Sotolf's thoughts and oddities

Podcast Recommandations

I do listen to quite a few podcasts and some times I get asked for recommandations, so I think I should write something up, it might be that I can help people find something they will enjoy. I have listened to many through the year, some for periods and some for longer, some that I fell out of enjoying, but here are current ones that I am enjoying quite a bit.

Politics

Knowledge Fight

Knowledge fight is a podcast by Dan and Jordan, where they talk about Alex Jones and his ceasless race to the bottom, and I’ve been listening to this one for years now, it’s good to see people take down talking points, point out the stupid things that they say, and having one calm and one frustrated host does help, as you get both the more educated point by point take down, and the immediate frustrated reaction. Both the hosts are failed commedians, and the balance is just right for me at least.

Louder than Crowder

Louder than Crowder is one that is a bit newer for me, and it’s a bit more “Jockey” than what Knowledge fight is, but I think it’s kind of needed too, since Crowder is a less entertaining and more frustrating guy in general. While the humour is a bit more juvenile in general, it does not go over the line to be too annoying, and it’s cathartic to just hear someone come with the same kind of reactions that I myself have hearing much of the extremely stupid shit. It has Three hosts which I had a bit of issues with keeping apart in the beginning, but it’s all in all cathartic and entertaining takedown of a bad dude.

Know Rogan

Know Rogan is a more measured version of both the above, while it does have it’s lighter moments, Cecil and Marsh does a more calm approach to looking at Joe Rogan and his guests. It’s less jokey and something that is maybe more palatable for “serious” people. While at the same time being entertaining enough to not get boring. They haven’t been going for that long yet, so it might be that they get even more in gear later and let more of their frustrations show, but I do enjoy this take.

Video Games

Into the Aether

Into the Aether is as they say themselves “A low key video game podcast” Basically two guys talking about games that they have enjoyed playing the last week. They don’t really only play new stuff some times playing some older stuff as well, and the vibes are just great. In additional to their normal weekly episodes they have some maraton long ones now and then, like their end of the year episodes and others, which can range in the 6 - 16 hours. I just really enjoy them, so even when they are talking about stuff that don’t interest me to much I just enjoy their enthusiasm and comraderie. Absolutely one of my favourites that always makes it up to the top of my playlist when a new episode releases

Stay Forever

Stay Forever might be a harder sell for most people, mostly because it’s a podcast in german, so it has a bit less of a reach than stuff that are in English, it’s also more of an umbrella podcast with different podcasts about different retro themes, they all share being very deeply researched and having great hosts that are extremely knowledgeable about the stuff they are talking about, there is Stay Forever which focuses on retro PC games Stay Forever Technik that is about retro hardware with deepdives into things like Graphic cards, mice or different systems. Super Stay Forever which is a console retro focused thing and some others, just really enjoayble and informative retro stuff.

Videogame Podtimism

Videogame Podtimism a Optimist videogame podcast, is a goofy video game podcast by two goofy guys, Chase and David. It’s a fun one, with some humour that might not hit everyone, like Into the Aether, they do focus on bringing in stuff they enjoy, and they also usually bring in an older game that got middling ratings and try to find the good stuff that the game did. So it’s kind of a mix of them talking about stuff that they have played lately, some comedy sketch-y thing that can be a bit hit or miss, and talking about some old-ish stuff or mechanics, basically cousin games. That doesn’t sound that fun when I look at it, but it is one that I really enjoy listening to. It’s a nice fun one that kind of has made its way into my Sunday rituals.

Dot zip

Dot zip is a podcast about short games, and it’s a bit more situational for me, some times it’s really enjoyable, others not so much, but I like the hosts, and they are talking about a lot of more obscure shorter games, which does broaden my horizon to stuff that I would otherwise not have found, which is fun. It’s an eclectic mix of different stuff.

Hardcore gaming 101

Hardcore gaming 101 is a fun retro game podcast with a silly premise, rate all of the games, there is a rotating cast, and each episode they add a new game to the ranking list, they have a lot of fun with it being a scientific and completly objective rating, and each episode ends with them placing the game on the ranking list, fun hosts and a really varying list of games, it’s just a fun listen.

Fun / Variety

That’s absurd Please elaborate

That’s absurd please elaborate is one that I found late summer last year, and it’s an amazing premise for a podcast, each episode they tackle two Absurd questions sent in by listeners, and they try as good as they can to come up with scientific answers to those questions, so if you ever wanted to know how hard it would be to poke someone standing on the moon with a stick from earth, What ramifications it would have if humans had wings, how to explain left to an alien, or if filling the grand canyon with melted water from the melting ice caps would solve anything, this would be something that I think you would enjoy. It’s a light-hearted fun way to make science interesting, and a lot of fun.

