Christmas listening time is here🎅
Christmas Killers, Home Alone, NBA Season, and News for Kids!
It’s Christmas Eve and Great Pods is not taking any time off this week to get you some recommendations! A Grinchy hello to the new subscribers! Thanks for joining!
Minor update on the website! Even the little updates are exciting when you are building something from scratch. We, meaning Seb, moved the website from Wix (usually for beginners) over to Vercel (more advanced), which makes the website a lot more versatile to work with. Additionally, we combined listener and critic reviews to one page making it easier to see reviews all on one page. They are labeled so you can tell the difference. It’s not mobile-friendly yet, but it looks cleaner on desktop. Feedback is always welcome.
New site:
Old Site:
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On to my picks this week…
Podcast: Crime Junkie
Episode: Christmas Killer (2019)
What is Christmas without a True Crime amirite?!
One of the more popular True Crime podcasts, Crime Junkie released this episode last year.
About: Five days before Christmas in 1984, 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews went missing from her Colorado home and she wouldn’t be discovered for over three decades.
Reddit user /truetdrye said, “I'm already 5 mins into this episode and my heart is BEATING hard! Ashley is the best story teller EVER!"
I listened and while I disagree with the Reddit comment about the first 5 minutes, it did get more interesting as more evidence was read in the episode.
Podcast: The Rewatchables
Episode: Home Alone (2020)
What is Christmas without Home Alone amirite?! It turned 30 this year and The Ringer network’s Rewatchables podcast discussed the hits, misses, and nostalgia of the film. They also discussed why Bill Simmon’s says it isn’t a Christmas movie. That’s crazy.
While listening, the discussion turned to Director Christopher Columbus (The Mummy, Harry Potter, etc.) and an interview he did earlier this year on the movie. I had to go look it up to get more information. I like podcasts that make me want to read up on more information. He was asked about the black and white movie that Kevin was watching and used, “Angels with Filthy Souls” on insider.com:
Has it got back to you that both Seth Rogen and Chris Evans thought "Angels with Filthy Souls" was a real movie?
I have heard about that. And this is probably why people think this: "Home Alone" is one of the last films shot with an old carbon-arc lighting system…But we also shot the "Angels With Filthy Souls" scene the same way. So that richness of black and white made it look like a movie from that era, and I think that's why some people think it's a real movie.
Podcast: The Old Man & the Three
Episode: Duncan Robinson (2020)
The NBA season officially started this week and my nephew finally started listening to current NBA player, J.J. Redick’s podcast. He’s been podcasting since 2015! So naturally, I asked (kindly) him to write a review on his favorite episode so far and I was surprised he didn’t prank me! He picked with Miami Heat’s Duncan Robinson, who is known for shooting skills, but also donating 10,000 meals in South Florida this holiday season.
Fawaaz wrote, “As a big NBA fan I really enjoyed this episode. The section with Duncan Robinson was phenomenal. The listeners get an inside scoop on Duncan's experience in his first ever playoff run. They talk about how Duncan prepared and adjusted to the playoffs which eventually led him and his team to the NBA finals. The hosts were giving immersive questions which kept the listeners interested. All in all, the podcast was enjoyable.”
Nice work kid.
Podcast: The Ten News
Episode: Dr. Anthony Fauci (2020)
With so much screentime being given to kids during the pandemic, it’s been hard on parents to reduce those hours. Instead of looking at the screen, why not have them start listening, especially to podcasts! This week, for the parents on the list I am starting with The Ten News. This week they had Dr. Anthony Fauci on, and even had kids ask him questions. It was cute and informative at the same time.
NY Times writes, “The host, Bethany Van Delft, breaks down the topic du jour to the basics, giving preteens the background they need to understand why that day’s news matters as well as the context to better help them develop informed opinions of their own.”
Disclosure: I know the team that put this podcast together and am proud of the product they produced. This recommendation was purely on my own.
Happy Holidays!
Captain Ron
P.S. I am excited for next week’s Top Podcasts of 2020 Newsletter!