Time to bail out of Britain? - Telegraph
Oh dear - here's the Telegraph being a bit retarded again. Incase nobody has noticed -the fact is most of the highest earners (and corporations) in the UK haven't been paying much in the way of taxes for a very long time now. Can't see that changing any time soon - because where else are the main political parties going to get their campaign fund donations for the next election from? They're NEVER going to bite the hand that feeds them are they now? (- and don't for one minute think that they think it's the taxpayer that pays them - to them that wage is just a pittance). Moreover - isn't it the case that a lot of these high earners are the very same greedy idiots who've brought about the whole global financial meltdown in the first place? So wouldn't we all be a better off if they did scram out of the country - and go off and ruin somewhere else for a change?
Mind you I'd love to go and live abroad somewhere else for a bit.
Time to bail out of Britain? - Telegraph
Mind you I'd love to go and live abroad somewhere else for a bit.
Time to bail out of Britain? - Telegraph
Rumour: Gillian Anderson to appear in Dr Who?
That rings a bell... Where have I come across this idea before?
Oh yes...
Oh yes...
Pirate Bay Judge Exposed as Member of Pro-Copyright Groups
erm.... No conflicts of interest there then, no pre-judice there - oh siree no.
Pirate Bay Judge Exposed as Member of Pro-Copyright Groups | Threat Level from Wired.com
Now the whole thing concerning the huge cost of damages get me - now if these guys were making pirated DVDs/CDs - or whatever and were selling them and making themselves millionaires then that I could understand. But these are well, wholly imaginary losses that the Entertainment Industry have guesstimated they've lost. I mean why can't we all do that? Say I imagine that a (any) company have earnt themselves X millions of pounds I've lost out on because they're doing something I could have done - but decided for whatever reason not to. Which is all this amounts to.
When you consider that the entertainment industry has only grown as big and as bloated as it has through it's gross exploitation of genuine talent and funnelling that money to lawyers - the situation is even more perverse.
*Sigh* - the human race is doomed.
Pirate Bay Judge Exposed as Member of Pro-Copyright Groups | Threat Level from Wired.com
"Last Friday Norström and three lay judges found Sunde and three other men guilty of contributory copyright infringement, sentenced them to a year in prison, and ordered them to pay damages of 30 million kronor ($3.6 million) to entertainment companies."
Now the whole thing concerning the huge cost of damages get me - now if these guys were making pirated DVDs/CDs - or whatever and were selling them and making themselves millionaires then that I could understand. But these are well, wholly imaginary losses that the Entertainment Industry have guesstimated they've lost. I mean why can't we all do that? Say I imagine that a (any) company have earnt themselves X millions of pounds I've lost out on because they're doing something I could have done - but decided for whatever reason not to. Which is all this amounts to.
When you consider that the entertainment industry has only grown as big and as bloated as it has through it's gross exploitation of genuine talent and funnelling that money to lawyers - the situation is even more perverse.
*Sigh* - the human race is doomed.
The Planet of the Dead boring
The Doctor Who not so special.
Oh dear. Well that wasn't very good was it? And all that time and money and energy - and doing stupid things like shipping a whole red London bus off to Dubai (which alarmingly got trashed in transit - ooops!) to such poor effect. Furthermore can't say I'm a Michelle Ryan fan (wasn't that new Bionic Woman thing awful?) and I'm most definitely not a Lee Evans fan - what the hell was he doing in there? He was just irritating and annoying. There's nothing that can bring a combination of shivers up my spine and a sense of nausea than those two words: 'comedy relief'. Urgh-urgh-urgh. It was nice to see the return of UNIT Captain Erisa Magambo from 'Turn Left' - but then they completely ruined her character by having her behaving like a complete psychopath. Oh, and the naff bit shoe-horned in towards the end with the woman making predictions for the Doctor 'Your song is going to be over soon. Oooh, it's coming out of the darkness - coming to get youuuuu. He'll knock four times.' Etc. (Will that be a knock-knock-knock-knock - or four knock-knock-knock-knocks as in the beat that was in 'the sound of drums'. I'll guess the later - because we all kind of know the Master will be making a comeback to kill off the 10th Doctor at Christmas time. God knows they can't use the Daleks again) - but please, no more with the naff predictions - give it a rest. Or just be a lot more subtle about it. Especially since most of the time they're pointless and/or misleading (Rose isn't dead, and neither is Donna) (but I guess they're for our benefit - which breaks the fourth wall too much if you ask me).
