This week First Wall Rebate gets back on schedule with a bonus two-fer and very informal Episode 003. Shane gets way up on the mic and Trevor really hates it when E disses Powell’s. Some of the things we informalize on:

In-house podcasts from Microsoft, Bungie, Insomniac, and Capcom.

Easter eggs after credits (in Iron Man), ownership, individuality, Ronald Reagan, and labor unions.

Shock jocks, vinyl, enhanced podcasts, and fear of a fragmented reality.

Be sure to leave us a comment in our Facebook group, or at the Gmail address on our website. If you’re a reader as well as a gamer, you should probably get involved in the first FWR Book Club discussion that we will be fostering through the month of June, 2008. Thanks for listening.

In the first of two episodes this week Shane and Trevor present an industrial-strength Epsiode 002 looking at gender issues and Objectivist philosophy in BioShock. Along the way we also discuss:

Netwurker Mez and Abby B.’s thought-provoking feedback, and the FWR Book Club.

Confusing stereotypes and relationships in Grand Theft Auto IV (see Daniel Floyd’s Video Games and Sex).

Another round of podcast reviews: Cheapy D complains on the CAGCast about their stagnant 11,000 member listenership and some interesting analysis of the new Indiana Jones flick by the 1up Yours crew.

As always, be sure to leave us feedback in the comments section of the blog, in the iTunes Music Store, and in the First Wall Rebate group on Facebook. We look forward to your input.

Episode 001 of FWR is now ready for your consumption. This week we discuss the thorny issues of intellectual property, copyright and ownership, and cast an eye towards the future of digital media distribution. Trevor manages to say “very” at least 30 times and Shane rescues the podcast from the Skype goblins.

But more specifically:

We discuss feedback on our Facebook forum by Netwurker Mez (read about the Versional) and Abby B. on last week’s show.

Join the FWR Book Club by checking out Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, Edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg.

Trevor’s podcasted Games and Lit class: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3

Contact FWR here.

This week Shane and Trevor are launching First Wall Rebate, a podcast focusing on videogames and gaming culture. Unlike the overwhelming majority of gaming podcasts that focus on sales figures and finicky demographics by industry insiders/reviewers, FWR insists upon a serious, engaged and intelligent conversation about the aesthetic, socio-political, philosophical and/or rhetorical functions of games, and how this new media artform compares to older ones (including writing, film, music, and performance). This is not a podcast geared specifically for gamers; we are hoping to share and showcase a wide variety of experiences and interests.

We recorded Episode 00 on 12 May as both an opening salvo and test run for our digital recording setup. There are a few hiccups towards the end, but we are hoping you will give it a listen anyway, and to continue coming back in the weeks and months ahead. You can subscribe to our RSS feed here; we will be available at iTunes Music Store shortly.

Our dear friend Matias Viegener joined us in Portland a couple of weeks ago to discuss and work on a top-secret book project that we announced in Episode #05 of our monthly presscast. The short and sweet of it: Kathy Acker and McKenzie Wark are both principal authors *and* subjects.

Yeah. You read that right.

Go listen to the full episode already and get yourself all sorts of edumacated.

The time has come for our second episode of Interviews from the Edge, featuring a conversation with Mark Amerika. This show was aired live at the SF Camerawork gallery in San Francisco as part of their exhibition entitled There is Always a Machine Between Us. In keeping with the theme of the exhibition and the subject matter of Mark’s new book, 29 Inches, we discuss technology and its impact on life, love, and language.

Please check out Mark’s website at www.markamerika.com to learn more about the author, and be sure to visit Amazon.com to pick up a copy of 29 Inches.

As always, stay tuned for our next episode which will be released in about a month, and please comment on this post or shoot me an email directly at edgepodcast@gmail.com. And thanks for listening.

