• Night of the Living Podcast 122. A cast of men and women discuss all things horror around a table in Cinncinnati. Not that you would know that is their focus for the first 15 minutes or so of the episodes I’ve heard. They tend to open with off-color, off-topic discussions. For example, this week featured recordings of farts, birthday messages to people you probably don’t know and Andy Rooney impressions. Fifteen minutes in, the horror discussion started, with news about VH1′s “Scream Queens” reality show, a riff on surviving zombie attacks, an extended negative review for the straight to video flick “Primal,” about a killer sasquatch, then some reader voicemails. They crack themselves up a lot, and I’m sure someone finds it fascinating, but I’m not enough of a horror fan to stick with it. Length: 1 hour, 52 minutes. Released: Dec. 14.
• The Bob Thurman Podcast #66 The Tibetan scholar riffs in another dharma talk aimed straight for your hypothalamus, with some discussion about the Indian demon Mara, who is a tempter, the god of pleasure, “sort of a superdude cupid” as Thurman puts it, and how Mara is in some sense a Bodhisattva sent to test other Bodhisattvas. Thurman tells a story about an enlightened king giving away his eyes to be transplanted to a beggar — it turns out to be a test, and he the king’s sight is not lost. Thurman says his Sanskrit teacher couldn’t stand Buddhists — “they’re a bunch of damn goody-goodies.” He relates the Buddhist story of the king to the story of Abraham and Isaac in the Bible. Sacrificing the firstborn. One way to break the cycle of attachment, he says, is to be willing to give up what is most precious in your life. At the end of parables, even the Buddhist ones, all is saved when you pass the test with your willingness to forgo attachment — “usually.” Good advice for print journalists in hard times, perhaps. Length: 14:24 minutes. Released: Dec. 13.
• Uhh Yeah Dude, Episode 145 Intro: M83. A solid hour of riffing on weird news, like items from the world of horrifying science: Poor children’s brain activity resembles that of stroke victims. Fat people eat more and get seconds at Chinese buffets. “Thanks, science.” Top baby names of 2008. Gavin? Bryce? The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has banned smiling in driver’s license photos. They urge listeners to watch the late-night TV shows, which have been particularly bad lately, and mock the latest laughable Burger King ad campaign: Whopper virgins. Getting plastic surgery to look good at your funeral. Fox apologizes for full-frontal NFL shot. Why is gasoline, which was $4 a gallon, now cheaper than orange juice? “It’d be like you went into Starbucks and you ordered your drink and they said that’ll be 50 cents.” Complaints about the post office. Jonathan is scammed by a credit agency collection guy. A discussion of H. Salt, a SoCal fish and chips place. Jonathan: “As a vegetarian, it is one of the few things I get a hankering for.” That’s why I went back to eating fish a few years ago. Sorry, fish. Outro: Peter Tosh. Length: 1 hour, 32minutes. Released: Dec. 13.
• This Week in Tech 173: Dvoracanis Leo Laporte plays host to Sarah Lane, John C. Dvorak and Jason Calacanis. Topics include: Zinc air batteries from Energizer and battery life in general, bad iPhone battery performance, chargers for the Tesla, Google’s use of humans to improve search results, and the top tech stories of 2008. Blu-Ray fails to grab market share. Dvorak and Calacanis disagree about who works harder, Americans or Asians. The Nintendo Wii: a girlie console? Australia cracks down on the Internet, and The Simpsons. Spectrum auction leaves Google a happy loser. And a discussion of the resolution of the Google Books fight causes Calacanis to say: “Google is not evil but lacks empathy.” Audible ad around the 1-hour mark kicks off 10 minutes of commercial promotions. But I’m in a forgiving mood for the holidays, and one of the promotions is for a free installment (on Dylan’s “Highway 51 Revisited” ) from the Continuum Books 33⅓ pop music series I mentioned here. It is a good series, and nobody paid me to say that. Length: 1 hour, 34 minutes. Released: Dec. 14.
• The Futile Podcast: “Truck drivin’ arm breakin’ and arm wrestlin’” Is there such a thing as an action-movie nerd? Maybe the right word is geek. Description of podcast: “Deconstructing 80’s & 90’s action movies. Relating them to comics, TV, and cartoons from then and now.” They get pretty quickly into the Sylvester Stallone arm-wrestling movie “Over the Top” (1987). The two guys say it feels like a made-for-TV movie, with the lesson, you have to take what you want in life. High point of film comes with interviews of actual professional arm wrestlers. It’s an amusing enough discussion, but the main hosts seems to be eating and talking with his mouth full. “A really, really awful version of ‘The Color of Money.’ … We did the poker movie, and we did the pool movie, what about arm wrestling?” I might listen to this show again, depending on the movie under discussion. It looks like some of the earlier podcasts have more participants, mostly but not exclusively men. On the blog, there’s also this apology for excessive misogyny, a common feature of a lot of male-dominated podcasts, as I’ve mentioned before. On the plus side, it has some of the features of a good podcast: brevity with several engaging personalities talking with expertise about an obscure topic they love, in this case, action films. Length: 23:24 minutes. Released: Dec. 17.
• “60-Second Earth, Santa in Danger: Polar Meltdown“ First, I will note again that this show, despite the name, is longer than a minute. Second, I will note that this particular episode is a rapid-acting depression pill from Scientific American. Except that it doesn’t cure depression. It makes you feel worse. You see, the icecaps are melting, and there’s not a damn thing Santa can do about it, “no matter how green his elves are,” children. Aaagh. Sponsored by God. Length: 1 minute, 20 seconds. Released: Dec. 11.
• CommandN Episode 161 Unlike the audio podcasts above, this is video, which means you will hurt yourself or others if you try it while driving or walking to work. It is also Canadian, and the recent episode is inexplicably taped outside, so the hosts, Amber MacArthur and Jeff-somebody look cold. This is their gift guide. Canadians are a little behind the times in technology. They lust for iTunes and Kindles. The show is short, but it moves too fast to really focus on anything. Discussions tend to be superficial. I’d suggest skipping this altogether and listening to Amber’s far superior audio podcast with Leo Laporte, Net@Night, which I haven’t reviewed yet, though I like it, and nobody paid me to say that. Length: 8:12 minutes. Released: Dec. 6.
• Wired Gadget Lab 20: This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Motor Home Another video. A couple of 20somethings test-drive a high-tech modified Airstream RV. “Dude, let’s take it to L.A.” Oh, ha ha ha. Good thing gas prices are dropping. They make the trip, with footage from a pit stop at the world’s weirdest urinal. Seriously? What does it have to do with this review? Nothing. They give the vehicle a 6 out of 10. Which is better than the podcast itself. I’m not really sure why I even watched this. Oh, it was short. And now I can put the whole series in the trash bin, because video eats up a lot of hard-drive space. Length: 7:10 minutes. Released: Dec. 5.
• “This Week in Media 119: Adverteasing” Back to audio. This proved to be the most though-provoking show of the week, with a disturbing view of podcast advertising practices. Daisy Whitney of TV Week leads a discussion with Alex Lindsay, Susan Bratton of Personal Life Media (35+ podcasts), plus two others with complicated names that nobody spelled out, a media ad buyer and an active podcast sponsor. It starts off with a focus on how so many podcast hosts personally pitch products, as in radio, a practice that advertisers like. Lindsay nods to the church/state wall between content and ads, saying he avoids getting involved in deals and that he only pitches products on his tech podcasts that he uses and likes. I guess we have to trust him on that. He says his advertisers pay on a CPM basis (cost per thousand views), not based on revenue sharing or for favorable content. He does disclose that Scott Bourne, his co-host on This Week in Photography, personally sells ads for that show. Around the 28-minute mark, Bratton reveals even more flexibility: “…We’ll also do a program that includes the CPM audio ads, plus things like, we’ll post on the blog, we’ll Twitter this information, we’ll do a review of your product, whatever it might be, and then we’re compensated in some way, typically a flat fee” to cover the hourly work for that. So, here is the followup question, which was not asked: Are reviewers free to give the product a bad review? Has it ever happened? Podcasters and bloggers on the Laporte/Lindsay podcasts often talk about how objectivity and fairness are outmoded journalistic ideas, but these practices arose to avoid this kind of problem. How do ad-supported podcasts (and blogs) ensure editorial integrity? If a camera gets a good review on Bratton’s Digital Photography Life, how do I know it’s an honest review, if the camera is made by an advertiser? I don’t. How do I know if I’m getting the real deal, if the content creator is a financial partner with the sponsor or is taking freebies? I don’t. Length: 53 minutes. Release date: Dec. 16.
• Digital Photography Life, Episode 5 So, after that discussion on This Week in Media, I listened to one of Personal Life Media’s podcasts, on photography, a topic that interests me a little. This episode opens with an ad for Smugmug, a photo-sharing site that the co-hosts Scott Sherman and Michael GW Stein “talk a lot about on the show,” according to the ad. (Popularity isn’t everything, but for reference, here’s how SmugMug compares to competitor Flickr in terms of overall traffic.) Twelve minutes into the show, Scott and Michael were still talking about the podcast’s photo contest, which entails e-mailing entries to the show’s Smugmug album, where the entries will be displayed. Then they discussed the prizes — bags donated by another sponsor. Then they asked listeners to leave five-star reviews of the podcast on iTunes. If you actually want to hear about photography, I recommend fast-forwarding to the 18th minute, for the start of a mildly interesting discussion of the new Nikon D3-X, audaciously priced at $8,000, followed by some good tips for taking holiday party pictures. This all seems to be aimed at beginners, with the Nikon discussed for the shock value. The hosts are amiable and sound like nice guys. But Smugmug is certainly getting its money’s worth. The hosts slip in another ad toward at the end for a camera bag, then ask listeners to send holiday party shots to them via Smugmug (there’s another ad for the site at the end of the show). Then listeners are again urged to write a five-star review on iTunes or to at least go there and rate the positive reviews as helpful. Scott: “Those reviews will move to the top of the list, so the negative reviews are not the first ones people see when they check out the show because that is just not helpful when it comes to building an audience.” So I go to iTunes. The first review I see is for two stars: “Posted a lengthier review last week but for some reason it is not showing up here. To summarize, I used to be a huge fan of the old show but over time it became more boring… Shows are long usually due to senseless banter being included. The hosts wander off topic a lot and don’t stay focused.” Maybe he has an ax to grind. The average rating is 4.5 stars. Length: 59 minutes. Released: Dec. 8.
• Macbreak Weekly 119: MacBreak Mania Alex Lindsay filled in for the traveling Leo Laporte, with guests Andy Ihnatko, Frederick Johnson, Ron Brinkman and Paul Kent of the upcoming MacWorld Expo. Topics: animated “Get a Mac” holiday ads, more Apple netbook speculation, fate of Apple TV and Mac Mini, iTunes vs. Amazon music store, and granular information about the MacWorld Expo, including a discount code (first 100 got a free pass and the rest get $20 off: RIDP1641). Alex read the Audible and Drobo ads, but kept them mercifully short. In the picks segment, Inahtko, a free-lance tech writer for The Chicago Sun-Times, spoke favorably of Slingbox products, which let you play your media library (and DVR content) on any TV, even away from home. Works best with a hard-wired network. More MacBreak picks here. Length: 1 hour, 8 minutes. Released: Dec. 16.

