The Seven Most Annoying News Stories of the Year

There are many news stories you read throughout the year that get you up on your soapbox and here are seven of mine.

Firstly, the subject of tax dodging. It seemed in 2012 everyone was at it, putting their money into off-shore bank accounts like the Robinson Crusoe of finance. Amazon, Google, Starbucks and Vodafone are just four companies accused of cooking the books but who becomes the poster boy for being a little bit cheeky with their financial arrangements? Comedian Jimmy Carr.

Now I’m not saying that Carr shouldn’t be held to account, pardon the pun, because, though what he did was legal, anyone who uses their power or money to save money that, ultimately, pays for hospitals, schools and lots more, should be dealt with. But, in the grand scheme of tax avoidance, Carr is a very minor player. Instead of Cameron holding him to account perhaps the Government should spend more time going after the huge companies avoiding paying tax, something Private Eye has been going on about for at least two years.

There were also two similar news stories in the press this year. Firstly was the terrible shootings at a premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in the summer. What was the response to this? Evaluate the availability of guns in the USA? Put better things in place to deal with people with mental health issues and give them support? No, it is to look at banning late night or early morning showings of films. Well, that’s getting to the root cause of the problem, isn’t it. Because we all know that people doing things late at night leads to such things. Does nobody remember the blood bath at the last Harry Potter midnight book launch? Or the scenes of horror at the late night showings of the same film in the UK or other countries? What about the chaos brought about by the midnight fireworks on New Years Day? Oh, that’s right, none of that happened...

Then, sadly, we got another shooting later in the year at the American school where gun sales actually went up in the wake of it so people could be protected if someone attacked them with a gun, in an absurd scenario that resembles that scene in Pulp Fiction where everyone holds guns to each other’s head. Now I’m all for everyone having the right to bear arms to protect themselves if that’s part of the constitution and that’s what they want but if every sane, rational person has access to a gun then so will every irrational, problematic person. You can’t have it both ways. If there is access to guns then this sort of thing will keep on happening and the USA needs to evaluate why everyone needs a gun in the first place.

Back on home soil the on-going Jimmy Savile story kept rolling, pulling in more people and bringing in more questions. We had the questionable decision from the BBC last year to not run an expose of the star to not dampen their memoriam programmes for him. Then they aired a badly researched Newsnight programme accusing Lord MacAlpine of being a paedophile when he was nothing of the sort, leading to the departure of the DG George Entwhistle after just 54 days and then questions over his large redundancy package (giggidy). This story is annoying on many counts. Firstly, it’s awful that an individual who was much loved by many people and did lots of work for charity had such an awful, secret past which has now overshadowed all the good work he did. Secondly, it’s head-scratchingly confusing of how he got away it for so long. Jon Richardson put it perfectly on ‘8 Out Of 10 Cats’, and I paraphrase: usually when this sort of thing comes out everyone goes ‘oh, surely not, I can’t believe it.’ Here everyone was like ‘Oh, yeah, I knew he was dodgy all along’.

How he could have gotten away with it for so long when so many people knew about what he’d been up to or knew he was an unsavoury character beggars belief, but it shouldn’t be used as a stick to just attack the BBC. Firstly, it was a different culture fifty years ago – which isn’t excusing it or justifying it – and it was the organisation then that’s at fault, but also how he infiltrated other organisations such as the NHS. It confuses me how everyone can go on about how they found him a strange character and that there was something shady about him. My parents grew up watching him on television, I remember seeing lots about him in my youth, and a subtext was never mentioned. It’s like finding out now they’ve passed away that Sir Patrick Moore kept aliens in slavery or Gerry Anderson actually committed violence on puppets. The most annoying thing about this story is the collective not doing anything by lots of people that meant he never had the chance to be held accountable, or indeed defend himself, whilst he was still alive.

Also in the news this year the appointment of women bishops was voted down with the subject now not able to be discussed for many years. By all accounts the vote was narrow but it begs the question of what possible reason could there be not to have women bishops? I’m pretty much on-the-wall when it comes to the rights and wrongs of religion but appointing women bishops would have been an incredibly positive step for Christianity and in this day and age it’s difficult to justify not accepting the change. And there’s lots of valid reasons to change it, no more so than they’re already used to wearing dresses! Joking aside, sort it out!

In a similar area the issue of gay marriage was a hot topic. Again, I’m not sure what the problem is here. Depending on your view of life and death, we are only on this planet for a short time and everyone deserves happiness. And if that happiness is marrying a loved one even if they are the same gender as you, where is the problem in that?

Those were seven news stories that were annoying to me this year – what about you?

My 2012

My 2012

As 2012 comes to an end, I thought it would be nice to sum up the year so far in one blog post, sort of like one of those round robin letters you get but you won’t get this force-fed down your throat. Failing that it’s something for me to look back on in years to come! So what happened in 2012?

January: The month I finally went abroad

  

I started off 2012 by taking a look around the new City Park in Bradford (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/city-park-actually-quite-good.html). It might have cost an obscenely large amount of money but what they’ve done with the space is incredible and it’s a really impressive landmark, and one that has brought the population of the city together in many ways. I also enjoyed Milton Jones’ pilot ‘The House of Rooms’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/milton-jones-house-of-rooms-review.html) which still hasn’t been commissioned as far as I know, which is a real shame as it was a hilarious thirty minutes.

