iPlayer Pick: ISIHAC

This weeks iPlayer pick comes from radio and is the second episode of the new series of I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue - fronted by the ever wonderful Stephen Fry.

This is Stephen Fry’s last stint in the hosts chair - taking over from the late, great and true legend - Humphrey Lyttelton. Over the next four weeks Jack Dee and Rob Brydon will do a stint of two weeks a piece.

But this is my pick not because it is the greatest edition of the antidote to panel shows of all time - but because Stephen Fry did an admirable job filling behind such large shoes.

Here it is:

iPlayer embed code generated using the Up Your Ego PIP.

Here is the BBC description: “The perennial antidote to panel games comes from Her Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket in London, with Stephen Fry the first to take on the chairman’s role from the late Humphrey Lyttelton.

“Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined by Victoria Wood.”

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Top Gear 100: Missed it

Previously on my Top Gear obsessed blog - I wrote suggestions for Top Gear 100 - that was last series and it came and then went away.

Not that the Top Gear team noticed - Andy Wilman, show executive Producer, asked the crew to work out the number of episodes and tell him when it gets to 100.

He said: “Count up how many shows we’ve done since we came back on air with Top Gear because that has got to be a landmark show and we don’t want to miss the bugger.”

Andy then went on to explain that: “I’ve just worked out that the actual 100th show was the really shit one with the Renault Avantine so I’m sorry.”

So there we have it - no leaping over caravans, burning caravans - in fact no caravans at all - just a poor to middling, if not utter turd car. Oh well.

Here is a link to a great behind the scenes video from Top Gear 13×01 to take your mind off it. I can’t embed it though. You can watch what I think is episode 100 here.

However, something I can embed for you is Top Gear 13×01 as my tip of the week.

Embed code generated using the Up Your Ego PIP tool.

And to finish off a few words on this weeks Top Gear ratings - a pretty impressive one for Top Gear and BBC Two - but not the highest of all time.

The opening episode of Top Gear 13 saw an audience of 7.1 million and a share of 30.4% reaching a peak audience of 7.8 million by 8:45.

It was hte most popular show on BBC Two by a long way - with James May on the Moon taking the second spot with 3.2 million and a 13.8% share.

In fact Top Gear also gets the award for most watched show of the day by some margin - with BBC News at 10 getting 5.2 million in second and Stephen Fry’s Kingdom on ITV 1 getting 4.6 million in third.

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Top Gear back 21 June

Everyones favourite motoring based televisual entertainment programme featuring three middle aged men returns on 21 June 2009.

The 13th series of the iconic BBC Two show will be pretty much business as usual - but when that usual business leads to some of the best television in the world - I say keep on keeping on!

Top Gear producer, Andy Wilman said in a BBC Top Gear Blog Post: “I’m trying to distract viewers from what the title of the actual film would be, were this new series an actual film.

“It would be Top Gear 13, which sounds like something with Dolph Lungdren in it, or bad hotel porn.”

The next series will have seven episodes and will feature a mix of all the things we’ve grown used to over the last few years.

Andy said: “Over the coming seven-week series run a race or two will occur, supercars will slide from the left of your telly screen to the right of your telly screen in a cloud of tyre smoke, and a man in a white coat bearing a gold envelope will trigger a series of comedic and juvenile adventures.”

I don’t see anything wrong with that. And for more details the BBC Top Gear Magazine Transmission Blog will be publishing a daily preview.

Some of the highlights from that blog and from the Final Gear Forum so far seem to suggest the following will, may or may not appear in series 13 of Top Gear.

The boys buy some old cars and join a group of beardy enthusiasts on a classic car rally - I’ve been to a couple of these for the Beeb and the smell - oh god the smell!

From the Mole blog post: “The twist? The office chose their co-drivers too…”

So these are the confirmed features

• Train vs Car vs Bike [more]

That’s the only preview from the official blog so far - but what has been suggested on the rumour mill that is the Final Gear Forum?

To avoid spoiling your surprise - just in case you stumbled across this hunting for a start date (although I put that in the title), I’m just going to give you the headline for the feature and a link.

