Fun with Podcasting

In my previous post, Podcast Excellence, I talked about the two shows that led to my Podcast listening.  Now I am going to tell you folks what I listen to regularly and what shows are gone.

Updates

January of 2012 Rick Emerson decided to leave broadcasting and podcasting after 20 plus years.  He explained it as trying to avoid burnout.  On December 7th, 2012 Cort and Fatboy ended their 8 year show.  They wanted to end things before they found themselves going through the motions.  Their past shows are still up on their website.  The Boys suggest you keep up with the shows that are still producing new shows.  On February 1^st, Cort and Bobby (AKA Fatboy) returned with the first installment of a weekly show called Welcome to That Whole Thing. It is not the same show, same two guys same sense of humor with a new format.  Welcome to That Whole Thing Ended in 2014. KA Podcast also ended in October 2012, due to one of the hosts' career in comedy doing well.  UniBash Radio ended online in 2011.  The City of Heroes Podcast ended back in April of 2010.  Chooch and Viv had many things going on behind the scenes and they were no longer playing City of Heroes at that point.  Into the Blender is still going but sporadically.  Chooch has been playing with Ditched by Kate as their Bass Player and writing songs and posting them on his Blog (http://chooch.us/).  Chooch and Viv can be heard on SpecFic Media’s Beyond the Wall Podcast (http://specficmedia.com/podcast/btw/), a Game of Thrones round table discussion Podcast.  P.G. Holyfield is the moderator and it includes Chooch, Viv, Nuchtchas, and Christiana Ellis. Robert Wagner brought back Portland Sucks in a few iterations; his PDX returned without his former co-host Sabrina Miller, but ended in 2014.

What I am listening to:

Funemployment Radio

http://funemploymentradio.com/

After I stopped for a year and a half due to too many podcasts, I came back.  Greg and Sarah are still one of the best shows out there.  They get a lot of comedians as guests both live and call in.  The live interviews are the better ones.  They have their daily segments Sarah’s world of Crazy, weird insane news from around the world and Greg’s Ball Talk, a sports oriented segment.  They have regular guests including their intern Kenny B and members of their own network.  In the last year they took over the Rick Emerson streaming channel and created a network with other podcasts (Geek in the City Radio and Big and Loud Podcast) and created new shows (Rip City Bad boys, B-Sides & Besides, The Duran Duran Sessions, and the Dally Sessions).  Their Music shows are streaming only.  Streaming is a subscription of $6.99 a month, the first week is free. The non-Music shows are available free. If you want to listen live you need to subscribe.

Geek in the City Radio

http://geekinthecity.com/

Geek in the City Radio began as Film Fever Radio, a movie oriented podcast.
The Main hosts Scott Dally & Aaron Duran realized that when they included other topics, comics, toys, music, video games, and other geekery, they were better shows.  They changed their name to Geek in the City to reflect the broader geekiness of the show.  The regular cast now includes Kielen King AKA Pwn Toney and Dan Clark, Captain Redgoat of PDXYar. They run the gambit of geeky subjects but always have fun.

Ham-Fisted Radio

Ham-Fisted Radio is Dawn Taylor’s Podcast; she started about the time the KUFO Purge occurred in the fall of 2009.  She continued after she joined the Rick Emerson Network and after it ended.  The Show tapes on Saturdays and usually posts by Monday. Her co-host is Bobby Roberts formerly of the Cort and Fatboy Show.  She runs the gambit of popular culture to self examinations of her personal trials, tribulations and joys.  She is fun, irreverent and down to earth. Bobby is a good foil to her although they share some of the same hang-ups.  The show has gone through a few permutations, but it is essentially about Dawn’s passions and life. Ham-Fisted Radio is no longer with us. 

Chronicles of the Nerds

http://chroniclesofthenerds.com/

Chronicles of the Nerds is a Pop Culture Show starring Mikey Neilson, Allen Bethel and Ibrahim Moustafa.  These Twenty Somethings give a fresher eye to Popular Culture.  This show is like sitting in the living room are hear a bunch of friends discuss what they like.  In fact that used to be the show at one point.  You feel like they and their guests are having a good time.  Where as most Pop Culture shows are thirty or over these friends give you an idea what the next generation has in store. This show ended in September 2016 and returned in a new format in December 2017, however no new episodes since August 2018.

Nerd Fight

http://chroniclesofthenerds.com/nerdfight/

Nerd Fight is the Nerdy version of The McLaughlin Group.  Mikey Neilson is the host and Bobby Roberts is the moderator.  They take Nerdy subjects like who is the best Star Fleet Captain and make Nerd Law.  Nerd Law is that the winner is now considered the answer.  They have a rotating panel from Portland Area Geek and Nerd Luminaries from podcasting, the art scene, music scene, comic book industry and the like. The last episode was in September 26, 2013. 

