Mar 10 Just about through the dealing with the past section, and suddenly food begins to have taste and a life of its own, rather than being just fuel for the fire. Strange things will never cease.
Mar 8 "It's time to play the music..." The greatest variety show of all time, The Muppet Show
is set to make a return to our screens. The Jim Henson Company has signed with F*X TV to develop a new show starring Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Miss Piggy and all the others. Looking through all the coverage, nothing mentions 1996's Muppets Tonight
, cancelled after one season.
Billy Bragg announces plans to release a fun single, "Take Down the Union Jack," in time for Liz Windsor's party in June. It's expected to go up against a re-release of the Sex Pistols' jubilee single, "God Save the Queen" in a battle of patriotic* songs. Bragg spoke to a Commons committee yesterday on the appointment of public figures. He said "No disrespect to you all, but I look at you there in your suits and your ties and I'm sitting here in my Clash t-shirt." I have some ideas on why people don't vote.
Friends
8.08 - TOW Brad Pitt. Clearly a case of sign the name first, worry about the approximation to a plot later.
Mar 7 Horizon
on why the Twin Towers fell. One because the central core got wiped out, the other because the side-swipe was so low. This BBC / WGBH documentary covered similar ground to a C4 Equinox
special in December, but the difference between the two collapses was fresh material. A very worthy show.
Buffy
6.10 - TOWT Overdone Metaphor. It's very rare that I agree(d) with Mighty Big TV (no link is deliberate) but this one stretched the boundaries of logic a little beyond breaking point. And it begs questions into Amy's background and how she became so powerful. One step forward, several back.
Mar 6 A couple of stories seem inextricably linked. The case of the lady who cannot breathe or move without assistance, and is giving evidence to the court to allow her to die. The case of the baby born with a facial deformation whose parents don't want to have an operation that will alter the child's appearance. Medicine *can* do these things. But all this legal action doesn't answer the question of whether medicine *should* do these things.
Tony Blair is unhappy with Republican party proposals to impose a tariff on steel entering the US. He's so unhappy that he's written a letter to Republican bloc commandant George Bush Jr. We all know that Bush Jr can't count. What makes Blair think that Bush Jr can read?
Nine of September's hijackers went through special security screenings. They were, of course, waved aboard. This makes one heck of a mockery of the "special security provisions" that the US claims to have imposed. In my experience, these amount to little more than a ban on people not travelling going to the gate, a few showcase searches, and lots of uniformed guards walking round major airports looking menacing. It's all for effect, people.
Bored of lugging computers around all day? Thinking of applying for a job? Don't send out your CV before consulting The Web Economy Bull Generator. You, too, can have streamlined revolutionary e-services. And it won't have hurt one bit.
Mar 5 Additions this week: Record of the Week - Hey Baby - No Doubt. And The FAQ - frequently asked questions, the insider jokes, frequently questioned answers, and other stuff that deserves a standing link but not a front page place. Also a slight change to the global style sheet, transitioning from ems to pixels as a unit of measurement. Apologies to the viewer who couldn't.
Two new tracks on the radio today, from Oasis and Pop Idle loser Gareth Gates. Oasis have a track called "Some Faux-Indian Rubbish", while The Anointed One has covered the North / Jarrett classic "Unchained Melody." One is a stale, predictable, badly sung version of a melody we've heard a million times before. The other is from The Annoying One. There needs to be a little less ritual and a little more fun round 'ere.
Mar 4 No boss, no dept #2, and very little work to be done. A decent catch up day, then.
chelle sets the task of coming up with a list of songs about places. Other than New York or ones in California. My list is short...
Belfast Child - Simple Minds Babylon - David Gray Jocelyn Square - Love & Money (place in Glasgow) See also THE TREE AND THE BIRD AND THE FISH AND THE BELL (Epic Sony, ESCA5372) 91 compilation album of songs about Glasgow by local acts LIVERPOOL - Frankie Goes To Hollywood (86 LP) Going Down to Liverpool - Bangles / Katrina & the Waves A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square Boston & St John's - Great Big Sea Tinseltown In The Rain - Blue Nile (Edinburgh) A Little Past Little Rock - Leeann Womack (unsure of performer) Birmingham - Amanda Marshall Amsterdam - Dutch entry at Eurovision 80 Much of SUEDE (93) namechecks places on the English south coast Roam - B52s I Ran - A Flock Of Seagulls Back in the USSR - some northern guitar group Down Under - Men At Work Caledonia - Frankie Miller Kokomo - Beach Boys Loco in Acapulco - Four Tops Most of Rita MacNeil's work names places in Atlantic Canada The Big Wheel - Runrig - lots of places named in Gaelic. Songs by the Animaniacs - Panama Canal, Yakko Sings The World, Yakko Sings the State Capitals... The King of Rock and Roll - Prefab Sprout "Hot dog, jumping frog, Alburquerque..." Panic - Smiths Vienna - Ultravox Doo-Wop in Harlem - Prefab Sprout Angel of Harlem - U2 Leningrad - Billy Joel One Night In Bangkok - Murray Head Non-specific places: The Downtown Lights - Blue Nile You Belong to the City - Glenn Frey The City is Mine - Pretenders River of Dreams - Billy Joel In My Life - that northern guitar group again