PT Hylton

Author of the Storms of Magic, The Savage Earth, and The Deadlock Trilogy

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Something to Love: Filmspotting SVU – A Podcast by Allison Willmore and Matt Singer

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FSVU

  1. I listen to a lot of podcasts. Most of them are entertaining. Some are educational. A few are a combination of both. But only Filmspotting: Streaming Video Unit (SVU) is actually useful .
  2. The original Filmspotting is one of the best movie review podcasts out there. I’ve listened to Adam and his co-host (be it Sam, Matty, or Josh) for many years. Filmspotting: SVU is a brilliant spinoff in which film critics Alison Willmore and Matt Singer review movies available for online streaming.
  3. Chances are good that you subscribe to some sort of video streaming service. Netflix. Hulu Plus. Amazon Prime. Whatever. Maybe you have even dropped or reduced your cable service in favor of online streaming. If so, you probably find yourself occasionally scrolling through the ‘New Releases’, ‘Suggestions for You’, and ‘Because You Watched My Little Pony’ sections in a haze of indecision. These online services provide thousands of movies, which means it takes forever to shift through the garbage and find the good stuff. That’s where Filmspotting: SVU comes to the rescue.
  4. Each week Alison and Matt have one in-depth review as well as several other shorter reviews. They always point out which streaming services carry the movies they are discussing. Make sure to have a pen and paper handy while listening – I’ve never come away from an episode with less than three movie recommendations that sound interesting.
  5. Filmspotting: SVU covers a wide variety of genres. Whether it’s a horror film like ‘The ABCs of Death’, an indie flick like ‘This is Martin Bonner’, or a blockbuster like ‘The Avengers,’ Matt and Alison are there for you. Whatever types of movies you are into, Filmspotting: SVU will help you discover more of them.

Check out Filmspotting: Streaming Video Unit here.

Something to Love: Tape Deck Heart – An Album by Frank Turner

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Something worthy of your attention, and five reasons I love it.

tapedeck

  1. One of my favorite things about services like Pandora and Spotify is the way they introduce you to new artists with no preamble. How did Spotify choose to play me this particular song on this particular day? I have no idea. Apparently there is some tangential, algorithm-based relationship to The Hold Steady, but other than that I just listen to the music they play me and I either like it or I don’t. I don’t know anything about the personality of the artist or whether they have a hipster or teenybopper fan base. It’s a pure listening experience – me and the music. This was the way I was introduced to Frank Turner.
  2.  Tape Deck Heart is a personal album. In that weird alchemy of art, the more specific and heartfelt the lyrics, the more deeply it connects. Though I don’t have tattoos, and I don’t especially want to dance, and I have never dated a girl named Amy, I can somehow still relate.
  3. This:
  4. I did a bit of reading about Frank after hearing the album. I was not surprised to learn that he comes from a hardcore punk background. While his new stuff walks the line between singer/songwriter and straight-forward rock, he still has that punk rock chip on his shoulder. He sings like an underdog who intends to go out swinging.
  5. Like many of my favorite bands – Neil Young, The Replacements, The Hold Steady – Frank Turner’s music is built on a solid foundation of passion, song-craft, bad attitude, and pop sensibility. A lovely combination if you ask me.  Everything here serves the song, and Tape Deck Heart is a collection of consistently wonderful songs.

Check out Frank Turner here.