Read this nice article at the Telegraph website - and don’t forget to click the big image to watch the video.
Nicely done Guinness - I am sure these people had no cars, furniture or books left after the shot was done.
Thanks to Edosan for another insanely great link.
I really really really don’t like cars. Never owned one, probably never will. So TV shows about cars hardly appeal to me … unless it’s done in style with that dry British humor …
In this episode our three heroes try to cross one African nation with the shabbiest and oldest second hand cars they could buy off the natives. A highly amusing adventure unfolds … enjoy!
Have you seen this men? He is suspected to work on weapons of mass destruction. Maybe like his Pakistani counterparts he used his international connection and fame to build a network of atomic evil. Can we really control a sixty year old technology from not spreading?
If you are watching US politics these days and live outside the US - then this YouTube user will be of great help to you. He or she not only collects all the relevant CSPAN broadcasts, but also debates, interviews and pundits comments on all the mainstream channels including Fox, MSNBC and ABC etc.
Sure it’s all from a ‘libuuural’ viewpoint, but you simply watch the videos and form your own opinion.
By the way, it always so funny, when some Americans say their media is all right wing and the other political side complains it’s all left wing. From my European perspective it’s almost ALL bad news reporting.
Anyway, thank you CSPANJUNKIEdotORG!
I really hate it when movie studios release a few months after the ‘normal’ edition an additional super duper extra bonus golden collectors edition.
I really really really dig Twin Peaks, but do I really need to see lost clips of Agent Cooper on the toilet or some video clips from a nerdy Twin Peaks convention?
The quality of the normal DVDs is actually brilliant. The digital remastering really improved the quality a lot! And Twin Peaks itself is as cool, intriguing and charming to watch as evaaaar!
Thanks Moira for that tip.
Usually I am not into reviewing single TV episodes - but last nights Boston Legal was outstanding. It concluded a story arc about Joseph Washington - who died in this episode.
The overall theme of this story arc was conviction and forgiveness. The not so fictional character of Joseph was an African-American accused of rape and murder in different cases. His murder trial ended with not guilty.
But he was sentenced as a sex offender although the rape was never proven. That alone sent him to prison and he was obliged to register as a sex offender. This was hard enough: you had to register as such in his local community, was forbidden to use public transport and even drive a car. Most of all: all the ‘good’ people of the once again not so fictional ‘Middletown’ wanted him to leave, harassed him and tried to kick him out of their nice community.
In this episode his sex offender case was reopened and the girl that accused him of being a rapist admitted she lied. Now his sex offender status was revoked, but still the good people of Middletown wanted him to leave.
Joseph Washington was found later in that episode murdered. Sad enough. But the real heartbreaking scene was, when his lawyer spoke before the people of Middletown in Church: "Let us pray for forgiveness and acceptance."
Would Jesus kill innocent men? Would Jesus kill even acquitted rapists or murderers?
This episode of Boston Legal asked some tough questions and attacked Americas addiction to locking away people, cutting legal deals instead of looking for the truth and never reintegrating offenders back into society. This is also true for many other countries as well …
The BBC News website started ten years ago - so happy Birthday to the world’s best news source online!
The BBC site has won numerous prices, but most important of all it has become the #1 source for many people in countries with ‘bad’ or censored news. This state controlled public broadcaster beats all the big commercial outlets like CNN. And the BBC is one the few remaining broadcasters that keeps it’s OWN huge reporter network running - and doesn’t outsource everything to Reuters or AP (as good as they may be).
Another precious gem is also BBC Radio, which has literally hundreds of good shows running every week. Thank you British TV license payers for letting us non-brits watch, read and hear all that good reporting and newscasting.
Aging Rockstar rides a second round into young pussy land - to find once again the love of his life.
Isn’t it nice that some old rich rock farts get alls the pussy for nothing? Where is the proper Dire Straits song when you need it?
I am - also once again - amazed that such low flying social porn sells so well. But it’s also cheaply produced: some no-longer-important-person looking for a PR gig - and loads of young and fertile persons looking for some gold and fame to dig.
Maybe it’s just our regular DNA programming of spreading ourselves disguised as a very bad TV show?
