Wormwood returns with "Red Right Hand"

Wormwood is back after its hiatus of — I dunno it's seemed like a few months but I'm not sure. The drama podcast is return-ed with an episode featuring the demonic possession of a woman called Wendy. Sister George — the priest with a dyed mohican — tries an exorcism...
There are people in town claiming to be from the Roman Catholic Church asking if "the object" is in town and declaring to Sister George that "darkness lurks in Wormwood sister".

There is a long blooper thing at the end of the file.

In the first season each episode touched on many of the people and mysteries of Wormwood, but this second season episodes have focused more on one story per episode. More satisfying if you are interested in that storyline, if you're not then it can be more tedious.

OK. Just wanted to post about something. And am glad to have Wormwood back.

The title of this episode (season 2 episode 09) is called Red Right Hand (google search — should be a link to it there somewhere) which is a song that has been following me around for about a week now.

Wormwood Season 2

I really wonder these days about the point of me writing anything at all.

I had been listening the the second season of the excellent Wormwood horror/mystery drama podcast, but now it is on hiatus. I love the rich world of the series, it feels a little like Twin Peaks. A dark and brooding small American town where everyone has a hidden past and is enmeshed in Something. Oh, and with a wisecracking protagonist (Dr. Xander Crow(e?)) who has an equally wisecracking assistant (Sparrow) - who's pasts are slowly revealing themselves.

WNYC Radio Lab - Deception and Lies

RadioLab is a podcast/radio programme on New York Public Radio that I sometimes listen to, though sometimes I don't, it's a little too reminiscent of This American Life at times.

THis latest edition on Deception was interesting, verrry interesting. The longer it went on the more interesting it became, to me. The second item was a story following a pathological liar, a woman who had several identities and how a woman became "obsessed" (her words) with this woman. See there's the This American Life similarity.

The next items were about people who lie, what characteristics do they have, are they better at certain things than those who aren't as good as lying, are their brains different? And the last section (about self-deception) concluded that people who are more "realistic" and lie less to themselves are more depressed. Though how they asses what reality "is" and what is more realistic I don't know. I mean if these "liars" can lie to themselves that they are going to win a race, and can lie to themselves and believe they have and will win the race. And then they win the race, then they aren't lying to themselves are they? They are describing reality.


Anyway. There isn't anything I listen to that I haven't got points to pick at with - I guess this is a podcast recommendation.

Fiction Podcasts (Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - Nine)

I have listened to the First series (Season?) of Wormwood, a drama in podcast form. Evil lurks in the small town of Wormwood, Dr. Crowe (booming like Brian Blessed at times) has been drawn there after having visions of a drowned woman, when he arrives secrets begin to unfurl.

Shadow Falls is another, similar audio drama, small town, Evil powers, reincarnation, mysterious narrator.

There are other fiction and audiobooks I am listening to, but I haven't listened to enough of those to recommend any, I recommend these two, I have enjoyed them and hope there will be more.

I can't recall whether I mentioned Linux Reality before, but I will mention it now. An excellent introduction to using Linux, and is also good for those wanting more in depth info. I've found it very helpful, there are episodes on things I have wanted to find out about like KDE and GNOME, Linux resources or file systems.

Videocasts I Am Watching

All these are Internet/Web/ModernLife videocasts.
EpicFu, formerly known Jetset is fast snappy and full of creativeness, art, music, fandom, featuring news and stuff of YouTube, work sent in by viewers, and general coolness from da Interwebs. Lovely communityness.


They have this Fu of the week (is it weekly, I'm not quite sure) which features people doing things (distributing music, making clothes, whatever) in new creative ways or in ways that are more in keeping with the ethos of the web, DIY and word of mouth and all that goodness. It's hosted by the wonderful Zadi Diaz.

Mobuzz is a more newsy cast the blue/green screen backdrop feature the RSS, Drupal and podacst icons. This short daily cast from Spain is more about this world of the Internet and mobile communications, social newtorking and modern life. And being produced in Spain often reports on things that you might not hear about from the US centred casts. The host Olivia is entertaining and there's always something on the cast to keep one interested.

Textra, has been going for a while but I only recently found out about it, now I hear that the host Natali Del Conte is leaving soon and the videocast probably will be no more. Another person moving to CNET. This is cast is again newy, the host standing behind a desk with a monitor in the background, giving you daily tales from the Web. Natali has this rather jarring transition between news anchor stylee to giving you her own opinion which I quite like. It's like one moment news reader mode, then wham she changes attitude. She covers many web apps and new tech things. Like everyone recently she covered the Kindle.

