Saturday, April 30, 2011

Knights of the Guild Meet Tech Barbarians

After doing yard work for the past five hours I was tired and sore but my day had just begun. My friends Chris and Mark from the Tech Barbarians podcast were visiting from Atlanta and we were having a party at our friends Teal's house. We decided to do a joint podcast since Jenni and I do Knights of the Guild and Chris and Mark do Tech Barbarians. Both Jenni and I have been guests on Tech Barbarians so we figured why not have Chris and Mark be guests on Knights of the Guild. But there was planning to do.

After my yard work I took a shower and got cleaned. I then went to the super market to pick up beer, soda and snacks (we were ordering pizza and pasta for dinner later in the evening). I got to Teals place at 6 and unloaded my jeep with her help. We started to set up everything. Chris and Mark were stuck in traffic. Jenni arrived first, then Teal's boyfriend Ali. Around 7 Chris, his wife and 3 daughters along with Mark showed up. Jay (Guild Crew), Gabriel (I Hearth Geek Podcaster), Edgar (Guild Wedmaster), Teddy (Guild's Brusier), and Sean (Guild director) arrived as well as the food and everyone started to eat. We wanted to start the podcast around 7pm but as it always happens we got off to a late start and started the podcast around 8.

I had no notes, no structure planned, and for those who know me that's very unusual. So it was kind of chaotic. But everyone seemed to have alot of fun and the end the night we all played Beatles Rockband. We recorded about 2 hours of podcast material which I get the pleasure of editing down. And the party lasted for about 4 1/2 hours. Brett (Guild's Mr. Wiggly) did show up about 11pm and joined in the fun. All in all it was a fun night. It was great meeting Chris and Mark, both just as much fun in person as they are over skype. It was great hanging with friends and playing Rockband.

The party did go a bit longer then I had expected as I had to get up at 4am to take Harry's family to the airport.. but that's for another blog.

You can watch/listen to the podcast here. http://ow.ly/4KHaW Password KOTG

Check out more pictures HERE

Yard Work

Today was a big yard work day, since this weekend is my only free weekend for the next three weeks I wanted to take advantage of that fact and get some major yard work done. I borrowed my neighbors mega weed whacker as my little hand held one can hack some of the humongous weeds we have. I started around 11am and the weather was warm but with a breeze so it kept me cool. I stopped around 1pm to make some something to eat then started back up around 1:30 and went until 4.

For those who don't know I own a house and it sits on 2 1/2 acres of land. Every year we have a fire line deadline, which means we have to have a 500 foot radius around our house clear of brush. Well the deadline is May 1st.. yeah that's tomorrow and there is a ton to do... talk about waiting until the last minute. But with that said I think I did a pretty good job at getting about  1/3 of it done and it was the toughest part of my property as it's all hillside. I had to stop at 4 because I had to get ready for a joint podcast which I'll talk about in another blog.

I totally forgot to take picture of the before and after but when I do the next section tomorrow, I'll be sure to do that so you can share in my accomplishments :)

Friday, April 29, 2011

Dedication to My Podcasts

Got a call from Brian Kameoka while I was driving to my Quidditch meeting last night informing me that The Guild was looking for Extras of the second of their Season 5 shoot. And that he wanted Knights of the Guild podcast to have exclusive announcement of it... which is fantastic. Told him I would do a quick News MiniCast and release it asap. I was hoping to do it last night when I got home from the Quidditch meeting but since I went out with Luis for a late dinner I didn't get him until midnight and was way to tired to record a podcast so I opted to get a few hours sleep and then get up around 6am and record, edited and upload the cast. Normally my work start time can vary, which is great as you never know how traffic is going to be but of course today I had a post meeting at 10am at MTV. So I knew I had to leave my house no later then 8am to make it to work on time.  So I had to record, edit and upload a podcast within two hours 6am to 8am.

