I wonder if Foxy will ever get around to bleaching his teeth.
Back to the topic of music videos. I might have posted this awesome video before but can't remember. I need to check out The Mighty Boosh since finding out the director of the video is apart of the show.
- music video budgets are tiny compared to what they were in the 90's because the music business has taken such a financial hit, and because, as mentioned, there's no consistent forum for them. That's a big part of why the creativity is gone for the most part. Considering how many of the 90's video directors are big movie directors now, i would think that more aspiring auteurs would be willing to work on-spec. (haha, this just reminded me of the awesome movie Tapeheads with John Cusack & Tim Robbins) If you keep vampire hours like me, you can see music videos on VH1 & BET at 4am.
- why is every show i watch now on Thursday night? Office 30 Rock Always Sunny In Philadelphia Fringe Supernatural Ace Of Cakes and probably more i'm forgetting. i'm afraid that all of these shows are going to get divided audiences and the low ratings will lead to them getting cut while some bullshit on wednesday night will coast along because its the only thing on.
- i really liked Sleep Dealer, a low budget Mexican/American sci-fi film about virtual reality that i guarantee is 1,000x better than Gamer or The Surrogates. It's out on DVD.
I think a lot of NBC shows might move to online for me. Meanwhile on Tuesdays I have nothing to watch. Fringe moving is my least favorite thing in the new schedule.
I don't think the failing music industry (read: piratism) is the main reason for the death of music videos. While though of course it hurt. No, I think the main reason is the internet and the change in viewing habits of society, namely young kids. Bands and record labels no longer need to make a music video and play it all over the tv to reach kids. It's so much easier now days. Be it youtube, myspace, facebook, twitter, a band or artist's web site, etc. There are so many easier/cheaper ways to get exposure. Besides the artistic standpoint (and that was never the reason they were really made) music videos almost seem prehistoric these days. It's just like how every other profession has evolved with the internet. No longer is a there singular formula for you you 'make it'. Stand up comics used to HAVE to go on the Johnny Carson and make Johnny laugh and get invited to the couch to really make their mark. Authors used to have to make the NY Times best sellers list. Like music videos, those old methods of becoming successful as well as staying relevant in the masses' eyes still exist. However, they aren't necessary. Nor are they most people's first choice. Don't get me wrong. I like a good music video (although not sure when the last time I saw one was) and grew up in the age of actual MTV. But just like printed newspapers, this internet thing really has changed the way the world works.
- i don't disagree with you jordan that the internet has been a decentralizing force but i mostly meant that the days of the multi million dollar sci-fi movie music videos are over because record labels just don't have that money to flash
I think I've worked out my Thursday night problem. Morgan has volunteered to give up her satellite box since she never watches tv in her room. I will swap hers and my plan box for a second DVR for my bedroom. Voi la!
Also since PS3s are coming down to 250, I'm considering trading the Wii and the PS2 in for one. But most folks(by this I mean boys) are suggesting the XBox instead while I want the PS3 for the Blu Ray player. Thoughts?
PS3 all the way. ESPECIALLY for you Steph. If you were a mega-hardcore gamer, then the 360 people would have some points (although I disagree with those people). But being the cinemaphile you are, it's the PS3 for sure. I'm sure Palmer would agree.
Wanna try something funny? If you have a google search bar, type in 'kanye west is', but don't hit enter, and see what shows up as the next most searched terms. lol.
xbox 360 has Netflix (if you pay for Netflix and that pay Microsoft online account thing) and games.
ps3 has blu-ray and games. and the internet. so if you wanted to watch something on Surfthechannel.com, you could. just saying.
the new ps3's don't have backwards compatibility to play ps2 games though. so, morgan would be starting fresh. that said, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is awesome and probably only $30 or $40 now. and Uncharted: Among Thieves is coming out next month and is supposed to be even better.
oh. and Uncharted has music by the guy who did the music for Firefly. right?
Yeah Steph, like P said. You can surf the net on the PS3. I know you aren't the type to watch streaming movies online, but if you did, it's a great way to do so. ;)
Yes, I've been waiting for the time when I can make my computer and my tv one entity. I can watch streaming movies from the comfort of my couch instead of this crappy computer chair. And also Morgan can play Arkham Asylum.
Ryan, I've seen that ad twice and thought the woman in it looked like Evie but the weird L'Oreal plasticising filter they use on everything made her look a bit like a smooth android so I wasn't really sure.
She must be sick of people saying that she looks better all filthy and bedraggled but she really does.
I'm pretty sure it's still payback for that stamp tax. We can hold a pretty long grudge. Why the Japanese are still angry about it though I don't know.
Around the launch of the PS2 I was talking to an American chap on AIM back when I did that kind of thing and when I talked about the price differential between the two, his response was something like "no wonder they charge you more if you just whine about it all the time" which sadly seems to make more and more sense as the years pass.
But I didn't have to pay for my opium-derived pain killers for my busted back so, swings and roundabouts.
I once interviewed Tony Mott, a gaming journalist a couple of years ago... I think he's editor of Edge now... meh. And he gave me the impression that Sony used the reason that "Europeans pay more for localisation" as a reasonfor the higher prices.
It's absolutely true. One of the Sony guys made a public statement along the lines of "because we can" with regards to European pricing.
I can see the argument for spending extra for localising into the other European languages but since we usually get the US text with no concession to UK reference points or spelling then it'd be really really lovely to have our own gaming region. Anyway.
LOST!
Possible reset? Will Jim lose all his English language and go back to boring haircut?
They charge you more because you make more than us. Whenever I mention to hubby that you guys pay higher taxes to pay for your free health care, his rebuttal is "Well, they have better jobs and make more money." But whenever I see British houses on BBC America, your houses are small and plainer than ours.
