I'm sure everyone already knows this, but the first episode of the new Retronauts is out and it features Dr. Sparkle as a guest star. The theme of the show is "July 1983," because that's like, exactly 30 years ago, and it was the month that the Famicom, Sega SG-1000 and MSX were all released. We spend the hour and a half just talking about random video game crap related to those three systems. It turned out better than I thought it would, perhaps because these guys actually know what they're doing when it comes to recording people, and Ray Barnholt was even working some kind of fancy mixing board.
A couple remarks about the experience -- I was a bit sick when this was recorded. In fact, the day before, I was thinking that I was not going to make it to the recording session. My voice had almost completed given out and I felt like crap. The next day, I had recovered enough to drive to SF and record, but the day after it was recorded, I lost my voice again and was sick for another week. I guess the fates decided that I needed to be present at that Retronauts recording.
As mentioned in the actual episode, there was a "yoga chanting" group meeting at that time (technically, it was an "Intro to Singing" class), resulting in a bit of unavoidable sound bleed-thru. Also, I was incredibly nervous since: 1. People had paid real American dollars to relaunch Retronauts and I didn't want to screw it up and 2. I was in there with these grizzled Podcast veterans/professional videogame dudes and felt a little out of my league.
For anyone out there who might be doing a future Retronauts guest spot, here's some advice. The room they record in is tiny and stiflingly hot, so you'll basically be sitting in each others' laps in a sauna-like environment. Make sure you dress appropriately. If you are driving in, then note that the building is located on a block with free parking. One block over you'll have to deal with SF's punitively expensive parking meters. Also, the Retronauts guys are all really nice, and seem like genuinely cool people instead of annoying SF-style hipsters.
I also recorded a mini-episode while I was there, as they plan to alternate full-length episodes with shorter ones. No idea when they will air that one, but I'll remain quiet on the subject matter until it's announced. There seems to be an air of secrecy around future episodes and guest stars, and since Jeremy Parish is from Texas I don't want to make him mad and get beaten down with a 4X4 or something.
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| Yes, I know this is Tennessee, not Texas. |
6 comments:
Well, that does it. Literally everyone is playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf now.
Based on talking to a few Texans on twitter, I wouldn't worry about them beating you with a stick, they don't seem the sort.
They might shoot you, as they seem to all own guns, but they wouldn't beat you with a stick.
all my cousins live in Texas, they all have guns, and yes I can confirm they will all shoot you.
I used to live in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston, and never once did I feel unsafe, because everyone is packing heat. if some idiot decides to rob a convience store or bank, the other people there will shoot him to "take care of the problem." In Texas they shoot first and ask questions later.
But I live in stupid Florida, the "whole stand your ground" thing. I know a ton of people here who have concealed weapons permit.
I have other cousins who live in Tuscon and Phoenix, and they do the opposite of FL. They just go everywhere with guns by their sides in full view of everyone.
See, I just live in Canada, where you almost never have armed robberies or people with guns. Also: Pretty much no violent crime outside one or two cities in the prairies.
Funnily enough, over here, Canada (and Switzerland) are frequently pointed out by anti-gun control types as proof that high gun ownership doesn't cause high gun violence. "Look at Canada, everyone there has plenty of guns and they never shoot each other. Gun control isn't the answer!" It is commonly claimed that a higher percentage of Canadians own guns than Americans do.
They miss a few important points there:
First: You can't get assault weapons. After a university shooting in the 80s called the Montreal Massacre, they banned extended
Secondly: When they talk about firearm ownership it is mostly hunting rifles. While I'm an urbanite a *lot* of Canada is very rural, and a lot of people in rural areas hunt. Statistically a hunting rifle is much less likely to be used in a crime then a handgun.
Finally, the rules on where you can carry such weapons. My understanding (which could be wrong) is that they must be transported from point to point in a secure container; you can't just walk around with a gun on your hip, and forget about a concealed carry permit.
There is also much less of a culture of gun ownership; people don't own guns to own a gun for the most part, and I've never heard of a Canadian buying a weapon for self-defence.
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