things to listen to
So, I generally can't do podcasts or podfic, that's been true for several years. There's just this thing where they don't fit into my life and I find them annoying if I do listen to them. If I'm at home doing chores I'd rather have some kind of video on, if I'm driving I'd rather have music, or live radio, if I'm reading fic before bed I'd much rather be actually reading it.
But recently two things happened at the same time. My car is nearly a decade old, and the radio it came with was a built-in thing that local garages don't fix anymore. It started acting up a few years ago, making the sound difficult to adjust, switching between radio stations randomly, and of course refusing to play anything but original music CDs (no MP3s at all), which are super expensive and cumbersome to make, for me. There was a time when I used my friend A's computer to burn music CDs for myself every once in a while, but then she moved to Canada, so.
Anyway, recently things have gotten worse. Last week the radio in my car died completely, not playing any CDs at all and not really letting me set radio stations or adjust volume. Around this time my parents offered to pay to have it replaced as a birthday present (I always considered it a superfluous expense. I mean the last estimate I got was for over 200$ so, um, no.) but that's going to take time (need to find a place that actually does this for my type of car.)
At the same time
roga, podcast enthusiast, was like "I have found the thing that will finally get you to listen to podcasts". And she was correct! Partially because I desperately needed something to listen to on my commute to and from work, lol.
So, that podcast was Fruit, produced by Issa Rae. Fruit is basically a professionally made radio play in short installments. I'm told not all podcasts are of this quality, but this one has professional voice actors and sound quality and really, really great writing. I can't stress that enough.
Fruit is the story of a professional football player who starts exploring his own bisexuality, just as his career starts to take off and he becomes ever more visible to the public. I enjoyed the first season more than the second, but they were both good and I was really sad when I was done with all the episodes and there was no more story to listen to. I don't want give any spoilers, but I would definitely read fic about these characters for yuletide. A lot of feels were had.
Anyway, when I was done with Fruit my car stereo was still not fixed! So I started fishing around for more stuff. Remember that I've bounced off of every podcast and format I'd tried in years past, so finding something I'd actually enjoy was really hard. So far I've settled on something I've seen recced on tumblr, The Bright Sessions.
TBS are recordings of meeting a psychologist (Dr. Bright) has with several recurring patients, all of them possessing superpowers. I am... very very weak for this trope, so I assumed I'd enjoy this format, and I have been. Even though it's less well written than Fruit, I think (the writing is just a little less sophisticated) and again doesn't have the same level of professional production (TBS is still professionally recorded! But Fruit is just its own golden standard).
But I'm halfway through S1 and enjoying it, listening to an episode on my way to work and an episode on my way home. So, I definitely recommend both of these, if you're into podcasts or if you aren't into podcasts, as I was, but are willing to give them one last try.
*
In other news, I wrote another poem. /o\ (The last poem I wrote ended up getting published, so that's not stressful at all.) I'm currently thinking of submitting it (if only to get that sweet feeling of rejection going again) but I could really use a few people to look it over first and let me know if it's really done?
So, if you enjoy blank verse poetry in general and would be willing to look this over, let me know?
comments on Dreamwidth
But recently two things happened at the same time. My car is nearly a decade old, and the radio it came with was a built-in thing that local garages don't fix anymore. It started acting up a few years ago, making the sound difficult to adjust, switching between radio stations randomly, and of course refusing to play anything but original music CDs (no MP3s at all), which are super expensive and cumbersome to make, for me. There was a time when I used my friend A's computer to burn music CDs for myself every once in a while, but then she moved to Canada, so.
Anyway, recently things have gotten worse. Last week the radio in my car died completely, not playing any CDs at all and not really letting me set radio stations or adjust volume. Around this time my parents offered to pay to have it replaced as a birthday present (I always considered it a superfluous expense. I mean the last estimate I got was for over 200$ so, um, no.) but that's going to take time (need to find a place that actually does this for my type of car.)
At the same time
roga, podcast enthusiast, was like "I have found the thing that will finally get you to listen to podcasts". And she was correct! Partially because I desperately needed something to listen to on my commute to and from work, lol.
So, that podcast was Fruit, produced by Issa Rae. Fruit is basically a professionally made radio play in short installments. I'm told not all podcasts are of this quality, but this one has professional voice actors and sound quality and really, really great writing. I can't stress that enough.
Fruit is the story of a professional football player who starts exploring his own bisexuality, just as his career starts to take off and he becomes ever more visible to the public. I enjoyed the first season more than the second, but they were both good and I was really sad when I was done with all the episodes and there was no more story to listen to. I don't want give any spoilers, but I would definitely read fic about these characters for yuletide. A lot of feels were had.
Anyway, when I was done with Fruit my car stereo was still not fixed! So I started fishing around for more stuff. Remember that I've bounced off of every podcast and format I'd tried in years past, so finding something I'd actually enjoy was really hard. So far I've settled on something I've seen recced on tumblr, The Bright Sessions.
TBS are recordings of meeting a psychologist (Dr. Bright) has with several recurring patients, all of them possessing superpowers. I am... very very weak for this trope, so I assumed I'd enjoy this format, and I have been. Even though it's less well written than Fruit, I think (the writing is just a little less sophisticated) and again doesn't have the same level of professional production (TBS is still professionally recorded! But Fruit is just its own golden standard).
But I'm halfway through S1 and enjoying it, listening to an episode on my way to work and an episode on my way home. So, I definitely recommend both of these, if you're into podcasts or if you aren't into podcasts, as I was, but are willing to give them one last try.
*
In other news, I wrote another poem. /o\ (The last poem I wrote ended up getting published, so that's not stressful at all.) I'm currently thinking of submitting it (if only to get that sweet feeling of rejection going again) but I could really use a few people to look it over first and let me know if it's really done?
So, if you enjoy blank verse poetry in general and would be willing to look this over, let me know?
comments on Dreamwidth