entertainment

Oh Hulu, how ye failed me

Dear Hulu,

We’ve been friends a very, very long time (by Internet standards). Do you remember, more than a year ago, when I became a beta tester in your closed environment? You wrote to me:

This private beta is our chance to gather real user feedback, so let us know not only what you like, but also what you think we could be doing better. There is a feedback button located to the left of every video screen. By clicking on the feedback button, you will open up a feedback form where you can easily provide a suggestion or comment. You also have the option of sending your feedback directly to feedback@hulu.com [Email address: feedback #AT# hulu.com - replace #AT# with @ ].

The team will be reading these messages every day and we hope to address your feedback as soon as possible. Over the course of the private beta, we will be adding more content and updating features, so please check back often. For now, videos are available for streaming in the U.S. only. Our intention is to make Hulu‘s growing content lineup available worldwide over time.

We hope you enjoy the Hulu service and look forward to hearing from you

I listened, dear Hulu. I gave you that feedback. I was diligent and honest. I had hope for you and believed in you while you were still a youngster on the Internet. There was promise. You were the change needed on the Internet.

I still spend much time with you, Hulu. Especially now that I’ve given up regular pay-for-TV service, you have become my entertainment / documentary hub. You’re that friend I cry with, laugh with, and cheered on the penguins of Antarctica with. I have watched movies and televsion shows with you. I watched the first run of Crawford, and your series on MLK. You, Hulu.

So imagine my dismay when you became such a fairweather friend today. I tuned in to watch a historic event. You had promised it would be available and just stuttered and started. I never got to see the speeches, hear the music, or see the crowds for more than a second before buffering took over and my views of the event were distorted (and what does that say about my interpretation of what happened today?).

Hulu, we will still be friends even though you have challenged that friendship a bit. Don’t forget me, Hulu, your longtime friend, over those johnny-come-latelies who don’t love you as much as I do.

Maybe we should appeal to President Obama to include you and your kind in his technology agenda. Would that help you become the best friend you could be? If it would, I will write letters.

Yours in longevity,

dawn

glass ceiling

I love the SNL skit on Palin and Clinton. Brilliance on both parts. Absolutely brilliant.

via Thinkery

Lest we think that it’s all jokes and parodies, satire and silliness, Carl Rove brings us back down to earth. (via The Blogora)

pop goes the culture

I’m inept when it comes to pop culture. Oh, sure, I can tell you all of the cool tech things happening. I can also name a few popular television shows and *maybe* a few popular musical groups. But I started watching Battlestar Galactica when season three was ending. I didn’t get into Star Trek the Next Generation or Deep Space Nine until well into the shows, and even then, I didn’t actually see all of the episodes until I was living in Britain ten years after the start of the former program. I *just* started watching Farscape, Doctor Who, and Torchwood.

It may come as no surprise that while I may know quite a few songs on the radio, I don’t actually know who sings them. I kept hearing about this thing called “The Hills,” and about these big stars like Kim Kardashian, but I had no idea who any of them were until Joel McHale and The Soup told me (and now I wish I had remained blissfully ignorant). There are people on the covers of magazines in supermarket checkout stands that are not familiar to me at all. I have no idea who these people are. And really I don’t care.

This week, however, it became painfully apparent to me that I’m out of the pop culture loop. First, George Carlin died. Sure, I know who he is. He’s the 7-dirty-words guy. But I never watched his routines on television. Nor did I click on the YouTube links for his routines when they were passed around blogs, twitter, and friendfeed. I didn’t really *get* him (but that might be due to the fact that I didn’t really give him much time).

There was an outpouring of sadness on the ‘net that day. I mean, everywhere I turned, people were talking about him. I didn’t have anything to add. I didn’t know enough about him to be able to add anything. Nor was I moved to do learn more. He was off my cultural radar.

Then today I receive an email from a co-worker asking me if I had been following this Matt Harding guy over the years. What? Who the hell is Matt Harding, I ask myself. So I google him. Funny…a promoter of a very specific niche of viral videos. I’d never heard of him, but millions have followed his story.

Where was I during all of this? Have I been hiding under a rock for the past 40 years? Wait…if you ask me to give you detailed synopses of Pride and Prejudice or The Temple of My Familiar, I can. If you want a treatise on the causes of the Civil War, I could probably do that, too, without much effort. If you need research done on the socio-linguistic tendencies of fifteen-year-old girls in the San Fernando Valley, I can probably give you a good idea of how they establish many of the language patterns for the entire United States.

But George Carlin, Kim Kardashian, Matt Harding, and The Hills? Nope. I haven’t a clue.

weather, the minneapolis way

I found this weather report via Jeff, a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota, at this Public Address. It cracked me up, so I had to subscribe to their feed. It’s just so dang funny.

I can’t wait to see how they report the weather, and any other city ongoings, as time goes on.

And, on another note, I can’t wait to get up there where the weather is 80, instead of 88. Whew, it’s been hot here.

friday fun, #9

Before I get started on the usual Friday Fun entries, I wanted to share this little article that I found via SF Girl living in the UK that she found in The Guardian. With Dakota getting on in years and the ways that I’m thinking about a future that may not include him because of that, this made me want to love each and every tail wag, lick, and howl all the more.

Are you happy?
Stan Rawlinson, dog behaviourist
Saturday August 25, 2007

I have this habit of breaking bones. I broke my leg in 18 places and partly ripped off my ankle after falling down a collapsed rabbit warren. I ended up in a wheelchair for a while and began studying dog behaviour. Over the years I had been in the armed forces, a musician and worked in sales, but I was never happy. Since working with dogs my wife said I’ve changed completely.

Dogs can feel the stress of owners. The lead is like an aerial and the dog can sense what’s happening through it. Dogs are affected by their owner’s reactions.

I’ve lost my father, my mother, but I was really affected when I lost a young springer spaniel. Next to my desk I have a little coffin-shaped box with a model of him on it and his ashes inside. We had to put him down at five because of bone cancer. I was devastated. I cancelled everything for a week. Before he died I had him with me 48 hours straight. I’m over William but I still get upset thinking about him.

My dogs are an extension of me. When I watch them work and see the pleasure on their faces I feel a sense of reflected happiness.

Humans hold grudges more than any animal. We allow unhappiness because we can’t be like dogs. You can tell a dog off one minute and the next minute you smile and it wags its tail. If we could give absolute love and loyalty to other humans we’d be happier.

Today’s Friday Fun is full of sex (and I’m not so sure it’s all about fun this time) and animals (but not together, thank goodness). Don’t ask me how that happened (and if you think that it is a continuance from last week’s Plant Porn, you didn’t watch that video (which wasn’t really porn anyway but really interesting)). Sex was popping up (pun intended) all over the Internet this week.

making connections
Wouldn’t it suck if you went online to find a connection and found your soulmate? No? It wouldn’t, would it? But what if that soulmate happened to be your in-person partner and you both were out on the ‘Net looking for someone else? That would definitely suck. Or maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe you’d realize that you always had exactly what you had been looking for.

smell me and .com (NSFW)
This is NOT safe for work. I’m not quite sure if Vulva is funny, sad, or disgusting. Is it a parody or the real thing? And how would they get the right scent for each person? I mean, really. We all smell different and what appeals to you may not appeal to me (not that this would be my cup of tea anyway but I’m just sayin’…).

sex sells (NSFW)
We’ve seen women’s bodies used to sell cars, tools, magazines, food, clothing, shoes, and everything in-between. This, however, is more than a little offensive to me. Tom Ford uses sections of a woman to sell his cologne. As if that (or any) cologne would be the only thing needed to get any man between the legs of a woman.

impotence
We’re done talking sex — unless you consider proofreading sexual (and for some of us, that could entirely be the case). The Impotence of Proofreading is one of the funniest videos I’ve watched on YouTube. I think you’ll enjoy it, too.

hooked up pooch
I love Dakota and I love my electronics. But, do I love my dog enough to hook him up with his own cell phone? Maybe. Next on the list: barking ringtones. Oh, oops…the iPhone beat us to that. Darn.

i can meets secret
I’m not a huge fan of the i can has cheezburger movement. I am a big fan of PostSecret and have written about them previously. What happens when you mix silly kittens with super salacious secrets? lolsecretz is what happens. And it is funny.

That is it for fun for this week. I’m on a plane to North Carolina on Sunday to check out two schools.

I’m sorry I’m not a great communicator lately. There is a lot going on. Between trips to schools, finishing my thesis, working, teaching, working on application packets, and trying to spend as much time with my family before I move away in the next year, it has been hard making it all work. I will try to be better at it. Really.

friday fun, #8

Yay!Â It’s that time again.Â You know you love these.Â They make you smile (and darlene, if you made a glitter banner, I may have to … well…I dunno…do something!)Â I don’t know how this happened but this week is mostly about video programming.Â Huh.

the race
ICTV16 (Ithaca College Television) has been airing a weekly television show called “The Race” that is similar to “The Amazing Race, only taking place only in New York.Â Can’t get enough reality?Â This is for you.

plant porn
No, I’m not talking about Robert Plant (eeewww…I don’t even want that visual).Â Oops.Â Did I just date myself?Â Reuter’s explains artist Jonathan Keats (ok, that is just a cool name…really) and his plant porn.Â You’re curious now, aren’t you?Â Here’s a teaser (heh).

sober companion
Just can’t stay away from the uppers, downers, booze, and whatever else ails you?Â You may need a sober companion. When a therapist, spa, and AA meeting just aren’t enough, a sober companion can cater to your 24/7 needs.Â (If it’s good enough for Owen Wilson, then who am I to judge?)

open-toed
I’m training for a 1/2 marathon that takes place in Phoenix in January.Â This is difficult — not because of the walking (because I’m not running but am walking it).Â It’s difficult because I don’t really like closed shoes.Â Given a choice, my shoes will always be open-toed or open-heeled.Â I feel like my feet are in bondage when they are enclosed in shoes (no, I don’t know what foot bondage is like, but that’s what I imagine).Â So, imagine my delight when I find Bite Running’s Xtension 3.Â It’s a walk made in heaven.

your reads?
There are lots of social networks out there — and more than a few that deal with what you are reading.Â Goodreads is a nice one to look into.Â Share and recommend what you are reading.

here we go again
A while backÂ I tweeted about the quarter-life crisis.Â Now, the creators of “My So-Called Life,” “Legends of the Fall,” and “Blood Diamond” have created an online television series called…wait…wait…yep, you guessed it, “Quarterlife.”Â Girl is told to write what she feels (in her blog) and it causes problems.Â Uhhhh…hmmm…blogs are public.Â Your friends will see it.Â What part of the Internet doesn’t she understand?

That’s it for this week.Â Have a good one!

friday fun, #7

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of my Friday Fun posts (ok, nine months, actually) so it’s a good time to have some fun again.

facial yoga
Buzz Feed is saying that the latest exercise craze is facial yoga. Is this like Kegels for the face? Hmmmm….

superhero
Superman and Spiderman have nothing on me. I’m a superhero three times over: granola girl, geek girl, and ginger greenbacks. Come on. You know you want to be a superhero, too. xmpie has made it as simple as filling in a form (who knew it could be so easy???).

sexual relationship database
Just what we all want: everyone to know who we’ve been with intimately. Because, you know, this is everyone’s business, isn’t it? Oh, yeah…it requires that people fill it in themselves. But…what if someone says they slept with Paris Hilton and they really didn’t? Hmmm…doesn’t seem all that reliable to me.

you, me, and a forest of trees
This one has been around for a long time but I still find it interesting. Ok, really, I just love that I am associated with the hornbeam tree. What tree are you?

sparkling world
Glitter lotions, powders, makeup, glue…what’s next? Oh, yeah…glitter images for your web pages. This reminds me of the early days of web development when we were all trying to make something we thought was cool but was really not good design. It’s fun and silly but I wouldn’t be caught with this on a page of mine.

Have a good weekend, y’all!

crash

Found via TechCrunch. Too funny not to share.

summer entertainment season

black nano I enjoy watching television. That’s a bad thing to say these days, isn’t it? I’m sure someone will look down on me because of that. I rarely just sit and watch; I’m usually doing homework, working out, or doing other things (I’m writing this and the TV is on) while watching.

The majority of mainstream television is now on the summer season. That means a lot of reruns, reality TV, and game shows. I like reality TV but I don’t typically watch reruns or game shows (what’s up with all of these shows that are like American Idol — which isn’t very good to begin with–America’s Top Model, So You Think You Can Dance, etc.?). So, I look to HBO and Showtime to give me their summer series. Since I just got Showtime, I’m catching up on some of their series: Dexter, The L Word (which I have gotten through Netflix), and The Tudors. On HBO, I’m watching the final episodes of The Sopranos, Entourage, and waiting impatiently for Big Love to start next week. Both channels have some interesting shows coming up.

But what is a girl to do when she wants to fill the silence of the house with good old raucus television? Sure, sure, there’s Netflix. I’ve been watching the Battlestar Gallactica series and it has been pretty good. I get a few movies in-between the series.

This summer, though, I’ve decided to put my iPod to good use. I mentioned before that I belong to an Audible bookclub with some of my co-workers. I also got an account. I have a few books that I can listen to:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Angel’s Rest by Charles Davis
Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

I’ve already listened to the Burroughs book. It was ok. It wasn’t as phenomenal as I thought it would be, given that it has gotten rave reviews from nearly everyone I talk to. Then again, I tend to be quirky and don’t like what others like to read. I rarely read mainstream top 10 books. They just aren’t my thing.

black earthumps I’ll also be adding to my podcast subscriptions. I currently have about 50 subscriptions (and this doesn’t even include the blog subscriptions that I read in Google Reader). I have a few vlogcasts but mostly podcasts. I’ll try to stay caught up on those.

I have these great Griffin Ear Thumps that block out a lot of the noise and that are more comfortable than the ear buds. They make my listening manageable. And yes, I bought black Ear Thumps to match my black nano…because I’m dorky like that.

Do you have any listening / viewing recommendations? I’d love to hear them.