Completely Conspicuous 490: Social Disease

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss social media dependency. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book Echo and the Sea
- The political climate is disturbingly fascinating
- O, Canada?
- It used to be easy to fall out of political favor
- Howard Dean's scream
- The lack of competition
- No alternative party
- Navigating social media to victory
- Coming up with an escape plan
- Watch out for gators
- Connected to social media all day but don't look at it all the time
- Your info is constantly being collected by FB, Google, Amazon, etc.
- Wandering through the social media graveyard
- FB Messenger was banning people based on supposedly private conversations
- Matt's adventures with drunken late-night purchases like the Ab Zapper
- Buying swords on QVC
- The desperate need for social media likes
- Matt: No withdrawal symptoms when disconnected from the internet
- Consequences for social media faux pas can come quickly

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. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 489: Social Distortion

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss social media dependency. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book Echo and the Sea
- Back from a little hiatus
- People who use their phones at the urinal
- Matt: Detached from social media while in Canada
- We're online all day for work
- Jay: The kids love the Instagram
- Twitter can be a cesspool
- Let Me Google That For You
- When Star Wars nerds get ugly
- Twitter can often be a license to be a jerk
- People can be "rock stupid"
- The compulsion to tweet
- Arguing with family members on social media
- The mute function on FB is helpful
- Matt: Writer Twitter drives me nuts
- Don't click on the comments!
- Anime geeks solving their arguments in a civil manner
- 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. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 475: Ignorance is Bliss

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss our uncertain world. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book Echo and the Sea
- Escapism is tempting
- Shopping by alcohol content
- Is ignorance bliss?
- Dumb and happy
- Cynical about politics at all levels
- Corruption is rampant
- Appearances count
- Politics have never been this divisive...or have they?
- Internet comments are the worst
- Social media enables morons to spout off
- Journalism burnout
- Shooting a guy in the face is quaint now
- Does uncertainty = depression?
- We haven't given up yet
- We solved nothing
 
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 448: Well, That Happened

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the aftermath of the election. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4
- Keeping friends after the election
- It's getting personal
- The canary in the coal mine
- Reading things that you know will annoy you
- Forced lefty
- Giving up on the presidency
- Don't encourage the Kardashians
- Romney's changed, man
- Matt's next book is changing because of the election
- Forget art forged from pain, we'll take mindless pop
- Social media as free therapy
- The Electoral College's relevance
- Changing demographics

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 447: The Aftermath

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the aftermath of the election. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4
- Jay: Not moving to Canada
- None of those celebs is leaving the country
- Enthusiastic votes for Trump
- Parallels to Brexit
- Plenty of protests when Obama was elected
- Scandals didn't hurt Trump
- Clinton was a very Republican-safe candidate
- Covering politics for a newspaper can change you
- When Matt was dissed by the new Lt. Gov.
- Oh, Gary Hart
- Politicians and sex
- 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 429: Keeping It Real

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the difficulties of avoiding cynicism. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Matt's new book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4
- People are desperate for fame
- Matt auditioned for season 2 of The Real World
- The savvy of Boston Rob
- Chewbacca Mom is pushing it
- Trump tapped into a vein of discontent
- He's got a way with nicknames
- We've got issues
- Fat, but not happy
- It's not a bad thing to be cynical
- Changing your Twitter icon or FB profile pic is pointless
- David Cameron and the pig's head
- Sinking to meme level
- The Internet never forgets
- Power + opportunity = Bad life choices
- We're going to remain cynical

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 428: Absolutely Cynical

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the difficulties of avoiding cynicism. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Matt's new book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4
- It's hard not to be cynical these days
- Politics are infuriating in general
- Soccer hooligans can spread joy, too
- Getting cynicism drummed into you as a young reporter
- Kids, don't go into journalism
- NIMBY remains a strong force
- Matt made the mistake of going to back to newspapers a few years ago
- Facts, schmacts
- Saying something stupid won't tank your campaign anymore
- Tapping into frustrated and angry voters
- Blindly loyal political supporters
- Stupid can win
- People are tired of hearing from so-called experts
- Jay: Reality TV makes me cynical
- The Duggars had a show because they had 19 kids
- Some people find The Bachelor fascinating
- So many kids these days have the drive to become famous
- The abnormal lives of huge celebrities
- Tom Cruise can't relate to normal people
- 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 415: Digging in the DIrt

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss presidential candidates, the '70s and regional differences. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 

