… or inspire you.

I’ve been sketching some of my favorite tv characters to warm up before I start drawing comic pages. I need to work on the likenesses a bit, though.

-Z

This dude is the man, he with bitches doing shit niggas dream of! To tell you the truth, I don’t want to  know anything else about this dude, he can tell me to slap my mother and I would he’s jus that cool. This has to be one of the best beer commercials ever created, HHTT APPROVED LIKE A MUTHA!

Es que de verdad que me joden la vida. Yo, como buen Español que soy, me gusta ver la TV tirado en la cama o en el sofá después de comer, pues los fines de semana Antena 3 me da la vara… Ya deje de ver las películas de la 1 porque siempre eran las mismas, Loca Academia de Policía (desde la 1 a la 400) y otras como “alto o mi madre dispara”… Bueno pues con las películas de la 3 me pasa lo mismo, no es que sean siempre las misma, ¡es que cada día son PEORES! Son películas de estas malas que se hacen con presupuesto de 500 E y dan asco, además todas tratan de lo mismo: Mujer que perdió a su marido hace años se enamora de vecino casado y con hijos y que sorprendentemente su mujer siempre es alcohólica. Bueno, pues esta mujer va a matando a algún que otro vecino y amigo porque se entera de que va detrás del tío de enfrente y al final de la película la Puta loca esa se queda sola en casa con la alcohólica y la intenta matar, con un resultado fatal para ella… ¿Veis? Es que son malas asta contándolas. Otra cosa que me gusta son los grandes títulos del calibre de “Herencia mortal”. En definitiva, me cambio a La Cuatro.

After reporting a loss of £2.7 billion for 2008, ITV has announced it will be cutting 600 jobs across the company, and is to close down its Kirkstall Road studio in Leeds.

Not only is this news devastating for those who have lost their jobs, it’s yet another set back for students and the unemployed aiming to find work in television. As a television production student from Yorkshire, the news was a real blow for my future in television, with more competition for even fewer jobs. For me, the likelihood of moving down to London in order to find work is ever increasing, an unfortunate circumstance for someone who loves life in Yorkshire.

ITV, who include ‘commitment’ and ‘integrity’ in a list of their values on their website, could be criticised for closing down the Leeds studio rather than relocating some of London’s productions up to the Yorkshire area. Although London has a population of around 7.5 million, it is important ITV do not forget about the 5.5 million people in Yorkshire and Humberside.

While it is unfortunate that ITV depends on commercial revenue and is having to find ways in order to make significant savings, I still feel that the decision to close down their Leeds based studio could have been avoided. However, with the BBC Trust planning to relocate around 1,600 production and broadcasting staff to the BBC’s new North-West base in Salford Quays by 2011, the future of television production in the North is far from finished. Unlike the commercially driven ITV, the BBC is able to focus more on producing good quality shows and less about its income due to television licence funding.

So, as the old saying goes, with every door that closes, another opens; despite the gloom currently surrounding ITV Yorkshire, there is always going to be a future in television production in the North of England for those who really want it.

   Circus – The latest in Britney Spears sensational albums.

Yeah okay, it’s a shameless Britney plug, but hey.. She’s redeemed herself. Well she is well on the road to redemption at least. Have you heard her new singles Circus and Womanizer? It’s classic Britney. Sticky raunchy beats coupled with unusually insightful lyrics. She has outdone herself and proved to the world that she is indeed a first-class entertainer. 

I didn’t really intend for this first blog back to be a plug for Britney, when, to be honest, it’s not the music I’m really into at present. My ‘Music and Lyrics’ soundtrack is getting played in my car by a factor of ten at present. Why do you ask? It’s an incredibly romantic movie and actually made me laugh a lot for a Hugh Grant movie. The combination of classic British wit, and sassy American dash made for an all round entertaining movie. What really appealed to me about this movie was the soundtrack. The song that the duo wrote in this movie ‘Way back into love’ is actually a very good piece of music. If you haven’t heard it, you can check it out either by buying it, or just going and doing a quick You Tube search. I could paste a link, but that would be too simple and I like to to see you do a little bit of work for good music.

Right now I am sitting at a desk in an office building that isn’t technically my own. My company has loaned me to another company while the original person they loaned to this company is off enjoying a Christmas vacation with his daughter. Consequently, I am in unfamiliar surroundings, with essentially nothing to do. There is currently 3 people in the office including myself, and my job entails watching a monitor to ensure that the backups run successfully. How much am I being billed out at for this mind-numbing task? Well.. to be honest, I am not entirely sure, but it’s quite a lot. I don’t mind the work. It has its intense moments and does keep me on my toes during peak times. I just find it very boring being here on my own essentially. 

