Frank Ramblings

Yes, it is possible. Not easy by any means, but possible. I’ve tested it myself and it works. Enhanced AAC is becoming increasingly popular among podcasters because it allows for a more interactive audio/visual experience. AAC allows for chapter divisions and changing artwork throughout the course of the podcast. This is especially useful for podcasts about TV and film because the host can include screen shots to accompany their commentary.

AAC has always been an option for Mac users only. Until now, the only way to create Enhanced AAC podcasts was by using Apple’s GarageBand, which has no Windows equivalent. After lots of Googling, I ran across a little command line application called SlideShow Assembler. SSA makes it possible, if a bit confusing, to create Enhanced AAC podcasts in Windows. The principle is this: there is a text file (with the file extension .pod) that you edit in Notepad or another plain text editor. You type in the location of the audio you wish to use for your podcast, the desired name of the output file, the timestamps where you would like chapter breaks, and the locations of the images you would like to accompany those chapters. Once the .pod file is edited to your satisfaction, you simply drag and drop it onto the SSA.exe file (or a shortcut to it), and your Enhanced AAC file (it’ll have a file extension of .m4a) will be generated automatically.

It sounds easy enough, but the hardest part is editing that .pod file. Not fun. It takes forever. Granted, it gets easier as you get used to it, but it’s still very time consuming. There is a GUI Beta release available, but it doesn’t allow for chapters or changing artwork. It pretty much defeats the purpose. It just lets you apply static cover art to an AAC file, a function that iTunes already has covered. So the only option is to do it manually. When you download SSA, there is an included PDF file with instructions, but it is written in a horribly confusing way that assumes you already know how the program works. I had to figure it out for myself, using the PDF manual for occasional assistance to verify that I was on the right track. Once I had it figured out, the pieces fell into place and the ouctome was great. The two gripes I have with the results are relatively minor ones. First, you have to create a separate chapter for each individual image. I regularly listen to podcasts that have multiple changing images within a single chapter. This might not be a big concern for some, but it could prove to be a pretty big inconvenience for others. If, for example, you want to discuss an episode of TV and include changing screen captures, each screen cap would need to be its own chapter. This means a lot of post-production work for the podcaster. My other minor concern is about links. You can embed a hyperlink in each image, but the problem SSA poses is that once you move on to the next chapter, the link from the previous chapter lingers. There might be a solution that I’m missing, but it seems like once you insert a link, it stays there for the rest of the podcast. The easy solution is to avoid links all together and just include the address to which you want to refer your listeners in the images you use.

So that’s it. AAC in Windows is possible, but tricky. I recommend you give it a shot. If enough people use it, maybe they’ll improve it or come out with a better GUI. I really want someone, be it Apple or some random college student, to come out with Windows software that functions similarly to GarageBand. A Windows version of GarageBand would be great, but that seems almost impossible at this point. If someone could build a small, simple piece of software for the sole purpose of drag-and-drop Enhanced AAC podcast creation, I’d be more than happy, and I’d even pay for it if the price was right. But for now, SSA is pretty darn good!

This past weekend was the most fun I’ve had since I went to Disney World last summer. New York Comic Con came to the Javits Center, and I was there the whole weekend. Early Friday afternoon, my friends Andrew, Tim, and I arrived at the convention center, checked in, and waited in line for the 1:00 opening. When the giant metal doors swung open, we and thousands of our fellow geeks poured through and scattered across the Con floor. The Con is comprised of two sections: the main floor and the panels. The main floor is home to hundreds of booths for various comic book publishers, retailers, authors, and artists, as well as related media like science fiction print novels, movies and TV shows. The panels are on a lower floor where there are a dozen or so rooms big enough to fit several hundred people. On the same floor is the IGN Theater, which is where most screenings and larger panels take place, seats about 3,000 guests.

