Podcast Ponderings

Podcast Thoughts, Recaps and Reviews

[rossotron85]

First Impressions - You Must Remember This (Charles Manson's Hollywood)

Episodes I've listened to so far: 44 - 51

I don't know how I didn't encounter this show sooner! I discovered it recently while reading a 'Best of 2015' article, where this shows' 'Charles Manson's Hollywood' storyline was recommended as one of the best podcast experiences of the year.

I added this show (along with a couple of other highly recommended podcasts) to my Pocket Casts subscriptions and, after a couple of weeks, finally got around to listening to it. Once again I have completely binged on it so far, and still have quite a ways to go.

You Must Remember This is, in its own words, "a storytelling podcast about the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century." It tells large storylines across multiple episodes, and the story at the centre of this particular ark is that of Charles Manson, his encounters with Hollywood, and the impact that he ultimately had on it. For better or worse...

The show is written, narrated, recorded and edited by the excellent Karina Longworth. As I've said before regarding Lore, a story is only as interesting as the way in which it is told, and - thankfully - Longworth is excellent at storytelling.

The sheer depth and breadth of the research and fact-finding here is mind-blowing in its own right, but the way in which the various complex strands are woven into a cohesive and fascinating narrative is seriously impressive.

Longworth's delivery and tone is such a big part of the show's overall appeal; she highlights an already compelling narrative with just the right dashes of humour and disdain that it really brings the whole thing to life. Much of the story is set in a very transitional period of social history, and there are times when some of the more, um 'conservative' views of the time regarding gender and race (not to mention Manson's own deranged, racist bullshit) seem particularly bizarre when held up for closer inspection some sixty years down the line.

However, it is to Longworth's credit that she always seems to trust her listeners to arrive at their own conclusions. There is no spoon fed morality here; she knows that the behaviours/actions in question are disgraceful, and so do we. It's awesome to enjoy something that doesn't treat you as an imbecile with these matters.

The show is also extremely well produced. Longworth frequently recruits friends/colleagues to play the roles of the various characters in some of the more dialogue-heavy stories, and it really brings them to life and also makes the whole thing really clear for the listener. Sometimes the snippets of acting are just to emphasise some particularly funny or bizarre statements, and they often work really well.

The stories are so detailed that they really create a strong sense of time and place, which Longworth does an excellent job of emphasising with some fantastic music. Given the background of Manson's story and his association with the LA music scene (as well as his obsession with the Beatles), we see a lot of players in that scene drift in and out of the story.

Although Longworth always does a great job of picking songs that really compliment the part of the story that she is telling at the time, she somehow simultaneously finds a recording of that character that really gives some insight into them and how they felt at the time. I felt this element was particularly strong in the case of Dennis Wilson, whose love/hate/fear relationship with Manson is drawn to a close with a very poignant solo recording.

So far this has been an excellently presented, fascinating and detailed story which richly invokes a bizarre and unsettled time in the past. I'm really excited to see where this story goes, and from there I'll definitely be checking out the other stories that have been covered on the show. I'll be bringing a full review out further down the line, so be sure to check it out.

[rossotron85]

Plans for the Blog

Plans for the Blog

A Work in Progress  As I’ve kind of said in my welcome article, this is whole blog is very much a learning process for me, and I’m also very much figuring out the format and content of the articles that I’m going to be posting. Originally I was planning to listen to  season of a show and write in depth reviews of each episode as I go. However, this is proving to be pretty time-consuming, so I’m…

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[rossotron85]

