Someone named Clive has started a cool project to get folks to help him remix three songs into even better rockinger anthems than they already are. One of the songs is called ‘The Sword and the Laser’ and is based on our book club Sword and Laser.
If you at all are even amused by such bands as Kansas, Rush, Billy Thorpe, etc., you will love it.
Check it out at TheCliveRoyalProject.com.
Really, most of the episode is about The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan:
UPDATE: Hopefully the file will work now in iTunes!
We disucssed the paralells to other fantasy worlds like Lord of the Rings and even World of Warcraft. We also passed along Randy’s post from the Ning site about the Robert Jordan convention which you can find out more about by visiting
www.AgeofLegends.net.
But then we got to talking about Watchmen near the end and one thing led to another. It all came back around to Robert Jordan though as we discussed Sean O’Hara’s Ning thread called Sexbots and dragons.
Speaking of the Ning group, we called out a couple of user-created groups that aren’t related to official book club selections. Take a gander at the Alternate History group if you like to pretend things are different than they way they really are. And a really cool group that crosses TV fandom with literature, The Lost literary references group.
Finally we settled on Frank Herbert’s Dune as the next book. We’ll kick it off in the April episode, so if you have any questions, or non-spoiler thoughts for newbies to the book, let us know here in the comments
Tom and Roger review Watchmen, Battlestar Galactica and the philosophical and economic repercussions thereof.
Listen to the episode at this link: http://www.archive.org/download/RogerChangandTomMerrittEastMeetsWest154/eastmeetswest154.mp3
Dave Brodbeck, AKA Dave the Psychologist from BuzzTown had me on his podcast Thunderbird 6 to just talk about what I do at CNET and how got to do what I do. It was a blast to talk with somebody I normally intereact with in short bursts over email and Twitter.
Listen to the podcast at this link: http://www.thunderbirdsix.org/episodes/t6_episode63.mp3
I had a fantastic time as usual guesting on The Phileas Club podcast hosted by Patrick Beja. The idea of his podcast is to find people from all parts of the world and get them to share their perspectives on the big news of the day, while also sharing what’s going on in their local region.
Turki from Saudi Arabia is a regular on the show and an invaluable peek into what’s going on there. We were also lucky enough to get Julio, an engineer from the European Space Agency, who is Argentinian, lives in the Netherlands and works in space. You gotta listen.
YOu can find the episode at this link: http://www.thephileasclub.com/2009/03/episode-10-usans/
Roger went to Wondercon and reports back on Watchmen, Chuck, Terminator and more.
Listen to the show at this link: http://www.archive.org/download/RogerChangandTomMerrittEastMeetsWest153/eastmeetswest153.mp3
Had a fantastic time guest-hosting on one of my favorite podcasts yesterday. The Instance with Randy Jordan and Scott Johnson is a World of Warcraft podcast. The only thing that sucks about being on it is that I love to listen to it, and now I already have. But that shouldn’t cheat you. We talk about some wide-ranging tech stuff actually inclusing the eco-system for independent modders.
Listen to the episode at this link: http://www.myextralife.com/wow/?p=590
This week we check in on the beginning of the Wheel of Time series. Veronica’s ahead of me and says the thing really picks up right after the point I stopped. Which makes me think she’s just trying to get me to start reading again. Which is fine. One of the problems is I’m reading Watchmen at the same time in advance of the movie. I’ll share a few impressions about that with you as well. We also discuss the book Daemon as reviewed on Slashdot. Should it be our next book choice?
Finally we take some reader comments, including a Wheel of Time Drinking Game and someone calling the last book “pants.” We’re pretty sure that means he didn’t like it. Welcome to the wonderful world of monthly Sword and Laser! Woo-hoo! Pant
Special thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song, Mr. Fancy Pants! Go buy it here!
As promised in the most recent podcast, our good friend Ryan (a.k.a. TuxOtaku) has set up a Sword and Laser IRC channel! Here are the details:
Server: irc.revision3.com
Room: #swordandlaser
We’ll be doing some scheduled chats soon, but otherwise feel free to pop in and say hello from time to time! Just be mindful of spoilers (in fact, let’s keep current book discussion to a minimum unless otherwise noted).
In this installment of our new monthly format, we talk about our progress in the current book selection from Robert Jordan. We also touch on Watchmen, Daemon, and of course, pants.
Get the episode here.