[Just off the top of my head a quick list of predicting folk: The Face of Boe, Gwen the maid, The Sybilline Sisterhood and Lucius in Pompeii, The Ood, that maid (or whatever she was) in the Shadow Proclamation, mad, bad broken Dalek Caan....]
What else? Oh yes, TOO MUCH MUSIC. Oh my poor ears - all that Harry Potter style music - (which proves Doctor Who has leaned a bit too far over away from Science Fiction and into fantasy magic land - it's bad enough that sonic screwdriver = magic wand and Tardis = Narnia wardrobe... will the new Doctor have a zigzag scar on his forehead with his glasses perhaps?) all far too pompous and OTT. I'll quickly slip in here how annoying I found the Welsh voice choir bits in the finale of the last series Journey's End. Yes - we all know Doctor Who is made in Wales thank you - we don't need our noses rubbing in it every five minutes. Jeez. It doesn't help that I still associate Welsh male voice choirs with coal miners - so there I was subconsciously wondering 'what's coal mining got to do with dragging planet Earth back to it's proper place in space and time?'
So... to summarise we had a iconic red London bus - which ends up flying about all over the place, a bit of posh totty in Tom Cruise Mission Impossible drag, fly headed aliens from 'the Fly' Manta ray aliens from Stephen King's 'the Longoliers' an irritating stand up comedian, and a flimsy plot.
It's aggravating that I could have gone away for the weekend but decided to stay at home instead. Hurrrrumph. The last three episodes have a lot to make up for.
Oh dear. Well that wasn't very good was it? And all that time and money and energy - and doing stupid things like shipping a whole red London bus off to Dubai (which alarmingly got trashed in transit - ooops!) to such poor effect. Furthermore can't say I'm a Michelle Ryan fan (wasn't that new Bionic Woman thing awful?) and I'm most definitely not a Lee Evans fan - what the hell was he doing in there? He was just irritating and annoying. There's nothing that can bring a combination of shivers up my spine and a sense of nausea than those two words: 'comedy relief'. Urgh-urgh-urgh. It was nice to see the return of UNIT Captain Erisa Magambo from 'Turn Left' - but then they completely ruined her character by having her behaving like a complete psychopath. Oh, and the naff bit shoe-horned in towards the end with the woman making predictions for the Doctor 'Your song is going to be over soon. Oooh, it's coming out of the darkness - coming to get youuuuu. He'll knock four times.' Etc. (Will that be a knock-knock-knock-knock - or four knock-knock-knock-knocks as in the beat that was in 'the sound of drums'. I'll guess the later - because we all kind of know the Master will be making a comeback to kill off the 10th Doctor at Christmas time. God knows they can't use the Daleks again) - but please, no more with the naff predictions - give it a rest. Or just be a lot more subtle about it. Especially since most of the time they're pointless and/or misleading (Rose isn't dead, and neither is Donna) (but I guess they're for our benefit - which breaks the fourth wall too much if you ask me).
[Just off the top of my head a quick list of predicting folk: The Face of Boe, Gwen the maid, The Sybilline Sisterhood and Lucius in Pompeii, The Ood, that maid (or whatever she was) in the Shadow Proclamation, mad, bad broken Dalek Caan....]
