First, I have to preface this entire blog post with the fact that writing for BellaOnline was an honour. I am grateful that they selected me to write for the site, and I learnt a lot from the experience. I was signed up at the very end of January 2007, and have written for them for just over two years. Just a few days ago, I resigned from my site, and am no longer writing for them. My articles are still available on the Formula One section of BellaOnline but only until they are overwritten by the next editor. (I haven’t decided what to do with them yet.)

When we met up with some like-minded F1 fans at the Science Museum in London, the conversation spilled over into the pub and into the evening hours. One of the topics that really got me thinking was how we define sport. I don’t remember how we got onto the subject, but I imagine it had something to do with our suggestion that if F1 goes down a particular route with the regulations, we’d probably prefer to watch darts instead. That leads to: Is darts a sport?

Some days I wish I lived in France. It turns out that Montagny might have had a bit of a spot on French TV Channel TF1 during their Bahrain GP coverage. I only read about this afterwards, and there’s not much I could have done about it anyway, but yay for Franck!

Over Easter, I took a well-deserved break and disappeared into the depths of the country for a narrowboating mini-break. My parents invited me to join them, as we journeyed a short distance along the Wey river, starting at Guildford. Now, my mother could tell you all kinds of fascinating facts about where we were, and what we saw, but I mostly basked in the serenity of no cars, very few people, and… I want to say sunshine, but in fact, it rained. A lot.

There are no other films out there like this. It’s one of a kind, unique. With the benefit of over ten years on the market, it’s also become a cult classic, one of those seminal films that you have to see. I don’t always enjoy Bill Murray in films, but this one just works.

I do not watch enough films. I used to watch loads of films, usually when they came out in the cinema. But that was when I lived with my friend who loved movies, when I had more free time, and I had enough money to spend on seeing the same thing many times over. I was put off going to the cinema because the nearest establishment to where I live is happy to spy on you with night vision goggles so you don’t pirate the film. Not impressed.

It’s that time again. A little cuteness to brighten up your Thursday. And don’t forget if you like all kinds of animals, not just pandas, then there’s info here about a site you should check out. Mmm, lunch. Credit: Kim’s Pics :)/Flickr

Earlier this year, Buzz Out Loud co-host Molly Wood left the show as a permanent host in an attempt to balance her life a bit better. Natali Del Conte stepped in, and it was obvious this was going to get some people’s backs up. I’ve been listening to the show for a long time, now, but I don’t feel any sense of entitlement to it. BOL does have a very strong community, but as a podcast from a big company, it’s understandable that people will come and go. I guess, as a podcaster, I know what goes on in the studio, and I know that things change. You have to be adaptable. Nothing good can come from pining over what used to be.

If you are anything like me, you are quite partial to a cute and furry baby animal. Come on, admit it, you’ve had a look at one of the Baby Panda Thursday posts and gone: “Aww.” I know you have. Therefore, this may be a site of interest to you. It’s called Zoo Borns, and it features cute pictures of ickle baby animals. Don’t be put off by the fact that the front page is currently full of monkeys, there are a variety of different animals featured, and it’s updated frequently. Who knew there were so many zoos in the world?

Last week, the founders of Pirate Bay were found guilty of “assisting the distribution of illegal content online” in Sweden. The punishment is a year in prison and a fine of about £2.4 million. All the details are available to read in a fact-filled news item by the Guardian. I didn’t follow the trial closely but some reports of what was happening filtered through to me. I am surprised the prosecutors managed to get any verdict considering they had to change the charges halfway through because they proved they didn’t understand the technology behind what was going on.

A couple of new updates on the official FKM site give us an insight into what the man himself has been up to off track. Whilst he’s not actually racing at the 1,000K of Spa, Franck turned up to a photoshoot with Peugeot. The Google translate suggests: Well, it’s true that taking poses in front of the lens is probably not his favorite exercise, but it could be harder and FKM knows.

