Hi hi! I have to apologize for my lack of updates. It’s just that work has kept me real busy during the day, and drained in the evening to come up with a new entry. All that combined with the innate streak of laziness in me has led to this whole hiatus situation. I will try to post more often, although I can’t guarantee how regular the posts will be coming in.

During my “hiatus” period, I actually discovered a few more excellent Catholic podcasts and I’ll like to take this chance to share them with you.

First of all, in case you’ve been living under a rock all this while, SQPN has added 5 new affiliate podcasts in their line-up, as well as 2 new video podcasts produced by CatholicTV.org. You may either subscribe to the “catch-all” feed here or check out individual podcasts through the links listed below:

• On The U (rss)
• The Catholic Hack! (rss)
• iPadre (rss)
• Catholic Underground (rss)
• Catholic Moments (rss)
• This Is The Day (rss) [video]
• The Daily Mass (rss) [video]

Fans of Catholic Underground may be glad to know that the gang now also produce the CU Sixty podcast (rss), which offers bite-size doses of what’s going on in the Catholic world, or in their Catholic lives. Father Ryan Humphries also started a new podcast, Life is Still Worth Living (rss), where he explores our Catholic faith. This podcast was originally produced for Radio Maria USA. Another cool new feature which I found from their website is CU TV.

Everyone of us has a still small voice in our hearts, whispering to us what God wants us to do. This, is our vocation. For those who are discerning their vocation, or those who are interested to the vocational journey of others, check out the Catholic Vocations Podcast (rss) by Marc Smith. In the podcast, Marc interviews men and women who have answered the God’s call to religious vocations.

One of the recent series of podcasts I discovered recently are from Catholic Radio International. CRI offers straightforward information and insights about the world around us. You may subscribe to the “catch-all” feed here, (like I did) or to the feeds of the individual programs:

• The Heart of the Matter (rss)
• Thread of Grace (rss)
• UltraSound (rss)
• Mary’s Touch (rss)
• The Poetry of Pavel Chichikov (rss)
• Cover to Cover (rss)

Another podcast “derived” from a live radio show is the Catholic Sound Insight Radio Daily hosted by Dr. Tom Curran and produced by MyCatholicFaith.org. Catholic Sound Insight is a daily live radio program which is entertaining and thought provoking, and offers humor, guest interviews, insights from the Scripture, and interaction with listeners. Great for commuters and anyone who wants to tune in for a daily boost of faith! Dr. Tom Curran is the Executive Director of Trinity Formation Resources, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Catholics understand, explore and live their faith more deeply. He is also a regular guest on Catholic Answers LIVE. Listeners can also watch the live recording of the program on UStream through the MyCatholicFaith.org website.

Listeners to Catholic Answers LIVE will also be familiar to Dr. Ray Guarendi. If you’re a fan of this humorous psychologist, you’ll wanna check out The Doctor Is In (rss) and Family Minute with Dr Ray Guarendi (rss) podcasts where the good doctor shares his wit and wisdom on family and the faith.

Another gem I found is The Heart of Things Podcast (rss) by Bill Donaghy, which brings us on a journey past the shallows and into the deep of daily life! Touching on faith, art, music, movies and more, we’ll tap into the many places where faith and life meet, at the very heart of things. Find out more on MissionMoment.org.

If you like Bible studies and diving deep into the faith, you will love the St. Irenaeus Podcast (rss) by St. Irenaeus Ministries, whose goal is to provide sound instruction and spiritual formation in Biblical study, evangelization and discipleship and to proclaim Christ in the fullness of the historic faith.

That’s all for now. Meanwhile, do fill up your MP3 player / podcast aggregator with all the goodies mentioned above. Until next time, God bless!

Tags: Catholic, Podcasts, Reviews

I’m back! With more podcast recommendations! As the title of this entry suggests, I’ll be introducing a couple of podcast novels, otherwise known as podiobooks, that I’ve picked up these couple of months.