User: I am not receiving my emails. My Blackberry is currently not allowing me to view or send emails while I am on holiday. Can you fix this please?
Me: Uhh… You’re on holidays right?
User: Yes
Me: Why do you even have that thing turned on.
User: Because I need to check my emails.
Me: But you’re on holiday?
User: Yeah, but my work doesn’t stop because I go on holiday
Me: Actually, yes it does. That is the very definition of holiday. Turn it off, and I’ll fix it when you get back from your holiday.

Currently my home life is status-quo, essentially involving copious amounts of DVD viewing, junk food eating, and hours isolated in my room watching Sky News and Face-booking. I swear Face book will be the next addiction epidemic. It is already there. I feel physically unwell if I don’t either have it open on the feeds page, or checked at least ten times a day. That cannot be healthy. Oh well, just another in the list of things I will have to discuss with my counsellor.

Did I mention I am now the proud owner of a 55 inch plasma television? And before you say it, yes I know you are all falling for your LCD televisions, however let me reiterate the reason I bought a plasma television.

• It was $1000, bought second-hand from a woman, that decided to get rid of it from her living room because it was… wait for it… too big! Too BIG? How can a television be TOO BIG? If your television is too big, you build a bigger lounge room.
• Plasma televisions have a higher contrast ratio than LCD’s
• Plasma televisions can reproduce colours closer to black than LCD’s without the washout effect caused by fluorescent tubes
• It’s 55 inches. That was really the only point I needed to raise.

That is my toy currently. And sadly I don’t get to use it nearly as much as I would like. I have been trawling the Internet trying to find  a TV cabinet big enough to either contain this monstrosity, or to sit on top of it. It’s hard to find a cabinet that will sturdily and confidently support 60 kilograms. It looks like I may have to go down to my parents with a VISA card and some time to build a cabinet of my own that will fulfil my needs. 

That will do for now. I will write another blog more regularly as I find it therapeutic. More so than the prospect of weekly counselling sessions at 75 dollars a pop. ttfn

I found this TV ad to be quite moving because it shows a world connected by falling dominoes. These aren’t the kind of dominoes that are menacing – they are colorful and soothing. This advertisement speaks to me and says that everyone on earth is in some way connected. It’s a simple and very effectively delivered message (in addition to the message of: please buy our TV because the color is good).

What does this ad say you?

Alluc This site has everything. Movies, television shows, documentaries, cartoons and Sports programming!

Movielab.tv Very nice site. Everything categorized by pictures and clips. This site also has a variety of viewing programming!

66Stage.com This is a DIVX site which means you download their media player to watch these specifically coded videos. This site carries old as well as recent videos. One of my favorites!

You can also check out the major TV networks websites for episodes previously shown. Some of them only have limited shows they air on the websites but it’s good enough! They do have commercials but they are not as comprehensive as you sitting and watching the actual station on your televison set. If you have a slow connection or you don’t want to wait to download it, try

ABC They have their own episodic player you must download. Great quality, of course. Just like watching it own your home TV set.

NBC NBC has classic TV shows on here like The A Team, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Miami Vice. They also carry webisodes, which are shows that may or may not have been created just for the internet or episodes of a TV show that have not been aired on tv due to cancellation or it was too risky for tv.

CBS Similar to the other major network sites.

CWTV.com Limited episodic viewing; just a few shows available. Use the latest version of Mozilla or IE for viewing. Not available for Google Chrome

KidsWB WB cartoons available from Scooby Doo to Batman along with some games. For the kids and the kid at heart. I still watch cartoons myself!! Also not available with Chrome

Happy viewing!!

Buenas queridos Lectores este post está exclusivamente para recordaros el llamamiento “¿Y tú qué harías para arreglarla?“, iniciativa para mejorar la calidad televisiva y control de aquel horario protegido que tanto hablaban en su día y solo cumplieron un mes o menos, así que os espero a todos, y apoyennos con el logo de aquí abajo un saludo y gracias a todos por seguirlo

Here’s our buddy, John McCain, the guy who always puts his country first.

The first photo is the banner on his official home page, the welcome mat to his “Ready From Day One” biography of his career.  The photo is a three-quarter view of the candidate, beckoning the viewer to look towards one of his campaign slogans, “Always Putting Country First”.  The bold white letters against the blue background are evocative of the 50 white stars against a blue backdrop that can be found on our nation’s flag.  This connection isn’t hard to make since there are actually stars displayed faintly in the background; they really don’t leave much to the imagination, do they?

The position of McCain’s face suggests the “looking towards the future” ideal, and I assume that he is referencing the future of our country since he is always putting it first.  The future McCain is looking towards is outlined in his biography below the picture, which discusses his mission to reform Washington.  The stars in this case could also be viewed as suggestive of the universe, which lends itself to the whole “gazing into the future” idea; McCain must be shooting for the stars!

