jueves, 17 de mayo de 2012

Ooh obbligato...






Ooh, Heaven knows. RIP Donna Summer, Queen of Discos. "I Feel Love" wasn't the first song of hers I loved but it was the one that had most impact: it is taken from her 1977 concept album I Remember Yesterday and it was the "future" segment of the album.



According to David Bowie "its impact on the genre's direction was recognized early on: 'One day in Berlin ...Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future.' ... he puts on 'I Feel Love', by Donna Summer ... He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.' Which was more or less right." [Wiki]

Ooh obbligato...


Ooh, Heaven knows. RIP Donna Summer, Queen of Discos. "I Feel Love" wasn't the first song of hers I loved but it was the one that had most impact: it is taken from her 1977 concept album I Remember Yesterday and it was the "future" segment of the album.

According to David Bowie "its impact on the genre's direction was recognized early on: 'One day in Berlin ...Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future.' ... he puts on 'I Feel Love', by Donna Summer ... He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.' Which was more or less right." [Wiki]

lunes, 14 de mayo de 2012

Outstanding Orbit oration...




Boris you beauty! Bojo's latest epistle in the DT opens with him at the ArcelorMittal Orbit structure in Stratford; "This sculpture is a masterpiece, far better and more rewarding up close than it appears at a distance". However, he goes on to reveal "everything that is wrong with the BBC and with this country"...and speaking "as one who has just fought a campaign in which I sometimes felt that my chief opponent was the local BBC news"!! Please read what he says about the BBC, Blair and Brown. An opinion which I share of course...


"the prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and, above all, overwhelmingly biased to the Left."

Hat-tip: B-BBC.

Outstanding Orbit oration...


Boris you beauty! Bojo's latest epistle in the DT opens with him at the ArcelorMittal Orbit structure in Stratford; "This sculpture is a masterpiece, far better and more rewarding up close than it appears at a distance". However, he goes on to reveal "everything that is wrong with the BBC and with this country"...and speaking "as one who has just fought a campaign in which I sometimes felt that my chief opponent was the local BBC news"!! Please read what he says about the BBC, Blair and Brown. An opinion which I share of course...
"the prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and, above all, overwhelmingly biased to the Left."
Hat-tip: B-BBC.

domingo, 13 de mayo de 2012

OMG!...








Better than '89? Click image for match report.


What a memorable EPL season. Remember 1066? Of course you do: the1066 goals scored this season. Apart from the title (now 5 teams have won the EPL), Arsenal pip Spuds and QPR and Wigan stay up. A great day.



Update 17:25 BST: Kevin Windsor on Twitter via BBC: "Man City win the Premiership. In Fergie Time! You couldn't write it!".


OMG!...


Better than '89? Click image for match report.
What a memorable EPL season. Remember 1066? Of course you do: the1066 goals scored this season. Apart from the title (now 5 teams have won the EPL), Arsenal pip Spuds and QPR and Wigan stay up. A great day.

Update 17:25 BST: Kevin Windsor on Twitter via BBC: "Man City win the Premiership. In Fergie Time! You couldn't write it!".

Orinoco One...




Just listening to the Venezuelan National Anthem...followed by God Save The Queen! Doesn't happen often I imagine but it could be heard more in Formula l this season: Pastor Maldonado has just won (his and Venezuela's first) just down the road from my old house (near enough to hear it!). Congratulations Pastor...even if you are an outspoken fan of the clown ("Sport should not be kept away from politics, it should be supported, like happens in Venezuela")...not an opinion I share.



Sport Update: half hour gone in last day of the 2011-12 Premiership season and it is nail-biting fever pitch stuff for several clubs! Best end of season since 1989?...and the last minute is a long way off yet!...[edit, see image] a minute can change both ends of the table. By the way, rather appropriately, I'm sat in Copa Club!

Orinoco One...


Just listening to the Venezuelan National Anthem...followed by God Save The Queen! Doesn't happen often I imagine but it could be heard more in Formula l this season: Pastor Maldonado has just won (his and Venezuela's first) just down the road from my old house (near enough to hear it!). Congratulations Pastor...even if you are an outspoken fan of the clown ("Sport should not be kept away from politics, it should be supported, like happens in Venezuela")...not an opinion I share.

