The title… has nothing to do with anything.

This past season, I have been striving to act much more as a director on my own show. One of the biggest problems we’ve had over the years is keeping the show on time and on track. But now, I run a much tighter ship, transitioning from the opening/monologue/news section, into the interview, and ultimately Fragments of Silicon in a vastly more timely fashion. I think this has done some wonders on listener retention, if our weekly “live” count is any indicator. It’s still an interesting beast, though, as we seem to have traded our decent downloads for a fairly significant presence on the live broadcast.

This year also saw some pretty significant changes in the staff and format, as well. We added live music, necessitating the inclusion of a “Music Director” position, which Keith W. has filled quite admirably. We brought in guest and now co-hosts Naka Teleeli and Elemental Ogre, who have added an almost incalculable dynamic shift in how we are presented on-air. All-in-all to the better, I might add. So, we’ve had some bumps and technical snafus. My “favorite” being my “blackout” period when I had no reliable internet. That’s always fun. And of course, TalkShoe deciding it just REFUSES to quit recording some weeks. But in the end, it all works out pretty well. And in spite of guest burps and scheduling conflicts, we have not failed to make a show this year. (Season 5, episode 4? I have no idea what you are talking about.)

A lot of these changes for the better are based on reader and listener input. None of this would be possible without you, and certainly none of it would be possible if some companies out there didn’t think there was money to be made allowing “upstarts” like MSP and our ilk to broadcast for free. It’s like Public Access Radio, only from the convenience of our own homes…

That’s enough rambling for one night. Until next time…

~Mac

I tend not to talk a lot on here, even though this is allegedly my own show. Perhaps it’s to increase the impact when I do bother to speak up, or maybe there is some darker, more sinister reason buried deep within my psyche. Over the past couple years, Adam and I have proved that we can carry a show ourselves and make it entertaining. However, what gives out show that extra something special is the variety of guests we have on with us to help us ramble and reminisce. And sometimes that is the make-or-break point of each weekly installment. Sometimes the guest is straightforward, and the interview is very formal and static. Other times, we play it by ear and see how the guests react. There is one other instance that I’d like to call attention to, and that is when we have guests who themselves are just naturally interesting people, and when you ping them on what is their passion… well, we have one of our best shows of the year.

Such is the case with this past week’s show. Darryl hughes and Monique MacNaughton of The Continentals (as well as several other noteworthy endeavors, collectively), fall into that last category. Now, I first want to say that we’ve had other guests before who immediately were entertaining and engaging on this level (Lewis “Linkara” Lovhaug, Brian Clevenger, Brion Foulke, Barry Smith, DeceasedCrab and madamluna immediately come to mind here). But with Darryl and Monique, we really hit it off quite well and it made for a very entertaining 85 minutes of show (and a couple hours of post show after that was sadly, and safely not recorded lol). I wish all of our interviews could be this freewheeling and fun and HONEST. No holds were barred here, hell, some people might even get angry. But c’est la vie. It was a good show, and well worth it. Thanks guys. You’re the kind that make doing this worth it week after week.

Also, to anyone we indirectly insulted, I’d like to issue a blanket apology for that here. If we deliberately insulted you, though, it was most likely on purpose. We know you’d never deign to be on our show anyway.

~Mac

Hi everyone! It’s been a while but this week we are interviewing artist and writer, Chris Hazelton! He’s better known for his angelic gender bending webcomic, “Misfile” but his other titles include, “Steel Wing Shattered” and “Building 12″. Here’s the rundown on “Misfile” from the Webcomic List series Synosis:

A comedy about how a pothead angel messes up two distinctively different people’s lives. A car-loving boy turned into a girl, and a girl who lost two years of her life. Now they must stick together to fix their problems.

This series touches some of the underlying issues about gender identity and the value of having a second chance to relive about 2 years of your life. If you had the chance, would you try to make the same choices to try to get the same outcome or would you try to live a little bit more? Or what would you do if you suddenly found yourself in a different body and your family relationships are suddenly so vastly different?

Season 3, Episode
Sept. 15, 2010
Be sure to join us here at 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=45815&cmd=tc

What is StarArmy.com?

Purpose and Goals of this Site

StarArmy.com is the home of a community of creative, friendly guys and girls dedicated to producing and constantly improving superior original collaborative story writing, role-play, and military simulation. It’s also a fine place on the internet to call home. Let us welcome you.

Our goals:

* Provide an interactive story-writing experience to all competent role-players. Preferably, hours after they join, 24/7.
* Maintain an ever-growing, highly interesting player-made setting, to which anyone can contribute.
* Mentor and stimulate players and game-masters to constantly improve.

If you’ve got some imagination, you should join us. Here’s why:
We Offer Many Interesting Benefits

Star Army offers a wealth of exciting things to do. It is a mature community that has been running for years, yet isn’t overgrown; each person can receive individual attention. Its player-made setting is open to change through your contributions and your characters’ actions; you could literally alter the face of the universe! Star Army provides an excellent outlet for writers, a fun gaming experience for role-players, and a lively, friendly community to visit – we want you to become a regular! Using guides and personal assistance, you can get settled in fast.

