Puff Piece: The InsideDGW Interview - The Giz Wiz' biggest fan
Puff Piece: The InsideDGW Interview
By Dane Golden (aka InsideTWiT)
InsideTWiT readers know the simple theme of this blog: bring you great info about the hosts, content and fans of various shows found on TWiT. Basically, this is a fan blog told from inside the TWiT sanctum. But there are several great TWiT fan blogs and sites told from outside these hallowed walls. One of them is InsideDGW (http://insidedgw.vox.com), perhaps the most extensive podcast fan site on the planet, dedicated to The Daily Giz Wiz, hosted by Dick DeBartolo with Leo Laporte. The Daily Giz Wiz has more than 550 episodes, and the person who maintains this blog maintains complete anonymity. He has, however, consented to this interview via email.
InsideTWiT: First of all, why all the secrecy? On one episode (you can probably tell me which one), Leo and Dick speculated that you were the President of the United States. Could you confirm or deny this rumor? You've confirmed to me that you are a man, not a woman. Can we release this info at least?
InsideDGW: No, you may not release that info. I don't talk about sex in public.
As for the secrecy, if FakeSteveJobs could get so much mileage out of keeping mum about his fake identity, getting himself that big fat book deal, I reckon I could do better. When the publishers ring, which is any minute now, I'll be ready with my unauthorised autobiography "I Never Knew The Man", named after and a hommage to Leo's yet-to-be-published unauthorised biography "I Never Met The Man", mentioned in Episode 320. The sub-title of my book will be "Everything you don't need to know about me". Here's a preview:
"... And then I sat down and wrote another blog entry ... And then I sat down and wrote another blog entry ..."
On Leo's conjecture in Episode 494, I will borrow a quote from that great statesman and Prime Minister Sir Francis Urquhart who presided over British politics in the early 1990's, "You may very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment."
InsideTWiT: How are you called to action when you write these postings, which you seem to get online very quickly? Is there a spotlight in the sky shaped like a big handlebar mustache? Do you have to put on a special secret identity superhero costume to write this blog? Does this costume have a spork on it?
InsideDGW: Dean, you are such a self-publicist, but I will oblige. A superhero costume, you mean like this one?
No, I don't think so. I do have a vestige of self-respect. If I were ever to wear a costume to do my blog, I would wear this.
InsideTWiT: How did you become a fan of the Daily Giz Wiz. Are you a Mad Magazine fan? Did you watch TechTV? When did you first start listening to the Daily Giz Wiz.
InsideDGW: I don't know how you do it, but you've dragged it out of me. Here come my confessions. I am not a Mad Magazine fan. I have never watched TechTV. I only started listening to DGW with Episode 200. I had been listening to many of Leo's podcasts before then, but not DGW. Not sure why, but probably because I was never really into gadgets. The nice big round number of 200 attracted me to the show. Leo on the other hand, loves the number 150, as it gives him the chance to show off with the word sesquicentennial. Listening to Episode 200, I was immediately struck by the warmth of the podcast, its candour, and lack of pretensions - to anything remotely resembling quality. Since then, as the cliche goes, I've never looked back. There was nothing to see. Just audio.
InsideTWiT: What about the Weekly Giz Wiz? Did you know that Dick sometimes appears on Leo's Tech Guy radio show/podcast? Or did I just create a whole bunch of work for you?
InsideDGW: Yes, I do listen to the Weekly Giz Wiz, when Leo remembers to put Dick on. Leo tries to save his radio show, and drags Dick down with him.
InsideTWiT: How much time does it take you to write each post? You seem to put a good amount of detail into each episode, including a lot of images and links that were only mentioned in joke asides. Where do you get all this info? From Dick's website http://www.GizWiz.biz? Google? What?
InsideDGW: That's a trade secret, I'm afraid. I'm still waiting to hear from the venture capitalists about a multi-million dollar buyout of my blog and I don't want to disclose my hand prematurely.
InsideTWiT: One of the frustrating things about Vox is that it's hard to search individual blogs. What's the best way to search for info on http://insideDGW.vox.com? I ask this partially for myself, because I both have a Vox blog but also sometimes want to find out info on your blog, which is of course the best way of finding out any info about the show.
InsideDGW: Search on Vox is virtually impossible. But there may well be a solution. Apparently I'm not the only one who does things that serve no useful purpose. So does Google, it seems. If you type into Google's search box - "site:insidedgw.vox.com searchword", you may find what you're looking for. Or just type "insidedgw searchword", but don't ask me why Google keeps asking whether you mean "insidedge" - which doesn't exist anywhere on the web in any shape or form, but Google will insist.
For those who are not very computer-savvy, Google has a search function. Like the internet, it's on your computer.
As far as I know, you can't search for any particular text in an individual blog on Vox. The text search is global. You can search for tags within an individual blog, but it's unlikely you'll get a better result than Google. Since Vox's recent change of interface, you need to type in the URL manually. It's http://insidedgw.vox.com/library/posts and type in a word in the "search/filter posts by tag" box. Only posts with that tag will appear. You have to get the tag exactly right, however. So, searching for "gadget" will not give you posts tagged with "gadgets", and that's very frustrating. Certain tags will give you too many results to be useful. I'm still trying to put more relevant tags back into the older episodes, but that may be a lost cause. I've just blown my multi-million dollar buyout deal.
InsideTWiT: There are other good info sites on The Daily Giz Wiz, like The Daily Giz Wiz Search (http://www.gizwizsearch.int.pl), run by Ludwik Trammer of Poland, and the DGW Looker-Upper-Listener (http://www.roundobia.com/dgw/), managed by Collins (don't forget to include the podtrac code in there guys, please). Do you communicate with these other guys, or do you consider them rivals? Do you guys hate each other's guts or collaborate?
InsideDGW: I can't speak for them, and in Ludwik's case, he can't speak for himself either, as he doesn't speak any English, except "I'll be here."
Speaking for myself, no, no, no, of course I don't hate their guts [Ed: followed by an insincere laugh]. These guys are so clever and enthusiastic. All this fancy coding and computer wizardry and what not. They deserve all the attention, especially that Ludwik. On the other hand, I'm just a lowly scribe taking show-notes, toiling away over something far more modest and insignificant. It's called real work.
InsideTWiT: What is your favorite gadget and favorite episode of the Daily Giz Wiz? What are your least favorites? Which, in your view, was the funniest episode?
InsideDGW: Those are not the important questions. The real question is, who is the only guest ever to have had the honour of appearing on DGW? The answer is Amber MacArthur.
InsideTWiT: Which are the most notorious/famous episodes in Giz Wiz lore?
InsideDGW: The most famous episodes are those where Dick and Leo mentioned my blog. Anything else is notorious.
InsideTWiT: What are some ongoing Giz Wiz themes (concepts rather than musical themes) that those new to the show should know about, such as Totinos Pizza Rolls, LEDs, etc?
InsideDGW: I don't mean to be pedantic, but it's the Tostino Pizza Rolls. What are some of the themes running through the Daily Giz Wiz shows? Hard work, dedication, self-sacrifice, and an unstinting aspiration to inspire others, are qualities you can rule out pretty quickly. To say the shows have ongoing themes would suggest a degree of cohesion and coherence about the podcasts which one would be hard pressed to find.
On the other hand, what I think listeners can take away with them is the unmistakable message that you shouldn't take Dick and Leo too seriously, or yourself, or life. But that's a trite observation.
InsideTWiT: What exactly is the Gadget Warehouse and which episode did Leo actually visit it?
InsideDGW: It's a dump, isn't it?. Leo visited it in Episode 246 and felt right at home there.
InsideTWiT: What are the Giz Wiz musical themes?
InsideDGW: I'm not a musicologist and I'm completely out of my depths here with musical themes and leitmotifs. You could try the question with Robert Wagner. I think he wrote the Ring.
InsideTWiT: Which days ask for donations?
InsideDGW: I'm afraid I'm losing you here. Is this question even grammatical?
InsideTWiT: Which episodes were you mentioned on?
InsideDGW: I have been mentioned on Episodes 397, 418, 494 and 507. Not that I've been counting. 4.
InsideTWiT: How much do you get paid for this?
InsideDGW: I thought you'd never ask. Whatever your budget is, I'll take it.
InsideTWiT: Why should someone listen to the Daily Giz Wiz? What if they don't like gadgets?
InsideDGW: Everyone should listen to DGW, whether they like gadgets or not, because as Dick and Leo say, "The worse your life is, the better we sound." And if you think your life is great, then it's time for a reality check with those two. I say, I do think Dick and Leo are sounding better than ever.
InsideTWiT: Do you listen to any other TWiT shows, or are you a pure Giz Wiz guy? Do you have time for anything else?
InsideDGW: I listen to many of Leo's shows. I'm not a discerning kinda guy. Do I have time for anything else? Not after this interview.
InsideTWiT: How many gadgets mentioned on this show do you actually own?
InsideDGW: For a man who has everything, I own almost none of the DGW gadgets. I do have a Gorillapod from Episode 151, a 2nd gen iPod Nano mentioned in Episode 152 (which doesn't really count), and I've bought the Butter Wizard (Episode 216) as a gift for a friend. By the way, I think it's a little remiss of you not to have asked me which is my favourite DGW gadget. It happens to be the simple Butter Wizard.
InsideTWiT: What else should listeners know about the Giz Wiz that I haven't asked here?
InsideDGW: I have no idea. My blog is about everything you don't need to know about the Daily Giz Wiz. Do you even read my blog? [Ed: InsideDGW storms out of the room. End of interview.]
