A Thing I Made!

Bollywood is on vacation while I continue to recover from the Evil Swine, two load-ins back to back (come see Let It Snow!), and a whole lot of other nonsense.

In the middle of it, a thing I made finally got released! I spent far too much time on it this summer (literally: sorry, deadline monitors! ;o) but really enjoyed making it nonetheless.

So what is it, already? It's a Behind-the-Scenes documentary-style interview thing I made -- I conducted the interviews and edited it together -- about a really crazycool production studio: the crowdsourced audio drama podcasts brought to you by Between the Lines Studios.

They write and produce an entire season of audio dramas (13 episodes at least, plus extras) set between the seasons of everyone's favorite teenage vampire hunter show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and now they're doing it for Angel as well (and they have assorted other projects). Hey, it's a chance to do some voice acting in the comfort of one's own home, right?

And did I mention there are like 200 people who work on these episodes start-to-finish?
I volunteered to do the behind-the-scenes episode about the directors, knowing not a whole lot about the project at all, and came away entertained and fascinated -- and with 7 hours of audio to edit.

You don't need to know really anything about Buffy or Angel or Joss Whedon to listen to the finished product; it's more about the amazing nature of the people and their process. And don't worry, the finished product is hardly 7 hours long -- and I love it! Look at what I made! (well, listen to it, anyway.)

Angel Between the Lines: Behind the Scenes with the Directors

Something I Like: HEM

I subbed at KZSU yesterday (9am - noon, I'll be subbing the next two Tuesday mornings as well!), and it got me remembering how much great music there is, much of which I found there.

Sooo I thought I'd try to occasionally feature some Stuff I Like (besides Bollywood), and that includes music as well.



One of my favorite music finds from KZSU is a band called Hem. Their genre defies exact description. Some have called them "indie-folk," but when I think of folk I tend to think of Peter, Paul, and Mary, or the Indigo Girls-- an earthy guitar-led sound. Hem is much more orchestral than a mere indie-guitar outfit. Their instrumentation includes piano, glockenspiel, violin, mandolin, pedal steel guitar, PLUS guitar, bass, and percussion.

I think of their music as . . . could one say "wise pastoral?" Listening to their instrumentals you can just picture the wind blowing over the prairie -- even though they're all in New York. Aaron Copland would probably love it -- though, there's no brass, so he might take issue with that.

Here's a video of them performing live, with one of their songs from an early album (their first?) Rabbit Songs, which has a great panorama of their styles. Ranging from delicate instrumental waltzes to the more traditional rural-folk cover of "The Cuckoo," this album as a whole is so beautiful that sometimes I can't bear to listen to it. You know what I mean.



If you're now hooked, and dying to know all about them, you can go visit their website at Rabbitsongs.com, where they even have -- GASP! -- FREE DOWNLOADS available.

Hem: know them and love them.

Peace out!