Yes, you aren't any better off than we are but I think the point he tries to make is Britain is better off overall, in the long run since you take care of each other. Yeah, my hubby is quite the socialist.
O M G! How old are you, Ryan? 3? Even though I'm not on the sewer, I have to pay for a sewer debacle that those thieves down at the county courthouse created.
I can see why you might think you wouldn't pay for water but really you're paying for the mechanisms that get it to you, as well as the filtration etc.
My mother refuses to pump up her car tyres at any petrol station that charges to use the machine as she doesn't think she should pay for air. For some reason she's never been moved by the rationale: "You're not paying for air - you're paying for air PRESSURE, or technically the electricity used to pump it. If you were able to take all the caps off your tyres and have them naturally fill with air for free then I'd understand your argument".
But then this is a woman who videotapes QVC when she goes out, so never mind.
Sorry Chris. But I disagree with the complaining about prices in Britain. Reason being, currency isn't congruent when you are talking about goods and services in different countries. We like to take the Dollar/Euro/Sterling conversion and say, "this much equals this much." But that's only because people from the different countries at some point have to interact with one another. But whatever your currency is valued at, none of that really matters. Because at the end of the day, it's all kinda the same. I'll explain. Whatever your unit of currency, one of it has a certain connotation to locals and consumers.
If I'm in the States and somebody advertises a $1 hot dog. I say, "Only a dollar? That's a great deal!" But if I'm in London walking down the street, and see the same sign, but saying £1. Guess what? That's double the price, and not nearly the same bargain. Yet the average local sees it as such. "It only costs ONE." As a society we adjust what we view as appropriate prices, what we think is cheap, expensive, etc. What amount of salary is considered good, what is considered bad. And regardless the financial backing of our currency in relation to other countries and economies, we still hold the same views.
Crap, I wish this was a podcast. Cuz I'm going way out of my way to make a rather simple point. lol.
What I'm saying is, $1.99 is £1.99 is €1.99. Just because other countries don't match up with us, doesn't mean they have things cheaper. Case in point, go visit Norway. See if you can afford McDonald's.
As someone who has done a fair share of traveling, as well as who has half my family in Europe. You don't know how many times I've had this discussion. "Ooh, everything is so cheap in America! You are so lucky!" No, not really. See, cuz I don't just get to pay the cheap American prices. I also get paid from my job with the cheap American money. It evens itself out. Same works the other way around. I have an uncle who lives in London who for years has tried to get me to move there and work for him. It was too risky an option as he isn't exactly the reliable type, so I've obliged. But he would always say, "How much you make at your job back home? If you worked for me, I could pay you this amount. Now double that and look how much American you'd be making!" Again, not so simple. If I were making this great British wage, guess what? Along with making double my American wage, I'm also now paying double for an apartment (flat), paying double for gas (petrol), paying double for food, and so on.
That's my entire point. Saying a PS3 costs Brits $412 as opposed to $299 just isn't accurate. The only way this is true, is if you were being paid in the states and buying it in the UK. I know that in essence, you can see Sony making more money off each individual unit. Therefore it seems they are gouging you. But all they are doing is charging you what they would charge you as if you were the only country they were doing business with. If they were selling hot dogs, they wouldn't say, "Normally we charge people $1 for a hot dog. But because your country's currency is so valuable, we will give you a discount and only ask for 50p (cents)."
Don't mind me, I'm still smarting from working for a US company who artificially capped my working hours so that on paper I earned the same as US based colleages doing the same high position job and after a while about hearing about my colleagues' Custom Mustangs, massive self owned houses and three week holidays in Florida I did find myself wondering why my wife and I share a two bedroom house with two other (non-sharing) people, eat pasta from supermarkets' value range and why my wife can only afford bus travel for crossing a major city, a journey which, there and back, eats into more than four hours of her day even though she could do it in 40 minutes each way if we could afford the train travel.
Not sure of Steph's situation, Chris. But I rent my DVR through my cable provider. Not too much more for a second unit.
All I want is a DVR with a bigger hard drive. Mine is constantly filling up and drives me mad. HD takes up lots of space!!
Chris, Do you guys call them DVR's? I ask because Canadians for some reason call them PVR's. Figured they got that one from you, same as they do with all their funny spelling, money, etc.
PVR is more commonly used over here but at the rate we adopt US terminology, that not may be the case for long. That and we haven't really embraced the technology as much as you guys have - a bit like the opposite of SMS text messaging which has been part of common UK life for about twelve years.
The only thing I can say about the UK monetary situation is that I'm 32 years old, have a selection of friends ranging in age from about 20 to the mid 40s and yet I know nobody who owns their own house (in fact most people I know live in house shares with other people), a car or any of those other things that you might expect from people of our age range doing the jobs that they do and in the capital city of the country.
I can't believe that two years after our wedding, my wife and I are still sharing a house as if we were students. We rent two rooms downstairs in a two storey house in the London suburbs and our rent (not taking into account utility bills etc) is £710 per month (which, whether you feel the comparison is valid or not, is about $1171) - and that is considered cheap for the area.
Anyway, enough of that. What's everyone watching? I've recently blasted through all of Saxondale which I understand did quite well on BBC America, and there's a US remake in the works. Normally I'm a bit wary of remaking comedy for different regions but Saxondale didn't do very well here as it isn't cynical or dark enough - in the last ten years we've decided we only like comedy that's dark and edgy rather than funny or uplifting - so actually I'd be interested in seeing what an American version would be like.
I'm watching Six Feet Under. I'm quite enjoying it. Michael C. Hall is awesome, though it's hard to think of him as David vs. Dexter. Peter Krause is HOT!
