Shooflypie

I talked about how I've gotten very behind on my pop culture consumption in the end of year posts I managed to get written. One good thing about a new year is that it wipes my slate clean and I can start counting books and comics and so forth anew. Last year I managed to read only 46 books and 248 comics. I know it sounds absurd to lament that fact, but both totals are way down from 2015. However, I'm currently on pace to read 73 books and 502 comics this year. I'm well aware that won't happen, but it's fun to look at my pace for the year this early on and dream. Anyway, one reason I ran out of steam on my year-end posts was having to come up with new content about most items. To combat that fact, I want to write more about what I'm consuming when I'm doing it. So, here's the first brick in this year's wall (I hope it's not just a pile of bricks)... Last Year by Robert Charles Wilson - Even though I got a half dozen new books at Christmas, I ...

I love listening to podcasts, but I don't have a whole lot of time to listen to them. I listen when I stretch in the morning and at night, while I drive to school (3 minutes one way) or the Y (6 minutes) or out on errands, while doing the dishes, while cleaning the house and doing laundry, and for 10 minutes while I'm falling asleep. Maybe that seems like a lot, but it's not that much. I also like a wide variety of podcasts, which means I'm always behind. I'm listening to March episodes of one and August episodes of another and 2015 episodes of some others and I can never catch up. A friend suggests I should just cut my losses and jump to current episodes, but I know I'll get behind again, so what does it matter. I love the medium and don't want to miss out on episodes of shows I really like. Speaking of which, here's what I was into this year... 1. Comedy Bang Bang! - This is the third year I've been a listener of Comedy Bang Bang! and this is t...

I'd started doing my traditional blog posts on the various pop culture things I loved...but my heart wasn't in it. Still, I want to share what I really enjoyed reading, watching, and listening to this year...so why not just do one big post? I'm not going to comment on anything but would be happy to share why I loved anything on the list with you if you ask. I hope you all found lots to love in 2015 and I'm sure we'll find more to love in 2016. MUSIC Courtney Barnett/Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit Sleater-Kinney/No Cities To Love Destroyer/Poison Season Dawes/All Your Favorite Bands Alabama Shakes/Sound and Color Jason Isbell/Something More Than Free Veruca Salt/Ghost Notes Telekinesis/Ad Infinitum Mac McCaughan/Non-Believers Foals/What Went Down El Vy/Return To The Moon Twerps/Range Anxiety Wilco/Star Wars Drive-By Truckers/It's Great To Be Alive! TV The Flash iZombie Adventure Time - I'm through Season 3 Brooklyn N...

HEAVY ROTATION #26 I've been meaning to get to a Heavy Rotation for a couple weeks now and just haven't managed it. I'm a little past the prime period I listened to these albums, which was probably mid-July to mid-August, but I did play them quite a bit during that time and wanted to talk about them. Jason Isbell/Something More Than Free - I was very excited for this album to come out. For starters, Isbell's previous album, Southeastern , was one of my favorite albums of 2013 (maybe even #1?). Secondly, the two songs that came out before the album's release, "24 Frames" and the title track, were great. Finally, all the early reviews were extremely positive. The good news is that I was not disappointed in the least; in fact, this album will probably make my top ten for the year. Take "24 Frames," for instance: "You thought God was an architect, now you know/He's something like a pipe bomb ready to blow/And everything you built that...

This is the year that podcasts finally broke into the mainstream, thanks to Serial. Of course, podcasts have been around for much longer than the media coverage will have you believe. I've been listening to podcasts for about 4 years and I was way late to the game. The problem is that there are so many worthwhile podcasts out there that I can't get to them all. Heck, I haven't even gotten to Serial yet. In fact, this year I unsubscribed on some podcasts I really like, such as Baseball Tonight, Book Riot, and Sound Opinions (I have cherry-picked some episodes of the last one, at least). I'm still behind on just about everything but these podcasts are ones I am always trying to catch up on... 1. Comedy Bang Bang - The Old 97s finally brought me to this podcast, which I've known about for a long time. Heck, Glen Weldon on Pop Culture Happy Hour had recommended it more than once and I just hadn't gotten around to it. Scott Aukerman is the host and is always funn...

It's been about a month-and-a-half since I posted about something other than music, so I figured I was past due for another Mega-Post. I've decided to make it even more mega by including today's Sunday Shuffle, which didn't happen this morning due to that lost hour of time. Crazy, right? Sunday Shuffle #318 1. Bucket Brigade/Michael Penn (7) - last played on 12/8/12 2. Love Is Luck/The Walkmen (18) - last played on 2/5/13 3. Beer Commerical (Live)/Sugar (1) - debut 4. Explode And Make Up/Sugar (2) - last played on 12/30/12 5. It Looks Like Love/Josh Rouse (3) - last played on 10/24/10 6. Fluffy Lucy/Cracker (4) - last played on 6/28/11 7. Forced To Love/Broken Social Scene (5) - last played on 12/23/10 8. Beechwood Park/The Zombies (18) - last played on 10/31/12 9. I am Morris Townsend (No-Fi Transmission)/The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (7) - last played on 7/8/12 10. First Few Desperate Hours/The Mountain Goats (6) - last played on 12/2/12...

Last night I finished reading Bruce , a new biography of Bruce Springsteen by Peter Ames Carlin. I've been a fan of Bruce ever since the Born in the U.S.A. singles started hitting the radio in 1984; I finally got it on cassette in 1985 (maybe for my 14th birthday) and listened to it over and over again while working in the garden or doing whatever other chores my father had for me that summer. When I got the Live/1975-85 box set for Christmas 1986, I heard his older songs and fell even further in love. All of which is a long-winded way of saying that this book is for me (my brother, who knows me quite well, gave it to me for Christmas). While I did know quite a bit of his history, there was still plenty that I didn't know and Carlin does a good job of keeping the narrative flowing while also giving some analysis on the music. This is not a hagiography of  Springsteen. Rather, it presents him as an extremely talented musician who is just as messed-up and human as the rest of u...

My desire to listen to podcasts greatly outweighed my consumption of them this year, which meant I often had a week's worth of podcasts that I hadn't listened to. Obviously, that's not a state I can sustain and I've recently winnowed what was built up, most likely losing some good interviews in the process. The following are the podcasts I did the best of keeping current with, which makes them my favorites... 1. NPR's All Songs Considered - Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton (and a host of others) offer a weekly look at new music and help to expand my musical horizons, even in genres I would typically not be interested in. The dynamic between the hosts is great and listening to it is just a great time. 2. iFanboy's Pick of the Week Podcast - Ron, Conor, and Josh (and sometimes Paul) gather each week to talk about the week's comics, answer e-mails and voice mails, and generally have a good time. I've learned enough about their tastes over the past couple y...

I didn't listen to my first podcast until about a year ago. I'd started hitting the track at the Y over Christmas break and remembered that podcasts existed (yes, right with the times on that one..), so I thought I'd see what was out there. Having podcasts loaded onto my iPod soon became a way of life, to the point where I now have around 3 days worth of unlistened episodes to digest. Here are some of my favorites (which are also the ones I try not to fall too far behind on, though it does happen)... 1. iFanboy's Pick of the Week - I love comics, though I've kept them at arm's length off and on for a decade (another story for another time unless you've been reading my blogs over the years). Anyway, Josh, Conor, and Ron love comics too and they get together once a week to talk about the new releases. It's a way for me to keep up on what's current when I can't afford to but it's also a lot of fun. You start to learn their likes and dislikes ...