Key Posts Category
For sale: Box Canvas Print of Paul Ross (with added priceless comments)
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Posted: 22nd, February 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (4)
Whitney Houston is dead Channel 5: ‘She looks better in a body bag’
WHITNEY Houston is dead and Channel follows a trailer for a corpse-still-warm ghoulish show about the singer’s demons with an indent featuring a puppet saying”She looks better in a body bag”…
Touchings stuff from Five, the stablemate to OK!, the organ that which gave us the greatest Whitney tribute ever….
Posted: 22nd, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, TV & Radio | Comments (2)
Facebook secret content rules – the full Abuse Standards Violations document
AMINE Derkauoui has shown the world the secret Facebook rules governing what content the site’s owners let the site’s 800million plus customers see. Content can be “flagged” by users as inappropriate. Staff at outsourced companies – paid as little as $1 an hour – then investigate. Derkauoui, a Moroccan employee, has leaked the Abuse Standards Violations (ASV) document. Facebook does not like sex. It bans breastfeeding photos. But hurting is ok:
“Deep flesh wounds are ok to show; excessive blood is ok to show. Crushed heads, limbs, etc, are ok as long as no insides are showing.”
Same-sex kissing is allowed. But “so long as no part of the [female] nipple is showing”. “Snot” is ok. Ear wax is banned.
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Posted: 21st, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Technology | Comment (1)
Lindsay Lohan beat Miss Piggy to Elizabeth Taylor role
LINDAY Lohan is to play the part of Elizabeth Taylor in Lifetime’s made-for-TV biopic Elizabeth & Richard: A Love Story. No Taylor’s wide-load hair or iris-blue eyes. Lohan will play all of Taylor.
Lohan is turning into the Judge Judy reject who can play every Hollywood great. Having done Marilyn Monroe for Playboy, and now Liz Taylor for Lifetime, Lohan will soon be doing impressions of other Hollywood legends. She’s already had a stab at Ghandi. Who can forget when Lohan went to India for Lindsay Lohan’s Indian Journey , a charity-driven travelogue in which for reasons never explained oe just unfathomable to even the producers, the Herbie Fully Loaded star was sent to India to expose the country’s problem with child exploitation. Of course, the children ended up comforting Lohan, who looked like she needed it.
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Posted: 21st, February 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (2)
The Sun At 40: When Arthur Scargill Was ‘Mein Fuhrer’
THE Sun newspaper is 40 years old this year. Brendan Montague looks back at a headline that never made it into the retrospective issue. Your writer once presented a feature on the BBC about tabloid journalism’s front pages. I never saw this one in the British Library’s exhibit. Brendan explains:
THE EVIL Sun front page showing NUM leader Arthur Scargill apparently giving a Nazi salute under the headline “Mine Fuhrer” has been revealed for the first time.
The-sauce.org has secured a world exclusive from a former mole at the News International printing plant in London’s Bouverie Street.
The leak comes 25 years to the day after the hard-right tabloid first tried to tar the Marxist union leader as a Nazi.
The Sun front page never made the light of day.
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Posted: 21st, February 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (6)
The Nine Eyes of Google Street View – photos of human nature
IS Google Street View art? Jon Rafman says it is. He;’s collected images form Google Street View and created a show “The Nine Eyes of Google Street View”:
One year ago [2008], I started collecting screen captures of Google Street Views from a range of Street View blogs and through my own hunting. This essay illustrates how my Street View collections reflect the excitement of exploring this new, virtual world. The world captured by Google appears to be more truthful and more transparent because of the weight accorded to external reality, the perception of a neutral, unbiased recording, and even the vastness of the project. At the same time, I acknowledge that this way of photographing creates a cultural text like any other, a structured and structuring space whose codes and meaning the artist and the curator of the images can assist in constructing or deciphering.
Posted: 21st, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Photojournalism | Comment
Whitney Houston wanted to marry Michael Jackson
WANT to know how Whitney Houston really died? The National Enquirer has news. It knows how Whitney Houston “really died”. It says so on its front cover.
Whitney’s death has become a media sub-industry. The height of concern was emitted by one Danyl Johnson, an X Factor contestant who said on Facebook:
“I know that Whitney Houston & I didn’t see eye to eye, but another legend is lost.”
