Something To Say

This morning, I was reading a load of reviews of last night's Arsenal -v- Celtic match, in particular the furore around the Eduardo dive* which led to the penalty. The Telegraph, the Times and the Mail all had articles which asked for Your Comments but then required you to 1) register your details, 2) wait an unspecified time for an email from them with a confirmation link, 3) click the link, 4) re-enter your now approved login, 5) continue back to the original page to add your comment, 5) wait an unspecified time for it to be moderated and then eventually 6) see it posted -- by which time someone else has probably already made all the salient points you were so keen to express.

I didn't bother.

Now I fully realise the need to moderate comments on a national newspaper site. I also understand about comment spam and email address confirmation. But it doesn't feel much like the 'conversation' they so desperately claim to crave with their readers. It just feels slooooooooow.

1-0 to Twitter (at least)

UPDATE: I have since signed up for the Times to test how long it actually takes to get a comment published, more later...

UPDATE 2: It took three hours from start (clicking the Register button) to finish (seeing the comment at the bottom of the article). Sheesh.

* yes, he dived and yes, I am disappointed in that from such an apparently genuine guy.

Keep Calm And Oink

LA Times: Scientists see this flu strain as relatively mild

Quite.

Anyone would think the Daily Mail and the The Sun had shares in the companies that make Tamiflu, face masks and antibacterial gels. For goodness' sake, get some perspective, like CarolB in Gloucestershire on the MailOnline forums:

"I have never seen such a ridiculous fuss over a glorified cold in my life. What on earth is wrong with people?"

Yes! Carol B for Prime Minister! Vote now!

Fast Eddy

Brilliant volleyed goal from Eduardo in our 3-0 win this weekend; praise all over the blogs so I won't bother adding my 2p, except to put up this picture, which really demonstrates his fantastically cheeky technique, right off the beaches of Brazil:


However, one thing which did totally surprise me was the use of an embedded YouTube video of the goal on the Daily Telegraph website, here:

Eduardos-beach-goal-delights-Arsenal-manager

UPDATE: they have pulled the embedded version, now just a link to the YouTube page

In the current climate, where large organisations are frantically protecting their intellectual property and demanding even the briefest sporting clips be taken down from video hosting sites with frightening alacrity, I find this astonishing from a mainstream newspaper. Especially as it turns out that they didn't upload the clip - although I desperately wish they had. Anyway, by linking to this clip, uploaded by a random internet punter, they're seemingly giving tacit approval to the 'theft of copyright material', if you side with the FA?

Now I really want to see if it suddenly says "This content has been removed after a claim by the copyright owner" and what (if any) comment the paper puts out at that time. Anyone know if The Daily Telegraph is part of the same media group as Setanta or are they just pushing their luck? Interesting move.

That said, if the quality of the Setanta Sports satellite feed is anything to go on, they're not very technical over there so I suppose they might just never find out :)

Movies By Fax

Nice take on the MPAA et al and their pursuit of alleged copyright infringers:

Cory Doctorow: Getting tough on copyright enforcers

Overheard #46

Tales from the bleeding edge of nu meejah:

"He is basically the world's most unanimated Flash developer."

Max Out

Oh dear.

Guardian travel writer blags a freebie for his son to write a travel blog. Ripped to shreds in the comments:

Max, 19, hits the road
There's even already a parody blog:

Wayne Type, 19, hits the road
Not sure what they're angrier about - the fact that his Dad wangled him the trip, that a national newspaper is paying for what is essentially his gap year or that he comes across as the living embodiment of Nathan Barley.

Of course, the flip side is that it would seem he's young, good looking, connected, cool and about to go on a year of partying at someone else's expense - teensy bit jealous at all, chaps?

Form An Orderly Queue(d Download)

As a sarcastic b*gger myself, I liked the tone of this:

All this online sharing has to stop

Quite.

Bad Apple?

Looks like Apple has decided that the season of goodwill is the perfect time to go on the offensive against commentators and bloggers who deign to publish leaks/reviews/criticism of its products.

And now, in an astonishing move (and in my clearly worthless opinion, a proper PR shoot-yourself-in-the-foot-disaster) they have suggested to the daddy of the genre, Fake Steve Jobs, that he cease and desist in return for a 'settlement' / update#1: as long as he shuts up about it / update#2: or worse / update#3: lawyer time

Anyone else think the most media-savvy company in the world just started to make itself look ridiculous? But hey - what do I know. Hang on, there's someone knocking at the d...

