Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Episode 15 - Canadian National Day of Podcasting

Welcome back! It's December 1st, Canadian National Day of Podcasting, because we've always got to have our own day.

On this day Canadian podcasters, even those who have podfaded, release a new episode just for kicks. And some just because today is their regular release day, or something like that.

If you want to hear more Canadian podcasts who have celebrated today, there is a growing list of episodes here at DayofPodcasting.ca. And follow #CDNOP around places which use hashtags.

And if you want to hear more of me around the interwebs, check out Canned Con Cast and The Village Podcast from The Bookshelf. Also, I didn't mention it in the episode, but be sure to also listen to my guest hosting job on The Illuminati Social Club from a couple of weeks ago.

Interested in listening to a podcast that does not have my voice on it? Then you should check out A Guy, A Girl and a Book, by Charlie and Maggie De Long.

Once that business is done, I get on to the crying. I've learned some incredible lessons about grief thanks to Tim Boulton, a grief counsellor with Walking With You. I believe you could learn from him too.

Thanks to Aaron Soch for writing my theme song. You can check out his podcast Wikazaru and send him some love.

Follow me on the Twitters for more intriguing stuff, like me live tweeting baking bread.

 

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Episode 014 - It's really not worth the wait

Hello Friends! I'm back and I'm sorry I've made you wait so long.

A quick recap of life happens - believe me, it's boring and sounds like the same thing.

More interestingly I share which books I bought today at the Giant Used Book Sale put on by the Friends of the Guelph Public Library.

Did you miss this?

Hit me up at the usual places - Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram

 

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

100% Candice Podcast, Episode 013 - The One I Did Live!

Photo by Barry Furnival (Barry J of Late Night QRM)
This past weekend was the Marshall McLuhan Podcaster Roundtables. People drove, flew, ferried from all across North America and came together in Hamilton Ontario to hang out. And hang out we did. Much food, drink and talk was found in Hamilton this weekend, and more importantly, much friendship.

On Saturday afternoon, upstairs at the Aout 'n About we set up and took turns recording our shows in front of the group. This is my story.

Some characters may recognize themselves in my story. I hope you don't mind my sharing this.


Theme song (added in post) by Aaron Soch.
Join me on Twitter for all the fun!

Monday, July 13, 2015

100% Candice Podcast, Episode 012

Rejoice! I tried using my new Blue Yeti microphone to record this one, which means that it took me two days after recording to learn some Audacity settings to use. And I'm definitely not sure I know what I'm doing with it yet.
You've got mouth noises galore, lots of high end ssssss sounds and two day old thoughts.

I might end up going back to BossJock for the quick record and release. Once I didn't get the episode finished before leaving on Saturday night, there was a very real possibility of it not getting out at all. Of course I know that with practice it will get faster adding the theme song and levelling out the tracks.

And I guess I will practice where and how to place the mic to get the best sound to begin with. Wait, this is starting to sound like work!

A few links to go along with my words:
Android App built by Charlie DeLong to listen to 100% Candice
Collection of every podcast hosted by Anthony Marco
Marshall McLuhan Podcaster Roundtables second annual event is in Hamilton July 24-26

Is there someone in your life who has influenced you somehow? Why don't you send them a note and let them know!

Monday, June 22, 2015

100% Candice 011 - It's a downer

Hey folks! I'm still moving forward, ever forward, but sometimes with a few steps backwards.

Summer is my toughest season. A little seasonal depression to add to my sadness, but I'll make it through. I'll just be doing it a bit slower than usual.


Wednesday, June 3, 2015

New podcast episode - 100% Candice takes on audio

This photo taken a month ago,
before all the leaves came in.
New month, new episode!

I feel the need once again to bring up the audio quality of Gimlet Media podcasts. Remember this post about the not fantastic audio in their shows. Yeah, I felt the need to talk about it again. However, the content of their shows is super good, interesting and engaging.

There is lots of ambient noise in this one since I recorded while sitting in my backyard enjoying the humidity free weather. I'm not sorry.




Monday, May 18, 2015

100% Candice Episode 009 - Blathering On And Explosions

Sorry about my incoherence here. I'll blame it on hunger. Shortly after recording I had some pancakes for dinner.