Capitalising on two games reviews I’d sent into website ‘Den of Geek’ in December 2011 I began writing more for the site. By the end of the year I would have written lots for them, from a review of ‘Sonic Generations’ (http://www.denofgeek.com/games/6502/sonic-generations-nintendo-3ds-review) to ’10 Things I’d Like To See From Primeval’ (http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/primeval/21040/the-10-things-we%E2%80%99d-like-to-see-from-primeval-in-2012) to my top ten episodes of that television series (http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/primeval/22386/top-10-primeval-episodes). I would go on to write a big piece on the WiiU (http://www.denofgeek.com/games/23685/our-first-48-hours-with-the-nintendos-wii-u) and game ZombiU (http://www.denofgeek.com/games/23777/zombiu-wii-u-review) as well as a weekly review of the Canadian spin-off ‘Primeval New World’ (starting with http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/primeval/23309/primeval-new-world-episode-1-review-the-new-world). I am very grateful to the site for accepting my work and love the writing and seeing my name up on the site, plus the mostly positive reviews my articles are getting.

In January I also began writing regularly for blog www.all-noise.co.uk, with a weekly round-up of that week’s singles and that’s something I’m still doing now, and I thank Luke for letting me do the article each week. Alongside this regular contribution I’ve also done lots of album reviews, countdown and much more, viewable at http://www.philip-lickley.co.uk/wp/journalism.

Thirdly I continued reviewing video games for site ‘Brash Games’ (thanks to Paul) and wrote many reviews over the course of 2012, viewable at http://www.brashgames.co.uk/author/philip-lickley/.

Also this month I scored nearly 1000 view on my tongue-in-cheek musings on how Sherlock Holmes could have survived his suicidal jump over at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.com/2012/01/10-possible-explanations-for-sherlock.html, one of many posts I’ve made through the year to try and increase my experience of writing. Sadly, after a promising start last January, I’ve still yet to make any real progress with my novel.

But the biggest thing of January was my first trip abroad with good friends Ian and Rachael - http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/rachael-ian-and-phils-trip-to-france.html. We had an amazing time at Euro Disney and in Paris even though the weather was absolutely freezing but looking back on the week it was an amazing time, starting with a sight-seeing day in London and then heading into France. I really wish I could do it again.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?Set=a.527340191704.18836.283300391&type=1

In the world of music I picked up a copy of Rudolf Rocker’s ‘The Whitby Scar’ (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/rudolf-rocker-whitby-scar-review.html), gave my thoughts on the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2012’ poll (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/my-thoughts-on-sound-of-2012.html) and talked about my dislike of the bonus tracks and deluxe albums (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/disappointment-of-bonus-platinum-track.html).

And, as usual, I continued broadcasting two shows on RamAir, in the form of ‘Bitter and Pies’ and ‘...and be done with it’.

February: A better trip to hospital

In February I began my journey into hospital radio. Over 2012 I would be trained up at BRI and get my first show ‘Ultrasound’, as well as help out with their sixtieth birthday celebrations later in the year.

I continued my blog posts by looking at the unusual decision to edit the upcoming ‘The Pirates’ film due to a throw-away joke about leprosy that sparked a big debate (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/pirates-in-adventure-with-political.html) and also reviewing ‘The Muppets’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/muppets-2012-review.html), a brilliant film well worth seeing, but whether the sequel with Ricky Gervais appearing will be as good we’ll wait to see! I also wrote about my fourteen favourite comedy series.

I picked up a copy of Lana Del Rey’s excellent ‘Born To Die’ album early in February (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/lana-del-rey-born-to-die-album-review.html) and got annoyed over Marcus Collins’ ripping-off of an earlier track (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/two-nation-army-another-x-factor-rip.html).

March: I’m Porky and I Know It – are you?

In March I fulfilled a dream to see ‘An Inspectre Calls’ on stage, going to watch it with my parents at the Alhambra in Bradford. It was an incredible performance with a set that you have to see to believe – if you can catch it I’d highly recommend it! (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/inspector-calls-review.html)

In March I also watched the latest performance by the ever reliable BUSOM group at the University of Bradford and you can read my review at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/busom-presents-iolanthe-theatre-in-mill.html. I also grabbed a copy of Meat Loaf’s new album which I reviewed at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/meat-loaf-hell-in-handbasket-album.html.

Finally, having spent two years with Mike and Kev doing parody tracks, we finally entered the world of videos with this little gem:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/i2iQfhhyy0g?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

April: Student Radio, BCB, Steps, Parodies, 100 shows and hello new phone!

April started off rather busy at work with my birthday being put on hold as we were hosting the Student Radio Conference, three days of hard work and organisation but an event that was mostly pulled off successfully for the many student stations that came down even if the weather did throw snow at us on the third day. It’s a big thank you to everyone from me who helped on both sides of the event as it couldn’t have been achieved without a lot of hard work from everyone. Good luck to Leicester who are hosting it this year!

Work with RamAir continued to be fun this year as we got a new studio and playout system which we’re just about getting to grips with now!

I treated myself after this to see one of my favourite bands as a child – Steps – live at the MEN Arena, a great gig if not quite up to Take That from the previous year (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/steps-mcr-arena-10th-april-2012-review.html).

Back in December I recorded a one-off pilot on BCB – Bradford’s local community radio station – and in April I started broadcasting this regularly in a half-hour format. ‘Paper Cuts’ goes out weekly at 1pm on a Wednesday and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing it so far.

Also in April I reviewed two massive films – The Pirates! (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/pirates-in-adventure-with-scientists.html) and an unexpectedly incredible film ‘The Cabin In The Woods (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/cabin-in-woods-movie-review.html) which is a definite must see! I also misjudgingly bought Sean Paul’s new album, which was not so good (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/sean-paul-tomahawk-technique.html).

