Random Fandom Rants We take a break from our normal format this week to have a good, old-fashioned rant fest about the outsourcing of customer service, spurred on by our recent experiences with our cable TV and Internet provider. Joanna talks about the outsourcing of fast food order-taking and Laurie reads about the outsourcing of news coverage.

We also rant a bit about the technical difficulties we've been having with our audio system, but also express our gratitude to Ben for helping us solve the problems. Thanks, Ben...You rock!

Random Robots While trying to get help and information from customer service, Laurie was shunted to an automated system, which got us to thinking about robots. They can be very useful and cool, but sometimes there's no substitute for a human being!

We mention some recent robot news:

• Robot talk turns practical at RoboBusiness 2007
• Science beats fiction in Robot Hall of Fame
• Novel Salamander Robot: "salamandra robotica"
• The Daily Show's "Future Shock" segment explores the robot subject

"I Chat, Therefore I AM..." Laurie and special guest, Ben, read the transcript of a chat session between two chatbots. Joanna finds this performance highly amusing!

Give a Little Bit Joanna highlights DonorsChoose, an organization which allows teachers to submit ideas for materials or experiences that their students need to learn. Then Individuals can choose a project to support and make it a classroom reality.

Funky Food We marvel over the edible menus and intriguing process of printing with food-based inks at Chef Cantu's Chicago restaurant, "Moto." Read all about it: Futuristic Food.

Go Spurs Go! Our favorite basketball team, the San Antonio Spurs, beat the Phoenix Suns on May 18th to advance to the NBA Western Conference Finals! They are currently playing the Utah Jazz in a battle for the Western Conference Championship title. (We are chagrined to say that we failed to mention Bruce Bowen when talking about the guys on the team. Bruce is awesome! How could we have forgotten him?!)

Apolo Anton Ohno: A Champion Once Again! Apolo Ohno and his dancing partner, Julieanne Hough, were announced as the "Dancing With The Stars" (Season 4) Champions on May 22nd, which just happened to be Apolo's 25th birthday. Congratulations to Apolo and Julieanne!

More exciting Apolo news: Ohno Eying 2010 Vancouver Games.

He's a Pirate Because we think Johnny Depp is fantastic and Captain Jack Sparrow is fabulous, we're celebrating the opening of " Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." Avast, ye landlubbers, move aside or pay...we're on our way to the theater! ;)

Random Fandom Feedback Thanks to everyone who contacted us this week! Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated!

Contact Us Email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (replace AT with @) You can either email us or leave a comment on the blog @ randomfandompodcast.com.

Featured Band of the Week Band: The K's Song Title: "Peg-legged Pirate" Links: The K's Official Site, The K's at the Podsafe Music Network

Thanks to The K's for generously allowing us to play their song on Random Fandom.

Subscribe to Random Fandom To subscribe to the Random Fandom podcast, add the following address to your RSS aggregator or podcatcher: http://feeds.feedburner.com/randomfandompodcast

Labels: apolo anton ohno, pirates, San Antonio Spurs

Celebrating New Life of Springtime You are invited on a musical and poetic journey with me into glorious spring!

Love Ya'll, Laurie

P.S.: Joanna will return to the show next week.

Song: "You Can Never Hold Back Spring," by Tom Waits

Photos, Poetry, Songs and Stories Photos: Images of Spring

Poem: "I Told You" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Song: "Brand New," by Michael Popenhagen

Poem: by Merle Shain

Story: "I Would Pick More Daisies" adapted by Don Herold

Song: "New Way," by 38 Acres

Poem: "One Life"

Story: "Can You See God?"

Song: "Your Spring Will Come Along," by Daniel Adam Johnson

Poem: "All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter," by J.R.R. Tolkien

Song: "Some Days," by Nick Cook

Poem: by Merle Shaine

Song: "Love Storm," by Gandharva

Thanks to each of the artists and bands for generously allowing us to play their music on Random Fandom!

Random Fandom Feedback Thanks to everyone who contacted us this week! Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated!

Contact Us Email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (replace AT with @) You can either email us or leave a comment on the blog @ randomfandompodcast.com.

Subscribe to Random Fandom To subscribe to the Random Fandom podcast, add the following address to your RSS aggregator or podcatcher: http://feeds.feedburner.com/randomfandompodcast

Tony P. is B-Ballin' and Shot Callin'
San Antonio Spurs point guard, Tony Parker, is one multi-talented man! We talk about his career with the Spurs and his success in the new music scene in France with the upcoming release of a full-length hip hop album titled "Balance Toi" ("Bounce" in English). We also mention Tony's relationship with Corpus Christi native, Eva Longoria, and their wedding plans for this summer.

Tony Parker videos:

• Tony raps at the 2005 celebration for the Spurs NBA Championships victory
• "Top of the Game," feat. Fabolous and Booba
• "Balance Toi"
• Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili: "Trophy Love"

(Song credit: "Something Better," by T. Nile)

Give a Little Bit
Laurie features Playing For Keeps, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting constructive play for children.

The Audiophile Reviews
Joanna talks about a podcast that she finds to be both fun and informative, NPR's Playback.

