topical – Page 34 – don't confuse the narrator

set-tos on set

The BBC have apologised for broadcasting, on BBC1’s Breakfast programme, an unbleeped version of an audio tape where – allegedly – Christian Bale berates a colleague for ruining a shot on the set of Terminator Salvation. A spokeswoman is quoted as saying, “A technical error led to us broadcasting an unacceptable swear word.” Which seems a bit of an understatement if it’s true that the outburst includes the use of the F-word 35 times in just over four minutes.

The incident (the ‘berating’, rather than the BBC apology) has caught my attention as it comes hot on the heels of a scandal in Spain Continue reading “set-tos on set”

occasional poetry

There are lots of comments around the web referring to Elizabeth Alexander’s poem composed for Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.

This article, written by Jim Fisher before the ceremony, makes interesting reading, as it includes information about previous inaugural poems and US background that helps put things a little more in perspective.
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blue monday; hopeful tuesday

So yesterday was “Blue Monday“. And I missed it.

Well, I didn’t exactly miss it. I was certainly here, and feeling fairly blue, too, but I didn’t realise till I read the news this morning that it was officially the most depressing day of the year.

We had the weather for it here, all right, with the cold accompanied by the kind of fine rain that gets into everything. Continue reading “blue monday; hopeful tuesday”

pedigree moon?

No, not pedigree, but perigee, apparently.

Last night’s full moon was the biggest of 2009 – or, to put it another way, the moon passed closest to the earth yesterday on its eliptical orbit, making the full moon appear bigger than it will again during the year ahead.

Nasa have waxed poetic on the subject –
Continue reading “pedigree moon?”

successes, exits and happenings

Although it’s only the 30th, people in the village are already beginning to round their conversations off with the phrase “feliz salida y entrada…”

It always seems such a mouthful to me, and I can never get the order right – subconsciously I think “happy exit and entrance” seems a bit cart-before-horsish, although in the context of the old year leaving before the new one comes in, it’s perfectly correct. Still, it twists my tongue every time, and today it’s set me thinking:
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