Jesse is off getting married this week, so Jordan and Gene took it upon themselves to have a frat party podcast. They even invited Chris Fairbanks from Comedy Central's Reality Bites Back to join in the fun.
* Review the show on iTunes. * Do you have a dispute Judge John Hodgman can solve on a future broadcast? Email it to us! Put Judge John in the subject line. * Have personal questions for Jesse and Jordan? Call 206-984-4FUN and tell us what they are! * Would you like to play Would You Rather with us on a future episode? Email us or give us a call at 206-984-4FUN.
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Ze Frank is the creator and... host(?) of zefrank.com, a remarkable collection of toys, ideas and vlogs. His year-long video blog project, The Show, is widely considered the pinnacle of the form. In the show, he urged listeners to dress their vacuum cleaners in people clothes, to make a sandwich out of the earth by placing slices of bread at opposite sids of the globe, and much more.
All our videos for this show were shot by Benjamin Ahr Harrison, a New-York based videographer. You can find him online at badcharacter.com. Thanks, Ben! Our audio was captured by Jeff Solomon.
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When I was a freshman in college, my roommate Mike was a big (semi-ironic) fan of 80s wrestling. His favorite hobby was reading to me from The Ultimate Warrior's COMPLETELY INSANE website. The Warrior seemed to be promoting some sort of cult, with plans to open gyms and inculcate young people with his bizarre ideas of "Foke" and "Destrucity." He was trying to create "Generation Warrior." After all, "Generation Warrior is the identity of the omnipresent body of peerless individuals existent in every voguish X,Y,Z Generation. Unlike their faddish 20-30 year span -- its start generally set off by a collison between disparate bodies of thinking and acting -- warrior individuals are thread continuately throughout the whole of mankind’s existence."
Before you click on any of those links, though, please note this warning from the website's front page:
"I am also NOT confused about my gender. I have no desire to tone down the nature of the sex I am. I am a male and am proud to be a man. Often I will forcefully punctuate my points and positions on ideas and issues with manly language. I make no apologies."
Podthoughts by Ian Brill: "The Savage Love Podcast"
Journalist Ian Brill is offering us a weekly review from the world of podcasting -- "Podthoughts." This week, he examines The Savage Love Podcast, from the Seattle alternative newspaper The Stranger. The program's host, Dan Savage, was once a guest on The Sound of Young America: here's the MP3.
Dan Savage can’t seem to go twenty seconds into his podcast without dropping a few expletives. It’s a bit jarring, but there’s no point in getting offended. In a typical episode, Savage answers four or five pre-recorded calls that seek his opinions on strap-on dildos, rape fantasies, vagina destined Splenda and any other number of matters far more extreme than the simple utterance of expletives. If you’re offended by that sort of content, you probably won’t get anything out of Savage Love. That’s a shame, because there’s a lot of get out of it.
Savage is clearly committed to educating the world on a subject we all deal but rarely talk about directly: S-E-X. The lack of communication about sex between so many people leads to a lot of dysfunctions. Savage brings it all out in the open so people can start living happier lives.
Occasionally Savage will call someone back to get a better handle on the subject. Those times Savage proves himself as being the empathic soul his listeners needs. Even though it’s the stranger fetishes that get the most attention (Splenda? In the vagina?) most of the problems Savage is given concern arguments between lovers and misinformation on certain medical issues.
Not that Savage always plays the Dr. Ruth-like gentle sage when he’s helping out his callers. He’s not afraid to call one an asshole if it’s warranted, and in some cases it certainly is. Thankfully, though, most of the time Savage needs only to be thoughtful and informative to fix the problems he’s given.
Savage has a similarly low tolerance for BS. Many times the calls he gets are from people who have more worries than they have actual problems. In the June 12th edition, a very sexually open mother is concerned her daughters’ sex lives may be too “vanilla.” Savage phrases his advice simply: “back the fuck off.” I really appreciated this. Savage could be like so many other advice columnists and just create a culture distress and confessions that are blown way out of proportion. Instead he’s able to put these people’s situations into perspective and tell them what’s really going on.
People still come to Savage for advice, perhaps because they know he’s going to be straight with them. He’s also one of the few people in the public sphere whose counsel comes from a sex-positive point-of-view. Savage’s personality, a beautifully paradoxical mix of wise and exasperated, is always entertaining. It’s the reason why I’ve found Savage Love one of the most addictive podcasts around.
Our interview guest Michael Cera starred as "George Michael" on the cult sitcom Arrested Development. He's currently appearing in the web series Clark & Michael, which he and his partner Clark Duke also write. Later this summer, he'll star alongside Jonah Hill in "SuperBad," a film co-written by Seth Rogen and produced by Judd Apatow.
Editor's note: long-time listener and freelance journalist Ian Brill will be contributing a weekly podcast review to the blog called "Podthoughts." I've decided to institute this feature because I feel there's a great vacuum of useful information about podcasts, and a lot of folks who want to make informed choices about what they download. This week, Ian covered "Escape Pod," a science fiction short story podcast produced by Steven Eley.
