Gnarls Barkley...CRAZY

I saw this video for the first time this weekend. I think it's pretty amazing. Like the first time I saw Seven Nation Army.

Passed this huge line at 5th Avenue in Manhattan this evening that extended 'round the block. I'm assuming it was the line for the grand opening of the new apple store. Apparently it's going to be open 24 hours a day. I guess that's for all the folks trying to get their iPods repaired. Apple's got a pretty cool time-lapse thing going on over on their website highlighting the crowds. Amazing.

90 Essential songs from WFUV

A lot of these lists really upset me, but this one is better than most.

Jason Harrod's on iTunes

I'm excited to let you know that Jason Harrod's "Living in Skin" is now available on iTunes. I hope "Bright As You" will follow soon. Click here to listen on iTunes.

What's really at stake in the console war

One of the most interesting things to come out of E3 is the brewing war between the next generation video disc formats. Playstation 3 will play Sony's Blu-Ray discs and Microsoft announced today that it will offer an add-on unit for the XBOX 360 that will play HD-DVDs. The console players will be the first units many consumers will own and the quantities of these units sold will likely play a large part in determining which format catches on and becomes "the standard". Because let's face it, there can be only one.

He's Back

Well, at least next year he will be. Microsoft announced today at E3 that Halo 3 will be released in 2007 for the XBOX 360. Abracadaver will rise from the ashes to destroy all who dare cross our path.

Watch the Trailer here.

Summer

Manohla Dargis's MI3 review in the New York Times references "Mr. Abrams's inability to adapt his small-screen talent -- evident in his capacity as the television auteur behind "Alias" and "Lost" -- to a larger canvas.".

Manohla, Manohla, Manohla, give me a break. Mission Impossible III is a great summer movie. Ask me two years from now what it was about and I might remember a few plot points and something about Philip Seymour Hoffman hanging out of a plane, but that's not the point of a summer flick. I came out of the theater fully entertained and I'm psyched about the summer to come. Superman? X-Men? Pixar? Will Ferrell in a NASCAR comedy? Oh, it's gonna be a good one. And I might even enjoy a few days in the sunshine too.

The Day The Music Died

It seems Cinderella had it right all those years ago. In fact, you DON'T know what you got 'til it's gone. My iPod crapped out on me and it looks like I'll be music-less for two to three weeks while they attempt to repair it in Minneapolis. What am I gonna do on the bus? READ???!

I hoped they'd just give me a new one 'cuz I bought the extended warranty, but no. They're going to do everything they can to fix the one I bought. The critically malfunctioning one with the big scratch on the screen.

Ethanol

I know very little about Ethanol and this E85 that's being pushed hard by GM in their FlexFuel vehicles. It sounds great. Make 85% of the stuff we put in our cars out of corn, everybody wins, right?

But then I read this article on Slate.com that makes me question whether it's a good idea at all. If anyone has any additional information that contradicts or supports this article by Robert Bryce, please let me know.

Enchanted?

You're bound to see the darndest things in Manhattan. Walking to work, I saw a crowd gathered watching a fella on top of a bus with sword. I did a little research that makes me think this may have been "Enchanted" starring Amy Adams & James Marsden.

POINTS FOR ORIGINALITY

LINK

David Cope

Years ago, a friend of mine gave me a tape of a performance by a young man named David Cope from local radio, I think in Philadelphia. There were several great songs on the tape, one of which is "Throw Me Out". I saw David perform once in New York and haven't been able to find any additional information about his music online until recently.

I learned "Throw Me Out" won the month of March in the 2005 VH1-sponsored "Song of the Year" contest. You can download it here. It's in WMA format, but all you have to do is save it to your desktop, then drag it into iTunes. iTunes will convert it for you so you can sync it with your iPod if you happen to have one.

If you like the track as much as I do, be sure to visit www.davidcopemusic.com for more about his music.

Neil's new project

From NeilYoung.com:

"I just finished a new record...a power trio with a trumpet and a 100 voices...recorded earlier this month...i think it is a metal version of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan...Metal folks protest?...it's called LIVING WITH WAR"

If you haven't already, you'll probably hearing about Neil Young's new record, Living With War in the next few weeks. It was recorded very quickly. Seems as though Neil had an idea about how to address the state of the nation and he sprinted to get it recorded and released to the public. They'll be releasing it first as a free stream at neilyoung.com while they're manufacturing the CDs. Reminds me of a story I heard about the rapid production and release of "Ohio" days after the Kent State tragedy.

There's now a blog, I'm assuming it's maintained by Neil's folks, at http://livingwithwar.blogspot.com/ that should keep us up to date on what's going on with the project.

You can read more about it there.

Townley instrumental to dyeing easter eggs in the U.S.

Apparently my people were instrumental in bringing easter egg dye to much of the United States. I've never been so proud. The following passage is excerpted from PeterFredson's Journal)

"Easter egg decorating is an Old World tradition that was brought to U.S. shores by Pennsylvania Dutch settlers in the early 1700's.

