43 Folders Podcast: GTD takes a side-step toward leftism

October 26, 2005 2:27 PM

Merlin Mann's 43 Folders podcast is hilarious.
posted by nthdegx (48 comments total)

Talks too fast.
posted by smackfu at 2:34 PM on October 26, 2005

Great stuff. Though he surely doesn't remember it, I went to college with Merlin, saw his band a bunch & got to hear his funny stories at various parties around Tallahassee. Good to see he's halfway to net-celebrity status these days.

Question: how many definitions exist for 'podcast'? I feel like every time it's explained to me, the defintion changes. Isn't this just a blog with mp3s?
posted by hall of robots at 2:35 PM on October 26, 2005

An Audioblogging Manifesto.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:39 PM on October 26, 2005

Awful. No one should podcast without a script.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:39 PM on October 26, 2005

Another dumb question: why are the mp3s not available from the main page? From an ID standpoint, wouldn't it make sense for them to be accessible without having to click the permalink?

/nitpick
posted by hall of robots at 2:42 PM on October 26, 2005

[snark]
posted by keswick at 2:44 PM on October 26, 2005

I thought they were pretty interesting. How quickly he spoke was also my first thought, as well as his odd rhythm at times (like he WAS reading from a script, but not relaxed), but he apparently has only been podcasting for less than 2 weeks. I'm sure those two particular things would disappear with experience.
posted by artifarce at 3:07 PM on October 26, 2005

If, by "hilarious," you mean, "not hilarious and completely predictable," then I agree.

Will the day ever arrive when calling something "ass" is no longer considered a comedic paradigm?
posted by Electric Jesus at 3:08 PM on October 26, 2005 [1 favorite]

Meta-comment: anything described as "hilarious" has to be twice as funny as you expect to be any good. (If it's a podcast, 4x.)
posted by smackfu at 3:12 PM on October 26, 2005

That day will arrive shortly after MeFites stop snarking, grinding axes, jockeying for dominance. In other words, no.
posted by keswick at 3:14 PM on October 26, 2005

You guys saying this sucks haven't heard other podcasts. Have you tried them? Go on, I'll wait. They're terrible.

Merlin is producing Citizen Kane every few days compared to 99% of podcasts.
posted by mathowie at 3:18 PM on October 26, 2005

That's a straw man, keswick.
posted by metaculpa at 3:19 PM on October 26, 2005

I appreciate you all giving it a listen. As you note, I'm pretty new at this, so I'm grateful for the time and for the criticism.

I'll integrate as much of it as I can into the podcast itself and into the podcast's home page. Many thanks.
posted by merlinmann at 3:24 PM on October 26, 2005

Everytime that happens it comes as a surprise. Almost as if that person were standing in the room while everyone talks about him and goes completely ignored and then, all quiet like, from the corner of the room comes a pointed cough.
posted by dazed_one at 3:38 PM on October 26, 2005

Isn't this just a blog with mp3s?

Yes, but if it didn't have "pod" in the name, iPod users might, just for a second or two, not feel morally superior to the users of all non-iPod mp3 players, and we can't have that.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:48 PM on October 26, 2005

metaculpa: yer mom's a straw man.
posted by keswick at 3:49 PM on October 26, 2005

True, true.
posted by metaculpa at 3:50 PM on October 26, 2005

*damn* you got smacked!

He's talking about your mama!! (she's got snakeskin teeth, and an afro, with a chin strap)
posted by zpousman at 3:51 PM on October 26, 2005

I have had met metaculpa's mom, and I can assure you, metaculpa's mom is no straw man.
posted by Man O' Straw at 3:53 PM on October 26, 2005

Very true, dazed_one.
posted by smackfu at 3:54 PM on October 26, 2005

Interesting, sometimes insightful, occasionally witty, never hilarious. Hilarious is fucking John Cleese in this (no, it's not a Monty Python film).
posted by Deathalicious at 4:20 PM on October 26, 2005

Another dumb question: why are the mp3s not available from the main page?

Er, they are - click those blue links under the permalink with the podcast's title followed by '(mp3)'.

Anyway, not terribly hilarious. But then the only podcasts I've found to be any good are Radio 4 programmes, so I may not have developed a taste for the medium.
posted by jack_mo at 4:39 PM on October 26, 2005

So there really are no hilarious?

Not surprising, considering it can take a professional comedian months or years to come up with 30 minutes of great stuff.
posted by mecran01 at 4:48 PM on October 26, 2005

I guess that's settled then. My mother is not a straw man. Sorry for the derail there, Merlin.

Snakeskin teeth? ON A PLANE??
posted by metaculpa at 4:48 PM on October 26, 2005

if you start writing scripts as has been suggested, will you post the scripts so we won't have to listen to the audio?
posted by grouse at 4:59 PM on October 26, 2005

IMO the use of scripts is to keep things at an even pace of presentation and avoid stumbling over one's words. I don't think a script necessarily kills spontaneity.

It's like the difference between a book outline and the book itself. Each in its place.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:12 PM on October 26, 2005

In Soviet Russia pod casts YOU.

sorry.
posted by gwint at 5:25 PM on October 26, 2005

I hear ya, mathowie.
posted by shoepal at 5:49 PM on October 26, 2005

His lists are pretty darn funny.
posted by ontic at 6:41 PM on October 26, 2005

Er, they are - click those blue links under the permalink with the podcast's title followed by '(mp3)'.

