Days of Being LJ

If the Olympic motto is “Swifter, Higher, Stronger” than surely the motto for IOC broadcasting standards is “Slower, Lower, Weaker”. If the digital age has taught us anything, it’s that technological freedom has allowed individuals to shun the paternalistic attitudes of global media conglomerates, that is, until Uncle Media decides to enact a totalitarian broadcasting regime worthy of Kim Jung Il upon the masses.

The IOC has a shitload of power, frankly in Olympic sports Jacque Rogge has more control than the Pope over Catholics and only Sepp Blatter can compete. So why am I not surprised that every 4 years, even with the changes in social culture, advancements in digital technology, social networking etc, the IOC still comes out guns a blazing with a policy of CONTAINMENT. Selling geo-protected broadcast rights and bloody well making sure that they are adhered to, under the threat of pain, death and the likelihood that should broadcasters not toe the line, they can say goodbye to ever holding the rights again.

NBC paid $820 million for the Vancouver games, and frankly they are set to lose $250 million, because no matter how much we think the Olympics are still important, professional & amateur sports have evolved to such an extent as to mitigate the absolute importance of this one event every 4 years. Therefore yearly events such as the Super Bowl, US Open etc, have probably far more advertising revenue attached than the Olympics. So NBC, how the fuck do you earn all that money back? Frankly the IOC is ripping you off honey, time to rethink your Olympics strategy.

So all these media broadcasters pay so much yet are reaping less and less rewards. So instead of saying, fuck it, let’s just share everything, they become even MORE protectionist, more concerned about their assets. Basically they’re going about it the wrong way, if no one sees the actual footage, how do you expect to make money?

Which brings me to my actual qualms about the broadcasts themselves: I’m in fulltime work at the moment which means the luxury of staying at home watching sports live across the globe is gone, gone like the health of my and Rafa’s knees. But instead of coming home nightly and sitting through 4 hours of Eddie Maguire talking to me, in between showing me Aussies skiing in the heats of some event and 2 hours of ads, I would like to see highlights or replays of events I actually care about, you know watch the best in the world? Shit, I even want to see the bad stuff as well; I want to see figure skating to ridiculous music choices like an instrumental version of Numb by Linkin Park.

Look I do understand that it’s important to support “our” athletes no matter what level but at least give the rest of us workers a choice to view highlights online, I’m not even asking for full replays (that’s way too much to ask of ninemsn) but instead what do we get? Inane interviews with half drunk Aussies, reviews of après hangouts and 1000 highlight reels of Canadian Dale Begg-Smith winning silver.

Ch9 can’t even be bothered with “real” highlights; it’s sad and indicative of the shite broadcasting we have to deal with in this country. But LJ, some annoying people may ask, why not subscribe to Foxtel? They’re showing everything, they have a significant amount of digital online stuff. Yes indeed, they do, and I can probably pay for a similar thoroughly comprehensive online service as well.

But the argument is, I shouldn’t have to. It’s the Olympics, a huge monolithic event which happens every 4 years. It’s not some random tennis tournament in Dubai. I shouldn’t have to subscribe to watch it; FTA broadcasters should be throwing the material at me, as well as the copious amounts of ads and trying to sell me everything from jeeps to Nike shoes. The question is, why aren’t they?

I can live with ads, shit if you had the online coverage NBC had for the 2008 Olympics, I would gladly sit through 30sec ads for every 10min of footage I watched. I will gladly let you sell me anything, sham wow, Nike, Coca Cola, I’m addicted to the last 2 anyhow.

But what I don’t want and frankly the majority of people, wealthy and smart enough to use the internet (those are the people you’re targeting your ads to) is to be fed random tidbits of events and extended interviews with people we don’t care about.

See back in 2008, online flash streaming was still getting started, but now ubiquitous services such as Justintv & Ustream are in total cohorts with TPTB. The minute a stream is put up, bang, gets taken down. SO much for the internet breaking down geographical barriers, as long as you’re NBC/IOC you’re still allowed to erect the walls.

NBC made a HUGE leap with its Beijing 2008 coverage. Unprecedented live streaming of something like 90% of events. It was revolutionary, extraordinary, and frankly I was lucky enough to be technologically adept enough to experience some of it first-hand.

