Caitlin through the Looking Glass
Tonight I’ll be boarding the train to Scotland for the three-day Edinburgh TV Festival. I’m staying up there after the festival and going across to west Scotland to visit friends and family in Glasgow and Inverary. Hoping also to catch some of the Edinburgh Arts/Fringe Festivals while I’m there. I’ll be working hard at the TV Festival but it’ll be an interesting change from what I normally do and I’m really looking forward to the holiday afterwards.
I’ve been hearing about this thing called podcasting for a while but I only checked it out recently. I’ve had my iPod since Christmas and I’ve been busy ripping my CDs (which is perfectly legitimate in the UK although I believe legally questionable under Australian law) and downloading new music (mostly buying off iTunes). My iPod rocks – it’s really revitalised my music listening, plus it makes public transport and exercise that much more bearable. I really prefer the design and user interface over other MP3 players too.
So podcasting, for those of you who don’t know, is basically downloadable radio. You can access it directly from the podcaster’s website if you know where to go but you can also get it from the podcast section on iTunes (unlike the music it’s all free). The BBC has put a lot of its radio documentary archve on the web, American radio shows like News Week publish a weekly podcast, ditto for commercial radio stations such as Virgin, which puts the Pete & Geoff show online. The beauty of it is that it’s international (although dominated by Americans at this stage) and also very democratic as the start-up costs are virtually nil. So you get highly specialised content as well as the mass-market stuff and there are a huge number of podcasts put out by just one or two people, with the numbers growing every day. Podcasting is the new blogging!
Podcasting raises some really interesting possibilities from an advertising and media point of view. On the one hand, the existing commercial radio model doesn’t translate terribly well to podcasting. First of all, it’s very simple to fast forward through the ads; I did this with the Pete & Geoff show (one of the few commercial podcasts available to sample) and I imagine most people would too. Podcasting could be to radio what personal video recorders (PVRs) are to television – it enables consumers to access content but bypass ads. Secondly, an international audience isn’t very valuable to local advertisers. There was a good analysis in The Sunday Times recently that focused on this topic.
On the other hand, podcasting represents an opportunity to deliver branded audio content to consumers. For example, Virgin Atlantic has produced an audio travel guide to New York. It’s genuine content that consumers would want and it has a big advantage over a guide book because it can be updated continually and give you relevant information for the time you are going to be there. Yet, the Virgin brand message is inescapable. Times Travel has written about this as the next big trend in travel.
There has also been a feature on this in Media Week in the past few months but it very much focuses on the possibilities for media owners and advertisers rather than the risks.
Summer is on the wane and it will soon be getting cooler. This is very sad but one good thing about it is that we’ll soon be moving into autumn fashions and we can relegate the whole Sienna Miller-inspired, ‘boho’ look. It makes me groan inwardly every time I see a 20-something girl wearing a tiered gypsy skirt teamed with an oversized belt. The skirt is most probably white and teamed with a coloured vest (singlet) and flip flops.
It’s not that the individual pieces look bad or that the combination is so wrong, it’s more that it’s become an absolute uniform this summer. I was over it in May. The thing that bugs me most is that the look is ostensibly all about being carefree and unconventional but it’s actually about the most unimaginative thing you can wear. It’s lifted straight from the pages of a glossy women’s mag circa March and everyone is wearing the exact same thing.
Autumn is apparently all about waists and pencil skirts and well-groomed femininity but thankfully there doesn’t seem to be one defining look so we should see a bit more variety.
Of course, I’m sure I’ll be copping plenty of gypsy skirt action when I go home for Christmas since southern-hemisphere fashion is often six months behind because of the seasons.
PS Speaking of Sienna Miller, apparently she’s taken Jude Law back. I think she’s crazy if that’s true!
The day after Live 8, I went to see Jamiroquai play at the BLive Festival in Clapham Common. I’d been there for a while, checking out the dance tents, and before I met up with Tash and her friend (now flatmate) Jenny for Jamiroquai.
Tash and Jenny at Jamiroquai concert 
It was an awesome gig! I really like Jamiroquai’s music – it’s funky and fun and gets me dancing every time. I was impressed that they played for more than two hours straight and it was really physical with Jay Kay bouncing all over the stage. They would have kept going too but they were kicked off stage just after 9pm because of Lambeth Council regulations. (Silly Lambeth Council – we pay £100 a month in council tax and they go and pull a stunt like that! It was in the middle of the park, not even in a residential area, and it was only 9pm not 11pm or midnight). It was still great though – I was still on a bit of a high from Live 8 the day before and I enjoyed it immensely.
