Entertainment Fiend

Services The US Have and Australia and the Rest of the World Miss Out On

2011-11-08T02:21:00.000+11:00

The following are services/websites that exclude the likes of Australia and many other countries from use. I'm pretty sure it's mostly business reasons that these restrictions exist because there is less and less reason for these geological restrictions in the internet enabled flat world that Thomas Friedman wrote about in his book, The World is Flat.

There are ways to circumvent these restrictions such as VPN but you would likely be breaching the website's terms of service. But that doesn't seem to be stopping all that many people because as far as I can tell the VPN business is a booming. And the funny thing is people are turning to services such as VPNs to access and sometimes pay for mostly entertainment websites such as Netflix, Hulu in video and Spotify in music. I have a feeling people are willing to pay for content if the way it is offered to them is compelling enough. The evidence is in people using these location-tricking services to pay for access to what they think is worth going to all this trouble for. And the content protection cartels are still complaining. They have industries to protect you see. They might not get as much in Australia for a movie & TV show content deal because people aren't paying for subscriptions for the monopolike Austar/Foxtel anymore. I'm guessing a lot of it can be put down to piracy too. If there were options maybe people wouldn't have to turn to that.

So here are the hot services in the USA right now that are on my wishlist to come to Australia. Assuming they are as good or better with the content on offer, or services to use.

Spotify

Spotify is an all you can stream music subscription service that was started in Europe and is credited with sparking a decline in music piracy in countries where it operates. It has millions of music tracks and I'm sure would certainly be aiming to have all the music in the world if licensing would allow. It is quite simply a different way of music consumption as the days of buying a full album or even single are taken over by a monthly fee. Spotify allows the freedom to stream your music on your computer, mobile device or even through your TV with offline storage a feature of their premium plan. And it imports your entire music library across from other software you use on your computer such as iTunes or Winamp. A wonderful thing about Spotify is the sharing nature of the service. Websites such as ShareMyPlaylists.com encourage the sharing of playlists put together by it's users and it really is the reinvention of the mixtape on a global sharing scale.

Netflix

Netflix started in the USA as a DVD-rental subscription service and is beginning it's expansion around the world beginning in Canada and soon to be Latin America. As well as UK/Ireland in early 2012. Recent media reports have suggested it isn't coming to Australia anytime soon. And the state the company has been in recently makes it seem that they are lucky to even be operating in the US let alone rapid expansion around the world. But people who like Netflix, love Netflix. Every other day it seems like they are signing a new content deal with a TV or Movie studio and the actual streaming side is very solid. It would be a welcome addition to anywhere in the world as an alternative to piracy and a generally awesome and amazing entertainment service. I have a feeling there are forces in the Australian entertainment industry to keep it from coming here as long as they can. But it also just may not be in Netflix's interest to come here as we are only around 22 million strong. Quickflix has just announced a streaming offering but as far as I can understand it you need to be subscribed to the DVD-subscription service to use the streaming but it is only early days in that department.

Netflix really is the future of TV/movie consumption if they are not beset by a movie studio culture of making the content deals to expensive as to make them out of reach. And Netflix doesn't have the cash reserves of competitors Amazon, Apple & Google.

It will certainly be interesting to see how Netflix affects the Australian media landscape when it comes. Here's hoping it's soon.

Hulu

Hulu is a catch up TV service for viewers in the US with a back catalogue of television and movies that can be viewed on your computer and if you have Hulu Plus on mobile and some selected TV-connected devices. It looks like Hulu is going to be acquired if you pay any attention to the rumours circulating the tech rags. It's certainly searching for possible suitors. Google and Yahoo have been mentioned but both want better TV/movie rights deals than Hulu, which is owned by film/TV studios, are willing to offer. I don't see this as being as attractive as a Netflix if it comes to Australia unless they can get Australian content aggregated on the catchup service as well as the plethora of US /UK shows. But if they can do that and offer the service everywhere like Netflix do it will have more potential. Currently licensing restricts the freedom of consumption on Hulu, such as the 5 most recent episode policy. If I had it my way every episode would be up on the service and the money for the networks is to be made be letting people have the ability to catch up enough to be able to watch on the premiere night. Basically this restriction to protect DVD & digital downloads should be torn down for the betterment of the service.

Mint

A US-Canada-only personal finance website that has won multiple awards and regularly releases interesting infographics about the state of the US-nation and sometimes world in regard to savings, spendings and everything in between. I have been wanting this in Australia for some time now. It's like becoming your own accountant in an easy, intuitive way with a great user interface. Mint was acquired by Intuit in 2009. It only recently launched in Canada so there is hope for the rest of the world yet. But I'm guessing the rollout will be slow as they have to work out financial institution partnerships.

Amazon Prime Instant Video

Amazon only just came to the game recently in the Instant Streaming subscription business but the service will never be as appealing as it is in the USA due to the 2-day delivery of Amazon products that is the nature of the Prime service. But they do have many movies and television shows to stream, but it is US-only like the others. I wonder if Amazon Prime Instant Video would be appealing to users just on it's own without the shipping advantage. That is the question, and if Amazon would launch it in a country without an Amazon presence I would be interested to find out how it goes.

And a service I recommend to get around the top three of these:

Unofficially of course.

StrongVPN

On Australian TV and Why Australians Look to the US/UK

2011-11-08T00:46:00.001+11:00

This is a kind of repost of something I posted in a forum but thought would be interesting to put out there:

I watch a fair amount of Australian TV but just not what the ratings seem to say every week. Currently it's mostly ABC programmes like Gruen, Hamster Wheel, Q&A, Four Corners, Media Watch & At The Movies. With occasional shows on SBS like Wilfred or recently Housos. I TiVo these and watch in my own time and when I do watch a show on the commercial networks the FF button is there for me.

I find the commercial networks play mostly realitrash, faux-current affairs, light-weight newstainment, soaps of the AU/US/UK variety and recycled & re-imagined (if you can call it that) shows made for Australian audiences. Goes for the pay channels as well when they are made to make Australian content.

Is it any wonder that the sheep they want us to be viewing wise wander from the herd?

The scripted show situation can be described much like the late night talk shows situation. The US has so much more talent to tap into and shows like The Daily Show/Colbert, Letterman, Real Time With Bill Maher etc. can be produced on a regular basis and can concurrently continue because there is so much audience in US FTA and subscribers on US 'cable'. Are we ever going to get that much choice with Australian late night talk shows? Probably not, because there isn't the audience when prime time slots are all that matter. Plus the US has all the celebrities & guests living in the country of production. Not to mention a huge pool of stand up/comedy writers to tap into.

Something that heaps of the American and even UK shows have is a big draw actor or ensemble cast. Unlike 'Lisa McCune' syndrome here.

And once you get hooked on shows like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Walking Dead and so many more, how can you go back to 'Australia's Next Top Junior Loser Geeks Have Talent While Undercover Factor' when you were never even watching to begin with.

I'm all for supporting Australian content but there are so many reasons to stray overseas for our entertainment needs.

MacBook Prose

2011-10-27T01:20:00.000+11:00

These are the MacBook Pros released February, 2011 compared with the ones released Oct, 2011. The prices remain the same and the changes are ever so subtle.

A Nan and Pa's Upcoming TV Show Slate with Renewals

2011-10-13T16:57:00.002+11:00

I recently wrote this out for my grandparents to give them an indication on when all their favourite shows were coming back and if they'd been renewed for additional seasons or facing cancellation. Funnily enough none of the shows they watch I watch and vice versa pretty much so I thought this post could come in useful for an entirely new crowd of people than my previous ANT TV Slate post aimed at a younger demographic which includes me. They are fans of westerns and the slew of crime based procedural shows that do nothing for me. My nanna is also one of those daily soap dwellers so I left them in there because I'm guessing she's not the only one. Why else would they still be on the air?

