It seems like forever that I've listened to any songs or music albums. Most of my listening time (which is, essentially, my time driving) has been taken up with various Podcasts I've been following. Initially, I was listening to John Siuntres WORD BALLOON for wonderful in depth interviews with some of my favorite mainstream Marvel and DC comic authors. Once I caught up on that, I got into Adam Carolla for both his tangent rants and more pedestrian interviews with Hollywood-types. These days I've been really enjoying the Expanding Mind talk show on Progressive Radio.

For me a good interview is an interesting conversation that reveals as much about the interviewer as the interviewee. All three shows do that in spades.

Some of my favorite WORD BALLOON episodes are ones in which Comic Book authors discuss the craft of writing. It's very fascinating hearing Brian Bendis' approach and compare it to Jeph Loeb's. Their respective intents are vastly different... and yet they both have very rational reasons for them. Some great interviews also led me to discovering new talents like Jonathan Hickman.

Adam Carolla is a guy you either love or hate. I tend to like the guy. Yeah, he often rambles and dominates interviews... and he comes across as slightly racist (particularly towards the Jewish and Latino community)... but I respect the guy for being honest and openly talking about uncomfortable topics. His overbearing style sometimes makes it impossible to get to know the shier interviewees. But it's always entertaining and, with the right guest, is a downright riot.

Expanding Minds was something I discovered completely by accident. As a fan of Grant Morrison and Alan Moore's comic book work I became interested in their dabbling with the occult. The little that I have learned about Magick showed me a framework of philosophy that is closely associated with all religions, spirituality, music and language. As such, I'm always keeping my eye open for any interesting discussions surrounding the topic. Recently, Kiyoshi Nakazawa (artist, creator of the Drunken Master zine, and all around awesome guy) mentioned that his wife Maja D'Aoust, the self-proclaimed "White Witch of Los Angeles", was considered one of LA's most interesting people by LA Weekly. Knowing that Kiyoshi was a cool dude, I assumed his wife had to be pretty cool too. I discovered she co-hosted Expanding Minds and gave the show a listen. 2 podcasts in and I give it my wholehearted recommendation.

The last Expanding Mind episode I listened to was a nice interview with Anna Biller, director of VIVA and the forthcoming LOVE WITCH. Anna's thoughts regarding the lack of genuine female sexuality in film was fascinating and has me looking forward to watching her film, VIVA, and the other films she recommended. I can't say much about the film, as I haven't seen it... but I've included the trailer for you below.

All in all, podcasts are great because it gives you the opportunity to discover new things from people whose taste and perspective you trust and respect. Now I need to find some more time to listen to some music!

If you know Muttpop products, then you are familiar with the amazing design work of Gobi, Bill, and Mense. The 3 talented artists were our inspiration for creating Muttpop. When Jerry was showing me the amazing character designs Gobi, Bill, and Mense were doing for his various Lucha Libre comics I demanded that we find a way to make toys of those characters. As with all talented people, the 3 artists continue to grow in skill and imagination. So much so that they've decided to share some of their wild ideas via their newly dubbed site CATFISH DELUXE.

I had the pleasure of helping them out with the English on the website. It was really fun reading descriptions of the different universes... and even crazier to later see those universes realized in their beautiful illustrations. I recommend... no, I COMMAND you to check out their site! :-)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE CATFISH DELUXE WEBSITE.

Fellow Muttpop artists: Gobi, Bill and Fabien have donned themselves the Catfish Deluxe and are doing a live art performance on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th at 6pm at the Angouleme International Comic Festival in France. Angouleme the biggest comic convention in Europe (think of it as the San Diego Comic-con in a castle!). Those lucky enough to attend can watch the character designers behind Tequila, El Panda, Red Demon, Dr. Destruction and King Katch work their doodling magic live and on stage. Sadly Jerry and I will not be there... but we're sure the Catfish Deluxe will put on a helluva show!

For more details and information CLICK HERE. Some teaser illustrations can be seen below!

Angus MacLane is a Pop Culture Jack-Of-All-Trades. By day he works as a Pixar Animator. By night he builds some of the coolest and cutest Lego figures inspired by favorite Pop Culture characters. The Flickr Photostream of his creations spans the gamut of all the things we loved as a kid: Star Wars, Transformers (the cool, original designs), Marvel & DC Superheroes, Mecha... and all in the spirit of creativity! The CubeDudes (as MacLane calls them) are some of the coolest figures I've seen made with Legos. MacLane uses 100% real Lego parts in their original colors. Every character is instantly recognizable and adorable. Some of my favorites are included below. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND checking out MacLane's Flickr Photostream for many more amazing CubeDudes!

COMBO is the collaborative art animation short by Blu & David Ellis. I posted about Blu's brilliant Muto piece about a year and a half ago (time flies!). David Ellis does his own form of "motion painting". When the two met up in Italy for the FAME festival, they decided to spend 10 days to paint, animate, and film the ambitious elements of COMBO. Although it's not as refined as Blu's MUTO animation, there's a rawness and spontaneity to COMBO. It's style is akin to improv jazz. Some bits may seem a little drawn out or unnecessary... but it regularly all comes together with its playfulness and creativity. I find these street art animations fascinating. It's like you're watching the shadows of ghost art. The real time process is excruciatingly repetitive... but when you see it on film everything comes alive to reveal a rich world of wet paint, bright colors, and the occasional bout of property damage.

Originally discovered via Street Level's Awesome Post!

Michael Jackson. You have and will continue to mean so much to generations of people. You defined what it meant to be a music icon. You taught us the full potential of a music video. You showed us that dancing can be cool. You made one of the finest examples of a Popular World Music.

Yeah, there was a time when the crotch grabbing during dances got out of hand (although it gave us an excuse to intersperse spazzy dance routines with our own crotch grabs amongst parents and elders!). We were bummed that you couldn't see that you were a naturally handsome dude the way that we all did. The fascination with Peter Pan and animals was a little weird, but we didn't care... because you were Michael FREAKIN' Jackson.

More than anything we all wished you could understand that we loved you for your music, performance, and humanity.

Thanks for the music. Thanks for the entertainment. Thanks for that awesome glove and swagger. You will be remembered as more than a talented human being. You will be remembered as a superhero. :-)

Here are a few of my favorite Michael Jackson bits:

SMOOTH CRIMINAL

REMEMBER THE TIME

THRILLER

MJ, PRINCE & JAMES BROWN