Podcasts, Hobbits and Fires.. Oh My!!!

Today was a very productive day. Woke up at 7am and finished up my next MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 12.. Once I was done with that I started prepping notes for tomorrow when Jenni comes over to record our next two episodes of Knights of the Guild episode 34 & 35. As well as dealing with some Knights of the Guild business, ie contests, donations, shipping out pictures/tshirts. You wouldn't think having a podcast would be so much work.. but man it is.. and I am currently running 3 podcasts.... crazy.

I finished all that stuff around 1pm and took a break and went out to lunch with Harry. While we were out we hit a local Goodwill as I was still in need of some pants for my Hobbit costume for SDCC. I had planned to hit several shops but luck would have it the very first one I went to had exactly what I was looking for... yay!!!

Sign to our little town :(

On our way home we noticed smoke and it looked like it was coming from direction of our house.  As we got closer to home we found out it was actually at the exit to our house off the 14 freeway.. about five minutes away from us. When you look at it from our front porch it looked like it was just over the ridge and in the sense it was. Luckily they knocked it down within an hour and all was well.

Once we got home from our lunch I did a bit of cleaning (kitchen and dining room) and then went and watched some TV with Harry. While watching TV I took the belt loops off of my new Hobbit pants as I'll be sewing buttons on the front and back for the suspenders.

After an hour of TV Harry and I went through all our clothes and separated his from mine as he'll be leaving in less then four and a half weeks and will be shipping his stuff back to Austria early August.

When we were done with that we watched a few more hours of TV (we have a lot of stuff on our DVR). Then we had some dinner. After dinner we finished separating our clothes and I jumped on the computer to work on more podcast stuff.. this time MASH 4077 Podcast episodes 13 - 18. Both of my co-host sent me their audio and along with mine I had to import it into the Avid and get it ready for editing. I decided to string out Episode 13 and work on it a bit as I was exporting and copying my hundreds of files for The Guild Season Five CompanionCasts.

I got about a third into Episode 13 when all my KOTG files were ready to go. I stuck the files on a flash drive and imported them into Avid and prepped my CompanionCast project. I organized all the clips into episodes 501 - 512 and made notes of which actors I still need to get comments on. I should start working on my first CompanionCast sometime this week.

It's almost midnight and I hope to get to bed soon. All in all it was a very productive day.. and tomorrow will be the same... Night

The Battle of Hogwarts

This looks really well done for a fan film. I love the idea behind it and I can't wait for it to be released online. Check out some videos below.

http://www.facebook.com/battleofhogwarts

A documentary chronicling the lives and stories of those who survived the fateful battle 20 years ago.

Final Shuttle Launch

It's been 30 years since the Shuttle Missions began and I remember watching the very first launch at school and imagining one day that I would be on the shuttle shooting off to the stars. Well that dream never came true but I've watch many more shuttle missions including the one that will always stay with me for the rest of my life. I remember like it was yesterday, sitting there in my History class in 9th grade watching the shuttle streak into the sky like it did so many other times but then tragedy struck and my heart dropped as I watched debris falling out of the sky.

Ever since then I've watched every space shuttle launch with a bit of caution. But the worse seemed over until one morning when I heard that Columbia disintegrated on re-entry and once again was devastated and heart broken.

The NASA Space Shuttle program has been a huge success with 135 flights and only 2 accidents. But now after 30 years they are retiring the Shuttle program. Today was the launch of the final space shuttle, Atlantis. I watched it live one last time as they soared into the unknown for one final mission. It was bitter sweet, on one hand they were using 30 year old technology but on the other hand this is the only space travel that I really know. I cried as Atlantis shot into the sky. I was live tweeting with many other viewers and we were sharing this experience virtually.. it was pretty awesome.

I don't know what NASA has planned for the future but it will take us to infinity and beyond.

It's a Girl!!!

I found out a few months ago that I was going to be an uncle for a second time. My brother Michael & sister-in-law Lora made me a proud uncle by having a beautiful little boy Kenobi. Well today we found out that their second child is going to be a girl. Girls are very rare in our family and we were honestly expecting a boy. I know my Mom went crazy when she found out it was a girl. My mom always wanted a daughter and she is finally getting her wish in the form of a grand daughter.

I know my brother told me that if it was a girl that he was going to name her Sky Walker, now I love the name Sky but am not a fan of Walker for a middle name. He was half joking and half serious but his wife actually liked the name. But also they like the name Molly Lee Ann, Lee is my brother's middle name and Ann is my sister-in-laws middle name. As much of a Star Wars fan that I am and I love having a nephew named Kenobi I am pushing for Molly Lee Ann over Sky Walker.

But then again I'm just hoping for a beautiful healthy little girl.. regardless of what her name is. :) She due on December 24th.

Harry Potter London World Premiere

This morning at 8am my time, or 4pm London time they held the world premiere for the final installment of the Harry Potter movie series; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. I've watched the past few premieres as it's always fun to see the stars really appreciate their fans by trying to sign 1000's of autographs as they walk the red carpet. The past few HP premieres have been big events with hosts who chat with the cast here and there but they went all out this year being that it's the final premiere of a Harry Potter movie. Besides all the coverage of the actors arriving and crazy fans spending several nights in the cold rainy weather, they were broadcasting the event in 3D on British TV, also they were showing it all over the world in movie theaters and all over the internet.

At the very end they had Dan (Harry), Rupert (Ron), Emma (Hermioine), David Heyman (Producer), David Barron (Producer), David Yates (Director of last four movies) and the one and only J.K. Rowling (Author) on stage to address the thousands of fans there and the millions upon millions watching live.

First up was a WB executive who thanked everyone but was your typical WB executive. Then the 3 David's spoke and were very gracious to the crew, cast and fans. Then Dan spoke and thanked Jo for creating Harry Potter and said that whatever he does from here on out will be because of her and her wonderful character.  After Dan was Emma and when she spoke that's when the tears started flowing. Not only was she crying but Jo was crying.. even Dan and Rupert had red eyes. I lost it then. I was at work and trying not to just break down but it was tough not just balling like a baby.  Emma finished her speech and Rupert was up next and he's not the best at speeches but he said his part and ended his speech by telling Dan and Emma how much he loved them. And finally it was Jo's turn. She was already crying from the previous 3 speeches but pulled it together to give a  beautiful speech to her fans, to the crew and especially the cast when she thanked the actors for "the amazing things they did for my favorite characters." and she by far had the best line of the evening in regards to all this ending, "Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."... it was a fantastic way to end what has been a magical 10 years.