By the late nineteenth century, a New Jersey druggist, William Townley, had begun selling small packets of Easter egg dye to mothers in his neighborhood. In 1880, Townley founded Townley's Easter Egg Dye to produce and sell the packets for 5 cents each. Townley, whose early customers had been Pennsylvania Dutch, soon changed the company's name to PAAS Dye Company. The word PAAS was derived from the Pennsylvania Dutch word "Passen," meaning Easter."

Read more about the history of the Paas company at their official site.

Google Calendar released

Google finally released their online calendar this week. I played around with it for a few minutes and while I LOVE Gmail, I have decided (for now) to stick with 30 Boxes, which just keeps getting better. You can now set reminders that will be emailed to you & I love the Evoke TV mashup that keeps me up to date on my upcoming shows. I just checked the 30 Boxes blog and was surprised to see this promise:
"Whatever Google brings to the table, we will do it better."
So far, so good.

Aretha's Will Rise Again

It's been about two weeks now, and I just found out about this, through chance. I was talking to some co-workers about biscuits (don't ask me why) and of course, I brought up the website for Aretha Frankenstein's restaurant in Chattanooga. I went to the website and was broken-hearted to see the place burned. This article at The Chattanoogan provides some details. There's security camera video of the actual fire here.

"and yes...it's going to be rebuilt.
back just the way it was..."

Matthew smiles for Dad

Berlitz commercial

This commercial cracked me up.

A Blessing and a Curse

The new Drive-By Truckers record comes out April 18th. If you want to hear it before buying, just follow THIS LINK to a flash media player that will allow you to stream tracks. These aren't samples. You can hear the complete tracks. Easy to use, sounds great. This is a band with confidence in their music. Enjoy.

Thank Me Later

I may be a little late on this, but the fake "The More You Know" PSAs from the cast of "The Office" are available online at NBC.com. Click here. You'll be glad you did. Oh, and thanks to Tanster over at The Office Tally. I just checked out the site for the first time today and it looks great.

TV schedule on 30 Boxes

I know I keep posting about 30 Boxes, but I wanted to let you know about this great feature. There's a site called EvokeTV. I went through and rated the shows I watch and Evoke TV automatically created an RSS feed that I plugged into 30 Boxes settings page. NOW, my calendar is updated for the week with all my shows, giving me the broadcast times and details about the show. I know at a glance whether LOST is a repeat or a new episode. Here's the link at 30 Boxes with details.

Matthew's FIRST WORD!!!

We're very excited and frankly baffled that Matthew has spoken his first word. We searched the indexes of all our development books and he's defied every last one of them! Ten months is around the time he's expected to talk and it's usually da-da or ma-ma or something simple. We made an appointment with Dr. Freidrich Von Lichtenhoffer in Geneva. He agreed to pay our airfare when he heard the incredible news. We're supposed to fly over on Sunday. Of course, this isn't a complete surprise, he was holding his head up the first day and was crawling 13 hours later. But that's old news. I'm sure you're dying to know what the word is. It's "fool".

The Office

If you're not watching The Office, here's a little of what you missed. Episode: "Michael's Birthday"



Dwight plays the recorder.
Michael: Stop! What is that?!
Dwight: It's "The Longest Time" by William Joel.

* * *

I bet Luke Perry's friends don't treat him like this.
Michael points to his poster of James Dean

Matthew

McSweeneys

In case you're wondering why "McSweeneys" is among the sites in my "other sites you might just dig" section, enjoy this list by Chris Song. You may also be interested in Wholphin, the new quarterly DVD magazine from McSweeneys.

The photo? I took it last year on our trip to San Francisco. It's a mural by Chris Ware above the 826 Valencia building. The folks behind McSweeneys started this tutoring center for kids. Read more about it here.

Comfort of Strangers

Beth Orton's latest is one of the best records of the year (so far). I've listened to her a bit over the years but this tops all I've heard from her. Ordinarily, I'd send you over to iTunes to pick it up for $9.99, but for some reason they're selling it for $12.99. Amazon's not much better, although they are offering a version with a bonus disc. I haven't heard it, but it may be worth it to check that out too.

If you like Comfort of Strangers, you might also like her cover of "Ooh Child" from "The Other Side of Daybreak"

Matthew & Daddy

Live on the Radio

I'm sure many of you have done this. I'll be listening to a song on the radio, then I'll turn the station and the same artist will be playing on another station. Well, I just assume the artist died and I go on thinking they died until the song's over and the DJ doesn't say anything about it. Let's face it, DJs can't pass up an opportunity to go on and on about someone who's just died.

THIS kind of proves the theory. Someone actually recorded a scan of the dial on the day John Lennon was murdered. (thanks to Boing Boing and WFMU)

Some great Chickamauga photos

I check out Lifehacker pretty regularly. I've added their RSS feed to my Google sidebar. I noticed today, this post, which suggests checking Flickr for photos tagged with the name of your hometown. Searching "Chickamauga" yielded some great results.

