Author: Teresa Howard

Cast of the Week XVII

CotW XVI
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwxvii

And now I’m handing things over to u/Mattasher for the winners of Cast of the Week XVII:

Shoutouts
Some shoutouts this week to the people who made our week:
Shoutout to If You Were In My Shoes for her willingness to share a well-crafted and poignant personal dilemma, with episode 5. There’s no point anymore.

Shoutout to Joanie for getting a new mic and making a contest out of it. You sound great to us!

Shoutout MondragonMMA and A Brewtiful Mind for each hitting episode 100.

Shoutout to Demi Semi Quaver Note for the awesome recitation of Walt Whitman’s city of orgies, complete with spot-on sound effects. A reminder to please make sure any poetry you post to ykyz is in the public domain, as is the case with Whitman.

Shoutout to Primal Haze for the outstanding first episode, 3 Reasons Why Microcasting Is A Great Idea. We agree with all of them! A reminder, though, to all microcasters: It’s best to fade out your intro music as you begin speaking.  

And, last but not least, Shoutout to all of you for continuing to help promote the site. We’re now ranked at about 120k on Alexa, just 20k away from our April goal.  

Honorable mentions
217. Sweden food, Swedish meatballs by ThatBeardedSwede
Our favorite Swede shares the history of meatballs and his own family recipe ingredients. IKEA may have spread this tradition around the world, but when it comes to meatballs, IMO there’s nothing better than homemade.


25. Let’s Eat and eat some more by Angelibean
Angelibean shares her newfound quarantine skill, eating all the snacks. She’s definitely not the only one stress eating, though apparently, some ykyz’ers are going in the opposite direction and stress fasting. Who knew that was a thing?


250. Tomatoes Indoors by SmartMoney
Turns out, a lot of us have food on the brain during quarantine. Our final honorable mention goes to Becky of SmartMoney with this perfect explanation of how to grow tomatoes inside.  


CotW XVII winners
And now, on to this week’s winners!

Third Prize:
226. Raised And Cake Donuts by SnippetswithSophia
In this mouth-watering episode, Sophia explains the difference between the main types of donuts we consume. Spoiler alert, if it looks like a unicorn or a Pokémon, it’s a cake donut.


Second Prize:
42. “The talk” to save a life. by Doctor Irish
The good doctor gives straightforward advice for dealing with someone who might be suicidal. Never has an episode been so unfortunately timely, as one of the many, many un-considered side effects of extreme “social distancing” has been an all too predictable spike in depression and calls to suicide hotlines.


First Prize:
236. Animal Crossing Filipino textile outfits by fashionmusings
In this episode, Gem explores the intersection of fashion and gaming and describes how the Ayala museum is using in-game outfits to show off traditional Filipino textiles. In times when traveling abroad is virtually impossible, virtual fashion may be the very best thing to go viral right now.

Cast of the Week XVI

CotW XVI
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwxvi

Here is u/Mattasher to announce the winners of Cast of the Week XVI (The Sweet Sixteen):

Before we get into the winners, we have some shoutouts this week.

Shoutout to Mark for hitting episode 100 with his Just Thinking Aloud microcast, to Poegosi The Poet for his 100th, Joanie Reviews Stuff’s 100th, Boris the Blade 100th, and to ThatbeardedSwede, Aspie and Proud, and Astrocast by Diz for posting episodes 200!

Shoutout to Lilith of the Maleficent Gaming microcast for experimenting with rapid-fire, YouTube-style editing in her episode 29. Exploiting employees for Borderlands 3 pt.2

Shoutout to Angelibean for giving the community a shoutout in the wonderfully titled episode 22. I’m a hater and I may need a nap

Shoutout to Rebekah of SmartMoney for the snack tips in episode 232. Give Me the Snacks and No One Gets Hurt, another well-titled episode this week.

Shoutout to Black Girl Baker for experimenting with sound recording in her 174.My version of ASMR. By the end, I was for sure craving some of those salty crunchy snacks Rebekah described.