Here's the remake I can't understand, an Americanized Gavin and Stacey. Will she be from the Jersey shore and him from Long Island or maybe Pismo Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes? I really like Gavin and Stacey, but it's about these quirky personalities, something that American TV, at least broadcast, generally fails to do well.
Chris, London is too damn expensive. Move to the country. I know. That won't help any. If we were really smart, we would get rid of satellite and internet all together to pay off some bills. But we are spoiled and couldn't bare to live without it. Getting rid of Morgan's box allows us to pay the same amount for the second DVR. This will make catching up on X Files as well as Twin Peaks easier since the one we have is filled with Angel. Our friends are all self-employed, have nice houses and are having a difficult time holding on to them in these hard times. Thank God Big Ed got his CDLs last summer. It's helped supplement the body shop.
Moving out of London would take a real hit in the bus fare department. Rural buses are less frequent and cost a bomb.
Anyway - really have bawled like a bitch about my money woes too much.
I've got a young friend of mine listening to progressive rock and watching my box set of The Critic. I'm enjoying exerting this kind of power over his taste.
As for US remakes of UK shows, I've not seen Sanford and Son, Three's Company, The Ropers, Cosby or All in the Family so I can't really comment on them, but it's my understanding that people generally don't know they are adapted from British sitcoms.
I have, however, seen Payne and Dear John and and rather than blaming America I actually demand an apology from humanity in general for allowing these things to happen.
i doubt it will be covered this season, but i do wish the writers would sit down for a week or 6 months (or however long it takes), and try to figure out exactly what was going on in season 2.
Were the Others really kidnapping people to add them to their numbers? because they seem perfectly happy to kill people. As far as who is with the Others at the temple now, I guess all of the people they snatched from the tail survivors.
why the dress up? when cleaned up Others aren't that much cleaner. That was why i kept expecting the Others to be living in THX-1138 land underneath the island.
i think at this point i'm going to accept that Jacob & Esau were playing their little game by confusing the entire issue of whether or not people should be pushing the button, each sending their own manifestations to Ecko & Locke.
We ran into Henry Ian Cusick yesterday. He is incredibly nice and had braces. He was excited to talk about the final season with Jorge. I had my ears closed but I did catch the fact that there is some weirdness going on!
That is kick ass Ralph! Thank you for any and all details of your excursion (and if you want to share any more...:)...just sayin'). So, I assume you are hanging with Jorge, and that's how you ran into Cusik?
Regarding the 'America can't remake British shows' topic. I don't think that's exactly it. Yes, trying to get humor and what speaks to one audience to translate to a different one is very hard. And does contribute the problem. But to me, the biggest problem is that remakes are bad ideas, PERIOD. They in general across the board have an extremely small success rate.
Remakes exist because the people in charge aren't able to come up with a creative idea on their own. They simply saw a successful property and thought to themselves, "Hey, we can take that and replicate it's success and in turn be successful! And then we will make tons of money!" Case in point. There was a sitcom based off a commerical about cavemen. It wasn't British. Yet the same lack of creativity and shitty people backing it applied. And the results were the same.
Creativity is one of the fundamental building blocks of any successful art. Without it you usually get a big plate of suck. You're just really asking to fail. It's like if Palmer, Herlihy, Chris, and I decided we were going to form a band that does country music covers of Top 40 songs. We aren't exactly going to become critical darlings.
Back to the fact that it's usually untalented, uncreative people behind these remakes. This applies to anything. Be it a comic book to film adaptation, an old tv show made into a feature film, a novel converted to the big screen, a commercial about cavemen who get made fun of by insurance agencies, etc. Your product is only as good as the people behind it. It's not like Iron Man is the best comic book hero ever. Or that the character of Daredevil is bad. If you have good people behind your project, you got a much better chance at it being good. And for the most part, good, talented tv people aren't drawn to hacky unoriginal foreign imports.
This isn't to say that there can't be successful remakes or adaptations. But I think it's fairly obvious from shows such as The Office and some of the ones Chris mentioned, that you have to make it your own. You don't get to bypass the talent and creativity portion of the success equation. As Chris pointed out, most people don't know those shows were remakes. Reason being they did their own thing and went beyond the basis of their show.
Just for argument's sake, let's say nobody in the UK had ever heard of Lost. Some local UK studio decides they want to do the same show. If they were to simply 're-do' exactly what Lost is. Everything that makes it the show it is. It would be horrible. You can't just take someone else's idea and do it again and it be any good whatsoever. It will just fall flat. But if they took the simple premise of 'plane crashes on an island and craziness ensues' and did their own take on it. If they actually were good at what they did, they could very well make a good, quality show. But if they are simply relying on the other person's work and ideas, the product is going to blow.
Take the concept or premise, fine. But the show has to be organic and fresh. The creators/adaptors need to do what The Office did. Make it your own. If anyone saw the initial couple episodes of the US Office, they did exact script liftings from the original and it just flat out didn't work. But they found their own voice a bit later and the show took off.
I think the problem with most remakes or adaptations is that they try too much to mimick the original. Why? Because the people doing it are usually hacks. Take Kath and Kim for instance. I don't care if that was a remake or an original show. It was just shit all around. Because the people who made it were shit. They lacked the ability of The Office people to realize what they were doing wasn't working, and fix it. It's the exact same reason that most movie sequels suck. And Transformers wasn't a quirky British import. It's a simple artistic truth. The less creativity in a project, the shittier it will likely be. Unoriginal work is usually made by unoriginal people who usually make shit that sucks.
It's really a shame that such lazy work is allowed. It should be so simple. Can't come up with an original idea of your own? Guess what?! You don't shouldn't work here!!! Remakes of any type, especially when done within the same medium, are simply evil and need to be done away with.
