Last episode of 2008! Stay tuned for our upcoming year-in-review episode. You can watch us live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cyberspatialniche on Sunday evenings around 8pm, or subscribe to us on iTunes by clicking http://snipurl.com/mediamess. If you use iTunes, please be sure to leave us a review!
Still worried about the number? Sigh, you don’t give up so easily! Solve for X and you should be able to resolve your concerns.
Don’t ask about what episode this was, just listen. Why stress yourself out about such a trivial detail? Numbering will resume with the first of the new year!
Hilarity! Hijinx! Who knows? Just listen, and join us live this Sunday at 7:30pm EST on http://ustream.tv/channel/cyberspatialniche.
A brand new day, a brand new XBox360. Our reviews of some new video games, some new TV series, some new comic books.
Recorded LIVE on ustream.com, Jeff and I talk with special guest Tuan about comic books, tv, some personal issues, some politics. Thanks to everyone that showed up and chatted with us!
Recorded LIVE on ustream.com, Jeff and I talk about comic books, tv, some personal issues. Thanks to Keri, Tim, and Jon for chatting with us!
Jeff and I talk about this and that, comic books and TV shows, college studies and XBOX Live. Enjoy!
My brother Jeff joins me for this week’s installment. We talk mostly about comic books, a little Dark Knight, some gaming news. Enjoy!
UPDATE! - Fixed the audio, though the quality still has room for improvement. Enjoy! Going to fix the audio problems and re-post this tonight, but the original is still up if anyone wants to hear the “rough draft”.
Well, learning from my first podcast, I separated out my thoughts into their various related areas for this go, hoping that I’d be more stream-lined and yawn-inducing. FAIL! Instead, each section has taken on a life-of-its-own with the first coming in at over two-thirds of last week’s entire podcast. I’ve also thrown in a hint of production by adding an intro theme (taken from the late, great Combustible Edison’s Utopia). I had an outro selected, but it just didn’t really feel appropriate. Maybe next time!
Notes
Its long, kinda boring, but its here - my very first podcast. Well, technically its just an mp3 I recorded last night after digging out my recording equipment, but I’ll probably make it a proper podcast later in the week, particularly if I decide to make a series out of it.
It didn’t quite turn out the way I thought it would. I had started with the idea that I’d attempt to make my own kinda of radio show, complete with songs I like bookmarking a few minutes of my rambling. No such luck, its pretty much just 40 minutes of me yammerin’ on and on and on about this that and the other. Mostly the other.
Anyway, I promise next time to make it briefer, more interesting, and perhaps even throw in some music. For now, though, give it a listen. Let me know what you liked, and I’ll try to do more of that next go-round.
Notes
Inspired by my favorite weekly comic book podcast iFanboy and totally needing a blog break from the Obama love-fest, here’s what I think is the best book of this week’s releases - Doktor Sleepless #5.
This excellent post-now book is another of writer Warren Ellis’ excellent takes on tomorrow’s tech and how it changes culture. I loved Ellis’ Transmetropolitan, and his blog likewise reflects his interest in cutting edge science and culture. The latest issue finally brings the so-far rather mysterious story to a bit more of an expository moment of clarity. It also ends with a classic tease in a way only Ellis could ever get away with writing. Check it!
Politics
Larry Craig - so gay/bi-curious it hurts me just to type it. I’m sorry that he’s so repressed/horny that he feels the need to cruise airport restrooms. It’s bad enough coming out when you’re young and still learning life, so I can only imagine what it must be like dealing with these issues when your life is mostly behind you. Still, to stake your political career shingle in the anti-gay GOP these days and somehow try to be gay, albeit in a very secretive, sneaky way, is just hypocritical at the very best.
Come out of the closet, Larry. Take a cue from former NJ governor McGreevey (or even CO minister Ted Haggard) and just admit what happened. You’ve already plead guilty, so it will only help your conscience catch up with the law.
TV, Comedy, and Movies
Seriously, the writers of Showtime’s Weeds have just completely gone off the deep-end. Things are either abjectly depressing or batshit insane! I miss the first season’s funny, mostly formulaic stories, though the religious community storyline might just save everything for me.
Loving The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT. Why can’t networks make more solid drama’s like these? Ugh, sounds like I’m writing TNT’s ad copy now! Seriously, thees shows are well-crafted police procedurals with interesting characters! Take that CSI: Everywhere and Law & Order! Now, if only we could keep Holly Hunter from taking off any more clothes!
Speaking of Holly Hunter, thanks to The Sound of Young America podcast, I’m now officially a fan of the comedian Patton Oswalt. I had, of course, seen him on the Comedy Central roasts, and heard him as the voice of Remy in Pixar’s gorgeous Ratatouille. If you haven’t had the opportunity yet to experience his stand-up, do yourself a favor and check it out.
