This Week in Podcasts

Finally, after an uncomfortable few weeks of just one or two entries here, I have amassed a respectable roster highlighting the past week’s best podcasts. Enjoy!

Quit! Episode 51: No Silver Bullet. Shawn Blanc and Dan Benjamin recorded a remarkably inspiring discussion about finding the job you love and turning that into a sustainable career. It just so happened that this episode came on as I prepped a house to get painted at my “jobby-job”, as Merlin would call it, and so I spent the rest of the day deep in thought, considering my future as I wiped walls and taped trim. Now don’t get me wrong, I have a pretty good job and a great boss, but it made me really sit back and wonder whether this sort of work is what I should spend my time on if I hope to one day take a completely different path. I don’t yet have an answer, but it has been a while since anything — podcast or otherwise — has caused this much introspection on my part.

Thank You for Calling! Episode 09: The Summer of ’99. An interesting and enjoyable look into the world of video game and electronics sales, with Casey Liss, Christina Warren, and Moisés Chiullan. All at once I was both thankful and slightly disappointed that, by comparison, my job entails so little stress and complexity.

Storming Mortal Episode 04: Pink Tanktops, Ben Brooks And The Fact That We Are All Just Some Guy with Pat Dryburgh. Besides choosing an awesome name for a podcast, Anže Tomić also does a great job interviewing his guests, and this all-around fun interview with Pat Dryburgh was no exception: they talked about, among other things, Pat’s podcast Hundred Down and his struggle with weight loss, interspersed with moments of hilarity as the curmudgeonly Ben Brooks came up often alongside the revered pink tank-top. Lots of fun.

Storming Mortal Episode 05: On the Measured/Thoughtful Approach, When @imyke and @viticci Sleep and Our Generations Greatest Philosopher with Matt Alexander. If you, like me, love the current Bionic, and especially if you have stuck around since the beginning, you will appreciate this episode with Matt Alexander from just before his and Myke Hurley’s show really went off the rails; a great retrospective on what that podcast used to be.

Five More Things Episode 13: Chainsaw Charles and Drilling Daddy-o. Adam and Nathan talk Ben Affleck as Batman, and take apart the oft-cited suggestion that saying “no” is the simple cure-all key to success. Spoiler: it’s not, but tune in and let these two tell you why.

Five More THings Episode 14: Tesla, Web Experiments, and Launching New Business Ventures. Adam and Nate talk Tesla, art, and then Nate unveils The Collective. A very interesting — albeit potentially slightly problematic in certain areas — idea that I look forward to hearing and seeing more of in the near future.