In the second episode of An Axe to Grind: with Luke Alberton, we discuss all things “canadian”, the myths that surround it, and how nationalism contributes to a divided society.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
That Geek Podcast Episodes 11-12: The Double Time Travel Episode!
If I had a time machine I could go back and post this episode on time. Sadly, I don't have the power to manipulate that wobbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff, but it's a double episode so that should count for something (I hope).
We have Andy, Randy, Sylvie and Stephanie talking about time travel through the ages - but mostly from film and television. You'll hear names like Quantum Leap, Stargate SG-1, The Time Machine, Looper, and give some directions to some of the more obscure time-traveller fiction out there. We have a few laughs along the way, which is a must for any time travelling team, and end on a few suggestions that we hope you find thrilling.
Thank you so much for listening!
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[Obligatory excuse for the lateness of this episode: The studio was water logged, and it took over two weeks to rebuild upstairs. I finished this evening and was finally able to edit and convert the episode. Again, so sorry for the lateness!]
Thursday, March 21, 2013
That Geek Podcast Episode 13: The One With Luke And Chris
Yes, we skipped Episodes 11 and 12, they're forthcoming. Why? They're currently on the backup drive, and we're in the process of rebuilding the studio in a new room, so it'll be a couple days before I can edit and release those.
Luke Alberton from an Axe To Grind and his friend Chris recorded an extra news episode after helping me clear everything out of the studio, which had to be abandoned when the foundation began to leak. We talk about that mini-flood, Google's move to enforce safe image search, new news from the next Star Wars movie, and season 6 of Sons of Anarchy.
We round the episode out by reviewing the new Simcity. It's an episode with a different tone and some lively conversation.
Sylvie, Stephanie and Andy return next week with our Time Travel episode.
Direct Download Link (Right click and select ‘Save As’ or ‘Download Linked File As’)
Monday, March 18, 2013
An Axe to Grind: Episode 1. Censorship in art.
The launch of an Axe to Grind: with Luke Alberton begins with his guest,Randolph Lalonde, author of the Spinward Fringe series, where we’ll be tackling a core issue that is sure to come up over the course of the podcast in the future, Censorship in art, and offensive humour.
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The Spinward Fringe Podcast Broadcast 25: Hull Breach!
In this episode I reinforce my goals for this year, setting expectations for Broadcast 8, 9, and I talk about what it took to responsibly step back and figure out when those can be expected. We also had a major incident in studio involving some water, so the computer we normally use for podcasting is not available. We recorded on a Mac Mini and use a Cloudkicker tune for the temporary entry theme.
Luke Alberton, from another podcast: An Axe To Grind, co-hosts this episode with me as we talk about my month off, a couple adventures, and what lies ahead.
Yesterday Crewcast Radio obtained permission to use the music of Amanda Palmer so we are pleased to present Want It Back, a track from her latest album: Theatre Is Evil.
Thank you so much for listening!
Direct Download Link (Right click and select ‘Save As’ or ‘Download Linked File As’)
Thursday, March 7, 2013
That Geek Podcast Episode 10: Kevin Smith, Yoda, And Other News
This is our first real geek news episode, and it begins with a segment I (Randy) would like to call; "Leave It All In" or, "They Had No Idea I Was Rolling," or something like that. For the first time in studio, Sylvie, Stephanie and Randy are joined by Andy, a time-travelling, kick-ass commenter who happens to be anchored in our time thanks to our limited technology.
We wanted to talk about time travel, but there was so much important news to share instead, so you get the play by play of an interesting month in excellent Geek Entertainment news and all the round table commentary that comes with it. Actually, our table is square, but since there's no video for this, or any episode, I hope you won't notice the difference. We also take a moment to talk about how our media is packaged these days: Are the super-pack DVD+Blu-Ray+Digital+Special Features discs and their variations worth it?
I (Randy), begin with an apology to Stephanie, and we launch into news topics ranging from Star Wars, Disneyland, Clerks 3, Kevin Smith, Game of Thrones, a quick look at Geek-worthy new releases in Blu-Ray/digital/DVD, and a couple other topics.