It was a busy week, so I missed a few favorites (in the case of This Week in Media, the Skype interference was so bad in some cases, I couldn’t stand to listen. Reportedly, the problem has been fixed and the episode was reposted). [See earlier roundups.]

• “Extra Life Radio, #202, #203, and #204” “Geek tested, nerd approved!” A likable group of geeks and nerds, Scott Johnson and his friends are Web comics artists who talk about films, TV, gaming and comics, among other topics of a certain type. The first episode (“Vacillating Two Oh Two”) encapsulated what I value in a podcast — a deep and serious discussion that makes me care about a niche interest, in this case, Web comics. The next episode (#203 “Spinimal!”) was a wide-ranging discussion of movies. The Thanksgiving episode (#204, “Choot the Turkey”) was the least compelling, more movie talk and a long, easily skipped conversation about soccer parents (they often take a good 15 to 20 minutes to warm up). This podcast was the winner in the general category of the mostly meaningless 2008 Podcast Awards, sponsored by the marketing company Podcast Connect Inc. The contest bases the awards on how many fans repeatedly click on an unscientific online survey, as Mr. Johnson, to his credit, notes. He and his co-hosts also won for a “World of Warcraft” gaming podcast, The Instance. Length: Ranging from 1 hour, 7 minutes to 1 hour, 32 minutes. Released: Nov. 12, Nov. 17 and Nov. 25.
  

