About six weeks ago I put out a facebook request for podcast recommendations. I now have a podcast diet which, although gluttonous, is very particular. Here are the highlights of my audio-glut:
1. This American Life - tried and tested, whimsical and wonderful. I was already a big fan of this one, thanks to my David Sedaris obsession. Friend Jens put me on to a particular episode entitled 'Pro Se' (episode 385), which you need to buy, since it's archived, but it is well worth the $3 or whatever you pay on itunes.
2. Recommended by friend Margaret - Slate's Cultural Gabfest. Panel discussions of wordly cultural goings-on, plus 'endorsements' right at the end - in which our erudite hosts recommend books/music/other podcasts/films. The Political Gabfest is also really good.
3. Also recommended by friend Margaret - The Moth . Introduced as 'true stories told live and without notes.' I feel like I've listened to about 50 of these now, and of all of them, only 1 was boring. Sort of like listening to 'This American Life', but bite-sized.
4. Recommended by friend Simon - WNYC's Radiolab. Simon sold these to me as 'Really good hour long radio shows on science and philosophy. REALLY well produced.' I can now recommend Simon as a very good recommender.
5. Recommended by one Bart Freebairn - Dan Savage's Savage Lovecast. ThreeThousand have already covered this one. Snappy and cynical, x-rated sex and love advice.
6. Recommended by friend Robert, who warned that it can be 'a bit uppity' - Lingua Franca. I agree about the uppitiness, but it's always interesting, so I turn it up just a little bit louder than the others in order to hear it over the grinding of my teeth.
7. Recommended by friend Carl - KCRW's Bookworm. Host Michael Silverblatt puts pauses in strange places and can take an agonisingly long time to finish a sentence - but such good sentences, and such good guests. I was relieved to hear John Ashberry say that he really has no idea what he's doing when writing poetry; intrigued to learn about Anne Carson's long-lost brother; inspired to find a copy of something by Sam Lypsite; and even charmed by Michael's and Ian McEwan's quiet, reticent-uncle-ish expressions of mutual admiration. No, really, it was a pleasure, it always is.
8. Recommended by friend Ming-Zhu - Grammar Girl. When my housemate Adrian began his editing course at uni, we rubbed our hands and confessed a shared passion for the nuts and bolts of language. Some people fix bikes, some cook, some are fluent in html. Some are excited to consider the difference between 'troop' as a collective noun vs. its common and inaccurate but acceptable usage as a singular one.
9. Also recommended by friend Carl: New Yorker: Fiction. New Yorker writers read aloud a story by another writer from the New Yorker archives.
10. As above: New Yorker: Comment.
11. From Bart Freebairn again: A History of the World in 100 Objects. For people like me who can't deal with the general or overarching (but will make plenty of generalisations based on anecdotal evidence). Quotidian history. Minutiae. Fun.
12. Poem of the Day Dorktown! Some poems are fantastic, some are bad. The good thing about them is that they only last a couple of minutes. I found this one all by myself, by searching the itunes podcast directory for 'poem.' Once more - dorktown!
13. IndieFeed music podcasts. These are short - the length of a single song, in fact. A nice way to discover music for someone who doesn't listen to the wireless.
Plus, on and off - TED, Australia Talks, Big Ideas (ABC), Philosopher's Zone, and In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg (BBC).
Oink. Oink. Oink.
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