This is Agent0042's TV.com blog, or really, my place for essays, updates on my guides, and anything else I can think of. If you're actually taking the time to read it, thanks! (Since I'm not always all that great about reading everyone else's.) Oh, and about the screen-name -- the "42" is the only part that matters to me.

• 27Jun 09

  Big TV.com FIxes Plus Finally in the Fast Lane

  
  
  Today, TV.com made some excellent and long overdue fixes to its submission interface and other aspects of the site. These are really great changes and hopefully a sign that the site is moving in the right direction. Let's break them down one by one:
  
  Level 1 Users May Not Submit: I know some people aren't happy about this because they feel it's going to lead to an increase in junk submissions. But let's look at what we had before-- anyone whose level was 1 was bounced to the homepage! No error message, nothing explaining that you must be at least Level 2 to submit, just the homepage. Some of these people would come over to Technical or General Support to complain, but I get the feeling many others simply got disgusted and left the site. I'll take the new way, thanks.
  
  Submission History Restored: How lame was it that you could only see a single page of your submission history? Very lame. Full submission history is now back in play. Check your status for any submission, sort by show or person and view any submissions made all the way back to the start of the site TV.com. Fantastic.
  
  Checkboxes for the Import Feature (Cast/Crew): The previous Import feature was cumbersome and terrible. Now you can just use checkboxes instead of having to click and scroll, click and scroll, click and scroll. A breath of fresh air.
  
  Emblems Restored: i don't really care too much about emblems, but it's nice to see the emblem wonkiness finally taken care of.
  
  Trusted User Granting Restored: Editors can now once again assign Trusted Users. Very glad to see this back.
  
  For those that don't already know, I recently got a brand-new computer system not long after I got my new monitor. This is one fantastic system. It's an HP Pavilion desktop, model #a6700y. It's a quadcore AMD Phenom 9150e at 1.80 GHz. Operating system is 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium SP3 (yeah, I know, but I really don't mind Vista too much) and it has 4 GB of memory and approximately 500 MB hard drive space.
  
  Its Windows Experience Index rating is 3.0 out of 5.9. I know that doesn't sound like much, but the Index score rates to the lowest of all of the individual scores. Let's take a look at each of those. Processor (calculations per second) is a 5.8 out of 5.9. Memory (RAM) is a 5.9. Graphics (Desktop performance for Windows Aero) is a 3.9. Gaming graphics (3D business and gaming graphics performance) is the 3.0. And finally, Primary hard disk (Disk data transfer rate) is 5.9. So, really, the scores are generally pretty top-flight, it's just the graphics that drag it down, and I didn't buy it to be a gaming machine. I get quite enough of gaming from my Playstation 2, thank you very much. The display adapter is an NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430. I've heard that's on the lower end, but I can always upgrade it if needed.
  
  The new computer is great. It's really quite a nice difference not having to deal with slowness while running multiple applications, or sitting for long waits, or dealing with instability in general.
  
  Finally, some big news! I'm finally making the switch to high-speed Internet Service. I've ordered ZoomTown DSL from Cincinnati Bell. No more tiresome waits for pages to load or having to block slow-loading content or content just not loading at all. With DSL, my high speed, high power experience is finally complete. My DSL modem is on the way and the estimated delivery date is July 7 (though hopefully sooner.) And then, it's sayonara to slow dial-up! I had a bit of a problem-- I was going to order the slower "Lite" DSL for $20 a month, but when I went to the page to order, it insisted on doing a "bundle" with phone service, even though that wasn't what it said in the advertising and on the original page. I thought about pressing the issue, but decided to just go ahead and go with the $30 high-speed. It's over 5 times faster than the "lite" version, so that's really a much better deal. It'll set me back a bit, but I'll make do, and the higher speed might just help with making some money, as I'm getting pretty good at eBay.
  
  Oh, and I've updated my profile and picture here at TV.com. Check it out if you have a moment.
  • Posted Jun 27, 2009 8:56 pm PT
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• 16Jun 09

  More TV Than I Can Shake a Stick At, Plus Is TV.com Being Supplanted by Wikis?

  More TV Than I Can Shake a Stick At
  
  Well, a couple of days ago I made the "switch," as such, to digital TV. I purchased a converter box and an antenna and now have them set up and working. Those that have read my blog before may be asking, "Agent George, why would you need that? You have satellite TV." Well, yes, but those who are reading that have satellite know what you get with as far as locals-- the basic set of locals for your market and that's it. Digital subnetworks? Fuggedaboutit. With my new setup, I can now get five different PBS channels and two different versions of most other local stations. I also get a station devoted mostly to playing the weather, though they also air sports and other special programming. In particular, they air the televised baseball games of the local minor league team,the Dayton Dragons and baseball is the only sport I care even remotely about watching.
  
