Just in case you haven't seen this doing the rounds, you've got to click and experience it now! Peter Andre and Jordan singing their hit A Whole New World ... but not exactly in tune.
I think the story goes that Jordan can't really sing so they use an autotune device to make her sound good in the studio. But some naughty recording person recorded the two of them doing their duet before her voice was synthesized to sound good.
It's hilarious. And Jordan is extremely mad that it got onto YouTube ... claims it has been faked to make her look stupid. "Ahh but she's a good bizniss woman innit, gotta respeck her for that ain't ya?"
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
Austria
I've just got back from Austria as my below enthusiastic post about brass indicates. Rather fantastic. went to Vienna where it is cold and germanic and whirly.
I so completely badly want to learn to speak German! I bought some CDs by Michel Thomas (who I believe is dead now?) 5 years ago and really intended to go through all 8 disks and learn. I got up to disk 4 once butfor some reason didn't continue. Leave it a few months, come back to it, and you realise you have to start again. These quickie learning devices aren't nearly as good as continual practice of a language at school or living abroad.
So I'm on CD #1 again. I'm learning things like !"come with me, please" and "can I come with you this evening". I've forgotten what else because, to be honest, the last time I heard disk 1 was a week ago and it's all slipping from my mind.
TIP: never try to learn a language in bed at night. It's not quite the same as just flicking on LBC and falling asleep to it. It seems your brain needs to stay alert.
My girlfriend's family is half german. I'm sure there will come a time when it'll become useful. her grandmother was over in the UK last year and there were a few awkward silences when the rest of the family were out of the room leaving me and her. Ormy? Ormie? Not being able to see, I couldnt even just sit there and smile ... visual language is out the window too. So, apart from my personal wish to learn, it also has it's practical purposes. I'll be able to communicate with the in-laws ...
In Vienna we went to the Freud museum, the mozart museumhouse thing ... did a disappointing bus tour ... went to a restaurant that had an old man playing a Hungarian Gypsy instrument (we gave him a 10 euro tip and he played 'if I were a rich man' for us). We went to the Christmas market in front of the town hall ... shopped ... and lots of other stuff.
it was nice that Vienna was cold. London just isn't cold enough in winter any more.
And then all this stuff about the murderer in Ipswich broke! Kristina's little sister lives there; she's just moved there with her boyfriend. nasty to think of someone living in the thick of it ... she's sensible though.
talking about serial killers, though, I live very close to where that nice Denis Neilsen (SP?) bumped off and boiled his victims in the early 80s - known at the time as the Cricklewood Murders. Rather irrelevant now as he's out of harm's way. I don't remember whether he's in a secure hospital or a prison but I do remember him being interviewed on an ITV documentary in the mid 90s ... and it was chilling. He was goading the interviewer, "no it wasn't bloody. Have you never come across a dead body before?" as if he had the upperhand and was better because of it. Horrible. I can't put it into words but it was rather chilling.
So, there ya go, Vienna through to chilling murderers. I wish I hadn't tied the two subjects together like that. My holiday was great ... shame that I never seem to really relax until a day before it's time to go home. Sounds like a cliche but true in my case it seems.
• It's the Ouch Christmas Podcast party on Monday. Wahey yip yo. Really looking forward to it.
• Thanks to katie fraser for her marvellous Xmas gift to the Ouch team. We scoffed most of them today. mmmm shortbread with orangey chocolatey bits.
Where's my cab it's ten past seven for crissakes.
I so completely badly want to learn to speak German! I bought some CDs by Michel Thomas (who I believe is dead now?) 5 years ago and really intended to go through all 8 disks and learn. I got up to disk 4 once butfor some reason didn't continue. Leave it a few months, come back to it, and you realise you have to start again. These quickie learning devices aren't nearly as good as continual practice of a language at school or living abroad.
So I'm on CD #1 again. I'm learning things like !"come with me, please" and "can I come with you this evening". I've forgotten what else because, to be honest, the last time I heard disk 1 was a week ago and it's all slipping from my mind.
TIP: never try to learn a language in bed at night. It's not quite the same as just flicking on LBC and falling asleep to it. It seems your brain needs to stay alert.
My girlfriend's family is half german. I'm sure there will come a time when it'll become useful. her grandmother was over in the UK last year and there were a few awkward silences when the rest of the family were out of the room leaving me and her. Ormy? Ormie? Not being able to see, I couldnt even just sit there and smile ... visual language is out the window too. So, apart from my personal wish to learn, it also has it's practical purposes. I'll be able to communicate with the in-laws ...
In Vienna we went to the Freud museum, the mozart museumhouse thing ... did a disappointing bus tour ... went to a restaurant that had an old man playing a Hungarian Gypsy instrument (we gave him a 10 euro tip and he played 'if I were a rich man' for us). We went to the Christmas market in front of the town hall ... shopped ... and lots of other stuff.
it was nice that Vienna was cold. London just isn't cold enough in winter any more.
And then all this stuff about the murderer in Ipswich broke! Kristina's little sister lives there; she's just moved there with her boyfriend. nasty to think of someone living in the thick of it ... she's sensible though.
talking about serial killers, though, I live very close to where that nice Denis Neilsen (SP?) bumped off and boiled his victims in the early 80s - known at the time as the Cricklewood Murders. Rather irrelevant now as he's out of harm's way. I don't remember whether he's in a secure hospital or a prison but I do remember him being interviewed on an ITV documentary in the mid 90s ... and it was chilling. He was goading the interviewer, "no it wasn't bloody. Have you never come across a dead body before?" as if he had the upperhand and was better because of it. Horrible. I can't put it into words but it was rather chilling.
So, there ya go, Vienna through to chilling murderers. I wish I hadn't tied the two subjects together like that. My holiday was great ... shame that I never seem to really relax until a day before it's time to go home. Sounds like a cliche but true in my case it seems.
• It's the Ouch Christmas Podcast party on Monday. Wahey yip yo. Really looking forward to it.
• Thanks to katie fraser for her marvellous Xmas gift to the Ouch team. We scoffed most of them today. mmmm shortbread with orangey chocolatey bits.
Where's my cab it's ten past seven for crissakes.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Wow! Got to recommend this band to you. I heard them on Gilles Peterson Worldwide show on FM4 in Vienna while I was there this week. Specifically he played a track called Jupiter, I think. Wow.
The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are exactly what they say ... brass with a kind of hip hop beat. Talk about amazing! No synthesizers or electronic sounds but totally fresh and vibrant; classic and modern. An amazing fusion from the soul!
Check out Hypnotic Brass Ensemble on YouTube.
I've got to find their album somehow! My initial Googling tells me they're from Chicago. I need that music now ... I'm off to buy it no matter how.
Have downloaded one of Gilles Peterson's Podcasts too ... first time I've really taken a lot of notice of the DJ - who also has a show on Radio One - he certainly has an ear for quality ... an interesting kind of classicness.
[update] Here's a link to the track I like Jupiter. You need to hear it in its entirity really because, at length, it is hypnotic. This clip is from somewhere near the end when some vocals kick in though I prefer just the brassy music. Interested to hear what others think.
The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are exactly what they say ... brass with a kind of hip hop beat. Talk about amazing! No synthesizers or electronic sounds but totally fresh and vibrant; classic and modern. An amazing fusion from the soul!
Check out Hypnotic Brass Ensemble on YouTube.
I've got to find their album somehow! My initial Googling tells me they're from Chicago. I need that music now ... I'm off to buy it no matter how.
Have downloaded one of Gilles Peterson's Podcasts too ... first time I've really taken a lot of notice of the DJ - who also has a show on Radio One - he certainly has an ear for quality ... an interesting kind of classicness.
[update] Here's a link to the track I like Jupiter. You need to hear it in its entirity really because, at length, it is hypnotic. This clip is from somewhere near the end when some vocals kick in though I prefer just the brassy music. Interested to hear what others think.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
No Christmas yet
Can't think about Christmas or anything like that til we get our Xmas podcast out of the way and until I'm in Austria. Hurrah my holiday starts in Austria in just a few short days ... but so much to fit in before then. Will it all get done? I hope so.
I daren't go into the amount of effort, phonebashing and unforseen issues around making this podcast happen. It's put us back several days. Suffice to say, I'll be looking forward to meeting the 15-20 or so fire risks that we've invited along to the 'cast Thursday. Can't you just all learn to walk or something? How hard is it? Mik Scarlet is giving it his best shot after all on TV this Thursday at 7pm isn't he? What a role model!
Special guests at the podcast will be Mr Bennet the caretaker from Take Hart, Vicky Liquorice from Saturday Superstore and the man who wrote the Nationwide theme tune ... the early 80s one not the one everyone knows.
Great stuff!
I daren't go into the amount of effort, phonebashing and unforseen issues around making this podcast happen. It's put us back several days. Suffice to say, I'll be looking forward to meeting the 15-20 or so fire risks that we've invited along to the 'cast Thursday. Can't you just all learn to walk or something? How hard is it? Mik Scarlet is giving it his best shot after all on TV this Thursday at 7pm isn't he? What a role model!
Special guests at the podcast will be Mr Bennet the caretaker from Take Hart, Vicky Liquorice from Saturday Superstore and the man who wrote the Nationwide theme tune ... the early 80s one not the one everyone knows.
Great stuff!
Could blogger/google kill my blog?
So, every time I logon to this blog I keep seeing a message from Google saying "want to update to our new version blog?"
My anxiety is that if i upgrade it'll become inaccessible to screenreaders meaning I'll never be able to post again! Other Google products aren't very accessible so I don't hold out too much hope. I'm aware I can delay the switch for a while but not forever because the entire system is going to swap over.
When I'm eventually forced to switch, this blog may die forever. But maybe it won't? If you are a screenreader user and have made the switch, can you tell me how you got on?
If I go very quiet ... you know why ...
My anxiety is that if i upgrade it'll become inaccessible to screenreaders meaning I'll never be able to post again! Other Google products aren't very accessible so I don't hold out too much hope. I'm aware I can delay the switch for a while but not forever because the entire system is going to swap over.
When I'm eventually forced to switch, this blog may die forever. But maybe it won't? If you are a screenreader user and have made the switch, can you tell me how you got on?
If I go very quiet ... you know why ...
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Ha Ha meet
Gosh, well, interesting afternoon. Met loads of people who fell off the Ouch messageboard and into the real world setting of bar Ha Ha in Victoria. Hello everyone who was there ... great to meet you.
WE all congregated thanks to an invite from Lady Bracknell (whose blog is far too popular for me to bother linking to here). Lady B received her MBE last Friday. Congratulations. Now for the next spiffing wheeze, i.e. to make her an actual Lady, one of them wot can sit in the House of Lords and uphold our democracy. Can you do it online these days? I figure if you can get AA car insurance online then Lordships and Ladyships can't be far off.
Spoke to everyone quite a bit except for Ouch messageboard wag Turtle who buggered off quicker than I thought she was going to. Again I'd link to Turtle's blog but I think there's a link down the side here somewhere and I'm trying to write this quickly to get in front of my TV in time for the new series of Lost later.
I didn't leave the bar until gone 7pm. Thanks to, or no thanks to, the excellent/inexcellent taxicard scheme and ComCab who are a bunch of sheisters.
The missing were missed: Marmite Boy, Fang and Becca Viola. Hopefully I'll be able to meet you all another time.
All this jibber jabber will mean very little to those who've not clicked the links to other blogs from this blog ... and to those who've never been to the Ouch messageboard before.
All really lovely people ... and one hell of an effort was taken to get us all round the same table. For those who made the most extreme efforts I salute you. Be great to meet up again.
WE all congregated thanks to an invite from Lady Bracknell (whose blog is far too popular for me to bother linking to here). Lady B received her MBE last Friday. Congratulations. Now for the next spiffing wheeze, i.e. to make her an actual Lady, one of them wot can sit in the House of Lords and uphold our democracy. Can you do it online these days? I figure if you can get AA car insurance online then Lordships and Ladyships can't be far off.
Spoke to everyone quite a bit except for Ouch messageboard wag Turtle who buggered off quicker than I thought she was going to. Again I'd link to Turtle's blog but I think there's a link down the side here somewhere and I'm trying to write this quickly to get in front of my TV in time for the new series of Lost later.
I didn't leave the bar until gone 7pm. Thanks to, or no thanks to, the excellent/inexcellent taxicard scheme and ComCab who are a bunch of sheisters.
The missing were missed: Marmite Boy, Fang and Becca Viola. Hopefully I'll be able to meet you all another time.
All this jibber jabber will mean very little to those who've not clicked the links to other blogs from this blog ... and to those who've never been to the Ouch messageboard before.
All really lovely people ... and one hell of an effort was taken to get us all round the same table. For those who made the most extreme efforts I salute you. Be great to meet up again.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
More user generated TV stuff
OK. Remember a few weeks ago I was banging on about user generated content and the fact that disability TV - as we'd want it - will never ever be commissioned by mainstream now? Mainstream was always an obstacle but now the nature of television is changing bit by bit so that the 'mainstream' broadcasters are no longer the "owners of the means of production" as someone once put it.
I'll do another round-up of happenings that show TV is dying and user generated content TV is on the rise, soon.