In the interests of full disclosure, in the late 80s to early 90s, ITV in the UK had a habit of remaking US shows as well. The only popular one was "The Upper Hand" which was our "Who's the Boss" starring Joe "brother of Paul" McGann and was actually quite well loved.
However: Brighton Belles, Married for Life and Loved By You were not as popular. They were especially redundant as in this country we have no animosity to US imports - most of them have spent our lives with them being part of the television we watch and so it's not like we'll refuse to watch a programme unless it's tailored exactly for us.
I'd love to see a UK version of LOST - there's not enough money in our entire TV industry to even begin to emulate that show so I can imagine a bunch of former EastEnders and The Bill actors pretending that the Isle of Wight is a jungle of mystery.
It seems the Office took it back to their roots in the premiere last night. Very funny. What did y'all think of Community? I liked it, thought it was funny but it seemed kinda rushed. Supernatural was outstanding.
I'll be the first to admit this is kind of pathetic, but of all the shows that aired yesterday that I watched, Survivor is the one that entertained me most and that I'm most interested in the next episode.
* Saturday Night Live Weeked Update Thursday - They might as well animate a Jay Leno monologue.
* Parks & Recreatiosn - pretty good. It seems to be finding its place. Jim Halpert 2.0 was mostly sidelined, which is good. I was worried that Rashida Jones may have left because she didn't show up until the 2nd half, but then she was there in all of her splendor. I like Poehler but i hope they can make this more of an ensemble.
* The Office - was good. I think i liked the interns the best. It's always refreshing to have normal people around the office staff.
* Community - i liked it. Joe McHale has all kinds of cred from The Soup, and he did well. I love John Oliver, and it was good that they didn't try to shove the Chevy Chase resurrection in our faces too much. I'm hoping that Britta is a fuck-up too and not just the perfect girl with the right angle on every situation.
* Always Sunny In Philadelphia - Hooray! I love this show. I was going to say that last night's episode might not be the strongest introduction to the show because it was a little unfocussed, but then i realized every episode is like that and you just sort of have to catch the vibe.
* First 10 minutes of whatever bullshit that was after Always Sunny. Some sort animated james bond spoof / venture brothers rip off written by Maxim Magazine morons. Sorry to see Jessica Walter (the mom from Arrested Developement) caught up in that mess.
* Ace Of Cakes - missed most of it, but they made a Sea Skate cake, so that was awesome.
* Daily Show/Colbert
* Life On Mars (UK) - watched the 1st 2 episodes. It's really good. Not being British (what?! (or is that "Wot?!?")) it was a little confusing at first trying to decide what things were confusing to the main character, what vernacular had changed & what some of the police jargon meant. Also, i'm a little bit in love with Gretchen Mol, so i missed her.
- Is Ralph going to get a walk-on roll? perhaps as a factory worker closing up a shipment of Dharmalars?
92 comments:
Umm... January.
Just like last year.
And the year before that.
And the year before that too.
I just saw Evangeline Lily in a L'Oreal makeup roller advert with Eva Longoria-Parker.
It was the weirdest 36 seconds of my day so far, no, week.
I wonder if Foxy will ever get around to bleaching his teeth.
Back to the topic of music videos. I might have posted this awesome video before but can't remember. I need to check out The Mighty Boosh since finding out the director of the video is apart of the show.
- music video budgets are tiny compared to what they were in the 90's because the music business has taken such a financial hit, and because, as mentioned, there's no consistent forum for them. That's a big part of why the creativity is gone for the most part. Considering how many of the 90's video directors are big movie directors now, i would think that more aspiring auteurs would be willing to work on-spec.
(haha, this just reminded me of the awesome movie Tapeheads with John Cusack & Tim Robbins)
If you keep vampire hours like me, you can see music videos on VH1 & BET at 4am.
- why is every show i watch now on Thursday night?
Office
30 Rock
Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Fringe
Supernatural
Ace Of Cakes
and probably more i'm forgetting.
i'm afraid that all of these shows are going to get divided audiences and the low ratings will lead to them getting cut while some bullshit on wednesday night will coast along because its the only thing on.
- i really liked Sleep Dealer, a low budget Mexican/American sci-fi film about virtual reality that i guarantee is 1,000x better than Gamer or The Surrogates. It's out on DVD.
Here's a video that's relevant. Bacon is Good for Me
Holli
P.S. Thursday TV is insane. I also watch Project Runway that airs that night. My DVR is set to record 9 things this Thursday.
See Sugar. It's wonderful.
I'm also worried about my Thursday night tv viewing. Some things you can catch on the internet the next day. Somethings you can't.
I think a lot of NBC shows might move to online for me. Meanwhile on Tuesdays I have nothing to watch. Fringe moving is my least favorite thing in the new schedule.
Holli
Hopefully the audiences of Supernatural and Fringe get divided.
/hater
I don't think the failing music industry (read: piratism) is the main reason for the death of music videos. While though of course it hurt. No, I think the main reason is the internet and the change in viewing habits of society, namely young kids. Bands and record labels no longer need to make a music video and play it all over the tv to reach kids. It's so much easier now days. Be it youtube, myspace, facebook, twitter, a band or artist's web site, etc. There are so many easier/cheaper ways to get exposure. Besides the artistic standpoint (and that was never the reason they were really made) music videos almost seem prehistoric these days. It's just like how every other profession has evolved with the internet. No longer is a there singular formula for you you 'make it'. Stand up comics used to HAVE to go on the Johnny Carson and make Johnny laugh and get invited to the couch to really make their mark. Authors used to have to make the NY Times best sellers list. Like music videos, those old methods of becoming successful as well as staying relevant in the masses' eyes still exist. However, they aren't necessary. Nor are they most people's first choice. Don't get me wrong. I like a good music video (although not sure when the last time I saw one was) and grew up in the age of actual MTV. But just like printed newspapers, this internet thing really has changed the way the world works.
pitatism/piracy, whatever. lol.
