About podcasts...

Yes. In January I said more blogs were coming. I was wrong. Between work, the small child, family, and burgeoning addictions to Castle, Bones, Mind Games, Elementary, Forever and Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange I have simply not had time to blog.

I apologise. Let's see if June 2015 can be the gateway to some more regular postings. Fingers crossed.

So what I really wanted to post about was Podcasts. Podcasts are the things that make my commute fun. I actually look forward to the hour plus car ride each morning and each afternoon if I have something cool in my playlist and, lucky for you, I have found the mother lode.

Anyone can podcast. This is an awesome yet terrible thing. It's a lot like self-publishing. Sometimes you run across stuff that is perfectly produced by one person putting a lot of effort into making something great. And sometimes you find a bunch of people on bad phone lines sniggering at private jokes. Lucky you, I have been dipping and earwigging, and I am ready to share my favourite things.

Snap Judgment - if you've actually seen me recently you will know how much I love this. Almost every conversation consists of me recommending it, or me re-telling a tale I heard on it. It is moving, funny, eye-opening, jaw dropping story telling. Plus each episode is a good hour or so. Go and listen to Glynn Washington and his fabulous production crew now.

Serial - I found Serial thanks to Jarlath Regan posting about it on Facebook. Even if you've never heard of podcasts you have probably heard of Serial - it is intense, deft, honest story telling and it's 100% real. There are new series' coming, but I strongly recommend you listen to it from the beginning if you haven't already. It's possibly the only podcast to make the news - that's how much impact it has had.

Undisclosed - if you want to find out what is happening with Adnan Syed's case post-Serial then this is the podcast to listen to. It is pretty dense - lots of detail about the case, lots of dates and names to keep track of, but mostly it consistently breaks the "facts" that put him in jail and casts an unfavourable light on his defence attorney, the prosecution, and the detectives investigating the murder Adnan is convicted of.

Mystery Show - I think Snap Judgment might have pointed me towards this one. I can't remember. However I found it I am deeply grateful that I did. It is amusing, clear and clever storytelling. Even the adverts are great.  I wish Starlee Kine was someone I knew. I wish I had a mystery I could ask her to solve. Yes. I am turning into THAT FAN. I must rein myself in... Mystery also pointed me towards two other podcasts released by the excellent Gimlet Media and they are...

Startup - I am currently addicted to Startup. Every other podcast episode that arrives on my iPod is getting shuffled to the bottom of my playlist. I am hooked on Alex Blumberg's story of creating a company with the sole aim of producing audio content for people like me - people who love hearing stories.

Reply All - Nifty insights into things that changed the 'net, formed the 'net or broke the 'net. All told beautifully, candidly, and WELL. It's from Gimlet Media - they are swiftly becoming my benchmark for quality.

No Such Thing As A Fish - I know that the above list has been very full of U.S. produced shows. This is because I have yet to discover a British podcast that does things even half so well. I am considering trying to manage this myself. So watch this space... But back to No Such Thing As A Fish; It IS British, but it is not about story telling like the previous podcasts are. It is really really funny. And interesting. Brought to you by the team behind QI, they share four facts each week that are weird, surreal, or mess with your head. And then they make jokes about it. What's not to love?

The News Quiz - This is how I like to keep track of what's going on in the world. The News Quiz is a weekly comedy show that is much more hit than miss. And it's by the BBC, so you can relax when it comes to sound quality.

That's it for now... There are others that I've started and stopped with, but maybe I'll save those negative vibes for another post. Let's not rush things.




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