Direct Download Link (Right click and select ‘Save As’ or ‘Download Linked File As’)
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 8: First Look
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| For Want Of A Cover: This is an unused cover mock-up from a different Spinward Fringe Novel. Broadcast 8 does not have a cover yet. |
Without any further delay, here's the Prologue!
Prologue
The Hell Shrike
“Captain
McFadden,” addressed First Officer Eily Hogan from the communicator. She was
excited about something, usually a bad sign.
“Go ahead,”
Captain Moira Mcfadden said, the communicator hidden inside her jawbone picking
up her response.
“We’ve been
spotted by an Order patrol, corvette class. No fighter cover in range.”
“Run out the
guns,” she said as she put the paper book she was reading down beside her on
her bed and stood up. “Angle shields directionally, watch for surprises. Looks
like we’ll have to finish our repairs in hyperspace.” She took her mid-length
heavy jacket from a metal chair, put it on and then clipped on her gun belt.
She couldn’t help recalling a descriptive passage from the book she was just
reading that described Cathryn, one of the Irish Union founders, strapping a
pistol on overtop a dress. The thought of wearing a heavy skirt and a gun belt
made her smile. Fat chance anyone will
get me in a dress unless it’s my own funeral. She thought.
The pair of
pistols was a welcome weight, like the old armoured jacket she wore adorned in
the colours of the Irish Union flag – green, black and orange. These were most
of her surviving possessions, and she kept them with her always. Underneath she
wore the simple uniform of an Irish Union naval captain, a black and grey
fitted suit with practical pockets, and three thin red lines that ran from the
shoulders, down over her knees to the feet. The flexible armour pads had
already saved her life several times, even though the uniform was relatively new
to her.
The captain’s
quarters were basic, with a double bed, a desk, a wardrobe cupboard, overhead
storage and a few small conveniences. The hatchway opened with a clink, the
door swung with a screech but she ignored both. The surfacing on the floors and
walls had been polished away decades before by the hands of hundreds of
crewmembers, leaving the bare metal to shine dark silver. She could see her
reflection in her decks and walls.
The two muscled guards
on watch at the entrance to the bridge snapped her a salute as she passed.
Their fibre-mesh plate armour and general condition was picture perfect, and
they had a pride Moira hoped would hold through the coming months. She returned
their salute as an ensign pushed the bridge hatch open for her. Feeling a
little out of order after seeing the crisp condition of the guards, she rolled
and tucked her shoulder-length brown hair into a bun and tied it.
“Update,” she
ordered as she sat in the battered captain’s seat.
“The corvette is
biding her time,” replied First Officer Hogan. “Firing beam weapons, testing
our shields. They’re not getting past our sensor or communications jamming.”
“Any
transmissions get through before we were spotted?” Captain McFadden asked,
checking the tactical and operational panel attached to her seat.
“We saw them
because they transmitted,” came the reply from Michael Durst, her
communications officer. “Almost missed the signal, looked like noise, but I
traced it back.”
“Good work,”
Captain McFadden said. The Hell Shrike was handling herself well. Her shields
were regenerating fast enough to keep up with the beam weapons raking her port
side. The black and green hull of the Order of Eden corvette looked fresh,
intact – a tempting target. She looked at their location on the sector map and
shook her head.
“We’ve got
boarding teams at the ready,” advised her tactical officer, Tawnee Rickard.
“We’re still too
far behind enemy lines,” Captain McFadden replied. We’re also protecting a full hold of captured supplies and hauling four
containers under our energy shields, she thought, but didn’t share. There
was no need to justify her decisions. “Be a shame to get jumped by a destroyer this
close to breaking free of Order space,” she muttered to herself.
The beam fire
intensified, focusing on one section of the Hell Shrike’s shields. Three
exterior doors began to slide open on the enemy corvette, and Captain McFadden
knew what that meant: missile batteries. Her energy shielding would have to
spread out; the beam weapons would start getting through and her ship was still
undergoing repairs to her outer hull. “Slag this bugger. Fire all guns, load
secondary gun magazines with bursters so we can get through her shields. Missile
batteries one and three load fusion warheads and hold for my order. Come about
one sixty, mark, point five.” She set up the ship’s course on her console and
sent it to the helm. “Navigation, start calculating our final course to Rega
Gain.”
