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.
Top 5 Sign Language Moments That Don’t Involve Nelson Mandela
AFTER a man, stood onstage at Nelson Mandela’s memorial waving his arms around wildly, making up sign language as he went along, leaving deaf South Africans wondering if they were watching someone being attacked by invisible wasps, it got us appreciating what those who do sign-language can do.
They appear on TV, at press conferences and as groups of children during emotional renditions of songs at opening ceremonies. They even have sign language at some festivals now.
And, with absolute and maximum respect for what they do, they can be very amusing sometimes. With that, let us look at the Top 5 signing moments.
No. The massive charlatan at Nelson Mandela’s gig doesn’t count this time round.
Sign Language Meets Donk
Donk took over small towns for a summer and, due to the nature of such a heavy beat, it could actually be perfect for deaf people. However, they shouldn’t be denied the hilarious lyrics of ‘Put A Donk On It’. One signer on TV impressively kept up with the rapid fire lyrics. A lesser human would’ve been doubled up with body cramps one verse in. This is probably the best video on the internet.
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Posted: 14th, December 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, TV & Radio | Comment
Copyright Treasure Trove: Fans Of 60s Music – A Goldmine Awaits You
THE news that rare Beatles recordings are being released on iTunes next week, all 59 tracks of it! Recordings from ’63 will be unleashed on the world, but weirdly, without the usual fanfare of usual Beatle releases.
The thing is, this is a release of necessity after changes to copyright laws are forcing them to put music out so they can retain control over it.
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Life Copying Borat: Romania Celebrates The Holocaust
THE Times of Israel reports:
A Romanian public broadcaster aired a Christmas carol celebrating the Holocaust.
TVR3 Verde, a television channel for rural communities, presented the carol on December 5 during its maiden transmission.
Sung by the Dor Transilvan ensemble, it featured the lyrics: “The kikes, damn kikes, Holy God would not leave the kike alive, neither in heaven nor on earth, only in the chimney as smoke, this is what the kike is good for, to make kike smoke through the chimney on the street.”
In a statement, TVR3 (Romanian Public Television Channel 3) distanced itself from the broadcast, saying it did not select the carol but only broadcast songs that were chosen and compiled by the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture, which belongs to the eastern county of Cluj.
TVR considers the selection “an uninspired choice and therefore notified the Cluj County Council of this,” the broadcaster’s statement read.
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Posted: 13th, December 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (4)
Spotify Launch Free Music Service For Mobiles
SPOTIFY are going allow users to pick specific songs for streaming on their mobiles as of next week in a new free service.
The Wall Street Journal have reported rumours of the new service and it is suggested that it will give you music based on your input, with users picking tracks and putting them in a playlist where you’ll be able to listen to them, on shuffle, for a limited number of listens. If your playlist isn’t long enough, Spotify will fill in the blanks with random tracks.
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Posted: 13th, December 2013 | In: Music, Reviews, The Consumer | Comment (1)
Games Publishers Stick Up For Fans Against The Internet
THERE are a lot of companies who still don’t understand the value of fan-made tributes to their products. Prince takes all his stuff off YouTube as soon as he can and some movie studios get riled at clips of films been shown. However, one industry that really understands it is the world of gaming.
YouTube is awash with walkthroughs, compilation videos, nostalgia clips and more, all made by fans for fans. The gaming community understands that it is all free publicity and enables gamers to feel at one with the games they enjoy.
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Posted: 13th, December 2013 | In: Reviews, Technology, The Consumer | Comment
The Black Dog of Depression: The WHO Takes Up Where Churchill And Johnson Left Off
THE Black Dog Dog of depression is hideous. Winston Churchill used the phrase black dog to describe his own moods.
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The Golden Age of Meat
UP UNTIL the health craze of the 1980s, your average meal consisted of meat, more meat, an additional piece of meat, and one more piece of meat for good measure garnished with a tiny fleck of vegetable matter.
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Posted: 13th, December 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, The Consumer | Comment
North Korea Executes Kim Jong-un’s ‘Despicable Human Scum’ Of An Uncle
NORTH Koreans leader Kim Jong-un has approved the execution of his uncle Chang Sung Taek for “acts of treachery”.
