October 7, 2006
[comedy] Let’s Play Numberwang! … ‘Numberwang accepts no responsibility for any loss of personal items, injury or sudden death.’ [via Diamond Geezer]
September 27, 2006
[tv] Grace Dent’s TV OD — Dent’s blog on this year’s Big Brother was the best thing about the show – Radio Times now have her doing a column on TV every week … On You Are What You Eat: ‘Small Scottish woman chases fat people with a box of poo until they cry and eat salad.’
September 15, 2006
[vids] Viral Video Chart … ‘The world’s most talked about videos…currently tracking YouTube, MySpace and Google Video’ [via Waxy’s Links]
September 13, 2006
[myspace] Some MySpace profiles I’ve spotted recently: Mitchell and Webb (plus Super Hans, Mark and Jeremy), Ed Brubaker and Geoff Johns.
September 1, 2006
[tv] E4 Sopranos Ad on YouTube — a nicely done parody of the opening credits of the Sopranos. [via Tom]
August 31, 2006
[tv] Till Death Do Us Part — the Guardian takes a look at the Sopranos as Season 6 begins in the UK … ‘Many fan pages in cyberspace claim Chase has planted within the drama a systematic symbolism involving food. These web-heads note that when a character eats or breaks eggs, death almost always follows: Tony, for instance, accidentally steps on a carton just before ordering the murder of his cousin. Chase, when I interviewed him recently, insisted that these people were talking out of a hen’s behind: there is no intentional omelette sub-plot. Dr Melfi, however, would perhaps conclude that all this egg stuff is welling up for some reason from Chase’s subconscious.’
August 29, 2006
[tv] Jim Rockford’s Answering Machine — a list of the messages left for Jim Rockford on the opening credits of The Rockford Files … ‘Jim, this is Cal of the Leave The Whales Alone Club. Our protest cruise leaves from the pier Saturday at 3 AM. The whales need you, Jim.’ [via Metafilter]
August 23, 2006
[tv] Naked Keith Chegwin hits the Heights of ‘Memorably Rotten’ TV — a list of the Top 10 Worst TV Programmes. The list is:
- Naked Jungle .. Cheggers Plays Cock – NSFW Picture.
- Minipops .. Pan’s People for Paedophiles.
- Triangle .. 80’s Glamour on a North Sea Ferry.
- Quickfire Balls .. Bingo On TV.
- Annie’s Bar .. Seems totally unmemorable rather than awful. YMMV.
- Wright Here, Wright Now .. I suspect the compiler of this list supports Spurs.
- Love Thy Neighbour .. Racist 70’s Sitcom.
- Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends .. Is this really that awful?
- Through The Keyhole .. LLoyd Grossman is immensely annoying.
- A Year In Provence .. The BBC and John Thaw don’t mix?
August 22, 2006
[comment] Charlie Brooker’s Columns on Comment is Free — On Dark Matter: ‘There are millions of people who essentially consist of dark matter; unknowable swaths of the population I have never encountered and will never understand. People who watch Emmerdale, for example. Emmerdale is Britain’s third most popular soap opera – second, actually, when EastEnders is having an off day. It attracts something in the region of 5 million viewers, which means approximately one in 12 Brits regularly tunes in. Yet I’ve never actually met anyone who watches it.’ [via linkbunnies.org]
August 11, 2006
[ukblogs] YouTube: Tom Reynolds, of Random Acts of Reality on ITV’s London News.
August 6, 2006
[soundboard] Curb Your Enthusiasm Soundboard: ‘I might be losing a testicle.’
July 30, 2006
[tv] Useful Bookmark: What’s on Film Four Today?
July 21, 2006
[funny] A New Pope — a great viral video from Adam Buxton … ‘Coverage Of A Sci-Fi Ceremony In A Galaxy Far, Far Away…’ [via jwz]
July 11, 2006
[bb] Meanwhile, in the Big Brother House… ‘After winning the tennis task, the house is furnished with lots of alcohol and a small sense of drunken bonhomie fills the air. “I know!” shouts Mikey, “Let’s play Truth or Dare!” “Yes! What a great idea!” shouts everyone else. There must be a box on the Big Brother application form that says: “Despite being over the age of 12, do you still think it’s a really good idea to play any drinking game with a title like Spin the Bottle/Ten Minutes in the Closet/Bap-Grope/Touch the Snake, or any other party game that will no doubt result in someone needing 72-hour emergency contraception? Tick yes or no.”‘
July 2, 2006
[wikipedia] My Wikipedia Contrail: Richard Belzer — random cast look-up during Law & Order: Special Victims Unit … ‘Belzer and Henry Winkler (most notably the Fonz on Happy Days) are cousins.’
[photos] On D’Israeli’s Flickr photostream: A Plug Cyberman.
June 30, 2006
[comics] Alan Moore TV interview from 1987 — watch young Alan Moore flipping his hair back all the time as Gaz Top interviews him about Swamp Thing and plugs the recently released (at the time) Watchmen.
