I picked up the TV series “Invasion” on DVD at Kroger, from a bargain bin. I am up to episode 5 or 6. This is a weird show.
There is clearly an alien invasion going on, but it’s not clear that the aliens are even aware that they are aliens. I had always assumed that pod people would know that they are pod people. But what if they didn’t know?
What if you were a pod person, and didn’t know it? What if you just felt… off, somehow?
It appears that the Digital Rights Mafia and the media robber barons have successfully done in Britain what they failed to do in the USA in 2003 — bullied the broadcasters into allowing the robber barons to control not only the content, but the devices used to play that content.
In my latest Guardian column, “Why did Ofcom back down over DRM at the BBC?” I look at how lamentably credulous both the BBC and its UK regulator, Ofcom, have been in accepting US media’ giants threats to boycott the Beeb if it doesn’t add digital rights management to its broadcasts. The BBC is publicly funded, and it is supposed to be acting in the public interest: but crippling British TV sets in response for demands from offshore media barons is no way to do this — and the threats the studios have made are wildly improbable. When the content companies lost their bid to add DRM to American TV, they made exactly the same threats, and then promptly caved and went on allowing their material to be broadcast without any technical restrictions.
How they rattled their sabers and promised a boycott of HD that would destroy America’s chances for an analogue switchoff. For example, the MPAA’s CTO, Fritz Attaway, said that “high-value content will migrate away” from telly without DRM.
Viacom added: “[i]f a broadcast flag is not implemented and enforced by Summer 2003, Viacom’s CBS Television Network will not provide any programming in high definition for the 2003-2004 television season.”
One by one, the big entertainment companies – and sporting giants like the baseball and American football leagues – promised that without the Broadcast Flag, they would take their balls and go home.
So what happened? Did they make good on their threats? Did they go to their shareholders and explain that the reason they weren’t broadcasting anything this year is because the government wouldn’t let them control TVs?
No. They broadcast. They continue to broadcast today, with no DRM.
They were full of it. They did not make good on their threats. They didn’t boycott.
They caved.
Why did Ofcom back down over DRM at the BBC?
(From New column: Why is Ofcom ready to allow BBC DRM?, Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com
What the hell has happened to the once-great Britain? They gave us the foundations of our society — the rights of free men to bear arms, the rights of a jury to decide not only if a law was broken, but whether that law should be enforced at all, and the basic right of the governed to expect their government to treat them justly… all of this is due to our country’s British origins.
I have to say, I am a little disappointed with what’s become of them.
On October 2, 1959, the first episode aired of what would turn out to be a seminal work of science-fiction television. For the first time the famous four-note musical motif played, and for the first time Rod Serling told viewers that they were “entering a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind.” Yes, it may be hard to believe, but today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of The Twilight Zone.
The first episode, titled “Where Is Everybody?” and starring Earl Holliman, was written by Serling and very much set the tone for the series: Holliman plays a man, dressed in an Air Force jumpsuit, who wanders about a town that seems to have no other people in it, though has evidence of very recent habitation (food on the stove, burning cigarettes in ashtrays, etc.). It turns out (SPOILER ALERT) that he is imagining the whole thing, and that he’s actually been put in isolation to see if he can stay sane for a trip to the moon.
It’s safe to say that every science-fiction TV series since owes something to The Twilight Zone: in the fall of 1959, even “Doctor Who” and “The Outer Limits” were four years away from their premieres. Serling proved that science-fiction had a place on television. Many of the episodes may be obvious, even trite; but there are many excellent ones. Some have become classics, such as “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” “To Serve Man,” and “Time Enough at Last.” And who will ever forget that most-deadpan-voice-ever style of Serling’s?
A substantial number of the show’s episodes are available for free online (for viewers in the U.S., at least), and we at GeekDad encourage you to celebrate today by watching a few of them. That’s a signpost up ahead. Your next stop: The Twilight Zone!
(from The Twilight Zone turns 50)
Dave Howe, president of the Sci Fi Channel, does not understand or like science fiction and has contempt for the people who do.
In the most recent absurd move by the Science Fiction Channel, Howe has decided to change the name of the channel to “SyFy”. If you are rolling your eyes and saying, “What the …?”, you are not alone. In Mr. Howe’s words, “What we love about this is we hopefully get the best of both worlds. We’ll get the heritage and the track record of success, and we’ll build off of that to build a broader, more open and accessible and relatable and human-friendly brand.” In other words, “I am a dumbass. I don’t have a clue what science fiction is or why anyone would want to watch it. So rather than try and appeal to that market, we are changing the name of the channel to something nonsensical and hoping that will somehow improve our ratings.”
