Reader Mail: Chelsea Boys, No Corrie in the States, Lily Allen

Hey, thanks to the readers who have been sending me emails lately. You’ve directed me to some interesting news stories. For example, loyal Anglophenia fan Ed Rozanski sent me this:

Since your blog focuses on things British AND has a gay tint, I thought you’d might be interested in the following article, courtesy of Gay.com, which focuses on the Chelsea football team and a VERY interesting question which was posed to its players on their website. And for what it’s worth, I’d gladly take some John Terry.

Yes, there’s an accompanying visual:

In spite of myself, I’m partial to Ashley “I’m not gonna play along” Cole…he just needs to close his mouth. Who am I kidding…I’ll have the whole lot of ‘em!

Dedicated BBCA viewer Loretta passed along some disappointing news:

You raised my hopes for being able to see Coronation Street and some other ITV favorites again, but after reading your blog, I went to ITV.com and looked at a message thread that was started regarding access to the programs from outside the UK. There was a reply from ITVi Customer Service saying it will only be available in the UK. Here’s a link.

Sorry to get everyone all excited: I had a fear that geo-targeting – digital-rights management that serves or bars content to IP addresses in a particular territory – would rear its head here. However, Loretta notes that Granada International will offer “700 hours of TV series and feature films…free of charge to US citizens,” according to C21Media.net.

My long-time cohort Tanya Bower emailed me a photo of Lily Allen and her “dear mon frère” Alfie walking to the gym. Doesn’t the huge cigarette Lil’s smoking defeat the purpose?

Tanya also sends this Entertainment Weekly article touting UK “grime” band Hadouken!, whom Mark Beaumont says “essentially sounds like your PSP on PCP.” That’s a pretty accurate description. Their blithely misogynistic “Tuning In” – with its “Yeah yeah O-kay O-kay uh huh huh yeah yeah yeah” intro – has all the earmarks of a major party jam.