Geekbrief, of course. Gadget lovin' Cali Lewis show us her new tech and the tech she drools over, along with news from the Webs, much giggling, gadget fun and teh GoDaddy pimping.

All videocasts hosted by women who hoo. There seem to be way more women in videocasting than in audio podcasting. I have heard people saying things like female presenters are "easy on the eye". Hopefully people will realise that the hosts/writers/producres/creators aren't just talking head eye candy. Though perhaps not cos, after all they're only girrrlzzz.

The Bugle

I've been listening to Sherlock Holmes on BBC 7 recently, it suits the chill autumn air.

Also I just have to say I'm really enjoying the Bugle, the Times relatively new podcast featuring comedic geniuses John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman. John Oliver reports from the U.S. where I think he is working on John Stewart's The Daily show. Zaltzman is in London. Giving you the news with all the wry observation that you'd expect from them, interacting with people's e-mails, waiting for the American, for their "Ask an American" feature to finally be free (after illness, moving house and being away from Thanksgiving). It's all very good. Good good.

And unexpected, such lefty leaning sentiments from the Times?

On Podcast Overload

I've been listening to and watching podcasts. I am being overwhelmed by podcasts. The iTunes podcast list is dizzying and is actually quite upsetting. There's so much stuff I have yet to listen to that I don't want to delete, but I don't want to immediately listen either. It's the podcast equivalent of bacn. There's about 220 feeds in iTunes right now. Some casts I want to mention here but the thought fills me with exhaustion. I've been checking out some ABC podcasts (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) and CBC podcasts, also the BBC is podcasting a few more programmes like the excellent Thinking Allowed (sociology, culture etc.) and their travel programme Excess Baggage. Find BBC podcasts info here.

There are many food and cooking casts out there, many of them video podcasts. Reading recipes is a lot more daunting than watching food being prepared and cooked - "They make it look so easy" 'n' all that. Also lots of tech/gadget video podcasts and how tos.

Too many gigabytes taken up with these things. I'm beginning to fear them.

Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - Eight

Munchcast - one of the newer TWIT podcast devoted to junk food (or as they call it "geek food"). Very interesting, my favourite episodes so far are the ones on ice cream (Ice Cream, You Scream!) and the episode at Powell's Sweet Shoppe. They go into all variations on the foods they discuss and revel in the sugary fattiness of the foods the cover. It's an somewhat ambivalent revelling though, proud to eat junk but with an apologetic air. The Powell's Sweet Shoppe visit was preceded by Cammy Blackstone (the host along with Leo Laporte) telling us that she was eating a beet salad before she went on her sugar trip. The shop sounds like some kind of candy wonderland. I'm liking listening.

New York Times Video: Style | Dining & Wine is a Videocast usually featuring the New York Times columnist Mark Bittman who likes simple food. In one episode he says that he keeps telling people don't cook food, just eat it. But obviously there is cooking involved in these casts, but it's not elaborate, so I likey. Some of the outdoor cooking is done on a kind of terrace in front of a luscious green park/cemetery. Mark has a fairly deadpan humourous delivery which I appreciate. The link to the site I above seems only to work in some of my browsers, I'm not sure why, you can look for the cast on iTunes. The page on the website offers more videos than the RSS feed I'm subscribed to.


Frequencycast is a podcast on things digital media in the UK. They discuss things like Freeview, Sky Plus, BT Home Hub, DAB and things of that sort, though they are starting to diversify into other areas of tech. I'm not keen on the in-podcast banter the hosts do, but it's worth listening as it's a fountain of valuable information. New or changed digital TV channels? Find out here, I only wish the podcast was more frequent as the show is very interesting if you're into UK digital media.

Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - Seven

Podcast update
Been listening to old US radio drama, they refer to it as it Old time radio (OTR) podcasts. Find some here Radio Detective Story Hour or radio stations Radio Nostalgia Network. There's a ton of stations out there, streams and stuff just google Old time radio and browse away. I find it helps me get to sleep, when the stories aren't too offensive, but usually it's historically and culturally interesting, and of course some of the stories aren't half bad. I like the detective stuff best though.

