RadioZoom #103 – Metroblogging Vancouver Meetup

After going through an hour and fifteen minutes of audio and two days to edit it all together, episode #103 is up and ready for listening.

The podcast digs deeper into the make up of this city as I go mobile to the Metroblogging Vancouver Meetup in Stanley Park on July 18, 2006. Typically a monthly event, fellow bloggers for the local edition of the site gather up to hang out face to face in order to know thy fellow contributers. Rebecca joined the group of authors earlier this month. As her guest, I brought along the recording equipment to kind of document the occasion, but more so to meet more people that call Vancouver home and like to blog about it as much as we do.

This is a long episode, but there was a lot of interesting stories and comments that I just didn’t feel like editing out. Only one piece of music featured in this one, but I used a variety of music from Vate, Troubled Hubble, Sebadoh, and John Vanderslice to bridge between some of the segments. This is the first time I have done anything like this, and I had a lot of fun. Feedback is more than welcome!

67:40 minutes
radiozoom.net

Metroblogging Vancouver Meetup

Talking with Dane during the Metroblogging Vancouver MeetupRebecca recently joined up with Metroblogging Vancouver in the last few weeks, and we attended our first meetup last night in Stanley Park. For those unaware, Metblogs has been a site that I’ve been reading for many months now in order to learn more about Vancouver and all the interesting things that come with it. A variety of contributers that write about a city they live in and seem to know fairly well. You can see Rebecca’s profile and latest posts for Metblogs here.

With that being said, I can say that I had a really good time meeting some incredible people. I’m not a writer for the site, but that didn’t matter as I was tagging along with Rebecca. I did take the opportunity to get my podcasting foot into the meetup. This is the other project that I have to do this week, so watch for this episode to come out by Friday at the latest.

This will be the first time taking RadioZoom down this avenue of wandering around with the minidisc, talking to (annoying, badgering, threatening) people, and rolling it into a podcast. I have about an hour and fifteen minutes of audio to parse through and edit. It’s another experiment, and I have to say I’m excited because this is the first time since my college radio days of doing any sort of interviewing. But this is podcasting. I probably have more listeners now than I did back then.

RadioZoom Episode #102 – Soundseeing at the Very Berry Fair in Fort Langley, B.C.

The lastest edition of my podcast has been published. Episode #102 is ready for downloading.

The 5th annual Very Berry Fair drew Rebecca and I out to Fort Langley along with her mother, niece, and nephew over the weekend. The event happen on the grounds of The Fort Wine Co. where there was plenty to do for the kids and lots of arts and crafts for sale. I took along the minidisc with the stereo lapel mic and give you some sounds of the event as well as some commentary about what you are hearing.

54:02 minutes
radiozoom.net

Theory on Overheard in New York

I’ve been getting caught up on some of the podcasts I’m subscribed to.  That’s not to say that I’ve been overly busy to catch everything that comes in, but this is the reality of listening to podcasts.  While taking a shower after my run along the Seawall this morning, I caught up with Benjamin Walker’s Theory of Everything a little bit.

Readers of Overheard in Vancouver will really find this episode interesting because Walker grabbed an interview with Morgan Friedman, the founder of Overheard in New York[wiki].  Friedman gets into the premise behind the site, how it started, and the things he loves about it.

While I’m at it, I have to give a big plug for podcast listeners out there to subscribe to the Theory of Everything.  Walker has been working the public media wheel for a while now, taking his works through the PRX and now with alt.NPR.  I’ve been listening to his stuff since his early days of venturing into podcasting.  Very good stuff.

New branding for the podcast

RadioZoomQuietly launched with the last episode of the podcast, RadioZoom now has a logo. Thanks so much to Trent at DigitalGumball for coming up with the design. Rebecca was the one who got in touch with him, being a long time friend of hers.

I gave very little insight into the concept, but the outcome impressed me. I always had lots of ideas in my head but was never smart enough to work through the graphics in order to come up with anything I was too happy with. Trent’s a very talented guy. Thanks so much for the creation!

RadioZoom Episode #100 – The One Hundred Mark; RZ History; Beach Times

Episode #100 was, finally, edited and released today.