• “The Bugle: Episode 54, The Las Vegas Special” John Oliver, best known for his appearances on “The Daily Show,” and Andy Zaltzman are responsible for this weekly comedy podcast from TimesOnline.co.UK. It is relatively clean and amusing, although sometimes difficult to follow, because the comics have similar voices and insist on speaking British. It may be the only place you’ll ever hear a joke that compares Joe the Plumber to Gore Vidal. I usually don’t subject my wife to podcasts, but Jane, a wannabe Anglophile, listened to this one and thought this line was hilarious: “The ultimate Scottish dream, Germany beating England in a World Cup football final.” I’ll take her word for it. The audio quality is a little muddy. Length: 35:11. Released: Nov. 23.
• “Diggnation, Episode 177: Multiview Diggnation Remix” Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht skipped the beer this time, because Kevin had a bad cold. That does not excuse the much-noted exchange that came next, starting around 3:29, a riff on domestic violence that eventually prompted a public apology from Rose, the millionaire founder of Digg: “There is only one time you can strike [a woman] — if she kicks you in the balls, you have the ability and the right, to punch her in the teat —it’s just like that — it’s kinda like tit for tat. … It hurts them, it does too – or take a scissors to the teat.” On the video, he made a cutting action with his hand. Har har, boys. Perhaps they should go back to taping this videocast drunk. Or stick to the script. My morbid curiosity satisfied, I skipped the rest. (Diggnation was nominated but did not win in the video category of the mostly meaningless Podcast Awards). Length: 48:07 minutes. Released: Nov. 21.
• “You Look Nice Today: Faux Tog” Once again, the show has guests. Once again, they are John Hodgman and the Brooklyn singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton. Chess jokes. Discussion of a universal template of dreams from Merlin Mann: “You’re naked, there’s a test, there’s ladies…” In New York, dreams are often about discovering extra secret rooms in your tiny apartment. A discussion of horrible jobs, including work at a Lego store at the Mall of America on Black Friday, a true story. This show was voted best comedy podcast by the largely meaningless Podcast Awards. Released: Nov 24. Length: Back to the usual 32:12 or so minutes.
• “Vomitus Prime 83: Make Chips!” I’m a longtime fan of sick humor. But it’s possible to go over the edge, and this podcast crossed into misogyny with vulgar words for women this week and last. Their fans may argue that it’s all an act, and that this kind of humor is guaranteed to misfire once in a while. Maybe I’m an old fogey for cringing at this stuff, but I just can’t listen to it. I say that with some regret. These guys are likable and produce some promising satire — chewable children’s Vicodin? funny idea — but they lost me with the trash-talking of women purely for shock value. Delete. Unsubscribe. Goodbye. Length: 1 hour, 13 minutes (didn’t finish). Released: Nov. 23.
• “Uhh, Yeah Dude, Episode 142.” This podcast shows how to be funny without being a jerk. Co-hosts Jonathan Larroquette and Seth Romatelli sometimes crack sexual and scatological jokes, but you never sense that they disrespect women, or anybody. Even when their humor is in poor taste, they are self-deprecating and never mean-spirited. Their stance is one of apology for male stupidity and mock-horror at tabloid America. (Here’s an early profile of their show, now nearing the end of its third year). This week, they riff about Black Friday and again mock the horrifying “Brocabulary” (see related viral marketing). They goof on the immaturity of the NSFW Land O Lakes Indian Maiden trick; a terrible cameo by Jason Alexander (Seinfeld’s George) as a serial killer on “Criminal Minds”; Florida write-in votes; pathetic cocaine addicts; the healthiest and least healthy cities, Burlington, Vt., and Huntington, West Va.; the newFinal Jeopardy music; a landlord who secretly taped 34 female tenants for 19 years; and toddler fights on YouTube, among other disturbing topics. Released: Nov. 25. Length: 1 hour, 27 seconds..
• “MacBreak Weekly 116: Compressed Bits of Cheese Leo Laporte starts: “We had a show lined up…” Uh-oh. A guest shortage. Leo is alone with Andy Ihnatko, the entertaining tech writer for The Chicago Sun-Times. It’s an entertaining show, nonetheless. They discuss the absurd Typepad journalist bailout program publicity stunt and the troubles of print journalism. Snow Leopard operating system update: not a major release? The allure of iPhone games; Leo killed his virtual villagers. They are joined at 21:57 by Rich Siegel of Bare Bones Software, which makes Yojimbo and BBSEdit. Problems with iPhone pricing and app structure. Is Google Mobile app getting special treatment from Apple? The iPhone app approval and rejection process. Andy still has the long iPhone backup problem. Leo says uncheck “send diagnostics to Apple” (that worked for me, too — here’s the how-to.) Danger: Obscure bug. Don’t run your MacBook without its battery. Twitter hires the developer behind I Want Sandy and Stikkit, free services that will now die. A mercifully brief Audible ad. The week’s picks: Besides the new version of Andy’s iPhone book (not out yet), Uli’s Talking Moose (free, a weird bit of Apple history dating to 1986), and Screenium, Cyberclean (See the handy and awesome MBWPicks for details). Length: 1 hour, 32 minutes. Release date: Nov. 26.
• “This Week in Media 116: Dear Journalist” The host, Daisy Whitney, is joined by my colleague Brian Stelter of TV Decoder, Alex Lindsay of Pixelcorp, David Cohn, founder of spot.us, Patrick Thorton, of beatblogging.com. They go right to the heavy stuff: Will 2009 be the year of the great newspaper massacre? Are we no longer in a general interest media world? Will niche journalism dominate media in the future? Will citizen journalism supplant professional corporate journalism? What about hoaxes like the Steve Jobs heart attack rumor on CNN? The two types of online journalists, “thinkers and linkers.” Some J-school-style debate about the “myth” of objectivity. Length: 55:33 minutes. Release date: Nov. 25.
• “TWIT 170: Mile High Wi-Fi” This Week in Tech won the technology/science category in the mostly meaningless 2008 Podcast Awards. The host, Leo Laporte, is joined in this episode by Tom Merritt, Ryan Block, and Alex Lindsay. The topics: smartphones, wireless access on Virgin America, SearchWiki from Google, and, of course, the death of print media, starting with the move of PC Magazine to an entirely digital product. Block: “People interested in technology are not buying print magazines.” A discussion of what this means for other print products. They take a break for a 5-minute Audible.com ad and some more gadget talk, then return to the death of print, with references to many articles first printed by newspapers (whatever will they talk about if all the newspapers do die?) Obviously, this is Topic A in the tech expert echo chamber. Their endless fascination with this topic, combined with a boundless enthusiasm for the online future, has an undercurrent that’s a tad … bubbly. They seem to think that Web media businesses will be spared in a major crash. Not likely. Length: 1 hour, 16 minutes. Release date: Nov. 24.
  
  Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist Tagged: Alex Albrecht, Andy Ihnatko, Brian Stelter, brocabulary, Daisy Whitney, Diggnation, Extra Life Radio, I Want Sandy, iPhone Apps, iTunes, Jonathan Larroquette, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, macs, misogynists, movies, Podcast Awards, Podcast Zeitgeist, Seth Romatelli, Stikkit, The Bugle, This Week in Media, This Week in Tech, Uhh Yeah Dude, Uli's Talking Moose, Vomitus Prime, Web comics, You Look Nice Today ]]> http://palafo.com/2008/11/28/podcast-zeitgeist-nov-28/feed/ 0 palafo http://palafo.com/2008/11/20/podcast-zeitgeist-nov-20/ http://palafo.com/2008/11/20/podcast-zeitgeist-nov-20/#comments Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:45:46 +0000 Patrick LaForge http://palafo.wordpress.com/?p=603 ]]> In a continuation of my peculiar hobby, here they are, in the order I listened this week, reports on a few of the podcasts of the geeks, nerds, freaks and boy-men of the Interweb:
  • Never Not Funny: The Jimmy Pardo Podcast, Episode 407 The name is a misnomer. This podcast is often not funny. The comedian Jimmy Pardo (who?) and a group of friends manage to make the lives of Los Angeles comedians sound boring. Jokes about Woodstock and the Who (“You saw who?” Nyuk nyuk). Airport humor. Industry chatter. L.A. freeway jokes. They’re having fun, though, and obviously enjoy each others’ company. The free 30-minute show is available on iTunes; maybe the other 30 minutes in the $ premium podcast are the funny bits. I listened to a couple of episodes, and this was the funniest of the three. By which I mean, not very. Update: I may give it another chance; Episode 409 features the actually funny comic Jen Kirkman. Length: 30 minutes. Release date: Nov. 12.
  • Vomitus Prime 82: Vombodies This effort at first reminded me of Five Tacos and a Taco, the podcast I had to obliterate from all devices last week. The first five minutes include explicit discussions of stomach flu symptoms. Not to everyone’s taste. I would say not to anyone’s taste, but they seem to have a following for their shockpod routine, a more explicit and meanspirited version of “Uhh, Yeah Dude” (below), only from the Midwest. The high point are the calls from apparently drunk listeners for what seem to be regular segments. There’s a good riff on The Yellow Pages — a humongous waste of paper that no one uses. This riffing is, unfortunately, marred by misogyny and explicit profanity deployed for the shock value. It’s not just edgy; it falls off the edge. Just because you’re not on terrestrial radio and can say whatever you want, doesn’t mean you should. Length: 1 hour, 22 minutes. Released: Nov. 16.
  • “Uhh, Yeah Dude, Episode 141.” One thing I like about this podcast, which is still my reigning favorite, is that each episode features a fresh song at the start and the end, often a cut I would like to own. And while they do get scatological, famous son Jonathan Laroquette and bit-actor Seth Romatelli are not misognyist or angry. They seem like Oxford scholars compared to some of the other nitwits recording podcasts these days. This week, they are back on their game. They mock “Brocabulary: The Man-ifesto book on Dude-talk.” Examples: Wintercourse, Testoster-zones, fellobrating, brocrastination, prebauchery, guybernate, broverdose etc. Ugh. Then they move on to the 10 most irritating expressions in the English language. At this moment in time. Another traffic altercation from Jonathan. Hating on racists. Secret Service code names for the Obama family. The “Quantam of Solace” catch-phrase: Fuggehdaboudit. Nebraska feral child total reaches 30. Police traffic stop of 55-year-old man in a 1994 Thunderbird yields 250,000 hits of Ecstasy. Same-sex Koala bear orgies in captivity upset Australia. Man sues classmates.com for false claim old friends were looking for him. Jonathan’s crazy gun dude story: Live round in the chamber. Released: Nov. 14. Length: 1 hour, 4 minutes, with 10-minute supplement..
  • “TWIT 169: The Donkey of the Week” After those three, it was refreshing to listen to some clean and useful from Leo Laporte’s crew. This podcast is back on track after some meandering. After a two-year wait, Jason Calacanis finally gets his Tesla electric car and justifies its exorbitant cost because its a good example of green consumption. He also hints that he’s working on a “big deal.” Disclosure form will discourage tech-savvy applicants to Obama’s White House. The president-elect’s blackberry and email problems. What about Twitter? “Going into a meeting with Putin.” Patrick Norton is back doesn’t think Twitter is presidential. Calacanis says Obama should have a Facebook presence but not use the zombie app. He needs a social media secretary. The fellow endorse the idea of a massive Depression-style government project, a la rural electrification, to wire the country for broadband Internet with data speeds comparable to the rest of the world. A six-minute Audible ad; Calacanis picks a “Star Wars” novelization. Some extended chatter about weird stuff in Japan. An Argentine soccer star (Diego Maradona) sues to block Google searches on his name. The Classmates.com lawsuit again, more favorably received: They think the guy has a point about false advertising. Your old classmates are not looking for you. Layoff news from tech companies; an office killing spree. Will tech industry be spared? Consensus: No. Patrick Norton bails out without discussing his take on “Anathem,” as promised (I’m in the 200s, and it’s getting better). More from Calacanis about how the Tesla works. Lengthy economic discussion. No pity for bankers. An obsession with growth. Innovation is the cure. Productivity lost to video games. “Ender’s Game” spoiler at the end; turn off the podcast if you haven’t read the book. Length: 1 hour, 46 minutes. Released: Nov. 16.
  • “MacBreak Weekly 115: MacBroke Apparently, not much Mac news this week. “This is our license to do a shorter show.” “No, we’ll just talk longer about less.” Playing around with the voice function on Google Mobile App for iPhone. Force an update through iTunes if you already have the app. Jerry Yang steps down @Yahoo. “This is not really a Mac story, but we use Yahoo.” “Do you?” “No.” MacBook Air updated. Rare negative notes: Why doesn’t Mac ship all the cables you need? Why are their products so expensive? A lost Beatles track. Whatever happened to getting the Beatles on iTunes? Personally, I no longer care. Various software updates discussed. Audible ad, just over 4 minutes: “Team of Rivals” is book pick. MacBook Pro battery bloat. “Copy protection’s a bag of hurt.” The picks: new iPhone games (Touch Physics, JellyCar), Adobe Photoshop CS4. Scott Bourne’s new blog: consumervideotips.com. Length: A delightfully short 57:06 minutes. Released: Nov. 18.
  
  Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist Tagged: brocabulary, Google Mobile App, iPhones, Jimmy Pardo, Jonathan Larroquette, Kevin Smith, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, Michael Jackson, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, Seth Romatelli, This Week in Tech, Uhh Yeah Dude, Vomitus Prime, Yahoo ]]> http://palafo.com/2008/11/20/podcast-zeitgeist-nov-20/feed/ 0 palafo http://palafo.com/2008/11/13/geek-podgeist-11-13-08/ http://palafo.com/2008/11/13/geek-podgeist-11-13-08/#comments Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:30:29 +0000 Patrick LaForge http://palafo.wordpress.com/?p=504 ]]> What I got out of this week’s podcasts for nerds and geeks:
  • “TWIT 168: Dirty Pedro” This week’s episode proved useful for getting to sleep on Tuesday evening. Otherwise, I might be asking, how do I get this 1:34 hours of my life back? The signal to noise ratio is quite low, despite heroic efforts by John C. Dvorak to keep the discussion focused on technology. The Audible.com ad was mercifully short. Topics: Google/Yahoo, Obama’s technology and FCC policy, cameras, keyboards, an argument for aggressive comment moderation on blogs. Released: Nov. 9. Length: 1 hour, 34 minutes
  • “Uhh, Yeah Dude, Episode 140.” For some reason, podcast ads are often like those old timey 1950s TV ads in which the host held up the box of soap flakes and vouched for the product. This week Seth and Jonathan spend the first few minutes talking about how much they like the Australian comedy “Summer Heights High” on HBO. They segue into the usual oddball topics. Old P.S.A.’s against crack. Murder-free months. An epidemic of falling elderly people. PETA’s animatronic elephant. “The Perfect Game,” a screenplay based on the true story of a man who dropped dead after bowling a perfect game. Extreme tween makeovers. Root beer float in a can = bad. $400 “Sopranos” box set = too much. Gordon Gekko sues “World of Warcraft.” “Uhh Yeah Dude” T-shirts on the way. Supplemental podcast is more about “Summer Heights High.” Released: Nov. 8. Length: 1 hour, 2 minutes, with 10-minute supplement..
  • Maccast 2008.11.09 “Hey Mac Geeks it’s time for your Maccast, the show for Mac Geeks and by Mac Geeks…” Despite an annoying habit of often putting the best possible pro-Mac spin on any news, Adam Christianson’s weekly podcast from San Diego is a good overview of the latest on Apple products. He spends a lot of time scouring blogs and news sites and invites a lot of tips from listeners. His show notes display on the iPod/iPhone screen as the podcast plays, a great feature that other podcasts should emulate. If you don’t have time to read the 10 jillion Applie blogs out there, Adam will usually find the stuff you really want to know about glitches, new releases, new software etc. This week: No new iMacs, Mac browser usage falls, iPhone production down, Macbook trackpad problems, Steve Jobs’ email address, Macbook Pro hinge problems, color syncing issues, Mobileme problems, the lack of good iPhone document apps and much more. Chock full of info. Released: Nov. 10. Length: 1 hour, 6 minutes.
  • “The Totally Rad Show, Episode 86, Bobble Bibble” A bit of a disappointment, since Alex Albrecht had tweeted about seeing the Bond flick “Quantum of Solace.” Perhaps that’s next week. In any event, this episode is taken up by a discussion of trailers and Pixar movies and the latest World of Warcraft expansion. And they answer questions from readers. As much as I enjoy their take on geek entertainment products, this all felt mailed-in, self-involved and easily skipped. Wish I had, given that video requires me to stare at a computer screen, instead of listening to audio and multitasking on other things. Plus, they haven’t updated their site very well, or their blog, in forever. Perhaps this sloppiness is a sign of the troubles at Revision 3. Or an Autumn malaise. Released: Nov. 11. Duration: 58:12 minutes.
  • Five Tacos and a Taco, Episode 35 “We Built This City on Tac and O” I have tried a few times to listen to these guys. They make an effort to be funny, but the show is a weak imitation of “Uhh Yeah, Dude.” It’s the morning drive-time zoo without the bad music. The jokes are not delivered with anything resembling wit or skill. One bit that seems like it could have worked: Having listeners call in to decide the next move in one of those create-your-own adventure books for kids. But it was just dull and another excuse for gay jokes. In the end, I unsubscribed and dumped their podcasts in the trash. More hours of my life saved. Released: Nov. 7. Length: 1 hour, 3 minutes.
  • “MacBreak Weekly 114: Sexy Pancakes” With Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, Jon Gruber, and Jon Rettinger. A lengthy discussion of Veterans Day. Then Leo says news is sparse: “There’s really not much to say.” Uh-oh. Yet there are nearly two hours to go. Discussion of Blackberry Storm, Macbook trackpads. Delays for Macbook Air. Rumors about a mini upgrade and a TV with Apple TV built in. Yawn. Fast-forward to 25:08 when Gruber joins and discussion turns to insider gossip, the replacement of the podfather Tony Fadell with Mark Papermaster at Apple. Coming soon: iPhone firmware 2.2, with wireless podcast downloads. An extensive discussion of iPhone apps and features. An 8-minute Audible ad, with a Stud Terkel anecdote; the Mac picks start at 1:10:58. Battery packs for iPhones (I use the APC power pack and second Ihnatko’s recommendation). Griffin Clarify close-up macro lens for iPhone camera, for shooting product codes and the like. Boxee for Apple TV. Released: Nov. 11. Length: 1 hour, 42 minutes.
  • “The Sound of Young America: Found Magazine“ Jesse Thorn, “America’s radio sweetheart,” interviews Peter Rothbart, the editor of the excellent Found Magazine, which features notes and tapes and other pieces of found art. This podcast is pretty much what you might have heard on American Public Radio, with an additional, funny song by Mr. Rothbart that was deemed too racy for public radio. (The previous episode is also better than the public radio version: the unedited/uncensored version of Thorn’s interview with Dan Savage, the sex advice columnist and podcaster.) Released: Nov. 12. Length: 29:13 minutes.
  • “You Look Nice Today: Selfish Express” For the first time, the show has guests: the John Hodgman infestation of all media continues (with a bonus appearance by the Brooklyn singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton). Bicycle messenger culture. Bikies. Rolled-up pants leg guy. Join a group to get a slogan. Prius bumper stickers. “The other silent killer.” Green offsets for poetry. Reading aloud a poem by Jewel. Hatred of short stories and short films and other short things that annoy audiences and will never make you any money. Working our way out of the recession by writing literary short stories set in the Midwest about failed marriages. Money-making idea: Celebrity mystery train tour. And finally… a business probletunity at the state fair. Released: Nov 13. Length: An ironically nearly twice-as-long-as-usual 52:17 minutes, worth every other second.

