WWdN: In Exile

Radio Free Burrito Episode 12

Holy crap! It's a new episode of Radio Free Burrito!

This show is all about Jonathan Coulton, because it's the First of May.

Show Notes:

• The logo was designed by WWdN:iX reader Marc, who asked that I not link to his "in progress" website. Thanks, Marc!
• I drop at least one F-bomb in this show, so you probably shouldn't listen to it around little kids, people with sensitive ears, or at work. Especially if you work in a daycare for kids with sensitive ears. (Hi, Agnes!)
• I encourage you to visit Jonathan Coulton dot Com.
• You may want to examine all the songs produced for the Thing A Week series.
• I know you want to give JoCo shiny gold rocks in exchange for musical and clothical items.
• The video for the Flickr song, as promised.
• Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise Crazy, but just be glad it's him, not you.
• Jonathan Coulton Tour information!
• Paul and Storm on the intarwheebs!
• I didn't bother with chapters and all that for this one, because I banged it out in about 30 minutes. (No, I didn't do it outside, despite the song in the show.) In fact, it's taken me longer to put together the show notes than it did to make the show. I think that qualifies me for several government jobs.
• My silly little news item came from Wikinews.
• Here's the original Misty Morning blog entry at WWdN.
• I got the address for the podcast about as wrong as I can get it without sending you to xkcd by instead. In addition to the Feedburner link (which is just the feed for my blog) you can check out all the posts tagged "podcast" here.
• Hey, did I mention that I'm going to be in San Diego this weekend?
• Radio Free Burrito is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
• This episode weighs in at 21.7MB and is about 24 minutes long.

I won't be able to update this post with mirrors, because I'm going to be in San Diego this weekend (see what I did there?) but if you make one, please leave it in the comments and I'll update when I get home from San Diego, where I'll be this weekend.

Enjoy the show, everyone!

Download radio_free_burrito_episode_12.mp3

Holy crap! It's a new episode of Radio Free Burrito!

This show is all about Jonathan Coulton, because it's the First of May.

Show Notes:

• The logo was designed by WWdN:iX reader Marc, who asked that I not link to his "in progress" website. Thanks, Marc!
• I drop at least one F-bomb in this show, so you probably shouldn't listen to it around little kids, people with sensitive ears, or at work. Especially if you work in a daycare for kids with sensitive ears. (Hi, Agnes!)
• I encourage you to visit Jonathan Coulton dot Com.
• You may want to examine all the songs produced for the Thing A Week series.
• I know you want to give JoCo shiny gold rocks in exchange for musical and clothical items.
• The video for the Flickr song, as promised.
• Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise Crazy, but just be glad it's him, not you.
• Jonathan Coulton Tour information!
• Paul and Storm on the intarwheebs!
• I didn't bother with chapters and all that for this one, because I banged it out in about 30 minutes. (No, I didn't do it outside, despite the song in the show.) In fact, it's taken me longer to put together the show notes than it did to make the show. I think that qualifies me for several government jobs.
• My silly little news item came from Wikinews.
• Here's the original Misty Morning blog entry at WWdN.
• I got the address for the podcast about as wrong as I can get it without sending you to xkcd by instead. In addition to the Feedburner link (which is just the feed for my blog) you can check out all the posts tagged "podcast" here.
• Hey, did I mention that I'm going to be in San Diego this weekend?
• Radio Free Burrito is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
• This episode weighs in at 21.7MB and is about 24 minutes long.

I won't be able to update this post with mirrors, because I'm going to be in San Diego this weekend (see what I did there?) but if you make one, please leave it in the comments and I'll update when I get home from San Diego, where I'll be this weekend.

Enjoy the show, everyone!

Download radio_free_burrito_episode_12.mp3

Radio Free Burrito Episode 11

Holy crap!

Look out the window for restless horsemen . . . it's a new episode of Radio Free Burrito, less than a week after the last one!

