New GhostCake Unbodied Episode: My robo roommate

Yes, here is the place for you to put questions or comments about the show. If you haven't listened to it yet, go here and download it. You can find the show on iTunes too by searching for ghost cake. 

This episode is another story from The Unbodied, which is the radio theater incarnation of the show. I really enjoy doing these episodes because it's so much fun to get everyone together to record. It does, however, take a very long time to edit the show as well. I was spending an hour or two to edit about ten minutes. Most of that time was taken up by trying to find the right sounds from freesound.org. I'm trying to figure out a quicker way to edit everything so I can get more episodes out. 

I've been trying to decide if I should split the show into two shows, one for my adventures around town and the other for the stories. It really depends on whether some people would only listen to one kind of show or the other. Speaking of which, I'm going to try to record another episode for next week. There's supposedly a really cool place in the Great Salt Lake that has all these random things in the water, so I need to check it out. I also need to explore the African Market and the Indoor Swap Meet. 

Does anybody really care if I base most of the shows in Salt Lake City? I don't usually mention exactly where things take place, but when I do I like to say they are going on here. I guess if I lived in New York I'd probably set the stories there mostly. 

I've realized too that most of the downloads are from people I don't know. I'd like to get a feel for what everyone thinks about the show, so if you want to give me feedback, please do. 

New Ghost Cake episode: Grocery Field Recording

Another amazing ghostcake episode. I've decided to take out the space between those two words, but I'll probably regret it later. In this episode I make a field recording of my trip to the grocery store. I'd like to do more field recordings in the future, ones in stranger places. 

Leave any questions or comments here. 

In other news, my apartment is warm again after being bitterly cold for several days. The boiler was on the fritz. The cold immobilized me. I'd like to get out more, but with work being so crazy for the end of the year and the cold, short days I haven't had much luck. 

I'm also thinking that I should write more in here. With any luck I'll have more time to.

New Ghost Cake episode: Proposition 8 Protest

You can leave comments for the show here. If you haven't listened to the show, go to this link and do it!



When I got to the protest I felt much more secure. I was worried it would be about five queens shouting at the temple. There were around 2,000 people there. I hope some sort of change occurs because of this and other efforts.

New Ghost Cake episode: Mummy Time

The latest episode of my show is a little bit about mummies, a little bit about the elections, a little bit about depression glass and a whole lotta fun. I talk about the Chinchorro mummies from Chile, which are the oldest known mummies in the world. They predate Egyptian mummies by almost two thousand years.

You can listen to the show by searching for it at iTunes: ghost cake. It'll pop up under podcasts. If you aren't of the iTunes persuasion you can find the show here Feel free to leave any comments or questions here. And, if you are a new listener to the show, let me know where you're listening to it, just for fun.

New Ghost Cake episode: Spooky Stories

My latest show is up on iTunes: ghost cake. Or, you can find it on lordshipslimbs.blogspot.com

This episode is about local ghost stories. Most of them are about the pioneers, but there is one more recent story. I also conduct an EVP session. That stands for Electronic Voice Phenomenon and people say it is audio proof of ghosts. The ghosts supposedly say things that only a recorder can pick up. If you search for EVPs in Google you'll find some good ones. If you live in Utah you can look at the Utah Ghost Organization at Utahghost.org. They have all of the investigations on the site, with pictures, videos and EVPs. It's fun to look at.

Leave questions or comments here.

New Ghost Cake episode: The Unbodied Debut

Here's another episode I've put my heart and soul into (or, if I believed in souls it would be in there). For this episode I wrote and directed a radio play. A horror radio play. I was inspired by those old radio programs from the thirties and forties that would come out with scary stories every week, or sometimes every day. They would have a diverse array of stories. Sometimes they would be predictable but sometimes they would be so entirely weird and offbeat that it made up for the conventional ones. I think horror and science fiction was (and still is) an arena to develop offbeat ideas. It can often be a mirror, reflecting societal values in a different light.