I was really impressed with photos by Chattanooga resident Matt Dunmore, including the Crawfish Springs tower and Gordon Lee Mansion. I emailed him and asked if I could let y'all know about his photoblog featuring his work. He's very talented. I suggest you check it out: http://matt.dunmores.com/photoblog/

30Boxes

In my house, I'm always wanting to try out new technology and Erin is the true test of whether that technology is successful. If it works the way it's supposed to and it's simple to use, she'll use it. If it doesn't work, she won't waste her time. I, on the other hand, will spend 14 hours trying to install a new component in the computer saying the whole time, "I just don't understand. This should work!".

SO, the point is, Erin's using 30 Boxes, the new online calendar that I've been testing recently. When I told her I was gonna post this she said "I use it because you use it and it's easy".

They're updating constantly and it has what's supposed to be a great sharing function. So if you're interested in trying this out, you'll find my "30BUDDY" button on the sidebar.

Gervais on The Simpsons

I reported in an earlier post that I thought the Simpsons episode written by and starring Ricky Gervais, would be March 19th. That is INcorrect, as I now understand it. The episode, called "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" will air Sunday, March 26th in the US. So set those TiVos. It should be pretty funny. (via SimpsonsChannel.com)

In other Gervais news, check out the latest Entertainment Weekly. In their music section, Ricky's painted up like David Bowie on the cover of Aladdin Sane. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the pic on the ew.com site.

The 150th post! A Year in Blog.

So, I'm a bit late in recognizing this on the blog, but at least we're in the right month. I started the blog a year ago this month, on March 1st, 2005, actually. Boy, a lot can happen in a year. I wasn't sure it would last or that I'd have anything to write about, but I counted up the posts and danged if this isn't the 150th. Thanks to everyone who's bookmarked this thing, all who listened to the podcast, and who cared enough to let me know what you think of all this. It's a lot of fun and I have no plans to stop blogging.

Walk The Line

Okay, so I saw very few of the Oscar-nominated films this year before the awards were handed out. Capote was one of the few I did see and I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance was incredible. I had him picked, like everyone, and I thought he certainly deserved to win. UNTIL, I saw Walk The Line last night and realized that Joaquin was robbed. What a great performance. Witherspoon was good and for all I know, deserved to win. I didn't see any of the other performances. Great film. Great performance. If you haven't seen it, rent it. It's certainly worth your time. But then, you probably knew that.

The Simpsons

Big thanks to Scott for sending me this link. I'm stunned at how great this is and I'm pretty sure it will be all over the net and the news by Monday if it's not already. The word is that this was shot in England as an ad for The Simpsons there. Dunno. If you hear anything about the origins of this video, please leave a comment.

In other Simpsons-related news, I hear the episode written by and starring Ricky Gervais will air March 19th.

A Scanner Darkly

I have to say, I think I'm one of many film buffs who admire Richard Linklater more than I actually enjoy his work. From Slacker & Dazed and Confused to Before Sunrise to School of Rock to the Bad News Bears remake, that's an interesting career to me. While I really enjoyed School and liked the faithful Bears, I'm excited to see his latest, a sort of live-action/animation hybrid called A Scanner Darkly.

Waking Life did absolutely nothing for me as a film. But of course, the animation style had real promise and was amazing to watch. I think I even muted the DVD and just watched it for a while.

Check out the trailer for Scanner HERE.

Then be sure to read the WIRED magazine article for the background HERE.

Podfading

This is a phenomenon of which I'm sadly a part and now it has a name. Podfading.
Check out this WIRED article: PODFADING TAKES ITS TOLL

As I've explained in this previous post, podcasting is great if you've got the time. Unfortunately I don't anymore.

Matthew Davis Townley

This is Matthew Davis Townley. You can see from the previous post the moment he was born on Valentine's Day. He's home now and doing well. He was 8lbs. 7.6 oz. at birth.

Here he is...

Mother and son are well. More soon.

Why My Wife Is Not An Olympian

"You know, I think if I won a gold medal, I'd wanna win a silver and a bronze too. You know, just so I could have all three, all different colors."

New Online Calendar

I've been waiting for Google to release a calendar that works well with gmail. I'm sure it'll happen at some point, but until then, I'm happy to tell you about 30 BOXES, a new online calendar that's very easy to use and allows sharing with friends & family. Best of all, it's free. I've set it up as a tab on FireFox, so whenever I launch it, I'm signed in and I can take a look at my calendar immediately.

I suggest you try out the sample calendar they've got HERE.
Then, sign up, HERE.

Google...Film Distributor

Before the Super Bowl, the "popular" selections on Google Video were largely homemade. Web-cam karaoke, an audio-enhanced Robert Tilton clip reel called "farting preacher", and matrix pong (see it) often placed in the top spots. Post-Super Bowl, it seems the split is currently about 50-50 between big-budget (Pizza Hut, Budweiser) / no-budget productions.

I imagine Google Video will eventually go the way of podcasting. More companies will realize they can freely advertise directly and easily to the public.

