Sword and Laser, as the name suggests, deals with books in the science fiction and fantasy genres. It is hosted by Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont, both of whom are avid book readers and lovers of the genre. As far as I know, Sword and Laser has been in existence from 2007 and before there was a podcast, there was an active book review and discussion club, hosted on Ning. This group is now dead and all of the activity happens on the Goodreads forums.  There is no barrier to entry so feel free to join the group, even if you are not into podcasts.

Veronica and Tom pick a book each week (or so) and, after giving the members some time to read it, discuss it on the podcast. Both are active participants in the Goodreads group so the podcast is not just a one way street. The most interesting part in the podcasts, in my opinion, is the interview with the author part. Veronica and Tom coerce the most famous of the sci-fi and fantasy authors and characters to come on to the podcast and answer the questions from the Googreads group members. Think  Joe Abercrombie (The First Law trilogy), Tad Williams (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series) and Kristian Nairn (Hodor on the Game of Thrones).

As I mentioned, both Tom and Veronica are avid readers themselves and are extremely knowledgeable in the subject matter. Both are tech journalists and have excellent geek cred. Veronica is known for producing and hosting some shows on CNET and Mahalo and currently hosts Tekzilla show on Revision3 network. Tom Merritt is also a well known tech journalist, having been a host of several shows on CNET until his departure for the TWIT Network, where he currently hosts several shows, most prominent of which is Tech News Today.

Whether you are a frequent reader of sci-fi and fantasy books or whether you are looking for some one-off recommendations, I would recommend you navigate to the Sword and Laser Goodreads group and become a member. Also, if you are a fan of show like Flash Forward, The Game of Thrones or the Millennium Trilogy movies, it should be no surprise to you to find out that these shows and movies are based on books, which are reviewed by Tom and Veronica. Check out their George R.R. Martin and Robert J. Sawyer threads, as well as the respective podcast episodes.

Bottom line, to navigate the world of sci-fi and fantasy, that abides by the Sturgeon’s Law (“Ninety percent of everything is crap”), you need Tom and Veronica to hold your hand. Between the podcast and the S&L Goodreads forum you will have your hands full of excellent fiction!

You can find Sword and Laser content on:

Sword and Laser on iTunes

Sword and Laser website

Sword and Laser book group on Goodreads

Podcast review: Sword and Laser

No, I am not saying that there are only 15. What I am trying to say is that podcast discovery is almost a full-time job! There is so much crap out there and yet it surfaces to the top-ten lists all the time.

The task is especially hard if you are only using iTunes for podcast discovery. iTunes is horrible at this task. I recommend the following:

- Google – is your best friend as always!

- Other websites – something like Podcast Alley, Podcast Place, and others.

- Other podcatcher software – I recently downloaded Downcast for my iPod Touch and not only does it sync podcasts over the air, but also allows you to add new podcasts from its directory.

Also, beware that your iTunes only give you your country specific top-ten lists!

Hope this helps and I will be back with more podcast reviews next week!

Musings on Podcast Reviews

Maron is no sweetheart. He is a no holds barred straight shooter comedian, who does stand-up comedy, used to host several radio and TV shows and now sits in his garage/studio and conducts interviews with fellow comedians/movie stars/TV personalities.

Maron started in stand-up, then moved on to TV, then to radio and finally to the podcasts. Wikipedia lists his genre as “Alternative comedy, Cringe humor, Black comedy, Satire, Observational comedy” and boy is that an understatement! He would frequently discuss issues of personal nature (failed marriages, relationships with parents, sex, drugs and his genitalia), but would do that in an extremely uproarious neurotic way that does not make me cringe at all. But to each his/her own.

Let me backtrack and describe the podcasts. As I said, Maron has a garage studio at his home in LA, where he conducts the interviews. He invites various famous people to his home and pretty much shoots the shit for an hour or so. Some of the recent guests have been Conan O’Brien (who openly discussed his falling out with NBC), Kevin Smith (who was puffing weed throughout the interview) and Laura Kightlinger (who openly discussed her habit of getting drunk and sleeping with strangers).  The interviews do not follow any particular format, but Maron typically knows the guest, or has/had some relationship with them, so the storyline has frequent tangents of personal nature, that reveal something that you did not know about the guest.