Another excellent documentation from the PBS Frontline crew! It’s about the current Iran and USA situation - and how the current Shrub administration once again missed the chance for diplomacy.
You can watch the whole show online.
See also BBC News Iran vs USA timeline for some background.
John Steward and his crew have been the voice of the resistance during all these dark years of Bushism and overall American ignorance.
Finally Comedy Central built this great site only dedicated to all those great moments in (political) comedy.
Enjoy! www.thedailyshow.com
Just recently watched my Twin Peaks collectors edition - and all I can say ‘YES!’. Hardly anything on since then can compare with it. I just love David Lynch’s work. But also so many of Twin Peaks are so memorable - like Albert Rosenfeld. He just rocks!
I am constantly amazed what kind of ‘reality’ soaps get made for the telebrain. VH1 is one of the biggest producer of amazing crap. Social porn in form of dating and humping shows are their genre. And they fiercely milk every dollar out of every micro celebrity they have created themselves. Excellent business concept!
The lovely lady above is such an example: she used to be a candidate for a dating show (big rap star looking for the perfect bitch), then she got her own mating series (I love New York - watch all episodes online if you dare)- and now ‘we’ are facing round two of this personality disaster.
Most amazing is that hundreds if not thousand of guys tried in auditions all over the US and via the intranets to get on the show as the perfect lover. I guess reality shows really create our reality more and more.
If you like to know more about the dreadful failure of the so called Tiananmen Square revolution and today’s China please watch this great documentation: The Tank Man.
It tells in great detail the story of a failed revolution and how China’s communists brutally knocked down the people’s will. Sure - we are all amazed by today’s economic boom in China - but still it’s more like a brutal economic progress for the few rich and the party - not for most of the people.
In rural areas the poverty and devastation is unbelievable. Schooling and medical support has broken down in most of the country. Factory workers are denied basic rights - rights the communists used to fight and campaign for. No strikes are allowed, so sick leave is paid and accidents are not covered. It basic and brutal capitalism at work here.
This distorted ’success’ is on one side rebuilding China’s failed infrastructure on the backs of Chinese laborers, while putting the western economies in turmoil. In a strange way both sides are ‘paying’ up to bring China out of the misery of 60 year of stupid communist government.
I still can’t believe that China got the Olympics of 2008.
A screwball comedy about supernerds meeting a stupid blonde. I shouldn’t like it, but I do. That is scary enough for a 40 year old non-virgin.
But even scarier is that I understand all the nerdy jokes and references. I am seriously contaminated by Nerd culture. I am sick.
More? Official Site, Wikipedia and TV.com site.
Seen any hero recently that impressed you by his wits instead of his muscles or bravery? It seems that most storytellers (or better say producers) prefer either the sexy hero, the mars warrior type or transformational squire (like Luke Skywalker).
There is also this weird sort of science hero (often found in scifi or geeky movies) who solve problems either by analyzing them to death (in typical star trek fashion) - but they usually lack any character or charisma.
Whatever happened to those men and women with a humble but superior attitude, who work thru deep shit with their wits and compassion?!
PS: Actually Gregory House from House MD is more or less modeled on Sherlock Holmes style of investigation. All these CSI series rely less on smart, but gimmickry and lucky moments. It’s more drama, less brains.
Currently all TV channels are flooded with singing and dancing contests. Looking for the next superstars all over the globe - and now the dance mania with Celebs.
The more I see these old photos from old music movies - the more I miss the grace and romance they portrait. I think we really lost something here - similar to old school ballroom dancing. Aggressively parading around on TV shows to win something or humping and jumping in modern clubs is simply not the same.
Gimme some back some glamour, style and most of all silent grace.
Very cool TV series from HBO. It’s not as cheesy as those old Hollywood movies, it tries to be historically accurate (but there are some serious errors) - at least in it’s settings and design.
But I do love those characters and their very different attitudes. The personal stories and character development is interesting to watch. The acting is excellent. Life in Rome is full of sex and brutality - it was just ‘normal’ back then, people dying and fucking all over the place.
