Phil Peel's Blog

George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,  got resoundly booed by 80,000 people last week. He looked embarrassed..  a few hours earlier I had also been embarrassed as I found myself in  the front row of the audience for the new series of ITVs live transmission of Loose Women. I was wildly clapping and cheering the panelists.

So how had I managed to end up on daytime telly apparently in paroxysms of excitement over 4 mid aged women?   ..Are they famous? celebrities?

Well we were walking down the South Bank, on our way to the Paralympics. (the scenic route) when we were approached by a stranger who I assumed was going to sell me English lessons, cut price dining out or convert me. But instead it transpired that he was a member of the production crew for ITVs Loose Women, which was transmitting in 15 minutes and they had lost a coach load of audience.  Could we help? When I looked dubious he offered us a bribe of audience tickets for Jonathan Ross.  This was obviously a big deal for him, but I still looked unsure. But he was obviously desperate and we had an hour to kill, so we agreed to take part.

After we were rushed in, the audience were soon whipped up to a frenzy of excitement. Though the audience manipulator ..warm up guy..  grumbled that he had only 10 minutes and not his normal 20 minutes to work on us. “Let’s give them the X Factor reception” he enthused.

But despite my embarrassment at acting like an incontinent teenager at a “who-ever is the latest celebrity” concert,  I duly followed his ever more frantic exhortation and clapped till my hands were sore and cheered till my throat was sore.

Having been on the the production team for similar TV shows, it was fascinating being on the receiving end. I had, as a TV floor manager, had to warm up audiences years ago. I wasn’t very good. My British reserve, wet Sunday afternoons and trying to inspire coach loads of pensioners from Eastbourne made it hard work.

So as I sat in the audience, trying to keep my cool detachment, to prove I’m not really a daytime telly person, whilst cheering, whooping and Aaah.. ing  on cue.  …and despite my reservations the panelists were actually quite amusing quite good. I suppose the wildly enthusiastic audience helps persuade the TV audience at home that they are watching something exceptional. Unlike non audience laughter shows like “The Thick of It” where you have to listen and pay attention to figure out what is funny.

So after leaving the TV Studio, we went onto the Paralympics to  a packed 80,000 full stadium. It was a delight to be part of the  audience that had a mind of its own. They cheered the winners (especially the Brits) and even more enthusiastically cheered the last two in the 1500 metres, who had been lapped twice and came in many minutes after the winner.

But when it came to the announcement that George Osborne was going to give out medals and the audience decided to resoundly boo him, ( shouldn’t have cut disability payments, George),  he looked even more embarrassed than I did in the Loose Women show.

I bet he wished he’s had an audience manipulator.

The BBC has confirmed the sale of the most iconic building in UK television history, with the announcement that Stanhope, a property developer, is to buy Television Centre in west London for about £200m.

BBC director-general Mark Thompson said that the deal was sealed after the First Night of the Proms last Saturday.

…and if you want to see what all the fuss is about watch this wonderful documentary.

There’s been long queues for David Hockney’s Exhibition at the Royal Academy.

This couple outside however seemed oblivious to the crowds.  It was also very busy inside, but despite the crowds, I found Hockney’s huge paintings created a movie like experience.  Many canvases were cinema screen sized, so when you stood reasonably close, they filled your field of vision.

Standing close, everything you could see was the painting. So you were seeing it as the artist saw the scene. This was an extra-ordinary experience.

For me the most memorable was the gallery with six giant canvases, all painted from the same position at the confluence of paths in the middle of Woldgate Woods.

Hockney had gone back to paint the scene as the seasons changed the view throughout the year.

So as viewer, you were able to walk a few paces to see, through his eyes, as Spring changed to Summer, Autumn and Winter.  Extraordinary.  It’s not as though the location was especially memorable, but through Hockney’s vision he revealed  beauty out of  the ordinary.

Then toward the end of the exhibition, it did literally become cinematic, as Hockney had filmed some of the locations throughout the seasons, with 9 simultaneous cameras, showing on 18 screens.

Then somewhat playfully, the video  finished with a song and dance routine.

All in all an inspiring exhibition,  which reminds you what a beautiful country we live in.

With thanks to the  Royal Academy

Check out David Hockney Website

I don’t know why this has annoyed me so much, but a few days ago I found out that a well loved local pub "The Hobbit" that has been the meeting place for a whole generation of Southampton students and young pubgoers, has been threatened by a Hollywood production company, the Saul Zaentz Company. So I’ve done some research.

For heavens sake. It’s been called The Hobbit for 20 years. It started about 1989, long before the film was a twinkle in Peter Jackson eye, and long before  CGI existed.