The Korean Central News Agency said Jang wanted to be Supreme Leader, seeing the death of Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, in December 2011 as a chance to take the throne. He tried “to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state”.
Whoever writes the North Koreans Press releases is a master of the bombastic. Jang is the “traitor to the nation for all ages”. He is ‘’worse than a dog”. He is “despicable human scum”.
The White House says this is “another example of the extreme brutality of the North Korean regime”.
That the’s US that executes its prisoners.
Still, the kcna’s Press Officer has more to say:
DPRK People’s Yearning for Kim Jong Il Grows Deeper with Snowfall
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) — There has been a heavy fall of snow here on Wednesday and Thursday. The snowfall deepens the Korean people’s yearning for leader Kim Jong Il, who left them amid heavy snowfall two years ago.
On the day of the ceremony of bidding the last farewell to him, citizens took off their clothes and put them on the snow-covered streets where the hearse was passing. In fact leader Kim Jong Il had made a ceaseless journey of field guidance for the wellbeing of the people, in disregard of weather conditions, until the last moments of his life. Though he was in bad health condition in December 2011, he continued his field guidance.
The Korean people had always wished him good health, singing such songs as “Where Are You, Dear General?” and “We Believe in You as in Heaven”. Witnessing the snowfall, they are now hardening their will to carry out Kim Jong Il’s behests on building a thriving socialist nation without fail, under the guidance of Marshal Kim Jong Un.
Photo: North Korean subway commuters gather around a public newspaper stand on the train platform in Pyongyang
And:
DPRK People Determined to Remain Loyal Only to Kim Jong Un
Pyongyang, December 12 (KCNA) — As already reported, the chance and alien elements who had made their ways into the Workers’ Party of Korea committed anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts. They expanded their forces through factional moves and dared challenge the party while attempting to undermine the unitary leadership of the party.
In this regard, KCNA had an interview with teachers and students of Kim Il Sung University.
Paek Chol, an official of the university, said: “The purge of the Jang Song Thaek group of anti-party and counter-revolutionary elements made our party and revolutionary ranks purer. It is the height of folly for them, bereft of elementary sense of moral obligation and conscience, to dare undermine the single-minded unity provided by Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.”
A sledgehammer blow should be delivered at anyone who goes against the single-minded unity of our people around supreme leader Kim Jong Un.
The recent case has hardened the people’s will to remain loyal only to him.
Pak Kum Sun, a teacher, said: “The group’s acts remind me of the past in which some anti-party, counter-revolutionary factionists who had sneaked into the revolutionary ranks challenged the party whenever the Korean revolution was undergoing trials.”
The purge of the group represents public mindset to invariably follow the respected Marshal Kim Jong Un.
No one can dampen their strong will to hold him in high esteem as the center of unity and leadership.
Sim Kang Sik, a student, said: “The single-minded unity of the leader, the party and the masses based on the great idea is the most precious treasure that can be bartered with nothing. No matter how the situation may change, I will follow Kim Jong Un only.”
And if he’s the only leader left, then following him will be all the easier…
Australian Dad Sympathises With Terribly Bee-Stung Son
OTHER parents: Australian father shares with the TV news his views on his badly bee-stung son:
Louisa Hodkin And Alessandro Calcioli Marry In A Scientology Church
SCIENTOLOGY is a religion. We know this because Louisa Hodkin and her fiancee Alessandro Calcioli went to the Supreme Court in London, where they won their battle marry in a Church of Scientology chapel. Scientologist Hodkin took her fight to the UK’s highest court after a High Court judge ruled that services run by Scientologists were not ”acts of worship”. Five Supreme Court justices analysed the case at a hearing in London in July and ruled in her favour, announcing that the Scientology church was a “place of meeting for religious worship”.
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Scene Of The Day: London By Fog
The Palace of Westminster shrouded in fog early this morning, central London. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Why Worry About Bitcoin? Why Not Just Start Your Own Currency?
