Is This Thing On?

Hello, and welcome to another episode of "Is This Thing On?" (Download and listen now) * It's been over a week since the last podcast -- frankly because I didn't have the motivation to make one while Michelle was back in Salem. But she's back now, safe and sound. * We started the show by playing "Shine" by Hungry Lucy. * Michelle started with the latest nugget of anti-wisdom, EMILY SAYS: "The more petite you are, the younger you look. The taller you are, the older you look." Sorry Emily. * 13 Days of Halloween are upon us now. * The Arizona State Fair is running from October 14 to November 6th, Closed on Mondays! - It's always a blast, whether you take your kids or not. Go see animals, art, swag, games, and rides... rodeos and demolition derbies... and eat fried foods! Then there's the concerts, which general admission is free with Fair admission: - Thur. 10/20 - Gavin DeGraw - 7:00pm - Reserved seats $15 - Fri. 10/28 - Beck - 7:00pm - Reserved seats $20 - Fri. 11/4 - ZZ Top - 7:00pm - Reserved seats $20 - Sat. 11/5 - Rob Thomas - 7:00pm - Reserved seats $20 * Halloween means one thing! It's time to do the Time Warp again! ~ TUCSON ~ HEAVY PETTING cast, presents: Halloween Party/Rocky Horror 30th Anniversary Celebration Saturday October 29 at Midnight Monday October 31 at 9:00 PM Admission $5 - Have ID ready; persons under 17 must be accompanied by an adult At The Loft Cinema, 3233 East Speedway BLVD, Tucson - (520) 795-7777 ~ Note: This is the ONLY Arizona screening of ROCKY this Halloween to be held in an actual MOVIE THEATRE! The Loft still shows RHPS every Saturday night at midnight! ~ FLAGSTAFF ~ THEATRIKOS presents its 5th annual Halloween ROCKY HORROR fundraiser! Friday October 28, Saturday October 29th, Monday October 31st Two shows each night - 8:00 PM and 11:30 PM Admission $10 - All ages welcome; discretion advised for younger viewers - Theatrikos Theatre Company, 11 W Cherry Ave., Flagstaff, AZ 86001 - (928) 774-1662 ~ YUMA ~ Arizona Western College is presenting RHPS with a live stage cast Friday, October 28th & Saturday, October 29th Admission is free! Have ID ready; 18 & over ONLY - Arizona Western College, 2020 S. Ave 8 E., Yuma, AZ 85366-0929 - (888) 293-0392 ~ TEMPE ~ The Sets! Sadly, as Matteo pointed out, NO movie theatres in the Greater Metro Phoenix Area are showing RHPS for Halloween weekend this year, making this the first ROCKY-less Halloween in the Valley since 2001 and only the second since 1977! A tragedy!! HOWEVER, I have Good News! Banned On Broadway will be presenting a showing at a bar in Tempe! ROCKY HORROR at THE SETS - Presented by Banned On Broadway (formerly Broadway Bound and Gagged!) The film will be screened on TVs all over the huge five-themed-room bar from the DVD accompanied by live cast (BoB) = Saturday, October 29th, 2005 = Doors open at 8:00 PM = Admission $10 - This event is STRICTLY 21+. ID required. NO EXCEPTIONS! - THE SETS, 93 East Southern Ave (Southern & Mill), Tempe, AZ Calendar of Events and Holidays - View Events for week of Oct. 23 - Subscribe to RSS calendar - Download/Subscribe to Interfaith iCal calendar. - Other events and information about October, from Wikipedia. * Michelle had a good, but busy trip to Salem, Massachusetts. - She stayed at the Sheraton Ferncroft in Danvers, MA. - The biggest problem was in needing a cab. They were very expensive, due in part to the higher gas prices. - Next time, around Christmas, she may just rent a car. - Then there was a luggage handling fee at Logan Airport of $2.00 for a convenience for "processing" her luggage. * Myself, I've only flown once in my life, to Los Angeles and back for a telephony technology exposition, paid for by my first job. - Everywhere else, I've driven. Usually in a minivan full of kids. *twitch* - Still, I'd rather do that than deal with airports. * In the news, I found an article about Transparent Aluminum! It's true, the Air Force has developed a new transparent armor that's lighter, thinner and stronger than traditional bullet-proof glass. It's called aluminum oxynitride, or ALON^®. * The Marriage of Virtue and Viciousness - New WhiteWolf