Friday, January 3, 2014

The Monkey RSS Folder - New Year 2014 Update

If you've seen the ruthlessly pared down list of podcasts followed by Mr John Galloway, prepare for a crumb strewn, stifling, slightly mouldy smelling, hoarder's back bedroom of a podcast list.

This is an update of some posts made a little while ago - if you read those, my new podcasts since the last update are marked *NEW* (well, duh). There are a LOT here, and I have to admit that I'm at the point where not all are listened to some weeks, unless the topic particularly catches my eye.

Not all feeds are updating, but some are left in in the hope that new content might appear one day, and some are there because the back catalogue is available, and worth listening to. The categories are a bit arbitrary (Adam's Big Mixtape would fit in music too, and Collings and Herrin might possibly fit in news) but do represent what I listen to them for. Mostly. Most of the links below go to title pages rather than the RSS itself - I thought this better, as a description for each 'cast would make this a very long post. I subscribe via RSS - I think most of the 'casts have an iTunes feed too, but I can't say for sure as I don't use iTunes. Mostly, the feeds are free, and some have a "tip jar" system for you to donate to the creators if you like the content - others have subscriptions, and some will encourage you to pick up the authors' work or merchandise in other, paid media if you like what they're doing.   

Comedy
The Adam and Joe Show

Adam's Big Mixtape

Answer Me This (Occasionally NSFW because of bad language & adult themes) *NEW* Helen Salzman and Olly Mann answer listener questions with varying degrees of seriousness.

Comedian's Comedian Podcast (Occasionally NSFW because of bad language) *NEW* A fantastic podcast from comedian Stuart Goldsmith about comedy. I started listening to this by picking and choosing from the back catalogue of guests whose comedy I liked, but ended up listening to the whole lot. Both interesting and funny, and a must if you have even the vaguest interest in the "how" and "why" of comedy.

Comedy Chat (NSFW - some bad language & adult themes)*NEW* A podcast about comedy - not updated in a while, but the back catalogue is both available, and interesting.

Comedy of the Week (Radio 4)

Do the Right Thing (NSFW - some bad language & adult themes).

Friday Night Comedy (from Radio 4)

Harmontown (NSFW - some bad language & adult themes) *NEW* A really nice discovery this - a podcast by Dan Harmon, comptrolled by Jeff Davis. The original conceit, of coming up with a constitution for Hamon's colony on the Moon, has been subsumed by live Dungeons and Dragons and a freewheeling, improvisational, chatty sort of comedy, that occasionally includes terrible, ribald rapping.

Mat Ricardo's London Varieties

Newsjack

No Pressure to Be Funny (NSFW - some bad language)

One Life Left

Onion Radio News

Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown (NSFW - bad language, and depending on who's on it, adult themes)

Pappy's Bangers and Mash (NSFW - bad language & adult themes)

Regular Features (NSFW - bad language & adult themes) *NEW* Another chatty, funny, rude podcast, built around features that are in no way regular. Each contributor provides a new feature for each show. 

Quit It (NSFW - bad language & adult themes)

Radcliffe and Maconie

Richard Herring's As It Occurs To Me finished, but the back catalogue is available in the feed. (NSFW - lots of bad language & adult themes)

Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast (NSFW - bad language & adult themes)

Richard Herring's Liecester Square Podcast (NSFW - bad language & adult themes)

Stop Podcasting Yourself *NEW* Worth listening to for the "Overheards" section alone, but the rest of it is excellent too. The presenters chat to a comedian guest each show. Occasionally includes "Hulk Hogan News". 

Sundays Supplement (NSFW)

The Amateur Scientist (NSFW - occasional bad language & adult themes)

The Collings and Herrin Podcast finished, but the back catalogue is available in the feed. (NSFW - lots of bad language & adult themes)  

The Bugle (NSFW, mostly because of bad language) *NEW* Fabulous topical, slightly surreal comedy from John Oliver and Andy Salzman.

