The Joys of Podcasting

It seems that a href=”http://www.net4now.com/isp_news/news_article.asp?News_ID=3455″Ricky Gervais/a, the British Comedian, has made it to the Guinness book of World records with his podcasts (Hat Tip a href=”http://www.fraterslibertas.com/2006_03_01_archive.html#114117976410824090″Fraters Libertas/a). “The Ricky Gervais Show, the popular podcast which earlier this month made a new Guinness World Record for having 2.9 million downloads, is returning for a much-anticipated second series.” It seems that Mr. Gervais will now be charging for his podcasts.br /br /”This project represents the first major transition from a free to a commercial podcast. Season 1 of The Ricky Gervais Show was free, but now Season 2 is available through a small subscription charge. In the light of 3 million downloads, Gervais jokingly lamented giving his show away for free in a recent podcast, saying: ‘I have been a fool.’ ” br /br /Wow, thanks to our wonderful readers and subscribers, Glenn and I have had over half a million downloads on our podcasts in only six weeks–I wonder if we can catch up?br /br /I must say that podcasting is just plain fun…it is great to look at books, articles and videos of our guests and see what, how and why they think the way they do. Tim Minear, the producer and writer of emWonderfalls/em and emFirefly/em among others, never went much past high school. Claire Berlinski travels the globe writing and thinking about social problems and politics, and Bill Frist spends time thinking about how to keep Americans safe from health epidemics. As a kid, I spent my time reading biographies of people who were successful. I was always intrigued by how someone’s life came together in such a way that made them an inventor, athlete, public figure or writer etc. br /br /People’s minds work in such different ways and it is amazing how we all come to find our path in one way or another. I wonder what I would do if I could live another lifetime and choose another career path knowing what I know now–I think I would choose to be a film director and start at a young age–but since that is an impossibility–then luckily, I can live vicariously through others by devouring their writing, music, politics and films.