LJ Idol Presents:

The weekend was weird. Somebody on the internet was mean to me, which doesn't happen as often as it used to because I'm pretty careful about putting myself in that position anymore.

And here's the thing - it wasn't even remotely political. I think it would have rolled right off if it had been some partisan thing, but it wasn't.

It was bad timing, really, as I was already feeling mopey.

Consequently, I distracted myself with podcasts. I have fallen in love with Criminal. I also very much enjoyed the first season of Serial. I didn't really get hooked on season two, but I hope there's a third. I also listened to both seasons of Someone Knows Something. So that's binge listening to a freaking heck of a lot of podcasts over a few days.

What podcasts do y'all like? I also listen to The West Wing Weekly.

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Welcome to Nightvale, if you haven't already tried it. So wonderfully weird, and a nice combination of satire, absurdity, and dry humor. :D

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Cool. I will check it out.

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Hazelnut, Mystify, Cuttlefish, Lark, Lurk, Robert, Anglican, Pheromone, Halter top, Marmalade, Hardware, Laser, Pepper, Release, Kneecap, Falafel, Period, Chaste, Chased, Leggings, Wool, Sweater, Heartbeat, Heartbeat, Heart, Beat, Heart, Beat, Beat, Beat, Beat, Beat.

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Or was it, "Lurk, Lark"?

Let's hope you never need to know...

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But what if it was, "Lurk, Lark" instead?

Let's hope we never have to actually know this. :O

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Once upon a time, I was listening to Welcome to Night Vale, and none of my friends had mentioned it yet. I decided "I shall memorize The List. When someone asks me if I've heard of Night Vale, I shall immediately recite The List to general hilarity."

When the time finally came, my brain just shut off. My friend was growing concerned that I appeared unable to answer a simple question, when in fact I was desperately trying to remember if "hazelnut" or "cuttlefish" came first.

More recently, I attempted to do this when I saw someone with a Night Vale t-shirt, and they had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. Apparently, that episode did not make as much of an impression on them. Also, upon later reviewing the list I realized I had missed about five words. (the horror!)

My girlfriend made me a little cross-stitch thing of The List with a tiny Glow Cloud, transmitter station, "mountain," cactus, etc. It sits by my computer and assists my efforts to memorize The List.

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It sounds as if she's a fan as well.

Boy, the random things I remember from NightVale, and I like to think I haven't forgotten too many of the weirdnesses. Your local real estate agent hiding inside a deer, the hole in the parking lot out back of the Ralph's, the extremely toxic nutmeg and the need to de-vein it before putting it in a recipe, and all of the ridiculous notions a person might come up with if that's how THEY think time works.

Good times. :D

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Indeed! We've been to see two of the live shows together, and already have tickets for "All Hail." = )

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I'm so glad other people do this kind of thing.

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Which kind of thing? Memorize esoteric lists? Humiliate themselves by reciting esoteric lists at inopportune moments? Cross-stitch? = )

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Yes. :)

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I checked it out. It's definitely weird. I didn't find it wonderful. Maybe it takes more than one episode, but I was ready for that first one to be over. :/

I'm ok with things that are weird. I just like there to be a thread of sense winding through it.

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Awwww. :(

I should probably have asked whether you like absurd humor and irony, because the show is built on those. And creepiness.

The context of the creepiness becomes more established after a couple of episodes. Nightvale is its own world, and is an alternate universe of what most of us would consider the real world.

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I'm weird about humor, really. I like word play and satire, but when it gets absurd I don't enjoy it. I'm not a fan of most shows that are considered irony, like, I remember sitting through Best in Show because I was with friends, but I hated it. (and still, really want those two hours back), but I LOVED Galaxy Quest, which is arguably over the top and spoofy.

It's kind of like pickles. I often get pickles on my burger and then pick them off, rather than having them held in the first place, because while I don't enjoy the pickle itself, I do like the hint of it that's left after it's removed.

Does that make sense? Lately I'm noticing how weird I really am.

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Sorry that happened to you. Anyone who downplays the injury of such behavior is either someone who is capable of putting on that unique type of hurt or someone who has never been on the receiving end. Ugh.

What is a podcast?

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HAH!

You make me feel all tech-savvy (which hasn't been true since the invention of Windows).

A podcast is like a radio show, except it's not on the radio. You download it from iTunes or on an app on a smart phone, or listen to it on the podcast's website.

As far as I know they're all free, and they have the durned things on just about every topic. Some of them are really professional (Criminal) and some of them are very home grown (I forget the name, but there's one that's two guys talking about The Gilmore Girls and it's disappointingly awful.)

Some of them are interview shows and some of them are game show-ish and some are documentary style ... etc.

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Ah-ha! That's interesting. I can only listen to spoken word when I'm driving. And my car is techno-stupid. ;)

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vik_thor

Does your car have an AUX jack? If so, you can get a cable that is basically headphone jacks at both ends: https://www.amazon.com/VOJO-Worlds-Slimmest-3-5mm-Auxiliary/dp/B01MYNIG3S/
Plug one end into the AUX and one into the headphone jack of whatever you listen to audio.
That's how I listen to most of my podcasts.

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Oooh! Thanks for this tip! My car doesn't have an aux jack - it's that odd inbetween year, but my husband's truck does!!!

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my-name-is-jenn.livejournal.com

I'm sorry that happened. People can be cruel.

I have to say I've never listened to a podcast, though now I'm curious. I'll have to go check some out. :)

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vik_thor

My favorite is The Hidden Almanac by

ursulav It has a bit of Nightvale flavor to it, but is only 4-5 minutes each episode. (And I am nominating it in the Hugo Fancast category). She and Kevin also do Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap, where they (nominally) review cheap type food, and talk.

Relay.FM has a lot of good podcasts, if you like tech type (mostly), though they also have The Pen Addict podcast (which is maybe my 2d favorite)

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Things at my office are behind for an important deadline they will not budge from, so people are now being asked to work a extra.

Consequently, it seems as if my weekend was mostly reading Idol entries or doing programming-- basically, chained to the computer. :(

I did get out for an unexpected bike ride Saturday, thanks to radar weather showing I had time before rain that had been expected all day, and my husband and I got out for a date and saw "Logan."

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rswndrlst.livejournal.com

Sorry I've been so quiet this week, been battling the flu :c
but I'm finally feeling almost normal today and going to try to read as many entries as I can before the poll closes <3

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*soup*

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beeker121.livejournal.com

My husband and I went for a hike at a nearby county open space. Lots of folks were out while the weather was nice.

We stayed in and finally saw "The Big Short". I am very impressed with how well that movie made sense of some really esoteric concepts.

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Hahaha! You got a hike in! That's fantastic!

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