You can accurately judge a person just by looking at their shoes, psychologists say. "Researchers at the University of Kansas found that people were able to correctly judge a stranger's age, gender, income, political affiliation, emotional and other important personality traits just by looking at the person's shoes."
Virginia Postrel responded: "The study made a solid contribution to research on first impressions, but it was hardly earthshaking. By getting so much attention, however, it demonstrated a sociological truth: People love to talk about shoes. Even those who dismissed the research as silly often felt compelled to call radio stations or comment on websites, providing details about their own choices. Why this fascination with footwear? "
[more inside]
posted by flex
on Oct 15, 2012 -
159 comments
Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, a podcast in which writer and game designer
Robin D. Laws (
Hamlet's Hitpoints,
The GUMSHOE system) and game designer and writer
Kenneth Hite (
Tour De Lovecraft,
GURPS Horror) (
previously) talk about stuff. Stuffs include:
Why vampires are assholes and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,
stopping WWI and Beasts of the Southern Wild,
Margaret Atwood and the difference between a mystic and an occultist,
why no invented setting is as interesting as the real world and Woodrow Wilson,
Gencon and sundry RPGs,
Neil Armstrong, HP Blavatsky and theosophy,
the ebook prcing settlement, what big publishing could learn from RPG publishers, and the many crazy fictional possibilities of Charles Lindbergh and his UFO investigating chums, and
Dungeons and Dragons edition wars and Aliester Crowley.
posted by Artw
on Sep 30, 2012 -
30 comments
Decompressed is a podcast in which comics writer and former Rock Paper Shotgun journalist Kieron Gillen (X-Men, Thor,
Phonogram) talks to artists and writers about the process involved in writing a single issue of a comic.
Decompressed 6 broke format and is instead a discussion with
Mark Waid and
Matt Fraction about scripting comics using the
"Marvel Method", or "plot first" - in which the artist draws the comic from a story outline and dialogue is added later, rather than the writer supplying a panel by panel script. For a while out of favour even at Marvel, the method is seeing a resurgance. The podcast page contains visual aids, and embedded version of the podcast, the script of DEFENDERS #9 complete with B&W art and additional links, including links to Warren Ellis’ 3-part tutorial on writing comics (
1,
2,
3).
Jamie McKelvie and a vultue put in guest appearances. Further example comicbook scripts are available at the
Comic Book Script Archive (
previously).
posted by Artw
on Aug 26, 2012 -
29 comments
Fatman on Batman, Kevin Smith's new podcast on all things Batman, so far featuring excellent interviews with Batman: The Animated Series alumni Paul Dini and Mark Hamill.
(WARNING: Contains Kevin Smith. But he is knowlegable about the subject, asks goods questions and shuts up and listens to the answers. Yes I am as suprised as you are. Also you probably want to mash forwards hard for the ads at the begining. Also maybe some stuff at the end of his conversation with Paul Dini... shudder. And dear god! That picture! What the hell? Is he... is he? I don't want to think about it. But seriously, very good.)
posted by Artw
on Jun 19, 2012 -
30 comments
In Martian Chronicles, a young-adult novella by
Cory Doctorow, colonists leave a bloated earth and head towards the economic promise land of Mars. There's a fascinating spin on this tale that isn't summarize-able so go listen to it.
Part 1,
2,
3.
posted by Taft
on Jan 30, 2012 -
132 comments
Over 143 episodes of audio, Mike Duncan has covered the founding of Rome through the Crisis of the Third Century in his
History of Rome podcast [
previously], having now reached the last pagan Emperor,
Julian The Apostate. Enlivened by drawing on comparisons to popular culture, from
The Empire Strikes Back (when Hannibal makes his appearance) to
The Godfather (as a metaphor for Rome's social client system), Mr Duncan's work makes for fun, informative 25-minute sessions with the greatest empire of the ancient western world. If you're interested in more, the podcasts could be handily supplemented with...
