Category Archives: Podcasts

Top Ten Tuesday: All About Audio Freebie

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers share their own bookish top ten lists based on the topic of the week.  You can check out Ten Tuesdays here.

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Top Ten Favorite Podcasts

I’m a really big fan of podcasts, and I’m really glad this week is an audio freebie, because I knew this would be the perfect time to talk about some of my favorites.  I listen to a lot of podcasts, and picking 10 was really hard!  I know I’ve mentioned most of them before, but I think they’re definitely worth checking out.  All links will take you to the podcast website- except Dear Hank And John, that one goes to a general website for the both of them.

  1. Lore.  It’s a different story every week, and it’s based on a real life story.  I’ve never heard of a lot of the stories that he tells, but they’re all really interesting to listen to.
  2. Welcome To Night Vale.  I am a huge fan of Night Vale, and it’s weird and delightful, and I look forward to every new episode.  They also have a couple of other podcasts now, and I really like Alice Isn’t Dead, but I’m not sure about Within The Wires yet.
  3. Greetings From Nowhere.  It’s random and funny and they have some really interesting conversations.
  4. The Nerdist Podcast.  I only listen to some of the episodes released, but the interviews are always interesting and funny.
  5. The Black Tapes/Tanis.  They’re both done by the same people, so I figured I’d talk about them together. They’re done in the style of Serial (which you can check out here, it’s completely awesome and fascinating), and I love listening to both.  But not at night, because both can be really creepy, and I ended up getting a little freaked out.
  6. Dear Hank And John.  It’s John Green and his brother Hank giving out dubious advice, and it’s hilarious.
  7. The History Chicks.  It’s the only history podcast I’ve been able to get into, but I did come across a few others on iTunes that I still need to listen to.  It’s two women talking about different women in history (and they occasionally do a fictional character, which is always fun), and I love that they include movies, websites and books about the different women they talk about.  They definitely put a lot of work into it.
  8. Gilmore Guys.  I haven’t listened to this one in ages, so I have 20+ episodes I still need/want to listen to but it’s entertaining and a really good recap of Gilmore Girls.
  9. The Grapes Of Rad.  It’s fun to listen to and it’s random and weird and I’m not completely sure I love it so much, but I do.
  10. Overthinking It.  If you like pop culture, this is a really good podcast to listen to.  They talk about movies and t.v. shows and a variety of other topics.  I have to admit that I don’t listen to every single episode- it sort of depends on whether I’m interesting in the topic of the week, but it’s always an interesting listen.

Fun Times

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So, over the weekend, I listened to the Pride48 marathon.  And while I didn’t get to listen to every single podcast, I still listened to a lot.  It was so fun listening to all the different podcasts- from the ones I love to the ones I don’t normally listen to.  I’ll definitely miss it, and I can’t wait until next year.  It was so fun to listen to!

Over the weekend, I went shopping for a bedspread.  And I really need to complain about this.

So, my old bedspread had this really big hole in it, so I was in desperate need of a new one.  I kind of, sort of, but not really looked at a few places online, and didn’t really find anything, so I figured it was time to stop at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a bedspread or comforter for a twin bed?

Pretty impossible in the store I was out.  Mind you, they have a great selection of bedding, and I did find one that I really liked.

But I didn’t have much to choose from, because…having a twin bed eliminated most of my choices!  If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that most people who sleep in a twin bed are either 10 year-old girls or in a college dorm.  That also eliminated most of the remaining choices.  Nothing against the  dorm-room bedspreads, but I just didn’t like them, and the 10-year-old girl ones…let’s just say that’s a bit too young for me.  It’s been a while since I’ve been 10.

I did manage to avoid bedskirts, and the more I see my new bedspread, the more I love it, so it’s cool.

I am curious as to whether it’s just this particular store or if it’s just in general.  I get that certain age groups need twin-sized bedding more than others, but a more varied selection would have been nice.

And now I have this need to go to different stores and check their bedding section just to see what they have.

Not much is going on right now…but I am going to an alpaca farm on Saturday! I am so excited, and there will definitely be a post about it!  Although I’m slowly starting to get ready for NaNo- I can’t believe it’s almost that time again. Hopefully it’ll go better than last year…I just need an idea!  Or 5, or something.

