Shooflypie

I'm worn out from yesterday's marathon blogging but thought I'd mark down the year's pop culture firsts... The first book I'm reading this year is World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters. The first comic I read was She-Hulk #11. The first TV show I watched was Parks & Recreation Season 2, Episode 23. The first song I listened to, as is traditional, was "This Will Be Our Year" by The Zombies. The first album I listened to was Ryan Adams' self-titled, my #2 album in 2014. The first podcast I listened to was half an episode or so of Pop Culture Happy Hour. The first blog post I wrote was this one. Boom.

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 ...