Lateral

Lateral is Tom Scott’s gameshow podcast, and if you enjoy british panel shows this one is one that is quite fun. It’s a lateral thinking quiz show, and just brings up a lot of amusing and interesting small things to think about that I just don’t come across very often, the guests are mostly also very endearing, and it’s just an enjoyable fun time in general.

Citation needed

Citation Needed is another podcast with a fun premise, kind of playing off of how podcasters are “expert” in things, the premise of this one is that for each episode one host is doing “research” by reading through a wikipedia page, and then presenting an essay for the rest of the hosts. They have kind of a crass crude humour, but I enjoy it, it’s kind of a guilty pleasure for me, but it’s a fun way to touch on some new theme that you wouldn’t think you were interesting, or just having fun listening to 4-5 guys making stupid jokes for 30 minutes.

372 Pages

372 Pages we won’t get back, is one that I found after having read ready player one, and not enjoying the book very much, finding it to be kind of stupid, and that’s basically the thing that they do in this podcast, they read books they probably won’t like, and make fun of them. It’s a fun time, varying a bit in how silly the book they read is, but I do mostly enjoy it a lot, my favourite section being fact or fan fiction, where the one host presents the other with 5 different extracts from the book and weird outlandish fan fiction, and the other must guess if it’s an upcoming thing from the book, or fanfiction written by a listener.

Rekommandert

Rekommandert probably is the most niche podcast on the big list here, since it’s in Norwegian, so most people probably won’t understand much of what is going on, but it’s an interview Podcast by Kristopher Schau where he invites a guest in to deep dive into a niche topic that they burn for, and he’s asking questions, it’s just a fun time, and it’s always fun to listen to an expert talking about something that they burn for.

Skepticism

Skeptics guide to the Universe

Skeptics guide to the universe is one that I’ve been listening to for a long time, it’s probably the one that has been in my rotation for the longest of everything, while they do have a tendency to be a bit too tech positive, and jump on some hype trains more than I enjoy they just are fun to listen to, and I keep on really enjoying the little quiz at the end of each episode where they try to find the fiction from the truth in statements. It’s one that is a bit more hit and miss for me again depending on the themes. But all in all I keep on listening, and I do watch out a bit with some of the things they sound too positive about, but I keep on listening.

Skeptics with a K

Skeptics with a K is kind of the British version of the Skeptics guide, and the podcast is a bit less polished and regimented than it, but I also kind of feel more trustful of them, they are also fun to listen to, and they are following more of a one theme an episode rather than being more of a news show, which means that they are less hyped, and each episode can be very different, very much one that I enjoy when it comes into my feed.

Skepticrat

Skepticrat is kind of a fun podcast mostly discussing some news, mostly from the US because of the hosts, it’s a kind of funny show with some jokey sub-tone, it’s a good time, and it’s nice to hear news from people that feel like they have a soul.

Atheism

This is probably the group of podcasts that has seen the most churn for me, as it’s hard to find the right mix of someone that gets outraged enough without being too obnoxious, but here are the ones that are currently in my rotation.

Friendly Atheist

Friendly Atheist is another podcast that follows the one informed host one outraged one. And it is one that I have a lot of fondness for, Hemant has been in this game for an extremely long time, and he’s the source for a lot of atheist news in the US, and Jess just is a really good outlet for the extremely measured delivery, bringing in the outrage, and making it be a lot less dry than it would be without her.

Scathing Atheist

The Scathing Atheist is probably one of the flagship podcast of Puzzle in a thunderstorm, Noah, Heath, and Eli is doing a fun summation of the most outrageous religion news from the us the last week, before they are having a rotating segment that is usually religious book reviews, or a blasphemous audi reenactment of the bible or something else. This just balances nicely about being a fun outlet for frustrations I have with religions, while at the same time not being too edgy and reply bro-ey I mostly stay more for the hosts than anything, it’s just a fun time.

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance is kind of hard to place, it lies somewhere between religion critics and a news round up, and does have some rather crude humour, but mostly in a good way. It’s one that really was a release valve for me because I got so dissillusioned with religion critics being either extremely dry and boring or too edgy reply bro stuff, Tom and Cecil are just fun to listen to, they have a good amount of outrage and crude humour that is nice to get some outlet for at times.

God Awful Movies

God Awful Movies is a podcast reviewing (mostly) christian movies, and making fun of them, it’s enjoyable, and it’s a fun listen, bad media review things does feel kind of fun, and some of the ones that they have here really makes you wonder how they exist in the first place. It’s enjoyable and often kind of stupid or bewildering, it’s a weird look into american culture at times. So much weird stuff.

Honerable mentions

Here are some other podcasts that I do listen to, that I thought was worth a mention, but not really a big one :p