Pop Culture Podcast
Podcasts
Popspotting Listener Edition: Anna & Wendy
Over a year since the last podcast, the Popspotting feed crackles to life with a surprise Listener Edition submission from our good friends Anna (@echobase77) and Wendy (@bunnieslrnow). They’re fellow podcasters from the golden age of “LOST,” and today share their “feel good picks.” With Jen quickly recovering from what will hopefully be her last procedure, this show was a very welcome treat.
BOOKS:
- The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
- William Shakespeare’s Star Wars (Verily, A New Hope) By Ian Doescher
MOVIE:
- What’s Up Doc?
Starring Ryan O’Neal, Barbara Streisand and Madeline Kahn, Directed By Peter Bogdanovich, 1972, Rated G - China’s Lost Girls
National Geographic, with Lisa Ling, 2005, 43 min
TV:
- The Odd Couple
Starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall ( 5 Seasons, 114 episodes on 20 DVDs. 1970-75/color/45 hrs., 36 min/NR/fullscreen) Can also be purchased in individual seasons. - The Pretender
Starring Michael T Weiss, Andrea Parker, Patrick Bauchau, Jon Gries. Available on DVD via Amazon; 4 seasons and two cliff-hanging made-for-TV movies
MUSIC:
- Dear Mr. Watterson (Original Score) by We Were Pirates, from the upcoming documentary about Bill Watterson, creator of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and the impact of his work even after his retirement from being a syndicated cartoonist in 1995. On this page, the score can be purchase through links to itunes, Amazon.com/mp3s or bandcamp
- Copeland: Recommended songs – When You Thought You’d Never Stand Out, You Have My Attention, The Grey Man, Pin Your Wings, There Cannot Be a Close Second
FOOD:
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bars (and don’t forget to eat cookies straight from the freezer!)
- Chocolate Syrup Brownies (Seen in Hershey’s 1934 Cookbook, pg 90, Published by Wilton House, 1992)
1 egg 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup packed light brown sugar Dash of salt
3/4 cup Hershey’s Syrup 1/2 ( 1 stick) of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts , optional
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-inch square baking pan. In small mixer bowl, beat egg; add brown sugar and syrup, beating until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add to egg mixture, beating until blended. Fold in butter and nuts. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of pan. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares. Yield: 16 brownies
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Popspotting Listener Edition: Maggie Mack
Maggie Mack (@ilea02) is a long-time podcasting friend and Thanksgiving Popspotting guest from Northern Virginia. In this Listener Edition, she shares another podcast worth checking out: PodQuiz. PodQuiz is a weekly trivia quiz podcast. Each week there are twenty questions, some music as an interlude, followed by the answers.
Jen has been a fan of PodQuiz for years, and even shared it as a “Pith of Pop” pick back in 2006! It’s good to see he’s still going strong.
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Popspotting Listener Edition: Wendy & Anna
Updated to correct link! Two podcasters from the golden age of “LOST” come together to share five post-“LOST” picks in a new Popspotting Listener Edition. Anna (@echobase77) and Wendy (@bunnieslrnow) recommend:
- The Booth at the End (on Hulu)
- Castaway on the Moon (on Netflix)
- Twin Peaks (on Netflix)
- Bone by Jeff Smith (on Amazon)
- Five Year Mission
We’re honored to have been a small part of the reasons Wendy and Anna got into podcasting. And this great contribution, as with all Listener Edition contributions, is absolutely an inspiration and cherished treat for us. As we navigate through this craziest of years, with your support, we are confident that a return to Popspotting lies ahead!
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Popspotting Listener Edition: Heath & Matt
Today, two good friends join forces to bring you yet another episode of “Popspotting Listener Edition.” Listen in as Heath Solo (@HeathActor) of “The Film List” and musician Matt Murdick (@musicalconcepts) of the “Musical Concepts Podcast” discuss Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO series “The Newsroom” and the BBC reboot of “Sherlock Holmes.”
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Popspotting Listener Edition: Josva in Norway
We’re thrilled to have another Popspotting Listener Edition come in from overseas. Today, Josva in Norway recommendations three beloved European films. His picks are “District B13,” “troubledWATER,” and “Troll Hunter.” They should be available for American listeners through Amazon.com.
