Category: Media

  • Biffovision: a review

    Jonathan Deamer’s reviewed the pilot of Biffovision, a warped parody of kids’ TV from the mind of Mr Biffo. I watched it in the wee small hours after one beer too many, which I suspect is the perfect viewing environment…

  • In the belly of the Beeb

    I did my usual radio babble on BBC Scotland this morning, but for the first time I went to the Beeb’s spanking new headquarters in Govan. It really is an amazing building, although it’s very easy to give yourself a severe attack of vertigo once you’re up a few floors. I’ve asked if it’s OK…

  • The end of too-loud adverts?

    Here’s one for Squander Two: the Advertising Standards Authority is running a consultation on how best to get rid of too-loud TV adverts. As S2 points out from time to time, adverts aren’t actually any louder than the programmes in terms of peak levels; however, they *are* louder overall, because they’re compressed. The same thing…

  • One of the best album reviews I’ve read in ages

    Alexis Petridis of the Guardian reviews R Kelly’s latest opus. I’m in tears here.

  • The Sun’s sneaky Charlotte Church story

    The Sun has been slapped for a rather underhand story about Charlotte Church, which broke the PCC rules on pregnancy: you don’t report pregnancies before the 12-week stage. That’s because if something’s going to go wrong, it’s likely to go wrong before the 12-week point – which is why in many cases people don’t tell…

  • Mobile bloody masts and wireless sodding networks

    We’re doomed! says the Times. We’re doomed! says the Independent. Not so fast! say the people of Fark.com, destroying the Indy’s alleged expert with one beautiful, beautiful link and throwing in tedious little facts about the difference between ionising and non-ionising radiation, how radiation exposure works, where wi-fi sits in the electromagnetic spectrum and why…

  • BBFC states the obvious about violent video games

    The BBFC has published its research into video games, and there are some reasonably interesting stats about the preferences of male vs female gamers, the age groups playing games and so on. And in the not-very-surprising category: younger games players are influenced to play particular games by peer pressure and word of mouth, but negative…

  • Are cyberbullies really scaring schoolgirls into stripping online?

    I’m always wary of scare stories that involve new technology – remember the scare over cameraphones being used to clone credit card numbers, which was widely reported despite the minor detail that such cloning had never happened? – and I’m equally wary of scare stories involving sexual misbehaviour. Combine the two and you end up…

  • One job ad sums up the problem with health reporting

    Posted to a journalism forum: Men’s Fitness is looking for an experienced staff writer to write and edit the Nutrition and Health sections of the magazine. You don’t need to be an expert on health matters, but you do need a proven record of producing sharp, witty and accurate copy for a consumer title.

  • Sunday Times photo competition: bastards

    This week’s Sunday Times went into great detail about a photography competition for landscape snappers, but strangely didn’t highlight that you have to pay to enter: £7 for one image, or £25 if you want to send in the maximum of fifteen. Given that the total prize pot is £20K, if 1,000 people enter 15…