Here We Are Now, Entertain Us

The Saga of My New Monitor

The story ends... I now have a brand new Samsung Synchmaster 2243BWX and it's fantastic. It's a happy ending. Warm fuzzies and all. But the road that got there was simply a mess.

Back in 2006 on Black Friday I picked up from Circuit City (who would later subpeona my company and cause me all sorts of headaches, but that's another story), a Samsung 22" LCD Monitor (225BW). It was a great monitor. Going from square to widescreen was liberating. Add to that I got a smoking hot deal on it. All was good.

Earlier this year after owning the monitor for a year and a half it began to buzz. Horse fly doing laps around the room buzz, and all was not good. In late june I called Samsung customer service to do a warranty repair or replacement. After a whopping $500 hold on my credit card (and absurd amount for a monitor that sells for under $300) Samsung sent me a replacement.

A week or so later the replacement arrived. It was a refurbished monitor which looked like some three hundred pound tech geek had used it every single day for the past two years. The screen looked like crap. So I called Samsung back and after thirty or forty minutes on the phone they told me they couldn't send another replacement until they received the first replacement. So I shipped that puppy back and waited, and waited and waited. Finally after several calls to Samsung I got yet another replacement sent to me. I made it really clear I wanted them to Q/A the unit before it went out. They said they would and so all was good.

Until it arrived. I plugged the less beaten 'refurbished' unit in and... nada. No picture, no image, nothing. Their Q/A'd second monitor was DOA. Again, after a long series of calls I was told they couldn't send another till they got this one back. So I shipped it and waited. Another round of phone calls and I'm told that Samsung will replace it with another model and that I'll be contacted to coordinate. Weeks go by and I am not contacted.

Finally after several calls I am told they are shipping a new monitor out! A week later it arrives. But I'm still faced with the need to return my old monitor which of course does not fit into the box of the new one. I call Samsung and they tell me that I need to figure out the boxing issue and I should just find a big box and stuff if full of paper towels (I'm completely serious, this is what they tell me). I finally DO pack the thing up, use tons of packing peanuts and ship it off.

Lets just hope the happy ending for this story stays a happy ending.

Posted by gkleinman at August 14, 2008 2:50 PM

Laughing Planet - Good Solid Eats

I met my friend David Walker today at Laughing Planet on Belmont for lunch. I've been to the restaurant many times but today as we were finishing up our lunch it struck me how much I enjoy eating there and just how consistently dependable it is.

What makes Laughing Planet works so well is that they've got a very simple concept - healthy bowls and burritos with lots of options. Being Vegan I appreciate just how many vegan friendly choices they have on the menu, and with a fair share of meated options it's an easy choice when meeting a friend whose omnivorous. I also like that you can add tofu or tempeh to any of their options. Although I'm Vegan I can't say I have much love for tofu. It's "OK" and if prepared right I can enjoy it. I enjoy the tangy almost nutty taste of tempeh much more and always feel more full than when scarfing down tofu. I'm also a fan of seitan and it's various 'fake meat' forms.

Its easy not to appreciate some of the good things in life, especially places we visit on a regular basis. They fade into the fabric of things and so it's nice to just stop for a moment and say... Wow, this place is really something...I'm glad its here!

Posted by gkleinman at August 13, 2008 9:52 PM

OK We Have A Table

Took the plunge today and picked up a 1950's table from Craig's List. I'm now on the hunt for chairs to match. Again I think craig's list will come to my rescue. I have no idea how this table will look like in the new house, but I have some faith that it'll fit the little nook quite well.

Packing continues with every break from working on work filled with filling another box. I am both overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the task and completely disillusioned at just how much shit I own. I thought I had done a good job of pairing down and reducing the crap that I have... Guess not. I've got a ton of boxes of DVDs packed, I'm thinking of going back through them and weeding out ones I'll never watch again (but am compelled to OWN for some unknown reason).

Later this week I'm going to be going down to Free Geek to donate some odds and ends, including a computer I toasted when I tried to fix. Always fun. Have I said Moving Sucks?!? Probably time to say it again.

Posted by gkleinman at August 12, 2008 6:54 PM

When Did This Whole Moving Thing Really Get Started

As I continue to pile everything I own into moving boxes I realize that I can't quite pinpoint when this whole moving thing really began.

Sure I remember a late night discussion with Heather where we mused about moving to the East Coast, but that was over 8 years ago. Again about 5 years ago we gave Portland '1 more year' to have things take off or we'd consider moving. Again things took off so that isn't the root of THIS move.

When was it? What day was the day where the seed of an idea got planted that we should pack everything up and move into the city? To me that moment is a struggle to recall, a slept in late and now I'm trying to grasp at the fading strings of memory from my vivid dream.

So rather than point to the planting of the seed, I guess I'm stuck pointing to the day that the seedling breached it's tiny little head from the well fertilized ground. Heather and I found a new sitter on Sitter City and when we were interviewing her we got to talking about how much time we spend on the east side of town, how much we love it over there and how nice it would be to live over there. Her reply:

"Why don't you do it then?"

So that's where we are... Why not indeed. This pain of packing, kids freaking out, body exhaustion will soon be a fading memory and the reality of being in a new place where I can WALK places, take my bike, roam more free will be what fills my day. I just wish I could click my heels together three times and make it all happen now....without all the damn boxes.

Posted by gkleinman at August 11, 2008 8:04 PM

Portland Bridge Pedal - 6 Bridges & Tons of Fun

Rode the Providence Bridge Pedal today with Hannah, it was her first real ride outside of our neighborhood. The ride was a 14 mile ride which brought us over 6 Portland Bridges:

- Hawthorne
- Ross Island
- Marquam
- Burnside
- Broadway
- Freemont

Unlike years past the event handled the 18,000 riders quite well. Staggering rider start times, separating families from more hardcore riders and opening more lanes on key bridges made for a much more enjoyable and fun ride.

The night before the ride I spent a good hour plus trying to fix my rear breaks. I bought my bike a couple years back at Sellwood Cycle and honestly they seemed like they didn't give a crap about me or my bike. Since that point I've had to tweak and fix a few things on the bike that they did pretty haphazardly. Noodling about getting a new bike, but won't do anything till next season....

But all in all... A GREAT day.

Posted by gkleinman at August 10, 2008 2:04 PM

Moving Sucks

I distinctly remember the time, sitting amongst piles of boxes deep into the late hour of the night swearing that I would never, ever, ever move again.

It's folly to think that you can stay in one place and not move a few times in your life.

Now eight years later I find myself putting all my possessions in boxes, taping them up and swearing again never to do this again.

Before moving I made a huge effort to sort through my stuff and get rid of anything and everything that I no longer need. Mixed results with Craig's List has made a pretty big pile that is sitting waiting for a trip to goodwill or community warehouse. Somewhere, anywhere just not here. But as I continue to pack all these boxes I'm struck with the amazing amount of crap I still have.