Have You Heard?
Joanna is happy to reporte that Josh Groban was in Australia recently for a promotional tour. While in the country, he finally confirmed his plans for a full Australian tour starting in late September, much to the delight and excitement of Aussie Grobanites!

Watch videos from Josh's Australia visit: "February Song," performed on the "Sunrise" program, Interview and "Now or Never" performance, also from "Sunrise"

Joanna is also ecstatic that Josh will release his very first Christmas album this year, something she has been looking forward to for years! In a radio interview with Ernie Sigley on April 30th, Josh said that he will be recording the album with the London Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra this summer

Listen to Josh's radio interviews and performances at That Josh Groban Guy.

Livin' the Life in South Texas
We share some of our random frog and toad stories and highlight the need for the preservation of the Houston Toad habitat.

Funky Food
We have two funky food items this week...

From Retro Cooking with the King of Bling: Liberace's "Salamiami Bouquet."

Mom Roblin's Potato Chip Cookies are sure to be a hit with anyone who loves food that is super-saturated with fat!

Random Fandom Feedback
Thanks to everyone who contacted us this week! Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated!

Contact Us
email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (replace AT with @) You can either email us or leave a comment on the blog @ randomfandompodcast.com.

Featured Artist of the Week
Artist: Anduze
Song Title: "Falling"
Links: Anduze's Official Site, Anduze's MySpace Page, Anduze at the Podsafe Music Network

Thanks to Anduze for generously allowing us to play his song on Random Fandom.

Subscribe to Random Fandom
To subscribe to the Random Fandom podcast, add the following address to your RSS aggregator or podcatcher:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/randomfandompodcast

Labels: eva longoria, josh groban, San Antonio Spurs, tony parker

Music, Music, Music! Last weekend, April 28th-30th, we enjoyed a live webbcast of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival streamed from the AT&T Blue Room. highlights included performances by Amos Lee, The Fratellis, Damien Rice and Regina Spektor.

For those who missed it the first time or for those who would like a second viewing, the webcast will be archived

"Famous Dead Men" Would So Rock! We amuse ourselves by sharing some of the names we've come up with for our non-existent band.

New Orleans Jazz Festival Laurie is pleased that the New Orleans Jazz Festival will be webcast live on May 5-6, 2007. She is particularly looking forward to seeing Van Morrison play, in addition to the performances of many other extraordinary musicians.

From Penpals to Podcasts: Communication in Many Forms Blogging New Orleans is covering the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

Give a Little Bit The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. is a Louisiana non-profit corporation organized in 1970 to promote, preserve, perpetuate and encourage the music, arts, culture and heritage indigenous to the New Orleans area.

Nut of the Week We have a good laugh about the ludicrousness of "Captain Burrito." Watch the hilarious news story here.

Have You Heard? GOO GOO DOLLS' TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCE?

The Audiophile Reviews We enthuse about Slacker Radio.

In the News This has been a very exciting week for us, as two of the singer/songwriters whose music we've played on Random Fandom have been doing extremely well lately!

We were so happy to learn that Eoghan Colgan, whose music and podcast we've featured, recently won the 02 "Undiscovered" competition!

We were also thrilled to discover that Shawn Hlookoff, whose song, "Addicted," we featured on our very first show, has been breaking download records in Canada! It now appears that he's about to take the U.S. by storm: Shawn Hlookoff, Canada's Hottest new export comes to L.A.

Check out Shawn's MySpace page and his vidcast, My Life in Video, to learn more about him and his music.

Congratulations to Eoghan and Shawn on their outstanding accomplishments! We wish them the best for their projects and will be watching to see what's next for them both!

Wordplay The amount of time that can be wasted while playing with Google Fight is amazing!

Funky Food We take a break from featuring a disturbing recipe to focus on the fact that May is National BBQ Month. As resident South Texans, we can attest to the truth of this: South Texas seems to cultivate outstanding BBQ cooks.

Here's something yummy to try next time you grill: Grilled Fruit Shortcake.

Two Shes in a Pod: Podcasting News
Pod Camp San Antonio: The Unconference will be held May 19! This sure to be fun and informative event is being organized by Jennifer Navarette and Jackie Adame of The Morning Brewcast and Michael De Leon of The Spurscast. We truly regret that we will miss this opportunity to meet many of our fellow Texas podcasters!

Random Fandom Feedback Thanks to everyone who contacted us this week! Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated!

Contact Us email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (replace AT with @) You can either email us or leave a comment on the blog @ randomfandompodcast.com.

Featured Artist of the Week Artist: Eoghan Colgan Song Title: "That First Time" Links: Eoghan Colgans Official Site, Eoghan Colgan's MySpace Page, Eoghan Colgan at The Podsafe Music Network

Thanks to Eoghan Colgan for generously allowing us to play his song on Random Fandom.

Subscribe to Random Fandom To subscribe to the Random Fandom podcast, add the following address to your RSS aggregator or podcatcher: http://feeds.feedburner.com/randomfandompodcast

Labels: amos lee, coachella, Eoghan Colgan, festival, Goo Goo Dolls, new orleans, Shawn Hlookoff