And of course it's not over.. the books are done and the movies are about to be  over but Potter will live on with the recently announced Pottermore, the theme park and in the hearts of every fan out there.

I'm sad to see the movies end, as I have loved every single one of them, but I will always have the books to re-read and re-visit that magical world whenever I want. I going to see the final Harry Potter movie on opening night Friday at 8:30pm with some great Harry Potter fans and I'm really looking forward to it.

You can watch some video of the event HERE

Dinner with Teal

Today I had the pleasure of having dinner with a good friend of mine Teal Sherer. Teal and I met on the set of Season 3 of The Guild and it was instant friendship. It's funny how things like that work out. From the moment we met it was as if we had been friends forever. She is truly one of the nicest people I know and I love spending time with her. So I have decided to try and have dinner at least twice a month,  I mean we chat via email and such because we are both so busy but it's nice to actually just hang out and catch up on each others lives. Tonight we had dinner at El Torito Grill in the Sherman Oak Galleria.
It was good food and great company.

Love ya Teal!!!

KOTG Companion Casts

Today I worked on my upcoming Knights of the Guild Companion Casts. If you don't know what these are they started last season while working on The Guild. I would do behind the scene interviews with the cast and crew as they would finish filming. Then when an episode would air, a companion cast would follow the next day and take listeners behind the scenes for that specific episode. Well we are doing those again for season five which is approaching fast and I have lots of prep work to do. These podcasts come out once a week as the episodes come out and are a lot of work to edit together as there are many sources.

So today I spent the entire day, while working, exporting a few hundred audio files and placing them into episode folders. This is just a first step in a long process but I'm looking forward to making these as I know listeners really enjoy the companion casts.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends.

This fourth I went and visited family. Had lunch with my Dad, who doing well. he's had his second chemo and it's not knocking him on his butt as much as the 1st treatment did and the tumors continue to shirk, so he's in good spirits, which makes me happy.

Got so spend time with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew Kenobi. And they actually left Kenobi with me for an hour or so while they went shopping. At first he panicked when he realized that they had gone but a few minutes later he came back to me and we started to play. He's now two years old and just a bundle of energy. It was none stop activity and by the time his parents got back I as exhausted. I don't how they do that 24 hours a day. But I loved my one on one time with my little guy.

After that drove home and hung out with Harry. No fireworks this year and the BBQ happened a few days prior. It was a good day.

Confessions of a Fanboy Interviews

After everyone left from the Indy Marathon I had to start preparing for several interviews with Fanboys and Fangirl's for my new podcast Confessions of a Fanboy. I had lined up five interviews for today over the next five hours.

I still am not 100% sure of the style of the show. Figured I'd so a few interviews and see how it goes and then decide which direction I want to take the podcast. My friend interview was with my podcast idol Kevin Bachelder. I'm glad he was first so I could try different things and he also made suggestions. We chatted for about a half hour and for the most part things kind of flowed. I did find myself bouncing around a bit as things would pop into my head after the fact.. so I think I need to actually write down my general questions. My next interview was with my buddy from England Russ and again the interview went great but did bounce around. Charles Piner was next and we had a great time chatting. And finally my first Fangirl Rachael... it was interesting to hear a girl perspective on all things geeky. And once again my final interview for the day was another fangirl Jax and we had fun talking Harry Potter.

So 5 great interviews.. some only 15 minutes others a half hour. Still not sure how I'm going to edit these up or how I will release them.. but I'll figure something out in the next few weeks. I hope to release the first episode by July 15th. I'll keep you guys posted and if anyone is interested in confessing their geekiness to me on an upcoming podcast please drop me a line at ConfessionsofaFanboy@gmail.com

Indiana Jones Marathon / BBQ / Sleepover

FRIDAY: Prepping for this event started last night when I went to Stater Bros to pick up some food for today's BBQ and breakfast for Sunday morning as I know several folks plan on spending the night. After getting home I continued to clean up the house but soon was tired and went to bed knowing I was going to get up in the early AM to finish cleaning and prepare for the marathon.

SATURDAY: I got up at 7am this morning and started to clean. Folks were coming until 12pm but with some coming from long distances I figured some would show up early so I wanted to get everything done. I finished cleaning around 9:30am (well almost finished as I had to clean the bedroom and master bathroom but Harry was still sleeping so it had to wait). I then moved on to my next project, surround sound. I have been wanting to set up my surround sound system since we moved in two years ago but just never got around to it.. but I figured this was going to be a big event and we want to have it sound great so I got all the equipment out of the garage, cleaned it off and hooked it up. I finished around 10:15am and moments after my buddy Chris showed up (he drove from just north of Santa Barbara). I tested the surround sound and it worked so everything was ready to go.

About 15 minutes after my buddy Chris arrived Harry woke up and I was able to get into the bedroom/ master bathroom and clean. But as I was cleaning the bathroom more people showed up as it was getting closer to Noon. So I was greeting people while running back and trying to finish cleaning the master bathroom. Finally after greeting Leo, Anne, Jen, Aaron, Ron and Shenah I was finally able to finish my bathroom and I was done with the cleaning.

Now it's noon and the party is in full swing.. Chris, Leo, Anne, Jen, Aaron, Ron and Shenah were already here and within the next hour Megan, Jared, Troy, Andrew and Michele arrive and I was starting to worry that I wouldn't have enough room in my TV room for everyone to sit. I had already moved another couch in there and tons of pillows for those sitting on the floor but I think we were going to max out all the floor space as well. While we waited for others to arrive we played some Wii.

So around 1pm we started to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark and I started the BBQ. I would go back and fourth between watching and cooking. Food was done about 1 hour into the movie so we paused it so everyone could grab some lunch. Also just a side note all of my guest brought some great chips, cookies and drinks.. we were well stocked. So everyone grabbed some food and then went back into the TV room to continue our viewing of Raiders. About an hour into the movie my buddy Luis arrived and grabbed some food and joined in the movie watching

Once that was over Michele had to leave for work and we started Temple of Doom. This is my favorite of the Indy movies so I really wanted to see this one. Two hours later the movie ended and Jared, Andrew and Megan departed the marathon.

We then started The Last Crusade and about a half hour into it Leslie showed up and joined in the fun and I headed out to pick up some Pizza which is just five minutes away from the house but took me almost and hour to get so I pretty much missed the second half of The Last Crusade. And by the time I got back the movie was over and folks were just hanging out.