Just a couple of pics this week as it’s somewhat hectic around here right now. Mother and Baby Credit: lji123505933/Flickr Snacking Panda Credit: Alan/Flickr

It is Easter this weekend, so no doubt there will be a lot of cuddly rabbits and baby chicks being the focus of attention. Let’s not forget our baby pandas though. Baby Panda Bear Credit: Farrukh/Flickr Seriously Tiny Panda Credit: Vicki/Flickr

So, as it turns out, Peugeot have decided that the lovely Franck won’t be racing at the 1,000 km of Spa. After such great fun at Sebring, I’m disappointed. Olivier Quesnel - Director of Peugeot Sport - says: This is not a delay in our preparation or our work, but an adjustment in our organization. The priority remains Le Mans and I do not want to wear the team preparing three cars for this race… We have chosen six pilots selected according to their respective mileage at the wheel of the 908 HDi FAP.

I just want to write a quick note about all this fuss over the Eastenders Danielle death thing. I read what happened before I saw it because I am always miles behind, but I am now caught up. In fact, I even watched the extra programme on BBC3 that was behind the scenes of the whole story. I am that sad. The problem seems to be that it’s not fair to kill off a popular character minutes away from a happy ending when we have all invested so much time in the storyline.

I stumbled across a new web show/podcast from former CNET editor Rich DeMuro. I used to watch him on The Queue when I was first getting into CNET podcasts, so was disappointed that he left so soon after I tuned in. Now he is running his own video show called the Synched Up Show. He writes and produces it himself, which is an impressive feat, considering there were ten episodes in March. As someone who has been on the peripheral of making videos (writer + host, rather than editor and producer), I know how time consuming it can be.

Just popped over to the official FKM site and saw this post that is asking for helmet designs. Now that Franck is in the US, he fancies a change and wants some help redesigning his helmet, with the one stipulation that it has to reflect the colours already in place: The famous fuschia, white, gold, silver, black, playing on effects mat and shiny… Come on, now, it’s pink, and we all know it is.

I have finally got around to making a word cloud for Smarter Than Your Average, using the great technology over at Wordle. All you have to do is enter the URL of your blog and it creates a cloud of the words on the homepage. I’m not particularly impressed that Whopper is in such large writing. Damn that April Fool story.

I think I might have found it! I’ve been going on and on about the need for a decent to-do list for a very long time. I’ve tried 37 Signals products, Remember the Milk, all that stuff. Nothing seemed to work. Now, I’ve found one, and it’s called: Doris. Yea, I don’t really get the name either, but it’s pretty useful. You can group your list items into as many sections as required, and they recommend having a Today group at the top. What I love is that you can drag and drop items from group to group, within each list, and you can even reorder the groups as you see fit.

I have recently been enjoying catching up with a web series called Pink. The ‘webisodes’ are available on the site, on YouTube, or as a podcast. It’s a clever show, told in flashbacks and flashforwards (a little more understandable than LOST though!). The story surrounds a contract killer who is allowed out of jail on an assignment, but who would rather be finding love and settling down. Through the flashbacks, we find out more about her childhood and how she ended up the way she is today.

You know those really annoying games where you have to look after a pet - kinda like a Tamagotchi but more demanding? Well, if you’ve got a Nintendo DS, there’s a less annoying Baby Panda version! Now to our regularly scheduled programming: Credit: A Pandographer (Cassie)/Flickr And finally, cuteness:

I am not a fan of April Fool’s day, particularly now that things on the internet are so hard to believe anyway. You have to take everything with a pinch of salt, and so these days the jokes are either really obvious, or so obscure that I don’t get them anyway. I remember one joke from several years ago, a good one, in fact. The local newspaper issued a fake cover on top of the real one that suggested the valley was going to be flooded to make a reservoir for some nearby, and larger, towns. Ah, that kept us going for hours. Those were the days.