My podcast recommendation this week is Pod on Pod, which might be the best idea or the worst idea, depending on how many podcasts you want to listen to. Pod on Pod reviews podcasts, and is a big part of the reason my podcast listening list has grown to 154 subscriptions.

For the next 15 minutes I talk a bit about the many ways I've entertained myself this weekend, including The Fun Home, Mad Max Fury Road and Pitch Perfect.

Follow my smiles on Clammr or Tweet me your comments about how much I haven't entertained you @cinn48.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

A Controversial and Curse-Filled Hoorah!

I am about to be controversial. You have been warned.

I am a proud (if not very loud compared to some) Green Party of Ontario member. I have worked on the last two provincial elections with our local candidates. In 2011 as a member of the communications team and then interim communications director, and in 2014 as the communications director both locally and provincially for the leader of the party, Mike Schreiner.

Since I discovered the party in 2007 I have voted Green in both the provincial and federal elections, but to be honest, I really don't know much about the federal party.

After the last provincial election I chose to join the local Green party executive, which operates as both our Constituency Association (provincial) and Electoral District Association (federal). I worked very hard on the last provincial election and while we didn't win the seat we made a lot of headway. Four years is a lot of time, and it would be easy to let all that headway slip away before the next provincial election in 2018. I don't want to see that happen, so I joined the executive, bought my Green Party of Canada membership and committed to acting in some way on the upcoming federal election.

So, as I mentioned, I really don't know much about the federal party. I, as many Canadians do, know that Elizabeth May is the leader of the party and that she won the first Green Party seat in Canada in the last federal election. I also know that Bruce Hyer, who was elected as an NDP member, left his party and became a Green Party member, giving us a second seat in parliament.

I've met both of these people through my work on the recent provincial election and all of my opinion of them pretty much comes from that.

Here's one part of my controversy. I don't know what to think of Elizabeth May. I know that she is a very hard worker, I know that she is a very good politician and representative for her constituents, giving many people a voice. I know that this leads to some interesting decisions on her part, like presenting a petition from people many consider to be conspiracy theorists.

My opinion of her is mostly based on what she has done in relation to the provincial elections I have worked on. To remain diplomatic and to say the least, I have definitely given her the side eye when faced with her outspokenness.

Here is the next part of my controversy. I don't know if I have changed my opinion in full, but after her speech/skit at the press gallery dinner, I have never been prouder to say she is leading the party I support.

Listen, maybe you don't know me very well, but I swear. A lot. In fact, I swear so much that an old roommate made me a t-shirt for Christmas one year which reads "I say bad words"

So, the plethora of f-bombs from the Leader endeared me to her.

On top of that, I am proud of my country and the not perfect system of democracy we have. We elect representatives to listen to us and make decisions in our best interest. Right now we have a party in power which has done their best to make our government insular, secretive, and instead of them representing our best interest, they are telling us how and what we should believe and care about. This frustrates me and it frustrates Ms. May. She spent a lot of last year doing a speaker tour to let people know, but few people listened.

And one more thing. I am a woman. I strive to grow up to be a broad. I am not some demure lady who was taught to be lady like, show respect and ne
ver speak out of turn. I have worked in very male heavy fields my entire life. I have always acted in just the same manner as the men I work with. Sometimes it shocks people, but I am simply being myself. I gave myself permission to be myself a long time ago. I am not going to change my behaviour or personality just to fit some societal norm of how a woman should act. It's been awhile since I've called myself this, but I am one classy cunt. And, at least in this case, so is Elizabeth May.

So, Ms. May, go ahead and apologize for lack of comedic timing, but please don't apologize for the sentiment.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

100% Candice 008 - What Have I Been Up To?

What? The last time we spoke was a month ago? That doesn't seem right...

Whoa, look at that, the last episode of 100% Candice was way back near the beginning of April. Oops.

Well, moving on.

What have I been up to in the last few weeks? Well, quite a few things I used to do. I'm trying to re-introduce more of the things I used to love. Can I love them again? I will only know by trying.

I also have a new podcast recommendation for you, and an app review. Will this morph into a tech show... I don't think so.

Candice's Podcast Pick of the Week - The Allusionist: Etymological Adventures with Helen Zaltzman in a Fortnightly Podcast

Put Clammr on your phone and join in the fun! Or just listen to my Smile of The Day posts.