So we had some pizza, chatted, did some shots and went out back to do some stargazing, as it gets really dark out here and you can see hundreds of stars. After an hour I asked if folks were ready for The Crystal Skull and folks were up for it so we headed back into the TV room and watched the final installment of the Indiana Jones series. Those left to watch the final movie were Chris, Leo, Luis, Leslie, Anne, Jen, Aaron, Troy, Ron, Shenah, Harry and myself.

After the final movie we all went outside as it was even darker and stargazed for a bit before coming back in and doing more shots and just hanging out. Some started up the Wii, others snacked and chatted. Around 3am Ron and Shenah decided to head home but Chris, Leo, Luis, Leslie, Anne, Jen, Aaron, and Troy decided to stay the night and crash at my place. And they were all still going strong, unfortunately I was not and was ready for bed... so I made sure everyone had pillows and sheets and knew where they were sleeping before hitting my own bed. Told them all I would get up the next morning and make everyone breakfast.

SUNDAY: Well I got up around 10am and headed outside to see everyone up (excluding Troy who seemed to have gone home at 4am), they were watching Family Guy Star Wars. Found out that they all went to bed around 4am and woke up at 8am and have been waiting for me to get up to feed them :)

So with the help of Jen we made bacon, sausage, scrabbled eggs, hash browns, toast and OJ for everyone. While this was happening they started to watch Galaxy Quest so we all ate our breakfast and watched Galaxy Quest. About half way through the movie Leslie decided to head home and once the movie was over the rest decided to pack up and head home ending a 23 hour party.

When ever you host a party you rarely get to truly enjoy it. I missed some of Raiders, got to see Temple of Doom, missed alot of Crusade but did watch all of Crystal Skull but all in all I had a great time. I love hosting parties and don't do it that often. Got to socialize with some new and old friends. This group of friends are fairly new, I meet most of them from Season Five of the Guild but it's a great group of guys and gals... and I hope our friendships continue to grow.  Most came from long distance to be here, north of Santa Barbara to south of San Diego and that means a lot to me. I've talked to a few of them and they seemed to really enjoy themselves and can't wait for the next marathon which I will be in September/October and will be either Lord of the Rings or Star Wars (Original trilogy). I'll keep everyone posted.

A special thanks to Chris, Leo, Anne, Jen, Aaron, Troy, Luis, Andrew, Jared, Michele, Megan, Leslie, Ron, Shenah and of course Harry for making last nights marathon / BBQ / sleep over a huge success.

You can see more pictures from the Marathon/BBQ/Sleepover HERE

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 11

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen/direct download http://bit.ly/eXCRxT

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House Podcast and special guest hosts Harry Dauz & Joyce Kessel discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Episode #11 - Germ Warfare

Directed by Terry Becker
Written by Larry Gelbart
Production code J304
Original air date December 10, 1972

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Hawkeye and Trapper move a North Korean P.O.W. patient into the Swamp, rather than have him shipped out early. They discover that the P.O.W. has a rare blood type. Since Frank has the same blood type, they furtively steal some of Frank's blood in the night. However when the patient develops hepatitis, they suspect Frank is the carrier, and have to keep him away from Margaret and patients.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny, Meds, Al, Harry & Joyce

© Geekyfanboy Productions

Google +

Today Google revealed it's new social network called Google +. I was skeptical as I wasn't sure I wanted to jump into another social network as the few that I'm in seem to take up a lot of my free time, but when the opportunity came up and I could get an invite before many others I jumped at it.

Well it's only been a day but I have been on this site non-stop checking out every nook and cranny. I love this new site. It's like a cross between facebook and twitter. It's very clean looking and not cluttered like facebook. It has a great video chat program "hanging out" and it has these things called circles which allow you to group your "friends" in various circles and only share what you want with whom you want. If you want to read more about it my buddy Scott wrote a pretty good article about it on his blog that you can find HERE,

So far I'm loving it and it can only get better.

Knights of the Guild Ep 33

Download from itunes - http://bit.ly/KotGCast, or listen, get direct download 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
* Listener Feedback
* Fan Interview with the lovely Leslie Crystal
* Donations
* Crew Interview from Season 4 with Andrew Seely
* Guild Trivia
* 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. Kenny & Jenni

Podcasting Maddness

I've been incredible busy the past forever so today I devoted the entire day to my podcasts. To start off the day I recorded six episodes of my MASH 4077 Podcast with my co-host Meds and Al. Harry also joined us for 3 or the 6 episodes. We started at noon and finished around 4pm. Harry and I then went and grabbed a bit to eat since we hadn't eaten all day.

After breakfast/lunch/dinner I had to finish up my next Knights of the Guild podcast #33 as it's due to be released on Wednesday June 29th and I only did a bit of editing on my lunch break during the week. Of course things never go as planned as I started to gather all the bits and pieces I realized that I was missing a few things. So quickly scrambled and recorded a few pick up lines and then got into editing the piece. I edited KOTG from 6pm to 9pm then took a quick break to grab a snack (dinner).

I then got to work on my next MASH 4077 Podcast #11 as it's due to be released on Friday July 1st. That one went together fairly well. There's a lot more editing in this one compared to my KOTG but it's all pretty straight forward and around 11pm I finished that episode as well.

I spent all day in "Podcasting" mode.. it's lots of work but tons of fun. Now it's time for bed.. my eyes are killing me and I can't stare at a computer screen one more minute... night all.

Can't Stop the Serenity Event

Today/Tonight I went to the 6th Annual Can't Stop the Serenity charity screening event. I attended the very first CSTS many years ago in Pasadena and have always wanted to attend another. Well I couldn't pass up this opportunity. If you don't know what CSTS is you can read more about it HERE But in short it's fans of Firefly/Serenity or Browncoats as we like to be called, raising money for Joss Whedon's favorite charity, Equality Now.

Tonight's screening was going to be extra special because Joss himself was going to be in attendance and doing a Q&A. They were also going to screening Doctor Horrible Sing Along Blog and brought Felicia Day to do a Q&A along with Joss.

View from my seat

The event started at 5pm down in Hollywood at the Harmony Gold Theater... I tried to get "reserve" seating but it sold out in a matter of hours. So I got general seating which meant I had to get there a bit earlier to get a decent seat. My friend Chris was there before me and when I got there around 4pm we got in line. We were pretty close to the front so I figured we'd get a decent seat. We were saving one seat for our friend Kim and my buddy Aaron showed up about a half hour later and joined us in line. Once we were let in we made out way into the theater and noticed that 2/3'd of the center seats had reserve numbers on them. So Chris, Aaron and I opted for the first center row that we could get. We were right in the middle of the theater towards the back. The theater was small so we had a nice view of the stage and the best view of screen. We had other friends Kim, Anne, Rachelle, Adam, Lisa and Katie who got reserve seats which were great for the stage as they were only a few feet away but to watch the movie they were the worse seats possible. So I was very happy with our seats.