- priapism
- i don't disagree with you jordan that the internet has been a decentralizing force but i mostly meant that the days of the multi million dollar sci-fi movie music videos are over because record labels just don't have that money to flash
I think I've worked out my Thursday night problem. Morgan has volunteered to give up her satellite box since she never watches tv in her room. I will swap hers and my plan box for a second DVR for my bedroom. Voi la!
Also since PS3s are coming down to 250, I'm considering trading the Wii and the PS2 in for one. But most folks(by this I mean boys) are suggesting the XBox instead while I want the PS3 for the Blu Ray player. Thoughts?
PS3 all the way. ESPECIALLY for you Steph. If you were a mega-hardcore gamer, then the 360 people would have some points (although I disagree with those people). But being the cinemaphile you are, it's the PS3 for sure. I'm sure Palmer would agree.
I agree with Jordan. plus, if you ever wanted to take the 360 online for any reason, you'd have to subscribe to Xbox Live...
They have just about the same sort of games anyways.
Wanna try something funny? If you have a google search bar, type in 'kanye west is', but don't hit enter, and see what shows up as the next most searched terms. lol.
xbox 360 has Netflix (if you pay for Netflix and that pay Microsoft online account thing) and games.
ps3 has blu-ray and games. and the internet. so if you wanted to watch something on Surfthechannel.com, you could. just saying.
the new ps3's don't have backwards compatibility to play ps2 games though. so, morgan would be starting fresh. that said, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is awesome and probably only $30 or $40 now. and Uncharted: Among Thieves is coming out next month and is supposed to be even better.
oh. and Uncharted has music by the guy who did the music for Firefly. right?
i miss LOST.
Uncharted is awesome. Can't wait for the new one.
Yeah Steph, like P said. You can surf the net on the PS3. I know you aren't the type to watch streaming movies online, but if you did, it's a great way to do so. ;)
Why did I say 250 when I meant 299?
Yes, I've been waiting for the time when I can make my computer and my tv one entity. I can watch streaming movies from the comfort of my couch instead of this crappy computer chair. And also Morgan can play Arkham Asylum.
Ryan, I've seen that ad twice and thought the woman in it looked like Evie but the weird L'Oreal plasticising filter they use on everything made her look a bit like a smooth android so I wasn't really sure.
She must be sick of people saying that she looks better all filthy and bedraggled but she really does.
Sorry to go back to my old habits but.. PS3 is $299? That's £181!
I'm sure you're just dying to learn that ours cost £250, or - if you prefer - $412.
I'm still just as tedious as ever. Sorry about that.
IT'S RIP OFF BRITAIN. I'M RINGING THE DAILY MAIL
Kablamo!
I'm pretty sure it's still payback for that stamp tax. We can hold a pretty long grudge. Why the Japanese are still angry about it though I don't know.
Holli
Around the launch of the PS2 I was talking to an American chap on AIM back when I did that kind of thing and when I talked about the price differential between the two, his response was something like "no wonder they charge you more if you just whine about it all the time" which sadly seems to make more and more sense as the years pass.
But I didn't have to pay for my opium-derived pain killers for my busted back so, swings and roundabouts.
I once interviewed Tony Mott, a gaming journalist a couple of years ago... I think he's editor of Edge now... meh. And he gave me the impression that Sony used the reason that "Europeans pay more for localisation" as a reasonfor the higher prices.
Bit ridiculous really.
It's absolutely true. One of the Sony guys made a public statement along the lines of "because we can" with regards to European pricing.
I can see the argument for spending extra for localising into the other European languages but since we usually get the US text with no concession to UK reference points or spelling then it'd be really really lovely to have our own gaming region. Anyway.
LOST!
Possible reset? Will Jim lose all his English language and go back to boring haircut?
Will Sun revert to her old face?
They charge you more because you make more than us. Whenever I mention to hubby that you guys pay higher taxes to pay for your free health care, his rebuttal is "Well, they have better jobs and make more money." But whenever I see British houses on BBC America, your houses are small and plainer than ours.
(We make more, by comparison, but things cost more than the more that we make - if you see what I mean)
Who's Jim?
Jim - the Belgian horse character who grew his mane really long and learned English. He was really big in season 3.
Yes, you aren't any better off than we are but I think the point he tries to make is Britain is better off overall, in the long run since you take care of each other. Yeah, my hubby is quite the socialist.
I'd join in this conversation further... but i only found out recently that we have to pay for water.
This blows my mind.
O M G! How old are you, Ryan? 3?
Even though I'm not on the sewer, I have to pay for a sewer debacle that those thieves down at the county courthouse created.
haha, i've never thought about it, i always thought it was free...
i've never had to pay bills before... well, apart from rent at uni... guess that's all going to change now i'm a proper adult :(
I can see why you might think you wouldn't pay for water but really you're paying for the mechanisms that get it to you, as well as the filtration etc.
My mother refuses to pump up her car tyres at any petrol station that charges to use the machine as she doesn't think she should pay for air. For some reason she's never been moved by the rationale: "You're not paying for air - you're paying for air PRESSURE, or technically the electricity used to pump it. If you were able to take all the caps off your tyres and have them naturally fill with air for free then I'd understand your argument".
But then this is a woman who videotapes QVC when she goes out, so never mind.
I know many women like that.
Do you really spell it "tyres"?
We sure do. I did consider typing "tires" just so as not to cause confusion but in the end I didn't.
