Tag Archives: podcasts

Podcast Recommendations: RIP

I will no longer be writing my weekly podcast recommendations.  I appreciate every single of one of you that read these, and I sincerely appreciate all the podcasters that reached out.  I started this blog as an outlet to write about stuff I enjoyed, and podcasting certainly falls into that category.  However, this feature never really caught on and I’m sure there’s good reason for that.  Podcasting is intensely personal, everybody has their preferences, and this medium is so wonderful that there’s truly something out there for everybody. I’m glad I got to discover new podcasts as a result of this exercise, and will continue to listen every single day, multiple hours a day.  If you’re reading this and ever want some podcast recommendations, please reach out and I’ll see if I can help out.  In addition, please send me your recommendations as well!!

Ultimately, all of this is experimental for me.  Some experiments succeed, some fail, but at the end of the day the most important thing is that I have to learn from both sides of success and try to get better.

Thank you for your time, as always.

-Daman

Podcast Recommendations: Week of August 3rd

As a reminder, I identify podcasts I recommend as “topical” or “evergreen”.  Topical generally would mean that it has a shorter shelf life, depending on topic it might be 1-7 days. Evergreen is good to go any time.  As always, you can find previous week’s recommendations here. Thank you as always, I appreciate every single one of you.

Monday, August 3rd

  • Monday Morning Podcast: 8-3-15 [Evergreen; Posted August 2nd; Length: 90 minutes]
    • Bill Burr is undoubtedly my single favorite comic performing today.  I share his love for sports, and I love his “angry” voice.  It’s the funniest thing in the world, and I recommend you watch his Netflix specials to enjoy comedy at its peak.  His Monday Morning Podcast is a fantastic display of his comedic ability.  Very rarely can a show hosted by a single person (and in some cases joined by his wife, the Lovely Nia, or other comedians) be this entertaining. Twice a week, Bill seemingly off the top of his head discusses current topics that branch out into pretty great riffs and tangents.  Listen to this one!  Loved his bit about Cecil the Lion.
    • I mark this episode as “evergreen” because a topic like Cecil the Lion, while current, will not age this podcast.  There are some episodes where he talks a lot about current sports events (like during the football season), so I would recommend those accordingly.

Tuesday, August 4th

  • Dunc’d On Basketball: August 4 (Worst Trades Since the Lockout with Daniel Leroux) [Evergreen – until the start of the NBA season; Posted August 4th; Length: 108 minutes]
    • Nate Duncan and Daniel Leroux of RealGM have a fun discussion about the worst trades made since the 2011 NBA Lockout.  It was fun looking back at some of these deals that I had forgotten, such as the wacky deal the Nets made for Gerald Wallace.  I agreed with most of their picks, and I really liked the depth they went into to explain why some of these deals were as bad as they were, highly recommended for NBA fans.
    • Audio quality, unfortunately, continues to need improvement.

Wednesday, August 5th

  • You Made It Weird: #270: Jimmy Kimmel [Evergreen; Posted July 8th; Length: 110 minutes]
    • The You Made It Weird podcast hosted by Pete Holmes is one of my favorites.  Pete has a very “Weird” style of interviewing, and I mean that in the best way possible.  He discusses topics such as God and spirituality that rarely get talked about and in general maintains a very upbeat and lively conversation with his guests, rather than a straightforward interview.  His guest, Jimmy Kimmel, is also one of my favorite entertainers today. I’ve been following him since the Man Show and he seems like an all-around great human being and he tells his fascinating story about traveling around the country doing radio shows before he became a true star.  Really interesting, really funny, highly recommended.

