My 2012

My 2012

As 2012 comes to an end, I thought it would be nice to sum up the year so far in one blog post, sort of like one of those round robin letters you get but you won’t get this force-fed down your throat. Failing that it’s something for me to look back on in years to come! So what happened in 2012?

January: The month I finally went abroad

  

I started off 2012 by taking a look around the new City Park in Bradford (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/city-park-actually-quite-good.html). It might have cost an obscenely large amount of money but what they’ve done with the space is incredible and it’s a really impressive landmark, and one that has brought the population of the city together in many ways. I also enjoyed Milton Jones’ pilot ‘The House of Rooms’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/milton-jones-house-of-rooms-review.html) which still hasn’t been commissioned as far as I know, which is a real shame as it was a hilarious thirty minutes.

Capitalising on two games reviews I’d sent into website ‘Den of Geek’ in December 2011 I began writing more for the site. By the end of the year I would have written lots for them, from a review of ‘Sonic Generations’ (http://www.denofgeek.com/games/6502/sonic-generations-nintendo-3ds-review) to ’10 Things I’d Like To See From Primeval’ (http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/primeval/21040/the-10-things-we%E2%80%99d-like-to-see-from-primeval-in-2012) to my top ten episodes of that television series (http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/primeval/22386/top-10-primeval-episodes). I would go on to write a big piece on the WiiU (http://www.denofgeek.com/games/23685/our-first-48-hours-with-the-nintendos-wii-u) and game ZombiU (http://www.denofgeek.com/games/23777/zombiu-wii-u-review) as well as a weekly review of the Canadian spin-off ‘Primeval New World’ (starting with http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/primeval/23309/primeval-new-world-episode-1-review-the-new-world). I am very grateful to the site for accepting my work and love the writing and seeing my name up on the site, plus the mostly positive reviews my articles are getting.

In January I also began writing regularly for blog www.all-noise.co.uk, with a weekly round-up of that week’s singles and that’s something I’m still doing now, and I thank Luke for letting me do the article each week. Alongside this regular contribution I’ve also done lots of album reviews, countdown and much more, viewable at http://www.philip-lickley.co.uk/wp/journalism.

Thirdly I continued reviewing video games for site ‘Brash Games’ (thanks to Paul) and wrote many reviews over the course of 2012, viewable at http://www.brashgames.co.uk/author/philip-lickley/.

Also this month I scored nearly 1000 view on my tongue-in-cheek musings on how Sherlock Holmes could have survived his suicidal jump over at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.com/2012/01/10-possible-explanations-for-sherlock.html, one of many posts I’ve made through the year to try and increase my experience of writing. Sadly, after a promising start last January, I’ve still yet to make any real progress with my novel.

But the biggest thing of January was my first trip abroad with good friends Ian and Rachael - http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/rachael-ian-and-phils-trip-to-france.html. We had an amazing time at Euro Disney and in Paris even though the weather was absolutely freezing but looking back on the week it was an amazing time, starting with a sight-seeing day in London and then heading into France. I really wish I could do it again.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?Set=a.527340191704.18836.283300391&type=1

In the world of music I picked up a copy of Rudolf Rocker’s ‘The Whitby Scar’ (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/rudolf-rocker-whitby-scar-review.html), gave my thoughts on the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2012’ poll (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/my-thoughts-on-sound-of-2012.html) and talked about my dislike of the bonus tracks and deluxe albums (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/disappointment-of-bonus-platinum-track.html).

And, as usual, I continued broadcasting two shows on RamAir, in the form of ‘Bitter and Pies’ and ‘...and be done with it’.

February: A better trip to hospital

In February I began my journey into hospital radio. Over 2012 I would be trained up at BRI and get my first show ‘Ultrasound’, as well as help out with their sixtieth birthday celebrations later in the year.

I continued my blog posts by looking at the unusual decision to edit the upcoming ‘The Pirates’ film due to a throw-away joke about leprosy that sparked a big debate (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/pirates-in-adventure-with-political.html) and also reviewing ‘The Muppets’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/muppets-2012-review.html), a brilliant film well worth seeing, but whether the sequel with Ricky Gervais appearing will be as good we’ll wait to see! I also wrote about my fourteen favourite comedy series.

I picked up a copy of Lana Del Rey’s excellent ‘Born To Die’ album early in February (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/lana-del-rey-born-to-die-album-review.html) and got annoyed over Marcus Collins’ ripping-off of an earlier track (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/two-nation-army-another-x-factor-rip.html).

March: I’m Porky and I Know It – are you?

In March I fulfilled a dream to see ‘An Inspectre Calls’ on stage, going to watch it with my parents at the Alhambra in Bradford. It was an incredible performance with a set that you have to see to believe – if you can catch it I’d highly recommend it! (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/inspector-calls-review.html)

In March I also watched the latest performance by the ever reliable BUSOM group at the University of Bradford and you can read my review at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/busom-presents-iolanthe-theatre-in-mill.html. I also grabbed a copy of Meat Loaf’s new album which I reviewed at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/meat-loaf-hell-in-handbasket-album.html.

Finally, having spent two years with Mike and Kev doing parody tracks, we finally entered the world of videos with this little gem:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/i2iQfhhyy0g?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

April: Student Radio, BCB, Steps, Parodies, 100 shows and hello new phone!

April started off rather busy at work with my birthday being put on hold as we were hosting the Student Radio Conference, three days of hard work and organisation but an event that was mostly pulled off successfully for the many student stations that came down even if the weather did throw snow at us on the third day. It’s a big thank you to everyone from me who helped on both sides of the event as it couldn’t have been achieved without a lot of hard work from everyone. Good luck to Leicester who are hosting it this year!

Work with RamAir continued to be fun this year as we got a new studio and playout system which we’re just about getting to grips with now!

I treated myself after this to see one of my favourite bands as a child – Steps – live at the MEN Arena, a great gig if not quite up to Take That from the previous year (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/steps-mcr-arena-10th-april-2012-review.html).

Back in December I recorded a one-off pilot on BCB – Bradford’s local community radio station – and in April I started broadcasting this regularly in a half-hour format. ‘Paper Cuts’ goes out weekly at 1pm on a Wednesday and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing it so far.

Also in April I reviewed two massive films – The Pirates! (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/pirates-in-adventure-with-scientists.html) and an unexpectedly incredible film ‘The Cabin In The Woods (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/cabin-in-woods-movie-review.html) which is a definite must see! I also misjudgingly bought Sean Paul’s new album, which was not so good (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/sean-paul-tomahawk-technique.html).

