Before I get into my technology post, I wanted to let my small amount of readers know I have to take a bit of a break from this space. My husband and I have been involved in some volunteer work the past couple of weeks that requires our full attention. I'll be back to a more regular schedule in a few weeks.
In the meantime, my tech Tuesday is about Podcasts. I have to say I'm slightly addicted to these. When I walk to do my errands or just go for a bit of real exercise I drown out the noises of the street and dive into one of my favorite podcasts. If you listen to podcasts on your iPhone, you'll have to download the Podcast app from the App store (looks like the image to the right) and download that to your phone. It's free as are all the podcasts I feature below. If you have an Android phone you'll need to download a podcast app to listen or subscribe to them, Mashable has 5 they recommend, a few are free the rest you have to pay for. You can either listen to individual podcasts you like or subscribe to one you know you'll listen to often. It should automatically download the new ones when you click on the app. However, I had subscribe to one podcast, but find I'm not listening to it that often so it doesn't download the news until you start catching up. When I'm at home I listen to the podcasts on my computer thru my MacBook on iTunes. Whatever works for you, just give them a chance.
Here are a few of my favorites:
As every hipster in LA and probably NY already knows This American Life is a great way to start listening in podcasts. Ira Glass is a great story teller and brings to the plate amazing fictional and true life tales. They are usually told in three acts. Sometimes these are first person stories. David Sedaris is a regular guest, and well he makes me literally laugh out loud, his story about music lessons brought me to laughter tears. Occasionally, This American Life host a live Radio Show, I have yet to get to one, but listening to them is the next best thing. My favorite one was the story about Tig Notora running into Taylor Dayne, you'll laugh your head off as did the audience and Ira always narrates what we can see so you feel like your still there.
I am an avid History fan, always loved it and still do. This is a great podcast hosted by Holly Frey and Tracy Wilson called Stuff You Missed in History Class. They take a historical subject, do the research and present the facts. Sometimes blowing the doors wide open on the myths. My favorite history lesson so far was the two part series Loving vs. Virginia, a fascinating true story about the laws on interracial marriage in the United States, this case went all the way up to the Supreme Court and forever changed the laws in the United States, though some states have taken longer to get these antiquated laws off their books.
RadioLab is new to me, but so many of my friends really love this show. They take a subject and patch together people, music, culture, stories and experiences around that subject. I've enjoyed the podcasts so far, still trying to pick out a favorite.
As everyone who reads this blogs knows, food is a topic I chat about frequently. Over the past year I've found myself working from home and closer to a farmers market that I can walk to every Wednesday. I frequently listen to this podcast, Last Chance Foods on my iPhone while I walk to the market. It contains information on seasonal produce that's at your local farmers market, what's about to go out of along with some great stories from local farmers on their produce.
So far my favorite episode has been Last Chance Food: Chicken to Eggs. Everyone I follow in the blogasphere have chickens. Small houses to large acres, chickens are cool. I laugh because 17 years ago when I first got married all my husband wanted was chickens. Seriously, chickens in our 3x9 patio was not going to happen, I chalked it up to his Latin roots and my lack of appreciation, plus a few close calls with chickens in New Mexico didn't make me a believer. Now that I eat eggs pretty much everyday, this so wouldn't be a bad thing to have, plus Martha has great Araucana Chickens that hatch the amazing blue eggs, who wouldn't want one of those for breakfast. We still have a 3x9 patio, but maybe one day we'll have a bigger space for chickens.
This podcast, Stuff You Should Know, can be on just about any subject from the duckbill platypuses to how marriage works, how coffins work and how fair trade works. Josh and Chuck host this and it's a similar format as Stuff You Missed in History Class. This podcast reminds me we can never be bored of learning there is so much stuff out there to try to understand if you even care. The key is balance, sometimes we can get information overload and have no idea what to do with it. Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy...maybe.
My friend Deborah of My Life at Playtime recently introduced me to this podcast, called The Moth. Thse are first person stories told in front of a live audience, that range from 15 - 20 minutes. In fact in Santa Monica at Zanzibar tonight they are recording a live broadcast, I think it's not to late to buy tickets. Writers and story tellers alike tell true life tales that are fascinating and fun to listen to especially with a live audience reaction. It becomes a shared experience with strangers and the story teller. I think I'd like to add this to my bucket list of things I would like to do, once in my life.
Studio 360 is hosted by Kurt Anderson. Each week he focuses on pop culture and the arts. Sometimes it's a book, movie or music or all three. So far my favorites have been about the American Icons: The Great Gatsby. There are great story/interviews with different actors, it's a much more relaxed setting, which brings some good insights into the art crafts.
While these are my current favorites, don't be limited to these, they are just suggestions. One of my friends loves podcasts on cars and another on photography. There are so plenty of options out there, just enjoy!
