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Steve Coogan makes mincemeat of News Of The World ‘journalist’
07.09.2011
10:26 am
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Not only is oldstream UK media tearing itself apart right now, previously picked on figures are getting their own back too. For the benefit of non-UK readers, “mincemeat” is also known as “ground beef”, and that is exactly what comic Steve Coogan makes of former deputy features editor for News Of The World, Paul McMullan, on last night’s BBC Newsnight program’s round table discussion concerning the phone-hacking scandal, the closure of NotW by Rupert Murdoch, and his still possible takeover of the BSkyB TV network. Paul McMullan is no stranger to celebrity revenge, as a covertly-recorded pub conversation between himself and Hugh Grant, in which he admitted the extent of the NotW’s phone-hacking activities, and which was then published in the New Statesman, was responsible for reopening this whole media can of worms.
 

 
Steve Coogan has had a tussle with the tabloids before, when it was claimed he was having an affair with Courtney Love (which was denied by both parties, but which caught the public imagination). But what’s going on here is not simply revenge - as Coogan rightly points out in his very first sentence, Paul McMullan is a walking PR disaster for the tabloid press and News international. He comes across as oily, evasive, self-interested and a hypocrite - perfectly fitting the public image of everything bad about tabloid-level journalists.

Journos love to pick on politicians, but in the British public imagination they are second only to them in terms of being disliked. I’ve always wondered if they know this and pick on politicos and celebs to deflect attention from themselves, or if they genuinely, honestly, believe they are doing some kind of public service. According to McMullan it’s the latter (though I can’t believe that he is completely unaware of the level of animosity the public has for him and those in his trade).

So perhaps they really are that self-deluded, but the other thought echoing through my mind during all of this coverage is “these people work/live/breathe the media - so how can they look so bad on the TV screen?”. OK so the press seem to be trying to outdo each other to find the worst picture of Rebekah Brooks, but also take for instance News International’s Director of Corporate Affairs Simon Greenberg (interviewed here by Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow) or Roger Alton, Joint Executive Editor of The Times (also owned by parent company News international). These people deal in exposé, guilt-admission and subsequent rehabilitation for a living. So why aren’t they acting humbled, the way they tell everyone else they should act?

Interestingly, Paul McMullan has had some bad things to say about his then editor Brooks (neé Wade) recently. Brooks, more than anyone, is the central figure in this row, and it is claimed that Murdoch has sacrificed the oldest running, and most widely circulated newspaper in British history, just to protect her. But McMullan is not the only disgruntled former employee of NotW willing to dish the dirt - internet hype has been building around a Twitter account that has gone online during the last couple of days called ExNOTWjourno. The account is run by a journalist who has now found herself jobless, and who intends spill the beans on life behind the scenes of NotW under Rebekah Brooks, in a new blog. According to the account there are now 16 newly unemployed journalists working on dishing the dirt (and running stories planned for the last ever publication of NotW tomorrow), and the blog is due to go online sometime this evening. This is going to get interesting…

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Who benefits by Rupert Murdoch sacrificing the ‘News Of The World’?
The phone-hacking scandal that may finish Rupert Murdoch’s ambitions

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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07.09.2011
10:26 am
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Meet Tokuzou!
07.08.2011
10:01 pm
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The information on his YouTube page says merely:

Hi! I’m Tokuzou.
Caution!!
I’m not a Gay!!

 

 
Another video from the enigmatic Tokuzou-san, here seen as “Chai-ne”
 

 
After the jump, Tokuzou on skis…

READ ON
Posted by Richard Metzger
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07.08.2011
10:01 pm
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Classic British Wrestling Posters
07.08.2011
08:26 pm
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After four on a Saturday afternoon, housewives, grandmothers, and young fearless children watched grown men in swim trunks hurl each other across a canvas ring. These men weren’t just wrestlers, they were household gods worshipped by generations: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Les Kellett, Mike Marino, Jackie (“Mr. T.V.”) Pallo, the masked Kendo Nagasaki, and my favorite, “the man you love to hate”, Mick McManus.

