During a recent episode of the Ourobouros podcast, Colin, the show’s host, posed a simple question: Is podcasting narcissistic? I sent him an audio comment in reply to this question. And my thoughts pretty much boiled down to this: Yes, podcasting is narcissistic but it’s not necessarily bad, as the process of podcasting at least leads to something that could be consumed by others, and that provides opportunities for connection. He rebutted my comment in his next podcast, saying that in his case, his audience is so small he’s really NOT connecting with others, and in turn is just really doing it completely for himself. And to him, that seems extremely narcissistic. I thought that was an interesting way to look at it. And I then applied that same filter to myself and to my own activities. Colin mentioned that he gets about 40 to 50 downloads on average for his podcast. By far, the hottest iron I have in the fire is Hyper Nonsense, and that show gets about 150 downloads per episode. So while the overall audience of that podcast seems to be larger than Colin’s, by no means is it setting the Internet on fire. Yet, I’ve kept it going (with the help of Jen, of course) for over three years. Odds are, if Hyper Nonsense hasn’t become a “hit” by now, it’s not likely to. So why keep going, then? Am I just that much in love with the sound of my own voice or is it something else? To be honest, I’m not really sure. I do know that, if nothing else, it is an enjoyable hobby and it’s allowed me to keep my audio production skills sharp. I’ve also found that, in lieu of having a massive audience, these online efforts (not just Hyper Nonsense, but Shawnogram as well as other endeavors) have built a community. It’s a very loose-knit community that seems to be roughly intertwined with many others. But I think it’s pretty cool, and it should count for something. I realize that this doesn’t do much to actually answer the question of whether or not podcasting is narcissistic (or even whether or not I’m narcissistic) but I think the deeper concept at work here isn’t really about narcissism. It’s about value. What’s the value or doing something like creating a podcast? And that’s a question with a wide variety of possible answers. And in my case, the reasons I continue to do it have definitely changed over time. Or at least, some of them have. I mean, I was in love with the sound of my own voice long before podcasting came around.

Tags: Hyper Nonsense, life, Ourobouros, podcasting
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We’re doing something different for the next Sidebars song. This time, we’re collaborating with Colin in the UK. He’s written some lyrics, and we’re going to mold them into a finished song, then record that song. We’ve decided to document the process through a series of video diaries. Here’s the first entry.

Podcast: Download (58.4MB)

Tags: music, Ourobouros, podcast, The Sidebars, YouTube
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Last year, I posted the first-ever music recording done under The Sidebars brand. Today, I’m posting the first-ever remix of a Sidebars track. This remix was created by Colin G. of the Ourobouros podcast. It’s completely different from the original, which is exactly what a remix should be. Big thanks to Colin for taking the time to create the new mix.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:34 — 4.1MB)

Tags: music, Ourobouros, podcast, The Sidebars
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We’re in the process of recording the next song for our RPM Challenge album. If all goes well, we’ll have it out by month’s end. Of course, that’ll only give us three songs. That’s not enough to officially complete the challenge. And that’s OK. We’re going to keep recording after February’s over. All further songs will be posted on this site. Eventually the band will have its own website. But I’ve got a few other projects (not everything on the list, just a few things) that have to be finished before I can start on that.

To give a little more background information on the album, the working title is “Love & Friendship In The Time Of Spiders.” The underlying theme is that most of the songs are inspired by or based around people we only know through the Internet. “The Side Effects” was of course written several years ago. But I do feel like it fits well with this project. It is a love/acceptance song, after all (at least, it is to me). And Jen and I did meet through the old Yahoo! Personals (back when that service was still free of charge). “Hey, Wesley” was inspired by Wesley, the third song, the one we’re working on now, was inspired by a Facebook chat that Jen had with one of our podcast pals in Australia. And the fourth song I’m particularly excited about, as it’s actually a collaborative effort between us and Colin in the U.K. Beyond that, things are still up in the air. I’ve got a couple other songs I’ve just barely begun. But we’ll get there. We’ve got time.

Tags: music, Ourobouros, RPM Challenge, The Sidebars
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It’s that time of the year again. Time to nominate your favorite shows for the Podcast Awards. In the past, I’ve regarded these awards as a waste of time. But I’ve caved. It’s either due to social media peer pressure, or I’m just getting soft in my old age. Below is my list of nominees. I don’t listen to shows that properly fit into all awards categories. But I didn’t want to just leave those categories blank, so I put in the names of shows that I felt could at least sorta fit those categories. Furthermore, I subscribe to a lot of podcasts. There’s no way I could nominate all of them. So, don’t feel bad if your show doesn’t show up on the list.

Peoples Choice: Erk Pod
Best Produced: Wasting Time Podcast
Best Video Podcast: Shawnogram
Best Mobile Phone Formatted Podcast: Inside My Head
Business: Democracy Now
Comedy: Hyper Nonsense
Cultural/Arts: Outside The Loop Radio
Education: Podcast Junky
Entertainmentt: The Media Burnout
Food and Drink: Andy Not Andrew
Gaming: All Things Azeroth
General: DarkCompass
GLBT: Yeast Radio
Health: Being Healthy For Busy People
Mature: Nobody Likes Onions
Movies/Films: Rental Reviews
Podsafe Music: Ourobouros Podcast
Political: No Agenda
Religion Inspiration: Enlighten Up
Sports: Some Guys In A Car
Tech/Science: podCast411
Travel: Grizzly’s Growls Podcast

Tags: All Things Azeroth, Being Healthy For Busy People, Channel Erk, DarkCompass, Democracy Now, Enlighten Up, Grizzly's Growls, Hyper Nonsense, Inside My Head, No Agenda, Nobody Likes Onions, Ourobouros, Outside The Loop Radio, Podcast junky, podcast411, podcasting, Rental Reviews, Some Guys In A Car, The Media Burnout, The Wasting Time Podcast, Yeast Radio
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