Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Everybody's vogueing on the media dancefloor

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  • andrew llewellyn,

    because WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!

    Thanks for that, I feel a lot less worried that NZ 1st might make 5% now.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    Do I have to feel warmly about the advertiser to avoid this crime, or just watch diligently and intently?

    You don't even have to do that. Ironically or even caustically is fine, although it helps if you repeat jingles and catch-phrases in conversation occasionally, so that advertisers can be assured that they've rented some space in the zeitgeist.

    And Mark, although you're a tall person and I'm sure your son takes after you in that regard, I just don't think his shoes would fit me.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Easterbrook,

    Indeed. In fact at nearly 5 years old, he's taller than Rodney Hide!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 265 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    I don't mind watching the prime-time ads. Some of them have as much production value as the shows within which they are embedded.

    That is true, a lot of TV is very, very poor.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    ...it helps if you repeat jingles and catch-phrases in conversation occasionally...

    Or lines from The Simpsons.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Hey I'm always very diligent about watching any advertisements for products I will actually buy. Anything else also amounts to stealing. Irresponsible watching of advertising for mere titillation is what is responsible for the recession. If you don't spend you're stealing from the whole system, especially the children.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Product placement in shows has been happening for years and years.

    I mean, as people watch less and less adverts, because they no longer have to watch TV live, companies will have to find other ways to get their products in front of the consumer. More frequent, but shorter ad breaks, produce placement, endorsement by commentators etc. There is some of this now, if millions of advertising dollars shifted across, it would become much much worse.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Morgan Nichol,

    The feed thing is really annoying, when my podcatcher gets the b0rkened result (either 404 or just a zero length file, I'm not sure exactly what it sees) it doesn't bother trying again.

    Can't watch it on demand either - apparently my 100 mbit connection all the way over the other side of Queen St isn't enough to get past "LOADING". (And that's only when it doesn't say "SORRY THIS CONTENT ISN'T AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO VIEW", yeah, what?)

    So far I guess I've managed to see ~1 in 3 of the shows. Too bad, as I quite like it.

    How is it that TVNZ make this (really bloody simple, let's be honest) stuff look so hard? Bad CMS?

    Auckland CBD • Since Nov 2006 • 314 posts Report Reply

  • jeremy gray,

    I mean, as people watch less and less adverts, because they no longer have to watch TV live, companies will have to find other ways to get their products in front of the consumer.

    Yeah, I can't wait for the Year of the Whopper, though Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment does have that special ring to it.

    point chev • Since Apr 2008 • 44 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Yeah, I can't wait for the Year of the Whopper, though Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment does have that special ring to it.

    ... and providing for the nearly-dead, TVCs for funeral director's are starting to pop up on the screen. Maybe we could start up The Dead Channel, as a companion to The Living Channel

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    By general acclaim, the Greens' campaign is the winner and National's isn't a patch on 2005. Labour's is blunt, Act's is messy and no one can understand United Future.

    And in the end, whose campaigns are actually working? 'Blunt' seems to be giving the base wood but not much else.

    And I wonder if the Greens would be particularly pleased at this pearl of wisdom from Duncan Garner:

    National is steady on 45.1 percent, and Labour actually drops to 37.4 percent. But the Greens are on 8.8 percent, and can be added to Labour's total.

    Not for the first time, I recall the days when I used to take Three seriously.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    take a piss, make a coffee, get a snack, take a nap

    I often find I prefer watching movies on TV, what with their handy built-in snack, toilet, and commentary breaks. Otherwise everyone moans at you for making them pause it.

    ... and providing for the nearly-dead, TVCs for funeral director's are starting to pop up on the screen. Maybe we could start up The Dead Channel, as a companion to The Living Channel

    So it's not just me; I rather thought that the number of funeral home ads had increased in recent years. I find it creepy.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Brent Jackson,

    Morgan Nichol wrote:

    How is it that TVNZ make this (really bloody simple, let's be honest) stuff look so hard? Bad CMS?

    What really pisses me off is they put up a handy "Are you having a problem viewing our video?" link to a nice form to fill out describing the problem - but they NEVER send anything back to you. No helpful hints, no suggestions, nothing. Zilch, zero, nada. Makes you feel like a stupid prat for being dumb enough to fill it out 3 times in the hope that someone would actually help.

    The Windows Media Files have stopped working for me now. They want me to install Windows Media Player 11, but that doesn't exist for Windows2000. WMP9 just displays a blank screen and says "Done" on the bottom bar. (Perhaps the "You have been" is missing from the left ...).

    The Podcasts are all 1 byte files which (unsurprisingly) don't do anything.

    So, its only slow old Youtube that actually gets the job done - unfortunately, no newsmash, so sometimes you don't know what the panel's talking about.

    (Firefox 3.0.3, Windows 2000 SP4, if anyone has any ideas to help ...)

    Cheers,
    Brent.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    (Firefox 3.0.3, Windows 2000 SP4, if anyone has any ideas to help ...)

    Get a Mac. ;-)
    (sorry, but someone had to say it)

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • jon_knox,

    Firefox 3.0.3, Windows 2000 SP4, if anyone has any ideas to help ...

