Ah, technology - how it scares me!

Post by **JSherlock** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:05 pm

I just found something very scary.

PODFICS.

Basically, someone reading fanfiction aloud, and people can download these to listen to on their iPods...

Now, for formal fiction, such as published books and magazines, and such - that's fine to have...but fanfiction? REALLY? It boggles my mind. I can just hear it now - some 14 year old with too much technology:

"Rouge and Reh-mi walked hand in hand down. The country, road."
"Oh, Rehmi, I do declhalre..."
"Wee shair-ree."

It's a scary thought.

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Post by **Esynthia** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:07 pm

LMAO wow. that would scare the shit out of me.

wingyding · Post by **wingyding** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:10 pm

Not all of them are incredibly horrible. Most of the fourteen-year-olds don't have the knowledge of how to do a podcast properly anyway, so I fail to see how it being fanfic changes a hell of a lot.

Ult_Sm86 · Post by **Ult_Sm86** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:25 pm

I'm with JS on that. Sounds like it's pretty stupid. Then again a lot of the time I can't even tolerate poor end fanfiction and there seems to be a clutter of it.

Post by **Saint Kurt** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:33 pm

I don't know...

I'm a fan of books on tape (or books on CD or ... books on MP3). Back in college I was advised to have some kind of "evening routine" to help with my chronic insomnia. I started listening to Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" every night before I went to sleep because it was like a story. It worked.

Once I had Alice's Restaurant pretty well memorized, I started listening to books on tape and even though the media has changed, I still do this before bed every night.

When I first discovered podcasting a few years ago I thought it was great; like blogging only more "real" since it was a human voice. I really wanted to do a podcast since I have an audio background but I wasn't sure what kind of content I had to offer. (I briefly considered suggesting a 'scrawlercast, but again I wasn't sure if people would want to listen to a podcast about what Nightcrawler wasn't doing since he was hardly in the comics at all at the time.)

The only thing I could think of was reading "Even Angels Have Scars" aloud. I have a very nice speaking voice and used to do the "read textbooks aloud on tape" for the blind in college for extra money. I wanted to have a high production value with music transitions between chapters etc. I have a recording of myself reading the first chapter and doing some test character voices on some back up disk somewhere. Then I wondered ... who would listen? And I shelved the project.

So it's not completely crazy. If I'd thought someone would listen, we would have had Podfic's a few years ago. (I wouldn't have done the dialects though, but given how much time I spent on the left coast, my "Christian voice" was awesome.)

-e

The Drastic Spastic · Wed Aug 06, 2008 10:39 am

I can see how people would want to listen to fanfic. I guess. I'm not a fan of anything that requires me to just sit back and listen. I like to see things. I find it very hard (impossible even) to focus on just listening. Ten minutes max, and it's a painful ten minutes. When I listen to music, I always do something else, and the music fades in and out of my awareness. This listening style doesn't work very well with a story.

[Edited on 6-8-2008 by The Drastic Spastic]

Post by **fourpawsonthefloor** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:40 pm

Yeah, I'm the same as spaz that way.

Or in less mincing of words with myself, in one ear and out the other.

[Edited on 6/8/08 by fourpawsonthefloor]

Elfdame · Post by **Elfdame** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:23 pm

How funny ... I have trouble staying tuned to visuals ... prolly why I don't engage well with modern comics as they are so MTV choppy style. Hubby refers to dance numbers as "the packing peanuts of theatre." Like, everyone said how much they loved "Perfect Storm" and "Transformers" but both left me cold b/c they were so visual.

But I can listen to a book on CD or to Tchaikovsky or Alice Cooper or whatnot and be totally engrossed. The pictures are there, but in my head.

I am such a freak.

As far as podfics, I agree that many would probably be odious and uncomfortable, but it would be worth listening to some of the ones done by those willing to invest time. (I used to spend half an hour or more doing a 30-second outgoing message for my answering machine. I know, what an egotist. I did little skits with music and everything.) I bet Discworld ficcies would be awesome!