Some admin news at the top: tomorrow the final championship round of the Ship Bracket begins at 5PM PST!  The third place poll will be running alongside.

In other news, I saw Endgame on Friday.  I've been having some difficulties working through my opinions and emotions concerning THAT ending.  Whenever I try to put together a spoiler free review of the movie, I'm unable to do so.  I'll have a bigger article addressing the whole movie this week once I figure out how I feel.  I hope you all get a chance to go and see the movie in the meantime.  No matter how you feel about the movie when you leave, I think we can all agree it's a cultural moment we're unlikely to experience again.  I was definitely riveted the entire three hours. 

​See you all tomorrow!

We'll be back with some "Best Of" episodes, new articles, and will begin taking nominations for the 2019 Ship Bracket!

We’ll be on hiatus until August 13th. Talk to you all soon!

Hey everyone! You may have noticed already, but we've reorganized all the episodes on iTunes into handy dandy year by year seasons. We never expected to have this many episodes to scroll through!

Keep an eye out for our next episode coming soon about movie musicals. After that, the 60s series of episodes will be some fun "Best Of..." episodes we hope you'll enjoy. They'll be some of your favorite fandoms and topics in one easy download.

We're also looking forward to restarting the "Love Your Fandom" series on the site. If you have any favorite fan artists or fanfiction writers you'd like us to interview, let us know in the comments below or e-mail us!

All times below are in Pacific Time:

March 1st 9PM: Rules and all nominated ships are posted.
March 2nd 4PM: Polls for the round of 64 open
March 6th: Polls for the round of 64 close at noon and polls for the round of 32 open at 4PM
March 10th: Polls for the round of 32 close at noon and polls for the sweet 16 open at 4PM
March 14th: Polls for the sweet 16 close at noon and polls for the elite 8 open at 4PM
March 18th: Polls for the elite 8 close at noon and polls for the final 4 open at 4PM
March 22nd: Polls for the final 4 close at noon and the championship poll opens at 4PM
​March 26th: Championship poll closes at noon with podcast episode revealing the winner revealed that evening

Which of your OTPs are you hoping to see in the ship bracket this year?

UNICEF - ​UNICEF USA is mobilizing to get immediate, critical support — Emergency Relief Kits — to the children of Puerto Rico.  A $28 donation creates one full kit.

Hispanic Federation - One hundred percent of contributions to the UNIDOS Fund goes to help the immediate and long-term recovery needs of children, families and communities in distress from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria.  Additionally, the Hispanic Federation receives the proceeds of Lin-Manuel Miranda's new song "Almost Like Praying" on iTunes.

One America Appeal - The appeal of the five living former US Presidents seeks to aid victims of all the recent hurricanes this season.

Ricky Martin Foundation - They have teams on the ground currently distributing supplies and will be there in the future helping communities rebuild.

The National Compassion Fund (a program of National Center for Victims of Crime) - funds will be distributed to victims of the shooting at the end of the campaign

To Write Love On Her Arms - One hundred percent of the donations made to this campaign will fund individual and group counseling sessions offered through Red Rock Psychological Health and Aspire Mental Health

Las Vegas Victims' Fund - Set up by Steve Sisolak, the Clark County Commission Chair from Las Vegas.  Funds will be used to provide relief and financial support to the victims and families of the shooting.

If you're in the area, you can donate blood at the Labor Health & Welfare Clinic at 7135 W. Sahara Ave. or with United Blood Services.  Communities also need to have a good supply of blood (especially O negative) ready for when tragedies like this happen.  Consider becoming a regular blood donor if you can.

American Red Cross - They've set this page up for wildfire relief efforts and to show ways you can help.

The local humane societies currently have their supply goals met, but could very much use funding for the weeks and months ahead.  Check out the Sonoma Humane Society and Napa Humane Society to donate.

#BayAreaUnite - All seven Bay Area sports teams have set up a fundraiser to benefit the Red Cross.

Did everyone have a great Comic Con week? We here at ALNM sure did, and we've got a bunch of fun stuff coming your way starting tonight! Including the completion of our rebranding project!

You may have noticed our updated website, featuring brand new custom artwork from Caroline Layne. Check out her website carolinelayne.com to learn more about her work.  Can you find your favorite characters attending Comic Con?  Thanks Caroline!

We also hope to have a lot original articles heading your way this year, in addition to our reformatted podcast style that will be coming your way next month.  In the meantime we'll be having a bunch of Comic Con themed articles being posted and a pre-recorded podcast episode to finish out the month of July.

​What about you all?  What are you looking forward to most about 2017?  Is there anything you want to see appear on this site?

UPDATE:
First of all, I would like to say that I am so excited to be back on the website posting for you all! I know it's been awhile and my wonderful co-host and friend Christina has done an amazing job keeping everything running smoothly while I've been gone. In case you're wondering, I underwent two organ transplants (heart and liver) on September 25, 2016 and I'm just now starting to feel like myself again. It's been such a crazy experience and I've made so many friends for life while living at the hospital. I have been waiting to make my return back to ALNM and I'm stoked to be able to bring you Music Monday today. Thank you all for your understanding, patience, prayers, happy thoughts, and everything while I've been gone. I feel like a whole new person and I can't wait to experience this new life.

The Band: The Maine

The Song: "Won't Come Down"

Where you heard it first: Getting new organs has not diminished my love of The Maine and when their new album Lovely, Little, Lonely was released last week, this was the song that stood out the most to me. I love it!

Why it’s been stuck in your head: I love that no matter how many albums this band comes out with, they always have a song on their albums that sound like their origi​nal sound from 2007 and for Lovely, Little, Lonely, that's this song. The pop-punk sound is just perfect for them and it's always easy to sing along in your car.

Why you recommend it to our listeners: I always like to recommend songs that are great for rolling down the windows and singing at the top of your lungs.

An exciting update coming in a couple weeks ;)

All the polls for the first round of the ship bracket are now open! Polls close at 9:00 PM PST on Sunday January 29th. Check out the rules below:

• HAVE FUN! Vote, leave a comment about why you ship who you ship, share the links with your friends, and just enjoy the competition! No bashing or insulting your fellow participants.
• The system is set to allow one vote per person per day. I'm sure some will find a way around that. Just know too many votes in a row will cause the system to independently lock you out. We have no control over that because we are too cheap to get a higher level PollDaddy account.
• Once polls close, results will be immediately viewable there. A recap post will follow shortly after. The next round of voting will be made available a few hours later (depending on how fast I can type).
• The results of the final round will be hidden temporarily and revealed on the following episode of the podcast.
• All ship bracket related posts can be found under the Ship Bracket category tag
• Any comments, questions, or concerns can be noted in the comments section or you can e-mail us at alnmpodcast@gmail.com