character | Croncast - Life is Show Prep

character. actor.

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:35:03 -0500

Building Character, Lunatic Moment, Phone Cords

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:32:33 -0500

Episode: #677 | Length: 26:36 | Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes Get Cool!

Mommy, what is a phone book?
We had long phone cords
The animal skin rugs
You probably had party line too
Building character at Hardee's
Every kid should have a transexual boss at some point
Do you have a quarter?
I lost it
Full on raging lunatic moment
I out crazied the homeless dude

Tags: new twitter phone cords building character lunatic moment

Think differently about RSS and its uses

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:18:54 -0500

It's been quite a while since I wrote a blog post and it was time to get down with the reality that some things can't be said in 140 characters or less.

Over the weekend, as some of you may of you noticed, I live photo blogged my Saturday afternoon date with Betsy and our trip to Goodwill. For me it was a time to watch Betsy as she navigated her adopted habitat and to see her operate in a way that is far from the norm in our everyday lives.

I knew this was going to be an interesting experience. Why not share it in as many ways as possible (distribution to: Flickr, Twitter, blog and RSS) with as many people as possible? One input with multiple outputs across the various Croncast audiences.

Making it happen is a lot easier than you think with email and RSS.

First. it is the camera phone that takes decent photos. Second, is the phones ability to send email with photo attachments. Third, is a place to email the photos that has an RSS feed or other API connectivity to other applications. Tons of sites like Flickr, Seesmic and Tumblr offer these and can even do some of the distribution for you. Get these three things in place and sharing your experiences in near real-time has never been easier.

Currently, it does take a little more skill to distribute the photos to Twitter. However, if you get creative you can breathe life into photos that wouldn't normally have existed after it was consumed/viewed in a photo sharing site or through an RSS reader. It is worth the effort to figure this out, it's the next stage of content distribution online.

How do I know? Google Reader shared feeds are the perfect example. Typically once someone reads a post in their reader it has reached the end of the line. But if someone shares it with Google Reader it then gets added to the individual users shared RSS feed and resyndicated. A new life for that content. The same goes for photos that end up in Flickr or a Flickr RSS feed.

In my case, live photo blogging and my ability to cast a wider net wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for the Flickr RSS feed from my account. It is the magic API that feeds (pun intended) the river of resyndication that allows me to give that new life to our content.

Here's how it goes down:

1. Upload photo from phone to Flickr with subject line used as image title
2. In the body under the photo begin with an asterisk (*) if I want the photo, title and description to be a blog post also
3. In the body under the photo begin with a carat (^) if I want the title and a link to be a tweet
4. Add both asterisk and carat (*^) for blog and twitter
5. A PHP script grabs the Flickr RSS feed and reads it for asterisks and carats every two minutes and sends the photo, title and description where it needs to go
6. If it goes to the blog the title and description will be run through a keyword generations script
7. If it goes to Twitter only the title is sent and a shortened url is created to link to the photo

What all of this does is allow me to create multiple channels of distribution that can reach the different audiences that follow us. There is a bit of overlap with multiple audience members subscribed to the same services but quite a few are not. We have the Twitter audience, the blog audience, the flickr audience and the RSS audience. We also have our podcast audience but they are not really a part of this type of delivery

Summary: Look for ways to utilize sites like Flickr as a content management portal, if even from your mobile phone, to cast a wider net across your network. Work to find that one point of contact that has the lowest threshold for allowing you to get your media and thoughts online with the ability to resyndicate your content without having to lift a finger. Well, too many fingers. And make sure that it has an RSS feed!

Tags: flickr live photo blogging RSS as API seesmic tumblr twitter

Season 20 Ep 18: You know, you don't have to call her your friend anymore.