British wrestlers were more like stage entertainers, who traveled around the country fighting 4 or 5 times a week in different venues across England. They mixed the camp (Gorgeous George, The Gay One) with the bizarre (Catweazle, Rollerball Rocco) and the best (Mick McManus, Kendo Nagasaki), and by the time wrestling became the biggest hit for ITV’s Saturday’s World of Sport, most of the big names were in their late thirties and early forties, but it didn’t stop these podgy, middle-aged men from becoming sex symbols.

The people’s favorite was Big Daddy (aka Shirley Crabtree), who had made his name as a rugby player before wrestling under the names of The Blonde Adonis, Mr. Universe and The Battling Guardsman, in the 1950s.

Crabtree, with his ill-fitting leotard (decoratively embroidered by his wife) was coaxed out of retirement and became the most successful and best-loved wrestler of the 1970s and 1980s - even Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a fan. Though limited by his size and age, Big Daddy brought such novel wrestling moves as the “Belly-Butt” and “Belly-Splash” to the audiences’ delight, who chanted “easy, easy, easy,” whenever the likable Daddy stepped into the ring.

Big Daddy had feuds with various wrestlers, most notably Giant Haystacks, the 6 foot 11, London-Irish wrestler, who at one point weighed 48 stone. How this giant of a man was ever beaten by Big Daddy is beyond belief, and led to suggestions the sport was fixed. This was later confirmed in 1985, by “Mr T.V.” Jackie Pallo, in his autobiography You Grunt, I’ll Groan. Pallo was a flash, show biz wrestler, with long hair and striped trunks, who claimed referees carried razors to nick wrestlers’ ears to add authenticity (Pallo preferred to bite his lip) and said the sport was TV entertainment:

“Of course it was, it was pure showbiz right from the start.”

Pallo had a career in TV, appearing in The Avengers, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and regularly on stage in pantomime. Where Palo was a showman, wrestlers like Mike Marino, Les Kellett and Mick McManus took the sport seriously. The short, dumpy, balding McManus was the sport’s anti-hero.

He won his first wrestling title, the British Welterweight Championship, in 1949, by defeating Eddie Capelli. He lost it to Jack Dempsey in 1957 but regained it, then lost it again. In 1967, McManus won the British Middleweight Championship with a victory over Clayton Thomson. He also won the European Middleweight Championship in June 1968 by defeating Vic Faulkner. Though lost it again to Faulkner the following year. Never fear, McManus won it back in 1971, and held onto it for 7 years.

McManus was brilliant, always entertaining, and usually bent the rules with some questionable blows. He was famous for his fore-arm smash and Boston Crab and relished the audience’s jeers. He never seemed to change, and thirty years after his hey-day I once saw McManus in a bar, immaculately dressed in a suit, and looking no different than he did back in the 1960s and ‘70s.

McManus is credited as an influence on Kendo Nagasaki (real name Peter Thornley), who refused to reveal his identity, and disguised himself behind a samurai mask. Nagasaki was another brilliant wrestler, who mixed Martial Arts, Eastern philosophy with incredible skill. He was famously robbed of the CWA World title by Giant Haystacks, after Haystacks ripped off his mask, forcing Nagasaki to abandon the contest.

It was McManus and Nagaski who inspired British Pop Artist, Peter Blake to paint his wrestler series.

Another brief star of wrestling was the world’s first DJ and legendary Top of the Pops host, Jimmy Savile, who fought in golden leotard and boots, before giving it up after losing too many fights.

These fabulous posters from the golden age of British wrestling has been compiled by Jane McDevitt on her fantastic Flickr stream, which can be seen here. Check out some of the pics and names - wonderful.
 
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With thanks to Tara McGinley
 
More fabulous posters of these wrestling legends, after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Paul Gallagher
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07.08.2011
08:26 pm
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David Bowie’s first major TV appearance, 1970
07.08.2011
08:07 pm
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The first major television appearance of David Bowie. Watch as a young Bowie performs “Space Oddity,” a song that was initially thought of—even by his longtime producer Tony Visconti—almost as a novelty record, after winning the Ivor Novello Award on May 10, 1970.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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07.08.2011
08:07 pm
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Slayer: Angel of Death rendered in smooth rock stylings
07.08.2011
06:50 pm
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This is hysterically funny and totally spot on, revealing the true cheeseball songwriting craft and super-silly lyrics lurking beneath the usual sonic veneer of the fearsome Slayer.
 

