longwing

I discovered yesterday that my projector is on the fritz. (Bad bulb) This would seem to put the LOSTathon in danger, save that snikanor has nobally volunteered the use of his projector while I wait for new bulbs to arrive from my supplier. My supplier is slow, and it's unlikely that the bulbs will be here before Saturday, so snikanor's help is greatly appreciated.

Saturday looks to be the most logical day all around, thus Saturday is my current plan.

So here's the thing: There are 23 episodes in season 2, all about 47 minutes long. 23*47=1081 1081/60=18.016(repeating). That's 18 hours of LOST. Ouch. If we assume that people will be leaving around 10-11 in the evening, then the showing would start at 4am... Yeah. No. We have other choices. For example, we could let the showing run late, such as midnight or 2am. 2am hurts my brain, but could be done. Midnight isn't too bad, but still has the showing "start" at 6am. (No I don't actually expect people to show up at 6am) So what to do? We could cut out some episodes, or just start later in the season, or not watch the latest episodes... What do folks think?

Even if we manage to pair the length of raw footage down, I don't expect folks to sit in a dark room for 18 hours straight. I figure on setting things up so that it's easy for people to leave/enter when they want. There will be food and boardgames in the front room for folks who need a break from crazy LOST antics. I'm thinking on pizza for lunch and who-knows-what for dinner. If anyone has any food suggestions I'd certainly appreciate it.

Due to situations outside of my control, I need to cancel tomorrow's LOST gathering. I'm terribly sorry to dangle an invite in front of people and then yank it back, but I've been thrown a rather hefty curve ball, and I'm still reeling from the blow.

It is bad news, though hardly shattering. I'll type more on what's going on once I have a handle on it myself.

I really think that LOST is going to be the last television show I watch. Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of the constant give/take between consumers and "Old Media". There's a lot of really good entertainment out there. Battlestar Galactica, which should be a favorite of mine, leaps to mind. I loved the original series, and I've heard incredibly positive things about the new version, but I just can't bring myself to invest in it. It takes too much money and time to really enjoy old media anymore. Single seasons of shows cost more than I can afford, and I despise advertisements too much to truly enjoy the broadcast versions of anything. (Not to mention that I'm not willing to shcedule my life around when a network decides to show something.)

The networks understand this too, which is why they fight so hard to limit the availability of non-broadcast entertainment. We've seen it time and again, people really hate ads, and advertisers really like people. They're like an annoying yapping dog, they don't yap out of spite, they yap out of love (and no matter how nice you are, you still want to kick them for it). The networks figured out long ago that people watch shows together, not by themselves. LOST is a social phenomenon as much as it is a drama. Americans can't get enough television because we can't get enough of each other. TV is a really convenient excuse to gather, to pay attention to a mutual interest, to be entertained... and I want that. Does anyone here watch LOST and not talk about it with their friends? The networks realized that a show is most valuable when it's topical. No one talks about shows from 1995 except those who've aready seen them. Geting people you know to watch an old movie or an obscure film is like pulling teeth. I know this, I'm part of the problem. So I endure the adverts and buy the DVD's...

but I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the constant barrage of "buy our crap!", and the equally constant barrage of "watch our not-so-crap!". I can't help but feel that there's some way to break the cycle, I just don't know what it is.

digg.com <- adage.com <- Here.

ABC has seen the light of the internet, they've realized that there's real profits to be made by releasing media online... So there going to offer more of their shows, for free, but with adds. They'll be doing it through an amorphously described "product" that they'll be releasing in May. ( This is not a good thing. )

LOST tomorrow. There's always a LOST tomorrow. (Free popcorn to anyone who gets the reference.)

I've been disorganized. I know, it shocked me too. At this point, I'm getting a pretty good handle on acquiring LOST via iTunes, and I think it'd make sense to move LOST to Friday. So come this Friday, you can expect me to fire up the projector once again. We'll be watching two episodes, this week's and last week's. What's more, we'll be watching them commercial free, and they'll start whenever we want.

Hopefully, that little bonus will make up for the week and a half of dead silence on the subject.

Gah! I'm so disorganized.

It's Wednesday, LOST is on, standard invitation applies. There's absolutely no drama today, nothing special or unusual is happening. As a matter of fact, the projector is running better than normal, due to the new ballast and brighter bulbs. Night scenes (which LOST is often a little slaphappy to perform) should look particularly nice.

Drop on by, there's popcorn.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

It's Tuesday, so it's time again to borrow a slot in your friend's page as free advertising for my personal benefit. LOST looks to be positively crowded tomorrow, with at least 3 extra people cramming into my little living room, but don't let that stop you. Join me as we pack the place for a LOST based geekstravaganza!

Sorry, I promise to never use that word again. The show starts at 9, but feel free to show up anytime, some free food is available, but you should probably lug along a bottle of your favorite soda. Directions available upon request. If I can recognize your face (or if you can convince me that I should) you're in.

( Huge Projector Update behind cut. )
For those who don't want the massively multimedia experience, I'll skip to more immediate news.

Wednesday Night TV: LOST is airing a new episode, ominously titled "Abandoned", which picks up where we left off two weeks ago. My door is open to those who wish to attend, provided I'm able to recognize you.

<hint>This would be a good opportunity for some people to bring their leather coat that I'm supposed to be fixing.</hint>

Projector's running, still imperfect, but more than usable. LOST will be watched on Wednesday, par for the course. Any who'd like to show up, feel free. If you need directions, log in and check my info, there's plenty of contact stuff up.

Sorry that I have no photos of the current incarnation, I hope to get them up this week.

Quality is crap: The native res is 320x240, not unwatchable, but not DivX either. In a window on a PC, it will look okay, but don't expect to throw this up full screen without being annoyed at the quality.

You don't need a video iPod: Buy an episode and you can watch it in Quicktime.

DRM: There's some digital rights management in it, of course. It can't be converted to other formats, it can't be burned to DVD or VCD. It CAN be copied, not sure if it can be migrated between computers though.

Cost: Season one is available from Amazon as a DVD for $40, and from iTunes for $36 (as a bundle). For the DVD quality, Amazon wins hands down.

Availability: Season 2 can't be acquired legally, so if you really want to know what's going on on the Island, this may be the best way to catch up.

End Assessment: Missing a few episodes and want to know what's going on? $2 a week ain't that bad.