ABC Not-For-Families Channel

We have all but abandoned ABC Family Channel, though there might be a few old films and shows that run there we still catch, but its dangerous if you have young children.

The promotional spots they run for their newer trash programming are packed full of fun family sex, drugs, alcohol and rock-and-roll baby! Woo-hoo!

The tagline for their network says it all … “ABC Family… a new kind of family.”

As in, "we don’t want any of that stupid freedom-inhibiting namby-pamby, modesty, personal responsibility, restraint, purposefulness, careful consideration of friends and acquaintances crap."

"No way, man, we want SEX! Sex for all! And frat parties with lots of beer! Watch the new show GREEK! And check out The Secret Life of the American Teenager (Viewer Discretion Advised)! Yes, more sex and alcohol! Cool!"

These people at ABC Family are not only evil in their programming choices, they’re stupid and actually very out of touch. I caught a television ad for the DVD collection of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and if you buy it now, ABC Family will throw in a free digital download of the new album by Jesse McCartney.

First of all, no self-respecting real American teenager would be caught dead near a physical CD, much less a digital version on their iPod, of Jesse McCartney. He’s so 2002.

Secondly, if an American teenager DID want a digital copy of Jesse McCartney, or any other artist, they’d just steal it from a peer-to-peer site or rip it from a friends CD. As if.

“ABC Family… a new kind of pandering degenerate channel. With stupid marketing ideas. Watch us! We’re sorta like MTV now, but with crappy music, shows and promotions.”

An Amazing Animator

Over the last many years (almost 2 decades actually… time is flying by) I’ve been connected in one way or the other to kids entertainment. Children’s music and kids video primarily, having sold, marketed, packaged, funded or helped in development.

I still troll about online looking for new and emerging entertainment products and keep a special eye out for unique or innovative filmmakers, animators, story tellers and other creative types. As a quick aside, check out http://www.crackle.com/ for some interesting new online shows. I have to admit my favorite is “The Roadents,” a series of animated shorts about two guinea pigs traveling cross-country in a 1983 Winnebago.

Back to the post. Last week I came across a very interesting and exciting animator out of Spain, Carlos Lascano. He uses 2D and 3D hybrid animations, live-action content and other techniques to create a surreal environment that pulls you into a new reality. The emotion he evokes with his drawings and without a word of dialogue is impressive also. I hope you enjoy these four projects I’ve embedded from his site.

Dry Skin, Fru Fru Lotion and the Smell of Fish

I’ve written before about how children’s minds work in mysterious and often funny ways. They can’t help putting two and two together and getting seventeen. Everything they see, hear and experience is put through their little filter that is only a few years old.

Logic is but a glimmering part of their distant future. The right now can only be viewed in the context of the last few months of their lives.

And for our little six year old R, it was perfectly logical that she inform me that what appeared to be, was not.

We were headed out for the day- on our way to see the High School Musical, umm, Musical, at the Tennessee Performing Arts center. As if Disney hadn’t sucked enough money out of our pockets through DirecTV subscription fees, trips to DisneyWorld and DisneyLand, countless plastic figurines, Cinderella and Snow White dresses, and so, so, much more, they of have to put on Broadway style performances of movies we have already seen a million times. And we gleefully plop down $300 or more for all six of us to go see a story we already know, and songs we know by heart, with no doubt whatsoever how it will end.

And so we went to see Troy and Gabriella fall in love. For the thousandth time.

The day was fairly cold- and a few of us were fighting off coughs and runny noses. I had noticed the skin on my hands had got rough and sore in the last couple of days and so as we drove I asked if anyone had any lotion. This is rather uncharacteristic of me. I simply do not use lotion. I don’t use hair products. I don’t use loofas or any other tools of the trade used by the common metrosexual. But this was different. The pain and itching were beyond my ability to ignore and so I had to apply some sort of moisturizing lotion to ease the pain.

Michelle handed me her lotion, warning me it smelled pretty girly. Well…that was an absolute understatement. I looked at the bottle and commented that it looked like it would probably smell sickeningly sweet and I didn’t feel like having to smell that on my hands for the next several hours. I commented on how the image on the bottle looked like it would reek and opened it up getting a wave of stink as if I’d shoved a dozen flowers up my nose. I asked if anyone else had any lotion.

Little R spoke up- “I do daddy. It’s in my purse.” She dug around and pulled out the lotion. She handed it to me as I drove, arm stuck backwards toward her seat with my hand open. She plopped it in my hand and then assured me that I would like the lotion despite the way the tube looked. I looked at the cute tube of hand lotion and noticed the penguin on the front.

She told me, serious as a heart attack, “Don’t worry daddy, it doesn’t smell like penguin.”

I’m One Of The 2.5 Million!

Apparently fewer Americans are watching network television. I am most certainly one of them. Along with my wife. We have abandoned all network television except for 24, Lost, and my wife still watches Grey’s Anatomy. But even that last one is at risk as the show continues to slide into the muck and mire of obsessive and continual gratuitous sex. Its just a matter of time.

