Jeffrey Scott's Coffee Klatch

Welcome to the first episode of 'Jeffrey Scott's Coffee Klatch'. So what is the coffee klatch? It's a great way to start your Friday morning and weekend. A little rag on happenings of the past week, musical guests, videos, reviews, guests, jokes and/or water cooler chat. You never know what you might find here.

Guests? Do you run a podcast, own a website or have some project you'd like to promote? Contact me and we can set something up. Essentially, I'd like to produce a transcribed interview, highlighting various projects people are working on, the websites where people can find them and other contact information they may want to share.

I hope you enjoy the first edition. Have a seat, pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy the show.

__________________________________________________

Being the first episode, I thought it might be fun to do an interview of myself to try and give others an example of how exactly I'd like to produce the interviews. Also, it'll give everyone a chance to see who I really am. So without further ado, I'd like to welcome my guest today, me!

Jeffrey Scott: Welcome to the Coffee Klatch.
Me: Thanks for having me.
Jeffrey Scott: So, are you a coffee drinker?
Me: Like you wouldn't believe. I've even written poems about coffee. (laughs)
Jeffrey Scott: What are you drinking this morning?
Me: I'm in one of my favourite coffee shops at the moment so I just picked up the strongest blend they had. Not sure exactly the brand.
Jeffrey Scott: So you mentioned already you're a poet, do you have any projects in the work?
Me: Not really. I'm always working on my poetry, one day I'd like to produce a collection, right now though I'm concentrating heavily on my blogging.
Jeffrey Scott: Do you have any musical inspirations?
Me: I love music, and love many artists in various genres. My two favourites are 80's and jazz. I love the work of Diana Krall, Mindi Abair, Blondie, Huey Lewis, Sade, Barenaked Ladies and was recently introduced to Tegan and Sara.
Jeffrey Scott: I've noticed a lot of interesting stuff on this blog, do you have any others?
Me: Yes, I do. I have one I call Carrot Sticks & Cottage Cheese, essentially it's dedicated to my zeal for fitness. I've struggled with my weight for many years, I found it a great way to keep myself motivated. And if I can motivate one other person, I'll feel I've done my job.
Jeffrey Scott: So what have been your inspirations for the sight?
Me: If you look at the link address, you'll notice a clue to my motivation. Yes, I'm a big Biggest Loser fan and hope to one day be a "Big Loser" myself.
Jeffrey Scott: Well, thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the coffee, and feel free to help yourself on a baguette on your way out.
Me: Thanks for having me.

__________________________________________________

Well, that does it for the interview. It's now time for our musical guest. For reasons that may or may not be apparent, our first musical guest is 'Tegan & Sara' Enjoy! We'll be back with 'Coffee Chat'. A few thoughts on shows I've watched throughout the week.



I'd like to thank Tegan & Sara for the video. If you want to find out more about this group, visit them at their website here: Tegan & Sara.

So what did you watch this week? Maybe I'll cover it here, if not feel free to leave a comment on what you think was awesome to watch this week.

"The Cape" - I'm a sucker for Super Hero TV shows and such but the one thing always troubling me is, is it really that hard to tell who a person is just because they have a mask on their face? I mean especially if they are well known. Faraday meets up with his old partner, and has much dialogue. You're telling me he couldn't tell it was his previous partner? One redeeming feature for me - Summer Glau.

"V" - Usually I hate remakes, I loved the original V. But I have to admit, so far I'm really enjoying this show. So what irritated me this week? Anna essentially holding all the cards lately. She's playing Ryan and now Hobbes like fiddles. I hope they break that storyline because I find it boring. I'm waiting for the full-out fight between the 5th column and the Visitors. Something I love they've done is hire Jane Badler to reprise (sort of) her roll as Diana, who was the main baddie in the first series.

"Biggest Loser" - Congratulations to Arthur for his 20 pound weight loss. They were really focusing on him this episodes and I predicted he was either going to lose a major amount of weight, or be voted out. Nice to see it was the weight loss. He certainly still needs to be on the ranch.

"Survivor" - Yes, once again Survivor has started. This time with a few changes. Boston Rob and Russel have been brought back (I think they'll bring each back till they finally win), and they now have 'Redemption Island' where if you are voted off, you've got a slim chance of making it back to the island (if you are good enough). Kristina was stupid in whom she trusted. Couldn't she tell from the initial chat that Phillip was an idiot? Did you know he was a Federal Agent? I thought I'd mention that in case you happened to miss it. I will say, she was brave not to use the immunity idol, but I assumed she wouldn't have. it should give her an additional three days. I loved Rob telling her to give him the idol and she'll stay. It's probably a good thing for Rob she didn't, because he'd have a bigger target on his back.