While I was visiting my friends up at the very front the host Atom! was doing some mic tests and actually called me up to stage to sit in the seats and have a conversation with him in front of everyone. Luckily he also grabbed my friend Adam and shortly after my other buddy Michael. So I wasn't alone talking to this guy in front of everyone.

Photo courtesy of Adam

Around 6pm the program got started.. the first event was a gentleman named Shawn Tutt who preformed 3 "geeky" song, they were pretty good. They then went on do a few auctions and I was so tempted to through my hand up but I resisted. After that they showed us a short video about Equality Now which ended with Joss on screen. Then moment later the "real" Joss came out and spoke to the crowds for a few minutes about Equality Now. Then the founder of Equality Now came out and spoke for a few minutes before my friend Michael, who wrote and directed a fantastic Firefly fan film for charity called Browncoats : Redemption presented the head of Equality Now a check for $12,000. Then Can't Stop the Serenity creator presented the head of Equality Now a Golden Apple aka Griswalds (if you're a firefly fan you'll get the reference).

Photo courtesy of Katie

Once that was over we did one more auction and this is were I had to really restrain myself.. but I did. After that auction it was time for the panel so they brought out Joss Whedon, then Michale Fairman (Niska from Firefly) and Felicia Day. But it didn't stop.. there were more unannounced guests Jane Espenson (writers, Firefly, Buffy, and so much more), Tim Minear (writer/director/producer) and finally Nathan Fillion (Mal from Firefly). The crowds went crazy as all the guests sat down. They did about a 30 minute Q&A with the guests and by the time they were done it was 8pm and Serenity was about to start. The panel was so SHINY!!!!

My buddy Chris is new to Firefly so this was his first time seeing the movie.. also my friend Kim had never seen Serenity on a big screen so it was fun watching it with these guys. It was like experiencing it for the first time. After the movie ended, they did the raffle, which I purchased four tickets ($20). The last CSTS I was at I actually won a CSTS T-shirt signed by Joss Whedon... but atlas I did not win anything this time around.

Next up was Doctor Horrible Sing-A-Long Blog. Now this is something that I've only seen on the small screen. This was my first viewing on a big screen and it was AWESOME.. also this was the first time seeing it with a large audience of devoted fans so we all sang along with the songs and it was a blast.

The event ended around 11pm and my group of friends decided to grab some food at Mel's Diner. Being in Hollywood on a Saturday evening right in the middle of everything is not fun. Took about 20 minutes to go a few blocks to the diner but once we were there we found a table and slowly but surely 2/3'd of the diner were CSTS people... it was a great way to end a FANTASTIC evening.

Left Mel's around 1am, got home around 2am and went to bed at 3am... good times.

 

EDIT!!! Just found out that the gentleman who won the Firefrog (Firefly/Muppet Mash up) Poster ($450) actually donated it back so they could get more cast signatures and re-auction it off for even more money...  I said it before and I'll say it again.. Browncoats are amazing!!!

General Update on my Geeky Life

My Buddy Ken Todd Drew this for me.

Since my Dad has been ill I tend to get a lot more "how are you doing" questions. I normally say I'm fine but that's about it. So I've decided to give a little bit more of a in depth "how I am going" at this moment in time.

First of all just got off the phone with my Dad who had just had his second chemo on Wednesday and not going into great detail but he is feeling great. Tumors seem to shrinking, doctors are happy with his progress and he's in great spirits... so yay!!!

Work is horrible at the moment, lots of stress that could have been avoided if the EP's could just keep to my post schedule. Been some tense moments the past few weeks. Being a post production supervisor you expect stress especially towards the end of the shows run. But as I get older I've come to realize that I'm liking it less and less. Ive been in the entertainment industry for over 16 years and I've loved it about 90% of the time and hated it the other 10%. The past few years it's more like love 10% and hate 90%.  I have been really considering getting out of the industry but it's not so easy to give up my position. It would be tough to find a "starter" job and make the amount of money I make now. But with that said I don't need to make the same amount. As long as I make enough to cover my monthly expenses, which is still a hefty amount but I'd be happy with that.. but what job can I do. I've considered becoming a teacher for K - 2nd grades as I love kids, but as I get older that become less and less appealing. I also wouldn't mind opening some sort of "geeky" store, but that's always risky and you need a good amount of money to start off with.

Honestly my ideal job right now would be to podcast full time. I love to create, produce, edit and host podcasts and I think I'm really good at it. Only issue with doing that full time, is podcasting doesn't pay. Yes you can get advertisers for your podcasts and donations but that's not enough to keep me afloat every month, unless you can get some very large advertisers.

So when my current job ends in mid September I'll sit down and re-evaluate my situation and see if I can find an escape plan that will work for me and get me out of the entertainment industry or at least stop being a post production supervisor.

And speaking of podcasts, I currently have 2 in production, 2 in "start up " mode and another 3 or 4 waiting in the wings to get started. I love podcasing and have so many great ideas for new shows but not the time to devote to doing them. My Knights of the Guild podcast is going strong just passing 216,000 downloads after 2 years 5 months. My new MASH 4077 Podcast has been out since February and just passed 10,000 downloads. The two podcasts I have in the works, Epic Geek Out has been a tough start, came up with the idea last year and have had several false starts. It's still going to happen but might be a few months before it sees the light of day. My new idea which I had last week is called Confessions of a Fanboy and it's on the fast track. I'm hoping to get the first episode out mid July. I'm very excited for this one.  I have several calls out to some well known folks seeing if I can do "official" podcasts for them as well.. so lots going on in my podcast world.

As for my personal life, nothing really going on there. Harry is leaving for Austria on August 13th. Once he is gone I'll take a look around and see the situation.. I hate being alone but I have no plans to jump back into a relationship. In all my 40 years of living on this Earth I have lived alone for a total of 10 months. 0 - 18 with family, 18 - 33 with roommates and for a glorious 10 months between 33 - 34 I lived alone and then I met Harry and we've been living together since. So I am looking forward to living alone for a while. I'm not opposed to dating but I have no plans to start living with someone for the foreseeable future. No idea what the future holds but I'm looking forward to finding out.

