Oops

Further to the subject of my last post it's emerged today that the BBC announced the collapse of WTC7 on 9/11/01, live on air, about 30 minutes before it actually did collapse. And get this, the presenter is actually standing in front of a window saying it, while the building is still standing behind her (It's the large rectangular building behind her left ear). I leave the reader to ask themselves the questions this poses, but it's all over the internet...
Here, among many other places
And the BBC's somewhat feeble response

Media ownership

“There is no such thing... as an independent press... There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job! We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes... they pull the strings and we dance. We are intellectual prostitutes.”
John Swinton, a chief of staff to the New York Times addressing the New York Press Club 1953.

This is so much more true now than it was in 1953. There are frighteningly few people now in control of the mainstream media, and but for the internet we would know very much less about what is actually happening around us. It is very naive to believe what we read, even in the "respectable" papers. There is a window of opportunity before the web becomes similarly dominated. The trouble is of course that there is a large amount of rubbish in cyberspace too. How do we filter it? I suggest by using our intelligence. It is possible to build a reliable picture of what really goes on behind the scenes and although obviously nobody can see the whole picture, the closer to the truth someone is, the more disinformation will surround them. It's interesting, if you know a great deal about a particular subject, to observe the way it is treated by, say, a BBC documentary. What is left out, what is included, the spin it is given. Somebody who is simply interested in the truth is advised not to settle for one version of events. The New testament provides four. One thing the internet does provide is a massive resource in terms of many different voices, a lot of which are not dependent on "the hand that feeds".

Favourite albums

There is a move to proclaim favourite top 10 albums on the internets, so no pressure but here we go (no particular order)
Strangeday - Please Intervene (Nepotism.., but it rocks. Buy it)
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Paul Simon - Graceland
Wailers - Natty Dread
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
John Martyn - Solid Air
Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
Neil Young - After the Goldrush

Genius people who haven't produced a top 10 album:
Miles Davis, Peter Gabriel, U2, Genesis, Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Prefab Sprout, Deacon Blue, Richard Thompson, Ben Folds, Jeff Buckley, Ian Dury, Little Feat, Elvis Costello, Steely Dan, Laura Nyro, Free, The Band, Andy Sheppard

Total genius award: The Beatles

Genius person (but also fast and bulbous) special award: Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica

New genius persons/bands who need time to bed in: Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens, Razorlight

Many many others too numerous to mention