Key Posts Category
60 years of the Queen in cartoons: Diamond Jubilee satire
THE Cartoon Museum on London’s Little Russell Street is hosting a celebration of Queen Elizabeth 2 in ink and satire. Her Maj: 60 years of Unofficial Portraits of the Queen runs from February 1 to April 8. The event provides a snapshot of how the Queen and her role have been perceived. Forties reverence gave way to 60s satire gave way to 21st Century sniping…
queen
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Posted: 21st, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Royal Family | Comment
Costa Concordia: Was Francesco Schettino drinking with dancer Domnica Cemortan?
DOMNICA Cemortan is the 25-year-old Moldovan dancer and interpreter for Russian passengers alleged to have been drinking wine with Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino the night the ship went down with loss of life.
Domnica Cemortan says he was with the captain on the bridge of the Costa Concordia.
Cemortan works for Costa Cruises, the ship’s winners, but was on holiday to celebrate her birthday.
The company spokesman, one Clarence Mitchell (who he?) said:
“The woman who on the evening of the accident appears to have dined with Captain [Francesco] Schettino had regularly embarked on the vessel in Civitavecchia. Costa Cruises is ready to provide the authorities with her identity and the details of the ticket she bought.”
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Posted: 20th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)
SOPA/PIPA: the future of internet freedom left in the dark
NOTHING has watered down the term ‘revolution’ more than its promiscuous use in discussions about web innovation. Developments in internet technology, as well as protests organised online, are widely celebrated by activists, entrepreneurs and governments as ‘revolutionary’. But a debate about proposed internet regulations in the US has shown just how many conflicting interests are tangled up in Web 2.0 and just how cavalier an attitude to liberty many of the supposed champions of internet freedoms have.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) are designed to crack down on copyright infringement and trafficking in counterfeit goods. The main targets are foreign ‘rogue websites’, piracy sites that are hosted abroad and are therefore currently outside the reach of US law. One example is the Pirate Bay, a Swedish file-sharing website where users can download films and other digital content.
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Posted: 19th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (2)
Winkelhimer is the painting squirrel sensation (video)
SHYLA Mouton introduces Winkelhimer, the painting squirrel. Says Mouton, an artist known as ‘Ugly Shyla’:
“I was watching her from the kitchen window crawl down the tree. Then I saw a cat attack her. I rushed out there to help her. One of her front legs was messed up pretty bad. I put her in a little box on the porch to make her comfortable because I didn’t think she would make it through the night.”
Winkelhimer lived. And now the squirrel is “painting abstract works of art that have been auctioned off“.
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Posted: 19th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Strange But True | Comment
Costa Concordia underwater photos: Francesco Schettino V Gregorio Maria De Falco (the T-shirts)
INSIDE the Costa Concordia – in photos. Eleven bodies have been recovered from the Costa Concordia – five were in the restaurant on Deck 4 — and two others very close by. The restaurants is now 2 meters under water. Divers have an unenviable job of searching for bodies in the murky brown water where visibility is down to 4 feet.
Meanwhile, Italy is getting to grips with Francesco Schettino, the Costa Concordia’s captain who fell into a lifeboat and was heard being told by Captain Gregorio Maria De Falco, “Get the f*** back on board!”
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Posted: 19th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Alex James has lashings of Gregg’s, McDonald’s and KFC
FORMER Blur bassists Alex James is hanging out with the common people in a Gregg’s bakers, McDonald’s and KFC. James, who lives among the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, David Cameron and Rbekah Wade in and around Chipping Norton, Oxfordshsire (McDonalds, KFC and Greggs combined outlets total: 0) is doing it for the Sun. James makes cheese. He is a “nob with a yob’s job”.
In the puff for his own “Harvest Festival” – with nobby yobby chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – we read:
“If you like food that goes ‘ping!’ when it’s ready, look away now… fine food is the alter we kneel before and the chefs below are the deities that make us sing Hosanna.”
Anyone left in any doubt that James riches and fame enable him to get way with being a berk can read on – he once wrote:“I spent a million pounds on champagne in three years. Drank two bottles every day except Wednesday and gave a couple away. It’s something like 0.1 per cent of the entire country’s champagne turnover for a year.”