You choose if you want to follow that link to find out more.

NOTE: These are not all proven to be true and some are probably not. Just a taster to wet your Top Gear appetite.

• Chevrolet Cruze
• Racing Royal Mail
• Evo destruction
• Racing with dinosaurs
• Veyron, McLaren F1, LP-670 Super Veloce and a 722 SLR
• Affordable banker cars
• School run cars

I’ll add more to this page as I find them - in the meantime take the above with the pinch of salt they may require - nothing should be taken as gospel until you read it on the BBC Top Gear Blog or see it on the show.

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Who let Clarkson programme Glasto?

For the last few years Glastonbury has become renowned for putting ‘interesting’ acts in their headline spot.

This year they’ve pretty much filled the main stage with ‘interesting’ bands. In fact the bands are so interesting thatthey could have asked Jeremy Clarkson to pick the acts.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing. It takes all styles to make a festival - especially one the size of Glastonbury - and once you take the fact that there are plenty of other stages to enjoy - it’s pretty quirky fun.

So lets take a look at the Pyramid stage (aka the Dad rock stage).

On Friday Neil Young is headlining the stage followed by The Specials as the penultimate act.

But there is also Lily Allen and friendly folksters Fleet Foxes and the first band on the stage on Friday is Bjorn Again - the ABBA TRIBUTE act.

On Saturday The Boss, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are headlining - then Kasabian are on bring things a little towards the 21st Century while still remaining dad-inoffensive.

But then we are going back a few decades to Crosby, Stills & Nash followed by Dizzee Rascal and Spinal Tap.

Then on Sunday you have Blur, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Madness and Tom Jones.

And at the start of the day on that stage you have Status Quo and Tony bloody Christie.

If the goal was eye opening shock, laughter and then realisation that - you know what - actually that could make for a great day out - then they’ve succeeded.

And if Dad rock isn’t your scene then go the Other Stage for The Prodigy (which WILL be an amazing set), Glasvegas, Bat for Lashes, Bloc Party, Ting Tings and many more.

Not to mention the John Peel stage, the BBC Introducing stage and the Acoustic stage.

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I think Glastonbury, now approaching its 40th year of existence, seems to have been through its quarter life crisis, had a snap at a mid-life crisis with JZ last year - and is now settling comfortably into middle aged.

While at the same time providing a garage and a room downstairs for its children, grandchildren, the cool kids from over the road and the odd wandering hippy.

Of course if you want a really interesting, friendly and top festival experience - book a ticket to Jersey Live in September and say hello to me.

Headliners Kooks and Basement Jaxx are joined by Passion Pit, Doves, Jack Penate, Twisted Wheel, Spinnerette, Frank Turner and my current favourites - Fight Like Apes.

But that isn’t all there is to it - you’ve got a silent disco, a great local stage and a VIP stage backstage with Frank Turner headlining on Sunday and a DJ set by Craig Charles.

That isn’t all though - you’ve also got the thing that splits Jersey Live from the other UK festivals - the Les Inrocks stage - bringing a touch of France and the French music scene to a UK festival - mixing France and the UK - much like Jersey itself in fact.

Then there is the brilliant dance arena with headliners Andy C & MC GQ, 2MANYDJS joining London Elektricity, Birdy Nam Nam, Beardyman and others.

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Licence fee and the internet

Appologies in advance for this extremely long blog post.

Before I get on with this blog post I feel I need to say that anything written here is my own personal opinion, that I’m not even convinced I agree with any of it and that I am a 100% fully committed supporter of the licence fee and the way it is currently used.

So all that said lets take a look at the TV licence - the £142.50 almost every home in Britain has to pay for the right to have a television - and more specifically how it can be applied in an online, on demand world.

Recently Erik Huggers, BBC Future Media and Technology boss expressed a ‘personal opinion’ that it might be time to look at how the licence fee can be extended to the include those watching only on a computer.

He said: “My view is that if you are using the iPlayer you have to be a television licence fee payer. I don’t believe in a free ride. If you are consuming BBC services then you have to be a licence holder.”