Since I don’t have any classes for the current summer semester (I’m taking a BSc in Computing at an Australian university via distance learning), I’ve got more time on my hands, which I decided to devote to catching up on my long long list of podcasts. Recently, several of “big shots” in the world of podiobooks have released new productions. Being the junky that I am, I just HAD to subscribe to as many of them as my puny little MP3 player could fit.

Disclaimer: The novels featured below may contain mature situations, language and violence.

At the final hours of Halloweens, Scott Sigler uploaded the first episode of his latest sci-fi horror podcast novel Nocturnal. The novel is revolves around Bryan, a detective in San Francisco, who’s plagued by wierd, murderous dreams. He and his partner, Pookie try to uncover the deadly secrets behind Bryan’s dreams, which are apparently related to a series of recent vicious murders. Well, this is all I can reveal for now, before Scott has me silenced. Subscribe to learn more!

Within minutes of Nocturnal’s launch, Mur Lafferty released her latest piece of work Playing For Keeps. This is the story of Keepsie Branson, a bar owner in the shining metropolis of Seventh City: birthplace of super powers. Keepsie and her friends live among egotistical heroes and manipulative villains, and manage to fall directly in the middle as people with powers, but who just aren’t strong enough to make a difference. Or that’s what they’ve been told. As the city begins to melt down, it’s hard to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad. Other than your normal audio-only feed, there is also a special Playing For Keeps experience feed, where in addition to the audio files of the individual episodes, you will ALSO get a PDF of the episode AND a short supplemental podcast called Stories of the Third Wave. Highly recommended! Do check out these other novels/podcasts by Mur:

• Heaven – Season 1
• Heaven – Season 2: Hell
• Heaven – Season 3: Earth
• Pseudopod
• The Geek Fu Morning Show
• I Should Be Writing

On December 1st, Steve Saylor launched his very own podcast novel Black Shadow, which is about a faceless super-hero, Black Shadow, who possesses supernatural powers to stop the demonic evil trying to take over the world. Steve also produces the This Week in Geek podcast.

Fans of Tee Morris‘s popular MOREVI series will be pleased to know that MOREVI: Remastered is now available. MOREVI: Remastered is a “Director’s Cut” of the original MOREVI podcast. MOREVI is Tee’s first novel, co-written with Lisa Lee and released in print in 2002. Other novels/podcast produced by Tee are:

• The Billibub Baddings Podcast
• Podcasting for Dummies
• The Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy

Another podcast novel worth checking out is the recently ended Cresent, by Phil Rossi. Crescent is dark science fiction at it’s most visceral. Phil Rossi weaves a tale that is reminiscent of old school Stephen King but with a shiny, new set of tricks and an appetite to terrify. After you sweat your way through the first chapter, there’s plenty more to keep you awake at night.

Well folks, that’s all for now. Hope you enjoy the podcasts I’ve recommended so far!

Tags: fiction, Podcasts, podiobooks, Reviews

Hopefully after reading the first 9 parts of this series of podcasts reviews, you’ve learnt more about podcasts and have found at least a couple of podcasts to subscribe and listen to. Today, I’ll like to talk about how and where to look for MORE new and exciting podcasts!

One of the most obvious places to look would be in the iTunes Store section of, what else but, iTunes. Simply enter a keyword (artist, title, category, etc) in the search bar and do a quick search for your favorite podcasts. After that, just click on the “Subscribe” button on your desired podcast, and viola! The episodes are downloading away!

No iTunes? I understand. Not everyone welcomes that space-hogging big-foot monster on their computers. No worries, there’s still plenty of places to look for podcasts. All you need is an internet connection, and an aggregator. Here’s a few good podcast directories I know of where you can find and VOTE (or digg) your favorite podcasts:

• Podcast Alley
• Podcast Pickle
• Digg.com

Another good way to learn about new podcasts is by listening to other podcasts. Everyone in the “podosphere” is part of a huge family, and family like to help each other out. Chances are, your favorite podcasters are listening to other podcasts, and they’re more than happy to feature their promos in their own shows. If you listen closely, you might find a quite a few interesting ones to pick up.