Thursday, August 6th

  • The Joe Rogan Experience: #677 – Josh Zepps [Evergreen; Posted August 3rd; Length: 191 minutes]
    • I typically have three reactions to listening to a Joe Rogan podcast: laughter, contemplation, and fear.  I laugh because he’s a great comedic mind with great comic timing. I contemplate because Joe keeps an open mind and has an extremely diverse intellectual palette, and he has many interesting guests from many different areas of expertise.  Lastly, I always get scared crapless, because Joe has a knack of reminding us as an audience that the world we live in is very fragile and our planet is a very unpredictable, violent sphere that exists in the universe. All in all, Joe has done one of the better jobs using this medium to have truly free-flowing discussions with very interesting people.
    • Today’s episode, with Josh Zepps of HuffPost Live and We The People Live, was a great one that marked all of my reactions above.  Joe and Josh discuss our current culture, Cecil the Lion, supervolcanoes, the universe, drugs, and more.  It’s a great conversation with two interesting guys and I recommend it!

Podcast Recommendations: Week of July 20th

For previous week recommendations, please click here.

Monday, July 20th

  • Pardon The Interruption: The Finish to The Open: 7/20/15 [length: 21 minutes]
    • Ever since I’ve been a sports fan, I’ve watched PTI.  I recommend today’s episode because these two were off for a couple of weeks and I just missed them so damn much.  I’m very grateful that they release their shows as podcasts, and I listen to these every day.  The chemistry between Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon is unparalleled as far as I’m concerned, which translates to a supremely entertaining podcast, even though we are in the dog days of summer with no NBA and NFL to really talk about.
  • Upgrade: Upgrade 46: The S Could Stand for Snell [length: 84 minutes]
    • Speaking of chemistry, I love this tech podcast hosted by Myke Hurley of Relay FM and Jason Snell of Six Colors (& more!).  Today’s topics were a discussion of the new iPod Touches and how decisions that Apple’s making with this line might translate over to the iPhone.  Any time there is a new release of a product it leads to interesting discussion, even though at this point in the company’s history an iPod refresh ranks pretty low in terms of Apple excitement.  Still, really good podcast, and Myke and Jason had a really funny discussion about American geography which I much enjoyed.  Nice try, Myke!

Continue reading →

Podcast Recommendations: Week of July 13th

For previous weeks, please click here.

Monday, July 13th

  • Slate’s Whistlestop: Ford, Reagan, and the Halloween Massacre [length: 28 minutes, originally posted May 13th]
    • Really interesting podcast about the behind-the-scenes dynamic between Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan prior to the 1980 Election.  Fascinating that Ronald Reagan was challenging an incumbent (even though he wasn’t elected) President for his own party’s nomination.  (There is a part 2 to this I haven’t heard.)
  • Stuff You Should Know: How Zero Population Growth Works [length: 51 minutes, originally posted April 16th]
    • This is another really good podcast that I’ve slowly been catching up on.  They discuss an incredible variety of topics, and this one was really interesting.  Many population theories exist about how long we can sustain our population with our scarce resources and hosts Josh and Chuck go through a good amount of detail to talk about them, specifically focusing on Paul Erlich’s 1968 prediction of famine and mass death. You know, the fun stuff.
  • Dunc’d On Basketball: July 11 (News and Summer League with Seth Partnow) [length: 96 minutes]
    • Nate Duncan, Daniel Leroux of RealGM and Seth Partnow of Nylon Calculus discuss the ongoing off-season news well and sprinkle in some thoughts on the Summer League action.  I will always take their audio quality to task, but the depth of analysis of the basketball and contractual fits of all the moves in the league remain top-notch.

Continue reading →

Podcast Recommendations: Week of July 6th

For previous weeks, please click here.  Apologies for an incomplete week last week, but my best friend was getting married! Will hope to keep updating these posts daily.