We crack up at the slop the networks throw up each fall and are amazed they think ANYBODY will watch the stuff. The major networks keep scooping poop into the troughs and wonder why (and are angry!) that fewer and fewer sheeple are feeding.

Check out this ‘news’ story (italicized comments are mine):

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
Tue May 8, 6:02 PM ET

NEW YORK - Maybe they're outside in the garden (nope). They could be playing softball (well, maybe yes for our family). Or perhaps they're just plain bored (bored? What? What planet is this writer from?). In TV's worst spring in recent memory, a startling number of Americans drifted away from television the past two months: More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show (Why is anyone surprised? The shows are CRAP).

Everyone has a theory to explain the plummeting ratings (Crappy shows): early Daylight Savings Time (nope), more reruns (nope), bad shows (DING! DING! DING!), more shows being recorded or downloaded or streamed (maybe a bit of this too, in addition to the CRAP shows).

The viewer plunge couldn't have come at a worse time for the networks — next week they will showcase their fall schedules to advertisers in the annual "up front" presentations (The shows will be CRAPPIER than this year’s, guaranteed).

What am I doing instead of watching TV? Working, coaching softball, blogging, helping my oldest with math homework, reading, playing the guitar, anything but watching a bunch of lame characters in lame shows weave sex into every scene of every show, and at the same time manage to degrade and demean the things most important to us: Faith, family and country.

Goodbye ABC, CBS and NBC. Nice knowing ya. Thanks for putting Lost and 24 online so I can watch it went I want without those pesky ads and plugs for your crappy shows!






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All About Kids

In February each year there are some amazing events that take place in New York City that are all about kids.

First off there’s KidScreen- a conference with some of the best and brightest in children’s media. Filmmakers, animators, illustrators, producers, directors and content delivers (television, cinema, internet, distributors). If its media and it’s for or about kids, it’s probably there.

Following that ToyFair starts up. ToyFair to me is the 8th Wonder of the World. The Jacob Javitz Center in NYC is jam-packed with almost every toy and game manufacturer in the world. Endless aisles and floors of the most amazing toys, games, bikes, scooters, clothing, sporting goods and much more. Floor to ceiling 30 foot high booths from Mattel, Nintendo, Hasbro and others. It’s a blast to walk through except for one thing- it is eerily like that town in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” No kids allowed. Just men and women, smartly dressed, walking around shaking hands and making deals.

And after that? An exclusive and very small gathering of influencers in children’s media in a meeting room high above Times Square. They come together for two days to challenge, encourage and update each other on what is happening in their businesses. It is a chance to connect into what others are doing, get ideas that can be applied to each attendees own business, and learn about what “works” in the marketplace of ideas.

Last year I did the whole set of three, and found the last to be both the most inspiring and the most depressing. It is a long story of how I was invited to this exclusive meeting. It was somewhat of an accident. I didn’t fit it, and it was apparent to me very quickly that I was out of my league.

I didn’t know what to expect, and so had laptop out for notes, and brain wide-open for input, and listened. Over the two days speakers poured out information and ideas, taking questions throughout each presentation, with plenty of breaks for meals, coffee, networking. I thought I would share the most enlightening points from those two days here.

Speaker 1 was an executive at a major childrens television network. She talked about strength through evolution (what does that mean?), knowing what you are doing at the center without over thinking the details so there is flexibility to change and adapt on the edges and details of your kids content. That all sounded reasonably good until she followed up with this tidbit- they want to attract more 13-16 year olds and seemed very excited about developing shows that “push the envelope including gay and lesbian characters and stories.” She said their research shows "17% of 13+ year olds would not classify themselves as straight", and seemed somewhat pleased at that. She is also excited about a new show they have developed that “deals with kids facing date rape, drug use, suicide, and other important issues.”


Speaker 2, a leader within a well-known organization that purports to police media to help keep kids safe had some interesting things to say. He warned that “the blue states” are hampering quality kids television and film by “complaining like they have for 30 years about too much sex, violence and drugs on TV.”


Speaker 3 spared me the envelope pushing and politics. He shared a few interesting observations about children:

• The conventional wisdom about kids are getting older, faster, is nonsense.
• Current thinking: 8-12 year olds stopped playing with toys and all they want is video games, music and iPods.
• Reality: 8-12 year olds haven’t really stopped playing with toys…they just play with their Barbies, GI Joes and transformers privately and alone. A new generation of closet toy players.
• Survey says- What’s important to kids: Family #1, Friends #2.
• Kids just want to be kids, and they like being kids. They only aspire to be 1-2 years older, not 5+ as many 'experts' report.
• Kids today represent a trillion dollar market. Personal spending $200B (snacks, food, drinks, clothes that parents don’t want them to buy), direct influence $300B (food, snacks, beverages, toys, family entertainment), Indirect influence $500B (recreation, vacation, family car and home).
  

