Pointless vanity project of the former Tabascokid

Ah, nothing to worry about.  It was just the final dying gasp of decency in tabloid journalism..

In what is apparently a world first, a British D-list celebrity magazine has just hit the shops with it’s special memorial issue celebrating the life and death of former “Big Brother” contestant Jade Goody.  The cover talks of her “final words” and highlights from her life beneath the years 1981-2009.  The world first in all of this is that she’s not even dead yet. Yup, she might even have read it.

The media coverage of the build-up to her death has had me feeling decidedly grim for the last few weeks with the red-top tabloids leading with “Jade’s Final _____” (fill in the blank) on a daily basis.  While part of me doesn’t blame her for cashing in on the events to raise money for her kids future, I can’t quite understand how people can print and read this stuff without feeling wretched.  It’s voyeurism at the highest level.

While I can grumble and decry the death of journalism all I want, coincidence has decided to play a wonderful hand in the whole affair by marking this very magazine as the key moment when journalism changed for the worse; the issue number is 666.

For the second time this week, I got to lay my eyes on a new toy heading my way.  This time, I don’t get to touch it for another six months.. 

All is healthy and looking good with the little one putting on a fantastic burst of breakdancing for us as the scan took place.  I was expecting some indistinct blob so to be greeted with this space-prawn doing the caterpillar move in glorious mono was quite a shock!

The poor woman doing the scan had to deal with two photographers asking her to wait for the right moment before capturing the scan images. All measurements were good with the date being logged as September 20th.  Bring it on ( but not the sleepless nights..)

This child had better get used to posing as it doesn’t know what it’s in for..

After months of speculation among the head bods, AFP London moved to the dark side, or more particularly, the black and gold side.  Now armed with Nikon D3 bodies and various lenses, I’ve wandered the streets of London zooming left rather than right and pushing the exposure the wrong way. I mean, who in their right mind thinks that when the meter goes to the right, it’s underexposing?

After trying to get my head around the games console that is the SB900 flash and all the other little bits and pieces that make up the Nikon system, I went to cover a day of protest by the Free Tibet group on the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising.

Star of the day was Palden Gysatso, one of the longest surviving political prisoners having been held in a Chinese torture camp for 33 years.  A film about his life “Fire under the Snow” is available and after meeting him, I think the book of the same name is on my “must read” list.

Anyhow, more from me as I try to get my head around the new toys over the coming days..