I have fond memories of waking up early on Saturday mornings and softly tiptoeing out to the family room to watch early morning cartoons when I was in elementary school. Then in high school I became more interested in the action-oriented TV shows in the evening. A little while later, I found that I just didn't have the time to dedicate an hour or so a day to sitting and watching mindless entertainment at a given time slot, and so I no longer watched TV at all. Gone are my days of watching those humorous cartoons and ridiculous heroes every week.
I recently discovered the online film scene, though, and it's fantastic. Short films, up to about 20mins in length, just posted online for all to download. Many of them are better than the professionally produced, high-budget TV shows that stream so liberally to your TV box. Every one is a labor of love, so even when the production values aren't high you know that someone has poured themselves into the product, which brings satisfaction beyond that of watching some stale TV show now into it's 19th series and just churning out the money makers.
Cartoons were my first port of call. It's been a long time since I've been awake and free early enough in the morning to watch some animated entertainment (and besides that, the cartoons on TV now are largely trash). A friend introduced me to my first online cartoon, the enormously popular and hilarious Homestar Runner (). This site is fantastic. There are longish cartoons and games, with new ones being added every now and then, but the main reason to visit and continue to return is a lovably vicious character named Strong Bad. The creators of the web site answer roughly one email a week using this character that basically insults people in the most hilarious ways possible. It's all quite family-friendly and is more than worth a bookmark.
More animated wonders and filmed entertainment can be found at Atom Films (), which has become a free service recently. Also worth a look is Ifilm () that offers the lower-bandwidth streams of films for free. Be slightly wary here though as there is an uncensored section and occasionally some videos will show up on the main page that aren't entirely family-friendly. These two sites showcase hundreds of short films, from animated to live action, from musical to martial arts. They host music clips and film festival winners as well as some non-professional but often still high quality work.
For the action fans there are a number of 'Stunt Crews' out there, risking life and limb for the sheer giddy thrill of looking really cool on tape. They'll have you wishing you were just half as talented as they are. One particularly active and talented group goes by the name of The Stunt People (). They have a large number of videos available online, most running for about 20mins and almost all of them jam packed with martial arts and tricking entertainment. Of similar style, although not quite as stunt-oriented, are Jabronie Pictures (). These films all contain some violence and occasionally some coarse language, so you may want to screen them before showing them to younger children.
There are those who claim that TV can be used to keep up with the events unfolding in the world, the people who watch the news when the 'Simpsons' is on the other channel. For those socially minded folks, a quick search for 'News video streams' reveals a large number of pages, such as that contains a large list of streams, providing news updates on demand.
So if you've got a little downtime and there's nothing on TV, try shifting on over to your computer and basking in the wonderful entertainment provided by many talented people who just want to share their creativity. Or, keep yourself current with happenings around the world. It's fun and free. What more could you want?
Over The Internet Tv
There is no doubt in saying that when it comes to television, cable and satellite solutions have monopolized the industry. But, as time has progressed, the Internet has started taking television entertainment in its own perspective. With the capability of getting your standard cable and satellite channels right off of the Web, the Internet is jumping into the television entertainment industry in full force.
Imagine this: what if you had the choice between getting all of your favorite television channels for a monthly fee, or getting them all for a one-time price? While there are people who would still take the recurring fee option (because of feeling uncomfortable with new technology), many others would rather get all of their favorite channels for a one-time fee. Don't believe this is true? Think again.
There is currently a company out there selling a product that provides cable and satellite channels directly onto your computer? all for a single up-front cost. This solution provides upwards of 3,000 different television channels and radio stations, all of which can be accessed directly through your modem. And no, these channels are not unknown UHF channels located in the middle of nowhere. The channels that can be acquired through this system are the exact same ones you can get through cable and satellite packages (i.e. ESPN, ABC, movie channels, etc).
That's not even the half of it either. With standard cable and satellite packages, you primarily get local and national stations. But, this company took that idea one step further and also gives you the potential of watching television stations from across the globe. This package includes so many channels that this company thought the best way to organize all of them was by country. It definitely puts television viewing in a completely different perspective. For those of you who may be interested, the product's website can be found at h**p://***.satellite-tv-for-your-pc.com.
So, what does this mean for traditional cable and satellite alternatives? The truth is, it is very difficult to tell. Because both satellite and cable solutions continue to do very well in the television entertainment industry, who knows what kind of impact these new television solutions will provide. One huge advantage cable and satellite companies currently have that television innovators such as at h**p://***.satellite-tv-for-your-pc.com don't is customer loyalty. While monthly prices may continue to increase in small amounts, people thoroughly enjoy their current television packages. On top of that, there are many people out there who are afraid of change, especially when that change comes from a technological perspective.
In the end, the question still lingers as to whether or not Internet-fueled television solutions will become popular. There has been no doubt that online videos have become a huge hit, but will that same craze follow with watching television stations online? One thing if for certain though: the Internet and online communities will continue to bring forth innovative products to the television industry.
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Jackson Willis has sinced written about articles on various topics from Software, Car Loans and Entertainment Guide. Jackson Willis is an avid user of the Internet and is constantly on the lookout for the newest gadgets, tools, and electronics. He just loves to learn about new forms of entertainment and enjoys sharing his findings with others.. Jackson Willis's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.
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