AndyO Blog

Monday, January 23, 2006

Creepy BK advertisement

I was watching the Seahawk game the other day, and I saw this Burger King ad that really creeped me out. I don't know what it is, but there's something weird about the Burger King guy running around on a football field. Am I the only one who thinks this?


posted by AndyO @ 11:56 AM   2 comments

Sunday, January 22, 2006

The spirit of radio in Seattle

Recently, I've been listening to more radio in my car and less CD music (and audio books). Here are the stations in Seattle that have been entertaining me during my 30 to 90 minute commute:

102.5 -- KZOK - The Bob Rivers Show: There's nothing like listening to Bob, Spike, and Joe in the morning. These guys are always interesting to listen to, as they all compliment each other. They used to be on KISW, but then something happened and suddenly they weren't on the air. I have to admit that in the past few years I've been listening to Howard Stern in the morning. But then he went to Sirius. And now I've returned to where my love for talk radio all started: The Bob Rivers Show.

96.5 -- Jack FM: My brother introduced me to this station on Friday. He said something about how they use an algorithm to pick the songs that people want to hear. But, when I researched this a little, I found that the difference between Jack FM and other radio stations is their playlist. Jack FM can have a playlist of 1000 songs, compared to 100 at a normal station. Interestingly, Jack FM was inspired by CHUM FM in Toronto, which inspired the Rush song, "The Spirit of Radio."

94.9 - KUOW, NPR: I've now listened to this station for probably 15 years. NPR is the best news radio I've ever heard, always going beyond the soundbites of corporate news (NBC, etc.). NPR also goes after both sides of the story, which is what journalism is supposed to do. Something tells me Edward R. Murrow would be proud of these guys.

90.3 -- KEXP: I've only recently been listening to KEXP, and now I understand its legendary status. They are to music what NPR is to news. Because they're member supported, they don't have to answer to any corporations. So like Jack FM, they play whatever they want. But unlike Jack FM, their musical range goes far outside popular taste. On a Saturday night, you might hear African music, indie rock, and local music. Who says radio has to be boring?
posted by AndyO @ 10:58 PM   0 comments

Books, Magazines, and Music - 1/22/2006

Books

Rush: Chemistry : The Definitive Biography by Jon Collins -- So far (I'm on page 22), an intriguing book about the Canadian power trio. Well written and thoroughly researched. It's also interesting to note that Hugh Syme, the longtime Rush album artist, produced the cover for this book.

The Worlds Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets, various authors -- I have to admit that I bought this book after I saw an infomercial (the first time I've ever done this). I liked the idea of a bunch of "health secrets" in one book. The book is a good information source for health ideas; for anything in-depth, you'll need to dig into full-length books.

Magazines

National Geographic -- Article about the science of love. Scientists are starting to understand what attracts people to each other and why people stay together.

Rolling Stone -- Article about Larry Wachowski's (The Matrix) obsession with high-class S&M.

Modern Drummer -- Interview with drum solo master Terry Bozzio.

Music

Dave Matthews - Busted Stuff

Sting - Brand New Day

posted by AndyO @ 10:27 PM   0 comments

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Books and Music - 1/18/06

Here's a list of the books I'm reading and music I'm listening to:

Books:

Music:
  • Rush: R30 - CD 1
  • Rush: The Spirit of Radio (Greatest Hits)
  • Chris Botti - Night Sessions
  • Madonna - The Immaculate Collection
posted by AndyO @ 12:26 AM   0 comments

Technology falls apart

It's funny, in the past 3 days almost all my new technology has broken or is not working correctly. It's been pretty frustrating. Here's what's happened:

  • Roku Soundbridge -- Yesterday it just stopped working. I suspect it's an issue with my Windows firewall, although I'm still testing it.
  • Logitech Harmony Remote -- The LCD screen is broken, and no functions are working. I'm back to the same three remotes to opearte my TV, DVD, and Receiver.
  • Roland SPD-S -- One of the cables that connects my bass drum trigger to the SPD-S is broken.
  • Windows -- More errors than usual. I've had to manually shut down "processes" in the Task Manager for new applications and hardware I've installed.

I realize now, being someone who works in the tech industry, that technology does break. However, when everything breaks at once, it's kind of spooky.

posted by AndyO @ 12:13 AM   0 comments

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

The Cable Song on KEXP

Chris let me know today that "The Cable Song" got played on KEXP over the weekend.

This is the first time my drumming has been on the airwaves. And of course I thought about how I had dreams of this moment all my life, and now that the dream has passed into reality, it doesn't seem like that big of deal. But that's always how things like this work.

Click to hear The Cable Song.

Labels:

posted by AndyO @ 12:18 AM   0 comments

Friday, January 06, 2006

New technology around the house

Over the last week or so, I bought a few cool products to help make things easier around the house.

1. Logitech Harmony Universal Remote (starting @ $99.00)

I don't know about you, but we've used three remotes to run our TV, DVD player, and receiver. And I'm sick of it. So, I went down to Best Buy with my $50 Christmas Gift Card.

Despite a poor setup experience, once Harmony gets going, it's really an amazing piece of hardware. It allows you to create basic tasks, like watching a DVD, watching TV, or playing Xbox(with an Xbox adapter) . The Harmony is able to combine all your other remotes because it downloads the remote "driver" information from the Internet with a USB cable. The thing that I didn't see advertised is that you can program your favorite TV channels and look at the listings on the remote. For someone who's always channel surfed without digital cable or satellite (with the guide info), this is a really cool concept.

Even though you'll pay well over $100 for the most basic version, I highly recommend the Harmony Universal Remote for anyone who has more than one remote to control their TV.

2. Roku Soundbridge Network Music Player ($200)

What if you could play all your music on your computer on another stereo in the house? What if you could actually control the computer playback from that stereo? That's what the Roku Soundbridge does. If you've got a wireless network running in your house, the Soundbridge will configure itself to run on it. No fuss. No muss.

All you need for Windows is Windows Media Connect server software to connect your computer files to the Soundbridge. The great thing about the Soundbridge is that it can also play Internet radio stations. You just program them in (I think you can have 20 of them).

Soundbridge also works with many different kinds of music software and music services, like iTunes and Rhapsody. I haven't tried this yet, but it looks promising.

posted by AndyO @ 12:49 PM   0 comments

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Are you a gadget guy or gal?

I realized the other night that I'm really a gadget guy. How can you tell if you're a gadget guy (or gal)? If you can answer "yes" to at least 7 of these, then you probably are:

  1. You make a weekly trip to Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, or Radio Shack. You often buy things from these stores that you don't need.
  2. You buy magazines that show off new gadgets, software, or hardware.
  3. You think the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas would be a nice vacation.
  4. People have called you "a nerd."
  5. You can talk for hours with other people about computer stuff, cell phones, PDAs, the web, or other technology.
  6. You can answer within 1/2 of a second how fast your computer's processor runs.
  7. You can tell someone which operating system you are running (Windows XP, Windows 2000, Mac OSX, etc.)
  8. You like to look at other people's cell phones and "try them out."
  9. You have used the word "server" in everyday conversations.
  10. You think Mr. Spock is "pretty cool."
  11. Bonus points: You work in the tech industry.
  12. Bonus points: If you have kids, you look for ways to buy gadgets for them that are really for you. (For example: Robosapian.)

Whether being a gadget guy or gal is a good thing remains to be seen.

posted by AndyO @ 12:21 AM   0 comments