Grailwolf's Geek Life for this week will be coming a bit late.  Unfortunately, preparations for a friend's wedding have rather gotten in the way of media reviews, and SinginGypsyGrrl and I are leaving tonight for Virginia Beach, and the wedding itself (I tried to get out of it, but since I'm performing the ceremony I think they really want me there).

The good news is that this gives me an opportunity to try something new.  A car cast!  For those who don't know, a car cast is when you take a portable recorder along in a car and record on the fly.  I have a fairly cheap mp3 player with voice recording capabilities, so we'll dust that off and see what it can do.

If the file is halfway decent, then I'll put it up on the feed as soon as I can.  Possibly even from the beach if I can find a good Internet connection.

No promises though. If the recording needs work, I'll have to wait until I can get it home and clean it up (so Sunday at the earliest).  And if it's really bad, then we'll scrap it and just get episode #7 out next week.

Meanwhile, check out my last blog where I ask for ideas about listener-interaction.  Keep those thinking caps on, and if you come up with any great ideas, leave them either here or on the official blog at grailwolf.com. (I'll be uploading this same message to the main blog -- minus this paragraph -- as soon as I can get away from the evil firewall). :D

And, as always, thanks for listening.  You guys are the greatest!

Hurdy gur,

-Marc

Well, okay maybe not "famous" but I had a voicemail played over at the Slice of SciFi podcast.  If you listen to the 'cast, it's the voicemail show for show #75 and it's available at their site sliceofscifi.com.  In case you're not familiar with their format, they have an episode each week and then the next week they have a voicemail episode for last week's show.  In other words, they'll have show 75 one week, then next week they'll have Voicemail Show #75 and then show #76.

My voicemail is the next to last one they played, and honestly... not my best work.  It let me know that I shouldn't call a voicemail line first thing in the morning before I've had my coffee. :)

This made me think, though, about my podcast and my voicemail line.  We have so far only had one real submission to the voicemail (TJ, sending in a kick-buttock review that I'll be playing in the next episode).  This makes me think that people may not know what to do with a voicemail line, so I thought I'd talk about it for a sec.

Voicemail is a great way to turn the podcast monologue into a dialog.  If you have any comments about anything I say (agree, disagree, think I should stop eating the purple mushrooms, whatever) then just call in and leave a brief message.  I'll play the sound file on the podcast, and respond to your response (if appropriate) but at the very least, you'll get to have your say.

I'd also like to come up with some cool segments that will revolve around listener feedback, but I've really been creatively blocked on that.  Some examples of stuff that's already been done on other podcasts: Stolen Rap & Hip-Hop lyrics (callers recite lyrics like poetry, and it's often pretty funny), Dumb *** Memories (callers recount an event of... poor judgement from their past), Sci-Fi Haiku Moment (callers leave a haiku on a sci-fi theme, usually in a fake "Mr. Miyagi" voice), Sci Fi Poetry Slam (same idea, but any kind of poetry).

So, what kind of thing would be fun for you guys to take part in for Grailwolf's Geek Life?  I know we have some creative folks listening, and I'd love to showcase that.  Let's brainstorm!

Meanwhile, keep the reviews and such coming.  Just try to keep voicemails fairly short (like, maybe, 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes, for most things) so the show doesn't start bloating too much.  The voicemail number, in case you don't recall, is 206-222-HOWL (206-222-4695).  And if you call from work, it's free. :D

No, don't do that.  I'd hate to get anyone fired.  But by now most of us either have cell phones or are often around people who do, so long distance isn't nearly as much of a factor as it used to be.

Anyway, let me know what you're thinking!  Help shape the future of the GGL! :D

Hurdy gur,

-Marc

The new podcast episode is up at grailwolf.com.  A little contest in this one that expires in just a few days, so listen soon! Hope you enjoy, and I look forward to any feedback. :)

Hurdy gur!

-Marc

The new podcast is finally up at grailwolf.com, and this one is all about you guys.  I'm only sorry that I couldn't fit in contributions from everyone, but I still have more stuff to go through, so maybe I'll get to you all in the near future.

As always, feedback is uber welcome.

Hurdy gur,

-Marc

Wasn't sure this would happen this week, but I gritted my teeth and got through it sans theme music (the music is on a hard drive that is currently sitting off to the side of the computer, but it'll be back in my grubby little hands by next week).  But since I couldn't give you S'GG, you get some really upbeat Jonathan Coulton to lessen the blow.

As always, the new ep can be downloaded from grailwolf.com, and now it's available directly on iTunes as well.  :D

Drop me a line here, at grailwolf.com, or on the voicemail line (206-222-HOWL) to let me know what you think.

Hurdy gur,

-Marc

Just uploaded a completely unrehearsed, unplugged review of the movie Snakes on a Plane.  For this outing, I brought along my lovely co-host Heather and we had a lot of fun. I hope you'll have as much fun listening.  Let me know what you think!

As always, you can download it at grailwolf.com or use http://www.grailwolf.com/rss to subscribe with your favorite podcatcher.

Hurdy gur,

-Marc

This one is a special all-superhero episode.  There was just so much superhero news released in the wake of ComicCon that I figured I'd get it all done in one fell swoop.  Next week we'll be back to the usual mix (with at least one guest voice) but this was sort of fun to research.  I hope it's as fun to listen to!

As always, all comments welcome!

You can download the latest episode at grailwolf.com or use http://www.grailwolf.com/rss to subscribe with your favorite podcatcher.

Hurdy gur,

-Marc

Better late than never.  Grailwolf's Geek Life: Show #2 is up and ready for download at grailwolf.com.  Had some trouble getting audio levels normalized, so my apologies if there are occasionally portions which are louder than the rest of the show.

Still trying things out, and I'm starting to feel like I may actually get the hang of this one day. :)

Hope you all are well, and that you enjoy the show.

Hurdy gur,

-Marc

I'd planned to have a new episode out this weekend at the latest (see last blog entry) but due to some truly bizarre and fairly life-changing events this weekend I wound up with Sunday night being my only free time.  And Jonathan Coulton was playing tonight at Jammin' Java, right up the street from my house.

So it came down to a choice between making a rush-job version of Grailwolf's Geek Life or seeing a live performance by the man who wrote Code Monkey.

No contest.

Frankly, if I'd put out an episode this weekend it would just have been an audio version of my apologizing for not getting a real episode up, so I think it's better to just charge ahead and get episode two up this week.  Besides, now I'll be able to review Jonathan's show and I got permission to play a song.  Sweetness! :D

Hurdy gur,

-Marc

I'd hoped to get this week's episode out a day early, but I started having technical issues with Audacity. I've purchased a better audio program (at least, I hope it's better) but now I have to learn this software.  With some luck, I'll have a show up tonight, but it's more likely that it will be Friday or the weekend.