I'm also listening to MondoMovie and Cinemaslave podcasts, which is strange as I am not a big film fan, but both these podcasts recently discussed David Lynch, which was incentive for me to listen. Not much to say about these podcasts, as I said I'm not much of a movie one, but these are interesting, I like to hear people talk about film who are really into it, and who aren't arrogant arses (like so many film aficionados). MondoMovie is by two British guys Cinema slave is one (US? I'm guessing) guy.

So I'm, going to check out some of the podcasts on the IT Conversations website.

Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - Six

How to Succeed in Evil is a podcast I have been listening to recently. It is the fun tale of an evil advisor who is exasperated at the ineptitude of this clients - evil geniuses who are to big headed to realise their own shortcomings. It is also available in comic form here. One of the podcasts sees Edwin (the evil expert) dealing with zombie workers run amok, that episode features music by Jonathan Coulton.

I've listened to a few episodes of Typeradio which is supposed to be all about typography, but it's not so heavy on the typography. There are interviews with font creators (where the question "how many illegal fonts have you got?" is asked, among others) and such - have to do some more listening but it sounds (after hearing three 'casts) interesting.

Not categorically a podcast (ah, my mistake yes it is! Here is the RSS feed link) but there is audio from South By Southwest Interactive presentations and discussions (more files being added as they get around to it). There's one called Web Typography Sucks which I have heard about and have yet to listen to - It was just put up today.
Also there is audio and video from the Free Software and Open Source Symposium (talks on open sourceness, linux, wikis collaboration etc.).

Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - Five

TED talks audio and video feed - Often compelling and sometimes inspiring lectures from the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) event TED ("is an event like no other. It brings together more than 1000 thought-leaders, movers and shakers... in Monterey, California every year... for four days of learning laughter and inspiration.")
A couple of the lectures that excited me were Cameron Sinclair (founder of Architecture for Humanity talking about Open Source Design and Architecture - and the DIY ethic) and Nicholas Negroponte (on One Laptop Per Child and how it will be done - and what it means for education). Other interesting casts were David Pogue and Arctic explorer Ben Saunders. I've got to listen to and watch more of this stuff. The site says "For best effect, plan to listen to at least three, start to finish. They have a cumulative effect." I agree - that's what I have just done. I am excited.

The Show with Ze Frank - is what I've been watching a lot of recently. (There's over a year to catch up on to) (And then a few days later I saw his thang mentioned on the 3rd episode of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe BBCPage WikiPage (series 2)).
Watching Ze Frank is compulsive watching, it has echoes of Armando Iannucci's stuff... I'm trying to find a way to describe it (if you haven't watched it already)- a face to camera talking about "the knowledge", reading something from the comments, provoking viewer interaction rearranging his perceptual architecture...

And then there's TWIT. Which is all good. MacBreak Weekly, and TWIT are my favourite, due to the informal, looser and "rathole"-y nature of the show (they refer to their veering off topic moments as ratholes) and their reliable characters - Leo Laporte and his voices and accents, Merlin Mann and his joshing, John C. Dvorak the grumpy old man etc. net@nite is interesting cos it's has live listener interaction (people phone in) and I like the back and forth between Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte.

I'm thinking of creating a deli.cio.us tag - podcasts I like - or something - can I be arsed? After listening to those TED talks with all those go ahead and do stuff people I feel incredibly lazy. But my reasoning is - I am a duck, ducks laze and doze a lot, I'm the only duck I know that can understand human language. But that's a very specious argument.

Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - Four

Sounds Good podcast "The podcast that makes you sound better"- Audio engineering and how to get sounding good podcast. It's an enhanced iTunes podcast. The images (of enhancement) explain how to achieve certain effects, there's advice, tips and tricks with visuals that make tricky things easier to understand. The host Hens Zimmerman has an intriguing (is it Belgian?) accent. Clearly he's an audio professional, very authoritative and the advice is detailed and fairly easy to follow if you take it bit by bit. He seems to be working on a Mac - this is an exciting podcast that I have to listen to more of. Lots of listener interaction too - which is fab.

Indiefeed - I discovered Mixel Pixel's Coming up Xs on this podcast. The site allows you to chose from different genres like Hip Hop or Blues or Electronica. Each little podcast contains a song and some information about the artist. The website has a page with flash players where you can listen to streams of various genres. Have to make more use of this too. - Oh there is also some spoken word on the site too - I have yet to check that out. The posts on each genre page have the feed link, some of the posts don't seem to - if you scroll down far enough you'll find the feed link somewhere.


