Podcast Interview & Parties

This morning I did an interview for the Blog site One Cleric Short, We talked about podcasting, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Guild and various other geeky things. I'm not be fan of being interviewed and I much rather be the interviewer. You can check out part one HERE and part two HERE and part three is still to come. It was a lot of fun.. thanks Brian.

Later in the day I went to my brother's place to visit with my Dad and to hang out with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. They also had a party and I hung around there for a few hours and chatted with my brother's friends. But man did I feel old, I mean most of his friends are  in their late 20's, early 30's and enjoy drinking and being loud.. I was never into the loud drinking party scene.. and I felt really out of place there.

Win Win is very much a win win

I got to see a screening of Win Win tonight on the Fox Studio Lot in the Zanuck Theater.

This was a PGA (Producer's Guild of America) screening and I was able to bring along my friend Aaron. We got there got good seats and waited for the film to start. If you don't know what Win Win is about here's a synopsis: Struggling attorney Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti), who volunteers as a high-school wrestling coach, takes on the guardianship of an elderly client in a desperate attempt to keep his practice afloat. When the client's teenage grandson runs away from home and shows up on his grandfather's doorstepmore », Mike's life is turned upside down as his win-win proposition turns into something much more complicated than he ever bargained for.

I really enjoyed this movie, after watching so many action packed and ultra dramatic movies it was nice to see something that was very sweet and a warm slice of life story. It was funny, sad and heartfelt. The acting was great and it had a solid yet simple story. This is Alex Shaffer's (the main kid) first movie, and I found out that he has been wrestling since he was 5. He did a fantastic job of playing this kid just trying to survive the life that was given to him. Giamatti was of course fantastic as always and Amy Ryan who played Giamatti's wife was  my second favorite character just behind Alex.

I hope to see this again before it leaves theaters and it will be a blu-ray purchase when it comes out.

As a side note.. I love going to Fox as it's one of the coolest studio around and just to walk through the stages on think back to all the wonderful movies that were and are still being made there. They have this awesome and huge Star Wars mural as you drive in.. it always makes me smile when I see it.

Doctor Who - Comic Relief

Doctor Who did a two part mini episode for Red Nose Day 2011 - BBC Comic Relief Night

It's pretty awesome and it makes me miss Doctor Who even more (if that was possible). Really looking forward to the new season. Here are the two parts.

I LOVE... LOVE... LOVE IT!!!!!

Spring WipeOut & Editing Podcasts

Today when I got home from work I made some dinner (burritos) and then sat down to watch the all new Spring WipeOut. Both Harry and I are huge WipeOut fans and have watched every episode produced. a few weeks ago they had Winter WipeOut and today started Spring WipeOut with an entirely new course. If you don't know what WipeOut is here's a brief description: It's a reality show series in which contestants compete in what is billed as the "world's largest obstacle course". And it's hilarious... So I was excited for another season of WipeOut.

After WipeOut I wanted to get some audio comments done for Tuning into Sci fi podcast. So I did that and sent that off and figured I'd get a head start on editing my next Knights of the Guild Podcast #27 (due March 29th) and MASH 4077 Podcast #5 (due April 1st). There is no reason why I should wait until a few days before to get these done. So I did some work on my Knights of the Guild and now I just need to assemble the entire piece and do some audio passes.. as for my MASH podcast, I strung all the host audio together.. synced it up and started editing. Got 2/3's of the way through it before hitting midnight. I could have stayed up an few more hours if needed but decided it would be better to get some rest so I went to bed. I hope to finish both of those podcast this weekend and get started on MASH 4077 Podcast episodes 6, 7 and 8 (great thing about recording four at a time.. plenty to edit).

Face Off Finale

Tonight was the finale of Syfy's reality show Face Off. I've been addicted to this show since it started airing seven weeks ago. If you don't know what it is here's a quick synopsis:

Twelve contestants compete in special effects makeup challenges. Actress McKenzie Westmore, a member of the pioneering Westmore family of makeup artists, serves as host. Judges are multiple Academy Award-winning makeup artist Ve Neill (Ed Wood, Beetlejuice), television makeup artist Glenn Hetrick (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Babylon 5) and creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos (I Am Legend, Resident Evil: Extinction).

Each week the artists will face a "Spotlight Challenge" and in some weeks a "Foundation Challenge" where the Foundation Challenge winner receives an advantage in the Spotlight Challenge. The Face Off winner will receive $100,000 and a year's supply of makeup,a "grand prize that will launch a career".

The first few episodes they got rid of the those folks who can do make up and effects but weren't that great. As it got down to fewer and fewer people it made it harder and harder to choose your favorites.

The final four were Conner, Tate, Gage and Sam. I really liked Sam as she was the underdog, never falling into the bottom and up to the last weeks task, never getting into the top spot.  Conner is the oldest and most experienced in SFX, he constantly had fantastic looking pieces, Tate is extremely talented and could make anything come to life. Gage was a hit and miss, he had talent but some of his concepts didn't go over too well with the judges.

For the finale each had to take two characters from a classic fairy tale and re-imagine them with a given theme. Sam choose Little Mermaid with the theme of Phycodelic. Conner got The Frog Prince with a Hunted theme. Tate had Little Red Riding Hood with a Post-Apocalyptic theme and Gage had Hansel and Gretel with a Industrial theme.

All four knocked it out of the park, but Sam's was the weakest and was first to be cut. So it was down to the top 3, Conner, Tate and Gage. And though Gage by far (in my opinion) had the best one (things of nightmares), Conner won the competition as he had the more consistent top looking stuff through out the series.

