Month: March 2005
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200 Al Qaeda Terrorists on the Streets
So former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens says that there are 200 terrorists on the streets. Who’s he trying to kid? Is he about to get into politics? Does he really know what’s going on in this country? With that many terrorists on the loose, it’s a wonder that I manage to get to…
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The Shield
Very strange seeing Glenn Close as the new police captain in The Shield.
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Robots
Robots is the latest film from Fox’s CGI animation division Blue Sky. A few years ago I saw Titan AE, their first feature, and now comes Robots, picking up where Pixar have left off. The robot world is colourfully envisioned and there are jokes a plenty, a good deal of them going straight over the…
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All That’s Wrong With Star Wars
I think this story sums up everything that’s wrong in the world of Star Wars. If you pay for it, you get a trailer earlier. And you get the full size version that no-one else gets. This is like paying for a commerical that’s served to you! Compare and contrast the Star Wars world with…
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The Big Con
Last year, when the BBC started showing Hustle, I read a piece by one of the writers explaining where the inspiration came from. Obviously there’ve been plenty of films covering this area, more of which later. But one book he mentioned was The Big Con by David Maurer. It was first published in 1940, and…
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The Hollow Man
When I was reading Good News, Bad News, one of the characters talked quite a lot about locked room mysteries. I decided that I probably hadn’t read enough of them myself. So I picked up this classic novel. John Dickson Carr is one of those people who turned out novels by the dozen, having to…
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Evans On All Radio
Lots of fun and games in radio today, with Chris Evans first being linked with a networked weekend ILR show, and then signing another deal with Radio 2 to broadcast a couple of one-off shows over Easter. All of a sudden he’s the most in demand radio presenter in the country following his appearance on…
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Quatermass Live
The rumours are true and today, BBC Four announced a live broadcast of Quatermass next month. I’m excited.
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Radio 4 Programming Changes
Radio 4’s controller Mark Damazer has announced a few changes on Radio 4 from today, many of which were signposted in his recent Mediaguardian interview. The most interesting has to be the 90 minute adaptations of recent(ish) plays. It’s been a while since there was a regular drama slot for pieces over an hour, aside…
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Dr Fox Struck Off
Isn’t that a headline you’ve always wanted to see? OK, so it’s “Foxy” these days, and he’s leaving Capital. Of course it’s all down to his burdonsome TV load: “I have and always will be a radio man through and through but I’ve got a lot of ITV shows coming up and I’ve learned you…
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Goodbye Civil Liberties
It was nice knowing you. From now on, if you’re Muslim, you’re going to get stopped and searched much more. Hazel Blears, the minister responsible for counter-terrorism, said so. (I’d say, don’t take it personally, but it is personal). As many have said, we can quite confidentally admit defeat to Osama Bin Ladin. He has…
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Penta Water
It’s for stories like this one, that I read the Bad Science column in The Guardian. And what a charming bunch some of those Penta water people sound like. For those who are unaware, Penta water is an “ultra premium purified” water. Their site is full of scientific bollocks giving reasons why this water should…