Podcast Write-Up

Shaking the sleep out of my eyes and struggling to regain my consciousness I stumble to my feet, as I do most late Saturday mornings, and stagger over to my window. Grass. Dirt. No fresh snow today, looks like it will be another mediocre day at the mountain. Despite the lack of snow we have received this year we still make the trip to the mountain to ski or ride on what the mountain has to offer out of the love of the sport. However it is done with a certain lack of enthusiasm that is felt by all who enjoy the snow sports for there is nothing quite like riding that new powder snow that only results from fresh snowfall.

This winter season seems to be especially low on snowfall compared to previous years. “Vermont is two feet under average for snow accumulation this year” Holmes remarks at the beginning of the podcast. While this may seem like a blessing to those who hate shoveling their driveways and cleaning off their cars, it can spell a death sentence to ski mountains.  Although every mountain has the potential to make man-made snow, it is a difficult and time-consuming process. Mountains must operate the guns all night long and smooth out the great piles they create, meaning that more staff is required to get the mountain up and running, and in the end it doesn’t compare to the quality of natural snow. Some of the mountain is not even open because of the lack of snow and making snow is simply too big a task.  Another negative side effect of this awkward weather is that warm temperatures during the day melt the snow and colder temperatures at night refreeze this melted water into sheets of ice, which are not fun for anyone.

            What this means to skiers and snowboarders is that conditions have not been as good this year as other years and the inner drive to make that trip to the mountain falls from the top of their goals. We spoke with Kyle Gould, a ski instructor at Burke Mountain, about this seasons lack of snow and the effect it has had at burke. He makes a good point about how people who like to ski in the woods cannot this year for the most part because of the low coverage compared to last years four feet. But the lack of snow is not only affecting which trails are open or how deep the glades are. The terrain park also suffers. With little fresh snow, the take-offs and landings to the jumps and features become solid sheets of ice making the park dangerous. What may have been fairly easy before has now become far different and could easily result in injury.

            For now there is no explanation for our spring-like summer, but some speculations include global warming, a freak occurrence, or maybe it just rained too much during the summer.

Slideshows and Galleries

This is a photo gallery I found on flickr. It is a small gallery about people sleeping in libraries. I found it humorous because in most of the pictures it looks like they fell asleep by accident in the middle of a hardcore study session. I can relate to some of these pictures, staying up late, struggling to stay awake the night before a big exam of project.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/george/galleries/72157622566655097/

B&B Scuba is a Scuba diving group in Maui. This slide show is a good way for customers to decide if they wish to take the trip to Maui and or give their business to this scuba company. The potential diver can watch the slide show and see what kinds of areas they will be diving and either get excited about the trip or decide that it might no t be for them. It is a good way to attract customers because the pictures show beautiful coral reefs and the divers exploring sunken ship.
http://www.bbscuba.com/content/bb-scuba-flickr-maui-scuba-slideshow

I found a slideshow with audio about how one man made an Optimus Prime costume for his kid. Pictures show the steps he took while making the costume. He explains as the pictures keep progressing what materials he used, where he got them, and how he went about putting it together. His narration contributes a lot to the slideshow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s1HHFrEXuI

A lot of slideshows I found had a song or music playing as the pictures progressed and although it added a nice mood to the pictures it did not add much else. With this in mind I wanted to critique a slideshow that had narration of what was going on in the pictures. This was the most effective form of audio I found and was the most informative of all the galleries and slideshows I viewed.

Podcasts

Epic mealtime

Epic Mealtime is a video podcast cooking show. I know what your thinking this kid likes boring cooking shows? No, this is no ordinary cooking show. A group of guy friends get together and make the most intense man-meals, filled with all the cliché food types men like. Bacon, piles of meats, cheese, burgers, cheese, meat, bacon... you get the point. and that pretty much their cooking style. One podcast I watched they made a meat pie. They must have had five individual layers of bacon weaved together like a basket throughout the other layers of the pie. I liked this podcast because it wasn't just another boring cooking show like on the foodnetwork channel. The cast goes through the steps fast and are excited about what they are cooking thus keeping my interest, or maybe it was the homemade Jack Daniels maple syrup.


The Onion


The Onion is a mock news organization that focuses on comedy. They imitate real news environments and shows so well that the first time I saw it I didn't know it was fake. The whole time the reporters keep a straight face and talk in a completely news-professional tone all while reading hilarious news stories. One of the podcasts I watched was making fun of Tom Brady after the patriots lost the Superbowl, and the other was a mock news piece about a teen who went brain dead. The teen was reported to only be able to "roll her eyes and text." You won't learn any real facts while watching The Onion but it is sure to make you laugh. Also this could make for a good joke if you find the right story. In a print version of one of their stories I read a while back, they claimed that dove soap was made with real doves!

How Stuff Works: Stuff You Should Know

These audio podcasts are from two guys who talk about various interesting topics. Some topics include 'How Mexican Wrestling Works' and 'What's the Deal with the Bermuda Triangle.' I found that while I thought these were going to be interesting to listen to, the two guys just conversed in monotone dialogue that I found boring. They did not have actual facts about the Bermuda Triangle but instead I found them saying things like "I believe this happened..." or "didn't that plane disappear..." It was hard to keep my concentration focused on the podcast. Often their dialogue was off topic, discussing things unrelated to the topic of the podcast. This was my least favorite, not because of the topics at hand, just the way in which they were executed.