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So this isn't really a productive or useful comment, but it's on my mind and I don't know where else to say it.

 

I've been listening to the Bombcast for a while, but I'm really tempted to give up on it since Vinny isn't on it and Dan Ryckert is. I can't tell if Dan is actually the weird caricature of a person that he seems to be on the internet, but either way I'm finding his podcast appearances to be pretty off-putting.

I stopped listening it for the same reasons.

Dan finding it too much effort to wash a plate was the tipping point for me. That bothered me more than it should have.

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I found the extreme oddness of that man and the rest of the casts reaction to his stories and preferences quite fun. 

I would not want to attend a dinner at his home though :P

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I found the extreme oddness of that man and the rest of the casts reaction to his stories and preferences quite fun. 

I would not want to attend a dinner at his home though :P

 

Taco Bell with lots of Lava Sauce on paper plates. Don't worry, there won't be a shortage of plastic knives, he's got 4000. This is what fine dining is all about.

 

...what the fuck is wrong with that guy

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So this isn't really a productive or useful comment, but it's on my mind and I don't know where else to say it.

 

I've been listening to the Bombcast for a while, but I'm really tempted to give up on it since Vinny isn't on it and Dan Ryckert is. I can't tell if Dan is actually the weird caricature of a person that he seems to be on the internet, but either way I'm finding his podcast appearances to be pretty off-putting.

 

When Ryan, Vinny, and Jeff were the regulars, Giant Bomb was really great. The conversations were never as interesting as Idle Thumbs, but when they got into a comedy bit they managed to be as entertaining as a podcast w/ professional comedians.

 

Over the last year though, I feel like a lot of that energy has left the show and as that was the only thing that really kept me listening, I'm considering dropping it out of my rotation as well.

 

That said, this was a recent thing that had me cracking up:

 

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I found the extreme oddness of that man and the rest of the casts reaction to his stories and preferences quite fun. 

I would not want to attend a dinner at his home though :P

 

Dan is all right in my book as well. His mentality of "Thats just how I do things and thats how I like it" is charming as he knows that he is clearly the odd one out. He's a wacky silly guy and doesn't shy away from it and I enjoy that in this industry that increasingly is becoming more serious (which is good) but sometimes you just got to laugh at yourself and everything around you. He's not Ryan but I can see why they and the rest get along.

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I feel like Dan is trying REALLY hard right now to bring the wackiness that Vinny makes look so effortless. Vinny has been the silly soul of GB for a long time, and with him out East now and Dan being hired right as he left, I think Dan wants to step up and fill that role. I oscillate between liking him and being really irritated by him. I loved the Mario Party stream they did recently, and actually find that when they have a bit of "real talk" Dan and I like a lot of the same things for a lot of the same reasons, but then he feels the need to kick up the wacky and he loses me again. I'm withholding judgement until he settles in and hopefully mellows a bit. Right now I just don't know how to feel about the guy. He just needs to chill a bit and he could be pretty cool.

 

 

(although I will say, his complete ignorance of a lot of basic scientific concepts is frustrating to me. There was a recent quick look of some space survival game with Dan and Drew and I could practically see the look of "Did you really just fucking ask that?" on Drew's face when Dan started asking about some basic, common-knowledge space stuff)

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Dan strikes me as someone who is carefree, accidental ignorant instead of stupidly, aggressively ignorant. Like when he talks about his manbaby food consumption habits, every now and then he mentions trying something for the first time recently and really liking it. It's not like Jeff who is almost vehemently manbaby in what he eats, for instance saying Dominos pizza is clearly superior to the more bespoke, artisan pizzas that would come out of independent pizza eateries.

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(although I will say, his complete ignorance of a lot of basic scientific concepts is frustrating to me. There was a recent quick look of some space survival game with Dan and Drew and I could practically see the look of "Did you really just fucking ask that?" on Drew's face when Dan started asking about some basic, common-knowledge space stuff)

 

I looked at his Giant Bomb wiki page yesterday morning, then that quick look went up, then I looked at it again and somebody had added this fact: 

  • Recently learned that humans can't breathe in space due to the lack of air

 

It's not like Jeff who is almost vehemently manbaby in what he eats, for instance saying Dominos pizza is clearly superior to the more bespoke, artisan pizzas that would come out of independent pizza eateries.

 

I live in the same town as Jeff and he is absolutely right; the pizza situation here is atrocious. I'd kill for some Domino's. Maybe bespoke artisan pizzas that are actually good exist somewhere, but you can't get them delivered in Petaluma, that's for sure.

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PLAYBACK SPEEDS.

