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.

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.

.

., originally uploaded by John the Monkey.

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

Black Paper

In response to this post over at "A Penchant for Paper", here's some different things on black paper.  The paper is from a Seawhite A5, wire bound sketchbook.

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A Very Lopsided Bottle

See the full gallery on Posterous

Sketching beer bottles. Believe it or not (given the wonky perspective) done with a fair gap after drinking...

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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.

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Thumbnail Foxes

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.

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A New Thing - Caran d'Ache Gouache Studio 8

Caran D'Ache Gouache Studio Set

I was mooching around my local WH Smiths when I found this.  It was on the clearance shelf, and marked down for being damaged (£10 rather than £15 or £20, depending on where you look for the rrp). 

Inside the Box

A quick examination revealed that nothing was missing, and that the contents were in good condition (the outer cardboard sleeve was a mess, and that seemed to be all). So, an impulse buy was made.

What you get (in a large plastic clamshell case) is a decent no.5 brush, seven cakes of gouache, and a tube of white.

With the Paint Tray Lifted Out 

The tray holding the paints can be lifted out, giving a very large space for mixing colours.  The paints themselves are student quality, apparently, which means they won't be hugely light fast, but by all accounts will provide a decent way to try out this type of paint.

Colour Test

I've not done much with these yet (the colour test is the only thing I'm comfortable showing off) - the appeal for me is the opacity - and also the reason I'm finding things difficult, having become accustomed to watercolour! Figuring out how much water to add is proving tricky too.  With that said, they mix nicely enough, and once I figure out how/if I can get the effect I want, I think I'll enjoy them.  If I fail, I'll just use them for adding to my watercolours :)

 

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Ug Crappyfeet to Ug Cyclist

For reasons now lost back in the twitter timeline, I drew a quick sketch of a caveman cyclist, to taunt Nick (@aslongasicycle, and @vulpinecc supremo).

Ug Crappyfeet (Faber Castell 9000 (B) pencil, Moleskine Pocket Reporter)

I dashed this off, mostly to make a silly joke, but did like his expression, and posture.  I didn't like the positioning of his legs (the one nearest to us is all wrong, not where it should be on his body at all) and my lack of skill at drawing feet was cruelly exposed.

Nick was rather taken with it though, and as I was going to send the drawing to him, that gave me something of a spur to make more of the parts of it that I liked.  I gave myself a week to improve on it, and, as luck would have it, had a week with a bit more hobby time than is usual for me available.

Different media, faces.(Charcoal Pencil, Pastel Stick,
Moleskine Pocket Reporter)

The first thing I needed to do was recreate what I liked in the expression Ug had in the first image.  That's what I'm trying to do on this page, as well as trying a charcoal pencil and pastel stick.  I think the lesson we learn here is "stick to what you know".

See the full gallery on Posterous

Colour testing using Derwent Watercolour Pencils (Koh-I-Noor 2B graphite, Centropen fineliner, Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Moleskine Pocket Reporter)

Once I'd got a handle on the character, I started to test colour blends.  The intention was to give Ug a Vulpine green cap and loin cloth, with the conceit being that they're made of some sort of fur or animal skin.  On the second page, you can see the different combinations labelled with their constituent colours.  At this stage, I still thought I'd use watercolour pencil, because they're more predictable than "proper" watercolours.

His stance and expression aren't great in this outline, but it was ok for a colour test.

Trying a different style of figure, and including the first iteration of his bike (Faber Castell 9000 (B) pencil, Seawhite A6 Sketchbook)

I tried one final attempt at a different style, which ended up like this, as I experimented with a more cartoon-like proportion for the figure.  I also wanted to work up the pre-historic bike idea I'd decided to include.  I hated this version - his expression is wrong, his stance is wrong, and the bike looks wrong.

The final figure/stance rough (Koh-I-Noor 2B Graphite, Moleskine Pocket Reporter)

This is my final figure rough, and it's probably the best iteration of Ug's stance that I did.  I like the posture and proportions here, and these are what I set out to transfer to the Seawhite book for the final painting.

Pencil outline of the final version (Faber Castell 9000 (B) Seawhite A6 Sketchbook)

So, I tried to recreate the stance of the final rough as best I could, and came up with a "Prehistoric Bike" - the idea being that it would have a frame made of branches (an earlier version had leaves &c sprouting from the tubes), tusk forks and ram's horn handlebars.