I sent the news out to a few friends, and liked a little Facebook protest page. but have been amazed that the news has been taken up first by the local newspaper, then local, national and international news and TV.  and the page now has 35,000 likes. So obviously others share my anger.

Even the Daily Mail has taken up the cause.   Ok.. Maybe it sometimes gets things right.

Apparently even  Tolkien’s son had problems with Hollywood.

In 2008 The Tolkien Trust, representing the interests of the family of Lord of the Rings author J.R. R. Tolkien threatened  to sue New Line Cinema in Los Angeles for £75 million, claiming that the Trust has not received "even one penny" from the highly successful (£3 billion-earning) trilogy of Lord of the Ring films. The film studio is accused of "insatiable greed" and of engaging in the "infamous practice of creative ‘Hollywood accounting’". Presumably as a means of negotiating an amicable settlement, the Trust was reportedly threatening to block production of the long-awaited prequel, The Hobbit.

The Tolkien Trust is hardly a money grabbing commercial enterprise. It has traditionally supported a wide spectrum of charitable causes and concerns throughout the world including: emergency and disaster relief, overseas aid and development, healthcare charities, environmental causes, education and the arts.

The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum 

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In 2009 The Tolkien Trust (a UK registered charity), New Line Cinema, and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.announced that they have resolved the lawsuit relating to the "Lord of the Rings" films.  The precise terms of the settlement are confidential.

Commenting on the settlement, Christopher Tolkien said: "The Trustees regret that legal action was necessary, but are glad that this dispute has been settled on satisfactory terms that will allow the Tolkien Trust properly to pursue its charitable objectives. The Trustees acknowledge that New Line may now proceed with its proposed films of ‘The Hobbit.’"

Warner Bros.’ President & Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn said: "We deeply value the contributions of the Tolkien novels to the success of our films and are pleased to have put this litigation behind us. We all look forward to a mutually productive and beneficial relationship in the future."

The "Lord of the Rings" films produced by New Line are among the most successful films ever created and were released in 2001, 2002 and 2003, respectively

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=58922

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Note Alan Horn’s comment "We deeply value the contributions of the Tolkien novels to the success of our films" …yes but not enough to actually pay for it until their next profit making film "The Hobbit is threatened

Incidentally  Tolkien believed he had invented the the word " Hobbit" when he began writing The Hobbit , but it was revealed years after his death that the word predated Tolkien’s usage, It appears in the Denham Tracts, edited by James Hardy, (London: Folklore Society, 1895), vol. 2, the second part of a two-volume set compiled from Denham’s publications between 1846 and 1859

The text contains a long list of sprites and bogies, based on an older list, the Discovery of Witchcraft, dated 1584, with many additions and a few repetitions. The term hobbit is listed in the context of boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowies, dunnies

 In 2008 The Saul Zaentz Company registered  UK Trade Mark 2462911, THE HOBBIT, registered in Class 43 for
"services for providing food and drink; temporary accommodation, services for providing food and drink; temporary accommodations; bar services; cafés; cafeterias; tavern services; tea rooms; wine bars; tourist inns; resort hotels; retirement homes; pubs; hotels; motels; providing campground facilities; restaurants; rental of tents; rental of meeting rooms; serving food and drinks; providing facilities for concerts, convention fairs and exhibitions; boarding for animals; catering of food and drink; brew-pub services; child care; providing reviews of restaurants".

This registration (and its Community trade mark counterpart here) would seem to cover pubs trading as The Hobbit, apart from the minor matter of the pub having publicly used the name for 15 years before the registration (Just to make it clear I’m being ironic here in the use of minor) 

The Saul Zaentz company also own  Community Trade Mark E3759231, HOBBIT, registered for a large number of items in Classes 3 and 29  as well as the following products in Class 32:
"Beers; mineral and aerated waters and other non-alcoholic drinks; fruit drinks and fruit juices; syrups and other preparations for making beverages; aerated fruit juices, aerated water, ale, aloe vera drinks, beer, colas (soft drink), drinking water, flavored waters, fruit drinks, fruit flavored soft drinks, fruit juice concentrates, fruit juices, fruit-flavored drinks, isotonic drinks, lemonade, malt liquor (beer or ale); mineral water, non-alcoholic malt beverage, non-alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic cocktail mixes, non-alcoholic fruit extracts used in the preparation of beverages, non-alcoholized wines, quinine water, seltzer water, smoothies (beverages), soft drinks in carbonated, low calories and/or non-carbonated form; soft drinks flavored with tea, sports drinks, spring water, stout, sweet cider, tomato juice (beverage), vegetable juice (beverage)".  

