It was only a joke!

Hmmmm I was a little ranty last night wasn't I! Quite rightfully so I think too! I've received two emails from ticketmaster informing me ticket sales start tomorrow. Shove them!

But anyway that was yesterday this is today.

I'm very sad/annoyed to hear that Paul Chambers has lost his appeal in the infamous Twitter Joke Trial. Watch it trend!! For anyone who doesn't know, Mr Chambers published a tongue in cheek tweet about blowing up and airport, ok not a tongue in cheek subject, but in the context it was placed, clearly not a threat.

However, he was taken seriously and arrested, costing him a criminal record when prosecuted, under some poxy sub-law not any anti terrorist legislation, and his job.

Twitter has commonly been the home of overreactions (anyone remember the Duncan Bannatyne incident) but this is probably the most serious of them. Does it mean that every tweet is scrutinised by someone (sure to god nobody reads mine). Do we all have to be now far more careful about what we say? It's going down that way, the more avenues people open up for communication, the more closely we're watched. In the age of freedom and free speech it just doesn't sit right to me.

Was what Mr Chambers did wrong? I wouldn't say so, on reflection misconceived and I bet if he had the choice now, he'd change sending it. But honestly it was a clear joke and it was left to some humourless judge to decide what it is or is not acceptable to say on our own accounts in our own time. If the police had said, "Think about it next time" and sent him on his way, that would have been fair enough, and given enough warning no doubt so he would have. But this is heavy handed and big brother-y (not a word)

How many people, talented funny people, will not express themselves to the full any more, wary they might upset some follower and end up with a slander case.

The always cool Stephen Fry has offered to cover the fine, and if he didn't mean it so so many people will donate to help cover it, showing a community of users who understand each other.

The threat or terror is a current one, and honestly none of us know if it will ever effect us, but if there was to be an attack something deep down tells me, they wouldn't announce it on twitter first.

"I promise that I'll come to Wales"

I'm annoyed!

Ben Folds is one of my favourite artists, he's clearly a talented man and put son one hell of a show. Over my time I've travelled twice to Manchester and once to Bristol to see him. That's quite a few miles.

Imagine my joy when on his last UK tour (some time ago now) in Bristol, after being heckled from a good proportionally Welsh crowd, he promised, no sang, next time he'd come to Wales. Plus of course with everything these days the evidence is on youtube (I'm the one who put it on there)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szBp2JwanSE (1100 hits woo hoo)

Well today his long awaited tour dates came out. Dublin, Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Southampton, then on to Europe. Notice anything missing? Not even close, not even Bristol this time. Well thank you very much Mr Folds, this time you can shove your tickets up your Southampton.

It's an increasing trend, bands just don't play in Wales. Are the 'good' people of Cymru not worthy of the music? Are we all so poor we can't pay the ticket prices? Are we so far down the M4 people don't even know we exist? Well this Welshman has had enough, I'm not going to see him or anyone else who isn't close by. I know there's an element of cutting my nose off to spite my face but screw it. If more people had this attitude maybe we'd get better service down here.

Mr Folds your sans one fan, and based on your album sales last time, you need every one you can get.

You can guarantee we'll get the friggin X-Factor tour and Westlife and the like though.

Rugby, football, tennis and a request

I'm Welsh so I love rugby yeah? Well no, not all that much.

I don't dislike rugby, I do like it as a sport. I like to watch international games, I support my nation, I'd even go as far to say I know a good % of the rules and can spot infringements. I'll get carried away in the moment when they are playing, I'll shout at the TV and a rugby day is always a good excuse to meet some friends in a pub. But there are sports I would rather watch.

I didn't get overly excited when Admiral announced they were the new WRU sponsors, while other staff members were almost rolling round on the floor in excitement. I haven't bought a shirt, as I don't really like them although the all blue training top is pretty snazzy, I haven't entered competitions and raffles for the steady stream of tickets that seem to be going round, and I have no intention of starting. Thinking about it the 20,000 empty seats for the (highly expensive) Australia game on the weekend seems to hint at the chance other people like me exist. Or at least at £60+ a ticket in places it's dropped down peoples priority lists.

I like football, I follow my home town club and Arsenal, but honestly if they lose, I don't get upset or worried. Of course I want them to do well, but when Arsenal got done 1-0 by Newcastle, my reaction was, "D'oh, oh well..." I'm not the kind of supporter that wants reflected glory from choosing a team, and believe me I know a fair few who do. I personally don't see how a team I support (Arsenal) beating a team Bob from number 44 supports (lets say Eastborne Borough for arguments sake) is any kind of personal victory for me. I wasn't there, I didn't play, I didn't coach I didn't even pump the balls up.

Although saying that, i do want to get back to reffing. I qualified a few years ago, did half a season then was in a crash and had to stop for a while. Never really got going again, seems such a waste now, I fricking aced the exams too.

I even don't like referring to the team as 'us' or 'we' but I do sometimes find myself falling into that habit. Must do better!!

