I’m a podcast junkie, and LISTEN TO THIS is a recap of my favorite tidbits, soundbites and short bursts of brilliance from this week. After digesting 12 hours and 36 minutes of podcasts this week, here’s my top 3 must-listen-to moments.
Sweet Roles for Mom
Sometimes Stephen Tobolowsky is overly dramatic and a titch didactic in his storytelling, but that never stops me from enjoying it. He has a wonderful way of tying elements together, building momentum throughout, and exploring lessons learned in everyday events. He’s originally from Dallas, and this episode explores how he overcomes the fear of disappearing memories as buildings come and go and as his parents age. The context of the entire story is important to see how it all connects, but I especially related to his narrative at 38:35 where he describes taking his mom to Starbucks and the tactics he used to get her to eat something.
I Particularly Like the Color
WAIT, WAIT, DON’T TELL ME | Ambassador Peter Westmacott Plays Not My Job
This week’s interview with Ambassador Peter Westmacott was absolutely delightful. I loved the part at 22:28[1. This time refers the full episode, but the link in the heading goes to just he interview portion of the show.] when host Peter Sagal asks him to illustrate his skills at diplomacy by answering a series of questions like, “Does this dress make me look fat?” and “Would you mind reading a draft of my first novel?”
We Would Do a Training Before Each Crawl
HOW TO DO EVERYTHING | The Bedbug Strategy
In answering, “How do you start a conversation with perfect strangers?” Ian interviews Brandon Silverman about what he learned from spending eight years crashing corporate holiday parties in Philadelphia. Start at the beginning or skip to 1:20 to hear more about these two shared tips:
- The Bedbug Strategy - find a common enemy to complain about. “Man, this line to the bar is so long,” or “These margaritas sure are salty.”
- The Superman - start with a totally hyperbolic comment. “This has to be one of the best bands on the entire east coast.” The best part is the statement doesn’t need to be true or even sincere.
Podcast Test Drives:
Brett Terpstra’s relatively new podcast Systematic. I liked when Brett did a workflow episode on the Mac Power Users, and Michael Schechter gave a surprisingly good interview on this this week’s show. I plan to go back and listen to Brett’s interview with Merlin Mann last week, and I’ve added this to my subscriptions. Getting lots of techy/productivity interview shows on the list. Still searching for a good one about learning and training issues.
OTHER PODCAST POSTS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
What podcasts did you enjoy?