After six episodes, I knew my Plantronics headset microphone wasn’t going to cut it in the long term. We record the podcast over Skype, which opens us up to all kinds of sound quality issues to begin with; I was desperate to do anything I could to at least make things sound passable on my end.

Enter Blue Microphones.

Blue has been manufacturing professional-grade microphones for the last 15 years, combining award-winning design with high-quality sound. Of course, demand for high-end studio gear isn’t quite what it used to be, so Blue has recently started moving into the consumer market, releasing a line of USB-powered equipment targeted at the many consumers who need more than an entry-level Plantronics headset, but aren’t willing to shell out ridiculous amounts of money. The Blue consumer line includes everything from the THX-certified Yeti to the iPod-ready Mikey. I had my eye on the Snowball — it isn’t as feature-rich as the Yeti, but it’s a step up from the ultra-portable Snowflake, and I assumed it would give me more than enough sound quality for the show. Plus, just look at it! If you’re in the market for a mid-priced microphone, how can you even look at the Snowball without falling in love?

Of course, a good-looking electronic gizmo is often a piece of junk trying to hide between a pretty exterior, so I was cautious about the Snowball — but much to my delight, its performance reflects its aesthetics. To begin with, using it is no more complicated than simply plugging it in; there’s no software to install and nothing to adjust. Just find a USB port and away you go.

And then there’s the way it works — or, to be more specific, the ways it works. The Snowball is a full-featured condenser microphone, with three modes: Cardioid, for straight-ahead recording; omnidirectional, for capturing a room; and cardioid pad, which adds a 10db dampener to avoid clipping in high-volume situations. With the Plantronics microphone, I had to keep it aimed away from my mouth or my vocals would pop all over the place — but since I hate listening to myself talk, and tend to use a pretty quiet voice when I speak, that meant my track always needed to be boosted in the mix, usually adding hiss and hum to the show. The Snowball is, needless to say, more powerful; I used it for the first time during our show’s seventh episode, and I quickly realized that it would record at normal levels even if I was one or two feet away. I’m still learning how to use it, but I was thoroughly pleased with my first Snowball recording — and the fact that I didn’t do a thing with it before we started the show demonstrates just how simple it is to use. I’d recommend it without reservation for any kind of home recording — I think it’d even make a really affordable addition to a home music studio.

And it’ll look great on your desk, too.

Today, we’re going to talk about the new limited edition offering of Heritage Dr. Pepper, but before we get there, I feel like I should give you a personal rundown of how I became a Dr. Pepper fan. To do this, we’re going to chart my soda drinking history, brand-by-brand.

Before I became a Pepper, I was originally a Coke guy, or Mr. Pibb if I could get it. I loved going to work with my dad, because they had a pop machine at the office that served up nice cold bottles of my favorite beverages, and I could always get my dad to lend me a few coins to pick one up. For me, there was nothing better than an icy cold bottle of Coca-Cola, one of the true pleasures in life that was just as good as the commercials that you saw on television. Unlike the fast food sandwiches that you saw on television that looked completely different in person (read:  gross), the experience of drinking a Coke was as advertised, completely awesome. Coke was it.

1985 came around, and Coca-Cola had the brilliant (insert sarcasm here) idea to change the formula of their classic soft drink, setting off one of the largest marketing disasters of all time with the introduction of “New Coke.” Reaction was quick, and it was negative, and worst of all, I could no longer get my favorite drink. It was New Coke, or no Coke at all for the 11 year old me. So I chose “no Coke” as my option, and moved to drinking Mr. Pibb exclusively. Eventually, Coca-Cola tried to save face with the introduction of Coca-Cola Classic, but even that tasted somehow different from the original Coke that I had once known and loved.

When we moved to Ohio, Mr. Pibb was not widely available at local grocery stores, and it was at that point that I officially met Dr. Pepper, my beloved drink which many have come to associate as a signature part of my personality.

While I’ve consistently been a Dr. Pepper drinker since the late ’80s, I am always interested in soda developments as they come and go, although I never quite got up the nerve to try Jolt Cola – their marketing ploy of “all of the sugar and twice the caffeine” made my head hurt, just thinking about it.

