work or that nothing exiting happens at work. No, the main reasons is when i’m not working, and sitting by the computer, I prefer not to talk, reflect or spend time on work related stuff.

I have been at POKE for over three years now, and during these three years a lot has happened e.g. we have grown 462.5% in size, changed offices twice, rolled out a lot of really nice work and won more awards than I can remember. So, as a big reward for our great achievements, about a month ago, we moved into 10000 sq. ft. of dedicated private space.

So 2007 surely kicks off big.
It’s a bit of a fresh start.
A new start.

Two of the bigger pieces of work I been involved in during 2006 was the new topshop.com and the GoodFood magazine website. Thanks to a brilliant team and exceptionally brilliant client, I can look at them both and be extremely satisfied.

 

Sport (F1 basically)

2006 brought me back to Formula One, and the 2006 season was amazing and it definitely made way for an exciting 2007!! The biggest news was of cause the creation of the new 10th of September tradition of German beer and spaghetti tomato sauce, a new tradition to salute and remember the announcement by Scuteria Ferrari of Micheal Schumacher’s retirement as a race driver.

 

Music

So what’s the best album 2006… well it turns out being quite hard… all the ones I’d thought of, turned out being released in 2005! Such as With Teeth by Nine Inch Nails, Go Down! by David Sandstrom and Potemkin City Limits by Propagandhi.

Don’t know, was 2006 a dry year for people with my kind of music taste? What have I missed…

Born In The U.K. by Badly Drawn Boy, 9 by Damien Rice and Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of The Mountain by Sparklehorse are OK, wouldn’t go so far and give them the title ‘Best Album of 2006. (they have done better).

The one album that took me by surprise was Comfort Of Strangers by Beth Orton. So, until further notice Comfort of Strangers can wear the crown of Album of the Year 2006.

 
During the end of 2005 i decided to ‘grab myself in the collar’ and take care of the concert opportunities that comes with living in London. So I ended 2005 strongly with seeing Anthony and the Johnsons, Eels, Unseen, Randy, Flogging Molly, Millencolin and Jeff Tweedy, and have followed through into 2006. Some concert reviews pre this blog can be found on my last.fm journal.

2005 I also left The Above. Which means that during 2006 I have been ‘bandless’. Think that’s one of the main reasons I have managed to get up to so much stuff. I do miss playing though, and might just pick it up again in 2007…

Below is a list of the gig’s I went to during 2006. The absolute highlights was the acoustic Foo Fighters concert and the Tindersticks concert.

1. Jason Mraz, warm up by Raul Midon

   The Mraz gig was probably this years biggest disappointment. Saw him preform an ‘absolute masterpiece’ two years prior, and this time he just managed to reach ‘average commercial ass-selling and record label selling shite’. He didn’t even get close to his potential and wasn’t even near to meet my expectations.

2. Nizlopi

   Willow almost passed out on this gig.

3. Iron & Wine and Calexico

   Saw Calexico back in 1998 in a small pub in Stockholm, Sweden. Calexico 2006 is definitely another band on stage (in a good way). For Iron & Wine the venue was a bit to big.

4. The Shins

   Read more here.

5. Foo Fighters

   One of the best concerts I’ve been to. Read more here.

6. Foo Fighters, warm up by Juliette & the Licks, Angels & Airwaves, Queens of the Stone Age, Motörhead

   The biggest concert I have ever been to. 85.000 people in Hyde Park. It was HUGE. Read more here.

7. Death Cab for Cutie

   Saw DCFC twice in 2006, first in March and then in June. Tom Hostler took me along to the March gig, and since they were so damn good, we booked tickets for June gig as well. Read more about the June concert here.

8. The Cult

   As Billy Duffy changed guitar a few songs into the set, I told Willow, “That’s probably the nicest guitar in the world”. Then, on my 28th birthday, Miss W gave me Miss G.

9. The Rolling Stones

   Read more here

10. The Veils

    Another suggestion by The Hoss, and again, another band I saw twice in 2006. Read more on Willows blog.

11. Tindersticks

    Tindersticks preforming their album Tindersticks II. Totally amazing. Read more here.

12. Hello Saferide

    The most common ’search keyword’ that brings traffic to this site is ‘songs about ocd‘. The search brings me on place nr 8 on Google and points to the post I wrote about this concert. Read the post here.

13. Tom Mcrae, Joe Purdy, Steve Reynolds, Jim Bianco

    Read more here.

14. Robyn

    A weird 5 song mini gig at a small bar in Shoreditch.

15. David & the Citizens

    See photos from this gig on Willow’s flickr

 

Travels

I have never travelled as much during a year as I have done during 2006. The weird bit is that even if I have been around a bit, I manage to have 6 holidays left towards the end of the year, which leed to an extra week off in London. To prevent this from happaning in 2007 I have already booked off 15 days of my holidays, all 15 to be spend before the second week in March.

1. San Francisco, United States of America

   Even though the year stared in San Francisco: The Lake Tahoe and San Francisco trip belongs in an non-existing 2005 review and not in this. But it [the trip] was very very nice.