Speaker 4 talked about the power of MOM. Your Mom is so….

• Happy (vast majority love being moms, helping kids, being needed).
• Powerful (they control 80% of family spending).
• Smart (they can smell a sneaky marketing tactic a mile away).
• Wired (they love the internet and websites. They are forming vast new communities and healthy relationships with other moms online).

Speaker 5 was my favorite. Former head of a huge kids cartoon company, he had just a very few things to say, but they hit me hard:

• Start a blog now. If you don’t have one, you’re stupid.
• Start podcasting and videocasting now, if you’re not, you’re stupid.
• Start giving away more of your stuff for free, if you’re not, you’re stupid. You will sell more if you do this.
• Stop researching and focus studying everything. There is no innovation in this. You will only set yourself up to fail by trying to repeat past successes.
• Go with your gut, try things, tweak them. Let creativity drive your business.
  

There were many more speakers, and some really good information, but most of the rest of the stuff was very business-focused. I will spare you all those notes.

I will close with this- If you are concerned about the quality of media for kids, if you have a sneaking suspicion that there is an agenda behind some of the shows, and worried that someone out there is trying to teach values and lessons to your kids that are not in alignment with yours …you’re right.






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24 Fever…Embarrassingly, I Just Got It

When 24 first premiered on Fox a couple years ago, I watched it and enjoyed it greatly. I then missed the next few episodes and never went back that first season. I just don’t watch much TV at all unless its news, and even then prefer breaking news around a big issue. After missing the first season, I certainly saw no value in starting season 2, and so on, and so on…

My sister-in-law wanted me to Tivo this season’s 2 day, 4 hour marathon season openers and I made time to watch them. Fortunately. I’m hooked.

In the show, things seem very dark for the United States. I don’t think after the Nuke went off, with the threat of 4 more to follow, that things could get much darker.

I had a flash back to a series of books I read sometime ago about the life of Winston Churchill (The Last Lion Volumes 1 and 2). Here is a man leading a nation that had death at its front door for 7 long years, and for a few of those years was mercilessly attacked by fellow government leaders that believed Britain could bring about peace and tranquility by appeasing and working with Hitler.

Despite Hitler’s words about conquering all of his enemies and ushering in a 1,000 year government that ruled the world, there were still British leaders that didn’t take the madman at his word. When someone has the power and weapons to destroy you, and tells you that he intends to, believe him.

What those British “leaders” didn’t understand is that Britain was a primary target of a madman that sought to end it’s influence over Europe and the world. Hitler had resolved to expend the blood, sweat and treasure of Germany to wipe out the British Islands.

We face an enemy as horrific and death-fascinated as Hitler and his SS Death squads. I went back and found one of the speeches Sir Winston Churchill delivered during some of the darkest days of WWII.

This is the closing of a speech he delivered to the British Parliament on June 18th, 1940:

“What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire.

The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

Sir Churchill delivered this speech after a horrific two weeks of defeats and failures capped off by the retreat at Dunkirk and the collapse of the French government to the invading Nazi army.

How timely is his message today as we face those that are sworn to remove our heads from our idle, rich, distracted, petty, arguing, preoccupied, partisan and appeasing shoulders.

Sorry for going political…24 got me all worked up.







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$10,000 Wedding Gift

I am not a heavy gambler, not even a moderate gambler. I have never taken a trip with buddies specifically to blow money at a casino, and I think the grand total number of times I have played poker for anything other than peanuts or valueless cheap plastic chips is 2 or 3 times in my life.

I do, however, enjoy a night at the casino every other year or so when I am in Las Vegas or New Orleans on business. When I have gone, I am always the quiet and careful guy at the $5 blackjack table whiling away the hours with a business associate or two while they bet and lose insane amounts of money. The people watching and light banter with table mates is really what I enjoy about it. Not to mention the occasional cigar.

A couple years ago on one such trip I found myself getting bored with the only casino game I know (I despise slot machines), and decided to tour the casino floor observing some of the more exciting games that elicited great shouts and applause from the other parts of the room.

As I wandered around I found myself attracted to the roulette tables. Craps seemed interesting, but too chaotic for me. I walked up to one table to observe how it was played. I really had no sense of the game other than what almost everyone knows about it- you put chips on a number and see if the little ball lands on it. That’s it.

I watched for a few minutes and thought I had a rough idea of how to play based on seeing players spread chips on different numbers, and reading the little plastic sign that gave a rough outline of rules and limits. I noticed that new players put cash on the table, and the guy that worked the table asked what value of chip was desired, and he exchanged the real money for the rubber/plastic disc shaped kind. I noticed that the table I was standing at had attracted a large number of observers, but I didn’t know why.