It's an education in you when you move. What things you've amassed over the years, how your tastes have changed and what things you still cling on to. For me it's like going back to a school I was happy to leave.

We've been looking at houses for months, so the whole process of moving seems almost endless.

The brutal thing... I still have 2 more weeks of packing and sorting before we actually move.

Posted by gkleinman at August 9, 2008 5:58 PM

Going Retro in The Dining Room?

As we plan for our new home, it's becoming clear that the table we have in our kitchen now is not going to really fit in the new 'nook' area in our 'new' home. So I've been looking at Craig's List & Ebay at 1950's formica tables.

We've eaten on tables like this over at Vita Cafe over on Alberta, and it's a nice cozy way to share a meal. Prices for these puppies are all over the board. From just under $100 for a table to $800 on Ebay for a table a several chairs. Most of them out there are yellow or silver. I think a little red one with red chairs would be like a HGTV version of a mid life crisis...

Posted by gkleinman at August 9, 2008 10:23 PM

Tea - The Journey Continues

Note: all my blog entries won't be as extensive as my piece Tea The Journey Begins - that was written as a spec piece for publication :)

My tea journey continues. I've made more trips out to Fubonn and Serenity Art than reasonable (considering it's a full 30 minute drive from my home). I now consider myself 'fully equipt' (with the notable exception of a gong fu table which I'll get at some point). The basic pieces of my tea set are: a Zojirushi hot pot, several ceramic or clay pots, two glass decanting pots, a small tea filter and several cups. Its with these simple tools that I've been enjoying my exploration of the world of tea.

From Serenity Art I've purchased: A Fujian High Mountain Oolong - an amazingly bold, carmelly and delicious tea, this tea has become my 'comfort tea' and an absolute sure fire home run every time I brew it. I bought several packets of this tea and will feel quite sad when it runs out.

1996 Meng Hai Pu-erh Shu - a Shu is a pu-erh which has been cooked to speed fermentation, it's considered by many a 'lower grade' of tea than a sheng uncooked or 'green' Pu-erh. Still earthy this tea is a perfect example of how a Pu-erh mellows and evens out over time, it's a nice blend of smooth sweet and rough earth tones. Delicious tea, but not my #1.

1998 Meng Hai Pu-erh Shu - WOW. Simply the tastiest shu I've tasted yet, a fantastic union of flavors with a nice sweet overtone. So far my #1 Shu.

Ti Kuan Yin - I tasted it in the shop but have yet to brew my own. It's in the 'queue of things to brew'.

From the next door supermarket in Fubonn I picked up a tasty Barley Tea. It's a tea that's brewed in both Korea and Japan. The Korean variety is called bori-cha and the Japanese called mugi-cha. I call it YUM. I devoured an entire 2 cup pot the other day with lunch. It's a great sweet tea that doesn't have any caffeine in it.

My tea adventures turned into misadventures when I tried to pick up some high grade Sencha at Uwajimaya, after getting home and brewing a 'funky cup' I looked at the bag of tea and found it expired a FULL YEAR before I bought it. Yikes! I emailed the company whose tea it was: Den's Tea and the guy who owns the company called me the next day to personally apologize and say he'd talked to the head person who deals with tea at Uwajimaya to address the issue. He also sent me a packet of samples of his tea. I've only had a chance to try the Den's Genmaicha Extra Green and it's easily the best Genmaicha I've ever had in my life (and I've traveled through Japan!!).

On the Uwajimaya plus side I picked up a Chinese New Year Tea set which was deeply discounted (as the new year had just past). It had two varieties of tea from Ten Fu Teas: Bi Lo Chun - a very drinkable and floral-y green tea which goes down easy and is best described as 'pleasant' and Tieh Kwan Tin - a delicious Oolong which has a buttery orchid floral taste and is an absolute favorite of my kids.

Back on track I paid a visit to Portland's Tea Zone where I had my first sheng Pu-Erh an organic Green Silver Tip Tou-cha that simply blew my socks off. I neglected to ask for the tea in a Gaiwan so they brewed in a standard tea pot. Big mistake! By the third pot I was flying so high on caffeine that I was clenching my teeth! Needless to say I picked up a Toucha to bring home and brew in my little Yixing Pot. This Pu-erh is divine, it's a fresh mix of sweet honey and peppery tones. I brewed so many pots and each was strong and tasty. I don't think I've had a tea go this far yet.

Also from The Tea Zone I picked up 2oz of Keemun Hairpoint Mao Feng a contender for my regular morning cup of black tea. It's a Chinese black tea that makes a wonderfully golden brown tea. I added some agave and soy creamer and sipped it down. It has a hint of smokiness, not as strong as Adagio's English Breakfast Tea.

Since I was looking to find my regular morning black tea I decided to pick up a sample of Silk Road Teas Yunnan Gold (Dian Jin) which made a perfectly golden cup of tea, also delicious with agave and soy creamer.

Finally I got a sample from Zhi Tea of their Wuyi Oolong. I really enjoyed the tea, it had a nice subtle flavor and really pleasant finish. The only issue I had was I never had a 'WOW' steeping, it never really peaked. It was a few pots of fairly similar tea and then it petered out. I'm going to give it another shot in a few days and use more leaves to see if I can't pull a fantastic pot from it.

I've been exchanging emails with Paul Rosenberg and might do a short instructional class with him about tea. I'm interested in furthering my tea education and get more knowledge about Pu-erh, since some of the Pu-erh tea cakes are much more expensive than a very very fine bottle of wine. I plan to ultimately place an order for some tea with Hou De and Yunnan Sourcing

Posted by gkleinman at March 2, 2008 7:34 PM

Tea - The Journey Begins

I've gone a little tea crazy this week.

It all started off last Friday when I met Paul Rosenberg for tea. A self-proclaimed 'Tea Monk', Paul invited me over for a few cups of tea and to talk about his tea school (a 5 week tea course). I can't remember exactly how I stumbled upon Paul's page, but it was the article in the NY Times about Tea in Portland that convinced me I had to sit down with Paul for tea.

Paul met me at the door of his SE Portland home (he's just off SE Hawthorne, oddly enough near Fat Straw Bubble Tea). When you close your eyes and think 'Tea Monk,' the last image that will pop in your mind is Paul. Originally from the East Coast, Paul has spent many years on his own spiritual voyage, living in yoga ashrams in New England and Oregon. After working at The Tao of Tea in Portland, Paul decided to venture off on his own as a full time tea guru.

Up the stairs and in the attic of his home, I find finely appointed tea sanctuary, complete with a collection of fine Asian art and artifacts. Paul also sells Asian art, but I was here for tea and never got an art pitch. Actually, I didn't really get any pitch; after a quick tour of his tea sanctuary (including his tea alter including several very old and rare pu-erh) we sat down at a floor-level wooden table and he began to brew tea.