Wed, 28 May 2008 12:43:20 -0500

Croncast - 2008-05-28.mp3
Show: #493
Length: 28:21
Size: 19.5 mb
Format: mp3

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Good grief we are back
Thanks to Betsy for showing back up
You come back from San Francisco wearing my clothes
Up sidles a Wrangler wearing Milwaukee chick
She's checking me out
Of course she is
"So what are you doing in San Francisco?"
"I'm here with my friend."
"You don't have to call her your friend anymore."
The spandex blend is alive and well
You can look at Iowa from behind and know it's Iowa
The smell of Dubuque jumps off
The hills and the highway
I drive better than those taxi drivers
Don't look forward
You check carry on bags?
Yes, need to keep her creams and powders
The vacation schedule
The romantic cruise
We just wanted crab
The Russians followed me from Goodwill
Our waiter wanted to argue
Today, today it is my first day
Crab comes with nothing?
No one comes between Jeanie and her side salad
Dungeness crab is a mud spider
She called me a hot mess in Cantonese
We end up at a tea shop in China town
White hippie chick running it
In sweeps hippie number one
She's totally a trust fund baby
Character after character after character
You can make tea from anything
Why didn't you stop and ask a homeless person?
I didn't realize you were green with dots . . . what the hell do you have?
Mr B, this is my town though
I knew it once I stepped off the plane

Tags: San Francisco Tea House dungeness crab wrangler pants

Season 20 Ep 10: Transvestite Mennonite, MC Hammer, Baby Spiders

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:58:26 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-30.mp3
Show: #485
Length: 28:03
Size: 19.8 mb
Format: mp3

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Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

I pulled a muscle in my back
My spider bites
It's a back wall injury
Like in the Mist
Where the privileged people are
At the Intercontinental hotel
I ordered my drink
You need to try it
Jaegermeister and Bailey's?
It makes me want to cover my ears
How much do they charge for that?
It depends
The bartender appeared to be a Stanford math major
How much do you want?
Top it off on the rocks, half Jaeger and half Bailey's
Well, we pour in ounces
I don't care what pour, just fill it up
When have you counted
You are an asshole
I'm not an asshole
How many ounces would you like?
What kind of question is that?
I would have turned you into a zombie
Was $30 a drink
Puffy Cuffs to a whole new level
She had already poured them
A mixer usually has small amount of alcohol
They should charge normally
I need to carry my own stuff
Buy a mixer full of ice to mix my own
You pay for the atmosphere
But most have to leave early to get to a meeting
$30 bucks a drink you better get some atmosphere
Turns out MC Hammer was hanging in the lobby
I missed it
I was three feet from him
He looked nothing like I would have expected
Taller than I thought
They have small man complex and work harder
Shaped like a potato these days
He would have showed all of his potato parts
He has an internet startup
It's like youtube but with dance videos
There's a new character on the scene at Goodwill
Who is it?
I don't know his/her name
What?
It is a Transvestite Mennonite
I had awkward pause seeking gender
I blanked
I needed to know boy or girl to return communication
You should do a back bend

Tags: MC Hammer the mist transvestite mennonite spider bite jaegermeister and bailey's

Season 20 Ep 6: Yesterday was tax day?

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:03:01 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-16.mp3
Show: #481
Length: 25:10
Size: 17.3 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2007 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Sorry for the late show . . . long day. Now I gotta put the kids to bed.

Enjoy the show!

Updated show notes
I think the people know what year it is
I am your enabler, Kris
Your workaholism is what i enable
The day after tax day
Didn't you see me freaking out?
Not really . . . you kept saying we have to file an extension
Taxes should be due on a Friday
Not a Tuesday
It should be a floating holiday?
Yes
This is the first year in 3 years we don't owe the IRS any money
I will never understand the IRS ever
Co-owner of a company that lost quite a bit of money
Listen, Rush Limbaugh
How can my company lose money and the feds give me money back?
The tax code is crazy
The other fabulous thing today
It felt like a tele-novela
I got to Goodwill and they were throwing someone out
It was the first time ever
He is the reason we can't pick off carts
I walked up to the china
It was sparkling at me
Get the order and buy service for 12
$20 a plate and $12 for the salad plates
Well, you weren't tossed out
Who would be pulling in as I leave?
Another Replacements.com seller
When did this lady show up?
She is a new Goodwill character
I thought this was just the Russian chick
No, she is diminutive
You're a junk consultant
I can tell you when I am 13

Tags: iphone att Betsy Smith Croncast Kris Smith

Frank Keppler keeps it fresh

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:41:48 -0600

Odds are high that you have seen Frank's work if you have gone into an Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom, Target or watched a movie or television show where a character was wearing a beer t-shirt, especially a Miller brand.

