Let's talk about podcasts, baby

it's recommendation riday1!!!

Alex Dobrenko`

Aug 26, 2022

Alright dear readers of the Both Are True Experience, today is Riday and you know what that means - it's time for the 345th semi annual recommendation riday. If you're new here, welcome, and here's just two of the literally 344 past RR issues we've had:

RR #34: What do you always recommend to people?
RR #56: If you had to listen to one band / artist's music by hitting "shuffle all songs", who would it be?
- big ups to all the great recs - I’ve got a whole lot of listening to do this week - Bob dylan (indie new artist), beach house, earth wind and also fire, stevie wonders, blues traveler, gosh, charlie xcx, ok go, roomful of teeth, eurythmics, annie lennox!!

some honest to god testimonials from happy readers

Before we get to the question, I did want to briefly share a few testimonials from happy readers who recently switched from the free to paid monthly subscription to both are true:

"I had writer's block, I was stuck. After choosing to do a monthly subscription for Both Are True, I sat down and wrote the film TITANIC (1997) in one day."
— the guy who wrote titanic, jamie cameroon maybe?

My dad is a weirdo and also disgustingly rich. I needed to read something that helped me see the beauty of the world, and so it was a no brainer to pay as much money as I could for Both Are True. Fk u dad." -
— Marcus zucksaberg's Son

"I thought my life was over, prewritten for me by the powers that be. But then I started supporting Both Are True and realized, well, of course if what I believe is true then something else must be true too! So I got up off that wall, I did NOT have a great fall, and I now run a successful sticker business on etsy."
Humpty H. Dumpty

Wow! Those are some moving and definitely real testimonials! be like Mark's zon, Humpty D, and Titanic guy and switch to a paid subscription today:

What Are Your Podcast Recs?!?

K so say you ran into a genie but he was a cool genie so he went by Jean, and he says "Hey listen up I've got three questions for you."

And you say "what, aren't you supposed to give three wishes?"

And he’s like "Shut the fuck up, I'm a genie I do what I want jesus."

And you're like "ok yea that makes sense" because you realize you just stereotyped genies and now you feel bad and will maybe do a notes apology later.

k I told Dall-E to do a hipster genie and honestly this rules

Here’s Jean:

Ok here are my questions three:
If you were stuck on an island - not like a deserted island but just an island, like in hawaii or greece, and could only ever listen to one podcast - like all the episodes from this one podcast - what would it be?
Ok now you're on the island and its the same question but you have to pick a podcast that isn't like super famous like don't say This American Life or something for this one, pick one that's under-the-radar or that only cool kids listen to or that only you and three friends listen to HELP ME LEARN NEW PODCASTS. (Jean gets teary eyed here and its like...um ok?)
Ok forget what I said you're still on the island but now you can only ever listen to ONE EPISODE for the rest of your days what episode do you choose?!
Ok cool thank you, final question - yea there's 4 I tricked your ass cuz I'm an indie hipster genie - what's a favorite recent podcast EPISODE that you loved and have been sharing with people.
What app do you use for your podcasts lol?!? haha there are really 5 questions you are such a nerd.

DANG THIS GENIE IS INTENSE!!!

Ok plz reply in the comments otherwise Jean is gonna be texting me like 'yo did ur friends reply” and I don't have time for that.

Answer one or all of the questions or even none of them I don’t give a flying fart!!!

My Podcast Recs

Question One: Fav podcast overall

If you were stuck on an island - not like a deserted island but just an island, like in hawaii or greece, and could only ever listen to one podcast - like all the episodes from this one podcast - what would it be?

I'm gonna give a few answers cuz I can and so can you!

The Ezra Klein Show - I can't help it I'm a sucker for Ezra and I feel like he's one of my best friends and I love the convos he has with all the smart people.
Vox Conversations - Similar to the above, and probably because Ezra used to run this show, but I love it and I love their chats and I could listen to them for a long while.
Heavyweight - Jonathan Goldstein is amazing and he helps people solve tough interpersonal issues by getting very involved and often making things worse but usually making them better and it has made me cry on multiple occasions and that's saying not very much i cry a lot.
This American Life I also love hanging with my best friends and cooking meals together at home and playing board games like jesus christ could you get any more NORMCORE Alex?!?
Moth radio Hour - Great stories all the time!!
Hardcore history - I don't even listen to this one now but I always have wanted to learn all the history so this would force me to! Honestly looking at this website tho, I might have to take this back. note to editor: delete this.
Bad Faith - I don’t know if this is a big pod or not, but I like listening to Briahna Joy Gray - it’s like an intro course into the leftist / socialist movement in the USA which, I gotta say, is pretty interesting!