Franck’s keeping positive: I am disappointed by the outcome but still satisfied because we have worked well. We came to learn a difficult circuit. 12 hours here is worth 24 hours in Le Mans! The new Audi was within reach on land which is not in favor of the 908, very responsive. The team worked hard all winter and that’s what makes me optimistic for the future. He’s got two test days now at Sebring, before returning to Europe to prepare for the race at Spa in April.

Argh, it was just so disappointing. I was looking forward to posting a picture of Franck on the podium but he looked so utterly miserable, I couldn’t bear it. They got off to a really bad start, when the car had to begin the race from the pitlane after developing problems. Franck was the first behind the wheel and had soon made his way up to third. The number #7 Peugeot didn’t finish race distance, coming to a halt in the closing stages of the race.

The short answer: There were three Baby Panda Thursdays in a row on this blog. The long answer: I wrote The BBC Blog for a month and it was great fun. A lot of it was repeating press releases, and although it was good learning about things as I wrote them, and sourced pictures for them, there’s no reason I can’t just subscribe to the BBC Press Office feed and learn that way.

Finally the race arrives, and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to see Franck in action. The 12 Hours of Sebring kicks off today, and if you want to follow along, then I would highly recommend Sidepodcast.com (well, I would, wouldn’t I?). A live thread will be available ahead of the race, and chances are there will be many more knowledgeable people than me. What else can I say, other than: Today is Franck day, and have fun!

Way back when, Twitter was hugely unstable and we all defected to identi.ca. Now, Twitter has bolstered it’s infrastructure, and even with the mass invasion it still seems to be holding up nicely. So, I started watching people on Twitter, then I set up my identica username on the site and shared the dents/tweets across both platforms. Now I’m starting to think that Twitter is the place to be, and here’s five reasons why:

The BBC Internet Blog featured a three-part post covering all the details of their moderation process regarding comments, emails, and forums. It’s a fascinating look at why they have to do what they do, and the editorial decisions behind blocking some of the more questionable content. The first part takes a closer look at defamation of character and how the law dictates what can be published and what can’t. In regard to the process of raking through comments that tick all the wrong boxes, Paul Wakely says:

Qualifying was a surprise for all involved as Scott Dixon took pole position with de Ferran Motorsports’ Acura. The petrol powered car dominated the works diesel of both Audi and Peugeot, although the split to second place Tom Kristensen was barely a tenth of a second. The entire top five was only split by 0.28, with Klien picking up third for Peugeot. Franck’s car was fifth, although it was Bourdais behind the wheel. FKM got in the car later, though, for night practice, and things started to look up as he posted the fastest time. Again, the times were super close with Allan McNish 0.07 seconds behind. It was a wet track after a rain shower left standing water on some parts of the circuit.

The human resources at the BBC - called BBC People - have a new director. Lucy Adams will take up the post on 1st June replacing Stephen Kelly who has moved to another company. Adams comes to the BBC from Eversheds LLP, and has been Director of HR at a couple of companies previously. The Director role at the Beeb encompasses training, motivation, change management and recruitment, and Adams will lead 475 employes in the HR division. The position also includes automatic entry to the Executive Board.

Three Baby Panda Thursdays in a row! I really must blog more. To celebrate, though, here are two Baby Panda pictures. Credit: Tammy/Flickr Credit: Jesse Starr/Flickr

It turns out testing can be a topsy-turvy experience. On the second day, Peugeot jumped ahead, although it wasn’t Franck’s car topping the times. All times were at least a second slower than Monday, but Nicolas Minassian led the way just three tenths ahead of Allan McNish. Unfortunately, it Bourdais had an off and didn’t manage to set a time. Uh oh. Le Seb didn’t get very far at all, in fact, as on the first lap of the day, he spun it and hit the wall. The damage was enough to cause a red flag, and left Bourdais pretty annoyed at himself. Now I’m annoyed at him too. He says that it shouldn’t affect the car too much though.