Andrew, Tim, and I are especially big fans of DC Comics, so we focused most of our time on the DC panels. Our first order of business was a panel entitled “Superman: Building a Better Tomorrow.” The panelists included the editors, writers, and artists currently working on the various titles in the Superman family of comics. We were really excited because we had the chance to meet most of the panelists afterward. The next item on the agenda brought us back to the Con floor for an autograph signing by Geoff Johns, who writes Green Lantern, will be writing Superman Secret Origins this summer, and until January was writing Action Comics featuring Superman. He is my absolute favorite writer right now, so I had to take the opportunity to shake his hand and thank him for the great work he does. I feel like he is one of the few writers who understands the character of Superman as well as Clark Kent. At that point our friend Vin joined us for the day. He’s not a major comics fan, but he wanted to come along and see what the con was like.

At that point we walked the Con floor for a while, doing some shopping and taking in the sights and sounds from the booths. We met the artists from explosm.net, who were offering free doodles to anyone who stopped by. We took advantage of that, of course. Next, we headed over to the autograph area where we met Peter Mayhew, better known to Star Wars fans as that lovable Wookiee, Chewbacca. It was really cool to meet him and I made sure to tell him how much I appreciated his work. I feel that he is underappreciated just because he didn’t speak in the films and wore a costume that obscured his face.

Next, we went off to the Podcast Arena to meet Sean Whelan and Jim Segulin, the hosts of Raging Bullets: A DC Comics Fan Podcast. This is one of my favorite podcasts and I just wanted to quickly talk to the guys and tell them to keep up the good work. They were very friendly and seemed very glad to talk to a fan. At that point, we headed back to the panel area for the DC Nation panel. We sat in on the end of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold panel, which was especially cool because Phil Morris was there. Morris is best known for playing the roles of Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld and the Martian Manhunter on Smallville. We tried to meet him, but he was in a hurry to get to another panel so we didn’t want to bother him. I did manage to snap a picture, though. Then began DC Nation. Many the major writers, artists, editors, and staff of DC Comics were present. They discussed everything happening in DC Comics, with a special focus on Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis. There was also an audience Q&A session, which was especially entertaining. At the end of that panel, we were excited to meet DC executive VP and editor Dan DiDio and renowned artist George Pérez. That ended Day 1.

Wow. I have been — to put it in my friend Andrew’s words — ” a podcasting fiend” lately. Seriously. My name is Frank and I’m a castaholic. Listening to them, recording them, I just can’t get enough. It’s an exciting medium that I think has amazing potential.

For two and a half years now, I’ve run Frank’s Music Free-For-All. About three weeks ago, I teamed up with my friends Tim, Ky, and Faith to create the Obiter Dictum podcast, a TV fan commentary show. And most recently, the aforementioned Andrew and I have started Echo Alert, a podcast devoted to the upcoming Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku series Dollhouse.

Today, I had the pleasure of sitting in on the Entertainment Overload podcast and the Geekland podcast at the gracious invitation of my Twitter friend Willie. Entertainment Overload is a podcast reviewing TV, movies, video games and other entertainment. We had a great time talking about this week’s TV and movie highlights. Smallville, LOST, Scrubs, and Taken were among the many topics discussed. Check out the guys and listen.

Then, on Geekland, we talked comics. I really had a blast with this one, since comics have been a new passion for me. We covered Superman, Final Crisis, Spider-Man, Green Arrow/Black Canary, Trinity, and whole host of other titles and trade paperbacks that we all read in the past week. If you like comics, please listen to Geekland. I started listening a couple of weeks ago and I honestly think the guys have a great show here.

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately. There should be a new ODTV and FMF out this week, and a new Echo Alert after next weekend. February 6-8 I will be at New York Comic Con with my friends Andrew, Tim, and Vin. It should be a good time. During and after the convention, I’ll blog my reactions to the panels and other goings-on. We plan to attend the DC Comics panels as well as a few others, including the Dollhouse panel where show creator Joss Whedon and star Tahmoh Penikett will screen the first act of the show’s first episode. So that should give us plenty to discuss on Echo Alert. See you in the podcastverse!