David Gest, a man without whom a celebrity death is incomplete, follows his words and TV documentary on Michael Jackson by telling Sun readers:
I FLEW out to Whitney’s home town of Newark on Friday to pay my respects at her memorial service the following day. My good friend of over 40 years, Whitney’s cousin Dionne Warwick, was Mistress of Ceremonies, presiding over the whole event. I have to say, no one could have done a better job…Afterwards she confided in me that she nearly broke down at one point. But she said: “I knew in my heart I had to hold it together.”…Whitney told me she could always confide in Pat [sister-in-law and manager Pat Houston] and nothing was ever leaked to the Press.
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Posted: 21st, February 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment
A Brief history of dance on British TV – from Haka horrors to would-be Travoltas
DARREN Gough was the top English bowler of his generation, but since retiring from professional cricket, Barnsley’s favourite Tory has hit even greater heights.
First he followed in the footsteps of fellow cricketing legend Ronnie Irani by joining talkSPORT, where he has won a loyal following with his bluff, no-nonsense Yorkshire attitude and his distinctive use of t‘English language. Then he developed his terpsichorean talents, and wowed the nation on Strickleh Com Dancin’.
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Posted: 20th, February 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Party faces – because you looked good last night
Party faces – because you looked sooooo good at the club last night…
Posted: 20th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Photojournalism | Comment (1)
Mormons baptize Jews murdered in Holocaust
DID you know that Mormons baptize Jews murdered in the holocaust? The victims of Nazi genocide don’t even get to own their souls. They get nothing. Mormons took it upon themselves to baptize Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal.
Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel asked Mormon Mitt Romney to investigate why this happens. (Rumours abound that Romney’s theist father-in-law Edward Davies was posthumously baptized.)
Forrest Wickman explains
The church says it learned that such baptisms were occurring in 1991 and formally ordered a stop to them; when it received complaints from an organization of Holocaust survivors in 1995, it re-emphasized the directive and removed hundreds of thousands of names from genealogical records. Even so, members have disregarded the order again and again. … Mormons think of baptisms for the dead as a service to others, almost like adding family members’ names to a guest list. According to Mormon doctrine, dead people who are baptized by proxy don’t automatically join the church. Instead, they have the right to accept or reject the ordinance in the afterlife, and thus the chance to ascend to the highest levels in the afterlife, depending on what they decide.
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Posted: 20th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (2)
Basketball’s big heads: a gallery of a sporting craze
BASKETBALL is not sport that has gripped Anorak – until now. The fans are winning us over by holding aloft giant faces when the opposition goes to shoot.
The last great craze in British football was the inflatable banana:
It was the 1988/89 football season that saw the inflatables craze really take off…. Frank had moved up to a six-foot crocodile but the rest of the fans had caught up with him. At a pub outside Hull he was joined by fans carrying a toucan, a seven foot golf club, a spitfire, a Red Baron and two bananas. At the ground there were still more: parrots, gorillas, panthers and literally hundreds of bananas… The movements reached it apogee in 1987 when four fans appeared at West Bromwich Albion’s ground carrying an inflatable paddling pool. Sharks and penguins were both represented. (Arsenal fans favoured the inflatable fried egg.)
At one end of the terrace stood Godzilla. Six foot tall, green and mean, this dinosaur was a match for anybody. At the other end of the terrace stood Frankenstein’s Monster. Slowly they baean to converge towards the centre of the terrace. The crowd roared.
Oh, how envious are we of the giant disembodied head. If the movement has hero it is Jackson Blankenship, a freshman at Alabama, who uses a massive photograph of his own face. Well, at least this way the fans can work out who not to sit behind. The pioneer was Conor Mongan:
“I was thinking of the most visually disturbing elements that could get into the peripheral of the shooter and kind of throw them off.”
Who would make the best head?
Posted: 20th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Shadow sculptures made of rubbish are brilliant (photos)
SCULPTURES made from rubbish produce great shadows. Tim Noble and Sue Webster have gone to work and created these fine monuments to rubbish:
“The art of projection is emblematic of transformative art. The process of transformation, from discarded waste, scrap metal or even taxidermy creatures to a recognizable image, echoes the idea of ‘perceptual psychology’ a form of evaluation used for psychological patients. Noble and Webster are familiar with this process and how people evaluate abstract forms. Throughout their careers they have played with the idea of how humans perceive abstract images and define them with meaning. The result is surprising and powerful as it redefines how abstract forms can transform into figurative ones.”
