The Pod Piper

Alright,  a couple weeks into 2021 and I've finally got my 2020 retrospective ready. It's nothing too special, just an accounting of my year of listening and a glimpse into my encounters with a tiny slice of the larger podcast universe. I allocate most episodes a score for Novelty, Grip Factor, Import and Fun before adding those up to a composite score. (I say most because I exclude daily pods or weekly discussion-based shows that I've deemed to be of generally consistent quality and thus unnecessary to rank) The headers below are broken down by the shows which received the best ratings in each category. Top episodes by Category Composite: This American Life - "Twenty Five" Novelty: Planet Money - "Sell Me Your Climate Bombs" Grip Factor:  99% Invisible - "Valley of the Fallen" Import: Flash Forward - "POWER: Mothers Against Digital Danger" Fun:  Book of Basketball 2.0 - "The Genius of Bill Russell Highest Ranked Show by Category...

I’ve had something slated to go out for a couple weeks now, but kept putting it off while working on ye olde spreadsheet (my annual accounting of the best music I heard in the year that was). It was mostly re-run This American Life episodes, and while I stand by the recs it feels a little stale for the moment. One episode, however, resonates with this moment and deserves a re-listen - Still Processing’s “Sweet, Sweet Fantasies, Baby.” It dropped in mid-November 2020, but it could have come out any time in the last four years. The main takeaway? We talk about the American myth, but it's really an American fantasy. I can’t say that listening to this made me understand the people on the other side of the disconnect between two Americas, but it provides a helpful framing device. Maybe, especially, now that democracy is passé and we can all just break into the capitol if we aren’t happy and be told we’re special. Perhaps in the coming weeks I'll put together some sort of year i...