Podcast Central

[UVACoug]

Mrs. NWC hasn't finished the podcast because she thought it was too voteuristic. I haven't started it yet.

That's kind of the problem I had with it too. Maybe it is because I served my mission in the south, and got to know a lot of people that are similar to those involved in the podcast. But the whole thing came off as kind of a circus sideshow--look at all these weird racist southerners that aren't quite as stupid as you thought they were ... but are still pretty eccentric. I met several people like John B. in Arkansas. Not sure why his life story was worthy of a seven episode podcast.

[old_gregg]

i liked it

[Northwestcoug]

Could not agree more. Complete waste of time. I really don't understand why it is getting so much praise. I am usually a sucker for this kind of long-form story telling, but the whole thing was pointless, repetitive, and almost exploitative.

Mrs. NWC hasn't finished the podcast because she thought it was too voteuristic. I haven't started it yet.

[UVACoug]

I listened to S-Town so you don't have to. I was pretty excited to learn that Serial had a spin-off--especially as it was advertised. A man from a small Alabama town calls in and asks for help investigating a murder. The perpetrator comes from a wealthy family and no charges are ever brought. Sounds awesome. Two big twists in the story occur, and it basically becomes a tribute to a brilliant gay dude from Woodstock, AL who likes clocks and nipple piercings.

I understand the frustration that arises after spending a lot of time and money on a project, only to have it unravel, but for Pete's sake, this Podcast never should have been broadcast.

Could not agree more. Complete waste of time. I really don't understand why it is getting so much praise. I am usually a sucker for this kind of long-form story telling, but the whole thing was pointless, repetitive, and almost exploitative.

[Green Monstah]

I listened to S-Town so you don't have to. I was pretty excited to learn that Serial had a spin-off--especially as it was advertised. A man from a small Alabama town calls in and asks for help investigating a murder. The perpetrator comes from a wealthy family and no charges are ever brought. Sounds awesome. Two big twists in the story occur, and it basically becomes a tribute to a brilliant gay dude from Woodstock, AL who likes clocks and nipple piercings.

I understand the frustration that arises after spending a lot of time and money on a project, only to have it unravel, but for Pete's sake, this Podcast never should have been broadcast.

[UVACoug]

I have to put another plug in for the Judge John Hodgman podcast, which really is the standout of the longer list I posted a few days ago. Highly recommend it. If it sounds interesting to you at all, I suggest you start with this episode:

http://www.maximumfun.org/judge-john...-moto-parentis

It is about a teenage kid trying to convince the judge to order his mother to sell the family car and buy him a motorcycle (and later, a vape pen). It's funnier than it sounds.

Also the latest episode (link below) was about a weird Mormon commune in Arizona where the extended family members get together 5-6 nights a week to share a large meal. It wasn't as good as most of the episodes, but I figured it might be interesting to some people here (given the demographic of this site).

http://www.maximumfun.org/judge-john...wful-gathering

[eldiente]

Crimetown - a serial telling of the role of mob influence in Rhode Island politics


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[Green Monstah]

I started Up and Vanished last week. It's similar to Serial, only it deals with a 12-year old missing persons case (30-year old former beauty queen turns up missing in a small south Georgia town). It's not bad. Don't google the victim's name, though, as it will result in spoilers.

[falafel]

I've never listened to any of these. Thad for the suggestions.

[UVACoug]

Been listening to The Greatest Generation podcast for the last several months. They do episode by episode reviews of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Lots of irreverent humor, but not nearly as nerdy as you would expect (although it is a bit nerdy). If you are a fan of TNG at all, and can handle some vulgar language and irreverent humor, I would definitely recommend it. It's a lot of fun.

The Judge John Hodgman podcast is another one that I've been hooked on lately. It's John Hodgman (a former Daily Show correspondent) ruling on people's real life conflicts similar to the style of The People's Court or Judge Judy. It is also a lot of fun and he actually gives some pretty good advice a lot of the time. Some of the cases are absurd, but those are usually the best ones to listen to.