Now James “reveals the secrets behind the speedy specials we can’t seem to get enough of“. Highlights of James excitedly discovering people with jobs making cheap protein for the plebs to actually eat – for a meal! – are:
Stuffed In Greggs
With 1,571 shops they have more branches than McDonald’s but they’re British and based in Newcastle, so it doesn’t feel threatening…
In the age of the internet, hot food businesses are thriving, because unlike music or media you can’t get a hot pasty for free online. Yes, big business can be a bad thing, but only if it’s bad. The little bakery in my local village offers goods too sweet and sugary and is massively over-priced. I can think of much worse things than a Greggs opening up there…
The factory visit was real Willy Wonka stuff — the best food factory I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot. There were huge conveyor ovens, and seeing the dough go in at one side and come out as a loaf was like a reverse domino effect….
I iced triple chocolate cupcakes with an enormous icing bag full of chocolate cake topping and I squirted jam into doughnuts using a machine controlled by a foot pedal…
I was treated to a huge spread of all the products Greggs have to offer — from ham, leek and cheese bakes to gingerbread men. It was a party right in front of me. I’ve been to a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and had a tasting menu for upwards of £50 and it wasn’t that much fun…
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Posted: 18th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Costa Concordia: Francesco Schettino, Dimitri Christidis and Silvia Coronia fell into a lifeboat
COSTA Concordia captain, Francesco Schettino, says he was not the last man to leave the stricken vessel because he fell into a lifeboat and against his will and at the mercy of the fates made it to safety with people still on his ship. Schettino had earlier given the order to perform a “inchino” (a sail-by salute) to a former colleague on the island of Giglio, with whom he was speaking on the telephone. This caused the Costa Concordia to hit a rock and 11 people to die – 22 more are missing.
Says Schettino to the La Repubblica from his home at Meta di Sorrento on the Amalfi coast near Naples:
“The route was decided at the departure in Civitavecchia, but I made a mistake on the approach to shore. I was navigating by sight because I know the depths there well and I had done that manoeuvre three or four times before. But this time I ordered the change of course too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow. I don’t know why it happened. I was lost in my thoughts.”
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Posted: 18th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (10)
How Maradona can prevent the next Falklands War
FROM dodgy synth pop to leggings there has been a lot of 80s revivalism going on of late and quite frankly I have had more than enough of it. The first half of the decade did at least have a little colour, but from 1985 through to the arrival of the Stone Roses in 1989 the UK was a grey old place run by cold and uncaring goverment. It was a society ravaged by unemployment, terrible pessimism, AIDS and of worst of all Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
Rant over. However there’s one 80s revival that I absolutely don’t want to see and that’s a Falklands War.
And yet with us drilling for oil in the area it seems that the Argies (our great mates and most natural South American ally) are getting very upset and are calling for the ownership of the island to be placed right back on the political agenda.
Of course we are a long way from having to put together a new task force but this is one issue that really needs to be nipped in the bud.
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Posted: 18th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Darts: two world champions and one dad dance (doo-dah, doo-dah)
THE darts is over for another year. No darts will feature at the London Olympics, thus depriving the global TV audience the sight of British sports fans behaving without the kind of restraints imposed on them at football matches, say, and archery.
Two rival World Championships have produced two winners: Christian ‘The Lipstick’ Krist saw off Ted ‘The Count’ Hankey to take the BDO cup; and Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis went home with the PDC’s copper-coated Saturn on a plinth by way of defeating Andy ‘The Hammer’ Hamilton..
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Posted: 18th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Activists use Euro 2012 to worsen Ukraine’s stray dog problem
DOGS in the Ukraine are being killed in readiness for Euro 2012. Well, so say the animal rights activists. Mykola Zlochevsky, the country’s environment minister, told a cabinet meeting – and the world’s media:
“Today I am publicly turning to all city mayors – let us stop the deaths of those poor stray animals for half a year and build shelters together.”
His woolly directive is aimed at appeasing campaginer, like the British animal protection group Naturewatch, whose representativers met with Zlochevsky’s department. Says John Ruane, the head of Naturewatch:
“This is a fantastic victory for Ukraine, its citizens and its animals.”
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Posted: 17th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (4)
Movie death scenes gifs – the best ways to die in Hollywood
HORROR movie death scenes are NSFW. But they are funny. They do remind
peddlers of media scare stories that worse things happen in Hollywood. The challenges are: can you think of more unusual way to kill of a character? And can you name all the films?
