What will JCP be up to there?

1. Both Emily Steele and Ender Bowen will be at the table to sign autographs, chat, and hang out (they will be at the hotel ALL night).
2. The entire cast of Common Sense for Dummys will be available (including Tim Todd) with a special screening of the best and never-before-seen sketches currently scheduled for Saturday night.
3. Sign up for JCP and CS4D Mail Lists, get details on JCP’s plans for 2012, discuss the Topical Vacation podcast and its developing plans, and hear more about other projects that JCP is currently developing (including more long-overdo music releases)!
4. Get your hands on some free JCP swag!
5. …And there are more things in the works!

Also be sure to check out our good friends at THE PWA SHOW‘s table, which should be right nearby!

For more information on the event itself, simply click here!

Some details:

Murfreesboro Anime and Comic con
Jan. 21-22
Clarion Inn 615 896 2420
I-24 exit 78
Sat 10-6 and sun 11-4
Admission $5 per day
$30 all-access pass(limited to 50)

We hope to see you there!!

Full of bonus skits, behind-the-scenes videos and outtakes, Cheap Shots for a Bad Economy is the first outing for the Nashville comedy troupe Common Sense for Dummys. Experience the laughs with the original CS4D pilot, hidden videos, photo slideshows and more!

So get your copy today and have your friends and family over to watch the episodes that started it all!

With the new look comes a much slicker and easier user experience, coupled with the addition of some great new features – such as Emily’s own video blog, easy access to instantly stream the Topical Vacation podcast, as well as Emily’s new video talk show – currently in development stages!

All the other features you’ve come to expect from the website are there as well, including Emily’s Can’t Argue With That blog (with more entries coming soon), Images, and up-to-date information and access to all of Emily’s projects.

So make sure you come check out the new website, become a fan on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and grab merchandise from the Emily Steele Store!

]]> http://www.jointcustodyprod.com/new-emily-steele-website/feed/ 0 http://www.jointcustodyprod.com/common-sense-for-dummys-premiere/ http://www.jointcustodyprod.com/common-sense-for-dummys-premiere/#comments Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:10:00 +0000 Joint Custody Productions http://www.jointcustodyprod.com/?p=828 On August 15, the Nashville comedy troupe Common Sense for Dummys released its half-hour sketch comedy Pilot – “Cheap Shots for A Bad Economy” – on YouTube! If you live in the Nashville area, you can also find the show on Saturday nights on Channel 9 starting September 10!

Executive Produced by writers and main troupe members Emily Steele, Tim Todd and Ender Bowen, “Cheap Shots for A Bad Economy” was roughly a year in the making, making its screening debut in Antioch, TN, in May of 2011. It is mainly directed by Richard Call, and Produced by Kenneth Garner.

The troupe is currently in the process of finishing up a DVD of the Pilot (with extras, commentaries, etc) for release likely in October, as well as starting pre-production on new skits that should see the light of day in the winter and spring of 2012!

In the meantime, watch the Pilot and other extra skits available on YouTube, join the CS4D Facebook, and get some swag at the CS4D Store!

For starters, Ender Bowen and Emily Steele‘s new podcast Topical Vacation has been slowly gaining some footing and growing into a fun, random podcast! Keep watch on this as new segments will be premiering in the coming weeks and months, and the duo hopes to have some special guests rather soon! If you have Skype, add “topvac” to your contacts and you’ll be notified with a status message there, and on the Topical Vacation Facebook of when recording is about to commence – if you call, you may be able to get in on the show!

Speaking of the two Topical Vacation stars – Emily Steele will soon be adding Can’t Argue With That merchandise at the Emily Steele Store, as well as updating her growing blog with video updates via YouTube! Not only will Ender be joining her in the video blogging realm, but he will also be adding to his Memoirs section, as well as featuring some of his work with Deemable via his Carpe Deemable section!

And as if that wasn’t enough, Gracie Sez Hai‘s second season premieres April 1st!

But wait, that still isn’t enough! Common Sense for Dummys (which JCP co-produces with Red Parasol Entertainment) is finishing up its long-awaited pilot! In the coming weeks, expect viral videos, Random Nonsense blogs, more streaming content and a big premiere party in May!

