Bringing Dune to OSFest by Jim Arrowood My first convention experience was last year, (July, 2013) in Omaha, Nebraska which is about three hours from where I live in Kearney, Nebraska. That was just a couple of months before my co-host for the Dune Saga Podcast, David invited me to be a part of this project. OSFest is a fan operated convention that takes place on the last weekend of July, or the first weekend of August. It is a very diverse event that includes many varied interests of the fans that attend. While looking at the schedule for this year’s event, I noticed an opportunity to introduce the Dune universe to the convention. So I proposed a Dune Book Panel and found myself moderating a panel. I then thought to myself, what am I going to talk about on this panel. Thanks to Scott and David, I did have a model to pattern from because of our DSP panel from last year’s Farpoint Con. I managed to find a partner and prepared a program, and a PowerPoint presentation. In hopes that Shai Hulud would clear the path before me, I plunged into the panel. The PowerPoint didn’t work, and I thought the recording was a disaster, but the discussion was good. There were about thirty people in attendance at the panel and one was there because she was curious about Dune and wanted to learn more about it before perhaps giving it a look. The discussion took several different directions and the hour went by very quickly. So, here is the recording of the Dune Book Panel from OSFest 7, recorded on August 1st at 9:00 PM. You can also read my blog post on OSFest at jimsscifi.blogspot.com where I have also included pictures.  

I recently returned from from a ten day humanitarian trip in Montrouis, Haiti.  I will share some of my thoughts in a future episode regarding my experience in Haiti, but first I wanted to share an interview I did with Ostane Odvylles IT Assistent  for Life Connection Missions. The audio quality of the interview is not great due to the recording conditions I had to work with, but I hope you gather the essence of who Ostane is and his heart for his people. You can find out more about the work of the Life Connection Mission here.

I am glad when my truths and understandings are challenged. When my assumptions, based on my limited experience, are reworked.  Like many podcasters, when I started podcasting, I began with using the onboard microphone to my computer.  Then I graduated to the Blue Snowball Microphone. Because of my less than favorable experience with the Blue Snowball Microphone, I swore off all condenser microphones and all products from the Blue company. I'm so glad that I was proven wrong.

My enlightenment started when one of my co-host for the Sci-fi Diner Podcast showed up at a convention with a Blue Yeti. When she plugged it into the mixing board, I was amazed at how crystal clear and beautiful it sounded.  Then Bob DeGrande from the Dexter Cast came on the Podcasting Gear Show and talked about the Blue NESSIE Microphone. In a lot of ways, he and my co-host for the Sci-fi Diner helped redeem my perception of the microphones that Blue puts out.

"Designed to combat the most common pitfalls of recording, Blue NESSIE Microphone automatically adapts to whatever you’re recording, applying professional studio processing combined with a built-in pop filter and internal shockmount, to produce expertly finished sound, without the need for additional mixing or editing. Just as the latest point-and-shoot cameras will reduce redeye and automatically adjust focus and exposure for improved photos, Blue NESSIE Microphone professionally enhances audio so that you get polished music demos, podcasts, interviews, YouTube broadcasts and more, instantly!"

If you'd like to try out the Blue NESSIE Microphone for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. If you are ready use the Blue Nessie Microphone, please let me know what you think. I would love to hear your thoughts.