For the past few days, all the newspapers and bloggers have been talking about how Djokovic has now really got Nadal's number, having defeated him in 7 successive finals, including 3 Grand Slams.
I see it a bit differently and this is because Nadal has shown in the past how he constantly improves, learns from his mistakes and adds new dimensions to his game. 

Case in point is grass and Wimbledon. In 2006, Nadal reached the final for the first time and gave Federer a bit of a fight before losing in 4 sets. In 2007, Nadal reached the final again and this time, armed with a better arsenal suited for grass courts, he took Federer to 5 sets before fading away rather quickly towards the end of the 5th set after missing an easy smash and failing to convert a couple of break point chances early in that set.
In 2008, they went to 5 sets again, but this time, Nadal had the mental toughness to just edge Federer.

Another case in point is the American hard courts and the US Open. It took Nadal a few years to achieve success there...he lost in the semi-finals in 2 successive years before adding a stronger serve to his repertoire and triumphing in 2010.

In the same way, Nadal has suddenly had to face a new improved Djokovic in 2011. This took him by surprise initially and he spent most of 2011 essentially playing the same game which had helped him beat Djokovic in the past. But by the 2011 US Open, Nadal was already trying to do something different and this final went to 4 hours 10 minutes. Then during the off season, he worked on other aspects of his game - serving in Djokovic's body for instance to neutralize his return of serve. And as a result we saw the longest final in Grand Slam history at 5 hours 53 minutes. So, as in the past, I see this as a case of Nadal getting closer to his goal and now believing that he is nearly there and can do enough to cross the line first in his next match-up, just as he must have felt when he lost the 5 set Wimbledon final to Federer in 2007.

Either way, all eyes will be turned to the 2012 French Open final, which represents Nadal's last bastion. He now knows what Federer felt like when he faced Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final. But Nadal is mentally stronger than Federer and that is why I think he will come out on top. I am not a Nadal supporter (Go Federer!!!), but can't deny that Nadal and Djokovic have brought in a completely new mental dimension into tennis...most people I spoke to compare their AO 2012 finals performance to that of a couple of punch drunk boxers keeping at it to the end.

The big surprise with the 2012 Oscar nominations is the inclusion of Stephen Daldry's 9-11 story "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". Of course, Daldry has the credentials...he has been nominated for a Best Director Oscar for each of his past 3 films - "Billy Elliot", "The Hours" and "The Reader". However, his latest effort has had by far the worst reviews of his career, even more than the divisive "The Reader". I haven't seen it so I can't comment.

The weakest nomination for Best Picture Oscar is probably "Moneyball". No doubt it is a good, competent film with good, competent acting, but I believe the appeal is probably greater for American viewers/ voters than it is for an international audience. Very happy for Brad Pitt's 3rd Best Actor Oscar nomination, though. And as a bonus, he is also a co-producer of the movie, so he is nominated in two categories this year.

The big money to win would be on "The Artist", partly because it has Harvey Weinstein behind it, who knows how to turn a movie into Oscar gold; also partly because it is the kind of 'exotic and foreign-made, but entertaining and accessible' movie-making venture which Oscar voters love to reward...think "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Life is Beautiful" and "Slumdog Millionaire".


My sentimental favourite to win Best Picture would be either Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" or Alexander Payne's "The Descendants". I loved Paris. It is incredible that at this stage of his career, Mr. Allen can write, produce and direct a film like this, which can be both a personal passion project and yet so entertaining and accessible.
I haven't seen "The Descendants" yet, but it's got George Clooney in it, so what's not to like :-)

"The Tree of Life" may win some technical awards, but is too deep and profound for the average audience or voter. It is no surprise that it was nominated, given the very high critical ratings, but I personally found it to be like a companion piece to "The Thin Red Line"...incredibly poetic, but difficult to watch at a stretch.

Both "Hugo" and "The War Horse" will get votes, but not enough to come out in front. I think most voters will feel that both Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Scorsese have had their share of accolades.

That brings me to "The Help". This is my dark horse to win on Oscar night. I genuinely enjoyed this film and would happily watch it again. Unlike the other front-runners, this film has that element of social correctness that would make Academy members feel very good about themselves by voting for it. The same sort of emotional tug that helped "Driving Miss Daisy" win the Best Picture Oscar in 1990.

I would be very happy if either "Midnight in Paris" or "The Descendants" or "The Help" won. I loved "The Artist" trailer when I first saw it, but it seems to have got a bit over-exposed over the past few weeks and now I am have gone off it a bit...and I haven't even seen it yet!

Looking forward to Feb 26th.

This is my second Alastair Reynolds novel after Revelation Space. Reynolds' sub-genre is referred to as 'hard scifi'. To be honest, Revelation Space was a bit too 'hard' for me...to much emphasis on technology and too many unpleasant characters. I am happy to say that Terminal World perfectly addresses those aspects of story-telling.