Show Notes

• I think we should just go ahead and give this podcast the [Explicit] label, if it doesn't have it already. Consider yourself warned.
• The logo was designed by WWdN:iX reader Marc, who asked that I not link to his "in progress" website. Thanks, Marc!
• Episode X let me get my podcasting legs back, so I felt much better with this one, even when I had to stall while trying to splat-tab into Firefox, where I saw that I hadn't pre-loaded my blog. Whoops.
• I put chapters, links, and images in this one. Yay!
• The full Code of Honor review isn't up yet, but you can read all of my TNG Reviews at TV Squad if you haven't already.
• When I mentioned all the great blogs at Wired that people may not know about, I forgot to mention GeekDad. It's not because I don't think it's a great blog, but because I took for granted that everyone reads it already. I also mentioned Underwire, Listening Post and Threat Level.
• Here's the offending Alt Text column. Here's my Tweet. Here's my facepalm.
• You know you want to learn more about fabulous Palm Springs.
• Brad Sucks does not suck. You can listen to the album I Don't Know What I'm Doing at Magnatune.
• Mister Bungle is a shame, because he spoils lunchtime.
• I really do appreciate feedback; it makes me feel like I'm not broadcasting into an empty box.
• Radio Free Burrito is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
• This show is 18 minutes long, and weighs in at 16.6 MB.
• As always, let me know if you decide to mirror the show, and I'll update this post.

Thanks for listening!

Download radio_free_burrito_episode_11.mp3

MIRRORS

Radio Free Burrito Episode 11 from Brian

Radio Free Burrito Episode 11 from Media Pundit

Radio Free Burrito Episode 11 from Craig Steffen

Torrents from our good friend Brian May

High (orig):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_11.mp3.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 0-24, 3.1 MB):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_11-low.mp3.torrent

Holy crap!

Radio Free Burrito Episode X

Holy crap! It's a new episode of Radio Free Burrito!

This is another music episode, focusing on three styles I really like: Rockabilly, Psychobilly, and Surf.

I found a ton of great artists on the podsafe music network, and I hope you enjoy the musical stylings they provide.

Show notes:

• The logo was designed by WWdN:iX reader Marc, who asked that I not link to his "in progress" website. Thanks, Marc!
• I had a good time with this one, though to be completely honest, I wasn't entirely comfortable with the sound of my own voice and I think that comes through a little bit.
• I drop at least one F-bomb in this show, so you probably shouldn't listen to it around little kids, people with sensitive ears, or at work. Especially if you work in a daycare for kids with sensitive ears. (Hi, Norma!)
  
• I didn't bother with chapters and all that for this one. It's been so long since I did one of these, I just needed to get my podcasting legs back and I didn't feel that it was worth the extra effort.
• I played music from these awesome artists:

• Thee Merry Widows
• The Marauders
• Horrorpops
• Jukebox Sinners
• B-Sea Surfers
• Big John Bates (I incorrectly back announced his song as Super Chrome. It is, in fact, Super Chrome Deluxe, which is even better. I regret the error.)
• Ronnie and His Twangin' Little Fellow

• The show is 27.9MB and runs just over 30 minutes.
• Radio Free Burrito is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
• Podshow wants me to say "Some of the music provided tonight from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at 'music.podshow.com'" I don't think I said those exact words in that exact order in the show, because I'm stupid and I just noticed that right this second. But I know they were all in there, and I'll be sure to say the fucking words correctly next time, Mister White.
• Finally, I want to thank all the artists and labels who are participating in the podsafe music network. I hope this exposes your music to new listeners and you're all buying mansions and yachts before the next full moon.

If you can provide a mirror, let me know in the comments and I'll update this post.

Thanks for listening!

Download radio_free_burrito_10.mp3

MIRRORS
Radio Free Burrito Episode 10 from Nick B
Radio Free Burrito Episode 10 from Media Pundit
Radio Free Burrito Episode 10 from Craig Steffen

Torrents from our good friend Brian May:

High (orig):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_10.mp3.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 0-24, 5.1 MB):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_10-low.mp3.torrent

a different perspective on numb three ers

The art department at Numb3rs created the best fake comic convention I've ever seen for last week's show. The level of detail was phenomenal, including things like a stack of flyers welcoming participants to the con, booths from Wizkids, and WOTC, and appearances by several different real life comic creators.

