DARK

 We have been working thru the three seasons of this show in the last month. If you have seen "Back to the Future" or the Terminator then you know the theme here but this is the time travel show to end all time travel shows.  I don't know how they managed to write it but there must be a database tracking every move. You need to pay attention to detail however they give good clues as to who is in frame, as when a scene fades from an old face most likely the next scene is the same person. The whole thing happens in 33 year increments anywhere from 1820's to 2050's  times 2.   The Doc in Back to the Future was always worried about coming face to face with himself, not so here. There are often teamed efforts by the same person.  I think the maximum I saw was four versions of the same person in the one scene.  What we know is just a drop, what we don't know is an ocean.

Foundation

 I mentioned previously about Asimov and his original SciFi book series Foundation. This is the only entire series to receive the Hugo award for each of the five volumes.  He has come up again on Apple TV.  I have seen some hints about this Epic on Google TV. We bought the Google gismo a year ago, as it updates all the streaming channels,  particularly the Disney + we were after but it also allows us to see Apple TV without an Apple device.   I have read a write up of the first episode of Foundation last week and I quote 'This will do for Apple what Game of Thrones did for HBO'.  That is a big statement.  The subscription is $50 per year. After Netflix, Foxtel, GCN+ and Disney+ why not add another one?   There are times lately when we have forgotten where a particular show we were following, is located.

PS We did have a look a Amazon TV for a one month trial.

new adaption

original books

Eurosport is back

After much deciphering of Optus websites, not only do I not have to spend $465 on a fetch TV box as Optus have sent me one for free, they have also reduced my bill by $5 per month.  Go figure.  It pays to regularly question your bills.  I needed to go onto a new plan. They just keep billing you under the old conditions if you do not change anything.  Eurosport is available to all as a free trial but I will need to pay $9 a month in future.  Elsewhere I located a subscription to Spotify at $12 per month. They kept taking this even though the cost had dropped to $10 p/m. This service never worked well for us anyway so we cancelled it and now I have $17 per month spare to cover costs.  I have set a race to record tonight. Back in business.

EuroSport demise

There was a rude omission when I turned on the TV this morning as I could not find the EuroSport channel.  I thought I would just reboot it, that always works. We called up the support person who said there was a contract issue and that an email had been sent to explain. I got no such email as I would have liked to complain but it seems they have cut the channel anyway. I bet it was being used more than ESPN.   Fetch TV has picked up the channel.   Most of my viewing was overnight recordings from Eurosport.  There is an APP but it is not available in Australia. In the meantime how am I going to get the cycling? The cycling season has started.  Once you buy a Fetch Mighty box the Eurochannel is $8.99 a month. I have to look into this.

Dyson

Not only does no one turn down the bed, I have to make it myself.  We have been a bit slack with vacuuming as well, no cleaners are coming to this house. We now have two Dyson vacuumers, one upstairs and one downstairs. Don't get the hand held battery one. They only last 7 minutes. As we were touring around Europe, Dyson appeared in most toilet blocks.  At first it was just an eye on the willie, so that when it was put away, water would flush automatically. Then there was the Dyson tap that dried your hands as well. The ultimate was the pee bowl with TV screen. Blokes need to concentrate on their aim although I did see one guy trying to pee on the screen.

Power Cord

7 minute battery

What no penis dryer!

End of a TV Era

Well I correctly predicted Daenerys demise even the way she would go by the pointy end.  The involvement of Tyrion, Greyworm, Ayra, Sansa and Jon, and who might actually have stabbed her, meant I was slightly off but these were minor points.  What is going to fill the void?  I am glad the Book of  Brothers survived which means a spin off recounting the deeds of the Hedge Knight and Egg the King to be, is possible. I noticed that Brienne of Tarth dropped Sansa at the end in favour of the new King Stark,  Brandon the broken.  I hardly recognised Robyn Arryn the 10 year old breast suckler. Australia already has a Brandon Starc who has reached the heights.  In 2017 HBO started prequels. There are up to five known series to have been started, but only one has reached the completion of a pilot. This being set thousands of years earlier, during the first men and their falling out with the Children of the Forest. With reconciliation and building of the Wall.

Dragon Rider

Brandon Starc 

GOT

The Greatest Show on TV has been going for 10 yar now and I have seen every minute and read all the books (except two) and now am facing the last episode.  I have two prediction scenarios.  One where Tyrion turns against and the other where he stays true. The simpler one takes us full circle in that the Lannister Right Hand previously killing the mad Targeryren King now kills the mad Targeryen Queen thereby Jamie (Kingslayer) is now usurped by Tyrion (Queenslayer).