I pulled out my $100 bill. On occasions I do gamble, I take a $100 bill with me, and no other money. That’s the limit- if I lose it, its over. I placed it on the table, and the roulette table thingy was spun (not sure what that thing is called- a wheel?). I waited patiently for the guy to ask me what kind of chips I wanted ($1 chips of course), but nothing happened. I waited. The wheel starting slowing. I waited a bit longer. Something was amiss.

It turns out you can bet on other things than just numbers, and you can bet cash in addition to chips. For example, you can bet on sets of numbers (odd, even, 1st set of 12, 2nd set of 12, etc), and you can also bet on colors- Red or Black. The reason the table had attracted so many people is because the last 10 spins had resulted in black numbers, and a bunch of onlookers had been placing bets on red in hopes of doubling their money. I had placed my $100 bill right on top of the empty black space (the red space was piled high with various chips, cash and other valuables) and the roulette guy had assumed I was trying to double my money on black. I was horrified as I realized this moments before the little ball settled into its new home. My plan for a couple hours of once-every-few-years gambling was about to turn into 5 minutes.

It hit black. I doubled my money, and walked away. The next day I decided to give roulette one more try, but this time do it a bit more carefully. I found a table, and after some trial and error settled on a little system that seemed to work for me. There are 38 numbers on the wheel- 1 through 36, and then 0 and 00. I placed $18 in chips with each bet, $2 per number over 9 numbers laid out in blocks that covered roughly ¼ of the numbers at any one time. I reasoned that I would cover almost ¼ of the possible numbers, and each win would get me $72 providing me 4 more bets. It worked. Over the next few hours I won $800 and walked away. Not bad.

The last time I was at a roulette table, in Las Vegas last year, I watched an amazing thing happen. A wedding party had come to the casino floor from wherever people actually get married at a casino, and walked up to a roulette table. The lady who was working my table explained to the group that it was a tradition at some Las Vegas weddings to take a portion of the money received as wedding gifts and place it on a roulette table on the number corresponding to the date, today, of the special event. It was the 11th of the month, so there on number 11 went $300 of the wedding money. From the look of the wedding party, that was about all the money there was.

The group numbered around fifty guests, a rather large wedding party for a Las Vegas wedding I suspected. Our table stopped the action to watch the new couple lose their first $300 together. The thingy was spun, everyone held their breath, and sure enough 11 was hit. The couple turned their $300 into $10,000 in a few seconds. The place erupted in laughing, screaming, jumping and crying. It was amazing to behold. The couple grabbed their chips, and with wedding party in tow, went to the exchange desk, got their cash, and headed out the door.

My system, however, failed that night. I lost my $100.






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Showdown At The Carmike Cinema Corral

Last week the whole DigitalRich crew- all six of us- along with my parents, went to see Charlotte’s Web. The film was moderately entertaining. I think the original animated version was much better, and of course neither could stand up to the book itself. There are many stories that can make the leap from books and comics to the big screen with CGI animation help- Spiderman, Batman, X-men and even Lord of the Rings. But a pig that mysteriously causes spider webs to appear and generates thousands of astonished visitors to a barn in the middle of nowhere? Not working.

The post-Christmas day cinema crowd was thick, and we had stopped by earlier to purchase tickets before running a few errands to make sure we didn’t arrive to find the show sold out. We could have used Fandango, but with 8 tickets to buy I just couldn’t stomach paying the extra money. Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t cinemas provide this service for free? Can you imagine calling Macaroni Grill for advance seating and having 20% added to your bill?

We got to the cinema about 20 minutes early, and headed straight for concessions. We didn’t have time to eat lunch, so the whole crew was starving, and popcorn was on the menu. The electronic sign indicating each show and location instructed everyone waiting for Charlotte’s Web to wait in the lobby. I knew getting 8 seats together might be a challenge, so I told Michelle we should go ahead in and get seats. She disagreed saying the sign told us otherwise, and the ticket guy wouldn’t let us in.

Knowing the ticket “guy” was probably a 15 year old kid that was preoccupied with thoughts of his new Sony Playstation 3 he got for Christmas, and probably not that much into policing the rules, I insisted we make a run for it. She didn’t agree, but begrudgingly followed me and the girls towards the ticket guy as we started our adventure. He took our tickets, ripped them in half, and pointed towards our theatre doors.

As we walked into the theatre, I looked at Michelle and winked- it was nearly half-full of other felons that had broken the law. I spotted an empty row, and escorted the family to a nice spot 2/3 up the slope. I then called my parents and told them to call my cell phone when they got to the theater and I would head out to the lobby with their tickets and bring them to our seats. That worked out great since when they called 5 minutes later the large popcorn was already gone and it was time for a free refill.

Shortly after the film started, a little girl sitting behind me started to talk. Then she talked more. Then louder. Her mom obviously had developed the ability to completely block out anything her girl said and seemed content as she watched the film. Then the little girl started kicking my chair, and then my girl A’s chair next to me. Then she started to hang her head over our chairs and touched our heads. Then she whined, talked some more, asked a few questions, and then started touching us again. After ten minutes of being “understanding”, and waiting for the girl’s parents to intervene, I had had enough.