Frank Keppler is a graphic designer and co-owner of Brew City Brand Apparel, the company that produced the shirt you saw. Or better yet, that I see once a month or so in a store or on TV because I know what I'm looking for. Frank's designs are commercial but his style is unique and pretty easy to spot. He finds a way to even make vintage look fresh and contemporary.

I haven't spoken with Frank in years but I love his work.

In the mid and late 90's I worked for the Keppler's in Milwaukee managing their retail stores and seasonal set-ups like Summer Fest., a few years before they were selling large wholesale volume to anyone except Miller beer distributors. As there business has grown I often look at Frank's work as an inspiration. Why? I'll damned if it isn't one of the hardest design jobs ever to have beer and Milwaukee as your only motivation for twenty years.

Tags: Miller High Life Frank Keppler Brew City Apparel Milwaukee George Keppler

Betsy and her husband Kris Nov 16, 2007

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:10:06 -0600

Croncast - 2007-11-16.mp3
Show: #434
Length: 27:43
Size: 19.0mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Short intro
Why can't you do the intro, Betsy?
I don't remember it
To my reply, I've said it a lot
Once you start going I know it
The Family Ties thing would come on and i wouldn't know it
Because you were too busy holding the bunny ears
Maybe that is why you have premature balding
I don't have premature balding, it happened at the right time
When is the right time to bald, Kris?
When you want to make the jump to senior management?
Premature balding is in high school
Kris, anytime to premature for ladies
If you go bald postmortem it is too soon
You could have comb over talk
Golf becomes more interesting when you lose you hair
No
More and more forehead
He looked like Tyra Banks?
No
My friends
You were too exhausted from partying all night
I have to scream at people because my voice is low
That is why the intro was short
Now you are thinking like me
I was at TechCocktail 6 in Chicago
Not much business talk
Lots of nerds just drinking booze
Hanging with friends was best part
So shout out to Evan, Brian and Greg
Tech in Chicago - I work at a oil refinery, I'm a tech recruiter for C++
Exciting technology
Does it get more exciting than Microsoft?
Tech status quo is what it is
Only the nerds get your joke, Kris
Get my correspondence Masters Degree
People got to be telling people about the show
He said we are quality like Schmodcast
We need a better name
I asked you to bring it
Three years now
You need to bring it
How about Bcast
How about BetsyCast
You been bringing the funny lately Mr. B
The improv thing didn't work out well
Let's talk about it
You're unemployed, wanna arm wrestle
All my fears about not getting the improv thing came true
You auditioned for my love
I won because I was only one in the room
Toughest part was not having stage experience
Yeah, I am funny but I don't have the range for accents and characters
Maybe you need to be doing stand up
I can sell shoes anywhere
I've had some great conversations with people
My people see my resume and say, looks solid, awesome
Not quite sure what HR people think
Evidently not a whole lot
I have more conversations today
You got ins Mr. B
No, not "ins" I got leads
I have thought about not recording
This is part of the story that isn't that much fun to share
They should hire you to Twitter from Goodwill
There were ladies at TechCocktail
There need to be more women in tech
Serial killers get the three name treatment
You know he's trying to figure out how to fit you into a taco
People, you have to fill the gaps . . . and laughter works!

