viddyviddy

Control Point

2012-02-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

[Play this little tune while you read the intro. Much obliged, pardner.]

Hey look buddy, I'm a blogger.

That means I write posts.

Not posts like '10 Tips for Burning Sage & Contemporary Inter-Office Clarity,' because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of spirituality.

I write practical posts.

For instance, how am I going to tell some big, mean mother-hubbard that he's missing out on some of the best noise that can be poured into a human hear-hole?

The answer? Write a podcast review.

And if that don't work, write more podcast review. Like this review of Control Point...

authored by me,

tweeted by me,

and you'd best hope, read by you.

Relevant Links:
Control Point Main Site!
Get the podcast here!
Twitter!
Community!
Streaming Site?
YouTube Channel!
TF2 Servers!

Long, long ago, back when the Internet was still awash in the primordial soup of MySpace and Napster downloads, a Team Fortress 2 podcast began, and it was good. A group of young, intrepid men came together with a song in their heart, a microphone set up in someone's computer room, and the dream to share their wishes and dreams with an audience that longed to hear them.

There were one hundred episodes that flowed like milk and honey across the land. For years there were fan contributions, heated discussions about "honey pot" servers, and lots and lots and lots of inside-jokes.

And then they went away. Some say they ascended into the aether, never to be seen again.

Five hundred and forty-one days later, they came back! And it was around this point I realized I should probably write a review about them.

Average Episode Length: Mercy, there's a lot of episodes to looks at. I say...approximately an hour and fifteen minutes, as the crow flies.

Brent "Chaos" Copeland, Wes "WesWilson" Wilson, and Eric "Nailhead" Fullerton. Spencer "Devilturnip" Williams (source: TF2 Wiki) are your proud-and-loud hosts for your Control Point experience. Fans and players of "America's #1 war-themed hat simulator" these guys know their way around TF2 like a Mola mola knows where to get its meals. Episodes feature discussion about game play techniques, updates, recent changes to the game, community information, nitpicking over play-styles and damn near every facet of the game that can be talked about.

Y'all, these guys run a tight ship of a podcast. There are topics! There is a number you can call and leave messages for the hosts! They have bumpers to put in between topics! There are returning guests! Each episode is polished and professionally delivered straight to you with clear quality and good editing. They host a chat room as they live-stream the podcast! I think there are even a few dramatic episodes, people. These guys mean business.

Music: A banging little intro that I enjoy, as well as a good outro. Sometimes they play 1950s-esque music, and that makes me happy.

Content Rating: Mildly Explicit. I believe that these gents keep the swears to a minimum, but I am not listening through the whole backlog (again) to make sure, so I'll hedge my bets.

Release Schedule: According to their site, you can listen live every Sunday at 5. New episodes posted each Wednesday. I believe that when their schedule is awry, they throw out supplementary podcasts, so keep in touch with their site to see what's up.

Unintentionally Good Part: The fan-contributed content. Most of it is mediocre, but every once in a while there is a true gem of awesome.

Unintentionally Bad Part: God bless this community, because they really seem to support this podcast, but sometimes what they send in? It hurts the ears. I have had to mute this podcast on more than one occasion. Fortunately these bits are super-easy to skip over and then you get back to the goodness!

Team Fortress 2, podcasts, and hats. Hats, hats, hats.

Haste: The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast

2012-01-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

Skim over this list of words/terms:

d4

roll vs. role

eldritch

character sheet

skill points

glitch

hex grid

If you cannot recognize a single item in this list, then you are excused from this review. Go on and play at one of the nicer parts of the Internet.

As for the rest of you social delinquents, it is time to read up on Haste: The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast.

Before I get into this, I'll admit that I am a big fan of Obsidian Portal and would love if you became a big fan too, dear reader. This website is a massively useful tool for anyone who plays tabletop RPGs. With an easy to use interface, players and GMs can create/list/display/organize/edit/use any places/NPCs/PCs/Items/Documents that are used in their game. A fantastic replacement for a stuffed, disorganized binder that can be lost/burninated/eaten, Obisdian Portal can hold an entire campaign ready to go on any computer or mobile Interweb device.

Beyond that, you can view other campaigns on Obsidian Portal to take inspiration from other people's games and see who's doing what in the RPG world. It is free to sign-up, and while there is a paid membership that grants extra perks/functions, the basic account is still a great tool. I've used it before in a previous campaign and it works for a document heavy game, or even a short, month-long exploration into a gaming system.

Okay, that's my sale's pitch! Who'd have guessed that when I find something I enjoy, I want to tell other people about it? Let's move on!

Relevant Links:
Haste Main Page
Obsidian Portal Main Page
Twitter Page
Facebook

Average Episode Length: Twenty-one minutes. EXACTLY.

Music: Intro and outro, both credited to LukHash. I am not entirely sure what a LukHash is, but there you go.

Content Rating: Clean for everyone except Jack Chick.

Haste: The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast is you brief but beneficial dip into the world and whims of tabletop RPGs. Hosts Jerry and Micah are ready and willing to relay all the most recent and relevant news that relates to this hobby.

Each podcast brings mention of any relevant news, such as anticipated rule book releases and corporate doings that affect current systems. The hosts are knowledgeable and experienced on the whole, and it is clear that tabletop RPGs are their thing. If any interesting items that relate to gaming have crossed their paths, they will be sure to let you know about them. This is a good way to hear about rule systems or gaming aids that you might not run across on your own.

There are topics... which... are pretty self-explanatory. The hosts will bring up a topic related to tabletop RPGs, and then discuss them. ...ta-da! The topics are varied and the hosts' thoughts are fun to hear. At the very least, they'll give you something to disagree with at some forum somewhere.

Haste: The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast (I like typing the whole name out, ok?) also asks listeners to send in questions via their Twitter account.

Finally, Haste: The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast recommends a tip to better use your Obsidian Portal account. What part of "The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast" are you not getting?

Drinking Game: Drinking Quest. This is A Thing.

Unintentionally Good Part: If you are a user of Obsidian Portal, which you should be, it is just the cherry on the cake to see that not only does this site support a huge community of nerds and their games, but works to add more useful content beyond the base purpose of their site. Yay, effort!

Unintentionally Bad Part: The short format and the fact that there are only two hosts leaves little in the way of lively debate. Considering longer podcasts like Fear the Boot and The Podgecast, you may find this one a bit short for your style.

Mike and Tom Eat Snacks!

2012-01-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

Dear, sweet, [DEITY OF CHOICE] I love eating things that are horrible for me. If it were up to the conspiracy that is the part of my brain that deals with pleasure and my tongue, I would eat nothing but junk food for the rest of my life. I would become so innudated with BHT that I would have to be buried in a lead-lined coffin to prevent the Twinkies and Slim Jims that would sprout from the earth around my grave.

Snacks are so good! What's your favorite snack? I think mine might be Starbursts. Happiness in a wax-coated wrapper. Mmm.

Let's talk Mike and Tom Eat Snacks (MATES).

"On the Mike and Tom Eat Snacks podcast, if it's not already apparent, what you and I do is: we pick a snack, each podcast, we eat it, we talk about it, we rate it. End of podcast."

Relevant Links:
Main Site!
Get the podcast!
MATES Twitter!

This podcast combines Michael Ian Black, Tom Cavanagh and a sheer passion for snacks. Each episode there is a snack, there is intense discussion, there is commentary and insight. The hosts stay almost disturbingly on topic of discussing the episode's snack, but rest assured that they managed to sneak in plenty of tangents and conversational shenanigans.

Music: There is a jamming intro song. They also have a soundboard, and are not afraid to use it.

"Oh, how you do me Mallomar, how you do me."

Content Rating: Mildly Explicit. I'm listening to the podcast now and to be honest, I can't find any specific uses of bad language. However, the topics can wander into playing with ideas and stereotypes that you might not want to float out of your speakers at work. Headphones are suggested in public places.

Average Episode Length: A sample size of 8 episodes (randomly selected) gives us an average time of thirty-nine minutes.

I... man, I don't know what to say. This podcast displays a stunningly earnest and singular attempt to bring snack foods into the mainstream discussion of the world. Packaging is mentioned, the quality of the snack food upon being removed from the packaging, appearance and aroma, the taste of the snack throughout the eating process, and any lingering, chemical aftertastes that might crop up. And I honestly think you'll enjoy listening to all of this!

The pattern of the hosts' conversation takes an episode to get used to, so give it a few episodes to see if it is a good fit for you or not. There are some fascinating theories and ratholes surrounding their ideas about snacks. MATES is ready and willing to fill at least a half-hour of your day with its delightful ramblings.

Drinking Game: Drink whenever -

You can hear a host chewing
You find yourself nodding in agreement with one of their points about a snack
EXPRESS MODE - Drink each time they rattle/crush/crinkle the packaging

Unintentionally Good Part: I really, really just like listening to people talk about food. It is almost like I'm eating it, but without the caloric intake. Possible new diet fad?

Unintentionally Bad Part: You will be unexpectedly upset the first time they are totally wrong in their opinion of the focal snack. It will ruin your day until you go eat the snack they have spoken against, and restore its good graces in your mind.

Go forth to your listening devices and vending machines!

Uke Hunt Podcast

2012-01-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, I recieved the following:

A chocolate bar with a picture of a kitten on it (no actual kitten used in the chocolate bar)
Comfy pajamas (an annual favorite)
Ukulele

A soprano ukulele, to be accurate. And it's great! The ancestral Viddy manse has been filled with the gentle plink-a-plonk-a of my attempts at trying to learn songs. Did you know there are tabs for all the songs you can think of? There are!

Now when most people think of a ukulele, they think of something like this:

Yeah, yeah the ukulele can do that. But it can also do this:

And even this:

The river of the ukulele runs wide, and it runs deep. You're going to want a guide to get to the best ukulele-related content on the web. You're going to need Ukulele Hunt.

Relevant Links:
Main Site!
Get the podcast through iTunes!
Archives!
Twitter!
A Tumblr! All the cool kids have Tumblrs these days, right?

The Ukulele Hunt website is just chock-full of information from reviews to tutorials and a really swank logo.

Music: Funny I should have this category! Turns out that the Ukulele Hunt podcast's main feature is a veritable buffet of ukulele-utilizing performers. Classical, silly, pop, sad, saucy, there's a tune for every genre and a few minutes to spare on this podcast for all of them Host Bossarocker (ain't lyin') leads her listeners through a guided tour of ukulele-related music, pausing along the way to let people stretch their legs and take pictures at scenic parks. And by "scenic parks" I mean "interviews with people who play the ukulele."

Content Rating: Explicit. See "Unintentionally Good Part."

Drinking Game: There ought to be a good one for this podcast, shouldn't there? Okay:

Drink for each ukulele solo
Drink each time a song changes, and you didn't realize it until a minute and a half into the new song
Drink when you're drunk enough to be surprised and charmed by the host's accent.

That should keep you going.

Average Episode Length: Approximately 48 minutes (over two thousand seconds!).

Unintentionally Good Part: From their FAQ (children look away):

Did you know ‘Uke Hunt’ sounds rude if you say it out loud?
No, and anyone who thinks that has a filthy mind. I’m far too innocent to have any idea about that sort of thing.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Unlike the kazoo, the ukulele is not a magical device that makes any song better. Given the wide variety of songs, you are bound to hit on some that don't match your taste. Luckily for us, you can fast-forward through podcasts. Yay!

More YouTube!:

Ukulele Hunt. Give it a try! I promise you'll experience it.

Tweet Me Harder

2012-01-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

The world's first, best, only, and last talkback-enabled interactive audio podblast.

The Internet is inescapable these days, as you are already aware. You use it for entertainment, study, pretending to study, ordering pizzas, posting bizarre Craigslist ads and so much more! If the Internet isn't already a part of every facet of your life, it soon will be.

So why not embrace it? If you're ordering your pizza online, why not demand that you be entertained during the process? If you're going to listen to a podcast then darn it, that podcast should be able to interact with its listeners!

Wherein we turn to Tweet Me Harder. Per the quote at the top of this review, you can (or could), not only listen to people talking, but talk back. Not going to lie, it's pretty rad.

Relevant Links:
Tweet Me Harder Main Site!
... and uh, usually I put a ton of links up right here, but these guys did a great job with their site. All their social media, where/how you can download to the podcast, store, and updates are easy to find. Who would have thought that two guys who make a living on the Internet would understand how to put a site together, right?

Tweet Me Harder is a podcast that allows the listeners to guide the conversations of the host, Kris Straub and David Malki(!). Kris and David are already well-practiced in the art of the klatch and have little need beyond themselves, a talking point, and a mic to record it all. More or less your basic Two Guys Talking style podcast.

But wait, there's more!

This podcast was originally streamed live to an audience that was encourage to participate. People could respond to questions and calls for fresh subjects by the hosts, as well as record stories that would be later played on the show. Whatever the audience threw at them, the hosts would take in stride and try to incorporate it into the show. Usually, this brought about some very interesting topics that get spun into funny conversations. It also lead to some very interesting topics:

MALKI!:The human body is only tethered to earth and subject to gravity by virtue of the life force coursing through it and when it dies, it becomes buoyant so you gotta rush that away! You've got to take that to a funeral home, you gotta pump all that blood out-you can point that nozzle up-what do you think they do with that blood? Do you think there's a barrel like an oil change place? No they just put that nozzle out the window and it goes up and seeds the clouds and later on it rains your father.

They're all over the place.