But now (perhaps with the lack of time difference) NBC has restricted 95% of streaming and full replays to US Cable subscribers. For fucks sakes, it’s hard enough to find a working US VPN, but now you’re asking me to find a username and password for a cable service? Well fuck you very much.

It’s like we’ve taken 10 steps back since 2005 (the year which heralded YouTube) instead of fucking awesome digital broadcasting, watching stuff when we want and choosing how we want it, broadcasters and the IOC in particular still want to tell us what to do and how to do it.

It seems that Europe is still the place to be for good all round sports coverage without the crap and pomp. Frankly I do envy you, Europe but I don’t envy your VAT. Whilst Eurosport gives great online and traditional coverage (In superb HD as well), we in Australia are left with he most dismal excuse for a television broadcaster. You know people actually hoped this time Ch 9 would be slightly better than the often lacklustre Ch 7. No, instead Olympic coverage in this country just got 10 times worse with Eddie the Eagle Maguire spending way too much time talking, crap highlights of even crappier Aussies coming 40th in the downhill, daily live coverage only from 9-2pm. On Sunday, the coverage stopped at 2pm which meant they missed out on the men’s 1500m short track final, which was fucking ace btw, thank god for Sopcast and Eurosport in Czech.

Along similar protectionist media strategies, claiming YouTube videos is another strategy which pisses me off as much as it boggles my logic. Tennis Australia the latest culprit in a myriad of media corporations who don’t have a fucking clue about digital business. Anything remotely related to the Australian Open 2010 has been removed from the Tube. Interviews, matches, ceremonies, every last fucking titbit. And for what? Are they going to sell me all the matches (other than the final) including interviews with Jim Courier? On DVD or on iTunes?

So obviously it’s not to protect their vested material interests, since they’re not selling me any of that material they’re pulling. Okay well, perhaps they are trying to protect Ch7’s broadcast interests. Okay so will ch7 ever repeat any of those matches, interviews or ceremonies? Nup!

Then why the fuck would you be pulling off those videos? Isn’t it more of an incentive to claim ownership and reap the ad revenue instead of ripping everything off the interzwebz and actually making no money off it? Oh and instead of using an outlet such as YouTube to further the cause of Tennis Australia itself and the Australian Open, it takes the hardline of, I’m going to PROTECT ALL my ass(ets), well, that’s your extra revenue going down the drain. People (especially those hardcore fans) will continue downloading and sharing in the crevasses of the internet where you’re too fucking stupid to look.

I just find this entire situation demoralising, as a teen the internet was like the saviour of mankind, finally something to bring us all closer together, the ability to share, to create, an open discussion forum, no longer did I have to wait 8 months for the latest X files season, I can watch and discuss with my fellow fans the day after the episode went to air in the US.

What Facebook, twitter, YouTube had achieved to bring us closer together, a community of humans gathering, watching and discussing and in this case the achievements of some of the best winter sportsmen and women is now frequently overshadowed by a mob of greedy protectionist white middle aged businessmen, keen to protect their own vested interests, to the detriment and development of global culture and in essence the human race.

Shame…real utter, fucking shame.

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P.S.

Roger Mosey has written a brilliant piece on how the BBC plans to tackle digital broadcasting through creative & innovative measures for the 2012 Olympics. It seems so hopeful on paper, but I can’t help but think in 2 years time we’ll be back again, hands tied by the IOC and sitting through another abysmally broadcasted Olympics.

So we really have 2 choices if we want to watch good coverage for London 2012:

1. Move to the UK
2. Introduce a TV tax in Australia, give all the money to the ABC, let them have 6 channels and give them the broadcasting rights and let the TV Multiplatform people go crazy online.

LJK television Channel 9, digital broadcasting, digital business, IOC, Media Strategy, olympics, online broadcasting, sport, tv

I occasionally marathon entire series of TV shows but usually they’re the short shrift BBC seasons of 6-13 episodes at 2-3 seasons at most. It’s fine to sit down and work through 20 episodes of Life on Mars or 22 episodes of Rome. Shows like that are doable in a turnaround of maybe a week and leave one still with enough emotional energy left to dissect, analyse and discuss the series. Although one time I did do a 40 episode marathon of a Hongkie soapie starring Francis Ng called “Triumph in the Skies” in about 4 days, but that was done almost without any sleep, a fulltime job or uni subjects to study for.