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posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul
on Jul 10, 2011 -
42 comments
Following the success of
The Haunter of The Dark, the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcasts presents two new readings,
From Beyond and
The Picture in The House, by Andrew Leman and Bruce Green. Both recordings are available "In 3D". Alternatively if you like your Lovecraft with both pictures AND sound, the HP Lovecraft Historical Society version of
The Whisperer in Darkness is complete and being shown at worldwide film festivals - it's a talkie! (The HPLHS are now also offering a rather handsome
"official membership" pack.) Want something more interactive?
Cthulhu Dark offers a complete Lovecraftian tabletop RPG system that fits on two sides of a sheet of paper. Please note:
"If you fight any creature you meet, you will die. Thus, in these core rules, there are no combat rules or health levels. Instead, roll to hide or escape."
posted by Artw
on Mar 29, 2011 -
21 comments
"I guess it's the stereotype of playing it - [the players] are usually fat, sweaty, hairy dorky men who are socially inept who happen to live in their mom's basement."
Dungeons & Dragons, the 1974 published fantasy role-playing game that
once delivered your
child to Satan, is still associated with
self-
deprecating nerds, played in
secret (along with embarrassed
"comings out") and
scorned by jocks/Salon writers and their cheerleader girlfriends everywhere.
But what better way to break, or affirm, the stereotypes, than by
listening to a 4th Edition D&D game being played, featuring not just by some scrubs off the street, oh no, but the creators of
Penny Arcade, Tycho and Gabe? Still not tempted? How about if we throw loved/hated Star Trek actor,
prodigious blogger and all round nice guy
Wil Wheaton into the mix?
All files available as Podcasts and/or embedded in page.
Warning: audio links feature some strong language. [more inside]
posted by Rei Toei
on Jan 22, 2010 -
240 comments
The Folkways Collection is a downloadable, 24-part podcast series that "explores the remarkable collection of music, spoken word, and sound recordings that make up Folkways Records (now at the Smithsonian as Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)."
posted by Miko
on Feb 16, 2009 -
27 comments
Darker Projects has a bunch of original audio dramas in the sci-fi, horror, and suspense vein. Think of it as your local community audio-only theatre, or not-actually-old-timey old-time radio.
[more inside]
posted by Wolfdog
on Jun 1, 2008 -
9 comments
GeeksOn "A show created by Geeks for Geeks, covering topics that Geeks like to talk about." This is one of my favorite podcasts out there, most topics they cover are talked about in a very smart manner with lots of philosophy and moral quandaries thrown in, and they have gone on to get some great interviews with various people in Geek culture including
Christina Hendricks, who plays Saffron from Firefly, and its Producer, Lisa Lassek(Christina is the sister of one of the geeks),
Orson Scott Card,
George R.R. Martin,
Forrest J Ackerman,
Garrett Wang, and the man himself
Joss Whedon!
[more inside]
posted by Del Far
on Mar 25, 2008 -
17 comments
To The Best Of Our Knowledge is one of the most wide-ranging and literate public radio shows in the US, a two-hour "radio salon" featuring leisurely exploration of weekly themes like
No Smoking,
Identity Crisis,
Weekend, and
The Mind, Music, and Math. Host
Jim Fleming approaches these big ideas through the works of authors - journalists of all stripes, memoirists, poets, fiction writers, essayists.
Five years' worth of shows are available on audio archives; you can also search the impressive list of
authors by name, or
subscribe to the podcast.
[more inside]
posted by Miko
on Feb 27, 2008 -
17 comments
Ninjatune podcasts including Coldcut and Big Dada podcasts, a Ninjacast which delves into the record crates of various ninja artists, and of course a Solid Steel podcast with 60-odd mixes available.
posted by nthdegx
on Nov 10, 2007 -
16 comments
The popularity of
podcasting has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year.
Evan Williams, co-founder and former CEO of
Pyra Labs, the makers of Blogger, is a co-founder of
Odeo, a resource for podcast listeners and
podcasters.
More info here. Odeo is
just one of many podcast directories; personally, my favorite is
Podcast Pickle. Another great resource
for audio content is
PodioBooks.com,
founded by
Evo Terra.
PodioBooks are serialized
audio books which are made available in podcast format, many read by their
authors. [more inside]
posted by eclectica
on Sep 24, 2006 -
29 comments