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2013 Culture Badger review of the year 2013 - @ThomHoffman

January 10, 2014

Time to review all the tweets, status updates, photos, saved links, and occasionally things in my own stupid mind to unearth those things that I saw this year that, on reflection, still made an impact.

Let’s start with some music, you can play along at home.

I love Soundcloud mixes, here are a few you can select from

Big Deal ID Magazine Slumber Session:

Fleetwood Mac Disco Remix [sounds weird but is amazing]:

Julianna Barwick: Soaring Folk

Laura Marling - When Brave Bird Saved - Beautiful film to accompany her latest album Once I Was an Eagle

So let's begin

Firstly this is the greatest thing I saw all year in the West Hampstead Library. I didn't know we could do this!

I hope this INTERNET INNOVATOR/SONGWRITER/POET got the sponsorship they were looking for. It's quite beautiful in a lot of ways. If you are a millionaire you could probably do a lot worse than invest some there.

There’s been some pretty tough times this year, and some people aren’t here that should be. This beautiful, heartwrenching blog written by Ben, a father and widower, who lost his wife in a freak car accident at the start of the year really resonated with me. It’s tough out there, let’s look after each other:

http://lifeasawidower.com/about/

Despite being a vegetarian, somehow I can still find time for the joy in stuffed animals.

'Artist Does Jail Time over Disturbing Taxidermy' -

But I think I prefer Digital animal mashups

STREET ART

5 Pointz, this back street in Queens NY used to be home to some incredible street art, but now is just a beige lot. It’s a real shame, but I’m glad I got to see it. I think you appreciate street art more when you are away from home. http://www.flickr.com/photos/49103930@N03/10846328644/

Art/Taste/Graffiti, some of it is breathtaking. Herakut are a duo of artists who blew my mind this year. and their photos decorate my desktop and raise me up.

Some walls aren’t walls.

Herakut - http://herakut.tumblr.com/

I also want to live in a block with the externals designed by this guy. http://www.agostinoiacurci.com/beardwatching/

I massively enjoyed this picture of a monkey drinking milk

Best Bands/shows of the year

Big Deal
Paws
Finch playing their classic album What It Is to Burn in its entirety
The Postal Service
Cribs
Secret Garden Party
Basia Bulat
Adam Buxton’s Best of Bug shows - ACE

OLD SONGS I FOUND THIS YEAR

Midas Touch - Midnight Star - ALL I WANT TO DO IS PUT THIS ON AND DANCE AROUND

I Know It’s Over [Smiths Cover] - Jeff Buckley ALL I WANT TO DO IS CRY

One hell of a session TuneYards Bizness

FILMS OF THE YEAR

The Act of Killing - The absolute best film of the year, possibly the greatest film I’ve seen maybe. Just watch it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD5oMxbMcHM

Nebraska, Safety Not Guaranteed, Untouchable, Best Worst Movie, 5 Broken Cameras

I was particularly intrigued by this short[ish] film by Werner Herzog. It’s a kind of public information film/documentary about texting and driving. Really moving. An important reminder to just not do it. That shit can wait.

I wrote a more expansive film review whilst I had a life-threatening cold in November, you can read it here

I really enjoyed this 19 second film of Bill Gates jumping over a chair

PODCASTS OF THE YEAR

I avoided for a while, and then devoured, Analyze Phish; a somewhat weird podcast where someone who loves the band Phish tries to persuade some who doesn’t like the band Phish to like the band Phish.

This is a classic episode #7 yeah that’s right #7 and they’re still going http://www.earwolf.com/episode/a-crazy-moment-in-phishtory/

That is a spinoff of Comedy Bang Bang, still consistently the podcast I consume most voraciously

A good starter episode from the year is The Vicar of Yanks, featuring 'Weird' Al Yankovic and Paul F Tompkins as Andrew Lloyd Webber, what more could you want? - http://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-vicar-of-yanks/

You can buy a load of live shows that were really funny for a mere $25 well worth it http://store.earwolf.com/products/comedy-bang-bang-live-2013-tour

I ENJOYED THIS GREAT ANSWER ON WEAKEST LINK

Glad to hear Russell Brand’s [and more saliently Matt Morgan’s] radio comeback this year, you can buy it here and it’s all for charity, so you can feel warm and whatnot.

