Mike Bennett's Blog

Hi Everyone.
My apologies for the delay with the final episode of Season 6. It’s finished and ready to go, but I’m having some technical problems with my podcast host. There are a number of things I have to do between uploading it (done) and releasing it (not done), and I can’t because the usual controls I use to do these things have disappeared.

I’ve been in touch with customer services, so hopefully things will be sorted out soon.

Thanks for your patience.
M

Hey there! Sorry I’ve been neglectful of my website for a while. That business I mentioned in the previous post about Spotify is all sorted out now (as you probably know). It was down to copyright issues with the Amad Amma theme tune. Long story short: It had to go, and so it has.

I know, it’s a pity, but the internet isn’t run by humans anymore; it’s not like I can say to Spotify’s Help agent – as I did – that I have the rights to use the track, and then the agent pushes a button and Spotify stops red-flagging my podcasts every time I upload one. They can’t do that, at least not for a small fry like me. I’d have to go through the same red-flagging cr*p every time I posted an episode. So Amad Amma had to go. But hey, don’t worry, when the U&F TV series gets made, the record company will beg me to use the track and then everything’ll be peachy again … but don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen

But wait! What was that you said about a U&F TV show? you cry. I thought the whole TV show dream was dead. Well, yes, it was, but I’m going to have a second crack at it. Listen to Season 6 Episode 11 for details.

This latest podcast is a double episode in that it includes two of the original Patreon episodes of Underwood and Flinch: Underground. Huzzah!

It also includes the news that Patreon has recently updated how billing works for new members. Under the previous system, if you signed up near the end of the month — for example on the 27th — you’d get charged again just a few days later on the 1st of the next month. (Which is why I always had to advise you to wait till the start of the month before signing up as a supporter).

But now, Patreon uses a true subscription model — just like Netflix or Spotify. When you sign up, you’re charged that day, and then you’re charged again exactly one month later, and so on. So you always get a full month of access, no matter when you join.

Why, you could join up right now, and today would be your monthly billing day going forward. There’s no need wait to till the start of next month, you can just jump right in and start gobbling down the remainder of Season 6, Season 7, and the first 20 episodes of Season 8. Just be sure and sign up at the $3 level: U&F Listener or higher. Here’s a link: Underwood and Flinch at Patreon Check it out

That’s all for now, chums. Enjoy S6E11, and have a groovy day!
M

Hey, Spotify users! You aren’t seeing the latest two episodes of Underwood and Flinch in the free podcast feed. This is due to a copyright strike against me (probably relating to the music I use, I don’t know, Spotify hasn’t told me yet). However, it only affects Spotify. You can get U&F Episode 8, and the temporary podcast “Apology” in all other podcast apps. Sorry, but at least it’s not my fault this time. Stupid A.I. copyright content scanners. Grrr.

Major apology. Some of you may have noticed that for the last three episodes of U&F in the free podcast feed, I’ve been (unwittingly) posting episodes you’ve heard before. I had no idea I was doing this. I thought I was posting the correct episodes. Unfortunately this was based on a miscalculation where, for some baffling reason, I counted where we were in the story from the end of Season 4 instead of the end of Season 5. So instead of posting what should have been S6E6, posted S5E6.

What caused this? Senility? Maybe, I’m not as young as I used to be. More likely I was just tired or distracted. In a normal business, someone else in the team might have caught my mistake before the episode went out, but I have no team, so no one did. And when a listener said they thought they’d heard the episode before, because they were just one among the 2 or 3k listeners who hadn’t reported anything, I assumed they must be experiencing a technical issue.

The next month, someone else reported they thought they’d heard the episode before. This was now more than a coincidence, so I checked the episode, and it was what I thought it should be (though what I thought it should be was wrong). So again, since the other 2 or 3k listeners hadn’t reported any issues, I put it down to a technical glitch somewhere.

It wasn’t until it happened this month, when Gal Zilberman reported that S6E8 was the same as S5E8 that I finally realised what I’d done.

So, after a massive dose of sickening mortification, I spent yesterday correcting the three affected episodes and replacing their story content with what it should have been. The bumpers are the same (since their news is date-relevant), but the recaps and story content is corrected. All three are now replaced in the feed.

My apologies to everyone. Especially to those who reported having heard the episodes before. I should’ve investigated more thoroughly much sooner. My only excuse is that I was distracted by the writing and recording of that month’s new Patreon episode, which is always my primary focus, and there was also the cancellation of the U&F TV option, that was kind of distracting too. But whatever; the buck stops here. I f****ed up, and I’m sorry.

It won’t happen again.

All ready for your morning commute, here’s U&F Season 6: Episode 8. In this one, we return to London, where we join our other favourite member of the Flinch family and her friends as they set up house and prepare to do no good whatsoever. And stay tuned for the chit-chat bit at the end, where I share my latest scheme to bring U&F to the small screen.

Now live in my podcast feed, Underwood and Flinch, Season 6: Episode 5, in which Gerald and Miguel’s dastardly night out in Brighton begins. Meanwhile over at Patreon, Season 8: Episode 16 was recently posted for patrons at the $3 per month and over tiers. So, get your ears on and dive in with gleeful abandon. Here’s a handy link to the latest free podcast …

As I sometimes mention on my podcasts, I enjoy photography and have an Instagram account. I actually have two. My first one was set up years ago just to have a presence on the platform. I shared pictures of my day-to-day life and podcast-related things.

Then I took up photography as a hobby and started sharing more considered photos of scenes, places, people etc. that I take when I’m out with my camera.

However, after a while, I had a notion that maybe people who enjoy my podcasts were following me on Instagram because they were interested not in my photography efforts, but in who I am, and (duh) my podcasts. So I decided to start a second Instagram profile for my photography and to leave my original profile for my life and podcast stuff.

Now, you may not be interested in either. Or you may be interested in one but not the other. Or you may be interested in both. Here are some links for you to have a gander:

Mike Bennett Author (writer, podcaster, bloke)

Xylophoto (photography)

I hope you like what you see

p.s. If you do follow me, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could give my pics a “like” now and again. Like everyone else, it makes me happy to see my work getting a little love on social media. What would Underwood say to that? Probably something like, “How very shallow of you, Bennett.” To which I’d reply, “Pipe down, Milord. The internet and social media are the engines that power your existence.” That’d soften his cough.

Huzzah! It’s that time of the month again

The 100th-anniversary episode of U&F arrives in my free podcast feed. Underwood and Flinch: spilling audio blood since 2008

The monthly Season 6 begins!
If you have any comments or well-wishes for U&F’s 100th episode next month, you can leave them on this post, or head over to my Facebook page to leave them there. Many thanks