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Chorrol.com _ General Discussion _ What Podcast or Radio Drama Are You Listening To?

Posted by: SubRosa Jul 1 2019, 08:40 PM

I decided to make a separate topic for podcasts, since don't really fit into the music thread, or the now watching thread. I'll copy over some of the more recent podcast posts I have made to get things rolling.

It's not exactly reading, but it is not music either so I did not put this in the Listening To topic. I have discovered a number of interesting podcasts lately. My starting point was https://hppodcraft.com/, which I am almost caught up with.

For those not familiar with HP Podcraft, they are Chad Fifer and Chris Lackey, two OG Lovecraftian gamers, who grew up reading HP Lovecraft and playing the Call of Cthulhu role playing game. Both were part of the making of the Call of Cthulhu movie done by the http://www.hplhs.org/. Chris Lackey was part of The Whisperer In Darkness film as well. Both have done other films, and worked on a ton of stuff in Hollywood. They started HP Podcraft a decade ago, reviewing all of HPLs prose fiction in the order it was written. They walk through the events of each story, have dramatic readings of relevant passages by guests (such as Andrew Leman from HLPHS, and lately even Patton Oswalt), give a critical analysis of the story, and how it fits into the Mythos over all, and tell some bad jokes. I like it very much, as the pair's charisma can make for a fun episode even when the story itself is a big dud.

They went through HPL's work a long time ago, and since then have been doing the work of other Weird Fiction writers. Mostly it is others that have either been influenced by HPL, such as Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Michael Shea, Robert E Howard, TED Klein, and so on. Or people who influenced HPL, such as Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Robert Chambers, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, and Lord Dunsany. They also take some detours into pure science fiction, like HG Wells, and Ray Bardbury, and Isaac Asimov.

I have come across a lot of stories by these authors that are duds, but the shows are still fun, because Chad and Chris make it fun. I have also come across some real brilliant stories that I otherwise would not have read, like The Screwfly Solution, or The Wendigo. If you like weird/horror/supernatural fiction, and you like laughing, I highly recommend this podcast.


HP Podcraft mentioned https://monstertalk.skeptic.com/, which I checked out. It seems pretty good. I have listened to a handful of their episodes now. They focus on monsters in pop-culture and folklore (which I suppose is really just yesteryear's pop-culture). They have a skeptic's point of view, so it is mostly them explaining the reality behind these myths and ideas. They also go into how they got created and why. It's basically a science-based discussion about things like dragons, megalodons, faeries, etc... They had an episode about Lovecraft and King Tut that got my interest.

That led me to https://archyfantasies.com/subscribe-to-podcast/. They have some crossover episodes with Monstertalk, as they sometimes are covering the same things. They only have a handful of episodes. I have only listened to the Viking Warrior Women one, which was good. It was mostly in response to a new tv show that Megan Fox hosts (I saw a little bit of it a while back, and was not impressed). The podcast was well done though, and I enjoyed the guest - Chelsi Slotten.

This led me to the https://womeninarchaeology.com/, which I also found had some interesting podcasts. Chelsi Slotten hosts most of these as well. A deeper dive is turning up some pretty dry stuff however. It is a bit drier than the more pseudo-science focused podcasts like Archy Fantasies or Monster Talk. They only talk about reality. But it is still fascinating and informative.

That led me to https://podcapers.podbean.com/, which is a podcast about comics and super movies and superhero geekdom. Chelsi also guest stars in an episode here about the representation of women in comics. Which is what brought me to the podcast. The only downside I have found with PodCapers is that there are no options for a direct mp3 download. I had to find https://www.tubeninja.net/ which will take a url and convert it to an mp3.

Posted by: SubRosa Jul 1 2019, 09:22 PM

I just finished an Archy Fantasies episode called https://archyfantasies.com/archaeogaming-with-andrew-reinhard-archaeological-fantasies-ep-97/. It might be of particular interest to folks here because Archaeogaming is a new sphere of Archaeology devoted to both the archaeology of video games, but also to how archaeology is portrayed within video games.

It started with the infamous Atari ET graveyard dig from a few years ago, which the guest Reinhard was a part of. From there he talks about an indepth archaeological study he and others did within the game No Man's Sky. It is all really fascinating stuff, about how people live in virtual spaces now as much as we do in physical spaces, and so on.

Posted by: Dark Reaper Jul 1 2019, 09:36 PM

Spa/New Age Music channel on my cable. When I'm tired of listening to politics and crap on TV I just switch it over to there for mind easing bliss happy.gif.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Jul 1 2019, 10:33 PM

Khajiit was first turned on to Podcasts by a girl who worked at the local coffee shop/bookstore. The first one she mentioned was a cast called S-town (S*it Town). That one was only like 5 or 6 episodes. She also recommended The Last Podcast on the Left which is 3 dudes sitting around talking about horror movies, serial killers, and other stuff in the realm of horror. From there Khajiit discovered Lore, anc Subbie recommended the HP Podcraft. This one’s gf told him about Welcome to Nightvale which is like a faux newsshow about weird happenings in a fictional town called Nightvale.

Posted by: treydog Jul 2 2019, 01:36 AM

Not recent, but I listened to a number of WWII era "Sherlock Holmes" radio episodes I found somewhere or other in podcast format. Quite fun, especially because they kept the original advertising (a wine company) in and also the actor who played Watson seeing encouraging things to the Allied troops.

