Comments on: Geek Fu #12

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 03:51:55 +0000

My comments here do not refer to your essays, which are well written, comprehensive and compelling; I write of all the extra stuff.

But I seem to be in the minority in preferring podcasts 5-10 minutes. I’ve rarely found talking podcasts by anybody that can sustain more than 10 minutes. In fact, as I think of it, I haven’t found any.

——-> I just edited out all my own tangents and ramblings here. It takes more time to make it short and sweet, eh?

My mind goes to The Simpsons which is so densly written and drawn that any 10 minute segment provides the same thought and laughs of regular sit-coms.
And I recall George Burns admiringly and ironically writing of his wife Gracie, “She was the funniest woman in America, with 17 movies, a radio show, lots of advertisements and a newspaper column; all I had to do was sit with five other guys in the backroom and write everything.” You have just yourself, so I would say to keep it manageable, dense and under 10 minutes.

By: the dude

the dude — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 21:04:01 +0000

The writing is interesting, but it is the voice and the rhythm that I find compelling. You could probably podcast your trip to the market and I would listen. Hey! That is an idea.

By: Mur

Mur — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 13:33:43 +0000

Thanks everyone for their helpful comments. I’ll try to keep the internal dialogue to a miniumum, scott. If they bubble to the surface, well, that’s what editing is for.

By: scott

scott — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 06:14:34 +0000

Mur,

As my middle-school English composition teacher Ms. Baker used to say, “It should be as long as a girl’s skirt. Long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to remain intersting.” It always seemed odd that she would say such a thing to 13 and 14 year olds half a decade after mini-skirts first went out of style. Still the point, does hold.

You are the boss of your show. It should be however long or short as you deem appropriate.

One bit of advice, I don’t think the listeners particularly are interested in hearing your “internal dialog” about show format decisions. Certainly, it is thoughful to mention it once and request listener feedback, as you often do. I would strongly recommend just mentioning it once however. Once you make the decision, stick with it and don’t worry about mentioning it again. ?

Liken it to listening to a radio disc-jockey saying, “Now I’m going to press this button on the cd player to start the next song.” I think the listeners want to hear the “song” and not so much of the logistical concerns of the host.

Ultimately, I would say 10 minutes is not enough of Geek Fu Action Grip.

More Mur is much more better!!

By: Mur

Mur — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:58:00 +0000

Hey Steve-

Are you saying that I wavered all over the place in this podcast, or was it just a warning not to waver in the future? I’m a little unclear on your message.

Thanks-

By: steve

steve — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 22:05:21 +0000

I don’t mind longer podcasts, but i do prefer if you don’t waver all over the place. You are one of my favorite podcasts. I would feel let down if I received a podcast that was only a minute long from you, so if you decide to go longer, please let the podcasts stay longer.

By: Michael Baker

Michael Baker — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 20:38:23 +0000

Run as long as you like.

By: Rich

Rich — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 14:06:58 +0000

Quantum physics love song. Nice.
I’ve dealt with many of the same issues you’ve spoken about, even to the extent of bosses and how many people fear their boses. I remember my first celeb interview, Gil Gerard. He has my first introduction to Sci-Fi on Buck Rogers. I finally got sit down with him, after hanging around for around 3 hours trying to build the nerve. Then, the moment came when I asked him for the interview, and he agreed. I was stoked! Then I sat down, got all of my equipment in order, and then intro’d him for the show. He then proceeded to berrate me for the next 20 minutes about mispronouncing his name. Fortunately, he was very cool about it and his teasing at first hurt, but then I realized he did this to teach me a lesson. He knew it was my first interview, on my first show, and new that I would learn a valuable lesson that day. I only wish he had taught me a lesson about media storage, as his and my first 5 interviews disappeared before they could ever be aired. Although I did save a great one with Richard LaParmantier.

By: Mike Barnett

Mike Barnett — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:30:09 +0000

I don’t mind podcasts longer than 10 minutes. But if 10 minutes is all the material you’ve got, that’s fine. I particularly enjoy your podcasts, but *don’t burn out*! Some podcasts which I used to listen to are gone.

By: Paul Scarfe

Paul Scarfe — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 16:28:49 +0000

I agree with Brian, going over 10 minutes doesn’t bother me, if the content is good then I’ll try and make the time to listen to the podcast. Since you’re one of my fav podcasts, feel free to go up to an hour if you’re up for it!

By: Brian Pipa

Brian Pipa — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 05:34:28 +0000

I personally don’t mind them being longer than 10 minutes. 30 minutes is my max for just about any podcast. If you have more to say sometimes….say it!

Brian

By: Brian Pipa

Brian Pipa — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 05:34:17 +0000

I personnaly don’t mind them being longer than 10 minutes. 30 minutes is my max for just about any podcast. If you have more to say sometimes….say it!

Brian