some news!

Firstly! A note on the word "news". What does it mean? Josh and I were having this conversation a few months ago. I thought it meant kind of "new information" which is why it makes it into the 'new'spaper. Get it? New stuff= the new's = news... anyway Josh thought perhaps it had something to do with North, East, West, South - as in covering what's going on all around. Well I am just googling it now to find out, don't know why i didn't check sooner...

OK the result:

The original sense of news was 'new things'; this is long obsolete. Since the 15th century it has been used to mean 'tidings, the report of recent events, new occurrences as a subject or report or talk.'


I AM THE WINNER! YAY! Ok, now that we have settled that, we can move on to what I was really meaning to blog about...

The first thing I wanted to mention was that I thought I had written almost 200 posts, but then when I checked it turns out that was counting all the drafts as well - not just published posts. So instead of having 4 posts to go until a 200THPOSTEXTRAVANGANZA, i now have 12... gosh DARN IT ALL TO ROBOT HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! So no more drafts.. once i start writing a post, come hell or high water, I WILL PUBLISH IT!!!

So the good news there is that I have lots more blogging to do, and more time to think of what to do my 200th post about!! Hazaah!

The other thing I wanted to talk about is PODCASTS! While I have listened to the entire Ricky Gervais show via podcast on my faithful iPod... i get the feeling there is so much more out there. I know Josh has lots which he gets from his friend Jim. Jim is known around my neck of the woods (probably only by me) as 'the dealer'. He'll hook you up with whatever your podcast needs happen to be. Podcasts to make you feel good, to calm you down, to expand your mind - you name it - he gots it. That's what his travelling soapbox salesman says about him anyway...

I have heard Josh listening to quite a few different podcasts including:

Jonothan Ross - you know that lovable british personality with the slight speech impediment / lisp thing going on? He usually interviews celebrities and makes fun of Ross Noble.

The Drunk Tank - this is a bunch of guys talking smack about stuff. They usually talk about gaming stuff so I lose interest pretty quick but some parts that I understand are quite funny.

The Daily Bugle - these are 2 British guys (i think comedians) who talk about news and giggle at eachother the whole time. It's really funny. Josh thought I might like it because he thinks that i have a lot in common with this guy:

Yes, I can see the resemblance. That's comedian Andy Zaltzman, Josh says we have the same sense of humour: stupid and exaggerated, wild rambling tangents, incredible imagination and love of hypotheticals... well that about sums me up :D

And Finally, This American Life. The podcast I may be developing a slight obsession with. It is basically interviews with different people about that podcast's subject matter. For example one podcast is all about Babysitting, and different people tell stories of their experiences with it. Usually they are quite remarkable. You find yourself so drawn into the story, as though you were in a trance- it is incredible! I listened to one last night with Josh about this guy who approaching 40 realised he was really 'unremarkable' and wanted to do something big. He recalls his 20's when he was working in a meth ring taking ingredients across the mexican border. He then reads about this story where 2 little girls (one with downs syndrome) are kidnapped by her meth-head parents from the custody of their grandparents. The parents killed their landlord, then stole the kids, then went on the run and were thought to be in mexico - the area this guy knows like the back of his hand. So he sets about tracking these little girls down. Seriously it is amazing stuff. I can't remember the theme of the podcast so I can't find a link... maybe it was "heroes" or something like that...

I really like this podcast because it gives you an insight into so many different people's lives. That's why I love blogs so much! Seeing what other people around the world get up to. I listened to one on the train today about the Kindness (and unkindess) of Strangers. It was also very cool. I need more!!!

Follow the links above and you can download the podcasts for free! If anyone out there has some other podcasts that you enjoy, or even think i may enjoy, I'd love to hear from you!