Archive for March, 2008

Jen and I often joke about how “you’re given what you can handle” when it comes to babies. Based on the behaviour of our son, we can’t handle much. He’s a saint, an angel a godsend and any other holy analogy you want to make.

All parents think their kids are perfect - ours is.

Witness the largest outbreak in 4 1/2 hours on a plane yesterday.

His first time flying and he was totally happy to sit in our lap, play with the tv screen and read books. He had a couple of killer naps, some snacks and flirted with the flight attendants and grammas on the plane.

Tomorrow night it’s round 2 - the red eye to Paris. The biggest struggle shouldnt be with Z on the plane, it will be getting our stroller, carseat, 2 knapsacks and 2 suitcases up and down the stairs and through the Paris Metro turnstiles.

Throw in a train change and a 4 block walk to the hotel, and we should be good an exhausted come 10a Monday - but you know we’ll have enough energy come the afternoon to head back out and up to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

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That little button at the top of my Google Reader is fulfilling.

Mark All As Read.

I love clicking it. Wiping the slate clean and seeing the 1000+ stories in my roll shrink down to zero.

Sometimes I feel empty when my queue gets to zero. As if there is nothing left to know. There is nothing new. But usually it’s a sense of accomplishment to know I have bellied up to the internet buffet and beat it. I ate all I could and still had room for more.

Well, for the next 2 weeks, I am on vacation. I’m going on an information diet.

Yes, I’m carrying a MacBook with me 1/3 of the way around the world, but that’s more for something to do while we’re shut in hotels at 730p with a sleeping baby.

I’ve loaded it with 2 seasons of Dexter and will have many hours to manipulate our daily photos and videos into fun memories.

But yes, I have also brought it to stay connected. To try and leap on to some open WiFi connections around Nantes, or St Malo or Honfleur.

Instead of hopping on and checking my reader and scrolling through the updates, I will hit one button.

Mark All As Read.

Okay, and maybe another button. Upload to Flickr.

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It’s flight day.

Easter Weekend with Nana and Gidu in Onterrible, and then 2 weeks en France.

I booked our flights in October and paid extra to secure seats so that we would have the most room possible for Z. This week I double checked our assignments. Out of 4 legs, we only have 1 bulkhead. 3 of the 4 legs are packed full flights.

Samuel L Jackson may have had it with those “mother*** snakes on this mother**** plane!” but he didnt have to deal with a baby.

Z is 10 mos old. He’s just learned to crawl and there is no way in hell he is going to sit still.

We have aisle seats and middle seats, but that 3rd person in our row is going to have fun. So we picked up a Congratulations! You Get to Sit Near Me tshirt to help break the ice with our lucky winner.

We’re lucky he’s so damn cute, maybe they’ll only just kill Jen and I and leave him.

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When the VCR came out, the forecasters said Hollywood was dead. Why would we go to the movies, when we can watch them at home?

Well, 20 years on, we’re still going to the movies. Actually, box office records are being set. Even with the advent of big screen tvs, and home theatre sound, and high definition quality, we’re still going to the movies. Yes, internet piracy cuts into the bottom line a bit, but it’s the personality of the place is what we love. The smells, the tastes, the big comfy chairs. So we go back.

Many thought satellite radio would kill the traditional broadcast model when it was launched. Hundreds of channels, continent wide, no commercials? That will kill the local morning zoo for certain, but it hasn’t. In fact it’s struggled. Long haul truckers and those in remote regions are fans of the service, but in the big cities, radio is doing fine.

But with one hypothetical press announcement this week, it could all change. Hollywood weathered the VCR, but can radio make it past the iPod?

Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about a radical new business model that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices.

The “all you can eat” model, a replica of Nokia’s “comes with music” deal with Universal Music last December, could provide the struggling recorded music industry with a much-needed fillip, and drive demand for a new generation of Apple’s hardware. [SOURCE]

All your music whenever you want - for “free”? Wait, isn’t that what radio does?

No.

As one chain is famous for boasting, radio plays “what we want.” As in, the station, not the listeners. If you feel like Jack Johnson, your iPod can do that now, the radio might have a format that’s “like” Jack Johnson, but they’re not playing him right now.