Inked, and ready to paint (Uni-Pin Fineliner, Seawhite A6 Sketchbook)

I debated whether to ink with my brushpen, but was a little worried about my ability to control the line over the fine details of this drawing.  The Uni-Pin doesn't have the vibrant line that the brushpen produces, but it does go where you point it, with a predictable line :)  It also comes out properly black, not the dark grey of the Centropen liners.  Note that I've missed inking the part under the twine "lug" between headtube and top tube. Cuh.

See the full gallery on Posterous

First watercolour pass (Cotman 1/2 pan colours, Seawhite A6 Sketchbook)

I'd decided to paint this (rather than use watercolour pencil) well before I got to this stage, possibly as a reaction to my cowardice in not using the brushpen for inking :)  I used the facing page as a test page pretty extensively (see second picture) despite that, I think he's a bit pale for a caveman, even in the finished version.  Ah well.

 

Finished - Ug Cyclist.

The final version turned out ok, although I wish I was skilled enough to reproduce all the elements I liked of Ug's prior incarnations in one image!  As well as my misgivings about his skin tone, I'm not impressed with his legs, which still don't look right to me (the far leg doesn't look like the far leg, if you see what I mean...)  The inking is too heavy on his eyes too.

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Sketchbook - Monkey Dracula

Head detail of what should end up as a full length figure.Sometimes, you just have to get the ideas OUT OF YOUR HEAD.

Koh-I-Noor 2mm leadholder (2H), Seawhite A6 sketchbook. 

 

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Sketch Dump

Mouse in a Stetson.

Moleskine Pocket Reporter, Faber Castell 9000 (B), Uni Pin.

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Esterbrook LJ, Waterman Blue/Black on Moleskine Pocket Reporter

http://instagr.am/p/QoqiDPHgNA/

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The Monkey RSS Folder - Summer 2012 Update

This is an update of a couple of 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.  I've had this in my "drafts" folder for bloody ages, sorry.

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 (The Amateur Scientist would fit in Science and Skepticsm 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.

All 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

Comedy of the Week (Radio 4) 

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

Friday Night Comedy (Radio 4)

Jon Holmes

Mat Ricardo's London Varieties *NEW*

Mike Detective (spoof of Pulp Private Eye Stories) 

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 *NEW* (NSFW - bad language & adult themes)

Quit It *NEW* (NSFW - bad language & adult themes)

Radcliffe and Maconie *NEW*

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 *NEW* (NSFW - bad language & adult themes)

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

Sundays Supplement *NEW* (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 Dave Gorman Podcast *NEW*

The Smartest Man in the World *NEW* (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

Bike to Work Book Podcast

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.

ITV Tour De France Podcast

NY Velocity

Pelotonitis *NEW*

Real Peloton

The Bikescape Podcast

The Bike Show

The Cyclingnews.com Podcast

The Rouleur Podcast *NEW*

The Spokesmen

The Velocast

This Week in Cycling History *NEW*

Veloclub Don Logan

 

Cricket

Test Match Special

 

Environmental

Costing the Earth

 

Other Factual (Documentaries, History &c)

A Point of View

Bookclub *NEW*

Documentary of the Week 

Four Thought *NEW*

FP Geeks *NEW*

In Our Time

John Peel Lecture *NEW*

Michael Sandel - The Public Philosopher *NEW*

My Own Shakespeare *NEW*

Philosophy Bites

Radio 4 Choice

Reith Lectures *NEW*

Reith Lectures Archive 1948-1975  1976-2011 *NEW*

Shakespeare's Restless World *NEW*

The Pen Addict *NEW*

Thinking Allowed

This American Life *NEW*

WNYC's Radiolab *NEW*

 

Languages

Laura Speaks Dutch

The French Podclass

 

Music & Film

Bleep 

dublab

Hypnobobs *NEW*

JJ's Smoking Sessions

Little White Earbuds

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

Solid Steel Radio Show *NEW*

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

Whomix Radio

XLR8R

Hypnobobs and The Black Dog are particularly worthy of note. Hypnobobs has short story readings, musings on film and written fiction, and was introduced to me by @LaFemmeFlaneuse.  Presented by Mr Jim Moon, the long series of episodes on the origins of the Wolfman in film, and "The Natural History of the Batman" are particularly good.

