Going Bye-Bye

I just wanted to let you know that I'll be gone for a while. I'll be back by the time fireworks bloom in the sky!

The WB Online: Field test

So I tried to watch the first episode of The Gilmore Girls, which is a show I've always wanted to get into, but I only made it as far as the first 15 minutes. The video was so herky-jerky in fullscreen that I was starting to feel seasick. Since school isn't in session this week, our network has been silky-smooth, so I know the problem wasn't on my end, but theirs. In 15 minutes, I also didn't encounter a commercial. I know they're going to have them eventually, because what else would their business model be, but maybe they haven't arranged for sponsors for the beta? Of course, no one wants to watch more commercials than they have to, but it seems like they would want to test out the commercial functionality by at least putting in some of their own promos. Hulu had ads during their beta, and since they found they had lots of problems getting them inserted in the right places, it was good that they did beta-test them.

I also tried the Facebook functionality, and I now have the first episode of Gilmore Girls embedded on my profile. The problem is that I didn't really want the whole episode there. Supposedly you can mark a clip that you want to embed, but no matter how many times I try it, the whole show keeps showing up. Maybe this is another problem that needs fixing?

All in all, I stand by my original position: the site is too beta-y to make a final judgment on yet.

The WB Online: First thoughts

So I finally got into the beta of the The WB Online, and guess what? It's very beta-y! They have only the first 5 episodes of each show, but I guess it gives you a feel for what it will be like. I was unimpressed with the quality of the video in fullscreen, although it's passable, just not that great when compared to Hulu. It also shows a lot of annoying video promos, etc. when you're sitting on a page trying to decide what to watch, a feature that I hate. (You try to make up your mind when the Friends theme song is blasting at you!)

Anyway, I thought you'd like to know the list of shows they have at present, so here goes: All of Us, Blue Water High (?), Buffy, Dangerous (?), Friends (which we all know was on NBC, so obviously it must have been produced by Warner Brothers), Gilmore Girls, the OC, One Tree Hill, Smallville, and The Wayans Brothers.

I looked up the two shows that I hadn't heard of on that list. They are both from Australia, so I'm not exactly sure what's up with that.

At some point I'll try out more of the features. It's supposed to interact with Facebook in a way that could be cool or could just be annoying. I'll also try watching a full episode of something and tell you if the quality evened out and how many ads there were.

Code solver's paradise

If you like codes and things (and you know who you are), you've just got to read this article!

Reversal of fortune

So this morning when I walked into the library, our library accountant was waiting for me with a letter. She said she'd wanted to give it to me on Friday to make my weekend a happy one, but I wasn't here. Well, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I got a raise, and it was a substantial one. Now I guess I have to buy some furniture and give the cat a name.*

*I have been reminded that before I get around to that, first I have to buy a cat!

New online TV watching options

It's been a while since I posted about anything new in online TV watching, but I noticed a post today on Tidal TV, a new service that has just gone online. Their gimmick is that they play shows from different cable channels in real time (although not in the same real time you'd get if you were actually watching the show on TV). I don't get this. Is this supposed to be online TV watching for channel surfers? Since I'm very much an appointment TV watcher, this doesn't appeal to me at all.

That reminds me, though. I also heard a few days ago that The WB Online has launched their beta. I signed up for it, but haven't gotten invited yet. I'll let you know more once I get in.

I know who you are, sort of

Since I let the cat out of the bag a few days ago that I know who's reading this blog (in an anonymized sense, with locations and search terms, but not actual names or anything, unless it's so obvious to me who you are by the town you live in), I thought I might as well go all the way and talk about who is reading this blog. From what I can tell, there are three groups of people.

1. A whole mess of people who live in Athens. Or else one person who is very obsessed with me and looks at it 50 times a day, but I prefer to believe the former! Anyway, if you live in Athens, don't worry. You're hidden among a whole sea of people and I'll never know exactly who you are unless you tell me, which I sometimes wish some of you would. Especially if you're very cute and nice and single.

2. People that I knew in the past. Some of these, like I said, are obvious because of the city. I only know one person in Thief River Falls, and it's my ex-husband. (Hi!) Others I just know have to be someone I know, but I haven't figured it out yet. At any rate, if you are one of those people, you don't have to be shy about it. You could actually say something to me one of these days. I don't bite.

3. A whole bunch of really confused people that find me by searching Google and Technorati. Sometimes I can tell what they're looking for, and sometimes their search terms just baffle me. (Like "darkly stuffed animals," for instance.) The posts that actually get found by people on purpose are the ones where I talk about watching TV online. That series is very, very popular, and I'm glad to know I've done something worthwhile with my life, even if it was only helping people figure out how better to waste time.

Other people are looking for something and put the phrase in without quotes and so get a false hit on my site. I once called a post Return to Mayberry, for instance. I was being deeply ironic, but apparently a lot of people are looking for that movie available to watch online, and so they keep hitting on my site because it contains all those keywords. Sorry, but I don't know where you can find that online, but you're in a large group of people who are looking for it! I do, however, know where you can find Magnum, P.I., online, which is another thing people look for: Netflix Instant Watching. I don't know anyplace that has it for free as of this instant.

There have also been a lot of people searching for "sweet vu" and finding my site because I once quoted a Bee Gees song with "sweet deja vu" in the lyrics. I finally Googled Sweet Vu and was disgusted to find that it's a porn site. Yuck! I hope you guys don't leave too much of a mess while you're here, but I can guarantee there's nothing you want to look at, no matter what the filtering software people might think.

Well, there you have it. That's my audience for what it's worth. Oh, one other thing I've figured out: there must be 6 of you who subscribe to the RSS feed for this site, because on days that I post something new here, I always have exactly 6 hits. I'm a pretty good logician, huh?

More cryptofun

Ok, I've got another one that may be even better.

TSYINO HNTWOE EOHOTA RTIUDS EANLOE INGDTY
OUIYFR UBNGTK RLDIE TEABR RDNBD OMDAA

Cryptofun

Since I've been reading Cryptonomicon, I've been inspired to do a little cryptography of my own. Here is an encoded song lyric. See if you can get it!

ITUEEN THRCRD HAEISI ITAAOL NYSLNO KOPPAV
EOASIO BUNISG ORDDTE TIOEER HNUSRS YSTMR.

Live from Athens, it's Saturday Night

It's been a while since I gave you a Saturday night video, so here you go.

Free reference advice

I don't want to let on too much that I can see what goes on behind the scenes here, in case that has a chilling effect on people's browsing. However, I'm also a nice librarian who likes to give people what they want. I see from the search logs that someone came here looking for this, and since I'm probably one of the few people who actually knows where to find that page, I thought I'd just give it to you.

Avert your eyes

One thing I learned during my trip is that this blog doesn't get through filtering software, the apparent reason being that I mentioned The Silence of the Lambs in one of my posts. If the software was actually intelligent, it would know that I mentioned that film in a negative context, but of course it doesn't. At any rate, I guess being rejected by filtering software might add to the cachet of this site as a hip and happening place to be! Any publicity is good publicity, right?

I have returned...

...from New Orleans, and I managed to find plenty to occupy myself even without recommendations from any of you! I'll update more later, if I feel like it.