"How did you find your way to tea?" Paul inquires. How did I? I fumble in my response, "Well, I had to give up coffee a few years ago..." As I hear the explanation come out of my mouth I realize it just wasn't right. When exactly did I get bit by the tea bug? Was it the ever-flowing steaming cups of chai that I used to devour when I was younger when my family went out for Indian food? How about those steaming cups of relief that I'd sip to help wash away the deep winter cold? Tea ceremony in Japan? Gongfu oolong at the Tao? All these thoughts ran through my head but my explanation was... coffee.

"What kind of tea do you like?" asks Paul. He's pulled out a tray of more than a dozen tea canisters. Oolong is the first tea I think of - it's the first 'fine' tea that I enjoy and I was sure this answer would pass muster. That was all Paul needed and he was off. Paul went through what seemed like an elaborate and precise ritual with ease, and before I knew it, a small steaming cup of oolong sat before me. From the oolong we moved on to several pu-erhs and before I knew it, several hours and several pots of tea had past.

As we said our goodbyes, I could feel the affects of all that tea. Awake but not wired, warm but from the inside. That and I realized I really had to pee.

That evening I got lost in my Google search for tea. For some unknown reason I found that I was pretty fixated on learning more about the earthy tasting pu-erh. As I continued my search for more information about tea, a local site popped up, Tea Time in Portland. After reading through several weeks of posts I decided to email the blogger and get some tips on tea in Portland. Within hours the site's blogger Adrian responded back with a tome of information about how to get started and where to go.

The next day I dragged my family out across town to the Fubonn Shopping Center and into a little tea shop inside the center called Serenity Art. If you've ever flirted with the idea of ditching your tea bags and getting more 'into' tea, then Serenity Art is a place you'll want to quickly add to your 'to do' list. With literally hundreds of tea pots, cups and pretty much any and everything you'd ever need to make tea, Serenity Art is tea sensory overload. After an unreasonably long 'which tea pot speaks to me' dilemma, I settled on several pieces of tea ware and brought them to the front counter.

Serenity Art's front counter features a tea table where you can pull up a chair and sample some of the many teas they sell. One of the store's owners quickly fixed me a cup of their oolong (you've got to start with what you know.) The taste was simply mind-blowing. It's like having a fine wine for the first time after deciding to expand beyond just drinking wine coolers. The guy sitting next to me explained that the oolong we were drinking was a seasonal variety that came in limited supply. For a moment I thought it was some sales pitch and looking at the small packets of tea under the '$75 per pound' sign sent me head scratching. Was I really going to pay THAT much for tea?!

Ultimately the joke was on me; after weighing the tea that I was considering buying, the total cost came to just over a trip for a family of four to the local Starbucks for some less than inventive coffee. We headed home and I had the tea kettle fired up and the tea ready to brew in no time - of course, the oolong I had just purchased. I realized that I had taken another step in my 'Tea Journey' that I wasn't going to be able to step back from.

As I put away all my tea ware I realized that one of the pots I had purchased had a little chip in it. Oh well, an excuse to make the trek back to Serenity Art. A few days later I was back in the car. In the meantime I had exchanged several emails with Adrian of Tea Time in Portland, joined the Tea Chat Forum, and brewed several pots of tea. This time around I had a little more idea of what I was looking for. I picked up a Zojirushi Hot Pot, a glass pitcher to decant my tea into, and a few more tea cups. Getting those things was the easy part as I stared at the wall of teas trying to figure out where I was going to start with pu-erh.

'Where are your pu-erhs?' I asked. The store owner chuckled as he showed me shelf after shelf of different pu-erhs, everything from cakes, caps and loose leaf, and from many different manufacturers and many different dates. Pu-erh is an aged and fermented tea that comes from a very specific area of China (the Yunnan Province) and is considered by many to be 'The Tea Seller's Tea'. Like wine, pu-erhs are horded, collected and aged. There is an entire subculture of people who are fanatical about pu-erhs. 'But where do you start?' I asked. The store owner filled his pot with hot water and poured. 'How about with what I'm drinking!' He poured me a cup and I sipped. Wow! Pu-erh is one of those odd experiences where an initial negative reaction (like 'this tastes like drinking dirt') can lead to an all out obsession (like 'you can taste the dew that was on the leaves'). My experience so far has been on the edge of obsession.

I asked him which pu-erh we were drinking and he pointed to one that was harvested in 1996. Immediately I had the same experience I have with wine - my mind wandered to what was going on in my life when this tea was harvested. It's an amazing experience when something you consume connects you with a time in your life. If I had sticker shock with the oolong I had bought previously, it was double this time. The pu-erh I was drinking was a 1996 Meng Hai selling at a whopping $100 a pound. I decided to take the plunge, asking him to give me enough for a few pots. About an 1/4 of a zipper sandwich bag cost me a total of $7. Pretty amazing when you realize that for the cost of two lattes you can get a small bag of 12 year old fine tea. After showing me exactly how much tea to use, the store owner threw in one last tip, 'You should be able to get seven or eight steepings from that one teaspoon'. It's pretty mind-blowing when you've just poured your ninth pot (and we're talking about 6oz pots) from a teaspoon of leaves.

Home again and I had the Zojirushi fired up (except you have to discard the first batch of water when you buy it, so I ended up using the tea kettle one last time). After just a few minutes I was sipping the same fantastic pu-erh I had sampled in the store. By the sixth pot, I was starting to realize how tea could become an obsession.

Over the next few days I've brewed more pots of tea than I had in the past month. Out of curiosity I stopped into Uwajimaya to see what they had to offer (as it's less than half the distance to Fubonn). While they do have a lot of tea, Uwajimaya really doesn't have anything close to Serenity Art in terms of selection. However, I couldn't resist picking up a pretty well discounted Chinese New Year tea pack from Ten Fu Tea. The wooden box presented the tea inside as something quite special and after brewing up both the Tieh Kwan Yin and Bi Lo Chun, I agreed - both extremely tasty teas. Not in the same league as the oolong and pu-erh from Serenity Art, but extremely yummy.

Getting geared up with everything you need to make amazing tea isn't all that expensive, and when you realize that for the same price you pay for a box of Mighty Leaf tea at Whole Foods, you can get even more of a high quality tea (like the 1996 meng hai pu-erh I bought). I'm not going to stop going to places like Starbucks (where I often seem to meet friends) or avoid drinking 'bagged' tea while I am out. But the shades have been pulled back and the window thrown open on a pretty amazing journey with tea. I'm sure some people reading this will say, 'He's nuts! Who can be so crazy about tea?' All I have to say to that is, sit down and let me pour you a cup :)

- Geoff Kleinman

Tea Resources in Portland

• Serenity Art (2850 SE 82nd AVE) inside the Fubonn Shopping Center
  
• Sacred Tea / Paul Rosenberg (503-230-0953)
  
• Tao of Tea (3430 Se Belmont St) also inside the Chinese Gardens (127 NW 3rd Ave)
  
• Fat Straw Bubble Tea - (4258 SE Hawthorne Blvd) also Bubble Bubble Tea in Fubonn Shopping Center (2850 SE 82nd Ave)
  
• The Tea Zone & Camella Lounge (510 NW 11th Ave.)
  
