Thursday, January 28, 2010

Schnauzer Logic Episode 74 is Online!!!

sonovista, my friends! Schnauzer Logic Episode 74 is Online and ready for your listening pleasure! you can find us on iTunes, listen in the online player (on the right) or download the complete MP3 file ::here::

Sheri, Parviz, John DeKoven and I popped into the studio yesterday for a quick go-round of the week's event and all hell broke loose... If you're a regular listener you'll recognize this as a classic "Parviz Needs Airtime" episode... if you're new to the Schnauzer Logic family you'll come to recognize this as a classic "Parviz Needs Airtime" episode. in any event its a show filled with much silliness and more than a few moments of thoughtful discourse (but mostly silliness), all leading up to next week's 4th anniversary show!

Boyana is already hard at work on the show notes and I'm trying to con persuade a big time/big deal guest to join us in our celebration, so stay tuned, and in the meanwhile feel free to call our brand-new studio voicemail and leave us an anniversary message!



(oh, and if you're still looking for links to reliable Haiti Relief charities, check out the post below for Episode 73)

until next time:
Show Up
Pay Attention
Tell The Truth, and
Don't Be Attached To The Outcome

namaste
robin

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Official Episode 73 Show Notes by Boyana Atanasova

Hello everyone!

The new year has come and so the new show notes are back on track! 2010 started some weeks ago, but the health issues our friend and host Robin had didn’t allow him to record his wonderful show earlier. However, these are the show notes of Schnauzer Logic Radio Podcast Number 73.

This time Robin realized that in a few weeks it will be the fourth birthday of the show. Doesn’t this impress you? J But let’s see what happened in Episode 73. It was called a “mini schnauzer” because of its length (which was actually something around hour and a half!) and there in the studio were only Robin and Sheri. Jason was the one on the phone, explaining his recent experiences on the ceremony of the Golden Globes and all of the interesting stuff that happened in the media in the past few days. I should make a note that there were many days there in northern California with bad weather which was the first topic in the conversation between Robin and Sheri. However, don’t be upset – they are fine and hopefully we will all get a nice next Schnauzer episode just in a few hours.

For everybody that didn’t “received” the last messages of our host here on the blog – he is now almost recovered from his kidney surgery and sounds amazingly on the podcast even though he doesn’t feel like everything is back to normal… yet.

This time Jason made wonderful segment about the ceremony of the Golden Globes where he actually was. Yes, right there on the red carpet! He was reporting what was happening there – how many the boobies are and how great is Olivia from House M.D. ;) He and Robin made a list of the winners and talked quite long time about all of the films mentioned there. There on Episode 73 you can hear the names of Meryl Streep, Robert Downey Jr. and Mo'nique. Also mentioned were Dexter, Glee, Up In the Air, Up and… of course – Avatar.

The tragedy in Haiti was also one of the most important topics this time and while Jason told us about the young journalist his radio sent there, I was thinking that I didn’t actually chose the right profession – to be a journalist… but you know what? Bad things happen and the only thing we can make is to find a proper way to help people who suffer from them. It is that simple.

Also, there was a clear explanation about the Conan/Leno/NBC Late Night Reality Wars that are probably widely commented in the USA and you can watch really interesting and funny videos from the links Robin gave in one of the previous posts. Except for that, we now understood that Jason will finally accept his award for his radio journalistic achievements.

This was it. The 73rd Episode of Schnauzer Logic Radio Show. A mini schnauzer is not the way I will describe it, because it was a real pleasure to hear again the voices of these people and their laugh “live” on air. A great beginning of the new year, which should (and is already!) better than the previous!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Quick Reminder: SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards Tonight - Saturday Jan 23, 2010

sonovista, my friends... for those of you who are as obsessed with the awards season as we are, a reminder that tonight (Saturday, January 23, 2010) the Screen Actors Guild Awards are presented live (here in the US) at 8pm EST/5pm PST on both TNT (Turner Network Television) and TBS (the SuperStation)...

given my amazingly crappy picks at the Golden Globes, i won't even bother to try and predict the winners here (Basterds, Bridges, Bullock, Waltz, Mo'Nique, Dexter, Modern Family, Laurie, Margulies, David, Fey, Bacon, Dee, Star Trek, The Closer), but you may want to test your skill.

