Digital TV
I had a dream last night that hundreds of new TV channels showed up on digital TV tuners. Weird.
I haven’t yet upgraded to digital TV. I’m in the unfortunate position of:
(a) having bought a 4:3 CRT TV at precisely the wrong time, about 7 years ago, just before the prices plummeted when widescreen LCDs and plasmas went mainstream, and apart from occasionally having a flickering line at the top (I think due to a bump while moving), that TV works admirably;
(b) not particularly wanting Yet Another Box and Yet Another Remote to have to deal with; and
(c) not having huge amounts of cash to throw around just now to buy a shiny new telly.
So I’m umming and ahhing. I suppose at some stage HD set-top boxes will become cheap enough that it becomes a no-brainer just to get the extra channels. Alternately a Digital Video Recorder might be the way to go.
I find the whole Freeview push amusing. All those ads. More than one person has asked what it actually means. They seem underwhelmed when I tell them it’s just digital TV. (And Freeview’s insistence that it’s all free is undermined somewhat when you point out that well, they’re not giving away set-top boxes, you do have to pay for them.)
The analogue signal won’t get switched off in Melbourne until late-July 2013, so I guess there’s a fair bit of time to continue procrastinating, but it would certainly be nice to get ABC2, and solve my slight ABC1 reception problem.
- Unbelievable. This article explains digital TV, but completely fails to mention that you must have an HD tuner (not an SD one) to get most of the new channels.
- Rob Kemp’s take on it
End of week shorties
Had to laugh at the Indian protestor talking to Jon Faine on Monday who appeared to inadvertantly use the phrase “Too many chiefs, not enough Indians” (at about the 20:45 minute mark, using the ABC media player’s weird countdown system.)
I haven’t actually seen this week’s controversial Chaser episode yet. But judging from last week’s effort, I think the real problem with the Chaser this year is they’re going too far for cringe instead of for laughs. (The Mumbrella blog agrees.)
Oh, and it turns out that The Mansion on the Comedy Channel did the Chaser idea first. “Reasonable Request Foundation”.
It’s June, which means it’s stocktake sale season. I’m going to go looking to replace a pair of work shoes, a pair of runners (the Eccos have lasted 3.5 years), and my old Canon A70 camera (which is finally giving up the ghost after 6 years of good service). Where does one find all the catalogues and the best prices? Well, clicking on the Lasoo banner at the top of the web page would be a good start!
Speaking of shopping, here’s an interesting SMH article on loyalty cards — the real value to the retailer is what they find out about their customers. I’ve avoided such things in the past, but given I go to Safeway so much I don’t know what to do with all the fuel dockets I get (and often forget to take them with me when I do need to buy petrol), I might consider getting one.
Pure and utter coincidence
Listening to Radio National (The Music Show I think) and they mention a couple of people my Dad knows (or knew) well, and talks about often — David Malouf and Barry Jones. A couple of minutes later my sister rings up to discuss visiting Dad. Pure coincidence.
Watching Billy Connolly’s Journey to the Edge of the World on Channel 7, and he visits and talks about the Klondike, in particular the gold rush in 1896. Just after that we’re watching a repeat of The Einstein Factor on ABC2 and a question is asked about where the gold rush in Canada occurred in 1896. Pure coincidence.
In the car listening to a track off the Cold Chisel tribute album Standing on the Outside, when another car goes past with a personalised licence plate, something like CHISEI. I guess CHISEL was taken. Pure coincidence — assuming it really was meant to be “Chisel”. And they may have been woodworkers rather than Cold Chisel fans, of course.
Stewart vs Cramer
For those who missed it, last Thursday night’s Daily Show was a corker. Jon Stewart took on TV financial advisor Jim Cramer in one of the best TV debates I’ve seen in a while.
The interview was one of those classic television moments that crystallised the public mood in the credit crisis. Stewart articulated the anger and bewilderment of millions of Americans who now feel ripped off and afraid. He framed the question everyone wanted asked: how were the financial masters of the universe allowed to pursue their ruinous behaviour unchallenged for so long? — The Guardian
Definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it already.
Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer: The Extended Daily Show Interview
But that was on the outside
The TV soap Prisoner is 30 years old this year.
For a year or two in the 80s, our family was hooked on it. I don’t remember how or why we started watching it, but some of the characters certainly stick in the mind: “The Freak”, Bea Smith, Mrs Morris, Lizzie Birdsworth, and that guard played by Maurie Fields. Of course the story lines were mostly pretty unlikely, but that’s how it is with some TV.
Lizzie Birdsworth was played by Sheila Florance, who used to live in Elwood, somewhere off Ormond Road, I think. Probably after she’d left the show, when we also lived in Elwood, I used to see her around there, often on the 600 bus.
ABC 774’s Conversation Hour had a special with some of the cast on Wednesday. It should show up online soon. It’s available as an MP3 download here.
