Reviews Category
We don’t just report off-beat news, breaking news and digest the best and worst of the news media analysis and commentary. We give an original take on what happened and why. We add lols, satire, news photos and original content.
1948: The great horse meat scandal
1948: THE horse meat scandal. Meat on the hoof. Black market “veal”! Eight of every ten horses head to the slaughterhouses! “This sordid trade is on the increase..!” “Shire horses are being wiped out..!”
Sugar rationing in World War 2
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Posted: 14th, February 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, The Consumer | Comments (3)
September 21, 1979: The Clash rock New York’s The Palladium
POP history – September 21, 1979: The Clash rocked New York’s The Palladium for two nights. This footage was shot on 8 mm film footage – the bootleg soundtrack put on later. The second night is celebrated forever. This was the night when Paul Simonon smashed his guitar into the stage at the end of White Riot, the show’s last song. Pennie Smith captured the moment that would form the cover shot of the epic London Calling.
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Posted: 14th, February 2013 | In: Flashback, Music | Comment (1)
I got a Christopher Dorner tattoo: Media turned a killer into a folk hero (Raoul Moat is dead)
CHRISTOPHER Dorner allegedly murdered three people, one a policeman – one Monica Quan, an unarmed woman related to a cop. The ex-cop wanted to murder lots more people. He went on the lam. He found Kim and Jim Reynolds’ mountain cabin in the San Bernardino mountains in California. He stuffed their mouths with small towels and placed pillow cases over their heads. He had a gun.
“I really thought it could be the end,” Ms Reynolds told reporters “…He tried to calm us down, saying very frequently, he would not kill us.”
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Posted: 14th, February 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Mick Jagger in his silver swimmers, by Francesco Scavullo
MICK Jagger by Francesco Scavullo, 1973.
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Posted: 13th, February 2013 | In: Celebrities, Flashback | Comment
Automated Guardian comment generator
EVER read the comments pages at the Guardian? Tom Forth does. And he’s here to help with his automated Guardian comment generator. The gap between fact and parody is very small. If you doubt it, read our Ed’s From the Message Boards in Private Eye magazine.
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Posted: 13th, February 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Valentine’s Day: The most disastrous dinners for two: rows, murder and mayhem
As you prepare your St Valentine’s Day meals, take care. Cooking can lead to rows. We’ve chronicled arguements over dinner in the news…
A husband killed his ‘nagging’ wife by clubbing her to death with a lump hammer after a row about mashed potato. Colin Adlard, 61 snapped and repeatedly struck his wife Wendy with the hammer while she was in bed because she would not stop shouting at him and berating him.
A man turned to drugs to de-stress following a heated row with his girlfriend over defrosting waffles. Jamie Paddison of Grantham, Lincolnshire admitted possession of cannabis after being found carrying the Class B drug on December 19. Bill Fraser, defending, told the court Paddison had made good progress in reducing his use of the drug but had a habit of turning to it in times of stress, as he did following a row with his girlfriend. Mr Fraser added: “The row was about how they should have defrosted their waffles – which seems a bit bizarre to me.”
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Posted: 13th, February 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
1950s: a terribly sad cat plays the piano for Andy’s Gang
IN the 1950s, children tuned in to watch Andy’s Gang. They would have seen this sad cat playing the piano. Sweet dreams, kidz:
Posted: 13th, February 2013 | In: Flashback, TV & Radio | Comment
Woman’s death linked to her daily diet of 2.2 gallons of Coca Cola
NATASHA Harris, 30, has died after consuming up to 2.2 gallons of Coca Cola a day. Every day. Ms Harris, 30, of Invercargill in New Zealand’s South Island, died February 2010. The coroner, Mr David Crerar, that the “extreme” amounts of Coke played a role in the cardiac arrhythmia that finally killed her.
He calculated that drinking 10 litres delivered 970mg of caffeine, and more than 1kg of sugar a day:
“I find that when all the available evidence is considered, were it not for the consumption of very large quantities of Coke by Natasha Harris, it is unlikely that she would have died when she died and how she died.”
