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.
Awkward Band Publicity Photos
TO MAKE IT in the music biz and get some publicity, it used to be a requirement to take some “professional” photographs for local newspapers, magazines, and venue posters. Trouble is, thirty to forty years later someone like me is going to share them with the world. Chances are, your press photos are a tad on the awkward side, and I’ll have a snarky comment or two. Shake it off. It’s all in good fun. Maybe you can even point and laugh at the other bands.
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Posted: 2nd, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comment
As Bin Men Strike Portugal Delivers Its Trash To The Banks
PORTUGAL’s Bin Men are rebelling against plans to privatise rubbish collections. They’ve gone on strike. So. People have reacted in a way we can only applaud: they’ve taken to delivering their rubbish to the banks.
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How To Tell Good People From Bad People According To The International Order of The Golden Rule
THE International Order of The Golden Rule is a funeral homes organisation based in Austin, Texas. On their website filed under “history”, they tell us:
To a group of funeral directors in 1928, the “Golden Rule” – a fundamental principle that is universally admired and upheld – became the cornerstone upon which to built a professional association.
The founders embarked on a mission to seek out a dependable, ethical funeral directors in every community by means of a carefully tested screening process. They wanted to establish a quality-minded identity in the minds of families everywhere. The Golden Rule credo – “Service measured not by gold, but by the Golden Rule” – speaks to that identity.
And:
Each Golden Rule® Funeral Home must show a commitment to provide to their client families: “Service measured not by gold but by the Golden Rule.”
So. What is the Golden Rule? We never do get to nail it down. Under “STandards of Ethical Conduct”, we get not one rule but 10 rules. We also see their name printed on this booklet called “How To Tell Good People From Bad People”.
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Posted: 1st, January 2014 | In: Books, Flashback, Strange But True | Comment
Checking The Daily Mail For Lies, Half-Truths And Propaganda Balls
Mic Wright’s Checking The Mail
I’M not saying the Daily Mail is written by liars and hypocrites, I’m just saying that if you had a visual dictionary of the British Media the face staring out from the definition of Arsehole would be Paul Dacre. Dacre who crows on constantly about family values is a sweary bully whose morning meetings have been called The Vagina Monologues thanks to the number of c-words that fly out of his expensively dentured mouth. This column exists to check the lies, half-truths and propaganda balls spouted by The Daily Mail but will happily turn its attention to other repeat offenders too including The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Express, The Guardian, The Independent and my old home, The Daily Telegraph.
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Posted: 1st, January 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (2)
The Best Readers’ Letters Of 2013
THE Best Readers’ Letters of 2013:
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Posted: 1st, January 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
When Muhammad Ali Met Michael Jackson And Became The ‘Jackson Six’
WHEN Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson in 1977:
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Posted: 31st, December 2013 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Sports | Comment
Behold! An amazing T-Rex Optical Illusion
EVER vomited, hard, because something was screwing with your mind? Usually, it is an optical illusion that will do it, giving you a nausea unparalleled, to the point where your head spins with glee.
Optical illusions are, of course, rollercoaster rides for people who don’t like getting off the couch.
And so, to a mind melter which features a Tyrannosaurus Rex gawping at you and following you around the room, even though it is perfect motionless.
Serious.
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Manufacturing’s Coming Back To The UK
MANUFACTURING is coming back to the UK. That’s what Vince Cable claims at least, that there’s more manufacturing coming into the UK than there is leaving for places with cheaper labour:
Vince Cable has heralded the prospect of British manufacturing “becoming great again” as he revealed that twice as many small and medium sized manufacturers are bringing production back to the UK as are sending work overseas.
In what will be viewed as a boost for the British economy, Mr Cable, the Business Secretary, disclosed details of a new Manufacturing Advice Service (MAS) survey which shows that 11pc of respondent’s reshored production to the UK in the past 12 months, against 5pc who had sent production overseas.
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Worse Than Dog Poo: The Real Stink Should Be Over On-The-Spot Fines
DO we sympathise with Peter Taylor, styled as “Community-spirited” by the Stoke Sentinel? Or we do we think he made a problem worse?
