Admin Rock roundup

Posted By admin_rock on Jun 18, 2012 |

Hey folks, things have been a bit sparse post-wise lately, with many things going on in our various worlds. Since it’s Monday, and I’m on a Father’s Day food hangover, I’d go easy today, and do a nice relaxed general pop culture check in. So let’s dive right in. Don’t be confused, the stuff discussed here isn’t all new and upcoming, it’s just the stuff I’m “consuming” right now.

FILM

I don’t make it out to the theatres as much as I used to, due mostly to schedules and babysitters, etc. Since “The Avengers”, the only film I’ve seen in Theatres is “Prometheus” which I saw with RobbieRobTown. I have a lot to say about it, but we’ll elave that for it’s own post, too much to get in to here. Short answer: Decent film, too much going on, tries to put much in, leaves the viewer without the tools it needs.

MUSIC

Been a Beach Boys fan all my life, they have that relaxing harmony that brings one back to simpler times, and of course I have a great love for surfing. They have a new album, “That’s Why God Made The Radio“. There’s nothing groundbreaking or new here, but lots of goodness, if you like them. I also picked up the new Metric album, “Synthetica”. No firm opinion on that yet.

TV

My wife’s best friend got a sweet gig writing and co-producing on “Mad Men“, which I had watch a couple of episodes, and then shrugged and moved on. Now that I have a vested interest, I’ve been watching this season, and enjoyed it a lot. So I went back and caught up. It’s a great show, though not my usual cup of tea. It’s a nice, relaxing, character driven show, a great change of pace. “Breaking Bad” is back soon, very excited about that, and while Euro 2012 is still on, it’s consuming a lot of my TV hours. Also started watching “Falling Skies“, which is better than I would have thought, but i’m not far enough in to have any great insights in to it.

BOOKS

Started reading “A Storm of Swords” last week. I had the first two books in the series, and after the second season of the show ended, I decided to forge ahead and find out what happens next. It’s a challenge, as me and Martin’s writing style don’t get along very well. I think he’s a great plotsman, and good at putting his characters in interesting situations, but the page to page I find to be a real slog. I think he’s maybe best skimmed. Thus far this is one case where the show seems much better than the book.

COMICS

I had been buying mostly trades, but then I caught up on most of the series that I like, so I pick up issues, and then the trades again. Things seem a bit slow in the comic world right now, so I’ve grabbed some more trades. Been reading Runaways, Atomic Robo, and I picked up the first Starman Omnibus. I also highly recommend “The Manhattan Projects” by Johnathan Hickman. RobbieRobtown would love it.

PODCASTS

I tend to listen to podcasts on my drive to and from work. I can’t concentrate on listening to them while I actually work, but still listen to a fair amount. I have a small stable of favorites, and I usually go through a bunch, then move to something else for a bit while the first puts together more episodes, etc.

My favorites tend to be iFanboy’s Pick of the Week Podcast (keeps me up to date on comics I’m not reading), Joe Rogan’s podcast (I like it because it’s usually somewhat interesting, and due to it’s length, there’s a decent backlog of material. Sometimes the boys get a little too stoned, and then it’s a bit of a trainwreck.) Dana Gould has always been a favorite of mine, and he has a new podcast (“The Dana Gould Hour“) that seems to come out monthly, but it’s really funny, and worth the wait. I’ve also been listening to Penn’s Sunday School, which is often good, though I can only take in small doses. He has a big personality, and it can be too much sometimes. (Though ironically, the episodes with Gilbert Gottfried are hysterical, and don’t get on my nerves.)

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