Friday, September 13, 2019

For Your Listening Enjoyment (Podcast Reviews)


I’ve been driving much more recently. Two kids at two schools, exercise in the suburbs, three different places where I teach, errands, therapy, etc. I drive at least an hour a day and it’s usually more like two. So I’ve upped my listening game.


Do you know what kind of learner you are? I am a kinesthetic, visual, musical learner. I learn by doing, seeing, and singing about it. Most of my SAT vocab knowledge came from Sondheim musicals. I am NOT auditory. I space the fffff out when people talk at me. So podcasts are hard. I don’t like the chit chat ones. I don’t like the side stories. I get lost in those. I’ve started the process of finding ones I like/don’t and will discuss them here. PLEASE comment with your suggestions for more and some that are kid friendly. I will do a follow up post on our music discoveries (Spoiler: Kids love Lizzo).


The Moth: Overall, this one works the best for me. There’s a short, concise narrative. It’s usually either funny or touching but not too depressing or topical. These serve me well on errand runs or while cooking.


Babysitter’s Club Club: I wanted to love this podcast where two dudes seriously discuss the children’s books but I couldn’t make it more than thirty minutes into the first one because HOLY TANGENT BATMAN. I could not follow the thread.


My Favorite Murder: TOOO MAAAAANY SIDE CONVOS! I wanted to love these ladies and I think I would have fun with them socially but, if you’re gonna tell me a story, tell me a story.


Queens of Adventure: drag queens play DnD. What could be better? I enjoyed this one but wouldn’t listen to it all the time because the narrative, like actual DnD is meandering and there are lots of side quests.


Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert: I started with the Ben Platt one and it was very clear that Dax does not really care about Broadway (bc he said so) so this wasn’t a good starter. Then I tried a few more of people he has worked with and likes and they were better. Dax always sounds kinda bored with the people but I think that’s just his voice.


Conan O’Brien Needs Friend: I like Conan and his potential friends. Sometimes they talk about things that were funny but they don’t do the funny thing and I didn’t see it so I get bored but I overall like the discourse.


Show People: VERY specific: a dude talks with Broadway stars about being on Broadway. I love the ones of the people I’ve seen but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you LOVE Broadway.


My Little Tony’s: same vein--super SUPER specific discussion of Broadway seasons. It works for me when they discuss a year I went to NY and saw shows.


Creative Processing with Joseph Gordon Levitt: The one I listened to bored me to death because I had only seen one movie of the guy they were talking to but I like the IDEA of talking about the creative process with JGL. I will try one more.


LeVar Burton Reads: Delightful. When his voice first began, I had a sensory flashback to being a kid watching Reading Rainbow. I have only listened to one short story, called “Sea Girls.” One girl is a human and one girl is a mermaid. I loved it and I love hearing Geordi Laforge tell me stories again.










I NEED MORE...








1 comment:

  1. I'm glad you upped your writing time. PS dont listen to the news.

    ReplyDelete