xtvonline is the online student television station at Exeter University. It was founded in the early 90′s, with a major force being Thom Yorke of Radiohead. Its outputs range from comedy to drama to music to factual and much more. Over the past few years, its quality has grown at an exponential rate, with links to the BBC and ITV providing invaluable.

I recently returned to Exeter to catch up with some of the crew that I used to work with on my show called the CinSoc Preview. When I was still at uni, Adam, Laurie and Pip were just finding their respective feet, but now they are just coming to the end of their degrees and have now become the major figure heads of the station, and are now relinquishing the posts of co-station managers and training co-ordinator.

In 2007, we felt we had made such progress with the work xtv was outputting. Now in 2009, we discoved that was only the tip of the iceberg of what the station could achieve. A major push since I left has been on the creative work. As such shows such as Finals, a comedy-drama about uni life, have emerged, alongside the continuation of the award-winning Adam and Laurie show. Music videos have also been popping up all over the place, including one to “You and Me” by The Delays, which is nominated for a student TV award.

There has also been an increase in the factual output, with the introduction of X-Sport, a show documenting the sport on campus, as well as RPM, xtv’s own motoring show. The team also put out quick X-News reports covering both university news as well as more widespread coverage, for example to attempted nailbombing in the Princesshay shopping centre.

Overall, I am blown away by the quality of programming coming out of this sleepy Devon city. I am not just saying that as they are my friends, but also as TV lover. I implore everyone to check some of their work online, and explore the back-catalogue. I believe that if they want it, they will have huge futures.

xtvonline is available 24/7 at xmedia.ex.ac.uk/tv

I will get this over with at the top. I got 16/24 of my predictions right. On Sunday morning, I had a gut feeling that Sean Penn was going to win but I decided to stick by my predictions to my cost. So here’s where I was wrong and right:

So Slumdog Millionaire won the most as I predicted with eight, not the nine I thought. Watching it online, getting more and more tired, I was also getting quite emotional as well. I admit I cried when Heath Ledger’s family accepted his award, and at 5am, I was dancing around my room when the Best Picture was award to my favourite film for sometime.

On to the glue for the evening. Much was made of Hugh Jackman being named host, and I thought he did a fantastic job. One of the best openings to an Academy Awards in a long time. Anne Hathaway’s “surprise” guest appearance was great. I believe that for once, whilst there were some overly obvious autocue readers, the majority of the award presenters did a good job. The “Pineapple Express” short was not as good as it could have been.

One thing, I really liked was the presentation style for the acting awards, using five previous winners to talk about the nominations, it was nice to have a break from footage which never really gives a fair representation of the role. Yes, it was a lot of patting each other on the back, but it was also refreshing.

Overall, I have no real issues with the winners, although I did feel that In Bruges did deserve some recognition for a fine screenplay. Also, Mickey Rourke not winning might be of more benefit to him in the long run.

Roll on 2009 and what is to come. Although, it may be tough to match this years award winning films.

• Best Picture – Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Director – Danny Boyle
• Best Actor – Mickey Rourke
• Best Actress – Kate Winslet
• Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger
• Best Supporting Actress – Penelope Cruz
• Original Screenplay – In Bruges
• Adapted Screenplay – Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Animated Film – Wall-E
• Best Foreign Film – Waltz with Bashir
• Art Direction – Benjamin Button
• Cinematography – Slumdog Millionaire
• Costume Design - Benjamin Button
• Sound Editing – Slumdog Millionaire
• Sound Mixing – Slumdog Millionaire
• Visual Effects – Benjamin Button
• Film Editing – Slumdog Millionaire
• Make-Up – Benjamin Button
• Best Score – Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Song – “Jai Ho” – Slumdog Millionaire
• Best Live Action Short – Manon on the Asphalt
• Best Animated Short – This Way Up
• Best Documentary Feature – Man on Wire
• Best Documentary Short – The Final Inch

So the main winners are Slumdog with nine and Benjamin Button with four. Let’s see if I am right.

The Oscars are screened on ABC in the US and Sky Movies Premiere. The main event starts at 1700 (local time).

After deciding who support (Arizona for me), we had to decide how to watch it. Housemate’s big screen on either EyeTV or via the BBC sport website or on the 20″ in my room on the normal TV signal. We tried the EyeTV, but the lag was appalling. So we decided to watch on BBC Sport site. Yes, quality wasn’t as crisp, but it was on a 37″ TV.

Midway through the 2nd quarter, one housemate declared he was tired so went to bed, then as we got close to halftime and The Boss, my other housemate, whose TV it was, called it a night. So I had to head to my room, to carry on watching.

On came Bruce, he rocked, I got more tired. But I only had to hold out for 90 minutes more.

Arizona were impressing against the best defense in the league. At that point, I can’t remember much.

I am told that Arizona, scored a touchdown to take the lead, and it stayed that way until 35 seconds from the end. It had to be a close call touchdown that won it.

People are calling it one of the greatest games in history. Why did I miss it?!

*My XBOX Live Gamertag.

One week ago, I had just got to the end of season 4 of Lost. Jack and Ben were in a funeral parlour. Ben had just told Jack that he needed to get everyone back to the island, including “Jeremy Bentham”, who had committed suicide. Everything was relatively normal. That was until the identification of who “Jeremy” was. John Locke. What?! How?! Fade to black. To be continued.

So Sunday night, I sit down, slightly tired and began watching Season 5. At that point, Lost lived up to its reputation. I just ended up more confused than ever. The island now time travels, backwards and forwards between prior to the crash and current time. Ethan Rom is “back” from the dead. The hatch intact.

Off the island, Jack and Ben are on a mission to get Kate, Aaron, Hurley and Sayid back. All four are on the run. Kate and Aaron are being pursued by “lawyers” demanding blood samples to confirm if they are actually related. Hurley and Sayid are wanted by the police for murders Sayid committed but Hurley is the suspect in.

All of this leads to general confusion, especially if you are only half-awake, like I was.

Still, Lost has regained a place in my heart as a great show. Can’t wait for next week.

LOST is shown on Sky1 on Sundays.

SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!

So Tony’s back. This time he’s a bad guy.

Of course, he isn’t. In one of 24′s now legendary twists. It is not the case. He’s working undercover and he’s not alone. Yes, they’re back. Bill and Chloe have reconvened the CTH (Counter Terrorist House) of season 5.

In this double episode, Jack has his first major case of insubordination. Sleeper holding Renee Walker, then slamming his gun in to Agent Moss’ face, before releasing Tony, to allow him to re-infiltrate the crew he was working for, who in turn are aiding General Juma.

I have realised now that since the action is taking place all in the same city, DC, both the White House and Jack’s stories have a strong chance of physically catching up with each other. Cherry Jones is fantastic as the new President, without seeming like she’s a Hillary wannabe. The FBI team are great. The scene with the battle of the Geek Girls was both thrilling and entertaining to watch.

24 is now back to its on-the-edge-of-your-seat best and is on Sky1 on Mondays at 9.

The hardest part was deciding how best to end the story. Do I save the villagers, the people I loved plus my dog or do I take the money and let them all die? I surprised myself by deciding to be the selfless hero and save the people of Albion. The love was so great that I was partying with all of them.

So now it’s over, what next?! Probably Gears of War 2 or MGS4. Both of which I have only scratched the surface.