June 29, 2006
[wikipedia] My Wikipedia Contrail: Seinfeld … Jason Alexander on George: ‘…the true root of [George’s] character was realized upon a conversation between Alexander and David earlier on in the series, in which Alexander questions a script saying, “This could never happen to anyone and even if it did, no human being would react like this” to which David replied, “What do you mean? This happened to me once and this is exactly how I reacted!”‘
June 26, 2006
[tv] Mr Noseybonk in the Greenhouse — kids TV in the 80’s. I’d completly forgotten about Mr Noseybonk. Probably for the best… [via Venusberg]
June 20, 2006
[bb7] Grace Dent’s Big Brother Blog 
— well written blog about Big Brother from the Radio Times … ‘Mikey goes to bed clutching a photo. Instead of sweet nothings and a peachy bum, Mikey is lulled to sleep by the sound of Glyn vigorously excavating his right nostril and dislodging phlegm.’
— well written blog about Big Brother from the Radio Times … ‘Mikey goes to bed clutching a photo. Instead of sweet nothings and a peachy bum, Mikey is lulled to sleep by the sound of Glyn vigorously excavating his right nostril and dislodging phlegm.’ June 3, 2006
[tv] BBGossip.com — one stop shop for Big Brother updates, gossip and chat.
— one stop shop for Big Brother updates, gossip and chat. June 1, 2006
[telly] Paul Daniels’ eBay Transactions — a blog forensically tracking Paul’s activities on eBay … ‘On April 26th 2006, Paul Daniels purchased a book for only 22p! This has got to be one of Paul’s best ebay experiences ever. So, he paid 88p for postage taking the total to £1.10 and the book looks pretty ropey… it’s a 1964 pot boiler called Jealousy…’ [via Mr Biggs]
May 31, 2006
[dvd] How to convert episodes from a TV Series DVD to DivX/XviD with ease using free software — a simple howto using Windows software.
[oil] Rob Newman’s History of Oil — 45 minutes long but well worth it … ‘Rob Newman gets to grips with the wars and politics of the last hundred years – but rather than adhering to the history we were fed at school, he places oil centre stage.’ (Also mentions Peak Oil and gaylord tennis).
May 27, 2006
[bb] Charlie Brooker on Big Brother: ‘Of course, there’s one bit of knowledge Shahbaz can comfort himself with: whatever his faults, at least he isn’t Sezer. Sezer: yuk. Just what we need on our screens: a pint-sized, pixel-eyed, monotone, priapic, hair-gelled rodent, so in love with himself he probably masturbates to videos of himself masturbating. And it’s misplaced adoration…’
May 23, 2006
[bb] Diamond Geezer nicely sums up the contestants on Big Brother 7. … On Shahbaz: ‘unemployable flirt. camp tactile nightmare. hysterical egomaniac.’
May 10, 2006
[business] What does Amstrad actually do? … ‘[Paul Tulip], who said of himself, “I think I’m brilliant”, had not exactly done scrupulous research before going on the show. Quizzed on air about what Amstrad actually does, he replied with his usual stirring confidence. “Computers.” “Amstrad doesn’t actually make computers now,” came the reply. “They distribute them,” Paul tried, gamely. “They don’t.”‘
April 26, 2006
[bbc] BBC Programme Catalogue — the BBC’s Infax programme information catalogue available on the Internet … ‘Details of 946,614 BBC radio & TV programmes, dating back 75 years.’
April 11, 2006
[tv] Deal or No Deal Noel Edmonds Figure Playset — for sale on Ebay. … ‘Remember folks this is a one of a kind auction! Now deal or no deal!’ [via Feeling Listless]
April 9, 2006
[tv] Rik Mayall – This Much I know …
‘After my quad-bike accident I was dead for five days. Jesus was only dead for three, so I beat him – 17 April 1998 was the day I was sent back from heaven. I remember waking up from the coma and there were four nurses wrestling with me, ramming a thingy up my knob. That’s quite a good memory, actually.’
March 31, 2006
[24] A Random Fact About Jack Bauer … ‘Jack Bauer was once charged with attempted murder in Los Angeles County, but the judge dropped all charges because Jack Bauer never “attempts” murder.’
March 21, 2006
[soundboard] IT Crowd Soundboard: ‘Computers Broken.’
March 13, 2006
March 9, 2006
[tv] Deal or No Deal Fanatics — weblog covering Noel Edmunds popular new gameshow on Channel 4 … ‘Over weeks of watching DOND it has become clear to me that those who attach emotions and dreams to the success of their play, seem to fair less well compared to those who can remain detached and unemotional. This reminded me of a couple of texts I read many years ago, one by Sun Wu, the other by Shinmen Musashi…’ [via Feeling Listless]
February 17, 2006
February 8, 2006
[comics] Mutants in Mega City One Video — a video of Carl and Suggs from Madness performing as the Fink Brothers from Judge Dredd. Contains bits of the video for the song plus a confused appearance by them on a Saturday morning kids TV program called Saturday Starship circa 1985.
