Month: July 2009

  • David Cameron on Absolute Radio

    This is a clip from an interview I was videoing this morning… (And at time of writing it’s the most popular video on the BBC News site. Even though I’m not remotely responsible for the content of the video, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was rather chuffed to have footage on…

  • Radio Times 26 July 2009

    If you don’t know what to watch tonight – let me help you. ITV4. 8.30pm. Watch Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish finish the 2009 Tour de France. However, I’ve also highlighted a few other programmes. As ever, you probably want to read a large version.

  • (500) Days of Summer

    (This picture is vaguely of summer, and has nothing to do with the film!) I got invited to a blogger’s screening of this film next week but couldn’t make it – so I saw a separate screening and I’m really glad I did. Superficially this is light-hearted romantic film, but it’s really not. A voiceover…

  • Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra

    Next year, the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra is starting something of a residency at the Barbican and other venues in East London. It’ll happen for at least a couple of years in the run-up to the Olympics. All I can say is that on 1 October, when tickets go on sale, you should…

  • Moon

    Moon is a great little film – a debut from Duncan Jones (aka David Bowie’s son). It’s nice to see a proper science fiction film based on ideas rather than space ships shooting other space ships – or more likely, blowing up landmarks. Sam Rockwell is Sam Bell. He works in a base on the…

  • 1-0 Up

    England finished off a great victory this morning (well technically, this afternoon) at Lords. And you’ll just have to watch it on Five this evening – or on news bulletins. Great coverage from Sky: and they even opened up their Sky Player to all Sky Sports subscribers for a couple of months – something I…

  • New Radio 1 Line Up

    Today’s Radio 1 reshuffle is interesting, and is obviously a clear response to the BBC Trust findings that Radio 1 was getting too old. Off to weekends go Jo Whiley and Edith Bowman, as Fearne Cotton and Greg James fill up the gaps. With a remit that targets 15-29 year olds, having a significant number…

  • The Ashes

    On Sunday I was at my parents – who are retired – as the conclusion of the first test was reached in the unlikeliest of manners. England hung on to claim a draw. A friend even texted me to make sure that I was watching. It was nail-biting stuff, but I wasn’t watching on Sky…

  • Free

    A lot has already been said and written about Wired editor, Chris Anderson’s new book, Free. In particular Malcolm Gladwell reviewed it for The New Yorker in a not completely complementary fashion. This in turn has been refuted elsewhere. Books like Free aren’t the most demanding of fare. Essentially it’s 250 pages devoted to a…

  • The MediaGuardian 100 – 2009

    The annual nonsense that is the MediaGuardian 100 has once again been published. And as ever, there are lots and lots of telly folk on the list. And plenty of representation from the dead tree media. But once again, nearly nobody from radio! Aside from a handful of presenters, you’ve got Tim Davie, Mark Damazer…

  • Some Recent Films

    I’ve been most remiss about noting recent films that I’ve seen on this blog – if only to serve as a contemporaneous record for myself as to what I thought of various films. But before I begin, can I just say that it really can’t be healthy that I’ve had to tell people off twice…

  • Downloading Radio

    All this week Torchwood is being stripped across BBC1 at 9pm, which may or may not be a good thing. And last week, Radio 4 ran three new 45 minute “Afternoon Plays” of Torchwood (following a one-off episode last autumn surrounding Big Bang Day). What’s really interesting is that the BBC has made all three…