Sport Update: half hour gone in last day of the 2011-12 Premiership season and it is nail-biting fever pitch stuff for several clubs! Best end of season since 1989?...and the last minute is a long way off yet!...[edit, see image] a minute can change both ends of the table. By the way, rather appropriately, I'm sat in Copa Club!

viernes, 11 de mayo de 2012

Obelizing obvious obscurantism...




[Edited: 'dead' image/video removed]
...mark as spurious the clear prevention of enlightenment. Such astounding obscurantism as displayed by union backed lefty Dr. Éoin Clarke (a PhD no less**). 'Plankety-Plank' as Matt at Anna Raccoon says and "it is incredible that more ‘journalists’ continue to use him as a source"...you know the sort of journalist of course. The comments are great. The data is HERE and the image shows how surprisingly good the figures really are.



**A PhD in 'Irish Republican Women 1969-83', surely not?

Obelizing obvious obscurantism...


[Edited: 'dead' image/video removed] ...mark as spurious the clear prevention of enlightenment. Such astounding obscurantism as displayed by union backed lefty Dr. Éoin Clarke (a PhD no less**). 'Plankety-Plank' as Matt at Anna Raccoon says and "it is incredible that more ‘journalists’ continue to use him as a source"...you know the sort of journalist of course. The comments are great. The data is HERE and the image shows how surprisingly good the figures really are.

**A PhD in 'Irish Republican Women 1969-83', surely not?

Obelizing obvious obscurantism...


...mark as spurious the clear prevention of enlightenment. Such astounding obscurantism as displayed by union backed lefty Dr. Éoin Clarke (a PhD no less**). 'Plankety-Plank' as Matt at Anna Raccoon says and "it is incredible that more ‘journalists’ continue to use him as a source"...you know the sort of journalist of course. The comments are great. The data is HERE and the image shows how surprisingly good the figures really are.

**A PhD in 'Irish Republican Women 1969-83', surely not?

jueves, 10 de mayo de 2012

Ongoing odium of ocracy...






Interesting times. Is there a sleeping giant**? Everyone seems to be decrying the Coalition over everything, especially a 'thin' Queen's Speech. Allister Heath at City A.M. called the Speech "insouciant, almost flippant" and believes the coalition is behaving as if we were in normal economic times. John Redwood, looking on the bright side in 'Messages from a tractor factory' says he is not worried that "the Speech was light on new bills. The UK is scarcely short of laws." He's certainly right there, as CR told us in a letter to David Cameron a month ago, both 2010 and 2011 were record breaking years with 3969 and 4116 new acts of legislation respectively [Legislation]. However, despite a string of gaffes and never-ending bad press from ALL sides of the media, I agree with The Economist, who while not hiding the bad, do say that:


"Above all, Mr Cameron’s government has still got most of the big things right. Both for the country’s sake and for his own, the prime minister needs to refocus his government on the clear, bold message that he began with."

Worth noting the headline that The Economist uses: "Crisis? What crisis?"; back in 1979 those same words became James Callaghan's epitaph in The Sun (image) after the 'Winter of Discontent'. But do you remember the situation after two years of Margaret Thatcher? Strikes continued, spending 'cuts', mass unemployment, fierce recession, riots, talks of a party split (sound familiar?)...



**...trouble is, now we don't seem to have a "giant among pygmies".

Ongoing odium of ocracy...


