create your own personalized map of the USA
Now to knock out some more of those western states and the rest of the east coast. Perhaps another road trip?
Most all of you know that George Carlin died last week. He was, truly, a brilliant comedian, again, as most of you know. I have great memories of us sitting around my uncle’s house in northern california and laughing so hard it hurt. Laughing until it didn’t make a noise laughing. George was one of the funniest comedians I’ve ever heard, even today.
He’s known for his HBO specials, odd movie appearances (Bill & Ted’s, Cars, etc.) and for hosting the popular kids show Thomas the Tank Engine. And being the first person to host SNL. Don’t forget, the 7 words you can’t say on television. I know I never have and if you ever meet me in person, ask and I might tell you exactly what they are. Yes, I memorized them. Yes, before I was driving.
But, besides all of that, he did quite a few comedy albums. I do mean albums on a couple of these, because that is where I first heard them. Nothing like laughing your self senseless to crackly goodness of George Carlin on vinyl. Good times, good times.
Well, as it turns out, Amazon has a few of his albums available for download. If you are ever looking to laugh yourself senseless and don’t mind more than a few 4-letter words, might I recommend the following.
Class Clown - Home of the 7 words you can’t say on television as well as Sharing a Swallow and How Much is that Dog Crap in the Window. Oh man, it doesn’t get any funnier than this.
A Place for My Stuff - I think of this has his first album that got widespread attention, and it was also one of his first HBO specials.
Playing with Your Head - Ah, highschool, bus rides to track meets and George Carlin.
Or, you know, just pick from one of his other 19 albums they have there. You won’t be disappointed.
And, you won’t stop laughing.
From Wikipedia.
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and author who won four Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.
Carlin is noted for his political insights, his black humor and his observations on language, psychology, religion and on many taboo subjects. Carlin and his “Seven Dirty Words” comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government’s power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Carlin’s stand-up routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often took on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture.
He placed second on the Comedy Central cable television network list of the 10 greatest stand-up comedians, ahead of Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor.[20] He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and was also the first person to host Saturday Night Live.
If you do get any, be sure to check back and let us all know what you thought.
Trying to get back on track after being gone for 2 weeks. Feeling the need to post, but not really having anything, a quick list of things that I’m either looking at, playing with or doing.
- So, I have an Evernote account. Downloaded the app even. Does anyone have a good use for this? I mean, I keep a little notebook for notes and whatnot, do I really need this online?
- I’ve been giving thought to trying out Remember the Milk. But, again, do I need it?
- Fluid App is now to a point where I can recommend it. I’m using it for gMail and Hahlo (for Twitter) and it’s working quite well. Click over and see what others are doing with it, or use it for your favorite-gotta-have-get-bummed-when-it-crashes site. I think you’ll be pleased. Watch for a full write up in about a week.
- Firefox 3 rules! I haven’t used it on Windows yet, but on the Mac it’s awesome. So nice to have it back again, with all my plugins and settings. It’s like moving back home.
- Wordpress 2.5 no longer has excerpts for pages, which is annoying. Luckily, I found a plug-in that works well until the functionality returns (rumored in 2.6). Now, to get those excerpts to show up on other pages.
- Speaking of Wordpress 2.5, have any of you played with the new image handling features? It’s pretty cool. Watch for me to start using that more here, there and everywhere I’m running WP.
Off to work more on a custom WP theme.
Spent most of the week closing out MTTS East. Lots of video and photos. And more dreaming of new equipment, mainly a Macbook Pro. Then came the complaints.
On video cameras
I took the The Flip with me for MTTS. Heck, most of you saw that video. Most of someone saw the video because I have over 30k views (combined) on the dozen or so that I posted from the week. The bulk of those views are from Motoringfile.com, primarily the JCW MINI in action video I posted last Friday.
And damn if I didn’t get more complaints than compliments on that thing.
Sure it’s shaky. Sure the sound isn’t that great. It was take with a The Flip Ultra video camera for craps sake. And the entire shoot happened in less than 5 minutes from the time we found out we could ride in the car to the time we were done.
