A New Podcast

I know some folks will think that I'm crazy, already having 3 podcasts going but I do have several more in the works and one just got a bit closer to actually happening. Months ago Greg Aronowitz and I were chatting and I said we should do a podcast together. Greg has been in the entertainment industry for over 20 years and has worked with some of the greatest in their field (Lucas, Spielberg) and he has such great stories. But we both got busy and the topic kind of went away but not really. Recently Greg and I were talking and he mentioned the podcast again and the ideas started to flow. After we did the interview for the podcast Greg and I talked about the podcast in more details. Of course I can't say anything yet but if the ideas we have actually come to fruition this podcast is going to be epic!!! Not only will it be very entertaining but it's going to be chuck full of very valuable information to those wanting to get into the industry or for those who are just interested in how things work. I am very excited to get started on this one. Greg and I will be getting together in October to work out the details and hopefully with in the next few month we can record and by the beginning of 2012 we can start releasing this new podcast. I'll keep you guys updated on the progress.

Podcasts, Yard Work and Fires

I think the title of this blog is pretty much the title of all my blogs recently. Once again today I wanted to work on editing some podcasts. I think with the weekly CompanionCast it seems all I do on weekends are editing podcasts. Luckily there are only 4 more CompanionCasts left for the season. I got up at 7:30am and went outside to do some yard work. Did that for an hour before coming in an taking a break. I tried to motivate myself to do some podcasts but it was a struggle and instead I surfed the net and watched some TV.  I really wanted to start watching my new Star Wars on Blu-ray, which I got yesterday but I knew if I started I wouldn't be able to stop and I have to much to do to devote an entire day to Star Wars (though that sounds WONDERFUL).

At 11am I had set up to record several podcasts with my friends Al and Joyce. I was doing a Confessions of a Fanboy with Al and a Confessions of a Fangirl with Joyce. Also Joyce and I were doing a podcast for one of their shows call Just Because. This episode's title is Coffee Talk with Kenny and Joyce. Had a blast chatting with these guys. Got done with that around 1:30pm and noticed helicopter sounds coming from outside and that's never a good sign. So I went out back and saw a brush fire just over the hill. It looked like it was burning for a while and it was going in the opposite direction from my house so I was feeling okay, but winds could change and things can go from good to bad in a matter of seconds. I watched the fire for a half hour or so and then decided to head out and grab some lunch. While driving down Sierra Highway there was a ton of people on the side of the road watching the fire, it was kind of bizarre seeing so many people out and about as this is normally a very quiet area. Got my lunch from El Pollo Loco and headed home. While eating lunch I watched a few hours of TV, again trying to motivate myself to edit my next KOTG
CompanionCast. Finally around 6pm I jumped on the computer and began to edit the next CompanionCast. Around 9pm I realized that I hadn't eaten dinner so I made myself a quick dinner and watched the latest Doctor Who (it was really creepy, super sad and had a surprising ending, can't wait to see where it goes). After Who my buddy Greg Aronowitz texted me and asked if I was up for a skype call to talk about episode 9 for the CompanionCast, the one I'm currently working on. He's been so busy lately that we haven't been able to hook up and talk. So of course I love having him part of the podcast I jumped on skype and did the interview him. Will have to cut that in tomorrow morning and the podcast will be ready to go.

All in all it was a lazy yet productive day. I had my moments of laziness but then burst of energy and was able to get some things done. Still haven't opened the Star Wars blu-ray :( Hopefully I'll have a few hours on Sunday and watch some of it.

Goonies Never Say Die

A surprise was waiting for me when I got home today. My Goonies 25th Anniversary blu ray  box set arrived. My buddy Andrew tweeted just two days ago about Amazon having a 50% sale on the blu ray and I've been wanting this every since I found out about it a few months ago. I of course I ordered it and it already arrived. Even at it's regular price of $34.98 it's well worth it but I got it for $17.49 (and it's still on sale now as I blog this.. so go pick it up HERE). It includes the movie on Blu-ray of course but comes and that disc has director & cast commentary, making of featurette and the Cyndi Lauper Music Video. You also get 10 awesome Storyboard cards, The Goonies "Where Are They Now" Empire Magazine Article reprint, The Goonies 1985 Souvenir Magazine 64-Page reproduction and the closest thing besides the movie The Goonies 25th Anniversary Exclusive Board Game "Escape form One-Eyed Willy's Cave"

This set is beyond AWESOME!!! I can't wait to have a Goonies party.

