viddyviddy

This is Irregular.  Irregular is an irregularly produced podcast focusing on irregular conversations with irregular people.

I think we can all agree that mocking things is the best, right?  Nothing makes you feel better than cutting someone else down and the anonymity of the Internet makes is incredibly easy for people to post things that you can subsequently laugh at.  

Hm.  I probably should have watched more Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood when I was little.  Too late!

But what if, on the rare occasion that you have to catch your breath because you're laughing so hard at someone, you decided to let them have their say on the matter?  And what if you actually found them interesting and with their own, mostly valid opinion?  Then you'd have the Irregular Podcast.

Relevant Links:
The Irregular Podcast Website!
iTunes! Which only has the first episode available, so check out...
Download through Feedburner!  ..which also only has the first episode.

Just listen to it through the site, okay?

Content Rating:  Explicit.  SERIOUSLY.  The first episode is called "Kindleporn Authors" so you can take that a guidelines as to whether or not you'd be comfortable listening to this podcast.

"It's a Strategically Placed Hole."

Average Episode Length:  Arrrrrrround an hourrrrrrr long.

Drinking Game:  Go on to Amazon.com.  Buy one of the good books that I've listed for you on the side of this review, then go click around the Kindle selections.  First time you find a book title that makes you recoil from your computer monitor, go get a drink.

ALWAYS THE WEREWOLVES!

Release Schedule:  Please see the podcast title.

Music:  L'Aguardiente by Camper Van Beethoven.

The previously reviewed, and much-beloved-by-me podcast The F Plus has stepped out beyond their towering empire of delightfully bizarre and hilarious forums readings to hear what the people they've made fun of have to say.  Hosts Lemon and Boots Raingear step into new territory as they invite members of subcultures to step up to the mic and explain what they're all about.

[Spoiler:  the wackadoos in every subculture are in the extreme minority, which means that the large majority are just peeps that happen to like things like Underwater Boggle or Sheep Organization.]

The Irregular Podcast provides you with interviews from a handful of people that participate in weird things.  The tone of the interviews are... semi-earnest explorations of other people's interests.  The hosts are more than happy to joke around with their guests, and the guests are congenial and do their best to answer the questions put forth.  The dialogue is interesting and while you may not come out of each episode with a greater appreciation for your fellow man, you'll have gotten an episode's worth of entertainment.  

Unintentionally Good Part:  When the guests catch the hosts off guard.

Unintentionally Bad Part:  The little player that pops up from the site is frustrating to move back and forth along the timeline, which makes it hard to replay funny quotes for a podcast review.

Unrelated rating:  Four reposts out of five.

That's not a book cover, that's a t-shirt!

I'm going to share something special with you, dear reader.  This podcast I'm about to review is from a small artist, kind of indie, that hasn't quite made his name known.  I don't know if it's humility, or a bashfulness that comes from not knowing how to market himself, but I'd love to give him whatever signal boost I can to get his work out to more people.

Let us review Penn Jillette's Penn's Sunday School.

Penn Jillette is, according to Wikipedia, a " Magician, illusionist, writer, actor, and inventor", not that he's going to brag about it.  He has a simple, understated approach to his public appearances and doesn't like to make a big fuss.  So far his reach has only extended to Broadway shows, Off Broadway Shows, The Simpsons, Dancing with the Stars, The Apprentice, films and all the books he's written.

And now he has a podcast.  He already had a previous audio show called Penn Radio which ended in 2007, but we're here to talk about the shiny new audio show!

Penn: 

Relevant Links:
Main Site
Subscribe via iTunes and there are plenty of other options on the main site for you to choose from
Ustream.tv Channel, where you can watch LIVE!!!
Episode Archive


Content Rating: Explicit.

Average Episode Length:  A little glance at the episodes show me that they're about 90 minutes, give or take about 10 minutes either way. 

Here's the pitch Penn's Sunday School has to offer:

Drinking Game:  Take a drink each time-

• Penn talks about Debbie Gibson
• A magic trick is referenced
• Someone tells a story involving bodily harm
• Monkeys are mentioned
• Penn gives a "seamless" segue into mentioning his advertisers

Release Schedule:  Every Sunday.  You can watch the podcast live on a video feed via their UStream channel, if that is your kind of thing.

Music:  There is an opening and ending theme and that's all save for some silly intros for topics.

Unintentionally Good Part:  Monkey Tuesday.

Unintentionally Bad Part:  If you are of a skeptic mindset, and wish for others to consider your viewpoints, this would not be a good starting point.  Penn is a gentleman and is more than willing to allow/consider/discuss alternate viewpoints on pretty much whatever, but this podcast is not a delicate place, and if he gets abrasive, it might turn people away without hearing any of your points. 

Unrelated rating:  Three minutes of Penn's laugh out of four.

Humor!  Magic!  Celebrities and listener contributions!  It's a cavalcade of awesome, go listen!

According to a reliable source, it is Spring time! 

According to another reliable source, this is the time of year where people go outside and do... things?  They do activities of some sort, which are apparently fun?  I'm not sure what you can do that's fun and doesn't require a power source to operate.  I mean, I guess people could have portable generators so they can set up their computers in the yard but that sounds like a hassle. 