2. Paris, France

   We spent Easter in Paris. Which was a bit of a disappointment. Paris was not even close to what I expected it to be…

3. Rome, Italy

   In May we went down to Rome, Italy, to celebrate my dad and his 60th birthday. It was lovely. Think the Paris trip made me realise how much i like Rome. You can read more about the Rome trip here and here.

4. Rosili Bay, Whales

   In June we went to Rhossili Bay, Swansea, Wales, with David Marks. Read more here.

5. Skelleftea, Sweden

   As a tradition done every year since I moved to London, Middsummer was spent in Skelleftea. Read more about the trip here and here.

6. Hel, Poland

   Read more about the amazing week in Hel, Poland, here

7. Skelleftea, Sweden

   Went back to Skelleftea in the end of October to celebrate my sisters 30th birthday. Read more here.

8. Newcastle, United Kingdom

   Similar to the midsummer tradition in Skelleftea, Thanksgiving is a trip to Newcastle. This year I made something special.

9. Dover, United Kingdom

   This was just a one day trip down to the white rocks in Dover. I didn’t know that it was just an hours boat trip between Dover and Calais. The Freestyle song Dover-Calais make it seem like it is at least a few hours; since in the song they meet ’somewhere between’. Read misleading lyrics here.

10. Rome, Italy

    Anyone who ever meet or knew my uncle Antonio Nuzzaci will remember the end of 2006 as a very sad moment. During the early hours of Thursday 21st of December he passed away. This cast a shadow over the ending of 2006. Willow and I flew down to Rome to attend the funeral on the 22nd of December, and then we stayed in Rome over Christmas.

11. Taranto, Italy

    Last week of the year was spent in my parents house in the south of Italy. This might have been the last time we visited Viale Die Pini 18, since a few weeks back they sold the house and are planing to move up to Tuscany. Photos from the Italy trip can be found on Willow’s flickr.

When I’m away I tend to read more then if I’m at home. I always have one or two books next to my bed that I’m currently reading, and they seem to take ages to finish; doing 5-10 pages every now and again before going to or falling to sleep.
When I’m away, these never-ending books often reach an end and new ones get started. Guess it has to do with distractions and priority.

During my week in Sweden, I brought (and finished) the book Stumbling on happiness by Daniel Gilbert. I think it is my first book in the Psychology gender, so my reference point is probably not the widest.
The book in general is a bit of a mind-fuck - a big catch 22 psych game on your brain.

An contextual example:

apparently, the describers’ verbal description of their experience ‘overwrote’ their memories of the experience themselves, and they ended up remembering not what they had experienced but what they had said about what they experienced.

So what you are reading here and now is not necessarily what happened, or how I experienced it while it happened, more what I now think I experienced when looking back on what happened. And therefor what I’m saying here is not as related to what actually happened as we might want to think.
I found the book to be very interesting, well written and funny. But this is all I will say about it. I will not post a long review of how I liked it while reading it.

This post suffered from a similar syndrome as the books next to my bed. I started writing down notes on this post when I was still in Sweden, and since then (end of october) I have written a bit here and a bit there.
The post ended up being so long and in such detail that I decided to start all over and summarise the original post, and spare you details, such as, what the population of the village my dentist comes from.

Let’s jump back to Sunday the 22nd of October. It’s 2am and the Formula 1 qualifying ends with Michael Schumacher 10th on the grid due to an unknown error during the last stint in qualifying. With a nose full of mucus (also known as snot), I go to bed.
5 hours later, 7am, I wake up, pack my bags and take bus 48 to Liverpool street and then the underground to Heathrow.

That was how the journey began (might not be the best beginning, but all journeys need a beginning). And that set the tone of the whole week in Skelleftea - rapid, quick and a bit stressful.

Flying… Flying… Flying… I have said before: “Flying feels less glamorous then eating a egg and mayo sandwich.”, and the fact that it’s bad for the environment, unpleasant, and this time (again) anything else than a smooth procedure (checking didn’t work since my electronic ticket didn’t exist, and on top of that extremely long queues due to extra security etc etc), just makes flying the most unpleasant, stupid and uncomfortable way to travel.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in 15 years time or so airplanes will be voted to wear the crown of the worst invention ever invented, and looked upon as something as stupid as the atom bomb. According to Sir Nicholas Stern report, it actually seems like it is a commercialised atom bomb in disguise.

Snow!! My family picks me up at an airport that was covered in snow (note: the photo above is not taken at the airport). And it was cold. But since they no longer serve food on the plane - I was dead hungry at this point, and the only worry I had was whether I would have time to get some food in my stomach before the last F1 race of the season.
It was one of those moments when I am extremely pleased over the fact that Skelleftea (pop approx. 35397) has the same ratio on pizzerias as an English village has on pubs.
The first pizzeria we went to was rammed with people. So we went to another one further down the road. At first it looked perfect, with only a few people inside, but it took ages. Turns out that the guy in front of us had ordered 31 pizzas for a junior hockey team… can’t put my finger on it, but there must be something to learn from that experience.