April was also the month in which my mobile phone finally bit the dust with the screen smashing and becoming unusable, so I finally dipped my toe into the smartphone market with a HTC One S. After finding the e-mail alerts more annoying than helpful but equally becoming more involved with Facebook, Twitter, Draw Something and Words With Friends (not sure if any of that is a good thing), I was glad to have changed phones in the end (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/one-day-with-htc-one-s.html).

Finally, April was also the hundredth edition of the ‘...and be done with it’ show on the 25^th, which came a week after we did our second totally live show, which you can hear some bits of at http://www.andbedonewithit.co.uk/wp/page/4/. We also did our second parody album in this month which you can hear in full at http://www.andbedonewithit.co.uk/wp/humour/autotuned-2-hell-parody-album-2/.

May: Electric Six and food safety

This Month was a busy time for blog posts, reviewing ‘The Avengers’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/avengers-assemble-review.html - not so good), ‘American Reunion (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/american-reunion-review.html - better) and ‘The Hunger Games’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/hunger-games-review.html - Best). I also saw the BUSOM summer concert (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/busom-boys-vs-girls-2012-summer-concert.html) and mused on the changes to the Gadget Show which finally put me off watching a show I’d enjoyed for many years (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/what-have-they-done-to-gadget-show.html).

I also spoke about the terrestrial showing of series five of ‘Primeval’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/primeval-series-five-to-make.html), a show that is still sitting in re-commissioning limbo and Tim Vine’s departure from my favourite sitcom ‘Not Going Out’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/tim-vine-is-going-out-as-he-leaves.html) and we’ll see what effect that has on it when series six debuts in early 2013.

Musically I bought a copy of Dick Valentine’s acoustic album ‘Destroy The Children’ (A great listen - http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/dick-valentine-destroy-children-review.html) and saw him live acoustically in Fibbers, York at the end of the month, another brilliant appearance from a great singer-songwriter (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/dick-valentine-acoustic-live-review.html).

The month ended with the ‘Party On The Amp’ event at work which was our busiest yet and the sun shone once more, followed by me going back to college to sit my Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering which I passed.

June: Easy as Pi?

In June I continued my summer viewing of films with the great ‘Men In Black 3’, which I’ve just got on BluRay and enjoyed it as much the second time around (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/men-in-black-3-review.html) plus ‘Top Cat’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-cat-movie-movie-review.html) which, despite the negative reviews, is actually more fun than you might think if you’re a fan of the original cartoon.

On the box I watched and reviewed the Jubilee concert (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/jubilee-concert-4th-june-2012.html) and thought about the ten funny things I’d like to see at it (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/10-things-i-want-to-see-from-tonights.html). I continued to write down my thoughts on all matter of things from the cash-in cover song (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/update-rise-of-cash-in-cover-song.html), to Muse’s ‘Survival’ song (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/muse-survival-official-london-2012.html)  to Jessie J’s copyright claim (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/jessie-j-vs-loomis-and-lust-in.html).

I also decided to buy a Raspberry Pi and after a long wait it finally turned up this month. It turned out to be a gold-trap and not as easy to set-up and use as promised, and I’ve still not fully got to grips with the piece of kit. It may inspire a new generation of young computer programmers, but to me it lacked the simplicity of the BASIC computers I used as a young kid in school (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/phils-adventures-with-his-raspberry-pi.html). I will have to come back to it to see if I can spend some more time to fathom it out.

I subscribed to a new magazine in June, to go with my ‘Private Eye’, ‘Official Nintendo Magazine’ and ‘Fortean Times’ subscriptions. ‘Wonderpedia’ is a great monthly magazine with lots of interesting articles on a wide range of subjects and well worth picking up, though it took me a month or so to get the first issue due to a mistake in the distribution centre (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/wonderpedia-new-magazine.html).

June was also the time of E3 with Nintendo releasing the first details of their upcoming WiiU console. You can read my thoughts on the show at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/nintendo-e3-in-nutshell.html.

I also took time in June to muse on a variety of subjects, such as ITV’s poor treatment of it’s ‘Primeval’ show (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/are-itv-letting-primeval-fail.html); the upcoming new entry in the ‘Tomb Raider’ franchise (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/has-tomb-raider-series-lost-its-way.html); and my thoughts on the Cofilmic event myself and friend Liam Walters attended in Bradford in the first of my steps in the year to expand my knowledge of script writing (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/cofilmic-films-my-thoughts.html). It was a great session with some hilarious short films and though the comedy sketches I submitted to the competition weren’t winners, it was a useful bit of experience for me.

July: Hotpots, Alnwick Castle and the Olympics

I continued to review movies in June with the Amazing Spider-man, perhaps not as amazing as the title but still good (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/amazing-spider-man-review.html), and the much better  ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-dark-knight-rises-spoiler-filled.html).

I also headed over to Sheffield’s ‘Magna’ in the month to play some of the retro games available there and have a first-play on the new 3DS Mario game and the ‘Beat The Beat’ Wii game (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/day-out-at-magna.html) even if I did feel out of place going on my own!

I saw the Lancashire Hotpots live in this month (the first of four times I’d see them in the second half of the year by luck more than good management) in what was a really strong gig (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/lancashire-hotpots-dukes-lancaster.html) as well as picking up their latest album (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-lancashire-hotpots-hard-days-pint.html).

I continued to offer the people of the internet my thoughts on things including the London 2012 opening ceremony (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-london-2012-olympics-ceremony.html) and even broke into verse to sum up the first three days of the summer event - http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/london-2012-olympics-days-1-3.html.

