SM Taco Time : E2

We learned a lot this time around (by making a gross amount of mistakes).

Among those things :

1. -how close we need to be sitting to one another for the sound to pick up well. Even with the snowball… it was like we filmed next to a jet engine. Should have tested that first!

2. -not to film the entire segment 3 times… because that gives you more to review and no one wants to look at their own face that much… except for maybe Mark.

3. We learned that improving our topic list is ok because the conversation flows more organically.

4. -adding in support footage after the fact usually works out better anyhow… and again, you have less clips to watch and sort through when editing.

5. We also learned that baking after drinking and filming a podcast is a horrible idea… you’ll ruin Mark’s kitchen and someone is bound to end up in a tarp.

That being said, enjoy the regularly scheduled broadcast of Taco Time! They’re getting better as we develop our style… =]

Pudding and 2” PVC

What is an army of robots if they are all a heap of sleeping catatons? Sure they look dazzling, especially if we’re talking about my shiny yellow deltas…. but they aren’t impressive by any means. A robot is meant to move, and to tell you the truth, I’m tired of carrying a bread board and whole stinken arduino around just to demo how my show horse works. So I sucked it up this weekend and designed the board that will control each individual in my army. It will be the first board ever that I send away to be fabricated professionally; which I am excited about! OSH Park will be getting some business from me at last.

As such… I am getting better at designing boards. However seeing this in the beginning still scares the crap out of me :

And Mark is laughing because this isn’t even hard mode. I know. But realize, this is how I think eagle (and all chip pinouts) should work in my head :

Other than that, I have been spending mostly all of my free time collaborating with Mark on another project (that’s still secret right now). Without really intending to, I seduced him with the idea of embracing his artistic instinct and following it to glory, as such, he quit his job so that he could focus on making the crazy shit we talk about when we’re drunk. Best life decision ever… it doesn’t get more bohemian than that.

During this first week of freedom we’ve been frequenting just about every craft and fabric store in town, as well as ever toy isle. In fact, we can’t complete a beer run without stopping to discuss the ponies and chibi Bjork alien dolls that we recently discovered (potentially a future podcast topic).

Life is productive. I get to work on all flavors of moving parts and film our avant-garde banter all while drinking Blue Moon, making cake, and drawing on ponies.

At some point this week I even got a tour of the Blue Man set and was able to fondle these sexy beasts. I’ve always wanted a KUKA as a pet… (since about two months ago when I learned what they were) The consensus is that I need to make a working miniature that will paint your toes. Challenge accepted! :

Tomorrow Mark and I film our next episode of Taco Time. Though we still don’t know what the topic will be (and it’s 11:00 the night before) we will be discussing whatever it ends up being to the tune of bloody marries and cream cheese frosting. You’ve been warned.

Oh, and if you were wondering… the safe word is “Pudding”

SM Taco Time : Pick a Pony

It has to start somewhere…

Two weeks ago Mark and I met on a Friday, drank a case of beer, and filmed four hours of footage involving cartoon horses. It was exciting, revealing, and everything a talk about bronies shouldn’t be. After editing it down we came up with this… a rant that captures our inner child at its most immature and perverted state.

On our agenda of topics we had some good points to make regarding the brony movement, that acknowledged the more sensitive and often ignored part of the male soul… as well as a debate about whether or not most bronies really like MLP, or are just leaping onto a new and irreverent fad. Most of these segments ended up getting cut (for the moment) because of how long they were. As a result we are releasing something that lacks any true intellectual content, however we plan to cover these points again in a future episode where we revisit the brony subject and talk about the impact it has had on us…. which sadly it has.

In the mean time enjoy laughing at our expense.

The next episode is all about mysterious project ‘L’. With Mark on a new work schedule we will have a brief moment this summer to focus on our current monstrosities. This should yield some good footage and many speed progress videos…. So we’ll lock up the liquor cabinet for now and kick into production mode.

Mark & Sarah’s TACO Time

“Between the two of us we are one functioning psychopath.”
Making our very own podcast will either be me and Mark’s best idea… or just something that we do on Fridays to contribute to our extra weight. Either way, it’s been a hoot. While filming and editing this weekend, I’ve laughed hard enough to make the muscles in my face sore. So hopefully we’re as funny as we think we are, not just hyped and drunk.

We decided to start filming our dialogues because when we hatch ideas for new projects… the exchange is pretty amusing. Though our talks will be mainly about our collaborations and future projects, we’ll occasionally cover a topic of interest like the one for our pilot episode; quite the laugh.

What’s so funny? Why, the topic for our first episode is none other than a study on why and how perfectly sane men fall from grace and become bronies. The specimen is none other than SYN Shop’s very own Mark Koch, and he’s ready to fall in love!

While recording we briefly discussed the pop culture phenomenon, and after reviewing a couple episodes, Mark was tasked with making an argument according to how the show made him feel.

Right out of the chute he was already leaning way over the fence. He wants to fall, but I am a good friend and will do everything in my power keep him from going over to the dark side. I mean, I like Mark…. and would hate to have to put him down. =[

Will Mark fall victim to brony inception and pick ‘the one?’ Or can I shame him into coming to his senses? Tune in after Maker Faire weekend to find out!

And check out our fetus of a channel : Sarah & Mark’s TACO Time