In the interim period between Federer appearances on the ATP my life has been ruled by a gloriously perfect science fiction TV show. For a couple of years now I’ve wanted to start watching Battlestar Galactica but whether it was the horrid scheduling on channel 10, or the intervening writer’s strike which impacted on the production and consequential interrupted run of season 4, I never took the final leap of faith to get into the show. I saw the opening of the mini-series, watched minutes here and there between other shows but the combination of emotional maturity with what I was interested in at the time just didn’t seem to gel the idea of dark dystopic sci fi. Upon watching the premiere of Stargate Universe about 3 weeks back I thought I quite enjoyed the darkish human side of Stargate even though the palette and the camerawork took much of it’s inspiration from BSG. So I started to wonder how good BSG could really be…

I took on the challenge, a mammoth 75 episode one. Frankly I was highly deceived by the fact that season 1 was only 13 episodes, I thought, oh cool, 4 seasons of 13 eps, should be a relatively easy 2 week slog. Then I checked up and discovered that the rest of the seasons had 20 episodes. Now all the previous shows I followed which had 20+ episodes; X Files, Stargate, Grey’s Anatomy etc, I did so from inception so I can’t exactly imagine tackling the first 4 seasons of either TXF or SG1 in about 2 weeks, although it would be seemingly easier since both shows follow a VERY similar formula.

But BSG doesn’t really do this; it doesn’t have that Monster of the Week Episode which you can fast forward through or the clip-recap episode which you can skip entirely. In fact it tends to turn Sci Fi conventions a bit on its head. I guess you can almost call it sci fi soap in a way except with much better characterisation, writing and overall production values…oh yeah and also stuff HAPPENS, EVERY episode.

So 3 weeks after I took the leap of faith, I finished the 3 part finale (yes mofos, 3 PARTS) a few days ago. I’m still reeling from everything, the EPICNESS, my irrational attachment to the main characters and not to mention the ridiculously in depth (well for TV anyway) commentary on politics, religion and humanity itself. I have to confess that I rushed through most of Season 4 because I physically could not stand the tension. I felt jittery, like a kid on red cordial, I had to know what happened in the end as to guard myself emotionally if it turned out that everything was futile (thankfully it wasn’t as nihilistic as it could have been).

Although BSG doesn’t have the laugh out loud or cracktastic moments of a lot of cult sci fi (Torchwood and SG1, I’m looking at you) the laughter you get here happens in these uncomfortable tension breaking moments, enough to give you a breather and make you go “OMG, I can’t believe they made a joke at the expense of civilian lives and wellbeing” until the next nihilistic onslaught.

I can’t really say anything other than I think the show is just amazing. Most of what I like about cult sci fi doesn’t even exist in the world of BSG. Rather I’m just completely attached to the characters and to the moments. Even the so called “evil” characters I can connect and empathise with and that is just great story-telling. But the beauty of the BSG landscape is this deep rooted sense of reality. Jerky handheld camera aside, I don’t have to ask myself every episode why female military personnel have perfect makeup on when they’re at war in deep space (something that Stargate STILL doesn’t understand, and this is exactly why SGU will never work on the level of BSG). Sure some of the allegory can be heavy handed but at least it makes the audience ponder just exactly how frakked humanity is and can be. I’m not surprised people write their entire PhDs on the show. I’d probably do it too if I had the time and motivation.

I was watching some convention videos on youtube in the period of dramatic depression after marathoning a show, and there was a really interesting comment Edward James Olmos made in reply to being asked why he decided to join BSG. Actors with A-list capabilities and name recognition hardly ever get themselves involved in science fiction on TV, Patrick Stewart the obvious exception in this regard. However Olmos said once he was assured by Ron Moore (creator of the whole darstardly thing) that they were to explore the sci fi ground covered by Blade Runner, he was sold. Now unbeknownst to be moi until some more youtubing, Olmos actually played a crucial part in construction the “Street” language and other elements of the Blade Runner landscape so he was obviously invested in that film beyond the role of just the actor. Now BR probably needs it’s own dissertation so I won’t go into it much other than to say, by gods! how good would it be if someone re-imagined Blade Runner as a TV show? I’m just putting it out there and if someone does make it you know where to send your royalty cheques for ‘origins of show’ to.

