Sidepodcast

Daily: 15th November 2009

We have reached Sunday and it is Doctor Who day! Eh-hem. Please excuse any Doctor Who excitement in the daily thread today, but we have been waiting a long time for this! Of course, there are plenty of F1 things to talk about. Well, I say plenty, there are a couple of things.

• Notus have confirmed that running a Malaysian driver is not crucial to their plans to hit the grid, and that is lucky, as there are only a couple of viable options. They are hoping for that in the future though, and looking at it as more of a long-term project rather than something they need for their first year in the sport.
• In linkage news, Jackie came up with a great weekend idea to highlight some of the great posts and give you something to read over a weekend. Round up posts are always very interesting, especially when there is editorial in there as well.
• Yesterday, we watched Cars and live commented our way through the film - it was brilliant fun, and thanks to everyone who was around to enjoy it with us. If you missed out this time, stay tuned for the next movie - we're taking suggestions over on the wiki. Whichever one we pick will have to go some way to beat Cars, though, it had rarely working traffic lights and everything!

That'll do it for now. Don't forget there's no live show tonight, but we are working on the podcast about our experience at the Mercedes-Benz event, and that should be with you at some point soon. I will see you in the comments.

Sidepodfilmclub - Cars

Welcome to the second Sidepodfilmclub event, where we all grab our laptops and live comment our way through a film. This week, we're watching Cars, the Disney/Pixar spectacular, which is all about NASCAR. We've only done two films and they've both been about NASCAR. We'll have to address that soon!

To participate is simple. Head on over to the Live Comments and wait until 8pm GMT. There's a clock at the top of the page, to make sure we're all on time, and when we all hit play at the same moment, nothing can go wrong. Last time there were a few problems with different versions of the film, and the best advice I can give is not to panic. We're just here to enjoy the film and comment together. It's okay if we're a few minutes apart. Mr C and I will probably be behind, because let's face it, we're always late!

Here's some more information about the film:

• Name: Cars
• Stars: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt
• Director: John Lasseter, Joe Ranft
• Duration: 1:51:44

Mr C and I have both seen the film before, but that just means we know it's a good one, so I hope you can join us this evening. See you there.

Daily: 14th November 2009

The daily thread is an entire year old now, and we would have missed it if it hadn't been for RG's eagle eyes. Check out the celebratory blog post here, and let us know what you think of the good ol' daily. Meanwhile, here are some other things we're talking about:

• It was time for a bit of Friday Fun yesterday, and although the name does kind of tie the game to a specific day, there aren't really any rules on that. If you haven't had a go already, let us know your mix and match drivers - which bits of which drivers would you take to make the perfect guy?
• We also pointed you in the direction of the latest goings on at Red Bull, namely a chance to have your say in some awards, plus a look at the latest Wings for Life charity auction. There's not much I would be willing to bid on in the auction, but it's definitely worth having a look, even if you haven't got a penny to part with.
• Don't forget that it is the second Sidepodfilmclub evening tonight with the chosen film the Disney/Pixar great Cars. We hope to see you around in the comments ahead of the film starting at 8pm. It should be great!

That'll do it for now. Thank goodness for the weekend, as yesterday was Friday 13th. I wondered where all the bad luck was coming from and then I looked at a calendar. Anyway, today is a new day, and I will see you in the comments.

We're Not Counting the Days

I don't think we'll ever win the battle of convincing everyone the off season is brilliant, but instead, we can make it the best we possibly can. Last year, we had a quick run through of what we were planning to do, and then we reviewed what we had managed to achieve before the season began. This year we're going to do something similar.

Although it will be good to have news to talk about as the off season gradually progresses, we don't want anything like last year with constant speculation over who will buy or not buy Honda. I know there are teams out there waiting to be picked up, so let's hope these things can be sorted out smoothly. I'm not holding, my breath though.

While the F1 world rumbles on, we'll be busy with some awesome things, including (but not limited to):

• The 2009 Season Review - you can (and will) be getting involved with this!
• The return of Sidepodpanel - assuming the technology comes together in time
• A review of our predictions from pre-season and a catchup with our New Year's Resolutions
• Best of shows - you can suggest best of moments over on the wiki
• The Christmas party and the Sidepoddie Awards
• The return of Must Comment Monday
• The 2009/10 Character Cup
• An Alternate Christmas Message
• More adventures with the Sidepodtour
• Your chance to offer feedback on the shows we do
• Some more Sidepodfilmclub evenings - starting with Cars this weekend
• Continual website improvements - Sidepodcast 3.0 is taking shape nicely
• Preparations for the 2010 season - again, you can (and will) be getting involved with this!
• Plenty of 2009 analysis and nostalgia

I'm sure there's more I've missed, and no doubt there will be plenty of impromptu ideas along the way. If there's anything you'd like us to have a go at, now is the chance to let us know. Also, why not share what you're planning to do with your off season, particularly if you are blogging your way through it, or taking a much deserved break.

