GeekiN Episode #77 – GeekiNput: Lost Yet?
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
I must say, I’ve had a lot of enjoyable episodes of podcasts in the past 3 years. But this ranks right up there at the top. If you are a Lost fan, you won’t want to miss listening to this episode. Clocking in at just under 3 hours, we receive a lot of help this episode from our listeners in creating a fun and entertaining look at the series.
If you have not watched Lost all the way through, this is probably not the episode for you. We free ourselves to discuss spoilers until our hearts are content. And spoilers there are. A large number of characters are discussed in detail, including their motivations, their character arcs, their relationships, and even their deaths.
The end result is an episode that could’ve went on much longer. But the content and discussion we did get was fantastic. Thanks again to everyone that tuned in. If you still haven’t caught one of these shows, you are running out of opportunities. Next week is the E3/Video Game discussion, followed the next week by Comic Book Films. Join us!
*edit* New version of the episode is up, with hopefully improved audio levels.
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woah.. yesterday we were talking about how Edddie Murphy should quit acting and go back to stand up, today he announces this…
weird…
I think I said “like,” like 346 times. (That biracial marraige thing was a joke by the way)
i haven’t listened to it yet…
I seriously had a blast with this episode. I can only imagine how much fun (And how long) the BuffCasts would have been, had we done it in this format. Anyway, thanks to everyone for showing up. Hopefully I’ll see a lot of you guys again for the Video Game and Comic Book Movies discussions.
Two things I wanted to mention. First, I believe it was Rusty James that brought up the Large Hadron Collider on the episode. It intrigued me, so I meant to look it up. But I didn’t, I actually forgot about it until just now. I came across an article on Gizmodo.com a couple minutes ago, and I was like, “Oh hey, I meant to go look this up. Saves me the trouble” :) http://gizmodo.com/5022849/lhc-ignition-delayed-until-august-earth-spared-another-month
And secondly…wait, what was I going to bring up as my second point? :|
Oh right. I hope that everyone was a little less nervous this time. I remember a couple people mentioning they were shaking while on the line during the last episode.
Man, I missed it again. My best friend had a baby yesterday, so I was at the hospital.
I really hope to make it next week, but then the two weeks after that I’ll be headed to and coming home from comic con. Hopefully i’ll be able to make it to one of these shows. I hope you keep doing these every so often guys cause I’d love to participate. Usually I’m not this busy. You should do a Buffy discussion episode- that would be great fun.
This episode was a blast. People should definitely listen to the whole thing as everyone had lots of interesting input. I’m going to start listening to it again to catch some of the things I missed while distracted by things going on in the chat window….
@Heidi: Comic Con, eh? From what I hear ( http://tv.ign.com/articles/887/887034p1.html ), it’s going to be a blast. Be sure to fill us in when you get back. I’d totally love to keep doing this. Maybe a once a month sort of deal, since ultimately, it’s up to us having enough to talk about to warrant a live chat like this. But the participation we’ve gotten so far is definitely pushing me in that direction.
@Polygon: Looks like you guys were having a good time in the chat room. That’s one of the disappointing things about running the show itself. You don’t always get to pay as much attention to the chat room as I would like to. But then again, it is a lot of help when someone has a mind-blank. Lots of off-topic discussions, but that’s half the fun.
Scott ended up leaving the show early so that he could listen to the higher quality version “un-tainted”. Given that position, I’m not sure which way I would want to go. The higher-quality hosts is definitely a lot nicer, IMO. But missing out on the chat would be sort of a drag.
i listened to the episode yesterday and again today, to catch what i missed while laughing or typing and im enjoying it almost as much the second time.
but it is a LOT funnier to be there, and to read the comments as the hosts are commenting on them.
i won’t be able to make any more this month, i don’t think but PLEASE do more, this was a great experience and i would love to do it again.
i didn’t think you could improve this show much but interaction in really fun.
Towards the end of the episode, things got WAY off-topic and random, including SpikeBad continually quoting Army of Darkness.
I was a lot less nervous this week.
I hope that the chat doesn’t get as off topic as it did last night, however, I think it stayed on topic pretty well until about the third hour, lol.
I didn’t eat lasta night until 10pm (cst).
And I even think that you could do another Lost live show and go another 3 hrs.
I was finishing up dinner during the beginning of the show when they were doing the news stuff. That way, I don’t starve! :D
I think we could easily do another 3-hr Lost show, and I hope we do another one in the future. I think that discussing a TV series is a good topic for these call-in shows. I would love to do one on BSG in the future, or even an episode on something like Babylon 5. Even though I’m not caught up enough to participate, I know there’s a lot of people that would love to do a Dr. Who call-in episode, judging by the chat room during this ep.
