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Posts tagged ‘Arts’

12
Aug
grassyroots

Covering an eco music festival

As well as my personal blog at Up Your Ego I also write a blog about Jersey Life for the BBC.

When there is a cross over I’ll share those posts on here. Read moreRead more

14
Jun
glasto

New look Glasto site makes use of 6music names

Every year  the BBC relaunches its website for one of the major festivals it covers or, in the case of the Big Weekend – hosts.

The latest site to get this treatment is the Glastonbury festival, normally I wouldn’t blog about this but, unlike the others there are a number of things of note. Read moreRead more

2
Apr
kermode

The pointlessness of 3D and the genius of Kermode

I’m not a particularly big fan of the whole 3D cinema nonsense, I just don’t see the point in paying extra to go and see a film where you have to wear stupid glasses for a couple of hours just because a few things fly about it a bit.

I’ve seen a few films in 3D, normally when I’ve been with other people and in all honesty – it does absolutely nothing for me, it feels like a gimmick, you’re more uncomfortable than needs be and it’s darker because of the silly glasses.

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15
Dec

How I managed to avoid the X-Factor

I’m writing this post listening to a Spotify Playlist I created specifically for blogging (it inspires me to actually write instead of thinking about writing) and praising myself for having avoided the X-Factor and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here this year.

And I don’t mean just avoid watching it – I mean avoid it almost completely (with the exception of the odd photo of the stupid haired jedtwins thing) – I’ve not seen a single episode or video clip, I’ve not heard a song by or seen performance from ANY of the two shows.

But to achieve this I’ve had to pretty much avoid all of the main television networks, all television news, YouTube, shop windows, electronics shops and more – I’ve even had to avoid looking at the plasma on the wall in the BBC Jersey newsroom.

I haven’t watched a single show on ITV, the television at home has not been set to the channel once in the last few months and I only watch shows on the BBC or Channel 4 recorded through Sky+ or through iPlayer/4OD.

This isn’t so much because I’ve got a moral objection to the show – talent shows have been around for decades – more than I know I’ll get sucked into the crap and hate myself for it afterwards.

However, I have now heard the winner singing his version of the Miley Cyrus song, The Climb (heard not watched) – so I could comment with a tiny bit of knowledge and …. It’s rubbish.

He sounds like a poorer version of Gareth Gates, he has no feeling or emotion invested in the song and just dies.

I’m not a massive Miley fan but as I have a 9 year old Hannah Montana obsessed daughter I do know her music well (was dragged to see the film) and at least she has an interesting twang to her voice, a unique element and a bit of passion – the X-Factor one is just rubbish.

I can’t bring myself to come up with anything more creative than that because his voice and interpretation doesn’t deserve anything more creative.

Yes it will probably go to number one this week and so be Christmas number one (hopefully Rage Against the Machine will be at number two) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t rubbish – it’s just another item of merchandising that the fans of the television drama that is X-Factor have brought to support and show alliegence to their favourite show.

I’ve got no problem with that at all, in the same way that I’ve got no problem with the charts being manipulated by Facebook fans – the charts are meaningless and have been for a long time.

What matters is the songs/artists my friends suggest – the songs I discover myself through hours of scouring Spotify (like tonight) and the playlists I find hidden around the blogosphere.

Than and the charts in iTunes around specific genres. But that hasn’t stopped me getting the Rage Against the Machine song or listening to the rubbish X-Factor song.

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30
Nov

Let me scrap my boxes of CDs with Spotify Stereo

I love Spotify, I love internet radio, I love podcasts, I love the freedom to just drop in and out of content as I see fit.

Whether that dropping in and out be in the form of music from almost any album ever released on Spotify or a speech based podcast show.

But I’m not overly keen on having to turn my computer on to listen to that same content when all I want is something to hear while washing up.

At the moment CDs and linear FM radio win out for the ease, cheapness and convenience of being able to push two buttons and be listening to ‘something’.

Broadcasting tower in Trondheim, Norway
Image via Wikipedia

What I’m really looking for is a reasonably priced (under £300) home stereo I can put in my kitchen that has WiFi built in with a VERY user friendly interface that gives me access to albums on Spotify, podcasts streamed straight to the device and on demand content possibly through the new UK Radio Player.

A simple device that had space for a CD at the bottom alongside a USB and SD (why are the cheaper ones still Compact Flash) card reader with a LCD screen just above that – and a speaker either side.

The interface would give me the choice of a number of services through a simple icon based menu system on the front screen.

These would be:

CD | OTHER | SPOTIFY | ON DEMAND | LIVE

CD would give you all the options for the CD player including the option of ripping the music straight to an SD card inserted in the slot below.

OTHER would give you access to the media on the SD card or any USB device plugged in.

SPOTIFY would give you access to the full Spotify library using a specially designed interface for a small touch screen based display.

ON DEMAND would give you access to the UK Radio Player on demand interface including the BBC iPlayer – so all radio content from the last seven days.

It would also give you access to the wealth of podcasts from around the world in a specially designed directory.

LIVE does what it says on the tin and gives you access to both the UK Radio Player and radio stations broadcasting live from around the world.

But obviously that wonderful dream device isn’t available at the price I’d be prepared to pay at the moment so I use a combination of the annoyance of powering up a computer just to listen to audio – at which point I find other things to do and forget what I started out doing.

And of course my iPod – I have music synced to it, I have podcasts on it and with the help of a little app I have on demand content ripped to it – but this isn’t exactly what I want or even nearly what I want.

The computer thing does still work sometimes though – normally for my children’s birthday’s we will have pass the parcel and other party games at home with family.

