Boxcutters - An Australian TV Podcast - Latest Comments in Boxcutters Episode 95

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Ross — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:36:09 -0000

That's interesting about Babylon 5 Mathew. Can't say I ever got into it though, but it sounds well written.

The plan is to list the whole Golden Age of Television shows once we've finished - probably the week after next - along with our individual lists and then get everyone to tell us what they think, what they hate, what we left out, etc etc.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Mathew Guglielmi — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:55:36 -0000

Hi Boxcutters,

Love the show. Have heard some of you on radio when you were involved with Film Buffs Forecast (been a listener of that great program for over 15 years and everyone listening to Boxcutters should listen to Film Buffs Podcast if you want to keep aprised of film culture).

I particularly like The Golden Age of Television. Maybe you could leave a list of all the entries on the website.

A friend of mine leant me The Shield on DVD and I am hooked. It is amazing tv, given the interesting characters and morally complex storylines. I am yet to watch The Wire on DVD. Looking forward to it as was a fan of Homicide: Life on the Streets.

Its great that tv series recently (especially from the USA) are plotted like novels with long and involving story arcs. However, I think Babylon 5, which aired in the mid to late 90's, was one of the first shows that was plotted like a novel, with a definite beginning, middle and end. The series, had a saga or epic tone to it.
Some episodes gave forshadowing of events and plot lines that did not pay off until many episodes later. Episodes of this series made references to historical and political events and to genre fiction and film. Although, the series would not have mass appeal as it is science fiction, I think it was a forerunner to the more intrictaely plotted and morally complex tv drama that we are so used to seeing now.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Ross — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:29:37 -0000

Yes, I am looking forward to Mad Men. Haven't heard of Jekyll.

I'd love a copy of Five Days too if that is a possibility.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Rob Boxcutter — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:09:50 -0000

I tell you, I've really been enjoying the new James Nesbitt vehicle "Jekyll" (BBC One). I think it's a 6-parter. He really gets to play deliciously with the Mr Hyde character. The show has it's flaws but Nesbitt mincing around menacingly as Hyde is absolute gold.

Another that shows great promise is Mad Men, which has just started on AMC. It's set in the world of 1950s Madison Ave advertising execs and is written by Matthew Weiner who co-wrote and exec produced The Sopranos. I've seen the first episode and I think it has potential to do good things.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Rob Boxcutter — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:54:05 -0000

No worries, Catbrain. Hypothetically (of course) I could leave such a thing in a plain brown paper bag at Boxcutters HQ, addressed to Ms C. Brain or similar.

Allegedly.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

catbrain — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:36:57 -0000

Hey, Rob - you ought to know better... Boxcutters is a spoiler-free zone!

As you've already got Five Days, can you fling a copy my way? *bats eyelashes*

You "orient" yourself in new surroundings if you're facing east. *grin*

I've just discovered that "dis/orient" pre-dates "dis/orientate". And on it goes...

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Rob Boxcutter — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:50:16 -0000

"Oriented" v "orientated" is an interesting one, and probably is in some flux here in Australia.

When you are in new surroundings, do you "orient" yourself or do you "orientate" yourself?

Is the confusion partly because "orienteering" and "orientation" are both nouns (although with very different meanings)?

When you become confused as to your location, are you "disoriented" or "disorientated"?

What about when you deliberately cause someone else to become lost in this way. Have you "disoriented" them or "disorientated" them?

It's all very interesting.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

alex boxcutter — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:38:46 -0000

Some people are talking isp's so I thought I'd chime in.
I'm with tpg and last week moved to their new 150gb for $69 adsl2+ plan.
It. Is. Awesome. 40gb between 7am and 1am (fine I was on 50gb for $89) and 110gb between 1am and 7am.

I tell you bitmetv, utorrent 1.6 scheduling and this plan and I'm in tv heaven.

Eps of 45min shows like house download in around 4 minutes.

Sure I'm close to the exchange but even so I have never had an issue with tpg.

So anyone looking for a change from bigpond or whatever, if you can get adsl2+ this is the plan for you!

and no I don't work for any isp :)

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Rob Boxcutter — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:18:12 -0000

Catbrain + Ross: Stop talking about Five Days!!! (Please). I have only watched 3 of the 5 episodes and I don't want to learn how it ends on Boxcutters ;-)

The series does re-cap, by the way. At least on the version I'm watching.

You can stop searching, Catbrain.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

catbrain — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:06:42 -0000

Yes, Ross - that's the one. When originally screened in the UK, the eps were a fortnight apart and time passes between each ep. The period of time that passed in the story between each ep varied - one was 2 months, I think - so you had to stay on your toes to follow the story properly. No hand-holding, no re-capping, as I recall.

It's been a while since I've seen it, but I'm interested in seeing it again - I'm sure it's available via pipes somewhere... I'll fling a copy to anyone who's interested when I get hold of it.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Ross — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:46:28 -0000

Josh has very little idea when it comes to grammar.........

Catbrian - Five Days was the abduction HBO/BBC co-production, yes? It sounded very interesting and I wanted to see it but the opportunity never presented itself.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

catbrain — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:35:17 -0000

According to Josh, it's the Australian style guide... I assume he means the Wiley Style Manual. It is most certainly a real word and is listed as a synonym for 'oriented' in any good dictionary.

Don't you just love how the words take over from the pictures? *grin*

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

David Boxcutter — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 05:17:38 -0000

Which style guide recommends "orientated"? That word is so wrong that I don't think it's even a real word.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

catbrain — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 02:14:28 -0000

On the couple of occasions I've watched it, I've found The Shield to be, well, a bit blokey. That's not to say that I'm into chick tv, far from it - two of my all-time favourite shows are Oz and The Sopranos. Maybe it's Michael Chiklis...

On the other hand, The Wire is an excellent pick for GAT - speaking of tv for grown-ups, has anyone seen Five Days?

Josh, I would've been with you re 'orientated' a couple of years ago, but I now reckon it falls into the evolution of language - they're interchangeable. Never thought I'd ever say this, but the Style Guide is wrong and 'orientated' is cumbersome.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Brett — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:26:36 -0000

I was browsing through Facebook and came across this little nugget:

so aaron [Sorkin] just signed on to write the musical version of yoshimi battles the pink robots. i hope he starts doing coke again.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Ross — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:04:07 -0000

Hey David - you may want to check the Golden Age Of Television archives. Somewhere around ep 90.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

David Boxcutter — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:17:51 -0000

Speaking of animated comedy, has anybody seen Lil' Bush?

It's a strange show. I wasn't expecting much, but the voice acting of whoever plays Lil' George is awesome. There are a bunch of words that I can't hear without thinking of Bush now. Awesome is one of them.

If you don't watch any other bits of Lil' Bush, you simply must see the bit where he's looking up words in the dictionary and reads out:

Aardvaark
Abacus
Academy

My girlfriend laughs herself silly at the show, which is surprising, as she generally can't stand animated comedy. I find it mildly amusing, with the exception of Lil' George's voice, which is truly hilarious.

As for Golden Age of Television, how about you feature Futurama sometime?

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

David Boxcutter — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:54:07 -0000

I agree that American Dad is not great, and some episodes are awful. But I keep watching just for Roger's dress-ups, wigs, and alcoholism. I'm a total sucker for animated comedy, though.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Ross — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:55:32 -0000

Thats interesting Mike. While I can see the appeal of The Wire and The Shield I can appreciate why they might not be to people's tastes as well.

We may have something more to your liking in next week's Golden Age of Television...

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Mike Beckham — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:11:53 -0000

I like Australian dramas personally, Blue Heelers and just tonight watched All Saints for the first time since early Georgie Parker episodes and its actually decent these days. They may not be edgy and gritty but neither am I!

@David - I have only seen up to 'Stan in Arabia' episodes so I do admit not seeing later episodes. So maybe they did, all I know is the first season (from what FOX8 showed so far is terrible).

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Ross — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:33:19 -0000

Hey Mike - What dramas do you like?

'American Drama' is a pretty broad term. I never really got into The Shield, but I can see why people like it and The Wire Season One was exceptional - neither of them would come to mind though if I was to think of typical American drama.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

David Boxcutter — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 05:46:38 -0000

I apologise for my previous post. I referred to "Dodo" when I should have said "Dildo".

I finally got around to looking at Whirlpool.net, and discovered why I am having this capped usage issue. Hopefully the problem should go away tomorrow.

Mike - American Dad improved in later episodes. I like Roger the alien.

By the way, Brett, how does the granola taste?

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Mike Beckham — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:58:54 -0000

Josh,

You and I are VERY different my friend. I hate The Wire and The Shield, both bore me to tears (although I hate 99.999% of American drama)

I love Family Guy (as well as Simpsons, South Park and King of the Hill). Although American Dad is pure crap.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Mike Beckham — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:45:09 -0000

Internode is good apparently. I would stay away from large phone companies. Although I am with iPrimus and if you can haggle a good deal they are fairly decent.

Re: Boxcutters Episode 95

Brett — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:25:37 -0000

I, too, was on BogPong from the outset, paying out to have the plan that gave unlimited traffic, within AUP which was vague at best. Then they changed the terms of what I'd signed up for, slapping a DL limit and charging 19c/MB in excess - the first month they did that I copped an extra $120 charge on my bill. That was the beginning of the end of my patience with Telstra - and I'd been very patient, in full knowledge that it was Telstra that was blocking the rollout of DSL broadband because they'd been late getting in on ISDN and didn't want to provide an alternative until that infrastructure had paid for itself.

DO NOT EVER go Dodo. From way back in the dialup days, user reports have been that they overload their service which meant they had more users than modem connections. That meant when everyone got home and tried to login to check their email, it'd take forever to get a line that wasn't engaged.

I've been with iiNet for the past couple of years, after escaping the tentacles of Telstra, which has been good apart from the time when there was an issue at the exchange and iiNet had to rely on a Telstra tech to go out and plug my port back in - or whatever they did. The plans have done nothing but improve in that time with higher DL limits and increased time counted as offpeak.

I haven't really been paying much attention but TPG seem to have had good reports and you might want to check out the offerings from Soul. I was going to mention Optus too but have just read that their new plans are counting uploads as well as downloads to the monthly limits.

You can get more info from the Whirlpool site - whirlpool.net.au