Happy Birthday Wallace & Gromit
via google.co.uk
Google are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Nick Park and Aardman Animation's creations Wallace and Gromit with this Google Doodle.
Congratulations!
an online scrapbook
In real life I am Tom Ward
On Twitter I am @i_are_scientist
I am a Leeds Utd fan
I am a scientist
I am mostly in Oxford
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tv
Sky+ 3D and VOD
via stuff.tv
OK so show of hands: how many of you have a 3D TV? None? Not really surprising - as far as I'm aware, there aren't many floating about in the wild. Mind you, why the hell would you buy one? Not only would the new technology be prohibitively expensive, but there isn't exactly 3D content floating about. OK, so there's none, but why should that stop you?!
Well, if you're in the UK, then you might be in luck come 2010. BSkyB have announced that Sky+ HD subscribers will be getting their very own 3D channel in the new year when, the company claims, 3D televisions will be on sale. That is, I suppose, provided that the UK actually manages to get it's hands on some before the launch which, given that a number of companies decided not to release their products here (I'm looking at you Microsoft and Amazon), is not a certainty. So it may not be long before we're all sat around in stupid glasses with migraines wondering how we ever coped without Brad and Angelina in our living rooms in glorious 3D.
Personally, I'm more excited by the new VOD service Sky appear to be touting. At the moment, Sky+ subscribers have the sky "Anytime" feature where programmes, selected by Sky, are downloaded to your box for you to view at your leisure. Personally I think it's utter shite as the programmes are ALWAYS from a sky-owned channel and often include movies and programming that requires a subscription (which I don't have). Besides, if I wanted to see the programmes on there, I'd have set my Sky+ to record them. It makes very little sense to me.
What makes far more sense is a "pull" VOD service which allows for a much greater catalogue of programming and, if Sky are smart, should include programmes available on the BBC iPlayer, ITV player, 4OD and Sky's online VOD service, Sky player.
I'm not exactly sure how they're going to manage this service though. At the moment, Sky+ HD boxes don't connect to Wi-Fi or even a hard-wired broadband connection (which is baffling). All interactive and update services are through a dial-up connection. Are Sky going to host all the content and allow pulling via satellite? Or will I be waiting a couple of hours for the next episode of Spooks to download?
The Apprentice - A Home for Egotism
via bbc.co.uk
The above image is from last weeks challenge on The Apprentice on the BBC.
The premise was that the teams had to develop a marketing campaign for a brand of healthy cereal aimed at children. Whilst one team decided that underpants were a great vehicle for persuading kids to bug their parents incessantly until they bought this particular cereal, the (winning) team used an anthropomorphic parrot called Captain Squawk.
The outcome of the challenge was, most probably, decided within the first hour of the challenge when some dim-whit uttered the words "Pants Man". It seams that one contestant had, not only never seen cereal packets in the supermarket, but, even when told that on no level would this idea work, stuck to his guns and caused enough of a fuss that it was far easier to run with his shite idea and hope for the best than have to put up with his sulky face for the rest of the week.
It seams to me that, if Sir Al was really interested in hiring an apprentice to work in his firm, he'd be better off looking for one in the National Apprenticeship Service (for which he is a spokesman) rather than in this group of egotistical morons.
Good TV though!
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tv
BBC NEWS | Noel Edmonds show dropped by Sky
via news.bbc.co.uk
I watched the pilot episode of Noel's HQ last year because my friend's parents were on it. The premise is that Noel gets people involved with, well, basically helping your fellow man. However, dispersed throughout the show were slightly dodgy "Bonkers Britain" pieces that felt as if they'd been lifted from the pages of the Daily Mail or the Daily Express (other news[sic]papers are available).
Personally, although the sentiment in parts was good, I felt dirty having even watched the programme. This "Broken Britain" mantra that crass media outlets keep dusting off and slapping in our faces really makes me feel uneasy, as if we're headed for a Children of Men-style dystopian future.
A little bleak and over the top for a Friday maybe but you catch my drift.
The reason my friend's parents happened to be on it can be found in the pages of this blog.
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tv
Comment on: Newsnight | 'You're fired': Is Apprentice now bad taste?
via news.bbc.co.uk
Is redundancy and joblessness a new phenomenon that only exists because the media are reporting it?
I will concede that there are far more unemployed people than there were a couple of years ago when thee BBC acquired the rights to remake the Apprentice, but surely it has ALWAYS been "bad taste" to a proportion of the population and, unless communism takes over, there always will be.
As long as everyone remembers that it's a game-show and nothing more then why should there be a problem?
Horne And Corden breaks BBC 'record'
Horne And Corden attracted 817k (5.7%) for the channel in its 10.30pm slot, making it the highest-rated first episode ever of a comedy on BBC Three.
via digitalspy.co.uk
A rather dubious accolade...
Mad as a Hatter?
"However, this bottle was NOT marked 'poison', so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast) she very soon finished it off."
Most of us would wonder at the magnificence that is Lewis Carroll's description of the shrinking potion marked 'DRINK ME' in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Heston Blumenthal however, took it as a challenge. In the first episode of his new channel 4 series "Heston's Feasts" Heston cooks up his interpretation of the Mad Hatter's tea-party.
Strange enough is the 'drink-me' potion (which does, in fact, taste of all the ingredients Alice listed), but his edible garden and mock-turtle soup are, quite frankly, the most amazing culinary creations I have ever seen. Never before have I seen edible soil or heard a chef discussing the use of a -80˚C freezer in cooking. The man is an artist.
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