#TRYPOD

March 30, 2017May 25, 2017 by Katie | 2 Comments

Are you guys listening to podcasts? If so, I hope you followed-up on some of Sarah’s suggestions. She listed SO MANY good ones. Seriously.

A variety of the major podcast producers have joined together this month with an initiative they’re calling #trypod. They’re encouraging podcast listeners to tell friends about their favorite podcasts, and if necessary, show a novice how easy it is to subscribe and listen to podcasts. Also, Sarah’s a little peeved that #trypod stole her idea, she’s been trying to get you guys to listen to podcasts since 2015 (she even had a special Earth Day Edition!).

I’ve been a podcast listener since way back (I’m pretty sure I discovered Josh and Chuck), and love the convenience of having a good show available at any time of day. It’s virtually impossible to listen while taking care of the boys, but these days I find myself always putting on a podcast after they go to bed and again turning to podcasts whenever I have some free DIY time (nothing goes better together than painting some furniture while listening to YHL). It’s not a lot of hours, but it’s enough to listen to a few of my favorite shows each week.

My current top five, in no particular order…

Stuff You Should Know : I referenced this show’s hosts, Josh and Chuck, above, and once you start listening, you’ll see how quickly you start talking to your friends about what J & C taught you. You’ll probably grow to love their friendly banter, you’ll start to assume they’re your friends, and you’ll start to miss them if you don’t listen for a while. They cover every and any topic under the sun. I always learn something cool, crazy, or gross while listening. Last week I was learning all about hookworm. Did you know that hookworms enter your body through your feet, move through your bloodstream to your lungs, and then you’ll hack them up with a dry cough and swallow them so that they enter your gut, which is where they really want to be? YUCK! Check out that gross and cool fact.

Young House Love : Ahhh, our favorite blogging couple that took a break and then came back with an entertaining design podcast. I love John and Sherry, and while I found some of their blog posts to be a little wordy (I admit, some days I was just there for the pretty before and after photos!), their podcast is great. They cover a variety of design, renovation, and house maintenance topics. They play some games, and often have any number of guests that you’ll know if you pay any attention to the design and design blog worlds. Lots of fun to hear these conversations when you’re used to reading the blogs.

The Dinner Party Download : This may be my favorite podcast of the moment. I wish I had a weekly dinner party with Rico and Brendan. They describe the show as “a fast and funny hour of culture, food and conversation”, and I really couldn’t say it any better. Each episode includes a joke or two (usually a groaner, which are my fave), then there’s a cocktail recipe inspired by history, some obscure current events, some great music (the soundtrack to your dinner party), and generally just a good time. I can’t get enough.

How I Built This : Confession : This is a show that I didn’t think I would like, because I don’t want to hear about how you, you, and (yes) you became millionaires. I especially don’t want to hear about how that guy in the corner made his billions. But, guess what, I subscribed to this podcast, and it just happens to automatically start playing while I’m washing the dishes, and I’ve really enjoyed every single episode so far. The stories of how different businesses and products are developed turns out to be pretty fascinating and a lot less pretentious than I expected. If you want a place to start, listen to the 5 Hour Energy episode (March 13, 2017).

That’s it. Listening to those four and sometimes TED Radio Hour (TED talks curated into a show!) is about all I have time for in a week.

Sarah here! I’m butting my way into this conversation since TRYPOD was totally MY idea. My favorites are mostly the same as before. I love Invisibilia, Snap Judgment, Radio Lab and Mortified, but I also have a new favorite! It’s called Guys We F*cked, BTW it’s not as radical or provocative as it sounds so if you’re a bit shy, give it a listen anyway. It’s an anti slut shaming podcast and basically a space to have open sex-positive discussions. Even more than that, the co-hosts (who are also great comedians) interview a wide variety of subjects, male and female, pertaining to issues about sex, gender, relationships and reproductive health. I think it’s a really liberating podcast and especially important for young people who want to know a thing or two about sexual health, but do not know who to ask. Sex isn’t wrong or shameful or something to be whispered about and I’m really proud of these ladies for stepping it up even when platforms like iTunes were trying to silence them. Okay, back to Kate!

What about you? Have any favorite podcasts that I should add to my queue?

Wait, are you brand new to podcasts? If you listen to NPR, then you can think of podcasts as having a similar format to an NPR show without the breaks for news (some of them even are NPR shows without the news – surprise!).

You can go to the webpages above to listen to many of the shows, or even easier, you can use a podcast app on your smartphone and subscribe to your favorite podcasts. The app will take care of updating your queue with the newest episodes and it’ll delete an episode after you’ve listened. Easy peasy.

Images : #trypod

Sarah’s Current Podcast Subscriptions

November 9, 2015 by Sarah | 2 Comments

Every month or so, I tweak this list to my liking, so check back to keep your podcast subscriptions inspiring. I also share themed podcasting lists like this Earth Day Edition.