I was psyched to hear some progressive production values stuff on BBC this year including Jarvis Cocker’s Wireless Nights, and Josie Long’s Short Cuts. These shows have a lot of fun with the medium and are an excellent addition to the more traditional Radio4 stuff.

More trad/modern BBC crossover came up with the first transvestite potter to give the BBC’s prestigious Reith Lectures. Grayson Perry did Lord Reith proud, Informing, Educating, Entertaining and I’d add Inspiring. Let’s do a painting or something.

Speaking of art here are two superb films I stumbled upon this year.

A Brief History of John Baldessari -

A film about an artist who paints on kitchen roll [it’s better than it sounds] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOXERZBUA1A

It is often said that ‘the enemy of the artist is the pram in the hallway’ I guess this post says different. Kids are tiny little people you can make do things. What could lead to more creativity? Scientists experiment on their kids all the time! Art learn something from science why don’t ya… This mother has nailed it.

http://www.boredpanda.org/wengenn-in-wonderland-sioin-queenie-liao/

This guy gets the Thom Hoffman Man of the Year award. That is some grade A spectating. http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web04/2012/4/12/13/enhanced-buzz-8465-1334250956-87.jpg

When searching for Christmas presents, this was the worst thing I’ve seen. I mean why? http://etsy.me/KKBqAn

Of all the articles that made me want to move to Uruguay in 2013, this was undoubtedly the best, The president sounds great. http://t.co/heDiKx6G9L

This Dog Vine of course, just of course https://vine.co/v/bJqjVjdqMQ7

Kid President bloody nails it again. 20 Things we should say more often.

BOOKS

I joined two book clubs this year, to varying degrees of success. I really recommend a bookclub it’s great. My favourite books this year were

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller - Italo Calvino: One of the best books I’ve ever read, just blew me away, took me away, kind of changed what I thought books could do. Have recommended to lots of people and this has very much split the room...

Notes from the underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky: I read this on a slightly doomed trip to Leeds and I was left harrowed by the experience. Great though, the ultimate manifestation of a scary manvoice that lives in your head, right guys? Guys? Right?

The Beating of his Wings - Paul Hoffman [NO NEPOTISM ALERT KLAXON] Final chapter in the Left Hand of God trilogy. Art. End of an erar.

Unreasonable Behaviour - Don McCullin: spectacular book that chronicles the brutal existence of the war photographer, photojournalist, family man. Fantastic meditation on humanity/art/intervention. There’s a great Storyville documentary on Don, it’s worth digging out if you can find it.

How Proust Can Change Your Life - Alain De Botton: What we can learn from Proust’s unique view on the world. Every few pages is a beautiful thought, or twist of phrase. I bought it from a second hand bookshop in Brixton that has a dog, there’s a nice film of it here

There’s a nice short story called The Critics which can be read here - http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/05/the-critics/309276/?single_page=true

I enjoyed this soap opera filmed in branches of Ikea without permission. Life should be about 80% more this type of thing. 7 episodes, enjoy

This video had a real punch to it. Let’s all use less crap we don’t need in 2014 http://www.upworthy.com/people-should-know-about-this-awful-thing-we-do-and-most-of-us-are-simply-unaware

PHOTOGRAPHY

This guys photography is good https://plus.google.com/photos/+AddeAdesokan/albums/5632530795735286625/5648918287947725346?cfem=1

ALWAYS BE SQUINCHING. This went down pretty well, some good tips for posing for photos. It sounds a bit wanky, but it’s actually good.

http://www.fastcocreate.com/3022472/always-be-squinching-and-other-tricks-from-a-portrait-photographer-for-taking-flattering-pic

Instagrams

I loved the overnight ferry between England and Holland with my bicycle

I loved the view from the highest place I’ve ever been

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2c4xFwPfc&w=560&h=315]

I loved the Pet Pride march in San Francisco

AMERICA

Tweets of the year

Comment

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Thom Hoffman's Flu Movie Review

November 24, 2013

I had a bad cold/virussey thing this week, on the back of travelling for a month, I've had time to watch all of the films. I love good films, but hate wasting time on bad ones, and have usually had my fill of looking at glowing rectangle screens for work. Anyway here is my flu movie review. There may be 3-4 of these annually, but do not seek a doctor for minor side effects.

