Here it is, this week’s episode of LansingNext starring Ms. Julielyn Gibbons and myself. FYI, the format has changed a bit, so the first 3:36 of the show is news updates. The fun starts at 3:36.

To Listen: click on the gray play button below.

 

 LansingNext 3-10-10 [59:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

To Download the MP3: Right Click on the Download link, choose Save Target As or Save Link As from the menu and then choose where to save the .MP3 on your hard drive.

Show Notes

First Segment
00:00-03:36 (News, Ads). We start at 03:36.

03:36 – 14:00 Ignite Lansing, Daniel’s presentation, John Schnider’s article about Ignite, the ensuing backlash and Ari Adler’s response.

14:00 – 16:00 We chat about Jillian Granz, the MSU student who designed a dress for James Cameron’s wife to wear in the red carpet at the Oscars.

Second Segment
16:00 – 28:00 Interview with Ivy Hughes about Capital Gains, traveling and being a transplant from Colorado.

Third Segment
33:50 – 45:50 Interview with Ryan Knott about Lansing Happy Hour Club (you can search for the #lhhc on Twitter too), and as a performing singer/songwriter we ask him for advice on what not to eat or drink before going on stage (count how many times he says mucus).

Fourth Segment
48:30 – 59:59 Reading Month is the topic and here is  Daniel’s pick, Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete by Lansing native Jef Mallet , who also draws the comic strip Frazz.

Julielyn talks about the Nook by Barnes and Noble and Daniel makes a terrible joke about “Waiting for the Schuler Schnook.” Julielyn’s book is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

After the books, Julielyn talks about March also being National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month – and the importance of being screened.

What’s on Your iPod? – Daniel’s pick for this week, David Bowie’s Moonage Daydream (Live). Julielyn then subjects us to the Glee! version of Don’t Stop Believin‘ by Journey. Daniel is not amused.

Daniel and Julielyn share some of their favorite afterwork activities and we read some listener ideas off Twitter (use the #LansingNext tag) and Facebook.

I can’t say enough great things about Ignite Lansing 3.0. It was a spectacular event that blew away my highest expectations. The crew was amazing. The venue was amazing. Everything was, at the risk of being repetitive, amazing.

I arrived on scene at 6:00 PM as the speakers were told to do, the interior of the Knapp’s Building was a buzzing hive of activity. Lights. Lasers (yes, laser). Cameras. They were all alive.

I had my pre-show briefing with show runners (Nick, Ben), the MC and the stage manager, Melissa. I was happy to see I could use a hand held mic, as I wanted to be mobile during my speech.

Around 7:00, the floodgates opened and attendees started arriving. It was energetic chaos (I mean that in a good way). Dozens filled the line for the Cravings Popcorn bar (my LansingNext co-host Julielyn helped as a volunteer).

The evening was pretty much a blur for me until I had my cue to head for the stage around 9:00 PM. I was in Group C, the last of the three groups of presenters. The crowd had thinned a bit by this point, but it was still very much a packed house.

I was pumped, primed and ready.

I took the stage and killed. My choice to go for the silly, crazy presentation worked. Had a lot of great crowd reactions (although my spork joke at the open didn’t seem to go over that well). I’m glad I decided to wear an eye-patch and to do a “character voice,” the crowd ate it up.

Five minutes later, it was all over. I received scores of compliments afterward, both in person and online.

Better still, I took First Place for my group. Bam.

I think I had third place overall. I don’t know when the video will be on YouTube, but I will post that asap once it becomes available.

Thanks to everyone at Ignite Lansing for putting on a great event!

This scene from ERNEST SAVES CHRISTMAS inspired my presentation a bit.

Hey Kids, here is this week’s episode of LansingNext.

If you aren’t in know, it is a weekly talk show I do with Julielyn Gibbons. It streams each Wednesday at 11:00 am (EST) at TalkLansing.net.

To Listen: click on the gray play button below.

 

 LansingNext 3-3-10 [59:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

To Download the MP3: Right Click on the Download link, choose Save Target As or Save Link As from the menu and then choose where to save the .MP3 on your hard drive.

Here’s a quick breakdown of each of the segments.

Segment 1
-Downloads, fans, feedback.
-Olympics and Ryan Miller, pride of East Lansing.
-Google fiber follow-up.
-Knock out JL as Mayor of Cravings Popcorn by March 28th and win popcorn for a year.
-JL and pay it forward (no, not the movie).

Segment 2
-We talk to Kelly Steffen about Eve of Ignition, Spotlight Campus and the Hatch.

Segment 3
-We talk to Carla McWherter about Lansing Give Camp.
-Carla and JL talk about how much they adore Daniel’s hair.

Segment 4

-Ignite Lansing 3.0
-Daniel presenting at Ignite.
-The lolrus. Seriously. Kthxbai.

Segment 5
-We Rick Roll our listeners (per another’s request).
-”What’s on Your iPod?”
-Shout outs.
-MI Entertainment Oscar Party this Sunday at Lansing Mall Cinema.

Here is the eggplant recipe I mentioned in today’s LansingNext episode.  It is very easy to make, a lot of fun and feeds a few people (depending on how you slice the eggplant and what size it is).