And now, without further ado, the winners. But first, a couple of Runner’s up:

200. Wine from Sweden – YKYZ Podcast Microcast by ThatbeardedSwede
Who knew Sweden had not one, but several growing regions, and that it produced some award-winning whites?


31. Occupy by Brown Skin Pearls
Clare gives out practical advice for how to stop touching your face in this short but straightforward episode.  


219. Danish Pastries by SnippetsWithSophia
Sophia takes us on a tour of Danishes around the world (spoiler alert, they’re not called Danishes everywhere) in this mouth-watering episode.


And now, on to the winners!

THIRD PRIZE:
116. Pilsners for Boris The Blade – A Brewtiful Mind by A Brewtiful Mind
In this packed episode, Micah takes us on a quick tour of the world of pilsners, from their home in the Czech Republic to their new world versions. For my own part, I’d highly recommend heading to Prague, finding a patio, and sipping a punch-bowl sized glass of the local favorite, Pilsner Urquell. You’ll never want to drink beer in a can again.


SECOND PRIZE:
26. Swear Words by Hilarious History
Hannah hits her stride with a SFW episode about NSFW language. In this episode we learn how Saxon words became vulgarities with the help of the Anglos. Hannah leaves us with the polite admonition, “Thank you for listening, and don’t get conquered”, which seems like the perfect advice for this moment we are in.


FIRST PRIZE:
200. Air Signs As Jazz Music by Astrocast By Diz
This was a tough one to pick. Not because we wondered who to give the top prize to, but had a hard time picking which episode from Diz deserved it most. In the end, we’re choosing her intriguing 200th cast, wherein Diz connects the astrological Air Signs with jazz, giving a surprisingly rich introduction to both in under 75 seconds. We also highly recommend you have a listen to her episode 203. Story Time: Bia. Come for the story of Prometheus, stay for the perfectly timed sound samples.

Cast of the Week XV

CotW XIII
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwxv

And now, without further ado, I’m handing things over to u/Mattasher for the winners of Cast of the Week XV (The Quiñcenero):

But first, some shoutouts.

Shoutout to Kayla (Violaceous Curiosity) for trying her hand (or voice) at the cold opener. Together we are exploring this new micro podcasting space.

Shoutout to MyNameIsQuest for the intriguing teaser episode The Spot. Everyone loves a good treasure hunt or vaunt opening tale, just don’t let us down like Geraldo.

Shoutout to our own Teresa (ThatOneGirl) who took over the Astrocast By Diz microcast to give Aries their due (and do’s).

Shoutout to Joanie for the bold and brave decision to review her own face in episode 93. Rambling About my Ugly Face

And now, on to the winners! But first, some honorable mentions:

35. But How are YOU doing? by jen.again
Good old Jen checks in with all of us in this friendly, nicely scripted episode.

153. Vinegar by Brown Skin Pearls
Clare examines the idea of using vinegar as a skincare product and concludes with a gentle reminder that when it comes to applying things to our body, we might want to leave the chemistry to the chemists, a reminder that seems particularly relevant right now.

148. Own Your Choices by Voluptuous Voyager
In this easy to listen to episode, Asi the Voluptuous Voyager introduces an expression that captures the distinction between where we land, and where we stay.

And now, the winners of CotW XV

Third Prize:
193. Paul Bunyan And Pancakes by SnippetsWithSophia
Sophia goes over one of my favorite characters from childhood, the tall tales of Paul Bunyan. Everything about this legendary lumberjack was supersized, including the story, Sophia tells about frying up pancakes in an acre-sized griddle. Grab a pick and pluck along with this giant microcast episode.  

Second Prize:
108. Fast Facts: IPA’s – A Brewtiful Mind by A Brewtiful Mind
Micah opens with a teaser of an upcoming episode, then goes all fast and furious on us with facts about India Pale Ales. This 86 second episode would have to be rated with an IBU of 0, given the smooth delivery and how easily Micah makes the info go down.  

Grand Prize:
10. My job isn’t real and the gaming industry is a joke by Maleficent Gaming
Our grand prize winner this week is from Lilith, who has just the right mix of personal experience and hard data in this episode about the gaming industry in her home country of Serbia. Lilith takes us into her narrow and misunderstood professional world, and leaves us with a broader understanding of how it fits into her countries overall economy.