I honestly think that’s it for today, so happy Wednesday!

Pride48!

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So, this is weekend is Pride48!  It’s 48 hours of live podcasting, and I’m super-excited.  I can’t believe I didn’t mention it before, but there’s still today and tomorrow, if you want to check out any of the podcasts, and I’m sure most (if not all) of the podcasts will go up on the Pride48 website.  And probably through each podcast.  Maybe I’ll find some new podcasts to listen to!  Because 57 aren’t enough.

There are more than a few I’m excited about, like Cocktails And Creampuffs, Greetings From Nowhere, What Some Would Call Lies, the Satyrsphere and Game Night Guys…to name a few.  Also a bunch I’ve never of, or have heard of but never listened to.  Sadly, I didn’t make it out to Vegas this year, but maybe next year.  It’s been fun hanging out in the chat room though.

Big Fatty’s show was great.  I have no clue why I *don’t* listen to Big Fatty, but since I’ve subscribed, I’ll be able to listen to every single episode!  Cocktails and Creampuffs was great, and hilarious.  And Greetings From Nowhere was great as usual.  I missed the first 5 to 10 minutes for the Satyrsphere because I turned off the stream and it took forever to connect!  But…it was a great episode!  It’s just fun to hear some of my favorite podcasts live.  And a whole weekend of podcasts just make it more fun!

There’s really not much else to say…at least for now.  But I’ll probably talk about some of the other podcasts next week.  Maybe.  We’ll see.

I’m super tired, since I’ve been up for a really long time.  I think I’m off to bed!  Have a happy weekend everyone!

The Listening Continues

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Remember when I talked about how I downloaded a bunch of lectures from iTunes?  I finally started listening to some of them.  It’s about time, because they’ve just been sitting there, not being listened to.  Plus, I got through my podcasts pretty fast this week, needed to something to listen to, and then remembered I downloaded a bunch of stuff from iTunes U ages ago.

So, I’ve been listening to The Sociology Of Mass Communication.  It’s interesting, and since they’re all like an hour and a half-ish, it’ll take me a while to get through them.  Plus, I get to learn stuff.  It’s the only one I started listening to, but for now it’ll work, because it will take me a while to get through the entire class.  But it’s nice to have something to listen to when it’s a light podcasting week or I want something different.

Audiobooks!  For the longest time, I couldn’t get into audiobooks.  But I’ve downloaded a bunch from the library, and the one I’m listening to right now is pretty good.  I’m not sure if I’m an audiobook fan yet, but by the time I get done with the ones I have, I’ll have a pretty good idea.

Oh!  I liked last weeks experiement, where I hit shuffle and talked about the first ten songs that played.  I think I’m going to randomly do that, because it was a lot of fun.

That’s all the music “news” I can think of for now…have a wonderful Monday!

Let’s Share Some Podcasts

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I can’t remember the last time I talked about podcasts, and since there’s quite a few new ones I’ve found, I figured it was time to share some of them!

I love YA, and decided to search for YA book related podcasts…and found a couple I think I’ll like.  One is Authors Are Rockstars, and it looks like they interview authors.  I’ve only listened to their most recent episode, in which they interviewed Elizabeth Norris.  Her book was already on my to-read list, and after listening to the interview, I think it’s moved up to one of the top spots.  The other is YA Literature Review, which also seems to focused on interviews.  But there seem to be quite a few reviews too, which is cool.

I’m also listening to The Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe, and they talk about comic books, movies, and anything pop culture.  I know nothing about comic books, but it’s still cool to listen to, and they talk about all kinds of stuff, so it’s not like I’m really confused or anything.  And even I can kind of keep up with the comic book talk.

The last couple I want to share are Jim Harold’s Campfire and the Paranormal Report.  I’m a big fan of Weird News Radio, and he’s mentioned his other podcasts a few times, so I thought I would give both of them a listen.  They’re both interesting, and I like hearing all of the ghost stories on the campfire.  Plus, I like hearing about different paranormal topics on the Paranormal Report.

There’s still a bunch of podcasts I’m not sure about, so if I decide I want to keep listening to them, I’ll definitely be sharing them!

Here’s What I Found

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Remember when I said I was looking for some new podcasts?

