Where's Ken.
sparechange
February 24, 2008, 05:50 AM posted in General DiscussionSeriously, if he's leaving, you should just tell us. None of this letting us all make wild speculations for 8 months, and then suddenly he shows up on Dear Amber to tell us how he's been living it up with some other project this whole time. Do you realize how closely this parallels the girlfriend who doesn't call for two weeks, and then kindly drops you an email to tell you she's been seeing someone else for a month now? Not that I would know what that's like...... *sniffle*
I also can't help noticing the timing of John's announcement about redoing the older lessons. Will John be playing the role of Ken on these recordings too?
Don't think we can't see what you're up to...
RJ
February 25, 2008, 03:11 PMWell, I have heard a few....... you are quite the ladies man from what I hear.
xiaohu
February 24, 2008, 08:30 AMsparechange: Yes we all miss Ken. Ken 我们都想死你!
RJ
February 24, 2008, 08:57 AMPerhaps Ken was just millions of lines of artificially intelligent code (no jokes please) , and, well, "icebergs happen".
rsmith91
February 24, 2008, 10:04 AMI miss Ken, though I do think it's nice swapping round hosts sometimes. Maybe you could swap Amber and Jenny for a couple of lessons... I can't really imagine Ken leaving - I expect he's off working on French/German/etc. pod - maybe he's interviewing potential hosts or something.
henning
February 24, 2008, 10:11 AMRJBerki, negative. I met him in person. You can trust me. Well, as long as I am not artificial myself (you never know). From what I have read, heard and seen, Ken is busy driving his vision of learning foreward, and getting CPod to run was only the first stepping stone on his way. Ken and John indeed follow two distinctive approaches. John is more analytical. He looks at the functions and details of the Chinese sentence mechanics, while Ken has a more guts-driven and emotional approach that emphases the bigger structural parts. Over time, the John approach became more and more valuable for me. I think the current division of labor (Ken - newbie and elementry, John, Intermediate onwards, Advanced native only) is close to perfect.
RJ
February 24, 2008, 10:27 AMHenning, you too are virtual?- ah, how deep does the rabbit hole go? All Joking aside - I totally agree with you and I have said also that their styles are different and fitting to what they do. Definately a close to perfect division of labor as you say. Ken - be of good cheer, all publicity is good publicity but the bad news is, a day off has taken on a whole new dimension. You now have to consider your fans (yes there are more than one). -RJ
ratatouille
February 24, 2008, 12:33 PMyeah, Ken and Jenny are more than the sum of the parts - no offense to John. This has grown over the years, witness their initial lessons which were a bit wooden but still hinted at the well oiled Yin and Yang that has evolved. I particularly enjoyed their recent Valentine's lesson with Jenny's admonishments of Ken resembling the gentle jibing of a real-life couple. As with other couples, the pressures of Ken's work are having a real strain on their 'relationship' and it is having an impact on the Cpod 'family'. We are wondering what is happening with the two people who have brought us into this world of language podcasting. The Cpoddies need to know!
John
February 24, 2008, 02:12 PMsparechange, No, Ken and Jenny (not me!) have already started with the re-recordings. Ken's a busy guy, so if he needs me to fill in for him every now and then, I will. It's not me "taking over."
trevelyan
February 24, 2008, 03:57 PMTruth be told, I tried replacing Ken with a machine, but Jenny complained. Looks like we're stuck with him.
urbandweller
February 24, 2008, 07:19 AM请问，Ken 在哪里？？
bazza
February 24, 2008, 10:40 PMI can confirm Ken is real and a busy person. I only met him long enough to say hi, then I got distracted by Jenny and I didn't really see him again after that hehe.
sparechange
February 25, 2008, 12:06 AMI think we should make a new drinking game out of Bazza's Jenny comments. :P Something tells me none of us would ever walk again.
ratatouille
February 25, 2008, 12:20 AMI wonder what if Jenny was the one too busy. How would John and Ken do together? Bazza would be distraught! 他們都怎么辦？
kencarroll
February 25, 2008, 02:33 AMGuys, I'm chuffed that anyone cares!!! I have indeed been invovled in projects other than ChinesePod for some time. However, I have absolutely no intention of leaving this incredible team and community. In fact, I am looking at ways to get back to do more time over here.I hope to have more time here, starting soon. I really do appreciate the that you mighyt be even interested! Thx to all of you.
RJ
February 25, 2008, 02:55 AMKen, I would watch John, rumor has it, he is planning a coup to unify the elementary and intermediate hosting title. We know he could never fill your shoes (his feet are too big) Hurry back. Good luck with whatever you are doing. RJ
John
February 25, 2008, 04:04 AMMUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
fudawei
February 25, 2008, 05:35 AMSo, that rumor about Ken taking over Da Shan's job at CCTV was premature?
jpvillanueva
February 25, 2008, 03:00 PMUh! Why is nobody spreading wild rumors about me at SpanishPod? Hmph! : (
sparechange
February 24, 2008, 10:24 PMThanks, John. I hope I didn't imply that I thought you weren't good enough to fill Ken's shoes, because that's certainly not the case. Your feet are legendary. :D Henning: I agree with your thoughts on the "division of labor." I suppose that's why I was feeling so paranoid; I didn't want to see the chemistry get altered. I suppose I can rest easy now.
boran
February 24, 2008, 07:02 AMThe only semi-official word on this was a comment from John in the "Time for Class" newbie lesson where he says that Ken has just been busy and that he is not taking over for Ken. Also, I remember in the conversation about upgrading older lessons, Jenny stated that Ken and she were in the studio that day recording some of these lessons. If Ken was leaving I'm sure he would send you at least a "Dear sparechange..." letter.