In making this idiotic change, Mr. Howe is following in the footsteps of Tim Brooks, who helped launch the Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network. “We spent a lot of time in the ’90s trying to distance the network from science fiction, which is largely why it’s called Sci Fi,” Mr. Brooks said. “It’s somewhat cooler and better than the name ‘Science Fiction.’ But even the name Sci Fi is limiting.” In other words, “I am a dumbass. I have no idea why I was given the job to start a science fiction channel. I don’t like it, and I like the people who watch it even less.”
What’s next? Will the Pope be put in charge of Planned Parenthood? Will Sarah Brady be put in charge of Gun Owners Of America?
I intend to mock anyone using “SyFy” with all of the sarcasm I can muster.
I love Lawrence Lessig. He is one of a tiny handful of clueful people that actually gets some attention from the media. If only lawmakers paid attention.
Amazon.com
Aqua Teen Hunger Force – Season One (regular $30, on sale for $13)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force – Season Two (regular $30, on sale for $13)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force – Season Three (regular $30, on sale for $13)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force – Season Four (regular $30, on sale for $13)
Ren & Stimpy – The Complete First and Second Seasons (regular $40, on sale for $23)
Ren & Stimpy – The Lost Episodes (regular $27, on sale for $16)
I just saw the most horrific, disturbing commercial I have ever seen. I wish I could find it online so I could share it with you, but Google fails me this time.
A woman appears whose face seems frozen in mid-grimace, her smile twisted and gaping like the Joker if he had been done properly. Slowly the camera spins around, revealing that the back of her head is gone. Her entire skull has been hollowed out and made into a little Barbie’s Home Theater room.
This is unbelievably ghastly.
Consider visual literacy and grow better media communication. No, Media Nipple isn’t porn, nor is it graphic violence. The Google warning you will see is simply a symptom of how utterly borked our priorities are in the USA.
Serendipity is a curious thing. I was looking for the video for the Missing Persons song, “Destination Unknown”, (video), when I found a very different “Destination Unknown”, apparently by Crystal Waters and someone named Alex Gaudino. One word before I link to the video: this is not safe for work (NSFW). It doesn’t have nudity, but it is pretty racy (but no more risque than “So You Think You Can Dance”, in my opinion). Okay, you have been warned, here is the video. I did not embed it here, because, as I said, it is not safe for work, and I would hate to surprise anyone who clicked the video before reading this explanation.
I really like this video. The song is catchy, and it is really well arranged — the way it dies down, and then picks up. And the video itself, aside from the cheesecake factor, is really well done. Fading in on the drumming, or the girls in the marching band smacking their fannies in time to the clapping crowd. It really gets my feet tapping. And yes, of course it’s sexy, but it’s sexy without being vulgar (in my opinion). I am pretty easily turned off by vulgarity, but this is just… fun.
That’s my opinion, anyway.
Of course, watching YouTube is like eating M&Ms — you can’t stop at just one (or two). So here are a couple of gems from the Muppet Show that have a special place in my heart:
In 1979, there was a Flash Gordon cartoon that I think about any time the subject of Flash Gordon comes up in conversation. I still recall the fantastic spaceship designs, Ming’s menacing metal army, and the seductive swivel-hip-action of Princess Aura. To my thirteen-year-old eyes, this was the best cartoon I’d ever seen. According to Wikipedia,
“The series was an homage to the original Flash Gordon comic strip and featured most of the original characters, including Flash’s girlfriend Dale Arden, and the scientist Hans Zarkov. The series is still regarded to be not only one of the most faithful adaptations, but also one of Filmation’s finest overall efforts to this day.” [1]
I have been looking for this episode on DVD ever since old television shows started showing up on DVD. As it turns out, I was not looking closely enough, because the show was released on DVD in 2006!
I rediscovered some other gems of that era during my search, as well: Blackstar (a guy with a magic sword who rides a dragon — a classic!), Josie And The Pussycats (my first exposure to cat-girls), the short-lived Star Trek animated series, and Isis (who introduced me to the wonders of Egyptian mythology).
The one of these I am looking forward to seeing most (aside from Flash Gordon) is Josie And The Pussycats. Although the show was technically a spin-off of the Archies, it really owed a great deal more to Scooby Doo, with its fun (if simplistic) plots, engaging characters, and musical chase scenes. Incidentally, I am also a huge Scooby Doo fan (although I think it went downhill when they started meeting Don Knotts, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the Addams Family).
Oh, and you know what started all of this? I was actually looking for Superman DVDs.
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Blackmoor Vituperative