Archives for December 2006
Sling and chuck
Although The Ashes are hardly going England’s way, it still provides perfect through-the-night background noise and moments of high drama. Having invested in Sky Sports to watch the series, I was worried that I might miss something exciting when away from home.
The Slingbox solves this problem elegantly. Once installed, it’s possible to access the television feed from home at any internet-connected computer: the shot above was taken down in Kent earlier this morning. It’s also possible to watch elsewhere in the house, very handy when your satellite subscription only works on one TV.
This really has the potential to change part of the television market – not only time shifting, but place shifting too. Highly recommended if you don’t want to spend time in front of the TV.
Happy Christmas
In case you didn’t get a card from me this year… sorry! You’re welcome to cut out and keep this one.
Planet Earth
Off to the RGS for the last lecture of the Autumn. And what an uplifting evening: Alastair Fothergill, the Executive Producer of Planet Earth, described how this engrossing series was made. One comes away not only with admiration for the commitment and technology involved – who would envy the two cameramen who over-wintered with an Emperor Penguin colony, or be able to emulate the skill that captured shots of Snow Leopards in close-up from a mile away – but also with a deeply satisfying appreciation of the complexity and splendour of life on Earth.
Special mention of two aspects of Fothergill’s presentation. It’s endearing to see a big chap with tears in his eyes when describing the pleasure of capturing a polar bear swimming through the ice flows; and admirable that, when challenged on the lack of a heavy climate change theme in the series, he responds that there’s still a place for documentaries with a subtle message. Don’t underestimate your audience.
It should be on telly again over Christmas, and seeing the images on the big lecture theatre screen is almost enough justification to invest in HDTV. Almost. But I promise that watching the clips left the biggest smile on my face for quite some time.
Ashes to Ashes, dusk to dawn
Urgh. So The Ashes aren’t exactly going to plan, but it’s not stopped me having disturbed sleep and a crick neck from late nights alone on the sofa, dozing to the soothing tones of Jonathan Agnew and co.
It irks me that I saw only one day of England’s famous 2005 campaign since I was living in a house in New Zealand without TV reception, but at least I’m well trained in listening to cricket overnight (thank goodness for BBC Radio Player). Interesting to see how the British media have handled this problem with a slew of podcasts and morning on-line summaries. Here’s a roundup of the sources I browse each day.
The BBC has an enormous presence Down Under, with many of their journalists being forced to contribute to the Test Match Special blog as well as the very handy Boycott and Agnew audio summary // The Guardian doesn’t have the best cricket writing, but I do enjoy reading (and listening to) Mike Selvey’s commentaries and the enthusiastic analysis from young Lawrence Booth // Matthew Hoggard, the most popular man in the English dressing room, does a really engaging if amateurish video podcast through The Times // One of the best analysts remains Christopher Martin Jenkins, who can be found in slightly perplexed mood on his own video podcast. // The Corridor is a charming home-spun blog and the story of how the founder got a job at Cricinfo from it shows that blogging about a passion can pay off // Tim de Lisle is opinionated but generally accurate.
And, since it’s important to keep an eye on the opposition, special mention should go to The Ashes blog which offers some very amusing backyard recreations of key Ashes moments, such as that on the right // Plus the snappy, insightful ABC Sport podcasts. It’s just a shame that Roy and HG aren’t back on air until the new year.
Lucky I’m not so busy at work, eh?
Surrey County Cricket Club are sitting on £700 of my cash for membership and tickets next year, so England had better recharge their spirit and nail those Aussies. Otherwise next summer may be as damp as an Adelaide pitch on the day before an Ashes test.