My second DVR will be here Tuesday.
Sorry Chris. But I disagree with the complaining about prices in Britain. Reason being, currency isn't congruent when you are talking about goods and services in different countries. We like to take the Dollar/Euro/Sterling conversion and say, "this much equals this much." But that's only because people from the different countries at some point have to interact with one another. But whatever your currency is valued at, none of that really matters. Because at the end of the day, it's all kinda the same. I'll explain. Whatever your unit of currency, one of it has a certain connotation to locals and consumers.
If I'm in the States and somebody advertises a $1 hot dog. I say, "Only a dollar? That's a great deal!" But if I'm in London walking down the street, and see the same sign, but saying £1. Guess what? That's double the price, and not nearly the same bargain. Yet the average local sees it as such. "It only costs ONE." As a society we adjust what we view as appropriate prices, what we think is cheap, expensive, etc. What amount of salary is considered good, what is considered bad. And regardless the financial backing of our currency in relation to other countries and economies, we still hold the same views.
Crap, I wish this was a podcast. Cuz I'm going way out of my way to make a rather simple point. lol.
What I'm saying is, $1.99 is £1.99 is €1.99. Just because other countries don't match up with us, doesn't mean they have things cheaper. Case in point, go visit Norway. See if you can afford McDonald's.
As someone who has done a fair share of traveling, as well as who has half my family in Europe. You don't know how many times I've had this discussion. "Ooh, everything is so cheap in America! You are so lucky!" No, not really. See, cuz I don't just get to pay the cheap American prices. I also get paid from my job with the cheap American money. It evens itself out. Same works the other way around. I have an uncle who lives in London who for years has tried to get me to move there and work for him. It was too risky an option as he isn't exactly the reliable type, so I've obliged. But he would always say, "How much you make at your job back home? If you worked for me, I could pay you this amount. Now double that and look how much American you'd be making!" Again, not so simple. If I were making this great British wage, guess what? Along with making double my American wage, I'm also now paying double for an apartment (flat), paying double for gas (petrol), paying double for food, and so on.
That's my entire point. Saying a PS3 costs Brits $412 as opposed to $299 just isn't accurate. The only way this is true, is if you were being paid in the states and buying it in the UK. I know that in essence, you can see Sony making more money off each individual unit. Therefore it seems they are gouging you. But all they are doing is charging you what they would charge you as if you were the only country they were doing business with. If they were selling hot dogs, they wouldn't say, "Normally we charge people $1 for a hot dog. But because your country's currency is so valuable, we will give you a discount and only ask for 50p (cents)."
Have I gone on long enough? lol.
No worries. I figured I was probably wrong.
Don't mind me, I'm still smarting from working for a US company who artificially capped my working hours so that on paper I earned the same as US based colleages doing the same high position job and after a while about hearing about my colleagues' Custom Mustangs, massive self owned houses and three week holidays in Florida I did find myself wondering why my wife and I share a two bedroom house with two other (non-sharing) people, eat pasta from supermarkets' value range and why my wife can only afford bus travel for crossing a major city, a journey which, there and back, eats into more than four hours of her day even though she could do it in 40 minutes each way if we could afford the train travel.
So I'm a little bitter. Kindly ignore.
We can't even afford *one* DVR.
Two is the stuff of a madman's dreams.
Not sure of Steph's situation, Chris. But I rent my DVR through my cable provider. Not too much more for a second unit.
All I want is a DVR with a bigger hard drive. Mine is constantly filling up and drives me mad. HD takes up lots of space!!
Chris, Do you guys call them DVR's? I ask because Canadians for some reason call them PVR's. Figured they got that one from you, same as they do with all their funny spelling, money, etc.
PVR is more commonly used over here but at the rate we adopt US terminology, that not may be the case for long. That and we haven't really embraced the technology as much as you guys have - a bit like the opposite of SMS text messaging which has been part of common UK life for about twelve years.
The only thing I can say about the UK monetary situation is that I'm 32 years old, have a selection of friends ranging in age from about 20 to the mid 40s and yet I know nobody who owns their own house (in fact most people I know live in house shares with other people), a car or any of those other things that you might expect from people of our age range doing the jobs that they do and in the capital city of the country.
I can't believe that two years after our wedding, my wife and I are still sharing a house as if we were students. We rent two rooms downstairs in a two storey house in the London suburbs and our rent (not taking into account utility bills etc) is £710 per month (which, whether you feel the comparison is valid or not, is about $1171) - and that is considered cheap for the area.
Anyway, enough of that. What's everyone watching? I've recently blasted through all of Saxondale which I understand did quite well on BBC America, and there's a US remake in the works. Normally I'm a bit wary of remaking comedy for different regions but Saxondale didn't do very well here as it isn't cynical or dark enough - in the last ten years we've decided we only like comedy that's dark and edgy rather than funny or uplifting - so actually I'd be interested in seeing what an American version would be like.
I'm watching Six Feet Under. I'm quite enjoying it. Michael C. Hall is awesome, though it's hard to think of him as David vs. Dexter. Peter Krause is HOT!
Here's the remake I can't understand, an Americanized Gavin and Stacey. Will she be from the Jersey shore and him from Long Island or maybe Pismo Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes? I really like Gavin and Stacey, but it's about these quirky personalities, something that American TV, at least broadcast, generally fails to do well.
Holli
Chris, London is too damn expensive. Move to the country. I know. That won't help any.
If we were really smart, we would get rid of satellite and internet all together to pay off some bills. But we are spoiled and couldn't bare to live without it. Getting rid of Morgan's box allows us to pay the same amount for the second DVR. This will make catching up on X Files as well as Twin Peaks easier since the one we have is filled with Angel.
