A rather empty day, save for the news of the passing of England's last great manager Sir Bobby Robson.
Mum actually went to see him at Ipswich Town when he was their manager during the 1970s before taking on the role managing the England team
for 8 years up to the impressive performance in the 1990 World Cup.
As expected Kevin Bishop's sketch show wasn't up to standard, continuing to prove that people who base their act on impressions make crap comics.
I thought the Horne and Corden do "On The Buses" sketch was a pure example of pot calling the kettle black as the show was just as unfunny as their own sketch show.
Visually it's very impressive taking the concept of a Sky Digi Guide as the continuity device of the show but far more time seems to have been spent on making it look polished as opposed to coming up with any laughs.
I doubt I'll be watching the rest of the series.
Tomorrow will probably be another day of rummaging apart from PY on Jazz FM where the end of August sees the 30th anniversary of his first ever Soul Cellar broadcast on Capital Radio on the August Bank Holiday of 1979.
I also hope to finish off the mince from a couple of days ago with some delicious penne pasta which in rather tight times is what I live for and is barely demanding at all.
Good night.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Comedy Consumerism
Last night's Mock The Week wasn't as good as the last show but there's always the reassurance that an otherwise run of the mill programme will be saved by the final round.
This week they had to make suggestions for "Unlikely Things To Hear On A Consumer Programme" where there were several digs at the presenters of such shows;
"At first the company seemed willing to compromise,
but when we sent them a letter from Nicky Campbell they told us to fuck off"
Oddly enough that joke didn't come from Frankie Boyle.
Several people posting on discussion boards think that Frankie doesn't seem to let the others get a word in edgeways which is true to an extent and also seems to be the case on Charlie Brooker's show, but without him
Mock The Week would be nowhere near as funny, as the context of the final round shows that he can't necessarily repeat the jokes in the context of a stand up act.
I watched the final day of the live streaming on The Chris Moyles Show where in the second half of the Golden Hour, all the team members were in the mix attempting to blend in their selection of Ibiza dance tunes with amusing results.
Bizarrely enough Aled's was my favourite which was Yomanda's "Synth And Strings" which Westminster alumni Dan P once mentioned was the song he wanted played at his funeral.
They're off for two weeks with Scott covering next week, and Vernon Kay stepping in with Comedy Dave the week after. As mentioned quite a few times before, I'll take a break from the show until around November/December time when I will have hopefully finished my "side project" or over indulgent nonsense.
Not a lot happening tonight, although Kevin Bishop is back with a new series of his fast moving sketch show on Channel 4.
When shown last summer I thought it was OK but not really worthy of a second series.
I'll give the first episode a go but the show definitely represents the Guardian's reasoning that sketch shows on television are on a downwards spiral.
It's not as bad as Horne and Corden though.
This week they had to make suggestions for "Unlikely Things To Hear On A Consumer Programme" where there were several digs at the presenters of such shows;
"At first the company seemed willing to compromise,
but when we sent them a letter from Nicky Campbell they told us to fuck off"
Oddly enough that joke didn't come from Frankie Boyle.
Several people posting on discussion boards think that Frankie doesn't seem to let the others get a word in edgeways which is true to an extent and also seems to be the case on Charlie Brooker's show, but without him
Mock The Week would be nowhere near as funny, as the context of the final round shows that he can't necessarily repeat the jokes in the context of a stand up act.
I watched the final day of the live streaming on The Chris Moyles Show where in the second half of the Golden Hour, all the team members were in the mix attempting to blend in their selection of Ibiza dance tunes with amusing results.
Bizarrely enough Aled's was my favourite which was Yomanda's "Synth And Strings" which Westminster alumni Dan P once mentioned was the song he wanted played at his funeral.
They're off for two weeks with Scott covering next week, and Vernon Kay stepping in with Comedy Dave the week after. As mentioned quite a few times before, I'll take a break from the show until around November/December time when I will have hopefully finished my "side project" or over indulgent nonsense.
Not a lot happening tonight, although Kevin Bishop is back with a new series of his fast moving sketch show on Channel 4.
When shown last summer I thought it was OK but not really worthy of a second series.
I'll give the first episode a go but the show definitely represents the Guardian's reasoning that sketch shows on television are on a downwards spiral.
It's not as bad as Horne and Corden though.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
No Place To Chill?
Not a great deal happening today.
I'm doing the cooking later where I plan to make a "fus bol" if you can call it that with expensive fusilli pasta and mince.
This morning's Chris Moyles Show came from 'Ull and the studios of BBC Radio Humberside following last night's Karaoke but the live video streaming continued albeit in slightly more grainy picture quality.
It's the last one tomorrow that will be video streamed and my last show for at least 3 months as a listener, as I plan to continue writing my own "University Biography" which I've been going on about an awful lot but I'm hoping it will be worth it in the end.
As for the rest of tonight it's Mock The Week once again where this week's guests include Australian comic Adam Hills, and Northern stand up Alun Cochrane who was one of the better comics that was on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that Chill have announced that they are to cease broadcasting on DAB in several areas of the country from next week including over here in the "Vandalised Garden Of England".
Radio Today Article
This is due to them being yet another victim of the current economic conditions and I am gutted. It probably raises the issue if it's any point owning a DAB radio anymore.
Well in Canterbury anyway.
There's still the option of having my computer switched on with it coming out of my speaker as Chill will still be continung online but it isn't really the same as having the option of it being their just to switch on and tune into it instantly.
I'll see what can be done about moving back to London if at all possible as although a lot of the radio was down the plughole, if I didn't like what Jazz FM were playing I could listen to Chill, and vice versa.
Then again there's still the full CD wallets and external hard drives that will provide entertainment for the time being.
I'm doing the cooking later where I plan to make a "fus bol" if you can call it that with expensive fusilli pasta and mince.
This morning's Chris Moyles Show came from 'Ull and the studios of BBC Radio Humberside following last night's Karaoke but the live video streaming continued albeit in slightly more grainy picture quality.
It's the last one tomorrow that will be video streamed and my last show for at least 3 months as a listener, as I plan to continue writing my own "University Biography" which I've been going on about an awful lot but I'm hoping it will be worth it in the end.
As for the rest of tonight it's Mock The Week once again where this week's guests include Australian comic Adam Hills, and Northern stand up Alun Cochrane who was one of the better comics that was on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that Chill have announced that they are to cease broadcasting on DAB in several areas of the country from next week including over here in the "Vandalised Garden Of England".
Radio Today Article
This is due to them being yet another victim of the current economic conditions and I am gutted. It probably raises the issue if it's any point owning a DAB radio anymore.
Well in Canterbury anyway.
There's still the option of having my computer switched on with it coming out of my speaker as Chill will still be continung online but it isn't really the same as having the option of it being their just to switch on and tune into it instantly.
I'll see what can be done about moving back to London if at all possible as although a lot of the radio was down the plughole, if I didn't like what Jazz FM were playing I could listen to Chill, and vice versa.
Then again there's still the full CD wallets and external hard drives that will provide entertainment for the time being.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Long Awaited Award Illustration
After what seems like a lifetime, the SRA have finally seen fit into putting the winners from the 2008 Awards onto the site with both the audio and written entries.
And not just the winners but also the runners up so as well, as our station entry which won Silver is included, and Goodlass and Marshall's interview with Danny Wallace is up there too.
With regards to the station category if I'm not too sure about the winners URN's audio piece as in the first third of it at least there's too much informative content such as the elections and sports coverage as opposed to the fun stuff Fly FM have got spot on in giving more of a "jumping out of the speakers" opening.
I can't comment on our own audio piece as I helped compile it, but the written entry makes good sense and highlights the goals that we achieved and the gaps we managed to fill even if it wasn't my greatest year at University.
And who'd think that the liveliness of Goodlass and Marshall would lose out to the lesser entertaining entries in the so called "Entertainment" category?
Best of all, the winner of the newly inaugarated Kevin Greening award makes a lot more sense in audio form, in this case being the "Technical Difficulties" of University Radio York in a witty lampoon of the BBC's competition row where the spoken content is almost exactly the same as Lorraine Heggessy when addressing CBBC viewers on Richard Bacon's sacking from Blue Peter in 1998.
I'm hoping that the audio for this years awards will be uploaded too, although preferrably nearer the time they take place.
And not just the winners but also the runners up so as well, as our station entry which won Silver is included, and Goodlass and Marshall's interview with Danny Wallace is up there too.
With regards to the station category if I'm not too sure about the winners URN's audio piece as in the first third of it at least there's too much informative content such as the elections and sports coverage as opposed to the fun stuff Fly FM have got spot on in giving more of a "jumping out of the speakers" opening.
I can't comment on our own audio piece as I helped compile it, but the written entry makes good sense and highlights the goals that we achieved and the gaps we managed to fill even if it wasn't my greatest year at University.
And who'd think that the liveliness of Goodlass and Marshall would lose out to the lesser entertaining entries in the so called "Entertainment" category?
Best of all, the winner of the newly inaugarated Kevin Greening award makes a lot more sense in audio form, in this case being the "Technical Difficulties" of University Radio York in a witty lampoon of the BBC's competition row where the spoken content is almost exactly the same as Lorraine Heggessy when addressing CBBC viewers on Richard Bacon's sacking from Blue Peter in 1998.
I'm hoping that the audio for this years awards will be uploaded too, although preferrably nearer the time they take place.
Trial Employment
The Back To Work meeting went OK and didn't drag on for too long.
It was a Powerpoint based seminar where I was in a room with others who were signing on and we were told the usual patronising stuff about it being difficult to find work because of the recession and so on.
However it was useful in terms of learning about the various options such as Job Trials which sounds like a great opportunity in giving a job a go and if it's not up to what I'm expecting, I can carry on signing on with the allowance.
As for today I'm reminiscing one of the finest events we have put on during the history of Smoke Radio, that being Smoke Aid which was actually the first big event for the station I took part in and really brought everyone together and brought the awareness of the station elsewhere as part of National No Smoking Day.
Memorable highlights included the outside broadcasts on the Street with Ross Goodlass's German character "Hanz", and Andy B dressing up as our the SU mascot "Smokey The Bear".
Listening back to it now it was evident that there was a buzz throughout the whole day but despite the large amount of excitement it really was only the beginning of many superb events done by the station.
It really has come a long way and will continue to go further in my absence.
Whilst I will also be going further.
Down the gutter.
It was a Powerpoint based seminar where I was in a room with others who were signing on and we were told the usual patronising stuff about it being difficult to find work because of the recession and so on.
However it was useful in terms of learning about the various options such as Job Trials which sounds like a great opportunity in giving a job a go and if it's not up to what I'm expecting, I can carry on signing on with the allowance.
As for today I'm reminiscing one of the finest events we have put on during the history of Smoke Radio, that being Smoke Aid which was actually the first big event for the station I took part in and really brought everyone together and brought the awareness of the station elsewhere as part of National No Smoking Day.
Memorable highlights included the outside broadcasts on the Street with Ross Goodlass's German character "Hanz", and Andy B dressing up as our the SU mascot "Smokey The Bear".
Listening back to it now it was evident that there was a buzz throughout the whole day but despite the large amount of excitement it really was only the beginning of many superb events done by the station.
It really has come a long way and will continue to go further in my absence.
Whilst I will also be going further.
Down the gutter.
Plastic Swans
Morning.
Or Happy Birthday Mum if you're reading this.
Last night's "You Have Been Watching" with Charlie Brooker provided the laughs once again and it has firmly become a staple in my viewing schedule in the otherwise depressing summer months.
This week was a Weird TV special where the shows looked at included
Terry Nutkin's "My Life As An Animal" from BBC Three earlier in the year, one of Brooker's favourites "The Jeremy Kyle Show", and an absolutely appalling show from Sky 3 called "The Swan" where otherwise ugly looking women were given plastic surgery.
The latter happened to be hosted by Amanda Byram and further proof that any programme that she presents is guaranteed to be utter rubbish.
Charlie Brooker summed it up spot on when saying that the people who made the programme were c***s.
One of the panellists this week used to work with Amanda many years ago, that being Richard Bacon whilst the other panellists were the rather attractive Josie Long and a welcome return for Frankie Boyle two weeks running.
I really think Frankie should become a regular on the show as whilst he may get the most time on air, what he says is hilarious and the chemistry between him and Charlie Brooker works really well, especially if they don't agree with each other.
I wouldn't see it as a problem as Jason Manford happens to be a captain on both 8 Out Of 10 Cats, and BBC 1's light hearted equivalent to YHBW
"As Seen On TV" and I don't think it's done him any harm at all.
Just a shame that the latter has a weak host in the form of Steve Jones.
Good to play along with though, whereas YHBW is essentially a weekly rant giving television the ribbing it deserves.
Chris Moyles is on good form this morning, ranting against the fact the August may be unsettled as opposed to being a heatwave as previously predicted.
He then suggested that they should move to Portugual and change the name to "England 2" which I think they should do, just to piss Len Groat off even more.
The Jinglemad contributor who used to be a PD at Trent FM for 15 years who now lives in Portugal and does nothing but moan about the current state of radio in an ever repetitive manner, the miserable sod.
Throughout this week, Chris and the team have been urging listeners to download John Barrowman's version of the Barry Manilow tune "I Made It Through The Rain" which lyric wise could be this year's answer to Rihanna's "Umbrella".
I doubt it will get to number 1 but it's been doing really well in the iTunes top 10 currently at number 7.
With Scott Mills sucessfully getting the Hoff to number 3 a few years ago it's proof that radio presenters have a knack for getting annoying tosspots into the greater public eye.
I could say I never caught onto the Hoff as I barely saw an episode of Baywatch in full, although at an early age John Barrowman was a familiar sight on
Live & Kicking and The Movie Game.
And I still thought he was irritating.
In just over an hour I'll make my way over to the Job Centre for my Back To Work Meeting which I'm dreading. It's meant to last just an hour but it will probably seem longer.
I'm a reluctant bastard at this time and unlike Barrowman I doubt I'll survive the wet weather.
Or Happy Birthday Mum if you're reading this.
Last night's "You Have Been Watching" with Charlie Brooker provided the laughs once again and it has firmly become a staple in my viewing schedule in the otherwise depressing summer months.
This week was a Weird TV special where the shows looked at included
Terry Nutkin's "My Life As An Animal" from BBC Three earlier in the year, one of Brooker's favourites "The Jeremy Kyle Show", and an absolutely appalling show from Sky 3 called "The Swan" where otherwise ugly looking women were given plastic surgery.
The latter happened to be hosted by Amanda Byram and further proof that any programme that she presents is guaranteed to be utter rubbish.
Charlie Brooker summed it up spot on when saying that the people who made the programme were c***s.
One of the panellists this week used to work with Amanda many years ago, that being Richard Bacon whilst the other panellists were the rather attractive Josie Long and a welcome return for Frankie Boyle two weeks running.
I really think Frankie should become a regular on the show as whilst he may get the most time on air, what he says is hilarious and the chemistry between him and Charlie Brooker works really well, especially if they don't agree with each other.
I wouldn't see it as a problem as Jason Manford happens to be a captain on both 8 Out Of 10 Cats, and BBC 1's light hearted equivalent to YHBW
"As Seen On TV" and I don't think it's done him any harm at all.
Just a shame that the latter has a weak host in the form of Steve Jones.
Good to play along with though, whereas YHBW is essentially a weekly rant giving television the ribbing it deserves.
Chris Moyles is on good form this morning, ranting against the fact the August may be unsettled as opposed to being a heatwave as previously predicted.
He then suggested that they should move to Portugual and change the name to "England 2" which I think they should do, just to piss Len Groat off even more.
The Jinglemad contributor who used to be a PD at Trent FM for 15 years who now lives in Portugal and does nothing but moan about the current state of radio in an ever repetitive manner, the miserable sod.
Throughout this week, Chris and the team have been urging listeners to download John Barrowman's version of the Barry Manilow tune "I Made It Through The Rain" which lyric wise could be this year's answer to Rihanna's "Umbrella".
I doubt it will get to number 1 but it's been doing really well in the iTunes top 10 currently at number 7.
With Scott Mills sucessfully getting the Hoff to number 3 a few years ago it's proof that radio presenters have a knack for getting annoying tosspots into the greater public eye.
I could say I never caught onto the Hoff as I barely saw an episode of Baywatch in full, although at an early age John Barrowman was a familiar sight on
Live & Kicking and The Movie Game.
And I still thought he was irritating.
In just over an hour I'll make my way over to the Job Centre for my Back To Work Meeting which I'm dreading. It's meant to last just an hour but it will probably seem longer.
I'm a reluctant bastard at this time and unlike Barrowman I doubt I'll survive the wet weather.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Karaoke And Cackling
After what seems like a whole month Natalie "The Sexy Vampire" was finally eliminated from Cheggers' Pop Quiz on The Chris Moyles Show.