January 28, 2006
[tv] Forensic criminology, the ZX Spectrum Way — how did the sound of the loading screen from Sabre Wulf get into CSI: Miami? … ‘Their expensive new XRF machine appears to be a Sinclair Spectrum making tape loading noises. But as if that’s not geeky enough… The combined forces of comp.sys.sinclair have identified the data in question as the loading screen to Sabre Wulf by Ultimate.’
January 18, 2006
[politics] Day 13 … and Things aren’t going to Plan in the House — Simon Hoggart on George Galloway … ‘Take the scenes last week when he pretended to be a cat, licking imaginary cream from the cupped hands of Rula Lenska, while she murmured to him “here pussy, pussy, pussy, yes, ooh, little pussy … you’ve got cream all over your whiskers!” (In the words of the old Grolsch lager ad, “Stop! This porno film is not ready yet!”) You can be sure that episode will never be forgotten, and every time Mr Galloway rises to repeat his grand denunciation of George Bush and Tony Blair, he will be met with a chorus of miaows.’
January 10, 2006
[funny] David Hasselhoff is the AntiChrist … ‘He has even less musical talent than John Tesh… His television shows are unwatchable… and yet He’s one of the world’s most popular stars… how has He done it? I submit David Hasselhoff is the AntiChrist and I have the proof…’
January 7, 2006
[politics] Get Back To Work, George — find out how much George Galloway is costing the British taxpayer whilst he’s in Celebrity Big Brother.
November 29, 2005
[celebs] Finding Stalking Billie Piper — a Blogger’s Odyssey in search of Billie Piper … ‘Previously: Triforce decides it wants to find Billie Biper. Uses Google. Tracks down approximate location. Decides to go drinking and find her. And keep her.’
November 28, 2005
[bbc] BBC pulls plug on Dalek Lesbian Romp Flick — DVD pulled from eBay … ‘The director of Terry Nation’s estate, Tim Hancock, told the paper: “The reason the Daleks are still the most sinister thing in the universe is because they do not make things like porn. They weren’t ever intended to be sexual creatures. It’s simple, Daleks do not do porn.”‘
October 29, 2005
[soundboard] David Brent Soundboard: ‘…it’s not an insult though is it?’ [via linkbunnies.org]
September 24, 2005
[tv] The TV Hit That No One Watches — the Guardian on Monk … ‘Working from a memorably high-concept tagline – “Obsessive. Compulsive. Detective” – the scriptwriters contrive all manner of amusing plot twists. Faced with a chaotic crime scene, Monk’s immediate instinct is to tidy it up. His fear of heights – his irrational terrors also include milk, crowds, needles, lifts and mushrooms – is no get-out when he has to investigate a murder on a ferris wheel. Or when he has to join the customary chase up a fire escape (after much torment, he pulls down his sleeves to protect his hands from the grimy rails). Part of the charm is how the series mines his condition for incidental humour rather than mocking it outright. Part of it is watching [Tony] Shalhoub, a consummate character actor, working with his co-stars…’
September 15, 2005
[forensics] Television Shows Scramble Forensic Evidence — article on how forensically-aware criminals are trying to game scientists collecting evidence … ‘There is an increasing trend for criminals to use plastic gloves during break-ins and condoms during rapes to avoid leaving their DNA at the scene. Dostie describes a murder case in which the assailant tried to wash away his DNA using shampoo. Police in Manchester in the UK say that car thieves there have started to dump cigarette butts from bins in stolen cars before they abandon them. “Suddenly the police have 20 potential people in the car,” says Rutty.’ [via As Above]
September 13, 2005
[tv] Warren Ellis on CSI: ‘[CSI] …has gotten genuinely odd in its old age. I saw a re-run from last season recently, and there’s a two-minute sequence of William Petersen sluicing blood off a body on a metal tray put to “Sfevn-G-Englar” by Sigur Ros. That’s all it is. Slowed down visuals of water washing blood off brushed steel. Twenty years ago, that would’ve been an art film. Now it’s a musical interlude in a major US network show.’
September 12, 2005
[tv] The Church of Klugman — this blog wholeheartedly endorses worship of the star of Quincy, M.E. … ‘This is a brand new religion – a religion worshiping a man who is a legend, a myth, who brings a new social conscience to our troubled times.’ [via Progressive Ruin]
August 30, 2005
[cartoon] The ORIGINAL Illustrated Catalog Of ACME Products — suppliers of merchandise to Wile E. Coyote. ‘…from Ultimatum Dispatchers to Batman outfits, ACME has set the standard for excellence.’ [via Robot Wisdom]
August 6, 2005
[tv] After the Crash — preview of Lost from the Guardian (which is just about to be transmitted on on British TV) … ‘Lost […] is a fantasy in which Americans (and, by extension, America) survive a terrible aeroplane incident but the society that results is more savage, suspicious and selfish than what existed before. To sneak so tough and thoughtful a theme into a mainstream drama series that was created by crossing reality TV with a disaster movie must be regarded as a major achievement.’
[tv] Sky at Night — Recent Real Media Archive of the science TV series Sky at Night presented by Patrick Moore. [via Metafilter]