Union Dues on clonepod (reposted from Podcastle forum)

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I listened to this story a few weeks ago.  I really enjoyed it and I thought Abby did a perfect job on it.  Whatever mispronunciations there were didn't even register in my brain.  I have an almost-13 year old son and that's just how kids talk.  Kitty's story just broke my heart and I think part of my reaction was due to Abby's reading.

One would think she would at least learn to say "Shikaragaki" correctly since it's in the title of the series.

Yeah, I know I'm in a minority of one here.  I still think her reading sucked.

You do realize that you are actually, literally, genuinely, really, truly, verily, in all honestly, with no exaggeration, picking on a little girl, don't you?

Yes, and I make no apology for it.  She very nearly ruined a perfectly good story.

Ah, come on, stePH... ease up on the poor kid.  Pobody's nerfect!

[jrderego]

The Saga of Tam Suji just went live at Clonepod.

Enjoy, and comments welcome.

[stePH]

The Saga of Tam Suji just went live at Clonepod.

Enjoy, and comments welcome.

Even if I want to rip the reader up one side and down the other, and back up again for good measure? 

Seriously, I haven't listened yet (I haven't synced my iPod since this morning to get the Podcastle episode) but I'm looking forward to it, if for no other reason than it's more Union Dues.

[jrderego]

The Saga of Tam Suji just went live at Clonepod.

Enjoy, and comments welcome.

Even if I want to rip the reader up one side and down the other, and back up again for good measure? 

Seriously, I haven't listened yet (I haven't synced my iPod since this morning to get the Podcastle episode) but I'm looking forward to it, if for no other reason than it's more Union Dues.

I think you'll like the reading more this time.

[stePH]

I think you'll like the reading more this time.

Very likely.  Children's voices grate on me at the best of times, but on a scale of one to ten (ten being most irritating) Zack is about a three or a four, as is the other boy (I've forgotten his name) -- while Abby is a solid twelve.

[stePH]

Got to listen on the bus this morning.  I like this one a lot better than its predecessor, and not just because of the reader.

I'm not looking forward to TK's story though, because TK is a girl, which I'm sure means another read by Abby. 

Anyway, Zack's reading could have been better, but it was acceptable.  There seemed to be some variance in pronouncing "Tam" ... most of the time rhyming with "Ham" and only a few times with the Japanese pronounciation that I'd expect in a series called "Team Shikaragaki."

[jrderego]

Got to listen on the bus this morning.  I like this one a lot better than its predecessor, and not just because of the reader.

I'm not looking forward to TK's story though, because TK is a girl, which I'm sure means another read by Abby. 

Anyway, Zack's reading could have been better, but it was acceptable.  There seemed to be some variance in pronouncing "Tam" ... most of the time rhyming with "Ham" and only a few times with the Japanese pronounciation that I'd expect in a series called "Team Shikaragaki."

TK will be read by someone other than Abby. I only had her in mind for Kitty. I've requested Leslie Ann Moore, but I don't know what her schedule is like. As for the pronunciation of Tam, I imagined it being slightly westernized as I wrote it so it was pronounced like Ham in Ham Sandwich on purpose.

[stePH]

I'm not looking forward to TK's story though, because TK is a girl, which I'm sure means another read by Abby. 

TK will be read by someone other than Abby. I only had her in mind for Kitty.

  You just made my day.

[deflective]

the gorilla suit seems to be a lightning rod for injury in the ud universe.

[The Dunesteef]

The Saga of Tam Suji just went live at Clonepod.

Enjoy, and comments welcome.

When this is all over, is there a good liklihood of getting a great big Union Dues Omnibus with all the stories in print?  Anyone (publisher-wise) interested yet?

By the way, nice to see Frank Welker making an appearance.  Voice of hundreds of your favorite cartoon characters.  Too bad El Supremo didn't go easy on him.

[jrderego]

The Saga of Tam Suji just went live at Clonepod.

Enjoy, and comments welcome.

When this is all over, is there a good liklihood of getting a great big Union Dues Omnibus with all the stories in print?  Anyone (publisher-wise) interested yet?

By the way, nice to see Frank Welker making an appearance.  Voice of hundreds of your favorite cartoon characters.  Too bad El Supremo didn't go easy on him.

There may be two volumes of the Union Dues stories coming out in the relatively near future. I am working on a contract with a publisher as we speak.

[The Dunesteef]

Sweeeet!  I'll be one of those people buying a copy.

[MacArthurBug]

I, also, am enjoying the UD stories over on clone pod. I love them! I agree wholeheartedly that the readers need to practice practice practice, then edit like all get out. The readings are always a bit of a disappointment to me. I like a LOT of the stories presented over on clone pod- but it's hard for me to get past being read to by a kid. I do LOVE that this group is trying something, and I put up with the bad editing and mispronunciations because they are kids.. but, overall it CAN get annoying when they mispronounce or slur words.

