Tag: podcasts

I love reading to others; when my child was young, one of my favorite rituals with her was reading a bedtime story. But sometimes, I like it when someone else reads to me.

So when I heard about the podcast LeVar Burton Reads this past winter, I was eager to try some episodes. Who better to read you a story than Mr. Reading Rainbow himself?

I’m a few years late to the party–the podcast has been going since June 13, 2017. But LeVar Burton Reads has quickly become one of my favorite podcasts. During a season, listeners usually get one story each week, although Burton occasionally spreads stories out over two episodes. Episodes begin with a brief introduction to the story. Then Burton asks you to join him in taking a deep breath (do try it; it’s a nice way to get .yourself ready for what’s coming), and he begins to read to you.

Of course, the podcast’s quality is excellent. As an actor, Burton reads beautifully. The stories include sound effects and background music. They’re also varied. You’ll hear about a trickster in “Skinwalker, Fast-Talker” by Darcie Little Badger, face your own assumptions about race in Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif,” and ask yourself what you’d choose if you could leave a crumbling society to embrace a promise of a new life in a digital world as you listen to Ken Liu’s “Staying Behind.”

Burton tells listeners that the only thing these stories have in common is that he loves them, though I did notice a common theme in the most recent season. Many of the stories take place in a dystopian world–something to keep in mind if such stories would be too disturbing to listen to right now. I’ve listened to some of them. I couldn’t resist N.K. Jemison’s “Valedictorian,” which was every bit as wonderful as I’d hoped. But for now I’ve skipped “Let Those Who Would” by Genevieve Valentine, which is described in one short sentence: “A dystopian society tackles fake news.” Maybe later.

Among the other authors included in this podcast are Kurt Vonnegut (Burton picked a story of his that is not speculative fiction), Michael Chabon, Carmen Maria Machado, Ted Chiang, Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury, Joan Aiken, and Neil Gaiman. Unless you are extremely well-read, you’ll meet new authors (I didn’t know about Darcie Little Badger before hearing “Skinwalker, Fast-Talker”), and you’ll hear new stories (at least, new to you) by authors you already knew and loved.

We readers often gravitate toward print. We’re the people who, left with nothing else to read, read the copy on the back of the cereal box when we were kids. But sometimes, it’s nice to let someone else read to you. If you’re up for another podcast in your life, seek out LeVar Burton Reads. You’re in for a treat.

Have we reached peak podcast? It’s hard to keep up with all the podcasts I find worthwhile. Unfortunately my child recently introduced me to another good one: Ologies with Alie Ward.

The Ologies podcast is frequently described as a science podcast, and most of the episodes are indeed about scientific subjects. But Ward’s interviews with different -ologists don’t only include scientists. Alongside a cryoseismologist (a scientist who studies icequakes), a saurologist (a scientist who studies lizards), and a spidroinologist (a scientist who studies spider silk), you’ll find interviews with a mythologist (an expert on the stories humans tell and retell across cultures), a cosmetologist (a makeup artist), and a mixologist (someone who mixes cocktails).

Each episode features an interview with an expert in the field, sprinkled with asides from Ward. If her subject makes a reference she wants to explore, she’ll research it later and tell listeners about what she’s discovered. You’ll learn how people wound up in their particular field of expertise and what their work involves. You’ll also get answers to questions like “Do primates have cultures?” (They do. For example, different groups of chimpanzees will hunt differently.)

And the podcast is definitely not dry. You’ll hear all sorts of interesting stories, such as a bit about a man who carved a room out of a sequoia and tried to live in it, but he found the leaking sap too unpleasant. There’s also lots of silliness, including puns, some as bad as the one I made in the photo caption above, and some that are great. My favorite? The pun Ward made at the beginning of the “Teuthology” episode (teuthology is the study of squids): “It’s the moment you’ve been waiting months for — a cephalopodcast.”

When I looked Ward up online, I wondered how I’d managed not to hear of her until now. She’s a very busy woman. She acts, writes, and paints. She’s a science correspondent on Innovation Nation. She hosts Did I Mention Invention? With Alie Ward. She’s appeared with Georgia Hardstock on a couple of Cooking Channel shows; they’ve also done a podcast together. And she’s been hosting the Ologies podcast since September 2017.

If you’re thinking, “Hey, this sounds like a great podcast to share with my six-year-old,” you might want to check out a few episodes alone first. Ward keeps some episodes clean, such as “Potterology” parts 1 and 2 (yes, that’s “wizard science”), but other episodes get a little salty. Also, sometimes the discussion gets gross, though she’ll warn you if there’s a part you might want to skip.

