Completely Conspicuous 520: Streaming for Vengeance

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the decade in TV and movies. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- This decade has flown by
- 10 years ago, Matt was getting ready to move to Ireland
- Hard to rank the best movies and TV because there's so much we haven't seen
- Recording on the day that Disney+ launched
- Some bugs because of the huge demand on day 1
- Biggest change is the move to streaming content
- Binge-watching has become a huge trend
- Spoilers abound
- Jay: Don't read reviews until after I've watched something
- HBO's Watchmen series is pretty good
- So easy to fall behind on a show
- Shows switch to different streaming services
- We're so distracted that many people are doing multiple things while watching a show
- Short seasons are appealing because you can finish them quickly
- Rare to watch shows live
- Matt watched final season of LOST from Ireland, live with his family via a laptop
- Similarly, there's so much new music being released but a lot of it doesn't get heard
- Radio stations play a lot of the same music over and over
- More and more original programming on non-traditional outlets: PlayStation, Amazon Prime, Apple+
- So many streaming services available now
- The end goal is to replace your $200 cable bill with an equal amount spent on streaming services
- Jay: Cut the cord three years ago, went to all streaming
- You can't get everything
- Takes a long time to decide what to watch sometimes
- Sometimes we watch two different things while in the same room
- Seeing movies in a theater is great, but dealing with other people isn't
- Stay off social media if you don't want spoilers
- Jay: 10 years ago, I was watching late night talk shows every day
- Now, watch clips online the following day
- Jay: Haven't seen a Star Wars movie since 1983
- Something to be said for holding onto hard media
- Bringing back dead actors using AI
- Deep fakes are freaky and amazing
- Superhero movies became big moneymakers in the last decade
- The Shining happened because Kubrick was at a low spot and needed a hit
- The new Fantasy Island reboot is a horror movie
- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 519: Cornell '77

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead bootleg Cornell '77. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- Talking about Dead show recorded on 5/8/77 at Cornell University
- Phil: Listened to this hundreds of times
- Jay: Very impressed by the bootleg
- Phil: The show was so random
- Dead had taken some time off from touring from '74 to '76
- By spring of '77, band was firing on all cylinders
- Phil's parents wouldn't let 8-year-old Phil see the Dead on that tour
- A lot of live albums are unnecessary
- But a great live recording is transcendent
- Phil: Early Chicago with Terry Kath on guitar was a great live act
- The Dylan and the Dead live album was a dud
- Phil Lesh: The Heineken Years
- Clapton's MTV Unplugged album was awful
- Jay: Solo Clapton is terrible
- Phil doesn't like Thin Lizzy
- The Dead has 36-minute versions of songs on their bootlegs
- Phil has around 125 Dead boots
- Figuring out which songs flow well into others
- Phil: The version of "Morning Dew" on this bootleg is the best
- Plenty of snow at that show, inside and outside
- Love when bands change up the setlist every night
- When you get sick of songs you love
- Somehow we start talking about "The Day After"
- AC/DC's music is more complicated than you think
- Phil would set his time machine to 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 518: Terrapin Station

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1977 album Terrapin Station. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- The Dead's 9th studio album
- Band had signed with Clive Davis and Arista
- Album was produced by Keith Olsen, later known for slick AOR albums by Eddie Money, Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Heart
- Phil: Would get a tattoo of the Terrapin cover
- Cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is pretty lame
- Live, the cover turns into a long jam (duh)
- Donna Godchaux was featured a lot on this record
- Side 2 is an side-long suite written by Hunter and Garcia
- Band didn't tour for this album after Mickey Hart got in a car accident
- The tour before this album was legendary for Dead fans
- Tried songs out live before they made it to studio recordings
- Side 1 closes out with a Donna G. song that sounds nothing like anything else the Dead has done
- The Godchaux marriage was splitting up while they were in the band
- Olsen erased Hart's drums on one song and replaced them with strings
- Lyrics on Terrapin Station are pretty dense
- Relatively short album for the Dead at 35 minutes
- Phil: These songs got better in the live setting
- Jay: A lot of filler on side 2
- Album feels like a contractual obligation
- Dead & Co. plays part of the title suite now
- Phil: Not a John Mayer fan, but he's a good guitarist
- Jay: Not a fan of this album
- Next: Cornell 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 517: Top of the Heap

It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we conclude our countdown of our favorite albums of the decade. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- Kumar's #3 of the decade: Parquet Courts cements their post-punk presence (2014)
- Impressive body of work with an art-rock vibe
- Breitling's #2: Johnny Foreigner's self-produced magnum opus (2011)
- Breitling was running a JF-themed blog for a while
- Kumar's #2: A punk explosion of political anger from Superchunk (2018)
- Still vital after all these years
- Breitling's #1: Post-punk legend Walter Schreifels' debut solo album (2010)
- Sincere folk rock with incredible hooks
- Kumar's #1: Bowie's final album was a masterpiece (2016)
- Recorded in secret with an unknown jazz band
- He thought he had more time, but died a few days after the album came out
- That's a decade

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and just about anywhere else you get your podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.