We All Playin' Hooky

a conflagration of solar flares, sunspots, and cocoa butter resulted in the gang playing hooky yesterday, so please accept our apologies for the lack of original comedic show material (i know... this applies to pretty much every week, show or no show!)

in the meantime, please to enjoy this pretty picture from the beach at santa cruz , california, yesterday at exactly the moment we should have been in a small, hot, crowded room.



next week we're back!
namaste
robin

Schnauzer Logic’s NoNothing Review: The Apple iPad

As with all NoNothing reviews, it's important to be clear right from the start. I don't own an Apple iPad. I've never touched one, felt one, lifted one, held one. I've never seen one in person and haven't spoken directly with anyone who has. Now, on to the review.

After months of delay, Apple's long awaited tablet computer, the awkwardly named "IPad" has finally been released, and much like Apple's previous tablet computer, the "Newton", this overpriced/under-featured bit of fanboy flotsam left me wanting. With its bright, clear, large flat glass screen, I was surprised to see that after picking it up, turning it over, and handing it around to all my friends, the iPad's display was covered in fingerprints. Cleaning the screen with the same lint free optical cloth I use on my iPhone, MacBook and Oakley sunglasses proved to be an unexpected source of irritation, especially when these same friends repeatedly asked, "how do you keep the screen clean?"

Equally troubling is its size. With a screen 5x larger than an iPhone, the iPad is far too big to put in your pocket. And while Apple "claims" that the WiFi version of the iPad weighs only 1.5lbs, after holding it at arms length for much of its 10-hour battery life, mine felt much heavier. Speaking of which, come on Apple… no user serviceable parts? This isn't like an electric toothbrush or an electric razor or hairdryer or the new Flip cameras or MacBooks or MacBook Pros or any iPod or iPhone ever? Its important to me to know that I –can- replace the battery myself, regardless of whether I'm ever likely to do so.

Turning next to the software, the iPad is severely limited to only those applications Apple, itself, decides to supply, or one of the few of third-party apps you're forced to purchase from Apple's iTunes store. And while Apple doesn't set the pricing for any third-party apps, I nevertheless felt ripped off when I learned that some developers are charging –more- for an updated/enhanced iPad version of the same app (some up to 300% more, charging $2.99 for a life saving CPR instructional app that previously cost only 99 cents).

Continuing to explore the software, while attempting to browse the web on the supplied Safari browser (the only browser available, by the way. Apple still won't allow Microsoft's Internet Explorer to run on the iPad) I was surprised to learn that the iPad does not support Adobe's Flash, making it impossible to view any YouTube videos, unless you use the supplied YouTube app that comes standard on the iPad. Begining with the original iPhone, first launched in June of 2007, and continuing through to today, Apple has refused to support Flash on the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch, making Apple's lack of Flash on the iPad all that much more frustrating. One wonders how much longer Apple can maintain this clearly untenable position.

Finally, no review of the iPad can be complete without a discussion of its durability, need for a 10 watt charger, virtual keyboard, case and how quickly its large flat display attracts fingerprints. So here goes: my 5 year old can watch all her Disney movies on the VCR in our family room, but I wouldn't let her take my iPad to her pre-school class, and you shouldn't let her take yours either. It's not clear what Apple was thinking, but this isn't a product aimed at the Ravi set. With respect to power, Apple supplies a specialized 10 watt charger, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't expect to be able to charge my iPad by plugging it into any USB port on any product ever made. As Johnny Cochrane might say, "If the plug does fit, you must charge it!" And last, but not least, no matter what you might have thought, typing on the iPad's virtual keyboard is simply not the same as typing on a dedicated, stand alone, keyboard, resulting in the unpleasant experience of getting fingerprints on the display.

While you may find the iPad a perfect complement to the web sites, magazines, email, films, tv, music and digital books you enjoy every day, in my opinion, if the unfortunate name isn't enough to keep you away from this $500 entertainment 'toy', the easily smudged screen should be.

Robin Diane Goldstein
Schnauzer Logic NoNothing Reviewer

No new show this week

Hi there, Schnauzer Logic fans and friends!

This week there won't be a new Episode, but you can always listen to one of the previous, right? :)

Until the new Show - Happy Easter and wonderful holidays to you all!

