Amongst all the strange things that happened yesterday, one has stuck strangely in my mind even after sleeping and waking up strangely. A question. Could Stilgherrian Live return?

It’s almost two years since the last episode of my curious little live video webcast when, curiously enough given this week’s curious news about News, James Murdoch was voted “Cnut of the Week”. No, that’s not a typo, that’s what the segment was called.

Yesterday, within an hour of the moment of Full Moon, several different people suggested or even called for the program’s return — including two completely unrelated people who recently discovered the program archives, one who used to watch it every week back in 2008 and 2009, and one who thought… um, suggested… um, no… I can’t say any more. Bloody television.

So what do you think? Should the program remain a thing of its time, with the shows that were made sitting in the archive? Should Stilgherrian Live return? If it did return, which components should be continued? And when should it be produced?

My own thoughts are quite jumbled on this which is why I am asking you, Dear Reader…

“I almost laughed in the dunny. Props on your viral marketing,” said Dan Animal when he originally posted this photo.

Taken in the men’s toilet at The Clare Hotel on Broadway, Sydney, it shows a sticker reading “Cnut” to which someone’s added “Still Gherrian Live” [sic]. Is it my marketing? Nah, I’d at least have spelled my own name right. And, as Dan noted, I’d have included a web address too.

Now what’s actually happening with Stilgherrian Live, you might ask?

To be honest, I’m not sure. I haven’t been enjoying doing the program as much lately, and it does take up a bunch of time. I want to do something, but I’m not sure what. There is a certain… malaise. Perhaps you have some ideas?

Episode 53 of Stilgherrian Live, the John Della Bosca Couch of Love Edition, is online for your viewing pleasure.

As always the nominations for “Cnut of the Week” were superbly wide-ranging.

From my idiosyncratically-selected shortlist of four, Geoffrey Emerson, the man who pays people to take on false identities to post blog comments, scored… well, zero votes. Humph. He was my suggestion. Screw you.

John Della Bosca, his sex scandal, and the media who considered it important, together came in 3rd (14%). I won’t link to it. It’s beneath me.

Microsoft were 2nd (27%) for their somewhat racist re-imaging of an advertisement.

The clear winner of “Cnut of the Week”, though, was James Murdoch (59%) for his wide-ranging Cnutery in his MacTaggart Lecture.

To decide who won the t-shirt from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing, we had to draw four names from the Cocktail Shaker of Integrity before finding someone who was actually watching the program: delperro, Bob Bain, theparissite and, finally, einspruch.

Congratulations, einspruch!

It is moderately likely that Stilgherrian Live will return tomorrow night at 9.30pm Sydney time.

The time has come! There will be an edition of Stilgherrian Live tonight from 9.30pm Sydney time. You’d better start nominating people and things for “Cnut of the Week”.

“Cnut of the Week” is where we honour the example set by King Cnut the Great, who demonstrated to his sycophantic courtiers that trying to hold back the tide is pointless.

We’re after your suggestions for people, organisations or other entities who are futilely trying to hold back the tide of change — especially changes wrought by our increasingly networked digital society. It has to be related to something in the news in the last week, and you have to explain yourself. Nominees have to be not merely doing bad things, but failing to notice or adapt to the change around them. And you have to nominate here, in a comment on this post, for your entry to count.

We’ll have our usual offer of a t-shirt of your choice from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing. Just nominate a “Cnut of the Week” and be watching the program when we draw a name from the Cocktail Shaker of Integrity.

(Of course, neither me nor King Cnut Ethical Clothing are as lame and unethical as to share your email address with anyone else. I for one have site policies about this sort of thing, and so do they.)

Who do you nominate, and why?

Episode 52 of Stilgherrian Live, the Extended Tentacle Edition, is now online for your viewing pleasure.

We had some great nominations for “Cnut of the Week”, as always. From the selected shortlist, Graeme Hoy came in fourth place (0 votes) for being at the centre of one of Australia’s biggest Ponzi schemes, the $50 million Chartwell Enterprises collapse.

Footballer Greg Inglis, who for some reason I was calling Glen Inglis, was 3rd (14%) for the alleged assault on his girlfriend — though there’s news today that he may have been trying to help.

Who cares? He’s just a goddam footballer!

In second place (41%), all the idiots criticising US plans to actually have a health system. I particularly like, but did not mention on the program, the editorial from Investor’s Business Daily:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

Except that Hawking was born in and has always lived in the UK. Hat-tip to Daring Fireball, though Investor’s Business Daily has amended their editorial.

The winner of “Cnut of the Week” was Senator Steve Fielding (45%) for his continued arsehattery and climate change denialism. Congratulations, Senator.

“Arsehattery” is such an excellent word.

