Be Excellent To Each Other

One of the things I've attempted in the past has been to read the Bible, or at least key bits of it. So much of the music, art, literature, and quiz answers I love relies on references and imagery from that famous best-seller that I think gaining a basic knowledge of at least some of it would improve my understanding and appreciation of culture. On the times I've tried, the furthest I've got is somewhere in Leviticus before giving up.

I recently heard about a podcast called Apocrypals that's been running since 2018. It describes itself as a podcast "where two non-believers read through the Bible but aren't, you know, jerks about it".

As the hosts work in the comic book industry, they approach it as comic book fans, and surprisingly this works. Whether or not you believe in Batman, there's mountains of canon, some contradictory, some absurd, and then there's an entire expanded universe that fills in the gaps and provides further adventures and back stories. So not only do are they covering the Old and New Testaments, but also as much apocrypha as they can find. It's not about mocking people's beliefs, but exploring and engaging with the text, just as we might argue about our favourite franchises.

I initially skipped the introductory episode about the hosts' backgrounds as I wanted to see if the format worked for me. I was hooked by the early stages of the first proper episode, on Acts, and the hosts' reaction to the surprise death of a major character that I'd never heard about before. I've sometimes been tempted to check out particular verses just to confirm that yes, in Mark we do indeed hear about Jesus's magic spit.

If you fancy something different, and which might if anything help you with quizzes and knowing who begat who, it's worth giving it a go.

Today's Private Passions has a fascinating discussion about sleep. Really interesting.

Welcome return to ISIHAC yesterday.

Went to see 'No Such thing as a fish' being recorded with @gazchap. It was a great show and I will have to start listening more

Excellent! I've seen a couple of their live shows in the past but think I missed the Oxford date on this tour.

Used to listen to "No Such thing..." loads but it's fallen out of my regular podcast cycle; will have to make up next time I've a long drive.

I listen intermittently, and found this episode of The Word really interesting, with bassist Jon Illsley talking about Dire Straits. Their label hoped to sell 5,000 copies of their first album, then they got news that in The Netherlands they'd already sold 25,000. He's just written a book on the subject, hence the interview.

http://wordpodcast.co.uk/2021/12/03/pod ... its-story/

@kern, I’m sure Russell said that you were speaking of a podcast where two people read through the bible and all of its side-quests as if they were reviewing a comic book? I really fancy the sound of it but can’t find the post. Could you please remind me of the title?

Edit: ignore that. I think it did t load this page properly . Was going to just delete the post but then didn’t want you getting an email saying that I’d tagged you in aloos then deleted it and blablabla.

Apocrypals

My post from September

Got it on now. Shall listen to a few episodes. Thank you

Binge-listened all six episodes of this today, available from where your podcasts usually live:

https://www.tortoisemedia.com/listen/sweet-bobby/

Six expose and investigative episodes about how a young woman loses 13 years of her life to a catfish, with the victim and some of the other people involved. Excellent and terrifying.

Radio 3's Petroc Trelwany just posted about this on Twitter but thought I'd share it here.

All 29 hours of an early 1980s RTE radio production of Ulysses is downloadable.

Quite tempted to save this for my next big trip. It's something I've always wanted to try, and have attempted several times. As far as I know, the TL;DR is "Leopold Bloom has a tough day in Dublin; the reader, moreso".

If you're in the mood for something silly, then Atlas Avenue Beat is worth your time. It's a detective noir audio play that plays it mostly straight but then dips into utter lunacy from time to time. The secretary (who is basically Harley Quinn) is a highlight.

Former forummer Chinny has a very special guest on his podcast this week!

Chinnys podcast

Alan Sugar?

I'll definitely give that a listen.

Best podcast ever.

Really enjoyed that, TheV - kept me company on a couple of miles of a walk in the peaks earlier: glorious.

I like Song Exploder, which takes a single song and has the performer talk us through it. It's introduced me to some music I'd not heard before - you might like the latest one.

https://songexploder.net

There's about 8 episodes on Netflix as well as a TV show. I particularly liked the REM one.

Petroc Trelawney's week-long tour of the Great Glen on the Radio 3 Breakfast show this week is captivating radio. He's got the right mix of evocative ambient sound, descriptions of the landscape, interviews with locals, appropriate music, and live performances. I never knew I wanted to hear a hydrophone record the sounds of Loch Ness early in the morning but it worked. His enthusiasm for each location is infectious.

Excellent piece of broadcasting and a very peaceful way to greet summer mornings.