Jamiroquai on stage
A fan sends the Jamiroquai front man a message
I have also realised I have more Live 8 pics, which I am posting here. That means all I am missing are pics of Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd (very important!), The Who and the finale bash with Paul McCartney and George Michael. Kimberley has promised me copies so I will post when I can. See here for my previous post on Live 8.
Razorlight
Birhan Woldu
Madonna
Joss Stone
Scissor Sisters
Velvet Revolver
Sting
Screening of Africa video at Live 8
Mariah Carey
David Beckham introduces Robbie Williams
This past week has been pretty crazy at work, in particular Thursday and Friday as I have been editing our supplement on the circulation figures for consumer magazines, which are put out by the Audit Bureau of Circulations every six months. So the last few days I have had my head buried in reams of tables, plus writing and editing copy and sourcing pics. I was at work until after 11pm last night but thankfully it’s all done now and I’m looking forward to a restful weekend.
I did have some respite in the midst of all this on Thursday evening, when I met my boyfriend, Natalie, Kimberley, Cameron and Cam’s friend Heidi at Somerset House to watch Spirited Away. For those who don’t know, it’s a Japanese animated movie, which also did really well in the West and was nominated for an Academy Award. In Japan, anime (animation) and manga (comics) are really big and considered as much an art form for adults as children.
I missed Spirited Away at the movies and had put off seeing it on DVD because I knew it would be so much better on the big screen. It was a fantastic (in both senses of the word) story and some of the characterisation was just superb – I particularly liked the Radish Spirit! It wasn’t overly sentimental like a lot of American cartoons but it was still a great adventure story. The only quibble was that it was dubbed and I offer prefer subtitles but I guess it was probably better for the majority of people to be dubbed, especially given the outdoor environment. Somerset House, which is a former stately home between the Strand and the Embankment, was a great location for the outdoor cinema although cushions might have been nice given we were sitting on cobblestones with only a thin blanket. Fortunately it was also a lovely, balmy evening.
It’s been over a month since Live 8 but it feels like far longer. In a single week we had the euphoria of Live 8 and the Olympic win, followed by the tragedy of the 7 July bombings. Terrorism and the threat of terrorism – not to mention counter-terrorism and the threat of counter-terrorism as exemplified by the tragic shooting of an innocent man at my Tube station (I go through Stockwell every morning) – have dominated the media and the public mindset ever since.
Still Live 8 was a brilliant experience. We were in the Golden Circle, which was a little like being in the G8 while the rest of the world looked on from behind a heavily guarded barricade some few hundred metres away. I felt a little guilty but soon forgot that and just enjoyed being there. I imagine that it must have been quite different to the main concert, and not just because of the proximity to the stage.
Nearly everyone in the Golden Circle was extremely courteous, so much so that I don’t think I got elbowed or bumped all night! We managed to get within 10 metres of the stage simply by smiling and saying politely, “excuse me, do you mind if we squeeze past?”. I later left to buy water and made my way all the way back and found my friends within one set (about three songs each). We probably could have gone all the way to the front if we’d really cared but there were kids there and everyone was so happy and accommodating that it would have been a shame to spoil that.
Perhaps it’s not very rock ‘n’ roll but aside from the fact that we were among the 10,000 ‘haves’, with 150,000 ‘have nots’ behind us, it seemed fitting for a charity event that the mood should be so happy and helpful. It also meant we could relax and enjoy the music, which was a lot better than I for one anticipated.
The highlights started early on with Sir Paul McCartney performing Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and being joined on stage by Bono and came fast and furious from then on. I really enjoyed the U2 set; I had never seen U2 live and they were so good. Bono was clearly in his element, especially when singing Beautiful Day and releasing a flock of white doves that flew right over our heads.
In alphabetical order we had: the African Children’s Choir; Annie Lennox; Bob Geldof; Coldplay; Dido; Elton John (performing a duet with Kate Moss’ squeeze Pete Doherty); Joss Stone; Keane; The Killers; Madonna; Mariah Carey; Ms Dynamite; Paul McCartney; Pink Floyd; Razorlight; REM; Robbie Williams; Scissor Sisters; Snoop Dogg; Snow Patrol; Stereophonics; Sting; Travis; U2; UB40; Velvet Revolver; and The Who.
