I’m going to start podcasting.
And I had a shot of tequila today.
What a day.
Tag: radio
I took a class in college called Radio Play. It was probably one of the most fun I’ve had for a semester. It was not a class that was required for my major or minor, and about half the people in the class were good friends of the theatre organization which I was a part of.
In the class, we learned about creating audio stories or, as the title of the class indicated, “radio plays.” With this, we became familiar with both the technical aspects of this – working with DAT recorders, various microphones, and learning how to use multi-track audio mixing software – and tips on how to create compelling narratives through sound.
I was remembering this today because Katie and I went to see This American Life Live tonight and I was reminded how much I love the idea of telling stories on the radio. Sure, the actual event was in movie theaters and had visual elements, but I always fancied that I would be a good fit at WBEZ Chicago, palling around with Ira Glass.
Back around the tail years of college, I remember looking over the WBEZ website several times, contemplating applying for the This American Life internship, but ended up not going for it because it required a lengthy time commitment in Chicago and was based on skills that I hadn’t been honing for four years – only in one small semester.
Although it’s probably too late now to apply for the This American Life internship, I’m sure that if I was motivated enough, I could find work within the expanding field of audio work within the video game industry and use that as a launching pad. If I didn’t already like what I was doing so much, it’s something I would seriously consider.
I like working with audio, being a part of that interesting mouth-to-ear relationship (although, when I put it that way, it sounds a little creepy), and working late into the night to get the right edit points to make a piece sound natural.
If I had time and access to solid recording equipment (but more so, time), it’s a hobby I’d consider as well: creating my own sporadic series of radio stories, both fictional and non. But, we all know that probably won’t happen, just like my oft-mentioned but completely unstarted Youtube series.
In the meantime, you can check out one of the pieces I created in Radio Play, which is a bit of a This American Life-style story that I’m relatively proud of. It’s about 10 minutes and speaks for itself.
[audio:TheLittleGuy.mp3]I just watched last night’s Daily Show episode, where Jon Stewart takes it pretty badly to Jim Cramer (who was to me, until very recently, just that crazy guy on that one CNBC show). But the entire episode felt like relief – like Jon Stewart was venting for all of us who don’t understand why we as taxpayers are being stuck with these huge bills for a crisis that we didn’t create.
Or did we? We recently took out what I consider to be a very reasonable mortgage and Wells Fargo (our bank and mortgage lender) did a pretty exhaustive check of our financial standing.
But, if several years ago, a bank had come to us and told us we could get into a house we really liked with a bad loan, would we have known it was a bad loan? I’m sure there are people who game the system, but I’d suspect that the majority of average Americans wouldn’t understand that a particular mortgage is unrealistic until it’s too late.
Regardless, the damage is done, and something has to happen. The American banking system is too important to fail so either the government has to pump a lot of money into the system to keep them afloat or house prices will have to make a dramatic and sudden rebound. Or the government will keep stuffing smaller amounts of money into the system until housing prices rebound. Assuming they ever reach the levels before the crisis within a reasonable amount of time, which is not a small assumption.
I’ll stop here, because I don’t want to seem like an expert on what’s going on, but I’d urge anybody who has a few hours and wants to understand what’s going on to check out these three This American Life episodes, which do a great job of spelling out the causes and consequences of the crisis in a way that didn’t require any economics classes:
You can listen to all of them for free online and I felt a lot better afterwards, knowing that I at least can understand the basics of one of the largest and scariest things to ever happen to our world in my lifetime. This financial crisis is a bit like diabetes; it’s not something that affects my day-to-day life yet, but I know that any day I could wake up and find that things are no longer fine.
If I got diabetes and lost my house and job? That’d be the worst.
A continuation of sorts!
Musical: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Honorable Mention: Rent
Hedwig is the only musical that I’ve seen twice in the same run. It’s one of the first musicals that I went to with my future wife, it starred Anthony Rapp in it, and it’s the primary reason that Katie works in the theatre. The songs rock, the story is funny and sad, and it’s a one-man show that never quite feels like the typical one-man show. I doubt I’ve listened to the soundtrack as much as I’ve listened to Rent, but no two live performances of Hedwig are the same; it manages to capture the absolute joy of live theatre.
Video Game: Portal
Honorable Mention: Ico
The mark of a truly great game for me is the feeling of regret that I have when I realize that I will never again get to experience it for the first time. Portal is a game where I would gladly watch someone else play it, just so I can vicariously experience it again for the first time. It is a brilliantly designed puzzle game that just happens to be controlled as if it were a FPS. It has a superb storyline and witty dialogue. The companion cube and the end credits song are already iconic in gaming canon. It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction. Portal exceeded all of my already high expectations.
Ico is a different matter. I played Ico when I was still just getting into games and it took me by complete surprise. It was the first game I ever consumed over a weekend, playing it because I didn’t want to do anything else. It’s probably the first game that showed me the emotional power that the medium was capable of.
Radio Show: This American Life
Honorable Mention: Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me
It’s a smaller pool to pick from, as there aren’t all that many radio shows, but I’d be hard pressed to find any other 60-minute aural experience that beats This American Life. The show manages to continually find stories that are interesting and thought-provoking and I look forward to hearing each week’s podcast when I go to work on Monday. Wait Wait is a bit lighter, but it keeps me updated on major news, as well as being consistently good for a laugh. I’m not a big podcast person, but these two shows have a permanent spot on my list.
Board Game: Settlers of Catan
Honorable Mentions: Power Grid, Category 5
Neither of these are really daring picks, but in the long run, I think I’d take Settlers over other games I’ve played. It’s relatively easy to teach to new players, is a great gateway game for players who haven’t played many Eurogames before, and has a great balance between luck and skill involved. The fact that it forces direct player interaction through trading is icing. Power Grid and Category 5 are on opposite sides of Settlers; Power Grid is a bit more hardcore and Category 5 is a bit lighter. I love the critical decision-making in Power Grid, especially as decisions in earlier phases can have large impacts in later phases. And I love the tension in Category 5 as you attempt to read the minds of your fellow players just before you flip over your numbers.