Lore Season 1 – Review in Progress Pt 2

Episodes 13 – 24 It’s time for part 2 of my ongoing review of Lore. As predicted, I have continued to binge my way through this show, and have also continued to really enjoy the format, the stories and the overall presentation. As before, these are a selection of my personal highlights from this second block of episodes: Episode 16 – Covered Mirrors: This one is an excellent (if fairly grim) episode. It tells the story of a murder spree that started in Texas in1911 and lasted for next15 months or so. The killer entered people’s houses in the dead of night and executed each member of the family with a single axe-blow to the head. It’s an awful but fascinating story, and one that remains unsolved. Episode 18 – Hunger Pains: A look into the history of cannibalism, and the development of the Wendigo mythos. This episode looks at the various interpretations of the myth, and those who claim to have encountered it. Episode 22 - Over the Top: This episode tells the story of Spring-Heeled Jack. An infamous boogeyman that reportedly lurked around the streets of London by night. He was first spotted in 1837. I found that this episode built a good atmosphere and conjured up a great sense of place. The story itself is a nice change from the Jack the Ripper stories (which are also awesome, but still good to have another legend brought to life in this way). Episode 24 – A Stranger Among Us: This one is quite a cool look at various holiday myths from around the world, most of which revolve around being judged by a slightly malevolent stranger! I think that one of the underappreciated strengths of this show (besides the excellent presentation), is in the blend of subjects that it chooses to investigate. I appreciate that normally these episodes are released on a bi-weekly basis, so I wouldn’t normally be able to run through them one after another in the way that I have to date. But having said that, in listening to them in such close proximity to one another I really did come to appreciate the tonal shifts from one episode to the next. The stories that the show tells seem to either focus on one of 2 different categories. On one hand we have grizzly real life stories that happened in the not-so-distant past; on the other we have some the ‘ghost story’ incidents, that are passed on verbally and become more and embellished as time goes on. Whenever things seem to be getting to morbid (for example, in the events of ‘Covered Mirrors’), it seems to shift focus to some of the wackier myths and legends to balance out a bit. The only downside to this show is the sheer volume of ads, which now seem to last about 5 minutes at the end of each show. However, I completely appreciate that people need to earn a living, and it is cool that all of the sponsored content is at the end of the episode, so it becomes a little more optional. All in all this continues to be one of my favourite podcasts, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.

[rossotron85]

Limetown - 102: Winona

"I lived in house 27, with a man and a small girl. I was there because of the the man." - Winona.

As I mentioned in my review of episode 101, I am reviewing this season of Limetown from the point of view of a second listen through. This obviously means that I will remember some (but not all) of the overarching plot info, and can review the earlier episodes in light of knowledge and plot info that we didn't gain until further down the line.

With that in mind, I'm going to dive into this episode and break down what happens, what is said and what they most likely mean.This obviously means that there will be SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THIS EPISODE AND THE WHOLE SEASON from this point on.

In this episode we are introduced to our very first Limetown survivor (or citizen, as she prefers to be known): Winona.

We establish early on that she appears to suffer from some pretty potent memory problems. We listen to a voicemail that she left for Lea, giving the fake name of Winona and the details of a meet up. When Lea arrives at the designated time and place and is kept waiting for an hour, she calls Winona, who is baffled by both the rendezvous and the pseudonym.

When they do eventually meet we see that Winona is certainly an unusual character. Her speech is curt, fast and furious and she precedes the interview with a verbal machine-gun spray of conditions for the conversation, and hints that adhering to these will not just allow their interview to proceed,  but will also reveal the details of the next survivor.

Winona seems to be trying to suppress her emotions as much as possible during the interview. She reveals that all she took with her from Limetown was her kettle and teacups, whilst describing her living arrangements in a very matter of fact way in the following exchange:

Winona: “I lived in house 27, with a man and a small girl. I was there because of the man.”

Lea: “So, he was your husband?”

Winona: “Yes.”

Lea: “And the little girl…”

Winona: “Yes.”

Lea: “Do you know where they are now?”

Winona: “No.”

This seems a curiously detached way of recalling your family, and confiding that you have no idea where in the world they currently are, or if they are even alive.

However, there are several signs that make me think that she is fighting a constant battle to keep things in check, and the cold and calculating persona is simply her trying to be on best behaviour. 

She punctuates Lea's questioning with outbursts that alternate between frustration, disappointment and outright contempt. After the last interruption she abruptly leaves their table to make tea, and when Lea tries to speak she is greeted with an angry hiss, and shushed. At this point we also see that there may be something more going on than meet the eye here, as Winona keeps closing her eyes and massaging her forehead.

She has clearly come to the interview with the goal of conveying a specific piece of information (she refers to written notes several times), and her anxiety and impatience seem to boil to the surface easily when Lea just doesn't get there quickly enough, or focuses on things that are just mundane in relation to the scale of what they were achieving in Limetown.

