Viewing Stuff Online

April 1st, 2008 by Alec McNayr

I’ve been sick the past couple of days and spent the majority of my time resting on the couch.

Like most daytime TV viewers, I was disappointed with the programming 500 channels on DirecTV offers me between the hours of 9am and 4pm, so I ventured to my laptop to check out some online fare I hadn’t yet seen.

Death at a Funeral / iTunes Rental
Bob had told me that this movie was amazing, and while I really enjoyed it, I didn’t love it. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Nonetheless, what I did love was not having to drive down to Blockbuster to rent it. I paid $3.99 on iTunes and it finished downloading in about 30 minutes, but I could have started watching it after about five. Great experience, easy to watch full screen on my Macbook Pro. Because of its integration with OSX, the screen didn’t dim, and I was able to watch the movie straight through without interruption (I was also able to rewind to the (spoiler alert) poop on the hands bit over and over again. Kidding!). Only would have been better had I watched on my TV using AppleTV.

Psych & SNL Clips / Hulu
My new favorite show and my old favorite show, together and available on-demand at Hulu.com. Genius. I also enjoyed watching these on my MacBook Pro, as the picture quality looks great using the “fullscreen” toggle. I can even tolerate the commercials because there are far fewer than when watched on TV. Three complaints, though:

• When you watch a show in your viewing queue, it automatically moves you back to the top of your queue, instead of just watching the next on in sequence. Lame.
• When you click on a show (or clip) and its preceded by a commercial, you can’t toggle “full screen,” so you’re stuck waiting for it to end. Good for the advertiser, bad for the viewer.
• When you watch an hourlong show, you get a couple of commercials. No problem with that, except when they show you the same commercial over and over. Super lame. Why not string a few commercials together in a narrative?

The All-For-Nots
A relatively new online-only series from Vuguru (Eisner) and Dinosaur Diorama (“The Burg”). The All-For-Nots is about a young hipster band traveling on a road trip, examining their desire to make it big vs. be “real artists.” It’s well-shot, and there are some nice moments in there, but here’s a big caveat: I’m not the target market. To my eye, it’s slow and self-important, taking too long to get nowhere. The interesting thing, however, is that each “episode” actually consists of three different videos: one story-based narrative, one scene between two characters, and one “confessional” monologue. I wonder if it would be more interesting (and move along quicker) if the three were cut together. Better mid-form content. I hate to nay-say on a show that I want to succeed for the good of the online media industry, but the tone and delivery of The All-For-Nots turned me off.

What did I end up watching the most during my sick days? A Battlestar Gallactica marathon on Sci-Fi. SUCH a good show. And I’m SUCH a nerd.

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