There was a nice mix of old versus new, and established versus up and coming. It was cool listening to some new music that I hadn’t really heard before – including The Killers, Stereophonics, Scissor Sisters and Razorlight. (I misssed Snow Patrol when I went to buy the water). Madonna was fantastic – she was singing and dancing and really got the crowd going. Other highlights were Annie Lennox, who has such a beautiful, powerful voice; the ever-awesome REM; and of course, Pink Floyd, all of them appearing together for the first time since the 1970s. Robbie Williams stole the show as far as crowd reaction was concerned and he really was very good. I have never understood the Robbie Williams phenomenon as I’m not a great fan of the music but the cliche about him being an amazing performer is 100% true.
In between sets, we had visits from loads of celebrities (Kofi Annan, Bill Gates, Brad Pitt, David Beckham …). The screens also switched over to show footage of the concerts in Philadelphia, Moscow, Rome, Berlin and Jo’burg. They didn’t let us forget the purpose of the event either; most of the performers spoke about it and they played a number of videos in between sets. One particularly poignant moment was when Bob Geldof brought on stage Birhan Woldu, the young woman who was rescued from almost certain death as a famine victim 20 years ago. Woldu, who is now 24 and studying at university, stayed on stage for part of the Madonna set and showed a lot of poise and grace.
Nine hours of standing was a bit of a killer but it was more than worth it. We left the park on a natural high. I feel so lucky to have been a part of it.
AOL has the webcast of the Live 8 concerts available free on demand if you want to check it out. They were streaming it live on the day too, which was apparently really popular, with more than 5 million accessing it on the day and a peak of 175,000 simultaneous streams. This apparently was a bit of a problem for the likes of MTV, which chose to interrupt songs and charity messages alike with constant, inane advertising. Of course for UK viewers, they could watch it ad free on the BBC anyway, but I bet the AOL streaming was a real godsend for viewers elsewhere.
Bono and Paul McCartney
Bono and Paul McCartney close up
Live 8 crowd
Coldplay
Elton John at the piano
Pete Doherty performs duet with Elton John. (Doherty appeared to be a bit wasted).
Bill Gates – he looked like he got lost on the way to an insurance convention but I guess he _is_ the biggest philanthropist in the world.
Bob Geldof – he ‘couldn’t resist’ performing just one.
Dido and Youssou N’Dour
Comedian Ricky Gervais (of ‘The Office’ fame)
REM
REM’s Michael Stipe on screen – winning award for ‘bizarre makeup of the day’
Kofi Annan
Keane
Travis
Brad Pitt
Annie Lennox
Snoop Dogg
At this point my camera batteries went flat. I’ve been delaying publishing this because I am waiting for copies of Kimberley’s photos but have now decided to go ahead and add the rest of the pics later.
Proof that books can sometimes resurface and be journalled years later! I released this book on the back seat of a taxi in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on Tuesday 30 September 2003. It was caught by an anonymous finder two years later!
They left this journal entry:
Journal entry 3 by AnonymousFinder(3,210/5) from n/a, n/a n/a on Wednesday, August 17, 2005
i was cleaning out my house and i found this book hidden behind the couch! i don’t know how long its been there. i shall like to read this book and pass it on to somebody else.
CAUGHT IN SYDNEY NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA
See all journal entries for this book.
According to ITV News (see last night’s report in The Evening Standard or today’s version in The Times for details) the innocent Brazilian man who was shot by police last month boarded the Tube normally. Also he was apparently wearing an ordinary denim jacket not a big bulky winter coat as previously claimed and was not carrying a bag. Earlier reports had Jean Charles de Menezes exiting from a building (a block of flats not a house) that was under surveillance by police, arousing suspicions by wearing a heavy jacket on a warm day, and vaulting the barriers and running on board the Tube before being shot by police. But according to CCTV footage apparently he entered the station normally, stopping to pick up his copy of Metro and descending the escalator slowly, only running at the very bottom in an attempt to board his train.
There’s a lot about this case that I don’t understand. New and contradictory details seem to emerge every day and some things will probably never been clear. What I do know is that the police shot an innocent man at point blank range at my Tube station. (Clapham North is the closest but Stockwell is the one I go to every day because it’s on a better line). I know they were trying to protect us and can only imagine that they thought they were doing the right thing but I have to say it worries me, especially when the version of events by police seems to be falling apart so badly.
I remember being told that they have snipers on the rooves of buildings in Canary Wharf who are there to shoot suicide bombers and wondering how on earth they can pick out a suicide bomber and from a distance of several Olympic swimming pools. The same went for this – I said on the day that the police needed to release a statement and ideally CCTV footage explaining exactly what they saw so we could have some assurances about how they reached the conclusions they did. I was pooh-poohed by many people who said that the police would have been 110% certain before they shot anyone. I didn’t expect to be proved right in such a dreadful way.
