Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
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Recent Books
It feels like ages since I wrote about some of the recent books I’ve been reading. Let’s try to put that right with this handful of recently finished books. Taipei Story by Rebecca F. Kuang I first discovered Rebecca F Kuang when I read her fantasy epic Babel a couple of years ago. Her lastest…
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I Suppose *Someone* Has To Go Out With Them
Wasn’t this the most disappointing news of the weekend? Yesterday evening Five Live aired Fighting Talk: Any Other Business as a kind of broadcast pilot for a current affairs spin-off of the sports show. There’s another episode next Sunday. Richard Bacon did a good job hosting it, and alongside him were Stewart Lee, Rod Liddle…
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Copyright Extension
I wrote at length about the Gower Review the other day, and in particular the section related to music copyright extension. Towards the end I noted that an advert had been published in the FT listing the names of 3,500 – 4,000 people who were in favour of the extension. If you don’t read Boing…
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Ed Reardon Returns
I make no apology for mentioning Ed Reardon’s Week once again. Two reasons to mention it this week: 1) The third series starts on Friday morning at 11.30am on BBC Radio 4 with an episode called The Name-Check. Listen live, or listen again! 2) BBC Radio 7 is repeating the first series on Monday evenings…
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Sports Personality of the Year
Or SPOTY to its friends, if it still has any. If you care at all about this award, you’ll know that Zara Phillips won on Sunday night. She achieved a lot, and was in my top three, although wasn’t my favourite. There’s obviously a suspicion that the fact that she’s 11th in line to throne…
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New bits
Just a note to say that there are a couple of new TV reviews over on the righthand side. I’ve been a bit lackadaisical about these of late. Oh, and hello if you’ve come here via Campaign magazine. Thank you to Kathryn Jacob for mentioning me!
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The Gower Review
This week has finally seen the publication of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property conducted on behalf of the Treasury, and the departments of Trade and Industry, and Cutlure, Sport and Media. All the press reports have been about the need to protect intellectual property rights more rigorously from pirating and counterfeiting. There are also…
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Gambling Sponsors on Football Shirts
I see that I’m not alone in thinking that perhaps putting gambling sponsors on football shirts mightn’t be the smartest idea. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Middlesborough and Spurs all feature gambling advertisers on their shirts. I’m not the only person to notice that gambling appeals enormously to kids, and…
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Offensive Advertising
I saw the most offensive advertisement I’ve ever seen on TV last night. There was no nudity in it, there was no “clever” reordering of swearwords, there was no hidden racial slurs buried within the copy, there was no mockery of the practices of any given religion or minority group. No. The ad was for…
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Messy Eating
So, on the way home this evening, I’m sitting across the seat from a smart looking gentleman. Except he’s munching on a pastie and isn’t bothered about getting crumbs all over his black suit. When he does notice them he just brushes them off in any direction – including mine! He’s also reading a copy…
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Script Books
Who, precisely, is it that decides buying a book of scripts is a good idea? Let me explain myself a little. Obviously aspiring scriptwriters can learn an awful lot from reading previously made scripts. Similarly, film or television students probably find scripts to be enormously helpful to study their arts – perhaps noting the differences…
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Apocalypto
Apocalypto is the latest effort from Mel Gibson, someone who’s had, er, a difficult time of late. It’s set in ancient Maya and the film is made in the local dialogue. We meet a group of villagers who seem to live a fairly idyllic life on the edge of a forest capturing wild boar and…
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BBC Sports Personality of the Year
The shortlist for this year’s Sports Personality of the Year is in, with the winner to be decided by a phone and text vote on Sunday night, live during the programme. First things first: David Walliams isn’t on the list. It was thought that he might make it for his charity swim across the English…
Hadrian’s Wall
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