She wasn't particularly annoying but I never found any charm about her and was just really dull as opposed to being really thick like most of the others who get a ribbing.
Tomorrow will quite possibly be the last ever round of the competition as they'll be heading off to Hull on Thursday and Friday will be the Golden Hour as always.
Producer Rachel was begging for the team to have a meal of fish and chips before the Karaoke night in Hull tomorrow evening and according to Aled giving away tickets in the city itself, it has the largest amount of takeaways for the
"English delicacy".
It should be a laugh regardless of how bad the performances are.
Speaking of laughs I had a look at the programme for the Canterbury Festival taking place in October and the comedy acts look pretty good with the ones I want to see being Stewart Lee, and best of all Reginald D. Hunter.
The tickets for non "Friends Of Canterbury" members go on sale in two weeks so I'll be right up there to get tickets for Reginald's performance at the Gulbenkian.
I won't have to wait too long to see him however as he's making an appearance on Charlie Brooker's YHBW next week.
As for tonight's show, this weeks guests include a second appearance for
Frankie Boyle in two weeks and the lads will probably pleased that Josie Long's back as well.
So it looks as if tonight will be filled with guffawing and gorgeousness.
Before that though I need to go into Canterbury to buy Mum a birthday present as she's 51 tomorrow.
She wasn't particularly annoying but I never found any charm about her and was just really dull as opposed to being really thick like most of the others who get a ribbing.
Tomorrow will quite possibly be the last ever round of the competition as they'll be heading off to Hull on Thursday and Friday will be the Golden Hour as always.
Producer Rachel was begging for the team to have a meal of fish and chips before the Karaoke night in Hull tomorrow evening and according to Aled giving away tickets in the city itself, it has the largest amount of takeaways for the
"English delicacy".
It should be a laugh regardless of how bad the performances are.
Speaking of laughs I had a look at the programme for the Canterbury Festival taking place in October and the comedy acts look pretty good with the ones I want to see being Stewart Lee, and best of all Reginald D. Hunter.
The tickets for non "Friends Of Canterbury" members go on sale in two weeks so I'll be right up there to get tickets for Reginald's performance at the Gulbenkian.
I won't have to wait too long to see him however as he's making an appearance on Charlie Brooker's YHBW next week.
As for tonight's show, this weeks guests include a second appearance for
Frankie Boyle in two weeks and the lads will probably pleased that Josie Long's back as well.
So it looks as if tonight will be filled with guffawing and gorgeousness.
Before that though I need to go into Canterbury to buy Mum a birthday present as she's 51 tomorrow.
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Laughter Supplement
A rather miserable start to the week if outside is anything to go by.
It can only get worse when the Job Centre meeting arrives on Wednesday.
This morning I watched the first of the final week's video streaming on the Chris Moyles Show where they had Peter Jones from Dragon's Den as a guest and Dave pitched his idea of a cooking utensil known as "the Peter Pan".
From what I gather it will also be the final week they'll be doing Chegger's Pop Quiz as Chris mentioned that today is the "last Monday" they'll be doing it on, and they'll be on holiday again next week which fits in nicely as I plan to take an even longer break from the show as mentioned yesterday.
I've never really been able to listen to the programme continuously for more than a year and whenever I take a break and start listening after 6 months or a year it sounds as if it's all picked up.
Ken Bruce is also on holiday next week on his Radio 2 show, so Zoe Ball will be stepping in again and of course taking charge of Popmaster.
This morning's G2 supplement focuses on comedy and includes interviews with people such as Russell Kane, Charlie Brooker and Barry Cryer amongst others.
In true supplement style theres a "What's Hot And What's Not" gauge on the first page where stand up television shows such as Apollo and Stewart Lee are at the top, whilst at the bottom are sketch shows with Horne and Corden being the worst offenders.
There's also a section where comedians such as Sarah Millican, Omid Djalili and David O'Doherty are interviewed about their worst ever stand up gigs.
Another interviewee was Stephen K. Amos who's one of my favourites although I doubt anything could be more embarrassing than appearing as a O/B presenter on Totally Saturday.
And there's a list of the top 10 comedy podcasts which includes Collings and Herrin from Andrew Collins and Richard Herring, with Adam and Joe's 6 Music podcast at number 1.
Tonight comedy wise (in a loose sense) will be the return of Just A Minute on BBC Radio 4 although I may give it a miss as the panel doesn't look too good, especially with the absence of Paul Merton where in his place are Tim Rice, the ever smug Tony Hawks, the unfunny Sue Perkins, and Pam Ayres which pretty much states the case to avoid.
I doubt Clement Freud would be impressed.
It can only get worse when the Job Centre meeting arrives on Wednesday.
This morning I watched the first of the final week's video streaming on the Chris Moyles Show where they had Peter Jones from Dragon's Den as a guest and Dave pitched his idea of a cooking utensil known as "the Peter Pan".
From what I gather it will also be the final week they'll be doing Chegger's Pop Quiz as Chris mentioned that today is the "last Monday" they'll be doing it on, and they'll be on holiday again next week which fits in nicely as I plan to take an even longer break from the show as mentioned yesterday.
I've never really been able to listen to the programme continuously for more than a year and whenever I take a break and start listening after 6 months or a year it sounds as if it's all picked up.
Ken Bruce is also on holiday next week on his Radio 2 show, so Zoe Ball will be stepping in again and of course taking charge of Popmaster.
This morning's G2 supplement focuses on comedy and includes interviews with people such as Russell Kane, Charlie Brooker and Barry Cryer amongst others.
In true supplement style theres a "What's Hot And What's Not" gauge on the first page where stand up television shows such as Apollo and Stewart Lee are at the top, whilst at the bottom are sketch shows with Horne and Corden being the worst offenders.
There's also a section where comedians such as Sarah Millican, Omid Djalili and David O'Doherty are interviewed about their worst ever stand up gigs.
Another interviewee was Stephen K. Amos who's one of my favourites although I doubt anything could be more embarrassing than appearing as a O/B presenter on Totally Saturday.
And there's a list of the top 10 comedy podcasts which includes Collings and Herrin from Andrew Collins and Richard Herring, with Adam and Joe's 6 Music podcast at number 1.
Tonight comedy wise (in a loose sense) will be the return of Just A Minute on BBC Radio 4 although I may give it a miss as the panel doesn't look too good, especially with the absence of Paul Merton where in his place are Tim Rice, the ever smug Tony Hawks, the unfunny Sue Perkins, and Pam Ayres which pretty much states the case to avoid.
I doubt Clement Freud would be impressed.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Making A Bad Impression
I would never usually directly slate a jingle company on my blog, but this example has to be one of the most blatant rip offs I have ever heard.
Produced by Manchester based company Dave Langer, this jingle for Northern Irish hospital radio presenter Maurice Taggart has the signs of
"I'm sure I've heard this somewhere before...".
If you read the blurb on the site itself, I very much doubt that is what was actually said and if Chris Moyles himself was to hear this I doubt him or even Sandy Beech at Music 4 would be impressed.
My main grudge apart from it being a blatant rip off is that the "Cheesy Song" played at the beginning of the show every morning was designed to be a send up of extended songs and themes for local radio stations in the 1980s but the flat instrumentation on the cut from Dave Langer and dreadful vocals just emphasizes what I really don't like about radio presenters who are clearly stuck in 1985 with a very patronising presenting style and a habit of talking down the listener.
With a jingle like the above example it gives you a hint of exactly that and I hope that Music 4 will be issuing a lawsuit before too long.
Speaking of which they've put the Scott Mills the Musical themes onto their site which are actually well produced and having heard them 24 hours before the rest of the UK, it was quite a treat.
Whilst I may never be fully converted into the show itself, the above examples really have had the effort put into them and are great fun overall in the usual tounge in cheek manner.
It's the last week of Moyles's video streaming from tomorrow and after that I'll probably take another break from listening for a month or so as I want to continue writing my "biog" and will have more time to go through various audio.
Whilst it's been good fun, I thought the first phase of live streaming in January was funnier with "Fire At Will" being a highlight.
If we happen to meet up before graduation I'd love to play the same game with one of the fellow radio students. Phil Harris and Chris Chilvers spring to mind...
Come to think of it, "Fire At Stoobs" would be genius.
Produced by Manchester based company Dave Langer, this jingle for Northern Irish hospital radio presenter Maurice Taggart has the signs of
"I'm sure I've heard this somewhere before...".
If you read the blurb on the site itself, I very much doubt that is what was actually said and if Chris Moyles himself was to hear this I doubt him or even Sandy Beech at Music 4 would be impressed.
My main grudge apart from it being a blatant rip off is that the "Cheesy Song" played at the beginning of the show every morning was designed to be a send up of extended songs and themes for local radio stations in the 1980s but the flat instrumentation on the cut from Dave Langer and dreadful vocals just emphasizes what I really don't like about radio presenters who are clearly stuck in 1985 with a very patronising presenting style and a habit of talking down the listener.
With a jingle like the above example it gives you a hint of exactly that and I hope that Music 4 will be issuing a lawsuit before too long.
Speaking of which they've put the Scott Mills the Musical themes onto their site which are actually well produced and having heard them 24 hours before the rest of the UK, it was quite a treat.
Whilst I may never be fully converted into the show itself, the above examples really have had the effort put into them and are great fun overall in the usual tounge in cheek manner.
It's the last week of Moyles's video streaming from tomorrow and after that I'll probably take another break from listening for a month or so as I want to continue writing my "biog" and will have more time to go through various audio.
Whilst it's been good fun, I thought the first phase of live streaming in January was funnier with "Fire At Will" being a highlight.
If we happen to meet up before graduation I'd love to play the same game with one of the fellow radio students. Phil Harris and Chris Chilvers spring to mind...
Come to think of it, "Fire At Stoobs" would be genius.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
"You Won't Hear That Joke On Mock The Week!"
I spent last night immursed in more rummaging where I'm now up to very early 2006. It's not just old recordings of Smoke I have at my disposal as there's quite a lot of stuff from Solar Radio and Iain Lee's show from LBC which I used to listen to heavily, especially the last half hour where callers were put through straight to air.
I pretty much leaned off Solar as 2006 went on and I became "less underground" and more outgoing and it made things a lot better at University.
The only show I really listened to on there was Sandra C's on Sunday mornings and she's back spinning the discs on Stomp Radio, and online station also on Sunday mornings between 9 and 11am.
The only problem is that the second hour is on at the same time as Robbie Vincent on Jazz FM but I may give Sandra a listen and hopefully find out how she's getting on as we met a couple of times at the Jazz Cafe during my time at University.
I spent the latter half of last night watching Frankie Boyle's live DVD and despite a lot of the stuff being done before on Mock The Week, there were plenty of gags that I hadn't heard before and I was in tears having to pause the DVD for at least two minutes.
A joke about school teachers being paedophiles was one such example
but I won't give away the punchline.
For now though, let the memories continue.
I pretty much leaned off Solar as 2006 went on and I became "less underground" and more outgoing and it made things a lot better at University.
The only show I really listened to on there was Sandra C's on Sunday mornings and she's back spinning the discs on Stomp Radio, and online station also on Sunday mornings between 9 and 11am.
The only problem is that the second hour is on at the same time as Robbie Vincent on Jazz FM but I may give Sandra a listen and hopefully find out how she's getting on as we met a couple of times at the Jazz Cafe during my time at University.
I spent the latter half of last night watching Frankie Boyle's live DVD and despite a lot of the stuff being done before on Mock The Week, there were plenty of gags that I hadn't heard before and I was in tears having to pause the DVD for at least two minutes.
A joke about school teachers being paedophiles was one such example
but I won't give away the punchline.
For now though, let the memories continue.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Improved Fantasy
Earlier today I listened to David Mitchell guesting on Desert Island Discs where his chosen records were an interesting and varied selection including Herb Alpert's "Spanish Flea" which he described as a tune to go mad to whilst on the island.
In a silly manner of course, not of a mentally ill disorder.
Others included "Mmm Mmm Mmm" by the Crash Test Dummies reminding him of starting University, "Creep" by Radiohead which was ever appropriate and could be my song actually, and "Rainbow Connection" as sung by Kermit The Frog in "The Muppet Movie".
It was interesting when presenter Kirsty Young asked questions about comedy partner Robert Webb becoming a Dad and whether it would see any changes to their relationship as an act, to which David said it would but they could deal with it in a sensible manner and Robert could balance his family life with performing alongside David.
I should also mention last night's Mock The Week which for me has to be the funniest so far in the series.
The guests weren't too bad, mainly because of the noticeable difference in height between them, with the rather tiny but sweet Lucy Porter, and Greg Davies who's 6 ft 8 in comparison.
As always it was the final round which had me laughing the most where the first topic was "Deleted Lines From A Fantasy Film".
My favourite had to be Frankie Boyle's "Ron had swine flu and people were avoiding him. Luckily he was ginger so he was used to it".
However another one which was just as hilarious was Greg Davies' one near the end which I won't give away but is easily accessible on iPlayer, Youtube etc.
I'm getting used to Frankie having a beard although I've also noticed that Dara has started wearing a tie which I'm not too sure about as it doesn't really fit in with the casual manner of the programme, as despite being the host, Dara's just as an active contributor in certain rounds of the show.
There's not a great deal worth viewing tonight as this week's 8OO10C is a compilation show, and Jonathan Ross's guests for the final show in the series don't look too exciting.
Mum's away tonight and Dad's still at WOMAD so I'll sort out my own cooking whilst listening to The Now Show on Radio 4.
Other than that I'll carry on with my "side projects".
In a silly manner of course, not of a mentally ill disorder.
Others included "Mmm Mmm Mmm" by the Crash Test Dummies reminding him of starting University, "Creep" by Radiohead which was ever appropriate and could be my song actually, and "Rainbow Connection" as sung by Kermit The Frog in "The Muppet Movie".
It was interesting when presenter Kirsty Young asked questions about comedy partner Robert Webb becoming a Dad and whether it would see any changes to their relationship as an act, to which David said it would but they could deal with it in a sensible manner and Robert could balance his family life with performing alongside David.
I should also mention last night's Mock The Week which for me has to be the funniest so far in the series.
The guests weren't too bad, mainly because of the noticeable difference in height between them, with the rather tiny but sweet Lucy Porter, and Greg Davies who's 6 ft 8 in comparison.
As always it was the final round which had me laughing the most where the first topic was "Deleted Lines From A Fantasy Film".
My favourite had to be Frankie Boyle's "Ron had swine flu and people were avoiding him. Luckily he was ginger so he was used to it".
However another one which was just as hilarious was Greg Davies' one near the end which I won't give away but is easily accessible on iPlayer, Youtube etc.
I'm getting used to Frankie having a beard although I've also noticed that Dara has started wearing a tie which I'm not too sure about as it doesn't really fit in with the casual manner of the programme, as despite being the host, Dara's just as an active contributor in certain rounds of the show.
There's not a great deal worth viewing tonight as this week's 8OO10C is a compilation show, and Jonathan Ross's guests for the final show in the series don't look too exciting.
Mum's away tonight and Dad's still at WOMAD so I'll sort out my own cooking whilst listening to The Now Show on Radio 4.
Other than that I'll carry on with my "side projects".
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Collecting Prescriptions And Reliving Preservations
More audio rummaging has been in order of today mainly listening back to radio recordings from Autumn of '05.
It's all rather exhaustive but those who know me well, will know that it will be worth it in the end.
I also made a visit to the doctors to collect a prescription for my medication that I'll collect on Monday when they arrive at the chemist.
As for the rest of today I've already made a start on tonight's cooking which will involve a chicken stew with penne pasta, and TV wise there's the second edition of Steve Jones' television quiz on BBC 1 and later on there's the third edition of Mock The Week in the current series which should provide the laughs.
For now though I'll continue with the rummaging.
It's all rather exhaustive but those who know me well, will know that it will be worth it in the end.
I also made a visit to the doctors to collect a prescription for my medication that I'll collect on Monday when they arrive at the chemist.
As for the rest of today I've already made a start on tonight's cooking which will involve a chicken stew with penne pasta, and TV wise there's the second edition of Steve Jones' television quiz on BBC 1 and later on there's the third edition of Mock The Week in the current series which should provide the laughs.
For now though I'll continue with the rummaging.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Further Tracing
Tonight's Who Do You Think You Are with Chris Moyles as the subject was far from an ego trip into the man himself.
This was a well made look into the traces of his relatives from his Irish mother and his father who had Irish parents.
I'm guessing the programme was shot nearly a year ago as in the studio shots right at the beginning they were playing the August 2007 jingles that were in use until last December.
Overall it was an interesting journey that took the radio presenter from Dublin to West Ireland, and all the way to Ypres in Belgium where his great grandfather fought in the battlefields during the first World War and managed to show a softer side to the usually outspoken broadcaster.
