On Podcasts: Recommendations

I've been doing a lot of traveling lately, and when I travel, I like to listen to podcasts. They're easier to half-focus on, like if I want to knit or just keep an eye on what bus stop I'm at, than novels or video games, and there's just so much interesting stuff out there to be entertained and/or edified by. Here are some of my favorites, in alphabetical order.

(Note: The podcasts on this list that are recorded by LoadingReadyRun are also available on Youtube, and often have visual components that make watching preferable to listening.)

• 99% Invisible: Numbers come first in the alphabet, right? 99% Invisible is a podcast in the Radiotopia network. It's about design--everything from architecture to user interfaces to logos and public policy. The host became famous in 2015 for a TED talk on poorly designed American municipal flags, many of which are referred to as "a seal on a bedsheet."
• Lingthusiasm: A podcast about why linguistics is cool, by two linguists of my online acquaintance, Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne.. The presentation is fantastic--not too technical for beginners, but with enough esoteric detail to amaze and amuse professional linguists.
• Looks Like Some Sort of Sidewalk Slam: Graham and Adam from LoadingReadyRun geek out about professional wrestling and complain about the WWE's terrible sense of narrative. The Youtube version includes video clips. If you don't care about wrestling, this podcast will cause you to care about wrestling.
• Nerdette: Tricia Bobeda and Greta Johnsen interview famous people about their secret nerdy hobbies. It's a lot of fun.
• Ocarina & Wine: This is the Geek's brother's podcast, in which he introduces his girlfriend to video games and she teaches him to think critically about wine. As someone who knew basically nothing about video games until grad school, it's refreshing to hear about games from someone with a similar lack of experience.
• QWERPline: A LoadingReadyRun comedy show that grew out of a running joke from Desert Bus. Graham and Alex host a morning radio show in the bizarre Middle American small town of Nsburg. The show is partially improvised, and the action occasionally stops when the actors make each other laugh too hard.
• Reasonably Sound: An intermittently-released podcast by Mike Rugnetta (late of PBS Idea Channel) about sound, sound design, and the music industry. His voice is soothing, and I've learned a lot. Check out the recent episodes on the history of applause and booing.
• Super Marcato Bros.: Two brothers, and sometimes a third brother, showcase good video game music and discuss it from a music theory perspective. This one's also extremely soothing--so much so that I listen to it when I have trouble sleeping.
• TapTapConcede: Various LoadingReadyRun members talk about current events on the Magic: the Gathering scene. This is actually the podcast that convinced me to start playing Magic--they start each episode by opening a booster pack from a random set, and I was drawn in by the art and the worldbuilding. There's also a spinoff called North 100, which focuses on a local format called Canadian Highlander.
• Underscore: Two of the Marcato Bros. discuss film music. They're currently (on hiatus) in the middle of a series on The Incredibles.
• The Endless Knot: Etymology, history, and thematically relevant cocktails. A companion to Mark Sundaram's Endless Knot Youtube series.
• The Feast: Stories about historical foods, meals, and culinary traditions.
• The Memory Palace: Another Radiotopia podcast. Nate DiMeo tells little-known stories from American history, often about women and members of other marginalized groups.

Honorable mention goes to Welcome to Night Vale, a podcast that tells the story of life in a small town where eldritch horror is a comforting commonplace. I listened to it religiously until just after the second anniversary special, when the relationship drama started to get unhealthy; but the first two years are a lovely, absurd little drama that simultaneously scares and soothes.