Mmm. TV.

[icepixie]

Biggest ever benefit of joining up with Netflix again? All the BBC series/miniseries I could ever want. Eat your heart out, BBCAmerica. (I just added mounds of DW, Ballykissangel (squeee!), North and South, Upstairs/Downstairs, Bleak House, etc. etc. etc. Also, Northern Exposure, because even though I taped most of them...extras. Mmmm, extras.)

Yay!

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I finally gave in and got Netflix in October, and after I added the Sports Night DVDs to my queue, started poking around either in BBC or British TV. After about two hours, when I still hadn't got through everything, I knew I was in heaven. Alas, not everything on BBC America is already on DVD, but what with the way I'm just not shelling out for digital cable for one channel, it'll do :)

[icepixie]

It's addictive, isn't it? *g* I had it for a short time last summer, mostly so I could watch Firefly and Carnivale. I love that they have so many TV show discs; my local videos stores never carry anything I'd actually like to watch.

Oooh, Sports Night. I loved that show.

Yeah, I noticed that not everything BBC was on DVD...particularly Blackpool, which I was really hoping to snag. Ah, well. And yeah, not so much with the digital cable. Ouch. (Not that it would be me paying for it, granted, but it's the principle of the thing!)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

It is addictive, though I had to drop back to one disc at a time while school's in session, because it's just too much--I was watching Netflix stuff all the time and never getting anything else done (this is when I definitely fell off the Daily Show 8pm rerun wagon, for instance--not that that's terribly important, but it's one of the first things I noticed!).

Fortunately, my local public library has a fabulous DVD collection, so when the one disc isn't enough (or when it's in transit), I check out their catalog online and pick some things to see. Using the two together actually works really well, since Netflix has a lot of stuff that the library doesn't, and therefore I try to use it for those things unless I'm feeling lazy ;) ). Doesn't always work out, though--in fact, last week, I had a really frustrating experience (http://alto2.livejournal.com/321855.html) in which they both simultaneously let me down. Not the end of the world, but still damned annoying!

Blackpool is so fantastic--you must see it! There are, ahem, ways of getting it. A friend of mine in the UK just bought a copy for me, which I'll get from her when I'm there in a month (region-hackable DVD players are also worth investigating--haven't plugged mine in yet, hopefully this weekend--but they're not always hideously expensive, either).

And Sports Night and Firefly rock. Even if the one Firefly fic I've ever written did nearly kill me. Mal is still The Pretty. ;)

[icepixie]

Ooof, yeah, I signed up for the one-at-a-time plan this time around as well. Otherwise my painfully slow job search would become even more painfully slow, and ow. No.

My public library is much better for feature films than for TV series. I don't care overmuch as they're fantastic with getting new books in ASAP, so that keeps me happy enough. Netflix for the rest, really. :)

last week, I had a really frustrating experience in which they both simultaneously let me down.

Oh lord, I hate it when that happens! I'm also equidistant from two branches of the Nashville library, and I've had that happen with books. Gah.

I desperately need some kind of multiregion DVD player. Failing that, I do have a friend who's supposed to be getting the DVDs soon, so, uh, I may end up seeing it sooner rather than later. ;) The clips I've seen make it look like something I really need to see.

Firefly fic? Is it archived somewhere? (I love your DW fic. I really hope I've told you that at some point, although when I was going through archives lickety-split over spring break, my feedbacking fell way behind.)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I desperately need some kind of multiregion DVD player.

You know, depending on how old your player is, it might already be hackable. Go here (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?select=Sanyo+DVD-1500A) and type in your brand and model number. Maybe you'll get lucky :) Mine is really old (well, not *really* old, but in DVD terms it is) so I need a new one. I'm keeping the old once, since it's been really reliable and I'm guessing it'll be working longer than the Memorex I just bought on sale at Target for $35 a few weeks ago. The Memorex is hackable, though (and the language department at school uses it for their multi-region needs), so it'll just be added on.

(And yes, you really do need to see Blackpool!)

Firefly fic? Is it archived somewhere?

Yup. All my stuff is at Recommended Daily Allowance. (http://rda.healthyinterest.net) And the Whofic is also archived at Teaspoon. I didn't realize you'd stumbled across it--but thanks! I try :) (Wish I could use some of it as writing samples for MFA programs, but alas, I think they'd frown on that!)

[icepixie]

Thanks for the link. Nothing for my DVD player, alas. (I figured as much; it's at least three years old.)

Oooh, I'll be sure to check out your FF fic later today. I think I ran across your Whofic at Teaspoon; possibly it was somewhere in the time_n_chips archives. "Aspect" is one of my favorite piece of Whofic ever, it really is.

(Wish I could use some of it as writing samples for MFA programs, but alas, I think they'd frown on that!)

Oooh, I know. For my last big piece for my Advanced Fiction class last semester, I turned in something that, now that I look back on it with clearer eyes, is rather derivative of DW. (Not so much characterwise, but more plotwise; I ended up basically using vortisaurs as a big part of it. In my defense, that was before I listened to "Storm Warning," and I was so pissed when I realized someone else had thought of the concept before me!) No one else in the seminar was at all a sci-fi fan, though, so nobody called me on it. My fanfic does seem to be better prose than my original stuff. Sigh.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Nothing for my DVD player, alas. (I figured as much; it's at least three years old.)

Hmmm. Not all of them are hackable, even now, though more of them are. You might want to do a Google search on "DVD region hacks" just to be sure--though you could be in the same boat I'm in even though I think I got mine five or six years ago (can't remember anymore!)

"Aspect" is one of my favorite piece of Whofic ever, it really is.

