This Week in Lumps
#16 [04/09 – 10/09]
· Hit US-sitcom Friends finally drew to a close 3 years ago; fans the world over shed a tear and the cast all went their separate ways. Matt LeBlanc landed the unsuccessful spin-off Joey, Jennifer Aniston was fortunate with a handful of films, and has a handful more for the next two years, while Courteney Cox-Arquette, Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry all found alternative TV roles with a decent level of success, via Dirt, The Comeback, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip respectively. David Schwimmer, who had previously directed a few episodes of Friends and Joey, decided his future lay in directing. So why has it taken him three years to complete it?
A few months after the demise of the most popular sitcom in TV history, news reports were keen to report on where the extremely rich stars would go next, and it was announced that David had chosen Run, Fat Boy, Run as his directorial debut. He said at the time:
“I’ve been waiting for the right feature comedy to direct and am so happy to have found ‘Run, Fat Boy, Run. It’s simply too funny and smart to put down”.
The film, which is about a tubby, clueless yet charming guy, who leaves his pregnant fiancée on their wedding day only to discover 5 years later, that she is his one true love. In order to win back her heart, he looks to finish his first marathon while making her realize her new man is the wrong guy for her. It stars UK comedy favourites Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran, as well as Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria.
Schwimmer, who not only filmed 2 episodes of Friends in the UK, has also spent the last 2 years here with projects both off screen and on:
“I did a play here (Some Girls) for four months last summer, then Big Nothing was done on the Isle of Man and in Wales, and now we’re doing Run, Fat Boy, Run. You’d think I’d know the country really well now, but I’ve not had time to explore, because we’re always working. I guess I get my kicks from work, and hanging out with Simon Pegg again; we have a real laugh on set.”
Delays in finding the right location and then the English weather have halted the film since it was announced way back in 2004, which was originally set to take place in New York. Once the picturesque location of Hackney was decided on, Simon Pegg was handed the job of re-writing the script to make it sound more British. Simon and David originally starred in the TV series Band of Brothers, and then in last years Big Nothing.
Sadly, David is still plagued my reporters constantly looking for that ‘Friends Reunited’ tagline, suffering questions wherever he goes asking “will there be any more?” and “are you getting back together?” which he must be tired of. Friends has finished, and now a new chapter of Davids career is starting, and if his directorial talents in this film are anything to go by, it’s a career that I hope will be around for a long time to come.
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· A few days ago, on the 5th, Apple held an event in San Francisco, California to show off its Autumn/Winter catalogue. There are a lot of announcements and a few new products that look to be released for the Christmas market. It’s hard at this stage to talk about pricing, availability and release dates, as this is very much an American company with Americans’ first in line to experience them. However, I shall try to cover much of whats been said, so let me dive straight into it:
A bright an early start to the morning, as Steve Jobs took to the stage, looking out towards journalists and live-bloggers (and also his employees, strangely enough). “Today we get to talk about music, so let’s start with iTunes.” Steve wastes no time in getting to the facts and figures: 600 million copies of iTunes have been distributed, with over 3 billion songs bought on it. iTunes is even ahead of Amazon in the US, in terms of music sales. “iTunes is clearly leading the way. We’re going to ship a new version of iTunes tonight to support some new products. The biggest new feature: ringtones.” Sadly Mr. Jobs didn’t start with a bang, more of a whimper. A new version of iTunes will support a ringtone feature for the iPhone, however you will have to pay an additional fee to have it as a ringtone. That’s right, you buy the song from iTunes, and then you pay a second fee to have it as a ringtone. Not the best start.
“Now let’s talk about the iPod. It’s doing really well. They’re… rather strong.” He doesn’t mince his words. In fact, Apple have sold over 110 million to date, with the main jump in sales being around the December period. As you would expect, they are going to jump on this opportunity, and have decided to revamp the whole iPod area.
