Son of Eight Things We Like
There’s no podcast his week, but we know you need your fix of esoterica. How about trying one of these eight podcasts, video series, and websites we like?
(And yeah, this used to just be eight podcasts we like, but why limit ourselves?)
1843
It’s probably not a surprise that The Economist is where we go for news. It just has the right mix of breadth, depth, and opinion (even if we don’t always agree with the opinions being expressed). So we were pleasantly surprised to find out that their style magazine, 1843, is largely available for free on the internet! Some interesting recent features include “Death in the Alps,” “How Donuts Fueled the American Dream,” and “How the Counter-Culture Went Corporate.”
The Anthropocene Reviewed
There’s no greater pleasure than listening to an essayist as they pour out their heart on a topic that’s moved them. In The Anthropocene Reviewed author John Green talks speaks movingly and memorably about topics as varied as the QWERTY keyboard, the kaua’i’o’o, our capacity for wonder, sunsets, and humanity’s temporal range.
Coffee with My Ma
You might know Kaniehtiio Horn as “Tanis” from Letterkenny. You might not know her mom, Mohawk activist Kahn-Tineta Horn. In this show, Kaniehtiio gets her mother to share some crazy stories from her amazing life as a model, and native rights activist, and much much more. (With a few memories of being an Elvis-crazed teen and meeting Marlon Brando thrown in for good measure.)
I, Podius
“Let’s watch every episode of a show and recap it” is such a lazy pitch for a podcast, but John Hodgman and Elliot Kalan make their coverage of I, Claudius‘s work by focusing on the show’s deviances from Roman history as well as it’s odd place in the mid-’70s cultural landscape. Also they manage to score some interviews with the actual cast, including some really obscure players like, oh, Sir Patrick Stewart.
Musicalsplaining
The world can always use more more Lindsay Ellis content. In this podcast she forces her friend Kaveh to watch musicals so he can develop, well, if not a love, at least an appreciation for the art form is a real treat. Their episodes about Cats and Beetlejuice are an absolute joy to listen to. (As is the episode on Phantom of the Opera, which makes a great pairing with this video essay.)
Savor
We’ve loved Anney Reese and Lauren Vogelbaum’s food podcast Savor ever since it was FoodStuff. If anything, our only criticism is that they update too frequently. Please give us some time to digest an episodes before serving up the next course! Some of our favorite episodes include “Holy Pierogi” and “Medieval Times: A Most Noble Episode” — but maybe
“Food Banks, Pantries & Soup Kitchens” is more relevant to our current world.
Stay F. Homekins
Okay, yes, over the last few weeks countless podcasts have been launched by people forced indoors by the quarantine. This one, though, is by Janie Haddad Tompkins and her podcasting powerhouse of a husband, Paul F. Tompkins. It’s so damn charming to just listen to them stay positive as they muddle through drastically changed circumstances just like the rest of us. Hopefully, this podcast won’t last forever, but we’re glad it’s here to keep us company for now.
Stephen Fry’s 7 Deadly Sins
Look, it’s beloved TV nerd Stephen Fry pontificating about the seven deadly sins and what they mean to us in a modern context. What’s not to love? (Fry’s weird opinions about incest aside.)
New Episodes from Old Favorites
On Apocrypals, Chris and Benito explore the bizarre lives of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca in “We Holy, Ghost Bro?:
On The Constant, Mark Chrisler extolls the virtue of serendipity on “Use the Accident.”
Over at The Dollop, Dave and Gary go into the cultish corporate history of “Doug Evans & Juicero.”
At GastroPod, Cynthia and Nicola discuss the history of food coloring in “Eating the Rainbow” (and beat us to a topic we were researching, in the process).
Ken and John at the The Omnibus Project go into the creepy world of coincidence when they discuss “The Wreck of the Titan.” I might not have tempted fate by recording that episode on a cruise ship, though…
On The Pessimist’s Archive, Jason uncovers the coldest of wars, “Refrigerators vs. Ice.”