Music: A goofy little accordion tune when they change topics, and Kris Straub raps the intro. I would like to state that this may be one of only a handful of raps-made-for-the-Internet that don't make me cringe. It's quite good!

Content Rating: Moderately explicit. To be honest, I can recall any particular swear words, but the topics can be odd enough that you might want to use headphones if your listening at work.

Drinking game: Oh, let's see... take a drink every time one of the hosts groans at a bad listener contributed pun.

Release Schedule: Tweet Me Harder is officially complete! So...there really isn't a release schedule to speak of anymore, is there?

Average Episode Length: 'Bout an hour.

Unintentionally Good Part: The sub-genre of grading bulk rate mail: Junk Me Harder. Here, they assign arbitrary values from a made up point system to articles of junk mail sent into them. There is only one existing entry, but it is a fantastic study in the stupid, stupid minutiae of junk mail.

Unintentonally Bad Part: Tweet Me Harder is reliant on listener contributions to steer their conversations. That's pretty much all the structure that goes into this podcast. It is a very loose, random talky-talk podcast to behold. If a current conversation thread in the podcast doesn't catch your attention it can be easy to lose interest slogging through an episode until things pick up.

As it stands now, Tweet Me Harder is a complete podcast. No more episodes, all done! If you haven't heard of it before, this may be somewhat of a bummer as the "interactive" portion of the interactive podcast is now removed. That being the case, I still really enjoy this episode, despite never hearing a live episode. The artifacts of this podcast are worth listening to and I highly recommend it. If you like esoteric humor and social media, then make sure to check out Tweet Me Harder. Give it a chance, maybe even give it a second chance, and see if you like it.

YoGPoD

2011-11-30T18:41:00.001-08:00

Gather 'round, my children, and I'll tell you the tale

Of a podcast where humor and gaming prevail

It's not like your yard which is covered with sod,

It's on the Internet forever and it's called the YoGPod.

Beautiful, right? Podcasts inspire the true artist in us all.

Now that your eyes are bleeding, let's get to it and learn all about the YoGPod!

Relevant Links:
Main Site!
Podcasts!
Libsyn link for podcasts!
YouTube Channel!
Twitter!
Store!
They even have their own Wiki!

Everything gets exclamation points because I'm drinking a soda while I'm typing this!!!

Lewis: How is cheese made, Simon?

Simon: Well, if you browse Cheesipedia, I'm sure it will tell you-

Lewis: No, but tell me, just tell me.

Simon: Since the dawn of time, Mankind has struggled with the greater questions of life. Why am I here? Why do the stars spin in the sky? And most important of all, the great question: what is cheese? This is a question which has puzzled scientists, theologians, and the every day man in the street for centuries. The very nature of cheese is hard to pin down, Lewis. What is cheese made of? Can it be used as a wall insulator? Is it sentient?

Lewis: Where are you reading this from?

Simon: Cheesipedia. Throurough research into the field has answered at least two of these three questions. We now know that cheese is made from a substance known as milk, the source of which remains yet a further mystery to the nose, ears and eyes of science. With which yields the delicious substance known as cheese when it is churned, fermented, and generally treated badly by a bunch of farmers in a shed. We now also know that cheese can be used as a wall insulation, albeit a fairly poor insulation and terribly pungent.

- Episode 23, "Simon's Cheesecake Surprise"

Release Schedule: It was every week-ish (loose release schedule) up until July 2011 where the podcasts seem to halt. According to their ever-useful Wiki, there is no set schedule.

So, in another episode of "ViddyViddy is the last person on the Internet to find something" I have discovered the Yogscast. It features (mainly) the vocal talents of Simon Lane and Lewis Brindley as they wander through their life experiences, fan mail, and favored memes. Both hosts hail from somewhere in Europe, I think? Whatever, they have charming accents that improves everything they say by at least twenty percent.

Taken from their Wiki page under the subsection "Controversy":

It is generally believed and suggested multiple times in the YoGPoD by Lewis and Simon that listening to the podcast over long periods of time will lead you to becoming generally insane. The fact that you tuned into the YoGPoD shows your insanity and the more you listen to it the further you will lose yourself. Despite this theory, many continue to live amongst the common people.

The theory was born when a brave Yognau(gh)t, during a long car trip, listened to every episode that had been released at the time and the results were shocking. He started seeing vans carrying huge quantities of Jaffa Cakes across Europe and almost died multiple times from swerving from laughter. Although nobody has actually died yet, as the number of YoGPoD listeners grows new listeners should be made aware of what YoGPoD overdose can lead to. It is believed that listeners to the YoGPoD can cause a sharp decline in mental and cognitive faculty. This can result in a sharp decline in motor functional skills, swiftly reduce the ability to drive in a linear fashion and cause hallucinations. It is also mentioned that he enters a cloud of thick fog at around the same time the Halloween podcast begins. This may suggest that the YoGPoD may even rip the space-time continuum, causing people to switch over to a 'Silent Hill' type realm.

The YoGPoD is what, in the industry term I just made up, is referred to as a "companion podcast." This podcast is not their bread and butter, hell, it wouldn't even be their day old pizza left on the counter in terms of their main releases that have garnered them a huge audience. The Yogscast folks make the YouTubes, and I've lost many an hour to their pixel-based hi-jinks. They are a group of mostly funny, occasionally offensive (not for the wee ones!), creative players of games and muckers-about in geek culture. Jump into their YouTube channel to see if you like them, get a chance to soak up some of their inside jokes, and if any of that catches your interest then I'm sure you'll like the podcast.

Music: The opening theme is a jamming little fan-made tune, which I quite like! Some episodes of the YoGPoD are live-streamed, and music is played through them, but most of it is removed due to licensing by the time it hits the podcast feed.

Average Episode Length: Forty-ish minutes? Some run over an hour, some run one or two minutes. Widely varies.

Unintentionally Good Part: I feel I say this a lot, but if you enjoy getting little glimpses into the lives of Simon and Lewis, then all their anecdotes will keep you laughing. These two friends fall into the kind of friendship where they know each other almost too well, and as such are able to bicker and joke with each other on some transcendent level.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Per my preference of listening to podcasts at work, I don't like all the little animated shorts that are lined up in their archives. Can't watch them at work, yo! That knocks about 20 of their episodes off my available list, although I'm sure my poor iPod appreciates the fact that it has to carry a few less podcasts.

Load it down, turn it up, try it out!

I Should Be Writing + NaNoWriMo

2011-10-31T19:39:00.000-07:00

tl;dr I Should Be Writing is a fantastic resource and font of entertainment for amateur and professional writers alike.

BUT FIRST, THIS MESSAGE.

Are you aware that November 1st is the start of NaNoWriMo? Are you aware that NaNoWriMo is a event that challenges you to write 50,000 (that's five zeroes, people) words to a story in thirty days, thus proving that anyone can write that story they've always wanted to write? Are you aware that you can jump into the fun, sign up for free and get writing?

As they say, "No plot? No problem!" Check out their site and join in! And while your thinking up the first sentence of your soon-to-be-written story, I highly suggest you accompany your throughts with I Should Be Writing.

Relevant Links:
Main Site!
Subscribe here.
Twitter!
Sponsor the podcast and site here! Lots of cool stuff for those who donate.

The Murverse, home of host Mur Lafferty's creative works!

I Should Be Writing is a window into the process, thoughts, frustrations, hopes, fears and jubilation of a writer doing their damnedest to make it on their words and wits alone. Your host is Mur Lafferty, which to be honest is one of the coolest names I've ever heard.

Mur Lafferty is brutally honest as she grants you access to the trials and tribulations she faces as a "wanna-be" author. She will admit to you how she is slacking on deadlines, when personal life takes over and shoves creativity aside and will allow you to share in the little victories that come her way in her journey to becoming a professional author. The episodes are informative and interesting, often featuring interviews with professional authors, more wanna-be's, and all those who attach themselves to the art and craft of writing.

Release Schedule: Weekly-ish, with a week or two wait in between some episodes.

Music: Some of the best theme musics that I have heard on a podcast. I have listened to the archives and most recent episodes, so I believe that the theme song occasionally changes. They're all good, and some are even catchy!

Average episode length: Typical episode is gonna run you an hour, give or take some spare change. Feedback episodes are about fifteen minutes long.

Mur offers her fellow authors the best kind of advice one can give: empirical. She is in the trenches of authorship, trying her best to make it and making sure that the lessons she learns along the way are heard by others. I enjoy this podcast for Mur's advice as well as her sense of humor and open manner of talking. Some of the episodes may ramble as she gathers her thoughts on any given topic, but she will make her point as she sees it and offers it to her listeners to take it as they may. It is always inspiring to see someone else doing what they can to achieve their dreams, and I Should Be Writing is the second best way that all you wanna-be's can spend your time.

What's first best? Writing, of course!

Unintentionally Good Part: Oh goodness, let's see...I really like the "Good Cop/Bad Cop" episodes. They are silly and vulgar, which is often the best kind of silly.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Mur runs advertisements throughout I Should Be Writing. This is not inherently bad, but some of the advertisements are a bit on the cheesier side. There may be cringing, but hey, that's what fast-forward buttons are for, right?

Do you NaNo? Let me know in the comments! Get to listening!

Sword and Laser Podcast

2011-10-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

Books! Books with mostly words, although some pictures are ok!

Ain't literacy grand? We here at Viddyviddy Corporations have been strong advocates of reading for entertainment and information alike ever since that one time in 3rd grade when our mom made us read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Combine that with the fact that one day that little kid would grow up to be a nerd with a penchant for escapism, and you get a life-long devotee of the fantasy and science fiction genres.

Now, I'm going to take just the most wildest of leaps and assume that one or two of you out there in Internet Land are of similar tastes and would rather fork over the cash for a new paperback book than any other current form of entertainment. If I'm right about that, than maybe I'm right in thinking you should check out the Sword and Laser Podcast.

Relevant Links:
Main site!
Subscribe to the podcast for iTunes!

Store, featuring lots of books!
Discussion/Forum thing on Goodreads!

I have only listened to a handful of episodes so far, but Sword and Laser seems to have a pretty cool thing going. From what I can cobble together from their FAQ the origins of Sword and Laser were as a book club, and the podcast was eventually added. Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt are at the helm of this genre-fueled juggernaut and it looks like they've managed to develop and maintain a community that shares their love of fantasy and sci-fi literature.

You can go to their Goodreads page right now and see what books are currently being discussed as well as all the other topics that crop up, including discussion about each episode of the podcast. They welcome one and all to join their community, so go ahead and see if there's anything that catches your eye!

Release Schedule: Once a week-ish. From the iTunes archives it looks like they have a weekly schedule that occasionally gets interluded with a few extra weeks between episodes. Some of the episodes are recorded at conventions, while others are interviews, so there might be a little extra time when it comes to creating and producing those types of episodes. Fortunately, there is a big backlog of episodes to catch up on when the release schedule starts to lag.

Music: Cute little intro. And by little, I mean that when you combine it with the opening spiel for their sponsors it clocks in at over a minute long. oonst-oonst-oonst-oonst

Average Episode Length: A sample size of 5 randomly selected episodes gives me an average time of 47 minutes (and some spare change).

Hosts Veronica and Tom have great personalities (and I mean that in a good way not the "once you get past their faces they're fun!" way) and they can hold your attention for a host-only episode. The interviews are well-paced and enjoyable as the hosts provide insightful, questions tailored to each guest. Some episodes wander away from the topic of fantasy and sci-fi and into the realm of cool websites, television and general geekiness, and that's ok by me!

Unintentionally Good Part: The Goodreads thing is really cool! I've never been able to get into forum discussions, but this looks like it is a bit more manageable and hey, you get to talk about books with other people who like books.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Spoilers. If you're not participating in their book discussions or haven't already read the book, you may have to skip some episodes where a book's plot is laid open on the autopsy table.

Now go on and grab a mug of tea, your favorite comfy chair and a new sci-fi or fantasy book and get to reading! Then subsequently get to listening!

Accidental Creative Podcast

2011-10-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

What would come to mind if I told you that I have discovered a podcast that will not only help you actuate your high-level functionality, but also ensure that you're "actioning your deliverables" for a future-proof pathfinder project?

Yeah. Me too.

How about we table that for now and listen to The Accidental Creative instead, eh?

(What, you were expecting maybe an Office Space joke? How plebeian.)

Relevant Links:

Main Site

Get the podcast here!

Can you believe I couldn't find a Wikipedia page on this?

Store, as well as the book!

Twitter feed!

Todd Henry wants you to be able to be brilliant, prolific and healthy. I mean, the guy really, really wants you to be brilliant, prolific and healthy, and he'll darn near crawl through the speakers of your computer to help you achieve these three things. He wrote a book and hosts a podcast to help you be all the brilliant, prolific and healthy you can be! So... what does that actually mean?

"Prolific meaning we're making a lot of stuff, brilliant meaning we're making good stuff and healthy meaning we're making it in a sustainable way."

These are the tenants that The Accidental Creative have set their sights on, and they'll be hanged if they won't try their best to help you reach your most prolifflebrillealthy-ist self!

This podcast is part pep-talk for the creative professional, part interviews with others who also aid people in reaching their healthrilliantlific selves as well, part study in why people function the way they do and part insight into practices of successful folks that spend their time taking the thoughts from their brains and turning them into profitable products.

