The most obvious benefit is sound quality.  However this isn’t the only reason for their recording quality.  From what I have gleaned in conversations the two take great pride in only releasing what they themselves consider quality.  I am not sure which is the editor of the show but the quality is most certainly professional from the first episode.  While undermixes can be distracting in some podcasts Citation Needed seems to have mastered that mix early as well.  I actually had to check while writing this review to see if they use one.  I would say that certainly counts as unobtrusive.

The host and hostess are a delight.  I’m not sure how I would classify the dynamic of their relationship, but I would start with it being obviously friends.  It actually seems they have known one another for sometime and maybe planned out the hosting ahead of time.  I say this because it is unusual for the talking to be so evenly and fairly distributed.

Now topics are hard to pinpoint.  Pornography does seem to be a recurring theme however.  These conversations tends to be in jest or on occasion judgmental or even more rarely serious.  Either way it tends to be their other conversations that shine through.  Although this isn’t to say the sexual ones are not interesting just not what I was originally expecting in the show.

Overall, I have found yet another winner.  You  can find them on their own site as well as itunes.  Make sure this one gets added to your list of podcasts!

Now I am not saying the comedy is witty or amazing.  It is simple comedy, similar to how most people would tease their friends.  Sandler and James seem to get the majority of the good lines.  Which seems a little unfair as Rock gets put into a more sheepish role and Schneider has to rely on his ridiculous character for his laughs.  Spade lucks out versus the other two though as he gets some lines as well as just being the target of jokes.

Plot wise, you need to go somewhere else.  The movie is entirely for the laughs.  There are loose ends that are totally left open and some characters clearly don’t learn a lesson.  The good part is that’s still not the point.  This movie is for the laughs.  Don’t come in for a series movie, don’t come expecting a witty satire, come in looking for some cheap laughs.  If you do that, you’ll enjoy it for what it is.  A simple comedy that requires no thought to find the humour.

The show takes these situations and plays them out.  The main star of the show is William Shatner who plays the titular character.  And Mr. Shatner indeed plays the role well and delivers his lines perfectly.  The other characters while still interesting and talented have nothing to do with the Twitter account and really only known if you watch the show.

However, while the characters are fun and the actors are doing their jobs the show itself seems off.  The premise seems to be that every line has to be a witty remark.  In real life this isn’t the case so I’m not sure why it needs to be in the show.  To add insult to the injury there is, what seems to be, an unending laugh track to the show.  Every comment whether it is actually funny or not gets a laugh track.  But don’t worry the actual funny comments are still noticeable because that is when they turn the volume up on the laugh track.  Pretty sure the laugh track could be turned off for a lot more of this show and that would make it a lot better.

If you enjoy the book or the Twitter account avoid this show.  If you have a hard time understanding humour or lack a sense of humour, than you’re probably safe to watch this show.

Now as far as made for tv, or video for that matter, goes the Scooby-Doo ones have always had pretty strong stories.  This one really isn’t any different.  Now that is not to say it is without flaws, the biggest one being that this is more about the gang than it is about the mystery.  The mystery, like the other live action movies, mixes the classic person in mask with a supernatural spin.  I’m not a super fan of the supernatural parts but I do appreciate the fact that they make plenty of callbacks to the old series.

Acting wise the characters are captured perfectly.  Well save Scooby-Doo which is odd since Frank Welker, the voice of Scooby since 2002, is still doing the voice.  It actually isn’t due to Mr. Welker but rather how Scooby seems to be written as more a secondary character.  I’m not sure if the writers forgot Scooby until half the script was written but it makes him a very flat character.  This seems to have been true in the last one as well, hopefully for the third one they can remedy this issue.

The movie is good if you can catch it on tv.  Keep in mind that the run time is actually much shorter as the end is filled with a music video that is completely unrelated to the movie.  If you’re not strapped for time though you should give the music video a watch because it is pretty cute.

Every episode is broken into basic segments that handle different parts of the news.  One of my personal favourite is the Ask an American segment.  During this part a caricature of a “typical” US citizen.  Mr. Oliver is often times the one interacting with this character and seems to emphasize the worlds view on the average American’s education level.  Some of the other subjects contain such things as celebrity stories from the hosts’ week and even a brief segment on sports.  The sports segment almost always seems to involve cricket, which is sadly a sport I don’t really get (though many sports, I don’t get).

The hosts are both comedians that, based on video clips, focus on more intellectual topics and mainly politics.  Mr. Zaltzman seems to be the lead host, however Mr. Oliver contributes just as much.  While their points and counterpoints to the topics being discussed are often hilarious there are times when I miss the punchline.  In these cases, I think the issue is more that the joke references historical events and subject matter that I simply am not informed about.  The only other issue that there might be for some is that Mr. Oliver will sometimes get excited during his parts.  During this time it can be hard to listen on headphones as his volume quickly escalates at these parts.  Mr. Zaltzman on the other hand maintains a considerably level volume.

Now listening wise it is perfect for in town trips.  If you are looking for a podcast for long car trips this is only going to work for you, if you have a significant back catalogue of episodes.  The reason for this is that every episodes last around 40 minutes usually falling just short.  In the end, if you want a shorter podcast to mix things up between longer shows, then this one is perfect.

