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.
Checking The Mail: Mail Online Talking About Toxicity Online Is Like Cigarette Companies Worrying About Smog
The Daily Mail worrying about self-harm sites that prey on young women with self-esteem issues is like tobacco companies wringing their hands about car exhausts. The Mail traffics daily in the minute inspection of women’s bodies and the idea that they can never be right. No matter how beautiful the star, no matter how lovely her skin is, how styled she is, how impeccably turned out she is, The Mail will find a flaw to obsess over, a moment when she went outside without makeup, a time on the beach where the camera angle was unflattering.
How dare The Daily Mail, of all places, run stories decrying the “toxic online world” when it is so toxic it practically glows with hatred and judgment. Its latest target is Tumblr. Its latest vehicle for its manufactured outrage is the death of a 15-year-old and the understandable grief, rage and incomprehension of the girl’s mother. Of course, it’s important that the Mail notes that the girl was “privately-educated” and lived in a house worth £1 million.
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Posted: 23rd, January 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
The Trolling Sun And Bullying Ulrika Johnson Call Stan Collymore A ‘Vile Hypocrite’ Over Twitter Abuse – Oh, The Irony
Ulrika Jonsson, pictured in her car near her Cookham Dean home the morning after she was attacked by boyfriend Stan Collymore in a Paris bar Date: 09/06/1998
THE Sun’s columnist Ulrika Johnson was once punched in the face by her then lover Stan Collymore. The footballer-turned radio DJ has been complaining of being abused and threatened by his fellow tweeters. He invited all tweeters – and his half a million followers – to tell the police about any abuse by anyone with a Twitter “hate profile”.
Collymore wanted the State to clamp down on internet offensiveness.
He said:
“In the last 24 hours I’ve been threatened with murder several times, demeaned on my race, and many of these accounts are still active. Why? I accuse Twitter directly of not doing enough to combat racist/homophobic /sexist hate messages, all of which are illegal in the UK.”
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Posted: 23rd, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Narking For Jesus And Mohammed: Maajid Nawaz And The Offended Twitter Contest
(left to right) Usama Hasan of the Quilliam Foundation, English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson and Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation, during a press conference at the Montague Hotel, central London, as Robinson announced that he is to stand down from the EDL under the guidance of the Quilliam foundation.
Picture date: Tuesday October 8, 2013. Photo credit should read: Nick Ansell/PA Wire
MAAJID Nawaz has been abused on Twitter. The professional offence takers have been taking offence and gnashing their teeth and vowing bloody vengeance in 140 characters or less. (Plus ca change.) The IB Times: reports:
A would-be Liberal Democrat MP who published an image of the Prophet Mohammed on Twitter has been targeted by online abuse. Maajid Nawaz received threats of violence – including beheading – and an online petition was started against his bid to become MP in 2015. It happened after the former Muslim radical and co-founder of Quilliam, an anti-extremism thinktank, drew the ire of critics by publishing a cartoon of the prophet of Islam on his Twitter timeline.
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Nenuco Hell: Toddlers Fight To Feed Anorexia Doll And Jab Babies With Needles Full Of Serum
ARE you scared by the “Anorexia doll”? The Sun says there are “Fears over toy snubbing food”.
Daniel Jones reports:
HEALTH campaigners want to ban a new doll that refuses to eat — claiming it encourages anorexia. The interactive baby turns her head away when a child tries to give her food. Critics say the £34.99 Nenuco Won’t Eat set will make toddlers think that refusing food is normal behaviour.
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Posted: 22nd, January 2014 | In: Reviews, The Consumer | Comment
Flashback To 1985: Khamis Abdel Motagally Cures Rheumatism By Burying Egyptian Women In Hot Desert Sand
FLASHBACK to August 18, 1985: Women clients of Khamis Abdel Motagally sit outside their tents at his Sahara Desert Rheumatism camp at Nazlet El-Simman, Egypt, the lower parts of their torsos buried in the hot sand to treat rheumatism. Motagally operates the only known desert clinic specializing in the ancient Egyptian cure.
He said: “Rheumatism is nothing but humid vapour trapped inside the blood. When the patients are buried in the hot sand, the speed of blood circulation increases. The density of the vapour increases, and it leaves the body in the form of sweat. I bury them in sand from 20 to 30 minutes, wrapping them in blankets so they sweat more.”
This summer, you know what to do on the beaches and Costas. Gran! Come quick. We’ve dug a hole for you… (Watch out for high tide.)
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Michael Schumacher Truth Fades: Daily Mirror Presents As Fact Dire Words Of Doctor Not Treating Injured Driver
IS MICHAEL Schumacher dead? Dying? Not our question, you understand, rather those of the Daily Mirror editorial community, which thinks its readers want an update on the German driver’s health.
