Tetsuo Time

I was taking a look at io9 today and I saw this article about how someone thinks Babylon 5 ruined television Sci-Fi. Basically they say it's because of how it had story arcs and how those make it hard for one to easily get into the show if they join in partway through. To a point I agree with this. There are many television programs and even movies where if you didn't watch the previous ones you are less likely to get the new ones.

But I agree with the statement that story arcs work for some series and not for others. For shows like Doctor Who which have almost always been serialized they work just fine. Sliders for example was a great show until they added in a story arc and a reoccurring villainous race so you would see the same villain every week. I lost interest in that show when they did that.... That show was about going to parallel Earths and it was more exciting and interesting when they had something different each week. But I guess they may have either ran out of steam by the season where they started doing that or they wanted to compete with the likes of B5 and Deep Space 9 that had long story arcs back then.

I think part of what makes it work or not depends on how the show starts off. If it's to be a show about a variety of situations\settings such as Sliders versus whether it's a show about a small community that doesn't go places rather the adventure comes to them (B5, DS9). Story Arcs also worked pretty good for the X-Files I would say but it's a very different kind of show than Sliders.

Having a story arc in TORCHWOOD isn't a far cry from having it in Doctor Who so I don't see why anyone should complain.

Tonight they aired the first episode of The Simpsons in HD. The way it looks on my parents HDTV upstairs makes me think it's a waste though. The reason is because they seem to use too much sharpening which causes for there to be white around most of the colors ruining the look of the picture. This is espeically true since there are mostly just solid colors and there is no more detail to be seen. The main benefit would be for pristine colors and cleaner looking lines\edges. But with how it looks with the amount of sharpening they use.. which is like using too much unsharp mask in photoshop.. it actually looks better on my old TV than it does on my parents TV... ironically. It basically should look more like you are looking at an animation cel in person when you are seeing it on an HDTV... not this oversharpened crap they are passing off as HD. Unsharp mask (what it's called) is like a spice... you are supposed to only use a little bit of it. They dumped a whole salt shaker or can of oregano in the sauce.

Tonight they aired the first episode of The Simpsons in HD. The way it looks on my parents HDTV upstairs makes me think it's a waste though. The reason is because they seem to use too much sharpening which causes for there to be white around most of the colors ruining the look of the picture. This is espeically true since there are mostly just solid colors and there is no more detail to be seen. The main benefit would be for pristine colors and cleaner looking lines\edges. But with how it looks with the amount of sharpening they use.. which is like using too much unsharp mask in photoshop.. it actually looks better on my old TV than it does on my parents TV... ironically. It basically should look more like you are looking at an animation cel in person when you are seeing it on an HDTV... not this oversharpened crap they are passing off as HD. Unsharp mask (what it's called) is like a spice... you are supposed to only use a little bit of it. They dumped a whole salt shaker or can of oregano in the sauce.

My family brought in a new 32 inch Westinghouse flat panel TV into the house today for me to setup in the living room.

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There's only one concern. They spent most of their extra money on the new TV so I don't think we are going to get the new internet anytime soon. Perhaps because they see that as just for me and saving $50 a month isn't as exciting sounding as getting a new TV. I can't say I blame them for getting a new toy but I feel a little sad about possibly not being able to get the new wireless internet. I'm not going to say anything about it and just make do with WildBlue if I have to. If they come up to me with the desire to go through with the switch we'll do it but I don't want to hound them about it and I don't want to make a fuss about this recent purchase as it's well within their rights.

They told me we are still going to get it but I almost feel that they might have said that just to make me feel better. I'm not questioning it though as I don't want to appear to protest too much and I did have fun playing with their TV anyway. If that's the case though I wish they didn't feel like they had to do that. I can handle the truth. I am not going to ask them if they did that either though as that would not be appropriate in my opinion. I don't want to appear like I'm throwing a temper tantrum. I'm too old for that... am I immature for feeling disappointed? Should I just be happy for them and that's it? Some may say yes I think.

I am happy for them actually.. but I also have other feelings that I can't change... sorry.