And there’s still more to come! So stick around! Big things are right around the corner!!

This is where the Zoom H4n comes in. This baby has incredibly clear sound that will probably startle you at first – it startled us after all. We were initially deciding between this device and the Zoom H2, but after really weighing our choices and looking at the costs, we finally decided on the Zoom H4n.

So what’s so great about the H4n, you ask? It’s hard to know where to begin.

The first thing we noticed right when we took it out of the box was its heavy-duty build. Not only does the Zoom H4n feel heavy in your hands but it’s encased in what I would consider a fairly-protective body of metal and hard plastics. The H2, by comparison, was reviewed as being encased in cheap plastics that probably wouldn’t protect it in a fall. We wouldn’t suggest you drop the H4n, but we would venture to say that a small drop wouldn’t hurt it too much.

The H4n has a built-in microphone that, as far as we’re concerned, simply blows the competition away! Whatever competition that might be. The great thing about the angled mics in the system is that you can utilize them at a 90-degree radius, or at 120-degrees. For an idea on how that sounds, check out the first episode of Common Sense for Dummys’ Audio Podcast, which we recorded on the fly using only this device placed in front of us on a table. Beautiful. But the Zoom H4n goes many steps further: First – it has two XLR jacks in the bottom of the system, which you can set the device to record from as a separate source from its built-in mic or you can join all these sources together to pull from these sources at the same time! Second – you can record in mono, stereo and even in 4 channels – like a 4 track digital recorder! That’s right, the Zoom H4n has a 4 track recorder and mixer setting built directly into the system! (so if you’re a rock band, for instance, don’t hesitate to get one of these bad boys to play around with – you won’t be sorry – you can even play around with some reverb and compression resets built in, in real time)!

Some extra joy – 1. You can plug in a set of headphones (which we recommend over the built-in speaker) to monitor your playback and listen back to what you’ve recorded; 2. The system records data to SD disks (which varying websites that sell the H4n will tell you are limited in sizes, but we’ve used a 16GB SDHC card – which most say you can’t do – with no problem); 3. You can plug a USB cable into the system to pull data; 4. You can get a cabled remote, which we went ahead and purchased once we realized that having it up on a boom made it very difficult to consistently set up and monitor from shot-to-shot; 5. And you can manually set recording levels or set them to auto, (we actually prefer the former).

So far, we’re pleased with battery time. We actually shot for a good full day before we got close to running out of power, and that was without turning on the Stamina setting, which is supposed to make the batteries run for longer by using less juice. We haven’t run that setting yet because we don’t know how it would affect sound, but I can’t imagine it would be too much – we currently record in 16 bit WAV (which is another setting you can change to be up to 24-bit, or lower – like MP3 – if you prefer). As it is, the Zoom H4n comes with an AC Adapter, but we haven’t tested that on-set yet to see if it presents a 60-cycle hum issue.

The standard H4n kit came with an adapter that screws into the system and acts as a microphone base so that you can place your Zoom H4n into a microphone boom or stand just like any other mic. It also came with a Wind Filter that goes over the built-in microphones. We used that once but didn’t have much luck – mainly because it was so windy.

So how does the H4n stand up to all the fun stuff we’re doing? Well, we’ve been using this device since late Summer – early Fall, and though we’ve run into a few sound problems here and there, most of that comes down to us still learning the best ways to capture sound. We would honestly say that it has little to do with the device itself. In fact, it picks up more sound – and much clearer – than the actual shotgun mic we were using before it! It picks up a lot of background sound too, so if you want a clear, distinct sound with no extra noises on your set, make sure it’s deadly quiet! Our favorite thing about this device though is that if you have it hanging over your actors’ heads, pointing directly down at them (as you should) you’re going to get some great sound. We have yet to master it ourselves, but we think we’ll get there. You’ll be able to hear how much of this sounds (after post-production of course) when our Common Sense for Dummys pilot comes out later this year.

We’re also seeing if we can come up with something akin to an automated boom setup that’s mounted on a rolling dolly so that it’s easier to move, hold, and – the most important – utilize when we’re short on man power. If we do that, you’ll be sure to see us blabber about it on here!