Here’s a list of several TV series that I would love to discuss:
Babylon 5
Farscape
The Pretender
Alias
24
Supernatural
Gilmore Girls
The O.C.
Veronica Mars
X-Files
Heck, it would be a ton of fun to revisit the Buffyverse through these call-in episodes. :D
Yeah it was a lot easier the second time around, being less nervous and such. that helps with that whole ‘thinking’ thing.
But three hours?! holy crap!
I had to leave to do groceries just before the second hour was up. now I wish I could have waited (but it wasn’t my call).
The live show format is really fun. listening to it live while using the chat is one thing, but hearing everyone participate and being able to add to the conversation is even better. I really hope that it works out to be an ongoing thing in the future. There really are a lot of topics to do shows on.
I DEMAND a Doctor Who call-in show!
To everyone who sat through me droning at the very end…God bless you
Great show, it had everything that it needed. A fine topic, good hosts, exceptional callers with differing and interesting thoughts, and a wildy off-topic/on-topic (sometimes even inappropriate) chat. Excellent, excellent idea.
@TotallyNotNick: Last night it was getting pretty late at that point, so the last bits seemed to go on for a while (Though I was totally digging it). Still, for those of us that weren’t actually at the live portion, that’s just all the more content to listen to. That’s sort of the problem with the live atmosphere. The 3-hour marathons don’t generally work quite as well, because few people have the stamina to listen to a show for 3-hours straight. Radio shows do it, but they also have a big enough audience that people can come and go without an issue. But again, for the people that download and listen, 3-hours is chalk full of multi-session listening goodness. :)
@SpikeBad: If we can work out the details, I’m totally for it. I don’t know how up for the whole live thing Scott is. I do at least want to give Wayne a chance to catch up since he’s in the process of doing that now. But after watching the last episode of Doctor Who, I’m definitely eager to make this happen.
@Argonauts: This is one of the reasons why I was a bit hesitant to do our Birthday episode as the first call-in show. Topics like Lost are better suited for the live show atmosphere. So I’m glad that the first episode’s structure didn’t turn anyone away from trying this week’s show. So…you are always around in chat. But when you going to give us a call? :)
I never know how my voice is going sound.I think I sound about 17 or something. When I’m nervous I tend to repeat myself few times or I laugh quite a bit. First time,I’ve done a Call-In type thing. Definitely new for me to go into explaining and details of Lost. And there was so much I couldn’t remember off the top of my head.
And I like to listen more than talk sometimes so as Wayne was explaining about how Jack was suppose to die. And Kate was suppose to be the leader.*Nodding my head* yeaah. Instead of giving a real opinion about it.
I say, “Ya know” 10 million times.Lol I said “Yeah” A lot too.
I would love a Doctor Who episode.Since Doctor Who is the main fandom for me , currently.
I wish I could have said more and not gone blank. Or not talk or get into convo.
Ahh! Oh well.
Randy & Wayne:
Did you guys record something differently this time? A lot of the calls are at a really low volume compared to how they sounded when it was live. TNN is especially hard to hear.
That’s because I was in a cave
Sorry I couldn’t make it. :( But I figured as I stopped watching Lost around the half-mark of season 3 I wouldn’t really have anything to contribute. Next week I’ll be there guys. For sures.
@ TNN “That’s because I was in a cave”
Nope. I was trying to say that I heard you fine during the live show, but on this recorded version you (and other callers) are *much* quieter than Randy & Wayne. It’s almost to the point that I have to turn the volume way up to hear the callers, only to have my eardrums explode when Randy and Wayne talk.
The audio levels for the birthday bash call-in show seemed much better for some reason.
@Polygon: Settings get tweaked in the off week. I can always go full around with everything and put up a new version, but it would probably be tomorrow before I would be able to get it up, given how long the conversion takes. And by then, most everyone would have it. I hope it isn’t too bad. I’ll certainly pay more attention to that when I edit the episode next week. The problem is that when I make the episode, I’m listening to a much higher quality original source. So those problems aren’t quite as evident. Also, it runs it through a normalizer. In theory, that should make it better, not worse.
Also, it might help to switch audio sources. If you are listening on Headphones, try a different pair, or switch the speakers. Or vice-versa. Sometimes if the audio range is limited in a source, it will make the situation a lot worse where it would be tolerable in one way.
Anyone else have this problem?
Yeah, the guests were significantly quieter.
yeah the guest were quieter for me too. I listened on my ipod using regular headphones. I just turned my ipod up louder and it was completely understandable, just at different levels.
And here I thought I spoke to loud when I did…speak
Sorry about that guys.