Via the Hypnobobs special on the Alien, I found the Black Dog, a freewheeling, chatty film podcast, in which the presenters discuss film news, and review a well thought of older film ("Rose Tinted Specs") to see whether it deserves its reputation.  On other shows, they'll look at a less well regarded older film, to see whether it deserves its reputation ("Sh*t Covered Goggles").  Listener feedback is invited for both segments, leading in one segment to a memorable rendering of Adam Henri's "Batpoem" by Mr. Jim Moon, reviewing Joel Shumacher's "Batman and Robin".  The show also features jingles by ill fated lounge singer Darron Diamond, which will stay in your head for the rest of the week.

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 *NEW*

 

Science and Skepticsm

Little Atoms

Material World

Monster Talk 

Nature Podcast

New Humanist *NEW*

Skepticality

Skeptoid 

The Infinite Monkey Cage

The Pod Delusion

The Pod Delusion Extra 

The Skeptics' Guide To the Universe 5x5

The Skeptics' Guide To the Universe

The Titanium Physicists *NEW*

 

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 *NEW*

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 "Ancestor", 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) 

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 *NEW* (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 *NEW*

Android Central *NEW*

Gamecast 

Mobile Nations *NEW*

Mobile Tech Addicts *NEW*

Tech Talk UK *NEW*

The Phones Show *NEW*

The Phones Show Chat *NEW*

Lot's new here, mostly because I finally changed mobile os, away from Symbian. I was disappointed to see that the "All About..." brand doesn't extend to Android coverage, and can't quite bring myself to let Rafe, Steve, Ewan & David go (hence the top two subscriptions).  Of the new ones, Mobile Tech Addicts is good fun, and The Phones Show Chat brings some of what I like about the "All About..." shows to multi platform discussion.

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Zebra Sarasa SE07

I was lucky enough to win a set of these in one of Tiger Pens' monthly giveaways.

Although I use fountain pens for most of my writing, you can't beat gel pens for writing you need to dry quickly, or that you want to stand up to the elements (I use a Parker Jotter with a Parker gel refill for addressing envelopes, for example).

That leads me to a rather limited palette of blue and black, so I was pleased to be able to try a greater range of colours.

Ink Tests (Paperchase Kraft Notebook)

As you can (hopefully) see, the colours from the Zebra pens are vibrant and consistent.  I've included a few fountain pen inks in the lower part of the page for colour comparison.

My only slight disappointment was that the Orange pen came with a black refill - as the pens were free, I'm not going to complain about that, and I'm sure it wouldn't happen in a purchased pen.

The speed of shipping from Tiger Pens was impressive - the morning after I sent them my mailing address, the pens were waiting for me on the doormat!

The pens write pretty wet, and I was fairly convinced that this would lead to them "blobbing" at times onto the page, but that didn't happen at all.

A Test Sketch (Cheap Spiralbound Sketchbook)

I put them through their paces doing a quick sketch inspired by the "Zebra" name, and found them pleasant to write and draw with  - smooth (except for when I put them at too low an angle to the paper - I assume that's the "cone" aroud the rollerball tip "catching" on the paper) and the line stays consistent.  The line they write is pretty broad, but I like that, preferring a fibre tip pigment liner for *really* thin lines, and I really like the brightness of the colour.  My personal favourites are the blue (lovely and deep) and purple.  The black writes a solid, properly dark black too, reminding me a little of Herbin's Perle Noire, my favourite black fountain pen ink.  

Despite the pens being retractable, they feel solid in use, without the "rattly" feeling some retractable pens have.  The only criticism I'd make of the mechanism is that it's a little too easy to activate - my Jotter requires more pressure, and is less likely to end up ready to write when being carried in a pocket!  You could reasonably point out that it's silly to carry retractable pens in a pocket (that's why they have clips!) and I'd not disagree with you - I'm used to capped pens :)

Whilst gel pens won't win me away from fountain pens and ink, there are times when you need to write on less than teriffic paper, or write a label or address that you need to be waterproof, and these pens fill that niche for me.  Gel pens are a bit more pleasant to write with than ballpoints, and it's worth keeping one or two (or eight if you like colour and/or are indecisive :) ) around even if you're a confirmed fountain pen addict.

The pens are currently £2.34 each at Tiger Pens, meaning the full set of 8 colours will cost you £18.72 - although I've not tried them, you could also consider the Uni Ball Signo 207 RT, slightly cheaper, and a similar range of colours at £2.10 (but no pink!)

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Cycling: Chain Rotation

A very quick post about cycling, for a change.

I was discussing mileage records on twitter, and mentioned that one of the reasons I track my mileage is to rotate chains.  This is a method of spreading chain and cassette wear over a number of chains, and I first saw it mentioned in Cycling Plus;

To maximise cassette and chain life, buy three new chains when fitting a new cassette. After 500 miles replace the first chain with the second. After a further 500 miles replace the second with the third and continue to rotate the chains every 500 miles.