On the 22^nd I went on a trip with work to Alnwick Castle. The weather was brilliant and the day great fun! Though we did visit the Poison Garden and I took a photo of cannabis, which means that image occasionally appears on the home screen of my phone. Nice.

I also spoke about the sad passing of actor Geoffrey Hughes in July, sadly missed (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/geoffrey-hughes-few-thoughts.html).

August: Sketch Show and Stand-Up Comedy

In August I went to the National Media Museum in Bradford to see their demonstration of ‘Super Hi-Def’, which was an experience if not that overwhelming (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/my-thoughts-on-super-hi-vision.html).

It was also the month I finished off my pilot for a sketch show which you can hear below – thanks to everyone who contributed a voice! Hopefully if I plug this more it will be picked up – or maybe not!

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/55534149" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

I also did something different this month, heading off to a BBC Radio 2 stand-up comedy workshop with friend Liam in Leeds on Monday 20^th August and we each did five minutes of stand-up in front of an audience. It was a nerve-wracking experience but one that was really rewarding, and the day after I went to see the more seasoned newbies do it!

It wasn't all fun and good news. I had entered some of my demos into the Sony Radio Awards but sadly didn't get anything!

I put my hand in my pocket and bought the new 3DS Mario game and you can read my thoughts on it at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/new-super-mario-bros-2-3ds-review.html.

I also reviewed the closing ceremony of the Olympics (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-london-2012-olympics-closing.html) and the opening ceremony of the Paraolympic games (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-paralympics-opening-ceremony.html).

Speaking of the Olympics, I reviewed the CDs for the respective ceremonies (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/isles-of-wonder-music-for-opening.html and http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/a-symphony-of-british-music-music-for.html)  and Spector’s excellent debut album (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/spector-enjoy-it-while-it-lasts-album.html).

Finally I gave my thoughts on Tim Vine’s new game show (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/dont-blow-inheritance-itv1-5pm.html) and compiled my favourite music videos ever (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/best-music-videos-ever-part-one.html).

September: The Paralympics and Bingley Music Live

The highlight of the month was my visit to the Paralympics on the 9^th September. I wasn’t particularly bothered about seeing any matches – though I got to see 7-a-side football – but I wanted the opportunity to say I’d been there. The park was incredible, the attractions brilliant and the weather during the day was great, so overall a fantastic trip and well worth the ten hours on a coach on the round day trip.

September began in a fun way with my annual trip to local festival ‘Bingley Music Live’, an event I’ve been to all but one of. The weather held out, the acts were great and the two additional stages well done. My thoughts and reviews can be found at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bingley-music-live-day-one.html; http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bingley-music-live-day-two.html and http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bingley-music-live-day-three.html.

In the world of television, September was all about ‘Doctor Who’ and I reviewed all five episodes as well as spoofing them for the continuing parody series of ‘DJ Who’ for my radio show ‘...and be done with it’. (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-asylum-of-daleks-review.html; http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-dinosaurs-on-spaceship.html; http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-town-called-mercy-review.html; http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-power-of-three-review.html; http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-angels-take-manhattan-review.html).

You can hear our five radio spoofs at http://www.andbedonewithit.co.uk/wp/humour/dj-who/.

Back in the world of music I picked up the Killers new album and reviewed it at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-killers-battle-born-album-review.html.

October: Hotpots and weddings!

This month I went to the wedding of friends Andrew and Maggie Roberts – it was a great day – and I wish them all the best for the future!

In October I saw a couple of films, the acclaimed but ultimately disappointing ‘Looper’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/looper-movie-review.html) but the far more enjoyable and ‘film of the year’ James Bond flick ‘Skyfall’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/skyfall-review.html). I also wrapped up warm with some friends to watch ‘Coraline’ in the City Park, armed with a marshmallow-filled hot chocolate and requiring a good warming up in Lloyds (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/coraline-outside-screening-in-city-park.html).

Bradford did it’s ‘Garden of Light’ this month in the City Park, which was a great attraction to visit, especially on the Saturday night when it was busy with Bradfordians, showcasing another event pulling together residents of the city.

I picked up two great albums in October, the long-awaited live album from Electric Six (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/electric-six-absolute-pleasure-live.html) and the Evil Cowards follow-up ‘Moving Through Security’ (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/evil-cowards-moving-through-security.html).

I also made my third visit to see the Hotpots (they appeared at September’s ‘Bingley Music Live’ for my second) though a friend not being able to make the gig. They were great as always! (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-lancashire-hotpots-well-leeds.html)

Finally, I was also asked to be the joint-best man to my friend Mike alongside Kev for his wedding next year, which was a massive honour, and I wish the pair all the best for their future together!

November: More radio, story writing, WiiU and piano

In November I attempted Movember. I can’t grow a moustache. Let’s forget it happened.

This month – on the 12^th – I began broadcasting a twice-weekly breakfast show on BCB with friend Ant Smith and that’s going well, with a great one-hour show every Monday and Tuesday morning at 8pm (http://www.facebook.com/BradfordBAP). As part of this I also got to interview local roller derby team ‘The Bruising Banditas’ for a feature on the show (hear the full version at https://soundcloud.com/philip-lickley/interview-with-the-bruising).

November was a month of live gigs. In the four short weeks I saw Spector (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/spector-supported-by-splash-and-swim.html), Electric Six (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/electric-six-fibbers-york-wednesday.html) and my fourth and final ‘The Lancashire Hotpots’ show (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-lancashire-hotpots-fibbers-york.html). Back at home I was listening to Robbie’s new album ‘Take The Crown’ (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/robbie-williams-take-crown-deluxe.html).