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Tags: Family Ties TechCocktail 6 Evan Brown Greg Cnagialosi Brian Beatty

Betsy and her husband Kris Sep 03, 2007

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:53:05 -0500

Croncast - 2007-09-03.mp3
Show: #405
Length: 33:11
Size: 21.1mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris Sep 03, 2007

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Short show notes:
Betsy can't handle not mocking me during
How can I now mock you?
Kris had to do the intro 27 times
No way
August melted like a warm pat of butter in the sun straight into September
Celebrating a laborless birthday
I can't handle it
The worst joke that Betsy ever attempted
Wow did that bomb
Been a crazy weekend around here
We're broke
Thankfully we live in Pleasantville
Oh my god the cup is so half empty for you
What else do you want?
The park public bathrooms have Corian
The man tells me he is good at that point
Those games cost money . . . who wants to pet goats?
I wanna go on this ride . . . suck it up
Daddy doesn't make enough money
It's character building Mr. B
The photos like this chicken riding a llama
This chicken sees your soul

Maggie was super excited to ride the ponies
The chicken on the llama . . . she never thought of that
The 8 by 8 portable animal corral
Filled with animals
Pigs are doing figure 8's around the llama's feet
It wasn't a petting zoo it was a petting corral
Same thing happened with Elliot at Lake Holiday
The kids get on to the sand pile
The super farmer, Farmer Rollo, comes walking to his truck
Farmers look like retired Floridians they are so tan
Silver hoop earing . . . a pirate farmer
That man is an owner operator
I run this joint, that's my 8 by 8 pen bitch
It was funny when he came sauntering by with blood spurting from his face
He's hustling to his truck
Applying pressure to his face
What's wrong with you?
The pig bit me
The thing about the pigs is they were 10 weeks old
They go vicious
Thought of his probiscus as a teet
He wants the Jaycees contract for next year
Maybe some more horses next year
The animals were all in good shape
Eventually he stops the bleeding
He tried everything he could in his truck
He was trying to be casual about it
One of those things that was interesting to watch
OSHA would have take him to task
That pig should have been at least 12 inches from your face
I won't tell you what they do to the runts
Speaking of death
We watched the Mount Everest thing on NBC
They left the guy behind
Poked him in the eye to make sure he was dead
Next day . . . he's awake and talking to new climbers
Can I talk to you about improv class?
Sure you can lay it out for me
He's a professional extra
The goal is to succeed as a team
Right, they aren't supposed to be laughing at one of you
Betsy, you have to hold it back
Am I sassy? No
Am I hyper? No
Am I a bossy bitch? Yes
You have to stop steam rolling over everyone
You need to remember that you run over people
I am glad you are having someone point this out to you
We are an ensemble and the rest of your life should be that way
I hear people laughing all day in my head

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Tags: Corian Farmer Rollo Pleasantville baby pigs OSHA

Today's show will be up later today

Mon, 28 May 2007 07:26:16 -0500

Been a while since I posted one of these, but today's show, like the title says, is going to be late. The pic above is but a small portion of the Croncast goodness to come.

We're going to be late not because of the holiday but more so that Betsy and I found time for a much needed conversation last night about our current state of affairs. Like most things in life it happened at the same time we were supposed to be doing something else . . . like the show.

Most of the discussion focused on how it sucks and feels almost like we are not coming clean because for some topics that are really big in our lives we have to be cryptic about for the show. And, like the show, I am being so here, sorry.

To figure out what I am talking about pull out your cryptic topic code breaker and spin the dial a bit to left and then back to the right for television show references. The decoder says, "Fred and Barney drove to this every day." Hmmm . . . Flinstones reference no good . . . must twist dial again. The decoder says, "Ricky Gervais import starring characters Dwight Schrute and Michael Scott." The cryptic topic code breaker says that is the best it can do.

Tags: The Flinstones memorial day 2007 Ricky Gervais Dwight Shrute late show

Betsy and her husband Kris May 23, 2007

Wed, 23 May 2007 07:57:18 -0500

Croncast - 2007-05-23.mp3
Show: #366
Length: 34:37
Size: 23.7mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris May 23, 2007

Tickets are on sale now for the live show . . . get your's or find out more

Join Croncast Cronies . . . thanks to all those signed up already!.

