We find our hero convalescing after an encounter with the not-so-novel coronavirus. Very passé to get the thing at this stage, but we are where we are.
Anyway, I tell you this not to try and elicit sympathy but to explain why this email may be badly formatted (I left my laptop charger in the office so am writing this on my phone). I also cannot rule out this being very badly written due to brain fog - but promises of weekly content must be kept.
Stuck alone in my flat, I have been going slowly and inelegantly mad - saved only from complete insanity by finding some very good new podcasts this week. So here they are:
Series
The Content Mines
Hosts Ryan and Luke discuss things that are on the internet this week. That’s basically it, but the conversations are funny and backed up with the type of research that actually allows you to understand the infrastructure behind what surfaces on your timeline. A lot of internet culture podcasts don’t really add value beyond summarising social media trends but this one really does.
Start anywhere, but having binged my way through a whole load of episodes this week I particularly liked:
The future of everything is automated landlordism (a look at the odd world of the online hustle bro - those weird youtubers who occasionally pop up telling you to become a landlord or whatever)
The origins of no bed frame guy (a critical examination of the meme which asks why single men in their twenties do not have bed frames)
West Elm Caleb and the TikTok stampede (West Elm Caleb is a whole wild ride in itself, but I particularly enjoyed this episode for Sam (English) trying to explain partygate to Ryan (American). Really throws the utter madness of the whole thing into sharp relief.)
Episode
McCarthyism: how one grifter still poisons America, Origin Story, Podmasters
Only one episode so far but this feels really promising. The premise is that each week the hosts will take a word or concept that is thrown around a lot in political conversations and has basically lost all meaning. They look at the history of it and what it actually means in the present day. This week was McCarthyism. I learned a lot that I didn’t know about McCarthy, and they do a really good job of showing historical cause and effect and the longer term repercussions of the events they discuss. Smart, thoughtful, really well researched.
Something Topical
Elis James and John Robins, 5Live
This is in no way topical, but I don’t have a good topical recommendation this week and my excuse is this: sitting alone in my flat (something I almost never do unless compelled by the government or viral plague) has reminded me of how great audio is for company. Which in turn reminded me of this podcast which I have basically used to get through every remotely difficult thing that has happened in my life since I discovered it.
If you are feeling down and faced with hours staring into the void of your own brain, I cannot recommend this podcast highly enough. Basically just two really nice funny people talking to each other. It is riddled with in jokes so may take a while to get into - but sit with it because it is so worth it.
It is immensely soothing. Plus there are hundreds of episodes available, and if you finish all the BBC ones (which I have, twice) there is a further archive from their time on Radio X. Brace for the cliche: this is the chicken soup of podcasts.