I have been using Dish Network DVR for the past couple of months now that I've been living at home again. It works OK but I have a couple of complaints against it. First it doesn't seem to be very intelligent when it comes to automatic recording. It works best when what is playing totally jives with the TV Guide schedule but if it doesn't you end up recording shows you didn't want. This especially happens on channels like TNT that show sports programs that tend to go overtime. When you have it recording all episodes of a certain program it also can't tell if what is playing later on in the day or the next day is the same episode so it won't record it again. I've had to delete duplicate episodes of Voyager because of that.

I also have noticed lately that when idle the set top box has a light buzzing sound. It was driving me crazy last night. I noticed it stopped buzzing if I put my hand or anything on it but after a few minutes it starts buzzing again. I tried looking up on the internet to see what it could be and some said it was either heat, or a buzzing transformer or it was something you can fix by putting something under the box so it wont rattle against what's underneath it. It's strange to me that I could temporarily stop it by putting my hand on top of the box or even by nudging the box a little moving it a tad.

Someone else said it's just normal for a DVR to be making noise like that and like with refrigerators and computers a person will get used to it. It was driving me crazy though. Computers have becoming quieter and quieter all the time. My Mac Mini is whisper quiet especially when it's idle. The oldest computer we have here sounded like an old refrigerator when on and it was a huge relief when we would turn it off. Fan sounds and other hardware buzzing can be noise pollution which I have tolerated but never have got used to.

When it comes to hardware the quieter the better in my opinion.

I have been using Dish Network DVR for the past couple of months now that I've been living at home again. It works OK but I have a couple of complaints against it. First it doesn't seem to be very intelligent when it comes to automatic recording. It works best when what is playing totally jives with the TV Guide schedule but if it doesn't you end up recording shows you didn't want. This especially happens on channels like TNT that show sports programs that tend to go overtime. When you have it recording all episodes of a certain program it also can't tell if what is playing later on in the day or the next day is the same episode so it won't record it again. I've had to delete duplicate episodes of Voyager because of that.

I also have noticed lately that when idle the set top box has a light buzzing sound. It was driving me crazy last night. I noticed it stopped buzzing if I put my hand or anything on it but after a few minutes it starts buzzing again. I tried looking up on the internet to see what it could be and some said it was either heat, or a buzzing transformer or it was something you can fix by putting something under the box so it wont rattle against what's underneath it. It's strange to me that I could temporarily stop it by putting my hand on top of the box or even by nudging the box a little moving it a tad.

Someone else said it's just normal for a DVR to be making noise like that and like with refrigerators and computers a person will get used to it. It was driving me crazy though. Computers have becoming quieter and quieter all the time. My Mac Mini is whisper quiet especially when it's idle. The oldest computer we have here sounded like an old refrigerator when on and it was a huge relief when we would turn it off. Fan sounds and other hardware buzzing can be noise pollution which I have tolerated but never have got used to.

When it comes to hardware the quieter the better in my opinion.

I just read an article where a person was making up rules as to what is campy in Sci-Fi as to propose to remove it. Well, there are certain things that are too campy in my opinion.. the old Flash Gordon movie was the epitome of campiness. There is such a thing as too much camp. Even shows that avoid most of the campy stuff has some in the mix like BSG with its shiny robots, use of the word "frack" and religious overtones.

But I think Sci-Fi needs a certain amount of "campiness" or "cheesiness" to be fun. BSG was almost too bleak for my tastes. It seems to me like most of the shows and movies that are guilty of over the top campyness are from the 70's and 80's. Either that or they are low budget soft-core pr0n movies on cinemax.

The only "rule" they have there that I totally disagree with is the one that says you should not have *punk in sci-fi. Whether it be cyberpunk, steampunk, etc. That puts a knife in my heart I like that stuff!

I think instead of saying they should eradicate it completely they should use it sparingly like salt and pepper. But then I think there should still be movies whose whole point is to be over the top... certain movies I have enjoyed in the past few years I enjoyed because of their over the topness.

"There's room for campy and non-campy sci-fi films alike. So, keep the camp!"

I also don't think if you enjoy some campiness in your sci-fi that you are a tasteless idiot. Whoever says that is an idiot themselves.

I just caught a show on G4TV called "Wired for Sex"... specifically an episode called "Mysex" and I'm not down with it. I may be into stuff like livejournal but I'm not into going onto social networking sites to look for "hookups". It's kind of like.. I don't even know where to start with this.