The main defence for the police has always been that he ran away when confronted. Apparently his English was good so there’s no question that he wouldn’t understand. The problem of course is that the policemen were plain-clothes officers (wearing charity wristbands of all things) and some witnesses say they only pulled their police caps (ie official identification) on after he was already running away.
We’ve heard so many different stories: that his visa had expired (explaining perhaps why he ran); then that it hadn’t; that he was wearing a heavy jacket; then that he wasn’t’ that he ran; then that he didn’t. Perhaps it’s a smart PR move for the police, because the picture is too confused for anyone to point the finger convincingly. Then again, it’s house of cards because it only takes a few erroneous claims to be exposed before it all comes tumbling down. There’s going to be an independent inquiry and there are signs appealing for witnesses to come forward up throughout Stockwell Tube station. But they’re keeping the ’shoot to kill’ policy for suspected suicide bombers so there’s no guarantee it won’t happen again.
There is a memorial for de Menezes outside Stockwell Tube station. Now that I think of it, I’ll take a photo and publish it here.
Later
And here it is:
Shrine for Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station
I haven’t been getting away from London as much as I would like this summer but this weekend we finally made it down to Brighton. It’s only an hour away from London by train so we went down on the Friday night after work. There was time before dinner to check into our hotel, the Old Ship Hotel, and go for a walk along the beach as the sun set over the ocean.
Brighton Beach at dusk
Caitlin on Brighton beach at dusk
We had a really lovely dinner at Terre a Terre, which is apparently one of the best vegetarian restaurants in Britain. It was certainly delish and the cocktails and organic wines weren’t bad either! It’s tucked away in The Lanes, a trendy mesh of narrow streets and pedestrian areas with lots of shops and bars and cafes, not far from our hotel.
Saturday was a relaxed day. After breakfast at our hotel we went up to the famous Royal Pavilion, which is really quite amazing, particularly the Banqueting Hall and the Music Room. There were stunnig dragon motifs everywhere, such as this one from the roof of the Banqueting room, which holds the chandelier. The Pavilion was the pleasure palace of George IV but Queen Victoria was a little less enamoured of the place and sold it to the city of Brighton at some point in the 19th century.
The Royal Pavilion at Brighton
Detail of the roof of the Brighton Pavilion
Panorama of the Pavilion
Later we went down to the pier, the ‘tacky’ part of Brighton, and indulged in a bit of regressive behaviour, going on the Ghost Train and attempting to win a Shrek doll with one of those maddening metal claws.
Brighton Pier
The Helter Skelter of Beatles fame on Brighton Pier.
(When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again’).
Close-up on Helter Skelter
It was beautiful weather on Saturday morning but by the afternoon it was blowing a gale and it started to rain. I didn’t manage to actually swim in the ocean, but it was nice to look at it and remember that it’s there – it’s one of the things I miss most about Sydney. The sea was amazingly still and calm on Friday evening and you could see the half moon leaving a silver snail trail across the water. On the Friday night people built campfires and twirled fire sticks on the beach, while on the Saturday it was deckchairs, carousels and ice creams. There were shops selling buckets and spades but I’m not sure why since the beach was pebbly! The only part with sand was the beach volleyball pitch, which was obviously manmade.
We left about 5pm on Saturday and spent Saturday evening back in London. It’s easily done as a day trip but it was nice to be a bit more leisurely and actually wake up there. Our hotel was not too expensive considering we had a sea view and they were fairly relaxed about us only staying one night, which wasn’t the case elsewhere. Brighton has some cool nightclubs, including Fat Boy Slim’s local, so I would quite like to go down there for a bit of a party weekend soon.
This story Warming hits ‘tipping point’ was the splash on The Guardian yesterday. Apparently a huge expanse of permafrost in western Siberia is melting, uncovering peat bog that will release billions of tonnes of methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide so this will dramatically and irreversibly speed up the global warming process. The threat from landmasses releasing greenhouse gases wasn’t known about in 2001 when the last intergovernmental panel on climate change predicted a rise in global temperatures of 1.4C to 5.8C. It could mean that the actual temperature increases are 10-20 per cent higher than previously estimated.
Living in Britain has really brought home to me just how serious the threat of global warming is. Newspapers here, particularly the likes of The Guardian and The Independent, will regularly run climate change stories as front page news, which was never the case in Australia. There seems to be a lot more willingness to face up to the problem, although Britain is on course to miss its Kyoto obligations to the action to solve the problems is a different matter entirely.
Scientists are saying that there is still time to act but if we don’t act soon it will be too late.
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