This was filed on 23 December 2003, published on 26 September 2005 and registered on 8 June 2005,  but apparently if they haven’t actually used the Trade Mark, then an application  can be made for revocation based on five years’ non-use.

Maybe someone should make a film about little folk threatened by Big Corporation.  ..coming to a cinema near you. 

Thanks to the IPKat weblog   http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2012/03/giant-hobbit-threat-to-student-drinkers.html

Now I’m not an exercise sort of person. The rest of the family are all brilliant at sport. Football, Basketball, Martial Arts, Surfing, Badminton etc., but unfortunately I’ve never been that inspired by sport. But a few weeks ago,  I’d been doing keep fit exercises.  I had installed an App on my smartphone called Multi Reps, which nags me to go through a sequence of push ups, press ups, squats, dips and pull ups. If I’m spending hours sitting at an edit suite, then it seems sensible.

I did this partially as I had been feeling a bit down. Exercise is supposed to make you feel happier. And also I had been inspired by the fitness of the boxers that I had been filming recently.

So whilst I waited for a video edit to render, I cleared away the equipment in the edit suite and  went through a half hour session.  

72 push ups, 35 sits ups, 40 squats, 38 dips,    .. In sequences .. Not all in one go ..there’s rests in between   …and then the pull ups. I had an exercise bar from Lidl, which I expanded into the doorway.  I was at the last of 20 pull ups.   So I thought I would do it really properly. I pulled right up to neck level, held it as long as I could  ….when the bar fell off!

I crashed back …falling onto some flight cases. My neck hit the top of a speaker, and my back on the sharp edges of two metal flight cases.   Ouch!   does not describe the noise I made.

But after I ceased yelling, I lay there and checked myself over. My first aid courses had taught me the perils of back injuries. I could still still move my toes and arms, so I was probably OK.

However it was agony to move. I couldn’t stand up or crawl to a phone. I was stuck.  So I decided to wait. Well it wasn’t a decision, as I couldn’t do anything else. 

After a very boring hour, Ruth returned. Lucky she wasn’t away for the day!  and I asked her to ring for an ambulance.   I thought you need to be careful with back injuries.

The paramedic arrived quickly, checked me over and said my spine was OK. He filled out this huge A3 form, which said I could stand up unaided. Well yes, but it took me 20 minutes.

A few days later it seemed to be getting worse, so I went to the doc, who reckoned I had bust a rib.

Nothing you can do about it just take lots of pain killers and wait ..weeks ..till it mends.

So she prescribed me a whole stack of painkillers. 20 a day.

…and you know what ..it’s cured my depression!

Mike and I were filming at Southampton Boat Show, when we met up with Jeanne Socrates. An amazing woman,  Jeanne Socrates (68) has become the oldest woman ever to complete a solo non-stop circumnavigation, after ‘closing the circle’ near Cape town in her Najad 380 Nereida on earlier this year.

Five years ago she completed a previous round-the-world sail, but this was the first non stop.

I asked her what’s she’s going to do next and she told me …do it again.

We were filming Boatshed.com.  Really nice people. But it was quite tricky on camera as the stand was half in very bright sunlight and half in deep shadow, so I had to keep switching  ND filters in and out.

A lovely day for buying a boat.

Passengers on the cruise ship MSC OPERA got a great view down into the Boat Show

Do you want an invitation to Google+ add. Just add a comment to my blog and I’ll send you one.

Google’s Google+ social networking service, now out in a limited release is an innovative platform that takes a new approach to social networking by putting you in control of how you share with people.

Okay, so these hacks aren’t exclusive to zombie-related emergencies, but let’s be honest: it’s the one disaster we all know is inevitable. Regardless of the emergency at hand, these tips can keep you alive when disaster strikes.   I was one of the zombies in 28 Days Later so I know how scary they can be. Here’s a post from Lifehacker to help keep you alive.

10. Know Your Knots

A strong knot can help you carry supplies, save a life, tie a zombie to a tree, and do a myriad of other things. If you only ever know one knot, we suggest learning the bowline, which is easy to tie (even with your eyes closed), strong enough to hold the most ravenous of creatures, and can be undone in about 10 seconds if you know how. Of course, it could never hurt to have a wallet-sized cheat sheet with a few other knots on it, either.

9. Keep Yourself From Drowning

Don’t be fooled: Zombies may not be very good swimmers, but they can’t drown. We humans aren’t so lucky. Learn to recognize the signs of drowning so you can save others when the time comes, and if you’ve made it to the cold winter months, you’ll definitely want to know how to survive a fall through ice. And, of course, if you’re making a quick getaway and end up in the lake, here’s how to escape from a sinking car.

