Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
3am is a nice hour to finish a podcast. This following a night of Red Light District Soundseeing. No energy left, so nothing left to say except, this one was damn fun. Follow along with the flickr photoshow whenever you hear Jon Stewart.
64kbps, 22min+, 10.5mb
Featuring
Amsterdam life brings weeks like this. Weeks where some of your favorite people and closest friends sail away from unknown periods of time, to go where life takes them. At the international student drink the other night, I wished Toronto’s-finest-chef-in-exile a safe journey back to Ontario, where he will remain for the time being. Vowing, of course, to return to the Amsterdam ex-pat community which knows and loves him…. and his cooking.
And then there was last night… the final night of the inappropriate Brian is going to to New York City goodbye pub marathon. Which consists mostly of pretty ladies, funny Dutch guys, and caf? Cuba.. which should be famous for its tall-ass dutch dudes. This coming from an average tall brotha.
I digress, the inappropriate one is leaving again, and he shall return ever six months, yet still it’s sad. Who else is going to remind me about going out partying, meet the lovely ladies, and recite Eddy Izzard with me? Alas.. thus is Amsterdam life… brothas and sistas come and go, regardless if they’re dutch or just inappropriate. Travel safe my friend… say hi to the tri-state area for me.
The Red-Lightcast… aka.. Red Light Sound Seeing tour is about to begin, as soon as I put my coat and headset on. Hopefully I get offered cocaine and extasy, cause that’s always fun to hear. And maybe a prostitute hanging outside her door will call me baby or honey… I love that too. Is this a good time to say, if she’s reading, “Hi mom”.
Oh.. and I had hot choco with these dude excellent gentlemen bloggers, one of which is yet-another cool expat in Amsterdam. Mr. Waking up in Amsterdam and the Trend Junkie, direct from Baltimore. Our conversations have only just begun, but if you had to drink every time we said blogging or podcasting, you’d be getting your stomach pumped right now.
Today’s Sounds: The Specials – Selftitled.
Do you feel my blog has been stale this week? I do. It’s always a matter of opinion of course, sometimes I write shit I hate, and the people say “hooray.” Other times I write shit I think is fun, and people say nothin. The other thing is that my podcasting has taken center stage in my mind, and blogging has become like the middle child… the jan brady.. of my internet activities. Not sure who the Cindy would be.
But let’s focus on the task at hand. This is intro week for new international students in Amsterdam, and yours truely is the keynote brotha this afternoon. I’ve scribble-typed a speech that I don’t much care for. I never follow what I write anyway, I just say whatever comes to me when I’m on stage. Same thing with my podcasts, I jot some notes, but I still basically make it up as I go along… that’s my WAY.So what would you, gentle reader, say to them? Imagine… a bunch of Spanish-Australian-Thai-Indian-Nigerian-Canadian-Mexican-Americans, who might be studying in another country for the first time ever, what would you tell them?
I know what I’m not going to say. No bullshit about this being the “TIME OF YOUR LIFE” I hate that shit. There are so many GREAT times in one’s life, I hate when they point at the 20 something year old college students and say “enjoy it while it lasts” as if the rest of life is one big drag. If you spend your whole life daydreaming about the good-ol-days when you studied abroad, my advice to you would be to stop everything right now, and make some changes, cause you must be going about it all wrong.
The fact is, most of the shit I can tell them, they have to learn for themselves. I can’t stop everytime I see someone with a map or someone with questions, because I’m not allowing them to grow on their own if I do. It shouldn’t be my job to tell them what to enjoy and how to enjoy it, my job should just be to say hello, offer some little advice about restaurant choice or daytripping (with or without the drugs). Otherwise I should just remain the WATCHER… the scribe… who observes and appreciates, but allows young fish to swim as they wish.
Oh.. and I could definitely recommend REBEL DAD RADIO to them, not to mention remind them about ANTI visiting New York RIGHT NOW.
Today’s Sounds: In Over Your Head Podcast
Giving another speech tomorrow, to some new fish, hope I manage to say something funny.
I know I have a good job when it’s 4h30 in the afternoon and I’m drinkin Surinamese beer and eating fine food.. AT WORK. Yeah. It happens… often in fact, and it’s sweet. I know blogging about work is a no-no, but what bad is there to say when you’ve got such a perfectly pleasant work environment where everyone enjoys good food and drinkage on the job… occasionally.
If I did ever return to the US for living purposes, it would take quite a force to drag me back. But one thing that could do it…. a job offer from Seymour Hersh to work as his assistant. The man is my hero… or has become my hero in the last 4 years. His intelligence, his thoroughness, and his flat-out-honesty never stop impressing me. I’ll always be a journalist at heart, but when I read the puke in the times, or other mass market rags, I think to myself “Nahhh.. noway, I’m not doin that.” But Mr. Hersh represents what journalism should be; concerned with the well being of people, extremely detailed, critical, and willing to risk it all. That’s where I’d want to be as a journalist, instead of the neutered, info-tainment that we’re bombarded with at every turn.
So if you’re out there reading Sy and you could use a guy like me, I may be in the NL, but I’d stop the world to walk in your shadow brotha. Drop me a line.
I got into the CambridgePodcast yesterday, great independent tunes with a posh british attitude – love it.
And then there’s the BBC blogger who died… I was reading his archives all night.
Today’s Sounds: Pedro the Lion – Hard to Find a Friend (select tracks I grabbed)
I don’t like the pope. Hate might be a strong word, but that geezer must be dam selfish. Maybe it isn’t his choice. Maybe his handlers are the idiots. Whomever is responsible, somebody throw in the towel… use some common sense and stop pretending your number one dude is capable of doing his job. HE ISN’T.
Obviously by now you might have noticed I’m a non-theist. I think religion is fine if that’s what you’re into, but I’m not interested beyond knowing a bit about every religion and admiring/understanding certain aspects. Though I do love the SWISS Guard and their striped pajamas and spanish colonial helmets. And perhaps its also worth noting that my family was traditionally catholic… maybe thats why I got strong opinions bout the POPEMAN. Him and his POPEMOBILE… are holding an entire population back. If there were a young pope… an able pope.. then at least he could address the outdated, close-minded policies of the religion. People talk shit about muslims, these fuckers only recently admitted the spanish inquisition was a bit harsh. Nevermind how long it took them to admit they fucked up during WWII. You want a fun google seach, try ” Pop Apologizes for Church” you get a long-ass list.
They should be a modern religion, with leaders that address issues that matter NOW and apply all their ancient laws to PRESENT day. Get over the DIVORCE THING. Look into the REALITY about AIDS. And quit being assholes about homosexuality. While you’re at it.. dear vatican types… why don’t you look a little deeper into the problem of priest kid touching. It might help to understand what’s happening to these holydudes and how you can avoid such terrible crimes in the future.
But alas… none of this happens. You get the same ol pope, who can barely breathe, let alone lead a religion into the future. Times like this make me feel bad for those close to me who are dedicated catholics. They deserve a better pope then this geriatric crap. The man should either die or retire, anything beyond that is selfish as HELL.
Here’s a blogger who I’ve been reading for a long time. He’s religious, I think, and has kicked around the idea of retiring lately. (at least.. how he would retire from blogging)
Today’s Sounds: Jaga-Jazzist with Motorpsycho
Just in from the pub where Inappropriate Brian is enjoying his final nights in Amsterdam. Bit disorganized, but I covered all the bases. Red Light District Soundseeing Tour, this saturday night!
64kbps, about 7MB, 14min 44sec
Featuring:
AudioCommuniqu? #9 (mp3)