January 1 - 14, 2017
1. The Cracked Podcast - "The 80s: Our Most Bizarre Decade (Is Happening Again)"
This episode that dropped in the wee morning hours of 2017 reminded me what endeared me to The Cracked Podcast - comedic, insightful commentary on familiar cultural entity. The target on this episode is 1980's culture, with a large amount of time dedicated to a wild take on the TV show Saved By The Bell. There is also a lot of political and broader societal critique wrapped into the episode amidst whispers of regression on the eve of a new administration in the US.
2. Happier with Gretchen Rubin - "The One Minute Rule"
I passed on this show after briefly sampling it last spring, but just this week I binge-listened to seven episodes. The 20-minute installments make the show very palatable and the content of each episode moves briskly enough to convey valuable information concisely. Rubin has recently announced a new imprint of shows on Panoply (so far just two in addition to Happier) and I'll be interested to see how this network develops and grows.
3. Love and Radio - "Blink Once for Yes"
The framework at the center of this episode - a man interviewing family members about the death of his brother - would be enough to qualify for fodder of any number of narrative storytelling podcasts. But the intimacy the man achieves lands it squarely in the Love and Radio camp, capturing a tragic tale with somewhat eerie circumstances. It was a little hard to believe at times that this sort of investigatory documentation was possible for someone so close to the subject, but I'd also find it hard to swallow if any kind of outsider had this kind of access.
4. This American Life - "Didn't We Solve This One?"
While it's not exactly uplifting, "Didn't We Solve This One?" is quite timely in the week swollen with news coverage detailing how to cover Trump. The issue of immigration is always politicized and seemingly overly complicated, but sometimes there is a complexity that people on all sides fail to grasp. Ira and co. brought that story to life, and made me feel a bit of despair about trusting the government (any government) to do the right thing.
This episode that dropped in the wee morning hours of 2017 reminded me what endeared me to The Cracked Podcast - comedic, insightful commentary on familiar cultural entity. The target on this episode is 1980's culture, with a large amount of time dedicated to a wild take on the TV show Saved By The Bell. There is also a lot of political and broader societal critique wrapped into the episode amidst whispers of regression on the eve of a new administration in the US.
2. Happier with Gretchen Rubin - "The One Minute Rule"
I passed on this show after briefly sampling it last spring, but just this week I binge-listened to seven episodes. The 20-minute installments make the show very palatable and the content of each episode moves briskly enough to convey valuable information concisely. Rubin has recently announced a new imprint of shows on Panoply (so far just two in addition to Happier) and I'll be interested to see how this network develops and grows.
3. Love and Radio - "Blink Once for Yes"
The framework at the center of this episode - a man interviewing family members about the death of his brother - would be enough to qualify for fodder of any number of narrative storytelling podcasts. But the intimacy the man achieves lands it squarely in the Love and Radio camp, capturing a tragic tale with somewhat eerie circumstances. It was a little hard to believe at times that this sort of investigatory documentation was possible for someone so close to the subject, but I'd also find it hard to swallow if any kind of outsider had this kind of access.
4. This American Life - "Didn't We Solve This One?"
While it's not exactly uplifting, "Didn't We Solve This One?" is quite timely in the week swollen with news coverage detailing how to cover Trump. The issue of immigration is always politicized and seemingly overly complicated, but sometimes there is a complexity that people on all sides fail to grasp. Ira and co. brought that story to life, and made me feel a bit of despair about trusting the government (any government) to do the right thing.
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