Telly Toad hates grass. He feeds on the good, bad and ugly world of European television and celebrity.
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Written by Jason, posted on 31. August 2008, 05:41

“Did you see the dancing kid at the Twenty20 cricket final?”

The young fan took it upon himself to imitate the official ECB Twenty20 dancers and much hilarity followed, both in the crowd, amongst players on the pitch and in the commentary box.  “Go for it young man!” cried former England captain turned pundit Nasser Hussain, and so he did, dancing like a man, sorry, boy possessed on the steps of the Rose Bowl as Middlesex beat Kent by three runs in a thrilling game.

The video has been available for a while on YouTube, but quite frankly the version there is rubbish, so we’ve pulled out all the stops with WMV HD for your dancing pleasure.

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WMV HD Download Windows Media HD - 720p 198MB

Twenty20’s cheerleaders are no match for the dancing kid in the stands, who steals the show at the 2008 Rose Bowl final.

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Written by TV Critic, posted on 30. August 2008, 02:54

Olivia Lee’s Naughty Bits is the undoubted highlight of Channel 4’s 2008 Comedy Lab series of pilot comedy shows.

In her own programme, which is a series of character-driven, improvised hidden camera sketches, Olivia Lee absolutely shines, successfully casting off the Balls of Steel shackles that have limited her comedy potential in the past.

Funny women are thin on the ground, as is good home-grown comedy these days – it’s either complete filth (the shock factor lost its impact years ago) or absolutely dreadful, so combining the two and looking drop-dead gorgeous all at the same time is quite a feat.  Although an accomplished comedy actress, Olivia’s looks certainly help in this setting (she has graced the pages of FHM in the past) because in some of the sketches participants are clearly thrown off their guard by her appearance – it’s hard to walk away from a tall, leggy blonde telling you she loves you even if she does have black mascara all over her face.  Having said that, it’s Lee’s quick-witted improvisation that really carries the show, especially in pressure situations as illustrated by our clip, in which she decides to walk on stage, give a lengthy speech and collect an award... somebody else has won.

Some may question whether the ideas and characters could be stretched to a full series, but we’d certainly like to see Channel 4 give the show a longer run, both Lee and the concept are more than deserving of that chance.

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Olivia Lee’s Naughty Bits... no real naughty bits, just great new comedy.

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Taryn Polovin of Aerobics Oz StyleAerobics Oz Style, the fitness and exercise show from Sydney Australia is broadcast regularly at various times of the day by Sky Sports here in the UK.  In fact, across the globe over four million people view it every day so at any given time you can bet there’s somebody out there stretching their abs in a vein attempt to capture a slice of the healthy Australian outdoor lifestyle.

For the couch potatoes, the draw isn’t in the low impact routines, the cardiovascular exercises, yoga or Pilates, but the instructors themselves, a group of toned Aussie babes who all look as though they could crack walnuts between their butt cheeks.

Senior instructors June Jones, Wendi Carroll and Taryn Noble usually lead a group of four super-fit girls who perform their routines with seemingly boundless energy... proving that exercise really does work!

This is all well and good, but sometimes it’s hard to tell whether a particular show is providing a workout for serious fitness fanatics, or just a workout for the raging hormones of teenage boys, especially with both the sports and lingerie model Kate McCracken and the stunning Taryn Polovin (above) as part of the team.  As you can probably tell from our clip, Barbie look-alike and ‘up-front’ Pilates instructor Helen Tardent is a serial offender, but with acres of tanned flesh on show from all the girls thanks to the tight spandex and lycra outfits, even the most serious armchair-bound fitness fanatic is going to find it hard to concentrate on their inner thigh lifts.

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The girls of Aerobics Oz Style show us their postures.  Helen Tardent (red top above), Erinjayne Gard (white top), Mia Baker (aquamarine top), Taryn Polovin (red top) and the lovely Kate McCracken (blue top).


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Written by TV Critic, posted on 26. August 2008, 03:19

Street artist Julian Beever is the subject of Concrete Canvas, currently airing (and repeating) on Sky Arts and Sky Arts HD.  This fascinating ten-part series originally commissioned for Voom’s Gallery HD in the United States, focuses on Julian’s travels around the world crafting trompe-l’œil chalk drawings that create three-dimensional, optical perspective illusions.

Beever, the ‘Pavement Picasso’ describes the process as “anamorphosis” and the end results are both fascinating and remarkably effective.  Each episode provides an insight into the background and creation of the drawing together with short sequences featuring some of the city’s urban street artists.

The short clip below includes a few highlights from the Paris episode of Concrete Canvas, the subject being a 3D chalk drawing of the Eiffel Tower.

WMV HD Windows Media HD - 720p 138MB

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Written by TV Critic, posted on 24. August 2008, 21:28

Channel 4 have been putting a lot of effort – and money – into their music programming of late and the recent launch of a dedicated channel in the form of 4 Music on all three major digital platforms and builds upon the successful E4 Music strand has been expected for some time.

The output manages to cater to most tastes, and while there are some low points, a predominantly strong line-up of presenters – Lauren Laverne is always excellent – and diverse shows with lots of exclusive live performances more than compensates.

A particular high point is Live from Abbey Road, which originally debuted on More 4 in standard definition at the start of August and is currently being repeated at various times on Channel 4 and Channel 4 HD.

The artists taking part, who range from Def Leppard to Kate Nash and Herbie Hancock, cannot be faulted and it’s great to see a no-frills, grown-up music programme whose strength lies solely in the performances on offer.  Production quality is top-notch too and there are no wacky camera moves or annoying presenters, which also makes for a welcome change.

If there is a negative, it’s the rather obvious product placement, Panasonic sponsors the show and the studio is littered with Panasonic displays so someone is treading a fine line, but it’s a minor nit-pick.

Sara Bareilles provided one of the series highlights.  The American singer-songwriter was joined by Javier Dunn (guitar), Joshua Day (drums) and Daniel Rhine (bass) to perform a set that included Love Song, the track that brought her mainstream success earlier this year.

Check out the video below for a brief taster – also available in Windows Media high definition!

WMV HD Windows Media HD - 720p 87.02MB
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Written by Jason, posted on 23. August 2008, 07:16

Carol Kirkwood Carol Kirkwood is one of the BBC Weather Centre’s better presenters; she’s often got a naughty twinkle in her eye and we like that too!  She has been a BBC presenter and weather forecaster since 1998, following a stint at the Weather Channel and some Met Office training.

Currently you’re most likely to spot Carol on BBC Breakfast, usually being precipitated upon in the Blue Peter garden or out on OB at some wind-swept location.  She’s something of a Children in Need regular too, who can forget that Rocky Horror Picture Show routine from 2002 and the dancing on ice in 2006.  You’ve got to applaud a presenter who is willing to step outside of their comfort zone.

One of the latest outings for Carol has been as presenter of The Weather Show – Summer 2008 currently airing on the BBC News channel.  In it, Carol’s main aim is to demonstrate the tensile strength of the buttons on her blouse and show a lot of cleavage in the process.  A female member of our team spotted a lack of continuity when it comes to Carol’s bras and we’re told that flesh coloured is far preferable under a white top, but we’re too PC to ask her to explain the concept to us.

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Carol Kirkwood, complete with out-takes, seen here stress testing the buttons on her blouse (do your best to ignore the scary-looking producer).

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