Just A Geek: Teh Audiobook

Posted on By Wil

Hey, if you’ve enjoyed my Radio Free Burrito podcasts, I think you may like the audio version of Just A Geek:

This journey is a fascinating read, made even more intimate and
fulfilling by Wil’s narrative. This is not just an audio book, it’s a
glimpse into the psyche of the man who considers himself…
Just a Geek. NOTE: Due to graphic language, some content may be unsuitable for
younger audiences.

Yes, I realize this may feel like totally crass commecial bullshit . . . because it is. I worked very hard on the audio book, and I don’t plug it nearly enough. A few RFB listeners have commented to me that they picked up the audio book after listening to the podcast, so I thought I’d make it nice and easy for anyone who is interested in checking it out. It’s available as a set of nine CDs for $35 (normally $39), or as an instantly-downloadable MP3, also for $35 (normally $35.)

I’m very proud of the audio book. I’ve talked in the past about what a huge letdown my experience wih O’Reilly was on the print version of the book, and much of the joy I’d hoped to feel with its release has instead come from the recording of the audio version, which ended up being a performance, with asides, commentary, and reflections on the material that aren’t in the print version of the book. I guess it’s like I’m reading the book to you, and occasionally setting it down to give some meta-commentary on various passages.

So if you liked the print book, or if you like the podcasts, I’m pretty sure you’ll dig the audiobook, which, to steal a line from Al Franken, "makes a wonderful gift." 😉

Radio Free Burrito Episode One

Posted on By Wil

Whitevan
I can’t believe I already did another podcast, but I had ideas, and they needed to come out of my brains, so here we are.

I’m going to tell you the complete truth: This isn’t the greatest thing ever, but I really had fun putting this show together, and I think I’m officially hooked on doing these shows. As long as it doesn’t completely take over my life, I’ll do everything I can to get a new episode up every week. Around episode four or five, when I’ve climbed a little higher up the learning curve, I’ll even see if I can get this into iTunes so subscribing is easier.

Okay. How about some show notes? That’s kind of cool, isn’t it?

Notes for Episode One:

  • Feedback and reflections on Episode Zero
  • Bumpers!
  • An audio diary, featuring an audition, some random thoughts around town, a bit of really horrible singing, and an interview about Stand By Me.
  • Very brief Q&A.

This week’s show is much, much smaller than episode zero, weighing in at a much friendlier 13.3 MB, but still just over 30 minutes. I’m still not ready for primetime, but I feel much more comfortable than I did last week, and had a great time putting this together.

Questions can be sent to ask at wil wheaton dot net and comments can be sent to podcast at wil wheaton dot net.

Also, until I figure out a more appropriate license, RFB will be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Okay? Get to listening!

Download radio_free_burrito_episode_one.mp3

Afterthoughts:

Several listeners have asked for a list of the music in this show:

  • Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey
  • Jesus of Suburbia by Green Day
  • Title and Registration The New Year by Death Cab for Cutie (that’s what I get for doing this list from memory.)
  • Radio Cure by Wilco
  • Kamera by Wilco
  • Tear Stained Eye, by Son Volt

. . . and have a mirror, courtesy of WWdN:iX reader Alan.

. . . and another mirror courtesy of Craig.

. . . Brian did a ton of Burrito-Fu, and sent in a low-fi version, and .torrents for hi and lo fi:

High (orig):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_one.mp3.torrent

Low (mono, VBR bit rate range 8-24, 5.7 megs):
http://athena.unearthed.org/torrents/radio_free_burrito_episode_one-low.mp3.torrent

Mirror for the Low..
http://www.badmonkies.com/rfb/radio_free_burrito_episode_one-low.mp3






Wow! Thanks, guys!

			
			
		

		









			

					

		

			
Monogram Sweater: Funny. Personal. Stories.
							

					

						

							 Posted on							  
		
															
									By Wil																								
														

						

					

				

						


		


							
12_8_ms_e_viteThis Thursday night, I’m performing in a show called Monogram Sweater, at The Second City Theatre in Hollywood.


It’s a monologue show, in a very small intimate setting. I’m going to perform my short story The Trade.




Sadly, once I was home and on the kitchen floor, the reality of the

trade did not meet the grand build up it had been given by my young

imagination. That single push did not send my heros to quick safety.

Rather, it sent them forward about 6 inches and to the left, coming to

an anticlimactic rest against the front of the dishwasher. Only the

constant presence of my grimy 8 year-old fist would give them adequate

propulsion away from danger. And the foot-peg technology was quickly

replaced by the more reliable scotch-tape-and-rubber band technology.