If you've got an aluminium cassette instead, reduce the distance between rotations to 250 miles.

I change my chains about every 300 miles, largely because, on the commuter, that equates to fortnightly.  (The routine being to wash the bike, and change the chain at the weekend - it's easier to clean the bike without the chain on too, on the drivetrain side).

Note that it's just the same three chains being rotated - you don't have to buy a new chain for every change!

I use KMC X9.93 chains - as I said when I was first experimenting with this;

I'm using £10 KMC X9 93 chains, so assuming I go for £30 cassettes (Ultegra, at current CRC prices), the rotation method only has to make the cassette last twice as long to have paid for itself (excluding the possibility of chain ring replacement, which I would guesstimate at £36ish (Tiagra level triple) to £55 (Ultegra level).

The key is to make the change easy, and be organised - I use takeaway food tubs to store the chains (marked LHT (Long Haul Trucker) Chain 1, 2 and 3 for the commuter) and the KMC quicklinks make the chain change easy.

It's not something that's worth doing on 5 & 6 speed systems, in my experience, because they seem to last forever, but on 9 speed and above, you'll get a lot more out of your cassette by doing this.

 

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For Beginner Fountain Pen

A couple of quick thoughts prompted by a question from @sofaboy, with a title inspired by a Plone album.

Lamy Safari/Vista/Al-Star (£15/£15/£24 respectively, roughly).

See the full gallery on Posterous

Often recommended as a first fountain pen, and with good reason.  The Safari is a tough, ABS plastic pen, the Vista a transparent variant, and the Al-Star an aluminium version.

These are reliable pens that you'll rarely have problems with in terms of hard starts or skipping, and they have an easily interchangeable nib that you can swap for anything from a planner friendly extra fine to an ink gobbling 1.9mm italic.

For:

Tough, reliable.

Readily swappable nibs (most are sold with medium, I have tried that, the 1.1mm italic and the extra fine - all have been smooth, nice writers).

Easily available - I've seen these in Ryman, WH Smiths, Paperchase...

Against:

Lamy cartridges are a proprietary format, and international standard cartridges won't fit. (Although Monteverde do now offer a Lamy compatible cartridge - Ryman sell these).

The triangular grip section isn't everyone's cup of tea.

At the time of writing, The Writing Desk (Safari, Vista, Al-Star) have the best price for these pens with the nib of your choice (EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm, 1.5mm, 1.9mm)  and a convertor, should you want one.  Buying on the high street is possible, but I doubt you'll find anything other than the medium nib on offer.

Schneider Base (£12 rrp)

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Where the Lamy range offers a plethora of choice, this more basic pen gives you the option of  a "starter" (likely to be very firm, and designed for children just starting to write with a fountain pen that don't know to use less pressure than they would with, say, a ballpoint), left handed, medium or broad nib. 

The pen has a remarkably sturdy (and large) clip that will stand up to being used to hold papers together, or being clipped to your jeans pocket with no problem at all.  The pen also takes international standard cartridges (long or short) giving you a huge choice of inks.

For:

Tough, reliable.

Takes widely available standard international cartridges.

Cheap!

Left Handed nib if you want one.

Against:

Styling may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Limited nib choice.

Lack of a fine, or extra fine nib might limit where you can use it.

 

At the time of writing, these are cheapest at Journal Shop (£9), although they're also available (and slighlty more choice in colour &c at Cult Pens (£12)).

Kaweco Classic Sport (£18/£20 rrp (with/without clip)

Whilst I don't actually own one of these (something I'll put right once Tiger Pens start stocking them) I've heard enough people sing their praises to make it worthwhile including the Classic Sport here.

This pen differs from the pens mentioned so far in that it's a pocket pen - these are designed to be small in size when not writing, and then (either by extending, like the Rotring/Parker Esprit, or by posting the cap on the back of the pen, as in this case) larger whilst writing.  The Sport measures 105mm long closed, and with the cap posted, 133mm.

The Sport comes in four versions - the Classic is a solid coloured acrylic pen, the Ice a transparent one, the Al Sport aluminium, and the Al-Carbon Sport aluminum  with carbon fibre inlay - note that the latter two are far more expensive.  There's a decent range of nib choices (Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad and Extra Broad).  If you can find a stockist, there are 1.1mm, 1.5mm and 1.9mm italics available too.   They take standard international cartridges (short only, because of the small size of the pen).