8. Turn a Hybrid Car Into a Generator

You may curse the Prius’ popularity now, but when the world is deserted and you’re in need of some electricity, you’ll be glad you put up with them. With a simple inverter, you can turn a Prius into a long-lasting generator that’ll keep you warm, revive your phone, or keep your taser fully charged. Photo by Beth and Christian Bell.

7. Find Your Way Without a Compass

As you travel to the last remaining human city (there’s always a last remaining human city), you’ll need to keep your bearings. If you don’t have a compass, you can still find true north with a stick in the ground. Alternatively, you can use your watch, or even make an impromptu compass out of duct tape and a cork.

6. Stick to the Rooftops

Lesson one for staying alive during the apocalypse: stay mobile and go where the zombies can’t. You don’t need to be Spider-Man to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Just make sure you stick the landing, and you can use it to get around when the planet’s become overrun by the undead. Photo by JB London.

5. Keep In Touch with Other Survivors

We all know you should have an “in case of emergency” number on your phone, but technology affords us many more opportunities. You can use Google Voice to dial multiple family members at once, or use a service like I’m OK to quickly notify a group of people that you’ve survived the most recent disaster. And, if worst does come to worst, you’ll want to make sure your loved ones can locate your important information, so an in-case-of-emergency everything document is a good idea.

4. Know Your Emergency First Aid

When someone gets injured, you don’t need a first aid kit around to help them. Cayenne pepper can quickly stop large cuts from bleeding, and you can make emergency bandages out of tree fungus. It can help to know a few first aid tricks, though, so we recommend reading the Ship Captain’s Medical Guide for non-doctors, and knowing some of the biggest first aid myths that won’t do you any good. Of course, none of these will matter if your teammate’s already been bitten by a zombie, but for normal injuries, some good first aid skills can save a life.

3. Start a Fire with Anything

When night falls and you need to stay warm, you’ll want a quick way to start a fire. You can make an emergency fire starter out of a t-shirt, or, if you don’t want to waste your clothes, a few egg cartons and drier lint. You can, of course, also make a more stove-like “Buddy Burner” out of trash, a soda can and some alcohol, or just make a lamp out of a tuna can and some string.

2. Forage for Food and Water

The zombies will have a very abundant food source, be we won’t be so lucky. As you forage through the wilderness, you’ll need to forage for your own food, meaning you’ll have to tell the edible plants apart from the harmful ones. Keep an eye out for safe-to-eat mushrooms and non-poisonous berries. You could even catch a few fish with a soda can tab, and make dirty water drinkable with a string, a bottle, and a lighter. Photo by Dominic Alves.

1. Put Together a Survival Kit

The above tips will get you by, but we all know the people that last the longest during the apocalypse will be the ones that had a plan. Make sure your home is emergency-ready with a 72-hour disaster kit, and when it’s time to hit the road, make sure you can fit a few survival items in an Altoids tin or in an old wristwatch. It may seem like a waste of time now, but when an calamity strikes, your life will be a lot less stressful for it.

Got any of your own great survival tips, zombie-related or otherwise? Be sure to share them with us in the comments.

You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.

http://lifehacker.com/5828336/top-10-survival-tricks-for-when-the-zombie-apocalypse-hits

Here’s something a bit different. It was far more intense than I expected. I wasn’t able to watch the scenery as I was hanging on for dear life!

A real adrenaline kick! with me looking very silly as I try to film and hold on

I must admit it’s proably the worse hand held camera I’ve ever done. But it’s a hell of an experience

Jude and I were able to go on this ride due to the great kindness of John and Mary Williams who had some extra tickets, but weren’t able to go themselves.

Well the fan has been a  bit noisy recently, but when I turned on my PC on Sunday, I was faced with a multi-coloured screen of death.  It was very pretty, but obviously also pretty serious. So I switched off   ..and on   …and off ….and on.  Nope it seemed here to stay.

From Drop Box

So I turned on the Mac and googled “pretty patterns on screen”. The advice was that it was most likely the graphics board. try swapping it.  So rummaging through old boxes of bits, I hunted down the original graphics board….and bingo it works.  Unfortunately only on one monitor, which is why I had upgraded the previous board.

But the suddenness with which it had died made me appreciate more the need to do something about backing up all my video files. Up until fairly recently all the filming was on tape (or film) so if the wt came to the worst I could go back to the original tapes, but now I’m working on memory cards, which are wiped and reused, then if the Hard drive fails then I’ve lost everything.  And as I’m shooting HD now it takes up a lot of storage.

So I think I’m going to have to invest in a RAID array