Thoughts on Being Multilingual

Episode 16 of This Podcast Is… Uncalled For

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Do you remember in Episode 3 of this podcast when Adam McKeith referred to Aioran – a conlang developed by Mike and used in Tales from the Interim Net – as a “Japanese-Spanish mix”?

Well, it kind of it – because Mike has formally studied Español and Nihon’go (日本語).

Mike also maintains something of a working knowledge of both of these radically different languages. He had attempted to learn other languages – including French, Russian, Vietnamese, and Klingon – and, as mentioned above, created a conlang (constructed language).

Other languages mentioned in this episode: Polish (the mother tongue of Mike’s paternal ancestors), Esperanto, Tenctonese (the language from Alien Nation).

Episodes of Tales from the Interim Net referenced here:

Mike’s Aioran video:

Scene from the 1966 film Incubus – which stars a pre-Star Trek William Shatner and is entirely in Esperanto:

A scene from Gaki no Tsukai (a Japanese comedy variety show):

A video from the LangFocus YouTube channel:

Music:

Bonus Post 12 – Ski Approved Mongolian Barbecue

Mike LOVES Mongolian barbecue!

Granted, he can’t eat it all the time, but if he could, he would. It is literally the food of the gods.

Mmm, Mongolian barbecue. Aaaagh!!!

Ski’s Mongolian barbecue of choice: BD’s Mongolian Grill. There are 2 in the Kansas City area – one in Overland Park, right across the street from Oak Park Mall; one in Independence, down the street from the Independence arena (itself across the interstate from Independence Center Mall).

Here is the recipe for Ski approved Mongolian barbecue:

  • Canton noodles (the really thick noodles)
  • Chicken
  • Shrimp
  • Beef (optional)
  • Green bell peppers
  • Onions
  • Broccoli
  • Pineapple
  • Sauce
    • Cilantro
    • 2 parts teriyaki sauce
    • 1 part lemon sauce
    • Spices: seasoned salt, black pepper, lemon pepper, garlic powder
    • Add 1 dash of A1 steak sauce

Best served with a side of white rice and using chopsticks.

Bonus Post 11 – Board Games Honorable Mentions

Of course, there are so many good board games that can’t make a Top 10 list, so here are some honorable mentions:

From Mike’s collection:

Not in Mike’s collection

Special Trekkie shoutout to Fizzbin.

Top 10 Board Games

Episode 15 of This Podcast Is… Uncalled For

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Mike is very much in the board gaming hobby – see the Smash Up playthrough episode as well as the DaVaun Williams episode, which is essentially a chess discussion.

Some of Mike’s board game collection. 4 of these 5 games are on Mike’s Top 10 list. The outlier is Takenoko, which is still a fun game.

Here is Mike’s Top 10 Board Games – all of which reside in his fairly modest game collection (and excluding chess):

  1. Smash Up
  2. Lords of Waterdeep
  3. Carcassonne
  4. Android: Netrunner
  5. Chez Geek
  6. Suburbia
  7. Rex: Final Days of an Empire
  8. Tokaido
  9. Seasons
  10. Kobayakawa
Another photo of part of Mike’s collection. Mike is no longer using the Big Geeky Box, having upgraded to the Bigger Geekier Box. Pandemic is not on the Top 10 list, but is an honorable mention. The Geek and Sundry box is filled with smaller games, including Top 10 list entry Kobayakawa. Coke and water are Mike’s board gaming staple drinks, along with the occasional “agnostic beverage” aka Dr. Pepper.

Music:

Thoughts on Independent Soccer and #ProRelForUSA

Episode 14 of This Podcast Is… Uncalled For

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Here are a few basic truths about soccer in the United States:

  1. The US soccer system lacks promotion and relegation – in direct violation of FIFA bylaws.
  2. The MLS/SUM/USL/USSF cadre clearly doesn’t care, as long as they get paid (see also the NFL screwing a team out of St. Louis for no good reason).
  3. There is a very vocal independent soccer movement – personified by teams like New York Cosmos, Miami FC, Detroit City FC and Chattanooga FC; and leagues like NISA, NPSL, UPSL and others – that wants to change the system and right the ship.
  4. These truths are directly responsible for the US losing to Trinidad and Tobago, which resulted in the US not participating in the 2018 World Cup.

This has been going on for far too long. So far, in fact, that Mike was talking about this on the Winning Side Coaches podcast with Jeff Stalnaker – in December 2013! By the way, we’ll hear most of that classic on today’s episode – and you will hear the now dated references to Chivas USA, Atlanta Silverbacks, and Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

This also touches on how Mike became a fan of Santa Fe Wanderers, which are a Kansas City based amateur soccer club. The club participated in UPSL (a league that features internal regional promotion and relegation) in 2018 – and won a division title before withdrawing from the league to return to the local KCK Adult Soccer League in 2019.

Santa Fe Wanderers winning a spot in the Kansas Cup semifinals (a trophy they eventually won) in May 2019. Yes, that is Mike – all sunburned – holding the trophy in the front of the team. Mike is also responsible for the banner.
Photo courtesy of Santa Fe Wanderers on Twitter (@SantaFe_KC)

One last thought to get some laughs: there exists a club in the KCKASL called Queso Blanco.

Links to consider:

Music:

Bonus Post 10 – KCKASL 2019 Final Table

This week’s episode will feature talk on reforming soccer, promotion and relegation, and independent soccer in the United States.