So I got up, walked the dog and then go to work. Everything went fairly smooth and I finished around 7:45am. Everything was up and I tweeted about the new KOTG News Minicast #7 - Extra, Extra, We Need Extras and headed off to work. About half way to work I start getting texts that there is something wrong with the podcast that about halfway through it the audio drops out. Of course I double check everything and know that the audio was working fine so it must be when I uploaded it to podbean.. something happened. Well I was in the middle of traffic so there was nothing I could do. I tweeted that we were having issues and hope to have it fixed soon. But of course I had my 10 o'clock meeting that was going to last until Noon. Just then I get a call from my lead Assistant Editor who informed me that he will not be coming in due to illness. Well that determined what I had to do next. I could not leave post for two hours with no one here to help if something went wrong. So I informed who I need to inform that I would not be attending the meeting as I needed to stay in post (which was fine). The extra benefit was that I was able to fix the issue with the podcast much sooner then planned. As I got to work around 9:45am I called Harry and had him send me the file so I could check it. Sure enough when he did that file was bad. So it seems that when I outputted the file from Audacity something went wrong.. so I had Harry re-output the file and email it to me in which he did and I uploaded it to podbean replacing the bad file and viola the podcast is back up and running smoothly.

So if you want to listen to it you can download from itunes - http://bit.ly/KotGCast, or direct download / listen here http://bit.ly/2CrYxk

The Guild is looking for Extras.. take a listen to our latest News MiniCast for all the details.

Ebay Auction URL: http://cgi.ebay.com/110680674489

Guild Casting, Extra Online Form: http://bit.ly/s5-extra

Knights of the Guild Ep 29

Download from itunes - http://bit.ly/KotGCast, or direct download / listen http://bit.ly/2CrYxk

Today’s show features:

* Knights of the Guild theme song by Matthew Gehrett http://www.matthewgehrett.com/
* What the Hosts are up too.
* Trivia
* Guild Something with Sean & Brian
* Crew Interview with Director/Film Maker Greg Benson
* Donations
* How to find us on the Web.. aka Business Time

Thank you again for all your support, we do this podcast because we are fans and more importantly for the fans. Thanks, Kenny & Jenni

Other Important Links

Knights of the Guild Feeds/Downloads http://knightsoftheguild.com
Knights of the Guild Daily Blog http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/
Knights of the Guild Fan page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group
Knights of the Guild Group on Watchtheguild.com http://community.watchtheguild.com/group
Knights of the Guild UStream Channel http://www.ustream.tv/channel/knights-of-the-guild (Password for UStream is KOTG)
Follow us on twitter @knightsofguild
Follow the Hosts Kenny @Geekyfanboy & Jenni @Jennipowell
Knights of the Guild You Tube Channel : http://www.youtube.com/user/KnightsoftheGuild1
Knights of the Guild Twit Pic Page: http://twitpic.com/photos/Knightsofguild
Greg Benson's Website http://mediocrefilms.com/

Thursday, April 28, 2011

My 1st Quidditch Meeting

Tonight after work I went to my very first Quidditch meeting for the new Los Angeles Community Quidditch team. I was very excited as I've been looking for a team to play with for many years. This was the very first meeting just to see how many people were interested and go over general rules and such.

I left work a little early around 6:30pm as the meeting started at 7:30 I figured an hour would be enough time to go 8.3 miles.. google maps said it would take about 18 minutes but I knew better. Well maybe not well enough as it took me an hour to get there and then ten minutes or so to find parking. So I walked in and there were about 10 or so people already there. I introduced myself and took a seat on the couch. You could tell people were just as excited as I was getting this team started. I did feel a bit awkward as I was clearly the oldest one there. Most looked to be just out of high school or in collage. And they all seemed to know each other. But I did what I do best.. sat quietly in the corner. My friend Luis was suppose to join me but traffic was even worse for him so he didn't get there until nearly the end.

