Brett Debritz’s archive

Would you call Pavarotti a big girl’s blouse. Well, that’s effectively what they did on Channel 7’s Sunrise program when their reporter referred to him as a “diva”.
PS: I’m off to Sydney and may not be able to post here for a day or two. In the meantime, perhaps you’d like the check out cartoonist Scott Adams’s new Dilbert blog.

Bad news if you speak Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene or Thai. The BBC World Service is abandoning radio broadcasts in those languages so the Beeb can fund an Arabic television channel. There’s more on that here and here (where The Guardian describes the change as part of the “battle for the hearts and minds of the world’s 286 million Arabic speakers”).

Former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth will take over from US radio stalwart Howard Stern, who is making the leap to satellite radio (where there are fewer restrictions on what he can say and do on air). However, Roth won’t be heard in as many markets as Stern, who dubs himself the “king of all media”. Details here.

I suppose sensitivity isn’t high on the list of sought-after qualities in a television programmer, but you think somebody at Channel 10 might have had second thoughts about screening tonight’s 6 o’clock episode of The Simpsons. It’s the one where Homer buys an SUV and there’s dialogue about them being more likely to be involved in accidents. What’s been one of the biggest news stories this week? Something about the child of a famous sportsman being run over by a 4WD …

Speculation has already begun about who will replace Tricia Duffield on 612 ABC’s breakfast shift following yesterday’s announcement that she’s returning to Sydney. Perhaps her move, following Steve Austin’s recent departure on extended leave, will prompt a total programming reshuffle. Whoever gets the cornflakes gig, let’s hope they’re there for more than five minutes. It’d be awful if Aunty was only using Brisbane as a training ground for Sydney and Melbourne.

Ever wonder what happened to the guy who created that comic ctrip about the little boy and the tiger he thought was real but everyone else saw as a stuffed toy? Well, the Associated Press went looking for Calvin and Hobbes writer-artist Bill Watterson 10 years after he called it quits on the strip. They didn’t find him.

Another day, another best-ever-movies list. According to a survey of British film critics by Total Film magazine, the best movies of all time are: Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas, followed by Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, which often tops such lists, was sixth – beaten by Fight Club. I suspect this list tells us more about the people who voted than the films themselves.

There are more changes ahead at 612 ABC. The Brisbane station, which had a recent on-air shuffle in the middle of the day, now has to find a new breakfast presenter following news that Tricia Duffield is moving back to Sydney. The ABC has posted the announcement on its website here. It says, in part, that Duffiled “made the decision for family reasons, saying she wants to reunite her two sons”, one of whom lives in Brisbane and the other in Sydney. Duffield will remain on air until December 16, and an announcement about a replacement “will be made later in the year”.

Men’s Health magazine in the UK has named its top men of the past decade in 10 different categories. They are:
Philosopher – Homer Simpson
Activist – Bob Geldof
Sportsman – Lance Armstrong
Musician – Damon Albarn
Manager – Sven-Goran Eriksson
Visionary – Jonathan Ive
Designer – Sir Paul Smith
Writer – Ian McEwan
Scientist – Craig Venter
Chef – Jamie Oliver
Editor Morgan Rees, who is most likely aware that his first choice isn’t a real person, says: “The people on our list have used their talents to change the world around them, rather than just to draw attention to themselves.”

Kylie Minogue has hit back at rumours in the UK press that she is seeking alternative therapy for cancer. Her management has issued statement saying: “Despite the wealth of rumours to the contrary, Kylie is in good spirits and is as healthy as can be expected whilst undergoing her treatment regime in Paris. She has asked her fans please not to believe stories of dramatic weight loss and desperate searches for alternative therapy. Kylie has made it clear to her representatives that she doesn’t want fellow sufferers to be misguided by the false stories regarding her condition and her choice of doctors.”