A couple of fairly typical reviews; Inkophile, Peninkcillin.

For:

Small size.

Takes widely available international cartridges.

Decent range of nib sizes available.

Against:

Pocket clip is an "extra" (for £2)

Only takes short cartridges, and you can't carry another in the barrel

You can't use a convertor in this pen

 

Parker Jotter (£12)

The Jotter fountain pen is surprisingly difficult to get hold of - I bought mine some years ago as an end of line item in Rymans.  It's not a pen that will suit everyone - it's thin, and even I don't like writing with it for long periods, but it is reliable, starts after being left for weeks and weeks without writing, and you can add matching pencil and ballpoint (swap the standard refill for a gel one) to it for little financial outlay.

Tiger Pens stock these at £11.95.

The nib comes in medium only, and seems to me to write wet and fairly broad - if you're filling small spaces in pocket planners, you don't want this.  However, it's a smooth writer with decent ink capacity in the Quink cartridges (although proprietary, you'll find these easily in the UK).

For: 

Inexpensive for a metal bodied pen

Smooth writer

Although Quink cartridges are proprietary, they're readily available in the UK, and have a good ink capacity.

Against: 

Proprietary cartridges!

One nib size only

Thin body not to everyone's taste

Nib might be a little broad & wet for small spaces and/or poor paper

 

Some other choices:

Pelikan (Pelikano (£9, but discontinued - Cult Pens still have some left handed nibs) Pelikano P480 (£13), Pelikan Future (£17), Pelikan Style (£19)).  

I've lumped these together because the nibs are similar - not pens I've used, but my daughter has a P480 that she uses for school.  Smooth nibs in fine, medium or broad, and the pens take international standard cartridges.  

Waterman Kultur (£12 ish?)

Available on eBay, and from French supermarkets (I got my transparent Kultur at Intermarché in Pont Audemer, for 11 euros).  A budget version of the Waterman Phileas, more or less, with a nice smooth, fairly wet nib.  They take international cartridges.

Noodler's Ahab / Konrad (£20 ish including shipping).  

See the full gallery on Posterous

Not sold in the UK, but US sellers like Goulet Pens will ship to the UK for a total cost that's around £20, depending on exchange rate.  Slightly more finicky than the other pens in this article (usual advice is to disassemble and clean before using - don't worry, this is easy, and instructions come with the pen), but with a fun flexible nib that writes nicely.  In normal use, you get a fine, fairly wet line, but with more pressure the nib will flex to give a degree of line variation - this makes them quite fun to sketch and doodle with.  These take bottled ink only.

I've tried to keep these options at £20 or less, but if you're spending more, consider;

TWSBI Diamond 540 (£42)

A piston filling, transparent pen with fantastic build quality.  Takes bottled ink only, and can be disassembled, tweaked &c.  TWSBI even give you the little wrench required, and "how to" videos to help.  For an extra £5, you can get them in coloured transparent plastic.

Vintage

I've omitted vintage pens entirely - although there are some that can be had for reasonable prices, and would do good work as daily writers, choosing one requires either a bit of knowledge, or luck.  I've no time to write up even my limited knowledge, and the luck I can't impart to you by writing about it!

Ink

Pens with proprietary cartridges will limit you to that brand of ink unless you use a convertor - however, Lamy and Parker both make a decent blue and black (I'm rather partial to Lamy Purple as well).  In international cartridges, Waterman Florida/Serenity blue, Blue/Black, and virtually any Diamine will serve you well.  If you write on a lot of poor quality paper, Pelikan Blue/Black works nicely, although it can feel a little "dry" in some pens.  Diamine offer excellent mixed packs of cartridges that will allow you to try a large array of colours.   

Bottled ink offers a huge choice, and you're only limited by the retailer's stock.  Diamine do offer small (30ml) bottles, so you don't have to commit to a full 80ml bottle!  None of the cartridge filling pens listed come with a convertor (and the body of the the Kaweco Sport is too short to take one), so if you want to use bottled ink, you'll need to budget £3 - £4 for the convertor as well.

Personally, I like at least two notetaking pens, with distinguishable colours in them - I tend to use a blue, blue/black or black (of varying degree of sobriety, from the cheery Diamine Turquoise, to the all business Pelikan Blue/Black, or Herbin Perle Noire) with something brighter, Diamine Monaco Red, Imperial Purple or Red Dragon are all good choices for the latter.  