Show notes:
- New England is not representative of the rest of the country
- Christian's ideal place to live: DC
- The '70s were a fascinating time in the U.S.
- Hip hop and punk grew out of mid-'70s NYC
- The Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi
- Lee Atwater, bluesman
- The momentum of Trump
- Last summer, Jeb Bush was a lead pipe cinch
- Christian: Used to go to CPAC every year
- What about Hillary?
- How does a president get anything done?
- Firmly on the fence

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 414: The Great Divide

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss racism, political correctness and gentrification. You know, the lighter side of life. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 

Show notes:
- Political correctness on both sides of the aisle
- Literary archetypes reflect cultural fears
- The Trump Method: Repeat your point until people agree with you
- The Washington football team sticks to its guns
- Could All in the Family and Blazing Saddles come out today?
- No safe space for satire
- It's hard to talk about race these days
- Lamenting the closing of local rock clubs
- The upper crust and the townies
- 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 413: Song of the South

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss the differences between the North and the South. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 

Show notes:
- Christian grew up in Texas
- The tension between North and South is still around
- The Cuban Connection
- Ted Cruz's attempts at humor
- Batshit crazy election season
- The Trump effect
- It's still the economy, stupid
- A brown dude in New Hampshire
- Canada welcomed a generation of immigrants in the '70s and '80s
- Sri Lankan and Samoan street gangs
- Jay: Toronto was the most diverse place I've lived
- Christian: Was ignorant of the North as a kid
- The OJ Simpson miniseries is pretty fun
- Southern stereotypes are strong up North
- A formal level of ignorance
- 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 378: Public Image Limited

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


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book, The Indestructibles: Breakout
- Bronies and furries, oh my
- Why would you want to run for office these days?
- Small-town politics
- Tearing down heroes on Twitter
- Avengers press junket goes awry
- Celebs stumble on social media
- Michael Richards, Mel Gibson go from beloved stars to pariahs
- Can you enjoy a Gibson movie now knowing what you know about him?
- When politics get in the way of entertainment
- 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 354: Rage in the Cage

Part 3 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
- What's the next big media story?
- Charlie keeps butting in
- It's amazing what gets people upset
- Reality TV plays into outrage culture
- Internet comments reach new depths
- Easy to be cynical about politics
- Would you ever run for office?
- Vote Beelzebub
- We were inundated with New Hampshire political ads for two months
- The importance of reading cue cards on SNL
- Chris Rock caught some heat for telling jokes about Boston Marathon
- Post 9-11, humor became a touchy subject
- Everybody's waiting to be offended
- Know your audience, like the Duck Dynasty guys
- The risk of alienating your audience
- We never really fix anything

Music:
The Sheila Divine - Watch Out for Us
Meatbodies - Mountain
Interpol - What is What

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

The Sheila Divine song is available for free download at Bandcamp.

The Meatbodies song is on the album Meatbodies on In the Red Recordings. Download the song for free at KEXP.
The Interpol song is a B-side from the album El Pintor on Matador Records. Download the song for free by entering the words "Everything is Wrong" on the band's website.

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 245: Apolitical Blues

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the sad state of political discourse. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.

Show notes:
- Matt doesn't like awkward stuff, avoids those types of campaign clips
- They built their campaign around it

- Tim Thomas vs. the White House
- Facebook is full of Constitutional scholars
- Matt is on Romneycare
- Running for office requires a boring past
- You can't escape your past...especially when you post it on Facebook
- Europe isn't exactly running smoothly, either
- Everybody's in a cocoon here
- Matt overuses social media because he's self-employed
- The Internet has made people lazy about research
- Matt wrote a dating column for a while
- When AOL started, emails would delete after 30 days
- The Internet has changed the way we find out about each other
- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Paul Westerberg - My Road Now
Robert Pollard - Who's Running My Ranch
A.C. Newman - Encyclopedia of Classic Takedowns
Hot Snakes - Light Up the Stars

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

The Paul Westerberg song was released last week to the I Will Dare blog. Download it for free from I Will Dare.
The Robert Pollard song is on the album Jack Sells the Cow on Fire Records. Download the song for free from SoundCloud.
The A.C. Newman song is on the album Shut Down the Streets on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Hot Snakes song is on the album Automatic Midnight on Swami Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

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; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous 244: You're All Talk

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the sad state of political discourse. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.

