Carrying the Lantern

Rex weighs in (actually reminds us of his earlier thoughts) about podcasting and Darren B's blog post

Rex Hammock: "There's art hanging in the Louvre and art hanging on my refrigerator. There's photography on the cover of Vogue and in my iPhoto library and films that win Oscars and videos of babies learning to crawl." [Scripting News]

Click thru to Darren Barefoot's blog entry about Podcasting. Good reading, good points. Not clear to me if he's just talking about reasons why podcasting might not take off, or if he's also identifying why he does not personally listening to podcasts. In any case, I enjoy podcatching a lot. But Darren brings up some good points I want to think about for a bit.

Darren hops off the podcasting hype train.

Darren Barefoot is not smoking the podcasting dope.

I am to blame for the hype. It's the worst thing I've done to the community lately. Please leave the podcasters alone to develop some art first. We shouldn't have hyped it up. My fault. Sorry.

Podcasters: do it cause you love it. That's why I did this blog. It's what sustains me longterm. I did this blog back when I only had five readers and I'd keep doing it if I went down to that level again.

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

Another one to add to the aggregator list: BlogBridge.

Pito Salas: Robert, if you read this check out BlogBridge.

So, I did. BlogBridge looks like a nice easy-to-use open source RSS aggregator.

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

Pope John Paul II Dies, Leaving Vital Legacy. Pope John Paul II, whose 26-year papacy was one of the longest and most activist in history, died Saturday. He was 84 years old. The first Polish pontiff played a major role in the history of his church and in world events. [NPR Topics: Top Stories]

Pope John Paul II passed away yesterday. I, like many of you, are being swamped with 24/7 coverage of this historic moment. But wouldn't it be refreshing to get reports from someone who understands the Catholic Church and Vatican City as only an insider can, who can relate this knowledge and unique access to us common folk, and who speaks multiple languages so you get the worldly view about a great world leader?

Can you think of any broadcast journalist that can do this for us? Me neither. Enter another example of Dan Gillmor's We the Media. Welcome to the CatholicInsider.

Father Roderick is a young Dutch priest who went to Rome this week and podcast from the street as events were unfolding. Given all the MSM (main stream media) coverage, his audio reports are gems - personal, informative, intelligent, and up close. Worth your valuable time (IMHO).