As I’ve done for the last few years I’m going to spend a couple of days looking back at the year on this blog. Firstly, here’s a list of the ten most popular posts on the blog this year. Winterval. No surprise here. Because I monitor the Mail’s Corrections and Clarifications column, I was one… Continue reading Review of 2011: Most Popular Posts
2011 in Gigs
One of my pet hates is all that “review of the year” stuff that appears before the year is over. But I’m not planning to go to any gigs in the next three days, so I feel justified in reviewing the gigs I’ve seen this year before the end of the year. According to Songkick… Continue reading 2011 in Gigs
The War on Christmas Cards
The Mail might have finally been forced to admit that Winterval wasn’t the the pagan plot they’ve always claimed it was, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop publishing spurious “War on Christmas” stories whenever the fancy takes them. Today they turned their attention to Christmas cards and really didn’t like what they saw. The headline… Continue reading The War on Christmas Cards
Did Twitter Censor #GodIsNotGreat?
[Executive summary: Betteridge’s Law (probably) applies] The Twitter furore over the #GodIsNotGreat hash tag has pretty much died down now, but there’s one branch of the debate that is still getting comments and retweets. Here’s an example from johnwilander. #GodIsNotGreat pulled from trends because christians protest. But #ReasonsToBeatYourGirlfriend was allowed. Stay classy, @Twitter. As I… Continue reading Did Twitter Censor #GodIsNotGreat?
Hitchens’ Last Laugh
This morning I woke up to the terrible (although not completely unexpected) news that Christopher Hitchens had died. The rational community has, of course, lost one of its most erudite and interesting members. But it seems that Christopher had one last trick up his sleeve. As with most breaking news these days, I found out… Continue reading Hitchens’ Last Laugh
Stealing Sheep
One Wednesday in August I went to the Barfly in Camden to see Alessi’s Ark. I knew nothing at all about the support acts for the night. The first act on were called Stealing Sheep. The first song they played was this one. It’s called “I Am The Rain” I am the Rain by stealing… Continue reading Stealing Sheep
Parking in Balham
You’ll often hear people saying that Mail writers live in a different world to the rest of us. Actually, I think that they live in the same world as us, they just like to think that they live in a different one. The fun and games start when they discover they are wrong and that… Continue reading Parking in Balham
LoveFilm and Silverlight
Yesterday, LoveFilm announced that they are changing the technology which powers their film streaming service. From early in January the existing Flash-based system will be replaced by one which uses Microsoft’s Silverlight technology. This is extremely disappointing for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there’s the immediate technological fallout. Silverlight doesn’t run on as many platforms… Continue reading LoveFilm and Silverlight
Winterval on the Pod Delusion
I’m on this week’s Pod Delusion talking about Winterval and the Mail’s admission that it was never a replacement for Christmas.
Winterval
From today’s Daily Mail corrections column: We stated in an article on 26 September that Christmas has been renamed in various places Winterval. Winterval was the collective name for a season of public events, both religious and secular, which took place in Birmingham in 1997 and 1998. We are happy to make clear that Winterval… Continue reading Winterval