Western News

ABC is considering trying its hand at a Western, confirming the order of a script for "Gunslinger" from ABC Studios and executive producer David Zabel, who last delivered "Detroit 1-8-7" for the network. Zabel was also an exec producer on NBC's "ER" from 2005-09.
Westerns are a rare sight in broadcast development, though NBC considered one last year from writer Josh Brand and helmer Peter Horton but ultimately passed. The genre has gotten some heat on cable going back to HBO's critically acclaimed "Deadwood" and an upcoming AMC effort, "Hell on Wheels." - Variety

Hell on Wheels is an upcoming American period drama television series that is set during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. It will be written and produced by Joe and Tony Gayton and developed by the American branch of Endemol. Its first season, consisting of 10 episodes, is scheduled to premiere on the cable channel AMC on November 6, 2011.
The term "Hell on Wheels" is a phrase describing a collection of business locations such as gambling houses in the 1860s. - Wikipedia

NCIS - Renewed for a 9th Season starting on CBS in the USA on September 20, 2011.
NCIS: LA - Renewed for a 3rd Season starting on CBS in the USA on September 20, 2011.
CSI - Renewed for a 12th Season starting on CBS in the USA on September 21, 2011.
CSI: Miami - Renewed for a 10th Season starting on CBS in the USA on September 25, 2011.
CSI: NY - Renewed for an 8th Season starting on CBS in the USA on September 23, 2011.
Days of our Lives - Renewed through September 2013 with option for additional year through 2014, it’s 49th year on the air
.
The Young and the Restless - Renewed through September 2013 with option for additional year through 2014.

The Bold and the Beautiful - Making the switch from SD to HD in September in the US. Renewed through the 2012-13 US TV season.

Justified - Renewed for a third season of 13 episodes.

Covert Affairs - The second season has a total of 16 episodes coming out. Not yet known if the USA Networkwill renew for a 3rd season yet.

Body of Proof - Renewed for a 2nd season starting in the USA on ABC on September 20, 2011.
Parenthood - Renewed for a 3rd season starting in September, 2011 on NBC in the US.
Brothers and Sisters - The show completed its fifth and final season on ABC. On May 13, 2011, it was announced that ABC had decided to end the show.

Blue Bloods - On May 18, 2011, Blue Bloods was officially renewed for a second season.

Information and pictures sourced from Wikipedia with additional commentary by me.

Upcoming TV Show Slate with Renewal News

2011-10-13T16:35:00.000+11:00

ANT (Anthony’s Network of Television)

I made this television show slate for my own entertainment purposes but I thought it might come in handy for people looking for information on season renewals and general need to know news about some of my favourite shows which could come in handy for other fans. Especially those who just want a bulk of useful information in the one place. In other words people too lazy to go out and find the most important tidbits of information. I organized the shows into channels by order of my viewing importance. ANT1 is my first preference, ANT2 second & ANT3 third. Even though I do like all the shows.

Enjoy and I hope in comes in useful for some people.

ANT1

The Big Bang Theory - On January 12, 2011, CBS announced that the show has been renewed for an additional three years, extending it through the 2013–2014 season.

Entourage - Entourage was renewed for an eighth and final season containing eight episodes which premiered on July 24, 2011. A film is tentatively planned after the series ends.

Curb Your Enthusiasm - Eighth season just aired. Larry David said to be feeling positive after finishing making the season as opposed to previous seasons.

Arrested Development - Despite its cancellation, the series has developed a devoted fanbase and cult following. A script is currently under development for a movie adaptation of Arrested Development. The main cast of the TV series will reprise their roles. A prequel to the movie television season is also planned. Each episode is said to focus on an individual character as a way to get around the actors' busy schedules. Netflix and Hulu are said to be interested in purchasing rights to the new season.

Family Guy - In 2008, it was announced that the series had been renewed through at least 2012, for a tenth season. It was also announced in 2010 that the series had been renewed in syndication through at least 2015.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - On August 6, 2011, FX renewed It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for an eighth and ninth season, with an option for a tenth.

Louie - It was announced on August 6, 2011, that Louie was renewed for a third season of 13 episodes.

South Park - To quell rumors caused by the mid-season finale "You're Getting Old" that the fifteenth season would be the last, Comedy Central issued a clarifying statement declaring that South Park had, in fact, been renewed for two more seasons, taking the show through 2013, though the number of episodes for these seasons is not known at this time.

The Inbetweeners - In September 2009, Beesley and Morris confirmed that a film had been commissioned by Film4. The plot will revolve around the four boys, now eighteen years old, going on holiday to Malia, Crete. It will be in cinemas in the UK on 17th August 2011 with a wider release planned later in the year.

The IT Crowd - A fifth series has been commissioned.

The Office (US) - The series has completed its seventh season, which was lead actor Steve Carell's final season on the series. Despite this, NBC renewed the series for an eighth season on March 17, 2011 which is currently airing.

30 Rock - On November 15, 2010, NBC announced 30 Rock had been renewed for a sixth season, which is set to air at the beginning of 2012, due to Tina Fey's pregnancy.

Community - On March 17, 2011, NBC renewed Community for a third season, which premiered on September 22, 2011.

True Blood - On August 11, 2011, HBO announced that True Blood was renewed for a fifth season of twelve episodes to air in summer 2012. However, although Alan Ball signed a multi-year contract with HBO in July 2011, he has only agreed to produce the show for the fifth season. Despite this agreement, Ball has stated that he has no desire to leave the show.

Weeds - Seventh season just aired. Although they had plans to renew the show for an eighth season, it is revealed that weeds will not be back in the summer of 2012.

Dexter - The sixth season started airing Oct 2, 2011.

Breaking Bad - On August 14, 2011 AMC announced that Breaking Bad had been ordered for a fifth and final season consisting of 16 episodes that may be split over 2 seasons.

Game of Thrones - The series was picked up for a second season on April 19, 2011, two days after its premiere.

The Walking Dead - Based on its reception, AMC renewed the series for a second season of 13 episodes to debut on October 16, 2011.

Real Time With Bill Maher - HBO has picked up talk show Real Time With Bill Maher for a 10th season.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart / The Colbert Report - Stewart’s contract extension with COMEDY CENTRAL will keep him at the helm of “The Daily Show” through June 2013. He will continue to serve as executive producer, writer and host. Colbert’s extension will keep him and “The Colbert Report” at the all-comedy channel through the end of 2012.

ANT2

American Dad! - American Dad! was officially renewed for a seventh season, bringing the series through the 2011-2012 season.

How I Met Your Mother - On March 4, 2011, CBS announced that the show had been renewed for two more seasons, with the seventh season premiering with back to back episodes in September, 2011.

Underbelly - Underbelly: Razor is a 13-part Australian television mini-series detailing real events that occurred in Sydney between 1927 to 1936. The series depicts the 'razor gangs' who controlled the city's underworld during the era and the violent war between the two "vice queen" powers, Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh.

Mad Men - Weiner has signed on to produce two more seasons, starting in 2012.

Sons of Anarchy - On October 7, 2010, Sons of Anarchy was renewed for a fourth season and is airing now.

The Cleveland Show - Shortly after the second season of The Cleveland Show aired in 2011, Fox renewed the series for a third season.

Misfits - A third series of eight episodes has been announced

Wilfred (US) - It was picked up for a second season on August 6th.

Futurama - It was announced, in March 2011, that Futurama has been renewed for a seventh season, consisting of at least 26 episodes, scheduled to air in 2012 and 2013.

Workaholics - The show was renewed for a second season to have ten episodes which are airing now.