April was also the month in which my mobile phone finally bit the dust with the screen smashing and becoming unusable, so I finally dipped my toe into the smartphone market with a HTC One S. After finding the e-mail alerts more annoying than helpful but equally becoming more involved with Facebook, Twitter, Draw Something and Words With Friends (not sure if any of that is a good thing), I was glad to have changed phones in the end (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/one-day-with-htc-one-s.html).

Finally, April was also the hundredth edition of the ‘...and be done with it’ show on the 25^th, which came a week after we did our second totally live show, which you can hear some bits of at http://www.andbedonewithit.co.uk/wp/page/4/. We also did our second parody album in this month which you can hear in full at http://www.andbedonewithit.co.uk/wp/humour/autotuned-2-hell-parody-album-2/.

May: Electric Six and food safety

This Month was a busy time for blog posts, reviewing ‘The Avengers’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/avengers-assemble-review.html- not so good), ‘American Reunion (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/american-reunion-review.html- better) and ‘The Hunger Games’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/hunger-games-review.html- Best). I also saw the BUSOM summer concert (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/busom-boys-vs-girls-2012-summer-concert.html) and mused on the changes to the Gadget Show which finally put me off watching a show I’d enjoyed for many years (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/what-have-they-done-to-gadget-show.html).

I also spoke about the terrestrial showing of series five of ‘Primeval’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/primeval-series-five-to-make.html), a show that is still sitting in re-commissioning limbo and Tim Vine’s departure from my favourite sitcom ‘Not Going Out’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/tim-vine-is-going-out-as-he-leaves.html) and we’ll see what effect that has on it when series six debuts in early 2013.

Musically I bought a copy of Dick Valentine’s acoustic album ‘Destroy The Children’ (A great listen - http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/dick-valentine-destroy-children-review.html) and saw him live acoustically in Fibbers, York at the end of the month, another brilliant appearance from a great singer-songwriter (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/dick-valentine-acoustic-live-review.html).

The month ended with the ‘Party On The Amp’ event at work which was our busiest yet and the sun shone once more, followed by me going back to college to sit my Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering which I passed.

June: Easy as Pi?

In June I continued my summer viewing of films with the great ‘Men In Black 3’, which I’ve just got on BluRay and enjoyed it as much the second time around (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/men-in-black-3-review.html) plus ‘Top Cat’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-cat-movie-movie-review.html) which, despite the negative reviews, is actually more fun than you might think if you’re a fan of the original cartoon.

On the box I watched and reviewed the Jubilee concert (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/jubilee-concert-4th-june-2012.html) and thought about the ten funny things I’d like to see at it (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/10-things-i-want-to-see-from-tonights.html). I continued to write down my thoughts on all matter of things from the cash-in cover song (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/update-rise-of-cash-in-cover-song.html), to Muse’s ‘Survival’ song (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/muse-survival-official-london-2012.html)  to Jessie J’s copyright claim (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/jessie-j-vs-loomis-and-lust-in.html).

I also decided to buy a Raspberry Pi and after a long wait it finally turned up this month. It turned out to be a gold-trap and not as easy to set-up and use as promised, and I’ve still not fully got to grips with the piece of kit. It may inspire a new generation of young computer programmers, but to me it lacked the simplicity of the BASIC computers I used as a young kid in school (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/phils-adventures-with-his-raspberry-pi.html). I will have to come back to it to see if I can spend some more time to fathom it out.

I subscribed to a new magazine in June, to go with my ‘Private Eye’, ‘Official Nintendo Magazine’ and ‘Fortean Times’ subscriptions. ‘Wonderpedia’ is a great monthly magazine with lots of interesting articles on a wide range of subjects and well worth picking up, though it took me a month or so to get the first issue due to a mistake in the distribution centre (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/wonderpedia-new-magazine.html).

June was also the time of E3 with Nintendo releasing the first details of their upcoming WiiU console. You can read my thoughts on the show at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/nintendo-e3-in-nutshell.html.

I also took time in June to muse on a variety of subjects, such as ITV’s poor treatment of it’s ‘Primeval’ show (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/are-itv-letting-primeval-fail.html); the upcoming new entry in the ‘Tomb Raider’ franchise (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/has-tomb-raider-series-lost-its-way.html); and my thoughts on the Cofilmic event myself and friend Liam Walters attended in Bradford in the first of my steps in the year to expand my knowledge of script writing (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/cofilmic-films-my-thoughts.html). It was a great session with some hilarious short films and though the comedy sketches I submitted to the competition weren’t winners, it was a useful bit of experience for me.

July: Hotpots, Alnwick Castle and the Olympics

I continued to review movies in June with the Amazing Spider-man, perhaps not as amazing as the title but still good (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/amazing-spider-man-review.html), and the much better  ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-dark-knight-rises-spoiler-filled.html).

I also headed over to Sheffield’s ‘Magna’ in the month to play some of the retro games available there and have a first-play on the new 3DS Mario game and the ‘Beat The Beat’ Wii game (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/day-out-at-magna.html) even if I did feel out of place going on my own!

I saw the Lancashire Hotpots live in this month (the first of four times I’d see them in the second half of the year by luck more than good management) in what was a really strong gig (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/lancashire-hotpots-dukes-lancaster.html) as well as picking up their latest album (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-lancashire-hotpots-hard-days-pint.html).

I continued to offer the people of the internet my thoughts on things including the London 2012 opening ceremony (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-london-2012-olympics-ceremony.html) and even broke into verse to sum up the first three days of the summer event - http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/london-2012-olympics-days-1-3.html.

On the 22^nd I went on a trip with work to Alnwick Castle. The weather was brilliant and the day great fun! Though we did visit the Poison Garden and I took a photo of cannabis, which means that image occasionally appears on the home screen of my phone. Nice.

I also spoke about the sad passing of actor Geoffrey Hughes in July, sadly missed (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/geoffrey-hughes-few-thoughts.html).

August: Sketch Show and Stand-Up Comedy

In August I went to the National Media Museum in Bradford to see their demonstration of ‘Super Hi-Def’, which was an experience if not that overwhelming (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/my-thoughts-on-super-hi-vision.html).

It was also the month I finished off my pilot for a sketch show which you can hear below – thanks to everyone who contributed a voice! Hopefully if I plug this more it will be picked up – or maybe not!

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/55534149" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

I also did something different this month, heading off to a BBC Radio 2 stand-up comedy workshop with friend Liam in Leeds on Monday 20^th August and we each did five minutes of stand-up in front of an audience. It was a nerve-wracking experience but one that was really rewarding, and the day after I went to see the more seasoned newbies do it!

