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Live 8 Again
So what’s the final verdict on the weekend? A great concert, certainly. Some great performances (and some pretty terrible ones). Hundreds of thousands of people giving their support to a great cause that has truly got the country behind it. But, but, but. Still the doubts linger. Full credit to Pink Floyd (and The Who…
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Beneath The Skin
I’ve just been watching part one of a perfectly average two part whodunnit on ITV (Hey! With the Tour de France, that makes two seperate ITV programmes this weekend!). But it was really let down by one aspect – the sound. The effects were really lazy. This isn’t the sort of thing I’d normally look…
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Live 8 Global Coverage
I don’t want to sound mean and dispirited, but the usual claims are being made about Live 8 being the most watched broadcast in history. Well no. In the US, it’s network airing is on ABC – a two hour highlights package on Saturday evening. No wall to wall coverage there on a major TV…
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Le Tour
Rather than depressing myself terribly with all this ID Card stuff, I thought I’d brighten up and remind anyone still reading that The Tour De France starts on Saturday. It’s Lance Armstrong’s last tour and he wants to finish with a seventh win in a row. As usual ITV (well ITV2), are covering it as…
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Brian Wilson
I was very lucky last night to get a chance to go and see Brian Wilson play a concert in the rather lovely surroundings of Hampton Court. What a fantastic night. The weather was obviously excellent, and it was a shame that we didn’t bring a picnic like just about everyone else. The concert itself…
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Sin City: The Hard Goodbye
When I saw the film I mentioned that I hadn’t read any of the comics, so recently I picked up this first volume. Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez used this and a couple of other stories as the basis of the film and it’s quite remarkable how closely they kept to the comic. Indeed I…
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Kingdom Of Heaven
Just a brief entry to mention that some weeks ago, I did actually see this film. And guess what, it’s not as bad as some will have you believe. It’s not Gladiator, and Orlando Bloom isn’t Russell Crowe, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, I’m a big Ridley Scott fan, but don’t think…
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New York Times in the UK
For years, it was always really difficult to get hold of proper US newspapers in Britain. Certainly you could get the International Herald Tribune, and also USA Today. But not The New York Times. Tower Records used to carry quite a few papers but they weren’t cheap and were limited to the Sunday editions. WH…
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Live Aid Documentary
On Saturday night BBC2 broadcast a documentary double bill of two 1.5 hour programmes about Live Aid. The first programme looked at the run up to the day, and the second covered the day itself. A few observations from the programmes. Like the C4 documentary of the new Airbus 380 earlier that evening, these programmes…
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Soaked Tom Cruise
So if you were UIP, what “sanctions” would you be placing on Channel 4 right now after soaking Tom Cruise at a premiere last night? How about pulling advertising for a start, and then withdrawing access to stars for their programming? That might hurt a bit. I’m sure that whatever this new programme is, it’s…
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F1 Fiasco
Well the most ridiculous F1 “race” ever is under way. Between them, the organisers and FIA have managed to con 120,000 paying spectators and millions of TV viewers out of a proper race. Instead just six cars are “racing” around with some of the teams competing seemingly more interested in picking up points rather than…
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Aung San Suu Kyi is 60
Not such a happy birthday for her as she “celebrates” her 60th birthday under house arrest. Incidentally, I still get annoyed that The Economist insists on calling Burma “Myanmar”.
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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