Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
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HBO Max and Paramount+: What It Might Mean For Sports
Today the deal was done, and Paramount took over Warner Bros. Discovery in a massive deal that has much of Hollywood quaking. There were some last minute wrinkles with a deal being struck a couple of weeks ago with a group of US Attorneys General, with the general view being that they folded and didn’t…
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A Shopping Failure – Stuck in Drafts #1
Note: This was written several months ago, but for some reason I never published it at the time. Hence the “Stuck in Drafts” label. I recently visited The Cycle Show at the Birmingham. It was an entertaining – if slightly tiring day. Obviously it’s a bit of a trek from my part of North London,…
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Stuck in Draft
If you follow this blog on a regular basis, you’ll know that my publishing can be a bit hit and miss. Certainly there’ll be something about UK radio ratings at least four times a year (RAJAR), and there’ll be some annotated Radio Times – especially at Christmas. But otherwise, it’s as and when I feel…
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Faster, Faster, Faster!
There was a Buzzfeed piece recently, exploring those people who listen to podcasts at super-fast speed. I don’t just mean 1.2x or something, but some of them listen at 3x speed or even faster. Elsewhere, a Guardian writer thanked Netflix for allowing him to skip all the intros to TV series and the ability to…
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Radio Times: Boxing Day TV
The last of these annotated Radio Times “guides” for this Christmas. By now, everyone is a tiny bit fed up with one another. Walks are being talked about, and others are busily trying to hoover up bargains online. And everyone generally feels sorry for Next employees who are forced to be there in time to…
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Radio Times: Christmas Day TV
Happy Christmas! Thanks to the regular readers of this blog, and anyone who visits at this time of year, just because they’re desperate to find something to watch on TV. I mean, what were you going to do otherwise? Watch that dodgy sounding Will Smith film on Netflix? Binge watch The Crown? Argue over whether…
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Radio Times: Christmas Eve TV
It’s the Sunday before Christmas. That thing you’re still vaguely hoping will be delivered before Christmas is never going to make it. But the good news is that it’s a Sunday, so you’re probably not working. But what to watch on TV this evening? As ever, my annotated Radio Times guide is here to help.…
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Pixel 2 – Review
Note: I’m calling this a review, but frankly, it’s still early days, and there’ll be lots of things that come out in the wash further down the line. So think of these more as some initial thoughts. Not that any of this stuff prevents other sites posting reviews after less than a week’s worth of…
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Premier League TV Rights – 2019-2022
The new Premier League TV rights auction for the UK has just got under way, with bids due in at the end of January, and the results announced in early February. Such are the scale of these rights now, that the announcement tends to be made to accommodate the stock market. If a PLC is…
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Twilight
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Network
The 1976 Paddy Chayefsky film is something of a classic with Peter Finch’s network news anchor Howard Beale essentially having a nervous breakdown on air when the network first tries to push him out the door, and then, when ratings soar, grab hold of him and let him do what he wants. It has always…
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Book Making
I spent a few hours at the Barbican attending a book making course, and ended up with these two booklets. They’re books with four-hole stab binding, with 20 pages of double-ply paper inside. Actually one of them has a couple of extra holes to allow a more complex stitching pattern in the corners. My stitching…
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Changing Android Phones
I’ve never been much of a fan of Apple’s iPhones. They’ve always seemed overpriced, and far too tied down. You can only do what Apple allows you to do with them. Furthermore, the ecosystem is incredibly limited. Everyone has to use one of a very small handful of models, none of which are especially cheap…
Hadrian’s Wall
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