I know, I know - far too early in the season to make any judgements. Still, last night's win against the Phillies, in Philly? That felt good. Real good.
It had all the hallmarks of a feel good win. They beat the stuffing out of our rivals. in their stadium. And we did so by beating one of their "ace" pitchers, who at one point called the Mets "choke artists", which is one of the few things athletes tend not to gravitate towards during trash talk. Hell, They didn't just beat him - they took him out after less than three innings.
Again, none of this is a portent for the full season. But last night, in addition to the Marlins series, showed a much more fiery, much more aggressive Mets club. They're trying to steal, they're fighting at the plate, and for the most part, playing decent defense. Terry Collins has done something to remind these players of who they are, and what they can do, and it just feels good to see guys like David Wright hit the ball like he should, and to see someone like Chris Young or Willie Harris remind the league of how good they can be.
The Phillies (as well as their little minions on the Marlins) have been trash talking the Mets for so long, while the rest of the league has had no qualms with letting them be the butt of every joke. That's what pushed this latest win over the top. It won't silence anyone - we need at least a sweep for that- but it still looked amazing to me.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Funimation Channel
So I've been spending a week or so housesitting, at a place which has Verizon Fios cable, and thus gets the Funimation Channel. I've had it on for several chunks of the weekend, and the results haven't been convincing.
Now to be fair, I recognize that this is the very definition of a deep cable channel. In that regard, I think the station has some decent looking promotional ads and bumpers. However, they aren't used very well to inform you of what programming the channel has. Over the course of the two days, I saw the ads for Phantom and Oh Edo Rocket multiple times. In contrast, I saw exactly two ads for Hetalia, and zero for Sengoku Basara. If you want to know just what Funimation shows are on the station, you're not going to know without watching it for a full twelve or so hours. That's a bit problematic in my eyes.
Furthermore, the channel doesn't seem to have any themed programming blocks (or, if it does, they again aren't well promoted). It'd be easier if there were action or comedy blocks of some sort.
I'm also not sure why there was such an odd frequency of reruns. The episodes of Kenichi and Tsubasa showing on Saturday morning were the exact same ones showing on Sunday morning. It isn't uncommon for the day's episodes for a show to be repeated at night as an encore, but tow do so over the course of two days? It doesn't make sense. You'd think the shows would advance, especially considering that another show, Soul Eater, didn't repeat itself in the afternoon.
What I'm trying to figure out is how much Funimation cares about this effort. What they have made is undeniably slick, and yet the programming makes it look as if someone just threw shows on there so there would be something to show. If you wanted to use the Channel to actually watch a show through its entirety, I couldn't guess how long it would take you. I get the impression that Funi doesn't want fans to use it as a companion to DVD's and streaming. But if that is the case, then what the hell is the point? Near as I can tell, the company is still going strong, but they might not want to repeat the mistakes of ADV, which fucked around so much with The Anime Channel. Funimation Channel should be a great way to let people eat up the more stale shows, but right now, it doesn't make it easy.
Now to be fair, I recognize that this is the very definition of a deep cable channel. In that regard, I think the station has some decent looking promotional ads and bumpers. However, they aren't used very well to inform you of what programming the channel has. Over the course of the two days, I saw the ads for Phantom and Oh Edo Rocket multiple times. In contrast, I saw exactly two ads for Hetalia, and zero for Sengoku Basara. If you want to know just what Funimation shows are on the station, you're not going to know without watching it for a full twelve or so hours. That's a bit problematic in my eyes.
Furthermore, the channel doesn't seem to have any themed programming blocks (or, if it does, they again aren't well promoted). It'd be easier if there were action or comedy blocks of some sort.
I'm also not sure why there was such an odd frequency of reruns. The episodes of Kenichi and Tsubasa showing on Saturday morning were the exact same ones showing on Sunday morning. It isn't uncommon for the day's episodes for a show to be repeated at night as an encore, but tow do so over the course of two days? It doesn't make sense. You'd think the shows would advance, especially considering that another show, Soul Eater, didn't repeat itself in the afternoon.
What I'm trying to figure out is how much Funimation cares about this effort. What they have made is undeniably slick, and yet the programming makes it look as if someone just threw shows on there so there would be something to show. If you wanted to use the Channel to actually watch a show through its entirety, I couldn't guess how long it would take you. I get the impression that Funi doesn't want fans to use it as a companion to DVD's and streaming. But if that is the case, then what the hell is the point? Near as I can tell, the company is still going strong, but they might not want to repeat the mistakes of ADV, which fucked around so much with The Anime Channel. Funimation Channel should be a great way to let people eat up the more stale shows, but right now, it doesn't make it easy.
Friday, April 01, 2011
MLB At Bat '11
Another Year, another season of baseball. That means it is time for MLB At Bat, the handiest way to listen to live games.
I'll admit, by the end of last season I pretty much stopped using the app, partly because the Mets were awful, and partly because the both the app itself and my home internet connetion had troubles staying connected. This year, it seems that some work was done to help alleviate this problem. The connection has dropped occasionally, but each time the app managed to reestablish it on its own, within just a few seconds.
At Bat has a few new features as well. There is one feature which apparently can be used at ballparks, though I'm not sure what it does. It also doles out the occasional free video feed from mlb.tv.
In regards to video, technically this version of At Bat is improved, but it still lags behind the version made for iOS devices, which have full mlb.tv integration. I understand that the popularity of iOS means that it will be the premiere platform, but Android handsets have made huge strides since last spring, both in features and in sheer numbers. If the NFL and Verizon can whip up a decent Android app for free, then I hope that MLB is able to sneak in some more goodies during the season.
Overall, I'm happy with the improvements made, and I've already used the app more per day than I did last year. With some luck, we may get more updates as the season goes on.
Now let's go Mets!
I'll admit, by the end of last season I pretty much stopped using the app, partly because the Mets were awful, and partly because the both the app itself and my home internet connetion had troubles staying connected. This year, it seems that some work was done to help alleviate this problem. The connection has dropped occasionally, but each time the app managed to reestablish it on its own, within just a few seconds.
At Bat has a few new features as well. There is one feature which apparently can be used at ballparks, though I'm not sure what it does. It also doles out the occasional free video feed from mlb.tv.
In regards to video, technically this version of At Bat is improved, but it still lags behind the version made for iOS devices, which have full mlb.tv integration. I understand that the popularity of iOS means that it will be the premiere platform, but Android handsets have made huge strides since last spring, both in features and in sheer numbers. If the NFL and Verizon can whip up a decent Android app for free, then I hope that MLB is able to sneak in some more goodies during the season.
Overall, I'm happy with the improvements made, and I've already used the app more per day than I did last year. With some luck, we may get more updates as the season goes on.
Now let's go Mets!
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