ANT3

Peep Show - The show's seventh series (broadcast late 2010) makes it the longest-running sitcom in Channel 4 history. On 17 December 2010 it was confirmed that the show had been renewed for both an 8th and 9th series, but that they wouldn't be aired until at least mid-2012 due to the writers being busy with other projects.

That Mitchell and Webb Look - The fourth series premiered on BBC Two and BBC HD on 13 July 2010 with a total of 6 episodes commissioned by the BBC.

The Simpsons - Fox has renewed The Simpsons for a 23rd season of animated adventures, taking it through its landmark 500th episode (specifically, it takes the show up to episode 515).

Benidorm - On 14 April 2011, almost a week after series 4 had finished, ITV announced that Benidorm will return for a fifth series, due to start shooting in the summer, with Derren Litten returning to write some of the new series.

Parks and Recreation - In March 2011, NBC announced Parks and Recreation had been renewed for a fourth season, which is airing now.

Hung - On September 2, 2010 it was announced that HBO had ordered Hung for a third season consisting of 10 episodes which premiered October 2, 2011.

Modern Family - A third season was ordered by ABC on January 10, 2011.

Boardwalk Empire - The series was immediately renewed for a second season on September 20, 2010.

ANT8: The OCHO

Jersey Shore - A fourth season, set in Italy is airing currently. MTV confirmed in June 2011 that Season 5 will return to Seaside Heights.

Information and pictures sourced from Wikipedia and additions and commentary made by me.

Keeping Track of Watched TV Shows & Movies and Plan What To Watch - Updated for 2011 Edition

2011-10-13T15:27:00.000+11:00

I posted this as a comment to a previous blog post of mine that was getting a lot of traffic.

Geez, well an update by way of comment to this post from the original poster. Re-reading over this I can't believe how much the current services that I use for what I was describing in this post do exactly what I wanted when I wrote the post. This is by far the most visited page on a blog where most of the other pages aren't visited.

My solutions these days that work perfectly for what I need and are free and don't require invites:

As mentioned above by a commenter:
followmy.tv

For TV Show tracking and upcoming episode views and a fairly decent, growing community.

iCheckMovies

For checking off movies and some excellent functionality with regards to popular lists of top movies around the net that you can check off.

And a bonus, fun website for passionate movie lovers who want to have a bit of fun ranking their movies into which ones are their favourites by having face/off matches between your favourite movies. It also keeps track really well of which movies you haven't seen and organizes them into a ranked list of best to worst as voted by the Flickchart community.
Flickchart

And of course if you don't know about IMDb by now you aren't much of a movie lover, but there is an equivalent television show and episode database that I use and find the best called TheTVDB. You can find the link below:
TheTVDB.com

So there you have it. I hope this little summary helps those of you who travel through here looking for solutions to a problem I had in April 11, 2008 that there are now sufficient and exceeding solutions for. If you know of any more that you use and love keep the comments coming.

To All The Stewards Out There

2010-02-16T05:04:00.002+11:00

Well, if this isn't a blog with a targeted audience I don't know what is. The only people reading this blog that I can tell by my analytics are Stewards, you know the type of people who tend to planes. I think they are the male ones. The female one's being called stewardesses. With that in mind, I want to start making sure this blog is 100% targeted to the Stewards who are reading this.

So let's have some fun. What do Stewards like to do when they are up there in the skies? I'm guessing tending to people like Kevin Smith gets a little tiring after a while, so they might like a drink. I hear the Stewards number 1 drink is Vodka and Pub Squash, because they like the soothingly sour taste only lemon flavoured carbonation can brink. And Vodka cause it's all they have on planes apparently.

Well, once they've had a drink and are set in their seats to a flight to God only knows, well lets say Benidorm, they are all ready to sit in an unoccupied seat and hack into their in-flight entertainment. I'm not talking about you're shitty pay $10 to watch a movie in the back of your* seat kind. This is what's know as FSMC - (Flying Steward's Media Centre). The Steward we are following today is gonna have all sorts of fun on his 22 hour flight to Benidorm from Scranton, PA.

So, the Steward decides that he wants to tune into FSMC. What will he watch before a passenger annoys him by asking him to do his job and help them out with something he has probably done 100 times? He boots up his media heaven, the menus reflect his organizational skills. He wants to watch The Sarah Silverman Program so he goes into the Television folder, than into the Americas, etc sub folder, wonders whether it's a sitcom or a drama, goes for sitcom and now he's in. Sarah Silverman couldn't be any ruder, and that's how he feels he wants to be after watching an episode...

...So he decides to load up on the curried eggs in the in flight meals. I mean he is overindulging. Then he decides to go for some Mexicana doritoes in tiny snack packets. He knocks off about ten of the darned things. Now he is feeling really juiced up. Suddenly, after a small amount of time has passed it's time to dispatch lunch to the passengers that are on board. I mean, have you ever heard of someone being able to fart on cue? Well it just about becomes possible when you have so much gas inducing food in your* system. So up and down the aisles he goes dishing out food with an equally revolting measure of gaseous harm.

Now, feeling really Silvermanny he decides to turn on the seatbelts on sign, so everyone is stuck in their seats with the putrid stench rafting and sticking around the plane. He doesn't even care if the passengers suspect him of it all, he'll be back to America and they'll all be stuck with obese lowlife tourists at some shitty resort in Benidorm. Some Scottish lad named Wink McAndrew flashing his cock and balls and hand tasering you for a laugh. While he'll be back in Scranton living it up with his mate Dwight on his beet farm.

So if you take anything away from this tale, let it be this; if a blog has failed and there is no use for it anymore, never let a common understanding that blogs are for public consumption get in the way of a good laugh. I mean, why would a person waste so much time on a blog post for the meaning of being consumed by one target audience.

To all the Stewards out there, FSMC is the way it should be!

*Hope I got these right.

Zeitgeist 3 Coming October 2010

2009-04-02T13:09:00.002+11:00

Zeitgeist 3 has been announced for October 2010. In the meantime check out the first two if you haven't already at http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com

Zeitgeist is the first movie.

Zeitgeist Addendum is the sequel.

Quite fitting in these times. Taking a look at the failures and realities of the monetary system and the alternatives such as The Venus Project.

Also, make sure you join The Zeitgeist Movement.

uTorrent Comes To the Mac - Beta Released

2008-11-30T21:52:00.002+11:00

uTorrent has been released in Mac beta form. It currently only works on Intel Macs but they are working on previous incarnations compatibility. uTorrent for Mac is clean, simple and very functional in my use of it so far.

YouTube Goes Widescreen

2008-11-30T21:45:00.005+11:00

Well YouTube has really decided to shake things up a bit. They've gone widescreen in the viewing of videos on their site. What does everybody think?

The following is a high quality video in widescreen format to show what YouTube is now capable of.

Check it out now. It's Manga of some kind but you just have to behold the quality.

Gamespot Top 10 Games of The Moment

2008-11-30T21:37:00.005+11:00

Last.fm Top 10 Played Charts for the Week

2008-11-30T21:29:00.002+11:00

The Last.fm Charts for the week. I think it's a better indicator than all those Top 40 Pop Charts around the world. Plus I use the Last.fm scrobbler so I may have a vested interest. Check it out though. Viva La Vida still on top.

1. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
2. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
3. The Killers - Human
4. Coldplay - Violet Hill
5. MGMT - Time to Pretend
6. MGMT - Kids
7. Britney Spears - Womanizer
8. Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl
9. MGMT - Electric Feel
10. Kanye West - Love Lockdown

Michael Jordan Shatters a Backboard

2008-11-30T21:27:00.000+11:00

5th Grader Wants to Take Over The World

2008-11-30T21:20:00.004+11:00

A young child's plans to take over the world.

