Life Without Toast - Sibling Rivalry

I was looking for a transcript of this to write a rambling post with several interesting points of view. But then I though I’d just let you watch it (it’s 30 secs).

_{[From South Park s12 e04 “Canada On Strike”]}

Is the Internet ready as a monetized distribution mechanism? The South Park people have put every episode, ever of their show online for all to watch (although apparently they don’t work in the UK), with three 10-15 second ads during the video, one at the beginning, one just before halfway through and one three-quarters of the way through, which can’t be skipped or forwarded. The ads seem to be on a random loop.

South Park Studios seem to have taken a traditional medium (ie, cartoons, on telly) and put it online in a way which makes money, without the major studios (or Cartoon Network specifically) making too much of a fuss about it, and with little or no reaction from the online news/tech people. This is the way forward. If you had the choice to watch Battlestar Galactica next week, on Sky One, with four 3-minute ad-breaks, or watch it tomorrow, on your computer, with 4 or five 10-15 second ad breaks, which would you do? I know what I’d do. And I wouldn’t be taking anything away from the content creators, as I would be watching it on their website, with money from their ads going directly to them. No torrents, no dodgy “rapidsharing” or whatever. Just TV programmes, on the internet, for free.

Discuss.

Posted by Matt at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

I just had to share this with people who might not be watching season 6 of 24.

Posted by Matt at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

...Of the weekend spent mostly at my parents, chilling out, eating good home-cooked Mammy food and watching tv, spending much-needed time with my lovely girlfriend and generally hanging out, chilling, and the occasional building of a flat-pack desk from Atlantic Homecare (although that was fun let me tell you), was a moment on the Jonathan Ross show on Friday, when Elijah Wood was on. He was talking about his new film Happy Feet where he plays a little penguin.

Anyhoo, Jonathan Ross said "Walrus". It was brilliant.

Posted by Matt at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just saw an ad for The Legend Of Zelda - Twilight Princess, at a minute past one in the morning, on a Friday night (morning/night/you know what I mean), on RTÉ 2, and Irish TV station. This is the first time I've ever seen an ad for a Nintendo game on an Irish TV station. EVER.

I take this to mean that Nintendo actually intend to sell some consoles and/or games in this "next" generation of gaming. Thank The FSM for that. Oh, and it's out in two weeks too! I'm literally... trembling... with anticipation.

No, seriously. I really am.

Posted by Matt at 1:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

Well. The last two episodes of 24 - Day 5 were on last night, and for anyone who hasn't been following it, they were two doozies. I won't go into them here, as if I do, at least two regular readers of the LWT will cry 'Argh! Spoiler! Bastard!', etc, as they are almost definitely waiting for it to come out on DVD (if it hasn't already).

All I will say is this: Day 5 was the best series so far. No other series had such major moments of character development, so many regular characters dying series-changing events, and the ending cliffhanger this time was the biggest yet, one that really makes you feel like you can't wait until 'Day 6'. No previous series involved corruption at so high a level, or as many twists and turns, which meant that at the end, the storyline was nowhere near what was happening in the first episode. I saw a repeat of an earlier episode on another channel last week, and so much had happened since then, it felt like a different series.

So, aforementioned 'regular readers who are almost definitely waiting for it to come out on DVD (if it hasn't already)', buckle up, you're in for a rough ride. Don't be afraid, but it definitely gets worse before it gets better.

I REALLY can't wait for the next series. Anyone got any ideas when it's due out?

Posted by Matt at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

So once again we're starting another loooong day in the life of Jack and the gang. I'm not going to review much of what happened in the first couple of hours, except to say that yes, it was good (two major recurring characters killed in first ten minutes?!). Can't wait to see what happens next.

Did anyone else watch it? HELLO? I think they must've been paying attention to the comments on Dan's post about how unrealistic the computer systems in 24 are. In day 5 episode 2, Jack actually tells Chloe the IP address of the computer he's at (and it's an actual proper IP address) so she can sent a decription program to it. Which is slightly more realistic than the much-criticised 'send that to my screen' malarkey (although I did hear the 'send it to my screen' line at least twice in the episode).

Anyway, I'll definitely be incommunicado from 9pm-11pm next Sunday, coz it'll be 9am in 24 land, and Jack's in trouble... :-)

Posted by Matt at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Did anyone see the 10-minute 24 prequel/teaser last night?

Jack Bauer, in hiding, long, unwashed, unkempt hair, ripped hoody, dirty jeans, looking a hell of a lot like a poor wino, yet, unbelievably, driving a brand new shiny silver Toyota Avalon. Now if I were a law enforcement officer and saw someone who looked like monseur Bauer driving a motor like that, I'd be a mite suspicious. It's one thing to use product placement, it's quite another to make the story unrealistic for the sake of it.

He would have been much better off driving an old AMC Pacer or something. Well, I wouldn't have been distracted by it anyway.

Posted by Matt at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)