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.
Jay Z Invites 12 Year Old On-Stage And Invites Him To His Clique
THERE’S no hiding it – Jay Z is not nearly the artist he once was. However, what he’s given to hip hop is enough for him to coast along forever without having to answer critics.
With that, happily married, wealthy and a new father, it seems Hova has mellowed and, at a show, he made a 12 year old boy’s dream come true by inviting him on-stage.
While performing in his ‘Magna Carter World Tour’ over the weekend in Greensboro, N.C., Jay noticed a young fan holding up a sign in the audience which said “Can I rap for you?”
And lo, it came to pass.
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In 1978 Muhammed Ali Boxed Marvin Gaye, Sammy Davis Junior, Richard Pryor – The Story And Some Great Photos
ON May 8, 1978, Muhammad Ali delivered a punch to the body of entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. during their benefit fight and show at the Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles.
Heavyweight challenger Leon Spinks clowns for the photographers in Las Vegas, Feb. 10, 1978 where he is in training for his title bout against Muhammad Ali, Feb. 15. The sign was provided by some Spinks promoters.
On Feb. 15, Ali had lost to Leon Spinks in a 15-round fight in Las Vegas. Ali was crestfallen. Superman was defeated. But Spinks was too tough.
World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, right, is shown at a press conference in New York, January 31, 1978, with promoter Don King, left, and Herbert Muhammad, center, to plug a comic book in which he beats Superman. Ali holds a copy of the comic book.
On Aug. 15, Ali won the rematch at the New Orleans Superdome, again after 15-rounds.
Ali had become the first man to win the heavyweight championship three times.
Muhammad Ali, left, playfully spars with a youth on Canal Street in New Orleans, July 31, 1978 where he is promoting his championship fight with Leon Spinks at the Superdome on September 15. Ali took a boat ride, paraded on Canal and then too a turn selling tickets. (AP Photo)
In between those epic bouts, he entered the ring with the fearsome Sammy Davis Junior:
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Posted: 8th, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Chicago Zoo Moves Polar Bears Indoors To Escape The Cold
The Chicago skyline is seen behind a large chunk of ice near North Avenue Beach as cold temperatures remain with wind chills nearing minus 30 Fahrenheit on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014, in Chicago. Dangerously cold polar air snapped decades-old records as it spread Tuesday from the Midwest to southern and eastern parts of the U.S. and eastern Canada, making it hazardous to venture outside and keeping many schools and businesses closed. (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles)
HOW cold is it? At Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, public relations director Sharon Dewar etlls us that its so cold that the polar bears have been taken inside:
“In Chicago we’re accustomed to weather extremes, with very cold winters and very hot summers, so the animals that are part of our zoo are chosen for their hardiness for winter or summer. But this is obviously an excessive extreme. So even animals that are pretty hardy, and would be able to stay outside for normal winters — like the Mongolian camels and polar bear — even those animals we’re keeping indoors.”
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Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Roll Over Reeva Steenkamp Today’s Sexy Corpse Is Monica Spear Mootz
WHEN Reeva Steenkamp was found dead, the Sun led with this picture:
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Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
5 Inconceivably Awkward 80s Movie Moments
Andrea Howard and Don Adams in the Inconceivably Awkward film The Nude Bomb
BEFORE we carry on with the list, let’s define what we’re talking about here. “Inconceivably Awkward” simply means it contains both of the following qualities:
- It is so terrifyingly uncomfortable you instinctively flinch as if you’ve been punched squarely in the genitals.
- It is so unimaginably awful you question whether the director suffered head trauma and should seek medical attention.
I should also mention that this isn’t a “top five” list as there’s plenty worse out there. These are just five scenes (plus a runner-up) which spring instantly to mind when thinking of the worst of the worst.
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Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Film, Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Rare Nirvana Footage Appears Online (And Other Greatest Vids)
RARE footage of Nirvana playing their last ever LA gig has been put online by someone who knew the band. Within months of the recording, Kurt Cobain would cut his life short and rid us all of a band who, whether you liked their music or not, were really fun to be around.
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Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Music, Reviews | Comment (1)
The Top of The Tops Unofficial Celebration
TWENTY years ago, the BBC was celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of one of its most ‘iconic’ shows.
Ten years ago, the BBC was celebrating its 40th anniversary.
There was a problem, however. During the first decade of the show – which also unfortunately happened to be its heyday – most of the episodes were erased on the grounds that videotape was expensive, and television was considered an ephemeral medium. Posterity was not a consideration.
In the past decade, some missing footage has been retrieved from private collectors, which boded well for the big 50th anniversary. Or so you might think.
In fact, the BBC has removed footage from the clips that are available, and decided not to celebrate the anniversary at all.