And speaking of Limetown itself, we really get the impression that Winona loved it. She describes it as a kind of utopian high-tech commune where everything was for everyone, and everyone had their role to play. As long as you were deemed worthy of being there, a wonderful life awaited you.

After one of Winona's rage breaks, she gets her thoughts in order, reviews her notes and then relays a scenario to Lea. She makes us aware of some huge plot details, namely:

There is a man that they describe as "the man that we were all there for."

He appears to either be psychic, or able to control others. Either way, he is capable of simultaneously drawing the exact same drawing as another individual at the opposite end of table, mistakes and all.

He communicated telepathically with Winona, and later saved her from the Limetown incident by seemingly making her leave her house and flee the town on the night before everything went horribly wrong.

One she has gotten this information across, Winona seems to become slightly more lucid, and lets the mask slip right at the end of interview when she returns to the subject of her family, and in a desperate, ragged whisper, she confirms her daughter's name and age at the time of the event, and says that she has no idea where she is.

She says that 'they' want Lea to tell their story. Lea then presses for some final answers, which really pisses Winona off (particularly the mention of the name Oscar Totem) and she forces Lea to leave.

The episode then proceeded to scare the heck out of me with one of the most intense moments of any podcast to date: a crazy bastard screaming Lea’s name in the middle of the night and headbutting her hotel door (and presumably himself) into oblivion.

It was already an incredibly well produced and acted show up until then, but this part of the show feels incredibly realistic, and Lea’s performance is so authentic and genuine that it ramps up the tension so much that I was in a state of shock once the ending music kicked in.

On a second listening, this show does seem to keep getting stronger and stronger, and it's awesome to see how much power it still has to grip you and shock you when it wants to.

[rossotron85]

Limetown -101: What We Know

An amazingly written podcast that gets better with repeated listenings.

Limetown is the second ‘docudrama’ that I’ve really gotten into in a big way. And as with any podcast that I discover that’s already well into its latest season, I totally binged on it the first time around, grabbing any spare moment to catch up with the latest twists, turns and developments.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I sometimes feel that whilst there’s an undoubted magic in falling in love with a story as and when you’re discovering it for the very first time, I sometimes need to go back and relive it to fully absorb it and appreciate the depth and nuances that are sometimes lost in the first listening. This is the basis on which I’m reviewing both this podcast and the aforementioned Black Tapes, having joined both of them about midway through their first season runs. So, with that in mind, I apologise if it seems that I accidentally mention something that - chronologically speaking- I shouldn’t yet be aware of.

Anyhow, this first episode certainly starts as the season means to go on. We open with a recording of a 911 call, wherein a terrified lady is nearly screaming at the operator, begging for help before being interrupted by the line going dead. The call was from the titular Limetown, a fictional town set in Tennessee. It’s pretty intense, and immediately snaps you to attention.

We are then told that the emergency services first responders arrived some 17 minutes later (shortly followed by reporters, naturally). However they were denied access to the gated town by its own security forces. Both the emergency services and the press were kicked out, and nothing much seemed to happen for the next couple of days.

Then, abruptly, Limetown’s security forces mobilised and left in a single procession, leaving the front gates open to the world. Upon investigation it was discovered that the entire town was deserted, with no trace of any of its 300+ residents. Except, that is, for a single wooden stake surrounded by charred, burnt grass.

And thus the mystery was born. Some 10 years have passed at the point where our podcast starts, and not a single resident has resurfaced. It remains a complete mystery, and makes for a compelling story for us listeners.

The story is relayed to us by the character Lea Haddock, our presenter and investigative journalist. She has a particular interest as her uncle was one of those that vanished from Limetown without a trace. Her character is very well written and acted, with the delivery of the dialogue containing just enough pauses and stammers to come across as genuine and off the cuff.

You really end up buying into the Lea’s character and background, and really feel like you are listening to a genuine journalist pulling together all of their notes and research, and then conveying their complex discoveries to you as best they can, much in the way of Sarah Koenig in Serial, to give a 'real life’ example.

