Category: Uncategorized Page 43 of 122

BBC Writersroom Hit The Road Again

On 18/03/2009

Those free-wheelin’ road-burnin’ script-readin’ folks at the BBC Writersroom are hitting the highway again, and have announced new roadshow dates in the following locations:

– Bristol on Thursday 26 March 2009 from 5:30pm – 7:00pm
– Leicester on Thursday 7 May 2009 from 5:30pm – 7:00pm

As is usual for these things, you need to get your name on the guest list, and you can do that by e-mailing writersroom.events@bbc.co.uk with the subject line ‘[Location] Roadshow’.

It is, as ever, free to attend, and you can even save postage money by handing them your latest work of genius (as long as it’s a script, that is – they don’t assess sculptures or pieces of abstract dance, as far as I know).

Full and frankly naked details can be found here. Though I might have lied about the naked.

More roadshows to come in Birmingham, Sheffield and Liverpool, and you should watch the above, not-at-all naked link, for more details.

That is all. As you were. Or are. Or indeed will be.

Reluctant Post, As It Might Be Seen As Providing The Oxygen Of Publicity, But…

By John

On 18/03/2009

In Fish In A Barrel, Pictures, Uncategorized, venting

… seriously, I wasn’t overkeen on providing yet more coverage of a topic which is already very much covered elsewhere, and yet another post which just makes a cheap joke about something I’ve spotted, but I felt I had to comment on the latest issue of OK! magazine.

It is, as you can see, a tribute to Jade Goody, with the dates of her life and death given on the cover. This strikes me as rather questionable for two related reasons:

1. As of this writing, Jade Goody is still alive (very ill, granted, but alive), so they could have waited.

2. If they had waited a week, it would have meant that their Jade Goody Official Tribute Issue would not have been issue number 666.

I mean, come on…

The Best Things In Life Are Free, But You Can Give This To The Birds And Bees

By John

On 17/03/2009

In Fish In A Barrel, Pictures, TV, Uncategorized, Unintelligent Design

Free (well, you have to collect tokens) with the News Of The World last weekend: a pair of hair straighteners, as demonstrated by Nikki Sanderson, ex of Coronation Street, in the picture here.

Well, they’re saying that they’re hair straighteners, but on the basis of the picture, you’ll be getting something more like a stapler.

I can only hope Nikki doesn’t have to be anywhere in any kind of hurry, as with hair that long, and a pair of ‘straighteners’ that small, I think it’ll be a while yet before she’s ready to go out.

Please Stand By

By John

On 16/03/2009

In Personal, Pictures, Uncategorized

If any of you good people have sent me an e-mail in the last 24 hours or so, please be aware that my e-mail provider appears to be suffering from… well, let’s be kind and call them ‘technical difficulties’.

I’m told it should be sorted out by the end of the day, but until then, please don’t go thinking I’m ignoring you. It’s not you, it’s me. Well, my online techy buddies, and they’re normally so good I’m reluctant to start having a go at them in public.

Anyway, in the meantime, here’s some music…

(Fade Up: Wheels by The String-A-Longs)

God Gave Rock And Roll To You, To Me, To You

By John

On 16/03/2009

In Film, Pictures, Twins, Uncategorized

The chap who appears to be naked on the poster for the rock film Anvil, and Barry Chuckle.

Is there a third Chuckle Brother, or should Anvil be looking for an extra guitar?

Six Of One(self)

By John

On 15/03/2009

In Link, Memes, Personal, Uncategorized

Chris ‘Not Gareth’ Hale has tagged me with a meme, the rules of which go as follows:

1) Put the link of the person who tagged you on your blog.

2) Write the rules.

3) Mention 6 things or habits of no real importance about you. Please see below.

4) Tag 6 persons adding their links directly.

5) Alert the persons that you tagged them.

Things of no real importance? Oh, I think I can do that…

a) I’ve been a vegetarian for about 20 years now, but as a teenager I worked in McDonalds (albeit for the grand total of four weekends).

b) Since about the age of 15, I’ve tended to use the word ‘they’ as a gender non-specific pronoun, even in the singular. It may be wrong in grammar terms, but I think it’s less clumsy than ‘s/he’.

c) At school, I was the only boy in the ‘top 6’ recorder players. Much of the time, I’m sorry to say, I was miming.

d) My claim in my blog profile to climb mountains is more true than it appears at first glance; I’ve trekked to the summits of Ararat and Kilimanjaro, Mount Everest Base Camp (the Nepal side)and am currently making plans to go to the top of Toubkal in Morocco. I aim to climb all Seven Summits in my lifetime.

e) Appropriately enough given the title of this post, I was a member of the Prisoner appreciation society ‘Six Of One’ before I’d even seen an episode of it. I was right about the programme, but I have to say that it’s unlikely that I’d join it again.

f) I live in East London, within sight of the winking panopticon eye of One Canada Square (also known as Canary Wharf). When I catch sight of it, I find I am unable to look away until I’ve seen the light at its peak wink, at least once.