When the last F1 race of the season began, and the last race ever for the great Michael Schumacher, I was sitting comfortably and digesting a very tasty sandwich kebab pizza, on the sofa in the warm house of the Kontro family in Ursviken (pop approx 4060) just outside Skelleftea.

After the race, that didn’t really end the way I had hoped, I went to Skelleftehamn (pop approx. 3123), which is the small village 16km outside of Skelleftea were I was born and raised.

I slept like a soft toy.

As in every city, there’s always a local current trend; a bag, a way of wearing something, an artist, a way of life. As an “outsider” visiting you notice these trends quite quickly, since there is an abnormal and unnatural amount of something that, where you come from, is not seen as special or trendy. This time it’s: baby carrier, big bellies soon to deliver baby and the Crocs beach sandal.

The whole baby boom, big belly and Crocs invasion reminded me a bit of the white headphones and iPod era two years ago.

During the following 5 days I manage to (among other thing):

• Visit the dentist twice
• Have a lovely wine and cheese evening with friends
• Two schedule lunches
• Four evening dinner parties (one in Umea)
• An afternoon at my old job as a Lifeguard
• A bowling competition
• and of cause my sisters 30th birthday party

It’s not often that you find yourself coming back to London, from the north of Sweden, looking forward to get some rest.

Two weeks ago in Japan, Michael Schumacher, minimised his changes of winning his eighth world champion title due to an engine failure. The engine failure occurred a lap and a half after his last scheduled pit stop.
It’s quite a common that around the time of a pit stop the engine fails. It’s the quick change of the engine behavior; engine running warm - stop - start, that makes the engine vulnerable.

And here I am, on the first day on my last scheduled two weeks pit stop before christmas… with an engine failure. Tomorrow i’m of to Sweden for a week to celebrate my sisters 30th birthday, and this morning I woke up with a cold.

Before my last holiday I experienced the same thing. Think I need to slow down the revs…

I guess I am as vulnerable as formula one car engine.

Even though the last two weeks include some of the very best moments this year (like an amazing present and a lovely dinner on my birthday, an interesting F1 exhibition at the Design Museum and a three hour long breakfast with a very good friend I hadn’t seen in a long time - Adam Frankel), it has been cursed with the mighty shadow of Mr Bad Luck.

I think it all started with Michael Schumacher’s engine failure at the Japanese GP in Suzuka, for which I had bought the X-530 Logitech surround sound system from Amazon that didn’t work, since my Mac Mini didn’t support 5.1 dolby surround, which I “solved” by buying FireWave from Griffin, which also decided not to work…

Yeah.

The clogs I ordered about three weeks ago from Northerner.com decided to arrive last week. They do work (jey!), they don’t need a special sound card or anything… but I ordered four pairs and got three (and one pair turned out to be to small)…

Willow almost flew into the canal last week after the bicycle chain on her Hutch BMX decided to lock the wheel. She’s ok. Her dad, thank god, is also ok after having fallen down an escalator - head first - at Hyde Park Corner Tube Station, which led to a one hour delay of my very lovely birthday dinner.

On Saturday we went to the vue cinema in Islington to see Children of Men - it was fully booked.

On Sunday, after having gone to the lovely F1 exhibition, we had a local handy man round the flat to set up some blinds. After about 90 minutes of preparation we found out that it was impossible to drill (iron beams)… so 3 “holes”, no blinds and £30… to patch that up we pre-booked (HA!) seats for The Departed, the new Martin Scorsese film. It rocked!

It seems like Mr Good and Mr Bad have calmed themselves down a bit. No trace of them yesterday or today.
And hopefully, in the long run - the bad deeds by Mr Bad will be forgotten, while the good deeds by Mr Good will forever be remembered.

A couple of hours ago, Michael Schumacher announced that the current season will be the last he will do as a Formula One race driver.

So tonight I will celebrate, and thank one of the greatest sportsman up to date by cooking spaghetti pomodoro and drink German beer. This celebration will also be a form of voodoo ritual preformed to wish Michael the best of luck to bring home his 8th world championship.

bon appetito.

One key date is 6 August 1991 - the day on which links to the fledgling computer code for the www were put on the alt.hypertext discussion group so others could download it and play with it.

On that day the web went world wide.

from BBC news

I’m sorry Mr Web - I missed it - even though I knew it. I know and knew your birthday was two days ago… I just wasn’t around to post it on Sunday. I came home around 10pm from Newcastle and the only thing circling around my head was the Formula One (which, scarily, was only three laps from going the way I hoped it would… if only Schumacher lasted… and huge congratulations to Button and his first victory!).

So wow - can’t believe you are 15! I have known you for about - what is it, 9 years? Time flies.

15… damn… your just a teenager - you still have about 7 years left of wearing stupid clothes and rebel against society and it’s norms in the quest of finding your meaning and place in life. In most countries you can’t vote, drive a car, drink alcohol or have sex without breaking the law. Yeah… no offense Mr Web, but when thinking about it you’re a pre-pubescent teenager (oversized nose and small head) and nowhere near the experience and perfection of the wise middle-aged F1, and you still have a long way to go before you reach substantial hairiness what’s required to win a Grand Prix.