Easter greetings, and all's well that ends well, or at least all's well that begins to end well ...

(Above: I do confess, I purloined this image from here).

Sometimes the news brings pure, untrammelled joy.

Thanks be unto Crikey, which admittedly is just recycling a bit of Murdoch bitchiness:

Fairfax Media is understood to be preparing to scrap its policy of running autoplay videos within a fortnight, after a consumer backlash led to an advertiser boycott.

Last week, media buying agency UM announced it would no longer buy video ads with the publisher after research showed that videos, which play automatically when a reader opens the page and often slow down page loading, were having a negative impact on brands being advertised.

The research showed that 96 per cent of people found the autoplay practice annoying and 44 per cent were muting their computers when videos played unprompted.

Some 61 per cent of people said they felt negatively towards brands advertising on autoplay video. A number of media agencies have standing rules not to buy advertising in autoplay videos, and The Australian understands several other agencies are now thinking of joining UM in the boycott.

Yes, I did it all.

I clicked the 'do not play' button, I turned down the sound, I cursed and swore, I loathed and berated the brands, my eyeballs too drenched in blood, sweat and fury to notice what the hell they were selling, and when the wretched advertisement asked for video feedback I sent irascible messages from lunatic anonymous addresses, liberally filled with soothing messages, like 'fuck you, you Fairfax fiends, it'll be a cold day in hell before I allow one of your fuckwit ads to play full length, let alone buy the horseshit product', and other cheery admonishments and good time moments and season's greetings.

Sob. I'll almost miss it if it goes. The sheer joy of the hostility and the hatred made my day ...

And then there's this, just as we were about to declare the pond a 'no wedding' zone, and threaten to shoot David Flint acolytes on sight.

Thanks be unto mumBrella and the Chaser lads and the ABC.

The Chaser lads are doing a special on the Royal Wedding:

The Royal Family itself has welcomed news of the Chaser special. “We don’t mind who covers the wedding, quite frankly,” said HRH Prince Philip. “Just so long as they’re not slitty-eyed.”
Her Majesty the Queen added, “Bring it on! I mean, it couldn’t be any worse than that Balls of Steel show on The Comedy Channel. What was Reucassel thinking when he agreed to that?!”

But well-known Australian monarchist David Flint has expressed his outrage at the project, arguing that it was his job – not The Chaser’s – to make royalists look silly.

Stuart Menzies Controller ABC2 said The Chaser and the Royal Family are a natural fit: “They’re both tired, out-of-touch institutions that are a drain on the public purse and well past their use-by-date, – it’s a match made in heaven.”

I confess, I'll still think of them as the Chaser lads when they're eighty and the worms are doing a Hamlet on my carcass. And good on you Stuart, and shssh, I promise not to mention Bryce and the way he's ruined the Australian film industry, along with all the other lawyers (I keed, I keed, of course lawyers write the best scripts, and make the best producers, and say no more about it).

At last a reason to watch the Royal wedding, and not feel bad about it, a bit like the excuse my partner offers when watching football for its cultural, sociological, political, and societal implications, switching on the vision, and tuning into Roy and HG.

There are good reasons to feel alive and well, or at least well and alive, and so it is when we can come to the national broadcaster offering us the chance to be "uninformed and unconstitutional".

Why that's the entire life of the pond in a nutshell ...

Sweet joy, and there I was thinking that Easter was just a chance to steal the children's Easter eggs ...

(Below: oh you brave, plucky, defiant Chaser lads, now promise to send the royals and Professor Flint up shitless, and all will be well in the universe for at least a month).