Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to JIMMY ANDERSON on Sun Mar 22 2020 23:09:47

My least favorite star trek. I actually stopped watching it but my wife was sort of into it and wanted to continue so occasionally we watch it but I`ll be glad when it's over.

I know that star trek has never been too "hard core" science fiction, that is leaning more toward the fiction and less toward the science but this new show just makes me cringe when they bring up fantasy elements like "time crystals".

Also there was one episode where (forgetting almost all of the details here) there was something going on far away and they said it would take them years to get there but I did the math in my head given they're at warp 5 (which in an earlier episode they used so I know they have warp 5 at least) it would have taken about a month which in space travel terms is a short hop.

Oh, and one scene where one of the bridge crew said "The computer thought we were upside down". I was thinking... what the hell does "upside down" mean in the context of space. and why would the computer care anyway?

I try to disregard all that kind of stuff and focus on the story but it's really taxing my ability to suspend disbelief.

I know a show like this has to balance realism with telling a story line but the one area were they opted for more realism was with Klingons actually speaking Klingon in the absense of a universal translator (no starfleet person around) but that`s one area I would prefer they just speak english because I know they`re speaking Klingon but we're the audience and the whole story is told for our benefit.

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On 1/2/2021 6:17 AM, Hammer wrote:

My least favorite star trek. I actually stopped watching it but my wife was sort of into it and wanted to continue so occasionally we watch it but I`ll be
glad when it's over.

I had some hope after the last season, but that was slowly squashed over
this most recent one. I can't help but feel that Michael Bernum is the
worst character *ever*. I mean, there is absolutely no growth over the
course of the series at all, deeply flawed and remains so. They may as
well just make her join the Chain and rise in their ranks as bad as she is.

I know that star trek has never been too "hard core" science fiction, that is leaning more toward the fiction and less toward the science but this new show just makes me cringe when they bring up fantasy elements like "time crystals".

Also there was one episode where (forgetting almost all of the details here) there was something going on far away and they said it would take them years to
get there but I did the math in my head given they're at warp 5 (which in an earlier episode they used so I know they have warp 5 at least) it would have taken about a month which in space travel terms is a short hop.

Oh, and one scene where one of the bridge crew said "The computer thought we were upside down". I was thinking... what the hell does "upside down" mean in
the context of space. and why would the computer care anyway?

That's almost always been the case though. Take ST: IV and the journey
to the center of the galaxy, vs the entire Voyager series. It also
doesn't help that Discovery stole a bunch of core plot points anyway.

I try to disregard all that kind of stuff and focus on the story but it's really taxing my ability to suspend disbelief.

I know a show like this has to balance realism with telling a story line but the one area were they opted for more realism was with Klingons actually speaking Klingon in the absense of a universal translator (no starfleet person
around) but that`s one area I would prefer they just speak english because I know they`re speaking Klingon but we're the audience and the whole story is told for our benefit.

I'm okay with the Klingon as long as there's non-english subs.

My biggest issue is the character development for the lead character is absolutely absent. Time after time after time this character just does
what they decide is best, completely ignoring the chain of command or
anything resembling an honor code. It's probably the only thing that's consistent in her character. She's like the a concentrated abstraction
of everything wrong with youth in someone who should have learned better
at this point. Most of the rest of the cast are better written at least.

--
Michael J. Ryan
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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Tracker1 to Hammer on Sun Jan 03 2021 03:12 am

at this point. Most of the rest of
cast are better written at least.

including the woman with the red hair
who they try to make "chatty" but its
like her monologues come out of the
beginners guide to writing annoying
sidekIcks. she doesnt even say much
either, just rattles it all off to make
it try to sound like a lot but it falls
flat and uncomfortable, has the be the
biggest "why are you here" character in
discovery, and this is discovery so
that's saying an awful lot
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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Mantrid to Tracker1 on Sun Jan 03 2021 04:32 pm

at this point. Most of the rest of
cast are better written at least.

including the woman with the red hair
who they try to make "chatty" but its
like her monologues come out of the
beginners guide to writing annoying
sidekIcks. she doesnt even say much
either, just rattles it all off to make
it try to sound like a lot but it falls
flat and uncomfortable, has the be the
biggest "why are you here" character in
discovery, and this is discovery so
that's saying an awful lot

You take that back. Tilly is the best character in Discovery, and I will fight anyone who disagrees!

DaiTengu

... Superior ability breeds superior ambition. Spock, stardate 3141.9.

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Tracker1 to Hammer on Sun Jan 03 2021 03:12 am

I'm okay with the Klingon as long as there's non-english subs.

My biggest issue is the character development for the lead character is absolutely absent. Time after time after time this character just does
what they decide is best, completely ignoring the chain of command or anything resembling an honor code. It's probably the only thing that's consistent in her character. She's like the a concentrated abstraction
of everything wrong with youth in someone who should have learned better
at this point. Most of the rest of the cast are better written at least.

--
Michael J. Ryan
tracker1 +o Roughneck BBS

I think that's pretty much safe to say about any character. There are
moments in their timeline of belief systems that define them and help choose their actions. When I mean belief systems, I also include honor codes, rules and regulations, and personal and their cultural philosophies. there were times in the series Enterprise where Archer would make bad calls, however
that was a core philosophy of the series. He chose to go forward, knowing he will make mistakes alon the way.

I used to have a supervisor who liked slogans, such as "learning by doing,"
and "do it right the first time." I tried to explain part of learning is the bitter sting of making mistakes, and doing things right the first time
doesn't prove you're learing anything except you haven't made a mistake yet. He had nothing to throw back at me.

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: DaiTengu to Mantrid on Mon Jan 04 2021 11:28 pm

You take that back. Tilly is the best character in Discovery, and I will fi anyone who disagrees!

I repect your opinion so much that I'll let you keep her all to yourself :D ----------------------
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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: DaiTengu to Mantrid on Mon Jan 04 2021 11:28 pm

You take that back. Tilly is the best character in Discovery, and I will fight anyone who disagrees!

I also like Tilly in Discovery.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Mantrid to Tracker1 on Sun Jan 03 2021 04:32 pm

including the woman with the red hair
who they try to make "chatty" but its
like her monologues come out of the
beginners guide to writing annoying
sidekIcks. she doesnt even say much
either, just rattles it all off to make
it try to sound like a lot but it falls
flat and uncomfortable, has the be the
biggest "why are you here" character in
discovery, and this is discovery so

And they made her #1. Shes a freaking Ensign and now she's second to the Captain. It makes no sense! The other bridge officers are like happy and smiling that she got the job. Oh, I'm sure they're thrilled that their years of starfleet career just got overlooked so some chatty redhead could run the ship.

Ugh.

Bob Roberts

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to DaiTengu on Tue Jan 05 2021 08:50 am

You take that back. Tilly is the best character in Discovery, and I
will fight anyone who disagrees!

I also like Tilly in Discovery.

I think she is a fine character, and a good actor. However, I have problems with the role she is filling and it's realism in a Ship that is supposed to follow a military-like chain of command.

Bob Roberts

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Bob Roberts to Mantrid on Tue Jan 05 2021 12:06 pm


Ha, i mean she's no riker or spock that's for sure. her command would be one of those rubbish ships that shows up as a space-taxi every few series for the main characters (or... well... SOMEONE has to be found partially embedded in an asteroid...)
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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Mantrid to Bob Roberts on Wed Jan 06 2021 12:01 am

Ha, i mean she's no riker or spock that's for sure. her command would be

It would be good to quote the part of the message you're replying to so we have some context to what you're talking about. Who is the "she" you're referring to?

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to Mantrid on Thu Jan 07 2021 08:36 am

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Mantrid to Bob Roberts on Wed Jan 06 2021 12:01 am

Ha, i mean she's no riker or spock that's for sure. her command would b

It would be good to quote the part of the message you're replying to so we h some context to what you're talking about. Who is the "she" you're referrin to?

Nightfox

The conversation was around Tilly for the past few messages ----------------------
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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Mantrid to Tracker1 on Sun Jan 03 2021 04:32 pm

flat and uncomfortable, has the be the
biggest "why are you here" character in
discovery, and this is discovery so
that's saying an awful lot

Just pretend it's not a Trek show and it's actually called "Gays In Space", then it's pretty good.

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Phigan to Mantrid on Sun Jan 17 2021 04:08 pm

flat and uncomfortable, has the be the
biggest "why are you here" character in
discovery, and this is discovery so
that's saying an awful lot

Just pretend it's not a Trek show and it's actually called "Gays In Space", then it's pretty good.

That's a little stretch. Discovery is the anti-Trek in that the episodes follow a season-based arc instead of a per-episode wash, rinse, and repeat formula everyone got use to. I find Discovery an enjoyable and engaging story that is giving each character more depth as the seasons go on. Calling it "Gays in Space" is a stretch. Haven't you thought that maybe in the future people will stop looking at each other as straight or gay but instead fluid?

Dream Master

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Dream Master to Phigan on Sun Jan 17 2021 06:37 pm

That's a little stretch. Discovery is the anti-Trek in that the episodes follow a season-based arc instead of a per-episode wash, rinse, and repeat formula everyone got use to.

Didn't Deep Space 9 do season arcs too?

Also, Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs too.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Phigan to Mantrid on Sun Jan 17 2021 04:08 pm

Just pretend it's not a Trek show and it's actually called "Gays In Space", then it's pretty good.

ha, honestly if something was called "gays in space" i'd expect something a lot more disco, like buck rogers turned up to 11, nothing below fabulous would be allowed
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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Dream Master to Phigan on Sun Jan 17 2021 06:37 pm

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Phigan to Mantrid on Sun Jan 17 2021 04:08 pm

flat and uncomfortable, has the be the
biggest "why are you here" character in
discovery, and this is discovery so
that's saying an awful lot

Just pretend it's not a Trek show and it's actually called "Gays In Space then it's pretty good.

That's a little stretch. Discovery is the anti-Trek in that the episodes follow a season-based arc instead of a per-episode wash, rinse, and repeat formula everyone got use to. I find Discovery an enjoyable and engaging sto that is giving each character more depth as the seasons go on. Calling it "Gays in Space" is a stretch. Haven't you thought that maybe in the future people will stop looking at each other as straight or gay but instead fluid?

Dream Master

i find that it's anti trek in that exploring social issues or ethical issues in a setting that scifi as a vehicle allows isnt there at all. putting in a gay relationship then calling it a day is as far as they go, then it's onto generic action scifi with explosions and lasers

where's the exploration, the dilemmas, the character development, even DS9 managed very nuanced and multilayered characters even thought it was a very action-packed series around war (look at sisko's gradual slide into being a war criminal versus quark's observations on the real ethics of humanity when their backs are against the wall)
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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to Dream Master on Sun Jan 17 2021 10:16 pm

Didn't Deep Space 9 do season arcs too?

Also, Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs too.