So few Mac apps with the podcast download and play ability - or even better preview a podcast. I was trying out Juice but I found I don't give it much of a go, I have a knee jerk dislike of Java apps. I'd also had enough of Playpod which was buggy. So I'm now trying out new podcast feeds in Vienna to see if i like them - If I do I import them into iTunes. I don't like that iTunes doesn't allow you to copy the feed URL from within the app - but if you drag the podcast feed to the desktop it will create a .pcast file which you can then open in a text editor and copy the feed URL. Or I could open the exported OPML file, but my list is so huge it's faster to do the drag and open thing.

Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - Three

The R U Sirius Show and NeoFiles - They have all the past shows up online - I've been listening to these over the past few days. R U Sirius's show covers things such as transhumanism, interviews with people such as Cory Doctorow or Jimmy Wales (Mr Wikipedia), or the author of "Mind Performance Hacks" . Lots to listen to - it's almost like a portal to discovering all kinds of stuff. The tag lines for each show are different (NeoFiles is "The hottest ideas in tech culture today", The R U Sirius Show is "Exploring weird memes and alternative cultures") but there is a lot of overlappage happening. These shows belong to the MondoGlobo network to which belongs other blogs and casts; one of these is destinyland (The happiest show on earth). I've listened to a two episodes of this so far. Oh yeah, and NeoFiles s a nice pun. Files from neophiles (is that a word? (Cocoa doesn't think so) lovers of the new)?

The Splendid Table podcast - with Lynne Rossetto Kasper is an American Public Media programme - all kinds of food related items the latest programme (that I listened to) included - Liquid nitrogen in the kitchen (great for making ice cream in seconds) - Using essential oils in cooking - a short thing on double decker sandwiches in Cincinnati - Talking with the head chef from one of NY's prestigious restaurants - And of course the essential listeners' Q and As with the host. A friend tells me she experiences "A salivation and desire for succulent things" when listening. One episode featured a phone interview with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand on his new book on food. I assume she was talking about food. The host has a wealth of information about food at her fingertips, but doesn't come over as condescending - me likey.

Fair Game with Faith Salie - an amusing, magazine show with Faith Salie ("possibly the only Rhodes Scholar doing comedy today") as host. A recent epidsode featured an interview with Louis Theroux on his new book The Call of the Weird and on his documentaries, and about himself and his attraction to "weird". That was a welcome surprise. There are interviews with people in the news, or people with something to plug - you the kind of thing, and a musical interlude. I heard a great band called Best Fwends - short power pop/punk elecronica of the kind John Peel might have played. Click on the more button to listen to 30 second clips here at the Moshi Moshi Shop.
The programme is another one from US public radio. This time from Public Radio International.

OK this isn't very in-depth but the podcasts are out there, if you find anything here vaguely interesting have a listen for yourself, you don't need me quacking on.

There'll be more soon (that is, in my interpretation of the word soon - reading "when I can be rouse myself from lethargy")

Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - Two

Coolness Roundup with Stephen Schleicher and Charlie White (Charlie White of Gizmodo). For tech, gadgets, things web and computer. There is a 2 minute daily - (is it daily?) show and a longer in depther show. The last podcast I heard by them (not the most recent) covered one of the hosts' refusal to use anti-virus products (seeing no need for them, he says he doesn't use them and has no virii) and his advice on how to go anti virus free "I think their (anti virus companies) applications are fraudulent" Charlie (I think it was he) says. Another feature on that show was search tips - stuff about Google and other engine searches that you may or may not know. In the glut of tech podcasts out there I still think this is worth a listen. Not heard loads about the Mac on there though.

Jason Byrne's Just Comedy (now defunct but a small archive is available) is one of the Times' podcasts. Each episode Jason interviews a comic (the ones I have heard so far have been Robin Ince, Mark Steel, Adam Hill and Jo Caulfield), beginning talking about their latest shows and progressing to talking about whatever things get on to. Funny and interesting. Jason Byrne now does a podcast called The Knowledge Podcast which is a what's on - music, films arts, entertainment etc. with other reporters on stuff. I'm not so keen on this one. I think more of Jason's comedy and charm was in the Comedy podcast. This one gives him little room to do more than read the stories. The comedy podacast would veer off in tangents unforeseen (as he remarked in the Adam Hill interview), but no chance for such interesting and amusing meanderings in this, and I'm not all that keen on what is left. But then again I'm not all that keen on entertainment news type programmes in general. Though I'll listen to a few more episodes to give a fair go - it's not execrable.


