Friday check

Hot, sticky and tedious...

That pretty much sums up the weather in the Northeast for the last week. I figure if I don't bring anything new to the table by a Friday, it's not worth posting. So here begins a new ritual -- Friday checks! A dumping of some "weakend planner" type thoughts and happenings for the next day or so...

The podcasting boom: My aren't there a lot of skunks in here? Like blogs, the more podcasts that start, the less time in the day there is to listen in the first place. For music fans, the Pod Safe Music Network is finally up and running (thanks C.C.) and on the trendy side of things, KCRW has started making select live performances on 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' available as podcasts. The first? LA's Goldspot.

For comedy, it's the Area 51 Show, The Unemployment Line and Rocketboom for the indies, Harry Shearer's Le Show (sans music), The Al Franken Show and the recap show from KMTT's Fisher and West morning show. Even the Firesign Theatre is testing the waters...

New to podcasting? Start here.

New sounds: New albums from Deep Dish, Röyksopp and Son Volt.

New Films This weekend: 'The Island' 'Bad News Bears' 'Hustle & Flow'

"Der flim is okey-dokey!" -The Swedish Chef