My advice would be not to listen to only the podcasts where you know/heard of the guest. I have discovered so many interesting people in the show business from this podcast, which led me to seek out their work online. Plus the whole industry is like a dysfunctional group of friends, where everyone has slept with each other, so you find out juicy gossip and tales of yore about virtually everyone else.

Please note that the podcast is uncensored, so it is probably not advisable to listen to it in the car with kids on the back seat! However, the amount of obscene language is moderate and as I said before, it will not (or perhaps should not) make you cringe at all.

Homepage: http://www.wtfpod.com/

Subscribe on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast/id329875043

Podcast Review: WTF With Marc Maron

First of all, indulge me in a little rant. I have had several requests from people who just started a new podcasts for a review write up of their show. Let these people remain nameless, but perhaps they will read this review and take a few notes. If you want to create a podcast please think about the content first. You cannot just record your conversation with friends and publish that to iTunes. Well, you can, but no one except for your friends will be interested in what you have to say. I listened to so many podcasts where people ramble on, litter the speech with ahh’s and mmm’s for an hour long session. It takes great skill to interview someone or to rant on “radio” and only a few that do it well should do it!

The podcast that I would like to review today is Mixergy with Andrew Warner. Andrew is an entrepreneur himself, having started a successful internet business in the past. He is now “paying it forward” to others who are interested in doing the same.

Andrew Warner is a successful business man. He started a successful internet business with sales of $30+ million and then sold it. He knows a thing or two about the process! He and his brother started Bradford & Reed, an online greeting card directory. Selling it years later, he started Mixergy, which went through several iterations before becoming what it is now.

The Mixergy mission is to convince you to follow a vision so big and important that you can’t do it alone. Then they want to give you a mix of wicked-smart people who will help you achieve it.

Andrew is a good public speaker, but even he still needs to clean up his interviewing skills. Nonetheless, he possesses the greatest quality for an interviewer in my opinion – shut up and let your guest talk. And his guests have something to say! Imagine hearing first-hand how Jimmy Wales started up Wikipedia! What about Groupon founders? Andrew is a machine, popping several podcasts per week with guests ranging from small-time internet upstarts, having created some digital goods store, to the likes of Tim Ferriss, a self-made business man and an author of The 4-Hour Workweek.

Andrew knows the right questions to ask. He does a formidable amount of research prior to each interview, to ensure he does not go in blind. He then uses a well-crafted path to get the guests to talk about how they started, how they failed, how they succeeded. Andrew conducts each interview as if he is an idea hungry entrepreneur himself (which he no doubt still is), about to embark on his first business venture. He asks candid questions, some of which the guests do not always feel comfortable answering.

Bottom line: There are many podcasts out there that interview successful people. There is This Week in Startups (if you can endure the large-than-life personality of Jason Calacanis for more than ten minutes) that covers the same spectrum, Triangulation from TWiT that concentrates on technology and WTF With Marc Maron that includes interviews with all sort of people from the show-business field. However, in my opinion, Mixergy with Andrew Warner is the best podcast for ambitious upstarts who are eager to learn everything there is to start their own business on the internet. Do definitely give it a listen!

Homepage: http://mixergy.com/

Subscribe on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mixergy/id307744935

Podcast Review: Mixergy

Hailing from the two sides of the Atlantic these two podcasts will leave you clueless for some local issues, but will make you wet your pants from laughter on others. This is exactly the reason why I bundled these two podcasts together. The format for both podcasts is very similar, almost as if they were designed by a geographically neutral committee.

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is a weekly radio news quiz game show produced by Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio and naturally it is also available in a podcast format. The show is taped in front of a live audience in Chicago and is hosted by Peter Sagal, with Carl Kasell, serving as the show’s judge. There are three contestants on the show, who are typically humorists or something like that.