Cast of the Week XIV

CotW XIII
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwxiv

And now, without any further ado, we present the winners of the 14th weekly CotW.

But first, some shoutouts:

Shoutout to Life in Ancient Egypt for passing 100 episodes this past week, and marking the occasion with a celebratory cast about celebrations in, you guessed it, Ancient Egypt.

Shoutout to both SmartMoney and DoctorIrish for passing the 200 episodes mark. So did NerdyOldGuy, and I’m not gonna lie, he had us in the first half of the episode.

Shoutout to Joanie for choosing to review her Annoying Spastic Eyelid. Spoiler alert: It gets a 0.

A second Shoutout to Joanie for doing a perfect imitation of a broadcaster in her episode 80. 🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨

Shoutout to Clare for getting that perennially hated, but somehow never quite forgotten, Vanilla Ice hit stuck in my head with her episode 145. Ice, Ice Baby.

And now, on to the winners. But first, some honorable mentions:

50. Interview with Chris Martin of Coldplay! by BeyondRhythm
This fun, nicely spliced “interview” with Coldplay’s frontman kept us entertained for the full 90 seconds.


76. What makes you happy? by Poegosi The Poet
In times of trouble, Poegosi comforts us with this ode to drinking. There seemed to be a lot of drinking talk this week among bleaters, and not just on the Brewtiful Mind microcast.


Third Prize:
182. Kottabos – An Old Drinking Game by SnippetsWithSophia
Who knew drinking games were invented by the actual greeks, and not their modern(ish) day Animal House imitators? We just might give Kottabos a try at our next soiree, all the while keeping the appropriate social distance, of course.


Second Prize:
289. Hypothetical Musicians In Quarantine by Music and Peace
Beyond being a solid episode of musing about musicians under lockdown, Addie gives us the wonderful, and quite welcome, analogy of 2020 as a restart your computer year. Remember folks, “It’s just a little reset”. We can only hope.


Grand Prize:
193. Stockpile your VODKA! “Vodka can make Hand Sanitizer” – False by Doctor Irish
The Doctor is in with this myth-busting episode about the use of distilled spirits to kill the evil spirits on your hands, otherwise, know as germs. Bottom line, unless your Vodka is actually moonshine, you may want to splash it down your throat instead of rubbing it between your palms.


Thanks again to everyone who was part of our week at ykyz, and don’t forget to follow us on twitter @YKYZHaveYouSay and like our Facebook page.

Cast of the Week XIII

CotW XIII
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwxiii

We’ll get right into the winners of Cast of the Week XIII.

But first, some shoutouts.

Shoutout to Elvira for crossing the 100 episode barrier with her Mistress of the Microcast series.

Shoutout to Joel for clocking in with 200 episodes of his NerdyOldGuy microcast.

Shoutout to Fredrik for the lovely episode 38. March Madness – Improvisation on Swedish Folk music (Guitar) (Original music by Fredrik). We always appreciate your original compositions.

Shoutout to the many users who jumped into March Madness with swaps and guest hosting. We listen to all of these, and you can find them collected in one place at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=marchmadness

And now, on to the winners. But first, some honorable mentions.

Honorable mentions
2. Mobile Gamers And Console Wars by Maleficent Gaming
Lilith got a big response for just her second microcast episode, an invitation to weigh in on the current state of mobile vs console gaming.


146. Kabbalah Numerology by Astrocast By Diz explains how to turn your name into a number as part of the ancient Hebrew practice of Kabbalah. Also, check out the fun and opinionated 155.Storytime: Zeus by Astrocast By Diz


60. Free Speech – Not Just Another Value by Just Thinking Aloud
At a time when patience for free speech is at the lowest point, it’s been in my lifetime, and censorship seems to championed even by the media itself, Mark succinctly explains the connection between free speech and honestly confronting reality.


And now, on to the winners!

Second place
87. Rosetta Stone with Alba of the Culture Mix by Life in Ancient Egypt
Alba steps into Marwan’s sandals and picks up his staff to lead us out of Egypt and into the British Museum, current home of the Rosetta stone, for a tour-guide quality description of this famously fractured artifact.


