Not for MeTube

After many months being unsatisfied with the quality of video on YouTube I decided to have a look at some other sites offering higher quality video. Given that the vast majority of YouTube video is still at a paltry 320x240 resolution even the move to 640x480 (equivalent to VGA - do you remember that? I remember getting my first VGA capable monitor... God, I feel old) is a revelation. And given that some of these sites can now easily stream proper HD video (720p) there's really no reason to have substandard, blurry to the point of impressionism videos on the internet.

Of course the major issue is speed. On my 1 meg connection I can certainly see a difference in load times as I've embedded more high quality vids. And the increase in time needed to upload these videos in the first place is also an consideration.

A review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

INDIANA JONES
1981-1989
RIP

Without preamble, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls is one of the most disappointing, illusion shattering, childhood destroying movies I have ever had the misguided misfortune to look forward to. No single element of the (rightfully) beloved world created in the trilogy has been handled with the care and attention it deserves. After over a decade of posturing, telling the world that Lucas and Spielberg and Ford were waiting for the 'perfect' script they managed to come up with something that, in deference to the theory, must have been hammered out by a dozen brain-damaged chimps on a single dogeared typewriter over a weekend. While they were drunk. This is not an Indiana Jones film, it is a travesty - cinematic, dollar grabbing necrophilia.


Indiana Jones the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer from thewraith on Vimeo.

Thorpe Park - May 16th 2008

Thorpe Park - Detonator from Daniel Anderson on Vimeo.


I don't do rollercoasters. I just find the whole experience utterly terrifying - the brief acceleration and the clenching of every muscle - it is our bodies preparing for death. The fact that relatively few people actually die on rollercoasters isn't as reassuring as it probably should be.
So I went to Thorpe Park in Surrey in England and went on a total of 3 rides all day. And I felt like I was going to die every time.
Still I got some good pictures and videos of people who quite enjoy being strapped to hunks of metal and putting 'near-death experience' on repeat/play for a few hours. The constant, uncontrollable screaming really got to me after a while. If someone had actually decided to go on a murderous rampage - how could we even tell something was wrong...














































































As always check out MyFlickr for these pics and more. The above video is hosted at Vimeo, a site which not only hosts videos at 640x480 without a fuss but also promises true 720p hd. I have yet to test the second claim (I literally have no movies at that resolution!) but I've found the site easy to navigate and the tools, especially the embedding tool, very helpful.