American Movie

A documentary about a filmmaker who is a bit of a social misfit, trying to finish his projects and come to terms with the hands he's been dealt, and the cards he's thrown on the floor, and occasionally set fire to. It's kind of heart-warming, but with slightly sinister overtones.

I'm also kind of in love with his friend Mike, who is a great cinematic character, genuinely loveable and probably a very good warning on why you should not do all of the drugs.

It's good for demonstrating the role of creating art in curing, and causing many psychological problems.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

This is another documentary with slightly less blurred lines between creative expression and mental health. Daniel Johnston is a folk musician and artist, who first caught my ear upon hearing his particularlarly weird, haunting, catchy, cute songs of love, hope and despair.

I've always loved music that comes from the heart, and creative expression that reaches past production values and just kicks you in the soul. His crackly vocals, might not win a singing contest, but that leaves the other expressive elements a gap to fight their way in to.

This is not a sentimental view of mental health problems either, you see the effect on Daniel, and his family as his irrational behaviour takes over. Including when having a paranoid manic episode he runs up to confront a lady who has been shouting at him from her apartment, the lady subsequently jumps out of a second floor window, breaking both her ankles.

The tragedy of mental health problems, the ups and downs that occupy any artistic career are amplified hugely and the portrait painted in this documentary is complex, and thought provoking, whilst soundtracked, and filled with Daniel's music and art.

The Great Hip-Hop Hoax: Silibil n' Brains

Little known to me until watching this documentary, I had a sticker of hip hop group Silibil n' Brains on the back of my guitar from the early noughties. I wonder what stage of their journey I would've found this sticker, during the height of the hype, or when they were on the way down with a lot of stickers to get rid of and no record released...

It's a great story about two scottish rappers from Dundee, who tried to make it in London only to be dismissed as the rapping proclaimers. Hurt and pissed off that they were not being taken seriously, they decided to adopt new accents, move south of the border and try and blag it as Californian skate punk rappers. Within a couple of weeks they'd gone from sleeping on their sister's floor, to having a flat paid for and access to a huge advance with studios to record in. It seemed too good to be true, and it was a lie, but no-one realised...

The story of how this happened, the consequences, the ironic beauty of beating a music industry at it's own game, is weighed with the strains on a friendship and the issues or pretending to be something you're not all the time. Great documentary that Storyville picked up. Well worth watching if you get a chance.

Once

The music theme continued with this very different film which is kind of a mumblecore, naturalistic romantic comedy musical type film. I watched this on my laptop on the Megabus going from Washington to New York so was pretty keen for some escapism. It's a very cute film, with some great music.

I first saw Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova perform on one of NPR's fantastic tiny desk concert sessions, and the powerful raw vocals, and dense guitar work really blew me away.

They seemed like funny cool guys too. They are not actors and this kind of shows through, though predominantly in a good way. Handheld cameras, handheld performance and realistic dialogue ensure this never veers to far into saccharine territory, and just comes across as a life affirming, sweet film, that avoids cliche enough and showcases their excellent musicianship.

Sleepwalk with Me

NPR have their hand in this movie too as it's produced by Ira Glass of This American Life fame. It's the, seemingly true to life, story of comedian Mike Birbiglia and his travails with forging a career in comedy, and a career in life. Naturalistic acting comes across here too, it's a very cute film, worth seeking out, though probably don't watch it with your partner if your relationship is a little on the rocks. Maybe watch Once instead.

Untouchable

This film had great reviews this year, so I bought it on itunes. The front cover and the poster make it look like the worst film in all of human history, a young black guy is skipping, pushing, an older white man in a wheelchair down a hill with paragliders in the background. I can see how the marketing department had a tough job, as one of this films strengths is avoiding the typical, refusing to be captured too simplistically, which ain't so great for posters. This film cheered me up a great deal, it's a bit cheesy, but not too much that it's annoying. Hollywood, I know you're reading this, take note. This can be done.