What will be really interesting though, is the young man or woman who creates a digital film (short or feature length) and decides Google Video is the ideal distributor. The day is coming when word of mouth will spread worldwide on a film that might cost a viewer $2 per download. If I'm told it's an amazing film, I'd gladly skip a night's rental at Blockbuster to spend a couple bucks to support a new distribution model. From there, the sky's the limit.

Track Jack

This is fun. If you're a fan of "24" and have been watching this season, you might enjoy checking out this Google Maps project featuring locations from the show.

JackTracker!

I'm back

Boy, it's been a while since I posted. I've been working a lot and trying to get the house ready for our new addition. He should be here anytime in the next couple of weeks, so we're excited and anxious for him to come.

A tip for you film lovers out there, go to Turner Classic Movies this month for their annual 31 Days of Oscar. I TiVo'd Shampoo the other day. Good film. I'd never seen it. I can't understand why Lee Grant won a best-supporting Oscar for it though. Sometimes it just depends on the other nominees in the category, I guess. Anyway, some of my favorites are coming up this month:
2001 (2/10 at 10pm) & Dr. Strangelove follows at 12:45am
The Graduate (2/11 at 8pm)
12 Angry Men (2/13 at 11:45pm)
Coal Miner's Daughter (2/21 at 10:15pm)

and one that I'm anxious to see for the first time,
The Conversation (2/28 at 8pm)

The Ricky Gervais Show podcast & the end of The Shaun Townley Podcast

Ricky Gervais is, in my opinion, one of the most naturally funny people on the planet. Now he's got a podcast. And it's a proper podcast too, not some short advertisement for something else. It's him, Stephen Merchant (co-creator of 'The Office') and Karl Pilkington. Each podcast is around a half hour. There have been 5 so far, and I am anxiously awaiting the next one. I understand there will be twelve all told. Be sure to check it out at iTunes or just go to the podcast page at Guardian Unlimited. And of course, for all things Ricky, check out rickygervais.com.

Oh yeah, by the way, you may have noticed that I've changed the name of this site to "The Shaun Townley Blog" from "The Shaun Townley Podcast". That's cuz I haven't done a podcast in a really long time and I'm tired of paying $5 per month for a podcast that I'm not doing. So, sorry to those of you who enjoyed it and were awaiting more. There were over 1600 downloads of the podcast during its run, so I can't feel too bad about that. It was a fun experiment and it's been cool to see how podcasting has evolved since I began nearly a year ago. If you're looking for a particular podcast, email me and I can send you the mp3 no problem. Fear not, the free, fun & easy blog will continue. And if you desperately need to hear my voice, skype me.

THE FEED

Do you have a Gmail account and a personalized Google home page? What about a My Yahoo! page? If you'd like the last few posts of this blog to pop up with your other content when you check your google home page or MyYahoo! page, you can use my feed to make this happen. It's pretty easy.

On Google, just sign into the personalized home page and click "ADD CONTENT".
In "Create A Section", just enter this URL: http://stownley.blogspot.com/atom.xml

In MyYahoo!, again, just click "ADD CONTENT", then, "ADD RSS BY URL". Enter the following URL to add the feed: http://stownley.blogspot.com/atom.xml

It's really pretty simple. That way you can check the titles, then click on the posts that sound interesting to you.

10 bucks for a bunch of Bob

Happy 2006 folks, have I got a deal for YOU?!
You may have one or more of these three great records, but if you don't, you can't pass up the chance to get them all for $10!

iTunes is selling three classic Bob Dylan albums Blonde on Blonde, Blood on The Tracks, and Time Out of Mind, together for $9.99!!

Click HERE

KONG

I saw Kong later than most, I suppose, nearly two weeks after the initial opening. Box office wasn't what the studio hoped for, as I understand it. But I think it has a chance to hold on to the top spot for another week or two at least because the word of mouth on the film has to be this: incredible. Long? Sure. Go to the nicest theater in your area, the one with the most comfortable seats & the best sound.

Peter Jackson has again proven that he's today's undisputed master at using special effects to astound us, the frighten us, and to move us. Kong is a character, in fact, a misunderstood hero, caught without expression in a world where communication is king.

Some thoughts about podcasting

Well, I've done it. I've removed the last "independent" podcast from my iTunes subscription list. I was hanging on to The Dawn and Drew Show but I hadn't listened to an episode in a long time and I was getting tired of watching my PC work to find new episodes of a show that I knew I wouldn't listen to. Now I have subscriptions to KCRW's The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell, the New West Records podcast, ABC's LOST podcast, and the long-delayed Shaun Townley Podcast. Oh, and the Ricky Gervais podcast which I haven't been able to listen to on my iPod for some reason. It shows up, but skips to the next track. Weird.

Anyway, podcasting started out as a way for anyone to put their stuff out there to find a small but dedicated audience and I'm sure it will continue in that way for the foreseable future. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you see it, the cream has risen to the top. I think I've finally given in to the truth, that despite the fact that Dawn & Drew are pretty funny, I'd rather listen to Elvis Mitchell interview Peter Guralnick about the new Sam Cooke bio. That's just me. And it could be a phase, I don't know.