I don't really deal with any flawed societal mores but I did have a great deal of fun making this show. I had to come up with actors and make sound effects. It was difficult to put together but I enjoyed it. I might do at least one show like this every month. I was also considering having a section of the show be devoted to bizarre and unique locations in Utah. I think most of the people who listen to the show are from Utah, but maybe others would be interested in that sort of thing.

Yeah, go take a listen to the show on iTunes by searching for ghost cake. If you don't have iTunes you can get it direct from this site: lordshipslimbs.podomatic.com.

Let me know what you think about it.

New Ghost Cake episode: Obama Rama!

The latest episode of the show should be coming onto iTunes shortly. If you want to get it from my podomatic page, then I think you go to lordshipslimbs.podomatic.com. Anyway, leave your comments or questions here.

I will hopefully have another regular episode of Ghost Cake on Thursday, but don't hold your breath. I had some difficulties getting it recorded. It makes me yearn for the day when I'll be out of school. This is my last year!

Also, I got a doggy on Sunday. He is cute. I'll talk about him later.

New Ghost Cake episode: Greek Festival

In which you will hear my attempts to eavesdrop on people, eat gyros, win fish and eventually go searching for a Doctor Who style overcoat. I still haven't found one. If you haven't listened to my show yet I'd like to tell you to go to iTunes and type in Ghost Cake to find it. Or, you can find it at lordshipslimbs.podomatic.com.

If you want to post questions or comments, do it here! Thanks.

I Might Be Stealing Someone's Idea

I'm trying to come up with a title for a section of my show where I feature a horrorific story of my creation. I thought of The Undesirables but when I put that into a search engine I got the following videos. They don't appear to be related in any way except that maybe the dorky man's misogyny caused the second woman to feel bad. 










The first movie is simply hilarious. I love that this guy has such an inferiority complex that he has to come up with some conspiracy why he can't get a date. And here's something to think about: if the Illuminati is really going to kill all of the obese people, wouldn't that mean they'd have to kill at least half the U.S. population? I'm going to be watching my weight. This sorry fellow has about 370 videos, most of which detail his frustrations with women. In the background you can see a twin bed in what appears to be a basement. It's hard to get the hot chicks to come home with you if you have to drag them down to your mom's basement.

I don't think the second movie is particularly funny, but I do like the host. She's pretty mystical. Beautiful women feeling bad about their bodies is pretty fucked up (any woman feeling bad is fucked up too, women are special people).

In any event, I've decided against The Undesirables for now. Maybe The Unpleasants or The Horrifics? I'm going to have to sleep on it. 

Also, I've moved my show to Podomatic so that I may be able to release it on iTunes. And guess what, it's there! If you open iTunes and type in ghost cake it should appear. I have a new episode on there with one more in the works. 

New Podcast: Geoff's Garden Visit

My fourth episode is now available! I'm particularly excited about this one because I did a little more producing to make it all sound better. Listen as I explore my garden and then talk to a robot. I'm proud of it. 

I'm going to start writing more conventional posts next week. I've just felt like I needed to get these out as soon as possible to get a better feel for improving quality. 

New Podcast: 8.8.08 Failure and Argyle Canyon

Hot off the oven is my latest podcast, 8.8.08 Failure and Argyle Canyon. I like this one because I went on so many little adventures. Give a listen and then tell me what you think.

If you're having problems downloading it to listen on an mp3 player, let me know.

New Podcast: Leslie's Birthday

I've completed the second podcast: Leslie's Birthday. It's longer than the first one, and more freeform. The next ones are more structured.

Click on this to download and listen to it. Let me know what you think.

Fruits of My Labor

I have finally completed my reupholstering. It took much longer than I had anticipated, but I had thought it would only take two days. Here's a pic I managed to find on the camera of what the chair looked like when I was tearing the old fabric off.


When I was all done removing the old fabric the chair looked pretty lonely.

I had to rip out some of the old batting because it was in the way. I later learned that I should have kept as much of it as I could in order to recushion it. Oh well. After I was all done with this I began laying out the old pieces to be used as patterns. Because of several tears I had a difficult time determining what was supposed to be cut, but by laying the old piece on the chair I was able to figure it out. While I cut the new pieces I listened to the TV, something I love to do while I'm working on a project. I went through hours of travel shows, cooking shows, a documentary about Muhammad Ali and even some Olympics while I cut fabric.

