JCC Where's the Subscribe Button? A Podcast Discussion Thread!

I don't listen to a whole ton, I've got the NPR standards, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Fresh Air, sometimes Car Talk. Radiolab and the How Stuff Works ones (Stuff You Missed in History Class and Stuff Mom Never Told You) can be hit or miss for me, but I'll listen to an episode if it sounds particularly interesting or people are talking about it a lot.

Welcome to Night Vale - a fictional community bulletin from a town where strange things happen. The best description I've heard of it is that it's like Stephen King writing the News from Lake Wobegon. Pretty much.

Your Stupid Minds - a couple of my friends from college make this. They watch really terrible, low-budget, usually genre movies and talk about them.

 

might check this out. most of the movie ones i've tried out are pretty terrible.

 

It's one of the longest episodes, but the episode on Cool Dog is really hilarious. Also, a terrible classic, M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender.

I'm checking out this "We're Alive" zombie one. Sounds similar to the Zombies, Run! running/game app I have, but I won't have to be working out to listen to it, so, bonus.

 

You'll want to add Wiretap to this list.

 

The author of this was recently interviewed by Amy Dallen on the Geek & Sundry VLOGS. Sounds interesting.

 

I didn't get into them my self until I switched to the iPhone a few years ago. Now I have a stable of regular ones I save up and listen to when I'm running errands, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, etc.

- I'll third How Did This Get Made. The perfect podcast for people who love bad movies. Their live shows are a great place to start. I'd personally go with Over The Top or Gymkata.

- Mysterious Universe. Good if you're into UFOs, Ghosts, the Supernatural.

- Radiolab. It's... you'll just have to check it out for your self. Saw their live show in Columbus a few months ago. A lot of fun.

- James Bonding. A really fun retrospective of the Bond series.

 

Ah, yes, Ender Sai, you speak, of course, of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. I've heard just the one episode, on the Spanish-American War, but it was riveting and fascinating. I've downloaded the most recent one, but I haven't listened to it yet.

Yeah, How Did This Get Made? is a wonderful movie podcast. I recommend Nothing But Trouble and The Devil's Advocate as two really great episodes. And, as previously stated, Filmspotting is a fantastic movie podcast for those who like serious discussion of film that isn't pretentious.

Well, the problem with your logic is that this is basically true of all mediums now. You mention self-published books; how many people put their own crappy music online or shoot really horrible cheapo movies and put them online? There's no mandatory professional oversight for any medium currently. So I stand by my statement.

 

Yeah so, Hardcore History by Dan Carlin.

Carlin's a journalist, a political journalist to be precise but crucially, he's not a historian. He's a history enthusiast. This offers tremendous advantage because firstly, he knows how important pacing and prose are for connecting with an audience. Secondly, because he knows how to research and research well.

The show is typically a 2 hour affair with a handful of episodes supporting a given topic. For example, two excellent series in the podcast are "Wrath of the Khans", which is about 5 episodes or 10 hours long. I knew very little about the Khanate and how Temujin and his people dominated the world - that is to say, I was aware of their reputation as fierce warriors but little more. The podcasts were instructive in that regard.

Another excellent series (looking at you here GrandAdmiralJello) was a 5 part series on the fall of the Roman Republic.

If you're wanting a taste, there's two routes. I started with Wrath of the Khans and loved it; I've since re-listened to the series. So you could start there, or you could grab one of the one offs. Prophets of Doom is about how, following Martin Luther's translation of the Bible into vernacular German, you saw the uprising of the Anabaptists in Munster in Germany under Jan van Liden.

The American Peril is the episode that Rogue refers to above; it covers the US/Spanish conflict over Cuba and how humanitarian and imperialist intentions collide. Paints a delightful picture of what a little **** Teddy Roosevelt truly was.

Logical Insanity talks about decisions made in war that defy logic outside of that particular time, mostly in the context of the nuclear attacks on Japan.

Thor's Angels is about Franks and Goths from Roman times to the dark ages.

Radical Thoughts is about how radical ideas capture attention and gain traction in public discourse.

Now bear in mind these come out every three months or so, so going through the back catalogue is not going to conflict with staying current. The most recent episode, which dropped about a fortnight ago, is about the Great War.

 

Mmm, that Logical Insanity sounds really great. I'm gonna have to get that one.

Do you listen at all to Common Sense, Ender? I've heard a couple of those episodes. I really liked the one I heard about the chances of a genuine constitutional crisis happening (Carlin, not surprisingly, hopes it does at some point). They're like half an hour or so and about current political issues.

Carlin's just a compelling individual. It's amazing that it's so fascinating to just listen to him talk, but he really grabs your attention.

 

I find that good journalists are amazing writers. Ian Fleming's punchy prose was due to his training as a journalist; and in the modern context the guys who stand out to me in this field would be Mark Bowden and Malcolm Gladwell. They understand how to communicate, which is such a crucial skill that we take for granted.

 

yeah that's it - carlin's hardcore history. i am almost finished with the rome stuff. really great.

 

I just started on James Bonding, based on the above. Fun so far, but they like Roger Moore. Roger Moore was the worst Bond.

