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So, I recently upgraded my old 3rd generation 15 GB iPod, and got myself a sexy new 2nd Generation 8GB iPod nano. Yeah, yeah, I know, ‘upgrading’ from 15 Gb to 8Gb doesn’t make much sense, but.. the sexy got the best of me. I *could* have gotten a 30GB iPod Video for the same price, but.. I already have a much better video player than the iPod video ever was (I’m lookin’ at you, Cowon A2), and.. really, the new nano is so tiny and cute and slim, and.. turns out 8 Gb is more than enough room for the music I have and my podcasts. But anyway, on to the point of this post: my podcasts. Let me show you them. Originally, when I started listening to podcasts, I was more focused on talk shows and music shows, but as time has gone on, I’ve found that what I truly love is listening to stories. I recently got my housemate Hal to start listening to The Rookie (GO KRAKENS!!!), and I thought it might be a good idea to share links to other podiobooks and audio dramas that one can subscribe to and enjoy. There’s some really, really good stuff out there, and I’d be doing y’all a disfavor if I didn’t share.

First, if you already have an iPod, you probably already have the latest version of iTunes and can use that to subscribe. Otherwise, go snag a copy of Juice Receiver, so you can subscribe. Then, another quick step that will make your life easy is to go to Podiobooks.com and sign up, it’s free, and it’s the easiest way to get started. Then browse the list below:

Let’s start in with the classics, and where it all started:

• Earthcore: Scott Sigler’s bid for world domination starts here, with the story of a mining company and the secret they discover when they try and go for a huge motherload of platinum 3 miles below the surface. There’s a reason no one’s claimed it before: something’s down there, guarding… and waiting.
• Morevi: Morevi, a landlocked kingdom shrouded by jungles and mystery, falls under the rule of Askana Moldarin, known in her realm as “The Black Widow” following her swift and bloody ascent to the throne. In the dawn of this New Age, hidden traitors in her own regime threaten to destroy everything. Askana, independent of council, seeks help to reveal the conspiracy against her… Enter Rafe Rafton, captain of the Defiant.
• The Pocket and the Pendant: More towards the ‘Young Adult’ side of the spectrum, but if you enjoyed books like ‘His Dark Materials’, this might just tickle your fancy: WHEN TIME mysteriously stops, young Max Quick must travel across America to find the source of this ‘temporal disaster’… Along the way, he and his companions encounter ancient mysteries, quantum Books, and clues to the riddle of stopped Time. But the more Max learns, the more it seems that his own true identity is not what he once believed…

Those were the ‘Big Three’ that sorta kicked things off in the whole Podiobook arena, and they’re all pretty great, and make a great introduction to the genre. After that, more and more books started coming out, and just as exciting, several ‘radio drama’-style have come up as well, with multiple voice actors, sound effects, etc. Here’s some of the best, from both the Podiobook and ‘audio drama’ veins. Most of these are things I’m listening to right now, and I recommend them all:

Let’s start with the rest of Scott Sigler (the hardest working man in the business) has written. Every single one of his books rocks:

• Ancestor: Scientists struggle to solve the problem of xenotransplantation — using animal tissue to replace failing human organs. Funded by the biotech firm Genada, Dr. Claus Rhumkorrf seeks to recreate the ancestor of all mammals. By getting back to the root of our creation, Rhumkorrf hopes to create an animal with human internal organs. Rhumkorrf discovers the ancestor, but it is not the small, harmless creature he envisions. His genius gives birth to a fast-growing evil that nature eradicated 250 million years ago — an evil now on the loose, and very, very hungry.
• Infection: Perry Daswey is 6-foot-5, 265 pounds of angry ex-linebacker. He knows all too well that if he doesn’t control his quick temper, people get hurt. Through constant focus, he has locked his violent past away in the deep dungeons of his mind. — The infection changes everything. — Strange, microscopic parasites tap into Perry’s bloodstream like tiny little vampires. They start as bright orange blisters, but soon take the shape of triangular growths just beneath his skin. The “Triangles,” as Perry calls them, try to control their host by manipulating hormone levels and flooding his body with neurotransmitters - imbalances of which cause paranoia, schizophrenia and excessive aggression. — As Perry begins a desperate battle to cut the Triangles out of his body before it’s too late, his self-control dissolves into raging, murderous madness.
• The Rookie: Imagine a story that combines the intense football action of “Any Given Sunday” with the space opera style of “Star Wars” and the criminal underworld of “The Godfather.” What? space football doesn’t sound like your cup of tea? Give Scott 4 episodes. Just 4. I hate football too.. but this story had me screaming like a loon with every touchdown, every interception, every tackle. It’s insanely good, and it just finished. Go check it out, and GO KRAKENS, WOO!!!