Obviously at this point I should probably mention that the current ‘official BBC position’ is that a television licence is only needed if you are watching live, as broadcast programming - not on demand.

TV licensing currently state that you need a licence to: “Use any TV equipment such as TV set, digital box, video or DVD recorder, computer or mobile phone to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on television.”

You can police the television, digital box, video/DVD recorder side of that fairly easily – you just make sure that when someone buys any of those devices they have a TV licence – or at the very least you take their name and address so it can be checked against the TV licensing database.

It is possible that someone buying one of these devices has no intention of using it to watch television – they could be getting it to watch DVDs, copy DVDs, burn their homemade movies or play games.

More often than not, statistically people buy a television to watch TV, a DVD recorder to record TV and a digital box – well to watch digital TV.

But the opposite of that probably applies to computers and mobile phones. I expect it to be the opposite with those devices where the majority are using them for anything BUT watching TV.

OK so millions do use the iPlayer on a regular basis – but far fewer watch television live through the iPlayer and even the millions watching on demand is a considerable amount lower than those watching television generally.

At the moment making sure those watching live TV via a mobile or computer sort of relies on them being honest: “Yes guv, I’ve got a licence and wouldn’t dream of watching TV on my computer without one.”

Or equally, or even more often: “Nah I don’t use it, can’t use it and couldn’t work out how to use it even if I wanted to.”

But technically anybody could use it, they could decide not to own a TV and watch all their television live over the internet through their fat broadband line and 30” computer screen.

Which means they can be using all the BBC services that the rest of us are paying for – I think those watching only on a computer who don’t have a licence – should have a licence if they want to use the iPlayer.

But the question is – how do you do that without upsetting people that have no intention of owning a TV or watching TV on their computer?

It isn’t a problem at the moment as most people watching on the computer probably have a television and in turn a licence as well.

But what about in the future when 50mb broadband is common place, when large computer screens are common place – or even laptops in the bedroom?

How do we get around that problem?

Well I can see a few solutions and one jumped out at me when I opened the post on Saturday to find my new TV licence.

The letter included not one but two big blue boxes with my TV licence number in it. There are even instructions on the back for entering your licence number on the TV licensing website to find out or update your details.

So if people are getting comfortable entering the number to update details on the TV licencing site – why not enter it on to the BBC website to use iPlayer?

OK so the number could potentially be shared between people – students using their parents number while at university – but you could get around that problem by tying the number to a MAC address or IP range/ISP.

Or you just ignore that problem, accept it as a fact of life and move on.

I don’t think entering your TV licence number when registering for access to the iPlayer is such a big deal – however, having recently spent a morning teaching people who can’t use a mouse to get online – I have a different perspective over what is easy.

That extra step might put people off the wonder of the iPlayer, off a valuable and useful BBC service that comes as part of the licence fee they’re paying – it’s those people, and the honest ones this will cause problems for – not the tech savvy ones who will find ways around it.

No, in my opinion we should probably continue to rely on honesty – with a twist.
Build a codec/include into the iPlayer stream player (live only) that you have to install/accept – make it as seamless and painless as possible – click YES to watch live TV sort of seamless.

That way instead of requiring a licence fee if you own a computer – you only require the fee if you have this codec installed on your computer.

Like I said at the start though – just a few random thoughts for preserving the licence fee – that I think is so vital to the massive British creative industry – imagine the quality of TV we’d all suffer if it wasn’t for this collective good that we contribute to together – much like the NHS, schools, libraries and to a certain extent – the armed forces.

I don’t think this will be a problem for at least a decade, by which time we will be entering another charter renewal anyway – and who knows what that might throw up.

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Loving the Eurovision

I’m a big fan of the Eurovision song contest - so much so that my new music, bleeding edge BBC Introducing branded radio show will be taking a Eurovision theme this week.

Don’t get me wrong I won’t be playing Boom Bang a Bang or even Dum Tek Tek (Turkish tip for Eurovision top spot that means Boom Bang a Bang).

But I will be playing songs from around Europe - namely the four countries with a reasonably large population pressence in Jersey - just so I can keep a bit of a local angle.