The only other episode in the current series that take my interest is the one with David Mitchell, although I won't have to wait too long to hear him as he's been on Desert Island Discs this week which is being repeated on Friday morning.
Tomorrow I need to sort out a doctor's appointment in order to get a prescription for my medication and sort out for cooking although with Dad at WOMAD this weekend it will just be me and Jo.
I'll probably be required to do more than my fair share of cooking during this time which I wouldn't complain about.
Good Night.
This was a well made look into the traces of his relatives from his Irish mother and his father who had Irish parents.
I'm guessing the programme was shot nearly a year ago as in the studio shots right at the beginning they were playing the August 2007 jingles that were in use until last December.
Overall it was an interesting journey that took the radio presenter from Dublin to West Ireland, and all the way to Ypres in Belgium where his great grandfather fought in the battlefields during the first World War and managed to show a softer side to the usually outspoken broadcaster.
The only other episode in the current series that take my interest is the one with David Mitchell, although I won't have to wait too long to hear him as he's been on Desert Island Discs this week which is being repeated on Friday morning.
Tomorrow I need to sort out a doctor's appointment in order to get a prescription for my medication and sort out for cooking although with Dad at WOMAD this weekend it will just be me and Jo.
I'll probably be required to do more than my fair share of cooking during this time which I wouldn't complain about.
Good Night.
Roots And Stones
Pretty empty day, not helped by waking up at 9am.
It's always in the warmer months that I wake up late and during the winter up up at stupid o'clock regardless of what the agenda is.
Tonight I plan to watch the much awaited episode of Who Do You Think You Are where Chris Moyles makes an emotional journey to discover the routes of his Irish ancestors. Whether it will convert any haters of the presenter remains to be seen, but it should provide interesting viewing.
Moyles earlier this year lost a few stone climbing Mt Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief although someone else who has recently lost weight (in his own words) has been Ross T, who has recently been gloating about his achievements.
It's a lot more effort than I put last year to lose weight due to the drugs I was on but honestly, if that's being slim then I'm Victoria Beckham.
Then again I wouldn't want to dictate people's lifestyles as I know I could not live on a carb free diet having been put on gluten free diet many many years ago.
I seem to remember the wheat free pasta or whatever it was completely lacking any flavour.
It's always in the warmer months that I wake up late and during the winter up up at stupid o'clock regardless of what the agenda is.
Tonight I plan to watch the much awaited episode of Who Do You Think You Are where Chris Moyles makes an emotional journey to discover the routes of his Irish ancestors. Whether it will convert any haters of the presenter remains to be seen, but it should provide interesting viewing.
Moyles earlier this year lost a few stone climbing Mt Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief although someone else who has recently lost weight (in his own words) has been Ross T, who has recently been gloating about his achievements.
It's a lot more effort than I put last year to lose weight due to the drugs I was on but honestly, if that's being slim then I'm Victoria Beckham.
Then again I wouldn't want to dictate people's lifestyles as I know I could not live on a carb free diet having been put on gluten free diet many many years ago.
I seem to remember the wheat free pasta or whatever it was completely lacking any flavour.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Graphic TV Dissection
Tonight's YHBW had the same conventions as the others in terms of being laugh out loud funny at times, but at others really revolting.
One such programme that fitted into the latter was "Inside Nature's Giants" which involved graphic depictions of animal autopsies. Again not to my taste.
The chat about the show provided the laughs however, especially when Charlie lashed out at the panellists for responding to the show negatively, although guest Frankie Boyle's response to Charlie wanting to see elephants also had me laughing.
One of the other programmes looked at was the Got Talent franchise and how it can be just as revolting in other territories such as Russia which involved a man drilling into his brain.
Again I couldn't look at it myself although if Nick Hell was anything to go by in the last series of BGT, I doubt we'll have seen the last of the extreme acts.
My favourite part however had to be in the final round at the end when Charlie asked the question;
Charlie Brooker: "How did Danny Dyer injure his jaw?"
BUZZ
Frankie Boyle: "By talking like a c**t"
It won't be the last we hear of the Scotch comedian this week as MTW's back on Thursday although the guest line up doesn't look as good.
As for tomorrow, more audio rummaging I guess.
Good Night.
One such programme that fitted into the latter was "Inside Nature's Giants" which involved graphic depictions of animal autopsies. Again not to my taste.
The chat about the show provided the laughs however, especially when Charlie lashed out at the panellists for responding to the show negatively, although guest Frankie Boyle's response to Charlie wanting to see elephants also had me laughing.
One of the other programmes looked at was the Got Talent franchise and how it can be just as revolting in other territories such as Russia which involved a man drilling into his brain.
Again I couldn't look at it myself although if Nick Hell was anything to go by in the last series of BGT, I doubt we'll have seen the last of the extreme acts.
My favourite part however had to be in the final round at the end when Charlie asked the question;
Charlie Brooker: "How did Danny Dyer injure his jaw?"
BUZZ
Frankie Boyle: "By talking like a c**t"
It won't be the last we hear of the Scotch comedian this week as MTW's back on Thursday although the guest line up doesn't look as good.
As for tomorrow, more audio rummaging I guess.
Good Night.
"Listen To Him When You're Having A Bath"
I decided to have a look back to the early hey-days of Chris Moyles in his infancy at Radio 1 back in 1997-98 and what you could call the hey-day of Radio 1 from my point of view, although others may look at it as it's "wilderness era" pre-Parfitt which is when it fell down the plug hole for me as a station.
Features on the show included "Throwing Sugar Lumps At The Studio Clock" and the ever hilarious "True Or False" in which it would always be fixed so no one who called in would get all three questions right.
Around the time Chris broadcast in the same slot as Greg James does currently although what Moyles was doing was a lot more entertaining and a lot less patronising than what the so called "radio star of the future" has to offer.
There was a lot more music played back then but it was a lot more wider and unpredictable than it is now, with tracks such as "Play It Cool" by The Super Furry Animals, "Arms Around The World" by Louise, and "Phenomenom" by
LL Cool J, and even recurrent tracks by Simply Red and Boyz II Men.
As a listener back then I certainly preferred it to what commercial radio here had to offer although they were quite ahead in terms of new releases too.
Chris however would always speak his mind about records that he didn't think were that good such as the LL Cool J track which he said "sounded like it wasn't finished" and needed strings on it.
Oddly enough the track sampled on "Phenomenon" happened to be a rare groove track from the late 70s by Creative Source called "Who Is He" which did in fact have strings on it as the tune built up.
Other comments on songs included the superb "Closer Than Close" by Rosie Gaines that was quite a regular on Radio 1 at the time;
"Closer Than Close by Rosie Gaines, a lot of weight..."
Which I imagine Chris had more than the right to say.
Another one was for erstwhile girlband Cleopatra who oddly enough were also to my liking songwise;
"Cleopatra and "Life Ain't Easy". When you're in Cleopatra"
Within two years later Radio 1 had started getting more childlike and idiotic, with the station being rather dance and R&B heavy around 2000-2001 being a huge low.
Everyone moans about what Bannister did to Radio 1 in 1993 but for me,
it was Andy Parfitt who shot the bullet into the station.
Features on the show included "Throwing Sugar Lumps At The Studio Clock" and the ever hilarious "True Or False" in which it would always be fixed so no one who called in would get all three questions right.
Around the time Chris broadcast in the same slot as Greg James does currently although what Moyles was doing was a lot more entertaining and a lot less patronising than what the so called "radio star of the future" has to offer.
There was a lot more music played back then but it was a lot more wider and unpredictable than it is now, with tracks such as "Play It Cool" by The Super Furry Animals, "Arms Around The World" by Louise, and "Phenomenom" by
LL Cool J, and even recurrent tracks by Simply Red and Boyz II Men.
As a listener back then I certainly preferred it to what commercial radio here had to offer although they were quite ahead in terms of new releases too.
Chris however would always speak his mind about records that he didn't think were that good such as the LL Cool J track which he said "sounded like it wasn't finished" and needed strings on it.
Oddly enough the track sampled on "Phenomenon" happened to be a rare groove track from the late 70s by Creative Source called "Who Is He" which did in fact have strings on it as the tune built up.
Other comments on songs included the superb "Closer Than Close" by Rosie Gaines that was quite a regular on Radio 1 at the time;
"Closer Than Close by Rosie Gaines, a lot of weight..."
Which I imagine Chris had more than the right to say.
Another one was for erstwhile girlband Cleopatra who oddly enough were also to my liking songwise;
"Cleopatra and "Life Ain't Easy". When you're in Cleopatra"
Within two years later Radio 1 had started getting more childlike and idiotic, with the station being rather dance and R&B heavy around 2000-2001 being a huge low.
Everyone moans about what Bannister did to Radio 1 in 1993 but for me,
it was Andy Parfitt who shot the bullet into the station.
Monday, July 20, 2009
"Might As Well Jump"
The laughs tonight were provided courtesy of Russell Howard's stand-up DVD and it's definitely the funniest I've seen so far out of the ones to come out in the last year or thereabouts.
Russell's routine is based on anecdotes although unlike Dara O'Briain they take a more juvenile as opposed to quirky outlook on things although I wouldn't see it as "Bo Selecta/lowest common denominator" juvenile.
Most of the jokes relate to some of the naughty things Russell and his brother got up to as children growing up in Bristol although in most cases it's his delivery of exclamations as simple as a man screaming that have me in stitches or wanting to rewind the DVD due to it's hilarity.
You can't really rewind jokes on their own, but if it's exclamations or funny voices then they're an exception.
My favourite gag on there had to be the one about the man wanting to jump off the Bristol Hippodrome although part of that rings true as nearly two years ago I was close to doing the same from the mental ward of St Martin's Hospital.
Overall it's further proof of wanting to see him live, although thankfully the possibilities of actually achieving that aim are higher than me actually getting a proper job in radio.
Actually come to think of it, recurring thoughts about radio and my spite towards other people getting further may actually result in me being positioned at even more dangerous heights if I let thoughts go too far.
Everyone says you need ideas to get into radio and to be honest I haven't heard any creative to the point of entertaining ideas done in radio for an awful long time.
They don't have to be original of course, but there's a fair share of those in the industry who go on about ideas and features in the same way as a new flavour of Polos when they turn out to be the equivalent of a fun size Mars bar.
The closest that I would get to the sort of pre-produced items I used to do on the soul show such as The Bubblegum Top 10, would be either Radio 2's "Blaggers Guide", or "The Day The Music Died" which managed to use pop music and audio production creatively, although they were probably funnier than what I did.
I'm guessing that Jon Holmes from TDTMD didn't call me a c*nt for nothing
at the 2006 Student Radio Awards.
In a jokey manner of course.
At one point I was deluded to the point of thinking I was the next Kenny Everett in terms of spending up to half a day creating such things but then again everyone wants to be the new him, although unlike those who rip off either Chris Moyles and Scott Mills, I have no problem with that.
That's because it proves they're putting effort into what the actual item sounds like by messing about with special effects etc.
One such example being fellow Westminster student Dan Roberts who's probably too young to even remember Kenny but would be flattered at the comparison.
In the words of the JAM Creative Productions slogan
"We Care What It Sounds Like".
Good Night.
Russell's routine is based on anecdotes although unlike Dara O'Briain they take a more juvenile as opposed to quirky outlook on things although I wouldn't see it as "Bo Selecta/lowest common denominator" juvenile.
Most of the jokes relate to some of the naughty things Russell and his brother got up to as children growing up in Bristol although in most cases it's his delivery of exclamations as simple as a man screaming that have me in stitches or wanting to rewind the DVD due to it's hilarity.
You can't really rewind jokes on their own, but if it's exclamations or funny voices then they're an exception.
My favourite gag on there had to be the one about the man wanting to jump off the Bristol Hippodrome although part of that rings true as nearly two years ago I was close to doing the same from the mental ward of St Martin's Hospital.
Overall it's further proof of wanting to see him live, although thankfully the possibilities of actually achieving that aim are higher than me actually getting a proper job in radio.
Actually come to think of it, recurring thoughts about radio and my spite towards other people getting further may actually result in me being positioned at even more dangerous heights if I let thoughts go too far.
Everyone says you need ideas to get into radio and to be honest I haven't heard any creative to the point of entertaining ideas done in radio for an awful long time.
They don't have to be original of course, but there's a fair share of those in the industry who go on about ideas and features in the same way as a new flavour of Polos when they turn out to be the equivalent of a fun size Mars bar.
The closest that I would get to the sort of pre-produced items I used to do on the soul show such as The Bubblegum Top 10, would be either Radio 2's "Blaggers Guide", or "The Day The Music Died" which managed to use pop music and audio production creatively, although they were probably funnier than what I did.
I'm guessing that Jon Holmes from TDTMD didn't call me a c*nt for nothing
at the 2006 Student Radio Awards.
In a jokey manner of course.
At one point I was deluded to the point of thinking I was the next Kenny Everett in terms of spending up to half a day creating such things but then again everyone wants to be the new him, although unlike those who rip off either Chris Moyles and Scott Mills, I have no problem with that.
That's because it proves they're putting effort into what the actual item sounds like by messing about with special effects etc.
One such example being fellow Westminster student Dan Roberts who's probably too young to even remember Kenny but would be flattered at the comparison.
In the words of the JAM Creative Productions slogan
"We Care What It Sounds Like".
Good Night.
Calling Time On Clue?
The final edition of the first Humph-free series (sorry about the pun) of
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue aired tonight and it pretty much ended on a whimper with rather weak and in places recycled gags throughout.
It was pretty much reflected when Tim Brooke-Taylor joked about Stephen Fry and Jack Dee being better at hosting the programme than Rob Brydon who was the host for the final two episodes.
The series returns in the Autumn although it's pretty evident that I don't think I've laughed at the show to the point of cackling for almost two years, with the last time I can remember being the "Identify The Dead Air" round from the Summer 2007 series.
A couple of Christmases ago I was listening to the Winter 1989 series which had me laughing uncontrollably, although this was partly due to the more imaginative and varied selection of games and the addition of the late Willie Rushton as one of the regular panellists.
I may have a gander at another stand up DVD later tonight, this time from Russell Howard. I've never seen him perform a full show before, mainly because Ticketmaster ballsed up my order to see him at Wembley last year.
Nontheless it should be an enjoyable watch.
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue aired tonight and it pretty much ended on a whimper with rather weak and in places recycled gags throughout.
It was pretty much reflected when Tim Brooke-Taylor joked about Stephen Fry and Jack Dee being better at hosting the programme than Rob Brydon who was the host for the final two episodes.
The series returns in the Autumn although it's pretty evident that I don't think I've laughed at the show to the point of cackling for almost two years, with the last time I can remember being the "Identify The Dead Air" round from the Summer 2007 series.
A couple of Christmases ago I was listening to the Winter 1989 series which had me laughing uncontrollably, although this was partly due to the more imaginative and varied selection of games and the addition of the late Willie Rushton as one of the regular panellists.
I may have a gander at another stand up DVD later tonight, this time from Russell Howard. I've never seen him perform a full show before, mainly because Ticketmaster ballsed up my order to see him at Wembley last year.
Nontheless it should be an enjoyable watch.
Brick Walls And Polystyrene Walls
I went for my visit to the Job Centre as planned and for me it looks as if things are getting worse.
I have a "Back To Work Session" on the 29th of July which I'm guessing is some sort of motivation exercise/bollocking in response to the lack of success I've had in terms of finding jobs.
Let's face it, I'm rubbish overall at finding the right job although many would suggest that "the right job" for me would be back in ASDA, or a very similar role that in the long term could result in something a lot worse than being depressed.
Or possibly in my case, preferable to being depressed.
However I listed my requirements when originally setting my agenda on the Job Seekers allowance, and retail jobs were out of the question, without saying.
As the old saying goes "Beggars Can't Be Choosers" although I'm just an annoying bugger as opposed to beggar.
Earlier today on The Chris Moyles Show, Dave recounted his experience of filming "Hole In The Wall" that weekend and it sounds as if things have gotten even worse.
Dave was on a team alongside captain Joe Swash and Z-lister Anne Diamond, whilst the other team consisted of television whore (in more ways than one) Sophie Anderton, and John Altman AKA Nick Cotton from Eastenders.
I can picture him in that silver outfit and believe me, it's more or less proof that we're being punished.
The tackiness appears to have gone even further as Dave mentioned that the teams in this series make their entrance by sliding down a water slide.
That should be enough to discourage anyone from watching although the one thing I am grateful about Hole In The Wall, was that it was one of the programme extracts that helped me to get a successful result for my dissertation.
That's ideal motivation for anyone unsure about what to do their's on in 2010.
I have a "Back To Work Session" on the 29th of July which I'm guessing is some sort of motivation exercise/bollocking in response to the lack of success I've had in terms of finding jobs.