The local council is very much of the opinion that Mr Taylor is a nuisance. It handed him an £80 fine for picking up a pump of dog poo left on a pathway in Central Forest Park, Hanley, Staffordshire, and relocating it into long grass.
After complaining at the absurdly high charge, Stoke-on-Trent City Council relented. The charge was cancelled. But Mr Peter was told off for not putting the turd in a bin. And that upsets him. As he says: “I clear the paths nearly every day. I go out and see where the mess is then I go out with a shovel and throw it in the long grass, but apparently I’m not supposed to do that. They told me to leave it where it is and they will come out and remove it.”
Carrying out a Clochemerle-type engagement with becoming dignity (he refused to complete the performance) is Digby, a three year old Pyrenean mountain rescue dog owned by Mrs J. Hull of Cheam, Surrey. He is seen officially opening a dog’s toilet at Roper’s Gardens, one of two set up on Chelsea Embankment by Kensington and Chelsea Council. Holding Digby’s lead is broadcaster Robert Robinson, who was described as guest of honour. Uninvited guest at the ceremony were demonstrators demanding free school milk for children instead of loos for dogs. Date: 15/03/1972
Dog poo is disgusting. Along with listening to other people’s loud phone calls on crowed trains, dog poo not cleared by the animal’s owner is something that annoys most of us. Mr Tay;or adds: “They said, ‘once you have touched something it is your responsibility, which sounds ridiculous to me. I couldn’t believe it. They weren’t going to cancel it straight away. I had to argue about it over three or four phone calls. They were trying to penalise someone who picks up litter all the time. The dog mess up that end of the park is terrible. I told them I won’t bother doing it anymore. You can’t blame me for that. I’ve lived here for 25 years but the mess has only started to get bad when they did the paths up about six years ago.”
Did the dogs refuse to go on the old, less well-maintained paths? Are dogs choosy?
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Posted: 31st, December 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Derby Mystery: Why Has So Much Cutlery Been Flushed Down The Toilet?
IT’S been a big week for cutlery. First, we saw Etibar Elchyev, 41, seize the world record for having metal objects stuck by magnetic force to his body. His record stands at 53 spoons. Now we learn of goings on in Derby.
Severn Trent Water has broadcast this picture of hundreds of spoons, knives and forks found in the local sewers around Chaddesden.
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Posted: 31st, December 2013 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Priests’ Relief: Pietro Lamberti, 60, Had Legal Sex wIth An 11-Year-Old Says Italy’s Supreme Court
TO Rome, Italty, where the 60-year-old man who had sex with an 11-year-old girl is off the hook.
Back in February 2011, social worker Pietro Lamberti was found guilty of sex with a minor, a child from a poor family in the country’s south. His crimes earned him a five-year prison sentence.
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Posted: 31st, December 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
The Most Offensive And Amusing Pitch Gestures
NICOLAS Anelka’s controversial celebration after scoring for West Brom at Upton Park – the notorious quenelle salute, made famous by his comedian friend Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala – will be debated for weeks to come.
But he is by no means the first footballer to find himself in hot water following an impetuous or ill-judged gesture…
Fascist salutes
During his time at Lazio, Paolo Di Canio is alleged to have said he was a fascist, and he certainly did nothing to dispel this impression with his salutes. When appointed manager of Sunderland he apologised for any offence caused by the gesture and said that comments about his political beliefs had been taken out of context.
And just to even things up, here once again is the England team in Berlin….
Flicking the Vs
Now sadly dying out, the ‘V-sign’ (meaning ‘fu*k off’) was once the most offensive gesture available to native Britons.
In 1971 it briefly became known as ‘doing a Harvey Smith’ after the pugnacious Yorkshire show jumper greeted the judges with said sign after winning the British Show Jumping Derby. He was fined his entire winnings (two grand) for his troubles.
Footballers were partial to it too. That is to say, bad boys like boozing, smoking, womanising, drug-taking lower-league legend Robin Friday…
As was Charlie George, whose 1972 effort at Derby was dismissed by Arsenal team-mate Alan Ball as ‘a bit of devilment’, which is ‘part and parcel of the game’. Ball said Charlie had learned his lesson, but he was up to his old tricks at his next club (Derby County, ironically) in 1975…
In more recent times, Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor were banned from playing for Scotland on account of this gesture at team officials, committed while relegated to the bench for turning up drunk at a training session…
Wankaaah!