Monday, April 20, 2015

My Next Fitness Challenge

And then I found the chart! I started at
50 and ended at 250.
Three years ago I took on a fitness challenge - a squat challenge. I've always thought that after my smile, my ass is my best feature. So I set out to make it even nicer. It was a while ago, so I don't remember what I started at and what I ended at, but I do remember that I had to do so many squats per day that I often did them in public while out with people. One night once I was doing 200 or more squats per day I was doing squats at midnight in a crowded bar while celebrating a birthday with a friend.

Since then I've become quite fond of fitness challenges. Typically I've done 30 day challenges and I've done lots of different exercises, including jump rope, planks, squats and push-ups.

For the first three months of this year I focused on push-ups. I did them on an incline on the edge of my couch for the month of January and finished the 30 days at 50 push-ups. For February I focused on doing them traditional style, on the floor. By the time I could do 15 easily I stopped challenging myself. I was doing 15 in the morning and 15 before bed every day. Then I learned about the 100 Push-Up Challenge.

I'm just crazy enough to try it!

It's a six week challenge, which is unusual for me, and it had many more rest days than I'm used to. But by week four I understood why doing push-ups every day during the challenge would be way too much. I spent the last three weeks of the challenge in pretty much constant muscle pain around my shoulders, my neck, my pecs. Ugh, I didn't realize how much pain I was in until this past week when it went away finally. I took a full week off from doing any push-ups at all. But that all ends today.

I finished the push-up challenge by being able to do 115 push-ups in under 15 minutes. After a week of not doing any, I tested myself yesterday and I did 75 push-ups in about 8 minutes. I think that's just fine for maintenance. Now I move on to the next challenge.

Any time someone asks me what my fitness goals are I tell them that I am 38 years old and in damn good shape, but I know that won't last forever. I want to continue looking and feeling good for as long as possible, that's my goal. That makes employees at gyms uncomfortable because that is not a measurable goal. When you join a gym they really want you to make a measurable goal so that 3 months later you can see if you are or have reached it and stay invested in being a gym member. Feeling good should be the only goal, but we as humans are kind of dumb and can't motivate ourselves on a wishy-washy goal like that. Especially when, like during my push-up challenge, I didn't feel that good while doing it.

Let's be real, I wouldn't mind that dress either!
So, I get pressed for a more measurable goal all the time at the gym and the only one I've ever actually had and the only one I've ever given once to a fitness coach, but am now sharing with the world, is that I want to have arms like Angela Basset's in her role as Tina Turner.

My next fitness challenge will stay in the arm family. I'm moving on to Tricep Dips.

I found a challenge online which begins at 5 and ends at 100. I tested myself yesterday to see how well I did and I started with, what I found out is, the more challenging way to do them, with legs outstretched. I did 15 with ease, so I will start there.

Since I continue to do squats every day my next 30 days will look like this - Tricep Dips 4 days in a row, one day off, 50 - 70 squats every day, and probably about 30 or 40 push-ups a day in one set.

This should let me continue my habits of maple syrup in my coffee and a cookie or brownie every day for at least the next 10 years. Why give things up when you can just achieve balance by adding more?

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Changing Podcatchers - Overcast vs Downcast

I'm what's known as a "heavy user" of podcasts. Over the weekend I had to unsubscribe and then re-subscribe to every show I listen to. This took me two days. After investing so much time into that, I backed up the OPML file so that I wouldn't have to think so hard next time to remember the all the shows I subscribe to. Turns out it is 141 shows.

And very good thing I did since later that day my podcatcher of choice, Overcast, removed the security certificate for the version I was using. A security certificate is important, very important, for an app which regularly checks online and then automatically downloads files, it's what gives the app the ability to do that.

So, I woke up Tuesday morning in a state of panic since I had no podcatcher, no shows to listen to and was faced with the possibility of having to use the iPhone's native app to listen to shows. There was a time that was the only way I listened to shows, but now I just can't go back.

After asking around with other podcasters and podcast listeners, I settled on using Downcast. The idea of paying for an app before even seeing how it works also filled me with panic. What if I hate it? What if it doesn't do the basic stuff I need it to? As with most panic attacks, this was completely unnecessary. Of course it has the stuff I need. There are a billion free apps to listen to shows, one that actually costs money is going to be pretty damn good.

