Palette Cleanser

I think The Pipettes have scrubbed the endless loop of "Bad Romance" from my head.



Speaking of the alphabet, John Oliver admitted in this week's episode of The Bugle that after filming the segment of The Daily Show where he was reading Sarah Palin's book to a bunch of six-year olds, he did have to read them a bit from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, a book about the letters of the alphabet climbing up a coconut tree together. Unfortunately, he did this reading while the camera and sound crew packed up their equipment so there is no recording of it. Also not shown on camera but discussed on The Bugle was the fact that while John Oliver was torturing children with Going Rogue, Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard were in the same bookstore and were witness to it all. Never thought I'd want to be a fly on the wall in a bookstore where the words of Sarah Palin('s ghostwriter) were read aloud.

Browncoats FTW!

On recommendation from Liz, I started to listen to The Knitmore Girls Podcast. It features the mother-daughter team of Jasmin, the daughter, and Gigi, the mother. They have a great report with one another and I was enjoying it quite a bit. Then, as it went along, Jasmin talked about going to a Firefly convention. Being a Joss fan is an easy way to worm your way into my heart.

In Firefly-adjacent news, I watched the premier of V tonight. If you've seen the commercials or the episode, Alien Face in the Sky lady is played by Morena Baccarin, who played Inara George. I didn't completely recognize her with significantly shorter hair. Also, Alan Tudyk. Wash! Casting sure knew how to attract the geeks.

I'm still enjoying the earlier start to the day now that Daylight Savings Time has ended. In a few weeks when it's dark in the mornings, too, I might not feel so cheerful about it though.

Interrobanging

Out of all of the podcasts that I have recently begun to listen to, I think Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing is my favorite. Not because I'm applying what I'm learning in this podcast to my blogging. There is a flagrant disregard for several grammar rules all over this page. No, the reason I'm loving the Grammar Girl (aka Mignon Fogarty) is that she has introduced me to the interrobang, pictured at the left.

It's almost comforting to know that this (!?) has a real symbol and name. It would most appropriately be used in something like, "You did what‽" See, interrobang. The exclamatory skeptic of the punctuation marks.

Random Awesomeness

Last night I decided I needed to add more podcasts to my life. I've now got Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, Knitters Uncensored, NPR: Science Friday, The Ricky Gervais Podcast, The Savage Lovecast (note: this is a sex advice podcast), Sweaters for Dragons, Videos from the President-Elect (which includes Barack Obama's weekly radio address), WNYC's Radio Lab, and Y Knit. I haven't really gotten a chance to listen to any of them yet but I'll have all sorts of new excitement for driving to and from my parents' house for Thankgiving.

Tonight, though, I have something awesome to watch. Stephen Colbert's Christmas special. It airs at 9:00 PM CT and it looks like it will be reaired a few times. I already heard a bit of it when Colbert was on Fresh Air last week and it was hilarious. Catch it when you can!

My Favorite Non-Knitting Podcasts

I listen to a lot of podcasts. I'm listening to one right now. I thought I'd share a few of my favorite, non-knitting ones.

• Broadway Bullet. This one covers Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre. There are a lot of good interviews from various actors, writers, and directors. They did an entire month covering Spring Awakening, preemptively landing a musical that landed 8 Tony awards this year. May only interest drama freaks.
• Coverville. This one puts out about two or three shows a week and is put together really planned. It's all cover songs (songs by someone other than the original artists). There are request shows, shows that cover an entire album, and other theme shows like a cappella and ska.
• MPR: The Current Song of the Day. Every Monday through Friday, the Current gives you a free song. It's a really good way to collect some new music mainly by indie performers and groups. I believe it is every Friday that the song is by a Minnesota artist.
• NPR: Wait Wait. . . Don't Tell Me! Wait Wait is the weekly news quiz from NPR and they release it in podcast format. Panelists answer questions and people call in to play for the prize of having announcer Carl Kassel record their voicemail message. Yes, people actually want this prize.
• The 10th Wonder. This is a Heroes podcast. They break down the episodes into topics and are pretty helpful in being able to keep track of multi-episode arcs. Much like Broadway Bullet, this one is only going to appeal to certain people.
• This American Life. Another podcast release of a weekly radio show. This American Life produces essays, field recordings, interviews and other journalistic stories. Well known contributors include host Ira Glass, Sarah Vowell, and David Sedaris.

These aren't all of the non-knitting podcasts I listen to but they are definitely among my favorites.