Okay, there’s yer six. Now, I shall pick my victims…

Of course, I shall reach out and touch M’colleague. He loves to be tagged. And touched, but that’s another matter.

Also, I’d be interested to know some trivial things about Laurence, as I’ve exchanged a fair number of e-mails with him recently, and he seems a thoroughly nice chap.

Using this meme to try to provoke Lianne into responding would be fairly reprehensible, wouldn’t it? Perhaps, but that’s what I’m doing. She’s been virtually silent for an alarmingly long time.

Speaking of nudging people to provoke a response, friend and expert photographer Toby has set up a blog, but not posted on it yet. Mayhap this meme-ing could be the nudge needed to set him off a-posting? I hope so…

Penultimately, hello to Lara, who I met the other week. As they say in’t north, consider thissen memed.

And last but quite leastly, on his blog Piers claims to be ‘ludicrously lovely’. Is this true? I don’t know, but let’s see if we can gain some insight into the workings of his mind.

Right, I’m off to tell people that they’re it…

[Edited to add trivial fact (f) – clearly, I consider being able to count a trivial matter, and beneath me. I am an idiot.]

Memo To Marketing: Did You Look At The Title Of The Item In Question?

By John

On 14/03/2009

In Fish In A Barrel, Pictures, Uncategorized

The item’s called The Who Sell Out and it’s being re-released in an expanded ‘deluxe edition’ ?

Oh, okay, there’s no irony or paradox there at all.

Who Gives A Damn About Comic Relief

By John

On 13/03/2009

In BBC, Hype, Link, Uncategorized

The absence of a question mark in this post will, hopefully, provide something of a clue to my feelings on this subject; I like Comic Relief a great deal, and I think it’s also very wise that 50% of the money raised goes to UK-based charities, and the other 50% to overseas work, because it rather defuses the whole “charity begins at home” argument which some people use instead of saying “I don’t want to give to charity”.

Granted, a lot of the comedy in the televised sections of Comic Relief doesn’t really float my boat, and I suffer a kind of emotional whiplash when they go from a Blackadder sketch to a film about children dying of some preventable illness, but that’s more my psychology than anything else, and it’s all aimed at making people’s lives better, for crying out loud. You can’t question that motivation without seeming curmudgeonly (even if it is regrettable that there’s a need for charities at all).

So, I support Comic Relief (in both the abstract and practical sense), and was suitably impressed with the group of celebrities who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for Comic Relief (you can find more details here), as I did the same thing a few years ago, and it’s hard work, so I recommend you sling them a bit of money by way of a well-done.

However, as well as the red noses and novelty singles which you can buy to funnel your money to Comic Relief, something which appears to have received slightly less publicity is the fact that they’ve made various Comic Relief Specials available to buy via iTunes. There’s a Vicar of Dibley one, a Mr Bean one, and a couple of others, but to my mind, most notable is the fact that you can, for the very reasonable sum of £1.49, download a copy of Doctor Who And The Curse Of Fatal Death.

Just in case you’re not familiar with it, this 23-minute special was the first televised DW story written by Steven Moffatt, and features a number of people you might have heard of (surname hints: Atkinson, Sawalha, Pryce, Grant, Broadbent, Lumley). Is it part of the Who canon? I dunno, but it’s not been released on DVD, and so here’s your chance to have a look at it, have a laugh, and some money to go to a worthwhile cause. If I may put it so crudely, cop this button-style-link (tsk, after that lack of manners, I hope it works):

If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ll see the true meaning of the title of this post; if the Doctor, a fictional character, can support Comic Relief, those of us in this reality can probably make our own contribution, wouldn’t you say?

It Could Be A Hoax, But If So It’s One Involving A Lot Of Work, Akin To The (Signed) Hitler (Grail) Diaries

By John

On 12/03/2009

In Film, Link, Uncategorized, Writing

Shamelessly swiped from John August’s blog, a link to a document which purports to be a 125-page transcript of the discussions between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan which led to the creation of Indiana Jones, and the writing of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It could be fake, but if it is, someone’s gone to a fair amount of trouble – see what you think by having a look at it here.

Oh, and I’d also recommend the analysis by blogger MysteryMan here (he also provides an alternative link to the document, though that may involve pop-ups, which I know some of you are less keen on).

Unintelligent Design? This Is Just a Gut Reaction, Admittedly, But…

By John

On 11/03/2009

In Fish In A Barrel, Link, Pictures, Uncategorized, Unintelligent Design

… is this really a good idea?

It has the feel of a wrong turn to me, in all honesty. I would have thought a one-line display (even built into the headphone cord, as the new controls are) would have been more advisable.

We’ll see if people go for it, I guess, but it’s certainly not a feature I’d want. Perhaps because, to my not-well mind, it all appears rather reminiscent of MC Hawking.

Then again, maybe it’s just an April Fool’s Day gag that was accidentally released three weeks early…