Today though I saw this in the MediaGuardian by Jemima Kiss:
YourKindaTV takes web TV shows onto Sky. Basically what we have here is website yourkindatv.com - a user generated newsy website - has bought some broadcast space on Information TV which you can receive if you're a Sky customer.
They're pretty much just showcasing their web content in a half hour weekend TV slot they've bought. Information TV, it seems, is one of these broadcasters that sells its own airtime. That's how it makes cash. You can buy an hour of time on Information TV for just one thousand pounds.
I'll do another round-up of happenings that show TV is dying and user generated content TV is on the rise, soon.
Today though I saw this in the MediaGuardian by Jemima Kiss:
YourKindaTV takes web TV shows onto Sky. Basically what we have here is website yourkindatv.com - a user generated newsy website - has bought some broadcast space on Information TV which you can receive if you're a Sky customer.
They're pretty much just showcasing their web content in a half hour weekend TV slot they've bought. Information TV, it seems, is one of these broadcasters that sells its own airtime. That's how it makes cash. You can buy an hour of time on Information TV for just one thousand pounds.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Fucking big fridge
Ladies and gentlemen. From tomorrow I will be the proud (proud?) owner (definitely owner) of one of those huge American fridges. Thank you very much ... thank you ... thanks.
It's big, it's silvery coloured, it'll hold more food and drink than ever before ... and it'll just about fit in through my front door. Or, at least, the calculations we've done using a retractable steel measure and, well, our heads, basically, suggests we'll be OK. Just. With maybe a teensy bit of luck on our side.
For a little while, then, we will have two fridges: the fucking big one (we've discussed this already) and a not quite so fucking big one but still sizeable. Almost as tall as me (6 ft 2 ins).
We really wanted one of those that have a water cooler built in. Sadly it seems you need to plumb those in (I guess that's how the water gets in) and it's too far from the water pipes.
My idle hope is that the fridge will make me eat more healthily. The last month I've somehow gone on a bad food kick. Well, that's not to say too bad but I've been eating quite a lot of it. Just a temporary thing and I reckon that we've now got enough space in our FHF to make and freeze some lovely healthy foodstuffs.
Weirdly, Kristina has managed to go on a diet kick through the middle of my fat kick. I have suggested that she, as the main person who prepares food round these parts, is trying to fatten me up so that she looks better than me. If I get to the bottom of this and discover my suspicions are right ... well there'll be hell to pay. Seriously. I think those wife beaters may just get a bit of a bad rap just like disabled people too ... it's hard to sort it out in my head. Maybe I'll just trip her up when she comes in. There.
Other thoughts in my head today:
* That blowing-up-tube-under-the-Thames bloke came from round here. I wonder if I met him. Honestly though, terrorism is beastly ... I can't condone it.
* I don't appear to hav any Diet Coke in the house.
* I called a locksmith today for the first time in my life. I'm an adult!
* I'm going to an ironmonger tomorrow ... naw just joking
* Digital radio is rubbish and sounds like it's under water half the time.
* Channel 4's Jihad TV last night had lots of subtitled footage when people spoke in Arabic. I couldn't effing follow the programme. An important document of the times but made inaccessible to those of us who can't see so well (understatement)
* My guide dog hasn't had a shit in three days.
* we used to get farepak Hampers when I was a kid ... parents were agents in fact. I seem to remember that Noele Gordon was the face of Farepak back then ... then when she carked it Gloria Hunniford took over.
* What shall I spend my Amazon vouchers on?
* Is anyone else following Lost?
* My toe hurts.
PS: Sorry about the wifebeating gag. Really not funny if you're a wife and you've been beaten. Bad Damon. Funny how I can make gags about spastics but feel bad about this ... I left it in to see how I felt about it. Damon? Yeah? Whatever.
PPS: What happened to my blog entry about staying in a castle last weekend? It isn't here any more.
It's big, it's silvery coloured, it'll hold more food and drink than ever before ... and it'll just about fit in through my front door. Or, at least, the calculations we've done using a retractable steel measure and, well, our heads, basically, suggests we'll be OK. Just. With maybe a teensy bit of luck on our side.
For a little while, then, we will have two fridges: the fucking big one (we've discussed this already) and a not quite so fucking big one but still sizeable. Almost as tall as me (6 ft 2 ins).
We really wanted one of those that have a water cooler built in. Sadly it seems you need to plumb those in (I guess that's how the water gets in) and it's too far from the water pipes.
My idle hope is that the fridge will make me eat more healthily. The last month I've somehow gone on a bad food kick. Well, that's not to say too bad but I've been eating quite a lot of it. Just a temporary thing and I reckon that we've now got enough space in our FHF to make and freeze some lovely healthy foodstuffs.
Weirdly, Kristina has managed to go on a diet kick through the middle of my fat kick. I have suggested that she, as the main person who prepares food round these parts, is trying to fatten me up so that she looks better than me. If I get to the bottom of this and discover my suspicions are right ... well there'll be hell to pay. Seriously. I think those wife beaters may just get a bit of a bad rap just like disabled people too ... it's hard to sort it out in my head. Maybe I'll just trip her up when she comes in. There.
Other thoughts in my head today:
* That blowing-up-tube-under-the-Thames bloke came from round here. I wonder if I met him. Honestly though, terrorism is beastly ... I can't condone it.
* I don't appear to hav any Diet Coke in the house.
* I called a locksmith today for the first time in my life. I'm an adult!
* I'm going to an ironmonger tomorrow ... naw just joking
* Digital radio is rubbish and sounds like it's under water half the time.
* Channel 4's Jihad TV last night had lots of subtitled footage when people spoke in Arabic. I couldn't effing follow the programme. An important document of the times but made inaccessible to those of us who can't see so well (understatement)
* My guide dog hasn't had a shit in three days.
* we used to get farepak Hampers when I was a kid ... parents were agents in fact. I seem to remember that Noele Gordon was the face of Farepak back then ... then when she carked it Gloria Hunniford took over.
* What shall I spend my Amazon vouchers on?
* Is anyone else following Lost?
* My toe hurts.
PS: Sorry about the wifebeating gag. Really not funny if you're a wife and you've been beaten. Bad Damon. Funny how I can make gags about spastics but feel bad about this ... I left it in to see how I felt about it. Damon? Yeah? Whatever.
PPS: What happened to my blog entry about staying in a castle last weekend? It isn't here any more.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Insomnia LIVE
Welcome to Insomnia live. The 24-hour show where Damon is always the star. I got to sleep at 11:30 but woke at 4:10am today.
It's a load of fucking blind crap. I need some of that chemical stuff I was talking about the other week, maybe that'll also cure my manic depression, seizures and illogical bank heists I keep getting involved in (even though I know I shouldn't)
Quick round-up
• Have I ever mentioned I've got a bit of a thing for Sky News's Anna Jones? Everyone says she's got a "small face" but I don't think that necessarily has to stand in the way of a fruitful relationship. Anyone? Sky under-use her, she does mornings now but was great doing the analytical stuff on Sunday nights on News 24 in another life.
