Shownotes 0:05- Introduction 0:35- Possible scenario you might see during ghost month 0:59- What is Ghost month 1:14- What's the difference between west and east 1:23- When is ghost month? And what's the history behind it? 2:08- Why all the food? 2:24- The afterlife- why burn money? 2:49- Superstitions during ghost month 3:20- What not to do. 3:31- What about celebrations? 3:47- Concluding remarks 4:05- Outro and signing out
Credits Information 1- Ghost month2- Wikipedia entryImage from hereMusic/ sound effects. Intro and outro- Asian Adventure by Sonic9019 at Newgrounds Background music-Ambients of Asia by Wolfguard at Newgrounds
0:02 Intro for the episode topic 0:35 What kind of food would you find in Taiwan? 1:18 Brief note on gift giving when invited to dinner. For detailed information on Taiwanese gift giving go here. 1:36 What to do when you're at the dinner table? 1:56 Why you need to know how to use chopsticks. (for information on how to use chopsticks go here) 2:16 Chopstick language and manners when you use them. 3:09 What to do when you get served a lot of food? 3:35 Drinking alcohol at the dinner table. 4:41 Hook for next episode and outroCredits Information 1- Popular food culture in Taiwan 2- Taiwan local customs at virtualtourist.com 3- Taiwan foodImage Popular food culture in TaiwanMusic/ sound effects. Intro and outro- Asian Adventure by Sonic9019 at Newgrounds Sound effects from SoundBible.com
As a person who's always been fascinated with Synesthesia because of a BBC documentary and becasue I did a Science and writing project on the topic, Steven Connor's article "Edison's Teeth: Touching Hearing" caught my attention with the mention of synesthesia. But then a part of me just got lost...as expected, I suppose.
I think the interesting part of the article had to be the part that says, "hearing tends to ask questions that get answered by evidence of the eyes". Really?First of all, because of the previous reading assigned for this week, it'll have to be "listening" in the place of "hearing". But anyway, do we really need to see something physical/real (like photos) to make sense of the noises that we hear? Well, I don't really think it has to be a physical image present in the world. What about images that we create in our minds when we listen to things?When we listen to a podcast, even with the lack of imagery, if we hear a lot of sound effects we create an image in our heads in order to make sense of things.But do those imagined images count as evidence that help us understand things we hear? Well technically, our imagination is shaped and inspired by images around us. For instance, we "know" what a dragon looks like because of people's physical interpretations of such things. So then I guess, the brain created images when we hear things can be considered a type of evidence because they're based on real life images/things.
But do imaginary images answer questions from listening? Sort of. In the case of images conjured by our minds- they don't really give us the right answers. I remember listening to Jericho's podcast and the intro song made me imagine a car ad. I spent a while trying to figure out which car ad it was from.Going through his shownotes- I found the intro music was from a movie OST that had nothing to do with cars.
On another note, what does Edison's teeth have to do with anything?
Those are words I often usually use interchangably. I've never really given much though to the actual meaning behind them. But then I read this, and I go- why haven't I thought of this before? What the difference between something like "she heard them" and "she listened to them"? Well now that I think of it, there are many things.
Listening requires the strategic part of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) which helps us pick out and understand the speech that we hear. When I read that, a part of me went- so what?Well listening is different from hearing because listening means finding meaning and making sense of the noises and sounds around us. We're always hearing things around us but the only time we pay attention is when we actually listen to things. So I decided to listen to the sounds around me right now- car driving outside, plane somehwere in the air and a steady dripping somehwere in the house. What did that brief listeneing spell tell me? Well even though these noises surrounded me for a while and I heard them in the background, I never really listened.It also told me that I'd left a tap on somewhere in the house. So when we listen to a podcast- do we really listen to it? Or do we just hear it? For me personally, I only tend to listen when something really grabs my attention. A sound effect that stands out, a new voice or something that made my random thoughts pause- things that make me want to listen.
The first actual podcast came and went. After it, I felt- odd. The product I ended up with wasn't quite what I expected it to be.
A bit on the actual process.
After tons of experimenting in the living room, on the stairs, in the laundry room and even crouched under a table I managed to find the perfect recording place. My cramped closet. Yes, many people did say it was a good recording place, but I was very skeptical until I heard the sound.