The seven-station
bridge was busy as they carried out her orders. Several missiles broke through
the Hell Shrike’s shields, sending white-hot shrapnel and explosive charges
down the length of their port side. “Breaches?”
“Nay. We have
weakened plating, though,” replied Tactical Officer Rickard.
“Roll the ship to
compensate, we don’t want another hit on that section,” Captain McFadden
ordered, aware that there wasn’t much undamaged hull left.
The twenty four
railgun turrets running along the rounded sides of the ship fired with deadly
precision, pounding away at the enemy’s shields. The corvette was starting to
accelerate away, firing everything it had as its shield energy diminished.
“Ready to fire, Missile Room,” Captain McFadden said.
“Missile Room
reports: ready to fire,” replied Rickard.
Captain McFadden
waited a moment, watching as the enemy corvette let loose with a battery of
missiles and intensified beam fire, breaking through the Hell Shrike’s shields
and through her outer hull. Moira didn’t flinch, even though three gunnery
positions were immediately marked as destroyed. The enemy missiles struck right
behind the missiles, liquefying metres of the Hell Shrike’s hull. It wasn’t
time to fire her own missiles yet. “Helm, full thrust, set your course opposite
to the corvette’s. We need a little more room.”
The corvette’s
shields were almost completely depleted, and railgun rounds were breaking
through, raking the enemy’s pristine hull. “Gunnery, switch to explosive rounds
on even positions, flak on odd.”
“We’re out of
flak rounds,” reported the other tactical officer, Trevor Walsh.
“Explosive rounds,
all around. Fire at will,” Captain McFadden replied. “Missile Room, hold.”
“Aye, Missile
Room holding,” replied Tactical Officer Rickard.
Captain McFadden
modified the shield systems’ energy profile herself, running the remaining shield
emitters past their safe limits to keep the Hell Shrike from taking more damage
from the enemy’s beam weapons. They had to last just long enough to get out of
their effective range, and the corvette was coming about, giving chase as the
Hell Shrike retreated, interpreting the damage and retreat as a lack of
resolve. Surprise, you Order Of Eden
bastards, I’m getting ready to finish you off, she thought with a smile.
“All guns, focus on the nose of that ship. I want all our non-nuclear missiles
to fire on the same area, now.”
The crew was well
practiced, resolute, and steady on their triggers. A hail of railgun rounds and
slower missiles rained down on the enemy ship’s narrow nose, battering its hull
inward and forcing the air out of her forward compartments. “Major damage to
the corvette, Ma’am,” reported Tactical Officer Rickard. “We have her.”
“Now we slag her,”
Captain McFadden said. “All gun and missile positions, cease fire.” She pressed
her thumb onto her command panel for DNA verification, making her fusion
missiles available to fire. “Fire one fusion missile.”
The crew of the
Hell Shrike watched as a fusion missile crossed the distance between it and the
enemy corvette-class ship in under three seconds and exploded in a bloom of
light. Radiological alarms went off momentarily across the ship, and there was
minor aft hull damage, but the Hell Shrike was whole enough.
There was nothing
but a cooling hunk of metal left of the enemy corvette. “Helm, it’s time for us
to finish this trip. Get us to Rega Gain – no point in hiding around here
trying to make repairs.”
“Aye, making best
FTL speed to Rega Gain system,” replied the helm.
“Treat the
injured, have radiation meds passed out,” Captain McFadden said, remembering
that they didn’t have enough left to go around. “Start with the higher ranks,
oldest first.” She looked to the ensign standing beside the door. The blond-haired
boy looked anxious; he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. With the ship three
times overstaffed, there was little for him to
do. “Ensign…”
“O’Reilly,
Ma’am,” he replied.
“Fetch my book
from my quarters,” she said.
“Which one, if I
may ask?”
“Dawn’s Exodus,”
Captain McFadden replied. I’d best read
faster if I’m going to finish it before I give it to Shamus, she thought as
she watched the ensign scurry off.
Spinward Fringe is a Trademark of Randolph Lalonde
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 8 is © 2013 Randolph Lalonde
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