Meet my new friends: Robert Krulwich, Alix Spiegel, Jad Abmunrad, Hannah Rosin, PJ Vote, Alex Goldman, Alex Goldmark, Robert Smith, and Ira Glass

Anyway, the main auditorium thing had a RDU exhibition (Christchurch Uni Radio which Jon worked at briefly). It was not that interesting, but I absolutely combed it searching for any reference to Jon. Sadly, there was nothing, but it still made me think of the strange pull of radio, something I've never really felt anything towards until recently. As you are both aware, I never really took to music in the same way that you both did, and so I guess, radio never held an appeal, first music I acquired from dad, and new music I acquired from jonathan, and when spotify came along, the discover playlist has essentially redefined how I listen to music. (In truth, its a heady combination of Steve Reich and John Adams, Hamilton, and Indie Reflective Crooners).

I guess it was growing up in our fairly apolitical household, but National Radio never really reared its head. So I didn't think of radio as a story telling device or learning tool. Considering all of our civilizations are built on oral traditions, and our family was absolutely entranced and obsessed with television, you'd think this would have played more of a part in our lives up until now (and to be fair - it probably does with both of you, Jocks, because you are just generally smarter, and Dad, because you drive long distances so listen to radio regularly).

Cutting through the rather lengthy and rambling introduction, a brief fling last year, introduced me to the wonders of this world. She was listening to Welcome to Nightvale one day, and I became completely obsessed with it. Don't get me wrong, its terrible, like objectively pretty awful, the basic idea is that it is a radio show from a town which is essentially a horrific dystopian science fiction world reporting half propoganda, and half frank acceptance of the horrors around him, the first two are quite entertaining, but beyond that the concept gets very stretched, but at the same time, it got me interested. And since then I haven't stopped.

Key shows to check out:

- This American Life - Ira Glass - wide ranging stories, mainly about Americans, usually in the form of a survey or very short story, and then two or three indepth stories, often a mix of guided journalism, stand up comedy, or readings from books. Mostly one hour in length.

Fiasco - how bad things can really get.
Poetry of Propaganda - three stories about propaganda, fairly entertaining.

- Serial - Sarah Koenig - so many difficult names in podcasts - two seasons of this, by far the most popular podcast ever. Basically she just takes this murder trial where first it seems pretty clear that they didn't have enough evidence to get a conviction, but they got one anyway, and second, its not really clear whether he did it or not, it will have you guessing, right till the end. Listen to the first one, it will hook you in.

- Radiolab - Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad - like This American Life but slightly more polished, not to say its better, although I do think its a bit better, I think the interplay between Robert and Jad is excellent. Anyway, two episodes I remember:
Black Box - three amazing little stories.
From Tree to Shining Tree - Tree's are organ donors.

- Radiolab has a great spin off called More Perfect, its worth checking out, talks about the history of the Supreme Court, and its just fascinating. Mainly driven by Jad.

- Reply All - PJ Vote and Alex Goldman -
I've Killed People and I Have Hostages - essentially about what happens when you have people playing computer games live on youtube, and an overly armed police force. 

- Mystery Show - Starlee Kine -
this show is all about kinda every day little mysteries, she solves stuff like how tall is Jake Gyllenhal, which was this big internet mystery thing, and did Britney Spears read this failed book of this novellist, that she saw her in one picture on the internet with. There are only 6 of these, nice easy gentle stories.
My favourite possibly Belt Buckle - where someone finds this random, personally made belt buckle on the ground, and she tracks down the owner like 20 years later.

- Invisiblia - quite similar in vibe to Radiolab/This American Life - very focused on the internal brain stuff. 

How to Become Batman - you probably saw the news article about the blind guy who clicks to see things, this is the science behind that, and its very interesting.

- Science Vs - a bit painful, as its an Australian, but its very on the money in terms of gathering facts on controversial issues, and presenting them in a simple, objective way.

Science vs Fracking - is great, I didn't actually know that much about fracking until I saw this.

- The Worst Idea in the World - Guy Montgommery and Tim Batt - more close to home, a journey through two NZ comedians losing their minds while watching Grown Ups 2, the terrible Adam Sandler movie, 52 times. Weirdly engaging, no real story here, its just quite addictive and familiar, after hearing so many American accents, sometimes you need a break. 

Living alone makes me understand why Nan leaves the TV on, while doing other things, company is important, we were never meant to live alone, its not in our social or genetic makeup. The podcasts are kinda like intelligent friends sitting around with you, telling you stories, I think especially with Radiolab and Reply All, I feel like I know the hosts quite well, I could tell you how they would react in situations better than most of my friends in real life, I even find myself talking to them sometimes.

Hmmm.