I watched one or two seasons of DS9, didn't care for it. Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs and they are more enjoyable than individual episodes.

Dream Master

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Dream Master to Nightfox on Mon Jan 18 2021 10:20 am

I watched one or two seasons of DS9, didn't care for it. Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs and they are more enjoyable than individual episodes.

Lately there have been times when I've felt tired of pretty much every TV show these days doing whole-season story arcs. You can't miss an episode and jump in anywhere anymore. And you either watch the whole season or nothing. Episodes can often end with a cliffhanger.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to Dream Master on Mon Jan 18 2021 12:45 pm

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Dream Master to Nightfox on Mon Jan 18 2021 10:20 am

I watched one or two seasons of DS9, didn't care for it. Star Trek: Picard is doing
whole-season arcs and they are more enjoyable than individual episodes.

Lately there have been times when I've felt tired of pretty much every TV show these days do
whole-season story arcs. You can't miss an episode and jump in anywhere anymore. And you
either watch the whole season or nothing. Episodes can often end with a cliffhanger.

Nightfox

Not entirely related, but I feel like stepping in.

I like epic long story arcs in general, but they pose a lots of problems. That is the reason
why episodic series were the rule rather than the exception not so long ago: you could
broadcast any episode in any moment and it made no difference to the audience. This allowed for
Halloween specials and whatever have you, even.

For the record that is why I got The Worth of Immortality organized the way it is. You get
independent chapters that can be read in any order and are self-contained, but once you put
them together they build a long arc.


--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken

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Phigan wrote to Mantrid <=-

Just pretend it's not a Trek show and it's actually called "Gays In Space", then it's pretty good.

Only if you throw reverb on a '70s announcer reading the title.


... Destroy nothing; Destroy the most important thing
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Dream Master wrote to Phigan <=-

That's a little stretch. Discovery is the anti-Trek in that the
episodes follow a season-based arc instead of a per-episode wash,
rinse, and repeat formula everyone got use to.

DS9.

Probably my favorite show in the trek 'verse, primarily because of the dominion war story arc.


The time and energy spent building the story line made "Into the Pale Moonlight" such a powerful episode. The couldn't have come close to that
with a per-episode story model.

Enterprise played with season-long story arcs with the Xindi story.
... Destroy nothing; Destroy the most important thing
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Mantrid wrote to Phigan <=-

ha, honestly if something was called "gays in space" i'd expect
something a lot more disco, like buck rogers turned up to 11, nothing below fabulous would be allowed

I like how you think.


... Destroy nothing; Destroy the most important thing
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org

Mantrid wrote to Dream Master <=-

where's the exploration, the dilemmas, the character development, even
DS9 managed very nuanced and multilayered characters even thought it
was a very action-packed series around war (look at sisko's gradual
slide into being a war criminal versus quark's observations on the real ethics of humanity when their backs are against the wall)

And Nog recuperating at Vic's. Loved that story.


... Destroy nothing; Destroy the most important thing
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■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Dream Master on Mon Jan 18 2021 04:57 pm

Enterprise played with season-long story arcs with the Xindi story.

That was probably my least favorite season of Enterprise. Knowing the whole season was going to deal with the Xindi, I got a bit bored with the storyline after a little while, and I wanted to see something different.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to poindexter FORTRAN on Mon Jan 18 2021 09:44 pm

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Dream Master on Mon Jan 18 2021 04:57 pm

Enterprise played with season-long story arcs with the Xindi story.

That was probably my least favorite season of Enterprise. Knowing the whole season was going to deal with the Xindi, I got a bit bored with the storyline after a little while, and I wanted to see something different.

enterprise was ran by some very disorganized confused people.
it took so long to get its footing. they constantly changed the theme song around to appease tv guide's complaints.

they ended it horribly with a holodeck episode.

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Mantrid on Mon Jan 18 2021 04:58 pm

And Nog recuperating at Vic's. Loved that story.

oh yeah i forgot about that, an extended story around PTSD of someone who's character was defined how young and excitable he was.

that's why I think some of these new shows aren't proper trek, they've gone a bit space opera and focus on the action and cgi.

Now for the films, i approve on those being action-based, a lot of the trek films that tried to be extended episodes were utter crap so the recent star wars like ones are definitely welcome to me, but the episodes should go back to using scifi as a framework for very specific stories to be told and thoroughly investigated with respect to ethics
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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: MRO to Nightfox on Tue Jan 19 2021 12:26 am

enterprise was ran by some very disorganized confused people.
it took so long to get its footing. they constantly changed the theme song around to appease tv guide's complaints.

they ended it horribly with a holodeck episode.

I thought the first couple seasons were alright, and I thought season 4 was pretty good (though ending it like they did with the holodeck seemed a little weird).

And I thought they only changed the theme song maybe once or twice.. I don't remember constant changes in the theme song.

Nightfox

Dream Master wrote to Nightfox <=-

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to Dream Master on Sun Jan 17 2021 10:16 pm

Didn't Deep Space 9 do season arcs too?

Also, Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs too.

I watched one or two seasons of DS9, didn't care for it. Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs and they are more enjoyable than individual episodes.

I actually didn't care for DS9 in the 90s as it was midway when I got home from the Navy. I later watched it when the show appeared on Netflix (years ago when I
still had Netflix). I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sisko seemed, to me, to have realistic limitations and flaws that make us human. Picard only showed a few signs of that throughout TNG. Though I still thought Picard was the man.

I'm not fond of the new Picard series. I really tried to enjoy it.

Daniel

... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49

Nightfox wrote to Dream Master <=-

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Dream Master to Nightfox on Mon Jan 18 2021 10:20 am

I watched one or two seasons of DS9, didn't care for it. Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs and they are more enjoyable than individual episodes.

Lately there have been times when I've felt tired of pretty much every
TV show these days doing whole-season story arcs. You can't miss an episode and jump in anywhere anymore. And you either watch the whole season or nothing. Episodes can often end with a cliffhanger.

I'm with you there brother. I miss the terminal episode. Though, honestly, some shows play better with an arc. It does bug me that they always end with a cliffhanger:

Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul
The Mandalorian

Some shows play well that have multi-episode arcs, but not season-wide

Rebels
The Clone Wars

Other shows played better without one (albeit the inclusion of season-ending cliff-hangers):

ST: Voyager
ST: TNG
Or any show really

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: calcmandan to Nightfox on Tue Jan 19 2021 03:43 pm

Other shows played better without one (albeit the inclusion of season-ending cliff-hangers):

ST: Voyager
ST: TNG
Or any show really

Some shows (including the above mentioned) had 2-part episodes. Those were the days when they had to say "To be continued..." at the end of the episode, because episodes were usually stand-alone stories. Star Trek: Enterprise had 3-episode story arcs a couple times.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: calcmandan to Dream Master on Tue Jan 19 2021 03:29 pm

I'm not fond of the new Picard series. I really tried to enjoy it.

I feel like I enjoyed the new Picard series more than Discovery (at least, it seemed to have a better first season than Discovery's first season). But, even the first couple seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation weren't that great, so perhaps Picard will get better.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to MRO on Tue Jan 19 2021 08:28 am

And I thought they only changed the theme song maybe once or twice.. I don't remember constant changes in the theme song.

Nightfox

i binge watched it last month. they changed it about 4 times. sometimes it was little changes of tempo.

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to Dream Master on Sun Jan 17 2021 10:16 pm

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Dream Master to Phigan on Sun Jan 17 2021 06:37 pm

That's a little stretch. Discovery is the anti-Trek in that the episode follow a season-based arc instead of a per-episode wash, rinse, and rep formula everyone got use to.

Didn't Deep Space 9 do season arcs too?

Also, Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs too.

Nightfox

Ron Moore, king of the serial story writing pointed out the reason for self-contained "push the reset button" each was because TV networks used to pre-empt scheduled programming, which eventually cause episodes to be shown
out of order. Unless a change or addition to a character or crew member happened on the season opening episode, the issue had to be something that
had to be resolved by the end of the episode. If a character had PTSD or a dr ug problem, it would have to be something that could be resolved in 42
minutes and never re-occur or to have ever been noticable before that epiosde.

My favorite "reset" nitpick is when a ship survives a battle and has received 87% structural damage and will require a tow to the next starbase, then is magically in tip top shape by the next week. Voyager would piss me off
because of this. I recall one episode where the Hirogen turned then entire ship into large multi-deck holodecks for hunting down and reviving crew
members over and over, then the next week the ship didn't appear to have been gutted and modified. I imagine if the Borg transform a ship into their technology, it can't be reset to defaults easily either.

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Mantrid to Phigan on Mon Jan 18 2021 08:10 am

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Phigan to Mantrid on Sun Jan 17 2021 04:08 pm

Just pretend it's not a Trek show and it's actually called "Gays In Space then it's pretty good.

ha, honestly if something was called "gays in space" i'd expect something a more disco, like buck rogers turned up to 11, nothing below fabulous would b allowed
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Some times it appeared the extras were recruited from the local fetish or leather club.

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calcmandan wrote to Nightfox <=-

Lately there have been times when I've felt tired of pretty much every
TV show these days doing whole-season story arcs. You can't miss an episode and jump in anywhere anymore. And you either watch the whole season or nothing. Episodes can often end with a cliffhanger.

I'm with you there brother. I miss the terminal episode. Though,
honestly, some shows play better with an arc. It does bug me that
they always end with a cliffhanger:

Breaking Bad

I didn't think this ended with a cliffhanger. Walt is dead, and Jesse
gets away. His later doings are chronicled in the movie "El Camino".

Better Call Saul

Not over yet. I believe a new season is about to start, or will be
opening on Netflix, soon. Need to check on the status of this...


... Press any key to continue or any other key to quit
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MRO wrote to Nightfox <=-

And I thought they only changed the theme song maybe once or twice.. I don't remember constant changes in the theme song.

i binge watched it last month. they changed it about 4 times.
sometimes it was little changes of tempo.

Wrong. It changed ONCE, at the beginning of season 3.

Have you ever been right about *anything*?


... Ignorance can be cured. Stupid is forever.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
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On 01-17-21 18:37, Dream Master wrote to Phigan <=-

That's a little stretch. Discovery is the anti-Trek in that the
episodes follow a season-based arc instead of a per-episode wash,

Previous Trek has used arcs, most notably DS9, especially Season 7. And Enterprise had a season long arc with the Xindi. Anyway, I'm also enjoying Discovery. The ending of season 3 felt like Trek, with intellect and compassion being the factors for solving problems.

rinse, and repeat formula everyone got use to. I find Discovery an enjoyable and engaging story that is giving each character more depth
as the seasons go on. Calling it "Gays in Space" is a stretch.
Haven't you thought that maybe in the future people will stop looking
at each other as straight or gay but instead fluid?

One should hope that by the 23rd century, sexuality should be a non issue (except for the people you're actually dating or having sex with). :) Where I am, it has been moving in this direction for decades, at least as far as the general population in the street goes. Some scared little people are still carrying on, but they're a small and noisy (though potentially dangerous) minority.


