We are well and truly into the new year now, the partying is over and it's time to start concentrating on getting back into a routine. It's my final weekend off before returning to work and it'll soon be time to try and remember to put 2010 on documents, instead of scribbling out 2009 for the next few weeks. Meanwhile, here are some of the things on our minds:
We had just a little bit more nostalgia yesterday, as I posted a best of podcast for the Sidepodradio marathon. There are lots of great bits in there, including Mr C's efforts at cooking, snippets from the quiz, and some travel tips as well. Relive Sidepodradio as if it was yesterday, and get your thinking caps on for Sidepodradio 2.
Our first non-daily post of the year went up in the form of a note about Jenson Button and his new McLaren outfit. Pictures and video are available of the man in his new uniform, and it'll take a couple of glances to get used to it, trust me. Take a look and let us know what you think.
We are also ready to start asking for your predictions for 2010 - even if it is impossible to anything from just a glance at one man's new t-shirt. I have listed out a couple of my own thoughts for the new season, but I am rubbish at predictions and no doubt entirely wrong. Why not head over and point me in the right direction?
That'll do it for now, let us know what you're up to this weekend, and I'll see you in the comments.
With the end of year bringing so much nostalgia, it seemed only fair that Sidepodradio got it's own best of podcast. There was plenty of source material to work from, and I can present to you 24 hours worth of shows, whittled down to 20 minutes. Enjoy.
The magical moments of Sidepodradio are all included - remember when Mr C was confused about spoons, or when Steven revealed all about Major Tom? How about when Lukeh gave the FIA some pointers on how to make F1 more fun, or Sean cleared up some sporting confusion for us?
All that and more you will find in this round up of the marathon event, and if you're inspired by what you hear, why not put some thoughts down for Sidepodradio 2?
During 2009, Sidepodcast managed to publish 1,319 posts on this website. That's more content in the past 12 months than we managed in the previous two years of blogging combined. A considerable amount of that content came from over 20 guest writers who contributed their thoughts and ideas and to whom we will be eternally grateful.
To celebrate such a fantastic year, and because we're feeling more than a little nostalgic on this eve of '10, we've pulled together some of our favourite topics from 2009.
We've shared some fantastic experiences this past year and we're promised many more in 2010.
Thank You for the Music
As this is the one time of year when Christine allows me to give thanks, and running the risk of missing someone important, Sidepodcast would like to share the love. The two of us would like to extend a huge thank you to all guest writers, to everyone who's helped transcribe a show, especially Amy for leading the effort, and to every person who pledged a donation this year. Much appreciation goes out to anyone who took time to pick up the phone, send an email, or leave a comment, especially if you did so for the first time.
Thank you to the participants of Sidepodradio, to those who tuned in and anyone who gave so much to charity that day. A special note of gratitude to Steven Roy for volunteering anyone and everyone who dared show an interest and to RG for the initial inspiration. A huge Sidepodthanks goes to the bestest host of the parade lap, Alex (Giggles) Andronov, without whom there would have been no pre-race shows this year, and to Katherine and Hyde Park for opening their doors to us.
Major kudos to Lisa McCormick and to Rob Smedley for both being especially lovely. The same goes to the 5Live team for providing such fabulous coverage that saved the season. To Danny from Fantasy Racers, and to anyone who's plugged, promoted or shared the Sidepodcast word, we also say cheers.
I would like to extend a personal thank you to everybody who offered their support back in the summer of discontent and encouraged us to continue, we quite literally would not be here today without you. A hat tip must also go towards Racecar Engineering and F1 Racing for featuring our McLaren photographs and to Stuart C for providing an education in journalism at no charge.
A special mention goes out to Joe Saward, a man who has given so much to Formula 1 for so many years and who this year, extended a generous hand in our direction.
Finally I give a huge hug to Ms Christine Blachford, for producing what are by far the best F1 podcasts on the internet and also for putting up with her co-host for another year.
Lord knows I hope we haven't missed anyone from that list, but just in case, Sidepodcast raises a virtual glass to everyone - may Formula 1 be good to you in 2010.
In my research for daily facts and figures I have come across the best one ever. From the people's encylopedia, today is the day in 1853 when a dinner party was held inside the Iguanadon in Crystal Palace Park. We knew this! Mr Giggles took us to see those dinosaurs and told us that fact! In your face, Wikipedia! Eh-hem, here are some more F1 related things:
I posted the Best of Debrief show yesterday - 2009 in Audio. It's a great trip through memory lane - the entire season crushed down into a twenty minute show with the best bits picked out by you guys. Thanks for all your submissions, and for the motivation to get the show complete. Couldn't have done it without you all.
I'm contemplating the Best of Sidepodradio now, so if you have thoughts about what should go in that show, I am all ears. Simply post them in this thread and tag them #sidepodradio so I can pick them up later. Best of shows are hard work, but they are always worth it in the end!
Mr C also wrote a brief update on some of the things we've been doing behind the scenes on the website. The graph included in that post is pretty cool, showing how much performance has improved since we started fiddling, and, well, basically stripping out Wordpress. Now things are so snappy round here, it's time to look at new stuff. Yay!
That should do it for now, let us know what you're up to and whether you have tired of your Christmas presents already. I'll see you in the comments.