Official Episode 79 Show Notes by Boyana Atanasova

Two weeks without our favorite podcast and finally there is a new Schnauzer show that I will comment down here. I won’t stop saying about every new episode that it was one of the best I've heard! It may sound a bit odd but it’s the truth – Episode 79 didn’t make difference. It was wonderful! John and Parviz (woohooo!) were the only guests at the beginning of the show, but later on Sheri join the group. The music this time was taken from the latest UK pop hits charts and Jason was again on the phone, giving his interesting opinion and insights to the discussions in front of the mikes. One of the first funny moments was right at the start of this Schnauzer - when John and Parviz were trying to make a meaningful conversation without Robin….but the great laughter was the only result at the end.

The serious talk started with the “swear” topic and Joe Biden, who managed to curse while talking on a public event. This was turned to a discussion about the recent steps in changing the USA health care system. Robin had his opinion, Sheri shared hers, John and Parviz also made great comments, so you can hear all of the details (or actually SEE how they made them on the video Robin recorded with two cams in the studio) after you download the whole episode. The serious part continued with a segment dedicated to the opposition – republicans vs. democrats. Also interesting points of view gathered there.

Aaaand, that’s all from the “serious” part. All that left was filled with funny jokes and friendly comments. Sandra Bullock and her recent marriage problems was mentioned, the origin of the phrase “that’s what she said” also there, as many TV shows like - “The Marriage Ref”, “Undercover Boss”, “Who Do You Think You Are”, “Shark Tank”, “The Celebrity Apprentice” and “Modern Family”. All of them were put in the Parviz segment where he collected opinions about his favorite TV shows and we received interesting views about them.

Robin had the luck to find wonderful stories at Boing Boing and one of them brought him to Becky Stern’s website/blog where he found an amazing scarves made by Becky herself. She was the second phone guest at the 79^th Episode and it was quite impressing to learn more information about her. She is a really talented young woman who has many ideas and probably the most important and useful things needed in such cases – the will and the desire to create and make them real. Becky is making a lot of cool stuff and she’s also writing about them in Make and Craft. It was a nice interview with a really nice girl you should definitely check her work. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that she was involved in the making of the amazing last OK Go video. Enjoy!

If you didn’t know, there is a TigerText app for iPhone, but the details about it are all in the show, told from John. Robin was the one that raised voice for the changes that will happen in the post delivery services in the USA. He was the one pointing that back in the days mail was delivered from postmen TWICE a day.

That was this Episode in a few words that can not describe the great vibes there in the studio, but I am sure you’ll all feel them while listening and/or watching. Have a nice week! Until next time!

Schnauzer Logic Episode 79 is Online!!!

Sonovista, my friends!!! Yes, I know this posting is very late and as my high school English teacher, Mr. Corbacio, used to say: "My Apologies... All Over The Place!"

In any event our -crack- team in Sofia are hard at work whipping up this weeks show notes (ihopeihopeihope) but in the meantime, here's what you need to know:

1. The show is in all the usual places (and i need to figure out a better way to do this every week!)... iTunes, direct MP3 download, the online player, tin cans and string, smoke signals, 40m SSB, etc...

2. In the studio this week were Coughy McCoughawitz (Bunjo's! John DeKoven who now has his own Blog), Sheri Stevens and Parviz Fathali and joining in from LA, Radio's Jason Nathanson (KNX1070).

3. Our discussions ranged all over the place but we did spend a bit of time talking about the new US health care legislation, Tiger Woods, some television that makes us cry (for good reasons), the possible legalization of marijuana in California, tigertexting, 5 day postal delivery, and more.

4. Our BIG GUEST was DIY artist/author/doer, Becky Stern who discussed writing for both Make and Craft and is amazing and awesome made me think i should probably start getting up earlier.

5. Blah Blah Blah... oh yeah, we now have multiple cameras in the studio and i'm trying an experiment where we record the entire show on video using BoinxTV (amazing software, btw) and you can then see it here:



The show starts out with audio from the room mic but switches over to the board so the whole 2+ hours are not echo'y but clean audio right from the mixing board.

6. And there's more but i'm totally behind the 8 ball (again) - oh... we did hear from Sean and looks like he's gotten a handle on his meds and we're all hopeful that he'll be on the mend soon and may even be back some day and we're asking you'all to send him your love , prayers and good energy.

7. Anyone out there feel like writing a positive review for the podcast on iTunes, we'd be much appreciative!

8. The show phone lines are always open for your voice mail messages (which we're most likely to play on the air) @ 408-335-4755

and that's all i got... until next time
Show Up
Pay Attention
Tell The Truth, and
Don't Be Attached To The Outcome

namaste
robin

Leprechauns Stole My Podcast! (see: Dingos, et al.)

