Twitter: The Early Years (1786-2007)

Now, we’re not claiming this is mindblowing investigative journalism. Why, it’s churnalism at best (see how we try and impress you by making it clear that we’ve read Flat Earth News. Did it work? Oh). Here’s a look at what Twitter used to look like, because we’ve had the idea...

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Wheeling Out The BBC Shockometer

It’s been a while since we used our handy measurement device for how SHOCKING the latest state-broadcaster-based OUTRAGES have been. Luckily, it’s still ticking along (a bit of a shame, as we’d fancied upgrading to a Trundle Wheel of Beeb-Based Fury, but there you go), so shall...

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You Couldn’t Make It Up

So, we post a little tribute to Steven Wells, and as a title we choose the reference Wells made in his final Philadelphia Weekly column to the pop song “Blame It On The Boogie” . The most well-known version of that song was recorded by The Jackson Five, and within twelve hours,...

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“Me? I blame it on sunshine. I blame it on the moonlight. I blame it on the boogie.”

  Steven Wells, 1960-2009. Legendary rock journalist Steven Wells (aka Swells, Seething Wells, Susan Wells) passed away on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. Even near the end, he was still penning pieces full of his trademark combination of wit, grit and spittle,...

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Spoiler: The Mad Magician Is The USSR

Heavy-handed political allegory from the 1950s. Bad atom! img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('ee9c0605-0bce-41c8-b8de-0b945fd5549d'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3LpaKkgBr3RG5KWRIO1AMqXAbY88a0-hJPAsdbl79PxAV_Z1ZtIc03gdH40dohA_0MEONfOBxVKC2b1kfFBQifxaoBquQB_2niEGdXwbN1IN5JS3Iw3U60RL3bzgu73lQ6-OU/?imgmax=800"...

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The End of Setanta Sports: Live Blog

[17.26] MediaGuardian report that Setanta Sports News, Setanta 1 and Setanta 2 are due to close down around 6pm this evening. Join us now, as we commentate live on exciting events as they happen. Or, more likely, don't. Meaning we end up deleting this post, and it goes the way...

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Exciting Newstopia On BBC Four Update

Back in October, we started a campaign to get Shaun Micallef’s wonderful news parody Newstopia onto UK screens, with the most likely homes for it being BBC Four, More4 or Paramount. Flicking through our EPG today, what do we find making up one half of a BBC Four colonial comedy...

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Music Has The Right To Contact Eileen Bilton… Now!

Brilliant YouTube thing of the day: a fan-made video for Boards Of Canda’s “Roygbiv”, comprising wholly of clips from 1980s UK television commercials. img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('7e6ec92f-6ecb-400f-8f77-b13ba6bb00fa'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML...

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Humpty Dumpty is Going to Kill You in Your Sleep

Here’s something you don’t get nowadays; misguided television commercials that have the intention of appealing to children, but which end up being inexplicably terrifying. You may have to roll with us on some of these, but we’ve had lo-fidelity masterpiece “Dying Happy” by Baby...

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Turkish Delight on a Moonlit Night

For all the annoying chatter along the lines of “ooh, isn’t Letterman brilliant! Why isn’t there a show like that over here, eh? My favourite bit is when he laughs at one of ‘his’ jokes that he’s just seen on a cue card for the first time, and then the band leader pretends to...

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Angry, and Possibly Litigious

Now, it’s not a conscious decision that we’ve somehow become one of those blogs that just links to YouTube videos done by other, talented people, but we feel compelled to share this. We like dance music. We like Stephen Colbert. Ergo: we like this. img alt="" galleryimg="no"...

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Heavily Stylised Gs and Silent Laments

We haven’t checked in with Applemask’s spiffing retrospectives on ITV regional continuity for a while, so what better time to stroll briskly with him through the cobbled streets of Granadaland’s past. Hey, it’s not all drab yellow-on-blue slides displayed to a soundtrack of...

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The Mighty PWEI versus Gay Byrne

If there’s something we love seeing, it’s when mainstream television plays host to completely unsuitable guests. For example, in the early 1990s Bill Hicks was once a guest on Pebble Mill at One. Bill Hicks! Sadly, there isn’t a clip of that on YouTube, but there is this. Promoting...

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More News Going Wrong

That last update has been linked to on Metafilter, resulting in a minor flurry of hits to the blog. As a direct result, because we’re needy enough to pander to any reasonably large crowd glancing in our general direction, here’s a minor collection of other news-related titsuppery...

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Philip Hayton Version? That’s a Good Name For A Band.

Thanks to a post by Steve Williams on the spanky new TVCream Forum, we’ve got a new hobby. Watching YouTube videos from Newsbunny, where old editions of the BBC News are accompanied the talkback track from the gallery. Yeah! It might not sound as exciting as, say, train collecting...

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