14sandwiches

A technology-media-music party for your brain

In The Night Garden… with Roland Barthes?

UK-based production company Ragdoll have spent 24 years perfecting the art of preschool TV.  From Pob’s Programme and Rosie & Jim through to The Teletubbies they’ve captured the imaginations of millions of children around the world time and again with their thorough understanding of young children’s minds.  While many people complained about Pob or Tinky-Winky’s [...]


The rocky relationship of videogames and TV

As the recorded music industry struggles to turn around from the rampant piracy that has seen a vast decline in sales over the past few years, sales video games have been on the rise. It seems that UK sales of games will exceed sales of music and video this year. With games becoming [...]


Forget Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, there’s a new laughing stock in the advertising world.  Last night a new advertising campaign for Country Life Butter began on British TV.  Its star is John Lydon, better known as Sex Pistols frontman Johnnny Rotten.
Now I don’t really need to describe why the advert itself is bad.  Just [...]


Suggestions have come to light that BBC producers may have fiddled a little more than you’d expect with goings-on in an observational documentary. Don’t Tell The Bride is the kind of programme only people who are desperate to appear on TV apply to take part in.  A BBC TV series currently airing on BBC Three, [...]


Last night saw the first meet-up for Manchester-based bloggers in a long time.  Hosted by the Manchester Evening News, it was a chance for us to get a look around the offices of the main local newspaper in the area and see how they’re adapting to a world where many predict that “Heritage Media” will [...]


A Revolutionary Radio Republic?

Chances are that your local commercial radio station plays a mix of current and classic pop hits.  Throw in bit of banter from the DJ, news on the hour and the occasional competition and you’ve got the formula for what works in 99% of the local radio markets in the UK.  So why, until a [...]


Over the past 24 hours there has been much debate online as to whether Microsoft’s new ad campaign is any good or not.  The general view across many of the major blogs is that Microsoft have wasted a huge amount of money on a dud.  There’s Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Gates, a discount shoe shop and [...]


As someone who likes to watch America’s quality TV exports, I have to confess I’ve dropped the ball of late.  Madmen?  Haven’t seen it.  Battlestar Galactica?  Likewise.  I put the blame on me not having Sky Plus.  These programmes are always on when I’m out or watching something else.  One day I’ll get Sky Plus [...]


Banking on in-store radio - a big mistake

If you run a big retail chain, chances are at some point someone will come to you and suggest you set up an in-store radio station.  You can see why it’s tempting to do so.  Companies like TeamTalk will transmit a radio station tailor-made for your chain to all your stores.  You get a wide [...]


Japanese TV - loveable for its quirks

Like most people in the West, my main knowledge of Japanese TV in the past has come from “gosh aren’t those foreigners odd”-type programmes that show clips from gameshows in which contestants have to swim through vats of rotting fish and the losing side willingly commits ritual suicide. If you think that’s all there [...]


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