There are also other fellow junkies like me, who have hopped on to the bandwagon, and started their own podcasts to talk about other podcasts. If you are constantly in search of new podcasts to add to your subscription, but not sure which are good, and would love to listen to what others have to say about them, you’ll definitely find the follow podcasts helpful:

• PodFinder
• PodcastJunky

Hope all that helps you in your search for more podcasts to load your MP3 player with.

Tags: Podcasts, Reviews

Finally, I’ve submitted my last degree assignment for this semester. I probably won’t be doing another one until next March. Yippee!

(BTW, for those who still remember by last post regarding my lecturer giving me “hell” for an assignment submission, I just got the grades for that particular assignment. Guess what, I actually got a HD (higher distinction)! Woot!)

So with more time on my hands (at least before the workload for end-of-year processing comes crashing down on my shoulders), I thought I should continue with the rest of my podcast reviews.

I’m sure most of you enjoy a good laugh once in a while (just like me!). Comedy podcasts are a wonderful way to help relieve stress and put a smile back on your face again. Of course, you will need to exercise discreet (maybe even caution) when listening to comedy podcasts on your portable MP3 player, because I’m quite sure you don’t want to invite wierd stares from strangers who’re obviously suspicious of your sanity.

One of my favorite comedy podcasts has got to be Nobody’s Listening hosted by James Kennison, a minister living in Kansas City with his wife and daughter. *stalkers* (sorry, inside joke) James started the show with his step-brother, David, with the purpose of sharing their childhood stories with the rest of the world, or as Jame’s wife so aptly puts it “2 half brothers telling the whole story”. David has now moved to Ireland to be with his fiancée and new-born daughter, and is unable to join in the show most of the time, due to the difference in time-zones. Their sister Aimee took over David’s co-host role for a short while, but was too overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being a full-time wife and mother. Not wanting to do the rest of the shows alone by himself, James cleverly decided to invite listeners and friends to guest host on the show, where they get to share their stories. Genius! The wonderful thing about Nobody’s Listening is since James is a minister, he tries to keep the podcast clean, so that the whole family can enjoy it together. So, proof the name of the podcast wrong and start listening!

The most recent guest hosts on Jame’s show (Episode 40) were Erik Fisher and Rob Swingle from the We’re Both Right podcast. I just started listening to this podcast, but what I’ve listened to so far has been really entertaining. Erik and Rob talk about TV, movies, music, and just about any topic they choose to voice their opinion on. It’s like hanging out with your own friends. Casual and fun. Gonna try to catch up as much as I can over the weekend.

Another podcast that I picked up while listening to another podcast is The Bitterest Pill hosted by Dan Klass. He offers humorous “examinations” of life from his point of view as a stay-at-home dad and a shut-in. Again, it’s a new podcast for me (as at this point, I’ve only listened to less than 5 episodes, so I’m still catching up). Dan is funny and he adds the right amount of sarcasm into the show (I LIKE sarcasm). Dan also produces the Old Wave Radio podcast, which features music from the 80′s.

The recent Podcast Awards has provided an avenue for me to discover new podcasts to flood my iTunes with. One of these is the comedy4cast, hosted by Clinton Alvord. As the name of the podcast tries to suggest, Clinton attempts to present “comedy in 4 minutes… or less”. Very humorous and entertaining, yet work-safe and family-friendly.

Another podcast I discovered through Podcast Awards was the Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast. The Reduced Shakespeare Company is a three-man comedy troupe known for taking long, serious subjects and reducing them into short, sharp comedies. Their signature theatrical performance is The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), which is, in their own words, “a high-speed roller-coaster type condensation of all of Shakespeare’s plays”. The podcast, hosted by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, lets RSC fans catch up on the latest news, reviews and interviews. Occasionally, they also play a short section of their on-stage performance. I love Shakespeare. I love comedy. I LOVE RSC!