Also today we heard that Syfy picked up FaceOff for a season two.. wooo hooo.. can't wait for that. You can watch full episodes at Syfy

Allergies or Virus

I've been sick or not feeling 100% since January 13th. I don't even remember what it feels like to be well. After seven weeks I finally went and saw a doctor and he gave me some antibiotics but said these would only work if it's a bacteria. I took those pills for a week and it's not been another week and I still don't feel 100%. But now I'm thinking it's allergies rather then a flu/cold that I had those few months.. but there really isn't any way of knowing if it's a virus and not a bacteria that I had and it's still lingering around or it's a sever reaction to allergies (which seem to be getting worse as I get older). I'm afraid to take any medicine as the last time I did that I caused my blood pressure to rise to unhealthy status.

Do I wait it out and see what happens.. I mean it's not horrible.. I feel about 90% well.. I can live with that.. I mean if it's allergies there really isn't anything I can do about it. Or do I make another appointment with the doctor and see if it's a virus and pay more money that I don't have, when in the end it could be nothing.

Uggg.. I hate not feeling well.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 4

 

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

Show Notes:

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

Here it is... Episode #4 - Chief Surgeon Who?

Directed by E.W. Swackhamer
Written by Larry Gelbart
Production code J307
Original air date October 8, 1972

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Henry has appointed Hawkeye chief surgeon, much to Frank's disdain. Frank and Margaret summon General Barker, who enters the insane world of the 4077th and tries to bring about some order. In the end, Hawkeye and Trapper prove themselves to be excellent surgeons to General Barker, and he agrees with Blake's decision to appoint Hawkeye as Chief Surgeon.

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

Knights of the Guild Ep 26

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

Show Notes:

Here it is Episode 26, because we're going into our third year of podcasting we thought we should change the show up a bit. It's not a drastic change as we know folks enjoyed the style of the show already. We went more streamlined. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Today’s show features:

• * Knights of the Guild theme song by Matthew Gehrett http://www.matthewgehrett.com/
• * Guild and Knights of the Guild News
• * What the Hosts are up too
• * Listener Feedback
• * Contests, we announce winners of Jan/Feb RT contest, Jan/Feb Itunes Review contest, Business Time contest and finally talk about finishing up our Essay Contest.
• * Crew Interview with Brian Kameoka
• * 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

A Great Story

This is such a great video.. what an adventure this guy went on... great story.

Just noticed that there are three parts to this story.. here's parts 1 & 2

Daniel Radcliffe Interview

Came across this really cool Daniel Radcliffe interview with Katie Couric. It's about a 45 minute interview but it's really good. Dan seems like a very down to earth guy. Only issue I had is he's one of those people how doesn't look you in the eye when talking to you. He glances from time to time to Katie but for the most part it's not looking at her and for some reason that bugged me and seemed very impersonal.

Lazy Day... I Wish!!!

I was so not in the mood to do anything today. I just wanted to sit around today and catch up on some TV. And thought I did do some of that my main goal was to get Knights of the Guild Podcast episode 26 edited and complete.  I did get some much needed sleep as I slept in until 11am (9 hours) so I already felt like I lost a few hours of edit time. I got up, walked the dog and checked my emails. Harry got up around noon and we left around 1pm to go grocery shopping. Got home around 3pm, had lunch and then I went to tackle the podcast and for the next 9 hours I worked on the podcast, watched some TV when I needed a break, and had some dinner. But finally around midnight I finished the KOTG #26.

The reason I had to get it done today was the fact that it's to be released on Tuesday 3/15 and I didn't want to the last minute to do it (meaning Monday night after a long day at work). But man I was tempted to put if off until then. And to be honest once I got into it and found how smoothly everything was cutting together it made the job a bit easier. 

So both my MASH 4077 Podcast episode 4 and Knights of the Guild Podcast episode 26 are done and waiting to be published on itunes this Tuesday.  All I have to do tomorrow morning when I get up is build the blog posts and done one final pass to make sure everything is good to go..

Tech Barbarians Interview

Well the interview I did for Tech Barbarians this past Wednesday is up on their website http://techjives.net/tech_barbarians/?p=361 take a listen there or you can download it from itunes (just search Tech Barbarians episode #043)

New Glasses

So Harry and I headed out to Santa Clarita to our local LensCrafters to get new glasses. I haven't gotten new glasses in over four years and Harry hasn't gotten new ones in over three years.  I've also noticed that I was having a tough time reading small print in low light and recently have been getting headaches so it was long over due for new glasses.

So we got to LensCrafters around 3:30pm and they were packed and I also noticed that they Eye Exam place took their last appointment at 4:20 so I figured we'd have to make appointment for tomorrow but when I asked if there was any chance of getting two appointments today they said yes and booked us for 4pm and 4:20pm. So as we waited we walked around and looked at different frames. It's crazy how expensive frames can be, but we stayed in the $99 area, but were frames there for over $200. A few minutes later a Carlos came up to us and took us both into a back room to do the pre-exam. We answered questions, filled out a form and then he proceeded to do some eye test.. ie. read letters, take pictures of the back of our eye, blow puffs of air in our eyes... not sure how all that works but they are suppose to be able to tell how blind we are by all those tests.

Next was the doctor visit, he puts that thing over your eyes and says.. #1 or #2 over and over and you tell him what's best. That test only take a few minutes and then he tells you what's wrong. Mine eyesight or lack there of is nothing but age. My eyes look fine, nothing in the back of my eyes... everything looked great. So I have typical "old man" eyes and he said it was get progressively worse in the next 15 years (yay me).

Up to this point I have always used single layer glasses, but he said he wanted to change that to progressive glasses (and honestly I didn't have a clue what he meant) I said.. sure. So he wrote up the prescription and the visit was over. Harry came out a few minutes later and said that they wanted to take additional pictures of the back of his eyes as they saw something. They dilated his eyes and we went out to find some frames. After picking out a few we asked Sarah (another associate) which ones she liked on our face and she picked out the two that we liked for ourselves.