Now that it's been two days of playing around with it I have some thoughts. Let's start with what I loved about Overcast, and miss.

1. Speed control - Overcast has a slightly more granular speed control than any app I've used. Listening at 2x the speed is a bit too fast for me, and listening at 1.5x the speed is a bit too slow. On Overcast I was able to set the speed at 1.75x, perfect.

2. Discovery - Overcast could be synced with my Twitter account. There was a great section called Twitter Recommendations. Anybody I was following on Twitter, who also used Overcast, could recommend shows or particular episodes and they showed up there. A year ago when I switched to Overcast I did not subscribe to 141 shows. I've found so, so many great shows that I love through the Twitter Recommendations section.

3. UI/Branding - It's silly, but orange is my favourite colour and I loved that my most often used app was bright white and orange and made me smile every time I looked at it.

And here is what I am liking so far about Downcast

1. Playlist Sorting - I can sort the episodes in a playlist by a much wider variety of choices. Typically I sort by date, but I've found that Downcast let's me sort by Time Left, which I love. Some shows are 7 minutes, some are 3 hours. Some days I want variety and some days I want to spend with only one or two people. Sorting by time lets me hit play at the top of the list and listen to 10 different shows and different voices without worrying about it how long I will spend with one person.

2. Cumulative Time Stamps on Playlists - I can tell that there are 6 new episodes in my Meta playlist and that it will take me 6 hours and 17 minutes to listen to them all. Of course I listen at 1.5x so it will probably only take me 4 hours or so. Some days I just want to listen to podcasts about podcasts and some days I just want to empty a playlist. Now I have an extra bit of info to help me make my decision.

3. RSS Feeds Work! - This is a very specific one. On Overcast every time I added the RSS feed, or the website address for Broken Area Podcast, it wouldn't recognize it. No idea why, just wouldn't. So when I, out of curiosity, entered it in the search field on Downcast, there it was, right away. So now, I can listen to Dave and Isabelle do groceries, and Jon review movies, and Isabelle talk about art.

So that's it, some thoughts about what I miss and what I've found. I will add that the UI of Downcast is kind of ugly. It's cramped and has too much on the screen, and I'm not a fan of a grey or black background. But I'll get over that.

I still love Overcast, and if I ever update my phone to iOS8 or upgrade to a 5 or 6 I will probably go back to it.

What do you use to listen to your podcasts? What do you love or want to change about it?

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Candice in Therapy - Episode 007

Hit record and started talking. I've been unmotivated and uninspired to record a podcast lately. It's not that I haven't had things to say, just something about hitting record and talking seemed like way too much energy for me. Hopefully I've gotten over that.

I share some thoughts about some of the coping skills I've been using to help me through this setback in life. And some new coping skills I hope will keep me from getting to an even rougher place over the summer.

I've also added some potential theme music at the beginning and ending of the show. My friend Aaron Soch wrote and produced it. He's super talented. And also records his own show interviewing artists and musicians around Guelph about their top 10 favourite albums, Wikazaru. Let me know your thoughts on the theme music, do you like it? Does it have the right tone and feel? Do you think I can learn how to play it on guitar and reproduce it live?

And once again, I'm sorry about the crying.

Follow me on Twitter at @cinn48 to see my daily gratitude posts.


Saturday, April 11, 2015

Monday, April 6, 2015

On Podcast Audio

There is always a big debate in podcasting regarding audio quality. Considering that it is an audio only medium I guess it makes sense.

I think the debate really cripples the medium, however, because it puts a big barrier in front of people who could be sharing their stories online in a quick, easy and very intimate way.

Many people think they can't podcast because they will need thousands of dollars worth of recording equipment, and thousands of hours of editing time. The new hype surrounding shows like Serial only make this barrier bigger for potential podcasters because that show was incredibly heavily produced (and had a very large staff).

Here's the thing - your audio only needs to be "good enough". Sure, everyone has a slightly different idea of what "good enough" means, but basically you want to keep in mind that the average person listens to podcasts on headphones. You want to make sure there isn't a lot of high end noises like a high pitched hiss of white noise, peaking the microphone, or excessively sibilant S sounds. You also want to make sure the recording is loud enough so the listener doesn't need to turn their headphone volume up to maximum to hear you at a reasonable level. And that's about it.

