Real-time LOST
(spoilers for seasons 1-5; nothing new if you're up-to-date)
Final season starts Feb 9th in the UK. Getting quite excited now. Via.
LOST Season 5
I've just finished the fifth season of LOST, which I think brings me up-to-date for the first time in years, and it was pretty exciting1. To still be compelling after five years of the same story is remarkable.
I watched the whole thing on the iPhone - after buying it through iTunes - and that's definitely the way I'll get it in future. No adverts, no tv announcers saying "and now, it's a tragic day for..." or whatever, great quality picture/audio, and the ability to watch in bed / on the train / wherever. iTunes syncs the last few unseen episodes without any effort, too.
- if the tiniest bit scientifically dubious [↩]
Ghost Towns
Ten ghost towns:
SAN ZHI: [...] in the North of Taiwan, this futuristic pod village was initially built as a luxury vacation retreat for the rich. However, after numerous fatal accidents during construction, production was halted. A combination of lack of money and lack of willingness meant that work was stopped permanently, and the alien like structures remain as if in remembrance of those lost. Indeed, rumors in the surrounding area suggest that the City is now haunted by the ghosts of those who died.
But the pictures are the real story. Prypiat, the town built for workers at nearby Chernobyl, is particularly affecting. Via Ed.
Lost in Shibboleth
University finished early a couple of weeks ago, so I headed over to the Tate Modern for the Man Ray/Duchamp/Picabia exhibition. I'd forgotten about Shibboleth, the infamous crack in the floor, and it resonated with me far more than anything by the modernist masters. It's surprisingly impressive, although the grandeur of the surrounding turbine hall probably helps, and I wandered around for quite a while, just taking in the atmosphere and people-watching. There've been accidents, so signs and attendants conspicuously warned against falling in. I took a few pictures, mainly because it was a good chance to test out Photoshop's panorama features:
I didn't do a particularly good job with this one - too much vertical movement - but while merging it this evening I spotted something:
The ghost of a soul lost down the crack? Or a bizarre artefact of Photoshop's auto-blending? You decide.
iTunes TV launches in the UK
iTunes launched their UK TV service today. I think it's the first UK retailer to sell season 3 of Lost, which at £33 is roughly the same price as the DVD box set. Otherwise, individual episodes are £1.89, which isn't an unreasonable price. Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and South Park1 are probably the most interesting of the 28 US shows. Damn. I was happy to pick up the odd not-available-in-the-UK show via bittorrent before this; now I'll feel guilty if it's available legally. There's nothing from UK tv yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
I haven't tried it out yet - I don't have a video iPod, and there's nothing I'm itching to see - but it's a popular service in the US and I'm sure it'll come in useful. News articles have compared it to the 'catch-up' offerings from the BBC and ITV, but it's actually quite different. I can keep these shows for as long as I want2 - the 'catch-up' services only let you watch for a week /month after transmission. The commercial channels will surely have to implement something like this; 'catch-up' just doesn't cut it - I'm happy to pay for something without adverts that I can watch whenever I like and keep forever, and it seems like it should be profitable, depending on bandwidth costs. Not sure what the BBC will do, though...
- 22min episodes of which cost the same as 45min episodes of other shows; worth it for the Scientology episode, though. [↩]
- admittedly if iTunes folds the DRM would ensure I couldn't watch them any more, but that's at least not the point [↩]
Lost moving to Sky One
Bugger. They're going to start showing Series 3 this coming November. I can't get Sky One here, as the installers said it wasn't possible to fit a dish on my building. I can't stand the advert breaks on that channel. It's not the adverts themselves, it's that Sky always pile in the show trailers, which always seem to involve the hilarious antics of drunk people at holiday resorts, families swearing at each other, or generic Show For Men with fast cars, breasts and fighting. Only Bravo beats it for destroying faith in humanity (well, there's UK Living too, but for different reasons). Ah well, I'm sure there are ways around it...
Lost season two
Warning: Do not look up the Hanso Foundation if you want to avoid spoilers for the new series of Lost. I don't know quite why the weird adverts were there, but the slightest google search reveals a great deal of information you probably won't want.
--
I'm very impressed with Lost. I thought the first two episodes of the new series maintained the previous high standards, while ratcheting up the intrigue and tension. Trying to figure out the plot isn't really possible, imho - I'm just enjoying the ride. My only worry is that, with ABC now streaming new episodes over the Internet (with adverts), plus cheap iTunes sales - at least in the US - I'm dubious about my ability to avoid spoilers. Still, I can but try.
Update: A commenter has reminded me of the weird adverts for the Hadro Foundation(??) during the show. At least one of them was directly before the end of the ad-break, which I think is a slot reserved for ads for other shows, so maybe it's a C4 thing? Wish I could remember the exact name...
Also, channel4.com have Series One available for online viewing. The pilot episode is free, but the others are 99p. Still, cheaper than buying the DVD set.
Update Two: Right, it's 'The Hanso Foundation'. Do not look it up. It reveals major spoilers for the rest of the series. I saw somebody claim that the adverts were from BT. Wankers.
New series of Lost
Fyi for UK readers: the new series of Lost starts next week. It's moving to Tuesday evenings at 2200, directly after new CSIs on C5. I imagine there's a large overlap in CSI/Lost viewers, so this is a clever move on C4's part. I would be among the CSI viewers, but after three broken Freeview boxes I'm stuck with only four channels. Decent freeview boxes apparently start from £90, but I can't justify that atm. Maybe I'll ask for one for my birthday, which is coming up in...oh, what is it now...ah yes, 21 days.
Lost Finale
I picked up the DVD set of Lost this morning, and I've just finished watching the episodes I missed. I managed to avoid the spoilers, and many thanks to those who deliberately kept quiet - I appreciate it 
I was very impressed with the finale! It's one of those shows where you desperately hope there's a grand story that's slowly being unveiled. Unlike, say, the X-Files. I watched that damn show through nine(?) series, even when everybody else had abandoned it, and I don't think it spoils anything to say that it became apparent they'd been making it up as they went along1. Given the Lost writers' pedigree, though, I have high hopes. It's certainly intriguing enough to keep me watching - roll on series two!
- I think everybody else realised this after series two [↩]
Hello!
Hey, thanks for coming! I'm Andrew, and this is where my headthinks come to breed. They often dance around humanism, photography and general wonderments, but there's dabblage aplenty.
Do feel free to email me - I get lonely:
Your hair looks swish, by the way - have you done something new?
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