• North Korea may be about to test a second nuclear device ... a penis envy thing if ever I saw one
• Today's news says we're all going to be drinking treated sewage to solve the water crisis. I thought Londoners had been drinking treated sewage for donkey's years? (that's not a stupid joke, I really thought that was the case?)
• Vaughan might be moving out of hospital he told me yesterday. Good news!
It's a load of fucking blind crap. I need some of that chemical stuff I was talking about the other week, maybe that'll also cure my manic depression, seizures and illogical bank heists I keep getting involved in (even though I know I shouldn't)
Quick round-up
• Have I ever mentioned I've got a bit of a thing for Sky News's Anna Jones? Everyone says she's got a "small face" but I don't think that necessarily has to stand in the way of a fruitful relationship. Anyone? Sky under-use her, she does mornings now but was great doing the analytical stuff on Sunday nights on News 24 in another life.
• North Korea may be about to test a second nuclear device ... a penis envy thing if ever I saw one
• Today's news says we're all going to be drinking treated sewage to solve the water crisis. I thought Londoners had been drinking treated sewage for donkey's years? (that's not a stupid joke, I really thought that was the case?)
• Vaughan might be moving out of hospital he told me yesterday. Good news!
Oh Mr Confectioner please ...
Dear Toblerone,
I'm quite excited about this and think you will be too.
It was my birthday last Sunday so I was given a rather large Toblerone bar. Unlike other chocolate bars I recall from my youth, I swear yours has got bigger. Is this true?
Whilst eating a chunk of your marvellous product today, I had something of an earth shattering idea I felt I needed to share with you.
Clearly you have cornered (no pun intended) the market for triangular chocolate. Well then, how about creating a circular bar to complement your range?
Just round off the triangular tips on your bar (they can hurt the roof of the mouth a little if you're not too careful actually, I don't know if your user testing has ever discovered that?) and a new bar will be born.
I've been singing in the bathroom and, it's OK: 'circular' fits equally well into your jingle which is already non-sensical, i.e. circular people, circular stteepels, bees, honey, etc. So no great marketing budget needed. In fact, I'd happily sing 'circular' in the places where 'triangular' currently appears ... if that's at all useful. I'm quite available: you can email me via this blog or call me in the office like Katie Fraser does.
I know what you're thinking. Wouldn't a circularesque Toblerone look a little like failed 80s chocolate bar, Logger? And yes, you might be right. But remember, Logger was an inferior bar with no chew even if it has the semi-circular / flat look that I envisage the new Circular Toblerone bar would have.
I do hope I have helped you out a little with your ultimate gift confectionary. To be honest there has been little innovation over there in Switzerland (I assume that's where you're still based?) after white chocolate Toblerones and those snow-capped ones you started producing for the Christmas market in the mid 90s. I don't want to use the word 'disappointed' but Christmases and birthdays are getting a little samey now that I'm in my 30s.
Yours sincerely
Damon A Rose
I'm quite excited about this and think you will be too.
It was my birthday last Sunday so I was given a rather large Toblerone bar. Unlike other chocolate bars I recall from my youth, I swear yours has got bigger. Is this true?
Whilst eating a chunk of your marvellous product today, I had something of an earth shattering idea I felt I needed to share with you.
Clearly you have cornered (no pun intended) the market for triangular chocolate. Well then, how about creating a circular bar to complement your range?
Just round off the triangular tips on your bar (they can hurt the roof of the mouth a little if you're not too careful actually, I don't know if your user testing has ever discovered that?) and a new bar will be born.
I've been singing in the bathroom and, it's OK: 'circular' fits equally well into your jingle which is already non-sensical, i.e. circular people, circular stteepels, bees, honey, etc. So no great marketing budget needed. In fact, I'd happily sing 'circular' in the places where 'triangular' currently appears ... if that's at all useful. I'm quite available: you can email me via this blog or call me in the office like Katie Fraser does.
I know what you're thinking. Wouldn't a circularesque Toblerone look a little like failed 80s chocolate bar, Logger? And yes, you might be right. But remember, Logger was an inferior bar with no chew even if it has the semi-circular / flat look that I envisage the new Circular Toblerone bar would have.
I do hope I have helped you out a little with your ultimate gift confectionary. To be honest there has been little innovation over there in Switzerland (I assume that's where you're still based?) after white chocolate Toblerones and those snow-capped ones you started producing for the Christmas market in the mid 90s. I don't want to use the word 'disappointed' but Christmases and birthdays are getting a little samey now that I'm in my 30s.
Yours sincerely
Damon A Rose
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Swap Shop clip
I had an email at work the other day from someone asking if Swap Shop would ever be shown again on BBC3 or BBC4 maybe. I told him that I'd recently seen a few archive editions of the show and maybe the treasured memories are better left as just memories.
I was the biggest Swap Shop fan, but, even I didn't really enjoy watching them again some 25 years later. GULP 25 years later?????
Anyhoo, playing around on YouTube earlier, I found a clip of Swap Shop where Noel is interviewing Leela from Doctor Who (Louise Jameson who went on to play Rosa Dimarco in EastEnders. I'm guessing it's an episode of Swap Shop from the late 70s.
Here's the Swap Shop video clip.
It's funny that nowadays, when we're marketing or trying to make something sound cool and modern and hi tech, we say it's 'digital' or 'high definition' or 'interactive'. In the 80s Nicam Stereo was all the rage ... but in the late 70s it was just good enough to be Multi-Coloured.
I was the biggest Swap Shop fan, but, even I didn't really enjoy watching them again some 25 years later. GULP 25 years later?????
Anyhoo, playing around on YouTube earlier, I found a clip of Swap Shop where Noel is interviewing Leela from Doctor Who (Louise Jameson who went on to play Rosa Dimarco in EastEnders. I'm guessing it's an episode of Swap Shop from the late 70s.
Here's the Swap Shop video clip.
It's funny that nowadays, when we're marketing or trying to make something sound cool and modern and hi tech, we say it's 'digital' or 'high definition' or 'interactive'. In the 80s Nicam Stereo was all the rage ... but in the late 70s it was just good enough to be Multi-Coloured.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
The New TV: video sharing
I thought it'd be useful to put some links up to fully explain the growing 'user generated TV' phenomenon that is being talked about right now. There are some TV stations broadcasting already in the UK, or just about to start. There are also websites ... but who knows what's what or how we'll be watching content because, to put it crudely. websites will be the same as TV in the near future anyway.