Now, there are some exceptions I think to choosing "good enough" sound. And those exceptions are where people are trying to monetize right from the get go. And nowadays there are a lot more of those podcasts. I feel like if you are charging advertisers or asking your audience for money (not tips, but an actual salary) then you need to provide sound quality that is as good, if not better than listening to radio or television.

And this is where I talk about Gimlet Media. I love Gimlet Media and their shows StartUp and Reply All. I was a bit late to start listening, maybe by a few months, but I really enjoyed following the story of StartUp while watching the story of Gimlet Media in almost real time. And as a person who embraced the internet fully way back in 1996 I super enjoy the topics covered by Reply All.

But their audio is surprisingly bad.

Now, don't get me wrong, they achieve "good enough" and potentially even a bit better than that, but for a business which has thrown all of its eggs into the aural basket they should have bloody fantastic audio.

Most of the people working for Gimlet and producing shows have worked in public radio, including NPR and WNYC. They know what really beautiful audio sounds like, yet they have not achieved it.

I tweeted about this a few months ago and got a couple of responses from people who also felt the audio was not really great. Some even stopped listening over it. But I haven't. I really enjoy the content and look forward to the episodes.

I was reminded of the audio quality today though because I was listening to the newest episode of The Podcast Digest which interviewed Alex Goldman, one of the hosts of Reply All. Listening to the two voices of the host Dan Lizette and Alex talking to each other I was surprised to realize that it sounded way better than any episode of Reply All I've ever heard. I almost didn't even recognize Alex Goldman's voice because it was deep and warm sounding, almost lush.

I don't necessarily have a point, but I think it's worth noting that an "independent" podcast has better sound than a "professional" one.

I will add, however, do not judge The Podcast Digest by the intro and outro with a high pitched woman with a South African(?) accent and incredibly sibilant S sounds. I usually need to turn the volume WAY down when she comes on.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

God Bless the Tobacco Industry - Episode 006

Tuesday night in the food and beverage industry is party night. The people who make and serve your food and booze play while you work.

So Tuesday night in Guelph turned out to be quite the night for folks in the food and beverage industry in Southwestern Ontario.

Surprise and private event! Free booze, free food, free rock show by one of the biggest bands in Canada right now. All paid for by the makers of Export "A" cigarettes.

Thank you for smoking.
Me and my bro! Original colour, dance club special - blue light.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Respect For Artists in Canada - 100% Candice Episode 005

As though you didn't get enough of me this week! I recorded an episode on Monday but am only releasing it today.

Turns out I ran out of room in my Libsyn account! I didn't see that coming. Took a few days, but I fixed it so I can release episodes again. So, I guess I will start to encode my files a bit smaller - not relevant to you the standard podcast listener, you probably won't even notice.

So, I don't much remember this episode, it was a bunch of days ago. It's a bit of a ramble about the music industry and the food industry and me.

I also had an interruption about halfway through so needed to re-record the last half hours later.

What's important though is that you go listen to some Alun Piggins, you go see some live music, and you send me some of your favourite indie artists.




Cue up this video to play over the final seconds of this episode

 

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

One Hundred Percent More Candice

A couple of weeks ago I answered a Skype call from a fella I've listened to for 4 or 5 years, but never talked to, Grant Markham.

Grant has been a part of a few shows I listen to, some still releasing episodes, some not.

At the beginning of this year he decided to start a new show about getting to know people he'd never met before - The Stranger Conversations.

Since I love podcasting (aka talking), and I've enjoyed listening to Grant for years, and connected with him on a few social media sites, I got in touch and asked to be on his show.

The result was 2 hours and a bit of an amazing recorded conversation, and an extra 40 minutes or so of chatting afterward.

This is what I love about podcasting, and social media. Because I have listened to Grant for years, because I have followed his tweets and photos, because he has responded to and commented on my own tweets and photos, I already know that this is a person I like. So getting to talk in real time over Skype is not uncomfortable in the least. Our conversation was not different from any other conversation I've had with a local friend over coffee in the last few months.

Grant decided to title his show The Stranger Conversations, but in reality (at least our episode) it is more like The Old Friends Reconnecting Conversation.