One of those comic creators, Tony Fleecs (In My Lifetime, POSTCARDS: True Stories that Never Happened) talked to the comic podcast Word Balloon about his experiences on the set. It's an enjoyable listen for comic readers, and people who just want to know what it's like to be on the set of a television show from the perspective of someone who doesn't work in the TV industry every day. He also said some nice things about me, which made my sugar hangover a little more bearable.

(Thanks to reader Ethan J., for the link!)

Radio Free Burrito: The Mix tape, Volume 1

As long as I can remember, my friends and I made mix tapes for each other. We'd grab stuff off the radio, record each other talking, tape tracks from records, and even grab stuff off the television.

A few minutes on the Internets revealed that I was not unique at all in this activity, which is as unsurprising as it is totally awesome.

I found myself in an empty house this weekend, and I became inspired by a midnight viewing of Videodrome to audio hijack some dialog from the film, drop in some of the weird audio I've scraped off the tubes in the last couple of months, and put it all together just like I did with those magnetic tapes so many years ago.

The audio levels are not as equalized as I'd like, but that's the way it was back then, too, so try to think of it as part of the charm, instead of an annoying technical failing on my part.

There aren't any show notes for this one, because we didn't bother to make show notes back in the old days. There are some titles embedded in the file, though, so you can imagine that they're scrawled on the TDK cardboard insert in blue Bic pen.

This was fun as hell to make, and I hope you like it. If you can spare a mirror, I'd be most grateful, because the file is quite large to preserve the audio quality.

• Mirror  (Thanks, herdivineshadow!)
• Mirror via MoronLife.com (Thanks, Clay!)
• Mirror on S3 (Thanks, Keith!)
• Mirror at Effluxity (Thanks, John!)

Torrents, from Brian May:

High (orig): http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burritos_mix_tape_volume_one.mp3.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 0-24, 5.6 megs): http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burritos_mix_tape_volume_one-low.mp3.torrent

Download radio_free_burritos_mix_tape_volume_one.mp3

TRT: 32:30
Filesize: 29.6 MB (Yep, it's all music, so it's huge, even encoded at 128).

(Image via Make)

Radio Free Burrito: Episode Nine

Inspired by Goldfinger (the movie, not the band) and alone and a little bored in an empty house while my family is away, I decided to do a special episode of Radio Free Burrito.

This is entirely a music show, playing Exotica, Easy Listening, and Lounge Music from Comfort Stand Records, which is totally awesome and releases its artists under a Creative Commons License.

I had a giant pile of fun doing this show, and I hope you have a good time listening to it.

Show Notes:

• I tried to use chapters and images in this, because the latest version of GarageBand makes it appear easy. I don't know if I did it right.
• All the artists I played are at Comfort Stand dot Com.
• I played music from:
  
  • Coconut Monkeyrocket
  • Dana Countryman
  • Martinibomb
  • Skip Heller
• If you liked the music I played, and you want to hear more, Wikipedia's Lounge Music page is a great place to start.
• I also mentioned Joe Frank, who is awesome.
• Comments can be sent to podcast at wil wheaton dot net. Please use a descriptive subject line.
• Radio Free Burrito is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

This episode weighs in at 37 minutes, is 18.3 MB, and is in m4a format, instead of mp3 format, because I'm tired and not in the mood to remember how to convert it to an mp3 that still sounds good. I don't think it's that big a deal at the moment, because the size appears to be consistent with older episodes of the good old RFB.

Download radio_free_burrito_episode_nine.m4a

Enjoy!

Update: Our good friend and Torrent-Creating Guy Mann Dude, Brian has created two different .torrent files for Super Happy Funtimes:

High (orig):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_nine.m4a.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 0-24, 6.7 megs):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_nine-low.mp3.torrent

Thanks for the .torrents, Brian, and thank you to everyone else who sent in comments or feedback. It's awesome to hear from listeners who enjoyed the show, and inspires me to do more in the mysterious future.

radio silence

Some days, you just have to accept that you're not destined to do the things you want to do. You just have to say, "I did my best, but it's just not going to happen."

Like this fucking podcast, for example. After spending nearly three hours working on it yesterday, only to have my machine completely eat all of it and leave me with nothing but an empty feeling and a tiny ball of rage to show for it, I sat back down today to give it another go. As a bonus, I even convinced my wife to let me take out the old iRiver and ask her some questions about dating, and then being married to a geek. It was awesome.

