The Armadillo Podcast

Gifts for Those Who Have Everything

What present can you possibly for the family member who has everything?

How about a real, aluminum Festivus pole or a talking Kinky Friedman action figure?

If you live in Texas you may have seen the action figure doing all the talking for Kinky in a series of television ads.  If you're out of state, you can view all the campaign ads here. 

I called down to campaign headquarters to check on availability and they've temporarily run out.  You can, however, get on the waiting list and the new action figures should arrive in January.

As for the aluminum Festivus poles, Seinfeld fans will fondly remember this tradition from the made up holiday.  And just like George Castanza, we here at The Armadillo Podcast will be taking the next few days off to be with the family for the traditional airing of grievances and feats of strength.

Happy Festivus, everybody!

 

Reason No. 417 to Move to Austin

Today is the first full day of winter.   Here in Austin the sun is shining and the thermometer on my back porch says the temperature is 72 degrees.

Nuff said.

Armadillo, originally uploaded by N Jim.

 

Next Guest: Gaming Legend Richard Garriott

After we post our interview with Texas Rollergirl Melicious, our next guest will be Richard Garriott, AKA "Lord British," who is "one of the most famous game designers of all time," according to Moby Games.

At nineteen, Richard wrote the popular Akalabeth game for the Apple II back in 1979.  With his next game, Ultima, the young programmer from Houston (via London) shot to international acclaim.  Starting with Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness on to Ultima IX: Ascension, Richard created an online world that reigned for nearly 20 years, becoming one of the most popular games ever with millions and millions of copies sold.

This last November, Richard was inducted as the ninth member of the  Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) Hall of Fame.

In 2006, Richard will publish his latest game, the much-anticipated Tabula Rasa.  For the official site, click here.  (And I swear that's Molly Ringwald in alien-fighting gear on the front page. ;-)

Richard spoke with us about his love for Austin, the "ethical parables" he weaves throughout all his games and why Tabula Rasa will truly be a "clean slate" from everything that has come before.  We also got the latest scoop on a possible rebirth of Britannia Manor, the extravagant haunted house that Richard and company erected every two years from 1988-1994.

Can Austin look forward to a rebirth of this beloved Halloween tradition any time soon?  You'll have to come back and hear our interview with Richard in January to find out....

Reason to move to Austin, No. 416

Dear Galia,

I think I have the best reason yet for you to move to Austin.  I think you should try out for the Texas Rollergirls.

If you don't believe me, please come back to hear our podcast interview with Melicious, No. 11 with the Hotrod Honeys. Melicious has a lot to share about the pride and the glory, the agony and the ecstasy of being a Texas Rollergirl.  In fact, she recently signed a deal with Simon and Schuster to author a book on the history of flat track racing.

And from what I've learned about Melicious and the Texas Rollergirls, I suspect the book tour in '06 will be a hoot and that they could show Ken Kesey and his band Merry Pranksters how to ride a bus.

What's the appeal of women's roller derby?

Ask Vendetta von Dutch, featured in this Celesta Danger photo below.  (For a cool, cool, cool Flickr slide show of Celesta's Texas Rollergirl pics, click here.)

Derby (7), originally uploaded by Celesta Danger.

About flat track roller derby, Vendetta told the Associated Press, "The second I heard about it, I wanted to come see it. The second I saw it, I knew I wanted to do it." And she promptly up and moved to Austin to live her life as a Texas Rollergirl by day, school teacher by night. 

In interview after interview, almost all of our subjects on The Armadillo Podcast have said that beauty of Austin is that it is possible to live here and dream by night, toil by day.  If you've ever lived in any of the other great U.S, cities you know that the cost of living in other dreamtowns most often necessitates a toil-toil lifestyle, please check your dreams at the county line.

More from the AP story, Hot Wheels: Roller Derby's Back:

"Anything can happen," said Vendetta, who missed some bouts this season after breaking her collarbone during a run-in with a skater known as Dinah-Mite. "It's all about multitasking and reaction time."

Galia, when considering trying out for the Rollergirls, please focus on improving on your multitasking and reaction time, not the broken bones.  Oh and the next chance to tryout for the league will be September-October, '06.

For more reasons to move to Austin, numbers 211-415, click here.

Warm regards,

Steven

 

Texas Rollergirl Way Ahead of Governor in Poll

Previously, we put it to our audience to decide who they wanted us to interview, Ann Richards, ex-governor or Melicious, current Texas Rollergirl.  Our first poll was wiped out when Typepad crashed.  However, just before the struggling blogging service lost our loyalty, Melicious was leading 413-1.  Now we will unscientifically add those results to the current results below and Melicious comes out the clear winner at 429-3.

Even though the voting continues, we're calling this contest in favor of Melicious, No 11, "blocker, pivot and dice thrower" for the Hotrod Honeys.

The people have spoken!  We'll be posting our interview with Melicious very soon.  In the meantime, if you'd like to continue making the governor look bad, please scroll down the sidebar on your left and place your vote.

                                                                         

Armadillo Podcast Poll Galia wants us to interview a roll model for young girls.  Who should we interview?
Melicious, Current Texas Rollergirl, No 11, Hotrod Honeys	98.3%	114
Ann Richards, Ex-Governor	1.7%	2
total                 votes: 116
powered by blogpoll

Kinky News

W. Gardner Selby has an exhaustive story in today Austin American-Statesman that ponders, "Can a Minnesota wrestler's strategy work here? Kinky Friedman hopes so."

