Radio Dead Air

Dragon*Con 2009 Interviews

September 14th, 2009

I want to start off this post with an explanation of The Curse of Pete:

I first met Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance a few years ago. He was one of the people I’d regularly try to interview, and inevtiably something would go hideously, horribly wrong. The first time, there was a short in my recording cable, and the entire interview was lost (though Pete was gracious enough to give me a second go at it). The next time, on the way back from Dragon*Con the entire MP3 recorder caught fire while I was driving, presumably due to a leaking battery, and I again lost the whole interview. This year? No problems. Interview went great, recorded without trouble, and I backed it up in two different locations, just to be sure.

And when I walked in my door last Monday night, directly from Dragon*Con, my computer died.

I don’t just mean a little bit dead, either. What technically happened was the dedicated fan for the northbridge chipset had overheated. Now, for those of you who don’t understand computers, the northbridge chipset is the little bit on a modern computer that allows your CPU to talk to bunches of other stuff, including the RAM (your computer’s short-term memory). When this bit overheated, it damaged itself and could no longer communicate sensibly between the CPU and the RAM. In short, my computer had given itself Alzheimer’s Disease.

The results were that my system was no longer bootable. Hence, no way to access what was on my hard drive, which included my e-mail, my FTP settings, my website settings . . . you know, all the stuff necessary to actually upload my interviews. Oh, but it gets better!

You see, my system was three years out of date, which in computer terms is barely better than banging rocks together. Though the CPU and RAM are both fine and working, finding a motherboard that works with the CPU (an Opteron 180, socket 939) and the RAM (good ol’ DDR, the original) was next to impossible without sketchy eBaying. Hence I had to replace not just the motherboard, but the CPU and RAM as well.

The moral of this story is that Pete Abrams is evil, and he has the power to utterly mess you up. Try him. Go on. I dare you.

I apologize for that; fortunately, my computer and below are all the interviews we recorded this year at Dragon*Con 2009. Pictures will be forthcoming tomorrow, as there’s over 500 megs worth that need to be uploaded and sorted into their own albums.

And with that, the interviews, in no particular order. To listen, right-click on the link and choose “Save As.”

Pete Abrams, writer and artist behind Sluggy Freelance, and also apparently a practicioner of voodoo. (www.sluggy.com)
Jennie Breeden, the hardest working woman in webcomics, and the mind behind The Devil’s Panties. (http://devilspanties.keenspot.com/)
John Billingsley and Bonita Friedericy, of True Blood and Chuck, respectively. (http://www.bonitafriedericy.com/, http://www.johnbillingsley.net/)
Trace Beaulieu and Bill Corbett, both formerly of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and now working on Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax, respectively. (http://www.cinematictitanic.com/, http://www.rifftrax.com/)
Dino Andrade, noted voice actor and creator of Soulgeek.com (http://www.soulgeek.com/)
Voltaire, musician, artist, filmmaker, and on the short list for the next messiah. (http://www.voltaire.net/)
Peter S. Beagle, author of such works as A Fine and Private Place and The Last Unicorn (http://www.peterbeagle.com/)
Joseph Michael Linsner, writer and artist behind Dawn and Dark Ivory (http://www.linsner.com/)
Michael Hogan, who plays Colonel Saul Tigh on Battlestar Galactica (http://www.syfy.com/battlestar/)
Doc Hammer, one of the writers and voices behind The Venture Brothers and now working with his new band, Weep (http://astrobasego.com/)
Lani Tupu, who played Captain Bilar Crais and the voice of Pilot on Farscape (http://www.redsticker.net/)
And Dean Haglund, who played Langley of the Lone Gunmen on The X-Files and who now works as an improv comedian and freelance inventor. (http://deanhaglund.com/)

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to speak with us! Photos tomorrow!

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