We paid the bill, I was expecting a $1000 but it was only $600, which isn't bad for two pairs of glasses and the exams. Harry went back in to get the second set of pictures, a few minutes later he came out and said that in one of his eyes is the very early stages of a cataract, which he'll have to get taken care of when he is back in Austria. We then had to wait an hour so we walked around the mall. Around 6pm we headed back and picked up our glasses. Here is when I found out what progressive lenses meant. Progressive lenses are tri-focal. So the top third is from distance, the middle third is for a few feet and the lower third is for reading.  And wow talk about getting use to this. I very much dislike it at the moment but I'm sure I'll get use to it and remember what third to look through at the appropriate time. But man what a difference it makes in reading small print..just have to get use to these tri-focal lenses.

Skype Chats and Interviews

This morning was a busy one. Got up had some breakfast then jumped on my computer to join in on a Treks in Sci Fi Skype chat Podcast. Rico (host of Trek SF) will have skype calls a few times a year where he gets listeners together to chat about geeky things, TV, movies, tech.. bunch of different topics. I haven't been able to join the past few so I was going to make sure I made this one. This one started at 10am my time and it went on until about Noon and then we continued to chat about half hour or so. It's always fun talking to my friends that I hang out with on the Treksf forums.

After the skype chat I had to do an interview for Podcast Squared. It's podcast about podcast and podcasters. I did an interview for them last year about Knights of the Guild but this year we were talking about  my new MASH 4077 Podcast. Also joining me for the interview were my co-hosts Al and Meds. We had a great time talking about our love of MASH and why we started the podcast. The interview lasted about 45 minutes and will be released soon.

Finally got done around 1pm, got ready and headed out with Harry to have lunch and see if we could get new glasses.

My New iPhone

Well I finally joined the crowd and got me an iphone. My AT&T contract was up today and the fact that my last phone was damaged it was time to get a new phone. And just a few weeks ago AT&T reduced the price of their 3GS iPhones to only $49.99. Now I debated on getting a iPhone or a Droid but in the end the price is what sold me on the iPhone. So I ordered the phone online and it arrived two days later. I took the SIM card out of my old phone and put into my new iphone and everything seemed to be working just fine but I did notice that the phone kept saying I had no data plan selected, which didn't make sense since you can't buy a iPhone without selecting a data plan which I did. So today I called AT&T and when I put in my phone number it said that my phone had not been activated yet, which I thought was strange as I was getting texts and surfing the net (via wifi) but it asked if I wanted to activate it and I said yes thinking this would activate my data plan.

Well a few minutes later I had no service at all and the only thing I could do was use the wifi to surf the net. So I called AT&T again and after chatting with a customer service person I came to find out that you can't just switch your SIM cards like they do in the stores. If you purchase your phone over the internet they give you a brand new SIM card and that phone is attached to that card.. so when I activated the phone it activated the new SIM card (which was sitting on the desk at home) so my phone became useless the last half of the day today. But when I did get home and put in the correct SIM card everything worked fine and the phone is FANTASTIC!!!!

J.R.R. Tolkien - Silmarillion

I finished listening to The Silmarillion and it was FANTASTIC!!!! For those who don't know what this book is about, it the History of Middle Earth. Here's a quick synopsis;

The Silmarillion comprises five parts. The first part, Ainulindalë, tells of the creation of Eä, the "world that is". Valaquenta, the second part, gives a description of the Valar and Maiar, the supernatural powers in Eä. The next section, Quenta Silmarillion, which forms the bulk of the collection, chronicles the history of the events before and during the First Age, including the wars over the Silmarils which gave the book its title. The fourth part, Akallabêth, relates the history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age. The final part, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, is a brief account of the circumstances which led to and were presented in The Lord of the Rings.

Now I was told that this book is a really tough read and I couldn't agree more. Luckily I listened to the audiobooks, during my commutes and it was as though someone was reading me these remarkable stories.There is so much details and history of Middle Earth that I never knew about. What we see in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings is such a small amount of time, it's pretty crazy.

I was totally 100% sucked into this history lesson. There are so many names to remember that it's impossible to get them all after one reading (listen). I know I'll be listening to these stories again and again and I hope with each listen I'll be able to retain more and more of this rich history.

This was a wonderful, wonderful addition to this world, it just blows my mind that this all came from one mans imagination. The worlds he creates are just increable, the history, the characters and the laguage are just remarkable. I know there are other works by Tolkien and his family that continue to expand the world of Middle Earth and I can't wait to get a hold of them... can't get enough of Middle Earth.

Dinner with Venom

Tonight I had the honor of having dinner with the wonderful and very sweet Teal Sherer; actress, producer, writer, best known within my circles as Venom from The Guild. She and I bonded the first day we meet. There was just something about her that was special, you know that feeling that you'll be friends the rest of your lives...yeah we had that. What is funny is we've hung out on The Guild set and at parties but never one on one so last week we made plans to have dinner and just hang out and enjoy ones company and that's exactly what we did tonight.

Got to spend a few hours just hanging out and getting to know each other a little better. It was a perfect way to end a not so great day at work... good food and a great friend

Thanks Teal for being you :)

BTW.. the picture is from Felicia's Christmas Party last year.

SwampCast #1 - Listener Feedback

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

Here is our very first SwampCast #1, 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 first SwampCast #1 covers Listener Feedback for our first three episodes.