Don't get me started on some of the local rivalries.. the Cardiff Swansea game on the weekend, some of the vitriol coming out of (mainly Cardiff to be fair) fans was laughable, and I was happy when Swansea won, purely down to that fact!

Honestly, if there was some funked up new rule that came into force tomorrow that dictated I could only ever watch one type of sport again, I'd choose Tennis. I enjoy Tennis far more than Rugby, Football, etc and by quite a distance. I would also love to be a participant in the sport, but unfortunately (weirdly??) the Tennis club sessions in Merthyr Tydfil leisure centre are 2-4 Tuesdays and Thursdays, work dictates that I can't attend as a result! I mean who can go then??

I also quite fancy playing squash, but have nobody to play with (any fellow novices who want to try, comment or find me on twitter!!)

How many people do you think were disappointed Alex Bogdanovic lost in the first round of a 80 point challenger tournament in Germany yesterday, well apart from him, his coach etc, prob only me! To be fair he got to a semi the week before, and lost to the same guy!! At least he took a set this time! Andy Murray plays the 2nd round of the Paris Masters today, I'll be watching with keen interest. Well I wont  be watching I'll be in work but there's be something on the BBC site to tell me the result.

Oh and of course I love the dodgeball, how could anyone not??? Go Hoffmesiters!

Oh and as a footnote, any twitter users I have a suggested follow. QRistmas. A Christmas single is coming out sung by former xfactor winner Steve Brookstein with the proceeds going to UK homeless charities, got to be worth a quid download of anyones iTunes cash? I believe it's a Peter Gabriel cover, I do love Peter Gabriel, maybe we could convince him to do Solsbury Hill, Shock the Monkey or Games Without Frontiers as a b-side?

Anyway, til next time...

Oh and the woman sat opposite me has a pink kindle... didn't know you could get them, they look quite snazzy! (Yes I've used snazzy twice in an blog, my vocab is the same as my daughters, head hung in shame)

Advertising age restricted games

As anyone who follows my twitter (that'll be nobody then) would have saw yesterday,. I was stood in Merthyr Tydfil Tesco overlooking a display for last nights midnight shipping of Black Ops. The display had a short section of the game (looked like every other COD to me) running and then a display where the games would be at midnight and a poster.

Quite normal you'd think.

However, a quick glance around to check all the people mesmerised by this display and there was a large compliment of kids, the oldest I'd imagine about 14 or 15 down to one boy of no more than 7. No adults present at all. Now thinking about it, that kind of display is absolutely perfect for catching the attention of... kids. The loud bangs, the running video, and of course... no price, not the kind of thing to perfectly grab an adults attention.

Earlier on yesterday I was listening to the Richard Bacon show on 5, the man is surprisingly good! One of this points of discussion was COD and the effect it has on children playing it. The game is sweary, violent, obviously due to the genre it has to be aggressive, all points we don't really want to bring out in sprogs, and a good percentage of the calls basically said it should fall to parental control to stop under-age playing it. But give the parents a break, this was blatantly being marketed at the kids, it's easy to say well don't let them play it, but get them hooked and they'll find a way.

I'm not having a go at just Tesco, over my days of weekend/lunchtime browsing in Game stores I've heard some of the worst advice mankind has ever given. The amount of times I've seen parents being given truly awful advice by incentive crazy (I assume) staff members just so they sell them the 360. Mothers of 8 year olds ho know no better being handed over GTA4, Modern Warfare 2 and being told, 'well it is 18 but....'

As much as the parents have of course a duty of care, sure to god there should be a duty of responsibility with the advertising of age restricted products. You wouldn't show an advert for it before the watershed (not that I've noticed anyway) so why leave it running, even if it was a fairly innocuous section of the game, there was still shooting and killing, 24/7 for kids to watch, and watch they did.

Saying that, it is the same game store when a staff member of about 17 refused to sell 27 year old me Manhunt 2 (not a great game anyway) because I looked so young... moron.

I haven't yet picked up a copy of COD:BO but I probably will, but I have Fable 3 to play and I've barely even started that yet, but it's on me list.

Everyone's human!

Having a relative in hospital is obviously not a good experience. At the moment, and at least for the next few days or so my father is in. It's not good news by any stretch of the imagination, but he's not in danger. So obviously I'm happy about that, even if not about the fact he's in hospital.

For me it has brought into stark focus everyone around mes mortality. At some point everyone of us will be gone, god this is positive stuff! At the moment I wouldn't even know how to try and tell my 2 year old daughter that someone she knew so well and loved wasn't there anymore. She wouldn't understand and would doubtless become frustrated when she couldn't see them. Gracie (my daughter) has suffered loss in the exact same vein before, but she was too young to understand it. I'm not sure what her memories are of then, but I can be sure her ones of now will be far more focused and real.

To be honest, I'm not even sure how I should feel in that situation, at the moment I'm sure I wouldn't let stuff get me down and upset as that simply won't help. I'll be far more useful as something solid than as a mess. But when the actual situation occurs you never know, and to be 100% honest I'm not sure I really want to know.

