Thursday, August 09, 2007

Locate Me on LocateTV

film ick has been made LocateTV's blog of the week. Their first blog of the week in fact. I'm honoured.

But... what's this LocateTV then, you might ask? Well, says I, it's a very useful website. It's currently in private beta, and I was really holding back on writing about it until it was fully public, but being made blog o' the week has kinda forced my hand.

The idea behind LocateTV is suitably simple, to the point and useful in a very specific way. That's just what the internet is good for, I reckon. Examples: I use imdb to see approximated, guesstimated cast and crew lists; I use Wikipedia to see the consensus perspective on facts and figures; I use YouTube to watch old people, the semi-illiterate and pretend teenage girls talk about their lives. I go to a site for what that site does, and for each thing I want, there's usually one site that does it best.

What LocateTV does, and does best, is tell me when films and TV I want to see will next be on TV. It's that simple. Search, for example, Taxi and I'll not only know when Jimmy Fallon is next due to make a fool of himself in front of Queen Latifah, I'll see any upcoming screening times for the sitcom with Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Andy Kauffman and an unexpectedly melancholy theme tune. This is useful for two reasons - the avoidance of the former, and indulgence in the latter. And yes, the original French Taxi film shows up also - alongside it's many sequels.

As soon as the site is open and you get a few goes on it, you'll see exactly how it works. They have some other functions built in already - perhaps most usefully an embeddable piece of code that will keep screening details for a chosen show, movie, star or director (etcetera) fresh on your chosen site or messageboard for all time. There's one coming up, so keep reading for a demo...

There's more to LocateTV - a lot more - but I don't want to make it sound fiddly or fussy. As soon as they launch,
I'll send you over to tinker for yourself. You'll pick it up within seconds and I'm prepared to bet you'll find it very useful.

In the meantime, e-mail me if you'd like a log on for the LocateTV Beta test and I'll pass your details on over to them. Or, if there's just something you'd really like to see on TV, leave a comment below and I'll check it out for you, let you know if and when it's coming up in reply mesage.

I like LocateTV because there's loads of films that haven't had DVD releases and getting a heads up for their TV screenings will be invaluable in catching up on rarities. The embed function also enables me to hit you guys over the head with a bit more Terry Gilliam, so I will. Below, you'll see a live and eternal update on when you can see the next Terry Gilliam film to air. Don't say I never do anything for you.

Click to see LocateTV results for Terry Gilliam. Always up to date, always relevant to you.

1 comment:

Harmen said...

I also like the fact that they rate their blogs via movies. But Film-ick as blog counterpart to Sideways? Hmmm, I'd say more like Ratatouille.