Completely Conspicuous 556: It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss life after close to a year in pandemic lockdown. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Tough to not see friends

- Matt runs Dungeons & Dragons games via Zoom

- Surprising number of people are into D&D

- It's a good escape from the world

- Like a weekly therapy session

- Companies use D&D for corporate retreats

- Games have grown in popularity during the pandemic

- Jay: We started playing a family dominoes game every Saturday

- Jay: Played the board game Pandemic years ago

- The CDC's zombie announcement

- People will run toward the zombies

- Going to movies seems so far away

- Jay: Like going to concerts, don't love going to movies

- Tough time to be a theater actor

- Miss going to bars

- Will masks stick around after the pandemic ends?

- Toilet paper hoarders

- Matt ordered TP last April; it arrived in October

- Waiting for normalcy

- Matt: Look forward to seeing nieces and nephews again

- Want to do activities involving other humans

- We miss traveling

- Jay: Wasn't overly disappointed to not go to a June work conference in Phoenix

- Matt hated getting ready to go places, but liked it once he got there

- When you can't find parking during a pandemic

- Some people don't care about doing the right thing

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 555: Working for the Clampdown

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss life after close to a year in pandemic lockdown. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Haven't talked for the show since November 2019

- Coming up on the first anniversary of everything getting locked down

- Matt was already used to working from home

- Matt writes YA superhero/fantasy books including The Indestructibles series

- Hasn't been able to go to fantasy or comics conventions

- Jay: Miss the interaction of being in the office

- Now used to the WFH life

- Strange to spend all day at home with your family

- Matt has been working remotely for over a decade

- Companies will probably do away with full offices at some point

- Matt: Working in an office forces you to plan for inefficiency

- WFH requires self-discipline

- Definitely tougher for folks with small kids

- Matt dealt with the challenges of ancient Wifi technology in 2010 in Ireland

- Employers will have to adjust post-COVID

- Commuting sucks and people aren't going to want to do it as much

- The lockdown wasn't good for Matt's writing focus

- Too much going on in the world

- Last March, we all assumed things would be back to normal soon

- Matt: Lost the full-time gig, now juggling multiple freelance jobs

- Doing photography shoots exposes you to lots of germs

- Masks let you be more anonymous than you once were

- Running with a mask is a little challenging

- 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 554: Demolition Man

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1981. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded via Zoom

- Jay's #5 and Phil's #4: The Stones have a massive hit with a collection of outtakes

- Followed up with a massive stadium tour

- Jay's #4: Prince keeps getting better but not yet breaking through to the mainstream

- Pushing the envelope with explicit content

- Phil's #3: J. Geils Band's pop breakthrough

- Was "Centerfold" banned by WCOZ?

- Jay's #3: Fair Warning was my favorite Van Halen album

- Darker tone than other VH albums

- Phil's #5 and Jay's #2: Rush hits the sweet spot with Moving Pictures

- Side 1 is flawless

- Phil's #2: An underrated U2 record, even by U2 fanatics

- Got into it when it came out

- Phil's #1: The Police reach commercial success

- Hit their pop potential while maintaining their unique sound

- Jay's #1: Going out there with Mission of Burma's debut EP

- Hugely influential on scores of alt-rock bands who came later

- Favorite songs: "Demolition Man" (Phil), "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple 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 505: Europe '72

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's live triple album Europe '72. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- Triple album documenting the Dead's European tour
- Displays new Americana sound
- Mickey Hart's gone, Keith and Donna Godchaux join
- Full tour was documented on a 73-CD box set
- Letting it all hang out at an Oregon show
- Garcia and Weir released solo albums this year
- The Dead's influenced ranged wide, eventually including members of punk/indie acts like Black Flag and Meat Puppets
- Greg Ginn, noted Deadhead
- The greatness of "Jack Straw"
- Later covered by eventual guest keyboardist Bruce Hornsby
- Grateful Dead keyboardists : Spinal Tap drummers
- "A long f-ing album"
- Unrelated: The Dirtbombs rule
- "China Cat Sunflower" sounds very different here than the original
- This is Peak Dead
- The band captured the communal live experience and attracted a huge following
- When you party too hard before the show
- Pigpen's last hurrah
- "Morning Dew" is stretched out to 10+ minutes of apocalyptic jam
- Tangent: Janelle Monae is great
- Variety is important
- No more guilty pleasures
- Waaaaaaay off topic
- The strange career of Robert Palmer
- Phil: Europe '72 is like comfort food
- Next up: Wake of the Flood