5 Broken Cameras

Finally as my weekend of staying in and recovering drew to a close I watched 5 Broken Cameras, a fascinating documentary about Israel/Palestine and the West Bank, as shot through a demonstrator's eyes, and several of his cameras. You are engrossed from the first minute. This film has got you. The device of telling the story through each of his cameras as they degrade, get shot at, and damaged, lends itself a great narrative arc. It leaves you feeling moved, angry, and impressed with non-violent resistance in the face of overt aggression. It's pretty hard to imagine what you would do in this situation, as a filmmaker myself, it was a choice for me. For Emad, this is his route to salvation, his way of taking power back, and protecting himself against external forces and the reality of his situation. When you have no control, it's easy to become hopeless or hostile. When someone breaks your first camera, it's easy to give up or react to the provocation. Who can say what we would've done in his situation. It's clearly a complex area, but you should really watch this film, it will make you want to understand more.

The humble Braggs and X-ray crystallography: Solving the patterns of matter

Lastly is a shout for a film I watched about 30 times this month, because I made it. It's a little hard for me to tell how good this is, probably have to look at it again in a year when I have some distance. It's gone down really well though, and thanks to everone who tweeted it and shared it around, it means a lot.

One Youtube comment says 'I've seldom seen a more boring documentary about such a most remarkable person! Shame on you for wasting 9 minutes on this botched up "whatshallwecallit".'

ouch, but the person who wrote it, only seems to like Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares.

So I'll be taking that as a compliment.

Cheers

Thom

@thomhoffman

http://thomhoffman.co.uk

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Culture Badger's to do list of London

May 20, 2012

This photo I took in the pouring rain sums up London for me

I had to work in Paris recently, it was stressful, but productive. I got the Eurostar back late Sunday night. On this train I met some Canadians and they ended up staying at my house for three days. It was lots of fun, a bit of a gamble on all of our parts I guess, but I'm trusting my judgement more these days.

It led me to the question

'what should I recommend to my new house guests to do in London'.

I love London, but I don't know that London. I don't know, for example, what train station to get off to go to Buckingham Palace [Yeah ok I have now looked it up, but the point stands].

I hypocritically always apply pressure to anyone I know who has been somewhere, or even done a geography GCSE, to give me advice on what I should do in when I go somewhere new.

Considering I've lived within a 20 mile radius of London for 24 of my 27 years, I should probably be able to offer someone an opinion on what they should do in my city.

Anyway. That's a long winded way of saying, I like London, here are the things to do that represent the London I like.

1] 'I need to get me some falafel' - Hoxton Beach falafel - it's not really a thing to do, it's some food; but this little stand pops up every day on Goodge Place in Goodge Street as well as various other locations across East London. If they gave monkeys access to this falafel in some kind of experiment, they would probably eat it constantly until they died. You can take that as a compliment. Hoxton Beach - please use this in your publicity materials, I will do this in exchange for free cauliflower in my next wrap.

2] 'I really want to eat a plate' - Ethiopian Food @ Queen of Sheba - Kentish Town - Probably Ethiopian food is better placed on a blog about things to do in Addis Ababa. BUT one of the things I love about London is the whole, 'all bits of the world have some space here', thing. This place is great, food comes on a pancake, and you share it, and you get to eat your plate because it's a pancake.

3] 'I would like to adopt some platypi reproductive organs' - Grant Zoological Museum - They have a Killer Whale Foetus, and a collection of moles, in a jar. It's a beautiful little natural history museum, free entry, right in the heart of Euston. Slightly odd opening hours, but really worth a visit.

4] 'I've literally never seen anyone not on heroin in a bandstand' - Bandstand Busking - YES I'M BIASED, as I occasionally direct films for them, but I only got involved by attending first as a fan. I love music, but can't hack big gigs, standing at the back whilst people talk. nightmare. This is music the way it's supposed to be played, plus it's free and all the bands are great. Fall in love with this London.

5] 'I am a non-believer, but I wanna have me some church time' - Gig at the Union Chapel - Probably my favourite venue in London. They needed to pay for repairs to the roof, so started holding events there and it's grown into a massive thing. They do loads of amazing charity work, so it's really a cause worth supporting. I've seen Bombay Bicycle Club, Alessi's Ark, Stewart Lee, and Peter Serafinowicz all perform there. They also do free gigs called Daylight Music most Saturday lunchtimes from 12-2pm, always really interesting. They serve good value food upstairs in the bar area, and tea and coffee on Saturdays.

