Another episode of the Firewall & Iceberg podcast has been posted, and as mentioned in both the blog post and the intro to the show, we're now up on the iTunes Store, so subscriptions, reviews and/or ratings will all be greatly appreciated. The page at NJ.com has the usual rundown of topics and times, and we appear to have consistently figured out how to keep the sound quality good. And, as I did over at the other site, props to David J. Loehr for coming up with the logo(s).
On Wednesdays, I look forward to Modern Family and THE SEPINBERG!
ReplyDeleteI'm never going to let it go...
Fantastic logo!
ReplyDeleteGreat logo. Just subscribed via the iTunes store but the logo doesn't show up there.
ReplyDeleteAlso on additional suggestion: The file size of the podcast is pretty high. And since it's just the two of you talking the quality loss when encoding to maybe 64 kbps instead of 160 kbps would be negligible and would make the filesize MUCH smaller.
Otherwise great job, now must listen to the new podcast :)
Huge fan of The Sepinberg (Fienwall?). Looking forward to another great podcast of TV discussions. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteNo discussion of Chuck? When Feinberg has a dumb opinion, I count on you to smack him down!
ReplyDelete...I actually understand his point on Chuck, but he still deserves to be told he's wrong publicly.
Oh, and rent Real Genius? Drop the $4 at Target and OWN that, sucker.
I have to say that the review up in iTunes right now is pretty good!
ReplyDelete;)
No discussion of Chuck? When Feinberg has a dumb opinion, I count on you to smack him down!
ReplyDeleteThat was in the original outline. The 24 cancellation thing bumped it and Adam Scott out, and for whatever reason, Scott was what came back in as we were doing it on the fly. We'll do Chuck again soon.
Also a content suggestion: Any chance you might talk "Caprica" in any of your next podcasts? I like that show and it could need some more exposure :)
ReplyDeleteCaprica will probably come up an episode or two from now, right before the winter finale (which I think is on the 26th).
ReplyDeleteWe want to try to keep mixing it up, with Idol and Lost as the only constants for now (and the Lost section was pretty short this week).
I'm at work still, so sorry if this comes up and just isn't on the outline, but any thoughts about Fox's plan to have Lie to Me and Bradley Whitford's 'stache air during summer? I really like the former, and was hoping its full season order meant good things, but this makes me think it's doomed.
ReplyDeleteNice logo! Now all you need is a theme song.
ReplyDeleteI realize that your podcast name lends itself well to the Orange/Blue contrast theory.
I agree it's time for 24 to end, but does using House as a launching pad really qualify as a reason to do it? House has every fall to launch a new show and so far airing after House hasn't done a hell of a lot for Lie to Me other than get the second half of its season dumped in the summer. I think a bigger concern is that if Fox is really going to air The X Factor in the fall and Idol in the spring they realy need as many other hours as they can get. Perhaps that's yet another reason why Idol should be retired once The X Factor starts.
ReplyDeleteWill listen when I'm done working for the day. In the meantime, I'm delighted by your wonderful new logo.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, Miken, but in five years time when we're listing to Firewall & Iceberg episode 250, and you're still calling for it to be called "The Sepinberg", it's frankly going to be pretty tiresome.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with "The Sepinberg" as a name is that it's just a celebrity-hook-up-generator combined name, and nothing else. "Firewall and Iceberg" has that quality of referencing the name, but it adds something else to it, that 1980s buddy-cop film feel that is itself perfect for people of Alan and Dan's generation. The name feels very much like the type of movie where you have two mismatched guys, one that frequently says and does stupid things, and the other that just sighs at those things. In other words, it's pretty much perfect for this show.
In any case, if you don't like the name, I feel sorry for you, but at this stage it has a logo, so I think the name is probably pretty fixed.
And I too like the logo. Nice work, David J Loehr.
I was a little amused to hear you talk about how 24's legacy was damaged by lasting so long while you seem to have no problem watching Scrubs as it drives itself into the ground, legacy be damned.
ReplyDeleteI was a little amused to hear you talk about how 24's legacy was damaged by lasting so long while you seem to have no problem watching Scrubs as it drives itself into the ground, legacy be damned.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, this. It had been a few months since I complained about 24 - and, therefore, since anyone then brought up Scrubs as a counter.
Here is what I would say, once again, in response to that:
1)I enjoyed Scrubs at its best more than 24.
2)Scrubs was at its best for longer than 24.
3)The last season of the "real" version of the show (i.e., full cast, not the med students) was terrific, a welcome return to form after a couple of off years, and well worth the show having hung around during those terrible latter-era NBC seasons.
4)Scrubs even at its most annoying still gives me some laughs every week. 24 at its worst makes me wonder not only why I'm watching it, but why I ever liked it.
I have to say that the review up in iTunes right now is pretty good!
ReplyDeleteThat it is, Flap. That. It. Is.
Thankee.
Not sure if you guys have because I haven't listened yet, but you should add chapters into the podcast, especially if you're using GarageBand, like I believe you are. It's pretty easy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ehow.com/how_4937125_add-chapters-podcast.html
Also, even though the page on the iTunes store has it, the logo doesn't appear with the downloaded file.
You've cracked the top 10 in the TV & Film category. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteand actually, you're the #1 audio TV & Film podcast.
ReplyDeleteHow's about "Two Peeps in a Pod" as a title or just two critics? I couldn't think of anything with the peas.
ReplyDeleteOh no, 24 is going away (at least from tv), how are people going to know that torture is super effective if done properly? And the constitution and geneva conventions are for cowards?
and actually, you're the #1 audio TV & Film podcast.