So my ‘alternative’ Eurovision picks covered four countries: Ireland, Poland, Portugal and France - oh and I dropped in one from the UK for good measure.

Iowa Super Soccer for Poland, Xwife for Portugal, Fight Like Apes for Ireland and Naïve New Beaters for France. And my UK tip came in the form of Frank Turner.

And looking now at the Google tips for Eurovision success (based on search results from different European countries) France (Patricia Kaas) is the only one in the top ten - not including Jade from the UK who is ninth - Frank Turner was only a wildcard throw in as I normally play UK artists anyway.

Here see for yourself - the top five are Turkey with 375 votes, Norway with 351, Greece with 264, Sweden with 205 and Ukraine with 173. The Google forecast puts UK in ninth with 70.

This is based on the number of searches for each countries entry from around Europe - with each country awarding a number of points based on the number of searches to each of the finalists.

It excludes searches for an entry from within that singers country - so a search for Jade Ewen from within the UK won’t count.

Personally I don’t care whether we win or not - although it would be nice to see a ‘Home Eurovision’ in 2010 - even if it will probably end up costing around £3 million.

Although if the Aussies could vote then Greece would get 12 points - at least that is the way it’s shaping up on the SBS Unoffical Scorecard - although that is only based on the semi-final - might be interesting to keep track of though.

Anyway - if votes are awarded on how actively people are pushing for their country on Twitter - then I’d put Norway first, Hungary second and Ukrain in third. Although that is only based on a quick search.

I’ve been a fan of Eurovision since I was a small child - watching it while my parents made sarcastic comments in the background - I loved the comedy, the glamour (or more often lack of) and VERY OCCASIONALLY the music - but most of all for the spectacle and … Terry Wogan.

But this is the first year we won’t have Terry in the hot seat - his place is being taken by another sarcastic Irishman - this time in the form of Graham Norton. Personally I think, based on interviews I’ve seen - he’s going to fill the boots admirably.

This is the first year though that I’ve watched the semi-finals - I always avoided them in the past because for me Eurovision is a social event and my wife would only tolerate the final.

But thanks to the wonder of Twitter I was able to watch it and engage with other Eurovision fans from around the world - including some (like @ewanspence) who were in the Eurovision arena.

I was there for both semi-finals twittering along and the two hours went by really quickly - I’m now going to spare my wife the “pain” (her words) of the whole final and Twitter along to that as well.

My Eurovision follow tips include: @bbceurovision, @sara_cawood, @ewanspence and @thoroughlygood. Anyone you can think of I’ve missed? Oh and feel free to follow me @upyourego.

NB: Main page photo credit: BBC Eurovision web team.

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Star Trek Review

I spent all of 30 seconds deciding on the headline for this blog post. Sometimes I try to come up with something clever but in this case I took the decision to apply the Ronseal approach ‘it say’s what it does on the tin‘.

I go to see a lot of films, I’m a big cinema fan and to be honest always have been. Testament to that is probably the fact that the last post was about the theatre of cinema and I’ve written regularly on the subject.

This is going to be the first actual film review I’ve posted to the blog - so please go easy on me. I’m more experienced at audio reviews on the radio - and for that reason I’ve included the review I did for BBC Radio Jersey on Star Trek.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

And I’m not going to break my tradition of avoiding writing down my thoughts in review form by explaining how I came to the thoughts I expressed in the audio above and repeating a few of those thoughts in text format.

So I guess the first step is to tell you that I would give this 5 stars, but I don’t like the idea of giving stars it is FAR TOO LIMITED a rating model. Lets give it 97% out of 100%.

I think the headline of my review was really that this is a Star Trek film that transcends the Star Trek universe and opens the franchise up to not only a new generation but also to people that wouldn’t normally consider SciFi.

Enjoy that? Yeah well you’ll enjoy the whole movie a lot more - I’m a big Star Trek fan, have watched all the movies and have them on DVD - but this is by a LONG WAY the best Star Trek movie I have ever seen.

This film transcends Star Trek and even to a certain extent SciFi - the film creates that ever needed entry point into the wider Star Trek universe for people that never got into the series before.

