Peer Award for Podcasts from Thunderflakes...

Ensconced in his subterranean Cave, Thunderflakes' scribe (and sometimes voice) finalizes production of blog podcast

Last night at the National Press Club was a very special evening for the scribe (and, sometimes, voice) of this wee bloggie.

Each year, TIVA/DC (The Television, Internet, and Video Association of DC) presents its Peer Awards, honoring "The Best and Brightest of Washington, DC." These prestigious honors recognize "the professionals of the Metropolitan Washington (and mid-Atlantic) media community who have demonstrated excellence in their work, as judged by their peers."

The Peer Awards are presented every November at a lovely gala at the National Press Club, and it means so very much to be honored by one's professional peers on this special night.

When the winners in the Audio Narration – Male category were being announced I mused at how the title of one of those efforts so recognized might just have sounded, oh shall we say,  a bit “curious.”

Podcasts from Thunderflakes?

Mug shot Saturday before fingerprinting and dessert

Of course, the descriptive documentation I had provided explained that Thunderflakes is my wee bloggie and explained what those podcasts are all about; however, the title line allows only for a few words.

And “Thunderflakes” doesn’t have quite the name recognition value as, say, “Eyewitness News” or “Dragnet” or “I Love Lucy” (don’t I just love dating myself!)

But that’s all right, for we know what that idiosyncratic name is all about, do we not, Dear Reader.

And there was that delicious frisson of a secret handshake or a great cosmic wink that had me smiling as I walked up to accept my Peer Award (one of two – more on the second, later).

Whither Podcasts from Thunderflakes?

The idea occurred about a year before I split from the day job. 

If you’ve followed the blog for the past few years, or viewed my photography, you know how much I enjoy sharing travel adventures and associated photography, sometimes with musical tangents.

There were two moments, during a trip to New York in June 2013 when this podcast idea really started to gel.

One had to do with the long-iconic fleet of handsome yellow Ford Crown Victoria taxicabs, now threatened with extinction by boxy (and far less comfortable) hybrids.

The other was inspired by a tall building in lower Manhattan that unexpectedly brought forth vivid memories of a great song I hadn’t heard for probably more than twenty years.
 
As I looked over my draft for the “Crown Vic” story, I (quite naturally, I suppose) could hear myself voicing it and producing with some music.

 Not surprisingly, the story about photographing the (window-less!) lower Manhattan skyscraper and learning the reasons for it being without windows, suggested another such voice-over production.

As neither would have fit in the realities of the former day job, or would have been subject to de-personalization and other strictures I would have found counter-creative, well, thought I, why not just put them out there as podcasts?

As an English-teaching broadcaster for so many years, I also envisioned these podcasts as possibly being useful to more advanced English learners as read-and-listen exercises.

But the biggest reason is simply another way of taking you along…and, in the process, sharing my enthusiasm for various travel experiences/adventures and the photography they have brought forth - as well as those various and sundry musical tangents relating to the ol’ “Gray Matter Gramophone” residing somewhere behind my eyes and between my ears while out shooting or later while editing my images.

When a cat adopts you...my little  Swiss friend Miezekatze

As honored as I am at having this relatively new body of voicing/production recognized in this year’s Peer Awards, these podcasts would be as the proverbial tree falling in the forest, absent your ears and your time spent in listening.

With all the “stuff” with which we are besieged in this cyber universe, it means so much to receive your comments or just to know you chose to spend some of your time with me on the wee bloggie. And I so appreciate those occasions when you’ve enjoyed a bit of my bloggery enough to share a story or podcast with others.

In search of the "PizzeriaronPhillimoreWalk"

For my Peer Awards submission, I created a montage of Podcasts from Thunderflakes. If you’ve discovered these podcasts recently, you may have missed some that led to this award recognition (owing to the eligibility period for the 2014 Peers). So, here is a condensed version of my montage “reel.” If any should strike your fancy, the links below will take you to the seven podcasts sampled in the audio. These podcasts can also be found on my SoundCloud pages.


 
Her name is Victoria, and she's a proud  old gal

Miezekatze (my Swiss kitty friend)

Ahh, Film 

That windowless building in lower Manhattan

In search of a "PizzeriaronPhillimoreWalk"

On Bagels

Toto and Trams

And, if you'd like to discover some new (or more recent) ones, just scroll down the previous posts. Those with podcasts are easy to find, as they incorporate a SoundCloud audio player near the top, usually just under the header photo. 

Meantime, thanks for visiting and allowing me to share.

©2014 Steve Ember

A really nice honor...