• Tea Chai Té (734 NW 23rd Avenue, upstairs)
  
• Townsend's Alberta Street Tea House (2223 NE Alberta St.)

Posted by gkleinman at February 20, 2008 5:13 PM

Clatto Verata N... Necktie... Nickel...

Here we go, another attempt to resurrect my blog after a 2 and 1/2 year hiatus. Maybe not having a 60+ hr a week job will help with actually being able to post items to my blog. But if a blog post happens and no one reads it... was it actually a post?!

Right now I'm just peeved because the New York Times published their quarterly Let's Bash A Vegan article complete with quote from Anthony Bourdain. Fuck them. I dropped my all to costly $50something a month subscription. I mean if they bashed any other group with the unapologetic savagery that they bash Vegans there would be hell to pay.

Posted by gkleinman at February 13, 2008 8:51 PM

Nice Nike Run Hit Wonder Pic

Happy to see a nice pic come back from the Nike Run Hit Wonder Run. It was a fun 10K, a little hot, but still a ton of fun:

:)

Posted by gkleinman at August 2, 2005 8:42 AM

More Crazy Cows

Well folks, here we go again. ANOTHER cow in the US has been diagnosed with Mad Cow disease. This time there's no blaming Canada, the cow was good ole 100% USDA prime fucked. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns did a lot of cheast thumping and victory lap running saying that this only proves that the controls work, that the cow was a downer and that there was no chance it would ever have made it into the food supply. Considering that they test such a small percent of beef, it's pretty good odds that there ARE other cases, and that mad cow beef IS making it into our food supply. If you're a betting person, recall the stats that say that each fast food burger is a combo of flesh from up to 100 different cows and you're just asking to not be able to sleep at night wondering if you're at risk or not. So I'd never tell anyone to go veg, but this should give anyone pause about the safety of what they eat... if they do eat meat.

Posted by gkleinman at June 24, 2005 5:34 PM

Flag Burning Bill You've Got To Be Shitting Me

Is Congress really that insane that they've got to waste time trying to get a CONSTITUIONAL AMENDMENT to BAN Flag Burning?!?! How out of touch with reality can you be?

It's not like I'm looking to run out and burn a flag. It's disrespectful, and not something I'd do. But it IS a way that some people express their frustration and disgust with the country and its politics. It's an act of defiance and protest and yeah FREE FUCKING SPEECH. So note to congress: spend time on some real issues:

- An Exit Plan for Iraq
- Any plan for Iran, Korea and Egypt
- Some sort of plan for Saudi Arabia (they hate us you know! A ton of their citizens are crossing the border to drive car bombs at us and Iraqi's how about some sort of diplomatic addressing of this.)
- What the fuck will happen to Soldiers when they RETURN from Iraq (might be a good idea to stash some money aside to actually TAKE CARE of them when they get back)
- The WORKING poor who work 2 jobs and still cant afford basic living
- Health Care - Time to deal with this one way or another
- Social Security - Privatize it, overhaul it, who cares, just do something

or... We can debate burning the flag..... You tell me what's more important.... And I don't care which side of the aisle you sit on, demo or repub, libertarian or 'don't give a fuck' there are issues that our country faces which that are simply universal.

Posted by gkleinman at June 24, 2005 5:40 PM

Take That Call For Me Argentina

Well it looks like MCI has completely outsourced their phone customer service to Argentina. I have nothing against the fine country, but they've got their CSR's on such a short leash and script that it makes it VERY tough to deal with an issue, like a phone that won't take incoming calls.

What a nightmare.

Posted by gkleinman at June 3, 2005 9:02 PM

CSA is A OK

We took the plunge the other week and went ahead and purchased (I guess that's the word you'd use) a share of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Basically we pay a set amount to a local farm for a share of their harvest and then we benefit food wise from their good growing fortune or suffer from their harsh season. It's some what of a crap shoot in terms of what you get and when. But we've now had 2 weeks worth of produce from the farm and I can say without a doubt it is TOTALLY worth it. In case you're curious the CSA we purchased into is Dancing Roots Farm. This week's haul - Lettuce, Spinach, Fava Beans, Turnips, Pea Sprouts. All really really good.

Posted by gkleinman at June 2, 2005 11:15 PM

A Nice Chill Weekend

This past weekend was nice. Not that I did anything amazing, more that I DIDN'T do anything amazing. It was nice to finally have a weekend where I could just chill out. This weekend I did a mini-Scrubs marathon. I'm going to feature the DVD set on KATU mid month and so I'm enjoying making my way through the series. It's SOOO much better than I had thought it would be. So smart, funny and much more than I'd expected. Also watched a snippet of Red Diaper Baby on Sundance Channel. Josh Kornbluth was extremely funny in Haiku Tunnel, so I hope I find some time to watch his whole 'show'. Also since Spaulding Grey died I've missed good monologue

Also watched the Fearless Freeks/Flaming Lips Doc. One of the reviewers on DVD Talk raved so much about it, it made it to the top of my stack to watch. I really enjoyed it. Will probably pick up Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots.

Ran 3 miles today. Switched from the eliptical to the treadmill. A lot harder, but I'm sure in the long run it'll work out better. Nice to be back in the swing of things.

Posted by gkleinman at May 2, 2005 10:22 PM

Geoff's Vegan Matzah Ball Recipe

Jewish Vegan Recepies are impossible to find, so every holiday I've taken a family recipe and made it veg. For Passover, here's a Vegan Matzah Ball Recipe:

Ingredients:
4 Flax Eggs
1/2 Cup Seltzer Water
6 Tbsp Veggie Schmaltz (from 8Tbsp Canola Oil + 1 Onion)
1 1/2 tsp Salt
Ground Black Pepper
1 Cup Matzah Meal

First off you need to make the Veggie Schmaltz. Typically Schmaltz is made from rendered chicken fat. So it's not veg. However I've found that you can make a veg alternative that even the most picky Jewish Grandmother would swear is the 'real thing'

Chop 1 medium onion and fry it in a medium fry pan with 8Tbsp of Canola oil. Fry the onion on medium high heat till it's golden brown and then drain the oil into a measuring cup. You should have about 6 Tbsp of oil... This is your Veggie Schmaltz. Take the remaining onions in the pan and burn them. These burnt onions are called grionis a jewish delicacy and something to snack on while you're making your Matzah Balls.