Posted: 19th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, The Consumer | Comment
Shameless nostalgia – the 1970s with a Ravioli Smile
SHAMELESS Nostalgia journeys to the 1970s to showcase: Robert Plant in his budgie smugglers; Keith Richards wondering who or what Mick Jagger is; Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific; Sleazy 70s Stag Films; Live and Let Live with Kloss; a Ravioli Smile; the Sex Pistols are childminders; Stoned Again with Robert Crumb; and Needlepoint for men…
Posted: 16th, February 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Whitney Houston: every reason why she died
WHY did Whitney Houston die? Well, they say it was: murder, prohibition, the war on drugs, Jews, she’s alive, Al Qaeda, Tina Turner swapped the bodies, sedatives, a lesbian in the bath tub, gay sex torment, Nancy Grace’s killer mermaids, drowning, Od’d on drugs, suicide, to see Jesus, twitter, Xanax and alcohol, the curse of fame, drugs…
Posted: 16th, February 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment
Kate Upton wears her own knickers
KATE Upton, Sports Illustrated’s cover girl will not be a Victoria’s Secret model and walk up and down and down and up wearing borrowed knickers and bra, and pretending to be a carnival float. The New York Times hears Victoria Secret’s casting director and editor-in-chief of 10 magazine Sophia Neophitou explain in her considered way:
“We would never use [Kate Upton for a Victoria’s Secret show]. She is too obvious. She’s like a Page 3 girl. She’s like a footballer’s wife, with the too-blond hair and that kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy.”
Sophia is English and therefore a rose – full of thorns and a bit hippy.
Posted: 15th, February 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment
Falklands Islands: Ownership to be decided by Sean Penn, Jim Davidson and UN Celebrity Colonialists
Falklands Islands: Ownership to be decided by Sean Penn, Jim Davidson and UN Celebrity Colonialists
DID you know that the Falklands Islands relies on oil piped in from a boat? Did you know that if that line is damaged the island will be without fuel – there being only about three months in store on land? Did you know that not too long ago the line was broken. They say it was broken by ship hitting it by accident. A British ship – well, that’s the story.
The Times lead with new that the Falklands are becoming a hotter issue.
Next month members of the Defence Select Committee will join Prince William – he’s on a six-week tour of duty – on the islands. It is the first time that committee members have travelled to the islands since 1999.
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Posted: 15th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (30)
Whitney Houston: cherchez the lesbian in the death bath (photos)
THE list of things that killed Whitney Houston grows ever longer. Today we can add lesbianism and a “death bath” as tabloid reasons why The singer died..
The Daily Star leads with “SEX TORMENT THAT KILLED WHITNEY”:
WHITNEY Houston binged on the drugs and booze that killed her because she was a secret lesbian, it was claimed last night.
Being a secret lesbian killed her? The Star reprots:
Pals including gay rights activist Peter Tatchell even insisted her marriage to Bobby Brown was a smokescreen for her true sexuality. He said: “It’s important to tell the truth about this aspect of her life.”
Says he:
“Whitney was happiest and at her peak in the 1980s when she was with her female partner. They were so loved up and joyful together. Perhaps her inability to accept and express her same-sex love contributed to her substance abuse and decline.”
Perhaps. Such is the, er, truth. The Star, in the interests of balance to speculation, adds:
His comments sparked a storm of outrage from Whitney fans who branded him a “racist f***” and slammed him for taking a “cheap shot” by “outing” a dead woman.
While the Star’s front page look sat the “cheap shot”, and we ask ‘What role did turmoil over race and sexuality play in the deadly drug habits of Whitney Houston & Jacko?’, the Sun leads with a photo of the “DEATH BATH”.
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Posted: 15th, February 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment (1)
Real Kate Middleton visits Liverpool – in photos
KATE Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge visited Liverpool today. There are no Royal palaces in Liverpool. Middleton was there to meet the locals at The Brink, an alcohol free bar. As Patron of Action on Addiction, Kate visited Liverpool’s first adult dry bar which is open to all members of the public, but it also has private areas set aside for alcohol counselling, run by Action on Addiction.