Back in August I entered a short-story writing competition in York and sadly found out in November I didn’t win but you can read my two entries at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/ghost-by-philip-lickley.html and http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-new-prescription-by-philip-lickley.html.

I also continued to review BUSOM performances with their scratch (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/busom-presents-scratch-enfreude-review.html) and attended the switching on of the Bradford Christmas lights which was a rare drop in quality of events in the City Park (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/bradford-christmas-lights-switch-on.html).

November was also the month that the WiiU came out and as a life-long Nintendo fan I picked up a copy alongside two extra games and, as I write this, am thoroughly enjoying the new console and it was a good decision to get one.

Finally, a New Year’s resolution from several years previously was finally completed as I passed my grade one piano exam and started on the road to grade two. Thank you to Matt my teacher for lots of patience!

December: Panto, student film, and a trip to London!

As December came round I reviewed the final BUSOM performance of the year (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/busom-villains-minions-and-monsters.html) and gave my thoughts on some of the things on television over the festive period (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-snowman-and-snowdog-review.html and http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-few-thoughts-on-christmas-day.html).

December saw the final ‘...and be done with it’ show of the year, with our regular pound shop challenge, which you can hear at http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/3066468.

As my working year finished, we had a fantastic Christmas Market at work and then after term ended my first publically performed scripted work in the UBU Christmas Pantomime. Warning: in-jokes and dodgy humour aplenty!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yb81aKwiK9A?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I also featured in a small role in a student’s film so we’ll see how that comes out in the new year! It was also the month of the staff Chrismas party, which was as fun as ever!

The highlight of the month, though, had to be my trip down to London with friend Carl to see ‘Electric Six’ live down in Shepherd’s Bush as well as sight-seeing in the capital. In a year that I started off in France and ended up in this weekend away, it was rounded off brilliantly. You can read my thoughts on the weekend at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/phil-and-carls-magical-trip-to-london.html and the gig at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/electric-six-live-at-shepherds-bush.html.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.539035554104.20957.283300391&type=1

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.539032939344.20955.283300391&type=1

I returned to York for Christmas and we paid our annual visit to the pantomime at the Theatre Royal and once more were not disappointed! (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/robin-hood-and-his-merry-mam-panto.html).

Overall

In summary I can’t believe how busy a year it has been. I’ve started doing much more in radio, more articles and trying to build up my portfolio. I’m still enjoying my time working for the University of Bradford Students’ Union – I couldn’t ask for nicer colleagues or a more engaging job – but equally am keeping my eye out for jobs in radio but we’ll see how that progresses in 2013!

(I’m sure I’ll have missed something this year so expect some updates!)

A Few Thoughts On Christmas Day Television

Yesterday was Christmas Day and always a good day for things on the box even if yesterday was perhaps not the most exciting line-up we’ve had recently.

The Top of the Pops Christmas Special (BBC1, 2pm) was as fun as usual and once more cements that it should be on a weekly basis to showcase the music now we have some more interesting artists than the tedious in-studio acts of the late noughties. Granted the artists on show weren’t the most interesting – Robbie William’s ‘Candy’ was up first and the highlight of the show with diminishing returns – but did at least cover a good range of the year’s big hitters. Carly Rae Jepsen, in front of a set seemingly stolen from ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ sounded disappointingly off and Coldplay, who got a pretty good trailer for their live DVD, couldn’t be bothered coming into the studio. The X-Factor finalist proved he could sing live but wailed on at the end and the Christmas number one was a VT as pulling together all of the artists would have been tricky. Gangnam style made a brief appearance as did many covers, including the beautiful ‘The Power of Love’ by Gabrielle Aplin and the average ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ from Paloma Faith, chosen over her other, far better, original singles. Girls Aloud proved to be morphing into each other with two camps seemingly set away from Cheryl. Overall not a bad hour of mostly live music but the lack of the usual annual karaoke option, a few odd song choices and the lack of any cheeky Savile jokes from the hosts knocked it back a bit.

The Queen followed (BBC1, 3pm) with her first annual broadcast filmed in 3D. We don’t have a 3D television but it was hard to see what impact the third dimension would have had on the broadcast. I wanted the Queen to at least punch the screen or throw Prince Harry a Bacardi Breezer to off camera but there was no trickery like that. I’m not sure if the VTs of the damp flotilla were also in 3D to see the rain, gloom and impending bladder infection from Prince Philip, but it was a nice enough speech covering the Olympics, Paraolympics and Jubilee, but was lacking the Queen riffing on how Cheryl Cole couldn’t sing at the concert, Boris Johnson couldn’t dance in the Olympics and any visual 3D diagrams of extreme morning sickness.

Later we had Room on the Broom (BBC1, 4:35pm) a delightful CGI animation from the people behind the last two year’s Gruffallo shows, and the writer behind the books. It told the story of a witch and her cat who stumble across a series of animals as she loses various possessions like a careless extra from Harry Potter. The show reaches its dénouement as an evil, and rather podgy, dragon attacks the team but is stopped by team work. The story is very similar in theme to the Gruffallo – child-friendly repetitive rhymes, meeting animals, tricking a monster – so has a sense of over familiarity about it – and they even re-use the model of the squirrel and snake – but it was an enjoyable, extremely well animated tale with some great voice actors and set-up. Plus, it employed many excellent visual jokes that you’d blink and miss and was great not just for kids, but bigger kids. The ending was sudden but was another great slice of animation this Christmas after ‘The Snowman and the Snowdog’ with a few similarities: familiar, recreating an older idea but with some fresher elements.

