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 486: Content Mismanagement

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


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book Echo and the Sea
- The popularity of comics has moved beyond just comic books
- The collector's market collapsed in the late '90s
- We make less time to read nowadays
- Audiobooks and podcasts are popular with people trying to multitask
- Mark Hamill's interesting career
- Attention spans are shrinking
- Binge-watching vs. reading
- Long-form storytelling is alive and well on TV
- Being professional on social media
- When things you liked don't age well
- Retroactive criticism
- Hate-sharing for fun and profit
- Outrage fatigue
- Picking careers that become obsolete
 
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 474: Age of Uncertainty

Part 1 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
- Recorded before the Las Vegas incident and Trump's visit to PR
- Everything's uncertain
- Don't know what to expect from the news
- Trump: Savvy or master of chaos?
- Twitter as distraction
- Social media amps up the anxiety
- FB as the center of vitriol over every conceivable public issue
- The weather is slamming us with unpredictable events
- Selling the BS
- Clickbait's gonna get ya
- Much ado about kneeling
- Scandal recovery
- Controversy du jour
- Punisher fans can be scary
- Twitter roulette
- Ah, the threat of impending nuclear war
- The relentless news cycle
- The difficulty of just enjoying 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 462: World Wide Ebb

This week, it's my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss what life would be like without the Internet. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
-  Recorded on the road in a snowstorm
- What if the Internet went away?
- Back to mid-'90s technology
- We'd have to talk to each other
- Generational dip
- The Lou Grant Revolt
- We'd lost a lot of conveniences
- The kids and the promposals
- People are constantly glued to their phones
- #oldmanrant
- We need the Internet
- Social media has replaced a lot of actual human interaction
- Phantom thumb
- TV and radio would be more important
- Making conclusions based on just the headline
- Library book etiquette
- The drive home
- Things could get bad
- Economy would tank
- Overcoming the dependency
- Not necessarily life or death
- Instant info gratification
- Are we ready to get primal?
- Taking a timeout
- Addictive by design
- Kids would have a tough time

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 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 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.

Completely Conspicuous 408: Squirrel!

Part 2 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
- Spending too much time in front of screens
- Much harder to get through long articles nowadays
- How many words are worth $1?
- Looking at phone is how we kill time
- Smoking made Matt more social
- A generation of socially inept people
- Binge-watching TV requires more attention
- Longer network TV seasons seem so much longer now
- The Punisher is a tough character to get right
- Hell hath no fury like a nerd upset over something stupid
- Gotta pay attention when there are subtitles
- Anime moves too fast
- Audiences can't deal with slow scenes any more
- As a writer, Matt writes shorter chapters
- Short attention span applies to music listening
- Matt: If I had an iPhone as a kid, I would never have read a book
- 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 407: Fast and Loose

Part 1 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
- The inevitable joke
- MP: The more novels I write, the shorter my attention span gets
- Live-tweeting TV shows takes some effort
- Trace back to quick cuts in MTV videos of the early '80s
- Wireless Internet has sped up the attention decline
- Twitter mulls expanding character limit to 10,000
- The fine art of crafting an effective tweet
- News of Bowie's death spread fast on social media
- What a way to go out, leaving a great piece of art behind
- It's hard to sustain a long career these days
- How to teach your kids about music
- Dumbo doesn't hold up
- Matt: New Star Wars is an homage to the original, but much faster
- So much more dialog in TV shows now
- HBO's In Therapy was different because much of it was just two people talking
- Elmore Leonard mastered economical writing
- 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 398: All Over But the Shouting

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the problem with research studies. 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
- Don't get sick!
- Studies can be scary
- Apply some logic when reading studies
- People live in fear of everything
- We love to get worked up about studies
- Studies with no research on long-term effects
- Studies seem to have lost all value
- Outrage only lasts for about a week and we move on
- Nobody wants to take the time to verify
- Are cell phones dangerous? Let's hope not
- Studies: Everything gives you cancer
- We're all gonna die!
- Only thing Wall-e got wrong was everyone was happy
- Pixar wants to make you sad
- Near-death running experiences

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 397: Recent Studies Show...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the problem with research studies. 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
- Surviving Halloween in Salem
- Endless barrage of studies
- You can find a study to prove just about any point
- Pick and choose the result you want
- Going down the WebMD wormhole
- Studies get picked up by mass media
- People don't verify the research, just pass it on
- Morning TV shows are an empty void
- Recent study says processed meat causes cancer
- The research-industrial complex
- Watch out for Big Vegetable
- The folly of the Farmer's Almanac
- The influence of pharma companies on research studies
- Too much TV as a child dident make us dumm
- Rarely watch TV now without social media interruptions
- Studies don't necessarily change behavior
- 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 387: The Hype Machine

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the art of hype. 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
- Avoiding overhype
- Getting RTs from celebrities
- Sometimes it feels like there's no benefit to Internet hype
- Getting bummed out to write sad scenes
- Cosplayers are having a moment
- Day jobs are a must, unfortunately
- Tagging somebody famous can work from time to time
- YouTube "stars"
- Spider-man with no butt
- 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 363: Online Immortality

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss friendship in the digital age. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's new book, The Indestructibles: Breakout
- Matt: I will sell out tomorrow
- Matt founded Home For Wayward Geeks to rant about superheroes
- A lack of institutional rock knowledge
- Sitting next to Jordan Knight on a plane
- Friends who overshare online about kids, pets, butts
- Matt: I miss hanging out with friends
- It's work to get people together
- Two levels of interaction
- Social media ghosts
- Online relationships can be as real as physical ones for some
- You'll exist online long after your death
- The Digital Cleaner

