A few choice projects

With my C=64 plugged into the TV I had a distraction greater than the might of Steve Austin, Hulk, Wonder Woman and even the Solid Gold Dancers combined. Twenty-three years on not much has changed and I still favour computers over TV. Sitting down and watching show after show, series after series of what's essentially the same re-hashed crap just doesn't seem like something I want to be doing anymore. However there's been a slow but imminent convergence of computers and television that even I am finding hard to ignore.

More and more I find myself sucked in to sites like YouTube for snippets of entertainment. Let's take a quick look at the few videos in my YouTube history:


Jake the Mus - From the movie Once Were Warriors (warning: contains a bit of biffo). I just had to show my girlfriend how we roll back in Auckland, New Zealand :)


Lucan - Classic 70's TV about a wolf-boy. I wanted to be him, or Richie Adler from Whiz Kids. Be careful what you wish for - I grew up to be a hairy computer nerd.


Genius Girl - Cute? Nuh uh, this vid sends a shiver down my spine. Rrrrrr. Creepy. Parents, don't let your kids be like this.


Telly Savalas singing 'If' - Ok, this is even creepier.


The boy with the incredible brain... Savant autism - Fascinating stuff. Someone needs to clock me over the noggin.



Shake It Baby - Taiwan is a beautiful/fun/tasty/wonderful place with so much to offer. But it also has this. It's like watching a train wreck - I can't look away no matter how painful it is. Thanks ProTools.


Commodore64 Classics - Wow, I really live in the past, don't I!??


Okay, it's arguable whether my life has been enriched after watching any of that, but it's undeniable that I found it entertaining and it hasn't sucked away weeks/months/years of my life.

Back in New Zealand in the 70's we used to have a TV show called "I Like That One 2" which was a weekly show where people would request to rerun clips of recently aired TV shows from any one of the three channels we had back then. It was a great idea and in a sense, YouTube is like this; it's just people showing off their favourite clips. So now, here I am as someone that wouldn't normally be drawn to watching video or TV online is now warming to the idea. In fact, I'd go further to say that I'm really excited to see what unfolds with internet TV over the next few years with the likes of Joost (from the fellows behind Skype) coming into play soonish. I have seen a few screenshots of Joost and they gave me tingles they were that nice and I signed up to become a Joost beta tester, but if anyone has a quicker way in then I'd be eternally grateful. :)


For now at least it's back to the 'Tube for me. Shaaake it baaaby!

More on the subject:
TechCrunch has a wee write up on Joost and some very sexy screenshots.
Wired's article 'Why Joost is Good for TV'
The Register's article 'Joost - the new, new TV thing'

Update #1: Thanks to Elroy Hall for kindly supplying me with a Joost Beta Invite.

Update #2: Well, I haven't had a good chance to try it out yet as my internet connection in New Zealand is so pathetically slow that I only get to see a few seconds of video before it times-out. Bugger. I'll have to try again when I'm back in Taiwan.

Update #3: Apologies about the broken videos - YouTube has removed a few clips. :(