At the 2013 TIVA/DC Peer Awards Gala at the  National Press Club, with Writer/Producer/Videographer Raúl Ríos-
Díaz and his  mom Diana. Raúl proudly holds a Gold Peer Award for the documentary on the 18th century Puerto Rican
Privateer Miguel Enriquez, which he directed and which I had the pleasure to narrate.

Last night at the National Press Club was a very special evening for the scribe of this wee bloggie.

Each year, TIVA/DC (The Television, Internet, and Video Association of DC) presents its Peer Awards, honoring "The Best and Brightest of Washington, DC." These prestigious honors recognize "the professionals of the Metropolitan Washington (and mid-Atlantic) media community who have demonstrated excellence in their work, as judged by their peers."

The Peer Awards are presented every November at a lovely gala at the National Press Club, and it means so very much to be honored by one's professional peers on this special night.

While I have been honored to receive Peer Awards in 2010 and 2012 for Long-Form Narration, 2013 was not my lucky year in that category. 

But a lovely surprise came earlier in the awards presentation, when awards for video documentaries were announced and a Gold Peer Award was presented to Raúl Ríos-Díaz for directing his heartfelt documentary "Miguel Enríquez: The Real Pirate of the Caribbean," the story of a largely forgotten Puerto Rican historical figure, the privateer Miguel Enriquez, and a clip from the production was shown.

Raúl approached me several months ago and asked if I would narrate his pilot for this project. I was intrigued by the script and the story of this influential figure in the early days of Puerto Rico, who died a broken man, persecuted by the Spanish government he had served and largely shunned by his own people.

It wasn't until several months later, when Raúl  invited me to a screening, that I realized how well the narration, music, and location video had come together. I'd no idea Raúl had submitted this pilot; but, from the Peer Award judging panel's reaction, I guess we must have done something right...

All good wishes to Raúl for getting funding to complete this project and bring his vision to fruition. Meantime, it was a great honor to participate as his voice talent. A clip from Raul's Gold Peer Award winning entry is available here. If you are interested in hearing more, please e-mail me and I'll provide an audio mp3.

Congratulations to Raúl, his mom Diana, and all of his warm and supportive family for helping to make this happen.

©2013 Steve Ember

Some nice voice-over honors...

Please indulge me a Peter Pan moment, but, in Carolyn Leigh's words from that 1954 musical, I've Gotta Crow...

November was a happy month for voice-over recognition as two narrations from my VOA Learning English American History series "The Making of a Nation" received honors in two prestigious competitions.

Learning English (aka Special English) is a broadcast and web-based service for people learning English around the world. 

For readers outside the industry, every year, TIVA-DC (The Television, Internet, and Video Association of DC) presents its Peer Awards, honoring "Tbe Best and Brightest of Washington DC." These prestigious honors recognize "the professionals of the Metropolitan Washington (and mid-Atlantic) media community who have demonstrated excellence in their work, as judged by their peers." 

The Peer Awards are presented every November at a gala at the National Press Club, and it means so very much to be honored by one's professional peers on this special night. 

A very special night at the Press Club                                                                           photo courtesy www.simplyarlie.com

I received my first Peer Award for Long-Form Narration in 2010 for "Confessions of an Airplane Lover," which celebrated a life-long love affair with airplanes. It is perhaps ironic that my winning entry this year would be for the "Making of a Nation" program I produced and voiced on "The Events of 9/11," chronicling as it did the evil and perverse use of airliners.

Detail from CD Label                              ©2012 Steve Ember

Writing, producing and voicing this program, actually one of two dealing with those horrific and life-changing events brought the unfolding drama back more vividly in my mind than I might have imagined as I set out on the project, gathering audio to integrate into the narration. Nonetheless, or perhaps because of the enormity of those events, I was energized to produce two of the most intense programs of my career. I was very pleased with the results at the time, but it could not compare with learning that a jury of my peers in voice-over and production had decided to honor the program I submitted to the competition.

Detail from CD Label                             ©2012 Steve Ember

I was also once again pleased this year to learn I was a Finalist in the 2012 Association for International Broadcasting International Media Excellence Awards. The program described above was Finalist for "International Radio Personality of the Year." Another Making of a Nation program I produced and voiced, "Depression Arts and Culture" was named Finalist in the category "Most Creative Feature-Radio."

The AIB honors occasioned a trip to London in early November to attend the gala and then head up to Scotland for my first visit to that inviting country. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting images from London and Scotland on my pages on Foto-Community. Hope you'll stop by and have a look. (Click on ALL > at top right and navigate the folders "London" and "Scotland.")

Oh yes, and a listen..My voice-over web site is long overdue for an updating. When I've seen to that, I'll post the audio for the two narrations described above and link it to my wee bloggie. Meantime, happy to shoot you a high quality mp3 (especially if you are casting voice-over talent ;-)

Back to you, Tinkerbell....