I turned around in my seat and started staring at the mom. At first she didn’t see me- or most likely was ignoring me- but after a full minute or so she finally looked at me. I didn’t say anything. I just stayed completely turned around in my chair and stared at her while her daughter continued to torture my daughter. Finally the mom leaned over to her husband and whispered a few words, and then dad took the little girl out of the theater. They didn’t return.

Was I rude? I don’t think so. I didn’t say anything, didn’t belittle the parents or attack their parenting skills or techniques- I just made it clear that the behavior was unacceptable. It made the outing, especially with only a mediocre film, the best part of the day. Fun.






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Great Night

As I write this it is just after midnight and I arrived home about ten minutes ago. This will be a brief post, and a shameless plug for a band I manage named the koo.

Tonight the guys played their third show in as many nights, and did a killer job playing a full 45min set at The Pond. The venue is a hole in the wall bar in Franklin, TN, but the place was packed out- SRO.

I have heard them play live many times, but tonight was the best set I have ever heard from them.

You can check out their website and hear three of their tracks here: http://myspace.com/thekoo

So far, they have had over 23,000 plays of their music from the site, plus a bunch more off their Purevolume.com page. You can also check out some pictures of the band from a recent show here:
http://public.fotki.com/cscottphoto/shows/thekoo/

The only remarkable event of the evening besides the great show was when one girl sitting at my table was so into “Assbeater” (the last song of the koo’s set) that she knocked her drink into her lap. I got her napkins.

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You Eat What You Kill

In October my wife and I took our daughter K to Rome for her 13th birthday. To many this may seem extreme- including my wife. A friend of mine told me about how he and his wife gave each of their 2 daughters THE birthday gift at 13 instead of 16 or 18. The reasoning? I can’t recall really- but I remember thinking it was very logical.

Our ground rules for our 4 girls are simple:

1. For your 13th birthday you can ask for anything in the world you want

2. We can not borrow any money for the gift

3. We must be able to afford it (this is the best one- a sliding scale that can be adjusted in any year, with any daughter, because of our dictatorial powers. Unfair, I know, but Michelle and I are relatively benevolent dictators)

While K opted for a trip to Rome, L our 11 year old is laying the legal groundwork for her claim on a horse. I am considering an amendment to add a 4th line item requiring the gift to not incur any long-term or continuing costs.

The trip was wonderful (at the time of this writing, there are some snapshots on this page). Throughout our time in Italy I noticed an abundance of street performers. There was the “drunk” passed out by the wall of the Pantheon completely dressed and painted in grey to match the street and gate. If anyone dropped a coin in his box, he stirred and looked around, took a drink, and promptly passed out again. There were mimes, dancers, and balloon artists. One of the few musicians we saw was a man at Piazza Navona that was playing guitar left-handed with the strings still strung for a right handed player. I have been around many guitar players in my life, some of them left handed, but I have never, ever seen anyone able to do this.

The statue-still Statues of Liberty were aplenty, as were the Pharaohs. These are two of a special genre of street performers whose sole talent is to stand perfectly still on a soap box, and bow when someone gives them money.

One such Pharaoh, wrapped completely in a shiny gold sheet and wearing an expressionless gold metal mask, was doing an excellent job staying completely still and staring straight ahead. Until a 3 or 4 year old, unwatched by his mother, decided that whatever was in the can on the ground in front of Pharaoh must be interesting.

The young boy approached the loot, squatted in front of it, and was smart enough to shoot a glance at both his mom and Pharaoh to ensure they weren’t watching him. The boy made his move, reaching his hand inside the tall can. Pharaoh was not happy. He broke character, and started to watch the boy with wide eyes (its surprising easily to read emotion in the eyes, even when someone has a mask on- especially if you know that person knows he is getting robbed).

I jumped in to help. In a firm and gruff voice I told the boy “NO.” His arm sprung back, and his smile disappeared. He was caught. My Pharaoh was pleased. The boy made 3 more attempts, each ending with his retreat after my barks. Not once did his mother see what happened until she led him away. As they walked by, passing Pharaohs riches, the boy failed at one more half-hearted attempt at the money.

Street performers are pretty good examples of the old hunting maxim- now adopted by consultants and lawyers- You Eat What You Kill. While many people work for distant gains (saving for retirement, long-term investing, major projects at work that could create an end-of-term bonus, etc), these folks are working hard to get lunch money in the next 10 seconds.

As I ponder my next career move, I have met with a few folks that encouraged me to start my own business- and this maxim- you only eat what you kill- has been repeated to me by 3 people. It is both scary and exciting, and I look forward (I keep telling myself) to see what happens in the coming months.

Follow-up to DigitalHome

A couple of things I forgot to mention in my previous post (DigitalHome):




MagicDVDRipper.