Franck has left a note on his official website, that shows his excitement over the upcoming race: Sebring is coming YYYEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH! He adds he was getting tired of the gym and wants to start racing again, and that he’s “super ultra motivated” for the first race of the new year. In other, more disappointing news, Audi led the first official test day. Both Peugeot and Audi have completed private tests, but the other cars got to join in the fun today. Allan McNish led the way, and the Peugeot (in the hands of Bourdais and Sarrazin) was third fastest - 1.4 seconds behind.

Some of the new blogs that have been released recently (for instance, Jake Humphrey’s new blog on the F1 section of the site) had a new look that didn’t match the existing columns. Now it seems as though the other blogs will be moved over to the new design gradually, with the internet blog one of the first to move. The new look is much cleaner and matches the rest of the site, and it makes the different elements of each blog (links, subscription options, photos) much easier to find.

Radio 4 has announced they’ll be bringing the weekly children’s show Go4it to an end, with the intent of making the station more family-friendly in general. In order to keep up the children’s broadcasting though, Radio 7 will change their schedule to include a breakfast show for kids, every day. The CBeebies show on Radio 7 will move to an early morning slot (5-8am) every single day, from April. One of the aspects of the decision behind this change is to encourage children to listen to radio around their daily routine - but the BBC will be monitoring how listenership relates to the CBeebies shows on BBC Two.

I have never watched a minute of this show, but it’s certainly very popular, as it’s been recommissioned for a fifth series. Waterloo Road covers stories in and around a school, including both the adults and the teens attending. For the new series, the school is being merged with another, which will no doubt create a raft of new story arcs and characters. Eva Pope returns, and although there are no confirmations as yet, it looks like Angela Griffin and Denise Welch will both be back on our screens as well, along with other regulars.

In slightly worrying news, Peugeot Sport have admitted that their participation in the Sebring 12 Hours is simply a test for Le Mans 24 Hours later in the year. It’s not unusual for teams to use the race as a practice run for Le Mans, but to be so open about it isn’t a good sign, really. It may be that they are simply playing down the prospect of a win, as team boss Olivier Quesnel says: “Our objective is to prepare for Le Mans. We won’t be out to start from pole or set the fastest race lap at all costs by taking unconsidered risks. We need to progress on the technical, human and strategic fronts. That said, we won’t refuse victory if it comes our way.”

There have been a few tweaks on the site that are worth mentioning, the first is on the news homepage. The ticker at the top of the front page has changed slightly to display both latest news and breaking new. There is also more control over the ticker, with a pause button plus forward and back controls. The idea is that the more important breaking news stories will show with white text on a red background, whilst the latest headlines is red on white.

A new natural history programme for BBC One is going to take a look at the earth through the eyes of birds. Called Earth Flight, the series of five episodes will travel with various birds as they make their journeys across the earth. From the press release: Using cutting edge new filming techniques to show everything in exquisite detail, viewers have a uniquely privileged perspective flying 9,000 metres high over the sands of the Sahara or skimming metres over the Great Wall of China.

Radio 2 is introducing a new line-up of presenters to Saturdays, bringing in Paul O’Grady, Emma Forbes and Alan Carr. They are also changing the schedules around to spice things up, with Sunday afternoons changing as well. O’Grady also makes the transition to Sundays, with Johnnie Walker appearing on Sunday afternoons. Paul hosted a popular Christmas Day show in 2008, playing a range of music, and he has also covered for Elaine Paige on a Sunday when required.

Jana Bennet - Director of BBC Worldwide - announced late last year that commissioning at the Beeb was to undergo a restructuring of sorts. The idea is to split roles into more genre-based divisions, allowing for specialists to get their knowledge across. These are the confirmations we know so far, and I will add more as they are revealed. Alan Tyler - Executive Editor, Entertainment Commissioning (from Head of Comedy at BBC Scotland) Jo Street - Daytime Commissioning Executive Martin Davidson - Commissioning Editor for History and Business Jo Ball - Commissioning Editor for Features on BBC One and Two Emma Swain - Head of Knowledge Commissioning There’s a lot of fancy titles there, aren’t there?

