Buzz Rant and Rave

You Don’t Have to Move to Brooklyn to be an Entitled Twit

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 18:36:09 +0000

In the second half of the end of 2013 review podcast extravaganza, Amy Watts and Dan Suitor join me to discuss the best of the year in the medium for pop culture that had the best year: television.

Among the shows that we discuss include House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Brooklyn 9-9, Key and Peele, The Mindy Project, How I Met Your Mother, Girls, Enlightened, and the US version of Top Gear.

We also look forward to some of what’s coming up in this new year of 2014.

It was so hilariously awful and missed the point that I enjoyed it

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 16:40:37 +0000

In the first part of our year-end review of the pop culture of 2013 that spoke to us, Dan comes off as uncomfortably familiar with Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock, I admit my horrible addiction to Candy Crush Saga and Amy confesses to her unfamiliarity with the musical genre of butt rock.

UPDATE (Jan. 5, 2013) If you attempted to listen to it earlier, I posted a version that was mixed wrong. The sound quality on this is not pristine, but the levels are correct.

We discuss music, film, books, and try to put off talking about television into part 2.

Some of the linkable things that we mentioned in this episode include:

Linda Holmes, NPR Monkey See, The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going To Miss Almost Everything

Andrew’s Spotify playlist of some 2013 music

Janelle Monae, Electric Lady

Elvis Costello and the Roots, Wise Up Ghost

Code Name Verity

Two Boys Kissing

League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth

We gave very short shrift to Alan Sepinwall’s The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Change, but I have to add my recommendation for it to Dan’s.

Captive Audience

You Don’t Know Me but You Don’t Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music’s Most Maligned Tribes

In the forthcoming part 2 of this conversation, we discuss the medium that we all agree provided the best entertainments of the year: television.

Binge and Purge (Episode #1.02)

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 02:48:20 +0000

The long-awaited (and longer-delayed) second episode of this season is finally here. Amy, Dan, and I resume our discussion of pop culture, talking about binge watching television, what we binge-watched over the summer, and fought with Skype.

The second half of this recording will surface some time in the future, when I have a chance to go through and pick up the pieces and reassemble them into something listenable.

Until then, please suggest a word or phrase that I can use to wrap up the show and enjoy this season’s snazzy new theme song.

Outside is Scary and Dangerous

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 03:27:31 +0000

The Buzz Rant & Rave Podcast is back for another season!

I’m joined by our pop culture panel of Amy Watts and Dan Suitor to talk summer entertainment, Twitter, engaging with culture, B-entertainment, and whether the weather encourages media consumption.

BRRcast #008 – Horses and Butts and Stuff

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 03:03:05 +0000

In the thrilling conclusion to our pop culture panel discussion on this new(ish) TV season, I chat with Amy Watts and Dan Suitor about the shows that we’re most excited to see return. And they’re all on Sunday night.

Wall Street Journal: The Making of TV’s Hottest Drama

Here’s a quick list of organizations that are helping out in communities hit by Hurricane Sandy here in the New York/New Jersey area.

Region-wide:

American Red Cross Volunteer or donate
AmeriCares
Jewish Federations of America Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund

New York City:

Brooklyn:

Staten Island

Staten Island Recovers

And here are some more comprehensive lists of resources and especially opportunities to volunteer, from Brooklyn Heights Blog and Manhattan Users Guide.

BRRcast 007 – TV 2012 (Part 1)

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 01:50:27 +0000

On this episode of the podcast, we have our pop culture panel, including Amy Watts and Dan Suitor, discussing the best (or at least the best that we’ve sampled) of the new Fall 2012 TV season. This is Part 1 of our thrilling discussion.

BRRcast 006 – Distant Correspondent

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 03:29:11 +0000

The Buzz Rant & Rave Podcast is back! And we’re even back with a good one. I chatted with David Obuchowski and Michael Lengel about their new band Distant Correspondent and the group’s upcoming debut album. The podcast includes a listen to the full track of “Badlands.”

Distant Correspondent on the Web:
Distant Correspondent on Facebook
@distantcorr (Twitter)

The Most Significant Apple Drop Outside of Times Square (BRRCast #05)

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:06:21 +0000

I’m joined by a pop culture panel with Dan Suitor and Amy Watts to discuss Showtime’s Shameless, alcoholism, poverty, and Young Daniel’s weighted formula for assessing the quality of topless scenes on premium cable.

We discuss the following four episodes from season 1:
Pilot
Aunt Ginger
Killer Carl
It’s Time to Kill the Turtle

The High Strung

Vampires, Werewolves and Soap (BRRcast #04)

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:53:19 +0000

In this episode of your Buzz Rant & Rave Podcast, Amy Watts convinces me and Dan Suitor to watch the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, and we live to talk about it. Or we un-die to talk about.

You can now Subscribe to the Buzz Rant & Rave Podcast on iTunes

Watching the Detectives (BRRcast #03)

andrew@buzzrantrave.com (Andrew Raff) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:37:49 +0000

For this Pop Culture Panel, Dan Suitor and Amy Watts join me to discuss HBO’s The Wire. Oft-heralded as the best show in the history of television, it’s also one that was never very popular in its early seasons, but has drawn more and more viewers over the last 10 years as it made its way into the cultural consciousness.
More than many other television serials, The Wire watches like great literature and rewards rewatching, in large part because characters develop from smaller parts to larger ones over the course of the series. As our window into the world of Baltimore, the series sprawls over the years and it’s all connected.
SPOILER NOTICE: This podcast discusses events from the first five episodes of season one.
Links:
Watch The Wire Season 1 on HBO GO or on Netflix (DVD only) or buy the set on Amazon.com.
Alan Sepinwall’s Discussions of Season 1 episodes for Wire Newbies

Wire Watching Project at A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago:

Episode 1: Got To. This is America, Man
Episode 2: No, Officer Pryzbylewski, he did not “piss you off.” he made you fear for your safety and that of your fellow officers:
Episode 3: Y’all Can’t Be Playing No Checkers On No Chessboard
Episode 4: Thirteen Years and Four Months
Episode 5: How Complex Can A Code Be If These Knuckleheads Are Usin’ It?

Also from ALOTT5MA: On Watching and Rewatching The Wire and It’s All in the Game, Yo.
Other links:
Washington Post: After ‘The Wire’ ended, actress Sonja Sohn couldn’t leave Baltimore’s troubled streets behind
Alyssa Rosenberg, After ‘The Wire,’ Black Actors Trapped In Baltimore
Gawker: People Say Really Stupid Things About The Wireon OKCupid
Stuff White People Like: #85 The Wire

Subscribe to the BRR podcast feed. (Coming soon to an iTunes podcast directory near you.)