Luke Burrage's Blog » Podcasts

New work trip today!

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:58:05 +0000

I hope you can see the map above. On this new work trip I get to visit quite a few new places. Faroe Islands, Greenland and Newfoundland. I hope I have chance to see and do some interesting things. In Iceland I hope to re-visit that very ashy volcano. Other things I want to achieve:
- Good photos.
- Get some videos of me juggling in amazing places.
- Write a song for June.
- Continue writing my novel.
- Get round to writing blog posts that include the photos I took in Istanbul, Croatia, Montenegro, Venice, St. Tropez, Pisa, Olympia and… um… I think that’s it.
- Record a review of a book I finished TWO WEEKS ago.

I think that’s it.

Two years of SFBRP downloads

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:41:17 +0000

This graph shows the total number SFBRP episodes per month for the last two years. I noticed an upswing in the listener numbers recently, so I wanted to see what it looked like over time. Pretty good, I think! In April, random people across the world downloaded just under 25,000 individual episodes. That’s more downloads than I had in the entire of 2008!

I’ve asked for listener feedback, regarding where the new listeners were coming from, how they found out about the podcast, and why they started listening. The range of answers is quite interesting:
- Interested in science fiction, did an iTunes search, found the podcast.
- Did an iTunes search, found the podcast.
- Just searched using iTunes.
- An iTunes search.
- iTunes.

So, it’s really that simple. It’s not a scientific survey, so maybe people who hear about podcasts via word of mouth aren’t the kind of people who like sending in emails.

I’ve yet to bash the numbers for individual episode downloads, because the stats I have are month on month. This means that if a podcast is released late in the month, the initial week of download figures are split over two months. In April 2010, the most downloaded podcast was SFBRP #089 – Dani and Eytan Kollin – The Unincorporated Man, with 2,421 downloads.

LATW: fun for a while

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:00:11 +0000

I’ve decided not to continue with the podcast part of my “Luke Around The World” project. It’s fun to do, but just takes too much work. Even though I’ve streamlined the podcast process over the last four years I’ve been recording and releasing podcasts, I can’t keep it up while pursuing all my other hobbies and my job. If I only visited one new place a week it would be workable. The 24 different locations since the start of the year means only six per month, but those six per month come all in one week, creating immediate backlogs.

Still, I’ve got photos and stories to share, so I’m going to keep up the blogging side of the Luke Around The World project, and just drop the audio part.

To make up for this crushing disappointment to ~~nobody at all~~ the few people who listened, here’s a picture of the inside of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul:

Luke Around The World – 20100329 – Cochin, India

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:24:18 +0000

Due to arriving a day early when joining the Queen Victoria cruise ship, I spent two days in Cochin, India. It was my first time in India, and I really wanted to tick of two bucket-list type achievements: 1 – experience Indian traffic from the back of a tuctuc, 2 – ride an elephant.

The podcast feed is: LATW RSS

Click here to open and subscribe in iTunes.

The podcast runs a bit long this time, but I had a lot of fun over my two days in Cochin, so I think it is worth going into more details. Be sure to scroll down for the elephant photos and video.

Tick! I hired a tuctuc and driver for four hours, and had a tour around the oldest part of Cochin, called Fort Kochi.

The Jain temple, complete with swastikas. I guess the symbol I found in Papua New Guinea was something to do with Jainism, and not the German building close by.

A view from the top floor of the everything shop.

A local sweet shop from above.

One man and his goats.

Dinner. Paneer in a sauce and rice.

Fort Kochi’s chinese nets.

A boat, a crow, and in the background men are building a new jetty.

More chinese nets.

Christian cathedral.

Playing cricket in the park.

Wing mirror self portrait.

Bizarre red sky during the evening.

Morning sun through barbed wire. I’m on my way to the Kodanadu Elephant Training Center

Many men walking and carrying crosses. I guess this was something to do with going to church.

Scrubbing elephants in the river.

The training center accepts baby elephants from a wide region and trains them to work on building sites, to drag timber, or to carry tourists.

Every morning at 8am the elephants are taken to a river, and are scrubbed with segments of coconuts.

The elephants seemed to love the daily wash and play in the river.

Other tourists photo opportunity.

Me and a baby elephant.

I’m a bit close here!

Waiting to return to the training center.

Elephant walking past pictures of elephants.

They used to capture wild elephants and hold them in this pen.

Chained elephant.

Tick! Me on an elephant, juggling.

Me on an elephant, taking a photo of myself.

Video of me juggling on an elephant, and also by the Chinese nets in Fort Kochi.

Luke Around The World – 20100304 – Auckland, New Zealand

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:00:57 +0000

This was my first visit to New Zealand. I only had a day there, and only in Auckland. One plan was to spend an extra week or two in the country, and fly back later, but I decided not to do so.

The podcast feed is: LATW RSS

Click here to open and subscribe in iTunes.

A street in the downtown area.

Random street entertainer.

St. Kevins Arcade 2nd Hand Bookshop.

Auckland’s Sky Tower.

Shadow of the tower from the tower.

Me, ready to do the SkyJump.

Another jumper dangling outside the tower.

Dropping to street level.

The moment before landing.

Hero-shot.

QM2 from the top of the tower.

The lift car has a glass floor.

Looking back up the tower.

I ate dinner here.