It wasn't all fun and good news. I had entered some of my demos into the Sony Radio Awards but sadly didn't get anything!

I put my hand in my pocket and bought the new 3DS Mario game and you can read my thoughts on it at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/new-super-mario-bros-2-3ds-review.html.

I also reviewed the closing ceremony of the Olympics (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-london-2012-olympics-closing.html) and the opening ceremony of the Paraolympic games (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-paralympics-opening-ceremony.html).

Speaking of the Olympics, I reviewed the CDs for the respective ceremonies (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/isles-of-wonder-music-for-opening.htmland http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/a-symphony-of-british-music-music-for.html)  and Spector’s excellent debut album (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/spector-enjoy-it-while-it-lasts-album.html).

Finally I gave my thoughts on Tim Vine’s new game show (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/dont-blow-inheritance-itv1-5pm.html) and compiled my favourite music videos ever (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/best-music-videos-ever-part-one.html).

September: The Paralympics and Bingley Music Live

The highlight of the month was my visit to the Paralympics on the 9^th September. I wasn’t particularly bothered about seeing any matches – though I got to see 7-a-side football – but I wanted the opportunity to say I’d been there. The park was incredible, the attractions brilliant and the weather during the day was great, so overall a fantastic trip and well worth the ten hours on a coach on the round day trip.

September began in a fun way with my annual trip to local festival ‘Bingley Music Live’, an event I’ve been to all but one of. The weather held out, the acts were great and the two additional stages well done. My thoughts and reviews can be found at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bingley-music-live-day-one.html; http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bingley-music-live-day-two.htmland http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/bingley-music-live-day-three.html.

In the world of television, September was all about ‘Doctor Who’ and I reviewed all five episodes as well as spoofing them for the continuing parody series of ‘DJ Who’ for my radio show ‘...and be done with it’. (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-asylum-of-daleks-review.html; http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-dinosaurs-on-spaceship.html; http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-town-called-mercy-review.html; http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-power-of-three-review.html; http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/doctor-who-angels-take-manhattan-review.html).

You can hear our five radio spoofs at http://www.andbedonewithit.co.uk/wp/humour/dj-who/.

Back in the world of music I picked up the Killers new album and reviewed it at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-killers-battle-born-album-review.html.

October: Hotpots and weddings!

This month I went to the wedding of friends Andrew and Maggie Roberts – it was a great day – and I wish them all the best for the future!

In October I saw a couple of films, the acclaimed but ultimately disappointing ‘Looper’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/looper-movie-review.html) but the far more enjoyable and ‘film of the year’ James Bond flick ‘Skyfall’ (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/skyfall-review.html). I also wrapped up warm with some friends to watch ‘Coraline’ in the City Park, armed with a marshmallow-filled hot chocolate and requiring a good warming up in Lloyds (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/coraline-outside-screening-in-city-park.html).

Bradford did it’s ‘Garden of Light’ this month in the City Park, which was a great attraction to visit, especially on the Saturday night when it was busy with Bradfordians, showcasing another event pulling together residents of the city.

I picked up two great albums in October, the long-awaited live album from Electric Six (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/electric-six-absolute-pleasure-live.html) and the Evil Cowards follow-up ‘Moving Through Security’ (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/evil-cowards-moving-through-security.html).

I also made my third visit to see the Hotpots (they appeared at September’s ‘Bingley Music Live’ for my second) though a friend not being able to make the gig. They were great as always! (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-lancashire-hotpots-well-leeds.html)

Finally, I was also asked to be the joint-best man to my friend Mike alongside Kev for his wedding next year, which was a massive honour, and I wish the pair all the best for their future together!

November: More radio, story writing, WiiU and piano

In November I attempted Movember. I can’t grow a moustache. Let’s forget it happened.

This month – on the 12^th– I began broadcasting a twice-weekly breakfast show on BCB with friend Ant Smith and that’s going well, with a great one-hour show every Monday and Tuesday morning at 8pm (http://www.facebook.com/BradfordBAP). As part of this I also got to interview local roller derby team ‘The Bruising Banditas’ for a feature on the show (hear the full version at https://soundcloud.com/philip-lickley/interview-with-the-bruising).

November was a month of live gigs. In the four short weeks I saw Spector (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/spector-supported-by-splash-and-swim.html), Electric Six (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/electric-six-fibbers-york-wednesday.html) and my fourth and final ‘The Lancashire Hotpots’ show (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-lancashire-hotpots-fibbers-york.html). Back at home I was listening to Robbie’s new album ‘Take The Crown’ (http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/robbie-williams-take-crown-deluxe.html).

Back in August I entered a short-story writing competition in York and sadly found out in November I didn’t win but you can read my two entries at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/ghost-by-philip-lickley.htmland http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-new-prescription-by-philip-lickley.html.

I also continued to review BUSOM performances with their scratch (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/busom-presents-scratch-enfreude-review.html) and attended the switching on of the Bradford Christmas lights which was a rare drop in quality of events in the City Park (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/bradford-christmas-lights-switch-on.html).

November was also the month that the WiiU came out and as a life-long Nintendo fan I picked up a copy alongside two extra games and, as I write this, am thoroughly enjoying the new console and it was a good decision to get one.

Finally, a New Year’s resolution from several years previously was finally completed as I passed my grade one piano exam and started on the road to grade two. Thank you to Matt my teacher for lots of patience!

December: Panto, student film, and a trip to London!

As December came round I reviewed the final BUSOM performance of the year (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/busom-villains-minions-and-monsters.html) and gave my thoughts on some of the things on television over the festive period (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-snowman-and-snowdog-review.htmland http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-few-thoughts-on-christmas-day.html).

December saw the final ‘...and be done with it’ show of the year, with our regular pound shop challenge, which you can hear at http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/3066468.

As my working year finished, we had a fantastic Christmas Market at work and then after term ended my first publically performed scripted work in the UBU Christmas Pantomime. Warning: in-jokes and dodgy humour aplenty!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yb81aKwiK9A?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I also featured in a small role in a student’s film so we’ll see how that comes out in the new year! It was also the month of the staff Chrismas party, which was as fun as ever!

The highlight of the month, though, had to be my trip down to London with friend Carl to see ‘Electric Six’ live down in Shepherd’s Bush as well as sight-seeing in the capital. In a year that I started off in France and ended up in this weekend away, it was rounded off brilliantly. You can read my thoughts on the weekend at http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/phil-and-carls-magical-trip-to-london.htmland the gig at http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/electric-six-live-at-shepherds-bush.html.

