And now a word from our sponsor...

[Serenity]

I went to the Pandora/Beethoven link and got a "File not Found" error page.
Then I went to the Pandora homepage and found that it was a station where you could create and mold your own radio stations with the music you like by voting "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" on whatever they play for you. I thought that was cool so I created a couple of radio stations but when I tried to make a classical music station, they replied that classical music was not in the works yet.

Why would Beethoven Radio have a sponsor link to Pandora if a) you can create your own stations according to music you like, and b) there is no classical music yet but it's coming? Isn't that... like ....eventuallly shooting yourself in the foot? (....like I'm a California Valley Girl or something...)

[Catmando]

Isn't that... like ....eventuallly shooting yourself in the foot? (....like I'm a California Valley Girl or something...)

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I want a free no-obligation death consultation. I have a list of candidates. :worried:

[OperaTenor]

Not really like foot-shooting, IMO. I tried setting something up with Pandora a while back, and it seems my taste in music is too eclectic for it to handle. After about five songs, it simply started playing a bunch of random pop crap, and as I attempted to fine tune it further, it got worse.

It seems to like really narrow selections in genre.artist, etc.

[Serenity]

I'm new to Pandora but I see where you are going. The more I vote, the narrower my choices seem to get; the more I ignore, the more they seem to expand in their repertoire.

Although they say they reward the musically curious, I get more of that uncontrollable, uncomfortable feeling when we say "I've opened Pandora's box".

Anyway, I'm still exploring. I still need my daily dose of Beethoven Radio though

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I like that Pioneer Basement commercial. Dude is very sincere-sounding and I do appreciate the offer to fix up my basement, from whence comes 40% of the air on my first floor. Sadly, I have no first floor. And, BTW, what's a basement? Is it my garage that's below the 1st floor in my condo building? Does it count if all the garage doors open onto the alley?

I still appreciate the offer, and if I ever acquire a basement and a first floor, I'm going to call Pioneer. I like the way the sound.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Feet First sounds like my kind of store. I'm getting the directions. Do they do mail order? Would I have to send in my feet?

[barfle]

The basement is where I have my laundry room:





And it is where I will have my theatreee:



It's like a half a house down here.

[jamiebk]

I am sooooooo... jealous. What a great space for a home theater!!! Out here in Ca, not many of us have basements and I really miss that space. Our garages are cluttered with all kinds of stuff (to the point that many do not even park their cars in there.) Oh, how I would love to have an indoor space like your finished basement to use for parties, entertainment, projects, etc. etc.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

His basement is a project - and we've enjoyed every bit of the Laundry Room Refit! I'm not sure his theater is full-up-and-running, but it seems to be progressing. And the attic is another adventure...

The whole basement thing sounds a little bit weird. Having another half-a-house under the house is a concept foreign to a California type - I've never had a basement, nor a useful attic neither.

[piqaboo]

barfle, I'm sure you described it earlier in this thread, but what is that thing that looks like a fold down baby-changing table, near the door to your laundry room?
(which is looking great still, BTW).

[jamiebk]

Piq,

I thought that might be a laundry chute, but wasn't sure.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I think it's his space-saver fold-down ironing board.

[Shapley]

I haven't quite figured out why this Emmy Rossum CD is advertised here. I looked it up, and it doesn't quite seem to be classical, but I don't know what category it fits into, either. I suppose, like Enya and the Opera Babes, it fits better here than most places. I suppose it's as classical as we get nowadays - she's probably at least as classical as Rene Gruss (whose album I have) or Toshiro Saruya.

She sure is cute, though!

[barfle]

barfle, I'm sure you described it earlier in this thread, but what is that thing that looks like a fold down baby-changing table, near the door to your laundry room?
(which is looking great still, BTW).

I guess you could use it for baby-changing, but it's really an ironing board.

I have a few shirts that require ironing, and I'm the one who irons them. At least it's a nice place to do a crappy chore.

[barfle]

The theater at this point is located in a bedroom down the hallway between the two bookcases. It isn't really a thater, it's just enough equipement in a room so I can watch TV and listen to music.

The plan is to take out the bookcase on the right, and that will be the rear corner of the new theater. It will go to the right of the picture and extend under the stairs. One problem is that the ceiling is fairly low, so if I put the rear row of seats in a tier, you don't want to stand up real quick. It should seat five, with two recliners in the front row and a small sofa in the back row. It'll be cozy, so if we don't want to watch the movie, we can always go to the balcony and neck instead.

The remaining space will be pretty small. I have a collection of lights that do things (like a lava lamp, and several others) that I'll display on the remaining bookshelves, and I'll have a couple of chairs for sitting and reading, and some more shelves for books. I hope to have the record collection, as well as the CDs and DVDs in the theater. We'll see how that works out. Oh, and I'll have a small refrigerator for sodas and a microwave for popcorn in that area.

I hope to start on it this winter. We still have bar's bookcase project, one more major yard job (a drain for the backyard swamp), and garage doors ahead of it. But it's time I built something for me.

[barfle]

Piq,

I thought that might be a laundry chute, but wasn't sure.

It's not really on the project list, but we've pondered the idea of a laundry chute. The master bedroom is located on the second floor directly above the laundry room, with the living room (which is unused and remains unfurnished) on the first floor between them. Pondering the possibilities, we can build a wall unit into the living room that would contain the chute and not be particularly obvious. It would end up to the left of the sink.

But it's not even on the to-do list, so there's no prediction as to when it will be on the ta-da list. Ceertainly it will come after the master bathroom and kitchen remodels. Neither of which I intend to do without professional help.

[Schmeelkie]

After 30 years in their house, my dad is finally getting around to fixing up the basement. Mostly it's been storage, tools, pantry and laundry. They want to set up a den-like area down there - good for hot days.

Our basement is mostly finished - real wood panels and semi-ugly green carpet. Currently the finished part is storage and large play area for the kids. When most of the space isn't taken up by a fort, as it currently is, it's a great space for little ones to run around on a rainy or winter day. Pumpkin used to ride his tryke down there the winter he was 2. It also becomes our guest bedroom as the futon is down there. No bathroom, but extra dressers so guest could even unpack. Amazingly, considering how our backyard turns into a bog every spring, we haven't had any leaks (knock on wood) except through a window when the backyard faucet was accidentally left running (think husband knocked into it with the lawnmower).

Back to topic - I liked it better when the Beethoven staff did more of the ads - they were funny! Of course, they're probably getting more revenue now, better advertisers.... the curse of success!

[Shapley]

The steel building commercial reminds me of the old Groucho Marx routine:

"When you buy one of these lots you can get any kind of house you want."

"Can you get stucco?"

"Boy, can you get stucco!"

[Serenity]

I know sex sells but I haven't found the right Beethoven Radio music to watch those "Spock dot com" Brazilian supermodels on the main page. The music that pops into my head when I'm looking at the pictures is not classical music.

Maybe the station can play a selection or segment of music that highlights a specific sponsor and thus encourage listeners to click on the ads.