@krobb1290 I love their Monster Factory stuff and have caught a few My Brother, My Brother, and Mes- but the first episode of The Adventure Zone left me a bit cold. Does it get better? Also, if you like The Adventure Zone you might like Hello From The Magic Tavern.
@linnry Oh yeah, the first episode was a test episode of sorts and it just gets so much better. I'd say listen to the first arc, Here there be Gerblins and if you still don't like then you probably won't like the rest.
@DVDBZN I think it's SynthFont to create the... er... music? and Synesthesia to play it like you see here. Google "black midi" if you want to learn more. It gets even crazier than this.
@cpierce The preview still brought to mind the piano roll diagrams for Seth Horvitz's 'Studies for Automatic Piano,' themselves inspired by or evocative of Charlemagne Palestine, Conlon Nancarrow, Tom Johnson… Bit fun to watch the keys of the Disklavier…
As far as good podcasts go: Doug Loves Movies (Comedians playing movie based trivia games headed by Doug Benson), You Made it Weird (Pete Holmes humorously discussing in depth topics with sometimes famous people), and Preston and Steve (Morning show from Philly that I'm not able to listen to fully on the commute)
I work 12-hour shifts in a factory. And even though Tom Magliozzi rises from the grave and asks what the hell I've been smoking whenever he hears me say it, a constant stream of "Car Talk" makes it infinitely more bearable.
I usually have the tv on in the background. Unless I am driving. Then I either listen to silence or. .. realize about a mile from work that I'm still listening to the Dr. Horrible soundtrack per my toddler's request on the way to drop him off.
@jmoor783 yass battles love <3 i mostly listen to mirrored. found out about it after the music director at my rock music school wanted us to cover "race: in".
There are two streaming radio stations I know of that play episodes of The Goon Show 24 hours a day. I can only find one right now (they are on an app on my phone): http://tunein.com/radio/Goon-Show-Radio-s122396/
So insanely good once you get used to the accents, and Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers were geniuses.
"Other stuff" consists mostly of driving for me. A lot of podcasts. Penn's Sunday School, Ice Cream Social, Freakonomics, Question of the Day, All Y'all (local storytelling podcast), a lot more. @pavlov got me on the Better Call Saul Insider, which I'm almost current on and will hold onto for next season to listen concurrent with the show.
Before the podcasts I went on a kick of Jack Reacher and Doc Ford audiobooks.
TWiT (the former Tech-TV folks) have a series of good mostly tech-related podcasts. Security Now with Steve Gibson, MacBreak Weekly, Know How, and The New Screen Savers. Others if you're interested in android, home theater, enterprise computing, and even that wintel caca.
I listen to TV programs.. The only other 'things' I ever do (hey! I'm an old work at home programmer.. gimme a break) never know what the hell's on but it does fill the empty air around me.
@mossygreen ... Broadcast, the cheapest way to go.. Remember? I never watch it so new or old is mote with me.. Just hearing voices other than the ones flowing through my brain pan is all I need
I love podcasts! The Adam Carolla Show (and anything Carolla Digital), Fitzdog, The Mental Illness Happy Hour, Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast, About Last Night, and more
Mostly the local NPR stations for news during the week and humor on the weekends. There's a good local public station of contemporary music when I'm tired of all the election prognostication. (WTMD-89.7) On long car trips, audiobooks make the hours disappear.
Depends on what the 'other things' are, I suppose. Like, if it's baseball season, the Nats are probably on when I get home from work, so I'll listen while I'm making all my meals. I've come to realize that when I'm steaming laundry, 95% of the time I'll listen to Tori Amos. I'm usually listening to TV while processing photos, because I have Lightroom covering up my Hulu window. I still chose music, though, since that's all I have to listen to during my 3-4 hours worth of train-riding, which is a pretty good time for doing various 'things'.
@Barney According to the timetable, it's 1:50 on the trip in, and 1:40 on the trip home. A few minutes are usually shaved off each way, I think, but… yeah, it's a big chunk of my day. Usually I sleep, but it's also crossword time, writing time, reading time, photo processing time, beer time, coding time, or chitchat time depending on how the day is going.
As far as music goes, I have pretty varied tastes. Everything from death metal to bubblegum pop. But my favorite thing to listen to is Cincinnati Reds baseball with the Hall of Famer, Marty Brennaman.
During the drive to/from work, usually the local Public Radio (NPR) which has some good news and casts like Radio Lab and Science Friday. Otherwise, my MP3 collection (much of it CD rips) or Pandora stations. Rock, Heavy Metal, Grunge, Jazz, Blues, Classical, Baroque, Irish Punk, lots of things. Maybe not Gangster Rap, although I do enjoy Heavy Metal rap like RATM or Body Count. Sometimes you just need angry music. And Country like classic Johnny Cash, not this pop BS of today.
Lately, lots of podcasts. Risk, The Moth, The Black Tapes, 99% Invisible, Lore, Hello From The Magic Tavern, Radiolab, Don't Get Me Started, Thinking Sideways, and have recently started in on My Brother, My Brother, and Me.
I've been running a bit too and while running I've been obsessively listening to either Fleetwood Mac's Rumours or They Might Be Giants' Apollo 18 or Flood. If I don't make a mile before Go Your Own Way I'm behind pace.
My ex worked for a music distributor. My collection was over 2000 albums, tapes and CDs before I converted to apple players. I still listen to most of them.
Audiobook addict here. I listen to everything from light stuff to lit and history. Much can depend on the narrator, and if you are busy, you have to get used to the interruptions, and the pause/rollback 30 sec/play. I listen one earbus in, one out.
