Inside the head of Chuck Klosterman

Anyone who writes for a living or seriously for pleasure can sympathize with the accompanying challenges: inspiration, effectively creating your message and how readers interpret that work. 

And anyone who has ever read the wildly diverse work of Chuck Klosterman can probably guess he experiences angst at every step of the way.

Chuck KlostermanIndeed Klosterman -- who got his start as a newspaper music critic, before evolving into a gonzo journalist and best-selling author before settling into his role as The Ethicist columnist for The New York Times -- does just that on a Grantland podcast with Brian Koppelman. 

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Celebrate the Olympics with '90s Britpop

I'm a regular listener of Grantland.com's "Hollywood Prospectus" podcast, so I wasn't too surprised when hosts Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan busted out a Britpop reference when discussing the London Olympics. 

Only, in typically creative Grantland fashion, Greenwald and Ryan -- using the news that Blur would close the Games -- took that news 10 steps further and shared separate Spotify playlists.

Their lists -- titled "Lorries, Torches and Flats" and "Handbags and the Lad Mags" -- highlight a very ripe period in British pop-rock history (and one that's a weak spot for me). You get the usual suspects like Radiohead, Blur, Oasis, New Order and Stone Roses, but there are lesser-known gems that hold their own. Greenwald even dips his toes into mainstream over-produced pop like Take That and Everything But The Girl, but their inclusion actually works. 

It's great fun, and I think will make for a nice backing track to the Games themselves. I mean, how much blather from the announcers can one take anyway?

You can find links to both playlists here (scroll to the bottom). 

Hockey "homer" who holds his own

I've previously written with disdain about sports announcers who wear their team's colors on their sleeves but I've subsequently come to understand that homers have their place. 

Boston Bruins announcer Jack EdwardsAfter listening to this excellent Grantland.com podcast with Boston Bruins announcer Jack Edwards, I'm realizing "homers" can be intelligent, knowledgeable and persuasive. In a fast-paced interview with Grantland's Jonah Keri, Edwards shares bold opinions on a variety of hockey issues, including why fighting is better than legislating violence, why passion and salesmanship are important to announcing, and why late-blooming players often get short shrift among short-sighted NHL officials. 

Does this mean I like "homers"? Nope, but I now have grudging respect for those I can hear making an effort.