Another good old British tradition, kept alive by a Frenchman. David Ginola, who did the ‘wanker’ gesture at BT Sport host Jake Humphrey, who was oblivious to the insult, but later apologised on air.
Unfortunately German football journalist Raphael Honigstein repeated the gesture on another BT Sport show shortly afterwards. He claimed afterwards that he didn’t realise they were on air…
The Finger
Jack Wilshere found himself in trouble recently after giving the finger to Manchester city fans, whom he accused of insulting his children. ‘Shouldn’t of [sic] reacted the way I did but I know all you dads out there love your kids the way I do…’ he tweeted later.
Here’s Becks doing the same to England fans at the Euro 2000…
The dark side of the moon
Robbie Fowler’s baiting of Graham Le Saux was widely assumed to be anti-gay in intent, as he repeatedly bent over and proffered his backside to the Chelsea defender.
And the light side…
Where else to turn but to ARSEnal’s Sammy Nelson? The popular defender famously dropped his shorts at Highbury having netted for both sides during the Gunners’ game against Coventry in 1979.
Not to be sniffed at
Robbie Fowler had a few run-ins with authority, but the only other time he got into trouble for a shirt-lifting-related incident, it was for lifting his team jersey to reveal a t-shirt supporting the striking Liverpool dockers, who had been sold out and abandoned by their union.
On a less serious note, his ‘coke’ celebration, in which he snorted the goal line, remains a classic.
The Handcuffs
Tim Cahill ‘did the handcuffs’ for his goal brother Sean, who was in jail for GBH at the time.
… while Ipswich’s Norris did the same for former team-mate Luke McCormick, who was doing time for killing people in a car crash.
And finally, the most incendiary of the lot…
The Flute
Paul Gascoigne’s 1998 celebration in front of Celtic fans earned him a £20,000 fine and a series of death threats. He claimed not to have realized the symbolic significance of his antics – an excuse that would be preposterous coming from anyone else, but which is just about plausible in Gazza’s case…
Posted: 31st, December 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Sports | Comments (2)
Victoria’s Secret: What A Difference 30 Years Makes
CAN YOU GUESS which Victoria’s Secret models come from 1984 and which are from recent catalogs? I’ll give you a hint: the ones from 1984 resemble actual human females.
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Posted: 31st, December 2013 | In: Fashion, Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Anelka And Dieudonné: Bigots, But For The Left
WHEN West Bromwich Albion footballer Nicholas Anelka scored in Saturday’s draw with West Ham he preformed a “reverse Nazi salute”. Oddly, the reverse Nazi is not an anti-racism statement. It’s one steeped in anti-Semitism. After thousands of years of persecution, Anelka’s friend, Dieudonne M’balla M’balla, created a new way to insult Jews. It might even be trademarked.
The gesture is called the “quenelle”. It’s big in France. French media have published a photo of a man performing it outside the Toulouse school where four Jews were murdered.
France’s Sports Minister Valerie Fourneyron has condemned Anelka son Twitter calling it a “shocking provocation”. And it is to those it’s meant to hurt.
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Posted: 30th, December 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Sports | Comments (3)
Local News Watch: Dorset Pie Burns In Fire
LOCAL News Watch: The Bournemouth Echo reports:
Steak and kidney pie ‘destroyed’ in cooking fire
Destroyed!
SkyCycle: London’s New Way To Rid The Roads Of Cyclists
CAN it be true? Will cyclists be shunted upstair to a SkyCycle routeway?
SkyCycle will be 10 routes running from east London to Liverpool Street Station. The 136miles of tracks will cost around £200m. Maybe.
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Posted: 30th, December 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
When Computers Were Giant
IT BOGGLES the mind to think that computers which literally filled rooms a few decades ago couldn’t come close to the computers that easily fit in the palm of our hand today. That phone in your pocket can do much more than the giant whirring behemoths brought in on a wench in 1973… It’s an amazing advancement when you stop and think about it.