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

Interview & Podcasts

Today was a busy day at work, but at 6:30pm I had scheduled to do an interview for my friend Chris on his Tech Barbarians podcast. He's been making his way through The Guild cast and crew and it was my turn. The interview is doing live on Ustream so you kind of have a live audience. So before the chat I was chatting with them in the chat room. The first hour of the interview was great, we talked about my career, The Guild, how I got into podcasting, Knights of the Guild and MASH 4077 Podcast. Then I was podbombed by Sean Becker and all craziness ensued (btw... Podbombing is when you are doing an interview and someone joins in via skype) . I couldn't even tell you what we talked about.. then Brian Kameoka podbombed the interview and finally Brett Sheriden podbombed the podcast... it was chaos but so much fun. The last hour of the interview was a big blurr. about and hour and a half into the interview the phones here at work died and I scrabbled to get connected again. I was finally able to connect with them again over skype on my little netbook. 15 minutes had passed so there was only another 15 minutes left in the show. Finished up the interview with letting folks know where they can find me online and came to realized that I am all over the internet... it's kind of crazy.

Anyways the interview was a ton of fun other then the dropped call, being podbombed by Sean, Brian and Brett was fantastic and the hosts of Tech Barbarians Chris and Mark were wonderful.. I'll post a link to the podcast when it is released (which should be a few days).

After that I got home around 10pm.. had some dinner, watched a bit of TV and then realized that I wanted to have a new MASH 4077 mini cast out by the 10th (which was the next day), both of my co-hosts were kind enough to get my the info I requested from there to me in time. So thought I was tired I took an half hour to record my bits. I then uploaded everything into Avid and started to edit. Got done with the very first SwampCast at around 1am, but I was able to output, levelize, convert and upload everything and post it to podbean and by the time I did that it was the 10th so I accomplished what I set out to do.

Tired, I went to bed, watched some Robot Chicken before falling asleep around 1:30am

Editing Podcasts, Geeky Shirts & iPhones

So today while on a break at work I checked out ATT.com to see about getting a new phone (if you read my blog you know I lost my last phone in a urinal incident), well today is the day were my contract ends and I can get a new phone cheap/free. I was also updating my dad's phone as he's become a texter and wants a texting phone. So I found him a really cool "texting" phone called Pantech Impact, it was $250 but of course you sign another 2 year agreement and they give you the phone for free.. so that is what I did.

Next was my phone.. I had been going back and forth about getting an iphone or a android phone. Well there were very few "free" smart phones to choose from and the androids were hundreds of dollars. I had heard that iPhone just reduced the price of their 3GS iPhones to $50 bucks and when that option came up I couldn't resist and had to get one. So I am, or will be in two days, the proud owner of a new iPhone.

When I got home from work today there was a package for me. I've been on this kick buying a lot of geeky tshirts for $10 bucks.. well I had purchased another one and it arrived today. I couldn't pass it up and what is really great is that only "really" geeky people will get what it is.  I love this shirt.

So I had some dinner and tried to catch up on some TV (fall further and further behind) at 10pm I had to editing my podcasts. I have several podcasts due on the 15th, which is a week away. I've been working on my MASH 4077 Podcast #4 the past few days and tonight I wanted to finished it. All I had to do was add the audio clips from the episode and do my final audio pass, output, levelize it, convert and then upload to podbean, took about 2 hours so I was done around midnight.

One down and one to go, Knight of the Guild Ep. 26

Itunes Top 100

Woke up today and checked the status of my podcasts. Last night MASH 4077 Podcast was at #157 and Knights of the Guild was at #186 but today when I checked itunes Top 200 TV/Film Audio Podcasts list. MASH 4077 Podcast had jumped to #60 and Knights of the Guild had gone up to #91. Both of my podcasts are in the Top 100. I was very excited, as this is the first time that both of my podcasts have broken into the top 100. And if I recall this is the highest that MASH 4077 Podcast has reached. My Knights of the Guild podcast got to #3 about a year ago with our first interview with Felicia Day and she tweeted about it. I'm just excited when my podcasts hit the list as there are thousands of podcasts and to rank in the top 200 is very special. Thanks to everyone for your continued support.

Plays, Famliy & Podcasts

Got up around 9am, checked my emails and then started to make some breakfast for Troy, who had stayed the night. We had breakfast and then watched "Into the Woods" it's a Broadway musical that was filmed on put on DVD. It's was really good, it's about some of our childhood fairy tales (Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Baker and his wife) and what happens once their stories are over. I have to say it's not what you expect. Had some great songs, good acting and funny and tragic. Would love to see this live if is ever comes to Los Angeles area.

After it was over Troy headed home and I headed out to see my family (Dad, Brother, Sister-in-law & Nephew). Had lunch with my Dad and then hung out with everyone for a few hours. I love hanging out with my family, wish I could do it more then every other week.

Once home, I had dinner with Harry and watched the latest Amazing Race. I then started working on my next episode of MASH 4077 Podcast. I cut the three hosts audio together, did a pass to tighten it up and started to add some audio clips from the TV episode but was to exhausted to finish. Should only take another hour or so to finish that one and then I have to work on the next episode of Knights of the Guild.

So all in all a fun Friday,Saturday and Sunday.. got some podcasts work done, got to hang out with friends and family and did a bit of relaxing. Ready for a new week.

Podcasts and Padawans

Today was a busy day for me. Started off at 10am with Jenni coming over and recording our next two Knights of the Guild podcast episodes 26 and 27. This is our newly formatted Knights of the Guild podcasts so we had to do in intros, bumpers and a few other things besides the actually content for the podcasts. All in all it went pretty well. We were done around 12:30pm.

It's going to take some work to build these new episodes but I think once they are together they are going to be pretty good.