Schumacher is recovering from bad skiing accident in which he suffered severe head injuries after hitting a rock. The 45-year-old is at the Grenoble University Hospital in France.
On January 18, the Mirror told readers:
F1 legend Michael Schumacher still in coma but his condition is no longer critical
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10 Regrettable Examples of 1970s Occult Lameness
THE OCCULTISM explosion which overtook North America and Europe in the 1970s ushered in a level of national fascination that is hard to understand if you weren’t there. But, as with anything that experiences a surge in popularity, it becomes sabotaged by the Johnny-come-lately offerings riding the gravy train. In the blink of an eye, the wild taboo becomes irredeemably cheesy. Such is the territory we shall cover today…
10. THE KNEE OF LISTENING/ SHAVE WHILE YOU HALLUCINATE
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Posted: 22nd, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Daily Mail Writes Fake Story About Fake Sun Rising Over China
SO smoggy is it in Beijing that local crowd around bit tellies to get a look at the sun they once knew. Well, so said the Daily Mail, whose James Nye reported:
The smog has become so thick in Beijing that the city’s natural light-starved masses have begun flocking to huge digital commercial television screens across the city to observe virtual sunrises.
One supposes there is a moon and stars show after dark:
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Posted: 21st, January 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Horrifying figurines of foetuses, now available to buy
EVER looked at the world and become suddenly depressed? You realise that everything ugly you see, is man-made. So, your attentions turn to nature, where everything is beautiful. And vicious. And cruel. And bloody.
In a bid to couple the two worlds, some weirdos have decided to make models – which you can buy – of unborn babies. That’s right. You can now pay money for something that still lives inside a woman you know.
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Posted: 21st, January 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment (1)
The 15 Most Depressing Songs of the 1960s and 70s
THE LATE 1960s to mid-70s were a manic depressive time period in music, populated by exultant highs and soul crushing lows. The highs came in the form of disco and bubblegum pop via ABBA, The Bee Gees and their ilk. The lows came in the form of devastating testaments to inner sadness and existential rage. Perhaps it was Vietnam, recreational heroin use, and an economy that was in the crapper that caused such a swell in depressing anthems. Who knows? What is known is that this time period was fertile ground for misery put to melody, and whittling them down to a list of 15 was a daunting task indeed, but here goes….
15. “All By Myself” by Eric Carmen
Livin’ alone
I think of all the friends I’ve known
But when I dial the telephone
Nobody’s home
It’s not so much the lyrics as the morose delivery under a melody lifted from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Carmen sounds so deeply depressed that you half expect to hear a gunshot at the end of the song.
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Posted: 21st, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comments (8)
The Daily Mail Says Bagels Give You Cancer And Sugar Is ‘Evil’
THIS might be the Mail’s most desperate scare story to date. If a bagel is your biggest problem, you might just be ok.
BROOKE ALPERT & DR PATRICIA FARRIS spin a story of terrifying sugar. Sugar is “evil”, “addictive” and “risky”; it gives you “heart disease and type 2 diabetes to Alzheimer’s and some cancers”; “kidney disease, and the eye condition macular degeneration”; sugar can “hijack your brain chemistry”.
But what about the bagel? How will that kill you?
A plain, average-size bagel is the equivalent in calories and sugar of five slices of white bread and sends your system into a sugar overload – setting you up to crash afterwards and reach for another unhealthy option.
Let’s look at the Mail’s story in a little more detail:
Alzheimers:
Dr. Paul Crane, associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington, did a study. He told the NY Times:
“People shouldn’t run for the hills or try crazy diets,” Dr. Crane cautioned. While an epidemiological study like this one can guide further exploration, he said, “This doesn’t show that changes in behavior that lower your individual blood sugar would decrease your individual risk of dementia.”
Diabetes:
The NHS says:
Risk factors for type 2 diabetes
You are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you:
are over 40 years old
have a relative with the condition
are of South Asian, African-Caribbean or Middle Eastern origin
are overweight or obese
And sugar intake? Nothing said. Diabetes UK says you have an increased risk of Diabetes if you:
You are over 40 (or over 25 if you are South Asian)
You have a close family member with diabetes (parent, brother or sister)
You are overweight, with a large waist size (over 80cm (31.5 inches) for women, 94cm (37 inches) for men, or 89cm (35 inches) for South Asian men)
Being South Asian, Black African, African Caribbean – even if you were born in the UK
You have ever had high blood pressure, a heart attack or a stroke
You’re a woman with polycystic ovary syndrome and overweight
If you’re a woman and you’ve had gestational diabetes or given birth to a baby over 10 pounds
If you have a severe mental illness for which you take medication (such as schizophrenia, bipolar illness or depression)
You’ve been told you have impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glycaemia.