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.539035554104.20957.283300391&type=1

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.539032939344.20955.283300391&type=1

I returned to York for Christmas and we paid our annual visit to the pantomime at the Theatre Royal and once more were not disappointed! (http://it-is-phil-time.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/robin-hood-and-his-merry-mam-panto.html).

Overall

In summary I can’t believe how busy a year it has been. I’ve started doing much more in radio, more articles and trying to build up my portfolio. I’m still enjoying my time working for the University of Bradford Students’ Union – I couldn’t ask for nicer colleagues or a more engaging job – but equally am keeping my eye out for jobs in radio but we’ll see how that progresses in 2013!

(I’m sure I’ll have missed something this year so expect some updates!)

Read More

A Symphony of British Music: Music For The Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games (Album Review)

As with my review of the double-CD set of the opening ceremony - http://wavgoodbye.blogspot.com/2012/08/isles-of-wonder-music-for-opening.html - the CD of the closing ceremony is a great memento of the evening and, aside from a few bits here and there, is a top collection of music from the event and an improvement on what is included over the previous collection.

Firstly, even though the vast majority of the tracks on this two CD set are live, there is no crowd sound so there is a certain level of atmosphere missing, which is a real shame.

On the fourteen track CD-One we get the atmospheric openings from the ceremony, which give the ceremony the grandiose opening you’d hope for and include the Stomp and Winston Churchill sections, and then the live renditions of the key opening songs, including ‘Our House’ by Madness, which actually sounds better than I remember it watching it on television, to the band version of Blur’s ‘Parklife’ which is a style I’d like to hear the track performed in again – though it’s only just over a minute it’s a cracking interpretation.

The Pet Shop Boys are on top form on ‘West End Girls’, you can tell it’s live but Neil Tennant’s live voice is excellent, and Ray Davies’ version of ‘Waterloo Sunset’ completes a quartet of well adapted songs for the live environment. Thankfully, unlike live, we don’t have to listen to them all again on loop.

‘One Direction’ are conspicuous in their absence on the CD – surely this would have been one “for the kids” – but we do get Emile Sande’s hauntingly touching live take on ‘Read All About It (Part Three)’.

After David Arnold’s ‘Parade of Athletes’ we get the two well-composed Elbow tracks in full and the Kate Bush remix of her ‘Running Up The Hill’ track. Though the remix is not a million miles away from the original version it’s nice to hear such a good track on here, though why we get a studio recording over, say, One Direction’s live version of their track I don’t know. I’m not saying I’m a massive fan of 1D – I’m anything but – but it seems an usual stylistic choice. Especially when we get the inferior Annie Lennox track on the next disc, but more on that shortly.

The disc comes to an end with the collaboration on ‘Here Comes The Sun’, a stylistic highlight of the ceremony with a nicely constructed range of music styles and influences, a piece by David Arnold and then a small and welcome but a little bit pointless excerpt from Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

Disc two is really where it earns its right to be a worthwhile purchase. Kicking off with a nicely adapted version of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ – the original with a choir stuck under it, but stuck in an enjoyable way – the CD decides to skip past the fun ‘Freedom ‘90’ sung by George Michael and giving us ‘White Light’ instead. Though this version is twice as good as the questionable single release, with a much more satisfying electronic feel, it doesn’t help the cause of Michael denying he sang this song to fit the mood rather than boost the single sales. Hearing back to the lyrics make it seem even more self-centered than before. Strange.

We do get the great cover of The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’ by the Kaiser Chiefs and, like I felt at the actual viewing, we should have got more from them. Their cover here is spirited and captures the mood and would have loved to have heard one more song by them, especially when George Michael got two bites at the cherry, the Who practically did their whole discography and Jessie J appeared on more songs than a cowbell at an indie concert.

In this second half, in the absence of ‘Freedom 90’ we get the studio version of David Bowie’s ‘Fashion’, just one of the many songs played by Bowie and probably the least interesting especially when the fashion model visuals aren’t included with it. At least it’s better to hear than Annie Lennox’s tedious ‘Little Bird’.

The CD is more consistent with the track order now as we get the Ed Sheeran and Pink Floyd ‘Wish You Were Here’ collaboration, which isn’t really my cup of tea, but it’s a fun ensemble version.

Even Russell Brand and Bond’s collaboration on the Beatles’ ‘I Am The Walrus’ has actually grown on me and though ‘Pure Imagination’ that precedes it I can give or take, the cover is actually a fun version and Brand’s enthusiasm is energetic. It’s not a million miles away from the original but it’s spirited and enjoyable live.

After some shortened version of two Fatboy Slim classics – no real difference from the originals other than they’re cut down from the single releases but nice to hear nonetheless – we do get to the best bit of the gig with the cracking well-crafted mash-up montage of ‘Price Tag’,’ Written In The Stars’ and ‘Dynamite’ by Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz, which are all well sung and mashed-up together, even if Jessie does mysteriously sing ‘Can you fold that chair’ on the piece. I think. Possibly.

This bleeds into a jazzy and welcome cover of the Bee Gees’ ‘You Should Be Dancing’, with a welcome new rap from Tinie Tempah, and then the much anticipated medley from the Spice Girls with a hilarious car-horn opening to ‘Wannabe’, but listening back both tracks sound suspiciously like the single versions and with so much mixing in place it’s clear that they’ve got a lot of support from backing discs. But the mash-up is a great bit of mixing and I’d love to hear more of their hits given this treatment.

It goes without saying that I’m glad ‘Always Look On The Bright Side of Life’ is included as it’s a stonking version of it but the absence of Beady Eye’s ‘Wonderwall’ is a disappointment.

Muse’s live version of ‘Survival’ sounds great and is included, as is the double-hit of Queen with Freddie back from the dead with ‘Day-O’ and Jessie J joining May and Taylor for ‘We Will Rock You’.

The disc reaches its conclusion with two more pieces of incidental music from the extinguishing of the flame and other necessary bits before we get the beautiful live version of ‘Rule The World’ by Take That with some great piano work, and then the triple-end from ‘The Who’, all sounding great and show they still have it, though I’m not sure why they get so many bites of the cherry. And, yes, they do, drop out the words ‘I Hope I Die Before I Get Old’.

Overall, this collection is a vast improvement on the opening ceremony one and covers far more that appeared in the ceremony than the first did and, with a bigger focus on pop and rock hits over instrumental music, it’s much more enjoyable to hear as a collection without the attached imagery.

The decision to drop some songs like ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘One Direction’ must be down to running time and / or licensing but the inclusion of ‘Whit Light’ over ‘Freedom 90’ is the most questionable decision. But these are minor gripes in what is a fun double CD collection.