I ALWAYS feel remarkable clever when I find the Financial Times agrees with one of my ideas. It seems like confirmation that I’ve had a good idea sorta thing. And here they’re saying that investing in Bitcoin doesn’t look all that good an idea. For you can start up your own digital currency instead.
Buying Bitcoins while their price is so bubbly is nothing more than a gamble. Investing in other online currencies, or in companies that can help the Bitcoin economy develop, looks like a sensible use of a venture capitalist’s money.
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Posted: 12th, December 2013 | In: Money, Reviews, Technology | Comment (1)
Watch The Top 10 Twitter Spikes Of 2013
THE Football Association are very disappointed that numbers of people taking up football are dwindling. It seems less kids want to run around in dreadful weather, getting lumps kicked out of them and paying their subs for the privilege.
In completely unrelated news, football took over Twitter in 2013 and dominated the spikes of activity the site had.
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Posted: 12th, December 2013 | In: Reviews, Sports, Technology | Comment
Celebrity Sex Offenders Get Longer Prison Sentences Than Your Local Priest, Policeman Or Dad
THIS is insane. And unfair. And mad. Sky News reports:
Celebrities who use their public image to commit a sexual offence could soon face longer prison terms.
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Posted: 12th, December 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (7)
‘Snuggle House’ Gets Closed Because Everyone Thought It Was Filled With Prostitutes
HAVE you heard of the unique business is Wisconsin called Snuggle House? Chances are, you haven’t. The idea behind the place was to offer snuggles to anyone who wanted one. For £37 an hour. You could have a little intimacy and get your hair stroked and then be on your way.
That’s slightly odd, but kinda nice, right?
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Posted: 12th, December 2013 | In: Money, Reviews, The Consumer | Comment
A Quick Message And Death Threat From Doris Day
DORIS Day has something to say:
Posted: 12th, December 2013 | In: Celebrities, Flashback | Comment
Was Nelson Mandela Sign Language Man Thamsanqa Jantjie Talking To You?
WHEN Nelson Mandel died, he did so when the news cycle had moved on. No longer were hundreds of journalists waiting outside his home for him to die so that they be the first to lower that voices and paid tribute to ‘Madiba‘ the Magical Negro. He also caught the Mandela Memorial even organisers on the hop so much so that they booked Thamsanqa Jantjie (aka Thamsanqa Dyantyi) provide a running commentary for the deaf. Jantjie became a laughing stock for his signing that hinted at a misspent youth watching silent comedies.
And then he spoke. He said he had been suffering a schizophrenic episode:
“There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation. I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry, it’s the situation I found myself in. Life is unfair. This illness is unfair. Anyone who doesn’t understand this illness will think that I’m just making this up.”
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Posted: 12th, December 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (3)
India Outlaws Homosexuality Because Great Britain Told Them It Was Unnatural
INDIA has reinstated a law that criminalises homosexuality. Gay sex can land you in prison for 10 years.
India’s Supreme Court overruled a 2009 order which had removed the ban on gay sex. That had undone an 1860 British law. But the Supreme Court ruled that the ancient law which prohibits “carnal sex against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” stands.
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Baby P: Tracey Connelly’s Hair And Other Evils
THE Sun is in danger of being labelled a stalker, obsessed with Tracey Connelly’s hair.
Connelly is of course the revolting woman who allowed her young son Peter to be abused by sadists as she surfed the web for filth.
Six years after the child died, Connelly is living in a bail hostel.
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This Just Isn’t The Way To Make An Economic Argument
DEAR Lord this is piffle:
This year, state government subsidies to corporations, partnerships, and other businesses in New York state alone will total $1.7 billion, triple the giveaways in 2005, according to the new study. That’s $235 taken from the average Empire State household this year and redistributed to business owners on the theory that redistribution will create jobs.
During those years, the number of jobs in New York declined, the state’s official jobs data website shows. The total number of New Yorkers employed in 2012 was down 175,000, or 2 percent, compared with 2005.
This is used to show that tax incentives to companies does not provide jobs. For, as you can see, we’ve been providing more subsidies but there are fewer jobs!