I don't do outside.  Mankind struggled against all kinds of dangers to invent important technology that has advanced our species, and I intend to honor those brave souls who spent their lives in toil by staying inside and enjoying what they have given us.

For my purposes, the 5 greatest inventions are as follows:

1. Air conditioning
2. Internet
3. Mountain Dew Baja Blast
4. The Slanket
5. Penicillin 

However, even if I don't go outside where all the grass and the Big Sky Lamp live, I realize that other people do.  In the spirit of intrepid journalism, I would like to do a review for a podcast that involves something a person has to willingly go outside for:  gardening!

I put on extra sunscreen just to write this review of Garden How-To.

Relevant Links:
Main Site
Download from iTunes
Horticultural Magazine Twitter
A YouTube Channel!
Store

Content Rating:  Clean as a freshly washed hot house cucumber.  Not a lot of room to get frothed up when you're talking about plants, I suppose.

Host Kathy Cropp (her last name is Cropp and she talks about gardening, how awesome is that!) welcomes you into the wide world of gardening and invites you to pull up one of those little foam pads to protect your knees, pick up a trowel, and join her in the freshly shoveled dirt.  If you've even looked out at your backyard and seen potential for something more than a thing you occasionally mow, this is your podcast.

Don't have a yard?  EPISODE SEVEN, "LANDLESS GARDENING", GOT YOU COVERED.  The subjects move from decorative plants to vegetable garden tips and lots of other topics that can help a garden grow. 

Release Schedule:  The last released episode was in February, 2012, so I am going to say that the release schedule is erratic/sporadic. 


Episode Length:  About-ish 29 minutes.  Just right to water your plants and listen.

Music:  A little toodly-oodly bit at the start. 

Unintentionally Good Part:  The.  Host's.  Name.  Is.  Kathy.  Cropp.  That's good enough for me.

Unintentionally Bad Part:  The host has a lovely, mellow voice.  Unfortunately for me, I can tell that it is the kind of Smooth Jazz Radio voice that would put me to sleep if I tried to listen to it at work. 

This podcast features the expertise of the host as well as a wide variety of guests that can help bring their point of view and knowledge to whatever subject is at hand.  Topics are explained in simple language, so that the novice gardener can get a good start and the practiced gardener can learn new facts/techniques to add to their routine.  Plus, it is nice to picture all the descriptions of the pretty plants they talk about.  Terribly soothing, all in all. 

Go on and give Garden How-To a listen and try some of their helpful tips out in your own plot of land?  As for me, I'mma go throw on another Slanket and maybe watch HGTV.  That suits me just fine.

Heyheyhey.  Idea!  I'm going to review Ten Minute Podcast in


Great right?  Lemme type out the categories (and the links, because c'mon, give me a chance) and let's see how far I can get. 

Will Sasso (MADtv, The Three Stooges)!
Chris D'Elia (Whitney, Glory Daze)!
 and Bryan Callen (The Hangover, The Hangover Part II)!

Together, they made a podcast!  For some reason that I am not entirely sure of at the moment.  Freshly made this February, the fellas have been steadily building up an archive of funny blather for you to listen to.

Bryan Callen:  One's got long hair, the other no hair, they're my friends for life-
Chris D'Elia:  -what does the hair have to do with it-
Bryan Callen:  Chris wears glasses even though he doesn't need them~
                - Bryan Callen "singing" the end song.

Relevant Links:
Main site!
Twitter!
iPod for the downloadin'!

Average Episode Length: For once, a podcast appears to be taking the act of mentioning its length in the title seriously (looking at you Paul & Storm).  Dead on ten minutes! 

Music:  There is an intro song, and a nonspecific end song.

Content Rating:  Explicit and tagged as such in iTunes.  The topics can jump to places you don't expect, so if you're some sort of 1920s school marm, this might be 2 HAWT TO HANDLE.  The rest of us will be fine.
  

Bryan Callen:  You are Samoan.
Will Sasso:  I'm not Samoan.

Unintentionally Good Thing: Bryan Callen singing along to the end song music.

Unintentionally Bad Thing:  This podcast is focused like an arrow.  That has no feathers on the end to guide its flight.  And it's made of Jell-o instead of wood.  Aaaand instead of an arrowhead, there's a marshmallow Peeps somehow adhered to the Jell-o.

_______________

Time!  Okay, well, there you go!  Ten Minute Podcast sure is a podcast, and this sure was a review. 

GO LISTEN TO SOMETHING. 
I HAD TWO SODAS TODAY, THAT IS TWO MORE THAN I AM ALLOWED

[People are] always curious, especially as an actor.  "What do you do? What are you doing tomorrow?"  and you say, "Well, I'm preparing for auditions and I'm writing but I'm semi-retired so I decide what I'm going to do.  It's semi-retirement and I may just go to the basement and start carving duck decoys."

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

This comic © 2003-2011 David Malki !

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! 

 

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

 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:

1. Amusing videos involving either adorable animals or people visiting grievous harm upon themselves.
2. Purchasing items of extreme value.
3. 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!

[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.

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.

"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."

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.

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!"

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.

...oh crap.

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

Content coming...SOON(ish).