I Am Robot🤖...or is it Ro-pod?
Get spooked, family history, +just added and top 5
Hey Poddy People!
…and a special hello to all the new subscribers this past week! Thanks for joining the journey. If you even have any feedback on the website or newsletter, just hit reply and let me know. If you don’t find anything you like in this edition, you can always check up on the archives of recommendations here.
I’m still in the Bay Area after my friend’s wedding, but now visiting family.
In this week’s edition:
Analytics - Surprise new release
Maddow’s Ultra Research
3 podcast recs - starting to get spooky
Just Added - 10 Pods
Top 5 this week
It’s safe to say that celebrity-produced, created, and hosted podcasts will garner more eyes in press cycles. In the past month and a half, new episodes of Megan’s Archetypes podcast have been driving the spikes on Great Pods, but in the last ten days, we got two spikes! Yesterday was a combined effort with Archetypes and the new 50 Cent podcast, Surviving El Chapo, from iHeart. Trailer here. An early review says it’s “thrilling.”
Expect to see more Netflix companion podcasts to shows or continuations of previous podcasts like The Crown.
The failed kidnapping attempt of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is now being captured in the newest season of the excellent Chameleon series. Read more here. If you want to read about the kidnapping plot in general, read here.
Rachel Maddow’s Ultra is a great history lesson podcast I recommended last week. In the podcast, it is mentioned that there was research in senator’s Lundeen files which are available at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution Library. I thought it would be fun to read some of the papers since I’m up here in Northern California. As I looked up the library online and the Senator’s files I read this:
Physical Description: 387 manuscript boxes, 7 card file boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 cubic foot box, 42 envelopes, 2 albums (157.5 Linear Feet)
Safe to say, I will not be going and will let Rachel’s podcast team do the research. =)
Crooked Media is set to expand Pod Save America to Britain with Pod Save the U.K. with host/comedian Nish Kumar in early 2023. No trailer just yet, but here’s a comedic bit from Nish.
Shoutout to our lead designer, Brian, for this heads-up. True Crime Your Own Backyard podcast was credited for new evidence in the arrest of Paul Flores in the case of Kristin Smart’s murder in the 90s earlier this year. This week Paul was found guilty. More on Chris Lambert, the podcast’s host here.
On to my picks this week…
Podcast: Duggin Hill
Genre: Fiction, Horror
Publisher: Time Signal Productions
About: “On a back country road outside the hamlet of Duggan Hill, Saskatchewan, a woman named Sasha Ismond goes missing without a trace. She had been travelling from Vancouver for the past day, and was mere minutes away from her father's home. The last person she spoke to was her former partner, Zoe, a journalism student at the University of British Columbia. This is a collection of recovered audio recordings from the subsequent investigation into her disappearance, recorded during the summer of 2015.”
This is an audio fiction podcast that has a build-up of horror. It started giving me a little Alice Isn’t Dead vibe with the two episodes I’ve listened to.
Reet Arora • Ri Reviews
“The spooky monster’s effects in this story are some of the creepiest I’ve ever heard of. The relationships are refreshingly deep, each character having their own unique talents and weak points”
I’m already getting tense about the potential scare within my earbuds. Where are you Sasha?!
Honorable Mention: I Hear Fear - Amazon Music exclusive
Just released, Casey Mulligan retells tales based on real stories. For me, the first story became too fantastical of a deadly dance party where no one could stop dancing. It just felt like an anti-EDM episode and kind of silly. I couldn’t stop thinking about this Simpsons scene.
However, the second episode was much better hence why I dropped the podcast here.
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Eliza: A Robot Story
Genre: Sci-Fi, Women, Society
Publisher: Crowd Network
About: Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) stars in a dark, near-future science fiction fairytale about a robot who can feel, and the world that attempts to control her. When a robot called Eliza falls in love with Him (Arthur Darvill, Doctor Who), they work together to make her fully sentient. But consciousness doesn’t come without consequences. As Eliza gets caught in a web of both loving and abusive relationships, she has to fight to survive.
Narrated from the point of view of Eliza, the robot, this audio fiction gets interesting for me as more life-like robots are being developed. At what point and what rights are given to them? Miranda Sawyer does point out…
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian
“the podcast is made in partnership with the Pankhurst Trust (incorporating Manchester Women’s Aid), an organisation that supports women who suffer domestic violence, I predict some dark moves ahead. I hope Eliza survives.”
The first episode entails a jealous human girlfriend’s interaction with Eliza and what she is capable of.
Ximena Smith • Stuff NZ
“The series is done very cleverly – a lot of the ways in which Eliza is controlled by her owner…”
Podcast: We Were Three
Genre: Society, Personal
Publisher: Serial, NY Times
About: A story of lies, family, America, and what Covid revealed, as well as what it destroyed.
Get out the frustration box and tissue box. Showing up on the top 5 and limited series that dropped last week. These podcasts, from My Mother Made Me, All There Is with Anderson Cooper, and now We Were Three really have me processing my own life with family and parents. Raw, real, and reflective. It’s kind of beautiful in a way. I did finish this over the weekend and had thoughts running through my mind constantly. Do I need to see a therapist? Maybe.
Stephen O. • Podcast Delivery
“This three-episode series has a knack for washing over you, so you're bound to binge it.”
Just Added:
Girls Next Level
Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord
Your Own Backyard
Black and Gay Back in the Day
Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
My Life
Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer
Ask A Clean Person
Best Laid Plans
Imaginary Advice
This week's podcast charts are ALL women-led! 10/10/2022 - 10/16/2022:
1. Archetypes - Spotify - Holding strong
2. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra - MSNBC - Coming in hot
3. Kim Kardashian's The System - Spotify
4. We Were Three - Serial, NY Times - New
5. What The Hell Navya? - IVM Podcasts
Stay safe, be empathetic, stay hydrated, and be kind!
Listening with you,
Captain Ron
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