I do plan on working out again. I did pretty good at the end of last year, I worked out for about 3 months and lost about 17 lbs, but then got sick in January which lasted for 3 months and when I started to feel better in April I had lost all motivation to work out again. But I know I need to get back on that horse so I plan to start working out again on Monday. I also started playing on a Quidditch team. If you know me you know I'm a HUGE Harry Potter fan so when I heard an LA team was being formed I couldn't help but join. It's a great workout but it does show me that I have a long way to go before I'm back in shape. So between working out again and Qudditch I hope to be a healthier me by the end of the year.  I'm hoping to lose 40 lbs, but for starters I'd be happy to get below 200 which mean I need to lose 13 lbs.

Well I think I rambled on for long enough.. if you read it all.. congratulations and Thanks for caring about me.  I have my good and bad days but for the most part I'm a happy person trying to live my geeky life as best as I can. Thank you all for being part of it.

Transcript from Pottermore Press Conference

Here's the transcript from the press conference this morning.

JKR during press conference:

"Pottermore has been a really great way to give back to the Harry Potter readership, who made the books such a big success.  I am still receiving countless, a huge amount of mail - I thought it would really drop off by now. Stories, drawings, suggestions I write prequels, sequels, every week.

"This site is just a fantastic way for all that fan creativity to continue. It’s been an amazing experience for me to be able to be creative in this medium that didn’t exist back in 1990 when I had the idea for the books. And it will be a wonderful way to introduce the digital generation to the books.

"It’s just been a phenomenally exciting project. We’ve been working on it for a couple of years and I think it’s miraculous that so few clever fans twigged to what we were up to. A few did and they were really nice about not giving us away early. It’s just been a very exciting project to work on with a great team."

On Sorting:

"The Sorting was some of the best fun I’ve had on this project. I was writing the potter books for sixteen years and during that time I had just had this real sense of where people belonged, in what house they belonged. It was something I was unconsciously doing a lot of the time when I met people.

"So, developing these vast pool of questions that are randomly selected for a user - so you wont get the same questions as your friend necessarily - I thought it was quite important that people didn’t get to second guess what meant Gryffindor, for example. But the exciting thing for me is that if you’re not sorted into Gryffindor, if you’re sorted into one of the other three houses you will effectively get an extra quarter chapter because you will go off to your on common room. If you are sorted into Gryffindor you just follow Harry. But if you’re sorted into Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin, you go to your own common room, you meet your own prefect, who will tell you about famous people who were in your house and what the true nature of your house is.

"In the main narrative you only ever see the other houses through the eyes of the three, my three heroes. What I’m basically saying is that it’s not a terrible thing to be in Slytherin. And in fact I have always seen Gryffindor and Slytherin as the two closest houses. I think that Harry himself could have gone either way very easily. I don’t think it’s very guessable. Yo must be answering honestly. You just get one shot at this, it’s like a Mensa test, there’s no going back, you’ve got to do it properly the first time.

"We’ve tested this out. I tested it on my family and everyone was where I thought they would be, and when the team did it, you [to Tarek Nseri of TH_NK] said most people were in Ravenclaw. The only two people who were in Slytherin were dressed all in black. So it works."

Q: How did the idea come about, and how much new material is there?

"I would say that I have had more than half of the new material already written - and I’ve also generated some new content, particularly the introduction to the houses. That was a fun opportunity to go back, rethink how it might have been if Harry followed a different course. So I’ve generated quite a lot.

"[The idea] came out of a discussion between us, between Neil [Blair] and myself. We knew there was a big demand for the eBooks but I wanted - if it was going to be done I wanted it to be more than that. Obviously we’d had a lot of requests for all sorts of games and online interactive games and so forth. I wanted to pull it back to reading. I wanted to pull it back to the literary experience, the story experience, and this is what emerged from those discussions. So we started working on this seriously a couple of years ago."

Q: Will there ever be a printed encyclopedia?

"Will there ever be a book, I don’t know at the moment. The world has kind of outstripped me in the sense that back in 1998 I generated a lot more material than would ever be put in the books. It was simply ridiculous that anyone - to me at the time, I thought, who would ever want to know the significance of these types of wand woods? This was all in my head. So the only way I could imagine I could get that material out there was in the form of a printed book.

"Now, you can go and look and see what the significance of the wand wood once what you’ve got your wand. You have to read it all, but it’s such a rich experience to do it this way. 

"Will there ever be an encyclopedia? Possibly. I would say two things about the encyclopedia: firstly, I’ve always said and I stand by it, whenever I do do a printed encyclopedia I would like all the proceeds to go to charity. Back in 1998 I never dreamt I personally I would be in the position that I could set up a large charitable foundation and personally do things for charity, and I’ve done other charity books already.

"The other thing is, this is free. You don’t have to buy anything to access what you’ve seen today. You don’t have to pay to get the extra material, you don’t have to buy a single thing to go onto Pottermore

Q: You have been quoted about how difficult it was to say goodbye to Harry Potter. This is a way of causing you to be able to keep your boyfriend a little longer?

"It’s exactly like an ex-boyfriend. It is true to say that finishing writing Harry, I’ve only ever cried in that way and as much ever in my life when my mother died. I’ve never cried for a man as I cried for Harry Potter, ever. So, we’re not casually dating, as you can see, and have been for two years now and I’ve been keeping that quiet. 

"It is surprising how easily I slip in and out of that world. I’ll be completely honest when I came to write out notes or when I generated new material which I have done in places, I just thought this is extraordinary how easily I slip in and out of it, that’s been wonderful. But I do have closure with Harry, and I think it’s important to say that I have no plans to write another novel. This has been an amazing way of staying in touch with that part of my life, but I am pretty sure I am done on the novel front. But it was fun while it lasted."

Q [regarding Jo’s mail and whether this will reignite her post bag]

"I love the mail. Not all of the mail. I like 99% of the mail.

"The books, it’s impossible to overstate what Harry Potter was to me. It completely changed my life. Creatively, I’ve loved it. It will never happen again to me anyway. It will happen again to someone else, there’ll be another series of books that’s as big. I adore my readers. I love my readers. Any writer would like to think that they will continue to be read.

"I thought a question that would come earlier but that I am going to answer spontaneously now, is that print/ebook debate: It is my view you can’t hold back progress. EBooks are here, they are here to stay. Personally I love printed paper, but very very recently, later that a lot of people because I’m not very technologically adept, in fact it was this year for the first time that I downloaded eBooks. And it’s miraculous, for travel and for children particularly, to carry around a thousand books in your pocket on a small device is an extraordinary thing, so I feel great about taking harry potter into this new medium. But I still love a printed paper book; I think you can enjoy both."

