JamesX

You can tell a production is on when everyone seems to go under the radar for a while and that’s certainly the case with me right now. There’s so much going on with work, and my other work, that there really isn’t time for too much else. Seeing as though it’s been about two weeks since my last update, I thought it best to make some semblance of an entry before things get even more busy!

Last week was my brother’s birthday. He turned 19 this year and I think he might actually be showing signs of growing up! I suppose as the older brother I might be slightly biased in that regard, but it’s good that he’s doing well and we had a nice family dinner to celebrate the occasion.

Last weekend I also made it up to Bright again. I seem to be getting up there more and more often lately and that’s because it’s the only place I can really be where I’m not being interrupted by everyone and, can actually, truly relax. I’m still not quite at the point where the people in the town don’t look you over and think “city boy” every time you walk down the street, but I’m working on it! My bogan acting skills still need some tuning…

What else, what else? Last night was the finale for Big Brother 2007. I know most of you are probably saying “thank god that’s over,” but I think that the show did reasonably well this year. That is of course if you don’t look at how absolutely terrible last night’s show was. It was a true example of how not to do live television - although ironically, that was what made it all the more intriguing. Even so, taking 4 hours to reveal the winner when you could get your act together and do it in 4 minutes still has me a little bewildered. How a computer “needs time to count the votes,” to quote Gretel, is well beyond me. It’s obviously beyond Beyond too and perhaps next year they might do it a little differently. I can’t help but think that something very fishy went on behind the scenes last night but I guess we’ll never know!

And finally, as always, I’ll shamelessly plug the upcoming production of the musical, FAME. It’s happening in mid-August and if you’re free you should come along. Seeing as though every man and his dog (literally, although cat in my case) are on Facebook nowadays, naturally you can get all the info on there. It’s shaping up to be a great show.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Time to go tend the animals. (If you’re as obsessed as me, that might even be funny!)

Yes it is that time of year again, for it’s seventh year running, Big Brother is returning this Sunday. As obsessed as I am with the show, this year will hopefully be different from previous years. I say hopefully because every year they promise that it will be different, and it never is, but the claims that the house will be “environmentally friendly” have been backed up by most mainstraim media, so it seems plausible that there could be some interesting twists. The most unusual, and perhaps quite bizarre, is the two buckets of water per person, per week rule that is set to promote fair spirit among the drought afflicted times of Stage 5 water restrictions in Queensland (although their Stage 5 seems more lenient than our Stage 3!).

It’s always too hard to predict, but good or bad, I always end up watching. The Big Brother website is set to be more entertaining this year (finally) now that Channel Ten have their new online content thingy where all their TV shows have dynamic sites with video content etc. Hopefully it lives up to expectations… there’s already a skeleton site up and running so you can go and sign up and take a look at the rumours - some of which are so obviously not true.

Oh and don’t forget to check out BBBA (Behind Big Brother Australia), the site with all the unofficial news surrounding the show. It’s pretty much the place to be if you want to know what’s actually going on - especially when there’s scandal in the air!

It’s been a normal weekend so far really, despite the fact that it’s Easter and the weekend spans four days. It’s good not having to go to work for a little while and I’ve been using the extra time to catch up with everyone. Thursday night after work I caught up with the boys and we went out for dinner at The Sandbelt. We even managed to drag Malcolm and Justin along for the ride which was good. Everyone’s going well and after dinner, some of us went back to Penelope’s “super house” for pool and quiet conversation.

Yesterday was another fun-filled (eventually) day at Penelope’s. This time with the other half of the friends, plus the odd new one - Hi Tilly! I managed to fit in another 15 or so games of pool, and I think I won about 60% of the time, which was quite good. Obviously Stu wasn’t in the zone, and Richie was blaming the table.

Today looks set to be a quiet one - which is probably a good thing. I think I might end up catching up on a few TV shows while I have the opportunity. I’m dreading the last episode of Prison Break; I just know something stupid is going to happen to the storyline and I’ll be left wondering about it for the next six months. 24 should finish airing in a month or so, ready for my Day 6 marathon. I should start planning who’s coming over to watch it. The last one was a success, we even had Ed interested in the show by about the 16th hour and that’s saying something.

Yesterday Foxtel released their new Remote Record service for iQ customers. Widely talked about, this service allows subscribers to schedule recordings on their iQ device from the internet. Despite a few problems with the site yesterday that prevented me from signing up, I managed to get on there today and I have to admit I am impressed. I was slightly skeptical about the whole thing and how it would work but after a little play, it is actually a useful service.

Some of the notable features are:

• 7 day calendar of programming - it would have been nice to see more; perhaps a full month but I guess the marketing people thought that would stop people from using the printed guide!
• Filter by channel, genre or time
• Search for programs by name - a really useful feature. How often have you tried to find something you saw an ad for but can’t remember the time?
• Advanced search by classification, closed captions, widescreen, etc.

The best thing about remote recording is the speed between clicking record on the webpage and it recording on the iQ. I tested it using a program that was airing at the time and within 15 seconds of submitting the request, the record light was on on my iQ. Very cool! You can find the new Foxtel guide here.

Anyone who was watching Temptation on Channel 9 on Friday night may have noticed a familiar face. Daniel Kinsey was on the show, fighting it out for his slice of television quiz show glory. I must say, he did put up quite a good fight, as the questions on that show often cover a broad range of topics and can be quite tough. An incorrect answer by the leader saw a three way tie on $55 at the end of the last round which left Daniel in with one last chance to win the game. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, and the reigning champ took out the game.

One thing that has me puzzled, when asked by host Ed Phillips, “Do your friends ever say you’re nineteen going on fifty?” Daniel replied, “It has been said.” Now tell me people, who has ever said that!?

Download a copy of the show (MP4).