[caption id="" align="alignright" width="287" caption="Don't send Timmy this one... He already has it. ;^)"][/caption]

  Today, before I’d even had my first cup of coffee, I was faced with a choice that could potentially damn me forever.  A coworker forwarded me a story about a little boy with a disability that played a baseball game, became a hero after hitting a Grand Slam (with some help from players on both teams), and then died.  Maybe you’ve received the same email.  It was heartwarming and made my eyes water just a little bit as I was reading it.  After reaching the end of the story however, I was presented with two options.  I could either forward the email to everyone I know or just go ahead and delete it.  The choices were framed in a way that implied callousness on my part if I chose to just throw the message in the trash folder or, conversely, assured me I’d be an awesome person (maybe eternal salvation?) if I were to just send it along and brighten anyone’s day that opened their email inbox to find this message waiting for them.

 

I sooooooooooo hate that.

     Sending me an email with a joke, picture, or story that I might find interesting is one thing.  I have a very broad sense of humor, and I can appreciate even the dirty or off-color stuff.  And I’m not so masculine that I won’t cry if something is sad or touching.  Not only did I cry when Old Yeller died, but I cried every time Charlie Brown tried to kick the football and missed.  My heart melts when I see children ringing the Salvation Army bell outside of Wal-Mart at Christmas time and the tears of joy well up when I see Angelina Jolie grab the stickshift in ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’.  But don’t try to make me feel bad because I may not want to send the disabled kid story to a bunch of people who may or may not care about it. 

     As I was reading it, I thought about the people I knew who might find it nice to get this nugget of bittersweet communication from me.  Once I reached the guilt trip at the end  though, all thoughts of forwarding the message went out the window.  I…deleted it.  Not only did I delete it, but I then went into my deleted items folder and deleted it again.  I then searched my computer for any hidden, temporary files that might have the text of that story in it, but since I really don’t know that much about computers, I didn’t know where to look.  But if I had found it, I would have deleted it a third time. I even briefly considered erasing my hard drive just to make sure the thing was really gone, but decided against it since I have a lot of pictures of Angelina Jolie work stored there.  Callous?  Yeah, probably, but I’m callous of my own free will.  I’ve got enough guilt that I don’t need any more emailed to me.  Now if you’ve got some nice pictures of Ms. Jolie, please feel free to send them my way.  I promise they won’t be deleted.

-          Timmy

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Canman, Jamie, Kevin and Tim had a blast recording this episode tonight!   It was great having all the guys here! 

We discussed:

• Kevin and The Canman checked out Cedar Rapids’ newest restaurant “The Tilted Kilt”. 
• We review the new movie ”The Spirit”.
• We share Kevin’s Holiday Horror story.
• Tim and Chad discuss “4 Christmases”.
• And Much, Much More!

We also feature the music of Jonathan Coulton and Timmy.   On the break we play Jonathan’s “Ikea” and Tim’s “Drama Queen”.   At the end of the show we play Jonathan’s “When You Go”.   

Please take a moment and rate us on Itunes or your favorite podcast site!   If you have Itunes installed on your computer, Click here to visit our podcast page!

Today Kevin and I took in “The Spirit”.  I’m pretty sure that the movie will upset the fans of Will Eisner’s original work, however I very much enjoyed the film.  It is visually stunning, the acting was pretty good and the story was kind of fun.   I thought Samuel L. Jackson was pretty hilarious as “The Octopus”.    It was campy, fun that looked an a lot like “Sin City”.    If you’re looking for a fun film to check out on a Saturday afternoon, check it out.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="For More information about "The Tilted Kilt" Click Here."][/caption]

Following the movie, we went to check out “The Tilted Kilt”.  While often compared to “Hooters”,  we found their menu had a larger selection, and I discovered that I prefer the Kilt outfit worn by the girls at The Tilted Kilt to the Hot pants worn by the Hooters Girls.  The food was great, the beer was cold and the girls looked amazing!  The pricing seemed a little high, but not too high.    Our only real concern was that the service was a little slow.  I’m sure it had something to do with them being busy, and a new restaurant.  So we’ll forgive them this time. 

We noticed they have more flat screen TVs than we could count!   There was a game on every television.  I’m not much of a sports fan, so I enjoyed watching the other attraction.  Ahem…  Kevin however was glued to the tube.    Me I’m more of a fan of the “Tube top” nuff said.    When you get a chance be sure to check out Cedar Rapids’ newest eatery.  

We’ll be recording Episode 15 Tuesday night!   It’ll be online by Wednesday afternoon at the latest.   It’s gonna be a great show!   Be sure to check it out!   

That’s all I got for now- Canman

What an awesome Christmas at the Canfield house!   My kids made out like bandits!   Zada got the Elmo Live Doll, Zoe got the scooter she wanted and Zach scored not only Rockband 2, but Guitar Hero World Tour!   On top of all that my mom got the “Whole Canfield Family” a Wii!   Everyone that’s played it complained the next day how much their arms hurt…  Too funny.

Today I’ve been reading “Watchmen” by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins.  It was published by DC comics in the late 1980s.   It’s story centers around a group of former Superheroes who try to solve the murder of a former “hero”.   It’s amazing so far.   I’m 3 chapters in and had a difficult time putting the book down to write this.   I can see why it would be a difficult undertaking to make the story into a feature film.  I’m looking forward to the movie when it comes out in March 09.

We may be recording a new episode of The Canman Show this week.   Possibly Monday or Tuesday evening.    I’ll keep you posted.  

Back to reading… I love vacation!- Canman

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The Canman Show Holiday Special 2008!

Kevin & The Canman are joined by members of their families.  We ask them what they want for Christmas and were pretty shocked at the results!!!   Canman’s daughter Zoe read “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston.  

 We share our plans for this Christmas and some of our favorite Holiday traditions.

Kevin reviews the book “Scared of Santa: Scenes of Terror in Toyland” by Denise Joyce and Nancy Watkins. 

 

On the show we also featured music from Podsafe Music Network!

“Fanboy Christmas 2 The Wrath of Claus” By The Great Luke Ski and the FuMP. “All I Got – The Christmas Song” by Nice Peter, and “Chiron Beta Prime” by Jonathan Coulton.

Wishing you a Happy and Safe Holiday Season from The Canman Show!!!

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Tim, Kevin and The Canman had some internet difficulties when we recorded this episode.  All of our show prep is stored “In The Cloud”and with the internet down we  had to wing it tonight…  It’s a pretty funny show… Enjoy!!!

• We did discss some of our favorite memories from our Holidays past. 
• Tim’s new CD and live performance this Saturday!
• And so much more I can’t even think of all of it….

I want to send an extra special thank you to Rick Moyer for allowing us to play his “Merry Trekmas” Music!   Be sure to visit his site by clicking here!  While there you can download the whole CD for FREE!!!

[caption id="attachment_858" align="alignright" width="270" caption="Inside the Toy Distribution"][/caption]

Kevin here, this is my first post on the site so here goes! Just wanted to say a little on my experience today at the Salvation Army Toy Distribution. As expected the flood of 2008 and the crappy economy has increased the numbers taking part in the program and they even had to add a extra half day to complete the toy distribution. But thanks to my job allowing volunteer time this is my third year helping out with the toy distribution and food giveaway. It’s not all fun and games though and a lot of work at least what I am doing.

My job usually included helping people get toys out to their cars, keep people moving or helping put the boxes together with turkey or chicken dinners. Typically a person goes in picks out a couple toys, couple stocking stuffers, a couple stuffed animals and a couple books, then everything is packed up for them, a diner is placed in their cart and I got to push the cart thru the snow filled parking lot to stuff all the things into their car. After today I really hurt all over. Most people are good during the experience and thankful for the generosity of the Cedar Rapids Jaycee’s, Salvation Army and Toys for Tots.

But their is always some interesting experiences here and there that keep me coming back. Every time a person opens up their trunk or car doors to let me in you learn a little bit about that person, if they are a smoker, have kids or may have vomited recently. Well today one of the participants opened up their trunk and they had a blown tire, that would explain the tiny little spare tire they had. Anyway, the person just said let me get rid of this and took the blown tire and threw it into the trash bin on the outside of the building. I tried to explain she may want to keep that since they still need the rim to fix the tire but the person didn’t seem interested in my explanation and said Merry Christmas and drove away. Someone is going to have some explaining to do to someone as to why they threw away the rim of one of their tires!
But don’t let that put you off it is a good experience and I suggest if you ever wish to try volunteering to give this a shot. Their website is http://cedarrapidssa.volunteerfirst.org or a contact name is Debra Applebee email is Debra_Applebee@usc.salvationarmy.org or telephone # 319-364-9131 ext 107. I believe they can still use help on Thursday and in the morning on Friday.- Kevin

I’m having a tough time deciding what to do with The Canman Show for the next couple weeks.   We were kicking around recording 2 episodes Thursday night.  Episode 14 and a Holiday Episode.   That way we’d have a show this week and one for next.   Which worked out great for Thanksgiving.     Now I’m concerned the ice and snow storm that’s due to hit Iowa Thursday evening, that we might not be able to get the shows recorded.      Keep your fingers crossed…. 

I’m becoming addicted to  http://weather.gov .  It’s the National Weather Services official web page.   With all the snow and stuff we’ve been having, I’m catching myself checking it every hour or so.   It’s a great resource for keeping up on the weather.  It also has some great historical weather data.  

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="362" caption="My Wife Kristina... (Hot isn't she... can you say Trophy wife???)"][/caption]

I’m still trying to figure out what to get Kristina (my wife) for Christmas.   I’ve got a few ideas, but haven’t been able to get out to shop.  I’m still waiting for my paycheck from my TV camera man gig.    When I get it, I’ll feel a lot better about spending the money.   I hope it comes in the mail today.   I want to get my shopping “wrapped up” tonight.

I’m thinking about getting some Canman Show T-Shirts made up.   Does anyone know some good T-Shirt companies in the area?    If so drop me a line thecanmanshow@gmail.com. 

In my Zune today I’ve been listening to Duffy.   She’s got a very rich classic soul sound.   I’d almost compare her voice to a mix of  Amy Winehouse and Macey Gray, only smoother in both cases.  If that makes sense?…   She’s got a couple hits “Mercy” and “Stepping Stone”.   “Stepping Stone” I think is my favorite song on her “ROCKFERRY” CD.    I strongly recommend picking this CD up. 

 

That’s all I got for now- Canman

I was shocked yesterday afternoon when I went to the Wehrenberg theatre for a matinee performance of Bolt 3D.   It was $9.50 per ticket!   It’s jumped in price five bucks since the last time I was at a matinee show.   For a bucket of popcorn and 2 large drinks it was $17.50!!!  

We blew close to $50.00 bucks on a movie which is  Sad, Sad, Sad….    I enjoyed the movie but… I think next time I want to see a movie in a theater, I’ll be making the trip to Vinton.  We’ll go to the Palace Theatre where tickets are only $2.00.

    Or I’ll wait for it to come out on DVD, pop my own corn.   For the same price I spent at the Wherenberg I could own the movie, the popcorn popper and a case of soda pop (FYI-I still am not drinking pop).

10 days till Christmas.   I’m waiting on my paycheck from my camera man gig to pick up Kris’s present.   I hope it comes in the mail today.

In my Zune today I’m listening to “Drama Queen” by Tim Arnold,  Over and Over again!   I love that song!  That and the fact it was recorded here in “The Canman Show Show Studio” aka “Zach’s Room” makes it all that more special!  I’ll be picking up that CD sometime this week, if Tim’s done putting it together, that is….  When he’s ready I’ll let you know ASAP!

That’s all I got for now-Canman

Canman, Kevin, Tim and Jamie are back again.   Tonight Tim is brought his guitar!  He a live performance of some songs for his upcoming CD!  

 We’ll get an update on Kevin’s world,  Jamie will update us on what’s happening at thegazetteonline.com, Timmy’s gonna sing (as mentioned above) & Canman’s going to try not to cry like a baby!… All on tonight’s Episode!!!

I know that sounds like a blast all by itself but, we also discussed all sorts of fun stuff, including but not limited to:

• “The Land of The Lost” movie.
• Golden Globe Nominations.
• Playstation 3′s Community Site.
• Geeky Holiday Gift Ideas.  Check out Ars Technica’s Holiday Gift Guide Here.
• Canman’s Holiday Geeky Shoppe.
• And Much, Much More!!!

Please Help get the word out about the show and take a moment and rate the show on ITunes.   We truly appreciate it!- Canman