Smash a TV Office Space Style

2008-11-30T01:32:00.001+11:00

Guts - A Short Story About Masturbation From Chuck Palahniuk

2008-10-22T17:44:00.001+11:00

So disturbing that over 60 people fainted while listening to readings of the story over the course of Chuck’s book tours. The story is about three incidents involving accidents during masturbation. From Chuck Palahniuk, the writer of Fight Club and Choke.

read more | digg story

Zack and Miri Make a Porno Red Band Trailer

2008-09-05T02:20:00.002+10:00

The latest movie from Kevin Smith involves man of the hour Seth Rogen, as well as Elizabeth Banks. Should be interesting to say the least. It's called "Zack and Miri Make a Porno".

Plex is the shizizzle.

2008-09-04T01:24:00.002+10:00

Lifehacker have pretty much got this one covered so I'll redirect you to them and give them some love because they deserve it. For one they referred me on to Plex and I will forever be thanking them. For two I'm just really happy what Plex has done for my vast media library.

Lifehacker's Plex Article

Plex basically is a media centre to replace Front Row on the Mac (Sorry PC and Linux users) and does a very fine job of it. I'll post some screens of it below to give you an idea of the excellence.

It organizes music and photos, which is great and all but not something I would use the software for. I've got iTunes and iPhoto for that. The cheese comes in the organization of movies and TV shows. It completely shits on Front Row in what it does and I can only explain it to you in pics. So look below or go to Lifehacker's ar ticle.

Updates in TV Land - New Season News

2008-07-21T01:14:00.001+10:00

A few notes of interest to make your tongues wag. Curb Your Enthusiasm has been confirmed for a seventh season, with a rumoured Woody Allen story arc. Entourage will premiere Season 5 on HBO on September 11 with the return of a previously unpopular character. Family Guy will also be gracing us with it's presence for a seventh season in '08. Flight of the Conchords will be returning January 2009 so we can all make a song and dance about it. Bender's Game is the title of the latest Futurama straight-to-DVD movie and it looks to be a fun take on Dungeons and Dragons. The third season of Heroes titled Heroes: Villains will premiere September 22, 2008. A fourth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is most definetely in the works and will be released into the wild September 18, 2008. Additional good news for Sunny fans. FX has ordered an additional 39 episodes on top of the 13 already ordered for Season 4. Great news methinks! Scrubs is back for Season 8 but on a different network but the bad news is that Zach Braff may be leaving at the conclusion of the eighth.

Another TV Show that may be coming down our tubes is Boldly Going Nowhere. From the creators of It's Awlays Sunny in Philadelphia, the show will be a mix of comedy and sci-fi and will contain the day to day life of an intergalactic spaceship controlled by a rogue captain. Looking forward to that one.

Web Comic Roundup

2008-06-06T15:23:00.007+10:00

I'm not much of a comic lover. I never got around to any serious comic reading apart from the odd Mad Magazine here and there. With dwindling attention spans web comics which mostly consist of around 3 panels that get to the point straight away are a lot easier to digest than epic Phantom comic tomes of yesteryear. Web comics have reignited my passion for casual perusal of selected comics on the internet. Here is a roundup of some of the comics I've been reading lately:

A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language is the self-description of xkcd on it's website. The comic has a variety of topics it satirizes and makes fun of and a lot of that is based on pop culture but random content is often used. xkcd is the darling of the web community Digg with comic posts getting dugg on the website quite often.

Theater Hopper is a flat out comedic look at the current films in cinemas through the eyes of two movie goers. It is also distributed in the blog FirstShowing.net. I really enjoy the blog due to it's essays and reviews on the movies they are featuring which really complements the comic.

Press Play Comic is a new kid on the block. It's only been around for a month or so but I think it's doing great things. Taking Theater Hopper's lead it makes fun of all things movies and does so in an amusing way. I see great things for this comic.

Please tell me if you have any recommendations because I am new to the web comic craze and comics like the ones above have left me wanting for more.

Keep Track of Watched TV Show Episodes and Movies and Plan What to Watch!

2008-04-11T13:35:00.006+10:00

I've been looking for something that the title explains for a while now. Only recently have I called myself to action to try and get something done about it. I wish IMDb.com or TV.com would add a feature for all us TV and movie freaks along the lines of keeping track of what movies we have seen, what TV show Season and Episode we are up to and so on. It would track every episode you have seen, perhaps suggest other TV shows to watch. I just want a no nonsense service that caters for today's download and consume society of entertainment seekers. It would also have when the next installment of your TV show or movie is coming up so you know when to watch your episodes or prequels by.

A mockup not very well thought through but you get the basics example I give below:

If you think this is a good idea spread the word. I know it might seem like a simple idea but I think it could be very effective and helpful to a growing number of people. I picture it as not being dissimilar to the way Amazon.com handles their recommendations system. If only they could add that to an optional part of IMDB.com or make a separate niche site. Anyways if you like the idea Digg the story and hopefully the collaborators that be will put this into motion.

What you would need is a Wiki style database of all TV shows and Movies and a tick box whether you've seen it or not with an optional episode rating next to it to gauge episode popularity. People from countries around the world should participate to make local content up to date as well.

View the 2011 updated edition of this post with solutions to the problems I presented in this post.

Kiva - Micro Financial Loans that change lives

2008-03-17T05:55:00.001+11:00

Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world - empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty. Choose a third world entrepreneur with a business plan to donate $25USD or more to and than watch as their lives change. You get you're money back by the way, and it's yours to keep or put back to good use. It's known as micro financing, an idea that won a nobel price last year. It's an excellent idea, check it out, digg this story and do some good today.

Access Hulu Internationally

2008-03-17T04:37:00.003+11:00

Hulu has just come out of private beta. This great service all the movie studios have put together to compete with piracy is a great thing. It has television and a limited selection of movies. There is excellent content included if you can handle a little ad here and there. The only problem is you can't access it unless you live in the United States. Well with a little googling around you can overcome this. To save you the trouble I'll tell you what you have to do if you live outside the USA and want to access Hulu.

Point your mouse to the below address and download the software.

http://anchorfree.com/downloads/hotspot-shield/

Once installed and applyed just go straight to Hulu and as long as your internet speed permits the content is your to divulge.

The whole three seasons of Arrested Development is on there. Not to mention the first seasons of Buffy and Firefly. Plus some really top class movies. I just finished watching The Big Lebowski.

Some other great movies on the site for free consumption include:

The Girl Next Door

Ice Age

Titan A.E.

Dude, Where's My Car?

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Planet of the Apes

The Usual Suspects

October Sky

Me, Myself and Irene

Mulholland Drive

Requeim for a Dream

Three Amigos!

Boat Trip

K-Pax

Red Dragon

Man on the Moon

Sideways

Quills

Very Bad Things

Fierce Creatures

and Bulworth

Come to think of it some high quality movies to choose from. I hope this goes well an they actually do decide to release it outside of America and localize it for other countries because it's a lot of fun to use and the video is very good quality in my opinion. I want the movie and tv studios to do well to produce high quality material into the future and they need to keep thinking of good ideas like this to do so. They can't make an enemy of their fans.

So give it a try and tell me what you think.

Who said you need real instruments to produce an album?

2008-03-14T03:57:00.003+11:00

A band called breadpig has come up with the unique idea of playing instruments from the video game Rock Band on the streets butthey have also taken it a step further and released an album full of them playing the fictional instruments. It's called When will then be now?

Live Performance in Washington DC

Barack Obama on Net Neutrality

2008-03-14T02:40:00.000+11:00

Some Movies Looking Good in 08

2008-03-13T15:52:00.003+11:00

I've done a little research in the way of looking at movie blogs, IMDb and Wikpedia and found a few movies that are shaping up as pretty finger lickin'. So without further ado here are some movies that are looking good in 08. I haven't included movies that I've seen so far but that only includes Jumper, Dan in Real Life and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and they are all pretty good so I'd recommend them if you haven't so far.