A long episode to mark this milestone, Rebecca and I talk about the history of this podcast, thoughts on the medium in general, and hang out without any plan in mind. Every method of recording that I have the capability for was used in this episode. We start out at in English Bay, head back home to the “studio”, and toss in a recording we did while sunning ourselves on the beach during Canada Day weekend.

I want to say thanks to everyone who has had played a role in the history of this podcast, from the beginning to now. You know who you are, and I will refrain from listing everyone out in the fear of omitting some one. It’s been fun, and I’ll keep on keeping on with the podcast.

71:58 minutes
radiozoom.net

RadioZoom Episode #99 – Soundseeing at the 2006 NHL Draft in Vancouver

Episode #99 was published today.

On another mobile adventure, Rebecca and I went to the 2006 NHL Draft at GM Place in downtown Vancouver. We did a lot of recording and did our best to share our experience through this episode. We got to the event a little late, only to get seats near the nose bleed section. We worked our way to the floor where we were in close proximity to some of the NHL’s decision makers, legends, coaches, and players. No music in this episode.

59:57 minutes
radiozoom.net

RadioZoom Episode #98 – Canada’s Next Top Model; Corner Gas; Douglas Coupland; Hockey Talk; FIFA World Cup

Recorded tonight and published for the world, episode #98 is ready.

Rebecca joins me in the studio for this slightly long but still under an hour episode, not that there is anything wrong with that. We had planned on doing this podcast together, but we didn’t count on being all hopped up on sugar after making a slurpee run. We take some time to chat about some interesting things happening in the world of Canadian books, television, and film, run through some hockey news other than just the Stanley Cup, and discuss the 2006 World Cup in Germany since we’re anxious to win her office pool. [radiozoom]

WILT: geek.farm.life

I’ve been listening to geek.farm.life since the first episode. If you are wondering what this podcast is all about, then you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head already. Andrew and Misty are a couple who left their silicon valley lives for the more simple life of the midwest. Podcasting from Indiana, they are two tech-heads that now raise a variety of farm animals that makes your trips to the store seem easy, if not cleaner.

The element of this podcast that first captured my interest was the fact that Andrew[blog] is a native Albertan while Misty[blog] is an American. They first met while being career geeks in California, only to get fed up with the west coast and the post dot-com boom. Somewhere in the fray of things, these two passed through a Las Vegas union on their way to creating their modern day farm that would make Old McDonald proud.

Three-Elms farm is located in north-central Indiana. We’re on the border of what many local call Michiana. Our hobby farm is 10 acres, of which we’re letting 6 return to trees and the the rest is the house and pasture. We have too much lawn and neither of us like mowing so we’re looking to do something with all that grass.

The reason we’re called Three-Elms is due to the three huge siberian elm trees in our front yard. The biggest three is several feet across. They dwarf our two story house, standing about 3 times as high. The provice awesome shade in the summer and we’ll get hundreds of birds sitting on the branches singing in the morning. [three-elms]

These are one of those podcasts that are more of the audio blog style. Each episode usually hits the three main topics that makes up the title, in addition to any of the other interests that the two have. Of particular interest was Andrew’s story of buying his father’s car in Canada and then driving it across the border from Manitoba. It’s not that it’s a great story, but it’s entertaining for anyone familiar to the joys of border crossing.

geek.farm.lifeThe way this podcast is recorded makes me more inclined to stay subscribed. Quite often, the barn is the studio, and the stereo effects of ducks, cows, geese, and goats is very cool. Listening with headphones, you feel like you are hanging out with the couple as they talk about how their animals are doing, the joys of their labor, and the pains of waking up in the morning to take care of the chores. If you are one to have lived through or, like me, experienced this type of lifestyle, the sounds can also trigger a sense of remembering what it smells like inside that barn as well.

The latest episode of geek.farm.life was published on Sunday, June 18, 2006. With nineteen episodes under their belt, the duo are getting more and more comfortable with their efforts, not to mention having done remote recordings while one of them is on the road. If you like true, simple reality, you might dig this.