Radio, the Internets, digital stuff, social stuff, and generally things going on my life
(expressing my own views, and not those of anyone else... phew)
I've had a Twitter account for about two years - it used to be the one thing you could say in a job interview to make it sound like you knew what you were talking about, even when you had no idea what it was any use for. I still don't. But recently my followers have tripled - people probably assume I use it and have something important to say? Well, you all know that's not true!
There must be something in the media talking about Twitter at the moment, because people who I'd never have thought would be into it seem to be swallowing up the hype, hook line and sinker.
Anyway, through Twitter, I came across this map showing the tweeting (no, really) activity on and around Inauguration Day. Somehow it knows where you are geographically (maybe I told it this when I signed up?) and if you tweeted (sigh) something positive about the inauguration, it puts a dot on the map. Or something like that. Anyway, check it out, it's cool.
And, the concentration of dots in the UK goes something toward highlight Twitter's huge popularity in the UK right now - pretty much the entire UK landmass is filled in by the end.
Thanks to Tom for bringing this to my attention. Barack Obama's Director of Speechwriting is called Jon Favreau. Not the Swingers guy. Another Jon Favreau. And he was born in 1981. The little fucker! How does a 27 year old get to write like that???? Quite rightly, he's now getting an awful lot of sex from hot women.
I think I've spotted me in the crowd, in this awesome Gigapan panoramic photo by David Bergman. According to his blog, it's a 1474-megapixel image, made by a system that stitches together photos taken by a robotic rig, attached to the top of the north media platform.
I knew roughly where I was in the crowd obviously, but it took ages to find me, and I'm still not exactly sure. I've gone by a number of pieces of evidence in my own photos, basically triangulating my location based on people wearing particularly distinctive hats and coats - in particular, the guy in the left of this image wearing a sky blue coat with hood zipped all the way up, and the person with the furry hood stood immediately behind me. This is what I was wearing on the day - I think the hat matches, and I think you can also see Amy and Melissa's white beanie hats too. The cyan blue top is a mystery, but I'm willing to believe that's the left shoulder of the person stood in front of me!
You can spend hours pouring over that photo, checking out all the dignitaries on the podium etc. But my favourite thing I found is these guys. See if you can find them too. I hope they're the good guys...
Earlier this week, I got an email from my mate Steve who works for Hertbeat FM in Hertfordshire - as a small local radio station, they wanted to be able to pretend they had a man in Washington, so their news guy called me up and I waffled some crap down the phone to him from my bed.
So here's the audio, and here's what you can learn from listening to it
There was a good atmosphere
It was a big day for patriotism for America
They were very patriotic
There was lots of patriotism
I am actually proud of the term 'Obamarama' for which I should be shot
Last night we went to the inauguration balls - we had press credentials for 4 balls in total. The Neighborhood Ball, the Mid-Atlantic Ball, the Biden Home States Ball, and the Obama Home States Ball. We spent the night hopping between the balls - ball-hoping, as we called it.
We saw the President and First Lady dance twice, and the Vice President and his wife dance twice as well. Having press credential is brilliant!
Today was the most incredible day. Incredible because of the occasion, but also in the stunning disorganisation of what you might think is an event run to military precision.
After much discussion about what time we should get up, we got up at at 6.30am and left at 7am. There was no metro access, so we had to walk to our entry point - we had 'blue' tickets, for the West Standing area - so far, so very well organised. Roads were closed to allow for pedestrians - we walked for about an hour, including under the 3rd street road tunnel (where Bruce Willis crashed a helicopter in Die Hard 4).
We arrived at our designated place to join the blue line, but it was already a complete melee. There were two vague blue lines, that were more throngs than nice orderly British queues. There was no barrier system, no marshalls, and no signage. There were people in our queue who were meant to be in other queues on the other side of the city, and had no idea. We queued for three hours, and proceeded about 50 yards. We realised at the this point that we were at serious risk of not making it in in time.
We had press credentials for a different area, and were thinking about moving to there, so we took the brave step of leaving the queue! It was when we did this that we realised how utterly ridiculous things were - the queue we were in was a queue to nowhere. People had formed a line, and other sheep had just stood in it. It was vaguely joining the main blue gate queue, but there was another very short line for blue gate, which we just got in, and were inside the gates within 15 minutes. Amazingly ridiculous, and it makes me shudder now to think we almost missed out - and that all those thousands of people behind us did miss out.
