Advantages: great mix of styles Disadvantages: none
ABOUT MIXED MARTIAL ARTS:
MMA is a relatively new sport, whereby fighters from all different styles and disciplines compete against each-other. In the early days, this often meant you would see a karate expert fight a boxer, but these days the competitors in MMA tend to have a wide range of skills in every area, with a specialty in one.
ABOUT THE UFC:
The UFC is the biggest business in the mixed martial arts game; there are others, but the UFC currently holds the monopoly on the emerging sport. They put on monthly events where their roster of fighters battle it out in a cage in bouts of three or five rounds, each lasting five minutes.
ABOUT UFC 56:
UFC 56 was the November 2005 event that the UFC hosted in Las Vegas. It featured a night of fights, and you could either buy tickets to see it live, or buy the pay-per-view to watch ...
Advantages: Western comforts if that's your thing Disadvantages: Wealth divide, Lack of culture, unfriendly locals
I arrived in Casablanca by train and took a taxi to the city centre where i planned to stay. The taxi driver seemed to drive around in circles even though I'd given him a map in French of where I wanted to go, eventually dropping me off around half a mile away.
I'd spent a bit of time in Morocco in the cities and desert and was wholey disappointed by Casablanca. Travelling on a budget I saw most of what the westerners staying at the beach resorts missed. The dead animals on the side of the streets and plenty of fighting between the locals.
The city itself is trying to be as western as possible. Plenty of boutiques and fast food restaurants and the touristy market in the old town area is overpriced and low quality compared to the other regions in the country.
The hassan II mosque on the coast is something worth going to see ...
Advantages: Classic film given the treatment it deserves Disadvantages: none
This is an indisputable classic, constantly near the top of polls on the best and most loved movies of all time. I got hooked in my early teens and before long a six-foot poster of Bogart in classic snappy suit and cigarette in hand looked down on me from my bedroom wall. Watching the film now and looking back (one or two years later!) it's still easy to see how the mixture of humour, style and heroism won me over then and hopefully this features-laden disc will help introduce the film to a new audience.
The story is set in Casablanca, Morocco in 1941 when the city is a vital point in the escape route for refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. From here planes departed for Lisbon and then the United States but official exit visas were needed to embark the plane. Casablanca itself is allegedly under French control but with the Vichy ...