Release Schedule: From my highly scientific research, it looks like there's a release every two-weeks-ish? Keep your expectations flexible for this podcast, from what it looks like they release as they get material (topic ideas, interviews, recorded talks) so although the schedule may lapse, the content should be solid.

Average Episode Length: A sample size of ten episodes gives me an average length of eighteen minutes.

Music: There's a groovy little intro and outro piece. Maybe it has a little sitar in it, maybe not.

The big tag line of this podcast is "cover bands don't change the world." As much as I'm teasing The Accidental Creative for the business-jargon vibe that I picked up on when I first gave the podcast a listen, I like what they have to say. The people interviewed and speaking on this podcast want to help you become the most competent, efficient and successful version of yourself and aid your endeavors. Of course, they've made a business out of being motivational, but hey, that fine with me. The lessons they have to offer are interesting and may provide you with a new way of thinking about how you work.

Unintentionally Good Part: Okay, so this is actually incredible intentional, but it is tangential to the podcast so I'm counting it. Their main site is crazy-filled with articles for you to check out! There's a bunch of subsections of article topics to check out and clicking on one leads you to reading another and whoops now two hours have passed.

Unintentionally Bad Part: I suppose some of the interviews can come off as commercials for the books that the guest host has written. Honestly, that's kind of the point when you write a book is to tour around and talk about it, but you may not get the depth out of the topic you want.

This podcast could start out as a time-kill and end up guiding you on a path to a more brilliant, prolific, healthy you! BRILLILIFICTHY! Get to listening!

Humor Authority

2011-09-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

All right, I'm about to try something new.

(I'm scared too.)

This...is a debut review. Yes, I just thought that up and yes, I agree on how stupid it sounds. But that's all I could come up with so it is sticking and you can just hush up.

Let's dive in to the entire 1 episode of Humor Authority that currently exists, shall we?

Explorations on the theory and practice of humor... it's ambitious, it might fall apart, might be a huge mess.

Relevant Links:
Humor Authority Main site!
Kris Straub's Twitter
Kris Straub's Main site, where you can find links to all the things he does.
Store

First off, Kris Straub is a gol'dang Internet maven (and yes, I had to look up "maven" to make sure I knew what it meant). Author/Creator/Colorer-Inner of several webcomics, co-creator of those wacky Blamimations, co-host of Webcomics Weekly and innovator when it comes to giving me the willies. Given time I'm sure he'll head his own brand of microwave dinners and energy drinks, but until then, he makes awesome things like Humor Authority.

Humor Authority is a podcast that sets out to investigate what makes funny things work. The plan thus far appears to be that Straub will bring on a guest for each episode and engage them in an open conversation on their opinion and experiences with trying to make people laugh. The interview style is loose and conversational, leaving Straub and his guest to roam wild and free along the vast plains of what is funny.

The first (and only) episode features Ethan Nicolle, illustrator of Axe Cop. This web comic is... actually, it is pretty funny and I highly recommend it, if not on the basis of how the story is written alone (via the artist's 5 year old brother).

NICOLLE: I want to say this as humble as possible but I think that me and you have a good grasp on humor in comics. I don't know if I can say that, I'll say it about you and you can say it about me if you want to.

STRAUB: I was gonna start this show with like, "You and I, both crown princes of humor, of the visual art of humor...

Release Schedule: I have no friggen' clue. IT IS A MYSTERY.

Average Episode Length: Considering that there is one episode, the average time is fifty-four minutes and seventeen seconds.

Music: Something nice at the start that is followed by something nice at the end.

Unexpectedly Good Part: Welp, with only a single episode to try and suss this out of... I'd say... from what I can tell it appears the Straub is not limiting himself to a single type or genre of humor. So rather than just interviewing comic artists or comedians or humor writers, there will be a big spread of thoughts and opinions from all across the grid of making people laugh.

Unexpectedly Bad Part: Buh... um, the chance the the interview-heavy style of the show will most likely translate into a sluggish release schedule?

SO! Now's your chance to get in on something that's just started and could go big. Give the first episode a a chance, and if you like it then subscribe or let Straub know that he has an audience for the Humor Authority. You're listening to the cutting edge of innovation, son! And that's something to be proud of.

Probably.

We Interrupt Your Podcasting Schedule for this Announcement

2011-08-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hey, you're cool, right? Of course you are, just look at you, brimming with coolness (I like that shirt, good color on you).

So that means you like cool things, right? Naturally. Your instinctive good tastes lead you to coolness like a lightning bolt to a tragically unconcerned golfer.

Well it just so happens that I have a cool thing that you should take a look at. It's not really my cool thing, but it was made by cool people who subsequently want to share their coolness with other cool people.

Like you.

It's a documentary (hang on, I'm getting to the cool part) about comics. Trust me on this one.

Check out their cool video, which is also totally sweet:

Those cool people made the documentary and now it is up to cool people like me and you (you are cool, right?) to help them get the money they need to properly finish it and make it the epitome of cool. We're not talking star-swipes left here, kids. This documentary will be so cool, you'll be able to take your DVD of it (which you can get when you back this project with $25 or more) tap it on a broken jukebox and make it work.

That is, if you're cool. You're cool, right?

Kickstarter Page. Drop a few bucks, make something cool happen, get cool stuff in return.

StarTalk Radio Show

2011-08-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

StarTalk Radio Show with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson... I think I recognize that name. Where have I seen him before?

Maybe it was on one of his many interviews on The Daily Show and Colbert Report?

Perhaps I've seen him in a totally sweet science-based jam?

Oh, that Neil DeGrasse Tyson!

Now you and I get to know him via the magical world of podcasts with the StarTalk Radio Show.

Although I probably shouldn't use the world "magical" in regards to a podcast steeped in progressive scientific thinking... so, uh, join me, won't you, as we travel into the realm of audio-based digital media that is StarTalk.

Relevant Links:
Main Site!
Want to know something about how the universe works? Submit a question!

Twitter!
Archive!
StarTalk itself lacks a store, but feel free to check out some Neil DeGrasse Related items here.

You may have gathered that StarTalk is focused around the discussion of discoveries both recent and past, information regarding and just some cool facts about space. StarTalk has featured throughout its many episodes meteorologists and astronomers to help explain what we can see from earth as well as astronauts and astrophysicists that can reveal all the interesting things that are busy existing in the greater universe.

Tyson: What's your most indelible memory from the entire Apollo era?
Roger Launius:No question, it's the moon landing. It was very exciting but I got to tell you, as Neil set foot on the moon I was sitting on the hood of a car listening to the broadcast on the car radio, there was a girl beside me and let me tell you what was going on on the moon was not my first priority.

Content Rating: As clean as the room they built the Hubble telescope lens in. Which, from what I understand, was incredibly clean. To be honest, there is a fair bit of innuendo-y jokes, but nothing that should make you blush.

Average Episode Length: Kept tight around forty-seven to fifty minutes.

I would be remiss in my review if I didn't include all the various guests that StarTalk boasts. Neil Tyson DeGrasse manages to hook Jon Stewart, John Hodgman, Morgan Freeman (!), a bevvy of respectable NASA-related scientists, more astronauts than you can shake a stick at and when he's not talking to a guest he is chatting with his co-host Lynne Koplitz. Koplitz provides an "everyman" voice for the podcast, making sure Tyson provides explanations for whatever topic he brings us and keeping him on his toes with witty banter. It feels like Tyson does best when he has someone to talk with, rather than if he only had the listening audience to talk to, so Koplitz really helps make the show excellent.

Tyson: I love July!
Koplitz: I love July, I love July in New York, it's a lot of fun.
Tyson: Why, what do you do?
Koplitz: 'Cause the men are so distracted by all the breasts that are out, it's just hilarious. You can almost make taxi cabs wreck.
Tyson:So do you have notches on your bra for how many taxi cabs you've wrecked?
Koplitz: I have notches on my bra for a lot of things but let's get on with the science, shall we?

Release Schedule: StarTalk earns its status as a Radio Show by being broadcast live, every Sunday at 6pm Eastern.

Music: The opening song is ready to GET YOU PUMPED for astrophysics!

Drinking Game: Take a drink everytime:
a) A Latin word is used.
b) Someone says an acronym.
c) An astronaut is interviewed.

Tyson: What's your favorite element, by the way?
Jon Stewart: I'm a huge carbon fan, I enjoy the molecular slut of the table of elements.

Unintentionally Good Part: BILL NYE. Most shows have a little introductory thing by Bill Nye! Shut up, you know that's awesome.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Well, this is one more nerd podcast so if you're not into DISCOVERING THE MAJESTY OF THE UNIVERSE, I guess you might not like it. If things like AMAZING SCIENCE and FASCINATING INNOVATIONS don't catch your attention, then this podcast will not intrigue you.

Neil Tyson DeGrasse's love of discovery and science and math and all that kind of crap is palpable, and his enthusiasm is etched into this podcast. His guests are erudite and often funny, it is just the right length for its content, and space is awesome. So go give it a listen, won't you?

Just My Show

2011-07-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

1) Watch this YouTube video:

2) Go play a few rounds of Mad Libs.

3) Buy a retro shirt. Your choice if you want to wear it ironically or not.

Now go pull up your bean bag chair, crack open a Crystal Pepsi and you're ready for Just My Show.

You're listening to Just My Show, your number one source for pop-culture. Here's Eric!.

Relevant Links:
Main Site
Download via iTunes
RSS Feed
Twitter
Store

Content Rating: Clean. Gets-rid-of-those-waxy-build-ups clean.

Do you remember something from the past that can be conclusively proven to be superior to comparable items that exist now? Then Just My Show may be the thing to scratch your nostalgic itch. Unfortunately, I'm not old enough to have actually experienced nostalgia yet, but I am looking forward to it!

Host Eric Greenberg is your guide through the wonderful world of Things That Were and are Still Considered Awesome. He's got yer Top Gun, yer Wang Chung and yer Burt Young all in one place.

Just My Show's main staple are the interviews of the celebrities, creators and innovators of the wide realm of past pop-culture. The interview format is perfect for this podcast: Eric is an excellent host, guiding his guests as they regale him with interesting stories and tidbits from their careers with. The interviews are casual in tone and let you get to know the person behind the role they portrayed. Another bonus is that the people being interviewed are not strangers to a press tour, so they have some practice when it comes to providing an interesting interview.

And come on, he interviewed the guy behind Underoos! How is that not interesting?

Average Episode Length: A test sample of 5 shows gives an average time of 52 minutes. The shows looks like they can vary widely on times: the shortest show is 7 minutes and 21 seconds, while the longest show clocks in at 1 hour, 23 minutes and 15 seconds.

Drinking Game: Damn, I already used Crystal Pepsi. Perhaps you can enjoy a delicious Bartles and Jaymes?

Release Schedule: Previous releases look to be irregular, but now they look like they're set for a once a month schedule. Considering that this podcast is highly dependent on reviews with celebrities, that's an impressive release schedule with all the wrangling it must get to record each interview.

Music: A little opening song, a little ending song, I like it!

Unintentionally Good Part: Would it be odd to say that Just My Show has a fantastic website? Apparently it was recently revamped and it's great! Visually appealing, easy to navigate and there's lots of little fun tidbits tucked around the edges, like links to retro commercials for you to find.

Unintentionally Bad Part: The fact that the interviews are very specific to certain shows or aspects of pop-culture means a subscriber might go a few episodes without having anything pique their interests. Fortunately this is balance by a fine archive, where listeners should be able to build up a buffer of episodes.

Just My Show: retro a-go-go, on the go... fo' whenever you... want mo'? Give it a listen!

Not to shill, but...

2011-06-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

Hey! I've been working on figuring out this whole Web 2.0 thingy that seems to be going on, and I found something cool. I made a little Amazon.com shop on the sidebar!

Yeah, I know, shut up. Uncle ViddyViddy wants himself a slice of that Internet pie he's always hearing about.

The part I want you to know about is that I was able to pick a selection of books written by people who also host podcasts! If you really enjoy a podcast that's been reviewed on this site, give my store a look. There's a good chance that the host(s) have a book or two to their name as well.

This site is a chance for me to try and show people things that I enjoy, in the hopes that they enjoy them as well. I'll try to do the same with the little storefront I've got going on. Give it a click, ignore it, never see it because you have Adblock installed, pretend to light it on fire, whatever. I think it is nifty.

Also, I named it "Uncle ViddyViddy's Pit n' Git." Technology is a wonderful thing, children.

The Nerdist

2011-06-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, long, long ago, some nerds invented the Internet. Since then the Internet has long been known to be the realm of nerds and their kin. Some of the major uses of the Internet include:

Amusing videos involving either adorable animals or people visiting grievous harm upon themselves.
Purchasing items of extreme value.
Distractions from worth-while projects.

And that's about it, right? I think I summed up the main points.

Anyways, it turns out in 2010 some nerds set up a podcast called, go figure, The Nerdist.

Chris: Both my parents are sports fanatics and I did not get that gene, I can't be into something if I can't participate in it, I don't understand it.
Jonah: I'm resentful towards sport growing up because my dad played football, and he never really forced me to get into sports, but society did because of my size. Like, every time I'd go to a new school its always like "Okay, you're going to play basketball because you're tall, you're going to play football..."
Chris: My dad didn't force me to get into it, he just withheld food and hugs until I said that I wanted to put on a uniform.
Jonah: You know you can go two weeks without a hug? Scientifically?