Let's face it, I'm rubbish overall at finding the right job although many would suggest that "the right job" for me would be back in ASDA, or a very similar role that in the long term could result in something a lot worse than being depressed.
Or possibly in my case, preferable to being depressed.
However I listed my requirements when originally setting my agenda on the Job Seekers allowance, and retail jobs were out of the question, without saying.
As the old saying goes "Beggars Can't Be Choosers" although I'm just an annoying bugger as opposed to beggar.
Earlier today on The Chris Moyles Show, Dave recounted his experience of filming "Hole In The Wall" that weekend and it sounds as if things have gotten even worse.
Dave was on a team alongside captain Joe Swash and Z-lister Anne Diamond, whilst the other team consisted of television whore (in more ways than one) Sophie Anderton, and John Altman AKA Nick Cotton from Eastenders.
I can picture him in that silver outfit and believe me, it's more or less proof that we're being punished.
The tackiness appears to have gone even further as Dave mentioned that the teams in this series make their entrance by sliding down a water slide.
That should be enough to discourage anyone from watching although the one thing I am grateful about Hole In The Wall, was that it was one of the programme extracts that helped me to get a successful result for my dissertation.
That's ideal motivation for anyone unsure about what to do their's on in 2010.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Stand-Up And Deliver (Usually Nonsense)
I've just finished watching Dara O'Briain's live stand up as shown on BBC 2 and it's more or less proof as to why he's better off as the host of Mock The Week as opposed to one of the panellists.
I don't really like anecdotal based comedy as much as straight jokes like
Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle although there were a few gags that made me laugh such as those who drive past famous people's houses, and Facebook being an "online butler".
On a similar note I discovered a new podcast from Frankie Boyle earlier today which is basically a recording of him trying out jokes to be used on Mock The Week in front of a small audience about two days before the recording.
It's worth listening to in terms of hearing jokes that won't get into the show although the audio quality itself is rather amateurish.
My favourite part has to be Frank's suggestions for the answers in the "If This Is The Answer, What Is The Question?" round which in the current podcast involves the ones around Michael Jackson's funeral.
One of them that didn't get on television involved the Pope with the answer being "50 million".
I'm not sure if I'll make a habit of listening throughout the series in case they spoil the jokes when done on television, although in the first podcast it only really covers stuff that was done in the first two shows.
Tomorrow will involve a visit to the Job Centre where many around me are hinting that things can only get worse, through their own personal experience, and after returning I'll make a start on my long wounded audio rummage, to help my write my "University biog" which will probably involve the closedown of Jazz FM in London and the launch of Smooth FM on the same frequency in June 2005, and some vintage Solar Radio recordings from the rest of the summer,
that could be what inspired me to have a go at doing something similar myself.
Hopefully in a lot less arrogant style than some of the presenters.
Good times, and Good Night.
I don't really like anecdotal based comedy as much as straight jokes like
Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle although there were a few gags that made me laugh such as those who drive past famous people's houses, and Facebook being an "online butler".
On a similar note I discovered a new podcast from Frankie Boyle earlier today which is basically a recording of him trying out jokes to be used on Mock The Week in front of a small audience about two days before the recording.
It's worth listening to in terms of hearing jokes that won't get into the show although the audio quality itself is rather amateurish.
My favourite part has to be Frank's suggestions for the answers in the "If This Is The Answer, What Is The Question?" round which in the current podcast involves the ones around Michael Jackson's funeral.
One of them that didn't get on television involved the Pope with the answer being "50 million".
I'm not sure if I'll make a habit of listening throughout the series in case they spoil the jokes when done on television, although in the first podcast it only really covers stuff that was done in the first two shows.
Tomorrow will involve a visit to the Job Centre where many around me are hinting that things can only get worse, through their own personal experience, and after returning I'll make a start on my long wounded audio rummage, to help my write my "University biog" which will probably involve the closedown of Jazz FM in London and the launch of Smooth FM on the same frequency in June 2005, and some vintage Solar Radio recordings from the rest of the summer,
that could be what inspired me to have a go at doing something similar myself.
Hopefully in a lot less arrogant style than some of the presenters.
Good times, and Good Night.
The Rod In Jacko's Success
It's still looking rather mixed outside with it being bright one hour, and as I type now it's pissing down.
Mum and Dad are still going out however leaving me to sort my own cooking out this lunchtime which I'll do immediately after Robbie Vincent on Jazz FM.
This week he's playing a selection of records written and produced by the unsung hero of Michael Jackson's finest records, Rod Temperton who happened to come from our very own shores up Cleethorpes in East Yorkshire.
I never knew he was responsible for the Bob James tune "Sign Of The Times" which was put to very good use by Mezzforte on their "Funkin' Marvellous Jazz" medley right at the end alongside the keyboards from "Brazillian Love Affair" by George Duke.
The medley itself was pretty much as jazz-funk take on the "Stars On 45" releases from around the same time but slightly less tackier.
Also used by Warren G and De La Soul a few years later.
I've still got Bob James's discography on my hard drive which I'll go through some time although I'd imagine there's quite a lot of unmemorable stuff on there in the same way as the Spyro Gyra, and Rippingtons discographies.
Hopefully they'll be tracks on the albums that are worthy of an X, for those who know my method of noting down tracks I really like in case I forget them.
It's better than being told what to like by a load of men in suits, and so called "fuccus groups" (and that's not a typo).
Mum and Dad are still going out however leaving me to sort my own cooking out this lunchtime which I'll do immediately after Robbie Vincent on Jazz FM.
This week he's playing a selection of records written and produced by the unsung hero of Michael Jackson's finest records, Rod Temperton who happened to come from our very own shores up Cleethorpes in East Yorkshire.
I never knew he was responsible for the Bob James tune "Sign Of The Times" which was put to very good use by Mezzforte on their "Funkin' Marvellous Jazz" medley right at the end alongside the keyboards from "Brazillian Love Affair" by George Duke.
The medley itself was pretty much as jazz-funk take on the "Stars On 45" releases from around the same time but slightly less tackier.
Also used by Warren G and De La Soul a few years later.
I've still got Bob James's discography on my hard drive which I'll go through some time although I'd imagine there's quite a lot of unmemorable stuff on there in the same way as the Spyro Gyra, and Rippingtons discographies.
Hopefully they'll be tracks on the albums that are worthy of an X, for those who know my method of noting down tracks I really like in case I forget them.
It's better than being told what to like by a load of men in suits, and so called "fuccus groups" (and that's not a typo).
Saturday, July 18, 2009
One Line Wittyness
The latter half of tonight was spent watching the first of Jimmy Carr's stand up DVDs from 2004 simply titled "Jimmy Carr Live".
Quite a lot of the material has ended up being re-used on television such as the Atomic Kitten empty checkouts gag, and the one about ram raiding which ended up on last night's 8OO10C.
Asides that it was a pretty good performance proving that his delivery is unflappable although the downside is that with him providing laughs for the audience, we don't actually get to hear his own legendary laugh which has become known for the right and wrong reasons over the last year or so, judging by the many times he collapses on his many panel shows.
Definitely better than his "brother" Alan by a long shot.
I noticed on the credits that two of the co-writers were Frankie Boyle and
Paul Garner, Paul in particular used to work with Jimmy as a writer
on Bo Selecta as well as creating Channel 4's "The Pilot Show" and
also used to present on the radio on GLR, and Chiltern Radio in the early 90s.
I'm not sure what's happening tomorrow, especially in terms of mealtimes as if the weather's good, Mum and Dad may go to the beach hut.
Again you'd think we're in a parallel universe on the premise that I don't normally go with them.
For me a visit to the beach is only really enjoyable socially when you're with those you really want to be with as opposed to those present all the time.
If they do end up staying here and we end up having a roast as normal, I will not sort the spuds out between 10am and 1pm as Robbie Vincent's spinning the Sunday morning soul on Jazz FM.
And spouting out rubbish in between the records as if they let an market trader on the air so as always, it's lucky the music's a saving grace.
Good Night.
Quite a lot of the material has ended up being re-used on television such as the Atomic Kitten empty checkouts gag, and the one about ram raiding which ended up on last night's 8OO10C.
Asides that it was a pretty good performance proving that his delivery is unflappable although the downside is that with him providing laughs for the audience, we don't actually get to hear his own legendary laugh which has become known for the right and wrong reasons over the last year or so, judging by the many times he collapses on his many panel shows.
Definitely better than his "brother" Alan by a long shot.
I noticed on the credits that two of the co-writers were Frankie Boyle and
Paul Garner, Paul in particular used to work with Jimmy as a writer
on Bo Selecta as well as creating Channel 4's "The Pilot Show" and
also used to present on the radio on GLR, and Chiltern Radio in the early 90s.
I'm not sure what's happening tomorrow, especially in terms of mealtimes as if the weather's good, Mum and Dad may go to the beach hut.
Again you'd think we're in a parallel universe on the premise that I don't normally go with them.
For me a visit to the beach is only really enjoyable socially when you're with those you really want to be with as opposed to those present all the time.
If they do end up staying here and we end up having a roast as normal, I will not sort the spuds out between 10am and 1pm as Robbie Vincent's spinning the Sunday morning soul on Jazz FM.
And spouting out rubbish in between the records as if they let an market trader on the air so as always, it's lucky the music's a saving grace.
Good Night.
Another Moan About Saturdays On The Box
Whilst Graham Norton and his no-hopers had "Totally Given Up" on BBC 1, an even more embarrassing offering was provided at the same time over on ITV1 in the form of a show hosted by Stephen Mulhern called "Anonymous".
With a title bearing a similar resemblance to a much ridiculed (on this blog anyway) show hosted by Davina McCall in 2001, this basically was a stretched out version of Ant & Dec's "Undercover" slot from their Takeway show and the 5 or so minutes I saw was enough to prove that what may work when done by Geordies with comic timing, doesn't really work with E-list celebrities such as Austin Healy, Richard Arnold from GMTV, and Louis Walsh.
In fact this is just a moan about Louis overall as I share the same sort of views on him, as fellow radio student Stevie McIntosh does on Adrian Chiles, as Louis just lacks any form of charm and personality.
I really can't see this programme getting a series and I'm sure it will be added to the evergrowing list of shows I can laugh at in terms of their faliure.
I'd imagine that I'm becoming my own hypocrite for my opinions on Saturday night shows, when saying that those who moan about Jo Whiley's replacement on Radio 1 etc can just switch off.
However the difference is that in radio you have to go in every day to present such a show whereas in television and a show like Totally Saturday for example you've got a whole week to prepare and put things together and build fresh ideas, and in the end what comes out on screen is just dull, bland, tacky, and embarrassing.
And you'd think it would be impossible to achieve all of those at once.
Although the show ran it's course towards the end, nothing could match Noel Edmonds in his prime with the House Party as most items ran for around two minutes each and moved quickly from one to the other seemlessly.
The only exceptions were possibly the Gotchas and NTV as they would need a bit longer to build up in order to catch out the victim but it was still entertaining.
And if items fell flat on their arse, they normally got dropped. Not recycled again like Graham Norton although, with the show nearing the axe I suppose you can't do sod else.
Another thing however that's been bugging me is the lack of choice that's on offer in terms of shows as if you didn't like what Noel Edmonds had to offer on BBC 1, Blind Date, and Gladiators on ITV offered something distinctly different and therefore provided viewers with a wide choice of entertainment on Saturday nights.
Whereas now we have identical voting shows, and "stupid for the sake of being stupid" stunt shows, which Total Wipeout, and Ant & Dec seem to have resorted to.
Especially with the Geordie duo's "Takeaway Prison" in the last series which for the benefit of those who were lucky enough not to see it, was a blatant rip off of the obstacles on Total Wipeout and further use of the "Burglar Bill" method as mentioned a few posts ago.
However I'm priveleged I have access to an off button on my remote control and other luxuries such as an external hard drive, where the plan for tonight is to have a listen to some proper comedy from Peter Cook and Dudley Moore,
and possibly one of the rudest records ever recorded featuring their alter egos
Derek And Clive.
As it says on the sleeve "not to be played in front of minors".
With a title bearing a similar resemblance to a much ridiculed (on this blog anyway) show hosted by Davina McCall in 2001, this basically was a stretched out version of Ant & Dec's "Undercover" slot from their Takeway show and the 5 or so minutes I saw was enough to prove that what may work when done by Geordies with comic timing, doesn't really work with E-list celebrities such as Austin Healy, Richard Arnold from GMTV, and Louis Walsh.
In fact this is just a moan about Louis overall as I share the same sort of views on him, as fellow radio student Stevie McIntosh does on Adrian Chiles, as Louis just lacks any form of charm and personality.
I really can't see this programme getting a series and I'm sure it will be added to the evergrowing list of shows I can laugh at in terms of their faliure.
I'd imagine that I'm becoming my own hypocrite for my opinions on Saturday night shows, when saying that those who moan about Jo Whiley's replacement on Radio 1 etc can just switch off.
However the difference is that in radio you have to go in every day to present such a show whereas in television and a show like Totally Saturday for example you've got a whole week to prepare and put things together and build fresh ideas, and in the end what comes out on screen is just dull, bland, tacky, and embarrassing.
And you'd think it would be impossible to achieve all of those at once.
Although the show ran it's course towards the end, nothing could match Noel Edmonds in his prime with the House Party as most items ran for around two minutes each and moved quickly from one to the other seemlessly.
The only exceptions were possibly the Gotchas and NTV as they would need a bit longer to build up in order to catch out the victim but it was still entertaining.
And if items fell flat on their arse, they normally got dropped. Not recycled again like Graham Norton although, with the show nearing the axe I suppose you can't do sod else.
Another thing however that's been bugging me is the lack of choice that's on offer in terms of shows as if you didn't like what Noel Edmonds had to offer on BBC 1, Blind Date, and Gladiators on ITV offered something distinctly different and therefore provided viewers with a wide choice of entertainment on Saturday nights.
Whereas now we have identical voting shows, and "stupid for the sake of being stupid" stunt shows, which Total Wipeout, and Ant & Dec seem to have resorted to.
Especially with the Geordie duo's "Takeaway Prison" in the last series which for the benefit of those who were lucky enough not to see it, was a blatant rip off of the obstacles on Total Wipeout and further use of the "Burglar Bill" method as mentioned a few posts ago.
However I'm priveleged I have access to an off button on my remote control and other luxuries such as an external hard drive, where the plan for tonight is to have a listen to some proper comedy from Peter Cook and Dudley Moore,
and possibly one of the rudest records ever recorded featuring their alter egos
Derek And Clive.
As it says on the sleeve "not to be played in front of minors".
Further Celebrity Disposals
Pretty unproductive today, save for sorting the big pile of washing that's been in my basket for almost a week.
I'm now up to Series 8 of Room 101 where by now, Paul Merton had abandoned the heavilly scripted intro "Supposing you had the chance to get rid of your worst nightmares" etc.
So far the guests I've seen have included Ronan Keating who wanted to get rid of entourages, rude people and miming, due to Ronan and Boyzone's insistence of always singing live on televsion and rightly so.
Ronan managed to get all of his items in although for the last one, Paul Merton asked him to mime with him to the duet he'd originally done with Lulu, the Bob Seger cover "We've Got Tonight".
Ronan as you'd expect was rubbish at miming but Paul was hilarious miming to Lulu's part.
I also watched the late Linda Smith's episode for possibly the first time since the original broadcast where amongst her items included adults who read Harry Potter, Tim Henman, and comic opera and to an extent opera singers who sing pop songs.
Still to come in the series are Sean Lock, Ross Noble who wanted to dispose of Craig David and Christian Rock, and possibly one of the last TV appearances for Ron Atkinson before he messed up his career.
As for the rest of today, after hanging up my clothes I plan to listen to PY on Jazz FM after a break from last week where I didn't hear the show due to being at Lounge.
It's weird to think it's shot by since last week and the way things are going, Mum's birthday could be tomorrow.
Whatever happens it's likely I'll forget to buy a present on time.
I'm now up to Series 8 of Room 101 where by now, Paul Merton had abandoned the heavilly scripted intro "Supposing you had the chance to get rid of your worst nightmares" etc.
So far the guests I've seen have included Ronan Keating who wanted to get rid of entourages, rude people and miming, due to Ronan and Boyzone's insistence of always singing live on televsion and rightly so.
Ronan managed to get all of his items in although for the last one, Paul Merton asked him to mime with him to the duet he'd originally done with Lulu, the Bob Seger cover "We've Got Tonight".
Ronan as you'd expect was rubbish at miming but Paul was hilarious miming to Lulu's part.
I also watched the late Linda Smith's episode for possibly the first time since the original broadcast where amongst her items included adults who read Harry Potter, Tim Henman, and comic opera and to an extent opera singers who sing pop songs.
Still to come in the series are Sean Lock, Ross Noble who wanted to dispose of Craig David and Christian Rock, and possibly one of the last TV appearances for Ron Atkinson before he messed up his career.