 

i wish i could punch a hole through roger moore's face.

 

The two podcasts I listen to on a regular basis:

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Since following the world of politics (especially local politics) & sports are among my top passions in life, these 2 podcasts greatly fill my listening time. I've been a fan of each for almost a decade now (in particular with Simmons as a writer before The B.S. Report began), though of course with the John & Ken Show on KFI, I'll occasionally listen to the live radio broadcast.

 

Well at least he's aware that he's the worst Bond.

 

Don't do that. Don't defend him. duende is right to want to punch a hole in his old, old face and in fact should aim to punch three or more holes.

 

I'm no huge sports fan, but the B.S. Report is one I've listened to on occasion. A recent episode he did with Alex Gibney, director of the new documentary about Lance Armstrong, The Armstrong Lie, was really, really interesting. I really want to see that movie now.

Also, I intend to post little write-ups in this thread too; I hope everyone will keep talking about their favorites and episodes they're listening to, but I also hope maybe I can recommend some that you guys might be interested in. For example, here's post one.



12 Byzantine Rulers: A History of the Byzantine Empire
Studio: Lars Brownworth
Category: History

What It Is
Lars Brownworth is a historian who’s written several books, including one called Lost to the West that focuses on the Byzantine Empire, which, according to Brownworth has been overlooked in historical scholarship and is basically one big patch of ignorance for the average person. In this podcast, Brownworth picks twelve of the Byzantine Emperors and discusses one to an episode (except for a couple that stretch out over multiple episodes). In this manner, over eighteen episodes (plus a nineteenth episode/teaser for another series he’s done called Norman Centuries), he takes us through the fascinating history of the Byzantine Empire.

Technical Details
Episodes run between fifteen and thirty minutes. The podcast is decidedly no frills; the entire thing is simply narrated straight up, in the form of a lecture. No sound effects, no music, no dramatics, not even an opening theme. The podcast is complete, nineteen episodes in length.

What About It
Yeah, you need to download this and listen to it. Brownworth is an engaging lecturer, with an accessible, warm style. He captures both the human characteristics of the people he’s talking about and the interesting historical events of the period. The podcasts aren’t exactly short sometimes, but in each episode, the end surprised me; it never seemed like I’d been listening to it long enough for it to be over. At the end of a few painless hours of listening to a guy tell interesting stories, you’ll be more knowledgeable about a significant period of history than probably anyone you know. That would be a win.

Essential If
You’re interested in history at all.

Avoid like the Plague If
This happens to be your specialty. More than likely, you’ll find Brownworth’s style frustrating since he’s moving at a rapid pace and therefore not going into detail. You’ll probably just get angry over all the stuff he’s leaving out. God, we all know how history majors are *cough*Zaz*cough*.

Best Entry Point
Here’s an easy one. Download episode one, Introduction. Then . . . well, you know how to count.

Next time, it’s an award winning podcast that I didn’t care for at all. It’s defunct and, in my opinion, deservedly so.

 

But then duende will be charged with murder, and we simply don't want that do we?

 

i suppose i could just punch him so hard that he pups his depends, then tear that sucker off, scoop up some pup handfuls and scrub it into his face real good. humiliating and definitely non-fatal. unless he has a coronary in the process.

 

Ender Sai, you been listening to Hardcore History and this Countdown to Armageddon series on World War I? I'm about halfway through the latest one (which is part three, I think?). God, that's grim stuff. It's very nearly too bleak and painful to listen to. What are your thoughts?

 

I've listened to all the Countdown to Armageddon ones to date. It is heavy going, but I knew much of this beforehand - Australia's involvement in WWI is hugely important to us culturally, you see. Though I did like that Carlin's neighbor growing up, when asked who the toughest soldiers were, responded "the British in general, and the Australians specifically".

It's much less emotional for me as a podcast than James Bonding, in which I range from incredulous to angry to annoyed.

 

i've been listening to dr. drew's podcast lately. i love that guy.

 

YAY PODCASTS!

So the ones I currently have:

Rich Eisen Podcast: I literally grew up on him on NFL network, plus I love football. He genuinely hilarious.
The Cracked Podcast: SOOOOOO many things they discuss are just fun to listen to and they have David Wong up there often; those are my personal favorites.
The Guy Code Podcast: Humor mainly
Bill Maher's Real Time Podcast: Essentially just his shows but just the audio. I don't like him, but it's my way of just hearing what's going on in the realm of partisan politics.
EconTalk: Its verrrryyy boring compared to Freakonomics, but if you can get like 20 minutes in, its very educational.
Hello Internet: CGP Grey and Brady Harlan(Director of the Numberphile video on youtube, I think) Its basically just them talking about their personal views on things. It can be humorous, but there's not a strong focus on the topics. Its literally them just talking to each other, but they are both very knowledgeable so you can learn some random things you didn't know about.
The Economist and Freakonomics are just golden. They need no explanation.

 

So, Matt Mira is an idiot on the James Bonding podcast. I've never heard someone be so confidently wrong, so often. But of course, I still listen to the damn thing religiously.

 

I really want to check it out, but I can't bring myself to download it without knowing the set up. How does it usually go and is it the least bit funny?