Vampire: The Requiem novel by Greg Stolze. * Twilight by Stephanie Meyer - Teen vampire novel, the author is from Glendale, Arizona. The book was released October 5, 2005. I'm planning to buy this as an audio book from Audible.com soon and listen on my PDA. (See below!) * NaNoWriMo.org - November is National Novel Writing Month! Get ready! * Yahoo! has added a Podcast search! - Yahoo! also has a new Music Engine program; a music jukebox program like iTunes or MusicMatch Jukebox. - Going with their Unlimited Music for $5/month, this is poised to take over the world. - Music ranking is my favorite feature on Yahoo! Music. It helps to suggest new music because it is similar to what I've rated. * Talked about anemo, who I played last podcast. I bought their album "Slowburn" on iTunes. Kingsley Sage had written me, thanking me for playing their song "Fallout Renegade". That was so cool, I wanted to buy their album to check out their other songs. * We broke up the podcast a bit by playing "Johnny5", by anemo. Check out the video on their website. * Apple just released their new iPod that plays videos, has a 30GB hard drive, and costs $300! That's worth it for the capacity alone. But all it does is play video and music. * I raved about my Palm Zire 72 PDA, initially in comparison Apple's new iPod. ~ Here's what I can do with my Palm: - Plays MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis audio (using Pocket-Tunes) and RealAudio. -- I listen to music, audio books, and podcasts, and can use Yahoo! Music Engine subscription. - Plays videos, like Eminem's iPod TV ad and Batman: Dead End short film. - It's my video camera and my digital camera (1.2 MP = 1280x960 for photos or 320x240 for videos) -- Not high-quality, but better than cameraphones, and just as handy for me -- It's my webcam! - I read eBooks on it -- Text, eReader, Adobe PDF, and even MS Word. I can even edit Word and Excel files! - I have a WiFi card for it and I can surf the web and listen to streaming audio (like SecondShifters.com!) - I play some games on it, like Chess... - All this PLUS PDA stuff like my contacts, calendar, reminders, all of which sync to Outlook and Yahoo! - It's even my clock and calculator. I don't even wear a watch anymore! * What's the real advantage of the iPod over this? Memory. Pure and simple. The new iPod has a 30 GB Hard Drive! *drool* - The Palm Zire has only 32 MB of Memory, but I have a 1GB Memory card, where I store everything. * Note to Steve Jobs: Make a PDA (not another Newton) that has video iPod features, and I'll buy it! Something like the Palm LifeDrive, but with a 40 GB HD instead of the 4 GB it has. *drool* * I will be buying Michelle a PDA soon, and I'm debating geting her one like mine, or maybe a Palm Z22, but we are looking at used PDAs also. * Coming soon to the podcast - Reading stories on the podcast? * The podcasts I listen to: - tWiT and Securty Now, both with Leo Laporte - Five Hundy By Midnight, about Las Vegas - Who's Your Daddy - new dads - The Daily Source Code by Adam Curry - Satan has a podcast - Zipperfish Radio - the guys from YAAFM! * We do our podcast from our bedroom... studio.. den.. gallery... library. Started talking about our books and what happened at the last apartment when I put all of my vampire books together in one shelf. (See the pic on VR, fourth one at the bottom.) * We wrapped up the show by playing "Swallow Me" by Jennifer Helane. If you want to join us on our podcast, Skype me at IsThisThingOnPodcast. - We don't have a scheduled time yet, but watch the status on Skype of IsThisThingOnPodcast. If you have any comments about this blog, feel free to drop a note at http://shaurettenet.blogspot.com. Thanks for visiting. This Blog and PodCast are © Copyright 2005 by Dan Shaurette, under the Creative Commons "Attribution with No Derivatives" License. Some Rights Reserved. Some of the music provided tonight was from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at http://music.podshow.com. The theme music came from the royalty-free collection at http://www.musicloops.com. Technorati Tags: Podsafe Music, anemo, Hungry Lucy, Jennifer Helane, Podcast

