Finding content that plays on my Apple TV is turning out to be a bit harder than I believe it should be. Netflix is a great source for movies and older (sometimes really older) TV shows, but before long you start running into the I Love Lucy Syndrome where nothing else is on and you start memorizing lines from your favorite episode. Netfilx does not have its entire video library available for streaming, yet, but I’m sure they are working on it.
Another option on the new Apple TV is to rent a movie from iTunes. That’s OK I guess, but most of the movies available that I don’t mind seeing I’ve seen already. If I feel like I’ll watch it a lot then I might buy it, but that doesn’t happen often these days.
I want free content. Stuff that’s fresh and interesting, even funny if it’s suppose to be. While I do enjoy cartoons for kids (Avatar: The Last Airbender was fantastic), I also like a good adult laugh. There is content like that around, you just have to look for it.
Podcasts, for instance, have become much more sophisticated. Some podcast creators are publishing broadcast quality shows on a wide variety of subjects, including adult humor. Because the cost of creating a podcast is low, just about anyone can create just about anything. Unfortunately, they do. Wading through all of that stuff to find those excellent podcast nuggets can be a chore.
For instance, while looking for material for this article I ran across an animated video podcast called Blood Red. The name evokes images of vampires or maybe a serial axe murderer. Fire up one of the episodes however, and you are greeted with a roughish animated wolf growling like the old MGM Lion use to. The videos emulate those from the early days of cartoon animation. It’s done up in muted colors to give it a dated affect, and the quality of the animation is actually quite good. It’s light adult humor, some we could use more of. The problem is that Blood Red is not very funny.
Blood Red
There are ten episodes so far, each are a tad over a minute long. I’ve watched them all because, well…I have masochistic tendencies. You might want to look over a few episodes. Again, they are not horrible, just light on the yuks.
As I continued my search for article fodder I stumbled across some animation based on Dexter, the hit Showtime serial about a serial killer of serial killers. I’ve watch several episodes of the real Dexter and it’s quite good. The show has a following that spans several demographics. The podcast I found is done in an animated graphic novel format that may not appeal to everyone, but I found them to be fun to watch.
There are 78(!) episodes of this Dexter: Early Cuts graphic-novel-video-animation podcast, and I believe it’s worth a look, even if you’re not a Dexter fan.
Dexter:The Early Cuts
There’s a current series available as well, called Dexter: Earky Cuts: Dark Echo. Six episodes so far and the storyline is good. This is a podcast you should subscribe to so you can have the latest episode available to watch on your Apple TV.
My daughter is a huge fan of Happy Tree Friends. I, on the other hand, enjoy Dr. Tran. Both are from Mondo Media, and both are Hi-Larious. If you’re looking for more animation like that then you might want to try The Film Cow Videos.
Dr.Tran and Happy Tree Friends
I haven’t watched them all yet, but my favorite episode thus far is Bino the Elephant. Explaining the episode would ruin it, so watch and why it’s my fav (or why I should seek professional help).
The FilmCow Videos
There are 33 FilmCow episodes ranging from just over a minute to well over eight minutes long. Again, not for the kiddies, and maybe not for the more conservative among you, but the rest of you are in for some fun.
OK, that’s a wrap for this week.
By the way, for the last few installments of Free on iTunes I recommended and complained about about the new New York Times for iPad app. The app updates the old Editor’s Choice app, allowing iPad owners access to almost all of the Times’s sections and article. The problem was that the apps would crash at the slightest breeze.
Well, I’m happy to report that there’s an update to the Times app that seems to have addressed the crashing problem. I’ve run the apps several times since updating and nary a single crash.
Good job Times app developers!
If you’ve been waiting for them to update the app before downloading, or have it and was bugged by the crashing, go grab the update.
More free stuff below with direct links.