Posted by: SubRosa Jul 2 2019, 01:55 AM

QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jul 1 2019, 05:33 PM) *

Khajiit was first turned on to Podcasts by a girl who worked at the local coffee shop/bookstore. The first one she mentioned was a cast called S-town (S*it Town). That one was only like 5 or 6 episodes. She also recommended The Last Podcast on the Left which is 3 dudes sitting around talking about horror movies, serial killers, and other stuff in the realm of horror. From there Khajiit discovered Lore, anc Subbie recommended the HP Podcraft. This one’s gf told him about Welcome to Nightvale which is like a faux newsshow about weird happenings in a fictional town called Nightvale.

I am going to try some of those out. Thanks!


QUOTE(treydog @ Jul 1 2019, 08:36 PM) *

Not recent, but I listened to a number of WWII era "Sherlock Holmes" radio episodes I found somewhere or other in podcast format. Quite fun, especially because they kept the original advertising (a wine company) in and also the actor who played Watson seeing encouraging things to the Allied troops.

One thing I love about the http://www.hplhs.org/dart.php productions by http://www.hplhs.org/index.php are the commercials. They always put a fictional commercial in before and after the show. Things like http://www.hplhs.org/pdf/dart/BubLPepAd.pdf soda (The L is for Lithium, yum, yum!), or http://www.hplhs.org/pdf/dart/ForhansLabel.pdf (with Radiol, to give your teeth that healthy glow!).

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Jul 2 2019, 02:10 AM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jul 1 2019, 07:55 PM) *

QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jul 1 2019, 05:33 PM) *

Khajiit was first turned on to Podcasts by a girl who worked at the local coffee shop/bookstore. The first one she mentioned was a cast called S-town (S*it Town). That one was only like 5 or 6 episodes. She also recommended The Last Podcast on the Left which is 3 dudes sitting around talking about horror movies, serial killers, and other stuff in the realm of horror. From there Khajiit discovered Lore, anc Subbie recommended the HP Podcraft. This one’s gf told him about Welcome to Nightvale which is like a faux newsshow about weird happenings in a fictional town called Nightvale.

I am going to try some of those out. Thanks!

A word of warning about Last Podcast on the Left. One of the guys on there is a bit obnoxious. Supposedly he’s a comedian but his “humor” seems to mostly consist of making fun of different ethnic groups. Chinese and Irish comes immediately to mind as he does stereotypical “voices” of these groups a lot. Being of Irish descent, it didn’t really bother Khajiit that much but it’s something to definitely be aware of.

Posted by: mirocu Jul 2 2019, 03:41 PM

The Adventures of Herbert "Daring" Dashwood of course! biggrin.gif

Posted by: SubRosa Jul 3 2019, 12:56 AM

https://store.hplhs.org/products/dark-adventure-radio-theatre-the-lurking-fear? _ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJpc3Vicm9zYUBob3RtYWlsLmNvbSIsICJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogIkta
dlFldCJ9. I bought it and listened to it yesterday. Like all the Dark Adventures, it is good. It added a pair of cops that were not in the original story by Lovecraft, which was an improvement. They create a wrap-around story that holds the main story together. I have come to find that was a very common device in Lovecraft's time, and in the 1800s in general. In this case it really works.

I never thought I would like radio dramas. I took a chance on one of the HPLHS Dark Adventures a while back, and was pleasantly surprised at how much fun they are. I typically listen to them during what would otherwise be 'dead time'. When I am driving, or shopping, sitting the tub, or doing some mindless, repetitive task at work. They really help pass the time.

I listen to audiobooks during those times too, including the audiobooks of Lovecraft's work that HPLHS put out. When I compare the audiobooks to the Dark Adventure Radio shows of the same stories, the radio shows are better. They add in things like music and sound effects, and also have multiple voice actors, which makes scenes with multiple characters talking sound much better than a single narrator in an audiobook.

Posted by: RaderOfTheLostArk Jul 4 2019, 12:15 AM

I have yet to find a podcast to really capture my interest to the point I regularly listen to it. Even if they talk about things that really interest me, I just can't get invested in a particular one for some reason.

But something I do like is trying to find if someone I like is a guest on a podcast. Sometimes it'll cross my mind to look somebody up and I'll search "[name of person] podcast" on YouTube. Just today I decided to look for Bill Hader and see what came up.

I would like to find a podcast I can stick to regularly at some point. I've wanted to do one myself but I don't have the time to set one up and do it regularly.

Posted by: SubRosa Jul 8 2019, 09:09 PM

At Khajiit's recommendation, I have been listening to https://www.lorepodcast.com/episodes. It is pretty good. The host tends to sound kind of droning after a while though. I think because he is the sole host. I tend to prefer podcasts with at least two people talking, as it comes across more as a conversation, rather than someone spitting information at you.

I am also enjoying https://www.mythpodcast.com/. It also has only the single host. It tackles - myths and legends. I just listened to a two parter on Romulus and Remus that was really good.

Posted by: SubRosa Jul 13 2019, 12:18 AM

This morning I finished to a two part episode on Monster Talk about Grimoires. https://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstertalk/17/11/22/ and https://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstertalk/17/11/29/. They dive into the classic dark magic grimoires, from the middle ages to today. It also had as an aside an actual realistic description of Wicca/Neo-Paganism (as a new tradition that is rooted in ancient traditions, and has been forced to recreate itself because those old traditions were never formally written down into books).

