Favourite Podcasts - 7 - Filmspotting

This podcast was a game changer in the world of podcasts for me, for several reasons.

It was the first podcast that I found that had a reasonable back catalogue online to download the whole of.

It was the first podcast to gain it's own folder on my Mp3 player.

It was the first podcast I listened to that was not related to a British radio show.

Filmspotting is a film podcast based in Chicago, the two presenters Adam Kempenaar and Matty (ballgame) Robinson are passionate and knowledgeable about film in an extraordinary way.

In the early days that I was listening the podcast was called Cinecast, and came out twice a week. Matty was just an occasional guest and the other host was Sam Van Hallgren  I was a little into films at that point, but this podcast really got me interested. I signed up to the Lovefilm rental service and started adding loads of films that they had been talking about onto my list. I watched films and genres that I would never have thought about watching before.

It was this podcast that prompted me to watch 5 Woody Allen films in 3 days, watch Citizen Kane for the first time, made me decide to become a member of our local independent cinema, and much much more.

Cinecast had to change names for legal reasons, Sam left to do other things, and it went to once a week. It is still a fantastic listen though, and although I don't watch that many films these days (these things come in cycles for me) I still love listening to their witty, smart and insightful chat.

Each episode reviews a new film at the start, has some listeners feedback, usually an older film is reviewed (as part of themed 'marathons') and then they do a top themed 5 at the end (in a homage to Nick Hornby).

Download Filmspotting here.

Listing things.

I have seen people before blogging a month of a certain thing, for instance YouTube videos of songs they like, or classic albums, or favourite films.

I am thinking what I could do a month of blogging about. I am not up to date enough with music to really pull off the songs thing, would be pretty boring to have a month of James Taylor and Jackson Browne songs. I used to watch a lot of films, but have only seen a few this year, I read books, but at a rate slower than most primary school children (although to be fair Dr Seuss and The Very Hungry Caterpillar are pretty quick reads).

So what could I blog about? Could I manage 30 days of podcasts? 30 Days of beers? 30 Days of cheese?

Any other ideas for me?

While you are thinking here is some Jackson Browne...