Wednesday, March 26, 2008

For the Political Audio Addict: Road to Denver

Another reason I've not listened to the previously mentioned interview- I've got my politic on! As I imagine everyone is aware, it's presidential election season here in the USofA, and well, considering I have a political podcast of my own, I'm always searching the series of tubes for decent information that goes a bit beyond finger-pointing and sniper fire. Shelly Brisbin, host of the informative and fun podcast simply named "Shelly's Podcast", has helped in on this front. She is trying to become a delegate to the Democratic National Convention late this summer in Denver. She decided to podcast her journey, and created the podcast "Road to Denver".

Shelly lives in Texas, so it begins with her goals for the show and then goes through her experience with the caucuses, and becoming a delegate for her district. Although it's from one states perspective and guidelines, I have to say I definitely enjoy hearing a personal experience of the process, by someone whose view is clear, balanced, and objective. She's got an excellent voice too!

If politics isn't your thing, then make sure you give a listen to her other show, because either way you will not be disappointed!

~Dani

Sonic Society Fund Drive Success!


Hey good news Sonic Society fans!

From Shannon Hilchie in regards to the Torch Song CD Fund Drive:

The goal had been met over and above for my collection of Torch songs,
much to my joy and horror! Therefore, new information is needed.
As of right now, we have a total of TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. I love each
and every one of you SO much! Thank you to those of you who have
donated! I will lovingly list your names once this is all over, so if
you want to be anonymous, email me before then.

So far, we have a total of SEVEN songs, including one duet between
Jack and I. Only two song titles ave been confirmed, one being JT's
request of "Why Don't you do Right?", and the other being Jack's idea
for the duet of "Baby, it's Cold Outside". The rest of the songs do
need filling in, so please send your request if you donated to the
cause. Remember that fifty dollars and up gets you two song choices,
unless you really just want one.

Recording will begin in April, and I'm excited to announce that Sharon
Bee, our musical genius, will be able to record the music for the
songs! Hurrah! These are going to sound amaze, apart from my
involvement. Once the songs are completed, they will be placed on our
feed for 100% no money. The songs themselves are free for all the
enjoy, even if you didn't donate. Think of my singing as punishment,
where everyone else considers it reward.

Once again, thanks for supporting the Sonic Society, Jack, and I. It
means the world to us.


Also, you will be able to see Jack and Shannon In Kingston, Ontario (That's Canada folks!) at Podcasters Across Boarders 2008 as they present information regarding Hosting alone -vs- having a Co-Host. That presentation will be on Sunday at 11 AM.

Rock on guys!

JT

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Dream Realm's Doctor Who series now podcasting!

Attention Doctor Who fans! Due to an increasing demand for their shows, Dream Realm Enterprises has created a podcast feed for their series! Now you can have all the goodness that is DRE and Doctor Who with just a couple clicks, all nestled snug and neat in your podcatcher!

Podcast feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/dredoctorwho

Or as always, just click the subject line to head to the blog page!

There are many wonderful stories by many many groups out there (it's by far the most popular fan audio out there I believe)- leave a link to your Doctor Who fan audio(s) in the comments!

~Dani

Monday, March 24, 2008

Podcast Peer Winners Announced

The next round of the Podcast Peers is over, and there were even a few ties to break this round! Here are the winners, but please head to the Winner's Page to see all of the finalists, and links to their websites:

*Best Couple Cast: Redboy Podcast featuring Absolute Amy
*Best Geek Podcast: GeekFit
*Best Eclectic Podcast: Podculture
*Best Fancast: Love Long and Prosper
*Best Audio Blog: Shelly's Podcast
*Old School (Shows that have been podcasting
for two years or longer): I Should be Writing
*Best Parenting Podcast: Mighty Mommy
*Best Newbee Podcast (Shows that are four months old or less): Transformed!
*Best Audio Drama: Buffy Between the Lines
*Best Tech Podcast: TWiT
*Exceptional Podcaster: Tabitha Grace Smith

Congrats to all the winners!

~Dani

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Podcasters Across Borders Speaking Program

As I was browsing the 4,000+ items in my bloglines feed, I noticed the 2008 schedule for Podcasters Across Borders is now available!

A lot of great speakers lined up (as usual) this year, including sessions on creating Audio Drama by one of the Quirky Nomads (which is a great podcast, btw!), how to make Google work for you by Michelle Sullivan, and how to be an awesome host by Tod Maffin. Many other awesome topics as well, click the subject line and check out the full schedule!