Just finished The Fault in Our Stars, which i found astonishing.
Every few years i re-listen to Le Carre's Karla trilogy: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley's People. These are masterpieces. Great lit and spy masterpieces, all in one.
For anyone who loves The Lord Of Thr Rings, the unabridged Rob Inglis recording is beyond excellent. For Harry Potter fans, either the Jim Dale or the Stephen Fry versions are just superb.
Most recent books that sold well and have decent reputations will have unabridged audio editions. I almost never do abridged, unless there is no unabridged version. Never abridged for fiction: either the book is worth the time, or it's not. For many audiobooks, i prefer playing them at 1.25 speed.
@f00l Are you watching "The Night Manager" on AMC? And I'm impressed you can listen to LeCarre on tape- I can't seem to concentrate well enough for complicated plots. I need those on paper. Or screen.
@sammydog01 I now there are doing "Night Manger" with an excellent cast. Great book, tho not his very best. From the blurbs, i think they must have streamlined the book, as is normal. I will catch it at some point.
I think this book was his attempt to "Go Bond" a bit.
For those who dont know, John Le Carre (pen name of Davolid Cornwell) was in the UK Secret Service, abroad until Kim Philby outed him to the Soviets. Then a desk job until "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" was a success. His books are the grim reality of the trade, so much so that that community reveres his work and adopted many of his invented fictional "spy slang" into real-life use. Cornwell and Fleming worked together at times and were friends, i've heard.
Imho, his best work was during or about the Cold War. He's kept going tho, on a variety of topics that involve international intrigue. Some of his work comes off as cranky and agenda-driven (tho still worth a read), other books are v fine. To me, the Karla trilogy stands above the rest - some of the finest fiction of its era.
The Honourable Schoolboy was, unfortunately, never filmed because the BBC at that time didn't have the bucks for a multi-country SE Asian war shoot, or so i heard. The only way to do it would be mini-series. It would blow if cut down to 2-3 hours.
The BBC shot excellent 6 or 7 part mini-series of the other two books, both starring Alec Guiness as George Smiley. Both are dead-on and wonderful - neither is as amazing as the book on which it was based.
@sammydog01 I listen to mostly audible audiobooks using either an android or ios device, and an LG tone headset. The headset lets you roll forward/back 30 sec. I had to get used to doing that a lot, till i got better at listening. I still do it a lot, just yo go over a key point or great line again.
Audiobook apps for ripped books (i like Smart Audiobook Player) have similar functions.
Re Le Carre: at his peak, all his writing is incredible. But his "bureaucratic conversations" - and other conversations - are so good they're hard to describe. You can re-read them twenty times, letting them percolate, and then re-read them the 21st time and still get more. His skill at writing conversations is studied in lit and writing classes.
I wonder if he honed this during his spy years - spies, even desk spies, need to always be wary - to give info, get info, withhold info, suggest info, to probe, to strategize, to propose, never give away too much. But so much is there if you really look - or listen - for it. He is the master.
If you decide to give the Karla trilogy an audio try, be prepared to go slowly and do small re-winds a lot. Worth it. Do them in order.
I like podcasts- Stuff You Missed in History Class, The Horror, and Relic Radio Thrillers are my favorites. I also listen to random audiobooks I get from the library. Right now I'm listening to "The Terror" which I discovered shortly after checking it out is historical fiction about a ship named Terror and is 27 hours long. Damn.
Typically local NPR stations or one of my Spotify playlists.
In a perfect world, I'd love to listen to more podcasts and audio books while multi-tasking but I find I get too distracted and end up having to rewind or restart the chapter. :/
I listen to local NPR (except during national election cycles, like now. Will not abide the mudslinging), ESPN radio for sports. I love the blues: have a local community radio station (KNON) that has several blues programs throughout the week (also accessible online) & I subscribe to SiriusXM just for full-time access to Bluesville
Sirius Alt Nation and Pearl Jam in the car (was glued to the Billy Joel station while they had it). At work it's Pandora "Dave Matthews Band Radio", "Milky Chance Radio", or "Blind Melon Radio." On St. Paddy's Day is was Irish Pub Rock Radio all day.
At the gym (love saying that), it's currently Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Stones, Stevie Nicks, CCR. Occasionally I'll go to hard Celtic or bagpipe rock, like Rathkeltair, Seven Nations, Tempest.
Podcasts: Wait Wait, Ask me Another, Savage Love, Christopher Titus, Embedded, Alice isnt Dead, Welcome to Nightvale and occasionally the nerdist podcast.
I like to stream xm comedy channels and 24/7 comedy on I heart radio app.
and audio books. Lots of audiobooks. Dresden files is great.
Interview - Less Than or Equal (non-binary) - Systematic (nerd) - Hanselminutes (diverse nerd) - Tea & Jeopardy (scifi authors) - WTF
Fiction - Escape Pod (scifi) - The Hidden Almanac (like Writer's Almanac for a fictional place) - Beneath Ceaseless Skies (scifi) - PodCastle (fantasy) - Welcome to Night Vale (scifi/horror/weird)
Radiotopia - 99% Invisible (design) - The Heart (sex & love) - The Allusionist (language) - The Memory Palace (history) - Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything (culture) - Criminal (crime) - Fugitive Waves (history) - Song Exploder (music) - Strangers (people)
Tech news - Accidental Tech Podcast (apple) - Upgrade (apple) - Clockwise (30 minutes) - Rocket (smart funny women on apple and games) - Liftoff (space)
NPR-style - This American Life (culture) - Death, Sex, & Money (life) - Decode DC (politics) - Planet Money (economics) - Radiolab (science) - Serial (crime) - TrailMix 2016 (us pres campaign plus swears) - The Writer's Almanac (today in literature)
People Talking - The Incomparable (nerd culture) - Back to Work (productivity and nerd culture) - Cinema Gadfly (movies) - Electric Shadow (movies) - Kevin & Ursula Eat Cheap (junk food) - Let's Make Mistakes (design) - Overtired (tech and pop culture) - Pop Culture Salvage Expeditions (culture and activism) - Reconcilable Differences (life) - Roderick on the Line (John Roderick's brain) - Road Work (more John Roderick's brain) - Top Four (ratings) - The West Wing Weekly (the show)
If I could only listen to 5, today they'd be: - Roderick on the Line - Rocket - 99% Invisible - Song Exploder - The Incomparable
@compunaut like the Meh guys said today, multitasking. While cooking, cleaning, doing yard work, walking, bicycling (one earbud), playing games on my phone. Also listening at 1.5x speed for most shows.
