A Blog.
In which Thom and Michael look back at the retraction of Mike Daisey’s episode of This American Life. Michael talks about watching Game of Thrones with his mum.
In which, immediately after watching Michael’s appearance on Cleverdicks, Thom and Michael discuss the travails of Thom’s apartment, Michael reads some of the words of Carl Sagan (without doing the voice), and Thom does a run.
This week’s podcast contains a nascent ill-thought-through meme you can join in with at home. Or at work. Or anywhere really. It’s brilliant.
This week’s podcast contains a lengthy discussion (I call it a discussion, it’s really me ranting at Michael) about R2-D2, what the hell he is, and why you’d design him like that (you wouldn’t).
If you want to hear some opinions about various oscar nominations, difficulties in obtaining photos for Indian visas, and the strangely accepted racism present in news reporting, this is the podcast for you.
Another one of our slightly better, ill-planned, meandering podcasts this week. We discuss bringing children into offices, find out about Darren Aronofsky films LIVE ON AIR and have the inevitable technical hitch on Michael’s Macbook.
As the title would suggest, there’s much blathering about Wikileaks, although I also recap on my problems with Clairol’s advertising campaigns and talk rather aimlessly about some films I saw, whilst making something out of Lego at the same time. Will the wonders never cease?
I don’t know what it is about Merlin Mann that I really like. Partly I think it’s the fact he makes a lot of sense, and he’s funny, but I think what really gets me is his deep understanding about the interconnectedness of things. Like Dirk Gently. He’s like email’s Dirk Gently.
This is a good interview with him by Dan Benjamin of The Talk Show fame.
We’re back for the new year with a meandering podcast about pretty much anything that leaps to mind, including a discussion of Christmas, Frankie Boyle and some films.
In which Thom and Michael tell you how to climb a wall, how to hang off a crane, and how to spot Alfred Hitchcock, as well as other considerably less worthy celebrities.
Whether I really want to admit it or not, the bespectacled short-haired man talking about Lego in that video is myself. We’re on the wonderful Shift Run Stop this week talking about our podcast, Lego, role-playing games and many other things. Thanks to Leila and Roo for having us on!
I love LCD Soundsystem, and really, LCD Soundsystem are James Murphy. However, I found the interview with Murphy on this week’s Music Weekly podcast rather annoying. Yes, things have changed since he put together his music collection, but that’s the way the world goes. Indeed, I find this whole obsession that DJs and men of a certain age have with vinyl to wear me down. I get the romance of it all, but it’s worth remembering that the sound of vinyl is far from perfect, it’s huge and annoying to store, and it degrades without having to do much to it at all. MP3s might be a different way of consuming music, but are they really worse? They give music fans a means of exploring whole expansive genres of music they may never have listened to in an amazingly short period of time, and services like Spotify just make that process even easier.
That said, everything the contributors are all spot on about LCD themselves. They’re an amazing band, throwing the towel in at the absolute top of their careers, and there are a fair few bands that I wish that had occurred to.
In which Thom and Michael try to get Chatroulette to work, while recording the podcast, without any success. They might well try it again - but it failed this time. Nonetheless, they manage to talk about why you should vote, even if you’re a disenfranchised teenager, television programmes that they have enjoyed, the Oscars, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. They also touch briefly on the line-up for this year’s Latitude Festival, which they both are keen to go to!
In which Michael and Thom emerge from some Heavy Rain, to find themselves in the National Theatre battling with failing batteries and frequent PA announcements.
In which Thom and Michael reveal their love of Winter Olympic sports. Michael enjoys watching the sport of curling where people toss stones down highly polished blocks of ice. Thom enjoys watching a different sport of curling in his bathroom.
They also discuss the BAFTAs, and whether or not Heavy Rain will be a load of old button-jabbing wank, or the answer to every gamer’s slightly damp dreams (0.757 inches).
