{"id":2346,"date":"2017-01-28T16:35:20","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T00:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/?p=2346"},"modified":"2017-01-28T16:35:20","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T00:35:20","slug":"podcasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/?p=2346","title":{"rendered":"Podcasts!"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a while at the new gig<\/a>, I had an office far from people I knew and from windows – the glass artifacts, not the operating system.\u00a0 To keep my sanity, I started listening to a lot of podcasts.\u00a0 Partially that was just to hear some voices, but I have come to enjoy many of then on their own merits.\u00a0 Here are a few of my favorites that you might like, too.<\/p>\n

This American Life<\/a> is a groundbreaking radio journalism show that also podcasts its content.\u00a0 That’s not an unusual state of affairs, and several of the podcasts I listen to either have radio show roots or are ongoing shows. This American Life<\/em> is many things, but the attraction for me is its powerful commitment to both tireless research and immersion in stories and in their innovative and powerful storytelling techniques.\u00a0 The commitment to getting to the core of the story is enough of a reason love them.\u00a0 Any of their work during the<\/a> election<\/a>, on refugees<\/a>, or on education<\/a> (especially in Chicago<\/a>) is insightful.\u00a0 Most telling is the one time the staff felt that they had to retract a story<\/a>. Listening to how embarrassed and angry they are at themselves and at the intensity of the mea culpa<\/em> they issue – they essentially turn the full focus of their considerable investigative prowess themselves – made me understand the standards they hold themselves to.\u00a0 Since that show, their fact checking has been well beyond what normal humans would consider sufficient.<\/p>\n

The other key thing about This American Life is the caliber of their communications skills: they tell a great story.\u00a0 Those skills not only make this show powerful, but has spawned a progeny that addresses a stunning array of topics aiming for the same compelling and illuminating power.<\/p>\n

Planet Money<\/a> explains economics and the economy using the powerful storytelling techniques of This American Life<\/em>. The lineage here is direct.\u00a0 Some of Planet Money<\/em>‘s founders were key players in This American Life<\/em>.\u00a0 The podcast itself grew out of a This American Life episode<\/a>. They do their progenitors proud.\u00a0 Almost every episode has something worth listening to, but these<\/a> two<\/a> recent episodes will tell you if Planet Money is for you, though they’ve also done some projects<\/a> worth looking at.<\/p>\n

Welcome to Night Vale<\/a> is a horse of a different color.\u00a0 From everything.\u00a0 It’s one of those pieces of art that sounds ridiculous when you describe it, but it is its own macabre, poetic, comical, romantic thing.\u00a0 Try a few and you’ll know if it’s for you.<\/p>\n

Night Vale<\/em> has also produced several very different children.\u00a0 All of these are original and solid, though only Within The Wires<\/a> speaks to me. It’s one of those pieces of art that blindsided me completely.\u00a0 One episode was light and comical and the next showed me how much these characters had come to breathe, even though I’d had only the smallest hole through which to see them.\u00a0 Try it.<\/p>\n

Off-Ramp<\/a> is John Rabe’s rambling, insightful, penetrating, light-hearted romance with southern California.\u00a0 He has a boundless curiosity and takes significant delight in bringing local stories from the sprawling metroplex of LA to that community. He’s led me to art shows, restaurants and injustices in my adopted home with a smile and a wink (where appropriate).\u00a0 It’s something of a shaggy dog, but it has such personality that I think of the show as a weekly must.<\/p>\n

Reply All<\/a> is a show about the Internet.\u00a0 Like soylent green, the Internet is people. From that vague jumping off point they find stories of humor<\/a>, terror<\/a>, and passion<\/a> that cannot be missed.\u00a0 They also try some innovative<\/a> things<\/a>. Another must.<\/p>\n

The Memory Palace<\/a> is a site full of poetic history.\u00a0 Nate DiMeo constructs these short, evocative gems about people great and small.\u00a0 Pick one up and try it out.<\/p>\n

Here Be Monsters<\/a> is an emerging favorite. Ostensibly about fear and the unknown, it covers a broad range of subjects.\u00a0 I’ve just started listening to it, so I don’t know if I’m just hitting a strong streak or not.\u00a0 If you try these, try a few and get the feeling of the range.<\/p>\n

There are more, but I’m going to stop here for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a while at the new gig, I had an office far from people I knew and from windows – the glass artifacts, not the operating system.\u00a0 To keep my sanity, I started listening to a lot of podcasts.\u00a0 Partially that was just to hear some voices, but I have come to enjoy many of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff-i-saw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2347,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions\/2347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}