I can't do work work (with the brain and the words and the maths and such) with people talking or even heavily lyrical music; the voices distract me. On Spotify my current favorites are radio stations built around this song from Infected Mushroom
this from Paranormal Attack
this from Skazi
(and yeah, no fucking idea what they're making noise about in that one, but it works, and again, focusing on the words would be bad for me)
Spotify also has a playlist called Beats to Think To that I'll use when I need the mellow (it's got the Bonobo and shit like that. And my Discovery Weekly, which tends to include both the more wild trance and the milder, has some good stuff.
Occasionally if I don't have to be too productive or what I'm doing isn't too brainy or I'm in a mood, I'll let myself listen to U2 (the whole damn catalog), Tom Petty and some other stuff I like that has the words.
When I'm puttering around the house or walking or Clashing Clans or whatever, I prefer the Podcasts with the words:
Serial Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me Ask Me Another Invisibilia Reply All - you guys should totally check this out because it's about the interwebs and the social media and all of that, and it's good Mystery Show - though nothing new lately Detective - which I don't know why I like, but I do, and nothing new there either This American Life The Moth Snap Judgment Selected Shorts Fresh Air on occasion.
My commute and sometimes my off time are usually with KERA, which has a great schedule and--since they have a sister station that's all music--is never music. So for the commute, that's Morning Edition into Diane Rehm (with whose establishment stoogedoom I am deeply disappointed but--especially when she's off, is still mostly good) and All Things Considered into News Hour with smatterings of BBC and MarketPlace. Local show Think is good for the interviews.
@joelmw - Since we seem to have similar tastes, I'm looking forward to trying some of these that are new to me. Since I figured out how to use Overdrive through my local library, I have been listening to more books, they also offer the option to use Hoopla. Anyway, thanks for the ideas!
@joelmw I had either KERA, WRR, or the blues station at AM730 on all the time in the olde days, when i wasnt playing my own music cd's and tapes. Loved ME, ATC. Car Talk, Wait Wait, and a bunch more, esp weekend stuff. Sometimes i will hunt down a book because i heard about it on KERA 20 years ago, and it pops into my head. I didnt love the daytime stuff so much.
Then, sometime in the 80's, i discovered audiobooks at these lending stores. Most of them were abridged, which i hated, so i would get unabridged thru ILL and have to wait forever. Also listened maniacally to Stern, esp during the Billy West era. I tend to spend a few years w Stern, and then a few years away. I still send $ to KERA and Sirius. But i can't listen to a lot of KERA anymore, due to their pacing. My brain has changed and they've stayed the same. They're too slow. I cant listen to what i want when i want. Never found a happy way to podcast ATC and ME with the means to fastplay and skip. And i get my news off apps. Maybe i'm just turning into a crank.
And now audiobooks are everywhere, and often are free downloadable from your library.
@f00l So, the way my brain works is when there's news or other wordsy things, I'm riffing off of it. This is one of the reasons I don't read more. I'll read for like a paragraph or, hell, even a sentence, and I may spend the next half hour (or hour) just wandering after the implications or letting the voices in my head argue back and forth. But on the other hand, I can be fascinated by the human voice and people's stories so it doesn't bore me much anyway. I also do the thing where I try to anticipate what they're going to say (or, again, frame arguments or clarifications to it). I can sometimes relate to what you're saying, but usually, for whatever reason, not usually. Yaknow what they say about people who like to hear the sound of their own talking? I'm probably that way with the "sound" of my own thinking.
What I do have a hard time with is listening to certain political figures for whom I have no respect--I'd happily name names, but I try to be mostly apolitical here. Unlike probably the majority of Americans, I don't categorically dislike politicians, but there's a handful that I do (many of those I abhor are those that try to claim that they aren't, and I'd agree that they aren't very good at it, even though I'd argue that they're far more "political" in the negative way they mean it). And they're too often given too much time; even if they weren't so despicable, I wouldn't need to hear yet again what they're saying. Ha, but I don't mind listening to a particular politician, who's arguably been giving the same basic speech for the last 40 years.
As far as being a crank, I kinda think we've earned it. I'll yell vulgarities at my "radio" (often it's not literally a radio) sometimes as much to to drown out the fucking fuckers and lying liars (that's appositional) who are given too much time as to respond to the bullshit they're spewing.
@f00l My problem with NPR these days is that I've been deeply disappointed at how establishment they've proven themselves to be this cycle--especially the aforementioned Ms. Rehm. They still do some excellent work and I probably still trust them most among the major broadcast media, but they just haven't kept up.
We may or may not continue to financially support KERA when we leave here. I always thought we would. Like I said, they have a great schedule, and most of the podcasts I listen to I heard first because the show was broadcast on KERA.