Relevant Links:
Main Site
The Podcast via iTunes
Podcast Archive
The Nerdist Book! That's pretty cool.
Wikipedia Page
Nerdist Twitter

The Nerdist podcasts covers subjects which are, go figure, tucked within the realm of all things nerdy. There's mention of table-top gaming, technology, Firefly and whatever topic they wander into. Hosted by Web Soup's Chris Hardwick and his accomplishes Matt Mira and Jonah Ray, a trifecta of entertaining banter is formed between them. According to their wikipedia pages, they are all practiced comedians and that really shines through in this podcast. The hosts nimbly toss jokes back and forth, lining one another up for punch lines and working to get a laugh. The touch of professionalism gives The Nerdist an edge over some of the other "friendly banter around a mic" podcasts because they have their comedic timing down from the first episode.

To be honest (because transparency is just one of the core values of this blog) I've only listened to a handful of episodes from The Nerdist's mighty backlog. From what I can tell it looks like one of the main draws for this podcast is a veritable plethora of guests hosts. Taking a gander at the episodes it appears to be a fine stable of comedians, which I believe Chris mentioned in one of the later episodes were all basically friends of his.

So you can expect a typical episode to provide about an hour of friends, who happen to be comedians, making jokes and talking about things they like for an hour? C'mon, that is the only selling point we need, people!

Music: The Nerdist theme song is by Anamanaguchi! It if fully of blips and beeps and I find it charming.

Average Episode Length: A husky podcast that clocks in at no less than forty minutes and manages to breach the two hour mark on occasion.

Content Rating: Explicit. Some vulgaaaaar stuff sneaks in there.

Unintentionally Good Part: Episode 90, about 1:12:10 into it (just nearly the end). There is a spontaneous song that pleased me greatly.

Unintentionally Bad Part: As it is with anything that features a variable that constantly changes, the guest hosts can provide and issue with your listening enjoyment. One of the first episodes I listened to had a guest host that I did not like, and I almost dropped the podcast then and there. Shop around, riffle through the archives to find the guest hosts you like, and delete the episodes you dislike. Easy solution!

Nerds, talking about nerd-type subjects and cracking jokes all the while. Give it a chance, I think you'll like it. Nerds!

Savage Love Podcast

2011-06-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

Before we get down to the review, a caveat, dear reader.

The Savage Love Cast is by no means an all-audience podcast. If you're familiar at all with Dan Savage's articles at The Stranger, you are already aware of this. If you are not, allow me to give you a brief summary of the podcast's contents.

This is, in general, a sex advice podcast. You should read this review if you are interested in learning about a podcast that discusses, in no vague terms, sex and sex-related... stuff.

You should not read this podcast review if you are:

Not interested in what goes on in other peoples' bedroom.
Grossed out by hearing about... shall we say atypical inter-personal relationship techniques.
My mother-in-law. Or anyone related to me or who knows me in person. Seriously. I will not look you in the eyes until 2014.
If you are not interested in the following body parts being discussed:

Relevant Links:

Android Ap! This is a free download for Android-based phones. It offers access to Savage's articles, full podcast library and "exclusive text and video content.Savage Love Article
Dan Savage's Blog at The Stranger
Dan Savages' Wikipedia Page
Wikipedia's List of Episodes
It Gets Better Project From the site: "In September 2010, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, yes, it does indeed get better."

It's got George Takei backing it, so you know it's a good thing.

Content Rating: Excruciatingly obscene. Not even joking. In fact, to properly discuss this podcast, the rest of this review will be put behind a jump. You know, to guard the childrens' eyes.

They say the brain is the biggest sex organ but you can't get tit clamps on a brain! Until now.

First off: I promise to write this review with all the gravitas and maturity the Savage Love Cast deserves. This podcast supports a sex-positive attitude which cannot be garnered by trying to hem and haw around the subject.

Second: I seriously cannot write a review about the Savage Love Cast in a mature manner. When a person loves a person, and the first person wants to engage in an act that involves anything ranging from various bodily parts/fluids to household appliances whose warranties have been thoroughly voided, but he isn't certain how to bring this up to the previous mentioned second person, I tend to giggle like a ten year old. Please know I'm trying my best to do this.

I too, was curious after listening to your question about online dating options that were out there for people with herpes so here's what I did, it's my super top-secret method for finding out these things I Google'd "dating" and "herpes."

The Savage Love Cast answers listener submitted questions and allows Dan Savage to answer them with all of his professionally unprofessional knowledge. Savage is willing to discuss any topic presented to him, although he is not without his squicks, and works to give answers that lead his listeners to seek out safe and gratifying solutions. Occasionally he seeks out the advice of a more-knowledgeable resource in the form of guests which can range from skeptics to professional dominatrices to real doctors.

This podcast covers... pretty much everything that involves sex. If you've got genitalia, and intend to use them towards pretty much any purpose, your attention will be caught by at least one of the questions asked in over 200 episodes. There is no consensual sexual proclivity that is turn aside or scorned: open marriages, the full scale of GBLT identifications and relationships involved therein, cross dressing, and manymanymanymany other things that people do in their spare time.

Savage is no authority on any of the matters he talks about, nor does he ever attempt to claim he is. What Savage has to offer to listeners is a sharp wit and a good dose of common sense and support for those who contact him. He mocks those that need to be mocked, brings callers on-air so they can further discuss their quandaries, and offers compassion to those that are facing sad, stressful, or difficult situations.

Douche it, grease it, stick it in the air.

Average Episode Length: Approximately 40 minutes. Episodes typically range from 35 to 55 minutes.

Music: There's a cute theme song. I think that's about it.

Drinking game: Go have sex. Afterwards, pour yourself a drink.

Unintentionally Good Part: Santorum. Google it.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Serious version - if you have any "triggers" involving sex-related trauma, this show is probably not for you. There are some questions asked that involve emotional and physical pain, and they can be very uncomfortable if that's not what you want to hear.

Less Serious version - the listener-contributed questions are, well, listener contributions. Expect a lot of long-winded, unnecessary explanations and rationalizations. Even with editing, Savage occasionally has to fade out a question because the person just won't stop talking. Savage's article allows for succinct questions to be asked, so if this bothers you to the point of distraction, you know where to go to get your content.

So there. I reviewed the Savage Love Cast. Leave me a comment and then go away. Please.

A Call for Podcasts!

2011-05-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Gentle Reader,

The time has finally come when I am forced to realize that my podcast-listening habits have fallen into a rut. My listening device is currently packed with 24 podcast that make up my standard listening rotation and that's fine for me.

But that's bad for me as well. It is easy to fall into habit when it comes to things you like. I can listen to a single podcast several times over, and with a big enough backlog of episodes a single podcast can keep me sustained for a week. There is little motivation for me to seek out new podcasts.

Which is bad, because, y'know. This whole "podcast reviewer" shtick would end pretty quickly if I just reviewed the same podcast over and over again.

The Internet is a big place when it wants to be, and trying to discover new podcasts to listen to can become an infuriating game of hunt-and-peck. A lot of podcasts unfortunately fall into a "Quality, Regularity, Entertainment: Pick Two" category. If you manage to find something that is relevant to your interest there is a highly likely chance that they either only have 10 episodes, or it sounds like they were recorded on Xbox live headphones.

There's iTunes, yes, and you're sure to be able to find all of the top podcasts that are currently sweeping the headphones of the nation. Sticking to their most popular podcasts will most likely reward you with a slew of high-quality, highly entertaining podcasts.

But A quick Google-ing brings me to these directories:

Podcast Directory

NPR Podcast Directory

Podbean

Podseek - After clicking around for thirty seconds, my path brought me to a podcast about book making! Neat!

So I want to know, reader: where do you find your podcasts? Do you have some secret cache of forums that keeps you in the know? Word of mouth? Podcast review sites that aren't mine (you hussy). Give me some new hunting grounds so that I can find new and untamed podcasts to review for you. Let me know where you go!

Please?

Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average)

2011-05-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

So hey guess what I just discovered Paul and Storm.

Yeah, I know, 2005 called and they want their Internet back. Shut up.

What have I discovered so far is that I like this song, Paul and Storm occasionally open for Jonathan Coulton, they've been featured on The Bob and Tom Show several times and their podcast is called Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average).

Storm: I made butter a couple of nights ago.
Paul: You made butter, is that a euphemism?

Relevant Links:
Main Site Here!
Go here to get the Podcast!
Featured sub-page: the rules to give you an intro to the podcast.
Getchu some music here!
Wikipedia entry!
Paul & Storm Twitter!
Podcast archives!
Store!

So the title for this podcast is pretttttty accurate. It's Paul and it's Storm and they're talking about things. I'm about five episodes and some of the featured topics have been:

Felicia Day
Kittens
Hoping Felicia Day Notices Them
Culture-Grown Meat
Vacations to the Grand Canyon
Eating Habits
Pining for Felicia Day

I think I'm safe when I categorize this in the "nerd banter" field of podcasts.

Content Rating: Explicit. Curse-type words, possibly naughty-type content contained within.

Average Episode Length: Not five or ten minutes. Browsing through their archives show that most of the episodes run about twenty to forty minutes! Looks like their intentions of being a quick listen got push aside pretty quickly, but hey, more content for the devoted listener amirite?

I wanted a status check: did you, in fact, fall into a crevasse and die?

Drinking Game: Hm, these are always tricky. Drink whenever Paul and/or Storm says something that seems to honestly surprise Storm and/or Paul.

Release Schedule: A weekly podcast recorded Monday, released ASAP which usually ends up being Monday or Tuesday.

Music: To quote from their FAQ:

The intro music will always be “The By Cracky Beat” from Lowney’s Chocolates. (Find the song and more info here)
The outro music will always be “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” by the Tom-Terry Trio

Unintentionally Good Part: This podcast is a good "listen and" podcast. It doesn't require your entire attention, thus allowing you to listen and knit, listen and perform surgery, listen and toss sabers back and forth with a trusting friend, ect.

Unintentionally Bad Part: It is one more banter-style podcast on the Internet. There's a lot of them, and if you don't find a rapport with these two dudes you probably won't find this podcast interesting.

I'm still in the first stages of listening to this podcast, but I like it. Given time and a chance to learn Paul and Storm's personalities I bet it will be a podcast I stay subscribed to. I hope you'll give it a chance and check out their music as well!

Fear the Boot

2011-04-20T11:32:00.001-07:00

[Huddle up, dear Reader. Get close.

Closer. Uncomfortably close. I want to be so far inside your personal space bubble I can tell what you had for lunch. Butterfly-kisses close.

Closer. I want to tell you a secret.

Closer.

Ok, that's close enough. Here's my secret:

I'm afraid to review Fear the Boot.

Don't laugh! It is one of, if not the very first, podcast I ever truly enjoyed to the point of downloading the entire archives. Not only that, but is has become some manner of leviathan among gaming podcasts. It's been running since 2006! Over 200 episodes! I don't have the attention span to even attempt to begin to attempt to describe all the myriad topics, host changes, events, charities, games, discussions, arguments, food and beer reviews or anything else they've ever brought up!

THIS PODCAST. IT'S FULL OF STARS. OR NERDS. EITHER WAY, THERE'S STILL A LOT OF GAS INVOLVED (see episode 104, 57:29).

RELEVANT LINKS:
Main site is here!
Wikipedia page yonder!
Forums can be found thither!
RSS Feed!
Fear the Con! No, seriously, they have their own gaming convention. Did you think I was spouting hyperbole when I said this podcast was epic?

But no longer can I push away my duties as a podcast reviewer. I must review Fear the Boot or I shall surely perish. I'm like a podcast reviewing shark.

But I can't.

But I must! So in honor of the spirit of enhancing the RPG experience and bringing a higher level of understanding to the hobby so loved and thoroughly discussed by the Fear the Boot crew...

I've made some random encounter tables. Just follow along and soon you'll have created your very own, personalized Fear the Boot experience!]

CHOOSE YOUR HOST: There are 7 current hosts. Select a d8 and roll three times to determine who will be the main contributors to that episode's conversation (re-roll on an 8).

1 - Dan Repperger
2 - Chad Wattler
3 -Chris Hussey
4 - Pat Roper
5 - Wayne Cole
6 - John Grana
7 - Johann

All right! Now that we've got players on the field, so to speak, let's form the rest of the episode. Now, I understand that not everyone has a set of dice at home outside of the d6 that come with Monopoly, so let's figure out the rest of this with a diceless system, shall we?

THE EPISODE'S TOPICS: For this one head out to the closest grocery store to your house. Once at the grocery store, pretend that you are a ninja being hunted down by wary guards. When someone notices you lurking stealthily through an aisle, mark what section of the store you were in. Take the first 5 times someone notices you (or less, depending on if you get kicked out by security) and match them to the possible topics listed below:

Fresh Produce: Gamer health and etiquette.
Next to the Toothpaste: Danecture.
Aisle 7 - 12: Talking about Battle Tech.
Ethnic Food: Convention based. Can include podcasting about Fear the Con, recording from a convention, a recorded panel, or a review of a convention attended.
Pasta/Dried Beans: Actual, solid gaming advice.
Frozen Foods: If you're near the microwave meals, then it's a Bonus Episode. If you're closer to the Ice Cream/Novelties, then there will be a Gaming Story.
Spices/Baking Goods/Salad Dressings: Discussing how to properly build a character in regards to a game's mechanics.
Next to the Rotisserie Chickens: Discussing how to properly build a character in regards to role playing.
Beer/Wine: Mocking LARPers.

