9 posts tagged “call for help”

For the past two and a half years I've been flying up to Toronto every month to tape Call for Help. This is my 32nd and last visit. Starting in March we'll be revamping the show, it's now The Lab with Leo Laporte, (we were considering Call for Help: The Burning Crusade but it's been taken) and it will be shot in hi-def in Vancouver, BC. I'm excited about where the show is going, but I'm terribly sad to be leaving this city which has become my second home. I'm even sadder about leaving some of the great friends I've made here. I'll miss you all more than I can say.

I'm back from MacMania V - and I had a wonderful time. I took a few still pictures, but I spent most of the time playing with the Sanyo Xacti HD1a. I'll post some video in a day or so.

Meanwhile, our first episode of net@nite went pretty well Sunday night. We had a surprise visit from YouTube founder, Steve Chen (did you know the Google-YouTube merger talks started at Denny's?), and a number of nice calls. Our host, Talkshoe, suffered some growing pains, but I expect most of the wrinkles will be ironed out by next week's show. I told them that there would be a few people listening!

The high-quality edited version will go out on the Inside the Net feed Tuesday, but you can hear the raw and uncut right now at Talkshoe. Show notes are available on the net@nite blog.

I've also posted a brand new TWiT, recorded aboard the ms Veendam. It's a completely new cast - none of the regulars were on the cruise - but I think it's a very good show. Steve Stecklow, a senior writer for the Wall St. Journal was along to explain what the latest stock option backdating scandals mean, the very funny Andy Ihnatko weighs in on bottled water, and security and Perl guru, Randal Schwartz makes boat sounds. Stay tuned at the end for an interlude from our Captain.

I'm home this week, with lots of podcasts to record and post, then it's back to Toronto for another week of Call for Help. The wonderful Cali Lewis of Geekbrief.tv will co-host once again for nine shows. The remaining six will be hosted by three different candidates to replace Amber MacArthur. Yes, on-the-air auditions. It's a first for me, and I'm sure it will be a little scary for the propspective hosts, but that's how they do things in Canadia. The shows will air some time next month.

Oh, and one more thing. While I'm in Toronto we'll be holding a launch party for the new undo.tv. Save Tuesday, 11/14, on your calendar. We're taking over No Regrets once again for the event. Details to follow.

It's been a great week in Toronto, but all too brief. The meetup on Tuesday, a talk with the seminarians at UofT's Wycliffe College on Wednesday, TWiM on Thursday, then home on Friday. Oh and 15 Call for Help eposides in there somewhere, too. I'm breathless.

We miss Amber so much on Call for Help, but I did get to catch up with her, and record three(!) Inside the Net episodes, at the meetup. The first of those, a look at Nakama, a new moblogging site, will go up October 10.

We're still searching for a Canadian replacement for Amber on Call for Help, but while we do we're very fortunate indeed to have the poised and talented (and lovely) Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.tv filling in for her. Amber's last episode and Cali's first should be airing soon on G4techTV Canada and the HOW-TO Network in Australia. No truth to the rumor that we're changing the show name to "Cali for Help."

Meanwhile Amber's new show, City News International debuts Tuesday, October 10 on Citytv Canada-wide. She'll be on every night. She tells me her US and Aussie fans can catch her pieces on the net every day - I'll post a link as soon as I get one. Her live daily net culture segments on CP24 are also available on the live stream every weekday between 3:30 and 4p Eastern. Internet Exploder is required to watch that.

Check out her new blog/vlog Popnology. That's also going to be the name of her new show on CP24. Great name! You'll be able to subscribe to Popnology on iTunes soon, too.

I think flowers are in order, if not a Gemini award!

I'm sad to say that after two years, and nearly 400 shows, my wonderful co-host, Amber MacArthur, is leaving Call for Help. -snif-

We'll tape one more round of shows this week (enough to get us through September) then she's off to CityTV where she'll be a tech reporter and host of her own show.

You can read more on her blog. Please visit and wish her the best.

Amber plans to keep producing Command-N, her video podcast, and Inside the Net, the podcast we do together for TWiT.tv and we're going to continue to work on the podcasting book together, but we'll really miss her on Call for Help. Her insight into the web has added tremendously to the show, and her unfailing energy and enthusiasm for tech inspires us all. I don't know how we can ever replace that. In so many ways she has been our Muse.

On the other hand, this is a unique opportunity for her, and we're all terrifically proud of her success. And CityTV posts almost everything online, so you'll be able to see plenty of Amber at CityTV.com

I remember telling management when we hired her that it was only a matter of time before some big network snatched her up. This is just the beginning of a wonderful career for a very smart and talented person. Bye Amber... and good luck in the big city!

Like Sam and Frodo, Alex Lindsay and I are headed there and back again.

I smiled even more broadly a minute later when they called me to the desk and upgraded me to first class. I felt guilty leaving Alex behind in economy. For about two seconds.

Alex was busy setting up his new Vox blog anyway.

Any extra bit of luxury is more than welcome. I've just finished 15 TV shows in four days. I'm tired, but it's that happy and satisfied kind of tired. I really enjoy the gang in Toronto - we have such a blast shooting the show. It's almost like a vacation every month. The kind of vacation where you work really hard all day then fall into bed exhausted every night. Come to think of it, it really doesn't sound at all like a vacation.

Starting next month I'll be staying at the same hotel every time I come to Toronto, in the same room, and that will make it a little more homey. This will be my 28th trip in two years. I've been staying in an assortment of large hotels in the financial district and they're just so impersonal. Nice, but big.

The new place is a teriffic, fun, little hotel (only 19 rooms) with three great restaurants, including two patios and rooftop dining, and a nightclub in the basement, and it's in one of Toronto's hippest neighborhoods. They already treat me like family.

Despite the grueling schedule, every week I'm here I try to soak up a little Toronto culture. Last night I saw the musical version of The Lord of the Rings at the Princess of Wales Theater. It's an amazing show - well worth seeing if you come to T.O. Unfortunately it's closing and moving to London in September, so you'd better hurry.

It's not perfect by any means, but much better than the reviews would indicate. And the production is stunning. The Balrog at the end of the first act is chilling. Literally.

It was clearly a challenge to get all three books into three and a half hours, but there's as little exposition as possible and ultimately it works. I cried at the end and left the theater singing. Two furry toes up. 

Many people don't realize it, but my true calling is as a hair and makeup consultant. Here I give Amber a few tips and demonstrate the latest airbrush application techniques. Just remember kids, it's not how you feel, it's how you look... and you look marvelous!

We tape four Call for Help episodes a day during my week in Toronto. As you might imagine, lunch assumes a major importance in such a long march. Here we dine al fresco between show 365 and 366.

As you'll see in the video, we often discuss topics of great significance.

From left to right, our intern Snowball, Command-N's Mike Lazazzera, Flashmaster Mike Hogue, Lab Rat Sean Carruthers, and my co-host Amber MacArthur.

Sean Carruthers has done it again. He snapped a bunch of great pictures with his Olympus Evolt at our last week of taping of Call for Help in Toronto. In the two to the right, Amber clobbers me with a canoe paddle as part of a promo for our Outdoor Special. She's such a prankster.

You can see all of Sean's photos from the shoot week on his Flickr site.

By the way, when I say "last week" I mean the previous week. There are many more to come. I've just agreed to another year of shows through September 2007.

Call for Help is seen on G4TechTV in Canada (check your cable or satellite provider) and on the HOW-TO Channel in Australia. US fans can download the show for 99¢ an episode from Google Video. We're working on putting all 400 Canadian episodes online.