blast-o-rama. Posts

Ever since I became enamored with the world of Apple with the purchase of my 30GB iPod Video back in November ’05, I’ve dug podcasts.

However, since I tend to carry an inordinate amount of music on my person, I never really got to listen to them on the regular. With my recent upgrade to a 160GB Classic, however, I download quite a few podcasts, both in audio and video format to get me through the day.

Here’s a few of my favorites…

The Adam Carolla Show
Podcast Feed Here: http://www.971freefm.com/pages/podcast/43.rss

As a fervent LoveLine fan throughout my teenage years, I was saddened when Adam Carolla left the show, it was taken off of local syndication, and then his new morning show was made west coast only. FRET NOT, kids, it’s available every day after the show finishes in sweet sweet podcast form. Lately, this is what I’ve been listening to on the way to work.

Never Not Funny
Podcast Feed Here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NeverNotFunny

Hosted by comedian Jimmy Pardo, this show is a shoot-the-shit roundtable with Pardo, producer Matt Belcamp, and a 3rd rotating comedian (past shows have featured such notables as Paul F. Thompkins, Maria Bamford, and The Sklar Brothers). As a comedy nerd, it’s a blast…but I think anyone can enjoy 3 comedic talents just rambling for an hour. I’m totally underselling this podcast, it’s easily one of the highlights of my week.

SModcast
Podcast Feed Here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/smodcast

Are you a fan of Kevin Smith? How about his commentaries with producer Scott Mosier? Well, every week you get a slice of goodness, as Smith and Mosier talk all kinds of topics, ranging from the production of the latest View Askew films, to other flicks (they had an incredible debate about The Matrix a few shows back), to even some brutal discussion about their own personal lives. Always a hoot.

What about you? What podcasts roam free in your iPod? Let me know in the comments.

One of the goals I’ve set for myself in 2008 is to read more books. Sure, I read a lot of comics, but I figured it was time I read more things that didn’t have pretty pictures in them (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

However, my biggest issue is, for the most part, fiction doesn’t grab me. Far too often, I find that modern fiction sticks to a rather boilerplate template, and get I bored with a novel halfway through. To counteract that, I tend to focus on non-fiction and memoirs.

So, I found myself at Amazon the other day, and decided to pick up Rock On: An Office Power Ballad, written by Dan Kennedy. Having seen a handful of positive reviews for it both online an in-print, and knowing that it deals with a topic I’m quite interested in (the ever collapsing music industry), it was an easy sale.

What’s it about? Here’s how the official synopsis describes the book.

How do you land a sweet six-figure marketing gig at the hallowed record label known for having signed everyone from Led Zeppelin to Stone Temple Pilots? You start with a resume like Dan Kennedy’s:

• Dressed up as a member of Kiss every Halloween
• Memorized Led Zeppelin IV at age ten
• Fronted a lip-sync band in junior high
• Worked as a college DJ while he was a college drop-out

In his outrageous memoir, McSweeney’s contributor Kennedy chronicles his misadventures at a major record label. Whether he’s directing a gangsta rapper’s commercial or battling his punk roots to create an ad campaign celebrating the love songs of Phil Collins, Kennedy’s in way over his head. And from the looks of those sitting around the boardroom, he’s not alone.

Egomaniacs, wackos, incompetents, and executive assistants who know more than their seven-figure bosses round out this power-ballad to office life and rock and roll.

Already, sounds like quite the fun read. But the proof is in the pudding. Kennedy writes in a very enthralling stream-of-consciousness style, putting his immediate thoughts into word, giving you an always accurate mental picture of this so-absurd-it-has-to-be-real working environment. His wit abounds, and keeps the pages flowing. I really didn’t expect to, but I tore through all 240 pages over the course of one day, enjoying every step of Dan’s ill fated run in the marketing department of Atlantic Records.

With it’s very timely subject matter, and rather informal storytelling style, Rock On: An Office Power Ballad is an easy recomendation. You can grab it today at Amazon for just shy over 10 bills. Highest Recommendation.

One of my favorite things every year is sharing my favorite songs with my friends via an end of year mix. Collecting the best songs from absolute favorite albums, I get to share a part of myself with them. (Or, it’s silly e-wang waving, depending on how you look at it.)

In any case, I really enjoy the conversations that develop, getting people into new musicians they’ve never heard before, and in sharing back, learning about new music myself.

So…I thought to myself…why don’t I do this monthly?

I know, you’re wondering…do I really listen to that much music a month? While the 8000+ MP3s I have may say one way, I know better. But how do I fill out a monthly mix with just a few new albums being consumed by me a month?

Someone who was very close to me used to make mix CD’s once a semester, collecting their favorite songs from the period…a musical document of that time of their life. I always really thought that concept was cool…and I’ll now be applying that on a monthly basis.

Each month here on Blast-O-Rama, I’ll be compiling tracks that were somewhat meaningful to me the month prior. Maybe it’s just a song I loved, maybe it’s a new album that leaked that month, maybe it just struck me at the right time. Never the less, it’s straight from my ears to yours.

 

Click The Graphic Above For This Month’s Mix, Or Read On For A Tracklisting

Aloha, and welcome to Blast-O-Rama.

After almost 7 years of chronicling my life, opinions and rants on LiveJournal, I’ve decided to make the jump to proper blogging.

Now, unlike LJ, this won’t be full of a play-by-play of my personal life.  I’ve grown disinterested with sharing my life with the rest of the world, but never the less, want to have my voice heard via the intertubes.

That’s where Blast-O-Rama comes in.

Anyone who’s known me for more than say…10 minutes, knows that I’m kind of ridiculously passionate about the various minutia of pop-culture that permeate our day-to-day lives.

In turn, consider this site your source for various bits of breaking news from all across the nerd world, peppered with what I consider my trademark snark and humor.  Maybe it’ll work out, maybe it won’t, but I’ll try my best to make sure it’s entertaining.

So tell your friends, and strap in. Blast-O-Rama.com is launched, and the internet…well, it’ll be pretty much the same.