... A University without students is like an ointment without a fly.
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On 01-17-21 22:16, Nightfox wrote to Dream Master <=-

That's a little stretch. Discovery is the anti-Trek in that the episodes follow a season-based arc instead of a per-episode wash, rinse, and repeat formula everyone got use to.

Didn't Deep Space 9 do season arcs too?

DS9 really had a major arc from the end of season 2 to the end of the series, if you count the Dominion threat, and whthin that, there were many smaller arcs. Season 7 was basically one big arc in itself.

Also, Star Trek: Picard is doing whole-season arcs too.

Yep. :)


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On 01-18-21 08:10, Mantrid wrote to Phigan <=-

ha, honestly if something was called "gays in space" i'd expect
something a lot more disco, like buck rogers turned up to 11, nothing below fabulous would be allowed

ROFLMAO! :D


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On 01-19-21 08:28, Nightfox wrote to MRO <=-

I thought the first couple seasons were alright, and I thought season 4 was pretty good (though ending it like they did with the holodeck
seemed a little weird).

I think the axe fell queskly, so they had to throw that last episode together. It was a disappointment, after season 4 being so good. Enterprise really found its feet in season 4, and season 5 and beyond could have been really good, with the Earth-Romulan war firing up (from other Trek sources) around 2155-2156, which is immediately after season 4 ended.

And I thought they only changed the theme song maybe once or twice.. I

I only recall the once (at the start of season 3), not counting the two mirror universe episodes, which had their own theme music.


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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Moondog to Nightfox on Tue Jan 19 2021 04:19 pm

My favorite "reset" nitpick is when a ship survives a battle and has received 87% structural damage and will require a tow to the next starbase, then is magically in tip top shape by the next week. Voyager would piss me off because of this. I recall one episode where the Hirogen turned then entire ship into large multi-deck holodecks for hunting down and reviving crew members over and over, then the next week the ship didn't appear to have been gutted and modified. I imagine if the Borg transform a ship into their technology, it can't be reset to defaults easily either.

Yeah, sometimes it seemed like things happened too fast. But I never really assumed there was exactly a week of time between episodes, even if that's how they were aired - Sometimes it seemed like one episode could take place over a timespan of hours, days, or even weeks or more. And since shows then were single-story episodes, I figured the in-universe time between episodes could be variable (though each season still represented about a year of time in the show).

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Vk3jed to Nightfox on Wed Jan 20 2021 02:32 pm

I think the axe fell queskly, so they had to throw that last episode together. It was a disappointment, after season 4 being so good. Enterprise really found its feet in season 4, and season 5 and beyond could have been really good, with the Earth-Romulan war firing up (from other Trek sources) around 2155-2156, which is immediately after season 4 ended.

Yeah, it would have been interesting. Also, I've heard rumors that there were plans to give the NX-01 Enterprise a refit, which would give it a secondary hull, making it look more like later Enterprises with a bigger hull and saucer section.

Nightfox

Gamgee wrote to calcmandan <=-

calcmandan wrote to Nightfox <=-

Lately there have been times when I've felt tired of pretty much every
TV show these days doing whole-season story arcs. You can't miss an episode and jump in anywhere anymore. And you either watch the whole season or nothing. Episodes can often end with a cliffhanger.

I'm with you there brother. I miss the terminal episode. Though,
honestly, some shows play better with an arc. It does bug me that
they always end with a cliffhanger:

Breaking Bad

I didn't think this ended with a cliffhanger. Walt is dead, and Jesse gets away. His later doings are chronicled in the movie "El Camino".

I was talking about the ends of episodes, not teh series. El Camino was okay.

Better Call Saul

Not over yet. I believe a new season is about to start, or will be opening on Netflix, soon. Need to check on the status of this...

THey still end with multi-arcs always in mid-stream. There's always something nagging Saul that will eventually resolve itself.

Daniel

... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
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Nightfox wrote to calcmandan <=-

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: calcmandan to Nightfox on Tue Jan 19 2021 03:43 pm

Other shows played better without one (albeit the inclusion of season-ending cliff-hangers):

ST: Voyager
ST: TNG
Or any show really

Some shows (including the above mentioned) had 2-part episodes. Those were the days when they had to say "To be continued..." at the end of
the episode, because episodes were usually stand-alone stories. Star Trek: Enterprise had 3-episode story arcs a couple times.

By the time Enterprise came out, I was burned out on star trek. Having grown up with it, and at one point, there was not a single hour of the evening where there wasn't a star trek playing.

I may give it a shot at some point.

Daniel

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Phigan wrote to Mantrid <=-

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Mantrid to Tracker1 on Sun Jan 03 2021 04:32 pm

flat and uncomfortable, has the be the
biggest "why are you here" character in
discovery, and this is discovery so
that's saying an awful lot

Just pretend it's not a Trek show and it's actually called "Gays In Space", then it's pretty good.

I liked season 1 of Discovery although I saw obvious flaws built in.
I found it refreshing but not worth continuing for longer.

I tried 2-3 episodes of season 2 and stopped following it, for no strong reason.. just got bored.

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: calcmandan to Nightfox on Wed Jan 20 2021 02:23 pm

By the time Enterprise came out, I was burned out on star trek. Having grown up with it, and at one point, there was not a single hour of the evening where there wasn't a star trek playing.

I may give it a shot at some point.

I've never felt burned out with Star Trek. I've always liked it and never really felt like I got tired of it.

On the other hand, there are some other long-running shows that I haven't watched in years, such as The Simpsons and South Park..

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: hollowone to Phigan on Thu Jan 21 2021 11:38:00

I mean, it's not like DS9 wasn't "Gays In Space" and also absolutely baller as a show.

People's memories are too short :P

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On 1/4/2021 11:06 PM, Moondog wrote:

My biggest issue is the character development for the lead character is
absolutely absent. Time after time after time this character just does
what they decide is best, completely ignoring the chain of command or
anything resembling an honor code. It's probably the only thing that's
consistent in her character. She's like the a concentrated abstraction
of everything wrong with youth in someone who should have learned better
at this point. Most of the rest of the cast are better written at least.

I used to have a supervisor who liked slogans, such as "learning by doing," and "do it right the first time." I tried to explain part of learning is the bitter sting of making mistakes, and doing things right the first time doesn't prove you're learing anything except you haven't made a mistake yet. He had nothing to throw back at me.

Making mistakes is natural.. but making the same mistake time after time
after time, and never really learning from them? It really didn't start
to tick me off until this most recent season as she repeated all the
same mistakes that she had done before... yeah, some turned out
differently, it still isn't right.

--
Michael J. Ryan
tracker1 +o Roughneck BBS
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On 1/5/2021 1:06 PM, Bob Roberts wrote:

And they made her #1. Shes a freaking Ensign and now she's second to the Captain. It makes no sense! The other bridge officers are like happy and smiling that she got the job. Oh, I'm sure they're thrilled that their
years of starfleet career just got overlooked so some chatty redhead could run the ship.

Pretty much what they did for the movie reboot with Kirk though.

--
Michael J. Ryan
tracker1 +o Roughneck BBS
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On 01-19-21 20:56, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Yeah, it would have been interesting. Also, I've heard rumors that
there were plans to give the NX-01 Enterprise a refit, which would give
it a secondary hull, making it look more like later Enterprises with a bigger hull and saucer section.

A real shame the fans and network didn't give Enterprise the chance it deserved. I could see it getting better with each passing season.


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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Nightfox to calcmandan on Thu Jan 21 2021 08:21 am

On the other hand, there are some other long-running shows that I haven't watched in years, such as
The Simpsons and South Park..

Awww. Give South Park another shot. Maybe try "The South Park Pandemic Special" on HBOMax.

I burned out on the Simpsons awhile ago. They still get recorded but the number of episodes waiting for me keeps growing and growing.

Bob Roberts

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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: Bob Roberts to Nightfox on Fri Jan 22 2021 05:02 pm

On the other hand, there are some other long-running shows that I
haven't watched in years, such as The Simpsons and South Park..

Awww. Give South Park another shot. Maybe try "The South Park Pandemic Special" on HBOMax.

It's not that I didn't like it. I just stopped watching it after a while.

I burned out on the Simpsons awhile ago. They still get recorded but the number of episodes waiting for me keeps growing and growing.

I've heard The Simpsons isn't as good as it used to be. I may have stopped watching it before it got "bad".

Nightfox

Awww. Give South Park another shot. Maybe try "The South Park Pandemic Specia
" on HBOMax.

I usually like South Park but, if your first episode turns out to be one of
the crappy episodes (and, for some reason, Comedy Central reruns those more often than the side-splitters), you won't like it.

I burned out on the Simpsons awhile ago. They still get recorded but the numbe
of episodes waiting for me keeps growing and growing.

I was for a while. Something has changed recently. There have actually
been more episodes so far this season that I could mistake for
earlier-season episodes, quality-wise. I have started looking forward to
the next episode again.


* SLMR 2.1a * "I'm cold, and there are wolves after me!"-Granpa Simpson

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Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Yeah, it would have been interesting. Also, I've heard rumors that
there were plans to give the NX-01 Enterprise a refit, which would give
it a secondary hull, making it look more like later Enterprises with a bigger hull and saucer section.

I didn't know if that was canon or not, but have seen images of the refit.


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Re: Re: Star Trek: Enterprise
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Fri Jan 22 2021 06:15 am

Yeah, it would have been interesting. Also, I've heard rumors that
there were plans to give the NX-01 Enterprise a refit, which would
give it a secondary hull, making it look more like later Enterprises
with a bigger hull and saucer section.

I didn't know if that was canon or not, but have seen images of the refit.

Since it didn't appear in the show, I'm guessing it's probably not canon. I'm not sure if they'd work it into other shows (Discovery or Picard) that the NX-01 got a refit though, or if they'd make it canon some other way.

Nightfox

Nightfox wrote to calcmandan <=-

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: calcmandan to Nightfox on Wed Jan 20 2021 02:23 pm

By the time Enterprise came out, I was burned out on star trek. Having grown up with it, and at one point, there was not a single hour of the evening where there wasn't a star trek playing.

I may give it a shot at some point.

I've never felt burned out with Star Trek. I've always liked it and
never really felt like I got tired of it.

On the other hand, there are some other long-running shows that I
haven't watched in years, such as The Simpsons and South Park..

I think I aged out of South Park and the Simpsons (which started when I was in high school mind you).

I never got into the simpsons but my wife used to check every week for new episodes, but that stopped around 2008. I haven't seen South Park since about then. We cancelled cable in 2010. Cancelled Netflix in 2017. Talking about cancelling Prime at the moment. We got nice antenna for broadcast tv but neither
of us watch that at all. Too many ads and most broadcast shows suck butthole.

