Hey Folks! It’s the very last Blerd Radio podcast of 2013. Big Money (the actual “blerd” of the show) is joined by his usual colleagues Mike Duquette, Mike Cunningham, Michael Parr and Dr. Z.

Except wait. Michael Parr isn’t on this one. Ah well. One day all five will be on the show at the same time.

At any rate, this podcast discusses the best (and some of the worst) of the year that is just about to end. While the panel focuses mostly on music, there is also discussion about film, television and politics…the usual things that make Popblerd tick.

In this episode:

-We catch up with Cunningham, who missed the last podcast because his band, Neighbours, was rehearsing for a gig in which they had to play strictly Christmas songs.

-A discussion about Christmas music (carried over from the last episode) leads into Cunningham giving sincere praise to the Ying Yang Twinz holiday offerings.

-Beyonce’s surprise album leads to a discussion about music consumption that highlights Amazon.com and their auto-rip feature…something that’s referenced often throughout the rest of the podcast. Matter of fact, if Blerd Radio had sponsors…(hint, hint…)

-There’s a weird foreign noise that appears in the background for about two minutes which turns out to be Big Money’s radiator. It goes away, we promise.

-Cunningham ponders a disturbing trend in popular music; songs sounding ridiculously alike. He points to Sara Bareilles (which he has a little trouble pronouncing)’s “Brave” and Katy Perry’s “Roar” as the most egregious example. Big Money simultaneously attempts to uncover a Grammy Award conspiracy involving the two songs.

-Duquette’s brother did his senior thesis about “iCarly.” This is not a joke.

-Names are thrown about for the best music of 2013, and Daft Punk and Disclosure give our lists a highly electronic sheen.

-What the hell is “Blurred Lines” fatigue?

-The panel attempts to figure out what the hell happened to rock music, while Dr. Z croons a few bars of a Led Zeppelin classic for our listening pleasure.

-As our conversation switches over to film, Cunningham and Dr. Z both agree that Idris Elba is the man, while Big Money tries to uncover another conspiracy; this one involving the news of Nelson Mandela’s passing.

-The rest of the panel attempts to force Big Money to watch a Madea Tyler Perry movie.

-“Arrested Development” returns, and a member of the panel has a weird (and extremely vulgar: be on notice!) explanation for how Portia De Rossi’s face ended up looking like this.

Portia

-Finally, the panel picks their “People Of The Year.” We won’t give away the names before you listen, but the honorees include a religious icon, a troubled whistleblower, a comely actress, and the baddest drummer in all the land (nope, not Dave Grohl. Sorry y’all.)

You can listen in the player below, or direct download the podcast, or listen on iTunes!

See you all in 2014!