It took me multiple tries to get a good recording mostly becasue the pitch black closet kept freaking me out with imaginary spiders and other things. (Note-to-self: stop watching "A Haunting" until remaining podcasts are recorded.)
I followed Tamara's FAQ page- I felt a bit silly doing the stuff on there, but it definitely made recording a bit easier and less awkward.
I didn't have a proper script. I just had the main points jotted down, but the closet was too dark to read any of that. Everything in that podcast was from memory. And apparently my memory is not what it should be.
Things I liked
The music- it was definitely something that made me feel more upbeat about my podcast. I loved it the moment I heard it and just knew it had to be in the podcast.
Editing in Audacity- There was something really magical about cutting out odd pauses and awkward sentences and making youself sound a bit better. But, it did get annoying when I kept missing obvious things.
I didn't get too injured in the dark closet. Sure I smacked my elbow a couple of times and stubbed my toe. And maybe I almost slammed into the closet door in a panicky attempt to escape from the closet. But I'm glad to say I didn't need any band-aids.
Things that made me wince... repeatedly
Oddly enough even though the content in my final podcast came from one recording- my tone changes a lot. Sometimes I sound fun and suddenly it's like I'm reading for an encyclopedia entry/funeral.
My skit/sketch to demonstrate a scenario. I think my editing was lacking for this. Even though I had the materials and worked on the parts- it just became a mishmash of sounds.
Mono, stereo and other odd things that popped up when I tried to add in sound effects. I realised if I messed with certain settings I ended up killing most sounds without knowing what I changed. One minute the sound was clear and the next it became a long drawn out wailing sound.
Posterous posting- I know it's a new blog and everything. But I just despised the lack of options to attach filens directly when you create a web post. Attaching files to email and then not having proper editing functions for that post made it annoying.
Things I definitely need to keep an eye out on next time
Transitioning from one part/point to another. I probably need to use a sound effect to move between different points. Or at least take a bigger break/pause.
Definitely include more research. The thing I realised was that I skipped mentioning a lot of the historical research becasue I thought it was too bland. The lack of script definitely showed here.
On the whole, I think it could have ended up a whole lot worse. At least my paranoia of constantly saving my files and backing up things kept most of the stress away.
Yay! The first episode- done and uploaded- even after running into minor obstacles (dodgy slow-poke internet connection, twitching fingers and a lack of chocolate).
I hope my podcast was informative. Enjoy Show notes0:01- Introduction about podcast topic for the week 0:32- Levels of etiquette 0:48- Receiving a gift (short skit) 1:15- How to properly accept a gift with a brief mention of history. 2:00- Giving a gift (skit at 2:19) 2:31- How to properly give a gift- modesty on the price 2:44- Colours in gift giving. 3:15- Food as a gift for a dinner party. 3:34- Flowers and even numbers 3:49- Bad gifts to avoid vs. good gifts to give. 4:20- End comments Sources Information 1- Taiwanese customs 2- International gift Etiquette 3- 4-Image from hereVoice addition Taiwanese/ Mandarin voice over- Tiffany Chen
Music and sound effects Asian Adventure by Sonic9019 at Newgrounds
China Town by pheel at Sound effect from Newgrounds
The list on here really emphasizes things that people should already know- Don’t use profanity and respect others. Keep those two in mind and you’re already a step ahead of most people on the web.
I think people tend to take the internet’s nature for granted and they sort of lose all their face to face communication etiquette. Anonymity allows people to leave unhelpful flames. But I think in closed groups where you know each other- like in a school discussion, people tend to be a bit more careful of their words. If you do something unhelpful and offensive in such an environment, chances are someone’s going to call you out on it.
That being said, I think commenting on other people’s work takes some getting used to. You don’t want to offend them and you want to sound helpful. Sometimes I just stare at an empty comment box- wondering if I should force myself to find something to say just to show I read it. But I don’t think that’s really helpful (even if I do it sometimes). Commenting just for the sake of occupying space isn’t the best thing to do when you want to foster a discussion.
So my rule for commenting- if you’re inspired to comment, do it. Those comments are usually the best because inspired thoughts are always unique.If you have nothing to say- that's fine, keep reading until you find something that makes you want to speak up.