A few listeners phone in and participate in the show, as well one “famous person” calling in. A few weeks ago it was Jesse Eisenberg, so you can see the caliber. The usual prize for winning any game, for what it’s worth, is “to have Carl Kasell record a greeting on the contestant’s home answering machine”.

Wait Wait… features topics in the current news cycle that are not just limited to the United States. If you have opened a newspaper at least once over the week you would be able to participate, and if you haven’t this is a good way to get caught up. The format is far from dry and you can enjoy a heartfelt laugh while being informed about the current issues. Top that!

Well, I actually CAN top that, or at least match that! Friday Night Comedy’s segment, The News Quiz, is the UK equivalent to the abovementioned show. The format is mostly the same – one host, three/four panelists, news related banter, laughter.

The Danish-born comedienne Sandi Toksvig hosts the show since 2006, but the show has been in existence since 1997. The program is also recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in central London. The show will also make you wet your pants with laughter.

Bottom line – get both and you will be well on your way to being a well rounded individual who lives forever*.

* this last bit assumes that your life is extended if you laugh a lot, so do not quote me on this.

To visit the homepages of the shows:

“Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”

“Friday Night Comedy – The News Quiz”

To subscribe in iTunes:

“Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”

“Friday Night Comedy – The News Quiz”

Podcast Review: NPR Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me & BBC Friday Night Comedy

This is a podcast review of Freakonomics Radio, produced by American Public Media’s Marketplace and public-radio station WNYC. The subject matter is all things weird economics and all that does not fit into standard textbooks.

In fact it is hard to explain exactly what the subject matter is. Think about unusual correlations, black swans and events that can only be explained years after they happened and most of the times by accident and you may just have scratched the surface of the topics being discussed.

Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics were written by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt, but it is Dubner who hosts the show. Levitt makes an occasional appearance, but remains mostly behind the scenes. Let me tell you a bit more about them:

Dubner is not an economist, he is rather a very nosy journalist who asks unusual questions. His Wikipedia article is mostly devoted to the fact that he converted from Catholicism to Judaism, but he is much more interesting than that! An author of five books, he was editor and writer for The New York Times Magazine, having also written for The New Yorker, Time, The Washington Post, been a PBS correspondent, and is currently a regular contributor to Good Morning America and a segment of World News Tonight called “Freakonomics Friday” on ABC. He and Steven Levitt also write a monthly “Freakonomics” column for The New York Times Magazine.

Levitt is indeed a real economist and is famous for publishing countless studies and papers and delving into quite controversial topics. He examined various issues in crime, politics and sports and published over 60 academic publications. To quote Wikipedia:

… his An Economic Analysis of a Drug-Selling Gang’s Finances (2000) analyzes a hand-written “accounting” of a criminal gang, and draws conclusions about the income distribution among gang members. In his most well-known and controversial paper (The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime (2001), co-authored with John Donohue), he shows that the legalization of abortion in the US was followed approximately eighteen years later by a reduction in crime, then argues that unwanted children commit more crime than wanted children and that the legalization of abortion resulted in fewer unwanted children, and thus a reduction in crime as these children reached the age at which many criminals begin committing crimes.

The two put together make quite a quirky team and both books are excellent indeed. The guys also maintain a blog at http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/, which was called “the most readable economics blog in the universe.”

There is no typical layout of the show. One time it would be an interview, the other time a series of  audio clips, the third time a monologue. The subject matter varies and there are frequent follow ups to topics already covered. No matter how ADHD this sounds, the topics are always excellent!

The only drawback in this podcast is that it comes out too infrequently (bi-weekly) and that it is fairly short (about 20 minutes).  But the bottom line is – listen to this podcast, buy the books, read their blog, you will not regret it and you will be taken along to explore the hidden side of everything!

You can find the show at: http://freakonomicsradio.com/ or subscribe in iTunes.

Books mentioned in this podcast review:

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

Podcast Review: Freakonomics Radio

The Age of Persuasion is a twice-weekly show that airs on CBC Radio 1, a Canadian radio station. It can also be heard on Sirius Satellite 137 and, of course, in a podcast format!

