April's Fools Day...Everyday
Office prank fun."Post-its covering every single nook and cranny of a corner office!"
Flash Minesweeper.
Nope, still can't play it. Even with the help of others.
Enough is Enough! One Woman Takes a Stand Against Coffee Shops That Play Really Loud Music
"To be sure, coffee shops in Brooklyn and beyond have long been known for the lively and unpredictable music played—an idiosyncratic soundtrack that may run contrary to the time of day or personal tastes of many of its clientele. But Atkinson decided the day was too important to her and she needed to take measures into her own hands. “I wasn’t even thinking about it. I just walked over to the guy behind the counter with the plaid shirt and discs in his ears,” she says, referring to Irwin. “And I asked him if I could give him $20 to turn it off.”
al gore knows
I knew the moment she stepped onto the metro, she was going to sit right next to me.
This happens to me almost every day. I really need a haircut.
Advertising loses some of its voice
"Ad breaks may no longer be louder than the transmissions in which they appear."
Paul Westerberg Sells 44-Minute MP3 for 49 Cents
"Westerberg played everything on 49:00 himself, according to Billboard, which asked his manager Darren Hill about the offer. "It's just wonderful that you can actually do this," said Hill. "The freedom an artist can enjoy these days is fantastic. Can you imagine me pitching this idea to a label?"
"On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy." -- Kevin Flynn, 'Tron'
TV I don't much like Messian then. Huh. Last night's Prom 5 brought his L'Ascension and Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (which sounds like the spell Harry Potter uses to summon Voldemort). We've spoken before about how my tin ears can't work their drums around atonality, and here again though I could intellectually understand what the composer was attempting and I especially liked the specification that there had to be two minutes between movements allowing plenty of time for people to clear their throats, it was mostly a trial. Saint-Saens Symphony No 3 was predictably my musical highlight for the evening, with the organ and pianos dueling like the two banjos in the film Deliverance.
The camera work was pretty impressive during the BBC Four broadcast of L'Ascension, which has to be the longest live continual broadcast of an organ solo outside of Christmas. It began with a long, slow zoom in from the outer edge of the hall to the organist's box which actually must be the longest shot that has appeared on television in quite some time. A man sitting at an organ is it seems even less televisual than a piano solo, but this still managed to be a visual feast due to the director's willingness to show off the architecture of the pipes, organist Olivier Latry's fingering and the acoustic adjusters in the ceiling.
Back on the balcony (the studio's only to be utilised on BBC Two, thank goodness) Charles Hazlewood was refereeing a passive aggressive battle to be heard between his experts, composer Stevie Wishart and Gillian Moore (from the South Bank Art Centre). The routine would go something like this: Hazlewood asked Moore a question about Messian or whoever, which Moore answered in detail and at great depth, then Hazlewood turned to Wishart who attempted to offer more background but somewhere in the middle of sentence would be interrupted by Moore who then talked in some more in detail and at great depth. Wishart would be suitably perturbed and take to looking into the auditorium, at the sky, everywhere in fact but Hazlewood or Moore. This happened a few times, and throughout I was willing Wishart to interrupt back but to no avail. And the one moment when Wishart was allowed to get into a flow -- on Saint-Saens, Moore continued by repeating almost everything she'd already said. They did seem to be getting on by the climax though.
During the interval: Zeb Soames completed the introduction to an interview with conductor Myung-Whun Chung and Latry only to turn and discover them in heated conversation in French. Just at it seemed that Soames had attracted their attention, Chung began to sing. Soames allowed this to carry on for what seemed like an eternity (but was in truth probably only seconds) before stepping forward and interrupting. Chung and Latry looked at him in much the same way as two businessman striking a deal at a lunch meeting in a restaurant might after a waiter's approached them mid flow to ask them if they'd like to order desert. Soames well redeemed himself later though by offering a useful potted history of the Royal Albert's organ and working in a Tron reference -- the instrument appears on the cult film's soundtrack.
The camera work was pretty impressive during the BBC Four broadcast of L'Ascension, which has to be the longest live continual broadcast of an organ solo outside of Christmas. It began with a long, slow zoom in from the outer edge of the hall to the organist's box which actually must be the longest shot that has appeared on television in quite some time. A man sitting at an organ is it seems even less televisual than a piano solo, but this still managed to be a visual feast due to the director's willingness to show off the architecture of the pipes, organist Olivier Latry's fingering and the acoustic adjusters in the ceiling.