6] 'I'd like to watch the new Herzhog, or attend a masked ball like the one in Labyrinth, and then watch Labyrinth' - Prince Charles Cinema - I got a membership here for around £10, massive bargain, it's a way to see films reasonably priced in London's Leicester Square. You don't need to be a member to go there. They do loads of great events, I recently went to Schwing Along with Wayne's World. It was cool, people dressed up like their favourite character, really nice silly fun. They also do cool documentaries and non-mainstream stuff.

7] 'I need to work off all the falafel I ate during point #1]' - Ride a bike around - best way to see London, if you wobble around on a Boris Bike like a drunk tourist then motorists usually give you a bit of room, so don't be too scared. If roads are not your friend then I'd advise cycling along Regent's Canal. You could do my 40 mile fun route if you are keen [as described in a previous post], otherwise cycle from Angel to East London, maybe stop for lunch at Broadway market that'd be nice!

8] 'Most Londoners have a mattress in the road as their garden' -Have a potter round Hampstead Heath. I live in London and only have a poorly tended window ledge to call an outdoor space. When I need to get into some greenery, I head to the Heath. There is a beautiful thing called a Pagoda, I don't know what that means, but it's insane. Golder's Hill Park is a park within Hampstead Heath. I like it there too, there's a little zoo. I went there and my ex girlfriend adopted me a kookaburra. One day I went to visit it, it was smashing a baby chick to death against a pole. Elton John never sang about that.

9] 'Gah I'm somereason in central London at night and I need another drink' - Player's piano bar, it's a bar where a guy sits and plays piano and everyone sings along, it's kind of weird and nuts, It's definitely not 'cool' but it's pretty fun.

10] 'I want to dance with somebody, I want to feel the heat with somebody, yes I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who probably didn't know me before and likes old stuff' - London Swing Dance Society does great classes and sessions where you can do a bit of a class, learn some moves, then dance with people, maybe in front of a wicked swing band! No excuses, beginners class will leave you with enough moves to have a go. Good way to meet nice people and I will often make visitors come and have a go.

11] 'I want to be someone else for a bit' - Improv classes... I love a good improv session. Hoopla improv runs classes every Saturday, each has a different theme, but if you are interested in performance, writing, or just messing around it's a really good no pressure, fun place to do it.

12] 'I need a pint, that's not awful, in Camden' - This is getting an easier dilemma to solve, my best tips are the Black Heart [lovely], near the World's End [not for me]. And the recently opened Brew Dog is a great shout for Independent craft beers.

13] 'I want to see a play in a room the size of that board meeting where the new design of the USB drives were announced' - Pentameter's Theatre - I've seen three great plays out of three here, and the theatre only fits about 30, it's really ace, you could get a crepe from the little famous crepe place beforehand. You can grab a nice pint from the pub underneath and take it up to the play - Perfect.

14] 'I want to do a laugh' - Some of my friends did a stand up comedy course, at the The Comedy School in Camden and they got all good at it, so I've been to a lot of stand up shows across London. Best FREE open mic night in my humble opinion is The Cavendish Arms in Stockwell, nice audience, good MCing and smart set up.

15] 'I want to do a laugh and I don't mind paying' - always great acts, good mix of circuit pros, and exciting newbies! Hooting Broadway, in Tooting Broadway [see what they did there] [[See what I did there]].

16] 'Well I like music, and I like films... but which do I like best?' - See Hear Club. Great, special nights at the Roof Gardens in Dalston, a band plays a show, and they you nestle down and watch a film picked by the band. A really great way to spend a summer's evening out East. Curated by @AnikainLondon #ff

17] 'I LIKE OLD STUFF' Go and see something at Wilton's Music Hall - Europe's oldest working music hall, and an incredible venue, really magic, take a look at the listings and go and go and check it out, I've had some great nights here.

18] 'I like having a reason to drink all day' Day at Lords. Beautiful venue, you can go and watch a nice game of cricket, have a drink and a chat. It can be a bit pricey, but it is a whole days entertainment. My tips are to use 'LateGate' where you can go after tea, for a few good hours cricket for around £10. Also if a test goes to a fifth day, you can sometime get cheaper tickets. Even if you don't like cricket, this is the place to grow to love it. Follow @HomeOfCricket for details on ticket price and whatnot.