Some other beverage thoughts:

Diet beverages, i.e. Diet Coke, Diet Dr. Pepper, Coke Zero – “taste just as good as the original.” Um, not quite. Further, Coke Zero is complete flavorless crap. It really is truth in advertising – Coke Zero= taste that is zero, and enjoyment that rates at zero. Yuck.

Soda Myth: When ordering a beverage in a restaurant that does not serve Pepsi products, root beer is an acceptable substitute for Dr. Pepper.
Truth:  Not even close.  Waiters and waitresses, please take note and stop lying to us.

Speaking of root beer though, Mug Root Beer allegedly sent the foam straight to the end user’s brain – and while I can not specifically comment on that, Mug Root Beer was delicious, and I miss it. Although it’s apparently still in production, I can’t find it in Ohio. Boo.

Cherry-vanilla Dr. Pepper – while this seems like a good idea on paper, ultimately it tasted like a flat Dr. Pepper that had been left out on the kitchen counter overnight. I hear that the newer Cherry Dr. Pepper is better, with a more pronounced cherry taste – something that I’ll look forward to trying. I refused to try the “Berries and Cream” version of Dr. Pepper that was briefly available in 2006/2007 – that just sounded gross to me.

Which brings us to Heritage Dr. Pepper, a product that began appearing in stores this past November. Made with real sugar, instead of the high fructose corn syrup that the company has been using since the ’70s, Dr. Pepper fans can finally drink (albeit, for a limited time only) a version of Dr. Pepper that is likely as close to the “original stuff” as you’ll ever taste, unless you’re willing to import the original formula from Dublin, TX (or unless you live in the UK, where they apparently also get the full sugar experience).

I was interested to sample Heritage Dr. Pepper for myself, and finally got the chance when I tracked down my own twelve pack of the hallowed beverage at Christmastime. After icing it down in the refrigerator for several hours, I opened my first Heritage Dr. Pepper and took a sip. The taste was definitely different, although not necessarily in a positive way. I found that the use of “real sugar” actually took away some of the traditional flavor, rather than the enhanced flavor that I was expecting/hoping for. In fact, the expected taste that I was hoping for was far enough removed from what I’m normally used to, to the point that it almost had a bit of a diet taste to it, lighter than the current formula. Old school (read: older than me) Dr. Pepper drinkers have said that the sugar taste is an adjustment for anyone used to normally drinking beverages fueled by the high fructose corn syrup.

Whatever the case might be, I’ll stick to the more familiar blend of Dr. Pepper that I know and love. The authentic blend of 23 flavors might not be quite what the doctor ordered for some soda fans, but for me, it’s just right. I’m inclined to believe that whether it is made with sugar or high fructose corn syrup, you’re really splitting hairs to say that there is a significant difference in the taste. Sorry guys, I’m just not that much of a beverage snob. I will definitely argue that the taste of any brand of soda will always be superior when it comes from a glass bottle. The soda drinking experience lost a lot when they moved to packaging them in plastic bottles and cans – it just doesn’t taste the same.

However, my curiosity has been piqued, and I will add Dublin Dr. Pepper to the list of things that I will plan to try in 2010, along with Mexican Coke, which I’m also very curious about. There are at least subtle differences between Heritage Dr. Pepper and Dublin Dr. Pepper – HDP uses a cane and beet sugar mix, while DDP uses pure cane sugar. The difference? We’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Who knew that drinking a simple soft drink could be so complicated? I did learn a few things along the way, including the significance of the numeric sequence of 10-2-4 that once could be found on containers of Dr. Pepper. In the ’20s, Dr. Walter Eddy discovered in his studies at Columbia University that all of us experience a natural drop in energy at 10:30am, 2:30pm, and 4:30pm. He also discovered that people are able to avoid that energy drop with a quick snack or drink at 10, 2, and 4. And hence, Dr. Pepper had a marketing strategy on their hands that famously targeted the beverage as the 10-2-4 solution to avoid the energy drop. And with this bit of gained knowledge, I’ve finally learned something that I’ve been trying to convince many of for years – Dr. Pepper really is good for you!

