In the Back Yard
My mom, Laurie, joins me this week to ramble on about books, music, fashion and food. I interview her with the James Lipton questionaire and she improvises a few questions for me, as well.

Audio Bookworm
I give my thoughts on two books I've read recently, "Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold," by C. S. Lewis and "Salt: A World History," by Mark Kurlansky. I also reveal who I think would make the perfect Rhett Butler if someone remade the film version of "Gone With the Wind."

Food & Fashion
We talk about our favorite colors and discuss the season types color system for selecting clothing and accessories.

I also describe a couple things I've baked recently: Bakewell Tart (Thanks to Anthony for the recipe!) and Swedish Apple Cake. Yum! Next up: Norwegian Princess Cake.

More Randomness
There's lots more to the show, but you'll have to listen to discover what it includes. ;)

Music Credits
"Trois Navires de Ble," by Great Big Sea

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Labels: books, C.S. Lewis, recipes

Visiting Mumsie
My mom, Laurie, joins me this week to discuss some of our favorite things: sports, music, movies and food!

Go, Apolo!
We talk about Apolo Anton Ohno's recent over-all victory at the U.S. National Short Track Speedskating Championship and the upcoming short track World Cup to be held in Salt Lake City in February at the Utah Olympic Oval. To learn more about Apolo's victory and the World Cup, visit The Ohno Zone.

A Wonderful Gift
We recap the success of Josh Groban's "Noel." As a "thank you" gift to his fans for the support, Josh is making a live version of his cover of Paul Simon's "America" available for download at JoshGroban.com until the end of the year. Get it while you can!

Paolo Nutini Opens for Led Zeppelin
We talk about Paolo Nutini opening for Led Zeppelin at their reunion show. Read this article for more info about the show and a bit about Paolo's new album: "Paolo Nutini: Backing Zeppelin was Amazing."

New Albums in the Works
Three of our favorites, the Goo Goo Dolls, Amos Lee and Paolo Nutini, are in the process -- or soon will be in the process -- of creating new albums, which we're greatly looking forward to hearing!

Movies & Music
We mention three movies we've seen and enjoyed recently: "P.S. I love You," "Bee Movie" and "August Rush." Both "P.S. I Love You" and "August Rush" have fantastic soundtracks; the former includes "Rewind," by Paolo Nutini and "Same Mistake," by James Blunt, along with many more songs by other great artists.

Christmas, Texas-style
Living in South Texas offers us the opportunity to barbeque year 'round, we explain, as we talk about our Christmas festivities, which included good company, good music and lots of yummy food. Laurie provided the potato salad and charro beans; Joanna baked the chocolate chip cookies, using the famous Neiman Marcus recipe; and Michael grilled the jalapeno poppers.

More Randomness
We also talk about Ingrid Michaelson's music and some of Joanna's favorite podcasts (Links to those can be found on the sidebar), as well as other random subjects.

Music Credits
"Prince Charming," by Jim's Big Ego

Contact Me
Email: joannaATrandomfandompodcast.com (Replace AT with @)

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Labels: amos lee, apolo anton ohno, Goo Goo Dolls, Ingrid Michaelson, James Blunt, josh groban, paolo nutini, recipes

Paolo Nutini, Austin City Limits Music Festival and a Tex-Mex Lunch
Join us this week as we prepare a Tex-Mex lunch Random Fandom-style: Quesadillas and a delicious layered nacho dip.

While preparing the food, We share our experiences from the Paolo Nutini Austin City Limits Music Festival Aftershow that we attended on September 14.

Video clips from the show:
"Jenny, Don't Be Hasty"
"Last Request"
"Lovin' You"
"Rewind"

We also mention Amos Lee's performance at the ACL Festival and how disappointed we are to have missed it. Click here to view a snippet of Amos' awesome "Arms of a Woman" from ACL.

Joanna also gives her first impressions of James Blunt's new album, "All The Lost Souls." Laurie mentions a new reality TV show, "The Next Great American Band," which will feature John Rzeznik, of the Goo Goo Dolls, as one of the judges.

