We're back. We wound up much more off-line than intended due to a range of fascinating technical difficulties.
While I and the Internet were not working correctly, the International Transgender Day of Remembrance took place. Trans people and those perceived to be gender non-conforming can be at extremely elevated levels of risk for violence. We must remember as a step towards stopping the violence.
Vatican shifts position on condom use in some cases. Too little, too late is one very valid response to this. But what interests me is the implication that preventing something that's been viewed as a punishment for sin is acceptable. Doesn't that imply that even if one is to suffer in hell in the afterlife, that's no reason to encourage suffering in this one? That's interesting to me.
So Warner Bros is having someone write a script for a Whedon-free Buffy reboot. Y'all know how far "someone writing a script" is from "film actually getting made" is, right? Really frigging far. Even with noise about "2012 or even 2011." Believing it when I see it. Feeling really bad for folks for whom this feels personal, though. It's not for me, but I know what these things are like.
Have discovered my access point to old Doctor Who may be novelizations -- that way I don't have to face the crap effects.
Aside from being generally wonderful, our 24 hours at the St Davids was Super Fucking Weird for the first 90 seconds thanks to Bad Fanfiction I Have Read, also some Good Fanfiction I Have Read too. Just saying. It was lolariously awesome.
Possible best thing about Hay-on-Wye? Reciting horrible back cover copy to each other. Especially of porn thinly veiled as sci-fi from the late 60s.
Also, Patty and I have watched some Sherlock. I have (and have had for some time) many things to say, but for now I'll just say, Euros Lyn can direct anything. It's the pacing that makes it so good.
"Among other provisions, the legislation requires telecom equipment used to make calls over the Internet to be compatible with hearing aids, provides for captioning on new TV programs online, and mandates that remote controls have a button or similar mechanism to easily access the closed captioning on broadcast and pay TV."
I don't know that this law actually effects Netflix content, however, as it is not broadcasting any new programming (though last year they did a one-time deal with Showtime's "Blood and Sand"). They are instead responsible for going into their back catalog and recaptioning old content for streaming, which appears to be harder than one would think, and in fact something they must develop new technology to do. And while yes, they have recently raised their prices (one dollar-- after having lowered them in previous years), this is the first raise I've seen since having been with them almost two years at this point, and don't consider it to be unreasonable. I can see how frustrating it must be for someone who relies on subtitles, but I can't see their actions as screwing their customers.
Actually, Hulu and YouTube both have existing technologies in place. And captioning is entirely separate from subtitles - they occupy a completely separate data channel, so it has to be deliberately omitted. True, many DVDs omit captions and just use English subtitles instead, which is reasonable if not 100% strictly kosher, because captions and subtitles serve different purposes. On top of which, if either is present, it's a simple text file with timing cues. You just do what YouTube did - adapt existing technology to display the captions, or not, as the user deems fit.
[Not touching the YouTube autocaptioning feature, because ROFLOLOL CAPTION BLOOPERS GALORE, but hey, at least they're pretending to try.]
Have adjusted original post to say "captioning" since my mistake muddied the water on this issue. Thanks for commenting so I could get that cleaned up.
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I don't know that this law actually effects Netflix content, however, as it is not broadcasting any new programming (though last year they did a one-time deal with Showtime's "Blood and Sand"). They are instead responsible for going into their back catalog and recaptioning old content for streaming, which appears to be harder than one would think, and in fact something they must develop new technology to do. And while yes, they have recently raised their prices (one dollar-- after having lowered them in previous years), this is the first raise I've seen since having been with them almost two years at this point, and don't consider it to be unreasonable. I can see how frustrating it must be for someone who relies on subtitles, but I can't see their actions as screwing their customers.
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[Not touching the YouTube autocaptioning feature, because ROFLOLOL CAPTION BLOOPERS GALORE, but hey, at least they're pretending to try.]
no subject