Then my Padawan Troy come over to hang out. Harry, Troy and I went to Islands for lunch and then back to the house to hang. One thing that Troy and I did was watch A Very Potter Sequel, which is the sequel to the A Very Potter Musical. It's a Harry Potter Musical on you tube video broken down into 30, 10 minute clips. Though A Very Potter Sequel had some good parts I found alot of it rather uninteresting. If I had to pick I'd say that A Very Potter Musical was much better then A Very Potter Sequel. Anyways.. glad I watched it and like I said it had some of my most favorite scenes from both plays/musical.

It was a fun Saturday.

Birthday Gathering

Tonight after work I went to my friend Ervin's house up in the Los Feliz hills for a birthday get together for my buddy John. Though my GPS said it was only 12 miles from my work in Santa Monica to his house and would take 30 minutes it actually took over an hour and a half to get there. Gotta love LA traffic.

It was a small group which I actually prefer. All geeks which made the gathering even better. We had good conversations, a nice home made chili, cake and then finished the night hanging out in the hot tub relaxing. It was a nice way to end a stressful week.

Top 200 in Itunes

Tonight when I got home from work I checked out itunes as I always do and noticed that both of my podcasts were in the Top 200 TV/Film Audio Podcast lists. My Knights of the Guild was at #167 and my new MASH 4077 Podcast was at #129. This is the first time since both have been up (a month or so) that both podcasts have been in the Top 200 at the same time.

I got some not so nice comments when I tweeted about this saying that I'm bragging and such. Now if you know me you know I don't brag, I may post on facebook and tweeter that my podcasts are at so and so number on the list, or that they have had this many downloads but it's not in vainness that I do this.. it's out of pride for my work and my co-host's work. It takes a lot to do these podcasts and it's great when they are reconized.

Star Wars Concert

Today while getting ready for work I saw a commercial for the Star Wars Concert. Last year this come to the LA area and I wasn't able to get tickets, but my brother did and told me along with a ton of other friends who saw it all over the country, how great it was. I was bummed that I missed it. But the commercial said it was coming back to the Los Angeles area and this time playing at the Hollywood Bowl in June. And that tickets were going on sale March 15th. Well that is unless you are an American Express card holder, and I just happen to be on now since I opened an account at Costco a few years back. And tickets for AE card holder were to go on sale March 2nd at 10am.. which is TODAY!!!!

So when I got to work at 10:15am I jumped online and began to purchase tickets for this event. My first choice were fairly close seats but all the way on the left side of the theater and they were $90 a piece. I then selected the $50 tickets and got seats just past the halfway point of the theater but right in the middle. I figured since you'll be watching the big screens and listening to the orchestra play that being close to the stage wouldn't matter and being the middle of it would be a better idea so I grabbed two tickets.

I'm so excited that they decided to do a return visit to LA and this time I'm going to be able to enjoy it as well.

http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/

Doctor Visit

So after seven weeks of being sick and feeling okay and being sick and feeling okay and being sick I broken down and went to the doctors because what I have is not getting better on it's own. So I explained to the doctor what has been happening the last seven weeks. He said he's give me some antibiotics to help, but if it's the common cold they won't help (but he said the common cold normally doesn't last seven weeks), he also said it's a virus the meds won't help but if it's a bacteria (which also normally doesn't last seven weeks) he said the meds should help. So let's hope it's a bacteria and the meds help because I'm tired of not feeling well.

The big shocker for me was my blood pressure, which has always been above average 131 / 90 but it was getting better when I was working out.. Well today it was 161 over 125. This wasn't my normal doctor and he said if I was your doctor I'd be screaming at you know.. my current blood pressure is so server there is risk of a heart attack if it continues... talk about being scared out of my mind  But then when I told him what I have been taking for this illness (Day Quil and Mucinex D) he explained to me that though the Mucinex is helping it's whats causing my blood pressure to go up. Mucinex has Sudafed in it and Sudafed is known for increasing your blood pressure. (learn something new everyday) and of course I have been taking Mucinex the past seven weeks on and off... so I'm not taking that anymore.

He also asked if I'm under any stress.. I laughed and said.. well I started a new job on Oct and it's starting to ramp up.. I broke up with my partner of 8 years and we own a house together and I'm working on my 3 podcasts, podcast network and online radio station... so yeah I'm a bit stressed.. That along with the Sudafed is what is causing my high blood pressure..

So I'll pick up my anti biotic tonight and hopefully they will help me kick this cold/flu/illness' butt.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 3

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

Show Notes: Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast and Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Here it is... Season 1, Episode #3 - Requiem for a Lightweight

Directed by Hy Averback Written by Bob Klane
Production code J308
Original air date October 1, 1972

Plot Summary: Nurse Margie Cutler arrives at the 4077th. Realizing Cutler is an incredible distraction for Pierce and McIntyre, Major Houlihan has her transferred to another unit. Blake agrees to try to get Cutler back if one of them fights in a boxing tournament and they agree. To secure victory, Pierce has McIntyre’s boxing gloves coated in ether.

Knights of the Guild Ep 25 pt2

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

Here it is the continuation of Knights of the Guild 2nd Anniversary Podcast. This is Episode #25 pt.2

We recorded this on Saturday February 5th and had a slew of guests (over 25 cast, crew, extras, fans) joined us for this very cool event. We also broadcasted this live on Ustream. If you are interested you can watched the entire 4 hours on our Ustream channel

Unfortunately we hit a snag with our recording decided to crash at the very end not saving the project. I did manage to recover the audio but it's in 400 thirty second audio clips all out of order, which makes it impossible to organize it.

So I was going to use the audio from our Ustream feed but my friend Chris Pope informed me that he recorded the entire thing and would be happy to email it to me. So that is what you will hear. The audio is from a laptop mic and as you know those kinds of mics pick up everything and everyone and there was a party going on. It's still very enjoyable and we got to talk to alot of the cast and crew.

In this part we talk with Felicia Day, Sean Becker, Teddy Garces and Crew.

Sean's website http://emmyaward.seanbecker.com

Hope you guys enjoy it,
Kenny

Podcasting Weekend

Besides resting (still sick) this weekend I had to finish up two of my podcasts. Knights of the Guild Ep 25 pt.2 is due to go up on itunes Feb 29th, but since there are only 28 days in February it need to go up on Feb. 28th.
My MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 3 is going up on itunes March 1st. I did a little editing of KOTG during the week at work while on lunch, all I had to do was record an opening and assemble the cut, which I did and outputted, converted and uploaded.. then I realized that I forgot to cut out a piece of audio and add music in so I re-edited the piece, outputted, converted and uploaded again and was done... well not quite... found out that the website I mentioned in my opening was no longer valid so I had to re-record the opening, then recut the piece for a third time. I then outputted, converted and uploaded for the final time.

For my MASH 4077 Podcast most the editing was done last weekend, all I had to do was cut in the audio clips from the episode which wasn't too bad, I also had to so some pickup lines but it didn't take very long. So both podcasts are uploaded and ready to be posted on their appropriate dates.

Also on Sunday my buddies Meds, Al and I got together on Skype to record our next four episodes of MASH 4077 Podcast (Eps 5 - 8) and this time we had a special guest Harry (who's a huge MASH fan and really was the reason why I started the MASH podcast). It was alot of fun and I think Harry had a really good time.

After that I started to make notes for my MASH 4077 Podcast Eps 9 - 12 (the next four) which we will record in a few weeks. I also need to plan my next Knights of the Guild podcast Ep. 26, which Jenni and I need to record in the next few weeks. And I'm still trying to kick start my third podcast Epic Geek Out.

I'm a Podcasting Fanatic!!!!

Can't Shake It

So I've been sick on and off since Jan 13th. It was only really bad for the first week but it just kind of lingers with a cough and congestion... I have been told that the new cold/flu going around last a while up to six weeks. I thought I had finally beaten it last week.. I was feeling about 95% then suddenly this past Monday I woke up with sore throat and a cough,, then came congestion and once again I am sick. I know people here at work have been sick on and off but none of them are as bad as me. maybe I'm just getting multiple version of this sickness all I know is I want this to end.

And before you ask... No I have not gone to the doctors because first of all it's $40 for an office visit, secondly if it's a cold/flu (though a sever one) there really isn't much a doctor can do and thirdly I've heard from many people (nurses) that this strain is particularly bad. But with that said if I don't feel better by the weekend I'm going to make an appointment to see my doctor.

Editing Knights of the Guild

Spent today editing up my next Knights of the Guild podcast. This is the second half of our 2nd anniversary podcast. I wasn't going to edit much but this segment has Sean Becker and alot of this was when he was watching his video and such and it's tough to hear on the audio.. so I did alot of cutting there.. Also I was bummed to find out that I have all the audio expect for one segment with the extras, Troy, Christopher and Will. The Ustream video seems to have a limit at 3 hours and stopped recording and  the audio I got from my friend Chris also has that missing audio. And the original source is in bit's and pieces and looks to be missing parts as well. So unfortunately that segment will not be part of this podcast.

I'm very happy with the edit down.. all I have to do is record a new opening and give some notes then cut it all together and it will be good go.  This episode normally comes out on the 29th of the month.. but since it's February only had 28 days this year it will be out on the 28th.

GeekyRadio.Com

One positive side to my long commute is I have time to just think about things and while driving home yesterday this idea just hit me. I want to create an internet Radio Station.  Don't have a clue how to go about doing this but I figure I have over 100 hours of Knights of the Guild podcast audio, my MASH 4077 Podcast, and several friends with other podcasts which I'm sure they would love for me to play on my station. And I have several friend who compose music that I'm sure they would love for me to promote.
 
I've really gotten into podcasting and I look forward to deejaying the station, I can record bits and pieces to go between the podcasts, or songs and such.

I'm really pumped about this and when I get pumped I move full steam ahead.. so today I researched a bit about how to go about making an online radio station, of course I'm trying to keep my costs down as much as I can, I still have a load of research to do but me being me and the sale at GoDaddy for URL's I had to go purchase the URL for my new radio station.. planned to use GeekRadio.com, but it's taken already.. so then I thought.. GeekyRadio.com .. and I heard in my head in a radio voice.. You're listening to G double E..K..Y Radio.. has a nice ring to it.. so I purchased the URL for a few years.

Yes I'm already working on 3 podcasts, a new media network and now this radio station.. but I'm loving it.

A Healthier Me - Day 192

Well I'm finally feeling about 95% well.. so I think it's time to start working out again. Will have to do it after work tonight and see how that goes.

I weighted myself yesterday like I do every Monday morning 211

Yep.. gained more weight and I'm extremely disgusted with myself. It took me three months to lose 12 pounds and only five weeks to gain 8 pounds back. I tell myself do let it get me down or frustrate me and to get back on that horse and start again but all I think about are the three months of hard work to lose that weight gone.. just like that. I feel like I'm starting all over again :(

But I can't get discourage by this.. I'm a positive guy and have to remain that way. I'm hoping this is the eye opener that it will take to for me to start eating healthier so my workout have more of an effect on me.

Man this is a struggle!!!!

Cool Things on the Horizon

Today I had lunch with my buddy Ray Hill and a new friend Adam Levermore and his girlfriend Lisa. Ray had contacted me because of my request for help with my Media Nexus Network, the past year or so I've had this idea of creating a place/hub/network for geeky podcasts, blogs, webseries, audiodramas, etc.. kind of like a one stop shop to find cool and geeky online content.