PICK A CONTENT RATING: Take a Ritz(r) cracker. Flip it.
Salted side up: Clean.
Salted side down: Mild swearing, with possible use of some pejoratives. Bonus episodes are particularly vulnerable to the hosts catching a case of the potty mouth.

DRINKING GAME: Not the drinking game per se, but here's an interesting blog article from one of the hosts. For a game that actually involves alcohol try this: drive around town until you find a liquor store that has at least one letter in its neon sign blown out, ala the infamous "BJ'S LIQUO STORE." Buy some manner of alcohol there, Schlafly preferable, and drink it during the podcast.

RELEASE SCHEDULE: One a week, mid-weekish.

UNINTENTIONALLY GOOD PART: Go to your local friendly gaming store, and spend an afternoon with your friends around the gaming table. That is how the banter will make you feel during this podcast. The hosts are welcoming and proud of the community that has grown from the podcast, and it shows through their attitudes on-mic.

UNINTENTIONALLY BAD PART: Take all of the dice you can find in your house. Go into your living room, put every die into your hand and throw them as hard as you can so they scatter around the room. Now go find them. The time and tedious effort it will take you to reclaim these dice represents how it feels when the hosts get on a topic that is not relevant to the main podcast. There are only so many times I can listen to Battle Tech stories.

And, voila! You have yourself the perfect, perfectly randomized Fear the Boot episode! Bask in the glory you yourself have crafted! Or just go listen to the dang podcast. I think you'll like it.

Webcomics Weekly

2011-01-04T04:54:00.000-08:00

Webcomics! Know 'em, love 'em, love to hate 'em, hate 'em, who cares? If you're a social invalid like myself you've got at least a dozen of them that you check each day and you may have even have deigned to buy a t-shirt or book.

But what if you're a social invalid that wants to make their own webcomic, possibly devoting and developing the skill, talent, dedication and understanding so that you can make a living as a professional cartoonist? You might want a little bit of a guiding light to help you figure out the long road ahead. You might want Webcomics Weekly.

Hosted by a quartet of some of the finest webcartoonists avaliable to host a podcast about webcomics, Webcomics Weekly consist of cartoonist on the web talking about webcomics to those who want to make webcomics and want to know more about webcomicry so that they can succeed with their own webcomics (webcomics).

Webcomics Weekly is a gol' dang font of information. The topics cover the creative and business end alike when it comes to making webcomics. Topics have included:

Rulers
How to ship merchandise
Hand lettering vs. digital lettering
Do's and Don'ts of conventions
Feedback

There are four hosts, which provides the listener with different points of view and a variety of methods for everything they talk about.

Let's meet them, Tiger Beat style, shall we?

The Heartthrob: Kris Straub. He enjoys writing both Starslip and Chainsawsuit, long walks on the beach and listening to you talk about the drama that goes on during 5th period geometry.
The Bad Boy: Scott Kurtz. Will your sign match up with this fiesty gemini? Scott keeps himself lean and mean by letting you know exactly what's on his mind! Turn ons: understanding gutter size. Turn offs: girls that wear too much body glitter!!!!
The Cute One: Dave Kellett. Put your pencils down from this multiple-choice test on heart-breakers! Dave Kellett may have two Masters degrees but that doesn't keep him from wanting to learn all about you!
The Sweet One: Brad Guigar. Here's what Brad has to say about what makes him a fan favorite:

"Throughout life the way you approach something like that, the way you are able to receive something like is different. For example, if you're ten years old and your dad says something about your mother in a way that indicates that they're actually two married people and it's like "Ew, gross!" you don't want to see your dad kiss your mom or anything like that, it's gross when your ten. But then it's twenty years old and he makes a comment and it's like "Yeah, these are two married people, of course he's going to kiss mom... uh, I don't why I'm doing the whole 'kissing mom' thing... "

... thanks Brad!

Relevant Links:
Get the most recent episodes here.
Find the archives (episodes 1-39) here.
Check out each host's webcomic. I can verify the fact that, if you're me, you'll enjoy all of them.

Hey Look, Another Site:
Webcomics.com, a "tremendous resource of practical information for webcartoonists." This site is outside of my purview, but from what I can tell it features in-depth articles/tips/tricks from some of the leaders in webcomicry. It is subscription only, but if you're an actual webcartoonist go ahead and give it a look.

Content Rating: Majority Clean. Explicit episodes are tagged appropriately.

Average Episode Length: Most episodes will cost you about an hour of your time, give or take ten minutes. The longest episode is a mere five seconds shy of 140 minutes. The shortest episode clocks in at an adorable 31 minutes. Cootchie-coo, little episode!

Scott Kurtz: No, dolls and mannequins will come to life and kill you. That's a fact.
Kris Straub: Yeah, that's a given.
Brad Guigar: Mannequins too?
Scott Kurtz: Oh, yes.
Kris Straub: Why not? Why not, Brad? They're instinct with hellish life! They don't like that they've been made in our image but they can't move. They can't enjoy life! They just have to watch and they're miserable.
Scott Kurtz: And they're waiting for you to drop you guard.

Drinking Game: Take a drink each time syndication is mentioned. Drain your glass if it sets off a rant.

Release Schedule: Weekly-ish. Their track record is a bit spotty when it comes to maintaining the "weekly" part of the podcast. Lucky for you there is a huge backlog of episodes to keep you busy if they skip a week or two! Or three.

Music: Your choices in music vary from that one song every podcast uses with the two guitars that goes:

bink-bink-bink
deedle-eedle-deedle-lee
bink-bink
deedle-deedle-eedle-eedle

OR the one that goes:

woan-de-now
wonna-na-da-de-now
dooooow-de-wonna-won-wow
w0nna-wan-won
bwon-bwon-bwon-bwon

OR ONE OF THE OTHER SONGS THAT EVERY FRIGGEN PODCAST USES. COME ON, GUYS! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY JUST LICENSE SOMETHING ORIGINAL!

Unintentionally Good Part: Brad Guigar's laugh. It's like puppy dogs wrapped with rainbows.

Unintentionally Bad Part: To be fair, I can't peg down a "bad part" for this podcast. I listen to it for the personalities behind the mics. If you're an aspiring webcomic artist, I can't speak for whether or not the information and opinions offered are sound. This podcast serves a small audience; give it a try to see if it's worth your time.

As someone who has absolutely no investment in making a webcomic, I really enjoy this podcast for the personality of the hosts. Start at the beginning of their archive, give it a shot, maybe you'll enjoy it as well. Let me know in the comments!

Rooster Teeth Productions: Drunk Tank

2010-12-01T04:59:00.000-08:00

Before I begin this review, let me draw your attention to one of the most important creative creations that human kind has ever created.

HALO.

Not just any Halo, but the Haloz. You've either played through one of its many iterations, been forced to watch as other people have played it or you are merely taking a break from playing it right now to rehydrate from screaming obscenities into your headset before you go back to playing it.

Some people have taken their fervor for this game to amazing heights, going so far as to recreate Master Chief's armor. A few have permanently marred themselves to show their devotion. At least one couple even got married by Master Chief.

Some people celebrate Halo as a part of their life. Some people build an empire on it. These some people be Rooster Teeth. Then these some people made a thing, which is also a podcast, which it called that Drunk Tank.
These some sentences no work too good. Halp!

Relevant Links:
Twitter
Main Site
Store!
Podcast!

After establishing themselves as the gods of machinima (a word that Firefox is unfamiliar with) they spread their digitally rendered wings and now they're all over the place with live action shorts, a comic based on their day-to-day hijinks, and forums just to name a few of their endeavors. Good thing they made this podcast because, seriously, what a bunch of slackers.

Burnie: "Have you ever in your life, Gus, ever had to figure out what the area under a parabola is?"
Gus: "No."
Burnie: "Has that come up once?"
Gus: "No, never."
Burnie: "So they're literally teaching us things that we don't need to know.
Gus: "Nope, no need for that."
Burnie: "Volume of a cylinder? Ever come up?"
Gus: "Uh-once. Once. And not too long ago."
Burnie: "What for, condoms?"

The Drunk Tank podcast consists of the main pillars of the Rooster Teeth Productions crew talking. And talking. And then yelling at each other before they go back to just talking. Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Joel Heyman, Geoff Ramsey, Griffon Ramsey and Gustavo Sorola serve as the main hosts. Occasionally an intern is thrown into the mix to give Gus someone to yell at. Discussion ranges from video games, recounting stories from life, movies, alcohol and anything else that comes to mind.

Drunk Tank broaches such topics as:

Poisonous spiders and the recognition of them
Those Lava Cake things you can get from Dominos
Removing holy cards that had been buried in your yard
Airlines and flying habits

Content Rating: Explicit. Swear words just flyin' around all over the place.

Average Episode Length: My highly scientific method of "squinting at iTunes" reveals that the average length is around an hour. There is a week long series of shorter episodes, so let's just exclude those shall we?

Drinking Game: It is a podcast called Drunk Tank. I trust you can come up with something, people.

Release Schedule: Weekly, with a new episode released each Wednesday! A delightful mid-week treat.

Music: This is where it gets interesting. What began as a contest to select a permanent theme song has morphed into a weekly showcase of fan-made opening songs. Some of the songs are exquisite and hilarious (see episodes 11, 34, 35 and 81) and many many many many many many songs are so bad I have to turn the volume all the way down until they're over. I'm always loathe to express my dislike of fan-created content, but honestly! There is a massive distance between "It has been confirmed by outside sources that I am capable of singing" and "A microphone came with my computer." I'm also throwing out this caveat: there is amateur rapping. Consider yourself warned.

Unintentionally Good Part: This podcast falls under the subcategory of "friends talking to each other" which means that there will be parts when no host can talk because they are paralyzed with laughter. It is safe to assume that you will suffer the same fate as well, so try to make sure you're sitting on the floor if you feel an impending rofl fit.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Other than the listener submitted opening songs? This podcast is banter, banter, banter and occasionally the topic will fall onto something you have absolutely NO interest in whatsoever. And then it will remain there for forty minutes.

Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena

2010-09-08T05:03:00.000-07:00

"You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com"

Do you crave information? Information that may very well blow your mind????

Awesome. Let's take a moment to prepare ourselves, shall we?

First, go into the kitchen and get some tinfoil. If you don't have any than just print out the following picture five or six times and tape it together:

Still with me? Now, take the foil and form it into a hat. According to the eHow.com instructions (yes this is a real thing), "It is very important for the shiny side of the aluminum foil to be showing when the hat is complete to make sure it is effective against alien rays or mind control signals."

Your finished product should look something like this:

Wild-eyed state a plus! Now take your mp3 listening device, climb into your lead-lined bunker, crack open an herbal supplement that "Big Pharma" doesn't want you to know about and start listening to Skeptoid.

Relevant Links:
Main Site
Subscribe Here
Wikipedia Link
Donate Here - Donations for Skeptoid are nifty. There are micro payments starting at as little as $3.99 (US) a year to help fun the podcast, or your can donate as much or as little as you want. Not only do you support a podcast you enjoy and help to keep it ad-free, but you get a free DVD including the movie Here Be Dragons: An Introduction to Critical Thinking. The DVD is even autographed!

The Skeptoid podcast modus operandi is this: apply critical thinking to information presented to the public to decide whether or not a claim can be considered valid. This isn't just someone picking apart obvious crackpot theories or setting up pseudoscience straw men to shred so that he can reference the scientific method and prance off to his forums to be praised. Dunning does his best to separate the truth from the lies from the half-lies from the "yeah, no way" in each topic he discusses.

Content Rating: Clean. Depending on what particular conspiracy theory, poorly researched medical claims or misunderstood scientific process you hold to there is a possibility that any given episode could send you into a frothing rage. So...that makes the rating either Clean or Rage Inducing.

Dunning himself is not afraid of critique; he occasionally posts a podcast with a title along the lines of "Things I'm Wrong About", where he posts corrections for any erroneous facts he may have made in previous episodes.

The language used in Skeptoid makes the scientific (and depending on the subject, "scientific") ideas proposed avaliable to young adults and laymen alike without being insulting. This is not a podcast that exists just to belittle and berate those who practice things such as Aura Photography or The Secret. Brian Dunning simply lays a topic out and examines it with a critical eye, guiding the listener's mind to each flaw and erroneous fact like an Antiques Road Show host revealing to a Midwestern retiree that their beloved heirloom is, in fact, made out of particle board.

Average Episode Length: Twelve minutes-ish.

Release Schedule: Weekly, with a new episode released every Tuesday.

Music: There is music occasionally, in the form of background noise. Music also has a high level of occurrence when the host is being a bit of a smart ass highlighting or referencing a particularly far-fetched quote or belief.

"Belief that a report is customized for us tends to improve our perception of the report's accuracy. I notice this right away when I read Isabel Myers description for my own personality type, ISTJ, the Duty Fulfiller: "Practical, matter-of-fact, realistic, and responsible." Basically it's a nice way to say "Dry, boring, and punctual," which hits my nail pretty squarely on the head.

Drinking Game: Go to the sites supporting the theories that Skeptoid debunks. Read the forums there and drink. Heavily.

Unintentionally Good Part: I was thoroughly delighted to find that the host sings a little song for his 200th episode. Surely, some confused as-of-yet-undiscovered alien civilization culture somewhere must consider it a masterpiece.

Unintentionally Bad Part: After writing this review the word skeptic has lost all meaning to me. Now it looks like I'm spelling it wrong.