It's a little long, but if you have enjoyed the episodes of 100% Candice I've been releasing, you will really enjoy this open, honest, warm conversation I had with Grant. And I hope you'll agree with me that conversation is about give and take and it's okay that Grant shares his thoughts and experiences with my while I share mine with him.

This is not The Stranger Interviews, it's The Stranger Conversations and I think it's fair to say that after listening to our conversation we have all become a closer and are no longer strangers to each other.

Follow Grant on Twitter - @insta_grants2
Follow The Stranger Conversations on Twitter - @TheStrangerCons
Subscribe to the show (and review it) in iTunes
Load up the RSS Feed in your favourite podcatcher

 

Thursday, March 12, 2015

A Podcast Homage

Last fall I started looking for a food podcast to listen to. I have very strong food values and used to do talks on food mindfulness and spirituality, food politics, and food culture. I remembered during my long days at my food store 6 or 7 years ago listening to this great program from British Columbia about their local food movement which was heavy on politics. After having been out of the food industry for 5 years I was really feeling a yen to get back into it.

So, there I was looking for podcasts, like the one I used to listen to. I asked in a number of podcasts groups on Facebook and Google+ and Reddit. I listened to and deleted many shows which were not what I was looking for. Lots of shows about wellness, body image, unhealthy relationships with food. Totally not what I wanted, and not things I could relate to, really.

I was starting to feel like I needed to create the show I wanted - a lot of love and celebration of food, how it is prepared, how it is grown, the people who make it possible for us to eat. I even had a co-host in mind.

I haven't completely abandoned the idea, but two things happened between then and now. One you all know about, the dissolution of my relationship (if I start talking about it in legal terms it might make it less emotional, right?), and finally finding shows about food that gave me what I was looking for. 

I'm still disappointed that every one of them is American, which isn't terrible, but when they do get into more of the politics and processing we have very different systems. But the celebrations of food and chefs and farmers is universal.

So, after that long introduction, I want to share the most recent episode of one of those shows I follow now, Sporkful.

Sporkful, whose tag line is "It's not for foodies, it's for eaters" is very much a celebration of food and it makes me happy to listen to it. It's part of the WNYC network which is one of the many really great public radio stations you can find all across America.

However, their most recent episode is really not food related. Their most recent episode is an amazing homage to what major media considers the best thing that's ever happened to the internet, Serial.

Now, don't get me wrong. I listened to every episode of Serial, every week. I picked it up after Thanksgiving weekend (the Canadian one) because throughout the week before they had been interviewed on three different podcasts I listen to. They had just released their third episode at that point so I really got to relive that amazing experience we don't get anymore of waiting a week after an episode of a story to think about what happened, what will happen and talk about it with other fans. They basically reminded people of the best thing we've lost about television.

I do hope their second season is as intriguing of a story, but I'm not blind, I understand the mystery of their first story is what drew most people in. I'm not sure they will find as compelling a story outside of the true crime genre. But I look forward to it.

But back to Sporkful. They just created this loving homage to Serial by creating an episode which parodies the style of storytelling perfectly. In Sporkful we follow the true crime story of Heather, the victim of office fridge stealing. I laughed, I reminisced, I enjoyed.

Go ahead, have a listen to it. If you loved Serial, like I did, you will be filled with knowing chuckles. If you only heard a bit of Serial you will chuckle at how formulaic their episodes were and how well Sporkful nailed it. If you've never listened to Serial, this might pique your interest.

And if you want a quick idea of what Sporkful is more like on a regular episode, I highly recommend the episode with Dan Savage
.

100% Candice 004: Solo Book Club Meeting

Welcome to my solo book club meeting where I try to work through the many thoughts I had about the book MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend. (affiliate link for no reason because I don't expect you to actually buy the book)

In this episode I mostly talk about how men and women relate to each other as friends. I'm not sure if you read this book you will come up with as many complicated thoughts and emotions as I did, but I would love to talk to more people about it.

Do you think men and women can be friends? Do you think men and women have different types of friendships than two people of the same sex do?

Leave your thoughts here, or tweet me @cinn48

Monday, March 9, 2015

Did you know I do another podcast too?

So, you seem to enjoy listening to me talk about my private thoughts. How about listening to me talk about Canadian music?

Way back in August or September my friend Anthony Marco, on his own personal podcast Love Hate Things, mentioned the idea of wanting to do a show talking about all those Canadian radio hits which have seeped into our Canadian conscious.