As for the rest of today, after hanging up my clothes I plan to listen to PY on Jazz FM after a break from last week where I didn't hear the show due to being at Lounge.
It's weird to think it's shot by since last week and the way things are going, Mum's birthday could be tomorrow.
Whatever happens it's likely I'll forget to buy a present on time.
Friday, July 17, 2009
"Clean British Humour"
Just a normal Friday night really, sat in front of the television and possibly irritating everyone downstairs with my laughter.
First up tonight was Steve Jones and "As Seen On TV" which wasn't spectacular although it wasn't too bad either and was easy to play along with.
Mum and Dad didn't seem to think so with Mum saying that she wanted me to watch it with her next week so I can help out with some of the questions.
One of the guests rang a few bells, that being Lauren Laverne.
That's who they should have got to replace Jo Whiley, having proven herself at XFM and 6 Music without being annoying.
She also comes across as Fearne Cotton's slightly more credible elder sister
and unlike Fearne and especially Jo, actually has a witty persona.
Lauren guesting this week wasn't really a surprise as she's co-hosted the Album Chart Show with Steve, or as fellow radio student Jake once referred to it infamously, "The Channel 4 Chart Show".
As mentioned on the last post, Jason Manford made a second appearance in my box on a special Best Of British edition of 8 Out Of 10 Cats featuring Rhod Gilbert, and Shappi Khorsandi as the guests.
I've forgotten most of the jokes that had me in stitches, although my favourite part was an old film from the early 80s involving a song about aliens landing in Northampton which sounded like something the RAH Band had rejected from one of their albums.
I was disapointed to see a joke being recycled from an earlier show (pavements being warm enough to fry an egg) although I suppose a lot of the comics who appear on both that show and Mock The Week get away with it all the time, judging by the amount of negative comments I've read about their DVDs.
As an aside it's worth mentioning the Big Brother trail during the break as Davina presented it from inside the studio this time round and me being oblivious (there's another of Davina's old shows) to the current series had noticed that there had been changes made to the set.
In this case it involved a rather large video screen amongst a black background with pink and blue neon tubes which bore a rather similar resemblance to Catchphrase in it's prime.
It may be furious but it certainly isn't fast in terms of getting the series done with, especially when putting a new set of no hopers inside.
The again whilst it may still be on our screens, at least the goings on aren't thrown in our faces on every media platform like they were 9 years ago.
That's left for Britain's Got Talent, proven to lead to severe consequences.
Good Night.
First up tonight was Steve Jones and "As Seen On TV" which wasn't spectacular although it wasn't too bad either and was easy to play along with.
Mum and Dad didn't seem to think so with Mum saying that she wanted me to watch it with her next week so I can help out with some of the questions.
One of the guests rang a few bells, that being Lauren Laverne.
That's who they should have got to replace Jo Whiley, having proven herself at XFM and 6 Music without being annoying.
She also comes across as Fearne Cotton's slightly more credible elder sister
and unlike Fearne and especially Jo, actually has a witty persona.
Lauren guesting this week wasn't really a surprise as she's co-hosted the Album Chart Show with Steve, or as fellow radio student Jake once referred to it infamously, "The Channel 4 Chart Show".
As mentioned on the last post, Jason Manford made a second appearance in my box on a special Best Of British edition of 8 Out Of 10 Cats featuring Rhod Gilbert, and Shappi Khorsandi as the guests.
I've forgotten most of the jokes that had me in stitches, although my favourite part was an old film from the early 80s involving a song about aliens landing in Northampton which sounded like something the RAH Band had rejected from one of their albums.
I was disapointed to see a joke being recycled from an earlier show (pavements being warm enough to fry an egg) although I suppose a lot of the comics who appear on both that show and Mock The Week get away with it all the time, judging by the amount of negative comments I've read about their DVDs.
As an aside it's worth mentioning the Big Brother trail during the break as Davina presented it from inside the studio this time round and me being oblivious (there's another of Davina's old shows) to the current series had noticed that there had been changes made to the set.
In this case it involved a rather large video screen amongst a black background with pink and blue neon tubes which bore a rather similar resemblance to Catchphrase in it's prime.
It may be furious but it certainly isn't fast in terms of getting the series done with, especially when putting a new set of no hopers inside.
The again whilst it may still be on our screens, at least the goings on aren't thrown in our faces on every media platform like they were 9 years ago.
That's left for Britain's Got Talent, proven to lead to severe consequences.
Good Night.
Sharper Satellite Reception
It's been quite a while since the last blog post so any rumours that I fell seriously ill after walking out of my own bedroom can be thrown out of the window.
Today's been more of a case of home improvements as a couple of fellas came over to sort out the intermittent reception on our Freesat receiver.
It turned out that we the dish needed moving as a tree next door was responsible for all the interference but it's all sorted now and behaving itself.
It did mean that I missed Fern Britton's final moments on This Morning but I'm sure it will be posted onto UKNova before too long.
It's not Fern's only appearance on the box as later tonight sees the first edition of a new "comedy" panel game "As Seen On TV" on BBC 1, where Fern is one of the captains alongside Jason Manford with T4's Steve Jones as the host.
It probably won't be as acerbic as Charlie Brooker's new offering, especially as it's scheduled before 9pm but I'll give it a chance, as it's based around an area of interest.
Jason's also appearing twice tonight as 8 Out Of 10 Cats is also on later on which should provide some laughs should the earlier show fail to do so.
At the moment I'm listening to Spyro Gyra's 2003 album "Original Cinema".
Well what I'm actually doing is going through it as a lot of the tracks as expected are rather bland and unmemorable resulting in me pressing the next button an awful lot.
I've only got one more album left from 2004 as I know the only decent track off the 2006 LP "Wrapped In A Dream" was "Tuesday" co-written by Chuck Loeb and played a lot on my Soul Show throughout 2006-2007.
Well, when I say "played a lot" I normally mean twice over the course of three months.
Still a stand out track from an otherwise bland, past their best act as they've ended up recently, in the same way as the Rippingtons, Zero 7, and possibly Earth Wind And Fire.
That's going to be well controversial although I did actually fall asleep when listening to their 2003 release "The Promise" first time round.
Today's been more of a case of home improvements as a couple of fellas came over to sort out the intermittent reception on our Freesat receiver.
It turned out that we the dish needed moving as a tree next door was responsible for all the interference but it's all sorted now and behaving itself.
It did mean that I missed Fern Britton's final moments on This Morning but I'm sure it will be posted onto UKNova before too long.
It's not Fern's only appearance on the box as later tonight sees the first edition of a new "comedy" panel game "As Seen On TV" on BBC 1, where Fern is one of the captains alongside Jason Manford with T4's Steve Jones as the host.
It probably won't be as acerbic as Charlie Brooker's new offering, especially as it's scheduled before 9pm but I'll give it a chance, as it's based around an area of interest.
Jason's also appearing twice tonight as 8 Out Of 10 Cats is also on later on which should provide some laughs should the earlier show fail to do so.
At the moment I'm listening to Spyro Gyra's 2003 album "Original Cinema".
Well what I'm actually doing is going through it as a lot of the tracks as expected are rather bland and unmemorable resulting in me pressing the next button an awful lot.
I've only got one more album left from 2004 as I know the only decent track off the 2006 LP "Wrapped In A Dream" was "Tuesday" co-written by Chuck Loeb and played a lot on my Soul Show throughout 2006-2007.
Well, when I say "played a lot" I normally mean twice over the course of three months.
Still a stand out track from an otherwise bland, past their best act as they've ended up recently, in the same way as the Rippingtons, Zero 7, and possibly Earth Wind And Fire.
That's going to be well controversial although I did actually fall asleep when listening to their 2003 release "The Promise" first time round.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Gasmask Zone Below My Bedroom
The second episode of Mock The Week series 7 wasn't as good as last week's opener, but did have a few laughs including Frankie Boyle's joke about Adrian Chiles which will please all those who despise of the West Bromwich Albion supporter, and a gag about Peter Crouch in repsonse to the phone hacking story, despite it being 3 years since the "robot incident".
It was also the final episode of "That Mitchell And Webb Look" series 3 and I'd say this wasn't really their best series.
Numberwang made a brief return in the form of two producers pitching the show to be relaunched for teens but not only was the sketch not very funny, anyone watching who hadn't seen the Numberwang sketches in series 1 wouldn't have understood it at all.
Although the duo have two more series of Peep Show to be made, it would be ideal to call time on the sketch show.
Over on ITV1 they've been showing an edited version of Martin Bashir's documentary on Michael Jackson from 2003 which I re-viewed in full earlier in the year during my rummage.
I've managed to find the much talked about edit by Michael's own team, showing what really happened and should provide an extra insight.
You can probably guess what will be in the next blog post.
I am currently in a position where I can't leave my bedroom due to the rest of the fucking house stinking of a greasy spoon due to dad's cooking.
Believe me, it's that unpleasant to the point of me having to hold my breath and what I don't understand is how himself and mum can tolerate that but have gone spare if my room doesn't smell as pleasant.
It seems that even in my own house (well not necessarily my house) there's no escape from hypocrites.
Anyway, it's an early start tomorrow to make sure I'm in a position to see as much as I can of Fern Britton's final This Morning, and prior to that I may have a bit of a listen to Chris and Pete's Hayes FM Breakfast Show where this week they're jumping on the Harry Potter bandwagon.
I could never present a breakfast show, not because of waking up, but finding decent content which as far as I'm concerned, only Chris Moyles is capable of doing.
Good Night.
It was also the final episode of "That Mitchell And Webb Look" series 3 and I'd say this wasn't really their best series.
Numberwang made a brief return in the form of two producers pitching the show to be relaunched for teens but not only was the sketch not very funny, anyone watching who hadn't seen the Numberwang sketches in series 1 wouldn't have understood it at all.
Although the duo have two more series of Peep Show to be made, it would be ideal to call time on the sketch show.
Over on ITV1 they've been showing an edited version of Martin Bashir's documentary on Michael Jackson from 2003 which I re-viewed in full earlier in the year during my rummage.
I've managed to find the much talked about edit by Michael's own team, showing what really happened and should provide an extra insight.
You can probably guess what will be in the next blog post.
I am currently in a position where I can't leave my bedroom due to the rest of the fucking house stinking of a greasy spoon due to dad's cooking.
Believe me, it's that unpleasant to the point of me having to hold my breath and what I don't understand is how himself and mum can tolerate that but have gone spare if my room doesn't smell as pleasant.
It seems that even in my own house (well not necessarily my house) there's no escape from hypocrites.
Anyway, it's an early start tomorrow to make sure I'm in a position to see as much as I can of Fern Britton's final This Morning, and prior to that I may have a bit of a listen to Chris and Pete's Hayes FM Breakfast Show where this week they're jumping on the Harry Potter bandwagon.
I could never present a breakfast show, not because of waking up, but finding decent content which as far as I'm concerned, only Chris Moyles is capable of doing.
Good Night.
Progress And Parfitt
I made my way to the University of Kent campus after changing my doctor details and met up with Jamie, one of the membership officers for CSR-FM.
It's early days yet but things are looking pretty good as Jamie mentioned that they were wanting more specialist shows for the station and gave me the e-mails for the station manager and head of programming.
The head of programming's currently on holiday so after Mum's birthday in a couple of weeks I'll get in touch and things will start progressing.
It seems like a fun station as well and very vibrant.
With regards to radio in general, not too many people are happy about Fearne Cotton replacing Jo Whiley in her daytime slot on Radio 1.
I get the idea that they're made to listen against their will as I doubt it's worth moaning about.
Then again a couple of days ago I made a few similar comments about John Barrowman standing in for Zoe Ball this week on her Radio 2 Saturday slot although the option not to listen is still that simple.
It's better than setting up a Facebook group anyway, as it Parfitt or Ben Cooper would bother to pay any attention.
Which they should, bearing in mind they're part of a public service broadcaster.
Although the reasoning for Radio 1 now being referred to on air as "BBC Radio 1" is that certain individuals don't even know that Radio 1 belongs to the corporation.
Ignorant so and sos.
It's early days yet but things are looking pretty good as Jamie mentioned that they were wanting more specialist shows for the station and gave me the e-mails for the station manager and head of programming.
The head of programming's currently on holiday so after Mum's birthday in a couple of weeks I'll get in touch and things will start progressing.
It seems like a fun station as well and very vibrant.
With regards to radio in general, not too many people are happy about Fearne Cotton replacing Jo Whiley in her daytime slot on Radio 1.
I get the idea that they're made to listen against their will as I doubt it's worth moaning about.
Then again a couple of days ago I made a few similar comments about John Barrowman standing in for Zoe Ball this week on her Radio 2 Saturday slot although the option not to listen is still that simple.
It's better than setting up a Facebook group anyway, as it Parfitt or Ben Cooper would bother to pay any attention.
Which they should, bearing in mind they're part of a public service broadcaster.
Although the reasoning for Radio 1 now being referred to on air as "BBC Radio 1" is that certain individuals don't even know that Radio 1 belongs to the corporation.
Ignorant so and sos.
The Annual 1 Reshuffle
More possibly welcome changes have been announced at BBC Radio 1
(that's BBC Radio 1 as they have to refer to it on air and rightly so).
Newsbeat Article
The most important being the very long awaited departure of Jo Whiley from her mid-morning slot which to be honest I've never been a fan of as I find it rather false and pretty dull in terms of content.
Taking over from Jo will be Fearne Cotton which many will see as a questionable choice, especially considering Sara Cox stood in for the majority of Jo's maternity leave but then again it may be the BBC bosses taking age into account, whilst denying it at the same time of course.
Then again they probably have an excuse for Radio 1 as it is aimed at a younger audience whereas television is more of a different story.
I'm not too fussed anyway as Fearne's best mate will be on television at the same time as her Radio 1 show.
Even better is that Edith Bowman's got booted from her afternoon slot and replaced by Greg James.
I may not be Greg's biggest fan but it sounds as if he's got a lot more to offer than Boreman, and according to the Newsbeat article, rather than just movie reviews, they will be introducing video game reviews in his show which I don't think they've done since Dominic Diamond used to do them with Steve Wright around 1993.
Taking over Greg's current early morning slot will be Dev from 1Xtra who's currently on Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast, which Edith will take over.
It begins in mid-September and whilst it's an improved line up, I doubt I'll be fully converted into listening to the station all the time.
But then again, in this day and age it's probably best if I don't commit myself to just one radio station continuously as it can lead to awkward situations in the long term.
I'm tempted to read Jo's recent book that's been published giving her own account on her life as a broadcaster and going back to a researcher on The Word where she brought us Nirvana amongst other bands. Thanks.
Even if she remains on the station in her new weekend afternoon slot, I doubt any bugger will make the effort to listen at that time.
(that's BBC Radio 1 as they have to refer to it on air and rightly so).
Newsbeat Article
The most important being the very long awaited departure of Jo Whiley from her mid-morning slot which to be honest I've never been a fan of as I find it rather false and pretty dull in terms of content.
Taking over from Jo will be Fearne Cotton which many will see as a questionable choice, especially considering Sara Cox stood in for the majority of Jo's maternity leave but then again it may be the BBC bosses taking age into account, whilst denying it at the same time of course.
Then again they probably have an excuse for Radio 1 as it is aimed at a younger audience whereas television is more of a different story.
I'm not too fussed anyway as Fearne's best mate will be on television at the same time as her Radio 1 show.
Even better is that Edith Bowman's got booted from her afternoon slot and replaced by Greg James.
I may not be Greg's biggest fan but it sounds as if he's got a lot more to offer than Boreman, and according to the Newsbeat article, rather than just movie reviews, they will be introducing video game reviews in his show which I don't think they've done since Dominic Diamond used to do them with Steve Wright around 1993.
Taking over Greg's current early morning slot will be Dev from 1Xtra who's currently on Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast, which Edith will take over.
It begins in mid-September and whilst it's an improved line up, I doubt I'll be fully converted into listening to the station all the time.
But then again, in this day and age it's probably best if I don't commit myself to just one radio station continuously as it can lead to awkward situations in the long term.
I'm tempted to read Jo's recent book that's been published giving her own account on her life as a broadcaster and going back to a researcher on The Word where she brought us Nirvana amongst other bands. Thanks.
Even if she remains on the station in her new weekend afternoon slot, I doubt any bugger will make the effort to listen at that time.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Not Just The Fastest On Television
I stumbled across this by accident, Vivienne McKone and "Sing" from July 1992 and further proof that in terms of being eclectic and unpredictable,
The ITV Chart Show was the best music show on television.
It's weird watching this however and not hearing Dan Robert's voice come up halfway through the video instead of the Amiga graphics (Good to see Patrice Rushen, and Brenda Russell mentioned).