Out Now

Semi-Pro

The Other Boleyn Girl

10,000 BC

21 - March 28th

Smart People - April 11th

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - April 18th

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay - April 25th

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - May 22nd

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - May 16th

The Incredible Hulk - June 13th

Hellboy II: The Golden Army - July 11th

The Dark Knight - July 17th

Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Q4

And the rest...

Cures for Boredom Caused by the Writer's Strike

2007-12-25T22:36:00.000+11:00

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past couple months you know how reduced the amount of quality written television coming out of the USA. Our favourite shows have been stopped in their tracks, some even forever (Scrubs for example) and it doesn't seem like coming to a conclusion any time soon. Salvation for me will come on January 29th when Lost returns but that only fills so much of a gap. I miss my shows and I got sick of reality television years ago so that doesn't help much. I support what the writers are doing and some of the striking writer's blogs make an entertaining point in the process. They even convinced me to send some pencils to evil studio executives. The coverage of the writers strike has been a sort of entertainment for me. It just seems interesting to me. All this talk of residuals and where the future of entertainment is and whether the internet will be a part of it keeps me glued to Google Reader.

So that brings me to my next paragraph. Alternatives to quality scripted television that has nothing to do with reality based programming;

Movies
There are some great movies coming out over the Australian Summer or American Winter depending on where you are. And here are some of my picks that are coming out at the cinemas.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
No Country For Old Men
Juno
I Am Legend
American Gangster
Cloverfield
Be Kind Rewind
Jumper
Semi-Pro
The Other Boleyn Girl

All movies I really am looking forward to and the good thing is they are spread out over the next couple of months so you get an even distribution of entertainment. Otherwise you can check out your local Video Store for the latest release DVD's. Or as many are these days searching for the desired movie followed by DVDrip into one of the many fine Bittorrent search engines out there. Here are some recommendations for DVD's released this year:

300
Knocked Up
The Simpsons Movie
Superbad
Ocean's 13
Transformers
Ratatouille
Futurama: Bender's Big Score
Sicko

For many more selections visit IMDb's Top 100 movies of the year by votes for ideas.

Games
Depending on whether you are into them or not games can provide hours of entertainment or limited batches of general interest. Here is a casual gamers guide to how to get some entertainment out of your television when there isn't any decent TV coming out of it. The computer you are using right now is a trojan horse for entertainment depending on it's power but most can be used to play flash based games through the internet. Console gaming is another way to interact with virtual worlds and the current players on the market for your dollar are Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3. Gamespot or IGN are excellent websites to come to terms with choosing one of these to take your mind off the writer's strike. And there there are the latest handhelds which are really nifty. Nintendo's DS or Sony's PSP. Both really cool in there own way but a matter of choice as usual.

Music
See Bittorrent

And of course than there is the internet where most of the boredom by the writer's strike can be cured. An endless sea of human procrastination the internet seems to never stop giving. With it's vast array of blogs and hydra of Bittorrent trackers where else do you really need to go? Social networking to Social bookmarking, Web 2.0 really bought us all together.

So until the writers get back on their typoewriters, A4, Macbooks, PC's or whatever the hell they use to get the ball re-rolling on the US TV juggernaut try and be entertained with what I have served you. I realize I did it in the most patronizing way possible but what do you expect writer's all over the world are in solidarity not to produce quality and who am I to buck that trend.

So until next time have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And let us pray that greedy studio execs get what they want for Christmas so they can give the writers what they want for the sake of TV-Viewerkind.

Ant out.

'Summer Heights' finishes on a high

2007-10-24T23:11:00.000+10:00

Summer Heights High, the brainchild of Chris Lilley finished strongly tonight. In other news the Chaser's War on Everything didn't do so bad itself nearly hanging itself after a gag regarding David Hookes. I've gotta be honest, I've got nothing else to say. Completely uninspired this post I am. Goodbye.

Listen to What's Getting Airtime on JJJ

2007-07-05T09:21:00.000+10:00

I've updated the Triple J playlist so it has all the freshest hits according to Triple J and it's listeners I suppose. So enjoy some great new tracks from all the alternative rockers out there who bring us so much joy and these days get so little in return for their efforts compared to what they used to. It's accurate as of the 5th July 2007.

Playlist is here.

Just as an added note for international readers or Aussies just getting acquainted to JJJ, check out the program guide on their website. I recommend Hack for current affairs and Myf, Jay & The Doctor. It's nice to wake up to some nice tunes and interesting and lighthearted commentary of a morning not forgetting the occasional swear here and there.

A Beta TV called Joost

2007-04-13T03:36:00.000+10:00

Finally received an invite to participate in a little Joost up TV. Subsequently I've been watching a beta Joost. This thing is not only the future of TV but the future of Entertainment. I didn't get the invite from Joost though, I was referred using e-beg. Simliar to eBay except you wander forums begging for an invite and the more creative you are with your posting the better chance of receiving an invite via email which is kind of like a wormhole to the future in a referral link. The future of TV that is.

Enjoy this promotional video for Joost to get your tongues wagging and just hope that you have a techy friend in the know to send an invite your way. Otherwise you can use e-beg on a forum. I went to this one: Joost Forums and posted this poem:

I am thirsty for Joost.
I need vitamin TV please.
Certainly a Boost.
Beta than Full Release.

And after somebody sent me an invite I added this:

I just got an invite
But not of this board
I'll leave you to fight
Until you become bored.

Sorry for teasing you with all this but I really think it has loads of promise.

The Best Way to Get a Joost Invite

It's called Google for a reason but that's not relevant right now. What you wanna do is search in Google or I'm not obliged to say but search engine of your choice for a Joost related forum.

Try keywords like these Joost, Joost Invite, Joost Forum, Joost Beta Invite, Joost Invite Community, The Future is Joost and stuff along those lines.

Find one that looks decent and has been active and trawl for invites by putting your email [quenchyourthirst] [at] [joost.com] and if you trust the forum your First and Last name. You can use an alias because you can change your full name after you are registered and have it on your computer.

Or if you are a member of a forum just start a thread in a relevant topic and fish for people.

The other rarer option is that one of your friends has Joost. Which would be a lot easier.

Have a nice time finding an invite. I'll be watching the future on Joost, not the content just the program. First three people to leave an amusing comment will get a Joost Invite emailed to them as I gain them from using the programme. Leave email and First and Last Name.

What's on the Triple J Rotational Now

2007-04-13T02:56:00.000+10:00

Listen to the following songs marked with the Entertainment Fiend logo on the Triple J Finetune player on the top right of this site!

Frank Zappa Defending Words circa. 1986

2007-04-03T23:14:00.000+10:00

This is a video I came across a couple of years ago but it's always good for repeat viewings. Check it out. It's a long one so you might have to press play, pause it and let it load. 21 minutes long but worth the investment of your time.

Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer

2007-04-03T22:58:00.000+10:00

You can check out the below video but it doesn't really do it justice. Head here for a better trailer experience.

Listen to Triple J's Hitlist

2007-03-13T14:10:00.000+11:00

I've added a little Triple J hitlist radio widget/gadget in my sidebar. It is a Finetune play list that behaves like a radio. It's the songs that were available on Finetune's database today from the rotation list on Triple J's website. Enjoy! And credit to Triple J for being such a fine radio station.

Well Designed MySpace and other Oxymorons

2007-03-13T01:46:00.000+11:00

What does it take to make a nice looking

These days just enter "Design MySpace for Me" into Google and you will come up with a myriad of sites offering the sweetest designs but for the ill educated Web User they will most likely have a "Free Kick Ass Mutha-Truckin MySpace Layouts" Banner on the top right of their page linking to the very reason their MySpace sucks.