When we did get in, the sense of relief and excitement was intense. We pushed our way through the throng to get to a good spot - again, another example of shepherding - everyone was gathered around the outskirts of the standing area, with lousy views and no standing room. Once we pushed through, there was tonnes of open room with a view directly up the centre of the Capitol. And pretty much as soon as we got there, the ceremony began.
Now admittedly, if you watched this on TV, you had a better view of the actual ceremony that we did, and you were probably aware of the scale of the thing, from the incredible aerial shots of the crowd pouring back to the Washington monument. But to hear the wave of "O-ba-ma" sweeping from the Washington monument, all the way to the front was quite incredible. To hear the boos when George W Bush was announced on the stage, followed by the whole crowd singing "Na-na, na na na-na, heeeeyy, good bye". And to hear the people around you shouting things like "amen" at points during the speech, and seeing old black ladies crying into their hands. The scale of things juxtaposed with the small personal reactions around us.
I still need to watch the ceremony on a repeat somewhere, because I didn't really appreciate much of it - I've heard since the chief justice fluffed the words, and Obama had to correct him. Brilliant. It seems fitting, that he should be so confident while all around him are flustered in awe of the occasion.
On the long walk back to Dupont, we walked up K street, which was lined with people selling all the Obama tatt you could wish for. I've never seen anything like it. So much of it was awful tacky fairground crap. Some of it was nice, classy and looked kinda official - that's the stuff I bought. All of it brought home how messianic this guy's image is. He has been put on the biggest pedestal there's ever been, the expectation on his shoulders is surely unfulfillable. I wouldn't like to be in his shoes now.
Here are a few bits of video I've shot today as well. Check out the boo-ing when Bush is announced, and the "O-ba-ma" chanting. Heading to several balls later - more photos from there!
Today was the "We Are One" inauguration concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Thanks to Melissa's friend Liz, we had press credentials, so were stood audience's right, right at the foot of the memorial steps. The crowd went back as far as the Washington memorial (about half a mile), so we were incredibly lucky indeed. My 12x zoom got a lot of usage - full photos on Flickr.
It was basically a live TV event, very polished and nicely shot (lots of big screens around the site). The artists sang patriotic songs and read patriotic readings, about previous presidents, the military, previous inaugurations, etc.
A great mood setter for the week ahead. And great preparation for the cold weather - I had my thermals on, and some of those hot gel packs in my shoes :)
On the way back, I bought a beanie hat and 5 badges. I intend to buy a lot more tatt this week :)
OK so here's the Bailey Does Obama itinerary. Today (Sunday) we're heading down to the Lincoln Memorial for the special inauguration concert. There's a whole bunch of people playing, including Bono, Beyonce and Bruce Springstein (apparently, your name has to begin with B). Thanks to Melissa, we have press credentials, so can swan in and out. Tonight, we may go to a party for the state of Montana, called the Big Sky Party, at a club called Ibiza.
Tomorrow night (Monday) we're going to the Texas Black Tie and Boots ball. I won't be wearing boots, but I will be wearing a black tie. I intend to be the charming British man that everyone wants to talk to. In the daytime tomorrow, I might help Amy at her work, handing out the inauguration tickets to people that are coming to collect them. Or I may check out a musueum or two that I didn't check out before - but, it's Martin Luther King day, which is a holiday here, so everything could either be very closed or very busy.
Tuesday is the big Inauguration Day. We have tickets to the blue section of the West Standing area in front of the Capitol Building. We have to be there incredibly early - I think the plan is to leave Melissa's apartment at about 5am, and walk the two miles (from Dupont Circle) to the Capitol. We have to be screened, then we have to get in line, and then we have to get a good spot. They've given out more tickets than they have spaces for, so we have to be there super early. The swearing-in must finish by midday (it's in the constitution). You can watch it live online, or on possibly every television anywhere in the world.
On Tuesday night, we're going to the Obama Home States ball at the Washington Convention Center. It's one of the ten official Inauguration Balls, which Obama himself is therefore guaranteed to be at. He'll probably be there for 10 minutes in a room full of five thousand people, but it's still quite exciting.
My first experience of the Obamarama and I've not even left the uk yet. I'm sat in the plane at the departure gate and the plane is chock full of excited Americans. One lady just yelled 'raise em up for Obama!' and half the plane whooped an hollered. I've a sore throat at the moment, so my voice is too hoarse and my sensibilities too British to join in.
