What are you currently watching on tv?

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greg
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by greg »

_D_ wrote:How's the Internet connection where you are? XBMC/Kodi can be loaded onto a large number of devices and is officially in the Google Play store. Add the repositories from Seo-Michael and you are good to go. Channel Pear, Phoenix and IPTV Stalker must have something like 600 live feeds between them. Of course your time zone doesn't help but I think Kodi might be able to be set up with PVR functions these days. Never used it on any of my devices though...
I'm only 39, but I'm obviously an old fart. I couldn't understand anything you just said and I've no idea what you're talking about. Actually, XBMC is the only term I recognized, but I don't have a 360.
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by usamimi »

The new season of Hannibal started recently and it's been pretty great so far! Still kinda bummed NBC's officially cancelled it, but there's talks of it finding a new home elsewhere, so I hope that happens! It's such a good show, beautifully shot and the musical score is top-notch. It honestly makes me think of an expensive HBO or Showtime series, I'm constantly amazed this was made on a network TV budget.
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by _D_ »

greg wrote:
_D_ wrote:How's the Internet connection where you are? XBMC/Kodi can be loaded onto a large number of devices and is officially in the Google Play store. Add the repositories from Seo-Michael and you are good to go. Channel Pear, Phoenix and IPTV Stalker must have something like 600 live feeds between them. Of course your time zone doesn't help but I think Kodi might be able to be set up with PVR functions these days. Never used it on any of my devices though...
I'm only 39, but I'm obviously an old fart. I couldn't understand anything you just said and I've no idea what you're talking about. Actually, XBMC is the only term I recognized, but I don't have a 360.
Live TV, nuff said. You have a computer and good (at least 25 Mbps) connection? Then Kodi (XBMC's new name) is for you. It's also available in the Google Play store so if you have Android equipment, you can get it that way. The repositories I mentioned or the installation instructions (with big pictures) from the Seo-Michael site in the UK make for easy installation. Then you have more than enough TV from all over the world...
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Drew_Sutton
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by Drew_Sutton »

My latest TV pleasure has been the spy thriller, Deutrschland 83. Basic premise is about a member of the border guards of the GDR (East Germany) who gets "promoted" (conscripted) into the HVA/foreign intelligence and sent to the Federal Republic (West) Germany as a spy. Love this show's premise and presentation; absolutely adore the early 80s New Wave/synthpop soundtrack used for the series. It's broadcast on Sundance in the original German, subtitled into English, though, I will admit - and this is probably my older school anime fan skepticism - but I wonder sometimes if there's anything edited in the show for American broadcast. The opening theme uses the English version of Peter Schilling's Major Tom (völlig losgelöst) but I wonder if the original German broadcasts used the German version. But all of the songs used within the episodes are all German or German versions of songs that had bilingual releases.
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greg
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by greg »

Major Tom used to be the old handle I would use on BBSes and my e-mail addresses back in the '90s.
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by Drew_Sutton »

greg wrote:Major Tom used to be the old handle I would use on BBSes and my e-mail addresses back in the '90s.
Reminds me a bit of when I was talking to a co-worker and I mentioned the same thing; he said "When I hear Major Tom, I think of David Bowie..."

Also reminds me of something I heard on a documentary about BBSes, like one guy adopted the handle 'Count Zero' and Zero's real name immediately after the book's release.
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by davemerrill »

We watched the first two episodes of Deutschland 83 and I liked it, I was getting into it, and then they had the whole sexy-Asian secret agent hotel room fight that had me looking at Shain and asking, "are we watching this show jump the shark right this minute, murderous hair ornament and all?" Because it was getting very 80s there, very "bad 80s James Bond movie" 80s, and that's not the good kind of 80s.

I'm also really disturbed at the absolute shit counterintelligence the West seems to be rocking here; the Gehlen Org is asleep at the wheel, or something. Of course who knows, they may be on top of things all along.

I'm conflicted about watching any more of the show. Does it stray further into cheese?
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by Drew_Sutton »

davemerrill wrote:We watched the first two episodes of Deutschland 83 and I liked it, I was getting into it, and then they had the whole sexy-Asian secret agent hotel room fight that had me looking at Shain and asking, "are we watching this show jump the shark right this minute, murderous hair ornament and all?" Because it was getting very 80s there, very "bad 80s James Bond movie" 80s, and that's not the good kind of 80s.

I'm also really disturbed at the absolute shit counterintelligence the West seems to be rocking here; the Gehlen Org is asleep at the wheel, or something. Of course who knows, they may be on top of things all along.

I'm conflicted about watching any more of the show. Does it stray further into cheese?
No - while I didn't get exactly the same vibe you did from that scene, I do get where you're coming from. So far, that scene isn't mentioned again outside of a bit of recap; no dialogue or plot points are tied to it or anything like that. It's almost as if the writers/production staff saw how it came out on camera and just decided to leave it where it was and not do anything like that again. There are other scenes with nudity/romance ('cause Europe) and such but they're used in a way that advance characters, plot, etc that aren't as jarring and distracting as that scene is.

Also talking about how shit the western CI was (CIA/NSA, BND, the like) compared to their eastern counterparts, I think it's two-fold - one part is that the shows plot revolves around the East penetrating the West. The show would have been bad if they sent Kolibri west and he got found out right away or gets blown away by how awesome Adidas and Blue Jeans and Die Toten Hosen are and up and defects. So the East needs some success and in that game, success usually involves making the other guys look completely inept. Second is that the East Germans were always portrayed as subservient puppets to Moscow when in fact, historically speaking, they often had their own successes despite Moscow's attempts at intervention. There are a few plot points that mirror actual successful cases from the East German spy catalog. It could also be argued that this is also a part of historical reconciliation; it's been 25 years since reunification this year so its getting easier to look at the GDR without trying to make everything out to be caricatures of Stalinism.
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by davemerrill »

That's what I like about the show, that the East German intelligence is shown as being its own discrete organization, apart from any Soviet apparatus, with its own goals and its own assets. I know growing up in the 70s and 80s we were always given the impression that the Russians were running everything in the Warsaw Pact nations, but that's far from the truth.

Pleased to hear the show doesn't get any more "camp."
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Re: What are you currently watching on tv?

Post by Kame-Sen'nin »

I’ve discovered The Goldbergs recently, and I am loving it. I caught a few episodes on Hulu, and enjoyed them enough to purchase the first season on DVD. Season 2 will be out on DVD this month, and I have my copy preordered. The show is funny, heartwarming, and filled with great pop culture references that weave nicely into the narrative.
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