Episode 69 - "Mikael, Part 1"

A spectacularly interesting interview this week with Mikael Rudolph -- more information at www.MikaelTheMime.com. The name of the site gives you a hint at his profession! The general discussion revolves around the history of Mikael's art and the challenge (and importance!) of non-verbal communication.

Please bear with the odd digital echoes or "hiccups", which come and go through just the first five minutes or so of the interview. I don't know how they got there (something goofy with the Skype recording) and wish I could get rid of them, but I can't... and my biggest fear is that you (the dedicated listener) will get so annoyed by them that you'll tune out. But bear with the bad audio -- the interview is worth it, and it does get better just a few minutes in.

(I think the last blip is at 8:50 and it's completely clear from that point forward. So if you can't manage to listen through the early noise, at least fast-forward to that point in the podcast and try again... though, without Mikael's background from the previous few minutes, the rest of the interview won't make nearly as much sense!)

The only advantage of my little recording problem is that, after suffering through that audio mess, you won't notice the little "dit-dit-dit" teletype sound of audio interference deep inside my computer.

(Hey, this "recording a telephone call" stuff is tricky!)

What was going to be a 20 or 30 minute conversation with Mikael lasted more than an hour, so Part 2 of the interview will appear next week.

If you have any thoughts/comments, be sure to call 206-339-3742 (206-339-ERIC) or e-mail eric at ericast.com!

Episode 68 - "Broken Soccerball Puzzle"

Today's title was brought to you to day by the letter C, and the number 2. My two-year-old daughter, Candela, made an astute observation while I was looking at the Wikipedia, and the title seemed fitting.

Just some general topics this week, including a mention of Personal Learning Environments (that link is just one of many many many, BTW) and my excitement that the Minnesota DNR has their historical aerial photos incorporated into their online Landview utility.

So take a listen, then comment by e-mailing me (eric) at ericast.com, or -- better yet! -- call our listener feedback line at 206-339-ERIC (206-339-3742) and tell us what you think!

Episode 67 - "Hear Joann Speak!"

Slipping ever-so-slightly back into an earlier timeslot, here's an excellent interview (disclaimer: excellence completely dependent on the interview subject in this case) with one of the "voices of the Ericast". Hear what Joann does in her day job (and, given her knowledge and experience, it's no surprise that she got her day job).

(In a nutshell, we're talking about communication and storytelling in the context of university instruction. But wouldn't you rather just listen and be surprised?)

Microphone issues abound, so my apologies for the poor sound quality. By the time the end of the podcast rolls around, it sounds halfway decent.

We close with what's probably my favorite song from Tim Lemmens -- the title track to his CD, "Great, Great Love".

Questions or comments? You know the number: 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. the conveniently memorable 206-339-ERIC) or e-mail me ("eric") at ericast.com.

Ericast 66 - "Feast or Famine!"

This episode represents the single greatest moment in the history of the Ericast. No joke. Those of you who represent the small, tight-knit family of Ericast listeners are now taking part in a podcast community that is officially "cool" from this day forward.

I went from having a bunch of kinda-blah topics to having a bunch of great topics! So we start chipping away at them, starting with the best (in my opinion).

I can't give away the surprise, but one of the first things you'll hear is me following up on the discussion of the famous Country Crock commercials and the voice work of Casey DeFranco (who I was reminded of when I'd heard Garrick Van Buren's wife on his First Crack Podcast).

Trust me... it pays to listen a couple minutes longer to find out why I'm still talking about the Country Crock commercials.

After the thrilling conclusion (or is it just the beginning?) of that topic, I also talk a bit about Joann's voice-over talents... so if you'd like to hear her say something more than "visit us at www.ericast.com" in this podcast, this is the episode you want to hear! (Want to be mean to your voiceover artist? Have her read sentences that contain evil phrases like "as its associate". Joann handled it beautifully.)

Things I don't quite get to include the Windows Vista public beta, my problematic GoDaddy upgrade which hosed my search-engine-friendly Content Management System (known in the business as -- I'm not kidding -- my SEF CMS), and my frustration with companies who think that good customer service can be delivered by a form letter. But the glory of the rest of the episode overshadowed these topics, so they'll come back another day soon.

Ericast 65 - "Nothin' to Say!"

Since there wasn't rousing interest in the recording of my Classrooms of the Future presentation, I decided to skip doing the second half of this week -- too much work to do on a beautiful day like this. Instead, I just spend a few minutes talking about the things I'm not going to talk about. Mmmmmmm... now that's good podcastin'!

If you'd like to comment (not that there's much to comment on), call 206-339-ERIC (which is 206-339-3742) or drop an e-mail to eric at ericast.com. You'll be glad you did!