Simple Pleasures part 4

cun+

ArkAngel — Thu, 09 May 2013 22:39:35 +0000

Photograph by Annie Cartwright

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?page=1&aid;=120463&id;=520932762

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=520932762

Pet names in pairs

ArkAngel — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:19:15 +0000

As well as setting great store by titles, I love names. On Saturday afternoon we went out to the wonderful Scratching Post (cat rescue charity) in Waltham Abbey and found these two beauties…

We were only looking for one to succeed the late Tommy Boy Murphy (named after a record label) but as soon as the orange one came into sight he was destined for our house and then the tabby appeared in the background and it turned out they came as a sibling pair. So it seemed right to seek out a pair of names fitting a boy & girl pair and I put out the call in social media. Names flowed in from all quarters. Even since the names have been decided, the Facebook thread has continued to flow, so it feels like the right thing to do to make all the great suggestions people have kindly offered available to future searchers of paired animal names.

In the end we went for two halves of two pairs, Tango (from Tango & Cash) and Ziggy (from Ziggy & Stardust), the former the orange boy and the latter the grey girl. Tango & Ziggy.

Along the way to those chosen names, here are the suggestions people proposed – thanks to all the friends and family who offered names and I hope this list helps other new parents down the line…

Ziggy & Stardust
Ziggy & Dusty
Zig & Zag
Yin & Yang
Ping & Pong
Shelley & Cooper (after Sheldon Cooper)
Marvin & Tammy
Frida & Diego
Ike & Tina
Harold & Maude
Bogey & Bacall
Scott & Zelda
Maria & Tony
Smokey & Bandit
Pearl & Dean
James & Carole (after Taylor / King)
Crosby & Hope – Bing & Bob
Lois & Clark
Nick & Nora (Dashiell Hammett)
Kit & Kaboodle
Fish & Chips
Posh & Becks
Ronald & Nancy
Artemis & Apollo
Starbuck and Apollo
Smith & Wesson
Armstrong & Miller
Butch & Sundance
Cheech & Chong
Hoddle & Waddle (Spurs)
Darby & Joan
Ginger & Fred
Thing One & Thing Two
Fortnum & Mason
Sooty & Sue
Rhubarb & Custard
Gin & Tonic
Tweedledum & Tweedledee
Tom & Jerry/Geri
Crazy Horse & Custer
Sonny & Cher
Boris & Ken
Whiskey & Ginger
Orson & Rita
Tristan & Isolde
Ron & Hermione
Sapphire & Steel
Steed & Purdey – Steed & Mrs Peel
Richard & Judy
Thisone & Thatone
Bangers & Mash
Toast & Marmalade
Bubble & Squeak
Samson & Delilah
Lucille & Desi
Hall & Oats
Dennis & Maggie
George and Mildred
Oberon and Titania
Troilus and Cressida
Micky and Mallory
Bang & Olufsen
S & M
M & S
Gamble and Huff
Frost & Nixon
Jack & Jill
Joseph & Mary
Dido & Aeneas
Thelma & Louise
Pye & Wacket
Lepsy and Tonic (short for Catalepsy and Catatonic)
Black & Decker
Roy & Haylee
Miles & Davis
Miles & Coltrane/Trane
Lambert and Butler
Benson & Hedges
Betsy and Bunty
Heffalump and Woozle
Blackberry and Apple
Gilbert and George
Sponge Bob and Square Pants
Mork & Mindy
Penn & Teller
Sodom and Gomorrah
Vic & Bob
Tango & Cash
Leopold and Bloom
Boswell and Johnson
Gilbert & Sullivan
Turner & Hooch
Terry & June
Dempsey & Makepeace
Rogoff and Reinhart
Eric & Ernie
1 & 0
Sturm & Drang
Mulder & Scully
Sid & Nancy

Havens to Heaven

ArkAngel — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:34:03 +0000

When I was still half asleep this morning, the radio playing from some vague distance, I heard the sad news of Richie Havens’ passing on. I found myself standing in front of my Wall of Fame where a photo of Richie is among the select few. I looked out a non-existent window to the left and the top of a ship could just be spotted. As the news hit home it transformed into the top rigging and masts of a bright white ghost ship like Frank Hurley’s images of The Endurance.

Richie Havens first entered my life as the opener of Woodstock. I went to see Michael Wadleigh’s movie of the festival of festivals at the cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue near Seven Dials with my best man and music compatriot Stuart R. The big close up of Richie’s pounding sandal stays in my head – a true leg/end. He had to go on first, although he was originally billed fifth, because traffic was holding up other performers. He held fort and held forth for a couple of legendary hours until reinforcements arrived and his repertoire was entirely exhausted. He climaxed with an improvised medley of Motherless Child and a chant of Freedom (not sure where that comes from). The energy and deep soul is spell-binding and made his name for ever…

I met him once – on a very special occasion. September 1995, Jazz Cafe, Camden Town, London. I took my mum out for a last night out with me still as her unattached boy. We had a chat with Richie after the show and he signed the picture which has since sat on my Wall of Fame. Alongside the likes of Michael Powell and Neil Armstrong and Dave Brubeck. He was the last man standing on the Wall – now they are all up there together again…

He sang a song called Adam on his 1988 LP Mixed Bag. It has his distinctive voice underpinned with its characteristic gruffness. It has the hippy vibe, more San Francisco than his native Brooklyn (I’m not sure why I associate him with San Fran, maybe he lived there in the 90s?) It has the strongly rhythmic approach. Echoes of Gil Scott-Heron, Cat Stevens and Terry Callier. A bit of Jefferson Airplane psychedelia. A wonderful mix all his own.

