Archive for December, 2008

the bus

Today is a big day. First night of many that I’ll be spending with 2 of my closest friends, Tim & Robin, on their insanely large R.V. – in fact, it’s more of a bus. A bus that sleeps 6, houses a 42-inch flatscreen (with Wii, of course) in the main cabin (along with a 32-inch flatscreen on the outside…next to the grill), fully stocked bar, climate-controlled belly which all of their Portland Microbrews lie safely in and more. This is their home and they invited me to come play with them for a while.

So I said ‘sure’. You know.

We’ll head to Austin tomorrow and then back to OKC and then we just don’t know. New Orleans? Florida Keys? I suppose that’s the nice thing about having a house you can drive. You sort it all out in the morning.

Will take some photos and vid of this monster just as soon as we stop playing Galaga and making White Russians.

of *course*

…Shanghaiist picks this story up.

56 minus one + Canadian indie and canine instincts

I recently gave an interview to Louis Yu on Victoria’s CFVU 101.9 on my travels, trouble with the Chinese gov’t, state of the music scene there and my move back to the U.S. It was then picked up by the widely-respected 56 minus 1.

Louis is a guy I’ve gotten to know over the past few months and has turned me onto a lot of the ‘younger’ stuff these kids are listening to today and Adam Schokora is someone who makes me glad I’m not living in China anymore as he is what a true producer of new media should be and I would have ended up slagging him off behind his back out of pure envy.

Not to mention I was compared to the most loyal of all subjects on another blog – which actually made me smile.

Worse things than waking up to these 3 after the fucking bickering that’s begun over the previous ‘larceny!’ post…

Happy Boxing Day, indeed!

chinesepod thoughts – or ‘how to make a charcoal mess out of burnt bridge-wood’

Not a week goes by that I’m asked about the old show. Correction – my old show. Show’s still going as well it should. It’s brilliant and revolutionized how languages are attained and absorbed. And I’ve put off penning my thoughts. Had put it off. Until a few things came to light these past few weeks.

For-the-record, I’ve never gone on-the-record about what happened, but shall. ‘Cause people ask. And they did someone wrong. Blatantly. So here goes.

My Exit

…was eminent. Gone were the good ole days of free beer in the fridge and everyone having no idea who did what. Not to say we didn’t get it done – we did. And had fun. Hell, more concept was conceived in the pub than in the boardroom and it was everything you read about in cool start-ups. The converted warehouse. The excitement. Late nights and early mornings. The risk. The mayhem. All of it. But with success came structure and that really killed what was had. It happens, I suppose – the need for someone to start counting the money going out. But what a drag. No more free beer. A timeclock. Someone who reviewed the timeclock and wore a tie. Squares – you know the type. They needed to make money, fair enough. But when I went from producing a show I was a part in starting to being also told to produce the corporate programs said suit brought in to help pay the bills, I walked. Walked under the announcement that it was becoming a ‘production house’. It did – but more on that later. I was asked back to continue doing The Saturday Show (and at half-a-million downloads a month, you can see why) I agreed. Purely for the money. A few months later I started making a whole lotta money (that sounds weird to even write), so I left. On good terms. Still am. Ken’s a big brother to me and Hank is one of the smartest men I’ve ever worked with. So that was it – ‘thanks very much’ and ‘see ya at the pub’. All things good and all things fine.

Spanish/Italian/French/etc

…this is what I meant. Now – as stated, no one paved the road towards online learning more than we did. No one. I can show you obvious knock-offs and apologetic ones. There’s a reason we made Time Magazine’s Top 10 List. ChinesePod ‘coming from our studios in Shanghai’ along with the Chinese staff on board to help in a Chinese neighborhood with Chinese culture in China is what made it that. But ‘ItalianPod coming from our studios in Shanghai’ doesn’t seem to carry the same…oh, what word am I looking for here – ‘credibility’? No, that’s not it, because they had true speakers and the same approach, but it seemed…greedy, I suppose. But they have to make money and I understand that. ChinesePod, despite being flown into teach the CIA Mandarin wasn’t making anyone rich. So dowhatyagottado, I guess…it just seemed to cheapen it.

The Man

Said suit is the band promoter who tries to grope groupies by promising them backstage access (no pun intended). He began to stifle the creative flow there. With everyone. Trust me on this, I’ve heard it from them. The program director called me once to produce some much-needed openers/closers for them which I did. My policy being ‘you-give-me-that-pile-of-money-and-I’ll-give-you-this-cd’ meant he had to pay me out of pocket, as suit was somewhere out of town touring a bean farm or whatever. When suit came back, he allowed for the promos to be played, but told director that because he didn’t okay it, he wouldn’t get paid. He’s one of these guys. So PD left. Suit implements a ‘no free coffee’ rule for the staff of 40+. Now their last hope of bringing an edge to the show, [Dear] Amber has left. Gone. Sorry to break it to ya’ll but she has. So – It ain’t looking good. And here’s the kicker – as good as this is to learn a language, the economy is shit and people are starting to cut back on things. Now – you have a educational program with pop culture benefits and an amazing cast, it becomes a personal attachment and perhaps will make the cut. But without these, it could be deemed a ‘lose-able luxury’.