Even if you don’t have time to become a frequent visitor, we can still help you. There’s thousands of pages to read for your personal enjoyment, and if you’re an artist, Star Army will commission you to do character artwork!

Creative Writing

As a writer, you get to write as much as you wish among a community you can trust to tell to criticize yet don’t have to worry about things getting too harsh. You can write on your own, or take advantage of the site’s role-playing plots and write as a group either through forum posts or even live online chat rooms. Nothing is more inspiring than an immersing yourself in a group of like-minded writers and artists.

You will improve as you write more. Orson Scott Card once said, “Every writer has 100,000 words of crap” he needs to get out of his system. Well, hey, we’re happy to help you get through that before you start working on published stuff. If you write a little every day, you’ll be through that in no time; writing is not work here–it is entertainment, and when you’re having fun, learning is easy. One of the greatest benefits of a group story-writing/role-play setup like this is that in addition to the usual spelling and grammar, you’ll also develop a great sense of style, plot, and especially characterization.

Season 3, Ep. 10 – Wes Davis – Star Army Online RPG

Welcome to Season 3 of Moonhawk Studios Presents! Who knows what lies in store for our hosts this season? Stay tuned for adventure, mystery, romance… err… well, stay tuned for fun and intrigue as our hosts interview the personalities behind some of the various internet entertainment phenomenon this season!

Up this week the guys are interviewing, Kris Straub of, “Starslip Crisis“, “Tweet Me Harder“, “Chainsawsuit“, “Ichor Falls“, and “Blamination“.

About “Starslip Crisis” as written by Mr. Straub on his “New Readers’” page:

It is a new era. In the 35th Century after the Crisis, Earth leads an alliance of planets on a mission to explore the Quadrangle, an unknown region of space that may hold the secret to restoring a former empire. The crew of the Paradigm may be unorthodox, but they’ve come through the Crisis as heroes. Will former museum curator Vanderbeam’s new role as captain help him forget Princess Jovia, the object of desire assassinated by the instigators of the Crisis?

Season 3, Episode 1
Show date: May 26, 2010 – 10:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Pacific
Location: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/45815
Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/macpaladin

What’s this, a second broadcast this week?!

Join us on Saturday for a special show with Brian Foulke of the webcomic, “Flipside“!
About “Flipside” from the author’s website (http://www.flipsidecomics.com/):

This is Flipside, an online comic about two women:
Maytag, a nymphomaniac jester girl with split personalities…
Bernadette, a respectable swordswoman who is kind yet fierce…

Flipside is a story about relationships, sex, and compromise.
It’s a romantic fantasy adventure with a lot of action, and a small dose of horror.
Mainly, it’s the story of these two women.

Season 2, Episode 24b
Show date: April 24, 2010 – 10:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Pacific
Location: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/45815
Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/macpaladin

“An Empire Revisited” is a comedy machinima series made with “Jedi Academy”.

About “An Empire Revisited” from the news blog:

[blockquote] The Galactic Empire has just conquered the last planet necessary for full control of the Galaxy.

Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine rule the Galaxy with an iron fist.

Unfortunately, with the rise of the Rebel Alliance, the Empire is in need of new recruits to meet

with the sudden aggression of this newly created Alliance.

McGrubbles is one of these men and this is his story.

Season 2, Episode 24
Show date: April 21, 2010 – 10:00PM Eastern/7:00PM Pacific
Location: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/45815
Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/macpaladin

Legostar Galactica brings us hilarious sci-fi humor and hot Lego brick action, just about every day of the week!

About “Legostar Galactica” in the author’s own words (from the LG About Page)

Legostar Galactica began on a lark. I made the first comic just sort of as amusement and my friends seemed to like it. So I made another, and another and very quickly was able to produce a weeks worth in a an hour or two over the weekend, so I adopted that habit and have kept it up ever since.

The name came from a brainstorming session with my friend Jen, I can’t remember exactly what she threw out but it was close to the final result. It’s odd that up to this point I haven’t actually made any direct Battlestar Galactica jokes…

As may be obvious I’m a Scifi nut, and in addition to the regular jokes Legostar is filled with many obscure scifi and other references, a few that only a select few people I grew up with will ever get. I do try to make even those jokes accessible in part to a larger audience and to date I haven’t heard any complaints.

I don’t draw as badly as I claim, but it’s not up to my satisfaction and I’m not able to produce comics of a caliber I’m satisfied with (type A personality) on a regular basis and I’d rather not be the type of person that ends up going from 5 days a week, to 3 days a week, to once a week, to whenever, especially since I don’t have free time in excess.

Season 2, Episode 21
Show date: March 31, 2010 – 10:00PM Eastern/7:00PM Pacific
Location: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/45815
Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/macpaladin