A Podcast Thread

[J T]

I am starting this thread because I want to recommend Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast, and possibly start some discussion about it. I also realized that we don't seem to have a general thread for podcasts, so I'm starting one. If you have other podcasts you want to recommend or discuss, feel free to talk about them here.

To start, I will also recommend Podcast Addict, which is an Android App you can use to find, stream/download, and organize your podcasts. It's free and really useful for playing podcasts.

Now, for what I really want to discuss...

Revisionist History
http://revisionisthistory.com/

This is an excellent podcast by Malcolm Gladwell, author of such books as The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers. The idea behind the Revisionist History podcast is that in every episode they revisit some moment in history that has either been unfortunately forgotten or misrepresented. There are interesting lessons to be learned in each, usually relating to failures in understanding of what creates change or superb decision making. Every episode is a completely different topic, with unexpected connections that might change how you think. For example, in one episode he explains how school food services programs relate to limited diversity in colleges, in another he explains how peer pressure made Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'neill poor free throw shooters despite their superior abilities, and in another episode he explains how the first woman or minority to get ahead actually makes it harder for other women or minorities to get ahead. I've been plowing through the currently available episodes in no time. I really find the program insightful and entertaining and I hope you will too.

[Xeogred]

That sounds cool, I've been wanting to get another thinking podcast in my normal rotation. I'll have to check it out.

Two I can recommend that are pretty awesome and unbiased:

http://www.philosophizethis.org/ - think he only does one episode every two weeks and they tend to only be 30 minutes long, but I really dig his topics and he's got a good voice for it. He had some recent goodies on Socialism vs Capitalism, Carl Marx, etc.

http://www.dancarlin.com/ - Dan Carlin is pretty intense, by that I mean I recently finished up a 6 parter of him covering WW1, each episode was like 4 and half hours long. It was amazing stuff. I've also listened to his series on the Khans. He's also got "Common Sense" going which tends to talk more about modern politics and things going on today. I think a lot of his stuff has gone premium but I'm not sure. But "Blueprints of Armageddon" is his WW1 series and is on itunes.

For gaming I prefer the Giant Bomb guys, whom also do fully uncensored and I like the bigger group podcasts for things like this. They run two podcasts for both sides of the coast, the other one being Beastcast. Most of the dudes are 30-40's, a little older than me, but I feel like I resonate more with their opinions and their life shenanigans when they get off topic than I would with people who didn't grow up int he 90's, lol.

Game Informer is pretty good too and with their prestige they often have really cool guests on, like lead game designers, etc. They've also been doing a Game Club thing lately as they go through a game and have some in depth talk about it. They did FFVII, and now Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Joe Rogan is my favorite podcast in general but he's not for everyone.

For VGM I like VGM Jukebox by the lady herself Keyglyph (?), and then there's The Legacy Music Hour whom only do 8/16bit material.

I liked The Nerdist for awhile, but then the glossy Hollywood vibes kind of rubbed me wrong after awhile. Just a bunch of famous people talking about their lives and stuff which can be really boring after so many guests, and I'm just not a huge fan of the host. The Patrick Stewart episodes are amazing though. But in comparison I like how Joe Rogan tends to have normal people on his podcast, like random hikers, to scientists, politicians, pro-psychedelics, etc, people that seem a bit more "on the level". lol

[J T]

I just found out about KeyGlyph's VGM Jukebox podcast before creating this thread when looking for a pre-existing podcast thread. I guess I don't go in the "Creator's Corner" subforum very often. I've listened to a couple now and enjoyed their music selections and commentary.

Philosophize This sounds interesting. I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the recommendations. I hope you like Revisionist History.

[Xeogred]

I checked out the newest episode about the Toyota's "not braking" haha. Good stuff, he's got a good voice, I like that they have legit recordings to back up their sources, etc. Subbed!

[J T]

Yeah, the most recent one about the brakes was interesting, though now that I have listened to all 9 episodes to date, I would say that it is my least favorite (not that it's bad).

If you are watching them out of order, that is typically ok for this series, but there is a 3-parter in the middle where the episodes build on each other. They are also my favorite episodes. They are, in order:

Carlos Doesn't Remember
Food Fight
My Little Hundred Million

Each 30 minute episode does work on its own, and covers a different topic, but they are all related to the higher education system and are best experienced in sequence since he references back to the earlier episodes a few times.

[Stark]

Fun to see what others listen to! I feel like we did have one of these at one point, but oh well, if you couldn't find it I'm not gonna look either. I've found that I've gravitated more and more to video game podcasts that are either made by developers or are about the making of games. I still occasionally listen to Giant Bomb as well, but it's fallen to the thing I listen to when I am out of the other content, so I don't listen to it religiously like I used to.

First up, I listen to Idle Thumbs. It is your typical podcast where they talk about what they've been playing and general video game news, but from the perspective of someone who makes games for a living, which I like. They've all been in the industry for several years, but currently they work for Campo Santo, Telltale, or Doublefine, depending on which host you're speaking about.

I also listen to Designer Notes https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes. This podcast is hosted by Soren Johnson who was the Designer Lead for Civ 4 and went on to create his own team and game, Offworld Trading Company. He interviews industry devs and asks them why they make games, how they got into making games, and how the games get made. He has had some really cool interviews on here, Ananda Gupta was a highlight; highly recommended if you want to see inside the mind of some of these developers.

Next up in the devs make a podcast run, I listen to Video Games Hot Dog. The devs behind Kingdom of Loathing (and the upcoming West of Loathing) and the guy behind Frog Fractions talk about games they're playing and news and each week they do an assignment game, so they can talk about it as a group on the podcast.

Last one I want to mention is Bonfireside Chat. This is a pretty specialized podcast, mostly I list it just for Xeogred, but it is a podcast dedicated to From Software titles (mostly the Souls games) and is a area by area breakdown of these games that dives into lore and general strategy and stories about each area. Highly recommended if you're into the Souls games, not so much if you're not.

[J T]

I found another great podcast:

My Dad Wrote A Porno
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/my- ... 96249?mt=2

So, as the title explains, the podcast host's father wrote a porno, or more accurately he attempted to write an erotic novella. He brings along two friends and they read a chapter each episode while poking fun at how utterly terrible the writing is and how completely embarassing and awkward it is to have your 60-year-old father suddenly decide it is time to try his hand at erotic fiction. The banter between the British hosts is hilarious, particularly because there is that underlying current of awkwardness knowing one of them is the son of the author, and the other two are friends, including a woman who is particularly funny about highlighting how silly male fantasy is. It's like hanging out with friends and making fun of stupid stuff your family members do. Sort of like a British MST3K for erotic novels.

[Jagosaurus]

While technically an audio drama but won multiple Podcast awards & is available on podcast mediums like Stitcher...

Check out my thread here on "We're Alive"
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=50359&hilit=We%27re+alive

I also just listed to my 1st episode of "The No Sleep Podcast" & it was pretty intense. I was impressed.

[Xeogred]

^ Yeah I can highly recommend it too!

[J T]

Oh yeah, thanks for posting that link back to the "We're Alive" thread. I was going to do the same, but hadn't gotten around to it and might have forgotten. I also made a long post on the second page of that thread with radio drama recommendations.