Bull and Bear

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Podcasting is shit.

I like listening to podcasts. It makes my work day go by faster and I feel like I can learn something while I update spreadsheets or whatever. I love things that can make me feel real emotion, be it anger or sadness, humor or compassion. I love to discover new music and books, and to hear people talk about my areas of interest.

I respect people who have the dedication, planning, and lack of other hobbies that allows them to create something that is like an hour long every week, and then spend the time to edit it. Or not, as the case may be.

But I really fucking hate podcasts with poor sound quality. I understand that not every podcaster can have radio quality sound and... actually no. I don't fucking understand, because they CAN. It is possible, and even affordable. There are a million tutorials and shit out there.

Knitting podcasts are often terrible. I just downloaded several new ones after a hiatus and didn't really find one I felt like I could commit to.

Podcast #1: ECHO Echo echo... some people use the echo function. I am not sure what it is supposed to accomplish, but it sounds like I am in an auditorium. Alone. Listening to one person talk for 15 minutes about their favorite snack food. WHERE IS THE FUCKING KNITTING. I don't mind asides, but seriously this person just rambled about snacks and diet aimlessly for a full third of their weekly podcast and the whole time ECHO ECHO ECHO.

Podcast #2 : Put out by a yarn retailer. This one waffles back and forth between someone who can't manage to not breathe into the mike constantly and some. who. speaks. like. she. is . reading. very. carefully. Extremely poor sound management during interviews, the breathing into the mike on one side and the hollow far-away sound of the interviewee, or the poor underwater quality skype/phone recording. Inconsistent and irritating.

Podcast #3 : A spinoff from another popular knitting podcast. I include this one because the first episode was actually fine, then it kind of went to crap, and then a couple episodes later said "better audio", and it was actually true! So this is proof it can be done!

Podcast #4: Another extremely hollow sounding podcast. Two host sound like they are sharing a mike. STOP IT. Get your own!! Even in the same room!!

Podcast #5: Besides having a trite theme song that I can't believe is podcast-safe (ie, not under copywrite), the sound is not too bad. But it is like digital photos... almost too clear and lets us hear all the mouth noises a person normally makes while talking, that are super amplified by the mic. In addition, a self-proclaimed SNL NPR ladies skit type of dialogue makes it difficult to listen to.

Podcast #6: Not great sound, the biggest problem is that it is very inconsistent one show it is fine, then echoy, then background noise, then muffled. It begins with the theme song, which is custom and clever but horrible sound quality. Generally poor enunciation also makes this a difficult listen. Interviews on terrible phone audio.

All of these podcast have many episodes. All but one over 50, a couple over 100. That is a long time to get this stuff figured out. (If you have a weekly podcast, 52 episodes is a whole year...long enough!!)

This doesn't address the actual content of the podcasts for the most part because it is really subjective. Some people are not bothered by hearing about someone's snacks, or by hearing about someone's summer plans at length, or hearing twee stories about bike rides in the evening with their beau as if it is a fucking musical.
That crap bugs the shit out of me, but I am cynical and abrasive.

I listen to podcasts through iTunes on my work laptop, and HP Elitebook, with some moderate quality Panasonic noise cancelling headphones.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The most neglected blog ever? Perhaps.

It is hard to keep up with so many, and sometimes I just don't have a lot to say. I try to post on the food blog, and on the Tumblrs, and then there is facebook and Ravelry and Examiner. I have completely dropped my twitter to zero, which is kind of sad but I think I reached my peak with the constant noise of it. The name is spot on.

Sometimes I feel like reaching out to the Universe, sometimes I feel like hiding behind my shell of snark, and most times I feel like just hiding.

I am not quite sure what I want this blog to be. Maybe just a catchall for things that are not knitting or food related. Gardening and house stuff, plus everyday junk.

Let's start here: October 19th we had a house fire. All humans and animals got out alive and uninjured. The house and everything in it were pretty much a total loss. We were able to have some things cleaned and restored, which is great. However we set out on a nightmarish path of the rebuilding of our house, the accounting of all our possessions, the blow of getting back "depreciated" value of items, and the trials of deciding on new everything for the house.

I have ranted periodically about it in various places, but as we near the end of the process I feel more anxious than ever. I have been toe to toe with the project manager at the restoration company several times. We have been able to reach an agreement every time, but I can feel him pulling away now and it frustrates me. He is detached and already on to his next project, leaving me feeling like the proverbial red-headed stepchild.

What annoys me the most is that if he would LISTEN and READ and FOLLOW UP then none of these conflicts would take place. HE is the professional. HE needs to see the potential problems, check on the work of his contractors, and follow up on my concerns. I have never had a house painted before, how would I know that when I say "Paint the walls X." that you would assume without asking I also meant paint the ceilings X? OH WAIT, MOST PEOPLE WOULD CLARIFY WHAT I WANTED.
Bleargh.

Anyway, instead of just complaining I think I will try to show off. Here is my kitchen color scheme, after the ceilings are repainted white and not stupid yellow like all the walls.