The meeting started and Noa (assuming she'll be our team Captain) started to explain everything, going over the rules, and such. I of course read up on everything I could after watching the Western Cup a few weeks back. We discussed times to practise. I think we are doing Thursday evenings in the Burbank area and Sunday evenings in the Los Angeles area.. now of course if it was the opposite (Sunday in Burbank and Thursdays in Los Angeles)  that would be more ideal for me as I live closer to Burbank so I could get there easier on Sundays and I work closer to Los Angeles and could make practise on time on Thursdays.. but now I'll be driving to LA on Sundays and from Santa Monica to Burbank on Thursdays. But nothing is set in stone so things may change as well as my job is I'm not at a fixed location.

We voted on the name of our Quidditch team and the winner was Hollywood Harpies, wouldn't have been my first choice, would rather have been Hollywood Hippogriffs but the majority of the people (being woman) did like it so that is our team name. We couldn't decide on our colors yet so that will be saved for a later date. We set up a date for next Thursday to build our hoops and such. They are planning an unofficial practice on Sunday (Mother's Day), but I'll be working for The Guild that day but it is later at night so I might be able to stop by for some practice.

All in all it was a good first meeting, really looking forward to getting started. I hope to not only have fun but to lose weight as well as it's requires lots of running back and forth. Need to pick up some pads, googles and a cup for protection.. and some sort of faux broom for practice. I'm sure I'll be doing video and pictures of the practices.. I might even to a podcast about it... so stay tuned for my wild Quidditch adventure.

After the meeting Luis and I went out for a late dinner and geeked out about Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.. a great way to end a fun night.

100 Facts About Me Recap 1 - 80

Hey Guys.. still have 20 left to do but figured I'd do a recap of the first 80.. so here they are.. everything you wanted to know about Kenny and maybe just a bit more.