“Escape Pod,” produced by one-time The Sound of Young America guest Stephen Eley, offers a real service to those who are interested in smart, literate science fiction but are having trouble finding a place to start.
I’ll use myself as an example: Ever since junior high, when my Dad insisted my brother and I spend a few days a month at the library, I’ve gravitated to the works of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison. Later, I would become interested in Philip K .Dick and Douglas Adams. Each writer matched pointed views of human nature and society with big, imaginative ideas.
More recently, though, it’s been difficult. During my four years working towards a degree in English, I was too busy studying the accepted classics like The Great Gatsby and As I Lay Dying to catch up on any sci-fi – and certainly not any new stuff.
Walking the aisles dedicated to sci-fi in a bookstore or library can be intimidating for a casual fan of the medium. Lining the shelves are dozens of authors who, while prolific, are unknown to anyone not deeply committed to the genre. Even someone who pays a lot of attention to the world of letters may not be familiar with all these works. While there were once be magazines like “If” and “Fantastic” that published short stories and novellas, it’s hard to find any such services today. That’s why you should turn to “Escape Pod.”
It’s appropriate that a new media technology should give new hope to those searching for good sci-fi short stories. Each week on Escape Pod, listeners hear a new short science fiction story, typically from authors who’ve chosen to license their pieces using the Creative Commons license.
Most stories come in under an hour and flow nicely when spoken. It’s clear that Eley is looking for stories that may contain big ideas but still manage to communicate them in a very clear and direct manner. The 100th episode’s reading of “Nightfall,” read by Eley himself, felt like it could have been an audio play. While some of the episodes have actors brought into to read the stories, (Steve Anderson does a great job with Kevin J. Anderson’s “Job Qualifications” in episode 96), it’s Eley who reads a lot of the stories. In “Nightfall” and Bruce McAllsiter’s “Kin” from episode 108 he proves himself to be really adept and creating distinct and interesting voices for all the characters, no matter how strange and alien they may be.
While the readings take up most of the air time Eley does discuss listener feedback at the beginning of many episodes. The listeners all enjoy sci-fi but have different viewpoints on what the genre can give us. These samples of the discussions place the stories in a valued context for listeners not overly familiar with sci-fi.
Bringing these stories into digital audio form – where they can be enjoyed in a car or on a lunch break – is a wonderful use of new media. Literature like this doesn’t have to fall to the wayside because there are more temptations to not read out there. Instead, Eley has found a way to bring these works into the future -- which is where they belong.
Just got home from SF, where, among other things, I shot some internet TV with my pal Merlin Mann (look for the actual video in the coming weeks). Merlin's profession is nerd guru, and if you look closely, you can see the athletic tape that holds on the arm of those hip eye glasses.
Do you use Last.fm? It's a neat service that tracks what you listen to on your computer, then tells you what else you might like, keeps stats, and other stuff.
Listener and message board poster Mic Dee has started a maximumfun.org last.fm group. Sign up and we can track what we listen to, collectively, including podcasts and music.
Our pal Neil Campbell, (who is half of the brilliant comic duo of Neil & Paul with our other pal, Paul Rust), has just re-launched his long-dormant web comic My Naked Dad. The new site is gorgeous, especially Neil's carefully crafted line drawings of dad penis. Oh, and the comic is hilarious.
And hey, while you're checking out Neil & Paul effluvia, check out Paul's rarely-updated but always-hilarious blog, Watch Paul Rust Age Behind Glass.
I talked with Megan Berru about the origins of The Sound, the time I complained about the line at the UCB, and how scared I was to interview Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam.
Podcast: Scott Dikkers, Editor-in-Chief of The Onion
Scott Dikkers served as Editor-in-Chief of The Onion from 1989 to 2000, when he left for the warmer climes of Hollywood. He returned to The Onion in 2005.
We talk with Scott about The Onion's newest venture: Onion News Network. It's one of The Onion's most ambitious ventures into non-text media, and will feature parodies of cable news, Sunday-morning talk shows and C-Span. The network's motto is: "You'll never read again."
I just got an email from Heavy.com, an online video fartfest for young men. I presume they contacted me because I've posted about Sacha Baron Cohen and Borat before -- they're running a "viral" ad campaign (disguised as content) for the DVD release of Borat.
I once saw Heavy's co-founder, Simon Asaad, speak at a podcasting convention. It was a formative experience for me in the way that I view media, and particularly media on the internet. He took the dais and let it rip - berating the podcasters in attendance for working for free, and specifically for allowing their personal interests and passions to determine the nature of their work.
Then he ran down his company's achievements -- it's sort of a lowest-common-denominator video site -- taking particular note of the huge check Burger King had given them to host a "viral video" contest in which young men did various outrageous things while wearing Burger King masks. If I could pick one word to describe the tone of his speach, it would be "taunting." His main message: if you're not completely outrageous, your work is worthless. If you're paying for content, or paying content creators, you're worthless. There isn't, and shouldn't be, a line between advertising and content. The talk shocked and sickened me.