This involves me having a playlist of kids music in iTunes and stopping/starting as necessary – this year I used Spotify for the music and didn’t even need to load up iTunes.

I just want to finish my design of my dream stereo by saying – I love Spotify.

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23
Nov

Beebs College of Journalism to go live in December

Nearly five years ago the BBC launched a new virtual training service for its journalists called the BBC College of Journalism – or CoJo.

CoJo has evolved considerably since it first started but is basically a mixture of digital courses, face to face courses and information/best practice provided in the form of a blog and articles.

Their are focused exercises looking at things like writing that includes digital courses, videos, guides and advice from people within and outside the BBC.

There is also a very impressive, and fun, virtual newsroom application that throws story updates and tasks at you in quick order.

Well this incredible resource for BBC staff will be opened up to the wider British public on 14 December. It will be free for British users and under a subscription for people accessing it internationally.

The team behind the service have been busy “writing, editing, blogging” to get the content ready to launch the site to the wider public.

As well as the learning resources and blogs the team are also making use of feeds like twitter and delicious to pull in information from around the rest of the web.

According to Kevin Marsh of the team, there are currently around 2,500 pages within the site, a couple of hundred videos and dozens of virtual newsroom scenarios.

Once it has gone live I think this will quickly become an invaluable resource for journalists, bloggers, academics, students and even people sharing stories with their friends.

And hopefully it will be picked up and used by people contributing to message boards, comment systems and phone-ins as the libel courses would help make those platforms run more smoothly.

One to read

Story Curve: Emerging into the light

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19
Nov

iPlayer pick: I’m sorry I haven’t a clue

I’m Sorry I haven’t a clue is one of the best comedy shows on radio, in fact it is one of the best things being broadcast on either radio, television or online.

Well now it’s back and it is finally settling into itself with a permanent host in the form of Jack Dee for the whole of series 52 and jokes that don’t sound like they were written with Humph in mind.

Good start to the series and high hopes for the next five episodes.

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21
Aug

Keeping movie magic alive

Kevin Lewis has been working with film for the last 40 years and his passion extends beyond what you see on screen.

For Kevin his passion is as much in the nuts, bolts and water cooled appature ring as it is in the moving pictures.

For the last 15 years he has been rebuilding the 50 year old projector that now brings the prints at the Jersey Outdoor Film Festival to life.

And despite telling me it is finished, he still finds himself tweeking, playing and cleaning it every day.

The projector in question is a Westar, is 50 years old this year and is one of the last to be made in Britain.

However, after being rebuilt over the last 15 years from spare parts and with the passion of a dedicated enthusiast it bares only a passing resemblance to the one originally built during the hey day of British cinema.

Old ProjectorOriginally built to play films in a cinema, the 35mm projector is now built into an old television outside broadcast truck called ‘OB2′ – Kevin wanted ‘OB1′ but two was in better condition.

And the truck itself, brought from a now defunct ITV franchise holder in the UK, gets the same level of care and attention as the project it carries around.

The ‘truck’ has now become a trailer, partly because having big metal bars makes it easier to ‘level’ when playing a film and partly because it makes it more portable.

It has been the centre piece of one of Jersey’s ‘hidden gem’ summer events.

OK so it is a bit of a stretch to call something attended by over 3,000 people ‘hidden’ but you won’t find it in the high profiles brochures or promoted in shop windows around town.

Every year Kevin brings out the ‘pearl screen’, the projector and makes use of his contacts as a former cinema owner to get the prints – so that thousands of islands and tourists alike can enjoy a film under the stars.

Despite being watched by thousands and appreciated by all, even those asking for the big grey truck to be moved, the event’s future could be in question if a sponsor can’t be found for 2010.

Kevin payed for it himself for the first four years, got a grant from Tourism after that and in the last four has found himself begging for sponsorship to keep the event going.

It would be a shame to see this great summer tradition come to an end over money. Even more so for the projector and truck that work so hard to keep its audience enthraled.

And the projector, the truck, and the screen – those vital ingredient in playing a film- they just sit there working away.

Despite technology that is nearly 50 years old they manage to keep the young, the old and everyone in between wrapped in the grip of the magic of the movies year in, year out.

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3
Aug

iPlayer Pick: Man on Wire

When coming up with my iPlayer picks I would normally ignore anything in the top five simply on the grounds that most people will have seen it already – but I’ll make an exception for Man on Wire.

The film tells the true tale of how Philippe Petit managed to achieve his amazing high wire walk between the Twin Towers in New York back in the 70s – it’s funny, poinant, irritating and slightly scary all at the same time.

It’s a British film with a French sensability and Philippe Petit has such an over archingly exuberant personality that he brings the whole film alive – mixed with black and white footage and a selection of equally ‘interesting’ head 2 head interviews with his ‘crew’ of the time.

Watch it and enjoy.

Embed code generated using the Up Your Ego PIP tool.

I first saw Man on Wire at the first Branchage film festival in Jersey, an event I’m more closely involved in this year through the Sheer Talent/BBC Jersey Introducing gig.

Branchage pulls together films in alternative places – in locations you might not expect to see a film like The Wicker Man at the twelth century Gorey Castle.

It also mixes live music with that venue selection as well – from live scores to silent films to a heavy metal guitar solo before the screening of Heavy Metal in Baghdad.

If you can be in Jersey between 1st and 4th of October – you’ll find SOMETHING to do and probably discover a few new ‘favourite’ films in the mix.

Speaking of mix and music see if you can spot me in this months Gallery Magazine.

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