I can possibly remember watching this as I remember Supertramp being featured in the Video Vault that week as it was being used as the promotional song of the ITV 1992 Telethon.
It would have also meant I was staying at my cousin's house in Stowmarket and the one thing I can remember clearly was watching the programme whilst enjoying Mum's delicious self-made chocolate (or should that be coacoa) cake that she had brought with us.
Music shows on television and radio from way back when always seem to trigger memories of what I was eating at that time, as I can remember listening to Jamiroquai's "Too Young To Die" enter the chart at number 10 on Radio 1 whilst eating dried fruit buns also from the same hands, or watching Dannii Minogue performing "Love And Kisses" on Top Of The Pops whilst eating french fries from McDonalds on the day we moved to Canterbury.
And as mentioned before, they tasted a lot better than they do now.
Meals in front of the television weren't really a common habit at a younger age and I prefer to avoid such things unless it's just me present where I will devour a spag bol or pork stew in front of Have I Got News For You and so on.
As for the rest of tonight, Trevor Nelson as always and then tomorrow I aim to sort out my doctor details in Canterbury, and possibly sort my membership with CSR FM at the UKC Campus all the way up that rather big hill outside Canterbury.
I'm hoping it doesn't go balls up but if it's something I really want to be doing, I'm more determined than ever.
Then again there's a line between being determined and deluded but overall it's a bit of a stupid analogy.
Good Night.
The ITV Chart Show was the best music show on television.
It's weird watching this however and not hearing Dan Robert's voice come up halfway through the video instead of the Amiga graphics (Good to see Patrice Rushen, and Brenda Russell mentioned).
I can possibly remember watching this as I remember Supertramp being featured in the Video Vault that week as it was being used as the promotional song of the ITV 1992 Telethon.
It would have also meant I was staying at my cousin's house in Stowmarket and the one thing I can remember clearly was watching the programme whilst enjoying Mum's delicious self-made chocolate (or should that be coacoa) cake that she had brought with us.
Music shows on television and radio from way back when always seem to trigger memories of what I was eating at that time, as I can remember listening to Jamiroquai's "Too Young To Die" enter the chart at number 10 on Radio 1 whilst eating dried fruit buns also from the same hands, or watching Dannii Minogue performing "Love And Kisses" on Top Of The Pops whilst eating french fries from McDonalds on the day we moved to Canterbury.
And as mentioned before, they tasted a lot better than they do now.
Meals in front of the television weren't really a common habit at a younger age and I prefer to avoid such things unless it's just me present where I will devour a spag bol or pork stew in front of Have I Got News For You and so on.
As for the rest of tonight, Trevor Nelson as always and then tomorrow I aim to sort out my doctor details in Canterbury, and possibly sort my membership with CSR FM at the UKC Campus all the way up that rather big hill outside Canterbury.
I'm hoping it doesn't go balls up but if it's something I really want to be doing, I'm more determined than ever.
Then again there's a line between being determined and deluded but overall it's a bit of a stupid analogy.
Good Night.
The Perfect Replacement
Well the result arrived sooner than anticipated.
The Brand New Heavies song is ever appropriate for this time as it is a "Dream Come True".
Holly has been revealed as the replacement for Fern Britton on This Morning in what I believe will end up being her best opportunity ever to prove herself as a presenter at her very best.
Holly's co-presented with Phil before on the show back in December last year and I'm confident that this will put the two presenters to far greater use than on Dancing On Ice.
Here's the revealing courtesy of the man himself and I'll go as far as saying that this may be Schofe's best female partner since Sarah Greene on
Going Live!.
Although it has to be said that both himself and Fern have had me laughing at their instances of cracking up, despite Fearne being too motherly in the same way that Judy was alongside Richard Madeley.
Holly could be a younger sister although when you think about it, Phillip's just about old enough to be her Dad!
Although unlike the BBC with regards to their alleged ageism, it's whether you're capable of the job or not that does it for me, and it's certainly going to mean that the job-searching will be less stressfull, should I still be in this position by September.
That really is a Positive Pairing.
The Brand New Heavies song is ever appropriate for this time as it is a "Dream Come True".
Holly has been revealed as the replacement for Fern Britton on This Morning in what I believe will end up being her best opportunity ever to prove herself as a presenter at her very best.
Holly's co-presented with Phil before on the show back in December last year and I'm confident that this will put the two presenters to far greater use than on Dancing On Ice.
Here's the revealing courtesy of the man himself and I'll go as far as saying that this may be Schofe's best female partner since Sarah Greene on
Going Live!.
Although it has to be said that both himself and Fern have had me laughing at their instances of cracking up, despite Fearne being too motherly in the same way that Judy was alongside Richard Madeley.
Holly could be a younger sister although when you think about it, Phillip's just about old enough to be her Dad!
Although unlike the BBC with regards to their alleged ageism, it's whether you're capable of the job or not that does it for me, and it's certainly going to mean that the job-searching will be less stressfull, should I still be in this position by September.
That really is a Positive Pairing.
Ever Hopeful For Holly
Well since the last blog post, Schofe himself has Tweeted that he is having his photo taken with the new presenter of This Morning due to take over from Fern in the Autumn.
He hasn't given the name of course but I'm pretty certain that we'll find out who it is on Friday, provided those behind the scenes and Fern herself don't mind it overshadowing her last day.
I'll end up missing part of the show however as at 11am I have a long awaited haircut which must be the first since the one I had in April this year which was the day after handing in the dissertation.
That really has been quite a long time.
At this rate the graduation could seem like 10 years away.
Or in Landers case 25.
Honestly I can't picture our graduation without him present although I bet that's not what last year's lot were thinking when I wasn't with them.
Then again if you look at how bad the job situation is, I don't think it's making a difference at present.
He hasn't given the name of course but I'm pretty certain that we'll find out who it is on Friday, provided those behind the scenes and Fern herself don't mind it overshadowing her last day.
I'll end up missing part of the show however as at 11am I have a long awaited haircut which must be the first since the one I had in April this year which was the day after handing in the dissertation.
That really has been quite a long time.
At this rate the graduation could seem like 10 years away.
Or in Landers case 25.
Honestly I can't picture our graduation without him present although I bet that's not what last year's lot were thinking when I wasn't with them.
Then again if you look at how bad the job situation is, I don't think it's making a difference at present.
Bricks And Short Planks
This is something I've been searching for years.
Courtesy of a balls-ups show with Roy Walker, from Challenge,
Phillip Schofield's finest hour on Going Live! when dealing with a rather timid
but overall dim caller who can't seem to be able to put into a sentence
that Phillip has got the wrong number.
The moment itself can be seen at 4:25 although it would have been better to have seen it all the way through just to hear how stupid the Duncan fella actually is.
The plus side however is that at around 4:50 we hear Schofe utter something that you really couldn't say on television at all in the present day
as a presenter, regardless what the viewers at home would be thinking.
It's still very funny however.
On that note it's only two days until Fern Britton leaves This Morning and
even now the replacement hasn't been officially announced.
I'm sure anyone reading this will know who I would want it to be, but lets say that as far as I'm aware, Davina McCall has not actually had any experience of presenting This Morning which proves that she's a no-hoper.
The team will have hopefully learnt their lesson from letting Twiggy present the show after Richard and Judy left, but then again the BBC don't seem to have learnt about past examples of how not to do it, if their current Saturday line up is anything to go by.
If only researchers and producers would do their homework before spending our money on disasters.
Courtesy of a balls-ups show with Roy Walker, from Challenge,
Phillip Schofield's finest hour on Going Live! when dealing with a rather timid
but overall dim caller who can't seem to be able to put into a sentence
that Phillip has got the wrong number.
The moment itself can be seen at 4:25 although it would have been better to have seen it all the way through just to hear how stupid the Duncan fella actually is.
The plus side however is that at around 4:50 we hear Schofe utter something that you really couldn't say on television at all in the present day
as a presenter, regardless what the viewers at home would be thinking.
It's still very funny however.
On that note it's only two days until Fern Britton leaves This Morning and
even now the replacement hasn't been officially announced.
I'm sure anyone reading this will know who I would want it to be, but lets say that as far as I'm aware, Davina McCall has not actually had any experience of presenting This Morning which proves that she's a no-hoper.
The team will have hopefully learnt their lesson from letting Twiggy present the show after Richard and Judy left, but then again the BBC don't seem to have learnt about past examples of how not to do it, if their current Saturday line up is anything to go by.
If only researchers and producers would do their homework before spending our money on disasters.
Push Off Potter
"Harry Potter Day" is all the rage at Radio 1 today although such mass hype events are easily avoidable via the Off button.
Chris Moyles had a few subtle hints with a special Tedious Link with Queen's "A Kind Of Magic" and Chris kept on taking the mickey out of the special voice used in the day's branding by putting on a deep voice and speaking over the intros of records in that manner.
It prompted me into making a few minor adjustments to the Bubblegum Top 10 feature I did for my final show back in May by putting a slightly different flange effect on Sophie's voice to make it sound less bubbly and more electronic.
The result can be heard here and here for both parts although it's barely any different at all and in the long term like most of the other things I've done will only entertain myself.
But then again I really like entertaining myself.
Stop iiit!
The rest of today, apart from making what I hope will be a delicious lamb stew with mushrooms, spuds and basmati rice will involve splitting the shows from last May into separate files and burning them onto a new disc.
I'm trying to avoid listening to the actual shows themselves, as I plan to listen back to almost everything going from 2005 onwards in order to help me write my reminisces of my time at Westminster and it really will be a roller-coaster journey.
Only I'm hoping that unlike 2007, this time round it won't spiral too far.
It's a bugger deciding when to go to Morrisons to buy the extra stuff needed for tonight. One minute it's pouring, the next it's rather bright. Quite likely to be the case for the rest of the summer.
Chris Moyles had a few subtle hints with a special Tedious Link with Queen's "A Kind Of Magic" and Chris kept on taking the mickey out of the special voice used in the day's branding by putting on a deep voice and speaking over the intros of records in that manner.
It prompted me into making a few minor adjustments to the Bubblegum Top 10 feature I did for my final show back in May by putting a slightly different flange effect on Sophie's voice to make it sound less bubbly and more electronic.
The result can be heard here and here for both parts although it's barely any different at all and in the long term like most of the other things I've done will only entertain myself.
But then again I really like entertaining myself.
Stop iiit!
The rest of today, apart from making what I hope will be a delicious lamb stew with mushrooms, spuds and basmati rice will involve splitting the shows from last May into separate files and burning them onto a new disc.
I'm trying to avoid listening to the actual shows themselves, as I plan to listen back to almost everything going from 2005 onwards in order to help me write my reminisces of my time at Westminster and it really will be a roller-coaster journey.
Only I'm hoping that unlike 2007, this time round it won't spiral too far.
It's a bugger deciding when to go to Morrisons to buy the extra stuff needed for tonight. One minute it's pouring, the next it's rather bright. Quite likely to be the case for the rest of the summer.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
"If Only Captain Jack Really Did Get Shot"
Tonight's YHBW with Charlie Brooker provided a few laughs including guests Frank Skinner proving that whilst he may be omni-present on many comedy panel shows, he certainly knows how to deliver.
Amongst the shows featured this week were the nightly episodes of Torchwood from last week which I didn't actually see myself but they looked impressive, save for the embarrassing moments including the amount of times Captain Jack got shot.
I also liked the use of 808 State's 1990 hit "Cubik" towards the end of Charlie's VT.
Having read this week's Radio Times it appears that John Barrowman will be standing in for Zoe Ball on her Radio 2 show this Saturday, and I'm dreading the idea of him becoming her permanant replacement when she goes off on materinity leave.
Is there anything the man can't do?
I think you can guess my response as it's quite a long list.
Stick to acting for goodness sake.
Back to Brooker, and one of the other shows featured was Sky Arts "The Plinth" which involves various people performing random acts for an hour each, on a specially set up plinth in Trafalgar Square, ranging from magic tricks, to throwing paper planes.
I happened to pass through Trafalgar Square earlier this afternoon and saw the Plinth itself with a rather nice looking woman stood wearing sparkly clothes although I'm not sure exactly what she was doing.
I may see if I can make another visit in a few weeks.
I'm sorting the cooking out tomorrow, and undergoing the reluctant task of jobsearching and applying to fill my quota on my Jobseeker allowance diary.
On the plus side, it appears the money has started arriving so things should remain stable for now.
Thanks for reading, Now Go Away!.
Amongst the shows featured this week were the nightly episodes of Torchwood from last week which I didn't actually see myself but they looked impressive, save for the embarrassing moments including the amount of times Captain Jack got shot.
I also liked the use of 808 State's 1990 hit "Cubik" towards the end of Charlie's VT.
Having read this week's Radio Times it appears that John Barrowman will be standing in for Zoe Ball on her Radio 2 show this Saturday, and I'm dreading the idea of him becoming her permanant replacement when she goes off on materinity leave.
Is there anything the man can't do?
I think you can guess my response as it's quite a long list.
Stick to acting for goodness sake.
Back to Brooker, and one of the other shows featured was Sky Arts "The Plinth" which involves various people performing random acts for an hour each, on a specially set up plinth in Trafalgar Square, ranging from magic tricks, to throwing paper planes.
I happened to pass through Trafalgar Square earlier this afternoon and saw the Plinth itself with a rather nice looking woman stood wearing sparkly clothes although I'm not sure exactly what she was doing.
I may see if I can make another visit in a few weeks.
I'm sorting the cooking out tomorrow, and undergoing the reluctant task of jobsearching and applying to fill my quota on my Jobseeker allowance diary.
On the plus side, it appears the money has started arriving so things should remain stable for now.
Thanks for reading, Now Go Away!.
The Buddah In The Crown
The visit to London this afternoon was worth it, even though myself and Paul chatted for only an hour.
It was definitely enjoyable and interesting where Paul mentioned that apart from my blog post, no one else had commented on the Jinglemad forum about what they thought about the Nottingham event.
The site in my opinion really needs to get it's act together as it's all very well getting people like Sandy to give a superb talk like the one he did, but with a large amount of members on the site, you would expect a hell of a lot more people to turn up as opposed to the 15 or so that did.
The next event has to be held in London without question as it's been 3 years since the last one in that city, which has been especially disapointing considering I only attended one meet up during University.
Something else we mentioned was the article on Chris Moyles' "Who Do You Think You Are" in this week's Radio Times as a mate of Paul's took the photographs for the article and the front cover.
It was good to get an honest opinion and I'm hoping to meet up again later in the year, possibly at the Kings Arms which looks slightly more appealing than the Crown and is also not too far from Wise Buddah.
I made my way back to Victoria station via the Underground at around 6pm and having walked from Victoria to Oxford Circus, it was the right decision as it absolutely stank.
I got the 6:30 train for Canterbury in good timing and in time honoured tradition, it started bloody raining which always happens on a journey back to Canterbury by train.
Luckily for me (but possibly not for others) the electronic toilet doors weren't working, meaning I had to open the door by hand but it didn't result in any embarrassing consequences whilst in there.
What I will say is that you don't half get a load of stubborn passengers
on trains regardless of how old they are.
I'll hopefully have sense to move elsewhere provided that it's an empty carriage when I next end up travelling.
It was definitely enjoyable and interesting where Paul mentioned that apart from my blog post, no one else had commented on the Jinglemad forum about what they thought about the Nottingham event.
The site in my opinion really needs to get it's act together as it's all very well getting people like Sandy to give a superb talk like the one he did, but with a large amount of members on the site, you would expect a hell of a lot more people to turn up as opposed to the 15 or so that did.
The next event has to be held in London without question as it's been 3 years since the last one in that city, which has been especially disapointing considering I only attended one meet up during University.
Something else we mentioned was the article on Chris Moyles' "Who Do You Think You Are" in this week's Radio Times as a mate of Paul's took the photographs for the article and the front cover.
It was good to get an honest opinion and I'm hoping to meet up again later in the year, possibly at the Kings Arms which looks slightly more appealing than the Crown and is also not too far from Wise Buddah.
I made my way back to Victoria station via the Underground at around 6pm and having walked from Victoria to Oxford Circus, it was the right decision as it absolutely stank.
I got the 6:30 train for Canterbury in good timing and in time honoured tradition, it started bloody raining which always happens on a journey back to Canterbury by train.
Luckily for me (but possibly not for others) the electronic toilet doors weren't working, meaning I had to open the door by hand but it didn't result in any embarrassing consequences whilst in there.
What I will say is that you don't half get a load of stubborn passengers
on trains regardless of how old they are.
I'll hopefully have sense to move elsewhere provided that it's an empty carriage when I next end up travelling.
"Half- Baked" Would Be Too Kind A Description
If there's something we really need badly in Canterbury, it's a place to get freshly made bread that isn't from any of the larger places outside of the city.
What you could call our own equivalent of Wenzels back in Harrow as there's barely anywhere to get any nice loaves and other delightful well made pastries.