I have probably left some things I like out, please feel free to add your own, I love to hear about cool stuff going down.

London's alright isn't it!

@thomhoffman

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Podcasting

March 3, 2012

I did some talking, and some listening, at the recent Sounds of Science #talkfest at the Biochemical Society . I thought I'd throw my thinkings down on to internet paper and add some bits from the other panellists who were way more insightful than me. Now could be a good time to bail out, and go listen to the talk which was kindly recorded by Martin Zaltz Austwick. Alternatively I will relink at the bottom. This is kind of like a 'choose your own adventure book'

My first podcast emerged from 2008. I wanted the student news satire radio show, made by me and Sam Wong, to reach more than 3 people. The university had a website where you could stream stuff, which was great [but not download]. Unlike the music shows however we didn't have any rights issues; due to our opinions not being valued by the Recording industry Association of America. We decided we would offer it as a podcast. It got us hundreds of new listeners, which for us, was awesome. We were now accessible to anyone at their whim, for download from RSS feeds and itunes.

After that I did work experience at the BBC for a month and then started work at the British Medical Journal, making educational podcasts about Swine Flu. It was an interesting time, and perfectly suited to the quick turnaround medium of the podcast. Especially as the BMJ wanted to increase is online offering; moving toward being an 'online first journal' jabbing at the cutting edge of digital publishing.

It proved to be very popular for us, and gave me a job. After swine flu, we moved on to doing more esoteric, nuanced, debates which we felt would benefit from having someone talk you through the issues.

In educational terms, they're great for debate, and discussion. It's like listening in on a great conversation. Also, a fundamental point is the web-based nature of podcasts allow you to have a landing page with links that build on what has been discussed. These links then point you in the direction of more information giving you a chance to investigate opinions further for yourself. The internet is full of all the knowledge, but we need 'experts and gatekeepers we respect and trust' to direct us toward great content. If you have a trusted brand, or are an expert in something, it's a great way to deliver your message.

During #Talkfest people played some brilliant audio clips, but as these clips played I got anxious about what to do with my eyes, where am I supposed to look? Normally I'm fine, but occasionally I find mid-conversation I think about eye contact and panic about how much eye contact is weird, am I making too much or too little? What is the ratio? Is there some etiquette list out there somewhere?

I just went and looked one up, it said

'E-How - To maintain a healthy level of eye contact, communication experts recommend looking someone in the eye for intervals of four to five seconds, then looking away briefly -- at their mouth or nose or at something nearby -- then re-establish eye contact.

Yahoo Answers- i would say 70% on and 30% brief look aways if im conversing with someone for an extended period of time'

Interesting

Here is one of the clips: An Oral History of British Science, was introduced by Tom Lean. He's working on a project creating a major archive of in-depth interviews with British Scientists. There are some great clips there

Martin created a kind of drum and bass Whale -music influenced podcast intro, made from the sounds of Tottenham Court Road...

I think in the internet age, audio can have a non-compulsory, complimentary, visual aspect. I LOVE soundcloud, something about seeing waveforms is just cool. But it's not just like the dizzy heights of the Windows Media Player visualizations, you can add comments to different sections of your audio, and a little profile picture pops up at the bottom,

LET US compare these two players.

VERSUS

each of those little cubes is a comment which flashes up as the playhead travels along the song. Not essential in order to enjoy the audio, but a nice interactive adjunct.

Interactivity is often thrown around with regard to multimedia, and is something which grinds my gears. Multimedia is not inherently interactive; unless you count pressing play and stop as interaction. Which from an educational/informative perspective reminds me of a quote I read once, it was about documentary but I think the point stands

‘an audience that is already sitting back listening may not be persuaded to sit forward and see for itself’
Robert Drew
‘Imagining Reality’

I agree this is possible, but also that, audio particularly, is sometimes the most immersive medium around.

Audio's challenges, are also it's strong points, and I guess that's why the digital era is so exciting, as we can build on these, and start to move away from arbitrary audio/video/text delineations.

