At Last, Legit Letterkenny Lands In The USA

Finally Americans can now legally watch full episodes of Letterkenny - one of Canada's finest comedy shows.

Due to copyright laws and other complications, you can't watch it online and no US legitimate online source has it available for online viewing.

The solution, finally, is the show has been released on DVD, which is now available to US buyers.

So I bought Season One and binge watched the show and then listed it up on Ebay in case others want the experience. Season 2 is now on order.

You can also order them new on Amazon.

Both Season 1 and Season 2 is available.

Rather rough earthy humor, but darn good fun.

Darn funny stuff, eh?

A Sher Lock On A Great Viewing Experience

Sherlock: Season Two that is.

The BBC's modern reboot of Sherlock Holmes just got even better in Season 2. Consisting of three episodes, the season leaves you wanting more.

A Scandal in Belgravia with Irene Adler was simply stunning with a very clever twist on the classic story and is very well acted by all involved.

Hound of the Baskervilles was stunningly well done, bringing in a plausible modern day reason for the situation and gave a chilling edge of your seat horror/suspenseful atmosphere that was really fantastic.

The Reichenbach Fall, the last episode of the season, is quite simply a masterpiece and works very, very, very well. It also leaves you desperately wanting this awesome show to continue.

I certainly hope the BBC will go ahead with Season 3. It sounds like it has been approved and will appear in summer 2013, which is a long time to wait especially as we'll only get the DVDs well after its already played in Britain, as this series is quite simply some of the finest television being produced today.

You can see the promo trailers for Season 2 below. Watch them to whet your appetite, then go watch Season 2 forthwith as your viewing enjoyment will be assured.

Incredibly smart, witty, detailed and well-done television at its finest.

Lost In Translation

Something was either lost in translation or they found a way to up the ratings of this particular movie to X in China.

Netflix, Just As We Got to Know Ya, You Go Off Qwik

Apparently Netflix is in a big hurry to separate its DVD mailing line from its streaming line of business.

So quick of a hurry in fact, that in the same month that they raise prices and have separate options that cleave the DVDs from the streaming choices without a lot of explanation, annoying a lot of their subscribers, they're now going all the way and slicing DVDs from Netflix entirely.

The DVD shipment side will not longer be called Netflix but instead will be called Qwikster.

In an email just received from Netflix (and also viewable on their blog)here's the deal:

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

Netflix seems to be in a heckuva hurry to dispense with the DVD model that made it famous and changed the entire movie rental industry to instead concentrate on streaming.

My bet is the streaming overhead is lower and probably appears cooler as a competitior to Comcast's On Demand and other services.

Netflix doesn't seem to like stocking all the DVDs, which is why quite a number of Movies and TV Shows are not showing up as possible options via DVD, and DVDs disappear as unavaialble, and are only viewable by streaming.

Hard to say if this is a great business move for them, and I wonder if they'll be selling off the Qwikster brand in time. The name change certainly dilutes the goodwill Netflix has built up in the DVD business under the Netflix name. The name itself is not very unique or inspiring: Qwickster is too reminiscent of Quixtar, Amway's foray into online world.

For now I'll keep getting my DVDs from Qwikster, the DVD by mail service formerly known as Netflix or TDBMSFKAN - Hey they coulda called it FKAN-DVDs and gotten their view of the DVD by mail business across nicely).

With luck they will transfer my current movie queue without a problem as it would be a pain to restore. Lets see what happens next.

A Book and A Movie: Reviews of I,Sniper and Dead Snow

Just finished both I, Sniper and Dead Snow.

First I, Sniper:

The title dates you culturally - when you first hear I, Sniper did you think I, Robot or iPhone?

Continuing the Bob Lee Swagger series, Stephen Hunter writes a heck of a good book. Someone is killing a bunch of 60s leftists that suspiciously resemble Jane Fonda, Bill Ayers, and Bernadine Dorn and maybe Bill Maher. The blame gets placed on Vietnam-era sniper Carl Hitchcock (a thinly veiled homage to the great Carlos Hathcock) and its up to fellow Sniper legend Bob Lee Swagger to find the truth and restore the honor of his fellow marine sniper. It then gets better from there - excellent realistic gunfights, a plot twist and a subplot twist that you don't see coming.

If you haven't read any of the Bob Lee Swagger series, I'd suggest waiting on reading this book until you do. Recurring characters and a wonderfully interwoven storyline makes the book an excellent continuation of the series, but I'd suggest you start with the first book Point of Impact and work your way forward and enjoy the read. Its a great series and Hunter keeps producing books you can't put down.

Next, Dead Snow:

This movie has got Nazis, it's got Zombies, It's got Nazi Zombies - Brilliant!

This film is the epitome of the Norwegian Zombie Genre. As far as I know it is also the only extant Norwegian Zombie movie but that makes it the epitome now doesn't it?

As many a classic zombie movie begins, a bunch of Norwegian teens go forth in winter and decide to search for lost Nazi gold. Unfortunately the gold does not rest by itself and the undead Nazis rise to protect it and much mayhem ensues.

The only thing that could have made the movie better was if it had Vidkun Quisling reanimated as a zombie alongside his Nazi compatriots and if he then addressed the live Norwegians before beating on them in imitable zombie fashion:

"NO GØLD FOR YOU BËYØTCHES".

Damn fun movie to watch.

Samsung DVD Burner no longer pining for the fjords

Its dead. Its gone to meet its maker, literally as it is being returned and will likely end up back with Samsung. It will burneth no more, except perhaps if they melt it down to recycle it.

I purchased the drive, a Samsung SH-S182M from Newegg.com in October 2006. It worked well for awhile, burning efficiently at 16x, reading discs with aplomb and otherwise acting as a good DVD should. Unfortunately it recently seemed to have decided to have an early midlife crisis, and it began burning at only .7x-1x, a far slower speed than it is rated. Burning a CD of baby photos should not take almost an hour.

The drive also began to have trouble reading my cds and dvds, giving I/O errors and making playing games from the CD or DVD Rom impossible (thus confirming my dislike of games that require the original cd or DVD to be in the drive in order to play them, but that's another story).

Luckily for me, NewEgg.com has a 1 year return policy for defective hardware and they have courteously and promptly issued me an RMA. The Drive is on its way back to them, and I hope their exchange process goes smoothly and I have better luck with the replacement drive.

Update: Newegg replaced the dead drive with a comparable Lite-On Drive quickly and efficiently and in a very customer-service focussed and friendly way. No fuss, no muss and great customer service. If you're looking for a great online computer hardware vendor that sells great stuff and backs what they sell check them out.