enjoy your weekend and let's be careful out there!
namaste
robin

Friday, January 22, 2010

Schnauzer Logic Episode 73 is Online!!!

sonovista, my friends!!! in case you just happened to be wondering, there is a new episode of Schnauzer Logic available for your listening pleasure... both the weather and my emotional health were less than ideal, but sheri made her way over and jason managed to keep from passing out, and together the three of us tossed together a little show (a mini-schnauzer, if you will) where we discussed the Golden Globe Awards, previewed the Academy Awards and took great delight in dissecting the Conan/Leno/NBC Late Night Reality Wars... plus a whole bunch more and some tasty tunes.

as always you can grab the show in iTunes ::here::

you can also find the direct MP3 download link ::here::

and you can listen online in the pickle player on the right.

our dear friend, Boyana, will be providing detailed show notes in due course, but in the meantime, here are some relevant links we discussed:

Haiti Relief:
Unicef
Red Cross
Top Rated Charities at Charity Navigator

Chinese Virtual Reality Video of Conan/Leno/Late Night Story
Original Mandarin
English Translation

IFC Independent Spirit Awards (Friday, March 5, 2010 - Jason was correct!)

Andy Borowitz - The Borowitz Report and Twitter

Gawker - The Late Night Wars (all video from every show bashing every other show)

KNX Morning News

Aunt Fran Bennet - Fran's Classics Rock Podcast

and that's all i got for now... thanks to all for the generous donations! much appreciated... and if you feel the spirit, some 5-star reviews on the iTunes Music Store would also be most lovely.

more to come, but until then:
Show Up
Pay Attention
Tell The Truth and
Don't Be Attached To The Outcome

namaste
robin

Sunday, January 17, 2010

67th Annual Golden Globe Picks

sonovista, my friends... at home recovering from my med stuff, i'm feeling better every day but probably have another week to go before i feel like myself again (right now i feel like a cross between (insert first funny name here) and (insert contrasting funny name here).

in any event we're into awards season and tonight is the 67th Golden Globes... usually a pretty good show (as alcohol is served to the attendees) this year its being hosted by Ricky Gervais who seriously doesn't seem to give a shit about anything, so i'm hopeful that there will be some spontaneous entertainment.

IMDB.com has a great one-page PDF ballot you can download, fill in and print to keep track of the winners, and you can grab yours here.

i've filled out my own and am posting this online at 12:04pm PST (you can see it full size by clicking on the image)



hopefully we'll be able to do a show this wednesday and see how well i did...

until then, thanks to all for the prayers and well wishes on my speedy recovery... they seem to be working!

namaste
robin

Sunday, January 10, 2010

NBC Leno/O'Brien Fiasco - I Wanna Do A Show SO BADLY!

NBC Fail
Sonovista, my friends! well, here i am on a sunday afternoon reading through the hundreds of tweets from journalists at the Winter Television Critics Association meeting and their early morning "discussion" with NBC/Universal honcho Jeff Gaspin about the fate of the Jay Leno show and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and there's SO MUCH to talk about (the words 'stupid', 'boneheaded', and 'duh' sure to be overused) but we've got no show this week and perhaps next week as well... So you'll just have to read the excellent reporting of these fine folks, hold some good thoughts for my fast recovery from this coming tuesday's kidney surgery (they're going to send an X-Wing Fighter into the small utility tunnel, navigate through to the caverns of Urea, force open the security gate leading to the land of Kidnea (Right Kidnea, not the communist Left Kidnea) and then use their sonic cannons to blast the rebel base that's been holed up in Right Kidnea, and then beat a hasty retreat. I'm so excited to be a part of this fantastic operation!

In the meantime, here's the NBC coverage that will make you feel so much smarter about yourself, regardless of your IQ!

namaste
robin

Aaron Barnhart's TV Barn
Alan Sepinwall
The Futon Critic
TV By The Numbers

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Quick Plug for HTML Kit Favicon Generator

sonovista my friends! if you look in your browser bar you'll (hopefully) see that the little "Blogger" B logo has been replaced by a tiny schnauzer-behind-the-mike logo... this is called a "favicon" and the HTML Kit folks make it super easy to generate your own from a photo or your twitter icon or just about anything except peanuts (apparently they're allergic to peanuts, which aren't actually nuts, you know, but legumes, which are a kind of fruit. just like me (huh?) wow... i got really lost there...) anyway, if you want your own favicon, just check out the HTML Kit Favicon Generator.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Happy New Year! and a Little Gift...