Pedicab ride through the city.

Luke Around The World – 20100228 – The Whitsunday Islands, Australia

admin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:40:18 +0000

This was probably the only time I’ll visit Australia at this end of 2010, but I didn’t see much. I did, however, have a very pleasant day, and had a lot of fun taking photos.

The podcast feed is: LATW RSS

Click here to open and subscribe in iTunes.

The Queen Mary 2 among the Whitsunday Islands.

A photo of a map of the region, taken with my iPhone.

I took the boat to the resort island, but it had its own helicopter.

In the podcast I talk about how long it took to capture this moment on video:

A statue by the beach.

A wallaby.

Wallaby portrait.

A wallaby relaxing.

A happy wallaby family. I mean, the daddy wallaby looks quite happy, and the mummy wallaby looks like she’s going to be happy in a minute.

A young wallaby.

A crab I found among some rocks.

Stingrays in the open air aquarium. This is a frame capture from my Flip HD, with waterproof case, taken with my hand stuck in the water. I wasn’t allowed to do this, or so said the sign, but I did it anyway.

Luke Around The World – 20100225 – Rabaul, Papua New Ginuea

admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 11:20:57 +0000

My first visit to Papua New Guinea, and I had a really great time! Here’s the video I posted at the time of my boat and snorkeling and juggling trip, and below are loads of photos.

The podcast feed is: LATW RSS

Click here to open and subscribe in iTunes.

The volcanos that loom over the town.

An old boat covered in a meter of ash.

I hired a boat for a few hours, to see the harbor and the volcanos up close. John is driving, and in the background is the QM2.

Rudolph, the other guide, and The Beehives, two rock formations in the center of the harbor.

A reverse view.

Me snorkeling.

John and Rudolph.

John jumping.

Me jumping.

Leaving the Beehives.

A local man returning from a fishing trip, with a shark in the rear of his canoe.

At the hot springs.

John posing over the hot springs.

Me juggling in a local’s canoe.

After juggling in front of the volcanos.

Houses under the volcanos.

Volcanos.

The Queen Mary 2 in the harbor.

Man with umbrella.

Tourists and locals walking from and to town.

Kids walking over the layers of volcanic ash.

The supermarket.

Inside the supermarket.

I love signs like this.

Just three words, but so much wrong with this sign. What is that comma for?

Souvenir I almost bought number 1: Penis guides. All size on sale. Do not put them on in winter or when it is very cold.

Souvenir I almost bought number 2: t-shirt with “I survive the Rabaul Volcanoe … and the swine flu.”

The path has many interesting designs, including the swastika…

And leads to the German building. A tad insensitive, I’d say.

All the children wanted to have their photos taken.

More children. I wish I had a polaroid camera or a printer so I could give them their own copies of these photos.

Another child, but not free to roam like the others. This one had to sit and look interesting for the tourists leaving the cruise ship.

A local canoe next to the QM2.

Luke Around The World – 20100224 – Crossing the equator on the Queen Mary 2

admin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:34:40 +0000

I joined the Queen Mary 2 in Guam. However, as I was performing the same day I joined the ship, and I only reached my hotel at 3am that morning, and was 9 hours off my home time zone, I decided to spend the day resting rather than seeing the island. This podcast is more about my time at sea on the QM2.

The podcast feed is: LATW RSS

Click here to open and subscribe in iTunes.

Pretty much the only photo I took on the island of Guam; a strange shaped building I spotted from my hotel balcony.

The Queen Mary 2 ocean liner.

A hole in a spare propellor blade on the prow of the QM2.

Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean

The seabirds snatched flying fish out of the air.

Luke Around The World – 20100213 – A bad flight

admin — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 11:00:00 +0000

I wrote about this story on my blog a few weeks (or months) ago, but here’s the full story, including audio captured during the flight which made me think I was going to die. Not just me though — you can hear other people screaming too!

The podcast feed is: LATW RSS

The plane at Ushuaia airport.

View of Mouth Herman from the plane.

The lakes and mountains of Teirra del Fuego.

Luke Around The World – 20100212 – Ushuaia, Argentina

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:00:53 +0000

As I’ve worked on many cruises around South America, Ushuaia is a place I’ve visited many times. In the podcast I talk about the places I’ve visited and seen, and below are some photos from the past 3 years.

The podcast feed is: LATW RSS

View up the pier towards the town.

The main street in Ushuaia.

Eat at Moustacchio.

Barbecue at Moustacchio.

Horse riding in the National Park beside the Beagle Channel (2007).

Me on the ski lift.

Shadow of riding the ski lift (2008).

Taking photos of the Martial Glacier (2009).

Climbing to the Martial Glacier (2009).

Sliding down the Martial Glacier (2008).

Icicles at the Martial Glacier (2009).

Cruise ship approaching Ushuaia (2009).

The Bugle Channel and me (2009).

Playing with a huge dog (2008).

Argentinian car, note the “Malvinas” sticker at the back (2008).

Mount Herman, Ushuaia (2008).

One of the International Glaciers on the Beagle Channel. These aren’t called International because they are near the border between Chile and Argentina, instead each one is named after a different European country. This may be France (2009).

A shot of the same glacier with some trees to show the scale (2009).

The Marco Polo and the Norwegian Dream (2008).

The Norwegian Sun and the Star Princess (2009).