Speaking of 80s TV shows, does anybody remember Whiz Kids? Kind of a WarGames for TV, but with BMX bikes thrown in. … OMG, it’s on YouTube. I bet it’s not as good as it was back then. Few things are.
“Don’t you know anything? I’m not a nerd, I’m a hacker.”
Brian told me
One night in 1983, we sat on our upstairs porch at 23 Pine Avenue in Elwood, watching the red of the Ash Wednesday bushfires on the horizon. Overseas relatives were concerned it was close to us… which I suppose it was, but of course suburban Melbourne wasn’t directly affected. All the same, it was an eerie sight.
In those days, in my family we were news junkies. In the 80s, it was common for us to watch Channel 9 news at 6pm, SBS’s then half-hour news at 6:30pm, the ABC news at 7pm, and then the 7:30 Report. I don’t recall if we got bored seeing the same stories multiple times.
At the time, Channel 9’s 6pm news dominated the ratings, no doubt in part to host Brian Naylor. The promos told us we knew everything we needed to know ‘cos “Brian told me so”, and in those days, when there was little access to news compared to nowadays, it seemed to be true.
(Gawd, look at the clothes.)
Brian Naylor was so popular that when he retired in 1998, it was said that Channel 9 paid him a retainer just to ensure he didn’t go and work for the competition.
As we now know, he and his wife died in the fires near Kinglake.
Of course they were only two, of well over a hundred victims. That figure is still rising. They all have stories, and family who will mourn them, and they’ll all be missed.
And it’s not over yet.
Friday quickies
Becoming a redneck: I was standing in the midday sun for a bit too long on Tuesday at the rally. Foolishly I didn’t have a hat, and didn’t put sun screen on. The next morning, for the first time in years, I could feel I’d got sunburnt. Not really badly, but enough to cause some pain on my neck and arms when I got in the shower. I’ll consider myself warned.
Maybe this is why I looked so damn cranky in this photo Rob took:
Geek begats geek: Eldest son is now able to solve a Rubik’s cube without help in less than two minutes. (Who did that song about the Cube in the 80s? Was it Mike Brady or someone? Someone should find the details and add it to Wikipedia.)
Top Gear: For someone like me who favours sustainable transport, is watching Top Gear for the humour a bit like reading Playboy for the articles?
Salty: I’ve always thought Red Rooster tasted very salty. This appears to confirm it: It found one Red Rooster chicken and chips meal contained a “shocking” 2800mg of sodium. (It notes the daily dietary target is 1600mg.)
I am not a Trekkie… am I?
I wouldn’t normally consider myself a Trekkie.
But when it was first on the telly, late at night on Channel 9, I did regularly tape Star Trek: The Next Generation, at least for a while.
And I did once dress up as Data for a Star Trek: How to Host a Mystery night.
But I don’t go to conventions. And I don’t speak Klingon.
When all ST:TNG started getting released on DVD, I was amazed at how Paramount thought they could charge $200 per season for them and get away with it, and wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.
Then the prices dropped a couple of years ago when they repackaged them all, replacing the solid, cool-but-awkward-to-handle way-too-big plastic boxes with cardboard. They went down to about $65, which perhaps is approaching the realm of reasonableness. I managed to pick up ST:TNG Season 1 in the plastic box version for the lower price. It sat on the shelf for a while, but recently I’ve been watching it with the kids, and we’ve all got a little bit hooked.
This, I think is a good thing. ST:TNG is pretty much all PG-rated, and in many ways it sets good examples. A crew full of humans of various races (and a Klingon). Using teamwork and intelligence to solve problems. A strong sense of morals. And like any good sci-fi does, it has some good special effects, and great stories.
So I decided we’d watch through the lot. It’ll be good to see those that I didn’t catch during the 90s TV run. We’re almost at the end of series 1 now.
The collection at the local video shop is a bit patchy, so I wondered if I could buy it all. Then I realised how much it’s all going to cost. Checked the DVD Plaza Pricecrawler. Yep, about $60 to $65 a pop. Another six seasons at $65 each about $400. It’s good, but Ouch. I had a look on ebay, but they’re a bit scarce over there.
On Friday someone at work was talking about how the UK Pound has dropped against the Aussie dollar. So I decided to look on Amazon UK. To my surprise, they were on special, marked down from UKP 34.99 to UKP 12.98. When you remove the VAT and add the postage, it’s less than $30 per box, so less than half the Australian price.
I don’t know how long the special price lasts, so I went a bit mad and bought all of the ones I don’t already have that were in stock. So on their way from Amazon UK are series 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. I’m sure I’ll pick up 6 at some stage, but there’s no rush.
Oh well, there goes my DVD budget for most of the rest of the year. I only have myself to blame if I have no money.
PS. I’ve also watched ST: First Contact finally, and came to realise I’ve seen it before, many moons ago. Great stuff.
PPS. Hmm. Well. Okay. Maybe I am a Trekkie.