Sonovista, my friends! Just wanted to give you all a head's up that we're going to take a break this week to celebrate Lá Fhéile Pádraig and recover from a bit 'o' the illness that has overtaken a few of our team (lots of things are green - some intentional, some not!)

See you all next week with the full cast back in the studio and the (secret) premiere of the Schnauzer Logic After-Show TV Party FunTime Program

namaste
robin

Official Episode 78 Show Notes by Boyana Atanasova

Episode 78 from Schnauzer Logic history was born one week ago and now I will serve you a couple of sentences about what happened in it. It lasted something like two hours and a half and you should know that it was a wonderful show again. The guests at the studio were John, Jeff and Rachel (an old friend of our host Robin and was nice to hear her at this new episode.) Jason was on the “hot line” on the telephone and the singer/songwriter/comedian Ken Turetzky called right before the end of the show, making the last segment of it really interesting and enjoyable.

The main theme of the show this time was again Oscars. We’ve received some wonderful insights from Jason who was on the red carpet. He met some actors, directors, producers, went on some parties, didn’t go to others… But the details are all in the 78^th Episode and you should download it for more info! :)

Robin showed an interesting choice of music this time. We heard some crazy j-pop (Japanese pop) tunes and a bonus song of Ken at the end of the show. Jason’s recent interview with Bill Cosby was funny to hear and it gave a nice start of the conversation between the guests at the studio. We also got some personal information about Rachel – one of the moments of confusion there on Schnauzer Logic.

As I already mentioned it – Episode 78 lasted two hours and a half and it was quite interesting to listen (as always!) so I suggest you grab a copy of it and share your thoughts in the comments box here.

It is a pleasure for me to share with you that I now live in a new small apartment with my boyfriend! So, you now understand why these show notes were delayed (or I hope you do ;)).

Today we will hopefully receive one wonderful new show sooo…. Stay tuned!

Schnauzer Logic Episode 78 is Online!!!

Sonovista, my friends!!! Schnauzer Logic - Episode 78 is Online and its a humdinger (as the kids say, though the kids seem to be quite a bit older than the photos on their I.D.'s)

Boyana will take care of the show notes in due course, but here's what you need to know:

1. The feed in the iTunes Store has been fixed, so you can again browse for the latest version of the show right in iTunes. A benefit of the fooling-around we had to do with the RSS feed is that the iTunes store again shows each episode's summary, so a win all around! (and we're *still* looking for more reviews and ratings, so if you have an iTunes account and haven't rated and reviewed the show yet, please do so!)

2. The direct feed to grab the entire MP3 file is ::here:: Be advised that this week's episode comes in at a hefty 2hr 30min, so you may want to consume this show in small doses and wait at least 1/2 hour after eating before listening to the next segment.

3. As always, the PodcastPickle player in the right-hand column will let you choose an episode to listen to right in your browser, and if you're a fan of the Legacy player, its all good, too!

4. Sitting in with us this week are two of our "SNTNG" (schnauzer logic: the next generation) regulars, John DeKoven (BUNJOS!) and Jeff Maranhas... and joining us for the first time in a long time is another of my old KSCO radio partners, Rachel Weinstein.

5. Also joining us from LA was KNX's own, Jason Nathanson, who led our discussion wrapping up the film awards season and his coverage of the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Oscars, with some interesting inside-scoopage on both. Dr. J. then favored us with his encounter with the "Coz" himself, the right honorable, Dr. William H. Cosby, Jr., Ed.D, at the famed Playboy Mansion in LA. Classic audio, Classic Coz, Classic Jason.

6. Finally, as we entered the last segment, Jeff and Rachel had to leave, so JDK and I proceeded to wrap up the show, and opened the phone lines (408/335.4755) and who should surprise us with a ringy/dingy but our good friend, the award winning singer/song writer and all around funny fellow, Ken Turetzky (he of TuretzkySyndrome FaceBook fan page fame and the upcoming Jew Collar Comedy Tour). Turns out ol' Ken knows the ol' Coz, as he scored an interview hisownself many years ago, so we deconstructed Jason's encounter with the Temple legend and discussed comedy, music, comedy-music and musical comedy and if you're really good and listen all the way through the end of the show, past the closing credits, you can hear a special bonus presentation of Ken's neo-classic, "She Won't Blow Me".

