Sunday, April 30, 2006

Awww Pants!

I recorded a great show tonight and the whole thing was useless.

I tried CastBlaster - very good functionally, but it doesn't like my pc.

Right. I'll get it recorded again tomorrow.

Pants.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Podcast tonight!


.......Promise

I am itching to record another podcast, and will do tonight.

Last night Sue and I went to see 'Miss Saigon' and I found it a bit ridiculous really (though were some good bits). I found I was tittering through all the sad bits - you can hear why later.

Anyway, speak to you all later.

;-)

Cheerio!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Another day, another dollar


I'm working from home today, what sort of image does that encapsulate?

I'm certainly not lying on a chaise lounge, I'm surrounded by piles of files in four crates and have been working since 5.40am. I'm working through till 6 - 6.30pm. I then go off to chair a meeting to appoint a new head Teacher at a local school.

There are some days I just wish away - this is one of 'em!

It's odd this, but as I scoured the web for pictures of yawning, I couldn't help but yawn - pictures of animals, and even the caricature above made me yawn. How odd!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

London Meet up


I got into London bright and early enough – in fact a bit too bright and early as I was the first one there!

I’d managed to grab an early train from Birmingham New Street to London Euston and had a vague idea as to where I was going. I’d looked on the net and found that “The Bricklayers Arms” was just down the way from Tottenham Court Road Tube.

As is nearly always the case whenever I visit London, it was raining, I managed to walk past the road I was supposed to take a few times having obtained ropey telephone directions from the Aussie Barmaid.

I phoned Paul and Jan Parkinson who were ten or so minutes behind me and met them back at the point where I’d started from; Tottenham Court Road Tube. My other mate; Paul Pinfield was an hour or so behind.

Standing, laptop in hand waiting in the rain with my back to The Dominion Theatre which proudly displayed the fact that “We will Rock You – the musical” was in it’s fourth “successful” year I caught a glimpse of Paul Parkinson as Janet shouted across to me.

Paul, Jan and I sat in the very small downstairs room wondering how many folks would turn up.

After three quarters of an hour or so, folks started to show up, and we adjourned to an upstairs room at 3pm. Familiar faces started to pour in – Adrian Pegg, Neil and Jen Dixon, Paul Pinfield, John Buckley, Kosso, Joe Twist, Neil Ford, Tom Morris… the list goes on.

Eventually Adam Curry, Ron Bloom, Patricia Paay and others joined the throng which has now swelled to some 50 odd folks, some names I knew, and some voices I knew too. I stood chatting to Martin Baker, Lynn Parson’s partner in crime and was saddened to hear that Lynn was too ill to come along.

There was much banter, some big Podshow cigars smoked by the Podshow boys and a really nice convivial atmosphere. There didn’t seem to be any schmoosing around Curry & Co, and I have to say that Adam did make a real effort to get out and chat to everyone in the room, he seemed very pleasant, though I certainly didn’t get to chat to him too much.

I was dead pleased to catch up with some old faces from Podcastcon from last September.

So, do I know anything about Podshow UK? Not really, there seems to be a proliferation of companies springing up on the back of RSS and Podcasting… and I’m involved in one of them.

The evening closed off at around twenty to seven and some folks had left prior to me, I could feel my eyelids becoming heavy and knew it was time to move on.

It’s now quarter past eight and I’m hoping to goodness that I’ll get back home before I fall asleep, it’s been a big day for a small podcaster...

I don't know what was going on here, I simply overheard Paul Pinfield say to Ron Bloom "I wonder what Sooty looks like naked?"






Saturday, April 22, 2006

podcast107 ...and I said oo to the woman with the deformed ears...


Download MP3 here

And I said oo to the woman with the deformed ears... Regular(ish) listeners will understand virtually immediately, others will be completely and utterly foxed.

A usual helping of the best music you won't find on your radio..and some well weird chat (all completely squeaky clean, don't worry!)

Music from:

Tom Robinson - War Baby

Karmyn Tyler - Amazing Grace (Live)

Simon Apple - Significance

Simon Apple - Hold me like a lover

A word to the wise...


Keep your eye out for this little baby...

Friday, April 21, 2006

Happy Birthday Elizabeth



Happy Birthday! The Queen celebrates her 80th birthday, and as an Englishman - I'm dead proud that she is my Queen.

Back from holiday..


I'm back from holiday, I'm so pleased to be home, and oddly it's a part of every holiday I like.

To be frank, I was so tired and I was really pleased to just sit and relax.

On one of my days out, I took Harry ino Dunster (the Southwest of England) on a steam railway with my mate; Adam, his wife and their two lovely children; Charlotte and George.

Dunster is a wonderful place - and the steam railway a real place of nostalgia. Why is it that boys of all ages love steam trains?

Dunster itself was a really lovely picturesque place, rolling hills, century old walls and thatched houses - and to top it all off a castle at the top of a VERY steep hill.

We were lucky enough to walk past a tractor that was muck spreading - the small was horrific. A good 10 acres of ground had been covered in effluent, an unbelievable stench.



In this picture you can see the spray behind the tractor.

