Hey I knew those robotz!

I need to go back and listen to the interview with Roger Gregg.. but I did get to listen to "Gerry in the Dark Passage", go bathe my child, then catch Robotz at the end... all with my Tuesday Night date Dave. Dark Passage was awesome, what a well-done play. I particularly liked the soundtrack. :-)

Now, Robotz as the regular readers know always makes me giggle, but I was REALLY giggling tonight as I tried to recognize the voice of The Society's host(s). I mean, it was easy to figure what parts they played, because they were the only new ones, but WOW.

I messaged Dave. Here is an idea of how our chats go during the show- so very very exciting LOL:


Danielle (11/29/2005 7:21:17 PM): that has to be andrew
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:21:34 PM): that voice, not the first one
Dave (11/29/2005 7:21:37 PM): yea sounds like it
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:21:53 PM): do you think the first one is jack? they recorded it together
Dave (11/29/2005 7:29:50 PM): bundlebot
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:29:53 PM): merde
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:30:20 PM): no!
Dave (11/29/2005 7:30:56 PM): corporal cannonfodder
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:31:09 PM): move like the french
Dave (11/29/2005 7:31:19 PM): move like the french and withdraw
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:31:24 PM): LMAO
Dave (11/29/2005 7:31:29 PM): hehe
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:31:48 PM): that HAS to be jack
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:31:52 PM): if it is- wow
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:31:56 PM): doesn't sound anything like him
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:32:01 PM): oh they will say
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:32:05 PM): YUP
Dave (11/29/2005 7:32:05 PM): yea I know
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:32:12 PM): wow
Dave (11/29/2005 7:32:26 PM): that was fun
Danielle (11/29/2005 7:32:27 PM): well there is my next blog entry, all cued up and ready LOL


So- great episode Robotz gang, and well done Jack and Andrew!

And NOW- you can get the podcast HERE to download!

Night all,
~Dani

How crazy is your reality?

Tomorrow's Sonic Society proves to be an interesting story- Crazy Dog Audio Theatre premiers in the Society with something for the virtually video game minded in us all:

Gerry In The Dark Passage A story of a virtual man who lost his virtual way. Written, directed & produced by Roger Gregg

A dark, disturbing drama in which a man experiencing a schizophrenic breakdown retreats into his graphically violent hostage-rescue computer game. As his psychosis progresses, the game begins to spill into his real life with tragically violent consequences.

Afterwards... listen in for some information about the Consortium Comics project, an interview with the writer of the headlining show, and yes friends we have the current flagship Titan 1 closing us out with one of the final episodes of Robotz of the Company. Remember a few entries ago where I mentioned familiar voices? Well, make sure you listen in tomorrow to see if you recognize any of them! :-D

~Dani

Sonic Society Podcast!

I sure got a shocker this morning. As I'm downloading all my podcasts into iTunes this morning, I recognized a certain show downloading through the Radio Memories Podcast. I paused, rubbed my tired, holiday-hung-over eyes, and looked again. Sure enough- there it was.

Radio Memories Network has picked up the Sonic Society in their podcasts! WoooooooT! You can find them on Channel 3, which is the Theatre Channel. Now EVERYONE and their family, friends, and pets can understand why I rave about this show the way I do!

So everyone drop what you're doing and subscribe NOW! In your podcast program, just do a search for RMN Channel 3 Radio Theatre. You can listen and download directly off of Radio Memories website as well. I also have a link set up under The Main Addiction- so there is no way to get out of this! Our voices are legion- so spread the word!

Yay! I'm so happy for the Sonic team, as well as for all the other audio theatre groups that are going to get even more exposure now! Congratulations guys, you have worked hard for this!

:-D
~Dani

Naked Radio- wooHOO!

What is today? Friday? And I am just now sitting here and finishing listening to Tuesday's Sonic Society? Geez, the addict is slipping! I do have an excuse though- an onslaught of people visiting my home for the Thanksgiving holiday.

OK so I've got two guests. But that's not the point. They've taken over my office, and are holding my precious computer hostage! (Methinks I need to ask Santa for a laptop for Christmas...) Anyway, I'm catching up and listening to an awesome interview with Prometheus Radio Theatre.

But, unlike those I'm listening to, I'm fully clothed. (Well you know, kids running around and all...)

Now that I know you are curious, click here for the archive, and punch in 21:00 - 22:30 on November 22, get naked and listen to some awesome radio drama!






