It's Wednesday, so time for another episode of the Firewall & Iceberg podcast. The post at NJ.com has the full rundown of topics by time so you can avoid spoilers and/or shows you don't care about. More technical issues this week than last, I'm afraid (karma for us getting cocky, I think), and there's still a specific roadblock to getting on the iTunes store that we have to work on. But stream/download away.
I don't know how you're recording it, but whatever you're doing isn't right.
ReplyDeleteAs if it wasn't unlistenable to begin with, the echo makes it unbearable.
My roommate watched Jay because it was what was on. It wasn't something he really paid attention to, and he certainly didn't seem like he was watching it because of Leno, but it would be on most nights because it was what was on then.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea you already did episodes 2 through 4, please get it on itunes so I don't miss anymore. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, Alan, you're REALLY loud on this--the audio equalization is a problem.
ReplyDeleteParenthood is going to be a huge hit! Why? The Olympics promotion.
ReplyDeleteYes, Alan, you're REALLY loud on this--the audio equalization is a problem.
ReplyDeleteWhich is odd, because Dan and I used the exact same process to record and then equalize it as we did last week. Damned if I know what happened.
But I guess I'd rather one of us be too loud than one of us sound like he's down a well, as happened on eps 2 & 3.
Hey Alan-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ZbvijdUEw&feature=related
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thanks so much for the podcasts. Like everyone else here probably, nothing more fun to me than analyzing my favorite shows to death. Another hour to pop onto my mp3 player to chew over Lost or Chuck or whatever is a blast. And good luck with the tech issues, but I can hardly complain about free shows that I can choose to listen to or not. You can broadcast out of a tin can, for all of me. Until I have personally cured cancer or rebuilt Haiti, I think I might still have more important things to worry about than the audio quality of free entertainment.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I have not laughed as hard in a while as I did when I read your listing of what's on the cast this week. I imagine you must get a bunch of people with their panties in a bunch over spoilers (as if they can't hit pause or just not listen), but to see you tag your discussion of HBO's The Pacific as "spoiler free" was a riot. I can just imagine someone getting pissed off if you let slip that the Allies win.
"DAMMIT--he just gave away that they nuke Nagasaki at the end!!!!"
Oh, man, dude, did I laugh out loud. Thanks. Laughs are in short supply these days.
And seriously, thanks for the podcasts.
Technical glitches aside, I thought this week's podcast was the most substantive yet; I'm totally willing to listen to discussion about shows I don't watch (American Idol) when the quality of discourse is good. I think you guys are finding your balance of snark and intellectualism, and I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the 'Her?', even if Dan didn't want to go there. I have high hopes for Parenthood.
ReplyDeletehey allen, do either of you have access to adobe soundbooth? It really sounds like what you need right now is the ability to turn you down w/out turning down Dan. if each of you recorded *only* your voice, and then maseh the to audio clips together in a multi-track editor, that might solve the audio problem
ReplyDeleteCanman, if we wanted to do the whole "combine two tracks" concept, we'd just separately record with Garage Band and lay them over each other. But neither of us is confident enough in our technical skills to do that. So we instead are using a Skype recorder plug-in, which has a weird side effect of making one end of the call a bit louder than the other. We then ran it through Levelator, which someone recommended on Twitter, and which last week worked like a charm, and this week didn't accomplish much of anything.
ReplyDeleteWe shall continue working on this.
Haven't listened to the podcast yet, but please do publish a feed address for the podcast in addition to putting it in iTunes. There are many of us who don't use iTunes (unbelievable, I know!), and we just drop that feed address into the podcatcher or media program that we use.
ReplyDeleteTechnical issues persist, but you guys are getting better with your delivery. I still think there's too much forced mirth, though, and given how good you were on Maureen Ryan's "Lost" podcast, I'd say the problem here must be Dan.
ReplyDeleteThere will be a separate feed, yes. (In fact, a feed is required for iTunes posting.) We just don't have a timetable.
ReplyDeleteWhatever you guys did last week (episode 4) sounded great. This week you're definitely louder than Dan and echoing.
ReplyDeleteStill, I'm digging the Firewall-Iceberg comedy/commentary team. Keep it going.
There's a error in your title. It should read:
ReplyDelete"The Sepinburg podcast, episode 5: Parenthood, American Idol, Los and more"
That's better
I really enjoy the format of two TV critics just kibbutzing about their favourite (and not so favourite) shows - results in a lot of great humour and off-handed comments that I'd missed if you tried to be more like formal TV critics.