I’m kidding. Kind of.

Last spring, however, I hit the jackpot at a Las Vegas Sephora: no kids, no husband and two gift cards. My original intent was to choose a self-tanner, but after realizing that an in-store demonstration was going to leave me looking like a Bengal tiger (and not in a sexy way), I re-directed my questions toward lip therapies, finding myself in front of LipFusion XL–one of Sephora’s best sellers and a celeb favorite. A few salesgirl sound bytes later (collagen! repair!) and I was sold. I opted for the smaller dual-wand package with both LipFusion Clear and LipFusion XL (and a much gentler $18 price tag compared to the $50 XL).

This was back in May, and though I have been using the product every day, I haven’t really seen any dramatic changes. However, folks on Sephora.com love this stuff–dozens of reviews from women of all ages describe a noticeable increase in lip fullness. The science behind LipFusion Clear and XL involves dehydrated collagen and hyaluronic acid spheres that stick to your lips and absorb an ungodly amount of water, creating a plumping and hydrating cosmetic effect. In theory this effect should only last as long as the product is on your lips, though many users report plump morning lips following a bedtime application. It’s targeted toward ladies who’d like to plump up their pout a little, but for whatever reason (pain, money, Lohan) are not interested in physician-administered collagen injectables.

My experience: easy-to-use, non-sticky, smells like oranges. Gives you a little tingle. To me, it basically just acts and feels like a really nice lip gloss, perfect for a quick freshen-up. I’m not a lipstick wearer, so a quick swipe with this product gives a nice natural lip finish to my make-up routine (all five minutes of it). I’d probably even buy it again since I’m sure as hell not planning on sticking any needles into my lips any time soon.

Overall, though I wish the effects lasted a bit longer, the product does look great on my lips. It’s actually one of the four beauty products I reach for every morning. I think my only real complaint is that it’s not good for kissing–far too gooey. Otherwise, it really does create the perfect (though temporary) plump Parisian pout. Bisous!

So, my miserly friends, if you have limited funds to spend on looking fabulous, for God’s sake put the money into things you can wear over and over. Buy your t-shirts at Goodwill and save your money for the best jeans, accessories, haircuts and skin products you can afford — quality skin products like those from… you guessed it: Obagi.

The Obagi Nu-Derm System is an appropriately pricey combination of creams and cleanser that claims to make your skin act “younger and healthier.” This stuff is about as A-list as you can get and doesn’t come cheap, though it’s thankfully not quite as dear as La Mer. It’s also only available by prescription, so if you are the type of person who likes having a professional to oversee your skin regimen, this product is for you.

There are six components to the Obagi Nu-Derm System; the most medically active ingredients being phytic acid and hydroquinone. These two elements block melanin production and bleach the epidermis, addressing classic signs of aging like pigment deposit and sun damage. It’s like taking an dirty old car and scrubbing away years of dirt and grime, then buffing it like hell until it really starts to shine.

So, you ask, what’s not to love? Well, as it so happens, hydroquinone is actually banned in the European Union, Japan, Australia and South Africa; rodent studies have indicated it may be carcinogenic. Hydroquinone can also (rarely) cause ochronosis or areas of hypo-pigmentation, especially in darker-skinned individuals. The FDA is expected to make a final ruling on US sales of hydroquinone-containing products by the end of this year, but in the meantime I’d say individuals who chose to use these products should limit their exposure. Apparently results should appear in 6-8 weeks; after three months dermatologists are advising patients to reduce down to a maintenance dose of 2-3 times weekly.

Bottom line: be careful. You don’t want to go all Sammy Sosa with this stuff.

That said, I’ve been using the Nu-Derm System for about three months, and have been quite happy with the results. I had a little bit of lasting melasma from my pregnancies, so ordered a travel kit as a “starter package” for $189 from lovelyskin.com (without a prescription, by the way — FDA eat your heart out). The system seemed awfully complicated at first, but the packaging includes clever numbering and “AM/PM” designations to help you get started. After some mild itching and redness for the first week I found the system quite easy to use, and the sunscreen is divine.

