Anorak

Anorak News - Pop culture, media, sport and weirdness

22nd, May 2014 Film 1

The Top 15 Greatest Retro Sci-Fi TV Themes

THE mission: To identify the top 15 science fiction television program themes from eons past. It’s a region of space many Internet listers have gone before... but those were just training exercises. This expedition is for real. Let the countdown begin... More »

21st, May 2014 manchester united 2

Manchester United Balls: Toni Kroos Agrees A Deal Then Discusses It Later

IN today's instalment of Transfer Balls, the Express says Manchester United have bought Bayern Munich's Tony Kroos... More »

21st, May 2014 Music

Led Zeppelin Sued For 'Stairway' Rip-Off - Hear The Evidence

TO crate diggers and muso-nerds, this won't be news at all, but to the occasional rock fan, you may not know that Led Zeppelin's iconic 'Stairway To Heaven' has been accused of being a rip-off for quite some time. And now, someone is suing the band over it.... More »

21st, May 2014 Flashback 10

The Five Most Underrated Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation

IFStar Trek: The Next Generation (1987 – 1994) did not have the words “Star” and “Trek” in the series title -- or the good fortune to air on TV the year after the box office hit, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) -- it may never have survived a few awkward, early seasons and come to achieve the reputation for greatness it currently enjoys with fans and reviewers... More »

21st, May 2014 Flashback 1

The Queen Makes The First Subscriber Trunk Dialled Telephone Call In 1958

ON May 5, 1958, Queen Elizabeth II made the first subscriber trunk dialled telephone call from the Bristol Telephone Exchange. She called the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, more than 300 miles (482km) away. Her call lasted two minutes five seconds and cost 10d (or the equivalent of four pence in decimal currency)... More »

21st, May 2014 In Pictures

Marijuana March For Legalization At The Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro

WE went along to the "Marijuana March" in support of marijuana legalization at the Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, May 10, 2014. About 1,000 people gathered for the demonstration demanding the legalization of the production and sale of marijuana... More »

21st, May 2014 Money

Situations Pretty Vacant: The FBI Is Hiring Pot Smokers

THIS is rather fun. The FBI, over in the US, is one of the most staid and white bread organisations in the world. They're cops, of a sort, yes, but the internal culture at the place is still pretty much 50's America. Flag, Mom and apple pie. And one of the parts of that is that pot smoking is absolutely verboeten... More »

21st, May 2014 Politicians

UKIP: One Out Of Two Romanians Agrees wIth Nigel Farage

DID you enjoy that Channel 4 News interview, the one where Jon Snow asked two Romanian guests what they thought of UKIP and Nigel Farage's comment on "unruly Romanians". We met Mariana Gordan, a woman who moved to the UK as a refugee, escaping the murderous nutjob Ceausescu. She's lived here for 35 years... More »

21st, May 2014 The Consumer

Terrible Adverts: Vifit Kills Your Sex Drive And Turns Women Into Strippers

VIFIT is the dairy drink from Dutch company Friesland Campina that, if this advert is to be believed, will turn women who look at it into strippers and men who drink it off sex... More »

21st, May 2014 In Pictures

Charming Photos Of American Children Holding Their Guns

"One of the only things I had going for me was that I’m not some weird-looking guy. I really wanted to know what parents and kids thought about having the guns..." More »

21st, May 2014 Money 7

Abu Hamza's Family Deserve All The British Benefits They Can Get

THE Daily Mail is on one of its head explodey little warpaths shouting about how the family of Abu Hookand (aka Abu Hamza) live off state benefits. But if they are in fact British then why the hell shouldn't they get the same benefits, rights to them, as any other British people?... More »

21st, May 2014 Money

Stripper Wants 'Booty And Boobs Back' From Man Who Says She Stole His Laptop And Harry Potter DVDs

ARE YOU READY TOP MEET THE WORLD'S SADDEST MAN and his hard-nosed former lover, who just happens to be a stripper named...Moaner?.. More »

21st, May 2014 Liverpool 4

Transfer Balls: Arsenal Force Liverpool To Sell Suarez To Madrid

TRANSFER Balls, in association with the Daily Suarez: today the Express reports that Real Madrid have told to pay £40m if they want Karim Benzema. Real need the money to fund a bid for Suarez... More »

21st, May 2014 Celebrities 16

The Most Interesting Man In The World: Actor William Smith

THE Dos Equis guy has nothing on actor, William Smith. No – I didn’t say Will Smith. We’re not talking about the Fresh Prince here, folks. I’m talking about William Smith the world’s biggest badass and Renaissance Man... More »

21st, May 2014 Reviews 1

Epic High School Science Prank Lands Paris Gray In The Sulfur Hydrogen Iodine Thulium

JESSICA Lee made this chemistry joke in her final school yearbook. Jessica thought her photo needed a quote. So. She quoted Christopher George Latore Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G.: More »

20th, May 2014 Money

Wheat Watch: This Is About Irrigation Not The Crop Being Grown

AN interesting little report trying to insist that people who grow rice are more social, more cooperative, than people who grow wheat. Unfortunately, while the phenomenon they describe might well be true they've not quite ascribed it to the correct cause... More »

20th, May 2014 Reviews

Turkish Press Loyal To Erdogan Blames Jews For Soma Mine Disaster

IF you want to see what anti-semitism looks like, head to the Middle East, where books shops and newsagents are full of racism. And take a look at the front page of Turkey's Yeni Akit newspaper, where the shocking news is that the Soma mine owner's son-in-law is a Jew... More »

20th, May 2014 Madeleine McCann

Madeleine McCann Spotted In Turin

Add Turin to the list... More »

20th, May 2014 Money

Bob Marley's Ghost Arrives In Court

ONE thing you can always rely on, with the music industry, is that someone is going to sue someone else, trying to stake a claim to a song, or music, they had no part in writing. And people wonder why the music industry is on its arse.... More »

20th, May 2014 Manchester City

Manchester City Balls: Yaya Toure To Get Two Birthdays A Year And A Going Home Present

Let's repeat that. The man paid a fortune to play for Manchester City is going to leave the club because they did not wish him Happy Birthday. As jubilant City players gave manager Manuel Pelligrini the bumps, did Toure reel with envy?... More »

20th, May 2014 Music

Black Keys: Proud To Be Luddites

FANS of the Black Keys are, like the band themselves, people who look back at a fabled 'golden age' of rock that doesn't actually exist... More »

20th, May 2014 Film

Mötley Crüe Goes 'Triple R': The Best Bits From The Hot Mess Film

IF there's one thing you can say about Mötley Crüe, is that their band name is a total pain in the arse to type on a computer, if you want to do it correctly. Of course, there's more to Mötley Crüe than that - they're a hilarious hot-mess too... More »

20th, May 2014 In Pictures

Awkward And Perverted Photos From Russian Social Media

People of Ukraine - meet your new overlords... More »

20th, May 2014 Celebrities

Babes And Gadgets: Suzi Crandall Models The Gibson Girl In 1948

Film actress Suzi Crandall with a “Gibson Girl,” an emergency wireless apparatus for ditched trans-ocean fliers in Hollywood, Los Angeles on March 25, 1948... More »

20th, May 2014 Liverpool 1

Transfer Balls: Luis Suarez Leaves His Kids In Liverpool As He Heads To Real Madrid

It's the summer of Luis Suarez.... More »