Once you’re done with those three, plus Earthcore, I can guarantee you’ll be just like me: one more damn, dirty junkie jonesing for his Sigler fix. Can’t wait for the next one, Nocturnal.. and Earthcore 2 sounds like it’ll be a blast.

Here’s another author who’s work I thoroughly enjoy: Mur Lafferty. She has several podcasts going on, such as I Should Be Writing and Pseudopod (more on that one later), and she’s written a cool series of podiobooks:

• Heaven, Season One: What if Heaven wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Friends Kate and Daniel find that after their untimely deaths, Heaven leaves them dissatisfied and itching for something… else. So they’re off, with a passport to discover more afterlifes, heroes and gods. During their adventures, they find out that their travel isn’t a journey taken on a whim, but may be orchestrated, or even prophesied.
• Heaven, Season Two - Hell:Kate and Daniel are reunited at last, but they have to return to their duties in traveling the afterlife. There are stolen souls suffering without cause in Hell, and only they can help. Kate is back in her corporeal body, but keeping memories of her time as pure soul energy, recently touched by the divine. Daniel carries the magic of an old god
  and the sword of a death goddess, as well a grudge against the deity who tricked him into losing nearly everything. As they search for the missing souls, Kate and Daniel have to come to terms with themselves and see if their friendship - not to mention the cosmos - can handle everything they’ve been through thus far.

I’m highly looking forward to the third book, ‘Earth’, once it comes out. Next in our list of authors: J.C. Hutchens, author of the amazing 7th Son trilogy:

• 7th Son, Book One - Descent: Three weeks ago, the U.S. president was murdered by a four-year-old boy.

  Today, seven men stare at each other in a locked conference room. Kidnapped and brought to this underground facility, the strangers are sitting in silence, thunderstruck. Despite minor physical differences, they all appear to be the same man, with the same name … and the same childhood memories.

  Unwitting participants in a secret human cloning experiment, these seven “John Michael Smiths” have been gathered by their creators for one reason — to capture the mastermind behind the president’s assassination.

  Their target? The man they were cloned from; the original John Michael Smith, code-named John Alpha.

  Soon our heroes — John, Jack, Michael, Kilroy2.0 and the others — realize the president’s murder was merely a prologue to Alpha’s plans. As the mystery deepens and the implications of Alpha’s scheme are slowly revealed, the clones decide to stand against John Alpha. The outcome will unearth a conspiracy larger than they could have ever imagined.

• 7th Son Book Two - Deceit: Two days ago, seven human clones — John, Michael, Father Thomas, Dr. Mike, Jonathan, Jack and Kilroy2.0 — were torn away from their “normal” lives to stop a ruthless plot created by their progenitor, a man code-named John Alpha. Their quest was a descent into conspiracy, violence and death.

  The clones were successful in their mission, but victory was not without its price.

  As 7th Son: Book Two - Deceit begins, the Beta clones are demoralized, reeling from their loss … and about to learn that John Alpha’s plans are far from over.

  To prevent the next phase of Alpha’s plan, John, Kilroy2.0, and the others must unearth more dark secrets about the government project from which they were spawned. They will experience the horrors of betrayal, and race cross-country to track John Alpha.

