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.
When the Sex Pistols toured the USA and hit Cain’s Ballroom
IN 1978, the Sex Pistols went to the USA. Tony Schwartz, of Newsweek, saw the opening show at the Great Southeast Music Hall. It left an impression:
“Johnny Rotten’s stare was demonic, his expression sneering, and his shoulders ominously hunched. Sid Vicious, pasty-skinned and anemic-looking, seemed more catatonic than cantankerous, rousing himself only to blow his nose stage right. Guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook looked clean-cut enough to have played in the ’50s style band that opened the show.”
NBC did the PR:
The Sex Pistols hit Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This was a mostly Country crowd.
Photographer Bob Gruen told us:
“We had a long drive from Dallas to Tulsa through five inches of snow and ice. Sometime in the night we pulled into a gas station where there was a restaurant. I went in with Sid and sat at the counter. Before I knew it Sid had started a conversation with a cowboy and his family. They invited him to sit with them and Sid carried his eggs to their table. After the cowboy heard that Sid’s name was Vicious he started to challenge him. He crushed his cigarette out in his own hand, then he asked Sid what could he do. Sid just took his knife, cut his own hand and kept on eating as blood flowed on his eggs like ketchup. The cowboy grabbed his family and ran out.”
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Juxtaposed image of the year: Liverpool’s paedo priest and the ‘Hot’ boy
THE Liverpool Echo brings news of Father Peter Hooper, a Catholic priest from the Wirral jailed for five years by Liverpool Crown Court for sexual activity with a male minor. The headline screams: “PRIEST ADMITS CHILD SEX.” Some genius in the layout department thought it a good idea to juxtapose that news with a picture of child eating an ice-cream below the legend: “BOY! IT’S HOT.”
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Incredible footage of a child kidnapper caught on camera at Mumbai station
TO Mumbai, India, where a man has been recorded stealing a 3-year-old child. The man arrives at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, finds a sleeping family and kidnaps their daughter.
That was June 10, 2012 at around 2 am. The man has not been found. The child is missing.
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The Mystery of the headless money and other tales from Northwich
NO Northwich, Cheshire, where locals are amazed by the discovery of a “headless monkey’” in their midst. It is, says the Northwich Guardian, a “Mystery“.
Says RSPCA inspector Nadine Pengilly said: “It wasn’t a monkey, it was squirrel – it was a big fat squirrel that had been there 24 hours and started to bloat up. Vets have examined it and it’s definitely a squirrel.”
That’s Northwich for you – more nuts than bananas…
When Great Britain ruled Wimbledon: from Fred Perry to Bunny Austin and Andy Murray – photos
IN 1936, Fred Perry pulled on his long trousers and, it says here, “classic cut cotton pique style featuring a traditional two-button neck and lightly textured flat knit collar and cuffs, finished with our signature Laurel Wreath on the chest”, and won Wimbledon.
1936 Fred Perry completes a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles. Great Britain wins, wins and wins again.
1938 Henry “Bunny” Austin is defeated in the Wimbledon final 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 by American Donald Budge.
1971 Roger Taylor takes the first of two successive US Open men’s doubles titles. Singles success, though, eludes him..
1998 – 2002 – Tim Henman gets to four Wimbledon semi-finals. Tim succombes to a Hill and Pete Sampras (twice), Goran Ivanisevic and Lleyton Hewitt, of Australia, wins 7-5, 6-1, 7-5.
2012: Andy Murray is a Wimbledon finalist. He has a Mount.
Fred Perry, winner of the American and Australian Tennis Championships, is back home again in Ealing. Mr. Fred Perry with an armful of his trophies won during his tour, photographed at home in Ealing, England on March 18, 1934. (AP Photo)
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Save the V Sign – your country needs you
THE people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Save the V Sign as the hand gesture of first resort:
The V Sign – two-fingered salute – is being destroyed by the single raised middle finger, a symbol of American cultural imperialism. The V Sign user is blessed with a mind steeped in history. They are sensitive to nuance. This is swearing with a light, deft touch. Save it before it it gone for ever.
Say no to tosspot drivers, cyclists and football fans showing the ‘sit on it’ finger. Two fingers. We demand the full two fingers. If you are going to swear put some effort into it!
As bad are the celebrities and rappers who signal with two fingers unaware of its true meaning.
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Posted: 6th, July 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (2)
Uruguay to sell marijuana directly to the consumer
PLANS are afoot for Uruguay to control marijuana. President Jose Mujica tells Colombia’s RCN radio that the government will take over the country’s buoyant marijuana markets. This will enable it to do down the criminals and monitor usage.
Uruguay – where possession of small amounts of weed is not a criminal offence – would become the world’s first nation to sell marijuana directly to the consumer.
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Drag Net: All aboard the Megabus from Preston to London
FACE of the day: Student Vermilion Von Kangur, 20, pictured standing outside Victoria Coach Station in London. Vermilion was on the Preston to London Megabus stopped by police on the M6 toll motorway near Weeford, Staffordshire, following a “police-led incident”. That incident tuend out to be passenger smoking an electronic cigarette.