The show is hosted by Terry O’Reilly, a Canadian broadcast producer and personality, who was an advertising copywriter in his past life. Hey may not have worked at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, but he knows a thing or two about advertising. He is also the author of The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture, (Knopf Canada & Vintage Paperbacks).

The show is a series of stories that shed the light on the world of advertising. Mr. O’Reilly diversifies between modern ad campaigns as well as historical goodies. The only drawback to the podcast and radio formats is that you are not exposed to some of the visuals of the commercials that are presented on the show. Thankfully there is the Age of Persuasion blog, which has all the links to these clips, hosted mostly on YouTube.

I do highly recommend this show. Besides the obvious entertainment you get from outdated commercials, that nowadays seem to be very politically incorrect and naïve, you tend to learn the most random goodies.

For example, did you know that Thomas Cook (the man behind the part of the Thomas Cook Airlines) was a Baptist minister in England. He was also a big supporter of the Temperance Movement, preaching the evils of alcohol. One day while waiting for a stagecoach, he wondered if the educational benefits of travel might divert people’s attention away from alcohol. This is how the travel industry was born!

Another example is “The gravitationally completely collapsed object”, which nobody cared about except for physicists, until it was cleverly rebranded as “The Black Hole”.

One man forgetting his wallet spawned a multi-billion dollar credit card industry, poor diamond sales at DeBeers led to manufacturing what is now a tradition of giving diamond rings for engagements and of course Coca Cola Santa Claus image creation!

Give this show a listen and you will not be disappointed!

You can find the show at The Age of Persuasion blog.

Subscribe in iTunes

Podcast Review: The Age of Persuasion

I have to apologize in advance for a slight delay in my schedule (I am a week behind) and design hiccups here and there. I am trying to iron out the Facebook page integration and the correct display of my posts in the Feed.

There have been many good and bad additions to my regular playlist over the past few weeks. I do not think I will bother reviewing the bad ones! There are a few that are quite outstanding so stay tuned!

I have also been asked to review two podcasts – Film Feuds and Radiostar Improv. I have only just downloaded a few of the episodes of each and will definitely get around to reviewing them soon.

Do you have something to say? Why not create your own podcast (it’s easy!!!) and I will gladly review it!

Cheers,

AK

Site Updates and New Additions

The podcast was spawned out of This American Life episode “The Giant Pool of Money” in 2008 and the first order of business was to cover the global financial crisis of 2008–2009 in the wake of the Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The episodes come out two days a week and are around 25 minutes in length, which is perfect for people with short attention spans, like me.

Planet Money’s cast is a stable roster of characters, that consists of Adam Davidson, David Kestenbaum, Chana Joffe-Walt, Jacob Goldstein, as well as Alex Blumberg. Each show there are typically two to three above listed people discussing an issue, with some guest speakers making a frequent appearance.

Let me describe a typical show for you. The first thing you will hear in almost each episode, besides the theme jingle, is a recording of some public figure’s speech or statement, that directly relates to the show’s theme. It just so frequently happens that this statement is of hypocritical nature, rather than a heart-warming one.

The next item of business is the Planet Money Indicator,  presented by one of the hosts. The Indicator is anything from the Chinese rate of inflation for the past year to a dollar amount of the latest Quantitative Easing by the US Fed.

The core of the show is spent on a thorough discussion of a particular currently relevant topic in the worlds of finance, business or anything closely related to this subject matter. Planet Money hosts do not just shove their opinions down your throats (yes, Wall Street Journal This Morning, I am talking about you!), but rather rely of expert witnesses of the field. These witnesses either make an appearance on the show or the hosts visit them and tape the conversations.

It is easiest to describe this by two examples. In a recent episode “Writing The Rules”, one of the Planet Money hosts visits a trio of lawyers, Kymberly Copa (Assessments and Legislation Section Senior Counsel US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), Ruth Amberg (Senior Counsel for the Consumer Compliance Section of the Consumer and Legislation Branch in the Legal Division of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) and Roberta McInerney (Deputy General Counsel (Consumer and Legislation) at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) as they were discussing how to legislate the latest Finance Bill, signed into law by President Obama, and what impact will various ambiguities of the bill have on the business world.