I'm certainly not against commercialization -- witness the advertisement to the right of this post. In fact, I was at the panel to learn about monetizing content -- which many of the non-offensive panelists on either side of Assad had also done. I'm not even against outrageousness -- Ze Frank is outrageous, it's one of the reasons he's so succesful. What I am against is duplicity. I don't like tricking people into advertising for you, or taking huge checks to blur the line between content and brand marketing. What happened to morality?
So imagine my dismay when I got this email:
Dear Jesse:
So we have the privilege of hosting the official Borat’s Videotime Contest — a Borat impersonation video contest — here on Heavy until March 30. I was hoping that the Sound of Young America would give this momentous event a shout out as Fox doesn’t seem to be doing much in the way of spreading the word. This promotion is part of a larger campaign for the DVD release of Borat (the movie) and the winner will be awarded a $3,500 cash prize. We’re hoping that this promotion will help resurrect some of the Borat-mania we’ve all enjoyed over the past couple months... After all, Borat’s exploits — and Sacha Baron Cohen’s multiple acts at large – unmask some interesting aspects of Americana and I wouldn’t want so see any such opportunities wasted.
The rules and regulations, along with the video submission upload page, can be found at http://XXXX.heavy.com .
I sure hope this is newsworthy to you and to your readership! Please let me know what you think.
With kind regards, XXX XXX Heavy.com, etc etc etc
I wrote back:
You mention that "Fox doesn't seem to be spreading the word." I should presume that Heavy is not being paid by Fox to host the contest?
Jesse The Sound of Young America
The Heavy.com rep wrote back:
Fox is sponsoring this but we’re responsible for all the organization and prizing etc. Again, this is part of a larger campaign we’re running for them in conjunction with the DVD release of Borat. Your thoughts?
Here are my thoughts: Borat, the film, was succesful because it was outrageously good. It "went viral," becoming a popular topic of public discourse, for the same reason. I even participated in it, posting about the film, character, and even discussing it on a national radio show.
I don't have a problem with lots of people making lots of money off of this -- in fact, I think it's a great idea. Larry Charles, the film's director, just signed a big-money Hollywood deal to develop TV shows. Sacha Baron Cohen has gone from cult star to star star. Fox is basically printing money with the DVD release. There's a sequel in the works.
But do you really have to lie about it? Is misinformation the best way to spread a great idea?
I wrote to the heavy.com person:
My thoughts are that this kind of marketing is duplicitous, manipulative and really unfortunate. It's a crass commercialization of young people's creativity.
I would feel better about it if you weren't misrepresenting it as some sort of grassroots struggle. I'm not against advertisements, or contests, but I would never run something like this on my website, represent it as "of the people," and disguise the fact that it's a bought-and-paid-for commercial enterprise.
It's my hope that as this kind of marketing grows in popularity, so will our defenses against it. I hope great ideas will spread, and bought-and-paid-for ones will not. We can ask the Simon Assaads of the world to stop, but their greed won't let them. When we face this kind of deception, we need to take responsibility for standing up and being counted: this bullshit has to stop.
Productivity guru / Space Pen advocate / TSOYA supporter Merlin Mann just launched a new video podcast called The Merlin Show. His first interview was with our good friend Jonathan Coulton, who he correctly identified as the Nicest Man on Earth. Not only does Merlin mention me, but he also discusses Productivity Tips From the King of Pop.
This week's Sound of Young America broadcast looks at the future of media -- and at its past.
Mark Frauenfelder and Xeni Jardin are two of the c0-editors of Boing-Boing.net, one of the world's most popular blogs. Frauenfelder started Boing Boing as a print zine in 1988, and grew to a website in the mid-90s, and a blog a few years later. Today, it attracts 1.75 million visitors every day. Topics covered range from futurism and cyber culture to ukeleles and the just plan weird and fascinating. We talk with Mark and Xeni about the history of Boing Boing, internet culture, and how blogs are changing the world of media, and changing themselves as time marches on.
We also talk with John Vanderslice. Vanderslice is a recording artist, as well as a record producer and the owner of Tiny Telephone Recording in San Francisco, one of the last all-analog studios in the United States. He started his career as a member of MK Ultra, before becoming a solo artist. His most recent record "Pixel Revolt," is a dense, literary journey in song. He's also produced records by the Mountain Goats and Spoon. We talk with John about why he still cuts tape in the studio, and about his remarkable songs. Don't miss the bonus interview and MP3 downloads below.
Bonus Interview Kevin Kelly on the Future of Books
Kevin Kelly is the "Senior Maverick" at Wired Magazine, as well as the editor of the blog Cool Tools. We talk with Kevin about the future of books in a digital world, from scanning projects going on around the globe to the copyright issues that are currently in court. His recent cover story on the subject ran in the New York Times Magazine.