Congratulations also to deanlk, who won another t-shirt from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing he’s won before, you see — via his nomination for me! apparently he didn’t like my recent piece in Crikey about the potential risk of geotagging photos.

Stilgherrian Live will return next Thursday 20 August at 9.30pm Sydney time.

There will be an edition of Stilgherrian Live tonight from 9.30pm Sydney time, so you’d better start nominating people and things for “Cnut of the Week”.

“Cnut of the Week” is where we remember the example set by King Cnut the Great, who proved to his sycophantic courtiers that trying to hold back the tide is pointless.

We’re looking for people, organisations or other entities who are futilely trying to hold back the tide of change — especially the changes being wrought by the Big Bad Digital Hyperconnected Internet. It has to be something in the news in the last week, and you have to explain yourself. Nominees have to be not merely doing bad things, but failing to notice or adapt to the change around them. And you have to nominate here, in a comment on this post, for your entry to count.

We’ll have our usual offer of a t-shirt of your choice from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing. Just nominate a “Cnut of the Week” and be watching the program when we draw a name from the Cocktail Shaker of Integrity.

(Of course, neither me nor King Cnut Ethical Clothing are as lame and unethical as to share your email address with anyone else. I for one have site policies about this sort of thing, and so do they.)

Who do you nominate, and why?

Putting together the Stilgherrian Live (Metro Screen) Special Edition in a proper multi-camera TV studio is very different from a regular Stilgherrian Live.

For a start, there’s all these other people around. Then there’s the waiting. And the presenter gets to wait the most, as everyone else is working on camera angles and movement, lighting design, cues… ah, but this is the magic of television!

Supposedly.

Anyway, I hope you’re all busy nominating people for “Cnut of the Week” over at that other blog post, ‘cos nominations close at 8pm Sydney time. That’s in about three hours.

Oh, and the photo was taken by Trinn (’Pong) Suwannapha.

There’s a very special edition of Stilgherrian Live this Friday afternoon at 2pm Sydney time. ’Pong and his classmates at Metro Screen are producing a full multi-camera episode with a quiz and interviews and other entertainments.

The program is the end result of their full-week course, Produce live-streamed multi-cam television. ’Pong pitched doing Stilgherrian Live as his segment — as if he wasn’t busy enough doing his Masters of Digital Media at COFA and being DOP for some SEKRIT soap opera — and somehow that’s morphed into me presenting the whole program.

The program will be streamed live from Metro Screen’s page at Viocorp.

Now, I know 2pm Friday is when many people are meant to be working, but it’d be great to have a few of you watching, commenting back, and even providing the students with some feedback.

So to encourage your participation, we’ll have our usual offer of a t-shirt of your choice from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing. Just nominate a “Cnut of the Week” and be watching the program when we draw a name from the Cocktail Shaker of Integrity.

“Cnut of the Week” is where we remember the example set by King Cnut the Great, who proved to his sycophantic courtiers that trying to hold back the tide is pointless.

We’re looking for people, organisations or other entities who are futilely trying to hold back the tide of change — especially the changes being wrought by the Big Bad Digital Hyperconnected Internet. It has to be something in the news in the last week, and you have to explain yourself. Nominees have to be not merely doing bad things, but failing to notice or adapt to the change around them. And you have to nominate here, in a comment on this post, for your entry to count.

(Of course, neither me nor King Cnut Ethical Clothing are as lame and unethical as to share your email address with anyone else. I for one have site policies about this sort of thing, and so do they.)

Who do you nominate, and why?

I’ll have to tell you the closing time for nominations later. Normally it’s an hour before the program starts, but with a multi-person production team — especially one in training — we’ll need to give everyone a bit more time. We’re having rehearsals on Thursday afternoon, but I think we can use “substitute Cnuts” until the real ones come in.

[Update, Thursday 30 July 2009: Nominations will close at 8pm Sydney time tonight.]

We also need a better method of confirming that the winner is watching the program when we draw their name. With a tighter program timeline, we can’t just waffle on for three minutes until you email, or not. Any suggestions?

Last night’s episode of Stilgherrian Live is now online for your viewing pleasure.

After some excellent nominations for “Cnut of the Week” — which I failed to list in full on the program, sorry — I chose the usual shortlist of four.

Poor former NSW Liberals leader Peter Debnam only scored one vote (6%), coming in 4th place. Amazon.com came in 3rd (17%) for their deletion of George Orwell’s books from people’s Kindles. And in 2nd place (33%) were the critics of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who won’t leave the man have his sex life in peace, or something.

But the clear winner of “Cnut of the Week” was the oldest member of Australia’s House of Representatives, Wilson “Ironbar” Tuckey (44%), who throughout the program was represented by a photo of Treasurer Wayne Swan. Don’t ask.