Gold Star!: Each episode of the podcast is not only listed on the site, but has a full transcript! Most excellent for people who like skepticism, but may not be able to access podcasts due to technical or hearing difficulties.

Stuff You Should Know

2010-08-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

Alternate Titles:
Two Guys Read Wikipedia
Factoids: the Gathering
LMGTFY

This podcast is...wait for it...two guys, explaining how a process, social activity, natural event or other subject...works. This should not surprise any of us as the podcast is an offshoot of How Stuff Works, a site where you can learn about...

wait for it...

how nearly anything works. Uncanny, right? It's like they did this on purpose!

Ever wanted to know how deja vu works? Curious if there are dead bodies on Mt. Everest? Pondering the ethical dilemma of exorcisms? Want the low-down on habeus corpus? If you want any information of dubious relevancy related to you via two guys yakking, than SYSK comes highly recommended.

For an example, let's take a look at the erudite discussion surrounding saunas.

Josh: Kind of that Roman, Dionysian, orgiastic vibe in going on in the saunas was one of the reasons they were eradicated by Europe because in the early 16th century Europe got a little...tense.
Chuck: Yeah, the Protestant Reformation just ruined everything.
Josh: They were kind of like, "You can't do that! You put a hat with a buckle on right now!"
Chuck: "Yeah, you can't do that either! Or that! Or that! Or that! Get out of that sauna!"
Josh: "Start crying! Right now!"

Sauna Epsiode, 27 Minute Mark.

Hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. Bryant take on each topic with the same indefatigable enthusiasm shown here. This is impressive as there are topics such as scabies and what can be done with dead bodies.

Relevant Links:
Main Site
Download Episodes through iTunes!
Blog Entries!
SYSK Twitter Feed
Wikipedia Entry
Podcast.com Site

Episode Length: A sample size of 20 episodes gives me an average length of 35 minutes. This is interesting because if you look at the entire library of episodes, the time increase is huge. Early episodes are far, far shorter at about 5 minutes each, where the most recent episode at the time of this review weighs in at a heft 44 minutes and 48 seconds. This type of variation could prove beneficial for listeners! Need a long episode? Need a quick, in-between errands episode? SYSK has got you covered.

Release Schedule: Bi-weekly. The perfect schedule for a voracious listener. Also the perfect schedule for a less-frequent listener, because it's not like the episodes expire or anything.

Music: That one song that everyone who uses GarageBand uses in their podcasts. That, and sound effects from either Wheel of Fortune or The Price is Right.

Content Rating: Clean. The hosts might sneak in a few potty-humor jokes every now and then, but typically OK for all audiences. You can easily tell if the content is for you based on episode titles.

Unintentionally Good Part: The "peanut-gallery" style discussion about each topic. The hosts are more than willing to lend their own personal opinions and stories about whatever topic they're talking about and do so frequently.

Unintentionally Bad Part: The scholarly research about each topic is...dubious, at best. This is not a podcast you want to cite on your research paper. I haven't been able to unearth their research methods for each topic but I'm assuming it revolves around the use of an Internet search engine and...that's pretty much it. But I might be wrong! They might employ several interns who jobs involve cross-referencing articles! I doubt it though.

Drinking Game: Drink each time the hosts address each other by name.

Unrelated Rating: Five out of five correct answers on a pop quiz. A+ and a smiley face.

MEANWHILE

2010-08-18T04:06:00.000-07:00

...oh crap.

Greetings, gentle reader! Turns out July was a hell of a month, but who cares? Not you!

Content coming...SOON(ish).

Writing Excuses

2010-06-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

"This is Writing Excuses! Fifteen minutes long because you're in a hurry and we're not that smart!"

Out here in the vast wilderness of the Internets an intrepid browser could probably discover an infinite amount of professional advice on any given topic. Naturally, much of the advice is sarcastically quotation-marked "professional" at best, and you can only filter out so many of the crazies by analyzing whether or not it looks like they used Geocities-izer to make their site before you stumble across someone that has the pretense of actual knowledge.

So, gentle listener, how does one divine true and authentic information from the Intertrons in a safe and timely manner, without running the risk of clicking on a site that once seen, cannot be unseen?

First you read my reviews. And then you go listen to Writing Excuses.

Hosted by bonafide authors Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells along with verifiable web-comic creator Howard Tayler, this podcasts is a veritable font of useful information for writers. A quick-fix of advice and opinion from the viewpoints of established authors who are willing to share their experience in podcast form. I believe the audience intended for this podcast is new or unpublished authors, but I think a writer of any level could gain some usefulness information out of Writing Excuses.

Relevant Links:
Main Site
...honestly, the main site is all you need. Each host has links to their own blogs, you can find the iTunes and RSS feeds right on the front page.

And why not, here's the Wordle you get for the Writing Excuses website:

Can't say they're not consistent when it comes to mentioning their sponsor.

Episode Length: Fifteen minutes on average. Occasionally longer, depending on how verbose the hosts are feeling about a particular topic.

Release Schedule: A new episode is released every Sunday.

Each episode focuses on one particular topic that relates to writing in some way. Example topics from previous episodes are:

The Anti-Mary Sue episode
Trimming
How to Write Without Twists
Plot-vs. Character-driven Fiction

Look at those topics! They're positively brimming with...topicability.

Each host in turn will share their ideas and experiences, and do their best to show how their information can be utilized by the listener. Their approach is friendly and welcoming; this is the kind of podcast that, could it be worn, would be your favorite hoodie from college. Brandon, Dan and Howard work together to host the majority of the episodes, but there are frequent guest hosts who are in turn harnessed to give a fresh view.

The hosts will touch on both the creative and business ends of writing, which will be much appreciated by aspiring authors. It is not enough to know how to write a story, or even how to edit it and make it presentable to editors, but how, where, when to submit, how to approach editors and publishing houses, what to expect after you actually write something! It is refreshing to see a creative task explained and examined with reason.

Content Rating: Clean. They may occasionally drop a very tame swear word. Or mention monkey poo.

Unintentionally Good Part: Writing Excuses Episode 632. Trust me.

Unintentionally Bad Part: This podcast is niche-niche-nichy. Even for aspiring authors, the advice generally pertains to only the science fiction/fantasy genres, so this podcast will attract only a very specific audience.

Drinking Game: Have a brass monkey every time they use a monkey as a plot device in their writing prompt.

Writing Prompt: A secret organization has implanted a device into your head that records your every thought for a live-steaming podcast. Go!

Radiolab

2010-06-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Stories! Sarcasm! SCIENCE!

This podcast comes highly recommended to people who have:

Memorized the theme song for "Bill Nye the Science Guy."
Lost five hours to a NOVA marathon on PBS.
Injured themselves in a poorly thought-out "experiment" involving homemade napalm and/or that beehive in your back yard.

If you don't fall into the above categories but enjoy interesting stories that focus on scientific research and discoveries, than you'll probably like it too.

Relevant Links:
Main Site
Donations
Wikipedia Page
FAQ Page

Episode Length: Full episodes average about an hours, while the "Shorts" are about fifteen to twenty minutes.

I'm going to separate this review into two parts.

First: The Content

Hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich lead a narrative focused on a single theme. One or several stories might be used to illustrate various viewpoints. If Radiolab were an section in your newspaper it would be that "wacky world" section filled with stories about goldfishes that save their owners from house fires. Here's a list of five randomly chosen topics from my episode list:

1 Famous Tumors
2 Stochasticity
3 Musical Language
4 Yellow Fluff and Other Curious Encounters
5 Sperm

See? Thoroughly variated through subject matter, and it features a decent back catalog of episodes for listeners of any taste to browse. The wikipedia page uses the phrase "thought experiment" describe this podcast, and I feel that's accurate. The subject is pulled and kneaded like clay, bending here for an interview, there for a research article, until the listener can shape it into something recognizable, or continue beyond the podcast with their own work. Fact finders and myth hunters would probably like this series a lot. The episodes provide good explanations for those who just want to listen and great jumping-off points for those who love to search out more information.

Content Rating: Clean. You will, as with so many things, have to decide if the subject matter is within your comfort limits. But y'know, no potty mouthings, so it should be safe for kids or students.

Second: The Production

The blips, squeals, murmurs and honks that permeate every episode provide nothing more than distraction from the main story being told. I understand that these sound effects are intended as emphasis, but they are so overdone that I have been forced to turn off episodes and leave them unfinished. Without fail each episode will have a streak of droning, nonsensical noise that have me digging my nails into my desk within seconds. In the episode Deception (rebroadcast on 6/1/2010) there is over a minute long stretch of disjointed electric guitar in the middle of the episode!

I'm not kidding. Go listen here from minute 46:11 to 47:14.

What purpose does that serve? I would prefer silence compared to the aural claustrophobia their producers are determined to make me experience. This podcast hits my interests, I want to listen, but because of these sound effects I feel the constant urge to abandon Radiolab for anything else.

Drinking Game: Take a drink every time one host speaks the other host's name.

Release Schedule: A new podcast is released every two weeks, according to the main site.

Unintentionally Good Part: Oh I am fond of inter-host bickering, and this podcast supplies it in delightful bushels.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Please see above review about the bleeps and boops.

I know I just took all the time to write thing here thing, but please, please disregard what I dislike about the Radiolab podcast and check it out for yourself. This is a really brilliant work, and even if I have issues with it, you need to experience it for yourself before you can really decide whether you like it or not. If I find the background effects annoying then that is my personal opinion, and not a flaw of the podcast. You might like 'em! You might like 'em up and down! And there's no risk trying it out! No payments, you can delete if you don't like it, you can keep it if you don't! SO GET TO IT!

Unrelated Rating: Three and One Half Nye per cubic meter of Science Guy.

Penny Arcade + Dungeons and Dragons Podcasts Is Back!

2010-06-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

Wizards of the Coast finally granted us the mercy of a single spot on their site
that holds all of the Penny Arcade Podcasts.

Even better: there is a shiny new series of podcasts in which Jerry Holkins (aka Tycho Brahe) DMs a jaunt through the new Dark Sun setting. Jerry describes the setting thusly:

"I guess it's pre-apocalyptic, it's as though the apocalypse happened in the future, but you're in the past after time had looped. I would say that's the right description."

Did you get any of that? I did. I think. Anyways, the newest series is as hysterical as the last, so hop to it and get to downloading!

Car Talk Podcast

2010-05-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

Alternate title: Your wacky uncles on the Internet (and they just figured out how to forward chain e-mails).

"Car Talk," a podcast of epic proportions. This show was picked up by NPR in 1987, which makes it long-standing enough to be older than at least half of you reading this review. A long standing NPR staple, "Car Talk" comes from a simpler, more genteel time, when families used to gather 'round the radio to hear tell of other people's broken alternators as Father smoked his pipe and Mother knitted socks.

Or something.

This show is old, yo, and it didn't get that way without maintaining a thoroughly hooked audience. Host to over 2000 call-ins a week, it's time you joined the learned regarding the podcast that is "Car Talk."

Hosted by brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers," the show revolves around listeners calling in with car problems. The brothers' collective automobile knowledge is impressive vast and vastly impressive as they deduce each caller's problem to the best of their abilities. Some callers are more educated about their vehicles and are able to explain which part is having trouble or what the symptoms are, many callers are forced to use noises varying on "VRRRUMMPPTPTPTPTPTHHHHBBBB" to describe why their car isn't functioning. Tom and Ray tease, cajole, comfort and inform their callers, give them their best diagnosis about what the problem is and send them on their merry way to the repair shop. In between calls the brothers annoy each other and host segments such as:

Stump the Chump - where previous callers come back to tell whether or not the brothers got the problem right.

The Puzzler - a logic puzzle where listeners can send in the answer for the chance to win a prize.

Whatever They Find Amusing - seriously, they read goofy e-mails aloud, or tell bad jokes.

Relevant Links
Main Site
Wikipedia Page
Shameless Commerce
Donate your car to charity, why not?

Episode Length: Fifty-three to fifty-four minutes.

The back-and-forth between the hosts is charming, their answers are informative, and the production value is awesome. Even if you're not a motor head "Car Talk" deserves at least a chance to tickle your ear buds before you write it off. Who knows, you might even figure out why your car makes that squeaky noise! Many of the calls are interesting and puzzle solvers might enjoy the deductive nature of the show. It is very interesting to listen to the hosts mull over a problem, batting hypothesis back and forth until they can somewhat agree on an answer.

Content Rating: Clean (squeaky). No fear for the children or tender hearts unless you're especially vulnerable to bad jokes.

Drinking Game: If you're fond of alcohol poisoning, drink every time one of the brothers laughs. If you enjoy the company of your liver, perhaps you could fashion a game that revolves around certain caller tropes including the following rules:
+Drink every time a problem involves a belt
+Each time a caller's name is spelled out (two drinks if they spell it incorrectly)
+When you actually recognize a car part they're talking about

Release Schedule: Weekly, every Saturday.

Music: Ye. Gods. "Car Talk," like so many other NPR podcasts, plays musical interludes in between segments. The songs all revolve around cars, with lyrics about broken down heaps and much beloved racing cars and HOLY HELL ARE THEY BAD. I cannot bear the songs played during "Car Talk" and immediately fast-forward past them. Now the intro, which is just a little bluegrass breakdown, I actually like. But the rest of the music? Caustic. Evaluate it for yourself and tell me if I'm right or wrong.

Unintentionally Good Part: The end credits.

