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Sunday, December 31, 2023

Ericast 338 - A New Intro?

As we close out 2023, one caller has me wondering just what the Ericast is all about. Wondering what I'm wondering? Here's your show.

Website viewers: Click here to listen to this week's episode!
Podcast listeners: Click here for a link to the show notes page!
Everyone: Call 701-645-ERIC (701-645-3742) and comment!

This entire episode and a miniature existential crisis is courtesy of Listener Abby. I'm not including Abby's call itself because she was on a walk at the time she called 701-645-3742 so she seems a lot more enthused or invigorated by the topic than most people should, but let me summarize: "Your intro and outro music does not reflect the whimsy that is you."

Abby is a coworker of mine and has known me for six months... and, she's absolutely right.  So, today is the world-premiere of the new Ericast intro music. Ready?

"From Ericast.com! Ready for your Weekly Whimsy? It's Eric Larson's Wacky Wonderings! Welcome... to the Ericast!"  (Featuring "If I Had A Chicken" by Kevin MacLeod)

No? Really? That doesn't work for you?

(It would've been even more exciting had I used something from the old Dimension music library!)

19 years ago when I was trying to get my mind around this "podcasting" concept of subscription audio... I was wrapping up my master's degree, I had a one-year-old at home, and I had just made a career pivot that ended up being a great opportunity but one that I wasn't always in the driver's seat for.

So, "whimsy" wasn't something I would embrace as an identity.

It's not that it's new. It's not that I've changed. I think I'm just comfortable enough with that side of myself to let it show, or maybe even lead with it rather than hide it... but all the other aspects of my personality -- the geek-tech driving industrial side -- are still in here.

Plus, I love history and having audio branding that's now 20 years out of date is kinda cool.

I could be convinced... but I don't think the Ericast is going to change its sound. At least not anytime soon.

Let me know what you think!


Thursday, December 28, 2023

Ericast 337 - The Prodigal Song

You knew I wouldn't be able to just leave a "missing song" sitting somewhere in my brain, right?. Wondering if I found it? Here's your show.

Website viewers: Click here to listen to this week's episode!
Podcast listeners: Click here for a link to the show notes page!
Everyone: Call 701-645-ERIC (701-645-3742) and comment!

As you might imagine, I'm not recording this on Christmas Eve, but I'm approaching the concept of teasing the notion of going back to an old Ericast plan of "batching" episodes -- something I never really did, particularly because I like these to be "timely," but in this case I want to capture my enthusiasm because... wait for it... I found the song!

I still love AI more than any healthy human should and I'm still playing with it. You might have noticed that last week's show notes included a summary of what the show was about. That was AI generated and edited in tiny ways by me. This week, I got to wondering what the ElevenLabs default voices are like.

I put in the show notes and it said, "This is a lot - you might want to do it as a 'Project' instead!" ...and when I clicked on that, of course it costs money. So I figured, "how confused can it get?"  You have to realize that, when it went viral that the default TikTok voice "Jessie" (based on Kat Callaghan, a Canadian radio host) decided to pronounce "BeyoncĂ©" as "Bee-YONK," it brought me a deep hysterical joy... so this rendition of last week's show notes is just perfect. I love every second of it, including my "enthushiazm" for "aqueering" books that remain "untowch-ed". 

I have to admit I absolutely love that voice. There's a hint of "Boston Brahmin" combined with "bored valleygirl" - "Recently, Eric attended a conference in Las Vegas..." I love it. That reminds me that I need to get around to watching the movie "Her," I guess?

Anyway, that was last week, and I only spent a day or two spinning on that and trying to figure out the song before I hit on the magic phrase of searching the Ericast.com website for the phrase "closed with a song" because I knew I had mentioned it and I knew that was one of the things that was noteworthy.

The podcast was "The Electrified Mind" from Philip Isaac. It disappeared in the middle of 2020, in peak pandemic, and I have no idea where he went. I think the podcaster I knew in Florida was a different one... so, maybe a goal for 2024 is to track him down?

But we're not here for a former podcaster. We're here for his song, which was "Help You Out" by Leonell Cassio and sung by Jonothon Robins. Since the lyrics might be a bit hard for you to make out, and since you know I love a chance to use an AI voice, I include a reading of them courtesy of "Adam" from ElevenLabs.


I can help you out

I can help you out


Here we go, here we go again

Trying hard but you wanna be my friend

In a place to hide and no one to run to

Here we go, here we go again

Call my bluff imma be until the end

Im the one you ride, im the one you ride to


If you don't wanna change

In a place to hide and no one to run to

If you don't wanna change


I can help you out [repeats]


Here we go, here we go again

Time is up and im calling up my friends

And no one to ride and no one to ride to

Here we go, here we go again

Call me up and you wanna be my friend

Im the one you ride, im the one you ride to


If you don't wanna change

In a place to hide and no one to run to

If you don't wanna change


I can help you out [repeat]


Song Credits:

Help You Out (ft. Jonathon Robins) by Leonell Cassio / leonellcassio
Creative Commons-Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - CC BY-SA 3.0
Free Download/Stream: http://bit.ly/2JiBzMv


Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Ericast 336 - Shelf Help Advice

I wonder how long I can go before we officially consider that I've "podfaded" but this is something I love to do and I'd like to get better at that. Wondering what I might be able to do to pursue that goal? Here's your show.

Website viewers: Click here to listen to this week's episode!
Podcast listeners: Click here for a link to the show notes page!
Everyone: Call 701-645-ERIC (701-645-3742) and comment!

I've got a bit of an excuse for not doing an episode last week, because I was in Las Vegas for a conference. Its new name was "AI Con," focusing on Artificial Intelligense, which is a topic I'm absolutely fascinateg by.

But the actual name of the conference was the "Ultimate Wealth Camp" which has been around for a few years and is... well, it's a thing.

And the same thing that gets me wound up in those is what keeps me from getting these podcasts out. It's not that I don't have enough ideas: It's that I have too many ideas, and I follow them to the point I get derailed.

So, you get a 10-minute episode, and eventually you'll get Darcy's followup story of the muskrat that joins the Navy... sometime later.

Speaking of, what does AI think I said in this episode? Here's its summary of the transcript:

I love podcasting, and I've been wondering how long it'll be before I officially "pod-fade." I want to improve and pursue this passion further. In episode 336, titled "Shelf Help Advice," I discuss my inclination towards self-help interests, ranging from business ventures to personal development. Despite my enthusiasm for acquiring books and PDFs on these topics, they often end up untouched on my shelf or hard drive. I admit to having a cluttered physical space, exacerbated by dealing with my mom's belongings. The organizational challenges extend to my thoughts, and I speculate that I might have ADHD based on familiar symptoms. This mental tendency prevents me from structuring and organizing my podcast content, even though generating ideas isn't an issue. Recently, I attended a conference in Las Vegas, initially named AICon but known as the "Ultimate Wealth Camp." Despite its marketing allure, my experience there was more interesting in unexpected ways. While leaving the hospital tonight where my dad is recovering from RSV (not COVID or flu but a severe cold) I tried to download a PDF offering life advice for 2024, emphasizing organization, yet that didn't work. As I navigate through life's complexities, I express my struggle to find the right framework or mental model to declutter my mind. My penchant for diving deep into topics, illustrated by today's search for a previous royalty-free song, sometimes hinders my podcasting productivity. I share my inner struggle with finding the right balance between perfectionism and completion, acknowledging that "done is better than 'maybe slightly better'." Despite my recent lapses in podcasting, I express a commitment to improving not just for my audience but also for personal growth and discipline...