Old science fiction movies and television shows which attempted to depict the computers of tomorrow never predicted anything coming close the compactness of an iPad. They definitely overshot the artificial intelligence aspect [HAL from 2001:A Space Odyssey (1968), Colossus from Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), Proteus from The Demon Seed (1977), etc.] but seemingly overlooked the possibility that these things might get small. In other words, we knew they’d get smarter, but we always assumed they’d stay big.
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Posted: 30th, December 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Technology | Comments (6)
Milwaukee Cop Who Forced Scores Of Anal Cavity Searches At Gunpoint Sentenced to Just Two Years Jail
TO Milwaukee, where violent, perverted nutcase Michael Vagnini has been served justice:
“This gentleman violently inserted his finger into dozens of victims’ anuses. Sometimes his friends held guns to the victims’ heads to force them to comply. Why was he sentenced to just two years in prison? Because he was an officer with the Milwaukee police department!”
He probed people’s insides until they bled. In one instance, two police held a man’s arms, a third cop aimed a gun at his head and Vagnini held him in a chock hold whilst inserting his fingers inside the victim’s rectum. He wore no gloves. By law, only medical personal are allowed to conduct rectal searches.
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Franklin Graham Says God Is ‘The Only Judge’ On Homosexuality And It’s A Sin
BILLY Graham has gone to meet his maker. It’s left to his son, Franklin Graham, to explain God’s views on homosexuality. He told Meet The Press:
“God would have to shift — and God doesn’t. God’s word is the same, yesterday, today, a million years from now. This is sin. But to wink at sin and to tell somebody it’s okay when I know the consequences what will happen one day, when they have to stand before God, so I want to warn people.”
What about Pope Francis, who opined:
“If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge that person?”
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Beyond Parody: Climate Scientists Trapped In Antarctic Ice
YOU might laugh. The team who headed to Antarcticato seek out evidence of global warming have become at one with the scenery:
Professor Turney and his UNSW colleague Professor Chris Fogwill are leading a team of 60 scientists, including meteorologists, marine ecologists, oceanographers, ice-core and tree-ring specialists. The research stakes are high because the Antarctic is one of the great engines of the world’s oceans, winds and weather, especially in Australia.
Prof. Turney is the Professor of Climate Change at the University of University of New South Wales. He and his colleagues have become stuck in the ice. Why is the Akademik Shokalskiy not moving?
Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up.
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Posted: 30th, December 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Norfolk Police’s Sexist Moral Crusade Against Drinking Whilst Young
NORFOLK police have produced this video on Binge Drinking. The country is ready for the big booze off. The New Year’s Eve drinking festival looms.
What does it all mean? The film points to misery. For him. For her.
Drinking does create problems. But this video is not about crime. This is about morals. Should the woman in the film not be free to go into a pub and do as she pleases, so long as it’s legal? Is it different for girls? Should women be less liberated than men, self-censor so as not to attract the wrong sort of man? Haven’t we moved on from the days when any single woman in a pub was viewed as being a prostitute? Is her short skirt not morally correct? Are women feeble, all waiting to be attacked? Are the police paternalistic fools?
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Marion Liebig Keeps Warm In The Under The Artificial Sunshine Infra-Red Lamp – 1960
CAN sex sell anything? Yes. It can. The question was rhetorical. Anorak harks back to January 18, 1960, when Marion Liebig, Miss Hesse 1959, was keeping warm under the artificial sunshine of an bottled-gas-powered infra-red lamp in a snow-covered park in Wiesbaden, Germany, Jan. 18, 1960. The shivering bystander who forgot his swimwear and relying on the view to warm his cockles is unidentified.
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Posted: 30th, December 2013 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment
Jack Fletcher’s 21st Century House Of Wonders In West Covia, California – October 1954
ON Oct. 25, 1954, designer Jack Fletcher, 23, showed us around the 21st Century House in West Covina, Calif he shared with his wife, three-year-old daughter and twin baby sons.
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Posted: 30th, December 2013 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment
Flashback to 1952: Magnetised Soap
FLASHBACK to September 3 1952: Magnetised soap is shown to visitors to the annual inventors’ fair in Cologne, Germany, by the inventor, Franz Fuehrer, left, of Grosshesselsche, Sept. 3, 1952. The soap is built around a magnet which makes it stick to metal. The same principal is applied also to other toilet articles.
Posted: 30th, December 2013 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment
