Other Tech

It's a rough time if you like money. Every day brings worse news from the markets, and looking at your investment portfolio is more depressing than watching your favorite sports team get blown out in the playoffs. Companies are tightening their spending (no travel!), some to a ludicrous degree (no paper clips!), and it only makes sense that regular Joes do the same.

I find it interesting that you chose to start releasing The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on DVD (Time Life) with a collection of the best episodes from Season 3 (1968-69). That's the season we got fired from CBS. I was very, very, very reluctant to put this show out on home video.

Last month, we began exploring "how to listen." Now it's time to audition your favorite CDs. Note what you like about each one. Is there a common thread among them in the genre of music or the style of production?

What is Reality?

The "Plato's Cave" allegory goes something like this: Imagine a deep underground cavern where prisoners have lived their entire lives chained to rocks, their heads immobile and facing one cave wall. Behind them is an illuminating fire. Between the fire and prisoners, statues of all sorts move back and forth.

Ah, sweet home Chicago. I remember partaking in a number of great local traditions when I used to call the Windy City my backyard: Going to Buddy Guy's Legends club for a late night of tasty blues. Seeing the Chicago River dyed green for St. Patrick's Day. Taking in a Chicago Cubs game in the bleachers at Wrigley Field.

Many A/V enthusiasts dream of having a custom theater designed by home theater pioneer and Sound & Vision columnist Theo Kalomirakis. But mystery novelists Jonathan and Faye Kellerman (Capital Crimes, When the Bough Breaks) have something twice as nice: two theaters designed by Theo.