If you are going to get either CD collection I’d definitely suggest this one just for the bigger focus on live music, covers and adaptations of songs. With an inclusion of crowd noise and a few tracklist tweaks this would be an essential purchase, but even without there’s still much to enjoy on here and will add some great interpretations of classic and modern British music to your library.

(8/10)

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Isles of Wonder: Music for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games [Album Review]

After the opening ceremony got such a large viewership it was always going to be inevitable that there would be an accompanying CD but in my eyes it’s certainly something that’s welcome.

We got a 2 CD compilation of tracks, some featuring in it in pre-recorded form and some taken live from the event, though it is very much a cherry picked bunch of tracks with many of the prologue tunes, montages, parade songs and the ending material conspicuous in their absence.

Out of the two discs, CD one is by far the most interesting including the excellent ‘I Still Believe’ b y Frank Turner, the four songs to represent the four countries and the weather-themed ‘Nimrod’. We also get the ‘And I Will Kiss’, the powerful piece from the birth of industry, and the tweaked and mashed-up ‘Tubular Bells’ which sounds better than ever. There is also the familiar ‘Chariots of Fire’ theme, Dizzee’s ‘Bonkers’ and a couple of tracks from Emile Sande, alongside the two stonking live Arctic Monkeys tracks and a couple of other instrumental tracks. It’s concluded by the highlight of the whole package and the whole opening ceremony in ‘Caliban’s Dream’, a hypnotic composition.

Sadly there is no space for the ‘Green and Pleasant Land’ medley or indeed any of the other filmed section soundtracks which is a shame, and though I appreciate the cost of licensing having them all on here would justify a higher price.

The second disc, more akin to background music, is made up primarily of Underworld’s well constructed score but with a smattering of other tracks in it including the two-part version of Chemical Brothers’ ‘Galvanize’ and David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’, but considering the raft of material used in the athlete section the absence of a wider range of music – here just represented by sole entries from the Pet Shop Boys, U2 and, more questionably, Wretch 32 – the lack of a wider variety is a shame, as is the ‘Hey Jude’ conclusion. Hey, it wasn’t that good but would have rounded the CD off nicely.

The soundtrack is a worthy momento of the ceremony at a good price of £10 but there’s as much missing from it as there is on it and it’s not really representative of the excellent opening ceremony. The few live tracks on it are great inclusions, as is the wonderful ‘Caliban’s Dream’ but there’s too many omissions to make this an essential purchase, and you should just download the highlights instead.

Here’s hoping the October DVD / Blu-Ray release is more reflective of the wide range of music showcased three weeks ago.

(5/10)

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The London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony

And so the Olympics came to an end with a ceremony of British music, wrapped up as three-and-half-hour trip through the ages of the UK’s artists, thankfully without an out of tune Paul McCartney in sight.

Though not as arresting or visual effective as the marvellous opening ceremony, the closing one was still very much worth seeing, thankfully not having the long and tedious parade of Olympians as part of it even if they did make a nod towards that.

The set piece was a fun design decision, looking like London wrapped up like a fish and chip supper. There was me half expecting the Lancashire Hotpots turning up to give us a rendition of ‘Chippy Tea’ but – silly me! – why would we get something as eccentric as that. Instead we got Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill sticking his head out of a model Big Ben next to an out of scale and small London Eye. There, far more serious.

Once more opting to create a spectacle, but one that was probably incomprehensible to anyone not sharing the British in-joke, the opening was pretty fun to watch. Spall did a good job as Churchill but I still think Ian McNeice, as seen as him on-stage and in Doctor Who, would have made a better one.

Emile Sande’s singing of her version of Professor Green’s ‘Read All About It’ was beautifully sung, even if she appeared dressed as a Blackpool landlady and has better solo hits of her own, and an appearance by Stomp were welcome and it was interesting to see the Queen was replaced by Prince Harry for this ceremony. Perhaps being thrown out of a plane with Daniel Craig sixteen days earlier had done it for her. Or maybe she feared Elton John would perform again.

Perhaps the most in-jokey of everything we’ve had – and, boy, have both ceremonies had these, was the appearance of the ‘Only Fools and Horses’ three-wheeled van out of which emerged actors pretending to be David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Del Boy and Rodney as Batman and Rodney, before the van then exploded and Michael Caine announced ‘You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off’. Honestly. I’ve not been taking drugs. That actually happened. What foreign countries must have made of that I’m not sure, with one episode of a television show from fifteen years ago mixed in with the Italian Job. Actually, we don’t need to imagine, NBC commentators (for what quality they have been) said that the characters were, and I transpose, ‘Folk heroes like Robin Hood’. No, NBC. They were two actors playing two other actors playing two characters playing two other fictional characters from a camp sixties comic adaptation. So that clears things up there. It was funny though.

And now we get into the music and first up was Madness. Now I’m a big fan of Suggs and the gang but I have to say that they were a little bit flat in this performance of ‘Our House’, which is a shame as I know they can sing live. Must have been an off-day for Suggs but it was nice to see the ambassadors for ska represented here, a band that still release quality music as 2009’s ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ shows.

A band version of ‘Parklife’ followed which was a fun interpretation. Of course Blur, one of the main bands of the era we know as BritPop, couldn’t perform it live as they were performing at a rival concert at the same time in one of the daftest scheduling decisions since the finale of ‘One Foot In The Grave’ was run against the first millionaire winner on ITV’s flagship Chris Tarrant-hosted gameshow, but that had at least been unforeseeable... ish.

The Pet Shop Boys appeared for a spirited version of ‘West End Girls’ and One Direction’s two-song medley was well done but I’d hardly utter them in the same breath as Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe in the annals of British Music. As I noted on Twitter, which of course was alight during the ceremony, the only direction I’d really want them to go in was out of the stadium on the back of the lorry they were on.

We then got the winners of Britain’s Got Talent 2010, ‘Spellbound’ performing some admittedly impressive dance work, and Ray Davies giving us a welcome rendition of the Kinks classic ‘Waterloo Sunset’, which was well done even if he looked out of it. One of my friends at this point asked who ‘The Kinks’ were. I promptly evicted him from my flat and told him to come back when he’d heard of bands earlier than Steps.

Emeli Sande then re-appeared to perform a longer version of part three of ‘Read All About It’ (I still to this day am not sure where part two went) and, concluding the new music for the moment, Elbow appeared for the classic and anthemic ‘One Day Like This’, plus the equally fun ‘Open Arms’.

