Month: December 2006

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Some things shouldn’t go to Broadway

I have an extremely soft spot in my heart for the film version of High Fidelity[imdb]. Yes, it would be in my top five, all-time favorite flicks. It’s clever, has a great soundtrack, and has John Cusack. Don’t know why, but that third ingredient always brings me to check out any project that he is involved in. I tried to read the book it was based on, but it was one of those many things that I picked up and simply failed to get past the first fifty pages. It’s not that it wasn’t any good. I just didn’t have the attention span.

But did you know that it was being made into a Broadway musical? I certainly didn’t, and it looks like not very many people will get a chance to see it.

It might not rank on the list of the Top 5 Broadway Flops, but it comes close.

Last Thursday the stage adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel High Fidelity opened at one of the biggest theatres on Broadway. The story of a nerdishly dysfunctional record shop assistant, the hit novel had translated into a hit film. The hit stage musical, it seemed, was assured.

But on Tuesday, after just 14 performances, the show’s producers announced that it was closing. [guardian]

Ouch. I can’t say that I’m too surprised though. For the life of me, the character of Rob singing on stage, prancing around, and singing off his top-fives just doesn’t play out well in my head. In fact, I call the images of thinking about such things to be down right scary. There are certain things that work well for musicals, but I’m not sure why someone thought this would be one of them.

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This American Life going to the little screen

It almost seems like a trend right now. First, Garrison Keillor[wiki] took A Prairie Home Companion and turned it into a movie[imdb]. Now it’s This American Life, probably one of my most favorite programs in the world of public radio that I hardly listen to. But hey, it’s a podcast now, so I think I’ll have to subscribe.

That’s just one of the many odd discussions that took place in the process of transforming a radio program into a television series. The show is This American Life. The host is Ira Glass. The TV series will debut in March on the Showtime cable channel.

There’s a certain simplicity to the art of radio. At its heart, it’s all about storytelling. And This American Life is a radio show that revels in storytelling — quirky stories, sad stories, scary stories.

This American Life seems so wedded to the medium of radio that when the Showtime cable network first approached Glass about turning it into a TV show, he couldn’t imagine it.

“We basically said ‘no’ for a year and half,” Glass recalls. “And we kept saying we have no idea how to… be filmmakers. You have to hook us up with people who could design something that got across the feeling of the radio show.” [npr]

I’m not too sure how I feel about it. The beauty of radio is the theatre of the mind and how it comes across the airwaves. Being an audio junkie, you would think that my gut reaction would be to hate the whole concept, but I take comfort in the idea of Showtime(or potentially in Canada, Showcase) being the network to throw this on the tube.

Audio Doc - Ira Glass
Photo credit: transomradio on Flickr

I’ve had the brief, but not the most up close, pleasure of working with Ira Glass[wiki] during my days in public radio. In fact, it was just a one day sort of thing, but he really is a fascinating guy. Not in the omnipresent, starstruck sort of way, but he is a person that knows what he’s trying to do and how that should be done. Based on that, I know that he wouldn’t make a venture into television without making sure that the end result was going to be good.

I’ll say what I have always said about television. It’s five times as expensive and takes just as much time to produce worthwhile content. That’s not to say that working solely with audio is easy. Both mediums are their respective art forms, but you should never compare the two. If you don’t believe me now, then start listening to the This American Life podcast now and see how it compares to the TV program when it comes out. The effect will simply not be the same. We have yet to see if we can call it good or not.

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The Crazy Canucks #11 – Looking for a streak

DaveO came over earlier tonight. Rebecca and I made a podcast with him, Alanah, and J.J. The last two people weren’t actually here with the three of us, but it’s amazing with what you can do with VoIP these days. Check out the episode we recorded here.

Dave joins John and Rebecca in “the studio” while we have Alanah and J.J. on the line for this slightly longer edition of the podcast. We tackle the latest news regarding the end of Alanah’s blog, Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, and look ahead to what we can expect from her new role with Kukla’s Korner. You can read her first feature article on her new home, “Bringing Hockey to the People“. So yes, the hockey blogging will continue.

That also sparks a brief debate over blogger and podcaster fans of the NHL in general, and their role in covering their favorite hockey teams in this age of new media. Whoa… deep.

