Chances are if you’re reading this you are in Japan, own a Mac, and want to watch some free HD channels over UHF. The GV-MACTV is one of the few devices made for this purpose.
*WARNING* This product will not work with the Mac Mini or Mac Pro! Continue Reading »
Occasionally I’ll catch an episode of NBC’s Chuck, a comedic spy thriller about a man who lives with a supercomputer wedged inside his head.
Chuck, the show, is both clever and witty, yet never takes itself too seriously. Much of the show’s success stems from its solid cast, which includes the beautiful blonde, Yvonne Strahovski.
Full seasons of Chuck are now available on DVD or Blu-ray.
Yvonne Strahovski plays the character Sarah Walker, an undercover CIA operative who is tasked with protecting Chuck Bartowski after a supercomputer is uploaded to his brain.
As any fan of the show undoubtably knows by now, the writers of Chuck will occasionally pen in a scene where Yvonne Strahovski must forgo wearing pants!
It’s pretty obvious that such scenes do little to push the plot development and are merely presented for the appeasement of the mostly male demographic that tunes in each week. I’m certainly not complaining, but I think they could be a little more creative in how they sneak in these scenes.
Australian native Yvonne Strahovski has a killer body, and fortunately, I found some screen caps of her latest panty-walk. These shots come from the same episode where Chuck finally makes his move on Sarah, resulting in some tongue-locked, ass-grabbing, Mongolian-style bed wrestling.
But don’t expect too much – the whole sex scene is cut short when Chuck realizes he doesn’t have a condom! I guess when you posses an unparalleled amount of knowledge, you know your statistical chances of catching an STD from the CIA’s hottest agent!
Get a look at Yvonne Strahovski’s almost-nude, almost-sex scene. God I love a blonde in panties!
You can find complete seasons of Chuck on Amazon.
Do you know that many cable and over-the-air TV channels are being streamed live over the Internet using P2P software? Now you can watch TV from around the world, in real-time, absolutely free!
Before I begin, as a responsible content publisher, I have to say that Aibal.com does not condone the use of file sharing TV channels in countries where it is strictly prohibited. So please be informed of your country’s filesharing and copyright laws before using any P2P software. Furthermore, streaming pay-per-view shows, like the UFC and HBO boxing, without actually paying for them, certainly raises some moral concerns. As with all filesharing technologies, it is up to the end-user to decide on how it is used.
To get P2P TV running on your computer, it is easiest if you are using Windows, or like me, running a copy of XP in a virtual machine on my Macbook Pro. There are several applications that will allow you to see live TV channels on the Internet, but today I’ll introduce the one that is currently popular among UFC fans and those who wish to view Asian TV channels from China, Japan and Korea.
The program is called TVAnts. It is a free P2P TV app that was developed in China (where most of these P2PTV programs are made) and allows the viewing of such cable channels as the Irish-based Sentanta Sports. TVAnts uses P2P file sharing to assemble live video streams and play them back smoothly on most broadband connections.
Once TVAnts is up and running, you will see a window like the one below, populate a list of channels currently available for viewing. If you don’t have Far-East languages installed, you will likely see meaningless characters where, for many of us, equally meaningless Chinese characters are supposed to be displayed!
Fortunately, some of these channels are from the West, so you should be able to make out which ones provide non-Asian content, like Sentanta Sports, CNN or BBC News. Also, in the search tab where the channels are listed, you will notice an ‘Audience’ column. The channel list by default is sorted by audience, or the amount of peers who are currently sharing the channel. Often, channels with larger audiences are quicker to load, so keep this in mind if you are having problems streaming a particular video.
To launch a video stream, double-click on a channel and you will see a video window pop-up. It can take several minutes for the actual video to appear, and several more minutes before the stream has buffered enough data to provide smooth video playback, so just be patient!
You’ll be presented with some static Chinese ads while the buffering happens, but eventually the video should begin.
With any luck, you’ll be watching TV from around the world, but just keep in mind that watching PPV events and exclusive TV shows may very well be less-than-legal in your home country. Always use common sense, like you would with Bittorrent or other filesharing services, when using P2PTV.
I’ve been a big fan of Showtime’s Dexter since a friend recommended the series to me during the summer months. After getting hooked on the pilot episode, I quickly ate up seasons one, two and three, relishing every episode for its amazing cast, beautiful photography, and its, erm, killer script. I’m going to share with you some of my thoughts, covering a bit from each season, but I’ll leave out the specifics so as not to offer any spoilers if you haven’t watched all the seasons.
Get full seasons of Dexter right now on DVD and Blu-ray.
Season 1
The first season does a great job of introducing the star of the show, the world he inhabits and the secret he keeps. The show uses a saga format, blending each episode into the next, giving the viewers a personal and engrossing experience throughout.
Parts of the first season that I enjoyed the most were often the little moments where Dexter tries to blend in as an ordinary, quiet forensic specialist amidst a group of overzealous cops trying to find killers who are just like him.
There’s also an abundance of comedic moments, which helps lighten the otherwise dark and grizzly nature of the show.
Season 2
Season two starts with a bang that’s so loud you’re basically guaranteed to watch all 13 episodes after the opening scene!
In stark contrast to the first season, Dexter’s sophomore outing begins at a much faster pace. With the kid gloves off, the reserved careful plodding of the first season’s storyline is completely abandoned for a racetrack velocity that never slows down.
A host of new characters are swiftly introduced and many interesting interactions are allowed to happen between Dexter, his co-workers, and these new players.
Some people have remarked that season two loses some of Dexter purity. But others say the quicker pace is simply a natural progression, if you see both seasons as one continuous storyline.
With this in mind, I think the first season does a great job of setting things up for the second, allowing all the fireworks to launch only after a snowballing and tension gripped build up.
Opinions aside, season two is a wild ride with Dexter being attacked from all angles. Often, it feels like he’s juggling chainsaws while standing on a house of cards; you really begin to feel that at any moment his web of lies, cover ups and murders will come crashing down upon him. And it sort of does.
Season 3
Season three has just completed, and I can say that they’ve returned the series to a style and pace more reminiscent of season one. Because of this, I initially felt that the writers had burnt themselves out, as initially, not much was happening and some segments were – dare I say – boring. But as the pieces were being set and the story began to unfold, I realized that they were simply focusing on a cleaner storyline with less subplots and characters to muddle things up. In doing so, they’ve created a highly polished product that I think is unparalleled on television today. The level of acting, directing, and script writing is nothing short of phenomenal.
In retrospect, season three seems to assume that you’re already a fan of the show; the writers don’t compromise their method of storytelling by forcing cheesy moments nor injecting meaningless action. The result is a deeper and more believable world that our star inhabits. Sometimes, I stop and think about how every character, relationship and situation is geared towards creating this believable, yet clearly preposterous reality. Eventually, if feels as if Dexter’s secret becomes your secret.
*UPDATE*
Since writing this, I’ve had the pleasure to watch season 4 and 5 of this great show. Although I feel that season 3 is the pinnacle of the series thus far, my friends insist that the show keeps getting better. Whatever the case, Dexter is still one of my favorite shows on cable TV today.
Get full seasons of Dexter right now on DVD and Blu-ray.