    (Jon stumbles through the swinging saloon type doors, that then slap him in the back, making him lurch forward and momentarily distracting Jon from realising he's now in Sarcasim Corner. Jon then looks up sees Mark, "Yo Mark" and nods acknowledgement to the others before sitting down to type)

    ..Take it straight to MOTAT. They'll likely give you 2 or 3 pefectly good laptops that are running Vista exactly as intended. Don't worry none of these will give you any joy either, but at least you will have done a good dead for Musuems in NZ. Then find someone who knows someone about getting your hands on machine that can still run XP. Mac's are for old people, who can't use a two button mouse with a scrollwheel.

    Is there an alternative format the files are in? Is their another peice of software that can fulfil the role of Window Media Mangler? You might have fallen so far off the software upgrade path, that giving the computer to an 11 year old for a couple of days might be the only non-cash way out of that hole.

    The other option is a hardware one. Old PC motherboards (or perhaps it's the CPU BUS) are prone to losing the odd electron now and then, particularly if the PC has been left running for long periods with little in the way of use. To cut a long story short, there is a chemcial reaction and the lead (yes lead) that is used in the solder dissipates. So you have apply a bit more lead. For this you take a shotgun and when all the safety shiz is over and done with you shot the motherboard whilst shouting "take that you dirty mofo, I said if you don't do as I want I's gonna put some caps in your ass". Upload the video of this on youtube and with 4-8 years you should have enough revenue from the to get a new abacus and boyles law will have bought the price of new puter down to less than a pack of B&H Golden Mild 25's (cough).

    Belgium • Since Nov 2006 • 464 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Oh please (puts on old dusty chip designer's hat) electromigration happens to aluminium traces (takes off hat, put on tacky hunting cap) and it's all steel shot these days anyway ...

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • st ephen,

    I was hoping for a bit more from Labour's Two Johns "attack ad". Like maybe a Three Johns remix of "Pink-headed Bug"? Surely one of you lefto-muso-techo-creative types can oblige?

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report Reply

  • Hamboy,

    Hmmm, have no problem with viewing it on OnDemand. Though I have to do it at work, because of Adobe's half assed effort for Linux.
    But I hear they have decided to play nice to linux now that Microsoft have invested in silverlight.
    I only have to watch the first few minutes after the ad break, because I keep forgetting TV7s ad breaks are less than a minute and go off channel searching for a few minutes.

    But what I really what to know is why it's impossible to turn the TV on and not be in the middle of an ad break?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 162 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    But what I really what to know is why it's impossible to turn the TV on and not be in the middle of an ad break?

    If it's a Sony that is considered a feature ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Morgan Nichol,

    Mark Harris:

    Get a Mac. ;-)
    (sorry, but someone had to say it)

    If the TVNZ site is Apple only, I think it should be labeled as such. Then everyone involved in making that decision named, shamed, fired, and replaced with people who know what they're doing.

    The largest site I'm running at the moment (~40k uniques this month, which isn't bad but isn't nearly the largest site I've worked with) shows Apple users at just under 10% of my visitors. Which is vastly higher than it used to be, but still a tiny number compared to the Windows users.

    (My various sites are all over the place, the average appears to be just under 10%, the greatest proportion - on my very modestly trafficked personal video site - is just over 30%, which is probably knocked out of whack by so many of my friends being mactard web folk.)

    Anyway, I think that anyone running windows 2000 is probably a man of taste and distinction. I always found it to be a great operating system. (But not as good as Vista 64, which I've found to be fast and stable. Though I've only used it post-SP1, and have heard that things perhaps weren't so good when it was first released.)

    Auckland CBD • Since Nov 2006 • 314 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    If the TVNZ site is Apple only, I think it should be labeled as such. Then everyone involved in making that decision named, shamed, fired, and replaced with people who know what they're doing.

    It's not that the site is Apple-only (it's not) it's just that I have very little trouble with it on either of my Macs, or on WinXP. Macs just go, you wintard you!

    As for Win2000, well, I've got some pills here for you. ;-)

    <serious>It most likely is some quirk of the OS. It's over 3 years now since I was forced to grapple with it, but I recall it sometimes had issues with video. I thought at the time it was the half-arsedness of our IT shop, but it could just have easily been the OS.</serious>

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • jon_knox,

    on my very modestly trafficked personal video site

    Morgan that is some funny sh1t. Nice to see Grafton looking so good.(I lived there for nearly a decade and never knowingly had the pleasure of falling off the planet into your world).

    Belgium • Since Nov 2006 • 464 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    Jon, I don't know that your planet intersects with any other world ;-)

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • jon_knox,

    Mark wrote:

    Jon, I don't know that your planet intersects with any other world ;-)

    Choice eh? I'm the King here. I'll demote you from being a minion to mere lackey if you make too many more comments like that...and what's with that thing in your eye?....or are you trying to groom me coz you know I'm ONLY 14.75 AND YOU'RE FREAKIN 47? Riddle me that!

    ps Mac's are for old people. and at least my world is young FREAKIN planet....geez...where does Russell find these people?

    Belgium • Since Nov 2006 • 464 posts Report Reply

  • jon_knox,

    I'm the King here

    Point of clarification. When I said "here", I mean on my planet. We all know who the King is, here on Public Address....And no I'm not referring to Damian dressed as Elvis....who I might add is doing a fine job on his thread trying to find the pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-good-service rainbow.

    Belgium • Since Nov 2006 • 464 posts Report Reply

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