Recap: 40 podcasts, single-elimination brackets — 1 winner will emerge!

For the thesis, read the first post here, then come back for the results.

Midwest, Game 1: Top 4 v. Hello Internet

First up, Top 4. Basically, what I’m doing here but in podcast form! A husband and wife team test things (or take a list) and rank their top four. The show is a half hour, which is a perfect length for ranking a short list of things.

I listened to the episode on Girl Scout Cookies. While I may have come to a different ranking had I been testing out many kinds of cookies (thin mints forever!), it was an entertaining premise. It’s going to be hard to beat, but next up we have…

Hello Internet. Grey and Brady (an American and a Brit) discuss life and various topics. This time they talked about pets, sports (specifically, the Superbowl, in which the Brit explained things to the American), YouTube ads/ incentives, and tattoos.

This was basically Reconcilable Differences, but with different guys? Again, I didn’t listen to the first episode, I listed to episode LXXVIII, but 90 minutes seems like a while to listen to 2 guys ramble.

While interesting, I could use more structure (or at least more brevity) in my podcasts.

Winner: Top 4

Midwest, Game 2: Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History v. The History Chicks

First up, the History Chicks. I listened to episode 64: Beatrix Potter. This podcast is two women researching and giving a bio, interesting details, successes, and failures of historic female figures. I love the books of Beatrix Potter and her delicate watercolor illustrations, and found the story of her life interesting.

As with many historic figures, I’m extremely grateful to live in the 21st century. The sound quality of this podcast wasn’t the very best, but the podcast was only an hour long. I also appreciated that the hosts gave a long list of references for further reading/ study at the end.

Next, I scrolled through the episode list for Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. You guys, this one broke me. Yes, history is long, and yes, it’s good to have context and detail, but I’m on a listening schedule.

Most of the episodes were part of a longer arc, so I looked at the most recent offering, cheerily named “Destroyer of Worlds.” IT’S SIX HOURS LONG, YOU GUYS.

I couldn’t do it. Dan Carlin is too hardcore for me. I disqualified this podcast on the grounds that I’m never going to make it to round 3 if I spend six hours on one podcast. Even if I play it at one-and-a-half speed (which I could probably do; Dan’s a deliberate speaker), it would still take many hours to reach the end. Why didn’t he put out more episodes so he could break them up into 1 or 2 hour segments??

Send your complaints on my lack of attention span to me anytime, preferably via Twitter, 140 characters at a time.

Winner: The History Chicks

Next time: Midwest, Round 2.2.

Save

Save

Recap: 40 podcasts, single-elimination brackets — 1 winner will emerge!

Read the first post here, then come back for the results.

East, Game 3: S-Town v. the Tim Ferriss Show

This round was interesting.

First up, the Tim Ferriss Show, which made it through the first round. I listened to episode 234 on Marie Kondo (maybe because we’re using her method to get rid of a lot of stuff in our house?). It was interesting, and I love that he left in most of her answers, which were in Japanese. She speaks so quickly and precisely.

Next, I listened to the first episode of S-Town, replacing Serial in my bracket (it’s the newest from Serial and This American Life). Originally I had Serial on my list, but this is their newest effort, so I skipped on to it.

If you haven’t heard of this show yet, it’s about an Alabama man who contacted a NY reporter, claiming there had been a murder in his town that was covered up. The reporter goes down to investigate, and learns more about this eccentric man and the small town he hates.

I expected to like it, and I know it’s quite popular, but it felt kind of like at some point they’re going to pull the rug out from under me. I’m waiting for the twist, which can be fine, but I’m not sure I’m emotionally prepared for another look-at-the-American-South-it’s-so-backwards story. Also, there’s some language, so maybe don’t listen to it with kids around.

Maybe I’m wrong, and I’m happy to have a conversation about this with you if you’re interested.

Winner: The Tim Ferriss Show (this surprised me)

East, Game 4: The TED Radio Hour v. Reconcilable Differences

The TED Radio Hour made it through the first round and I listened to the episode “Speaking Up,” which had 3 interviews and TED talk snippets on how and why to speak up. The speakers talked about why it’s hard, and factors that might make the decision to speak up a little easier.