KOTG - CompanionCasts S5E8

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

Show Notes:

It’s time once again for the next CompanionCasts for The Guild Season Five. First of all be sure you watched Episode 8 of season 5 “Social Traumas”. If you haven’t seen it yet watch it HERE

Our Season 4 CompanionCasts were a huge hit so we thought we would do them again for Season 5. So what is a CompanionCast?? It’s a behind the scene look at the current episode of The Guild. I was on set everyday while they shot Season 5. As actors and crew were finished with scenes I would try and speak to them. Get some inside info about the scene they just shot. I also interviewed Felicia Day and Kim Evey about the storyline and Sean Becker about the directing.

Each one of these CompanionCasts will be episode specific and will vary in length depending on how much guildie goodness I am able to gather.

In this CompanionCast I interview Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Vince Caso, Robin Thorsen, Sean Becker, Greg Aronowitz, Leslie Crystal, Bonnie Burton, Amy Berg, Zachary Levi, Lisa Fredrickson, Floyd Van Buskirk & Felicia Day. I hope you enjoy a look behind the scenes of Season 5 Episode 8 “Social Traumas”

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Well I finally finished listening/reading this book trilogy series last week but have been too busy to blog about it. So since I have some free time I figured I'd give my thoughts about this series. There are three novels. Book 1 "The Hunger Games", book 2 "Catching Fire", and book 3 "MockingJay". This blog won't have any spoilers as it's more of a general review of the series.

Here's a short synopsis;  The Hunger Games Trilogy is a young-adult science fiction novel written by Suzanne Collins. It introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where North America once existed. This is where a government working in a central city called the Capitol holds power. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each of 12 districts to fight to the death. The Hunger Games exist to demonstrate that not even children are beyond the reach of the Capitol's jurisdiction. And the story evolves from there.

I really enjoyed the first novel, at first it was hard to imagine this was a young adult novel with all the killings of children. But it's a very intense and violent story. But it's also very engaging and you start to care about these character right off the bat, which makes it worse when some of them die.

The second book was enjoyable, but it's defiantly felt more like a set up for the third book then the first book did to the second book. The first book felt like a complete novel.. books 2 and 3 felt like a complete novel together.

Book 3 was great 2/3's of the way through and then suddenly this one scene happens (won't spoil it) and everything after that was kind of blah!! It just fell apart and I found myself annoyed. The ending is not bad enough that I would say it detracted from the entire trilogy but I have to say up to that point the story was moving along and everything was tense and great.. and I'm not saying the ending didn't have it's moments but it felt different after that moment.

So would I recommend this series. Short answer Yes!! even with the weak ending the series as a whole was dark, tense and very entertaining.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 16

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

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcasts, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast and Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

 
Today we cover Season 1, Episode #16 -The Ringbanger
Directed by Jackie Cooper
Written by Jerry Mayer
Production code J316
Original air date January 21, 1973

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Hawkeye and Trapper conspire to take down a colonel who has accumulated twice as many casualties while only gaining as much as half of the ground, marking the first of several such attempts from Hawkeye. In an effort to achieve this, they convince him that Frank Burns is a crossdresser and that Henry Blake is an alcoholic who is having a sordid affair with the promiscuous Margaret Houlihan. These stories achieve the purpose of rendering Hawkeye and Trapper the only two people in camp Buzz can be sure are trustworthy. A little manipulation and some conveniently timed events add some apparent proof to these claims. For example, when Buzz is drinking with them in the Swamp, they leave a pair of gold high heeled shoes by Frank's bed. Later, Frank tries to check Buzz's leg to see if it is healing properly, and he is rebuffed by Buzz, who suspects that he has romantic or sexual intentions. When Margaret becomes suspicious, Hawkeye and Trapper tell her that Buzz is suffering from low self-esteem and heavily imply that he needs intimate contact with a woman to prove that he is still a man. While he is alone with Margaret, they get Henry Blake very drunk and give him a pistol (telling him that he needs to undertake an arms proficiency test) and arrange for him to walk in on the two of them and encourage an angry, drunken response.

Throughout the episode, they undertake more subtle measures to try to convince him that, among these people he cannot trust, he is going mad. Such measures include switching his tent, leaving him confused about whether it has been there the whole time, and telling him to drink his glass of milk that he so fervently asked for, despite his never having asked for a glass of milk. At the end, convinced that there must be something wrong with him, Buzz is shipped back stateside.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny, Meds & Al

Confessions of a Fanboy #3

Download from Itunes: http://ow.ly/6veDs or listen, get direct download http://ow.ly/6veDt

Hey all you Fanboys and Fangirls, it's time for another installment of Confessions of a Fanboy.

