I want my MTV Two

My TV is now digital. UPC arrived on time, the technician was a nice guy and didn’t smell. And though he had some problems initialising the set top box, it eventually worked as it should.

I don’t have much use for the E! or Fashion channel, or all the bloody Discovery stuff, but I can’t express how great it is to finally have an MTV channel (MTV2) that actually plays music. MTV2 Europe is British owned, they show the NME chart show and the presenters are English, as are the ads. Thank you, lord. They just showed Kaiser Chiefs, Interpol, Magic Numbers and Gorillaz videos. *Cries tears of happiness*. Don’t laugh. I’ve had years and years of MTV/TMF Holland, mostly R&B crap presented by Dutch nit wits, interspersed with the worst bits of MTV USA (Jackass, Road Rules, etc.)

Now I just have to wait (another ten years?) for the rest of their package to become a little bit more interesting.

I may be the only 42 year woman on the planet to get worked up over this. Does ’50 quid spinster’ exist?

Going digital

More music. That’s the main reason why I’m ordering UPC digital TV, eventhough they don’t have the greatest range of channels. It ain’t Sky digital, that’s for sure. Still, it’s got 60 TV channels (pdf) and 55 music (radio) channels, films on demand, games and 35 ‘interactive sites’. All at Euro 9,95 a month.

A lot of the 60 TV channels on it are also available through my analog subscription (which I cannot cancel), but at least I’ll get threeo extra MTV channels (that actually broadcast music), VH1 and VH1 classic, as well as the VPRO digital music channels, which are also available streaming. I’ll also get BBC Prime, next to the usual BBC1, 2 and World.

What I really want is all the other British channels and the Sci-fi channel, but that’s just not going to happen right now. I’m sure the Hallmark channel will make me forget all about ’em.

But bootlegs are more fun!

From MTV review of first (messy) Pixies concert in twelve years:

“The Pixies finished with a seven-song encore, slapping hands with fans as they left the stage. After the show, hundreds of fans loitered upstairs at the venue to await the arrival of recordings of the night’s performance. Using on-the-spot recording and duplication technology, the New York-based company Disclive is producing limited-edition CDs of each night’s performance, available 20 minutes post-wrap.

Einstuerzende Neubauten are doing the same thing on their current tour. This is the new standard. Are you listening, U2?