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Posted: 12th, February 2013 | In: Reviews, Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
Happy Malians and the dead jihadis: the ‘disgusting but wonderful’ war in photos
IN Mali, the fighting is brutal:
The crowd gawked at human torso remains lying in the rubble, along with other fragments of flesh. “It’s disgusting but wonderful to see. These people tortured us, they did nothing but damage here,” said Mahamane Tandina, 24, cheered on by the crowd. “We like this, frankly,” he said with a smile.
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Minister of Culture of Mali Fadima Toure Diallo appeals for the preservation of heritage in Mali, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, July 3, 2012, with one of the city landmarks, equestrian statue of Peter the Great, seen in the background. Muslim extremists continued destroying the heritage of the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu on Monday, razing tombs and attacking the gate of a 600-year-old mosque, despite growing international outcry.The International Criminal Court has described the destruction of the city's patrimony as a possible war crime, while UNESCO's committee on world heritage was holding a special session this week to address the pillaging of the site, one of the few cultural sites in sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Posted: 12th, February 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
When David Bowie committed Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide live
THE Pope has resigned. Many of his workmates were shocked at the surprise announcement. But Benedict XVI is not the first. There’s precedent there:
Posted: 11th, February 2013 | In: Flashback, Music | Comment
James Bulger: 20 years on Denis Fergus is still looking for ‘justice’
JAMES Bulger’s father has marked two decades since his young son was murdered by children with a book. In it he alludes to the remourse felt by John Venables. James Bulger’s mother, now remarried and called Denise Fergus, says she “wants justice”. As ever , what she says is broadcast in the mainstream media.
Venables and Robert Thompson, both aged 10, were convicted of killing two-year-old James in Bootle, Merseyside in 1993. They tortured him. Then they left him on a train track. The train hit him.
The tabloid angle has been clear from day one: Venables and Thompson are more guilty because they were children.
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Posted: 11th, February 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (16)
Washington Restaurant gives discount for well-behaved kids – you don’t stand a chance
EVEN parents know that children in restaurants are the worst thing on Earth. Noisy, snot-faced infants are worse than teams of drunk rugby players and screaming hen-parties put together. They howl, loudly need the toilet, don’t like anything and worst of all, wander around establishments bugging the rest of civilisation who have enough to deal with while eating in public and being forced to pretend to know about wine.
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Posted: 11th, February 2013 | In: Reviews, The Consumer | Comment
Pope resigns: what next and who gets his Twitter followers?
THE Pope has resigned. Pope Benedict XVI says paedo priests and condoms ill health and old age mens he can no longer do the job. The 85-year-old is “no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry”. Benedict is the first Pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415. The Pope wants to know if he can keep his Twitter followers. He’s been gaining them by the bucketload. Can he be continue to grow a following. A Vatican insider tells us that the Pope is to embark on a plan that will involve:
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Posted: 11th, February 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Christopher Dorner: media bias turned murderous anti-racist bigot into a hero (the faked manifesto)
POLICE hunting triple-killer Christopher Dornerhave issued a $1m (£633,000) reward for information on his whereabouts. As with all modern killers, Dorner has posted an online manifesto. He included the pathetic phrase: “Don’t ever call me a bully.”
>Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, wants him caught:
“We will not tolerate this reign of terror that has robbed us of the peace of mind that the residents of southern California deserve.”
Sacked from the police, Dorner, a former U.S. Navy reserve lieutenant, wants revenge.
Charlie Beck, the LAPD chief also wants him caught:
“This is not about capturing a fleeing fugitive, this is about preventing a future crime. Every day that Dorner is loose … [an] attack on a police officer, or family is likely. We ask the public to help us find Dorner before he kills again.”