I have a new version of the episode converting now. I know most people aren’t going to want to go back through and listen again, but it will be available just in case. (And for new downloaders).
Should be up in about an hour or so.
Cool.
I just wanted to give you a heads up for future eps, but a new version of this one is good too. :)
New version is up now :)
wow thanks. I’m about 3/4 done now. But I’ll download the new one now and finish that one though since you took the time.
Really interesting in listening, but no way I could handle listening to a 3 hour show. Any chance that when you guys wind up having LOTR-length episodes, that you could split them into multiple parts? (making a break during a lull in conversation or a topic change could work) That might make it a bit easier to digest for folks like myself.
I know of at least one long-form show (Orange Lounge Radio) that pulls it off each week.
Why can’t you use the pause button? Nobody says you have to listen to the whole thing at once. You could just stop it somewhere between callers and restart at the same point later on.
Yeah, I do that all the time with podcasts.
@Brad: There are natural breaks between callers. No real need to insert artificial breaks in there. God, it would have taken even longer with built in breaks. :)
@Polygon_Wizard — no pause for me because if I hit pause on my player, go and listen to another show, then go back to the show I paused it starts back over from the beginning. (not everyone has fancy-schmancy MP3 player ya know)
@Saberj — if ya already have natural breaks in the show, then why not split it?
@Brad: Unnecessary editing. Limited use. What is adding breaks going to do to help anyone exactly? I add a break, you still have to walk away and come back later. You still have to pause it. Unless you specifically mean splitting up the episode. Which I’ve done before in our early days, and won’t go back to. iTunes only recognizes 1 media attachment per post, and only downloads the most recent episode. So people come in wanting a new episode find they only have half of it. And likely only the second half.
Not all of us are gluttons for punishment, Mr. I edit 4 podcasts :P
Anyway, all of that aside, I still don’t get what adding a break into an episode is going to do to add anything to convenience. There is going to be unnecessary steps, either way to get back into an episode. If you just sit at a computer and listen, just jot down your left-off time-stamp. It’s as easy as finding the break you was on before.
The only way I can see it making things easier is if I was doing those bookmarked episodes still. Until that becomes possible without 2 formats, that’s not very easy to do.
@Brad: “(not everyone has fancy-schmancy MP3 player ya know)”
I certainly don’t. I listen to podcasts on my work computer using iTunes. I have an mp3 player, but I really only use it during exercise.
@Saberj — the issues with iTunes is pretty easy to solve …. just do multiple posts. So for example say this LOST eps was split into three parts. Release Part A on day, part B the next, and then part C the following day. You really wouldn’t need that much extra editing really. You could even go as far as releasing the full version first, THEN the individual parts. So the end result would really be an almost daily release of content on the feed. I’m prob not coming across to clear here…..writing was really never one of my strengths, but I’ll show ya what I am talking about the next time you guys come up here.
@Polygon_Wizard — since I work for a pretty big banking institution (too much of a security risk they say), I can’t install outside software on my work computer….so installing iTunes is out for me. That and I don’t like to be tied to a computer anyway when i am listening to my podcasts. The lil 1gig Creative Zen Micro I have works wonders for me.
I’ve got a 2GB Sansa Clip that I like quite a bit. Like I said above, I use it for exercising, so I just have music on it.
I agree, adding breaks or splitting up episodes would be too much of of an inconvience for the hosts in order to please a minority of the audience.
@Polygon_Wizard — I’ve got a Sansa myself (not sure of the exact model) quite nice actually, I love the look, and the sound quality is pretty nice too.
@TotallyNotNick — as a podcaster who edits a fair number of show. I know EXACTALY what is would take to split a show up into multiple parts, and it really isn’t that big of a task. Sure it a little bit more work, but not that darn much. (I’ve had quite a bit of experience in doing this myself)
One net effect of making the shows shorter would be an increase in the number of listeners. It has been my experience that longer-form (an hour or more) shows usually don’t hold the interest of as many listeners as shorter shows do. I’ve seen this happen with not only my own shows, but with other shows I edit, and the other shows in our affiliated network.
I love listening to all of the shows on Geekshow.us, been a listener for a very long time, and the guys to a great job, but dang…..A 3 hour show is just WAY too darn long.
@Brad: I don’t know, man. I understand where you are coming from here. But when I’m done recording an episode, I’m done with it. Garageband is not the easiest program to edit with, especially when you start braking the episode into multiple parts. It already took me close to 2 hours to get the episode up, and that’s not including the second time I had to go in and adjust the volume levels.