In the middle of 2008, we shared information on where money from your very generous donations ended up, in the name of Sidepodcast. Back then, it was tickets to various events and subscriptions to the online services that supplement the podcast and site. Fast forward a year (and a bit, sorry this post is late), and we have shiny and exciting things to show off.
Our wonderful community has been even more generous in the past 12+ months, allowing us to purchase things that have turned our little podcast into a multimedia extravaganza! Okay, I am exaggerating quite a lot, but we have bought plenty of fun things!
Mobile Insight
We've talked at great length previously about the merits and pitfalls of the Official F1 app. Generally speaking the concept is excellent, but it seems to crash more than one would hope. It's not cheap either, so we put some of your donations to good use and purchased a season pass. Now, Mr C wouldn't be without it and I have to admit the track map with positioning of cars is something of a bonus.
A Massive Sidepodfan
Although this item came from one specific donation, it very much should be featured in this list. In the height of summer we were burning up in the studio, with many machines running at full stretch, plus a bright light making me look pretty. After announcing we needed an industrial strength fan, Alex very kindly donated the funds required. We immediately went out and bought the fan. Not only does it make the studio bearable, but the panda quite likes it:
Lots of Live Streaming
Live streaming video, without annoying advertising, isn't cheap. As our shows seem to be getting longer, there's been many hours of streaming over the last year. It's not all been smooth sailing, but it's been great fun and more improvements are in the pipeline.
Your donations make going live possible, and even though we have to give the server a swift kick every now and then, we are live long enough for great things to happen. Like Mr C killing off celebrities.
Ingredients for Sidepodradio Cooking Show
Oh yes, the cooking show that Mr C will never be allowed to forget. I can't exactly describe the fun-filled shopping expedition to get these ingredients, except to repeat that the only way he managed to identify the oil was because it came from a different aisle to all the other items, and it was yellow. Make sure you check out the show if you haven't already, and if you have, you know you want to hear the ineptitude again.
The Purple Wall
We've mentioned a few times that I am much quieter than Mr C when it comes to mic technique. Generally speaking, I have to have my mic a lot louder than his, because I am a delicate little podcaster. Eh-hem. It used to make editing quite tricky though, as his annoying voice would bleed onto my track. To solve the problem, we invested in some rather expensive, and just a little bit wobbly, soundproofing.
The purple wall is purple, and stands between Mr C and myself with a small little window for us to see each other. It solves the bleed issue, but still allows for visual communication.
Anglepoise Microphone Arm
This one is a relatively recent purchase, due to our house move. Mr C had already discussed our problems with microphone stands, and the fact that we were using the wrong type for our needs. We couldn't quite justify purchasing a new one yet, but thankfully, I am clumsy.
During our move, I dropped one of the stands and broke it. We had to hastily invest in a brand new Anglepoise, and it is brilliant. We've only used it for one show, but already, we are anxious to get the second one.
Of course we have purchased lots of other little bits and pieces. Websites and podcasts take quite a lot of maintenance, and there are domain names and subscriptions to be renewed. However, the above sums up our most enjoyable purchases of the year.
We are eternally grateful to everybody who's made a donation this year, no matter how big or small. We promise to continue to be transparent, and to offer even more behind-the-scenes insight into what we do, how we do it and how you can make a difference.
It's taken a little longer than I'd hoped but I can now confirm that our £680.00 donation to Wings for Life has been completed. Everyone's hard work and generosity on the Sidepodradio event has paid off and the money is going to a fantastic cause.
Red Bull wrote about our combined efforts, and we also had a note from Anita Gerhardter, the Managing Director of Wings for Life, who said:
Thank you so much for featuring our foundation in your show (specially liked the muffin cooking part ;-)) and passing on the donations to Wings for Life. We very much appreciate your support and we can guarantee that 100 % of the donations will be used to finance research projects as all administrative costs of Wings for Life are covered by our founders. We support scientific projects all over the world. For three years now we also finance a project that is investigated at the university of Cambridge by Prof. Mark Kotter. So our foundation does also have a close relationship with the UK :-) Attached you will find our information brochure where you can find some more interesting facts about our work.
I've put the pdf on the drop, if you would like any further information about where your donations are going.
All in all, a success, I think you'll agree. Here's to the next Sidepodradio!
It's the last day of September, which means there are just three more months until the end of the year. It also means all the shops are looking at Christmas already, which is ridiculous. Thank goodness we do our shopping online. Meanwhile, here are some things we're discussing:
Hopefully, by the time you read this, all of the Sidepodradio podcasts should have been published and will appear in your podcast feed any minute now. We released them all as a batch, partly because they are repeats of already broadcast material, and partly because we didn't want to break the site. I think we did that anyway.
All the talk is that we will have a Ferrari announcement today, confirming a certain driver being signed to their team. It's about time we had a breakout thread, although is it really necessary? This has been a long time coming!
Back to Sidepodradio again, we'll be closing the poll for the Charity Vote today, so if you haven't already, get on over and have a look at where you would like the £680 to go. Also, can you remind me to close the poll? Cheers.
That'll do it for now. There should also be a Japan schedule up later today, so we can turn our attention towards the upcoming weekend. I'll see you in the comments.
A one off special performance of Felipe Baby, performed live by Christine, as promised to the Sidepodcommunity if the total charity donations reached more than £500.
Mr C and Christine wrap up 12 hours of epic radio with a brief discussion about their favourite moments, plus the obligatory but oh so heartfelt thanks to everyone involved.
