It would appear, however, that not all streaming video players are quite as well prepared for prime time as the big names like YouTube are. NBC.COM for example, and ABC.COM. Both fall into this unfortunate latter category. Factors such as: “Irresponsibly Constant Freezing Up of Video“, and also “Mysteriously, The Advertisements Always Play Just Perfectly Goddamn Well But the Godforsaken Show Never Goes More Than 3 Seconds Without Freezing Up” are of real concern on this end of the spectrum.

On one occasion I spent 19 hours watching a single episode of 30 Rock on Nbc.com without ever making it past the opening sequence at the hot dog cart where the guy cuts in line and Tina Fey freezes with a weird annoyed look on her face and just stands there for hours without moving. Eventually I realized. She wasn’t standing there performing the strangest television premiere ever aired! The streaming video had frozen up. I then became despondent.

ABC.COM’s streaming video player offers free intoxicating hit shows like Lost and Ugly Betty! It’s a great idea! But they forgot to make it work right, as in, work at all. Instead they implemented a system of stuttering, hanging, skipping and freezing. Your head will spin. But it won’t be due to being drunk off hit shows like you wish it would be. It will be due to a filthy sour cocktail of frustration, sadness, apathy & blackest remorse served up by the American Brodasting Company….

Oh, wait. Nevermind. It’s working now.

…….

ColorTv, Brooklyn NY Dec 2006
Derek Stanton on Bass
Ryan Teachout on Drums
Mark Teachout on Guitar

1. So Mark, you’ve been living in Portland, OR. for the last few years?

Yeah about 3 1/2 years I guess.

2. How would you characterize your time there?

I like to move around, see as much as possible. I still feel Chicago is my home. I lived there about five years prior to Portland. For me, Portland was a nice place to visit, not live.

3. What thoughts do you have on the impact of boxing in your life?

Well…it’s entrepreneurial(sp) so it teaches you to go out on your own a little. You don’t Box at School, there are no real ways of getting into it unless you seek it out…like a business you would start I guess. The thought of being a part of the daily 9-5 working for someone makes me ill, and Boxing allows you to make all the decisions yourself…no teamwork really. Music is like that, but it has to be run like a business too. Bands are always breaking up or going nowhere because they think its all about drinking and getting laid…too many people think that their talent is always the thing that will give them a career, but it’s organizing your decisions in the same way as running a store for example.

4. Tell me. Do you like carrot cake? I know I do.

I prefer cheesecake…but it’s awful on the heart. I’m really trying to break the habits that I used to think were almost necessary to be an artist..drugs, etc. food goes along with that as well. The attraction isn’t drugs, alcohol really…it’s trying to live up to the image of being down and out and poor. Artists of the past actually were poor and dirty, etc. because they dedicated everything to a career that brought no money…they would have taken a mansion in a sec. The younger artists now act like it’s a disgrace to make money…selling out and all that shit. I think some of these kids would turn down money that would allow them the lifestyle to concentrate 100% on their art instead of working some shit job that distracts them. The real sellouts make their artistic decisions based on fashion and what the current fad is. If its cool to make money as an artist they will…if its not…they turn their backs on their work. Artists give everything to their work and any means (money included) that will allow their work to flourish and grow should be the first priority.

5. I read recently that back in “the day”, when VHS and BetaMax was the big format struggle, that the porn industry coming to release on VHS played an enormous part in VHS’s ultimate victory. What say you?

I’ve been traveling a lot so porn has been something…uh, porno is something you consume a lot of when you are a homebody. I’m sure that the porn industry played a role for sure in the formats. If it wasn’t for the porn industry most of the amazing stuff online(streaming video…podcasts, conferencing) wouldn’t exist. It’s a huge industry. An interesting thing I read showed stats of porn consumption in hotels and it skyrockets everytime a christian conference is in town.

6. Anything happen lately that seemed meant to be? …so meant to be that it Blew Your Mind?

Uh…well, I was selling a car that I received with the sale of my business and I was depending on that money for travel and start up in NY. I was standing in front of the car grabbing a cpl things and a guy walks by and says..”hey you selling this truck? There wasn’t a sign on it or anything, he just took a guess…and I sold it in a day. It was great cuz I had no idea how long it would take to sell and I was running out a money quick…I also saw a pair of shoes that I really wanted…it was weird cuz it could have easily been that I didn’t see them.