 
Thanks again, Ned Raggett !

Posted by Brad Laner
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07.08.2011
06:50 pm
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Creepy Joint Stockings
07.08.2011
04:18 pm
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At first I was creeped out by these Japanese “joint stockings,” but now they’re kind of growing on me. I wouldn’t personally wear them, however I could see all the zombie doll lovers out there snatching ‘em up like hotcakes.

From what I can tell (I’m using Google translate here) they’re around $20 a pop. You can order them at Selfer.net.


 
(via The Frisky)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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07.08.2011
04:18 pm
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‘Read More Movies’: Every word from ‘A Clockwork Orange’ printed on poster
07.08.2011
03:27 pm
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I guess in an effort to get people to read more, New Zealand online bookseller Whitcoulls came up with this interesting ad campaign which incorporates every word from Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel “A Clockwork Orange” on posters. I wouldn’t mind owning one of these. 

Ad agency: DraftFCB, Auckland
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Alex from ‘A Clockwork Orange’ stuffed doll

(via Copyranter)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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07.08.2011
03:27 pm
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Victorian photo booth
07.08.2011
02:09 pm
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I love these two. It’s such a sweet treat to see a Victorian era photograph with smiles and giggles like this.

(via reddit)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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07.08.2011
02:09 pm
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Drunk on the blood of Jesus: Three minutes of WTF?


 
Yet another video of a group of Christian people acting like idiots. That’s not a value judgement, they really ARE actinglike idiots. See for yourself. Is “idiots” an unfair characterization of these folks? I think not!

What might appear to be a bunch of lames being fed acid by a potbellied cult leader in a room full of laughing gas, is in fact, a communion service offered by often completely incomprehensible, potbellied evangelist John Crowder.

Trust me, it’s a solid 3 minutes of WHAT THE FUCK?

How do you explain this type of behavior? As I was watching it, I was thinking how Crowder himself must be laughing at these people for acting this way. He obviously KNOWS its bullshit and he must secretly laugh his ass off when witnessing the idiocy of his followers.

Then he goes home and counts their money. What an easy gig he’s got, speak some gibberish, dip a baguette into a wine glass, and gullible, dumb people give you money!
 

 
Bonus clip: John Crowder is truly off his rocker. You see, to get across just how hopped up with God’s love he is, Crowder just can’t express it in mere words. So he uses noises, grunts and non sequiturs, instead. In this video he claims that his followers have experienced “instant weight loss miracles,” that he “healed” a woman who could suddenly “see” though a glass eye(!) and the deaf can hear after he prays for them. He also claims that he was in Ireland and in Georgia at the same time. No one questions this supernatural claim, of course, because God is great!
 

 
Via Christian Nightmares

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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07.08.2011
01:27 pm
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Slave labor in America: Union workers replaced by prisoners in Wisconsin


 
The highly controversial new law in Wisconsin gutting collective bargaining rights for state union workers is now in effect and already changes are afoot in the dairy state. Not good ones.

Via Think Progress:

As the Madison Capital Times reports, “Besides losing their right to negotiate over the percentage of their paycheck that will go toward health care and retirement, unions also lost the ability to claim work as a ‘union-only’ job, opening the door for private workers and evidently even inmates to step in and take their place.” Inmates are not paid for their work, but may receive time off of their sentences.

The law went into effect last week, and Racine County is already using inmates to do landscaping, painting, and another basic maintenance around the county that was previously done by county workers. The union had successfully sued to stop the country from using prison labor for these jobs last year, but with [Governor Scott] Walker’s new law, they have no recourse.

The use of free inmate labor to replace public sector workers is truly a disturbing trend. That’s right folks. Forget about the off-shore outsourcing of jobs. Forget about China’s cheap labor. India’s, too. And don’t blame the Mexicans and illegal immigrants for taking your job, either, bub.

Nope. We’ve got a bigger problem now: How are Americans going to compete in the jobs marketplace against slave labor?

Deeply unpopular Gov. Scott Walker promised to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin during his term in office, but he didn’t say these jobs would be created in the county jails!

This is what you get when you vote Republican.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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07.08.2011
12:14 pm
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