Grand prize
168. Takeover – Voluptuous Voyager – Swedish Death Cleaning by ThatBeardedSwede
This week, one caster perfectly captured the vibe of the show she swapped with. Asi, of Voluptuous voyager fame, gave us a wonderful slice of Swedish life in her guest appearance in episode 168 of ThatbeardedSwede’s microcast. Focusing on the practice of Death Cleaning (döstädning), or getting one’s affairs in order before it’s game over in this simulated we all share, Asi nails the feeling and focus of her host’s microcast. We also highly recommend Asi’s other Swedish take over episode on The Ice Hotel.

Cast of the Week XII

CotW XII
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwxii

Here are the winners of Cast of the Week XII.

But first, some shoutouts:

Shoutout to our newest members of the 100 club: Andrew Steiner of Steinerland and Brian Thornsburg of Ranting and Raving. Put on your monogrammed green jackets, light up a cigar, and welcome to our exclusive club.

Shoutout to Sophia for spicing up our first week of March Madness with several episodes about the strange human custom of intentionally consuming things that burn our mouths.

Shoutout to Joel for finding a way to make a cast even more micro with his Bleat March Madness – The Micromicrocast. Unfortunately, I had to listen twice to realize the feeling of micro-deja-vu was well earned.

Shoutout to Kayla aka Violaceous Curiosity for jumping hard into March Madness with some well-done swaps.


Before we get to the winners, here are the honorable mentions for this past week.

15. Pumped Up Kicks by BeyondRhythm
He gives us the background on Foster for the People’s wonderfully cheerful song about teen angst with an imaginary(?) body count. Props to Cyannade for ending this episode the best possible way, with that maddeningly catchy whistling.


38. Earn online with the right chair by Poegosi The Poet
Microcasts call for micro topics, and Poegosi gets that right in this lovely little episode about finding just the right chair to keep you comfy, but not so comfy that you drift off. For my own part, I recommend adding a recliner to your office to give yourself a dedicated napping chair.


And now, on to the winners:

Runner-up:
124. To my wife by Aspie and Proud.
Elsa penned, then pronounced and posted this perfectly lovely ode to her partner. Well done and well within the spirit of March Madness experimentation.


Grand prize:
159. Use Headphones for this exercise by Doctor Irish
The good doctor picks up the top prize with this audio experiment, complete with show notes in an informative reply. We also strongly recommend listening to episode 160. Try this -Ambient Sound- Story Time an Audio Experience. Which uses background noises to great effect.


You may have noticed that we only gave out two prizes this week, yet we promised three during this month. In a moment of mixing things up ourselves, we’ve decided to give at least one prize next week to a swap cast, and offer a bounty to both the swapper and the swappe for double-dipping fun. Stay tuned to ykyz and don’t forget to get weird this March while you still can, it’s back to gray jackets and Cisco’s hold music next month.

Microcaster of the Year Prize

We are offering a prize of US $5000 to the microcaster of the year for 2020 (CotY 2020). This will go to the most outstanding microcaster during 2020. To be eligible, the microcaster must have at least 100 microcast episodes during 2020.

To determine the winner of CotY 2020, we will find the top microcasters based on the level attained (see here for more information on levels). If there is a tie at the highest level attained, then we will split the payment among all microcasters at that level.

For unpaid microcasters, who are not officially at a level, we will judge them on their “as if” level. The main considerations remain consistent with microcast quality and high popularity.

The winner of CotY 2020 will be publicly announced no later than January 15, 2021.

Cast of the Week XI

CotW XI
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwx


Before we get to this week’s winners, we have some shoutouts to microcasters who made our week great.

Shoutout all seven microcasters who entered the 100 episode club this week. I’m talking about you Black Girl Baker, Dancing Bartender, Aspie and Proud, Astrocast by Diz, Plant Based Podcast, Voluptuous Voyager, and last but not least, xXxDisturbedOnexXx

We’re sending a second Shoutout to the Voluptuous Voyager for her episode 97. Be the bigger person? which is not only good but experiments with a delayed intro. While certainly not an approach that works all the time or for all microcasts, it worked well here and we encourage you to try out new things, especially this month (did we mention it was March Madness on ykyz?)

