Night-time insects of late summer with some added texture and sporadic notes. Spend the night in the backyard! Whether you're studying, working, reading, sleeping, or unwinding after a long day, this immersive ambient soundscape provides the perfect background soundtrack. No talking, no interruptions—just late summer bug chatter. Ignore the World.
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It’s our third installment of late summer sounds from my backyard. The main audio was recorded over the last weekend in August. As this episode is the third installment of “A Dying Sumer’s Suburban slumber,” I’ve gone rogue and added some texture and other elements. I’ve got a bunch of naked night bug episodes—as in no sound (this is a family show).
To me the bugs are always more fun when the temperatures get lower and affect the frequency over the night. With the weather as warm as it has been, the bugs are naked and loud.
Speaking of naked, I have been thinking of Lee Iacocca—look, I probably needed two more paragraphs to segue between nude insects and the former businessman (and Snoop Dogg commercial co-host—**** that could have been my segue).
What would Lee Iacocca make of our current world? No, kidding WGAS—sing out loud “Lee Iacocca… made some cars” to the tune of “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam and now you have the same tic as me!
“Jay-EE-AR Tolkien, wrote some books” also works.
Gawd, I had to read Lee Iacocca in high school… I skimmed about as much as I could stand, and bull****ed my way through the report. Iacocca’s book cover (swagger) was presented to empty Chick-O-Stick wrappers and the other gunk at the bottom of my book bag most of the time it was in my possession.
And to continue the household brand name theme— I don’t give a **** about transitioning properly! Let me tell you about one of the first internet fandom-fueled movements I remember.
It was late 1996 and I was a college dip****. Sophomore year, Redman’s Muddy Waters forever in my cassette player. Slothing around a snowy Vermont campus in baggy jeans, XXL Pure Playaz t-shirts. It was almost time to return home for Christmas—my dad cryptically mentions over the phone that he would be sending me back after the holiday with enough breakfast for the final semester.
“What?”
Dad explained he was in possession of a multitude of Unfrosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts value packs. And I would be inheriting most of them. “Awesome.”
My father fluctuated between bemused and proud of my sister's advocacy—while lording over a stockpile of breakfast sweets. Apparently, my younger sister had been part of SOS, a group of online Sailor Moon fans not happy with Sailor Moon syndication time slots in the United States. The distributor planned to shutter production (adaptation and dubbing for American audiences) because the show wasn’t performing well.
And the SOS decided rather than boycott something to save their new favorite show, SOS would stage a procott on a day in December 1996 to display their purchasing power. They chose Unfrosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts and the campaign made waves.
I don’t know the ramifications of what SOS accomplished overall, but Sailor Moon is still in the zeitgeist and I got a lot of Pop-Tarts.
PS: Homage cover art this week inspired by Iron Nest, a video game that gives you the keys to an early 1900s Metal Gear with Myst vibes and a fantastic liminal space to inhabit. Plus, their cover art rocks—not an ad, just fanboy ****. PPS: It is a game about a fictional war, and while war runs counter to the philosophy of this podcast... I haven’t felt like I was back in Myst since Riven, and I stunk at Riven.