This week on the Sunday Podcast Roundup, Roman Mars of the 99% Invisible Podcast tells you where to find the best beer in the world; Captain Jeff of Airline Pilot Guy reports on rogue spiders attacking air traffic controllers; and Chris Kenneally of Beyond the Book gets the details on the 166-million-dollar settlement in the big e-book price-fixing case — and how you may be entitled to some of it!
•• GENERAL INTEREST ••
99% INVISIBLE
Hey, how about starting with two gems from the back-catalogue of the uber-awesome 99% Invisible podcast!
Episode 55: Best Beer in the World — Okay, here’s a question: guess who makes the best beer in the world! Give up? Well, apparently, it’s Belgian Trappist monks. Okay, now guess how hard it is to actually buy a case of beer from these guys! If you guessed ‘next to impossible,’ you would be about right.
Being a ‘beer’ guy, I was very intrigued by this episode. Host Roman Mars tells a really interesting story about these amazing monks and their legendary Westvleteren label. He also gives you a front-row seat to one man’s arduous search for a single case of this Heavenly brew!
Episode 76: The Modern Moloch — Did you know that less than a hundred years ago, on city streets across America, motorists were often treated like second-class citizens? In fact, up until the mid-’20s, streets were pretty much owned by pedestrians, as well as the more traditional horse-drawn conveyances.
This episode focuses on the events of November 1923, when a referendum on automobiles was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the two opposing factions finally collided head-on. The result: a well-orchestrated public relations campaign that coined the pejorative term ‘jaywalker,’ and put the onus on pedestrians to start looking both ways before they crossed the street. A fascinating little piece of American history!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AIRLINE PILOT GUY
Are you ready for two awesome, back-to-back episodes of Airline Pilot Guy? Of course, you are 🙂
In Episode 78: Mumbai-based GoAir has decided to hire only female flight attendants in the future, apparently to save on the cost of jet fuel! Then, Captain Jeff answers listener questions, including whether you should be worried if your flight gets caught in a hailstorm, and whether rear-facing seats on commercial airliners may be safer. Tune in for answers to these and many other questions!
In Episode 79: Spiders attack airline traffic controllers in Kansas City! Then, a driver in New Jersey is charged — and fined a whole lotta money — for accidentally disrupting air travel at Liberty International Airport with the GPS jamming device in his truck! Captain Jeff weighs in on these bizarre events and a lot more!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NATURE PODCAST
This week brings you three great episodes of the Nature podcast!
In the August 15 episode, co-hosts Kerri Smith and Thea Cunningham report on how intelligent windows can control the amount of heat in a building, how our minds create false memories, and how a black hole in the centre of our galaxy is being surprisingly well behaved!
The August 8 show looks at how people in the future may lose their privacy on even a cellular level, how the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin helps calm your brain, and how the Mars Rovers have actually developed different personalities based on how the engineers interact with them! (And if you want to know more about the Mars mission, you can download this podcast extra featuring sociologist Janet Vertesi!)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
•• FILMS ••
100 YEARS OF HORROR
Hey, it’s a landmark moment, as Phantom Erik delivers the 50th episode of 100 Years of Horror! To celebrate, he and his diminutive co-host Lester Reaper invite you to spend the evening with them in the Tower of London! Starring Vincent Price and directed by Roger Corman, this 1962 film was based (very loosely) on Shakespeare’s Richard III, so viewers were treated to an odd mix of political intrigue, hammy acting, and anachronistic horror, all in gloooorious black and white.
Erik takes a brief look at the career of the film’s star, Vincent Price, followed by a much longer look at the resume of the film’s director, Roger Corman. As Erik points out, if you’re wondering where a film like Sharknado came from, a quick perusal of Corman’s extensive filmography (350+ movies that he either produced or directed!) will answer your question 😉
nota bene: Erik and Lester will be taking a two-week vacation before returning with the next fifty years. Oh, and be prepared for a major sea change, as they look at Herschell Gordon Lewis’ 1963, um, classick, Blood Feast!
Here’s to fifty more!
[WARNING: Mature Content]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ATTACK OF THE KILLER PODCAST
Join the crew at Attack of the Killer Podcast for the first of their two-part George A. Romero retrospective! In this episode, co-hosts Mike Saunders, Jason Bolinger, Justin Beahm, Dustin Neill, and Joe Zerull take a fond look back at Romero’s awesome filmography!
After a brief discussion of Sharknado (hey, Justin made a micro-cameo appearance in the film — very cool!), the guys begin a 3+hour discussion of the master’s work. The episode covers a good chunk of Romero’s career, from his early years in industrial film-making, to many of his feature films, including (among others) the classic Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Crazies (1973), Martin (1976), and Knightriders (1981).
