Want a limited signed picture of The Guild Cast?

I know, who wouldn't?! With The Guild Season 2 now over we can still all tune into the Official Guild Podcast - Knights of The Guild (http://knightsoftheguild.podbean.com/). And to help raise funds to keep this fun podcast going the cast have signed some pictures. If you donate quickly you get a chance to have one of these pictures. Hurry!

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Podcasts and MyBlogLog

Hypersensitive - hypergood!
I started listening to Lisa T's Hypersensitive podcast last week before going to Vancouver, and I really enjoyed it. I couldn't finish before I left so I caught up with it yesterday. That's one of the great things about Podcasts - you can listen anytime and if you don't finish, you can go back again. The podcast covers a wide range of topics from TV, movies to other podcasts and what Lisa has been up to. And congratulations are in order because she is going to be the voice of Cordelia in Buffy: Between the Lines for Season 2! This is a great, chatty podcast and if you love TV, movies, music the Internet and Podcasts then give it a go. Lisa also has a website and something that caught my eye from it this week was A Geek's Guide to Summer Movies. If you weren't sure what to watch this season, you now have a handy list to refer to - invaluable!

MyBlogLog
Some of you might have noticed the MyBlogLog thingy (widget) at the side of my blog. It shows the last few readers of my 'MyBlogLog' community home page. What's that, then? Well MyBlogLog is another example of Social Software that I've been experimenting with. At first it was a bit 'well, what does it do?' but now I've added some settings and I can see how it might be very useful. It's free to join and if you have a blog or website you can add links to it and invite people to join your community. You can also join other communities that share interests with you. On my home page you can see what I've been doing - updates to my blog, pages I've Dugg with Digg, Twitter Updates, Stumble Upon...it puts all these together in one place.

Join in!
Why not join MyBlogLog and see for yourself! Add your blog or website (if you have one), add all your other social software IDs and then join in. It's easy to do and a good way to extend your online presence. Stop by my community page and join. If you do I'll be sure to pop over and say hello - it would be great to meet some more readers. If you want any help with it send me an email or contact me via MyBlogLog.

Podcasts, audio dramas and fanfics...

...Where do you get your fix?
I've never really got the 'podcast' thing. For a long time I thought you needed an iPod to 'get' one (yes, I know that makes me sound just, well, stupid, but the truth will out and it was a while ago..). And how do you use them? And are they any good? I've seen links to them but....it just never seemed to be the right time and I had survived pretty well without them.

Podtastic
But I kept seeing the Podcast links. Obviously, Buffy: Between the Lines is covered with them - that is the reason for the site. Then there were links to 'Sending a Wave' (a Firefly/Serenity Podcast) on the Kids Need To Read website, 'Strangely Literal' (for all things Jossverse), 'The Signal' ( an award-winning Firefly/Serenity podcast) and many, many others. Eventually, you just have to give in a give it go.

So, how does one 'use' a Podcast?
It is ridiculously easy to listen to a Podcast. You just press the little 'play' button and off you go. As I'm blogging now I'm listening to Buffy: Between the Lines episode 1, Season 1. So if it doesn't all scan properly blame them. I've listened to it before, a while ago and it really is good. It takes a little while to adjust to the new voices but the story, characterisations and production is great. I wanted to start at the beginning again - ha! - I just got to the bit with the bunnies - I can so see that! Anyway, as I was saying, it's a new 'verse of entertainment and one that I'll be looking into a bit more. You know, with all that spare time I have...

Podcatcher pursuivant
Of course, the easiest thing would be to set iTunes to download and keep all the episodes from all the ones I'm interested in and I can listen to them as leisure. The only problem is, my iTunes has decided not to work/update/do anything at the moment so that's another job to do. Still, there are other 'Podcatchers' so I might investigate one of them.

To fanfic or not to fanfic?
I don't know where you stand on the issue of fanfics. To be honest, I'm not sure where I stand! I used to think they must be all a bit rubbish because how could they possibly compare with the 'real thing'? But I'm having to reconsider my stance. There are a lot of talented people out there producing some very high quality work, and I think the hour of the 'amateur' is at hand. Just as Internet broadcasting (with the likes of YouTube) started with people falling over a lot, bodily functions and swearing, there are now some incredible, original videos available ('The Guild' and the up-coming 'Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog' for example). And the same is going with Podcasts and written fanfics.

New fantastic fanfic contest
And in a timely fashion, Buffy: Between the Lines has announced a new fanfic contest. Casting is mostly complete for Season 2 and in the gap between Season 1 and 2 they are running a competition that is open to anyone. There are some basic rules (see the BBTL website). The winner will have their work recorded and receive a signed copy of “Infected” by Scott Sigler, a limited edition SugarShock poster plus other goodies. I'm reading 'Infected' at the moment (the free download, remember, and now available in shops) and it is really, really good. Will I be entering the competition? Sadly, no. What with all those Podcasts to listen to, all the books to read, two blogs to write AND a day job, my time is pretty well booked up. Having said that, sleep is an over-rated pastime....