News. Reviews. "Humour".

This is the homepage of The Weekly Hat, a magazine/column/blog/something that goes forth onto the internet every Sunday (weather permitting) to dispense a slightly whimsical/satirical/abrasive look at recent news stories, reviews in the world of entertainment (or "Media and stuff" as we call it in situ) and the occasional moment of outright baseless oddity.

It is crafted by Nick Bryan, of whom more about a third down the 'About' page, as a vehicle for his urge to write about the wider world, with a bit less self-indulgence than a blog, but a little less pressure than actually launching a new website. He also produces Behatted, a thrice-daily webcomic with about as much relevence to the wider world as a Teletubby's penis. If the comics don't float your boat, there is a Weekly Hat-only RSS feed, accessible from the button to the right, or that link just a few words ago.

The author can be contacted at nick@behatted.com. If you want him to cover anything in particular, he doesn't exactly "do requests", but will at least read them.

And now, the actual content...

The last content to be posted on Behatted.com, then. At least for a while.

The comic, I remain hopeful, will return. But this probably is the last Weekly Hat forever. I’ve enjoyed the structure and feeling of having a deadline (and, more importantly, of just about meeting it every week), but I’m not sure there’s a huge audience for UK-centric news digests attached to webcomics. And this does take a fair few hours work by the time I’ve finished researching, writing and publishing it.

So, this be it. Thanks to everyone who has read and/or commented. If you like reading text pieces by me, Feeding The Black Dog will be powering onwards.

In the final Weekly Hat…

• The Festive Execution: My last chance to spout off about an issue. I’ve chosen the death penalty.
• Media And Stuff Extra – The End Of Time: David Tennant’s final episode in Doctor Who. Long-awaited lengthy musings.
• Media And Stuff: Fortunately, there were other things on TV this week. I’ve also been to the cinema and the theatre!
• Behatted Photo of The Week: An obvious final choice. So obvious, I’m surprised I haven’t done it before. (No, it isn’t me.)

(more…)

Good morning, everybody. And welcome to the penultimate Weekly Hat.

I must admit, it has been somewhat of a chore creating this, due to various technical/internet connection related problems. This intro will probably be quite short, in a bid to get it saved an published before anything else has a chance to crash. However (returning to this now that I’ve finally finished the bulk of the tasks), I will mention that I will miss the Weekly Hat in a way, mostly because it’s been fun having a deadline. More sobbing nostalgia next week, along with a fair bit of Doctor Who.

So, contents…

• Stationary For Christmas: This Christmas, transportation has risen up against us…
• Sale Away: And, with the holidays out of the way, the sales can commence…
• Media And Stuff: Doctor Who! Spooks! Music! + More!
• Behatted Photo Of The Week: Big fat festive man.

(more…)

Good evening. And, indeed, happy Christmas!

Yes, this be the last Weekly Hat before turkey day on Friday. I am viewing next week’s as the big Christmas Special, as that will go out the day after Boxing Day and feature such festive things as the Christmas Doctor Who episode and, um, something else. But today is the last one before it, so have a good day.

It’s also a bit later than usual, partly because I didn’t start it until eleven this morning and partly because I wanted to wait for the result of the Rage/McElderry chart showdown. As luck would have it, said results leaked at about half three, so I’ve done all the writing by half four and, presuming the leaks are correct, will just click publish shortly after they announce the number one at seven.

That’s probably enough preamble. Contents!

• How About This Weather?: This week, two big stories have hit involving weather. So I have combined them.
• Media And Stuff Special – Raging Against The X Factor: Decided this had become big enough to expand from the Media bit.
• Media And Stuff: Plus I had enough other random guff to fill this bit without it. Merlin! Doctor Who! Get a free book!
• Behatted Photo Of The Week: Someone whose TV show has just finished. (For now.)

(more…)

Good morning, all.

The news hasn’t been particularly inspiring me this week, I’ll be honest. I was almost tempted to just blow off news entirely and do an all-media column, but I was put off by the fact I couldn’t actually find that much media stuff either. So instead of doing a piece moaning about a perceived lack of news (which I think I’ve done before), I’ve just done quite a short Weekly Hat. However, as news gets increasingly thin in the run-up to Christmas, the all-media week may yet happen.

Oh, but you should totally check out my new speech-bubble related fun blog thing, The Confessions. In case you haven’t already.

However, today’s lot…

• Atmospheric Viewing: Climate change, world dying, etc.
• It’s A Mini Recession: The economy may still be in the crapper, but pocket money is bouncing back!
• Media And Stuff: All sorts of short bits, including the climax of The Thick Of It!
• Behatted Photo Of The Week: Featuring a tiny, tiny man.

(more…)

Happy Sunday morning, everybody!

I say that with such emphasis because I’m writing this intro on Friday lunchtime, having produced all the proper material on Thursday night. So if anything planet-shattering takes place on Saturday, apologies for my seeming omission. I will thereotically be in reach of a computer, so in the event of genuine Earth-smashery, I’ll find a way to mention it. But I am away in Essex this weekend, and this seemed a good way to make sure the updates happen.

(Plus I had Friday lunchtime free, and I rather liked the idea of getting the process of actually posting out of the way. It’s not too bad, but does involve a bit of tedious HTML jiggering)

Your contents this week are…

• And Then The Word “Banker” Became Rhyming Slang: As bankers get casually mud-splashed in the papers yet again, I muse idly about their fall from non-grace.
• And Now Golf (As A Euphemism): I considered not mentioning Tiger Woods, but nothing else seemed worth using.
• Media And Stuff: Mid-season Spooks checkin, festive Killers, yet more Doctor Bloody Who (kinda)…
• Behatted Photo Of The Week: Not only is Tiger Woods an easy source of ideas, he also has a pleasingly large amount of open-licenced photos.

(more…)