My Thoughts on Serial: The Podcast

So, I just finished the last episode of Serial. I know I'm a bit behind the times, but now I'm wondering, have you listened to it? And if so, let's talk!

Serial, if you don't know, is a 12 episode podcast done by the same people from NPR that do This American Life (not a podcast I've listened to, but one I'm curious about also) and when they first debuted this new podcast last fall, everyone went berserk about it. I remember hearing about it from the get go, but didn't start listening to it until about Christmastime when my son talked about it and we decided to get all caught up. As you can see, it still took me awhile (I've told you about my "listening" fetishes, right?)

What they've done is taken an interesting murder crime, one that appeared to have a ton of strange problems and issues, and they've brought it to light again and rehashed the whole thing. They called and interviewed every person originally involved that they could find.  They examine all the evidence, rumors, thoughts, phone calls, letters, diaries . . .everything. And try to come up with a conclusion, once and for all, who dunnit?

This case was a murder of a high school student in Baltimore in 1999. Her ex-boyfriend was arrested, tried, convicted and put in prison for life. He says he did not do it. His friend (well, sort of friend) says he did. And so it goes. Who's telling the truth? It makes you crazy wondering what really happened! If you love true crime stuff and real life stories and fascinating mysteries, you'd love this thing! 

And, if you love that sort of thing, you've probably already listened to it. So... have you? What do you think? Who IS telling the truth? Did he really do it? Did Jay do it? Or is there another story not being told? Are they protecting a third party?

Let me know what you think!

Weekly Geeks 2009.42: Podcasts Anyone?

The task for this week's Weekly Geeks is two share some favorite podcasts.... then if there's time, visit everyone, and came back and share some new favorites you've discovered.

I have two podcasts that I really love. I've listened to these two podcasts since they began, which is kinda cool. The first one is done by three local (to me) guys, who discuss the writing industry as a whole, and fantasy writing specifically. They call it Writing Excuses: Fifteen Minutes Long Because You're in a Hurry and We're Not That Smart! The guys are Brandon Sanderson (of recent Wheel of Time fame,) Howard Taylor (who writes a web comic,) and Dan Wells (who is just breaking into the teen horror genre.) I find their podcast interesting because there's a lot of talk about the writing process in general, which I think is completely fascinating. They often have guests join them, and it's all very fun. And funny too. I love it.

The other podcast I really like is called Books on the Nightstand, done by two Random House employees Michael Kindness and Ann Kingman. This is a general book discussion podcast with themed episodes. It recent went from a bi-monthly show, to a weekly one. These guys are very personable, and after a short time, you feel like you are their best friends. Many books I've read I first heard about on this podcast including The Hunger Games and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It's like they talk about certain books and then a month or so later, the blogging world explodes with a buzz on the same books. Interesting. They also have a wonderful blog to go along with their show, where they keep track of all the stuff they talk about.

I subscribe to both of these podcasts on iTunes, where I let the episodes build up a few at at time. Then I download a bunch into my iPod and then I can then listen to them while driving, or working on a project at home. I usually listen to several in a row until I'm all caught up. Then I'll do it all over again in another month or so.

Drop on by Weekly Geeks this week and write a post about YOUR favorite podcasts!

Podcasts Anyone?

Lately, I've been discovering the fun of podcasts. I finally got my own Ipod for Christmas, and so this has really made me want to discover the cool podcasts that are out there. (I know you don't need an Ipod for podcasts, but it is nice if you want to veg on the bed while listening, or work on a project away from the computer while listening, or hook the Ipod up to the car while listening, etc.)

So anyway, one of the podcasts I discovered a couple of months ago is called Writing Excuses. It's a discussion between author Brandon Sanderson, and a couple of his buddies, on writing science fiction and fantasy. Now, there's no way I'll ever be writing such a book (at least that I know of), but still, I love learning about the process and feeling like I'm in on their funny, clever and to-the-point discussions. Great stuff!

Also, I've been enjoying the Itunes "Meet the Author" podcast and have listened to James Patterson, George RR Martin, and Alan Alda so far.

I just discovered one that looks fun where these two crazy ladies talk about the Twilight books. I haven't listened yet, it's waiting there for me to have time. But it looks very fun!

Also, all of Oprah's "The New Earth" classes are in podcast form, so I'm tempted to give those a try and see what all the fuss is about.

Anyway, I'm always on the lookout for a fun, cool podcast to listen too, so if you have a suggestion, let me know!