Escape Pod

Tuesday evening I drove to Lexington, Kentucky, to watch DrBacchus read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It’s something I’d been anticipating since I first heard about it, and I really enjoyed it. Surprisingly, it was the first time I had ever been exposed to the original written work: I’d only ever seen the movie(s) and various adaptations before. DrBacchus did a wonderful job emoting the characters, and gave it a life I hadn’t expected. It was really really fun.

DrBacchus recorded the event, and I videotaped it. I hope to have the video available for download soon (assuming I get his permission, of course).

The CD player in our car broke some weeks ago. Not looking forward to broadcast radio to keep me awake for the drive, I purchased the Belkin TuneCast FM transmitter, and downloaded some podcasts to my iPod Shuffle. Overall I was quite pleased with the device, though in the larger metropolitan areas, the signal from real stations made it somewhat less useful. Through the countryside, though, the reception was clear.

I started out with Spaceship Radio, which plays old SF radio programs from yesteryear. The sound quality on the programs themselves was great; though the same can’t quite be said about the introductions. And many of the introductions fell prey to the thing I wanted most to avoid: navel gazing about the act of podcasting.

I also listened to a few selections from Escape Pod, and I cannot recommend them enough! The stories are current, published works; the introductions were clean, and enjoyable (and often informative, with biographical notes about the authors) even if they were a tad long; and the readings were superbly done. The stories were interesting, and really kept my attention. If you like science fiction, check out Escape Pod!

I’ve been noodling an idea for podcasting as a result of my experiences. I like to think that my idea is a unique twist on the format, but we’ll have to wait and see if I get the motivation to do more than just think about it…