Q: Did you come up with the name Pottermore?

"I did. I’m quite proud of that. We had a lot of discussions about that but that was me."

Q: Can you talk about your decision to go directly to the consumers? I imagine Apple and Amazon are not happy.

"Well I can’t speak for anyone else. The decision was  quite straightforward for me. Firstly It means that - I mean Harry Potter is obviously an international phenomenon and it means that we can now see that people everywhere are having the same experience at pretty much the same time. A large part of the fandom will be able to receive experience at exactly the same time, which was extremely appealing to me. 

"I’m phenomenally lucky in that I have the resources to do it myself and therefore I got to do it, I think, right. I think this is a fantastic and unique experience that I can afford in every sense. To take my time and find the right people - TH_NK have been extraordinary - to make this come alive. There was really no other way to do that, for the fans or for, than to just do it myself. Not everyone could do it, I appreciate that, but I think it was right for Harry Potter. It was right for Harry Potter because, Potter fandom was one of the first, I think ti’s fair to say, there was a massive online community and that was such fun for me as an author to be able to have direct contact with my fans, and I already had a direct presence online, I had my own web site already. So it didn’t feel like a massive onwards step. It was an extension of the already existing.

Q: Can you talk more about what new content is on the site and what some of your favorite parts were?

"I’ve mentioned - I think my favorite things are the Sorting, which I loved writing, I think if you get into the other three houses apart from Gryffindor, you do end up with an extra bit of that chapter in Philosopher’s Stone. That was great to write. And then the wands, I go into ridiculous detail about the wandwoods, and what the cores mean, and why it might have chosen you and every detail on wands and some of that I already had in long form and some of it I wrote anew. 

"The background on Professor McGonagall, I’ve had for years and years and years, and I think I always thought it would have somehow found its way into the story and it just never happened. Harry and Professor McGonagall just never had an interaction or a conversation where that would plausibly come out, so I was left with this life story of this character I liked so much and nowhere to put it. Now I’ve got somewhere to put it. That was so satisfying."

Q: How much is there?

"Oh god, I don’t know. Lots. There’s lots. 18,000 words at launch but I’m adding to it. I’m still digging up boxes and I will write more as well as we hit subsequent books. In fact I’ve already given material on the other six books. We’ve been working on this for about two years so this has been int the works quite a long time."

Q: Can I ask about Quidditch?"I don’t think I’ve given all the stuff on Quidditch yet. Men always ask me about Quidditch because the number of, and I love geeky people so I do not say this in a pejorative way, but the number of geeky men who have come up to me to argue with me about Quidditch - I’d be a lot richer if I had a quid for every one. They just think it’s illogical. But it’s not illogical and I had a speech by Dumbledore in the first book that never made it in explaining why Quidditch is not illogical, so at some point I will put that on the site. Thank you for reminding me."

Pottermore Press Conference

Here's a short snippet from the Press conference about Pottermore. Jo gives a few more details about Pottermore.

Pottermore

I'm so excited for this.. can't wait to see what she has in store for us Harry Potter fans.

From Press Release:

For this groundbreaking collaborative project, J.K. Rowling has written extensive new material about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books.  Pottermore will later incorporate an online shop where people can purchase exclusively the long-awaited Harry Potter eBooks, in partnership with J.K. Rowling’s publishers worldwide, and is ultimately intended to become an online reading experience, extending the relevance of Harry Potter to new generations of readers, while still appealing to existing fans.  As the Pottermore Shop develops, it is intended that it should include further products designed specifically for Harry Potter fans, offering a potential outlet for Sony products and services related to Pottermore.  In keeping with Harry Potter’s international appeal, the site will launch in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages to follow.

In the new website, the storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone. On entering, you choose a magic username and begin your experience.  As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.   

At a press conference at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Rowling revealed some key features of the website. In an announcement which will thrill fans, she described how she has brought to life both the Sorting Hat and Ollivanders experiences from her books for the first time on Pottermore, by revealing the questions asked by the Sorting Hat - which places newcomers into their Hogwarts houses according to their characteristics -  and the magic behind the Wand Chooser – which finds the right wand for each user from over 33,000 possible combinations. She also revealed glimpses of the new information she has provided on some of the best-loved characters.

J.K. Rowling’s announcement on YouTube and sony.com today revealed that Pottermore (along with the Pottermore Shop) will be open to all users in October 2011.  From today, 23rd June, fans can submit their email addresses on Pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry’s birthday.  Also on that date, an online challenge will be launched, whereby the first million people to complete their registration will gain early entry into the website, and help put final touches to the experience. 

 More details from http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org

• Pottermore is an interactive new Web site and reading experience with more than 18,000 new words from J.K. Rowling: Much more to come.
• JKR behind the scenes filming the video picture. 
• An online experience to read, interact with and share the Harry Potter stories. Exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling and more.
• Pottermore will feature infromation J.K. Rowling has been "hoarding" for years about Harry Potter.
• Pottermore will be the exclusive place to purchase the digital audio books and, at last, eBooks of the Harry Potter series.
• Pottermore was developed in association with the leading digital company, @th_nktweets
• Pottermore was also created in partnership with @sony!
• One million fans will get access to a beta on July 31, Harry's birthday. It will be open for all in October 2011.
• The launch of Pottermore will have more than 18,000 words from J.K. Rowling, but that is only a third of what she has written so far.
• J.K. Rowling said this morning that there is a lot more content to come for the Pottermore site, and she will develop it as it grows.
• This morning J.K. Rowling said that she and Harry have a "casual relationship," instead of the serious kind they once had.
• "I've never cried over a man as much as I've cried over Harry." - JKR 
• The idea came from a conv. with her agent about how to help Harry live on in today's digital age.
• JKR downloaded eBooks for the 1st time this year and loved it - "a thousand books in your pocket" - tho she loves paper.
• You will follow the story, get sorted into a house and get a wand (one of 33,000 possible combinations) - all crafted by JKR.
• JKR is excited to include a long backstory on McGonagall - her childhood, ministry career, early heartbreak...
• A lot of the Pottermore team is Hufflepuff, which JKR said is what "you want in a team - they're workers!"
• JKR said if you're not sorted into Gryffindor you get even more exclusive content about your house.
• Chamber of Secrets story to debut in 2012. 
• Also shown this morning, there will be info on Minerva McGonagall's long friendship with Dumbledore
• A physical encyclopedia may come one day, JKR said, but she is not positive.
• Also mentioned that Vernon ad Petunia met at work, backstory also on Pottermore.
• JKR on Pottermore: "I've worked with the most incredible team at TH_NK to make it come alive."

