And secondly, sports news stuff that I missed such as South Africa retaining the Rugby Championship following their victory against Argentina in London (That crucial match of the Southern Hemisphere competition took place a week after the host nation of this years women's Rugby World Cup of the England Red Roses women who easily beat Canada (Who defeated the Black Ferns in the semi in Bristol, in one of the biggest upsets in women's rugby history, especially the women's World Cup in which Rejean was stoked about it when the Canadians reached their first final since 2014) by 33 points to 13 to end an 11 year drought of bringing rugby home when at that moment when they won the Women's RWC, just like the Three Lionesses of the England women's football/soccer team retained the Euros in style against the world champions Spain women at women's Euro 2025, in which football/soccer is staying home, but the success of women's sport in England this year such as both the Women's Euro 2025 & the women's Rugby World Cup wins have found a new pathway to greatness, but the reason why New Zealand lost to Canada? It was because of Summer Games gold medalist from Paris last year of Jorja Miller pulling out before the semi with an undisclosed injury that she picked up in our quarterfinal win against South Africa, & it must've been in a tackle that got her hurt) in which the AB's narrowly missed out (Including wins over the world champions in an tight but intense thriller at Eden Park in Auckland in Ardie Savea's 100th test after bouncing back from an unfortunate loss against Los Pumas (Who gained vengeance after losing to us in Cordoba during the Rugby Championship opener) in Buenos Aires in the aftermath of 3 yellow cards dished out against the trio of All Blacks players for cynical play that ruined our hopes, before a record defeat at Wellington Stadium in Wellington in which the Springboks had a massive turnaround to sucessfully defend the Freedom Cup that eluded our chances of a win as well as bringing the Freedom Cup back home in NZ, then we beat the Wallabies twice, including in Auckland that we retained the Bledisloe (In which the Aussies were down but not out when they trailed at halftime by 3 points, then during the game that both sides traded penalty goals each, until former Crusader James O'Connor scored a crucial try that put themselves back in the contest, & then all of a sudden that AB's halfback Cam Roigard may have got the winning try to put Australia out of reach), then we defeated them again next time around at Perth Stadium in Perth (In one of Quinn Tupaea's best peformances of his lifetime, not just in recent memory, but especially his international rugby career when he crossed over for a double), then we couldn't stop the South Africans of winning the Rugby Championship again), as well as the Brisbane Broncos (Which features its star players such as Samoan Payne Haas (The one who has chosen to play for the Samoans due to him being of Samoan descent that inspired his mother singing the Samoan national anthem in the car), Aussie Reece Walsh (His mother is a Kiwi, but Walsh used to play for the Warriors in 2022 before moving to the Broncos where he has been there since 2023), Adam Reynolds, Ezra Mam, another Aussie of Gehamat Shibasaki, fellow Aussie Kotoni Staggs, Aussie Patrick Carrigan, another Samoan Deine Mariner, New Zealander Xavier Willison, Cook Islander Brendan Piakura, Tyson Smoothy, Cory Paix, Corey Jensen & others) winning the NRL Premiership for the first time since 2006 over the Melbourne Storm in the NRL Grand Final, then Canterbury winning their 15th NPC title yesterday (The Cantabrians are now 2 behind their rivals Auckland who are on 17) after 8 years since their last crown back in 2017 against their southern rivals Otago (Who are the Ranfurly Shield holders) one last time at the Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch before a new venue called One New Zealand Stadium opens that is due next year as the venue hosts the Super Round during next season's Super Rugby Pacific (The first match will be the Highlanders taking on the defending champions the Crusaders in Dunedin at Forsyth Barr Stadium), & Spanish race car driver Alex Palou becoming a 4 time IndyCar series champion when he clinched it in Portland following a favourable result (And when will the utter dominance of Palou will end? It'll be next season (For which will have both new tracks on the schedule next season such as Arlington in Texas (The new street track will bear similarities to the Miami Autodrome that hosts the Miami Grand Prix), & the other one over in Markham, Ontario, Canada replacing Exhibition Place since they're unavailable next year due to their duties of hosting next year's Football/Soccer men's World Cup games there), but there's no room for both Mexico City & Washington D.C. on the 2026 calendar although with WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will play host to the season ending event for the first time since 2023, taking over from Nashville Superspeedway (Due to host a IndyCar night race after the conclusion of next year's Football/Soccer men's World Cup final at New York/New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey), but the season will open on the streets of Saint Petersburg AKA St Pete for the 5th straight year on the 1st of March 2026) that hosted the last 2 season ending races last year, & this year (The next IndyCar season will end on a road course compared to an oval track this year) that's for sure, but the last time Alex Palou failed to win the IndyCar title was in 2022 where Aussie Will Power (An Andretti Global bound driver as he replaces Formula 2 bound Colton Herta (Who is a bit of a lookalike of his Dad Bryan's rival of Alex Zanardi) for next year, meanwhile Dane Christian Lundgaard is heading to Team Penske to join both Josef Newgarden (Who won the last race of the season at his home race in Nashville, Tennessee) & our own Kiwi Scott McLaughlin (Who will develop the new stand-alone, IndyCar video game being confirmed for release next year on consoles according to iRacing who have released the new NASCAR 25 game that came out late last month) next year) who became the champion for the 2nd time, his first since back in 2014 to add to his Indy 500 win also back in 2018).
