Meme via snowking and fba

fba You fill this out in the comments, then post a blank one in your LJ. If you don't you're clearly a force of repression trying to stop humanity from being brought closer together. If you've already completed it on somebody else's journal, a link to the answers would be neat.

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Still In The Game...

OK, so check this out:

If your idea of hell is to be chased through Amsterdam by anonymous pursuers or picked up and propositioned by strangers in limousines on the streets of London, then Adams is right. Otherwise, you might find participating in one of Blast Theory's "games" - an experience to get the adrenaline flowing.
[...]
But where Blast Theory - the name comes from the Wyndham Lewis magazine - differs from other groups of performers of a similar bent is a six-year collaboration with the Mixed Reality Laboratory (MRL) at the University of Nottingham under the direction of professor Steve Benford.

I want to work in the Mixed Reality Laboratory!

Ad Breaks

As most of you are probably aware, US TV shows are written to a strict structure to accomodate ad breaks: Teaser (Credits)/Act I/Act II/Act III/Act IV. And, as most of you are probably also aware, when US programs get shown in the UK, this structure is almost always ignored, with breaks inserted in all sorts of unusual places. The worst offender is usually Sky, but this problem has cropped up on almost all the ad-based channels at some point.

Recently, Channel 4 started doing things right, with, amongst other things, Smallville. Breaks were where the program makers intended them to be, everything flowed nicely, and all was well with the world.

Unless you're the ITC.

See, it turns out that the reason for the disregard for existing breaks is not just broadcaster madness, it's actually forced upon them. According to the ITC regulations:

A break may be taken only when:
(i) there is a clearly marked and dramatically significant lapse of time in the action, or
(ii) there is a complete change of scene, with a significant break in the continuity of action, or
(iii) in the case of adaptation from stage plays, the original intervals in the stage play may be regarded as natural breaks.

The problem being, of course, that most breaks in US shows are not at scene changes, they're in the middle of scenes - cliffhanger act breaks are the norm.

It turns out that one (1) person complained to the ITC about just this issue. And the complaint was upheld.

This annoys me. I can sympathise with the spirit of the rules, and the desire to ensure that the artistic integrity of the work being broadcast is not compromised. But in the case of US dramas, adhering to the letter of the rules is compromising the integrity of the shows in exactly the manner that the rules are designed to prevent, and you would have thought that someone might have realised that.

I wonder how many people complain about the ITC-compliant placement of breaks?

(Link via uk.media.tv.buffy-v-slayer)