The reason, guys and gals, is simple: the programme in question was Top of the Pops, and the TV studio in which it was filmed served as an HQ for the nefarious activities of Jimmy Savile and his pop pals. Hence Jim’s introductions and performances from certain artistes are now strictly verboten.
None of which will stop Anorak from picking some top pop moments from the show’s golden years – erring on the side of the hidden gems –in this unofficial celebration…
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Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music, TV & Radio | Comments (3)
‘W*nking The TV Commentators’: The Greatest Guardian Typo Ever
IS this the greatest Guardian typo ever? Is Alex McLintock ‘W*nking the TV commentators”? Is this a new attempt to bring cricket to the masses:
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Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Richard Pryor’s Greatest Hits: Mr Black Death Metal Sings The Blues
RICHARD Pryor could sing. Before the comedy hits came, Pryor headed to New York City and sang the blues:
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Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Your Biased Lesson For Today: Who Started World War One?
After his bullets had slain the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, GAVRILO PRINCIP is arrested in Sarajevo on Sunday, June 18, 1914. This picture has been reprinted countless times, but last year Yugoslav newspaper alleged that the man is not Princip but an innocent bystander who was arrested in error. Princip, a 19-year-old student, was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment but after four years died of TB. His bullets, which cut down the Archduke and his wife, Sophie, led to the outbreak of the first World War.
WHO started it? Who started World War 1. This is a big year in remembering the fallen in the war to end all wars. The experts are wading in:
Boris Johnson (Conservatie) knows:
It is a sad but undeniable fact that the First World War – in all its murderous horror – was overwhelmingly the result of German expansionism and aggression.
Michel Gove (Conservative) knows:
The First World War may have been a uniquely horrific war, but it was also plainly a just war. The ruthless social Darwinism of the German elites, the pitiless approach they took to occupation, their aggressively expansionist war aims and their scorn for the international order all made resistance more than justified.
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Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Reviews | Comment
Idiot Watch: Smoking Men Huffing Lighter Fluid And Heating Frozen Pipes With Kerosene Go Kaboom
Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Dennis Rodman Is Back In North Korea – Photos Of Kim’s Basketball Pal
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at a sports arena in Pyongyang, North Korea. Rodman arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team to shoot an episode on North Korea for a new weekly HBO series.
DENNIS Rodman has swapped Celebrity Big Brother for another kind of prison. He’s back in North Korea, touring Kim’s Kingdom with his “all-star team” of American basketball players. They’re going to play match to mark Kim Jong Un’s birthday. Kenny Anderson, Cliff Robinson Vin Baker and former Knick Charles D. Smith will shoot hoops without the approval of the NBW, which decrees: “Although sports in many instances can be helpful in bridging cultural divides, this is not one of them.”
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Faces Of The Day: Watching The Huge Waves At Porthcawl Harbour
FACES of the day: People watch and photograph enormous waves as they break on Porthcawl harbour, South Wales, where very strong winds and high seas create dangerous weather conditions. Ben Birchall/PA Wire
Bands Who Sold Out: The Who’s 1982 Schlitz Tour
IN 1982, The Who took the corporate coin and sold out to Schlitz.
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Bao Bao The Giant Panda Baby Sucks: Photos Of Washtington Zoo’s Latest Breeder
PANDAS are useless.
Today Bao Bao, the four and a half month old giant panda cub, made her public debut as her mother Mei Xiang ate bamboo, right, at an indoor habitat at the National Zoo in Washington. Bao Bao, who now weighs 16.9 pounds (7.65 kilograms), was born to the zoo’s female giant panda Mei Xiang and male giant panda Tian Tian.
He eats shoots and leaves:
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Prince William Hunts Squirrell At Cambridge Univeristy
PRINCE William, needed only an A, B and C in his A-levels to get into Cambridge University Normally the University requires an A* and two As. But the Prince is not normal.
All the pretence that he is – the middle-class accent, calling people “guys” and not “serfs” and showing us pictures of his baby (so very Facebook) are just sops to the saps. The boy’s a toff.
Mary Beard, Cambridge University’s Professor of Classics, says Wills should use the jaunt to mix with the riff-raff, telling the Daily Mail: “I very much hope that he will take the opportunity to meet some of our more ‘ordinary’ students, struggling with making ends meet, worried about careers, future and debt.”
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Posted: 6th, January 2014 | In: Reviews, Royal Family | Comment
The Blinding Stupidity Of Jonathan Porritt
HE’S written a new book he has, Jonathan Porritt, that leading environmental thinker of our age. And in it he’s described how we’re all going to get poorer. But the really crazy thing is that he’s just too dman stupid to understand why his suggestion makes us poorer.