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Posted: 11th, February 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Police lose dead pigeon in Perth ‘killing’ case
ALAN McIntee, 42, did not kick a pigeon to death. Perth Sheriff Court cleared Mr McIntee following a 16-month investigation. The case ended when the Crown was unable to produce the dead pigeon. It had been in the police’s cold store. But, at the moment of truth, it vanished.
(Perhaps it was merely stunned, and flew away when warmed?)
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RIP Paul Tanner inventor of the Electro-Theremin.
RIP Paul Tanner, the musician who played trombone with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and who, with Bob Whitsell, created the Electro-Theremin.
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Posted: 10th, February 2013 | In: Flashback, Music | Comment
Robert Crumb predicted twitter and the internet (photo)
DECADES before it went live, Robert Crumb predicted Twitter and the internet:
“Everyone will be tuned into everything that’s happening all the time! No-one will be left out. We’ll all be normal!”
Crumb – a life in photos; the Crumb Bible; the Crumb rejected.
Posted: 10th, February 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Technology, The Consumer | Comment
Police use DNA to arrest identical twins for rape: but only one left DNA at the crimescene
WHAT to do when you rely on DNA evidence? Marseille police have arrested 24-year-old identical twins Elwin and Yohan. They traced DNA found at crimescenes to the twins.
One of them has been attacking women in the city, allegedly. Six women aged 22 to 76 have been attacked between September 2012 and January 2013. Police believe one of the twins is the criminal. But which one. The DNA of identical twins is almost identical. Camera footage shows a face. But whose?
Police could use science. But a test would cost over €1m for a genetic test to tell which twin is guilty.
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Posted: 10th, February 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (3)
Robert Crumb: the same-sex marriage cover art the New Yorker rejected
WHY did the New Yorker magazine reject Robert Crumb’s same sex marriage cover (see above)? Nadja Sayej got the bottom of why the New Yorker didn’t use this art by Robert Crumb: They never told him…
Did the rejection offend you?
I’m in a privileged position because I don’t need the money. When you go to the cover editor’s office, you notice that the walls are covered with rejected New Yorker covers. Sometimes there are two rejected covers for each issue. I don’t know what the usual policy is, but I was given no explanation from David Remnick, the editor in chief, who makes the final decisions.Has the New Yorker attempted to commission work from you since this cover?
Yeah, Françoise [Mouly, the art editor] keeps mailing me these form letters, which they send to various artists they like to use. It says something like, “OK, so here are the topics for upcoming covers.” They send it out a couple of times a year or something. But it’s a form letter, not a personal letter.Did you receive an apology?
An apology? I don’t expect an apology. But if I’m going to work for them I need to know the criteria for why they accept or reject work. The art I made, it only really works as a New Yorker cover. There’s really no other place for it. But they did pay me beforehand—decent money. I have no complaint there. I asked Françoise what was going on with it and she said, “Oh, Remnick hasn’t decided yet…” and he changed his mind several times about it. I asked why and she didn’t know. Several months passed. Then one day, I got the art back in the mail, no letter, no nothing.
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Posted: 10th, February 2013 | In: Flashback, The Consumer | Comment
Fox bites off baby’s finger in Bromley
A FOX has attacked a four-week-old boy in Bromley, South-East London. The other saw the the tot’s hand “halfway down the animal’s throat“.
The story triggers two debates:
1. Kill the fox
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Posted: 9th, February 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (4)
In photos: huge snowstorm hits the USA
A huge snowstorm has hit New York City, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Maine. In Milford, Conn., the snow reached a depth of 38 inches. Is that a big deal? Well, it is if you said snow was a thing of the past, what with climate change:
According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”…“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.