A lot of martinis and beef stew went into the recording of episode #04 (and it really really shows). Here’s what we discussed:

:: Andy wraps principal photography on The Iconographer :: Shane Hinton launches Interviews from the Edge #1 :: Modes of production in the hands of the masses :: “Field Marshal” Mingo’s crucible :: Cool Hand Luke as an ars poetica :: Lidia gets mushy over Broken Flowers :: Gus Van Sant’s recent trilogy of brilliance :: Lidia gives the sneakiest of sneak peeks of her new novel :: David Lynch’s freakazoidism :: An Inconvenient Truth :: Trevor goes little girl silly over Bioshock :: Lidia waxes philosophically about art and presence :: Andy pines for American Idols of yore ::

You can shout back by email (contact@chiasmusmedia.net), or leave us voicemail through Skype (username: chiasmuspress). Don’t forget that the podcast is listed on iTunes, which makes subscribing to our RSS feed easy as pie. (And we know how much you love pie.)

Today we’re unleashing our very own October surprise: Interviews from the Edge. It’s a new podcast series hosted by our east coast commandant Shane Hinton, and features conversations with Chiasmus authors and artists. Episode #01 features a reading and conversation with 10: 01 author Lance Olsen. We hope you enjoy it.

The hypertext version of the novel can be accessed here, and be sure to click on Lance’s name above to visit his personal sanctuary on the web. Interviews from the Edge will compliment our existing podcast, and will also be released on a monthly basis. We hope you enjoy this inaugural episode and will stay tuned for future ones. The next show will likely be released around the first of November. Thanks for listening.

Our long-time friends Virginia Patterson and Ryan Smith joined us on August 31 to record episode #03. Here’s what we discussed:

Chiasmus Fight Song Contest :: Virginia’s role as Chiasmus publicist :: Ryan’s role as box-lugger, burrito-buyer and switchblade-packer :: How Ryan paid Harold Jaffe’s mini-bar tab :: Raymond Federman :: Lidia and Virginia reminisce about Those Days Of Yore At Pacific University :: Mark Amerika’s new book (BUY IT NOW!) :: Alt-X :: Zombie Chic :: Gamer Chix + Boiz :: Virginia’s 20 year love triangle with Mario and Link :: Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles :: Ryan hails King Mingo as “Honey” :: Lidia explains the artistic tragedy b/k/a Seung-Hui Cho :: Nick Mamatas :: Madness, art, and higher education :: Andy explains how Larry Craig’s penchant for fine footware in public bathrooms is Totally Not Gay :: Trevor attempts a half-assed comparison between Craig and Cho :: Andy’s new blog :: Ryan abuses a stripper during a recent shoot for The Iconographer (free greasy T-shirts!) :: Team America: World Police :: Snake hunting in Estacada :: A room full of overpaid professors whine about having to go back to work :: Ryan compares and contrasts adjunct and EMT work :: Trevor’s fever dream about team-teaching with Lidia ::

Let us know what you think and what you want to hear in future episodes by commenting on this post or sending us an email at contact@chiasmusmedia.net. You can also leave us voice feedback via Skype; our username there is chiasmuspress.

Keep those knees bent.

Pimped/name-dropped/discussed in episode #02 (recorded 17 August 2007):

:: Chiasmus on Facebook, MySpace and iTunes :: Chiasmus Battle Hymn Contest :: Writer’s Edge redux :: Lance Olsen :: Andy’s film shoot at Magic Gardens (Lidia=aroused!) :: Andy Blubaugh’s Scaredycat :: Trevor’s shirt that didn’t get him laid :: Fiction Collective Two :: Lily Hoang’s glittering genius :: Steve Tomasula’s raging egomania :: Notre Dame’s prima donna MFA program :: King Mingo holds court :: Colette Phair sells her body :: Eraserhead Press :: How a college education = meh :: Hal Jaffe :: How Andy romanticizes Eugene lumber yards :: Ken Kesey’s debt :: Creative economies :: Lidia and Michelle totally ruin the Harry Potter books for us all :: Aesthetics =/ Market :: How 300 was “totally not gay” :: Brian Evenson :: Graphic novels =/ Films =/ Sentence and Paragraph novels :: Top Shelf :: Dark Horse :: Oni Press :: VAS: An Opera in Flatland :: Anxious Pleasures :: Do filmmakers get to have sex with their novelist wives? :: Alan Moore :: Trevor frustrates Andy with The Big Vocabulary :: The blessings and curses of the 48-hour Film Project :: Oulipo :: Andy frustrates himself with his own double-talk :: Willem de Kooning :: Lidia’s codeine-fueled flatulence and spankin’ new blog :: Authorship as fiction :: This podcast emulates stupid college radio ::

Let us know what you think and what you want to hear in future episodes by commenting on this post or sending us an email at contact@chiasmusmedia.net. You can also leave us voice feedback via Skype; our username there is chiasmuspress.

