![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Podcasts
...I guess if I'm actually attempting to make a podcast I should finally do that "podcasts I listen to" post I've been meaning to make, huh?
So here are the podcasts I currently listen to regularly, in case anyone is looking for interesting podcasts:
Monster Talk: Skeptical podcast focusing on legends of creatures and similar things - cryptozoology, ghost hunting, Gef the talking mongoose, etc. Usually has on a 'guest expert' (who has recently published a book...) and is about half and half the regular hosts talking about the topic among themselves and talking with the guest. Updates 1-2 times a month on an irregular schedule with 60-90 minutes of content. (I tend to listen to these while camping, because they are spooky but also made of SCIENCE.) Has the distinction of being an organized-skepticism outlet with a female voice as one of the regulars. Uh... if you prefer not to approach goulies and psychics and stuff from a hard science POV, this one may not be for you, although this one tends to be pretty sympathetic toward believers, as hard skepticism goes?
Skeptics with a K: Biweekly skepticism show, consisting of three guys from a local skeptics group in Liverpool, England, chatting about recent occurances relevant to skepticism. 60-90 minute episodes on a very regular schedule. Does a lot of discussion of coverage of science and statistics in the media, fails to ever take itself seriously, although it takes its science very seriously. Honestly this one's a bit too hard-line skeptic even for me, sometimes: they too often fall into the trap of mocking things that seem like flimflam without actually doing the research, and they're more on the actively anti-religion side of that debate. They are, however, very good at admitting it when they've screwed something up, and they really really push thinking for yourself and not just going by what's in the media, especially in their podcast. This one's fun but I'm loyal to it mostly because I have never been on a device that had an internet connect where it wouldn't stream off their website, not even the library computers where nearly everything is locked down. (The website has two other podcasts, but the panel show one is so irregular it's hardly worth looking for, and the 'let's sit down and listen with an open mind to someone we disagree with' hits my embarrassment squick too hard - not because of anything they do, but because the guests are usually just so wrong.)
Caustic Soda: Three guys from Canada sitting around and sharing weird facts about a weird, gross, scary, bloody, dangerous or creepy topic every week. Episodes of about one hour on a strictly regular schedule. If you're the sort of person who likes, say, QI, you would probably like this one. They don't even pretend to know anything about the topic, they just find it interesting. Sometimes have on 'expert' guests, but they're friends of the show, not people trying to sell books. For once. Also they did a capella in college together, so sometimes they break into song.
The Bugle: Audio Newspaper for a Visual World : Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver's transatlantic weekly current events satire show. Weekly episodes of about 60 min; unfortunately takes frequent hiatuses that usually line up when the Daily Show is off air. Terrible puns, things that look like penises, meandering metaphors, and complete bullshit a specialty. If you like the Daily Show but would prefer something that is a) less US-centered, and b) even less serious, this is for you. This is seriously the only news show I regularly partake of these days, which is why I often know more about what's going on in Italian politics than American politics. I feel this is good for my emotional health overall, really.
Tetrapodcats: A spinoff of Darren Naish's Tetrapod Zoology blog, featuring him talking about whatever vaguely zoology-related topic is currently interesting him, with John Conway playing straight man/person to explain things to/person keeping things on topic. 60-120 minute episodes every few weeks or so. Have no idea how it would play to someone who doesn't read both scientific papers and cryptozoology books for fun, but is probably my favorite podcast right now. Fairly new, so not a lot of archives yet, unfortunately.
/ report: Rageprufrock and mklutz's fandom podcast. Regular weekly episodes of 60 to 90 minutes in season, with long season breaks (which is why they're currently trying hiatus episodes.) Sound quality sometimes iffy compared to the above. Basically just a varying group of fanpeople sitting around every week and chatting about a different fandom or fandom-relevant thing every week. May enrage you if you don't like the kind of fandom that Pru and mk do, but I enjoy it because it basically feels like being able to go to an in-person slash meetup every week. Sometimes get a bit behind because I won't listen to it in public or at work.
Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap: In which Ursula Vernon (the artist) and her husband Kevin (the Lutheran) spend one night a week recording themselves eating and rating a bunch of dubious and strange pre-packed convenience food items that they have either picked up various places or been sent by fans. Regular weekly episodes of 45 to 60 minutes, with some breaks. The title is somewhat false advertising, as most of the stuff they try isn't actually all that cheap, but it is definitely all very processed. If /report is like sitting in on an in-person slash gathering in someone's living room , KUEC is like getting to sit in the green room at a big fandom con and listen to all the old con veterans trying to horrify each other. Don't listen to it if you are planning to eat any time soon. Or have a weak stomach. I generally save this one up and listen to it batches when I'm doing a long hike or marathon cleaning day or something.