Every reason why the Costa Concordia failed: stars, Francesco Schettino, a curse and more
THE Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Tuscany. Why did at least six people die (29 are missing)? The media wonders:
The Sail By
The captain of the vessel faces multiple manslaughter charges for what his own employers called an “inexplicable” decision to sail the 950ft ship close by the island of Giglio to salute former seamen…
Prosecutors believe the captain may have deliberately ordered the 1,500-cabin liner to sail close to the island of Giglio to sound a three-horn salute in what locals call an “inchino,” or reverent bow, to the inhabitants. Its decks illuminated, the Costa Concordia has previously sailed close to the picturesque island and sounded its foghorn in tribute.
The “showboating” was meant to be a treat for the passengers on the first night of their cruise, and a treat for the islanders too. – The Times
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Posted: 17th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (3)
Manchester United’s Ravel Morrison is a tabloid editor’s wet dream
RAVEL Morrison is the hot news in football. Ravel Morrison is the 18-year-old Manchester United footballer and England youth international with a name like a new rotary iron. Morrison signed professional terms with United on his 17th birthday. Not long after, he was arrested.
To date, Manchester-born and raised Ravel Morrison has played three games for Manchester United’s first team, all in the Carling Cup. And he may be on the move. Who wants him? Well, Newcastle Untied have put in an offer, which has been rejected. Anyone else? Well, Arsenal are keen.
While clearly talented, Ravel is famous for a colourful private life. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to two counts of witness intimidation. He was given a referral order:
District judge Wendy Lloyd warned Morrison he would be jailed for 12 months if he put a foot out of line. She said: “I have a straight-forward choice – send you away or give you a referral order. I’ve decided to give you a referral order but you will be spending 12 months in a young offenders institute if you breach it.”
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Posted: 16th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Photos of the day – Jesus is my fruit picker
PHOTOS of the Day are presented by: Jesus is my fruit picker; the bride wore a sour expression; can you love a dead uncle too much?; the best cat jacket…ever!; Mrs Doubtfire tattoo; the cheeseburger dog shoes; pin hair; the future of shopping by bike; cats re b*******s; passwords; David Bowie is PC; and the pizza hat…
Posted: 16th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Photojournalism | Comment
Professor Steven Rawlings is dead and media makes Dr Devinder Sivia look weird
WHEN news broke that Professor Steven Rawlings, 50, had died in the home of an Oxford don and maths lecturer Dr Devinder Sivia, 49, news media asked itself one thing: can we get a photo of Mr Sivia that makes him look a bit odd? The Mail leads with the image on the left of Dr Sivia in a loud shirt alongside an image of Mr Rawlings dressed in ‘normal’ attire. There are other photos of Dr Sivia on the web (see below), but the Mail has made its selection. Wonder why it went for that photo of that man they rename “Dr Singh” (see below). (Well, aren’t they all called Singh?)
The Mail says Professor Steven Rawlings had been “battered“. Police had been called to an “incident” at Dr Devinder Sivia’s bungalow in Southmoor, near Abingdon. The Mail’s diagnosis is that Prof. Ralwings died after a “heart attack“. But Thames Valley Police said the post-mortem on Prof Rawlings had failed to establish a cause of death. Police now say the death may be “a matter for a coroner’s inquest rather than a criminal court“.
Still, Dr Sivia was held on suspicion of murder but has since been bailed.
The Mail notes:
Minutes after officers arrived, Dr Sivia – who was dressed all in white – was led away in handcuffs.
Noting his clothes seems odd – unless you are a tabloid trying to paint a picture.
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Posted: 13th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)
Photos of the day: the biker pipe smoker and knitted hotpants
PHOTOS the day are presented by: the biker pipe smoker – “Who sez you can’t smokes at 60mph?”; knit your own hotpants; China goes bike crazy; the woman who thinks she’s a wall bracket; gay cat; Mr Brain Freeze; the depraved Divine; Colt 45 Malt if from outer pace; and “Punk Rock May Be Hazardous to your head”…
Posted: 13th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Photojournalism | Comment
Photos of the day are presented by Animals With Casts
PHOTOS of the day are presented by Animals With Casts. Consider your cynicism challenged…
Posted: 13th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Photojournalism | Comment
Sarah Ferguson faces 22 years in Turkish jail – Midnight Espresso?
SARAH Ferguson, the still styled Duchess of York, could go done for 22 years choky. The sticky fingers of adolescent guffaws are never far removed from Fergie, the toe-sucker who became Prince Andrew’s pimp and occupies a special place in the tabloids Order Of Hate, between Heather Mills (number 99 on the chart) and Rosemary West (a credible 22 – if only she were blonde). News is that the Turkish authorities have frowned upon Duchess and Daughters: Their Secret Mission, a documentary Sarah Ferguson made with ITV in 2008, in which the former member of the royal family “secretly” filmed in a Turkish orphanage.