Shoutout as well to all of you who have offered to help out generally with promoting ykyz, we’ll be counting on your efforts to take ykyz up to 11.

Honorable mentions
Before we get to the prize winners, here are the honorable mentions for this week.
 
30. Steelman-ing by Just Thinking Aloud
Mark provides us with a concise, well thought out description of this important technique in arguing, which involves making the strongest possible case for your opponent before you begin to attack it.


145. You Should Never do this. The Stigmas in Health by Doctor Irish
In this episode, the good doctor gives us an important reminder to distinguish between the patient and the condition, and not stigmatize people by identifying them with their disease. I’d also highly recommend listening to the Doc’s episode 20. 600 Dollars on microtransactions on his Imperfect Reviews microcast, a warning tale for anyone who lets the little ones access an app store, intentionally or otherwise.


80. I Was A Communist by SteinerLand
Andrew tells us his first two words when growing up on the Kibbutz, an institution which is on the ropes in large part because people move away from them in search of Andrew’s third word.


Winners:
Just for March Madness, we’re adding a third prize level.  

Third place:
12. Paranoid Android by BeyondRhythm
This well-crafted episode by Cyannade tells the story behind one of my favorite Radiohead songs. Rich in detail, and bookended by a couple of nicely appropriate sonic touches, BeyondRythm picks up our inaugural third place with an entry that’s well worth the 90 second listen.


Runner up:
22. Disneyland is Too Expensive by The Broken Down Starship
James clearly touched a nerve with his discussion of the high cost of Disneyland. Mixing news, official explanations, and a personal take, this excellent episode expertly lays out a lament shared by all too many parents.  


Grand prize:
145. Chili Bricks – Just Add Water by SnippetsWithSophia
With her signature mix of perfectly recorded episodes, quirky history, and heaping spoonfuls of information, Sophia once again puts the spice in our bowls and takes home top prize in this week’s microcast cook-off. Who knew the freeze-dried bags of beef stroganoff campers carry today can trace their lineage back over a hundred years to bricks of dried beef, fat, salt, and chilis. Either way, it beats lembas bread.


Thanks to everyone who took part in CotW XI, talk to you soon on ykyz!

Cast of the Week X

CotW IX
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwx

First, some shoutouts:

Shoutout to Astrocast by Diz for dropping her magic number 100. Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself

Shoutout to Music and Peace for giving ykyz its first serenade (and we’re just going to pretend it was for us). Addie’s episode 197. Take 7 – Original Music, Here’s A Serenade showcases her lovely voice and is a must-listen. Twice.

Careful watchers of CotW will have noticed that while many multi-part episodes have been nominated, none have won a grand or second prize. This isn’t for lack of good episodes that were part of a series, it’s more a reflection of the trickiness of selecting a single episode out of a series, or giving an award to a series that may not be done yet, or whose start or finish date may not coincide with the previous week.

All that said, we want to shoutout several well done multi-part series that are either in progress or done. In particular, we send a Shoutout to Just Thinking Aloud for his episode on End of our Universe pt1 – Heat death, which gives a detailed yet friendly introduction to this fascinating topic, a Shoutout to A Brewtiful Mind for his well-researched series on Monks and Beer, and a giant Shoutout to The Broken Down Starship’s fantastic series on the fake moon landing conspiracy theory. This series by James is a perfect example of using the microcast format to give multiple self-contained snippets that build on each other in service of exploring a single, larger, topic.

And now, on to the winners. But first, some honorable mentions:

78. My Father – A Hero and A Villain  by Voluptuous Voyager
This tightly scripted, emotional yet contained, episode by Asi is a lovely gem of personal reflection.


128. Money Vs. Time by SmartMoney
In this smooth and well-paced episode, Becky explores the tradeoffs between working more (or for more) versus having more money by spending less on “all the things”.