It takes that wonderful concept the Gene Roddenberry created all those years ago and then updates it for the modern cinema going era - with speed, polish and humour.

In fact one of the most wonderfully surprising aspects of this film was the comic lines - they were brilliant, perfectly timed and well delivered - the other is how effortlessly I found it to believe in the new cast as the characters I know of old.

In my radio review I compared this re imagining of Star Trek to the re-launch of Doctor Who on the BBC - keeping the basic essense of what makes it special but making it for a more cine and SciFi literate 21st Century Audience - or as Mark Kermode said: “Star Trek the Smallville years.”

If I can convince her to go I’m 90% certain that my SciFi hating wife will love this movie - taking the aliens, epic space battles and jumping from a space shuttle through the atmosphere on to a floating drilling platform out of the equation - this is part buddy movie, part coming of age movie and part comedy.

It’s amazing to witness the growth of both Spock and Kirk from their teenage selves into the future standard bearers of Starfleet - to watch as the crew of the Enterprise (that we know) come together for the first time and find their friendship and how, as I’ve already mentioned - funny the film is.

At the very start the movie set itself as, although part of the bigger franchise, although a prequel to the Star Trek series we know - something different.

It involves time travel and alternative time lines - it allows for the series to continue with the new cast and to do things that might not be ‘cannon’ and get away with it - a very clever move.

There is a LOT more I could say about it that I can’t think of words for right now - a lot more about the actual film, an analysis of the whole thing but that will have to wait until I know more people have seen it.

I loved every minute of it and can’t wait to see it again.

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The theatre of film

When I was a teenager, more than a decade ago now (!), I worked at the Odeon Cinema in Hemel Hempstead.

It was while at that cinema, long before the days of single operators running the kiosk, tearing tickets and playing the film out - that I trained as a projectionist.

My actual job was working in the cinema itself - mainly either in the kiosk/Hagen Daz bar or at the box office - but I convinced the boss to let me train two days a week in the projection box.

The cinema had something that is lacking from most, if not all provincial cinemas now though - an actual team of projectionists.

There was the old pro that had been doing it for decades, the young buck just getting started and the jaded geek who was only doing it until something better came along.

And then there was me, two days a week getting a sample of this noisy, sometimes very active and fairly grubby environment - yes they did send me for elbow grease and a left handed screwdriver - no I didn’t fall for it.

Anyway I’m straying from the point of the article.

One of the first things I was shown, before lacing and splicing, before what all the bits and pieces do - was the theatre, the show.

To these guys playing a film wasn’t about lacing up and pressing play - it was a performance of light, sound and curtain up.

When I go to most cinemas now you sit in a comfortable chair with a cup holder and leg room and look at a white screen until the adverts start - then the film plays - then you leave.

Back when I trained I was told you have to dim the various lights at just the right time, in just the right order - fade up the sound, start the picture rolling and open up the curtains - timed perfectly.

Then as the adverts end - filmed in widescreen - and the trailers begin - in cinemascope - you repeat the process for the lense change.

You fade down the sound, fade up the music (music selection is a whole other story - as is me breaking Herculese), close the curtains and turn on the mid-lights.

Change the lense and then repeat the process in reverse to get the trailers started - you stay there until the film is playing and then you check on the other films.

With regularly 20 minute checks in between.

I haven’t experienced that in nearly a decade - the theatre of the film as I’ve only had access to a mainstream cinema chain staffed by multiskilled Customer Service and technical operators (or whatever the job title happens to be at the moment).

That was until I went to see The State of Play at the Empire Leicester Square.

The performance was back, there was an usher with torch to show me to my seat - which had a number. The lights and curtains did what I expected, all change for the lense with fading and raising.

Then there were staff standing by the door to say goodbye to me on the way out - THAT is the way cinema SHOULD happen.

OK so there was nowhere to put my drink and the leg room could have been a little more generouse - but the experience left me with a smile on my face - a smile the film only just contributed to.

I’ve seen three films this week - all with a BBC connection.