I've never ever ever bought this bullshit that the media are actually liberal. There's just too much evidence to the contrary--and too much motive as well. I do think that the PRs (including PRI, APM, BBC) a much better job of offering a more objective and diverse set of perspectives. I'll grant that that's "liberal" by some standards, but not in a biased way.
What saddens me is that I don't see a reliable alternative and even though I might sometimes like them, I don't think that the expressly liberal outlets are striving for objectivity or (therefore) doing consistently good journalism either (like the Turks and MSNBC). I no more want to be inundated by a filtered and skewed message from the Left than I do from the Right (maybe especially because I agree with it): like any form of inbreeding, that leads to weakness and unseemly intellectual defects.
Anyway, my loyalty is still somewhat with NPR, though I'm deeply disappointed in how American and narrow they can sometimes be.
I usually listen to my not-so-eclectic (but still 700 tracks!) Google music playlist heavy with Boards of Canada and BoC-like bands, lots of music from games, a little bit of Aphex Twin, some electronic stuff (Owl City and Lights), and Anathema's quieter stuff.
Woohoo, it always feels good to get tagged in a @JasonToon writeup!
Music recommendation here: If you like hip hop lyrics mixed with everything under the sun, or miss the days of mashups, check out Girl Talk. Free or pay what you want full albums at http://illegal-art.net/girltalk/
I pulled this out of my collection just today when I got bored with Amazon Prime. Hadn’t listened to it in a few years but it’s still great.
All Day, Feed the Animals, and Night Ripper are amazing albums of audio ADD. The earlier two albums are glitch pop and weren’t really for me but they may be for someone.
Suspense and Escape are awesome, but here are a few more old time radio recommendations:
Bold Venture (Bogie and Bacall)
Nightfall (CBC horror)
CBS Radio Mystery Theater (horror, mystery)
Lights Out (horror)
@2many2no First saw her @ Jazzfest in NOLA back in '95(ish); became a big fan. Since she’s based in Austin, I’ve been able to catch her live probably 2 or 3 dozen times
/image Jazzfest
BERNHOFT
Found this first video (c’mon talk) a few years ago and have turned multiple family and friends onto his music. He’s already Grammy Nominated even though he’s just below the Mainstream Radar…Check Out His AMAZING One-Man-Band Live Videos… You won’t be disappointed!
I tend to put youtube videos or Twitch streams on and listen to people talking that way.
The Science Friday Podcast.
Tony Kornheiser Show; Dan Patrick Show; PTI; Around the Horn; The News Hour; Criminal
Music. I can't even remember what it's like not having something from Hamilton stuck in my head
If you like podcasts, listen to The Adventure Zone....you're welcome.
@krobb1290 I love their Monster Factory stuff and have caught a few My Brother, My Brother, and Mes- but the first episode of The Adventure Zone left me a bit cold. Does it get better? Also, if you like The Adventure Zone you might like Hello From The Magic Tavern.
@linnry Oh yeah, the first episode was a test episode of sorts and it just gets so much better. I'd say listen to the first arc, Here there be Gerblins and if you still don't like then you probably won't like the rest.
TV!
Howard Stern, though lately mostly classic bootleg stuff on YouTube.
Joe Hisaishi is best piano
@brumagem Like piano music? Have I got a treat for you...
@cpierce
That was intense! Do you happen to know what software he was using?
@DVDBZN That looks like Synthesia. http://synthesiagame.com
@DVDBZN I think it's SynthFont to create the... er... music? and Synesthesia to play it like you see here. Google "black midi" if you want to learn more. It gets even crazier than this.
@cpierce That's really interesting from a composition standpoint; as far as listening, not so much
@compunaut The same could be said for some more famous composers as well!
@cpierce The preview still brought to mind the piano roll diagrams for Seth Horvitz's 'Studies for Automatic Piano,' themselves inspired by or evocative of Charlemagne Palestine, Conlon Nancarrow, Tom Johnson… Bit fun to watch the keys of the Disklavier…
@cpierce Sounds like it should be the music for a final boss battle.
@cj0e That's pretty much where it came from, boss battle music from Japanese shooters http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/the-opposite-of-brain-candy-decoding-black-midi/
@cpierce Neat! Thanks for sharing the backstory!
As far as good podcasts go: Doug Loves Movies (Comedians playing movie based trivia games headed by Doug Benson), You Made it Weird (Pete Holmes humorously discussing in depth topics with sometimes famous people), and Preston and Steve (Morning show from Philly that I'm not able to listen to fully on the commute)
@nickiwhite Both Doug and Holmes make me ridiculously happy when they're on @midnight.
@jaremelz you would love their podcasts then. A lot of the people who show up on at midnight also do Doug loves movies.
@nickiwhite I always mean to listen in. Funches is my imaginary boyfriend. And Benson is one high functioning pothead!
EDM/dance music, usually without lyrics. Keeps the brain's tempo up.
I work 12-hour shifts in a factory. And even though Tom Magliozzi rises from the grave and asks what the hell I've been smoking whenever he hears me say it, a constant stream of "Car Talk" makes it infinitely more bearable.
(The NPR One app has something like 800 episodes available for free.)
Well I just got around to downloading the Star Wars audio books that I got from Humble bundle in August. Going to start listening to those
I usually have the tv on in the background. Unless I am driving. Then I either listen to silence or. .. realize about a mile from work that I'm still listening to the Dr. Horrible soundtrack per my toddler's request on the way to drop him off.
Sirius Lithium. 90's grunge and alternative
Or sometimes Garfunkel and Oates.
@jmoor783 yass battles love <3
i mostly listen to mirrored. found out about it after the music director at my rock music school wanted us to cover "race: in".
