Voices and accents matter. It's not like this is big news. We all know it - and I think it's something I miss with you guys. (Also, I knew 'as if in a dream' that you were just dying to see our front hallway.)
I've seen one of you, spoken to two others of you, and heard one of your voices on a link thing (paca); it was nice to confirm that we're not only ether.
So....here's my voice, reading you the paragraphs I wrote about in 'Edit Me' earlier on.
This is my first attempt at one of these, so I sound a bit like I'm hollering out from inside a nice cozy tin can. But the only reason I chose YouTubing is because I don't know how to use anything else and get it into the blog (actually, I don't know how to use this either, which is why it sounds louder than I sounded when I was reading it. And Blondster did the whole thing for me on her Mac. If she hadn't been around, there'd be no sound going on, I can tell you.)
If any of you guys know how to embed any other sound things, let me know. And now, it's somebody else's turn...
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I'm (sort of) reading you a story...
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66 comments:
Can't listen to it right now, I'm at work. But that's terribly brave of you! I hate, hate, hate hearing my own voice.
Hey, ril. I'm about to go to work myself. Nice to 'see' you before I leave!
I'm not nuts about my voice either, but I thought it would be funny to do this. I don't know why, now that I heard it, as I'm sure you all are going to be subtracting IQ points from me right and left, for having a Southern accent. Maybe that's what makes it funny.
Also- the hallway looks dark (it was light when I was reading) and the picture is "backwards" like a mirror. The whiteness on the right is actually the slat blinds covering the front windows - and they were actually on the left from where I was sitting.
Hmmmm. I have no idea why.
Sounds OK to me — and it helps me to hear how you sound out the rhythm of the words. My only complaint is that you're reading a little fast — but when you've got a big fluffy microphone thrust in your face it's hard not to think you're being attacked by a flying killer rabbit.
I've had a go at this voice thingy myself using Podbean. You can get 100MB of free space and you upload your sound files like you would to an online backup system. All you have to do then is paste a snippet of text into your blog post and a dinky MP3 player thingy appears, its PLAY button waiting to be pressed by multitudes of adoring fans.
Robin - you're an American!
It's so strange, I knew in my head that you're American but it's weird to hear you. Weird and good - I love your accent Robin.
I'll do one too if I can work out how the heck to do it.
All I can say is- Nice Rug.
Okay, you're going to kill me, but take a long look at your video.
A narrow corridor with a landing strip of a rug right in the middle?
I love the way you say "tired," Robin.
And I love your accent, too! Your voice is a little lower than I imagined; I like it very much ; )
The only way I know how to do sound is to take a video with my digital camera and upload it. I'll try something today. I tried the other week filming myself, but I just felt too stupid. So I'll find something else to film while I'm talking.
But now what to say?
I was just about to say that I love the way you say tired and Kiersten beat me to it. You have a kinda husky thing going on which is very easy on the ear too.
I don't understand why a southern accent is associated with low IQ! I think it's lovely.
Way to go, Robin! Very nice to hear your voice!
And don't sweat the techy stuff. I am supposedly a computer geek, but I have no Ipod, no MP3 player, my cell phone has no camera let alone a frickin' keyboard. And I haven't done near the amount of technical stuff on my blog.
You go, girl!
I've posted mine, Robin ; )
Jane, if you'd grown up in a northern state in the US, you'd understand why a southern accent is associated with a low IQ. :-)
Seriously, I think you did well with this. At first I thought it sounded a little monotone. My favorite like was, "Yeah, he was a tee shirt guy..." That's where I thought you were in full voice, both with the words and your delivery.
I promise I'll try it at some point, too, but I'm not quite ready yet.
I'm up.
I love your accent--add 10 IQ points! Your voice is very calming. That's for sharing. Maybe I'll give it a try.
Oh my goodness, you MUST go listen to WO's.
Wow. Compared to him and Robin, I think I'll go take my down out of shame.
Kiersten said you had a great voice, and I have to agree. I love hearing stories read with a Southern accent, feels like home . . . even though I'm not from the South. Go figure.
