OT: Bbc oddity?

The joke is ruined by ignorance. The Irish name Áine (same root as Anne) is pronounced something like onya, though the Á is often tending towards the ou as in bought.

On 07/04/2026 21:40, Joe wrote: The usual kit

I knew that news crews used reversal film - usually Ektachrome 160 balanced for tungsten light, requiring an amber filter only for outdoor work where daylight is brighter so the filter factor is not a problem. But I always thought that, as well as the hairy-Dougal mike, the sound man carried a complete recorder (eg Nagra) and that the umbilical cable was for synchronising, rather than just carrying an amplifier that fed a recorder in the camera via umbilical cable.

Was it actually easier/quicker to shoot on reversal, with the extra chemical reversing stage during processing, than to shoot negative and to telecine from negative? Maybe colour adjustment when telecineing from negative would have been the difficult part, just as it is when computer-scanning a 35 mm still negative versus a positive slide.

It's funny what portion of the population never made it onto the drummers seat. You hardly ever see a dwarf drummer :-)

Paul

One thing I did learn was that for ITV News crews in that time period, the equipment carried by the sound man was heavier than that carried by the cameraman. Hence when the crowd turned on the TV crew during a riot in N. Ireland, the cameraman had a much better chance of escaping unscathed. (Related to me at the time by an ITV news cameraman.)

I get the opium bit - he did say that, although the context is often missing. But the crack bit - is it supposed to mean that Marxism is some sort of quick and easy-to-do fix? Really?

The joke, such that it is, would surely relate to Prussian names.

Witty riposte, though :-)

I meant that Marxism is even worse than religion in its effect of introducing a world view that destroys peoples ability to function rationally

It inherently leads to a visions of the world as consisting of oppressors and oppressed with violent resistance and conflict the only viable outcome, except post revolution the oppressors represent themselves as being 'of the people'

That's almost the diametric opposite of Marxism's post capitalist 'utopia'. Are you sure it's Marxism you're talking about?

I think what you're doing is labelling the opinions of people you disagree with as 'Marxists'. And ideas with which you disagree as 'Marxism'. And then defining 'of Marx' in some unspecified way. Or something. Not sure.

Marxism is 'just' a theory - it's hasn't worked through (although for some it, once updated, is playing out). How can it be inherent? And I suppose your thinking there might be someone's interpretation of how it might play out. Of course nobody knows - it's just a guess about how to move from one state to another. And the owners of the means of production would be unlikely to represent themselves as 'of the people'. Imagine Musk, Bezos etc. doing that?!

And crack has a very strange affect on you if you think that's what it does ;-)

When I was there they were mostly using Fuji film, and no filtering.

They did have a sound recorder, initially dreadful Uhers, switching to a special version of the Nagra E with pilot tone. A Uher got dropped in the sea off Iceland, as did a Nagra. The Nagra needed rinsing and drying, the Uher was a write-off, it's various slidy bits having rusted together.

For static interviews and such, the recorder was used, but for moving about, the stripe film was preferred. One item to send back, no problem with keeping the tape and film together.

Where the recorder was used, there was no synchronisation. The recorder added crystal-controlled pilot tone and there was a good old clapperboard to start things off.

The reversal film was used to keep the sound and picture together, rather than dub off the sound to a separate tape. Normal film was used for mute pieces.

The Arri 16BL was a heavy beast, the CP-16 fairly light. The record electronics were in a box about a foot square by three inches depp, moderately heavy. There was the odd cable to repair, usually a plug torn off, a right-angle 7-pin XLR.

It was a risky business. A 16BL was written off, having stopped a bullet and saved the cameraman's life. One of the hostages in the embassy siege was Sim (Simeon) Harris, one of the BBC sound recordists.

I thought that I had made a similarly wise purchase, silently congratulating myself on a good investment.

Sadly, when it came to the bar-code swap, my stamps, although less obviously dodgy than the China ones, turned out to be duff.

Lessons learned. :-(

Chris

Where did you get them?

Ebay. The price was attractive, but not cheap enough to be obviously a scam.

I'm usually more careful, but I think it was during lockdown, so popping along to the Post Office was even less attractive than unusual.

My own fault.

Chris

I am sure that people don't get to heaven when they die, either. In fact say one thing and call it the opposite is almost te definition of Marxism in the real world

Marx is fairly clear that Marxism is the abolition of private property. But instead of being owned in common it ends up all belonging to the State instead and used by h apparatchiks for their benefit. In b its most basic stiry oit was described bt ye Cuban communists working in South Africa alongside the ANC as 'come the revolution, you will all have a Mercedes and a swimming pool'

Oh dear.

It is no such thing - just read the communist manifesto!

What has that got to do with either Marxism or the real world?

One's interpretation clearly depends a lot on one's opinion about the benefits or otherwise of the various psychoactive drugs.

I think you are behind the times on what is possible by modern acolytes of Dr Frankenstein.

It's a foundation Marxist text. If you don't know what it has to do with Marxism I'm going to guess and say you don't know what it is. I suppose I should have capitalised - Communist Manifesto (1848).

It couldn't be more relevant. It has concentration of capital, alienation (although not in the strict sense developed elsewhere), social stratification, and globalisation down to a tee. It points the reader to a frame to interpret the world and the forces that shape it. So if you want an explanation of the social world . . .

Of course, the revolution hasn't happened . . . yet.

I'm sure they are talented, but if they feel the need to wear skimpy clothing to reel-in viewers, I'll probably pass ...