Podcast Ping 56 - Jabberwocky and Filk

I had a few songs I wanted to get out so I squeezed this one in before the 13 Days of Halloween. Initially it was just going to focus on filk music, although Jabberwocky seemed appropriate, especially for the last song. And I don't know where the voice came from, it just seemed to come naturally as I read the poem; probably encouraged by the phonetics of the poem.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPing56-Jabberwocky/pp56.mp3

This time around I used songs I gathered from various sources rather than just Mevio. I'll probably use more variety of sources in later podcasts, although that's not likely until next year. I've already got Halloween chosen and there's no shortage of Christmas music on Mevio. I still like Mevio because of the quality of the material. While there is a lot of material on other sites, it's not always podsafe and it's not always of professional quality. Some of it sounds like it was recorded by a cell phone at a convert.

Next episode should be the first of the 13 Days of Halloween on October 19th. I've just a few short scripts to finish and then all the recording and editing, which I'll probably try to get done this week. I've still to write any poetry for Christmas or to select any music, although I don't think I'll be needing scripts.

Podcast Ping is licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0.

My online toy shop can be found at http://patrickjmcnamara.webs.com.

Podcast Ping 55 - The Ghost of an Anniversary

While I'm a little slow this year, I had to get one out for the anniversary.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPing55/pp55.mp3

This year it's been harder to do a weekly podcast for a number of reasons. Mainly I don't have the backlog of poetry I had when I started, even though I've been doing classic poems this year. I also don't have as much time to work on it as I use to. Some of that is because of The Blue Hot Gossip podcast, which takes at least a full day's work (normally spread out over a period of time) to produce. And The Blue Hot Gossip has seen much better download numbers. After two years it's still rare for an episode of Podcast Ping to get more than a thousand downloads.

And if people aren't downloading the podcast, then it hardly seems worth doing. It would be better to do another type of podcast. Although I do like doing it, so I doubt I would stop, but I have to balance the amount of time I work on it with the amount of time and effort it's worth. I'm also been trying to get a company started which takes not just time but attention. And there's always the writing to work on which takes more time than I've been allowing and directly competes with time for writing poetry.

Even though I've only done a handful of episodes so far this year, I am planning on doing something special for Halloween and likely Christmas. I have been thinking of doing a Christmas calendar for a while and recently decided to do a test run by doing the 13 Days of Halloween. Starting on October 19th and running until the 31st, I'll try to post one short podcast a day. If it goes well then I'll do the same for Christmas, starting on December 1st. Provided I do those episodes, that will raise the episode count to over forty episodes for the year.

I've also come across an epic poem I would like to try doing, but I won't get to that until at least next year. And as all long time listeners know, these plans are constantly changing and what I plan isn't always what I produce. But I am working on the Halloween episodes so expect the first one of those, and likely the next Podcast Ping episode, on October 19th.

(I keep forgetting to mention this.)Podcast Ping is licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0.

My online toy shop can be found at http://patrickjmcnamara.webs.com.

Podcast Ping 54 - Tyger, Tyger by William Blake

This time I decided to do a reading of Tyger, Tyger by William Blake. It's a little shorter than normal since I only used two songs, however both happen to deal with animals. I could have fit in three but the music would have overtaken the poetry.

I also decided not to do an intro for the poem. I couldn't think of much to say and I didn't want to just throw one in for the sake of having one.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPing54-TygerTygerByWilliamBlake/pp54.mp3

I've had an idea for another podcast, although I will have to spend some time writing something up first. I've been experimenting with speech synthesized recordings of my blog postings and I might have a theme for another podcast. But I'll have to see how it goes. I don't want to drop Blue Hot Gossip since it's good for any comedy I come up with, and I'm not going to drop Podcast Ping.

Although I don't have a lot of free time right now for working on podcasts. I have tried to justify it by adding a little bit of advertising for my toystore into the podcast, but if the podcast isn't getting enough downloads that does little good. While I've been resistant to the idea, I might wind up adding a donation button.

My online toy shop can be found at http://patrickjmcnamara.webs.com.

Podcast Ping 53 - Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas

A reading of Dylan Thomas' Fern Hill. I felt the last poem was a little short so that the music dominated most of the podcast. I wanted something a little longer this time to balance it out a little better.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPing53/pp53.mp3

You'll also notice I've changed the intro a little to accomidate some promotion for my new toy shop. It can be found at http://patrickjmcnamara.webs.com. I'm just starting it up so I've only a small selection at the moment, but I have many ideas for new designs.

With the summer coming I'm starting to think about shows for December. I know it sounds early, but I would like to try a Chrismas calendar this year. That means I've got to come up with 25 Christmas songs and I'll likely have to write quite a few poems even if I choose to re-use some poems. The current plan is to have 25 shows, each with one poem and one song.

Podcast Ping 52 - Daffodils by William Wordsworth

Similar to the last episode, this podcast has a reading of Daffodils by William Wordsworth.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPing52/pp52.mp3

Eventually I will get back to using my own poetry but for the time being, at least for this year, I'm going to stick to using poetry by famous poets. I'm focusing more right now on The Blue Hot Gossip Comedy Show.