We virtually ran past the field, gagging and hoping that the tractor wouldn't come over our side of the field.

Our trip out was lovely though - walking through ancient streets and my being able to spend some really lovely quality time with Harry.






A picture of Harry at the station, waiting to get onto the train.

He did enjoy himself, honestly, he really did...







see? The train ride was only five or ten minutes long. In typical English fashion, we had lovely weather, followed by rain, followed by lovely weather, follwed by...well, you get the drift.











This was the entrance to Dunster Castle, at £7.5o a time to walk around the ruin, we were quite content to simply explore Dunster a little more, have a milk shake, a scone and cream and head back home.

What a great day!















Sunday, April 16, 2006

podcast106 podcastpaul. THE musicians music show.

Download Show 106 here


Simon Apple are - well a phenomenon really. What an amazing stable of musicians. Pick your influence, it's all there!

Many thanks to Jeff Miller for his permission to play the tracks.

You can visit Simon Apple at their site here



With the stunning Karmyn Tyler - I listen to a preview of her album - the 'Summertime' cover sounds like a real belter.

I also play tracks from Benet McLean and review his CD; Cliches for another day (this boy can tickle the ivories like a dozen Liberace's!) Nic France; Benet's drummer certainly sounds handy too...

I finish proceedings with Kevin Reeves; Shine, the single track from the Podcast Music Network.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Thank God it's Friday...





Thank God it's Friday.....Literally!


An important event in the Christian calendar; Good Friday is, to Christians possibly even more important than Christmas. We remember at this time the intense pain and suffering that Jesus endured and His wonderful selfless sacrifice.

So how do we celebrate?

hmmm.....

Thursday, April 13, 2006

podcast105 - trouble and strife

Download MP3 file here :podcastpaul 105

Sue here: I'm doing my very first show notes how exciting!! Today on the show we mostly talked about
snoring, and what that little tube is called at the back of your nose (not your particular nose you understand...one's nose!) The CPAP machine that Paul is currently using has made a massive difference, the house is quiet at night! We also chatted briefly about meeting some Britcasters in London, and how not many people actually look like their photos on the Forums! Also he teases me about not being able to work out regional accents, and laughs at me cos I thought Rhod from the BBC was Scottish.....Guess what he IS scottish!!!

The music we played was from the Podsafe Network:
Lovin by Beau Hall
Get Over Her by Robin Stine
and Jack and Billy by 3 Blind Mice

Sunday, April 09, 2006

A day in London with the BBC and some of the Britcast crew.

Yesterday I met a whole bunch of podcasting folks at the BBC - we then went off to a local pub ( Me drinking a diet Coke - emphasize the word diet ) for a chat and a few drinks.

The Britacster forum is a year old - I cannot believe that the online community is so.... old so quickly!

At any rate, it was great to meet up with some old and new faces.

We all got to meet up with Chris Vallance and Rhod from Five live - these two pics are from inside historical Televison Centre at White City, London. The first picure is taken from a second floor looking out onto the shop floor as it were.

The second picture (dead opposite) is lookinng into the Five Live Studio where Up All Night is recorded - as well as Simon Mayo's popular chat programme - so popular in fact I don't know the name of it...

Suddenly my Alesis Mixer doesn't seem so great any more. There was more stuff packed into here than you can shake a stick at.

I was surprised at the general office layout - it reminded me, somewhat depressingly of the head office of a large insurer I once represented.

I can't stand open plan offices, they are the most terrible things to work in. Thank the Lord for that large piece of wood in my office I call a door.

This picture is such a familiar sight to anyone from the UK - Television Centre. Home of the

BBC. Such a horrible looking building, but one that is so comfortingly familiar.

It's so odd to stand in the spot I did and take this photograph.

Just who, may I ask, is this reprobate?

Of course, it is none other than the softly spoken Paul Pinfield sporting a top to a podcast cult hero, Roger Smalls. Or, is this Roger Smalls? You never see Paul and Roger in the same room, come to think if it.

This person opposite is Chris Vallance, we were all a bit disappointed not to see a large red letter 'S' on his chest as he began to peel back his top, for those who can't read the tiny writing, the motif reads "Hollywood, we have a podcast". Chris, as you can see, was sitting next to half of Neil.

Phil Coyne is just in the background. I'm not sure if he was wearing a purple top, or if that was the exposure of my camera.

The emptying beer glasses were testament to the fact that we were coming to the end of our meeting. Conrad Slater ( Spainful films ) slept gently on one hand as Paul Pinfield munched his way through the dips you see on the table.

My pictures are so dreadful, I never seem to capture the subject matter carefully. Just in shot is Dean ( Deek Deekster on the forums ) I learnt during the course of the meet that he's not only a bass player, he's one half of the magic that goes into producing the John Cleese podcast. Yep, you heard that right - John Cleese has a podcast. Blimey!

I love Janet parkinson's face on this pic... and the compsoition as it is so unrepresentative; Janet appears to be scorning Adrian 'no mates' Pegg who appears to be sitting in the corner on his own.

Adrian, bless him, is actually everyone's mate.