Now…the kicker.

They. Fucking. Stole.

This is what is comes to? God – I hope not. But they did. Here’s what happened. A friend of ours, of yours and mine, came to Shanghai with an idea. An idea for a new show for ChinesePod. He played it to them and they loved it. Told him to keep his phone on over the next few days. No reason why they shouldn’t have – it was a good show.

YouTube Preview Image

Then nothing. Silence. Then the ‘would love to but we don’t have the budget’. Fine. And fair play. They don’t have the money. That’s how a pitch goes. No hard feelings.

Then this (if you can’t see the link, it’s restricted to premium access so I ripped it and uploaded it again):

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Didn’t see the dates? I’ll help you.

  • ‘Radical Approach’ (remember the pitch? ‘no money’?) – uploaded on April 15, 2008.
  • ‘The Radical Show’ (even stole the name? are you kidding me with this?!) – released on December 16, 2008!!!

To be honest – I’m fucking floored. It – despite its choices in suffocating surrogates – is a classy operation. It has huge potential and not just in this capacity. I remember Ken talking once about how he wanted to put basic Arabic onto mp3 players and send them off to our troops! It was this kind of thought and intellect that  started this entire thing, but to stoop so low as to not only steal from a man who helped them along the way, but to not even change the title, it’s pathetic. As is the show, but that’s neither here nor there.

So that’s it – up until I saw that video, I was fine. If it weren’t for Ken and Hank, I’d still be teaching English. I have nothing but respect for them. That being said, whoever had even a finger in the release of this is a cowardly hack.

Shame on you.

see you, man

Hope you liked it – we did. Was fitting, in a sense, Lake Michigan frozen over. Scott sang the song, ’cause my iPod couldn’t handle the 32-below weather, but it was better that way. I joked that we needed to be upwind ’cause your sense-of-humor would have loved to get all up in our coats for a few weeks, but you didn’t. You just headed out north-west. We’re not sure what was there, but you went in a hurry, so we didn’t try to understand. I froze my ass off – Scott was more prepared. We needed to do this, you see – as both of us still carried a bit of guilt for not being better friends, despite being your best friends. We could have been even better best friends and we’re sorry. Stop by every once and a while, if you can (Scott prefers evenings as opposed to early mornings, but is guessing the flying suitcase told you that the last time).

We also got to toast you a few times in New York as well – everyone seemed to have their own version of the same story.

You’re missed. But unable to be forgotten.

Guess you planned it that way…

Cheeky bastard.

vote! and this time it *really* matters.

So, I’m broke but happened to have taken enough shots this year that a few turned out okay and am going to print them and sell them while on the road in New York City, Chicago, Philly, Austin and more but… don’t know which ones stand out.

I think they’re all good and they’re all bad – such is the feeling of one who doesn’t know a lot about this hobby, sooooooo…

Would ya mind? Just have a quick peek and let me know which one, if any (no – actually, if you don’t like any, just don’t comment at all…I’m highly sensitive), stand out enough that you think I could get a few bucks from ‘em.

home

And who is that?

‘He’s a country boy from Oklahoma who got lost and along the way, saw a few things and learned even more.’

-

The large bottom on the stewardess made me chuckle. Amicable quips over-used, but nonetheless funny over the in-flight announcement. ‘You betcha’ I said, realizing after I said it that it had been a while since I used that phrase. The way American’s talk to themselves and no other country seems to. Lights over Phoenix seemed an amber Christmas was taking place. The sound above me went ‘bing’ and everyone pulled out a mobile phone – except me. Large people lumbered off the shuttle with shoes-in-hand, almost as if their feet swelled any chance they got. I loved it, loved it all. The accent I knew came back quickly – I embraced it. So hard that perhaps even it seems forced. ‘What can I get for this?’ I joked with Carla working late at the airport Pizza Hut. ‘Not much these days, hun.’. ‘Hun’ – I love being called ‘hun’ by black women who’s laugh trumps their age and bust size. I knew this – I’ve been here.

-

I should have called you home a long time ago.

‘No.’

Your timing was perfect.

my very first lomo attempts. my very first asking for advice

My pal Em gave me her ‘lomo’ camera and I found it hard to transition my usual lifeless/stationary shots.

Would welcome any and all advice on how to capture better pics. More here – but nothing I’m proud of.

3 hours in KL



Had to do something to stay awake (previously had no sleep for a few days – ala India Bombings/Nepal Riots/Bangkok Airport nightmare), so took a few snaps of good ole KL – a town I don’t mind revisiting.

nepal photos





…are up here.