Sour Alba

The BNP winning seats in the Euro elections puts the nail in the coffin of my belief in the United Kingdom. I know there are bigots aplenty in Scotland but I want no part in a country that elects fascists.

But this parody of a BNP video cheered me up greatly.

Remember, in the words of The Angelic Upstarts, “fascism doesn’t start with concentration camps, that’s where it ends”.

OK, you’ve probably all seen this but if you haven’t, it’s comedy gold. The Apprentice remixed to make Alan Sugar entertaining… Get’s very, very funny at 2:45.  ”From Tower Bridge right up to Westminster”.

One of my favourite web things ever was the version of NWA’s Straight Outta Compton that cut out everything but the swearing. (I used to be a well-spoken young man but then I entered my first newsroom…) That was many years ago. 

Now there is a worthy successor and what a labour of love it is: every nugget of sweartastic goodness from every episode of The Sopranos. And nothing else. Pure, unadulterated Anglo Saxon. Oh, and it’s not very safe for work. Or your mum. Unless, that is, your mum is a heavily tattooed Lithuanian sailor with Tourette’s.

the sopranos, uncensored. from victor solomon on Vimeo.

Very funny wee film about cars at a zebra crossing being faced with a seemingly never-ending parade of pedestrians in fancy dress.

Yay for crazy mash-ups. This one effortlessly blends the delicate harmonies of the Beach Boys with a fondly-remembered advert of my youth.

Am at an Online News Association event at Reuters, looking at their mobile journalism kit. It’s very exciting, being portable, non-intrusive and cheap(ish), based as it is on the Nokia N95 (5 megapixel camera, 3.5G, wifi). Nokia have been involved in its implementation and it comes with a Bluetooth keyboard and Sony digital mic. It’s been used in places as far afield as Afghanistan.

My verdict: promising area for future journalism – especially if it’s easy to use and cheap – but the examples we saw just did not cut it in quality terms, especially with regard to lighting and shake. To be fair, it’s all still in the experimental phase.

Judge for yourselves at www.reutersmojo.com.

(filed from my Nokia E61)

Update: Here’s a picture of said kit, showing: tripod; Nokia N95; Bluetooth keyboard; Sony digital mic; and solar charger.