The above music will be instantly recognized by those who have watched the Swedish drama ‘The Bridge’.
We bought a TV that can show movies that are not broadcast in the normal way. You ‘download them’ via your WiFi. Downloading is now very much in. I never thought I would reach that level. I am almost on par with one of my grandsons. He downloads all day. It is a bit of a worry. There have been wagging fingers on TV warning parents of dire consequences of too much downloading. I remember in the fifties we were warned about the evils of writing with ball-points! It was the ruination of youth and education.
With IT downloading comes, according to the experts, a disregard for authority with one finger gestures and many young saying ‘fuck you’. Mind you in the US and elsewhere those rude undisciplined young people are now our only hope of getting rid of Trump, Duterte and other unbalanced narcissists on course to wreck the world. Our parents and their parents were taught to unquestionably and passively accept what they were told at all times by authority. Civil disobedience is making a comeback. It might be our only hope.
‘Eureka Street’s blog caught my eye, especially this article. ‘Cry the murderous Country.’ The Jesuits do good things.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=56136
But back to ‘downloading movies’ It was far more complicated than I thought. Like anything with modern technology. It doesn’t allow for mistakes. Buttons on the remote-control of this special smart TV have to be pushed in the right sequence. Even following the right order almost to the nail-biting finish; one wrong button and one is back to square one. But apart from the technological aspects there is more. Some movies that are advertised as having 10 sessions, might just have 4. We found out by watching a really fantastic movie called ‘Trapped’. An Icelandic movie made in Iceland. Now Iceland is a country that always fascinated me. That bitter cold and those windswept glaciers and mountains. Yet, heating and hot water of the capital Reykjavik and some lakes is achieved by geothermal means. Most people speak very good English and many non-English speaking people from other parts of the world go and learn English in Iceland. Perhaps that is the answer for the young here?
After watching the first 4 episodes of ‘Trapped’ we could not find number 5. We were channelling up and down on our smart TV amongst the hundreds of available movies; no number 5 of ‘Trapped’. And this Icelandic movie is the very essence or epitome of those Noir dramas that Scandinavia seem so good at creating. Who could forget Swedish TV series ‘The bridge’?
“The Bridge (Danish: Broen; Swedish: Bron) is a Scandinavian noir crime television series created and written by Hans Rosenfeldt. A joint creative and financed production between Sweden‘s Sveriges Television and Denmark‘s DR, it has been shown in more than 100 countries.“[1]
Afters torturous channelling on the TV we finally got a keyboard displayed on the screen on which one can ask information of a particular movie. I typed in ‘Trapped’ and it showed 4 sessions. It did not tell us about the 6 missing sessions. Are they still coming? Who knows? Next time we will make sure to find out if the movie is shown with all its sessions.
Tags: Duterte, English, Eureka Street, Iceland, Reykjavik, The Bridge, Trapped, Trump, WiFi
Oosterman Treats Blog 
August 4, 2018 at 5:17 am |
You are way ahead of me Gerard. We have a smart TV but we watch 3 channels only. All free. I find TV and movies too restrictive. The films last too long. I just read most of the time.
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August 4, 2018 at 5:59 am |
We watch TV including the movies for free too, Andrew. I don’t know how they do it for free. Some movies carry advertisements. But they are kept short. They are mainly all about a Ford SUV car that drives into muddy waters or over rocks. Another add is about a car whereby the driver keeps on saying ‘I still have the feeling’, after which he (Sometimes a she) jumps into the air while folding his or her legs up.
The ABC has iView, totally free and no adds at all.
I read too but my eyesight is bad after I had an operation.
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August 4, 2018 at 7:06 am |
That’s odd, Gerard, because I watched Trapped some time ago and saw all of it, and yet, you’re right, only four sessions are now offered. How strange.
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August 4, 2018 at 7:36 am |
Just now we went back trying to see ‘Trapped nr5’, but it is not there. Any recommendations, Jane, for other movies that you liked.
I am so glad that you too did not find the missing Trapped sessions. Did someone hack them or what?
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August 4, 2018 at 7:44 am
I liked Berlin Station and Grey Zone. I don’t watch a lot of them.
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August 4, 2018 at 9:09 am
Yes, we have seen Grey Zone but not yet Berlin Station.
By the way, Jane. Could you please send me your latest article which doesn’t open up, ( as before a couple of times.) From memory it was called Silvertown. I still have your e-mail but the article doesn’t open up.
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August 7, 2018 at 2:35 am
We are movie lovers and still go to the movies sometimes. TV stations are horrible with their programming. SBS is just about acceptable because of some of their good movies.
We enjoyed “Berlin Station” not least because of the locations who are all known to us.
As German speakers, we enjoy lots of German movies on German TV. They are all free and have no commercials. It is like iView here with the ABC. We paid already for the ABC with our tax dollars.
We are also connected to Netflix (courtesy of our daughter who has a subscription), where we picked up an interesting movie with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford (Our Souls at Night).
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August 4, 2018 at 10:45 am |
So annoying when you really get into a series only to discover you can’t get all the episodes. Steve and I recently finished watching the last series of The Bridge. Great series. There is an English/French version called The Tunnel. Now that really shredded our nerves and emotions. The endings to the first and last series were particularly unforgettable. We can get lots of Scandanavian and other European dramas on our playback channels. Just as well, as there’s rarely anything showing on “normal” channels when you fancy watching something.