The first was in Birmingham at a generic Cineworld cinema - staff were pleasant, the environment modern and comfortable - the experience - efficient!

The film - In the Loop - one of the funniest comedies I’ve ever seen, a piece of comedy genius that left me longing for the up coming return of the series - The Thick of It.

The second was in London at the Vue West End and the experience was there although on a much smaller scale - it wasn’t a big budget or high profile film.

The staff were fine but it was daytime so not on their ‘customer service’ best. The cinema was alright - even if the seats felt more like airline seats and my drink didn’t fit in the holder. But it had a curtain that raised and lights that dimmed - it was sort of the worst of both worlds if I’m honest.

The film - FAQ about time travel - was funny, had a few good solid laughs and a slightly weird premise which made it interesting - there were two of us in the cinema and I think most people who might have enjoyed it will be put off by the title.

It’s a film that will do well when it hits the BBC as a television movie - it was a BBC Films and HBO Films co-production.

Then the final film was at the Empire Leicester Square and that was were my faith in the projectionists art was restored - secured in the knowledge that it is still happening - even if it is only at the flagship cinemas.

Thanks Empire - means a lot to me.

There is an Empire Cinema in Hemel Hempstead - my parents home town - so the next time I visit them I’ll have to make a stop off at the cinema to see if they’re keeping up the tradition that the Odeon (on the same site) before it held so important.

The trade-off we usually have to make with the cinema is comfort and convenience over experience and production.

Empire Cinemas seem to, at least in my limited experience of them - said ‘no, we won’t make that trade off - have comfort AND production’.

Oh and I’ll give Vue an extra thumbs up for the Pearl and Dean advert block instead of the three letter (I’m sure on of them is D) that appears everywhere else.

It just felt cool hearing the Pearl and Dean music.

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Bands: Don’t go with Facebook

There is a blog post on Mashable written by Stan Schroeder which basically explores and asks whether you would be prepared to pay Facebook for your own persistant URL - so mine would be facebook.com/ryanmorrison.

In my case the simple answer is no. I’d much rather set up upyourego.com/facebook and give that out to people with a redirect to my Facebook profile.

I’m not a big fan of facebook, I’ve got a profile and have to use it as people seem to insist on getting in touch with me through it - but I personally wouldn’t pay for a vanity URL as I DON’T WANT people to find me on there - unlike Twitter, Flickr, MySpace et al where I actively hunt for friends (god that makes me sound sad!).

But, I do present a new music show for the BBC, a show that involves playing music by unsigned bands with no label promoting them and usually no website - so after playing a track I give the bands myspace address.

This is great because it means people can find out a lot more about the band easily, can listen to more of the bands music and find out when they’re playing next.

It also acts as a great way of cutting some of the waffle about the band ‘to find out more go to myspace.com/greatband’. In fact for the rest of this article I’m going to use an actual MySpace profile for a group in Jersey I’m into right now.

Brobots: myspace.com/brobotsyeah

However an increasing number of bands are turning to facebook as their platform of choice - basing this on the fact that as ‘they’re are a lot of people on facebook’ they’ll be found easier.

Unfortunately this creates a problem for giving out that domain name, for selling the band on air and for the band selling themselves at gigs.

If the band have Facebook as their prefered social site of choice it means to promote the bands home online I have to say something along the lines of ‘to find out more or hear other tracks from ‘insert band name’ go to Facebook and do a search for ‘band name’ and it is probably the fourth one down

Instead of the much friendlier - go to myspace.com/brobotsyeah.

So from that point of view only - I’d say it would be in the interest of a band, comedian etc to pay for a premium URL - just to make marketing easier. But personally, if I was advising a band I would tell them to YES get a Facebook fan page and fill it with links to all the other social sites online that work with bands much better.

Or just stick with MySpace - after all the people listening to the music and will be really into it, the people playing the music on the radio and finding new bands to play at their club night - still use MySpace.

In face almost all my band communication and a large chunck of production for my show is done through MySpace.

And when a band only have a Facebook profile I’ve started setting up tiny URLs for the bands that only use Facebook and giving that out on air instead.

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