I think Adrian was just shell shocked at the thought that his wife; Felicity had gone off to the West end with mine for a 'shopping spree'. I know I sat, sans wallet wondering what on earth the girls would come back with...

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Why Shhhhhh???

I'm certainly not going to be all secretive. I'm happy to set out my stall.

I'd an idea and someone - who will remain nameless - said "keep that under wraps!"

Why?

I've said before that I don't really think advertising and podcasts work. Well, I'm very happy to put money where the mouth is. If I'm right, I'll know shortly!

I've approached a number of great UK podcasts to network an advert for the practice where I'm an associate; Smith Jones. Only one podcaster has such an aversion that he would not like to participate - the others have very happily agreed.

Just one or two things to iron out (i.e get round to recording) and we'll see. No fanfare, no constant blogging, banners, banter, or Shhhh!!!! I get cheesed off with talk. Talk is cheap. I like action, I think because I'm a restless sort who is terribly impatient. I've seen so many parked domain names, heard so much of what folks are going to do. Yawn...

It's exactly the same in law, I presume in any industry really.

Wonder if it'll work though?

It'll be a great experiment to see how this all goes. If it goes great... well... great. If it doesn't, well...still great. At least I've tried it and so have some other good folks too.

The excellent thing about this medium is that it is so fast moving. It's great to see innovation, movement and folks doing stuff.

I mentioned in PUM that the plateau isn't here yet, there seems to be one peak after another. Thank goodness for never ending peaks... will they end?

I'm still enjoying it!

podcast user magazine

The third issue of Podcast User Magazine can be downloaded here.

The blog can be found here. For a completely free magazine about poidcasting there really isn't anything better....in fact, there isn't anything at all, because this is the only magazine devoted to podcasting.

I cannot tell you how many man hours go into writing, editing, publishing, laying out - but it's a great deal.

If you've not read the mag before, slap yourself hard on the back of the head and download it as soon as you possibly can. Great reviews, news, articles. A fabulous piece entirely gratis. How do they do that?!

Sunday, April 02, 2006

more awful record covers..


I just love these terrible and desperately tasteless album covers. Do me a favour, if you see any more, mail me?

Cheers!

















need I say more?


please...

Today I have mostly been listening to..

Eat right, Get Out of Breath with Chris, formally from England, then Montana...and soon to be England again. Without wishing to patronise Chris, he's a very brave bloke and I love his idea of logging his weight loss project from "a tub of lard to a greek adonis".

Actually, here's the thing: podcasting is sometimes about entertainment, but that's not the be all and end all. I use this comparison so much, it's done to death, but if you're into knitting - there's a whole community for you. Here, with Chris, it's something that really draws me in, you follow a real bloke's journey on a real path with real struggles without any of the glitz and nonsense you usually see on the so called reality programmes. I enjoy the rawness of things like that. I aim to stick with Chris and I do seriously wish him well.

Maybe it's a subjective thing, but i like the idea of invesigation, journalism. Entertainment is great, but it doesn't necessarily draw me in as much as something that makes me think - that's why I like John Buckley's Dissident Vox so much. If you're reading this John, do more O.B stuff - your talking to the protesters outside Downing Street has to be a highlight, I remember sitting on a sunlounger just south of Barcelona totally drawn into the whole thing.

Next I listened to Paul Hopkins, an old mate of mine of 15 or 16 years. Knowing I have a real passion for choral music (nope, I've no idea where it comes from) he pointed me to his Lichfield Cathedral podcast under his VIpodcasting (visually iimpaired) site. I remember once,a few years ago now, stumbling into a college chapel in Oxford and hearing a choir practice with a quartet. I sat mesmerised and tearful for ages, I was so moved. This is a brilliant piece of O.B. - listen from about 16 minutes in, the quality of the recording is absolutely exceptional, as is the music. Paul's discussion with a Cherokee indian chief in Alabama from a recording he made some years ago is also a good one to listen to.

I've reviewed a couple of alternative podcasts that you may want to try out in the Podcast user Magazine, the third edition should be up soon after you read this post.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

podcast104, Podcast Paul - The best and worst of music...



Download MP3 file here

Podcast 104 - the best and worst of music.

Another episode of podcastpaul, this time featuring the best and worst of music. Ever heard music that literally brings tears to your eyes? Hear the geezer in the picture on my blog at podcastpaul.com and every chap will wince.... no really.

I talk about 5 days with Apple and your opportunity to win a £900 box set of final cut pro. Some different music this week:

from the podsafe music network: Robert Farrell; Woolly Mammoth, Karmyn Tyler, Driftiing (thanks for the link Kenny!)
From BBC Archives; Alessandra Moschrati.
From Magnatunes Dead Star, Self Delusion. Last, but certainly not least - Benet McLean / Chris Dodd; Cliche for another day. Thanks to Andy Baker for the link, and sorry for not mentioning Steve Washington's exceptional drumming. That boy can certainly play - well, they all can, obviously!
I talk about the Castrati, Apple and lots of other stuff too.
Please feel free to comment on the blog below or send a mail.
ciao bellas!