Today's Joanna Page

Today’s Joanna Page: BT Talk Traits

BT Talk Traits

Our Joanna does like to talk, as her appearance on Jonathan Ross’s show proved beyond contention. Now she’s launching a campaign to encourage people to talk more.

Knowing how important it is to make time for a chat, Joanna is encouraging us all to slow down , have a cup of tea, snuggle up on the sofa, and make time for our special calls.

Brits still spend a breathtaking amount of time talking to each other. However, the quality of those conversations is in jeopardy.

Increasingly we’re squeezing in our calls when we’re doing other things, rather than making time for a proper chat with people we care about, and this is damaging relationships and killing quality conversation. Calls made hurriedly in transit (or chit for short) are getting in the way of our chat. These are just some of the findings of a new social study carried out by BT as it paints the UK’s first ‘Talktrait of a Nation’.

As part of the study, people can go to www.talktraits.co.uk and take a quiz to find out whether they are a Happy Chatter, a Duty Dialler, an Evader or even an Unrung Hero.

Here she is in what’s obviously her home and not a set, looking exactly the way she does whenever she’s on the phone.

The winner of the Julie & Julia competition is…

DVD and book

Well, blimey. Who knew that the chance to win Julie & Julia and a cookbook would turn out to be the most popular competition and most commented on entry in the entire blog’s history? That’s amazing.

But it’s time to pick one of the 113 entries using the might of the Internet random number generator. I can happily reveal that the winner is…

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A Saturday Night Live Presidential Reunion: Jim Carrey, Dan Ackroyd, Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase and Dana Cavey together at last

Blimey, how many generations of Saturday Night Live stars can you get into one, not-especially funny political video? At least three – or is it four? – since here we have Chevy Chase, Dan Ackroyd, Jim Carrey, Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell recreating their famous SNL impressions of Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr and Bush Jr respectively (what no Bill Clinton?).

It’s all to raise awareness of Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and is directed by Ron Howard, so don’t expect big yucks. But Jim Carrey certainly still has what it takes, as does Chevy Chase. After the jump, you can watch a “making of” video and an extended scene with Dana Carvey.

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Possibly the best thing Five has ever done – a CSI, CSI:NY, FlashForward, CSI:Miami, The Mentalist, NCIS crossover

Whatever you think about UK network Five (eg has no real identity, only shows imports, all its home-made shows are cheap and tacky, etc), this is probably the best thing they’ve ever done. It’s a trailer and pre-programme countdown that features the stars of all the top US imports (CSI, CSI:NY, FlashForward, CSI:Miami, The Mentalist, NCIS). But rather than just use stock footage, with one exception they actually went on all the sets and filmed the stars in-character.

So feast yourself on Simon Baker, Laurence Fishburne, Joseph Fiennes, David Caruso, Gary Sinise, Mark Harmon, Marg Helgenberger et al ganging up together – it’s much better than that CSI crossover they did last year, at least.