Month: December 2005
-
Radio Update
Listening to Andy Kershaw talking about what he’d do with Radio 4, following the announcement that Home Truths was being cancelled, has been entertaining. Warming to his theme, he contributed this in Friday’s Guardian. And he’s followed up with an interview in today’s Indpendent (read it now before it’s subscription only), in which he lets…
-
Bingo
So the other night, I went along to Bingo for the first time in my life. I consider myself fairly well educated with a solid grounding in the practicalities of life and how people live them. But Bingo is something I’ve never really understood. I mean, I’ve always known that there’s a caller who reads…
-
King Kong
The 1933 release of King Kong came at an interesting time in Hollywood’s history. Self-censorship was still the order of the day, and of course it was at the height of the depression. The story at the heart of the film could in some ways be described as a unrequitable love story. Fay Wray was…
-
Anti Social Advertising
The Home Office currently has an advertising campaign highlighting the fact that you can be charged £80 if you’re drunk and disorderly in public. To advertise this, they’ve got a charming campaign using posters and phoneboxes that cleverly spell out “£80” with vomit. It’s quite a ghastly sight. Possibly even worse than seeing a pile…
-
The Producers
I think I’ve mentioned it here before. But I really don’t like musicals all that much. I’m not sure why – maybe I’m lacking a gene or something. But, with the notable exception of West Side Story, the stuff that fills up half the West End leaves me cold. I went to see Les Mis…
-
Strange Affair
If you fancy yourself as the next Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson or Reginald Hill, there are a few things you really need to know when you start your detective crime series. First of all, you should think of it as a soap opera. You have to lay some clues well ahead of using. Not in…
-
Big Picture
Since The Guardian’s revamp, they’ve had the opportunity to print a massive double page picture each day in the middle of the main section. There’s been some wonderful photography so far, and other pics like this one of the earth from space. So today I opened my paper expecting to see a massive double page…
-
Sports Personality of the Year
Not the greatest of surprises that Freddie Flintoff won it. But I’m with Steve Cram on the merits of the runner-up, Ellen MacArthur, getting an award in this arena. I was in Stanfords earlier today where they have a fine selection of books on adventurers. And that’s the category that MacArthur belongs in – adventure.…
-
Caroline Hawley leaving Baghdad
I see that BBC correspondent Caroline Hawley’s leaving Baghdad at the end of the year after two and a half years. There’s a nice piece by John Simpson in the BBC’s Newswatch section of their website. There are critics of “roof-top” journalism that can see correspondents stuck in the Green Zone just regurgitating stuff that…
-
Oil Depot Explosion Coverage
I didn’t take my digital camera out and about with me today, but if I had, I could have taken some slightly unclear photos of a smoke filled northern sky. I didn’t hear an explosion at 6am this morning, although I did hear an alarm clock sometime around that time. Disappointing, since the explosion was…
-
Kiss Her Goodbye
Yet another Hard Case Crime novel, and, like the Stephen King novel, this one is also has a contemporary setting. Not only that, but the contemporary setting is Edinburgh (and Kirkwall in the Orkneys)! Joe is an enforcer for a dodgy Edinburgh loan shark. Are there any loan sharks who aren’t dodgy? Anyway, everything changes…
-
Holding On
I’ve just listened to a remarkable documentary about a competition that took place in an East Texas town earlier this autumn. A few years ago Channel 5 (as was) ran a seemingly bizarre reality series called Touching The Truck presented by Dale Winton. A large 4×4 was parked in Lakeside, or somewhere similar, and the…