When I was finally ready to start upholstering, I began with the skirt. The first piece was really easy, but the bottom piece was difficult. I had to staple the bottom to the top, making sure to conceal the staples and keep everything level. It took me close to an hour to do just that.

I went onto the arm next. Although this part of the chair was the most complex looking, it was the easiest to attach. That was probably because the piece was very fitted. I learned how to use a sewing machine in order to sew the tiny pieces for the arm. For some reason I had a fear of sewing machines, but I surmounting those worries. It was pretty easy to keep everything tight too because I could use one hand to staple and the other to hold down the fabric. After the arm I did the bottom side and then finished with the back.

Here's the end result. What do you think? In case you are wondering, I still have to do the cushion. I got tired after doing the chair itself, plus I didn't want to do more sewing yet. This project was surprisingly easy. Everyone I talked to thought it was such a grand undertaking. I've never done anything like this before and it went well. If anyone is thinking of reupholstering something themselves I would give the following tips:

1) Take the old fabric off carefully because you'll be using it as a pattern
2) Pictures help, as well as writing down where everything goes as you take off fabric
3) Measuring the new fabric several times before you cut it, and placing it on the furniture to see where you need to cut before cutting
Don't be afraid! It's not that hard.

I'm going to be putting together more material for my podcast, which I will hopefully post by tomorrow. It's audio from a friend's birthday. Interesting conversation. I have my recordings from Argyle Canyon (where I was over the weekend) so I will add that too later. I have been speaking with a friend a little about combining forces and creating a podcast. It could be amazing.

Here it is!

I think I've got this all figured out.

Click here to see my little podcast thingy.

Tell me if it works.

Time to Work on My To-Do List

I have been given five days off from work. This happens to every employee every year in order to cash out all of our vacation time and to decide if we should be fired or rehired. I'm pretty confident I have been rehired, as my name was still on the schedule for next week, but I always get a little nervous initially. I actually wish they had given me this entire week off, but what can you do.

What I can do is work on a few projects I've been interested in for some time. The first one is reupholstering my chair. I found this chair across the street from Joey's old place. It was slated to be thrown away but I took it. I like the shape and the design of it because it feels very 60's to me. I like the fabric as well, but it is frayed quite a bit in several places. Today I decided to begin tearing it apart to put new fabric on it. Here's a pic of it before I began.



Pretty cute, huh? It took me about four hours to tear, pry or otherwise cajole the fabric into coming off. Don't worry, I watched two videos of Doctor Who in that time period. I was relieved to find that most of the fabric was stapled on and not sewed. The fabric itself was so worn that it was easier to tear it off at most points than use the hammer. By the end, cream-colored bunches of padding lay bunched on the floor along with plenty of small tacks. I made sure to step on several of them.

I took note of where the fabric fit in and how it was attached to the wood. I thought that taking pictures would help, and I took several, or thought I did...when I tried to look at them on the camera the card was full. I think I can manage without them. Tomorrow I am going to look for fabric. I would like something that looks mid century, but I don't know what I'll find.

I'm still trying to figure out the whole podcast thing, but it seems to be getting more and more complicated. I think I'm going to deal with that tomorrow.

It's Not Done Yet

I recorded some stuff on my new Zoom H2, but I haven't set up a podcast yet. If you are interested, send me your email in a comment (I'll write down the address and delete the comment so you don't get spam) and I will send you the audio file. It is about eight minutes long, so you can listen to it while you count to 480.

I have realized that having a podcast is a little more difficult than I expected. I have to come up with an RSS feed before I can put it on iTunes. Before I do that I want to decide exactly what my podcast will be about and have a clearer idea of how it will all work. In the meantime I'm going to be experimenting. I've already figured out how to use the microphone gain and setting the maximum decibels. The microphone is pretty sensitive; it could pick up the grasshoppers singing outside by me just holding the recorder out the window. I hope by the end of this week to have a plan for my podcast. Maybe I can use this blog for the feed?

