Geek with Family

If you thought playing a normal vinyl LP was a hassle, you may need a restraining order from this new Led Zeppelin set:

The Classic Records Led Zeppelin 45 rpm Box Set consists of 44 single sided 12" records housed in a special Classic Records Road Case. The titles include Led Zeppelin I, II , III, IV, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti, Presence, In Through the Out Door, and Coda with each spread out over either four or eight sides depending on whether the original LP was a single or double. These 45 rpm sides were cut at the same time as the 33 rpm discs and as such DO NOT represent a remastering that is different from the 33 rpm LP’s approved by the Band. Further, there is no additional artwork or extra recorded material of any kind. Each title has an art jacket that is the same as used on the 33 rpm releases with the additional 45’s in white jackets. Original label art by title is the same as used on the 33 rpm releases as well. All records are pressed on Classic’s proprietary 200g Super Vinyl Profile for maximum playback fidelity.

Continue reading The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Vinyl Box Set

Popularity: 10% [?]

Vinyl playback in the 21st century is the most inconvenient geek hobby but also the most sonically satisfying. Vinyl can sound vastly superior to MP3s and AACs and even better than CDs if you’re willing to invest the tremendous time and effort. You can capture that emotional connection to your favorite music again by getting back into vinyl. Remove the digital filters from your brain.

If I want to enjoy my newest vinyl buy, Calexico|Iron and Wine In the Reins, this is the procedure I have to follow to keep my status as an aspiring audiophile.

Continue reading Vinyl LP Playback Inconvenience - An Audiophile’s Burden

Popularity: 6% [?]

Paul Robertson’s Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 is finally finished and online. If you have any love for sprite animation  reminiscent of SNES and GBA 2D video games you must see this animation. PBCBSF2006 depicts two street teens bloodily battling their way through legions of zombies, IM groupies, monster caterpillars and alien octopodes to save their girlfriend from the maniacal Pirate Baby. Super awesome.

Thanks Joystiq (BoingBoing posted about this the other day but the link wouldn’t load).

Popularity: 12% [?]

If you haven’t read Alan Moore’s and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, you need to because it will expose the contemporary super-hero murder mysteries like Powers and Identity Crisis as shortsighted, insignificant stories. Murdered super-heroes can only mean one thing: Armageddon.

I worked in comic book specialty shops from 1990 to 1995. The Watchmen covers always stood out among all the other comics surrounding it alphabetically by publisher from Warlord to Wonder Woman. I never read them because they were expensive, too wordy and I wasn’t impressed with Gibbon’s art style. I was always more in the mood for Jim Lee’s X-Men and Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man (I read Grendel and Shade the Changing Man too, so don’t think I’m a complete poser).

Continue reading Watchmen Absolute TPB Finally Read

Popularity: 20% [?]

Trains are loud.

If you want to listen to music on your iPod or watch a movie on your PSP without going deaf and bothering the other passengers you need in-ear headphones like my Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studios. Many commuters use Shure E2Cs. The Shures were my first in-ear set so I know when properly shoved into your ear canal they provided improved isolation and sound over the iPod’s earbuds.

Every morning and evening ride from the suburbs to downtown Chicago and back I spy fellow commuters with their in-ears inserted in the wrong ear and upside down. Switching the Shures makes the driver body point away from your head. This makes me crazy because your flipping L and R channels (ruining a sound engineers weeks of hard work to place guitar on the right, bass on the left, singer front and center and drums in back), you lose isolation and therefore sound quality and it looks like a sad dog’s limp ears. The Shures gracefully twist into your ear canal and the driver rests snugly in the concave dent behind the canal hole.

It’s easy. Go read the instructions. Print them out and consult them whenever you leave the house with your iPod and in-ear headphones.

The backwards earphones bug me so much I want to tug them out of my fellow commuters’ ears and shove them back in correctly. Please save your mace for a real attacker, I’m just improving your commute.

Popularity: 8% [?]

This weekend I finally got around to finishing my Audio Concepts B-Flat Coax 8" in-ceiling surround speaker install. I detached the B-Flats from their ceiling mount and stuffed fiberglass insulation (the cotton candy kind, rated R13) in the cavity between ceiling joists. According to the B-Flat installation instructions and in-ceiling/wall tips elsewhere, the insulation should improve sound quality. The end result was not what I expected.

Continue reading Howto: In-Ceiling Speaker Install - Audio Concepts B-Flat Coax 8″

Popularity: 8% [?]

The only hifi and home theater reviewers/experts I trust, Richard Hardesty and Shane Buettner, have expanded their print magazine, Audio Perfectionist Journal, and moved its past and future articles that can’t fit in the Journal to the Critical Ear. The Critical Ear’s Mission:

Our intent is to give readers the information needed to extract every ounce of enjoyment and passion from this wonderful hobby and to make intelligent purchasing decisions on hardware and software. This is in contrast to the biased and/or misleading information presented in advertising-supported publications and from self-proclaimed experts on the Internet who disseminate misinformation for free. Our standing as consumer advocates dictates that we will act as watchdogs to alert consumers whenever we feel they are being misled.

The Critical Ear will offer in-depth feature articles of unparalleled quality that teach you how to get the most out of the hi-fi you have now, and we’ll review equipment that matters in a thorough, logical, and methodical fashion so you can not only purchase the best equipment, but purchase the equipment that represents the best value for any budget.

Continue reading Criticalear.com - Audio Perfectionist Journal Crew Online

Popularity: 17% [?]

The IE-35 Audio Analysis System gives me serious calibrator envy:

The IE-35 Audio Analysis System from Ivie is a second generation, calibrated, handheld audio instrument delivering a broad range of acoustical measurements displayed in stunning color. In-the-field functions include real time analyzer measurements (RTA), sound pressure level (SPL) measurements, seat-to-seat level variation measurements, strip chart recordings of sound level over time, polarity checking, oscilloscope measurements, Noise Criteria (NC/NR) measurements, a built-in signal generator, audio level volt meter, RT60 reverb and more.

Continue reading Ivie IE-35 Audio Analysis System - Magic Bullet for my Theater Room Setup

Popularity: 9% [?]

Most of the time I just want to casually watch a movie. I don’t need to own every DVD I have a passing interest in. I even have trouble watching movies I really love more than once. Back in 2001, I was browsing the Michigan Ave Borders in Chicago and found the Atlantis the Lost Empire Illustrated Script. I discovered after a few pages that one of my favorite comic book artists, Mike Mignola, designed all the characters and mecha. Later, in Hollywood Video I rented the non-special edition DVD. When I watched the disc through my home theater set up, I was disappointed that its Dolby Digital soundtrack was broken.

Continue reading Real Life DRM Problems: Atlantis the Lost Empire DVD

Popularity: 38% [?]

Toddler_o_Geek wakes up every morning between 5:30 and 6:15 AM. A sing-songy "Watch TV" tops her demands (the more inappropriate the request the more cute she tries to be). As I get ready for work and my wife fits in a quick shower, our daughter ping-pongs between playing with her Playskool super-deformed family and their fold up house, eating dry Cinnamon Toast Crunch, searching for her baby doll or Pooh and testing our patience with the "watch TV" bit. When she is distracted by one of the first two activities I sit down at the computer hutch to catch up on email and news of wonderful things. After a minute of peace, she discovers me and wants to see the computer screen, move the mouse and type her baby code on the keyboard. I place her on my lap and satiate with a quick look at the latest blogged pics at Cute Overload.

Continue reading Cute Toddler Moment: Cuteoverload.com and Singing Happy Birthday

Popularity: 5% [?]