I, like many other people I know get our news largely from audio podcasts that update weekly. What began years ago out of a currious intrest in multitasking has grown into a weekly habit that sometimes becomes cumbersom but always enjoyable and more importantly more substantative and eficient then before.

If you are looking to make the switch from TV & Print (really more TV then print since I still consume alot of print) here are the best of 2007 broken down by category:

Art & Design

Bad at Sports: [weekly 60min]
A Chicago based but Internationally focused Contemporary Art & Culture program with large amounts of humor and more importantly substantative discussions. In the spirit of full disclosure I have ties to it and am not biased in that when it is less then stellar I have no problem saying but it does offer information and entertainment that I have not found anywhere else period.

More….. I wish I could say that there are more audio programs that I can listen to weekly to get news and opinion but saddly after many atempts I find they annoy more then entertain. Please leave a comment with your favorite and I will gladly check them out. Who knows they could make next years list?

Business

First I want to say I still get much of my business news via print on a daily basis (mostly from RSS feeds I have populated) there are many good audio programs but I have found that the genre moves to fast to be covered by a weekly program and the best daily programs refuse to post podcasts online.

NPR: Economy: [daily 5-10min]
The program is exerts from parts of the NPR daily broadcasts that relate to top economy story of the day. Quick, dirty and good.

All Things Considered:[daily 60min]
I don’t want to mislead but they continue to refuse to post a podcast for this show. Just the fact that the show is so good earns it a spot on this list and I eagerly await the point when they decide to wake up and serve it even with commercials included. I would gladly, gladly, gladly listen to them to get this daily as a file. They do stream it online at their website but after you do this for a while the added wall of being tied to a computer makes this more then a tad annoying.

Entertainment/Media News

this WEEK in MEDIA[weekly 75min]
The longest rant in the world of online audio, so long it makes a Warhol film look short but worth it. If you are in the Media production, media management or prosumer product world then this is well worth every minute to listen to.

KCRW’s The Business[weekly 30min]
A weekly audio program on the politics and decisions of Hollywood executives & creatives. Interviews, commentary and perspective on anything and everything you would want to know.

On The Media[weekly 60min]
A meta audio program. It is all the news about how the news is made and/or delivered. This may sound odd but it really can give a better perspective on how the weeks news debates are framed. truly one of the best.

General News

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me![weekly 45min]
Crack in a audible format. I have been addicted to this program for almost a decade, it was “The Daily Show” before there was a Daily Show. It is a comedy weekly roundup quiz show on the weeks news

Fresh Air with Terry Gross[daily 45min]
A wonderful daily interview show that is oddly able to get very open and personal interviews from it’s visitors. The show runs the gamut from unbelievably good to snobbishly stuck up and laced with the wonderful hosts occasional 60’s feminist underpinnings.

Music

Coverville[almost daily 45min]
The best place to discover new or relatively unknown bands covering your favorite songs. I have have discovered multiple new bands this way and in todays market that is getting harder and harder to do. So anything that helps is more then welcome.

Politics

NBC: Meet the Press[weekly 60min]
“The” U.S. political audio program taken directly from the Sunday program that has aired for over 60 years. If you are interested in the activities within the beltway this is a must hear. The absolute best at what they do.

NPR: It’s All Politics[weekly 15min]
The Bad at Sports equivalent in the realm of politics. It is so great to hear (especially during a primary year) and is short enough to fit any lifestyle and leaves you wanting more.

The Unger Report[weekly 5min]
Funny, short, unique and worth the wait but not much more. Sometimes a bit simple and obvious but the production level hides that weakness well.

Pop Culture

Diggnation: [weekly 30min]
Diggnation is not for everyone but is a fun and brisk look at the weeks top tech/pop culture/human interest of my generation. It’s fluff but after alot of politics or business it is a welcome palette cleanser.

Sci/Technology

Hmmm…Krulwich on Science:[random 10min]
Interesting, sporadic and fun but at times obvious in it’s slant.

Windows Weekly:[weekly 60min]
A great weekly recap of Microsoft news and products. Sometimes apologetic for Microsoft’s failures but that is very very rare and the host Paul Thurrott keeps it pretty fair and honest.

this WEEK in TECH:[weekly 60min]This used to be the best weekly recap of tech news and inside business opinion until recently. The panel has picked up a revolving door feel and tangents with bickering every 5 mins. Still even with all those downsides it has a great host and occational guests that have razor sharp insight in the tech industry.

Security Now!:[weekly 60min]
In the beginning it was a college level primer course almost on Computer Security. It has evolved over time to be a hot topic of the month deep level inspection on one aspect of computer security, network administration or programing that is without equal. Some episodes are worth skipping but always well made.

Yes this is just over 15 hours……..sigh.

This is not to say you should listen to every single program here because I don’t even myself. I do make about 12 hours a week but it isn’t easy. They are worth your time though each and every one if you want to keep on the razors edge of news and events. Please share your favorite sites in the comments area.

Someone sent this to me via email with no comment other then the image and I replied back with sadly the most logical response I could find. This is how you know that you have been spending way to much time looking/thinking about art….

If you look at this picture and think:

“Wow star of TV & Film Hayden Panettiere who recently turned 18 and appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman” is standing here in a wet t-shirt, how nice.”

Then you are fine, but if your first thought and sadly mine when seeing this image is:

“Man is Damien Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull sculpture that popular already to be referenced in pop culture t-shirts? It wasn’t even that original?”

Then you my friend need to put down the book, turn off the podcast, wash off the smell of turpentine and get outside cause that is not right in anyone’s book.

