Nothing today, not one. According to the WoW Radio site the latest Essence of RP should probably be out sometime tomorrow. There was also a live Blue Plz! yesterday and the archive of the show should be up by Friday, which coincidentally is the date of the next Blue Plz! I was late getting to the show in my allergy-medicine haze so hopefully I can take in the full show on Friday.
I received a couple of notes yesterday that I'm "taking over the blog" again this week. Partly true, partly not. I have been the only one posting, but not the only one writing.
I rejected Pete Pete's Quick Hit of All Things Azeroth yesterday for being too positive. I gave their latest episode a listen and not only does co-host Graece get into some weird territory when she gets angry with the Chinese government for "being sticks in the mud" about the release of Wrath in China, which is one of the most absurd and unsubstantiated things I've heard regarding the topic, Medros doesn't challenge her on it and instead lets her dangle out there on her own. Med probably has to walk a fine line since his show has sponsors but really, what was that all about? So I rejected Pete's flowery review because yeah, Graece, China has nothing better to do than fuck with Blizzard. You know what else? I heard China is now under consideration for a supporting role as a high school football star bully in the next Adam Sandler film. That China just has all the luck, doesn't it? Melissa is going to review the next ATA for us now and Pete's moving on to Starting WoW.
I also rejected a poorly written, rambling piece by Fred on Monday which covered nothing in particular. Fred has sort of been lagging lately to be honest and Pete has accused him of resting on his laurels since he was mentioned by Totalbiscuit on Blue Plz! a few weeks ago. To be fair, even though he's retired he's a tireless researcher and has lots of academic commitments in the community so UWoW isn't exactly his highest priority. But he could at least make sense when he does contribute. His piece was sort of like a combination of William Burroughs, E.E. Cummings, and Samuel Beckett. I'm all for experimenting but at least try to stay on topic. Maybe that will be a good candidate to post this weekend when we go "off topic."
All for now... hopefully someone other than me will get something up today!
Jim, I was wondering if you would consider ever posting some of the rejected articles. I know I would be interested in reading them as well, but I can't say as to whether or not others would share my interest.
ReplyDeleteHey Andy -
ReplyDeleteWe will actually post some of the rejected stuff I think it might be fun or interesting and I can comment as to why I rejected it. Since we don't normally post on the weekends you might see some of this sort of stuff sneak up on the blog at those times (I think Fred is going to post his rejected "piece" on Saturday).
For rejected reviews I want to do something called "Lost in Space" and just build up a nice file of rejected reviews and then throw one up on the board every once in a while when all's quiet. Today would have been a perfect day for it. But I've only really rejected three or four columns thus far so not much to choose from yet.
But yes, good idea and something we're going to attempt in one form or another.
Jim -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response, I look forward to reading all of the rejected reviews and "Lost in Space" when it's up and running. Wow, it almost sounds like I was solicited for this response. I assure everyone else, I was not. Really.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteFirst I want to say thank you for your comments. While I could wish that you had not focused solely on a brief part of the show, with no comment on the rest, any feedback is useful. I will admit I haven't spent much time on this blog, even though one of our frequent listeners is now a writer here, so I was rather surprised to see a few mentions of our show here. It took me a bit of searching before I realized why. For some reason, I am sure of interest to a few folks, WoW Radio is the only site, as far as I can tell, who gets links to their site. Perhaps because their owner mentions you on his show often? Not sure, but that was very indicative.
Now to your comments about episode 105, while Graece did give her own thoughts on the show about the reasons for the Chinese block on Wrath, that is to say that they were pretty silly, I find it interesting that you attacked me for not stopping her. I wouldn't do that. She has every right to express her opinions on a topic that I brought up, just as I do on a topic she brought up. At that point of the show we had no solid statement of facts as to what was the problem with it. We did find out later, if you had listened that far in, that the reason is mildly religious and this is why we have seen these problems in China. I actually agree with most of what she said, at the time, since I was as uninformed as she was. The sign of true character is recognizing your mistakes and making up for them, which I feel strongly that she did.
A few final clarifications. First, our sponsor does not make decisions on editorial, topic, or other content on the show. If they tried, they would no longer be a sponsor. Second, while the show is produced by Dwight Wallbridge Productions, my company, the show is both Graece and I's, not merely my show. I have been the host for a long time, but I was more than happy to welcome a full time, dedicated and strong host into the show, and willingly give her at least half the credit for it's new direction. Lastly, I do not know what Pete wrote, though he is welcome to email it to me, but turning down a show review, not just an episode review, by someone who has been a listener for months, simply because you think it too complimentary is just being curmudgeonly.
Pete has the benefit of having listened to the show for a long time, whereas you have a one off introduction, and therefore not a valid basis to do a review. I do hope the next person you have chosen also takes the time to listen to more than one episode, because one episode does not a podcast make. For instance, if I were to review your blog off this one post, my review would be incredibly negative, pointing out the seeming refusal of a post becauae it wasn't mean enough, and that you cannot seem to accept that others have views and topics that do not match your own. Would this be accurate? I am not sure, but I would like to think I would give it more than a single post before trying to write an accurate review.