Polyamory Weekly is "a podcast about responsible non-monogamy from a kink-friendly, pansexual point of view", more-or-less set up as an advice column format, although she'll often vary the format. Regular weekly episodes of 60-90 minutes. As someone who has no plans to take part in any RL sexuality communities any time soon, I value this as a good window in what's actually going on in the RL community. It's a sex advice show that takes the same sort of 'anything goes' view of sexuality as fandom does, but tempers it with a good strong dose of reality, which is great. Occasionally has some sound quality issues, especially when there are guests. Another one I tend to listen to in batches, although mostly because whenever I listen to it I immediately want to drop whatever fanproject I'm working on and just write more poly Avengers fic. :P
Special mentions:
Welcome to Night Vale: Weird local community radio show. Regular weekly episodes of 25 minutes. ...which we have all heard of, right? I'm a bunch of episodes behind on this one, and tbh I probably wouldn't be listening to it still if not for the active fandom keeping me in it, but, well... the fandom. It's not that I dislike it, it's just really not my usual sort of thing for podcasts, as you can probably tell.
BBC Radio 4 Comedy : the British radio's region-free online streaming. Since it's streaming, not downloading, and the player tends to be tetchy about playing on some computers, I don't listen to this as much as the others, but there's half-a-dozen shows I follow if they happen to be up when I need something to listen to: the News Quiz, the Now Show, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, and the Unbelievable Truth being the main ones; sometimes I pop over to the science/documentary side of Radio 4, too.
There are quite a few American public radio shows I listen to regularly too, but i usually listen to them on the radio, so I don't have the links at hand. And a few others I listen to only when most of my regulars are on hiatus and I really need something, like the Pinkwater Podcast and Nuntii latini, the weekly news update in Classical Latin, but they're special cases.
Despite how long that list looks, I do occasionally run out of stuff to listen to, if half the shows are on hiatus and it's an off week for the others and I'm doing a lot of physical stuff where I have headphones in. Does anybody have any more recs for somebody who likes the above? Looking over what they have in common, the salient features seem to be:
1. Easy to download as .mp3 and/or stream online without needing to mess with itunes
2. Non-fiction, and in a conversational style that's basically just a bunch of smart and/or interesting people talking about interesting and/or entertaining stuff, usually with a fannish/geeky POV (even the ones up there that don't look fannish on the surface are apt to turn into intense analysis of Pacific Rim or HP Lovecraft filk or whatever at the drop of a hat.)
3. The sort of thing where I can fade out for a few minutes and then come back and not be lost or feel like I really need to rewind.
4. At least twice monthly episodes of around an hour.
5. Doesn't take itself seriously at all.
So here are the podcasts I currently listen to regularly, in case anyone is looking for interesting podcasts:
Monster Talk: Skeptical podcast focusing on legends of creatures and similar things - cryptozoology, ghost hunting, Gef the talking mongoose, etc. Usually has on a 'guest expert' (who has recently published a book...) and is about half and half the regular hosts talking about the topic among themselves and talking with the guest. Updates 1-2 times a month on an irregular schedule with 60-90 minutes of content. (I tend to listen to these while camping, because they are spooky but also made of SCIENCE.) Has the distinction of being an organized-skepticism outlet with a female voice as one of the regulars. Uh... if you prefer not to approach goulies and psychics and stuff from a hard science POV, this one may not be for you, although this one tends to be pretty sympathetic toward believers, as hard skepticism goes?
Skeptics with a K: Biweekly skepticism show, consisting of three guys from a local skeptics group in Liverpool, England, chatting about recent occurances relevant to skepticism. 60-90 minute episodes on a very regular schedule. Does a lot of discussion of coverage of science and statistics in the media, fails to ever take itself seriously, although it takes its science very seriously. Honestly this one's a bit too hard-line skeptic even for me, sometimes: they too often fall into the trap of mocking things that seem like flimflam without actually doing the research, and they're more on the actively anti-religion side of that debate. They are, however, very good at admitting it when they've screwed something up, and they really really push thinking for yourself and not just going by what's in the media, especially in their podcast. This one's fun but I'm loyal to it mostly because I have never been on a device that had an internet connect where it wouldn't stream off their website, not even the library computers where nearly everything is locked down. (The website has two other podcasts, but the panel show one is so irregular it's hardly worth looking for, and the 'let's sit down and listen with an open mind to someone we disagree with' hits my embarrassment squick too hard - not because of anything they do, but because the guests are usually just so wrong.)
Caustic Soda: Three guys from Canada sitting around and sharing weird facts about a weird, gross, scary, bloody, dangerous or creepy topic every week. Episodes of about one hour on a strictly regular schedule. If you're the sort of person who likes, say, QI, you would probably like this one. They don't even pretend to know anything about the topic, they just find it interesting. Sometimes have on 'expert' guests, but they're friends of the show, not people trying to sell books. For once. Also they did a capella in college together, so sometimes they break into song.