Registration is going on now as well, but space fills up fast so hurry! It's awesome! Otherwise I wouldn't have used it twice in last paragraph!

Awesome!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Inspiring Children's Literacy Through Audiobooks

Once again, thanks to Twitter for alerting me to something awesome!
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Inspiring Children's Literacy Through Audiobooks

It ’s not news to anyone that literacy rates among children have dropped dramatically over the past decade. I firmly believe we can use audiobooks to inspire children to seek out stories and inspire them to fall in love with the fantastical worlds that exist out there in books.

http://digg.com/educational/Let_s_In..._through_Audio


Original post:

Let’s Inspire Children’s Literacy through Audiobooks
March 20th, 2008 · No Comments

Today, I had a chance to meet in person with with U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman (D. California) about a matter I feel very strongly about: Children’s Literacy.

Now, it’s not news to anyone that literacy rates among children have dropped dramatically over the past decade. Though many people like to blame schools or the home environment, my personal belief is that children of all ages aren’t reading because they are not inspired to. In fact, it took a boy wizard to prove this simple theory. After Harry Potter’s initial release, libraries all over were inundated by kids who were inspired to read more because they discovered the joy of books and the unbridled thrill of imagining these stories come to life in their own minds.

I have on many occasions postulated that the erosion of readership among adults has come not from laziness nor the proliferation of entertainment choices like video games, television or the internet, but from the fact that people are generally sick of cookie-cutter choices major media has given us in the name of cloning one success to hopefully breed another. Children are amazing beings capable of making this distinction, though they may not know why. Children everywhere, by nature, love to explore the depths of their own imaginations but those imaginations require inspiration to blossom. How many of us remember those moments from our own childhoods or have seen in our own children the wonderful moment inspiration strikes and the voracious desire to consume more and more of that which had inspired us. Books make up a vast universe full of adventure, fantasy and wonderful characters and literacy is the ticket to that world. We live in the era of the mp3 generation. The iPod and the computer are two of the most ubiquitous sources of entertainment consumption by today’s youth and those audiences are skewing younger than ever. I firmly believe we can use audiobooks to inspire children to seek out stories and inspire them to fall in love with the fantastical worlds that exist out there in books.

What I would like to do is plant this seed of a concept in the mind of U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman. All politicians respond to united voices. Please join me in sending this message to Congressman Sherman (Sherman@BradSherman.com) by e-mailing him a simple statement saying, more or less: “I agree with Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff that children’s literacy can be inspired through audiobooks”. Feel free to change the message as suits you most. I only ask that you reference my name so Congressman Sherman can know better why you are writing based upon my meeting with him. And please, for your own sake, don’t try to be funny and send him the kind of messages that will ultimately get you into trouble. Those of you who know me, know that I never hesitate to speak up about a cause that I feel is important and I hope that you too, feel that children’s literacy is a matter you care enough about to send just one email. And those of you who are writers yourselves, please join me in this effort because inspiring today’s kids into becoming tomorrow’s readers means a future that’s brighter for everybody.

You can reach U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman at Sherman@BradSherman.com.
http://markyoshimotonemcoff.com/word...gh-audiobooks/


Something worth Digging and spreading the word about! On a personal note, I have seen the inspiration to read brought forth by audiobooks in my older daughter. She began listening to Harry Potter audiobooks, and from there she actually wanted to read the books! She had never had much interest in reading before listening. I suppose I could give the Potter books credit too, but she never had an interest in reading them before she listened.

Again, spread the word!
~Dani

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Broken Sea Thinking Ahead To Halloween

Saw this important message on the Modern Audio Drama yahoo group- thought I'd pass on the word! Great opportunity from the fine folks at Broken Sea Audio!
~Dani
---
BrokenSea Audio Productions is seeking short works for our Halloween 2008 series.

In 2007 BrokenSea showcased some great audio in public domain and original works. We had Halloween poetry, full cast audio drama, readings of stories and other dark things. During October we go to Hell and back to deliver new content every day. So we need up to 100 items to podcast.

Contact exec@brokensea.com subject: Halloween 2008 if you have:

1. An unpublished short story (up to 5000 words) that you would be
willing to either have read, or adapted into a single episode audio drama
then please contact us.

2. A published story that own the rights for audio publication (in other
words your publisher wont sue us for producing it)

3. Poetry of a Halloween or horror theme that meets the above
requirements.

We are also interested in original audio drama scripts of up to 30 minutes performance time (longer scripts enquire first). No fan-fiction please.