This level of believability also applies to the characters that Lea meets and interviews. They all have an air of authenticity about them, and this really comes across in their reactions to her questions. Rather than just reading their scripted answer in the manner of a radio host after a 1 second pause, they actually seem surprised, enthusiastic and really seem to think about their answers before giving them.

Besides the acting, a second listen really allowed me to appreciate just how much the impressive acting is complemented by the overall production of the show.

The atmosphere and production values feel very much like a feature film. The sound design is great, both in terms of the soundtrack which is subtle, atmospheric and adds massively to the overall feeling of mystery, and also the design behind some of the events in the show.

The mocked up 911 calls, TV news snippets and story locations are all top-notch, and really have an air of authenticity about them. This adds so much life to a show like this, rather than having studio recorded dialogue being superimposed onto generic street noise background, or whatever.

I’m a huge fan of this show overall, and this first episode really set things off on the right foot. It’s a great blend of mystery, awesome storytelling and the occasional shock that keeps you on your toes.

[rossotron85]

LORE – SEASON 1 REVIEW IN PROGRESS

Episodes 1 – 12

Lore is a fairly recent addition to my podcast rotation. After having seen it mentioned in various ‘best of 2015’ articles, as well as on the front page of the iTunes podcasts section, I decided to give it a whirl.

And boy am I glad that I did.

Lore is a bi-weekly show that focuses on creepy tales from around the world, and the grains of truth that often inspire their creation. Each episode follows a rough pattern in which writer/presenter/producer Aaron Mahnke sets the scene. He establishes the theme for the episode by introducing us to the myth or legend, and the people that believe it.

We then usually move on to the origin story for that myth (which can be anything from old folk tales passed down through generations through to reports from newspapers) and usually tie it back to some recent update on these stories. These can be recently discovered evidence, or recent sightings or something along those lines.

In the interest of balance Mahnke will then usually wrap up by taking a look at the psychology of where these stories seem to spring from, and try to understand the fundamentally human reasons for wanting to believe that there may be more to life than meets the eye.

I think it would be fair to say that I’ve binged through the first 12 episodes of the show, and have found myself totally engrossed in the stories being told. With a run time of roughly 19-25 minutes each, the tales last just long enough to bewitch the listener before disappearing into the ether like one of Mahnke’s ghosts, leaving you hooked and wanting to go and learn as much as you can about the story you’ve just been told.

Whilst all of the episodes have been interesting so far, these are a few of the highlights that have stood out to me:

Episode 2 – The Bloody Pit: This was an enthralling tale about the digging of the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts. The atmosphere created in the description of the tragic story of the miners is gripping enough, but the tales of the subsequent supernatural phenomena that followed was fascinating.

Episode 4 – Dinner at the Afterglow: This episode features the story of John McMillin of Vancouver Island. He was a local luminary who brought a massive amount of employment to the area through this business interests, and was a huge part of the local fabric. However this episode is the story of how he chose to commemorate his time in the area after it had come to an end, with the amazing Afterglow Vista. This vista features a table and chairs, but the bizarre twist is that the chairs contain the ashes of McMillin and his family! The trouble that he went to to create this strange mausoleum and the intricate details (and their meanings) make for a truly fascinating episode that had me gripped throughout.

Episode 8 – The Castle: This episode tells us the story of one of the earliest documented serial killers, H H Holmes. We are told the story of how Holmes became fascinated with the human skeleton at an early age, and eventually trained to become a doctor. Things eventually took a twist for the sinister when Holmes starting stealing cadavers, disfiguring them and claiming life insurance policies on them. He spend some time moving from town to town (leaving a string of dead or missing people in his wake), and eventually settled in Chicago. He ended up working in a drugstore, which he eventually bought from the widow that owned it after her spouse died. The widow then promptly vanished! Holmes’ story definitely peaks with the building of his ‘castle’, a hotel that was 3 stories tall and stretched the length of a city block. I’ll let the podcast tell you about what was found inside, as it tells it so well.

In essence this podcast is like a grown-up version of the stories that we all used to tell around the campfire. And as with any story, so much of it lies in how it is told. Mahnke is a great storyteller, and litters his tales with just the right amount of humour and frames the whole thing with an excellent soundtrack. I look forward to racing through the next dozen episodes, and will post a review once I have binge-listened to them!