There are a few tools around to make your MySpace look sweet enough to bite without having to many of those crappy and annoying "Which past Big Brother contestant's toenails are most like yours?" Gadget which you wouldn't have on there unless you were like a person that you adore or think other people do.

So here is my MySpace Designer School

Images

It's called Photobucket and you probably would have contributed to their server load at some point if you use MySpace or frequent blogs. If you wanna put your own images up there you have to register. Once registered you will be assigned a photo album to put all your images into once uploaded. The editing of size and other properties is limited once you upload your image so best do that beforehand.

Uploading is very straight forward. You just browse and locate the image, preferably JPG or GIF but they do allow for a few other formats depending on your needs.

Once your picture is in you photo album you are going to want to click the yellow box next HTML Tag. This will copy the code ready for you to place it where it is needed.

From here it's just a matter of choosing which section you want to place the image. One of the below sections is a good place to start:

About Me | Who I'd Like To Meet | Interests | Music | Movies | Books | Heroes

The html code which will look something like this:

It's just a matter of changing the URL in the brackets after href and the =

If you want no link on your image delete the code above.

Photos in a bucket.

Videos

It's pretty straightforward with Veoh. Register an account and you are on your way. Videos are on the site as soon as you upload them and they look sweet without all that crappy branding that YouTube does. Just embed your video onto MySpace and change the dimensions to suit which part of your page you are on.

Use the Calculator on your computer to do this.

A better uploading experience than YouTube

Music

If you want to entertain your visitors with a radio station of your own making than Finetune is just for you. Just look in the top right of this page to see it in action. The Finetune playlist was made by selecting songs from a generous song catalogue and they play back for you and the world to hear.

You need to select a minimum of 45 songs for each playlist you create and from there the song selection's the limit. I created a few different lists.

I created a personalised playlist to listen to on my desktop with the new Finetune Desktop Beta as well as in my MySpace music section. You can also listen to it on the Wii if you have one. They have a part of their site dedicated to it. You could probably use it on the Playstation 3 come to think of it.

I also created a Film Scores playlist comprising my favourite film scores which is nice to set the mood when you are having dinner or something.

And than I created a playlist based on my favourite radio station's most played songs on rotation hitlist of the moment.

You gotta be creative and good things will happen.

Tune into yourself today

I hope you were schooled in the finer arts of using other people's ideas and knowledge to make a killer looking MySpace page to show off to all of your friends.

Till next time.

Finetune: The Mixtape Evolved

2007-03-08T03:20:00.000+11:00

OK, to get this out I wanted to post it on Digg. But someone already beaten me to the punch with a less than desirable headline. "The Best of SXSW 2007 Playlist".

So this is what was to explain Finetune, one of the greatest new inventions on the internet for social networking and making your Wii into a damn fine bedside, partyside and b-side music player for a while. Plus it is just damn cool and so well designed.

So this is a custom playlist made my some guy that I picked that was on the front page in the playlists section.

Ipod's Shuffle Feature for Free Online
It's pretty much Apple iPod's shuffle feature except you don't have to buy the songs. Probably not much of a change for most of you but nonetheless a little guilty. Shuffle on your compy and Wii and I'm pretty sure a portable device somehow. Anything's possible these days with sites like Lifehacker and the sort.

Send Your Friend's Playlists Without Sending Them The Songs
But you can make a playlist for yourself. Minimum 45 songs than it plays on random. Put it on your Social Network page of choice (It lets you embed wherever it's possible, including this post hopefully) and Hey Presto! You can share your tastes with people you know as well as the whole world.

Wi/i Like/s Listening to Fine Tunes
Another great use is for your Wii. It looks great on your TV and it sounds great if you have a good stereo system. You are probably saying that is what my iPod or mp3 player of choice hooked up to a Hi-Fi system is for. But if you have your Wii connected to the net or probably any device that can connect to the net with sound you can listen to playlists made my friends, family and people from all over the world.

So give it a go and tell your friends. I don't know the benefit of telling people because it will probably just make it slower but it's just such a nifty and handy thing. Better than Pandora and less restrictive than Last.fm as I remember them.

So have fun. The site again is www.finetune.com

If God Doesn't Watch Over Us Who Does?

2007-03-06T19:49:00.000+11:00

My 2 Cents: How to Get Free Petrol

2007-02-27T22:05:00.000+11:00

This method of getting free petrol is as far as I know legal but I'm sure very annoying for the service station attendants. So that's my 2 cents anyway. Be sure to share and we can (very) slowly put a dent however small into the oil industry's bottom line.

How Do You Compare on Speed Test?

2007-02-23T11:32:00.000+11:00

The folks over at SpeedTest have really outdone themselves with their great new. Do yourself a faour and check out how fast the speed of your internet is compared to your fellow countryman as well as the rest of the world. It's great fun to toy around with the new design and vast array of features. See if your line speed matches what you paid for.

I've Got That Digging Feeling

2007-02-16T18:14:00.000+11:00

After joining the social bookmark site Digg in September 2006 it suddenly became a lot easier to find cool stuff on the web. Sure you can use Google and search for your chosen topic and you'll be on your way, than YouTube came and finding music videos and in some cases TV shows and Movies were split up into ten parts. This made life inconvenient if you set up a couch in your computer room and got comfortable watching the latest episode of than suddenly you'd have to get off your buttocks and click Part 2 and repeat process 3 through 10. (Now there's QuickList so it doesn't apply as much.)

OK, whoa! Went a bit off topic there. What I'm trying to say is Digg in it's latest rendition has made life a whole lot easier when wanting to catch up with current events, whacky news, humorous videos, the latest celebrity caught on tape doing somthing they will later regret and now podcasts of which Diggnation is unsurprisingly the most popular amongst Digg members.

I've been using it fairly frequently for about a month now and there are some topics that seem to come up more often than others. Apple Inc, Atheism as well as people being PWNED (see Wikipedia, although if you are reading this I'd say you are familiar) are common topics. Which suits me fine because I enjoy Apple's products and would probably change to Mac if I could afford it. But I like the odd play around and until PC games are playable on Mac I will likely not be changing. And atheism is great to hear about, especially Dawkins who pretty much PWNS (see above) the people he debates.

So I decided i would try my hand at scouting the internet for something that might go popular and make the front page of Digg. My first attempt about a month ago didn't go so well. It was a satire of Michael Moore's corporate headquarter confrontation tactics and it's currentlt sitting on 2 diggs which includes my initial Digg submission point. I was quite discouraged.

Than it came to me that you need something either really interesting, something that hasn't been done or something universal. So I scoured YouTube for the comedians of my homeland: John Safran, The Chaser Boys and Shaun Micallef. I found some material from the first two but it had already been submitted to Digg and become quite popular. Well I finally found a clip that might be of interest and hadn't already been submitted before. It was an old Micallef sketch from his great television series.

So here is the result. My submitted Digg article. As of submission it had 175 diggs. Click below to see how many it has now. It feels pretty good to make the front page.

The Unspoken Rules of Holding the Door for someone

And here's the video direct that got me on the front page.

1.5Mb to 8Mb - Australian ADSL Increase

2006-11-10T17:38:00.000+11:00

Great news for those that live in parts of Australia enabled with Broadband but unable to get ADSL2+. We will see a speed increase from 1.5Mb to 8Mb. Can't wait for it to happen is all I can say.

In other news, I really wanna see Borat, it's like #138 on the IMDb Top 250, The Departed which is also high up in the 250 and just for laughs Jackass 2.

True HD-TV and Blu-Ray

2006-11-03T21:33:00.000+11:00

If you are into the whole next generation of television and DVD services than head over to Samsung Australia for a look at the first Blu-Ray player to come to Australia and a mighty good looking Samsung 40" LCD which can output 1080p whatever that means.

