Colin's Last Stand: Fireside Chats is Go (Patreon)

Hey All,

Today, I went to the beach. As I lay on the sand shoving a pepper turkey sandwich into my mouth (seriously), I suddenly recalled that tonight marks the end of August. And that means that a final verdict needs to be rendered not only in this month's Topic Election (have you voted yet, $2+/month subscribers?), but also in the question of a possible podcast. Will it or won't it happen?

The goal was to reach 5,000 subscribers here on Patreon by the end of the month. During the month of August, the number went above and below that goal several times. That's good enough, as far as I'm concerned, for a slate of episodes in September. And we can see where it goes from there (I'm feeling optimistic). When hordes of people came out in such great numbers early on, it represented a resounding show of force that not many people are lucky enough to ever experience. Having anywhere near the level of support I still have nearly six months and 41 episodes out is the very definition of an honor. I want to do this show as a thank you to all of the people that have made -- and continue to make -- CLS a reality, and to explore some new ideas and topics along the way.

I've settled on a name for the show, which will officially be called Colin's Last Stand: Fireside Chats. This recommendation was delivered in some respect by multiple people, and I think it's a great name. It throws back not only to my dude FDR -- one of American history's most fascinating figures -- but to a beloved sequence of episodes of my old podcast, Podcast Beyond. The name solidifies my intention with the podcast: To explore completely random topics that fall outside of the realm of history and politics, which CLS itself is dedicated to.

I've also read your feedback, and agree with you that this show will eventually be a nice way to bring in some other voices every so often. Today, I purchased some basic equipment to help make that a reality. I don't know if it'll happen, I don't know if it'll work, but I want to make episodes of Fireside Chats that allow for a guest. I think that would be a blast, especially when coupled with the "random" approach to topics. I'm going to pilot the guest format with my father when he's here to record the 9/11 episode of CLS by asking him a set of questions, and seeing where the conversation takes us (such as "what happens when you die?"). Maybe I'll post it as an episode, if we like the results.

Much like the interviews I'd conduct in the gaming industry, I want to see where the interviewee takes things, and I actually think this would be a funny way to introduce some of the characters in my life, who are all very interesting people (Erin, Ramon, Mike Pope, and the like). In some way, this is fulfilling one of the things I was excited about doing at Kinda Funny: Those random, one-off interviews with people we'd put up for Patrons. I did one with my mom that people loved, one with Ramon about music, one with Erin's cousin's boyfriend (the roboticist) about the future of technology, and, before I quit, I had one lined up with an astronomer to talk about space travel. As such, I'm also going to seek out people in the CLS community every so often that have cool jobs, expertises, and stories to tell, and bring them on the show to chat.

The first episode of Colin's Last Stand: Fireside Chats will go live on September 5th for $5+/month Patrons, and on September 8th for everyone else. I want to talk to you about my lifelong love of video games, and how my feelings about them have evolved over the years. I think Episode 1 of Fireside Chats is a good venue for that.

This is gonna be a fun project for me, and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for helping make it a reality. -Colin