There’s some really good discussion of the development of the zombie mythology, as well as an in-depth look at some of the social and political messages in Romero’s filmwork.
Hey, I already can’t wait for part two!
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CORPSE CAST
Co-hosts Mike Cadaver and Shane Diablo bring you another two hours of awesomeness in the form of Corpse Cast Episode 76! The discussion starts with, um, jerksocks, and then moves on to the 1975 exploitation flick Satanico Pandemonium, directed by the veerrry prolific Gilberto Martínez Solares, as well as the 2002 album from Reverend Horton Heat, Lucky 7! Also, tune in to hear Mike’s two-part Question of the Episode so you can phone in with your answer!
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CREEPERSIN CAST
In Episode 36, join host Creep Creepersin as he pays tribute to a very special lady: actress Karen Black, who passed away last week at the age of 74. He also interviews actor Peter Stickles about some of his past and future projects. As always, it’s must-listen podcasting, with great music and engaging conversation!
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CREEPY KITCH
It’s been a while, but the Creepy Kitch grrrls are back! With episode 36, co-hosts ‘Stac’ and ‘Cins’ attempt to dissect the bizarre cult classic, Night of the Lepus (1972)! And if human-eating bunnies aren’t weird enough, it gets stranger, with an Atomic Age infestation of giant radioactive ants! That’s right: they review the 1954 classic sci-fi horror, Them!
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE CUTTING ROOM
Okay, I’ll give you the bad news first: Summer vacation continues for the gang at the Cutting Room podcast, so there’ll be no new shows until next month.
Now, the good news: To ease your distress, the guys have posted a back-episode from their Horror Palace days, from waaaaay back in 2012! Episode 10 Redux unites co-hosts Thomas Dettloff, Joseph Christiana, and Dave Pace with special guests Ash Hamilton of horror-fix.com, Matt Farnsworth, director of The Orphan Killer, and Diane Foster, who starred in the film. After the interviews, Ash hangs out with the guys to discuss 2011’s The Texas Killing Fields as well as two Rob Zombie films: House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects! ‘Nuff said 🙂
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
HORROR ETC.
Join King’s Town Ted and Anthony DP Mann in this latest installment of the Horror Etc. podcast, as they engage in some pretty deep discussion about the 1992 horror classic, Candyman. Based on the Clive Barker story, and starring Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen, this movie was terrifying! They also have a (mercifully) brief discussion of the two sequels, which suffer in comparison. Ted and Anthony also look at Elysium and My Amityville Haunting (2012), and there’s a nice field report at the end of the show from the Fantasia Film Festival!
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
•• WEEKLY HORROR MOVIE PODCAST ••
Sadly, Episode 26 marked the final installment of the Weekly Horror Movie Podcast. Although it was a great show, scheduling problems simply made it impossible to continue and still maintain the high quality that listeners had come to expect from each episode. On the positive side, the end of this show led to the creation of other equally interesting projects, including Horror Metropolis and The Electric Chair, as well as one of the co-hosts joining the Land of the Creeps podcast.
Thanks to former host Jay of the Dead, you can still go back and listen to all 26 episodes of the Weekly Horror Movie Podcast here!
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MOTION PICTURE MASSACRE
In this episode of Motion Picture Massacre, host Vaughan responds to listener mail, and then doles out some cool swag to the winners of his recent contest. Then, you can step into the Wayback machine, set your knob to 1979, and dig his interpretation of the exploitation classics Search and Destroy and The Glove!
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MOVIE PODCAST WEEKLY
Episode 46 of Movie Podcast Weekly scales it down to co-hosts Jason Pyles, Josh Ligairi, Karl Huddleston, and Andy Howell — and they’re all in top form for this 2+hour cast. Three new films appear in the cross-hairs: Elysium, We’re the Millers, and In a World…, along with The Green Hornet, Bridesmaids, Mud, Lord of War, Jack Reacher, Season 5 of Breaking Bad, The Wolverine, and plenty more!
Jason also talks about a new podcast that he’s co-hosting, called The Donut Show!
[WARNING: Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NIGHT OF THE LIVING PODCAST
In Episode 332, the gang at Night of the Living Podcast continue their discussion of David Cronenberg with a look at 1986’s rather gruesome The Fly! And speaking of gruesome, Freddy recounts a recent incident involving a gumball machine that would probably give Mr. Cronenberg bad dreams. Freddy then checks out The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh (2012), and everyone weighs in on the diminishing returns of Adam Sandler’s filmography, as well as Laura Prepon’s most important scenes in Orange Is the New Black.
