Thursday, January 7, 2016

Binge Listening/Watching

Because I had a two week break for Christmas and New Year's (#teachingfellowlife privileges), I was able to start and finish several podcasts and TV shows. If you know me, you know I read a lot, but every now and then I need something visual or auditory. Here's what's been entertaining, enlightening, and challenging me:

Elise Gets Crafty (Season 2 - 2015) I dipped in and out of Elise's second season of her podcast on small business, motivation, goals, and blogging. I like that the topic of each of her conversations is made available so I can chose ones that speak more to my existence. I'm also a fan of whenever it's just Elise talking, because she talks much like she blogs, which is to say, she's easy to listen to and agree with.

Serial (Season 2) Bowe Bergdahl doesn't quite catch my attention like Adnan Syed did, but Sarah Koenig could narrate the phone book and I'd listen. I'm still wondering where Season 2 will end up, but I'm not as in to the story of a US soldier leaving his post and being captured by the Taliban.

Limetown (Season 1) A mysterious, X-Files-esque, fictional podcast styled after Serial, Limetown is what Jesus and I listen to while doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen on nights when he's home for dinner. Each episode is a serious cliffhanger, and after six full episodes plus a few bonus ones, we're still in the dark about a lot of things. I think they could've released a few more episodes to keep us interested, because I'm probably going to forget a lot of things before the next season arrives.

Making a Murderer (Season 1) The ten episodes of Making a Murderer only felt like one lengthy documentary - that's how quickly watching it went. The history of Steven Avery's arrests and trials for a rape in 1985 and a murder in 2005 is heartbreaking, no matter what you come away believing. It also hit home in a lot of places for me - the accents, the use of "y'owe" for "you know," the shots of the Green Bay Correctional Institution (located only a few miles from St. Norbert, along the Fox River Trail) - so I was hooked from the get go.



Master of None (Season 1) On a much different note, I love Aziz Ansari's stand up, and I'm very excited about his new show Master of None as well. I liked that each episode followed a chronological timeline while still maintaining its own autonomy. It was great to see so many other fresh and talented actors in each episode, and even greater that they weren't all white men. Aziz hits so many hot topics of today - men and women, people of color, the dating scene, interacting with parents and grandparents, becoming adults and/or parents...each episode was basically a commentary on something true about our culture, without being too preachy or too jaded. I won't give it away, but the end scene made me so happy!



Extra: NPR has a new guide with over 200 podcast episodes to try out based on your interests - find a new podcast, or just check out individual episodes!

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