April Fool

Every April 1st I like to spend a few moments in the morning trawling the news websites looking for April's Fool jokes. Sometimes they are obvious, sometimes they are fiendishly hard to spot - to the extent that I have to wait for the afternoon whistle-blowers to point them out so I can say "Ahhh!" and pretend that I knew all along.

This year it is different.

I read through the BBC news site and everything looks like a candidate:

• The G20 Summit, complete with comedy Frenchman threatening to walk out before it's even started.



• There's a story about the Advertising Standards Authority criticising an anti-smoking advert for scaring children - er... surely it's supposed to?



• MPs have awarded themselves a 2.33% pay rise (presumably so Jacqui Smith's husband won't have to claim porn on expenses).



• MPs have blocked public sector pay rises (see what a conjunction of items can do?).



• Newcastle have appointed Alan Shearer as their manager for the last 8 games of the season.



• Tea prices are surging.

I guess that I'll be looking in as usual after lunch. I can't pick the real news from the sea of jokes.

Jesting in Perth, Western Australia

April Fool's Day on the Web

April Fool

Every April 1st I like to spend a few moments in the morning trawling the news websites looking for April's Fool jokes. Sometimes they are obvious, sometimes they are fiendishly hard to spot - to the extent that I have to wait for the afternoon whistle-blowers to point them out so I can say "Ahhh!" and pretend that I knew all along.

This year it is different.

I read through the BBC news site and everything looks like a candidate:

• The G20 Summit, complete with comedy Frenchman threatening to walk out before it's even started.



• There's a story about the Advertising Standards Authority criticising an anti-smoking advert for scaring children - er... surely it's supposed to?



• MPs have awarded themselves a 2.33% pay rise (presumably so Jacqui Smith's husband won't have to claim porn on expenses).



• MPs have blocked public sector pay rises (see what a conjunction of items can do?).



• Newcastle have appointed Alan Shearer as their manager for the last 8 games of the season.



• Tea prices are surging.

I guess that I'll be looking in as usual after lunch. I can't pick the real news from the sea of jokes.

Jesting in Perth, Western Australia

April Fool's Day on the Web

It isn't easy being green

Andy Hallett – Lorne from Angel has died from congestive heart failure aged 33.

Hallett proved himself a fan favourite on the show as the show tune loving, red-horned demon who could read a person's aura when they sang, revealing their problems and futures.

The series, which starred Bones actor David Boreanaz as the brooding vampire Angel, ran for five seasons before it was cancelled in 2004.
Hallett was diagnosed with his heart condition at the end of the show and had been in and out of hospitals for the past five years.

It isn't easy being green

Andy Hallett – Lorne from Angel has died from congestive heart failure aged 33.

Hallett proved himself a fan favourite on the show as the show tune loving, red-horned demon who could read a person's aura when they sang, revealing their problems and futures.

The series, which starred Bones actor David Boreanaz as the brooding vampire Angel, ran for five seasons before it was cancelled in 2004.
Hallett was diagnosed with his heart condition at the end of the show and had been in and out of hospitals for the past five years.

Madness

Tonight I intend to put my feet up, absorb some pizza and maybe potato salad. I might even have a bottle of BEER. This is because England are playing Ukraine in a World Cup Qualifier at Wembley. I haven’t watched a full game between anyone for ages, so I shall enjoy a bit of football, particularly if the result goes in the desired direction.

Coverage starts at 7.30, with kick off at 8.00. I shall probably cut the first half hour of punditry and banalities. Teddy Sheringham may have been a great footballer in his day and Joe Cole arguably still is, but as talking heads on the telly, well…

Anyway. I likes me a bit of football, but even I am beginning to think that ITV1 have lost the plot entirely and have given up trying. They are clearly trying to make up for last month’s farce when they cut away from a game in extra time and showed adverts while the winning goal was scored.¹ To cover themselves against similar stupidity tonight, they have gone overboard in the opposite direction. Between 7.30 and 10.10 they are showing the game live and subjecting viewers to related ‘analysis’. Then there is ITN news for half an hour before they transmit the highlights of the game they previously showed live. Once upon a time they would have done that in the small wee hours for insomniacs, but now they have just decided that saturation coverage and repeat of the same game is enough for the entire evening.

Wait for the BBC to hoover up the evening’s ratings with The Apprentice from 9.00.

It’s too much; if you are going to saturate the channel with football at least show highlights from other games!




¹They, or at least the old Carlton are old hands at this, though it passed unremarked. I recall some years ago, that they took a single camera to a game and had it focussed on one of the managers when the only goal of the game was scored. By way of a replay they showed us the manager yawn again.

Madness

Tonight I intend to put my feet up, absorb some pizza and maybe potato salad. I might even have a bottle of BEER. This is because England are playing Ukraine in a World Cup Qualifier at Wembley. I haven’t watched a full game between anyone for ages, so I shall enjoy a bit of football, particularly if the result goes in the desired direction.

Coverage starts at 7.30, with kick off at 8.00. I shall probably cut the first half hour of punditry and banalities. Teddy Sheringham may have been a great footballer in his day and Joe Cole arguably still is, but as talking heads on the telly, well…

Anyway. I likes me a bit of football, but even I am beginning to think that ITV1 have lost the plot entirely and have given up trying. They are clearly trying to make up for last month’s farce when they cut away from a game in extra time and showed adverts while the winning goal was scored.¹ To cover themselves against similar stupidity tonight, they have gone overboard in the opposite direction. Between 7.30 and 10.10 they are showing the game live and subjecting viewers to related ‘analysis’. Then there is ITN news for half an hour before they transmit the highlights of the game they previously showed live. Once upon a time they would have done that in the small wee hours for insomniacs, but now they have just decided that saturation coverage and repeat of the same game is enough for the entire evening.

Wait for the BBC to hoover up the evening’s ratings with The Apprentice from 9.00.

It’s too much; if you are going to saturate the channel with football at least show highlights from other games!




¹They, or at least the old Carlton are old hands at this, though it passed unremarked. I recall some years ago, that they took a single camera to a game and had it focussed on one of the managers when the only goal of the game was scored. By way of a replay they showed us the manager yawn again.