The Peacock and Gamble Podcast (NSFW - bad language & adult themes) *NEW* Not updated recently, but the interview podcasts from the Edinburgh Fringe are well worth your time.

The Smartest Man in the World (NSFW - bad language & adult themes)

What Are You Laughing At? (the British Comedy Guide's new podcast about comedy) 

What's So Funny? (Another one about comedy, this time from Radio 4 Extra)

You Look Nice Today (NSFW - occasional bad language & adult themes)

Cycling
BeSpoke *NEW* Five Live's cycling podcast. Interesting, in that it covered urban cycling as well as sport cycling, although there have been no updates since the Tour De France Editions.

Carrément Vélo (in French) Ended, but I keep the subscription in the hope that it will return one day.

Cycling Central & Cycling Central (SBS' cycling podcast - some excellent interviews pop up in this feed). The first link seems to be the live one (on Soundcloud), although things do appear on the second feed from time to time.

Humans Invent Cycling Podcast *NEW* Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss cycling. New this year, this is another favourite, well worth adding to your list of subscriptions.

ITV Tour De France Podcast

Pelotonitis

Real Peloton

The Bike Show

The Rouleur Podcast

The Spokesmen

The Unofficial, Unsanctioned, Womens' Cycling Show *NEW* Presented by Velocast contributor Sarah Connolly, and Dan (sorry Dan, I couldn't find your last name!), and excellent, fun overview of events in Womens' Cycling.

The Velocast

This Week in Cycling History

Velocast Tech 5 *NEW* Not updated in a while, but a discussion show with John Galloway and Sean Lally (of Cycle Systems Academy), about the technology and kit of cycling.

Veloclub Don Logan

Velovoices *NEW* A by fans, for fans 'cast that mixes race analysis and news. It's also worth mentioning the subscription content provided by the Velocast team - I bought their Tour coverage last year, and found it excellent. If you want to immerse yourself in the action this season, it's a great option. This Week in Cycling History is also going subscription only (details aren't on the site yet, but it was announced at the end of the last Eurosport show).

Cricket
Cricinfo: Bowl at Boycs *NEW* Cricinfo readers pose questions to Geoffrey Boycott - surprisingly low on the Boycott bingo count, at least in the episodes I've heard.

Cricket Writers' Podcast *NEW* Infrequent, but usually worth the download.

ECB Podcast *NEW* Weekly during the (English) cricket season, worth a listen as it covers the county and womens' game as well as the national side.

ESPN Cricinfo's Switch Hit Show *NEW* A (roughly) monthly discussion programme about English cricket.

Test Match Sofa *NEW* A recent discovery (for me). They have two feeds, a "Highlights" feed that summarises the day's play with edited Test Match Sofa commentary, and another (which I've not heard) that seems to be longer form programmes. A week's worth is available for free, and the rest for a £20 "Friends of the Sofa" yearly subscription (which also gets you extended highlights).

Test Match Special

The Ashes *NEW* A feed from 5 Live that covers the 2013/14 Ashes series specifically - most of the content seems to crop up in the Test Match Special feed.  

Environmental
Costing the Earth

Other Factual (Documentaries, History &c)
A Point of View

Bookclub

Documentary of the Week

Four Thought

FP Geeks 

In Our Time

John Peel Lecture

Michael Sandel - The Public Philosopher

My Own Shakespeare

Philosophy Bites


Reith Lectures Reith Lectures Archive 1948-1975 1976-2011

Shakespeare's Restless World  

The Pen Addict 

The Value of Culture *NEW* 

Thinking Allowed

This American Life

Witness *NEW* A short (10 minute) programme from the BBC World Service, historical events described by people who lived through them.

WNYC's Radiolab

Word of Mouth *NEW*  

Languages
Laura Speaks Dutch

One Thing in a French Day *NEW* A short podcast in French - very good for practicing your "ear" for conversational French.

