"Extreme Trains"

Posted By aceinspp on 11/19/2008 6:05 AM
Well good old comcast playing there games and was not on my channel in the bed room witch I had upgraded to get it. Later RJD


Speaking of Comcrap, Did not their advertisements of recent months tout how their customers would be able to basically ignore the upcomming February 19, 2009 deadline to switch over to digital, because if you are hooked up with cable to Comcrap you would automatically receive the digital signal. A couple of weeks ago my bedroom television stopped receiving a few channels. I called Comcrap and spoke to one of their scripted agents, and was told that I need to buy a box converter for each television that did not already have a digital box hookup.

I hate cable television. I remember petitions circulating in the very early '70s in movie theaters against "pay TV". Not enough people signed them I suppose.

RE: "Extreme Trains"

I would like to purchase some of the items that Billy boy advertises but until he is no longer the advertiser, I WON'T! I refuse to spend my money on any advertiser that shouts at me or is obnoxious or portrays their customers as idiots, clods or perverse fools.

I don't have cable or satellite TV, but I do now have a Digital Broadcast TV Converter box. And I must say that I MUCH prefer Analog TV!

I used to use a small rabbet ear antenna on the top of the TV, now I have a full Digital Antenna, up high, pointed in the direction of the majority of the TV transmitter antennas just to get marginal digital signals that used to be quite clear in analog on Rabbet Ears in my living room.

Digital may have more channels, but the loss of signal so often during shows means that I actually have LESS TV to actually "see". Atmospheric disturbances of Analog TV used to cause a bit of snow or ghosting or maybe some static in the sound, but with Digital TV, any atmospheric disturbances means the complete loss of image for up to 2 or 3 seconds or weird pixelation where things get grotesque for 2 or 3 seconds, and the sound can cut out so often that I can hear only 1 out of 4 or 5 words.

It is my understanding that when the cut over occurs February 17th, most stations will cut their broadcast power which will just exacerbate the problems.

Of all the shows I have watched that are supposed to answer questions about Digital TV I have never heard an answer to the most important question I can think of...

"WHO do we, the viewers of broadcast television, get to tar and feather for foisting this Digital TV abomination upon us?!"

And, yes, I have called in to ask that question but they did not air the question nor answer it.

Oops, have I deviated from the subject? Sorry

RE: "Extreme Trains"

So I caught last nights episode..
"this one has potential" I thought..taking a refrigerated produce train all the way across the country!
from Washington State to Schenectady, NY...practically coast-to-coast.
and hey, it will run right through my backyard! I live 2 minutes away from the New York Central mainline (now CSX) in Rochester, NY.
this train will run through "my territory"..maybe they will show some scenes of Chicago, Ohio, Buffalo..maybe near Rochester, maybe rolling along the Erie Canal
in central NY, very scenic.."lots of interesting possibilities with this episode!" I naively thought..I should know better by now!

So the show runs one hour..10pm to 11pm.

10:05 PM - Here we are loading up the train in Washington state.

10:10 PM - now we are in Oregon.

10:15 PM - Now we are in Idaho.

Quick detour to Steamtown in Scranton, PA..
I can only assume the planning/writing meetings for the show went something like this:

"Ok, we sent our host guy and the camera crew all the way to Scranton, what should we film?
We have a 2-second clip of an operating steam engine to open the segment..what else should we film while we are here?"

"How about a panoramic shot of the beautifully restored Roundhouse and turntable?"

"nah..not that.."

"How about the Big Boy? Largest steam locomotive in the world!"

"no..thats not very interesting"

"How about more shots of operating steam engines? there sure are a lot of them here"

"no..not that...Since we are here at one of the largest Railroad museums in the WORLD,
we need to find the most boring and monotonous thing here, and film that...
hey I know! lets put our guy inside a firebox, and show him handing out some bricks from it?"

"great idea boss! you are a genious! What should we have him say while he is in there?"

"Have him say something about how steam engines work..maybe have him say "Here is how steam locomotives work, you have some fire, then steam"..
thats good enough..he doesnt have to mention anything about the boiler actually being filled with WATER! thats too much detail..
dont mention cylinders, pistons, expanding steam, main rods, driving wheels..thats all too complicated..just have him say "fire and steam"..
oh..and while he is inside the firebox, he doesnt need to talk about the FUEL that goes in there, right where he is sitting..
dont mention wood or coal..no need to talk about the Fireman and his shovel..just focus on the BRICKS!
those bricks are really interesting...when people see a TV show about steam engines, they want to know all about BRICKS in the firebox!
yeah..thats good stuff!"

10:25PM - here we are back on the train..still in Idaho.

10:35PM - here we are rolling through Idaho..

Now we need a short segmant that is "rad" and "awesome" and "extreme!"
something the 12-year old kids will think is "cool" and "neat-o"..
Lets show a boxcar being scrapped..

*yawn*

10:40PM - back at the train..check it out..we are in Idaho.

10:50PM - Very interesting shots of the train rolling through Idaho..

At this point, im actually thinking "wow..is this going to a 2-part episode? are they going to continue the journey next week?"

10:55PM - The train is now in Idaho..We love Idaho! its very interesting here.

10:59PM - Here we are inside the warehouse in Schenectady, NY, end of the line. We had a great trip through Idaho..see you next time!


Man..this show just can not suck enough.. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif

Scot