Next up was Reconcilable Differences, where hosts John and Merlin talk about life, as far as I can tell. Maybe I should have listened to the first episode for their premise/ thesis, and while interesting, this podcast might be a bit too rambly (is that a word? I could say “the hosts ramble a bit”) for me. I listened to ep. 46: Some Kind of Ballast, which did include a great discussion on leftovers, and leftover chicken, especially, but that wasn’t enough to top the TED talks.

Winner: The TED Radio Hour

Next time: Midwest, Round 2.1.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Recap: 40 podcasts, single-elimination brackets — 1 winner will emerge!

Read the first post here, then come back for the results.

East, Game 1: Undisclosed v. Crimetown

Crimetown‘s premise is to look at a different American city each season and explore the “culture of crime” in each city. The first season looks at Providence, RI. I listened to episode 1, which introduces a young prosecutor named Buddy Cianci who wanted to clean up his town.

The podcast opens with the funeral of Buddy Cianci, mayor of Providence, who was mourned as a good guy, but who had also been convicted of racketeering, and had also been accused of torture and kidnapping. Wait…what? It turns out Providence is a big mob town, something I didn’t know, so this seems to be an interesting story.

Undisclosed looks at wrongful convictions, the criminal justice system, and takes a closer look at evidence at investigations to shed light on the way investigations are run and the biases inherent in the system.

I listened to episode 1 of The Killing of Freddie Gray, which is the story of a black man arrested in Baltimore, MD, loaded into a police wagon in perfect health, and when the wagon arrived at its destination, Gray was unloaded unconscious. He died a few days later from his injuries. the official story changed several times, and key pieces of evidence were overlooked or suppressed until much later.

The podcast reviews evidence, talks to witnesses, and generally digs deeper on the case.

Both stories are fascinating, but I have to pick one, so…

Winner: Crimetown

East, Game 2: Criminal v. Real Crime

“Real Crime” was a suggestion I received, and when I searched, I found 2 podcasts by that name. So I listened to them both.

The first, Real Crime with Danny Lopez, is a guy who combs through old newspapers to find interesting (or brutal) crimes. Then he reads the newspaper articles. Guys, this one was kind of boring. I listened to episode 2: Gentlemen Robbers and Part 1 of a Female Torso. The Gentlemen Robbers story was pretty good, but at the beginning the host just read quickly from multiple newspapers without pausing between each one, making it hard to follow. Also, because it was just one guy reading the newspaper aloud, it was easy to tune out. So I moved on to the next “Real Crime.”

Real Crime Profile takes real cases and a former FBI profiler, a former New Scotland Yard criminal behavioral analyst, and a casting director for CBS’ Criminal Minds show looks at the behavior of criminals to do what they do best and paint a picture of the perpetrators.

They do some long arcs, so I listened to ep. 59: Profiling and Talking Murder, a standalone episode. While interesting to hear them talk about the theory and where amateurs can go wrong, I think it would be more interesting to listen to one of the longer arcs.

Criminal is about people who have committed a crime, or about a type of crime, such as faking one’s death for insurance fraud, in the episode I listened to, called Vanish (ep. 61). The host interviewed some people who know a lot about what it takes to fake your death, and how committed you’d have to be to pull it off. It was fascinating to listen to. And I’m sure I’d get caught — I’m too close to my family to cut them out of my life that way.

Winner: Criminal

Next time: East, Round 2.2.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Recap: 40 podcasts, single-elimination brackets — 1 winner will emerge!

Read the first post here, then come back for the results.

South, Game 1: Bigger Pockets v. Ungeniused

In some bracket matchups, the podcasts are the same genre, so it’s easier to compare them. In this case, the genres were pretty different.

Bigger Pockets is a show about real estate investing. I listened to episode 166: “How Modeling Greatness Can Get You to 100+ Deals.” The two hosts give tips and tricks of real estate investing, plus interview a guest who’s in the business and ask about how they got into the business, their model of investing, and lots of other questions.