We don't even have a Gregg's which probably shows how bad things are.
Having thought about it, we do have a market that sells loaves, and things with dried fruit either on Wednesdays or Fridays but a permanent place where I know I can go to would be a nice addition to Canterbury, even if it's not really the right time to start such a thing in terms of money.
I ended up going to a place similar to Gregg's at St Dunstans near the West station which didn't have any whole loaves as opposed to sandwiches where I ended up buying a very icy belgian bun. That's "icy" as in full of icing.
I plan to head over to London at around 2:20pm which should give me plenty of time before meeting up with Paul at the Crown And Sceptre which should be interesting, in terms of chatting about what happened in Nottingham not long ago.
I'll probably head back over to Canterbury pretty soon after although I'm hoping that I arrive back in time to see the second episode of Charlie Brooker's new show.
I don't know who the guests are this week but it should provide a few laughs.
On the subject of Canterbury's inferiority I saw yet another vehicle with a Heart 103.1 102.8 sticker in it's window, continuiting to elaborate the sea of mediocrity the county is still drowning in.
It may not be a safe return.
What you could call our own equivalent of Wenzels back in Harrow as there's barely anywhere to get any nice loaves and other delightful well made pastries.
We don't even have a Gregg's which probably shows how bad things are.
Having thought about it, we do have a market that sells loaves, and things with dried fruit either on Wednesdays or Fridays but a permanent place where I know I can go to would be a nice addition to Canterbury, even if it's not really the right time to start such a thing in terms of money.
I ended up going to a place similar to Gregg's at St Dunstans near the West station which didn't have any whole loaves as opposed to sandwiches where I ended up buying a very icy belgian bun. That's "icy" as in full of icing.
I plan to head over to London at around 2:20pm which should give me plenty of time before meeting up with Paul at the Crown And Sceptre which should be interesting, in terms of chatting about what happened in Nottingham not long ago.
I'll probably head back over to Canterbury pretty soon after although I'm hoping that I arrive back in time to see the second episode of Charlie Brooker's new show.
I don't know who the guests are this week but it should provide a few laughs.
On the subject of Canterbury's inferiority I saw yet another vehicle with a Heart 103.1 102.8 sticker in it's window, continuiting to elaborate the sea of mediocrity the county is still drowning in.
It may not be a safe return.
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Bug Buys It
My equipment's been on the blink with my Bug DAB radio being a pain and switching off if I move it to my preferred place of storage.
I've now removed it and until I get a replacement I've borrowed the DAB radio in Kate's bedroom which I'll return when she gets back from America and hopefully I'll have some spare bob.
Although whether DABs will still be manufactured is another thing as despite the government wanting to switch off FM by 2015, the public don't seem to give a bollocks about radio progressing.
Not much has happened throughout the rest of today apart from further visits to Room 101 where I'm onto series 5 from 2000. This was Paul Merton's second series as host although they changed the theme tune to the brassy one used all the way up to 2007 which replaced the one composed by Big George (Have I Got News For You) which I thought suited the programme better despite only lasting one series.
Amongst those I've seen have included Kathy Burke who sucesfully sent Jeffrey Archer down there, Bill Bailey who finally got rid of the c**t that is
Chris De Burgh, and Phill Jupitus who's episode I've blogged about in the past
but is still one of my favourites.
I still find it difficult not to laugh about dogshit through the letterboxes of people who refuse to buy extended warranties, to the point that I end up laughing about 5 seconds before Paul even says it.
Others who I've yet to watch in this series include the late Mo Mowlam, and Jonathan Ross who wants to get rid of his own dress sense.
Although others would probably wish it was his ego.
Good Night.
I've now removed it and until I get a replacement I've borrowed the DAB radio in Kate's bedroom which I'll return when she gets back from America and hopefully I'll have some spare bob.
Although whether DABs will still be manufactured is another thing as despite the government wanting to switch off FM by 2015, the public don't seem to give a bollocks about radio progressing.
Not much has happened throughout the rest of today apart from further visits to Room 101 where I'm onto series 5 from 2000. This was Paul Merton's second series as host although they changed the theme tune to the brassy one used all the way up to 2007 which replaced the one composed by Big George (Have I Got News For You) which I thought suited the programme better despite only lasting one series.
Amongst those I've seen have included Kathy Burke who sucesfully sent Jeffrey Archer down there, Bill Bailey who finally got rid of the c**t that is
Chris De Burgh, and Phill Jupitus who's episode I've blogged about in the past
but is still one of my favourites.
I still find it difficult not to laugh about dogshit through the letterboxes of people who refuse to buy extended warranties, to the point that I end up laughing about 5 seconds before Paul even says it.
Others who I've yet to watch in this series include the late Mo Mowlam, and Jonathan Ross who wants to get rid of his own dress sense.
Although others would probably wish it was his ego.
Good Night.
The Big Media Players
This week's Media Guardian supplement revealed 2009's 100 biggest players in the media, although like the X Factor Final, the Brits and so on, it feels as if the 2008 list was revealed just last week.
On that subject Cheryl Cole was one of those who was included alongside BBC 1 controller Jay Hunt, ITV's Peter Fincham, Stephen Fry, and Sky News' Adam Boulton.
Number 1 were Sergey Brin and Larry Page from Google just ahead of the BBC director general Mark Thompson, although the most interesting choices were David Mitchell, and actor Noel Clarke who's definitely progressed from his role as Mickey in Doctor Who.
Both of them are on Twitter so I guess that's also an advantage.
My plan for today is to finally get round to enduring the much talked about Michael Jackson memorial service on iPlayer with commentary from Trevor Nelson and Gambo. I'm guessing it may be the sort of thing viewed through my fingers judging by what I've heard about it so far.
Whilst I've been away from the station for almost two months, it's impossible to avoid the further devlopments to the new Smoke Radio website as Matt Garforth has been doing a really good job in the last couple of days as seen here.
The only thing that really needs altering are the reflections on the text number and Listen Live icon to be slightly distanced, but I like the idea as it reminds me of the old Thames Television ident from the 70s/80s which is rather relevant in terms of being based in London.
I forgot that Matt's official role is "Head Of Web And Multi-Platform" and considering that's the most dedication I've ever seen put into the Smoke Radio website, the new technical developments seem as if they will be a doddle.
Which also leads onto the much awaited publishing of the official video highlights of our 26 Hour Broadcast filmed and edited by James Neil, which is more or less proof why he deserved the Best Newcomer category at the awards.
The best bit has to be near the end with Oli P in the sound proof booth which I'd go as far as saying is the funniest thing ever associated with the station in the last 5 years.
The bad news is that he's still there for one more year, by the end of which he'll probably have strained his throat.
On that subject Cheryl Cole was one of those who was included alongside BBC 1 controller Jay Hunt, ITV's Peter Fincham, Stephen Fry, and Sky News' Adam Boulton.
Number 1 were Sergey Brin and Larry Page from Google just ahead of the BBC director general Mark Thompson, although the most interesting choices were David Mitchell, and actor Noel Clarke who's definitely progressed from his role as Mickey in Doctor Who.
Both of them are on Twitter so I guess that's also an advantage.
My plan for today is to finally get round to enduring the much talked about Michael Jackson memorial service on iPlayer with commentary from Trevor Nelson and Gambo. I'm guessing it may be the sort of thing viewed through my fingers judging by what I've heard about it so far.
Whilst I've been away from the station for almost two months, it's impossible to avoid the further devlopments to the new Smoke Radio website as Matt Garforth has been doing a really good job in the last couple of days as seen here.
The only thing that really needs altering are the reflections on the text number and Listen Live icon to be slightly distanced, but I like the idea as it reminds me of the old Thames Television ident from the 70s/80s which is rather relevant in terms of being based in London.
I forgot that Matt's official role is "Head Of Web And Multi-Platform" and considering that's the most dedication I've ever seen put into the Smoke Radio website, the new technical developments seem as if they will be a doddle.
Which also leads onto the much awaited publishing of the official video highlights of our 26 Hour Broadcast filmed and edited by James Neil, which is more or less proof why he deserved the Best Newcomer category at the awards.
The best bit has to be near the end with Oli P in the sound proof booth which I'd go as far as saying is the funniest thing ever associated with the station in the last 5 years.
The bad news is that he's still there for one more year, by the end of which he'll probably have strained his throat.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Living Up At Lounge
The final day of the Lounge On The Farm festival as expected was the best, starting off with Senor Scruff's DJ set in the Hoedown tent.
The producer was spinning a wide and superb range of tunes from both CD and 12" vinyl ranging from Earth Wind And Fire's "Brazilian Rhyme", The Blue Velvet's funky version of "Summertime", and best of all Side Effect's cover of "Always There" which drew quite a big but not too packed crowd of people ranging from those in their late teens to mid 40s.
Other tunes included a few bass heavy breakbeat tracks from the 80s and even a selection of rare ska tunes which lead nicely into the ever popular "Get A Move On" from Scruff's debut album "Keep It Unreal" from exactly 10 years ago.
The set continued until around 6pm although by then I was at the Furthur stage watching "School Of Imagination" with Paul and his sister who had come specially for today.
After their performance had finished I bumped into David again where we spent about half an hour chatting about various radio and jingle stuff and how himself and the South East Today team have to come back here tomorrow to collect various cables and equipment.
Other stuff I chatted to Laura and Paul about included how bad the sound set up was at the Cowshed which was literally that, involving acts performing in an empty cowshed with a specially set up stage.
Roots Manuva was there last night as were the Horrors on Friday and quite a lot of people were let down by the acoustics. Edwyn Collins is there tonight so goodness knows how the former Orange Juice vocalist will fare.
I pretty much stayed at the Furthur stage for the rest of the evening as that's where JTQ were performing, and didn't they give off a superb performance.
Joining them on vocals was the delightful looking Yvonne Yanney who performed "It's All Over" from the 2006 album "A Taste Of Cherry" as well as a few impressive covers including Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move", and Donny Hathaway's "The Ghetto".
The highlight overall was seeing them perform "Starsky And Hutch" which went down well and there was even someone stood behind me blowing bubbles onto the stage. The band returned for two encores and James was selling copies of his "Live" CD for £10 at the end of the performance.
John, one of Mum and Dad's friends wanted to buy one but he only had a fiver on him, but buy a bizarre chance James had ran out but gave John a copy of his latest album "New World" for the £5 note which having heard a few of the tracks I'd say is definitely a good bargain.
Here's a few more photos taken throughout today;
Scruff on stage.
More unusual attendees.
An unsteady shot alongside Laura.
JTQ take to the stage. In two minutes
the area was packed.
The ever attractive Yvonne.
The plan was to then head back over to Hoedown to see Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip but they'd been delayed due to the preceeding act just starting 10 minutes before my arrival.
I decided that it was best to leave whilst I was still enjoying things and it has probably been the first festival I've genuinley enjoyed.
Having it near to home has been an advantage but it's proved that there are people within the area who live for such superb performances and tunes overall with today's acts being a highlight.
If I'm still living here I will definitely be attending the 2010 Lounge and I'd love to get a few of those from London to see what they have been missing, in favour for the overcrowded and possibly over hyped fusstivities of Reading, Leeds, Glasto, and so on.
Then again if anyone reading would want to come to Lounge next year, you'd have the advantage of staying at my house, as opposed to camping.
For me it was definitely enjoyable overall, and well paced in terms of how I spent my time there.
The producer was spinning a wide and superb range of tunes from both CD and 12" vinyl ranging from Earth Wind And Fire's "Brazilian Rhyme", The Blue Velvet's funky version of "Summertime", and best of all Side Effect's cover of "Always There" which drew quite a big but not too packed crowd of people ranging from those in their late teens to mid 40s.
Other tunes included a few bass heavy breakbeat tracks from the 80s and even a selection of rare ska tunes which lead nicely into the ever popular "Get A Move On" from Scruff's debut album "Keep It Unreal" from exactly 10 years ago.
The set continued until around 6pm although by then I was at the Furthur stage watching "School Of Imagination" with Paul and his sister who had come specially for today.
After their performance had finished I bumped into David again where we spent about half an hour chatting about various radio and jingle stuff and how himself and the South East Today team have to come back here tomorrow to collect various cables and equipment.
Other stuff I chatted to Laura and Paul about included how bad the sound set up was at the Cowshed which was literally that, involving acts performing in an empty cowshed with a specially set up stage.
Roots Manuva was there last night as were the Horrors on Friday and quite a lot of people were let down by the acoustics. Edwyn Collins is there tonight so goodness knows how the former Orange Juice vocalist will fare.
I pretty much stayed at the Furthur stage for the rest of the evening as that's where JTQ were performing, and didn't they give off a superb performance.
Joining them on vocals was the delightful looking Yvonne Yanney who performed "It's All Over" from the 2006 album "A Taste Of Cherry" as well as a few impressive covers including Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move", and Donny Hathaway's "The Ghetto".
The highlight overall was seeing them perform "Starsky And Hutch" which went down well and there was even someone stood behind me blowing bubbles onto the stage. The band returned for two encores and James was selling copies of his "Live" CD for £10 at the end of the performance.
John, one of Mum and Dad's friends wanted to buy one but he only had a fiver on him, but buy a bizarre chance James had ran out but gave John a copy of his latest album "New World" for the £5 note which having heard a few of the tracks I'd say is definitely a good bargain.
Here's a few more photos taken throughout today;
Scruff on stage.
More unusual attendees.
An unsteady shot alongside Laura.
JTQ take to the stage. In two minutes
the area was packed.
The ever attractive Yvonne.
The plan was to then head back over to Hoedown to see Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip but they'd been delayed due to the preceeding act just starting 10 minutes before my arrival.
I decided that it was best to leave whilst I was still enjoying things and it has probably been the first festival I've genuinley enjoyed.
Having it near to home has been an advantage but it's proved that there are people within the area who live for such superb performances and tunes overall with today's acts being a highlight.
If I'm still living here I will definitely be attending the 2010 Lounge and I'd love to get a few of those from London to see what they have been missing, in favour for the overcrowded and possibly over hyped fusstivities of Reading, Leeds, Glasto, and so on.
Then again if anyone reading would want to come to Lounge next year, you'd have the advantage of staying at my house, as opposed to camping.
For me it was definitely enjoyable overall, and well paced in terms of how I spent my time there.
The Lounge Headliners
Morning.
Still rather overcast outside but it didn't get in the way of things yesterday and today will be no exception.
Especially as there's an impressive line-up today at Lounge with my main priorities being Mr Scruff's DJ set, and the anticipated live performance by The James Taylor Quartet.
I managed to see parts of last night's Comedy Roadshow on iPlayer going through jokes that I didn't see due to our intermittent Freesat receiver although not many of them were really that hilarious.
I was wondering where I had heard of Jon Richardson from and after reading the thread on Digital Spy, he was one of the team captains on the Radio 4 comedy quiz "Act Your Age" broadcast in December last year and hosted by Simon Mayo.
I'm not sure if they'll be doing a second series but it was an interesting concept.
I plan to head over to the Lounge ground at 1pm immediately after Robbie Vincent's show on Jazz FM which as per usual will involve hopefully some superb undiscovered gems, with guaranteed gormlessness from Robbie himself.
There's only so many times I can use the brick analogy.
Still rather overcast outside but it didn't get in the way of things yesterday and today will be no exception.
Especially as there's an impressive line-up today at Lounge with my main priorities being Mr Scruff's DJ set, and the anticipated live performance by The James Taylor Quartet.
I managed to see parts of last night's Comedy Roadshow on iPlayer going through jokes that I didn't see due to our intermittent Freesat receiver although not many of them were really that hilarious.
I was wondering where I had heard of Jon Richardson from and after reading the thread on Digital Spy, he was one of the team captains on the Radio 4 comedy quiz "Act Your Age" broadcast in December last year and hosted by Simon Mayo.
I'm not sure if they'll be doing a second series but it was an interesting concept.
I plan to head over to the Lounge ground at 1pm immediately after Robbie Vincent's show on Jazz FM which as per usual will involve hopefully some superb undiscovered gems, with guaranteed gormlessness from Robbie himself.
There's only so many times I can use the brick analogy.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Distorted Comedy
Tonight saw the final episode of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, coming from one of my favourite places in Britain, Brighton.
Unfortunately for me, the Freesat at our house has been behaving sporadically over the last few months by freezing the picture and audio and resuming a few seconds later missing things, sometimes to the point of me having to switch the channel and back.
Watching tonight's show did know favours as it froze as Michael was telling a gag about the Brighton Sea Life Centre being positioned right next to the town's Harry Ramsden's, therefore missing the punchline.
I'll be able to see what it was on iPlayer but from a personal point of view,
it would be like positioning a museum of agriculture next to an abattoir.
