…and other phenomena.
Have you heard of the “Wikipedia”? It’s a kind of encyclopaedia on the web, updated and edited by the public. Those unique origins mean that it’s got plenty of articles that a normal reference book might have “overlooked”. For example, exploding head syndrome, lighting farts, and an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet.
There’s an index of the weirdest ones on this page.
Last year my employers were ridiculed for sending 500 people to cover the US Elections. But no-one bats an eyelid when tabloids assign 13 separate reporters to the breakup of Brad & Jen Pitt. I love this business.
Get your stylus out!
The tactile delights of Nintendo’s new double-screen, touch-sensitive, handheld games machine will be available in the UK from March for a measly £100.
The DS has already outsold Sony’s PSP in Japan and America, and Nintendo are shipping an optimistic 650,000 of the machines for the European launch.
The big question, however, is whether Nintendo will retain the eyebrow-raising US advertising slogan – “Touching Is Good”. If so, I nominate Sam Fox to front the campaign.
This year’s best album review (so far).
…Exactly what it’s like to work in a television newsroom.
Jeremy Paxman has nailed the process of putting together a news programme in an article for the BBC’s News website.
In particular, his description of my job rings true:
If you want a working definition of a producer’s job, it is persuading people to do things they don’t want to do. And which are not in their own best interests.
I might not have risen to the heady heights of working on Newsnight, but the next time someone asks what I do, I’m sending them this article.
Super-posh games magazine / gamers manifesto / design fetishist’s dream, Edge,
has just relaunched its website. And very nice
it is too.
I particularly like the article on the laborious process of taking screenshots in the days before graphics cards.
Is she or isn’t she? Never mind the obviously fake ‘shopping for baby clothes’ stories in the tabloids, is Britney releasing an album this year or not?
After her new video ‘leaked’ on the internet, it was released to TV last week. But now her record label say any new material has been postponed until next year.
Could it have something to do with underwhelming response to the new song, even on rabidly pro-Britney websites?
It’s almost a year since the accidental unveiling of Janet Jackson’s ladybumps on primetime TV, but America still hasn’t got over it.
Budweiser have pulled an advert parodying the ‘wardrobe malfunction’, which was due to air during this year’s Superbowl, because they’re afraid of offending viewers.
What is the world coming to, etc, etc.
First Tiffany, then Belinda Carlisle, now Debbie Gibson. It seems to have become compulsory for the female solo artists of 1988 to pose nude for Playboy.
Debbie’s photoshoot coincides with a new single which no-one will buy – even if she’s on the cover, legs akimbo. I simply don’t think that porn = instant record sales. Just ask Madonna.
Let’s hope the trend stops here. Other big female stars of 1988 include Enya, Yazz and (shudder) Eddi Reader.
Are you engaged in a guerilla war in a hostile country? Are your soldiers being killed on a daily basis? Then why not send in KILLER ROBOTS?!
Yes, the US military is deploying robots armed with machine guns to Iraq. They can climb stairs, so even Doctor Who won’t be safe.
Unless he throws a blanket over the top of it.
Temporary Fix 