Dwell On It » Television

A grand lady

Tateru Nino — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 08:27:04 +0000

As you’ve probably heard by now, actress Elisabeth Sladen has passed away from complications relating to cancer at age 63.

Broadcast television

Tateru Nino — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 04:32:09 +0000

A few weeks ago, ratings organisation Nielsen selected us for their national television ratings panel and installed one of their boxes in our home.

The box (or ‘peoplemeter’) is actually two boxes. One connects to your media equipment, and the other is placed out of the way and periodically calls back to the Nielsen data centres. The boxes basically listen to the audio on your TV, sample it, and then that is used to determine what you’re watching, and whether it’s time-shifted or not. You’re given a remote to log in (or out) for residents, or guests. That supplies Nielsen with demographic data, as well as determining what other uses you might be putting your television to other than actually watching television.

The whole thing has made me much more aware of our television watching habits and has gotten me thinking about the business model of broadcast television generally.

Piracy is a real problem

Tateru Nino — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:04:30 +0000

In recent years, the term ‘piracy’ has come to be applied to the unauthorized copying of music, movies and computer software. Oodles of sales are lost, we’re told, because of this kind of piracy.

That’s the third kind of piracy. Traditionally, there are two other kinds. The first, of course, is the ocean-going sort, but it’s the second kind of piracy that makes all the others pale into insignificance.

Vulnerable adults

Tateru Nino — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:18:45 +0000

As you’re probably aware, Australia doesn’t have an 18+ rating for video games (though it does for other types of media such as films and publications). It’s not a stretch to see why. At the time the legislation was applied to video games, such games were the province of the young, and it is only recently that they’ve grown up, right?

Wrong.

From their inception, video games (particularly computer games) were played by all ages.


Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

Performance that doesn’t perform

Tateru Nino — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:01:51 +0000

As distribution of music (and movies and television shows including music) go increasingly digital and becoming more and more widespread, composers and songwriters are getting less money, not more. Is this because of wholesale piracy?

No. It’s actually far more interesting than that.


Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

The safest thing

Tateru Nino — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:55:42 +0000

Destructoid makes a few observations on the death-toll of video-games (murders, suicides and so forth) [thanks for the link, Tigro].

I’m going to add a couple extra data points here.

An awkward moment

Tateru Nino — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:11:32 +0000

What the heck is up with soundtracks lately?

Tateru Nino — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:54:32 +0000

Loud. Very loud. Music. Effects. Explosions.

By contrast the voices are soft. Much, much softer. You have to crank the volume up to get a good listening volume for the voices, and the – and I use the term advisedly – background music is loud enough to make the neighbours look up.

Where’d the balance go?

Spoilers

Tateru Nino — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:24:22 +0000

(Contains no actual spoilers)

For the record, I’m against spoilers. A lot of us are. We generally don’t want to know how a book or movie ends before we start reading or watching. That’s a pretty hard line to hold, these days. Within five minutes of casting, it’s hard to avoid knowing who the new Doctor Who will be, his CV, and favorite foods. It’s all over your social networks, news readers, blogs and the newspapers.

It’s a little easier to hold the line on story though, but by golly, the people producing the stories make it really hard to do these days.

V: The Series reimagined on ABC

Tateru Nino — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:00:38 +0000

ABC (that’s the American ABC, not the Australian one) has picked up V: The Series for its mid-season 2009-2010 schedule. Congratulations go out to Jace Hall and the cast and crew.

Who spread the fear?

Tateru Nino — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:54:20 +0000

Novel H1N1 (otherwise known as swine flu) caused quite the stir and a fair bit of fear. I’d hardly call it a panic, though there are plenty of others who are referring to what happened as one. More like apprehension and trepidation.

While twitt Read more ...


Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

Dollhouse to get a second season from Fox

Tateru Nino — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:07:01 +0000

It’s not quite official yet, and probably won’t be until Monday, but sourc Read more ...


Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

Twitter for Dollhouse season 2

Tateru Nino — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:00:00 +0000

My partner and I have recently been watching Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.

Firstly, we can see why a lot of Whedon fans might be disappointed in it. It doesn’t carry the same sort of ‘flavour’ as previous works. Buffy and Firefly had a fairly strong sense of adventure. Read more ...


Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

Fallout, the television show

Tateru Nino — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:26:00 +0000

Bethesda/Zenimax (you know those folks, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3, that sort of thing) registered some new trademarks just recently.

On 5 February 2009, Bethesda Softworks LLC applied for the Read more ...


Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

The Mark III Travel machine

Tateru Nino — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:57:00 +0000

From the second day at Supanova. Awesome work. Original post and more images.


Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0