B B of C



Just visited this link after spotting it on Alex's blog. Seems like a damned fine idea to me - personally I think the license fee is worth the money just to keep Murdoch in his evil place, sucking Satan's Media Cock (he has one for each evil area). You all know I've not been averse to criticising the Coprporation from time to time, but while it is far from perfect - what is? - it does produce excellent programming. Not only the predictable costume dramas and comedy but local interest material, music (playing and support of), arts and let's face it, the best documentaries on the planet. BBC documentaties make even Discovery of National Geographic seem like amateurs. Because of the way they are funded they were the only broadcaster who could afford the years it took to make something like the astonishing Blue Planet series with it's simply stunning wildlife pictures, or the Attenborough series. And despite whatever right-wing critics have said since the Hutton whitewash, the BBC is still the best news broadcaster in the English-language world (and indeed in the many other languages which the World Service reaches out to). This site allows you to add a support badge to you blog (and give a two fingered salute to the hypocritical, lying bastard Blair).

The winter sun, so weak and distant

The winter night so long, so black.

The light seems to shine more brightly

Like a smile from a seldom-seen friend.

B' e d' aotramachd a rinn mo thaladh

aotramachd do chainnte 's do ghaire

aotramachd do lethchinn nam lamhan

d' aotramachd lurach ur mhalda;

agus 's e aotramachd do phoige

a tha a' cur trasg air mo bheoil-sa

is 's e aotramachd do ghlaic mum chuairt-sa

a leigas seachad leis an t-sruth mi.



It was your lightness that drew me

the lightness of your talk and your laughter

the lightness of your cheek in my hands

you sweet gentle modest lightness;

and it is the lightness of your kiss

that is starving my mouth

and the lightness of your embrace

that will let me go adrift.



Aotramachd/Lightness , written and translated from Scots Gaelic by Meg Bateman

Peter goes global



Meanwhile another Jackson has been making waves in the media. This time it Hobbit-sized Kiwi Peter Jackson who took the Best Director award at the Golden Globes while Return of the King took the Best Picture. ROTK also picked up awards for best Original Score and Best Original Song.



Although by no means a sure thing, the Golden Globes have always been seen as a strong barometer of the way the Academy will vote for the Oscars. Could this finally be Peter Jackson's year? We all know it damned well should be, but as this article makes clear, no fantasy film has ever won an Oscar.



Now, as a cinephile I have to say I think the Oscars are the most over-rated of all awards ceremonies, more often voting due to personal favourites by Academy members and the ridiculous amount of money spent by big studios to campaign for their award (this is not disimilar to the way the US electoral system works, ie spend lots of money to try and infuelnce you way into a winning situation - and they wonder why their government is so fucked up!!). So I really shouldn't be so bothered what these Hollywood eejits think. But I would still very much like to see the Lord of the Rings trilogy pick up some gongs. And just think how it will piss off the so-called literati who loathed seeing LOTR winning the BBC's Big Read recently if it picks up the book and film gongs within a few months of each other. Now we'll have to wait and see what the BAFTAs bring around soon, then the Oscar night itself (I'm not counting the Empire movie mag awards since they show those only on Murdoch's Sky Movies channel, so you have to pay extra subscritption just to see it, which seems a bit odd when these are suppsoed to be the 'people's awards' - besides Empire is more about big blockbusters and bloody adverts dsiguised as features now instead of being about good films as it once was).



Hmmm, Perhaps I should re-instate the old Oscar sweepstakes at work again this year?

Let’s be Frank



Bargain of the week - picked up Donnie Darko on DVD for a mere 5 quid from the wonderful FOPP and Garbage’s Beautiful enhanced CD for a paltry3 quid. Total find (although I suspect this means a decent double DVD version is coming soon, since this one has bugger all extras, not even so much as subtitles) and as I’ve been holed up inside the flat with a stinking cold for the last two days they were quite timely (although trying to dance to Garbage by the light of your lava lamp with a runny nose and multiple sneezing attacks (me, not the lamp) is not something I recommend; certainly caused the cats to give me some odd looks). Oddly enough this week I was given a Frank pin by one of my colleagues who found one. She didn’t actually know who Frank was but just thought, hmmm, a badge with a bunny rabbit with a skull face, that would appeal to Joe…









Donnie (in this very scene pictured): “Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?”



Frank: “Why do you wear that stupid man suit?”

What a boob



The entertainment at the Superbowl this weekend was a little more risqué than expected. Justin Timberlake dancing around Janet Jackson put his hand across her breasts. Unfortunately - or fortunately for the perverts amongst us (hands up now - I said hands, you dirty buggers!) - when he pulled his hand back the cup of her bizarre leather costume came with it, exposing her breast. You could say Justin made a right tit of himself, heh heh.



Such things have happened before - most geeks amongst us will recall Lucy Lawless (she of long-legged, ass-kicking Xena fame) bursting out of her low-cut top on a high-note at a baseball game. The pictures were, predictably, all over the web in hours and I’m sure Ms Lawless, who has a lovely singing voice by the way, has realised a solid law of public singing - always wear a dress with straps.



Of course, since Ms Jackson has a new album due for imminent release some pundits are already speculating that the whole knocker-expose was a carefully choreagraphed PR stunt. I really couldn’t comment either way. I’m just happy to see more breasts on TV. I may be a pervert, but I’m an honest pervert.

Enquiring minds



So Dubyah is going to have an enquiry into intelligence failures over WMDs. Now Tony follows His Master’s Voice once more and says, after months of resistance, that the British government may also have an enquiry now. Gee, isn’t it odd we’re having all these enquires now? After Hutton’s whitewash I mean? Like the US and UK government now know they can get away with lying through their teeth to us. It is now an ‘enquiry friendly’ environment for cheating government officials who lied to their people to drag them unwillingly into war.