For example, we do not know what Druids really did 2,000 years ago, because Caesar and later the Christians killed them all. So modern Druids have to build their practices anew, based on what they can gather from the past. It is not the same as 'original' Druidism. But that does not make it any less valid, nor sever it from those ancient traditions.

Anyway, as someone who has always thought that the Necronomicon and the Book of Skelos was cool, it was a really fun show about real magic books, like the Grand Grimoire. They only really scratched the surface, because there are just so darn many of them. But it was a fun look at the phenomena.

Posted by: RaderOfTheLostArk Aug 10 2019, 05:52 AM

I've started listening to Bill Burr's https://www.youtube.com/user/MondayMorningPodcast/videos recently. For those who don't know, he is a comedian. He just rambles on about all sorts of things on his podcast. Looks like it is going to be the first podcast that regularly catches my interest.

Posted by: Decrepit Aug 12 2019, 08:46 PM

I watch a good many podcast-like videos at YouTube. Most are political in nature, so I'll reframe from details. There is one podcast I'll mention. Audio only. It too is heard via YouTube. Actually, my brother seeks it out during his (sometimes) weekly visits. I listen along with him.

He's something of a 'pro' wrestling buff. Not current product, but 'old stye' pro wrestling. Not super old, but territories were still the norm, along with kayfabe. No buff by any means, I can enjoy wrestling of that period too. Anyway, what he (and I) listen to is Jim Cornette's official podcast. Mr Cornette is quite the talker. He and I agree on a good many things, wrestling and otherwise.

Posted by: SubRosa Aug 20 2019, 08:56 PM

The HP Lovecraft Historical Society is celebrating HPLs birthday by giving away their Dark Adventure Radio Theater episode of https://store.hplhs.org/products/dark-adventure-radio-theatre-herbert-west-reanimator?_sid=cfb124452&_ss=r&variant=3449108355&_pos=1& amp;_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJpc3Vicm9zYUBob3RtYWlsLmNvbSIsICJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjog
IktadlFldCJ9 for free. Yes, free. Go download it now, and try it out. I never expected to like radio dramas like it, but it turns out I love them. You might too.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Aug 20 2019, 09:52 PM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Aug 20 2019, 02:56 PM) *

The HP Lovecraft Historical Society is celebrating HPLs birthday by giving away their Dark Adventure Radio Theater episode of https://store.hplhs.org/products/dark-adventure-radio-theatre-herbert-west-reanimator?_sid=cfb124452&_ss=r&variant=3449108355&_pos=1& amp;_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJpc3Vicm9zYUBob3RtYWlsLmNvbSIsICJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjog
IktadlFldCJ9 for free. Yes, free. Go download it now, and try it out. I never expected to like radio dramas like it, but it turns out I love them. You might too.

Khajiit got an email about this earlier! Just downloaded it! Happy b-day to HPL!

Posted by: SubRosa Sep 13 2019, 11:15 PM

I recently listened to the https://monstertalk.skeptic.com/speak-of-the-devil. It features the guest Robert Price, whom you may remember from such podcasts such as The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast. Among other things he is a Bible scholar, which makes him very qualified for this episode. As the name suggests it is about Lucifer/Satan. It is very eye-opening, even to a non-Christian like myself, as a lot of what people take for granted about the Lucifer/Satan myths are actually not in the Bible, but came later. The same with Hell.

He also appears in another Monstertalk episode that I just started listening to: https://monstertalk.skeptic.com/monstertalk-meets-the-lovecraft-geek

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 7 2019, 09:52 PM

Today I listened to the first episode of https://www.patreon.com/inresearchof/posts. It is a new podcast made by Blake Shelton Lively Seven... (The guy from MonsterTalk), and Jeb Card from Archy Fantasies. They are covering the old show In Search Of, doing a deep dive on each episode of the show, in order. Their goal here is to not only offer a critique, but to tell us the things the show left out.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQPKEJnJGtT3TsfY0OssGA So far as I can tell, all the episodes are up there. I watched some a few months ago.

They start with the tv special https://youtu.be/afjd9SkiKHU. It is basically a cut down version of an older German documentary about Von Danniken's book Chariots of the Gods. The American version lost about a half hour, and replaced the original narration with a new one by Rod Serling. It is basically video of all sorts of massive stone monuments, lines in the ground, and inscriptions, while Rod Serling says "Could this be aliens?"

It really is not quite as bad as it sounds. But they do omit many things. Such as the Nazca lines can be seen from the ground. In fact, the video they shot of them was taken from the ground. They were all drawn out near hills and mountains where they could be easily observed from. In fact, they were originally discovered by a man... on the ground. This is the kind of thing the podcast points out.

As much as I might be bashing it, I did love the tv show. I am old enough to have watched it during its original run when I was a child. Every week I sat enraptured in front of the tv, amazed and thrilled and awed by the monsters and mysteries that the show purported. So there is a lot of nostalgia involved for me.

There were a couple more tv specials like this with Rod Serling narrating. They were successful enough for the network to create the show In Search Of. But sadly Rod Serling died. So they replaced him with Leonard Nimoy. I believe the next episode of the podcast will be on the first episode of the series proper.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Oct 7 2019, 10:24 PM

I’ve been really getting into the podcast Lore. I love the fact that everything being discussed comes from eyewitness accounts with accompanying dates and places. Even if most of what is talked about is not real, I find the stories to be moving.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 8 2019, 12:37 AM

I still listen to Lore, though the narrator's voice is very wooden. You do get used to it after a while.