I have to use Garbageband. It’s not an option. My mixer literally doesn’t work right with anything else I’ve tried. But even so, I’ve obviously had a lot of experience with longer and shorter episodes. GeekiN used to clock in at under an hour. It clocks in close to 2 hours at times now. I never have a fluctuation of listeners between long and short recordings. BuffCast, Angel, they all always been close to 3 hours. I’ve had maybe 2 or 3 complaints about the time. And actually, I’ve had just as many people suggesting that we make them longer @.@
I assume you use the flash player at work? If that’s the case, I can definitely understand your complaints. But something like 11 people listen to the episode on the web-interface itself. I’d be curious to see what everyone else thinks about the issue, I’m just not sure there is much I can do about it.
Honestly one of my favorite things about geekshow.us podcasts is that they are as long as they need to be. a few podcasts I listen to get to a point where they rush to finish the episode even if they are in a conversation they brush past stuff to speed up.
I’m just a one of the listeners but if there was a poll I would be one of the people voting for the podcasts to be as long as they need. Its very rare that I have become bored listening to an episode, and I’ve never just not finished one.
I understand if some people don’t like it, or just don’t have the time for long shows. If I can’t just resume it automatically later then I just check the running time before I turn it off. it only takes a few seconds to move an audio file forward on most players.
@Saberj — no I don’t use the flash player at work…..for the most part those suck no matter what site you are on. I’ve got a great little workhorse of an MP3 player I use.
Meh….I’m not a GB fan m’self, from what little experience I’ve had with it….just doesn’t work for us. I can show you a really quick and easy way to split a show up, no mess no fuss….easy peasy. Next time you guys head up here I’ll show ya (and get you a copy of the program we use)
@Brad: Literally, nothing likes to work with our Mixer. They can’t understand the Firewire/16 channel setup for some reason. Audition freaks out. Audacity freaks out. Etc. Garageband is the only thing I’ve found that is ok with it.
@Brad: Just do what I do: Whenever I stop listening, I write the number and time of the podcast in my cell phone. I use shorthand, so 77*55 means 55 minutes into the 77th ep.
It works for me even with several podcasts, because nothing else that I currently have on my mp3 player is on ep 77.
Here’s a post I left at another site with some ideas I had about Lost. I realized I should’ve posted here a while ago but it kept slipping my mind somehow.
“I sick of lying” – Jack Shepard
Maybe I’m slow to the draw on this but I think that the lie Jack is talking about isn’t the O6 cover story but rather the lie he’s been telling himself since their rescue.
The cover story isn’t just about protecting the others it’s also allowing Jack to deny the supernatural experiences of the island which challenge his world view. And by extension Jack is denying his destiny.
Jack’s first leap of faith when he pushed the button in S.2 (which he later recanted) was a foreshadowing of the larger leap faith that he’ll need to take in the future. Returning to the Island is to Jack what pushing the button is to Locke.
“You’ve got work to do”, this is a phrase we’ve heard repeated three times since the S.3 finale. Every character to hear this has heard it after being spared from certain death. Tom said it to Michael after his failed suicide attempt; Walt said it to Locke after he was shot by Ben; and Christian said it about Jack (not to him directly) after he survived what should’ve been a fatal plane crash (if that doesn’t sounds familiar please see the canonical Lost: Missing Pieces episode #13). These characters have been spared from death by “The Island” (whatever that means) so that they can fulfill their destiny.
But the characters have to agree to follow their destiny, there’s still an element of free will involved. Eko said “no” to the island and he died for it (Eko was the biblical Jacob in reverse. He refused to inherit his brother’s birth right).
Since S1 we’ve seen the Christian Shepard apparition try to communicate unsuccessfully to Jack. Clearly there’s an important message to be delivered but Jack has not said “yes” to his destiny. He’s still the man of science.
We’re seeing Jack move towards his destiny (facilitated in part by the death of Locke I’m guessing.). His willingness to co-operate with Ben is definitely a massive development for his character. When he’s finally ready (returning Locke’s body maybe a test for him, similar to Locke and Ben having to kill their fathers. Notice that fathers consistently represent destiny, even Eko’s brother was a priest so it’s a play on words.) When he passes the test he and Christian will finally have the conversation they were meant to have since S.1.
Desmond will probably be instrumental to Jack’s development. In season 2 he restored faith to Locke (returning the favor) and appearance convinced Jack to push the button. His phone call to penny 8 years later could also be seen as a restoration of faith. He is a harbinger of faith, almost the polar opposite of his name sake David Hume.
One of the best things about the writing in lost is how convincingly Ben is able to worm his way into peoples lives. First Locke, then Sawyer, now Jack. He knows exactly when to approach people and what to offer them. But he’s successful because he’s a herald of the island. He’s destiny’s messenger. He’s evil because destiny is a sinister force. Most of the character’s rightfully scared of accepting their destiny.