In One Day Radio

http://www.inonedayradio.com/

In One Day Radio is a podcast featuring Sean Stutzman and Jenny Hieronymus two friend of the Rick Emerson show.  The show is a Portland, OR/ Vancouver, WA greater Metro area based program.  Sean is an avid Beer and Brewing Nerd.  Both are major Music nerds.  Although the show is not a Pop Culture/ Geek Culture show it has its moments of brilliance.  They feature a lot of discussion about micro and home brewing.  They cover some the local music scene.  The hosts enjoy sharing their passions that include Pearl Jam, the Rose City Rollers, Wilco, as well as Brewing and Distilling.

Tuning in to SciFi TV

http://tuningintoscifitv.com/

Tuning in to SciFi TV is a weekly Genre TV show discussion podcast.  The cast is Wendy Hembrock, Brent Barrett, and Kevin Bachelder (AKA the Mark Sheppard of Podcasting).  The program starts with the water cooler segment that is a quick rating of the weekly SciFi, Fantasy and other genre television shows.  The ratings are Watch It Now, Watch It Soon, Watch It Later, Let it Sit or Skip it.  Then they have a news segment followed by the Back Porch, an in depth Discussion of select shows.  They have a supplemental podcast called The Last Call which includes discussions of shows they did not cover in the Back Porch.  All and all it is a fun show.

Guild of the Cowry Catchers

http://cowrycatchers.com/

Guild of the Cowry Catchers is a Podcast that is a full cast audio book of the Guild of the Cowry Catchers series.  It is on the fourth book, previous books can be found at PodioBooks.com.  Abigail Hilton is the Author.  The series is set in the same world as her other Novel series Prophet of Panamindorah, however that series was Young Adult and this one is seriously Mature Audiences.  It is a Fantasy series that brings a lot of interesting ideas to it.  It has a lot of political intrigue and blurs sexual and gender roles.

Nathan Lowell

http://solarclipper.com/

http://www.lammaswood.com/

This is not s podcast, but a podcast novelist.  Nathan Lowell is the Author of two Podcast Novel series, Tales of the Golden Age of The Solar Clipper and The Tanyth Fairport Adventures.  Both are found on Podiobooks.com in audio format and can be purchased in e-book format on Amazon.com.  Tales of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper is a different take on Space Opera. Instead of being this epic Battle or intrigue it is a personal story.  It harkens back to nautical novels like Moby Dick, Lord Jim and Horatio Hornblower.  It is about a young man’s journey on a Merchant Trader Spaceship.  The Tanyth Fairport series started as a challenge for Mr. Lowell to write Fantasy with a Female lead.  Not only did he accomplish this effort, but he hit it out of the park.  His Magic in this world is loosely based on Wicca.  It is not your typical spell slinging magic; however it works in the novels’ context.  Now if you were to say Mr. Lowell is my favorite Podcast Novelist you would be correct.  Go out and try his works.

Nutty Bites

http://nimlas.org/blog/category/nuttybites/

Nutty Bites with Nuchtchas is a unique podcast.  She alternates from standard solo podcast where she has Pop Culture news and her views and what is out there, and Nutty Debate podcasts which are her and a panel of guest discussing geeky subject matter.  Her debates are not about a right or wrong answer just a sharing of opinions and ideas.  You can tell she has a great amount of passion about her subject matter.  In her solo podcasts she also covers what podcasts she is into.  This helps you figure out what is out there.  Nuchtchas is an American Expatriate who lives in Canada, so she has a unique spin compared to those who podcast from the states.

Scott Sigler

http://scottsigler.com/

Scott Sigler is considered by many as one of the pioneers of Podcast Novels.    He is one of the first unsigned novelists to turn his work into podcast audio books.  He is also one of the first to parlay that into a publishing deal.  He still self publishes as well as works with established publishers.  His work runs the gambit of Science Fiction, Horror and Thriller.  He has an online person of the F.D.O. or Future Dark Overlord.  He wants nothing less than literary dominance.  He has spotlighted other Pioneer Podcast Novelists such as Tee Morris, Philippa Ballantine, J.C. Huchins, P.G. Holyfield, Nathan Lowell, Seth Harwood and many others.

Prometheus Radio Theatre

http://prometheusradiotheatre.com/

This started as Steven H. Wilson’s Theater troupe that performed audio plays at various conventions.  He began doing original work called the Arbiter Chronicles.  A demand for the work arose so he began podcasting the performances.  Later he stated writing novels set in his world and that led to his own publishing house Firebringer Press.  Now Prometheus Radio Theater includes work from other Authors from that publishing house.  Arbiter Chronicles is a decent Space Opera and Heroic Park is about a world were all the Super Heroes have retired from heroics.  Both are the current offerings from the site.  They alternate every other week.

