PC250: Logic And Magic In The Time Of The Boat Lift

[Fenrix]

I didn't have any problems with the sections breaks so maybe the total silence gaps worked. However, I wasn't paying quite enough attention to the production to make a full assessment.

The intro was thoroughly entertaining. One of them enunciates consonants much harder, the one with the car, so that might be a more certain method of telling them apart. Maybe we just need to keep a pack of T's around for identification assistance.

[DKT]

I think Peter suggested we refer to them from this point on as Ann/a. I'm onboard with this title designation!

[kibitzer]

A bit of technical production data on the recording of this story (possibly misplaced, so mods, feel free to move if necessary) ...

I've seen several posters on the forums asking for some better way to audially indicate scene breaks within a story. In this recording I experimented with inserting 2-3 seconds of pure (not recorded) silence between scenes. I also carefully trimmed out any breath sounds before the start of a scene. While the difference is subtle, I feel like this marks the start of a scene very clearly, and it seems like a pretty effective way to distinguish between scenes without having to insert a tone or something else that might be distracting.

Thoughts?

M

That's generally what I do when editing Pseudopod, except I use "ambient silence" from somewhere else in the narrator's recording. The reason is that even with a good, clean recording, the ear can sometimes detect the difference between "pure" (i.e. generated) silence and ambient silence and it can be slightly off-putting. Leastaways that's what I've been told. (Actually it's part of the ACX guidelines as well)

I aim for 3-4 seconds silence. Not everyone likes that

[Listener]

That's generally what I do when editing Pseudopod, except I use "ambient silence" from somewhere else in the narrator's recording. The reason is that even with a good, clean recording, the ear can sometimes detect the difference between "pure" (i.e. generated) silence and ambient silence and it can be slightly off-putting. Leastaways that's what I've been told. (Actually it's part of the ACX guidelines as well)

I aim for 3-4 seconds silence. Not everyone likes that

When I deliver recordings, I use pure silence, instead of ambient, but the amount of processing I do makes it sound less obvious. I'm not sure if that makes it harder or easier for editors, but that's the way I learned how to do it. Plus, when I narrate, scene breaks aren't silent. Usually I'm drinking water, readjusting in my chair, or clearing my throat.

[LaShawn]

Ho, ho! What a lovely story. The logic parts hurt my head, but in a *good* way.

I especially liked the dream sequences, and the whole weirdness of the "Powers that Be".  And I loved the Ann/a intro. To be honest, I kept trying to figure out how the intro related to the story. I find duality stories fascinating, but other than the two sisters, and maybe the pearl/fake eyeball, I couldn't make the connection. I didn't mind though. The story had me hooked anyway.

[chaoservices]

I don't speak up much but this story inspired me to say a word or two:

All around great. A fantastic compliment of narration and word-craft.

For the first time, in a long time of podcast fiction, the similes were way above par and really brought the protagonist into her own. Maybe the contemporary subtropical setting has my view askew but there was almost a Hunter Thompson style about this piece.

And what a one eyed heroine! Stubbornly flawed and entirely human, definitely a persona I would like to channel or buy drinks for.

I don't know that I've associated Cat Rambo with more then an interesting name and Ben Burgis hadn't even penetrated my shallow brain but I'll certainly be listening more closely to their work from here on.

[Unblinking]

This story didn't wow me.  It did seem to be out of a book of formulas for urban fantasy.  I'm still not really sure what "the time of the boat lift" is, nor what the significance of the boat lift actually is.  Well, at least not that I remember a couple weeks after listening, but that makes the title pretty ineffective for me.

I was really excited to see a story that combines logic and magic, because there's really no reason the two are incompatible.  But I was annoyed that a textbook logical paradox was the way to win the day--it felt like the climax to a Golden Age SF story when that was still a new idea.  That idea is about as novel these days as "And those two people were Adam and Eve".  It's not that it's a bad idea, it's just that it's an idea that has been used to death.