[rossotron85]

Serial - Ep 201

DUSTWUN

I was a big fan of the first season of Serial, and found its bewitching blend of fascinating narrative, incredible production values, near-tangible sense of place and deft, atmospheric music to be one of the most compelling productions that I encountered throughout the whole of 2015. 

It felt like a heck of a long wait for season 2, and whilst my expectations had been mildly dampened by the news that it would be based around a military story (I’m really just not that into military news, stories etc), it still felt like Christmas had come early when I received the email saying that the first episode was available for download. 

***!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!*** - I  WILL BE DISCUSSING DETAILS OF THE EPISODE FROM THIS POINT ON 

So, to the episode itself. We are introduced to this new season by presenter Sarah Koenig narrating a video of US soldier Bowe Bergdahl being released from his 5 year imprisonment at the hands of the Taliban, and into the waiting arms of his fellow soldiers and their helicopters. We’re then treated to a reimagined version of the awesome theme song from the first season, which is now given a militaristic twist by some additional trumpet. The intro is interspersed with soundbites of people giving their opinion on Bowe and his situation. 

Koenig then reveals that although the mood back home was initially jubilant upon Bergdahl’s release, everything soured within a matter of hours. This seems to have been prompted chiefly by the other guys from his platoon saying “wait a minute guys, this ain’t what you think it is...”, or something to that effect. It turns out that whilst there’s no doubt that Bergdahl did indeed spend the last 5 years with the Taliban, the reason they were able to capture him in the first place is far more contentious. 

No matter how you slice it, the guy walked off of the US Army outpost on which is was stationed in the middle of Afghanistan, voluntarily and of his own free will, and straight into the hands of the Taliban. We hear that eventually we had senators getting involved, and the whole thing culminates in the present situation where Bergdahl is facing criminal prosecution for 2 charges in a military court, one of which carries a potential life sentence. 

We find out that a filmmaker named Mark Boal has actually been interviewing Bergdahl for some time, and has recorded all of their phone conversations. Bowe has consented to those conversations being used for the podcast, though he will be having no direct contact with Sarah or the team directly. 

Through these recordings we discover that Bowe had decided that his superiors in the military were dangerously incompetent, and he felt that it was his responsibility to do something to fix the situation. His proposed solution was to leave his base, run for a day or two to another American base in the area (about 20 miles away) and cause such a level of chaos that no-one would be able to disregard his story. Quite why he felt that completely pissing of the entire American military before calling out his superiors for being morons was a good idea is never really addressed. 

The rest of the episode paints a picture of the situation in Afghanistan, what the soldiers though of conditions there (they hated it), and then walks us through the night/morning of Bergdahl’s disappearance, and the sequence of events according to Bergdahl himself. It draws to a close at his capture by the Taliban. 

Now, in terms of a review I’m really kind of conflicted on this one. I’ll start with the positives: 

Amazing production, narrative and theming. The music in the background of a lot of the reporting really sets an excellent tone and can be incredibly atmospheric. Serial still really sets the bar for production values in podcasts.

Sarah Koenig is still the best in the business at telling a compelling story whilst simultaneously conveying a large amount of complex information.

The research these guys do is incredible. You really get the feeling that they are sat on a vast amount of material.

Now for the negatives. I apologise that these are pretty darn hefty, and I really don’t want to seem over critical. However, I really do want to explain my thoughts on these properly so they don’t just seem like pettiness, I really want to convey my thoughts on these issues. 

First and foremost, my biggest issue with this initial episode - the subject matter. I appreciate that this case will probably fascinate a lot of people, and I’m sure that there are a lot of American listeners who will have very strong views on this story, as presumably it has been in the national press. However, as I said at the start of this review, I’m really just not into present day military stuff. A huge part of my attraction to the first season of Serial was the sense of place, and how the podcast created a vision in my mind of the all of the locations that were discussed. Even though I’d never heard of any of the places or ever seen them, I felt like I knew just through the excellent descriptions and atmospheric music. However, in this episode they spend a lot of time establishing that Afghanistan is a hell-hole, and the soldiers stationed there despised it. I don’t want a sense of that place!