Fergie used what she learnt when she and Princess Diana gatecrashed Prince Andrew’s stag party dressed as policewomen, and went in disguise to a State-run orphnage on the pretence of being a wealthy donor. (Andrew… Chequebook!).
A Turkish court pressed has pressed charges against her. The court in Ankara accused Ferguson of “going against the law in acquiring footage and violating privacy” of five children“.
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Posted: 13th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Royal Family | Comment
Photos of the day: The 1980s Quiz
IT’S the 1980s here at Anorak Towers, the era when Old Mr Anorak’s godson Tiny Rowland was big cheese in the Harrods food hall, Margaret Thatcher was made of iron and America was run by Ronald Reagan – it was he who gave George W. Bush his big break into showbiz. We’ve compiled a gallery of that golden era and invite you to identify all the TV shows, films, actors and players from their pictures. Can you get them all?
Posted: 12th, January 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Photojournalism | Comment
Shit patronising bloggers say about Shit Girls Say
BY NOW, the pattern of internet sensations – how they take off and the mixed reactions they provoke – is so familiar it seems to follow a ready-made script. A YouTube video, Twitter account or catch-phrase is launched. It spreads via blogs and social networking sites, provokes a blend of amusement and offense, and inspires spin-offs and theories about how internet memes are spawned and why. As the phenomenon goes viral, its progenitors are courted by the media. Sometimes they even get a book deal or are asked to produce a sitcom. The meme eventually fades, giving way to the next online sensation.
Similarly, the latest meme, “Shit Girls Say“, had a rapid rise on the internet and caused both hilarity and consternation. Some commentators are apparently worried that the millions of people who are viewing, laughing at and re-posting the original “Shit Girls Say” videos and their many spin-offs are doing so for all the wrong reasons. While they totally get it, they say, other, less enlightened, internet-users may not – and so the meme must die.
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Posted: 12th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
The Type A-2 Bomber Jacket: bombs, babes and wartime fashion (photos)
THE Bomber jacket was the American Type A-2 leather flight jacket that allowed US military men to wear their hearts on their backs. The original jackets were either made from horsehide, goatskin and cowhide. They were always brown. The lining was silk, although later it was cotton. But the back could feature pretty much whatever you liked – so long as it was bombs and babes:
Posted: 12th, January 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (2)
Leveson Inquiry: The Guardian and Daily Mail have different versions of the Steve Whittamore story
THE Mail on Sunday’s editor Peter Wright told the Leveson Inquiry into media standards that reporters from his newspaper continued using convicted private investigator Steve Whittamore after his March 2003 arrest on suspicion of trading illegally obtained information with the press and magazines. Whittamore was investigated as part of an Information Commissioner’s Office investigation into the illegal purchase of confidential information named Operation Motorman.
Lord Justice Leveson said:
“Mr Whittamore had collected together a vast amount of personal data.The documents identify the names of titles, specify journalists at the titles apparently or inferentially making the requests. It identifies the names of people from a wide range of public life and in the public eye, and provides addresses, telephone numbers, mobile telephone numbers and charging details for that information.”
The Mail and MoS continued using Whittamore until September 2004. In 2005, Whittamore was was convicted of illegally accessing data and passing it to journalists.
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Posted: 12th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)
Chelsea captain and Sun monster John Terry turns mansion into QPR shrine
CHELSEA and England captain John Terry has a “£4.6m MYSTERY MORTGAGE“.
Sun readers pricks up their ears. A football story on the front page is always of interest. But where’s the sex? The money angle is dull. John Terry’s mortgage is right up with John Terry’s pension plans, John Terry’s life assurance policy and John Terry’s huge endowment in the sensation stakes. Reading on we learn:
Massive loan for England skipper’s £2.2m mansion
Well, John Terry does earn massive wages at Chelsea. The Sun says he gets £170,000 every week. That should cover any loan for his Oxshott, Surrey, pile. Also, he bought the property for that figure back in 2003. It might be worth more now, as might Terry.
JOHN Terry has mysteriously remortgaged his mansion for a fourth time — taking his home loan to a massive £4.65MILLION.
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Posted: 12th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (10)
Antony Worrall Thompson stars in the Lambshank Redemption
ANTONY Worrall Thompson – TV chef who steals to order? – stars in the Lambshank Redemption:
Posted: 11th, January 2012 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comments (3)
