Other podcasts

[Spenny]

Video Games Taco is defunct but it's a video game podcast with women.

 

and tangentially related to idle thumbs. Is it defunct or just infrequent?

[Golden Calf]

Does anyone know of a good philosophy podcast? I used to read a lot on the subject but stopped for some reason, and I think I prefer listening anyway.

 

The Partially Examined Life is particularly good. Not all the episodes will interest you, but I guarantee that ones on topics/authors you're interested in will be satisfying. They have a great, straightforward style and pride themselves on not showing off or being obtuse, but engaging as seriously as possible with what the texts are saying.

 

Also, they're pretty funny. Their episode on Ayn Rand is absolutely hilarious.

 

It's also really manageable if you want to follow along with their readings for a given episode, because they pick reasonable-length sections to focus on and, whenever possible, provide them for free on their website.

[Merus]

The writing is really fun isn't it? The tone kinda reminds me of the one episode of Welcome to Night Vale I listened to.

 

The nice thing about Fallen London compared to Night Vale is that you don't really get the sense that they're forcing the weirdness. A lot of the Night Vale stuff I've heard is of the form 'take something normal and insert something creepy into it, wooo' but Fallen London is much more cohesive, and all that weirdness is all going in the same direction.

[SuperBiasedMan]

The nice thing about Fallen London compared to Night Vale is that you don't really get the sense that they're forcing the weirdness. A lot of the Night Vale stuff I've heard is of the form 'take something normal and insert something creepy into it, wooo' but Fallen London is much more cohesive, and all that weirdness is all going in the same direction.

 

Since the comparison has been raised I need to ask, does Fallen London feel directionless too or does it seem as if there's at least a hint of a plot it's leading you along as you go?

[Brannigan]

Funny enough I prefer nightvale directionless...they've had a plot going on for the last few episodes and I cannot muster interest.  Or I should say I don't mind the background sort of plot things like the mayoral election, but the main thread going on lately is pretty bleh.

[Merus]

Since the comparison has been raised I need to ask, does Fallen London feel directionless too or does it seem as if there's at least a hint of a plot it's leading you along as you go?

 

It's structured around storylines, and there's a definite progression from nibbling around the edges of mysteries, to plunging right into the heart of them. It takes a while to get to the point where you start getting more than the hints of answers, though.

[SuperBiasedMan]

It's less that I need a plot I guess and more that without a thread on development it didn't take many episodes before I felt like I had gotten all I would out of it.

[Brannigan]

How far in did you get? Because there's little side stories that develop, I just think the main story thing is garbage right now.

[Twig]

Funny enough I prefer nightvale directionless...they've had a plot going on for the last few episodes and I cannot muster interest.  Or I should say I don't mind the background sort of plot things like the mayoral election, but the main thread going on lately is pretty bleh.

Agreed completely. Thankfully I think it's over, since the two-part live show.

I also don't mind background plot progression, like the stuff with the library and the dog park and Cecil's own character development, and even Strexcorp taking over, to a point. But then it became The Only Thing Happening and fell apart. I so much prefer it when it IS in the background, when it's not presented as super important. Here's hoping things get back to, uh, normal now.

[neonrev]

and tangentially related to idle thumbs. Is it defunct or just infrequent?

 

They're just on a weird hiatus I think. Pretty sure they only want to record when all of them are in the same room, and I don't think that's happened in a bit. Might also be a bottleneck in the release, since they rely on the video games hotdog people for editing and posting episodes, and that's been a hold-up before. I don't think its gone forever though, but I might be wrong.

[Spenny]

VGT xmas episode in February!

[clyde]

Episode 43 of the Not A Game Podcast has the most interesting discussion of Watch Dogs I've heard. Mostly the stuff about how much fun it is to observe other people playing an open-world sandbox-game without them knowing that another player is watching them through an avatar. They don't go incredibly deep into the concept, but I can totally see how having this experience while maintaining the agency that the game usually provides through controlling your own avatar, would be significantly different than spectating, competing, or cooperating.

[clyde]

On episode 44 of the Not A Game podcast, Pip admits to searching through baby-naming websites and taking Buzzfeed-style quizzes to determine a good name for her Wildstar-character. This is the stuff.

[TheLastBaron]

Can anyone recommend a good comics podcast? Preferably not much in the way of superheroes, more indie and manga stuff?

I don't know how I missed this, but you should totally check out Jim Rugg, Jasen Lex, and Ed Piskor's podcast Tell Me Something I Don't Know.

http://boingboing.net/tag/tmsidk

It's not like a weekly show discussing the new books that have come out, it's an interview show with various creators. The very first episode is with Gary Groth who founded both The Comics Journal and also Fantagraphics (The company that publishes things like Eightball, Love & Rockets, Black Hole, and Chris Ware's stuff among others). I would say at the very least give that a listen to hear some stuff about the indie side of comics.