  And they will finally realize the scope of Alpha’s wrath — the bloodshed the clones have witnessed is merely a prelude to the world-rending destruction to come. Unless they can stop it first.

Book Three comes out on 07/07/07, and I cannot wait. This series is truly, truly excellent. Now, for a few more random books:

• The Failed Cities Monologues: In a hardboiled dystopian future, one major American city has been divided in two. Separated by much more than a river, one side is an unfinished technological marvel populated by mega-skyscrapers where the wealthy live, work, and play. The other is a forsaken wasteland where order is strictly maintained by a rogue group of cleric soldiers known as the street preachers. But this dichotomy is about to change. Slowly, quietly, clandestine forces are working to undermine the small piece of redemption the street preachers have brought to their concrete flocks. In the face of watching their second chance crumble to dust, some will fight to stop it. Others will kill to make it happen.
• Crescent: The past never dies, it only sleeps. — In a solitary station, on the fringe of known space, the past is beginning to stir. — And when it awakens, Crescent Station will be as the belly of the beast… — There are some places far darker than deep space…
• Come, Let Me Whisper: Macabre fiction. Horror fiction. Dark fiction. Whatever you choose to call it, that is what is contained within this collection of short stories. But other than that, these tales are as varied as can be. Ghost stories… they’re in there. Lovecraftian monsters… certainly. Twist endings… got it. Psychological terror… of course. Sunny, happy endings… not so much. Oh, and one other thing these stories have in common: they are intended for a mature audience- one who is not easily offended, I might add.
• Brave Men Run: “Brave Men Run” is the story of Nate Charters. Born different, unsure of his origins, he’s an outcast at Abbeque Valley High School, a self-proclaimed “boy freak” with few friends and low self-esteem. When the Sovereign Era dramatically dawns, Nate finds himself in quest to discover the truth: is he more than he seems, a misfit in a miraculous and powerful new minority… or something else entirely?

And now, for the radio dramas: a different experience, but no less excellent for all of that:

• Shadow Falls- Season One: When a second young girl goes missing and two mysterious strangers arrive in town, there are some locals who believe the 150 year cycle of violence that has plagued the town of Shadow Falls has started anew.
• Shadow Falls - Badlands: One hundred and fifty years before the tragic events of Season One, an ex-soldier’s nightmarish visions of the future, and a town he’s never heard of, leads him on a cross-country journey to unlock the secrets hidden inside his nightmares. What this tired gunfighter believes to be a quest for his own redemption, may only serve to open the door to a darkness far beyond his control.
• Silent Universe: With a style of drama that mixes elements of “24” and the new “Battlestar Galactica,” each episode of the Silent Universe reveals layers of suspense and intrigue that leaves audiences guessing at what twists its plot will take next. Its motley cast of characters includes weapons specialists, a computer hacker, an ex-mercenary and even a casino tycoon, all forced to go to extreme lengths to prevent tragedy from striking the solar system. In a world where nuclear weapons are common to even the poorest countries and the United Nations is nothing but a quaint historical footnote, even the smallest conflict between powers can threaten to plunge mankind into Armageddon.
• Children of the Gods: We barely survived the first Tarthet assault on our planet. Afterward, it didn’t take long for us to realize that our world was too devastated to provide for us any longer. In a bid to allow the planet to recover, we left our homes behind to live among the stars. Five centuries later, science has shown us many wonderful things, and we have finally begun to accept the fact that it may be many generations more before we can return to our homeworld. Now, the Tarthet have returned to claim our birthright for their own. The odds are against us, but we will not give up this battle. We will not simply concede defeat and fade away. We will fight them with every last breath. WE WILL SURVIVE!

And, finally, last but most certainly not least, the short story podcasts, every week putting out brand new short stories:

• Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Podcast magazine, they’ve run stories of all shapes and sizes, many by Hugo and nebula award winning authors.
• Pseudopod: sister podcast to Escape Pod, and the world’s premier horror fiction podcast. If you’re a fan of horror fiction, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
• Variant Frequencies: Variant Frequencies is a monthly podcast of original fiction. Stories blending gothic horror with space adventure, dark fantasy with sci-fi, recalling the reality-bending vibes of The Twilight Zone, and offering something wholly unique that fits inbetween and outside. Our podcasts are fully produced, including talented voice actors and original music scores. Subscription is free. Entertainment and escapism are guaranteed.

