Today I celebrate the 7th anniversary of my starting blogging, first with Blogger, then with Movable Type, then with WordPress, and now with Drupal. This year I've struggled more than any year to write something compelling, and today is no different. Today is also the 7th of the month, meaning it's time to update you on my podcast listening habits.
I unsubscribed from The Talk Show with John Gruber and Dan Benjamin, primarily because their smug nitpicking of Apple's offerings, seemingly endless discussions of the show's format (in at least one show they discuss it for a third of the episode!), the several minutes long paid commercials in the middle, weird segues into Stanley Kubrick and baseball, and my inability to tell either man's voice apart wasn't for me. 12 episodes was enough for me to get the point.
I also unsubscribed from the ChalkedUp podcast not over content, but rather because their feed was broken or missing. As far as I can tell, they're still pumping them out, I just can't get them into my iTunes directly via subscription, and when I sync it up, my iPod. I emailed them and everything. I'll re-subscribe if anybody knows how.
I added two podcasts to my list: recommended by Mason on my Facebook wall, Sound Opinions, offering record reviews and band interviews (the former remind me of Wilson & Alroy, who also sometimes disagree publicly on how good some albums are) and the Sex is Fun Radio Show. It may make me blush a little, but I'm open to the idea that I can improve in many areas and enjoy learning with my partner girlfriend.
(Mason noticed I was playing a lot of Book's Music episodes and wondered why. It's diverse and great, that's why. He knew that I'd been listening to it because he looked at my last.fm playlist. Only one other guy I know cares enough about my playlist to remark about it. Something tells me that, as cool as I think Last.fm is and how useful I find it to know what people in my circle of friends are listening to, that it's not really a big phenomenon. As, say, Facebook.)
Despite yet another hiphop recession for CBC Radio 3, it's the only way I discover great Canadian music. Like Akufen, straight outta Montreal with the chip-chop house sample-based house music. I've been playing the My Way album on repeat for pretty much the last 48 hours straight.
I make an effort to have the
Richard — Wed, 2008-01-09 16:42I make an effort to have the podcasts I listen to show up on my Last.fm playlist, going even to the extent of emailing KEXP to get the MP3 tags fixed for their Music That Matters podcast. (So far after a few emails back and forth, not so good, my listens still don't show up there.) It skews my music compatibility with people towards others who also listen to podcasts.
I added some links to your comments to those who want to check the podcasts out. I couldn't find a reliable link to the Word Balloon podcast, though.
Mason is a node, since he knows people from multiple circles of friends.
I much prefer Daring
Jeffery Simpson — Thu, 2007-12-27 21:02I much prefer Daring Fireball to the Talk Show, though I don't seem to have the trouble with telling their voices apart. It's better when they have Mac stuff to talk about, otherwise as you say they do tend to get into talking about how they're going to do a podcast more than is really interesting for a listener.
I tend to find my favorite podcasts are topic specific, and tend actually not to be tech related. I have the odd tech podcast (The Talk Show, TWiT, TWiM), but I actually find the best ones are about completely non-technical areas. The Guardian has a load of great podcasts, and their football (soccer) one is a twice weekly must listen for me. Also as a comics nerd I love Word Balloon which features interviews with the big names in comics, as well as people who work in both comics and TV like Jeff Loeb (who is a writer/producer on Heroes and worked on Lost and Smallville before). Also iFanboy is good for comics.
As for Last.fm, I used to keep my Podcasts out of the playlist because I was worried that they'd start playing when I was using the web player to listen to music at work, but now I don't stop them from being scobbled. I actually find Last.fm great.
And I find it odd that we both know Mason.
I subscribed to the podcast
Richard — Mon, 2007-12-24 20:22I subscribed to the podcast at http://chalkedup.com/articles/rss_podcasts/mp3. Thanks Matt!
hey man, sorry about the
Matt — Mon, 2007-12-24 11:43hey man, sorry about the podcast on chalkedup. For some reason, everytime we update the site, it messes up the feed. You have to delete it and resubscribe! Sorry about the inconvenience and thanks for the support.
“Despite yet another
Richard — Mon, 2007-12-10 21:40“Despite yet another hiphop recession for CBC Radio 3 [...]”
When I wrote that, I hadn't yet listened to the Track of the Day for December 7th, which was Ghislain Poirier' "Jusqu'en haut (feat. Omnikrom)". Also, the podcast #133 "Pardon My French"—also released on December 7th—started off with three hiphop tracks: Shad's "The Old Prince Still Lives At Home", Ghislain Poirier's "City Walking (feat. Abdominal)" and Cadence Weapon's "In Search Of The Youth Crew". So I take back that CBC Radio's experiencing a hiphop recession. Instead, it's Canadian hiphop boom times!
Hey, I saw that you were
John Book — Mon, 2007-12-10 11:55Hey, I saw that you were listening to my podcast. I'm glad you like the diversity. If you have any suggestions for future editions, let me know.
I'd like a podcast where you
Richard — Mon, 2007-12-10 17:15I'd like a podcast where you play two Genesis songs back-to-back. Oh wait, you did that already. There's nothing much I'd change. Keep up the good work John!