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Emmersive Sci-Fi Podcast “The Leviathan Chronicles”

July 16th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Entertainment, Lifestyle, Technology, Tidbits, books, iTunes

The audio book has long been a literary tradition pretty much since the first years of audio recording. When radio became widespread, serial-format shows were often broadcast in the eveningLeviathan2s after most American families had finished dinner and were settling down.

Now, we listen to broadcasts in all sorts of ways: iPods, streaming audio, the radio, satellite radio, or via a subscription online such as a podcast (which can in turn be played on an iPod or in iTunes or another audio player).

The serial-format radio drama still exists today! A neat one I recently discovered called “The Leviathan Chronicles” is divided up into chapters, available as episodes of a podcast online.

From what I can tell from the first chapter, it appears to be about a Chinese and an American sub that wind up in the same trench at the same time. An accidental firing sets off some sort of an energy pulse below the surface of the ocean. A year later, a government agent is called in to investigate what happened, because the signal from under the ocean was answered… from space.

So far, the presentation is pretty engaging. The background audio sounds like the ocean up against the outside of a sub wall, so you feel like you’re actually listening in inside a submarine. Also, instead of just a straight read-through, there are actors reading the lines of the characters, and a sexy female British voice reading the narration.

Sponsored by Leviathan Chronicles

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Hot Date: Olive Garden and Baby Mama

Last night I had a hot date with my girl. I showed up at her place and I was dressed up to try and look good for her, but it was pretty irrelevant next to the sight I saw when she opened the front door. She was gorgeous! She wore this little black dress she has borrowed from a friend. It’s a little low cut but tasteful, straps, bows, etc. and an open back. She had her hair down but back, and she was glittery (she calls it shimmer). She was also wearing fish nets and combat boots. Yeah, that’s my girl! Be jealous.

We drove out of town, because our small mountain town doesn’t have too many good restaurants, and went to an Olive Garden, which happens to be one of our favorite restaurants. The breadsticks were delicious as usual. I had the potato and sausage soup, which was delicious but I burnt my tongue - my own fault. She had salad. She ordered the Tour of Italy (basically three entrees: lasagna, chicken parmigiana, and fettuccine alfredo) and I had the Steak Gorgonzola over fettuccine alfredo. We followed that up with dessert (and more than half our food in boxes) - tiramisou for me and a black tie chocolate mousse cake for her.

The waiter came by with the check and said “Oh, by the way, don’t tell anyone, but dessert is on me.” That must have been about $12 worth of free dessert he just gave us. Overall, our dining experience was awesome. The waiter gave us excellent service, and I spent the money I would have spent on dessert on his tip.

We left Olive Garden (or the “OG” as I refer to it) and went to Books-a-Million to window shop. Kylara picked up some bargain bin books, and I picked up Cracking the GMAT (2008 with DVD) to help me study and pass the GMAT sometime soon. I think I’m going to have to use my Economic Stimulus Payment to cover the test cost - it’s about $250 to take it, and I don’t intend to have to take it more than once.

We finished up our evening away by seeing “Baby Mama” - the new movie with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Dax Shepherd, Steve Martin, Sigourney Weaver, and Greg Kinnear - where Tina Fey needs someone to be a surrogate mother, so she hires lower-class white-trash Amy Poehler’s character to do the job. There are some other plot twists that weren’t mentioned in the trailers, but certainly make it slightly more interesting than it looked in commercials. I enjoyed the movie and laughed a lot - but if you’re on the fence about seeing it in theaters or waiting to rent the DVD - wait to rent it.

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The Point Blank Critic

The Point Blank CriticMy friend just recently decided to start his own review blog called The Point Blank Critic. He’s really into trying new kinds of beer, Apple (Mac) computers and products, music, movies, video games, and technology in general. He also happens to be a pretty good cook, and one of my best friends. These last two interests are not necessarily cause-and-effect, but being a good cook is a nice bonus to have in a friend.

For his first blog post, he’s started what he says will be a regular event: Free Drink Friday - where he hopes to review a different beer weekly. The goal: to save people from horrible, cheap, piss-water beer. He does not claim to be a beer snob; The Point Blank Critic will be reviewing national brands as well as local breweries and microbreweries. From what I know of him, there’s more good reviews in store. Be sure and bookmark The Point Blank Critic at PointBlankCritic.com.

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Web Comics: Real Life Comics by Greg Dean

Real Life - Greg’s Notes EditionComic author and artist Greg Dean’s web comic strip “Real Life Comics” is just that - a comical look at both real and some fictional aspects of his actual life. The characters are named after real people for the most part, and tell amusing anecdotes from Greg’s life. He is married to a woman named Liz, and since I’ve been reading have moved across the country several times.

They also have the Real Life Support Group, through which readers can donate and get cool digital gifts like Real Life Comics wallpaper. Every Christmas Greg and Liz send out Christmas cards to those who donate and even sell 10-packs of cards with a special Christmas design on them. I was not fortunate enough to be able to buy Greg’s first book, but he has a new book out now that is essentially the Cliff’s Notes guide to Real Life, a “best-of” if you will of the comic to date. It’s for sale now on the website and available through Lulu self-publishing.

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