Now, the prize draw…

Mark Pesce was drawn first from the Cocktail Shaker of Integrity, but he’d already gone to bed. Someone summoned him via SMS, but deliberately gave him the wrong codeword. So, Mark dutifully emailed me “pineapple” when I was after “elephant”. They’re so easy to confuse!

DAemon was drawn next, but he wasn’t watching.

The t-shirt from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing went to Woolly Mittens. Enjoy!

Stilgherrian Live will return next Thursday night at 9.30pm Sydney time. Unless I tell you it doesn’t. It’s not the same without the live chat amongst the audience, so watch it live. No, really.

Do you remember Stilgherrian Live? I know. It’s been weeks. Well, it’s back. Tonight. And you know what that means…

Nominations are now open for “Cnut of the Week”, where we remember the example set by King Cnut the Great, who proved to his sycophantic courtiers that trying to hold back the tide is pointless.

We’re looking for people, organisations or other entities who are futilely trying to hold back the tide of change. It has to be something in the news in the last week, and you have to explain yourself. Nominees have to be not merely doing bad things, but failing to notice or adapt to the change around them.

Everyone who nominates and leaves a valid email address goes into the draw for a free t-shirt of their choice from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing.

Nominations for “Cnut of the Week” are open until 8.30pm Sydney time, and you must nominate at the website for it to count. And also, when we draw the t-shirt winner, you must be watching the program and email us the code word within 3 minutes of your name being announced, otherwise we’ll pick someone else.

(Of course, neither me nor King Cnut Ethical Clothing are as lame and unethical as to share your email address with anyone else. I for one have site policies about this sort of thing, and so do they.)

Stilgherrian Live starts at 9.30pm, Sydney time.

Who do you nominate, and why?

It happened again! It’s been days and days before I got around to telling you that Stilgherrian Live episode 49 is online for your viewing pleasure.

So sue me.

The clear winner of “Cnut of the Week” was the government of China for continuing to deny the extent of the massacre at Tianamen Square twenty years ago (54%). The audience of The Chaser’s War on Everything came in 2nd place (25%) for complaining about the now-deleted comedy sketch about the Make a Realistic Wish Foundation — beating The Chaser themselves, who came in 4th place (8%) for making the sketch in the first place.

Heritage media came in 3rd place for their continued panic over Swine Flu.

Congratulations to Nick Hortovanyi , who won a t-shirt from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing — and a big raspberry to Stephen Collins and mal who would’ve won if they were watching the program when their names were drawn from the Cocktail Shaker of Integrity.

I plan to have a regular edition of Stilgherrian Live tomorrow night at 9.30pm Sydney time, but we’ll see how we go. I’ve just received some important news about Project TOTO.

Yes, there will be an episode of Stilgherrian Live tonight, in some way, shape or form, so it’s time to start nominating someone or something for “Cnut of the Week”.

We’re looking for people, organisations or other entities who are futilely trying to hold back the tide of change. It has to be something in the news in the last week, and you have to explain yourself. Nominees have to be not merely doing bad things, but failing to notice or adapt to the change around them.

Everyone who nominates and leaves a valid email address goes into the draw for a free t-shirt of their choice from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing.

Nominations for “Cnut of the Week” are open until 8.30pm Sydney time, and you must nominate at the website for it to count. And also, when we draw the t-shirt winner, you must be watching the program and email us the code word within 3 minutes of your name being announced, otherwise we’ll pick someone else.

(Of course, neither they nor us are as lame and unethical as to share your email address with anyone else. I for one have site policies about this sort of thing, and so do they.)

At 8.30pm you would normally be watching Nick Hodge‘s program @NickHodge , but tonight @Yin_Yin will provide a music program instead. “Alternative and electro paradise”, he says. Stilgherrian Live starts at 9.30pm.

Who do you nominate, and why?

Oh this is shocking! It’s 10 full days since Stilgherrian Live episode 48 was broadcast, and I’ve failed to tell you that it’s online for you viewing pleasure.

Well, it is.

We had another tie for “Cnut of the Week”. Australian banks, who charged record levels of bank fees despite the global financial crisis, were in 4th place (13%). US Senators, for failing to vote for the finding needed to close the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison were 3rd (17%). And in equal first place (35%) were Catholic power-brokers for failing to act on allegations of child sexual abuse, and Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures, who reckons nothing good has come from the Internet, period.

Congratulations to Sean the Blogonaut, who won a t-shirt from our friends at King Cnut Ethical Clothing — and a big raspberry to Sheila who would’ve won if she were watching the program when her name was drawn from the Cocktail Shaker of Integrity.

The program also included an interview with ActionAid Australia CEO Archie Law about our forthcoming Project TOTO.

I’m hoping that Stilgherrian Live will return at 9.30pm Thursday night, though that’ll depend on how hectic things get.