As I mentioned above, you can order the Nu-Derm system without a prescription from Lovely Skin but my recommendation (and the FDA’s) would be work with a dermatologist or other health-care professional. Though I have noticed a more uniform appearance in my skin and have received several skin-related compliments (well, um… thanks mom), considering the questionable risks I don’t think I’ll be using the Nu-Derm system long-term.

Guess I better start saving up for some La Mer.

Go into any bar, and what do you think the most popular drink is? If you said beer, you’d be right. But among variety of micro and macro-brews at local watering holes, you’re also going to find people order quite a few rum and Cokes, Mojitos, and Cosmopolitans being ordered on any given Friday night. I have nothing against those drinks, but you won’t find me ordering them. Nope. My drink of choice is bourbon. Yeah, that’s right, bourbon: straight with no chaser. But not just any bourbon, mind you. It has to be something that’s worth savoring; something to slowly enjoy over a long conversation or while watching an engaging movie. In other words, (and to use a more high-minded way of expressing myself): I loves me some sipping bourbon.

I know there are people out there who love to shoot bourbon, get really shitfaced, stumble around the dance floor and later puke their guts out on the sidewalk. That, my friends, is recreational bourbon. It’s the kind of bourbon you drink to forget your troubles, to work up enough courage to talk to someone you find attractive, or to show your friends that you can hold your liquor. That kind of booze has its time and place, but now that I’m older (or to some: old), I’ve grown weary of those kind of reindeer games played in bars, and have settled into a quiet snobbery where fetishizing certain kinds of alcohol has become a hobby akin to stamp collecting.

My current favorite bourbon is Woodford Reserve, but I’ll leave the glories of Woodford for another time. What I’d like to feature this month is a bourbon from Evan Williams. Now, most distilleries have their “good stuff,” and Evan Williams certainly has plenty of that. Last week, I went to my local BevMo and there in the locked cases was a bottle of Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage from 1998. Now, I’m a pretty liberal guy when it comes to bourbon, in that I’ll try anything that looks boutique. And the Evan Williams had all the marking of a boutique bourbon: it came highly recommended with part of the following review affixed to the price tag:

1998 Vintage
2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition – Silver Medal “The latest issue from the series of annual releases, still is one of the best whiskey bargains around. Aromas of brown bananas, clove, vanilla and glove leather pour from the tasting class. In the mouth it’s smooth and mellow, well-balance and assertive, with a lingering, clean and slightly lemony finish. It’s mouth-watering as a sipping whiskey, and it invites cocktail experimentation. This is a stylish and charming whiskey, another success from the father and son distilling team of Parker and Craig Beam.”

Well, I was sold. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bourbon that had a lemony finish and smelled like brown bananas, clove, vanilla and glove leather, but I was willing to try it. So, I plunked down my $40 and brought home my prize. The verdict? It was a very nice bourbon with pleasant flavors, but it was missing that certain something that is often referred to as “complexity.”

Some bourbons have a smooth finish, others are a little harsh, and some, as the review above stated, linger. But the flavors didn’t linger in the Evan Williams I bought. Instead, the harshness of the alcohol did – with none of lemony finished promised. I was sad, but not to the point of demanding my money back. No, I decided to let my pallet get used to it, and had a drink every night to see if my opinion of this bourbon would change. Alas, it didn’t. I tried to change it up by making Manhattans with the Evan Williams, but it didn’t rise above “pleasant.” Now perhaps my tastes are skewed away from the subtle notes in a bourbon like the Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage, and while I would recommend this bourbon for those who don’t like powerful flavors, I don’t think Evan Williams will be making an appearance in my liquor cabinet in the near future.

Final Rating: Three tumblers

When a rock star is involved with a restaurant that doesn’t have guitars on the walls, it’s noteworthy.