We give the Zoom H4n an 8 out of 10, mainly because we never score anything a 10, and we still haven’t discovered all it can do! It’s nonetheless highly recommended! You won’t be disappointed!

Ender Bowen: What… is this… exactly…?

JCP: What is what?

EB: What is this…? This thing that you’re doing…

JCP: The interview?

EB: Yeah.

JCP: It’s an interview.

EB: Right, I got that. What I mean is… I mean you do realize that everyone knows we’re both the same person, right?

JCP: Not necessarily. As a matter of fact, my identity clearly just states that I’m Joint Custody Productions – so I could be Emily Steele.

EB: She and I don’t have this kind of rapport. Everyone knows that.

JCP: Touche.

EB: You do understand how ridiculous this sounds, right?

JCP: Yes. But consider this – if I’m the one handling the interview, I’m likely to paint you in a better light than what’s-her-face, and the whole thing will be about you!

EB: Proceed.

JCP: You and… what’s-her-face… have been trying to set this podcast up for some time haven’t you? What’s taken so long?

EB: Well… coming up with a name really has been the hardest thing. We started with “pain in the you-know-what”, then tried “whatever what’s-her-name” but now we’ve just settled on “what’s-her-face”.

JCP: For… wait… for what, exactly?

EB: For what’s-her-face.

JCP: I’m talking about the podcast.

EB: Right. I’d like to say I’m doing that alone but I’ll have help. From what’s-her-face.

JCP: I’m not talking about that.

EB: You just said you were!

JCP: Right, I mean I’m talking about the podcast, not… what’s-her-face.

EB: Oh, right. Well… I think the main thing was trying to come up with a topic, or something that would set it apart from Common Sense for Dummys and what we do with that. We didn’t want it to be about politics or sports or anything specific. I kind of see it as a stream of consciousness.

JCP: So… given that fact, what’s-her-face is unlikely to contribute a whole heck of a lot to it, is that correct?

EB: That is correct, yes. It’s hard to have a stream of consciousness when you’re practically unconscious. So I’ll be handling most of the duties.

JCP: Did you say “doodies”?

EB: No… I said “duties”.

JCP: But it sounds like “doodies”.

EB: Yes, but you’ll note that we aren’t actually talking to each other so much as we’re just typing out this interview as it comes to our minds. Therefore if you’d just read what you wrote…

JCP: I wrote that?

EB: Yes.

JCP: Okay, I think I’m following you. You… er… I… was saying… er… typing…?

EB: As I was saying, I will be handling most of the duties.

JCP: Are you sure you can handle that okay on your own?

EB: (legible sigh) Some would say I can’t, but I think I’m more than capable of conducting an entire interview… er… show… all by myself, yes.

JCP: Aside from the moments when you have to change the IV for what’s-her-name.

EB: Naturally.

JCP: So who came up with the name Topical Vacation?

EB: I did. Of course.

JCP: Will you really be wearing no shirt, and no shoes?

EB: We’re not big fans of Japanese theater so we’re going to stick to what we do best.

JCP: No… not Noh… “no”.

EB: That’s… helpful.

JCP: I understand how that sounds confusing.

EB: I should hope so.

JCP: Okay, let me try this another way… Your slogan says “No shirt. No shoes. No topic.” Is that what you’ll actually be sticking to while you do the podcast?

EB: We plan on straying from any kind of particular topic or format, yes.

JCP: What about your clothes?

EB: They’ll stick to quick two-word sentences if anything.

JCP: I mean, will you be podcasting naked?

EB: If we can get it past the censors.

JCP: That shouldn’t be a problem though right? It’s an audio podcast.

EB: Our censors are hardcore.

JCP: Do you have anything specific in mind for the first episode?

EB: Hitting record and then speaking, mainly.

JCP: Oh, interesting. Do they have a particular dialect in Maine?

EB: I really have no idea. I’ve never been there long enough to gauge.

JCP: What I’m trying to ask is, do you have any ideas for what you’ll say or do?

EB: In light of recent events, we won’t be reading an earlier version of Huckleberry Finn.

JCP: The censors.