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A worker walks up towards a plow smoothing a large salt pile at Eastern Salt Company in Chelsea, Mass., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, in preparation for a major winter storm headed toward the U.S. Northeast. The National Weather Service calls for up to 2 feet of snow expected for a Boston-area region that has seen mostly bare ground this winter. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
In the 1950s Heinz thought clowns would make pickles fun – they didn’t (photos)
IN the 1950s, Heinz looked at pickles and wondered what went with them? The answer was simple: clowns. Middle-aged men in small hats and lots of make-up would make tummies rumble for jarred pickles. Look out for the clown with a face so stitched in the upwards grin that when eyeing his puke-encrusted sausage, he still smiles broadly. Unless he is, like Bom Bom, actually turned on by such things. But, then, Bom Bom’s a wanted man who only took to clowning because he had a tube of congealed pig’s blood, chronic anaemia and a chronic need for an alibi:
Posted: 9th, February 2013 | In: Flashback, The Consumer | Comment
Labour and LibDem peers gang up to amend the Defamation Bill: Psmith Journalist shines light on our hideous libel laws
LIBEL laws in the UK are ridiculous. They’ve been so for eons. In is work Psmith Journalist, P. G. Wodehouse has Comrade Psmith note:
In the first place, we know that there must be some one at the bottom of the business. Secondly, as there appears to be no law of libel whatsoever in this great and free country, we shall be enabled to haul up our slacks with a considerable absence of restraint…
“You may leave it to me, Comrade Windsor. I am no hardened old journalist, I fear, but I have certain qualifications for the post. A young man once called at the office of a certain newspaper, and asked for a job. ‘Have you any special line?’ asked the editor. ‘Yes,’ said the bright lad, ‘I am rather good at invective.’ ‘Any special kind of invective?’ queried the man up top. ‘No,’ replied our hero, ‘just general invective.’ Such is my own case, Comrade Windsor. I am a very fair purveyor of good, general invective… Taking full advantage of the benevolent laws of this country governing libel, I fancy I will produce a screed which will make this anonymous lessee feel as if he had inadvertently seated himself upon a tin-tack…”
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Posted: 9th, February 2013 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Parents seek Asperger’s diagnosis to rise above the rest
TAKING pride in your Asperger’s. Louise Carpenter looksat the work of Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at Cambridge’s Autism Research Centre:
In the past ten years, the “supergeek” has become king. Whether or not it is true that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has traits of Asperger’s, his geeky, clever-kid innovation has changed the way the world communicates. Not only is he one of the richest young men in the Western world, he’s also one of the cleverest. We like to think of him as way up there on the spectrum. The message is resounding: in our new computer/techy/cyber-obsessed culture, it really is OK – more than OK – to be a little bit different. Silicon Valley is the future and all the rest of us, with our “neuro-typical” – or non-Asperger’s – brains, plod along in its wake. Whatever the often far harsher reality for the thousands of people with Asperger’s in Britain who are not like Zuckerberg and struggling to cope, the taboo has gone. Even Skins had an Asperger’s character.
“Aspies”, as they call themselves, can and do wear their diagnosis as a badge of pride. They understand their talents can lift them above the rest of us: the ability to focus; to process information differently; to demonstrate extraordinary attention to detail. As one Asperger’s leader in business told me, Asperger’s people in the right environment are much better equipped to provide “a more diverse and expansive vision”. Recently there has been a flurry of pro-Asperger’s syndrome reports in Britain and the US: The Autism Advantage (New York Times); Genius Genes: How Asperger Talents Changed the World by Michael Fitzgerald; If You Care About Innovation, Hire People Who Think Differently (Business Insider). Dr Rosalind Bergemann, CEO of Globalite Management Service and Chairman of Asperger Leaders (she was diagnosed late), confirms the trend: “Recently I have been contacted by many parents trying to confirm that their children have Asperger’s so that they can ‘allow them to develop above the rest’.”
Take care when using the word “special…
Take a test here.
Photo: Student Jos Gibbons who has Asperger’s Syndrome is believed to be the highest A-Level achiever. Picture date: Thursday August 16, 2007. Jos Gibbons, from Solihull, near Birmingham, picked up four grade As and a grade B to add to the six he had already completed – giving him a total of 11 A-Levels.
Posted: 9th, February 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