  Of course, my having done this may beg another question-- if I have this, then how about I stop paying the satellite company for locals now? An interesting idea, but if I were to do that, then I could no longer record the new episodes of any of my favorite major network shows such as Medium or 24 onto my DVR. So it looks like I'm stuck paying for now.
  
  Has TV.com Been Supplanted by Wikis?
  
  No, I'm not talking about Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that any moron with a mouse can vandalize. I'm talking about Wiki communities, particularly those on Wikia.com, devoted to one subject. When TV.com first came out as TV Tome, it was new and revolutionary. Never before had there been a model quite like it on the Internet. The Editor system, in particular, was sheer genius. However, I'm beginning to think that TV.com is slowly being supplanted by Wiki communities. For example, let's say I want to know about Tony Almeida. I can go to http://24.wikia.com and type in Tony Almeida in their search and bam! -- I can find out the entire history of character Tony Almeida on 24. Can I do that on TV.com? No, since despite multiple requests, TV.com does not have character guides. Here's another one. Suppose I want to know about how to get 24 on DVD. I can click on the 24 media link on the main page for that Wiki and find out all about DVDs and other media. Can I do that on TV.com? No, because TV.com doesn't have DVD guides. Some other great Wikis include the Muppet Wiki (where you can find more information than you could ever want on shows such as Muppet Babies, Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House and others) , Wookiepedia (the Star Wars Wiki) and the Final Fantasy Wiki. And yesterday, a new Wiki, the PB&J Otter Wiki was started. Within minutes, I began adding info -- screenshots, character info, song pages-- none of which you could ever do on TV.com
  
  Of course, you can link to pages on TV.com from Wikis, though you can't ever link back, thanks to TV.com's asinine "no linking to outside sites" policy. Is it time to maybe just let TV.com do what it wants and become a video portal? Well, maybe, but I love TV.com and will continue to submit for such great shows as The Amazing Race, Hell's Kitchen and PB&J Otter. But I will also be spending my time at Wiki communities.
  • Posted Jun 16, 2009 5:53 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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• 19May 09

  How to Run The Amazing Race

  I... couldn't. I don't think. Don't feel I'm cut out for it. However, having edited the guide here (and formerly TV Tome) for fourteen seasons, I'd like to think I know a few things about how to do well in the race. So...
  
  Learn a Foreign Language or Few - I'm not saying you have to be fluent. Far from it. But before going on the race, it would probably be a good idea to learn certain words and phrases such as "hello," "taxicab," "airport," "Where is this?" and such in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and maybe two or three other languages to boot. And maybe pick one language to study in somewhat more detail, say, Spanish.
  
  Politeness Pays - While you're learning those languages, you might want to also learn "thank you," "please," "excuse me" and "I'm sorry." And if they aren't already in your vocabulary in English...
  
  Don't Brag, Just Do - So you know how to speak the languages, you have great flight skills, etc. That's great-- but why would want the other teams to know about all that? Don't brag about your skills, just do what you know how to do.
  
  If You Can't Hack it Physically... - Then the Race may not be for you. If you can't climb that mountain, if you don't want to do that bungee jump, then it's time to think about not coming on. And before you do come on the show, it might be a good idea to practice stuff, such as running. On the same token...
  
  If You Can't Hack it Mentally... - Knowing how to book flights. Getting from place to place. Working things out with your teammate. If these things aren't your strong suit, then it's also time to put down that application.
  
  Know the Rules - Read the rulebook from back to front before you go on. Memorize it. Watch past seasons of the show. Keep the rules in your head. You don't want to get a penalty.
  
  Leave Nothing Behind - Know where your personal possessions are. Don't set anything down mindlessly and especially don't ever part from your passports.
  
  It's a Race - Which means that mechanisms such as the U-Turn and the Yield are okay. Use them smartly-- try to take out a stronger team if you can. If you're running behind, try to delay somebody else. Alliances are also fine, but never at the expense of your own victory.
  
  Money, Money Money - Money is usually provided at the start of every leg. Manage it well, or you could run out later. If you have the people skills, use them, and get money from others. Use it as you see fit.
  
  And finally...
  
  On Foot Means Walk, Don't Take a Taxi - Or in other words, "read the clues." Read them carefully. Follow the directions exactly as stated. Otherwise, you're looking at a penalty and could very well be out.
  
  Note: This is also being posted simultaneously to my blog.
  
  Edit-- I added one below Learn a Foreign Language.
  • Posted May 19, 2009 6:52 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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