There was an audiobook I was planning on buying at least one of my friends for the holiday season; in a perfect world, I’d buy it for all of you.
Apple had to go and make it free this week. Great for giving it to everyone – not so great for making it look like a heartfelt gift.
So friends, download John Hodgman’s Areas Of My Expertise today. Before [the hobos take over](http://www.flickr.com/groups/hoboes/).
I have been enjoying Jon Glaser. The name may be unfamiliar for people not in NYC, but you have likely heard his work – be it on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Cheap Seats, Wonder Showzen, Conan O’Brien, or School For Scoundrels. Glaser is what has been described as a “comedian’s comedian”, doing characters and bits that lead to highbrow discussions like “What is comedy?” and “What the fuck was that?”. I did not warm up to Glaser when I first saw him in 2003 – but slowly, gradually, I have understood his genius. I bring him up now not because of his excellent turn as Johnny Ding-Dong during the Comedians Of Comedy tour, but for his mindfudging of Trevor, the wily scamp from Wonder Showzen’s “Beat Kids”. If you have the Season 2 DVD – and you should – watch the “featurette” for the Knowledge episode. For more, I recommend reading [his AST fanthread](http://www.aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1664).
While I am only one third of the way through it, I have been enjoying the audiobook version of John Hodgman’s [The Areas Of My Expertise](http://areasofmyexpertise.com/), which is unsurprisingly [available from iTunes](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=182994253&s=143441). Hodgman’s way with facts, combined with occasional musical enhancement from [Johnathan Coulton](http://www.jonathancoulton.com/), is like listening to a very pleasant NPR show, were it written by non-partisan Stephen Colbert.
I have really been enjoying [The AV Club](http://avclub.com/), as they’ve become very good with interviews, always have intriguing features like *Random Rules*, and fair critiques and reviews.
Relatedly, I have been enjoying the mobile versions of [The Onion](http://mobile.theonion.com/) and [The AV Club](http://mobile.avclub.com/). Both load very quick, have full content for the week, and aren’t a cheap RSS-hacked-river-of-news-bullshit mobile page. Works great on my Sidekick 3 and my Treo.
I’ve been enjoying MC Chris’ latest album, [Dungeon Master Of Ceremonies](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=184802407&s=143441). I got to see Chris do most of the songs live at UCB – which was an experience in itself – but the album is really far more solid than I expected. There are at least three standout songs (*FTW*, *Wiid*, and *Townie*), and the album on a whole has a nice, almost danceable groove to it.
The third season of The Office has been enjoyable enough to add into my standard television rotation, bringing the number of shows I regularly watch up to 4. It is amusing to go back and read the [Metafilter impressions of the first episodes](http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/40851), much like reading Slashdot’s original iPod post.
Despite being only a few minutes into the first one, I am extremely enamored by [JapanesePod101](http://www.japanesepod101.com/), a podcast that teaches you a few Japanese phrases a day. I am downloading them as fast as I can.
I am enjoying the fact that [GSN](http://www.gsn.com/) finally made their play-along-at-home games platform neutral. It’s nice to be able to play from home, even if there are a large number of cheaters.