The sweat on the back of his monk orange kaftan as he walks off stage still singing Freedom at the end of his Big Moment at Woodstock says everything you need to know about what he put into his music.

Ways to spend £10 million #23

ArkAngel — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:47:30 +0000

Old enmities are set aside for the day

Vote for Picasso

ArkAngel — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:43:42 +0000

Happy Birthday Charlie

ArkAngel — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:35:33 +0000

124 today and never bettered

Rip Off Britain – Never was so much owed by so many for so little

ArkAngel — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 18:15:50 +0000

I hate monopolies. I hate bad value. I hate bad faith. I hate organisations which rip people off and add no value to the lives of others.

Glad I got that off my chest.

And just to get through a difficult Victor Meldrew moment I must now start a cumulative list of the companies who typify Rip Off Britain.

1. Apcoa Parking (and London Luton Airport Operations Ltd.) – Why do they charge £2 for people to drop off their family at Luton Airport? (We’re not talking parking here, we’re talking stopping the car to let the passenger out and hand them their bag.) Winston says:

Never was so much owed by so many for so little

What do they think that £2 is paying for? What service do they imagine they are actually providing? What value do they think they’re adding? And why is their machine to collect the undeserved £2 held together with tape, why doesn’t it even work? What mediocrity that they can’t even rip you off properly. Apcoa’s vision apparently is: “to be the first choice in parking” I don’t believe it! - where’s the choice when you’re dropping someone off at the airport?

2. National Portrait Gallery – I’ve loved this place since I was a teen but £14 for an exhibition? That’s making art and culture for tourists and the chattering classes exclusively. Try playing Spot the Non-White at the ‘National’ Theatre to reach the same place by a different route.

3. [whoever next cheeses me or you off on similar grounds]

Want to add anything to the list? Feel free to join Winnie and Victor as we fight them on the landing grounds, in the fields and in the streets by commenting below.

Cannes Do attitude

ArkAngel — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:15:38 +0000

A bulletin from the front-line of MIP TV in Cannes courtesy of C21 Media

C4 lines up ‘social media first’

MIPCUBE: UK broadcaster Channel 4′s first primetime show drawn entirely from digital airs this summer, allowing viewers to play along on social media and receive bonus content.

Was It Something I Said?, initially an eight-part Friday night panel show, will be presented by comedian David Mitchell and produced by Maverick TV and That Mitchell & Webb Co.

Adam Gee, Channel 4’s multi-platform commissioning editor, told C21 here in Cannes: “We’ve been trying to do this for a long time. For the last two years I’ve been looking for ‘the North West Passage’ from digital media to TV. This started life as an arts digital commission and now it’s yielded primetime television.”

Gee, responsible for commissioning campaigning multi-platform properties The Great British Property Scandal and Hugh’s Fish Fight, claimed the new show would be a social media first.

“What’s particularly interesting about it is that the playalong will be fully integrated into social media, so you won’t have to go somewhere else to join in,” he said.

The show pits two teams against each other in wordplay, based on things people have said, tweets, media, and TV and film dialogue. Viewers will be able to play along with the show on Twitter, and receive bonus content.

Julian Blake

09-04-2013

{reproduced courtesy of C21 Media}

TV producers are no good at making YouTube videos

ArkAngel — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:18:02 +0000

Picking up on the last post I’m glad to see my thoughts on YouTube-type video…

The new YouTube channels are an area where TV baggage is damaging. Some have squeezed out everything that’s really good about YouTube. You want that energy that comes from someone being able to record, edit and bang something out in three hours.

…broadly confirmed from the front line. Hank, one of the fellas behind Crash Course and SciShow, summarises the Lessons Learned from YouTube’s $300M Hole (its first tranche of ’Original Channel’ investment) thus:

Spending more money to produce the same number of minutes of content does not increase viewership. Online video isn’t about how good it looks, it’s about how good it is.
People who make online video are much better at making online video than people who make TV shows. This probably seems obvious to you (it certainly is to me) but it apparently was not obvious to the people originally distributing this money.
When advertising agencies tell you they want something (higher quality content, long-form content, specific demographics, lean-back content, stuff that looks like tv) it’s not our job to attempt to deliver those things. In a world where the user really does get to choose, the content created to satisfy the needs and wants of viewers (not advertisers) will always reign supreme (thankfully.)

