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Sherlock 2.0, we have the technology

Caroline — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:43:51 +0000

Odd. I can watch individual video’s as posted by the BBC on YouTube, but I can’t see their channel on it due to country restrictions. Dear BBC, I pay money to UPC cable which allows me to view BBC 1, 2, 3 and 4 here in The Netherlands. Why can’t I watch your channel on YouTube?

But I digress. Here’s actor Benedict Cumberbatch who plays Sherlock in the new BBC One drama series talking about how gadgets and technology bring his character into the 21st Century, in Steven Moffat’s modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. Tim Freeman plays Watson. Here he is talking about his character.

The first episode aired last weekend and turned out to be a very tasty mix of House, Spooks and a more adult version of Doctor Who. So much better than that abomination Guy Richie whipped up for the big screen. Interestingly Cumberbatch was offered the role of the Doctor before Matt Smith got it, but turned it down because he didn’t want to be part of its franchise. The next episode of Sherlock (I believe there are three in this series) will air this Sunday. The BBC are looking into ordering more episodes, but they will have to wait for Moffat to finish his work on Who. Which can’t be soon enough.

Have a look at the trailer too.

Doctor Who Jr

Caroline — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:41:15 +0000

26-year-old Matt Smith has been named the new Doctor Who. He’ll be taking over from David Tennant in Spring 2010. Comments on Twitter went from ‘OMG he looks 12′, to ‘The new doctor is emo!’ and ‘Breaking news: Doctor Who moves to CBBC.’

I really like my Who to be someone to 1. look up to and (alright, shallow) 2. fanciable. 3. Preferably 40+. I thought David Tennant was too young to float my boat, but he proved me wrong and kind of is my favourite Doctor now. But a 26-year-old? Can’t really look up to him. As for the second point? Well, I’ve always been into older guys. Also.. he’s not much of a looker, is he? Well, not my type anyway.

Mr Hg thinks it’s a brave choice. Hmm. I think it’s a cynical BBC plot to haul in the ~~teeny boppers~~ emo kids.

OK Matt, prove this agist wrong.

Bookmarks for November 23rd through November 24th

Caroline — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:00:22 +0000

These are my links for November 23rd through November 24th:

Shoemakers of distinction for men and women –
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Meet Britain’s biggest gigaholic – "So long as they've got quality gigs, I'll be making an effort. I don't like to miss out."
50 Free Photoshop Brush Sets for Modern Design Trends – Six Revisions – Linkbait, but useful
Can the Killers take the heat? – Times Online – "I don’t understand why more people don’t wear sequins — they’re wonderful under a spotlight. And I also sometimes wonder if it’s my mask. I know I would feel petrified if I wore a T-shirt on stage."
A Personal Miscellany » Blog Archive » Drifting and Tilting, The Songs of Scott Walker – Some great photo's of the Scott Walker show
Paolo Ventura – Staged 'vintage' action figure photography
Gregory Crewdson’s Photo Alchemy : NPR – "Gregory Crewdson doesn't so much take pictures as make them. Some critics say the photographer and artist is reinventing the genre by using film techniques to stage pictures."

Bookmarks for November 11th through November 13th

Caroline — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:00:05 +0000

These are my links for November 11th through November 13th:

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US Elections 2008 | ‘Secret’ Obama code name revealed – But known as POTUS to the rest of us.
e-solex – want
BBC NEWS | Health | ‘Love handles’ raise death risk – Ah well at least I'm no longer 'obese', only 'overweight'. Another 10kg and I'll be perfectly 'normal'.
Flip launches an HD version of the Mino with 720p | Technology | guardian.co.uk –
Team Zie.nl – And I has another blog. This one's for work and hopefully my colleague's will join in the fun.
Zie.NL Video – De nieuwe video sharing website van Nederland. – The video site I've been working on for the last 4 months has just gone live (beta).
How to Change the World: Looking for Mr. Goodtweet: How to Pick Up Followers on Twitter – Twitter just jumped the shark

Did I mention I loathed the 90s?