Here’s a tip for using MagicDVDRipper. The free trial included with the download allows for 5 free uses. I thought this meant 5 ripped DVDs, but I soon learned it was 5 uses- literally. As long as I didn’t close the program or turn off my computer, I could rip away- I ripped many, many DVDs over a weeks time.

Accessing it all.

How do you access all this great media in your home?

1. Dedicated Windows MediaCenter notebook connected to your equipment wherever you watch TV (TV, DV-R, DVD, etc). The notebook sits in front of all the components, and you can use a remote to control them all accessing TV, satellite, cable, your networked media collection of music, films, photos, etc.
2. Wireless transmission of your media in various rooms around the house- simply plug a device in, set it up on your network, and access your music in any room.

Here are three models of players to check out:

Creative SoundBlaster

Sonos Digital Music System


Linksys Wireless Music Bridge







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DigitalHome

I am moving closer to my ultimate digital goal: Being able to consume the media I want, when I want it, where I want it.

Music
All 10,000 or so of our CDs are now digitized- not once, or twice, but three times. Each time I got a better digital music player, and increased the volume the music played on external speakers, I could hear more of the hiss present at the lower rip rates- so after moving from 128kbs to 256kbs, I then made the ultimate leap to Windows Media Lossless (essentially, the same quality as a CD). Each time requiring me to open up and re-rip each CD. Insane. I store it all on an external drive/media server connected to our wireless router. By the way, you can set your WindowsMedia Player to rip at this level by clicking Tools/Options/Rip Music.

Photographs

Now, almost all of our family photos are also available on our home network, accessible anywhere in the house (via laptop/desktop, tv). All that is left is to get our old photos converted from negatives to digital files (about 75 cents a strip at Wolf/Ritz Camera).

Video

The final frontier (at least as I can see for the time being) is to get our video content digitized. The goal is to move the cases in our family room that currently hold good old-fashioned plastic discs with movies on them to a final resting place in storage next to the dusty cases of CDs.

I have been able to get our home movies onto the network- the ones from the last couple of years were recorded on a Sony Handycam DVD recorder. The older ones were a bit harder. $30 a pop at Wolf/Ritz to convert our old Sony Handycam 8mm tapes to DVD. It only took a couple days, but with about 20 to convert, was not cheap.

Our DVD collection is next on the list. I have found a simple tool (and free as well if you use it right) to rip all our DVDs called MagicDVDRipper, so the only issue I can see is storage. Each DVD when ripped will take up about 4.7-15.93 Gig (depending on if the disc is single or double layered, has extra content, etc)- so I will be able to place about 30-60 movies per 300GB external drive (the size I use now).

I will likely wait a bit longer before ripping the full collection- maybe until something in the 5-10 Terabyte storage range if affordable so that I will be able to get all of our films on one drive- important as the new formats coming out (HD DVD, Blu-Ray) have much larger capacity for content.

File size will only get bigger- One hour of uncompressed Ultra High Definition Video (UHDV) consumes approximately 11½ terabytes of data. Can't wait.

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Promise Me You Will Never Grow Up

My heart hurt yesterday. While I do have a few extra pounds on me (well…more than a few), and I don’t exercise as much as I should, I assure you it wasn’t that kind of pain. It was more of a heart-ache. I have “lost” some people in my life and it hit me hard last night.

K, my oldest, performed in her school musical. She had a great part- a few solos, good dialogue, and an overall stellar performance. The other kids in the show did an awesome job as well. It was one of the best middle-school musicals I have ever seen (granted- this was only the second). There was one particular part in the musical that impacted me far deeper than I expected. K walked out on stage to start off a scene and it hit me hard. “Who is that woman?” She’s not my little girl, that’s for sure. She looked like she went from 13 years old to 18 in a matter of minutes.

While one half of my brain continued to pay attention to the show, the other half started diving deep into thoughts and memories. Where are my little girls? I remember K and L holding onto my neck as I walked around with them, each with their feet firmly planted in my hands. I remember them crawling into my lap and hugging on me, asking me questions, kissing all over me. I looked to my left and saw L and my two little ones, A & R, and sure enough…they looked older too. It’s as if some magical dust was sprinkled by the witch in the musical that made my girls age several years at about 7:30PM last night.

I think what might have contributed to all of this was a recent decision to convert all of our old High8 video tapes to DVD. I dropped them off at Wolf Camera, and within a couple of days, we had amazing DVDs of all our family movies. They even create a couple music video’s out of several scenes. The last month or so we have been watching them, and the kids are fascinated at who they used to be. Me too.

I unconditionally love my four girls, just as they are now, and am excited to see who they become. That does not take away, however, the longing I have for who they were 5 or 10 years ago. Those kids are gone forever.

Before I had kids, I remember people telling me that I will not truly understand love until I do. Romantic love is just one part of love- to have children, to love your neighbor, and to love God completes the circle. After Michelle and I had our first, we got it. Really got it. But no one told us about the pain that goes along with having children. Well- maybe during child-birth Michelle figured that part out.