Here’s the Mail giving an outline of it all:
In the vision of the UK in 2050 humans are doing less work – and not just because of robots.
In the fictional future, the EU’s ‘Maximum Working Time Directive’ is introduced and in 2045 people work for just under 25 hours a week in their regular job, compared to an average of 36.4 hours in 2010.
Alex writes that the change came about as unemployment continued to rise in the 1920s and there were protests to distribute jobs more fairly, resulting in GDP being scrapped in 2029 as a way of measuring a country’s wealth.
The ‘index of sustainable economic well being’ and a new model of working came in, which saw people swap labour for services via a local ‘time bank’ and earn extras outside their regular work.
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Posted: 6th, January 2014 | In: Money, Reviews | Comment (1)
Big Foot Is Neither Jew Nor Muslim: Texas Monster Lured To Death By Pork Ribs
BIG Foot is…dead. He’s curled up his big toes and croaked. Big Foot was shot dead, some say murdered, by Rick Dyer. It turns out that Big Foot was partial to WalMart pork ribs – all the non-kosher monsters love ’em. Dyer tells us: “Every test that you can possibly imagine was performed on this body — from DNA tests to 3D optical scans to body scans. It is the real deal. It’s Bigfoot and Bigfoot’s here, and I shot it and now I’m proving it to the world.”
In 2008, Dyer nabbed Bigfoot in a caper that took in a rubber suit.
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Posted: 6th, January 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
12 Impressively Bizarre and Ridiculous Fitness Records
YEARS AGO in days of old when magic filled the air, people did their workouts at home by their turntable. Generally, the needle bounced and scratched from all the flopping around. Plus, record players were usually centrally located, which meant you had to get sweaty and embarrass yourself in front of everyone in the living room. It wasn’t until the advent of the Walkman and the proliferation of health clubs that workout music got practical. Of course, this meant the demise of the fitness LP.
Thankfully, the fossilized remains of some of these albums have been uncovered and are well worth a look.
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Posted: 6th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music, The Consumer | Comment (1)
Prohibition Rules In Colorado: The Marijuana Experiment Turns Tokers Into Anti-Social Guinea Pigs
Before dawn, a sign is illuminated at 3D Cannabis Center, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver, early Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began retail marijuana sales on Jan. 1, a day some are calling “Green Wednesday.”
IT is now legal to buy marijuana in Colorado.
A few rules, however. You need to be 21 or over to buy legal weed. You can only buy the stuff in shops that photograph your face. It’s sold in plain packaging. And you can never smoke it in public. You cannot smoke it stood outside the pub. You can smoke it indoor or inside a hotel’s weed zone of tolerance. And smoking weed remains a sackable offence.
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1930: The Plan To Drain And Dam The North Sea And Create DOGGERLAND
IN September 1930, plans were created to increase the size of Europe by linking the British Isles to the Continent. The new one would be called…DOGGERLAND.
Make your own jokes.
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Posted: 6th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment
Aspen Colorado Plane Crash: No Celebrities Hurt – BREAKING
BREAKING news from Aspen, Colorado. CNN has it:
Celebrities tweet reaction to a small plane crash that occurred at the airport in Aspen, Colorado.
The report adds that “many of the rich and famous” holiday in Aspen. Maybe they can tweet CNN to show us that they are still rich and famous?
I hope they celebs are ok…
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Posted: 5th, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comment
Everton: Robbie Savage’s Crystal Balls
HOW football experts work: Robbie Savage continues to think about Everton.
Previously, Savage the Sage has told his readers that Everton would finish the Premier League in 8th, 7th and 4th places. Savage told us “Here is my final forecast of who will finish where. No going back on this pecking order, I will stand or fall by this table…7) Everton (8th)”. Then on January 3 2014, he noted in his Daily Mirror column:
“Everton will continue to be a force if Romelu Lukaku stays fit and they jeep hold of Leighton Baines this month. Prediction: 6th.”
Football punditry: it’s almost as if they make it up as they go along…
The Freezing Polar Vortex Is God’s Punishment For Not Believing In Global Warming Say Weather Experts
EVER hear of a Polar Vortex?
A “polar vortex” will affect more than half of the continental US, starting Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday, with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama. The vortex is an anticlockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air, and is behind the startling forecast: -25F (-31C) in Fargo, North Dakota, -31F (-35C) in International Falls, Minnesota, and -15F (-26C) in Indianapolis and Chicago.
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Posted: 5th, January 2014 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Balliol Balls: Three Englishmen Saved from Boiling Pot By Cannibal Chief, Who Was Friend at Oxford University
EPIC headlines harks back to December 16, 1922:
Three Englishmen Saved from Boiling Pot By Cannibal Chief, Who Was Friend at Oxford
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Posted: 5th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