First up in the revamp is the iPod shuffle. The new range see’s an upgrade in colours, which includes the product(RED) design, to help diseases in Africa. Nothing else changes, still 1Gb, same price, same userface, hardly worth the attention. moving on…
Next up in the firing line is the iPod Nano. Apple listened to what its customers wanted from this, in an attempt to make one of their most popular products even more popular, so they have. The screen is now larger, and the nano has changed from a long thin design to a short, fatty (but actually thinner) design. Maybe plump is the word. It does look good. It also have video capabilities, an updated UI, and a few games. Much better.
“When we went about replacing the most popular music player in the world we took this really seriously. We think we’ve nailed it with the new nano. The battery life is awesome: 24 hours audio, 5 hours video playback.”
Steve moves along to the iPod, the original, the classic… oh wait, thats what the new version is called: the iPod Classic. “We’ve got new iPod Classics: full metal design, even thinner than their predecessors. The new classic is starting at 80GB audio 30 hours, video 6 hours. And we’ve got the whole enhanced UI on the new iPod classic. We’re going to offer a slightly thicker one as well, and it’s going to have 160GB.”
So there you go. new models of the iPod shuffle, the iPod Nano, and the iPod Classic.
“But… we’re not done yet. Far from it.”
Steve does it again! Last, but not least is what everyone thought would be announced. an iPod that uses the iPhone technology, and here it is: the iPod Touch. “It’s the same size screen as the iPhone, but it’s even thinner. It’s 8mm thin. We’re going to offer it in two configurations, the first is 8GB, the second is 16GB of storage. This is a worldwide product, the first touch product Apple’s going to ship outside the US, it’s going to be shipping all around the world.”
We poor souls in Europe haven’t got our hands on the iPhone just yet, we aren’t familiar with the technology used, but the new iPod Touch enhances all of what was good, just without the phone part. It also has WiFi, with the Safari web browser built in, and a fancy YouTube feature has been added as well, so you can see a lot of videos and browse the Internet on your music player.
Also built in is a new and exciting feature: the iTunes WiFi music store. This new feature means you no longer have to be at your computer to download music, you could be on the move, or at a friends house, anywhere near a WiFi point. And when you do have these songs on your new iPod, it syncs back up to iTunes. “The new music store will be available internationally in every one of those 22 countries Apple operates in. We’re gonna do something else, too: we’re gonna bring it to the iPhone.”
All great, but means nothing to us over here in the UK, since we havent seen the iPhone in our stores. However during the conference, Steve talked about a price reduction: the 8Gb $599 is now priced at $399. The 4Gb phone, nowhere near as popular as its 8Gb brother is set to be faded out, and is currently available for US customers at $299.
Over the next few weeks there will definitely be some kind of announcement on the 3G European iPhone, leaks and rumours have been going for weeks now. Until then, you have enough iGoodies to glare at, and decide which you want for Christmas. As mentioned in last weeks update, Sony have killed off the Connect brand, so my Walkman is pretty much obsolete, so I may be looking at the iPod classic as a replacement, depending on pricing.
It won’t be long before we’ll be celebrating an iChristmas.
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· Nearly 19 years ago, Channel 4 began airing a show called ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?‘ The show, based around a unique style of improvisation and unrehearsed gags from the performers, started its life on BBC Radio 4, and a decade later became a big TV hit over the pond. It lasted 10 years on Channel 4, a further 8 years on ABC, and made household names of the individuals involved, including host Clive Anderson (UK) and Drew Carey (US), performers Paul Merton, Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Stephen Frost, Wayne Brady and Greg Proops. The big reason why the show was successful from the start was the natural, unscripted feel of it all; the performers knew nothing about what was planned, and what gags they would have to use, the players relied on their wits to bring life to scenes and characters. With split-second thinking, they could turn mundane tasks and once serious situations into hilarious games and songs.
One of the stars of the British versions, both radio and TV, was Paul Merton, who went on to become the Team Captains on ‘Have I Got News For You’, which is still running to this day, as well as a radio classics such as ‘Just A Minute’, and occasional appearances on ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue’. Rumours are now being spread around that Mr. Merton has something to do with another improv-comedy arriving on these shores, this time from Australia: ‘Thank God You’re Here‘.
