Bestest Friend and I are doing a podcast project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the eighteenth day of the month is "Winner."
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What are the best podcast episodes I've listened to in the last month? It turns out that they're all from some of my old favorite podcasts and that a lot of them made me cry. Here you go.
I know I keep talking about how great The Memory Palace is, but that's because it IS. Nate Dimeo is a storytelling genius. I don't know how he does these short (10-15 minutes!) episodes that make me want to cry at the end of them. "The Six Triple Eight" is another homerun episode for me. Nate doesn't like to give a lot of information about his episodes, but I think I can tell you it's all about a military unit of black women who delivered mail. But it's beautiful.
Likewise, I have talked about Ear Hustle on this blog so many times that you are probably all rolling your eyes. But the episode "Once You're in the Ocean, You're Going Everywhere" was so incredibly hard to listen to. The prison population is aging and that's true for men AND women. In this episode, they interview some women who are seventy or older about their experiences living in prison and it was absolutely heartbreaking. But definitely worth a listen.
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| Illustration by T. Rusty Nunes |
I feel like telling people to listen to The Daily is like telling people that the National Football League shows games on Sunday, but here we are. I recently listened to an older episode from March 2021 called "The Lonely Death of George Bell" that goes through step by step of what happens when someone dies without a clear will or heir in New York City. I found it to be eye-opening. The role and function of government is wide-reaching and total, friends, and if you don't pay attention to local politics, I don't know how you can sleep at night.
From the folks who brought the hilarious Let's Make a Sci-Fi and Let's Make a Rom-Com comes Let's Make a Horror just in time for the spooky season. Not all of the episodes have dropped yet, but what we have here are three Canadian comedy writers trying to write a horror short. It's such a great look into the process of writing and creating and working in teams. Honestly, it's just great fun to listen to, too.
And, in the spirt of the spooky season, I'd also like to direct your attention to "Haunted Housing Market" from Imaginary Worlds in which the host makes and incredibly argument that haunted house movies are all about the fear/stress of home ownership. It was such an interesting theory about the haunted house genre that I'd never heard before!
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What's something great I should listen to? I take music and podcast recommendations very seriously.
Your first two sound very interesting. When I first started getting into podcasts, I used to listen to two NPR series (they were the main podcasting option at the time!) that are no longer around, but you can listen to the replays! I remember sitting on the plane listening to an episode of Hearing Voices about the AIDS epidemic. It is a recording of an African girl and it was so heartbreaking that I cried on the plane. Here is the link: https://beta.prx.org/stories/192062
ReplyDeleteI used to also listen to Story Corps, which was hosted by NPR and often made me cry. It looks like its no longer hosted by NPR but can be found here: https://storycorps.org/discover/ I was especially touched by the stories told by the older generation about their lives, love lost and people that have passed through their lives. I can't find the specific episode that I remember really getting to me though...
As far as modern stuff goes, I mostly listen to financial podcasts, adventure podcasts and of course...The Moth. I can give you recommendations on the first two but those are pretty niche, but definitely check out The Moth if you have not already!
Oh, The Moth! I used to listen a lot, but the stories were so hit and miss and the horrible violin music used to make me want to cry. I wish there was a place that reviewed Moth stories with a "worth listening to," "okay," and "skip it" rating.
DeleteI'm adding the AIDS Diary episode to my playlist. Did you know they did a follow-up episode with that girl's daughter?
I did not know that! I will have to go and check it out!
DeleteThe podcasts I love, I do not think you would love them. In fact, I don't think you would like them at all. But I have listened to some that really spoke to me lately - they are all the pods I normally listen to, but some of them have just that little bit of OOOMPH in the last two weeks. My favourites - again, not recommending these to you, just conversing - are the Deep Dive, Forever 35, Were You Raised By Wolves, Jiffy Pop Culture.
ReplyDeleteWe do not have the same podcast taste, but that's the beauty of podcasts! There's something for everyone and that is amazing. I hope that we continue to be able to access all these podcasts in the future and they don't all go behind paywalls because it feels like the golden age of podcasting.
DeleteI'm finding myself less and less into podcasts. I want to like them, but I feel letdown after I listen to them so I kind of ignore them. I do still like Everything is Fine, conversations between the hosts and a guest that are direct and funny and informative.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I think you feel the way about podcasts that I feel about television. It's never as satisfying as I want.
DeleteI just haven't been able to get into podcasts, but I want to give The Memory Palace a try, especially as it is short (and I could do with a good cry).
ReplyDeleteOh, The Memory Palace is beautiful. It's short, too, so if you don't like it, you can take yourself right out of there.
DeleteYou wouldn't like my podcasts- we have VERY different tastes! I'm interested in Maya's comment above- there are so many different types of podcasts- interviews, storytelling, pop culture- I can't help feeling that there's a podcast for everyone! And they're free! Podcasts are incredible.
ReplyDeletePodcasts ARE incredibly. The diversity of topics is always so stunning to me. Want to listen to something about running. There's a podcast for that. Crime scene cleanup? There's a podcast for that. A recap of your favorite show? There's a podcast for that. People chatting about other podcasts? There's a podcast for that. People talking about what it was like growing up in a war zone? There's a podcast for that. AMAZING.
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