Caroline — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:46:57 +0000

Anyone watch Pop on Trial, the 90′s with Stuart Maconie, Caitlin Moran, Goldie and Paolo Hewitt on BBC 4? Oh. My. God. The. Smug. Goldie’s the only one I didn’t want to throttle. He seemed a lot more interesting than previously suspected. Hewitt, Moran and Maconie represent everything I hated in the British music press in the 90s. The insular, anti-European, suspicious of anything attempting to be more than entertainment vibe. No mention of U2, of course – the band that arguably dominated the early 90s world wide. Paolo ‘I’m so far up the Gallagher’s arse my face looks like I’m permanently smelling poo’ Hewitt especially I wanted to gag. I don’t know who said it and I’m paraphrasing but, yeah, the 90s… all about Thatcher’s children run amok. Fuck Oasis and Loaded and lads and ladettes.

BBC beta homepage

Caroline — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:56:21 +0000

I hadn’t visited the BBC homepage for a while and when I had a look this morning a largish button said: ‘Try out our new, customisable homepage’. So I went and did just that. On first glance, it certainly improves on the current, unimpressive (the international one in particular, which is just a series of links grouped together) home.

This beta page is quite simple, with a few visual flourishes allowed in the larger image top right. Clicking the coloured buttons underneath it will change both the image and the rest of the page’s supportive colours, and the image itself might go over its own set border (the top of the woman’s head sticks out in this picture, as does a tree in the frosty blue Garderner’s World picture and the locks of David Tennant’s cartoon head in the orange ‘Pilot the Tardis’ option. You can make some, but not too many, changes to the content.

There’s a choice of various headlines and an option to localise your page, sadly not to anywhere outside of the U.K., so I’m stuck with London weather. Not everything works as it should yet (duh, beta) as dragging blocks into different columns will not always align properly. But I appreciate the return to larger images and the effort to make BBC’s home more appealing. Now can it stay ad-free, please? And will the underlying content also take on this new look?

Name that bands

Caroline — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 05:39:40 +0000

Hate it when that happens, I’m watching the BBC’s coverage of the Reading and Leeds festivals and there was one song I liked by a band I didn’t recognise and I missed their introduction. They were joined by rappers (Dizzee Rascal?) on stage, but it looked like it was just a gimmick for the festival. They sounded quite punky and the only lyric I could make out was ‘In the city… it’s alright’ or something like that.

… must have been The Rakes, judging from this picture, and these lyrics:

in the city is a riot,22 grand job
in the city is a riot,22 grand job
in the city is a riot,22 grand job
in the city is a riot,there’s aint nice
it’s alright,it’ alright

TV eye

Caroline — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 02:44:11 +0000

UPC is changing its digital TV package and for once, it’s to my advantage. The (total) price is going down (no more separate bills for analog and digital) and I will be getting a few more channels, including (huzzah!) BBC … Continue reading →

Going digital

Caroline — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 01:56:45 +0000

More music. That’s the main reason why I’m ordering UPC digital TV, eventhough they don’t have the greatest range of channels. It ain’t Sky digital, that’s for sure. Still, it’s got 60 TV channels (pdf) and 55 music (radio) channels, films on demand, games and 35 ‘interactive sites’. All at Euro 9,95 a month.

A lot of the 60 TV channels on it are also available through my analog subscription (which I cannot cancel), but at least I’ll get threeo extra MTV channels (that actually broadcast music), VH1 and VH1 classic, as well as the VPRO digital music channels, which are also available streaming. I’ll also get BBC Prime, next to the usual BBC1, 2 and World.

What I really want is all the other British channels and the Sci-fi channel, but that’s just not going to happen right now. I’m sure the Hallmark channel will make me forget all about ‘em.

Progress

Caroline — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 01:55:02 +0000

Ten years ago, when I built one of my first websites, it got mentioned first in the Irish Times, then in The Guardian. It was featured on the BBC, as well as appearing in most Internet magazines and books on the shelves at the time.

I’ve come a long way since then. Everybody I knew online back then has gone on to bigger, better, greater things. But none of them can boast this, I’m sure:

Whedonesque appeared in The Sun today.