Just in case anyone might have missed it, I operate on a very low budget. Esp. for the show. I have spent less than $600 in total for my gear (and one of the other hosts) and that includes the The Flip.
But the The Flip works very well for me. It takes video that is very easy to edit and my Mac doesn’t choke on them too badly. This is one of those things that I have to think about.
Well now I’m thinking about upgrading to a better camera. I really hate complaints. Complaints mean that someone, somewhere, was not 100% satisfied with my work. I think it’s pretty good, but what do I know.
So, research has ensued. What I’ve been looking for is a camera that, at the very least, shoots 16:9 and uses SD Cards for storage. No tape, no hard drives, no DVDs. And it has to have external microphone support. Remarkable, in low end cameras, this is a tough combination to find. So, I dialed the money up a few notches and this is what I have found.
For a while I was very keen on the Panasonic HDC-SD9. You know I’m keen on Panasonic, and I’ve used my point and shoot (Panasonic DMC-TZ3) for video and it produces great results, albeit with horrible sound. The problem with this video camera is it doesn’t have external mic support, and that’s kind of a deal breaker.
So, the other camera I’ve been looking at is the Canon HF100. It’s about $100 more expensive, doesn’t have as good of sensors (CMOS instead of CCD) and it’s a bit larger. But, it does have external mic input (and monitoring) and great video quality (here is an example.) Plus it will shoot at lower than HD resolutions and still keep the 16:9 format.
Hopefully I’ll be able to upgrade before MTTS LA. If not, I’ll leave the The Flip at home and either do video with the point-and-shoot or not do any at all. I really don’t like complaints. I would rather have no comments at all then have complaints.
And, if you are on WRR and look to the right and see a donate button and want to click it, feel free. Someone suggested I do that, so I have. Camera money only. Should I get enough to cover the cost, the button comes down immediately after I order.
For the last 6 months or so I’ve been going back and forth on my next computer purchase. As I’ve mentioned before, I like 2 machines. 1 that is mobile that I can keep small, light and having only what I need to have while I’m mobile. And the other for my desk which holds all of my media (music, photos, video) and does everything the mobile machine does.
I haven’t had that. Not since my PC died in early ‘07, shortly after I got the MacBook. And, while the MacBook is a great little mobile machine, it just doesn’t have the horsepower I need for doing other things. As it turns out, there are a few other issues I have with it as well.
So I’ve been watching the refurb shop at the Apple store for a 20″ iMac (the good one, not the low-end model), a 24″ iMac and a 15″ MacBook Pro. After my last trip, I’ve made my decision.
15″ MacBook Pro.
This came to me as I was trying to edit video on the road on the 13″ MB screen and watching as iMovie brought the machine to a smoking, screeching halt and declared 200+ minutes to export a 15 minute long video. No good that. Also I got the chance to check one out in person at that ginormous Apple store in Boston. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it.
So, when the time comes, I will get a 15″ MBP for my desk. Run it off the juice with the battery removed (if I can) and use it mobile when I need the extra power.
Something else that I discovered after last week was just how cool the iPhone was. Every day during MTTS it saved our asses no less than twice, and some days more often than that. Whether it was finding the nearest Starbucks or giving us directions from point a to point b, just have access to Google Maps, even as slow as it is over EDGE, was a godsend!
Now, I’m not going to do anything foolish like drop Verizon and go to AT&T. Besides not liking AT&T, the coverage, where I spend most of my time, is crap. And, since it’s the only phone I carry, I like it to work all the time.
What I’m actually hoping to be able to do is get my MBP sometime before Apple stops that student special so I can also get an iPod Touch. Um, sure, it’s, um, for teh lad. Yea, that’s the ticket!
All of which hinges, directly or not, on my getting work. Don’t forget, I am for hire! Feel free to pass along my contact info and whatnot to anyone that you think could benefit from my skills.
Ok, back to processing one more video. Then, and only then, will this round of MTTS be done!
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