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Syria on course to join UN’s Human Rights Council
WHAT do you think of the UN’s Human Rights Council? Indeed, which human’s rights are being protected? This is, after all, the board once chaired by Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. On it sit such luminaries of equality as China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
The HRC website tells us:
“All victims of human rights abuses should be able to look to the Human Rights Council as a forum and a springboard for action.” – Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, 12 March 2007, Opening of the 4th Human Rights Council Session
The Shard – The building of London’s beautiful new skyscraper in photos
THE Shard isthe highest building in the Europe Union. The building at 32 London Bridge is beautiful, stylish and majestic. We’ve been watching it go up and up and up. In these photos you can see what we and millions of Londoners have been seeing.
The View:
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Posted: 5th, July 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (9)
DC Talk were Straight Outta Lynchburg – when Christian rap rocked
MOVE over Eli Porter, rap had bigger stars. DC Talk – that’s Decent Christian Talk to you squares – were once ready to rock the ages with their “Explicit Christian Lyrics”. Meet Toby McKeehan, Kevin Max and Michael Tait. Together they were the Holy Trinity. Rap. Rock. Soul. Hats. The Fresh Prince on VHS. A Beastie Boys cassette. And brogues. Hey wer putting the big C on Rap.
God is doing’ a new thang. A brand nooo thang.
In 2002, the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music went on the record to state that DC Talk are “the most popular overtly Christian act of all time“.
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Panada Awareness Week his by mass suicide
CAPTION: People dressed as pandas mass in central London to celebrate the launch of Panda Awareness Week (PAW). Does the acronym coem before the cause?
Posted: 5th, July 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Woman has 50 Shades of Gray triplets orgasm
50 Shades of Grey is the subject of an article by Yahoo! that epitomises modern journalism. All you need do to write an article is:
* Pick a popular topic with good keyword results
* Get an expert to offer a quote
* Make a claim
The bullshitter tells readers:
Best selling romance tale 50 Shades of Grey is being touted as the cause of a spate of pregnancies, according to an expert in culture.
Packed with erotic scenes and ideas, the story of Anastasia Steele and the eponymous Grey has got broody wives and girlfriends so hot under the collar they are seeking out more sex with their partners, resulting in an increasing number of potential pregnancies.
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Tupperware drama: police swoop on Megabus coach from Preston to London
OLD Mr Anorak was making his way back to London when something happened on the MN6. He had just tipped his thermos of hot custard atop his Tupperware boxed Eve’s Pudding when police swooped. The Megabus coach from Preston to London was stopped on the M6 Toll in the West Midlands. Armed police surrounded it.
Police say a passenger was spotted pouring a liquid into a box, which then started smoking…
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Judge says it can’t be rape because the victim was a man dressed as a woman
TO Sweden, where judge Dan Sjöstedt of the Örebro District Court, tells the accsued rapist: “The intended crime never had the possibility of being fulfilled.”
The man in the dock is a 61-year-old accused of attempting to rape a ‘woman’ in Örebro. He has followed his target for soem time. When he attacks, it is “brutally violent”. Only, the ‘woman’ was a man in female clothing undergoing gender realignment treatment.
Says Sjöstedt:
“We believe that he wanted to rape this woman in particular. But as she turned out to be a man, the crime never was actually committed…There are different theories about how this should be handled, and so we’re looking forward to seeing the verdict from the Court of Appeals.”
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Why the Occupy Movement never got its official cookbook
THE Occupy movement wanted to change the world. It had a name. It had maths (99% of us agree; although you might not have answered the survey). It had the food.
Cook and Occupy sympathiser Devra Gartenstein spotted a market for an official cookbook. The book – Cooking and recipe ideas for the 99%, by the 99% – would be a hit. Only, it never happened.
The Seattle Times notes:
It was difficult to figure out whether the book should be inexpensive or a coffee table novelty, how to split profits and whether there should be profits, and how it should be organized.
The future under the 99% Revolutionary Party might be a bun fight.
She adds:
“The Occupy Cookbook project ran into contradictions at every turn in part because the acts of preparing and serving food are so complicated, bringing so much joy and also carrying so much baggage. Cooking can be an art or a pleasure; it can also be sheer drudgery, a burden and an obligation. We all deserve to be fed but, in order for this to happen, someone has to be enlisted to feed us.”
To say nothing of the title of her blog: Pork and Gin. What percentage of the world is barred from eating pig and supping booze?
One her blog, Gartenstein notes:
I was hesitant to broach the subject of money. At first he said that he didn’t want anyone profiting from the project, then he conceded that he really would like to earn a bit of money because he was doing most of the work and still had to pay his own rent. I proposed an arrangement where eighty percent of the profit would go to the organization, ten percent would go to him, and ten percent would go to me. I was nervous about using the word “profit”.
But before you sneer, Gartenstein adds some perspective:
It’s tempting to draw conclusions about the entire movement based on my experience with a single individual, but I’d rather go in a different direction. I heard once that during the early, heady days of the French Revolution, the revolutionary state wanted citizens to dine together in the streets, but first they had to grapple with the question of who would actually serve the food in this egalitarian setting.