Chrissie Hynde is one of the more vocal vegans out there. So when she found herself going back to Ohio to deal with aging relatives, she was a little frustrated by the lack of vegan food. And so, she opened her own restaurant, The VegiTerranean in Akron. No animal products are used in the food, and the emphasis is on organic and sustainable ingredients.  This makes the menu friendly to many who have food allergies or who keep kosher. The restaurant is open all day: coffee and baked goods in the morning, followed by lunch, dinner, and bar service.  J. Scot Jones, another Akron native, is the executive chef.

Looking around, I had the feeling that this was a celebrity restaurant that didn’t want to be a Celebrity Restaurant of Planet Hollywood vintage. Hynde’s name is associated with the place, clearly, and the menu includes “Chrissie” fries and the “Back on the Chain Gang” fake sausage sandwich. But the décor is almost minimalist, mostly black and white and chrome, and few of the black-and-white pictures on the wall were of the Pretenders. Hynde’s name is on the menu and on the door, but this isn’t a Chain Gang Café. It’s a serious restaurant that attracted a serious business crowd for lunch on a recent weekday.

The menu features Italian-style foods and flavorings, using many meat analogues produced by Gardien. It includes several salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and pastas. The emphasis is on presentation; everything arrives with a pretty shape and a nice garnish to remind you that this is no hippie hangout. I had gnocchi with artichoke and creamy cashew sauce ($12.50), and it was outrageous. It was also a good reminder that vegan food is not necessarily low in fat or calories.

The grilled soy-cheese sandwich ($9.00) is a salad on bread. The onion, tomato, arugula, and dulse are topped with an orange substance that tastes a lot like cheddar. It’s good, if not traditional, but it will not impress a picky child. The Chrissie fries ($4.00) have a delightful seasoning and are served with dips of soy ricotta and balsamic ketchup. The ketchup missed the mark not because it’s not like Heinz but because it is too sweet. Were the fries spicier, it might have worked. The soy ricotta, on the other hand, was a lovely treat.

Instead of bread, we were offered bread and butter pickle spears to start. It’s a light, gluten-free way to start lunch, especially if you are a fan of pickles.  If not, skip ahead to the menu and order some hummus ($8.00).

I was delighted with the lunch fare but disappointed by dessert.  I’m no Martha Stewart, but I make a vegan chocolate cake so good that it will surpass any egg and butter concoction, with nothing more exotic than vegetable oil, baking soda, and vinegar for moisture and leavening. (A vegan chocolate cake is also easy to make. Several good recipes can be found online, the best-known of which is the Moosewood Chocolate Cake .) The VegiTerranean chocolate cake with margarine-cream frosting, was a whopping $10.00. Good thing it was plenty big for two. Unfortunately, it had the distinct flavor of soy-based addition that threw off the flavor and that is unnecessary in a good vegan cake.

The VegiTerranean has an extensive bar list with specialty cocktails, beer, and wine. They aren’t all organic, unless you happen to be a chemist, but those items produced sustainably are given special mention and include the much-loved local Great Lakes Brewing Company lineup. Diet coke and other soft drinks are offered for those who are thoroughly unwholesome, although the root beer is from Sprecher, a Wisconsin microproducer of beer and pop alike.

The service was a little less than perfect. It would have been nice if our soup (a rich and flavorful tomato-artichoke bisque with a goodly shot of olive oil, $4.00 for a cup) had arrived before, not with, the main courses. My companion and I discovered that we were underdressed given that businessfolk make up the lunch crowd, which may have contributed to the relative lack of attention we received. Still, that should not matter.

The VegiTerranean has one amazing feature that deserves to be emulated at every restaurant in every nation: the ladies’ room has twice the facilities of the men’s room, if my lunch date is to be believed. A woman as thin as Chrissie Hynde might not know much about great chocolate cakes, but she’s all right.

If you are in Northeast Ohio, a trip to VegiTerranean is a good way to shake up the mix of bar food, red-sauce Italian, and chains in the region’s restaurant choices.  Rumor has it that the next branch of the VegiTerranean will be in New York City. Hey, if vegan food can make it in Akron, it can make it anywhere.

