So, Doctor Who for 2010 (except the Christmas episode) has finished. I reserved judgement of the new crew (both the cast and the new producers/writers) until their episodes aired. They didn’t disappoint. [Spoilers below for those of you who have not seen the end of the 2010 series yet.] The Eleventh Hour — a nice ... [More]
The ABC’s 24 hour news channel, imaginatively named “ABC News 24” will launch on Thursday 22nd of July. Apparently they’ve been racing to try and be running before the Federal Election is called. Apart from the looping promo now running on the channel-to-be, ABC1 is awash with promos, including the tag line “Events don’t wait, ... [More]
Just so you know, this is not me. I am not blonde, and I don’t work at Thredbo doing their snow reports. (Found by my bro-in-law Adrian, who, by the way, you should check out if you ever need an architect.)
Some songs evoke a particular memory, of either a specific event or a period of my life. So it is with Paul Carrack’s version of Jackie DeShannon’s “When You Walk In The Room“, from 1987. I bought the 45 (rpm, single) of it, primarily because the (quite amusing) video clip included all of the cast ... [More]
You know when you have some of the information, and the brain tries to fill in the blanks? Many times I seemed to be watching Lateline, and a report from Norman Hermant would come on, often from Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East. He works for the ABC, but has an American accent. For ... [More]
I would love a new TV, but can’t afford it. That is, the cost/benefit ratio isn’t there to replace my 68cm Loewe CRT television just yet. So while I’d love to get a high-definition flat screen with digital tuner, the prices will have to drop a bit more before that becomes viable, especially with the ... [More]
Star Trek TNG — We started watching them all about a year ago, and are so far up to season 6. I wonder if in remastering for DVD, they changed the framing of some shots — it’s surprising how often we spot a boom mike in shot. (Reminds me: Must watch the “Car Pool” interview ... [More]
There was a bloke on the train covering his eyes. A picture of him could be captioned: Don’t blink! But it would be wrong to publish such a photo without his permission. Instead I give you this, found in a street in Footscray. Let’s hope it’s bigger on the inside. And it was nice to ... [More]
Superb! Charlie Brooker on what makes a generic TV news report: (via Mumbrella)
An opinion piece in The Age yesterday comments about the introduction of kids’ channel ABC3. What I can’t figure out is why, about the same time ABC3 has started up, ABC2 has dropped most of its non-kids programming on weekends during the daytime (eg before 6pm) and replaced it with more kids’ programmes. Compare for ... [More]
Red Dwarf – once upon a time, the ABC thought it belonged on the Sunday afternoon arts show.
The Jackson Jive The controversy over this skit, which involved five men blacking up (and one “whiting” up) to portray the Jackson 5, rages on. I don’t think it’s as simple as some are making out. Those offended (especially the Americans and Brits) should bear in mind that “blackface” has no history in Australia, and ... [More]
When we tuned into the first Hey Hey special last Wednesday, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It’s been ten years since the show ended, which seems like a long time, but most of the regulars from back then are still around. I first watched Hey Hey when I was a kid, when it ... [More]
I’m not going to claim I’m a currency expert, but I think Channel 10 put the decimal point in the wrong place, as I’m pretty sure an Australian Dollar is worth more than US 8 cents.
You know a TV show has gone mainstream when you see a t-shirt for it in the window of Target (as well as having its DVDs advertised on phone boxes).
I’ve been looking at Topfield PVRs. Looks like one can get a dual-tuner standard definition (SD) model for about $300-350 (retail), whereas it’s about $750 for a high definition (HD) one. You can also get a single-tuner HD model for about $399, but sometimes I want to be able to record multiple programmes at once. ... [More]