Month: November 2005

Tuesday, 29 November 2005

Amazing Race 8 – Episode 9

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on Amazing Race 8 – Episode 9

“The Amazing Race has cured me.”

The promos for this week’s episode were edited to look like a hot air balloon collision caused the Weavers to freak out. After watching the episode in its entirety – it’s clear that wasn’t the case.

Detour: Spike it or Steam it?
We’re spiking it. Knowing how a railroad gets put together seems more interesting than hauling coal. Coal Haulers: feel free to comment.

Raodblock: cattle drive.
Since it’s just Jen and I in this armchair Amazing Race, we’re both doing it.

There’s soooo much driving in this season – blah. I’m longing for the last-minute airport counter negotiations of the previous seasons. We’ve driven some of these stretches. Honestly, being at each others throats in a car in the desert is never cool.

On a related note – anyone know what the “production errors” are that cause the car batteries to be drained? Seems to have happened a handful of times already.

Current Standing of Garrick’s Favorites:

  • Lintz – #3

Tuesday’s Triple Play – 3 From Wonderlick

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Ever since enticing me with their LL Cool J and 2Live Crew covers then switching it up with some of the most painfully melancholy audio, Tim Quirk and the guys from Too Much Joy have always hit me pretty hard. This week’s Triple play are 3 songs from Wonderlick – one of their latest incarnations – that always make me want to crawl back in bed.

All tracks are from their debut self-titled CD Wonderlick ($12 gets you the CD and t-shirt).

Monday, 28 November 2005

A Podcaster’s Christmas List

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on A Podcaster’s Christmas List

It’s the holiday shopping season and I thought it’d be useful to pull together a quick list of computer gear and accessories for the beginning podcaster. Things that would put the best foot forward and provide a good foundation to grow and expand…or not.

Anyway, I was pretty surprised at how low the final price was for all the gear (less than $2,000), and that if you already have a computer with an audio recording application, it’s less than $100 for the mic and cables to get you started. Amazing.

Happy Holidays.

Oh, and send me the podcast if you pull one together this holiday season.

Saturday, 26 November 2005

The Difference Between Consumers and Customers Part Three

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on The Difference Between Consumers and Customers Part Three

I’ve always found the Cathedral and Bazaar metaphor compelling.

Movie theaters, newspapers, television, radio, magazines are all cathedrals. The publishers place an artificial separation between them and the audience/consumers/eyeballs/gullets for their complete, discrete, highly-produced artifacts. One-size fitting all.

Weblogs, Wikis, Bulletin Boards are bazaars. Down in the dirt. Personal connections, relationships, conversations, building-blocks. Each new topic, event, person, site, the start of a new conversation. Custom, individual interactions.

This weekend I finally watched the Aviator on DVD. I’m sure this was fantastic in the theaters, on my non-HD, non-50″ television – the special effects were obvious and cheap looking. The story itself was good. Though, with the lack of Hughes biographical information and resources on the DVD, it felt like the end of a conversation. Not the start.

Things That Mean Nothing to Cooper

by Garrick van Buren 1 Comment on Things That Mean Nothing to Cooper

My mom has this great collection of 45s. I remember spending some fantastic afternoons as a kid spinning Joan Jett, the Beatles, and so many other classics.

This lazy Saturday afternoon, we had the 89.3 the Current on for Cooper and they played a song by the Pixies.

Jen to Cooper: “This was the first CD your mom bought. At the music store in the mall….Back when there were music stores….and malls.”

I’m sure that CD is in one of the many boxes of CDs, cassettes, and VHS tapes in the cloest. I know my first CD – They Might Be Giants – Flood is up there. I have a hard time imagining Cooper ever digging through those boxes – especially when he’s already got a playlist on my iPod.

Obviously, Cooper also doesn’t know anything about Sept. 11, 2001 or the Iraq War. I feel real good about that. Hopefully, those events will end up meaning the same to him as the Korean War does to me: it happened and it’s over.

3 July 2007 Update: We inherited an old early Little Tikes kitchen, circa 1980. With a wall-mounted rotary phone. I don’t know that Cooper’s ever acknowledged it as a phone. Though he’s already racking up the minutes on his green Parent’s flip phone.

Thursday, 24 November 2005

Wednesday, 23 November 2005

Amazing Race 8 – Episode 8

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on Amazing Race 8 – Episode 8

Thought I’d kick off this post by sharing a more travel-related Amazing Race blog – The Pratical Nomad. Edward always has an interesting take on improving travel – or what the Amazing Race should have done. He goes in-depth.

Ok, onto to this week’s installment.

On one of our first cross-country road trips, Jen and I went through southern Utah. The rock formations make it one of the coolest parts of the country – and nearly makes up for Nebraska’s ‘Attack of the Killer Corn Husks’.

Detour: Ride Down or Drop Down?
This is actually tough. Sure, mountain biking through Mowab sounds like fun. The Amazing Race producers usually offer a task fairly location-appropriate and one that feels more like a stapled on hairpiece. That being said, where’s the rappelling gear?

A little googling uncovers that this ‘Bart’ isn’t The Bart. The original Bart the Bear died 5 years ago – even for a reality show, that’d be tasteless.

Roadblock: take a ski jump into a swimming pool.
I’m doing this one. No question.

This is a non-elimination round? No. Phil, please just put the Weaver’s out of their misery.

Current Standing of Garrick’s Favorites:

  • Lintz – #1 (about time!)

Tuesday, 22 November 2005

Tuesday’s Triple Play – Let’s Go Shopping

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on Tuesday’s Triple Play – Let’s Go Shopping

The day after Thanksgiving (or Halloween, or Arbor Day, or St. Patrick’s Day) marks the start of the holiday shopping season. This week’s Tuesday Triple Play is dedicated to the entertainment of retail.

Monday, 21 November 2005