It has been almost a year since I've done a proper entry. This one will be more like the weekend checkups I used to do where I go over some of the things I did, collected, listened to or watched. It's more or less an elongated digest, but it (ideally) should help me get back into the habit of regular blogging.
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| One of the few times you'll ever see me plop a smartphone screen capture in. It's a fuzzy, hot mess. |
One of the things I did at the start of the year, to help increase said productivity, was a spring cleaning of sorts for online content. Aside from the goal of decreased procrastination, I wanted to ensure that I don't forget to read, listen, or watch content creators that I love—or have meant to follow more frequently in years, but was distracted and overwhelmed by everything else.
The RSS reader, Winds, was great for blogs and even YouTube channels as they still utilize RSS—meaning that I could still keep abreast on Louis Rossmann's ramblings and board repairs without them flooding my YouTube subscriptions box. Winds also had a separate reader for podcasts that I was really keen on, but unfortunately I had some app trouble that I covered in a pervious entry. I haven't checked to see if they updated Winds. Might do that later.
I've been having bigger issues with how Apple Podcasts works and, after years of following Marco Aument on Twitter, finally decided to make the switch over to Overcast. I don't have much experience using related apps, aside from SoundCloud, but I'm already in love with it.
In short, it's a lot like Vivaldi with regards to how you can manage podcasts:
- There are options to either download new episodes or stream them. It can also be done manually for each podcast.
- The episode listing can even be customized and the podcast library is easy to navigate.
- The player UI is impressive—audio options and episode info are easily accessible without causing unnecessary clutter.
I briefly sang its praises on Twitter, noting that Apple Podcasts should've been like Overcast. I really don't understand how you can mess up an audio player when Apple was one of major players in making podcasts a thing. However, that has been my experience with Apple Podcasts—having to binge listen backwards leading now to instances in which certain episodes are unplayable even if they can be played via other services and on iTunes.
Of course, this means I can binge listen to the CheapShow back catalog in proper chronological order. I also no longer need to worry about the storage on my phone—aside from CheapShow, the Video Game History Hour, Nasty Labs, and Stone Age Gamer, I stream all the other ones.
In audio related goodness, someone introduced me to Austra a few weeks ago. I feel like the band, or their PR, does a much better job of explaining their sound* than I could. What I can say is this, their otherworldly electronic sounds, synths, and vocals are quite beautiful...and when they have a Bandcamp, I can't say no.
I'm personally fond of their Future Politics album which reminds me of both the Pet Shop Boys and Chris Huelsbeck** in terms of the rhythm some of the songs. "Beyond a Mortal" also reminds me of Earthbound in how it opens with this atmospheric, alien, pulse of sound with static softly crackling in the background. I feel like you could sneak the theremin-esque backing from some of the battle tracks into "Beyond a Mortal" and it would fit right in.
On the subject of video games and synths, Banjo Guy Ollie has been on a roll...
If you've ever popped into his Twitch streams recently, he's been creating a lot of covers using the Roland and Korg synths. I managed to sneak into a livestream where he created the tune to Green Hill Zone—a song that Ollie did an acoustic cover for awhile ago. It was really neat to see him create music live and if you've missed his stream or are just interested in how he does it, you can check out his Twitch VOD channel on YouTube where he archives his past streams.
I'm slowly catching up on my to-read list—finishing two of the Boss Fight Books in the past three weeks. I gave one of them, Mike Drucker's analysis of Silent Hill 2, a proper review on Goodreads. I'm currently alternating through Rachel Maddow's Blowout—which I started all the way in 2019—and Violet Ramis Stiel's Ghostbuster's Daughter that I bought at Bank Square Books a few years back.
In audiobooks, I'm listening to Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis. I'm usually not the one for first-contact stories, but this one's pretty decent and the narrators really do an excellent job.
So that about wraps this up. I'll try to get back into the habit of daily entries next week. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
*The links directs you to the Bandcamp page for their album Feel it Break, but the blurb past the track list is what I'm referring to.
**I'm thinking of Huelsbeck's later works: Seven Days - Seven Songs being one of them.