I like the stories too. Though eyewitness accounts are the most unreliable form of evidence in existence. Not because people lie. But because our perceptions are not truly accurate. Our brains fill in a lot of blanks without us consciously realizing it. Then as time goes on memory gets fuzzier and fuzzier, and once again our imaginations fill in the blanks. None of this is hindered by reality of course.

But since the show does not purport to be factual, or try to push an agenda, I do not mind. It is presented as entertaining stories, and as folklore they deliver. Whether or not there really was a Goatman, or if the Fox sisters really were psychic, does not matter. They are good stories.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Oct 8 2019, 01:52 AM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Oct 7 2019, 06:37 PM) *

I still listen to Lore, though the narrator's voice is very wooden. You do get used to it after a while.

I like the stories too. Though eyewitness accounts are the most unreliable form of evidence in existence. Not because people lie. But because our perceptions are not truly accurate. Our brains fill in a lot of blanks without us consciously realizing it. Then as time goes on memory gets fuzzier and fuzzier, and once again our imaginations fill in the blanks. None of this is hindered by reality of course.

But since the show does not purport to be factual, or try to push an agenda, I do not mind. It is presented as entertaining stories, and as folklore they deliver. Whether or not there really was a Goatman, or if the Fox sisters really were psychic, does not matter. They are good stories.

Exactly! Also, I enjoy Aaron Mahnke’s voice. It’s calm, which I find to be very welcome with some of the horrific things that he is presenting. Different strokes, of course.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 31 2019, 02:15 AM

The HPLHS brings us Spooky October greetings with a new podcast called http://hplhsvoluminous.libsyn.com/ where they read Lovecraft's letters, and then discuss them. HPL was a prolific letter writer, and the things he says in them reveal a lot of his thoughts and ideas. Plus it is Andrew Leman and Sean Branney, so they are worth listening to no matter what they are talking about.

They start with HPL's first letter to Robert Barlow, a young fan who became a very close friend of HPL's. In fact, Barlow was the executor of HPL's estate after his death.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Oct 31 2019, 03:56 AM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Oct 30 2019, 08:15 PM) *

The HPLHS brings us Spooky October greetings with a new podcast called http://hplhsvoluminous.libsyn.com/ where they read Lovecraft's letters, and then discuss them. HPL was a prolific letter writer, and the things he says in them reveal a lot of his thoughts and ideas. Plus it is Andrew Leman and Sean Branney, so they are worth listening to no matter what they are talking about.

They start with HPL's first letter to Robert Barlow, a young fan who became a very close friend of HPL's. In fact, Barlow was the executor of HPL's estate after his death.

Interesting! I might have to check that out.

Posted by: SubRosa Nov 30 2019, 10:52 PM

I downloaded a bunch of episodes from various podcasts while I was at work yesterday (what else are you going to do when you are literally the only person in the company who is working? I mean 'working').

So far I listed to two episodes from one called https://player.fm/series/science-vs, and I enjoyed them quite a bit. They shine some reality onto a wide variety of topics.

Today I started listening to https://player.fm/series/behind-the-bastards. It picks a bastard from history for each episode and goes in depth on them. I am listening to the one on 8chan, a cesspit that has spawned several mass shooters. So far the show itself seems pretty solid. I have a two parter on Kaiser Whilhelm queued up next.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Dec 1 2019, 01:34 PM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Nov 30 2019, 03:52 PM) *

I downloaded a bunch of episodes from various podcasts while I was at work yesterday (what else are you going to do when you are literally the only person in the company who is working? I mean 'working').

So far I listed to two episodes from one called https://player.fm/series/science-vs, and I enjoyed them quite a bit. They shine some reality onto a wide variety of topics.

Today I started listening to https://player.fm/series/behind-the-bastards. It picks a bastard from history for each episode and goes in depth on them. I am listening to the one on 8chan, a cesspit that has spawned several mass shooters. So far the show itself seems pretty solid. I have a two parter on Kaiser Whilhelm queued up next.

So they don’t mean literal bastards just people who are/were jerks?

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 1 2019, 04:31 PM

QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Dec 1 2019, 07:34 AM) *

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Nov 30 2019, 03:52 PM) *

I downloaded a bunch of episodes from various podcasts while I was at work yesterday (what else are you going to do when you are literally the only person in the company who is working? I mean 'working').

So far I listed to two episodes from one called https://player.fm/series/science-vs, and I enjoyed them quite a bit. They shine some reality onto a wide variety of topics.

Today I started listening to https://player.fm/series/behind-the-bastards. It picks a bastard from history for each episode and goes in depth on them. I am listening to the one on 8chan, a cesspit that has spawned several mass shooters. So far the show itself seems pretty solid. I have a two parter on Kaiser Whilhelm queued up next.

So they don’t mean literal bastards just people who are/were jerks?

The latter. People like Harvey Wienstein. I don't think the marital status of their parents really matters.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Dec 1 2019, 04:32 PM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 1 2019, 09:31 AM) *

The latter. People like Harvey Wienstein. I don't think the marital status of their parents really matters.

Lol oh ok, I gotcha

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 4 2019, 01:06 AM

My latest podcast to pass muster is https://player.fm/series/you-must-remember-this-2301146. It goes in depth and behind the scenes in the film industry. It does not look like there is anything current. So far as I can tell it is all 20th Century tales of stardom, scandals, rivalries, and battles. Stuff like the Blacklist, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and so on. I have been listening to the big six part series on Song of the South, which is not just about that movie, but also about racism in Hollywood throughout the 20th Century. So far it is really good.