7. I found out yesterday that a post I wrote on a whim about the Google Homepage, got some of the highest views this blog has ever had. Say something about Google. The people will love it!

I like Google. It’s pretty.

———-
[Links]

ColorTv [Myspace]
Carrot Cake [Wikipedia]
Awesome Color [Myspace]

Can I expect popping success with a bag of micowave popcorn, and no microwave. Should I panic?! “The internets will tell me!” I said to no one in particular.

“If you’ve got a bag of Orville Redenbacher’s Butter microwave popcorn on hand but no microwave, there’s no need to panic.” –Said kottke.org

Aha! Well okay. Okay… Next question: Can I boil Microwave Popcorn back into being just regular corn for eating it soft and delicious with butter and salt? Yes? Kottke?

Recently a steady stream of readers have visited this site after searching for “Throw myself on the sword” and finding an article I wrote that has that phrase in the title but is not about swords, thrown or otherwise. This makes me wonder a few things. Clearly I am disappointing anyone who is looking for that phrase, because the article I wrote that contains it, is SO much NOT about swords that it’s actually about RSS Feed Readers. How much less like a sword could one get than a feed reader? I fear I am disappointing you. Whoever you are, I am sorry.

Why are you searching for Throw-Myself-On-The-Sword? I  searched Google and didn’t find any results that jumped out and appeared to clarify what it is you must be looking for.

?

Don’t throw yourself on a sword.

What a sad state of sadness. Now I’ve watched almost all of the episodes over the last 6 days and it makes me wish I’d been there as it happened.

Oh Sad.

If you’re like me or, rather you as me 6 days ago and this is the first you’ve heard of The Show with Ze Frank there is a nice summation of the fun we missed out on out today at Slate Magazine

Also, Of Montreal, Art School, Famine and Fingers.

Ian Saylor
Friday March 23, 2007

Eric Hall feels the next nine years will bring
tremendous changes to the human species.

1. So Eric, I understand today you will take in your second Of Montreal show in barely under a week at the Magic Stick in Detroit. How did you come to this decision?

Well Ian, I feel that Of Montreal provide an unparalleled live music experience, and that experience should be experienced at every available opportunity. In short; they rock.

2. Anybody cool going along with you?

My lovely girlfriend, Mary (mothefuckin) Palmer attended the event with me. I met my dear chum Cameron, his lovely woman Sally and their friend Darci at the show. Once again we were treated to a pre-show dinner at the Majestic Cafe, and were seated between Kevin Barnes and his young niece and nephew at one table, and the rest of the band at another. Oh to be in the presence of such greatness. And gayness.

3. I understand you are enrolled in classes at a local university. Talk about that a little.

Well, I have to correct you on something. It’s a community college, not a university. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m all smart and shit. I go to Mott Community College where I do a lot of drawing and making of the art. I like it there, it makes me happy.

4. Do you notice evidence of increasing consciousness in the world?

Yes, nearly every day in fact I notice something. It seems that people may be waking up to what is really going on, and to what really drives the universe. Namely that our consciousness seems to drive the universe. Somehow.

5. Do you notice evidence of increasing consciousness on the part of yourself in relation to the world?

I feel like the last few years have been a long morning, during which I have been slowly waking up. There are many things that I have come to realize and believe, and I think that allowing myself to be more “one” with everything and everyone is the key. It’s hard to talk about such things without sounded like a New Age crazy person, but I think that we’re starting to learn that New Age crazy people may be onto something.

6. How many fingers am I holding up? (jk, lol)

14.

(He was right. -I.)

7. What do you most hope will occur in the next 9 years?

I’d most like to see a mass waking of people. A time where our collective consciousness starts working again and humanity enters an age in which wars, famines, epidemics and so forth become a thing of the past. That’s what I’d like to see. I’m hopeful that it will turn out that way, but if someone were on the outside of our situation looking in, I imagine that the odds would be stacked pretty firmly against us. I think that the next nine years will brings tremendous change to our species. Some will be good, but to get there I am pretty sure that we are going to have to go through some pretty rough shit first.

———

[Links]
Of Montreal -Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse [YouTube]
Eric @ Lollapalooza (green shirt on the right) [YouTube]
Eric’s Photography [Flickr]