g7uk » green

Mandelson hit by slime instead of sleaze, for a change

GS — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:27:57 +0000

Unelected Business Secretary, ‘Lord’ Mandelson was hit by slime rather than sleaze when Leila Deen, a member of environmental group Plane Stupid, threw green custard over him this morning. The move was a ‘last resort’ after the democratic process had failed, she said.

Plane Stupid is campaigning against a third runway at Heathrow.
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World Naked Bike Ride 2008: Manchester (video)

GS — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:16:08 +0000

Cyclists dared to bare all in chilly conditions on Friday 13 June at Manchester’s third annual Naked Bike Ride. We asked riders and members of the public what they thought.

‘Devastating global warming can be avoided’ — but it depends on your definition of ‘devastating’

GS — Fri, 04 May 2007 15:31:01 +0000

The Guardian writes that devastating global warming can be avoided without excessive economic cost but only if we act now and limit the temperature increase to 2C.

Manchester Pride 2007 poster — no mention of gay, lesbian, bi or transgender (video)

GS — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:07:51 +0000

The poster for Manchester Pride 2007 is out and about. But nowhere on it will you see the words ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’, ‘bi’ or ‘transgender’. The nearest you’ll get is the phrase ‘LGBT charities’.

The gay-village village-green?

GS — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:14:47 +0000

A notice has appeared on the wire fence that surrounds the land at the junction of Princess Street and Whitworth Street. This is the proposed site for a controversial eleven-storey building that, opponents say, will cast a shadow across Manchester’s gay village.

A true story for Halloween

GS — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:00:16 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I made a final visit to the house where I grew up. My dad had decided to sell and I had to pick up a few remaining bits and pieces.

Though I was actually born in hospital, I spent my years from zero to 20 living in that 1950′s semi-detached. In a small cul-de-sac alongside the former A1 — the main London to Edinburgh road — and just a couple of miles from Newcastle city centre.

Bargain Hunters: baps

GS — Tue, 16 May 2006 15:51:47 +0000

UPDATE (October 2008): this video has ‘retired’ into the archives. I’ve left the production notes below.

Bargain Hunters is our reality shopping programme. Can we get some good last-minute deals at the local grocery stores? It’s a race against the clock!

This one was filmed at Easter but I only just got it edited. I think it turned out great — especially considering we had a few issues.

Five minutes into filming it started to rain (April was just SO wet here). Rain has to be extremely heavy to show up much on screen, but even light drizzle isn’t too good for the camcorder. Then my voice recorder seemed to stop working, so we abandoned one thing we had planned (it turned out later I had hit a ‘helpful’ switch which prevents recording and which I’d forgotten was there).

As usual, here are my thoughts on this episode and some of the ideas behind it…

I’m going to scream if I see another lazy PR person, estate agent or journalist refer to ‘vibrant Manchester city centre‘. It’s become a cliche and we need an organised campaign to take the piss out of the unimaginative people who do it. Even churches and the Arndale Centre (with its tacky new catchphrase ‘come together’) are ‘vibrant’ supposedly.

Big Brother starts here this coming Thursday. It was, of course, Big Brother contestant Michelle who famously offered Stuart the chance to squeeze her ‘baps’. As usual I expect to watch the start of the 13 weeks, get bored and stop tuning in, and then return for the last few days to see how it ends.

One of the things I love about editing video is the way all the different elements — picture, live sound and music — sometimes combine to create something unexpected. As I filmed Chris in the lift, in the background there was the sound of a rather emotional woman talking in a loud voice. During editing, when I added the music, I found it became almost like some weird operatic version of our regular theme music. Bizarre.

Chris makes me laugh an awful lot, with his enthusiasm and that slightly-eccentric British thing he has going on. Like a Kenneth Williams or Frankie Howerd, he can make the most innocent remark sound suggestive.

Memo to self: remember not to film broccoli or salad in front of a green screen.

green.tv

GS — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 07:13:23 +0000

green.tv is the first broadband TV channel dedicated to environmental issues. It launched at the beginning of April with the backing of the United Nations Environment Programme.

The site had 250,000 hits in the first week of being online.

A critical rise in world temperatures is now unavoidable

GS — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 10:25:42 +0000

The Independent newspaper reports that a dangerous rise in temperature is now unavoidable. We are on course for ‘a rise in global mean temperatures to two degrees above the level before the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century,’ the article says.

The two degree threshold was set down by scientists from around the world last year and, beyond it, really dangerous climate change is likely to be unstoppable.

Consequences include the Greenland ice sheet melting which would lead to a sea-level rise of several metres.

Global warming: passing the ‘tipping point’