That's not to say that I think all independent podcasters should hang it up. There's lots of great niche stuff out there that you can't find anywhere else, the long tail, & all that. I hope people stay subscribed to my little podcast, because I hope to do some more stuff in the future, but unless this is your job, it's really hard to devote the time & energy necessary to make it great. It's been a fun experiement and I love the fact that it's only $5 a month for me to continue it. We'll see where it goes.

SNL / NYT

Okay, remember two posts ago, when I mentioned that the Lazy Sunday video was everywhere on the web? Well, the New York Times picked up on that too. This is actually a pretty good article.

READ IT HERE

"Feb. 14" for Dec. 25

A Christmas gift from Drive-By Truckers! They're releasing a completely free, no strings attached song from their upcoming record, A Blessing And A Curse. Go to www.blessingandacurse.com to download "Feb. 14" in a number of formats. The email I got from Jenn, their webmaster, said "No one will be chasing after ya for trading it, so share freely - Limewire, Gnutella, and MP3 blogs should feel free to pass this around." So spread the love & let everyone know that the new record's out in April. If you love what you hear, go to http://drivebytruckers.com for more on the band.

Don't forget, DBT will be playing a couple of shows at the 40 Watt in Athens on Jan. 20th & 21st, so all of you in the area, check it out.

Merry Christmas!

Crazy Delicious

Okay, it's everywhere now. If you didn't see the "Lazy Sunday" music video on SNL last weekend, you've probably seen it online by now. YouTube streams it HERE. iTunes Music Store has released it as a FREE download for the iPod. The bit's popularity on the web makes sense though. Andy Samberg, new addition to the SNL cast, came from Lonely Island, a web comedy troupe. In fact, I think the other two fellas from Lonely Island were involved in the production of "Lazy" behind the camera. All their stuff's available under a Creative Commons license which is a legal agreement between content producer and consumer, less restrictive than your standard, old-fashioned copyright. My blog & podcast are produced under a similar license. Read more about Creative Commons HERE.

Some Thoughts on Mobile Access to Content

I've been thinking about the progress we've made in mobile technology over the last few years. These days music and video content are often available freely online as "streaming" media, essentially allowing you to sample a song but not to "own" it, that is, not to have complete control over when and how you listen to it.

Record companies say you're allowed to listen to this song on your PC but you can't burn it to a disc and listen to it in your car and you're not able to download it for free and listen to it on your ipod whenever you want to unless you buy the CD or download the track for a buck at iTunes.

BUT...what happens when the promise of mobile technology is fulfilled? Content will be available for consumers to stream from their internet-ready devices, and in some cases it already is. Consider a blanket broadband connection covering a city. Consider a wireless device that can access streaming content in the car, on the street...anywhere. The line between access to streaming media and essential ownership of that media is blurred. Puts the content folks in quite a pickle. Why would I buy a copy of a song when it's constantly available for streaming?

XBOX 360 LINE AT BEST BUY

I was at the Best Buy on Route 10 in East Hanover, New Jersey tonight around 8pm and snapped this with my phone's camera. There was a sign on the door saying they'll have 45 of the deluxe 360s and 2 of the core systems at 8am Sunday morning. First come, first serve. As I type this it's 28 degrees outside in East Hanover. These folks really want their XBOX.

"Heard 'Em Say"

Did you like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"?
What about "Gold Digger" & "Jesus Walks"? What about Maroon Five? Do you like them?
And Macy's? Who doesn't like Macy's? They usually have great sales, right?

Well, if you said yes to all of these questions, you might enjoy the latest Kanye West video directed by video maverick Michel Gondry.

CLICK HERE to find out.

Baby Townley

Little baby Townley is about 4 and a half pounds and progressing nicely. We went for another ultrasound today. You can see the nose & mouth and his closed right eye. You can see there's a little bit of placenta or something in front of his left eye.

Horowitz for Christmas?

Are you looking for that perfect Christmas gift? The one that will arrive after the tree's taken down, the lights are rolled back into a knotty ball and the egg nog spout's grown a beard of mold?

Be sure to get your copy of The Mind of the Modern Moviemaker at Amazon.com (available Jan. 31st) by clicking HERE.

The author, Josh Horowitz used to work with me. Great guy, extremely knowledgeable and funny too. Don't believe me? See for yourself. Check out his site, betterthanfudge.com.

iPod Zepto at McSweeney's

Saturday Night Live recently tried something akin to what Jon Fitch has done much better here at McSweeney's.

THE IPOD ZEPTO: INCONCEIVABLY SMALL.
BY JON FITCH

HVD > HD-DVD & B-R?

The continuing battle over the next generation DVD format rages on. Will it be Sony's Blu-Ray or the HD-DVD? Both goofy names if you ask me (you didn't). Well, if the folks over at Hitachi Maxell get their way, it may not be either for long. They're working on HVD, a disc based on holographic technology that will allow storage of an entire season of Lost in high definition on just ONE DISC.