TV STATIONS
• Fame TV launches on Sky in November
• MTV Flux launched in September | Read Wikipedia's entry about MTV Flux
• Propeller TV propelling student film makers and emerging talent up the career ladder (195 on Sky) | Read Wikipedia's entry about Propeller TV
• Current TV Al Gore's much talked about station coming to the UK in 2007 | Read Wikipedia's entry about Current TV
WEBSITES
• YouTube.com - Broadcast yourself (recently bought by Google) | Read Wikipedia's entry about YouTube
• Google Video
• GoFish | Read Wikipedia's entry about GoFish
• Read more about video sharing on Wikipedia
STUFF TO READ
Related stories from newspapers and the web in the last two weeks.
Am hoping to update this weblog entry at some stage, so if you see it reappear it's an update not a repeat ;)
TV STATIONS
• Fame TV launches on Sky in November
• MTV Flux launched in September | Read Wikipedia's entry about MTV Flux
• Propeller TV propelling student film makers and emerging talent up the career ladder (195 on Sky) | Read Wikipedia's entry about Propeller TV
• Current TV Al Gore's much talked about station coming to the UK in 2007 | Read Wikipedia's entry about Current TV
WEBSITES
• YouTube.com - Broadcast yourself (recently bought by Google) | Read Wikipedia's entry about YouTube
• Google Video
• GoFish | Read Wikipedia's entry about GoFish
• Read more about video sharing on Wikipedia
STUFF TO READ
Related stories from newspapers and the web in the last two weeks.
• Five video-on-demand site goes live
The vision thing -- A year after it was launched, YouTube is being sold for almost £900m. But what is Google buying? The world's biggest collection of pop videos and silly
home movies - or something that could change the face of policing, politics and the web? John Harris reports.
Gore joins forces with Murdochs for user-generated web/TV network -- "the democratisation of the television medium" says Gore. Current TV service to launch in UK before going global. BSkyB says deal is first step to more initiatives.
Murdoch says future is user-generated -- Speaking about Sky's collaboration with Current TV, the head of BSkyB says that the new video sharing trend will push existing production companies out of their comfort zone. "Producers have to engage with wider communities [and recognise] that it is not a fad, a niche, a blip that is going to go away." says James Murdoch.
Google nets YouTube in $1.65bn takeover -- The founders of the video website YouTube last night accepted a $1.65bn (£880m) takeover offer from Google for their 20-month-old venture, which has a big
online following but has yet to make money.
Am hoping to update this weblog entry at some stage, so if you see it reappear it's an update not a repeat ;)
Friday, October 13, 2006
Mainstream: it'll never happen.
I've had an epiphany. Well it's been building for a while.
To cut a long story short ... there is no point trying to get a disability TV show on TV any more. Not on the big mainstream channels. Whatever you might want to see as a disabled viewer isn't going to happen.
Informed realism in the way I would want it isn't going to make it before TV starts to fragment hugely and 'mainstream' as a concept dies.
Mainstream, as we know it now, isn't going to be around for too much longer. To put it another way, everybody wil be a broadcaster soon.
If you want your ideas to 'get out there' and succeed then Youtube.com and other similar sites are going to be the answer. And if you remember that the web and TV are going to be less and less distinguishable within the next 5 to 10 years, it's not going to be a geeky backroom 'sit forward' office thing, it'll be a living room 'sit back' experience.
Lets stick with YouTube for a sec. Google have just bought it for just under a billion pounds. Already they're discussing that the business model for YouTube in the future will include advertising. The suggestion is that, if you upload a video, you will receive a share of that advetising money. And so if you can get enough people to watch it, via whatever means - viral marketing, press publicity, word of mouth, blog talk, whatever - you could be sitting on a small fortune that could sustain your lifestyle as an artist. An artist with a following could make lots of money if 90,000 or 8 million people click onto their latest video.
Who will be the stars of the future? Minority markets could well drive huge numbers of hits, especially if they are starved of the kind of content they'er after on mainstream channels. That's if channels still exist. By May next year we will be saturated with dozens of new ways to download, vodcast, podcast and share television and radio. Sky, BBC, Channel 4, Ch Five and even the usually slow ITV are all developing their various Video on Demand / iPlayer models.
They may be on the net to begin with but how are we going to be consuming video in the next few years anyway? The iPod TV is going to launch next year. The new Windows Vista operating system (replacement for XP) is launched with more multimedia capability and emphasis on transmitting to your TV set. BT Vision launches this November: it's a broadband TV set-top broadband box; some are calling it Freeview plus because that's what it is - Freeview ariel TV integrated with a seemless broadband offering that will let you get Video on Demand from its servers.
Sky are buying up broadband companies like nuts. Why? Because rupert Murdoch realises now that he has a hell of a white elephant on his hands. Sky has 9 million households with ugly great dishes on their rooftops. Lots of people would like to get rid of those dishes, dishes he gave away for free! He badly needs to get into what's been dubbed 'multicasting' - TV delivered over the web (IPTV protocol for the geeks out there). You can't do Video on Demand with a limited satellite system, nor via the airwaves with current Freeview boxes.
ADSL via your phone will be the main driver of multicast / Video on Demand TV. Broadcasts from many to many unlike broadcast which is from one transmitter to many. Advertising will be a dream too on this multicast platform, direct ads for the kind of person it already knows you are based on your TV viewing habits that it monitors.
Back to the disability point though:
production companies could well soon have the upper hand over what we now see as the main broadcasters. Content is king. If you've made some content, wy do you need a channel to show it on when Video on Demand exists? Why does Endemol need to sell Big Brother to Channel 4 if it could just stream it for itself?
You could just put your home made TV show up on your own website/servers in the future. All you need to do then is get the message out there that your show exists or get it listed somehow on the electronic programme guide connected with the set-top box system you've got with BT or NTL or Sky or whoever.
The first stage of Video on Demand will be a closed circuit, BT Vision for instance will not immediately be hooking up to the entire internet from this November we think but that will have to change.
They're already talking about including YouTube players in settop boxes. Or BBC / ITV players. Who will get there first? Whose software will be king? Don't know. Will it even work like that? It'll definitely be hooked up to your main broadband connection though.
What will mainstream be? The things at the top of the electronic menu this evening?
Disability groups round the world, creative people etc, should be thinking hard NOW about possible productions. I predict lots of applications to the Arts council to make TV shows in the near future. I predict a supportive network for minority TV. I predict also that some minority TV shows will get picked up by what we now call the mainstream. The 'mainstream' broadcasters will find that current easy-to-watch bubble gum TV might be discarded in favour of very niche shows that individual viewers have heard about. The mainstream will be wanting to go niche too.
This isn't a fully worked up article, it's a stream of consciousness that I'm hoping to turn into an article soon. Am interested in any feedback from anyone on this.
xxx
To cut a long story short ... there is no point trying to get a disability TV show on TV any more. Not on the big mainstream channels. Whatever you might want to see as a disabled viewer isn't going to happen.
