Four podcasts to make you more 'well-listened'

A school week that is the worst kind of week, podcaster musicians, AI voice hell, every sci-fi film ever, and more.

Welcome to Hurt Your Brain #203, the place to get podcasts and links that will make you think, sent every few weeks.

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I love interesting combinations within creative fields (like writers who draw). For podcasting, I’m lately taking notice of podcast hosts who also make the music. Here’s a few I’ve made note of lately.

Amory Sivertson: Co-host of Endless Thread and host of the new Beyond All Repair podcast. I perked up when in the credits she mentioned she made the theme and credits music. 

Noam Hassenfeld: Host of Unexplainable makes original compositions for the episodes and many episodes have included creative original songs.

Ramtin Arablouei: Co-host and producer of NPR’s Throughline. Credits at the end of each episode include this line: “Music for this episode was composed by Ramtin and his band, Drop Electric.” 

Martin Zaltz Austwick: Has created music for loads of shows and episodes, and has created an intriguing procedurally created podcast called Neutrinowatch (where each episode changes slightly every day if you re-download it). 

Who else am I missing?

Alright, on to some podcast recommendations and other links.

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PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS

Violence Week: Chapter One 

• The Big Idea: “In East Lansing, Michigan, an outburst of violence at the local high school, and the discovery of a gun, leads to a community reckoning over school safety, racial equity, and the role of police in schools.”

• The first episode in this new four part series will definitely make you think. Producer and host Emily Reeves does an excellent job introducing the tensions within the school district in a thoughtful way.

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Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever. Almost: What is Science Fiction?

• The Big Idea: A show and episode title speaking directly to my little sci-fi shaped heart. This is one of the first episodes of this newish show and it’s a fantastic discussion/friendly argument on what makes something science fiction and what doesn’t. 

• They touch on how various science fiction have defined their own genre, and I quite liked Ray Bradbury’s simple rule of thumb: "I define science fiction as the art of the possible. Fantasy is the art of the impossible.”

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Shell Game: Episode 1: Quality Assurance

• The Big Idea: We all know AI voices and voice clones are getting scary good, but to hear exactly how good is a little disorienting. The host is on a mission to push the limits of what is possible as he tries to clone his voice and send it on real world missions, largely with customer service agents suffering the consequences.

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Terrestrials: The Trio

• The Big Idea: While rare, it is not entirely uncommon for bald eagles to form a trio of two dads and a mom as a tight knit family. And sometimes, it all happens in front of a live nest webcam.

• This is Radiolab’s kid friendly spin off but is still a great listen for adults.

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RECENT VISUALS I MADE

Another addition to my non-existent podcast merch store:

erikthejones

A post shared by @erikthejones

More visuals:

• The podcast equivalent of “It’s been X amount of days since the last workplace accidents.”

• Who said habits are hard? You can keep any streak going with a little revisionist history.

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OTHERS LINKS TO MAKE YOU THINK

Bad Movie Fights vs Good Movie Fights, Vol. 2. I like to go through all my YouTube history before writing this newsletter, and no surprise it was pretty much a hundred different Olympic related videos and highlights. This video was one of the few exceptions and is very worth checking out.

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Strong Sense of Place newsletter. I recommended an episode of the podcast in my previous edition, and now I’m recommending the excellent newsletter that goes with the show. If you love reading and love the idea of connecting with a community of readers, this newsletter is for you.

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FOR FUN

English is so easy

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We’re two years late, but just blasted through Station 11 on Max. It’s damn good and I want that in-universe graphic novel.

Please like or comment (or reply) if you want to share any comments. See you next time.