7. And finally, all of this week's show music (except for "She Won't Blow Me" and the original "The Cosby Show" theme, "Hikky Burr") came from a collection of the Top 100 J-Pop tunes from 2009. (i've loved this genre of music since my first trip to Japan in 1986, and a good high-energy ジェイポップ tune still makes me smile!)

and that's all i got! we had a good time this week (as we do every week) and look forward to next week when Parviz should be back in the studio, and our guest will be Associate Editor of Makzine and Craftzine, Becky Stern...

so until then:
Show Up
Pay Attention
Tell The Truth
And Don't Be Attached To The Outcome (based on the novel Push by Sapphire)

namaste
robin

All Hail Dalten Duncan

sonovista, my friends... we hope we'll be able to do a new show this wednesday...

in the meantime, All Hail the Great and Magnificant, Dalten Duncan!

No Show Today (Wed March 3, 2010)

sonovista, my friends! quick note: due to circumstances beyond my control we won't be recording a new Schnauzer Logic today... i need to check in with the crew to see if we might be able to push this week's show out to tomorrow (thursday) or friday, but nothing certain at this point...

on the plus side, it appears that the iTunes store has finally caught up and the latest episode (including just our interview with Rich Vos) is online.

thanks to boyana for a great set of show notes!
namaste
robin

Official Episode 77 Show Notes by Boyana Atanasova

Episode 77 was uploaded six days ago and I am now obliged to say – it was hell of a show!!! Wow! Really, it started with the great interview the comedian Rich Vos gave to Robin and when you hear the first twenty minutes of the new podcast, you’ll understand why so many people (including Sheri, Jeff and John in the studio) enjoyed listening to the things he was making up every minute with his amazing sense of humor and with the help of his innate intelligence.

If you never heard about him (like me, before listening the show regularly), now you’ll have a great impression about his professional abilities. That was a funny first segment, Robin, great job! Afterwards many topics were commented including Olympics, the press conference that Tiger Woods made, also the "Shamu" incident, Andrew Koeing and his missing and so on. Twitter was also put on the plate and Robin asked a great question connected with all of the impact these kind of social media are having on the democratic processes. In Episode 77 you will also hear some very nice inclusions from Jeff who gave his point of view about all of the latest Tiger Woods’ issues and Toyota present problems.

It turned out that some of the readers of my show notes didn’t like the way I talked about our host Robin – that I did not use “she”, but “he”. Actually I think that John was the first that talked about this a few months ago and Robin’s opinion then guided me how to continue my writings… So, thank you, Robin! When I first use “he” I did it without any thinking. If it is hurting anybody – please, tell me, and I will change it. No offense!

On the 1^st of March I have send Robin a virtual martenitsa so I am doing this thing again here – for you. I wish you all to be healthy and happy. If you want to learn more about this Bulgarian tradition, you can always read this article.

Schnauzer Logic Radio Show Number 77 was again amazing and surely one of my favorite episodes ever! This is a real Schnauzer, people! Go and listen to it!

Until next time!

Schnauzer Logic Episode 77 is Online!!! Rich Vos Brings The Funny...

sonovista, my friends... quick update as today (Thurs, Feb 25) is a bit out of control...

first and foremost, Schnauzer Logic Episode 77 is Online in all the usual places:

iTunes, Sidebar Pickle Player, Legacy Player, MP3 Stream, etc. (as of 11:51am PST it hasn't show up on the iTunes music store, yet, but if you're a subscriber it will download automatically, and all the other sources are working fine)

we had a great show yesterday with John DeKoven, Jeff Maranhas and Sheri Stevens in the studio, and our special guest, comedian Rich Vos, on our phone for more than 30 minutes... John knows Rich (he booked him at Bunjos earlier this month and they bonded over golf, two jews engaged in outdoor activities - how bizarre!) and asked him to be a guest on our little show... i know Rich though his stand-up, tv appearances and regular spots on the Opie and Anthony Show on Sirius/XM radio here in the states, but never met or spoke to him prior to pressing down the button on the phone and saying "Sonovista"... so you can gauge the speed and lethal quality of Rich's humor when you realize that about 30 seconds into our call we were all braying like donkeys into our mics, laughing too hard to take control of the show...