In other news, we have been watching my neighbor's cat all day. He is a kitten named Rocky and he is pretty adorable. I feel sorry for him because I think he doesn't get enough attention. His owner is often busy. I have unofficially named myself his godfather. I wander around with him making sure he gets enough water and sees all of the cool things in my apartment. He likes to explore, which can be cute and frustrating. He was engrossed in my activity of cutting up vegetables, trying to stick his furry little face in the food. But I can't stay mad at him at all. My favorite thing is to put him on the roof and watch him stalk the birds. He loves it.

An attempt to defrost my freezer went nowhere. The ice in there is so hard, and I felt pretty primitive hacking at it with a flathead. I'm sure that was how cavemen would have defrosted their fridges, but this is 2008 and I want a better way to deal with it. I need to figure it out soon because the freezer gets smaller all the time and everything in there is getting coated with ice. It's like someone shot my jalepino poppers with the gun straight out of Batman Forever. Where is George Clooney with his horrible anatomically correct batsuit when I need him? 

Time to fold laundry!

We're Gettin' Busy!

I wanted to show some of my estate sale finds from yesterday. I got two books for a total of $1.50. The first book I got was this Rap! book. It contains all of the latest hot artists, like De La Soul, MC Hammer, 3rd Bass and others. I liked the pictures the most. There was a section on how to write your own rap, which I might be doing soon.  The stories were pretty inspiring too. Did you know that Salt N' Peppa used to be called Supernature? They changed the name because fans thought it was a better name. And, did you know there was never anyone named N'? Fascinating. I remember that song they had about sex. They wanted to talk about it. Or maybe that was some other group. The talented Milli Vanilli is featured in this publication. I wish I could get my hair that long, but it just gets all curly. Each picture shows a candid moment in the superstars' life. 

There was an informative section on how to street speak. Apparently I really needed to read this section because I would have said "How to speak in a manner appropriate for the street". In any case, I learned that I can call my friends my crew or posse, and when someone is told to chill they should cool off. 

I also got this Flash Gordon book. It's a short story with a record in the back. I never really got into Flash Gordon when I was little. I have listened to some of the really old radio shows and they are pretty entertaining. He has a girlfriend named Dale. I want to see the movie they made in the 80's. I've heard it's pretty bad.

I don't think any of this stuff is worth very much, but it is pretty interesting. I wish the Flash Gordon book was in color, but I did like the illustrations. I can't believe that a book coming out in 1982 would still have a record in the back. Oddly enough, I have a record player but not a tape player, so I wouldn't have been able to listen to it otherwise.                                                                           

In other news, I have done some of my first audio recordings and will be making them into a podcast soon. I don't know how to put them on here so I will direct you to where they are. My first episode will be about being in a bar. In all honesty, these recordings were just for me to get a feel for how it all works.   

Overnightscape

It has been another exhausting day. I signed a lease for an apartment so I have been drinking some champagne to celebrate. I'll talk more about it later.

I wanted to tell you about a podcast I have been listening to since December. I am on a constant quest to find good podcasts to listen to and I think The Overnightscape is one of the best. It originally attracted me because of its long episodes. I was working 12 hour shifts and I could use all the distractions I could handle. I was drawn in by the variety of topics being discussed. The podcast is hosted by Frank Edward Nora and is a monologue most of the time, although he does occasionally have guests on. I enjoyed hearing him broadcast from the streets of New York City (literally, you can hear the cars honking and the people talking). He describes what he sees, his past memories and sometimes even his dreams. Product reviews are a frequent addition to the show. You see life through his eyes, and although it is colored by his own experiences and biases it only serves to make the view much more unique.

The Overnightscape Underground consists of Frank's various adventures, from distant malls to tunnels and street fairs. It perfectly encompasses the feeling of a journey because he records all of the ambient noise you might encounter had you taken the journey itself. Despite the fact that this is audio and not visual Frank summons a more than adequate description of his surroundings to enable you to see where he is in your mind's eye.

This podcast is a great piece of contemporary culture that should not be missed. It has inspired me to experiment with other media to express myself. Hopefully when my life has calmed down some more I'll be able to do more. In the mean time, check out The Overnightscape here.