Back on the balcony (the studio's only to be utilised on BBC Two, thank goodness) Charles Hazlewood was refereeing a passive aggressive battle to be heard between his experts, composer Stevie Wishart and Gillian Moore (from the South Bank Art Centre). The routine would go something like this: Hazlewood asked Moore a question about Messian or whoever, which Moore answered in detail and at great depth, then Hazlewood turned to Wishart who attempted to offer more background but somewhere in the middle of sentence would be interrupted by Moore who then talked in some more in detail and at great depth. Wishart would be suitably perturbed and take to looking into the auditorium, at the sky, everywhere in fact but Hazlewood or Moore. This happened a few times, and throughout I was willing Wishart to interrupt back but to no avail. And the one moment when Wishart was allowed to get into a flow -- on Saint-Saens, Moore continued by repeating almost everything she'd already said. They did seem to be getting on by the climax though.
During the interval: Zeb Soames completed the introduction to an interview with conductor Myung-Whun Chung and Latry only to turn and discover them in heated conversation in French. Just at it seemed that Soames had attracted their attention, Chung began to sing. Soames allowed this to carry on for what seemed like an eternity (but was in truth probably only seconds) before stepping forward and interrupting. Chung and Latry looked at him in much the same way as two businessman striking a deal at a lunch meeting in a restaurant might after a waiter's approached them mid flow to ask them if they'd like to order desert. Soames well redeemed himself later though by offering a useful potted history of the Royal Albert's organ and working in a Tron reference -- the instrument appears on the cult film's soundtrack.
links for 2008-07-22
- "I played guitar on a couple of friends' recent records. No one will probably ever know what a good semi-shredder I am (damn it), since most will either download them for free or iTunes the music."
- "The €86m (£68m) project will open in 2010, creating 3,000 square metres of gallery space in one of the museum's neo-classical courtyards. Rather than cover the courtyard, a glass "luminous veil" will "float" above the ground, covering two floors."
- Newsweek sends someone who's never seen the series: "You're not going to do this to me, are you? Tell me you're not going to do this. Oh come on! It's been such a long time. Hire somebody that knows enough that we don't have to explain this again."
- Recent Doctor Who converts are reconsidering their devotion: "The Rose Lovers and Donna Worshippers are at each other's throatsm 1-9's fans bitch about 10 for feeling so fanboyish and the Old!Whovians castigate New!Whos constantly."
- "I noticed, Secretary, would never be financed now, never in a million years. It was made for very little money, but we would never have even gotten that."
"Tom Baker will never play the Dane."
Theatre Matthew Sweet offers a pleasingly Who aware piece in The Independent about the influences Hamlet may have had on the series:
"Dr Wiggins is equally crushing when I pitch him my theory that "The Invasion of Time" (1978) – in which the Doctor feigns madness to prevent his home planet falling to a race of aliens with thick Ulster accents – is another version of Shakespeare's story. If you must go truffling for Hamlet in pre-2005 Doctor Who, he suggests, better to try "The Masque of Mandragora" (1976), in which a fizzing alien entity arrives in Italy to stop the Renaissance from happening. It has an inexperienced, intellectual prince, a usurping duke, and a debate about the conflict between science and religion that recalls Hamlet's musings on the nature of the supernatural world."
Plus there was the original series bible for the 1996 revival in which Borusa was revealed to be the Doctor's father or something.
"Dr Wiggins is equally crushing when I pitch him my theory that "The Invasion of Time" (1978) – in which the Doctor feigns madness to prevent his home planet falling to a race of aliens with thick Ulster accents – is another version of Shakespeare's story. If you must go truffling for Hamlet in pre-2005 Doctor Who, he suggests, better to try "The Masque of Mandragora" (1976), in which a fizzing alien entity arrives in Italy to stop the Renaissance from happening. It has an inexperienced, intellectual prince, a usurping duke, and a debate about the conflict between science and religion that recalls Hamlet's musings on the nature of the supernatural world."
Plus there was the original series bible for the 1996 revival in which Borusa was revealed to be the Doctor's father or something.
Time and Relative Dissertations in Space: Critical Perspectives on Doctor Who. Edited by David Butler.
Books This book is amazing.Before going some way to explaining that hyperbole, I should first admit my vested interests. The editor, Dr. Butler, a lecturer in Screen Studies at Manchester University, was the man who taught me everything I know about Propp, Said, Tarkovsky and Kurosawa, marked my dissertation and is a good friend (which makes it of course horrifying that I haven’t been in touch lately). He’s been in the news lately because he’s in aiding the project of cataloging the contents of Delia Derbyshire’s attic. He spoke about pulling this volume together whilst I was there and I’m listed in the acknowledgments as well as, I think, being a statistic in his own fabulous essay about audience reactions to An Unearthly Child and the TV Movie. Do not, then, expect the most balanced of reviews.
But really, this book is amazing.
There’s been a flurry of activity in the academic community and beyond in the wake of the new series, with countless volumes attempting to apply complex critical theory to the franchise building on the early work of Tulloch and Alvarado in The Unfolding Text, the first attempt at looking at the series from an academic point of view. Many of them are quoted in here, but from what I’ve seen, with the exception of Kim Newman’s BFI edition, they’re sometimes so fixated on trying to treat the programme as a serious text, they commit the habitual academic crime of deconstructing the target into a series of ‘signs’ and forgetting exactly what it is that drew them to write about it in the first place. Doctor Who above all else is a fun, diverting sci-fi adventure serial, sometimes for all the family or as Dale Smith’s essay about the Virgin New Adventures notes, sometimes not and it’s ok to acknowledge that whilst trying to roll it through the academic rigger.
This book of David and his colleagues treads that fine line superbly. As the brilliant title itself symbolically suggests each of the writers betrays a fannish knowledge of the programme, but at the same time when required (and importantly only when required) pull in relevant academic standards as way of illuminating the show and its place within the cultural mythology. There are varying degrees of discourse; essays such as David Rafer’s investigation into the mythic identity in Doctor Who mention everyone from Laura Mulvey to Jean Baudrillard and are like revisiting my university course in small doses in relation to my favourite television programme. Alan McKee’s fun demonstration of why City of Death is obviously the best Doctor Who story relies more heavily on the programme itself.
Also, unlike certain other academic tomes there’s never a sense of padding, of letting in material to make up the page length and justify the price. There are four sections, mirroring the classic structure of a Doctor Who story. The first looks at the origins of the series, the second how the stories are told -- narrative structure and their mythic and allegorical qualities, the third notes how the production facilities effected what appeared on screen with special emphasis on music and the final part is perhaps the most fan orientated, looking at questions of canonicity, who actually created the series and our appreciation of spin-off media. There also a rather lovely afterword by Paul Magrs on why he loves the series that is as touching, nostalgic and batty as you’d expect.
It’s difficult to select highlights since there’s narry a disappointment, but if you’re wondering through a university library and they’ve only got a single copy on three hour short loan, I’d go directly to the aforementioned piece on audience reaction which wittily runs through the TV movie's exposition failures with some wonderful quotes from fellow students who’ve never seen the programme before and note that for all the crackle and pop of the American cutaway, it’s the first episode and its inherent sense of mystery which is the most compelling. Then I’d skip to the back and find Lance Parkin’s exploration of canonicity which succinctly underscores the reason I love the franchise, that there’s no definitive version and no Lucasfilm style department telling me that the story can’t begin on Barnes Common because that’s not what we saw on screen (something which the Eighth Doctor Adventures turned into a plot point).
From there, bounce forwards through the pagination vortex to Tat Wood’s barmy attempt to work out who represents the viewer’s point of view in the series, making comparisons with everything from wildlife documentaries to film musicals. Then there’s Ian Potter demonstrating that by the close of the series, despite the best efforts of Andrew Cartmell and others, the production was still following the antiquated grammar of the sixties even though the rest of television had moved on around it and Matt Hills taking that a stage further to show that Big Finish were largely tweaking that grammar for audio and presenting the fan listener with a product which captures the magical essence of what they remember the show to be like in their memory rather than what’s being revealed on dvd. By then, your three hours should be up, but its worth risking the exorbitant fines to take in Magrs’s afterword if only to discover where his novel The Scarlet Empress sprouted from.
By then though, you’ll probably have decided to buy a copy and you’d be right to, because these are pages to be savoured. It’s weighty yet accessible, it’s intelligent and sardonic. In recent months, the essays about the contributions of John Nathan Turner and Robert Holmes have become even more relevant since both underscore that the show is not and never can be the vision of a single man, though until Moffat takes over we’ll not find out how much of the essence of the new iteration is due to the producer or the needs of production. It’s not afraid to spend ten or so pages explaining what’s so good about City of Death or why Paul Cornell’s contribution to the recent version of the franchise is all too easily overlooked. There’s a compelling sense of getting away with something – challenging received authority – rather like the Doctor himself.
Like I said, Amazing.
Time and Relative Dissertations in Space: Critical Perspectives on Doctor Who edited by David Butler
ISBN: 978-0719076824
RRP: £15.99
Release date: Out Now!
Elsewhere I've posted a review of David Butler's Time and Relative Dissertations in Space: Critical Perspectives on Doctor Who at Behind The Sofa. It's as I say there and often, amazing.
Marketing This Wired article about the somewhat admirable Julia Allison reminds that about five years ago I considered strategies for publicising this blog. I thought of cards in windows, flyposting, almost had a t-shirt printed up. I eventually took out a text ad at Metafilter and watched the hits trickle in. In the end I realised I wasn't entirely sure what I was publicising, since I don't put as much of my life up here as Allison does, and after nearly seven years still haven't quite decided what the blog is about. Minute that happens though, I'll be round to the printers.
"I stooped to pick a buttercup. Why people leave buttocks lying around, I've no idea." -- Steven, "A Bit of Fry & Laurie"
TV “I’ve been watching the first series of A Bit of Fry & Laurie.”
“Have you. Have you indeed. Indeedy.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“It’s very funny.”
“And?”
”They look very young. Very young. Indeed.”
“Well it was the late eighties.”
“Ah, the Eighties. Do you know I used to have a pink shirt.”
“Did you, Jeremy.”
“My name’s not Jeremy.”
“James?”
“No.”
“Geoff?”
“No.”
“Andrew?”
“Warmer. No, but it is hilarious and hasn’t date. At all.”
”How tall?”
”What?”
”How tall?”
”No. At all.”
”Oh ha ha ha ha.”
”(?)”
”Why hasn’t it dated, Alan?”
”No, still wrong. Well it’s because they use very few contemporary references and hardly ever as the crux of the joke.”
”Like Ricky Gervais?”
”No.”
”Harry Hill?”
”No. Often they also seem rather prescient.”
”Prescient?”
”Well, at one point, Fry gives a satirical piece to camera as a politician which could as well be a speech from last week in which Gordon Brown or some other minister outline the current ills of the world.”
”Could that just be the comedian’s touching on perennial social problems and inadequacies of a government state?”
”Possibly, possibly.”
”Look, is this review going to carry on like this. I mean it’s a half decent idea to use this dialogue instead of proper paragraphs, but if the intention is for you to sound like Mr. Fry and myself as Mr. Laurie, it’s clearly failing because this bit sounds like it should be spoken like you, though less erudite.”
”True. But what you’ve touched upon is the other innovation – the generally fractured nature of their sketch comedy.”
“Go on.”
”It isn’t often that their material reaches a purposefully satisfactory conclusion. Like the Pythons they’re experimenting with the format, often interrupting a sketch before the end, either themselves in order to criticise their own words to camera or each other or through some outside influence. In one episode, an audience member starts threatening them with legal action for plagiarising his writing and it’s done well enough, at least at first, that you’re not sure if its something which actually happened on the day. Is that a long enough paragraph for you?”
”Better. Much better, Nigel.”
”It doesn’t all work. The Control and Tony spy characters haven’t quite warmed up yet and the vox pops which appear between sketch don’t go anywhere after the initial flurry and end up only being fitfully funny. But it’s just particularly refreshing to see comedy that doesn’t talk down to the viewer and assumes a certain level of intelligence.”
”So you’d recommend it then would you?”
”Yes.”
”Douglas?”
”No.”
”Arthur?”
”No.”
”Norris?”
”No.”
”Horris?”
”No.”
”Boris?”
”No.”
”Well that is your name then?”
”Rosemary.”
”That’s not very funny.”
”Well we’re not real comedians, and neither is the person typing this into his computer. Depending upon your point of view…”
“Have you. Have you indeed. Indeedy.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“It’s very funny.”
“And?”
”They look very young. Very young. Indeed.”
“Well it was the late eighties.”
“Ah, the Eighties. Do you know I used to have a pink shirt.”
“Did you, Jeremy.”
“My name’s not Jeremy.”
“James?”
“No.”
“Geoff?”
“No.”
“Andrew?”
“Warmer. No, but it is hilarious and hasn’t date. At all.”
”How tall?”
”What?”
”How tall?”
”No. At all.”
”Oh ha ha ha ha.”
”(?)”
”Why hasn’t it dated, Alan?”
”No, still wrong. Well it’s because they use very few contemporary references and hardly ever as the crux of the joke.”
”Like Ricky Gervais?”
”No.”
”Harry Hill?”
”No. Often they also seem rather prescient.”
”Prescient?”
”Well, at one point, Fry gives a satirical piece to camera as a politician which could as well be a speech from last week in which Gordon Brown or some other minister outline the current ills of the world.”
”Could that just be the comedian’s touching on perennial social problems and inadequacies of a government state?”
”Possibly, possibly.”
”Look, is this review going to carry on like this. I mean it’s a half decent idea to use this dialogue instead of proper paragraphs, but if the intention is for you to sound like Mr. Fry and myself as Mr. Laurie, it’s clearly failing because this bit sounds like it should be spoken like you, though less erudite.”
”True. But what you’ve touched upon is the other innovation – the generally fractured nature of their sketch comedy.”
“Go on.”
”It isn’t often that their material reaches a purposefully satisfactory conclusion. Like the Pythons they’re experimenting with the format, often interrupting a sketch before the end, either themselves in order to criticise their own words to camera or each other or through some outside influence. In one episode, an audience member starts threatening them with legal action for plagiarising his writing and it’s done well enough, at least at first, that you’re not sure if its something which actually happened on the day. Is that a long enough paragraph for you?”
”Better. Much better, Nigel.”
”It doesn’t all work. The Control and Tony spy characters haven’t quite warmed up yet and the vox pops which appear between sketch don’t go anywhere after the initial flurry and end up only being fitfully funny. But it’s just particularly refreshing to see comedy that doesn’t talk down to the viewer and assumes a certain level of intelligence.”
”So you’d recommend it then would you?”
”Yes.”
”Douglas?”
”No.”
”Arthur?”
”No.”
”Norris?”
”No.”
”Horris?”
”No.”
”Boris?”
”No.”
”Well that is your name then?”
”Rosemary.”
”That’s not very funny.”
”Well we’re not real comedians, and neither is the person typing this into his computer. Depending upon your point of view…”
TV The First Interval of the Proms and the coverage seems have turned into a clone of The One Show with Charles Hazlewood and Suzy Klien interviewing Deborah Meaden about Dragon's Den, complete with a clip. Now there's a trailer for a reality tv series in which the likes of Jane Asher, Bradley Walsh and Goldie are going to be conducting. This seems to be a very Classic FM approach to the music, in which to an extent the music is beside the point. Which is unfair of course, because of the wonderful moment when Hazlewood and Klien essentially gave Meaden a lecture about Mozart, she sitting slightly stunned and unable to contribute and because the music, the Strauss and Mozart were so exquisite and exquisitely played that they don't necessarily need an explanation.
Roger Woods is on now talk about his first season and Christine Brewer -- that returns some of the balance and Brewer's always good value -- especially tonight since she's a last minute replacement and apparently flew in from Chicago last night. I don't like that set though; it divorces the viewer away from the atmosphere of the hall at vital moments, it loses some of the sense of the time between pieces when all the promenaders can do is stand and stare. I've been flicking into the Radio 3 coverage where oddly, your imagination can fill in the blanks -- I imagine the presenters are huddled around a microphone near the stage. But here I am again. My heart stopped during the title music and through the opening Strauss. I'm looking again through the Prom programme and wondering why I wouldn't listen to most of. I hope the second half will be as good as the first.
Roger Woods is on now talk about his first season and Christine Brewer -- that returns some of the balance and Brewer's always good value -- especially tonight since she's a last minute replacement and apparently flew in from Chicago last night. I don't like that set though; it divorces the viewer away from the atmosphere of the hall at vital moments, it loses some of the sense of the time between pieces when all the promenaders can do is stand and stare. I've been flicking into the Radio 3 coverage where oddly, your imagination can fill in the blanks -- I imagine the presenters are huddled around a microphone near the stage. But here I am again. My heart stopped during the title music and through the opening Strauss. I'm looking again through the Prom programme and wondering why I wouldn't listen to most of. I hope the second half will be as good as the first.
Music Here's something you don't see every day -- my university tutor David, the man who marked my dissertation, on the BBC's PM blog. He's been put in charge of looking through an archive of tapes from Delia Derbyshire's loft, she being the lady who arranged and recorded the original and best version of the Doctor Who theme. As a lifelong Who fan and sound expert, I can't think of a better man for the job.
TV A script review of the Battlestar Galactica preview Caprica. It's very positive though it does seem to compare the show to The Thorn Birds.
WER The Fuck is Fizz
Pretty much sums up my day Superlambanana hunting in north Liverpool. Fizz was supposed to be on Carr Lane near the Cobolt Housing offices. It had been there for just a couple of days from deployment before being vandalised, so it was moved to Fazakerley Library , at the top of the steps. Another bus ride and longish walk up Longmoor Lane and this is what I found, since it had subsequently been stolen. It wasn't the only one. Stanley Park's lamb may be outside the Liver Buildings now, but the piece from Cider Road has gone completely. This I've only found out by visiting the spots after hours of jumping on and off buses. At least it didn't rain.
The official map is poorly designed, especially if you're trying to find these things on foot and public transport, which is all of the reason why I abandoned the attempt to see them all in numerical order. Despite planning ahead, I spent most of the day asking directions from bus drivers with faulty route knowledge, housing office receptionists, contractors, veterinary surgeons, bank clerks, librarians, police and people in the street for the locations which often didn't correspond to the picture. All too often I'd find myself waiting at a bus stop whose timetable had been wrecked, hoping that some bus I'd been told was going in my direction might come and then hoping that it did in fact go in my direction. Often, it didn't.
Still, despite all of that, I had a ball. I might bitch and wail about the ingrate vandals ruining the fun and my aching joints, but I did visit both football grounds (Goodison for the first time since 1984 and Anfield for the first time ever), Aintree Hospital and all kinds of areas I'd previously only heard talk of but never seen. Districts like Clubmoor, I can now put an image too. And there was still a sense of achievement when I finally found one of the lambs, paradoxically even if it wasn't there, simply because for someone with a reputation for having no sense of dimension and doesn't know north Liverpool at all, I'd still been able to find it on a map. No matter how misleading it might be.
Namesake I've not found one of these in quite a while. Burford Priory in Oxfordshire is up for sale, and look who's currently living there: "This has been a long and careful decision for our community to make,” says their leader, Abbot Stuart Burns, who, with his grey beard, traditional hooded robes and wooden cross about his neck, seems a figure from the Middle Ages. “But the decision marks a new chapter in our history, and we are looking forward to welcoming visitors to our new home in the near future."
Commerce Further up in Amazon's equivalent of the Tyrell Corporation there are also some really, really expensive books, whole libraries (ring bound), and actually sold by Amazon this time. And they're so confident in items such as the Media Asset Library, at some eighty grand, that they don't feel the need to have a picture or list the contents. Amazing.
Only in such places can you find the comic stylings of reviewer Karl Lankford. On the £15,000 Dental Assisting: Licensing:
Only in music do some prices seem reasonable. Who wouldn't want to offer two thousand pounds for a 12" vinyl of Transamazonia by Shamen. Me? I'd rather spend nearly sixty grand on something which sounds like a part for The Terminator but is actually a plasma screen or twenty on a paper shredder. I might finally get around to shredding my bank statements so that I can keep deluding myself on my financial situation.
Only in such places can you find the comic stylings of reviewer Karl Lankford. On the £15,000 Dental Assisting: Licensing:
"15k to learn how to put things into someones mouth. I know a woman who could teach that for less than £50."Can we potentially spend ten thousand on a poster (what is a Pep10 anyway and why would I want to exchange it?). Take a look at all 237 pages of An Assessment for Current and Future Requirements in The Industrial Cheese Market in Europe at nearly £9,000. Can a hundred dvds ever be worth £6,462.50? A CD-Rom £6,785.62? £6000 for a book about Sumo that's so big it requires its own table legs? Well, yes, to that one.
Only in music do some prices seem reasonable. Who wouldn't want to offer two thousand pounds for a 12" vinyl of Transamazonia by Shamen. Me? I'd rather spend nearly sixty grand on something which sounds like a part for The Terminator but is actually a plasma screen or twenty on a paper shredder. I might finally get around to shredding my bank statements so that I can keep deluding myself on my financial situation.
Commerce There are some very expensive bargains at Amazon, especially in the New or Used section.
William Shatner Two Pack dvd featuring the classic Spplat Attack and Mind Meld (also starring Leonard Nimoy) -- £699.99
Three Little Pigs -- £710.66
Region one copy of Riverdance and Les Miserables: Live in NYC -- £565.37
The World's Greatest Animation -- £554.85 (It would have to be)
Hallmark Home Entertainment Classic DVD Collection I -- £435.76
ECW - It Ain't Seinfeld -- £464.90
... plus postage and packing.
William Shatner Two Pack dvd featuring the classic Spplat Attack and Mind Meld (also starring Leonard Nimoy) -- £699.99
Three Little Pigs -- £710.66
Region one copy of Riverdance and Les Miserables: Live in NYC -- £565.37
The World's Greatest Animation -- £554.85 (It would have to be)
Hallmark Home Entertainment Classic DVD Collection I -- £435.76
ECW - It Ain't Seinfeld -- £464.90
... plus postage and packing.
The Road To Beijing: Team GB announced
Sport Readers with long memories will remember that at the close of the Athens Olympics, I began a series for the blog in which I promised to follow the progress of six athletes in a range of disciplines in the preparations for the next games in 2008. Many had just lost out on medals or had been the best British athlete in an overwhelming field. As I said at the time: “I've tried to choose people who have a spark of potential that spirit of 'do better', and who also engender that feeling in their audience. And I have faith that all of them have the potential to win a medal in four years time and I hope it's going to be an exciting and fun time watching their progress.”
The slot lasted all of a year. After a few months, news of the athletes became scarce and unreported and though I tried to keep interest, another phenomena developed in that every time I would post something about them on the blog, the next time I looked at the news feeds, one of my 'ones to watch' had befallen some misfortune – an injury, a sponsor dropping out, a poor performance even in a championship where they were supposed to be the favourite. I’m not really a suspicious person – apart from not cutting my toe-nails on a Sunday – and I knew that my meanderings here could not really be the kiss of death. But it was terribly dispiriting to see these men and women I’d had sure high hopes for crashing out.
Team GB for the Beijing Olympics was announced today. It seems right then that I should look again at this list, see who made the team in the end and try to find out what happened since 2002 for those unfortunate enough not to have to sit through another opening ceremony. The original biographies are here:
Michelle Dillon Triathlon
In Athens: 6th place, Women's Triathlon
Not selected due to injury. It seems she’s been out for much of the season. On her weblog she talked about hopes for making the qualifying race, but sickness in the end kept her away from the start line though she was there to help coach the other athletes. In her last post, she explained that she’s been plagued by these injuries all through her life and that it’s one of the reasons why she took up Triathlon in the first place to help spread the stresses..
Matthew Elias Athletics
In Athens: 5th place, anchor leg, Men's 4x400m
Not selected. Though I can’t quite work out what happened. He was competing for Wales as late as March 2006 but wasn’t at the trials last week. Did he retire?
James Goddard Swimming
In Athens: 4th place, Men's 200m Backstroke
He’ll be there! Competing in the 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley. At the trials in Sheffield, James set a Commonwealth record for the 200m individual medley making him second in the world this year and fourth on the all time list – though he was pipped in both by Gregor Tait. But doesn’t Mr. Goddard look like a medal hope? [new biography]
Laurence Godfrey Archery
In Athens: 4th place, 70m Archery
Larry's been selected too after qualifying at the World Championships last year [new biography].
Lucy Hardy Canoing
In Athens: 7th place, Women's K1 500m
Will be taking part in her second Olympic games and she's been married in the meantime. She's been on excellent form having won Gold at the European Championships in Milan this May.
Abi Oyepitan Athletics
In Athens: 7th place, Women's 200m final / 5th place, 100m semi-final
Hasn't qualified. Dogged by injury, she didn't ever really return to the form which took her into the Olympic final. She was at the trials at the weekend and though Abi came second in her 100m heat, she was fourth in the semi and ultimately came seventh in the final which wasn't enough with only one place available. I actually watched the race and though she began strong, she fell backwards pretty quickly. It was sad.
I'll try to keep you up to date on the progress of James, Larry and Lucy. We'll see if they manage to reach the medal rostrum this time.
The slot lasted all of a year. After a few months, news of the athletes became scarce and unreported and though I tried to keep interest, another phenomena developed in that every time I would post something about them on the blog, the next time I looked at the news feeds, one of my 'ones to watch' had befallen some misfortune – an injury, a sponsor dropping out, a poor performance even in a championship where they were supposed to be the favourite. I’m not really a suspicious person – apart from not cutting my toe-nails on a Sunday – and I knew that my meanderings here could not really be the kiss of death. But it was terribly dispiriting to see these men and women I’d had sure high hopes for crashing out.
Team GB for the Beijing Olympics was announced today. It seems right then that I should look again at this list, see who made the team in the end and try to find out what happened since 2002 for those unfortunate enough not to have to sit through another opening ceremony. The original biographies are here:
Michelle Dillon Triathlon
In Athens: 6th place, Women's Triathlon
Not selected due to injury. It seems she’s been out for much of the season. On her weblog she talked about hopes for making the qualifying race, but sickness in the end kept her away from the start line though she was there to help coach the other athletes. In her last post, she explained that she’s been plagued by these injuries all through her life and that it’s one of the reasons why she took up Triathlon in the first place to help spread the stresses..
Matthew Elias Athletics
In Athens: 5th place, anchor leg, Men's 4x400m
Not selected. Though I can’t quite work out what happened. He was competing for Wales as late as March 2006 but wasn’t at the trials last week. Did he retire?
James Goddard Swimming
In Athens: 4th place, Men's 200m Backstroke
He’ll be there! Competing in the 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley. At the trials in Sheffield, James set a Commonwealth record for the 200m individual medley making him second in the world this year and fourth on the all time list – though he was pipped in both by Gregor Tait. But doesn’t Mr. Goddard look like a medal hope? [new biography]
Laurence Godfrey Archery
In Athens: 4th place, 70m Archery
Larry's been selected too after qualifying at the World Championships last year [new biography].
Lucy Hardy Canoing
In Athens: 7th place, Women's K1 500m
Will be taking part in her second Olympic games and she's been married in the meantime. She's been on excellent form having won Gold at the European Championships in Milan this May.
Abi Oyepitan Athletics
In Athens: 7th place, Women's 200m final / 5th place, 100m semi-final
Hasn't qualified. Dogged by injury, she didn't ever really return to the form which took her into the Olympic final. She was at the trials at the weekend and though Abi came second in her 100m heat, she was fourth in the semi and ultimately came seventh in the final which wasn't enough with only one place available. I actually watched the race and though she began strong, she fell backwards pretty quickly. It was sad.
I'll try to keep you up to date on the progress of James, Larry and Lucy. We'll see if they manage to reach the medal rostrum this time.
TV You might remember last week I caused something of shit-storm at Behind The Sofa with my review of last week's Doctor Who which some readers misconstrued as a suggestion that they weren't fan enough because they didn't enjoy it as much as I did. Which it wasn't. Some of it had to do with a desperate analogy I made related to Christmas and not being able to get along with people who don't celebrate the holiday. Well, fellow poster JoAnne's been so incensed, she's written her own version to top her review, and its hilarious. I've never had anything I've written parodied before and I'm glad it was done this mercilessly.
Fresh minds bring new perspectives.
Journalism I once thought I could make a living from being a critic. I had second thoughts. Here's (to an extent) why. The other reason, of course being, who'd pay me for this? Best story in Jay Raynor's piece? The time when Warner Brothers gathered a preview audience who were expecting to see The Matrix and showed them Wild Wild West.
The reason I read most reviewers, on and off line, is because of their writing style: wit or insight or both. I'd also say that though having thirty years of experience seeing a particular art form is bonus for some writers, too often you can detect that it has made them jaded to new material because it can never live up to the magical version of a production they worshiped in the 70s.
Fresh minds bring new perspectives. Plus, without naming names, there are some professional critics who are clearly working too hard and their approach has suffering. A plot synopsis clearly rewritten from a press release followed by something in relation to "It's less enjoyable than the first one" says nothing to me. More personality please.
The reason I read most reviewers, on and off line, is because of their writing style: wit or insight or both. I'd also say that though having thirty years of experience seeing a particular art form is bonus for some writers, too often you can detect that it has made them jaded to new material because it can never live up to the magical version of a production they worshiped in the 70s.
Fresh minds bring new perspectives. Plus, without naming names, there are some professional critics who are clearly working too hard and their approach has suffering. A plot synopsis clearly rewritten from a press release followed by something in relation to "It's less enjoyable than the first one" says nothing to me. More personality please.
Music Rather good interview with Carli Bruni from The Times (of all places): “I must tell you that I adore the British, because they’re eccentric, they’re very traditional and at the same time they’re very original. The British are very special: you can see it in their art, their films, their poetry. For example, the protocol of the royal family is fantastic – it’s very rigid and at the same time it’s very calm. The royal family make being with them very easy because they are so considerate; they talk to you with huge kindness. The Queen and Prince Philip spoke perfect French, they explained everything about Windsor, the history of the castle, what the coats of arms on the walls were, why some had been painted in white – it was because the nobles were traitors.” The Duke of Edinburgh proved an attentive host. “Prince Philip showed us to our bedroom. He told us it was the room in which his mother and his grandmother were born. All these things were fascinating. They made the protocol much lighter to bear, and they helped me to enter their lives.”
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