Question Two: Fav under the radar podcast

Ok now you're on the island and its the same question but you have to pick a podcast that isn't like super famous like don't say This American Life or something for this one, pick one that's under-the-radar or that only cool kids listen to or that only you and three friends listen to HELP ME LEARN NEW PODCASTS

Philosophize This! - This one guy just goes HAM on philosophy and walks you through it from the beginning and he's so so good at synthesizing ideas and making you think about what's happening and I LOVE IT.
The One You Feed - This is my jam right here, diving into spiritual emotional stuff - the guests are usually amazing and I don't hate the host so that's great!
Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick - There’s a lot of bad stuff happening with the supreme court and it seems like part of how they get away with it is no one understanding how it all works. Lithwick and her guests are super informative and help make the complicated easy to understand - knowledge is power etc.
Broccoli and Ice Cream - A new one to my list and a fav from Myq Kaplan aka the best guy aka writer of hilarious newsletter Arty Har Hars aka one of both Are true's big fans (disclaimer: he has NOT paid me for this but I have sent him several invoices to do so.) Myq brings on amazing artists creators good soulful people and learns about their work (broccoli) and their play (ice cream). Special shout out to the Vance Gilbert and Ramin Nazer episodes, the latter of which I haven’t even listened to yet but love Ramin and love Myq so I know it’s gonna be a banger!
Improv is dead - Dan White and Tim Lyons are so funny and they bring on other comics and they hang for a while and then they do improv based on what they talked about and its FUNNY.
Talk Easy - I don’t know if this is under a radar or not but this guy gets amazing guests and his voice makes me wanna fall asleep in a cabin in the woods with my family. Special shout out to recent interviews with Ethan Hawke and Lena Dunham.

Question Three and Four: Great episodes

gonna answer 3 and 4 together cuz I have to go be a dad.

Ok forget what I said you're still on the island but now you can only ever listen to ONE EPISODE for the rest of your days what episode do you choose?!

Ok cool thank you, final question - yea there's 4 I tricked your ass cuz I'm an indie hipster genie - what's a favorite recent podcast EPISODE that you loved and have been sharing with people.

Here are some recent episodes that blew my face off:

Baz Luhrmann’s Sunscreen Song - The 90s Most Unlikely Hit (Switched On Pop) - The story about the sunscreen song is insane!!! So many twists and turns and I didn't realize how big of an imprint it made on my mind, like often I quote it throughout the day as a guidepost for what to do it is, in essence, the closest thing I have to a bible. Big ups to pal Charlie Harding and co-host Nate Sloan for this one. But for real, listen to ALL their stuff its amazing.
Infinities (Radiolab) - Its rare to experience something where the content and the form work together so well to bring you into an experience, a mindset, a feeling, and - in this case - the experience of being bipolar. Also Boen Wang who wrote and produced this did it AS A SCHOOL PROJECT?! I hate when very young people are insanely talented!!
A Philosophy of Games That Is Really a Philosophy of Life (Ezra Klein) - An interview with philosopher C. Thi Nguyen about how games work and how much of life is designed like a game, specifically and most spookily, Twitter.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin (Throughline) - The way hosts Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah combine incredible journalism that feels more like storytelling with really, really well produced episodes full of great sounds and production make this one of my fav podcasts. And this episode about how Putin rose to power is a banger and also very sad because Putin is the worst person alive.
Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus and Satisfaction - (Huberman Lab) - I hate that I’m putting this here because I have a categorical hatred for self improvement stuff like this (Tim Feriss is another one who I listen to alot but sort of hate which might be because he’s successful or might be because he and his ilk are WAY TOO obsessed with stoicism, like ok its sort of cool but y’all need to chill). Plus these guys are often gateways to the intellectual dark web. BUT THIS POD is actually super fascinating about how dopamine works and how we are sort of always seeking it and most importantly how to manage your dopamine so you aren’t always seeking super high highs and then dropping to super low lows.

Question Five:

What app do you use for your podcasts lol?!? haha there are really 5 questions you are such a nerd.

Honestly I just want recommendations here. I’ve always used Downcast but feel like I need something new. Spotify is great and super powerful but it’s weird for my podcasts to be so close to my music, it feels like having dairy and meat together for a kosher jew - not acceptable. As the godfathers of rock and roll once told us:

Gotta keep em separated.
The Offspring

OK PLEASE NOW GIVE RECS IN THE COMMENTS! I also realize that a lot of my recommendations are white men - YUCK - so please if you have recs of anyone who is not that, those are even more great!