Interesting times. Is there a sleeping giant**? Everyone seems to be decrying the Coalition over everything, especially a 'thin' Queen's Speech. Allister Heath at City A.M. called the Speech "insouciant, almost flippant" and believes the coalition is behaving as if we were in normal economic times. John Redwood, looking on the bright side in 'Messages from a tractor factory' says he is not worried that "the Speech was light on new bills. The UK is scarcely short of laws." He's certainly right there, as CR told us in a letter to David Cameron a month ago, both 2010 and 2011 were record breaking years with 3969 and 4116 new acts of legislation respectively [Legislation]. However, despite a string of gaffes and never-ending bad press from ALL sides of the media, I agree with The Economist, who while not hiding the bad, do say that:
"Above all, Mr Cameron’s government has still got most of the big things right. Both for the country’s sake and for his own, the prime minister needs to refocus his government on the clear, bold message that he began with."
Worth noting the headline that The Economist uses: "Crisis? What crisis?"; back in 1979 those same words became James Callaghan's epitaph in The Sun (image) after the 'Winter of Discontent'. But do you remember the situation after two years of Margaret Thatcher? Strikes continued, spending 'cuts', mass unemployment, fierce recession, riots, talks of a party split (sound familiar?)...

**...trouble is, now we don't seem to have a "giant among pygmies".

domingo, 6 de mayo de 2012

Orinoco oligarch...






Alo Presidente! "The Realest Reality Show in the World": "In the end, it doesn’t matter much what these people say when the cameras are rolling; and, of course, the opposite is true of Chavez"... "Anything he decides or does or says on the show instantly becomes the audience’s reality, in a tangible way, regardless of whether they are watching. [It] is unlike anything else on television." Rachel Nolan in NYT Magazine; it is quite a perceptive article for someone 'new' to Venezuelan politics (she comments that she discovered the 'show's' exuberant weirdness only after she began following the IMHO tractor stats and other amusing new-speak of Chavez on Twitter). Any 'normal' reality TV show...


"no matter how engaging or successful or artfully put together, is always, in essence, a distraction from life. “Aló Presidente” inverts this formula, at least for Venezuelans."

Hat-tip Caracas Chronicles.




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Orinoco oligarch...


Alo Presidente! "The Realest Reality Show in the World": "In the end, it doesn’t matter much what these people say when the cameras are rolling; and, of course, the opposite is true of Chavez"... "Anything he decides or does or says on the show instantly becomes the audience’s reality, in a tangible way, regardless of whether they are watching. [It] is unlike anything else on television." Rachel Nolan in NYT Magazine; it is quite a perceptive article for someone 'new' to Venezuelan politics (she comments that she discovered the 'show's' exuberant weirdness only after she began following the IMHO tractor stats and other amusing new-speak of Chavez on Twitter). Any 'normal' reality TV show...
"no matter how engaging or successful or artfully put together, is always, in essence, a distraction from life. “Aló Presidente” inverts this formula, at least for Venezuelans."
Hat-tip Caracas Chronicles.

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Obvious omission...



LOL! Look at a word cloud of the BBC coverage of Boris Johnson's London Mayoral Election win "BBC - Boris Johnson wins second term by tight margin"; click on the image to visit word cloud by Billy no mates on Wordle. [Edited: 'dead' image/video removed] Needless to say, even glancing at the small image - with only six or seven words clearly visible - it isn't hard to get what the BBC prefer to talk about. Also, reading the BBC London Political Editor Tim Donovan's Ken love-in, could it be that's because Boris - on other issues - thinks he's talking fucking bollocks.



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Obvious omission...


LOL! Look at a word cloud of the BBC coverage of Boris Johnson's London Mayoral Election win "BBC - Boris Johnson wins second term by tight margin"; click on the image to visit word cloud by Billy no mates on Wordle. [Edited: 'dead' image/video removed] Needless to say, even glancing at the small image - with only six or seven words clearly visible - it isn't hard to get what the BBC prefer to talk about. Also, reading the BBC London Political Editor Tim Donovan's Ken love-in, could it be that's because Boris - on other issues - thinks he's talking fucking bollocks.

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Obvious omission...


Wordle: BBC - Boris Johnson wins second term by tight margin LOL! Look at a word cloud of the BBC coverage of Boris Johnson's London Mayoral Election win "BBC - Boris Johnson wins second term by tight margin"; click on the image to visit word cloud by Billy no mates on Wordle. Needless to say, even glancing at the small image - with only six or seven words clearly visible - it isn't hard to get what the BBC prefer to talk about. Also, reading the BBC London Political Editor Tim Donovan's Ken love-in, could it be that's because Boris - on other issues - thinks he's talking fucking bollocks.