The interviews with Bergdahl - Unfortunately it looks like Koenig won’t be interacting with the subject of the podcast directly. Instead we’re going to have to listen to interviews conducted by a guy that is more interested in typing out emails instead of really engaging with or challenging Bergdahl. I appreciate that these interviews were never recorded to be used in a slick podcast production, but at the same time that doesn’t make them any better to listen to. 

Weird Koenig bias - This may be controversial, but this was something I noticed creeping into season 1 and I was curious to see if it was specific to her relationship with Adnan or whether Bergdahl would receive the same treatment. And it seems that it has indeed reappeared. The issue that I’m referring to here is where Koenig seems to give the testimony of third parties a much harder time than anything that comes from the subject of the podcast. For example, in this episode she is describing the testimony of the soldier that was on duty before Bergdahl’s shift on the day that he disappeared. She says ‘ So he gets down from the truck, which he’s not technically supposed to do until he’s relived, but whatever’. It’s kind of snarky, which is fair enough, but in the context that it was preceded by Bergdahl just walking off of the base completely, it’s really kind of inconsequential. 

On the other hand, when describing how Bergdahl must be feeling having just put his bizarre plan into action she is much more sympathetic. She says that he must have been “profoundly scared. He’s a world away from anything he knows, in a country whose culture is alien to him, where people want to kill him. And he’s outside the wire in the dark”. Indeed, but he was only out there because HE WILLINGLY RAN OFF OF THE BASE. It’s kind of baffling that he gets such an easy ride. I know that it must be difficult to present these early episodes in which they are introducing the subject matter in very basic terms whilst probably knowing much more of the story (and having a lot more evidence) than we’ve seen, but even taking that into account, I still think it would be reasonable to challenge some of the rationale behind Bergdahl’s story. Or if not that then to at least anticipate some of the questions that must be running through your audience’s head when hearing such a crazy story, which in essence was to draw attention to the incompetence of his superiors (whilst also proving that he is Jason Bourne) by running out into a dessert occupied by the Taliban and suddenly mysteriously forget how to use a compass. 

Ok so that really does sound like a lot of negative comments on the episode. But in truth, the negatives aren’t massive, it just takes a lot of time to clearly articulate my thoughts on them and give examples. Even then, I’m not convinced that I managed to convey them clearly at all! Alas, oh well. 

All in all, it’s another excellently produced episode of Serial, and in reality it’s early days. There is plenty of time ahead for the narrative to sink its teeth into me and draw me into it’s world. I have faith, but we’ll see! At this point I just haven’t ‘clicked’ with the story in the way that I did with that of the first season.

I’ll be back next time with a review of either Lime Town or Lore, I’m not sure which yet! As always, greatly appreciate any feedback you guys have. 

[rossotron85]

The Black Tapes - Ep 101

A Tale of Two Tapes Part 1

For my first review I have decided to check out a show that has been generating some good buzz during its first season, and seems to regularly pop up on the front page of the podcast app that I use on my phone; the spooky Black Tapes podcast. 

Just to give a general overview of the show as a whole, The Black Tapes podcast is - to quote their official website directly - “a serialized docudrama about one journalist's search for truth, her enigmatic subject's mysterious past, and the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt them both”. 

In the first episode we are - after a strangely jarring intro song that doesn’t sit well at all with the overall vibe of the show - introduced to our host, Alex Reagan. She explains that this was originally supposed to be a show about interesting jobs, but then reveals that they didn’t actually make it past their first episode about paranormal investigators and researchers. 

We then hear interviews with several of these investigator types and it soon becomes clear that all roads seem to lead to a fellow by the name of Dr Richard Strand (the aforementioned “enigmatic subject’ in the blurb). 

Alex then accompanies an investigation team to a spooky building where she gathers some pretty impressive evidence of supernatural activity. 

She eventually manages to speak to the infamous Dr Strand after bombarding him with messages and requests, and we soon establish that he is an ultra-sceptic who will rationalise any evidence placed in front of him as either ‘debunked’ or ‘will eventually be debunked when I’ve got better technology’. He is offering a large financial reward to anyone who can provide evidence of paranormal activity. However given the aforementioned categories it seems that nothing will ever win this reward. It all seems amicable enough until he abruptly terminates the interview after Alex discovers something interesting on his shelves.  