Tell me I'm not going crazy, Merlin -- earlier today you didn't have direct links to the mp3s on the main /podcasts/ page, did you??
posted by hall of robots at 8:51 PM on October 26, 2005

Yes, but if it didn't have "pod" in the name, iPod users might, just for a second or two, not feel morally superior to the users of all non-iPod mp3 players, and we can't have that.

I have no problem with this. The proud owner of a Chinese-produced SanDisk MP3 player that does most everything an iPod Nano does plus FM radio at less than half the price (yeah, so I had to disassemble it and fix a broken plastic part with superglue, so what, Apple is getting sued for Nano defects), I happily leech off of Apple's Music Store podcast subscription list, one of the better sources of free content on the Net.
posted by Creosote at 8:52 PM on October 26, 2005

I like it, cause Merlin's one of my dozen Internet celebrity crushes. But the funniest podcast ever is Five Minutes with Wichita, in which Wichita Rutherford interviews Bluegrass stars. I defy anyone here to find a funnier podcast than that. Hell, it's better than most radio shows.
posted by NickDouglas at 9:09 PM on October 26, 2005

Am I the only one who noticed the invocation of a certain name at 1:39 in the first link?
posted by Oddly at 9:39 PM on October 26, 2005

Matt, if you don't like the podcasts that are out there, why don't you...

Heyyyyyyyyy... what ever happened to that Metafilter Podcast idea?
posted by soyjoy at 11:14 PM on October 26, 2005

I don't understand the attraction of podcasts. I'd much rather read glance through something like this and know I didn't miss anything interesting than listen to the whole thing and realize it sucked. This is only my opinion, so if you like it, great.
posted by pmbuko at 11:49 PM on October 26, 2005

Oddly, I heard the name drop, too.
posted by pmbuko at 11:50 PM on October 26, 2005

90% of the Radio 4 "podcasts" are boring as shit. Clearly I'm in a minority in just how good I think the 43 Folders podcast is. It should probably be noted that it's new, and that not every episode is like the two examples I linked to above. It's also not news to me that my sense of humour can deviate massively from the MeFi average.

I hope Merlin doesn't feel discouraged because, out of all the web "celebrities" (if you want to call them that) he's one (and I'm not saying the only one, necessarily) with the goods to back it up, and the 43 Folders podcast is for me a very welcome addition. At times, it's a lot funnier than Clockwise (in my humble opinion).

This happily joins Mark Kermode as the only podcasts I've found I think are worth subscribing to.
posted by nthdegx at 11:50 PM on October 26, 2005

Also I'm going to chalk this one up as a lesson in engaging with the MetaFilter community. If my post had said "The 43 Folders podcast is actually pretty good" I'm sure this thread would have gone rather differently! As it is I think using words like "hilarious" is like a red cape to a bull: a challenge to be unimpressed. My bad.
posted by nthdegx at 12:03 AM on October 27, 2005

Tell me I'm not going crazy, Merlin -- earlier today you didn't have direct links to the mp3s on the main /podcasts/ page, did you??

Sorry for making you think you were going crazy -
they were updated in the wake of your comment, by the looks of things.

90% of the Radio 4 "podcasts" are boring as shit.

There's only four of them, and one is In Our Time, so you can't possibly be right about that ;-)
posted by jack_mo at 3:29 AM on October 27, 2005

I enjoyed the 3 I listened to. I didn't think that they were that funny, but maybe I'm odd in not ranking everything on a not-funny/funny continuum.

Thanks Merlin, you're doing great work.
posted by quiet at 3:41 AM on October 27, 2005

90% of the Radio 4 "podcasts" are boring as shit.

There's only four of them, and one is In Our Time, so you can't possibly be right about that ;-)

Yes, but they each have more than one episode, riiiiiiight? So...
posted by nthdegx at 4:01 AM on October 27, 2005

Something that I clicked on in that welter of overdesigned jizzsplatter of ads and webservices (2.0 or otherwise) was Good, in a gaybo-friendly NPR kinda way.

Needs way more fuckin' uses of the word 'fuck', though. And more tobacco and whiskey, too.

Also, unironic use of the word 'cyberspace' means a right vicious bumpaddlin', laddie. Now, bend over and don't be whinin'.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:29 AM on October 27, 2005

43 comment.
posted by OmieWise at 5:51 AM on October 27, 2005

I do not like humor, so I do not appreciate Marlin. But I do like the informational content of his podcastings. For instance, I learned that he had a phone made of a human ass. Given the cost of ass this is impressive! I hope Marlin signs me up for his list.
posted by ftrain at 2:05 PM on October 27, 2005

weak.
posted by creeptick at 3:23 PM on October 27, 2005

(The jizzsplatter I was referring to last night was Feedburner's styling of the feed, I think, by the way. I'm not exactly sure, now. And it turns out MM's use of 'cyberspace' may not have been entirely unironic, so I withdraw the threat of spanking, unless, you know, that'd be nice.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:19 PM on October 27, 2005

Mr. Ftrain:

Thank you for your interest in our informational marlins. We have sent materials to the address we have on file for you. The beasts are on ice that should preserve them intact for 2-4 days under normal conditions.

Additionally, your ass-shaped novelty phone should be arriving presently under separate cover.

Kindest regards, etc.,
43 Flounders

p.s. Mr. TheWonderChicken will be delivering your complimentary paddling in 6-8 weeks' time; kindly prepare accordingly.
posted by merlinmann at 10:31 AM on October 28, 2005

So there really are no hilarious?

No, there is only one hilariou.
posted by kindall at 12:23 PM on October 28, 2005