Now I'm off to get some leftover turkey, and contemplate my attack on Santa for that Christmas present... ;-)

~Dani

Canadian ISP Problems

Found this little bit from the best blog on the net, next to this one of course!
Thought it would interest all you Canadian podcasters out there.
~Dani

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Canadian ISP blocking iTunes store/podcasts?
A reader writes, "A very short thread on Apple's website notes that Rogers/Shaw ISPs in Canada are blocking podcast downloads because of a policy against multiple downloads."

Over the past month Rogers (ISP) in Canada has put some software on their networks that prevents activity for BitTorrents, P2P, IRC, and also along with that is a rule that if you are trying to download a large media file from more then 1 server it will be dropped. When you download a Podcast from iTunes it downloads that file from multiple servers in the background (I confirmed this by watching my cable modem logs). As soon as it tries to use more than 2 different servers for the download, it just stops. That's the reason why Podcast downloads stop at random places - it's the point where a 2nd server is involved in the download. The same issue causes timeouts and cut-offs in the iTunes music store.

Here is the problem - when anyone calls Rogers about the problem they say it is either a router, firewall or Apple problem and they shrug you off.

Hundreds or thousands of people in Canada can no longer get Podcasts or purchase music from the iTunes Music store. This is BAD. Please, Apple, contact Rogers and sort it out. So many people have called Rogers with no luck.

Link

Update: Three readers have written to say that they can't reproduce this error, or that it only occurs intermittently for them. It may be that Rogers is fine-tuning its packet-shaping app to catch fewer false positives from the iTunes server.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/20/canadian_isp_blockin.html

Writing, Acting, and Smurf Porn

Right at this very moment I am in the middle of a VERY entertaining chat with the folks who have been closing out the Society for the last 11 weeks- Jonithan Russell and the gang at Dream Realm Enterprises! So now I know all of their secrets... writing, acting, what's in the future, and smurf porn. I also got the scoop on a couple of familiar voices that are going to be in a couple of future episodes, so stay tuned. I'm not revealing it JUST yet... teeheeeee.....



There is also a good show lined up for this week's Society- with more Arbiter Chronicles by Prometheus Radio Theatre. After, there will be an interview with the Artibers themselves, and we round out the evening with the 12th episode of Robotz!


Can you believe that Sonic Society has been on-air for 12 weeks now? Time really does fly when you're having fun! What a great few months it has been too. I also happen to know first- hand that the next few months are going to be pretty exciting too! This number one audio addict was able to help Jack out with the scheduling of the shows... which was actually pretty fun putting together. Not that I did much, but it was nice to be trusted with such top-secret audio info!

So I hope you will all be listening Tuesday! I unfortunately may have to catch the archives- so you all HAVE to listen in my place! I command it! :-)))

~Dani

Soul Searching

Another Tuesday is upon us, and a couple more episodes of The Soul Patrol are ready to go in the Society this week! For those who have been following the series, here is what is in store:

#5. My Camp
Billi screws up and allows a teenage girl to get in touch with a past life. You'll never guess who she was. Hijinks ensue.

6. Bridge Of Indecision
There's no winning against heaven as Holly finds out when she's court martialed for insubordination. Her punishment is to make an excruciating decision for God. It's not pretty.

This week's interview I am most definitely looking forward to- because I will finally get to hear the voice of Robotz of the Company creator Jonithan Russell! See, in my mind he sounds like a Robot... I'm not sure why that is. ;-) The interview leads right into the next episode of the series, so I get to keep right on giggling...

Unless it's a serious interview. Serious and technical and joke-free. (Oh I couldn't even type that with a straight face! Somehow I don't think the interview will go that way.)

Yes fellow addicts, another good show is lined up for us. So I know you will all be listening! You should all drop Jack an email and tell him what a fantastic job he is doing with Sonic Society too!

~Dani

BBC Radio's experimental audio-tagging project

I was scanning my feeds today, and came across this little audio find in the Boing Boing blog:

Public could help BBC to index archive

Posted: 1 November 2005 By: Robert Andrews

Email: news@journalism.co.uk

The BBC could ask listeners to write programme information about its radio news bulletins in order to make its vast archives more accessible to future generations of licence payers.

Under the Annotatable Audio project, radio listeners would be able to mark and add descriptive keywords to segments of programming they want to flag for bookmarking or sharing with others. It means they could highlight a specific item within a lengthy bulletin stream and return to that particular point later.

