Monthly Archives: August 2004

Celebrity Justice?

Is it right to have celebrities on a panel of jurors in a courtroom when a man is charged with murder? Oprah Winfrey thought she was too opinionated to serve on the jury, but the lawyers said it was fine for her to serve. I wonder if anybody has looked at the psychological impact on the other jurors. Oprah is not just a jobbing actor you might have seen in the background on EastEnders. She’s a global star with a massive following, highly regarded in her field, and her opinions are reported worldwide. Surely, this means that people will listen to her. Does that make others on the jury more easily swayed? I am sure most of them would say ‘no’. I would say that her presence wouldn’t affect me – but I don’t think I’d be telling the truth.

On this day…

2005: Gay Music Stars Still Stir Headline Writers
2004: Technology Gets The Better Of Me
2004: Another Chart
2002: A Haddock is A Wet Fish

Madonna

my ticket to see madonna at earl's court
Madonna, Earl’s Court, 2004

So I went to see Madonna at Earls Court.

That statement does not make me a huge Madonna fan – although I am partial to many of her hits and, unlike some of my friends, I think American Life is a great album (then again, I also like some of Blue’s material so who am I to judge musical tastes?) and she is most certainly a performer.

So, when commenting on a Madonna concert, what should you say? Earls Court is a huge venue. For those of you who haven’t been, you should be aware that it’s very stadium-like. We sat in the back left corner, so it was like she was at the opposite goalpost. And it’s in that context that you will understand why I didn’t think it was that good.

Madonna can put on a show. She is the undisputed queen of showmanship. And therein lies the problem. She performs a West End show of the variety you need to see. And she performs them at West End prices but to stadium-sized audiences. The audio is show-like, and you doubt that she’s singing live the whole time – although I suspect a lot of it is live. It’s just very well produced and sounds like her CDs and, for me, that isn’t the point of going to see live music: somehow you need to believe that they are performing live. Add to that the fact that you can’t see the spectacular, and you have a fun but ultimately disappointing evening.

On this day…

2005: Run London – Here I Come
2003: Helsinki Re-Visited
2002: The **** Of All Snacks

Flash Floods

While trying to find a medal count for the Olympics for my last post, I also followed some links on Wikipedia to their current affairs section, where I came upon an interesting item about flash flooding relating to the floods in Cornwall. The advice “Turn Around Don’t Drown” is something we should all take on-board.

On this day…

2005: Boston Legal
2004: Should I Mention The Olympics?
2003: Great Yarmouth
2003: Stag
2002: In Short, Things Are Grim

Should I Mention The Olympics?

Purely for my own reference: Wikipedia’s Athens Medal Count. There is something compelling about watching gymnastics, sailing and boxing, and I would only ever do that at the Olympics. I even found myself watching synchronised diving last night. Why?

On this day…

2005: Boston Legal
2004: Flash Floods
2003: Great Yarmouth
2003: Stag
2002: In Short, Things Are Grim

Email At Work

If you read any of what I write, you will be aware that I don’t talk about work a great deal. This is supposed to be an outlet separate from anything to do with my working life, but today I wanted to solicit your opinion on a trend I am seeing emerging at work.

Like all companies, we deal almost daily with new customers, prospects, or organisations related to our business. Often we will have meetings and presentations and start to build – what we hope will be – a good business relationship. Like most people who meet others in their sphere of work, I hand out business cards to new contacts.

Three or four times in the past month, I have found that a few days after meeting somebody new, my email address will be subscribed to their company mailshot/newsletter, etc. I know this is a reaction to the new UK spam rules, where there has to be some kind of business relationship before you can receive arbitrary messages from a company, but I don’t like the trend. When you’re on the lookout for new business, it’s a little hard to say ‘stop this’. Perhaps we should start doing something similar.

On this day…

2005: Hits Out Of Hell
2002: Yesterday was Ben Affleck’s Birthday

Kill Bill (Volume 1)

Kill Bill Volume 1

When you finally start to understand the plot of Kill Bill (Volume I), you will see that Uma Thurman wakes from a coma and is determined to seek revenge on those (namely Bill and his crew) who put her there. For me, Quentin Tarantino usually means more violence than I am prepared to stomach, but in Kill Bill (Volume I) it’s almost comic book (the blood spewing from the severed arms will – sadly – amuse me for quite a while). The acting is excellent (Uma is brilliant and Lucy Liu is, too). The staging of the fight sequences is unlike anything I have ever seen before and, although I am still trying to figure some of it out, I am pleased I rented it and not a little disappointed that I didn’t see it in the cinema.

I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I loved it.

On this day…

2005: Lost
2003: Disappointing Frustrating
2002: On The Town

Digital Download Chart

A year ago I wrote about ringtones and the large amounts of money to be made from them (as well as one of the current boyband stars of the time) and asked when we would see the first ringtone-only hit? Well, maybe not ringtones, but the music download industry in the UK is taking a step towards producing download-only hits when Radio 1 introduces the download chart from the start of next month. I think this is fantastic news and I will be interested to see how the record companies react.

Also about a year ago, I wrote about my first experiences with downloading music from the MSN Music Club. Well, I can tell you that a year on, I have bought, perhaps, ten tracks – mainly the odd chart hit jumps out at me. I’ve tried several services and find them all a little frustrating in one way or another.

Many download services don’t let you have the latest singles from an artist until they are falling down the regular charts. I assume this is to ensure that those fans who want the track will actually buy it and contribute to a chart position before the downloads (which don’t contribute to a proper chart position). So, although I do think this chart is a superb step forward, digital music will only be legitimised when it’s included with the full chart.

Maybe in twelve months I’ll be writing about that.

On this day…

2007: Presentation Porn
2005: Memories Of The Walkman
2003: Silly Pop Stars
2003: Beep Beep To Profit
2002: When Love Comes To Town

Save A Pop Idol

Poor Gareth Gates. It seems his career is on the rocks and his record company is trying to rebrand him. Perhaps something good has come out of all the Pop Idol shows. It was widely thought that Gareth was the industry’s preference for the Pop Idol when the public voted for Will Young. Will is still having hit records. I am not sure what it says about the Pop Idol phenomenon. In this instance, the public got it right, but where are now Hear’say, One True Voice, Michelle …

On this day…

2007: Better In Just 14 Days
2005: By Ek
2004: Open House 2004
2004: Back Ache Update
2003: Oh Canada II
2002: Don’t Call Me Stupid

Open House 2004

Last September I visited Bush House, the home of the BBC World Service. It was part of the London Open House weekend, an annual event that allows visitors behind the doors of buildings not usually open to the public. This year it’s the weekend of September 18th and 19th. The brochure can be ordered from the official site. If you’re in London that weekend, I would encourage you to find something to visit!

On this day…

2007: Better In Just 14 Days
2005: By Ek
2004: Save A Pop Idol
2004: Back Ache Update
2003: Oh Canada II
2002: Don’t Call Me Stupid

Back Ache Update

a garden update

I suppose that I should have given you a little update earlier in the week, and I certainly should have recorded it for myself. So, as you can see, we managed to clear a great deal over the weekend – although I thought I had broken the hired shredder unit (but hadn’t). We cleared bags and bags of material away and flattened tons of earth. We placed paving slabs where the new shed is to go (it actually came on Tuesday, but I have no pictures yet), and then, on Monday (after this picture was taken), this fence was replaced with a newer one (of the same style), which doesn’t look like it is about to blow over when the wind gets up.

On this day…

2007: Better In Just 14 Days
2005: By Ek
2004: Save A Pop Idol
2004: Open House 2004
2003: Oh Canada II
2002: Don’t Call Me Stupid