When am I gonna get Joost!

Joost! Apply For Beta Now!

Freaking torture I tell you! A real ad and entertainment industry supported video on demand content service for all. If this service really delivers, gone will be the days of blurry "parts" and "removed by user" videos on Youtube. Of course Youtube will always rock and eventually will have it's own official content, but looking at all the tiny clips and constant "this is me and my even stupider tard friend [insert typical airhead name here e.g. todd, amanda, zack, etc.] dancing and playfighting to what you were searching for" crap, this service is looking really good. What I'm really hoping for is they use this vod service to go beyond offering the same stuff you can already see on your local systems on demand service. VOD content is cool for stuff we like, but they should be using it's potential to offer us stuff you can't get anywhere these days, stuff that alot of companies would probably love to collect revenue on, but just are timid about the viability of dvd releases. One great example that comes to mind where Joost could be a godsend especially considering their now infamous partnering up with Viacom, is the Daria situation. While the show was never for everyone, it has garnered a great following among many viewers of all ages. Original viewers want this show, younger fans from the notorious unnecessarily edited version Noggin airings want and should see the full Daria episodes and complete series. Lots of interest in the show and a very noble dvd effort has been ongoing for the series for years now. Lots of far more obscure dvd sets have been released, but Daria just sits around collecting dust. The general consensus on Daria not being available is not lack of interest, but legal issues with the tons of music that was sampled in the show. Removing it is a bit complicated and not everyone wants it exactly gone. You'd think how much MTV has done and still does for the music industry, a few samplings wouldn't even be an issue. Still, there are serious issues when it comes to packaging with the music industries copyright laws. In the age of the almost draconian RIAA offensive there's no telling. Regardless, something is going on that is stopping fans from having this available in their homes when they wish, which is just a shame considering how many other MTV shows have made it on dvd despite much heavier sampling. The point is, a great service like Joost can fix an issue like this easily. Thanks to Joost and any flexible on demand service, the service providers, the entertainment licensors, and everyone else involved can make a pretty penny off of shows and programs they and the viewers probably haven't thought of in years. In an age where the networks we considered to be some of the absolute smartest(TLC, A&E, THC, etc.), are now almost more pointless and inane as what we considered the dumbest(USA, Spike, G4TV, TBS, etc.), any new direction for entertainment is going to look mighty good. If the market is so bad networks feel they have to appeal to whoever the new very similar directions all these formerly quite different networks are taking then I should have a choice and be able to tell these networks directly through my viewing choices what their content priorities should. Hopefully Joost and many other interactive media services will give us these kinds of opportunities over the years. Once they do, there will be no such thing as bad programming or awful taste, it will just be your taste and that will be all that matters.

Adult Swim's concept approval process

Honestly, take your pick. Looking at the way Adult Swim has been these days when it's comes to bringing in new talent, I'd say both are quite accurate. At least the more demanding and risky to produce shows have had a little bit of thought and consideration for the fanbase, even Stroker and Hoop as corny the show was for the most part, at least attempted to reach out for an audience and amuse people a little. With stuff like Tom, 12 Oz, Perfect Hair forever, and now this new "Saul of the Mole People" crap it's been a newer generation of insider crap. The creators think it's brilliant because they have a great time making this giggling at their cruddy creations while everyone else is looking at their tv thinking.....what in the name of fuck did I just see? Of course don't ever tell AS that though. As we all know, anyone who doesn't like Tom or 12 Oz is an illiterate 13 year old who should go to bed. True at times on the boards, but to not be able to come up with anything other than that is pretty pathetic. Bumps have been turned on more than reasonably disappointed fans far too many times. These shows existing sucks, but I think alot of people could deal alot better if the 15 minute types of shows had more variety. Metalocalypse is a great step towards this direction, Assy and Frisky Dingo aren't.

Sweet, Delicious Ephemera

Watch Here!(Also keep an eye out for the related collections to the right.)

Back in May I made the big jump back to cable tv and greatly enjoyed the wonderful benefits of Video on Demand content. Lots of stuff available from Comcast, including a great folder from Something Weird Video. Even though all wasn't perfect, I really appreciated the seriousness they took in VOD content. They really treated it as a great complimentary tool to your channel service and seemed to display plans for even more enhancements. Then Time Warner took over, snatched tons of content down that was never replaced with anything and from the first day and even now, put out the impression that their VOD is nothing but a cheap extension for PPV. [No Listings Available] Does that generic message entertain you? If yes, you'd probably love the service then.

My beloved Something Weird video was gone, along with tons of other stuff I loved, but nothing hit me as hard as SW being gone for good. Now many months later I find an even great fix. Fix of what? 50'S and 60's educational cheese of course. Tons of the vintage filmstrips you always see shows and movies parodying finally for real. Looking at the movie you see displayed above, "Boys Beware", you'll find some of the real things are more over the top than the joke ones. Kind of sucks there isn't really too many 80's ones or even the 90's ones. Seen some classic 80's and 90's stuff on morning pbs that needs to be available online.

Watch it here!
Computer Chronicles, where have you been all my life! Shitty ass G4tv never seriously delivers when it comes to geek anything, just a cheesy buzz word like most all that comes out of their hosts mouths. Even Techtv was nowhere near as "l33t" and informative when it came to geek stuff as people claim save for TSS and Call for Help. Looking at these newer offerings, I always wondered how great or possible some real computing related programming could be. Then I came across this show after all this time, right under my nose for so long. I was always a big educational UHF junkie, but I've never come across this show on any of those types of channels.

Before my bedtime? I didn't look hard enough? Don't know, but I'm definitely watching now and you should too. Even though it's a very dated show now, alot of the discussions they have still apply very much to current computing. If like 90% of the things they display weren't bulky and beige you'd swear they were explaining how stuff in your current pc works. The real star though is the excellent history lessons. So much history and fresh unveilings we all look back on occur in realtime. OS2, Win95, the browser wars, it's just amazing to see such curious speculation on what's now etched in stone.

The only bummer is dealing with the quicktime format. Using anything other than flash for video should be a hangable offense these days, but flash video does suck on older computers so I digress.

Moog Overload!

Get it here!

It seems like when most people think of classic electronic music they think of the 90's stuff. When I say classic, I'm thinking moog and other 60's and 70's synth albums. Above is a one of the greatest albums, by one of the greatest greats in electronic music. Plantasia by Mort Garson using the moniker of "mother earth". Ever since someone on alt.binaries.sounds.electronic.mp3 was so kindly enough to post a slew of classic works for me I've been addicted to this stuff. Recently, I got hooked up with this great online store that beefed up my collection with literally dozens of these old albums in addition to the dozens I already have. Sorting through all these though, has really reminded me of how much I appreciate the man above. Unless someone wants to prove me wrong with some other moog albums that I'd love to hear, it seems like most of the records out there were just covers of pop songs. Excellent covers mind you and I definitely have to let you readers out there here them, but it's just disappointing that hardly anyone besides Mort and another great moog artist Wendy Carlos, really made an attempt to seriously compose original stuff. A man can listen to a moog cover of Hair so many times.

Stay tuned for an upload or two.