I do like a good infographic, hence enjoying this site so much. Mary, however, has spotted a good “decade in review” one from the NYT – check it out if you’re interested. 2009 was the year of “the economy”, “Iran on Twitter,” and a few other memorable things…
Category Archives: Current affairs
Cop15’s got talent – New Urusen tracks and Damo in DK
Longtime followers will know I’m a big fan of my friend Ben’s band, Urusen, who have a bunch of new tracks up on their Myspace page today, including a COP 15 special (“Wish it was”) – all brilliant, as ever with them. Check them out.
If you’re more into the environmental side of things, my friend Damian is reporting from the conference for Prospect (and has been writing for the BBC in the run-up to it). All worth checking out, and a great overview of some of the issues under discussion and (on Prospect) a feel for the show.
Sorry for lack of posts of late. There’s been no new soup, work’s been manic, as has the Christmas routine which has seen us away most weekends. Expect blogging between Christmas and New Year, as I attempt DIY and to resume my fitness regimen.
Missing a television event
I didn’t watch Derren Brown’s lottery guessing bonanza last night. I caught a few minutes of it but due to general hecticness sleep was required more than experiencing the event. That said, I knew he was going to manage it and I’m going to be subjected to speculation as to how he did it today…
Sadly it is likely that it was a trick, camera timing, secret headsets etc. – as whilst I have great fait in Derren’s mentalism skills, I do think that actual magic is beyond his beardy face. Sadly. Chris thinks he’s worked it out – frame rate magic – will look forward to the true secret unveiled…
Derren is totally rock and roll, though.
Byte night fundraising
Brands2Life is fielding a team for this year’s Byte Night charity sleep-out – a team of five will head onto the streets of London and rough it for an evening to raise money for Action for Children – a great cause.
Byte Night this year is on the 3rd Oct — my birthday — so needless to say I’ve made a craven excuse and ducked out — but would really like to support the cause, so encouraging my readership to donate, and donate generously! I have donated some cash towards an office bake sale the team coordinated, offered my (limited) skills as a guitarist as a prize in the raffle silent auction (I’ll be giving someone a guitar lesson), and will make sure I have an ‘extra cold’ beer the night they’re camping out.
Please do donate generously here.
Negarakuku
The atmosphere in Malaysia is very weird at the moment. There’s a huge build-up to the country’s 50th Independence day celebrations (Merdeka), but at the same time we’re standing in the wake of a considerable amount of racial and religious tension. The deputy Prime Minister, Najib, called Malaysia in Islamic state… and the government issued a gag order to stop the mainstream media from discussing it. You’d think it would be difficult to come up with something more absurd…
…and then this. A Malaysian student studying in Taiwan made a video parodying the Malaysian national anthem is under investigation by the Malaysian government, who are considering confiscating his passport and prosecuting him for sedition. The video raises controversial issues like – accusations of corruption in the Malaysian police force, referring to the morning Muslim prayers as ‘crowing’, and comments about the way the Malaysian Chinese are discriminated against in Malaysia. I’m afraid its in Hokkien and Malay, but you can view it here if you are interested.
It’s all a bit weird. Needless to say, I’m not impressed with the way Malaysia is handling these things. Fortunately, the Malaysian blogosphere is keeping the discussion going.
The trial of Tony Blair
If you missed it, I’m sure it’ll repeat on More4 soon. Whatever you think of the sentiment, this is a stunning piece of television; beautifully shot, great timing, fantastic music. Just really well put together.
Oh, and Sophie Winkleman (who I was at college with) is in it.
If you don’t know what it is, it’s the year 2010 and Tony’s about to hand over the leadership to his successor. But Mr Blair has got more in store for him than his book deal and conversion to Catholicism… The Americans would like a word…
Press gazette closes
The industry trade magazine of the, erm, newspaper industry has shut down today after 41 years (via Guy Clapperton).
Sad. End of era. Yes. Best wishes to the people struck by the redudancies.
But – do we now have room / demand for an open source Press Gazette equivalent, powered by WordPress? Am sure that people would contribute; all you’d need is a hack (or group of them) willing to put some free time in, as The World’s Leading does for the PR industry…
It wouldn’t be as thorough, but it could still be fun. Volunteers?
I am aware that there’s probably a few blogs that do stuff like this. Please point me in their direction…
Update: Ah, yes – Martin Stabe is carrying on with Press Gazette style blogging on his website. Am duly subscribed.
Borat opens this week
Regular readers will know I saw the movie back in September, and loved it. Been following the hype with some interest, from Borat’s response to the Kazakh government following their criticism, to his appearances at premieres, and more, and simply can’t get enough. There’s something very captivating about that silly man.
Interestingly, in my hunt for more Borat related content, I found a couple of relatively sane interviews with Sacha Baron Cohen (playing himself). I don’t think Sacha does interviews any more (only Borat, Ali G and Bruno), but its definitely interesting to see the man behind the mustache.
Kazakhstan the greatest nation in the world, all the other countries are run by little girls…
Kate on Radio 2
My friend Kate has been working at BBC Radio 2, producing the Jeremy Vine show. She dressed in a veil (the niqab) for a while to see what it was like and discussed it on the show on Wednesday. Check it out!
Spurs vs Slavia Prague
I’ve missed the last few Spurs matches (crushing defeats) and kind of been glad of it. Whilst I still make no pretence to know what’s going on, I have found myself quite emotionally invested and am actually getting quite stressed at Spurs inability to score tonight.
Argh. Hope we get a goal quite soon in the next half… expect updates!
Update: WE WON! Come on Keane, you got the monkey off our back! That was fantastic… I was really expecting a 0-0 draw, so a 1-0 victory is approximately infinity better. Woohoo! That feels good.