Dumbing down
The 'new' Dome: After six years in mothballs, the Dome is to reopen in 2007 as an "entertainment city". In a multi-million pound sponsorshipdeal with a mobile phone company it will also be rebranded as The 02, which has to be the most ludicrous name for a public building I've ever heard. I really can't imagine Londoners "popping down The 02" for a night out - it doesn't trip off the tongue easily. Maybe the vodka-sodden, the lairy and Bryan Adams fans will lap up the new venue, but I think I much preferred the Dome as a rundown abandoned folly with a decent name.
Big Brother 6: Much as I love Big Brother I've been relatively immune from total addiction in the past because I couldn't watch the constant live streaming on E4. But now, as E4 comes to Freeview, I can, and it's proving dangerous. I've watched Maxwell sleeping, I've watched Derek wake up early to do the washing up, I've watched Makosi and Lesley arguing about the fine detail of the shopping list, and I've even watched all the housemates undergoing their official fire safety training. It's all the dull stuff they edit out before the evening highlights, totally inconsequential and therefore dangerously fascinating. But don't worry, I promise not to get hooked for the next eleven weeks.
Crazy Frog: The worst thing about watching E4 (and many other digital channels) is the endless stream of ad breaks filled by tacky low-cost commercials. At the moment we're enduring saturation coverage of the most annoying JamsterCrazy Frog advert, usually at least twice during each break, with Nessie The Dragon and Akon's Lonely also thrown in for good measure. Are Britain's youth so thick that they need to see this grinning amphibian bing-bing across their screen eight times an hour before they finally decide to commit blindly to a £3-a-week subscription service. Well yes, sadly they are that thick, which is why the Crazy Frog/Axel F hybrid is about to hog the top of the UK singles charts for the next umpteen weeks. Would never have happened in my day...