Canucks! Oh yes, we talk Canucks as well. Carolina, Calgary, and Phoenix are the latest foes to face, so we do our best to cover our likes and dislikes over the games. The way things have been going, we have all been surprised with who we’ve been liking on the ice. We also get a little bit of a Vote for Rory update, tackle goalie mask designs, and toss around various thoughts about who’s hot and who we’d like to see contribute some more.

The Crazy Canucks

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I have a thing for lines of code

I’m redesigning the RadioZoom site again. Ok, it’s not a redesign, but I’m porting the design, mostly, into a better layout. I’ve worked so hard to not make the website look like a blog because, let’s be honest, it’s a podcast, right? Anyone can start a blog and shift it into a site for a podcast. I’m just going to stop fighting the inevitable.

The current theme that I’m using, as it is a WordPress driven site, has so much code that is cobbled and hacked together that it hurts too much to clean up. I know it’s bad taste to take someone’s theme that they put out there for public use and then tear it all apart for my own amusement, but I’m picky. It has to look right, at least to me. I ain’t no design genius either, but beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. Well, in this case, the programmer.

PodPress is really the reason I’m revamping the design. Subtle changes makes it not want to play nicely with the current design. They recently released a new version of this great podcasting plugin for WordPress, so I think it’s high time to dive into fixing it. At the same time, it keeps the geek skills sharpened.

If all goes according to plan, the new design should be live next week. Don’t expect any huge surprises. It should look similar to what it is now, but functionality will be the true improvement, perhaps more so on the back end.

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Think before you run

I ventured out on a route this morning that, in hindsight, I should have thought out a little bit more. The massive amounts of wind that played with the trees outside of the apartment yesterday had me concerned about the roots holding. Windows rattled and the whole place rumbled. These are the types of weather systems that start here and end up dumping loads of winter goodness in the lands of the Midwest where I used to call home.

IMG_9296 The seawall was pretty clear, but there were bits of trees laying on the ground that I took care to step around and over. When I got to the part where I anticipated heading into the park, I only got about a hundred meters when I ran into the first tree on the path. Took some careful steps, but I got around it alright. A little further, I came to a Y-intersection. One way took me to Beaver Lake, and there was no way I could get around or through.

The tree covered access to both of these trails, but a slight amount of space let me crawl under it to the other trail option, just enough so that I was drenched by the water trapped in the pine needles. On the other side, I found another tree laying in the path. Luckily, this wasn’t of the same variety, so some careful dancing and ducking got me through to the other side. I got to the top of the path and took the road back out to the seawall.

The weatherman said a couple more systems are to come yet this week. Lots of rain, lots of wind. I’ll keep that in mind before I try running through the park anytime soon. Made for a longer route than I wanted today.

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Students too busy being smart to rock

Maybe it’s because I like Clinic, but this is nuts. Apparently, St. Martins College, a small school in London, England, had students protest their upcoming performance there. The reason? They had too much school work to do.

As previously reported, the university was scheduled to host a sold-out Clinic gig on December 14, but due to “pressure from a small minority of students, who saw the show as a perceived disruption to their studies and were threatening to stage a sit-in protest” (according to the band’s website), the concert was canceled.

A sit-in protesting a rock show?! What decade is this again? The fifties?

Tickets for the canceled show will be honored at the band’s next London show, tentatively scheduled for somet time in February 2007. Tickets can also be refunded from point of purchase. [pitchfork]

Really, I don’t get it, and this is like a strange portrayal of a scene from PCU[imdb]. If there was to be a big show that I wanted to check out when I was in school, then I busted my butt to make time for it. More often than none, the main reason I would skip it would be due to lack of money. And it’s not like the band is setting up in your dorm room. Gigs like this last a couple of hours, not all day. There will be plenty of other time to do your school things. That’s what sleep deprivation and coffee is for.

“These, Tom, are the Causeheads. They find a world-threatening issue and stick with it for about a week.” – PCU[imdb]

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RadioZoom Episode #121 – Christmas cheer; Music and interviews; Listener feedback; Vancouver Trivia

Lots of fun putting this episode together. Download it. You must.

Coming back after being away for nearly two weeks, Rebecca and I sit down in “the studio” to get caught up on our podcasting duties. Illnesses and business aside, we’re back with a variety of topics while sitting down to record without any plan. Christmas is upon us, and we’re getting a gift from Aberdeen City, which is awesome. There is also some discussion of Christmas shopping and what it takes to send presents back to the U.S.