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 500: Less Rock, More Talk

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- Featuring special guest Ric Dube
- The decline of rock's popularity
- Album sales are way down
- That time the Melvins hit the Top 200 albums chart
- Apple's going to work with the Amazon Echo soon
- Breitling pays for the Amazon Music "Talky Talky"
- The youths don't pay for physical media anymore
- Ric's family has Spotify, he has dedicated streaming of his own collection
- Modern country is doing big business, relatively speaking
- Pop music is doing well
- Most rock acts make money through touring, not albums
- The Stones are still touring
- Mick and Keith were considered "old" in their mid-30s
- Breitling: The year's music really picked up in the second half
- New Mary Lattimore release is enjoyable
- Ric: Enjoying Brian Eno's latest release, which is a $30 app
- Kumar: Honorable mentions include Tony Molina, Slaves, Thin Lips, Arthur Buck, Buffalo Tom, Joyce Manor, Swearin, Stove, Screaming Females
- Breitling: Master System, Palm, Superchunk, Frankie Cosmos, Kurt Vile
- Next: We count down our top 10 albums

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 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 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 472: Dig for Fire (Maiden-Zappa, Part 1)

This week, Brian Salvatore and I discuss more musical blindspots. Brian will learn about Iron Maiden while I dig into Frank Zappa. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Jay: Somewhat familiar with Zappa's hits and guitar work
- Intimidating catalog; more than 100 albums released
- Brian: Knew a few Maiden songs but never a fan
- Listened to 1980 self-titled debut
- Liked the faster songs and Paul Di'Anno's vocals
- Enjoyed punk-inspired energy and Steve Harris' bass
- Production sounds good
- Maiden's sound has evolved over the years
- Jay listened to Zappa's 1969 album Hot Rats
- Only one song with vocals, and those are by Captain Beefheart
- Ian Underwood is major contributor, playing all keyboards and horns
- Very different sound than Zappa had in mid- to late- '70s
- Next up: Apostrophe for Jay, The Number of the Beast for Brian

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 464: Industry Standard

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about the evolution of the music blog. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Breitling recently shut down his fine music blog Clicky Clicky
- Some band reunions shouldn't happen
- A whole new target audience for newer live acts
- The kids wanna snap
- Some bands can make a living selling merch and playing small live gigs
- No time for comics anymore
- The inflated price of vinyl
- Zines were the music blogs of the '80s and '90s
- Kumar: A buddy in Washington state got into punk, started a zine
- The convenience of blog software
- The blog as reference tool
- Our work at Webnoize is mostly gone now
- Clicky Clicky lives on via Facebook page
- The blog had a hardcore audience
- Not in it for the numbers
- Cutting through the crap on Twitter
- Quality, not quantity of posts

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 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 446: Picking Up the Pieces

Part 1 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
- Thought this was going to be a very different show
- Didn't expect a Trump victory
- Social media was raw the day after the election
- Family and friend disagreements
- You can't change anybody's mind on social media
- Friendships are ending over the election
- Hiding or unfriending people
- Plenty of blame to go around
- People don't fact check things before passing them along
- Thanksgiving could be disastrous this year
- Many people may avoid it altogether
- A whole group of people got left behind and Trump tapped into that
- A deplorable soundbite
- Promising everything
- We're insulated in Massachusetts
- Oh, Florida
- Dealing with post-election feelings
- Racist and dumb is quite the combination
- 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 438: Roll the Bones

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss fantasy sports. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- No interest in daily fantasy sports
- Big ad blitz when daily fantasy leagues hit the scene
- The kids love the gambling
- Sports gambling is much easier now
- Vegas now has an NHL franchise
- The Super Bowl is more spectacle than game
- "I call him Gamblor"
- Senior citizens take buses to casinos
- Playing in multiple leagues is no guarantee of winning money
- When the commissioner is dishonest
- Like pickup sports, you want to have fun with friends in fantasy leagues
- The single worst pick in fantasy hockey history
- Let's hear it for Lichtenstein

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 436: Games of Chance

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss fantasy sports. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Fantasy sports is big business
- Rooting against your favorite team
- Phil: Got into fantasy baseball in early '90s
- Jay: Started a league in '91 with work friends
- Paid a service to compile stats reports
- So much more now to distract you from draft prep
- Started with AL-only league
- Early fantasy football league started decades earlier
- Jack Kerouac created his own fantasy baseball league with fictional players and teams
- Strat-O-Matic started in early '60s
- Cards and dice game, similar to D&D
- The joys of Mattel Intellivision
- Sports betting is popular
- Takes enjoyment out of the game
- The house always wins
- The fun of the fantasy draft
- Auction leagues require more involvement, longer draft
- 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 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 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 409: Life in the Fast Lane

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss short attention spans. 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
- Fear of wasting time or fear of missing out?
- Phone calls are rare and annoying
- Tinder = instantaneous hookups
- Jay: Thankful to have been in the dating Dark Ages
- Guys are born stupid
- Telephone hangups used to be way more dramatic
- How often do you just hang out with a friend and talk?
- Writing letters is a lost art
- Friends who aren't on social media are lost or forgotten
- How much faster can life get?
- We still slow down occasionally
- Nothing slows you down like a baby falling asleep on you

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.