He concludes “Of the 114 channels that YouTube funded as part of this initiative, my educated guess is that exactly one earned back its advance…”

No real surprise there gauging by the UK channels which are broadly made as cheap TV which looks …cheap – but not cheerful. Cheerful is the energy referred to above, in a world where there is no such thing as a jump cut and individual personality is what communicates the joie de vivre.

The New Rules of Engagement

ArkAngel — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:48:20 +0000

This extract from Broadcast is based on a roundtable discussion about the state of play of multiplatform and interactivity around TV.

The new rules of engagement

14 March, 2013 | By Alex Farber

What are broadcasters and producers bringing to the table in multiplatform projects – and how can they make them pay? Broadcast brought together the key players at a roundtable sponsored by Xbox

ROUNDTABLE THE PANEL

Alex Farber (chair) Web editor, Broadcast
Adam Gee Multiplatform commissioner of factual, Channel 4
Harvey Eagle Marketing director, Xbox UK
Paul Bennun Chief creative officer, Somethin’ Else
Peter Cowley Managing director, Spirit Media
Victoria Jaye Head of IPTV and TV online content, BBC Vision
Anthony Rose Founder, Zeebox
Janine Smith Creative director, Zodiak Active

Why is innovation so important?

Paul Bennun All of us want to create wonderful services, products and content that is going to be enjoyed and used by as many people as possible. You can’t just think about programmes any more; you have to use design-thinking, and that means employing more than one platform.
…

Do viewers want innovation?

Anthony Rose When there was only black-and-white TV, it’s unlikely people were clamouring for colour; they didn’t know it was possible. As a developer, you take bigger bets on things that you think have a high chance of succeeding and smaller bets on things that are fun to try. That’s the joy of innovation.
…

How do they engage with content?

AR Once the BBC filmed beautiful things for TV, then it began producing programme pages online, then second- screen apps. Then Twitter arrived offering conversations around content. The nirvana is that some programmes could be completely interactive. Imagine The Voice where the audience is the fifth chair.

PB I disagree, I do not want to be calling the shots on a football match. I want a director to tell that story because they can do a better job than I can. Interactive dramas that try to work on a mass scale tend to be worse than a simple linear experience.

Adam Gee But Embarrassing Bodies: Live From The Clinic is exactly in that space. You can watch the show at 8pm and have been on it by 9pm. It throws the emphasis back on live TV, which is good for advertising. There is a sweet spot between TV and interactive where you can get mass participation and rewarding, new experiences.

Janine Smith We have reached a point where we can learn from things we have done, and develop new formats where the multiplatform element is integral and not just an extended add-on.

…

There is a sweet spot between TV and interactive where you can get mass participation and rewarding, new experiences. Adam Gee, Channel 4

Has the role of the broadcaster changed?

AG It’s critical to ask what you can bring as a broadcaster that no one else can. Facebook, Twitter or Zeebox couldn’t make Live From The Clinic. You want to get to a position where if you extract the digital from the TV, it’s a lesser programme and vice-versa.

VJ Programming is still one of the key catalysts for social discussion. You’ve got to put something great out there for the audience to get excited about. Only we can bring Sir David Attenborough to Twitter for a chat about Africa.

AG I always ask if what is being proposed is better than a really good TV show and Twitter. Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is one of the biggest factual formats on Channel 4, but there’s nothing much that we can usefully bring to the party in that case – so we don’t…

Peter Cowley Editorially I agree, but if you were a purely commercial broadcaster you might have a different view.

…

PB When the BBC removed its multiplatform commissioning, it effectively started presenting itself to the world as a TV commissioner. Because the BBC measures itself on its performance with TV programmes, it isn’t measuring the success of its digital formats.

AG We’re in a different place at C4. The past 18 months has been about trying to find the passage from digital to television. I’m working on a panel show that started life as an online arts commission; it’s a sign of maturity that this direction of travel is now possible.

How mainstream are multiplatform projects becoming?

VJ Media literacy is a big job for the BBC. The challenge is: how do you invite and choreograph 6 million people to download an app and play along with a 35-year-old programme such as Antiques Roadshow?

HE We are now trying to expand our audience beyond core gamers by creating content and entertainment experiences with broader appeal.

…

Who are the emerging players?

VJ Felix Baumgartner’s space dive really showcased the mixed economy: a 10-minute live event, funded by Red Bull, with 8 million YouTube viewers, followed by a BBC documentary funded via a completely different model with National Geographic. It shows the new players that are bringing audiences content.

PB Red Bull has no broadcast infrastructure overheads. It will ask how something executes across the different platforms and won’t draw any distinctions. We made Red Bull’s Bedroom Jam, which included an online music competition and a live broadcast. A programme doesn’t sum up what we’re trying to achieve any more.

HE We’re trying to go beyond the console model and become a service that exists across multiple devices.

AG The new YouTube channels are an area where TV baggage is damaging. Some have squeezed out everything that’s really good about YouTube. You want that energy that comes from someone being able to record, edit and bang something out in three hours.

Extract published courtesy of Broadcast