ReplyDeleteAnd we're somehow #27 overall for audio podcasts - two spots ahead of Simmons! (Albeit in a week where he has yet to release a new episode.) I really don't understand how the rankings work, and I'm assuming it's based on recent date - i.e., our numbers will go down from now through next Wednesday - but it's kind of cool to see, even for an hour.
Rob Lowe was hilarious in the really underrated Ricky Gervais movie Invention of Lying.
ReplyDeleteAlso, love the logo.
Have to add my kudos to Mr. David J. Loehr for the logos, well done, good sir.
ReplyDeleteAll this talk about The Pacific is forcing me to seriously consider bribing some of the folks I know who have HBO to let me come over on Sundays and watch it, because I'm way too cheap to spring for it myself.
Haven't listened to the most recent ep yet, but I just want to think you for getting the show on Itunes. Much easier to follow that way, as I don't even have to think about downloading it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am embarrassed to admit that I JUST got the title reference. And of course, this just makes me think of the Modern Family figure skating team, Fire and Nice.
I have absolutely no idea if this is possible, but I wonder if there's anywhere you can list the rundown (times and shows discussed) in iTunes. I've found that to be very helpful. Might stick with the direct download instead of an iTunes subscription for that reason.
ReplyDeleteEnjoying the podcasts so far!
As far as the file size goes, it would also be a good idea to encode it in mono. 64 kbps mono has the same bitrate allocation as 128 kbps stereo, so the audio quality is the same, just in mono.
ReplyDeleteAlso, before encoding, you should use Levelator to auto-adjust the levels and keep it from getting too loud. It's free and there's a Mac version.
DLed it and...160 kbps stereo? Really?
ReplyDelete48 kbps mono will give you great results for voice podcasts. There's no reason to encode a podcast at anything higher than 64 kbps mono.
24 at its worst makes me wonder not only why I'm watching it, but why I ever liked it.
ReplyDeleteThat's letting it off pretty easy. When 24 is bad, it makes me question my faith in storytelling, in television, and humanity as a whole.
24 can be really, REALLY bad.
Not everyone uses or has access t Itunes. I hope you guys will continue to post am audio copy on nj.com; it is very convienent that way.... podcasts pretty good so far....
ReplyDeleteRob Lowe was hilarious in the really underrated Ricky Gervais movie Invention of Lying.
ReplyDeleteYep. I just saw that - and boy do I love Gervais. I loved "Ghost Town" as well.
That part made me decide I might find him funny on "Parks & Rec". I was so sick of him with that clipped, prissy delivery on "Brothers and Sisters", I wasn't sure I could watch him in anything else.
I guess I'm alone in liking Season 3 of 24, but I thought it had the best bad guys and some of the best CTU antics of the entire run.
ReplyDeleteHaven't listened yet, but great logo there! Me likey.
ReplyDeleteI figure that this is the closest thing to an open thread here, so I thought that I'd mention that tonight's season finale of Psych was very, very good.
ReplyDeleteBy far the best episode that the show has ever done -- and much better than the season finales of Burn Notice (which I thought was pretty good) and White Collar (which seemed pretty bad).
I guess I'm alone in liking Season 3 of 24, but I thought it had the best bad guys and some of the best CTU antics of the entire run.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I watched it (haven't watched it since it aired, actually), but I remember the first two-thirds of season 3 being pretty dull with moments of enjoyment - especially the prison break sequence - but once they got into the last eight or nine episodes, it became really stellar. Once the gas was released into the hotel, it was (as I remember it) some of the best work 24 ever did.
I have absolutely no idea if this is possible, but I wonder if there's anywhere you can list the rundown (times and shows discussed) in iTunes.
ReplyDeleteWe do. The description of each episode in iTunes includes those run times.
As to other things, we'll give chapter breaks a try eventually, and also see if we can make the file size smaller. The program we use to record the call doesn't give us a ton of options in that regard.
And, yes, we plan to still make the file available for streaming/downloading on our respective sites, even if you don't use iTunes. (Though the podcast's RSS feed works even if you don't have iTunes, and will be more reliable in terms of the file names. We've had some weird variances on that score.)
ReplyDeleteAlan-
ReplyDeleteAs far as file size goes, you should be able to output as an uncompressed LPCM WAV file instead and then compress it with a separate MP3 encoder.
Yay podcast!
ReplyDeleteRob Lowe was funny on The West Wing, but in a different way than he would have to be to fit into the Parks & Rec world. I guess we'll see...
I've only listened to a few podcasts in my life (one of yours, maybe 1 1/2, and a couple of Shonda's before I deemed them too spoilery for me) so I don't know a lot - maybe the file names must be as they are - but if not, podcast7.mp3 is... not the most descriptive. Even F-and-I would help...
ReplyDeletethanks for the rundown :-)
I did listen to the one where you covered Men of a Certain Age. If I ever did finish reading the Royce interview, I was all out of comment by then. And I've been rewatching Grey's more than MOCA. I'm a *bad* Scott fan. Still I did really like MOCA tons more than Enterprise.
Glad it is accessible by means other than i-tunes :-)
Don't apologize to the other guy, Alan! I'm SO glad you placed Ben's dad for me in "Real Genius." I love that movie and love that he's the guy in the closet. For me, it now DOES add something to his performance as Roger Workman.
ReplyDeleteHey Alan - just sitting here at work and started listening to your podcast. You need some opeing music - it starts very abruptly. Otherwise really enjoy listening to you guys
ReplyDeleteTHANKS
Too true: the fact that people were in Real Genius is huge. HUGE. It added so much to this week's Lost episode.
ReplyDeleteOh, and don't forget that Ben's Dad is Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, as well as Lazlo Holifield. He is a nerd comedy icon.
ReplyDeleteHow much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?
ReplyDelete