Our friends are all self-employed, have nice houses and are having a difficult time holding on to them in these hard times. Thank God Big Ed got his CDLs last summer. It's helped supplement the body shop.
Jordan has made me feel guilty about enjoying So You Think You Can Dance and Glee tonight.
The US can't make it's own versions of UK sitcoms that are good. It just simply can't.
Apart from The Office... which is an anomaly.
Comic Con 2010 tickets are on sale. I just bought mine! Morgan gets in free!
oh man. the other 48 days... not so good in the editing department. with those cheesy montages at the end. ugh...
on the brightside, i found something to like about ana lucia. she suggests gutting a pig and making bacon. smart woman.
Moving out of London would take a real hit in the bus fare department. Rural buses are less frequent and cost a bomb.
Anyway - really have bawled like a bitch about my money woes too much.
I've got a young friend of mine listening to progressive rock and watching my box set of The Critic. I'm enjoying exerting this kind of power over his taste.
As for US remakes of UK shows, I've not seen Sanford and Son, Three's Company, The Ropers, Cosby or All in the Family so I can't really comment on them, but it's my understanding that people generally don't know they are adapted from British sitcoms.
I have, however, seen Payne and Dear John and and rather than blaming America I actually demand an apology from humanity in general for allowing these things to happen.
Guess what! Joss Whedon wants to direct an episode of Glee!
steph, you may need to detox on the whedon a bit. :p
oh well. at least you found something you enjoy.
but i enjoy LOST! not so much ana lucia. but it's good to have Eko back in my season 2 rewatch.
how many of the tail section crash survivors are with Alpert and the Funky Bunch now? Cindy and... four others? and the two kids? something like that?
i doubt it will be covered this season, but i do wish the writers would sit down for a week or 6 months (or however long it takes), and try to figure out exactly what was going on in season 2.
Were the Others really kidnapping people to add them to their numbers? because they seem perfectly happy to kill people. As far as who is with the Others at the temple now, I guess all of the people they snatched from the tail survivors.
why the dress up? when cleaned up Others aren't that much cleaner. That was why i kept expecting the Others to be living in THX-1138 land underneath the island.
i think at this point i'm going to accept that Jacob & Esau were playing their little game by confusing the entire issue of whether or not people should be pushing the button, each sending their own manifestations to Ecko & Locke.
We ran into Henry Ian Cusick yesterday. He is incredibly nice and had braces. He was excited to talk about the final season with Jorge. I had my ears closed but I did catch the fact that there is some weirdness going on!
That is kick ass Ralph! Thank you for any and all details of your excursion (and if you want to share any more...:)...just sayin'). So, I assume you are hanging with Jorge, and that's how you ran into Cusik?
hey... what's Kanye doing at the SAS blogspot main page???
/wokka wokka
LMFAO!
well done sir!
I
LOVE
KANYE
WEST
MEMES
those are fantastic. really like the fourth one.
what a country!
I really love the first and last ones. When I saw them, I almost died from lol.
second one almost just woke the kids with my idiotic laughter. lmao
second one almost just woke the kids with my idiotic laughter. lmao
ooop :|
Blog...spot? I think I've seen this place before...
The dream is real.
Regarding the 'America can't remake British shows' topic. I don't think that's exactly it. Yes, trying to get humor and what speaks to one audience to translate to a different one is very hard. And does contribute the problem. But to me, the biggest problem is that remakes are bad ideas, PERIOD. They in general across the board have an extremely small success rate.
Remakes exist because the people in charge aren't able to come up with a creative idea on their own. They simply saw a successful property and thought to themselves, "Hey, we can take that and replicate it's success and in turn be successful! And then we will make tons of money!" Case in point. There was a sitcom based off a commerical about cavemen. It wasn't British. Yet the same lack of creativity and shitty people backing it applied. And the results were the same.
Creativity is one of the fundamental building blocks of any successful art. Without it you usually get a big plate of suck. You're just really asking to fail. It's like if Palmer, Herlihy, Chris, and I decided we were going to form a band that does country music covers of Top 40 songs. We aren't exactly going to become critical darlings.
Back to the fact that it's usually untalented, uncreative people behind these remakes. This applies to anything. Be it a comic book to film adaptation, an old tv show made into a feature film, a novel converted to the big screen, a commercial about cavemen who get made fun of by insurance agencies, etc. Your product is only as good as the people behind it. It's not like Iron Man is the best comic book hero ever. Or that the character of Daredevil is bad. If you have good people behind your project, you got a much better chance at it being good. And for the most part, good, talented tv people aren't drawn to hacky unoriginal foreign imports.
This isn't to say that there can't be successful remakes or adaptations. But I think it's fairly obvious from shows such as The Office and some of the ones Chris mentioned, that you have to make it your own. You don't get to bypass the talent and creativity portion of the success equation. As Chris pointed out, most people don't know those shows were remakes. Reason being they did their own thing and went beyond the basis of their show.
Just for argument's sake, let's say nobody in the UK had ever heard of Lost. Some local UK studio decides they want to do the same show. If they were to simply 're-do' exactly what Lost is. Everything that makes it the show it is. It would be horrible. You can't just take someone else's idea and do it again and it be any good whatsoever. It will just fall flat. But if they took the simple premise of 'plane crashes on an island and craziness ensues' and did their own take on it. If they actually were good at what they did, they could very well make a good, quality show. But if they are simply relying on the other person's work and ideas, the product is going to blow.
Take the concept or premise, fine. But the show has to be organic and fresh. The creators/adaptors need to do what The Office did. Make it your own. If anyone saw the initial couple episodes of the US Office, they did exact script liftings from the original and it just flat out didn't work. But they found their own voice a bit later and the show took off.
