Can you make a murderer?

So like the majority of the Netflix watching generation I have spent early January glued to the latest Netflix fad - Making A Murderer. If you have been hiding under your onesie since the beginning of 2016, the series follows Steven Avery, who was wrongly sent to prison for a sexual assault, acquitted after 18 years, but then sent back after he was convicted of the murder of a young photographer. Now I do love a binge watch, and as stated in my previous blog I love a true crime story, but for some reason this series did not engage to me to a level where I had to watch. It took me nearly a week to finish the ten episodes and I only did so as I can then talk about it with everyone else!

Now if you have not watched the series but you are planning on do so, stop reading as I will likely spoil it for you!

Firstly, after reading various other posts on the internet it is clear the series was biased and lots of evidence has been missed out BUT I do think a retrial would be fair, certainly in the case of Brendan Dassey. Throughout the series I had far more compassion for Brendan, who was young, impressionable and scared through the interrogation process. Steven on the other hand left me feeling cold. He had committed some other pretty brutal crimes and who knows what 18 years of prison can do someone? I would have liked to have seen some more on Steven as person so I felt more of a connection to him, but what really disappointed me was the lack of other suspects introduced by the producers. If Steven and Brendan did not kill Theresa, who did? Yes I know that the audience are led to believe the local police force conspired against Steven, who actually did the deed? Who helped? Why Theresa and why use Brendan to help convict Steven? Was there anyone else who would have wanted Steven out of the way? Did Theresa have any enemies? I need more answers and someone else to pin it on before I really believe that Steven had nothing to do with the murder.

Finally, and I know this question has been raised in countless other reviews of the series, but who was the international recording artist who was on the jury???

Maybe series two will help answer some of these questions!

On a very separate note: I went to see The Revenant last night, something else that failed to impress me. Now I was very tired and did sleep through 30-45 mins of the film but I missed nothing at all. The story is sparse, the scenery spectacular and although the actors do a good job, they have a limited chance to showcase themselves. I know Leonardo Dicaprio deserves an Oscar, but I am not sure this was really his chance to do so. I would not be surprised if he misses out again.

Can a Netflix series get you out of prison?

The secret hit of 2014 was a Podcast and 2016 has begun with a Netflix sensation. The link, both centre around true crime stories that may have accumulated in the arrest and sentencing of an unguilty suspect. Both series have led to viewers sensationalising whether the convicts committed the brutal crimes but is it morally correct to be debating this as a form of entertainment?

The undoubtable highlight of the podcasting world so far is Serial, which has now been in the top ten for over a year. Serial kicked the crime genre off in a completely new direction, with the first series following the story of Adnan Syed, who was convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee in Baltimore in 1999. The story is compelling and the podcast stylish and addictive, the production team did a brilliant job in making it listener friendly and this has certainly contributed to its success. However it was biased towards Adnan being unguilty of the murder, would the series have been as successful if the producers sat on the fence? Or discovered information that led them to believe Adnan really was guilty? Since series one concluded in 2014, Adnan has since secured a further appeal, was this down to the media attention after Serial? Most definitely!

The second series is out now and I am afraid I am not as in love with it as I was the first but it will be interesting to see whether audiences stay gripped and believe Bowe Bergdahl campaign innocence?

After the success of Serial we have seen a succession of spin-off podcasting shows which are hoping to solve the mystery surrounding other crimes. One I have recently been listening to is Missing - Maura Murray, which tells the story of 21-year-old Maura who crashed her car in 2004 and has not been seen since. This case differs from Serial as no one has ever been convicted and Maura has never been sighted since, alive or dead. Therefore there are many more answers needed and although it is unlikely the show will help track her down, any information would surely propel the podcasting format into the spotlight?

Across the Atlantic, the BBC have even jumped on the bandwagon with their series, Who killed Elsie Frost, which begun in July 2015. The Radio Four show centres around the brutal murder of 14-year-old Elsie, whose killer has never been caught even though the crime took place in 1965. Throughout the series Elsie’s family accessed details of the crime and records they had not previously been able to but are still no closer to an answer.

Over the past few days I have been watching Netflix’s Making A Murderer series, which covers the complex case of Steven Avery, who believes he was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2007. Avery was released from prison in 2005 after spending 18 years behind bars for a sexual assault charge he did not commit and was in the middle of a $37million lawsuit with the local police.

The show is similar to Serial in that it is biased towards an un-guilty verdict and this has led many to believe Avery is not guilty, was set up by the police, and should be released. I am finding it hard to believe this is the case at this stage but I have limited knowledge of the American justice system and I do find that aspect of the show interesting. For instance a sexual assault charge in the UK would not necessarily carry an 18 year sentence and the first case was clearly poorly investigated and followed up. It will be interesting to see if my opinion changes as the series concludes and I will write an update then.

