Sweet Nothings

This post will discuss Charlie Brooker, Ed and Oucho and a certain website and attempt to link them in a vaguely coherent manner. Charlie Brooker has built up a genuine cult following over the years, starting with the brilliant TV Go Home (the book of which apparently changes hands for huge sums on Ebay, though I’m certainly not selling mine) and steadily gaining more fans via his Guardian Screen Burn and Monday G2 columns and then from Screen Burn’s televised equivalent Screenwipe and its Newswipe spinoff. He’s now become a bona fide mainstream presenter, if you can call a 10pm weeknight slot on Channel 4 mainstream. I’ve been watching the first few episodes of You Have Been Watching and something about the whole enterprise doesn’t sit quite right. Brooker’s appeal has always been that of the outsider, a rational man flailing and lashing out amidst the waves of ridiculous media bullshit. But maybe this is just the latest phase of a gradual drift towards the heart of the TV establishme...

The first I heard about Florence and the Machine was an article in the Guardian Guide last year by Sylvia Patterson, who is very good at puff pieces which don't sound like puff pieces. It portrayed Florence Welch as the sort of flighty, bohemian, behold-my-quirkiness type who would completely get on my tits within five minutes of meeting them. This coupled with hearty endorsements from Johnny Borrell and her rather wanky nom de plume did not leave me awaiting her album with drooling anticipation. Lo and behold, it turns out that Lungs is a rather fine piece of work. Although she's been lumped in with the current crop of 80s-worshipping Next Big Things and covers You've GotThe Love, Florence makes a far more progressive, soul-influenced sound that doesn't slavishly ape the past like, say, La Roux. Welch also has a voice that just when you think it's in danger of becoming one-dimensional will veer off in pleasing new directions. Subjects tackled in the lyrics include...

I received the following forwarded email yesterday, with the subject line of "Interesting": Allah or Jesus > > Christ? Islam is the fastest growing > > religion in the UK . > > > > Last month I attended > > my annual training session for maintaining > > my security clearance in the prison service. > > There was a > > presentation by three speakers from the Roman Catholic, > > Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained their > > beliefs. > > > > I was particularly > > interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say about the > > basics of Islam, complete with video. > > > > After the > > presentations, question time. I directed my question to > > the Imam and asked: > > 'Correct me if > > I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams > > and clerics of Islam have > > declared a Holy War against the infidels of the world > > and...