Music Credits
"The Boxer," by Carbon Leaf

Contact Us
Email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (Replace AT with @)

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To subscribe to the Random Fandom podcast in iTunes, click here. Alternately, you may add the following address to your RSS reader/aggregator or podcatcher:
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Labels: amos lee, cooking, Goo Goo Dolls, James Blunt, John Rzeznik, paolo nutini, recipes

Texas Cornbread + Random Food Talk
Join us this week as we bake Texas-style cornbread and chat about two of our favorite Food Network personalities, Paula Deen and Alton Brown. We talk about our enjoyment of a recent episode of "Paula's Party" and Alton Brown's "Feasting on Asphalt 2: The River Ride."

Laurie also mentions watching the music video for James Blunt's song, "1973," and Torgen's "cooking show." Joanna talks about "Rush Hour 3" and mentions a movie she'd like to see, "StarduSt," which is based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, an author whose work she really enjoys.

Music Credits
"The Most Perfect Word," by Carlina.

Contact Us
Email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (replace AT with @)

Subscribe to Random Fandom
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Labels: Alton Brown, cooking, James Blunt, Neil Gaiman, Paula Deen, recipes, Torgen

Our Best Rachael Ray Impression
After a bit of inspiration from "Ratatouille" and Anthony from Paris, we decide to take you "behind the scenes" as we prepare a simple, yet delicious, meal in Laurie's spacious new kitchen.

As we prepare the food, Joanna talks about the CNN/YouTube Democratic Presidential PRIMARY debate and James Blunt's new song, "1973." We also talk about "Ratatouille" and many more random subjects.

The Menu
We used recipes from Laurie's Betty Crocker cookbook, which is a treasure trove of easy-to-prepare and homey dishes. More delightful recipes can be found at the Betty Crocker site.

The menu for our light and summery lunch:
Honey Mustard Chicken
Red Potato Salad
Seven Layer Salad
Peanut Butter Cookies

Give a Little Bit
Laurie highlights Meals-on-Wheels.

Music Credits
"Beautiful Food," by Edan.

Contact Us
Email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (replace AT with @)

Subscribe to Random Fandom
To subscribe to the Random Fandom podcast in iTunes, click here. Alternately, you may add the following address to your RSS reader/aggregator or podcatcher:
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Labels: cooking, James Blunt, recipes

Dating Geek Girls: User Guide, v1.0 We laugh about: The Mens Guide To Dating Geek Girls v1.0. Joanna mentions a geeky t-shirt that she finds quite amusing, but, which she thinks needs a bit of updating.

Geeks Gone Wild Laurie reads "South by South-BEST!", written by Todd Levin Official Website for Todd Levin Geek-Speak Interpreter: Joanna

Give a Little Bit Laurie mentions The Architect of New Orleans, NOAHH Executive Director,James Pate. Official "Musician's Village" website.

The VideoPhile reviews Check out Supermarket 2.0 for a humorous real-life analogy of web 2.0 concepts.

The AudioPhile Reviews Joanna talks about a new podcast, from the Corpus Christi "Caller-Times": http://www.caller2.com/3n3at3/.

An example of the type of stories you can expect to hear on this podcast: Dog-sized Monster Toad.

<From Pen Pals to Podcasts: Communication in Many Forms #!/usr/bin/girl has been one of Joanna's favorite blogs for many years. The author, Zannah, was mentioned in the book "Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web", written by David Weinberger.

In the News Joanna talks about a product which might help combat the scourge of "iPod Zombies": Wearable Speakers Let you Blast Music for the World.

Have You Heard? Why You Should Fall to Your Knees and Worship a Librarian.

Funky Food Two hilarious "book reviews": Skewered Straight? Dateline: Bookstores everywhere.

Laurie mentions one of her nature-geek heroes, Euell Gibbons, author of Stalking The Wild Asparagus.

We praise the recipe by Steve Mermelstein: The Geek's Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Panda Love Josh Groban did his part to help an endangered species, by singing his "Panda Sex Song" on national television. Josh also sang "February Song," as a nice bonus for the human audience. Thanks Josh!

Random Fandom Feedback Thanks to everyone who contacted us this week! Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated!

Contact Us email: randomfandompodcastATgmail.com (replace AT with @) You can either email us, or leave a comment on the blog @ randomfandompodcast.com

Featured Artist of the Week Artist: Jonathon Coulton Song Title: "re: Your Brains" Link: Official Site for Jonathon Coulton, MySpace Page for Jonathon Coulton, Jonathon Coulton at PodSafe Music Network Thanks to Jonathon Coulton for generously allowing us to play his song on Random Fandom.

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Labels: Jonathan Coulton, josh groban, recipes