So I’ve been doing fewer Eclectic News Briefs and more Ax Madge episodes. The reason is two-fold. A) It’s easier to write ax madge. and B) I get more feedback and positive reactions from Ax Madge.
I may faze out ENB altogether. It is a ton of work and while it generates many many downloads more than Yeast Radio, I much prefer discussing current events on Yeast Radio then through the grueling and unrewarding process of doing ENB.
Thoughts?
I enjoy the ENB’s, but I wouldn’t feel so bad if you stopped doing ’em. And if you cover would-be ENB material on Yeast Radio, I’ll catch it that way, anyhow.
I’m a big fan of the ENB, and even though Ax Madge makes me laugh, there is place for tragedy too. No, wait, there’s an important place for shaking people out of their complacency so they can see the ongoing tragedies around them.
In ENB, you have a platform – just remember that bitter-tasting medicine rarely gets you thanks.
I, too, like the ENB. I like the balance. Can you shuffle the material around?
But grueling? If it ain’t fun: don’t do it.
The Ax Madges are more lighthearted in nature and, because they appeal to a larger base, have more feedback. The ENBs, though the idea of making news more interesting is a good idea, the people who tend to watch them probably already heard it. Another impediment to the ENBs is that the stories you cover tend to evolve and morph during the production, recording, editing, and publishing making the stories a little outdated.
From my point of view, the ENBs could be improved by exploring in depth one or two stories that have been underreported or poorly portrayed. Another suggestion would be to to have shorter, more numerous shows, but the time spent making one would probably be prohibitive.
I like the idea of having Ecletic News Brief but I will be completely honest in the fact that I don’t watch them because honestly, I find it hard to follow along when you just read the news. I realize it is important but still, find it hard to follow along. I prefer to hear it discussed on Yeast Radio.
Melton- I appreciate the feeback but FYI. I’m not reading the news. I actually write all of the material myself. If I were just reading the news I could it 3 days a week. I know that’s not the point of your critique but I just wanted to point out that that’s why it’s so time consuming.
You do have a point because I would assume you are also reading the material that you also write for Axe Madge. So maybe I’ve just lost my anger and stopped paying attention…which I need to re-gain. I really miss my anger. Anyways, getting back to you. Please know that I know you do put a LOT of time into this.
Also, I commend you for being able to do this because when I started my political blog back up earlier this year I was going to write the posts and record them into podcasts but then it just really didn’t sound good to me and many of the people I had listen to it said they had a hard time following along because I was simply reading. I think the problem comes down to when you are reading….even if it is material that you yourself have wrote it’s hard to (for me) comprehend everything. It’s not as fluid and dramatic as when you talk about it on Yeast Radio.
Ok. Enough out of me because I ain’t makin’ no sense! Love ya, whore! 🙂
I watch them all and I’ve learned a lot through ENB, but I think you’re better at talking about these things on Yeast Radio, in that stream of consciousness style, because that’s when your insight and humanity shines through and so often you say things that could never be scripted.
The video aspect doesn’t exactly add much to ENB. I realise it’s reaching a wider and different audience, but if 3 days = 5 to 10 minutes of content (albeit very meaty), maybe it’s not the best use of your time.
You actually have plenty of informative stuff on Insane Films besides ENB, maybe you could talk more about stuff in the introductions or mix and match content (which you used to do more often, I think) and have it be more fluid and perhaps less work.
YR could do with some commentary again. Madge has been cuntplaining that she hasn’t got so much to talk about lately, so if you felt less precious about the material, it could help that show.
You’re in the position where you can do what you want. I think the less forced that is, the more people will enjoy your work. I know the people whose work you admire, and that certainly seems true for them.
I think I’ve written as much as Melturd now. I can stop.
Thanks Steve for clarifying what I meant because I can’t say what I mean since I’m a dumb hick.
Steve- I don’t quite understand what you mean re: less precious about the material. Which material?
I guess I made an assumption about that “less precious” bit, but I don’t hear you talk about the things you cover on ENB on Yeast Radio any more, or not in any depth. My 5am assumption was that you just saved it for ENB.
To use a meat analogy, ENB is like a juicy steak while YR has turned into a ham sandwich.
If you can try to think back the praise heaped on YR by Peter Mavrik and Amy Matheny last year about how smart your content is, that’s what I mean. And those bitches know what they’re talking about.
BTW, now I don’t mean YR has gone downhill or I want it to be like when I first started listening. I’ve been enjoying your shows consistently.
I think my real point more about you enjoying what you do. Not many people can achieve that in their working lives but you have full control over yours.
What’s that Bjork song?… oh yes, “Undo”. The sound of an artist who realises whatever they’re doing isn’t working out.
Steve- Yeah, I get that about precious. It’s just not an expression I hear over here. That’s exactly why I have problems with ENB. It takes away from YR because the subjects exhaust me and I cannot cover them in both places without totally losing interest.
I am just starting to listen to YR again after a long absence (my iPod died and I got out of habit of downloading podcasts – just getting back to my old favorites now). I was a daily listener from about Fall of 2005 until Spring of 2006. And I’ve just started watching your stuff at Insane Films recently, and am now sorry I didn’t start much, much sooner! I love Ax Madge, by the way.
ENB reminds me of the news stuff you did at Yeast Radio (I haven’t listened to enough recent YR to know whether you do it regularly still, but I assume from this blog entry that you don’t?), except I think I liked it better in Madge’s voice, because your outrage came through more. Your news reports and commentary on YR were my favorite parts.
I think if it’s a choice between doing the news stuff on YR or doing ENB, my personal preference would be to hear it on YR. But hey, that’s just me, and I’m just starting to catch up on all your stuff again, so take that for what it’s worth. 🙂
Before you pull the prolapse out from under ENB, I would ask you to maybe consider posting your video versions as you do now, but also extract an audio only version appropriately titled with (audio only) at the front or end of episode title (your ENB titles are long, so maybe at the front) and also include this in your podcast feed available to iTunes etc.
Consider trying that for a month or so and watch your stats. Just see what happens, maybe it could help?
I like ENB, but I’m not always able to download the huge file sizes demanded of video podcasts (vlogs), you put a great deal of effort into these videos, more than most I think and we can see that, but it comes at a cost, with up to 91mb file size for some episodes in this format, maybe video isn’t necessary to express this content!?
I like to see Madge videos from time-to-time, but when you don’t have news video footage, it means I often will end up minimizing the video while you talk on ENB, I don’t need to see toilet seats, fat chicks, skinny chicks, lyps, and tits jumping up and down to keep my attention, it’s funny, but I’d be happy just to hear you tell me the news the networks hide, people might take you more seriously without all that bullshit in the background!?
If you took video out of the ENB show completely, you’ll not need to set up, render, green screen, I imagine it would take less time to actually make the show… I realise you would still need to write the content, but take out the mucking around with filming and editing and would you not find you have more time? More time for Madge? More time for yourself!?
I like the stuff you produce Richard, I’ve been watching for a few years now, I like your ideas, your comedy, your opinion, your recommendations, and I hope to see and hear more from your for many years to follow!