i think we upped our game to make the whole of Episode 77 "Vos-worthy", but you be the judge... for those who are fans of Vos and don't want to dig through our entire show, you can download just the interview as an MP3 file ::here::

we talked about a lot more, too, including an update on Tiger Woods, more news from cyberspace and the twitterverse, best-detention-note-ever, an interesting take on the Toyota 'crisis' here in the US, and much more... its a worthy listen and detailed show notes will be forthcoming from Boyana (and i might toss in a few links too)

in the meanwhile, its Plug-O-Rama® time:

Rich Vos on Facebook
Rich Vos on MySpace
Rich's "I'm Killing Here" Comedy CD
Rich's HomePage
and Rich will be at Magooby's Joke House in Baltimore today (2/25), tomorrow and saturday and at the Moehegan Sun Cabaret, next Saturday, March 6

John DeKoven's Bunjos Comedy Sun Cabaret has their weekly Pro/Am Open Mic tomorrow (friday) and headliner Jeff Applebaum this saturday night (2/27)

Mark Zinkle (who?) is a talented young guy on the move and sits in on Saturday's on KMYC from 1-3pm and has his own podcast, The Mark and Stephen Show that's worth a listen

and the rest of us got nothing (as it should be!)

enjoy the rest of your week... more show notes and links to follow... feel free to call the show line and leave your comments... and until next time:

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

namaste
robin

SchnauzerLogic Goes ***LIVE*** @4PM PST Today with our Special Guest, Comedian Rich Vos!

Schnauzer Logic - Episode 77 - Goes Live @4pm PST today
With our Special Guest, Comedian Rich Vos!

Here's how you can join in:

1. The phone number for the studio number is:

or you can use the Google Voice Widget on the right and be connected to the studio (or leave a voicemail message when we're not on the air!)

2. You can listen to a live stream of the show audio at http://audio.str3am.com:5070/listen.pls

3. You can peek (and listen) inside the studio on USTREAM.
The show page is at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/schnauzerlogic

Official Episode 76 Show Notes by Boyana Atanasova

Here we go again! Episode 76 of Schnauzer Logic Radio Show is online for a few days, so here are the show notes.

Robin made a wonderful post after the show was recorded, putting maaaany links to the things mentioned in the show, so I will make these notes briefer. Guests at the studio the last Wednesday were John, Jeff and Sheri. Jason was again on the phone and Robin was guiding everybody through the interesting topics chosen for this episode. Nice explanations about some of the sounds that are played at the beginning of every show were made. You will now understand whose voices were used and why were they put there.

During the two hours of the show Jason talked about his “Oscars’ experience”, we’ve heard two of his wonderful reports for KNX radio and receive information about the Kevin Smith case with the Southwest Airlines. Robin wrote that they spent too much time talking about “FatGate”, but when you hear the show, you’ll enjoy their comments. Interesting to hear was the conclusion that was made by Robin about Auto Tune, but if you are interested to know more - download the latest episode. ;)

Also mentioned were Lindsey Vonn and her cover for Sports Illustrated, the new applications for smart phones which are changing the way we perceive information, Hunter Thompson and the angry voice message he left many years ago, the new Kindle Sheri got and the health issues that Sean still has. Jeff was again a great guest with his amazing sense of humor, so hopefully he’ll be back in the studio the next time there is a show. Parviz was not part of the 76^th episode, but I hope that he can make it tomorrow, for example. :)

I said that it will be briefer, so here it is. Nice and short show notes, he he. Don’t forget that our favorite Schnauzer now has a telephone line and you can leave your voice message whenever you want. A live stream is also available soooo – stay tuned!

Until next time!

Schnauzer Logic Episode 76 is Online!!!

sonovista, my friends! as noted in my quickpost below, Episode 76 is online and can be found in all of the usual places (iTunes, Pickle Player, Legacy Player, MP3 Stream, etc.)

we continued our live audio-stream experiment on ShoutCast, and also created a brand-new USTREAM.tv channel where you can watch us live in the studio while we record... we also waited expectantly for our new show phone to ring, but alas, like the night before the senior prom, no calls, no messages, a pint of Chubby Hubby® our only real friend!

the studio was full with John DeKoven (Bunjos!), Sheri and back for a return visit, our friend Jeff Maranhas, who i mistakenly put in Parviz's chair (mistakenly because as a still-new-member of our team he's learning the flow of the show and by sitting off to the side, he couldn't see my eyes unless i turned to face him, and so didn't have a visual cue of when it was okay to jump in, etc. my bad and even though i've been doing this for a long time i learned something new!)