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 4 2019, 04:59 PM

I listened to some more Behind the Bastards. It is not as negative as it sounds at first. In general it does not dwell on the horrific things that these people did. Rather it looks at the insane and ridiculous sides to their lives. Fiction loves to paint genocidal warlords as somber figures brooding on their thrones of skulls. But the truth is a lot of these guys were just plain bizarre. Hitler taking strychnine pills for his flatulence, or Stalin forcing his inner circle to all get blind drunk every night and playing pranks like throwing orange peels or tomatoes at them. It is actually kind of amusing, once you get past all the murdering.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Dec 5 2019, 03:10 AM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 4 2019, 09:59 AM) *

or Stalin forcing his inner circle to all get blind drunk every night and playing pranks like throwing orange peels or tomatoes at them. It is actually kind of amusing, once you get past all the murdering.

I can’t imagine how scary that would be. Say or do the wrong thing while you are under the influence and you’re dead.

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 5 2019, 03:28 AM

QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Dec 4 2019, 09:10 PM) *

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 4 2019, 09:59 AM) *

or Stalin forcing his inner circle to all get blind drunk every night and playing pranks like throwing orange peels or tomatoes at them. It is actually kind of amusing, once you get past all the murdering.

I can’t imagine how scary that would be. Say or do the wrong thing while you are under the influence and you’re dead.

Exactly. Stalin was so paranoid that he made them get S*-faced drunk so they couldn't lie, at least not well. Then he'd start asking them what they really thought. Like you said, one wrong answer, and that was it.

One night one of his inner circle brought a bunch of quail and shotguns, so they could have an impromptu quail hunt. Imagine a drunken Stalin saying "Hold my beer" followed by "Watch this!" He inadvertently shot two of his bodyguards.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Dec 5 2019, 03:47 AM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 4 2019, 08:28 PM) *

QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Dec 4 2019, 09:10 PM) *

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 4 2019, 09:59 AM) *

or Stalin forcing his inner circle to all get blind drunk every night and playing pranks like throwing orange peels or tomatoes at them. It is actually kind of amusing, once you get past all the murdering.

I can’t imagine how scary that would be. Say or do the wrong thing while you are under the influence and you’re dead.

Exactly. Stalin was so paranoid that he made them get S*-faced drunk so they couldn't lie, at least not well. Then he'd start asking them what they really thought. Like you said, one wrong, answer, and that was it.

One night one of his inner circle brought a bunch of quail and shotguns, so they could have an impromptu quail hunt. Imagine a drunken Stalin saying "Hold my beer" followed by "Watch this!" He inadvertently shot two of his bodyguards.

Jayzus. Soviet parties sound like a blast! laugh.gif

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 5 2019, 07:01 PM

This is only indirectly podcast related, but it does have two degrees of podcastery, so why not? I am listening to a Behind the Bastards on Harvey Weinstein. Ronan Farrow was one of the reporters who broke the story about his rapeyness. I was looking up Ronan Farrow and found that he is married to Jon Lovett, a podcaster and former joke writer for President Obama.

Anyway, Ronan proposed to Jon through the tracking changes page on the book he was writing at the time. Could you get any nerdier than that? laugh.gif

Posted by: ghastley Dec 5 2019, 07:05 PM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 4 2019, 09:28 PM) *

Exactly. Stalin was so paranoid that he made them get S*-faced drunk so they couldn't lie, at least not well. Then he'd start asking them what they really thought. Like you said, one wrong answer, and that was it.

One night one of his inner circle brought a bunch of quail and shotguns, so they could have an impromptu quail hunt. Imagine a drunken Stalin saying "Hold my beer" followed by "Watch this!" He inadvertently shot two of his bodyguards.

Was Dick Cheney channeling Stalin? And was there any confusion between quail and Quayle?

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 5 2019, 10:13 PM

QUOTE(ghastley @ Dec 5 2019, 01:05 PM) *

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 4 2019, 09:28 PM) *

Exactly. Stalin was so paranoid that he made them get S*-faced drunk so they couldn't lie, at least not well. Then he'd start asking them what they really thought. Like you said, one wrong answer, and that was it.

One night one of his inner circle brought a bunch of quail and shotguns, so they could have an impromptu quail hunt. Imagine a drunken Stalin saying "Hold my beer" followed by "Watch this!" He inadvertently shot two of his bodyguards.

Was Dick Cheney channeling Stalin? And was there any confusion between quail and Quayle?

It just goes to show that when you think something is original, it is probably just a rehash of something a genocidal warlord did 50 years earlier...

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 7 2019, 10:43 PM

I just finished a six part series of episodes of https://player.fm/series/you-must-remember-this-2301146 that focus on Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. It charts their beginnings, their heydey, their collaborations and feud, and their fall. It is kind of sad really. These two old men were literally working until they died. One because he had to (Lugosi), and the other apparently to prove that he could still be relevant (Karloff). By necessity it also takes some diversions into the Laemmles at Universal, Ed Wood, Val Lewton, and Roger Corman, whose films one or both worked on.

Over on Behind the Bastards I also learned more about Osama bin Laden's love of hentai, Saddam Hussein's career as an erotica writer, and now Hitler's fanboy YA Novel love for the Western novels of Karl May. Those wacky warlords.

Btw, you can still download the contents of bin Laden's hard drive from the CIA's website. What a world we live in!

