This week: We run down some awesome news items including the upcoming Tekken 6 release, The Plan’s leak (no spoilers, of course, as we won’t see it until the release next week), some awesome SG-U featurettes, Dollhouse’s fate, and Joss Whedon’s Glee gig. The guys from HowStuffWorks.com’s TechStuff podcast join us to offer their perspective on the Voyager program and the close connection between science fact and science fiction. John Boswell walks us through his two awesome auto-tuned science tunes. We dive into Encyclopedia Galactica and the Drake equation. And Chuck treks to Sean’s childhood home to find out if he really watched Cosmos as a kid — with surprising results.
OMG I love the new interview format, like a radio interview/feature with link narration and everything. You guys are going on an NPR/BBC level, except nerds! 
I love this show
Charmin commercial:
Audio is hard to hear during the drive. Much better after Chuck pulled up.
Why does Sean’s father sound younger than Sean? Sean’s parents are awesome, btw. (:
The changing the grade for favors story sounds like a remake of Hackers with Angelina Jolie. (:
Wow, I was wonderring why you guys haven’t mentioned Contact.
Finally, put Sean’s parents “The Lost minutes” up!!
This is crazy! :eek:
I am totally eating an apple and Carl’s starting to talk about how it is broken down chemically. Coincidence, I think not. :rolleyes:
I loved the audio during the drive! Gave it a very cool feel. Thinking that was the Porsche? Def not the pickup! 
Having met Sean’s parents, be advised: Yes, they are awesome. The live meetup podcast for the BSG finale has some great Sean and his folks stuff too.
Changing the grades: I had tears in my eyes from laughter. All I could think of was Wargames.
Contact? They mentioned it in the last 'cast.
The Lost Minutes? I’ve already bid 3,000,000,000 Quatloons for that missing hour! 
I meant I couldn’t understand some of what Chuck said is all.
Yeah, I’m catching up on podcasts now.
I am wondering how I can get Professor Randy Pausch linked in with this arc somehow. He inspired and keeps inspiring many people, young and old, with his Last Lecture. If Audra and the gang feel they can no longer achieve anything anymore, his youtube video may change their mind. It’s a long video, but give it 5 minutes and if it’s not to your liking, come back to it or don’t. But, yeah, he’s a hard core nerd/geek (same thing to me) who did good.
One thing that really hit me during “The Lost Sean Years” portion. Sean talks just like his dat. The inflections & pronunciations of words…it’s the same! How cool.
The Sean’s Parents interview was probably my favorite thing this podcast has ever done. So nice. It was the same feeling I got for the majority of Where The Wild Things Are. Just. Really, really nice. :3
Shout out over on howstuffworks.com from Jonathan Strickland. Check it out here. If you haven’t checked out their podcast or the site, go show them some love, they are awesome.
Loved the interview with Sean’s parents, which I hereby name:
GWC Origins: Sean
So, although I’ve been listening to GWC for like two years, I’ve never been motivated to post on the forum until this week, after listening to the Symphony of Science songs. Wow. How beautiful was that?! Sagan is a poet.
I love coming across something that exposes that annoying pop culture belief that you have to have only one interest–like you can be a science person OR a music person OR a book person. Screw that. Specialization is for insects*.
So I’ve only gotten the chance to watch one episode of Cosmos so far, but I’m definitely going to go through them all now, even if it takes awhile. Thanks, guys, for introducing me to it.
*No, I’m not taking credit for this. I wish.
Great name, Fenatic. That interview was my favorite part of the cast.
Welcome aboard, HNN. Yeah, Cosmos is a thing of beauty. After you watch them you should try to find a copy of the book, too.
I picked that up too, which I thought was cool; I dont speak anything like my parents.
As much as I enjoy the content of the recent interviews, why do they all sound like Chuck is doing a voiceover? Is this a byproduct of aggressive editing? Have to say I enjoy it more when the interviews dont feel so scripted and ‘polished’.
I would love to hear some interviews with family of the rest of the cast, hopefully with some talk about their formative years and interests during that time. fingers crossed
I agree with that so much I can’t even express it clearly. I get a lot of email from folks who say “I love GWC, but I didn’t listen to the <insert arc here> arc because I’m not into that,” and it never fails to make me sad – not because they didn’t listen to the podcast, but because they’re totally missing the point.
That’s the point! There’s so much great stuff out there that (thankfully) it’d take us all the rest of our lives to check it all out. Why limit one’s self?
I so wish I could get back all the years where I took the approach of critic instead of consumer, sitting in judgment of the material instead of enjoying it for what it is. Oft times I’d reject something out of hand for the reasons we all often don’t enjoy something we might enjoy later – a bad day(/week/month/year) at work, a rough time of life, a bad experience at the same time, and so on.
What most commonly drew me out of whatever funk I was in and caused me to take another look: a friend re-introducing me to the material through the eyes of a fan – someone who sees the good in it and can pass that along. That’s what we try so hard to make GWC: a group of your friends who’ll introduce you to something new in a fun way. Sometimes you’ll become a fan, too. But even if you don’t you’ll hopefully go away better for the experience.
There are so many great podcasts out there, but we try to set our goals impossibly high to make sure we’ll achieve as much as possible. For example: I’m a lifetime Rolling Stone subscriber and one of my favorite parts of the mag (besides my beloved one-star reviews) is their interviews. I love reading their interviews, even when I don’t (think I) give a damn about the person. Almost always I come away with new interest – or at least a view on the world of art I hadn’t considered. I want that for GWC (eventually). I’m also a huge NPR fan. I love the way shows like This American Life don’t just tell you what’s going on, they impart feeling with it. I want that, too. And one day we’ll deliver quality interviews like Terry Gross – or deliver the awesome slow-motion slap down like Diane Rehm. (She’s f’in brilliant, btw.)
Anyway, sorry to ramble on. Thank, HNN, for saying my favorite words (above). Made my day. And thanks everyone for sticking with us while we stretch our production legs to try and raise GWC another notch.
Three things:
Chuck: Going to Sean’s parent’s house to investigate Sean’s Cosmos history and other stories: AWESOME.
Sean: For just being you as the subject of said stories: AWESOME.
Audra: Your line “Head for an A”: AWESOME.
Ok, I’ve officially overused the word Awesome. Grabbing for my thesaurus.
Last couple casts have been extra-awesome, with awesome on top.
News feature is swell, too. Keep 'em coming!
The Fish Police Story seems too easy. I suspect Sean’s dad may be a Jedi.
Rolling Stone lifetime subscriber? Little-known fact: If you call and ask for it, they’ll give you a lifetime subscription for $99.
That’s how I got mine.
Edit: they’re pretty optimistic. Right now my mailing label says my subscription expires in 2054.
Lol Thanks! I was thinking at the time, “I love being able to make a dirty joke that will probably slip over the heads of any younguns listening to this.” 