I think the problem with most remakes or adaptations is that they try too much to mimick the original. Why? Because the people doing it are usually hacks. Take Kath and Kim for instance. I don't care if that was a remake or an original show. It was just shit all around. Because the people who made it were shit. They lacked the ability of The Office people to realize what they were doing wasn't working, and fix it. It's the exact same reason that most movie sequels suck. And Transformers wasn't a quirky British import. It's a simple artistic truth. The less creativity in a project, the shittier it will likely be. Unoriginal work is usually made by unoriginal people who usually make shit that sucks.
It's really a shame that such lazy work is allowed. It should be so simple. Can't come up with an original idea of your own? Guess what?! You don't shouldn't work here!!! Remakes of any type, especially when done within the same medium, are simply evil and need to be done away with.
/ramble ramble ramble!
In the interests of full disclosure, in the late 80s to early 90s, ITV in the UK had a habit of remaking US shows as well. The only popular one was "The Upper Hand" which was our "Who's the Boss" starring Joe "brother of Paul" McGann and was actually quite well loved.
However: Brighton Belles, Married for Life and Loved By You were not as popular. They were especially redundant as in this country we have no animosity to US imports - most of them have spent our lives with them being part of the television we watch and so it's not like we'll refuse to watch a programme unless it's tailored exactly for us.
I'd love to see a UK version of LOST - there's not enough money in our entire TV industry to even begin to emulate that show so I can imagine a bunch of former EastEnders and The Bill actors pretending that the Isle of Wight is a jungle of mystery.
It seems the Office took it back to their roots in the premiere last night. Very funny.
What did y'all think of Community? I liked it, thought it was funny but it seemed kinda rushed.
Supernatural was outstanding.
I'm watching the NBC Comedy lineup (sans Jay) this morning. I watched Fringe last night and posted over on the boards.
Holli
forgot to DVR community. but i saw the pilot on facebook a month ago. eh.
it has promise, anyhow.
Take your prozac and then listen to Jordan and I discuss movies here. He's such a "Debbie Downer". But in a fun way.
I'll be the first to admit this is kind of pathetic, but of all the shows that aired yesterday that I watched, Survivor is the one that entertained me most and that I'm most interested in the next episode.
Holli
Has anyone ever heard this phrase come out of someone's mouth (let alone a news ANCHOR on a LIVE broadcast)? WTF?!? lmao!
- last night i watched:
* Saturday Night Live Weeked Update Thursday - They might as well animate a Jay Leno monologue.
* Parks & Recreatiosn - pretty good. It seems to be finding its place. Jim Halpert 2.0 was mostly sidelined, which is good. I was worried that Rashida Jones may have left because she didn't show up until the 2nd half, but then she was there in all of her splendor. I like Poehler but i hope they can make this more of an ensemble.
* The Office - was good. I think i liked the interns the best. It's always refreshing to have normal people around the office staff.
* Community - i liked it. Joe McHale has all kinds of cred from The Soup, and he did well. I love John Oliver, and it was good that they didn't try to shove the Chevy Chase resurrection in our faces too much. I'm hoping that Britta is a fuck-up too and not just the perfect girl with the right angle on every situation.
* Always Sunny In Philadelphia - Hooray! I love this show. I was going to say that last night's episode might not be the strongest introduction to the show because it was a little unfocussed, but then i realized every episode is like that and you just sort of have to catch the vibe.
* First 10 minutes of whatever bullshit that was after Always Sunny. Some sort animated james bond spoof / venture brothers rip off written by Maxim Magazine morons. Sorry to see Jessica Walter (the mom from Arrested Developement) caught up in that mess.
* Ace Of Cakes - missed most of it, but they made a Sea Skate cake, so that was awesome.
* Daily Show/Colbert
* Life On Mars (UK) - watched the 1st 2 episodes. It's really good. Not being British (what?! (or is that "Wot?!?")) it was a little confusing at first trying to decide what things were confusing to the main character, what vernacular had changed & what some of the police jargon meant. Also, i'm a little bit in love with Gretchen Mol, so i missed her.
- Is Ralph going to get a walk-on roll? perhaps as a factory worker closing up a shipment of Dharmalars?
- also. Skynet is real. Judgement Day is real. It was nice knowing yinz! http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/15/killer_robot_killed_by_fighter_jet/
Ahh! My DVR cut off the end of It's Always Sunny.
I want to have Mac's babies.
andrew., i'm pretty sure that the Reaper jet got struck by lightning and turned evil and then Jamie Fox and Jessica Biel had to shoot it down.
Hey blogspotters. Schools been taking over hence lack of my presense :( Stupid school always getting in the way :(
Congrats to the 206 on the huge UDub win!
Holli
Just saw Jennifer's Body. My main complaint I was promised my boob scene where was it?!
i c u kj posting things on the blogspot and twitter at the same time, i bloody c u
I'm posting whore I guess :(
*I'm a
Unfortunately boob scenes are out of style these days. But how was Jennifer's Body? Were all the good parts in the trailer?
Girls who dig boob scenes are cool.
Over here in the UK we're gonna get FlashForward from September 28th on a free national channel.
We normally have the choice of expensive subscription channels or waiting bloody months, or over a year.
I'm happy as a sod about this, we lost LOST, 24 and House to Sky TV so it's nice.
I thought the movie was pretty good overall. But if you don't like Diabloisms you'll be annoyed by it the entire time Megan Fox is on screen.
I saw some great ones in this movie. The Dushku and Michael Ironside as cops. It's kinda awesome. Kinda not.
What boobs did you see in that?
SEARCHES
Oh! You saw Eliza's!
NSFW
It's so true.
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