On a different episode, the Planet Money crew called Abdolreza Abbassian, an economist and grain expert at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, to discuss the impact on the world price, supply and demand of wheat in light of the latest unrest in Egypt. We find out that Egypt is the world’s biggest importer of wheat and the global price of wheat has gone through the roof in recent months.

What really amazes me about the style of journalism of the Planet Money team is that they experiment! For example, in January 2010 they bought a mortgage backed bond for $1,000, which at the time was fairly toxic already. The listeners of the show named it Toxie. Toxie made some payments until dying completely in September of 2010. Over the lifespan of Toxie, Planet Money hosts recovered only about $400 of the initial $1,000 spent. We get to witness the whole process from the initial purchase to the final funeral of Toxie. After a short mourning period they reinvest the remaining $400 into a gold coin, beginning a long-term research into the gold market.

The Planet Money crew also decided to create Planet Money t-shirts. Now, you typically would create a logo and go to your neighborhood print screener and voila! The gang instead decided to import their own cotton from China, make the shirts, get the listeners to design a logo and finally offer the ready product to the audience. Along the way we learn the economics of t-shirt production, from import duties to distribution. Truly fascinating!

Bottom line: You don’t need to be an expert in finance to enjoy this podcast. You will be exposed to various topics in US and international business, economy and finance and have a better understanding of how things work.

The reason why I do not use any sort of star rating in my reviews is because I understand that not everyone shares my opinions and tastes in podcasts. iTunes’ star rating is also fairly unreliable, since only those who are very (positively or negatively) passionate about a particular podcast go through the effort of giving feedback or rating the show. I recommend that after reading up a few reviews you listen to a few shows and decide for yourselves.

You can find the show at Planet Money page.

Subscribe in iTunes

Podcast Review: Planet Money

Quirks and Quarks is the award-winning radio science program that airs each Saturday from 12:00 to 13:00 on CBC Radio One as well as on Sirius Statelite Radio. It is naturally also available in the podcast form to be played on demand.

The program won more than 70 national and international journalism awards since inception, including the prestigious Walter Sullivan Award (twice) and the Science Writing Award from the American Institute of Physics (twice). It is also rated the most enjoyed program by CBC Radio listeners.

The show is not Canada-centric at all, although most of the scientists being interviewed on the program are Canadians. Even the CBC is trying to save on international phone calls!

The subject matter is all things science – “from the quirks of the expanding universe to the quarks within a single atom…and everything in between”. If you are into “–ologies”, you will definitely enjoy this program.

The show has been on the air since 1975 and can boast David Suzuki and Jay Ingram as its hosts in the past. The current host is Bob McDonald, who is Canada’s best known science journalist. He has been at the helm of Quirks and Quarks since 1992. Dr McDonald is also a regular science commentator on CBC News Network, and science correspondent for CBC TV’s The National. He has been awarded 6 honorary degrees from University of Calgary, Winnipeg, McMaster, Laurentian, Carleton and Guelph so you can tell that he knows what he is talking about!

Every episode consists of several segments, where guests of the show get a chance to discuss the latest discoveries. The range of topics is vast and spans science, technology, medicine and environment. Guest speakers frequently divulge into the political, social, environmental and ethical implications of the latest developments in science and technology.

The show is very well produced and is not dry as some of the other science podcasts out there. Each segment is very dynamic and follows the Q&A style rather than a simple presentation. This is where the host plays a huge role, asking relevant questions and generally having a discussion rather than letting the interviewee have a monologue.

What I love best about the show is that you do not need to be an expert in any of the fields being discussed. Each topic is presented from the ground up so not only do you get to stay current in the world of science & technology, you can also learn a thing or two!

Several times a year the program goes on a tour and does a show in front of a live audience. These sessions are in the Q&A format, where the audience gets to ask the panelists questions, be that about the current events, the historical facts or the popular myths.

Here is one of the shows.

You can find the show at CBC Quirks and Quarks page.

Subscribe in iTunes

Podcast Review: Quirks and Quarks