So, I think that should be more than enough to get anyone started. Enjoy listening, and if you have any questions, hit me up in the comments. Best part? All of these are free, so download and enjoy, free of charge!
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So, who here is looking forward eagerly to the next Batman movie? Yeah, me too.. well, here’s something to keep you busy as well:

http://www.ibelieveinharveydent.com/

Neat, huh? Now, go here:

http://www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com/

Neater! Do your part, put in your address.. the more that do it, the more the secret’s revealed!

Alright, I just found out about this, and I know it’s a bit late (the promotion ends on the 21st), but it takes all of 5 minutes to do online and you could be saving someone’s life:

Because I’m an idiot and shoved a bunch of things into an “action” folder, I’ve almost missed telling you about this:

From May 7 to May 21 you can sign up to be on the national bone marrow registry for free (usually it is about $50-75 unless you sign up at a marrow drive). And they are making it VERY easy- they send you the entire kit in the mail and it only involves swabbing your cheek with a Q-tip, signing some forms, and sending it back. Most people stay on the list and never hear from them for their entire lives but by being on it you could potentially save the life of a child/adult with a bone marrow disease like leukemia.

If you are interested go to the website: www.marrow.org and click on the “Thanks Mom” icon.

Joe’s cousin John sent this to me. Get signed up and get active… please! Headed there right now myself.

Got this from the Wingin’ It guys, and it’s a good thing to do, I just signed up as a donor myself.

Taking a break from the (a)religious flamewar going on below, let’s touch on something I recently discovered that I think is freakin’ brilliant: Pandora.FM. What is it? basically, it’s a mashup of the two best music reccomendation engines I know of: Pandora, and last.FM. I’ve been using both for a while now, as each one has its own charm and uses. Pandora, for example, lets you create a station with as little as one song or artist to build from, letting you stream good, high-quality music no matter where you may be. As you listen to the station, you can fine-tune it to your tastes by giving each song a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’, which allows Pandora to find out more and more about the type of music you like, and give you more of it. Part of its beauty, to me, is the ability to have multiple stations: Pandora doesn’t just learn if you like rock, country, and dance, it learns exactly what kind of rock, country, and dance you like, and you can have individual stations for each of your tastes, tailored for you.

And then there’s last.FM. I love this service, because it allows me to track, tag, and view everything I listen to, by integrating into Winamp, Windows Media Player, Amarok, or whatever media player I happen to be using. Then, I can mark what I like, what I don’t, and build feeds and lists for me to go through and share with others. What was that track that you listened to a couple days ago about the monkeys? last.Fm knows. It also has a strong social aspect: get your friends to join up, and you can each see what the other is listening to, and make recommendations. The system is even smart enough to learn what tracks that you might like they’re listening to, and it’ll point them out to you. Add the ability to buy tracks directly through iTunes (and even the occasional free mp3 directly from the site), and you’ve got a winner.

Unfortunately, up until now, both services were separate: when I listened to my Pandora station, last.FM knew nothing of it. Songs I love came and went, and I’d lose track of them. Enter Pandora.FM, one of the coolest little mashups that RSS ever made possible. You log into Pandora.FM using your last.FM account, and the service takes care of the rest. As songs scroll by on your Pandora player, a bar at the bottom of the screen allows you to tag them, view and edit their metadata, and submits them to your last.FM profile, so when you look at your feeds, there’s everything you’ve been listening to, tagged, bagged, and ready to parse. Not to mention (if you use the ‘More Options’ interface), view information on the track, the band, your recently played tracks, top played tracks, browse photos and videos of the artist playing, and even start new Pandora stations based on the track you’re listening to. Sweetness. If you’re not using any of these services right now, I can’t recommend them highly enough for discovering new music to listen to. Go sign up for last.FM, set up a Pandora station or three, and feel the love with Pandora.FM.
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Recently, there’s been something of a media backlash against the so-called ‘New Atheism’, that is, the vocal declaration of atheism by those who do not subscribe to a religion and who believe that the universe demonstrates that it is very unlikely that there is a god. In addition, ‘new atheists’, or, as they are called by some, ‘fundamentalist atheists’, have stepped up their attack on religion, no longer content with simply keeping their beliefs (or lack thereof) private, but now writing books, putting up blogs, making movies, and generally getting the message out that religion, in all its shapes and forms, is not only illogical, but downright dangerous.