This same woman keeps on shouting 'who's actually going then, to the inaug, I'm actually going'. Show off. I should tell her I'm going and I'm also going to three balls, including the Obama Home States ball on Tuesday night, with the man himself. But, as I said, too hoarse, too British.
They have now just whooped and cheered when the pilot said the word Washington. And then they made a pact to, everytime anyone says Washigton, to say Obama. I can't help but think of Randy from South Park (watch the whole episode):
It's a while now since I've blogged about the American Presidential elections. That's because I've been storing up such gems as this one. Since I last blogged, I've been to Washington DC, seen lawmaking in progress, met the American people, started to understand what makes them tick.
I've stayed up late at night waiting for election results to come in, I've become familiar with names such as 'Wolf Blitzer' on CNN, and I get daily emails from Obama telling me how important my contribution is. I've been building up a map as the states have been won - pink for Hillary, blue for Barack - and it all finally appears to be boiling down to one key state.
That state is Kentucky. It has a mere 51 delegates up for grabs, and whether he wins it or not, it looks likely to finally push Obama into the majority of elected delegates, and could herald the retirement of Hillary Clinton from the race for the White House.
But, more importantly, it'll finally allow one of the candidates to "do Blockbusters" - connecting the Pacific to the Atlantic with a string of won states. Surely, the real prize in this contest? (eat your heart out Wolf, didn't think of THAT did you?)
Every time I hear the new Biffy Clyro song (which I pretty much like btw) I think of Lay All Your Love On Me by Abba/Erasure if you prefer. Here's the comparison.
I was watching the American version of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares tonight. I love kitchen nightmares, it's great! But the american version is just like all American reality TV - complete shlock. I just do not understand how the American style of programme has persisted. First there's the sound track - not one second of silence or wild track, constant music, and dappy sound effects.
Next there's the editing - it's cut to ribbons! It flits forward and backward in time all over the place, things from days before are put in the wrong time frame, and it's really obvious! They're wearing different clothes! There are no people in the background anymore! What do you take me for? No "crowngate" in the states, no sirree bob. I noticed these two sentences at the end of the programme in a kind of "how that's alright then" nod to their sly production techniques.
OK. Then there's the very expensive and therefore used again-and-again jib shots. In Kitchen Nightmares, it's the front of the restaurant. They had the crane for one day, so they shot the restaurant from every angle in every light - with the blinds down so you can't see the people inside. They speed it up, slow it down, reverse it... whatever, they've got to get their money's worth.
After that, there's the constant re-capping. Now there are a lot more ad-breaks in American TV, probably about 7 per hour I think. They're each about 3 minutes long, which is why an American hour is actually 44 minutes. Now, before each ad break they have to trail ahead to what's coming up in the next part, and after each ad break they have to recap what's previously happened. Assuming they take 1 minute to trail ahead and 1 minute to recap, that's another 14 minutes-per-hour wasted. Add that to the ad breaks, and you get a programme that's really only 30 minutes long. And watch that programme without the ads (like I do, cause I download it) and it's really.effing.irritating.
The other things they do, which is actually really offensive, they put subtitles on people that are completely audible! Often this is for accents that they think people won't understand, or where there's half a decibel of background noise. They need to credit the audience with a bit more intelligence.
And finally (this one's particularly relevant to Kitchen Nightmares) they do not like swearing at all. The word "fuck" is clearly forbidden by the FCC, which is a problem with Gordon, but I reckon they add a few more beeps there for words like crap or bloody. It reminds me of watching Jerry Springer, where they just used to put a beep on for about 30 seconds because it was too much like hard work to pick out usable words.
I'd love someone in the American TV industry to explain to me why all these programmes are made in the same way. The Apprentice, Supernanny, Hell's Kitchen, Big Brother ... they are all the same! Americans make drama like nobody else - British TV drama is almost universally crud - but their documentaries are laughable.
What with the Radio 1 birthday an' all, I was trying to get hold of a copy of Blood On The Carpet, the tv documentary based on Simon Garfield's book The Nation's Favourite. I couldn't find it, but I did find some extracts from the book (that I also just bought on Amazon). It's actually a compilation of interviews with John Peel that Garfield put together after John died. As with the whole book, they're intensely readable. As I lie here listening to Vernon Kay interviewing old Radio 1 greats for the special birthday show, the following strikes me as my favourite quote from those Peel interviews:
"People like Mike Read and DLT would often complain that they couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized, but of course would go everywhere in a tartan suit carrying a guitar, so they would have attracted attention in a lunatic asylum. "
And I've just noticed, in a beautiful bit of precient web surfing, and merciful logical TV scheduling, Blood on the Carpet is on tonight at 11pm on BBC Four.