‘Thank God You’re Here’ can be classed in a similar file of comedy as the improv shows mentioned above. It’s based on a simple premise: The show features a handful of performers and comedians who, one sketch at a time, are made to walk through a door into a scene without any idea of who they are portraying or what they’re walking into. The opening line as soon as they appear on the other side of the door is, as the title suggests, ‘Thank God you’re here…’ and the scene continues on from that. The only things they can depend on are their abilities to make everything up for the next five minutes and cover their tracks as they do it. The show has one host, and one judge, and whoever shows the best improv skills, and ability to ‘run with it’ is awarded the winner of that episode. For example: when Vietnamese Australian actor and stand-up comedian Anh Do kicked off Series Two in Australia, he was dressed as a chef, and entered the scene of a restaurant that served poor quality food and drink, where he was confronted by angry diners, including a food critic. When British comedian Ross Noble appeared on the show in Series 3, he was dressed as a Elf King who had returned from an adventure, akin to The Lord of the Rings.
The show swiftly became the most successful new show in Australia in 2006, attracting an average of 1.7 million viewers after just a few weeks. The format has since been sold to Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Sadly, as with many American start-ups, NBC only ran it for a month before cancelling it.
So far, it’s not clear what Mertons’ role will be in the UK adaptation, whether he’ll return to his improv background as a performer, or as the host. A pilot is currently being worked on by ITV, and within the next month or so we will find out more information, such as some of the comedians who may be taking part. Current rumours about who has been asked by both the channel and Merton include stars of the Aussie version Ross Noble and Hamish Blake, as well as UK comedy favourites David Mitchell and Sue Perkins. As a big fan of WLiiA, I’d really really love to see either Ryan Stiles or Colin Mochrie added to the list. Whether they’d be interested or not is another thing.
ITV really need this. The British Sitcom Guide explains the situation well:
“ITV will no doubt have their fingers crossed that the UK version sees the same kind of success as it has done Down Under because the broadcaster is currently very eager to build up a portfolio of hit comedies. So far only Harry Hill’s TV Burp has picked up great ratings and reviews.”
Could it revive a channel that for too long has been bobbing up and down on the surface of the water, close to drowning? Its been very much 3rd in line for a while now behind BBC and Channel 4 for terrestrial television, and Channel 5 is quickly catching it up. With these terrestrial channels expanding digitally to include BBC3, BBC4, More4 and FiveUS, ITV is in serious need of programmes that people will watch week in, week out, that doesn’t feature Simon Cowell or Ant and Dec. I shall be honest; I think this show would do much much better being put on late night BBC2 or Channel 4. It would do wonders before or after shows like ‘8 Out Of 10 Cats’, ‘The Friday Night Project’, or ‘QI’ and ‘Mock the Week’. What has ITV got in this field at the moment? Well, nothing worth shouting about. So can TGYH survive alone in this vacant wasteland?
I hope it does, for competition sake.
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That was the week in lumps, a week in which: It was announced that Facebook profiles will be appearing in Google results soon, Guitar Hero IV announce the big band they have in store for us, even before III is out, Richard Hammond is back racing at a really high speed for Top Gear, and the ex-bassist of Snow Patrol is suing his former bandmates.
Apologies for the Apple fest that took up the belly of this week’s article, for those of you who are sick and tired of iPods, iTunes and iPhones, just think yourself lucky you’re only getting a sprinkle of what Americans are having to put up with. This week is ended with fresh news: The title of the new Indiana Jones film is…
ttfn
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Apples will take over the world…(hopefully) Nice post, very interesting. Saw you on Facebook and thought I would check out the lumps….
So I’m? puesad at 0:51 and I’m guessing that Lamb of God is a heavy/thrash metal/ throat vocal obsessive clichéd band that is horrible.