I'm barracking for Blu-ray. Who are you hoping wins the DVD race?

iTV, new iPods and movies for iTunes Store

2006-09-13T18:22:00.000+10:00

If you are a fan of those nifty little things called iPods as well as the great user interface that is iTunes store head over to Apple for the "It's Showtime" keynote. Included are many cool announcements and watching it is all part of the fun. You need Quicktime to play it as well.

The two big announcements of the keynote were iTV and the addition of movies to the iTunes store. The movies and television being sold are still very exclusive to the USA store but Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple will "hopefully be going international in 2007" so that is a glimmer of hope to say the least. iTunes 7 was also released today so head over to the Apple website to get the latest edition of iTunes. A really cool thing in the latest rendition of iTunes is the ability to retrive cover art for any album you have even if you haven't bought it from the store.

I'm pretty excited about all of this. On Thursday Nintendo will most likely be announcing the launch date, price and launch lineup for it's new console Wii so stay tuned as i will have all that info for you here as I find out about it.

The Simpsons Best of Lists

2006-09-09T22:48:00.000+10:00

This entry is for all you diehard Simpsons fans out there and i know there is plenty of you out there. Even if you are not into the latest Simpsons efforts the following lists of the best of The Simpsons are a fun read where you can reminisce on the days The Simpsons ruled the world even if you think they still do. So sit back relax and thank the wonderful people over at IGN for some lists and while you are at it check out the 7 minute exclusive clip of the first seven minutes of Season 18's first episode "The Mook, The Chef, The Wife and His Homer" as well as a short on how they get The Simpsons from sketch to the way we view it.

Top 25 Simpsons Peripheral Characters

Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances

17 Seasons, 17 Episodes

The First 7 Minutes of Season 18 plus from Sketch to Perfect

So enjoy. Also if you haven't yet heard of Spore check out this 15 minute video that gives you the lowdown on what it's all about. It's the new game from Will Wright creator of The Sims Series. It is a game of evolution and the customization of whatever you want your species to be. Basically it's endless gameplay for the creative minded person. Anyways you can't understand the scale of this game until you see this demo. It's also from IGN.

Spore Demonstration at Game Convention 2006

That's all for now.

Look What I Stumbled Upon

2006-09-09T16:38:00.000+10:00

It would be great to say I stumbled upon the great tool that is StumbleUpon but it didn't happen that way. I found it when I was upgrading my Firefox to the latest beta and I thought I'd update my extensions. StumbleUpon is a toolbar, I know another toolbar but it is worth it believe me. You pick what sort of stuff you want to browse and there are heaps of topics and even if you can't find one you can search for anything. Videos, pictures and Wiki's are also all stumblable. It's a great way of discovering new sites in categories you like.

I've already found some great stuff from it. Here are some examples.

AllSP.com - A place with all the South Park episodes to watch online.

Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Links - A page with links to Google videos of Penn & Teller episodes.

So give it a go and report back to me when you are having fun stumbling.

Audioslave - Revelations

2006-09-05T10:04:00.000+10:00

Being a dedicated fan of Rage Against the Machine and one eyed supporter of microphone fiend Zach de la Rocha it was going to take a long time for me to accept new vocalist Chris Cornell. Audioslave's first two albums went by and I never bought them from the CD store, while not thinking twice with RATM. Don't get me wrong I still loved such great songs as Like a Stone and Show Me How to Live and there are some others as well but 5 September came around and I was browsing the iTunes Music Store at 1am and noticed Revelations was out. Original Fire, their first single from the album was ok so I thought I'd give the full album a try and I haven't regreted it.

I'm not going to go giving it a review for at least a month though because I need to get an appreciation for the music and lyrics. Car stereo play, iPod airtime and the time I'm on the computer listening to it will where I place my judgement. First impressions are wonderful though. So far standouts for me are Revelations, Moth, Until we Fall and Shape of Things to Come. There's also a great live version of Show Me How to Live recorded at the Quartz Festival wherever that is that comes with the iTunes version. But really who can ignore the legendary guitar sounds of Tom Morello. Give it a go if you like alternative rock and want your ears drums to vibrate to a standout sound.

Playing GT4, Looking Forward to GT-HD

2006-08-29T17:33:00.000+10:00

Well, the previous post about what's on this week was a bit of a disaster aesthetically. It's just heaps of links and I don't really like looking at it. But because I spent so much time on it I'll leave it up.

Anyways I've been playing heaps of rented Gran Turismo 4 and looking forward to Gran Turismo on the PS3 of which I hope will be cheaper by the time it comes out who knows when. I'll probably eventually get a PS3 when Gran Turismo HD, Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4 come out. Predictable I know but I like the blockbusters.

That's all today. I've got things to do.

Three Games I Can't Wait For

2006-08-27T17:18:00.000+10:00

I've been into playing videogames since I was six and it's just something I haven't grown out of. I still like the occasional gaming experience when something takes my fancy. I like open ended gameplay and detest structure. Some games I like are Rise of Nations, The Sims series, Grand Theft Auto Series and anything by Sid Meier which includes the wonderful Pirates! and Civilization IV.

In this post I will outline three games that I am looking forward to. Two more than the other as I like one of them just because of the guy who is making it as I expect great things.

SPORE Q1 2006

I'm looking forward to this because of the premise of being able to create a species and evolve it over time and through different phases. I saw a demo online of a demonstration at E3 and was blown away. This should provide hours of fun. The latest Spore preview can be seen on IGN.

GRAND THEFT AUTO IV October 16th, 2007

The next game I'm looking forward to has been a favourite of mine since Grand Theft Auto 3. The adventures of Liberty City had me engrossed from start to as far as I could get up to and I'm hoping that GTAIV will bring the same stuff to the table.

SID MEIER'S RAILROADS! October 23, 2006

Looking forward to this both because I enjoy Railroad Simulations and because I think Sid Meier will be able to bring something really special to the table as he has done in games I have played in the past including Pirates! and Civilization IV.

Well there are three games that I really can't wait for. Of course there are some games that I may buy depending on certain circumstances including whether I upgrade my PC and getting a new console etc. Some of those include The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, Tekken 6, Tony Hawk's Project 8, FIFA 07 and maybe the new Pokemon's whenever they come out.

Stocking Shopper from The Chaser

2006-08-27T14:46:00.001+10:00

Just wanted to test my ability to place video on the blog as I am pretty new to this blogging stuff. So far Blogger has provided me with everything I have needed for my blogging and that's great. Enough spruiking. The below video is from The Chaser team, an Australian bunch who were first writers than comedic performers pulling lots of crazy stunts and making humourous clips. Their show airs in Australia and it has developed quite a following on the net as well as their dedicated Australian fanbase. The show can be downloaded in full here and on iTunes. Tell me what you think. For more short clips click here.

TV Shows I'm Looking Forward To

2006-08-27T12:28:00.000+10:00

As you can probably guess from the picture I've chosen for the entry the show I'm most looking forward to is Lost's new season. Left is the show's Season 3 promotional picture.

Below is a list of shows I'm looking forward to in there USA TV Fall premiere dates. Weeds and Prison Break have already aired but I thought I'd lump em' on the list so you can get the gist of shows I'm into.

The full list of Fall 2006 Premiere dates can be found at Metacritic. It's a great list.

THE LIST

Weeds 8/14 Showtime
Prison Break 8/21 Fox

Family Guy 9/10 Fox
The Simpsons 9/10 Fox
American Dad 9/10 Fox
Animation comedies are right up my alley along with South Park so naturally I'm a big fan of the above three even if I'm somewhat tiring of The Simpsons. With The Sopranos as guest stars this season I think I'll be watching.

Survivor: Cook Islands 9/14 CBS
One of the two reality shows I like.