  Find previous podcast reviews here.

  
  Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist Tagged: Adam Christianson, Andy Ihnatko, Apple, Dan Savage, Five Tacos and a Taco, Found magazine, geeks, iPhone Apps, iPods, Jesse Thorn, John Gruber, John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton, Jonathan Larroquette, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, Maccast, macs, Merlin Mann, nerds, Podcast Zeitgeist, Seth Romatelli, Sound of Young America, This Week in Tech, Totally Rad Show, Twit.tv, Uhh Yeah Dude, You Look Nice Today ]]> http://palafo.com/2008/11/13/geek-podgeist-11-13-08/feed/ 2 palafo http://palafo.com/2008/11/06/my-podcast-zeitgeist-nov-3/ http://palafo.com/2008/11/06/my-podcast-zeitgeist-nov-3/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:49:00 +0000 Patrick LaForge http://palafo.wordpress.com/?p=409 ]]> Podcasts I got around to listening to this week, and what was on them, in the order I listened:
  • “TWIT 167: More Twit Than You Require” First half: An informative discussion of Windows 7, the replacement for Vista, which I did not care about, as a Mac user. Fast-forwarded to second half (just past 1-hour mark): Leo Laporte interview with John Hodgman, the fake-trivia expert Daily Show I’m-a-PC guy, who is on a book tour. Instead of playing a character, Hodgman gets nerd-real. It’s good. Released: Nov. 2. Length: 1 hour, 45 minutes
  • “Uhh, Yeah Dude, Episode 139.” Michael Keaton was once a jerk to Jonathan Larroquette. Jonathan and Seth remain obsessed with abandoned tweens running amok in Nebraska. The 56-year-old woman who gave birth to her own triplet grandchildren. Hot coffee makes you friendlier. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” continues to beat new action films at box office. Ben Affleck’s offensive retirement from acting. Adults should not dress up for Halloween. Decades-old rumors about Stevie Nicks. Public prayer booths. Brothers of candidates misbehaving. Derek the undertaker. Paco the gardener. Tina the person. Finabulous isn’t a word. Released: Oct. 24. Length: 1 hour, 1 minute.
  • “MacBreak Weekly 113: The Sum of All Knowledge” Rumors of an iMac upgrade before the holidays were false, so now I have to decide whether to buy one. Laporte gave up on G1 Google Phone, low battery life with constantly running apps; back to iPhone. A new iPhone app gives you all 2 gigs of Wikipedia [launches iTunes] even if you are not connected to the Web. The panelists then mock anyone with a puny 8-gig iPhone. Nice. This week’s endless Audible ad was for a pretty good book that was one of the first I listened to: history of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales. Released: Nov. 4. Length: 1 hour, 23 minutes.
  • “Battleship Pretension, episode 85“ I only listen to this one once in a while, with film geeks Tyler Smith and David Bax. This week’s guest: Jen Kirkman, standup comic. Topic: A discussion of sexism and feminism in the movies. The sexism of “High Fidelity” and the terrible role models played by Reese Witherspoon. Negative depictions of men in films and TV. Jane Campion.The obvious feminism of “Thelma and Louise.” Liberal sexism. Nerd sexism. Released: Nov. 2. Length: 1 hour, 2 minutes.
  • “Diggnation: Alex’s Halloween Arachnophobia” It doesn’t matter how many flavors there are; Michelob is still terrible beer, and that is what Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht are drinking when they discuss the layoffs at Revision 3. Top digged article was about a fighter pilot revealing 30 years later that he was ordered to shoot down a UFO. Then I bailed, as I always seem to do, because I have less tolerance for BS on video than audio. Released: Oct. 31. Duration: 37:38.
  • “Buddhist Geeks, 94, Horizontal and Vertical Enlightenment” This is not about Web verticals. I rarely listen to this one, because if I had 26 minutes to spend on Buddhism, I should be meditating. Which is an excuse, of course. “Seriously Buddhist, seriously geeky.” Oy, an Audible ad from the Buddhists, too. This episode continues an interview with Ken Wilber. He quotes a version of a koan that has always interested me: “Show me your original face, the face you had before your parents were born.” Always reminds me of “Franklin’s Tower“: “In another time’s forgotten space, your eyes looked through your mother’s face.” I listen long enough to remember I don’t know much about this stuff. Maybe I’ll study it some more on the bread line. Released: Oct. 27. Duration: 26 minutes.
  
  Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist Tagged: Buddhism, Diggnation, feminism, films, finabulous, Franklin's Tower, geeks, Grateful Dead, John Hodgman, Jonathan Larroquette, Leo Laporte, meditation, movies, nerds, podcasts, Seth Romatelli, sexism, This Week in Tech, Twit.tv, UFOs, Uhh Yeah Dude ]]> http://palafo.com/2008/11/06/my-podcast-zeitgeist-nov-3/feed/ 1 palafo http://palafo.com/2008/10/29/my-podcast-zeitgeist-oct-29/ http://palafo.com/2008/10/29/my-podcast-zeitgeist-oct-29/#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:35:32 +0000 Patrick LaForge http://palafo.wordpress.com/?p=344 ]]> Here are some impressions of the latest episodes from my current list of active podcasts. Topics covered included the election, the financial crisis, new Macs, Frank TV, your “Desert Island Sedaris,” Santa vs. Odin and a squid with a dog’s head that eats penguins at the South Pole.

  In the order I listened this week:

  • “Uhh, Yeah Dude, Episode 138” The show is more political than usual. Seth and Jonathan have some advice for McCain about profanity and do not like Obama’s sports-team pandering. The badness of Frank TV: All of Frank Calienda’s impressions sound the same. Who is your Desert Island Sedaris, David or Amy? In the funniest and longest set-piece, Seth describes a visit with “2,000″ school children to the traveling DEA exhibit “Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause” at the California Science Center, which explains how to manufacture cocaine, heroin and crystal meth. Unlikely street names for drugs. Aaron Neville sings “Silent Night.” Planning an Applebee’s fan video. And more riffs on headlines. Released: Oct. 24. Length: 1 hour, 6 minutes.
  • “TWIT 166: Toxic Tea Party“ Leo Laporte, Will Harris, Sarah Lane of Revision 3, Jason Calacanis of Mahalo and others discuss the ongoing financial crisis, including rumors about The New York Times. Calacanis explains Mahalo layoffs: “I think the downmarket is going to last 18 to 36 months and I would like to have a year or two of runway after it…” How retail bankruptcies lead to deflation and more bankruptcies. Riding on private jets is just like on “Entourage.” Dentistry in England. The G1 Google phone. Kevin Rose of Digg calls in near the end, extending the podcast by 20 minutes, joshing with his staffer Sarah Lane, with no hint that she would be laid off the next day. Released: Oct. 26. Length: An overly long 1 hour, 40 minutes
  • “Smodcast 66: Sleipner the Conquerer” One of their best: Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier discuss whether a “War of the Worlds” style hoax is possible in the modern world. Perhaps if the aliens landed in Antartica and started eating the cast of “March of the Penguins.” With digressions about the history of arctic exploration, the origins of Santa Claus and the presidential election. How they get from Barack Obama’s 30-minute infomercial to a battle between Santa and Odin is well worth the ride for students of the absurd. This was one of the better recent Smodcasts, which had taken on a boring, mailed-in quality while the pair were working on their most recent film, “Zack & Miri Make a Porno,” which opens Friday. Released: Oct. 24. Length: 1 hour, 15 minutes.
  • “You Look Nice Today: Who Voted?” More highly edited, easygoing nonsense conversation: Cold start about how there are no more grownups. How to decide how to vote for local candidates for minor offices you know nothing about, and other election quandaries. Every time Merlin says vis-a-vis, take a drink. A complicated sexual fantasy about a voting booth. If you had 14 Farrah Fawcetts. The science of seduction. “Obviously, he is a sex scientist.” The narcissism of fantasy nudity. Pickup lines, Twitter and Dungeons & Dragons. Heat-sensitive Hypercolor clothes. The smug “I Voted” sticker. Not as loose as past episodes; I could actually follow the train of the conversation, which may or may not be good. Released: Oct. 28. Length: 30 minutes.
  • “MacBreak Weekly 112: 分かりません“After listening to Alex Lindsay’s travel and home-buying plans and some bad celebrity impressions, plus a Frank TV reference, actual Mac talk starts at 10-minute mark. Apple finances opposition to California’s Proposition 8, which would ban gay marriage in California. G1 Google vs. iPhone. Rumors about features in the new iPhone 2.2. firmware. Extended discussion of Twitter. Experiences with the new MacBook. Trackpad weirdness.The missing Firewire port. Apple quarterly results. Snow Leopard with Cocoa Finder is coming. Future of Apple TV and Mini. Picks were inexpensive, esoteric or uninteresting. Released: Oct. 28. Length: An overly long 1 hour, 51 minutes.

  Release dates are when episodes were available on iTunes. Alternative download sites are in the links. I didn’t have time for the video podcasts Diggnation and The Totally Rad Show this week.

  
  Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist Tagged: Add new tag, aliens, Amy Sedaris, Antartica, Apple, computers, David Sedaris, elections, Frank TV, G1 Google Phone, Hypercolor, iPhone Apps, iTunes, Jason Calacanis, Jonathan Larroquette, Kevin Rose, Kevin Smith, Leo Laporte, MacBooks, MacBreak Weekly, Merlin Mann, NYT, Podcast Zeitgeist, Santa Claus, Scott Bourne, Seth Romatelli, Smodcast, This Week in Tech, Uhh Yeah Dude, You Look Nice Today, Zack & Miri Make a Porno ]]> http://palafo.com/2008/10/29/my-podcast-zeitgeist-oct-29/feed/ 1 palafo http://palafo.com/2008/10/19/podcasts-of-the-geeks-nerds-and-boy-men/ http://palafo.com/2008/10/19/podcasts-of-the-geeks-nerds-and-boy-men/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:06:21 +0000 Patrick LaForge http://palafo.wordpress.com/?p=192 ]]> Lately my music library has languished as I have loaded up my iPhone with podcasts of a certain type: Men (mostly) talking about gadgets, technology, movies, stuff on the Web, games, women, and news of the weird, among other topics. The list:
  • “Diggnation” Perhaps the most well-known podcast on the list. In various video and audio formats. Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht drink beer and sit on a couch, going down the list of the top stories at Digg.com. Frequency: Weekly. Duration: 45 minutes or so, video.
  • “Smodcast” The director Kevin Smith and producer Scott Mosier shoot the breeze about making and watching movies, comics, growing up in New Jersey, porn and other topics. Weekly. An hour or more, audio only.
  • “The Totally Rad Show” Alex Albrecht is joined by Dan Trachtenberg and Jeff Cannata, for reviews of movies, TV shows, comics and video games. Weekly. About an hour, video.
  • “This Week in Tech“ and “MacBreak Weekly“ Two podcasts from Leo Laporte’s Twit.tv empire that bill themselves as reviews of the week’s technology and Apple news, with John C. Dvorak, Merlin Mann, Alex Lindsay, Scott Bourne and other regulars. But it’s really a bunch of geeks and nerds shooting the breeze. Weekly. Each is about an hour and a half, or 50 minutes if you fast-forward through the improvised ads, which can get tedious. Another way to watch: Live on video, with a rolling peanut gallery chat room under the screen, and the talking goes into overtime.
  • “Uhh, Yeah Dude” Description: “A weekly roundup of America by two American Americans,” Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette. Energy drinks. The week in Florida. Readings from Craigslist. Prescription drug side effects. Hip hop vs. country. Men behaving badly. Why Robin Williams is not funny. Encounters with borderline celebrities in Los Angeles. Sobriety. Veganism. The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, and more. Frequency: Weekly. Run time: About an hour.
  • “You Look Nice Today,” which is billed as “A Journal of Emotional Hygiene.” A dadaist conversation between lonelysandwich (Adam Lisager), hotdogsladies (a k a Merlin Mann of 43 Folders), and scottsimpson (Scott Simpson). With voice chapter headings by the guy who plays the PC in Mac ads. Frequency: Fortnightly or so. Length: 30 minutes.

