Podcasts and iTunesU

I'm almost through all of the Stuff You Missed in History Class topics that interested me. Any recommendations for interesting/smart/fun podcasts or courses I can listen to during my commute?

I really like The Bugle, Doug Loves Movies and WTF with Marc Maron.

I like the Slate Culture Gabfest a lot -- sometimes it drives me a little crazy, but it's always entertaining. The Moth is great too, and I agree on WTF, though I think it helps easing into listening if you skip the rant at the beginning at first, because Maron himself can be super irritating before you grow to enjoy him.

This week's Bugle was definitely an all timer. That FuckEulogy for Gaddafi was a thing of beauty.

I really like How Did this Get Made the bad movie podcast that EarWolf does with Paul Scheer. It has a real joy for something that is making fun of movies and the episode from a few weeks ago about Punisher: War Zone was amazing and actually had Lexi Alexander (the director) on to talk about how it came together.

I love How Did This Get Made! I listen even if I haven't watched the show. I adored The Punisher ep and loved how she defended Freddie Prinze Jr.'s when everyone assumed she was going to use him as a punchline. The I know Who Killed Me also killed me!

The perfect commute podcast to me is Doug Loves Movies it just cracks me up no matter who the guests are the Adam Scott and TJ Miller are repeat guests who crack me up.

I also like the Firewall and Iceburg podcast with Hitfix tv critics Alan Sepinwall and Dan Feinberg.

And Marc Maron and The Nerdist are also in regular rotation.

Lately I've been grooving on The Nerdist Writer's Panel. The most recent had Steven S. DeKnight (Angel, Spartacus), Time Minear (Angel, Firefly), Megan Ganz (Community, The Onion), and Harris Wittels (Parks & Rec).

I'm also a big fan of Freakonomics Radio, mostly because they tackle weird topics like the economics of suicide and whether expensive wines actually taste better. Good if you want to learn a little bit about economics without crying.

Also in my rotation is Skeptoid. It's a short little podcast (10-15 mins) but it's really well written and I've learned a ton of stuff about skepticism, debate & argument, and whether bigfoot exists or if democratic voting is a real thing.

A Way With Words is a pretty enjoyable podcast about slang, word origins & history, regionalisms, etc. Their shtick with people calling in can get a bit repetitive--they ask a ton of questions as if they haven't already researched and answered the caller's question. Still, fun for word nerds.

Straight Dope is another 10 minute podcast that covers the same questions the newspaper column covers. Recently: Could I take down a T. rex with my Beretta 9mm pistol?

Also, Radiolab. Just pure awesome, Peabody winning, accessible, science-y goodness.

I love Radiolab. I listened to it before Jad Abumrad won a McArthur Genius Grant, yo.

I downloaded a bunch of Radiolabs before my recent drive up to Maine, and really enjoyed them. I'm not much of a podcast person, because I don't have a lot of opportunity to listen to music/the radio (my commute is pretty short and the nature of my work makes it not ideal to be listening to stuff with words in it). Some of those sound awesome though. All of them actually, heh.

Thanks to the A.V. Club's weekly podcast roundup, I learned that Alec Baldwin has a new podcast. Hearing Jack Donaghy's voice for 25 min was a treat so I think I'm subscribing.

Well, this topic really fluffed up my playlist!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Science...Sort Of: Things that are science, things that are sort of science, and things that wish they were science. And beer. It's pretty informal (especially the early episodes), but that's one of the things I like about it. Just science nerds going off on tangients.

Hardcore History: This guy isn't kidding - he knows way more about history than you do, and will tell you about it at length. Fortunately, he makes it very interesting. Unfortunately, new episodes are few and far between.

Astronomy Cast: In an alternate world (one where I can do math), I'm an astronomer.

A few months ago, I would have added a couple of Kevin Smith's podcasts, but we're on the verge of breaking up. Quantity does not equal quality.

Putli Bai wrote:Astronomy Cast: In an alternate world (one where I can do math), I'm an astronomer.

Heh, so am I. Or a theoretical physicist.

Oh no! The Bugle is leaving Times Online, and may not continue. D:

bookworm wrote:Oh no! The Bugle is leaving Times Online, and may not continue. D:

Really? That's horrible. I always look forward to The Bugle a ridiculous amount every week.

NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is my favorite, favorite podcast. I look forward to it every Friday.

Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners may also enjoy Slate's Culture Gabfest. It's not nearly as funny/lighthearted, but their somewhat snobby but intellectual bent is a nice counterweight to the fun that is PCHH.