The Amazing Race 10 9/17 CBS
The other reality show I like.

My Name is Earl 9/21 NBC
Earl Hickey is my hero.

Heroes 9/25 NBC
New show that I thought I would give a chance.

Smallville 9/28 CW
I'm not so much a fan of the movies as I am the teen version. I think it's cool but I hate it when it goes all freak of the week on me.

Everybody Hates Chris 10/1 CW
I occasionally watched this and probably will again.

Lost 10/4 ABC
My favourite on air show at the moment closely followed by that darned crime family The Sopranos. I just really like this one. Some people get sick of it but I hang on it.

South Park 10/4 Comedy Central
Loved South Park since it's first episode and it's had a special place in my hear ever since. It's going to be ending soon so I'm gonna soak it up while it lasts.

And Futurama on straight to DVD release, The Sopranos on HBO in 2007 as well as Scrubs on NBC when it is released for it's sixth season.

Well that's all from me. Peace.

Footy and a Little News

2006-08-26T09:01:00.000+10:00

I'm going to the footy (Australian Rules Football) to see Essendon vs Richmond play. I love the feeling of walking into a stadium of 80,000 people. It's a night match so the massive light towers will be on.

In other news Tom Cruise gets dumped by Paramaount. I read an interview in the paper yesterday with Kevin Smith of Clerks fame and he thinks that if Hugh Grant can get caught with a prostitute and Eddie Murphy a Transvestite prostitute and they are still making movies why the hell is Tom Cruise being persecuted. I don't know why a person's personal life even though Tom Cruise has made it pretty public should interfere with their working life.

While we're on the subject of Kevin Smith, in an Australian interview he promised a horror flick. Cinematical has the story.

To TV and the new series of Survivor will see the tribes split by race. I'm going to post all my picks for the new fall season soon and tell you what I'll be watching and maybe you can tell me what will be on your screens this fall.

Well that's it for me for another day. Peace.

My TV on DVD Collection

2006-08-25T11:44:00.000+10:00

Well I got bored so I'm deciding to do a post about my DVD collection and rate them accordingly to perhaps help some people if they are deciding to get something already in my collection.

The Simpsons Seasons 1-5
Well I bought Season 1 as my first DVD box set back in the day when DVD was the new kid on the block and it made me all tingly owning The Simpsons. I continued to collect over the years but have held back as of late. As far as novelty value, you can't beat it but because I've seen them so many times on TV repeats and will continue to do so it's not as good say as my Family Guy box sets. 7/10

Family Guy Seasons 1-3
Something I didn't see much of in Australian prime time because it wasn't really there for that long before being relegated to the damned 11:30pm timeslot. So i missed it the first time around basically. But like many people I was lucky that DVD had been invented and that Family Guy subsequently had been put on DVD for me to watch when I wanted. Damn fine random comedy. 10/10

The Sopranos Seasons 1-5
Well I can only judge the first three seasons because I haven't watched 4 and 5. Like Family Guy I missed most of The Sopranos because of poor timeslot issues. I pretty much watched the first 3 seasons in two weeks and couldn't get enough of it. It's slowed up a bit now because I'm sort of mob bossed out. But I'm sure there will be a flame rekindled at some point and I'll get going again. 10/10

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1
I purchased this because a new box set version was released at a third of the price and while I'd never really seen Star Trek I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I've seen 10 episodes of the set and it is OK but a little boring now and than. You just have to use your imagination. I'm really liking the robot character Data. 7/10

3rd Rock from the Sun Seasons 1-3
I mainly bought this because the local department store was having a dirt cheap DVD sale and I used to dig 3rd Rock a little. Well I'm 2 episodes in 70 to go. At least I've got something to do if I ever get bored. It's OK I gues considering the price of $15 a season. 5.5/10

Six Feet Under Season 1
Can't get enough of HBO's fine television. Loved Six Feet Under when it was on and even braved the late timeslot. The Series finale was breathtaking. Season 1 ain't as good as the leter seasons but it's the base building blogs for what is to come. I'm probably going to be getting Season 5 when it comes out in Oz. 7.5/10

The Awful Truth Seasons 1 & 2
Well I went through a little Michael Moore phase when I was a teen and read Stupid White Men and Dude, Where's My Country. I also bought his television series. Highlights include throat speaker choir in the tobacco lobby and the gay pride bus lambasting a Fred Phelps Westboro Church picket. 6.5/10

Well that's my collection. Hope it helped some people in deciding to buy or not. The scores are all higher than 5 because I didn't buy stuff that I didn't like. Peace.

Welcome to The Entertainment Fiend

2006-08-24T17:00:00.000+10:00

Welcome to my brand spanking new blog about pretty much anything that interests me. For those of you who don't know what interests me allow me to introduce myself. I am Zachary and I'm an Australian with heavy interests in things that entertain. Case in point, I currently get my kicks from TV, Film, DVD's, Games of an electronic nature, Music and Reading material (covering a manner of things including books, newspapers, magazines and stuff that I absorb from the internet). I also hold an interest in current affairs and technology. I love to write so it's not much of a hassle for me to write a blog. I seem to enjoy it. I've had a blog before but it got too personal and I became very self involved. I was letting confidential information out into the wild. This time it's gonna be all about the entertainment, tech and current affairs with my own little touch of the detales of things I like. I'm also gonna have a bank balance and keep track of my spending on the site so I can hopefully improve it. This blog is pretty much going to be very therapeutic as I get stuff off my chest and if anyone feels like reading what comes from my mind to my fingers than that is fine as well. I've also put a donation button on the side of the page if anyone likes my style of writing or the subject matter. I've got what i'm saving for on the sidebar so if you want to help me you can. I just thought I'd address it. Another reason it's there is because I'm quite poor and work in retail and it pays shit all. Can somebody say desperation?

Well let's get down to business. What have I been entertained by? What have you been entertained by lately? Please share it in the comments because I'd love to hear some reccomendations. I bought the first five seasons of The Sopranos on DVD about a month ago for $31.20 each and haven't looked away from the screen since watching the first three seasons in a snap. Highly reccommend this show. I also bought 3rd Rock From The Sun and although I haven't been watching it as much as The Sopranos it's still there for later viewing. I haven't really been playing many games lately because it's the time of year where not much comes out. I'm a strategy, sports and RPG kinda guy and there hasn't been that much out there for me. New stuff that is. I've been playing lots of FIFA 2005 multiplayer with my brothers and friends. Post World Cup fever. Bookwise I've been reading The Warren Buffet Way. I'm half-way through and although it's heavy reading I'm getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. I don't undertsnad some of the jargon but I get the gist of it. Melodically, my ears have been atuned to the following songs on rotation The Killers - When You Were Young, Starky - Hey Bang Bang, Snow Patrol - Hands Open. Great songs. Did I mention I also have an iPod mini (retired model I know but I still dig it.)? I like to listen to music on trips and before I go nigh nighs but podcasts have been what I've had in my ears lately. The main podcasts I listen to are gaming themed so it may not interest all of you but these are the ones: Gamespot presents The Hotspot, IGN Gamescoop!, 1UP Yours and PC Gamer Podcast. Well that's about all entertainment wise for now.

I just wanna share with you a podcast I listen to about current affairs called Hack. If you don't live in Australia you can catch it as a podcast on iTunes. Just search for Hack Triple J because I don't know how to do links yet.

Stay tuned because I have plenty more planned for this blog and lots more to share with everyone. Till next time, peace.

Also, one last thing I was feeling lucky today so I bought a lottery ticket for $10. Usually I don't buy into these but whenever I'm low on cash I just seem to buy into these things as an easy way out. Next time: Will Zachary win the lottery and be able to kick his shitty retail job? Will the $40 odd in his bank account explode into $4,000,000. Not very likely. But we'll see.