1. I'll be 41 years old come September.
2. I've broken two bones so far... .my right arm (fell off monkey bars) and left wrist (rolled down a hill with an ATV)
3. I currently have 2 tattoos, Hogwarts crest on my left shoulder & R2D2 on my right calf, with plans to get 3 more
4. When I was younger I wanted to be a veterinarian.
5. I struggled with being gay and didn't come out of the closet until I was 27 years old.
6. My favorite type of music is Country Music.
7. I am extremely shy & quiet (on the verge of socially awkward) in person
8. Favorite color is Green
9. I don't cuss.. EVER!!!
10. I've been collecting action figures for 34 years.
11. I've always wanted a biological child of my own. There is still hope of have one
12. My hair has been purple, red, orange, black, blond and it's natural brown.
13. My very first geeky convention that I attended was in LA for the series Alien Nation, 2 days of awesomeness.
14. I was Donny and Marie Osmond's personal assistant back in the summer 97
15. I graduated from California State University Fullerton w/ a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication - TV/Radio/Film
16. I don't drink (once a year maybe), never smoked, never done drugs of any kind.
17. Saved my brother from drowning when he was 3 and I was 8
18. I'm a Hopeless Romantic
19. I love singing along with the radio while driving in the car
20. Because of Jaws I'm still afraid to go into deep water / ocean
21. I've worked in the TV/Film industry for over 16 years
22. I was born and raised in Southern California
23. Saw Star Wars when I was 7 & it made me the Geekyfanboy I am today.
24. Pets I've had, Dogs, Cats, Chickens, Ducks, Turtle, Rabbits, Mice, Rats, Fish & a Chinchilla
25. I bungee jumped from 150 feet up.
26. I had a Star Trek "Borg" Themed wedding cake http://geekyfanboy.com/WeddingPage_17.jpg
27. Rode my bike from San Fransisco to Los Angeles (600+ miles) in seven days for the California Aids Ride in 2001
28. I'm a roller coaster enthusiast
29. I have a large round birth mark the size of a sliver dollar on my lower back.
30. I've appeared in 8 episodes of the webseries The Guild
31. I have an infectious laugh, friends use to call me The Giggler
32. Had an anxiety/panic attack in High School that was so bad that I made myself go temporally blind
33. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Star Wars and Firefly our my top 5 favorite worlds to visit.
34. If I went to Hogwarts I'd be sorted into Hufflepuff, which values Loyalty, Dedication and Hard Work.. sounds like me
35. I am a proud member of the Producer's Guild of America
36. I am teaching myself American Sign Language 
37. Found my Dad's biological family after 58 years
38. I am half Puerto Rican & half German
39. I am allergic to Dairy (Lactose intolerant)
40. Graduated from High School with a 3.89 GPA and in the top 10% of my class
41. Christmas is my favorite holiday.
42. Would rather be in the company of a handful of close friends then a room full of acquaintances.
43. I've only been out of the United States once in my life (Mexico) Planning a Europe trip very soon.
44. Though I do 3 podcasts I've always disliked the sound of my voice.
45. I've always been mature for my age.. at 16 I was ready to marry and settle down.
46. At the age of 37 I dressed up in my Hogwarts Robes and stood in line for the release of the final Harry Potter book.
47. I'm one of those people who always looks on the bright side of things.
48. I'm addicted to the internet, can't go more then a few hours without checking my email, facebook, or twitter.
49. Don't eat salads, not a big veggie eater.
50. Call me a Geek, Dork, Dweeb, Nerd, or Loser.. I don't care.. I love who I am and wouldn't change for anything. 
51. I'm a very empathic person.
52.Would rather be poor & happy then rich & unhappy.
53. I'm an HGTV junkie, can't get enough of those shows.
54. I've been blogging for almost 10 years.
55. I love to dance, not saying I'm good, but it's tons of fun.
56. I'd rather live in the country/woods/mountains then in a big city.
57. I have a difficult time accepting compliments.
58. I'm a nice guy and normally finish last.
59. Loved the Star Wars prequels, not as much as the original trilogy but still very enjoyable.
60. In High School I had a Pompadour-Mullet.. yeah I was that cool :)
61. My middle name is Harvey, named after my grandfather.
62. I can't spell to save my life, thank goodness for spellcheckers.
63. My childhood nickname was KenKen, as my dad went by Kenny.
64. Use to have a speech impediment when I was younger, took many years to over come, still have it slightly.
65. For those who haven't met me in person I'm short, standing at a proud 5 foot 3 1/2 inches.
66. Favorite book series would be a toss up between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
67. Favorite Star Trek Series, TNG, followed closely by Voyager & DS9, also enjoy Enterprise and TOS.
68. Though I work on The Guild I've never played WoW, nor played alot of video games.
69. As I get older I try and enjoy my life more as there is less of it.
70. I'm a 1st time Uncle & his name is Kenobi (22months). 
71. I want to go skydiving at least once in my life.
72. I’ve always had weight issues and am currently 40lbs over weight.
73. I had a rocking mustache from age 12 and didn’t shave it off until I was 19.
74. My hair is thinning on top to the point of baldness L
75. I am a podcaster currently creator/co-host/producer on Knights of the Guild, MASH 4077 Podcast and Epic Geek Out
76. I've always wanted to learn to play the piano & flute.. I hope to still do that some day
77. Use to watch Soaps, One Life to Live and General Hospital religiously, from age 12 to 22
78. I’ve had major dental work done, my top front five teeth are fake (prem. Bridge)
79. I use to love mathematics, went as high as Trigonometry and Calculus in Collage.
80. I can spend an entire day by myself at the movie theater watching 4 to 5 movies, which I've done in the past.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 Trailer

I'm so excited for this.. if you know anything about me you know I'm a HUGE Harry Potter fan. I've watched this new trailer about 10 times and it still gives me chills every time. I'm both happy and sad to see this as this is the final movie of this incredible saga. I can't wait to see this movie and I don't want to see this movie because this is the end. But of course I always have the books to re-read for a millionth time and watch the all eight movies in a Harry Potter Mega Marathon.. so though it's the end, it's not really the end.