Ingredients

• 1 good size eggplant (a large one will feed three people easily, if not four.  Check for damage first)
• 1 container of Italian style bread crumbs (these have the extra seasoning.  you can make your own with basic bread crumbs, just add oregano, dried garlic, etc).
• Extra virgin olive oil – you’ll need a lot, so get a good sized bottle. Darker the oil, the better. It’ll add a lot of flavor.
• 1 chunk of parmesan cheese (skip the powered container junk, get the real thing). Go to a place like Horrocks Cheese Room, where the price is based on weight and get only what you need (little goes a long way). Make sure you have a cheese grater.

Steps

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Slice eggplant into thin slices, the thinner the better as they’ll soak up more of the olive oil. You can do thick slices if you want. I keep the outer skin on.
• Salt eggplant and layer them in a colander, place colander in the sink with a heavy plate on top for 20 to 40 minutes. This draws out some of the bitter flavor of the eggplant. Use kosher salt if you have it.
• After eggplant sits, rinse and pat dry with paper towel.
• Pour a decent amount of olive oil in a large bowl (big enough that a eggplant slice fits into it). Season the olive oil if you want, I usually do with garlic (not too much) or oregano.
• Pour a decent amount of the bread crumbs onto a plate, next to the bowl of olive oil.
• Dip eggplant slices into olive oil, covering both sides, and then into the bread crumbs (again, both sides). Do that one at a time. NOTE: this is a bit messy, be prepared to have your hands covered in oil and bread crumbs.
• Layer slices (don’t stack) in either a baking dish or cookie sheet (cookie sheet makes them a bit crispier).  You may want to spray baking dish or cookie sheet with nonstick spray. Do this until you either run out of eggplant or think you have enough. If you run out of olive oil and/or bread crumbs, just pour out more.
• I season the slices before putting them in the oven with a little bit of extra oregano and the Outrageously Garlic seasoning by Two Sisters Gourmet (dried garlic, onions, etc).
• Bake for 20 minutes or so and keep an eye on it–especially if you have thin slices on a cookie sheet.
• Remove slices, put on a plate (careful! they are HOT), grate cheese over slices and serve right away! You can also cover them in pasta sauce (either buy pre-made or make your own). Simmer the sauce on the stove top while you are prepping and cooking the eggplant.

Extra Credit

• Pair with garlic bread and a nice red wine, pinot noir is my favorite (I don’t care if that is “right” or not ) and you got yourself an easy, tasty dinner that can feed quite a few people.
• Refrigerate leftovers for a tasty treat later–cold, breaded eggplant is yummy. They make a great sandwich (I’ll put cold pasta sauce on the sandwich too).

Here it is y’all, episode 002 of LansingNext, starring Julielyn Gibbons and myself.  For those that don’t know about the show yet, here’s the skinny:

A weekly Internet talk show focusing on the people, issues and events affecting Lansing’s next generation.

We recorded this Monday night and we totally hit it out of the park. It was the exact opposite of how the recording of the first show went (there was a bit of a learning curve for JL and I). This episode was recorded “live on tape,” meaning we did everything in order as if it was going out live. The first show was done out of sequence and sort of pieced together.

In today’s episode, we talk about a super-high speed Google Internet fiber possibly coming to Michigan and Google Buzz in the first segment (I also make a reference to the film Short Circuit in hopes of explaining technology running amok to Julielyn).

After the break, we interview Chad Jordan of Cravings Popcorn, a company based right here in Lansing (Twitter, Facebook).

In the third segment, we chat with craftbeer enthusiast, John Palmer (Twitter, Facebook), about microbrews and beer breweries in Michigan (and I accuse Julielyn of setting the Guinness Brewery in Ireland on fire). I also share the legend of the Nain Rouge of Detroit.

Online security and such is the subject of the fourth segment, including Julielyn’s “Microphone Rule” when it comes to social networking. But, we shift gears and chat about the Team USA v. Team Canada ice hockey game. Which was AMAZING.

Our last segment features JL and I sharing favorite recipes and the always  popular, “What’s on Your iPod?” segment. JL picked “Call Me” by Blondie. My choice this week was a medley of music from the video game Contra, done as a high-energy heavy metal song by Lansing band Year 200x (Twitter, Facebook).

I believe that starting next week, the episodes will be hosted on TalkLansing.net and they’ll be on iTunes sooner than later.

To Listen: click on the gray play button below.

 

 LansingNext 2-24-10 [1:04:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

To Download the MP3: Right Click on the Download link, choose Save Target As or Save Link As from the menu and then choose where to save the .MP3 on your hard drive.

Check our first episode here.

That’s right y’all, you can listen to the audio from the panel on Fantasy Writing I was a part of on September 1.

http://magicofeyri.com/2009/09/fantasy-writing-panel-podcast/

The panel featured Jim C. Hines (Goblin Quest series, Stepsister Scheme, Mermaid’s Madness), Phil Kline (Curse of the Kitsune) and myself.  It runs about 49 minutes and is worth a listen–especially when Jim starts talking about his werewolf-muppet story.

The audio quality is not on par with my normal episodes, as I just set up a recorder on the table and let it go, but I did what I could in GarageBand to make it a little better (tried to cut out some of the long pauses too).