For me, the pain started soon after the love. That pain becomes most evident when your child gets physically hurt, or sick, or loses a favorite toy, forgets something at a restaurant or theatre- and breaks into tears, weeping and gnashing of teeth that is worthy of an academy award. The hard ones are when a friend betrays them, or a mean kid at school hurts them with words. It is shocking how personal their pain becomes. How it feels like the pain is completely my own. It makes me love and appreciate my parents even more.

These next few years are more critical than ever. I want to be there for my oldest two as they become women, to support, encourage and challenge them to continue to grow in grace, to love God and others, and to make right decisions. I also want to have a fresh heart and mind with my two youngest- to do the same things with them I did with my oldest. Man, this is hard.

Report From The Traffic Chopper

Have you ever watched someone perform or present something to a group, and everything go horribly wrong? Perhaps they were extremely nervous and speaking almost nonsense, or they tripped walking on stage, or even were just plain not-good at it. Something like a bad wreck on the side of the road happens. And the audience is the rubber-necker.

At the Curb Café last night I saw the koo perform a set after a young aspiring songwriter/guitarist/vocalist did an unnecessarily long opening spot. If you have happened to read my posts the last two days, let me stop here and assure you I don’t normally go to multiple clubs and live music performances in a week. Or even a month. This week has definitely not been normal.

The opening act (Nick was his name, I think) had a bunch of spirit. He strutted boldly and confidently from table to table in the small club introducing himself to patrons and mentioning his name and that he would be performing soon, and thanking us for coming out. I must admit- in all my years of attending live music performances that was a first.

He started to play at 9PM. Just him, his guitar, and 2 bottles of water. Immediately, a 3 car pile-up happened on stage. God bless him- he couldn’t hit any high notes (he actually sounded just like me and a million other guys singing in the shower with a luffa for a mic wailing out the high notes in off-key falsetto), flubbed his chords, and on a two occasions even put a song in a holding pattern mid-chorus while he tried to tune his guitar.

He seemed to think he was nailing it. Very confident on stage, trying to conduct witty between-song stage banter, and eliciting nervous laughter and wide-eyed glances between friends at tables. It was just plain awful. But he tried, and he seems like a genuinely nice guy.

I don’t know what his goals are, or why he was performing last night. Maybe he just loves to play the guitar and belt out a tune, and for the same reason millions of people around the world go to karaoke bars, really enjoys inflicting his talent on others.

Let’s assume though, that he wants to make it in music. At what point will he either practice and play himself silly and hit a level of quality, or finally figure out that he isn’t that good? Will he realize it himself, or will someone, like a merciless panel of judges from American Idol, whack the machete of “feedback” right through his skull?

On the way home I turned on the radio…interesting…in a matter of minutes I heard two bands (actually one band, and one solo artist) perform that I know very well, and also know couldn’t sing a good lick just a few years ago. For various reasons both had been thrust into a position of leadership within their respective units, and had to pick up the reigns of lead vocalist from a departing member. Within a relatively short period of time, and after diving headfirst into the work of vocal training and development, both have emerged as quality vocalist each with their own unique sound, and both leading the way to multiple gold records.

So…is that within each of us? I am not speaking about music specifically- it could be anything. Can anyone grab hold of a dream, and even if performance or track record is just average (or in Nick’s case, bad), drive themselves to greatness with good coaching and a real commitment of time? How does this impact Nick? Should his friends, several of which were at the show last night and rooting for their buddy, not let him know how bad he sounds right now but just encourage him? How does this impact me? Or you? What dreams have we put on hold, or dropped, that should be picked up again?

I think the potential for greatness is in everyone. I truly believe that anyone- any ordinary person- can do extraordinary things. I hope Nick keeps at it. I also hope he keeps his day job.

Switchfoot And Stolen Cars

Last night my 13 year old daughter K and I went to a Switchfoot concert in Nashville. It was the umpteenth time I've seen them live, and I never tire of it. They were amazing, and besides playing most all of their hits and a few lesser known oldies, they managed to do what many bands attempt but fail to do- play a few cuts from their not-yet-released new album and keep everyone engaged. Absolutely wonderful show.

My wife and 11 year old daughter were supposed to come with us, but ended up backing out. A few days before the show we were notified the venue had changed from Nashville’s War Memorial (with somewhat comfy padded seats) to City Hall (SRO). As soon as my wife heard that she would have to stand for several hours she was “out.” My 11 year followed suite.

The show brought back a flood of memories. I was part of the team that worked with Switchfoot up until I left EMI Music last year. It was kind of sad to stand there last night listening to these amazing musicians and vocalist and think about how fast life is moving by. It seemed just a couple of years ago that I got to meet the boys at Charlie Peacock’s Nashville home- when they were young teenagers that barely knew how to write songs and perform. I will never forget that day- chatting with them, amazed at how young they were, eating mediocre barbecue and drinking sweet tea. I knew then, along with several others, that there was something special about these gents, and that they would have many years ahead of them making great music.