This bunch of useless whiff whaff above is just evidence to why I can’t quantify my love for this show or how great it is in mere words (perhaps an interpretive dance is in order). Of course this is partly a result of a great emotional and passionate attachment to a narrative and characters in a very short space of time (oh man, where has that happened before? Methinks I need to also write a post detailing my tendencies to form deep emotional attachments to fictional material).

But I have always had one clear emotional reaction when I see or experience something as awesome as BSG and that is of the sudden urge to just go out and be creative, to write and create something extraordinary and leave my mark on the media landscape. Because I’ve seen how far these ridiculously talented people can push the bounderies of this medium and their stories and make humanity, feel, laugh and cry…feel frustration, anger and sadness….in the end I want to be alongside them doing the same.

LJK television battlestar galactica, emotion, humanity, science fiction, tv

I’ve actually written a lot on torchwood over the years from analysis pieces, fandom wanks to short sharp OMG moments. But lately I haven’t had the necessary urge to wax lyrical about John Barrowman’s innate lack of fashion sense however I’ve been trying to formulate a reaction piece on “Children of Earth” for ages. For a TV show which I’ve followed since its inception (not just from its infancy, a clear distinction I make) my feelings towards Torchwood are obviously clouded by the Meta of being a fan.

COE has the peculiar function of being “event television” according to the BBC. Whether it was to cut costs or to explore new ground in TV formats, the decision to make season 3 of TW into a 5 nighter mini-series was odd considering the excess of success it found on BBC3 and then BBC2 in its first 2 seasons. But then the BBC has always done things its way and not all of its programming decisions could be defined and explained in a logical fashion.

So the first hurdle of approaching TW as a 5 part mini series is the acceptance of its format. How would I fit it into my schedule? How do I cope with only having one of my favourite shows for 1 week rather than 13 weeks? And furthermore how do I connect with other fans in the short 24 hour period between the episodes considering the time difference between the UK and Australia? That’s nearly not enough time to create icons, fan wank or love poetry dedicated to Ianto. Oh the woes of being a fan.

The Drama

There’s no question that COE was a top rate drama. The script was brilliant; the dialogue cut deep, the actions deeper but most noteworthy were the themes which where unabashedly covered without fear. Murder-suicide in a family, children as sacrificial lambs (always a crowd pleaser) and the machinations of a self-preserving government being just a few which struck a chord with viewers. It’s not that science fiction doesn’t deal with such themes normally but it’s the reality of which COE dealt with them was the most interesting and harrowing.

Of course much kudos has to go to director Euros Lynn and in particular Peter Capaldi, for his characterisation of John Frobisher, in bringing the pathos of the situation to the viewer. Most importantly I think it’s right to recognise the gall of the BBC producers to green light such storylines and have trust in the cast and crew to give justice to the script and to also accept the harsh editorial decisions made by Russell T Davies (RTD) and  writer James Moran. Because I gather under certain more commercial broadcasters COE may have ended up a wishy washy and predictable affair rather than a drama with some serious bite and issues to contemplate.

Sure there are clunky areas like in any show and parts which work better than others. COE is not perfect and has many flaws but overall from the perspective of good drama it’s excellent even though at times hard to watch because it deals simply with the reality of how dark and depraved humanity can be and when it comes down to the hard decisions we are overwhelmed by the animal instinct for self-preservation.

The Characters

Obviously the most contentious decision made in COE was the killing off of Ianto. Sci fi has had a history of killing off popular and enamoured characters and I guess that’s why fanfic was invented. However generally character deaths are kept for those on the periphery or those with cult following but which don’t factor in a high percentage of participation in the show. Most networks, producers, broadcasters and commissioners would generally agree on not killing a popular character for fear of driving away a considerable share of the audience. Which is I guess another ball busting decision by the BBC to give RTD the freedom to kill off a character which for fandom at least become a much favoured and important part of the show.