Next make your Flax Eggs
4 Tbsp Flax Seeds
3/4-1 Cup of Water

In a food processor or blender, grind the flax seeds until they are a fine flax meal. Slowly add the water until the mixture has a thick milk shake like consistency. 3 Tbsp = 1 Egg. Mix makes a total of 4 egg equivalents.

Now it all comes together:

In a mixing bowl, combine flax eggs, veggie schmaltz, salt and pepper. After that's all mixed gradually stir in the matzah meal. Cover and refridgerate for 30mins - 1 hr.

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Wet your hands and then form matzah balls (aprox 2 tablespoons each). Drop into boiling water and summer covered for about 30 mins. Important note: Don't peek at them before the 30mins are up.

Makes about 10-15 Matzah Balls

Posted by gkleinman at April 23, 2005 05:28 PM

One More and Then I Swear I'll let this Whole Food Pyramid thing Go

So I was hunting around the My Pyramid site to check out all the pyramids and I couldn't help buy laugh at this image. I immediately captioned it:

"oh crap, look all the food has fallen off the food pyramid, let me climb to the top and see what the heck is going on"

Now doesn't this remind you more of Chutes and Ladders than a dietary guideline... Ok I'm done.. I promise... No more Food Pyramid Rants (or Basketball posts).. next up will be something much more interesting.

Posted by gkleinman at April 21, 2005 11:51 PM

Blazers Win! - Beat LA in Final Game of The Season

So it was one of their most losing seasons in a long long time, and I griped through much of it. But there's still a great satisfaction when the Blazers beat the Lakers. Also went to the game tonight with Hannah who enjoyed the game. Again the best part.

It's a relief to be at the end of this season. It was a tough one as a fan. Now I'll sit back and watch all the playoffs and enjoy the game without the stress of rooting for a team I know won't make it far for a while.

Also planning on hitting the gym more. I've gotten of my routine between travel and colds and really want to get back in the groove of running.

Posted by gkleinman at April 20, 2005 10:02 PM

The New Food Pyramid - You've Got To Be Shitting Me!

In their infinite wisdom the USDA has updated the new food pyramid. I'm told that there are actually now 12 pyramids which makes about as much sense as their key one. Now instead of foods and pictures of foods in a nice and easy to understand and read symbol, they've created a rainbow of fruit colors (perhaps inspired by Lucky Charms) and a guy climbing the stairs of the pyramid to the top. So what was yellow again? Did I get my orange for the day?

This has to be the most lame brain idea that the USDA has come up with in a LONG time. So ask yourself, do you trust the same morons who came up with this for the safety of your food? I don't. There was a time when USDA prime meant something, now it's clear they're so concerned with not offending all the food lobbies in the pyramid they've settled on something that is absolutely worthless to EVERYONE. So thanks USDA, first off you've done a crappy job with Mad Cow, now with obesity running neck and neck with smoking as a leading killer you've gone and made it even harder for people to get a handle on what the heck they should and shouldn't be eating. Also it looks like your climber dude is skipping some steps there, perhaps you skipped some steps in actually MARKET TESTING this puppy.

Posted by gkleinman at April 20, 2005 11:49 PM

Preempted by The Pope

Damn Network News. Went down to KATU this morning to do my monthly segment for them, and the show got Preempted by the announcement of THE POPE. Well at least it wasn't a complete loss, I went down to Stumptown for an AMAZING Latte!

Posted by gkleinman at April 19, 2005 3:27 PM

Woo Hoo 94.7!

Got the good news today that 94.7 FM (which used to be KNRK and is now '94.7 Alternative Portland) wants me to do a regular DVD segment on air. (Every Wednesday AM at 7:50am). This is so very cool because the station manager Mark Hamilton is an old time DJ from one of my favorite stations growing up in the Bay Area - Live 105. Also I've ALWAYS wanted to do something with a modern rock station, ever since I was in high school... So it's nice to accomplish a long term goal. Since you're reading this here blog I'll give you a sneak peek at the segment:

Posted by gkleinman at April 18, 2005 2:28 PM

What I've Been Reading

For no other reason than I'll wrack my brain trying to remember what I read about 6 months from now. Here are the books I've been reading lately and some thoughts on them:

Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America by Morgan Spurlock - I really LOVED Super Size Me, and it's one of the many things that influenced me to get cracking and lose some weight (I managed to drop a hefty 50lbs). So when I got a chance to check out an early copy of Morgan's book I jumped at the chance. I had already read Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser and the 'life changing' Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth - by John Robbins (which I think everyone should read). So I was very familiar with the territory that Morgan was traveling. Bit what I liked a lot about 'Don't Eat This Book' is how Morgan takes a more light hearted and satirical look at the subject. Of the 3 books I've mentioned it's probably the most 'approachable' and the best 'intro' into starting to think about what you eat. Great job Morgan!

Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan Wright. Got this book through BzzzAgents which was a nice surprise. I had read Jarhead and liked it, and so was interested in checking out Generation Kill, which was... a really great read. A lot more like an action docufilm than a political essay. I'm sure they'll turn this puppy into a film.



What's up next is:

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (A running theme here... books with long titles). I picked this one up on an impulse buy at Costco. I've heard good buzz on it and it looks quite interesting. It's however VERY LONG at 575+ words... Wish me luck.


One I'm thinking about buying:

The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson - which looks too cool not to buy...

Posted by gkleinman at April 17, 2005 10:40 AM

I Must Be Dreaming - The Blazers Win A Game

I'm still in shock. The Blazers actually WON a game tonight. Sure it's only the 3rd win since they fired Mo Cheeks and replaced him with someone who ISN'T a coach. Sure most of this season has been pain and misery, and there isn't a player on the team who hasn't talked about a trade or phantom injury. But... they won... at least 1 more... Simple pleasures I guess. Oh did I mention it was against the Jazz, the only team in the division with a WORSE record....

Honestly it was more fun going to the game with my son Aaron. He enjoyed the game (especially the popcorn). But in the end of the day, taking your son to a game... who cares if they win or lose.

Posted by gkleinman at April 17, 2005 9:38 PM

Double Dare - Two Thumbs Up

I had the opportunity to catch a very early check disc for the Documentary 'Double Dare' from Capital Entertainment. Really enjoyed the documentary. I'm always amazed when watching a doc when they follow someone for quite a while and then about mid way through the film something really major happens to them. One of the interesting things on the DVD is an interview with Quentin Tarantino who talks about movie magic, and how much he hates seeing the 'behind the scenes'. I really have to agree with him. Some films you just don't want to see how they did it all. You just want to have the image of the film in your head as you saw it, free of all the elements which constructed it. But I digress... Double Dare gets a big two thumbs up!

Posted by gkleinman at April 16, 2005 11:22 PM

It's BAAAACKKK - Geoff's Blog

After a false start last year, I'm picking back up and trying to make another run at doing my blog. This time around It'll be alot less formal, a lot more random and hopefully a lot more fun. So if anyone ever does read my blog.... Hopefully you'll enjoy the new new blog. Or rather The New Old Blog. (A titling reminiscent of a great pub here in Portland... The New Old Lompac, which aside from being way too smokey has very good beer.