Note: Some of these risks factors are genetic factors and there is little you can do to reduce them, so it’s best to concentrate on those you can change, such as your weight.
One person’s weekly portion of rationed foods.
Cancer:
The NHS has long look at the link between cancer and sugar. It finds no cause and effect:
“One in six Britons with high blood sugar levels faces a greater danger of developing cancer,” The Observer reported. This story is based on research that found an association between high blood glucose levels and an increased risk of certain types of cancer over an average of 10 years of follow-up.
Although the research did find an association between high blood sugar levels and cancer risk, there are many other lifestyle, medical and genetic factors that may contribute to a person’s likelihood of developing cancer, few of which were considered in this analysis. Also, the study can only demonstrate a link between high blood sugar and cancer. It cannot indicate that one causes the other.
Kidney Disease:
There is talk of a link between kidney disease and diabetes.
This is the abstract of a study by the National Kidney Foundation:
Sugar consumption, especially in the form of fructose, has been hypothesized to cause kidney disease. This review provides an overview of the epidemiologic evidence that sugar consumption increases CKD risk. Research supports a causal role of sugar in several kidney disease risk factors, including increasing serum uric acid levels, diabetes, and obesity. Sugar may also harm the kidney via other mechanisms. There is no evidence that sucrose is any safer for the kidney than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) because both are similar in composition. To date, 5 epidemiologic studies have directly evaluated the relationship between sugar consumption (in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages) and CKD. Although most studies suggest that the risk of CKD is elevated among consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages, only 2 studies report statistically significant associations. Three studies have also examined diet soda consumption, with two reporting positive and significant associations. Confounding by unmeasured lifestyle factors may play a role in the positive results whereas poor measurement of sugar and artificial sweetener intake could explain null results. Nevertheless, the hypothesis that sugar causes kidney disease remains plausible, and alternative research designs may be needed.
Macular Degeneration:
The Mascular Society says nothing about sugar being a risk.
A study by Tufts University says:
A recent study by Tufts nutrition researchers found that the development of age-related macular degeneration may be tied to over consumption of certain carbohydrates.
Boston [07.24.07] Doctors have already found many reasons to recommend decreased consumption of foods such as white bread and sugary snacks. However, a new study by Tufts University researchers adds another reason to the list.
Research led by Allen Taylor, director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts, determined that eating certain types of carbohydrates might contribute to the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and associated vision loss later in life.
…
In Taylor’s study, people consuming diets with a higher-than-average glycemic index faced a greater risk of developing AMD, as dietary glycemic index was directly proportional to the severity of AMD. However, the researchers note, that the study did not specifically determine the cause of AMD among subjects, nor did it pinpoint diet as the sole cause of their vision loss….
Diet, however, is not a currently a leading cause of AMD; aging, smoking and education level are more significantly linked, the researchers told the The New York Times. Taylor and colleaguesalso note that further long-term studies are needed to more comprehensively explore the relationship between diet and AMD.
…
“People are eating more simple sugar than they used to, and reverting to a diet that is more fruits and vegetables and less sweetened food would help,” Taylor told the The New York Times. “It doesn’t take a lot of change.”
Hijacks Your Brain:
Back to the Mail for this:
Insulin plays ‘good cop’ and ‘bad cop’ in your body. It’s good when you eat something with sugar, because it jumps in to control the sugar. But it is also bad because it speeds up sugar’s conversion into fat, depositing it in places where you don’t want it, such as around your belly.
Sugar is a criminal. Fat is bad. Got it?
Insulin resistance is very tough to fix. Exercise can help, and losing weight is considered to be the best possible move you can make. But it’s not easy because insulin resistance very often triggers overeating. It’s thought this is because it makes your body resistant to the ‘satiety’ appetite hormone, leptin, which tells your brain to stop eating – in this way, sugar can also hijack your brain chemistry.
Wow. Sugar can do all that.
Make no mistake kicking sugar is about being on-message. As this site says:
I’m here to tell you that addiction to sugar and junk foods is exactly the same as addiction to abusive drugs like nicotine, amphetamine and cannabis.
The Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) have a new group called Action on Sugar (AoS). It says “sugar is the new tobacco”. Sugar is “the alcohol of childhood”.
It also makes things taste nice and gives you energy to live.
Chewing Gum: Psychedelic Treats And Assorted Oral Wonders
Artist Ben Wilson who paints art on discarded gum, and is also known as ‘Chewing Gum Man’, at work on the Millennium Bridge in London.