The actual image of his face is softly lit, which emphasizes his wrinkles a bit, and it does the same thing for his white hair.  He is formal in this image, wearing his suit and giving a speech in an arena in the photo that sits on the other end of the banner.  These are like his “game-face” photos, showing his professionalism and animation on the floor.  The picture to the left plays up his grandfather appeal quite a bit, making him a paternal figure looking over our nation.  You might even say God-like.

Ironically, just underneath this banner, is another three-quarter shot of McCain, this time in his “I’m the average, all-American guy that lives next door to you” baseball cap and button down.  I would bet anything that he’s probably got a pair of Levi’s on too.  This picture stands in juxtaposition to the first, making his wrinkles seem more like laugh lines and showing off his full set of teeth- not dentures!  The baseball cap (reading NAVY- still putting country first!) hides his white hair, as well as all the forehead wrinkles.  This picture seems to be acting as a balancing act to reach audiences of all ages and interests.

ScarJo sits with Leno and Leno tries to keep his eyes off her boobs! ha ha ha Who can blame him, she wore this dress with a plunging neckline and a huge necklace that just brings your eyes to that area.

She shares her stories about Woody Allen, her fear of hangnails, her secret sexual fantasies, and her new movie “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Scarlett even inspires Jay to share a story about his sexual experience with his wife in one of his cars!

Miami’s own Luther Campbell gets his own reality show entitled, “Luke’s Parental Advisory” on VH-1. Trust me, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

From the creator of the X-Files, J.J. Abrams gives you “Fringe”. Starring Dawson’s Creek alum Joshua Jackson this show is about a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events leads to a disturbing pattern that blurs the line between the possible and the impossible.

Definitely along the same vain as The X-Files. The show premieres Tuesday, September 8th on Fox.

Will Smith is so cute! He talks so nicely about his wife Jada, he takes her to play golf with him……smart man and sexy to boot. Here he is from last nights interview on Leno.

Part 2

Dans quelques jours démarre Doc à Tunis, un rendez exclusif pour le documentaire. Je saisis cette occasion, pour réfléchir la vocation du documentaire, en tant que genre à part entière, et pour proposer quelques pistes de réflexion sur le documentaire en Tunisie, sur ses repères historiques et les voix qui le portent le mieux.

Voici succinctement les axes de réflexions que je développerai ces jours-ci:

1) Dans la mesure où le film documentaire promet de dévoiler une réalité, une vérité, ignorée, occultée ou tue ; que sa valeur tient justement à son statut de document jouissant d’une certaine authenticité, d’une existence objective et critique, quel rapport entretient-il avec sa matière expressive à savoir l’écriture cinématographique. Autrement dit, dans quelle mesure l’écriture cinématographique permet un rapport immédiat au réel ? L’image issue de la caméra, qui se nourrit de lumière, qui se construit par le cadre, qui définit la taille de l’objet par la focale, peut-être elle être porteuse de vérité ? Ceci dans l’objectif d’interroger le rapport du film documentaire à l’objectivité historique. C’est-à-dire à interroger sa capacité d’une lecture – sociale, politique et historique- qui se prévaut, par essence, d’une certaine véracité, d’un engagement en quelque sorte à restituer sans manipuler des faits authentiques … puisque, la vertu du documentaire, pour ainsi dire, est son statut de document authentique qui rend compte de l’objet de son investigation

2) quel spectateur le film documentaire tente-il de saisir ? et par quel moyen de diffusion le film documentaire accède t-il à son destinataire ? Ayant accès presque exclusivement au film documentaire, par le biais de la télévision, puisque, comme tout un chacun le sait, le film documentaire n’a pas de circuit de distribution dans notre pays et probablement partout ailleurs, comment pouvons-nous percevoir le statut du film documentaire, dans cette machinerie de la diffusion qui produit de l’oubli, dirait Godard, et qui lorsqu’elle daigne accorder une place à une voix dissonante, le fait dans la mesure où elle estime à bon escient sa capacité à le résorber au sein même de son paradigme ? comment œuvrer pour frayer au documentaire une autre voix que celle de la télévision?

3) si la télévision partage, par le reportage, l’enquête et les news, plusieurs attributs du documentaire, comment celui-ci s’en distingue ?

4) enfin, si le dialogue des civilisations n’est pas un souhait utopique sans cesse raturer par les confrontations guerrières de colonisation et de guerres économiques, quelle place les images documentaires du Sud, de l’Orient et de l’Afrique peuvent-elles occuper dans cet développement inégal de l’image entre pays riches et pays pauvres ? quelles stratégies adopter (en moyens, en formation et en diffusion) pour diminuer l’écart de rayonnement entre les images que nous consommons et les images que nous produisons.