ReplyDeleteNow, here's hoping you can work out the volume equalization! Alan, maybe you just talk louder than Dan, because when he's barely audible, you're booming. Would be great if these older podcasts could be re-mixed and included when you eventually get onto iTunes, but - as we're talking free entertainment - I appreciate whatever you do.
I guess I can DVR Parenthood at 10 and Southland in one of the rerun times. That is really the best thing about cable - they rerun all their shows 100 times. I DVR Burn Notice, Project Runway, Closer and now Southland usually in the midnight showing.
ReplyDeleteIs Dan Canadian? Sounds like it to me.
Alan, it's not difficult to get a podcast feed up and running. It can be done in about 20 minutes. Have you checked out libsyn.com?
ReplyDeleteEric, it's a long and convoluted story, but we believe we're very close. By next week's episode, you should be able to subscribe to a podcast feed.
ReplyDeleteAlan, I finally got time to listen to the new cast, and I still say the audio problem is not that big of a deal. I could tell you were louder than Dan (or vice versa, whichever it was), but it was never so bad that I had to adjust my volume. Could be better, but whatever. It's still pretty good, and anything that rehashes TV is good for me at any volume. Well, not good for me, I guess, since I could be working instead of listening, but, hey, better than a lot of other things I could be doing with that hour, too.
ReplyDeleteYou also made me rethink Lost a bit. I do agree that Jack not following up with Dogen does not make any sense whatsoever, but I'm still willing to hand wave until the end. Then if they stick a fork in my keister with their ultimate resolution down the stretch run, well, I guess then I'll fume. But so far I'm into this season as a whole. It really reminds me so much of a Stephen King novel, where the early going is often filled with a lot of things that seem really mundane and/or needlessly complicated but pay off big time in the end as the roller coaster crests and then just keeps on picking up speed as it goes. At least, in a good Stephen King novel.
The only problem with this novel is that I can't just start the next chapter right now. Having to wait a week is deadly for this show at this point in its run. I'm not sure anything they do now could be truly satisfying in 44 minute increments.
But, yeah, Jack should have totally punched Dogen in the balls and got some answers out of him. The lack of follow up on that conversation was so extreme that I didn't even think about it until you said something.
Of course, now that we say that, watch how we will get a flash back to Dogen laying it all out for Jack in such a way that he convinced him to hide it from Sayid. Because every time I have had a really serious bitch in the past, it has always turned out that Darlton was way ahead of me and ready with something four episodes down the road that made me feel stupid for being impatient.
Loving the podcasts but please get the volume of each of you speaking. One is always to soft and one too loud.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't that bad, though Alan is indeed much louder than Dan this week. Looking forward to finally subscribe you guys on the RSS!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to seeing Lauren Graham on TV again, so Parenthood definitely gets a shot, even though it just sort of sounds like a Brothers and Sisters type show.
Leno - I also doubt his show would get a huge decrease in ratings/celebrities who won't go to his show, but I wouldn't mind if that does happen!
As for Lost, I still can't forgive Jack for throwing a tantrum and smashing up the lighthouse contraption for no good reason and ruining everyone else's chances of looking at their respecitve images.
FWIW, Will Ferrell has already hinted that he'd at least be reluctant to go on Leno. Obviously, his flacks will pressure him, especially if Leno regains his #1 slot, but who knows?
ReplyDeleteAs for the "Get Back" promos, I understand the idea, but the lyrics undermine the message--it's "get back to where you once belonged," not where you now belong. There was a time that Leno at least arguably belonged in that slot. That time has passed. The song choice kind of reinforces that.
Thank you for your Podcasts, Alan, I really enjoy listening to you two. Regarding your equalization-problems: I converted your podcast to .wav and send it (again?) through the "Levelator" and it worked like a charm - just like you said. That's a really nice program. Maybe something went wrong as you did it?
ReplyDeleteFirst time to listen to the podcast, Aside from the awkward pauses when you change topics, the podcast was good since this the first time I heard your voices I couldn't distinguish who's Allan and Dan at first :D
ReplyDeleteKeep this up :)
Alan-- THANK YOU for listing the times during which you talk about each show. Very helpful! This way, I skipped the talk about "American Idol," but tuned in to "The Pacific" and "Parenthood." Very much looking forward to both of those.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's because I've done sound so long, but the crappiness of running one side over Skype distracts me *so much* from what you're actually talking about that I gave up after ep 2.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably not alone.
But you will do what you will do, and there's no doin' anything abou-ou-ou-ou-out it.