EB: Right.

JCP: Any books you’re reading right now?

EB: An earlier version of Huckleberry Finn.

JCP: Any books you’re thinking of reading in the future?

EB: No.

JCP: To clarify, I didn’t say “Any books you’re thinking in the future of reading”…

EB: Oh, sorry. Misread you. In 2017 I’ll probably read Nostalgia: A Wive’s Tale.

JCP: Is that Jodi Picoult?

EB: I don’t know yet.

JCP: Any music you’re listening to right now?

EB: I’m kinda busy at the moment.

JCP: With what?

EB: This.

JCP: The podcast or the interview?

EB: How long are you going to keep this up?

JCP: People often tell me I ask a lot of myself.

EB: Clever.

JCP: You liked that?

EB: It wasn’t bad, yeah.

JCP: Okay. When can we expect the first episode of Topical Vacation?

EB: The first episode should be coming out sometime within the next few weeks. Until then I suppose just stand by and keep checking back. We also have a FaceBook Page all set up, ready for new fans!

JCP: That sounds great! Well thanks, Ender! I’m glad I didn’t have to twist your arm to do this!

EB: Sure. Goodbye now!

JCP: Hey, wait up!

Emily Steele has uploaded her first Can’t Argue With That blog in over a couple months! Be sure to read up on what she would do if she had tenure, and be on the lookout for more throughout the coming weeks!

Ender Bowen released his latest EP Deadweight Destiny last month! Head over to the ReverbNation Store to purchase the digital downloads, and be sure to join the Ender Bowen Reverb Nation Mail List in order to get the 4th track “Speak My Name” free! No update on the forthcoming video for the main track yet, but stay tuned for this and more blogs from Ender himself.

Gracie Sez Hai just released a new podcast December 3rd! Expect another December 17th, with more throughout the opening weeks of the New Year! And don’t forget about Gracie’s Twitter (as well as Beauregard’s). Expect a Mail List similar to CS4D’s coming in 2011!

Expect an official announcement either this month, or in January, about Emily Steele’s and Ender Bowen’s new podcast, whose name and format has yet to be determined! Currently, it is known it will not be an update to the PRODcast, which is still on hiatus. While either may still appear on Dave Brewington‘s From the Burro, there may also be another new podcast in the works featuring the entire group! Stay tuned!

Finally, to receive this and other Joint Custody Productions updates on a weekly basis, scroll down to the bottom of the page and sign up to the mail list!

Featuring the songs “Deadweight Destiny”, “Undertow”, “Once Again (2010)” and “Speak My Name”, the EP can be digitally purchased at the Ender Bowen Reverb Nation Store.

While you’re there, you can also sign up the Mail List and receive a free download of “Speak My Name” (among other songs) for your membership!

Speaking of the Official CS4D Website, expect more and more updates through the month, including new Random Nonsense blogs and at least one more new CS4D Audio Podcast!

Ender Bowen’s forthcoming single/EP Deadweight Destiny is still in the queue for a release either this month or in December. Keep a look out for the tunes to be available for streaming toward the end of the month (if not sooner) with purchasable content to follow. And make sure to keep watch on the ReverbNation site for ways you can get free music!

On Friday, November 5^th, Ender will also be making a guest-appearance on both Podcasters with Attitude and From the Burro – podcasts featuring Korey Hodges and David Brewington. Not only will he be joining in on their ongoing conversations, but he will also be presenting a few clips of Gracie Sez Hai! Look for the podcasts to be available starting the week of November 8!

Gracie has more coming up as well! Aside from her Tweets, (which are random and ongoing), expect two new episodes November 5 and 19^th respectively, with more coming in December!

Emily Steele is currently preparing to start updating her website on a more regular basis. Look forward to new Can’t Argue With That blogs this coming month! Meanwhile, Emily is also preparing to work on finishing production of her first single for release in 2011!

Finally, the Joint Custody Productions Official Store at Cafepress will continue its overhaul process through the month of November – so expect to see some clutter as you browse through its growing stock of JCP-related merchandise! And while you click through, make sure to let JCP know if you have any ideas for merchandise that you might like by contacting us through our own Contact Page!