Read more at Red Herring.

Tivo on iPod

I posted October 6th and October 20th about how it would be great if we could transfer TiVo recordings to the iPod. I just found an article that says TiVoToGo will be expanding soon to allow transfers not only to the new iPod, but also to the PSP.

READ MORE HERE

Metropolis / Chattanooga

Chattanooga's downtown resurgence is featured in the November issue of Metropolis magazine. I picked it up initially for the cover story on the new Bloomberg headquarters in New York where I work. I was surprised to see that the issue featured an article on Chattanooga and glad to see that the article is available for free online.

READ IT HERE

"Development" is arrested

I read a report from Reuters that Arrested Development's season will be cut short. Only thirteen episodes will see air this season, presumably its last. Such a shame. The best shows never last. Let's hope My Name Is Earl keeps its viewership up so it doesn't meet the same fate.

Lord, I Apologize

A surprisingly insightful look at "redneck" comedian Larry The Cable Guy by Bryan Curtis on slate.com.
CLICK HERE to read it.

Incident Report

I was at a coffee shop yesterday morning and bought a medium coffee with steamed milk which I then spilled on my hands. It was extremely hot. The coffee lady came from the back with gels and creams and a cold pack. She gave me a new coffee free and I felt sufficiently mothered. The other customers waited for my skin to bubble up. The woman asked if I wanted to fill out an incident report.

Incident report was new to me but i knew instantly what it was. It's a "this is what i'm saying happened in case this ever comes up in court" document. I assured her that I was the idiot who spilled the coffee on myself, that it was my fault and no one else's. I don't want to go to court any more than they do. I'll make my money the old fashion way. As an assassin for the CIA.

Presidential Speechalist

You've probably seen this already, but boing boing posted a link to it and I watched it again and I'd forgotten how funny the debate section was.

CLICK HERE to the see the short.

Hitchcock on TCM

Over 20 Hitchcock films on Turner Classic Movies over the next eight days.
Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Strangers On A Train, and many more.
Visit www.turnerclassicmovies.com to search for your favorites.

I thought this was a podcast

I haven't posted a podcast in a long time. I know you probably don't care but you may be wondering why the podcasts have become less and less frequent since they began many months ago.

When I started podcasting I thought, this should be easy. I've got a lot to say and I've got an hour or two of free time to say them. Well, believe me, if you think you've got a lot to say and decide to share your thoughts with the world, you'll discover a couple of things.

1) You don't have much to say.
You have a few things to say and you say them over and over again. Try it. You'll see.

2) You don't have an hour or two of free time as often as you think you do and if you do have that time, you'd rather spend it with your spouse or your friends or with your good friend, television rather than plugged in to a computer with a headset on talking to no one specific.

My wife and I are expecting our first child (a boy) in February so we're spending time preparing for that and just kind of enjoying our last few months as a duo.

Podcasting has exploded since I started doing it and there are lots of interesting shows out there. Keep visiting. It's much easier to do a blogpost, so I'll do that more often, obviously, and I will podcast again. I'm just not sure how often, so keep me on the favorites list. You can even start personalizing your Google page and add my RSS feed so you can keep up with posts there.

Thanks,

Shaun

Video iPod

Yeah, so there's a video iPod. I think it's great in theory. BUT...what are we going to watch on this thing? Madonna's music videos? Episodes of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES for $2?

This guy says he's figured out how to create iPod-ready video from TiVo recordings, but it's complicated and slow. Trust me, I tried the process and I could't even get it to work. So...until TiVo and Apple strike a deal that makes transferring TiVo recordings to the iPod simple, or unless someone figures out a simple and affordable way to get content on the thing, it's like having a gun with no bullets, pretty useless.

BUMMER

I was pretty excited about the whole TiVo-Netflix partnership. We were going to be able to download films and store them on TiVo instead of receiving them in the mail.

I guess it was too good to be true. Read THIS POST ON ENGADGET for details.

It Was My Understanding That There Would Be No Math

Not only did I have to watch the Braves get POUNDED in the seventh inning and subsequently lose the third game in the NLDS series against Roy Oswalt and the Astros, but I was stupid enough to keep the volume up during the game.

The Fox announcers (I think it was Josh Lewin and Steve Lyons) spent the entire game talking about how young the Braves players were, saying stupid things like "You remember Michael Jackson's Thriller video? Well some of these Braves rookies don't. They weren't even born yet."

If you don't know anything about the players except what you can read off the back of a baseball card and what you can figure out with a calculator, go host a game show.

Okay, so I'm bitter my team's down 2-1 in the series. At least I know where the mute button is.

Apple Video iPod?

Well, the rumour mill's goin' nuts. Apple's got an event coming up in which everyone's speculating they're going to release a video iPod. Please, Steve, let it play shows that I've recorded on TiVo! I can already transfer them to the PC and watch them there. It's just one more simple step from the PC to the device.

