GregHowley.com

Too Many Podcasts

May 12, 2017 -

I've been realizing recently that I've got more podcasts in my feed than I can realistically listen to, so I've begun judging them by their titles and descriptions, and unfairly deleting many before I've listened. But I thought I could share some of them here. I checked the archive, and it's been six years since my last podcast roundup.

  • Warmachine podcasts: I get a bunch of these via the Muse on Minis feed. I listen to many, and I keep up with the current "meta" landscape as best I can. Since my site's readers probably have no interest, I'll say no more.
  • The Letters Page: This is a podcast by the creators of the board game Sentinels of the Multiverse, in which they go into the massive amount of backstory they've accumulated for their comic characters. It's odd, because there's a rich comic history here which hasn't actually ever existed in any real-world comic books. The first people are hearing about these stories is from the podcast. I find it very interesting.
  • The Futility Closet: The website is a chronicle of historical absurdities and other amusing tales. The podcast has some very interesting stories. My favorites are probably Rowing Across the Atlantic, the Escape from Libby Prison episode, and my favorite, (it took me forever to dig up the link) Escape From Stalag Luft III.
  • Intelligence Squared US Debates: I know, debates. Bleugh, right? But these are good. I really like hearing well-made arguments that I'd have initially agreed with. Some actually change my mind about a topic. Recent topics include "Wal-Mart is Good For America", "The Universal Basic Income Is The Safety Net Of The Future", and "Has Gerrymandering Destroyed the Political Center?".
  • RadioLab: Radiolab's podcasts are always interesting. For example, the episode titled "Lose Lose", which details an Olympic badminton game in which an odd situation occurred: The best chance for each team to place well in the tournament was for them to lose a game. So both teams tried to lose, resulting in a very odd game indeed. Another example: My favorite RadioLab episode was called "Bringing Gamma Back." That one covered brain research in which researchers were actually able to bring back memories that were lost due to senility using nothing more than light.
  • Pop Culture Happy Hour For me, PCHH has become very hit-or-miss. When they're covering a topic in which I'm interested, I'll listen every time. More often recently, they've had episodes about TV shows I don't watch.
  • Cory Doctorow: One of my favorite speakers. He's got a podcast feed, largely featuring other podcasts on which he's been interviewed. I never get tired of listening to him talk.
  • The Adventure Zone: I haven't yet listened to The Adventure Zone podcast, but I've got a few episodes downloaded on the advice of some friends. I believe it's audio of a series of Dungeons & Dragons games, and they're apparently pretty funny.

All this said, I really miss Children of the Gods. They've been off the air for years. That was a really interesting story, and I was sad to see it die an early death.