GregHowley.com

I've still got that hour commute to work and hour home. When I'm not on my cell phone talking to family and friends in Connecticut, I'm listening to podcasts. And occasionally NPR. But anyway, here are the podcasts currently on my list. You'll notice that I now include a couple video podcasts, since I now have that little iPod. (by the way, use SharePod, not iTunes. It is bettar!!1

• GeeksOn Still one of my absolute favorite podcasts, although it's released far from regularly. They put out one or two episodes each month, and sometimes skip a couple months with no notice. But the discussion is intelligent and appropriately geeky. And recently, they had Joss Whedon in studio on the podcast, which was pretty damn cool. GeeksOn would be higher on my list, but it's already in first place. (feed link)
• The Totally Rad Show Another of my favorite podcasts, The Totally Rad show is just reaching its one year anniversary. The show stars Alex Albrecht of Diggnation fame, and his friends Jeff Cannata and Dan Trachtenberg. It's very well produced, and it's almost worth it to download the video podcast just to watch the first two minutes of each show, where they remake a parody of a scene from a popular movie. Some of my favorites they've done have been scenes from Ghostbusters, Pee Wee's Playhouse, and Pulp Fiction. During the bulk of their show, they give news and reviews on movies, television shows, video games, and comic books. The show would be higher on my list, but it's a pain to have to load it onto my iPod to get the video version, because you really miss a lot when you listen to only the mp3 version. (mp3 feed link) (video feed link)
• Children of the Gods I've written about this one a ton of times. Just about my favorite podcast story. It's a fantastic science fiction universe, and while you might be able to pick on a couple of the voice actors, I absolutely love it. It'd be way higher on my list if they released episodes more frequently than once per month. (feed link)
• Noctournal Something lives deep beneath the streets of San Francsico. Something that has been there for centuries, something that comes out at night ... to feed on the dregs of society. A sub-culture, with its own myths, its own legends of leader named The King that will lead them out of bondage, and their own demon, a hunting shadow known only as Savior. - Scott Sigler's latest podiobook, Noctournal isn't really any tamer than any of his previous stories. Expect way too much gore, and some really sick shit. Despite that, it's a really engaging story. It'd be higher on my list, but some of this stuff is just way too perverse. (feed link)
• Murder at Avedon Hill This is a new novel from P.G. Holyfield about a travelling monk and his apprentice trying to solve a murder in the remote town of Avedon Hill. It's got a very Dungeons and Dragons feel to it - I could easily imagine it being made into an adventure module. There's magic, monsters, and a lot of mystery. I'd have it higher on this list, but the episodes come out way less than once a week. (feed link)
• Gamespot presents the Hotspot Despite the recent shakedown at Gamespot following the unceremonious termination of Jeff Gerstmann, the podcast is still halfway decent. Of course, it'd be way way higher on my list, but after Rich Gallup and Jeff Gerstmann left, the show wasn't nearly as good. Then Ryan Davis left. Then Alex Navarro left. Then Jason Ocampo left. Somehow, the show still prevails - the most recent episode had a pretty good discussion about Dungeons and Dragons following the unfortunate passing of Mr. Gary Gygax. Still, I prefer to listen to Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis, so I'll probably listen to the Arrow Pointing Down podcast more often. (feed link)
• Arrow Pointing Down Podcast - This is the podcast that Jeff and Ryan started after leaving Gamespot. They basically talk about whatever comes to mind, and rely on their overwhelming personality to carry things. It'd be higher on this list, but it can get kind of long and boring. They need to quit it with the candy bar and sports drink reviews. (feed link)
• Strong Bad Emails - I love HomeStarRunner.com. It's the best thing since Radiskull and Devil Doll. But with my busy life, it's sometimes difficult to keep up with Strong Bad's latest email escapades. That's why I like the Strong Bad EMail podcast. Now with 50 percent less Coach Z. It'd be higher on my list, but since it's a video podcast I've got to use that damn iPod instead of my beloved Samsung YP-U2J. Seriously though guys, check it out. (feed link)
• Slice of Sci Fi This is really the best source of news for all things Science Fiction. They don't discuss books a lot, since they've got a different podcast called The Dragon Page entirely dedicated to books, but they do a great job covering Sci Fi movies and TV Shows. I heard about Jumper a good year before it came out, and it's where I first heard about Jonathan Coulton. It'd be higher on my list, but it's become way too commercialized. They play the show on XM Satellite radio, and they play tons of promos. It gets really annoying. (feed link)
• PC Gamer Podcast - This is PC Gamer Magazine's weekly podcast. It's pretty good, entertaining, and informative. They really hit their stride when they started with a videogame trivia segment called Catfantastic which has completely arbitrary rules. Points could be rewarded or penalized at the quiz-runner's whim. Very fun. It'd be higher on my list, but they cut out "The Hater Minute", which used to be one of my favorite segments. (feed link)
• alt.NPR's Press Start Podcast - This is a very casual and amateurish podcast from Kyle Orland and Ralph Cooper. I really like the casual feel - not overproduced. It feels like a couple friends sitting down and talking about games. Maybe I'm not really into the racing games and Guitar Hero so much, but it's still worth listening to. It'd be higher on the list, but it only comes out about once every two or three months. (feed link)
• Wired News Podcast - I think this was originally intended to be a podcast feed where many Wired authors could throw in their 3-5 minute segments weekly, but Lore Sjoberg has entirely usurped the podcast feed. And I'm not complaining - the man is very geeky and very funny. It'd be higher on my list, but every episode is preceeded by an extremely annoying 20 second Verizon advertisement. It's the same ad every time, and it's at the beginning. (feed link)
• The Onion Radio News - This is a fantastic quick podcast snack. These parody news segments are short and hilarious. My favorite is probably about 3000-year old vampire Count Chocula murdering a group of students. It'd be higher on the list, but I'm upset that I can't pick up issues of The Onion in Colorado Springs and I listed it low out of spite. (feed link)
• Brainy Gamer Podcast - I discovered this one recently. Michael Abbott has some thoughtful discussion about games, and likes playing a number of older games, which I really enjoy hearing about. I'd have placed this podcast higher on my list, but sometimes the intellectualism gets a bit thick. (feed link)
• Downloadable Content - This is Penny Arcade's podcast. For those of you who are totally clueless, Penny Arcade is probably the most popular webcomic in existance. Jerry and Mike record themselves BS-ing about what their newest comic will be about, and they throw it up as a podcast. I'd have ranked it higher, but it's really just a meandering conversation between two guys. (feed link)
• The Tenth Wonder podcast - This is a podcast dedicated to the TV show Heroes, and it's probably the best one out there. I'd have put it higher on my list, but Heroes is currently in its off-season. (feed link)

Yes, I do listen to a lot of podcasts. Two hours in the car every day will do that. Anyway, hope you've found one or two here that you might enjoy.