So if I was a criminal sitting in a cell not guilty of the crime I had been convicted of I would definitely be trying to gain my own series! How long will it be before one of these shows delivers? And if they don’t will we lose interest? For the time being I will certainly be listening/watching!

Sports Personality Of The Year 2015

The best night of television is set to take place this Sunday, Sports Personality Of The Year! Firstly congratulations to AP McCoy who will be collecting the Lifetime Achievement award. Secondly I do think they should review the options so that you can vote for whoever you would like. This would make the competition much more interesting but may make it a little tricky to predict the top three from a betting point of view.

The bookies favourite this year is Andy Murray after he headed the Davis Cup team to their first success in 79 years. Andy would become the fourth person to win the award twice, can you name the others? (Answer at the bottom of the blog). Now I am pretty strongly against this as although this is a great achievement, and the Davis Cup team should undoubtedly win the team award, Andy Murray has not had an outstanding year in Grand Slam tennis. Now I may be a sore loser as I did back him to get to all four Grand Slam finals, which he failed miserably at, but I think the award should be given to an individual has had an amazing year. Plus has a personality but then that is a whole different board game!

Next up we have Jessica Ennis-Hill. She has had a baby and become World Champion. Voting for her will keep the feminists happy, a working mother who has come back after giving birth, one of the most natural things in the world, to her job successfully. If Ennis manages to claim the Olympic title as well next year then she could put herself at the head of the 2016 shortlist but this year, no.

Motor racing drivers have a brilliant record in this competition and Lewis Hamilton is predicted a top three finish this year. He won last year and Andy Murray won in 2013 so this does lead me to believe that maybe we not have anyone else in this country worth voting for?

Another sport which has been popular in the polls in the last few years is cycling, with Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins all recent winners. This year's Tour de France victor, Chris Froome, is also in the running for the 2015 trophy as well as Lizzie Armistead, who took out the world road race championship. Froome was the first name that popped into my head when I considered this year's winner. I have managed a cheeky bet on him to reach the top three at 9-1 so come on MAMILs (google it), vote for Froome!

Others who could take the title include footballer Lucy Bronze (the team finished third not first in the Women's World Cup), Mo Farah (who is tied up in a drugs scandal), Tyson Fury (who actually probably achieved the greatest sporting moment of the year when causing one of the biggest upsets by beating Wladmir Klitschko to his World Champion title but has a bad relationship with the media), Adam Peaty (swimmer), Max Whitlock (gymnastics), Greg Rutherford (Long Jump) and Kevin Sinfield (Rugby League). None of the four at the end of that list should cause much of a ripple among the general public due to the fact that they either compete in sports that are not often on the television or taking the forefront of the sporting headlines.

So basically this year maybe the message to all sports stars should be - TRY HARDER Now I am off to eat pizza and drink wine instead of going to the gym...!


Multiple winners are: Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Henry Cooper

PGA Championship 2015 Preview

Onto Whistling Straits, why are the UK courses not given such idyllic names?! The PGA Championship is the final golfing major of the year and although the four-week FedEx extravaganza takes place in the next few weeks, the end of the golfing season is nearly upon us and I will have to console myself with copious amounts of National Hunt racing from the delights of Plumpton and Ludlow.

Anyhow lets enjoy four days of spectacular golf.The last time the tournament was held here (2010) it was won by a European, Martin Kaymer, and with Vijay Singh taking in 2004 you can use statistics to look past an American dominance if you so wish! However the favourite is the US Wonder Kid Jordan Spieth, who will not be going for the Major Grand Slam after he fell at the final hurdle last month. Spieth is the favourite once again, justifiably as he is the best golfer bar far right now, but I cannot see much value in a 6-1 shot in a big field.

So with no Major Grand Slam all attention will turn to Rory McIlroy’s ankle. I suppose there are worse points of him to concentrate on, like his man boobs or face. How is he still 10-1 though?! He has not played in over a month and his Major performances this year have no exactly set the world alight. AVOID. (And laugh at me when he has a ten shot lead on Friday evening).

From the other shorter priced players I will settle for Bubba Watson. Second to Kaymer here five years ago and in good form last weekend when second in the Bridgestone, we know Bubba has the mindset to win a Major. He is 16-1. He is a tad longer than the Major bottlers Jason Day and Dustin Johnson. How many tournaments could those two have taken if they did not gibb! I will be dodging those and going for a few other bigger priced players.