But if one looks at RTD’s past history he is not one to adhere to the formula of commercial TV. He is mostly true to his stories and character arcs. When he deems something has come to a natural end he will end it. I gather than RTD does not prolong characters or storylines beyond what he deems to be the natural end. Obviously not everyone agrees, sure as a fan I thought Ianto and Jack could have possibly more ground to cover but this is a reflection on my interests as a fan of the individual characters. Although what RTD deems to be a natural end might not be the correct decision in certain situations, god knows the Daleks and Cybermen have come to their natural ends many times in Who.

Other then the senseless and brutal murder of Ianto (queue the tears of millions of fangirls) the other great decision of great debate was the characterisation of Captain Jack. I for one am a bit perplexed why TPTB have continually made Jack the harbinger of death, gloom and destruction as well as putting him at the centre and making him personally responsible for all of the shite that happens.

So this is a guy that loses his brother to aliens as a kid, and then gets imprisoned by the same brother underground for 2000 years as an act of retribution, watches all his closest mates and partners die because of his decisions and then has to sacrifice his own grandson so the children of earth could be saved. But when does absolution factor in for him? How much pain can Jack go through until he finally gets cut some slack and has some happiness in life?

When we first meet Jack, he’s this happy go lucky guy. Sure there’s pain, anger and confusion just below the surface but he was this bright star for those around him. In season 9 of Who, he brought out much of the joy in both Rose and the Doctor. And I wish for some of that spark to come back. Frankly I’m a bit tired of emo Jack. He deserves to be happier and this doesn’t mean total annihilation of angst or conflict but it means that we can perhaps explore the missing 2 years referenced in Who rather than build more “Jack the Mass Murderer” storylines.

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Of course COE is not devoid of the slightly juvenile humour TW has been known for, nor the awkwardness of its relationships either. However if this personifies event TV then I’d like to see more event TV thanks. And due to the overwhelming success of COE (won it’s timeslot, most viewed program in the UK after soaps like Corrie/Eastenders) this format and TW is possibly here to stay.

P.S It also looks AWESOME in HD (in particular Barrowman’s butt)

LJK television analysis, discussion, john barrowman, opinion, russell t davies, torchwood, tv

My Rome marathon this week ended late last night after witnessing the spectacular downfall of Mark Antony. So after 22 wonderful episodes what have I learnt about Rome, but more importantly about television?

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ROME

Rome was indeed motherfuckingly awesome. Sure you didn’t live long, but as long as you lived life was pretty darn interesting. Food, sex, wine, mindless violence and the rampant pillaging and burning of other kingdoms. Oh and don’t forge the tolerance (and acceptance) of homosexuality, divorce and adultery. Sure life was awesome as long as you were not a woman bearing children or a slave, but hey someone has to lose out.

I’m thinking perhaps the introduction of Christianity into Europe really was the killer of all fun. When you think about it, the middle ages probably set back western civilisation at least 700 years. Technically we all should be living in a world where enlightened humans engage in telepathic relations or something, yet we still live in a society where our government tries to censor adults’ access to certain websites because they’re afraid that society will fall into the dark pit of depravity. (I’m looking at you Stephen Conroy/ACMA Blacklist) Because obviously men haven’t been committing coitus with animals since the dawn of time or something.

My knowledge of Roman history is sketchy at best so I was amazed at the level of machinations and monuevaring taking place; The military strategy, the depth of political alliances and triumeverats etc. Now I’m tempted to actually read more historical texts rather than relying on Shakespeare and my less than stellar stage debut as Mark Antony in Rinse the Blood off My Toga in year 7.

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TV

How much do I love HBO? A Lot is the answer. I only wish that other

networks around the world have as much gall as HBO does in commissioning new TV Series. Although I came to Rome almost 4 years since it was first broadcast I think it’s one of the most sumptuous and lush pieces of TV I’ve ever witnessed. The attention to cinematic detail is extraordinary, coupled with high quality actors and incredible scripts, it’s just an absolute joy to watch. 100 million was used for the 1st season alone, and it’s not surprising that it wasn’t renewed for a 3rd season (I mean other than the fact that the fun pretty much ends with Octavian becoming Emperor) but that kind of money could also make around 3-4 13-episode seasons of a normal TV Show.