What else? Oh yes, TOO MUCH MUSIC. Oh my poor ears - all that Harry Potter style music - (which proves Doctor Who has leaned a bit too far over away from Science Fiction and into fantasy magic land - it's bad enough that sonic screwdriver = magic wand and Tardis = Narnia wardrobe... will the new Doctor have a zigzag scar on his forehead with his glasses perhaps?) all far too pompous and OTT. I'll quickly slip in here how annoying I found the Welsh voice choir bits in the finale of the last series Journey's End. Yes - we all know Doctor Who is made in Wales thank you - we don't need our noses rubbing in it every five minutes. Jeez. It doesn't help that I still associate Welsh male voice choirs with coal miners - so there I was subconsciously wondering 'what's coal mining got to do with dragging planet Earth back to it's proper place in space and time?'
So... to summarise we had a iconic red London bus - which ends up flying about all over the place, a bit of posh totty in Tom Cruise Mission Impossible drag, fly headed aliens from 'the Fly' Manta ray aliens from Stephen King's 'the Longoliers' an irritating stand up comedian, and a flimsy plot.
It's aggravating that I could have gone away for the weekend but decided to stay at home instead. Hurrrrumph. The last three episodes have a lot to make up for.
advertising ruins everything
» Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles CANCELLED 04-10-2009
This doesn't surprise me...
It's interesting though that the TV networks know just enough that they have to make shows that bring in an intelligent audience - because if TV was all just cheap and flashy game and reality schlock - then only *cough* subnormals would be at the screen - [and it so happens that usually they're not the ones who have the most disposable income]. But what the networks can't fathom is when to put their product out on the air. So they consistently make massively stupid choices after which they quickly start whinging about not getting the sort of viewing figures they've pre-decided they want in order to make it viable for them to go on making the programmes they're making. Yet, ironically, the very same - richer type of people they are so desperate to lure the eyeballs of - are the very ones that can afford PVRs, DVRs, TiVo, and the broadband internets to watch things on line etc. [without the adverts] D'oh. So, talk about self-defeating. Not that it's occured to anyone within he entertainment industry that their 50s/60s/70s era business model of advertiser-funded TV is severely broken. Oh no, nope - they're still wedded to it - come what may. Erm, what's that cliché about it's only someone who is insane that will keep repeating the same exact same actions over and over but nonetheless will endlessly expect a different result?
So, it's inherently baffling - the only people who care about adverts are the advertisers and their industry and the advert pushers. The rest of us normal (sane) folk just want good stories to watch and all that commercial stuff is stupid shit that gets in the way of that. Which, if you think about it for even a moment - is a totally ridiculous state of affairs to have got into. Especially since everyone involved ends up losing every time. D'oh.
Effin' Edward Bernays has so much to answer for.
This doesn't surprise me...
It's interesting though that the TV networks know just enough that they have to make shows that bring in an intelligent audience - because if TV was all just cheap and flashy game and reality schlock - then only *cough* subnormals would be at the screen - [and it so happens that usually they're not the ones who have the most disposable income]. But what the networks can't fathom is when to put their product out on the air. So they consistently make massively stupid choices after which they quickly start whinging about not getting the sort of viewing figures they've pre-decided they want in order to make it viable for them to go on making the programmes they're making. Yet, ironically, the very same - richer type of people they are so desperate to lure the eyeballs of - are the very ones that can afford PVRs, DVRs, TiVo, and the broadband internets to watch things on line etc. [without the adverts] D'oh. So, talk about self-defeating. Not that it's occured to anyone within he entertainment industry that their 50s/60s/70s era business model of advertiser-funded TV is severely broken. Oh no, nope - they're still wedded to it - come what may. Erm, what's that cliché about it's only someone who is insane that will keep repeating the same exact same actions over and over but nonetheless will endlessly expect a different result?
So, it's inherently baffling - the only people who care about adverts are the advertisers and their industry and the advert pushers. The rest of us normal (sane) folk just want good stories to watch and all that commercial stuff is stupid shit that gets in the way of that. Which, if you think about it for even a moment - is a totally ridiculous state of affairs to have got into. Especially since everyone involved ends up losing every time. D'oh.
Effin' Edward Bernays has so much to answer for.
funny - I remembered the scar being on the other side
So am I the only one who's noticed the 'inner child' going all 'through the looking glass' at one point? What's all that about then?
I was getting a screengrab for the moleskine reporter at the time...
planet of the dead
Bernard Cribbons in the Christmas special? - awesome. Because Donna will be back!
Terrified innocent musician targeted in armed anti-terror raid
This sounds like a scene straight out of Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
WalesOnline Terrified musician targeted in armed anti-terror raid
WalesOnline Terrified musician targeted in armed anti-terror raid
Olympus AF-1
(Got myself one of these - a charity shop find - a few weeks back - haven't found a battery for it yet. So I've yet to use it.)
How British cops are criminalising peaceful protest - Boing Boing
It has ever been thus.
(But the video only showed a relatively mild attack by the riot police. They've done a lot worse in the past.)
How British cops are criminalising peaceful protest - Boing Boing
(But the video only showed a relatively mild attack by the riot police. They've done a lot worse in the past.)
How British cops are criminalising peaceful protest - Boing Boing
The rise of the sleaze-ocrats in Britain's ruling class
I've been googling Oborne after seeing on Charlie Brooker's Newswipe.
Rich men, dodgy money and the banana skin.
PETER OBORNE: The rise of the sleaze-ocrats in Britain's ruling class | Mail Online
(omigod - I'm book marking an old 2007 article in the Mail. Hell, bookmarking anything in the Mail worries me.)
Rich men, dodgy money and the banana skin.
PETER OBORNE: The rise of the sleaze-ocrats in Britain's ruling class | Mail Online
(omigod - I'm book marking an old 2007 article in the Mail. Hell, bookmarking anything in the Mail worries me.)
link dump
A couple of books:
‘CREATIVE DESTRUCTION’ – THE MADNESS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
A Brief History of Neoliberalism By David Harvey
(Just an aside - last year I vividly remember as I was watching the news programmes as the first waves of the global financial crisis started to hit and was struck how positively gleeful the reporters came across - it was as if they were happy that they had some real news to report for once. Out came the big screen graphics and there where lots of animated charts, they could take to the streets for their 'vox pops'. It was complete 'the Day Today'.)
Talking of the news: "Charlie Brooker looks at the news's obsession with the credit crunch"
‘CREATIVE DESTRUCTION’ – THE MADNESS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
A Brief History of Neoliberalism By David Harvey
(Just an aside - last year I vividly remember as I was watching the news programmes as the first waves of the global financial crisis started to hit and was struck how positively gleeful the reporters came across - it was as if they were happy that they had some real news to report for once. Out came the big screen graphics and there where lots of animated charts, they could take to the streets for their 'vox pops'. It was complete 'the Day Today'.)
Talking of the news: "Charlie Brooker looks at the news's obsession with the credit crunch"
Mmmmmphf - I'm old school
I still happen to think the whole students fees/student loans thing has been a massive mistake. IMO all education should be Government funded, dammit. It should be seen as an investment in our people and in the country's future. It makes no sense to me that if they can afford to give out dole money, child benefit, tax credits etc. [I won't mention the billions in bank bail outs] for people to do nothing (except for look for jobs that currently don't exist). Why not pay people to study? And not make it compulsory for people to start their working lives with a massive debt around their necks. Not when around the world we've seen where a over-reliance on credit and debt has got us - and the insane notion that you can rely on predictive future learnings - as any one of the million and more of the newly unemployed will tell you as they face foreclosure on their mortgages.
Recession to mean fees resistance.
Student hardship pleas 'increase'.
Recession to mean fees resistance.
Student hardship pleas 'increase'.
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