Monday, November 26, 2007

It's Been A Busy But Grateful Week

The Ad Congress not only hijacked my regular routine but my blogging and writing habits as well. And then, for a brief moment, I experienced what several podcasters undergo: going to an event, recording the event, editing the event, writing the shownotes, uploading it, and then finally promoting it. Actually, it's been a goal of mine to hold a podcast one day (while waiting in line at Subic for Neil Gaiman to arrive and sign books, I was sorely tempted to introduce myself to all of those waiting and interview them). Hopefully soon (I've given up the hope of acquiring a laptop anytime soon and acquire "perfect" audio quality), especially if anyone's willing to co-host with me (either that or I hijack Anansi Girl's podcast).

Second, as I mentioned before, I love Neil Gaiman's work, but I'm not a die-hard fan. I think the greatest thing for me during the entire "stalking Neil Gaiman" thing was that not only did I get to make new friends (I hope) but I also got to meet people I haven't seen in a long time: Budjette Tan, Quark Henares, Luis Katigbak, -batchmate from Ateneo whose name I keep on forgetting-, various blockmates, a batchmate from Xavier/Ateneo, Don "Fuhrer", Joey "Banzai Cat" Nacino, [Identity Protected], Elbert Or, Panch, Ramon de Veyra, Erwin Romulo, Michael Co, various Comicol members, Leinil Yu, The Core Lit Critters, Erin Chupeco (if you're wondering who she is, you can check my defunct fanzine for some of her nonfiction work), etc. (in case I missed anyone because you know, it's past midnight, sorry!). It was also great finally meeting Ian Casocot and the other winners involved in the Graphic/Fiction competition. I do hope to see more of your writing and/or comic work. Pssst, Philippine Genre Stories is looking for talent!

Third I think is the service that I'm providing. I feel useful. =) Not really getting an increase in blog visits but at least word about Philippine Speculative Fiction is getting out. Oh, and Neil Gaiman too! But you know what, I'd like to take this time to plug Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 3 on Dec. 8, 2007 at Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street. A lot of those who participated in the Graphic/Fiction competition (both winners and short-listed) are part of the anthology and you know what, it's great that Neil is supporting us Filipinos by sponsoring a competition that promotes writing and creativity but he's not the only one who's doing so. And I've been listening and transcribing to both Dean Alfar and Neil Gaiman's talks and it's eerily similar what their views are on the subject of speculative fiction and writing...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Charles,

You don't necessarily need a laptop. I don't have one. You can get a two microphone input portable digital recorder like the Zoom H4 for around $200 to $300(U.S)

Hey if you're giving a podcast consideration, I gave a presentation at a convention that's local to me about starting a podcast. I've been trying to get someone to give me criticism, even to tell me it sucks if it does, so I can perfect my presentation. I don't have the pictures and stuff I'd like, but here's the recording:

http://www.theoryfromthecloset.com/shows/how_to_podcast.mp3

Charles said...

Thanks Clyde. I'll give it a listen.

I actually listened to the Gen Con panels on podcasting before and I found them helpful. I have a digital recorder (Zen: Vision M) but my problem is that there's little editing I can do post recording mainly because my digital recorder records in in Mono .Wav (I use Audacity for recording).

Also, $200 - $300 is easily my monthly salary (third world income) =)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the audio files, Charles. You're awesome.

And you're totally welcome to hijack my podcast. I think I can make time the weekend after next. E-mail me.