Completely Conspicuous 421: Done is Good

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization and tell old journalism stories. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 

Show notes:
- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3
- Making a good first impression
- Journalism: A good profession for social misfits
- What to do when an ax-wielding maniac is on the loose
- "Your internship could have kids"
- Fun with newspaper interns
- Person-on-the-street interviews were challenging
- Expiration date for the newspaper biz
- Writing on deadline helps with time management
- Editors who can't write and vice versa
- Being a supervisor
- "Done is good."

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 419: Get It Together

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
 

Show notes:
- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3
- Organization is important when you're juggling a lot of responsibilities
- The challenge of working a full-time gig while also doing other jobs
- Prioritizing by deadlines
- Writing a book adds another big deadline
- Finding time for other activities when you have kids
- Doing plenty of unpaid work
- Organized to a point
- Sometimes the need for sleep takes over
- Matt: Watching TV's too passive
- "The People vs. OJ Simpson" was surprisingly good
- Old-school Internet problems
- Wasting time online
- Cubicle life
- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 353: The Fake Headlines

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss media-driven hysteria. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's new book, The Indestructibles: Breakout
- Reading newspapers was once a thing
- Boston was a strong two newspaper town
- The Herald used to delight in tweaking the Globe
- Election ads go for the blue collar vote
- "Like hugging a Chicken McNugget"
- When your new boss is an uninspirational leader
- Matt: The end user is the product
- Pop-up ads are the worst
- People don't want to hear bad news
- It's entirely possible to avoid anything you disagree with
- Nobody wants to find middle ground
- News networks try to ratchet up the hysteria
- Fragmented workplaces
- Friends who aren't on social media are easily forgotten
- Jay: I don't talk to anyone on the phone anymore
-Another Charlie interruption
- To be continued

Music:
King Tuff - Eyes of the Muse
Greylag - Yours to Shake
Dream Police - Hypnotized

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The King Tuff song is on the album Black Moon Spell on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at KEXP.
The Greylag song is on the album Greylag on Dead Oceans. Download the song for free at KEXP.
The Dream Police song is on the album Hypnotized on Sacred Bones Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 255: The Future is Unwritten

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Dave Brigham about our society's neglect for history. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:
- Recorded at the BrigHAAAAM Estates
- Dave's doing a reading of one of his short stories on Dec. 11 in Arlington, MA
- Check out Dave's photo blog, The Backside of America
- Kids don't get our references anymore
- Brigham: "Too damn much of everything"
- Reality TV is ubiquitous
- Pop culture ignorance
- Brigham: Even a Luddite like me buys digital music
- Knowledge of older bands is limited now
- Talking to kids about history and current events
- Don't let our kids watch TV newscasts
- We shelter our kids these days
- Playground education
- The ads during televised sporting events are all about "cars, boners and beer"
- Parents may filter too much
- Can we fix our lack of historical knowledge?
- We can try to encourage kids to take an interest
- Collecting baseball cards was a fun hobby
- Too much focus on present and future to look at the past
- American populace is fairly passive about major problems
- Bonehead of the Week


Music:
The Hush Now - I'm Always Broke in December
Low - Waiting (live)
Varsity Drag - Animal
The Linus Pauling Quartet - Crom

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Hush Now song is available for free download at Bandcamp.
The Low song is on the live EP Plays Nice Places. Download it for free (in exchange for your email address) at Sub Pop.
The Varsity Drag song is on the album Night Owls and is available for free download at Bandcamp.
The Linus Pauling Quartet song is on the album Bag of Hammers on Musebox Records. Download it for free from Spinner.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 75: Future Shock

Back with part 2 of my conversation with Eric Convey, managing editor of the Boston Business Journal, about the death of newspapers and what, if anything, can be done about it. In this episode, we talk about using new media in newsgathering and the future of journalism and share some old tales from our reporting days. Click here to listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly here (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:
- New media in newsgathering
- The future of journalism
- Tales of old reporters
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy (live)
- The Pink Mountaintops - Vampire
- The Vaselines - Son of a Gun

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The Hold Steady song is on the new live album A Positive Rage on Vagrant Records. Click here to download the song.

The Pink Mountaintops song is on the new album Outside Love on Jagjaguwar Records, where you can find out more and download the song.

The Vaselines song is on the new collection Enter the Vaselines on Sub Pop Records, where you can find out more and download the song.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of Mark Campbell.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 74: Disappearing Act

Here's part 1 of my conversation with Eric Convey of the Boston Business Journal about the decline of the newspaper industry. We discuss the reasons behind the dire straits that newspapers find themselves in, particularly the Boston Globe. Click here to listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly here (right click and "save as"). Part 2 will be posted early next week.

The show notes...

Topics:
- Tough times for the newspaper industry
- Boston Globe on the brink
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- Bob Mould - I'm Sorry, Baby, But You Can't Stand in My Light Any More
- Okkervil River - Pop Lie
- Red Red Meat - Gauze

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The Bob Mould song is on the new album Life and Times on Anti Records, where you can find a link to Anti's Free Digital Sampler and download the Mould track.

The Okkervil River song is on the album The Stand Ins on Jagjaguwar Records, where you can find out more at and download the song.

The Red Red Meat song is on the reissue of the 1995 album Bunny Gets Paid on Sub Pop Records, where you can find out more and download the song.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.