Op-Ed

How not to cover podcasts: An open letter.

Gavin

We approach the end of 2018 and I’ve yet to see a big pop culture site (that isn’t Polygon) post an article pertaining to podcasting that hasn’t brought down the fury of podcast fans. Like packs of ravenous wolves, tweets from TIME and the New Yorker alike are ratioed to death within hours. The harsh truth is these articles getting bombed isn’t the fault of the author. The real blame lies squarely on the editorial staff of said website. In this one rare instance, the fans are doing the good work. I’m here to point out what is going wrong in a lot of mainstream coverage of podcasting, why perfectly good writers are getting beef from Twitter, and how editors could not only fix these problems but generate a LOT more traffic.

Continue reading “How not to cover podcasts: An open letter.” →
Audio Drama, First Impressions

Mount Olympus University: Where Gods Have Midterms

Gavin

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There’s a slight chance very few people will actually read this review in full. If you’re anything like me just hearing the mere premise of this show will cause you to lose focus in your scramble to subscribe and start listening to this delightful show.

Mount Olympus University is an audio fiction series set on a peculiar college campus where the student body and faculty all have unique abilities. That is, except for Pandora, who is there on a full ride scholarship (that she didn’t apply for). The show begins with Pandora stumbling across an abandoned student radio station deep within the ever-changing hallways of MOU.

Continue reading “Mount Olympus University: Where Gods Have Midterms” →

Gavin Stuff, Op-Ed, Uncategorized

Three Awesome Episodes: A Newsletter Excerpt

Gavin

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For the two of you who haven’t seen me running around hat in hand on Twitter, I’ve started a monthly newsletter! All the other cool kids are putting out newsletters, it felt like just the kind of thing to motivate me to get some writing done on a regular basis. What follows is a fun section from last month’s publication!  Continue reading “Three Awesome Episodes: A Newsletter Excerpt” →

nonfiction

Song Salad: A buffet of quality podcasting

Gavin

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Pound for pound, Song Salad delivers more smiles-per-episode than any other non-fiction podcast I am current subscribed to. The hosts have great chemistry, the concept is solid, the content is varied, the humor is genuine.

Song Salad is a weekly musically-charged podcast in which hosts Shannon and Scott produce a short song about a random Wikipedia topic using a randomly selected genre of music.  Both driving forces of the episode are chosen by spinning a fictional salad spinner which is represented by an improvised sound effect suggested by fans of the show (to give an idea of the wackiness of said sound effects, one episode’s salad spinner noise is “a cat performing dubstep”).  Continue reading “Song Salad: A buffet of quality podcasting” →

Mainstream, nonfiction

The Habitat : a failure to launch

Gavin

I like the NASA space program. A lot. When the Curiosity rover was landing I planned my day around being able to watch the livestream from JPL. I kept a papercraft model of the Orion capsule dedicated to the unmanned test flight on my desk for years. I really enjoy anything even tangentially related to the space program.

Gimlet’s newest non-fiction series The Habitat trades on that that childlike wonder for anything involving space in hopes you’ll excuse the fact the series is, in actuality, a low-stakes reality show about six people slowly becoming tired of each other. The only legit space travel content takes palce in the first three episodes whenever host Lynn Levy (late of Radiolab and Studio360) interjects relevant/fun facts about space exploration history.

Continue reading “The Habitat : a failure to launch” →

Gavin Stuff

The DIY acoustic box that only cost $10 (and my dignity)

Gavin

A secret weapon of many podcasters and voice actors on a budget is the acoustic box (or mic box or whatever random-ass name someone has come up with for their YouTube tutorial). At its core the concept is simple: take a box, line the inside with foam to deaden any sound bouncing around, thus giving a more professional-sounding final product. No more need to drop dollars on acoustic foam tiles that make ones’ bedroom look like they’re trying to be the next hot YouTube gamer. Continue reading “The DIY acoustic box that only cost $10 (and my dignity)” →

First Impressions, Tabletop Gaming

The End of Time & Other Bothers | First Impressions

Gavin

EOT_promocard_apr15The End of Time & Other Bothers is an improvised role-playing game set in the fantasy universe of popular medieval fantasy podcast Alba Salix, Royal Physician. Launching the same day as this article’s publication, this role-playing game podcast is far closer to a traditional audio-drama at the DNA level than your bog-standard tabletop RPG podcast, and that is a fantastic thing.

Before I dive in, a quick disclaimer: This will probably be one of the more unique takes on The End of Time & Other Bothers.  Why? I’m one of the few people left alive who love quality audio dramas, have a soft spot for sword ‘n sorcery, and dig a diverse cast who hasn’t heard a single second of Alba Salix or either of its spin-off shows.  Continue reading “The End of Time & Other Bothers | First Impressions” →

nonfiction

‘The Sauce’, be it satire or genuine, disappoints.

Gavin

sauce

The Sauce is an aggressively bland three-episode podcast produced by Studio@Gizmodo and Onion Labs, all under the watchful eye of fast-food megalith McDonald’s. Styled after Serial (and pulled off with the deftness of someone whose only exposure to investigative podcasts is Serial), the three-episode series is one of the most stunted, awkward attempts at telling a story I’ve encountered in my five-ish years of listening to podcasts. It’s difficult to tell if it was supposed to be a satire of investigative podcasts, a genuine attempt, or just a really weird advertisement.

Strike that last one, it is absolutely an advertisement packaged as a podcast. To discuss The Sauce one must understand the story The Sauce is trying to tell. Fortunately, the story can be told in four paragraphs and two quotes:

Continue reading “‘The Sauce’, be it satire or genuine, disappoints.” →

Patreon Exclusive, TV/Film

We Hate Movies Presents: The Nexus | Patronized Reviews

Gavin

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In this first installment of a when-I-feel-like-it feature series in which I take a break from reviewing plain-old iTunes-submitted podcasts and cover shows only available to paying supporters on Patreon!

In essence a spin-off of the amazing podcast We Hate Movies, The Nexus features hosts Andrew Jupin, Chris Cabin, Steven Sajdak, and Eric Szyszka engaging in a monthly discussion of two Star Trek series, episode by episode. Available at the $8 per-month tier (stick around to the end of the review for everything also included!), each episode discusses one episode of Star Trek: The Original Series and an episode of The Next Generation. Continue reading “We Hate Movies Presents: The Nexus | Patronized Reviews” →