Tumblr and TV Intros

A couple short things today.

First, I signed up with Tumblr (here's a link to my page there), after much insistence from friends of mine who use the site. Actually, I did this back in July, before I left on my summer vacation. I intended to write an introductory post back then, but I totally forgot about it until just recently.

In all honesty, I still don't really 'get' Tumblr. It's a micro-blogging service, which means it's like a mix of Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger all rolled in one. Most people, it appears, just post funny pictures or gifs that they want to share with friends, which is cute but not enough to make me join up. There are a lot of people who do post short written pieces, however, so it seems like that's what I'll be doing.

My tumblog will complement this blog instead of being a re-post of everything I write here. For the most part, it will be things I have to say that are too short for a full blog post but too long for a Facebook status update. I'm also planning on focusing on my writing; when I'm working on something, I'll write about it there, and when NaNoWriMo comes around, I'll keep you updated on my progress via Tumblr instead of Blogger.

Y'know what this blog needs?
More random pictures.

I also enabled comments on my tumblog, a feat which was unnecessarily complicated. It works through a third-party system called Disqus, but you don't have to sign up or anything, which is wonderful.

I hate to have to spread around my internet activity; wouldn't it be great to have just one website to check to see everything I'm up to? But that's how people did it before social networking (IE, you could only see what I was up to when we happened to meet up in person), and that's probably how we're going to be doing it for a long time to come.

Feels free to follow my tumblog or not as you like. Tumblr comes with a handy RSS feed system, so I don't have to spend an hour trying to figure out how to set one up, and you don't have to sign up with Tumblr to get notified of any new posts I make. My Tumblr posts wont be as orderly as my Blogger posts, and I can't tell you when new posts might show up (I already have three up, and I only started yesterday).

The second thing I wanted to talk about it my love for alternative TV opening sequences (this is one of those short topics that qualifies as 'too long for Tumblr but too short for a full blog post'. Has anyone made a website for those yet?)

I guess this picture is kinda relevant.

Every TV show has an opening or title sequence, which usually includes cool music, character shots, some credits, and the show's title (Unless it's like Castle, which is just the title over a couple measures of music). I would go on about the title sequence 'setting the mood for the show', but most title sequences come on just before the first commercial break. Basically, they're there for the fun of it.

What I absolutely love, however, is alternative title sequences. These are very similar to the normal title sequences, but with some sort of difference, in response to a change in the show.

I first noticed sequence differences in Bones, one show that I've been following for a long time. Every new season, they changed out some of the "character shots" with newer ones. It wasn't enough to be really noticeable unless you were paying close attention, but it kept that opening bit fresh (I'd link you to a video of the opening sequence, but I can't find it anywhere on Youtube).

I noticed it again while watching the show Fringe. This is the first season intro to Fringe; notice all the science fiction-y words and images. The images stay the same throughout the series, but during the next season, all the words changed. That was fun in and of itself, until we got to one 'backstory' episode which took place entirely in 1985, and we got this. The 1985 version intro is probably my favorite. All 1980s graphics! All the weird things they would have considered sci-fi back then!

Fringe logo, a la 1985

They did a couple other special openings for Fringe, the most common being the 'red' opening, which they used for every episode that took place in the alternate universe. The season 3 finale episode, which took place sometime in the future, used a grayed out opening, and season 4, which just started last Friday, is using an amber opening (though to explain why would kind of give away spoilers).

Right now, however, I think Psych has the most memorable alternate intros (here's the original opening, with the extended lyrics). The character shots change up every season, as might be expected (most shows do this, I've come to realize), but every now and then they have a special themed episode. The first, I believe, was the 'Spanish soap opera' opening, which gave us translated lyrics, and later the opening for the Bollywood episode, which redid both the music and written credits. Other highlights include the acapella theme, the Christmas opening, and the theme styled after Twin Peaks.

I'm not sure why I find this so appealing, but I know other shows have done it. Feel free to leave me some more examples in the comments.