So by now, you probably know that this March, Jay Leno will move to primetime, Conan O’Brien will take over The Tonight Show, and Jimmy Fallon will take over Late Night. But what you may not know is that in preparation for his return to TV, Jimmy Fallon has been keeping a video blog with 5 minute entries posted nightly at 12:35 AM ET, the time at which Late Night airs. The best way to follow the show is to subscribe via Hulu and have it added to your queue. I usually let each week’s episodes pile up and then watch them all over the weekend.

This week began with a bang as Jimmy practiced his interviewing skills on celebrity guests. Monday night, he welcomed Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht of the popular web show DiggNation to Late Night for a great chat about new technology and communications. Tuesday night, Jimmy hung out with the lovely Felicia Day of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and The Guild for a hilarious little chat about World of Warcraft and online gaming. Watch the clips below!

Alex & Kevin from DiggNation:

Felicia Day:

Well folks, one podcast just isn’t enough to keep me overwhelmed. A few friends and I have teamed up to form a brand new podcast that we like to call “Obiter Dictum.” What is this, you ask? It’s going to be a fan commentary podcast. We’ll be watching our favorite TV shows and providing a running commentary along with the episodes for your entertainment. We’ll cover shows like Smallville, Lost, Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Heroes, Firefly, and much more! Our first official episode will cover Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog! I say “official” because we’ve already put out a miniature episode we’ve called #0 in which we explain the premise and introduce ourselves. I am joined by my friends Faith and Ky of the Chic Geek Podcast and Tim of the Crossroads Podcast. (Support them by checking out their shows in my Linkage section over in the right-hand column).

Download Episode 0 – “A Microcast”
Obiter Dictum Website: www.odtvpodcast.tk
Subscribe to Obiter Dictum (RSS Feed)
Obiter Dictum on iTunes

I saw this posted on Twitter at http://twitter.com/fforward. I simply must have this tie!

http://bookofjoe.typepad.com/bookofjoe/2009/01/best-tie-of-the.html

So as many of you know, Jan 2 is my birthday. Some people think having a birthday so close to Christmas means being overshadowed by it. Personally, I rather enjoy it. It’s not as though I have a choice anyway, but I don’t mind it at all. So I thought I’d give you a little list of my Christmas & Birthday presents just because I feel like it.

• 4 GB RAM for my laptop
• Smallville Season 7 DVD
• Wall-E 3 Disc Special Edition
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2 Disc Special Edition
• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog DVD
• Superman Theatrical Serials DVD
• The Adventures of Superman Original TV Soundtrack CD
• The obligatory clothes, cash & gift cards

Not a bad pay day. I’m more than happy! I’ve got tons of DVDs to watch. Looking forward to seeing all of it! I’ve already listened to the Superman soundtrack and I love it. The music is so iconic! I could hear the sound effects from the show playing in my head as I listened. Also, the liner notes were excellent. They were written by a true fan who did his homework. They tell the story behind the music while expressing what makes the pieces so special to so many people. Great stuff!

Thanks to everyone on Twitter and Facebook for the kind birthday wishes! There were too many to respond individually. I guess I’m just too loved. But sincerely from the bottom of my heart, thanks to you all!

So a while back I listed some TV shows and movies I planned to watch. I’m not making as much progress as I’d hoped, but here’s how it’s going so far:

• Terminator — DONE
• Terminator 2 — DONE
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – DONE
• Firefly — IN PROGRESS
• Serenity
• Supernatural
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Angel

I watched T1, T2, and the first several episodes of T:SCC in a single day. I finished the whole series in just a few days. It was glorious. AMAZING show! Definitely the most underrated and best-written show on television. Not my favorite (that would be Smallville), but it is the most well-written.

