Author: Brian

I apologize to anybody waiting for GBU 12. I promise, it’s been recorded for like a month, but I’ve been so damned busy at work that I haven’t been able to get it finished. I work in a school, and we’re a couple weeks away from the end of the year, and the amount of stuff that has been put on me has been incredible. Make a “welcome to school” video for the inbound students next year; make a “goodbye” video so we can all agonize over the outgoing students; stitch together a musical montage for a dance routine in the talent show; pack up the classroom; draw 10 unique sketches for kids to remember me by…stuff just keeps coming up.

I had every intention of finally getting the thing out the door yesterday (Sunday, 8 May) but things don’t always work the way we plan them. Adam’s just moved to a temporary home while he waits for his dream apartment to open up, so he’s been indisposed as well, which has prevented, and may continue to prevent (until June) further recordings…but we’ve got two in the bank ready to go just as soon as I can make time to edit them.

I promise (the 0 of you reading this right now) that it’s all on the way, and that the show isn’t dying or anything. I appreciate your patience.

Google Play Music has finally added podcasts to their app! Incidentally, because we use Libsyn, I found out only a few days ago that our show has been available via third party podcast apps on Android devices from the get-go, and don’t I feel like an idiot for not even checking into that…

But the point is, this feels to me like a second-round launch party sort of thing. Like, I should get streamers and cake because it sort of feels like we’re launching all over again (even though, again, the episodes were always available through apps like Podcast Addict). What does this mean for you or all your friends?

It means you can listen to the show at home or on the go if you have an Android device, baked right into your Google Play app. I’ll nab my room mate’s phone today and try to demo it. Google was quick to point out that the service is being rolled out to chunks of users at a time so it may not be available for you right this second, but if not, it certainly will be soon.

So please search for our show on Google Play, rate and review it there if that feature is available, and tell a friend (or all of them).

I have had one of the worst weeks of recent memory. Every day this week I was supposed to have the episode ready to go. I’ll be double-checking it over my lunch break and if it’s solid, I’ll post it when I get home.

We didn’t have an episode last week due to timing, space constraints, general laziness…but I’ll do everything I can to get one out by tomorrow.

As I tweeted via our Twitter account (which you really ought to follow!), Adam and I saw a double-feature this past Sunday (3 April) of Stanley Kubrick‘s A Clockwork Orange back-to-back with 2001: A Space Odyssey. When we find time to sit down and record again, I believe we’ll be discussing that, probably cooking up our next Special episode, the first since we saw Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. I’m looking forward to the chat, particularly after all the shit I had to sling in Kubrick’s direction over The Shining.

I also want to point out that we’re closing in on 500 downloads. I know the numbers are a little sketchy; I am subscribed to our show, as is Adam, so of course we count for a few of those downloads. But still, the number is something to get excited over, a milestone nonetheless.We’ll have to think of a way to celebrate.

We ran out of space this month! Or, we will have once we get another episode out, which if my count is accurate, will be 3 in one month. Because we only have enough space left, I think, to fit one more episode this month, I’m going to take my sweet time with it rather than try to rush it out by the end of today (Wednesday, 30 March).

If we had a big enough audience to expect any responses, I’d ask whether I should drop the final Riddick trilogy episode, or, now that Adam’s trilogy is complete, post the bonus episode we recorded before we reviewed The Seventh Seal and Riddick. But, since I can’t, I guess I’ll just flip a coin or something.

Google Play announced in October of 2015 that they would be bringing podcasts to their Google Play Music platform, but didn’t give a specified date. By the time I found this out, I was getting ready to put the show up on iTunes. I was able to join Google Play’s formative catalog of podcasts, which excited me to no end; that meant that when Play’s podcast functionality went live that people using Android phones (and tablets, I guess) would have instant access to the show. This would effectively multiply our listenership as there are some people who probably would listen, but don’t own iPhones or want to use iTunes.

But Google has done basically nothing to let anyone know when they could expect podcast functionality, and for me, starting this show up from nothing, the fact of not knowing when more people could hear our show has been driving me out of my skull. Four months (and change) is a long time to wait with absolutely no sign of something that will potentially grow one’s audience in a big way.

I’ve been googling the matter periodically. Turns out, something happened last month when I didn’t have my ear to the ground. TechCrunch reported on 3 February 2016 that Google Play’s podcast functionality seemed imminent. Apparently, Grantland’s editor-in-chief Bill Simmons tweeted (and subsequently deleted) that Podcasts were meant to arrive at the end of last month. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but according to a newer article from MobiPicker, it seems that the APK is now available for a version of Play Music which features the podcast tools. That could mean that Android users are right around the corner from a release update that will install this across up-to-date devices. And that would be awesome.

Stay tuned.

I apologize for still not having the show notes up. Even though approximately 0 people read these (but for maybe Adam), I’ve been trying to fake it ’til we make it and even if no one is in the audience, it’s still unprofessional and undisciplined to not have had it done by now.

Working in a school, I can take my few minutes of downtime here and there and try to set the show notes up, but I’m constricted in my ability to work on it when the title of one movie and poster for the other are sex-themed. Not the sort of thing you want to be caught putting together in a school. I might have done it yesterday when I got home but I laid down for an after-work nap, supposed to be 50 minutes long, and didn’t wake up again until 8pm. I knew that if I got out of bed, I’d fuck my sleep cycle harder, so I wound up staying in bed until my normal wake-up time this morning for a total of like 14 hours.

Sorry.

I’ll absolutely have the show notes up today, and I’ll be working to edit the next epsiode with the goal of having it out a week from the last episode’s release. More or less. I think I’m going to aim for Wednesdays to release, because it will mean that once we catch up with our releases, I’ll be able to record on Sunday with two days of time to work before it has to go out the door. As long as I can focus my attention, 2 days should be more than enough to edit the shows. Now that we’re a little better at talking on mic, I shouldn’t have to fiddle about with the levels or cutting dead air nearly as much as I did when we were newer at this.

Anyway, show notes today. Pinky promise.

Not enough time to write up show notes tonight. Expect them before noon tomorrow (9 March). I’m still scrambling to get the episode out before I go to bed tonight, though. You’re welcome.

I said I’d do two things yesterday that I did not wind up doing:

1. Get Adam’s WordPress stuff sorted out so that he can participate on the blog
2. Get a new episode up

I had a hell of a project for work that got delayed until last night when I went at it with about the same amount of time that I might have been able to use on a podcast, as work was obviously the priority. As for Adam’s account stuff, I forgot, plain and simple.

I’ll try to rectify both those mistakes today.

[Edit: God, I’ll try my best. I failed to consider I have to be back at work at 5:30 tonight. So I’ll have just a couple of hours to rush as much work through as possible, then maybe an hour or two when I get home. I’ll give it my best shot for everybody.]