Next somebody slipped the iPod connected to the PA back to replay mode and we got all the songs we’d just heard, albeit in studio form, again. Now I’m all for hearing some songs twice in a short space of time, but we have over sixty years of music to draw from – surely we could have found time to throw in some music from some other British bands that have been influential over the years to fill the gap? Franz Ferdinand. The Sex Pistols. The Automatic. There. Covering three countries. That would have done it and that’s just three names off the top of my head whilst drinking cider. Imagine what acts you could come up with after seven years of planning.

Declining the invitation to appear in person, we couldn’t avoid the music of Kate Bush but at least they picked the enjoyable ‘Running Up That Hill’ while a nice display of boxes was put up with the meaning lost on me until I just read the Wikipedia page. Either I missed the explanation because me and my friends were enjoying the music and making our conversation or the commentators had been told to tone it down after the opening ceremony. I’m not sure. We then got the final medal ceremony of the Olympics which must have been a big honour for those athletes.

Back to the music and the classic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was a much welcome inclusion, as was John Lennon’s image being created out of individual elements on stage, even if it was as creepy as it was impressive. We then got George Michael – surely a dodgy choice for a sporting event trying to avoid accusations of drugs taking (and, presumably crashing your car into buildings) – performing an impressive version of ‘Freedom’ and then, not so impressively, ‘White Light’ which is an OK track and genius and annoying in equal measure, but more importantly released as a single on that day. Whilst every other act got lumbered with a classic or thematically important song, Michael got a second song that many didn’t get and should have got, to plug his new single over, I don’t know, ‘Club Tropicana’ or ‘Careless Whisper’. Not fun.

Moving on, we got an impressive display of Mods and Rockers with Yorkshire’s own Kaiser Chiefs, complete with lead singer Ricky Wilson singing whilst riding pillion, performing The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’. Now it was a great rendition and the band nailed it, but it would have been great to have heard some original material from the band, especially when the original singers were to appear later. According to a post-event interview with Wilson they were originally lined up to perform ‘I Predict A Riot’ (I could have told the organisers a year ago this was a bad idea) but it was changed for the cover. Surely they could have done ‘Ruby’. Or ‘Never Miss A Beat’. Or even ‘The 100 Metres Is Not A Competition (But I’m Winning)’, but I may have made that last one up.

With David Bowie joining Kate Bush in the event decliners, we got a medley of his music which was fun enough, but would have been great to hear him live, before getting ‘Little Bird’ by Annie Lennox. Clearly whoever planned this event was too concerned with not upsetting the youth of London by dropping ‘I Predict A Riot’ from the song list to have heard the Jubilee concert and realise that Lennox is not the ideal candidate for a celebration of music, being that she’s not exactly on top form. And even if they must have had her, surely some big Eurythmics song would have been the call?

We did get a ship appearing on stage, though, which I can only assume was the Somalian team arriving late.

At least we could rely on the closing ceremony to tick off some boxes as we reached some interesting collaborations. Ed Sheeran joining the drummer from Pink Floyd on their hit ‘Wish You Were Here’ was interesting on paper and performed well enough but not a particular highlight for me, and the same could be said for Russell Brand performing the Beatles’ ‘I Am The Walrus’ dressed as ‘Gene Wilder’, alongside orchestra ‘Bond’ which was visually stimulating but it was like asking Huw Edwards to perform ‘Paint It Black’ by the Rolling Stones, that is a fun suggestion but musically questionable.

At least the appearance of Fatboy Slim in a giant octopus playing the radio edits of two of his big hits, whilst pretending to mix on a pair of CD-Js, was welcome. (Remember, I’m not making any of this up, and the cider has worn off).

The triple-act of Jessie “I look naked – is this suitable for a family audience” J; Tinie “Shades are cool” Tempah and Taio “What? He’s actually not American?” Cruz was a highlight of the ceremony for me. Jessie’s ‘Price Tag’ was fun even if it sadly lacked some BOB action like the concert was put together by Radio 2’s Programme Controller and the theme of the song, set aside the fiscal extravagance of London 2012, was an usual juxtaposition, but her work on ‘Written With The Stars’ alongside Tinie, Cruz’s ‘Dynamite’ and then the triple-play on the Bee Gees’ classic ‘You Should Be Dancing’, was all fun and a brilliant set of mash-ups.

The much anticipated ‘Spice Girls’ reunion was up next and was actually very much fun and they handled the songs brilliantly, even if Victoria seemed to be keeping her distance from the rest of the group and it looked like at one point girl power would be extinguished as Mel B looked to be getting run over by a minicab. Ah, well it is London.

Then it got strange. Noel Gallagher appeared on stage with his band with the drum proudly declaring ‘Beady Eye’. Surely we wouldn’t be getting a hit from the band otherwise known as ‘The less successful sibling band next to ‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’? No, we got a little-known track called ‘Wonderwall’. Actually, it was a great rendition of the Noel-less track but it was a little like Paul Simon arriving on stage singing a Simon and Garfunkel song with a new backing band and doing the audio equivalent of a middle finger towards his old song-writing partner. They should have got Blur.

Oh, sorry, Damon Albarn was wailing depressingly in Earl’s Court whilst this spectacular was going on.

Perhaps they couldn’t have Oasis on the drumkit as the only drink they could promote would be Coca Cola?

After a welcome interlude of ELO’s amazing ‘Mr Blue Sky’ we got another highlight of the event. It might not be quite up to another Mr. Bean or James Bond moment, but Eric Idle’s spirited version of the Monty Python classic ‘Always Look On The Bright Side of Life’ was great and he even got away with the word ‘shit’ and some casual racism, so those family friendly boxes ticked there. Oh, and there were morris dancers too so thumbs up again.

Moving on we got Muse camping it up to do their, admittedly well done, live version of their oompah-loompah Queen-knock-off ‘Survival’ before we got the genuine article. Well, Freddie on a large screen doing his fun, live vocal harmony crowd-engagement thing from beyond the grave, before we got a decidedly greying Brian May doing some more impressive guitar work alongside drummer Roger Taylor, before Jessie J decided she’d come back for another bite of the cherry in a less revealing dress to contribute to a cover of ‘We Will Rock You’. She’s been criticised for her performance of this but I actually think it worked really well.

After some impressive orchestral work and Rio’s four-year-hint towards what we’ll get over there in 2016 (no Duran Duran performing ‘Rio’ here), including an appearance by Pele, there was just time to extinguish the flame which, though impressive, could well have been the opening ceremony played backwards, before Take That appeared to perform ‘Rule The World’. For Gary to appear mere days after his personal tragedy was spirited of him and they performed the track flawlessly. It would have been nice to have seen Robbie join them but he didn’t appear on the original version of the track and, possibly, may have done something outrageous. I’m not sure that a song called ‘Rule The World’ was the most sane of choices for a country that, er, once ruled the world under questionable means, but it was an enjoyable rendition. We then got three tracks by ‘The Who’ to round things off, giving them four songs in one form or another during the closing ceremony. I wonder who they had to sleep with for that?