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At Last! Lie Detectors In Santa’s Grotto
FOR years, lying little swine have got away with lying to Santa, saying they’ve been good all year when in fact, their school reports say something very different.
At long last, children in shopping centres in the UK are being asked to take a lie detector test before being granted an audience with His Holiness, Father Christmas.
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Posted: 11th, December 2013 | In: Reviews, Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
Nelson Mandela’s Fake Sign Language Interpreter Speaks Out
THOSE of you following the sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s televised memorial service should know that the alien bongi is not yet ready to cook the green bus. The interpreter was, by many accounts, a fake, signing gibberish as US President Barack Obama and other spoke at the FNB Stadium.
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5 Funky Black Yuletide Grooves
LET’S face facts: Christmas in 1960s and 70s pop culture was presented as lily white as the wind-driven snow. Holiday specials consisted of lots of smiling Caucasians in festive sweaters singing their little hearts out. Most Christmas tunes on the radio were tailor made for the likes of Pat Boone and Andy Williams – two individuals who I believe legally patented the term “white bread”. I mean, I like Perry Como as much as the next guy, but sometimes it’s nice to funk things up with a little afro-centric vibe (and, no, Johnny Mathis does not count).
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Posted: 11th, December 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comment (1)
Madiba Watch: A List Of Non-South Africans Calling Mandela By His Tribal Name
MADIBA Watch: a look at non-South African journalists and politicians calling Nelson Mandela ‘Madiba’. Sure they have a deep link to the traditional Xhosa culture, but non-South Africans addressing Mandela as Madiba can look a bit trying-too-hard. They can sound like a bit of a wally:
Jaclyn Schiff, a South African, explains who can call Mandela ‘Madiba’:
1. You are one of his children
2. You’ve been married to him at some point
3. You’ve played on South Africa’s national rugby team, the Springboks
4. You hold a current, official, real South African passport
5. You are married to someone who fits at least one of the items on this list
6. Your name is Bill Clinton and you’re a former U.S. president
7. You hold an MFA in modern dance with a specialization in the Madiba Shuffle
8. You’re former Rolling Stone reporter and recent Time managing editor Rick Stengel and you collaborated on Mandela’s autobiography
9. You played Mandela in a Hollywood movie
10. Your collection of Batik Mandela shirts numbers at least 1,000
11. You spent the night of May 5, 2013, camped outside Mandela’s home in Houghton
12. You were in Cape Town on February 11, 1990 to cheer Mandela’s release from prison
13. You know Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika by heart
14. You sing Shosholoza to encourage your favorite sports team
15. You know how to pronounce Mandela’s given name, Rolihlahla
All good. But I’d just stick at number 4.
Photo:
A woman takes a picture with her phones of a statuette of former South African President Nelson Mandela with a sign in front of it reading in Italian “Ciao Madiba” (Goodbye Madiba), referring to Mandela’s clan name, displayed amongst other statuettes of famous personalities, including Pope Francis, left, in the shop of an artisan of nativity scenes, in Naples’ San Gregorio Armeno street, Italy, Friday, Dec. 6, 2013. Mandela died Thursday at his home in Johannesburg at the age of 95.
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Posted: 11th, December 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (18)
Free Speech Under Attack: Police Arrest Man For Nelson Mandela Joke
IN the UK you can be arrested for a tweet or a Facebook comment. You can be jailed, too. Liam Stacey (above) was imprisoned for saying that critically ill black footballer Fabrice Muamba should die on the Spurs pitch. But the law is not equal because people who said Emma West should be murdered were not arrested. Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, were jailed for four years jail for using Facebook to plan a riot. No-one responded to their online call. Like The Clash, they triggered no riot.
Stacey’s tweets were revolting. The Facebook duo are pillocks. Equally twattish is Leicester City footballer Michael Ball. He was fined £6,000 by the FA for tweeting this about Antony Cotton, a gay actor on Coronation Street: “That f**king queer. Get back to your sewing machine in Corrie, you moaning bastard.”
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Posted: 10th, December 2013 | In: Reviews, Technology | Comments (4)