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Dec 9 2019, 04:17 PM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 7 2019, 03:43 PM) *

Btw, you can still download the contents of bin Laden's hard drive from the CIA's website. What a world we live in!

Nah, that’s ok, I’m good. laugh.gif

Posted by: SubRosa Jan 5 2020, 03:53 AM

I am about six episodes into a series about the Hollywood Blacklist from https://player.fm/series/you-must-remember-this-2301146. So far really interesting, looking at all the people involved, their lives, and how the Blacklist and HUAC hearings affected them.

She had some really interesting episodes about Howard Hughes as well. Unfortunately they are not in any kind of real order, but instead spread throughout the listing.

Posted by: SubRosa Feb 8 2020, 01:53 AM

Earlier this week I discovered https://player.fm/series/youre-wrong-about. The two hosts take a topic that was pretty big news some time in the past, and really dig deep into it, beyond the flashy headlines. I started with the one on Enron, which really got into how the company's scam operation worked. But also about how our entire financial system is set up to not only allow, but encourage it.

Since then I've been listening to the episodes in order from the very start. So far so good. I am liking it.

In a different vein, I also discovered https://www.revolutionspodcast.com/. There is only one host, so it is pretty much him just reading to you, and he can be a little dry. But it is solid info, and he does have enough personality to keep it interesting (without so much to make it annoying). I started with the American revolution series. But once I realized I liked it, I went back to the beginning, and started on the English Civil War. I am almost done with it. Wow, it was an even bigger, more confusing mess than I had imagined! Also a great example of how often the greatest thing a State has to fear is its own professional, permanently standing army. It only took the New Model Army a handful of years to overthrow the government that created it.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 14 2020, 02:00 AM

The HP Lovecraft Historical Society (HPLHS), is now giving away their https://store.hplhs.org/products/hplhs-at-the-mountains-of-madness-audiobook Yes, that's right free. They are also giving away their Dark Adventure Radio Theater production of https://store.hplhs.org/products/dark-adventure-radio-theatre-the-rats-in-the-walls?_pos=1&_sid=17b3b8b3a&_ss=r.

Both are only free until Monday. So go get them!

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Mar 14 2020, 02:47 AM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Mar 13 2020, 08:00 PM) *

The HP Lovecraft Historical Society (HPLHS), is now giving away their https://store.hplhs.org/products/hplhs-at-the-mountains-of-madness-audiobook Yes, that's right free. They are also giving away their Dark Adventure Radio Theater production of https://store.hplhs.org/products/dark-adventure-radio-theatre-the-rats-in-the-walls?_pos=1&_sid=17b3b8b3a&_ss=r.

Both are only free until Monday. So go get them!

Neat!

I’ve been listening to two different podcasts that are both produced by Aaron Mahnke, the same guy who does the excellent podcast Lore. The first is Cabinet of Curiosities which are very short in length but are fun. In it Aaron talks about different people, places, and things with mysterious or bizarre stories. These are often more lighthearted than Lore tends to be, but there is some macabre content as well. The second one is called Noble Blood. It is actually hosted by a writer named Dana Schwartz rather than Aaron. This podcast deals with the unusual deaths or other tragedies involving selections of aristocrats from around the world. The first episode discussed the days leading up to the beheading of Marie Antoinette. I found Ms. Schwartz’s voice to be a bit monotone in that episode, but it definitely improved in the following episodes. I recommend both of those podcasts for those interested in strange or dark historical stories.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 16 2020, 02:19 AM

MonsterTalk just released an episode about Covid-19, with a virologist as the guest. https://www.monstertalk.org/210-going-viral-the-covid19-monster/, or the regular version on the https://www.patreon.com/monstertalk/posts. I highly recommend it.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 20 2020, 04:50 PM

I have gotten to the Haitian Revolution in the Revolutions Podcast. This is really cool. Well, looking back on it after 200 years that is. It would make for a great Netflix series. I could easily see Mahershala Ali playing Toussaint Louverture. There is just so much going on, so many different factions, whose goals shift as the story goes on. This takes place at the same time as the French Revolution. So events from that bear sharply on those in Haiti, usually by injecting even more chaos into an already chaotic series of events.

I also did not realize that the British invaded Haiti during it all, and that the Spanish backed some of the slave armies, to the point of eventually making their leaders official Spanish officers. This is all due to the Wars of the French Revolution, which Haiti became a major focus of. I did not realize it, but Haiti was the richest island in the Caribbean, thanks to its sugar, coffee, and indigo plantations. Also thanks to those it had the largest slave population in the New World, with half a million slaves at the time of the Revolution.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 26 2020, 04:01 PM

This week's episode of http://hplhsvoluminous.libsyn.com/ was particularly good. In http://hplhsvoluminous.libsyn.com/hpl-writing-on-hpl HP is talking to the first editor of Weird Tales magazine, complaining about how he changed the title of his Story Arthur Jermyn. Besides his complaining, he gives a short autobiography about himself. I expect it will be really eye-opening to those who do not know much about HPL outside of his fiction.

He talks about how his family was rich in his childhood (they had four servants), then fell on hard times after his grandfather died. He talks about how he did not like the company of other children even when he was little. How he discovered paganism through Greco-Roman history and mythology, and later astronomy. Those were two of his great passions in life. He also barely mentioned Sonia Greene, whom he would marry just a month after writing this letter!

For Lovecraft fans, it's a good one.

Posted by: SubRosa Apr 13 2020, 10:55 PM

Today I discovered https://player.fm/series/we-have-ways-of-making-you-talk. It is a UK based podcast done by James Holland and a British comedian whom I do not know. James is a historian I know from numerous WW2 documentaries. He was in a lot of the episodes of Nazi Mega Weapons, which was on Netflix for a while, but is gone now. He is also in the middle of writing a book series on WW2.

I have only listened to one episode so far, but it has been good. The podcast is about WW2. They don't take the war in chronological order. They just bounce around covering one topic or another each episode.

Posted by: SubRosa Apr 14 2020, 11:50 PM

Monster Talk just put out a https://youtu.be/wvlN8c-CcZo. It was a live show they did a few weeks ago on Facebook. They recorded it, and just put it up on You Tube today. It is a neat change from the usual audio-only podcasts they do, as we get to see them all.

There is no one topic. They are kind of all over the place with lycanthropes, vampires, necrophilia and the like. Dr. Sharpless talks about each, and the real world psychological issues that people have which may have contributed to the legends existing. He's a cool guy, he knows his folklore, and he knows his science.

Posted by: SubRosa Apr 16 2020, 10:21 PM

The HP Lovecraft Literary Society currently has several free offerings:

https://store.hplhs.org/products/facts-in-the-case-of-m-valdemar-dark-adventure-radio-theatre

https://store.hplhs.org/products/the-color-out-of-space-audiobook

https://store.hplhs.org/products/hplhs-at-the-mountains-of-madness-audiobook

https://store.hplhs.org/products/supernatural-horror-in-literature-audiobook

I already own all of them. The first is one of the Dark Adventure Radio Theater series. It is not a Lovecraft story, but a Poe story, and one Lovecraft really liked. Poe was a huge influence on him. It is a good one. Well, all the Dark Adventures are good ones. If you have never listed to one, this is a great time to give it a try.

Color and Mountains of Madness are two of HPL's best stories. Mountains of Madness is my favorite of his. Both of them are really science fiction, rather than pure horror.

Supernatural Horror in Literature is an essay that HPL wrote. It was his attempt to create an overall history of the supernatural in horror writing. The title kind of says it all. So it is not a story, and it tends to be a rather dry recitation of this story and that story. I tried, and failed, to get through it.

Snatch them up now, the price is right!

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Apr 17 2020, 12:06 AM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Apr 16 2020, 04:21 PM) *

The HP Lovecraft Literary Society currently has several free offerings

When I got the email today, I thought of you! laugh.gif

Posted by: SubRosa May 23 2020, 03:20 AM

The HPLHS has their Dark Adventure Radio Theater version of https://store.hplhs.org/products/dark-adventure-radio-theatre-the-whisperer-in-darkness for sale now. I just bought it.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Jun 15 2020, 12:13 AM

Khajiit has fish people on the brain due to his newest D&D character, so this one has been listening to the H.P.Lovecraft Literary Podcast (https://hppodcraft.com).

Posted by: SubRosa Jun 15 2020, 02:52 AM

I am still subscribed to the Patreon, and listening to their weekly episodes.

I recently discovered https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCItAnWpuUZOEr4HXjkTBxcA, a YouTube channel that takes readings from some of Lovecraft's stories and adds in full illustrations. So they are like a narrated comic. Half of it is in Russian. But the other half is in English. I found one little issue with the Nameless City episode, in which there was some kind of visual artifacts for several seconds. Then I think the audio and video got separated by those few seconds.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Jun 17 2020, 04:30 PM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 14 2020, 08:52 PM) *

I am still subscribed to the Patreon, and listening to their weekly episodes.

I recently discovered https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCItAnWpuUZOEr4HXjkTBxcA, a YouTube channel that takes readings from some of Lovecraft's stories and adds in full illustrations. So they are like a narrated comic. Half of it is in Russian. But the other half is in English. I found one little issue with the Nameless City episode, in which there was some kind of visual artifacts for several seconds. Then I think the audio and video got separated by those few seconds.

That sounds neat! I may check that out!

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Jul 6 2020, 09:16 PM

I love the music they use for The Call of Cthulhu entries on the H.P.Lovecraft Literary Podcast.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 1 2020, 01:05 AM

I have discovered some podcasts I have neglected to post about here.

https://player.fm/series/american-hysteria is similar to You're Wrong About, in that it covers various hysterias and moral panics. Unlike YWA, it only has one host. But I like her voice (which is really important to me liking a podcast), and she has good stuff.

https://player.fm/series/why-are-dads is done by one of the people from You're Wrong About, plus another person. They tackle movies which feature dads, and talk about the film in general and the dad issues and portrayls of dads in them. So far they have done Dirty Dancing, Jaws, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and a couple others.

https://player.fm/series/lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-2420655 is kind of marginal for me, because I am not thrilled with the voices of the two podcasters. Just as some people have a face for radio, people also have a voice for it. Not them. In any case, they are two US veterans who talk about not the lions of military history, but the donkeys. The leaders who just totally screwed up. Like Haig in WW1, or the British retreat from Kabul, The War of 1812, and so on. Or just about total crap shows, like the Iran-Iraq War. Sometimes it is not about the losers so much, but just about things in the military in general. I just finished one on the Cold War and nuclear weapons (and all the accidents with nuclear bombs - sorry about those ones we dropped on your Spain!) that was well done.