 

Someone tell me they have a good podcatcher/player for PC that allows me to change the playback speed. How iTunes doesn't have this fucking feature after YEARS of the iPod having it built in is beyond me. EDIT: I found a Google search result that claims iTunes does have this feature but I'm pretty sure that's a filthy lie. I'm... going to try gPodder again. I've tried it before. Was never a fan. iTunes may have a lot of problems, but it's a really good podcatcher aside from this admittedly minor missing feature. Maybe I should just suffer with it until I get used to it. EDIT EDIT: Google lied to me twice. gPodder doesn't even have it's own audio player, so how could it possibly have variable playback speed?! I'd forgotten that. Guess that is why I wasn't a fan!

 

If you want to get hacky, with many web players you can change the playback speed with javascript (I've only tried with Chrome/Safari on OS X, though). For example, if use Overcast's minimalist web app (which doesn't show playlists, but syncs episode played status and position), you can open up the Chrome console and enter:

$('#audioplayer')[0].playbackRate = 2.0

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The Jeff and Casey show has been one my favorite podcast since I discovered it a few months ago. I was listening to a really old episode and this was freakin' hilarious.

[Talking about expensive fruit in Japan]
C: There's kind of like a conference room like at bank when you get a loan. You know what I'm saying? Like that kind of thing. There's that for purchasing these melons. There's a special room you go into where you talk with the person. Maybe you work out like financing for your melon, I don't know.
J: I don't like any of this.
C: I don't know if you  can buy it on an installment plan or something.
J: I don't like this at all because this just means more interaction with the humans. It means more work for a cantaloupe. Which is usually $4 tops.
C: Here let me show you something.
J: It's not even pre-sliced. I don't like any of this. Can you make them slice it up because I don't like to do any work for my melon. Ok, those look like plums. Are they plums?
C: They're grapes.
J: Those are grapes?
C: Yep, that's what $15 worth of grapes is gonna buy you. They are gonna buy you grapes the size of plums. They're frickin' awesome.
J: See, this is why you guys end up with Godzilla though. Like, it's all the radiation you're feeding to your fruit.
C: What are you talking..?
J: Just eat normal sized grapes and don't have your cities destroyed. It simple to me.

It's a pretty funny show, it's not about games specifically but the hosts both work in the game industry so games come up occasionally.

 

Has Isometric come up yet? Hosted by 3 women (a journo, a dev and a psychotherapist) and 1 guy (a dad of indeterminate profession).

It's 12 episodes in and the hosts are starting to get into a pretty good groove.

This show is pretty cool. Thanks for introducing it to me.

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Dan strikes me as someone who is carefree, accidental ignorant instead of stupidly, aggressively ignorant. Like when he talks about his manbaby food consumption habits, every now and then he mentions trying something for the first time recently and really liking it. It's not like Jeff who is almost vehemently manbaby in what he eats, for instance saying Dominos pizza is clearly superior to the more bespoke, artisan pizzas that would come out of independent pizza eateries.

I dropped Giant Bomb out of my rotation a while a go and went all the way by unsubscribing since Dan joined the podcast recently. Vinny was always my favourite and since he left the podcast seems to be made up of snark and manbaby moments. The email thing with the poop in a swimming pool when Brad was hosting was just silly, it could have been funny if they didn't play it up so much but it just kept going on and on. Dan's shoebox story sort of appalled me, and the fact that he just uses/used paper plates for every meal is crazy to me.

 

I don't think any of them are bad people, I just can't really empathise or understand them so I just decided I'd stop trudging through three hours and give the whole thing a miss. 

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Fair enough. Three hours a week is actually a long time to spend on something that isn't fulfilling or interesting to you. My personal entertainment factor has increased since Dan joined up, though still isn't anywhere near GB's peak from back in the day.

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I really want to like Not a Game Podcast but Cara Ellision's voice is so painful to listen to. I don't have a problem with anything she's saying and I'm quite interested in what she has to say, but somehow the delivery is just so grating. Is this just me?

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I don't mind Cara's voice, but I just can't stand the audio quality of the podcast. I tried reaching out to Tom on Twitter to see if they'd be willing to do anything different to improve the quality, but it seems they're intent recording over Skype.

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I don't listen to Giant Bombcast but I have enjoyed Dan's Quick Look appearances so far. At least he seems genuinely enthusiastic about checking those games out.
 

(although I will say, his complete ignorance of a lot of basic scientific concepts is frustrating to me. There was a recent quick look of some space survival game with Dan and Drew and I could practically see the look of "Did you really just fucking ask that?" on Drew's face when Dan started asking about some basic, common-knowledge space stuff)

 

Yeah, that was bizarre. I think Dan and Drew make for a good Quick Look pair, though.