we also had a visit from our friend, Jason Nathanson (KNX-1070) who discussed his visit to the annual Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon and allowed us to play his two KNX audio reports. we also spoke with Jason about the Kevin Smith/FatGate story and, upon reflection, we spent too much time on this and that was my fault, so apologies! (i think as someone who struggles with weight, i was particularly sensitive, but ultimately its not -that- interesting a story. mi scusi!)

we cold-opened the show with a vintage Parviz Fathali School of Broadcasting promo and also went into the first break with our vintage Dick Cheney Shot A Man In The Face/Dickie Goodman parody.

and now on to the random things we said we would talk about and didn't or links that may explain what the hell we actually were talking about:

1. Sarah Silverman problems at the TED conference
2. Steven Colbert (The Colbert Report) take on the Sarah Palin/Rush Limbaugh/"Retarded" controversy
3. Family Guy/Sarah Palin controversy
4. Kevin Smith story
5. BAFTA's Sunday February 21
6. Whitney Houston "Kiss My Ass" is from the TV show, "Being Bobby Brown" made famous by Joel McHale on the TV show, 'The Soup"
7. Ali Waller (didididah, didididah)
8. Auto Tune is everywhere (including Schnauzer Logic) and here's the most clever use i've seen so far: Autotuning The News
9. Pitchers and Catchers are reporting for Spring Training (Winter is Officially Over)
10. Tracy Morgan (as Pumpkin Escobar) in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
11. Chris Rock (as director Chaka Luther King) in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
12. Bears/Cubs (the other kind)
13. Olympics time-delayed on US West Coast
14. Don't Make a Fuckin' Maniac Out Of Me
15. Opera Music
16. Sports Illustrated Lindsey Vonn Controversy
17. Kindle 2 - Electric Boogaloo
18. NYT iPad pricing
19. Walk Don't Run (Original Trailer)
20. Hunter S. Thompson - "When the Going gets Weird, The Weird turn Pro."
21. Doctor (Kelso) on Scrubs v. Lt. Bookman on Seinfeld
22. The answer to the Seinfeld trivia question is John Cheever
23. Winnebago Man

fuck... i'm done... (Boyana, you OWE me big!!! instead of a show summary this week (or in addition to), how about a sociological examination of the nature of relationships between the characters on Schnauzer Logic, the limits of humor, and a theory on why we're not more famous (or rich!) - you have 30 minutes... begin!)

and to quote me: "And now you know what you didn't know, when you didn't know what you knew!"

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

namaste
robin

...we interrupt this program for a brief announcement...

sonovista, my friends! yes, Schnauzer Logic Show 76 is online and i'll be putting together some supplemental notes later this morning (with the Official Show Notes by Boyana® coming soon)

but in an intersection of two of my multiple universes (universi?) this morning i spoke with a Bulgarian station on my ham radio... LZ10ARDF, a special event station of the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs, on 18.13295MHz... first Bulgarian QSO (hamspeak for contact) it was short and scratchy but we heard each other for a brief exchange of call signs. for those interested, this is all due to the increasing sunspot activity we're just beginning to see as Solar Cycle 24 starts to get underway.



here comes the sun, indeed...
more to come...
r

Look For Show 76 Tomorrow (Wednesday)... Live @ 4pm PST

sonovista, my friends... just a heads up... we plan to record Show 76 tomorrow in the studio with Sheri and Parviz and JohnnyD and Jeff and Jason on the phone from LA... we're gonna try and do the live-stream thing again, so you can call in and be a part of the proceedings!

1. The show number is in the blog below, or you can use the Google Voice Widget on the right and be connected to the studio (or leave a voicemail message when we're not on the air!)

2. We're also going to be streaming the show audio over at http://audio.str3am.com:5070/listen.pls

3. We're also going to be streaming live video from the studio on USTREAM... the show page is at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/schnauzerlogic

no guarantee as to the quality of any of these sources (the podcast is the reference) but we're happy to let you in on the fun while we're in the studio!

see ya all tomorrow!
namaste
robin

We're Taking A Snow Day!

sonovista, my friends... in honor of the patenting of the fire extinguisher in 1863, the birth of jimmy durante in 1893 and bertolt brecht in 1898 (i wonder if they knew each other?) and the success of "Deep Blue" in beating world chess champion garry kasparov in the first game of their match in 1996, plus the snow storms on the east coast, sheri's new job and the price of cheese, we're taking the week off.

server stats would seem to indicate that a bunch of folks have fallen behind on their listening, so consider this a little chance to get caught up.

i still fully expect Boyana to write a blog post about the lack of show and this very weak excuse!

more to come

stay tuned!

r

Official Episode 75 Show Notes by Boyana Atanasova

The 75^th episode of Schnauzer Logic Radio Show matched perfectly with the time when the podcast celebrated its fourth anniversary, so it was even more special than ever. Our dear friend and host Robin prepared for us songs that all contained “75” in their titles, there was open telephone line for everybody who wanted to interrupt the guests at the studio, they were doing everything “live”…and goodies like that. It sounds like everybody had a great fun and I can admit that it was again pleasure to hear these amazing people laughing loud at this 75^th episode.

