Welcome to Hurt Your Brain #219, the place to get podcasts and links that will make you think, sent every so often.
You know those times when you kind of don’t write or make anything for 19 weeks because summer just kept happening? You totally get it?! Phew that’s great, because I was starting to feel embarrassed for a moment.
I have some really special podcasts I would like to recommend you listen to (or watch?) that I think will hit the spot. Also, as always, some additional links to make you think.
PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS
Call ‘Em Like Museum with Eric Johnson: What’s the point of going to a museum? (with Susan Crane)
The Big Idea: A new podcast from Eric Johnson all about museums. I love a good museum (who doesn’t) and I really enjoyed the first episode.
In fact, I enjoyed it so much it made me start daydreaming about what a Museum of Podcasts might look like. Sadly no such museum seems to exist, and the closest I could find is some podcast related stuff within radio and mass media focused museums, but podcasts deserve their own thing, damnit.
Here is a proposed floor plan of the first floor I drew up.
The Discovery Room is a surprise, and you’ll just have to see it for yourself. But trust me, the discovery problem of podcasting is finally solved.
Fela Kuti: Fear No Man: To Hell and Back
The Big Idea: I finally passed the threshold of having FOMO on this show from Jad Abumrad (Radiolab, Dolly Parton’s America), after seeing it recommended maybe 100 times. It’s about Fela Kuti, an extremely influential and popular musician from Nigeria who I had never heard of before.
Even though I knew it’s supposed to be great, for the most part I went in cold, which I recommend. All I’ll say is, if you haven’t listened, just do it. I’m only through the third episode, but this third episode has a stretch of audio that contains my favorite piece of sound design by a mile that I’ve heard so far this year (what it would have been like to enter “the shrine”).
All Songs Considered: How to love the Grateful Dead
The Big Idea: Two resident NPR music deadheads discuss their love for the band with the resident NPR music Grateful Dead skeptic. The skeptic presents all the greatest hits for why folks don’t like the band, and the true believers address each one.
If I ever were to start a podcast, an idea I am fond of is this: Have superfans of various interests/hobbies give a pitch about why others should get into that thing, and how. If someone is hyped about something, it makes it immediately more intriguing to me and leaves me open to check it out. This is exactly what this episode of All Songs Considered does, and it’s great.
Deadheads will say to each other, “how was your show,” and not, “how was the show,” which is honestly fantastic.
The Indicator: Tale of Two Cities
The Big Idea: For a rather small city, I love seeing Syracuse (where I live) get mentioned seemingly more frequently than it should, and this episode discusses the mega computer chip projects coming to Syracuse, NY and Austin, TX, and how they differ in their approach.
Just about 20 minutes from me, Micron recently broke ground on a 100 billion dollar chip fab campus (as discussed in the episode), which just boggles the mind.
The Big Idea: A fun, funny, breezy episode that left me a larger fan of Billie Eilish.
The Rest Is History: The Odyssey – Hero of the Trojan Horse (Part 1) and Return of the King (Part 2)
The Big Idea: If you have The Odyssey on your reading list, and you meant to read it before the movie came out, this two part series is an excellent replacement (if you know yourself well enough to know that no, you probably aren’t for real going to read it anytime soon).
The 70mm IMAX theater near us extended their screenings until the end of September, so we are finally going to see it next weekend.
GREAT PODCAST QUOTE
I heartily recommend the whole series so far of The History of the United States in 100 Objects, that is presented and curated by Roman Mars (partnering with the BBC) and that lives in the feed of 99% Invisible.
The first episode is about the Century Safe, and features historian and frequent podcaster Jill Lepore. At the end, Mars asks Lepore for any advice as he sets off on this project. Her response was great and thought provoking:
I’m glad you’re doing it. You will have fun. I think it is important to recognize that, much like the present, the past is largely a chronicle of misery. I mean, people suffer. And the people who suffer the most leave the least evidence behind. And so any history that begins with what survives has a real challenge to arriving at any proper perspective on the human condition. I think that is the asymmetry of the historical record, right? People who were wealthiest and most literate and had the greatest resources not only made a lot of records, they managed to have their records preserved. And everyone else disappears and just vanishes. Their remains are gone. And I think it puts a special obligation, on anyone who’s trying to write history or tell a story about the past, to be attentive, to not give up in the face of the asymmetry, and to try to repair the historical record by finding other kinds of evidence, the evidence that does survive, that makes sure that we understand the lives both of the powerful and the powerless. But I wouldn’t fall into the notion that you’re assembling an exquisite and representative archive.
OTHER LINKS TO MAKE YOU THINK
Looking for the darkest, most depressing book you’ve ever read. Sometimes you just need these kinds of recommendations (Reddit thread).
A Human Artist’s Defense of AI Art. (Sarcasm incoming)
This illusion messed with me. My very scientific finger smudges on my computer screen prove it’s real.
Another brain breaking classic illusion.
What do you think are the greatest pieces of sci-fi ever created? The pinnacle of the genre? (Reddit thread)
Neil DeGrasse Tyson dropping knowledge about the electromagnetic spectrum.
FOR FUN
Very accurate, feel very seen.
This scan isn’t looking good at all.
Compilation of people doing weird, uncontrolled laughing.
Some Gen Z edited this I know it.
Christopher Nolan absolutely fills that bag.
A short film about hope.
Thanks for reading and let me know what you are listening to and reading and watching.
P.s. Guess who is now rocking a Kenwood five CD changer, a Kenwood double tape deck, and tall speakers from the 90’s (Kenwood of course). And guess who also feels sheepish and totally takes it back for having this thought every time I would walk into our wonderful local library that happens to have a large CD collection: “Who THE HELL would be getting CD’s out in 2026.?!” Well, it turns out, me. So sorry, will never judge again. Please don’t get rid of them.
The podcast museum should include an exhibit on the Rise and Fall of Gimlet Media.