It was then time for the next episode of Doctor Who (BBC1, 5:15pm), this year entitled ‘The Snowmen’ and introducing the next companion played by Jemma Louise-Coleman. The festive specials are usually the weaker episodes in the run and this year was not that different, but compared to the other entries in this series which weren’t as big and fun as the excellent series five and great series six, it was nearly up to par. Outside of the plot we got new opening credits which were much more like the classic Who titles. They looked great, the music was as fun as ever in their tweaked state but didn’t feel as long or as dramatic. The TARDIS interior got a paintjob as well and looked good, but with no explanation as to why.

The plot itself was fun. A child discovers he can project his thoughts into intelligent snow and starts building up an army of killer, scary snowman, waiting for the frozen body of a children’s nanny that fell into a frozen pond to come to life so they can replicate human DNA and create an army of snow clones. This is set aside by an investigation from a reluctant Doctor, still hurting from the deaths of the Ponds, in conjunction with a Sontaran and a lesbian double-act of a Silurian and human detective team, who it’s revealed through a conversation with successful baddie Richard E Grant, that they’re the inspiration for the Sherlock Holmes character, a moniker that the Doctor later adopts briefly complete with Deerstalker. I think writer Stephen Moffat must have been drunk over the summer and got his franchises confused.

If that brief summary sounds confusing you’d be right. The plot in the special speeded ahead at such a pace that it was difficult to keep up with at times. The Sontaran guard was the best character in the special with some great funny lines but his appearance once more showed Moffat’s lack of care for realistic explanations – even in Sci-Fi – with only a brief mention as to why he’s no longer dead after being killed earlier on in the run. Matt Smith was great once more as the Doctor, and Jenna Louise-Coleman promising in her second appearance as the assistant, and her death at the end and realisation that her character is scattered through time is an interesting twist, as the Doctor recognises her voice and traits from the ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ episode. She seemed to know more than she let on and at the beginning it seemed the Doctor recognised her – even though he never saw her in the first episode, something he does mention in the episode – so it all seemed rather confusing.

The CGI was impressive in the piece as were most of the cast, and the spiral-staircase up to the TARDIS on the cloud appeared magical and fitted in with the Christmas Special. It was a confusing episode to follow and the destruction of the big bad at the end twee and overly sentimental but the twist at the end somewhat made up for it. It was difficult to keep up with the episode with some lines hard to follow, necessitating a quick rewind of the action, and there seemed an overall lack of surprise when people were approached by a lizard woman. That said, though the one-word conversation seemed forced between Coleman and said Silurian, the ‘Pond’ word was a neat bit of writing.

Not the worst Christmas special but not the most exciting ever, but the filmography and imagery was great and the Sontaran general well written, but it’s the final plot twist that will keep the series going.

Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1, 6:15pm) came straight after and saw six dancers taking part in a variety of, well, dances. I don’t watch SCD that often but it was an interesting way to wile away sixty minutes in the company of cheesy jokes from Bruce Forsyth and a funny montage at the start of Bobby Ball’s dance. The bloke from JLS won it, no one else embarrassed themselves. Anne Widdecombe and Russell Grant made the briefest of brief appearances so didn’t have time to add some comedy factor. An OK festive special with a nice performance from Rod “Screeching Scotsman” Stewart.

Our final watch of the night, outside of watching the repeat of ‘The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff’, an amazing short-film, was The Royle Family (BBC1, 9:45pm). I never really consistently watched the show when it was on properly but have watched all the Christmas specials over the past few years. This one seemed the most surreal of the lot with an opening fifteen minutes that saw plenty of crude jokes in the direction of erectile dysfunction that seemed to be dealt in a weird way by the cast suggesting it was a misunderstanding, but it wasn’t. The best plot strand was neighbour Joe going on a series of first dates in the Royle household with a series of great characterisations and some blink-and-you’ll-miss-them visual jokes as their names are crossed off a list (Chinese lady lives on ‘Great Wall St’, a suspiciously butch woman on ‘Tranny Ave’ etc). The individual threads of ‘Dragon’s Den’, Joe’s dipsy Irish date, Dave’s problems downstairs, the borrowed drill and a sneaky win by Jim on a scratchcard all came together nicely in the final meal at the end, a neat tying up of several disparate plotlines. It was perhaps the crudest episode I’ve seen and it felt, at times, a little desperate for humour with the Christmas Pudding / Breasts montage near the end a little cringey, but it had some great laugh-out-loud moments and plenty of innuendo and was worth a watch, plus included a brief mention to actor Geoffrey Hughes who we sadly lost this year.

So, not a bad day of television overall. But, as you can see, dominated by BBC1. What happened to the other channels on this most festive of days?

The Snowman and the Snowdog [Review]

Thirty years, to the year, we get a belated sequel to the children’s classic animation ‘The Snowman’ which was adapted from the book of the same name, which tells the story of a child who builds a snowman in his back garden who comes to life and takes him on an adventure to the North Pole before returning him home and then sadly melting over night. Everybody has probably seen this film and it’s a beautifully animated classic with a great song in ‘Walking In The Air’ and the saddest ending you’ll get in a programme at this time of year.

‘The Snowman and the Snowdog’ isn’t based on a book but is a follow-up to the classic and it certainly ticks a lot of the boxes. It’s animated in the same hand-drawn style of the original and looks beautiful, and nicely balances a modern, clean HD look with the rustic crayon-style flickering animation of the original, even if it doesn’t quite feel as warm, cosy and nostalgic as the first short film, though its match is incredible. The style sets it in what I call the ‘Wallace and Gromit’ timeline, obviously contemporarily set – as seen by an appearance by the London Eye during the flight sequence – but with an eye on the past in the look of the house’s kitchen, the plane and bike shown and other imagery like that.