We’ve received some great feedback from listeners about some of the interviews we’ve been doing. Unfortunately, our interview with Wintersleep did not happen, but maybe next time. We do take some time to thank those who have submitted feedback about the podcasts we’ve been putting out there and comment about our music related interviews in general. Rebecca also got a great chance to interview a member of The Could Room and talks about the very cool opportunity.

Also check out this month’s edition of Vancouver Trivia to see how well John knows the city.

52:32 minutes
radiozoom.net

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Fall finales makes good television suck

Now that horribly laugh tracked sitcoms and over-written medical dramas don’t completely over populate the digital cable bandwidth, I’m finding more content that is actually entertaining. The writing is good, the camera work is enjoyable, good editing, worthwhile effects, and, most importantly, the availability of more programs shot in widescreen. If there is anything that has made television better, it’s the forcing of HDTV[wiki] upon the networks. It’s made the suits actually produce something worth watching, and they gotta pay for that conversion somehow.

I guess I haven’t been paying much attention to the television landscape in the past few years because when the hell did they start doing “fall finales” and “fall breaks”? Seasons for some programs are now broke up between fall and winter? When did they start doing that? More importantly, why?

Heroes - Hiro

This is winter time. This is the time in which we need something to entertain us while we stay warm inside or, as it goes in Vancouver, stay out of the rain. In the summer, I could care very little about anything else other than being able to get to the beach on the weekend and enjoying dinner on a patio somewhere at night. If Hollywood thinks that I’m going to be sitting on the edge of my chair while I wait for the next episode of Hereos[wiki] or Jericho[wiki] to premiere in January… then… they’re probably right. That doesn’t mean I like it.

Heroes - Sylar

I had a conversation with a friend not too long ago, and he kept saying that he doesn’t understand how anyone can wait for a new episode of any television show to come out from week to week. I initially disagreed with him, but he kinda has a point now. Marathon nights of watching a single season of some show on DVD sounds appealing opposed to this “clever” marketing technique that networks are pulling now. Oh how I loathe them.

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VCOE going away; the hockey blogging will continue

There has been a bit of news today regarding one of our collaborators to The Crazy Canucks podcast. Alanah, of Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, posted a fairly major announcement this afternoon, ending a three year run of her blog.

No, you didn’t read that wrong — Vancouver Canucks Op Ed will be closing down very soon, probably in the next week or two. I’ve been putting off posting this, but it’s time to explain what’s already happened and what’s coming up.

I’m afraid it’s a bit long-winded, but I’m sort of sentimental about this blog, so cut me some slack…;-) [vancouvercanucksoped]

Read the rest of her post to get the reasoning for the end of VCOE, but the good news is that her hockey blogging adventures will continue. Expect bigger and better things from Alanah in the very near future. Also, be sure to catch the next episode of The Crazy Canucks as we will be sure to expand on this topic further.

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When geeks podcast about WordPress

Just last week, I discovered The WordPress Podcast. Being a podcaster that uses WordPress in all the projects that I’m apart of right now, I subscribed immediately. This is close to being the official podcast about WordPress, but not quite. That’s not to say that the folks involved don’t know what they’re talking about.

Of course, what they are talking about is incredibly geeky. There is something to be said about those out there who understand all the behind the scenes aspect of WordPress as a blogging engine that will not appeal to those looking for entertainment. If you use WP, like it, and are interested in the idea of exploring all the extra things you can do with it, then this might be for you.

So far, I’ve listened to a handful of episodes and been really liking what I’ve heard. The concept goes beyond just the hosts telling you tips and tricks for what you can do with WordPress. Other users, programmers, and designers contribute segments about things they are doing with their own sites. I already have a few ideas that I want to try out based on some of the things have been mentioned.

The one aspect that I really dig is the segment about recently released plugins for WordPress. They give a basic run down on some of the latest releases and updates, and the website for the podcast allows you to find links directly to what they mention. Very useful because anyone who makes WP sites will know what a pain it can be to keep tabs on what’s out there for plugins.

I’m anxious to listen to their two part interview with Matthew Mullenweg[wiki], the guy who basically headed the creation of WordPress at the age of 19. That shows you that The WordPress Podcast has the knowledge and connections for good, geeky content.