Cocktail Confessions

Eh…I’m in a lazy mood today.  Very lazy.  Don’t want to work lazy.

I’m sure part of it is the heat outside, some of it is that my body is sore and totally out of shape this past week, and some of it is that work can just be plain demoralizing at times.

I stare at the clock today, counting down the hours until I make my 30 minute commute home, just to do a few more chores, eat a particularly boring dinner and go to bed again.  Rince and repeat.  Rinse and repeat.

I have another post brewing in my head now, something I have to devote more energy to than this one, but I’m just putting it off. Out of laziness.

That being said, a couple of things in the works right now for Cocktail Confessions:

• I purchased a portable Zoom H2 mic today from an Amazon reseller at a very discounted price along with an additional $25 off from a reward certificate I had.  I should get in no later than Thursday and I look forward to doing recording sessions in the field with people who can’t make it to my house for whatever reason.
• Spent yesterday morning doing some editing on an upcoming podcast (Episode #4 for those that are keeping track) with Audacity.  I just so wish they had a better online manual/tutorial section, but it’s freeware, so what do you expect?  Episode 4 will be on The Orbit Inn and Living Desert zoo in Palm Springs, CA.
• I’m very excited to announce I have recorded my first guest episode yesterday with my friend Brian Liles from Brians 4X4 Adventures (How do you like that for a plug Brian?).  I think the raw audio session turned out nice using just one microphone, and it clocked in around 52-53 minutes.  I was thinking about breaking it up into two shorter episodes, but the more I think about it, the more I think I may just as well keep it intact as one podcast.  Just needs some editing, addition of some bumper music, and get my links in order for that blog entry prior to posting.  I think it went really well and smooth and should be a treat for those that like to hear about off roading adventures.  Brian talks about his recent escapade to the Grand Canyon in this one and it’s a good one to listen too if you’re planning your own off road trip out there anytime soon.
  

  Smogtown

• Chip Beef, bassist for punk underground band Smogtown has tentatively agreed to sit down in the coming weeks and be interviewed as well.  I’m looking forward to that for the sheer fact I know nothing about the punk movement in So. Cal., and Chip was entrenched it.  We’ll for sure have some good beers and stories with that one.  Expect Chip to be uncensored as he lets the stories fly.
• Expect a Big Brother 11, week 2 recap podcast later this week.  I’m just waiting for Tuesday’s episode to air and probably record and post sometime this Wed., July 22nd.

Big Brother 11 cast

Until I either: A) get a portable recording device, or B) can convince my neighbors/friends that my upstairs spare office/studio is not that scary of a place (despite copious amount of posed Star Wars action figures and comic books lying about), I have to rely on myself to provide a little audio content to ensure I have regular podcasts.

With that in mind, and the fact that continual practice will hopefully make myself somewhat nasaly voice sound somewhat more comfortable on the mic than Obama does on socialism, I decided to do another impromptu recording session last night on the first week of Big Brother 11.

Why Big Brother?  Well, I happen to like ‘good’ reality television like Survivor, Amazing Race and Big Brother…..not the pseudo train wrecks like ‘I Love Money’, ‘Flavor of Love’ or the myriad of other degenerates that VH1 can coax out of the shallow end of the gene pool.  Basically you have 13 strangers that live in a house together with no contact from the outside world, and each week through a series of challenges and nominations, a house guest is ‘evicted’ for the next 2+ months until 1 is left standing and wins the money.  Obviously there’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s the general gist and concept.  It’s a wildly popular show not only in the U.S., but has spawned Big Brother’s counterparts in many other countries around the world.  The bonus to those shows that are absent here in the U.S. is that many of these countries have much more lenient Standards & Practices and much less in the way of censorship, so viewers can expect a bit more nudity and house guest hook ups.

Anyway, this episode is a bit longer than I anticipated, clocking in around 25 minutes and I give a little background and introduction on the individual house guests and explain a little about how this season is set up into the various ‘cliques’.  This recap covers the first three episodes of the show from it’s July 9th preview through the 1st Veto ceremony on July 14th.  It’s a bit early right now to discuss in much depth how things are settling out between house guests and individual strategies, but clearly a few standouts are already forming in brainiac’s Ronnie and Chima, outcast Lydia, and the whole entire athletic clique (I predict this group will be the subject of it’s own eventual demise based on the arrogant personalities of three of its four current members).

Bear in mind that I’m still getting use to this whole recording thing, and after listening back to it once (and I didn’t edit it one iota…it’s 100% raw) I need to adjust my mic levels down a bit, I get tongue tied a few times, and there’s a bit more “um’s” that I’d like to admit to.  But please enjoy and as always, feel free to leave comments and criticisms by emailing me directly at cocktails1@hotmail.com or sound off in the comment section below.

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