Tag Archives: cable

October 16, 2016 · 1:48 pm

Sling TV

If you frequent my blog you might have noticed that I’ve writen about how I cut ties with cable a few years ago. I mostly watch stuff on YouTube, Netflix, and HBO NOW for entertainment. I only miss cable when it comes to sports. Earlier this week the Giants were still in the playoffs and I wanted to watch the game but had nowhere to watch it. I knew the game was going to be aired on FS1 so I googled ways to stream it for free. That’s when I discovered Sling TV’s free seven day trial membership and my life was changed forever.

In case you don’t know what Sling TV is (just like me earlier this week), it’s basically streaming cable with select channel packages. Sling Orange is twenty bucks a month and Sling Blue is twenty-five bucks a month. They have a lot of the same channels, but Sling Orange has ties to Disney so they have Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3. Sling Orange has ties to FOX, so they have FOX, FS1, FS2, and FX. The Giants game was on FS1, so I got the Sling Blue package.

I was planning on getting it just for the free trial and canceling it after 6 days, but I think I’m gonna keep it for a while. It a lot of the channels that I actually watched when I still had cable. It has FOX, NBC, AMC, History, Comedy Central, TBS, TNT, National Geographic, Viceland, NFL Network, CNN, Cartoon Network, and more. It even has a few local channels so you get regional news. You can watch whatever the channel is broadcasting live and there are a few shows that are on demand. If you change the channel it gives you the option of starting the new show from the beginning or picking up in the middle. 

I didn’t set out to write a commercial about how great Sling TV is. It just sort of happened. That’s how rad it is. It’s not perfect. There are commercials. You can’t pause certain programs. It’s still worth it. Try it for a week if you kind of miss cable. There’s nothing to lose. You can thank me later.

Critically Rated at 14/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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September 28, 2015 · 8:22 pm

I Got Rid of Cable

There was a time when I was addicted to cable television and all it had to offer. My roommates and I had every single HD channel you could think of, including all the premium movie channels, along with Video on Demand, and few DVRs, the works. I could watch anything at anytime and I did. It I spent hours flipping through my favorite channels and searching for shows and movies to record. It was an addiction and I was hooked. Or I thought I was. Until my roommates and I decided that cable wasn’t worth it anymore and we discontinued our service.

You know what? It wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t that hard of a transition either, as long as you have a solid internet connection. It helps having a Netflix or Hulu subscription too. I don’t have Hulu, but I have Netflix and Netflix is pretty great. They have tons of movie and series and great original programming. You could survive on Netflix. But honestly, I rely on YouTube more than anything else for entertainment. I subscribe to a lot of channels like WatchMojo, Vice, Vsauce, and too many more to name. You can get stuck in a music video playlist. All the late night talk shows upload their best content. There’s tons of sports highlights too, its like having ESPN at your fingertips. YouTube is better than basic cable and it’s free.

The biggest thing that I miss is watching sports, particularly baseball. The first thing I did after I got rid of cable was go out and buy an old radio from Goodwill. Listening to Jon Miller and Dave Flemming on KNBR 680 with MLB Gameday open on my laptop is almost as good as watching the San Francisco Giants on TV. Almost. I will go to a friend’s house or to a bar for really important games. It’s more fun to watch with more people anyway so it wasn’t much of a change. Other than live sports, there is plenty of life after cable. I got rid of cable. I regret nothing.

Critically Rated at 15/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 25, 2015 · 1:07 pm

Watching Netflix

There used to be a time when people would relax at home by watching TV. That time has passed. Now we relax at home by watching Netflix. It’s so much better than TV. It streams instantly, there are no commercials, and you can binge-watch an entire season at once. Netflix has tons of shows, movies, documentaries, and original content. Most people would say goodbye to cable forever if Netflix had a sports package. I’m already ahead of the trend. I stopped paying for cable a few years ago. It wasn’t that much of a change. It sucks not being up to date on current shows like The Walking Dead, but I know that it will come out on Netflix eventually. I miss watching sports, but I’m primarily a baseball fan so I’ll throw on the radio and watch the MLB Gamecast, or I’ll catch it at the bar, or I’ll mosey on down to the ballpark and see it in person. I don’t miss cable. Netflix is easier, cheaper, and more convenient. I can watch it on my phone, iPad, or laptop any time and any place. Netflix is taking over the world for a reason, and it’s DiGiornofied the way we talk. It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno. I’m not watching TV, I’m watching Netflix.

Critically Rated at 15/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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January 20, 2014 · 9:02 pm

Deadpool & Cable Ultimate Collection Book 2 (comic)

Deadpool is the Merc with the Mouth. Cable is the time-traveling mutant from the future on a crusade to save the world. And they teamed up for an awesome comic in the mid-2000s. Deadpool & Cable Ultimate Collection Book 2 is a trade paperback and collects issues #19-35 and includes the following storylines: Why, When I Was Your Age; Bosom Buddies; Sticky Situation and Living Legends; Born Again; The Domino Principle; Civil War; and Six Packs and Powder Kegs. They even include the letter pages so it feels more retro and real.

This isn’t a comic for noobs. You have to work your way into this one. The Marvel Universe is already pretty complex, and there are way too many characters and subplots for casual comic book readers to keep up with. But Deadpool is one of the best and most interesting comic book characters and you don’t have to know what is going on to be able to enjoy his antics and one-liners.

I won’t even bother with giving out plot details and story outlines. You’re either going to read this collection, or you aren’t.  It’s a comic book. Crazy shit happens in crazy ways. Everything is surrealistic, unrealistic, over the top, and awesome. What more do you want?

Critically Rated at 13/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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December 11, 2012 · 12:07 pm

TV Shows are Better than Movies

Movies used to be the premier form of Hollywood entertainment. They were the pinnacle. They had the best actors, the best directors, the best stories, and the best effects. But then HBO started making their own shows. They had the budget to hire quality actors to portray quality characters. Characters are the most important part of storytelling. If you don’t care about the character, then you don’t care about what happens to them. And a TV series allows a character to get developed over multiple episodes and seasons. You get to know their personality, their quirks, their pet peeves, and you feel like you truly know them.

AMC has a lot of amazing character based dramas, like Mad Men and Breaking Bad, with interesting characters and intriguing storylines. The Walking Dead not only has great characters but also feels like a zombie movie that never ends. And it has more graphic and creative zombie deaths than anything in the movies. There are shows like True Blood that are extremely sexual and violent and Spartacus (which makes True Blood seem like a family show). The quality writing on television is extended to Cartoon Network. Even the worst season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is better than anything the prequel trilogy has to offer.

In the old days, any actor could be on TV but only a few actors could transition to the big screen and be a box office draw. Now movie stars want to be on television. The Simpsons and Scrubs are famous for their celebrity cameos and guest roles. Former Hollywood heavyweights like Keifer Sutherland got a career boost by turning to TV. Dustin Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, and Sean Bean put aside film opportunities to star in HBO shows. Kevin Spacey, Christian Slater, William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Kathy Bates, Zooey Deschanel, Danny DeVito, Christina Ricci, Laura Linney, Don Cheadle, and Glenn Close have all chosen television over film. Who needs to go to the theater with that kind of star power available on a weekly basis?

With HBO hits like The Sopranos and Sex in the City, other networks started paying more attention to quality programming. Premium cable channels like Starz and Showtime stepped up their game. Basic cable networks like FX and AMC had to keep up and they did. And the major networks took note and started taking more risks. We get shows as diverse as Lost and Community and everybody wins. The production quality and star power of television shows is only going to increase. It’s a good time to be a couch potato with a Netflix subscription.

Critically Rated at 16/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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