Anyways here's the first official trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Guild Season 5 - Day Five

Today is Day Five of the Guild shoot for Season Five. Because of my current job I'm not able to be on set everyday like I was the the past three seasons. I was actually working my other job (via email and phone) and working on set... But I have learned a lot from those previous seasons and have come up with a system to keep track of all the scenes, who I have interviewed and what we have talked about. So I put that to the test today and it worked out great. I got some great interviews with Amy, Sandeep, Vince, Robin and Jeff.

Got to meet some new people on set... that's one thing I love about working on The Guild are the people you get to meet. Some you instantly click with and know you'll be friends with that person the rest of your life, some it takes time to warm up to, but soon you become buddies and then there are those who seem to put up a wall and for whatever reason don't like you. Luckily there aren't many of those kind of people working on The Guild.

Anyways.. another great shoot day.. can't say much or where we were.. but it was good times. They are shooting tomorrow but unfortunately I won't be able to attend. Then there is a break for a week and then we start back up in May.

Monday, April 25, 2011

KOTG Microcast #22 Quest for Season Five

G5TableRead.jpg

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/KotGCast, or direct download / listen http://bit.ly/2CrYxk

Here are some quick interviews with the cast of The Guild, producer Kim Evey and Director Sean Becker on their thoughts about coming back to film Season Five. These interviews were done last Tuesday during the table read for Season Five.
Hope you guys enjoy it.
Kenny

Other Important Links

Sunday, April 24, 2011

A Relaxing Sunday... NOT!!!

Today is the first day off I've had in a few weeks, with no family, no work, no guild and I don't see having another one of those for at least four weeks so I was going to do nothing all day today.. just have some "Kenny" time.

It started off that way as I started to watch a bit of TV and just relax but then I got to thinking how busy my next month will be and how many podcasts I need to do so instead I opted to finished off some podcasts instead of TV time.

So I first finished off my MASH 4077 Podcast episode 7 which isn't due to be released until May 1st but it's uploaded, shows note created and is ready to go. The second podcast I worked on as episode 29 of my Knights of the Guild podcast, which is due to be released on April 29th. That one require much more work then the previous MASH one and took me about four hours to finish it. Still haven't built the webpage or show notes but I hope to do that during some downtime at work tomorrow. And I was going to get started on episode 8 of MASH 4077 Podcast but then remembered that I recorded some audio from the previous Tuesday when The Guild did their season five read through and really wanted to get that out there as a microcast.. so I spent the rest of the night editing and prepping that podcast and manage to get it posted around 9:30pm tonight.

So this day might not have started out or planned to be a very productive day but in the end I did a lot of work that needed to be done and by doing this will take some stress off me when it comes time to post this podcasts.

Doctor Who is BACK!!!

Wasn't able to watch this last night due to being on The Guild set but Harry and I sat down first thing this morning and watched the return of our favorite Doctor. Matt Smith returns as the all mighty timelord for this sixth season. Matt Smith joined Doctor Who last season and from the first moment he was on screen he was The Doctor instantly. So I was really looking forward to the return of Who. We hadn't seen a new episode since Christmas and before that it was months and months.

They're doing something different this year and splitting the season into two.. 7 episodes for the first part that will run from April to June and then the remaining 6 episode starting sometime in the fall to finish off season 6. Also different this year is BBC America is airing the episodes on the same day they are released in the UK (previously it's been weeks or months later). BBC America is also not cutting them to fit in the US schedule so will get the full episode the same day as the UK.. wooo hooo.

This premiere was part one of what I assume will be a two parter.  First let me say that I LOVED the premiere.. may not have understood everything.. yet.. but it didn't distract me from the wonderful writing and acting. What is great about Who is you know you'll get a payoff at some point. It may not be in the next episode or the one after that but the writing is so great that before the season ends all your questions will be answered.. and I love that about Who. Lot's of stuff happened in this first episode and of course it ends on a cliffhanger which makes me even more excited to see part two next week. Lot's of questions were asked and some secrets revealed.

If the first episode is any indication.. this seasons going to rock just like last season.