🐯The Simpsons Predicted It

Olympic Idols, Magic & Illusions, K-Pop, +Just Added and new trailers!

Mar 03, 2022

Hey Poddy People,

I had a stressful end of the week with the site last week. What happened? Read below.

Seinfeld Stress GIF - Seinfeld Stress Stressed - Discover &amp; Share GIFs

Analytics-Website Update: We were on track to hit our 10-20% goal in just 28 days last month, anchored by The Trojan Horse Affair. With the majority of our traffic coming from Google, it seemed like things were on target. Then middle of last week, I noticed our numbers dropped 50%! The Trojan Horse Affair had been de-listed from Google. Why? I don’t have that answer. Google can be a black hole of information on how they work.

I tried a lot of things like other marketing channels, asking other techies for help, and reading multiple blogs. It was great to get it out there and vent because it was a downer of a situation. It then led me to put on my customer support hat.

One of the first things customer support tells you to do when an app is crashing or not functioning properly is to uninstall and reinstall the app. A good number of times that solution works and that’s what I did with Google Search Console. Well, their version of it. I removed The Trojan Horse Affair page from Google, waited until it was complete, then re-indexed the page back onto Google. By Saturday, the page was back and the clicks were on the way up. This is not a scalable solution, but in this instance, it worked.

I felt confusion, frustration, optimism for a hot second, back to frustration, anxiety, sadness, hope, and finally excitement.

In the end, we hit our 10% growth goal for the month thanks to the fix and some external marketing that clicked last minute. Now I can breathe for a minute. It’s the journey, right?

To the moon, but first the upper atmosphere

Personal News: I’m training for the LA Marathon (Half charity version) with the K9 Youth Alliance. I get to catch up on podcasts, stay healthy, and help out the pups & kids!

“K9 Youth Alliance enriches the lives of youth from under-resourced communities where we focus on the social-emotional growth of children and shelter dogs.“

If you are able to, donate on my fundraising page.

Podcast App News: iHeart is adding voice recording features that can send to stations or podcast creators if they opt-in. What took so long for this? Read it here.

Tom Hanks News: The hit podcast, Dead Eyes, bout an actor who was fired from Band of Brothers in 2001, gets to finally ask Tom Hanks “why?” in next week’s season finale. Read about it here.

Podcast To TV Update: Hulu’s adaption of the podcast The Dropout is now out. Watch it here.

My story took too much space & time in this newsletter and in my brain, so on to my picks this week…

Podcast: False Idol
Genre: Sports
Publisher: Religion of Sports, PRX

Another Podcast of the Year nomination from the Ambie Awards. This time it’s False Idol. I definitely remember this guy, Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter from South Africa in real-time and the tragic end to his story.

However, like a few recent podcasts, it’s not about what happened, but about a larger picture. The backstory on Oscar rising up to the Olympics is there, however, the podcast is more interested in the exploration of gender-based violence/domestic abuse like when Oscar murdered his girlfriend and how fans put sports figures are put up on a pedestal.

Neroli Price • Bello Collective
“vital to understanding the way sport is intertwined with national identity.”

Run Oscar Run

Podcast: Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy
Genre: Documentary, History
Publisher: Apple, At Will Media

Well, the Simpsons predicted it right?

The Simpsons&#39; Predicted Lady Gaga&#39;s Super Bowl Performance &amp; That&#39;s Not The Only Time The Show Was Psychic — Hey Tiger, Wake Up!

The story of what happened to Siegfried & Roy from Emmy-winning filmmaker and journalist Steven Leckart. Critics were split with this one, so it was a listener that brought me over the edge to give it a try. The history lesson is good, but I am still waiting for some juice. It was still better than those Mardi Gras episodes I was listening to. Here are two reviews that are split.

Fiona Sturges • Financial Times
“...a simultaneously compelling and frustrating Apple TV+ podcast...this is no Tiger King. If the host has a trick up his sleeve, it’s time for the big reveal.”

Alexi Duggins • The Guardian
“Think cheetah smuggling, tigers in swimming pools and the most bizarre police investigation you’ve ever heard of.”

I am tempted to skip to the last episode for that reveal. Did you listen to all the episodes?

Taa Daaaaaaaa!

Podcast: Authentic: The Story of Tablo
Genre: K-Pop Hip Hop, Music
Publisher: Vice, iHeart

K-Pop is hot right now. I’ve been on a Conan O’Brien binge lately on Youtube and I know South Korea came to love him, but I didn’t he ended up in an actual music video a couple of years ago.

With that said, this new release jumped to the top of my mind. This is a story on how a message board’s disinformation affected this rising artist and his K-Pop group. I like it so far and we do get to hear from Tablo and that visit that discussion on rumors spreading online.

Nicholas Quah • Vulture
“how social media’s reality-distorting nature was fully present and discernible even in its earliest days, well before Facebook and Twitter became what they are today. The core dilemma remains familiar.”

No So Gangam Style

Coming Soon Trailers: