Month: February 2004

  • Copy Control

    Can I just say here and now that I think EMI are idiots. Complete buffoons. I foolishly made the mistake of buying the new Norah Jones album on Friday – but despite being a fine collection of music, I really can’t recommend that anyone else should buy it. EMI have been using their Copy Control…

  • Ratings Madness

    This kind of story really annoys me. The BBC put on something slightly more challenging than the heap of manure that is Footballers’ Wives, and they get attacked from all sides. Why should a drama that’s slightly more demanding be moved to BBC2. I really dislike this “move a show after two episodes” nonsense that’s…

  • American Music

    Off to the Annie Liebovitz exhibition at The Hospital for American Music exhibition. Lots of roots American singers having had photos done by Vanity Fair’s no. 1 photographer.

  • Ray Snoddy in Marketing

    Ray Snoddy has a good piece in today’s Marketing magazine talking about the BBC Silly Season that we are now beginning to endure (Here somewhere, but you’ll need a subscription). I mentioned this myself the other day after the Sunday papers went a bit mad. Snoddy suggests that these stories will continue until the government…

  • Atomised

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  • Awards

    It’s the award season again, so I’ll stick my neck out and have a shot at Oscar predictions based on winners so far, and who I think the Academy will pick as their winners. Note that this does NOT take into account who should actually win. That’d never do. The weekend saw The BAFTAS and…

  • Bodies

    Good to see that Jed Mercurio’s back in the medical TV saddle. We have a TV series based around his novel, Bodies, to look forward to. Some years ago, Mercurio wrote Cardiac Arrest, a series that I really enjoyed at the time. Based on the experiences during the first years of a junior doctor in…

  • The Last King of Scotland

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  • The Dreamers

    Bernardo Bertolucci’s latest is The Dreamers, about which I wrote a little recently. Now I’ve finally got to see the film. Set in 1968 Paris, Matthew is an American student and cinephile who’s befriended by twins Isabelle and Theo. He moves in with them in their wonderful Parisien flat. And then things take a turn…

  • Serious Tabloid

    Francis Wheen seems to be attached to the proposed high-brow tabloid that is in the early stages of being launched. He’s certainly a credible addition to the venture, but you do have to ask the question – is there room for a new paper? I can quite easily buy the argument that some of our…

  • Photo Story

    To the Menier Chocolate Factory in London Bridge to see Zena in a play called Photo Story, subtitled “the story of boy never meets girl.” It’s a one woman show in which Zena plays the parts of both mother and daughter. While the mother is preparing for her other daughter’s wedding, the daughter is starting…

  • Ludicrous Media Stories

    I’ve double-checked my calendar, and it’s definitely not August, so quite why this weekend saw a plethora of stupid media stories I don’t know. First of all The Observer had a story suggesting that as a way of moving people over to digital, first BBC2 and then BBC1 would be switched off to encourage digital…