Plot wise it feels very much like the Snowman version of ‘Blues Brothers 2000’, if you’ve seen that, in that it’s difficult to decide whether it’s a sequel or a re-make. The plot sees the young boy in the tale – Billy – discover a box hidden under a floorboard in his bedroom containing the elements that make up the snowman and a photo of the boy from the original standing next to the Snowman (did he ever get a photo taken in the original?) and using them to re-build the snowman.

But he also goes further. The story opens with Billy and his mum moving into a new house with a dog who, within the space of the opening sixty seconds, dies and is buried in the back garden in possibly the quickest introduction and death of a character but one that immediately feels upsetting. That’s either smooth plotting and use of music too evoke sadness, I’d still not got over my earlier watching of the touching ‘Mickey’s Christmas Carol’, or had had too much to drink, but it was a sad start to a show that was touching. In memory of this dog, Billy creates a snowdog using two socks for ears and his gloves for spots on the side. The scene of him creating the characters is nicely done.

With both the snowman and snowdog created Billy goes to bed but is woken up in the early hours to find them magically alive. From here the new Snowman repeats many of the plot points of the original in either a nostalgic memory trip or a lack of inspiration. We get a scene in the fridge; the threat of melting from the fire; a brief appearance by the motorbike from the first; and a flying sequence set to music that ends in the North Pole at a Snowman convention, with lots of racial stereotypes that perhaps are the wrong side of nostalgia. Though a lot of it seems overly familiar, there are a few new elements including a plane flight, a fun skiing competition with a penguin – who upon losing trudges off brilliantly – and the actions of the dog that freshen it up a little, but it feels too much like a re-make at times.

One thing the animation does excel in is the character of the dog. It’s well animated, moves realistically and acts very much like a real dog, and the character animation team deserve credit for some excellent work there.

Naturally the sun starts coming up at the North Pole and Billy, snowman and snowdog have to go home, leaving the bi-plane to another snowman with an asparagus moustache (!!) and flying back instead. There, in the garden, magic happens and the snowdog comes alive to become a real dog, making the boy’s Christmas (though the mum seems to not question where the dog has come from). So, a happy ending there, before the final shot is of the snowman once more melted in an ending that doesn’t have the impact of the first.

The one area I’ve not touched on yet is the music. As a silent film, it can live and die on the music and here it’s pretty good. It doesn’t have the distinct, warm feel of the original soundtrack but the feelings it creates works well in scenes such as the dog’s death at the start, and it does still pull at the heartstrings. ‘Light The Night’, the song that plays during the fantastical flight, doesn’t have the vocal power or catchiness of ‘Walking In The Air’, and also doesn’t have nostalgia to fall back on, but it’s a nicely sung and performed song that, though a little more withdrawn than the original, will be a grower. It was never going to be able to become as iconic as that first song but it succeeds from the listen, and I’m glad they didn’t bring ‘Walking In The Air’ back into this film as that would have been a back-step.

Overall, ‘The Snowman and the Snowdog’ was an enjoyable festive watch. The animation style was beautiful and it’s great to see hand-drawn animation back to the forefront – though it is supported by CGI in the snow, lighting effects and the plane but these were nicely integrated and you wouldn’t realise it. The music is not as distinctive as the original but the soundtrack and new song compliment the animation well. The plot is rather derivative of the original with too many plot points re-hashed from the original into this so it feels more like a re-make than a follow-up and the death of the snowman a second time round doesn’t have the same impact, but the snowdog is beautifully animated and full of character and really makes the film. Thankfully it doesn’t damage the reputation of the original as it keeps the quality but is too close to the original to be its own film. A great watch for Christmas though.

7/10

Phil and Carl’s Magical Trip to London

Last weekend myself and friend Carl headed down to London to see a gig – the incredible Electric Six at Shepherd’s Bush Empire – but also enjoyed the best of what the capital has to offer.

We set down early on the Saturday morning on the National Express and I have to confess I was a little bit the worse for wear after the staff Christmas do the night before – don’t mix cider and wine and no water, kids! – so the first two hours were an experience in keeping it all down. It’s not helped by the fact that the reclining seats on National Express coaches don’t particularly recline back that far. Thankfully by the time we stopped off at the delightfully title ‘Trowell’ services I was feeling much better and ready to face the rest of the journey that remained relatively uneventful. We soon arrived at Victoria Coach station and getting ready for the day.

Firstly it was off to the hotel via the Underground and, as sod’s law dictates, my day pass (£7) didn’t work so for the rest of the day had to constantly flash my ticket (steady!) at the turnstile operators. We jumped on the tube over to Kings Cross and then down to our hotel, the straight up titled ‘Euro Hotel’ on Cartwright Gardens, a beautiful crescent familiar from many television shows and films. We checked in – annoyingly for my bank balance we then had to pay for the hotel room (£63) which I thought I’d paid for back in April when I booked the room – and I got room 13, unlucky for the same. The room was small but had everything that was needed from a bed, TV, sink, wardrobe, kettle and fresh towels among other bits and bobs, plus a neat view out of the window. The toilet and shower was communal but was very clean so no complaints there.

Having unpacked a little we then headed off for our meeting with some friends in the Wetherspoons (“Central Bar”) in Shepherd’s Bush, several tube trips away. The underground was weird on a Saturday as, instead of the usual weekday push and pull that you get normally, everyone seemed to be ambling along and it was me ploughing through the place.

