Jump to content
🔒 The Earwolf Forums are closed Read more... ×

BlanchotMG

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    31

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Posts posted by BlanchotMG

  7. Posted

    This might be too late to state, but for the sake of it.
    .
    Sometimes it's just as important to talk about what features to add as what features NOT to add. While it's great to give us (as users) a wide array of options, ultimately we need to talk about the goals of the forum, and which features specifically relate to that goal.
    .
    Reading through the proposed features, they seem to fit into a number a categories that promote a different kind of user experience. I'm sure that Andres already has this kind of thing in mind, but I'm looking for a specific kind of user experience that I would like to advocate for.
    .
    Too many forums fall prey to information clutter because there are too many customization features. I don't particularly enjoy quote/signatures, emoticons, and some kinds of formatting features, because they turn a clean looking forum layout into a cluttered mess of features and identities.
    .
    So while I would like to see some changes (namely some kind of reply funtionality), I would just like to advocate for a forum that respects the clean and functional aesthetic that we have all come to know and love from the Earwolf site. I realize that this is already most likely on the mind of the designer/developer, but I thought I'd throw my two cents in.

  8. Posted

    This episode was phenomenal.
    (Now m'gonna rant about it for a bit)

    Creativity, for stand-ups, becomes an especially important issue because of the material conditions of stand-up as a cultural technology. To say "material" for the product of comedy has major implications for the way we think about the less apt term of "writing" as the process of creating that product. All throughout the episode it is easy to see the tension between "writing" as an oral process and "writing" as a written process, and it is at this juncture that we might think about the conditions of stand-up specifically to locate the shaky grounds on which we present models of orality and literacy (and we might even nod gently over to current discussions of electracy and systems of "pun-cepts" which exists as a clear point of contact between comic genres and technologies of immediacy).

    This is not to say that improvisational genres don't put pressure on that boundary (since after all it is the "vanguard of the postmodern". ho), or that comic forms with written commitments (such as sketch) don't impact discussions of orality. Certainly they do. But "writing" for stand-up is one of those murky and complex starting points because it exposes how the process of writing is both written and not-written. Comedy in general exposes the deep implications of contextual consideration, but at some point we must address the implications of laughter for the civic mind beyond Freudian exposition of the unconscious or the mechanics of incongruity. Discussions like the ones in this podcast, the kind that try to describe the incipient moments of the comic machine (of the "laugh factory" if you will), are vitally important for the conversation before us.

    This conversation revolves around a comedy that isn't just dressing up "truth" to make the audience more interested through laughter. It is a comedy that also goes beyond active criticism where every mode of production deserves scrutiny, beyond "resistance." It is a comedy that supposes laughter as the starting position and the joke as it's product, instead of the other way around. I feel like this episode plays off the growth of this conversation in that "creativity" is really just a code for "how do we MAKE this thing we call comedy?"

    ANYWAY....that's my rant. I feel like there is so much here to talk about. People that really want to think about the process of comedy and how it's made: this is one of the top episodes on the Earwolf network to listen to this year.

    I've got this epi in my archive.

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    An enjoyable episode! It was hard at times to follow the connection to immortality, but there's no discussion too disjointed to keep me from enjoying the podcast.

    I was particularly struck by David's comment about hands before it transitioned back into a consideration of plastic surgery. Derrida wrote a fair amount of shit about the relationship between our hands and our perceptions of the world. It also reminded me of Donna Harraway's Cyborg Manifesto, in that technology has already become an extension to our physical bodies in both overt (via prosthetics) and subtle (via interfaces) ways.

    Futhermore, those damn rhymes get me every time.

  10. Posted

    I loved listening to Baratunde. You can tell that he's interested in more than just profitability, or even in actively designing communities. What really came through in the interview was Baratunde's ambition to play with the underlying procedures of media formats. On one level this comes out in the fact that he's into learning Python, as well as his anecdote about personifying the swine flu. More importantly it came out in the moments where the conversation jumped to less digestible ideas like "thank you culture" and the changing relationship between creator and audience. Of course this had as much to do with Baratunde's threads as Jeff's direction. Good show sir.
    .
    The conversation on audio/video formats brings up an interesting situation, one that the growing comedy podcast field specifically calls into question. There have been many conversations on Earwolf and other podcasts which describe how audio podcasts build on a level of intimacy and freedom. Many are describing podcasts as "punk rock." in this respect, and it seems at least part of this designation comes from a reclaimation of audio-only media. I for one probably wouldn't watch video content. It would need to be as produced as a FOD skectch (so who knows!) in order to grab my attention, and even then I wouldn't commit as much time to watching the video as I do listening to the audio.
    .
    I don't think media is progressive.
    .
    I also wouldn't use early access or inside ticket information. I live too far away and I listen to most of the podcasts a few days late anyway. But with that said it might be a bonus for those with more access to the LA scene.