The novelty of rolling that Land Speeder around the floor quickly wore off, and I really missed my Death Star.




Tickets are just five bucks, which you can totally score in about thirty minutes on any freeway off ramp in Southern California, provided your cardboard sign is easy to read. Details, including address and showtimes are on the spiffy clickable flyer over there, but for those of you who like to cut-n-paste:




WHAT: Monogram Sweater (Funny. Personal. Stories.)
WHERE: Second City Theatre -8156 Melrose Avenue, next to the Improv
WHEN: Thursday, December 8, 2005. 8PM.
HOW MUCH: $5



			
			
		

		









			

					

		

			
a few random rfb thoughts
							

					

						

							 Posted on							  
		
															
									By Wil																								
														

						

					

				

						


		


							
The feedback on RFBep0 has been great. Everyone seems to like it, and the constructive criticism has been really helpful. Thank you, everyone, who left comments or sent in e-mail. I quite obviously still have

some growing to do, but the two major criteria (was it fun for me, and

did the audience enjoy it) seem to have been met. I think it’s worth

trying another one, and incorporating the notes.


(I was going to write down all my thoughts here . . . but I think I’ll just put them into RFBep1 🙂


I set up a new e-mail address for the show, too: questions can still go to ask at wil wheaton dot net and comments can go to podcast at wil wheaton dot net. 


I figure that if I can do four of these things, and I can manage not to suck, RFB will get its own location, like radio.wilwheaton.net or something, so I can set up special podcast feeds with feedburner and have show notes and other exciting things. I’ll also figure out some sort of schedule, so the show is coming out on a regular basis.

			
			
		

		









			

					

		

			
Radio Free Burrito Episode Zero
							

					

						

							 Posted on							  
		
															
									By Wil																								
														

						

					

				

						


		


							
Alive

Well, here it is! It’s alive!



As I wrote earlier today, "It will either be really cool, or the stupidest fucking thing in history, and I’ll proceed accordingly."

My initial feeling is that it falls somewhere in the middle: it’s

longer than I wanted, and it’s a little unfocused, but I’m willing to

allow myself the freedom to make as many mistakes as it takes to either

come up with something cool, or accept that I just don’t have what it

takes to make a podcast.


Observations on getting this thing from my brains to your ears: I

thought the recording would be very hard, but it was actually super

easy. I’ve tried in Audacity several times before, and it never wants

to work, so today I just followed the instructions from Apple for creating podcasts in Garageband,

and it was simple and easy. But holy shit the converting and the

uploading was so hard, I felt like I had no thumbs and an IQ of 24. I’m

sorry to report that this episode is only available in the stupid,

proprietary, Apple AAC format, but that’s the only format I could get

to upload (the .aiff file was over 300MB, and TypePad just wouldn’t let

me upload it. That was really annoying.)


So now I need to know what you, the audience, think. What would you

like more of? Less of? Is it too long? Is it too narrowly focused, or

not broad enough? Most importantly: when it was over, did you feel like

I earned your 30 minutes, or did you feel like you wasted your time? 


Heh. The last time I felt this nervous about releasing something into the wild, it was the first version of Dancing Barefoot. This is both cool and scary. 


Afterthought: I just realized that I stupidly recorded this thing in super-ultra-hyper-mega-stereo, when nifty-old-mono would have been just fine. The result is a ridiculously large file (71.8 MB) which I can only leave up for a few hours before I blow through all my bandwidth. I’ll see if I can convert the file I have to mono, and if not, look for Episode .05 to hit the airwaves in the next 48 hours. Yeah, I am really a moran. iTunes won’t let me convert it to mp3, and Audacity won’t even open it. So this file will stay up until about 8:00 PM Pacific time, when I’ll have to take it down. If someone wants to mirror the file, go nuts. Gods, I am sofa king stupid. I blame my nervousness for this ultrarookie error. When you mock, please mock me gently.


AfterthoughtAfterthought: I owe Shane Nickerson a huge debt of gratitude, because he pointed out to me my stupid mistake. I’ll reveal my shame a bit later on. In the meantime, here is a .mp3 file, which is much smaller: "only" 27.3MB: 


Download radio_free_burrito_episode_zero.mp3


Oh boy! Several Mirrors!


Mirror one, from WWdN:iX reader buford: radio_free_burrito_episode_zero.mp3


Mirror two, from my friend Kathleen: radio_free_burrito_episode_zero.mp3


Mirror three, from WWdN:iX reader  UglyRedHonda: Unauthorized low-bandwidth-friendly re-encoding


And the coolest of them all . . . a .torrent. Man, do I feel like I’ve arrived now! Thanks, Brian! 🙂