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 362: Friendly Fire

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

Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book, The Indestructibles: Breakout
- Matt stopped working in offices several years ago
- Used to being alone all day
- Going out with friends tends to slow down as you settle down
- Less likely to make the effort to organize group outings
- House parties can be fun
- Young people like Tinder
- Matt used OK Cupid
- Photos can be deceiving
- Blind dates can be rough
- When older parents start texting
- Mom Guilt never ends
- Matt came back to the U.S. because of family
- Jay was ready to move far away after college...and didn't
- Matt: Watching Dancing With the Stars is a family tradition
- "The Fighter" was like "National Geographic: Boston"
- To be continued

Music:
Colleen Green - TV
Radical Dads - Don't Go
Boom Said Thunder - Summer Twin

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

The Colleen Green song is on the album I Want to Grow Up on Hardly Art. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Radical Dads song is on the album Universal Coolers on Old Flame Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.
The Boom Said Thunder song is on the EP Summer Twin, which is available for free download 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 blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 361: All My Friends

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss friendship in the digital age. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book, The Indestructibles: Breakout
- How friendship has changed over the years
- Rarely have long conversations with people anymore
- Jay: Have closer relationships with podcast guests than anyone else
- Matt: Internet has helped save friendships
- Letter writing is a lost art
- Email replaced letters for a while
- Fewer phone calls with friends
- Jay: Still stay in touch with certain groups of friends
- Seems like people at work go out less anymore
- Friends you've never met
- Making friends on the Interwebs
- Matt meets people through book publishing world
- Reconnecting with people from childhood can be awkward
- Losing touch with friends who aren't on social media
- Friends from different interests, jobs
- To be continued

Music:
Stag - She Plus Me
Cult of Youth - God's Garden
Young Adults - Void
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Stag song is on the EP Temporary Machines on Pop Maelstrom. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Cult of Youth song is on the album Final Days on Sacred Bones Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.
The Young Adults song is available for free download 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 blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 352: Hype It Up

Part 1 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:
- Jay and Matt, bitchin' about stuff and drinking beer
- Enough with the pumpkin beer
- We've both worked in the media
- There's always a hot topic to get upset about
- Ebola's got everybody worked up
- It's been around for 40 years, but finally made it here
- Ebola response became a political football
- Before that, it was terrorism
- John Grisham made a controversial comment, which was forgotten after ISIS and Ebola dominated headlines
- CNN, Fox News, MSNBC amp up the stupid
- Twitter is the go-to source for news these days
- Matt was at Rhode Island ComiCon
- People love to be outraged
- Angry tweet from a low-level celeb can cause a stir
- Mixing up your social media accounts
- The end user is the product
-Dealing with clickbait
- To be continued

Music:
Dan Mangan + Blacksmith - Vessel
GravelRoad - Green Grass
Wimps - Stop Having Fun

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

The Dan Mangan + Blacksmith song is on the album Club Meds on Arts and Crafts. Download the song for free at KEXP.
The GravelRoad song is on the album El Scuerpo on Knick Knack. Download the song for free at KEXP.
The Wimps song is on the album Repeat on End of Times Records. Download the album for free at Gimme Tinnitus.

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 273: Hang On to Your Ego

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion about our narcissistic society. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Anybody can have a show or self-publish a book
- Everybody's a photojournalist now
- Online commenters are the worst
- Talk radio callers are moving online
- Onion AV Club comment sections can be great
- Matt: Arguing on the Internet makes everyone dumber
- So easy to hit "send"
- Begging for RTs from celebs on Twitter is pathetic
- The ridiculousness of Google Glass
- How much information do you really need?
- Can you watch a movie or TV show without checking your phone?
- Staying off social media to avoid spoilers
- The need to live tweet TV shows
- The moviegoing experience sucks
- Matt can go entire days without dealing with a live human
- Bonehead of the Week


Music:
Thee Oh Sees - Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster
Fidlar - Gimme Something
The Kills - Future Starts Slow
Drive Like Jehu - Caress

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

The Thee Oh Sees song is on the album Floating Coffin on Castle Face Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Fidlar song is on the band's self-titled album on Mom + Pop. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Kills song is on the album Blood Pressures on Domino Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Drive Like Jehu song is on the band's self-titled album on Cargo. 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.

Completely Conspicuous 272: I Me Mine

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion about our narcissistic society. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:
- Narcissism is on the rise
- Recent study looks at the Internet "narcissism epidemic"
- We are part of the problem
- We're more likely to take photos of injustice than actually help out
- Matt works from home, posts on Facebook to get social interaction
- Some people need to post status updates of their every move
- Gay marriage debate has been ubiquitous on social media
- Linked In endorsements: What's the point?
- Matt's creepy clown photo
- Creating a false impression through upbeat self-promotion
- Selfies are everywhere
- People will do anything to get on TV
- Reality TV has never been more popular
- MySpace was a mess
- Googling yourself is a common activity
- Matt's IMDB page
- To be continued
- Bonehead of the Week


Music:
JEFF the Brotherhood - Shredder
Le Butcherettes - Henry Don't Got Love
Sleater-Kinney - Jumpers
Ty Segall - You're the Doctor

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

The JEFF the Brotherhood song is on the album We Are the Champions on Infinity Cat Recordings/Warner Music. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Le Butcherettes song is on the album Sin Sin Sin on Rodriguez Lopez Productions. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Sleater-Kinney song is on the album The Woods on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The Ty Segall song is on the album Twins on Drag City. 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.