sonovista, my friends and the Happiest of New Years! hope you're all enjoying the new decade and almost done recovering from the holidays (or should i say HoliDaze? LOL, ha ha ha)

oy

in any event, i'm back from Vegas and we'll try to do a show this coming wednesday before i take a (fingers-crossed-very-short) medical break... i'll try to put up the first AirPlayReplay Directors Cut episode in the next week and will post a link here when its online.

in the meanwhile, Santa brought me a new mac and in going through and transferring files and projects i came across the video of my appearance on the old game show Win Ben Stein's Money... for those who don't know, WBSM was a "game" show on Comedy Central where three contestants would compete against each other and ultimately against Ben himself in order to "Win Ben Stein's Money" ($5000)... i tested and auditioned and got on and didn't win, but had a great time! what happened was (yah, there's a story) during round 1 i had some problems with my buzzer... at the break i called over the exec producer and said i was having trouble, but this is a common complaint (and usually not valid, since once someone 'buzzes' in the other buzzers are locked out. i knew i was first on more than a few questions (i had been practicing at home with a pen) but the exec producer blew me off... i was in the lead after the first round and got to play the second round... because one of the other contestants was so tall they moved us (ben is always at the end) so i moved from the left hand side to the middle and the other fellow moved to my station... as the game started again there was a question where both ben and i answered wrong... the cohost, Nancy Pimental, said, "well, Doug, why don't you try" and Doug said, "i'm trying to press the buzzer but its not working!"

AhA!

stop tape, send in the electricians (or someone like them) and get ready to start again... only during the break i went over to the exec producer and said, "see... i told you the buzzer wasn't working"

now i've gone back and calculated and if i had been able to get the extra two questions in the first round i knew the answer to but wasn't able to respond because of the broken buzzer, i would have had more points than Doug and gotten to play in the final round head-to-head against ben... but in the real world they don't go back, they simply invite you to return to play again (an advantage since you already know what to expect, aren't nervous, etc.)

this was fine with me and i left happy with lovely parting gifts.

cut forward 4 months and i'm getting ready to do the very first AirPlay show (see, it all ties together)... i needed a great guest for my very first show and contacted Ben to see if (a) he remembered me and (b) if he would come on the air (he had a connection with Santa Cruz as he was a student/taught/something at UC Santa Cruz)... ben said yes and we had a lovely and entertaining time and you'll be able to hear it when AirPlay is online again...

but, when the fall rolled around and they were getting ready to start production, again, of Win Ben Stein's Money, the producers called me to go over my credentials and confirm all my details and i let slip that Ben had been the first guest on my new talk show... uh oh!... contact outside of the show is forbidden and they were going to have to check with the lawyers... which meant i was fucked because there is no constitutional right to be on a game show and no percentage for the lawyers to risk letting me on and having to answer for a claim of collusion... so that ended my game show career, but a bad quicktime transfer of a VHS tape still exists and you can see it in four parts at the links below:

Part 1 - RDG on Win Ben Stein's Money
Part 2 - RDG on Win Ben Stein's Money
Part 3 - RDG on Win Ben Stein's Money
Part 4 - RDG on Win Ben Stein's Money

Ben Stein & Robin Goldstein on the set of Win Ben Stein's Money

i really wanted a photo with Ben and so after our game was over i asked the producer if i could have one... he said ben didn't usually take photos with the contestants (time thing, i think... they taped a bunch of shows and it would take a lot of time), but he did go over and ask and i could see ben turn around and the fellow pointed at me and ben shook his head, 'yes'... i had to wait through the next game and that's an interesting story, too, watching the game from the audience after you've just played, but that's for a future Schnauzer Logic show... in any event i want to again thank Ben for being on AirPlay and taking this wonderful photo, for Jason who took the audition and test with me and Jason's parents who let me sleep on the couch in their basement (at the age of 43, nothing weird about that!) and to Misha who came down to LA with me to the taping as moral support, gal friday and official Schnauzer photographer... nice shot, misha!)

and that's it for now... my ears are ringing and i need to answer them (hahaha... tinnitus humor... never gets old or any less depressing!)

my new years resolution?

Show Up
Pay Attention
Tell The Truth
Don't Be Attached To The Outcome

namaste
robin