JennetteFulda

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Archives
    • Travel and Adventure
    • Weight-Loss Blog Title Generator
  • Books
    • Books
    • Half-Assed: A Weight-loss Memoir
    • Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn’t Go Away
  • Timeline
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Advertising

November 16, 2016 3 Comments

Stuff I Like: November 2016

In an attempt to keep my mind off the impending doom my country faces, I thought I’d write one of my “Stuff I Like” posts because what is more American than consumption?

Pocket Casts

Pocket Casts
Pocket Casts is a podcast player that works on my Android phone, my iPad, and in a browser on my laptop. Better yet, it keeps my podcasts in synch across all these devices. So if I listen to half a podcast while I’m working on my computer, I can pick it up in the same spot when I’m listening to my phone in my car. Before I started using Pocket Casts I lost track of a lot of episodes I wanted to hear. The good news: You can mark episodes you want to listen to later. The bad news: I’ve marked 104 episodes to listen to later. I should probably face facts and start removing some of those, or go on a very long road trip.

You have to pay a one-time fee for each platform you want to use Pocket Casts on, but they give you a free trial period so you can test it before you buy it. Purchasing it on three platforms cost me $17.19 all together and was well worth it.

Rick and Morty

Rick and Morty
This show is funny, clever, and somewhat twisted–all things I admire in a television program. Don’t let the fact that it’s animated make you think it’s for kids. It was co-created by Dan Harmon who created the TV show Community, which was brilliant too. I really suck at writing summaries, so here’s how Google described it: “After having been missing for nearly 20 years, Rick Sanchez suddenly arrives at daughter Beth’s doorstep to move in with her and her family. Although Beth welcomes Rick into her home, her husband, Jerry, isn’t as happy about the family reunion. Jerry is concerned about Rick, a sociopathic scientist, using the garage as his personal laboratory. In the lab, Rick works on a number of sci-fi gadgets, some of which could be considered dangerous. But that’s not all Rick does that concerns Jerry. He also goes on adventures across the universe that often involve his grandchildren, Morty and Summer.”

Some of my favorite episodes are “A Rickle in Time” (S02E01) which uses the premise of alternate dimensions in a great visual manner. I also like “Total Rickall” (S02E04) where the family has to fight parasites that implant false memories in them. “Meeseeks and Destroy” (S01EE5) is pretty classic too.

You can watch the full series on Hulu if you’re a subscriber.

Next to Normal

Next to Normal
Next to Normal is a musical that debuted in 2009, but somehow I missed it. I think I might have been distracted by Billy Elliot, which won most of the Tonys that year. I heard about Next to Normal in a roundabout way when I was listening to a “Freakonomics” podcast episode and the person being interviewed mentioned he’d once worked with a guy who’d won the Pulitzer for a musical in 2009. I had no idea what musical he was talking about, so I looked it up, listened to it on Spotify, and became mildly obsessed, eventually watching bootleg copies of the show on YouTube.

Like I said before, I suck at writing summaries, so here’s how Wikipedia sums it up: “Its story concerns a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that her illness and the attempts to alleviate it have on her family. The musical also addresses such issues as grieving a loss, suicide, drug abuse, ethics in modern psychiatry, and the underbelly of suburban life.”

So, yeah, it can get heavy, and I wouldn’t necessarily reach for this if you need a feel-good story, but it did speak to me. I’m not bipolar, but as someone who has a chronic illness that will probably never go away, I related to a lot of the content, particularly how there’s not really a cure, you just manage things as best as you can and try lots of different treatments. I should also note that the performer names for most of the songs are wrong on Spotify and on the Amazon digital copy I purchased, which is a bit confusing when you’re listening to the songs for the first time.

How I Built This

How I Built This
How I Built This is a fairly new podcast that interviews successful entrepreneurs about how they started their businesses. As someone who’s been self-employed for over 7 years, I’m pretty interested in this topic. It’s reassuring to know that most of these people faced significant challenges, but were able to overcome them. The first episode with Sara Blakely, the founder and creator of Spanx was particularly enjoyable. It was nice to know that she sometimes got scared when doing her first job, selling fax machines to businesses, and would sometimes walk out of an office instead of doing her pitch, pretending she’d walked into the wrong place. She had to do a lot of hustling to get her product out there, and it was inspiring to hear about how far she came and all the legwork she put into making her business a success.

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Print
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Leave a Comment (3) Read more about: how i built this, next to normal, pocket casts, rick and morty, stuff i like

Jennette Fulda is the author of:

Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away

"Smart, unflinchingly honest, and laugh-out-loud funny."

- Lisa Genova, New York Times best-selling author of Still Alice

  • Amazon
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Powell's
  • Indiebound
You may also like:
  • Stuff I like: July 2015
  • Stuff I Like: January 2016
  • Stuff I like – July 2016: Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
  • Stuff I Like: July 2017
Post navigation
Later: 20 Scattered Thoughts after the Election
Earlier: I’m a straight, white person and even I’m scared
Home: Main blog index

Comments

  1. Cari says

    November 17, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    TINY RICK! I love Rick and Morty!

    Reply
  2. Kim says

    November 23, 2016 at 7:49 pm

    I’m loving Chocolate and Vicodin. Great fun to read! I can’t imagine living with pain that is physical for that long……

    Reply
    • Jennette Fulda says

      November 26, 2016 at 2:34 pm

      @Kim – Glad to hear you’re enjoying the book! Thanks for stopping by.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I wrote some books

Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn’t Go AwayHalf-Assed: A weight-loss memoir

Follow Me

Jennette Fulda on Facebook

Recent Posts

  • That billionaire brat made me feel bad that Twitter is imploding
  • No one grows old on DVD or CD-ROM
  • Losing more than 100 pounds…again: Part 3 – The Differences
  • Losing more than 100 pounds…again: Part 2 – Losing Weight
  • Losing more than 100 pounds…again: Part 1 – Regaining Weight
440

Travel and Adventure

Weight-Loss Blog Title Generator

Most Popular Posts

  • Two weeks of Blue Apron: Six recipes, one blogger, and not enough bowls.
  • Remind me never to go off my meds again
  • Like the back of my hand
  • The Big Move in Retrospect: Everything good and the bad about moving from Indianapolis to Chapel Hill
  • It’s hard to type when you break your arm
  • My health insurance denial letters. Past or future?
  • Punta Cana, Dominican Republic: Day 1, Getting there is half the fun!
  • Not a picture I’ll be bragging about

Blog Archives

Search

Know thyself, quiz Monday

Jennette Fulda tells stories to the Internet about her life as a smartass, writer, chronic headache sufferer, (former?) weight-loss inspiration, and seemingly nice person (who is silently judging you). You can contact her if you promise to be nice.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for keyboards ruined by coffee spit-takes or forehead wrinkles caused by deep thought.

Follow Me

Blog Archives

Newsletter

One day I might actually e-mail something to my mailing list. If you want to be there for that moment, sign up below.

AS SEEN IN

  • The Washington Post
  • The Today Show
  • The New York Times
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • The Globe and Mail
  • Associated Press
  • Women's Health
  • Glamour
  • Shape Magazine
  • Runner's World
  • Health
  • The Early Show
  • MSNBC
Copyright © 2023 Jennette Fulda • All Rights Reserved • Privacy Policy • Site design by Makeworthy Media