February 18, 2018

-
THE LIST

1. This American Life - "Rom Com"
Romantic comedies. Love them or hate them, this genre of film may be the main source of propagating relationship standards idealized by some and loathed by others. In reality, love doesn't come wrapped in a perfect story arc where the protagonist finds bliss at the 11th hour. But are there people all around us who have experienced movie-ready moments in their own lives? Yes. With an emphasis on the "com." And This American Life is here to share them with us.

2. The Dollop - "The Rube"
Before the rise of football and professional wrestling, baseball was the dominating force when it came to capturing the surliest personalities in sports. Regularly showing up drunk was among the least insane things Rube Wadell did during a span of time where he out-pitched Cy Young. Yes, the Cy Young whose name adorns the award for the season's best pitching. The Dollop hits a sweet spot of quirky history and hilarious commentary in this episode about a person you've probably never heard of, whose life could and should provide the source material for a movie.

3. On the Media - "Blame It On The Alcohol"
Alcohol, like coffee, is one of the most widely accepted social drugs in the world. And despite the real danger it poses to hundreds if not thousands of people, society seems to acclimated to a relationship that could at least be described as largely-not-fatal. It likely wont surprise you that it has not always been thus. From some fraught conflating of alcohol content levels between drinks, to the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, and even the story of a pioneer seeking to create an alcohol substitute, this episode encapsulates the spirit of socializing-while-poisoning through the ages. 

HONORABLE MENTION
Radiolab - "Smarty Plants"
The Allusionist - "Hey"

SOMETHING NEW

Sometimes a storyteller seeks to overlay a narrative onto a situation where there really isn't one (see last week's review of the first podcast from The Onion to see this impulse harshly satirized). There are certain topics, such as sports or crime, that more easily lend themselves to such a gambit. Just watch any athlete profile run during the Olympic coverage, and you'll surely encounter a meteoric rise met with a challenge that can only be toppled by winning a medal. But what happens when you take the keen eye of a gumshoe and train it on the idea of love, the most amorphous of all mysteries? That's the question at the heart of This Is Love, a new offering from Radiotopia that premiered on Valentine's Day.

Phoebe Judge helms the ship in this new series, after establishing herself as the host of the exquisite podcast Criminal (also from Radiotopia). That show is certainly one of the best true-crime anythings out there - book, docudrama, miniseries, or podcast - but it does still benefit from the structure inherent in the mysterious unraveling of a heinous event in many episodes. Judge's distinctive vocal stylings contain the proper amount of gravitas reserved for varying levels of criminality, and I'll admit that hearing her tell any story automatically sends me bracing for a measure of brutality. But thankfully, at least in the first and only episode released to date, This Is Love is more about revealing the origin and arc of a story that is mostly pleasant. Well, at least averagely pleasant in the scope of human tragedy (no spoilers!).

The real joy in the story is the confirmation Judge has already shown in the myriad of themes tackled in Criminal: she's got mad range! I am now deeply compelled to yearn for a This is Basketball podcast or even something like This is Local Government.  Any topic tackled with the poise of Judge's empathetic-yet-incisive tenor and slick stylings of producer Lauren Spohrer would be music to my ears. Love is certain to be just as deep a subject for exploration with crime, even if the specific stories might be a bit more difficult to track down. The inaugural episode shows promise that it might extend beyond the planned six-episode series already in the bag, something I'd heartily endorse.

This Is Love
From: Radiotopia
Recommended for: Lovers, friends, voyeuristic wall-flowers
Drop Schedule: Wednesday, Seasonal:Weekly
Average episode length: 30 minutes
Rating: Gotta Have It

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

November 11, 2018

-
THE LIST 1. Decoder Ring  - "The Incunabula Papers" Yes, this was my number one pick last week. And yes, I did listen to it again this week, in part for  my review of Decoder Ring  for Podcast Review (a channel of the LA Review of Books ), but also because it is very good. It's an exceptional episode of an incredible show, and intrepid listening leads to the revelation of a secret episode. Try to solve the puzzle yourself, or appeal to the power of the Reddit hivemind for the link. 2. Reply All  - "The Snapchat Thief" No doubt you've heard that securing your digital identity is incredibly important. But you might still not be completely compelled to do anything to protect yourself. What's that? You need a vivid narrative to spur you to act? This is it. A podcast host puts a lot on the line to foster a meeting between a scared teen and the thief that preyed on her. 3. Planet Money  - "Hot Dog Hail Mary" Why are prices so hig
Read more

July 7, 2019

-
SOMETHING NEW Born from the hosting team that brought you the branded podcast Breach , So, Bob is a podcast that informs and entertains with episodes surrounding internet surveillance and privacy. Alia Tavakolian and Bob Sullivan head up this Spoke Media show, and together create a sense of wonder to accompany an equal sense of dread about the trappings of our increasingly technological world. The hosting combo provides the perspective of an eager and well-informed millennial who nonetheless admits she has a lot to learn, and a battleworn tech journalist who possesses a guarded but healthy optimism about the state of the change in the world. So, Bob takes a layman centered approach, placing the concerns of the average user in the forefront to guide case studies seeking to understand whether tech is good or evil. This is the right question, albeit one that trends towards the same answer in every case: it depends on how the tech is being implemented and dissected. Before jo
Read more

November 5, 2018

-
THE LIST 1. Decoder Ring  - "The Incunabula Papers" Through her years as a television critic for Slate, Willa Paskin has developed an impressive critical eye. Now she has her own unique take on cultural criticism in podcast form. As the host of Decoder Ring, Paskin and producer Benjamin Frisch examine integral aspects of cultural that escape the bounds of a traditional review. On "The Incunabula Papers," the most ambitious episode to date and one of the most intriguing podcast episodes of 2018, the duo diabolically writes and executes a mesmerizing crossover from straightforward audio reporting to performative auteurism. The episode is about the original alternate reality game (ARG), and it really drives home the idea that crafting such a thing is a new form of literary art.  2. Breach  - "Midterm Election Special" Our voting system is susceptible to hacking in ways you may and may not have considered, and the duo behind Breach highlights th
Read more