Amazon reviews

From time to time, and on a massive total of 32 occasions, I have written reviews for a website some of you may have heard of... amazon.co.uk. I do it for the same reason I write this, none in particular, but it's a nice diversion every now and again and with a bit of luck, the stuff I write does occasionally help somebody decide whether something is worth buying. The whole process is quite basic, but the weird part of it is their rating system.

Well not so much the system itself, but maybe some of the users.

Amazon works on a 'Was this helpful? yes/no' type scenario. But I get the impression a minority, but a vocal minority, of users read this is 'Do you agree? Yes/No', and as a result I do sometimes feel reviews are marked as unhelpful for not giving a popular item 5 stars. Also there's also some cases where people review an item, then mark the other reviews of the same item down, to hopefully push theirs up to the featured review. The Internet is a reasonably twisted place for self promotion.

However most reviews don't get any votes at all, I've only ever received 52 votes over my 32 reviews (40-12, 77% helpful, which is quite shit).

I honestly think this isn't the best way of running a rating system, especially if you're going to run some kind of league table off it to introduce competition. Why have a no button at all? Yes or ignore would be fine and remove the possibility of bitching. Or maybe require some kind of reason or feedback to go along with a negative vote? If people have to back it up...

But hey I'm sure the amazon dudes know what they're doing.

Well this morning I went up 100 or so places to crack the top 10,000 reviewers for the 2nd time (someone marked a review down straight away last time, so I dropped again) at 9,955th. This means nothing of course and I'll probably drop straight back out tomorrow, but for now I have a picture visible and everything. If anyone's interested here's a link to my 'public profile' but I'd imagine after making it this far, you're sick of my attempted wit and typos already:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/pdp/profile/A3SIES8A01NZAN?ie=UTF8&ref_=ya__56

Off topic, well kind of... kindle is amazon, there was just a guy getting off the train, reading his kindle intensely, but the screen saver was on, I could see it from here. It was the picture of John Steinbeck.  Some people are weird.

Top 5 Web series and the like

The Internet is a weird and wonderful place, but it has some damn creative people on it, some funny some serious some a bit of both (*ahem*) but some stand above the rest obviously. I've decided to use today to make a list of my 5 favourite web released media, whether it be via personal websites, youtube etc, see if anyone wants to have a watch themselves:

5. 

30-second bunnies theatre

Source http://www.angryalien.com/ and youtube (abetoons)

Does exactly what it says on the tine really, animated bunnies perform popular movies in 30 seconds (or thereabouts) it's not a hit every time, but when it's good it's great (Grindhouse, Evil Dead 2, Rocky Horror). Your general enjoyment of the short is pretty much in line with your enjoyment of the film as a rule so if you pick your favourite films, you'll enjoy the shorts, appriciate the jokes, the touches of details, which can be outstanding at times. Much recommended!

Apparently there's a DVD available, but I wouldn't go that far...

I've stuck an example below!

4.

Dai Ling Ping

Source http://www.dailingping.co.uk/ and youtube (MrLBXv2)

There may be a fairr bit of local loyalty here but Dai does crack me up. He, along with some other users, play XBOX 360 online, particularly Call of Duty games and practise the art known as griefing. Generally being a dick to get a reaction out of the other players, and of course with people who take COD far far too seriously, he generally succeeds in getting a reaction, and as he's pretty quick witted to stay ahead of them, it's highly amusing.

Of course after a while this can become dull as fuck so Dai has branched out into older game reviews, playthroughs, prank calls and the like. Without spoiling too much, he appears to be gifted with accents and uses a voice changer, it's best to listen to him to be honest.

Oh and highly NSFW, strong language.

Here's a classic:

3.

The Guild

Source http://www.watchtheguild.com/ or XBOX live or Zune or youtube (theguild)

The guild was the brainchild of Felicia Day and is now the ripe old age of 5 series old (the series 5 finale due out tomorrow in fact!) and apparently was an inspiration to other titles on this list. It basically it a sit-com regarding the interactions of a guild from an unnamed online video game (actually only ever called 'The Game') not entirely dissimilar to World of Warcraft.

They start off having never met, and personal issues, eventually force them too and the series develops from there. Some of the acting is very good and the cast cameos can be superb on times (Star Trek, Big Bang Theory, Eurika and Stand By Me actor Wil Whedon is regular, Nathan Fillion, Brent Spiner, Colin Ferguson have all guested in series 5). 

Many people who play such online games (me) will identify with the situations and personalities and overall this is a top series. DVDs available again but only region 1 I believe.

I've attached the pilot!

2.

The Angry Video Game Nerd

Source 

http://cinemassacre.com/

 or youtube (JamesNintendoNerd)

This guy cracks me up, he also has a video game collection that I'm amazingly envious of. The guys name is James Rolfe and he makes videos reviewing retro games, typically pretty damn poor retro games, under the persona of The Angry Video Game Nerd.

He's typically foul mouthed and very very NSFW but delivers it with such venom that is comes across as funny. He also manages to make the reviews informative resisting the temptation to nit-pick.

Under different sections of the site (and app which I own, I also have Dai Ling Pings app, but this guys I actually paid for) he does movie reviews, plays board games (Bored James), and does short rants under the title 'YOU KNOW WHAT'S BULLSHIT'. It's all good and very funny. Plus I do wish I had 1/50th of his collection... Send donations too...

Here's a good example of his little reviews an an awful game to boot:

At this point I'll mention the ones who didn't make the top 5, and there are plenty of good ones out there, whether it be The Legend of Neil, Dragon Age (Day in both of them again), the Mortal Kombat trailer (ok rubbish, but somewhat interesting despite), the Various Star Trek series, Fallout, Red Vs Blue. There's loads more out there so go investigate!

So, on to...

1.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Source Various including iTunes, youtube etc

Yes I know it's not exactly the same kind of production values as some of the others. But this is awesome!

Joss Whedon used the writers strike to produce this, makes the strike worthwhile all on its own if you ask me! Starring in it were Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly), Felicia Day (again), and Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory) and each was excellent.

The script is as slick as you'd expect, the songs good and memorable and at 45 minutes, you'll wish it was longer. Apparently there is to be a sequel once Joss is finished working on The Avengers. I mean honestly where's the priorities!! 

I have the DVD and the commentary track (well one of them) is produced as an entirely different musical to compliment the one on screen with the actors (in varying degrees of character) interact and clash about the show and themselves.

This needs to be watched by all. Hate Musicals? Well see it as a superhero film? Not doing it for you, ok romantic comedy etc. Works on so many levels.

Here's the first bit from youtube: 

Once you've seen it all, 8-bit Dr Horrible is excellent too.

TTFN