Marc Maron Love-Fest

So I’ve been listening to my albums of Marc Maron when I got some great news related to him. The first item was that someone posted his UCB show from CA online:

Item no. 2: he now has a podcast located at: http://wtfpod.libsyn.com and the show can be followed on twitter via http://www.twitter.com/wtfpod.  That’s all I have to say.  I did say it was a love-fest, right?

Long Time, No See

It’s been some time since my last blog entry or podcast recording and there are some pretty good reasons for that (unless of course, you count twittering as blogging, in which case I have been rather busy).  For those that listen to the podcast, in our last episode we mentioned that we were getting ready to move to Brooklyn,  NY.  As it turned out, we did in fact move to Brooklyn on the last weekend of May, first weekend of June. Subsequently after that, we’ve been living out of boxes, getting acquainted with our new commute schedules and just adapting to our new neighborhood.  All these little obstacles has taken out a lot of the free time that we would normally use to record our podcast.  Furthermore, the wonder and spectacle that is New York City has also lured us away, somewhat, to the social night life.

Needless to say, it’s been a bumpy but fun and rewarding ride.  We couldn’t be happier (the missus, the cats and I of course).  Just recently we got to check out ¡Sacapuntas! which consisted of a stellar lineup of comedians with Marc Maron as the headliner (coincidentally, we saw his solo show, “Scorching the Earth” a week or so prior to this appearance and we’ll be seeing him again on July, 8th).  We also finally got to catch “Fuerza Bruta!” this past weekend and did the usual household chores and unpacking that eats up most of our weekends.

I think we’re finally getting into the swing of things and will probably be able to record something sometime soon.  If any case stay tuned, to this blog or my twitter feed and you’ll soon know what’s what.

The Julio From NY Show Episode 37

Click on this link to play the audio file

Show Notes for Episode 37: I like Twitter
-Enjoyed a little get-together with Claudia’s faculty staff bidding her a good farewell
-Gonna be the starting pitcher for Game 2 this coming Monday
-Phase two of moving to Brooklyn: Got some money pooled together
-Ridiculous NYT article about rent prices in Manhattan?!
-What’s On Claudia’s Mind: Twitter and Social Networks of course
-Recommendation: Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series and Flight of The Conchords
-Wrap up

What’s On Claudia’s Mind: Twitter and Social Networks
-We use twitter to post updates on our show
-You can track package shipments with Twitter
-Communities use twitter, facebook and youtube to combat crime in their neighborhoods
-You can keep track of most media and news headlines in almost real time speed
-You can link twitter to most other social networks so you can do status updates to all at once

Track List:

Theresa Andersson
“The Waltz” (mp3)
from “IODA SXSW Opening Day Bash Sampler 2009″
(ioda)

Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

Twitter Song By Ingrid Michaelson

Y La Bamba
“Fasting in San Francisco” (mp3)
from “IODA SXSW Opening Day Bash Sampler 2009″
(ioda)

Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

Marching Band
“Don’t Go” (mp3)
from “IODA SXSW Opening Day Bash Sampler 2009″
(ioda)

Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

Maus Haus
“We Used Technology (But Technology Let Us Down) [Courtesy of Pretty Blue Presents]“ (mp3)
from “IODA SXSW Opening Day Bash Sampler 2009″
(ioda)

Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

Easy Star All-Stars
“Bed of Rose” (mp3)
from “IODA SXSW Opening Day Bash Sampler 2009″
(ioda)

Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

Contact Info:

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Podcasting, Twitter, or Blog?

nar·cis·sism (n): Excessive love or admiration of oneself.

When I first started this blog, it was with the intention that I would try blog about things that I found interesting and worthwhile to share with the masses, or at least my opinion of newly discovered things,  as there really isn’t any possibility for me to discover anything that hasn’t already been discussed in the massiveness of the Internet.  Then I started doing a podcast with my wife, where in audio form I would also share my various view points on different subjects and ideas and share podsafe music that I like with whosoever was willing to subscribe to my podcast feed.  Then along came twitter, and I was able to “micro-blog” my points of views on things and anyone who was willing to follow me would be able to catch my random musings throughout the day.  Through all this, my blog has suffered considerable neglect and I have had good intentions on coming back to it but for one reason or another I just kept failing.  This realization brought to me some possible reasons for this.

For one thing, what do these various social networks do but feed one’s ego and just perpetuates a narcissistic and an attention-defecit-disorder oriented society. The self-deprecator in me sees this and thus keeps knocking me down a peg to prevent this from happening.  This is one of the many reasons my blog keeps failing, and yet, despite myself, I still do enjoy podcasting and whipping out quick 140 character-lined thoughts in the twitterverse.   So why have those two ego-feeding tools prospered against my self-defeatism? 

Well on my podcast, I’m pretty much just having a discussion with my wife on various topics like we normally do day to day and this particular moment in my life just happens to be recorded and posted on the internet for posterity .  I’m not trying to be grandiose or significant in society in my podcasts.  I’m just being a regular joe schmo who just happens to record and post things on the internet.  There really isn’t much to scrutinize there, except maybe my ego for being able to even do that much; though, since I podcast for a hobby, that takes more wind out of the sail of my internal ego-basher.

