Anorak

Anorak News - Pop culture, media, sport and weirdness

20th, February 2014 Film

Piña Colliding: Yes, Rupert Holmes' 1979 Hit Can Make Every Movie Better

"ESCAPE (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes is great and it should be in every movie." So writes Carol Hartsell and Sean Crespo in an introduction to their Tumblr Piña Colliding. For those of you not au fait with Holme's 1979 hit, here it is... More »

20th, February 2014 Flashback

The Internet Is Muddling The Past And The Present

ARE sites like Anorak's FLASHBACK and @historysphoto muddling the line between past and present”? Paul Ford says they are... More »

20th, February 2014 Flashback

1899: When Flooded London Became Bride di Middlesex, The Cockney Venice Of The North

IN 1899, Signor Somers L. Summers answered the question ‘If London Were Like Venice: Oh! That It Were’. His article appeared in Harmsworth's Magazine. It was illustrated by Messrs. R. Thiele and Co. It began... More »

20th, February 2014 Reviews 3

Death Of The Gambia: President Yahya Jammeh Aims DDT At LGBT Human 'Vermin'

TO Gambia, where the country's President Yahya Jammeh says homosexuals are akin to malaria-causing mosquitoes. They are "vermin". He made his comment in a TV address... More »

19th, February 2014 Flashback

1987 Photo: Mike Smith, Dave Lee Travis, Noel Edmonds And Mike Read Pimp Out Tony Blackburn

Any takers..? More »

19th, February 2014 Celebrities

Who Shouldn't Host The Brits After James Corden Quits? Let's See...

YOU may have heard (and maybe celebrated too) that James Corden is going to step down from the hosting gig at the Brits Awards tonight. We are legally obliged to mention Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood's disastrous outing as hosts, but they do show that this is not an easy gig to do. Huge TV audiences. Band's egos. A room filled with horrific music industry cokeheads grabbing their interns groins... More »

19th, February 2014 Flashback

1968 In Photos: The High Court Agrees Meagre Compensation For Thalidomide Victims

N this day in photos - February 19 1968: the High Court orders damages to be paid to 62 children born with deformities, after their mothers took the drug thalidomide during pregnancy... More »

19th, February 2014 Money

Sorry Folks, Raising The Minimum Wage Does Increase Unemployment

The Congressional Budget Office has cranked through the numbers for the proposed rise in the US minimum wage and it appears that it will put 500,000 people out of work... More »

19th, February 2014 Politicians

Who Is The Santa Monica Artist Calling Barack Obama 'Sub Par'?

WHO is Barack Obama's 'Sub Par 'artist decorating Santa Monica, Calif., with posters declaring President Obama to be “subpar”? Obama has played 150 rounds of golf since winning the White House. Is that lot?... More »

19th, February 2014 Reviews

Woman Arrested For Failing To Return A J-Lo VHS Video She Rented In 2005

IN 2005, then 18-year-old Kayla Finley rented the film Monster In Law on VHS from Dalton Video. (The film stars Jennifer Lopez, who was the top star before Kim Kardashian's arse overtook)... More »

19th, February 2014 Fashion

Vintage Adverts: 1970 Landlubber Bellbottoms For Men Who Ride Sidesaddle

"In real life, the guy's hair would be matted down from the helmet. The chick would be your woman instead of a New York model. And you'd be eating exhaust from a bus instead of grooving in farout fields. However, the Landlubbers are real, and they are mildly but honestly transcendent"... More »

19th, February 2014 Reviews

Mastercard's #PricelessSurprises Shocker: Brit Awards House PR Demands Tweets For Free Booze

CHANCES are the Brit Awards sponsor Mastercard is looking at alternative PR agencies after its opinion wranglers at House PR offered Telegraph diarist Tim Walker press accreditation in exchange for his publishing promotional tweets before, during and after the event and mentioning Mastercards in any printed reports or comments.... More »

19th, February 2014 Money 2

How To Marry A Rich Guy

I’m going to be honest of what I’m going to say here. I’m 25 this year. I’m very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. More »

19th, February 2014 Reviews

Pathetic Saudi Arabia Demands Female Hospital Patients Must Be Accompanied By A Man

IN the UK's trading partner, Saudi Arabia, Unaccompanied women are banned from Saudi hospitals —

Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has banned women from visiting hospitals without male guardians, reports Arab News.
Pathetic. Although Anorak sees the opportunity for business in professional male chaperones... More »
19th, February 2014 Books

Worst Books Ever: Sex And The Single Child And The I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl!

IN 1970 Whitney Darrow created I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl! You can buy old copies of it on Amazon, where you can also enjoy the book's reviews: "THIS DESERVES ZERO STARS!!!! WORST BOOK EVER!!!!"... More »

19th, February 2014 Reviews

Andrea Hasler's Meat Tent Celebrates The Women Of Greenham Common

TRACEY Emin missed a trick. For an encore she should have disemboweled all the people she'd ever slept with and formed their wet bits into Tent Number 2. But Andrea Hasler has beaten her to it. In modern art, you need to be first... More »

19th, February 2014 Flashback 2

17 Insane and Disturbing Trading Cards

NON-SPORTS trading cards around the 1970s generally were aimed at kids and revolved around a popular movie or TV program. They were meant for fun; for collecting and trading on the playground. Nothing serious. Subsequently, it’s all the more unsettling when you run across an old trading card that takes a walk on the dark side. Here are a seventeen insane and disturbing examples. Enjoy... More »

18th, February 2014 Photojournalism

Many Dead As Kiev Erupts In Violence (Photos)

Kiev erupts... More »

18th, February 2014 Sports

Manchester City Balls: One Minute After This Was Tweeted, Demichelis Was Sent Off

51 minutes into City's Champions' League match against Barcelona, the team's official twitter feed tweeted... More »

18th, February 2014 Strange But True

A Peek Inside Belgium's Hotel Shaped Like An Anus

BELGIUM has given the world chips and mayonnaise, Poirot and bakelite. Add to that is the Hotel Casanus, a hotel shaped like an anus... More »

18th, February 2014 Flashback

1978: Former Cliff Richard Guitarist Jet Harris At Marlborough Street Magistrates, London

FLASHBACK to 11/09/1978: Terence Harris of Porchester Terrace, Paddington - 29 year old pop musician Jet Harris - former bass guitarist with "The Shadows" - at Marlborough Street Magistrates, London, where he appeared on remand on a drink-drive charge and possession of drugs charge... More »

18th, February 2014 Technology

Map: The World's Most Dangerous Places To Drive (UK 3 Times Safer Than USA)

study (pdf) from the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Initiative tracks global driving fatalities.... More »

18th, February 2014 Reviews 1

Rich People And Poor People, United By Drugs

LABOUR'S shadow welfare minister has said that Britain’s wealthiest people are just as likely to be addicted to drugs and booze. We should probably stop knocking poor people then shouldn't we? Right? Not likely as, you may have noticed, television has of late, turned into the poverty stricken version of bear baiting. Shows like Benefit Street and a whole variety of panel shows where Katie Hopkins gets to earn money by making people angry have corralled people with no money, pointed at them, mocked and then told them they're not being poor properly... More »

18th, February 2014 Flashback

1967: Manchester City's Mike Summerbee Demonstrates His Car's Built-In Record Player

Once this was the future.... More »

18th, February 2014 Fashion 3

Swedish Dance Bands Of The 1970s: Whipped Hair And No Underwear

More »