Podcast. Also, why no podcasts?

So, yeah, I realized I haven't updated this in about a month...because I'm lazy.  Well, really I'm not, I just don't have much to show for it.  For one, I've been focusing more on my comedy, but still just doing Open Mics (for now, more on that later).  Also, I've kinda dropped the ball on my writing for the Freakin' Awesome Network.  Though I have started a monthly feature called This Month In Metal, I've dropped the ball lately on my normal weekly feature Wrestling With Extra Sleaze.  Even though I've only done it for about a month or two, I feel like I'm already burnt out on the subject matter, kinda like my friend who decided to write her college thesis on Nazi propaganda films and didn't quite realize "Hey, I'm going to be doing nothing but research on the worst people that ever lived for the next few years."  Only with me, it was like "Hey, I'm going to be nothing but watching the worst wrestling that's ever wrestled...even though I've been doing that already, but now I have to write about it!"  Obviously, I haven't been able to update this here blog and therefore I decided to shut down (or at least un-publish) the Facebook page for it so, if you haven't already, "Like" my Writing/Comedy page if you want to continue getting updates.  Also, my chances to go to GenCon this year and become an extra for The Avengers movie fell through, so there's that.


And now, podcasts. I have actually recorded a couple podcasts of my own but didn't feel like they were good enough to be released.   Basically I had just recorded myself ranting about nothing in particular...twice.  So for the time being, I'm going to hold off on doing more podcasts until I can settle on a format that's entertaining.  But until then, there is a podcast I did make an appearance on that I can plug... I made a recent appearance on my buddy Steve Wherry's Comedy Podcast this past week.  I feel like podcasts usually come off better when I'm not talking to myself, so here I am with a few other comics.  For my own podcast, I'm debating recording my stand-up sets and posting those but haven't completely decided.  But as for my future possible career in comedy, I do have a major contest coming up.  There's no Facebook event page I can link to yet but I can give you some details.  If you're in the Bowling Green area, the Best of the Midwest Amateur Comic Competition will be at Grumpy Dave's Pub (above the Easy Street Cafe) on September 29 at 9:30.  I'll be in a pool of 15 other comics and I know half of them, who I know are very funny, so my competition will be stiff.

So what else have I been doing other than comedy?  Well...STORE CLOSINGS BOOYAH!!

As you might have heard, all Borders locations are closing.  A few months ago, they had closed a few locations but the Toledo one was safe...until recently when the company wasn't able to get anyone to buy them out so they had to close all locations.  It's been a few weeks but currently the sales are up to 50% to 70% off.  I've been there like five times within the past few weeks so I'm probably going to be missing a few things and some of them I think I mentioned on my last podcast but here's the complete haul (so far):

Blu-Rays
Zombieland
Kick-Ass
Ong Bak 2
Inglourious Basterds
Crank 2: High Voltage
Tropic Thunder: Director's Cut
Dawn of the Dead (Original)
American Psycho
*Fun Fact: I actually previously owned all those movies on DVD (save for maybe Ong Bak 2 but I do have that on a burned DVD).  Yup, I became one of those people.

DVD
Knightriders
David Cross - Bigger and Blackerer

Books
My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black
My Year of Flops by Nathan Rabin
The Big Rewind by Nathan Rabin
You Might Be A Zombie from the editors of Cracked.com
The Rough Guide to Cult Movies
Dreamseller by Brandon Novak with Joseph Frantz
Mr. Funny Pants by Michael Showalter

Music
Mastodon - Live at the Aragon CD/DVD
How To Destroy Angels EP
Louis CK - Hilarious

Also, I got an issue of Decibel and an issue of Fangoria.  I don't know how much money I've spent so far, but on my last two trips, where I got roughly half of that list, I only spent like $75.  So I'm guessing maybe like $100 or $125 for all that swag.  Pretty good so far, but I have been spending more money than I should be so hopefully once Borders finally closes, all this crap will hold me over through the winter.

Also, I bought DJ Hero 2 for the Wii for $10, game AND turntable.  And I'm actually having a ton of fun with it right now.  I like it a lot more than the Guitar Hero series but that's not saying a whole lot considering the GH franchise went downhill fast.  But a part of it might like it better than the Rock Band series as well.  My lack of musical talent forces me to play video games with plastic instruments to get the illusion of playing music, but I can't quite fool myself into thinking I'm doing more than pushing buttons in time to the rhythm.  However, with DJ Hero 2, I do get the feeling that I'm mixing together a track when I'm doing it right.  It was kinda weird that I played it at first and was only getting like 2 or 3 stars on each track, so I didn't play it for a few days, but when I picked it back up suddenly I was getting 4 or 5 songs on each track.  There was no gradual improvement, I just suddenly went from being eh to being awesome.  It just seemed to come to me.  So if you have a chance, I definitely recommend DJ Hero, at least the sequel as I haven't played the first one, even if you already have too many plastic instruments.

PS - Watch Party Down.