When it comes to twitter, I just type what random thoughts hit my fancy, it’s only 140 characters long and then just like that it’s gone in a flash.  It’s so insignificant and so temporary that my ego-deflater doesn’t have enough time to catch his breath to utter some emotional-tearing retort.  Also I use it to share sites, youtube videos and the like, to the masses and not really have to say much except, “here’s this thing I enjoyed” and then insert a link and boom. Done.  It’s kinda like blogging but not really. Which brings me back to…

Blogging… Aye there’s the rub.  Blogging requires well thought out sentences, good grammar and good spelling (these things are excused on twitter because you only have 140 characters to express yourself).  Also, for my internal admonisher, it should be something worth taking your time to jot down and equally significant to post for all to see.  Otherwise, what’s the point of sharing this particular insight of yours, if it isn’t anything new or interesting that will garner notice or more importantly, affect someone in that deep primordial and visceral way that a good writer aims to affect?  Yes, a blog is a big and slow enough tool that before I even type my first sentence I’ve already shot down my idea and it just never materializes. 

The other problem is finding the time to really think out what I want to say.  With twitter you just have to react, type away and off it goes.  Now podcasting does take more time altogether than writing a blog entry; however, that’s just in post production.  Since I talk more than write on any given day, talking in front of a mic doesn’t garner as much inhibiting responses from my brain the way writing does. Also, as I’ve said earlier, talking to someone versus just my internal thoughts also tends to loosen me enough to be able to express myself.  And of course there’s a rapport, a bouncing of ideas and  a clash of opposing view points.  Dialogue with someone is just dynamic and full of life and such an enjoyment that before you know it there’s a good amount of recorded content ready to be edited and there you have a show.  Writing takes all these processes and puts them together into one nice intense self-restraining box that is sometimes really hard to open; hence, the reason for my lack of blog entries (other than when I just copy and paste the show notes of my most recently posted podcast episode).

It is because I’m so inept at blogging that I’ve even thought of terminating this other pastime.  But my wife insists that I keep my options open (she fancies me to be a writer someday I guess) and if for anything else, I still have another place to advertise my less nerve-wrecking hobby of mine.  Ironically, this is my longest blog entry.  Maybe there’s still hope for it after all.

Quick Blog Post

So this week has turned out pretty good. Got a new iPhone and I cannot stop playing around with it, getting apps for it, Twittering on it, etc. Today, after a nice branch with the family in the mail was a letter, addressed to my wife, congratulating her on being accepted into Pratt’s Master’s Program. Needless to say she was elated and we’re excited about the new chapter in our lives.

Now we have to plan and see how we’re going to get this put together with a nice bow tied around it. I mean I still have a job in Norwalk, CT. Obviously we’re going to have to move to Brooklyn, NY and pay more rent and I’ll have to probably get to jobs now (my wife will have to go to school full time so I’m gonna have to make more money). Who knows what will come of it all in the next few weeks. For now I’m just going to enjoy all the good news and get ready to do a show about it (why not, right?).

So what is your favorite social network?

I remember when the Internet first became more visual-friendly in ‘95 and dial-up was pretty much the norm for most Internet users. Around this time, unless you had AOL or AIM, the only other way you could communicate with others on the Internet (if you had a t1 line) was through telnet and/or ICQ. Nowadays, in the world of broadband, there are so many different ways to communicate with people. Chat rooms and chat applications still exist but now you also have web 2.0 sites such as myspace, facebook and twitter to name a few. I have re-created log-ins on a few of them but the social network tool that seems to have gotten me the most captivated are forums, specifically the forum in the Keith and The Girl website.

According to wikipedia web forums have existed since 1996. Apparently I was oblivious to them until more recently. I guess I’m sort of old-fashioned when it comes to technology but I just feel that there is more camaraderie and interaction in a web forum then in myspace, twitter or facebook. In those other three I really only look for people that I know and just try and keep in touch with them; whereas, on a web forum I have a discussion of ideas, however trivial, with absolute strangers and develop new relationships from there. At least, those are my two cents. I’m sure there are others who disagree with my sentiments.

No more social networks for me. At least for now

After trying Twitter out for a few days, I realized that it just wasn’t for me. For the first few days it was sort of exciting and I couldn’t stop checking every few minutes to see what new tweets were being displayed on my page. I even tried, not to successfully, to make communication with a number of podcasters that I followed on a regular basis. When a few did respond, I couldn’t stop myself from grinning idiotically. I even had complete strangers start following me on Twitter because of of the people I was following. It was strangely flattering.

However, because none of my friends were on twitter, the lack of the personal connection that I was used to with social networks was nonexistent. Also, I was spending needless time on Twitter as well as myspace. So with these thoughts, I decided to cut myself off all of them cold turkey. Until I have something to really market, or I have more friends, I I just don’t have the need for any social networks.

So I finally opened a Twitter account

Since I’ve heard about Twitter I kept debating if I should sign up myself. I kept thinking, this would probably be a huge time killer and what’s so big about typing micro-blogs about any mundane thing I did that day. Despite, my doubts, I kept hearing several different podcasters rave about it (except for John C. Dvorak, who abhors this new social trend). After much debate, I finally decided to get an account and opened one up today. Already I’m following 27 people, 9 are following me and I’ve written several “tweets” throughout the day. Anywho, if anyone is interested in following my thread they can just click here.