What kind of "other stuff" are we talking about ? I mean, it's really rather dependent on that. The world is my oyster.
@ceagee Exactly. If I am walking or taking a long drive it would be an audiobook. If I am working, it would be music.
There are two streaming radio stations I know of that play episodes of The Goon Show 24 hours a day. I can only find one right now (they are on an app on my phone):
http://tunein.com/radio/Goon-Show-Radio-s122396/
So insanely good once you get used to the accents, and Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers were geniuses.
@mossygreen I just taught this station to Alexa. Thanks!
@mossygreen I just discovered that Pandora plays the Royal Canadian Air Farce.http://www.pandora.com/station/play/3127921521373738873
"Other stuff" consists mostly of driving for me. A lot of podcasts. Penn's Sunday School, Ice Cream Social, Freakonomics, Question of the Day, All Y'all (local storytelling podcast), a lot more. @pavlov got me on the Better Call Saul Insider, which I'm almost current on and will hold onto for next season to listen concurrent with the show.
Before the podcasts I went on a kick of Jack Reacher and Doc Ford audiobooks.
WTF w/ Marc Maron. www.wtfpod.com
Radiolab podcast
Fresh Air
Podcasts.
TWiT (the former Tech-TV folks) have a series of good mostly tech-related podcasts. Security Now with Steve Gibson, MacBreak Weekly, Know How, and The New Screen Savers. Others if you're interested in android, home theater, enterprise computing, and even that wintel caca.
I listen to TV programs.. The only other 'things' I ever do (hey! I'm an old work at home programmer.. gimme a break) never know what the hell's on but it does fill the empty air around me.
@unkabob Broadcast or streaming? New or old? I must know!
@mossygreen ... Broadcast, the cheapest way to go.. Remember? I never watch it so new or old is mote with me.. Just hearing voices other than the ones flowing through my brain pan is all I need
I love podcasts!
The Adam Carolla Show (and anything Carolla Digital), Fitzdog, The Mental Illness Happy Hour, Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast, About Last Night, and more
Right guys?
@Ignorant Sounds like a lot of hooplah, right?
Mostly the local NPR stations for news during the week and humor on the weekends. There's a good local public station of contemporary music when I'm tired of all the election prognostication. (WTMD-89.7) On long car trips, audiobooks make the hours disappear.
Depends on what the 'other things' are, I suppose. Like, if it's baseball season, the Nats are probably on when I get home from work, so I'll listen while I'm making all my meals. I've come to realize that when I'm steaming laundry, 95% of the time I'll listen to Tori Amos. I'm usually listening to TV while processing photos, because I have Lightroom covering up my Hulu window. I still chose music, though, since that's all I have to listen to during my 3-4 hours worth of train-riding, which is a pretty good time for doing various 'things'.
@brhfl 3-4 hours of train riding? Wow, oh wow.
@Barney According to the timetable, it's 1:50 on the trip in, and 1:40 on the trip home. A few minutes are usually shaved off each way, I think, but… yeah, it's a big chunk of my day. Usually I sleep, but it's also crossword time, writing time, reading time, photo processing time, beer time, coding time, or chitchat time depending on how the day is going.
@brhfl That would drive me nuts. And to think I complained when I had a job that took me 20 minutes to drive to. 15 minutes is my maximum allowable.
@Barney Oddly, when I had a ten minute drive to/from the train station, I would complain endlessly about that. Now I walk, and all is well.
DFW Sports Radio 1310 AM & 96.7 FM The Ticket.
Stay hard.
Audiobooks, podcasts, and NPR on KUOW.
WTF with Marc Maron
The Moth Radio Hour
Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
@KDemo I should have known your tastes would be awesome like this.
@joelmw
I guess the song that's caught my ear the most lately has been Eric Prydz - "Opus" (Four Tet Remix)
and Eric Prydz - "The Matrix"
I've also been enjoying listening to the various Coachella performances over the last two weekends on SiriusXM.
As far as music goes, I have pretty varied tastes. Everything from death metal to bubblegum pop. But my favorite thing to listen to is Cincinnati Reds baseball with the Hall of Famer, Marty Brennaman.
Prime Music on the Echo.
Huey Lewis and the News
Edit: I actually don't listen to them, but it's a fun name to say and my dad has some of their records.
@DonberKon Also, the soundtrack to ATV Offroad Fury for the PS2.
Clark Howard Show during lunch, whatever is on NPR other times. I especially like Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
Sometimes music, though usually watching either movies or rifftrax or something
Sometimes music.
Sometimes podcasts.
Harmontown
Judge John Hodgman
Tomorrow with Joshua Topolsky
Penn's Sunday School
TWiT
Music, sermons, or audio books. J.I. Packer's "Knowing God" and R.C. Sproul's "Everyone's A Theologian" are my two favorite audio books.
During the drive to/from work, usually the local Public Radio (NPR) which has some good news and casts like Radio Lab and Science Friday. Otherwise, my MP3 collection (much of it CD rips) or Pandora stations. Rock, Heavy Metal, Grunge, Jazz, Blues, Classical, Baroque, Irish Punk, lots of things. Maybe not Gangster Rap, although I do enjoy Heavy Metal rap like RATM or Body Count. Sometimes you just need angry music. And Country like classic Johnny Cash, not this pop BS of today.
Talk radio- Alex Jones/infowars.com. My second favorite thing to come out of Texas, besides you meh!!
Lately, lots of podcasts. Risk, The Moth, The Black Tapes, 99% Invisible, Lore, Hello From The Magic Tavern, Radiolab, Don't Get Me Started, Thinking Sideways, and have recently started in on My Brother, My Brother, and Me.
