Ask Nash

[Mikey Insanity]

If he wouldn't mind answering questions that is.

How'd Radio Dead Air get started?
What's the most disturbing story you've done for WTFIWWY?
Have there been any stories that have been so bad you didn't want to use them?

[Nash]

All right, let's see here . . .

How'd Radio Dead Air get started?

Settle down, children, and I shall tell you the tale of the long-ago time, at the turn of the century . . .

It was nearing the end of 2000, and I was living in Tampa, Florida (and how I got to such a godforsaken place is a saga in and of itself that's best left untold). I was working for a software company in their customer support department, and really unhappy overall with my place in life at that exact moment. But one of the great things about Tampa is their local community radio station, WMNF 88.5. It was without a doubt one of the most fantastic discoveries of my life. Up until that point my experience with music had occasionally swerved off the beaten path, but mostly it had been straight up-and-down FM music. Now keep in mind this was a different era in radio; Clear Channel was only just becoming the monolith we all know and loathe, and Napster had only just been invented. WMNF was something different. They were beholden to absolutely no one, and it showed. They played Pacifica News Network. They played Terri Gross' Fresh Air. And they played music . . . incredible, amazing, unbeatable music. They would play Richard Thompson, Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, Cry Cry Cry, Ronnie Elliot and the Nationals, the Blue Dogs, the Nields, Lynn Miles, the Stiff Little Fingers, so much stuff I would have never been exposed to otherwise. They were the highlight of my day, driving to and from work, getting enthralled by all this incredible stuff.

So one day at lunch, I was poking around on the internet and browsing WinAmp plugins when I read the description for one called "Shoutcast." For those of you unaware, Shoutcast was pretty much the foundation for home broadcasting. It was a simple, easy-to-use method of streaming music from your own PC. And that's pretty much the moment everything clicked . . . I needed to do my own radio show. I just had to . . . there was so much of this awesome music out there I just wanted everyone to hear and experience. The question then became one of format.

Well, I was (and still am) part of White Wolf's Camarilla fan club, which has a world-wide interlinked World of Darkness Chronicle. Games in cities across the world share the same over-arcing universe, with characters thousands of miles away interacting regularly. And while there were e-mail lists and IRC chat, there wasn't any kind of broadcast in-character. With the characters as vampires hiding their own existences, how could there be? Well, what if a vampire set up a hidden, private server and used it to broadcast streaming audio . . . ?

In another way, this was kind of a calculated maneuver; by linking my show to the game, I ensured myself a more-or-less built-in audience. So having the software and the idea, I went forward. On July 31st, 2000, I put out my first broadcast of Radio Dead Air; the first song I played was R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe." It was sort of pathetic compared to the setup I have now; back then I was on a 56.6 dial-up connection, using a first-generation Athlon PC and talking via the cheap little two-dollar microphone that had come boxed with my system. But it was something to behold, and it gained a small but steady following.

Times changed, and passed by. In 2004 the Camarilla re-set its game, meaning all prior characters and settings were effectively "ended." While I could have continued in-character in the new setting, a couple of things had developed which caused me to re-think that option. For one, I had just covered Dragon*Con 2004, having sort of stumbled into a set of press credentials. That weekend really changed my perspective on all this; I interviewed people like Jewel Staite, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Julie Benz, Anne McCaffrey, Warren Ellis, I spent time with them, hung out with them . . . it was an incredible experience, and one that made me realize I could do my show in a whole new way, as myself. So, with that in mind, 2005 took the show "mainstream" as it were, and it's run that way ever since.

Late last year, when Ustream popped up, I realized it was time to change formats again. Internet audio has its place, but it's not the same as it was. A live radio show had a hard enough time competing with the likes of Pandora and about a bajillion different podcasts. So I stepped up and made the switch to streaming video, and it's gone fairly well for the past year. While we still simulcast the show live on Live365, the main thrust of the show is now the video aspect . . . but above all else, the music still has center focus. I still love music, and I never want to stop finding ways to expose people to the stuff that gets pushed to the side by the horde of crap that's out there.

And for you TL;DR schmucks: I was bored and enjoy screaming "fuck" on the internet.

What's the most disturbing story you've done for WTFIWWY?