The French Podclass  

Music, TV & Film 
BBFC *NEW* An infrequent, but interesting podcast from Britain's film classification board. They talk about particular aspects of the classification process, often with reference to particular films.

Bleep

Breaking Bad Insider *NEW* (NSFW, mostly because of bad language) Like a lot of uncool people, I finally "discovered" Breaking Bad last year - if you're in the same boat, this podcast is a great accompaniment to the show (don't skip ahead of where you've watched to, mind). Featuring interviews with cast and crew, they discuss each episode of the show in order, starting with season 2.

dublab

Fatman on Batman *NEW* (NSFW, mostly because of bad language) Whilst I'm not a huge fan of Kevin Smith's interviewing style, the guests he gets are amazing, and he has an evident passion for, and deep knowledge of the Batman mythos. The Grant Morrison episodes are particularly good.

Filmspotting *NEW* A terrific film review and discussion podcast. If you like cinema, and can only add one thing from this section, make it Filmspotting.

Filmspotting SVU *NEW* Filmspotting for streaming and on demand services - a little lighter in tone than the "original recipe" show (and frustratingly, not everything will be available to you in the UK).

Highway to Mars *NEW* A wide ranging look at Science Fiction presented (mostly, but not always) by Australian author Stefan Sawynok. I particularly like their book discussions (which prompted me to re-read some John Wyndham recently).

Hypnobobs

JJ's Smoking Sessions

Little White Earbuds

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

Shake and Blake *NEW* (NSFW, mostly because of bad language) Presented by Dave Probert and Ian Wilson, this is a (now finished) episode by episode rewatch and discussion of classic British sci fi series "Blakes Seven". It's a bit of a niche case, admittedly, but if any of you readers are rewatching the programme, make this podcast your companion.

Solid Steel Radio Show

The Black Dog (NSFW, mostly because of bad language)

The Witless for the Defence *NEW* (NSFW, mostly because of bad language) In which a defender presents a terrible film, and argues mitigation. The assembled justices discuss it, and then hand down judgement. Without this podcast, I'd never have known about "Mega Force".

Twice as Bright, Half as Long *NEW* (NSFW, mostly because of bad language) Like Shake and Blake, an episode by episode rewatch, but for short lived TV series (nothing that has lasted more than 2 seasons). The current series is the excellent one season "Ultraviolet".

Whomix Radio

XLR8R  

News & Current Affairs
Global News (Round up of the news of the day from the BBC World Service)

Analysis

File on Four

Broadcasting House

More or Less: Behind the Statistics

The Report

Tim Harford's Pop Up Ideas *NEW* 

Science and Skepticsm
Cancer Research UK *NEW*

Disaster Cast *NEW* A really interesting podcast about safety, and safety systems, using "disasters" as the starting point for the topic of each show. I particularly recommend the latest episode (about airline safety briefings) and episode 15, "Disowning Fukushima", but they're all good.

Guardian Science Weekly *NEW*

Inside Science *NEW*

Just Skeptics *NEW*

Little Atoms

Monster Talk

Nature Podcast

New Humanist

Skepticality

Skeptics With a K *NEW*

Skeptoid

The Infinite Monkey Cage

The Life Scientific *NEW*

The Pod Delusion

The Pod Delusion Extra

The Skeptics' Guide To the Universe 5x5

The Skeptics' Guide To the Universe

The Titanium Physicists

Short Stories, Drama and Fiction
Cast Macabre (Short form horror)

Clarkesworld (Short form science fiction)

CrimeWAV (Short form crime and noir on the hardboiled edge of the genre)

Cthulhu Podcast

Drama of the Week

Escape Pod (Short science fiction)

Machine of Death (Short Stories about a world in which death (manner, not time) can be predicted. Some really interesting ideas from the different authors)

Patrick E. Mclean (Short articles, longer form fiction)

Podcastle (Short form fantasy)

Pseudopod (Short form horror)

Scott Sigler Audiobooks (Novel length serialised horror and science fiction, and Scott's reader feedback and interviews elsewhere. Definitely not for kids. The current serial is "Nocturnal", but Scott's back catalogue is available too, including fan favourites like "Contagious" and "Earthcore")

Shadow Publications (Author Paul Elard Cooley's Feed - short and long form horror fiction)

The Monster Hunters *NEW* A sort of paranormal investigation serial, set in the '70s. Full cast recording, great music, terrific performances and nicely written. Enjoy it with the brain of a man, and the ears of a man[1].

