colaspot

On The Spot: Heroes

Jonathan — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 01:20:51 +0000

I’m a sucker for anything involving super powers and implausible coincidences. So I was all psyched and ready to grab the promised free download of the Heroes pilot from the iTunes Store on September 1, but that never quite worked out. Let’s hear it for cross promotions that backfire! Anyway, in this post-Lost world, I fully expected some homages — but not outright stealing. The first shot was a closeup of someone’s eye, for crying out loud. Young mop-headed “special” kid who reads comics? Check. Entire scenes carried out in Asian languages with subtitles? Check. Rusty-screen-door sound effects? You know it. Mysterious plot involving the end of the world? Hey, why not?

All that being said… well, I’m a sucker for super powers. And the aforementioned plot has promise, even if the sight of two grown men flying around an alley holding hands was kind of a tough sell. NBC will probably rerun the pilot a couple dozen times this week, so catch it if you can.

On The Spot: TVgasm

Jonathan — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:01:57 +0000

Want to get something back from those wasted summer hours glued to the screen? Do you scream obscenities at David Hasselhoff when someone gets gonged on the latest dumb talent show? My friend, TVgasm is your wakeup call. I started reading it for the cry-out-loud-funny Big Brother recaps last year, but now they cover everything from Project Runway to Laguna Beach to The 4400. Yes, even Lost gets thrown under the Sally Struthers now and then. Save time and brain cells — let TVgasm do the watching for you.

On The Spot: The Lost Finale

Jonathan — Mon, 29 May 2006 14:41:08 +0000

If you watch Lost, congratulations; you made it through another head-scratching season. The long-dry summer of waiting for next year is here. As promised, masterminds Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse answered a few long-standing questions:

Why did the plane crash?
What happens if the button doesn’t get pushed in time?
Where has Desmond been hiding all season?
How do they explain ten-year-old Walt’s going through puberty in one month of show time?

(OK, so they haven’t figured that last one out yet.) Naturally, there are more loose ends left dangling than were tied up.

If you need something to get you through the summer, Colaspot recommends the official Lost podcast (in which Lindelof and Cuse jerk us around in audio as well as visual form) and the LOSTcast, plus the Fuselage message board. For you kiddies with a summer to waste online, there’s always the Lost Experience reality game. Go nuts.

And if you figure out why that statue has four toes, please drop us a clue.

Colaspot Editor Finds Tenuous Connection With Day’s Other Big Story

Jonathan — Thu, 25 May 2006 00:35:22 +0000

I was calling all my friends to tell them about Tuesday’s narrow escape when this bulletin flashed across my TV. Not to be upstaged, I thought fast and turned to my wife. “Did you know Andre Bauer and I were in flight training at Owens Field at the same time?” I also flew a Mooney M20E (make and model of Bauer’s now-totaled ride) once last year.

In other news, the Six Degrees of Colaspot online game is almost ready for prime time.

Colaspot Editor Narrowly Avoids Collision With Flaming Garbage Truck

Jonathan — Wed, 24 May 2006 18:31:48 +0000

OK, so that’s a slight exaggeration. I only avoided it by nine months or so.

The house featured in the image and in this WIS story used to be mine. I moved out back in August.

There’s a punchline here somewhere, but all I can think of (since no one got hurt) is those wasted hours landscaping and watering the grass.

Guest Startup Junkie: Pam Slim

Jonathan — Tue, 16 May 2006 14:30:00 +0000

Pam, I wish I’d discovered you months ago. Pamela Slim, life coach and former “consultant to management”, opens up on the boneheaded things companies do to kill corporate culture. She also notes that you’re much more likely to get up in the morning excited about working when you work for yourself, a fact I can attest to (although I could sure use more work).

Open Letter to CXOs (via Guy Kawasaki)

On The Spot: The Nintendo Wii

Jonathan — Mon, 15 May 2006 14:03:58 +0000

Nintendo recently announced the name of their next-generation game console. We here at Colaspot always wait on pins and needles to see the brilliant brand names that corporate marketing superstars, backed by megabucks of funding, can come up with.

Introducing… the Wii.

Why?

No, it’s pronounced “wee”.

Setting aside the truism that millions of teenage boys will flock to a product named “wee”, unintuitively unpronounceable names are all the rage these days on planet Marketroid. Remember Intel’s Viiv? (We didn’t think so.)

On The Spot: What About Brian

Jonathan — Tue, 09 May 2006 13:02:32 +0000

I’m a Lost addict, so I decided to check out the new series from creator J.J. Abrams, What About Brian (Mondays, 10pm, ABC). Lest we forget, Abrams unleashed Felicity on the world years before Lost. Brian is definitely more in this vein, targeted at grown-up thirtysomething Felicity fans. It chronicles the life and times of the last single guy in a group of friends, his crush on his best friend’s fiancee, and all the usual requisite subplots (one couple is trying to conceive; another teeters on the brink of affair, etc.). It may remind you of the way-too-quickly-departed Love Monkey; although it has none of the self-conscious hipster overtones, it sucked me right in. The season finale was last night (after only five or so episodes), so check for reruns if you’re interested. Maybe it’ll fare better than Monkey and be picked up again in summer or fall.

On The Spot: The Shangri-La Diet

Jonathan — Mon, 08 May 2006 18:16:31 +0000

Today we start a new series here at Colaspot. Unfortunately named “On The Spot”, it’s an attempt to fool myself into posting more. I’m going to pick a topic and talk about it for 5 minutes. No more, no less. Another 5 minutes tops to edit and add any necessary links.

First up On The Spot is the Shangri-La Diet. I read about this last week on Kathy Sierra’s Creating Passionate Users site, and it seems to be the darling of the blogosphere. Here are the rules:

Pick a two-hour window during the day. Do not put anything into your mouth during this time, EXCEPT water and:
1-3 tablespoons canola or extra-light olive oil, OR:
1-3 tablespoons sugar dissolved in water (apparently the effect varies with the amount)
There is no rule 4 (well, the sugar or oil has to be taken in the middle of the two-hour period.. that’s it).

This method (”diet” really isn’t the right word) is supposed to trick your brain into thinking that food is scarce and reducing your appetite accordingly. Go read about it yourself. My time’s up.

Want to see your topic On The Spot? Let us know.

Colaspot Goes 2.0

editor — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:36:38 +0000

Well, WordPress 2.0, anyway. Don’t look for the yellow fade just yet.

The upgrade is done, as far as I can tell. It’s time for all you Spotheads (and I do mean both of you) to pitch in and do some QA. Bang on the site and see if anything breaks. If it does, let us know.

Thanks, and happy Spotting.