They showed guys whose sole purpose seems to be just that very thing. I'm not sure that "cyberspace" had done the changing to people as younger generations have changed and it's just one of the things that go along with that change. I've written about those changes before and how I don't agree with it. Stuff like "friends with benefits" and stuff like that (If I could search LJ I'd post links to those entries).

They say that it's now sex first and then getting to know the person and seeing if they are good relationship material later "forming relationships via online porn" or that there's no such thing as relationships to them anymore and it's all just "hookups". But I'm not having it... if this is the way things are I don't want to have any part of it. This stuff seems like sensationalist stuff to me but I know that some of it is true.

Does my generation (born in the 70's) think the same things that that younger (born in the 90's) generation does? Maybe, I know a lot of my peers that got pregnant in high school... I also know of lots of people born in the 80's that are the same...I tell you one thing I'm not feeling good about all this. I have to admit I don't do dating per say like what you might see in the 50's but I also don't want to do random hookups or reducing sex to something that is just done because you are horny with someone you don't know... or having sex with regular friends or shit like that... or having sex first and then relationship later.. that's putting the horse before the cart in my opinion.

I certainly am not on here to look for casual sexual encounters. I know I'm probably repeating myself a lot in this entry but I can't stress what I'm trying to get across here enough... am I alone in this?

Let me also make something clear. If you are a friend who does or believes any of the stuff above I'm not out to judge you... or excommunicate you because of it. But I'm not condoning or wanting to join in either. I'm not here to change anyone's minds...

I just caught a show on G4TV called "Wired for Sex"... specifically an episode called "Mysex" and I'm not down with it. I may be into stuff like livejournal but I'm not into going onto social networking sites to look for "hookups". It's kind of like.. I don't even know where to start with this.

They showed guys whose sole purpose seems to be just that very thing. I'm not sure that "cyberspace" had done the changing to people as younger generations have changed and it's just one of the things that go along with that change. I've written about those changes before and how I don't agree with it. Stuff like "friends with benefits" and stuff like that (If I could search LJ I'd post links to those entries).

They say that it's now sex first and then getting to know the person and seeing if they are good relationship material later "forming relationships via online porn" or that there's no such thing as relationships to them anymore and it's all just "hookups". But I'm not having it... if this is the way things are I don't want to have any part of it. This stuff seems like sensationalist stuff to me but I know that some of it is true.

Does my generation (born in the 70's) think the same things that that younger (born in the 90's) generation does? Maybe, I know a lot of my peers that got pregnant in high school... I also know of lots of people born in the 80's that are the same...I tell you one thing I'm not feeling good about all this. I have to admit I don't do dating per say like what you might see in the 50's but I also don't want to do random hookups or reducing sex to something that is just done because you are horny with someone you don't know... or having sex with regular friends or shit like that... or having sex first and then relationship later.. that's putting the horse before the cart in my opinion.

I certainly am not on here to look for casual sexual encounters. I know I'm probably repeating myself a lot in this entry but I can't stress what I'm trying to get across here enough... am I alone in this?

Let me also make something clear. If you are a friend who does or believes any of the stuff above I'm not out to judge you... or excommunicate you because of it. But I'm not condoning or wanting to join in either. I'm not here to change anyone's minds...

I know I said I wasn't pleased with the first season of TORCHWOOD and that I probably wont be watching the second season. But then a preview of it got shown on BBC and it piqued my interest so I acquired the first episode and it wasn't half bad. But I still think Gwen is pretty stupid. She's going to marry the guy she was with but decieving in the first season but is now in love with Captain Jack.... and he's in love with her too. But can't totally admit it because he knows she is getting married with that other guy. But despite that it seems this season may be better than the last... maybe.... I'll let you know later. =P

I watched the first two episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I wasn't sure about it after the debacle that was the Blade series. But after watching it for a while I started to get into the it a bit. I would like to see more. But I was more sure about than I am sure about the new Knight Rider, the trailer for that looks stupid to me.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of both those series.. plus of course continuing Doctor Who in the spring.

I watched Beowulf at the dollar movies but I wasn't happy with the story and I left the theater feeling negative. I realize not all stories are happy stories though... and it was probably the point of the film that ( More inside.. but also spoiler protected.... )