However, the gods had other plans, because when I imported my audio from my iRiver to my Powerbook, it was totally useless, just like it was after the Grand Slam convention. Only this time, instead of being totally blown out, it decided that it needed to skip all over the place and drop out about every three seconds. I've discovered that the only thing this particular iRiver is good for is hitting with a sledgehammer, then setting on fire, stomping into a ball of goo, and launching at the invading Viking army via a trebuchet. (And it's not even very good for that, to be honest.)

This really needs to just work. I really need to be able to just sit down, take what's in my head, and put it into a recording. It's clear to me that if I want to do this podcast on any regular schedule, it has to be as technologically easy as it is for me to write, and I just don't have the tools for that right now. I have to get some sort of reliable recording rig that is NOT a USB headset into fucking Garageband that crashes, and the iRiver that decides to just stop working one day. I need stuff that just works.

This is all a roundabout way of saying: I'm really frustrated, and really upset that I've poured five hours of my time into this fucking thing, and I have nothing to show for it. It's the end of the week, I'm hungry and cranky, and instead of trying to start all over again and force a show out by the end of the day today, I'm going offline for several hours, to have dinner with my wife. Thank you all for your questions and the time you spent asking them; I'll do my very best to get the technical side of things worked out quickly, so your time will not have been wasted, as well.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Please drive safely.

the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have

Today is Towel Day, a day when all geeks can carry their towels with them in tribute to the hoopiest frood of them all, Douglas Adams.

I absolutely love that I'm recording an all-geek podcast on this most sacred of days.

Updated: Oh! You know what I love even more? Spending 2.5 hours working on the podcast, then losing the entire thing to some weird confluence of system lockups and crashes.

I'm taking a long, long, long don't-break-anything walk, and I'll try again in the morning. Sigh.

box of rain

I'm working on WWdN today (about to stop and walk my dogs; the rain has broken, and it's quite beautiful outside right now) and I thought I'd share a couple of links for any readers who found me in Exile, rather than following me over from WWdN.

The first is something I wrote a long, long time ago, when WWdN first started. I knew people would be coming to my site with lots of preconceptions, and I wanted to take a shot at challenging them. I also had a tragic-but-true story which started this whole blogging thing for me, and is one of the first narrative non-fiction things I ever wrote:

If this is your first time here, you should read this.

The second is a couple of links to a reading I did from Just a Geek and Dancing Barefoot at Gnomedex a couple of years ago. It's not the best performance of all time, and I tossed in a couple of ad-libs that in retrospect don't work (see if you can spot them!) but

You can now see or hear me read from my books Just A Geek and Dancing Barefoot! If you like what you hear, you may want to pick up a copy of Just A Geek: Teh Audiobook. Or not. Whatever. I'm not the boss of you.

Oh! And even though I'm putting my photos into flickr these days, I have an extensive gallery that's filled with really great stuff, including a HAWESOME series from a road trip Anne and I took a few years ago. Man, I really love WWdN. Working on it brings back a flood of memories, and I can't wait to get back home.

question for the podcasters

I've been working on a new episode of RFB most of this morning, and I'm incredibly sad to reach the conclusion that it's just not going to happen.

I don't have anything original or interesting to say, but I figured it wouldn't be the biggest deal, because the bulk of the show would be audio from the Star Trek convention and my audition on Tuesday. The big problem is, that audio is just for shit. It's so blown out that listening to it gave me a headache and actually made me feel a little sick to my stomach by the time I gave up trying to clean it up in garageband.

I've been using an iRiver 795; I've noticed that the last few times I've used it, the built-in mic is so sensitive, that with the encoder set at 44 kHz and 160Kbps, unless I'm speaking very quietly or there is absolutely no ambient noise, the audio is useless at best, and painful at worst. I've tried the line-in with a clip-on mic, but without some sort of pre-processing, the levels are too low.

So, can any of you experienced radio people or podcasters out there suggest an extremely portable, very affordable solution to my audio problem?

(Thanks to Matt D. for catching a picture of the official RFB truck in action!)