Get Ready For Cars

At the beginning of September, we launched the first ever Sidepodfilmclub - an event where we gather in the live comments and all watch the same film at the same time - sharing the laughs and our thoughts along the way.

This weekend, Sidepodfilmclub is back. We'll be watching Cars on Saturday, and I really hope you will join us.

I've been telling people for about a week that there will be a live show this weekend, and now I have to hold my hands up and say that there won't be. We have three very good reasons though:

1. The main news is Toyota's departure from the sport, and Joe covered this much better than we ever could in the last Aside with Joe. If you haven't listened to it already, please do, as I think it's the best one of the year.
2. Doctor Who is on at about 7pm on Sunday. I am not missing it for the world.
3. We could delay the debrief, but then there's that pesky Top Gear thing on.

We will post a pre-recorded show, as we have plenty to talk about regarding our trip to Brooklands at the weekend. If you were there, please leave us a voicemail about your experience - 0121 28 87225. We'd love to get some more insight, and the more opinions we get, the better.

To keep you occupied while you wait for the non-live show (I'm not even sure we remember how to do things without streaming attached!) we will be hosting the second Sidepodfilmclub. The first event was brilliant fun. A select few gathered in the live comments and we all watched Talladega Nights at the same time, sharing the experience as it went.

This weekend, we're going to do the same again, but this time with the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. The film will begin at 8pm GMT on Saturday 14th November. Last time, we put a clock on the live commenting page and all hit play at the desired time. That seemed to work reasonably well, albeit not very technologically sound. So, I hope you will join us with a copy of Cars and some popcorn or chocolate.

Daily: 6th September 2009

There was little in the way of F1 news yesterday, and by little I mean absolutely nothing. Hence there was no F1 Minute either, which is annoying, because I do like doing those 60 second snippets. Anyway, here are some of the things that did happen yesterday and we are therefore still talking about:

• We completed our first Sidepodfilmclub live commenting experiment yesterday and it was loads of fun. I don't know what it'd be like to catch up with the film comments after the movie has ended, but if you want to, the thread will live on here. Don't worry if you missed it, we will definitely be doing another one soon.
• We suddenly got excited about F1 drivers on Twitter, although there have been a few of them tweeting for a while now. With the arrival of Vettel, it suddenly seemed like this might actually take off. We blogged it, naturally, but we'd also love to hear your thoughts on drivers and their microblogging habits.
• As it's such a quiet weekend, if you're at a loose end, check out a new page on the wiki: Rural Racer. It's not a great game, and I only really say that because I am useless at it, but I'd love to know what you think of playing games on the wiki, and keeping track of how well you're doing within the page. If I can find more racing games that are available to embed, I'll pop them in there too.

That should do it for now. Here at Sidepodcast Towers, we're working on behind the scenes bits and pieces today, which is always fun. I'll see you in the comments.

Sidepodfilmclub - Talladega Nights

Welcome along to the first ever Sidepodfilmclub evening. As there is no live show this week, we didn't want to leave you without entertainment, and thought it would be fun to watch a film together. Although we have done a few small trials of live commenting TV shows in the daily threads, this is the first time we are trying to be organised about something. It's going to be brilliant.

We've chosen a motorsport related film for the evening, although I'm afraid I have to admit it does involve NASCAR. It seems to have quite a few fans in the comments, though, who have been quoting the film all week since we first suggested this idea. Here's some more information about the film:

• Name: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
• Stars: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Gary Cole, Michael Clarke Duncan
• Director: Adam McKay
• Duration: 1:47:55

The best place to join us for this evening's event is the Live Commenting Live... Thing. We have embedded a clock set to London time, and when it hits 20:00, everybody needs to start their engines films. I imagine we should also take bets on how far apart we will be by the end as well.

Once we're done, let us know your thoughts, maybe even give it a Sidepodfilmrating, which we can compile over on the wiki.

I'm really looking forward to sharing this film with you, as neither Mr C nor myself have seen it before.

Introducing SidepodFilmClub

If you have been following my personal blog, you'll know I've been live commenting my way through films in a series I like to call Film Watch. The idea is simply to watch the film, make notes as you go and publish them later. It is a lot of fun to do, but in traditional Sidepodfashion, we want to take this to the next level.

Last week, Alex was off sick from work and in an effort to cheer him up, he and I watched an episode of Friends in sync, and live commented our way through it. Watching a programme apart but together. This was also really fun, and sparked an idea in my head. Why not combine the film and Friends experiments and live comment an entire movie?

There is no live show this weekend. Instead we are going to live comment our way through Talladega Nights. Yes, I know, it's a film about NASCAR, but we wanted to make it motorsport related, and I've only heard good things about it. If you would like to join in, there are just a few things you need to know.

You'll need your own copy of the film. We'll be renting ours from the iTunes store.

The film will begin at 8pm Saturday 5th September. The exact mechanics of how we'll all start at the same time are yet to be decided, but it will probably involve us shouting: GO! And everyone pressing play. High tech!