freeform goodness

I complained about Netflix streaming to video game consoles being a Microsoft exclusive. The Hacking Netflix blog talked to Netflix’s CEO, Reed Hastings.

Why the Xbox 360 instead of Sony’s PS3? It includes a Blu-ray player. The Xbox 360 is outselling the PS3 domestically about 2 - 1.

For all I know Microsoft waved fat stacks of cash under Netflix’s corporate nose for the exclusive. OK, whatever, that’s what companies do. Please don’t try to insult the intelligence of your audience by spinning it as a market share thing, or else you’d be on the Wii first.

:: Dave Walker 16:30 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

:: [/entertainment/tv]
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I really have no use for NASCAR (I can actually say that out loud, now that I don’t work for Roush anymore), but it does look really fantastic in high-def. The fast action really shows off the advantage of the progressive scan modes, and the cartoonishly painted cars look fantastic gleaming in the sunlight.

:: Dave Walker 16:43 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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:: tags: tv hdtv nascar

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Will this be the way the iTMS handles both paid podcast subscriptions and TV season subscriptions? I noticed the new Daily Show downloads at the iTMS. I occasionally record the Daily Show and arduously edit and convert it for use on my iPod, and at about 63 cents an episode I’m happy to let someone else do the work.

:: Dave Walker 14:53 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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The “Chronic…(WHAT?)…cles of Narnia” thing has been all over BoingBoing and YouTube and del.icio.us and digg and torrent sites and wherever else by now, of course, but I still need to give NBC kudos for formally acknowledging the idea of word-of-mouth marketing and posting this segment as a free download on the iTMS.

(Also worth noting — NBC/Universal posted a free “behind the scenes” thing for Battlestar Galactica at the same time.)

:: Dave Walker 10:19 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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:: tags: tv itms nbc snl

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(1.6MB Quicktime 7 movie)

I found this one on a CDROM I found at a dollar store. They didn’t own the copyright either… Anyway, resizing it converting it to modern codecs reduced the filesize by over 90%, so here it is.

:: Dave Walker 21:05 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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I’ll refrain from spoilers, because I know that some people won’t get to see these episodes until after the inevitable DVD release, but wow, I’m happy to see the Sopranos back at the top of its game. After a distinctly lackluster season 4, the last few episodes have been completely outstanding, worthy of the show’s heyday (seasons 1 and 2.)

:: Dave Walker 09:08 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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I loved the Quiznos ads they debuted during the Super Bowl. I didn’t realize that they were done by the Joel Veitch, and it’s based on one of his old bits. Looks like my favorite of them, with the kittens doing Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, is no longer online, doubtlessly due to humorless lawyer people.

:: Dave Walker 10:06 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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Compilation videos from Palm Pictures. The first three feature Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, and Michel Gondry. Cool.

:: Dave Walker 13:33 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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Speaking of the BBC, for the next few days (probably until Saturday AM, UK time) there’s an audio documentary on the great comedy Blackadder. Go listen before it turns into a pumpkin! (via Neil Gaiman’s Journal)

:: Dave Walker 19:47 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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I don’t write about television much here, because, generally, it’s only marginally more interesting than the most boring blog topic — blogging about blogging (shudder.) I’m going to break one of my self-imposed rules and talk about a couple of TV programs that I really enjoy.

The first is a program that’s relatively new. It started airing on Showtime earlier this summer. It’s called Dead Like Me (site), and follows the adventures of a recently undead young adult as she pursues her afterlife career, as a Grim Reaper. I’ve watched almost all of the episodes, despite my not being a Showtime subscriber (hint: the Darknet is your friend), and I’ve really become a big fan.

The genius of Dead Like Me is how mundane they’ve made the day-to-day business of collecting souls. The protagonist, young George (Georgia) Lass, isn’t some sort of undead superhero bristling with eldritch powers and mystical knowledge. Instead, she’s a low-level, socially awkward entry worker who’s been given the bare minimum amount of information she needs to get her job done. Grim Reaping doesn’t even provide a salary, so she and her fellow reapers work part-time jobs and run scams to provide for their un-living expenses. The writers have gone in quite an unexpected direction as far as setting up the world these Reapers function in. Where they might have been expected to build up an elaborate mythology (as with Buffy or the X-Files), they’ve deliberately kept the backstory minimal. Like George, the viewers are given only the barest information about how the business of the dead and their souls works. The Reapers receive their daily assignments on ordinary Post-It notes in the morning, while eating breakfast at a very thinly disguised Pannekoeken Huis, then go on about their business. For George, this means working at Happy Time Temporary Services, for others it means working as meter maids or as petty thieves.

Another favorite of mine is Insomniac, on Comedy Central. It’s a really minimal show (do you sense a theme here?) It essentially just consists of the host, Dave Attell, staying up all night in various cities, crawing from pub to pub, stopping in at oddball all-night businesses, and chatting with the locals. It must cost all of 50 cents to make, but theres an amiable, goofy charm to the whole affair. Host Attell is a very funny guy, quick with a quip, but never meanspirited. It’s amazing to me how much more interesting I find this show than all of the tiresomely over-conceptualized “reality” programming that overwhelms the airwaves every summer.

:: Dave Walker 17:57 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

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