Posted by gkleinman at April 16, 2005 5:25 AM

Oregon Wine - Yum

Trying to restart the blog with a bang.. or at least a whimper. So I thought I'd post up some thoughts about wine. If for nothing more to remind me after I promptly forget which wines I've tasted lately and how I felt about them.

The 'wine thing', all really started last weekend when I was out at the Oregon coast with my extended family for a mini-family reunion. Heather and I opened up a bottle of Girgich Hill wine we've had for many many years. It was a special bottle my dad gave me for our first or second anniversary (he's since passed away).

I must have been inspired by Sideways, because I've been waiting for a special occasion to open the wine, but realized that opening the wine WAS a special occasion. It was a 1992 Carneros Select Chardonnay and it was so buttery and yummy, it reminded me how much I like wine.

So of course that bottle was followed up with another at dinner the next night. We went out to a place in Seaside called Kalypso. Which was quite yummy. The owner of the place 'upgraded' our bottle of pinot to Hinman Vineyards Pinot. It was quite yummy and not all that spendy.

When we got back to Portland, Heather and I went wine shopping (on a date we had on Friday...) Ended up tasting a number of wines, and really liking two from Sheridan Vineyards from Washington. They had a Cab Franc which had an amazing 'nose' so berry like and flowery. Really outstanding. We went from wine tasting to a wine bar. Heather had a Zin from Roe Sham Bo vineyards which I liked and I had a dessert wine which a) I can't remember what it was called because b) I didn't love it. The wine tasting we did was at a place here in Portland called vinopolis, and after the tasting we picked up a bottle of Evesham Wood - La Give Bleue Pinot Noir 2003. We enjoyed that tonight with dinner. At first I wasn't bowled over with it, but as I sipped it it won me over.

Other wines on my mind include the Sineann Zin which I have to get my hands on, the Cloudline Pinot which was recommended to us at Vinopolis and Archery Summit, which we have a bottle of 2000 pinot aging and saving as I type this.

Hope this wine kick continues through the summer, it's a lot of fun.

Posted by gkleinman at April 16, 2005 11:28 PM

Veg Shopping in Portland

Alberta Co-op Grocery
Phone: 503.287.4333
Address: 1500 NE Alberta St, Portland, Oregon 97211

The Alberta neighborhood has been going through a lot of changes lately and more and more people are discovering it's charm. If you've never experienced 'Last Thursday' on Alberta street you OWE it to yourself to experience it. The Alberta Co-op Grocery is smack dab in the middle of it all on Alberta street. It's located between The Tin Shed restaurant and Everyday Wine (two very notable Alberta Street stops). What the Alberta Co-op Grocery lacks in size it makes up for in quality and friendliness. The produce is fresh and well kept and beverage and snack choices are plentiful. Their prices are fairly reasonable and often lower than Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck) or New Seasons.

Above all the Alberta Co-op Grocery is a great place to shop. I've been in the store many a time and the people who work there have always gone out of their way to be friendly and helpful (even on nights when they are crowded). Since Everyday Wine up the street doesn't serve food, and lets you bring your own eats in Alberta Co-op Grocery is an essential resource for nibbles if you're headed up the street to Everyday Wine.

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Buddha Belly Bakery
Web: http://www.buddhabellybakery.com/
Phone: 503.282.3559
Address: Moved to a New Location. Will Update Soon. See this list for where to buy their goodies

If you ever wanted to convince someone how good vegan baked goods can be, pick up any one of Buddha Belly Bakery's yummy treats which are all vegan and all amazing. By far my favorite Buddha Belly Bakery goodie is their Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls, they are simply amazing. Their pies are also heavenly. We had their vegan pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and it was light, creamy and delicious. Buddha Belly Bakery products can be found in many of the natural food stores in town including Daily Grind, People's Co-op and New Seasons. If you've never experienced Buddha Belly Bakery, you OWE it to yourself to pick one of their yummy goodies.

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Daily Grind
Phone: 503.233.5521
Address: 4026 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97214.

Daily Grind is my absolute favorite place to shop for groceries in Portland. They don't have the mega selection of Whole Foods, and for me they're a little bit of a drive, but I've never come out of there feeling anything less than happy. Daily Grind has a nice selection of fresh local produce and what they might lack in quantity, they more than make up for in quantity. They have an extensive bulk foods area with a huge selection of grains, granola and other organic staples. They also have the absolute best bulk spice and tea selection in town. If you can't find what you're looking for in their bulk spice area, odds are it isn't sold in this country.

One of my favorite parts of Daily Grind is their vegan bakery with the largest assortment of vegan baked goods you'll find in town, including: tons of vegan breads, bagels, pies and cookies. Daily Grind also has a wide selection of vitamins and supplements with a very knowledgable staff to help you find what you're looking for. You can also find a wide assortment of raw foods at daily grind including many tasty treats from Smart Monkey and Buddha Belly Bakery (whose Chocolate Peanut butter balls are to die for).

Most of all, the people who work at Daily Grind are extremely friendly and helpful. When I was first going veg I found that the people at Daily Grind were absolutely the most knowledgable, supportive and welcoming. If they were a co-op I'd join in a heartbeat, as it is I regularly drive cross town to shop there.

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Food Fight! Vegan Grocery
Web: http://www.foodfightgrocery.com/ Also Online Store
Phone: 503.233.3910
Address: 4179 SE Division Street Portland, Oregon 97202

Portland is home to the world's first completely vegan grocery store: Food Fight!. This little store is tucked away on the ground floor of a little hideaway mall in SE Portland (Right next to OTSU and right Behind Kelga Kafe). It might be Portland's best kept secret if so many people (nationally) didn't know about it.

Make no mistake, Food Fight! isn't trying to be a vegan version of Whole Foods or New Season's, it's an entity unto itself. If you're not vegan you might not understand why people are so enthusiastically crazy about Food Fight! But if you are vegan you'll revel in the experience of walking into a grocery store where you don't have to read a single label!

Some of the most notable products at Food Fight! include the much coveted vegan Marshmallows, vegan Haggis (I don't know why in the world anyone would want that... but it's there if you do), vegan Chocolate, and an assortment of vegan stickers and buttons to show off your 'veganess'.

Food Fight! is a one of a kind, which is too bad, It would be great if there were more vegan grocers out there. Also, if you're too lazy to drag your butt out to SE Portland, Food Fight has launched online ordering so you can get those vegan goodies no matter where you are.