Cowbird is a new storytelling startup which looks really cool. You have a large image, which you can kind of pan around, whilst listening to a short-story piece. It could be fiction, or someone interviewing a relative. I think some of these come out beautifully and I will try to make my own one soon.

The phenomenon of the 'produser' and the massive democratizing effect of technology is having a real impact on storytelling. I heard someone recently state that the idea of sitting down to a 90 minute film, will be seen as a real anachronism; a kind of blip in the history of culture. It's an interesting idea, but I certainly feel like a powerful short film, audio piece or poem, or combination of all three has so many different chances to live and be consumed that hopefully the best ones will find an audience.

If you want to make a podcast, you probably already have the equipment. Radio Kate, works at Audioboo and this fantastic clip emphasises how you can capture something awesome on a mobile phone.

Another favourite podcaster of mine is Daniel Ruiz Tizon - he recorded probably somewhere in the region of 100 hours of podcasts on his Blackberry, and for the most part it's some of the most original, compelling, podcast content I've heard in a while.

A significant portion of the audience discussion focussed on the quality of audio, and whilst it's definitely an issue, I'm so in the camp that ideas are worth way more than quality. If you consider how we can tolerate a crappy phone line for an hour, if the other end of that line is making us laugh or think then it's not such a big deal.

Michelle brought us back to the skills involved in professional radio production, and creating soundscapes in documentary. Mentioning a #ProTip she heard from a Norwegian producer,

Treat the microphone like a camera, with close ups, mids and wide shots.

It's a really effective way of layering sound, and giving some contextual clues to help people anchor themselves in space, working the subconscious. Michelle also emphasised the importance of the first minute of your audio, but I would also urge listeners to bear with podcasts for a bit, part of the joy is the slow burn potential.

Her lovely documentary on 'the instruction manual' is a beautiful listen

GREAT SOUND ON A BUDGET

Zoom H4n [£250] - Broadcast quality sound equipment
Audacity [Free]
Podomatic/soundcloud/ [which feed into] iTunes [Freemium]

MAKING PODCASTS PAY

It's important for people producing stuff to be able to keep producing it. There are a number of different models around and everyone is still finding their feet. I don't think people go into these industries with the idea that they'll strike it rich, but they probably want to buy shoes for their children, and if they make cool stuff that makes your life better, that's got to be worth a bit of a financial-digital high five. Some media outlets [

like the Guardian

] have internal podcast teams, some have links with podcasts [formerly Times and the Bugle]. Some commercial outlets support podcasters [David Mitchell's Soapbox]. Increasingly traditional broadcasters are getting on board with people who tested their ideas in digital media.

Consider Black Cab Sessions - originally a couple of guys filming bands in the back of a cab for one song, for putting on youtube. Several years later, they now have their own Channel4 show which took a Black Cab to America.

Black Cab Sessions USA from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

Robert Llewelyn's video podcast in which interviewed people whlst driving around in his electric car, was originally sponsored by an electric car manufacturer, and finally became a show on TV station Dave.

Ricky Gervais' podcasts went from being hosted by the Guardian, to being turned into animated cartoons for HBO.

Donations and [pay what you think it's worth] are interesting phenomena, and I'd love to see the stats on how these things do. I've donated to a couple recently, and it feels completely right to do so. Something like the

Bugle

has probably given me 100 hours of entertainment for FREE, it would seem bastardish to not feel like chipping in when you think of it like that.

Richard Herring

, a long time podcaster, articulated how people feel inclined to come out and watch his shows because of how much entertainment he's given them via his own podcasts. They don't just see it as £10 for an evening, it's a more nuanced transaction. It's also a great medium for testing material, and getting yourself out there to new audiences.

Other podcasts like Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown, have live recordings and charge a small fee to the audience

MY TOP TEN PODCASTS [these link to my favourite episodes, where appropriate]

Comedy Bang Bang

- insane improvised comedy, music and games currently my number 1

The Bugle

- Previous champion - still a huge pull - best satirical news out there right now

Pod F Tompkast

- my favourite comedian from #1 fastest wit, and best impressions

Off the Wall Post

- one for the tech and social/new media geeks out there, always good value, funny and interesting, source of #wankywords

NPR All Songs Considered

- American Music podcasts, always food for thought.