Podcasting is a medium that still hasn’t taken off to the extent that it ought to. It is a (mostly) free form of entertainment generated by many, many talented people (speaking of talented people – give Two Guys, a Girl and a PizzaCast a listen). The latest “it” show is one that everyone ought to listen to. It’s called “Serial,” and it just may solve a 15-year-old murder mystery.
There are few things that I enjoy as much as improv and podcasts. Until recently my schedule has not allowed for much of either. Luckily all that is changing. I just started a new improv class, and two weeks in I am prepared to say it is the best one I’ve ever had. I also have a couple of improv teams that are starting to achieve liftoff. So everything is coming up Steve-zee. It’s also summer, which means there is very little activity going down at the undisclosed high school where I make money. I still have to come in, of course, because support staff doesn’t deserve a vacation. I’ll try not to sound bitter though, as a couple of months of monotonous busy work is allowing me to catch up on podcasts, particularly Matt Besser’s improv4humans.
Slate is an online magazine that addresses any and every topic a choosy consumer could ask for. Politics, film, television, sports, other stuff – they’ve got it all over at Slate. But I’ll be honest with you… The last couple years? They haven’t been very good to the website. Well, actually, they’ve probably been very lucrative. What I mean to say is, “they haven’t been very good to the website’s quality.” The site is much more interested in generating page views through contrarianism and grabby headlines than it is in publishing meaningful, thoughtful journalism. This is most rampant in the pop culture sections of the website. Despite all of that, Slate stands strong in one area: podcasts. And with the recent release of a new daily show – Slate’s The Gist with Mike Pesca – the site hopes to continue that streak.
I’ve been on that podcast tip since like 2005 (way before it was cool). Back in those days podcasts were an excellent source of conversation about topics no one else in Annapolis, MD cared about. At the time that range of interests was centered mostly around comic books. So for a long time that is solely what I listened to. Shows like Comic Geek Speak, Around Comics, and iFanboy filled my pre-iPod mp3 player. Over time my tastes changed, moving more toward comedy, a shift to which I attribute most of my current endeavors. Lately though I have started listening to more shows about movies, such as Filmspotting and NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. My latest obsession in the the TV & Movie category is a show called Film Junk, though it is not entirely clear why.
Steven Cohen's 365 Days of Reviews 