We soon got to Wetherspoons, ten or so minutes later than our meeting time of 2pm, and this was an experience. It was insanely busy and we had to wait a while for a table. This did allow us to prop up the bar and realise the drinks prices were the same as in Bradford, so that’s a win, but that the Saturday staff were particularly daft. One left a frustrated cockney – whose ramblings were approaching cliché – waiting five minutes before he could put his pin number in a machine. A second dropped a customer’s change into his pint and then shrugged his shoulders when the customer commented on this.

It was, though, by Wetherspoons standards, quite posh, in that they didn’t have a table of packaged sauces, but brought them round on a little tray, which is thumbs up for a sauce fan like me and actually Heinz Mayonnaise is particularly tasty!

Myself and some friends I met through the internet over a love of Electric Six enjoyed a few hours in each other’s company, enjoying 2 for £10 cocktails – including the delicious strawberry daiquiri – and some of the rather eccentric other patrons you can only get in a Wetherspoons on a Saturday. And everything was served in plastics as if they expected an Eastenders fight to break out at any moment.

As the day progressed we headed off to the gig and out of the shopping complex and across to the Academy, out on a surprisingly warm Saturday evening. There we had to queue twice – first for a wristband, then to show a ticket – in the most badly planned out entry into a venue yet but the gig was amazing, and you can read all about that at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.com/2012/12/electric-six-live-at-shepherds-bush.html)

We then headed back to the hotel early the next morning to enjoy a good sleep though the room was absolutely boiling.

Breakfast the next morning was earlier than we’d like but was nice. There was a choice of four cereals, yoghurts, fruit (weirdly including bananas cut in two) and coffee, but no tea. The title of ‘Euro Hotel’ was well deserved as we were probably the only two English people in the room as we were delivered our fried breakfast, a tasty plate even if the tomato had only been briefly introduced to the grill, but we got the full works and toast. But no tea. Grr.

Having filled up on breakfast we headed out for our day of exploring London. Firstly we headed off to the London Eye on a lengthy Tube journey due to the Waterloo line being closed but this was only revealed over the tannoy just as we got to the line. We grabbed a ticket each (£18.90) which is relatively good value considering the much smaller York wheel is £10 and the queue was short and we were on quickly after a quick bag check and a look over with the paddle tool thing. Getting on the London Eye is a weird experience as it never stops but if you did miss the platform to get on it there would have been a metre fall. Getting on it was easy though and I enjoyed the 28-minute journey around it and, considering I’m not a big fan of heights, didn’t find it a problem. I got some good photos and the weather was perfect for the occasion, and the trip was rounded up in the adjoining building where I got a photo with a celebrity I didn’t recognise in a small Madame Tussauds, enjoyed a four-minute 4D experience with a 3D seagull, live fans and bubbles which was a nice extra distraction, and bought some souvenirs at the gift shop which included novelty souvenir condoms with an, er, erect picture of the famous London clock tower on them, labelled ‘Would you like to see Big Ben?’. No, actually.

Having exhausted the London Eye we then took a trip to Greenwich to see Canary Wharf on the way (humming the Apprentice theme as we went), seeing a flotilla of paper boats in the water for some reason, and the delightfully titled ‘Mudchutes’ stop on the DLR; the Cutty Sark – not paying the £10 to go in, just admiring it from the outside); and stopping off to use the loo in one of the weirdest contraptions ever. I hate to talk about something so random in this blog but it was the size of a bathroom, cost 50p and spent five minutes after you’d been in automatically flushing, spraying something and, er, washing the floor. What did they expect you to do in there? There was also a twenty minute limit inside. I’m not sure if the door would open mid-visit if you exceeded the twenty minutes but I didn’t want to find out, not that you needed twenty minutes really.

We then headed off to Greenwich Market, which was a great experience and I picked up lots of great presents and picked up a delicious steak and cheese sandwich that may have looked disgusting but tasted great, and I ate it in the shadow of the Greenwich college. There was also a great board game shop full of great distractions.

We then went up to the Greenwich Observatory which gave a great view of Canary Wharf and the Millennium Dome among other things and also gave us the chance to stand by the Greenwich Mean Line.

It was then another series of tube journeys back to Central London – stopping via Shadwell Overground for a quick photo as it features in game of the moment ZombiU – before we headed to the Science Museum where I bought some more Christmas presents and wse had a look around the, surprisingly smaller than I remember, museum but it was deadly quiet late on a Sunday and wasn’t the most exciting attraction I’ve ever visited. We did, though, save people from drowning in a global warming simulator, see what we’d look like when we’re older and visit the Google Lab which had two working attractions and the others were being done remotely by internet users, so a little pointless. It also rained for the first time at the weekend.

It was then off to another Wetherspoons for drinks, this time in Victoria station, which was just as busy as the Saturday one but certainly not as cheap. Here we stayed to enjoy a burger each before passing over to the Victoria Coach Station to get the coach back, luckily being allowed on an early coach that got us back to Bradford forty minutes earlier than the one we would have normally got and missed out stopping at Milton Keynes. Phew.

We have a great driver on the way back who entertained us for the first ten minutes with some great banter, including criticising the traffic from Oxford Street – ‘we’re all from Yorkshire, we can’t afford that shopping. They use their Barclaycard to buy things, I use mine to scrape the ice of my windscreen’.

We arrived back in Bradford about eleven fifteen tired but having enjoyed a great weekend of music, travelling and trips to Wetherspoons!