Unintentionally Bad Part: This is a podcast about car problems. Every week, this is a podcast about car problems. Truth be told, I'm currently not listening to "Car Talk" due to burnout from listening to car problems every week. The subject material can become repetitive, and there is only so much the brothers' personalities can do to distract from that.

Unrelated Rating:Twenty-three seconds of wheezing laughter.

The Moth Podcast

2010-03-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

What are you doing right now?

UNIMPORTANT.

What you should be doing is subscribing and listening to The Moth Podcast. Oh...you're eating? What do you got there...is that a calzone? You just got it out of the oven, huh? And it's all warm and the cheese is all melty and good.

No...no, you're right, they're really not that good when they're cold.

OK. YOU CAN WAIT A LITTLE BIT THEN.

While you're eating and attempting to keep crumbs from falling into your keyboard, let me tell you about The Moth Podcast. The premise is simple: a person tells a true story to an audience without any notes at all. That's really all there is to it. The trick to this formula is how malleable it is, how infinitely varied the stories can be because absolutely anyone can tell one. Firefighters, children, comedians, politicians, vandals, drag queens, addicts, nuns, Vulcans, absolutely anyone can stand on stage and offer up a story from their life. Those who receive a lot of attention may return to tell another story, but the sheer difference between every story is staggering.

Relevant Links:
Main Site
Subscribe to the podcast here!
Awesome Community Outreach Program
Donation Page
Wikipedia Stub

I can't really pin down any specific subject matter to describe this podcast. The stories told are recorded from live performances held in cities way cooler than the one I live in. The reactions of the audience help to fuel the intensity of the story, hearing dozens of voices gasp and laugh along with you helps to immerse you in whatever story is being told. The Moth Podcast really needs to be experienced if you want to gather an informed opinion about it.

Fortunately, there's a page with sample stories on the official site! Just go here and listen to "Drowning on Sullivan Street" by Ed Gavagan. The story is an exquisite example of what The Moth has to offer, and there are a bunch of other stories on that page to listen to. You don't even have to download them, just press play!

Content Rating: Clean and Explicit, clearly marked per episode. I'm also putting a big ol' caveat up for possibly explicit subject matter, regardless of the iTunes rating. Many of the stories told are graphic and include subjects such as death, abuse, criminal activity and some things that will break your heart to hear them. If you want to listen to this with kids I highly suggest previewing the episode beforehand so you can decide if it's the right story for your young audience. If you're the sensitive type, you may not want to listen at work (I'll admit to tearing up to several stories).

Average Episode Length: Anywhere from five to twenty minutes.

Drinking Game: This podcast is a little too tricky for a drinking contest. The subject matter varies so widely from episode to episode that it's hard to establish any regular rules. Let me know if you think of a few, ok?

Release Schedule: A new episode is released fresh each week.

Music: A little bit of music for the intro and conclusion, which change periodically. Usually just some instrumental piece.

Unintentionally Good Part: As stated before, the variety of subject matter is what I like the best. There are funny stories, sad stories, interesting stories and stories that make you go "huh" in a thoughtful manner.

Unintentionally Bad Part: There is no way that you will like every episode. If there is a story told by a person you could imagine as your childhood hero, than you will hear a story that could have been told by that guy at Starbucks who always talks too loudly about what color his aura is while he tries to read your laptop screen. I personally hold a scorching distaste for one particular story teller, but I won't say who because that will tint your own opinion. The beauty of The Moth Podcast is that instead of being forced to sit through a disagreeable performance, you can easily skip to a different episode! Aren't podcasts great?

Wait, What?: I think this podcast would be really nifty to use in a class room, where, I dunno, kids could write short stories based off of what the episodes theme was, or a teacher could use it to teach kids how to really listen to someone and retain facts rather than waiting for their turn to talk. That will sadly have to remain a theory until someone I know attempts it, because kids freak me right the hell out.

GO LISTEN ALREADY, I'M NOT FOOLING AROUND

Memories of the Futurecast

2010-02-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

Before I start this write-up properly, allow me to totally ruin what little nerd cred I might have built up in my lifetime by stating a fact: I don't know anything about Star Trek. Go ahead, take away my Dork Club membership (it gets you a 15% discount on acne medication and awkward haircuts!).

Okay, maybe I'm not totally ignorant. Here is the sum of my Star Trek knowledge:

Pon Farr.
I can do the Vulcan-hand-thing with both hands.
Red shirts always die.

Frankly, that's about it. But what I do know is that I enjoy humorous podcasts that make me laugh so hard I can't breathe, which seamlessly brings us around to Memories of the Futurecast.

This podcast is produced, hosted, roasted, toasted and carved at your table for that fresh from the field flavor by the magnanimous Wil Wheaton of Star Trek fame and beyond. This man, if I may be hyperbolic, has a golden touch when it comes to all things geeky. Kind of like King Midas, if King Midas ever played Dungeons & Dragons...which would make Wheaton more of a King Dorkas, I guess. Between his spots on The Big Bang Theory and his interludes as the keynote speaker at PAX, he gets excited and makes stuff.

One such production is his book, Memories of the Future: Volume One, in which recollections of his stint as Wesley Crusher on the show Star Trek: The Next Generation are fondly and not-so-fondly remembered. The majority of the podcast is comprised of excerpts from Memories of the Future: Volume One. This podcast, on a very basic level, serves as advertising for the book, but do not let that discourage you in any way from downloading. Trust me.

The tone of the podcast is humorous and nostalgic. Listeners will get the full benefit of Wheaton's acting credentials as he invokes funny voices and sound effects to amplify his already excellent story teller's voice. Eager to wander from his book excerpts into rambling side notes that range from actually informative to air-quotes "informative," you feel like you're sitting at your favorite local coffee shop, sharing a booth with Wheaton as he tells you tales from his past.

Relevant Links:
Here's the Podcast Feed which is the best way to get Memories of the Futurecast.

BREAK IT DOWN NOW

All right, here's where things get a little complicated. No, don't freak out! You can do this! As it happens, Memories of the Futurecast is available via iTunes, but only episodes 2-14, and they are all out of order which can be frustrating to some listeners. That's why I linked to the feed rather than iTunes. However, for some reason, the feed linked to above is missing episode one which can be found here. So that's all you have to do! One extra step gets you an extra nine minutes of pure entertainment.

Get you a copy of Memories of the Future: Volume One here.
Wil's Site, where he writes awesome articles, check it out for sure.
Follow Wil Weaton on Twitter!
Wikipedia Entry on Wil Wheaton
POUR STUFF IN THIS AWESOME MUG

"Back down in engineering, fashion icon, interstellar fashion icon Wesley Crusher, saves the day. Oh, you wanted to hear more? Well as it turns out there is more to this scene, but all I ever heard from the damn Trekkies when this episode first aired is that Wesley Crusher saved the day so that's all you're going to hear from me now, suckers! Bam, nailed it, holdin' a grudge, suck it, kiss my ass!

Content Rating: EXPLICIT, YO. You'd already know this by checking Wil's episode notes, but these podcasts work for their explicit rating. The curse word are wielded expertly and are never overwhelming, so you should be fine.

Average Episode Length: Averaging all the shows together gives me a time of approx. 27 minutes. Shortest episode is nine minutes, longest episode runs a hefty forty-six minutes.

"The scene cuts to the bridge and Trekkies reach for their own painkillers and anti-nausea medication when newly-minted acting ensign Wesley Crusher and his brand new gay pride space suit storms onto the bridge.

Drinking Game: Drinking game included! Please see episode 11 at about the 16 minute mark. Actually, just listen to episode 11 all the way through, it's a hoot.

Release Schedule: This series is complete, at least until Wheaton finishes writing Memories of the Future: Volume Two, in which case he will hopefully make more Futurecasts to provide more entertainment and make me more happy which will be more gooder, yay.

"Back on the planet Troi tries to get Riker to take her with him to examine the very empty, very secluded, very good-for-pounding-out-a-quickie tunnels beneath Far Point station.

Music: When Wil isn't playing with the sound effects provided by his recording software, the music is an eclectic compilation of opening and closing songs.

Unintentionally Good Part: Wheaton periodically rewards himself for making a good joke by ringing a bell at his desk. Often, he is forced to chastise himself for overuse of the bell.

Unintentionally Bad Part: The fact that the book revolves around the plot and behind the scenes activities for Star Trek: The Next Generation will become a bit of a hindrance to those not familiar with the show. Listeners who do not know the plot lines of the episodes Wheaton covers may feel lost at points. Admittedly, I have never seen an episode, but I still found the podcast highly enjoyable. For those totally ignorant of Star Trek, please visit this TV Tropes page to cover your bases.

If there is one thing I can convey about Memories of the Futurecast in my attempt to get you to listen to it is this: Wil Wheaton is so damn genuine and talented I'd be jealous if I wasn't busy laughing so hard at his jokes. His voice is reminiscent of Dave Barry and if you are as devoted a fan of Barry as I am then know I do not invoke his name lightly. Earnest, honest, snarky and charming, just...friggin go download this podcast, ok? Don't make me get all mushy on you.

Unrelated rating: Thirteen out of fifteen malfunctioning holodecks.

Hey, Look Over Here: Turns out Wheaton has another podcast, Radio Free Burrito, which I have yet to explore. He is also a featured adventurer in the Official Dungeons and Dragons Podcast. Go! Explore! Get back to me in the comments and let me know if there's good or just awesome!

The Podge Cast

2010-02-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

A'ight all y'all, check the following list:

Games
Anime
Books
Joss Whedon
Batman
Movies
Beard Growth

If you have an interest or opinion on any of those topics, then The Podge Cast (TPC) is the podcast for you. Boasting an archive already 76 episodes deep, TPC is a one-stop shop for all your geek-related needs. Built on a strong basis of role playing game discussion and advice, the fellows at The Podge Cast refuse to let their original intent bind them to one subject, and move through subculture strata like a neutrino through plasma.

Either that or they've just been talking for so long they've forgotten how to shut up. Both options work to provide enough hours of entertainment to satisfy you even through the most stultifying of car trips or data entry jobs.

Relevant Links:
Main Site
RSS Feed
Spooky Outhouse Forums Which hosts not only The Podge Cast's forums but a slew of other pod casts' forums that you should investigate and see if you'd like to listen to them!
Store
FAQ

Behold a sample of their discussions on the dialogue of popular culture.

"Paul: Saying something is fail, you're ruining the language and the culture and yourself.

Matt: I dunno, one of my favorite lol captions of all time is "your shipment of fail has arrived." Can you not have an actual world term to describe the shipment of an abstract concept?

Paul: You can but its stupid because when people say something's epic it's always like: "Oh dude, Dave did a keg stand and puked all over it was epic." Or, "I just tripped up the stairs, it was fail."

Matt: It's like spices, you put in a little bit of pepper, little paprika it makes everything lovely and delicious. But if it's all pepper all the time you'd be like, "Man, this soup is FAIL!"

David: And that's because it's not soup, it's a pile of pepper!

The Podge Cast is hosted by a regular-ish (occasionally rotated or replaced) crew of card-carrying nerds. There's:

Luke, an optometrist who runs tabletop games when he's not defending the eyesight of the masses.

David who-oh hell, one of the running jokes with TPC is the fact that Luke is the "fan favorite" so I'll just go with it. The core hosts, as well as the rotating cast of visiting hosts will be sure to please with their insights and comedic timing. The friendly banter between hosts is one of the best parts of the whole show.

Content Rating: Clean-ish. For regular episodes the major curse words are edited out and explicit shows are clearly labeled as such. However, topics can include topics of a less-than-G-rated nature, so be aware of your surroundings if you choose to listen with speakers.

Average Episode Length: Vaguely fifty minutes long. Time is dependent on the nature and hosts' interests in the episode's topic.

As well as providing weekly content, did I mention that they run several contests a year? Most of their prize support is pretty awesome and the contests are usually easy to enter.

"David: What I was thinking is if they remove my appendix I'm going to ask for it and give it away as a contest prize.

Drinking Game: A quick forum search brings up nothing, but here's a start-
Take a drink:

for every mention of a ghost hunter show.
when David repeats the joke he just heard while laughing at said joke.
each time Luke sings.

Quick Play Rules: Listen to the early episodes, and take a shot every time the RPG system Burning Wheel is mentioned. You will have alcohol poisoning within the half-hour.

Release Schedule: Weekly, avaliable for download on Sunday.

Music: Just the opening and ending song. However, the ending song is sung by Luke, adding a certain level of class to this podcast.

Unintentionally Good Part: A series within the podcast titled "Campaign Recap: Kingdom, the Next Generation." These eleven episodes are comprised of a retelling of the Burning Wheel campaign Luke runs for a group of friends. The recordings are basically plot summaries of each game session, and end up sounding like a high-fantasy fairy tale. If you enjoy RPGs, then this is an interesting look into the Burning Wheel system. If you don't like RPGs, then you can just sit and listen to the story of the House of Van Lieber. Come for the in-depth story telling, stay to discover the true beauty of decapitating your enemies.

Unintentionally Bad Part:

WARNING: NERD RAGE AHEAD

I almost hate to do this, but here goes: don't, flat out just don't listen to episodes 49 and 50. They are un-episodes. Long story short, Luke and David stage a building level of antagonism between each other which culminates in Luke storming out of their studio after a particularly sharp insult from David. The episode ends with no explanation given. I found the entire thing extremely awkward to listen to and was left uncomfortable for the whole day by the episode, having listened to two close friends argue like that.