Payment: BrokenSea Audio does not pay for audio scripts or the rights to produce your work.
We also do not pay our voice actors, producers, foley artists, composers, web and graphic design artists. The flip side is that we do not sell any audio either. We operate on a volunteer basis and all work is released free of charge under a Creative Commons License.
The benefits to authors are exposure to a new market, we include links to your website or other promotional site for your work and you get your name in a few thousand potential readers ears.

Please pass this on to any indviduals, forums or groups that may be interested. All enquiries and material to exec@brokensea.com

Paul Mannering : Email Support Coordinator: Westpac Phone Assist
Tel: 0800 400 600 (xtn: 91806) DDI: +64 3 372 4608 Fax: +64 3 372 4680
Email: customer_support@westpac.co.nz

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Impromptu Fundraiser for The Sonic Society


Sonic Society Host Shannon Hilchie really stepped in it when she said "If People send me 100 dollars, I'll put out a CD of Torch Songs" So far she is well on her way to that $100 dollar mark (or actually over by now) and has put out the following rules for donations.

To Quote her from the Thread on Audiodramatalk.com

Sooooooo....

What have we learned class? Pick higher numbers.

We hit goal this morning. In fact, we're OVER the goal. Good LORD, people! What is WRONG with you?

Everyone who donated? Thank you so much! I can't believe you actually want to hear me sing that much! I'm so touched... this is really blowing my mind. I've been wandering my house muttering "Oh My God" for the past three hours.

So what to do with the rest of the month? Easy. The donations will still be accepted, but this time it'll be for extra songs. No matter what, this will be created! HURRAH!

The number of songs will work like this: For any donation under fifty dollars, you will get one song choice. Fifty or over, you get two. You can either pick a song yourself, or leave it to Jack and I. Jack has also thrown his hat into the ring by promising a duet of he and I if we hit the 200 mark! Woo hoo!

Where does the money go? Some of it will go to our fabulous music angel, Sharon Bee, who will (hopefully) be doing the instrumentation for the songs. I'm so excited to actually pay her for once!! She does such high quality work, it's a shame that she doesn't see any coin for it. That changes with this little project. The rest of it goes towards Sonic Cinema costs, which are ramping up as we plot out Sonic Gold.


So there is still good reason to contribute to this cause!

If your are a fan of the Sonic Society, toss em some love.

JT

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

New 7th Son Project Coming Soon!

If you are like me, and a 7th Son fan, then you have been going through withdrawals over the past few months since the crazy wicked awesome trilogy ended. I was able to relive a few moments when hubby began listening and would talk to me about the story. Even that was short lived though, as he went through all three books in about a week.

THEN I see this awesome news, via Twitter! Obsidian is coming! From author JC Hutchin's blog:

"7th Son: OBSIDIAN is an audio short story anthology that chronicles a crisis that took place in 7th Son, Book Three: Destruction. In that novel, the United States fell victim to a coordinated terrorist attack. Power stations across the country were destroyed, and the U.S. was plummeted into a country-wide blackout. In the timeline of the trilogy, this blackout occurred in mid-November 2007.

While this blackout was described in the trilogy, the story never focused on its true victims: average Americans.

7th Son: OBSIDIAN does just that."


He's got some of the most well-known names in podcasting lined up to create these stories. You know, with first names we all recognize like Evo and Mur and Tee... and he has some names that made me cock my head to the side and think "hmmm..." I have no doubt I will be pleasantly surprised at hearing a different side from podcasters, and am SO looking forward to this new project!

Get all the details right here! Will let you know when the first story premieres, which should be in May.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Broken Sea Audio Fans, Grab Your Icepick!

Time flies when you're making audio drama! Broken Sea Audio productions has just passed their one-year anniversary! Rather than celebrating with dinner, roses, and candlelight, they have created The Ice Pick Awards.

Click the subject link above and head over to vote for your favorite Broken Sea production, as well as voice actors, and other awesomeness that this group has brought us the last year.

If you've never heard a production from Broken Sea before, well, no time like the present! Voting is open until the end of March, so there is plenty of time to listen AND vote!

Congratulations to everyone at Broken Sea for a wonderful year! Keep bringing us addicts the awesome audio cinema!

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Time To Visit Powder River!

Back in January the good news came in that Colonial Radio Theatre was going to podcast some of their work through The Sonic Society. Well, the time is here!

The first two episodes of Colonial's hit western series, Powder River, entitled "The New Owner," and "The Moment of Truth." are available now!

http://sonic.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=312243

Also included is an interview with Powder River's producer Chris Snyder.