I buy most dvd's at goodwill. And for anything fresh, there's putlocker and redbox. Yeah we're weird.


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Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: calcmandan to Nightfox on Sat Jan 23 2021 06:38 am

I think I aged out of South Park and the Simpsons (which started when I was in high school mind you).

I never got into the simpsons but my wife used to check every week for new episodes, but that stopped around 2008. I haven't seen South Park since about then.

I was 9 years old when The Simpsons started. I think I only really watched The Simpsons regularly (or semi-regularly) for about 5 years or so. I think the last episode of The Simpsons I actually sat down and watched completely was in 1994. I've seen bits of it and maybe an episode or two since then.

I watched South Park in 1999 to 2000 a bit and haven't watched it regularly since then.

We cancelled cable in 2010. Cancelled Netflix in 2017. Talking
about cancelling Prime at the moment. We got nice antenna for broadcast tv but neither
of us watch that at all. Too many ads and most broadcast shows suck butthole.

I still like to watch some shows on antenna TV. Sometimes I like to watch game shows, and I like catching the news sometimes when I have some free time, at least for local news. I guess I'm used to antenna TV having ads, since I watched antenna TV pretty much my whole life. Streaming is a relatively new thing, and even cable TV could have ads. I do like being able to watch a show without ads though.

I buy most dvd's at goodwill. And for anything fresh, there's putlocker and redbox. Yeah we're weird.

I don't see why that's weird. Sometimes I like to browse DVD & blu-ray movies at Goodwill - though I've noticed sometimes they're older editions, so I'll sometimes check that before buying one. Same with music on CDs.

I've noticed it seems like it's becoming harder to find movies released on optical disc formats sometimes. Maybe it's just now the market is going (I've heard people are not buying them as much as they used to). I recently had heard Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure was released on 4K blu-ray in the UK but not in the US. And I was at the store the other day and saw Bill & Ted Face the Music on regular blu-ray but not on 4K blu-ray. But apparently you can buy it on 4K on Amazon Prime streaming. I suppose as long as you could download the video file and play it any time you want and without DRM, I wouldn't be totally opposed to buying movies that are available as a video file rather than a disc.

I used to rent movies from Redbox, but I haven't for quite a while. And
I'm not aware of Putlocker?

Nightfox

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: calcmandan to Nightfox on Sat Jan 23 2021 06:38 am

I never got into the simpsons but my wife used to check every week for new episodes
but that stopped around 2008. I haven't seen South Park since about then. We cancel
cable in 2010. Cancelled Netflix in 2017. Talking about cancelling Prime at the
moment. We got nice antenna for broadcast tv but neither
of us watch that at all. Too many ads and most broadcast shows suck butthole.

My father is a big Prime fan, or used to be. Turns out their catalogue is going to
worse. It is getting harder to find movies that are better than "bus" quality, and
when you do, they want you to pay more.

* Bus Quality is the quality you may expect from a movie they play during a bus trip.

--
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Arelor wrote to calcmandan <=-

Re: Re: Any thoughts on Disco
By: calcmandan to Nightfox on Sat Jan 23 2021 06:38 am

I never got into the simpsons but my wife used to check every week for new

ep

isodes

but that stopped around 2008. I haven't seen South Park since about then. We

cancel

cable in 2010. Cancelled Netflix in 2017. Talking about cancelling Prime at

t

he

moment. We got nice antenna for broadcast tv but neither
of us watch that at all. Too many ads and most broadcast shows suck

butthole.

My father is a big Prime fan, or used to be. Turns out their catalogue
is going to worse. It is getting harder to find movies that are better than "bus" quality, and when you do, they want you to pay more.

* Bus Quality is the quality you may expect from a movie they play
during a bus trip.

I can relate. Netflix was like that from the beginning. Just a bunch of... old movies and tv shows. We're currently looking into cancellation of Prime. She uses amazon A LOT. I mean, TONS. but i suggested we look at our orders and see if they all qualify for free shipping. And if they dont, why not merge orders so they do. And even then, is it so bad to pay for shipping once in a while considering we pay $60+ a year for membership?

Wife would spend forty-five minutes flipping through album art. Then shut the tv off and pick up a book. Quite the bookworm she is. Amazon's more-or-less
the same.

I get better results with my library's streaming library (who buys titles on request) and putlocker (seemingly has everything including movies at the theater).

Anyhoo.

Daniel

... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49

Bus Quality is the quality you may expect from a movie they play during a bus trip.

I don't think we even get movies on bus trips here. :(


* SLMR 2.1a * You radiate cold shafts of broken glass!

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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: calcmandan to Arelor on Tue Jan 26 2021 01:26 pm

I can relate. Netflix was like that from the beginning. Just a bunch of... old movies and tv shows. We're currently looking into cancellation of Prime. She uses amazo
LOT. I mean, TONS. but i suggested we look at our orders and see if they all qualify for free shipping. And if they dont, why not merge orders so they do. And even th
is it so bad to pay for shipping once in a while considering we pay $60+ a year for membership?

Wife would spend forty-five minutes flipping through album art. Then shut the tv off and pick up a book. Quite the bookworm she is. Amazon's more-or-less
the same.

I get better results with my library's streaming library (who buys titles on request) and putlocker (seemingly has everything including movies at the theater).

Anyhoo.

Daniel

After the last Prime film I have watched, I can just say I would be deleting my Prime account if I had one.

WHAT A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP.

This sort of film would NEVER make it through an ordinary distribution channel. I think they are cramming all the junk in online streaming services because those are the
only ones that will take it. On the other hand, regular distribution avenues (cinemas, optical media) are going to hell becuse people prefers cheap junk.

I am glad I have a pile of DVDs from the golden era, because the future of cinema (and of creative work in general) is bleak as heck.

--
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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Dumas Walker to ARELOR on Tue Jan 26 2021 01:51 pm

Bus Quality is the quality you may expect from a movie they play during a bus trip.

I don't think we even get movies on bus trips here. :(

* SLMR 2.1a * You radiate cold shafts of broken glass!

It depends... here in Spain, ALSA buses come with a tablet per passenger with access to an internal library of books, movies and music.

They used to have "good" B-movies, so while the things they had were nothing to write home about, at least you didn't get bored during the trip. Now they have started
bringing cheaper European junk and most of it is terrible.

--
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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Arelor to calcmandan on Wed Jan 27 2021 08:20 am

This sort of film would NEVER make it through an ordinary distribution chann I think they are cramming all the junk in online streaming services because those are the only ones that will take it. On the other hand, regular distribution avenues (cinemas, optical media) are going to hell becuse peopl prefers cheap junk.

this is by no means unique to prime though; Adam Sandler is doing very well for himself and his friends through Netflix, I don't know what blackmail material he has on them but he has turned netflix into a family cashcow for someone who in my opinion ranks among the dross filler material of steven seagal ----------------------
United Kingdom BBS: ukbbs.zapto.org:64 (40cols) ukbbs.zapto.org:128 (80cols)

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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Arelor to calcmandan on Wed Jan 27 2021 08:20 am

channel. I think they are cramming all the junk in online streaming services because those are the only ones that will take it. On the other hand, regular distribution avenues (cinemas, optical media) are going to hell becuse people prefers cheap junk.

Movie theaters have gotten fairly expensive though. In the early 90s, in my area, you could go see a new movie in the theater for $3.25 if you went before 3PM or something (later showtimes were $5 or something). Now, a movie theater ticket is at least $10 or so.

I do like optical discs. I don't always like relying on streaming for everything. But it seems online streaming is where many people are going these days.. There are some movies in some formats (such as 4K) that seem to be coming out on online streaming before optical disc..

Nightfox

On 2021-01-25 3:39 p.m., Arelor wrote:

My father is a big Prime fan, or used to be. Turns out their catalogue is going to
worse. It is getting harder to find movies that are better than "bus" quality, and
when you do, they want you to pay more.

It's just because I'm prime for the deliveries and that's the video and
music are bundled with it that i have it.

I appreciate that "The Expanse" is on it, it's probably the only thing
I've watched on that service in a while. The music? never used it.

It's definitely not something I would subscribe to if it's wasn't
bundled with prime. If they where to detach it from Prime, I wouldn't follow

Now of course it's going down in selection, like also a lot of stuff is leaving Netflix. A lot when to HBO and other smaller player. Everybody
want to have theirs own service.

But 6$, 8$ there, there is so much that people will be willing to pay
for, it's just back to what cable is and that's why people left cable.

They should see what happened with music. You don't really have
exclusivity on any of the services and you get royalties when your stuff
get played. The better your stuff, the more it get played and the more
$$$ you make. And instead to limit your revenues to one service you get
to make cash with the others too. Or really make it a pay per view. You
want to see that episode ? it's 99c, that movie? X$ buck and let people decide. Now where are financing stuff we don't even really care about.

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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Mantrid to Arelor on Wed Jan 27 2021 03:09 pm

this is by no means unique to prime though; Adam Sandler is doing very well for himself and his friends through Netflix, I don't know what blackmail material he has on them but he has turned netflix into a family cashcow for someone who in my opinion ranks among the dross filler material of steven seagal ----------------------

Sandler had to remake himself or be stuck in the land of progressively bad comedies. For a time, I was hoping Seagal would become a better action star, but he instead turned into some whiny cut-scene, I don't know, crap star. :|

Brian Klauss <-> Dream Master
Caught in a Dream | caughtinadream.com a Synchronet BBS

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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ennev to Arelor on Wed Jan 27 2021 11:00 am

But 6$, 8$ there, there is so much that people will be willing to pay for, it's just back to what cable is and that's why people left cable.

I agree. The idea was to cut costs, but with different shows being on different streaming services, you might end up spending close to the same amount of money.

A while ago, I saw a meme someone posted that said something like "Some genius will probably end up bundling all the streaming services together and basically re-invent cable."

Nightfox

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Dream Master to Mantrid on Wed Jan 27 2021 09:06 am

well for himself and his friends through Netflix, I don't know what
blackmail material he has on them but he has turned netflix into a
family cashcow for someone who in my opinion ranks among the dross
filler material of steven seagal ----------------------

steven seagal's movies in the beginning were great. or i thought they were great during that time.

then he got to have his own artistic direction and obviously this dude has personality disorders.

adamn sandler i'm totally sick of. i used to love that guy.

---
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On 1/27/2021 7:20 AM, Arelor wrote:

This sort of film would NEVER make it through an ordinary
distribution channel. I think they are cramming all the
junk in online streaming services because those are the
only ones that will take it. On the other hand, regular
distribution avenues (cinemas, optical media) are going
to hell becuse people prefers cheap junk.

I think you dramatically underestimate the amount of crap to make it
throuh "ordinary distribution" prior to COVID... there was a LOT of it.

For every one of your "golden" DVDs, there are half a dozen movies that
were a hot mess.
--
Michael J. Ryan (tracker1)
+o roughneckbbs.com
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Hello Arelor!