  What they have in common: Guys who genuinely like each other talking about topics they love, with echoes of long ago bull sessions and late nights in bars. The best of them — “U.Y.D.,” “Smodcast” and “You Look Nice Today” — have been known to provoke chuckles and guffaws. Maybe even some chortling. Update: On Oct. 29, I started posting some impressions of the latest episodes of these and other podcasts that have interested me for a while.

  
  Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist Tagged: Alex Albrecht, Apple TV, comedy, comics, computers, iPhone Apps, iPods, iTunes, John C. Dvorak, Jonathan Larroquette, Kevin Rose, Kevin Smith, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, men, Merlin Mann, movies, Podcast Zeitgeist, podcasts, Scott Bourne, Seth Romatelli, Smodcast, technology, This Week in Tech, TV, Twit.tv, Uhh Yeah Dude, video games, You Look Nice Today ]]> http://palafo.com/2008/10/19/podcasts-of-the-geeks-nerds-and-boy-men/feed/ 1 palafo http://palafo.com/2008/10/01/about-the-name-palafo/ http://palafo.com/2008/10/01/about-the-name-palafo/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:05:48 +0000 Patrick LaForge http://palafo.wordpress.com/?p=3 ]]> Updated March 12, 2011.
  Hello, my name is Patrick LaForge.

  @Palafo is a purely personal and non-commercial blog, a public notebook about a few of my obsessions — the Web, technology and computers; media of all types (books, podcasts, blogs, Twitter and social media, and music); and my quest for the perfect cup of coffee.

  I am no relation to this guy nor am I the president and CEO of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team.

  By some happy accident, I am an editor at a local newspaper in New York, where I am currently the editor in charge of news presentation, which is a fancy yet imperfect way of describing the copy desks and aspects of Web production.

  I was also the founding editor and one of the creators of the paper’s blog about New York, City Room. The blog you are reading is not affiliated with those enterprises in any way, and I am responsible for its content, which follows my employer’s ethics policy.

  This blog is updated erratically. I spend more time posting on Twitter; you can follow me there: @palafo.

  Thanks for reading.
  
  About the Column on the Left

  When I started this blog, I was a heavy user of Google Reader, to keep track of hundreds of blogs, and there are few that I keep in a top folder. That folder is the main source of links that I share through my Google Reader page and the associated feed in the left column of this blog. I don’t use Reader as much anymore; now Twitter curates the Web for me.

  Also in that column is a feed for my Delicious bookmarks, which I used for interesting articles and other items, mostly about the future of media. But I haven’t been using Delicious much, either.

  All of those links, along with my Twitter comments, Facebook status updates and posts on this blog all flow onto my Friendfeed page. I rarely go there anymore. Does anyone? Let me know.

  I am also experimenting with posting pictures at Posterous and sharing stuff on my Tumblr. Still figuring that all out.

  You can also follow my article recommendations on Timespeople at NYTimes.com, although I don’t use it that much anymore. I usually post straight to Twitter. Are you sensing a trend here?

  Friends and acquaintances on Facebook are welcome to contact me there.

  I use LinkedIn for professional contacts, but rarely check in there.

  Last but not least, you can use the link on the left to send me a direct e-mail. I try to respond to all e-mail and blog comments.

  The left column also includes information about this blog’s tags, most recent posts, most-clicked links, recently popular posts and whatever other streaming Widgets the folks at WordPress make available.

  About the Name Palafo

  When I started working at the paper in 1997, the newsroom was using a publishing system known as Atex for text editing. Usernames were six characters long. The naming convention at the time was to take the first two letters of the staffer’s given name and the first four letters of the surname.

  Not every Atex username had a mellifluous combination of consonants and vowels, but mine — Palafo — did. On a whim, I used it as a username on various sites in the early years of the Web and as an email address with a succession of Internet service providers. The vaguely Italian-sounding but non-existent name was usually available, while my actual name was already being snapped up by my French-Canadian-Irish doppelgangers.

  The Atex naming convention used by The Times was abandoned (along with Atex), but a few of us still use the naming convention in e-mail addresses.

  I have been a computer nerd and geek since a time before there was a Web, and I was a bit of an early Web pioneer, but this is the first time I’ve used this particular name for a Web site or blog.

  Here’s hoping I don’t besmirch it in the permanent Google record for all time.

  Regarding the pronunciation: Some people have been known to say PAL-ah-foe, but I prefer to stress the syllable that is also the first syllable of my surname: Pah-LAH-foh.

  I live in the center of New York City with my wife and daughter. It is a Mac household. I do not own a car. We are cat people.

  
  Posted in Blogging, Coffee!, iPhone Apps, Moving Images, New York, Paper & Ink, Podcast Zeitgeist, Smart Playlists Tagged: Atex, Blogs, City Room, Edmonton Oilers, names, NYT, palafo, Patrick LaForge ]]> http://palafo.com/2008/10/01/about-the-name-palafo/feed/ 0 palafo