Well, funny you should ask, anonymous undefined surfer...

Currently, I am listening to several podcasts:

• The Boys Wear Pants Blog Cast (naturally): It's a blog cast because it can be listened to on the blog. This podcast was originally called The Joshua Minton Podcast, but that sounded so self-serving as the whole intention was to showcase the talents of other people that I have conversations with--so, in an effort to further the Boys Wear Pants brand, I changed the name and the format to the Boys Wear Pants Blog Cast (accompanied by the Joshua Minton Newsletter changing names to The Boys Wear Pants Newsletter).
  

• AcidPlanet Electronica Podcast: This is a podcast put out by Sony's AcidPlanet site and contains music created by their AcidStudio software (which I use along with the Sound Forge software to produce the BWP podcasts). This software is truly a band in a box and some of the stuff that these people come up with is truly kick arse.
  

• American Experience PBS Podcasts: This podcast is just a five minute sneak preview of PBS's documentaries. It's just enough to let you know whether you're interested in the subject enough to call it up on Tivo.
  

• ABC Radio's Books and Writing: This podcast is a half-hour program that focuses on a specific writer each time. Being a writer, it is always good to get the point of view of other writers. Most of the time they are full of shit but in that good inspiring way. One of my favorite things about getting my BFA in Creative Writing was that each week, we had to attend a lecture/reading series by published authors (sometimes awesome writers like Stuart Dybeck).
  

• Croncast with Kris and Betsy: This podcast is a husband and wife team who are pretty funny. Each episode is like dropping in at the dinner table with two lively people who know everything about each other and still find new things to laugh at each other about.
  

• iNewt (Newt Gingrich's Podcast): These podcasts are great palatable little snippets (and sometimes full speeches) from Gingrich's public appearances. I think that Newt Gingrich is one of the most brilliant political and social minds of our generation and if you've got the balls, you'll listen to these podcasts and let him prove it.
  

• Muggle Cast: There are quite a few Harry Potter podcasts out there and they often team up together to do "special shows." But these guys are the first that I started listening to, so I've remained loyal. The dudes and chicks who put this show together are younger but they do a kick ass job of keeping the magic of the story alive between books and movies. Bottom line--if you love Harry Potter and can't wait for the next book or movie, these are the guys to go to.
  

• podCast 411: If you are thinking about doing a podcast at all, you must listen to what Rob is putting together. He interviews the top podcasters and grills them about the secrets that make their stuff so great. I have gotten countless great tips from this show and can't wait until the next ones come out.
  

• Skepticality: This podcast is for the stubborn of us who aren't satisfied with easy answers. This is highly intellectual conversation that is both entertaining and enlightening. It is shows like this that will put cable television out of business and can truly create a better world.
  

• The RadioFactor: This podcast is Bill O'Reilly's podcast which gives you ten minutes of the best part of Bill's show daily. Ten minutes is about all I can stand of O'Reilly anymore so this is perfect for me. I still think he's right about most things but his bullying approach wears thin quickly. Brevity is definitely the way to ingest Bill O'Reilly.
  

• X-Box Live's Major Nelson's Blog Cast: This blog cast is put out by Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb--his XBOX Live gamertag is Major Nelson) who works on the XBOX Live team and does his blog all about the XBOX 360 and XBOX Live. Being that I recently prepurchased an XBOX 360 and haven't owned a Microsoft gaming system or played through XBOX Live, I am passionately interested in what being a part of this gaming community is like and Major Nelson gives up the goods.

So, there you have it. Those are the pod casts kicking around on my iPod right now. I'm sure they'll be more someday but this is an electronic snapshot of my cat-scratched iPod screen at the moment.

Happy listening!

Tags: Joshua Minton, Podcasts, Blogcasts

Part two of my conversation with Jason Patterson about art, spiritual awakening and the nature of true intelligence.

Jason and I worked together as entry level grunts in a customer service call center about five years ago. We used to have the most in-depth conversations on philosophy and individual freedom during our coffee breaks. Everyone around us thought we were nuts but we knew who had the goods.

I invited Jason to have another one of those deep conversations on my podcast so you can get a glimpse into the hell it has been for us to put the pieces together so that they fit in our minds.

Throughout both parts of this Blog Cast, Jason and I discuss:

• The difficulty of collaborating with others in an artistic venture
  
• The similarities between Tool and Pink Floyd and what I believe is Maynard's overall vision
  
• The meat of the conversation is about Jason's decision to stay away from highly-opinionated and fear-based mindsets (aka "Rush Limbaugh") and what this means in terms of reaching individual Enlightenment for yourself
  
• Jason tells us the most inspiring book he's ever read (hint: I bought it for him)
  
  Tags: Joshua Minton, Jason Patterson, Boys Wear Pants, Blog Cast, Art, Spirituality