A good place to discover new podcasts is Podshow.com. I found most of my latest comedic additions there. One of them is Traces of Nuts, a sharp, fast-paced collection of sketches and songs from UK-based comedy troupe Traces Of Nuts. If you like British humor, you’ll definitely enjoy this podcast. Warning: this show contains explicit content (profanity and crass language) and is not suitable for kids.

Another one of my favorite comedy podcasts is BUCKET, hosted by Corey and Jen. BUCKET is about Second Life, movies, bathrooms, music, life, Twitter, and monkeys. Yes, monkeys! They actually have a program section called “Primate Updates” with news about monkeys! One of my favorite parts of the program has to be the “Potty-mouth” section by Jen, where she talks about potty etiquette, and shares some of the horrific situations she has encountered in the public bathroom of her office building. The recently added “Dramatic Twitter Readings” section is an instant hit with fans too. Their house pet, the “pod-cat” joins the show occasionally (when he manages to break into the room while they’re recording). Warning: this show contains explicit content (profanity) and is not suitable for kids.

If you’re looking for kid-safe Christian comedy, try out the Sheep Laughs Comedy Show. Sheep Laughs is a weekly 15 minute professionally-produced and family-friendly variety radio show, featuring clean comedy by Christian comedians. They claim to provide stand-up, skits and songs, “all under one hoof!”.

Are you a fan of old time radio? If your answer is yes, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the next few podcasts I’m going to introduce. Who can forget the humor of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis? In fact, they are my mom’s no. 1 favorite comedians of all time! The Comedic Genius of Martin and Lewis brings you back in time to the days of the Martin and Lewis Show, which aired on NBC Radio from 1949 through 1953.

Podshow.com has an entire channel, the Old Time Radio Network, dedicated to old time radio shows. Among these is Old Time Radio Comedy presents some of the best comedians from the 30s, 40s and 50s. Other old time radio shows includes Old Time Radio SciFi, Old Time Radio Adventures, Old Time Radio Detective Stories, Old Time Radio Drama, and much much more. Do visit Podshow’s Program Guide, and check out the the Old Time Radio Network yourself.

Not enough of radio comedies from the good old days? Check out Legacy of Laughs produced by Relic Radio Productions. They also produce 4 other old time radio podcasts, with the purpose of giving old time radio a new audience.

Old time radio fans might also want to browse through the Old Time Radio Podcast Directory to look for more old time radio podcasts.

That’s all for now. I’ve got to get back to working before I get discovered by the boss.

Tags: Humor, Podcasts, Reviews

I’m in a really bad mood this morning, so forgive me if I seem to be ranting.

What happened was this: I was supposed to submit a report for a group assignment to my lecturer and my “employer” (we were working as a virtual group in a “virtual company”, if you get what I mean). The instructions were to combine the various parts of the report into a SINGLE word document, which was exactly what I did. The problem is the university’s webmail portal kicked me out while I was sending the email. I tried a few more times, but I still got an error. I figured that my word document was too huge, so I compressed it into a RAR format, which was significantly smaller, and that managed to go through.

The next day I received a “return receipt” from an unknown address regarding the report. I check with my lecturer if the report has reached both her and my “virtual employer”. She said they have received it, multiple times.

All is well until yesterday, I receive emails from both the “virtual employer” and the lecturer saying that the file received was corrupted. I resend a compressed copy, complete with instructions on how to extract the file.

This morning, my “dear” lecturer sends me an email saying “Instructions are there for a reason. Please submit a SINGLE document containing all the parts of the report”. I’m pissed. I reply her, explaining that the word document has been archived in the RAR file which I submitted. I also tell her that the original word document was too large to be sent across via email. After that, I proceed to send her the original document anyway, just to prove that it will not go through, at the same time I promise to send it to her via my personal gmail if necessary.

As expected, the email went through, but with a corrupted copy of the original document. This somehow pisses off my lecturer who replies asking me to “get my act together”, and that what I did was not professional, etc. She insists on the word document, but I’ll have to figure out how to compress it to a “sendable” size.

Thanks teacher, for helping to “make my day”. Thanks a lot.

Tags: life, rant