On today's episode we have the Confession of a Fangirl, Jacqueline Dunn or better known as Jax. Here's a quick bio on Jax. She's a 23 year old fangirl who works at a bookstore. She got her BA in Literature so that she could do her senior thesis on Lord of the Rings, and so that she could read old poetry every day. She love books, comics and video games. You can find out more about Jax by reading her blog at jaxofspades.blogspot.com where she talk about these and other nerdy things.

If you want to confess your fanboy or fangirl-ism to me send me an email at ConfessionsofaFanboy@gmail.com

You can also follow the podcast on Twitter @FanboyPodcast, or follow the Host Kenny @Geekyfanboy. You can also follow our guest Jax at @jaxofspades

Please go to our podcast page on Facebook and "Like" us.. just click HERE

Confessions of a Fanboy is a Geekyfanboy Production  and has a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Rights Reserved

Mortgage Woes

I was checking out my bank statement today and my mortgage loan is also through the same bank so I get to see how much money I still owe on my house and I have to say I was shocked. I've been in this house for two years now. Our starting loan amount was $258,000, I've made 17 payments of $1747.20 and then homeowners insurance was raised and the last 7 payments have been at $1939.48. So if you add all that together the total amount I have paid toward my loan is $43,278.76. Now of course this total includes money that I have put towards my home owners insurance and state taxes. So minus $4000.00 ($2000 a year) for that, leaving $39,278.76, which sounds great, but when I went to look at my loan balanced I noticed it was at $250,000 meaning I paid $8000 on my loan and the rest $31,278.76 went to interest. I feel sick to my stomach that so much of my mortgage payment went to interest and so little to the principle. How can banks be failing with a rip off scams like this.

Podcasting Weekend

It's seems like the majority of my weekends are filled with podcasting. I can't remember a weekend when I didn't work on one of my podcasts. Doing the weekly Knights of the Guild CompanionCasts take up so much of my free time. Before when I had just MASH 4077 Podcast & the regular Knights of the Guild podcast which both came out twice a month it wasn't that bad but I don't know how folks do weekly podcasts week after week. Luckily The Guild's new season only runs 12 episodes (12 weeks = 12 CompanionCasts). Normally I can handle the work load but since I'm towards the end of my MTV gig (only two weeks left) things are crazy. But I'll get through it like I always do. I've always said that once podcasting feels like job and is no longer fun I'll stop doing it... and though it does feel like a job at times I'm still having a blast doing it.

Still hoping all this hard work pays off with some sort of professional podcaster for my next gig. Just need to figure out how I can make enough money to live off podcasting.

Anyways this weekend I wanted to get four podcasts done. 1 MASH 4077 Podcast, 1 Confessions of a Fanboy, 1 Knights of the Guild "Regular" podcast and 1 Knights of the Guild CompanionCast.

So on Saturday I got started early, felt great was going to get a ton done today. Started with my MASH 4077 Podcast, worked on it for hours before taking a break. Continued to work on it for the next few hours and finally around 5pm I was done. It took me a bit longer then expected but I'm very happy with the results. After dinner I started the next KOTG CompanionCast. There are 14 interviews in this one and I have to edit each and every one of them. I got about half way through it before my eyes went cross and I have to call it a night.

So I didn't get done was much as I was hoping but I still had another entire day.

So on Sunday I got up and really struggled with motivating myself to finish editing the podcasts. I did mange to finish the rest of my KOTG CompanionCast and now that's ready to be released next Thursday. I took a break from podcasting and went to lunch at Boston Market, then Best Buy to pick up X-Men First Class and finally to Target. At Target I picked up some shirts, shorts and a hat but wound up putting it all back as I really didn't need them. Instead I bought what I actually went there to get a new toilet seat as the one in the guest bathroom has broken completely off. It was strange shopping by myself. Again this is something that Harry and I did together. Just reminded me that I was alone.

Got home and jumped back on the computer. I started to edited my next "regular" Knights of the Guild podcast as I wanted to release it on the 15th but realized since it's a major relaunch and I want to do it right and add a few more segments I pushed the release date to the 1st of October which gives me a few more week to get it done. So instead I took a break and put on my new toilet seat but found out that I don't have a standard toilet and the seat I purchased was too small.. oh well it will work for the timing being. After that  I sat down to watch the latest Doctor Who and had some dinner. This weeks Who had me bawling like a baby... so good. After that I went back editing podcasts, this time I worked on my Confessions of a Fanboy and actually finished it before I was too tired and had to go to bed.

So I didn't get everything done that I wanted too.. but it was a pretty productive weekend.