Really?? ::blush:: Thanks! I just took a look at it again to refresh my memory and realized, by the end of it, how different it would be if I'd written it once the current series got started, because the first answer that popped into my head in response to the "How do I look" question was more like "As though you could have a ten-second screaming fit at any time." Sigh. They really need to re-think that part of the characterization; it's sad that I liked Ten better before I knew him, when he lived inside my head :-\

Honestly, I wrote DW when I was in high school--my escape from family strife, basically--and when I got to college, and after, never wrote it again. If you'd have told me even a year ago that I'd be writing Whofic now, I'd have laughed at you, long and hard. But I was assigned it for a fic challenge, and...that was that. I have been thinking for months now that I really need to mention it when I write to the Sainted Tenth Grade English Teacher, who made the mistake of asking me once if he could see what I'd written--and then had me coming in each morning with "Ooh, I wrote four more pages last night!" Poor man.

that was before I listened to "Storm Warning," and I was so pissed when I realized someone else had thought of the concept before me!

Oh, that sucks!! But at least you know you thought it up independently, which is cool! :)

[icepixie]

*snickers at your icon*

DVD hacks: I'll look into that, thanks.

how different it would be if I'd written it once the current series got started, because the first answer that popped into my head in response to the "How do I look" question was more like "As though you could have a ten-second screaming fit at any time." Sigh.

*snerk* Agreed.

They really need to re-think that part of the characterization; it's sad that I liked Ten better before I knew him, when he lived inside my head :-\

Yeah, I kind of like a lot of fic writers' pre-TCI/S2 Tens better than the real one. I love David Tennant to bits, but the character just hasn't been written or directed well this season. :(

Hee, it's funny how one's writing proclivities can change so dramatically. I said I'd never write Firefly fic, and I...wrote Firefly fic. A short one, but still. Also, after the horrors I committed in high school, I swore up, down and sideways that I'd never write another songfic, and one for Cupid somehow ended up on my LJ last year. Craziness. Those muses, man...they're unpredictable.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I love David Tennant to bits, but the character just hasn't been written or directed well this season. :(

Agreed. It becomes more painful with each episode. I can't help but wonder if TPTB realize that's the reaction they're getting.

I said I'd never write Firefly fic, and I...wrote Firefly fic.

Heh. I tend to get dragged into things via ficathons that friends of mine decide to run, which is where the Firefly fic came from (and proceeded to EAT MY BRAIN--or atleast, my life, for several weeks). Though, I figure any writing is writing, whether it's fic or original or whatever, so it all keeps that part of you going. At least, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. Now I have to get going on the original story I'm working on...

[icepixie]

Agreed. It becomes more painful with each episode. I can't help but wonder if TPTB realize that's the reaction they're getting.

That's one of the drawbacks to working so far ahead of the airing of these episodes...they had the whole season in the can before "New Earth" aired, so they can't get any kind of feedback before the whole thing's done.

Heh. I tend to get dragged into things via ficathons that friends of mine decide to run, which is where the Firefly fic came from (and proceeded to EAT MY BRAIN--or atleast, my life, for several weeks).

I hate trying to write fanfic to a deadline, so I avoid ficathons like the plague. I'll accept challenges from friends, but only on the understanding that it'll be done when I damn well say it's done, and not a moment before. *g* My 'Net connection did stay up long enough yesterday for me to read your FF fic, though. Hee! Very cute. I liked seeing Mal and Inara all befuddled by the baby. (I don't really like them as a ship--the canon tried way to hard to shove it down our throats when they have very little chemistry together, IMO--but I do like them paired in certain fics. This one worked for me.)

Though, I figure any writing is writing, whether it's fic or original or whatever, so it all keeps that part of you going. At least, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Indeed!

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I hate trying to write fanfic to a deadline, so I avoid ficathons like the plague.

I hear you. The problem with that is that the deadlines seem so far off that they shouldn't be a problem...and then they sneak up :) Though, the bubblefic this year (Sacrifice) was done about a month before the deadline, and I was just itching to post it--so the problem was the waiting, not the pressure.

My 'Net connection did stay up long enough yesterday for me to read your FF fic, though.

Well, that's saying something, 'cause that puppy's long! (hence the "Fic that Wouldn't Die" title!) I'm glad you liked it :) I love the idea of M/I but it's so flawed that you know it would never work--so you can imagine my horror when I got my assignment and it included "a child--preferably theirs." Erm, no. Sorry. So I did it, but on my terms, because I would never have managed to write what I'm guessing she had in mind. (And I'll confess that I suspect I like the idea of M/I just because Mal's so pretty and I think half the fun of fic-and half the reason it's written--is to project yourself into it somewhere.)

[icepixie]

The problem with that is that the deadlines seem so far off that they shouldn't be a problem...and then they sneak up :)

Ugh, yes. Although more me, it's more "I have to hand this in by a deadline? Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!" and I just completely clam up as far as writing. This totally doesn't bother me in actual fiction or poetry classes. I'm not sure why.

you can imagine my horror when I got my assignment and it included "a child--preferably theirs."

Yes. Ack.

And Mal/Inara would not work in any universe. I so hated that moment in "Heart of Gold"(?) where Inara has a big, fall-down-on-the-floor crying jag over Mal's tryst with the other companion. Gaaaaaaah. No. Also, while the actors look like they have fun together, there's just no chemistry whatsoever.

I never found a ship I liked on Firefly. Well, Wash and Zoe were cute, but that was more of a "oh, they're married, how strange a different for a sci-fi show where usually everyone is improbably single" kind of thing. However, there's some good genfic out there, so it's all good. :)