First Season of "Lost"...completed

The wife and I just finished watching the first season of Lost on DVD and I have to say it was amazing. Like everyone else I can't say enough about it and I'm excited to watch the second season. We've been TiVo'ing each of the new episodes. I'm sure it won't take long to get caught up. If you didn't watch the first season, rent the DVDs and enjoy the first season 3 or 4 episodes at a time.

Who Knew?

Chewie's got a mean slider.

CLICK HERE for the explanation.

Peter Jackson: Lord of the RING

RING...HALO...get it?
That's right. Reuters is reporting that Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh are going to serve as Executive Producers for the film version of HALO. Jackson described himself as a "huge fan" of the game. Next time I see him I'm going to suggest the inclusion of an elite unit of warriors, code name: ABRACADAVER.

Nic Cage stole our NAME!

ABC News reports that Nicolas Cage has named his newborn son Kal-El Cage. I'm not joking. If you don't know the name Kal-El, it's Superman's name from Krypton.

Drive-By Truckers comin' to YOUR town

Drive-By Truckers are touring throughout the South.
They're gonna be at Rhythm & Brews in Chattanooga October 13th so be sure not to miss it.

CLICK HERE for a complete list of tourdates.

"Shining"

Okay, another fun one from boing boing. According to this New York Times story, Robert Ryang entered this fake trailer for "Shining" in a contest and won. The idea was to take visuals from a film of any genre and make a trailer for a new film in another genre. He took Kubrick's "The Shining" and turned it into a Cameron Crowe-esque dramedy.


CLICK HERE to watch the video.

New TV is Here At Last

The wife and I have a TiVo season pass for most of these. I'm looking forward to Lost, obviously. We're the only people in the country who didn't watch a single episode last season, so we're netflixing the first season on DVD now (thru 8 episodes so far) and we're TiVo'ing the second season so we'll be able to catch up. It's a great show. Also, House's new season is great so far. Hugh Laurie was robbed at the Emmys.

SUNDAY
The West Wing 8pm
The Simpsons 8pm
Family Guy 9pm
American Dad 9:30pm

MONDAY
Arrested Development 8pm
How I Met Your Mother 8:30pm
Two And a Half Men 9pm
Medium 10pm

TUESDAY
House 9pm
My Name Is Earl 9pm
The Office 9pm

WEDNESDAY
Lost 9pm
CSI: NY 10pm

THURSDAY
Smallville 8pm
CSI 9pm
Without A Trace 10pm

FRIDAY
Threshold 9pm
Numb3rs 10pm

Legos for the 21st Century

Great use of technology by the folks at Lego. Visit the Lego Factory online and use their virtual designer to create a virtual lego project. Then, (this is the cool part), send them your design online and they'll send you the lego parts necessary to build it!

Face Transplants

BBC News: US Plans First Face Transplant

This is pretty scary. There's no telling where it could lead. What if a mesomorphic supervillain decided to steal the identity of a slightly bigger family man? Of course, he'd need to disguise his voice somehow and completely change every other aspect of his appearance in order to fool co-workers and family, which is, let's face it, kind of impossible, but we're headed down that road, people!

It Was Only A Matter of Time

Pick these up over at bustedtees.com.

SIN CITY & THRESHOLD

I was pretty excited when I heard SIN CITY was going to be made into a film by Robert Rodriguez. But, as it often does, life got in the way and I didn't get to the theater to see it. I'm sure it was a much better experience on the big screen but I thought the movie was pretty amazing. I watched at home this weekend. The DVD doesn't have a commentary but these guys have fixed that. It was a Carla Gugino weekend here at the Townley household. She was featured in "Sin City" as Lucille, Marv's parole officer, and again in the new CBS Sci-Fi drama, Threshold. I watched the two-hour premiere and I'm hooked. Got myself a season pass for that one.

Vacation + Reunion

We've been back from vacation since Labor Day. I had a "short" week at work that seemed extremely long. I've finally gotten vacation & reunion photos posted at flickr. If you're interested,
CLICK HERE.

Fox News Coverage of Katrina

(via Boing Boing)

This is pretty funny. I wish I'd seen it. Blogs are reporting this exchange between Shepard Smith and a New Orleans man-on-the-street during Hurricane Katrina coverage:

SHEPARD SMITH: You’re live on FOX News Channel, what are you doing?
MAN: Walking my dogs.
SMITH: Why are you still here? I’m just curious.
MAN: None of your f**king business.
SMITH: Oh that was a good answer, wasn’t it? That was live on international television. Thanks so much for that.

California and Georgia

It's been a while since I've posted and even longer since the last podcast. I'm on vacation! The wife and I were in San Francisco for five days. Great town. Now we're in Georgia with my family and we're going to be attending my 10 year high school reunion. It's nice having some time off of work and seeing family. I'll try to get a podcast together soon after my return.

When I get home I'll be installing Google Talk to check it out. It looks pretty great. If you haven't heard about it, read more here: GOOGLE TALK.