There's a shocker, Medros whining again. He's been doing this for years sadly, evidently he hasn't grown out of it.
ReplyDeleteMedros, seriously, go read the actual blog. They link to every, single podcast they review. We get more links, because we have more shows. Logical yes?
No, they don't need to listen to more than one episode, because they review by episode. They have a specific column that deals with several episodes at once. To remain objective, each episode must be judged on it's own merits. If you have a bad episode, and it happens to get a bad review, then just suck it up and do better next time. If you didn't have bad episodes, you wouldn't get bad reviews. And you want a guy who is obviously a fan of your show to write a review? What good would that do other than sooth your ego? How about someone who is capable of reviewing the show objectively? Evidently your guy wasn't, since he wrote a review that was overly positive about an episode that sucked the proverbial balls.
I can't say I'm surprised to see that a podcaster has taken offense to being audited after so long of living inside a protective bubble. I'm even less surprised that the person in question was Medros.
Suck it up. Your show has issues, consider yourself lucky that somebody has taken the time to point them out. The guys at WoW Radio are happy to get less than positive reviews and have already made changes based on the advice and critical analysis given here. Maybe you should try doing the same.
Hi Medros -
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't an actual review what I wrote, In the Chamber are just my morning comments (and on this day no doubt influenced by the haze of my allergy medicine). Pete Pete's review we will post later on we have a column for rejected columns coming along called Lost in Space, and it's quite complimentary. Melissa is also very fair she'll do a fine job.
I understand your complaint about me singling out one part of an otherwise good show and didn't do anything to balance my comments, a fair criticism I'll keep in mind for next time. But Pete's review called that part of the show a "good foreign policy discussion." That made me question the review since he's a fan and I wanted a more objective opinion, is all.
The, you really need not hide behind that name, why not show your true username, TB, the one everyone knows you by, because your comments make it very obvious to me. Your opinions are gone the way 90% of what you say goes, in the trash. Perhaps you might be a bit biased on the linking, because a quick perusal of the front page shows that only WoW Radio and Bind on Equip(in a single article), out of about a dozen shows in the 2-3 articles, actually got links.
ReplyDeleteJim,
Thank you for your respectful reply. I did take a look after reading this comment and did note that it does seem to be much as you describe. I admit that calling that segment a good foreign policy discussion is going a bit far, and do look forward to more even approaches in the future. Unlike some seem dedicated to accusing me, I do not mind in the least being criticized, I truly dislike what feel like baseless attacks, which most of the non WoW-Radio-fanboy WoW community see TB to be oh so good at.
TB, as always, I am as unsurprised as you to see you attacking me for no reason, accusing me without justification, and trying to paint me as the villain. Unlike you, though, I can take criticism, and will work to take the constructive criticisms from the author into account when producing the show in the future. I fully expect another baseless, useless, and biased reply to my 'whining' and whatever else you want to say, though you waste your time if you intend to attack me, I long since stopped caring what you think.
Thanks again Medros. The links thing is basically one of laziness on my part and not "editorial." I only seem to do it when I feel like it. I agree more consistency is needed, so we'll discuss and get it together. I actually thought Toothy was going to go in and insert hyperlinks to stories for us after we posted them but as yet I guess he's been too overwhelmed by the 10 emails we've received over last 6 weeks.
ReplyDeleteAnd Med, I knew we had, here's a post where we link ATA, among others:
ReplyDeletehttp://undergroundwow.blogspot.com/2009/03/in-chamber-ata-elunes-grace.html
We'll be more consistent going forward.
Jim, don't forget you've been linking WoW Radio more this week than usual because that's the only way right now to get those shows.
ReplyDeleteAh, so nice to see that my initial question that brought a response of new content showing up on this blog soon as turned into an internet pissing contest.
ReplyDeleteJim, have you ever tried reading 10 emails AND hyperlinking all in the same month? I don't think it's fair to judge until you've attempted it ;-)
Nice to see Medros being as paranoid and hypocritical as always ;) Yes Medros, I'm hiding from you behind the Google account that Blogspot automatically picks for me. WHAT A DISGUISE.
ReplyDeleteKicking your whiny monotonous ass off of WoW Radio was probably the best thing we ever did. Shame you didn't bother to learn what co-hosting was before that happened aye, then maybe you'd have stopped your loudmouth co-host from ranting about things she doesn't know the slightest thing about, or at least debated her. Y'know? Debate? Oh.. I guess you don't.
THIS POST IS BY TOTALBISCUIT. Happy now? ;)
And yes, welcome to the internet pissing contest, where Medros gets pissy for no apparent reason and writes a long essay about it claiming he's the victim. This has been going on for roughly 3 years now :> I won't sully your comment spot with any more of it, as amusing as it is.
ReplyDeleteI am also glad I left, as I would hate to work for you, TB. You released a lot of hot air here, and while I would love to go another round, I have a lot of things that I would rather spend my time on. Feel free to remain in your little world full of delusions of grandeur, and I will go back to doing my show, my way, and live happily in the knowledge that you are less than a bug on the windshield in my life.
ReplyDelete