Well Ray wanted to help but he also have his own idea of a project he and Adam had been talking about and wanted to get my input. I won't go into details about that project until it becomes more of a reality. Adam also had some ideas of what he wants to do in the future with new media.

Lot's of a great ideas on "possible" cool things to come... I'll keep you posted.

Amazing Race Season 18

After visiting with family today Harry and I came home to watch one of my all time favorite reality shows Amazing Race.. this is the 18th season and yes I have watched very season. This one is cool because they are bringing back "favorite" teams for a second chance.. the subtitle to this season is "Unfinished Business". There are so many great teams this go round it's tough to pick my favorites... but The Cowboys Jet and Cord from Season 16 are my favorite all time contestants so it was great to see them back.. but a close second are the Mother and Son team of Margie and Luck from Season 14, Luke is deaf and Margie is one of the strongest "older" contestant in the race. I also like Ronald and Christina from Season 12, Kent and Vyxsin also from  12, Zev and Justin from Season 15, Flight Time and Big Easy also from 15. Teams I don't mind Amanda and Kris from Season 14, Mel and Mike also from 14, and Gary and Mallory from Season 17. But the teams I hate and would love to see go first are Jaime and Cara & Kisha and Jen both from Season 14, Jaime and Cara are just those "rude" Americans, the stuff that come out of their mouth is just filled with hate. Kisha and Jen are mean, unlikable sisters. I think one reason I really dislike them is because how they treated Margie and Luke, not that they were always angels but I don't like the sisters at all.

The first episode was fantastic and so much more difficult. You know they are going to make this a tough season because everyone has done this before. I liked that it wasn't a pit stop when they go to Phil like normal. He just handed them their next clue.. which made sense since they did not do a Detour yet.  Only down side are that my favorite cowboys are currently in dead last and are just not on their game. Also this should have been a 2 hour premiere instead a "to be continued".

Can't wait to see where this season goes!!!

Visiting Family

Today I got up early and finished up my MASH 4077 Podcast promo. I think it turned out pretty good. I emailed it off to about 10 of my podcast contacts hoping they will play it on their podcast and get the word out about my new podcast.

After that Harry and I headed over to my Dads, Brothers, Sis-in-law and nephew. We had lunch with my Dad at our favorite Chinese restaurant and then we had planned to go to the movies to see "I Am Number Four" but my dad still wasn't feeling 100% so instead we went back home and my Mom was visiting as well so we hung out with everyone. It was nice to have my entire family under one roof. I also watch about 80% of a movie that I had never seen before but plan to buy now, so I can watch it all... A League of Their Own. I had heard that it was great and it has some great cast members and I honestly can't tell you why I never watched it.. but it was so good.. funny, sweet, lots of heard and an over all fun movie.

"Rest Day" / Podcasting

Today Harry and I were suppose to go out and get new glasses.. both or ours are so scratched up and ready to be replaced but I was not very motivated. The past few weekends I've been on the go. Working long hours and the commute during the week leave very little time to do anything else other then eat and sleep. So my weekends are filled with getting choirs done, errands, visiting family and friend and a big one.. working on my podcasts.

So today I was going to take it easy.. I did not want to leave the house. I watched a bit of TV but me being me I with some much to do I feel guilty when I'm just sitting around doing nothing. So I started to work on my MASH 4077 Podcast #3 which isn't due out until Mar. 1st but I want to get a back log of them so I'm not under the gun to get them done. I also wanted to start my next KOTG #25 pt.2 which is due Feb. 28th.. but wasn't able to. But I did do my first pass at my MASH #3, all I have left is to cut in clips from the episode and that one will be ready to go. I also have the raw audio from Ep. 4 (we recorded 4 episodes at once.. best idea ever).

I also did a pass at my MASH 4077 Podcast promo. I got that all done but needed one more element which for some reason I had a hard time finding.. I hope to finish this up tomorrow morning.

All in all is was a lazy day.. didn't do as much as I should have but still got stuff done and got a much needed "rest" day.

Highlighting My Hair

From time to time I like to change up things and over the years I have dyed my hair many colors but the one thing I enjoy doing the most is putting blond highlights in. So I did this once again last night.. only problem is I didn't leave the dye on long enough and instead of blond highlights I got orange highlights. It's not exactly what I was going for but I think I like it.. might keep it for a bit.. what do you think?

TNT's Falling Skies

I thought I blogged about this new TV series in the past but can't seem to find it. Anyways there are some new trailers for it and I think this series looks really cool. I'm all into Alien invasions but I like that this one show what happens after the invade and how the humans survive.. premieres this summer on TNT. You can see more previews HERE

I Just Don't Get People

Yesterday I went to lunch at Del Taco, while I was finishing up a young guy comes up to me and ask if could have my left over fries. I said sure as I was going to just throw them away. He took my entire tray and walked over to another table, sat down and started eating the fries. I noticed that he has several backpacks and assumed he was homeless. He couldn't have been more then 18 or 19. So when I got up to leave I walked over and asked if he wanted more food that I would like to buy him lunch. He hesitated for a second but then smiled and said Thank you that would be very nice. I told him to come up to the counter and he can order whatever he wants. He informed me that the employees don't like it when he approaches the counter. I was like okay I'll go order if for you.. I asked what he wanted and he said "just a burrito or a taco is good".. very humble. I ordered him a entire meal and figured I'd wait for it and then take it over to him. Well when the order was ready the woman who gave it to me (I assumed she's a manager) said.. "are you buying a meal for that guy". I looked to where she was pointing and said "yes I am". She looked at my and said in a not so nice tone.. "I wish you wouldn't feed him" I was shocked.. it was as though she was talking about an animal.. "don't feed the animals" I just looked at her, grabbed my food and walked back over to the kid and handed him the two bags of food and his cup for his drink. He was smiling from ear to ear, he shock my hand and said Thank you several times, I smiled and nodded to the woman who was glaring at me and exited the building.