At the start of 2015, I shared my goals and one of them was to ‘push podcasts on everyone,’ so here I am, still pushing them on you. I’ve been on the podcast train for about five years now and it has totally transformed all of my time in the car. Driving is actually one of my favorite activities, I love having this mini space that’s all mine no matter where I am in the country, but listening to bad radio or feeling like I’m wasting time in the car can really start to irritate me. Instead of listening to poll projections or my own incessant mind chatter, I simply plug in my iPod and get lost in a podcast.

What is a podcast? It’s simply a digital file that you can download on the internet, usually part of a series, and once you subscribe to a podcast it will automatically download to your computer or device each time a new one is released. Think of a podcast as a radio show that gets saved to your itunes or whichever program you use to listen to music.

How do I download them? If you don’t know how to download or subscribe to podcasts, there are a million and one tutorials out there and I’m sure they do a better job of explaining it than I can. Basically, you can download individual podcasts or you can subscribe to a podcast, which means your computer or phone will automatically download the newest episodes as they come out. I always subscribe to my favorite podcasts and I even search the archives to individually download episodes I may have missed that look interesting.

Where do I find them? Well, you can search for them on the web, you can click the links provided below, or you can search for them in your music listening application. I search for podcasts in iTunes, but sometimes I look for new-to-me podcasts on google so I can use a wide variety of search terms to find something I haven’t heard of before. Then I search the name of the podcast in iTunes and subscribe to it.

Here is a list of podcasts I currently subscribe to:

NPR favorites:

Ask Me Another – NPR & WNYC’s weekend game show featuring word games, puzzles and trivia played by a live audience. It’s an upbeat hour where you can quiz yourself on current events, grammar and other brain busting subjects. I play this podcast whenever I’m feeling a little irritated in the car. Case of road rage? Construction zone continuing on for miles? Play Ask Me Another.

Fresh Air – is considered a talk show, but to me it is a series of intimate conversations with artists, creatives and innovators in today’s society. I usually pick and choose which episodes to listen to depending on the guest, but even if I’m not familiar with the subject, each episode inspires or intrigues me in some way.

How To Do Everything – answers readers’ (pretty absurd) questions each week. The co-hosts, Mike Danforth & Ian Chillag, are super silly and laid back, which makes listening to these podcasts a real treat. You never really know what you’re in for when you play How To Do Everything and that’s half the reason it’s so interesting.

Invisibilia – is in its infancy with only one season completed, but each episode is so.stinkin.good. I listened to each episode twice, picking up on things I missed the first time around. Invisibilia focuses on the intangible forces that shape human behavior like ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions. If you’re interested in psychology and the brain, Invisibilia is a must.

Serial – actually brought a lot of attention towards podcasts in general. It’s crazy how one show can completely take off and shine a light on a whole world that a lot of folks were overlooking. Serial investigates a murder trial that took place over a decade ago and looks for more clues into what really happened. Serial is a spinoff of This American Life, which means the producers and staff of the show know what they’re doing. Serial will keep you on the edge of your seat. I listened to the series as it was debuting in early 2015. I was biting my nails each week until the newest episode was released.

Snap Judgment – is storytelling with a beat. Host and producer, Glynn Washington, is absolutely captivating. Each week has a different theme and stories that go along with it. Snap Judgment is a deep (and sometimes difficult) conversation about race, politics, social responsibility, activism, family life, human rights, etc. You should probably dive right in.

This American Life – was actually the first podcast I ever downloaded. I’ve been listening to This American Life for over a decade now. In the past, I was a bummed when I would miss an episode on the radio, but podcasts have eliminated that issue. Just like the name suggests, each week This American Life features a variety of stories about Americans that pertain to a certain theme.

Educational

Freakonomics Radio – I learn so much (and soon forget it) during each and every one of these episodes. Freakonomics is about the hidden side of everything, basically how economics plays a role in our every day life. It’s co-hosted by Stephen Dubner, an author and journalist, and Steven Levitt, an award-winning economist. Together they make economics accessible for half-witted listeners like myself. I still have yet to buy their books, but they’re on my list. Just listening to these two joke, laugh and teach together makes the podcast worth listening to.

Stuff You Should Know – kind of has the same feeling as How To Do Everything. The co-hosts are smart and hilarious and you never know what topic they’ll be covering next.

TEDTalks Business – there are thousands of TED talks out there, but my favorites are usually in the business section. I’m usually left with an inspiring thought or feeling that keeps me wanting to push forward instead of crying under a stack of unfinished photography estimates.

The Memory Palace – is a quick snippet of history that you’ve probably never heard of. These podcasts are extremely short by comparison, but each one is extremely powerful. The Memory Palace gets you to contemplate the past whether through events or individuals and leaves you feeling moved by the memory you’ve just learned about.