A nice change to all the doctors, lawyer and other soap operas. I actually would love to see a PROPER series about Athens and other Greek city states - not that Hercules & Xena crap. HBO are you listening?
Rome makes you wander if we have progressed at all? Hail Caesar!
More? Wikipedia
Maestro Mancini is one of the greatest composers of the last century. His music scores and themes are beautiful and everybody knows and loves them. What? You don’t know him? Sure you do! Pink Panther? Peter Gunn? Breakfast at Tiffany’s? The ‘Baby Elephant Walk’ from Hatari? I am pretty sure you will know many of his great melodies and themes when you hear them. Browse his stuff on Amazon.com and the Pink Panther soundtrack is actually a very nice album.
Breakfast At Tiffany’s - Moonriver
Hatari - Baby Elephant Walk
For years now the ‘war’ between the mainstream media and Bloggers has been raging. A new form of media is storming in scene and shifting the balance of the old media market. This is nothing new: movie theatres complained about TV for everyone - which took away most of their eyeballs. The original press people sneered first at radio and later TV reporters as well. Every form of mass communication has to proof it’s worth and develop it’s style.
As much as I applaud the new citizen journalist I don’t think we / they have taken over the world, nor deeply influence the rich and powerful. Plus the number of Bloggers who actually contribute NEW information and reports is very small.
One of the big difference between Bloggers and journalists is, that the later ones go out and report directly from wars, press conferences and events - while most Bloggers simply recycle these reporting’s. Sure - there are Bloggers in the field, but they are few and not ‘organized’. Big news corps like Reuters and BBC News have offices all over the world and they provide a continuity that is very different from the more sporadic blogosphere.
When life was simple - only those Viking terrorists and your soul to worry about
Although I don’t think that an unorganized and unstructured reporting is a bad thing (because I believe that chaos is always a self organizing affair), it is also important and highly valuable to have news providers and archives from either state funded news organizations (like many European TV stations) and commercial ones.
But most important aspect of all is that news consumption has changed - not just the reporting. The media explosion in the 80’s (actually pushed by the likes of Rupert Murdoch) and the later web revolution has changed the viewer / reader as well. Once people read / watched only a few sources and usually never questioned it’s content. That has greatly changed for good. Equally important is that news consumers started searching for their own truths. Thanks to search engines news and fact finding is no longer a domain of the professionals.
Hey, I know how to solve your problems - trust me!
But sure as hell the extra work and the extra confusion is making life more complicated and less understandable for many. No surprise that populism also has risen strongly in the last few decades. Simple and strong messages always were a part of politics - but in confusing and harsh times there are more people willing to listen to them. Instead of working and coping with a more complex reality many people prefer a simplification of (their) problems.
So in a strange twist the more noise the old school media and Bloggers make - the less they actually support the public. They actually create more confusion and ‘white noise’. And splitting the ‘truth atom’ into even more bit doesn’t create ‘more truth or a better version of reality. But on the other side a big public discussion is better then none or a truly state organized affair like under the Nazi regime or Stalinist Russia.
Life is complex, it sucks and still we have to deal with it. 
More? A BBC opinion piece about the return of the citizen journalist.
Delia Derbyshire was a rare creature: she studied math and music - and worked later in the famous BBC Radiophonic Workshop. There she created for example many sound effects for tv shows and the theme for Doctor Who. Delia had a passion for weird sounds and harmonies. I wish she would have worked during the early house and techno scene - I am sure she would have created amazing music!
More? Guardian Obituary
Bettie Page is certainly one of the most iconic figure of the last century. Today she hides far away from the glamour life.
But Bettie has many followers and imitators. But in contract to Bettie they only repeat what she has done. They can’t break any taboos anymore, because they have all already been broken.
I wonder if Bettie would be a young girl today she might be the Queen of YouTube and MySpace. Even more annoying and alluring then Paris Hilton, LonelyGirl15 and Pamela Anderson together …
… they haven’t build women like these yet …
… on the other side - I am already frustrated by women. Why wait another 150 years for even more male depressions?! 
Two down. Sad but true. But they will live on - on DVD, computer games, chewing gums, t-shirts, action figures … what a great way to be remembered!
