Bad Philosophy

Title psych! In this episode we actually focused on the man, the myth, the legend himself, Mr. Joss Whedon, and all his crazy nephews (shows). Despite last-minute panelist panic, we successfully procured Jed and Michael and had a Baldwin blast of a time. So brush up on your Mandarin, grab a wooden stake, and set your TiVo to record Dollhouse… it’s BF time!

Stay calm. You’re not imagining things. That “b” is real, and we have a good explanation for it… sort of. As you well know, we here at Bad Philosophy have had our [some might say disproportionate] share of unsavory experiences with audio equipment. Trying new things tends to get us in trouble, and well… we tried something new. Suffice it to say, the majority of Episode 021–a fine, somber treatise on education–came out corrupt, and will henceforth become known as the “Failisode.”

Not ones to give up, however, we decided to roll our weekly Starbucks tweet-up and post-Super-Bowl-watching experiences into a totally impromptu guerrilla episode, centering on the fantastic commercial lineup, Bruce Springsteen’s crotch, the definition of fascism, and Kevin’s new girlfriend [hint: you’ve already met her – gasp!], among many other thoroughly exciting things. Get ready for some old school BF action reminiscent of Episode Zero. One laptop, four guys, and caffeine – it’s BF time.

We’re in a crisis today, peeps. Healthcare in the United States is whack, and everybody’s got a plan to fix it. We may not be Obama’s advisory board, but we’ll be darned if BF is gonna sit on the sidelines for this most relevant of issues. Numero Uno fanboy Jediah Cummins joined us for his first appearance alongside Matt Legler (and LO, the universe did NOT explode!). We had our crazy awesome microphone setup going once again, so hold onto your W2 form, strap on a heart monitor, and take a speed-of-light tour on the healthcare freeway – BF style!

We’ve got ourselves a new president in these grand United States of America, and in celebration of that common knowledge we dedicated this BF to discussing… pretty much anything except that. Jessica Story joined us for the first time, bringing a flare of femininity to the show in a shameless attempt to lure in the other 51% of the world’s population. But demographics be damned! We had rabbit trails to follow, cookies to chew, and Rubik’s cubes to solve… all in a high-quality multi-track audio extravaganza. You thought we could never get more BF? Well I’ve got news for you: Yes we can. And… we did…

As mentioned in the show, we’re now hunting for new guest panelists who would like to share a taste of our thunder on Bad Philosophy. If you have Skype and a decent microphone, please tweet at one of us and tell us (in 140 characters or less) why you would be a worthy guest Bad Philosopher.

It’s here, people! We’re inching our way ever closer to becoming bona fide, honest to goodness procasters. We’re back in the DMS and managed to rig up their spiffy, expensive microphones into the best audio configuration we’ve had yet. Julie Meadows joins us this episode for a finagled foray into copyright, Mickey Mouse, and sneezing… among many other decidedly BF things. So pull up an ideal chair and get ready for the audio bliss that is Episode 18…

Update: We realized shortly after posting this episode that Kevin’s brilliant publicity plan has been thwarted by none other than Cory Doctorow himself. Ah, happenstance… such a strange bedfellow you are…

Update Update: A partial transcript of this episode is available at our GitHub Transcripts Repository.

As we enter 2009, the last year of the Noughties, we here at BF decided to do a little retrospective on the previous year, highlighting some things that piqued our interest in 2008. Not only that, we decided to make some outlandish predictions as well. If you’re still hungover from last night’s revelry, we forgive you. If not, join me, Kevin, and Jed for some laid-back BF action. We even created a New Year’s resolution for once-again-absent Matt Legler, who was stuck in the middle of nowhere unfortunately. Oh, and as an added New Year’s bonus, I cooked up a brand new intro. Bon appetit!

One may be the loneliest number that you’ll ever do, but two is certainly NOT as bad as one when it’s Bad Philosophy. Kevin and I convened over Skype this week in leu of any other panelists. We actually got the audio working half-decently (can you believe it?!) and had a great back-and-forth about a wide variety of topics. So sit back, kindle your excitement, strap on your golden parachute, and shove those old VHS bootlegs of Oh, Killmas Tree under your desk – it’s time for some BF!

We’re also now on Podcast Alley {pca-758bd8544b03dfdc84be8678b7a726d7}

Something appalling just happened here at Texas Tech. On the evening of December 10th, Tech decided to pull the plug on our 47-year-strong campus radio station, KTXT 88.1 FM. This move came with no warning, no recourse, and at a moment when students had finished the semester and gone home. Needless to say, we got pissed. Thankfully, BF was right there to pick up on this developing story, and we managed to get (former?) KTXT DJ Benjamin Brown on the show via Skype to give us the inside scoop. Intrigue, deception, and the sudden death of a Lubbock tradition – it’s all here! Have a listen…

ATTENTION! If you are a Tech student and would like more information on how you can help save KTXT, please join the Facebook group and take the actions they suggest. Don’t let our station perish! ACT NOW!

So there we were, sitting in the midst of the collective knowledge of our time. Rows upon rows of books lined up at our sides. The scent of the 1960’s wafting through the air. And then, out of the blue, this llama walks out from behind the geodynamics section, looks at us, and just starts laughing profusely, sending shudders of glee down its long, fuzzy neck. We looked at each other briefly, incredulously, and then all at once… we put away the rest of the acid.

Once our high subsided, we got the strangest urge: to do an episode on religion. It’s controversial, it’s deep, it’s something we’ve never before… it’s totally BF. Though our microphones refused to comply (again!), we completed the episode successfully (albeit in 16kHz… oops). Open your mind, put your bias aside, and indulge us as we tackle one of the biggest questions of all time… “Why be religious?”

(Disclaimer: Bad Philosophy does not endorse the use of illegal hallucinogens. We do not, will not, nor have ever, taken acid, and you shouldn’t either. If you want a trip, watch Fantasia after going 48 hours without sleep. You will never see household mops the same way again…)

Hälsningarna, Nordisk solfjäder av Dålig Filosofi! Du er göra sval.

And I hope you Scandinavian cats can understand poorly-translated Swedish as well as the English we love so dearly here on the show. Honestly though, unlike our beloved brethren to the north, we aren’t actually devoting a whole episode to you this week. Instead, we convened over Skype to discuss the American shopping ritual known as Black Friday, as well as a healthy dose of memetics, duckrolling, and other such jazz. We apologize for the audio quality (I mean… it is Skype after all), but we did manage to give you the treat of hearing our voices in stereo for the first time ever. We promise to get back on civilized audio hardware for the next episode. Grin and bear with us; we actually had some good stuff to say…