But for now all that's not a worry. Onwards!

ITV

I've never really like Adam Crozier, I don't know the guy obviously but he has always seemed to grind my shit with everything he's done. But yesterday, he talked some sense.

He and the chairman of ITV basically came out and said they make TV targeted at the lowest common denominator so more people will watch, otherwise advertisers wont pay up. Prime examples of this are 'reality' TV shows such as I'm a celebrity..., X-Factor etc. Due to falls in revenue they no longer have the cash to create a diverse portfolio of programs so pump what cash they have in to rating certainties.

Sad as it is, you can't blame them for a second. But lets now be overly harsh on some of the people watching, firstly I believe the X-Factor has 2 distinct audiences, there's people who watch it to hear people sing and maybe a bit of a freak show too (myself included), and there's the people who suddenly feel these wannabes are their friend and will do anything to defend them. You hear stories of people voting multiple times for their favourite, downloading the singles as soon as they are available in the belief that they're helping their 'boys' (interchangeable)

These people get involved with the sob stories the newspaper articles saying how hard they've had it. What I really hope people realise is that they don't know them, just because they see a portrayed image of these people in various media, a no doubt very carefully arranged image at that. Ever media outlet wants to cover X-Factor but they also have to tow the Syco line to be allowed too. Why else did the leaked finalist list, I had weeks before it was announced not make it into a paper? I mean if I can lay my hands on it....

I'm a Celebrity..., well that's just voyeurism!

The biggest losers from all this are no dead programs such as the South Bank Show. Honestly not something I watched with any regularity, but it was a high quality arts program, and for its audience, perfect. But as it's audience was relatively small, it was no longer cost effective and so was binned.

What I don't understand it what ITV hope to gain from this revelation? Just because they've admitted what much of us suspected isn't going to magic up more revenue. Their requests for more flexible advertising rates have already been rejected. The programming isn't going to change, it almost feels like a pre-emptive 'not my fault guv'. But it still took some guts to say!

Personally I'm in favour of the licence fee being split. The BBC produces that type of program as well, but does it with guaranteed public funding. Which frees them up to give comedians, sitcoms, dramas a chance, although increasingly tucked away on BBC 3 or 4 as the beeb also strives for ratings (Strictly?).

Sure to God channels should present an alternative to each other, not try and install themselves as the one and only (or with multiple channels the only 4 or 5).

Speaking of the BBC, I have now watched Film 2010 twice, and what a shell of a once great program it is. Please come back wossy for the love of god. Last night, from what I saw, basically had the woman, Claudia Winkleman saying how great everything was, while Danny Leigh (who??) was very sceptical about everything. Not exactly great on screen chemistry for a duo, but equally not very informative about the films!

Ross was the perfect replacement for the sublime Barry Norman, but now... they may have flushed it.

Any I'm on route to get my annual free ill-cos-your defective-and-may-die-if-you-get-it-nasty flu jab. Wish me luck!

Milkfloats - Where have you gone?

Morning all!

No update in a while so I thought I better motivate my ass into action. 

But what shall I write about, we have some art school frame hungry biatch looking like quitting x-factor, only she's blatantly not she's getting sympathy votes ready so she doesn't end up in the bottom two again next week. There's firemen threatening to strike on their busiest night, don't think putting people in danger is the way to get support lads, but no something far more burning...

On way way to work this morning I passed the milkman for my area. We don't use him it's cheaper in Tesco, but generally there's an older population around the new abode (still semi finished but I'll come to that) and as their fragile bones would crack on the walk (kidding) they tend to use the good old service.

Now this milkman, similarly to the one at my last house has long since ditched the idea of a milk float, and gone for a transit van. He also doesn't wear a uniform/hat etc destroying childhood imagery in seconds. But I was always under the impression Milk Floats were used in early morning delivery situations as they were very quiet, and him rocking up outside in one of them wont wake the baby.

The van he turned up in, pulled in behind me, I only saw it as the noise made me turn around thinking possibly our builders were turning up at stupid o'clock or something. I honestly can't say I had an intention or desire to speak to the guy so I didn't ask, why bin the silent electric for the diesel boom box, but I can only imagine it's down to speed. Why be nice and quiet and not disturb the pensioners when I can do twice the work and lay my hands on twice the cash? Seems to be a fairly typical attitude in service industries these days. Oh well.

Speaking of house, isn't Hugh Laurie... oh wait, wrong house, kudos to the previously mentioned builders who have completed work on the exterior brickwork of my conservatory. All we need now is glass and a floor and we can say it's done! Then, to the delight of our moany neighbours, we start work on the driveway and parking area in front of the house. Now I can understand they did get some dust over from the construction, but it's temporary so get over it. There is a risk we may look slightly anti-social though as we've put an elevated 4 foot fence up between 1 lot of neighbours and a 5 and a half foot wall the other way. He he.

Anyway it's off to work I go, then hospital to see an ill father. It's all go here!