I'm pretty sure the Donkey Brothel was one of the all-time worst, but eventually someone will find something to make even THAT look tame in comparison.

Have there been any stories that have been so bad you didn't want to use them?

Many, but mainly for content. I try to avoid doing stories about murders or suicides, or stories where children are harmed. I WILL NOT under any circumstances run a story about rape or sexual abuse. Those things just aren't funny. I feel pretty safe laughing at folks who make the decision to go out and do something obviously idiotic. I don't find anything funny about people being victimized.

Also, I try to steer away from mocking a specific religion. While I will happily mock their individual followers when they crash a car into a parked plane for Jesus, it's a little harder to point fingers at the organization. I have my own personal views on it, but I feel certain I tend to be both in the minority and pretty hardcore about them. As a result, if I went off about them I don't think they'd be funny or relate-able so much as the catalyst for a flame war to fall upon my person, so all in all it's best avoided entirely. Since politics may as well be religion, I try to keep the same policy there. (But damn, do some politicians make that difficult . . .)

And then there are stories I'm sent that just aren't as funny as the person who pointed them out to me seems to think they are. That happens a bunch, too. "Look! It's a doggie in a hat! YOU SHOULD DO A WHOLE SHOW ABOUT DOGS IN PEOPLE CLOTHES!"

[Obscurus Lupa]

Nash I have a story about food stamps and keep off the grass signs. Will you make an episode about this?

[Nash]

Nash I have a story about food stamps and keep off the grass signs. Will you make an episode about this?

10/16/10. Never forget.

[gomer21xx]

Okay, I got some questions for ya.

- Do you have any favorite musicals? And do you prefer movie musicals or stage musicals (if you've experienced both)?

- As a fellow Doctor Who fan, I must ask... which Doctor is your favorite?

- The zombie apocalypse is approaching! You alone are the hope for mankind's survival! What would be your top five choices for laying some major whoop-ass on the zombie hordes?

- If you had one piece of advice to give to the world, what would you say?

[Movie-Brat]

What's your opinion on Tim Burton?

[Nash]

Okay, I got some questions for ya.

- Do you have any favorite musicals? And do you prefer movie musicals or stage musicals (if you've experienced both)?

- As a fellow Doctor Who fan, I must ask... which Doctor is your favorite?

- The zombie apocalypse is approaching! You alone are the hope for mankind's survival! What would be your top five choices for laying some major whoop-ass on the zombie hordes?

- If you had one piece of advice to give to the world, what would you say?

1) Chess. Stage.

2) Nope. No favorite Doctor, just less-favorite ones. Not a big fan of the first and second Doctor eras, mainly because I haven't seen much if any of their material and I really didn't like how the stories were presented.

3) . . . what.

4) I don't know. Say no to drugs? Never summon anything larger than your head? If she coughs, fuck her? Something something something wisdom.

[Nash]

What's your opinion on Tim Burton?

Who?

[Movie-Brat]

You know, the guy who directed Batman, Sweeney Todd, the recent Alice in Wonderland movie and he was even a producer on The Nightmare Before Christmas. But okay if not that then...

1. Any Horror films you like and why?

2. Any Anime shows/movies you like and why?

[Nash]

You know, the guy who directed Batman, Sweeney Todd, the recent Alice in Wonderland movie and he was even a producer on The Nightmare Before Christmas. But okay if not that then...

1. Any Horror films you like and why?

2. Any Anime shows/movies you like and why?

Oi. These are the jokes, folks . . . sigh. Burton's early stuff was groundbreaking and well done. His recent work hasn't innovated and is more or less a re-hash of his earlier stuff, his persistent use of Johnny Depp has become a punchline and whoever did the 3D work on Alice in Wonderland should have their eyes checked. Or replaced.

Horror films? I like Evil Dead I and II, Hellraiser, Phantasm, An American Werewolf in London . . . not many recent ones, though Let the Right One In was good.

Anime? Pretty much the only anime I've ever much enjoyed was Galaxy Train 999. Most of the modern stuff is absolutely incomprehensible to me.

[Movie-Brat]

Oi. These are the jokes, folks . . . sigh.

Sorry. Hope I didn't offend you. And for more questions.