In SCIENCE…sort of, the first thing you notice about the show notes is the informal tone. I like the fact that it shows a bit of personality. It also explains stuff that might have happened in a previous show. The show notes include exact timings which is good since the podcast is an hour long. The most helpful part of the show notes has to be the links to other websites.
The odd thing about their layout is that they’ve placed their show notes above the actual podcast player- which made me panic in the start because I didn’t know where they podcast was.
A podcast with visuals
When I looked at Dig it Down Under, my eyes were immediately drawn to the images used beneath the podcasts. The pictures of flowers and plants were colourful, unique and related well with the content of the podcast.
The only thing that bugged me is that I had to scroll down for the visuals. I think these images would have been more effected if at least one of them was placed at the top so you could see it without needing to scroll.
Well I decided to go around stalking some Taiwanese people and bugging them about customs that foreigners wouldn’t know. Along with the exasperated looks, I managed to get some tidbits of information.
Here’s a list of what I got from cursory research
Gift giving: When receiving a gift, refuse it at least twice before finally accepting. Otherwise you’re going to be seen as greedy. Always make sure you gift wrap it carefully with auspicious colours and keep in mind that odd numbers are considered unlucky.
Research: I decided to find out the historical basis for most of these things. I ended up reading a bit in Confucianism. This took me to a book called, “Place and Spirit in Taiwan: Tudi Gong in the Stories, Strategies and Memories of Everyday Life” by Alessandro Dell'Orto. I still have to read it- I just got through the first few pages.
Food: Don't stick chopsticks into your rice and leave them standing there. I got some more- but I need to verify some of the stuff.
Something that’s not really connected to food but I’ll list it here for now- When greeting someone, Taiwanese ask "Did you eat?" rather than "How are you?"
Research: Well, for the “did you eat?” greeting, this seems to be a well known thing to do. The person in the video uses this greeting in his speech- so I’m assuming- not an unknown custom. Have you guys heard of this greeting before?
Technical stuff.
Intro and outro music- I was definitely thinking of an oriental themed opening. Something to give you a hint of what the podcast is about. A fast paced one would definitely fit better than a tranquil one. Haven’t found anything concrete yet, but will have something up here by the end of the week.
Sound fx- Again loads of oriental sounds that give listeners an immediate association with my content especially when I try and create scenarios to introduce certain customs. So far, I’ve found dishes clanking for the food customs scenario and even a couple of festival sounds.
Authentic Taiwanese speaker- Have found willing participant who will record actual Taiwanese dialogues/phrases for my podcast scenarios. I only had to use a coffee bribe.
This entry is not really complete and will be subject to edits as I find new things.
When I listened to Terry O’Reilly’s podcast podcast, my mind immediately remembered a Pepsi slogan from back home, “Yeh dil maange more” (This heart asks for more). And then I wondered- why did I remember that all of a sudden? And more annoyingly- why did I remember that you have to go “Aha!” at the end of that line?
It could be because it was the longest running Pepsi slogan in India (the slogan ran from 1999 to 2006)
Or it could be because a lot of the Pepsi commercials with the slogan featured Shah Rukh Khan (a Bollywood actor I liked a lot)
It had a really catchy melody?
I was brainwashed?
Blue is an evil mind controlling colour?
Did I say Shah Rukh Khan already? Oh well, one more time won’t hurt.
On a totally unrelated note, I could not find my favourite SRK Pepsi ad on Youtube- I feel let down. You’ll have to settle for an old picture. Also as of Feb 20th, he’s no longer with Pepsi, he’s marketing Sprite.
Considering I never really liked Pepsi, and preferred Coca Cola, I’m amused that I can’t remember any Coca Cola slogans off the top of my head.
So I’m going to say all of the above listed reasons kept that slogan in my head. So what if Pepsi created two more slogans after that. I still identify Pepsi with the slogan, “Yeh dil maange more”.
The reason I’m telling you all this? Well I wanted to show you what Terry O’Reilly’s podcast inspired in me. Even though his podcast did go slow at times, and he never mentions Pepsi, in the end I really connected with it. I was able to pull things from it and relate it to my own experiences.
I think that’s a really important part of a podcast. Having your listener connect to what you say. Or at least use loads of different clips to make your listener think more about the content.