Hello, and welcome to another episode of “Is This Thing On?”
(Download MP3)

* We had a long day, as Michelle was getting packed and ready for her flight to Salem. But before we went to bed early for her 6AM flight, we recorded a quick podcast.

* We started the show by playing “Fallout Renegade” by anemo.

* Dungeons and Dragons II: Wrath of the Dragon God TV Movie - SciFi Channel - Saturday Oct 8 at 9PM/10C.
- We missed it, but it will be on again on Thursday Oct. 13 at 9PM/10C.

* Two cool vampire movies coming up Saturday, Oct 15th on SciFi.
- Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood at 9AM/10C.
- The Breed at 11AM/12C
- Then a big Zombie marathon it looks like. Yup, it’s October!

* Ghost Hunters - SciFi Channel - Wednesdays at 9PM/10C
- Michelle’s favorite TV show. Last week was an investigation of the Queen Mary ship and hotel.
- Have we mentioned we love the SciFi Channel?

* Firefly - SciFi Channel - Fridays at 7PM/8C
- The series created by Joss Whedon which told the tale of the Browncoats of Serenity…

* We saw Serenity, the new movie, Tuesday night at the Cine Capri, and it was FREAKIN’ AMAZING!
- I walked out of the theatre saying, “Star Wars is for pussies. Star Trek is for wussies. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is for babies! THAT was Science-Fiction! Long live Serenity!”
- We’ll probably see it again when Michelle gets back from her trip.
- It just has everything: HUMOR, action, great space scenes, drama, A PLOT, and yes, tragedy.
- For those that never saw the series, there’s a wonderful introduction to it all, layered one scene to another.
- Just go see it…
- Here’s a history lesson about the original Cine Capri.

* Michelle started reading The Onion and we couldn’t stop laughing… just from headlines!
- Citing Slow Summer Box Office, Hollywood Calls It Quits
- America’s Obese: A Food Source For America’s Even More Obese?
- I Should Really Get Around To Reporting My Wife Missing
- I’m Not Surprised Hitler Was A Taurus (from Sept. 21)
- Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New ‘Intelligent Falling’ Theory (from Aug. 17) - One of my faves.
- One wall of my cube at work is full of Onion articles, and I own “Dispatches from the Tenth Circle”. Someday my cube will be covered in articles, completing my own “tenth circle”.

Calendar of Events
Monday, October 10
- Columbus Day (USA)
- Thanksgiving Day (Canada)
- Shuang Shí Jié [Double Tenth Day] (Republic of China/Taiwan)
Tuesday, October 11
- National Coming Out Day/March on Washington (1987)
- Meditrinalia, a Roman festival of wine
Wednesday, October 12
- Confucius’ Birthday (China)
- Dussehra Festival for Durga Puja - Hindu
- Día de la Raza [Columbus Day] - (Latin America)
Thursday, October 13
- Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement] (starts Wed. at sunset) - Jewish
- Saint Gerald of Aurillac - Roman Catholic
Friday, October 14
- (Dave McKean and) Neil Gaiman’s MirrorMask opens in Minneapolis, MN, Rochester, NY, and Portland, OR.
– Does not open in ARIZONA until Oct. 21,2005! Harkins Centerpoint 11 in Tempe, AZ
– Buy the gorgeous illustrated movie script if you can’t wait.
Saturday, October 15
- National Grouch Day
Sunday, October 16
- World Food Day
- Feast of ‘Ilm [Knowledge] - Bahá’í Faith
Other events and information about October, from Wikipedia

* “No Planning” our podcast motto…
- Inexpensive plane tickets easiest on over-night flights, or early morning flights.
- Like Michelle’s 6AM… only that means you have to be there at 4AM. Waking at 3AM!
- Then dealing with everyone else that’s half-asleep headed to the airport.

* Criss Angel MINDFREAK - A&E Wed. 10PM
- Illusionist, magician, stunt-devil… crazy white-guy!
- Awesome show… something we watch religiously that ISN’T on SciFi!
- He has a band, too.

* Bauhaus is on tour and coming to Arizona!
- Mesa Amphitheatre - Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005 7:30 PM
- Tickets selling for only $32!
- We are so there, and planning to take Shannon (Scarlett) with us.

* We talked about concerts we’ve been to
- The only concert I’ve ever been to was ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic at the AZ State Fair! (5 years ago?)
- Michelle’s favorite was Bon Jovi in Massachusetts (11 years ago?)

* WinMX has been brought down, thanks to the RIAA.
- Check out this website to find alternatives

* Check out WeedShare.com, FREE, LEGAL music sharing of independent artists, but you can pay after 3 listens, only about a $1 a song.
- WeedShare artists get a bigger part of the fee.
- Win-win situation for everyone, but still not Pod-safe yet.
- So check out music.podshow.com for independent music free to listen to, and they share with us podcasters to share with you.

We wrapped up the show by playing “On the Passing of Fairytale Heroes” by Halfway Home.

No EMILY SAYS this week… too tired. Sorry Emily.

If you want to join us on our podcast, Skype me at IsThisThingOnPodcast.
- We don’t have a scheduled time yet, but watch the status on Skype of IsThisThingOnPodcast.

If you have any comments about this blog, feel free to drop a note here. Thanks for visiting.

This Blog and PodCast are © Copyright 2005 by Dan Shaurette, under the Creative Commons “Attribution with No Derivatives” License. Some Rights Reserved.

Some of the music provided tonight was from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at http://music.podshow.com.

The theme music came from the royalty-free collection at http://www.musicloops.com.

Technorati Tags: Podsafe Music, anemo, Halfway Home, Columbus Day, Yom Kippur, Serenity, Ghost Hunters, Criss Angel, Podcast

Hello, and welcome to another episode of “Is This Thing On?”
(Download MP3)

Michelle joined me again for another episode.