1. Any Nostalgia Critic reviews you like and why?

2. What is your opinion on the Highlander franchise?

3. What is your opinion on Kevin Smith including his films?

[Jack-of-all-Trades]

1) Have you ever been exposed to anything related to Warhammer 40k?

2) What gave you the idea to start doing WTFISWWY?

3) Do you intend on doing a holiday related episode in the future? If so, which holiday will you do?

[Mikey Insanity]

1) If they keep the Bumblebee/Police car crash in Transformers 3, would it be worth seeing?
2) How did you discover this site?

[Guest]

What is the origin behind your avatar?

Do you ever see yourself cameoing in other people's videos? (since I'm not sure how a crossover would work, due to the nature of your show)

Do you want to rock?

[Nash]

1. Any Nostalgia Critic reviews you like and why?

2. What is your opinion on the Highlander franchise?

3. What is your opinion on Kevin Smith including his films?

1) I still love the Masters of the Universe review.

2) It's an example of what happens when you go ahead with a series against the intent of the creator. Widen wrote one movie. One. Then he moved on. Oddly enough, the same thing happened to The Prophecy and that was a Widen film, too . . .

3) Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy remain favorites of mine (and now my lesbian viewers hate me). Everything from there . . . eh. Clerks II was all right, but the rest of them are nowhere close to the first three. That's saying a lot, because Mallrats was awful.

[Nash]

1) Have you ever been exposed to anything related to Warhammer 40k?

2) What gave you the idea to start doing WTFISWWY?

3) Do you intend on doing a holiday related episode in the future? If so, which holiday will you do?

1) Yup; while I never had the opportunity to play with a group, I love the setting and story. I've also played Dawn of War I and II extensively; I figure the second one is as close as I can get to playing on a table via the computer.

2) Mainly it grew out of my weekly live show. Each week people would come to me with links to stories for me to react to on the air, so I just grouped them together and made a segment out of it. Then for some reason Kathryn started getting REALLY GOOD at finding all this awful shit . . . finally one week we had so many bizarre and awful stories I decided it would make a good video series and might get picked up by this site. And hey, lookit there, it did.

3) Maaaayyybe. They're harder to do because in order to prepare a show in advance, the stories would be about the previous year's holiday. It's going to depend on what me, Kathryn and the rest of my audience dig up. If we find something good enough, then I'll consider it.

[Nash]

1) If they keep the Bumblebee/Police car crash in Transformers 3, would it be worth seeing?
2) How did you discover this site?

1) No. Not in the theater, not on DVD, not when TNT shows it four times in one goddamn weekend. NOTHING would make the festering pile of ass that will be Transformers: Dark of the Moon (I'm not kidding, that's the fucking title) worth seeing. It could feature the actual second coming of Jesus, and I'd still flip to a Law & Order rerun.

2) A friend of mine pretty much said, "You have to see this guy, he's awesome" and IM'd me a link to one of Doug's reviews. That was about 2 years ago, and I've been a regular fan ever since.

[Nash]

What is the origin behind your avatar?

Do you ever see yourself cameoing in other people's videos? (since I'm not sure how a crossover would work, due to the nature of your show)

Do you want to rock?

The avatar was my first (and only, to date) bit of fanart. A friend of mine named Allison did it, though I'm not entirely sure why. The phrase comes from Invader Zim; it's something Gir said once, and I used to use the sound clip for a bumper on my audio-only show. She thought it would be funny to draw me dancing like a monkey, AS a monkey. I was so baffled I kept it.

I've actually done a few cameos for folks in the forum, like Apollo, Diamanda and Robert at TGWTGTV. Lupa and I made an entire WTFIWWY episode over the summer. As to the future, I'm gonna be at MAGfest and there's already been a little talk (that I really should follow up on) . . .

I could rock. I wouldn't mind a bit of rolling. Maybe some jamming? Perhaps.

[Mikey Insanity]

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

I had to look it up because I thought "He's lying. They couldn't have named it something that dumb." I still don't believe it.

Your going to MAGFest? Cool, I'm planning to go as well.

Since the gamer episode is now on TGWTG, do you plan on putting any other older WTFISWWY on the site as well?

[Guest]

So...what the fuck is wrong with YOU?

Also, if the Internet didn't exist, what would you do?