miriam brent

Ian Poulter sets sights on Ryder Cup after Singapore Open victory

Miriam Brent — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:28:51 +0000

Ian Poulter is already looking forward to next year’s Ryder Cup after winning the Singapore Open today, finishing with a one-over 72 to edge out China’s Liang Wen-chong by a shot. The victory was all the sweeter for Poulter as it saw him move up to fourth in the Ryder Cup standings, with a string of highly lucrative events ahead of him which could go a long way to securing a place on Colin Montgomerie’s European team at Celtic Manor next October. Read full article on Guardian Unlimited

Canon IXUS 200 IS review

Miriam Brent — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:00:50 +0000

Canon’s IXUS range has seemed short on ideas of late. Its once-coveted metal-shell design has remained virtually unchanged since its inception, leaving others to try on its style crown for size. But now it’s finally given in to compact camera fashion with the IXUS 200 IS – a 12MP snapper that rocks a 3in touchscreen. Read full review on Stuff.tv

Top 10 ways to supercharge Windows 7

Miriam Brent — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:00:01 +0000

Microsoft has worked hard to banish the nightmares of Windows Vista, and the famously tweakable Windows 7 could win back some former friends with its versatility. Here’s a quick guide to making the most of the new OS. Read full feature on Stuff.tv

TV review: Freefall, BBC Two

Miriam Brent — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:00:55 +0000

It’s not often you get a drama capable of explaining the roots of the world’s current financial woes more adeptly than Robert Peston and keep you interested, but Dominic Savage’s sobering state-of-the-nation piece did just that. A blistering, feature-length attack on credit-crunched Britain, Freefall had the luxury of both an all-star cast and a writer/director in Savage happy to carry on the mantle of the likes of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh to get the most from them. Read full review on TV Scoop

TV review: Lie To Me, 8/13, Sky1

Miriam Brent — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:29:45 +0000

Ever since Hugh Laurie nipped across the pond to play House, a string of other leading British actors have put on their water wings in pursuit. America, it seems, just can’t get enough of us Brits at the moment. But, like most Americans, they usually want to have their (very large) cake and eat it, exploiting our reserved professionalism then asking: “Now play it again…as a New Yorker.” What makes Lie To Me so good is the fact that Tim Roth is the same rough-edged Englishman we expect. His curmudgeonly ways and sarcasm jar with that sickly sweet gloss of American drama, making us feel altogether more at home. Read full review on TV Scoop

TV review: Martina Cole’s The Take, 4/4, Sky1

Miriam Brent — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:00:48 +0000

The sight of Tom Hardy leering odiously with his suit-jacket sleeves rolled up has been stalking me for weeks. He’s on the tube, next to motorways, in shopping centres – in fact, any day now I’m expecting him to turn up at work, smashing some hapless journalist’s head into their computer screen. All of which goes to show Sky has brought out the big guns for Martina Cole’s The Take, spent a shedload on marketing and not scrimped on production values, either. Is the digital channel, home so recently to the likes of Don’t Forget The Lyrics, ready to take on the mantle of saviour of British drama? Read full review on TV Scoop

TV review: This World: The Madoff Hustle, BBC Two

Miriam Brent — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:00:09 +0000

As a rational person, it’s easy to think “I’d never be that stupid” when it comes to falling for scams promising an easy buck, but the sad fact is the world is full of people desperate to believe. Later today, former Wall Street trader Bernie Madoff – the man behind the world’s biggest investment scam – will be sentenced for stealing up to $50 billion dollars over more than 20 years. Heavily stylised to imitate Hustle and narrated by one of the show’s stars, Robert Vaughn, this slick documentary follows the son of Bill Foxton – a retired British army major who killed himself after losing his life savings in the scandal – as he travels America to find out what made Madoff tick. Read full review on TV Scoop

TV review: Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer, Five

Miriam Brent — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:00:09 +0000

I should know better than to get my hopes up about a Five documentary. Ok, so the presence of former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie suggested there may well be a sensationalist tinge to Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer, but without a two-tonne mom or cop-with-a-camera in sight there was room for optimism. This soon ebbed away as MacKenzie boorishly promised to nail the “crooked journalist at the heart of the Ripper legend”, whose boss apparently told a few porkies to up sales of his newly launched paper, The Star. The words ‘pot’ and ‘kettle’ sprang to mind… Read full review on TV Scoop

TV review: The Incredible Human Journey (BBC DVD)

Miriam Brent — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:00:37 +0000

It’s encouraging to discover the BBC still takes its remit as a public service broadcaster seriously, and indeed The Incredible Human Journey does furnish viewers with some interesting facts about the origins of mankind. It also underlines the prevailing belief that these facts should be delivered by young, attractive and slightly kooky ‘experts’. Roberts is an engaging presenter, as she explores how one small tribe of African men and women ended up colonising the rest of the world. But a reliance on shots of sweeping vistas often masks the lack of truly revelatory information being imparted, and – no doubt like the tribal subjects of the series – the show looks decidedly heavy legged towards the end of each hour-long episode.

Stars: Dr Alice Roberts
Certification: UK PG; £19.99
Extras: None. Read review on Screenjabber.com

ATP GPS Photo Finder Mini review

Miriam Brent — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:00:45 +0000

GPS is hardly new technology, so why we haven’t seen camera manufacturers falling over themselves to include it on their snappers yet is a mystery. Whatever the reason, ATP isn’t hanging around and has decreed we should all be able to pinpoint our escapades on a virtual map.

The Photo Finder Mini is a two-box geotagging solution, allowing you to add GPS coordinates to digital photos so you can view them ‘in situ’ using mapping software like Google Earth, Picasa or Flickr. You can even plot the route you took while taking them. Read full review on Stuff.tv