(And of course it's all a subtle Yuletide gag from the very amusing Daniel Lyons and his Forbes crew...or maybe not...but perhaps it is...or not...could be...looks like it isn't...or is...*applause*)

Bah Humbug

Hurrah! It's the ever cheery Charlie Brooker and his Festive Quiz! The maths round is especially taxing :)

Higher! Lower! Take The Money! Open The Box!

Good grief.

'Cool Cash' card confusion

"Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards. The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn't. I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher, not lower, than -8 but I'm not having it. "

Well, you're not having your £10,000 either, duck :)

(from the Manchester Evening News)

NBC You Later

Well done, chaps.

NBC = No Bloody Clue

(via daring fireball)

Twist Your Arm(ando)

Just finished listening to the first in the excellent new series of Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive:

BBC Radio 4 Comedy - Charm Offensive

Highlights were the discussion about how many ketchup sachets David Attenborough stole from the café at London Zoo ("easily more than five"), the Mastermind general knowledge round ("What is the opposite of placard?") and the Robert Ludlum novel title generator ("The Byzantium Potato").

Highly recommended (and you can listen again here)

Take A Pig, Miss Jones

Fed up with email? Cheer them up with a hand-written missive on one of these animal-shaped airmail letters :)
The pig is great. I like the rocket too. And the bat. Actually the pterodactyl is...er...anyway. Yes!

Available soon, apparently.

More Smoke On Camera Six

I've only recently discovered Pickard Of The Pops, a weekly column on the Guardian website in which promotional music videos of the popular genre are dissected and analysed like an unsuspecting frog in an O-level Biology practical. Laid bare, scene by scene, they really are exposed as either (a) pompous heap of overblown pretentious tosh, (b) feeble excuse for pre-watershed semi-nudity or (c) shoe-string budget gibberish made by orang-utangs on uppers. My choices, in the aforementioned categories, are:

(a) I Don't Love You
(b) Umbrella
(c) Nuff Buzzin

Enjoy (or something)...

Spotted

This fantastic bit of juxtaposition by Laahdan's Eee'in Stann'ah in Moorgate the other day:


One for Private Eye, methinks...

Don't Have A Cow, Man

So the California Milk Processor Board (stick with me here) has commissioned a beautifully rendered Flash game called Get The Glass to continue their work in raising awareness of the wonders of cow juice.

Now I know they take their job very seriously ("Got Milk?" is generally agreed as one of the most recognisable ad campaigns of the last ten years) but someone had some serious budget to blow here, it is just stunning.

3D 'Pixar-esque' graphics, Monopoly-style board & (un)lucky cards and a family of loveable milk-drinking characters for you to guide to the ultimate goal (a big tall glass of the white stuff, obviously):

(requires Flash, as if you hadn't guessed, and a spare half-hour or so...)

In The RED?

(or, How To Disgruntle A Totemic Bono)

Bloomberg.com: U2 exclusive

"Bono doesn't invest his own money in RED, the U.S.-based marketing venture he introduced at the Davos meeting in 2006. RED is an alliance between the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and six international companies: American Express Co., Nike Inc. subsidiary Converse Inc., Gap Inc., Giorgio Armani SpA, Motorola Inc. and Apple. "

Advertising Age: Costly RED campaign

"There is a broadening concern that business is taking on the patina of philanthropy and crowding out philanthropic activity and even substituting for it," he said. "It benefits the for-profit partners much more than the charitable causes."

I think you all know my feelings about bog-trotting-holier-than-thou-short-arsed-pub-musician Bono.

No further comment, m'lud.

Fork The Police

Remember The Adam And Joe Show? Well, Adam Buxton will be appearing soon in a BBC3 comedy series called Rush Hour, set in a traffic jam (honest). Anyway, my particular favourite preview is:


Brilliant. Go swimming with Lorenzo. Word.

Quorn, My Son

Interesting article in theGuardian about the meat/veg dichotomy amongst couples:

How to have meat with your veg

I'm thinking of Chris & Helena primarily - anyone else want to own up?

Any Old Irony?

Interesting piece by Simon Pegg on the merkins <> irony thing in today's Guardian:

What are you laughing at?

Personally, I'm not sure I agree - American TV shows & films may be using irony more freely, but Alanis Morissette is still annoying. FACT.