As a long time fan and supporter of music and musicians (never a groupie, but what I like to call a patron and what my old friend Matthew Osborne called a superfan), I have a serious love and lots to say about Canadian music.

So, within moments of hearing Anthony on his show float the idea of talking music I was onboard.

It took a few months of not talking about it before we finally began but luckily at the beginning of December 2014 we recorded our first episode where I talked about Corey Hart's Sunglasses At Night.

We recorded sporadically, about once every two or three weeks. And last week was recording week!

So, head over to Talking is Dead and cue up the newest episode of Canned Con Cast and hear me laugh a bit more than I cry.

And because you might not know about the genius and loveliness which was Matthew Osborne, the only musician I ever hauled gear for, you must press play on this video.

 

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Episode 003: What do I do with my womb?

In this episode of 100% Candice I talk about my complicated feelings around having children.

I'm sorry if I alienate my male listeners with a bit of talk about the female reproductive system and a gross generalization about how men decide to have children.

And, celebration, I made it through a full recording without crying once! That's a win.

From now on, if you want to subscribe to my show just type http://candice.libsyn.com/rss into your podcatcher of choice and let technology do it's magic.

Now, blog readers, tell me - would you rather the Libsyn player or the Soundcloud player here?

Sunday, March 1, 2015

How do you title a podcast?

Here we go, episode 2!

I overcome performance anxiety to tell the story of the podcast title "100% Candice". Well, maybe overcome is an exaggeration.

Thank you so much to everyone on all the great feedback I got on the first episode. It was really overwhelming, honestly.

Hopefully I will soon be properly set up using Libsyn and have a proper RSS feed and get into the iTunes directory and all the other directories. It turns out if you are using Paypal to pay for your account there are some hoops to jump through. I really thought it would be sorted out by Friday, but I guess I'm waiting a bit longer...

And I promise, I will tell some fun stories once in awhile. I do have fun sometimes.

Feel free to tweet me @cinn48 and let me know if you sing along with me and Lesley Gore, "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!"
 

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Introducing the Podcast 100% Candice

So I've started a thing.

I used to be a podcaster. I still am a podcaster. My show was taken away from me. Or I chose to leave it. Hard to say. I guess I chose to let it be taken from me. Five years ago I asked my best friend and the person I loved talking with most to start a podcast. He'd never listened to one, had no idea why anyone would do one or why we should do one. After a lot of months of nudging, we finally started a show.

I was, and still am, very proud of that show. But after a few years my best friend became my boyfriend, which changed our relationship and my relationship with the things we shared dramatically. Two and a half months ago he wanted to not be my boyfriend anymore. And that changed my relationship with the things we shared. I think he thought we would continue to be best friends and creative partners. I think he thought I would continue doing the show. But I cannot.

But being a podcaster is something that is very important to me. The friends I have made in the four or more years I've been creating my show are very important to me. That group is made of two types of people. People who make and listen to podcasts and people who make and watch webseries (my other show was about webseries).  I don't know how to keep my relationships with the people who make and watch webseries, that one is too wound up in my past relationship and everything about that just cuts me to the core.

But I do know how to keep my relationship with the people who make and listen to podcasts. For some reason the idea of that space doesn't hurt, it feels warm and safe and inspiring. Maybe because I brought it to my relationship, I don't know.

For the time being I have lost everything I know about myself, except this one thing. And so I am holding on to it, like a life raft.

I've started a solo personal podcast. A slice of my life. I'm still sorting out the actual mechanics of podcasting, like a permanent place to host it and an RSS feed and getting it to places where people listen to shows. But for now, I've recorded the first episode and uploaded it to Soundcloud.


Changing Focus

Consider this a warning for anyone who might be following my blog looking for business or marketing information. I'm switching it up and this is a personal blog, all about me and my life. It's going to be messy, emotional, maybe even offensive.

This is your opportunity to unsubscribe from the RSS feed.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Podcast Appearance: Canned Con Cast 02 - You Think I'm Dumb and Blind

On our second episode of revisiting some of our fav Canadian rock of the late-70s/early-80s...

Anthony travels down the QEW to Toronto to Even the Score.

Candice travels down Highway 6 to Hamilton and says Let's Shake with Teenage Head.

Listen here.