I adore the Culture Gabfest, it makes my Wednesdays bright. Especially when June Thomas (who is getting her own podcast about books!) is on.

vwlphb wrote:

bookworm wrote:Oh no! The Bugle is leaving Times Online, and may not continue. D:

Really? That's horrible. I always look forward to The Bugle a ridiculous amount every week.

I've been following the Bugle's twitter feed, and they did a FB poll to see if a pay model would be feasible, and it looks like they'd try to make it work at 50 cents or a dollar, which I'd happily pay. So after the poll, they seemed optimistic:

@hellobuglers The Bugle

BUGLE FUTURE UPDATE: Nothing concrete yet, but very confident we will continue in 2012. Somewhere, somehow. Thanks for your support.

I've been getting caught up on some of my podcasts lately. I'm not a writer and have never really thought much about TV writing, but the Nerdist Writers' Panel is fascinating. It covers all kinds of topics, from breaking into the business to how to put together a writing staff to how to approach writing for different kinds of shows to a million other things. And it's frequently hilarious! And of course, the regular Nerdist podcast is always super funny. I think the ones with Wil Wheaton and Nathan Fillion especially made me laugh until I hurt something.

Radio Free Skaro is the best Doctor Who podcast around. They always have all kinds of fun things, like episode reviews, episode commentary, interviews, feature segments on the contributions of various individuals from the show's past, and all the DW news that comes out every week.

Lately I've been getting into The Celtic Myth Podshow, which as you can probably guess, retells Celtic myths. They also have music and poems as well.

Nerdist has a bunch of great podcasts. I completely agree about the Writers Panel, it really gives a lot of insight and Ben Blacker's other great podcast The Thrilling Adventure Hour, is now on Nerdist along with Mike and Tom Eat Snacks in which Michael Ian Black and Tom Cavanagh eat and rate a snack food every episode but really just have a meandering fun conversation. I don't even like gaming but I really enjoy The Indoor Kids with Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon which is about video games. And Pete Holmes You Made it Weird which is basically what would happen if an excited golden retriever puppy took over for Marc Maron on WTF. And even though I don't want to "make it," I also like Making It with Riki Lindhome (half of Garfunlke and Oates) where she talks to people about how they got their start.

And I find Todd Glass's show hysterical as well.

As a devoted viewer (I know I'm not a viewer) of Mike and Tom Eat Snacks, I should point out that you forgot a step: it's pick a snack, eat a snack, rate a snack. And frequently bitch about Ian McShane. Also something about stormtroopers hitting the ground.

How can they not bitch about Ian McShane with all of the conniving he did to steal the role of Al Swearengen out from under Michael Ian Black after he was already on the set of Deadwood!

A friend recently recommended the Caustic Soda podcast and it's great. They take weird/dark/morbid topics like leprosy, human sacrifice, Rasputin, cults, shark attacks, things like that, and do a funny and interesting hour on each subject.

VodouDoll wrote:A friend recently recommended the Caustic Soda podcast and it's great. They take weird/dark/morbid topics like leprosy, human sacrifice, Rasputin, cults, shark attacks, things like that, and do a funny and interesting hour on each subject.

Ooo, that sounds like a good one - I'll check it out.

I've probably recommended Science..Sort Of before, but if that isn't quite nerdy enough for you, they have a spin-off called The Titanium Physicists. Three physicists explain a complicated scientific principle to a non-physicist. Episode 9 involves them explaining the theoretical Alcubierre Warp Drive using a wide variety of bee analogies and configurations.

@VodouDoll: Thanks for the Caustic Soda suggestion! I've passed an entertaining afternoon listening to episodes while I set up my new computer. They're a bit long, but I love how chatty they are. It's like reading in a cofffeehouse with amusing people nearby--people who happen to be conversing about cocaine or sea snakes or what-have-you.

Off to check out Putli Bai's suggestions now.

VodouDoll wrote:A friend recently recommended the Caustic Soda podcast and it's great. They take weird/dark/morbid topics like leprosy, human sacrifice, Rasputin, cults, shark attacks, things like that, and do a funny and interesting hour on each subject.

Doubling back to thank you for this recommendation - this podcast is right up my alley!!!

I'd also like to officially announce that I'm breaking up with Kevin Smith. I've ranted about it elsewhere, but I'm up to my tits in his sophomoric, misogenistic, bullshit. He needs to shut up for at least three years.