And thirdly onto the gaming stuff such as the cops in Grand Theft Auto IV are amazing & weak due to the overweight police officers such as Joey & 1214 are in a likelihood of getting shot by Niko Bellic (Protagonist of the main GTA IV game), Johnny Klebitz (From one of the expansion packs of the Lost & Damned) or Luis Lopez (From the ultra successful expansion pack of the Ballad of Gay Tony) thinking that they're Paul Blart: Mall Cop & its movies, compared to Grand Theft Auto V in which police in that game are known for their aggression & being strong because of Franklin, Michael & Trevor are also in a likelihood of getting shot by the Los Santos Police Department officers also thinking that it's like Robocop & their films (And the gaming stuff that I missed over the last couple of months such as the new Spec III update for Gran Turismo 7 due to come out in December this year, as a celebration of reaching the 100 million sales milestone achievement for the series franchise that will include new gameplay features, as well as the 2 new real-world racing circuits such as Yas Marina Circuit (Home of the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event since 2009) in Yas Island, UAE & Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Also home of the Canadian Grand Prix from 1978 until 1986, then 1988 until 2008, as well as 2010 to 2019, & since 2022 after not hosting it in both 2020 & 2021 due to the COVID pandemic that kept themselves out) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, & the 8 new cars will represent in the game such as the Ferrari 296 GT3 for which will give Franz Hermann vibes (In which the 4 time F1 world champion Max Verstappen kept his identity secret by driving a Ferrari 296 GT3 car around the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany without the crowds as they asked him for respect), as well as the fictional Formula GT car that resembles a 1994 driver's championship winning Benetton Formula One car (For that has now been named the F3500-B recently to join the likes of other real & fictional F1 cars such as the 1955 Mercedes, the 1965 Honda, the 1988 McLaren, as well as the fictional mid 80's turbocharged Formula One car known as the Gran Turismo F1500T-A based on the 1985 Lotus that appeared on Gran Turismo 6 via the Ayrton Senna update, & also the fictional early 90's F1 car called the F3500-A powered by a normally aspirated V12 engine (For that has been part of the golden era from 1989 until 1995) for that is my favourite car in the game based on the championship winning 1992 Williams with the front fascia except the side nose design resembling a title winning 1991 McLaren) but also with the front fascia resembling a 1991 Tyrrell (But I don't know whether they'll be powered by either a 3 & a half litre V8 or V10 engine, but it has been confirmed that it is V8 powered), & the fan fave Renault Espace F1 for which is a van powered by also a 3 & a half litre V10 Formula One engine that only one had to be made when they famously made an appearance on the 2nd Gran Turismo game that came out between 1999-2000, compared to that there was a story about the Rugby League 26 video game (Which came out in July this year) being a clanger due to it's glitches & bugs that affected the gameplay overall, compared to Gran Turismo 7 that was released in 2022 for which was a banger due to its interesting car & track selection as well as the gameplay that was outstanding as well as being the best sim racing game in existance because it is super accessible, & revolves around creating a good user experience, & the GTA IV game that also came out way back in 2008 being an absolute banger as well as a masterpiece due to that compelling story mode being simply the best despite its dark overtone & it was immersive, & the characters including the protagonist of Niko Bellic were simply extraordinary along with the gameplay, especially both the shooting (Call of Duty inspired) & driving (Inspired by the Hollywood high speed car chase movies such as Gone in 60 Seconds as well as the Fast & the Furious, & 2 Fast 2 Furious movies) department for which really was top notch.
And finally that in the music department that I love the 5 main bands as my faves such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park (In which they have a female vocalist of Emily Armstrong (The one who took the late Chester Bennington's place as the lead singer when he took his own life back in July 2017 on his late friend Chris Cornell's birthday) since last year as part of the women in rock that I love such as Alanis Morissette for which I'm hooked now along with Avril Lavigne, Evanescence, the aforementioned Linkin Park & the all girl group from Mexico of The Warning, but I like both No Doubt & Garbage as well), Nickelback (My fave rock band from the Great White North hands down despite being the most hostile in the world), & U2 (Also my favourite rock band all the way from the Emerald Isle, & the only recognized Irish rock band following the demise of the Cranberries back in 2018 after the female lead singer of the late Dolores O'Riordan who took her own life for that was heartbreaking in tragic circumstances) due to the albums that I've got in my bedroom & listening to those main bands that I enjoy on my fave radio station of the whole wide world of Brian FM.
So that is my 631st blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 55th of this year, viva Ukraine.
P.S. And I have not mentioned the famous people who passed away since I deleted all of my blog versions so here it is like the list who are gone recently this year:
Shane Christie (God bless him, god bless the Tasman Mako)
1985 - 2025
Robert Redford (A famous American Hollywood star loved by many generations, including his role in the Brad Pitt movie that came out way back in 2001, Spy Game)
1936 - 2025
Giorgio Armani (An iconic Italian fashion design merchant)
1934 - 2025
Terence Stamp (A British TV & film star who always plays villains, like Eliot Carver from the James Bond 007 movie Tomorrow Never Dies which was released way, way back in 1997)
1938 - 2025
Diane Keaton (Who I have not mentioned her passing)
1946 - 2025
Michelle Trachtenberg (Who I have not mentioned her sudden passing)
1985 - 2025
'Big' George Foreman (Who I have not mentioned his passing)
1949 - 2025
Diogo Jota (Who I have not mentioned his tragic passing)
1996 - 2025
& Tomonobu Itagaki (A Japanese video game designer who was the pioneering mind of creating both the iconic Ninja Gaiden & Dead or Alive series)
1967 - 2025
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