March 2009 Archives

Good old Jeremy Clarkson, who is the subject of a new Youtube clip doing the rounds, likes to think of himself as a bit of a prankster and wind-up merchant.

Traditionally we refer to Jezza as a 'motormouth' in the Birmingham Mail, usually when writing stories about his latest insult to our city.

Never mind that he's trousered enormous amounts of loot from his 'MPH' shows at the NEC.

No, Jezza hates the city, and region in general, having said the Brummie accent makes "everyone sound subnormal".

He's had a go a restaurant - Simpsons - which is the pride of Brum, and described nearby Wednesbury as "the worst place in the world."

And on hearing that MG Rover had gone under, his first reaction was 'good'.

So I think we can take a small amount of pleasure from the fact that he's become so famous that he can't even go to the toilet without practical jokes being played on him.

At the Mallorca Classic Car Rally on March 21 2009, pranksters piled tyres in front of the portaloo door forcing him to kick his way out.

So I think we can take some cold comfort from the living hell that multi-multi millionaire Clarkson's life has become in the public eye (ok, well, probably not but we can only hope).

Follow me on twitter for updates.

I see some people are getting their knickers in a twist over plans which could see the government monitoring social networking sites like Facebook in the fight against crime and terrorism.

Some, such as Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake are concerned, and he said: "It is deeply worrying that they now intend to monitor social networking sites which contain very sensitive data like sexual orientation, religious beliefs and political views."

I suppose one question is: has anyone who choses to live their life in public got any claim to privacy any more?

The Facebook ethos is everyone can see everything.

People complain about the CCTV culture in our towns and cities but then stick up pictures of themselves wearing hardly anything or drunk out of their skulls.

A lot of people seem unable even to make the most rudimentary privacy settings meaning all their information, pictures and videos will be available to anyone.

And don't forget, if you die in a bizarre and horrible fashion, The Sun, (or *ahem* your regional paper) may well illustrate the story with a picture of you. Drunk. From Facebook.

The problem with all this government snooping is that they WILL end up misusing the legislation.

Other anti-terrorist measures have led to octagenarians being ejected from Labour Party Conferences and then arrested, and councils using the laws to monitor if people's wheeliebin lids are open more than an inch, along with many other examples.

Below: Would you want this to be your epitaph? Some people's privacy settings suggest they wouldn't mind if it was.

Follow me on twitter for updates.

I did wonder about posting this up on family site - but then again as the source is 'newsbeat' the Radio One BBC news, I guess it should be ok!

I don't know, standards at the BBC etc, makes the Daily Mail furious, and so on.

Anyway, to the story which is short and sweet - a young lad unknown to his parents painted a giant nob on the roof of his ginormous home.

No-one noticed and it was there for a year before he came clean.

Mind you, I don't suppose the neighbours were laughing that much, unless they commute to work via helicopter, which given the 'exclusive' area is possible.

Now, of course it's all over the net, so their shame is complete.

Puerile but amusing.

Privacy campaigners have made a formal complaint about Google's controversial new mapping service, it was disclosed today.

Privacy International has lodged the complaint with the Information Commissioner over claims that a number of people are identifiable through the Street View service.

The application allows users to access 360-degree views of roads and homes in 25 British towns and cities and includes photographs of millions of residential addresses, people and cars.

IT is the internet phenomenon that is sweeping the planet as satellites take a long, long look at our streets.

But one man was caught short by the spy cameras - as he took a leak at the side of a busy Birmingham road. He thought he was having a crafty pee away from prying eyes but now has a worldwide audience.

Google's new Street View cameras, mounted in roving cars, found him in full flow, and in broad daylight. The shot was taken close to the city's Aston Expressway, and has become an overnight internet sensation.

Our mystery man is just one of dozens captured in compromising situations by the camera cars trawling the streets.

Dawn of War 2
THQ
PC
£29.99

THE last Dawn of War game really hit the big time - selling huge numbers and bringing a little known tabletop wargame to the mass market.

It didn't really do much different, and followed exactly the same formula that almost every real time strategy game has done since Dune 2.

Build base, hold off enemy attacks, build up force and then assault.

It was done with great aplomb though, and was set in the grim-yet-brilliant fun Warhammer 40,000 universe.

DoW 2, to its credit, tries something quite different. It focuses much more on small squads, utilising cover, with no base building whatsoever.

It is mostly a success although it comes across in the final analysis as being slightly simplistic.

Forget making the biggest daisy chain, or eating the most bananas while standing on your head - this is a record truly to be proud of!

An "outrageously crude" computer programme entered record books today as the most profane video game ever.

The recently released House Of The Dead: Overkill, which has an 18 certificate, features the word "f***" more than once every minute played, a Guinness World Records spokesman said.

During three hours of "relatively limited" dialogue, the game features 189 uses of the expletive, equating to 3 per cent of all words spoken in the game, researchers found.

Gaz Deaves, from Guinness World Records, said: "It's a mark of the times. This record category pre-existed for movies, music and television, but The House Of The Dead: Overkill is the first video game to be awarded the title in the gamer's edition."

The rather tedious wrangle over Youtube music videos (see posts below) has thrown a few interesting facts and arguments into the mix.

For one, it shows how badly the music industry is doing - because of the internet.

With everything available for free, sales have plummeted and they are frantically trying to claw back revenue through digital use of their products.
Unfortunately there is a huge gap between what they used to earn and what they can screw out of the internet, meaning the whole business is teetering on the edge.

But it is also fair to say that music itself is still massively popular.

In the coverage of the issue, it came to light that Leona Lewis, (pictured left) the former X Factor winner had music videos on Youtube which had garnered an incredible 84 MILLION hits.

A chum asked me today for advice - his mother-in-law has sent him a friend request on Facebook.

So what to do? To refuse would clearly have a lot of potential pitfalls.

But saying yes also causes problems. The point of social networking seems to be that everything's out in the open.

Write a dirty joke on someone's wall, launch a foul mouthed (yet friendly) tirade or link to a dubious Youtube vid and chances are your staid MIN will get the hump and think you're some kind of deviant. And then probably make your life a misery (or more so in this case).

You can, of couse accept the request, and then subtly remove it, which is what I suggested to him.

Facebook sends you a message saying you've been accepted as a friend, but not one when you get canned.

So all is well - unless, of course, she tries to visit your profile, or send you a private message.

And if she's really evil and cunning as only a mother in law can be, she might have installed the unfriender.

This nasty and vindictive application tells you when you have been removed from the list of friends by someone.

Let's just hope that his MIN isn't that expert at Facebook, and, er, doesn't read this blog!

News through today via PA looks like the Youtube music video ban might be resolved soon.

Also interesting as Oldham Athletic Football Club has entered the fray...:

Google today said it was hoping to resolve a licensing dispute which has prompted it to block the viewing of professional music videos on YouTube.

The internet giant announced last night that it had started a process to block videos although music fans could still watch videos by Lady GaGa, Britney Spears, Take That and U2 on YouTube today.

Google took the action after its negotiations for a new licence to show music videos faltered.

PRS for Music which issues licences and collects royalties on behalf of copyright holders, said Google wanted to pay "significantly less than at present to the writers of the music".
Google said the deal it had been offered would result in it losing money every time a video was played.