** On Wednesday 27.01.21 - 08:20, Arelor wrote to calcmandan:

After the last Prime film I have watched, I can just say I
would be deleting my Prime account if I had one.

WHAT A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP.

What was the film you watched? Is it Guns Akimbo with
Radcliffe?

This sort of film would NEVER make it through an ordinary
distribution channel. I think they are cramming all the junk
in online streaming services because those are the only ones
that will take it. On the other hand, regular distribution
avenues (cinemas, optical media) are going to hell becuse
people prefers cheap junk.

Home theater is becoming the norm too. The covid-thing keeping
people locked up in their homes is not helping the typical
theatre business.

The streaming services are designed to keep people hooked. One-
time 100-minute movies wouldn't necessarily cut it. But a good
series could keep people coming back or paying per episode.

Although there might be junk in the streaming services, there
are some fairly decent offerings too. I really enjoyed "I AM
MOTHER", "Breaking Bad", "Ozark", "District 9".

I just started trying out "The Expanse". The audio isn't very
good - hard to make out what some of the actors are saying - but
maybe it gets better. I've only seen the 1st episode of season
1 of 5. I am intrigued to give it a go. One of the special-
effects people (surname Commisso) is a Canadian who works on the
special effects team in Season 4 and onward. His proud father
told me about his son's windfall project on The Expanse.

I am glad I have a pile of DVDs from the golden era, because
the future of cinema (and of creative work in general) is
bleak as heck.

One thing I like about the earlier films is that the scripts
were actually very good and jam-packed with quick and smart
dialog.

I am not prepared to declare that the future of cinema is bleak,
but there sure are some adjustments and testing of the market
going on.


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Hello Arelor!

** On Wednesday 27.01.21 - 08:23, Arelor wrote to Dumas Walker:

... here in Spain, ALSA buses come with a tablet per
passenger with access to an internal library of books,
movies and music.

They used to have "good" B-movies, so while the things they
had were nothing to write home about, at least you didn't
get bored during the trip. Now they have started bringing
cheaper European junk and most of it is terrible.

You spend a lot of time on these busses?


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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Tracker1 to Arelor on Wed Jan 27 2021 05:49 pm

On 1/27/2021 7:20 AM, Arelor wrote:

This sort of film would NEVER make it through an ordinary
distribution channel. I think they are cramming all the
junk in online streaming services because those are the
only ones that will take it. On the other hand, regular
distribution avenues (cinemas, optical media) are going
to hell becuse people prefers cheap junk.

I think you dramatically underestimate the amount of crap to make it
throuh "ordinary distribution" prior to COVID... there was a LOT of it.

For every one of your "golden" DVDs, there are half a dozen movies that
were a hot mess.

Oh, not, I don't understimate it :-)

Some family activity I loved was going with family into the VHS and (later) DVD store and see what was up for sale.

There was a TON of crap there either. But for it to be there, it had to convince the retailer to have it in stock, and somebody
to distribute it to the retailer, so the very very very bad junk had a higher chance of getting chopped off.

Same with cinemas.

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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Jan 27 2021 11:00 pm

After the last Prime film I have watched, I can just say I
would be deleting my Prime account if I had one.

WHAT A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP.

What was the film you watched? Is it Guns Akimbo with
Radcliffe?

Guns Akimbo was stupid and it is never going to win a meaningful award, but you could tell it had a soul. I found it to be
entertaining. Nothing to write home about, but not a time waster. It is also an honest film in that it does not pretend to be
something it is not - it is a movie about a guy who gets two guns bolted into his hands and forced to compete in some sort of
bloody e-sport, what the heck do you expect from such movie? :-P

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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Jan 27 2021 11:00 pm

I am glad I have a pile of DVDs from the golden era, because
the future of cinema (and of creative work in general) is
bleak as heck.

One thing I like about the earlier films is that the scripts
were actually very good and jam-packed with quick and smart
dialog.

I am not prepared to declare that the future of cinema is bleak,
but there sure are some adjustments and testing of the market
going on.

I don't want to sound like a snob or anything, but I find a lot of REALLY old films that were not suposed to be
superproductions or anything beat many modern movies with lots of resources thrown in.

Modern horror movies are not about plots, mystery, terror; they are about spilling guts and spraying blood all around. Any of
the old Karlof stuff could not afford the special effects to be fancy, so they had to have _story_ and _actors_ in it in order
to work.

Don't get me wrong, lots of the old stuff is abismal bad, but if you start watching stuff from 1915, then the 20s, then the
50s, then 2000s.... there is a very, very clear tendency to replace "substance" with "effects".

Maybe pàrt of it is that in the very beggining, films had the artistic value of a handcrafted piece of art with a limited
comercial life... producers didn't think they could comercialize a movie after it had been already played at cinemas so they
recycled the films - and I mean, they recycled the actuall rolls of film. Films were considered to be short lived and unique.

Now it is about producing as much cheap junk as possible and selling it fast.

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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Jan 27 2021 11:01 pm

Hello Arelor!

** On Wednesday 27.01.21 - 08:23, Arelor wrote to Dumas Walker:

... here in Spain, ALSA buses come with a tablet per
passenger with access to an internal library of books,
movies and music.

They used to have "good" B-movies, so while the things they
had were nothing to write home about, at least you didn't
get bored during the trip. Now they have started bringing
cheaper European junk and most of it is terrible.

You spend a lot of time on these busses?

I used to do.

I posess the only set of keys to some of the server rooms of the medical firm I work for. Everytime there is scheduled
maintenance I am expected to be there, just in case something goes south :-) Also my paraphramacy supplies their clinic with a
lot of goodies. All in all I was making 2 trips a week.

The buses had wifi, so I could pull out a laptop during the trip and get work done during the trip itself. It was not even a
waste of time. And the medical firm paid for the bus ticket. They bought them in bulk so they were cheap as heck for them.

Now most bus lines have been cancelled and trains are just too expensive :-( Now I have to share a car with some relative that
does a similar trip every week.


--
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On 2021-01-27 3:42 p.m., Nightfox wrote:

A while ago, I saw a meme someone posted that said something like "Some genius will probably end up bundling all the streaming services together and basically re-invent cable."

Sadly that guy is going to get slammed down by the majors players. I
remember a firm that use to give live tv over the net. and they are a
model that was solid in a way it had a little tuner for each subscriber,
so in a way it was not illegal sharing etc. They got shot down.

Sad, but that's going to be hard when the content and the distribution
is owned by the same player. They are talking about monopolies, that
should be one that should looked into. Should a media owner also own the cable/cell/telephone network to broadcast it's stuff?

---
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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ennev to Nightfox on Thu Jan 28 2021 08:19 am

On 2021-01-27 3:42 p.m., Nightfox wrote:

A while ago, I saw a meme someone posted that said something like "Some genius will probably end up bundling all the
streaming services together and basically re-invent cable."

Sadly that guy is going to get slammed down by the majors players. I remember a firm that use to give live tv over the net. and they are a
model that was solid in a way it had a little tuner for each subscriber,
so in a way it was not illegal sharing etc. They got shot down.

Sad, but that's going to be hard when the content and the distribution
is owned by the same player. They are talking about monopolies, that
should be one that should looked into. Should a media owner also own the cable/cell/telephone network to broadcast it's stu

I think they covered that in a Linux Magazine article.

What you describe is a _vertical_ monopoly, in which I own a mining company, a foundry and a hardware store. I can mine ore,
produce screws and sell them to the end user without needing to purchase services from my competitors.

In my opinion, it is not a problem, since the end user can always decide that my screws are bad, and go purchase screws from
some other hardware store.

The problematic monopolies are _horizontal_ monopolies. If I only own a hardware store, but I have the only store in town, my
suppliers must compete among each other in order to offer me the conditions I prefer, but the end user is stuck with the screws
I decide to supply to him.

Or (wait for it), we can say the end user is screwed.

Returning back to the subject, I don't think it is bad somebody owns a whole supply chain as long as there are choices to pick
and, most importantly, if all the choices suck, you can opt out of start one yourself.

--
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Ogg wrote to Arelor <=-

I just started trying out "The Expanse". The audio isn't very
good - hard to make out what some of the actors are saying - but
maybe it gets better.

I had a real hard time with Battlestar Galactica's audio - specifically Starbuck. The actor was playing a sort of low, monotone, almost mumbly tone that made it hard to hear her; I have a sound bar with a "dialog enhance" feature I'd need to use just for that show.


... Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream.
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I appreciate that "The Expanse" is on it, it's probably the only thing
I've watched on that service in a while. The music? never used it.

yes. I was about to give in and take advantage of the 30-day free trial
but then I realized that S4 has finally be released on DVD. :) Once I
finish it, I might take advantage to see the three S5 episodes that are out now.


* SLMR 2.1a * He knows changes aren't permanent - but change is!

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On 28 Jan 2021, Ennev said the following...

Sadly that guy is going to get slammed down by the majors players. I remember a firm that use to give live tv over the net. and they are a model that was solid in a way it had a little tuner for each subscriber, so in a way it was not illegal sharing etc. They got shot down.

I believe that was Aereo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aereo

The service was never available in Canada, but because of them we ended putting up our own antenna. We're not too far from the US border so we get all the usual US channels like Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC & even CW along with all of the Canadian networks like Global, City TV, CTV & CBC.

I was surprised when we first got it how clear everything is being over-the-air HD. We later bought a Tablo OTA DVR and now we can watch over-the-air TV on our Apple TV & also on any mobile device, even when we're not home.

Supplement this with a streaming service or two and I'm not missing paying for cable at all.


Jay

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On 2021-01-28 9:54 a.m., Warpslide wrote:

I believe that was Aereo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aereo

you got it !

The service was never available in Canada, but because of them we ended putting up our own antenna. We're not too far from the US border so we get all the usual US channels like Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC & even CW along with all of the Canadian networks like Global, City TV, CTV & CBC.

I was surprised when we first got it how clear everything is being over-the-air HD. We later bought a Tablo OTA DVR and now we can watch over-the-air TV on our Apple TV & also on any mobile device, even when we're not home.

Yah, most cable provider will give local channel and network one on 720P
even when they claim "full HD" and yet over the air HD can achieve 1080i
like cbc and RC here in montreal and with much less compression.

I was looking at a time a tumer like the one made like SiliconDust
HomeRun, when you can stream it acrouss your network in your home like
appleTV etc.

I know know the Tablo will look for it :-D

---
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On 2021-01-28 10:08 a.m., Arelor wrote:

The problematic monopolies are _horizontal_ monopolies. If I only own a hardware store, but I have the only store in town, my
suppliers must compete among each other in order to offer me the conditions I prefer, but the end user is stuck with the screws
I decide to supply to him.

Yes in small market, sometime you only have one choice, so it's free
market then, even here in Montreal there is mostly 2 big player, one
with bell but with theirs fibre they now offer tv/internet too and the
cable compagny how offer ipphone/tv/internet too. But it's clear that
there is collusion and no real effort to compete.