[stePH]

I, also, am enjoying the UD stories over on clone pod. I love them! I agree wholeheartedly that the readers need to practice practice practice, then edit like all get out. The readings are always a bit of a disappointment to me. I like a LOT of the stories presented over on clone pod- but it's hard for me to get past being read to by a kid. I do LOVE that this group is trying something, and I put up with the bad editing and mispronunciations because they are kids.. but, overall it CAN get annoying when they mispronounce or slur words.

... or falter mid-sentence, my primary complaint about the first story.

[mrgoldenbrown]

I just wanted to put in a word of support for Abby's reading.  Apparently my brain is better at parsing imperfect data than stePH's, because I enjoyed the story and was able to gloss over the errors in reading just fine. 

[Russell Nash]

Just listened to the second UD on CP.  The reading and the editing were horrible.  The story was great, but I deleted it, because I'll never sit through that reading again.

[stePH]

Just listened to the second UD on CP.  The reading and the editing were horrible.  The story was great, but I deleted it, because I'll never sit through that reading again.

Wow.  That's exactly my feeling about the first one; I thought the second was perfectly acceptable.

[Zathras]

I just listened to a UD story on Clonepod.  I thought I would be the only one who didn't care for the younger readers.  It wasn't their age that bothered me, but the quality.  If an adult read a story like that, I would give up on the 'cast entirely.  I'll probably still check out the UD stories over there, but I can't see me listening to anything else until the quality improves.

[stePH]

I just listened to a UD story on Clonepod.  I thought I would be the only one who didn't care for the younger readers.  It wasn't their age that bothered me, but the quality.  If an adult read a story like that, I would give up on the 'cast entirely.  I'll probably still check out the UD stories over there, but I can't see me listening to anything else until the quality improves.

No, you've got it wrong.  Only the Union Dues stories are read by the kids who host the show.  All other stories I've heard on Clonepod were read by older readers, and some have been quite enjoyable.


[addendum]
Just listened to the latest, "Inside Every Successful Man", last night.  Not an example of one of the better readings.  But earlier ones have been about the same quality range as on Escape Pod.

[goatkeeper]

Gotta agree, this has not been an easy podcast to listen to so far.  I'll check back in the future.

[Russell Nash]

The kicker is that even with poor sound quality, they are lining up good quality stories.

[stePH]

Just finished the latest "Team Shikaragaki" story, the one featuring TK the telepath/empath.  As expected, I liked it.  Reading could have been better, but nowhere near the low-water mark set by Abby with Kitty's story. 

Looking forward to the next one, Mr. DeRego ... keep 'em coming, and I also hope to see a print anthology someday soon.

[Corydon]

I just listened to, and enjoyed, the latest Team Shikaragaki story.  Those kids *do* seem to spend a lot of time at traveling fairs, don't they?  Anyway, I thought that the story was one of the stronger TS stories.  TK is just a great character.  She's a real outsider, torn between the adolescent and adult worlds, and with a much more solid connection with the normal world than most of her superheroic counterparts.  Maybe it's because she's a psychic, but she seems lot more reflective than most of her peers (including the older Union members we've seen).

I've also really enjoyed watching the story arc develop- I'm dying to know what happened to Tam at the Supreme Court.  Seems like one of these days the shit is really going to hit the fan for the Union.

Anyway, a couple of ignorant questions: the TS members all seem to have normal names (or nicknames, I guess) rather than proper superhero names: Tam Suji, Kitty, TK, etc. rather than Megaton or Spoonbender.  I assume that these are Union-given pseudonyms and not the kids' real names, right?  And does giving characters "real" names represent a manga/anime superhero naming convention?

[jrderego]

I just listened to, and enjoyed, the latest Team Shikaragaki story.  Those kids *do* seem to spend a lot of time at traveling fairs, don't they?  Anyway, I thought that the story was one of the stronger TS stories.  TK is just a great character.  She's a real outsider, torn between the adolescent and adult worlds, and with a much more solid connection with the normal world than most of her superheroic counterparts.  Maybe it's because she's a psychic, but she seems lot more reflective than most of her peers (including the older Union members we've seen).

I've also really enjoyed watching the story arc develop- I'm dying to know what happened to Tam at the Supreme Court.  Seems like one of these days the shit is really going to hit the fan for the Union.

Anyway, a couple of ignorant questions: the TS members all seem to have normal names (or nicknames, I guess) rather than proper superhero names: Tam Suji, Kitty, TK, etc. rather than Megaton or Spoonbender.  I assume that these are Union-given pseudonyms and not the kids' real names, right?  And does giving characters "real" names represent a manga/anime superhero naming convention?

The kid's name are pseudonyms playing of the colors of their uniforms as Shikaragaki loosely means "4 color kids".

Taizen Kiiro = Mello Yellow
Tam Suji = Big Green
Johnny Turoku = Johnny Blue
Kitty Momoiro = Kitty Pink

They are meant to be more accessible than the regular Union hence the more 'normal' sounding names.

[Zathras]

I don't want to discourage anyone from putting out podcasts, so this is not meant as a slam against clonepod.

Are they getting any better over there?  Their story selection was pretty good, but I had to step away for a while.  Since Steve's on hiatus, I figured I might get caught up again.