Informed realism in the way I would want it isn't going to make it before TV starts to fragment hugely and 'mainstream' as a concept dies.
Mainstream, as we know it now, isn't going to be around for too much longer. To put it another way, everybody wil be a broadcaster soon.
If you want your ideas to 'get out there' and succeed then Youtube.com and other similar sites are going to be the answer. And if you remember that the web and TV are going to be less and less distinguishable within the next 5 to 10 years, it's not going to be a geeky backroom 'sit forward' office thing, it'll be a living room 'sit back' experience.
Lets stick with YouTube for a sec. Google have just bought it for just under a billion pounds. Already they're discussing that the business model for YouTube in the future will include advertising. The suggestion is that, if you upload a video, you will receive a share of that advetising money. And so if you can get enough people to watch it, via whatever means - viral marketing, press publicity, word of mouth, blog talk, whatever - you could be sitting on a small fortune that could sustain your lifestyle as an artist. An artist with a following could make lots of money if 90,000 or 8 million people click onto their latest video.
Who will be the stars of the future? Minority markets could well drive huge numbers of hits, especially if they are starved of the kind of content they'er after on mainstream channels. That's if channels still exist. By May next year we will be saturated with dozens of new ways to download, vodcast, podcast and share television and radio. Sky, BBC, Channel 4, Ch Five and even the usually slow ITV are all developing their various Video on Demand / iPlayer models.
They may be on the net to begin with but how are we going to be consuming video in the next few years anyway? The iPod TV is going to launch next year. The new Windows Vista operating system (replacement for XP) is launched with more multimedia capability and emphasis on transmitting to your TV set. BT Vision launches this November: it's a broadband TV set-top broadband box; some are calling it Freeview plus because that's what it is - Freeview ariel TV integrated with a seemless broadband offering that will let you get Video on Demand from its servers.
Sky are buying up broadband companies like nuts. Why? Because rupert Murdoch realises now that he has a hell of a white elephant on his hands. Sky has 9 million households with ugly great dishes on their rooftops. Lots of people would like to get rid of those dishes, dishes he gave away for free! He badly needs to get into what's been dubbed 'multicasting' - TV delivered over the web (IPTV protocol for the geeks out there). You can't do Video on Demand with a limited satellite system, nor via the airwaves with current Freeview boxes.
ADSL via your phone will be the main driver of multicast / Video on Demand TV. Broadcasts from many to many unlike broadcast which is from one transmitter to many. Advertising will be a dream too on this multicast platform, direct ads for the kind of person it already knows you are based on your TV viewing habits that it monitors.
Back to the disability point though:
production companies could well soon have the upper hand over what we now see as the main broadcasters. Content is king. If you've made some content, wy do you need a channel to show it on when Video on Demand exists? Why does Endemol need to sell Big Brother to Channel 4 if it could just stream it for itself?
You could just put your home made TV show up on your own website/servers in the future. All you need to do then is get the message out there that your show exists or get it listed somehow on the electronic programme guide connected with the set-top box system you've got with BT or NTL or Sky or whoever.
The first stage of Video on Demand will be a closed circuit, BT Vision for instance will not immediately be hooking up to the entire internet from this November we think but that will have to change.
They're already talking about including YouTube players in settop boxes. Or BBC / ITV players. Who will get there first? Whose software will be king? Don't know. Will it even work like that? It'll definitely be hooked up to your main broadband connection though.
What will mainstream be? The things at the top of the electronic menu this evening?
Disability groups round the world, creative people etc, should be thinking hard NOW about possible productions. I predict lots of applications to the Arts council to make TV shows in the near future. I predict a supportive network for minority TV. I predict also that some minority TV shows will get picked up by what we now call the mainstream. The 'mainstream' broadcasters will find that current easy-to-watch bubble gum TV might be discarded in favour of very niche shows that individual viewers have heard about. The mainstream will be wanting to go niche too.
This isn't a fully worked up article, it's a stream of consciousness that I'm hoping to turn into an article soon. Am interested in any feedback from anyone on this.
xxx
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Ouch Podcast - stop abusing me!
This is just a really quick message to everyone who keeps emailing me both at Ouch and via this blog.
The fact that the podcast has come to an end is not down to me. There are policy reasons, good policy reasons, ones probably a bit too dull to get into, as to why we were only granted a 'trial' in the first instance. I can't really say any more than that, sorry. I'm not meant to use my personal blog for work purposes and I don't intend to start now.
All I can do is hand it over to you. I'm aware that an online petition has started - nothing to do with me - so if you want to show your support please stop emailing me at home and go and speak to the petition people.
Despite taking the flack, can I just say that it's actually really nice to know that for the last six months we've been doing something right, something really popular.
xxxx
The fact that the podcast has come to an end is not down to me. There are policy reasons, good policy reasons, ones probably a bit too dull to get into, as to why we were only granted a 'trial' in the first instance. I can't really say any more than that, sorry. I'm not meant to use my personal blog for work purposes and I don't intend to start now.
All I can do is hand it over to you. I'm aware that an online petition has started - nothing to do with me - so if you want to show your support please stop emailing me at home and go and speak to the petition people.
Despite taking the flack, can I just say that it's actually really nice to know that for the last six months we've been doing something right, something really popular.
xxxx
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Sunday
Bit guilty writing this post because Kristina is in the kitchen chopping veg for tonight's delicious meal ... whereas I've been sitting here on the net Googling for the Flaming Lips - a band we're going to see in concert in November.
Saw Memoirs of a Geisha on DVD today. It's one of those classic occasions where, of course, the book was much better than the film. The book is complex and about emotions as well as an amazing insight into the customs of the geisha, the film is really just a toe in the water ... but I understand it's visually fascinating which I miss out on being unvisioned as I am (trying to dodge cliches and make up my own PC terms today. OK, blind).
We're about to watch Derailed. I have no idea what it's about. But Derailed, and also Geisha, have audio description on them - hence they figured high on our choosing list. The Memoirs of a Geisha DVD confused us though because, instead of having the phrase 'audio description' on the box like every good logical DVD supplied should do ... they used the term 'audio commentary'. we almost didn't bother hiring it from Blockbuster until the fella behind the counter said we could bring it back if it didn't have AD. It did. Oh and BTW, the DVD playe player in the store was broken else we'd have got him to check it out.
Other notable interesting things of the week ... I got a webcam, so did my mum and dad. So, since Thursday, we've had a visual connection on the web. Must be nice for them to see their son; their son who hasn't bothered popping down to see them since Christmas.
