Manda Mia

Nicheflix, the only US source for non-region 1 DVD rentals, will stop shipping DVDs later this month. It's unclear whether the a la carte service will continue. I've actually got Catterick out from a la carte right now, and since I'm on such a Vic and Bob kick, I'd considering rejoining the subscription service to get Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) again. Now, though, I suppose now I'll just buy the new box set instead.

What a shame. I am very sad to Nicheflix go. I don't imagine we'll ever see another like them.

It looks like a fingerprint smudge (there’s another on the opposite edge), but it’s actually a disc defect that goes all the way through the second layer. It’ll play up to the scene in Tia Dalma's shack, then the DVD player freaks out. Bah! Hopefully I’ll finally get to see it Friday.

On the bright side, tomorrow's Doctor Who episode has Shirley Henderson (AKA Moaning Myrtle) and Peter Kay! After such a crackin' start, I’ve been mostly disappointed with the second series. The Cybermen were a bore. Mark Gatiss’s Idiot's Lantern had a good premise, but the ending felt slapped on. Ditto for the Impossible Planet. "The show's running short - just have David Tennant make faces at the Devil for ten minutes. That’ll fill the gaps!"

Other than complaining about TV and DVDs, not a lot has been happened around here. I still haven’t gotten the new computer fitted so I can abandon the old. Part of the difficulty is that I’ll trying to start on the right foot with a firewall, anti-virus software, and Windows Update up-to-date. Now I remember why I gave up on all that - it takes hours and hours to download all the new updates on dial-up. The anti-virus updates alone were 30 MB (~3 hours) and it wanted to download even more last night. Windows Update had 48 critical updates - another 35+ MB. If I don’t get DSL soon, I shall pull my hair out.

But all that extra ROM is super nice. I’ve started toying around with copying backing up DVDs. My first attempt at ripping to mpeg2 (for eventual SVCD) looked beautiful but sadly came out soundless. I need to do some more tinkering. :)