I've been running a bit too and while running I've been obsessively listening to either Fleetwood Mac's Rumours or They Might Be Giants' Apollo 18 or Flood. If I don't make a mile before Go Your Own Way I'm behind pace.
My ex worked for a music distributor. My collection was over 2000 albums, tapes and CDs before I converted to apple players. I still listen to most of them.
Audiobook addict here. I listen to everything from light stuff to lit and history. Much can depend on the narrator, and if you are busy, you have to get used to the interruptions, and the pause/rollback 30 sec/play. I listen one earbus in, one out.
Just finished The Fault in Our Stars, which i found astonishing.
Every few years i re-listen to Le Carre's Karla trilogy: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley's People. These are masterpieces. Great lit and spy masterpieces, all in one.
For anyone who loves The Lord Of Thr Rings, the unabridged Rob Inglis recording is beyond excellent. For Harry Potter fans, either the Jim Dale or the Stephen Fry versions are just superb.
Most recent books that sold well and have decent reputations will have unabridged audio editions. I almost never do abridged, unless there is no unabridged version. Never abridged for fiction: either the book is worth the time, or it's not. For many audiobooks, i prefer playing them at 1.25 speed.
Perhaps more later.
@f00l Are you watching "The Night Manager" on AMC? And I'm impressed you can listen to LeCarre on tape- I can't seem to concentrate well enough for complicated plots. I need those on paper. Or screen.
@f00l I used to follow all of your daily audiobook postings at Deals. Loved 'em.
@Barney
Still doing those postings, which is truly spitting in the wind. It just gets worse and worse over there.
@sammydog01
I now there are doing "Night Manger" with an excellent cast. Great book, tho not his very best. From the blurbs, i think they must have streamlined the book, as is normal. I will catch it at some point.
I think this book was his attempt to "Go Bond" a bit.
For those who dont know, John Le Carre (pen name of Davolid Cornwell) was in the UK Secret Service, abroad until Kim Philby outed him to the Soviets. Then a desk job until "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" was a success. His books are the grim reality of the trade, so much so that that community reveres his work and adopted many of his invented fictional "spy slang" into real-life use. Cornwell and Fleming worked together at times and were friends, i've heard.
Imho, his best work was during or about the Cold War. He's kept going tho, on a variety of topics that involve international intrigue. Some of his work comes off as cranky and agenda-driven (tho still worth a read), other books are v fine. To me, the Karla trilogy stands above the rest - some of the finest fiction of its era.
The Honourable Schoolboy was, unfortunately, never filmed because the BBC at that time didn't have the bucks for a multi-country SE Asian war shoot, or so i heard. The only way to do it would be mini-series. It would blow if cut down to 2-3 hours.
The BBC shot excellent 6 or 7 part mini-series of the other two books, both starring Alec Guiness as George Smiley. Both are dead-on and wonderful - neither is as amazing as the book on which it was based.
@sammydog01
I listen to mostly audible audiobooks using either an android or ios device, and an LG tone headset. The headset lets you roll forward/back 30 sec. I had to get used to doing that a lot, till i got better at listening. I still do it a lot, just yo go over a key point or great line again.
Audiobook apps for ripped books (i like Smart Audiobook Player) have similar functions.
Re Le Carre: at his peak, all his writing is incredible. But his "bureaucratic conversations" - and other conversations - are so good they're hard to describe. You can re-read them twenty times, letting them percolate, and then re-read them the 21st time and still get more. His skill at writing conversations is studied in lit and writing classes.
I wonder if he honed this during his spy years - spies, even desk spies, need to always be wary - to give info, get info, withhold info, suggest info, to probe, to strategize, to propose, never give away too much. But so much is there if you really look - or listen - for it. He is the master.
If you decide to give the Karla trilogy an audio try, be prepared to go slowly and do small re-winds a lot. Worth it. Do them in order.
My latest obsession has been with a band called Shaolin Temple Defenders. Really badass old school James Brown style funk R&B.
I like podcasts- Stuff You Missed in History Class, The Horror, and Relic Radio Thrillers are my favorites. I also listen to random audiobooks I get from the library. Right now I'm listening to "The Terror" which I discovered shortly after checking it out is historical fiction about a ship named Terror and is 27 hours long. Damn.
Wisconsin Public Radio, Harry Shearer's Le Show podcast or Splendid Table podcast, or WGN radio.
I listen to podcasts a lot at work. Here's my favorites list:
News/Politics
- No Agenda
Comedy
- The Adam Carolla Show
- Penn's Sunday School
Interviews
- WTF - Mark Marron
Las Vegas
- Five Hundy by Midnight
- Living in Las Vegas
Music
- Coverville
Weekend Hangout 2 playlist on Spotify.
Law & Order reruns, Discovery ID, crap like that.
Typically local NPR stations or one of my Spotify playlists.
In a perfect world, I'd love to listen to more podcasts and audio books while multi-tasking but I find I get too distracted and end up having to rewind or restart the chapter. :/
I listen to local NPR (except during national election cycles, like now. Will not abide the mudslinging), ESPN radio for sports. I love the blues: have a local community radio station (KNON) that has several blues programs throughout the week (also accessible online) & I subscribe to SiriusXM just for full-time access to Bluesville
@compunaut I'm like you, I'm voting Trump.
@therealjrn I won't abide his mudslinging either
Sirius Alt Nation and Pearl Jam in the car (was glued to the Billy Joel station while they had it). At work it's Pandora "Dave Matthews Band Radio", "Milky Chance Radio", or "Blind Melon Radio." On St. Paddy's Day is was Irish Pub Rock Radio all day.
