Reviews Category
We don’t just report off-beat news, breaking news and digest the best and worst of the news media analysis and commentary. We give an original take on what happened and why. We add lols, satire, news photos and original content.
One Hit Wonders: When Ryan Paris Lived La Dolce Vita In A Giant Red Shoe
WHATEVER happened to… Ryan Paris, the singer born Fabio Roscioli in Rome who gave full throat to the 1983 smash hit single, Dolce Vita?
Before creep shots, there was this video of women walking about minding their own business. Ryan Paris was the embodiment of the City of Love:
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Sienfeld Reunion To Happen ‘Very Soon’ And Confuse Everyone Again
THE one thing that unifies pretty much everyone of a certain age is a healthy curiosity of Sienfeld. If you watched it when it was new, at the time, it was incredibly confusing. No-one really knew what was going on, what it was about or why it was there. But we loved it all the same.
And now, it is all set to come back and it’ll probably make no sense in 2014 either.
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Posted: 4th, February 2014 | In: Reviews, TV & Radio | Comment
Meet Yilmaz, The Dutch Soldier Fighting Jihad In Syria
YILMAZ, 26, is one face of the Syrian rebellion. When he’s not asking for M&Ms, Yilmaz is training jihadis, many of whom have never fired a gun. Dressed in his modified Dutch Army uniform, Yilmaz was spotted by Roozbeh Kaboly, foreign editor of the Dutch National TV program Nieuwsuur (NewsHour).
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Posted: 4th, February 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Flashback To1957: The McCormick Skiffle Group Freak Out
FLASHBACK to 02/11/1957: The McCormick Skiffle Group were, from left to right, Billy McCormick, Frank Healy, Wesley McCausland, Edward McSherry, and James McCartney.
Daily Mail Wants More Readers To Use Tablets And Get Cancer
TODAY the Daily Mail wants your children to get more out of you tablet computer:
This is the same Daily Mail that warned readers:
Jan 29, 2014
Jan 16, 2014
November 18, 2013:
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Sex Sells Tobacco: 10 “Smoking Hot” Vintage Adverts
THE STORY of tobacco in advertising is a long and winding tale. At some points it has targeted children, at others it has tried to sound like a health food. The specter of cancer has loomed over the product for decades, and advertisers have done their best to divert your attention from the elephant in the room. Tobacco advertising has been overtly sexist and overtly pro-woman (i.e. Virginia Slims); it will be anything you want it to be in order to gain your love and trust.
Indeed, we could talk all day about the dubious practice of selling carcinogens, but let’s focus on the one tactic that tobacco peddlers have relied on most. Here are ten fantastically sexy and sexist vintage ads for your viewing pleasure.
Can you believe they actually tried to make the second-hand smoke smell good? This one advertises cherry and blueberry flavor. I suppose it sounded like a good idea on paper. After all, why must smoke always smell like the Grim Reaper farted? Why can’t second-hand smoke not only cause cancer, but smell great too? Well, you’ve got to hand it to Tipalet for giving it the college try, even if it did end with abysmal failure. Fruity smokes may not have worked out, but at least it spawned this infamous advert ….
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Posted: 4th, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, The Consumer | Comments (2)
Juxtaposition of The Day: Lloyds Bank Floats On South West England’s Flood Pain
MEDIA Juxtaposition of The Day: Lloyds Bank floats on south West England’s flood pain:
Paul McCartney’s 1960 Letter To Audition A Drummer For The Beatles Trip To Hamburg
LETTERS of note: Paul McCartney wrote this letter in 1960 to a possible drummer for the Beatles for the band’s trip to Hamburg. The wold-be drummer should go to the Jacaranda Club – the Liverpool venue first to host the Beatles.
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Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Music | Comment
“They’re Dead. They’re All Messed Up” – How George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead Recreates the Unrest of 1968
THE AMC original TV series Mad Men (2007 – ) set its latest season against a disquieting historical backdrop: the turbulent events of the year 1968.
Specifically, Matthew Weiner’s award-winning period drama book-ended the season with allusions to two classic genre films from that year: Franklin Schaffner’s Planet of the Apes and Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby.
Both are excellent selections that showcase, respectively, global and spiritual apocalypse.
Yet there is another film — one released on October 1st, 1968 — that also represents perfectly the turmoil of America during that season: George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.
Today — due in large part to another AMC series, The Walking Dead (2010 – ), which is now airing the final portion of its fourth season — the zombie is arguably more popular a monster than ever before in genre history. Since Night of the Living Dead is its acknowledged spiritual and historical antecedent, the original film is thus eminently worthy of a re-watch in 2014.