BEN Wilson is the chewing gum artist. We say ‘the’ because we can’t find anyone else who paint of splats of discarded, squashed gum. He is the self-styled ‘Chewing Gum Man’. Today, Ben was painting pictures you can take home on the sole of your shoe on the Millennium Bridge in London.
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Posted: 20th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, The Consumer | Comment
Putin Says He Likes Elton John (Just Not The Other Gays)
Youngsters Karen Davies and bradley Luxon, dressed as Little Bo Peep and Elton John, turn out for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee street party in St. Stephen’s Street, Bow, London Date: 07/06/1977
AS well you know, Russia has been saying some spectacularly dumb things about the LGBT community. In return, the gays and right-minded people have been telling Russia to stick it up their collective hole and piss off while they’re doing it.
And now, with Elton John speaking against the country’s anti-gay law, Vladimir Putin has decided to proclaim his love for Sir Elton, saying that he’s “an outstanding musician”.
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Posted: 20th, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Politicians, Reviews | Comment
How Did The Grateful Dead Get A Huge Archive Of Material? Jerry Garcia Is Unsure But The LSD Helped
Guitarist Jerry Garcia, of the band “The Grateful Dead,” second from left, is joined by his first wife Mountain Girl, left, Delaney Bramlett, centre, and Bruce Baxter III, right, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on July 2, 1970, during the legendary “Festival Express,” also known as the Transcontinental Pop Festival. (AP Photo/Ron “Sunshine” Mastrion)
GRATEFUL Dead fans for whom Jerry Garcia is more than an ice-cream pun can head over to JerryGarcia.com and tune in to the music of the 26 bands he played with. Best of all, you can see all the Dead’s shows archived. (They played over 2,300 shows.) If that’s not enough, you can check out Grateful Dead Archive Online from the University of California, Santa Cruz. And then take a look at the Internet Archive’s Grateful Dead collection.
If you don’t know the Dead’s work, listen to their first album. It is a country-rock classic.
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Jack White And Neil Young To Team Up For Grumpiest LP Ever Recorded?
APPARENTLY Neil Young and Jack White have teamed-up for an album of covers. Seeing as this is two of the most miserable singers on the planet, you can only imagine the size of the raincloud over the studio while they recorded.
We can only hope that Morrissey and Van Morrison get together in a bid to outdo this hugely glum record.
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Posted: 20th, January 2014 | In: Music, Reviews | Comment (1)
On This Day: January 20 1942 – Nazis Meet At Wansee To Plan The Final Solution
ON January 20, 1942 “The following took part in the conference on the final solution (Endloesung) of the Jewish question”. The meeting was held in Berlin, Am Grossen Wannsee No. 56-58.
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Posted: 20th, January 2014 | In: Flashback | Comments (2)
Epic Adverts: The 1981 Mitsubishi Mirage
HERE at Anorak, we love looking at old adverts. Take this one for the 1981 Mitsubishi Mirage. Filmed at the Colorado Air Force Academy, the advert begins in grand fashion. Jets soar an swoop. The sir throbs with energy. Letters appear in space, as if by magick. And then the hero arrives. The brassy fanfare strikes up. The brown hatchback zips around a bend in the road. A button is pressed. What does it do? Is it the afterburner? Who know because soon the saviour is at Jack Frost’s diamond palace to rescue housewives trapped in a Ford Pinto…
Posted: 20th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Strange But True | Comment
Twitter Twats Who Abuse Mikaeel Kular And Lord McAlpine Need Mocking Not Arresting
MIKAEEL Kular: police have made second arrest. Mikaeel’s Kular’s mother has been arrested on suspicion of murdering the three year old. Now police have nicked a 26-year-old man from Derbyshire and a 19-year-old from Hampshire on suspicion of committing racially aggravated public order offences.
They tweeted something unpleasant.
They are out on police bail.
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Embarrassing Endorsements: When A Famous Name Damages Your Brand
THE Nicolas Anelka ‘quinelle’ controversy has taken a dramatic new twist, as West Bromwich Albion’s sponsors have threatened to end their shirt contract if the club continues to pick the French striker.
Zoopla are not the first people to find that association with high-profile individuals can be a double-sided sword…
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Posted: 18th, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Mikaeel Kular: Rosdeep Kular ‘Detained’ And His Body ‘Found At Aunt’s Home’
MIKAAEL Kular: Anorak’s at-a-glance look at the missing child in the news. Sky reports that his body has been found 34 miles from home in Fife. His mother Rosdeep Kular has been detained, reports the BBC.
Rosdeep Kular
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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s Letter On Unnatural Gays And The ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’
HIGHLIGHTS of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ‘s long letter on the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” passed by parliament in December.
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Posted: 17th, January 2014 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