@DaveInSoCal Love me some Piano Man. I've actually turned my 13yo into a big fan; kinda proud of that
@compunaut Billy Joel, May 14th!
At the gym (love saying that), it's currently Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Stones, Stevie Nicks, CCR. Occasionally I'll go to hard Celtic or bagpipe rock, like Rathkeltair, Seven Nations, Tempest.
I usually sit in silence without meaning to. It's the only appropriate soundtrack for despair!
Car: local classical music station. No matter where I move, the announcers all have the same voice, which I love.
Podcasts: Wait Wait, Ask me Another, Savage Love, Christopher Titus, Embedded, Alice isnt Dead, Welcome to Nightvale and occasionally the nerdist podcast.
I like to stream xm comedy channels and 24/7 comedy on I heart radio app.
and audio books. Lots of audiobooks. Dresden files is great.
dang, I process a lot of spoken word stuff.
@tagbiker Ask Me Another is a gem.
@tagbiker
I was beginning to get concerned no one else listened to Welcome to Nightvale!! Such a great one.
So many podcasts...
Interview
- Less Than or Equal (non-binary)
- Systematic (nerd)
- Hanselminutes (diverse nerd)
- Tea & Jeopardy (scifi authors)
- WTF
Fiction
- Escape Pod (scifi)
- The Hidden Almanac (like Writer's Almanac for a fictional place)
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies (scifi)
- PodCastle (fantasy)
- Welcome to Night Vale (scifi/horror/weird)
Radiotopia
- 99% Invisible (design)
- The Heart (sex & love)
- The Allusionist (language)
- The Memory Palace (history)
- Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything (culture)
- Criminal (crime)
- Fugitive Waves (history)
- Song Exploder (music)
- Strangers (people)
Tech news
- Accidental Tech Podcast (apple)
- Upgrade (apple)
- Clockwise (30 minutes)
- Rocket (smart funny women on apple and games)
- Liftoff (space)
NPR-style
- This American Life (culture)
- Death, Sex, & Money (life)
- Decode DC (politics)
- Planet Money (economics)
- Radiolab (science)
- Serial (crime)
- TrailMix 2016 (us pres campaign plus swears)
- The Writer's Almanac (today in literature)
People Talking
- The Incomparable (nerd culture)
- Back to Work (productivity and nerd culture)
- Cinema Gadfly (movies)
- Electric Shadow (movies)
- Kevin & Ursula Eat Cheap (junk food)
- Let's Make Mistakes (design)
- Overtired (tech and pop culture)
- Pop Culture Salvage Expeditions (culture and activism)
- Reconcilable Differences (life)
- Roderick on the Line (John Roderick's brain)
- Road Work (more John Roderick's brain)
- Top Four (ratings)
- The West Wing Weekly (the show)
If I could only listen to 5, today they'd be:
- Roderick on the Line
- Rocket
- 99% Invisible
- Song Exploder
- The Incomparable
@jeffyoungstrom Holy Cow! How do you have time for all that?
@compunaut like the Meh guys said today, multitasking. While cooking, cleaning, doing yard work, walking, bicycling (one earbud), playing games on my phone. Also listening at 1.5x speed for most shows.
@jeffyoungstrom I just downloaded Welcome to Night Vale. Gonna start listening to it in the car.
Podcasts, of which several I'm in a small handful of listeners:
- Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
- Car Talk
- Freakonomics
- Ted Talks
- Dave Ramsey (OK, so those aren't so obscure, but I'm getting there)
- The Funny Music Podcast
- Kyle and Luke Talk about Toons
- Flat 29's Big Book of Everything
- The Nerdcast
- Tim Hawkins' Poddy Break
...and a couple more.
Part One
I can't do work work (with the brain and the words and the maths and such) with people talking or even heavily lyrical music; the voices distract me. On Spotify my current favorites are radio stations built around this song from Infected Mushroom
this from Paranormal Attack
this from Skazi
(and yeah, no fucking idea what they're making noise about in that one, but it works, and again, focusing on the words would be bad for me)
Spotify also has a playlist called Beats to Think To that I'll use when I need the mellow (it's got the Bonobo and shit like that. And my Discovery Weekly, which tends to include both the more wild trance and the milder, has some good stuff.
Occasionally if I don't have to be too productive or what I'm doing isn't too brainy or I'm in a mood, I'll let myself listen to U2 (the whole damn catalog), Tom Petty and some other stuff I like that has the words.
Part Two
When I'm puttering around the house or walking or Clashing Clans or whatever, I prefer the Podcasts with the words:
Serial
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me
Ask Me Another
Invisibilia
Reply All
- you guys should totally check this out because it's about the interwebs and the social media and all of that, and it's good
Mystery Show
- though nothing new lately
Detective
- which I don't know why I like, but I do, and nothing new there either
This American Life
The Moth
Snap Judgment
Selected Shorts
Fresh Air on occasion.
My commute and sometimes my off time are usually with KERA, which has a great schedule and--since they have a sister station that's all music--is never music. So for the commute, that's Morning Edition into Diane Rehm (with whose establishment stoogedoom I am deeply disappointed but--especially when she's off, is still mostly good) and All Things Considered into News Hour with smatterings of BBC and MarketPlace. Local show Think is good for the interviews.
@joelmw You must be nearby - those are all the things that are distracting me when I'm at home
@joelmw - Since we seem to have similar tastes, I'm looking forward to trying some of these that are new to me. Since I figured out how to use Overdrive through my local library, I have been listening to more books, they also offer the option to use Hoopla. Anyway, thanks for the ideas!