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Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Film, Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (2)
Dave Lee Travis Trial: The Chuckle Brothers Arrive In Court Beaming
TO the Dave Lee Travis trial. The former BBC Radio DJ known as the ‘Hairy Cornflake’ is in court answering 13 counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault. He denies any wrongdoing. Cue The Chuckle Brothers, Barry (left) and Paul Elliott, who arrived at Southwark Crown Court in London, as witnesses. They sensed the mood perfectly:
Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comment
Top 10 Joe Meek Records On The Anniversary Of His Death
TODAY marks the anniversary of Joe Meek’s death. The first British independent record label, genius producer and thorough crackpot departed this Earth on 3rd February after committing suicide after murdering his landlady at his home studio on Holloway Road.
And ever a fan of the occult, it only seems right to contact Meek on the date of his death, rather than birth. Meek, who ‘contacted’ Buddy Holly beyond the grave and got a hit out of it, was a studio wizard, as avant garde with his approach to pop music as Aphex Twin was in the ’90s.
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Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comment
Madeleine McCann: When All Else Fails Get The Gypsies
MADELEINE McCann: A look at the missing child in the news.
The Sun: “Maddie hunt at 2 gypsy camps – Link to burglary theory”
This news of a link to a theory is an “EXCLUSIVE From DANIEL SANDERSON”, who in in Praia da Luz.
DETECTIVES searching for Madeleine McCann are probing a traveller site just a 15-minute drive from where she was snatched.
Because..?
Scotland Yard cops are examining a theory she was taken to the rundown compound.
They are also looking at another site 30 miles west.
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Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comment
Letters Of Note: August 1966 – Police Receive This Anonymous Letter About The Krays
FLASHBACK to August 1966: police receive this anonymous letter about the Krays:
Transcript:
Sir,
The two Kray brothers are too clever and tricky for you. Certain big-people are terrified of these two like everyone in underworld London. Kray brothers rule. And will wangle out here. They are two clever gang leaders also bullies. They terrify everybody! By one who knows.
Spotter: Rob Baker
On This Day In Photos: February 3 1959 – Buddy Holly Dies On The Winter Dance Party Tour
Buddy Holly shown in 1956, 22
ON This Day – February 3 1959: Charles Hardin Holley – aka Buddy Holly – 22, Jiles P Richardson – aka the Big Bopper – 28, and Richard Valenzuela – aka Ritchie Valens – 17, were killed when their single-engined Beechcraft Bonanza planed crashed shortly take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa.
Pilot Roger Peterson, 21, also lost his life.
The triumvirate’s last show has been at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, where their memory lives on:
Holly had only recent gone solo, breaking up with the Crickets.
On February 1 1959, the stars played Green Bay, WI, Ballroom.
At The Green Bay, WI, Ballroom – February 1, 1959
They had been a sensation. Buddy Holly and the Crickets made an appearance on the Arthur Murray Dance Party on December 29, 1957. It was unusual to see a band like the Crickets performing on the show.
“Now, if you haven’t heard of these young men, then you must be the wrong age because they’re rock and roll specialists. Now, no matter what you think about rock and roll, I think you have to keep a nice open mind about what the young people go for. Otherwise the youngsters won’t feel that you understand them. Now, if we’re ready for our rock and roll specialists, we have…Buddy Holly and the Crickets!”
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Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comment
Stop The Sick Trade In Live Animals Sold As Lucky Charms In China
FANCY hanging a live animal from your throat? AVAAZ.org are campaigning to end the revolting trend of sticking live animals in jewellery. They want the United Nations to:
We call on the UN to demand the Chinese government to ban the manufacture and sale of amulets and jewelry containing live animals.
Would the Chinese listen to the UN when they and anyone who buys these keychains can’t see for themselves that it’s sick?
New fashion jewelry in China, animals living under plastic containing a liquid nutrient and oxygen that allows them to live up to 2 months.
This is cruel and should be condemned by the international community.
The animals – mostly turtles and other sea creatures – are, as Change.org’s petition states:
…Brazilian turtles or king fish swimming in colored water are considered good-luck charms by many Chinese…According to vendors, the colored water in the 7-centimeter-long keychains contains nutrients that allow fish and turtles to live inside for months. While that may be true, Mary Peng, cofounder of the International Center for Veterinary Services, says they couldn’t survive in the sealed bag for very long, due to lack of oxygen.
These creatures are better off dead.
Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Reviews, The Consumer | Comment
Intercontinental Dance Floor Dives: Your Euro Disco Dynamite Primer
WHEN disco hit its stride in the mid to late Seventies, it transcended language and boundaries. Perhaps, the secret of its success was that the criterion was so damn simple: Can you dance to it? If the answer was “yes”, chances are, you have a disco hit on your hands.
While ABBA and The Bee-Gees propelled the genre into the stratosphere, there were plenty of other good (and not-so-good) disco tracks being churned out across Europe that deserve to be resurrected. Here are 9 interesting, odd, and awesome gems rescued from obscurity. Enjoy.
Dschingis Khan – “Dschinghis Khan” (1979) Germany
I wonder what the Mongol overlord would have said if he knew he’d one day be the subject of a peppy German disco track. I can’t predict his exact words, but I’m sure it would have ended with a beheading or evisceration of some sort. I suppose one day they’ll be dancing to songs about Pol Pot and Idi Amin.
Albert’s Negrita – “That’s The Ball” (1976) Germany
I think there’s something wrong with me. I actually really, really like this. The song makes no sense whatsoever, it’s alarmingly repetitive, and involves no musical talent or skill whatsoever. Maybe I’ve just listened to one too many disco songs, or maybe I’m coming down with a bad fever – whatever the reason, I dig this track. I don’t know a thing about it, except that it sounds like it comes from a German porno. And if it wasn’t, it should have.
Penny McLean – “Lady Bump” (1975) Austria
Was this a prelude to Fergie’s humps, her lovely lady lumps? In typical disco fashion, the lyrics are wonderfully bad:
They call me lady bump lady bump
It’s no lie – aaaaaaaah
Lady bump, lady bump –
Just the music takes me high.
Actually, the “aaaaaah” should read “AHHHHHH!!!!!!” – Penny really lays a eardrum shattering screech to that bit.
Svenne & Lotta – “Funky Feet” (1976) Sweden
Deciding it sounded too much like “Dancing Queen”, ABBA opted to include this on their album, sending it to fellow Swedes, Svenne & Lotta, instead. This is truly a piece of disco dynamite, but one can’t help but wonder what Frida and Agnetha could have done with it. Their vocals would have sent this track to another dimension of disco heaven.
The Duskeys – “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” (1982) Ireland
I can’t help it. This just makes me want to put on a tight gold lame leisure suit, do a line of cocaine, and hit the discothèque.
Oh, wait. This is Irish disco. Make that – drink a pint of ale then hit the discothèque… then do a line of cocaine. (Glad we cleared that up.)
Sophie & Magaly – “Papa Penguin” (1980) France
“I Am The Walrus” is easily one of the most complex songs ever recorded, and “Papa Penguin” is easily one of the simplest. I guess you could say they are the Walrus and Penguin are Polar opposites……. Get it? Polar? (insert crickets chirping)
My apologies.
Chilly – “For Your Love” (1978) Germany
Who would have guessed a Yardbird classic would translate so well to disco? I understand this may be utterly offensive to rock purists; but, if you even have a passing appreciation for disco, you’ll have to agree this is solid gold. I would admit that I enjoy it more than the original, but I like to avoid being verbally assaulted whenever possible.
Raffaella Carra – “Pedro” (1980) Italy
The song itself is nothing particularly special; however, the male dancer outfits in this music video are special indeed. And by “special” I mean “hilariously awful”. They look like flamboyantly gay superhero private detectives who work in Willy Wonka’s factory. If that description makes no sense, have a look. All will become clear.
Jumbo – “City Girls” (1977) Germany
I included this song simply because the album cover is one of the greatest artistic creations ever conceived. Before you leave this article, I recommend you stare at this cover for a minimum of ten minutes, and let its awesomeness wash over you. When it changes your life forever, don’t forget to leave a comment at the bottom of this post. I don’t ask for much – your eternal gratitude is more than enough.
Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comment
Flashback To 1952: Robert Mitchum’s Homemade Luxury Motor Home
FLASHBACK to September 22 1952: As with many other screen star who lives in the goldfish bowl called Hollywood, Robert Mitchum likes to escape the public gaze whenever possible on hunting and fishing trips. For the twin purpose of privacy and mobility on his jaunts he designed and built a super luxurious house-truck. In his custom land- cruiser Mitchum can enjoy all the comforts of home wherever his fancy takes him. Here the motion picture actor leaves his driveway with two of his children; Jim (11) and Chris (8). Mrs. Mitchum and their daughter Pertine, who remained behind, wish them farewell.
