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Reviews of Mission: Impossible 3
I love reading, watching and listening to film reviews. But today’s review of MI3 in The Guardian is staggering for just how bad it is. I don’t really like Peter Bradshaw but then I don’t dislike him either. Overall he’s got reasonable taste in taste in films, but his review today is so far off-beam…
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YouTube and Google Video
Here’s an interesting post (via Waxy) about YouTube from someone who’s fed up of having his videos deleted because they’re copyright. To be honest, I’m not surprised, and the author probably has no real grounds to complain. These video services are treading a very fine line, and frankly are lawsuits waiting to happen if they’re…
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The Prisoner
More on the new version of The Prisoner announced last November. Instead of eight parts, it’s now a “pacy, high concept six-part drama akin to 24 and Spooks.” Christopher (Dr Who) Ecclestone is said to be “tipped” to star. “If Doctor Who set the standard, The Prisoner raises the bar,” said Sky’s new director of…
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We The Media: Scary Facts
The BBC, Reuters and The Media Center have been holding We The Media today in London. There are a couple of blogs from the event here, here and here, and the BBC has been streaming it too. But one interesting piece of research to be shared at the event comes from a specially commissioned survey…
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The Art of Doublespeak
I note that Footballers’ Wives has been axed. Good. But there’s a great bit of doublespeak in what’s obviously a re-worked press release: Eileen Gallagher, the managing director of Shed Productions, which makes Footballers’ Wives, said the decision to ditch the show had been taken jointly with the ITV director of drama, Nick Elliott. Jointly…
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Mission: Impossible 3
Do you like the TV series Alias? You know, the series from JJ Abrams, it’s just finishing its run in the US now after five series. In Britain, the series floated around various stations. I think Bravo show it now. Anyway, if you, you’re going to love M:I 3, because it’s essentially a big screen…
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Sponsors’ Tickets to the World Cup
I could probably spend about an hour writing a vituperative piece on all the inequalities of the Worlld Cup’s ticket distribution system. The Observer’s been waging a campaign against the current scheme that sees just 8% of tickets going to the fans from each country in any given match. Sponsors, meanwhile, share 16% of the…
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New Andrew Jennings Book
One of the benefits of supping with the devil and buying The Daily Mail for the past week or so, aside from building a nice cheap Ealing Comedy DVD collection, has been to read the extracts of the new Andrew Jennings book. As sure as night turns to day, a new international tournament – in…
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ABC Streaming Video
I’ve just been trying ABC’s new streaming service. It requires Flash 8, and the video quality is pretty good – significantly better than Youtube or Google Video, but then it’s being encoded at a much better rate. Currently there are just a handful of major ABC shows available including Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Commander in…
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Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
I’ll freely admit that I’m not exactly up on my Russian fiction, so I came to Dead Souls quite fresh. Narrated by Michael Palin, who “appears” in the story, he accompanies Chichikov as he goes about his way trying to buy dead peasants. Chichikov, played expertly by Mark (Spaced, Green Wing) Heap, has a scheme…
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Computers Have Feelings Too
As anyone who’s travelled by train knows, most platform announcements these days are automated. There’s nothing especially wrong with this, since the male and female voices are clear and concise. The system at the stations on my regular route are very listenable. However, we, the passengers, do realise that it’s a recorded voice. So when…
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Radio Programmes
I’ve been meaning to write a little more about some of the radio I’ve been enjoying recently. First up is Nebulous, Graham Duff’s sci-fi comedy starring Mark Gatiss. Series 2 has just passed the half-way mark – it’s broadcast at 11pm on Wednesday. It’s more of the same, and very very silly. I love it.…
Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
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Yellowface/All The Lovers In The Night
Yellowface by R F Kuang I first came across R F Kuang with last year’s very enjoyable Babel, an alternate history of the British Empire told in a world where magic exists and is controlled by an elite group of individuals. Yellowface is very different, but no less enjoyable. It’s a book about books, and…
Hadrian’s Wall
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