SwampCast #3 - Listener Feedback

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes listen/direct download http://bit.ly/eXCRxT

Here is another SwampCast... #3, a SwampCast is a non-regular show.. meaning we will not be reviewing an episode in this podcast. These SwampCasts will come out now and then and cover "cast" interview, or listener feedback or anything else that we want to share with the listeners that doesn't fit into our regular show review episodes.

Our third SwampCast once again covers Listener Feedback. We also go over our trivia and answers from episodes 5 - 9 and give one lucky listener a MASH 4077 T-shirt.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny, Meds, & Al

Find Us on the Web:
Main website - http://MASH4077Podcast.com
Twitter - @MASH4077Podcast
Facebook Fan Page - http://www.facebook.com/MASH4077Podcast
MASH 4077 Podcast Blog - http://www.MASH4077Podcast.blogspot.com
Email Us - MASH4077Podcast@Gmail.com

© Geekyfanboy Productions

Editing a Podcast

Tonight after work I went home and worked on the next MASH SwampCast #3. We had gotten quite a bit of listener feedback and I really wanted to get another swampcast out. I recorded my audio on Sunday night and Meds and Al emailed me their audio last week. I spent my lunch hour editing up my audio so when I got home all I had to do was upload the three files and cut them together. But of course things never go as planned. One of the comments that we had gotten was actually a question and I forgot to get Meds to answer it. So Al who had read the question answer it and then I quickly recorded an answer so I could cut it in. I also had to still record the trivia and answer section and announce the winner so I did that was well. By the time everything was recorded and edited all together it was close to 1AM and I was exhausted so I did manage to export the file but that's as far as it got. I'll finish converting it tomorrow and get it uploaded before I go into work.

Father's Day

Days like today are special but now with my Dad being so ill they are even more special. Because you never know if this will be the last father's day we get to spend with him. Though he wasn't feeling great I still went down to visit. I knew we were going to be able to go out to lunch and a movie but I just wanted to hang out and talk. My brother and I have decided that when he is feeling better were going to take him to Las Vegas and give him a significant amount of money to just have fun and gamble away.. that will be his Father's Day and Birthday present for this year. So I spent about 2 hours with him, went grocery shopping for him and then hung out with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew another few hours before heading home. Like I said I knew we weren't going to be able to do much but just spending time with each other was good enough for me.

In recent years I've come to realize that it's easy to take family/friends for granted. You're parents are always there for you, you can't imagine them never being there but as I get older I come to realize that they won't always be around. I won't be able to just pick a phone and call them or drive down and visit them. And honestly that is how I'm starting to think about everyone in my life. Who's to say when a person's time on this planet is over. I mean we assume we have a good 80 years but many people don't.

Gotta keep telling myself to love and cherish those around you while you can.. tomorrow may never come.

Double Feature: Super 8 & X-Men First Class

*** MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR SUPER 8 & X-MEN FIRST CLASS***

I've been so busy the past.. forever that I've fallen behind on summer movies so today I was determined to go to the movies and see at least two if not three movies. On my list of "must" see are Pirates 4, Kung Fu Panda 2, X-Men First Class, Super 8 and Green Lantern. So I checked the movies time and it looked like I'd be able to see Super 8, then X-Men First Class and if I was up to it Pirates 4.

So I went to lunch at a near fast food place and then headed over to the theater. Up first was Super 8. I've heard such good things about this film and from the previews I was very excited to see. I had heard that it's a through back to the 80's films like E.T. and Goonies, both of which I LOVED.

I wish I could say that I totally LOVED this movie but I can't. I did enjoy it.. alot.. but maybe the hype got to me. It was a good movie but it didn't remind me of Goonies or E.T... both of which I can watch over and over. One thing that I did LOVE about this movie were the young actors, all of them...  but the main two Joe (Joel Courtney) and Alice (Elle Fanning) were AMAZING. The emotions they conveyed with just a look was brilliant. Part of this film felt like a horror movie, making you jump out of your seat when the "monster/alien" appeared. I like that we got a quick run down on the alien and why it was doing what it was doing... but I would have liked to know why it was kidnapping the people and eating some of them and not others. Was it just storing food for it's travels. One thing I hated but it's a JJ staple.. the lens flairs. OMG.. they were happening even when there wasn't any light source.  Would I recommend this film.. of course it's a very sweet coming of age story with a dash of horror. It made me cry, it had some very beautiful and heart touching scenes. The acting by far was my favorite part. There is also a train derailment scene that is totally EPIC and incredible shot and the alien looks pretty cool (when you finally see it).

After Super 8 I had about a minute to go to the bathroom, get a drink and some popcorn and get into the theater. Luckily they play five or six previews before the movie so I knew I had about ten minutes. So I got my snacks and then made my way into the theater. Soon as I sat down my full popcorn took a tumble to the floor and I lost all but a few kernels of popcorn.. I was not a happy camper.

Anyways on to X-Men First Class. First let me say I LOVED the original X-Men movie and LOVED X-Men 2 even more. And I even enjoyed X-Men 3, which I know most of my fellow geeks did not. So I'm a huge X-Men fan. Again like Super 8 I had heard a ton of great things about this film so my expectations were high... well I am happy to say that this film lived up and exceeded them. I LOVED this movie. It was well written, well acted and had just the right amount of action and character development. The movie is truly the story of how Erik became Magneto. There were several scenes that had me in tears. The death of Darwin was horrific. And another thing I loved about this movie is it still lined up with the previous X-Men movies. I loved the two big cameos and seeing the "younger" versions of future X-Men. This is a must buy when it comes out on Blu-ray.

After seeing Super 8 and then X-Men First Class I couldn't bring myself to watch Pirates. I was on such a high from X-Men that I didn't want to watch Pirates and be disappointed. I've heard good and bad things about Pirates 4, besides I was hungry and knew I had things to do at home. Seeing two movies was great, just have to make sure I do a few more double features in the future.

So I'd give Super 8 a solid B and X-Men First Class an A Both were fantastic and made for a great double feature.

Dad Update

Been texting with my Dad today, he's finally feeling a bit better... this chemo has really taken alot out of him. He's starting to lose his hair (as expected). I told him that at least its only temporary. He's also lost a huge amount of weight... from 230 to 195.. 35 lbs in a few months. He says things just don't taste good anymore. I remember when he had cancer in the 90's that it altered his taste buds, but I keep telling him he has to eat. With his diabetes he needs to keep his blood sugar levels good and not eating is not a good way of doing that. The one good thing is that the cancer/tumors are reacting to the chemo. He's only had one treatment so far and the doctors are  very happy with the progress of the shrinkage of his tumors... according to my Dad they may only do one more treatment. So I guess will just wait and see.

