A Quick Word... On Podcasts

I sometimes feel like people are ashamed to listen to podcasts.  We're quite happy to talk about movies, television, and music - perhaps a little less so about audiobooks - but podcasts? Surely no-one wastes their time with those! 

I do of course, and I think that - if you don't already - you should too.  Perhaps there is something about the perceived lack of complexity in listening to radio shows that people find lesser.  Actually, radio offers an exciting challenge to the imagination, and for me podcasts are followers and company - on walks, drives, or just while doing the washing up.  Podcasts turn the necessary into the interesting, and they can teach too.  So if you're keen to discover something new, here are a couple of my favourite podcasts to help you catch the bug:

1. Judge John Hodgman

Some of you may know John Hodgman as a reporter for The Daily Show, a comedy actor, author, or the PC from Apple's famous advertisements.  What you may not know, is that he also occasionally performs in his own judicial court as a thoroughly unqualified judge.

The 'Judge John Hodgman Podcast' is a weekly event in which people may post their gripes and grizzles to Judge Hodgman and hope for a trial where he will finally decide who's righteous.  Examples include a group of college freshmen arguing over the rules of 'beard chicken', and long term travelling companions who can't agree on the appropriate time to disembark a plane.  The more minor the gripe, the more fun Judge Hodgman has, and the results are hilarious.  For those who like their comedy nerdy, this is seriously worth checking out.

Link: http://www.maximumfun.org/shows/judge-john-hodgman

2. Writing Excuses

"Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry - and we're not that smart!"

So opens every episode of 'Writing Excuses', a weekly writing podcast which acts as a round-table about writing, featuring Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler and Dan Wells.  Being only fifteen minutes long I've been slamming these out in the last couple of weeks, going back through previous seasons to try and catch up.  The advice is really thorough and useful, and they manage to slip in a writing exercise and book recommendation each episode too.

My favourite so far has been episode 6.18, featuring Lou Anders on the 'Hollywood Formula'.  Lou describes in very short form some of the crucial elements of the classic Hollywood story, including a fascinating deconstruction of my favourite film, 'The Dark Knight'.  This one's particularly for writers, but there is plenty to learn even for just an interested reader.

Link: http://www.writingexcuses.com/

3. The Ricky Gervais Show

I was tempted not to put this one in, because both of the other two podcasts I've listed are free, and I think it's a great idea to let you discover podcasts without having to pay for them first.  Unfortunately, it's simply unavoidable that 'The Ricky Gervais Show' is probably the funniest podcast on the internet, and deserves mention accordingly.

This one comes out pretty sporadically, and features Gervais, and his friend and co-creator of The Office and Extras holding discussions with their former producer, and current 'round-headed buffoon' Karl Pilkington.  Somehow Karl manages to turn a topic of almost any level of inanity into a long and strange tirade of almost unfathomable ridiculousness.  Fans of Gervais and Merchant's work will lose hours of laughter and hilarity to this one.  Now made into an HBO cartoon series (see clip above), you can experience it that way too, if my podcasting talk has still not seduced you.

Link: http://www.rickygervais.com/podcast.php

4. The Moth

And finally it's 'The Moth', a series of trues stories told live and without notes.  It's amazing what people will say when they just get up in front of an audience to tell the truth of their lives - sometimes it's incredibly funny, sometimes it can be devastatingly sad.  It's always inspiring though, and changes the way you see the world.  I really love listening to 'The Moth' - it rips right into the heart of things.

Link: http://themoth.org/

Have favourite episodes of these, or other radio shows you think deserve listing? Let me know in the comments!

A Quick Word... On Being Yourself Online

Picture Credit: Simone Lovati

I think it's about time to accept that Facebook and Twitter are part of my life now.  While I'm still constantly arguing with myself over how much is too much, and whether they are actually a force for connectedness or instead a delusion that actually leads to deeper isolation, it's pretty hard to ignore that either way I'm probably going to keep using them, and as it seems, so are you.

In my house we're always experimenting with our use of stuff like this - my housemate Jess actually deleted her Facebook for an extended period a couple of weeks ago, and I'm currently trying to limit myself to only an hour a day, so that I don't do the thing that we're all constantly watching ourselves for, and start spending more time discussing my life than actually living it.  I have heard it suggested that our infancy with the internet is comparable to when societies first meet alcohol - at the moment we don't quite know what's good for us, and we're slamming it down in copious amounts without thinking of the effect it might have on our overall wellbeing.  

Jess and I talk about these issues a lot.  In fact, recently she asked me a question that continues to bother me.  She said: "Do you think that the way you are on Facebook is actually the same as you in real life?"

To which the answer can only be no.  There is plenty I hide from the online community, and in general my online persona expresses a far more articulate and intelligent being than I could ever be in an impromptu conversation.  When Twitter asks 'What are you doing?' and when Facebook asks 'What's on your mind?' I'm absolutely conscious that I'm not telling these websites either of these things truthfully. I'm telling them the way I think you'd like to see them, and I'm cherry-picking the funniest bits, the kindest moments, and the deepest insights.  I'm guessing when you post updates on these websites you probably do too.

But aren't these websites to connect us?  What is the point of them if we don't be ourselves?

This week I read an article by Chuck Wendig called 25 Things Writers Should Know About Social Media.  Number 2:

Be The Best Version of Yourself: 

Writers and other creative-types often seem to believe that they need to become someone different online, that they cannot be themselves lest they not find a publisher, not get work, not sell their book, not collect sexy groupies, etc. To that I say, bullshit! And cock-waffle! And piddling piss-wafers! Be yourself. That’s who we want. We just want the best version of you. Scrape the barnacles off. Sit up straight. Smile once in a while. But you can still be you. Uhh, unless “you” just so happen to be some kind of Nazi-sympathizing donkey-molester. In which case, please back slowly away from the social media.

I think this gets at the crux of it, and I think we are better people if we try to use social media to make our lives better instead of bemoaning our sad existence.  A few weeks ago I started putting daily quotes and favourite pictures up on Facebook, inspired by the writer Jonathan Carroll who has inspired me for months with the same practice.  Undoubtedly this will seem a bit affected to some people, but I noticed that as I started to try and reflect a better version of me on Facebook, I also tried to live my day according to the quotes and images I'd put up.  Perfectly? Hell no, but it's a start.

So to answer Jess's question, I don't think there is anything necessarily shameful about trying to be more compassionate, inspiring, and pleasant than we are in reality when we use websites like Facebook and Twitter.  I think some people feel it's false, but in all honesty I admire people who try to behave better online, just as I admire people who try to behave better in life. By spending a little time putting aside all your problems, your vices, and your gnawing insecurities, I think we actually come closer to letting them go in real life.

Facebook and Twitter are communities, and like all communities they are first and foremost places of interaction and involvement with other people.  How we choose to use our influence on the world around us, and interact with the real people who inhabit our lives, is - online or in the real world - perhaps the most important decision any of us will ever make.  So think carefully, and choose wisely.