OK. You can sneer now…
Image: Occupy London protestors prepare lunch in the kitchen tent at the camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011.
Posted: 4th, July 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Newport court bans Man from swearing at anyone in Wales
ARRON Jeremy Vaughan has been banned form swearing at anyone in Wales. Vaughan holds a two-year Crasbo – a criminal anti-social behaviour order – handed to him at Newport Magistrates’ Court. The Crasbo, earned for his 32 convictions for public order offences, forbids Vaughan from causing harassment, alarm or distress to anyone in Wales. If he does so, then he could be jailed for five years.
Given that Vaughan is homeless, anyone being approached and called a “twat” or worse by Vaughan should not take it to heart. It’s raining. Prison might be his best bet.
Spinning an anti-Islam line at the Arab International Festival 2012 in Dearborn Michigan
AT the Arab International Festival 2012 Dearborn Michigan, trouble. Richard Bartholomew reports:
A reasonable observation from Alan Noble at Christ and Pop Culture:
Get a bunch of kids together, mock their beliefs, try to ward them away with a pig head on a stick, yell at them, and no matter what religion they are, don’t be surprised if they start throwing trash. That doesn’t in any way justify their action, but it does explain it.
Noble was responding to reports that Muslims had “stoned” Christian evangelists in Dearborn – the source for these is a video created by Tom Trento‘s “United West” outfit:
Ruben Israel returned this year to the Arab Festival and once again incited the festival goers to scream and yell and throw trash… It was picked up by The Blaze, American Vision, American Thinker, FrontPage Magazine, and other, smaller conservative websites.
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Posted: 3rd, July 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (7)
UK drugs pusher GlaxoSmithKline nailed as British disease infects the markets
ISN’T it just bloody marvelous to yet again see Britain leading the way?
The world’s largest ever drugs pusher, the mind-boggling huge GlaxoSmithKline, has agreed to take a teaspoonful of castor oil by pleading guilty and spewing three billion U.S. dollars into the U.S. coffers to bury criminal and civil charges of healthcare fraud.
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Islamists destroy ancient mosques in Mali
WHAT news from Timbuktu, Mali, where Islamist Sanda Abu Mohamed has plans:
“We’re going to destroy everything before we apply Shariah in this city”
It’s like London’s Olympic vision, only with the IOC replaced by less expert sharpshooters and candour.
Sadly, this expert on Islam also wants to obliterate ancient Muslim tombs and mosques.
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Fantastic weapons of war – gadgets of glory
FANTASTIC weapons of war – a gallery of things from the past that might have won battles and secured victory:
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Posted: 2nd, July 2012 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment
Dressed To Distress: A history of the most offensive outfits and costumes
DRESSED TO DISTRESS – A history of the most offensive outfits and costumes:
When Mayoress Jill Makinson-Sanders dressed up as a sausage to welcome the Olympic torch to Louth, she had no idea that she was about to create a political storm. As Makinson-Sanders stood proud and erect among the excited crowd, observers branded her 8ft-high costume ‘obscene’.
Louth had campaigned for Lincolnshire sausages to be given designated protective status, but the government turned down the request. The Mayoress’s ill-judged gesture was an attempt to show her support.
If it is any consolation, she is not the first prominent personality to discover that sartorial faux pas can have unforeseen consequences…
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Posted: 1st, July 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comments (2)
Vitamin Donuts – when fortified fat won World War 2
DONUTS. Americans love them. Donuts win wars, make Brad and Tiffany’s teeth and hair shine, and give you more “Pep and Vigor” than a puppy on speed.” In the exhibition, What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam: The Government’s Effect on the American Diet, we learn:
“The Doughnut Corporation sought endorsement from the Nutrition Division of the War Food Administration for its Vitamin Doughnuts campaign.”
Donut were once good for you.
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Old Jews on Miami’s South Beach in the 1980s (with added jokes)
MY mother loves Miami. Her friend – he’s 83 – drives a Honda Goldwing. His girlfriend wears leather trousers – green ones. They enjoy life. Gay Block loves it , too. She produced a series of photographs of old Jews who live in South Miami Beach. The images are in her book, About Love. She notes:
“When I saw Miami’s South Beach for the first time, in 1982, I was awed by the beauty of the small Deco hotels, but I was even more fascinated by the old people sitting on the porches. The first night, when I stopped at one of those porches, it was love at first sight. I knew right away that I would return again and again to talk with and photograph these people. There were the bubbes and zaydes (grandmothers and grandfathers) I had longed for. I was drawn to return again and again over the next four years, until gentrification changed South Beach forever and it became a place for the young and hip.”
Before the photos, a joke:
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Posted: 30th, June 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts | Comment (1)
A dog texts the Metro Good Deed Feed
DON’T know if you read the Metro Good Deed Feed, but this week someone used it to crassly and hilariously compliment themselves.
Note how someone is thanking someone for saving them from drowning!