Science Weekly (Scroll down a bit on the linked page) on Guardian Unlimited hosted by Alok Jha. Yes, another Guardian podcast and yes it's interesting and fairly brief (half an hour or so) on the latest science news and just interesting science stuff. In a Guardian stylee.

All podcasting men this post. Most podcast hosts are male, or if there are women involved they are usually as some kind of sidekick (sometimes a female sidekick is there to laugh at all the hosts jokes). Though there are exceptions - Buzz out Loud Molly Wood and Veronica Belmont: Gadgettes Molly Wood and Kelly Morrison: Media Talk on Guardian Unlimited Emilyt Bell: The Chillcast with Anji Bee (Which I'll talk about another time when I've listened to a few more episodes) - there are other Podcasts but those are the first that spring to mind. It might seem from my quick list as though there are loads, but (in my reckoning anyway) men still waaaay outnumber women in the podosphere. If there is anyone out there reading (heh heh!) please instruct me to the contrary.

Some Podcasts I Have Sampled - One

Radio Times Podcast Guide can be found here - which has some good suggestions that I am currently trying out.

On my podcast quest I have found a few more good listens -

Guardian Media - On the UK media, often the BBC's doings, on TV, on "new media" (they don't like to use that term) about the newspapers hosted by Matt Wells and Emily Bell - (Emily Bell is the head of the Guardian's Online presence - Guardian Unlimited.)

Radio One's Best of Unsigned features some good bands - well the one I've listened to so far has anyway, I feel that I should be listening to more Radio One, for all the latest - Huw Williams and Rob da Bank and all, but I'm all netlabelled up at the moment - and podcasted.

The Naked Scientists is a long podcast - around about an hour - enjoyable, mildly amusing science talk, you know the kind of thing. Off BBC Local radio I think. I likey.

I'm trying to get away from podcasts that are driven by current media monoliths, but at the moment that seems to be my bag - Guardian, BBC, The Times (I'm checking them out at the moment), O'Reilly etc. And I'm keeping a wider eye open for UK and all non-US centered podcasts and I have a ton of US leaning podcasts and I want to get a range of perspectives on life the universe and everything. Though I haven't been actively searching for certain stuff (except podcasts in French in a perhaps futile - though I don't think so - attempt to improve my French by subliminal absorption) - just podcasts in general.

Boing Boing Boing feed is here. It's the Boing Boing podcast, featuring stories from the website and featuring web people, such as 43Folders's Merlin Mann and Matt Haughey of Metafilter.

More on Podcasts when I've listened to some more - I've got abut 90 or podcasts in iTunes right now, so I'm using PlayPod (which is now free) to put other feeds into as iTunes is getting overwhelmed - as am I.

Podcasts Time Again

I have been listening to and searching out some podcasts and podcast directory type stuff. I like the availability of Berkley things online, the one have been liking a lot is the Foundations of American Cyberculture Art 23, which talks about how modern technology has changed the culture in which we live and how we understand ourselves and our world. The nature of identity in the world of multiple identities that is the internet. You can find Berkley's podcast output on iTunes and some of them here.
Of course there are my favourites Buzz Out Loud (Tech news, Very Entertaining with a nice listener interaction thang going on) and Gadgettes from CNET.
Buzz Out Loud and Diggnation I heard about on Valleywag newsfeed, (though I rarely read it) and am so glad for having discovered them.
I haven't listened to WHYME (Worst Music You've Ever Heard) in a long time, but i have it listed in my links of note over there.
Adam and Joe is fabulous and funny as they always are.
BBC Podcasts are many and varied, (Find the BBC podcasts here) my favourites are - Digital Planet, In Our Time, The Now Show (when it's on), Start the Week and From Our Own Correspondant. Russel Brand was funny the couple of times I listened to the "best bits" Show.
Cory Doctorow's Craphound has some great sci-fi stories along with the odd talk gives by Cory, usually about Tech/DRM/CC type stuff.
There are other sci-fi story podcasts but I have yet to get down and listen to them. Escape Pod looks good.
The UK guardian also has podcasts, I have been listening to a few, they sound fairly interesting, though I have come across nothing mind blowing yet.

There are many directories, the big ones like iTunes, Odeo and Podcast.net and also Podcast Bunker. But I find that it's not so easy to find podcasts, maybe I'm missing some vital podcast portal or summink.