Thank you Edward Winkleman, I swear I fell for this hook line and sinker and am glad someone brought it to my attention. I occasionally catch America’s Got Talent and most always (with a few exceptions) cringe really baddly, take the enamal off your teeth get a jaw muscle spasm reaction. This makes me feel much less as a nation, if it wasn’t that America goes to sleep each night with all those Nobel & Pulitzer prizes I would be really embarrassed. This guy sells it like a pro and I was waiting for Simon Cowell to call him a ringer he’s that good.

See for yourself, and oh Edward……..Thats one I owe you.

Take one part soft-core porn and 5 parts Vietnam war facts video mix together and shake liberally and you have the above. It is funny without trying to be and apparently was the homework project of a student in American History, why didn’t I think of that?

Counting down the top 10 Westerns in Cinema:

10.My Name is Nobody
Part parody, part personal religious & generational trek there is nothing quite like it. The humor and curious plan of the no named character matched with this being Henry Fonda’s last western and the narrative’s knowledge and treatment as such make it an unpolished western gem.

9.A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Low budget and impossible to find in DVD or on cable anymore this is one of the best small scale archetype western plots aground. A husband gets in a high stakes poker game with the territory’s most powerful men and in mid game bets his home and all his cash only to die before the hand is done so in steps his quiet, meek wife (a smart and perfect Joanne Woodward) to stand toe to toe with them and finish the game. Many aspects of the film could be better and this is ripe for a retelling but at it’s core is a small western in the vein of “10 Angry Men”.

8.Rio Bravo/El Dorado
So nice they had to make it thrice (the last one and not worth mentioning was Rio Lobo). Everyone knows this plot premise: Drunk sheriff arrests the corrupt brother of the most powerful man in the territory and has to hold him till the marshal can make it in to take him away. In the mean time he fights off withdrawal, countless mercenaries & his own doubt. A man marked for death if not for his best friend that he wronged years back coming to help keep the peace and stave off the black hats. Neither film was perfect (narrative structure in Rio Bravo is weak in the beginning and casting/direction in El Dorado isn’t as fun or stylish) but as a whole they both make a cornerstone in the Western genre.

7.Dances with Wolves
The epic that broke the rule of “no one can make a good western anymore”. Before Kevin Costner became annoying he was the brilliant director/actor that made a 3 hour film that you didn’t want to end and was firing on all cylinders for every 180 minuets. Indians became native americans without becoming dull or 2D in the inverse of the dumb, campy, firewater drinking films before and the personal introspective story that was tried many times before is truly achieved here.

6.High Noon
Stylish and one of a small group of films that makes black & white film feel more like obsidian & platinum. Grace Kelly is spot on a the cold hearted prudish wife who grows to warm to the struggle of life and the love of her husband. At times a bit to preachy and left leaning self righteous but regardless an original and fresh take on the genre perfectly done.

5.The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Brash, loud, fast (and deliberately slow in all the best ways) there is nothing like a Sergio Leone film and this is one of the most fun.

4.The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Classic and traditional in it’s story of a straight laced lawyer in the rough and tumble world of the west but untraditional in it’s take on the role of a man in society. Asking questions of how much violence is acceptable and where does the line lie between reasonable defense and forceful aggression. It’s the forcing of two western archetypes to come face to face and build a balance we can all live with that makes this one of the greats

3.The Magnificent Seven
As with “A Big Hand for the Little Lady” and “Rio Bravo/El Dorado” this is the mother of all western tales. A retelling of the masterpiece”Seven Samurai” this ensemble cast is picture perfect and makes a timeless film (regardless of weak directing) that has 3 sequels (of little note) and been the source of inspiration to countless other films both serious and comedic (Three Amigos!).|

2.Stagecoach
John Ford starts his dominance of the western and defines much of the look and style that makes it timeless and universal with this film. Short story styles meets epic landscape in this film of a coach filled with opposites making their way across land filled with trouble. The film that launched John Wayne from serial western status and brought scope to the genre.

1.Once Upon a Time in the West
The perfect western, an Epic Opera of violence, sex & hope. It has the scope that every other western dreams off, a soundtrack that redefines the relationship between the visual and audible & a plot that has never been told as well again even though many have tried. Above all else this is where Sergio Leone as the mythical son of John Ford comes and kills the father king with the most dynamic and perfect visual directing ever done regardless of genre. A film that everyone must watch atleast once in a theater like surroundings.

Guilty Pleasures
1.Blazing Saddles : “Oh, I don’t know… Play chess… screw…”

2.Quigley Down Under : Dingo’s ate my Baby!

3.The Sons of Katie Elder : Bothers fighting over the youngest going to school to become respectable

4.Big Jake : You can call me Dad, you can call me Father, you can call me Jacob and you can call me Jake. You can call me a dirty old son-of-a-bitch, but if you EVER call me Daddy again, I’ll finish this fight.

5.McLintock! : The drunken sequel to “The Quiet Man” just 18 years later and in the west. Swell party, where’s the whisky? Also one of the best monologues on what makes a good marriage.

Overrated
1.The Searchers : John Wayne as a hate filled, drunk racist the novelty of it doesn’t carry the slow plot that much. The directing is flat and the acting aside from the drama is boring. Why this is on so many top ten lists always boggles me.

2.Unforgiven : A dismal plot, Eastwood’s less visual directing attempt and how anguish and hate makes 2D characters less fake still doesn’t make sense to me. If this film wasn’t the narrative capstone to a brilliant career in westerns it wouldn’t be so highly regarded.