Toasted Cake *NEW* Short form fiction, and occasional recipes read by Tina Connolly

Toothless (Novel length serialised horror - an interesting twist on the zombie genre so far - not for kids).

Underwood and Flinch (Mike Bennett's novel length serial tale of a vampire and his reluctant servant in modern day Spain - again, not for kids)

We're Alive (Full cast recording of a tale set during the Zombie apocalypse. NSFW - some bad language, zombie related violence)

(Also worthy of mention is the MIGHTY podiobooks.com, which has more serialised audio fiction than you can shake several sticks at, and an excellent personalised subscription system). It's worth noting that the biases of the Internet mean that much of this is horror, fantasy and science fiction - and lots of it is written specifically to be somewhat disturbing (it's horror, after all!). As I recall, Clarkesworld, Escape Pod & Podcastle will give a guidance rating with stories, so should be safe for those of a nervous disposition (as long as you pay attention to it).  

Technology
All About Symbian

All About Windows Phone


Mobile Nations

Mobile Tech Addicts

Tech Talk UK

The Retro Tech Addicts Podcast *NEW* An offshoot of the Mobile Tech Addicts podcast, looking at technology from the (sometimes surprisingly recent, it often seems to me) past.

The Digital Human *NEW* Examining the cultural impacts of technology.

The Phones Show

The Phones Show Chat


 [1] This will make sense once you hear the intro.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Me In Other Places

The imminent demise of Posterous led to a panicked export from that site, into Wordpress, so I now have some things there, at this address; http://johnthemonkey.wordpress.com/

I used Posterous as a sort of alternative twitpic, and as a single place to write, and then post content into this blog, and my Tumblr site, so there's some repetition of my Blogger content in it.  What I'm trying to figure out now is how to use Wordpress, and this site - my initial feeling is that Wordpress might become a sort of sketchblog, and this site will be for my ramblings, reviews &c - but we'll see.

One quirk of the Wordpress import process is that some drafts get imported as published articles, I'm trying to find those incomplete pieces and get rid of them.  Categories are also a bit of a mess.

Monday, February 25, 2013

.



., originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

A sketch made using the Noodler's Ahab, and Monteverde Burgundy ink.  

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Monday, January 21, 2013

Staedtler Lumograph & Faber Castel 9000 Pencils



I was in my local art supply shop today, and they stock the Staedtler Lumograph, a pencil I've seen recommended a couple of times.  I bought one, and here's a quick comparison with my current favourite Faber Castell 9000 (both pencils are 2B grade);

1) The Lumograph has the darker line - the Faber Castell is a noticeably lighter colour side by side.
2) The Faber Castell blends/smudges more easily - a series of vertical strokes is easily blended into a smooth patch of grey - the Lumograph strokes are still somewhat visible even after quite vigorous smudging.
3) Here, at least, the Faber Castell is cheaper (between 10 and 20 pence cheaper, depending on where you buy).

The difference between the two pencils isn't enormous, but the Faber Castell 9000 is the one I like best - it's slightly smoother, and I like the ease with which it blends.  The Lumograph seems to hold a point better, and I can see that its dark, tenacious line could be useful on occasion.



Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Thumbnail Foxes

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Some sketching and colour testing on an A6 Clairefontaine "Graf It" pad. Smoother than most sketching paper, but I like that. Holds up ok under light washes too, although I doubt it would take much more than that.

The Graf It pads are about £1 in this size, and worth picking up in my opinion.

Posted via email from monkeyphoto's posterous