On the Daily Mail website, a story (rewritten from the News of the World) about
How a child prodigy at Oxford became a £130-an-hour prostitute
It’s the usual sad story of a mathematics prodigy turning into a Salford hooker. “When an undercover reporter visited her at the flat, Miss Yusof stripped naked and gyrated on a bed as she reeled off her list of services.” That sort of thing.
Then, towards the bottom of the story, there’s a picture posted – which you assume is Miss Yusof herself. But no. The photo caption is:
Sufiah advertised her services on the internet (picture posed by model)
I don’t understand. Did they commission a photoshoot to illustrate this story? Obviously not. They’ve just grabbed a random sexy photo off the internet and stuck it up into a story about a sex worker. Which simply turns the Daily Mail website into a porn site. Not a very good one, I grant you – and if anything more misogynistic than the usual porn site – but still, just a porn site.
On a related subject, here is a photo of Paul Dacre at a recent Daily Mail editorial meeting:
(picture posed by model)
NOTE: I think this lady is called Charlotte. She is real, not imagined. Although whether the words were spoken exactly as Baxter remembers them, that I can’t say.
David Mason of Bolton has been jailed for 4 years after making more than a dozen hoax emergency calls. When he was arrested, he was allowed to make one prank phone call to his lawyer.
The prosecution said that Mason had a history of similar convictions spanning 40 years – a total of 49 offences including a bomb hoax, false fire alarms, nuisance calls and twice impersonating a police officer. Seems a shame him being jailed – in other world he could have been a successful TV producer.
Here is Mason, thinking up more mischief:
Mason’s lawyer said that the hoax calls were “borne of social isolation, loneliness and boredom”. Aaaah, I see – so that’s what I should be doing. Finally, a role model. A focus for my misfit despair.
“Yes – coastguard, please….”
Keith Richards, talking in the Sun today, says that between tours he likes to:
Go get a tan, lie on the beach, Wait for the tour to wear off. I’ve read every book ever written. I’m running out. Somebody please write one!
So Keith Richards has read every book. He needs more. Well, he’s is in luck… April sees the publication of Boundary Value Problems for Elliptic Systems by Wloka, Rowley and Lawruk, the aim of which is to algebraize Index Theory by means of pseudo-differential operators and methods in the spectral theory of matrix polynomials. I think Keith will particularly enjoy chapter 5, in which the authors employ Spectral Triples to untangle the problem of Vector Bundles. He’s been waiting for a new angle on that shit for years.
I’ve often wondered what goes through the mind of an angler, when they hug their catch for the camera. I guess now we know.
Here’s Audrina, my favourite cast member of MTV’s The Hills, arriving at a tattoo parlour, and discussing design options with the tattooist:
Here she is getting the tattoo – ouch! – that looks painful!
Here she is, proudly displaying her brand new tattoo:
And here she is, all happy, leaving for home:
This is how it is:
I tried “Doin’ it!” which was an improvement, but seemed somehow too mannered. There is a simple, unaffected optimism in the lower case d and the fully written “doing”. Also, I’ve shifted the text over to the left which seems to fit better with Baxter’s mouth, and with the flow of the idea.
This stuff is important.
(Thank you Sean for your useful thoughts).
Here is a Baxter question. Which cartoon is “better”.
Version a) no text:
Version b) with added “Woooah!”
I think I’m going to have to live with both for a time until I can decide.
Supplementary question: is “Woooah!” the right yell? Or should it be “Doin’ it!” or “For sure!” or simply “Yeah!”? I’m currently most comfortable with “Woooah!” although I toyed for a while with “Totally!”
Watch this video.
“Shall I go on?”
DVD updates are my new favourite thing.
NB, if you enjoyed that DVD update, you might also consider watching BlazikenMaster’s consideration of the question: Is technology killing DVDs?
In fact, I insist.