Lastly ... got a good response about my insomnia post, innit. Nice one. Maybe others would be interested in this subject and maybe it's more of a disability thing than just a blind thing? Perhaps we should delve into it on Ouch. Thanks for being my testing ground - utterly unintentional though. Guess it is quite interesting.
L8rs
Saw Memoirs of a Geisha on DVD today. It's one of those classic occasions where, of course, the book was much better than the film. The book is complex and about emotions as well as an amazing insight into the customs of the geisha, the film is really just a toe in the water ... but I understand it's visually fascinating which I miss out on being unvisioned as I am (trying to dodge cliches and make up my own PC terms today. OK, blind).
We're about to watch Derailed. I have no idea what it's about. But Derailed, and also Geisha, have audio description on them - hence they figured high on our choosing list. The Memoirs of a Geisha DVD confused us though because, instead of having the phrase 'audio description' on the box like every good logical DVD supplied should do ... they used the term 'audio commentary'. we almost didn't bother hiring it from Blockbuster until the fella behind the counter said we could bring it back if it didn't have AD. It did. Oh and BTW, the DVD playe player in the store was broken else we'd have got him to check it out.
Other notable interesting things of the week ... I got a webcam, so did my mum and dad. So, since Thursday, we've had a visual connection on the web. Must be nice for them to see their son; their son who hasn't bothered popping down to see them since Christmas.
Lastly ... got a good response about my insomnia post, innit. Nice one. Maybe others would be interested in this subject and maybe it's more of a disability thing than just a blind thing? Perhaps we should delve into it on Ouch. Thanks for being my testing ground - utterly unintentional though. Guess it is quite interesting.
L8rs
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Insomnia
I'm not sleeping lately. OK OK OK, you're gonna point at my last post about coffee and say something bland and logical like: "duh, stop drinking coffee".
But no. I am an insomniac. Or rather, I have sleep difficulties generally, even when not going thru a major coffee blitz. God I hate reading people's blogs when they start talking about this kind of thing, it's so damn dull. So, let me just furnish you with the stuff that interests me:
1: I'm blind. You need light to help set your internal body clock. I don't get it, hence I have a rampant body clock.
2: I read somewhere once that blind people are more likely to have a 30-hour body clock, not a 24-hour one.
3: Therapies exist involving melatonin
Firstly, I rather like the idea that I don't have a regular boring old standard 24-hour body clock. I run in a different timezone to everyone else. I think it's quite cool to not click in with the rest of society in this way.
Downside is that having a 30-hour body clock, if that's what I've got, means my sleeping is all over the place. Social pressures mean I have to conform to this 24-hour malarky that everyone else is so set on ... which further confuses my innards.
Melatonin is the chemical produced when in light, I think? I think it's what's missing from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) peple too. Does this mean I have constant Seasonal Affective Disorder because it's 'forever autumn' or 'forever mid winter' in my head? Is it this winter effect I'm feeling in my lower moments?
But mum says my body clock was shagged even before I lost my sight. So, whaddya say to that? Either a) my mum hates me and is just trying to piss me off by breaking my new unified theory of the world, or, b) she's right and I'm making up excuses.
Typical effing cripple aren't I.
But if anyone asks, I'll be saying "I have a 30-hour body clock" cos it sounds cooler. Now just have to wait for someone to ask me that most unlikely of questions "Damon, do you run on a regular 24-hour internal body clock, or what?"
But no. I am an insomniac. Or rather, I have sleep difficulties generally, even when not going thru a major coffee blitz. God I hate reading people's blogs when they start talking about this kind of thing, it's so damn dull. So, let me just furnish you with the stuff that interests me:
1: I'm blind. You need light to help set your internal body clock. I don't get it, hence I have a rampant body clock.
2: I read somewhere once that blind people are more likely to have a 30-hour body clock, not a 24-hour one.
3: Therapies exist involving melatonin
Firstly, I rather like the idea that I don't have a regular boring old standard 24-hour body clock. I run in a different timezone to everyone else. I think it's quite cool to not click in with the rest of society in this way.
Downside is that having a 30-hour body clock, if that's what I've got, means my sleeping is all over the place. Social pressures mean I have to conform to this 24-hour malarky that everyone else is so set on ... which further confuses my innards.
Melatonin is the chemical produced when in light, I think? I think it's what's missing from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) peple too. Does this mean I have constant Seasonal Affective Disorder because it's 'forever autumn' or 'forever mid winter' in my head? Is it this winter effect I'm feeling in my lower moments?
But mum says my body clock was shagged even before I lost my sight. So, whaddya say to that? Either a) my mum hates me and is just trying to piss me off by breaking my new unified theory of the world, or, b) she's right and I'm making up excuses.
Typical effing cripple aren't I.
But if anyone asks, I'll be saying "I have a 30-hour body clock" cos it sounds cooler. Now just have to wait for someone to ask me that most unlikely of questions "Damon, do you run on a regular 24-hour internal body clock, or what?"
Monday, September 18, 2006
Decaffeinated my arse
At the top of this blog - well today anyway - it says something about me being a Decaffeinated Londoner. I wrote that when I was on a minor health kick. It seems I'm on even more of a minor health kick at the moment, though.
Bought an exercise cycle recently. Broke it yesterday. At least it shows I'm using it though and it hasn't become a coathanger. Bloody pedal fell off. Scared of trying to fix it now. Took long enough to put together out of the box from Argos in the first place. Kristina can do it.
Back to the caffeine.
It's like I can't throw enough coffee down the back of my throat at the moment. It's like, if I weren't such a good boy, I'd be onto the harder stuff by now. I feel I need it at the moment. Lots of little things swimming around in my head, lots of bitty things at work - coffee is the glue, coffee keeps me sane and going.
I wrote a column on Friday. Have since binned that column. It was utter crap. I can only imagine I didn't drink enough coffee that day and my colleagues didn't leave their desks enough, saying: "I'm going downstairs. Is there anything anyone wants from the canteen or wherever?"
I was quite impressed that I sank two coffees before 10am today.
Coffee = life glue. It keeps you together. It hardens your arteries, supposedly, but god it's the stuff of life.
Have lost interest in alcohol lately. Anyone know why?
Bought an exercise cycle recently. Broke it yesterday. At least it shows I'm using it though and it hasn't become a coathanger. Bloody pedal fell off. Scared of trying to fix it now. Took long enough to put together out of the box from Argos in the first place. Kristina can do it.
Back to the caffeine.
It's like I can't throw enough coffee down the back of my throat at the moment. It's like, if I weren't such a good boy, I'd be onto the harder stuff by now. I feel I need it at the moment. Lots of little things swimming around in my head, lots of bitty things at work - coffee is the glue, coffee keeps me sane and going.
I wrote a column on Friday. Have since binned that column. It was utter crap. I can only imagine I didn't drink enough coffee that day and my colleagues didn't leave their desks enough, saying: "I'm going downstairs. Is there anything anyone wants from the canteen or wherever?"