Just finished up Missing Richard Simmons. I would not recommend this one. It is basically a journalist type stalking Richard Simmons and his close family and confidants to find out why Richard Simmons disappeared from the public sphere a couple years ago. His conclusion? Simmons just wants people to stop bothering him. The podcast, which is about 6 episodes long, starts out similar to Serial. But it just ends up being this guy going around and harassing people and trying to guilt trip Simmons into speaking to him. Ultimately, a big waste of time.

I used to be a big political junky, but after spending some time in Washington in college and enduring Mitt's loss in 2012, I kind of gave up on it. Over the last year or so, though, I've tried to listen to a variety of politics podcasts from both the left and right to get a balanced perspective on the election. Lately, one of my go to political podcasts has been The Ben Shapiro Show. Shapiro is certainly more conservative than I am, but is a very sharp guy and, in my opinion, tries to address the left fairly (which you can't say about most conservative podcasters). From time to time he lets ideology trump logic, but he is usually pretty good. Would definitely recommend if you are interested in conservative politics at all. On the left, I listen to Pod Save America and the Slate Political Gabfest. I tend to lean right, so some of the stuff they say drives me nuts (especially anything that comes out of Emily Bazelon's mouth), but they provide an interesting perspective. Also really like Nate Silver and his crew on the FiveThirtyEight podcast. They try to put on an air of objectivity, but clearly lean left. But at least they back their stuff up with evidence and data.

[Surfah]

Ha, I didn't know he was a thing, having not heard of him until a couple of weeks ago. Just so I know, what's the problem with him--I can already see a lot of self-promotion; what else?

That's the biggest thing. He's the ultimate self promoter. It's how he launched his first book. And his followers can be obnoxious.

Granted I've never listened to his podcasts so I can't really comment to that.

One thing I do think is interesting is his willingness to self experiment.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I can't stand Tim Ferriss. Really I hate his fanboys more.

Ha, I didn't know he was a thing, having not heard of him until a couple of weeks ago. Just so I know, what's the problem with him--I can already see a lot of self-promotion; what else?

[Surfah]

I've been enjoying The Tim Ferriss Show podcasts, especially a couple of recent interviews with Adam Robinson. One of the many significant points made was why Adam (who does a lot of strategic investing and money managing) loves it when people observe, "That doesn't make sense," such as when interest rates or the markets move in an unexpected direction or when Trump was winning primaries despite saying outlandish things that would have torpedoed other campaigns.

But the fact is, pretty much everything in life makes sense. The problem is that what happens doesn't always fit our personal model of social or economic behavior. The challenge is to figure out why something seeming outlandish does, in fact, make sense. Do that and you're going to hit it big. So when people say, "That doesn't make any sense," a big opportunity looms.

Perhaps not profound but I've been mulling this over all weekend.

I can't stand Tim Ferriss. Really I hate his fanboys more.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I've been enjoying The Tim Ferriss Show podcasts, especially a couple of recent interviews with Adam Robinson. One of the many significant points made was why Adam (who does a lot of strategic investing and money managing) loves it when people observe, "That doesn't make sense," such as when interest rates or the markets move in an unexpected direction or when Trump was winning primaries despite saying outlandish things that would have torpedoed other campaigns.

But the fact is, pretty much everything in life makes sense. The problem is that what happens doesn't always fit our personal model of social or economic behavior. The challenge is to figure out why something seeming outlandish does, in fact, make sense. Do that and you're going to hit it big. So when people say, "That doesn't make any sense," a big opportunity looms.

Perhaps not profound but I've been mulling this over all weekend.

[falafel]

Podcast Central

Gimlet is launching a bunch of new podcasts lately. I've listened to a few that I would recommend.

Startup. This one may not be new. I can't tell. Anyway, the current season follows American Apparel's ex-CEO Dov Charney as he attempts to build a new t-shirt and apparel company based in the American Apparel formula. Dov is a fascinating guy. Recommended.

Homecoming. This is a totally new type of podcast. Or maybe it's a totally old one. It's a scripted fiction story that aims to fill the "high end" podcast market. It casts real movie stars in the roles, including Catherine Keener, Oscar Isaac, David Schwimmer, David Cross and Amy Sedaris. It tells the story of an experimental government program designed to help veterans assimilate back into civilian life. I'm only one episode in, but so far it's very well done. Recommended.

Here's a write up about it.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.vanit...mer-gimlet/amp