DF.com Rebranded, Pirate Radio Countdown!

Digitalflood Pirate Radio

Digitalflood Pirate Radio

If you’re staring at this on our web site (df.com) and not from one of the many places we aggregate updates to (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc…) you can already see I’ve redone the site branding to be more “Pirate Radio” in nature. SURPRISE! If you haven’t checked out the new site, be sure to click through and see what we’ve done. You’ll notice all the pirate goodness (depsite M’Weezy’s assertions that ninjas can be beat pirates– we all know that pirates rule). I’ve been hard at work with this new df.com rebranding and it’s one of the many surprises to come over the next few weeks. We’re right now on df.com version 11.1.2 (final). I’m hoping you enjoy the new look. As always, let me know what you think.

On to the big news, DF Pirate Radio will be recording over the next few weeks and I’m looking to drop the first episode to you by Thanksgiving weekend on 11/28/09. While my arm is still pretty sore and mostly unusable, I’ve figured out ways to work around my limitations. I should be able to mix the show without a hitch. If not, it looks like some lucky cast member will be getting a crash course in DJ mixing (should be a blast). Watch for a live countdown timer to appear on the site in the next 24 hours that will countdown to go day, which is 11/28/09!

Hoist the line! Tie down the yard arm! Weigh anchor! Set sail, no quarter! ARRRRRR.

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Double Trouble

This morning I woke up and found my left shoulder mildly dislocated. I’m not sure how it happened, but I been noticing that over the last two weeks my left arm has become more and more sore. From what I can tell, I’ve been favoring my right side. This has begun to stress my left side and in particular my left upper arm. There’s a lot of strange popping/rubbing in my shoulder that I don’t remember. By the end of my work shift my left arm was in more discomfort/pain than my right. That in itself is concerning.  I’ll try to speak with the orthopedist tomorrow, but I’m sure it’s fatigue related and that I may have unfortunately discovered an existing issue I just never knew about.

I spent some of today working with JDiddy during break time bringing up a new Linux LAMP (web page) server. For those of you who know me, this will come as no big surprise. I’m a huge Linux nerd and love bringing up/working on servers. We’re trying to get him a decent platform to launch his new web site on and it’s given me a chance to coach him on setting the system up. It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to coach any one at any thing in such a regimented manner and honestly it reminded me how much I like teaching others new things especially when they’re excited about what they’re learning. Good stuff. I can’t wait to see what JDiddy does with the new site and I’m pretty excited to pass on the new skills I’ve learned over the last six months building this one.

Fall is definitely here in downstate New York. The morning and nighttime temperature is in the low 40s. I came out to frost on the Stang this evening. I can definitely feel a cold draft drifting through my walls. I had to cave and turn on the heat earlier last week. It’s just too cold this year (some five degrees on average) to not do that. The summer was very mild (some ten degrees on average) than last year so it would make sense that fall/winter will follow suit. If that holds true though we’re definitely in for a very cold wet (read: lots of snow and ice) winter. My hope is my shoulder heals before the major snow falls in December.Pirate mime

Minor issue with my plan to roll out Pirate Radio– my main hard drive is slowly failing. I’m hoping it holds out long enough to kick out a new episode, but if not I do have a spare (though arguably slower and smaller IDE verse the existing SATA) hard drive to fall back on. I rue the thought of reinstalling Windows XP and all my applications, but it is what it is at this point. Quick flashback, over the summer it appears I may have run my PC too hard during 90 degree temperatures and cooked the hard drive platter. Not good, but the HD is some ten year old (bought in 2001) and way beyond the eight year meantime to failure average. Again– it is what it is.

Finally, today’s “Random Picture of the Day” is a pirate mime. I had no clue until my recent search of the WikiCommons that such a beast existed, but here he(?) is in all his wondrous mime glory. He would say “ARRR!” but he’s a mime. Alas, he can say nothing. He can merely glare at you with his buggy eyes and wave his dull short short in anger. It’s sad really and I’m sure Sally Struthers will soon start some sort of charity to help pirate mimes out. For now though– he suffers in silence while we mock him over the Internet. We rock so much indeed.

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We Got Lost… *ahem*

I’ve never been the most punctual individual. Ask anyone who knows me. I’m perpetually at least five minutes behind schedule and notoriously known for estimating being somewhere in an hour to only show up five hours later with nothing more than a “that took longer than I thought”. So there should be no surprise to most of you that this week’s episode took four months to be produced. We recorded the episode back in November of 2008 and yes– it is only now ready for release. Needless to say production was not long because of the intricacy of the work, but more along the lines of that I moved at a snail’s pace. Distracted by chores, hanging out with the kids, beer, and “Family Guy” reruns on TBS; there was simply no time for the Pirate Radio. Over the last week though I felt the “special sauce” and “had at it like a rabid wolverine on Diet Tab”. So here we are, the latest digitalflood Pirate Radio we fondly like to call “The Lost Episode“. “Lost” roughly translating to “Me So Lazy, Me Love You Long Time”. Enjoy!

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DF Pirate Radio – Cliffnotes (2008 Season)

Cliff Notes – 2008 Season

* After two years (since 2006) on hiatus and the first time since November 2007 any new sets have been released, DF PIrate Radio returned to the webcast scene in October 2008 with a brand new show.

* Chrissy is DJ digitalflood’s wife in real life. They were married in April of 2007.

* The current Pirate Radio studio is in the Welch household’s living room.

* The speaking interludes in Pirate Radio are actually recorded days before the show is engineered and produced. The playlist is one of the first pieces of Pirate Radio that is determined. From there a format is fleshed out. A general plot decided. Then recording takes place. The music and sound effects are added in later during production.

* Every live mix show has contained at least one track featuring Old Dirty Bastard. This is an homage to DJ digitalflood’s favorite rapper.

* Live mix shows take longer to actually make than the normal spoken format shows. On top of the normal four hour production time required to create an episode, a one hour recording session must be performed in real time. Normal shows only require about 30 minutes of recording to tape the voice interlude segments. Mixing then occurs in the production software and not in real time thus speeding the actual creation process.

* The lost episode (11/3/08) took some four months to be released. Production began in one version of Sony software and ended in another. Yes– we took long enough to go up a version during production.

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Patience Is A Virtue

I’ve been really busy with work and that’s slowed down production a bit, but I wanted to make sure everybody knows I’m not MIA or going on hiatus or something like that. I said a month or so back when we kicked into full production mode that we weren’t going to return to weekly segments and this type of situation is exactly why I didn’t want to over promise while under delivering. The good news though that soon I’ll be able to get back to doing what I do best– drop new tracks and shows right here on DF.com. MC Mary and myself did recently cut a new Pirate Radio that needs post-production still, but there is definitely going to be at least one more talk show Pirate Radio before the end of 2008. I also owe you both another Beat Feast mix tape and a little surprise before the end of year. Both will be delivered soon enough as well. I appreciate your patience and continued support– keep believing because we’ll deliver for sure!

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