Haunted Library Presentation - One Month Off

If you support me on Patreon (and shame on you if you don't), you may have heard that I've been trying to get a "haunted library" presentation to happen at my place of employment for a year now.  When I found out the library was unwilling to pay even a single dollar to the local folklorist/ghost hunter, someone suggested I just do the presentation on my own.

And that appears to be exactly what we're doing, one month from today, with me as the sole presenter (I had arranged it with one of the librarians, thinking we'd present it together, but she seems keen to step back and let me do all the heavy-lifting*).  I have been thinking about what I'll say and which stories I will tell, and we did put out a call for other library employees (and visitors) to share their own experiences, but I imagine I will ad-lib most of it, since to me, it's not that different from podcasting.

I will keep you posted . . . especially if I see any ghosts between now and then.

*Although she did put together a flier promoting the event that showed up last Friday. 

I Discuss "The Measure of a Man" with Marshal Latham and Keith Teklits

 A long time ago, I got together with Marshal Latham and Keith Teklits to watch the extended version of the excellent Star Trek: TNG second season episode* titled "The Measure of a Man."  It's the one where Data goes on trial to determine if he is a person or property.

We discussed the episode for their "Trekkin'" series over at the Journey Into... podcast.  Did I cry?  You have to ask???  And it's been long enough since we recorded it that I look forward to listening to it RIGHT HERE.

*Yeah, the second season IS the worst one.  But even it had some gems in it.

Damned Poltergeist Again

 I was doing my rounds at the end of the night, and I stumbled upon this . . . 

Oh my god.  

Building blocks piled as high as conceivably possible, dangerously so.  This is it, veritable proof of spirits beyond the mortal veil!  Evidence of the afterlife!  And those wandering spirits love playing with Legos!

Or, I suppose, it could've been some kid that did it.  Hmm.

Podcast That Dares 71: Landlady & Skin

Rish performs two Roald Dahl short stories: 1959's "The Landlady," about a young man looking for a boarding house in a new town; and 1952's "Skin," about an old man in Paris with a very unusual tattoo.

To download the episode, just Right-Click HERE.

To support me on Patreon, click HERE.

Logo by Gino "Skinlady" Moretto.

How Do They Know?

So, this one is a little bit weird.  

As you may know, Spock, I am on YouTube way too much.  When I'm working in the morning, when I'm running at night, when I'm driving to the cabin, when I'm trying to go back to sleep after waking up at seven to confer with ye olde china oracle, when I'm in the storage unit fighting the combined sinister forces of entropy and disorganization.  And part of the reason for that is the algorithm, which pitches me videos that it thinks I might like (also, the damned AutoPlay keeps switching itself on every few weeks, showing me one video after another until I remember to turn it off again).  

And advertisements are like that too--the website and/or phone is tracking my preferences, gauging my interests, scrutinizing my habits, and, in certain cases, seeming to be reading my mind.

Look at these two screen-captures from my phone, from different days, different videos.  See anything in common?

Take, for instance, that I keep seeing this ad, at the bottom of whatever I'm watching.  It's this girl, in a black and white striped shirt, with some kind of harlequin makeup on or something . . . and she's, like, exactly all the things I'm most attracted to.  She couldn't be more up my alley if she had a tattoo of Spider-man right below her bellybutton.*

But it gives me pause.  How do they know?

Look, I understand a phone knowing that I like Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and "Knight Rider," and operas about sinners burning in Hell, and kittens dressed in fighting armor, and bikini pictures of Cloris Leachman.  Who doesn't?  But I'm not even sure this person is a real flesh 'n blood girl, or that the algorithm calculated what I would most quickly notice and/or pay attention to, and were it your phone it would've conjured a very different girl, or boy, or old person, or in Marshal Latham's case, Muppet (he is deeply unwell).

And honestly, it doesn't really matter how they know, in the end.  I noticed it one night, I re-noticed a couple of nights later, and I started doing a screenshot every time after that (the accompanying images represent a week or more).  So, in a way, they totally succeeded.  But me thinking a girl in an ad is attractive is one thing (and blogging about it), but me actually CLICKING ON the ad, which I have not yet done, is very different.  So, they haven't really succeeded, have they?

Yet.

*This is true--I'm not really a tattoo guy.  Sorry.

I Narrate "Hunters Unlucky," Now On YouTube

Back in 2013, Abigail Hilton took a chance on a green and hungry audiobook narrator and hired me to perform her first novel, "Hunters Unlucky."

Of course, we fought like creasia and ferryshaft (I still remember her calling me at work accusing me of trying to take the book away from her*), but eventually would come to understand each other.  And we're, like, six "Hunters" books later, and our productions tend to run more smoothly and with less pressure on either side, including this year, when I narrated the first act of her sequel "Thrive."

"Hunters Unlucky" tells of an island of sentient animals that have been at war with the two main species, the ferryshaft (a sort of cross between a deer and a fox, though Abbie may have to correct me) and the creasia (big, ferocious cats).  The main character, Storm, is a young ferryshaft who, despite being small and relatively defenseless, is faster and more agile than his enemies. But Storm will have to be more than fast to survive . . . he'll have to be clever.

It's an excellent book, and while there are many follow-ups, this one stands alone as a self-contained epic adventure.  And while there are a few things I would change, were I narrating it now, I am immensely proud of my performance in it (and would take far longer to do the book today than then, despite a decade of learning since then).  And though the later books get far more adult, this first one is pretty universal, though there's plenty of good old fashioned violence throughout.

Abbie has a sequel in the works she would like to raise money for via Kickstarter, but you can listen to all twenty-four hours of "Hunters Unlucky" RIGHT HERE over on YouTube.  Let's see if you're fast enough to survive.

*Which has literally happened to her in the years since then, with strangers downloading her audio and then trying to sell it as though they owned it.

Rish Outcast 337: What It's All About

Big Anklevich joins Rish for his new sketch "What It's All About." A father and son drive along, contemplating the meaning of songs.

Wikipedia may disagree, however.

Remember, you can download the file by Right-Clicking HERE.

Don't forget, you can support my Patreon by clicking HERE.

Logo by Gino "All About What It Is" Moretto.