(Apparently they omitted the line ‘I hope I die before I get old’ from ‘My Generation’. I didn’t notice this but the change was appropriate as they’re all now pensioners.)

And that, over half-an-hour longer than I expected, was the closing ceremony. It couldn’t quite hold a candle – sorry, Olympic torch – to the bonkers and visually impressive opening ceremony but it also didn’t have the budget. It covered lots of eras of British music and it’s hard to pick fault with their musical choices but there were a few strange omissions such as ‘The Rolling Stones’ and a few unusual inclusions such as Russell Brand, and perhaps a few dubious song choices – George Michael and the under-used Kaiser Chiefs – being two examples, but they were never going to please everyone.

The vast majority of the music performances sounded great, which is more than could be said for the nearest similar event of the Jubilee concert, and there were also enough visual elements to keep it interesting.

A great musical round-up to an Olympics dominated by the best of British music with just a few dodgy decisions to let it down. Mash this up with the best bits of the Jubilee concert – i.e. more Robbie, less Elton, Paul and George – and it would have been a winner!

(7/10)

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My Thoughts On Super Hi-Vision

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing another technological innovation at Bradford’s increasingly exciting National Media Museum, a place that sits proudly in Bradford with its fantastic free exhibits, video game area and IMAX screen that compares excellently in price to the over-priced screens available elsewhere in the city and delivery a picture many times the size for a not dissimilar price.

One thing they are showing now – in conjunction with the BBC and only one of three places in the country to do so – is a new technology known as ‘Super Hi-Vision’. Though it does sound like something that would have been proudly promoted in front of a screening of ‘Thunderbirds’ it is actually a genuine technology, delivering a hi-def picture sixteen times more hi-def than hi-def with a 22.2 channel sound, which is like a beefed up 5.1 sound system except with twenty-two speakers and two bass channels.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. If you’ve just upgraded to a 42’’ plasma with full 1080p HD and a 7.1 surround sound speaker systems and feel miffed about the emergence of 3D television systems that will overtake it, you don’t need to feel short-changed by yet another new system. As the set-up, based in the small Cubby Broccoli cinema within the NMM, requires a 300 inch screen (this one set-up to receive images from a hefty projector) with sixteen speakers around the main screen and the other six elsewhere, it’s not going to be a system that will fit in the average living room, even if you could afford it.

At this point I’m going to be controversial. I’ve never really been that taken aback by standard HD. It’s only benefit I can see is that, as television’s get bigger the flaws in standard definition have become more obvious, and that’s its main benefit. I honestly don’t feel, in watching a HD broadcast, that I feel any more like I’m in the sporting stadium or up close with a panda. It’s just clearer and crisper. The only time I’ve really felt there is in the IMAX showings of the Dark Knight four years ago where, as the camera panned over shots of skyscrapers, I felt like I was up there. And, let’s face it. Who could house an IMAX screen in their living room?

But I still wanted to see this Super Hi-Vision to see what it was like. And, though the marketing speak of it being like a window into the room is not entirely spot-on – it still feels like you are watching the action on a screen – it is by far the crispest and clearest picture I’ve ever seen, the images on the screen bright and vibrant.

The set-up in the museum is not quite how I had it in my head. I’d imagined – and this is purely what I’d made up not what I’d read – that the hour would be that moment’s Olympics delivered in Super Hi-Vision but it’s in fact a forty-minute taster of the system. It starts with a five money explanation of its history and how it compares to Hi-def and it was this, combined with the specially generated sound, that showed off the increase in detail and improved sound.

What we got after this was a selection of material. Firstly there was elements from the Olympics opening ceremony, namely the forging of the rings section, the James Bond video and abseiling and the walk on of Team GB in the procession; then the 400m women’s swimming race where Rebecca Adlington won bronze (Sunday 29th July); and then chosen highlights from the basketball match where the USA beat Nigeria by, well, a “few” points.

Graphically, the Opening Ceremony looking brilliant in Super Hi-Vision and you could see everything in the stadium from the action in the centre to what people were wearing on the back row, even to the emergency exit signs right at the back top. Though a lot of the detail was due to the huge screen, it’s hard to deny that the new system makes more detail much clearer, but it’s still just a television image to me. Sorry to be a downer but it’s not quite the looking through a window feeling advertised, but this is most likely down to the lack of the atmosphere associated with the picture which is impossible to transfer. The people behind me in the cinema, before the showing, actually had an interesting conversation about smell and other aspects that make a thing feel real and whether that could ever be conveyed realistically. Also, it’s the ability to look around and change your viewing angle that makes “being there” realistically so perhaps the future will be combining Super Hi-Vision with Kinect style technology and some sort of modern smell-o-vision?

But, as far as new technology goes, being able to get a wide angle viewing of the opening ceremony where you could make out each individual participant and each one of the individual lights by people’s seats that lit up to form images was impressive to see.

The second element of the opening ceremony was a little bit of a missed opportunity. It spent most of the time pointed at one of the large screens showing the James Bond pre-video section which, one assumes, wasn’t filmed in Super Hi-Vision, so aside from the static shot of the stadium in the format it was like someone demonstrating High Definition by showing you a film of it on their mobile phone.

The athlete walk on was the most impressive part with the small elements of ticker tape fired onto Team GB being very crisp and life-like and the huge shot of all the athletes in the stadium visually very impressive.

Onto the swimming and the sound was impressive but not as good as the pre-generated sounds in the opening titles. It didn’t quite feel like we were there but it was immersive. The water as the swimmers did their bits was clear and you could make out all the ripples and I spent much of my time looking far at the back to the crowds, which were all crisp, emphasising the detail. I also noted that there were very few empty seats, you’ll be glad to know.

Oh, and how many people there are wandering around with steadi-cams getting in the faces of swimmers, something you obviously don’t see on ordinary television broadcasts.

Oh, and how they need two people to present the winners, one with a medal then another with a small bunch of flowers. Weird.

Sound wise the basketball one was the most impressive with the individual noises of each player on the court audible. But it never felt like I was in the crowd. The impression of people sitting behind me and noise from all around wasn’t really captured and the sound seemed very front facing, certainly not as impressive as the audio demo at the start comparing the music of a live orchestra on a 2, 5.1 and 22.2 sound system. But, again, all the detail of the crowd was visible and it was a very detailed picture.