Podcast Ping 51 - Kubla Kahn

This episode is a reading of Kubla Kahn (Xanadu) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPing51/pp51.mp3

I didn't want to go too long without getting an episode out, even though it's only been a couple months. I don't know how many I'll do this year, although the ones I do will probably be more like this one. I do have an audiobook/podiobook planned for the feed but for reasons I'll reveal later I'm waiting to start that.

Aside from the audiobook, which I'd like to get out weekly, I'll probably be only doing one "regular" episode a month for Podcast Ping. I've developed a new approach for The Blue Hot Gossip Comedy Show (http://bluehotgossip.blogspot.com) and I want to put more effort into that, possibly even getting out one episode a week. I tend to see better download numbers for it than I do for Podcast Ping, despite producing a lot fewer episodes. But it may take a few months before I get going on that. So I will be busy doing a lot, but there is only so much I can do and I have to put the effort into those things which provide the best return.

Podcast Ping 50 - Favorites

Here's an special hour long episode of Podcast Ping made up of some favorite songs and poems from the entire series. I had to trim down my selection a lot to keep it from being too long but there's still about fifteen poems and songs included. As it is, I was going to make it only a top ten but found that too limiting.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPing50/pp50.mp3

In putting this together I tried to use more of the older material than the newer material, although the rebuilds may make it seem newer. I also avoided instrumentals and I didn't include more than one song by the same artist. I was also going to make sure I didn't use more than one from the same podcast, but that would have added too much work. With over two-hundred songs and poems selecting fifteen still meant leaving out many good songs and poems.

Of course if the bonus episodes are included this is really more like episode sixty-one, (at least fifty-one with the music and poetry format) and if the Beowulf readings are added the number goes beyond a hundred. So the number is really arbitrary. But this is the official fiftieth episode.

I'm inclinded to call this the end of season one, simply becuase I don't expect to ever be doing anything with this material again, aside from publishing the poems. Next "season" I'm going to work with new material. I'm also considering using material from other poets, particularly famous poets, rather than my own. I've done a lot of poetry for the podcast and I could use the break. I'm also debating doing something special for next December. And I still might do a podiobook, but it will be from one I've already finished writing.

I may also take a few months off from podcasting, but I'll have to see how things work out.

Podcast Ping Bonus 11 - A Message From Santa

Here's a new Christmas bonus episode, A Message From Santa.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPingBonus11-AMessageFromSanta/ppb11.mp3

I could have called this one episode 50, but I have planned 50 to be a favorites episode which I'll post sometime before New Year's. That episode is made up of about fifteen poems and songs gathered from past episodes. I'm also making it a "season finale," since I will probably be taking a few months break from the podcast. But more about that in the next post.

A Pickle For Christmas

This is last year's Podcast Pickle Christmas skit, "A Pickle for Christmas". There doesn't appear to be one coming out for this year; last year was hard enough to get done. As such I found myself acting as producer, as well as writer. A shortage of voices and a technical problem with one reader forced me to contribute more than I would have preferred, which is why I read more of the poem than anyone else.



http://www.archive.org/download/APickleForChristmas/A_Pickle_For_Christmas_Stereo.mp3

I tried posting this a few times last year but for someo reason it wouldn't work properly. I'm going to try again, although this one should work.

Podcast Ping Bonus 9 Rebuild

This is a rebuild of last year's Christmas bonus episode, a reading of "A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Moore." For some reason the old one came out in mono so this is a stereo version of it.



http://www.archive.org/download/PodcastPingBonus9Rebuild/ppb9-REBUILD.mp3

I'm not sure if I'll do a Christmas bonus this year or not. I do have Podcast Ping 50finished which I'll release in December. I was going to wait on this one but since we're into the Christmas season I didn't see any point in waiting.

I seem to be at a terrible standstill with THE UNSTOPPABLE RIDE. I'm still trying to rewrite the second chapter for recording, but I find myself drawn in other directions. I tend to take December off from writing since I find myself creatively worn out and it offers some time to regain my energy. I am also finding myself drawn towards children's stories right now. Some of it came from listening to the poems I selected for Podcast Ping 50 and realizing how well suited many are for children. Of course it might also be the time of year.

I have tried some children's stories in the past and it might be time to get back to it. I've got a great one going right now that's worth focusing on. And I really would like to rework some already finished full-length novels to boost their length into a more saleable size. Currently they're about 80K so I need about another 10K or 20K.

So I can't say how long it will take to get back to THE UNSTOPPABLE RIDE. I don't want to leave it a half-finished podiobook so until I'm ready to fully commit it might be best to hold off. I thought it might help motivate me to work on to release it as a podiobook but it's just not working out that way. But it will get finished.

Of course I've still got a lot of material to get out. I have been considering a change of structure for Podcast Ping, but that wouldn't happen until next year. And I find myself spending a little more time on my blog lately so I might be giving that more attention.

As for episode 50, I'll either get that out around the start of December (maybe even Sunday) or the end. I was originally going to make it like the end of the year episode last year but I may not wait that long. After that I might just take a few months break from podcasting but I'll decide that in January.