I was quite impressed that I sank two coffees before 10am today.
Coffee = life glue. It keeps you together. It hardens your arteries, supposedly, but god it's the stuff of life.
Have lost interest in alcohol lately. Anyone know why?
Saturday, September 16, 2006
They put Smarties on top
Cakes. When I was a kid. Little cup cakes. They put Smarties on top.
I hate smarties. There's an unsatisfyingly small amount of chocolate in them, there's too much sugar coating, they're shiny, they stick in your teeth, they're too sweet, they make me go sugar ballistic afterwards, they're the epitimy of shite ... even though the current media spin from them is about 'new healthier Smarties with all natural colourings' where blue Smarties had to die because they couldn't find a natural alternative for blue.
Party cakes with Smarties on must die, though. And exactly who likes Iced Gems? I cannot, for the life of me, work out what is in the least bit tasty or attractive about tiny weeny biscuits with big dollops of dry 'orid icing on them. They truly are abhorrent. Colourfully mouth-hurtingly sugary-sculpturingly abhorrent.
Looking forward to seeing the return of Jamie Oliver's School Dinners this Monday, Channel 4, 9pm.
I hate smarties. There's an unsatisfyingly small amount of chocolate in them, there's too much sugar coating, they're shiny, they stick in your teeth, they're too sweet, they make me go sugar ballistic afterwards, they're the epitimy of shite ... even though the current media spin from them is about 'new healthier Smarties with all natural colourings' where blue Smarties had to die because they couldn't find a natural alternative for blue.
Party cakes with Smarties on must die, though. And exactly who likes Iced Gems? I cannot, for the life of me, work out what is in the least bit tasty or attractive about tiny weeny biscuits with big dollops of dry 'orid icing on them. They truly are abhorrent. Colourfully mouth-hurtingly sugary-sculpturingly abhorrent.
Looking forward to seeing the return of Jamie Oliver's School Dinners this Monday, Channel 4, 9pm.
Friday, September 15, 2006
I blame myself, really
Is it just me or do you get a severe sense of guilt and paranoia when stories like this appear:
bad environment story
If I read them at work, I get the distinct feeling that everyone is looking at me and blaming me for the melting of the polar ice caps.
OK. I've got a dishwasher. But this fella from Thames Water on LBC a few weeks ago said that, actually, if you've got a modern dishwasher, and you fill it full, it uses less water than manually washing your dishes in the kitchen sink.
I'm getting my environmental messages mixed up because, although it's part and parcel of the massive '4 years or you're fucked' environmental disaster we're all about to face e, the lack of water is down to global warming because of people using their dishwashers, flying to New York from London and leaving their computers on all the time so they can just dip in and consult google at a second's notice.
I'm sitting here at work after having spent half the day, on and off, trying to write my latest column which went a bit haywire but I think I'm taming it now. It's gone 7pm though and my cab firm has let me down badly. I should be enjoying my time off now, shouldn't I?
Aarrrghhh!
I've got tickets to see The Flaming Lips and you haven't so ner.
Tried to get tickets to see The Killers when they went on sale today but sadly the Ticketmaster website is inaccessible due to those captcha graphic things - type what you see in this graphic". I've got a good mind to sue the fuckers because, during ticket rushes, their websites are just inaccessible to some disabled people: blind or with motor function or cognitive stuff, as the time limits they put in place are clearly not achievable for many peple.
Is it going too far to say I'd like to see the head of Ticketmaster on a pole with blood and brain tissue flowing out of the bottom of it? Proffit greedy fucker.
I believe I now have to write 'these views are not those of the BBC' on my blog due to recent new workplace rules. No. Can't imagine Director General Mark Thompson standing up and endorsing the bit about brain tissue ... certainly good to clarify this though, I'm sure all readers were wondering if I were speaking for the organisation here.
Bless em though, I appreciate the basic idea behind the blog edict and they do pay my mortgage ... x x x
bad environment story
If I read them at work, I get the distinct feeling that everyone is looking at me and blaming me for the melting of the polar ice caps.
OK. I've got a dishwasher. But this fella from Thames Water on LBC a few weeks ago said that, actually, if you've got a modern dishwasher, and you fill it full, it uses less water than manually washing your dishes in the kitchen sink.
I'm getting my environmental messages mixed up because, although it's part and parcel of the massive '4 years or you're fucked' environmental disaster we're all about to face e, the lack of water is down to global warming because of people using their dishwashers, flying to New York from London and leaving their computers on all the time so they can just dip in and consult google at a second's notice.
I'm sitting here at work after having spent half the day, on and off, trying to write my latest column which went a bit haywire but I think I'm taming it now. It's gone 7pm though and my cab firm has let me down badly. I should be enjoying my time off now, shouldn't I?
Aarrrghhh!
I've got tickets to see The Flaming Lips and you haven't so ner.
Tried to get tickets to see The Killers when they went on sale today but sadly the Ticketmaster website is inaccessible due to those captcha graphic things - type what you see in this graphic". I've got a good mind to sue the fuckers because, during ticket rushes, their websites are just inaccessible to some disabled people: blind or with motor function or cognitive stuff, as the time limits they put in place are clearly not achievable for many peple.
Is it going too far to say I'd like to see the head of Ticketmaster on a pole with blood and brain tissue flowing out of the bottom of it? Proffit greedy fucker.
I believe I now have to write 'these views are not those of the BBC' on my blog due to recent new workplace rules. No. Can't imagine Director General Mark Thompson standing up and endorsing the bit about brain tissue ... certainly good to clarify this though, I'm sure all readers were wondering if I were speaking for the organisation here.
Bless em though, I appreciate the basic idea behind the blog edict and they do pay my mortgage ... x x x
Thursday, September 14, 2006
9/11 outcome
What has been the outcome of all this 9/11 coverage on TV this week? Clearly the images and chatter were extremely seductive to me because I've purchased a ticket to New York, and will be flying there in February.
Bargain, kidz. Check out Travel Supermarket. The best cheapest 'scraper' website, as they call them.I got a ticket to New York for 170 quid, which includes all airport taxes etc. There's been a price war going on between Continental and Delta, it seems, or so Money Saving Expert told me at the end of last week. Great website! If you're in the UK, go there, sign up to its newsletter, tell all your friends.
Am I warped?
Bargain, kidz. Check out Travel Supermarket. The best cheapest 'scraper' website, as they call them.I got a ticket to New York for 170 quid, which includes all airport taxes etc. There's been a price war going on between Continental and Delta, it seems, or so Money Saving Expert told me at the end of last week. Great website! If you're in the UK, go there, sign up to its newsletter, tell all your friends.
Am I warped?
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