If you listen to podcasts and are curious about the world, Ologies is a must. Jump in, subscribe, consider supporting the podcast on Patreon (you’ll get to ask questions of the various -ologists if you do), and catch up on previous episodes as you’re able. Ward and her guests will blow your mind and make you laugh.

And listen all the way through the credits at the end. Ward will reward you with a little “secret,” such as a story about when she thought she’d forgotten a friend’s birthday but was off by about half a year.

If you listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, you may have heard someone mention The Twenty Percent True Podcast during a recent “what’s making us happy this week” segment. Guest Tasha Robinson spoke highly of this series of short stories about “modern monsters.” If she’d just left it at “monsters,” I might not have been interested, but she described the author as a blend between Kelly Link, who I don’t know, and Neil Gaiman. The comparison to Gaiman convinced me that I had to check it out.

By the end of the first episode, I knew that I’d been introduced to something wonderful.

If you aren’t really into horror, rest assured: these monsters are not scary. Some of them — like mermaids — aren’t what most people think of as monsters at all. But even the ones that inhabit horror films, like a vampire, aren’t particularly alarming. Author Carolyn Rahaman isn’t trying to scare us. She’s telling us engaging stories involving mythical beings in the modern world.

In some cases the story is told from the point of view of one of those beings. Other times the central character is an ordinary human who is interacting with a “monster.” In some stories, such as “Lost Your Mind,” it will take a while before you realize what you’re dealing with. Stories with titles like “Demons” make it clear from the outset what sort of creature you’ll encounter, though the shape the monster takes may surprise you. Many of the stories have an unexpected twist, and none of them are like anything I’ve read (or watched or listened to) before.

Which brings me to the comparison with Gaiman. Perhaps if I knew Link’s work, I would consider Robinson’s description accurate. I would not, however, call these stories Gaimanesque. Rahaman’s stories are uniquely her own.

The stories are easy to binge — the longest is only 21-1/2 minutes long, the shortest is under 12 minutes. I loved most of the stories, and I “merely” liked a couple of them. None of them were a waste of time. Rahaman is an inventive, masterful storyteller, and she reads her stories quite well.

I was disappointed when I ran out of episodes, but Rahaman promised more stories in a few months, so I subscribed and will dutifully await the next batch. Since the notion of “modern monsters” was the theme for the first season, I don’t expect to hear more of the same in Season Two. Whatever I encounter will be a pleasant surprise.

After listening to a few of the stories, I decided to check out Rahaman’s website. I was surprised not to find a link to published work. Hopefully Rahaman’s podcast will be popular enough to attract the attention of publishers. In the meantime, I highly recommend you indulge in these stories. They’re utterly enchanting.

The Slate Culture Gabfest has recently treated listeners to monthly episodes of a new podcast, Hit Parade. In Hit Parade, Slate music critic Chris Molanphy analyzes a moment in the history of the Billboard’s Hot 100.

The first episode dove deep into the history of one of the most overplayed songs of 1988: UB40’s “Red Red Wine.” It was one of those songs that you might enjoy the first few times you hear it, but if, for instance, you spend a weekend painting your dorm room, and the radio station you are listening to keeps playing it, you lose your taste for the song. So it’s saying something that I listened to the first episode of Hit Parade all the way through with interest. I can even tolerate hearing “Red Red Wine” again, simply because I now know so much more about the song’s history.

The second episode has been my favorite to date. In it, Molanphy explores how the Beatles landed the top five slots on the Hot 100 one week in 1964. It’s a fascinating story, and it taught me a lot about how the Beatles broke into the American market. (Hint: It wasn’t as easy for them as you might think.)

The most recent episode compares the careers of Elton John and George Michael. While the episode supposedly focuses on a week in 1988 when they were rivals on the Hot 100, it covers so much territory that the week in question feels like an afterthought. That said, as I listened I developed a deeper appreciation for Elton John, whose music I already liked.

What makes all of these podcasts wonderful is Molanphy’s deep knowledge of popular music. He tells you things about songs and their history that you’d never think to ask about, and you feel richer for it.

As far as I can tell, you can’t subscribe to this podcast on its own. You can download individual episodes, or you can get the podcast when you subscribe to the Slate Culture Gabfest or the Slate Daily Feed. I do recommend the Slate Culture Gabfest, so you may want to subscribe that way.