Content wise the site has a previously mentioned podcast, Riding in Cars with Boys, two comics, and articles.  As I said before Riding in Cars with Boys manages to pull off the gimmick based podcast perfectly.  The other nice part is that this finally gives the guys a permanent home without having to change subscriptions on iTunes.

The comics contain plenty of surprises.  The first is that Hands Down, a comic featuring some of the wildest internet characters, has jumped from FRED to Doom!  The comic is pretty funny and from what I understand is only promised to get better.  Also in an earlier strip SHSOB’s logo might have gotten slipped in (here’s a hint: read them all).  The other comic is Sam Legion.  This one is just starting off and seems to be set in space, but that might be a misconception.  Based on the rest of the site only thing that will happen with this comic is that you’ll be on the ground floor of awesome.  The only thing I might suggest here is besides a previous and next option for the pages, maybe being able to jump to the first page for new readers.

Finally, the articles so far appear to be focused on pop culture of the comic variety.  Now this might be due to a limited number of posts (as in one as of now) or how many people will actually be writing the articles.  I’ll go ahead and warn them though that having just one person write can become cumbersome on that person if a schedule is being maintained.

Once again at least give the website a look see.  I’m sure it is still in the development stage so if you see something amiss I know they would be happy to hear as long as you’re not being mean about it.

The show basically is a bizarre parody of hospital dramas.  Now for those that are bored by hospital shows, this one is great.  The only problem is that sometimes the jokes only work with understanding of other hospital dramas.  Now these jokes really only require a basic understanding of these other shows.  At the same time, I feel like those that do enjoy hospital dramas might have great distaste for this show.  Given this fact may actually just make me like it more.

The cast is exceleent.  Everyone plays there parts as if they were in an actual drama regardlss of the outlandish circumstances.  The cast is also made up of some pretty great people.  Besides Rob Corddry, we also have Malin Åkerman, Rob Huebel, Megan Mullaly, and the great Henry Winkler.

If you’ve managed your way through at least one episode of Grey’s Anatomy then give Childrens Hospital a watch.  I guarantee it will be at least funnier and for some people more bearable in general.

Now I personally bought four of these things when they came out for the multiplayer games I was sure would follow.  Well no multiplayer followed but recent news has come to light suggesting I shouldn’t have bought more than two.

It seems the next generation of Wii Remotes, rather than adding more colour choices, will have the MotionPlus built in.  This is great for anyone that say doesn’t have four sets already but kind of a kick in the teeth for those that do.  The part that confuses me even more is that based on gaps between previous console generations the new consoles should be announced next year.

Because of the dedication I’ve already had I’d prefer to see a new system then making me replace what I already have.  Oh, and yes I would need to replace them so I have the newest and best.

Contacts

Okay this one is a little unfair.  Contacts come installed and can’t be removed.  It is just a list of your contacts.  I finally started getting into this recently with the MacBook and I like that it carries right over to the iPad.  The drawback however, or at least I haven’t found it, I can’t create or edit groups on the iPad just the MacBook.

Night Stand

Maybe not a productivity app per say but I’m going to mention it anyway.  Night Stand is simply a sleek alarm clock.  Unlike the iPhone there is no preexisting alarm option.  This one is nice because it lets you wake to music or preset sounds.  You can select how it displays, which I like the more generic ways.  The most recent update also offers weather.  The drawback really only lies in the weather, as the choices in locations are currently somewhat limited.

Pages

This is basically a text editor.  I would say it is on par with OpenOffice but lacking some of Word’s bells and whistles.  Now given some of these bells and whistles are things like grammar check, which aren’t super reliable to begin with, but still something I like to at least look at.  Overall, this one is a must.

OmniFocus

I’d say it is a to do list but it’s so much more.  This is a project manager more than  just a to do list.  This also allows you to sync to multiple other services.  These services could keep an entire team on track instead of just individuals.  If you are getting the iPad for productivity keep this app in your budget.

iDisplay

Now this one is cool.  It works on both iPhone and iPad.  This allows you to sync with your computer and use the iPad as a secondary screen.  This is great if you only have a single screen.

ReelDirector

Is a nice video editor.  Definitely over simplifies the process but works for iPad.  Now this one is not for everyone.  It makes nice slideshows also, and maybe that would appeal to the average user, but I’d probably still recommend using a computer program for most people.

The animation style is very much in the vain of old rubber hose style animations.  The wacky antics fit perfectly with the inane style of rubber hose style.  The nice part is that the characters are very diverse.  There are vampires, mutants, thieves, a rainbow unicorn, and a lot of princesses.

The princesses will hopefully be more elaborated because their are well over 10 at any given time.  The main ones covered so far have been Princess Gumdrop, the Lumpy Space Princess, and Marceline the Vampire Queen.  Their stories a=have been hilarious and makes me want to see more of the princesses explained.

The part that is surprising though is the language.  Yes, I’m use to jokes that adults will get in cartoons.  However, Adventure Time takes it further and has actually had characters described as “sexy”.  This seems super odd for a show for children.  Yet, I can’t help watch even with the questionable language.

I’d say that this one needs to be held off till kids have some maturity.  If you’re concerned about language in normal shows, maybe just avoid or preview this one before your kids watch.