I found some!  I have no clue whether I’ll like them or not, since I haven’t started listening to any of them, but I found a bunch that seem really interesting.  There are so many, though, that it got a little overwhelming, but for now, I think I’m good.

I downloaded one on the history of children’s literature, which seems really interesting.  It covers everything from fairy tales to poetry to Disney, and I can’t wait to listen to it.

I came across one that’s about zombies in literature.  I knew I had to listen the second I saw zombies.

And the one about mythology looks pretty cool.  It looks like it mostly focuses on Greek mythology, but that’s okay, because Greek mythology is really interesting.

The last one I wanted to bring up for right now is the sociology of mass communication.  While I find the role the media plays in our lives interesting, there are so many other things that play a role in our lives, so I may have to go looking for a few more…

I found everything in iTunes, under the iTunes U section.  They have podcasts, both audio and video, and it looks like they have actual courses.  But I haven’t look at any of them, so I can’t say for sure.  But it’s all very exciting.

I can’t really think of anything else for today, so I’ll be back tomorrow!

Musical Lists

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I managed to come up with 2 lists, plus some honorable mentions.  One’s music-related and the other is podcast related, so enjoy!

My 5 Favorite Songs From 2011:

  1. Lights by Ellie Goulding.  I love this song.  It’s catchy and indie, pop and electronic all at the same time!
  2. Lily’s Theme from the Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 Soundtrack.  It’s haunting, yet hopeful.  And the scene at the very beginning of the movie, with Snape looking over the school, with the dementors around the school?  Lily’s Theme fits it so well.  Come to think of it, a lot of the songs have a lot of the same elements…
  3. Heartbeat by The Fray.  I love The Fray!  And for some reason, I love this song.  It makes me feel happy.
  4. Safe And Sound by Taylor Swift, with The Civil Wars.  This song is HAUNTING.  It’s from the Hunger Games soundtrack, and the song fits it so well.
  5. Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People.  I always want to sing along to it, and it’s such a good song!

An honorable mention goes to the rest of the HP and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 soundtrack.  Courtyard Apocalypse, Snape’s Demise, Severus and Lily, Harry Surrenders, and Procession are some of my other favorites from that soundtrack.

My 5 Favorite Podcasts:

  1. Greetings From Nowhere.  This was one of the first podcasts I listened to, and it’s fun listening to Christina and Nicole talk about their lives in Nowhere.  It makes me laugh and I keep finding that I jump right into the conversation.
  2. Tudor Talk: This was another podcast that introduced me to the lovely world of podcasting, and I love that it’s about the Tudors.  Tudor England is one of my favorite periods, so I get to hear about different movies, the t.v. show and books that are related to Tudor England.
  3. The History Chicks is another favorite podcast.  Every episode is about a real or fictional woman from history, and the hosts (Susan and Beckett) do the research and condense everything into an hour-long episode.
  4. Game Night Guys.  This is hosted by 2 guys who like board games.  They play a different game each week, explaining the rules and then making up their own.  One of them left, though, but another board-game loving friend joined the show as a co-host.  It’s still fun to listen to.
  5. The Gilmore Girls Re-watch Podcast is another favorite.  Every week recaps an episode of Gilmore Girls, and it’s fun to watch the episode right before listening.

Honorable mentions for favorite podcasts go to Cocktails and Creampuffs, Accio-Potter Wizard Radio, Hello Nessa, the Joy The Baker podcast and Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap.

I Love Home Fries

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I am a fan of the Home Fries network.  It was started by Joy the Baker and they have a few different ones. 

Joy is doing a couple podcasts- one with Tracey from shutterbean where they talk about random stuff and the other is Joy interviewing different food bloggers and various other people.  Like Aarti from the Food Network and the lady who started the Cake Spy website.  At one point, I was listening to the Table Set, which is about entertaining and dinner parties and The Crush is about wine.  I’m not quite sure why I stopped, so maybe I need to give them another listen. 

It’s fun to hear her stories and thoughts on stuff and her conversations with Tracey!  And I’m curious as to who else she’ll be talking with on We’re About To Be Friends.  I laugh, and find myself jumping in on the conversation sometimes.  Come to think of it, I do that with a lot of podcasts I listen to…

Anyway, Home Fries has some interesting podcasts, and they’re what I’m listening to right now!

