Thursday, August 18, 2005

"There’s a stain on my notebook, where your coffee cup was..."

Since we shut down LuxTV, I’ve been without newscasts at work. Lrudlrick and I are addicted to news. It’s sad but I’ll read, watch and listen to news even if it’s repetitive. (Hello, NY1.) Years ago, we were able to watch and listen to a live BBC News feed online. Then they changed platforms and connections sucked. That’s when Lrudlrick jimmy-rigged our Tivo to broadcast live news feeds through the internet. I remember Lrudlrick spending nights staring at broadcast grids to determine the programming schedule for LuxTV. Broadcasts started at 9am with NY1 followed by a 10am rebroadcast of The Daily Show. Then periodically through the day, programming switched to CNN, MSNBC, FOXNews, BBCWorld News, Nightly Business Report and NY1.

It was a news junkie’s heaven.

Then we found this program called, ‘Law and Order’ and it’s offspring. I don’t know if you’ve heard of this show. If you haven’t, crawl back into your rock. We were converted to LnO two years ago. Yes, we’re late bloomers. We may be late in the game but with the help of Tivo, TNT, NBC and USA, I honestly think we’ve caught up.

For the last two years, our Tivo has faithfully taped everything with ‘Law and Order’ on the title, including a Law and Order documentary on the Wild West. At the peak of this insanity, our Tivo recorded 9 hours daily of various LnO episodes.

Every time we opened our apartment door, we heard the ‘choong-chung’ sound that permeates every episode. At one point we contemplated changing our doorbell to that strange compliation of sounds.

Of course, with 9 hours of LnO being taped, LuxTV had suddenly changed from an all news format to a ‘Law and Order’ fansite. Watching LnO is one thing. Listening to it at work is another. It’s not conducive to productivity. You need to watch to see the facial expressions of District Attorney Adam Schiff. Yes, I know he’s not there anymore but I still like him.

Finally, the IT folks at Lrudlrick’s company complained about the bandwidth he was using to view his homegrown programming so he shut it down.

So now, to keep me entertained in my bunker I listen to XMRadio. It’s not the same though. There is no news on XMRadio Online. In the car, I get Bloomberg, BBCWorld, CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews plus local coverage. In my office, I’m switching between music stations.

I’ve discovered I’m such an oldies girl. Here’s my station list and XM’s description:

60’s – The Authentic 60’s sound
70’s – The Best of the 70’s
U-Pop – From the World’s Pop Charts
Fred – Classic Alternative
Lucy – Classic Alternative Hits (My favorite tag line heard occasionally is 'It’s all the songs you listened to with your college girlfriend because you thought you’d get lucky.')
The Groove – Old School R&B
Frank’s Place – Sinatra & Friends

Ok, I occasionally listen to 20 on 20 which is XM’s interactive top hits countdown but I refuse to believe so many people like Cold Play that they get played 3 times an hour. I sometimes tune to the 80’s which plays ‘The Awesome 80’s’ but I find I get embarrassed. I can’t believe I really liked Rick Springfield. ‘Don’t talk. Don’t talk. Don’t talk to him.’

Now, I find out that XMRadio has a Starbucks station, Hear Music: The Voice of Music at Starbucks. Holy crap. Does Starbucks have to be everywhere? Even in my radio? I love Starbucks but for an occasional beverage not for my music programming. Seriously, who goes into Starbucks and says, “Hey, Starbucks has great music playing. Too bad there isn’t a Starbucks radio station.” What gets played on Starbuck’s station? Perhaps, coffee inspired music? Cigarettes and Coffee or Coffee Shop or Black Coffee in Bed. Nope. As far as I can tell, there is no mention of coffee in any of the songs I’ve heard so far. They do play the soundtrack of ‘Ray’, alot. You can also listen to Anna Nalick spew out her diary.

Maybe there is a subliminal coffee message within its programming. If I leave it on long enough, will I find myself thirsty for a cup of joe?