My solemn apology to Daire and Pamela (Emaerald), friends of ours from Ireland. I forgot to mention Pammy last week when discussing feedback about the podcast. Yet, when I mentioned Daire, I mispronounced it as “Dare”; it is in fact pronounced “Dara”. Please forgive me.

We started the show by playing “Perfect” by Miggs.

Calendar of Events
Monday, October 3
- German Unity Day, which is the last day of Oktoberfest.

History from Wikipedia: Ironically, the modern Oktoberfest runs mostly during the month of September. The dates were changed to take advantage of better summer weather which made the fair even more popular. Largely due to coincidence, the festival now ends on or near October 3, which became the German national holiday in the early 1990s.

- New Harvest Moon 10:28 GMT
- Annular Solar Eclipse 10:33 GMT
Tuesday, October 4
- Fast of Ramadan - Islam
- Rosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year began Monday at sunset.
Wednesday, October 5
- Implantação da República (Implantation of the Republic, or Republic Day) - Portugal
Thursday, October 6
- Fast of Gedaliah - Jewish The fast after Rosh Hashanah.
- National Day (Armed Forces Day, or Victory Day) in Egypt; celebrates the results of the October war in 1973
10/6 in his hat) in U.S.
- German-American Day (U.S. observance, since 1987)
- Mad Hatter Day (note the Friday, October 7
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- (Dave McKean and) Neil Gaiman’s MirrorMask opens in Maryland, Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia.
– Does not open in ARIZONA until Oct. 21,2005! Harkins Centerpoint 11 in Tempe, AZ
Saturday, October 8
- Combate de Angamos (Battle of Angamos) - Peru
Sunday, October 9
- Independence Day - Uganda
Other events and information about October, from Wikipedia

The Endless Night Festival originally planned for New Orleans, is now planned for NYC. October 26th-31st.

We’ve seen Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride twice. Once before taking the kids, and then with the kids. It was a little scary for JJ (4), but Josh (13) liked it even though he didn’t think he would. Sami (12) loved it.
-I recently read an article that said it was based on a 16th century Jewish myth called the “The Finger”, published in “LILITH’S CAVE” by Howard Schwartz.

Christoper Walken is NOT running for President. Though the hoax website is very compelling.
- Watch “The Prophecy”, my favorite movie of his. Trust me. Good stuff that.

Talking about holiday flights. Michelle offered her tips to survive holiday travels.
- Try flying the week before Christmas.
– 1. Hotels are cheaper.
– 2. The flights are cheaper.
– 3. Good source is a book called “Cheap Tickets”. Another one is “Fly Cheap!” by Kelly Monaghan.
– 4. Less stress, Miserable during the holiday rush, less frenzied.
- Since the hurricanes, gas prices are causing flights to be cancelled, other rates are going higher.
- Get tickets NOW.
- Use plastic bags for carry on, ones that can be easily looked through. Even clear vinyl zip bags. Security guards can quickly see what inside without rummaging.
- Keep your travel ticket and ID on a lanyard. Flash it and go. You won’t accidentally drop them.
- For more tips, check out: Orbitz Travelwatch.

WhiteWolf just released “MAGE: The Awakening” Storytelling rule book. It’s a big, solid book for $34.99 US. It looks gorgeous. I picked up the freebie Intro story at a game store, but you can download it as well.

Through their ArtHaus label, they had also been producing books for Ravenloft. But now Wizards of the Coast wants the rights back. “Van Richten’s Guide to the Mists” was in production by WhiteWolf. Now they’ve released “Van Richten’s Guide to the Mists” as a free download!

ABC has a new series called “NightStalker” based on the 70’s series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”. The new series stars Stuart Townsend, whom I remember from “Queen of the Damned” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”. We watched the pilot and thought it was well done. A good mystery with a supernatural element. It has potential.

EMILY SAYS: “When you get to a certain age, your hair and nails stop growing.” Sorry Emily.

If you want to join us on our podcast, Skype me at IsThisThingOnPodcast.
- We don’t have a scheduled time yet, but watch the status on Skype of IsThisThingOnPodcast.
- Also realize, we are still dealing with an echo problem on conferences.

We wrapped up the show by playing “Drive” by Rotoscope.

If you have any comments about this blog, feel free to drop a note here. Thanks for visiting.

This Blog and PodCast are © Copyright 2005 by Dan Shaurette, under the Creative Commons “Attribution with No Derivatives” License. Some Rights Reserved.

Some of the music provided tonight was from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at http://music.podshow.com.

The theme music came from the royalty-free collection at http://www.musicloops.com.

Technorati Tags: Podsafe Music, Miggs, Rotoscope, Rosh Hashanah, Ramadan, The Corpse Bride, Kolchak, IsThisThingOnPodcast, Skype