Kris tries to take it back to 2004 and fails
The old school intro
Things have changed for the better since we've been doing the show
Someone actually sent an email with that in it today . . . being able to hear the difference
You've never had respect for me Betsy
It will only grow when I see the gravel pit that you crawled out of
You're worried about what Elliot will say about the dead cars in the yard
Someone lives in that house?
Yes, that's where I grew up
The house is the size of our finished basement
Kris, it was the size of a double wide
My little house used to be a warehouse
The great La Moille fire and our house survived
As the story goes . . . it was started by a train derailment in the late 1800's
The trailer office next to the tallest building in town, the grade school
You could see Chicago 120 miles away on a clear day
Kris you were looking at West Aurora
Civil war reenactment town historian nut
Did he do the glove thing?
Was it a scarred nub beneath?
No, I don't think he was the engineer of the train
I grew up around some scary characters
Good thing they had him work at the school so people could keep an eye on him
It was like a pig roast with my extended family . . . Keystone Light and firearms
You were packing heat on family outings, Kris?
No the extended family
So it was like Civil War done better with upgraded military hardware
Betsy tells another great vet story
I am beginning to think that vet offices are great place for material
Is it possible for a my cat to fall in love with my dog?
The cattle call vet . . . it isn't a prestigious appointment
The cat is binge eating because it is depressed
"Why are his lips so ugly?" mother-in-law asks about the cat
Turns out that little deaf dog has a blazing ear infection
"How to do you tell if your dog is deaf?"
The arthritis medicine, cholesterol medicine and diabetes diet weren't working that day
Deaf dog now has some pep in her step
Betsy . . . I didn't know raisins weren't candy until I was 7
So what happened to you, Betsy?
God, this girl had Lik A Maid . . . cool aid on sugar stick
I said to myself when I am an adult I am going to buy a candy bar every day
Red Bull + Lik A Maid = Garage sale power drink

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Tags: Lik A Maid Keystone Light cat dog lovin Garage sale power drink tallest building in town

If I were Johnny Drama

Wed, 02 May 2007 10:25:30 -0500

Some of you will get the title and for those who don't it's a reference to a character on HBO's Entourage.

The show is 30 minutes of fluff, glitz and Jeremy Piven spazzing out. And 99.9 percent the time there is no real value beyond some laughs, but not this last week.

I can't believe that I am even still thinking about this.

Regardless, Drama was faced with a decision to fight a bare knuckles champ or grovel on his knees for forgiveness in front of a couple hundred people. He chose to drop to his knees. Then gets "Got" as part of a hidden camera show.

I keep thinking what would I do in that situation? And my response has been . . . I would have taken the beating. It's just my personality and always taking the difficult path.

It's strange how show about nothing can be cheap therapy ;-).

Tags: Entourage Johnny Drama Jermey Piven Pauly Shore

Podcast Academy 5 - February 14th and 15th

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:34:22 -0600

I'll be speaking with a cast of great characters including Tim Bourquin, Greg Cangialosi, Noah Bonnett and Michael Geoghegan at Podcast Academy 5 Feb 14-15, 2007 sponsored by GigaVox Media.

This time it is being held at Duke University . . . so any east coasters interested in academic podcasting, podcasting production or the technical side of podcasting should come out to the event. So don't think that if you haven't defended a thesis you're not welcome. Like I said, I'll be there.

Feel free to read the schedule for more information.

My presentation will be on authenticated and personalized RSS feeds. 'Authenticated' meaning password protected feeds and what they are good for and 'personalized' meaning that the content delivered through the feeds is specific to the individual receiver. I'll also dabble a bit in the importance of being able to track individual RSS usage.

And since this is being held at an academic institution a portion of my presentation will come from my work with JCAHO delivering professional development (sort of academic) with RSS as piece of a low-threshold Learning Managment System (LMS).

Tags: Podcast Academy 5 podcastacademy5 GigaVox GigaVox Media Duke University

Betsy and her husband Kris Dec 29, 2006

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 07:28:21 -0600

Croncast - 2006-12-29.mp3

Show: #320
Length: 32:47
Size: 22.5 mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris December 29, 2006

Today's show is brought to you by Mike Marusin.