I'm done.
From Robin:
Hey, I'm emailing you from work.
I'm seeing the comments come through on my email, but I can't comment from the blogfree zone of work. it's killing me!
So can you pop on there again and tell everybody that I'm reading along and I'm happy you guys are putting voices on your blogs so we can hear each other, and I can hardly WAIT to get home and hear you all?
Also- please tell Peet and Whirl they're both right- my speaking voice was faster than normal because this was new to me - same with the delivery- a bit nervous from the newness. I have another one planned - I'm gonna try that PodBean thing out and see if I can do it instead.
AND - tell Arlyle I said he was bad - and maybe he isn't getting enough of somethin' at home!
Do you mind, honey?
Robin
Hey, just got the chance to listen. Nice. You don't sound at all like you, of course, 'cause I'd already decided what you sound like, and that wasn't it. But I think you do you better than I did, so good for you for that.
How weird it is to be hearing someone like that; it's almost like you're a real, live person, and not a character on a blog!
I like the accent. Kind of reminds me of the Scots accent (more Edinburgh than Glasgow); I love the Scots accent, especially on a woman. I wonder if the Scots were the first to settle the South...?
Don't be a thinkin' y'all'll get to hear me anytime soon, now, mind.
ril,
The Scots and the Irish, and their combo plan called, in the Northern South, the 'Scotch-Irish', settled here, and I do believe you're onto something with the accent.
I heard myself talking in Scotland and in Ireland, in words here and there.
Example - my father, from a depression-era Irish ghetto of sorts, and all of his age cohorts, say "shar" for "shower". And I heard the same thing in Ireland.
Well, there you go. I'm smarter than I thought!
Why can't we hear you?
You can post it here. You can guest post here any time you want.
Even non-voice.
I'd love it, and so would everyone else that had any sense.
I might cave when I'm back home and can record something; but I'm terrified everyone will discover I sound like a dork.
No way could you be a dork.
Highly intelligent and insightful, yes. 'Dry-Funny as hell' - absolutely. DorK? No way.
If you have time, check out the other voices. It's wonderful to hear them.
Robin also gives good phone.
;-)
Joking, joking! AHGGHRHG! I don't have sound on my computer. WTF? But this is sooo cool. I'm going to resolve these technical difficulties and go listen to everyone's....
Hey, Chris! Yeah- run around and listen.
It's fun!
And, um, we need your voice, sweetie.
Chris, your computer has no sound? You need to get yourself an eight year old. I've found they can fix computer problems in a trice if the problems interfere with their game play time.
Pete,
Are you gonna do this sometime soon?
Well drat -- Kiersten, FH, and Robin, y'all have some quite lovely white space on your blogs. My firewall doesn't let your file types through. :o(
WO, though, comes through loud and clear. Hurray for Podbean! His voice reminds me of ... some famous British person who reads lines. Just can't quite connect the sound waves. It'll come to me in the middle of the night, I'm sure.
Still, I've had the pleasure of hearing Robin over the phone. And, like Kiersten, I found her voice to be lower than I'd imagined it would be. So now you know, I spend unimaginable amounts of time imagining what my blog buddies' voices sound like. Welcome to my Friday nights.
Hey phoenix - I think you should post a voice thingie here. Let me know if you wanna, honey.
You bet I will. I'm just trying to figure out what I should read. Plus, I been workin' all day, hon. And now I have kid play time for a while.
Maybe I'll have my 9 year old do the filming. All I have is a cruddy little mpeg feature on our still camera, so it won't be top quality. But I'm sure my sheer brilliance will make up for it.
Hey, ril, weren't you the one that suggested some sort of "sing one line" thing for the EE blogiversary? And now you won't read for us?
Ril, maybe we already imagine you sounding like a dork.
Just kidding.
I had one friend surprised that I didn't sound more "wry" as she put it. Turns out I'm nicer sounding in real life than my writing would suggest. Of course, I was telling a story. If I had been going on a rant about something, my voice probably would have been a tad different.
