Random Chatterings [Ep. 7] - 360NoScope

In this new episode, the Rodriguez brothers explore the in and outs of competitive online gaming. In the first segment, Gary talks in great detail about Counter-Strike: [Global Offensive]. In the second segment, the brothers talk about their best and worst experiences playing games online [and offline].

We’re trying something different with this episode. Because of the nature of our discussion, we have both censored and uncensored versions.

Censored [35:20]
Uncensored [35:23]

The uncensored version has racial and gender slurs used as an example of the negative side of the online gaming community. We are also trying out download links since I’ve ran out of space to upload on SoundCloud. I’m researching ways so that we can have a podcast player to make it easier for you to enjoy our podcast. If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to post them in the comments or email us at randomscribbledwords@gmail.com

Technical info:
Recorded with Garageband ‘14 by Gary and Arlill Rodriguez

Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 and Adobe Audition CC by Arlill Rodriguez

"Random Chatterings Theme Song (piano and orchestrated versions)", "Plastic Badges Opening and Ending Credits" composed by Sergiy Turchyn

360NoScope is generally speaking, the act of killing someone in a first person shooter game with a one shot gun (sniper rifle, bolt action rifle, etc) without using a telescopic sight or sniper scope.  360 refers to turning 360 degrees then shooting.

Source: Urban Dictionary

2014

EPISODE 6                                        EPISODE 8

Random Chatterings [Ep. 6] - Singles Awareness Day

In the first segment, a teenage Arlill contemplates on the phenomena of love and why he cannot understand it. In the second segment, the podcast transports to the year 2014 and the Rodriguez brothers reminisce about their first crushes while Arlill reexamines his teenage perspectives about love.

DOWNLOAD [32:25]

We are constantly tweaking the podcast format so if you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to post them in the comments.

Technical info:
Recorded with a Sansa Fuze and Garageband '11 by Arlill and Gary Rodriguez

Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 and Adobe Audition CC by Arlill Rodriguez

Random Chatterings Theme Song (piano and orchestrated versions) by Sergiy Turchyn

"The Four Seasons, Op. 84, RV 297, Winter" composed by Vivaldi

"Gymnopédies - 1. Lent Et Douloureux” composed by Satie

2011, 2014

EPISODE 5                                        EPISODE 7

"Mental" Notes: My Father Lives Here

The Plasma TV
We bought the 55-inch plasma television 5 years ago as a birthday present to the house. It's a large, black television, holstered on steel girders attached to the wall. It has permanent screen-in burn reduction of several rectangles near the bottom of the screen. After a night of unadulterated video game action, the black square radiates intense heat that could make a winter night as blazingly tepid as the summer solstice.

The Bookshelf 
My parents always had difficulty understanding what kind of furniture to get. They tried to impress visitors with really extravagant-looking pieces such as the defunct bookshelf. It sprouts from the desk like Botticelli’s shell, a gleaming white curtain with multiple layers. When it was filled with books, it was the most impressive-looking thing in the living room. Today, it's completely bare. Every scratch and dent is visible and its extravagance fades with age.

The Couch
My aunt had a white couch. After a few seconds of taste, she realized the couch wasn't suitable for her so she dumped it onto us. When the couch finally came to our doorstep, my brother and I rushed towards it and jumped and bounced on it. Today, it's my father's second bed and the dog's home away from home. It's been permanently stained with artificial juices and many spilled water bottles. But for the many vacations spent at home, it was the only place where we felt comfortable. After all, the couch let our asses flatten out onto the cushions and really, what more could we ask for?

The Dog Bed
We bought it for my dog Sonic after my mom suggested he should have a designated place to sleep. It's a leopard-spotted bed only about two feet long, two feet wide. It has a leopard paw on one side, and an opened slit on the other side. Before we left the house, my mom would remember to wash the bed every week; my dad was very busy with his job and left the bed sticky and filled with many uneaten bones. It always upset me since I constantly told him that Sonic shouldn't eat bones. More so than the rest of the dilapidated living room covered with dust and beer cans, I always felt really sorry that my dog would allow himself to sleep in such filth. I finally decided to wash his bed and remove all of the bones, only to find those bones in the exact same place the following week.