Parviz, John and Robin were the “core group”. Billy Sunshine called on the phone and Dave tried to interrupt the talking in the studio, but unfortunately something strange happened and the connection with him disappeared. But no worries! Everything was under control – as always when these guys are involved. The fourth anniversary of the show was a great reason for some of the new listeners to get some background information about how everything started back in 2006. These details were nicely connected with some present events that bothered the attention of the friends gathered in the studio. Jason on the phone started an interesting conversation about his recent experience with the Grammy awards. You can download the show or listen it in the player in the right of your screens to find out who were Jason’s favorites at the ceremony. Also, you will learn that Will I Am is a really nice guy who welcomes every journalist interested in listening to his looong story.

This is the right place to say to Parviz that my comment from the last show notes about the “fight” he had with Robin, Sheri and John was just a result from my (sometimes) strange sense of humor. :)

Oscars' nominees were also well presented in Episode 75 and everybody again enjoyed telling the full title of the film “Precious (insert a long senseless title here)”… :)

I should make a note that this show was one of the shortest from my point of view. It lasted something like two hours but when you listen to it the times literally flies. The mood was wonderful, because it was a celebration after all. Hours after the recording of the podcast Robin has written that he was not much satisfied from the final result, but I can only tell this to him – it is all in your head, Robin! Yeah, everything was superb! Really! :)

The Bulgarian national anthem was the song at the background while Parviz told some really kind words about his friendship with Robin, John, Sheri, Sean, Jason and all of the other people involved in the craziness called Schnauzer Logic. Wonderful place for me to say: “Happy birthday, Schnauzer! Be as crazy as you are now! We love as you are. ”

To all of you who have missed to celebrate with Robin - you can still call and leave your “sonovista” to him . :)

Until next time!

Schnauzer Logic Episode 75 (Our 4th Anniversary Show) Is Online!!!

sonovista, my friends... someone once said that it's not official until i say it on the show blog, so Schnauzer Logic Episode 75 is Online!

as usual you can grab it in iTunes, download the MP3 or listen in the online player on the right! (and for those asking, you can also listen in the "legacy player", though that sounds like the old guys who wave their caps before the MLB AllStar Game)

as to the show itself, well to paraphrase the late Donald Runsfeld:

"As you know, ah, you celebrate your anniversary with the show you have -- not the show you might want or wish to have at a later time. You can have all the show prep in the world and it can (still) be blown up..."

ah Donald... what a douche...

in any event, while it is a great show and i LOVE the energy and comedy that Parviz and John and Jason and even Billy Sunshine brought to the proceedings (and love them all for giving their time and talent to pump my little show), in my mind things were suppose to play out differently... i was also suppose to be thinner and have straight hair, but that didn't work out so good either.

so there you go... after more than 10 years of being back on the radio, i still get depressed when the thing in my head doesn't match the thing that actually happened, no matter how GREAT the thing that actually happened was... this is MY craziness and my instinct is not to jot it down in the show blog... but the other thing i've learned after more than 10 years of being back on the radio is that this is my CRAZINESS, and recognizing that how i'm feeling is not rationally related to how anyone else will experience what we did, helps me to put down the scissors and step away from the kitty... so i will leave in this paragraph in the hope that it may stop some other egomanical narcissist from beating him/herself up for the way life unfolds.

Schnauzer Logic Major Truth #1
Life is a lot like walking a miniature Schnauzer. You pretty much have to go where it wants to take you, or its a miserable experience for everyone involved.

anyway, back to the show... (boyana will have her wonderful detailed show notes as usual, but here are the quickies)

1. we tried something new this week and streamed the studio audio LIVE during the recording. at least a couple of folks seemed to enjoy this, so we'll try to do this again every week. the show audio is an MP3 shoutcast stream (meaning you can listen to it on just about every device, including your iphone) and is slightly-better-than-AM quality audio (not as good as the podcast audio) and you can listen to it at http://audio.str3am.com:5070/listen.pls

2. one reason for streaming the show live is that it means listeners can call us, while we're in the studio, on the new Studio Line:

during the week this number will roll directly over into voicemail where you can leave a comment, but during the live show we'll route this number into the studio so you can interrupt the flow of our conversation (or maybe even add something witty and give Parviz a chance to take a breath!)