Storytelling and Conversational & Possibly Educational

Love + Radio is described as, “featuring in-depth, otherworldly-produced interviews with an eclectic range of subjects, from the seedy to the sublime. You’ve never heard anything like it before.” I couldn’t agree more (or write a better synopsis), Love + Radio is captivating and raw, you should give it a listen.

Radiolab – explores topics with the curiosity of a (really well educated) child. Radiolab explores topics with a type of fluidity that blurs the lines between science, philosophy, and human experience. I recently listened to this episode about the birth of Candid Camera and it had me thinking a lot about reality television and our fascination (or disgust) with fame.

The Tim Ferriss Show – breaks down tools that highly productive people use to get sh!t done. It’s both educational and inspiring, but sometimes leaves me feeling like I’m the laziest person on earth. Tim features intriguing guests like Ed Catmull (President of Pixar), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), and Neil Strauss (7 time New York Times bestselling author) among many others. There are plenty of great insights to be learned from Ferriss and his guests.

Savage Lovecast – is a Q&A podcast hosted by Dan Savage. It’s kind of like Dear Ann for a younger (sexier) generation. If you’re listening at work or in public, you definitely need headphones. I really enjoy this podcast because there is a lot I’m completely clueless about when it comes to discussing gay rights, religiosity, and politics pertaining to sexuality. In a way, this podcast exposes me to different types of relationships that I may not have firsthand experience with and in turn creates understanding and empathy for individuals in those relationships.

Mysterious Universe – is a little bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I treat it like listening to stories around a campfire, unsure if it’s fact, but not caring just the same. Mysterious Universe explores the strange, extraordinary, weird, and wonderful happenings on earth (and in space). It can be spooky, unsettling, and inspiring.

Hilarious + Silly – Definitely Not Serious

Your Mom’s House – is a completely filthy and dirty podcast hosted by husband and wife comedians Tom Segura and Christina Pazsitzky. This podcast definitely is not for everyone. If you identify with a ninth grade boy it’s probably for you though. I would suggest watching Completely Normal (it’s on Netflix) and if you dig it download Your Mom’s House.

That’s Deep Bro – is produced and hosted by Christina Pazsitzky from Your Mom’s House. The podcast explores serious questions hashed out by silly people. Christina P. is a comedian, but she has a degree in philosophy so she discusses age old questions and other philosophical topics for your pontificating pleasure. This podcast is her side project, but it has really blossomed over the past year.

The Joe Rogan Experience – is another pretty raunchy podcast, but if you like his comedy, you’ll probably dig his podcast. I usually pick and choose which episodes to listen to depending on the guests. The Joe Rogan Experience is a great way to pass a few hours because he addresses a lot of serious topics in a not so serious (and sometimes not so well-researched) way, so you can form your own opinions while laughing along with Joe and his guest.

The Mortified Podcast – is THE BEST PODCAST NO MATTER THE MOOD. Sorry, I had to make sure this podcast didn’t get overlooked. The Mortified Podcast will have you choking on your water, slapping the steering wheel, and crying on the highway because it’s that funny. It’s a podcast where people read their teenage diaries in front of a live audience. There’s no need to say anything more, except maybe download all the past episodes you missed, because this podcast is an absolute MUST.

Image by Water In My Paint

Podcast Suggestions {Earth Day Edition}

April 23, 2015April 29, 2015 by Sarah | Leave a comment

Hey ~~party~~ podcast people! Remember way back in January when we shared our goals for 2015? Well, one of mine was spreading the news about great podcasts. Maybe you listen to them and maybe you don’t, but after reading this you MUST. Podcasts are pretty nifty. I think of them like blogs for the radio. Some podcasts have huge budgets and a big staff and others are created by an individual out of their home office (or closet!). Plenty of podcasts are free and simply ask for donations if you really dig the program, but obviously you don’t have to give any money if you can’t spare it. Podcasts are really easy to download (for free!) and you can also subscribe to your favorites and they’ll automatically upload to your phone, computer or ipod each time there’s a new one. I find podcasts through iTunes, but if you use a different music program just do a quick google search and you’ll certainly find a tutorial about how to find, download and subscribe to podcasts.

I loveeee listening to podcasts because radio is awesome, but commercials suck! It’s also nice to be able to really control what you’re listening to in the car. I get so frustrated, annoyed and tired if I don’t have something good playing on the radio. I love music, but ~~sometimes~~ I want to learn something nifty in my spare time and podcasts are perfect for bits of information or unique perspectives on different topics. Today I’m going to share some recent interesting episodes that have a little something to do with the environment, ’cause ya know, earth day was yesterday and arbor day is tomorrow! Did you do anything special for yourself and our planet yesterday? I hiked to the top of Mount Sanitas and I won’t forget about it anytime soon – SO sore. Totally worth it of course!