103. MSC Cruise ship crashing into the pier by Dancing Bartender
This detail-rich episode gives a (likely) explanation of what happened in a now-infamous video of a cruise ship docking with full force right into a pier, and another ship, in Venice. We recommend watching the video while listening to the episode.


99. ATTENTION – MERCURY IS NOW IN RETROGRADE by Astrocast by Diz
This innovative episode by Diz begins with a bomb siren alert and warns us of the dangers of Mercury’s movement into retrograde. Diz warns us to expect higher levels of ghosting. If only we had a little more context as to why this truly cosmic event means we shouldn’t update iTunes during the retrograde, which IMO has been solid advice for at least the past five years.


120. Manorial Food Rights by SnippetsWithSophia
Sophia delivers yet another fascinating, well-researched microcast episode with this look at “banal” laws, applied to peasants by lords in the middle ages and lingering until the period when heads began to roll, literally.


And now, without further ado, the winners of Cast of the Week X.

Runner up:
38. Stouts and Porters, Are They Different? by A Brewtiful Mind
Micah takes second prize for this insightful episode explaining the history, and difference, between two interrelated types of dark ales. Framed with the perfect short intro and outro music, Micah sticks the landing right at 90 seconds with just the right tidbit of info.  


Grand prize:
152. Bloodbread by ThatbeardedSwede
In this episode, ThatbeardedSwede is truly at the top of his game. In just 70 seconds, Fredrik gives us an informative look at bread made with animal blood as the liquid ingredient. Fredrik packs in a detailed description of the bread, its historical context, an insightful quote by the late, great food critic Anthony Bourdain, and a personal reflection on eating it as part of a meal growing up.

Cast of the Week IX

CotW IX
You’ll find all the nominees for this week at https://ykyz.com/c/na?faveOf=cotwIX

u/mattasher writes:

And now, without further ado, we present the winners of Cast of the Week IX.

But first, some shoutouts:

Shoutout to SnippetsWithSophia for joining the 100 club this week with her fascinating episode Rum And The British Navy

Shoutout to Clare for booting up a second microcast about African Food.

Shoutout to Doctor Irish for adopting an emoji for us on twitter. We wish there were a lovely Ram emoji out there, but sadly that’s not the case.

Another Shoutout to Doctor Irish for his touching and moving series on forgiveness.

Shoutout to @ndrewSteiner for becoming ykyz’s first user to offer Tarot readings, though I suspect his interpretations are mostly fake news.

And now, on to the winners. But first, some honorable mentions:

85. Wishing on a Star by Astrocast By Diz
Making the most of her 90 seconds, Diz takes us on a tour of some of the many cultures that have prayed to the stars and ends with her own heavenly experience wishing on a star.


16. Unreliable Eyewitness Testimony by Crime Research Perch
Sridevi begins a deep dive into why you can’t always believe your eyes in this intriguing episode.


189. Album In Review – Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles
by Music and Peace
If nothing else, Addie’s album review episode is worth a listen for her two perfectly timed chipmunk interludes.


50. BEST Valentine’s Day date idea by MarassleTassle
Sonic never lets his friends down, and neither does Marassle in this VD recommendation for the pairing of a movie and mozzarella sticks.


140. Movie Myths – Wizard of Oz by The Broken Down Starship
James dissects one of the most persistent movie legends of all time, the hanging midget of oz. This well-researched episode reveals what’s really moving in the background of that infamous scene.


And now, on to the winners:

Second place:
71. Millennium – is Lisbeth Asperger? by Aspie and Proud
Aspie and Proud’s interesting meditation on whether the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo girl is on the spectrum takes the runner-up spot this week. Elsa’s thoughtful episode makes me want to re-read Stieg Larsson’s disturbing thriller.


Grand prize:
7. My Cat Peach by Joanie Reviews Stuff
In this quick-moving and packed episode, Joanie takes on the task of reviewing (drum roll please), her cat. Lively, well-paced, and funny to the point of actual LOL, this episode rates a five out of five, just like Peach. This is the first spin-off microcast episode to win a prize. We also highly recommend you check out Joanie’s other reviews, especially her takes on Metal Straws, Textbooks, and her Boyfriend’s Snoring.