Monday, July 6th

  • Dunc’d On Basketball: July 6th (Full Weekend Analysis) [length: 119 minutes]
    • Yes, I know, this podcast keeps coming up.  My pod-crush remains stronger than ever.  This is just the next installment of reactions towards free agency and evaluation of where teams stand as of right now.  Nate Duncan and Daniel Leroux of RealGM continue to be an outstanding team and a joy to listen to have adult conversations about basketball.  Keep killing it, guys!
  • Steven Lebron Radio: Ep 97: Sage Steele [length: 79 minutes – posted 06/10/15]
    • My apologies for being about a month late on this, but what a great listen.  I’ve never heard Sage Steele outside of her hosting duties on ESPN’s NBA Countdown show, and I’m so glad I did.  Alex Wong, host of this podcast does a great job discussing a very wide array of topics.  I was especially inspired by Sage’s overcoming of her intense shyness to accomplish her goal of being an ESPN broadcaster.  I have a newfound respect for Sage and am rooting for her even harder.  She also discusses her friendship with Stuart Scott, who I can’t believe has been gone for 7 months now.  This is a definite listen.  If you’re interested, Alex has a GREAT newsletter in which he recommends things to read around the web which you can subscribe here.

Continue reading →

Podcast Recommendations: Week of June 29th

Welcome to another wonderful week of podcasting!

Light day today, I didn’t have much time.  For previous weeks, please click here.  Please note that I only recommend podcasts that I’ve listened to, so they won’t necessarily correspond to the days that they have been posted.

Monday, June 29th

  • Fastbreak Breakfast NBA Podcast: Fastbreak Breakfast Ep. 34 “The Trill and Sauce Show” [length: 64 minutes]
    • A new addition to my NBA podcasts! This podcast reached out to me over twitter, recommending that I listen, and they were so right.  THESE ARE MY PEOPLE.  A really fun NBA discussion between three friends (2 Grizzlies fans, 1 Heat fan).  I don’t know these guys’ names yet, I’m not familiar with their weekly segments, and it never really mattered.  I laughed out loud multiple times, and if you’re a fan of the NBA and comedy, this is the podcast for you.  Don’t let me undersell the content – they know their stuff, they just happen to be really funny too.  Really glad I listened, and I recommend them wholeheartedly.

Continue reading →

Podcast Recommendations: Week of June 22, 2015

As a podcast addict, I have decided it would be a good idea to post the ones that I really enjoyed, hopefully people can enjoy them as well.  I plan on updating these daily as I listen to them.  Please note my recommendations are based on the day I listen to them, not the day they are necessarily published.  For now I won’t be posting links, just full titles of episodes. Monday, June 22nd

  • WTF with Marc Maron: Episode 613 – President Barack Obama [length: 67 minutes]
    • This was a big one.  Huge victory for the medium of podcasting, and Marc Maron and the President did not disappoint.  A wide-ranging conversation that began with the tragedy in Charleston. I think this is a great medium for politicians as they are able to discuss their positions and values in a much more relaxed format, away from the visual spectacle that TV news has become and the hacky segments of talk radio.  Kudos to Marc Maron for not only scoring the interview, but not abandoning his traditional interview style (or location!) for the leader of the free world.
  • Exponent: Episode 049 – In Aggregate [length: 56 minutes]
    • Ben Thompson, of the fantastic Stratechery website, and James Allworth of Harvard Business Review host the great Exponent podcast weekly.  If you are a fan of the business side of tech, this is absolutely the podcast for you.  The majority of this episode was devoted to the California Labor Commission’s ruling that Uber drivers are employees, thus entitled to benefits.  Unfortunately for us, they are taking a well-deserved break as travel schedules will make the summer difficult. I highly recommend going through old episodes, read descriptions of things that might interest you.  Episode 41 – Bubbles is a particularly interesting one to me.
  • Dunc’d On Basketball: June 22 (Dan Feldman: Hawks and Cavs offseason, NBA News) [Lenght: 67 minutes]
    • Quickly becoming my favorite basketball podcast, hosted by Nate Duncan. Often co-hosted with Daniel Leroux of RealGM, today he was joined by Dan Feldman for a discussion on general NBA news about the ongoing offseason.  I appreciate Nate Duncan’s approach to discussing basketball in a very “grown-up” way and is a completely different voice in terms of existing NBA podcasts.  There’s a lot of good options out there, certainly, but this one has really separated itself over the last month or so.  The sound quality of this one wasn’t great, and in general has been a weak point of the show, but I imagine as the show matures that will be fixed.  For now, enjoy the most important part: the content.

Continue reading →