Serial - the podcast *spoilers*

There a newer podcast called Criminal that's quite good

That Tig Notaro thing this week was maybe the laziest TAL story I've ever heard them put to air - just some clips from her tv special strung together with some script from a producer. Quality control is out the window on that show. They have a really great one about every 2 months - usually a full episode on a single topic like that great school board one - and they tread water and run repeats the rest of the time. Probably having 3 of their veteran producers on Serial for the past year hasn't helped TAL proper - but I love the idea that Serial will mean they try creating a bunch of new and different shows.

some personal favorites:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/492/dr-gilmer-and-mr-hyde (prob the closest in style to Serial that i can think of)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/486/valentines-day (act 1 is some really amazing personal history, you'll laugh, you'll cry)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/516/stuck-in-the-middle (act 1 is me IRL)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/396/1-party-school (probably double-interesting to a non-american, idk)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/199/house-on-loon-lake (real-life ghost story, the ride is better than the destination though)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/206/somewhere-in-the-arabian-sea (the fascinating mundanity of the military industrial complex)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/513/129-cars (the best HBO comedy that never happened)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/388/rest-stop (cant even put in to words what makes this one so wonderful to me, prob the episode i've played more than any other)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/534/a-not-so-simple-majority (x-posts)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/355/the-giant-pool-of-money (prob not as good now, but hearing it in '08 it felt like the biggest thing since live 9/11 coverage)

House on Loon Lake was the one that hooked me. and yeah, Giant Pool of Money might feel familiar now - but it was so important when it came out.

wait you mean really you?: stuck-in-the-middle (act 1 is me IRL)

no thread police but we do have this threaD: this american life, c/d

one thing I began to realize after awhile is that a lot of TAL content comes from other podcasts--that's how I found shows like 99% Invisible and Here Be Monsters

xpost lol no, but my corporate help-desk had that same hold music for years and i became obsessed with it, to the point of hunting down a track that Shazam mistakeny tagged it as. in the leadup to the reveal i was like "is it my song? is it my song????"

funny timing, because they recently replaced it with something that sounds like the night-rider theme, equally as enthralling but i miss the old one

LOL for a second i thought you were saying you were one of the TAL producer's 81-year-old dad

i was thinking man this gr8080 guy is pretty clued in to pop culture for a guy in his 80's

gr8181

xpost lol no, but my corporate help-desk had that same hold music for years and i became obsessed with it, to the point of hunting down a track that Shazam mistakeny tagged it as. in the leadup to the reveal i was like "is it my song? is it my song????"

funny timing, because they recently replaced it with something that sounds like the night-rider theme, equally as enthralling but i miss the old one

― gr8080, Monday, December 15, 2014 4:43 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahaha that is the same hold music that they used at the fertility clinic where we spent three years trying to make babby happen, so obviously I called there quite a bit, and was also obsessed with the hold music and had the same "IS THIS IT? IS IT????" response. Although as soon as the woman kind of hummed it I knew it was it.

Also LOL at gr8181

Guys, I just got around to listening to 1-11 and I'm loving it. Interested to see what the PI comes up with.

it was a weird experience being in the middle of a 2 week vacation last April and listening to that episode while on a train ride through the Portuguese countryside and then temporarily having my headspace blasted back to the office

re: "stuck in the middle"

Gawker piece on Serial had a great line on the NPR voice:
"She admits her confusion and frustration and speaks frankly about the walls she hits in her investigation, in that solemn NPR monotone that well-meaning liberals like myself have come to associate with quality reporting."

takedown of Serial, op-ed from Philadelphia public radio

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/blogs/centre-square/item/76311-with-one-episode-left-will-serial-soar-or-crash-and-burn

v otm, or at least echoes most of my misgivings

i for one refuse to have my news mediated by guys who look like this
http://i.imgur.com/frgsPiN.jpg

aw i like mo

xxpost

yeah - this sums it up well.

At times it seems Koenig’s true topic is not the factual case, but her own feelings about it.

She is fascinated by the puzzle of whether a guy whom she finds likable could really have been capable of strangling a teenage girl with his bare hands. She returns to this theme again and again. She is more like a novelist playing with the classic question of “what is evil?” than a savvy journalist hunting fresh evidence.

Comparing this to Fatal Vision is pretty bizarre, but I do agree that the story is as much about Koenig as it is about the murder which definitely begs question of "why do this"?

takedown of Serial, op-ed from Philadelphia public radio

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/blogs/centre-square/item/76311-with-one-episode-left-will-serial-soar-or-crash-and-burn

― Brio2, Monday, December 15, 2014 2:05 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I liked this. And if *that's the point* -- then it's sort of a narcissistic exercise, isn't it?

"But how does this affect me, Sarah Koenig?"

that's what i realized was driving me nuts lately

i dont think i really care so much abt how she feels

Sometimes I feel like "Ok, you find that hard to believe, I don't, so what?"

Now I'm imagining Serial featured as a segment of a TAL episode exploring podcasters and the surreal internal places their projects took them

bet you they decide on an ending before they start pumping out the next one.

Now I'm imagining Serial featured as a segment of a TAL episode exploring podcasters and the surreal internal places their projects took them

― rip van wanko, Monday, December 15, 2014 2:54 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This doesn't seem that far-fetched!

Let's let it end before we "decide" that the ending failed.

Ep. 12: It Was Don

Ep. 12: Adnan's New Squarespace website

A guy who shoplifted from that mall remembers that there was no Lenscrafters. Whole alibi is false.

Turns out it's all happening inside a snow globe in the hands of an autistic streaker.

people really think SK is using a "solemn NPR monotone"? if anything she's too jokey and colloquial IMO.

the show is like those Dateline NBC episodes that are entirely dedicated to one criminal case that I used to watch when I was a kid stuck in the house on a friday night and only had 3 channels to choose from, but made by and for gen x/y instead of boomers. so for me it feels cozy and familiar.

yeah totally Sarah Koenig is the new Bill Kurtis

yeah I wouldn't call it solemn at all. It's very conversational, would almost say "affected immaturity," that sort of "gee gosh I'm just wondering well I don't know" stuff she does.

agreed

level of glibness is at times v on-the-nose

Slam dunk nailed it - it's a Gen X voice. Kind of straining to be hip ("I was totally that kid stoned at the party") and unable to commit to anything.

It does seem sort of effective as an interview style, like maybe it gets people to drop their guard with her. I've actually noticed Terry Gross does it sometimes, probably strategically.

I relistened to episode 1 the other day and I was struck by how, in this NPR-ish aw shucks way, it was totally selling the prurient stuff off the top. "For months now I've had to ask teenagers about their sex lives and drug use!"

Worst song of 2014:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8xyfK4lES8

ughhhhhhh why

it was too painful to watch more than 30s

yeah I couldn't

I labeled it, buyer beware

it gets worse though, keep listening

like fuck

I just spit at my computer

Good grief I'm so happy I've been staying away from all the fandom over this.