Monday, April 30, 2007

Some Good Writing

A very controversial post attacking Mother Teresa here.

And an even better article here published after those anti-Islamic cartoons caused controversy after being published by a newspaper in Denmark.

Incidentally both are written by Christopher Hitchens.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

The Best Video on YouTube

This video is great - out among the majority of crap on YouTube you find things like that: Just a guy who saved up money and traveled to everywhere he had ever wanted to go. How else could this video have become so popular without such technologies as YouTube? We are the creative generation.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Hugh Grant Gets Mean(z)

Well who would have thought Hugh Grant liked beans so much? And hated the papparazzi so much? I feel sorry for him having to deal with people snapping him all the time but he shouldn't have snapped out. Not the first time he's been in trouble either eh?

The trouble is give it a few months and Grant (or any other attention starved celebrity) will be thankful for someone taking a shot of him doing some mundane just so it can grace that weeks gossip mags. But with the privacy laws in a changing state perhaps the age of endless shot of celebrities buying cheese, or picking their nose, is coming to an end?

Saturday, April 21, 2007

All in the Past

I finished my work experience at BBC History Magazine yesterday and an enjoyable time it was too. I was given copy to write, facts to check, pictures to research, people to phone, books to log, and others things besides.

It was very interesting seeing just how much of our course is directly relevant to the real world of magazine journalism and the concerns and discussions that I heard while working there were very much those that have been brought up by lecturers and ourselves when working on our own magazines.

I sat in on a meeting with Nick Brett where they went through the April issue (pictured) and that threw up some relevant points too. The tone of the meeting was positive but it was interesting to see just how many concerns and opinions there were on each page of the magazine.

The best thing about all this though, aside from being treated like a competent person who they could rely one, was that it underlined that I have made the right career choice. Magazines, with their professional but informal approach (I only wore a suit on the first day there...), the importance on design as much as content, and the notion of writing what a reader wants to read, not what they need to (i.e. newspapers), all remain things I can see myself doing for a living.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Popworld Pulped

I'm really not surprised this magazine lasted two issues, the front cover is terrible and it just sounds really badly placed in an already straining market.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

An All Encompasing Umbrella Blog

Owing to the joys of dial-up internet I am going to try and cover several topics in one go as I cannot tolerate the long loading times it would take to post these separately
I'm back in Cornwall, the weather is amazing, the sailors have been freed, and journalism is going well so life is just ticking along nicely.
I passed my Public Administration exam with a good mark (71 - it was on Council Tax, Ombudsmen and Homelessness Provisions...), I spent a very enjoyable and useful week working at Cornwall Today, and have several pieces going in over the next few issues, including some with my own photography which I am most pleased with.
The world of television is continuing to pedal telephone vote shows, which I am most displeased with, and I still don't get The Apprentice. I just can't enjoy a bunch of arrogant, opinionated morons telling us how amazing they are and then displaying total ineptitude at the simplest problem. (Except the blonde female who went to my old school, she's alright).
ITV surprised me by producing a genuinely enjoyable and moderately intelligent show in the form of Mobile. Meanwhile American TV continues to grow with Lost really hitting its stride with some brilliant writing and plot twisting. Where the show will end I, and almost everyone else, have no idea.
The cricket world cup is starting to get interesting for the right reasons, not Bob Woolmer's death, which, tragic as it was, is still no reason to stop an international tournament, it would be like giving in to terrorism.
Crowd trouble is flaring up again on the European stage and I feel undecided as to my stance. I'm sure the fans are correct when they always say the police react "heavy-handedly", but then, reasoned and intelligent debate is best saved for the WI, not for drunken football supporters. And I doubt many of them speak Italian or Spanish. But it does take two to tango, so I can't believe it is entirely the fault of the fans either. The only certainty here is that UEFA will handle the situation about as badly as they can.
I am off to BBC History magazine on Tuesday which should be another very interesting and useful experience. A real chance to put many skills into use and be part of the top end of the magazine industry - for a short while at least.
I will end now as I doubt many people will read all of this - I'm hardly adhering to my own "less is more" mantra regarding blog posts.
When broadband returns to my life, blogging should return to normal.
P.S. - the picture was just meant to draw you in, it has no relevance.

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