After a forty-minute showing the film came to an end and I could reflect on what I’d seen. Detail wise the images are impressive and the sound involving, but as we’ve had these sort of images thrust at us over the last few years the immediate wow factor isn’t present. If it was physically possible for the average house to have a 300-inch screen in their home then this technology would be fantastic, as showing HD on that screen would be as low-quality as watching standard definition on a 40’’+ television is now. But, whereas HD and 3D have found their way into homes I don’t see this finding it anytime soon due to the lack of difference on a living-room sized set. And, for all the extra speakers, the sound system wasn’t any more startling than in your average cinema screen I’m afraid, and I wouldn’t have known it was 22.2 if I hadn’t been told. Whether that is down to the lack of microphones picking up the sound in the Olympic stadium compared to the purposeful set-up in the orchestral demo, I don’t know.

Where I do see it working will be in cinemas and theatres embracing the special showings like they have of the Olympics and the Wimbledon final, the latter in 3D, where people go to the cinema to get an experience, like IMAX, that it’s impossible to get at home. That’s where I see Super Hi-Vision coming into its own, not at consumer level.

That is, of course, if cinemas have the funds to upgrade their screens and sound systems after investing heavily in digital and 3D screens.

So though I wasn’t blown away by Hi-Vision, just impressed by the detail, I am happy that the National Media Museum has, once more, secured a technology on display, for free, in Bradford, the only other city outside of London and Glasgow. That is certainly something to celebrate alongside our increasing gold medal tally.

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London 2012 Olympics – Days 1 - 3

Back in 2005 we won the games
Thanks in part to two key names
David Beckham and Sebastian Coe
Would now go on to run the show

We beat the French to host the games
And not soon after we heard complaints
“We’re coming into a deep recession
“Has the Government not learnt its lesson?”

But the building began and up it grew
From East end wasteland coming up anew
New stadia built, impressive looking
Regenerated land was up and coming

But what of the stadium when the Olympics end?
For one football club it would be a god send
Crazily Hotspurs just wanted the land
Why demolish a new building? So we chose West Ham

The parodies were quite fair
Twenty Twelve was on air
Not too far from the truths
With their fictional goofs

The new logo was shown
And one fact it was known
A child of about ten
Could have done a better attempt

The graffiti style would have been seen
As appealing quite well to the British teen
It showed 2012 but what we all saw instead
Was Lisa from the Simpsons giving some head

And so 2012 came and arrived here quite fast
And the stadia was finished with time spare – aghast!
Will the transport plan set out be up to the strain?
With newly painted obvious Olympic car lanes?

We would get a new cable car crossing the Thames
Which would go at two speeds during the games
But we didn’t quite know when it got a little hot
That mid journey over it would break down and stop

The Olympic torch started its journey around
Going here, going there, to all cities and towns
With bad weather and nudists and protesters a test
But still the flame travelled and completed its quest

It went in a rowing boat, went on a zip wire
As 95% of Britains saw the great fire
And it went to Lands End and John O’Groats later
Not bad for something looking like a cheese grater

And people looked proud as they ran with the flame
Even if all TV footage looked pretty much the same
(And did you know you could buy your torch by the way
And make a nice profit by flogging it on eBay)

As the games came much nearer the news got quite mean
As we found out that Beckham had been dropped by the team
And after poor shows in sport in Wimbledon and the Euros
We looked forward to better from our Olympic heroes

But we didn’t realise that G4S guards didn’t show
And we were left with a shortfall with two weeks to go
So we drafted in coppers and soldiers back from Iraq
And demanded that G4S pay some money back

But the benefit it seems of having soldiers on hand
Coming back from defending us in foreign lands
Was when there were seats left empty in farces
They could be filled by our boys sat down on their arses

The football kicked off the Olympic games
With Scotland hosting two footballing teams
But there was only one major snag
Some idiot with PowerPoint Googled the wrong bloody flag

North Korea were miffed, insulted away from London
Which is not good for a country with its finger on the button
The apology was swift, the error repealed
Allowing the team to come back on the field

And just when it was starting, oh how we did laugh
When Presidental hopeful Mitt Romney made quite such a gaff
He said that a few thing maybe “were disconcerting”
But we sent him back to his home country smarting

(It was quite incredible really
It did quite astound
That we got behind Boris
On the moral high ground)

We got some new tunes like ‘Survival’ by Muse
And to be honest it was a bit rubbish, not a song I would choose
I’d rather have a song promoting competitive drinking
‘The Beer Olympics’ by the Lancashire Hotpots is what I am thinking!

And so soon came the opening ceremony directed by Boyle
And lots of actors, and nurses and animals did toil
To bring us a spectacular feast for the senses
(Which is quite good as it was quite expensive)

We enjoyed some Victorian dancing and chimneys that grew
And an inflatable Voldermort and a Mary Poppins or two
Oh how we laughed when we saw Mr Bean
But that was topped by a parachuting queen

You’ve not seen an opening that will make you smirk
Unless you throw from a plane your reigning monarch
The music was great, (the lesbian kiss perhaps a little rude)
But after the Jubilee Concert who wanted Paul’s Hey Jude?

There were lots of great moments, too many to name
From the sound of a TARDIS to youths lighting the flame
Which was similar to last year but different as well
As they weren’t looting shops at the same time looking for things to sell

But it wasn’t all smooth running, it went onto quite early
The athlete walk-past was tedious, and don’t mention Aidan Burley
An MP criticising the multiculturalism and saying it’s quite lefty
And being a little racist about the London opening ceremony

Just say the social networks got really quite bitter
And he got a drubbing when posting on Twitter
And then there was that sight, was it just a dream
But who was that woman with the Indian team?

The ceremony ended the actors went to the pub
And fell asleep and didn’t see the NBC snub
Cutting out crucial elements like the 7/7 dance piece
And the kiss between two women that even went out in the Middle East

And the games then began, the first day of a huge feat
Just the shame that there were just so many empty seats
Coe said it is fine, the seats are filled to the gunnels
But seats were still empty, it wasn’t that funny

Transport was going, it can be said, reasonably well
With little reported gridlocking hell
And to prove it was quite progressive and not such a boob
We saw David Cameron riding the tube

The medals started coming though we were behind China
With a silver for Armitstead, with the Bronze behind her
No luck for the road race they ended up not quite winning
Thank God for Adlington getting a bronze in the swimming

With Paula Radcliffe out of the marathon due to a sprain
And questions about the cauldron no longer with flame,
With Tom Daley in fourth and Swiss footballing racism
All we wanted was a little bit of sporting escapism

So what will come next on this Olympic journey
Which athletes it seems will be going home early?
How many people will see all the records?
After problems with seats, flags and security guards?

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