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I don't mind Cara's voice, but I just can't stand the audio quality of the podcast. I tried reaching out to Tom on Twitter to see if they'd be willing to do anything different to improve the quality, but it seems they're intent recording over Skype.

Oh yeah, that was part of my gripe. Cara is always very loud in the mix while Phillipa is always incredibly quiet. I wish they'd go and even around out.

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It's really hard to do that if you're just recording a premixed stream from Skype. Back when I podcasted, each person recorded their stream locally, dropped their files into a shared folder, and one person would then import all the streams into Audacity, do some denoising as needed, volume leveling, and then finally mix it into one stream.

 

I imagine that the format of their show means that they're always recording remotely with new people all the time, so getting everyone with the program is a challenge. Plus, producing audio on top of recording time is actually a very intensive process to perform on a weekly basis.

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I'm having similar problems with the Not A Game Podcast. I enjoy it when the audio-quality isn't bad. Often Tom's voice, way of speech, and the particular frequencies that are being emphasized make it so his entire point in just a (mid-range?) mumble in my ears. Maybe I'm going deaf. I suspect I have tinnitus.

I would think that some upstart voip service would step into the market by saying "Hey, we are great for doing podcasts!"

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I dropped Giant Bomb out of my rotation a while a go and went all the way by unsubscribing since Dan joined the podcast recently. Vinny was always my favourite and since he left the podcast seems to be made up of snark and manbaby moments. The email thing with the poop in a swimming pool when Brad was hosting was just silly, it could have been funny if they didn't play it up so much but it just kept going on and on. Dan's shoebox story sort of appalled me, and the fact that he just uses/used paper plates for every meal is crazy to me.

 

I don't think any of them are bad people, I just can't really empathise or understand them so I just decided I'd stop trudging through three hours and give the whole thing a miss. 

 

yeah it's a pity- dan is probably a fine guy but i find him pretty unpleasant to listen to for whatever reason... losing vinny and gaining dan i definitely find myself pausing bombcasts a little way in and never being driven to unpause again... still more Vinny goodness is around...

 

http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-velvet-sundown/2300-9270/

 

the existence of this video has put a serious dent in my productivity...

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After it was mentioned on one of the 3MA episodes I've been listening to a lot of David Carlin's Hardcore History.

Despite its terrible title it's actually been my go to choice for when I just want to sit down and relax for the last couple of weeks, because (as Carlin himself puts it) he's a fan of history and not a historian. It feels like this gives him a certain amount of licence to look at both sides of a story without feeling the need to pick sides, that and his manner make it feel far less formal than the history podcast I've heard in the past.

I was wondering if any of the reader had a good suggestion's for similar casts, having something long form like this has been a godsend for me when I can't sleep.

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After it was mentioned on one of the 3MA episodes I've been listening to a lot of David Carlin's Hardcore History.

Despite its terrible title it's actually been my go to choice for when I just want to sit down and relax for the last couple of weeks, because (as Carlin himself puts it) he's a fan of history and not a historian. It feels like this gives him a certain amount of licence to look at both sides of a story without feeling the need to pick sides, that and his manner make it feel far less formal than the history podcast I've heard in the past.

I was wondering if any of the reader had a good suggestion's for similar casts, having something long form like this has been a godsend for me when I can't sleep.

 

Dan Carlin, not David.  And I love HH, along with his politics and current events cast Common Sense.  He's a really rare media commentator for me.  I don't agree with everything he says, but I think he provides a fascinating perspective and does it without being an inflammatory, extremist shithead. 

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Dan Carlin, not David.  And I love HH, along with his politics and current events cast Common Sense.  He's a really rare media commentator for me.  I don't agree with everything he says, but I think he provides a fascinating perspective and does it without being an inflammatory, extremist shithead. 

Oops your right, not sure why I thought it was David (guess that's what happens when you make a post at 2 at night). Have you got any suggestions on where I could go apart from Common Sense (which I'll have a look into)?

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Oops your right, not sure why I thought it was David (guess that's what happens when you make a post at 2 at night). Have you got any suggestions on where I could go apart from Common Sense (which I'll have a look into)?

 

No, unfortunately not.  Most of the non-game casts I listen to are pretty well known stuff in the 30-60 minute range (Common Sense, On the Media, This American Life, RadioLab, Savage Lovecast, Freakonomics, Planet Money, Sex Nerd Sandra).  The only new cast I've added as a regular in awhile is Death, Sex and Taxes.  Until I just took a good look at my subscription list, I'm not sure I had realized that the four topics I listen to the most on a weekly basis (based on hours listened) are video games, sex, economics/money and the media in general. 

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