Somehow, Alex later manages fool the reviled, religion-baiting uber-sceptic into walking into an ambush interview. Once back in Strands’ office, Alex presents him with the evidence from her earlier adventure with the ghost-hunters, which - surprisingly - Strand immediately shoots down. He then tells Alex about those interesting files on his shelves, and explains that they are the reported paranormal instances that he does not yet have the tech to debunk. These are the titular Black Tapes. 

Alex is shown the evidence that accompanies one of these cases, and it seems that a child has been stalked by the Slender Man throughout his life. This seems to be setting the show up, which looks like it will be an episodic investigation of the Black Tapes cases, and this is where the episode ends. 

Despite my occasionally snarky summary above, I did actually enjoy this episode and will definitely be sticking with this show. For me the positives include: 

* A great vibe and tone, with some of the ghost hunting stuff being genuinely tense and fascinating. 

* A great soundtrack (excluding that dorky intro song) that really contributes to the overall feel of the show, much in the same way that Serial’s did throughout its first season. 

* A genuinely cool core conceit - I really loved the X-Files as a kid and really enjoy these ‘monster of the week’ type shows. I feel that the concept of the Black Tapes is a strong one that will set it up to go on well. 

* Characters that seem like they could be interesting, now that we’ve got the scene-setting stuff out of the way. 

On the other hand, for me the negatives were along these lines: 

* Some of the delivery of the dialogue - This show seems to be marketed as a ‘docudrama’, which I guess means that it is openly fictional. I totally appreciate that it must be hard to get genuine dialogue from an audio only script, but at the same time of the lines in this episode really felt like they were just being read from a sheet of paper. Eg, Alex saying ‘just talking about it gives me goosebumps’ in a flat monotone. 

* That Intro song - I’m sorry, I promise that’s the last time I’ll mention it in this review. But it really did feel hokey and out of place. 

All in all, I did enjoy it and will be posting further reviews as I work my way through the episodes. I am planning to alternate between episodes of Black Tapes, Serial Season 2 and Lime Town, so I should have new reviews up quite frequently. 

Hope you liked my breakdown, I’d appreciate any thoughts and feedback that you guys have. Let me know your reviews of Black Tapes, it would be awesome to hear from you!

[rossotron85]

Welcome!

Hello dear reader, and welcome to Podcast Ponderings. 

I’m a big fan of the blossoming podcasting medium, and this blog is a space in which I plan to write down my thoughts on whatever podcasts I happen to have been listening to recently. 

At this point in time it feels like the whole podcast scene is kind of a land-grab; people, agencies and corporations are all aware that there is a potentially massive listener base to be tapped. However the content, format, tone and entire presentational ‘feel’ of these productions are still being explored and refined. This means that there is a huge variety of content available, and it feels like I’m discovering new shows to check out every week. It feels like a really awesome and exciting time to be a fan of these shows. 

To be honest, I’m really going to be learning as I go with this blog, so if something doesn’t work I may change it. Anyway, at this point I’m going to approach the shows in these main categories:

* ‘Season’ or ‘serial’ shows - These are the shows that tell a story using a season/series structure over several weeks or months. The main kind of shows that I’ve got in mind here here are Serial, The Black Tapes and Limetown. With these shows I’ll probably give a quick recap of the episode that I’m discussing long with my thoughts on that episode as well as the show overall.

* Random/One-off episode shows - These are the shows that have in-depth episodes, but each one is completely standalone and unrelated to the others. I’ll probably give some recaps and reviews on these episodes, but perhaps not every single one. The kind of shows that I’m thinking of here are Mystery Show, Startup and This American Life.

* Current affairs, news and hobbies shows - Obviously there isn’t any point in reviewing these guys on an episode by episode basis. I’ll probably just give occasional recommendations on shows that I’m enjoying and why, but I won’t spam you guys with too many obscure recommendations. 

Wow, I’ve talked for way longer than I planned. Anyway, I hope that gives you guys an overview of what I think I’ll doing with this blog, and I can’t wait to discuss my favourite shows with you guys and talk about why we love them, and maybe how they could be better. 

Talk to you soon!

[elenamorelli]

{ neverending autumn }