Posted: 3rd, February 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback | Comment
Watch Philip Seymour Hoffman Rock Three Parts In The Fifteen Minute Hamlet
IN 1995, Philip Seymour Hoffman played Bernardo, Horatio and Laertes in Todd Louiso’s 1995 version of Tom Stoppard’s 1976 play The Fifteen Minute Hamlet. Stoppard has enjoyed a hit with his Hamlet spin-off Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. In this play, Stoppard strips down Shakespeare’s play into 13 minutes – plus a two-minute encore.
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Posted: 2nd, February 2014 | In: Film, Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Plastic Punks: The Sid Vicious Doll
SID Vicious was immortalised in plastic and nylon. He had his own doll. We love a celebrity love doll here at Anorak. But our list of the most unusual action figures omits this wonder once on sale in New York’s Greenwich Village, the place where Vicious breathed his last in 1979.
The Sid Vicious doll – ‘or is it Gary Glitter after a debilitating stroke?’
Spotter: Danny Baker @prodnose
Posted: 2nd, February 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback | Comment
On This Day In Photos: February 2 1979 – Sid Vicious Is Dead
SID VICIOUS OF THE PUNK BAND THE SEX PISTOLS AT HEATHROW AIRPORT IN LONDON BEFORE LEAVING FOR LUXEMBOURG TO RECORD A SPECIAL PUNK ROCK PROGRAMME FOR RADIO LUXEMBOURG. AS THEY WALKED TO THEIR AIRCRAFT THEY HURLED ABUSE AT REPORTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Date: 03/11/1977
ON this day, February 2, 1979: Sid Vicious, aka John Simon Ritchie, was found dead. He was 21. He overdosed on heroin.
John Ritchie, known as Sid Vicious of the punk rock group the Sex Pistols, is wheeled through the corridor at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, N.Y., Jan. 19, 1978 where he had been taken from a airplane flight which arrived in New York from Los Angeles. A spokesman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs Kennedy Airport, confirmed that an airport doctor diagnosed a drug overdose, but the airport declined to discuss the case on the ground that all cases were confidential. (AP Photo/Ira Schwarz)
His mother, Anne Beverley, found him dead in bed with his sleeping girlfriend, Michelle Robinson, in an apartment in Greenwich Village.
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A Black Gnostic Introduction To Sun Ra And His Archestra: Space Is the Place For Saturn’s Angel Race
BEFORE cosmic ordering became the celebrities’ guiding light, there was Sun Ra, jazz maestro of Saturn’s Angel Race. He was not from Earth. He was from Saturn. Sun Ra was born into Alabama’s deep segregation. He was named Herman Poole Blount. But as he said: “That’s an imaginary person, never existed … Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym.”
Don’t call me Herman
Sun Ra was the cosmic leader of The Solar Myth Arkestra, His Cosmo Discipline Arkestra, the Blue Universe Arkestra, The Jet Set Omniverse Arkestra and all manner of Arkestras. The line-ups changed to reflect his changing music. Right now, the Sun Ra Arkestra boasts over 20 “tone scientists”.
The Arkestra were for hire. Take a card:
Want to hear him?
Filmed in Chicago & finished in 1959, The Cry of Jazz is filmmaker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland’s polemical essay on the politics of music and race – a forecast of what he called “the death of jazz.”
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Posted: 1st, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comment (1)
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young Thinks Sea Patrol TV Show Is Real
CAN you tell the difference between TV reality and TV fiction? You might care to help out Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who seems to think Sea Patrol is a fly-on-the boat documentary:
Madeleine McCann: Who Needs Keys To Force A Window?
MADELEINE McCANN: Anorak’s look at the missing child in the news:
Two paper lead with news of ‘Our Maddie’.
The Daily Mirror says”Prime Suspects’ worked at the Praia a Luz resort. These prime suspects are prime suspects in burglaries. There is no evidence that they ever met with the child.
Davis Collins writes:
Three workers at the holiday complex where Madeleine McCann was last seen made an abnormally high number of calls “outside the resort” on the night she went missing. A police source said: “Unlike their colleagues who called each other as the search proceeded, the three made domestic calls to areas of no geographic interest to the search.”
And, er, that’s it. On the night of an abnormal event, people made a lot of calls to somewhere that this police source says was irrelevant to the search.You need more facts?
Then turn to the Express:
Gerard Couzens and David Pilditchreport:
BRITISH detectives hunting Madeleine McCann’s abductor want to trawl through the bank records of three new suspects, it was claimed yesterday.