I will of course be backing my future husband Rickie Fowler as it would pain me too much he wins anything and I do not a monetary return, although I suppose I will benefit from that post wedding. Rickie is good enough form, he played well last weekend, but his putting is STILL letting him down and he is just a few shots of the brilliance we saw last year. At 20-1 though he is worth a punt and many do see him finally breaking his Major duck this weekend.

Previous tournament winner here Martin Kaymer is at 45-1 and last weekend’s surprise Bridgestone Champion Shane Lowry is just behind him at 50-1.I have backed Kaymer to win the Race For Dubai this year and he has been pretty much pants so I will leave him to Kirsty G. No one was more shocked to see Lowry top the leaderboard last week than himself but I am not sure renewed self belief will get him through four brutal days. Therefore I will select Big Phil Mickelson here. Now Mr Mickelson has been kind to me in the past, taking The Open on my birthday two years when I had backed him mid tournament at a big price, and is 50-1 here. Phil, who won this in 2005, was sixth in 2004 and 12th in 2010 (the two latter performances therefore on this course). Good enough for me.

For a longer priced player I like Steven Bowditch. He played well for a long time last weekend, finishing an eventual 12th, and he posted his best performance in a Major to date at The Open last month. He has won twice on the PGA Tour and is open about his battles with depression, maybe a Major victory at 175-1 will help with the latter.

Predicted Placings

1. Bubba Watson (wins playoff from other two. This is literally my idea of golfing heaven!)
=2. Jordan Spieth
=2. Rickie Fowler
4. Phil Mickelson
5. Dustin Johnson/Jason Day/Adam Scott can battle this out whilst they all choke on the final day back nine

Other I think will play well:
Ian Poulter, Justin Rose (too short at 14-1 to back), Patrick Reed, Cameron Tringale, Brooks Koepka

To Miss The Cut

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy

(New blog page, so I thought I would do a new format, let me know if you like it!)

Why do we bet?

So apparently I don't blog enough anymore. I am not sure on the reasons for this but I thought it may be because I have am becoming less opinionated in my old age or maybe I am just becoming busier juggling three and a half jobs as well as looking after my dog, chickens, housemates and maintaining a look defined at the weekend as 'Caitlyn Jenner!’ However Caitlyn  will endeavour to write more and hopefully gain a few more followers of my intensely funny blogs, and I will try and write less about golf too... After a request.

Caitlyn V Lara

Kindly Supplied By Samantha ‘Baby Hills’

I have not had the greatest of times recently due to a combination of bad new, which included losing my favourite chicken Black Caviar (did not receive much sympathy on this as I was told 'at least it wasn't the horse in foaling’) and then on Friday we made the very difficult decision to put down Mister Newby. Newbs fractured a pedal bone at Huntingdon in February and was not showing any improvement. It is always a major blow to lose a horse but it was more crushing due to him showing such promise over fences and we will always wonder what he could have achieved. However he gave us some amazing days out, including two at Cheltenham, and he took out some nice races. He will be sorely missed but I am already hearing whispers that we will be on the hunt for something new to race in the purple and pink gayboy colours.

Newby

The last three Monday's I have enjoyed the BBC series Britain at the Bookies, although it has given me an intense urge to bet more. Luckily with the Glorious Goodwood Festival last week I managed to feed this addiction with some success but I then lost it all due to Rickie Fowler being a prat in the golf yet again. I am hoping to regain some of that in the Bridgestone this weekend...

The TV series has been a bit of an eye opener on what goes on in betting shops and how many people have had their lives destroyed by gambling. The show made me question why people enjoy betting, and I why I personally like gambling on certain sports.

Now I am not a big gambler, I do not place too much money on the line that I won't be able to pay my mortgage but I do bet at least weekly on the golf and usually at least a couple of times a week on horse racing. I love the odd novelty bet (SPOTY and X Factor are favourites) and I have been know to have a bet on something making the headlines (The decision on a court case for instance). I also have the odd football accumulator, tennis bet and a gamble on any big sporting tournament.

The reason why I like to bet is simple, I enjoy watching the majority of sports and placing a bet just makes it a bit more interesting. Golf gives particularly good value, as you get four days of entertainment and the odds are often big for winners and those who may get placed, hence why I have a slight obsession. Oh and I suppose the fact that some golfers look like Adam Scott is no bad thing either.

Adam Scott

Betting on racing is in my blood and living in Newmarket I cannot escape that. I can watch a race on course without a bet but it is a rare occurrence.

The betting I do not understand is the slot machine, roulette and virtual sports. Where is the enjoyment in those? Or is this when you know have a problem?

PS I met Boyzone.. And Lottie (second from Left) told Ronan she was looking forward to ‘grooving’ #AustinPowers

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