My more complicated ending sees Daenerys tying Jon to a stake for death by Dragon with the Unsullied holding everyone at bay. However Jon does not get burnt not even singed, she then gets Greyworm to run him thru but the Starks break free. Arya kills Greyworm and throws his spear at Daenerys but Tyrion jumps in the way saving her but dying in the process. Sansa gets her chance by using the pointy end to kill Daenerys.  Not sure how Sansa gets to King's Landing.

Eddard

The Dish (Clifton Springs style)

After a second try we now have a dish so we can get back to some important bike ride watching. As well we have been given an IQ3 box so anything we had recorded has disappeared. I can't remember what was there anyway.  More technology involves the intercom system where we have now read the manual. We can pipe radio to each room as well as talk between rooms.   The latest guests have approved the new house and have fully settled into their room.  The required trip to the Dell was taken this morning, this time by car but the view was good on a still morning.

No cricket on this Dish

The farmer in the Dell?

Audio & Video

I seem to be buying tvs on a more regular basis in the last few years.  Even so the jargon and acronyms change quickly.  A new TV is required for our move. Some if these were so big it is a two person job to measure the diagonal.  We settled on a 1.4m model UHD LED LCD ABC TV 4 ME.  Some speakers are being left behind, however there is still a very good 5.1 channel AV receiver they were attached to.  I found a set of speakers that would be a good replacement however they were a bit chunky, so instead we have a Bose wireless system that can be extended, with additional speakers, into any room and the original AV Receiver is still on its lonesome.

Everything plugs into the network these days

GOT Season 7 Dragonstone

Checked out the first episode of season 7 last night. I can say that we have been to Dragonstone.  This location is in the north of Spain out of Bilbao at a place called  Gaztelugatxe.  They have juxtaposed a castle at the top of the staircase but there is actually a church there.  As soon as we saw it, the scene seemed familiar.  Certainly a good place for dragons.

Gaztelugatxe

Imagine Dragons

Night Manager

John Le Carré has always preferred the Spy game.  The Night Manager has come a long way since 1963 when that first "Spy came in from the Cold".  This is full on internet tracking via GPS utilising smart phones with iris identification of the accounts etc.  His books always end up on the screen and this one is a six part TV series that we watched via DVD.  Some of the locations are on my list, like a train to the Swiss alps and more Mediterranean islands.



SpyJinks

Breaking Bad

It has taken a while but we have viewed the final episode. Two years ago we started the show via Foxtel but then lost track after two seasons.  However we located a DVD box set that we had.  Yet another drug war saga with lots of shoot to kill. Most characters end up dead with just a few exceptions. A quirky writing style but still well worth the viewing time. Before GOT came along this was number 1 on the world watch list.  Now I have to find another DVD boxset.  Babylon 5.

Heisenberg

New Season Record

We mark days at the van on a calendar but I need to mark the 26th April as the latest day of the year to be spending the afternoon at the beach.  We have been told by our other beach bums that previously the 22nd of April was the latest that we had spent time over at the beach.  There seems to be a regular mid week beach clientele here. Max the bartender gave us a wave as did Mike the gardener.  I bet they didn't work all three days on the long weekend like we did.

Boats, Waves and Rocks

PS Watched the GOT yesterday and thought it was a bit of a nothing episode.  Not sure about this idea of getting ahead of the books.  John Snow may yet rise, plenty of other dead people do.

TV Life

Our Samsung TV died after 8 years of continuous use. It was $2900 in 2008 and we just paid $895 for a slightly bigger one. We did resist the urge for an UltraHD (4K). Because this is a Smart TV I will need a keyboard which is another $100. The streaming from the network attached storage is sluggish so most likely it will be another $50 for two cat 7 cables. The sound seems to be lagging but there are some firmware updates we haven't done as yet.  As well the wall mounting bracket will be at least another $150. But overall we should have a better view.



Not curved Not 3D Not 4K

Galactica

We just finished the sixth season of the Sci Fi classic Battlestar Galactica and a fracking good yarn it was too. This I would call action science fiction eg space ships, robots and interplanetary travel. This series was the 2004 edition not to be confused with the 1980 version that started it all.  This time around there are multiple humanoid robots that look the same and who can also be reborn via a download process, means you have to be paying attention.  It has taken 5 months to get through all the DVDs. I tried a number of times to watch this show via foxtel but I could never chance upon season 1 episode 1.  This show is good value and many times we just had to watch two episodes in a row.

So say we all!

 

 

BattleStar v BaseStar

 

 



The Wire

It took us about three months to get through all 5 seasons of The Wire.  It is shows like this that make you realise watching commercial TV is a waste of time.  Not just for the time spent on adds but the lack of money to make a show worth watching. You feel me!  There is an author Garth Hallberg who wrote "City on Fire" as a longish tale that tries to take back the art of the long story from TV, such as the Wire, which he acknowledges is the masterpiece of the form.  Most def.