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Showing posts from February, 2009

Something else to look forward to...

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Out soon....

Sky News and Weather Visit

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Had a very pleasant day yesterday. Got the early train down to London, with my Vodafone dongle keeping me in touch with all things geographical. Across to Waterloo, a West Norfolk Cornish Pasty (not happy that they've changed the recipe on the vegetable pasties though - it's all tomato now !) Down through Clapham Junction ("Britain's busiest railway station" apparently) and past Kew Gardens, and out at Syon Lane. Walked into an anonymous industrial estate, and there were the cluster of buildings that make up Sky News and Sports, and the various other broadcasting channels that are produced in the buildings. Security was very tight. I was there to meet up with Lucy Verasamy : a former pupil of mine, who is now part of the weather presenting team along with Francis Wilson, Isobel Lang et al... It was a 'quiet' weather day, with the 3rd or 4th consecutive day of anticyclonic gloom, which meant that the visit was possible. News wise, the Turkish airlines crash

Middle England

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Just got the new Stuart Maconie. "Pies and Prejudice" was about the North, "Adventures on the High Teas" is a search for 'Middle England'. May start it later... Update: just over half way through now and enjoying it very much... Some good quotes: like the section on Tunbridge Wells, which I went to a couple of months ago, the fact that the Quorn hunt now has to make do with a 'meat substitute', the rise of the gastropub, the joy of Marmite and the full English breakfast, and the section on music - on the basis of one section I bought the 'Ivor the Engine' music of Vernion Eliot (which to be fair I'd been considering for a while...)... plenty of cultural geography in there....

Great pictures of the world AT WORK

A TWITTER tipoff.... Great BOSTON GLOBE set of images from various news agencies (and interesting comments which follow - warning, may contain rude words)

Looking forward to this...

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Coming in April: the new Bob Mould... 20 years since 'Workbook': I feel old... Don't worry, I'll get geography in there somewhere...

Slumdog Millionaire

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Watched this earlier this week. Great film... Let's see how it does at the OSCARS. How could it be used in a geography classroom ? It's a certificate 15, so you're looking at GCSE groups at least. How about the issues of possible "slum voyeurism" or the apparent amounts paid to the child actors compared to the lead actors ? How accurate was the reporting here ? How easy is it to 'assume' things in this way ? (remember the Sceptics' Toolkit) What about the British orientation of the workers in the call centre ? Again, BLOGGERS introduce some interesting additional detail and suggestions. Marc Silvers National Geographic blog (link above) contains an interesting interview with Thomas Chandy of Save the Children (India) It’s great that the movie talks about poverty, it’s great that the movie is about hope. But let’s move the debate beyond this: The reality is millions of children are working when they should be at school. Can we move beyond talking and

London 2012: both sides of the coin....

My daughter is currently doing some half-term homework: designing a 50p coin to commemorate and celebrate the London 2012 Olympics, as part of a competition being run by Blue Peter ... Meanwhile, here is Noel Jenkins with the first of a planned series of videos looking at the impact in Portland, where the sailing events are going to be held. Impact of the 2012 Olympics on a local business from Noel Jenkins on Vimeo .

Queueing for Beginners

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A new purchase thanks to the work of Ian Cook, and his cultural explorations. Joe is a cultural historian, and this book tells the tale of everyday life, and the reasons why things are as they are. It's also full of 'living' geography ! Why do we drink beer in pints ? What about our obsession with the weather ? One of the stories it includes is when Jeremy Paxman presented the weather (as edited from Have I Got News For You, via YouTube It starts with something that fascinates me: the MASS OBSERVATIONS project, which ran from 1937 to the early 1950s. I have a copy of a book called 'Austerity Britain' which contains a similar history / geography crossover looking at the years after WWII, and providing a real sense of place, and a lost England...