Luke started selling makeup brushes on eBay to help make ends meet. To promote the brushes, she put up a few home-made videos on YouTube showing people how to use the brushes to recreate the looks of various pop stars. Want to look like Miley Cyrus? Or Avril Lavigne? Lauren Luke has a video for you.

Part of her charm is that Lauren Luke is every gal. She is not a socialite or a professional makeup artist, but rather an English woman in her twenties with a kid and dogs, enrolled part-time at beauty school, who at first dreamed of little more than a job at the local MAC counter. People found her videos and loved them. Luke has about 178 videos online, all of which seem to be rated with five stars. She’s appeared on the BBC, has a column in the Guardian, and even met the Queen. It’s such an impressive confluence of motivation, technology, and marketing that simply could not have happened even ten years ago.

Luke’s kits are lovely. They are packed as large, elegant black compacts, complete with mirror. All include primer in two shades and a cake of black eyeliner, three eyeshadow shades, one blush, and two lip colors. I tried “My Smokey Classics,” following along with the video. The mirror makes it easy to watch and apply.

The colors were great and her directions are clear. Given that Luke started her beauty career selling brushes on eBay, it’s no surprise that her tutorials are brush-intensive. Her kits do not come with brushes (although more products in her line are slated for release later in the year). I have a few brushes of my own, but not many, so I could not follow all of her directions. No cake eyeliner for me!

I liked the kit, and I was able to more or less match Luke’s look. However, I was shocked to discover that putting in makeup the right way takes time! My routine takes about three minutes, while the Smokey Classics tutorial runs about 14. It takes 23 minutes for Luke to recreate the dramatic eyeshadow in Kylie Minogue’s “In My Arms” video – and that’s after applying foundation and before dealing with cheeks and lips. Yikes!

When the occasion arrives that I want to exude more glamour that the average freelance writer, well, now I know what to do.

By the way, at one point, there was discussion of all of the Popdose staff testing this makeup. Everyone backed out but me. Too bad, because Luke wants everyone to look lovely. That’s why she has a tutorial for doing guyliner a la Green Day. It’s only 10 minutes long.

So I signed up. And what should arrive at my house a few days later but this goofy-looking package:

Kind of…weird…but creative, right? Plus, bonus points for giving my nine-month-old son something to chew on for a few minutes. (Don’t judge me. If it’s non-toxic and it keeps him out of the cabinets, it’s all right in my book.)

There are apparently several varieties of Coosh, and the fine folks at BuzzParadise shipped me the set geared for the iPhone, which doesn’t really apply to me, since I have an iPod Touch. From what I gather, though, the button on the cord is used for answering and hanging up your iPhone, and there’s a built-in microphone or something. Whatever — all that matters to me is how they feel and sound.

The short answer to both questions: Awesome.

I say this even though I’d love to report that the earbuds I just fucking paid for are superior to Coosh in every way, but the truth is, my in-ear buds sound boomy and lack stereo depth in comparison. The Coosh buds don’t have any noise-canceling features, but they are extremely comfortable (if funny-looking), and they offer crystal-clear separation. I didn’t expect to be impressed when I put these on — or to let my other set gather dust — but that’s what ended up happening. If you’re the type of listener who really likes to crank up the volume, you may find the sound excessively bright; personally, I never move mine much past the 50% mark, so these are pretty much perfect.

And here’s the kicker: the Coosh box came with no hammy press kit or any kind of extra marketing information — just the buds in the box — so I knew nothing about the brand when I got them or tried them out. I didn’t do any kind of research until I sat down to write this post, at which point I discovered that Coosh is a budget line, owned by Bic. Prices start at $19.99; the pair I have goes for $24.99. Very reasonable.

Coosh won’t open up untold sonic vistas for you, and if you’re happy with your current headphones, I’d hesitate to recommend making the switch. But if you’re in the market for a new pair and you don’t fall into the “demanding audiophile” category, consider the Coosh earbuds a safe investment. And if you’re the type of listener who tends to have problems with earbuds falling out, watch the “crash test” video below — the silly-looking white rubber pieces attached to them apparently do exactly what they’re supposed to: