BacktoFrankBlack Podcast #4 - now out!

Another podcast comes your way. This one was fun - and despite having had to listen to it several times in post, I've enjoyed it. I hope you will too.

Troy did a wonderful job slicing this together, removing a terrible killing silence I created in the interview. Austin was a man after my own heart (or am I a man after his - that sounds almost romantic). Check out his music at myspace: www.myspace.com/acidengine.

Done some wonderful little interviews still waiting to be released. The sexy Keegan Connor Tracey (missed out on doing a video cast for that lovely lady - she'd done her hair for it too!) from BSG/Millennium, the bubbly, smart, Klea Scott (Millennium), the laid-back wisdom of Michael Buie (Millennium) and my all time favourite, the amazing, cheeky and charming Jon Polito.

In other news, news in which doesn't have me abusing this blog to promote the BacktoFrankBlack podcasts, will have some reviews I did for Toon Zone up shortly, including the humourous School Rumble, the wonder of more Black Jack and the fantastic, hilarious, sea-faring antics of One Piece.

Time for La Blurb:


BacktoFrankBlack: The Millennium Group Sessions, hosted by Troy Foreman and co-hosted by Jim McLean is now available for free download via our website AND on ITunes!

Please download our free podcast to support the campaign and the guests who have graciously contributed their time to the campaign!


To download from BacktoFrankBlack.com

• For the enhanced image podcast (with some pretty exclusive photos) for Itunes and Ipod lovers: Click here! (20MB 73 mins)

• For a high quality podcast (no images embedded into this one): Right click here and select "save link as.." (approx 69.5MB 73mins)

To download from ITUNES

• To subscribe to the Itunes podcast, simply load up the Itunes store on your Itunes application, search for BacktoFrankBlack and wait for the podcast to pop onto the list. Then click "subscribe" - you will need to sign up to a free Itunes account to do this - but Itunes does run a great service for podcasts of all types (including our friends ThaDarkSideVibe and Spooktalkular)

BacktoFrankBlack: Millennium Group Sessions 04 - Comedy

In this forth episode, Troy Foreman and Jim McLean give you, the potential endearing listeners, a podcast that looks at the most controversial of all the topics Millennium dealt with: comedy! Looking at episodes like "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" and "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me" Troy and Jim will be discussing the pros and cons of the comedy within the show and speaking to Millennium's only character to have urinated in a cup of coffee - the multi-talented Austin Basille will be speaking about Millennium, Hollywood and beyond! Expect the usual news updates on the campaign and the cast/crew of Millennium - including a very new way to support the campaign! (90 mins) - PLUS - Podcast BLOOPERS, keep listening to the end.

This free podcast is available on a fortnightly basis via ITUNES and BacktoFrankBlack.com. We'll naturally update you all on information on the podcast from this blog as well.

With ITUNES, anyone who has an Itunes friendly account will be able to subscribe easily and download the podcasts as they are released. We recommend the ITUNES friendly enhanced podcast because each episode will have its unique set of images to accompany the chatter!

BacktoFrankBlack: Millennium Group Sessions - PODCAST #3!

Before the blurb, may I say this was a great podcast to do. Had a lot of fun with Murv (author MR Sellars), who was a wonderful and insightful guest - with lots of insight into the real life process of criminal behaviour.

Some great interviews to come. Recording Klea Scott (Emma Hollis from season three), in her first audio interview since the DVD set this weekend, we have two more interviews in the can (with two fantastic interviews!) and Keegan Tracey (Ometra and more recently Battlestar Galactica) lined up next week! Very exciting, a lot of fun! Please download and throw us your feedback!

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BacktoFrankBlack: The Millennium Group Sessions, hosted by Troy Foreman and co-hosted by Jim McLean is now available for free download via our website AND on ITunes!

To download from BacktoFrankBlack.com

• For the enhanced image podcast (with some pretty exclusive photos) for Itunes and Ipod lovers: Click here! (22MB 90 mins)

• For a high quality podcast (no images embedded into this one): Right click here and select "save link as.." (approx 89MB 90 mins)

To download from ITUNES

• To subscribe to the Itunes podcast, simply load up the Itunes store on your Itunes application, search for BacktoFrankBlack and wait for the podcast to pop onto the list. Then click "subscribe" - you will need to sign up to a free Itunes account to do this - but Itunes does run a great service for podcasts of all types (including our friends ThaDarkSideVibe and Spooktalkular)

BacktoFrankBlack: Millennium Group Sessions 03 - The Gift

In this third episode, Troy Foreman and Jim McLean give you, the potential very dear listeners, podcast glimmering with Frank and Jordan's special gift! We have paranormal thriller writer (and self-confessed Millennium fan AND BacktoFrankBlack supporter) MR Sellars in for a chat, a chance to win the Jordan's gift inspired Millennium homage DVD, Millennium Apocalypse (region 1) and of course, news updates on the campaign and the cast/crew of Millennium. (90 mins)

This free podcast is available on a fortnightly basis via ITUNES and BacktoFrankBlack.com. We'll naturally update you all on information on the podcast from this blog as well.

With ITUNES, anyone who has an Itunes friendly account will be able to subscribe easily and download the podcasts as they are released. We recommend the ITUNES friendly enhanced podcast because each episode will have its unique set of images to accompany the chatter!

James and Troy Foreman interviews Marshall Bell for BacktoFrankBlack

For BacktoFrankBlack, myself and Millennium Group Sessions host Troy Foreman got together to interview Marshall Bell - who you may recall as "the guy with the repellent mutant attached to his stomach" in Total Recall, or "the general who screams and whines before being jellified by a passing bug in Starship Troopers", or simply from many of his onscreen TV and film roles ranging from "House MD", to "Stand By Me".

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say we have a few technical problems during the interview, but Marshall was wonderful. He patiently helped us through these unforeseen problems and was an absolute joy. Big soccer fan too - spent the seventies living in London. I warmed to the gent very quickly.

Anyhow, the relevant promo spiel is as follows:

BacktoFrankBlack: The Millennium Group Sessions, hosted by Troy Foreman and co-hosted by Jim McLean is now available for free download via our website AND on ITunes!

To download from BacktoFrankBlack.com

• For the enhanced image podcast (with some pretty exclusive photos) for Itunes and Ipod lovers: Click here! (24MB 97 mins)

• For a high quality podcast (no images embedded into this one): Right click here and select "save link as.." (approx 87MB 97 mins)

To download from ITUNES

• To subscribe to the Itunes podcast, simply load up the Itunes store on your Itunes application, search for BacktoFrankBlack and wait for the podcast to pop onto the list. Then click "subscribe" - you will need to sign up to a free Itunes account to do this - but Itunes does run a great service for podcasts of all types (including our friends ThaDarkSideVibe and Spooktalkular)

BacktoFrankBlack: Millennium Group Sessions 02 - Legion

In this second episode, Troy Foreman and Jim McLean give you, the potential very dear listeners, podcast brimming with Millennium's Legion! We have Legion himself, The Judge - actor Marshall Bell in an exclusive BacktoFrankBlack Interview, a chance to win a signed photo of Legion incarnate, Lucy Butler, AKA Sarah Jane Redmond, an informal discussion about Legion in season one by Jim and Troy and of course, news updates on the campaign and the cast/crew of Millennium. (97 mins)

This free podcast is available on a fortnightly basis via ITUNES and BacktoFrankBlack.com. We'll naturally update you all on information on the podcast from this blog as well.

With ITUNES, anyone who has an Itunes friendly account will be able to subscribe easily and download the podcasts as they are released. We recommend the ITUNES friendly enhanced podcast because each episode will have its unique set of images to accompany the chatter!

Jim and BacktoFrankBlack go all Podcasty!

BacktoFrankBlack: The Millennium Group Sessions, hosted by Troy Foreman and co-hosted by myself, good old Jim McLean, is now available for free download via BacktoFrankBlack.com AND on ITunes!

To download from BacktoFrankBlack.com

• For the enhanced image podcast (with some pretty exclusive photos) for Itunes and Ipod lovers (sound and images also works on apple quicktime - this version will also play as a simple audio recording): Click here! (15MB 60 mins)

• For a high quality podcast (no images embedded into this one): Right click here and select "save link as.." (60MB 60 mins)

To download from ITUNES

• To subscribe to the Itunes podcast, simply load up the Itunes store on your Itunes application, search for BacktoFrankBlack and wait for the podcast to pop onto the list. Then click "subscribe" - you will need to sign up to a free Itunes account to do this - but Itunes does run a great service for podcasts of all types (including our friends ThaDarkSideVibe and Spooktalkular)

BacktoFrankBlack: Millennium Group Sessions 01 - Pilot/Pilot

In the pilot episode, Troy Foreman and Jim McLean give you, the potential very dear listeners, information about the campaign's background, news updates on the campaign and the cast/crew of Millennium and a frank, informal chat about the pilot episode of our favourite TV show. (60mins)

This free podcast is available on a fortnightly basis via ITUNES. We'll naturally update you all on information on the podcast from this blog as well.

With ITUNES, anyone who has an Itunes friendly account will be able to subscribe easily and download the podcasts as they are released. We recommend the ITUNES friendly enhanced podcast because each episode will have its unique set of images to accompany the chatter!

***

In related news, I've just finished recording a podcast with the wonderful Spooktalkular team that will be released later this week. It was a great little session between myself, Troy Foreman (of BacktoFrankBlack/ThaDarkSideVibe) and Spooktalkular hosts Frank and Laura. Watch for further updates - it really was a lovely chatty session. Informal and a lot of fun!

Farewell Geocities and the Golden Age of the Internet Hippy

It seems Geocities has had its day. Commence the jeers, cheers, sneers and general derision for a web host that really did mark the golden age of the amateur on the then labelled "Internet Superhighway".

Yes, the amateur was then in full force on the digital dial-up highway. He didn't have a car per se - because cars cost money. He preferred to sit on the hard shoulder with his flask of weak cordial. A presence - perhaps sometimes a hindrance - to the baby-boon commerce of the Internet.

Geocities will be remembered primarily for its banners, very short bandwidth and welcoming arms to the unqualified, thrifty web-designers. Pop-ups were abound, as were flashing tickers, animated Spider-Man gifs, neon green hit counters and of course, ugly "comic sans ms" font. They were "teh" terrible of their time; scorned for their cheap (and by cheap I mean free) offerings, laughed at by passers-by who soon learned to expect better.

But then, they were also so very wonderful. They really were the epoch of fan-free-fun on the net, before the hosts and servers who allowed these fans to have so much fun realised they had no revenue to let them do it for free. Soon enough all free web hosts would be filled with banners and Geocities was forced to offer more popups. The service became even more unbearable - quite surprising it has survived this latest commercial age of the Internet for so long.

However I would liken this era to a music festival - where everything is amateurish, muddy and generally awkward yet occasionally the province of something quite cool, nifty or informative. If you sifted through the oddball crap on Geocities you would find some interesting facts and cool gubbins. Who can forget searching through Geocities (or its rival, Angelfire - still alive) for landmarks dedicated to your favourite shows? The slow download their 600x480 wallpapers? The strings of wav files that would be composited onto your Windows 95 desktop theme? It was simple. It was a laugh. It was the age of the Internet Hippy.

Furthermore, as a web designer born from that era I owe a lot to the simple builders of Geocities and Angelfire. I built my first website on Angelfire (a band site). I built a massive LEXX resource called "The Squawkers Guide to Lexx" on Redrival (before it was forced into the banner revenue game). I built "EagleKen's Lonely Homepage" (a site dedicated to Gatchaman/Battle Of The Planets) on, well, it might have been Geocities - I really can't remember. I know the first illustration platform back at Uni was on Geocities - and was proof that if you knew a little about webdesign, you could create a simple, inoffensive Geocities site.

But like so many, I grew up. On leaving Uni I had transferred to the big boys with a decent paid webhost and domain name. Fan sites, those half-assed shrines of naff, began to die out as the truly dedicated upped their game and forked out a little for bandwidth and those who couldn't be arsed, well, time sapped the fun of the fan-shrine from their dial-up connections...

.. or took their design talents to the early days of MySpace. Another story perhaps.

But there are still some good Geocities websites out there. May I recommend you to my favourite Geocities site, dedicated to a film with very few sites to its names but surprisingly many more fans than you'd expect (I work with two colleagues who have separately confessed their love for this particular movie in the past few months). The film is called The Black Hole. The site is here. Enjoy this nostalgic slice of the Internet-as-it-were before it is as-it-isn't in the very near future.