Gilmore Girls

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Gilmore Girls is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I was so sad when it was cancelled!  I first came across Gilmore Girls on ABC Family, where they show reruns every weekday, and unfortunately, I only managed to watch 7 season (the last season) in it’s entirety.  I had only seen random episodes of the previous 5 season, and missed season 6 completely, so everything didn’t make sense.  Thanks to the wonder that is TV on DVD, I managed to get all 7 seasons, and watched the entire show in it’s entirety.

Listening to the Gilmore Girls Re-watch podcast, I felt inspired and compelled to re-watch the series.  I’ve seen each episode a few times, so I’m not confused or anything, but it’s a lot more fun listening to it when I’ve seen the episode right before listening.

It’s a great show, with a lot of great dialogue, witty banter, and pop culture references that go right over my head.  Plus, the relationships between all of the characters is really interesing.

I suppose it would be a good idea to talk about what the show is actually about, right?  It’s about Lorelei Gilmore and her daughter Lorelei (nickname: Rory) and their lives in fictional Stars Hollow.  I like the relationship between Rory and her mom, and the very different relationships that both Lorelei’s have with Richard and Emily, who are Rory’s grandparents and Lorelei’s parents.  The biggest thing, though, is the fact that Lorelei got pregnant at 16 and then left home some time after having Rory.  I also love the very colorful people of Stars Hallow- Miss Patty, Babette, Kirk, Luke and Taylor, to name a few.  And of course, Sookie, Lorelei’s best friend and Lane, who is Rory’s best friend.  And Paris…I could go on listing the different characters.

Listening to the podcast has really helped me think about the show in a different way- one cohost (Arkle) is a fan of the show, and Angela (another cohost) is watching the series for the first time.  It’s hilarious when Arkle brings something up, and it’s clear, it’s not trying to spoil anything for Angela.  They’ve had a couple cohosts- Colleen, who was around for a while, and now someone else (I think her name is Nina) when Colleen had to leave.  Both are fans of the show as well, and around the same age as Rory is in the 1st 3 seasons.  It’s really interesting to hear Angela’s point of view since she sometime brings up things I never thought about.  Rewatching the show, I definitely don’t like Dean and I’m glad it didn’t work out with Rory.  If only they could combine Dean’s companionship with Jess’ reading a lot and Logan’s spontaneity…then you’d have a great guy for Rory!

Sometimes, Rory is a little Mary Sue-ish for me.  I can relate to liking school and reading a lot, but sometimes…she’s a little too perfect.  In contrast to her mom, who has made some mistakes.  It’s definitely referenced several times throughout the first 3 seasons that Lorelei has let down her parents and severely disappointed them and that whole bit.  I wonder if it’s done on purpose to show that while the hopes and dreams Richard and Emily had for Lorelei didn’t happen, it could happen with Rory, who is definitely the child they wanted to Lorelei to be.

It’s been pretty fun rewatching it, and I may have to start doing that with a few other shows I like…

Podcast Awards!!!

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We all know how much I love podcasts.  And it’s time for the Podcast Awards.  It’s now time for voting, and I’ve been voting almost everyday since voting opened.  Some of the podcasts I listen to didn’t get nominated but some of the ones I do listen to got nominated so I guess it all balances out.

I’ve been voting for Cocktails and Creampuffs under People’s choice, Greetings From Nowhere under General, and The History Chicks under Education.  They’re some of my favorites, and I hope they win!

One if my (new) favorite podcasts is Kevin And Ursula Eat Cheap.  They eat, rate and talk about different processed foods each week, and it’s always entertaining.  The episode titles are great too- my favorite one so far is “it should be banished to the bowels of the earth.”  It makes me giggle.

I really like the Colonial Williamsburg Podcast too.  It’s a short podcast, about 10 to 15 minutes long, and each episode focuses on a different aspect of Colonial Williamsburg.  Recent episodes include Benjamin Franklin, Blacksmiths, and Spies At Jamestown.  It’s pretty interesting, especially for people who like American History.

Another favorite, which I’ve been listening to since June, is Weird News Radio.  It’s completely dedicated to all the weird news out there, and it’s a funny, disturbing, and sometimes gross head-scratcher.

I think that’s it for the podcast talk, and thanks for reading!