Bloggasm

As an avid iPod user, I think podcasts are the coolest thing since sliced bread. A great online magazine would have a mixture of articles, blog posts, podcasts, and Youtube video. Because of their rising popularity a podcast association has been formed so they can collaborate on advertising strategies and create their own little special interest group.

via mm

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Related posts:
An Open Letter to the Filmspotting hosts
2. Talk radio not popular in Washington DC

Even though I’ve owned an Ipod for months now and am absolutely in love with it, I almost never listen to music on it. Instead, I’m a podcast junkie and also occasionally lay down money for an audio book when I have some extra cash. Discovering new podcasts is harder than discovering new blogs, since one has to devote significantly more time testing a podcast than spending the 60 seconds it takes to read over a blog, I obviously don’t add new podcasts to my list unless recommended by a friend. Below are my absolute favorite podcasts:

Brainfood: I put this one first because it’s the rags-to-riches of the bunch. Its formula is really quite simple: the guy takes everyday things and tells you how they scientifically work. After doing this, he runs through a bunch of science headlines and random facts. It’s incredibly entertaining and this podcast has really caught fire despite the fact that it’s a grassroots type venture.

Filmspotting: Filmspotting is the first podcast I ever subscribed to, on a whim no less, while I was surfing through podcast listings, and I can honestly call myself a Filmspotting junkie. You know you’re one of these whenever you find yourself rushing home to write them an email, hoping they’ll read it out loud on the air. It’s run by Adam Kempenaar and Sam Van Hallgren, and do a show once a week. Three out of every four shows are just podcasts, but once a month they’re on air on Chicago Public Radio. Utterly fantastic banter about movies, fun games to play along with, cool prizes, the occasional interview. I love it.

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me: A lot of people know about this show already since it’s been around for awhile, but I have to mention it anyway. It’s one of the few NPR shows that you can download for free, for some reason they make you pay for shows like “This American Life,”which is utterly stupid. If you’re a news junkie, then Wait Wait Don’t Tell me will make you feel like a genius every week, and there are very few episodes where I don’t have several laugh-out-loud moments during the show. It makes me want to travel to Chicago solely so I can be an audience member.

New York Science Podcast: What’s great about this is that they don’t just read the articles to you, they actually interview the writers who wrote the articles. Very interesting.

Related posts: Interview with Laurence Simon from This Blog is Full of Crap

Laurence Simon is a blogger who lives and works in Houston, Texas. Aside from running his sarcastically funny This Blog is Full of Crap, he also has several catcams, and hosts a daily podcast where he reads extremely short flash fiction.

He’s one of the many bloggers who have joined Pajamas Media, which is quickly becoming one of the largest blog networks on the web.

Simon Owens: As a long-time blog reader, I’ve noticed the uprise of the phenomenon known as cat-blogging. Since its popularity, several bloggers have tried to start a dog-blogging fad, but it hasn’t had as much success. As someone who engages in cat-blogging, why are pictures of cats so much more appealing than those of dogs and other animals?

Laurence Simon: I have no fucking clue. I just know that I love our cats, I take lots of photos, run the catcams so I don’t miss them while I’m at work, and enjoy seeing people obsess on their cats.

I’m sure there’s people out there who love their dogs as much. Maybe the fact that they have to waste time dealing with walking their dogs (ie taking them out for a piss and crap) while we can let ours hit the litterbox gives us extra time to blog about them.

My dream is to completely separate my various blogging efforts into well-focused topics. But thanks to Vytorin, I don’t sleep much. So dreams elude me.

Simon Owens: How has your experience been since you’ve joined Pajamas Media? Do you think it’s as powerful as other major networks, like Gawker Media for instance?

Laurence Simon: It’s gone through several phases…

Pajamas Media stumbled from the starting gate. I firmly agree with Steve H. of Hog On Ice’s assessment at the start.

Since then, they’ve been wiring things down a bit… going to a blog format on the site, integrating sites in the network better… they just need to work on the collaboration and communications better.

I built a forum for the bloggers and staff early on to help foster communications. Nearly all of the staff and editors blew it off. That annoyed me, so I deleted it.

Later on, there was some talk about a new forum… all sound and fury signifying nothing. Go figure.

But as long as they spell my name on the checks right, I’ll just keep on keeping on.

As for Denton’s network, Gawker Media just shitcanned a few of their cool blogs. I loved Screenhead, man. And Wonkette sucks rocks.

Simon Owens: The title of your blog gives it an aura of humorous self-depreciation, which is something I like about it. Do most political bloggers take themselves a little too seriously?

Laurence Simon: Everybody’s full of crap. I’m the only one with the balls to admit it AND waste the ten bucks for the domain name. (subdomains rule!)

I think a lot of non-experts are wailing about a lot of things they know nothing about. Okay, so I’m no expert in anything, but at least I’m honest about it. And I try to have a laugh with it while managing “a broken clock is right two times a day” accuracy.

Simon Owens: As someone who engages in both blogging and podcasting, which form of media do you prefer over the other? Do you get a lot of listener feedback on your podcasts?

Laurence Simon: Actually, the catcamming is my favorite. I think it brings the most unencumbered joy to people.

I don’t get much feedback on the podcasting, but I really enjoy reading out the stories, going nuts on the Shire Network News shows, and I REALLY miss collaborating with the IMAO guys for the comedy stuff. It’s too bad I don’t have the voice for it.

I feel like I could be funnier with the blogging. Perhaps if I cut down the volume and increased the thought I put into it… nah.

The joy of managing the dead pool has almost completely drained out after 4 years. I’d like to give up running it and maybe play in one for a change.

Simon Owens: Since you often blog about Houston events, do a lot of your readers live in Houston?

Laurence Simon: I’ve never done an actual survey, but from glances at traffic I’ve found that most of my traffic is outside of Houston.

Folks like Chuck Kuffner of offthekuff.com and BlogHouston and Lone Star Times are more local than I am.

I guess my material has a wider appeal, if you could call it that. I think it’s more of a shotgun effect, blasting in all directions and hitting things at random.

Simon Owens: What are the five blogs you’d recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

Laurence Simon: I do a project called Ten And Only Ten that forces me to pick ten blogs I’d read if I could only read ten. But five? Egad.

I’ll assume that “supplement” means that they’d be blogs that cover subjects similar to what I cover but in more depth, better, from different angles, and with less potty-mouth…

Conservative comedy
Jewstuff
Houston
Anti-idiotarianism:
Cats

I know that there will be some people saddened by not appearing on that list, but the first three are important because I contribute to them. No, it’s not meant to get people to read more of my work elsewhere, but to see the excellent bloggers I find myself collaborating with or writing in parallel with. FrankJ (and the rest), Meryl, and Anne/Kevin have very high standards for themselves, and I’m humbled by their allowing my vastly inferior content to appear alongside their sparks of genius.

As for LGF, well, Charles is the Lizardoid Master. Where else would I send my Zionist Conspiracy Checks to?

Mind Of Mog? It’s gotta be the cats. We’ve watched Ritzi’s kittens from before they were born to their housewrecking selves now.

(Related posts: Interview with Michael Williams, Interview with Ernie the Attourney, Rush Limbaugh caught with bottle of viagra)

Upon learning from the hosts of the podcast Filmspotting that they were going to switch from two shows a week to one show a week, I wrote them this letter:

Adam and Sam,

First, let me give you a little background about my history with Filmspotting: Shortly after I bought my Ipod, I logged onto Itunes and started subscribing to podcasts that I thought I’d be interested in. I randomly came across the Filmspotting one and downloaded it, not realizing that upon listening, I would become instantly hooked and never miss a single episode from then forward. I usually go on long walks (sometimes 2 hours of walking a day) and this is when I listen to all my podcasts and audio books.

When you guys made your big announcement, I was walking down a long wood trail, and as soon as I heard you say that you were going to only one show a week, I came to a dead stop and let out a very audible groan. I couldn’t help but notice that the old couple who were walking their dog and passing me at that very moment gave each other a look in which both realized simultaneously that they were alone in the woods with what could very well be a complete psycho. Lucky for them, I wasn’t a psycho, just a diehard fan bemoaning such a saddening announcement.

So I set out to go home and write you a long, flowery email that would convince you beyond a doubt that you should stick to two shows a week. The only thing was: I didn’t know what to say. I was at a loss for words. Here I was, a person with a degree in English, and I couldn’t even write the masterpiece to top all masterpieces: an email that would convince you guys to continue posting two shows a week. So instead of writing you that email, I wrote this letter, which I will be sending to Shippensburg University, from which I graduated:

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To Whom This May Concern,

Enclosed in this envelope you will find my college diploma, which I am returning to you for your disposal. I was enrolled in Shippensburg University from 2002 to 2006, and in those four years I’ve managed to gather a whole world of knowledge while developing a writing skill that would allow me to go on and sell my work to dozens of magazines and anthologies. In your English classes, I was able to analyze and discus all the great works of literature, and by the time I was finished those four years, I came out convinced that I was prepared for the real world.

Imagine my surprise, then, when the two hosts of one of my favorite shows announced that they were going to switch to only one show a week, and I lacked the complete eloquence needed in order to convince them otherwise. I felt betrayed by your university, that I had lived a lie, that the diploma hanging on that wall was a sham, an undeserved trophy that held no honor attached to it.

Hence why I must return the diploma to you, to not only overcome my own shame, but to let you know that you have failed one of your students in your plight to spread knowledge to better the world around us.

Sincerely yours,
Simon David Owens

Ps. I don’t suppose I can get a $40,000 refund as well?

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So there you have it, Adam and Sam. I guess the only thing I have to say is that I would really like to not have to send that letter. Those were four long years, and I’d hate to see that they went to waste. Is there any kindness in your hearts so that you can allow a college graduate remain a college graduate, so that he can go on to remain successful and confident for the rest of his life?

Thank you ever so much for taking this into consideration.

Your fan,
Simon Owens