You want to switch? go ahead! you'll get the same crappy customer
service and options are a similar price. That's about it.

So you have to hardware store that are just ok with one another and
don't want to mess with the balance they have achieved. But you have the illusion of choice.

To start here? that's more investment that most wold be able to achieve. Already the phone post you could use are owned by one of the guy and
you'll have to pay them rent to put your wires on them. Airwaves? Highly reglemented and sold trough auctions where the big guys will always win.

When I small manage to start something they get bought with offer they
can't refuse I guess.

But your right as long as the offer options for customers and some affordability.

But sometime the government had to jump in for mobile phone service, to
force some conditions and it's the treat of bringing more regulation
that don't let the price go rampant.

But i get that for an operator it's hard to offer a service across a
nation where population is not dense except some urban center.

---
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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Ogg on Thu Jan 28 2021 07:08 am

Ogg wrote to Arelor <=-

I just started trying out "The Expanse". The audio isn't very
good - hard to make out what some of the actors are saying - but
maybe it gets better.

I had a real hard time with Battlestar Galactica's audio - specifically Starbuck. The actor was playing a sort of low, monotone, almost mumbly tone that made it hard to hear her; I have a sound bar with a "dialog enhance" feature I'd need to use just for that show.

i binge watch bsg again about once a year. i dont have an issue with the audio. maybe it's the content or your setup needs fixing or tweaking.

---
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Hello poindexter!

** On Thursday 28.01.21 - 07:08, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Ogg:

I just started trying out "The Expanse". The audio isn't
very good - hard to make out what some of the actors are
saying - but maybe it gets better.

I had a real hard time with Battlestar Galactica's audio -
specifically Starbuck. The actor was playing a sort of low,
monotone, almost mumbly tone that made it hard to hear her;

I just finished S1 E3 of Expanse and the audio still sucks. The
actors are barely opening their mouths to speak. Only when there
is an action scene with yelling and screaming, *then* most of it
is clear.

I'm watching other film material and the audio is fine.

I have a sound bar with a "dialog enhance" feature I'd need
to use just for that show.

I don't seem to have additional sound options on my tv. My tv
provides fairly decent video settings (standard, game, vivid,
cinema, custom). But nothing for sound.

I just checked... I *do* have: bass, & treble. Bass was at +10,
and treble was at -1. I'll try cranking up the treble and see
what happens.

I'm still not convinced that I want to watch all 5 seasons of
The Expanse though. If the sounds improves, then *maybe* - 'cuz
the effects are interesting to see.


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Hello Warpslide!

** On Thursday 28.01.21 - 14:54, Warpslide wrote to Ennev:

I believe that was Aereo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aereo

That was an interesting read. Too bad the courts decided that
they could not qualify for copyright licensing in the end so as
to make things right.

Aereo leased individual antennas and dvrs on their facilities to
subscribers who would then access the material via internet.

Whereas TiVo did the reverse - requiring the subscriber to have
set-top boxes to manage the programming.

..so we get all the usual US channels like Fox, CBS, NBC,
ABC & even CW along with all of the Canadian networks like
Global, City TV, CTV & CBC.

I only get Global OTA (and it's not the HD digital version),
from my antenna facing east - the signal is never consistant
quality. I barely get CTV2 (Barrie) - it's the snowyiest, but
with the antenna "stuck" in the East position, that is to be
expected.

As a result, I only watch the early or late evening news. Most
of the time it is sit-com crap.

I was surprised when we first got it how clear everything is
being over-the-air HD. We later bought a Tablo OTA DVR and
now we can watch over-the-air TV on our Apple TV & also on
any mobile device, even when we're not home.

Supplement this with a streaming service or two and I'm not
missing paying for cable at all.

In a way, I am glad I don't have all those options. I am forced
- which I don't mind - to plan and be very selective with my
viewing material.

Many years ago I purchased a DVR-HDD tuner/machine. Its tuner
turned out to be better than the default one in the tv at the
time. Its "live" time-shifting feature was/is very cool. It's
also great for producing DVDs from VHS tapes. It even allows
modest editing of the material stored on its hdd and then
burning it to DVD. It also plays MP3 discs. All I really need
is to add an external amp to take advantage of the digital audio
OUT to bypass the wimpy tv speakers.


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Hello Arelor!

** On Thursday 28.01.21 - 05:41, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

After the last Prime film I have watched, I can just say
I would be deleting my Prime account if I had one.

WHAT A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP.

What was the film you watched?

Guns Akimbo was stupid and it is never going to win a
meaningful award, but you could tell it had a soul. ...

OK. But what do you call "A PILE OF SKOKING CRAP" above? Give
us examples.


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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ogg to Arelor on Thu Jan 28 2021 09:19 pm

Hello Arelor!

** On Thursday 28.01.21 - 05:41, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

After the last Prime film I have watched, I can just say
I would be deleting my Prime account if I had one.

WHAT A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP.

What was the film you watched?

Guns Akimbo was stupid and it is never going to win a
meaningful award, but you could tell it had a soul. ...

OK. But what do you call "A PILE OF SKOKING CRAP" above? Give
us examples.

Well, in this case, the film that qualified as A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP would be "Timetrap".

Specially bad because they purchased a lot of positive reviews in IMDB.

I'd watch Guns Akimbo ten times in a row than suffer Timetrap again.

Other films that qualify as A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP in Prime would include the Project Philadelphia remake and Checkpoint.

--
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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Arelor to Ogg on Fri Jan 29 2021 04:37 am

Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ogg to Arelor on Thu Jan 28 2021 09:19 pm

Hello Arelor!

** On Thursday 28.01.21 - 05:41, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

After the last Prime film I have watched, I can just say
I would be deleting my Prime account if I had one.

WHAT A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP.

What was the film you watched?

Guns Akimbo was stupid and it is never going to win a
meaningful award, but you could tell it had a soul. ...

OK. But what do you call "A PILE OF SKOKING CRAP" above? Give
us examples.

Well, in this case, the film that qualified as A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP would be "Timetrap".

i think tenet was a horrible movie. and they spent all that time working on the screenplay. i hated it.

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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: MRO to Arelor on Fri Jan 29 2021 05:32 pm

i think tenet was a horrible movie. and they spent all that time working on the screenplay. i hated it.

Tenet rocked! The movie was amazing.

Brian Klauss <-> Dream Master
Caught in a Dream | caughtinadream.com a Synchronet BBS

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Arelor wrote to calcmandan <=-

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: calcmandan to Arelor on Tue Jan 26 2021 01:26 pm

I can relate. Netflix was like that from the beginning. Just a bunch of...

ol

d movies and tv shows. We're currently looking into cancellation of
Prime. She uses amazo

LOT. I mean, TONS. but i suggested we look at our orders and see if they all

qualify for free shipping. And if they dont, why not merge orders so
they do. And even th

is it so bad to pay for shipping once in a while considering we pay $60+ a

ye

ar for membership?

Wife would spend forty-five minutes flipping through album art. Then shut

the

tv off and pick up a book. Quite the bookworm she is. Amazon's more-or-less

the same.

I get better results with my library's streaming library (who buys titles on

request) and putlocker (seemingly has everything including movies at
the theater).

Anyhoo.

Daniel

After the last Prime film I have watched, I can just say I would be deleting my Prime account if I had one.

WHAT A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP.

This sort of film would NEVER make it through an ordinary distribution channel. I think they are cramming all the junk in online streaming services because those are the only ones that will take it. On the
other hand, regular distribution avenues (cinemas, optical media) are going to hell becuse people prefers cheap junk.

I am glad I have a pile of DVDs from the golden era, because the future
of cinema (and of creative work in general) is bleak as heck.

I couldn't agree more. They announced recently that they'll be releasing a new movie on a weekly basis this year.

Wife and I concluded that, between the two of us, she orders far more stuff from amazon than I do and, with the exception of three orders last year, all
of them were below the free shipping cutoff for members not on prime.

So, next month when the year of prime ends, I'll cancel it and she'll get prime for HER account. Since we're bound in a household thing, I'll still benefit from prime on the occasion I order a small piece of something. But I can't justify the price since I haven't ordered anything from Amazon for 8 months.

I shop around online for what I"m looking for. More often than not, amazon isn't the cheapest even including shipping.

And for aviation stuff, forget about it. They're not even the cheapest regarding They books. And that's their core business.

Anyway...

Daniel

... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49

Nightfox wrote to Ennev <=-

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ennev to Arelor on Wed Jan 27 2021 11:00 am

But 6$, 8$ there, there is so much that people will be willing to pay
for, it's just back to what cable is and that's why people left cable.

I agree. The idea was to cut costs, but with different shows being on different streaming services, you might end up spending close to the
same amount of money.

A while ago, I saw a meme someone posted that said something like "Some genius will probably end up bundling all the streaming services
together and basically re-invent cable."

That's effectively what it'll be. Just look at Roku. It's heading in that direction now that they inject their own ads on streaming content. That's why I never bought a new one after the original model I bought was no longer supported
by roku.

Wife and I are on 1960s movies now.

Some people have netflix, amazon prime, disney+ on top of their existing
cable. It's crazy.

Daniel

... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49

Re: Cancelling Prime
By: MRO to Arelor on Fri Jan 29 2021 05:32 pm

Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Arelor to Ogg on Fri Jan 29 2021 04:37 am

Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ogg to Arelor on Thu Jan 28 2021 09:19 pm

Hello Arelor!

** On Thursday 28.01.21 - 05:41, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

After the last Prime film I have watched, I can just say
I would be deleting my Prime account if I had one.

WHAT A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP.

What was the film you watched?

Guns Akimbo was stupid and it is never going to win a
meaningful award, but you could tell it had a soul. ...

OK. But what do you call "A PILE OF SKOKING CRAP" above? Give
us examples.

Well, in this case, the film that qualified as A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP would be "Timetrap".

i think tenet was a horrible movie. and they spent all that time working on the screenplay. i hated it.

I just checked IMDB and read it has 7.5 points over 10.

I guess this comes to show that IMDB rankings are not worth a roll of toilet paper.

--
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Warpslide wrote to Ennev <=-

I was surprised when we first got it how clear everything is being over-the-air HD. We later bought a Tablo OTA DVR and now we can watch over-the-air TV on our Apple TV & also on any mobile device, even when we're not home.

When I lived over in Silicon Valley, I played with the idea of Kodi+terrestrial HDTV, and it was pretty intriguing.

Now that I'm on the coast, I've tried with an indoor amplified HD antenna
and I can't pick up any channels at all.

I came pretty close to cutting the cord and going with internet plus Roku; there are a couple of options to get local TV on Roku now.


... Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream.
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Arelor wrote to Ennev <=-

The problematic monopolies are _horizontal_ monopolies. If I only own a hardware store, but I have the only store in town, my suppliers must compete among each other in order to offer me the conditions I prefer,
but the end user is stuck with the screws I decide to supply to him.