Want some Ella? Well, the standards smooth jazz station might be playing Ella this morning, then again, they might be in their John Tesh, Kenny G megamix hour.

Radio can’t win this fight on music alone. Once the WiFi abilities of the iPod Touch and iPhone are more widespread across the platform, you won’t even have to wait to sync your iPod at home to get your music. If you want to have a Megadeth marathon while waiting in line at Starbucks, you can get it with a few clicks.

This idea, if it happens, could effectively nail the coffin shut on radio. If more manufacturers put plugs in cars to attach iPods, all music radio could be obsolete within a decade.

Which should not be taken as a eulogy, but rather as a challenge to step up the personality on the air - an iPod may have all the music ever made, but it has ZERO personality.

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Halfway through Spring Break, here's what's on air:

    - Facebook has some privacy and security updates.  Check it out and stop giving out everything on the 'book.. it might come back to haunt you.

    - Jennifer Lopez will debut her new twins tomorrow in People Magazine and with the $6M she sold the pics for she's hired herself a trainer to lose the baby weight.  All 40 lbs of it?  That's it? Hell, I gained more than that in sympathy weight!

    - At this rate they might have to rename Hollywood the Twin City.  Patrick Dempsey, Marcia Cross, JLo, Julia Roberts and now .. Brangelina all with twins.  The rumours have been out there, this weekend Star goes at it full force.

    - Binge drinking in your youth is nothing new.  But is it becoming more socially acceptable?  Ick.  Gotta be careful out there. Look at what's up with Audrina.  And who's surprised the Spritzer escort was a Girl Gone Wild.

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If you dont know a lot about wine (like me) you get easily seduced by the labels on the bottle. The pretty colours, the style, the design.

I used to buy music this way. Back in highschool, when I was getting to music, I would go to A&A Records and flip through stacks of wax by bands I had never heard of - if I liked the cover, I’d buy it.

You can’t judge a book by its cover, but let’s be real - we all do.

So what’s in a label for a bottle of wine. Check out these three:

Which are you more apt to buy? The classic art piece on the Gabbiano? The richness of the Rosemount? The simple Penfolds?

The Rosemount label is a redesign, but to me it still looks 80s. It lokos like a rich steakhouse, but to me it’s just a little cheesy. The Lindemans labels are the same for me.. meh. Now that says nothing of the wine inside, because last week I RAVED about the Lindemans Bin 95, but if I just saw that label, I’d scream right past it.

I’m not a fan of the Gabbiano label either. It may be a vintage representation of Il Cavalieri, a representation of the knights who protected the winery castle in the middle ages, but it just looks old to me. Like a 50s version of vintage, not a timeless interpretation. I would walk right past that one too.

The Penfolds labels are the ones that really make me stop and take notice. Classic, simple and refined. Simple white labels with the red name splash and the varietal beneath. There are a wide variety of wines from the Penfolds house, but they all have the same format on the label, and it’s a winner.

Jen and I were taking it light this week on the libations, no real drinking was done. Next week, however, Wine Wednesday will come to you live from France with the goooood stuff.

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Gary Vee does a killer bit, My 120. It’s just him going off for 2 minutes.

I’ve been wanting to add a vlog to the site for a while, and I love this format. Most of the links to the stuff I talk about today you can see in my 95Crave show notes.

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Here's what's on air today:

    - Kuljeet is now blogging and has a great post about spring sales!

    - Halle Berry's baby girl has a name.  Nahla Ariela Aubry.  Here's a post trying to figure out what it means.  But after some more Googling, it looks like she choose Nahla because it's Arabic for honeybee.
   
    - It's festival time in the city!  In North Vancouver, the Persian community is celebrating Norooz.

    - There's another Barack Obama song coming down the line, this one from Twisted Sister.

    - Tired of tossing the ball down the hall for your dog? Get this.

    - American Idol is just the same ol, same ol.. spice things up with a little Bulgarian Idol!

    - Ellen Degeneres likes the new song from Madonna.

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