Josva is 24 years old, and is studying to be a priest in the church of Norway. You can follow him on Twitter @josva, but when he tweets, he tweets in Norwegian.
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Popspotting Listener Edition: The Geek Generation
This week’s Popspotting Listener Edition comes from Rob Valois and Bryan Lipsitz of “The Geek Generation.” Rob was our PopTalk & Trivia Thursday guest back in October, and distinguished himself in many ways. Among them, by being our show’s first (and so far only) professional wrestler.
Today, Rob & Bryan share their top five television shows that were gone too soon. Among the notable series they mourn are “Undeclared,” “Dark Angel,” “Sports Night,” and of course “Firefly.” But there are surely many more deserving shows that never got the lifespan they deserved. Which would make your list?
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Popspotting Listener Edition: Paul Fox & Kevin Ma
Paul Fox and Kevin Ma of “East Screen / West Screen“ [iTunes Link] bring us our first international Popspotting Listener Edition, in which they each highlight two of their favorite Asian films from 2011 that are now available video in some form that will work in the U.S. Their picks were:
- My Own Swordsman (China – 2011)
- Ra.One (India – 2011)
- When Love Comes (Taiwan – 2011)
- Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (Hong Kong / China – 2011)
Also featured, a song from Ra.One, called “Criminal.”
We are of course fully aware that these Listener Edition shows are only making our to-do lists even longer. But we continue to be awestruck by the generosity and creativity of the Popspotting community. We do look forward to returning, and are still planning to head to San Diego for Comic-Con. But perhaps its best we’re taking a break, at least this week… Jen wants to see “The Three Stooges.”
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Popspotting Listener Edition: Faith McQuinn
She’s a mom of twins. A teacher of film students. An editor of videos. And a blogger of lots of stuff. She’s Faith McQuinn (@fbeemcee), the latest generous contributor to the “Popspotting Listener Edition” series of shows.
Her topic for this Easter Sunday? “Top Five Lost Gems of the ’80s.” Faith goes beyond popular classics like “Ferris Bueller,” “Breakfast Club” and “Fast Times,” instead highlighting less celebrated favorites.
Your support has been invaluable to us throughout the run of Popspotting, and what we’ve valued most is hearing your thoughts on your favorite movies, TV shows, books, music and more. So we’re so grateful to the Popspotting community for contributing personal, thoughtful episodes to share with everyone while Jen and I focus on her health.
Thanks again to Geoff for kicking off the “Popspotting Listener Edition” project. We look forward to hearing from more of you!
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Popspotting Listener Edition: Geek Girl Soup Em City
We continue to be inspired and humbled by the support we’ve been getting from the Popspotting ‘ohana. This week, the second Popspotting Listener Edition comes from Susan, Amelia and Chris of the Geek Girl Soup Em City podcast.
While they usually focus on the TV show “Oz,” for this special show they focus on comic book recommendations.
- The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard
- Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
- Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
And as this goes out, a quick correction from the gang, “Y: The Last Man” is a 60-issue series.
Mahalo to the Geek Girl Soup gang for reaching out and speaking up and sharing some comic book wisdom… one of the areas of pop culture where Jen and I could surely use some schooling. Please be sure to share your own comic book picks, and check out Geek Girl Soup!
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Popspotting Listener Edition: Geoff Gentry
A few weeks ago, our show schedule was unexpectedly interrupted by some bad news. Though we rallied in the midst of it all to post one more week of episodes, it soon became clear that we’d need to take some time off to focus on health and family.
We knew everyone would understand. Indeed, the support we’ve received over the last month has been humbling and inspiring. But we nonetheless lamented the fact that we wouldn’t be able to keep Popspotting going.
Enter longtime listener and regular contributor Geoff Gentry (@xforce11 on Twitter). In addition to sending his prayers and support, already more than we could have asked for, he proposed the “Popspotting Listener Edition.” For those with the time and energy to share, it would be a fun way to give Popspotting listeners something to listen to: each other.
We were touched by his gesture. And we were thrilled when he came through with our very first “Listener Edition” episode. So while Jen and I get cozy in the back seat, here’s Geoff taking the wheel, sharing some great music (as usual) he discovered on YouTube.
Thanks, Geoff. And thanks to everyone for having our back. It helps, more than we could ever say.