Podcasts and their magic little bump

Video games, prison careers, military fashion, and many little stories for your ears.

Welcome to Hurt Your Brain #215, the place to get podcasts and links that will make you think, sent every so often.

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I’m so happy to be back in your inbox.

I sure do have some great recommendations for you, but first, a little celebration of the cumulative effects of podcasts, and the magic little bump they provide in our understanding, episode by episode.

On to the rest!

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PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS

Endless Threads: Hidden Levels #1 — Mr Boomshakalaka

• The Big Idea: In a collaboration between 99 Percent Invisible and Endless Thread, comes this six part series looking at video game design.

• This first episode involves the iconic voice from NBA Jam, and will send 90’s kids on a serious nostalgia trip.

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Articles of Interest: Gear — Chapter 1

• The Big Idea: A new season from Avery Trufelman exploring how the military has influenced all manner of fashion.

• Fantastic start to a new season. I would love it if Trufelman did a straight up US history podcast, because I found her digressions into US military history super compelling.

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Imaginary Worlds: Bringing Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein to Life

• The Big Idea: An interview with Tamara Deverell, director Guillermo del Toro’s long time collaborator on production design.

• I listened before watching the new Frankenstein, and it added tremendously to the experience. Very worth listening either before or after watching.

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Levar Burton Reads: The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chiang, Part 1 (Part 2)

• The Big Idea: The first story in Ted Chiang’s short story collection, Exhalation. I listened to this five years ago, but I wanted to share again because I’m finally reading the full collection, and it’s super so far.

• This specific story is wonderful, mind-bending, and thoughtful.

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Planet Money: A new experiment in remote work … from the inside

• The Big Idea: There are some states (like Maine in this example) that allow people in prison to make full salaries via remote work in some specific situations.

• Go from having no idea this is a thing to understanding a ton about the how and the why.

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The Daily: Sunday Special — The Year in Gaming

• The Big Idea: A great discussion on the best video games of 2025 from the culture desk at NYT.

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Two other quick recommendations.

First, I so far REALLY like Vince Gilligan’s new show called Pluribus on Apple TV. The official podcast has great behind the scenes stories and gives you an idea of where Gilligan’s head is at.

Second, if you are looking for something silly, and you are an SNL person, check out What’s Our Podcast w/ Beck Bennett & Kyle Mooney. It’s new and it definitely helps if you are a fan of Bennett and Mooney, but it’s not a necessity. The premise is fun: Half the show is chatting with the guest, and then the other half is improv where they all pretend to have a podcast about whatever random topic the guest suggests. Jack Black is a great episode, Meg Stalter episode goes off the rails hard in a good way, Marc Maron is super uncomfortable with it all but is funny, and Bobby Moynihan understood the assignment.

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OTHER LINKS TO MAKE YOU THINK

A Guided Rabbit Hold On The Art of Simon Stålenhag. If you follow these steps, you’ll become obsessed.

As someone who believes in big ass notebooks, I really gelled with this Substack post from Grant Snider’s Incidental Comics. I recently discovered him with his comic book “I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf,” and quickly devoured all of his other books. He’s a full time artist, part time orthodontist (really), which is such an unexpected fun thing.

Create vs consume.

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FOR FUN

For anyone who spends time on LinkedIn and hates what they see, VERY relatable. (This artist is worth a follow too, lots of great stuff).

Do yourself a favor, watch this tremendously confident fail from Gordon Ramsay as he tries to make a grilled cheese, and then spend some time reading the comments. Truly glorious. As many mention, to his credit, Ramsay has kept this video up and it still haunts him to this day as people constantly bring it up.

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P.s. Out of all the movies I watched during spooky season, Weapons was my favorite. A movie I would watch again right now.

Also, I’ve been obsessed with Hades 2 since it launched, and equally obsessed with its music. Even if you’re not a gamer, or at least don’t see yourself ever playing Hades 2, you can definitely still enjoy the music. This YouTube playlist has the entire original soundtrack, and it’s phenomenal. You can just put it on and vibe.

For recommendations though, start with:

Song of the Sirens: A very chill song of the sirens, nothing nefarious here.

Coral Crown: You get to fight the sirens, and it turns out they have a band, and they sing this as you fight them. A true banger as boss music.

The Necropolis: A catchy, moody slow build that shifts into a higher gear half way through, and ends in an unexpected insane flute solo.

Sightless Shephard: Similar to above in that it’s a catchy slow build that shifts into a higher gear half way through, but instead ends in an unexpected insane sax solo.