Paper

The paper you write on will affect the ink, and nib you choose.  In general, the Clairefontaine paper in Rhodia and Quo Vadis products likes most inks, and I've had good luck with the less expensive Black N' Red, and "Pukka Pad" products.  Moleskine has somewhat more variable paper, and large, wet nibs, and some inks will feather and bleed on it.  If you insist on using Moleskine, I find fine and extra fine nibs, and dry-ish inks (Pelikan Blue/Black) work best.  Inkyjournal.com has rated many inks for Moleskine friendliness, so if you want to pay a premium for poor paper, you can do so with confidence :)

 

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Sketch Dump

A joke inspired by a post on fountain pen site fpgeeks.com . Drawn in a Moleskine pocket reporter notebook with a Koh-I-Noor 2mm leadholder, and then inked with a Pelikan Steno fountain pen, filled with Pelikan Blue/Black ink.

The fine nib, and well behaved ink are pretty good on the less than stellar Moleskine paper.

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Quick Look: Seawhite A6 Sketchpad

I was mooching around a local art supply shop on my lunch hour yesterday, and spotted these - this is part of a larger range that includes cahier and "mole-a-like" type books, as well as a handy looking square sketchbook. 

The range is reasonably priced (this hardback, 46 leaf A6 book comes in at £3.29) and what interested me was the claim that the paper was suitable for "all media". As I've been dipping my toe in watercolour lately, I thought it would be worth giving these a try.

I've not used watercolour in it yet, but here's a quick ink test;

I'm impressed to see that even usual suspects like Waterman Havana Brown, and Diamine Amazing Amethyst exhibit no feathering.  In fact, the only criticism I'd level at the paper is that it's a bit "toothy" for use with fountain pens, that's to be expected in a sketchbook though. 

The covers are a firm, cloth covered board, with a "Seawhite of Brighton" logotype debossed into the rear cover.  The signatures are stitched, then glued into the binding.  The cover overhangs the paper slightly, by what looks to me to be 3 or 4mm on the bottom and side, and 2 or 3mm on top.  The book needs a little encouragement to lie flat, but at this price, I can put up with that.

The pocket size "mole-a-like" book is slightly more expensive, at £4.39 (I think) but I'm very tempted to pick one up after trying this sketchbook - I particularly like the look of the half blank/half lined version of the moleskine style too.  Unfortunately they're not "reporter" format (they're bound portrait style), but again, for the paper, and the price...

Seawhite only sell their products directly from their factory shop (otherwise selling wholesale only) but you can find stockists at their website.

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Watercolour - Cotman Sketcher's Box

It seems like an awful long time ago now, but in the WH Smiths sale, I bought myself a little box of Watercolour half pans.  There's no particular reason I chose the Winsor and Newton "Cotman" sketcher's box, other than it being cheap (£8) at the time.  There are similar products from Daler and Rowney (the Aquafine boxes) and other manufacturers. 

They come like this;

Which is at least part of the reason it took me so long to use it - the half pans are individually wrapped (very neatly), and I felt wary of tearing into them, for some reason :)

Here's the closed box - it's on top of a Moleskine pocket reporter, for scale.  (Don't use watercolour in the Moleskine though, it, and you, will not like it).  It's a really nice size, and fairly readily pocketable, I think (although I don't carry it about).

Here's the open kit. There are 12 half pans of paint, and travel brush (the brush handle comes apart, and the front end of the brush tucks into the rear, and you can see the closed brush in the first picture in this post. Think of it as the Kaweco Sport of paint brushes). The brush is a bit too small for large washes (it doesn't hold much water at all) but works on a small scale, or for detail. I'm mostly working on A6 size paper (slightly larger than Moleskine "Pocket" size) and it's occasionally too small for that! If I was carrying this around a lot, I'd get a water brush to go with it (Incidentally, whilst you're at that site, have a look at the author's DIY compact sketch kits, really nifty). At the moment, I just use my ordinary brushes - another sale buy  - they shed hair like my dog does, unfortunately. 

Here's the first thing I did with it (don't look too closely, it's very much better from a distance) colouring an old sketch of a character from Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder books. By my reckoning, it's my fifth or sixth attempt at watercolour, and the first using "proper" paint rather than watercolour pencils.It's on A6 cheap sketching paper, so the washes are pretty light.

The paints mix nicely, and there's a good selection of colours in the box - I think I may swap one half pan for a black, or grey at some point. for £8 (I think they're £11 at full price) it's a decent way to experiment with watercolour, and more than adequate for my needs.

 

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