Also I’m very in love with the notion of “Binge TV”. This is the way most Chinese I guess other diaspora consume television. Procure entire seasons/series and watch without many breaks. Of course you don’t get the weekly fandom connection but you also don’t have to go through the pain of waiting a year in between seasons and the mental anguish of waiting for the news of whether your show got renewed or god forbid axed. The brilliant thing about coming into something after it’s finished is that the events on the periphery  of the program don’t pollute your view.

It is also heartening to see that the producers/creators were given enough editorial freedom to explore Rome through showing the necessary gore or covering controversial topics. Although HBO was never the network to shy away from squeamish images, what it did with Rome is still to be applauded.

I only wished that in Australia our networks would have the funds and dare to commission similar projects but alas it would be highly unlikely so we will forever be subjected to 10 more seasons of Underbelly and All Saints instead. Our history is just too damn uninteresting I’m afraid.

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On a few shallow notes:

James Purefoy, where have you been all my life and how come it took me THIS long to discover you? Please don’t fall by the wayside like Jeremy Northam.

Kevin McKidd = the next Clive Owen/Daniel Craig? Could it be that this ex-scrawny chap from Trainspotting, who didn’t even make it on the poster of that film, be the next hottest British thing in Hollywood? He has a chance but he needs to find more range. And if he doesn’t get out of the Grey’s Anatomy circle of death and find some good solid films he’s going to be stuck doing mid-range TV Shows which keep getting canceled like Journeyman.

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Rumor has it that there may be a feature film in the making. I can’t wait for the further adventures of Lucius Vorenus & Titus Pullo. I’m thinking of naming my first born son Marcus Lucius Cicero…Latin names are awesome.

LJK television opinion, rome, tv

I went to the NSW Gallery over the weekend and managed to see the Archibald and Art-Express exhibitions for the first time, I’ve been lazy what can I say? The Archibald was good, I think the winner was well chosen, but my fav will probably the public’s fav is the portrait of the kid from Australia whose name totally escapes me. Very nice portrait, almost like a photo, great depth of focus.

Art-Express just made me feel slightly inadequate of my own artistic abilities, although comforting it was to see that fantastic works were also joined by works so prententious only a 17 year old could come up with it and think it’s oh so meaningful. The saddening thing is although I admit to being prejudiced about private school kids, they clearly had the resources for a greater wealth and quality of materials. But the beauty of art is that with only a pencil and paper you can create something so absolutely fantastic, and the best works did just that.

I’m in love with the Deep Fried Morning Glory Salad from Saap Thai, I had it twice in 3 days. The first time was soooooooo fantastic, the batter was ligh, crunchy and really fresh. The mixture of pork mince, fried shallot/garlic, vinegar and fish sauce as the topping was just intoxicating. It was such a dissappointment when I had it the 2nd time after my visit to the art gallery. The batter was heavy, stale and rock hard…UGH!!!! I still don’t know what morning glory is, I know fried stuff is bad for me, but I’m still kind of craving it. Methinks I might have to go again at lunch sometime, just me, some rice, a thai milk tea and the salad.

So my mum didn’t appreciate Saap Thai as much as I do but anyhoo, speaking of mum, in the past few months, ever since I figured how to hardcode Chinese subtitles onto videos, fast and painlessly (and also where to find such subs), I’ve been feeding mum all my old films. The brilliant thing is that I also found subs for BBC Bonnet Dramas, which is so excellent, cause now I’m bonding with mum (and dad – dad is a closet soapie addict) over Pride & Predjudice, North & South and over this weekend, Cranford.

Watching Cranford just makes me ACHE to become a bbc TV director, I mean working with Judi Dench (be my grandma, please?) and Philip Glenister making 5 episodes of witty social repartee…heaven. And bbc does it best folks, the production values, the comedy, the angst and all the sadness…Just brilliant.  We watched Persuasion which was an itv production and it just wasn’t the same, even my dear Rupert Penry Jones couldn’t save the wannabe indie camera angles.

I mean how can anyone not love it? I hated studying North & South for the HSC, if only they made the series earlier I would have known what actually happened in the 2nd half of the novel and discovered Richard Armitage a lot earlier.

LJK art, culture, food, television art, bbc, food, judi dench, thai, tv