The Picture
On the desk where once there was all of my useless papers/drawings, now there are only 4 pictures of my brother and I and many unopened envelopes. One of the pictures is the most hastily made picture frame anyone could ever dare to give to another person. Both of us awkwardly fill up the picture frame and both of our heads just barely touch the corners. We both hold our most triumphant objects, my high school diploma and my brother's championship trophy while wearing our most casual outfits: designer t-shirts and shorts. The picture frame is two shades of blue, divided by dotted lines that crisscross across the frame at a casual speed. The pathetic image of the two boys swallowing their self-indulgence was hastily printed out minutes after remembering we forgot to get our father a gift. Dad doesn't know that. What he knows is that his sons were considerate enough to get him a present. It probably won't last very long, but for him, it'll last a lifetime.

Last summer, I took an online creative writing course for UCLA.  One of the assignments was to select 5 objects from our home and write a short description about them. It had been a year since my parents' separation and I was living in a cramped room with my mother and brother. For inspiration, I visited my father’s house. It was the first time I felt comfortable enough to visit by myself. When I took a brief glance at the living room as it was, I knew I had the objects for my assignment. Good reception from my online classmates and professor was enough motivation to expand the assignment into a full-length prose poem. To prepare, I took many pictures of the house and set aside an entire week to push out the poem. I started working on it at my friend’s house but I could only squeeze out little blips of phrases. It became more painful to divulge further into the disgraceful state of my father’s house. Despite what I’m describing, the poem wasn’t like an autopsy report. Instead, it was like recalling only the pleasant memories during a funeral for a loved one but never overlooking the lingering disease that always existed. What you’ve just read are the remnants of the poem, as I left it a year ago. Someone once told me how difficult writing is because of how personal it becomes. Never was this more true than with this assignment.

The family dogs, Shadow (left) and Sonic (right)

The Seventithird One

Guest post by Spencer Burton. Edited by Arlill Rodriguez.

I was at a Chinese buffet several days ago for my brother’s birthday, and I received this fortune: “Your lucky SAT answers are: a, c, d, a, b, b, c.”

My first thoughts were, “Well, they are a little late in getting this to me.” But the more I thought about it, which I tend to do right when I want to go to bed, I realized what a horrible fortune that was.

I am not saying the average fortune cookie is a mini work of Shakespeare, but come on? How lazy is this. I think the person writing this  just wanted an excuse to hit the keyboard a few times, and figured out they could justify hitting “a” through “d” as if they were test answers.

Secondly, this cookie will most likely miss its target audience, unless the writer assumed that the average person visiting a buffet are all high school kids gearing up for placement tests. Now, I certainly gorged myself on Chinese food at the time, but standardized tests were not on my mind at the time – at least not in front of what should I get with egg drop soup. Regardless, this fortune doesn't even apply to all high school kids looking to get into college. I never took the SAT. Instead I took the ACT, which is a common test kids on the east coast take in place of the SAT. So, this cookie already is likely to be given to someone who would care less about the answers.

Lastly, since when was the SAT only 7 questions long? It is probably over an hour long test, which penalizes guessing in order to make sure people taking it are really showing what they know. It is a test designed to be too long. Either this person is so far gone from the school that they forgot what the SAT was – which is possible, considering they like to bash on the key board and think most who eat at Chinese buffets are high school-ers – or they really were just trying to look smart in giving me something other than my lucky lottery numbers every time I decide to put down a couple pounds of food.

In short, I would tell the writer of this cookie to go back to saying dumb stuff about happiness, or success. Or at the very least start being cynical and insult people. At least then it might be something interesting and it would make engaging lines for all those people who add “in bed” at the end of them.