Show notes:
- Election year's in high gear
- Local elections provide personal access
- My kids are scaring Phillion away from fatherhood
- Blown off by the lieutenant governor
- Mass. senate race has been heated
- The power of SuperPACs
- Candidates are puppets of the money behind them
- Dumbing down the message
- Mass. voters went for Republican governors from '91 to '07
- Big speeches with no substance in them
- All political claims need to be fact-checked
- Tough times for journalism
- Dealing with political posts on Facebook
- The conventions are cheerleading camps
- Most voters have already made up their minds
- Congress sucks, too
- Can the government actually get anything done?
- It's not as simple as red state vs. blue state
- Facebook posts aren't changing anyone's mind
- The Democratic platform and mentions of God
- A bitter idealist
- The stuff you post on FB could come back to haunt you - Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Paul Banks - The Base
Cat Power - Cherokee
Aimee Mann - Charmer
Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Paul Banks song is on the album Banks on Matador Records. Download it for free from MatadorRecords.com.
The Cat Power song is on the album Sun on Matador Records. Download the song for free from MatadorRecords.com.
The Aimee Mann song is the title track of the album Charmer on SuperEgo Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Electric Six song is on the album Fire on XL Recordings. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

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; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous 175: Politics as Usual

Part 1 of my podcast conversation with special guest Jim Corrigan as we talk politics. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes...

- Corrigan's a lifelong but "not typical" Democrat

- Mixing up Obama and Osama

- Debate over releasing Bin Laden photos

- OBL was "hiding" in plain sight for years

- Kumar: Very jaded about politics

- Making sense of Ron Paul

- Is Obama more liberal than Bill Clinton?

- Jim's brother worked for Mike Dukakis campaign

- Kumar: Two-party system sucks

- Gitmo's still open despite Obama's promise to close it

- Jim first encountered Clinton in Arkansas in '88

- Four years later, he came out of nowhere to win Dem nomination

- Politicians getting in trouble with sex scandals (John Edwards, Gary Hart)

- Republicans in the 2012 presidential race face tough odds

- Trump is a joke

- Jim: Not fired up about Obama, but committed

- Jim's brother "made" Obama

- Key to campaigning now is canvassing

- Gotta get out and shake hands

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Thurston Moore - Circulation

Joel Plaskett and Shotgun Jimmie - Jimmie's Still Jimmie

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Livin' in the Jungle

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

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The Thurston Moore song is on the album Demolished Thoughts on Matador Records, where you can download the song for free.

The Joel Plaskett and Shotgun Jimmie song is on the 7-inch Jimmie's Still Jimmie on New Scotland Records. Download the song for free at Pigeon Row.

The Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears song is from the album Scandalous on Lost Highway Records. Download the song for free at Amazon.

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. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his new site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 165: Same Old Song and Dance

Part 1 of my podcast conversation with special guest Eric Convey as we discuss the familiar themes of American political rhetoric. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes...

Topics:

- Eric's Managing Editor of the Boston Business Journal

- Worked for congressman in DC in early '90s

- It was a contentious time

- In '94 mid-term elections, Newt Gingrich led the Republican takeover of the House

- Big Clinton tax increase didn't go over well

- Convey: There's always a backlash in mid-term elections

- In '92, local Democratic congressman was indicted on corruption charges

- Convey got gig as press secretary for the new Republican congressman

- "I was nowhere near cynical enough."

- Eric was good at political spin

- After a few years, he made the jump back to newspapers

- Eric was a master of political spin

- Eric: Don't think the rhetoric now is no worse than '94 or 2000

- Rhetoric raises money

- The two-party system sucks

- Eric: Parliamentary system is better

- Nowadays, everybody is more concerned with themselves than politics

- People are more likely to read viewpoints they agree with

- Too many distractions; our attention span is shrinking

- Eric: Giffords shooting was caused by a disturbed person, not political rhetoric
- Eric turns to the Washington Post for the most fair political reporting

- Jay and Eric reminisce about their days covering local politics

- There were a lot more sources of local news 20 years ago

- The public doesn't trust journalists anymore, mainly because of TV news

- Recalling Eric's tormenting of a rival press secretary

- Back then, the newspapers were the main conduit for news for political campaigns

- Now campaigns can use YouTube, Facebook, Twitter to get their message out

- The Palin phenomenon

- People in Middle America relate to her

- Jay: Suspicious of every candidate

- Eric: Wish politicians would have the guts to say things people don't want to hear

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Sloan - Follow the Leader

The Dodos - Don't Stop

Sunny Ali and the Kid - I oh you

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

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The Sloan song is on the forthcoming album The Double Cross on Yep Roc Records. Find out more and download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at SloanMusic.

The Dodos song is on the album No Color on Frenchkiss Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Sunny Ali and the Kid song is available for free at Bandcamp.

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. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.