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Posted: 14th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Royal Family | Comments (2)
Boston cops fight “hacktivists” – with sarcasm
HACKER activist group Anonymous has made a habit of infiltrating or taking down websites of anyone who disagrees with its open-source, whistleblowing, digital piracy outlook. But the Boston Police Department, one of the latest targets of the vengeful ‘hacktivists’ decided to retaliate – with sarcasm.
The Boston Police Department website, BPDNews.com, was down for a week after hackers replaced its home page with a video of the American rapper KRS-One’s song “Sound of Da Police”. The action, a message posted under the video informed, was part of #FuckFBIFriday, and it was carried out as “retaliation for the brutality against Occupy Boston”.
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Posted: 14th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)
The 10 best (worst) Valentine’s Day cards ever
LOOKING for something different this Valentine’s Day?
Well, there are plenty of options available.
You could take the special lady in your life to Hooters for a slap-up meal…
Or have a more traditional Tête à tête while enjoying one of McDonalds’ ever-popular candlelit dinners…
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Posted: 14th, February 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (7)
Winners and photos – Bafta Film Awards 2012
HERE are the winners and nominees for the Bafta Film Awards 2012. It was cold on the red carpet. The women wore off-the-shoulder gowns and big grins– acting talent commanding teeth not to chatter and skin not to prick and blister against the flashing bulbs. Clooney, Pitt and all the men wore vests, suits and heavy overcoats, preferring to look cool rather than be very cool indeed…
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Posted: 12th, February 2012 | In: Film, Key Posts | Comment (1)
Fenway’s New York Times and New England Sports Network say Liverpool and Suarez beat Manchester United
IN “Another Ugly Incident Mars Liverpool’s Good Name” Rob Hughes tells New York Times readers all about Luis Suarez, Liverpool’s individualistic striker who racially abused Patrice Evra and then refused to shake the Manchester United’s captain’s hand.
The New York Times’ parent company is a shareholder in Fenway.
Says Hughes:
If the Fenway Sports Group (FS is to be the responsible team owner in soccer that it has proved to be in baseball, it needs to get hold of Liverpool, its club in England’s Premier League, and repair its global image fast.
And not just that. The FSG owns the New England Sports Network (NESN). This is its report on the United – Liverpool match:
Luis Suarez Shows Strength of Character, Scores in Face of Adversity
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Posted: 12th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (4)
What really killed Whitney Houston (photos)
WHITNEY Houston is dead. The singer was just 48. Why? How? Where? The news media knows…maybe…
Where?
Whitney Houston’s body was found in her Beverly Hills hotel room. It was on the hotel’s fourth floor.
She was in the bathtub.
Who found her?
Her bodyguard.
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Posted: 12th, February 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (16)
Liverpool’s Luis Suarez refuses Manchester United Evra’s hand – good (photos)
LIVERPOOL’S Luis Suarez has refused to shake the hand of Manchester United’s Patrice Evra. Suarez the racial abuser or Evra the grass? Whose side are you on? The pundits will say this is not a good advert for football. But it is. It’s exposes the bite, bile and nastiness than lies beneath the shiny, SKY TV, corporate veneer of all big matches.
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Posted: 11th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
A ban on orchestrated public praying is good for believers in intolerance
WHY do people pray in public? Is it to communicate with God or with the rest of humanity? Orchestrated public praying is a bit odd, isn’t it? We ask in light of a High Court judge Mr Justice Ouseley’s ruling in favour of a case brought by the National Secular Society (NSS) and a former councillor. They complained that orchestrated acts of prayer in the chambers of town and city halls were not on. The judge agreed. He said:
“I do not think the 1972 Act… should be interpreted as permitting the religious views of one group of councillors, however sincere or large in number, to exclude, or even to a modest extent, to impose burdens on or even to mark out those who do not share their views and do not wish to participate in their expression of them. They are all equally elected councillors.”
This means no council in England or Wales will be free to hold prayers as part of its formal proceedings because prayer is deemed ‘not useful’ to its work.
Clive Bone was the trigger for this bansturbation. Bone, a non-believer, was a Bideford town councillor in Devon. He left because of the council’s “refusal to adjust” its prayer policy. He put his case:
“I wouldn’t have had a problem if it was like when people say grace at a meal, but they had a vicar or a minister in who gave a minisermon and chanted prayers. You could tell that people were cringing.”
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Posted: 11th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (5)
