Recommend a Podcast

[Arlia Janet]

For the first time, I have started to get into podcasts for my commute to work and whenever I'm doing something mundane like cleaning the house or skinning a wolf. However, I do not follow enough podcasts to fill this need from week-to-week (...so many wolves...) Please help me pad my subscription list with your personal recommendations. Most importantly, please try to explain why you enjoy your selections.

1) Cracked podcast: writers of the popular online magazine dive into a specific topic- usually how movies affect how we perceive the world and how reality is vastly different or how little we understand about how the mind/body work. They usually take a recent article topic as a springboard for deeper discussion. Their rigor and sources are sometimes spotty, but it's an interesting read with some good music recommendations included. The host's intros and outros I find a little annoying and sometimes navel-gazing. They also tend to bring up points that had been made in prior podcasts instead of researching new ideas. I like this one because it has inspired me to do more research on my own when they bring up something contrary to my preconceived notions which causes me to find out more about something I would have never considered. In that small way, it has made my world a little larger.

2) The Biggest Problem in the Universe by Maddox- Some colleagues were shocked that I listened to this. The tone of the show is very flippant, but underneath all the naughty language and surface level "-isms," it's a pretty clever show. The banter between the two hosts is entertaining. They bring in problems in order to discuss and determine (eventually) which single problem is in fact the biggest problem in the universe (right now the leading problem is Internet Slacktivists followed closely by Female Genital Mutilation). One host tends to bring in larger, well-researched problems while the other brings in minor annoyances that happened recently. If you love verbally sparring with your friends, you will find some true moments of belly laughs especially if something strikes a chord with one of your pet peeves.

What would you recommend and why?