And for something completely different, https://thedirtpod.com/episodes is an archaeology podcast. I like the two hosts. They have good voices, and have a fun time doing the show, which translates into a fun show. They talk lots of archaeology stuff. I just listened to one on the Paleo Diet. Not the modern fad diet, but what we have found people were eating in the stone age. They just did one about warding off evil, and how people did so in the past.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 8 2020, 02:00 AM

I just finished a 6 part Lion Led By Donkeys series on https://player.fm/series/lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-2420655/episode-23-iran-iraq-war-part-1-revolution. It was really good. The podcast that is, not the war. The tag line for this war is: "But wait, it gets worse" Or as the podcaster said, it was like a chess game, played by two idiots who did not know how to play chess.

I actually remember this. I was in my early teens when it stared. It was on the news occasionally, especially when it started. Though later the coverage petered out, especially once it turned into a mostly static affair of Iraqis in trenches and Iranians mounting human wave assaults (with martyrs on white horses of course). The podcast fills in all the many gaps in my memory. As well as reports on the things the news did not, such as how America gave Iraq the chemicals they would need to produce the poison gas they used on Iranian cities. It is how we knew Saddam had chemical weapons in the First Gulf War. We kept the receipts.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 31 2020, 09:10 PM

HPLHS has The Curse of Yig radio drama for sale. Just in time for Halloween!

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 14 2020, 01:57 AM

Today I discovered https://oldgodsofappalachia.com/. It is a fiction show, set in an alternate Appalachian Mountains. It is about the coal mines tearing out the life of the Mother Earth, and the terrible price she exacted from her plunderers. It is about the green forests where humans were never meant to tread. It is about something that cracked open deep within the bowels of the earth, where sunlight never fell, and what crept forth.

Needless to say, it is backwoods horror with a very strong Lovecraftian bent. It reminded me a lot of Asher Elbien's book Ghost Days, and of course Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories.

Unfortunately, it is all in the .m4a format, which my player does not recognize. So I have been forced to convert all the files, which is a real pain.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Dec 14 2020, 02:28 AM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Dec 13 2020, 06:57 PM) *

Today I discovered https://oldgodsofappalachia.com/. It is a fiction show, set in an alternate Appalachian Mountains. It is about the coal mines tearing out the life of the Mother Earth, and the terrible price she exacted from her plunderers. It is about the green forests where humans were never meant to tread. It is about something that cracked open deep within the bowels of the earth, where sunlight never fell, and what crept forth.

Needless to say, it is backwoods horror with a very strong Lovecraftian bent. It reminded me a lot of Asher Elbien's book Ghost Days, and of course Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories.

Unfortunately, it is all in the .m4a format, which my player does not recognize. So I have been forced to convert all the files, which is a real pain.

Ooo neat! I can get it on Apple Podcasts! I’ll definitely be checking this out!

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Dec 15 2020, 02:50 AM

I started it, and I’ve only listened to the prologue, the first, and second episodes, but so far I’m loving it! The atmosphere is really good! For some reason, I can’t help but think of the Swampfolk from Fallout3: Point Lookout, lol.

Posted by: SubRosa Apr 26 2021, 06:57 AM

I recently discovered https://player.fm/series/our-fake-history-164840. It is a podcast that sheds the light of reality on history's myths. The stories that sound too crazy to be true, but are, and the ones that just plain made up.

I am about 20 episodes in, and it has been good so far. They had a really good 3 parter on Joan of Arc, and another good one about the Trojan War. As well as William Wallace, Napoleon, Cortez, Nero, and other figures and events with all sorts of myths created about them.

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 24 2021, 10:31 PM

Blake from MonsterTalk has a tradition of doing a reading of a ghost story every Christmas. The recent ones are for Patreon subscribers only. https://www.monstertalk.org/category/monstertalk-special/. So curl up with one of these mini-audiobooks and celebrate the season with some old school haunts.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Mar 30 2022, 03:40 PM

Currently listening to a podcast called “Revolutions” where the guy talks about various revolutions in history. The first “season” was about the mess that were the English Civil Wars, and now in the second season he is talking about the American Revolutionary War. It’s also produced my favorite quote of the day! In reference to George Washington’s penchant for being able to get his Army out of really bad predicaments, the host said “George Washington could lead an army out of hell before the Devil even knew he was gone!”. I lol’d

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 30 2022, 08:17 PM

Revolutions is one of my favorites. I learned a lot listening to it. They hit a lot of the high points revolution-wise from the English Civil War onward. I would say the host really hits his stride in the French Revolution. In the English and American serieses (serii?) he sort of rushed things. But he takes his sweet time in France, and it brings a lot more depth to the events.

I just recently did a re-listen to the French and Hatian serii. Otherwise I am caught up with where it currently is, deep in the Russian Revolution. That series is gigantic. It up to something like episode 82, and has only gotten to 1920 or so.

Posted by: TheCheshireKhajiit Mar 30 2022, 09:23 PM

QUOTE(SubRosa @ Mar 30 2022, 02:17 PM) *

Revolutions is one of my favorites. I learned a lot listening to it. They hit a lot of the high points revolution-wise from the English Civil War onward. I would say the host really hits his stride in the French Revolution. In the English and American serieses (serii?) he sort of rushed things. But he takes his sweet time in France, and it brings a lot more depth to the events.

I just recently did a re-listen to the French and Hatian serii. Otherwise I am caught up with where it currently is, deep in the Russian Revolution. That series is gigantic. It up to something like episode 82, and has only gotten to 1920 or so.

I can hardly wait for the Russian Revolution. What a mess that was!

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