One of the podcasts I have enjoyed this year encouraged all their listeners to review the podcast on iTunes before the New Year promising prizes for a few of us if they reach more than 1000 reviews. As this is a comedy podcast with a lot of inside jokes this is the review I wrote.
Adam and Ben are so short sighted, some of us viewers have some manner of intelligence and respect (though not much as we still listen to this swill) and are not in the pocket of big Apple. I fell into Adam and Ben’s fatal trap and installed iTunes onto my PC just to write this review, but I am savvy, I will pull all the isolinear chips from this computer so Apple can’t Jake all my Data.
However the podcast (when downloaded from respectable sources) is great. Every week I look forward to finding out what’s next in store for the star ship Entrepreneur; will Diana find that there is more to life than chocolate, will Geordi crack under pressure and be relieved by Argyle, will Data take over the enterprise again and appoint Spot his number one, will Riker confess his true love to the leaning wall, and will Picard admit that his favorite crusher is the boy Wesley?
All this and more may (probably won’t) be answered on the Greatest Generation.
As a listener of podcasts I am often asked what podcasts I listen to and which I would recommend. After finishing up the silly iTunes review its probably more helpful to do a full overview of all the podcast to which I subscribe.
The podcast for which the above review applies is The Greatest Generation, a Star Trek podcast by two guys who are somewhat ashamed to have a Star Trek podcast. The host Adam and Ben seem to have started the podcast almost on a dare, unsure if they would even release the first set of recordings, and even more unsure if anyone would listen if the did. I am very glad they released their bashful first recordings and continue to release podcasts twice a week as it is often the highlight of my Mondays and Wednesdays.
The podcast follows Star Trek the Next Generation, the hosts watch episodes of the iconic television show before the podcast then talk the listeners through the story points and highlights of the episode. What makes the podcast amusing is their bizarre sense of humor.
The show has lots of jokes that build on previous episodes so I would very much recommend going back and listening from the beginning. While I often skip the first season of the Next Generation when re-watching it, some of those terrible episodes make the best podcasts.
Another favorite podcast is Hello Internet, the podcast by YouTubers CGPGrey and Brady Haron. This podcast is the pinnacle of the ‘two dudes talking’ genre and has no specific topics or subjects. Popular conversation points usually focus around Grey’s peculiarities, plane crashes, Audrey the chihuahua, follow-up from previous episodes, paper-cuts, vexillology, emoji, and occasionally YouTube. The subject of conversation really has little effect on the quality of the podcast as most of my enjoyment comes from the excellent chemistry shared between the hosts. Grey and Brady often see the world in completely opposite ways, vet they are still extremely good friends.
For a little taste of the podcast, some of the best bits have been put together and animated by listener Dovsky.
Hello Internet is not uploaded on a regular schedule, which makes it a pleasant surprise when there is a new episode sitting in my queue.
Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project
Still Untitled is the podcast of Adam Savage the former Mythbuster, though when the podcast was started he was still busting myths. The show was started as part of a collaboration between the Discovery channel stars and Tested.com a technology review site. The podcast is usually half hour period for hosts Adam, Will, and Norm to catch up and talk about Adam’s adventures, current events or to go in depth on a movie or book.
The podcast is released every Tuesday and is conveniently the length of my morning commute. There is a large backlog of episodes, but the discussions are very topical and there is no need to go back and listen to the back episodes to follow the current conversations.
Cortex is another podcast with YouTuber CGPGrey, this time with Mike Hurley as his co-host. Similar to Hello Internet this falls neatly into the two dudes talking genre, though this podcast is focused a little more on matters of work, productivity and how to run a podcasting empire. Grey goes much more in depth about workflows he uses to force his lazy side to be productive, and Mike shares his learnings on what its like to run Relay.fm podcast network.
Also like Hello Internet this show does not have a regular schedule, but it is released with more consistency with Mike trying to get podcasts out a normal intervals.
This is Only a Test is Tested.com’s weekly technology podcast. Norm from this Still Untitled is often present along with other rotating hosts (usually Jeremy and Kishore). This podcast is very topical as the popular culture, technology and virtual reality news from the past week are the main topics of discussion.
The podcast publishes every thursday and I find it entertaining as well as a good way to stay informed about what is going on in the tech world.
Freakonomics is the show produced by Stephen Dubner for public radio in podcast form. Its a well produced show that looks at different topics each episode in depth and usually from the perspective of economics, even if its a topic not normally associated with economics. The shows are always interesting and often insightful.
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me is another show produced for public radio released as a podcast. Wait Wait is a game show hosted by Peter Sagal focusing on the more ridiculous pieces of the last week’s news. Wait Wait is an entertaining way to take in the highlights of a week’s news.
I have many other podcasts that are sitting in my queue that I have not yet had the chance to listen to, as keeping up with 7 podcast is a lot of audio to listen to every week. Next I get the time RadioLab, Lore, Planet Money, and Welcome to Night Vale are waiting for me.
A Clash of Coasts 