Recent Podcast Listening

Podcasts are strange beasts in that most of my favorites usually end up closing down (often right after I discover them!) This isn’t really surprising. By all accounts, putting out a well produced podcast with regularity has got to be very time consuming. When you consider that most podcasters are doing it as a hobby, it’s pretty easy to see that it would take a toll. I’m still amazed at Filmspotting’s longevity, though they at least have some income and professional output (I believe their show airs on Chicago Public Radio). Anyway, some interesting stuff lately:

• All Movie Talk – I knew I kept this in iTunes for a reason. Imagine my surprise when the long-defunct movie podcast suddenly sprouted a new episode last month. Of course, they’re not planning on weekly podcasts like they used to do, but it’s good to have them back. I’m hoping for maybe 1 a month. So far, they’ve recapped what’s happened in their absence and also did an episode about accessible old and foreign movies, which turns out to be an interesting topic (and one which added about 10 movies to my Netflix queue).
• A Life Well Wasted – Extremely well produced podcast about video games and the people that play them. It’s put out by Robert Ashley, a freelance video game journalist and musician, and everything about the show, from the website design and posters (designed by the awesome Olly Moss), to the music and editing, to the actual interviews and subjects, is very well done. While ostensibly about video games, Ashley takes a broader view, often focusing on a more human element (examples include people who collect old video games and a guy that gave up playing video games for a year). The only real problem here is that the episodes are few and far between. But given the quality of the production, it’s always worth the wait. I think he’d like to do one a month, but he has trouble finding subjects to interview and of course, editing the shows has to be a bear. Great stuff though, and well worth a listen.
• My New Best Friend – I’ll be honest. I haven’t listened to this yet. But it sounds interesting. I won’t even try to summarize the concept, but it appears to basically be an interview show (moderated by the hilarious Clown vs. Wolf blogger Greg Rice) where one actor interviews another actor. I’m not really sure what to make of it, but I will most definitely be checking it out.
• 4 Guys, 1 Up – This one isn’t technically new, but since the departure of Garnett Lee from 1 Up, David Ellis has taken over the show, renamed it, and retooled the format a bit. What they’re going for is to have an industry guest every week, whether the guest be another journalist or an actual video game designer. So far, the shows have been good and I like the more structured format. Along with Filmspotting, this remains my only other “must listen” show every week.

I’ve actually toyed around with the concept of doing a podcast myself, but I have a feeling that it’ll be a while before anything really comes of it. There’s some groundwork I’d need to do first, and I’d also have to find a suitable cohost (I hate the way single person podcasts sound, and also, I’m just not articulate enough – I need someone to play off of…) Plus, the whole “time-consuming” thing won’t make things very easy… I doubt I’d ever be able to do a weekly podcast, but then, I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, I’ll have to be content with listening to podcasts…