viddyviddy

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



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. 

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?

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? 

 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.

"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.

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

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.