3. tunes: so if you listened to the show live you heard 4 tunes, but if you listen to the podcast you'll hear a different 4 tunes (well, two are the same as the live broadcast)... as i was listening to the show during post-production, i realized i didn't like the flow of two of the songs, so i replaced them. the podcast tunes (in order) are:

• "75" by Ben Morris and The Great American Boxcar Chorus
• "75 and Sunny" by the Ryan Montbleau Band
• "High of 75" by Relient K
• "Seventy-Five" by Paul Brook

and the two songs we played but replaced were:

• "75 Highway" by Lightnin' Hopkins
• "75 Again" by The Four Horsemen

4. The Plugs:

• John DeKoven's Bunjo's Comedy Club
• Jason Nathanson's KNX - AM1070
• Billy Sunshine's KRXA - AM540
• Parviz Fathali's Preferred Sidekick

5. The corrections:
too numerous to mention and this is why i hired a virtual assistant in the first place!

anyway, many thanks and much love to you all for the voicemails and emails and tweets and notes and donations and kind thoughts and gentle words and prayers and prose and poetry. each week for the past four years a few good friends got into a small room together for a couple of hours to try to make each other laugh and take our turn at driving the universe for a bit of our collective journey... its been a nice way to share our stories and see the stars... and with any luck, in four more years we'll be doing the exact same thing...

so we got that going for us, which is nice.

until next time...

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

namaste
robin

Schnauzer Logic's 4th Anniversary/75th Show goes LIVE at 3PM PST

***Feb 4 Update***
We recorded the show yesterday but I haven't had the chance to process and upload it to the server yet. Busy day for me, so for now, please just chat among yourselves.
***Feb 4 Update***

sonovista, my friends!

SchnauzerLogic's 4th Anniversary/75th show goes LIVE at 3pm PST - listen live http://bit.ly/SL-LIVE or call the studio phone:

Official Episode 74 Show Notes by Boyana Atanasova

This time the show has started with a nice pre-talk between the guests at the studio who were Sheri, Parviz and John. Robin decided to give us again the chance to hear what is actually happening “behind the scenes” and the effect was great as always. (No edits, everybody!)

There were many topics in the Schnauzer Logic Radio Show number 74, but here are the main:

- Robin gave us an interesting insight about some of the sounds he is playing at the start of every show. All of you that didn’t know why were they chosen for this purpose – you can get the information from our host every Wednesday from now on

- Parviz was the one who started again the talk about the Leno/Conan television war. ;) There were bunch of funny things told in this segment, but may be the funniest was the fact that Parviz likes more Leno than any other show host on the TV air in the USA. ;) Everybody was arguing with him and (thanks God!) at the end this did not finish with a fight. ;)

- Probably the most popular topic of all was the thing that everybody commented in the last few days over the Internet. Yesss! The announcement of iPad and all of the noise around it. It was amazing to learn that Robin was part of the Apple company right at the beginning of their developing of the first iPod. And guess what? He owns one of the first prototypes of this unique gadget! Robin was also one of the people who decided which colors should be appropriate for the “color series” of the iMac.

- There on the show you can also find a useful tip about a program that shrinks DVDs so that you can transfer them on your iPhone or other kind of mobile device

- The big news this time was the announcement of John’s marriage. The BIG day will be his birthday – 17^th of July. J

- Some health issues were also chatted about in Episode 74, but more details – in the podcast, please. ;)

- If you didn’t know already, there is a clinic for people that have Internet addiction. I hope that no one of us will ever know where the hell this place is.

- Also mentioned in the show were some baseball players, the comedian Rich Vos and his appearance in Starbucks, “guilty pleasures”, some popular tv shows, politics and (of course) Obama, the new job Sheri is getting soon, one funny video of a woman with(out) skirt and so on.

- A great conversation about charity and the ways everybody can help was made right before the end of this chapter of Schnauzer Logic Radio Show history.

That was everything, told briefly.

Episode 75 with the fourth anniversary of the show is coming this week so – stay tuned! J

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

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 73^rd 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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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



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