Blighty

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Blighty is the new name for UKTV People. It's another channel rebranding in the vein of 'Dave' There are images, ring tones, and details on programmes. Vic Reeves made a programme on Harris Tweed to help launch the channel, and the inevitable phrase 'geography teacher' emerged... A pity, as the rebranding images were rather nice: various variations on the Union Jack, and the content is full of geography: Britain from Above, Wainwright Walks, Coast, Trawlermen etc...

Withnail and I

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The importance of 'place' The farmhouse that was the location for Crow Crag in the film was up for sale by auction: Sleddale Hall in Cumbria. A campaign  began to save the hall. The WEBSITE  was trying to raise money to buy the hall. There are quotes engraved on the door and other surfaces of the property. The new owner is apparently open to allowing visitors ?

Back from York

Just had 4 days 'off the radar' (a little) in York. Managed a few cultural highlights. First of these was Disney's BOLT , which was really great: a great pace to the film, nice "Incredible Journey" subtext in the middle with the road trip section: loved Rhino the hamster... Second was SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE , which was exhilerating: great claustrophobic soundtrack and gripping. Below one of several films from FOX Official Movie site . Sure both these films have their place in the GEOGRAPHY classroom... Also had a nice meal in the Assembly Rooms, which is now an Ask chain restaurant, just round the corner from York Minster, Guy Fawkes' place and all... Also took in a rather fine Bruichladdich 16 year old which had been in a Margaux cask - rather delicious, and did some serious shopping in the (never ending) sales: some nice North Face and Rohan, plus a soft-shell jacket. Trip over to Harrogate as well to meet up with Val V and listen to some live jazz in the Har

Photo Generators

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Always good to have photo manipulation generators. Thanks to Vicky Woolven for leading me to PHOTOFUNIA , with which I made this nice image...

Snow Day

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Another load of snow arrived in West Norfolk. 65 schools closed at the moment in West Norfolk. All the family off school - as I was working from home today, I don't really get the benefit... Just added my details to the #uksnow map that Ben Marsh produced. Join the map by tweeting #uksnow then first part of the postcode, then score out of 10 e.g. #uksnow S66 8/10 Also check out OLLIE BRAY's POST on making use of this in the classroom along with Google Earth.

My World in 60 Seconds

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My World in 60 Seconds This is an opportunity for student films to be shown on the BBC's BIG SCREENS in cities around the country. For full details go to the GA WEBSITE , or read on.... Important update: Relaxation on format for submissions When we launched the competition last year, a number of e-mails were received which queried the limited format for submissions for the My World in 60 Seconds project. Following further discussions with the BBC, we have been able to widen the format for the submission of completed films, which we think will make it a lot easier for schools to submit their work and take part in the project. The emphasis still needs to be on the HIGHEST POSSIBLE QUALITY OF VIDEO FILE. New formats that are now available are: a HIGH QUALITY DVD or HIGH QUALITY QUICKTIME FILE. A reminder of some of the basic rules follows. All entered films must meet these guidelines, and: Be made by students aged 11, 12, 13 or 14 Be no longer than 60 seconds including

Snow and Heat

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"We're very lucky in the band in that we have two visionaries, David and Nigel, they're like poets, like Shelley and Byron. They're two distinct types of visionaries, it's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water." Derek Smalls in 'This is Spinal Tap' Today, as with yesterday is a 'snow' / 'duvet' day across many parts of the country. The BBC NEWS reported the traffic problems in and around the country. They didn't mention that much about other parts outside of the capital, mostly London yesterday, but anyway. The snow has now moved North, and the chaos continues. At lunchtime yesterday it was out to collect my kids from their primary school, which has closed early due to the weather forecast being a worsening situation. This morning was an interesting slippy walk, but they were safely delivered. Today, the newspapers have some very creative headl

Discover Liverpool

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Got this cheap at the weekend (the DVD version of it at least...) 8 themed documentaries on the culture and landscape of Liverpool Worth seeking out in your local discount book store if you're in the NW.