Claims by whom? The reporters says this was reported in the Correio da Manha.
The move raises fears Madeleine may have been snatched to order and sold by her kidnapper. It is alleged the suspects worked at the Ocean Club complex in the Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz where Madeleine’s family were staying. The three are thought to be behind a string of burglaries at the holiday complex before Madeleine went missing.
In other words: there is nothing new to report.
ITN expands the search
Nelson Rodrigues, a barman at the Ocean Club at the time the McCanns were staying there, told the Daily Mirror that there had been “quite a few” members of staff with keys to the rooms. “Reception staff, the cleaners, and the maintenance men could all get into rooms… I remember at the time things belonging to guests went missing now and then. Mobile phones, cash, anything valuable lying around.”
Phones. Cash. A four-year-old child. Make the link.
Rodrigues adds:
“Waiters and barmen did not have access to keys.”
Former Ocean Club worker Nelson Rodrigues, told Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt that employees at the complex would have had the perfect opportunity to snatch a child.
He said: “Yes, you could suspect (them). The workers there know the shifts and the hours when people are at home or not at home. It’s waiters, barmen, people from maintenance, reception, the cleaners – it’s a lot of staff.”
So. Waiters and barmen do have keys or don’t have keys? And do burglars always use a key? Weren’t the shutters on the apartment from where Madeleine went missing moved? The Daily Telegraph continues to state:
On the night of Madeleine’s disappearance Mrs McCann, 39, a GP, made regular half-hourly checks on her children in their room. But when she returned to the ground floor apartment at 10pm, the door was open, the window had been forced and Madeleine was gone.
And the Times:
Mrs McCann was sure Madeleine had been abducted because the bedroom window was open and the security shutter was forced open…
And again the Times:
Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have claimed that the bedroom’s security shutter had been forced up and the window opened by the abductor almost six months ago.
And again the Times:
The window had been forced open and the door left ajar.
And the BBC still claims:
Her aunt Trish Cameron, who lives in Glasgow, said she felt certain her niece had been abducted. “They last checked at half past nine and they were all sound asleep, sleeping, windows shut, shutters shut. Kate went back at 10 o’clock to check. The front door was lying open, the window had been tampered with, the shutters had been jemmied open or whatever you call it and Madeleine was missing…”
And Kate McCann told Crimewatch last year – as reported in the Mirror:
“It was all quiet but it caught my eye that the children’s door was quite far open. As I was just drawing it over, it was like it had been caught by a draught and it just slammed shut. I opened it a bit, I kind of looked into the room and I guess I was looking at Madeleine’s bed and I couldn’t make her out… At that point the curtains, which were closed, kind of whooshed and I could see that the window had been pushed right open and the shutters were up.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 1st, February 2014 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comment
In 1964 Isaac Asimov Made These Predictions On The World In 2014
IN 1964 Isaac Asimov was wondering about the future. What would the world be like 50 years hence? Asimov put down his idea for the The New York Times. Of course, this professor of biochemistry at Boston University wrote hundreds of books and letters. Maybe if you trained 500 monkeys to write sci-fi and fantasy one of them would crete a cogent vision for mankind in 2064.
(One report calculates that for the 35 years after the mid 1950s, Asimov belted out 90 words a minute, eight hours a day, seven days a week.)
But Asimov was not in the habit of making random words into lucky patterns. Well, not always. He did say: “I write as a result of some inner compulsion, and I’m not always in control of it.”
Motorcars never have woken in the night to race off to auto sex orgies.
On August 16, 1964, Asimov shared with NY Times’ readers his reactions to a visit to the World’s Fair 0f 2014. The Worlds;’ Fair had opened in New York. His writing was on a theme.
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Posted: 31st, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (2)
In 1934 Northwestern University Predicted Learning Via The Internet
WHO foresaw the internet? Thank to Paleofuture, we know it to be WAlter Dill Scott in this 1934 piece for Everyday Science and Mechanics magazine. Scott, was president of Northwestern University when he peered into the rosy-fingered future.
With radio, fax machines, TVs and pictures, students could learn anywhere. A the mag noted:
The university of twenty-five years from now will be a different looking place, says President Scott of Northwestern. Instead of concentrating faculty and students around a campus, they will “commute” by air, and the university will be surrounded by airports and hangars. The course will be carried on, to a large extent, by radio and pictures. Facsimile broadcasting and television will enlarge greatly the range of a library; and research may be carried on by scholars at great distances.
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Posted: 31st, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment
