BBC TV Kinda Rocks Now

[El Dingo]

America is bred to think we are the only country that produces television shows (perhaps with the exception of Ninja Warrior).

It turns out other countries have a rich history of television outside of Monty Python.

There is even a portal to English-Speaking television from the UK on BBC America. I'm not quite sure what they broadcast because I torrent BBC from nefarious sources.

Anyhow - there was a trippy BBC show called 'The Mighty Boosh' that went from 'irreverent zookeeper sitcom' to 'LSD induced chaos' co-written by Noel Fielding and Julian Barrat. Imagine Monty Python and the most intense psychedelic trip you have ever (harumph) heard about. This describes the new series 'Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy' to an L.

It's sort of like watching a blender filled with glow-sticks, Neon CGI sets + Sgt. Pepper costumes + Salvador Dali plots edited by an ADD monkey on mushrooms which results in a mind-melting WTF session that makes a Residents video look like the evening news

Check it out.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Boosh = AWESOME

[Drunk Monk]

...can't remember the second.

ED, you turned me on to Boosh at a DOOM screening years ago.

[cranefly]

It's sort of like watching a blender filled with glow-sticks, Neon CGI sets + Sgt. Pepper costumes + Salvador Dali plots edited by an ADD monkey on mushrooms which results in a mind-melting WTF session that makes a Residents video look like the evening news

Nope. Doesn't sound like anything Cranefly would be interested in.
All kidding aside, Cranefly would love to check this out, but has diminished his capacity to do so by declaring war on AT&T.
The ensuing battles have left him cowed and humiliated and in need of using third person to distance himself from himself while describing the fiasco.

The conflict began when Cranefly called AT&T to cancel all services but naked DSL. He had bought a VOIP device enabling phone over internet, so he no longer had need of local or long distance phone and all the additional charges that go with them. The AT&T rep then informed Cranefly that this would require switching to UVerse, and that there would be a $150 installation charge. Cranefly begged to differ, wanting the phone services dropped and just keep the DSL. The rep said sorry, but we don't offer that service option anymore. Cranefly hung up in a huff, not about to pay for an upgrade of AT&T equipment that he had no need for. Battles ensued over the next six months, some of which Cranefly marginally won, most of which AT&T won by slaughter. After the last slaughter some weeks back, Cranefly went insane.

That's when he started building his Tower of Babel.
It consists of 1.5", 1" and 1/2" diameter electrical conduit tubing rigged in telescoping fashion that now stands 30' in the air. Fastened to the top of this is a transceiver, with CAT-5e cabling running down and into the garage, where it connects into the router. The transceiver is aimed at one of Google's access points for Mountain View's Google-supported wifi.

Cranefly recently enjoyed calling up AT&T to cancel all service. The rep offered Cranefly a very good deal at that point, with an upgrade in speed tossed in, but it was only good for a year, and Cranefly has no desire to ever again call AT&T, so he declined the deal and canceled.

The victory is somewhat Phyrrhic, as Googlewifi is flaky and intermittent. Cranefly's receiver needs line-of-sight to the access point for reliable service, and there are trees, houses and who knows what in the way. Cranefly will be destroying these obstacles in the coming months, but for now he has to deal with less-than-optimal internet. Worst of all, streaming is dead. So even though some episodes are available on youtube, they cannot be played, and downloading would take a long while.

The 30-foot tower and transceiver has been a wonderful if painful and tedious learning experience. In the process, Cranefly has discovered that it wouldn't require much of an upgrade to start broadcasting his own radio station to Mountain View and beyond. This is under serious consideration right now.

Just a heads up for it in the near future. The call letters will be RANT.

[cranefly]

I know how you've all been anxiously awaiting the next installment on this particular rant. Okay, here goes, taking the form of a letter I just posted on the GoogleWifi forum.

Subject: A Letter to Google from a Disappointed Past Customer

Dear Google.

It was six months ago that I switched from AT&T DSL to GoogleWifi. Dealing with AT&T had become too much of a problem. The final straw came when I tried to reduce my services from "DSL + phone + long distance" to "just DSL." After all, there are cheaper alternatives to their phone service these days. The rep told me that I would have to switch to U-Verse, and that there would be a $125 installation charge. This was outrageous. A $125 charge just to eliminate phone? I told him to just turn off the voice coming through the line and the DSL already there would be fine. He told me, "I'm sorry, but we don't offer that service option anymore." I argued with him for several minutes, but got nowhere. Later I learned that he was lying. In fact, lying seems to be an artform for AT&T these days. Days later, talking to another rep, I managed to get "just DSL" from them, but it was a special 6-month intro rate, after which it doubled.

Totally fed up with AT&T, I researched how I might bring GoogleWiFi into the home. I invested in a Nanostation Loco M2, built a tower to mount it on, and after considerable fussing got it to work decently. You cannot imagine how satisfying it was to call AT&T and tell them to cancel all my services. Suddenly they were trying to make me special deals. I listened to all they had to say, then told them no thanks, just cancel me entirely.

I was so thankful to Google for allowing me to take this action. There aren't many "cheap" alternatives to AT&T around here. In fact, I wasn't finding any. And AT&T is only interested in selling bundles these days. If you're not buying a bundle, you're small-fry, and they have no qualms about overcharging you for basic services. Google gave me the freedom to dump them entirely. Thank you, Google.

But over the past six months I've noticed a steady decline in GoogleWifi. I didn't really understand what was going on until recently. That's when I realized that none of my software had been updating. I spent a week trying to debug all my equipment, thinking the lost parcels were on my end. Then I discovered this site, and learned that the problem is with Google's WiFi equipment. I have also painfully learned over the past couple of weeks that Google remains unresponsive -- beyond saying they are looking into the problem.

Yesterday I switched back to AT&T. I had to. My software was getting so out of date, and in crucial ways. Firefox immediately updated from version 9 to version 20. Java and Flash, which had long been dysfunctional, updated. The virus database updated. Windows updated I don't know how many times. And finally I was able to update Turbotax so I could proceed -- in the nick of time -- with doing my taxes!

Google, there is a problem. It is a significant problem. You are NOT offering Mountain View residents free WiFi. Quit making that claim. If this is the best you can do, throw in the towel. Just shut it down. End this charade. I really don't know what your problem is. Every company I ever worked for understood the importance of meeting customers' needs, and when there was a problem, they fixed it promptly. We are your customers, Google. Just because you're offering your WiFi free doesn't change that fact. You chose to offer it to Mountain View. You had your reasons. I suspect you worked out some deals with the city. And maybe that's the problem. Maybe you don't feel Mountain View is doing enough for you. Fine. Bring it out in the open. Tell us what the problem is. The residents of Mountain View -- your customers -- deserve to know what's going on.

Thank you for listening, if you did listen. And yes, I am regrettably posting this via AT&T DSL.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I'm liking the Broadchurch, a murder procedural headed by David Tennant.

Unfortunately my DVR has skipped two of the episodes and I need to find them.

I am also enjoying Masterpiece Theater's "Silk" which is about Barristers and their trials plus the machinations inside chambers.

[The Queen]

I am eagerly awaiting the return of Orphan Black.

[thatguy]

I just heard a review of this BBC mini-series:

[youtube]pimqGkBT6Ek[/youtube]

Two seasons of 3 unrelated episodes each. It sounded interesting, but I haven't watched any of it yet:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/black-mirror/4od">http://www.channel4.com/programmes/black-mirror/4od</a><!-- m -->

--tg

[thatguy]

Another Black Mirror teaser:

[youtube]ke5AKVtvkdc[/youtube]

--tg