The Mediocre Show

http://www.mediocreshow.com/

Many Folks consider this the East Coast equivalent of the former Cort and Fatboy.  Eric Tomorrow, Hope AKA the Lady Tomorrow and Tha Mike Pilot have a weekly show that covers Movies with SLC reviewer Jeff Vice, Beards, Meat, Punk Music, Tattoos and Nerdy stuff.  This is all in one show.  It has that Philadelphia attitude to it, which fits since that is the Metro area they are from. Hope dispenses advice and they all lovingly give each other a ribbing.  So if you like your pop culture with Attitude these are the folks for you.

Rip City Bad Boys

http://ripcitybadboys.com/

People who know me know I am not a huge sports fan.  However I am a fan of Rip City Bad Boys.  It is a Professional Basketball podcast that covers the NBA, but specifically two teams.  Those teams are the Portland Trailblazers and the Detroit Pistons.  That is due to the facts that the hosts are fans of each of those teams.  Hosts Tristan Mayer, the Portland Fan, and Kielen King, the Detroit Fan, discuss their teams and the NBA overall as well.  Do you have to be a Basketball fan to like them? No, they are entertaining to listen to and they usually try to explain things to the uninitiated. 

These are the regularly posting podcasts I listen to.  All are available free.  Some offer themselves in other formats that you may wish to purchase, Live Broadcast, complete Audio book, e-books, and dead tree books as well.  If you find any you like in this list do you best to support them if you can.  Thanks and that is My Not So Humble Opinion.

Rant-O-Rama

Here are various Rants that were originally on Facebook.  Things have been crazy lately, so I have been unable to write any new blog posts.  Many of my Facebook friends please bear with these re-posts.

November 15, 2012

So recently Big-Ass Sandwiches shared a video of the Daily Shows reaction to Papa John's owner’s attitude about Medical insurance. So a troll slams them for their opinion then proceeded to insult them, their business and patrons. I was going to respond to this person. I remembered I should never feed trolls. I was irritated that this person felt the need to besmirch these business people for using the First Amendment right to expound their opinion. The tenor of discourse has devolved so far that if you disagree with someone, one feels they have the right to denigrate and insult them. Why cannot people just agree to disagree? What make this world so interesting is no tow people are alike even Identical twin are not exact copies. I would rather embrace our differences than use them against each other. This tomfoolery is why certain folks are saying they want to secede since their side lost in the recent election. I am not saying I agree with Brian and Lisa Wood. Whether or not I do is my business. What I am saying is I defend their right to say or believe what ever they wish regardless.

November 29, 2012

OK, people who I have been hanging around lately have already heard this. My opinion on the whole fake girl geek/nerd thing is simple. Those who are going after these ladies STOP IT, and by stop it, I mean NOW. Please do not scare the ladies off. Who are we to judge who is real or not real? Don't make me snap you in the back of the head with my wool newsie cap. When I was in my twenties the ladies rarely came around to geek/nerd events. Most of this is due to the behavior of some of my fellow geek/nerds of my generation. Please stop it. I know some of you do not know how to behave with ladies. Hell I myself struggle sometimes with social cues. One cannot judge another's passion without being that person. So stop it. You are behaving just like those idiot jocks that used to torture us in high school and in some cases college/ University. Grow up. More bodies are more bodies and that means the Corporations controlling are favorite pop culture icons see monetary potential.  To paraphrase the bible judge not lest ye be judged. So please Stop it and do not ruin it for the rest of us.

December 20, 2012

I recently saw the segment of Members of the Westboro Baptist Church on Brand X, Russell Brand's TV show on FX. This sect and attitudes like it are why I had problems with Christianity as practiced by many in this country. They judge and presume to know what God or the Universal Spirit thinks or feels. If one believes in the Personification of the Spirit of Creation, one must realize it is so vast and our little brains cannot fathom its motivations if it has any. This Sect continues to spout scripture and platitudes that support their hate. They even dispute the phrase that God loves the sinner and hates the sin. My attitude is if things go on between consenting adults that has no harm who I am to judge. Humans are not infallible including when we try to interpret the will of a being that is so beyond us. Whether or not someone is going to Hell if such a place exists is up to the Supreme Universal Spirit not to people. Justifying hate with the will of God is a perpetuation of Evil that frustrates me to no end. If I offend any of my Christian Friends and/ or Family, I apologize. This is how I feel about the matter.