• LEVEL ORANGE is the online home of design professional Robert Cortez, including news and opinion on graphic design, entertainment, technology, tales of everyday life, and the occasional insights into the worlds of advertising and publishing.

  •  Subscribe via RSS

PiQ Podcast

February 5th, 2010

I was going through some old files on my computer the other day and happened upon these charming little nuggets from the past. In case you missed these back when we recorded them back in 2008, here are the full episodes of the  PiQ Podcast (and thanks to Facebook, the summaries of what we discussed), as hosted by Messrs Howard, Starr, Gifford and yours truly. Sure, all we talk about is stuff that happened two years ago but hey, it reminds me of good times.

Download (right-click, Save As…) and enjoy.

Episode 0

Download MP3

Just to prove we are not sitting around all day eating Fritos and wiping the grease on our tank tops, here is the highly experimental Episode 0 of The PiQ Podcast (thePiQ-cast? Perhaps I’m getting too far ahead of myself). Have a listen — just press that little “Play” button up above this text — and you’ll get to hear myself, Robert, Paul, and Scott discuss the sorts of things we’ve been up to while working on this magazine.

We got print copies of Issue 1 in the other day, and I hear that some subscribers have received it as well. Huzzah! Tremendous! We hope you will get it soon if you haven’t, or later this month when it hits newsstands. We honestly care what you think about this issue, so keep letting us know.

PiQ Episode 1 – The Sausage Fest

Download MP3

Now that we’ve slogged through our deadline for Issue 2, we’re able to share our much-delayed discussion about Issue 1 with all you fine folks.

If you have Issue 1, feel free to follow along as we talk about some initial reactions to the magazine, and go into a bit of discussion on Appleseed Ex Machina, Avatar, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Honey & Clover, recent legislation in Japan, Tweeny Witches, Battlestar Galactica, Independence Day (!), our Monitor think-piece “Is Anime Dead?” and more.

PiQ Episode 2 – No Games for Old Men

Download MP3

Did we ever say this podcast would be a regular thing? Whoops. After a hectic month or so, we finally sat down and got to discuss some of what we’ve been up to, including Kevin’s trip to Japan, the infallible legacy of Upton Sinclair and our collective realization that some games are just entirely too damn hard for old fogeys like us (and we’re not even that old).

More importantly, there’s also our discussion of Issue 2 and all the goodness therein, like how much we dig Sam & Max, Lucky Star, Iron Man, Tim and Eric, action movies, old game shows and pig creatures? Also, we have another sweet prize for those of you interested, so be sure to listen for that too.

PiQ Episode 3 – Delicious

Download MP3

Here we are again to discuss what we’ve been up to (despite being such losers). Kevin tells all about his conniving ferret, Scott and I celebrate the epic nature of GTA IV and Paul tells why you should check out The World Ends With You.

We also discuss a fair bit about Issue 3, which you should be able to find at your local newsstands. Find out what we really thought about our cover story, Speed Racer, and what other movies we’re looking forward to from this summer’s crop of big releases. There’s also some talk about roller derby and its appeal, Working Designs and our MONITOR piece on translation “Found in Translation”.

Posted in Entertainment, Featured
Tags: , , , , ,

Comments

Sodapop Journal: Where class lives

June 15th, 2009

Sodapop Journal

Back in 2008, after PiQ was abruptly put to an end, some of us were still itching to do something in entertainment media and publishing. The only problem was that here in the Houston area, there’s not a whole lot of opportunity in that field, so we all scrambled to find whatever work we could. Me? I managed to snag a contract job at Shell that turned out to be one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had (not my fellow designers, mind you, just the corporate treatment) and all the while I kept the idea in the back of my head that one day I’d be back in publishing. I’d even started to blog about entertainment-type news and goings-on here to sate my appetite.

A few months later, I met up with some of the old PiQ crew and a kernel of an idea turned into a discussion, and that discussion turned into a plan. Myself, Scott Howard and Paul Starr decided to put together something along the lines of what we originally envisioned with PiQ. Entertainment coverage with some depth and character, but without all the all-too-easy snark that seems so prevalent these days. As “the magazine formerly known as Newtype USA“, we’d seen the blind hatred and spite of anime fans first-hand and made it our mission to fight the trend of just hating on things because it was easy. We wanted to celebrate the things we (and apparently, more than a few PiQ readers) loved and had fun talking about.

Enter Sodapop Journal. Sounds like a mouthful, but we found it catchy, meaningful and even a bit timeless, if you will. Unlike PiQ, this baby is all ours, free of interference from silly coked-out execs who can’t sit still and cagey money men who bend numbers to their will. If it fails, it’s all our own fault, but like PiQ, this is a labor of love first and foremost, so just the fact that we’ve actually started doing something is already satisfying in itself.

So remember the name. Sodapop. Journal. Even “SPJ” if you like. We’re just getting things rolling but feel free to jump into the discussion on your favorite movies, music and other entertainment. We won’t bite.

Posted in Entertainment, Personal

Comments

A sign of things to come

April 11th, 2009

picture-3

Yes, this joint’s been pretty dry lately. That’s because, among other things like looking for a new job and cranking out freelance work when I can, I’ve also been working on something shiny and new!

Some of you won’t be all that surprised, some of you will dig it and some of you won’t be into it at all. That’s OK, though. I stand at the ready.

Posted in News

Comments

Life on Mars canceled, gets proper ending

March 3rd, 2009

Life on Mars

Reports are in that ABC has cancelled Life on Mars after only one season. However, in a bit of an unprecedented move, the network will let the show wrap up and bring its main storyline–how detective Sam Tyler found himself transported back in time to 1973–to a fitting conclusion. Apparently ABC was pleased the show’s creative spin, but couldn’t continue to back its falling ratings, so perhaps allowing a series finale is a move to reward those viewers that stuck with the show.

Frankly, I’m surprised that more viewers didn’t get into Life on Mars. While it’s yet another British remake and was hampered by a complete revamp before even airing (including reshoots and recasting), I thought there was enough great writing and performances to keep viewers engaged. And while the show revolves around a central mystery, it never went so far into LOST territory that new viewers couldn’t check in and still enjoy it. Maybe that was a mistake on ABC’s part. After all, the show had excellent production quality (and exceptional music selections), but it was nothing like LOST, and perhaps aligning the two shows worked against Life on Mars. Either way, I thought it was a great run and will be happy to see things wrap up.

LINK

Posted in Links, Notes, Television
Tags: , , , ,

Comments

Circuit City liquidates over $1B, deeper cuts on the way

February 18th, 2009

Circuit City

According to an announcement today by Great American Group, one of the firms liquidating the remaining Circuit City inventory, over $1 billion of product has been moved in the last month. After the announcement on January 17 that Circuit City would be closing its 567 stores, sales have apparently been brisk on discounted consumer electronics.

While that’s all well and good, deeper discounts and even lower prices are on the way, starting this Thursday, February 19th, and will continue for the next month or so until all inventory is gone. So, for those shoppers who didn’t bite at the “going out of business” prices, maybe now they’ll be able to find some real deals worth their time.

Posted in News, Notes, Technology
Tags: , , , ,

Comments