Edit: there was also another episode pretty early on with the guy who does design work for Criterion on all there covers and was the one who commissioned the covers that are done by comic artists.

[miffy495]

Edit: there was also another episode pretty early on with the guy who does design work for Criterion on all there covers and was the one who commissioned the covers that are done by comic artists.

 

 

Yeah, when I saw that Daniel Clowes did the cover for Shock Corridor I was incredibly happy. That is a great move.

[TheLastBaron]

Yeah, I also liked when Penguin did a similar thing for their Penguin Classics line of books and he did the cover for Frankenstein.

[JonCole]

I've been listening to the Not A Game podcast and quite enjoying it. That said, as an American who likes to listen to podcasts at 1.2x speed, if I zone out for even a second I can't understand their accents at all and lose a chunk of the convo. Doesn't help that their audio quality is mediocre at best. Sounds like just one person is recording locally in a single stream, as opposed to individual recordings that are volume leveled and denoised, then mixed together.

[namman siggins]

Movie fans be sure to check out Travis Bickle podcast; the best in movie-casts.

http://www.factualopinion.com/the_factual_opinion/2014/07/lockdown-raw.html#more

[tegan]

Kate Leth started a podcast! It's called Less Than Live With Kate Leth! It's pretty good??

 

 

Someone needs to tell her that her theme tune is nearly identical to the

though.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I guess I'll link this to peeps, since it's ending soon. A podcast called "We're Alive" is basically a serial drama about a zombie outbreak.

It starts from the perspective of three guys in the army, but thankfully it's not written as overly celebratory of the military. In general it's kind of ropey writing, never stellar but the writers clearly don't want to totally follow the conventional guidelines of writing and like to disrupt expectations.

I've found it enjoyable and compelling throughout the 3 seasons, so I think it's worth a listen. In a few weeks the final episode will be out there too so you could pretty much blast through if you feel like it.

[eot]

On episode 44 of the Not A Game podcast, Pip admits to searching through baby-naming websites and taking Buzzfeed-style quizzes to determine a good name for her Wildstar-character. This is the stuff.

I was going to mention this podcast, but you already did! With all the cast shuffling it can be a bit up and down, but I like it. They also had a great Dark Souls special a while ago, when it was called something else.

[clyde]

I was going to mention this podcast, but you already did! With all the cast shuffling it can be a bit up and down, but I like it. They also had a great Dark Souls special a while ago, when it was called something else.

 

and I got the recommendation fro Anym. I really like it. I hope they eventually do something like record each other locally and then assemble all the tracks because the audio-quality does need improvement. Pip drops mad knowledge though. 

 

Pip: "Yeah, like somebody standing up on stage saying 'Yeah, here's a few game-trailers', a few buzz words, and then at the end, as their mike drop, sort of say 'Oh we also have a killer robot any questions? No? We'll be at the bar.'"

Tom: "Actually there was a Titan Fall, there was a Titan Fall robot at Games-Com (I think) last year"

Pip.: "Yeah, but did it kill anyone?"

Tom: "I don't know, they probably covered it up or something."

Jordan Erica Webber: "Is it your hope, at E3, that someone will be murdered?"

Pip. "I haven't thought this through."

Jordan Erica Webber: "Is that so you can have a live-action murder-mystery?"

Pip: "AHHHHH that would be so good!"

Tom.: "Pip, I knew you wanted to go to E3, but to try to kill off the people that are already there is a bit much."

Pip: "Look, its not my fault that murders might happen around me in the same way that Jessica Fletcher wasn't her fault either. She was just a jaunty novelist. She was going on a tour. People wanted her to talk at their events. Suddently someone dies, Oh look: fingers are being pointed. Not her fault. Nothing to do with her. She helps."

[Cleinhun]

Clash of the type-ins is a pretty cool cast where the hosts take an interactive fiction game and play it over skype with the author of the game. If you're someone like me who likes the idea of IF but lacks the cultural vocabulary these games assume, you should check it out. Plus, since they're playing with the authors, they can say "this puzzle is kinda bullshit, sorry. Here's how you get past it" instead of spending 30 minutes trying things/guessing which verb the game wants you to use. One of the hosts is also on Video Games Taco, which is cool if you're one of those people who is sad that VGtaco only uploads every three months. Anyway, it's neat, check it out.

[Reyturner]

Has Isometric come up yet? Hosted by 3 women (a journo, a dev and a psychotherapist) and 1 guy (a dad of indeterminate profession). 

 

It's 12 episodes in and the hosts are starting to get into a pretty good groove. 

[Flynn]

Crate and Crowbar has fast become my second favorite gaming podcast.  Idle Thumbs is a rollercoaster, C&C is a meandering hike where everyone takes as long as they need to get lost in the weeds.  They also play a ton of things I have just never heard of but find myself loving.

http://crateandcrowbar.com/