The general response from many in the religious community has been to, as usual, paint themselves as the victims (even though ‘believers’ far outnumber atheists in the US, and atheists are the last minority that it’s still okay to discriminate against), and basically say: “What’s with these uppity atheists all of a sudden? Can’t they just go back to their stuffy rooms and towers and keep quiet like they used to? It’s downright rude of them to start going on about these things, and anyway, everyone knows that they’re wrong.”

Even among atheists themselves, there are those who say “Why do we need to attack religion? Isn’t it enough to simply accept your own lack of belief, and let others believe as they wish? In short, can’t we just live and let live?” It’s a tempting thought. Let’s avoid the confrontation, and just go on with our lives, and if those wacky theists want to go on believing in their big sky fairy, well, good for them. It sounds reasonable, and proper, and the theists would dearly love it if we just all took that point of view and simply want away. But here’s the problem with that: if we go away, they certainly won’t.

There’s a reason that the ‘new’ atheists are loud and proud, and they’re spreading the word, doing everything they can to let the world know that they exist, that they’re out there, and that they’re not alone: the reason is that they’ve noticed that the world we live in has been getting worse and worse, and so much of it can be traced directly back to religion and faith. We live in a world where religious extremists strap bombs to their bodies and kill themselves, taking out dozens of innocents along with them, because they believe they will be rewarded in the afterlife. We live in a world where a large majority of the population of one of the most powerful countries on Earth honestly believes that the Earth is less than 6,000 years old, that evolution is ‘just a theory’, and that scientists are in league with the devil. We live in a world where a large majority of not only the population, but the people in power, the people with their fingers on the proverbial button, believe, honestly believe, that the world will end within their lifetimes, in a terrible war and destruction. And they see this as a good thing, they can’t wait for the Armageddon to come, because they think that their god is going to pull them up into heaven when that moment comes. We live in a world, too, where people routinely trust the advice of a homeopath over a real doctor, where political leaders consult star charts, or base political decisions that will affect millions of people, on the words of a dusty and discredited book written thousands of years ago.

In this situation, I have come to believe that we cannot sit idly by and let it happen. That to simply keep quiet and let religion and ‘believers’ drag this world down into the muck, to let them destroy thousands of innocent others, to continue to spread lies and hurt the poor and gullible, is downright immoral. We, as atheists, are often accused of having no moral compass, simply because we don’t have our commandments handed down to us by and angry and jealous god. That we cannot possibly make moral decisions, as we have no basis on which to form a moral framework. And yet, any fool can see that to simply lay back and do nothing, to let the world fall prey to the poison of religiosity, is not only irresponsible, but simply wrong from a humanistic standpoint. We cannot go quietly. We owe it to ourselves, and to our fellow man, to fight, to shout, to let people know: you’re living a lie. You are being lied to, and you are following that lie to your grave. Religion is a plague upon mankind, and we can move beyond it. And if we annoy a few religious folks, and even a few less bombastic atheists, I can live with that. But let it not be said that we stood by silent while religion continued to drag the world deeper into chaos and ignorance.
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BluIrony

Originally uploaded by Katsushiro.

Okay, while browsing through the Wired gallery of HD-DVD code photoshops, this ad comes up. Conspiracy revealed? Were the BluRay folks behind it all?!

To bring you the following announcement:

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

That is all. Move along.