You see what's coming, right? The whole thing was fake. Fake! They even had another podcast (The Bear Swarm!, who doesn't get a link because they were accomplices in this) brought it up as if it were a real event. Obviously I totally fell for it and am holding a grudge, but hey, I writes the podcast reviews, I says what I wants.

Adding insult to the injury of episode 49, episode 50 is an obnoxious parody staged by the hosts of some other podcast (they don't even get a name mention) which I got through about...oh, twenty seconds before I had to take my headphones off.

END NERD RAGE

My vitriolic rant aside, this podcast is pretty damn excellent, and I'm sure the hosts would love it if you check it out. So go get an earful!

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

2009-07-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

If the news of the day you are privy

But you wish for delivery more silly,

Than never you fret,

For a more than safe bet

You can listen to Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Have you ever found yourself longing to have news served to you in limerick format? Tired of listening to relevant facts, when all you really want to hear about are stories involving British Television shows and wayward cats? Then plonk yourself down for an hour a week to bask in the glory that is NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Hosted by Peter Sagal with the aid of Carl Kasell, Wait Wait delivers a week's worth of news in a delightfully playful and clever game show. The show features both a rotating cast of panelists who "compete" against one another in-between callers and provide color commentary, as well as a series of games. The games include such variations as:

Who's Carl This Time? In which Carl Kasell read three quotes from the news and the player must guess two correctly to win.

Bluff the Listener Where a caller listens to three panelist each read a sensational story, two fictional and one real, and must choose the actual news story.

Listener Limerick Challenge This is my personal favorite! Carl Kasell read a limerick based off of a recent news event, and the caller must supply the last phrase or rhyme of the poem.

But not only the callers and panelists participate. One particular game, That's Not My Job, features a different guest each week that must answer trivia questions about something completely and totally unrelated to their life's work. The guests range from celebrities, singers, politicians, comedians, anyone of notoriety who is willing to take a chance.

"Peter Sagal: According to research published in the science journal Nature, it was just 380 million years ago that two lonely sea creatures did what for the first time?
Roy Blunt Jr.: Two lonely school teachers?

Relevant Links:
Download the Podcast here
Main Website
Wikipedia Page
Store and Donation pages

Content Rating: Aside from the occasional double entendre or mild vulgarity, this show is nice n' clean.

Average Episode Length: Fifty minutes.

Drinking Game: Drink every time a pun makes the audience groan.

Release Schedule: An episode is released every Saturday.

Music: Quick tidbits of songs are placed between the different games, each song relevant to the last news subject broached. Short, simple, segue-licious.

Unintentionally Good Part: The inter-panelist bickering that breaks out when a news topic is discussed.

Unintentionally Bad Part: They dared to mock my most beloved of sleeved blankets, he Slanket. The declared it was a knock-off of the cult-apparel-esque Snuggie, which is simply not true. In fairness, they did apologize the week after, but the insult to the Slanket's fleecy goodness still burns.

Unrelated rating: Nine quips out of ten witty rejoinders.

Now get to the listenin'!

Haven Comics Blog!

2009-07-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings imaginary audience,

If you're hungry for more viddy (and I know you are), then step on over to

http://www.havencomics.blogspot.com/

There you can find the latest comic book releases, game days, and going-ons that are happening at the hottest geek corner of Alabama. I'll be dropping the occasional article, so check it out!

Downloadable Content, The Penny Arcade Podcast

2009-06-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

If you've been a nerd in the last ten years, you've had at least glancing contact with Penny Arcade. Rising from among the filthy, multitudinous hordes of video-game related comics, Penny Arcade laid claim to a golden dominion that continues to expand. Through their career, writer Jerry Holkins and illustrator Mike Krahulik (represented in the comics as Tycho and Gabe, respectively) have built a realm that now includes not only a brilliant comic, but several published collections of their work, a video game, a convention, and a charity that has raised magnificent amounts of money for sick children. The talent of Holkins and Krahulik have been sought after for creative advertising projects for video game releases (true), honored by the state of Washington (true), and encapsulated in a sugar-coated cereal (not true).

But now the Penny Arcade empire is complete. I present to you Downloadable Content, The Penny Arcade Podcast.

"Holkins: There is no way for us to make a comic strip where we simply name country songs and that's too bad.
Krahulik: Yeah.
Holkins: This is a case where we have been ham-strung by the medium we have chosen.
Krahulik: Yeah, people are always like, "Aw man, if you want to get popular just make a comic strip about teh [sic] video games.'"
Holkins: They don't know how we suffer!
Krahulik: They don't know that if you're making a strip about video games you can't make a strip about country music songs.
Holkins: We have got hot material! We have got hot, country song material. And there's no venue for it.

excerpt from The Broodax Imperiate

I assume the original premise of this podcast was to reveal the process through which a Penny Arcade comic is created. What has actually been brought forth is the product of what happens when you place two long-time friends in an enclosed space and force them to work towards a common goal. Usually the comic is written within the first five minutes of the podcast, the rest of the time filled with the banter of Holkins and Krahulik as they talk shop about the video game industry, share stories from their lives and insult each other only to eventually meander back to their original idea.

It is fascinating to listen to the development of each punchline. Usually inspired by a website's headline or video game related event, one of the pair will offer a rough idea, which the other will latch onto and expand until they are able to pin down their traditional three panel procedure.

"Krahulik: It's the juxtaposition-
Holkins: I know about positions!
Krahulik: Do you know about the jutx?
Holkins: The juxta?
Krahulik: Have you ever juxta a position?
Holkins: Juxta'd? Yes.
Krahulik: Cause what I'm talking about is juxting a position, in such a way-
Holkins: Yeah you know about position.
Krahulik: What I know about is juxting.

excerpt from Making an Impression, in discussion of
this comic.

Relevant Links:
Download the Podcast here
Main Website
My Favorite Comic, Ever
Store
No, wait, this is my Favorite Comic
Child's Play Charity Site

Content Rating: Explicit. You may want to point your headphones elsewhere if you cannot abide by words such as 'twat' or worse.

Average Episode Length: Podcast length ranges from 12 minutes 52 seconds at the shortest, to one hour, three minutes at the longest. All the rest fall somewhere within these two times.

Drinking Game: None that I can unearth via Google search. May exist in the Penny Arcade forums or a lost society's oral history.

Release Schedule: Whenever the hell they feel like it, apparently. Do not expect regular releases. I suggest treating each new podcast much like you would a secret whispered to you by creatures most fae. Treasure them!

Music: While actual music is non-existent, listeners are occasionally graced by the vocal talents of both hosts. Krahulik is especially talented at recreating hits from the 1980s.

Unintentionally Good Part: Holkins and Krahulik's insatiable quest to go to lunch. They are never not hungry, unless pumpkin bars (episode In the Love Nest of the Har'akki, 1:20 mark) are involved.

Unintentionally Bad Part: Should you come to enjoy this podcast, the erratic post schedule will cause you to fall to you knees and cry out mournfully.

C-C-C-COMBO PODCAST: The Adventures of Acquisitions Incorporated. What boils down to an advertising campaign for the latest edition of Dungeons and Dragons becomes a hilarious series of actual-play recordings (games sessions recorded with minimal editing) in which both Penny Arcade creators take part in. Please, please, if you have ever had a fleeting interest in D&D, listen to these so that you may be enlightened to the experience that is Jim Darkmagic.

Get to it! And leave me comments!

This American Life

2009-06-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

"From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life, distributed by Public Radio International, I'm Ira Glass."

The heretical, the sophisticated and the ridiculous. If a human can or has experienced it, This American Life is willing to explore any situation to find a good story to tell.

Each episode of This American Life centers around a theme and is broken into several different acts that each offer a unique point of view on that week's theme. One week's theme can be entirely devoted to a current event, only for the following week to surround the mystique of comic book culture. Previous themes include: "Classifieds", "Remember Me" and one of my favorites, "Poultry Slam." For each theme, contributions are given in the forms of interviews, short stories, investigative journalism, monologue, stand-up comedy routine or any other imaginable way that a story can be passed through your ears.

The Featured contributors run the gamut from authors such as David Sedaris, comedians including Mike Birbiglia, rabbis, bus drivers, lawyers, coaches, victims, day-dreamers and that girl you lived next to when you were in elementary school. Some contributors are erudite experts in their field, quite a few are hilarious, many are touching, all are genuine. They tell their story the way they want it to be heard, and the interpretation is left up to the listeners. When the same story is told from various points of view it becomes a strange game to try and decipher who, if anyone, is speaking the truth.

What I consider to be This American Life's most important value is its authenticity. This podcast is simply life presented in a more interesting format. The stories are incredibly engaging; as I listen at my cubical at work, I have been forced to perform the awkward and painful "silent laugh maneuver," I have clenched my iPod in anger, shaking it as I formed retorts in my mind and I have also probably made a lot of strange faces in reaction to This American Life which have disturbed my co-workers a great deal and I really should explain but then it may be easier to just remain "that girl with the headphones" rather than "that girl with the headphones who keeps talking about pods."

I believe you will also enjoy the dulcet tones of Ira Glass, host of This American Life. However, be aware that if a beloved author is a featured guest, you may be shocked by how they actually sound (I'm looking at you, David Sedaris). Be aware that your internal narrator's voice may be changed forever.

Relevant Links:
Download the Podcast here
Main website
Wikipedia Page
Store and Donation pages (you just try to ignore the pleas of Ira Glass during pledge drives, ain't gonna work)

Content Rating: Generally safe for work and all audiences with a caveat: many of the topics discussed (including religion, abortion, death, sexuality) may be considered explicit by some listeners. Also, there may be some swear words tucked into a story.

Average Episode Length: One hour.

Drinking Game: None yet invented.

Release Schedule: A new podcast is available every Monday. They do not offer an accessible archive, but previous podcasts can be purchased at their store.

Music: Non-intrusive background sound and interludes between acts, usually with some relevance to the episode's theme. I have no memory of any "bad" music occurring, and many songs played on This American Life will eventually find their way into my mp3 collection.

Unintentionally Good Part: The feeling you get from listening to NPR.

Unintentionally Bad Part: The feeling you get from listening to NPR.

How to find your NPR name:
"Take your middle initial and insert it somewhere into your first name. Then add on the smallest foreign town you've ever visited as your last name." - Jon Friedman [Originally found here].

Also: I do realize that This American Life's original format is a radio show, but hey, this is a podcast blog. So shut up.

Pod What Now?

2009-03-04T17:34:00.000-08:00

This is a blog about podcasts.

Podcasts?

Yes, podcasts.

Um, what?

According to almighty Wikipedia, a podcast is:

"a series of visual or sound which allows files which are distributed over the computer by syndicated download, through Web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers."

All right, I'm listening.

No, you're not. And that's the problem. From what I've experienced in my attempts to share information about podcasts with friends, family, and anyone too polite to tell me to go away, is that there is an overwhelming apathy surrounding podcasts. There is a wide world of alternative media at the fingertips of anyone with a decent Internet connection and no one cares. An entire spectrum of entertaining and informative content exists, but no one can be bothered. It appears that video did indeed kill the radio star, if by radio you mean podcasts, and by video star you mean cute cat macros.

That metaphor seems to have escaped you.

Sorry. Really, all this blog is intended for is to stir up more interest in podcasts.

What do podcasts have to do with me?

Take a moment and think of your hobbies, political views, your music collect, a favorite genre of books, websites that make you laugh, the stories you love to hear. Whatever you like, however you like it, there is a podcast out there that has your interests in mind.
Tell me, what do you like?

Oh! I like cooking!

There's a podcast for you.

I enjoy learning about history. And current events. And grammar!

You've got it, nerd.

...Porn?

Is this or is this not the Internet?

Nice. So where do you come in, viddyviddy?

I'll be providing as reviews for as many podcasts as I can shove onto my iPod. The intent of this blog is to provide both the novice and well practiced podcast afficianado alike to unique, interesting, and entertaining podcasts. Let me know what interests you, and I'll try and find a podcast that can relate! Go find a podcast you like, write up a review, and I'll post it on this blog!

Seriously though, there are really porn podcasts?

Stay the hell away from my computer.
This is going to be a wonderful adventure.

Figured it out.

2009-02-20T17:15:00.001-08:00

This beast is going to be about podcast reviews from now on.

On Blogs, and the Titles Thereof.

2008-10-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

So!

Considering that this blog is still totally bereft of any content, I shall speak of its origins.

Everybody has a blog. Everybody. Your mother has one, and she writes about what a disappointment it was that you decided to get that liberal arts degree instead of becoming a nice doctor or plumber or something that didn't involve Victorian lesbian poetry and when are you going to meet a nice boy?

I, apparently, am a part of everybody. So now I have a blog as well.

The title of the blog was a killer to come up with. I find the most harrowing part of creating something is coming up with the title or name. My characters is D&D have no idea the struggle that I have coming up with their names while I throw their skills points willy-nilly onto the sheets of paper that represent their existence.

Viddyviddy is totally not what I wanted to name this blog. Originally the name was going to be a tremendously clever play on the last lines from T.S. Elliot's poem The Wasteland. See, I thought it was spelled "Shanti" and this blog's title was meant to be "Shanti, shanting, shantied". Get it? It implies the past, present and future forms of the...word...and its a reference to a major Modernist...poem...

Ok, yeah. Turns out it is spelled "Shantih" and the whole thing went up in flames.

Now the title is viddyviddy. Figure out the reference for yourself.

2008-08-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

Test, testing, tested.