@joelmw
I had either KERA, WRR, or the blues station at AM730 on all the time in the olde days, when i wasnt playing my own music cd's and tapes. Loved ME, ATC. Car Talk, Wait Wait, and a bunch more, esp weekend stuff. Sometimes i will hunt down a book because i heard about it on KERA 20 years ago, and it pops into my head. I didnt love the daytime stuff so much.
Then, sometime in the 80's, i discovered audiobooks at these lending stores. Most of them were abridged, which i hated, so i would get unabridged thru ILL and have to wait forever. Also listened maniacally to Stern, esp during the Billy West era. I tend to spend a few years w Stern, and then a few years away. I still send $ to KERA and Sirius. But i can't listen to a lot of KERA anymore, due to their pacing. My brain has changed and they've stayed the same. They're too slow. I cant listen to what i want when i want. Never found a happy way to podcast ATC and ME with the means to fastplay and skip. And i get my news off apps. Maybe i'm just turning into a crank.
And now audiobooks are everywhere, and often are free downloadable from your library.
Or maybe i'm becoming a crank. :(
@f00l So, the way my brain works is when there's news or other wordsy things, I'm riffing off of it. This is one of the reasons I don't read more. I'll read for like a paragraph or, hell, even a sentence, and I may spend the next half hour (or hour) just wandering after the implications or letting the voices in my head argue back and forth. But on the other hand, I can be fascinated by the human voice and people's stories so it doesn't bore me much anyway. I also do the thing where I try to anticipate what they're going to say (or, again, frame arguments or clarifications to it). I can sometimes relate to what you're saying, but usually, for whatever reason, not usually. Yaknow what they say about people who like to hear the sound of their own talking? I'm probably that way with the "sound" of my own thinking.
What I do have a hard time with is listening to certain political figures for whom I have no respect--I'd happily name names, but I try to be mostly apolitical here. Unlike probably the majority of Americans, I don't categorically dislike politicians, but there's a handful that I do (many of those I abhor are those that try to claim that they aren't, and I'd agree that they aren't very good at it, even though I'd argue that they're far more "political" in the negative way they mean it). And they're too often given too much time; even if they weren't so despicable, I wouldn't need to hear yet again what they're saying. Ha, but I don't mind listening to a particular politician, who's arguably been giving the same basic speech for the last 40 years.
As far as being a crank, I kinda think we've earned it. I'll yell vulgarities at my "radio" (often it's not literally a radio) sometimes as much to to drown out the fucking fuckers and lying liars (that's appositional) who are given too much time as to respond to the bullshit they're spewing.
@f00l My problem with NPR these days is that I've been deeply disappointed at how establishment they've proven themselves to be this cycle--especially the aforementioned Ms. Rehm. They still do some excellent work and I probably still trust them most among the major broadcast media, but they just haven't kept up.
We may or may not continue to financially support KERA when we leave here. I always thought we would. Like I said, they have a great schedule, and most of the podcasts I listen to I heard first because the show was broadcast on KERA.
I've never ever ever bought this bullshit that the media are actually liberal. There's just too much evidence to the contrary--and too much motive as well. I do think that the PRs (including PRI, APM, BBC) a much better job of offering a more objective and diverse set of perspectives. I'll grant that that's "liberal" by some standards, but not in a biased way.
What saddens me is that I don't see a reliable alternative and even though I might sometimes like them, I don't think that the expressly liberal outlets are striving for objectivity or (therefore) doing consistently good journalism either (like the Turks and MSNBC). I no more want to be inundated by a filtered and skewed message from the Left than I do from the Right (maybe especially because I agree with it): like any form of inbreeding, that leads to weakness and unseemly intellectual defects.
Anyway, my loyalty is still somewhat with NPR, though I'm deeply disappointed in how American and narrow they can sometimes be.
I usually listen to my not-so-eclectic (but still 700 tracks!) Google music playlist heavy with Boards of Canada and BoC-like bands, lots of music from games, a little bit of Aphex Twin, some electronic stuff (Owl City and Lights), and Anathema's quieter stuff.
Doctor Who audio adventures!
@justan79
Where are you getting these?
@f00l I have 3 sources:
1. Public libraries
2. Doctor Who conventions
3. Big Finish's site Big Finish's site
Woohoo, it always feels good to get tagged in a @JasonToon writeup!
Music recommendation here: If you like hip hop lyrics mixed with everything under the sun, or miss the days of mashups, check out Girl Talk. Free or pay what you want full albums at http://illegal-art.net/girltalk/
I pulled this out of my collection just today when I got bored with Amazon Prime. Hadn’t listened to it in a few years but it’s still great.
All Day, Feed the Animals, and Night Ripper are amazing albums of audio ADD. The earlier two albums are glitch pop and weren’t really for me but they may be for someone.
/youtube girl talk oh no
Suspense and Escape are awesome, but here are a few more old time radio recommendations:
Bold Venture (Bogie and Bacall)
Nightfall (CBC horror)
CBS Radio Mystery Theater (horror, mystery)
Lights Out (horror)
/youtube marcia ball
This rocking’ piano never fails to give me goosebumps
@compunaut
She will charm your ears.
And you will lose control of your feet.
@2many2no First saw her @ Jazzfest in NOLA back in '95(ish); became a big fan. Since she’s based in Austin, I’ve been able to catch her live probably 2 or 3 dozen times
/image Jazzfest
BERNHOFT
Found this first video (c’mon talk) a few years ago and have turned multiple family and friends onto his music. He’s already Grammy Nominated even though he’s just below the Mainstream Radar…Check Out His AMAZING One-Man-Band Live Videos… You won’t be disappointed!