Underwood and Flinch 38. El Chupeton Part 2

After over a week of recording and editing and shouting at computers, Underwood and Flinch 38 is now live. Via this link and at iTunes, (my regular sites have a glitch, so I can't post the show there yet).

Episode 38: Underwood and Flinch's night out at El Chupeton - Part 2.
David's story continues. Secrets, revelations, conflicts ... and gin: something's gotta give.

Featured Promos:
E.M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops'
adapted for podcast by M.J. Hahn
www.bellefairepodcast.com

'The Returning' by David Heyes
www.heyescast.com

WIlson

Remember the ball that became "Wilson" in the Tom Hanks film, "Castaway"? Well, he got washed up in my living room today - in spirit at least. I began a strange new ritual to make myself sit and work without skipping off when I get fatigued.

Since Thursday I've been putting on a shirt and tie and sitting down to 'work' at 9.00 am. But yesterday I was late (9.40) and I kept getting up and pacing about. I thought, "if I were at a real job, this wouldn't happen". So today, I added a new dimension to my "workplace". I got ready for work, then I left the house. I walked down the street and back (going to work), then I returned to the house (my job) and entered. I then made myself a cup of tea and had a water-cooler type chat with a colleague called Wilson. We talked about the weather and the movie I watched on TV last night, Infestation. I told him it was good, if you liked that sort of thing. Wilson was quiet throughout our chat, but he's a quiet guy. Anyway, once the tea was made, I told Wilson I'd see him later and went off to my office, where I sat down, turned on the computer and started my job.

And do you know what? It worked. I worked all morning. I'm now going to lunch. Maybe I'll see Wilson around town, maybe not - I think he only does a half-day on Saturday. All right for some.

38. That's it. That's all I'm doing right now.

Yesterday I recorded 38. Today, all day, I've been editing the audio. I hate my recording technique so much sometimes, but for me, there's absolutely no other way of doing it. When I record, if I even the slightest doubt about the authenticity of a line I've read, I repeat it, trying to get it more exact, more authentic. This isn't just dialogue, it's everything. Which means I often wind up with about 3, 4, 5 or 6 takes of hundreds of sentences. So when it comes to the editing down, I have to listen to all the takes and compare them before selecting the right one.

I absolutely have to stop doing this. I've been stuck in this office all day and I've managed to finish twenty minutes of audio. My arse aches from sitting, my index finger aches from clicking, and my brain aches from hearing nothing but myself all day saying the same things over and over and over and over and over again. I notice a lot of other podcasters just read it and that's it; first take is in the can. And then I try and do it that way, and I can't. Underwood, Flinch and everybody else in it has to sound real, or there's no show at all. All or nothing, baby!

U&F 38 progress

Currently working through the final draft of U&F 38. It's a big episode at 13 pages (over 8,000 words), so it's taking a long time. But the good news is, it's looking good, and I hope to be done with it and ready to record by tomorrow. Though that doesn't mean the episode will be ready tomorrow. Audio editing (in case you missed my previous 37 posts on the subject) takes a long time too. But when it's done, it'll be a big one, and I think a pretty good one too. Mwa-ha-ha-ha

U&F 38. Last pages.

Been working on the last pages of U&F 38 for the last hour or so. I think I've nailed it, but I can't be sure until I read through the whole thing. I'm going to take a break now and go for a bit of a run. The sun is shining. If I don't take the time to go out and notice the day, it tends to just pass me by; one of the downsides of being unemployed, yet fully occupied by a job. Monday? What was? Is it Tuesday already?

Blogger vrs. Tumblr

So I tried Tumblr and found it hard to work with. The interface was baffling at first, and when it came to allowing people to comment, I'm told I need to sign up with yet another *&$£@& package. Alas no, there are only so many times I can enter my details, password - and re-enter password - in a week. So it looks like I'm coming back to Blogger.

The blogs on my websites are great, but they are very podcaster-specific. "Meanwhile" is what I'm doing when I'm not podcasting, like vomiting or getting into uncomfortable yoga entanglements (see below). So if you have any interest in such things, do please follow me here. If nothing else, it'll help you understand why my podcasts are taking so long to arrive :-)

Yoga

Just done a yoga workout for the first time in about a month. I feel like I’ve been thrown down the stairs. What with the recently finished day job and the writing of U&F 37 & 38, I’ve been too busy to stretch. I’ve been noticing my assorted body bits growing stiff and achy, but I kept putting the yoga off, thinking, “Oh, don’t worry, it’ll be fine when you eventually get around to it.” Well it wasn’t; all my bits stubbornly refused to bend where I wanted them to and have sent angry messages back to my brain complaining about being first neglected and then abused. Well, I assured my bits that they could take the rest of the day off to get over it, as the remainder of Monday is devoted to the final polishing of U&F 38.

Sick

First MB Meanwhile post. Hmm, what’s been going on? Oh, I know, I’ve been sick, as in vomiting and all the rest. I came down with it late Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day either in the bathroom or asleep. I slept most of the day and all of the night and drank nothing but water. Today I’m feeling better, though still a bit weak. (Originally posted Sunday 18th Sept 2011)