  11. Posted

    FOILED AGAIN!
    .
    Here I thought I was tuning in to a vibrant discourse on the conflation of oil futures and comedy podcasting, and I find out that this isn't the REAL Jeff Rubin at all, but some hilariously fiendish impostor I may have seen on Bleep Bloop and Nerd Alert! I was so angry that I enjoyed the whole podcast and checked out (the other) Jeff Ruben's podcast!
    .
    also: you should totally make a shirt based on this particular episode of the Wolf Den. It wouldn't be too complicated, just a photorealistic image of Jeff Ruben's face surrounded by thousands of file extensions printed in an assortment of typographical sensibilities. And on the sleeves (which I assume is pretty cheap considering the sleeves are so small) you can put: "We can't make a shirt for every podcast episode..." and on the other sleeve: "...but we made a shirt for this one." Then on the back there can be a large print #28, which would usually stand in for a sports team number, but instead this one would stand for the episode number! That way people will think we're cool jocks that play ball sports, when secretly we know the only competition that matters is the earwolf challenge! MAKE IT OR I WILL HATE YOU FOREVER.
    .
    But for serious, lovely podcast as always. I value the time you spend on it, and even if you miss a week here or there, I'll still be listening.

  13. Posted

    Just Finished! (TWSS). Great Episode.

    As a Bears Fan, I like to rationalize the situation by thinking that Culter just doesn't understand what the emotion sad looks like. His facial expressions have been molded by years of douche-baggery. I then imagine Lovie Smith assigning Culter to take acting lessons. In fact Lovie could use some help in the emotions department himself. Urlacher's been in a commercial, perhaps he can teach them.

    Anyway, loved hearing from Paul, can't wait for the new season of the League.

    Also, will there be a non-joke fantasy league for members of the sklarbro nation? I propose a funniest-team-name contest in order to get in. PLZ!

  14. Posted

    Holy Damn! Haven't listened to it yet, but I'm so stoked for Langhorne Slim! A cougar once tried to seduce me with a free ticket to Langhorne Slim, she also claimed to have slept with one of the members of Yo La Tengo (?!). But alas, I had to take my brother to the airport. Damn brother.

  16. Posted

    Every other comment I refer to this episode, and the wonders of "roller skate train." I just don't know if anyone remembers! We all love the game and the theme song, but what about the history? What about the CBB lore? Can we not use the roller skate train version as a special remix edition? Can we not?

    Also, this description is a lie. There is no CBB shirt. Oh I've checked, believe me I've checked. *shakes fist and goes off to make popped-corn in defeat*

  19. Posted

    Great episode and great feedback. I feel like the podcasts had a better idea of what was expected of them, and there was a better effort across the board. One of the sketch podcasts (Left handed radio?) also performed beautifully, and I now have a much better idea of what they're all about.

    And talk about guests! Tremendous. Say no more. A wink is as good as a nod to a blind bat. Say no more.

    I would love to hear more about tips for creating great audio. Culturally we tend to put so much emphasis on the visual that we lose focus on how vital it is to have good audio. Sadly, since we depend on visual metaphors, audio-logic is often foreign conceptual ground for a production amateur.

    Keep trying Hamm Radio. Liked the meta elements, but you're more talented than those jokes. The judges had sound advice.

  20. Posted

    Besser is totally the "Paula Abdul" of this judging panel.

    It was interesting to see how many of the discussions of the intro merged into discussions of the podcast's title. It was clear that the podcasts with a clear sense of their vision were able to more clearly establish their identity than other podcasts. This sense of vision, as we found, doesn't have to be a regimental formula or niche; it can simply be the affect of the podcast, as many listeners so far have identified with the lovable clumsiness of The Little Dum Dum Club.

  21. Posted

    Holy God Damn.

    I love the podcast, and I always find it interesting, but the impromptu poems....damn. Those poems were on par with some of the funniest things I've heard on earwolf podcasts. I love the incident as a representation of the whimsical precision that moves through the serious precision of science.

    Some other commenters -gonna hate- on the podcast because the discussion of these concepts doesn't come from the scientists themselves. I have to admit that I have had the same impulse from time to time, and had the desire to yell at my Zune screen "But you've got it all wrong! It's so simple!" But I resist, and for one simple reason. We typically understand knowledge in terms of mastery, and that physicists and mathematicians and psychologists are the masters of information. But outside of laboratories and universities, the public is confused by these ideas because of the way that the inside languages are constructed. A great example is when someone said that they didn't buy that time was a fourth dimension because it's not spatial, or that understanding "infinite possibility" as a dimension is incomprehensible. To their credit, the hosts of the podcast try to bring these jargonistic realms back to a more grounded linguistic arrangement and call out the points where the language is unmanageable. So while there are many intellectuals who claim to have knowledge of the fields on this podcast (many of whom have commented and will comment in these very forums), few have the gall to make fun of their own discursive construction, which is why it is enjoyable, and to some extent necessary, to have podcasts like this one.

    All right, rant over. But goddamn what a great episode! Well done all, and the goobers bit lingers with possibility. I have faith now, and I will try to hold to my own advice.

  22. Posted

    Really enjoyed this week's episode. I love Jeff waxing Gatsby as he looks out from his office at Maron's Hill. One Jeff, we'll find that american dream and die a (sort of) martyr, victimized by the fabric of our own desires.

    Also, what does it mean to swear "adorably"? Sounds awesome.

  24. Posted

    Gotta say I loved what Ham Radio does. It really feels inventive, and I think that the editing time shines through.

    There are only so many hours in the day, and while I would love to fit in another hour+ interview podcast, I feel like there's a more glaring need for a shorter scripted podcast. Then again this competition isn't about what I would listen to, rather what makes a great podcast all together. I can see a top quality interview podcast like TLP having more time to work on the competition, since there are two hosts and there is less production time. It will be interesting to see if a heavy production podcast like Ham Radio can keep up.

    That said, hang in there Brett! i'm rooting for ya!

×