Betsy does up a little ditty for Mike
She can never remember the day
"Mrs. Smith . . . it's 1 o'clock . . . it was a half-day of school"
Major mommy screw ups
Baby I got two New Years resolutions
Number 1 - I am done making fun of you and Goodwill
It's all about the Booba in 2007

I'm gonna start with one Coach wallet and turn it into a small fortune
And then I'm just gonna sit on it and make you ask
I know someone told it was a bad idea to go to the coach outlet
Number 2 - make sweet love to another woman
Look what I have over here . . . steak knives
I tried to make today go well with two trips to Goodwill
Betsy can't find her glasses
They are not in the Smith Man Pit
Baby, look at me . . . you know I am kidding
I just wanted to rile you up a bit
Well you can get all riled up on the couch tonight watching the Spice channel

So we had an email asking for the cast of characters from Goodwill
An entire show dedicated to the folks
Betsy actually wrote them out
Finishing the story of Rumple Snatch before the name reveal
When good art and story telling is at its finest
Goodwill stories for two years
Her life sucks
Why do you go there now?
Even management ends up with special character names
Betsy needs a Russian translator
People think I'm harsh on the resale tip . . . check out Betsy's mom
Betsy's urge to purge thanks to Virginia Slim and crew
More pictures or the pictures that people asked for
We'll be back on Monday

Tags: Mike Marusin Coach outlet Smith Man Pit Rumple Snatch Spice channel

AVerTV Cardbus E501 working with Media Center

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 08:21:08 -0600

All that I wanted was to capture our Mii characters in video and not have to take a picture of the TV screen. That is it. Simple. Just get a video feed into my computer and take a screen shot. Thanks to Microsoft Media Center this is impossible.

Why, you ask? It turns out that Media Center won't accept a feed from a device that isn't spitting out it's source from a controller box of some type or antennae. Like the ones used for cable, satellite or a direct from the sky. Forget your auxiliary input for a gaming console.

After a couple of hours and a null progress report I picked up the keys and went over to Tiger Direct and picked up an AVerTV Cardbus E501 for my laptop . . . initially I was thinking PCI card but something that was portable would be cooler.

This is what I get for trying to be cool.

Two hours after arriving home with the card and following the installation directions to the letter, uninstalling the drivers (just like the directions say), rebooting, downloading new drivers, installing new drivers, rebooting, installing capture software, rebooting, opening software for this error "The TV capture device drivers are installed incorrectly" . . . WTF, again? See, my laptop is also running XP Media Center Edition.

You get the idea. From the pic above I am sure that you can see that I got the card working but here's what it took:

1) Searching for AVerTV Cardbus and finding out that it won't work with Media Center and their is a special card for this, not mine
2) Doing the uninstall, reboot, reinstall thing a couple more times
3) I try the last thing that might work, install the drivers for the AVerTV Cardbus MCE
4) It worked

So if you bought the AVerTV Cardbus and need to get it working on your MCE laptop maybe you'll find this post and just download install E502 set of drivers from the start and skip the included CD.

Tags: AVerTV Cardbus AVerTV Cardbus MCE AVerMedia Cardbus E501 media Center pcmcia tv tuner Aver Media

300 by 300th Update Dos

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:17:32 -0500

Thanks again to everyone who has signed up as a new listener or registered for a Handle!

Talking tally again on the homepage - we're five shy of 200 with thirty days left before the 300th show. I have a good feeling about us hitting 300 new listeners . . . or maybe more.

The moment we hit 300 new listeners the first set of iPods will get mailed out to the winners.

If you signed up for a handle and want to know how you are doing just look in the news section becasue from here to the 300th I'll be posting the stats daily.

Which leads me to ask a favor of any PHP nerds out here . . . how do I get a MySQL COUNT(*) query translated into PHP so that it doesn't look like crazy unique character strings? I can run my query with no problem in phpMyadmin but when I try to make my own page it totally flakes out. Once I figure it out or I get a little assistance we'll have fancy Handle Moxie page.

On a non-nerd note it is time to say, "thank you", to all those who are telling their friends and strangers about the podcast.

How do you enter? Well . . .

1) Fill out the right form for you - *New* Listener or Get a Handle (current listener)
2) Verify your email address (Activates and qualifies those with a "Handle")
3) *New* listeners get activated and qualified by using their special RSS feed
4) 300th new listener and the person whose Handle they use win iPods AND
5) A drawing for 2 more iPods from everyone who entered!