The synopsis implies that the story is all about a giant spire which reaches high up into the sky, on which an entire civilization lives. The spire, called Spearpoint, is divided into different zones which support different levels of technology...starting from horse-drawn carriages at the base of Spearpoint, to Neon Heights, which appears to support 20th/ 21st century technology, to a zone called the Celestial Levels where 'angels' (humans modified to be able to fly) live.
The entire basis of the story is the fact that technology on one level ceases to function when it is taken to a lower level. The people can move between levels, but only for short periods of time and only when administered exact doses of anti-zone drugs. The residents of Spearpoint talk about zone shifts in much the same way that we talk about earthquakes and there is talk of the 'big one', the big zone shift that is expected to come, which will throw all of Spearpoint civilization into chaos.**SPOILERS AHEAD**

The book starts off feeling like a noir murder mystery. Our protagonist Quillon, who works in the government morgue in Neon Heights, is asked to conduct an autopsy on an angel cadaver who has apparently fallen to its death from the Celestial Levels. Soon, Quillon is revealed to be an angel himself, who had been part of an experiment designed to enable angels to live incognito in the lower levels. He finds himself on the run from his ex-employers and has to use his contacts in the underworld to escape to the Outzones, the barely civilized lands beyond the base of the spire. He succeeds in doing so with the help of a feisty young woman named Meroka...some of the scenes feel like they come from a cold war spy novel.

At this point, the story starts to feel like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie...Quillon and Meroka have to navigate their way through the Outzone to a town called Fortune's Landing. They come across bands of marauders called Skullboys, very reminiscent of the punks in the Mad Max movies. Meanwhile, the 'big one' has happened and from the Outzone, Quillon and his team can see the lights on Spearpoint go out as the entire city falls into chaos following catastrophic shifts in zones. At this point, Quillon saves a mother and daughter from a Skullboy gang...these two eventually turn out to be the key to restoring the equilibrium of the zones. They eventually fall into the clutches of another Skullboy gang who trade them to a group of carnivorgs (carnivorous cyborgs) who roam the Outzones looking for humans to prey upon. The carnivorgs reminded me of the biomechanical Voynix creatures from Dan Simmons' Ilium/ Olympos novels. 
Quillon and co. are saved from the Skullboys and carnivorgs in the nick of time by members of the Swarm...a conglomerate of airships who live in the Outzone. The Swarm were once the military arm of Spearpoint but broke away centuries earlier and now live a nomadic existence as a flying city...very much like the floating city of ships in China Mieville's The Scar. Once they are part of the Swarm, the story takes a turn into steampunk/ adventure territory. Many more characters enter the story and we get into the 2nd act of the novel, where conversations between Quillon and the Swarm's leader Ricasso reveal much of the history and background of this world. 

It is speculated by Ricasso that Spearpoint was originally a space elevator (a nod to Arthur C. Clarke's Fountains of Paradise). Through further conversations, the reader comes to suspect that the story is taking place on a future version of Earth, but the link becomes clear during a dramatic sequence when the Swarm flies over a plain filled with the wrecks of airplanes, of all shapes and sizes. Most of the aircraft bear a symbol of a red rectangle with 5 stars (the Chinese flag). Even more is revealed when they reach an abandoned settlement and discover a diorama of what appears to be a moon landing. However, the flag is Chinese, there are more than 2 astronauts and while the diorama appears to be full scale, the astronauts are pygmy-sized, so obviously this is not a representation of the original moon landings. I didn't get the significance when I read the novel, but then I read a review which explained what this was...it is a representation of a Mars landing. In other words, the entire story is taking place on a terraformed Mars of the future with the inhabitants having evolved to a much greater height than the original humans, due to the lower gravity of Mars. It is clear that the state of the world today is the outcome of some major catastrophe which took place centuries ago, leaving Spearpoint as the only surviving civilization with its multiple zones and fractured way of life.

Eventually, Quillon convinces the Swarm to return to Spearpoint to help out the citizens who are dying from zone sickness in the aftermath of the big zone shift. Another reason Quillon wants to go back to Spearpoint is because he has realized that the little girl is a 'tectomancer', with the ability to shift zones...a remnant of a guild of genetically bred humans who originally controlled the zone technology.

There is a gripping aerial action sequence where the Swarm flies back to Spearpoint through a low-tech zone which has emerged around the city and which is now under the control of the Skullboys. Many lives are lost and there is further treachery once the rescuers enter the city. But eventually, the girl is taken through tunnels to the core of Spearpoint where other surviving tectomancers have made their way back over time and have been plugged into giant machines in an effort to set things right. We are told that this planet is actually a gateway to the stars and a great accident in the past has led to the creation of the zones and life as it exists. Now, after centuries, with the arrival of more and more tectomancers to the secret chamber at the core of Spearpoint, it appears that they will be able to set things right again.
The members of the Swarm meanwhile, help to bring order to Spearpoint and make efforts to end the civil war which has erupted between the angels and the lower levels in the aftermath of the zone shift.

Quillon is wounded during the last action sequence, but as the novel closes, we see him being airlifted by Meroka to the Celestial Levels in the hope of being saved. 

Overall, I loved the scope of the story and the concept of a Martian colony which has devolved over time. The thrill comes in the slow revelation of the history of the planet and the discovery that it is indeed written in 'our universe'.
I felt that many of the concepts in the book were derivative and had borrowed from the authors I mentioned above like Dan Simmons (post-humans, carnivorgs), China Mieville (The Swarm) and Arthur C. Clarke (Spearpoint). But it all comes together wonderfully into an intriguing and entertaining read, that rarely slows down.

Although Alastair Reynolds has stated that he will not write a sequel to the novel, I sincerely hopes he changes his mind. A prequel, perhaps...