Now I don't know the history of this guy and Del Taco, and I don't care.. all I know is this young man was hungry and willing to go up to a complete strangers and ask for their left over half eaten food. No one should ever had to do that. It only cost me a little time and a few bucks to make this guy smile and that makes me happy.

Clone Wars - A Familiar Face

This broke this morning in the New York Times

"Though Lucasfilm Animation is keeping specific plot details under wraps, the “Clone Wars” finale, scheduled for April 1, will see Chewbacca cross paths with Ahsoka Tano, the Jedi apprentice to Anakin Skywalker (a k a the future Darth Vader). To prepare for these episodes, titled “Padawan Lost” and “Wookiee Hunt,” the “Clone Wars” supervising director Dave Filoni and his team of animators and artists delved into the Lucasfilm archives for original Chewbacca reference materials and costumes, and invited Mr. Mayhew to their studios in Marin County, north of San Francisco, to advise them on the process of bringing Chewie to digital life."

You can check out the entire article here http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/remaking-wookiee-chewbacca-becomes-a-character-on-star-wars-the-clone-wars/

And the video made it's way up to You Tube

When I first saw this clip it brought tears to my eyes... and everytime I watch it I still get a lump in my throat.  I think it's because it's Chewie from the original Star Wars and in the background the original Star Wars music.. takes me back to my childhood (age 7) and watching Star Wars for the first time and letting that universe suck me in and shape my love of sci fi and fantasy. Star Wars made me the geek I am today and it will always be extremely important to me.

And I'm a HUGE fan of The Clone Wars and I'm so looking forward to the appearance of Chewie.

Dragon Age: Redemption Trailer

Here is Felicia Day's interview on Jimmy Fallon and at the end the trailer for Dragon Age: Redemption, Felicia Day's new Fantasy webseries...

I soooo can't wait!!! looks AWESOME!!!

And here is the official release of just the trailer.

Knights of the Guild Ep 25 pt1

Download on itunes http://bit.ly/KotGCast or direct download/listen at http://bit.ly/2CrYxk

Here it is... Knights of the Guild 2nd Anniversary Podcast. This is Episode #25

We recorded this on Saturday February 5th and had a slew of guests (over 25 cast, crew, extras, fans) joined us for this very cool event. We also broadcasted this live on Ustream. If you are interested you can watched the entire 4 hours on our Ustream channel ( http://www.ustream.tv/channel/knights-of-the-guild (Password for UStream is KOTG)).

Unfortunately we hit a snap with our recording decided to crash at the very end not saving the project. I did manage to recover the audio but it's in 400 thirty second audio clips all out of order, which makes it impossible to organize it.

So I was going to use the audio from our Ustream feed but my friend Chris Pope informed me that he recorded the entire thing and would be happy to email it to me. So that is what you will hear. The audio is from a laptop mic and as you know those kinds of mics pick up everything and everyone and there was a party going on. It's still very enjoyable and we got to talk to alot of the cast and crew.

In this part we talk with Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen, Amy Okuda, Jeff Lewis (and Baby Harry), Teal Sherer, Felicia Day, George Ruiz, Kim Evey and Greg Benson.

Hope you guys enjoy it.

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

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 2

Download from Itunes http://bit.ly/fxbZCf or listen /direct download http://bit.ly/eXCRxT

Show Notes:

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

Here it is... Episode #2 - To Market, To Market

Directed by Michael O'Herlihy Written by Burt Styler
Production code J303
Original air date September 24, 1972

Plot Summary: The black market has knocked off the 4077th's supplies again. Hawkeye and Trapper John meet with a black marketer and agree to trade Blake's 100-year-old vintage desk for a new batch of hydrocortisone, which they desperately need


Podcast promo’s played during the show this week:

• Waffle on
• Tales of the MouseHouse
• Knights of the Guild Podcast
• The Fast Forward

Taxes - Good News

My Tax guy Mike emailed me today with the preliminary results for my Taxes this year. Unlike years past I would sit in Mikes office while we went over everything, he would crunch the numbers and would give me an idea on how much I'd be getting back (I've never had to pay). This year was different as we went through everything like before but because he is so busy he said he would let me know how much I'd be getting back.. all he told me was that from the numbers it looked like I'd be getting a refund. Well I got an email today and sure enough he was right and I was worried for nothing.. and actually I'm getting a very nice refund from Federal and State.. so I'm a happy camper.

A Healthier Me - Day 184

:: heavy sigh :: Well I'm still sick.. going on four weeks. I am getting better but it's just taking sooooo long. I've have now not worked out for almost a month. I feel horrible, I'm gaining weight again and feel like all that hard work I did the past three months is all wasted and I'll have to start all over again when I'm finally feeling 100%

Since it's Monday I weighted my self like I do every Monday morning 209.5

Yep.. I gained a whopping 2 pounds since last Monday. I have two options here.. I can wallow in self pity and get upset at my weight gain and my continue struggle with food or re-double my efforts when I'm feeling better and start working out again. See this a a minor set back and get back on track to a healthier me... think I'll go with the latter. 

Well I'll keep you posted.

Grandma's 80th Surprise Birthday Party

Today Harry and I went over to my Mom's to celebrate my Grandmother's 80th birthday. It was nice to see some family members that I haven't seen in a while. It was some good time.. She is the last of my living grandparents and has always been my closest one so she has always been very special to me.. Happy Birthday Grandma.