Hardware store == government subsidized telecom infrastructure. The US government paid to build a telecom infrastructure over their rights of way with tax dollars, then built a system with single incumbent vendors. Then
had the audacity to charge for the infrastructure they inherited.




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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Arelor on Sat Jan 30 2021 07:05 am

Arelor wrote to Ennev <=-

The problematic monopolies are _horizontal_ monopolies. If I only own a hardware store, but I have the only store in town, my suppliers must compete among each other in order to offer me the conditions I prefer, but the end user is stuck with the screws I decide to supply to him.

Hardware store == government subsidized telecom infrastructure. The US government paid to build a telecom infrastructure over their rights of way with tax dollars, then built a system with single incumbent vendors. Then had the audacity to charge for the infrastructure they inherited.

... Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream.

Well, you know what they say. Corporations that control strategic sectors are more often than not Government branches in disguise :-)

It is probably more true in some countryes than others, but infrastructure corporations seem prone to this. For example,electric power corporations in Spain get to operate with government designated prices, in government designated markets, under government designated procedures. Then politicians retire and always end up with a decoy job at a power company (or telecom company).

So in essence you have firm that does as the government says. Or, in some cases, the government says what the company tells them to say because that way they politicians get a salary worth many kilobucks once they retire.

They become so inter-mingled that at some point you can't see where the government ends and the corporation begins.

--
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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Warpslide on Sat Jan 30 2021 07:03 am

When I lived over in Silicon Valley, I played with the idea of Kodi+terrestrial HDTV, and it was pretty intriguing.

Now that I'm on the coast, I've tried with an indoor amplified HD antenna and I can't pick up any channels at all.

It seems to depend heavily on where you are, and it seems some areas don't get any digital TV reception at all, which seems weird, because I thought pretty much all places had local TV stations. I lived in Bend, Oregon for about a year once and had a digital TV and didn't get any channels over the air with an indoor amplified antenna. I ended up getting basic cable TV, and it had local TV channels, so I could watch local news & such. I wondered why those channels weren't coming in over the air.

Where I am now, I get channels over the air, though there's one local channel that usually doesn't come in.

I came pretty close to cutting the cord and going with internet plus Roku; there are a couple of options to get local TV on Roku now.

Interesting. I have a Roku Stick, and I'm curious to look into that.

Nightfox

Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Dream Master to MRO on Fri Jan 29 2021 10:00 pm

Re: Cancelling Prime
By: MRO to Arelor on Fri Jan 29 2021 05:32 pm

i think tenet was a horrible movie. and they spent all that time
working on the screenplay. i hated it.

Tenet rocked! The movie was amazing.

Brian Klauss <-> Dream Master

i'm a big fan of timetravel movies but i just couldnt get into it.
there's just nothing i liked about it. i tried to keep it on but i had to turn it off.

i'm pretty sure it was a flop.

---
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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Arelor to MRO on Sat Jan 30 2021 06:16 am

i think tenet was a horrible movie. and they spent all that time
working on the screenplay. i hated it.

I just checked IMDB and read it has 7.5 points over 10.

I guess this comes to show that IMDB rankings are not worth a roll of toilet paper.

oh yeah, there's a whole weird group of people that are users on imdb. it's like people that are obsessed with wikipedia years ago.

i dont trust any of those ratings.

---
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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: calcmandan to Arelor on Fri Jan 29 2021 07:47 pm

I shop around online for what I"m looking for. More often than not, amazon isn't the cheapest even including shipping.

And for aviation stuff, forget about it. They're not even the cheapest regarding They books. And that's their core business.

Anyway...

Daniel

If you have been following the thread for a while, you may have already read this, but if you haven't:

Amazon has awful conditions for sellers. If you are a selelr, it is very difficult to put stuff up there for a fair price unless it is Chinesse crap that you can pump out in high quantities. Amazon's page promotes products that are cheaper than their competitors, so if you want to sell something good that is not priced in the Chinesse tier, Amazon is a poor platform. They will promote the Chinesse crap over your material. So you either go somewhere else to sell or sell at an overcost to compensate (if you are selling low quantities you cannot afford Amazon plans that favor economies of scale).

Interestingly, many people I know are leaving Amazon (as customers) necause Amazon is trying to become a Chinesse Bazaar, but there are better Chinesse Bazaars... Sure Lightinthebox or Aliexpress sell mostly shit, and have slow delivery times, but they outprice Amazon if you only happen to want Chinesse junk.

--
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Re: Cancelling Prime
By: MRO to Arelor on Sat Jan 30 2021 05:09 pm

Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Arelor to MRO on Sat Jan 30 2021 06:16 am

i think tenet was a horrible movie. and they spent all that time
working on the screenplay. i hated it.

I just checked IMDB and read it has 7.5 points over 10.

I guess this comes to show that IMDB rankings are not worth a roll of toilet paper.

oh yeah, there's a whole weird group of people that are users on imdb. it's like people that are obsessed with wikipedia years ago.

i dont trust any of those ratings.

I think the ratings of modern movies are actively manipulated for profit.

If you check the ratings and comments for really old films... I find them to be more fair. I mean, I may not agree with the score, but it will be reasonably close (if I think a film was barely passable, aka 5/10, its imdb score may be 4 or 6). Then, comments and user reviews will make more sense: they will tell you why they like or dislike the film, and you may understand their opinion even if you don't share it.

With modern films I often find that a lot of people is throwing the same small sets of ideas around regarding the film. "Actor Smith was great, but I think the film was too short". Oftentimes, that idea everybody is repeating does not match my idea of the film BY MILES. My gut instinct is that such reviews are organized fraud and somebody got paid to distribute such ideas.

Modern films are more prone to this, I think, because there is not much comercial interest in faking the rating of Hercules against the Moonmen or Nosferatu. However, there is money in faking the rating of the lattest Disney movie.

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On 30 Jan 2021, poindexter FORTRAN said the following...

When I lived over in Silicon Valley, I played with the idea of Kodi+terrestrial HDTV, and it was pretty intriguing.

We were big fans of Windows Media Centre back in the day. We had a small PC hooked up to the TV with a TV tuner card installed and regular analogue cable hooked up to that. From there we could record whatever we wanted, pause live TV & all that exciting stuff.

Then digital cable came along and ruined that for us. Cable cards were never really a thing (that I know of) here in Ontario, so we gave that up in favour of a Satellite PVR (which was actually just a re-branded TiVo).

Now that I'm on the coast, I've tried with an indoor amplified HD antenna and I can't pick up any channels at all.

That's how it started with us, a small basic indoor antenna which only got us one station. tvfool.com said we could get more stations, but of course we needed to get the antenna much higher. For awhile we had a much larger antenna in one of the the second floor bedrooms attached to a post supported by a patio umbrella stand. It worked well enough, but we still didn't get all of the stations we were supposed to get.

Next stop was the attic, which didn't help too much. Now we have a mast attached to the side of the house and two stacked antennas, one pointing to Toronto and the other to Buffalo. We could get

We get about 27 channels in total, 22 are actually watchable after you filter out any of the religious stations & the shopping network.


Jay

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/01/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Northern Realms

Hello Warpslide!

** On Saturday 30.01.21 - 20:00, Warpslide wrote to poindexter FORTRAN:

That's how it started with us, a small basic indoor antenna
which only got us one station. tvfool.com said we could get
more stations, but of course we needed to get the antenna
much higher..

I remember visiting tvfool.com years ago. What a great resource!
It is amazing how they can aggregate all the antenna locations,
the topology info and produce a list based on any location you
give it.

Here is my result: URL: https://susepaste.org/86100197

That's fairly accurate except the radar map misses the CTV
station that I am currently getting to the north, CHRO? - but
it's in the list. If I could tweek my antenna to face to the
SE, I'd get CHEX-TV.

I have this baby parked outside next to the house:

URL: https://susepaste.org/37169065

It worked quit well. But the receiver sucked a lot of juice and
ran fairly hot even when off. The C/Ku-band stuff gradually
scrambled most everything. I like some of the repurposing
options that people have for those dishes. I imagined mine would
make a fine roof for a garden gazebo.

..Now we have a mast attached to the side of the house and
two stacked antennas, one pointing to Toronto and the other
to Buffalo. We could get about 27 channels in total, 22 are
actually watchable after you filter out any of the religious
stations & the shopping network.

There's a lot of free OTA out there - a mix of analog and
digital. I think people seemed to give up on traditional VHF/
UHF antennas too soon IMHO, swayed by the seduction of greater
things from satellite TV and cable.

But honestly, I don't feel that I'm missing much. I can pick and
choose the programming that I'm interested via DSL-internet,
save the material and take it home to watch later.

An antenna stuck in the E direction on top of a 40ft twoer gives
me CIII-2 about 10km east of my location.

Here's what the dual system looks like:

URL: https://susepaste.org/19230340

It's an old picture, but the antenna installations haven't
changed.

Meanwhile, a simple "T" wire antenna pinned to the wall facing
west brings in a lot of FM radio - which is a pretty good.

--- OpenXP 5.0.48
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Hello Arelor!

** On Saturday 30.01.21 - 06:16, Arelor wrote to MRO:

Well, in this case, the film that qualified as A PILE OF
SMOKING CRAP would be "Timetrap".

i think tenet was a horrible movie. and they spent all that
time working on the screenplay. i hated it.

I just checked IMDB and read it has 7.5 points over 10.

I guess this comes to show that IMDB rankings are not worth
a roll of toilet paper.

Maybe IMDB ratings have declined in quality over time. A lot of
that is artificially adjusted too. Maybe distributors give
payola to sites like that in order to boost interest in some
films.

When VHS films were my main option, I used a copy of Leonard
Maltin's TV/film guide to plan my viewing before I visited my
local video store. Most of the time his ratings of 4/5 and 5/5
were excellent films! The book is even more relevant today when
practically many of the films from the 50s-90s are readily
available online.

The book is organized by Producer, Actor, Genre. When I was in
film noir mood for example, I had a handful of quality films -
all excellent! When I wanted to digress and focus on films with
specific actors, it was easy to pre-select all the good ones -
and *not* waste time watching something "oh hum".


--- OpenXP 5.0.48
* Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
■ Synchronet ■ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP

Hello Arelor!

** On Friday 29.01.21 - 04:37, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

OK. But what do you call "A PILE OF SKOKING CRAP" above?
Give us examples.

Well, in this case, the film that qualified as A PILE OF
SMOKING CRAP would be "Timetrap".

Specially bad because they purchased a lot of positive
reviews in IMDB.

Yes.. I see that one averages on the mid-high rating.

It is probably hard to find a rating site/system that can be
trusted.

I'd watch Guns Akimbo ten times in a row than suffer
Timetrap again.

Other films that qualify as A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP in Prime
would include the Project Philadelphia remake and
Checkpoint.