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Food Front Co-op
Phone: 503.222.5658
Address: 2375 NW Thurman Street, Portland Oregon 97210

Located just north of NW 23rd, Food Front is by far Portland's largest food co-op. Their selection of fresh produce is at least twice the size of People's Co-op, and the store comes close to the size of some of the smaller Wild Oats (aka Natures). The vibe at Food Front is much more like the bigger natural food stores in town and a lot less 'earthy' or 'friendly' than the other co-ops in town. I don't dislike Food Front, but I don't love it either. I put it in the same class as Wild Oats: I shop there if it's convenient, but it's never my first choice.

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New Seasons
Web: http://www.newseasonsmarket.com/
Address: Various Locations in Portland see store locator
While not the uber natural foods store like Whole Foods, New Seasons comes close. It offers the selection and diversity of a conventional grocery store with a wide variety of organic options. Where New Seasons trumps Whole Foods is in its offering of Local Products. New Seasons feels like the local grocer and they've got a number of locations through out town (vs. Whole Foods one location), so they're often among my first choices when I go shopping. New Season's produce is simply top notch and their produce employees are quite knowledgeable about what they carry (more so than Whole Foods).

New Seasons also excels in their Bakery which focuses almost exclusively on breads, some of the better breads in town. On of my favorite aspects of New Seasons is the fact that they always have something to try when you walk in the door, which is a great way to discover new foods. Add to that the fact that their specials rank as some of the best natural food deals in town. New Seasons is uniquely Portland and a store you should add to your list.

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OTSU Vegan Boutique
Web: http://www.otsu.com
Phone: 503.233.3800
Address: 4181 SE Division Street, Portland, Oregon 97202

Located right behind the Kalga Kafe and right next door to the vegan grocery store - Food Fight! OTSU has a nice assortment of clothing, accessories and books all with the VEGAN theme. If you're vegan, and are looking to get clothing to match your culinary lifestyle OTSU has a wide arrange of shoes, bags, belts and wallets which are stylish, but made with non animal products. The great thing about OTSU is that if you aren't vegan, there's till very good reasons to check out their products as they're on par with many of the things in other small boutiques in Portland. OTSU has many products from notable local designers including 'Queen Bee', and many very creative and unique items you won't find anywhere else. The staff of OTSU is extremely warm and friendly, it's the kind of store that you can feel good buying from.

In addition to clothing and shoes you can also pick up Veg cookbooks at OTSU. They have a nice assortment of books and many copies of Herbivore Magazine (whose offices are located right next door).

Be sure not to miss this store, it's one of Portland's 'hidden gems' and it has a national reputation .

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People's Co-op
Web: http://www.peoples.coop
Phone: 503.232.9051
Address: 3029 SE 21st Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97202

Of all the co-ops in Portland, People's is my favorite. It isn't the biggest co-op in town (Food Front is at least twice as big) and it pales in comparison to Whole Foods for selection, but it absolutely has the best 'vibe' and is fiercely independent and local. People's is almost entirely Vegetarian (the only exception is their pet food) and very vegan friendly. They've got a great selection of fresh local organic foods and many really fantastic vegan options not found at other stores, including: Vegan Voodoo Donuts and the extremely well regarded Vegan Cheese Vegan Gourmet (from Follow Your Heart).

One of the most outstanding aspects of People's Co-op is that it's home for Portland's only year round Farmer's Market (every Wednesday from 2-7pm). In the dead of winter it's great to still be able to buy from local farmers. Also local vegan chocolatier Wingnut Confections sells thier AMAZING chocolates at the market.

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Queen Been Creations
Web: Queenbee-Creations.com
Phone: 503-232-1755
Email: Queenbee@Queenbee-Creations.com

Nationally known, Queen Bee might possibly be one of Portland's hottest designers. At a recent open gallery their small SE industrial office was so packed with people snatching up their products you'd think they were giving them away for free. Queen Bee makes bags, wallets and cases, each with bright colors and very cool and distinct designs. They don't use any animal products in their bags and they make everything locally. Queen Bee products can be found at OTSU, Greg's on Hawthorne or via their online store.

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Smart Monkey
Web: http://www.smartmonkeyfoods.com/
Address: Sold at Various Locations in Portland see store locator
One of the big players in the Raw Food movement is right here in Portland: Smart Monkey foods is showing the world, one bite at a time, that not everything has to be cooked to be delicious. Their products range from little Power Balls to complete meals. Smart Monkey hosts a weekly dinner at the Three Friends Coffee House (201 SE 12th Ave - more info here) every Wednesday. I have yet to attend one of their dinners, but it's on my 'To Do' list. Smart Monkey also teaches a monthly class at whole foods on 'uncooking' and I'm told they almost always sell out. If you're looking to try something new or you're into the Raw Foods thing you should definitely check out Smart Monkey.

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VeloShop
Web: http://www.veloshop.org
Phone: 503.335.8356
Address: 211 SW 9th ave., Portland, Oregon

If you're vegan and looking for animal free products for your bike, you'll be delighted to find out that Portland's VeloShop is completely vegan. In addition Veloshop is know for a fact that they are the ONLY bike shop in the city that will actually patch a leaky tube. While I don't personally bike, I know people who do, and they swear by Veloshop!

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Whole Foods
Web: http://www.wholefoods.com/
Phone: 503.525.4343
Address: 1210 NW Couch Street, Portland, Oregon

Whole Foods is genius: a natural foods store with the vast selection of a major grocery store. Whole Foods has a staggering number of food options, many of which are organic and most of which are top quality. Their produce is simply fantastic and they take real pride in keeping , that way. They've got entire refrigerated sections devoted to vegetarian foods, always have good vegan options in their deli case (and are always willing to give you a taste), and have fantastic vegan baked goods.

The best thing about Whole Foods is that you can go there and pretty much be assured that you'll be able to get absolutely everything on your list. They offer free 2 hr parking in the underground garage next door with a $5 purchase, so I often park and walk over to Powells, Everyday Music or one of the many shops on that street before picking up my groceries - a real bonus.

In addition to groceries, Whole Foods also offers a number of great cooking classes with Chef Ivy as well as Raw Foods 'cooking' with the folks from Smart Monkey.

My only real gripe about Whole Foods is the fact that they're less likely than New Seasons or People's Co-Op to carry some of the smaller local products (like Dragonfly Chai, Loving Leafe Teas or Living Spoonful's Crackers).

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Wild Oats (aka Natures)
Web: http://www.wildoats.com
Address: Various Locations in Portland see store locator
I'll always have a soft spot for Wild Oats. When I moved to Portland in 1993, Whole Oats (which was called Natures) was the first natural foods store I shopped here. Right out of college, struggling to make ends meet I had a simple dream - to be able to afford to do all my shopping at Natures. Well I'm happy to report I reached my goal, but Wild Oats isn't really the benefactor as I don't really shop there much any more. When it was the only game in town, Wild Oats was great, but now with New Seasons and Whole Foods taking natural food shopping to the next level, Wild Oats somehow falls between the cracks. It's not that Wild Oats is bad, far from it, they've got great produce, nice selection of products and great specials. But if I'm not going to Whole Foods or New Seasons, odds are I'm more likely to go to Daily Grind or People's Co-op than Wild Oats.