Tonight I watched a bunch of the new American TV pilots doing the rounds on the naughty illegal internet.
First I watched Reaper. This can best be described as a new Buffy, but with blokes instead of girls. A guy wakes up one morning to discover his soul is beholden to the Devil, and that his job in life is now to return souls that have escaped from hell. He does this using kit he's thrown together from the hardware store where he works, and by sucking them up with a dirt devil and depositing them at the DMV (department of motor vehicles office; 'hell on earth'). It's funny, and it's got lots of potential for fighting with demons whilst cracking American Pie-style gags.
Next I watch Pushing Daisies. Stylistically similar to Amelie, with a running voiceover that you'll recognise from Desperate Housewives, this is about a man who has the power to bring the dead back to life with a single touch. Bad news is, if he touches them again, they die instantly, for good. However, if he doesn't touch them again, someone else in the vicinity dies instead. So what does he do with this gift/curse? Why, he starts a crime fighting detective agency of course, and he runs a pie shop. Funnier and smarter than it sounds, it features Anna Friel has the love interest, with a great supporting cast.
Finally, I watched the new Jimmy Smits vehicle, Cane. Set in Miami, this show is the new Dallas, except with sugar instead of oil. In the opening episode, which moves around ridiculously quickly with a million characters, known of whom I really remember, we see Jimmy take control of the family business, wrestled from the grip of the enemy family who own the adjacent field, and whose matriarch is sleeping with his brother. There's a murderous feud that goes back generations, political intrigue, lots of money to be made, and lots of rum to drink at parties. Expect people to wake up in the shower before long, but I doubt this series will have people wondering "who shot Alejhandro" in years to come.
Still to watch, sci fi comedy drama Chuck, and the second series of Heroes that starts tonight. Already watched, the leaked pilot of Bionic Woman starring Eastender Michelle Ryan (I liked it) and the rehash of Flash Gordon starring the quarterback from Smallville (it's appalling).
I'm really loving the Radio 1 cover versions that are being played for the 40th birthday celebrations, but I'm starting to get worried about a cover versions backlash. Yesterday I was listening to Jo Whiley, and in the space of her 3 hour show, she replayed a 40th birthday cover from yesterday, played a previously unheard 40th birthday cover, had a live lounge cover from Jack Penate, and also played Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse's cover of the Zutons' Valerie. Is programming more than one cover per hour a good idea?
The other night, I was working on a radio programme's chat room, and we were asking listeners to tell us their favourite BBC sessions that they've heard throughout the years... the chatroom audience (most likely a fairly young audience) saw the word 'session' and interpreted it to mean 'cover'! The answers coming back were all along the lines of "oh I loved so-and-so's version of thingy". There are so many covers on the radio, that it seems it's now expected for a band to perform something other than their own work when they play live on the radio.
Three of the best selling albums of 2007 are looking like being Mark Ronson's Versions, Radio 1 Established 1967 (out october 1st) and Jo Whiley's Live Lounge album (out 22nd october). I'm thinking, and kinda hoping, that 2008 could be the year of the covers backlash.
I read an old Time Out this morning (I have a collection of them in the bathroom) and read an article about the Cultural Olympiad for London 2012. I found myself agreeing with Claire Fox's position on participation -
"Why are the key mantras of the Cultural Olympiad “engagement and participation”? These buzz-words may sound harmless, but beware. It is clear that no barriers to participation – such as having no artistic talent at all – will be allowed to get in the way of everyone joining in. The public is asked to prove it is engaging in the arts, by being dragooned into frenetic activity – all-singing, all-dancing marionettes. We are told that engagement “should be more than just being an audience member”. Quietly contemplating a piece of music or silently watching a play is derided as passive. This seems less about enabling people to appreciate the arts per se and more about trumpeting participation as an end in itself."
Anyway, through Twitter, I came across this map showing the tweeting (no, really) activity on and around Inauguration Day. Somehow it knows where you are geographically (maybe I told it this when I signed up?) and if you tweeted (sigh) something positive about the inauguration, it puts a dot on the map. Or something like that. Anyway, check it out, it's cool.