The Bugle: Audio Newspaper for a Visual World : Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver's transatlantic weekly current events satire show. Weekly episodes of about 60 min; unfortunately takes frequent hiatuses that usually line up when the Daily Show is off air. Terrible puns, things that look like penises, meandering metaphors, and complete bullshit a specialty. If you like the Daily Show but would prefer something that is a) less US-centered, and b) even less serious, this is for you. This is seriously the only news show I regularly partake of these days, which is why I often know more about what's going on in Italian politics than American politics. I feel this is good for my emotional health overall, really.
Tetrapodcats: A spinoff of Darren Naish's Tetrapod Zoology blog, featuring him talking about whatever vaguely zoology-related topic is currently interesting him, with John Conway playing straight man/person to explain things to/person keeping things on topic. 60-120 minute episodes every few weeks or so. Have no idea how it would play to someone who doesn't read both scientific papers and cryptozoology books for fun, but is probably my favorite podcast right now. Fairly new, so not a lot of archives yet, unfortunately.
/ report: Rageprufrock and mklutz's fandom podcast. Regular weekly episodes of 60 to 90 minutes in season, with long season breaks (which is why they're currently trying hiatus episodes.) Sound quality sometimes iffy compared to the above. Basically just a varying group of fanpeople sitting around every week and chatting about a different fandom or fandom-relevant thing every week. May enrage you if you don't like the kind of fandom that Pru and mk do, but I enjoy it because it basically feels like being able to go to an in-person slash meetup every week. Sometimes get a bit behind because I won't listen to it in public or at work.
Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap: In which Ursula Vernon (the artist) and her husband Kevin (the Lutheran) spend one night a week recording themselves eating and rating a bunch of dubious and strange pre-packed convenience food items that they have either picked up various places or been sent by fans. Regular weekly episodes of 45 to 60 minutes, with some breaks. The title is somewhat false advertising, as most of the stuff they try isn't actually all that cheap, but it is definitely all very processed. If /report is like sitting in on an in-person slash gathering in someone's living room , KUEC is like getting to sit in the green room at a big fandom con and listen to all the old con veterans trying to horrify each other. Don't listen to it if you are planning to eat any time soon. Or have a weak stomach. I generally save this one up and listen to it batches when I'm doing a long hike or marathon cleaning day or something.
Polyamory Weekly is "a podcast about responsible non-monogamy from a kink-friendly, pansexual point of view", more-or-less set up as an advice column format, although she'll often vary the format. Regular weekly episodes of 60-90 minutes. As someone who has no plans to take part in any RL sexuality communities any time soon, I value this as a good window in what's actually going on in the RL community. It's a sex advice show that takes the same sort of 'anything goes' view of sexuality as fandom does, but tempers it with a good strong dose of reality, which is great. Occasionally has some sound quality issues, especially when there are guests. Another one I tend to listen to in batches, although mostly because whenever I listen to it I immediately want to drop whatever fanproject I'm working on and just write more poly Avengers fic. :P
Special mentions:
Welcome to Night Vale: Weird local community radio show. Regular weekly episodes of 25 minutes. ...which we have all heard of, right? I'm a bunch of episodes behind on this one, and tbh I probably wouldn't be listening to it still if not for the active fandom keeping me in it, but, well... the fandom. It's not that I dislike it, it's just really not my usual sort of thing for podcasts, as you can probably tell.
BBC Radio 4 Comedy : the British radio's region-free online streaming. Since it's streaming, not downloading, and the player tends to be tetchy about playing on some computers, I don't listen to this as much as the others, but there's half-a-dozen shows I follow if they happen to be up when I need something to listen to: the News Quiz, the Now Show, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, and the Unbelievable Truth being the main ones; sometimes I pop over to the science/documentary side of Radio 4, too.
There are quite a few American public radio shows I listen to regularly too, but i usually listen to them on the radio, so I don't have the links at hand. And a few others I listen to only when most of my regulars are on hiatus and I really need something, like the Pinkwater Podcast and Nuntii latini, the weekly news update in Classical Latin, but they're special cases.
Despite how long that list looks, I do occasionally run out of stuff to listen to, if half the shows are on hiatus and it's an off week for the others and I'm doing a lot of physical stuff where I have headphones in. Does anybody have any more recs for somebody who likes the above? Looking over what they have in common, the salient features seem to be:
1. Easy to download as .mp3 and/or stream online without needing to mess with itunes
2. Non-fiction, and in a conversational style that's basically just a bunch of smart and/or interesting people talking about interesting and/or entertaining stuff, usually with a fannish/geeky POV (even the ones up there that don't look fannish on the surface are apt to turn into intense analysis of Pacific Rim or HP Lovecraft filk or whatever at the drop of a hat.)
3. The sort of thing where I can fade out for a few minutes and then come back and not be lost or feel like I really need to rewind.
4. At least twice monthly episodes of around an hour.
5. Doesn't take itself seriously at all.