"Office" - 'Threat Level Midnight' was hilarious. I loved how they made is as if it were filmed several years ago. I really enjoyed the cameos and the campy feel to it. Of course it wasn't supposed to really be a great film, it was made and produced by Michael Scott after all. Quite a bit of fun, I have to admit. In the film, we learn here the reason behind Goldenface's evil ambitions. "Michael Scarn's most evil adversary who goes around blowing up All-Star games in hopes that the trophies will explode and people will turn gold like him."

__________________________________________________

Thanks once again for joining me on this first episode of 'Jeffrey Scott's Coffee Klatch'. Remember to leave a comment with your coffee chat, suggestions for upcoming musical guests or suggestions for real guests. I'll leave you with a little joke, see you next week.

Order Now, Operators Are Standing By

Commercials – TV Review

This may catch you off guard, but today I don’t plan on reviewing a TV show. Rather my focus is on the commercials in-between a recent show I watched. In an ongoing debate with my friend Brandon, we have been going over the pros and cons of television commercials. Whereas Brandon is in favour of commercials, I take another approach. Though I understand the need for commercials, and will admit there are a few I find funny, for the most part, I will not watch a commercial. Most of the TV I watch, is usually something I’ve recorded on my DVR (Digital Video Recorder), which means I’ve got the option to fast forward the commercials. While watching shows with Brandon, this discussion has come up time and time again. So, as is custom when I try to understand someone’s differing viewpoint than my own, I have tried to see things from his point of view. I shall attempt to judge for myself what I’ve been missing and share my findings with you. This is a random block of commercials, and may or may not be typical to what I normally bypass on the DVR. I’ll judge each commercial according to three standards, each with a rating of up to five; one being poor, five being great. Information, Entertainment Factor and General Interest are the three sections, and will be totalled together.

First up we have a car commercial. Elizabeth Baron is an employee of Ford and works in the virtual area. Putting people in cars which do not yet exist. Interesting concept, a job I never would have known about hadn’t I seen the commercial. A quick joke is made in regards to the gender of the virtual experience.
Information-3 Entertainment Factor-2 General Interest-2

Moving on to a more common item I shop for, we have an ad for Glad garbage bags. A pair of movers are attempting to raise a harnessed piano up to a second floor story. Unfortunately the rope snaps and the quick movers grab a Glad trash bag and hold it open as the piano drops, but not onto the outstretched bag, but rather to the side. Demonstrating the toughness of the piano, they begin to shove the shattered bits of the piano into the bag. Once finished, the movers are upstairs knocking on the tenant’s door. Once opened, they hold the overfilled (but held) bag of piano parts and ask where she wants the piano.
Information-1 Entertainment Factor-4 General Interest-3

Third commercial is for Home Depot, advertising outdoor furniture. It seems if you shop at Home Depot for outdoor furniture you can potentially have the coolest house on the block.
Information-1 Entertainment Factor-0 General Interest-2

In the market to purchase a new house? Then this commercial may be for you. A couple is looking for places to live and standing on the porch of one location, the Eiffel Tower can be seen in the distance. The wife tells her husband the house must be within driving distance of her mother. He doesn’t look to happy about it, but next scene they are standing outside once more, only this time the Seattle Space Needle is in the distance. Panning to a shot of the ground, an older woman is parked and waving up to the couple.
Information-2 Entertainment Factor-3 General Interest-2

I’m not a smoker, but if I were and wanted to quit I now know Nicoret Gum comes in 3 flavours. It sure does taste good to quit.
Information-1 Entertainment Factor-1 General Interest-0

If you have not eaten yet, I know a place open for business you can try. Outback Steakhouse has a catchy theme and sure does try to make you feel as though you are in for a real Outback experience. But what exactly is an Outback experience? And can I truly catch it at a local restaurant? FYI, I ate there once and was not impressed, but you don’t have take my word for it.
Information-2 Entertainment Factor-1 General Interest-3

Music may calm the savage beast, perhaps depending on the type of music one is enjoying. In a commercial for Ipod and Itunes, funky music is playing as dancers in shadow can be seen strutting their stuff amid vivid colour patters in the background. Get down tonight.
Information-2 Entertainment Factor-2 General Interest-3

The next two commercials were ads for shows on the network I was watching. To keep this review unbiased, I have decided against reviewing them. In total there were nine commercials during this random block, totalling roughly four minutes.

Final results:
Information-12/35 Entertainment Factor-13/35 General Interest-15/35
For the most part, I expect any show I watch to have at least an Entertainment Factor and General Interest of 30/35.

Conclusion: Commercials are substandard forms of entertainment and may not be as entertaining as the show you are watching. Unless the Information aspect is raised, and thusly the Entertainment and General Interest, I will have to hold to my original viewpoint and continue to fast forward commercials the next time I watch my DVR. Brandon, may I have my four minutes back?