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Recommendations: Stuff to Listen to

Useful Audiobook of the Week: 100 Bullshit Jobs…and How to Get Them by Stanley Bing. So apparently we have an ongoing fascination with bullshit, as we’ve shown. Bing tells you how to turn your tolerance for bullshit into a possible career, as occupations like aromatherapists, baristas and even bloggers involve a great deal of it. Of course, if you’ve been reading this site for long, you know that we’ll tell you straight up what we do is bullshit. Although…do people get paid to do this? Where? Anyway, this mildly amusing bit hits from Harper Audio. (Buy it)

Thriller Audiobook of the Week: Nightlife by Thomas Perry, performed by Shelly Frasier. Yes, it’s time for another book with a serial killer. Although this time it’s a woman behind the murders, changing her identity as she moves from place to place looking for her next victim. And she’s a cold one. It’s up to an equally female detective to try and bring her to justice. And, as you can imagine, hijinks ensue. This Tantor release is unabridged, so no mayhem gets left on the cutting room floor…just like we like it. (Buy it)

Sports Audiobook of the Week: Sound and Fury by Dave Kindred, performed by Dick Hill. The film by Michael Mann aside (hopefully far aside), fans of Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali will want to pick this book up as it traces the careers of both men, how they intersected and then built each other up in an uneasy and sometimes unbalanced friendship, and then their respective declines. This unabridged Blackstone Audio release is capably read by Hill and will keep the sports fan listening for several days’ worth of commutes. (Buy it)

Classic CD of the Week: The Buddy Holly Definitive Collection. This Geffen release doesn’t have anything on it that fans haven’t seen before, make no mistake. But if somebody is looking for a nice best-of for those unfamiliar with Holly’s work, this will prove a good primer. And with twenty-six tracks for fourteen bucks, it serves that purpose well enough. (Buy it)

Blues CD of the Week: Delta Hardware by Charlie Musselwhite. You know when Real World Records puts out any album, it’s going to be good. Of course, when they hit a genre squarely on the head, like they do here with blues, then you know it’s going to be impressive. And this is the best of both worlds, reaching back to the roots of blues and yet giving it a modern tweak (but not tweaking so much that anything, you know, falls off). It’s excellent. Check out “Clarksdale Boogie” and “Church is Out” if you want to grab some samples. (Buy it)

Soundtrack CD of the Week: The Promise. Klaus Badelt first got our attention around here when he did the soundtrack for Pirates. That’s still in medium rotation around the offices. Here, he takes one of those epic histori-fantastical fairy tale romances and provides a most excellent score to back it up. We haven’t seen the film yet, but this Superb release certainly has our interest piqued. Great music to, for example, write recommendations by. Check out “Wuhuan’s Plan” and “Guangming, The General” if you want to taste it. (Buy it)

Kids’ CD of the Week: High School Musical. Personally, this release from Disney scares me. Don’t go into it expecting your typical musical theatre, as it’s much more “hip” than that. I suppose if anything we should be grateful that kids (who are apparently buying the absolute hell out of stuff associated with this TV movie) are interested in anything to do with musicals, so we’ll be happy. Be aware that this is the two-disc special edition, though, so it comes with a bonus disc of all-karaoke versions. So be prepared to hear singing from the back seat when you’re driving any place. (Buy it)