Then I got started on Firefly and hit a brick wall. I haven’t been able to watch more than 1 or 2 episodes in a sitting. Things seem to keep getting in the way. It’s an awesome show as well, and I can’t figure out how it got canceled other than the fact that FOX has an itchy trigger finger. I’m halfway through it now and I plan to finish it and watch Serenity, the movie that accompanies it.

However, at the suggestions of several people, especially my friends Tim and Faith, I’ve added the CW’s Supernatual to the list. The show is ending soon, so I’d like to get caught up before it goes off the air. Once I’m caught up, I’ll continue with Buffy and eventually Angel. To be perfectly honest, I’m not really pumped for Angel, so depending how I feel about Buffy, I may or may not go through with Angel. We shall see.

I just wanted to let everyone know that earlier this week, my friends Faith and Ky of the Chic Geek Podcast were gracious enough to invite me to join them on their thirteenth episode entitled “How to Scare the Chic Geek Girls.” Also joining us was Tim of the Crossroads Podcast. It was a lot of fun and I’d like to thank the girls for asking me to take part in it. Show them your support by listening to the episode and subscribing to their podcast in iTunes!

If all goes well, you can expect to hear Tim, Faith, and Ky on my own podcast, Frank’s Music-Free-For-All, in early 2009!

With the fall semester drawing to a close and the only two shows I watch regularly (Smallville and Heroes) going on hiatus, I’m going to be missing my regularly-scheduled entertainment fix over the Christmas break. I’ve been hearing a lot about Joss Whedon’s ill-fated Firefly series and its acompanying film Serenity. Friends have told me I need to see it, but I lacked the interest and – more importantly – the time required to watch it. That’s where the internet steps in. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog formally introduced me to the mind of Joss Whedon. After enjoying that as much as I did I decided I’d add Firefly and Serenity to my mental “To Be Watched” list. Then Aaron and Will over at the Axed podcast did an entire episode on Firefly/Serenity this week. Also, as most of you know, I’ve been addicted to Twitter for over a month now. It’s an amazing site that you need to check out if you haven’t already. I’ve been talking to lots of very cool people there. Late last week, I started talking to the hosts of the Chic Geek Podcast. I listened to all of their episodes in a matter of three days and enjoyed them immensely. Faith and Ky are really funny and made me genuinely interested in checking out a few things I’ve been holding off on. I think I’m going to do a full review of their show as part of my all-but-abandoned “Podcastin’ ” ongoing blog post series, so be on the lookout for that. Aside from giving me the final push towards watching Firefly/Serenity, the Chic Geek girls have convinced me to look into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its popular spin-off Angel, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (T:SCC), which is supposed to be the best show on television right now, according to Faith, as well as Steve and Derek of SHoE (who also run a Sarah Connor Chronicles podcast called SkyNext).

So I’ll be keeping quite busy over this break. Of course I hope to be working; in fact I need to remember to call my place of summer employ tomorrow to make sure they still need me over Christmas. However, if that goes through, I usually work early in the day, from 7am-3pm. That leaves plenty of time each day for catching up on good TV. Of course to watch T:SCC, I need to see the Terminator films, which I’m ashamed to say I’ve never seen. I know. Go on, ostracize me. But before you do, know that I watched The Terminator mere moments before writing this post and LOVED it. I’m going to get started on Terminator 2 in just a few minutes. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines isn’t directly related to T:SCC, so I’ll probably put off watching that until after I’m all caught up with everything else. I’ve only got a month of freedom to watch 7+ years’ worth of TV and movies, so I don’t want to waste my time.

Here’s the order in which I plan to watch all this stuff. If you have any suggestions for how I might amend it, feel free to comment.

• Terminator — DONE
• Terminator 2 — DONE
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles –SEASON 1 DONE, S2 IN PROGRESS
• Firefly
• Serenity
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Angel

NOTE: Edited to reflect the completion of items on the To-Watch list.