Reel Reviews #62: “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs… I play video games.” A fascinating documentary about the pursuit for the world championship Donkey Kong score. A true David and Goliath tale that keeps sucking you in the whole time. Find out “what happens when a loser who needs to wins, faces a winner who refuses to lose.”
Download from the AOL servers: Reel Reviews – The King of Kong (15:19 min 14.2MB)

• The King of Kong – DVD at Amazon
• IMDB

The items I am listing below are all things that are totally out of my realm of expertise, much less experience. In short, things I don’t know how to do.

My Reel Reviews Christmas Wish List:

• A kick ass logo. One that can be used on the site as well as t-shirts, stickers, hats etc. I’d like to be able to give away some Reel Reviews schwag to some of the callers, guest reviewers and listeners.
• A professional “radio” style intro. I’m not the creative audio type. Opinions – I’ve got them, creativity – negative. Think Daily Source Code, Jimmy Jett and Rock and Roll Geek Show. You get the idea.
• An AppleScript that would:

  1. Convert an AIFF file to mp3 via LAME, or iTunes if necessary, using the specified settings.
  2. Will complete the ID3 tags using my default settings. You can look at one of my recent files for an example.
  3. Would take the DVD artwork jpg that is in the folder and input it into the ID3 tag as album artwork.

  It would work like this. I take the DVD cover jpeg and drop it into my “Make_ Podcast” folder. Then I drop the AIFF file in and start the AppleScript. A box pops up that asks for the film name. Then another box asks for the date to use or it could ask for file name if need be. It then chugs away converting to mp3 and complete the tags accordingly. I am open to possibility another programming language may be required to accomplish this.

If anyone can assist with any of these or has questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can email me via the front page on the right under “Feedback”.

Thanks and Happy Holidays,

Michael Geoghegan

Everyone knows the type of films I mean – these are that films that right after you have said you like them – you can see everyone else in the conversation looking at you with a grimace conveying concern for your mental sanity.

Top of my guilty pleasure list is Sleepaway Camp. This film came out in 1983 and actually spawned 2 sequels. Even more interesting, Return to Sleepaway Camp just finished shooting. The film was made on a shoestring budget and has all the standard low budget compromises. But the film has heart – as much heart as a children’s camp slasher flick can have anyway. The filmmakers pushed the boundaries, stretching to the limits with the money and equipment available to them. They used an inventive plot line with an ending that will sear itself into your memory. No one who has seen this film can ever forget the ending! You might forget what film it was in, but you remember the ending. Fun little flick when the mood hits you. There is even a fan website devoted to the film. Pack your body bags you’re off to Sleepaway Camp.

Now its your turn – let’s hear your guilty pleasure films. Post them here as a comment. I’m hoping we’ll find some “reel” diamonds in the rough.

Direct Download: Listener submitted: Brian Alkerton – Primer (4:43min 1.6 MB)

To enter – call in you audio comment to (206) 888-BLOG. Tell us what you like about the show or comment on a film review I have done. Make sure to give your name. If you have an URL that is great – otherwise shoot me an email and let me know which comment is yours. Entrys will be accepted until midnight PST Dec. 11, 2004.

Don’t worry – if you flub your audio comment just say so – hang up and call back. I’ll dump the flubs – we are all friends in the podcasting community. I’ll announce the winner the night I do my Bullitt Reel Review.

Legal disclaimer: I make all the rules – I can change them at any time without notice – if you don’t like that don’t enter.

Links mentioned:

• Michael Butler – Rock and Roll Geek Show
• Dawn and Drew Show – Drew’s cool OPML
• Adam Curry -Daily Source Code
• Dave Slusher – Evil Genius Chronicles
• Pete Prodoehl – RasterWeb
• Reel Reviews – Studio Upgrades

DRE: What people do you want on the show?
ROLLINS: Werner Herzog, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, PT Anderson, Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, Billy Bob Thornton.

Rollins is my kind of guy! That is a great list, I could go on and on about all those guys but I like that he names Herzog first – great director! In fact, I had just been listening to Dave Slusher talk about Rollins from his Black Flag days in his latest podcast. Couldn’t agree more – that takes me back to my skateboarding days. Thrasher magazine anyone?

While I was reading the interview I noticed that the same site also had an interview with the directors of Overnight a film I talked about last weekend. Check it out here.

Finally for those of you are interested in The Limey, it is in rotation on IFC right now.

It is particularly difficult because the final step – encoding to mp3 causes all kind of issues with quality vs. file size. Don’t get me wrong – the good news is anyone can get a good sounding podcast with a minimal amount of effort. That is where we all started – heck, listen to some of the early podcasts. The first step is to start. My problem is I can never approach anything without going overboard.

In my quest for audio fidelity I have made some changes. Over the last month I have moved my recording off my laptop and onto a dedicated digital recorder. I use a Marantz PMD670. I couldn’t be happier. The thing works like a champ and completely eliminates all the issues with recording on the laptop (dropouts, hiccups, hard disk anomolies). I am a big proponent of a dedicated recorder! I pair it with a Behringer Eurorack UB802. Great little unit – perfect for podcasters. This week I upgraded my mic to a Electro Voice RE20. Following some suggestions I received I paired the mic with a Symetrix 528E Voice Processor. So how does it all sound? I don’t know I haven’t recorded a podcast with it yet, but when I do I would appreciate any feed back you have. This equipment gives you lots of control over everything – so it may be a few podcasts before I’m done tweaking and settle into the sweetspot. If I have any recording engineers or former broadcasters who listen I’d love to hear from you.

If there is sufficient interest I’d be happy to do a podcast about the podcast. Let me know via comments.

Here are some pics:

Everything is recorded down in the theater – that is why you see all the speakers and flat grey painted walls.

Look, I don’t mean to come across like a podcast dork – but put yourself in my shoes, that is a great day as a podcaster. When that many fellow podcasters are responding to what you are doing you get that nice warm podcast love feeling inside. Thanks everyone, it is a great to know that you enjoy what I am doing with Reel Reviews!