Offmessage

Excuse my French, but what on earth is going on with this Brand/Ross (Bross?) story?

It was pre-recorded.  Thats “Pre”… “Recorded”… Both of them are famous for their tendency to improvise to a ludicrous and often offensive conclusion; leaving them on their own together in a radio studio late at night was bound to generate a whole host of unbroadcastable material.  Surely that’s why it wasn’t live in the first place?

What a bunch of arse.

This BBC news story “illustrates why UK families are under pressure” (apparently). That image is the first piece in a bunch of infographics ably demonstrating their point.  What confuses me is this…

How many families pay for their food and petrol with capital from their houses?

That graphic, like so much reporting around this topic from the BBC, is a) meaningless and b) designed to scare. Tossers.

We have a family party planned on Sunday.  We’ve been watching the weather with some trepidation.  Today we discovered that it’s so bad, they aren’t even going to tell us about it. (I assume they’ll fix it soon, but here’s the link anyway)

This should open some pretty interesting releases.

The agreement between EMI and BBC Worldwide, the Beeb’s commercial arm, means that each party will have access to release, broadcast and monetise recordings by EMI artists from the BBC archive. These include unheard sessions by the Beach Boys, Kylie Minogue and David Bowie. Other highlights of the BBC treasure trove include a stripped-down version of Coldplay’s Shiver, and live radio sessions by Pink Floyd, recorded around the time of their debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, when Syd Barrett was still a member of the band.

So.  Claire (who no longer wishes to be known as “Mrs Offmessage”, btw) has taken to watching BBC programmes on iPlayer while I’m taking over the front room and only TV with some random rubbish that she’s not interested in.

At the same time the kids have taken to watching CBeebies on iPlayer on the eee.  It’s become a treat, and for parents it’s easier to control because the programme stops and (until they’ve mastered the trackpad, at least) they need me or Claire to start another programme.

It’s a raging success.  Our house loves it, and more and more people I talk to love it too.

A thought that is just trickling into my consciousness is this…  You may need to be in the UK to access it, but you don’t have to have a TV Licence.  Interesting how this plays out.  There sure ain’t going to be a “Computer Licence”, anyway.

Latest series of I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue canceled as Humph is taken into hospital. I didn’t realise he’d been doing it since 1972 (the year of my birth)!

‘Cos it sure is gonna get busy in the cities…

The hands represent Britain pulling together to reveal the Olympics. (Image 5, if it’s still there when you get there!)

edit: And only a few minutes later, it’s gone

Also in the news…

And look, it includes the story about the Sudanese goat. No dumbing down here then.

Interesting blog post from Evan Davies of the BBC about Value Engineering (if you like that sort of thing, of course). That’s not the point of this post, however. What caught my eye was this comment. When did Panorama become Tonight With Trevor MacDonald? I mean really.