Batter up.

Lidia Yuknavitch reads at the 2007 Writer’s Edge Conference in Portland, OR:

(also available in iPod/MV4 format)

Lance Olsen reads at the 2007 Writer’s Edge Conference in Portland, OR:

(also available in iPod/MV4 format)

Brian Evenson reads at the 2007 Writer’s Edge Conference in Portland, OR:

(also available in iPod/MV4 format)

Lucy Corin reads at the 2007 Writer’s Edge Conference in Portland, OR:

(also available in iPod/MV4 format)

Trevor Dodge reads at the 2007 Writer’s Edge Conference in Portland, OR:


(also available in iPod/MV4 format)

Today we announce the birth of our newest enfant terrible, a monthly podcast that we hope will pollute The Internets with just the right balance of piss and vinegar. We also hope you are able to carve out some time from your busy schedules to pay us some attention by downloading and giving our new baby a listen; surely you know how attention-starved we are.

This first episode was recorded on 18 July 2007, deep in the bowels of Milwaukie, OR. Here you’ll make out the voices of Lidia Yuknavitch, Andy Mingo and Trevor Dodge as they careen through a free-form discussion while snarfing down Ukranian wafer cookies and swilling more than their fair shares of New Deal vodka.

:: SHOW NOTES ::

Here’s who and what we pimped/name-dropped/mentioned in episode #01:

Lidia’s new novel and her boxing match with Stacey Levine :: Andy’s new film, The Iconographer :: Mark Amerika :: Lou Rowan :: Davis Schneiderman :: Carlos Hernandez :: Strippers and donuts in Portland :: 2007 Writers Edge Conference :: Lance Olsen :: Brian Evenson :: Lucy Corin :: Magic Gardens :: Miranda July :: Holly Andres :: Grace Carter :: Andy Blubaugh :: Karl Lind :: Kill Me Tomorrow :: The White Stripes’ one-note show :: Prince’s “free” album in England :: Lidia tangles with The Oregonian :: Writing as a dying commodity :: How James Frey is a fucking liar :: How Andy loves the Iraq War :: Jean Baudrillard’s “The Persian Gulf War and Other Fictions” :: Trevor’s stupid conspiracy theories about mainstream publishing :: Noam Chomsky :: Curtis White’s “The New Censorship” :: Cindy Sheehan :: How Jon Stewart is totally a bourgeois genius :: How Stephen Colbert is totally a 21st century Jonathan Swift :: Andy’s love/hate relationship with the poor :: How Kathy Acker, William Burroughs and Charles Baudelaire are posers :: How the Harry Potter books reinforce Anglocentrism :: Andy’s hatred for American film-making :: The possible redemption of Robert Rodriguez :: Hal Hartley :: David Lynch :: Jim Jarmusch :: How Lidia craves schlock :: Trevor’s obvious declarations about punk :: How YouTube and blogs are community more than commodity :: How, in declaring that “The Matrix is pure!”, Andy gets cut off for at least a week :: How Chiasmus Press is an elitist, hypocritical enterprise worthy of everyone’s scorn

Let us know what you think and what you want to hear in future episodes by commenting on this post or sending us an email at contact@chiasmusmedia.net. You can also leave us voice feedback via Skype; our username there is chiasmuspress.

Jay Ponteri read at Powells Books on August 17, 2006.

Mia De Bono read at Powells Books on August 17, 2006.

Shane Hinton read at Powells Books on August 17, 2006.

Cat Tyc read at Powells Books on August 17, 2006.

Raphael Dagold read at Powells Books on August 17, 2006.