The Wire was broadcast for five seasons in the US, produced by HBO to rave reviews from the critics. A total of 60 episodes were released between 2002 and 2008, and now UK viewers will get a chance to catch every season. BBC Two has confirmed they will screen the series, with transmission dates forthcoming very soon. The show is about crime in Baltimore, and takes the unusual step of using both the police and their suspects as the protagonists. Each season delves into a different theme, with Dominic West leading an ensemble cast to find and catch the various criminals. Of course, it’s never that simple, and now for the first time, the UK can join in as the stories are unravelled.

The BBC and ITV have released a joint statement, announcing they’ve signed a Memorandum of Understanding to help save regional news. The potential partnership would secure the future of regional news on ITV, although no specific details have been released. A couple of possibilities have been discussed, including the two broadcasters sharing locations, facilities, resources and media - with most of the items coming from the BBC side, available for ITV to use.

Today we’ve got pandas doing what they do best - eating. Also, if you like Baby Panda Thursday, consider visiting new URL! Yes, alright, for now it just points to the category page of this very site, but this is how phenomenons start!

Director of BBC Sport, Roger Mosey, recently gave a talk at Westminster University, and has posted a portion of it on the Sports Editors blog. The talk/article confronts those who question the BBC’s dedication to sporting events, especially considering the addition of high profile sports such as Formula 1, and the 2012 Olympics. However, Mosey has a couple of good arguments up his sleeve: We value our relationships with rightsholders and the listed events legislation still requires that they receive a fair and reasonable price for their products; but we put audiences first. We want to maintain access to sport for people who don’t want to pay subscriptions; and, even more crucially, we see it as a public service commitment to win over light or casual viewers to the events they come across on our mass-audience channels.

Seetha Kumar, Controller of BBC Online, has published a list of 10 guidelines that should be used when creating, and maintaining, BBC sites in the future. The principles are there to encourage editors to see their project as part of a bigger picture, that engages the audience and doesn’t isolate them. It sounds too good to be true, but the 10 steps are pretty all encompassing. Here is a rundown (paraphrased) of the list.

Raymond Blanc will be back for a third series of The Restaurant, although there is no word on when. The show gives nine couples the chance to compete with the ultimate prize being a business opportunity with Blanc. The winning couple open a restaurant with the chef, but only after proving that they have what it takes to create winning menus, great atmosphere, and generate a profit. Blanc issues the challenges, intent on developing the couples and their restaurants, and with times as troubled as they are, this new series is not going to be easy for the contestants. Raymond is completely aware of this but isn’t going to make it easy on contestants:

For the first time in their six years of broadcasting, Radio 1’s sister station 1Xtra is to go on tour. The Breakfast Show will be in five different cities over the course of a week from 16th-20th March. The show goes out live each morning from 8-11am. It’s presented by Trevor Nelson and Gemma Cairney, and will feature performances from special guests. From the BBC Press Release, here are the details of the tour:

The British Film Institute have announced a partnership with the BBC Archive that will see a greater development of public access to their content. Utilising the massive infrastructure of broadband in the UK, plus the extent of which the BBC use it, the BFI want to allow everyone in the UK to see the archived material. Although there are no significant details released at the moment, the partnership has been sealed and intends to move forward.

Sweeney Todd star, Helena Bonham Carter, is making the transition from big screen to small to play children’s author Enig Blyton in a one-off drama about the popular writer. The show will also star Matthew Macfadyen and Denis Lawson. Blyton remains one of the most popular author’s for young children despite having been published for almost 80 years. From the adventures of the Famous Five and Secret Seven, to the fairytale lands of The Faraway Tree and Noddy, almost all children will have read or consumed something created by Enid Blyton.