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Wingnut Confections
Web: http://www.wingnutconfections.com
Phone: 971.409.0237
email: confections@wingnut-etc.com

Finding great vegan chocolate isn't easy. Finding great vegan truffles is almost impossible (most of them out there have some form of milk or milk fat in them). Enter Wingnut Confections, by far the best vegan chocolate I've EVER tasted and maybe the BEST chocolate truffles I've EVER had. Rich, flavorful and simply amazing, the Wingnut Truffles easily rival Moonstruck, Godiva and Ethel M truffles. Right now their truffles are only available at the People's Co-op weekly farmer's market (Wednesday's 2-7pm) but with chocolate this good I'd be surprised if their business doesn't take off like a rocket ship! Do yourself a favor and seek out these amazing truffles.

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Posted by gkleinman at December 31, 2004 9:03 PM

Geoff's Vegan Sweet Potato Latkes

For those of you who celebrate Hanukkah I've got a little gift. Tonight I did some magic work in the kitchen to come up with Vegan Sweet Potato Latkes. ENJOY

Geoff's Vegan Sweet Potato Latkes

2 Large Sweet Potatoes (Yams)
1 Large Sweet Onion (Sweet Onion if you can get it)
1 tsp Baking Powder
3 Tbsp Flour
3 Flax Eggs*
Salt and Pepper to Taste (aprox 1/2 tsp salt)

Using a mandolin or wide cheese grater, great the Sweet Potatoes and Large onion into a bowl.
Add baking powder, flour. flax eggs, salt and pepper and stir/mix very well. Cover a pan with a thin layer of oil. Form 'cookie' size pancakes and fry them up.

Makes 15 Latkes

Flax Eggs (from How it All Vegan)
1/3 Cup of Whole Flax Seeds
1 Cup of Water

In a food processor or blender, grind the flax seeds until they are a fine flax meal. Slowly add the water until the mixture has a thick milk shake like consistency. 3 Tbsp = 1 Egg. Mix makes a total of 6 egg equivalents. Keeps 3-6 days in fridge.

Tofu Sour Cream

1 12.3 oz package of Extra Firm Silken Tofu
1/4 tsp Salt
4 Tbsp Lemon
1/2 tsp Rice Vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate. Keeps for 1 wk. Add extra lemon juice and/or vinegar to taste.

Posted by gkleinman at December 7, 2004 8:26 PM

My TV Spot

Wanted to mess around with video and so I figured what better place to do it than on my blog. This is the video of my last appearence on AM Northwest in February!

Posted by gkleinman at February 10, 2004 10:24 AM

Pentax Optio S

Finally got my new Pentax Optio S in a smoking hot deal from Walmart.com. Decided to go ahead and get the 3 megapixel version as it was considerably less than the 4 megapixel and some research showed it had the same CCD chip as the 4 (aside from other complaints people had with the 4). This puppy is so small you can fit it inside of an Altoids tin and close the lid.

I was thinking a lot about replacing my cel phone with one that had a camera, but the quality of cel phone camera images is so poor I figured it was better to go with a micro camera that took solid pictures. The thing is just as small as my cel anyway so I'm planning on carrying it around and taking a ton more pictures

Posted by gkleinman at February 4, 2004 6:58 PM

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

I picked up this book on the recommendation of my Brother and simply can't put it down. Al Franken is so witty in his dissection of the right it's hard not stay up all night reading it. While I do very much like Michael Moore, Franken has a sense of humor in his writing that makes it a lot more enjoyable to read. His take on the acts and actions of the right and more specifically conservative media are amazing and so far his section on Ann Coulter is nothing short of side splitting.

Posted by gkleinman at February 2, 2004 10:32 PM

Watching it For The Commercials

I did my month end run to the bank yesterday and the teller asked me if I was going to be watching the superbowl. Honestly it's not on the top of my list, but like millions of American's I'll probably find my way to the TV and catch at least some of it.

She remarked that she wasn't as interested in the game as the commercials. Yeah I know a lot of people watch the game for the commercials, but isn't that slightly insane. I mean for most of the year we make every effort possiable to skip ads. We buy Tivo's, fast forward through shows, but TV on DVD, and all the while bitch and moan about how pervasive advertising is.

But for some reason, this one day still has an exemption. My thought is that what people really want are cute, fun, short films and right now the only real maintream way of getting them are via the all too notable superbowl commercials. But it's still wacked that people are so duped to be looking forward to companies pitching everything from viagra to pepsi.

Posted by gkleinman at January 31, 2004 1:13 PM

The Goat or Why The Hell Did I See This Play

Went out last night to see the Edward Albee play The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, with a local Portland cast and local Portland direction, and despite the fact that the Willamette Week thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, I thought it was one of the poorest directed plays I've seen in a while. Sure the subject matter is kind of strange, but the director has all his actors play everything way too big for a small black box theater. At least going to dinner South Park and then having tea at The Tao of Tea made up for the less than amazing play.

Posted by gkleinman at January 30, 2004 4:24 PM

OK Here We Go

I've resisted doing the personal blog thing for a while now, as I'm afriad that I won't have all that much of an opportunity to make sure it's all up to date. But today I decided to throw caution to the wind and at least give it a go. At the very min I can post some general nuggets of info here that may be useful.

In many ways I was inspired by A Post in the DVD Talk Forum which asked me what A Day in The Life Of Geoffrey Kleinman was like.

Posted by gkleinman at January 29, 2004 11:41 AM

Audio Blog Post

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Posted by gkleinman at January 29, 2004 2:05 PM

Disney is Screwed

I was pretty shocked to read that Pixar is going to be ending thier deal with Disney Yahoo Story. The current deal carries the 2 through 2005, so Disney effectively had 2 years to figure out what their business is going to look like sans Pixar. There's no way they'll be able to sustain with films like Brother Bear, which are fine films but never the huge mega-blockbusters that the Pixar releases are like finding Nemo. A lot of this probably will fall on Michael Eisner's shoulders, who is already not many people's favorite person.

The big concern is that Disney who owns the franchise rights to Toy Story and Monsters Inc will churn out low budget direct to video sequals. So who will be the one that Pixar ultimately weds? Universal is tied up with Dreamworks who is a competitor, Sony has had a lot of false starts in the animation space and with Final Fantasy they've shown that they might not be in a rush to get back into that space. So my money is either on Warner Bros (who has animation in it's blood) or Fox who has always wanted a sucessful animation arm.

It's going to be interesting one way or another.

Posted by gkleinman at January 29, 2004 4:43 PM

Who Says Disneyland isn't Fun

Posted by gkleinman at January 28, 2004 1:44 PM