One of the things we touch on is Mike’s support for Santa Fe Wanderers, an amateur side based in Kansas City, KS. In 2019, Wanderers played in the local Kansas City Kansas Adult Soccer League (KCKASL) after spending 2018 in the national United Premier Soccer League (UPSL).

KCKASL just finished their 2019 regular season and will be starting playoffs this weekend. The final first division table:

  1. Santa Fe Wanderers, 31 points, +34 GD
  2. United KC Lions, 26 points, +14 GD
  3. Queso Blanco, 26 points, 0 GD
  4. El Momento, 20 points, +12 GD
  5. United KC Bears, 19 points, -3 GD
  6. Barilleros, 19 points, -13 GD
  7. Barcelona, 16 points, -8 GD
  8. Juventus, 13 points, -10 GD
  9. Deportivo El Parque, 10 points, -16 GD
  10. Focus FC, 8 points, -10 GD

Clubs of note in the first division (and Mike’s thoughts):

  • Barilleros FC also participated in UPSL in 2018. They are a team of the Spanish-speaking community – their Twitter is entirely in Spanish, and their logo is a stylized version of the Mexican flag. (By the way, if you are curious about what a Barillero is: it is the Spanish word for “rod sellers.”) Their rivalry with Wanderers is known as the Batalla del Barrio.
  • Queso Blanco are a phoenix club of Quinto Elemento, which also played in UPSL in 2018 before folding in the offseason. They really could have come up with a better name than “white cheese” in Spanish.
  • United KC – which fields two teams in the first division – are a really good club. In fact, all 3 of the league games Mike was able to attend this year featured a United KC side. Their players and supporters are very nice guys.

KC Fringe Festival Volunteers

Episode 13 of This Podcast Is… Uncalled For

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Today’s episode of the podcast is rather… fringe-y.

Mike has been a volunteer at the Kansas City Fringe Festival every year since 2011, first as an usher, then one year as a photographer (actually, it was video, but as we discussed with Pat Lamb they’re basically the same thing), and most often as a house manager (which was rebranded this year as the very confusing “venue ambassador”). Also, making buttons.

Today’s episode features three brief interviews with fellow Fringe volunteers.

Guest links:

Music:

Final Sunflower Brew Recording

Episode 12 of This Podcast Is… Uncalled For.

Click here to download and listen.

A podcast about the life and times of Mike Czerniewski would be incomplete without at least one political episode. Especially if it relates to the very first podcast he produced.

The Sunflower Brew logo, created by Mike using clipart and PhotoShop

Sunflower Brew was Mike’s first experience with podcasting. It ran from December 2012 to October 2013, hosted by Zach Luea and produced by Mike.

What was Sunflower Brew about? The name (which Mike came up with) suggests two things: Kansas (the Sunflower State) and beer. It was about Kansas politics (from a center-left political point of view) and craft beers were consumed during the recordings.

In addition to doing the podcast, Sunflower Brew also did a few videos (dubbed Sunflower Brew TV) and recorded the audio from the Johnson County Democratic Party’s Second Saturday breakfasts.

The podcast officially came to an end when Zach and his wife had twins. Mike continued to do Second Saturday recordings until December 2014 – which leads us to today’s episode.

The official Sunflower Brew photo of Kyle Russell, who was the very first guest we had on that podcast.

Today’s recording actually comes from the November 2014 recording, shortly after a disastrous election cycle. In the clip, Kyle Russell – who was chair of the county party from 2010 to 2014, and was coincidentally the very first guest on Sunflower Brew – gave his farewell speech as he stepped down from being county party chair.

Although the audio is now 5 years old, it is worth the listen as well as closer examination.

Music:

  • Intro music: “Iron Bacon” by Kevin MacLeod
  • Outro music: “Sunflower Brew Theme Song” by Mike Czerniewski (using GarageBand automatic music maker function)

2019 Kansas City Free to Breathe Walk: Michael Czerniewski – Free to Breathe

You may recall from our discussion with Trevor Martin that Mike’s friend and film mentor Dave Berry passed away in May 2018 from stage 4 lung cancer.

You may also recall from our discussion with Matt Sewell that Mike’s high school football coach Steve Shelton has been fighting the disease – and is presently cured.

Mike will be helping his old coach out in memory of his late friend.  Click on the link below to see how you can help out.

Source: 2019 Kansas City Free to Breathe Walk: Michael Czerniewski – Free to Breathe

Thoughts on Being an Ex-Mormon

Episode 11 of This Podcast Is… Uncalled For

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Fun fact: Mike is both a lapsed Catholic and an Ex-Mormon.

The Kansas City Missouri Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, located in Kansas City’s Northland near Liberty. Opened in 2012, the Temple is on the scenic route for Mike’s commute to work.

How did that happen? He was raised Catholic, drifted away from the Catholic Church, and – as a senior in high school – was visited by missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (informally known as the Mormon Church or the LDS Church), baptized and confirmed on New Year’s Eve, and given both the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods.

However, he eventually left the Church – officially – for a few reasons, and that is the crux of today’s Thoughts episode.

The Temple Lot in Independence, Missouri. The building with the spiral roof is the Community of Christ Temple (which, unlike LDS Temples, is open to the public). The Church of Christ (Temple Lot), another splinter group from the LDS, is in the center of the frame. Joseph Smith claimed this site was where the Garden of Eden was located.

Links to consider:

Music:

Additional audio is from Mormonism and Masonry by Samuel H. Goodwin, available in the public domain via LibriVox.