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SCREAM QUEENZ
It’s Episode 88, and Host Patrick is podcastin’ from the NYC, y’all! This week, he reviews three films from the UK: Storage 24 (2012), Truth or Die (2012), and Hollow (2011)! And if that’s not enough, he throws in a review of You’re Next (2011) — he’s even removed all the spoilers so it’s safe for human consumption 🙂
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TERROR TROOP
In Episode 68, it’s a full house at Terror Troop HQ, as Boss Butcher, Bloody Lizzy, and Wildman Willis are joined by special guests actor/comedian Tony Tale, actress Ashley Gray, and Grega Mortis, co-host of the Land of the Creeps podcast! In addition to catching up with their guests, the troop also take on 2011’s War of the Dead and 2002’s Deathwatch!
[WARNING: Language and Mature Content]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
•• WRITING ••
•• BEYOND THE BOOK ••
The big news dominating the publishing industry this week centres around the e-book price-fixing case against Apple and its publishing partners. In this episode of Beyond the Book, series host Chris Kenneally talks to author Andrew Albanese about the latest developments. FYI, if you’re one of the 23 million customers who bought an e-book between April 2010 and May 2012, then you may be able to file a claim for part of the massive settlement! Check out the August 16 episode of Beyond the Book for more info!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DEAD ROBOTS’ SOCIETY
This week the Dead Robots’ Society is beaming from Space City Con ’13, as Justin Macumber and Paul Cooley join David Wood of Gryphonwood Press in a panel discussion on creating a podcast. If you’ve got aspirations to launch your own show, then this is must-listen programming, as these experienced podcasters give you the benefit of their experience to help you get your voice out on the Web!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GRAMMAR GIRL
Hey, did you know that August 16 was ‘International Apostrophe Day’? Oh, uh, me too =-)
Anyway, many sci-fi and fantasy authors, including Anne McCaffrey, Frank Herbert, and Roger Zelazny, have used apostrophes in the names of characters in their books. In some cases, it made sense; in others, not so much.
In this episode of Grammar Girl, host Mignon Fogarty talks about how apostrophes are often used (and misused) in speculative fiction and fantasy, and she even does some speculating of her own, as she attempts to track down some of the events that might have triggered this whole ‘apostrophe’ fad in the first place!
Pop quiz: Here are some of the characters that Mignon talks about: F’lar. T’Pau. Muad’Dib. J’onn J’onnz. Can you identify them? (You can double-check your answers here.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I SHOULD BE WRITING
Back from her fourth (and final) residency at Stonecoast, host Mur Lafferty brings you Episode 301 of I Should Be Writing. This week, she catches up on listener emails, and then talks to Tony Pisculli, creator of the Magic Spreadsheet writing program, which helps even dyed-in-the-wool procrastinators move forward with their writing projects!
Mur has also uploaded Chapters 15 and 16 of The Shambling Guide to New York City for your listening plaisir! If you don’t already own a copy of this uber-cool book, you can order a signed copy here, or an e-book version from Amazon!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WRITING EXCUSES
This week on Writing Excuses, join co-hosts Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells for a little Q&A! They offer helpful responses to several questions, including whether writing contests are worth the effort for aspiring writers, how to manage work schedules to avoid burnout, and how to match word counts to different markets!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
images:
Podcast Roundup masthead image: Yeti microphone from Wikipedia | Source | public domain image
99% Invisible masthead background: View of apartment building exterior by Christiaan Triebert | Source | CC
Airline Pilot Guy masthead background: Chicago International Airport interior walkway by Nicola | Source | CC
Nature podcast masthead background: close-up of autumn leaf, by Steve Jurvetson | Source | CC
100 Years of Horror masthead background: skull close-up, by J. D. Hancock | Source | CC
Corpse Cast Podcast masthead image: Skull from Wikimedia | Source | CC info
Creepersin Cast podcast masthead element: TV image skull, by Steve Lodefink | Source | CC
The Cutting Room podcast masthead background: film silhouette clipart, by Gerd Altmann | Source | CC
Horror Etc. masthead background: Boris Karloff as Frankenstein monster, by unknown photographer| Source | CC
NOTLP masthead background: crowd under streetlight, by Keoni Cabral | Source | CC
ScreamQueenz masthead background: still from Bride of Frankenstein, by Sweet Honey Pie | Source | CC
Terror Troop podcast masthead image: Dusseldorf Memorial sculpture image by Bert Gerresheim from Wikimedia | Source | CC info
Grammar Girl masthead background: cap and tassel clipart, by Krzysiu Jarzyna | Source | CC
I Should Be Writing masthead background: Sheep on grassy field, by Aldo Costa| Source | CC
Writing Excuses Podcast masthead background: country road in winter, by Bert Kaufmann | Source | CC
eclectic audio 