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22 April, 2010

O'Skees, St. Albans, WV

I seem to be over in St. Albans a lot recently and I'm frequently looking for a new place to eat. So, this week I decided to check out O'Skees. The type of food sounded good, the website looked good and lo and behold the WV hot dog blog had been there also and as the review was posted up on the wall in there I thought it was probably a good one.

When you walk in you might think a bunch of vandals had broken in and decided to destroy the walls but look a little longer and you'll notice it's the signatures of probably everyone who ever set through the door. There is even a wall for those who managed to eat the "Big O" which, as you might have guessed, is a massive dish of some kind. I think it's a burger.

The menu had a load of choices including salads, burgers, sandwiches, ribs, specials (beef tenderloin tips the day I went), wraps, soups, subs, fish, hot dogs and home made pies etc.. and I went for a burger which was fantastic. Two big patties, a big bun and plenty of cheese. Two different kinds I think. While you wait you can even read all about local history as it is shellacked onto the table surface or just read the thousands of names on the wall. I chose to do both and learned a lot about the fire that burned down the old capitol building and the fact that "Mitzi" was here 11/19/09.

I'll be back for sure to check out the ribs or pulled pork sandwiches next time and maybe even some "Fuzzy Buttons" (I had to ask to find out what these were). If you wanna find it it's on Route 60 through St. Albans right next door to Enterprise.

13 April, 2010

Late night talk show: UK vs USA

Somehow I managed to miss this during the whole "Tonight Show" mess with Conan and Leno but here is a cool article that describes some differences in UK and American TV viewing audiences.

Basically, there is nothing like Leno/Letterman/Conan/(Lopez?) in the UK. Nothing that is five nights a week with guests and interviews and music. The article states that the guests would be scarcer which is actually probably true. There would probably be one or two A to B list British celebrities a week and then the other nights would be filled with Z list wannabes or obscure people you really don't care about....aka Z list celebrities.

There probably is a market for it..maybe at the 6:00pm time slot or 8:00pm...the "After tea" time slot (tea the meal not the drink) because I actually really enjoy Letterman and enjoyed Conan too but they were both on late. I think one aspect that would turn off British viewers would be the depth of the interview. Most of the time with the talk shows here you can almost predict the questions:

"How's your family doing?"
"Now, you just for back from "INSERT LOCATION HERE" how was it?"
"You had a bit of trouble on the Flight/Car ride/Taxi recently didn't you?"

And then when we are about to discover something interesting or take the conversation to another level, its:

"Tell us about your latest movie/TV show/book/hand puppet"

Which is all we have time for because here comes a commercial.

That said, I am looking forward to Conan on TBS.

02 April, 2010

IPad: Yes I want one. But what would I do with it?

As some of you may have noticed Apple released a small, flat screen computing device recently for tech geeks everywhere to review. And the reviews are overly glowing on the whole so it looks like the "Itouch (But it's bigger!)" is going to a be a success.

Of course, I would love to have one. Just for the pure fact that I would look like a futuristic hero of some sort carrying the thing around or reading the morning paper on it.

When I think longer on it, however, I wonder when would I actually use the thing. I have an IPhone already so when I'm out and about and need to check my email/play a game/find out what string theory is I can semi-quickly load up the Internet on my phone and I'm sorted. Sure, it's a small screen and I might have to wait for it to load or scroll a lot but that's not really that much of an inconvenience. Plus I don't really want to have to carry around a device that won't fit in my pocket and can't make phone calls.

So, maybe I would use it at home. But if I want to write an email and surf the Internet I'm going straight to my laptop which isn't limited to "apps". All of which, by the way, have to be pre-approved by Apple, where as my computer can download...well, the Internet. Plus, I can watch and play Flash games, and can have multiple things going at once, and plug in USB devices, and use a mouse if I want to.

All that I'm left with for using my IPad would be long car journeys where it would seem like a great entertainment device. As long as you didn't want to watch a dvd you just bought, or a movie you just downloaded to your laptop.

For those without a smart phone I can see it would fill that Apple-y void in your life but otherwise folks, by an IPhone and a netbook and call me in the morning if that IPad craving hasn't gone away.