Inspired by Flickr and Wikipedia, the project is a private, early-stage pilot of social software produced at BBC Radio and Music Interactive that lets listeners slice programmes into chunks that can be identified by using tags.

Influential blogger Tom Coates, who oversaw development at the BBC, showed a demonstration in which a user marks individual headlines within a Radio 4 bulletin then adds descriptive text that can be used to make segments searchable.

"Over the next few decades, it's pretty clear that the massive archives of content that every broadcaster in the world has accrued over the last 70 or 80 years will start to appear on-demand and on the internet," he wrote.

"How are people supposed to find the specific bit of audio or video that they're looking for? What if what you're looking for is not a complete, coherent half-hour programme, but a selection of pertinent clips [such as] features on breaking news stories?

"We decided to look towards the possibilities of user-created annotation and metadata... that might allow the collective articulation of what a programme or speech or piece of music was about and how it could be divided up and described."

Searchable data is already added by journalists to radio and television clips that are posted to the BBC News site and an earlier prototype let readers tag stories on the site. Annotatable Audio project concepts may be used in future services, Mr Coates said.

Link

A bubbly white tiger finds the addict

Teeheee... it's always fun when I get new comments on the blog- but I wasn't expecting one to rise from a couple months ago! Apparently this voice actor doesn't seem to think she's bubbly- but I beg to differ!! From Thesaurus.com:

Main Entry:	effervescent
Part of Speech:	adjective 2
Definition:	enthusiastic
Synonyms:	animated, bouncy, brash, bubbly, buoyant, ebullient, excited, exhilarated, exuberant, gay, gleeful, happy, high-spirited, hilarious, irrepressible, jolly, joyous, lively, merry, mirthful, sprightly, vital, vivacious, zingy
Antonyms:	dead, dull, lifeless, listless, unenthusiastic
Source:	Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Main Entry:	perky
Part of Speech:	adjective
Definition:	happy
Synonyms:	active, alert, animated, aware, bouncy, bright, brisk, bubbly, buoyant, cheerful, cheery, gay, jaunty, lively, spirited, sprightly, sunny, vivacious

Oh yes my dear, you are indeed bubbly! I also could have said spunky... ;-)

I also said in the post that I would post Elana's website- it was up yesterday and today it is down again! So I will put it in the links anyway, because eventually I know it will be up again, and everyone should see what this talented lady is all about. I think if she keeps going at the rate she is, she will retire before she hits 25. :-)

Ok, Dani's been dazzled for today, now she must go back to work!

A new member is inducted

Weeks sure seem to fly by. Bad because I feel like I never get any work done, and good because we're all ready up to the next meeting of Sonic Society!

We went to visit the Great-Grandparents over the weekend. It's always so much fun to visit them- and my girls always pump them for information. This week is was about their lineage, as my older daughter has been curious about that. Well, Grumpy (as he is known adoringly as) was just BEAMING as he rattled off 14 generations of Cutlers, since they came to America.


But I do have a point to my rambling. They recently got satellite radio as a gift, and they just love it. They have only about 4 stations they listen to. One happens to be- Old Time Radio! So I told them all about my little pet project here, and they were so surprised to know that radio drama still existed! Then, when I saw that Decoder Ring Theatre was going to be played this week- I made myself a note to get them a copy of the show to see what they thought about it. I also noticed they have a podcast, so you know I subscribed to that too...

So you know where I will be camped out Tomorrow, hope you'll be listening too!

Follow up to the follow up

Who the heck is this chick talking??

Two more addicts are born

Perhaps the love of radio stories is hereditary? Last night I told the kids that Jack and the Beanstalk was going to be played on the show, and asked if they wanted to listen with me. They were both very excited to do so. Grabbing a couple pillows, we all camped out on the floor and listened. By the end, they were both asking me to burn copies for them so they could listen in their rooms.

It was truly one of the most enjoyable shows I have listened to, because I not only was taken back to my days in the orchestra pit of Lyric Opera Theatre at ASU, but also because I saw the magic happen.

All with the sparkle in the eyes of my girls as they listened.

Yes, I took pictures for the blog- right before they entertained Dave on the webcam:

The youngest fans of the Society?

So I guess I should thank the host of the show too. Because if it weren't for his desire to get the word out about radio drama, well we wouldn't have two new pint-sized (like their Mom) and cute (welllll....) Addicts. :-)

~Dani