So just talk about something cool, and I'm sure we'll all be impressed. And even if we think you sound like a dork, we'd be too nice to say so. Just listen to my voice; I'd never say that ; )
Also, Robin, kudos for triggering this whole thing. It was so fun!
Oh, I think having him film sounds like a great idea - you could do one of your cool posts - post it both in written form and in voice form?
That was for you, Pete - sorry - should've said!
Well, maybe I'll do something. But not today, 'cause I can't be bothered to put my teeth back in.
Thanks, Kiersten!
OK, ril. We'll see what ya got later on, when, ya know, your teeth are all in and everything.
Nice accent! Different from how I imagined. I imagined...sterner.
Hi Robin, since you're the only person that has read my new blog, I want you to see a much different side of me.
http://www.myspace.com/bedtimebuddies
And it's not what you think. It's totally g-rated
Why can't I get
www.myspace.com/bedtimebuddies to hyperlink
"since you're the only person that has read my new blog,"
Not so! I read it too! I just didn't comment. Should I? I suppose so. I'll go back.
Thanks McKoala.
Sometimes I'm whiny and needy like that.
Done. And Bedtime Buddies is a whole other side to you!
Now, shouldn't you be sleeping?
All right. I finally figured out what I wanted to read, and I read it. I think I sound like my brother.
me, talking in a chair
Hey — it's 8.30am and the world is shrill. Just to let you know — you passed the Hangover Test.
This is very cool. I've been traveling around the blogosphere listening to these tonight. Robin, your voice is a bit deeper than I imagined. Basically, you sounds like people I grew up with -- but you don't write like people I grew up with. (I'm not sure what I mean by that, so don't press me.)
I've sorta kinda added my own now.
Hey you all -
It was wonderful waking up to all the fun talk! I'm going visiting now...
Arlyle - I'm also linking - sorry- thought I'd already done it. Also could've sworn I'd put Book Roast on here...
And as was mentioned earlier- please pop a note on here when/if you have a new voice goody for us to listen to, so everyone knows about it.
Thanks!!!
Love this excerpt! And you sound exactly like Robin.
;-)
Robin~ we're still not linked!
Next time, I'll get what I'm promised before I put out!
But on a lighter note . . .
No, I'm not :)
Is now, R. Lyle!
OIC~ Arlyle would be first . . . R. Lyle is right in the middle.
Your husband and his petty jealousy. JK. Thanks for the add,
Sincerely,
You Know
Hey Robin! Having heard your voice in conversation, I was a little surprised in the beginning, as it does start out somewhat monotone, but then you come to life about halfway in. You've got a great voice, you know I'm a fool for a Southern accent.
Oh, and I'm back at the beach, for a little while, anyway. I'll be going north again next weekend, if not sooner. It is gooood to be home, though. I'm tempted to go to bed early, just because I'm so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, but I'm wired on caffeine so it'll be a while.
Hey Wood,
Good to see you. Hope all is OK!
Maybe we should try reading each other's stuff some time.
Hey Whirl,
I'm up for it. That would be a really interesting exercise.
Let's do it, then. Want the two fo us to start out (I have a piece I'd love to hear you read) - or do you want everyone who wants to participate to put their name in a hat of sorts, and we draw names?
I'd envisioned the latter, but would be equally happy with the former.
My only concern with name-drawing is that if Kiersten got one of yours, she'd pass out reading it.
She's young and innocent and we need to let the little girl stay that way.
I, on the other hand...
OR- you could send in something nasty-free. A think piece of sorts.
Are we allowed to use fake accents?
I think fake accents would be a scream!
I'm in if you all are in. Let's do this idea of WO's.
I'm in.
Whirl's (obviously) in.
Pete, you're in, right?
Who else?
And why don't we maybe post on the same day - maybe this coming Thursday? Give everyone time (I always need time, as I alway have to have help).
Sure, why not? But I may not be able to play this week. Family visiting from out of town, so I might be going dark until July 3rd or so.
lol. It's true, I'd probably be incapable of reading most of WO's stuff.
And I'm HORRIBLE at accents. Much to my self-pity.
But it would be fun. I'm in.
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