Two great, recent summer movies - Stardust and Bourne Ultimatum. I also saw Hairspray, but I think I still prefer the original movie and the non-movie musical more. It was decent, but it didn’t really transcend the originals as Chicago ,The Producers, and even possibly Rent did. Next up, Elizabeth: the Golden Age!!
Video Games (and other geeky stuff)
String of great games - Bioshock (360), Puzzle Fighter HD (360), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii), all absolutely amazing. What little time I have left at the end of my longer days, I now sacrifice to them gladly. While Bioshock and Metroid are at least finite games that I’ll probably play through only once or twice, Puzzle Fighter is the game that will probably steal away most of my life. With its various incarnations to date, I’ve probably spent about 1/8th of my life so far clearing its gems and dropping devastating drops on my opponents.
Now with the new version on the XBox Live Arcade, I can waste ever increasing hours of my life defeating random opponents around the world. Yeah…<sarcasm>my life is exciting!</sarcasm> I guess its either that, reading my weekly (yeah, I’m an addict again) batch of comics, listening/watching the latest TWIT or Rev3 podcast, or updating my stupid Facebook page.
Lastly, I just want to send a huge THANK YOU to the BBC for doing whatever they could to hang on to David Tennant and Russell T. Davies (et al) for the next two series of Doctor Who. Yeah, 2009 will be kinda sucky with only the occasional special, but I’d gladly have that than potentially losing the creative team that has made it so awesome. With Battlestar Galactica now approaching its end, it will be a small comfort to know that, as it has for over 40 years, the Doctor remains.
This Valentine’s past was very special for at least one reason - I spent part of it at the cardiologist. For the past week, I had been experiencing what I later found out were called heart flutters, that is, noticeable, momentary fluctuations of my heart beat. They started the day after our small, fraternal alumni gathering for the Super Bowl and persisted throughout that week, culminating in a mild panic attack at my office that following Friday.
Panic began spreading when, after a short but eventful meeting with our auditors, I started to feel as if the left side of my face was slightly numb. Thankfully, I brought myself back from the brink of having a full-blown attack, and after lunch felt much less panicked. On Patrick’s urging, though, I decided to get checked out by a doctor before the weekend. At Centra Care, they gave me an EKG, which the doctor determined was almost completely normal. Based on the information I gave him, he determined that I should cut way back on my caffeine consumption and try to let go of the stress I had been gathering that week. Much relieved that I wasn’t having a heart attack, I went home, collapsed in the bathtub (as I like to do), and played some Hotel Dusk: Room 215 on my Nintendo DS.
The following Monday, I got in to see a cardiologist, who determined that I should have several tests run. The first started right away as I was fitted with a Holter monitor in a chest halter. The technician who fitted me encouraged me to eat a full dinner, complete with a cold dessert, drink several beers, and consume more caffeine that I normally would - all in the name of science! While I completely understand what she wanted to see with these requests, I could only humor her in part - I didn’t consume as much caffeine as I probably could have. Otherwise, I went through my normal nightly routines (sans bath, which sucked), logging each time I moved about or did anything that might cause my heart to react.
And now we’re back to Valentine’s, when I returned the Holter-in-a-halter and had a echo cardiogram. The technician assured me that, though he could not interpret the results, nothing seemed to serious to keep me there for immediate further testing or treatment. I will, unfortunately, have to go back this Friday for a stress test. While I’m not worried about getting my heart rate up by using the treadmill, I am not looking forward to hanging out at the cardiologist’s office for the better part of my Friday. Oh well, such occasions do allow me to burn through my backlog of podcasts. Thank God for the almighty iPod!
Otherwise, Valentine’s Day was quiet. I picked up food from the restaurant at which Patrick and I had our very first date. We ate it at home and caught up on some television, a very homebody Valentine’s (which was quite right, thank you). The audit has come and gone at work, resulting in only my lab getting a finished (and positive) evaluation. God’s in His heaven, all’s right with the world (well, at home anyway).
As a special treat (and hopefully a start to a semi-routine new feature), I have decided to start down a path of doing some audio recordings. I’ve been taken with all of the podcast excitement lately, and having been a long time listener (first time caller) to talk radio, I want to start doing my own dabbling. I don’t expect to turn out anything amazing, but if I can at least try a few things, perhaps even starting a regular podcast or three, I’ll be happy to have spent the time.
So to start us out, here’s a poem by on of my favorite authors. Its called Strange Music by G.K. Chesterton and is read here by me. Enjoy!