The acts on tonight's show were better than last week if not entirely brilliant, including East End performer Mickey Flanagan, newcomer Jon Richardson, and the headline act this week was Al Murray as the pub landlord.
Al Murray was rather good actually and I liked some of Mickey Flanagan's set although I'll probably need to re-view Jo Caulfield and Jon Richardson's performances due to the picture and sound freezing at various intervals.
Sally Gunnell was the only star from the audience picked on during the show, although I'm sure there was a cutaway to Gwyneth Powell, the actress better known for playing Mrs McCluskey in Grange Hill throughout the 80s.
It wouldn't surprise me as she lives in the Sussex area.
The series is now done with but the good news is that Live At The Apollo will be returning this Autumn which I'm looking forward to as it seems to have that extra edge that's missing from Comedy Roadshow and there are bigger names appearing on there.
There's no reason why both shows can't run together, at different times of the year of course and I'm hoping that when Apollo does return it will be shown Saturday night timeslot.
It may turn out to be the case as Ross and Norton appear to be fighting for the Friday night timeslot now Graham's show has been promoted to BBC 1.
Then again whilst I have a preference for Wossy, I'd favour Apollo over both of them.
Good Night.
Unfortunately for me, the Freesat at our house has been behaving sporadically over the last few months by freezing the picture and audio and resuming a few seconds later missing things, sometimes to the point of me having to switch the channel and back.
Watching tonight's show did know favours as it froze as Michael was telling a gag about the Brighton Sea Life Centre being positioned right next to the town's Harry Ramsden's, therefore missing the punchline.
I'll be able to see what it was on iPlayer but from a personal point of view,
it would be like positioning a museum of agriculture next to an abattoir.
The acts on tonight's show were better than last week if not entirely brilliant, including East End performer Mickey Flanagan, newcomer Jon Richardson, and the headline act this week was Al Murray as the pub landlord.
Al Murray was rather good actually and I liked some of Mickey Flanagan's set although I'll probably need to re-view Jo Caulfield and Jon Richardson's performances due to the picture and sound freezing at various intervals.
Sally Gunnell was the only star from the audience picked on during the show, although I'm sure there was a cutaway to Gwyneth Powell, the actress better known for playing Mrs McCluskey in Grange Hill throughout the 80s.
It wouldn't surprise me as she lives in the Sussex area.
The series is now done with but the good news is that Live At The Apollo will be returning this Autumn which I'm looking forward to as it seems to have that extra edge that's missing from Comedy Roadshow and there are bigger names appearing on there.
There's no reason why both shows can't run together, at different times of the year of course and I'm hoping that when Apollo does return it will be shown Saturday night timeslot.
It may turn out to be the case as Ross and Norton appear to be fighting for the Friday night timeslot now Graham's show has been promoted to BBC 1.
Then again whilst I have a preference for Wossy, I'd favour Apollo over both of them.
Good Night.
Further Lambasting And Lounging
I should apologise for the comments made on the last blog post in case anyone interpreted them as homophobic remarks which wasn't the intention.
Being linked to a Daily Mail article could have raised eyebrows but no, it's basically a dig at the BBC for their continuing amount of shows on Saturday that may be enjoyed by those participating in the studio, but not by those watching at home.
You'd have thought they would have learnt from the disaster that was Lulu's "Red Alert With The National Lottery" which was one of the worst in terms of the above.
At the risk of further nitpicking, where Ant & Dec's show (in its first few series) had elements of some of the finest Saturday night shows such as Noel's House Party, Game For A Laugh, and Toothbrush,
Totally Saturday contains elements from some of the worst including Red Alert as mentioned, Gaby Roslin's "Whatever You Want", Brian Conley's two show turn off "Judgement Day" and the some of the poorer elements from the later series of Takeaway with the Hamster being a direct clone of Ant & Dec's "Mouse Trap" game.
There seems to be a tradition in the present day in both television and radio of what I'd like to refer to as the "Burglar Bill Method" from Alan Ahlberg's well known children's book, where a producer will see a television programme and think to themselves "That's an exciting feature, I'll have that!".
I keep referring to it like a bitter old fool, but my second year of Smoke Radio was full of that with those running the station stealing features directly off Radio 1 even to the point of using the exact name.
None of the features on my Soul Show were completely original but I either tried to give my own twist on them, or they were intended to be a homage to either Going Live!, Noel's House Party, The ITV Chart Show etc
The difference being was that you wouldn't get exactly the same on any mainstream TV channel or radio station which I think settles my case although I really should be more creative if I wanted to get further career-wise.
However it's better than being someone who claims to be an "ideas person" and has sod all to offer.
The biggest example of course being Mike Read on the Harvey Goldsmith Big L documentary which will still make me laugh no matter how many times I see it.
Returning to Saturday nights and things don't appear to be getting any better I'm afraid, especially if the new Lottery show "Guesstimation" is anything to go by.
I mentioned in a post last month that I was offered to go and see the programme being recorded in Maidstone and after seeing tonight's show I'm glad I turned down the opportunity as it's dreadfully tacky, with one of the questions involving to guess how many dance steps Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag could do in 30 seconds.
I may be a fan of Strictly but it appears to be a requirement that every entertainment show broadcast on Saturday nights has to have an obligatory appearance from one or more E-list celebrities doing anything at all regardless of genuine entertainment value.
Former Countdown warm-up man and late night quiz TV star Greg Scott also commented his disaproval via Twitter, saying the host Nick Knowles' sex life was "DIY".
Overall, utter bollocks and another show to fall victim to the Off button on my remote control.
All this has completely got in the way of what was otherwise an enjoyable day over at Lounge On The Farm.
It was slightly more relaxed in terms of what I was doing and who I saw as tomorrow's the big day in terms of the acts I'll bee seeing but in the Hoedown tent was a brilliant set by DJ Format who was spinning a mixture of classic soul along the lines of James Brown alongside some vintage hip hop from the Sugarhill Gang, an odd sounding interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's "Crosstown Traffic", and the Herbie Hancock classic "Rockit".
I also saw an impressive performance at the Furthur stage by French guitar band Le Duc (which I think is pronounced "Dook") which quite a lot of people enjoyed including my Dad, and Laura who I went along with to the stage near the end of the set.
As promised I got a few photos from the today.
Alongside Laura.
The bizarre sort of people who visit Lounge.
Stood on the left of fellow Chelsea supporter Paul.
I also bumped into one of the fellas who was in Nottingham a couple of weeks ago, that being David Furness who was with the South East Today O/B team until late last night, and also helped provide the satellite link up for Roger Day's radio show going out on BBC Radio Kent, Radio Surrey, Radio Solent etc.
I'm having another early one tonight as tomorrow's quite a big one where there's Mr Scruff performing a DJ set at Hoedown if I remember correctly, and of course James Taylor Quartet and Nostalgia 77 at Furthur.
I hope to devour something different from the food stall as I've had the tomato and rabbit pasta (yes you read right) for two days now and to be honest it's actually rather bitter to taste. I may go for something more meatier tomorrow and more filling and all although then again there's a lovely organic bread stall as well which would be even better and different of course.
I'll head off down there after Robbie Vincent's show on Jazz FM which makes a return apperance after PY covered last week.
I really am exhausted so returning home earlier was the right thing to do.
Being linked to a Daily Mail article could have raised eyebrows but no, it's basically a dig at the BBC for their continuing amount of shows on Saturday that may be enjoyed by those participating in the studio, but not by those watching at home.
You'd have thought they would have learnt from the disaster that was Lulu's "Red Alert With The National Lottery" which was one of the worst in terms of the above.
At the risk of further nitpicking, where Ant & Dec's show (in its first few series) had elements of some of the finest Saturday night shows such as Noel's House Party, Game For A Laugh, and Toothbrush,
Totally Saturday contains elements from some of the worst including Red Alert as mentioned, Gaby Roslin's "Whatever You Want", Brian Conley's two show turn off "Judgement Day" and the some of the poorer elements from the later series of Takeaway with the Hamster being a direct clone of Ant & Dec's "Mouse Trap" game.
There seems to be a tradition in the present day in both television and radio of what I'd like to refer to as the "Burglar Bill Method" from Alan Ahlberg's well known children's book, where a producer will see a television programme and think to themselves "That's an exciting feature, I'll have that!".
I keep referring to it like a bitter old fool, but my second year of Smoke Radio was full of that with those running the station stealing features directly off Radio 1 even to the point of using the exact name.
None of the features on my Soul Show were completely original but I either tried to give my own twist on them, or they were intended to be a homage to either Going Live!, Noel's House Party, The ITV Chart Show etc
The difference being was that you wouldn't get exactly the same on any mainstream TV channel or radio station which I think settles my case although I really should be more creative if I wanted to get further career-wise.
However it's better than being someone who claims to be an "ideas person" and has sod all to offer.
The biggest example of course being Mike Read on the Harvey Goldsmith Big L documentary which will still make me laugh no matter how many times I see it.
Returning to Saturday nights and things don't appear to be getting any better I'm afraid, especially if the new Lottery show "Guesstimation" is anything to go by.
I mentioned in a post last month that I was offered to go and see the programme being recorded in Maidstone and after seeing tonight's show I'm glad I turned down the opportunity as it's dreadfully tacky, with one of the questions involving to guess how many dance steps Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag could do in 30 seconds.
I may be a fan of Strictly but it appears to be a requirement that every entertainment show broadcast on Saturday nights has to have an obligatory appearance from one or more E-list celebrities doing anything at all regardless of genuine entertainment value.
Former Countdown warm-up man and late night quiz TV star Greg Scott also commented his disaproval via Twitter, saying the host Nick Knowles' sex life was "DIY".
Overall, utter bollocks and another show to fall victim to the Off button on my remote control.
All this has completely got in the way of what was otherwise an enjoyable day over at Lounge On The Farm.
It was slightly more relaxed in terms of what I was doing and who I saw as tomorrow's the big day in terms of the acts I'll bee seeing but in the Hoedown tent was a brilliant set by DJ Format who was spinning a mixture of classic soul along the lines of James Brown alongside some vintage hip hop from the Sugarhill Gang, an odd sounding interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's "Crosstown Traffic", and the Herbie Hancock classic "Rockit".
I also saw an impressive performance at the Furthur stage by French guitar band Le Duc (which I think is pronounced "Dook") which quite a lot of people enjoyed including my Dad, and Laura who I went along with to the stage near the end of the set.
As promised I got a few photos from the today.
Alongside Laura.
The bizarre sort of people who visit Lounge.
Stood on the left of fellow Chelsea supporter Paul.
I also bumped into one of the fellas who was in Nottingham a couple of weeks ago, that being David Furness who was with the South East Today O/B team until late last night, and also helped provide the satellite link up for Roger Day's radio show going out on BBC Radio Kent, Radio Surrey, Radio Solent etc.
I'm having another early one tonight as tomorrow's quite a big one where there's Mr Scruff performing a DJ set at Hoedown if I remember correctly, and of course James Taylor Quartet and Nostalgia 77 at Furthur.
I hope to devour something different from the food stall as I've had the tomato and rabbit pasta (yes you read right) for two days now and to be honest it's actually rather bitter to taste. I may go for something more meatier tomorrow and more filling and all although then again there's a lovely organic bread stall as well which would be even better and different of course.
I'll head off down there after Robbie Vincent's show on Jazz FM which makes a return apperance after PY covered last week.
I really am exhausted so returning home earlier was the right thing to do.
Pits And Possible Ponchos
I plan to head over to Lounge in about an hour or so with some extra layers due to the slightly wet and lesser warm conditions. But I think that makes it more enjoyable.
Prior to that I've been viewing further episodes of Room 101 where I'm up to series 4 from Summer 1999 where Paul Merton had taken over as the host and the first guest was noneother than Nick Hancock.
One of his choices was football bizarrely enough, because of the overall depression of it through the many mishaps of Stoke City over the last 29 years. Nick failed to get it accepted as did Spike Milligan who also wanted it to go in later in the series as he didn't think it was as masculine as rugby.
However it finally got allowed into the disposal pit when Marcus Brigstocke nominated it in Paul's final series 8 years later.
Quite a lot of jokes from Nick Hancock's time as the presenter were repeated including the use of a clip of Ken Dodd performing his standout song "Happiness".
The joke itself being the line "I've got no silver and I've got no gold, but I've got happiness in my soul" which Paul said would be something you would say
if the taxman should arrive.
Something Dodd would definitely know about.
When Nick wanted to put his experience of being a teacher in, there was a return outing for the story about the Religious Studies teacher who after a class debate condoning sex before marriage, revealed to his pupils that he was a virgin.
Other guests in the series included someone who quite frankly should already be in there, Jim Davidson who wanted to dispose of lefties (unsurprisingly), beach holidays, and Motown.
The reason for wanting to dispose of the latter was because his first wife was a big Motown fan, and Jim was more into Led Zeppellin, Pink Floyd, and of course Emmerson, Lake And Palmer, the latter of whom's "Karn-Evil 9" was adapted as the theme tune to his Generation Game in it's dying days.
Whilst the above song is perfectly listenable, Paul proceeded to show ELP during one of their live gigs which Jim described as "proper music" but what was in reality some idiot knocking a hammond organ on it's side accompanied by loud reverberated electric guitar.
Paul decided that when compared to that, Motown should stay out of Room 101 and also because the ELP clip looked similar to that of Mr Shifter in the PG Tips advert.
Another of Jim's choices was someone who in my eyes belongs in the same league of him in terms of annoyance, Paul Daniels.
Paul Merton brought up the fact that in 1997 Paul along with Andrew Lloyd Nobber said that if Labour won the election he would leave the country.
Sadly, neither of them decided to fuck off, although Davidson's now departed to Dubai and become bankrupt as a result.
I'll probably finish the series tomorrow although the only other episode I can remember watching first time round was Julian Clary's, because I got told off for shouting "Poof!" when Paul's former comedy partner was introduced.
Nowadays it seems the BBC are relying on loads of them to draw in viewers on Saturday nights and failing as a consequence.
It's not often I would agree with a Daily Mail article, but this dissection of the BBC's recent efforts pretty much nails it.
However luckily I won't have to set an eyelid as I'll be getting rained on in a field outside Canterbury.
I know what I would prefer any day.
Prior to that I've been viewing further episodes of Room 101 where I'm up to series 4 from Summer 1999 where Paul Merton had taken over as the host and the first guest was noneother than Nick Hancock.
One of his choices was football bizarrely enough, because of the overall depression of it through the many mishaps of Stoke City over the last 29 years. Nick failed to get it accepted as did Spike Milligan who also wanted it to go in later in the series as he didn't think it was as masculine as rugby.
However it finally got allowed into the disposal pit when Marcus Brigstocke nominated it in Paul's final series 8 years later.
Quite a lot of jokes from Nick Hancock's time as the presenter were repeated including the use of a clip of Ken Dodd performing his standout song "Happiness".
The joke itself being the line "I've got no silver and I've got no gold, but I've got happiness in my soul" which Paul said would be something you would say
if the taxman should arrive.
Something Dodd would definitely know about.
When Nick wanted to put his experience of being a teacher in, there was a return outing for the story about the Religious Studies teacher who after a class debate condoning sex before marriage, revealed to his pupils that he was a virgin.
Other guests in the series included someone who quite frankly should already be in there, Jim Davidson who wanted to dispose of lefties (unsurprisingly), beach holidays, and Motown.
The reason for wanting to dispose of the latter was because his first wife was a big Motown fan, and Jim was more into Led Zeppellin, Pink Floyd, and of course Emmerson, Lake And Palmer, the latter of whom's "Karn-Evil 9" was adapted as the theme tune to his Generation Game in it's dying days.
Whilst the above song is perfectly listenable, Paul proceeded to show ELP during one of their live gigs which Jim described as "proper music" but what was in reality some idiot knocking a hammond organ on it's side accompanied by loud reverberated electric guitar.
Paul decided that when compared to that, Motown should stay out of Room 101 and also because the ELP clip looked similar to that of Mr Shifter in the PG Tips advert.
Another of Jim's choices was someone who in my eyes belongs in the same league of him in terms of annoyance, Paul Daniels.
Paul Merton brought up the fact that in 1997 Paul along with Andrew Lloyd Nobber said that if Labour won the election he would leave the country.
Sadly, neither of them decided to fuck off, although Davidson's now departed to Dubai and become bankrupt as a result.
I'll probably finish the series tomorrow although the only other episode I can remember watching first time round was Julian Clary's, because I got told off for shouting "Poof!" when Paul's former comedy partner was introduced.
Nowadays it seems the BBC are relying on loads of them to draw in viewers on Saturday nights and failing as a consequence.
It's not often I would agree with a Daily Mail article, but this dissection of the BBC's recent efforts pretty much nails it.
However luckily I won't have to set an eyelid as I'll be getting rained on in a field outside Canterbury.
I know what I would prefer any day.
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