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August 5, 2018 at 5:29 am |
The Bridge was one of the best, Julia
. What we appreciate about the Scandinavian black genre is that no matter how chillingly horrific the story, the human side is there as well. There are redemption, forgiveness, family foibles and much more. ‘The Bridge’, had the main character suffering Asperger. She was clever but did not handle relationships very well.
At the moment we are watching the Belgian ‘Salamander’. Very good.
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August 5, 2018 at 8:06 am
We’ve watched Salamander, too. Enjoy!
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August 5, 2018 at 9:52 am
We are about ready to retire and switch on Salamander.
( second session)
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August 4, 2018 at 3:43 pm |
I don’t know much about this world of downloading, but I do know that certain of the series I’ve enjoyed provide only the first episode or season for free online. If you like the series and want to continue, of course they’re available for purchase (or rent). I don’t mind that so much, since the people responsible deserve to be paid, and not have their material pirated.
I don’t miss having a television at all. If I hear someone speak approvingly of something they’ve seen on tv or as a video, I’ll often get it through the library. If they don’t have it, there’s a good inter-library loan service. I’m never looking for something that’s time-sensitive, so that suits me just fine.
One thing I do like about Amazon prime is that they’re now providing trailers of each selection. I’m not about to sit through an entire Bollywood production, but I do get a kick out of about three minutes worth. They put the ‘production’ back into productions, that’s for sure.
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August 5, 2018 at 5:49 am |
The free movies we see come via Government subsidized broadcasting media. They include 2 free TV channels that provide movies that one can either download on memory sticks and then play, or view direct on a ‘smart TV’.
The movies are of about 10 or more genres or categories, including even cooking, travel or ‘lifestyle’ movies
There are also 3 commercial TV stations owned by the dreaded Newscorp Corporation and other equally despicable commercial media giants.
The commercial TV stations are dying out as are Newsprint as a result of Amazon, Google, Facebook etc. They are losing advertisers to the IT giants. I noticed that my blog now seems to attract advertisers which I wasn’t asked about.
We rarely watch TV except for the news or series of Father Brown or Endeavour. However, the newly downloadable movies are a good way of chilling out. We don’t download the movies on tape or memory sticks. We never watch a movie twice with the exception of the US movie ‘No country for old men’.
Perhaps because I am now ‘an old man.’
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August 4, 2018 at 7:03 pm |
You and Helvi are WAY advanced. I have spent two days changing passwords (some don’t make it easy) got myself locked off Netflix, Amazon and e-mail. All seems to be working now. I am exhausted. Our parent and grandparents were smart to just follow along. Just kidding of course. We are very lucky to have so much at our fingertips if we so desire. We prefer the TV series which are shorter than a complete movie, but sometimes they are so exciting you need to watch 2.
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August 5, 2018 at 5:59 am |
Yes, we felt rather chuffed having been able to master the craft of downloading the movies on TV. I now use the line of downloading casually about when with friends. I asked one of my bowling buddies; how is your downloading going?
The TV movies on Demand are generally 45 minutes. We too might watch two in one evening. We usually need half an hour to download ourselves before going to bed after a particular good and justifiable killing.
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August 5, 2018 at 6:19 am |
It is wonderful that there are so many ways today to see good movies and good television shows! I love watching movies and TV shows from all around the world!
The Bridge is excellent!
And they made a version for North America with the two cities being Juarex, Mexico and El Paso, USA. It was good, too!
I need to see if I can find Trapped and watch it.
We’ve enjoyed The Fall, Hinterland, Top of the Lake, The Five, and so many more great series!
Just curious…Did your family have a television when you were a little boy?
HUGS to you and Helvi! 🙂
PATS to Milo! 🙂
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August 5, 2018 at 9:50 am |
Yes, Carolyn. We have to watch we don’t become too hooked on all that Scandinavian drama.
We did not have a television when we were little. I was lucky to have socks.
An electrical shop near us in The Hague back in 1955 was selling TVs and people used to stand outside and watch flickering b/w images. I too joined in and got frozen feet in the process.
In Australia after arrival in 1956 there was no TV. That was surprising! It did not come till a few years later.
We all huddled around it. My dad loved the Flintstones and Sergeant Bilko.
We will be watching ‘Salamander’ after 9.30 pm. Before that ‘The sugar Conspiracy’, which is about how the world’s health is held at ransom by the large sugar conglomerates s a Coca Cola Amatil.
Hugs to you too from both of us and a tail wag from Milo.
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August 6, 2018 at 8:31 am
I enjoyed reading about your television memories. My family was poor, too. But, they had a TV before I was old enough to have memories. I remember at age 5 watching a children’s TV show. 🙂
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August 7, 2018 at 2:59 am |
You say: ” I remember in the fifties we were warned about the evils of writing with ball-points! It was the ruination of youth and education.”
This is what I remember too. Ball-points were outlawed: We had to write with fountain-pens. People who could not afford a fountain pen had to continue writing with a pen dipped into an ink-pot. Of course, writing with a pencil was very much a “no, no”.
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