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Obama's Ohio opening optimism...




Optimism thinking the glass is half full...unfortunately it was the arena that looked half full! The NYT does its best to hide that part: they report that David Plouffe, 'a senior adviser to the president, said he was happy with the crowds at this point noting that they dwarfed those that turned out for Mr. Romney.' Pah! Plouffe! Not a good opening rally but it didn't start well when he left Michelle on the plane!



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Obama's Ohio opening optimism...


Optimism thinking the glass is half full...unfortunately it was the arena that looked half full! The NYT does its best to hide that part: they report that David Plouffe, 'a senior adviser to the president, said he was happy with the crowds at this point noting that they dwarfed those that turned out for Mr. Romney.' Pah! Plouffe! Not a good opening rally but it didn't start well when he left Michelle on the plane!

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jueves, 3 de mayo de 2012

Ongoing onomatophobia...




The words that dare not be mentioned: he who must not be named...Voldemort you ask? No.
Last night the Governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King, gave the 2012 BBC Today Programme Lecture [Link] : a speech on radio by the BoE head honcho for the first time [in peacetime] since March 1939. His speech could be seen as trying to rewrite history, so too the BBC who find it very difficult - surely couldn't be bias - to write the words 'Gordon' and 'Brown' anywhere (and most certainly not mentioning his inaction losing a million jobs); mind you, the articles [one, two] are by Robert 'my-dad's-a-Labour-peer-and-I-wrote-the-book-on-Brown'* Peston (who even uses 'boom and bust' in the title! and yet still no mention of his hero**) and rely on David 'lefty-economist extraordinaire' Blanchflower so no surprises that the Beeb continue their 'news blackout' over mad Crash Gordon.



* ...your's for a penny.

** and don't forget his dodgy Balls.



 
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Ongoing onomatophobia...


The words that dare not be mentioned: he who must not be named...Voldemort you ask? No. Last night the Governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King, gave the 2012 BBC Today Programme Lecture [Link] : a speech on radio by the BoE head honcho for the first time [in peacetime] since March 1939. His speech could be seen as trying to rewrite history, so too the BBC who find it very difficult - surely couldn't be bias - to write the words 'Gordon' and 'Brown' anywhere (and most certainly not mentioning his inaction losing a million jobs); mind you, the articles [one, two] are by Robert 'my-dad's-a-Labour-peer-and-I-wrote-the-book-on-Brown'* Peston (who even uses 'boom and bust' in the title! and yet still no mention of his hero**) and rely on David 'lefty-economist extraordinaire' Blanchflower so no surprises that the Beeb continue their 'news blackout' over mad Crash Gordon.

* ...your's for a penny.
** and don't forget his dodgy Balls.

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martes, 1 de mayo de 2012

Olympian Oen outrage...






The Norwegian swimming champion (and World Championship gold medal holder in the 100m breaststroke) Alexander Dale Oen died yesterday in Flagstaff, Arizona after training. He was aged 26 (TWENTY SIX!). Officials said he had suffered a cardiac arrest. This is a tragedy in itself but why do the BBC decide to write what they did (click on image) in what is essentially an obit piece?



Update 11pm: it has been pointed out to me that others have reported similar things due to the fact that Dale's World Championship race win was the country's first swimming world title and came at a time when it was 'in desperate need of something to cheer for.' I still think it out of place.



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Olympian Oen outrage...


The Norwegian swimming champion (and World Championship gold medal holder in the 100m breaststroke) Alexander Dale Oen died yesterday in Flagstaff, Arizona after training. He was aged 26 (TWENTY SIX!). Officials said he had suffered a cardiac arrest. This is a tragedy in itself but why do the BBC decide to write what they did (click on image) in what is essentially an obit piece?

Update 11pm: it has been pointed out to me that others have reported similar things due to the fact that Dale's World Championship race win was the country's first swimming world title and came at a time when it was 'in desperate need of something to cheer for.' I still think it out of place.

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