See "On Jessie's Trail."

Kinky has said that he wants to get the keys to the Governor's Mansion, simply because he needs the closet space.  In "Meet the Press, Armadillo Podcast-style" we previously interviewed Gardner on Kinky's realisting chances to expand his wardrobe.  Joining Garnder on our first multi-person interview were Wayne Slater, Senior Political Writer, Dallas Morning News, R.G. Ratcliffe, Senior Political Reporter, Houston Chronicle, Ross Ramsey, Editor, Texas Weekly.

To hear the experts discuss Kinky, click here to Download ArmadilloPodcast9.mp3

In Gardner's AAS story, he quotes Dean Barkley, campaign director for both Ventura and Friedman, who says,"Kinky's biggest opponent in this race is apathy. It's apathy versus Friedman. If Friedman beats apathy, he'll win."

Here at The Armadillo Podcast we've been doing our humble best to beat back apathy with post after post after entertaining and thought-provoking post regarding the Kinkster. 

Click here to read all fourteen posts on Kinky Friedman and his quixotic quest for governor.

Podcasts Back Online After Typepad Outage

All thirteen episodes of The Armadillo Podcast are back online now.  For a complete episode guide, go to "A Gift for Homesick Austinites."

My apologies to all the Texas Rollergirls and their many fans who may be coming to see us for the first time.  I'd also like to apologize to Caroline A. Shearer and the many fans of her Candidly Caroline blog (and they're legion) for the down time, as well.

For our humble little podcast, Typepad could not have crashed at a more crippling time.  Read all about the outage here, as Nial Kennedy interviews Anil Dash, a Six Apart VP an hour after they restored service to the company's seven million-plus bloggers.

Update: Ex-Governor vs. Current Texas Rollergirl

Typepad went down today and took down with it our poll where we asked our audience to vote for who they wanted us to interview, ex-Governor Ann Richards or current Texas Rollergirl, Melicious.

Before the crash, Melicious was whooping the Governor, 413-1.  While Ann Richards was polling so low, I'll never know.  Perhaps strapping on some skates and a helmet might do her name recognition some good.  I know for a fact she can throw an elbow, so this might be a good career move.

We reposted the poll just minutes ago and already Melicious is leading 9-0.

Here again are you choices.  Galia wants us to interview role models for her young daughter, so your choices are Melicious, No 11 of the Hotrod Honeys.  (She's the one in the middle.)

Photo by Michael Garlington

Or Ann Richards, Governor No 45.  (She's the one on the motorcycle.)

Scroll down this page and look to the left to vote in The Armadillo Podcast Poll.

A Gift for Homesick Austinites

ikki
zilker tree, originally uploaded by CommonVee.

A Gift for Homesick Austinites

Do you know someone from Austin who won't be able to make it home for the holidays?

Few things are more forlorn than a homesick Texan who wants to, but can't, go home with the armadillo.

Send The Armadillo Podcast to your friends abroad as a digital care package.

Our weekly interviews with Austinites are gifts that keep on giving (or at least downloading onto an iPod.)

Here's our complete episode guide to date:

13.0 Caroline A. Shearer - fun chat with freelance writer

12.0 James Brush - novel conversation with novelist

11.0 Ben Brown - all-consumming call with Consumating.com founder

10.0 Yossi Ghinsberg - author of Jungle, big fan of Austin

9.0 Kinky Friedman - Governor in Waiting

8.0 Meet the Press - Four political journalists give the 411 on Kinky

7.1 Lisa Farwell - The Haunting of the B-Side

7.0 Lisa Farwell - Haunted Texas Vacation spots

6.0 David Brown - Texas Music Matters (more than Los Angeles)

5.2 Vikki Loving - Wildly Austin/Origins of the Terminix bug and a field of flamingos

5.1 Vikki Loving - Wildly Austin/resurrecting Mangiazilla

4.0 Colleen Dieter - Personal gardener battles fires ants, scorpions, still loves Austin

3.0 Jeff Nightbyrd - What a long, strange trip it's been: SDS to SAG

2.0 George Phenix - father of me, probably our funniest episode ever

1.0 Steven Phenix on My Friend Galia - A friendship that dare not speak its name, because we'd just make fun of each other's accents

Armadillo Podcast Poll: Ex-Governor vs. Current Texas Rollergirl

Who should we interview?

Governor number 45

OR

Texas Rollergirl number 11

 

 

At the end of Episode 13: Caroline A. Shearer, you can hear a bit of a change from my friend Galia.  In episode after episode we continue to interview interesting and thought-provoking Austinites like Kinky Friedman and the host of KUT's Texas Music Matters, David Brown, who are all kind enough share with Galia what they love about our town.

But at the end of every episode Galia resolutely replies, "No, I can't move to Austin." This week she cracked a bit and admitted that she likes all the interviews we've done with various writers like Caroline and James Brush.  In fact, she even had a request:  "I'd like to hear more from role models for my daughter.  Go interview Ann Richards."

So we thought we'd leave it to our loyal listeners to make the final decision.  As a role model, who would you like to hear us interview, Ann Richards, ex-governor or Melicious, current Texas Rollergirl?

Make your vote count and scroll down the side bar on the left to make your vote in the Official Armadillo Podcast Poll.