Wanna see the world's ugliest dog?

I laughed for about a minute straight when I saw this picture of Sam, the ugliest dog in the world. He's been featured on MSNBC and in the LA Times in recent days. I didn't post the picture because it's a little much if you're not expecting it. If you WANT to see this dog, CLICK HERE to go to the LA Times article.

New Sigur Ros record coming Sept. 12th

There's a new Sigur Ros album coming out September 12th. It's called Takk, which means "thanks" in Icelandic. If you don't know Sigur Ros, I suggest you check out this site: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/. The MEDIA section contains some free downloads to whet your appetite. I recommend the live version of untitled #4 (a.k.a. njósnavélin / the nothing song).

You can also download Saeglopur, the new single, at iTunes.

Jason Harrod Interview - Podcast #12

This podcast is an interview with singer/songwriter Jason Harrod. The podcast also features music from his latest CD, "Bright As You". You can find more information about Jason and his music at www.jasonharrod.com. Enjoy!

Download podcast #12 here: stp-08-07-05

How do you say "fab four" in Arabic?

A friend told me if you call the Syrian embassy in New York, the hold music is a midi version of The Beatles' "Let it Be".

These are the things that make me happy.

WHITE is overrated

This CANNOT be good for you
http://whitelight.com/

Okay, so no podcast this week

I know I said there would be a podcast this week, but hey...there ain't one. So what are you gonna do about it? Huh? Huh?!! Come on punk! You got somethin' to say??

...yeah, I didn't think so. You'll get your podcast when I'm good & ready to give you a podcast...and not a minute sooner.

Upcoming podcast

The next podcast is scheduled for next week some time. I'll have a conversation with singer/songwriter Jason Harrod. It should be fun, so be sure to drop by next week to check it out. Or better yet, subscribe to the podcast and it will come to you!

For those of you who have never subscribed to a podcast before, iTunes makes it really easy. Just download the latest version of iTunes by CLICKING HERE.

Once it's installed, go to the music store and look for "Podcasts" on the left side of the page. Once you're on the podcasts page, type in "Shaun Townley" and you'll find my podcast and a "subscribe" button there. It's that simple.

PS3 price

Chief Executive of Sony's gaming division, Ken Kutaragi,
is quoted on the PS3: "it will be expensive".

To the Moon...

http://moon.google.com/
Funny stuff. Zoom all the way in.

30 Days

I just finished watching my third episode of 30 Days on FX and I have to say I'm really impressed. If you saw the film Supersize Me (I didn't), you'll recognize Morgan Spurlock, the creator and host of the show.

First one I saw was a Christian who lived for 30 days as a Muslim, the next was another Christian (sense a pattern?) who went to live with a gay man in San Francisco to confront his stereotypes about homosexuals. This most recent episode featured a guy who wanted to spend thirty days getting back to his old physique by taking around 40 supplements per day, testosterone shots, and daily human growth hormone as well as eating well and exercising. There's something to be said for growing old gracefully. If you get a chance, check it out.

A Free Acoustic Set By Drive-By Truckers

So maybe you've read about the band Drive-By Truckers or heard me talking about them on the podcast but you haven't bought any of their records. Well, enjoy an acoustic set they recorded for Sirius satellite radio. It's been released as a podcast on the New West Records website. If you like what you hear, head over to iTunes and pick up The Dirty South & Decoration Day. I just got Southern Rock Opera this past weekend. It's a great record too.


Click here to download the podcast: Drive-By Truckers on Sirius

Moving Advertising

I've been taking the PATH train more than usual lately on the way into work and was amazed to see an ad for the new Range Rover as I looked out the window of the train. As Brandweek.com describes it, there's "an installation in the New York subway that creates the effect of flip-book-style animation by the motion of trains themselves". It's hard to describe but it's extremely cool. There are a bunch of still posters on the wall of the tunnel, each varying slightly, so as you're moving past them in the train, the images appear to move before your eyes. It's pretty incredible. I encourage all of you to travel to New Jersey (and then, of course, on the PATH to New York) just to see it. Really. Come on. It'll be fun.

Defrag

I've never defragged my hard drive before. I had no idea you have to set aside a day to do it. This is taking FOREVER.

A few thousand bucks lyin' around?

Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz will be auctioning some props used in the films, including Luke's light saber and Yoda's cane.

College fund? What college fund?

Click here for more information

(thanks Boing Boing!)

Google Earth!

On April 5th, I blogged about Google Maps' addition of satellite images. Since then, Google has taken a giant leap forward. GOOGLE EARTH is now available. You have to download this free software and take it for a test drive. It's too incredible for me to try to explain.

Download it HERE

"Hamburger America" - Podcast #11

"Hamburger America" is a great new documentary by filmmaker George Motz. You can see it Monday, July 4th at 8pm on Sundance Channel. I had a chance to talk to George about the film Friday night, and I've included that conversation in this podcast. Enjoy!

Download Podcast #11 here: stp-07-01-05