Tags: 300 by 300th iPod Contest Croncast Kris Smith Betsy Smith

Brotherhood's heart beginning to beat

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 07:16:10 -0500

Brotherhood, an original series from Showtime has finally started to come to life after 4 episodes. It is too bad that it took this long. If it weren't for OnDemand I wouldn't have recorded them or even cared after the second episode.

Why? The cinematography is a slipshod style with wide angles (that finally work) and color blown out of most shots for a gritty feel. The story is slowly progressing but like all new shows the introduction of characters seemed forced and predictable. Not a recipe for entertainment success.

But that wasn't it. My real problem with the show was and still is editing. The replaying of multiple shots, rough cuts and the worst, from this audio guys humble opinion, is the sound design. Background and meaningless sounds are brought to the front of the audio mix and they seem out of place. How about a deck of cards being shuffled cranked up so high that it sounds like someone eating an ice cream cone at warp speed.

At episode 4 things are coming together. The photography is meshing with the story, the reuse of shots seems to have stopped and the characters are a little less predictable than before. If you haven't seen Brotherhood I do recommend it as a good study of, "What would I do in that situation?".

BTW, I did figure out why the sound design in some of these episodes is off . . . at the end of episode 3 there is a great sequence for a Nine Inch Nails song that is total rock star video. And, amazingly, it fits with the story. I'm thinking they blew the audio budget getting the rights to the song and the audio engineer is some guy's 8 year old kid.

Tags: Brotherhood Showtime Sho sound design TV

Croncast - Betsy and her husband Kris 143

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 07:05:16 -0600

Croncast - 2005-11-01.mp3

Show: #184
Length: 37:48
Size: 25.9 mb
Format: mp3

Croncast - Betsy and her husband Kris 143

Show Notes

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Betsy's eBay listings link

TheSmithMall

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Show intro
Betsy sings (this is what happens before every show begins)
I am Betsy's bitch
I make her air pop popcorn
Betsy has scaley feet
Betsy wants a pedicure
Putting up a picture of Kris' feet would get us thousands of hits
They would all be men pleasuring themselves until they find out that they are attached to a man with a beard
Betsy is ready to pimp me out instead of podcast
Creeped out spending the dough, dirty stripper money
Kris is still eating the same value meal
Men are too fat when they can no longer see penis in shower
Betsy is watching Oprah again, "Launch your own comeback"
Not wearing makeup
Princess Betsy with lipstick
Bird with plumage
Sexy male birds
Stuffing myself with food to not see penis to keep temptations at bay
Penn and Teller
Betsy's reality shows are now overlapping
Ulga's, Pink Cheeks, hair removal
The Girls Next Door, the Playboy show terrible name
The girls went to get waxes
Adult inside jokes in G and PG movies
Robots, "I get the Brazilian because it makes me feel like it is a fiesta everyday."
What happens when 6 year Ginny says that to her teacher?
PBS whoring out it's cartoon characters for cash
Euphemisms for bodily functions
Kris grew up next to the Montezumas
Kris gets the Hamburger Helper Star of the day
Keys, Cell Phone, Jumpdrive in the left pocket
Wallet, money, change in the right pocket
What you don't know about people you marry until they reveal things many years later
Kris won't call for pizza
I do it for organization
Betsy is going to buy me a girdle so I can see junk again
Having an attack
Don't rock my pocket world
Divorce of the pockets
Betsy's cough for lingers from the sore throat
I'll eat it, but food with hair from the animal that it belongs to are way too gross
Eating a chicken wing and flossing at the same time
I try to Betsy kudos for her meal cooking and somehow it goes back to me throwing a man fit of somekind
Buying a can of Ragu from Walgreens
Reasons housewifedom have come to suit Betsy
Cleaning a house with two screaming kids
Short shout outs for the night, Betsy will get crafty with them for Friday
Croncast has the best listeners
Betsy can't tell me about the poverty book anymore
Female donations

Tags: betsy kris croncast pocket feet