After the show, K and I walked quickly back to my car. We had parked around the corner from the venue in a small office building parking lot. We chatted about how great the show was, and wondered why they had not played one of their biggest hits- Learning To Breathe- during the show. As we talked and approached my car, I suddenly realized that it should have been parked in the VERY spot we stood. It was not there.

“My car has been stolen” I remember numbly muttering as my heart sank. I couldn’t believe it. 11PM, downtown Nashville, 30 minutes from home, freezing cold, no car, with my daughter. My wife mentioned I should wear a warmer jacket, but I thought my light windbreaker would be fine.

I looked up, and immediately saw my car, moving away from the parking lot, facing the wrong way. It took a second to figure out what was happening…it was being towed, and there were 2 other tow trucks ahead of it towing other Switchfoot concert-goers that were unlucky enough to stay for the encore like us.

My mind raced- a car was pulling out of the parking lot and I grabbed K and chased it down. Fortunately they rolled down their window, and the young couple amazingly- and a bit reluctantly- agreed to allow K and I to get into their car and chase down the tow-truck. As we raced to catch up, and blew through a stop sign, I noticed my Chevy Suburban doing something very unnatural….it had started moving down the road sideways. Somehow part of the Suburban became dislodged from the tow-truck and it looked like it was about to jack-knife. The tow truck stopped, and as we slowed- and were still moving- I opened the door and jumped out. K followed when the car stopped, and I think I remember yelling out a thank-you to our chase-car driver as I ran the 20 yards or so to my car…or maybe it was K.

5 minutes later, and $65 lighter, I got my vehicle back and headed for home. What a night.

Secret Recipe For Bonfire

My friend Jeff invited himself over to my house for a bonfire. Actually, I invited him last year- and for several reasons it was delayed, and delayed, and then didn’t happen. He reminded me about it a few days ago, and so we finally did it last night. I also had my friend Jay over as well. It was a wonderful, cold and starry night and the fire was amazing.

About 4pm in the afternoon I went about the task of staging the bonfire. There is an art to this that I have learned over the last few years (and many failed bonfires).

How to build a bonfire:

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RICH’S SECRET RECIPE FOR “BONFIRE”
a 3-4 medium sized cardboard boxes, cut into strips about 24" x 6"
a 1 Gallon of gasoline, unleaded
a A stupidly large amount of wood, split and well seasoned
a A small greasy/oily rag

Set up the cardboard strips like you would a house of playing cards, leaning them into one another, leaving 5 or 6 strips for later. Then, gently stack the wood around the cardboard, standing upright and leaning into one another, in a growing concentric circle around the cardboard innards. Once you have built a rough circle with a diameter of about 5 feet, begin to lay wood flat on top of the structure in a loose pyramid leaving space between each log for air and fire to flow. Then, stack additional wood, standing up right, on top of the edges of the wood on the outer edge of the circle. Anywhere you can safely balance additional wood on the entire structure do so liberally. The last part of preparation is to take the remaining cardboard strips and tuck them into open spaces around the outside of the circle spreading evenly. Finally, carefully pour the gasoline, making sure that a large amount flows down to the cardboard center. Stand at least 15 feet away, light the rag, and throw anywhere on or near the wood structure. Quickly pull your arm back to save as much body hair as possible. Enjoy the mushroom cloud of heat and fire.
SERVING SUGGESTION: Serve with large amounts of beer, cigars, marshmallows, Hershey’s© Chocolate Bars and Graham crackers. Some prefer to bring along milk to down the ambrosia known as ‘S’mores’ but I prefer Shiner Bock or Blue Moon Ale.
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Last nights bonfire was a success. A roaring fire, good friends, good beer (until the Shiner Bock ran out and we switched to Corona) and dark but mild cigars. Oh yeah…the conversation was good too. There is just something about sitting out in the cold (it was about 30 degrees) with a huge hot fire warming you, and staring at the blue flames and dancing embers. It really is magical.

One other unrelated note- yesterday I let loose the information about changes at my company. No need to detail that here…in a nutshell, we took a flying leap for a year to prove a hypothesis. We did it! We proved it wrong. In the course of that journey, we determined the right direction, but unfortunately that new direction is headed towards a place I am not an expert in. Too bad. I love the company, its mission, products and people, and will continue to support it 100%. I am excited to continue some project work for them around a few interesting opportunities where I am able to contribute.

I sent out a message regarding the changes at my company to partners, suppliers/vendors, or folks that I have kept in the loop regarding developments with the company. I am overwhelmed at the encouragement and kind words these people have responded with. My purpose was not to solicit those comments, or anything else for that matter, but it came anyway.
It is wonderful to have many caring and interested friends and associates, and I am thankful more that I can express. So…I will just say thanks.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing“
1 Thessalonians 5:11