If you want to learn more about current popular songs, read Molanphy’s series, Why Is This Song No. 1? Like his podcast, this series takes a deep dive into the stories behind No. 1 songs. From just one article, I’ve learned about Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, reggaetόn, and the history of past Spanish-language hits that made it to the Hot 100’s top spot.

Thank you, Chris Molanphy.

 

 

 

Like many people, I got sucked into the world of podcasts by Serial. Now I’m subscribed to nine active podcasts. Of these, two of my favorites are round-table discussions on culture.

NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour and the Slate Culture Gabfest are very similar to each other — to the point where they sometimes cover the same subject matter. The Culture Gabfest is the older of the two podcasts, and it has more of a highbrow flavor (after all, its name lacks the word “pop”). Hosts Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens cover three topics and end the podcast with endorsements of music, books, television shows… even products.

While I enjoy the thoughtful discussion on recent movies, essays, and subjects such as pilgrimages to writers’ houses, part of the fun is the interplay between the hosts. Metcalf and Turner often seem to be at odds with one another, although their verbal sparring is generally friendly. An exception to this occurred during a recent discussion on the unmasking of Elena Ferrante, which became so heated that Stevens suggested her co-hosts send each other wine as an apology gift. When Turner was absent from the podcast the following week, I was concerned. Then Metcalf missed the next week’s live show, although there was an explanation given for his absence: He was ill. I admit I was relieved when the team was back together three weeks after the Ferrante episode. Stevens plays the role of the conciliatory team member — she even appears between her two cohosts in all of the pictures on the show’s homepage. She’s also known for her amusing endorsements, including freshly grated nutmeg and Bob Ross’ “Beauty is Everywhere.”

I’m tickled by the fact that the Culture Gabfest begins with the warning: “The following podcast contains explicit language.” After that, you might expect a lot of f-bombs, but unless you think of the $50 words that Metcalf uses as explicit (according to Wikipedia, he pursued a Ph.D. in English at Yale), you’ll rarely hear any expletives on the podcast.

Pop Culture Happy Hour usually has more hosts and fewer segments. Most of the time three of the seats are filled by Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, and Glen Weldon; the fourth chair, once occupied by Trey Graham, rotates between different people from the NPR staff, including Kat Chow, Ari Shapiro, Gene Demby, and Audie Cornish. Episodes usually include two segments followed by “What’s Making Us Happy This Week,” this show’s version of endorsements. Like Gabfest, this podcast covers recent movies and television shows, as well as general topics, but the overall tone is a bit lighter than Slate’s and, thanks to the rotating fourth chair, the voices can be a little more diverse. Conflict between the hosts seems less barbed than in Gabfest, and the conversation feels less academic.

I already have long lists of books to read and things to watch — far more than I can consume before I die. I really don’t need to add more to my lists, but I still rejoice in the discoveries I’ve made thanks to these shows. While it’s been hard to miss the buzz around Stranger Things, the reason I asked my husband to watch it with me was because a contributor on PCHH spoke about how the show was influenced by Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, and John Carpenter. I picked up The Cuckoo’s Calling because of a special edition interview with J.K. Rowling on PCHH, and, when Culture Gabfest guest Laura Miller described Don’t Breathe as a reversal of Wait Until Dark, I decided I need to see the two movies back-to-back. The podcasts have also done me the service of letting me know when not to bother with something: both covered The BFG, and since neither show gave it glowing reviews, I decided to skip it, beautiful as the previews were.

Pressed to pick my favorite from these two podcasts, I’d have a terrible time. Thanks to the participants, both shows have a lot of personality. The Culture Gabfest is your really smart aunt who is not above watching the new TV show that everyone is talking about. You find your aunt a little intimidating, even though you admire her and enjoy spending time together. She can chat with you about all sorts of things while dropping in references to Wittgenstein and using words like “epistemological.” You learned a little about Wittgenstein in college, and you understand what “epistemological” means, but these are things you yourself do not use in conversation. Pop Culture Happy Hour is your cousin who talks with you about Steven Universe. Like you, he’s educated enough to understand most of the words and many of the references in your aunt’s conversation, but he speaks in a more down-to-earth manner. The two of you also share geeky interests that, despite your aunt’s well-roundedness, are really not her thing. You feel more at home with you cousin, but you find conversations with your aunt a little meatier.

Fortunately, I don’t have to choose between them.

The Slate Culture Gabfest comes out on Wednesdays, and Pop Culture Happy Hour is released on Fridays. Go forth and listen, and then let me know what you think.