The mudding challenge – very cool. I gotta give the Aeillo family props for making 14 attempts through the mud bog. The AOL laptop clue in the middle of the Rocket Center was completely dorky and worthless…well….aside from product placement. Reminded me of the ‘assemble something at IKEA’ challenge they had a couple seasons back. …
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
iTunes Upgrades Destroys Record Store, Cable Company, Movie Theater
With today’s announcement of a Video iPod and the corresponding iTunes bump to v6.0, Apple felled 3 of my least favorite things; record store, cable company, and movie theater. If for $1.99, I can purchase a past episode of Desperate Housewives and for a couple dollars more a feature length film, what’s compelling about a …
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Tuesday’s Triple Play – Songs About Things Going South
For your listening pleasure, here’s 3 songs with the same “things are about to get much worse” vibe. Apocalypse Now – from The Transplants’ Haunted Cities Banditos – from The Refreshments’ Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy Beijing – from Melissa Ferrick’s The Other Side
First Crack 64. Urban Exploring with Filmmaker Melody Gilbert
Just in time for a mid-production fund drive, St. Paul, MN-based independent filmmaker, Melody Gilbert and I talk about her latest documentary, Urban Explorers into the Darkness and the independent, DIY, MacGyver, hack-your-environment, attitude shared by Urban Explorers, podcasters, and other high-tech geeks. Check out excerpts of film and support Minnesota independent filmmaking by attending …
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Star Tribune Re-arranging Deck Chairs
This week the Star Tribune launches their much (internally) debated redesign. It’s been previously dissed by City Pages and MNSpeak. This morning, I read the special 8 page pullout outlining the “new features” and the editor’s comments on it. I’m less than impressed and – even with 3 cups of coffee – still un-enthused. Here’s …
First Crack 63. Coffee Technology with Timothy Tulloch of EuroRoast.com
Timoth Tulloch, CEO and Roastmaster at Minnesota-based European Roasterie (EuroRoast.com), and I talk coffee technology, from brewing to packaging, and why he’s aggressively moving into the single-serve coffee pod program (declaring the Black & Decker Home Cafe the best pod brewer). We wrap up with the culture of specialty coffee and how independent coffee shops …
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iPod Battery Replaced – Success Pending
I couldn’t take it anymore. 20 minutes battery charge on my iPod. Half an Evil Genius Chronicles then dead. Not cool. Not cool at all. Tonight I replaced the battery in my iPod. So far, so good. Reboot has been successful. More updates to follow.
Help, Help, I’m Not Being Oppressed
There’s a renewed DIY/independence/hacker vibe going around, Dave Slusher says it needs a name. I agree. From my perspective, this vibe is about all of us making effective use of cheap tools – to serve our own individual/custom purposes first, and offering the finished product to others to extend and enhance. I hesitate to use …
Amazing Race 8 – Episode 2
On a good note, the suitcase-exchange Road Block in the Tidal Basin is one of Amazing Race’s best challenges; it’s place appropriate, anyone can do it, it’s sexy, and success is a random process of elimination. As always, a good road block like this shakes up the rankings. It feels like the teams are spending …
This Email is Bloggable Signature
I’ve been thinking about when to send an email verses blog. I’ve decided on a loose guideline: if more than 3 people would find something useful, I’ll blog it. If not it’s an email (or, even better, an instant message) Somethings, like mailing lists, don’t map well to this guideline. To cover that, I’ve followed …