Maybe I should have started nearer the beginning, but I do appreciate that they’re giving away a lot of great advice and they have an active forum and community to answer all kinds of questions about real estate. The show had a similar vibe to the Tim Ferriss show — the hosts had some “hey bro” moments, but if you’re the least bit interested in the topic, this seems like a great resource.

Ungeniused is two guys talking about the weirdest articles they can find on Wikipedia. Yes, that’s right, they dive deep into the archives and bring up gems such as episode 21: The Palace of Parliament. Actually, while a little obscure, this is the 4th largest building in the world, situated in Romania, and construction is not complete! Construction began in 1984, and is ongoing.

The episodes are fairly short, but interesting. A great listen if you need light party conversation.

I’m not sure I’m into real estate investing, so….

Winner: Ungeniused

South, Game 2: Harry Potter & the Sacred Text v. Yer a Wizard, Harry

 

These two podcasts line up perfectly for a first round head-to-head. I started with episode 1 for each, since they both go chapter-by-chapter through the books.

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text takes each chapter at a time through the lens of a different theme. The first theme was commitment, and how that plays out through the actions of the different characters.

I found this an interesting approach. I love the Harry Potter series, but I’m not sure I think it’s quite sacred-text level. Looking at the themes of a chapter though is certainly an interesting study. It also gave one of the more positive views of the (admittedly awful) Dursley family, which I appreciated.

Yer a Wizard, Harry is three friends who have a book club style reading group via podcast. They talk about the chapter, what they liked about it or what struck them, and in the first episode, how they first came across the series.

They also have a “Quizzitch” section, which is cute.

At this point though, I think I’m more into the deep analysis, not just gushing about the books with friends (nothing wrong with that, I just appreciate a little more structure and analysis).

Winner: Harry Potter & the Sacred Text

Next time: Round 2!

---

Photo from Unsplash.

Save

Save

Save

Recap: 40 podcasts, single-elimination brackets — 1 winner will emerge!

Read the first post here, then come back for the results.

West, Game 1: Modern Love v. The Road Back to You

I knew of the Modern Love column in the New York Times, but I didn’t know there was a podcast version. Fun fact: earlier this year a column published was about my great-aunt Austin.

Anyway, they have actors read some of the columns for the podcast and they interview the author as a follow-up. I listened to the episode from March 22, “The End of Small Talk.” It was about a guy who decided he was totally done with small talk on dates. He started jumping right into deep questions.

The concept is interesting and well done, and in this episode I like the gutsy move to ditch small talk, though I know that could be off-putting, so I probably won’t adopt the “no small talk rule” myself.

Next up was The Road Back to You, which is about relationships and the Enneagram. I don’t really know much about the Enneagram, so I’m interested in learning more and I like finding out more about what makes people tick.

I listened to episode 1 since I need the background, and I like that the hosts use it to try to understand themselves and others better and develop more empathy for each other. I’m a bit of a sucker for this kind of analysis, so…

Winner: The Road Back to You

West, Game 2: Truth’s Table v. Pass the Mic

This was an especially hard choice. Truth’s Table and Pass the Mic are brother-sister shows, so it was hard to choose.

Pass the Mic is a podcast of the Reformed African American Network in which the hosts discuss biblical theology and how race relations affect the church. I am woefully ignorant on these issues, and want to hear more of the hosts’ perspective and learn how I can help in my own small way instead of remaining in my little bubble.

Truth’s Table is a sister show to Pass the Mic, so it was interesting to listen to these back-to-back. I listened to their episode on Gender Apartheid which was pretty amazing. I’d definitely like to listen to more and hear some clarification on a few points, and I’m sure they’ll go into more detail in future podcasts, but overall I really appreciated what they had to say.

Apparently the episode sparked some controversy in Reformed Christian circles, as any strong discussion of gender is wont to do, but I want to hear more of their perspective, and I want Christian men to listen to their sisters and read what the Bible is saying about men and women without assuming it’s pro male and anti female. I could say more, but this isn’t the place for it.

I’ll keep listening to both these shows, but I have to pick a winner so….

Winner: Truth’s Table

Next time: the South

---

Photo from Unsplash.