I can't find "Project Philadelphia", but I remember the version
of Philadelphia Experiment" as a 1984 film; there was a remake
of that in 2012 as a TV movie. The lead actor (Michael Paré) in
the film version plays a new role in the TV version?

I find that the TV versions of any remake are not good most of
the time.

IMDB = 6.1/10
RottenTomatoes = 50%
Metracritic = 44%
Google = 87% "liked" the film.

It's all over the map. I seem to remember liking the 1984 film.

Maybe today's ratings are also influenced by what people can
compare modern films to and their higher production values and
effects, against the older films based on cheaper effects.

Check Point (2017) gets a 3.2/10 at IMDB. I'll accept that as
one to avoid.

--- OpenXP 5.0.48
* Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
■ Synchronet ■ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP

Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

I came pretty close to cutting the cord and going with internet plus Roku; there are a couple of options to get local TV on Roku now.

Interesting. I have a Roku Stick, and I'm curious to look into that.

There were two free ones we tried - NewsOn, and Locast. Locast looked a lot better, but they don't serve our local area. I could set up my VPN to a San Francisco endpoint, but that was a lot of work. I was going to set up a routing table in my firewall to route only specific IP ranges through the firewall (including locast) but I ended up negotiating an attractive rate
with basic cable through Comcast and kept the local channels.



... Spins and turns, angles and curves. The shape of dreams, half remembered. --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org

Arelor wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

So in essence you have firm that does as the government says. Or, in
some cases, the government says what the company tells them to say
because that way they politicians get a salary worth many kilobucks
once they retire.

They become so inter-mingled that at some point you can't see where the government ends and the corporation begins.

And that, in a nutshell, is the American finance system. Work for Goldman Sachs or Bain, influence financial policy through campaign contributions and lobbying, get appointed into the next administration, where you listen to
the next cohort of lobbyists, enact policy for recompense, and then go back
to work for the same companies that lobbied you. Lather, rinse, repeat.


... The neuroanatomy of fear and faith share common afferent pathways.
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org

Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Ogg to Arelor on Sun Jan 31 2021 02:16 pm

Other films that qualify as A PILE OF SMOKING CRAP in Prime
would include the Project Philadelphia remake and
Checkpoint.

I can't find "Project Philadelphia", but I remember the version
of Philadelphia Experiment" as a 1984 film; there was a remake
of that in 2012 as a TV movie. The lead actor (Michael Paré) in
the film version plays a new role in the TV version?

I have just checked and you are right, I was refering to Philadelphia Experiment. The remake, nor the original.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken

---
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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Sun Jan 31 2021 10:16 am

There were two free ones we tried - NewsOn, and Locast. Locast looked a lot better, but they don't serve our local area. I could set up my VPN to a San Francisco endpoint, but that was a lot of work. I was going to set up a routing table in my firewall to route only specific IP ranges through the firewall (including locast) but I ended up negotiating an attractive rate with basic cable through Comcast and kept the local channels.

Interesting.. I installed Locast the other day, and I found Locast doesn't serve my local area either. It still let me choose a city though, and I chose a nearby city - It listed the channels, but nothing happened when I tried to play one. I wondered if I actually have to physically be in that area (or try using a VPN).

Several years ago, I had Comcast basic cable TV for local channels, but the cable box they gave me was outputting a square standard-definition picture. I tried plugging in an antenna and found at the time that I actually got some channels over the air, and they looked better than what the Comcast box was outputting, and (of course) they were widescreen.

Nightfox

Arelor wrote to calcmandan <=-

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: calcmandan to Arelor on Fri Jan 29 2021 07:47 pm

I shop around online for what I"m looking for. More often than not, amazon isn't the cheapest even including shipping.

And for aviation stuff, forget about it. They're not even the cheapest regarding They books. And that's their core business.

Anyway...

Daniel

If you have been following the thread for a while, you may have already read this, but if you haven't:

Amazon has awful conditions for sellers. If you are a selelr, it is
very difficult to put stuff up there for a fair price unless it is Chinesse crap that you can pump out in high quantities. Amazon's page promotes products that are cheaper than their competitors, so if you
want to sell something good that is not priced in the Chinesse tier, Amazon is a poor platform. They will promote the Chinesse crap over
your material. So you either go somewhere else to sell or sell at an overcost to compensate (if you are selling low quantities you cannot afford Amazon plans that favor economies of scale).

Interestingly, many people I know are leaving Amazon (as customers) necause Amazon is trying to become a Chinesse Bazaar, but there are
better Chinesse Bazaars... Sure Lightinthebox or Aliexpress sell mostly shit, and have slow delivery times, but they outprice Amazon if you
only happen to want Chinesse junk.

No I haven't been following the thread because I download qwk packets every few days and this thread is LOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG.

Yes I'm quite aware of how Amazon has turned out. My wife happens to order from amazon but it's mostly used books from mom&pop sellers and makeup products.

I have ordered from aliexpress in the past and regretted it. It wasn't the time to deliver, but the quality of the item.

The only exception to the case, in my experience, has been 3x3 rubik style puzzles. The products in aliexpress are the same products sold in the US across most sites (including Amazon) selling these products. I get them for pennies on the dollar. I cube alot and often give them out to friends and family as their interest grows in the hobby.

Nowadays, if I need something now, I go out and get it. If it's parts for my plane, I have to go to the sellers specializing in it online. Amazon's not my destination.

They've turned into the online version of walmart.

gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken

---
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... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Nightfox to poindexter FORTRAN on Mon Feb 01 2021 08:28 am

tried to play one. I wondered if I actually have to physically be in that area (or try using a VPN).

I think you do. When I used a VPN, I got that local areas channels.

---
■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: calcmandan to Arelor on Mon Feb 01 2021 08:15 am

No I haven't been following the thread because I download qwk packets every few days and thi
thread is LOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG.

Yes I'm quite aware of how Amazon has turned out. My wife happens to order from amazon but i
mostly used books from mom&pop sellers and makeup products.

I used to purchase my books at Iberlibro, which was the Spanish branch of Abebooks. Then Amazon
purchased Abebooks and the shopping experience suffered.

--
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---
■ Synchronet ■ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

Ogg wrote to Arelor <=-

When VHS films were my main option, I used a copy of Leonard
Maltin's TV/film guide to plan my viewing before I visited my
local video store. Most of the time his ratings of 4/5 and 5/5
were excellent films!

I lived across the street from one of those independent video store where
they hired people who loved movies. I still remember some of the movies
rented from the "employee's picks" section of the store.



... Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream.
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org

On 02-01-21 08:15, calcmandan wrote to Arelor <=-

Yes I'm quite aware of how Amazon has turned out. My wife happens to
order from amazon but it's mostly used books from mom&pop sellers and makeup products.

Yeah Amazon is a supplier of last resort for me. Many of their items don't even ship here. I used to buy books off them, but other than Kindle (which I do read from time to time) books, there's better suppliers in many cases for the dead tree variety, like Book Depository and Alibris.

I have ordered from aliexpress in the past and regretted it. It wasn't
the time to deliver, but the quality of the item.

I've had mixed results. The best buy there was a digital hotspot board for a Raspberry Pi, that enables access to ham radio digital modes. That board has been in service here for several months now. I also bought a complete prebuilt hotspot that's been good when I've needed it. That's my "traveller", for when I'm not home, and it's setup to work with my 4G wifi router.

But be wary of the "consumer" products they carry, many are of low quality.

The only exception to the case, in my experience, has been 3x3 rubik
style puzzles. The products in aliexpress are the same products sold in the US across most sites (including Amazon) selling these products. I
get them for pennies on the dollar. I cube alot and often give them out
to friends and family as their interest grows in the hobby.

Wow, I used to do those 40 years ago, when they first came out! :) Still got my old cubes kicking around somewhere. :)

Nowadays, if I need something now, I go out and get it. If it's parts
for my plane, I have to go to the sellers specializing in it online. Amazon's not my destination.

Specialists are good to deal with. :)


... A sharp tongue and a dull mind are usually found in the same head!
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
■ Synchronet ■ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Ogg on Mon Feb 01 2021 07:18 am

I lived across the street from one of those independent video store where they hired people who loved movies. I still remember some of the movies rented from the "employee's picks" section of the store.

I found some of the greatest porn through recommendations. Damn teenage years. Now, I'm old. :)

Brian Klauss <-> Dream Master
Caught in a Dream | caughtinadream.com a Synchronet BBS

---
■ Synchronet ■ Caught in a Dream - caughtinadream.com

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Dream Master to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Feb 03 2021 03:49 am

Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Ogg on Mon Feb 01 2021 07:18 am

I lived across the street from one of those independent video store
where they hired people who loved movies. I still remember some of the
movies rented from the "employee's picks" section of the store.

I found some of the greatest porn through recommendations. Damn teenage years. Now, I'm old. :)

my friend bought a house and in the attic he found a bunch of weird shit.
he thought it was going to be snuff films or something but this guy would get women to come over and he would take naked pictures of them.

they wouldnt be smiling or anything, they would just be there staring and naked. and there was a LOT of them.

over time he would find more of them in walls he tore into and in the basement ceiling. he was always scared to see if the guy killed the women but just looks like he took the creepy pictures.

they were always in the same metal container.

---
■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Hello poindexter!

** On Monday 01.02.21 - 07:18, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Ogg:

When VHS films were my main option, I used a copy of
Leonard Maltin's TV/film guide to plan my viewing before I
visited my local video store. Most of the time his ratings
of 4/5 and 5/5 were excellent films!

I lived across the street from one of those independent
video store where they hired people who loved movies. I
still remember some of the movies rented from the
"employee's picks" section of the store.

I would do my research from Maltin's guide, call the video store
and ask if they had any of them (of course everything was on a
database so that was easy for them), and in just a minute or
two, I could just pick up the ones I needed.

I usually never picked anything that was hyped up by media or
in-store types. I don't think I ever encountered a dud when I
used Maltin's guide and stuck to the ones with 4/5 or 5/5
ratings.

At one time I motored through some B-movies. Most of the time
they were terribly bad, but the bad had some charm because of
that. They were fun when watching with another person and we
could throw in funny commentaries along the way. But I didn't
stay in that mode for too long. Not enough hours in one's life
to waste on bad.

--- OpenXP 5.0.48
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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Dream Master to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Feb 03 2021 03:49 am

I found some of the greatest porn through recommendations. Damn teenage years. Now, I'm old. :)

... and some things never change? :-)
--
digital man

Synchronet "Real Fact" #56:
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Re: Re: Cancelling Prime
By: Digital Man to Dream Master on Thu Feb 04 2021 08:10 pm

... and some things never change? :-)

No, nothing ever does.

Luckily, now there's YouPorn, PornHub, and every other variant with so many categories. :D

Brian Klauss <-> Dream Master
Caught in a Dream | caughtinadream.com a Synchronet BBS

---
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