Going to be going to on Sunday for Father's Day. Now sure he'll feel up for doing much but at least we can hang out and watch TV.

Confessions of a Fanboy

Confessions of a Fanboy is my new podcast idea dedicated to all those wonderful Fanboys and Fangirls. It’s a place to talk about your love for Star Trek and/or Star Wars. Do you Cos-Play or dress up as Animals aka Furries? Do you enjoy LARPing or MMO’s? Can you speak in Klingon or recite every Doctor and their companions. If you’re passionate about one or more geek/nerd topics then this podcast is for you.

Each podcast will have a one on one conversation with a Fanboy or Fangirl. Will talk about how you got into your fandom, why you call yourself a fan and how you have integrated it into your daily life. Will also discuss other fandoms you may have and how being a fanboy/fangirl/Geek/Nerd has affected your life and anything else that might come up. I wanted to create this podcast so others like me could share their passion and love for their fandom. If you’re interested in telling your story email me at ConfessionsofaFanboy@gmail.com

Website: http://ConfessionsofaFanboyPodcast.com
Twitter: @FanboyPodcast
Email: ConfessionsofaFanboy@gmail.com

I'm also looking for folks to help out with my Logo for this new podcast.

Quidditch Practice

Tonight after work was once again my Quidditch practice. I got there a little late (they had played one game already). We played another game but the night was really about drills, tossing the Quaffle (soccer ball) back and forth and getting hit by bluders (dodgeballs). As well as practicing to be keeper (goalie). It was alot of fun. We finished the night by playing one more game with all eight of us (4 on 4) and man was it a great game. We've come a long way and this is the first time that it actually felt like a real game. It was pretty awesome. Only down side is one of our players took a tumble and at the time got up and continued to play but when we were done she got in her car and realized something was wrong. Well they took her to the emergency room and found out she hit her head pretty hard when she fell and suffered a concussion. She's fine but man you don't realize little fall could be so damaging.

As for me, I have major shine splints and will have to start wrapping my ankles and stretching better before and after we play. All in all I'm sore and tired but I'm still loving it. It's great to be part of a team, getting a good workout and being part of something very magical.

Podcasting Mania

Many have asked how I got into podcasting.. so I decided to sit down and blog about it.

Back in 2004/2005 itunes added this new function called Podcasts. I had heard about these a little bit prior to that but didn't really pay them much attention until itunes added them to their site. I remember doing searches for my favorite topics, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Facscape, Harry Potter and so and found so many great podcasts.

When I first started off I was listening to about 50+ podcasts but that only lasted a few months as my "free" time became less available I started to scale down my list. Soon there were good solid 15 shows including Treks in Sci Fi, The Signal and Pottercast.

Treks in Sci Fi was special because they had just started a forum and I was one of the first to join and frequent it quite a bit that I was made a moderator. Also because Treksf was all about the shows I love I use to send in listener feedback all the time and Rico would play my comments and it was kind of cool to hear myself on the podcast. So I started sending in listener comments to my other podcasts and soon it became a regular thing and the podcasting bug got me.

I started RPG (role playing game) on the Treks in Sci fi forums and soon it spawned into The Ready Room podcast which covered the happens of the RPG. I loved doing this podcast with fellow forum members Jen and Rick. It was almost like doing my own podcast but the topic was restricted to the Trek SF RPG game and I wanted to do more. Eventually the RPG ended and the three of us moved on to our own podcasts. Jen started the Anomaly podcast with her friend Angela while Rick started Take Him With You Podcast with his wife Amy... both are EXCELLENT podcasts.

So that left me to think of a topic I could do my podcast on. At the time there were thousands of podcasts and so many topics that if you didn't find your niche you could get lost in the crowd. At the time I was volunteering for a webseries called The Guild doing all their behind the scenes DVD stuff when it hit me. I should do a podcast about The Guild. There isn't one out there and since I "work" for them I'm sure I can get inside info and interviews with the cast and such... so Knights of the Guild Podcast was born. It's a huge undertaking to produce 2 to 5 podcasts a month but I love it. KOTG has really open some doors for me and has been a great experience. We're currently working on our third year and The Guild is about to start it's fifth season. I don't know how much longer I'll be doing KOTG but I'll keep doing it as long as the listeners keep downloading it.

Like The Ready Room Podcast, Knights of the Guild podcast is very specific in it's topic and I really wanted to do a variety geek show since I love many things geek. So in October of 2010 I came up with an idea for Epic Geek Out. I purchased the URL, created an email account, made a podbean website and twitter name. Got a logo made and a theme song. Then life got busy, my co-host (Jen) as unable to continue with this project for the time being so it took a back seat. I've tried several times this year to revive it but because of the show format it's making it very difficult to get things off the ground. I know eventually will get it going and it's going to be great.. but until I can devote a good chunk of time to it, it will just to have wait.

I've wanted to do a MASH podcast for several years now, I mentioned this to my partner at the time Harry (who's a huge MASH fan) but again it never went anywhere until earlier this year I was talking to a few friends and fellow podcasters (Meds & Al) and found out that both of them are huge MASH fans and suddenly this podcast was on the fast track and come February we released the first episode of MASH 4077 Podcast and it's been steadily growing in listeners since.

So now I'm doing two podcasts, I produce, edit, co-host, promote and manage both of these podcasts. Both podcasts put out at least 2 to 5 episodes a month and I spend roughly 40+ hours a week working on them. But my head it still churning up ideas for more podcasts. I have several idea for other podcasts based on some of my favorite TV shows, but at the moment they are just ideas. I have reached out to several "groups" and/or people whom I'd love to do a podcast on/for. I'm just waiting to hear their thoughts on the topic. One is definitely a go, just need to come up with a good format. I'll keep everyone posted.

But this morning while driving into work this great podcast idea came over me and I couldn't get it out of my head. So when I got to work I started to research the URL and with a little tweaking I got what I wanted, also opened a gmail account, twitter and podbean account for my new podcast...  Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast. (more details to follow in future blogs)

So I have 2 podcasts up and running, 2 podcasts prepping to go,  2 podcasts in the wings so many more ideas just waiting to be revealed. 

If you can't tell I love podcasting, just wish I could make a living at it. That's my next step, to sustain of living at podcasting.