Fans of the Podcast "Serial" Season 1. Have you seen the news?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62963466

Yes! And new episode tomorrow, apparently.

Twenty-three years!

Episode out! https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s ... 0580043213

The new ep is up: https://serialpodcast.org/season-one/13/adnan-is-out

New Alan Partridge from the Oasthouse is out.

Am part way through Act Three of Sandman on Audible. This morning I listened to the Corinthian eat an orangutan's eyeballs. Not what I needed at 7am.

The new episode of Criminal has just landed, and it’s about Ghostwatch. I never saw Ghostwatch, but I have had it described to me a few times, so I’m going to give it a listen and thought it might interest a few folks here.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c ... 0583397233

That’s the Apple Podcasts link, but it’s episode 199 of Criminal if you get your podcasts elsewhere.

That podcast has ripped off Serial in style quite impressively.

I enjoyed the episode, but more than half of it was not about Ghostwatch

I like them both, but Criminal predates Serial, so probably not.



Yes, part of the episode was not about Ghostwatch Specifically, but brought in references like War Of The Worlds, etc, which I think are very closely related as phenomena. I didn’t see the Ghostwatch show, but I remember seeing a Paul Daniels special on TV where he was seemingly crushed by a vertical bed of nails and the show pulled off air, and I found it terrifying. I feel I would have been about 8 years old but knowing me I was probably 14 or something.

Oh no, this suggests I was actually eight

https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/is-this-pau ... 17535.html

Also a Halloween special.

I remember that Paul Daniels stunt. I think he did something similar with his son a few years later as well. Pretending that his son had drowned on live TV was bit much

Oh gosh, really? Yeah, I don’t remember that second one but that’s a step into the very uncomfortable.

Since I can't find anything in the internet about it happening, I may actually have made that one up!

I also think the trick fails because it doesn't resolve. We, the audience, want to see that Daniels is ok. By not opening the box, we feel either cheated (could just be the camera) or horrified (he got splattered).

If I was at the theatre and he tried that trick with that ending, I wouldn't be leaving thinking how ace the magician was, I'd be worried about the stage crew spending the get out mopping up blood.

Wasn't there one that ended with a burning skeleton?

On a light Paul Daniels note, I remember watching a show, where he used a child from the audience that went to my primary school (she was the sister of one of my brother's classmates - boring un-needed detail fans).

Her name was Blue (her oldest sister was Sky, and younger brother was Day) and this quite confused Paul Daniels for a little bit (or he pretended to be confused for the laughs). I remember at the time being quite pleased that a fellow student was on TV, even if she was a couple of years younger than me.

Ah, I've found the clip on youtube (a lot of PD's stuff seems to be on there)

https://youtu.be/vXA5DuQivTk?t=1347

fast forward to about 22 and 1/2 minutes

The final series of My Dad Wrote A Porno started today.

Ambridge news now!

Absolutely fascinating episode of the This Is Actually Happening podcast, where the subject suffers a terrifying mental illness and total breakdown after a bad trip, gets full disassociation and depersonalisation, and cures himself with gaming.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t ... 0570451901

Welcome revival of Room 101 on Radio 4 with Paul Merton returning to host.

So glad it's returned to its original format - the three-person Frank Skinner version ought to be consigned to the famous vault and never spoken of again.

Frank Skinner himself is a relic of the 90s lad culture and needs to be quietly retired. His demeanour on the radio is sleep inducing.

On the rare occasion I listen to the radio, It's often one of the Absolute Radio channels whilst on a car journey, and it happens to be Frank Skinner on, I tend to go looking for something else. I really can't stand his Radio Personality, and I tend to like him on the whole.

I wasn't that keen on his Room 101 either, but I think that was the format rather than him.

Wait, hang on, many people are being wrong here! Still an avid listener to Skinner's Absolute podcast, even as I've realised they aren't kidding about him being a bit of a git irl, and the way Alun Cochrun was defenestrated was a bit brutal (though his own schtick of being a voice of reason - based on little knowledge or understanding - was getting a bit dull).

I watched a really good documentary on music hall a few years back that Skinner presented. I felt he was very competent and engaging apart from the moments where he was trying to be funny.

I was in a park (I’m pretty certain it was Hampstead Heath, but it was a long time ago) and Frank Skinner was there with a woman much younger than himself (in her 20s, maybe, so maybe a daughter or young ‘acquaintance’) and he was talking to her as if she was an absolute piece of shit. I mean, maybe three times in my life have I heard someone openly talking to another person like that in public. I was walking with with a security guard at the time and every time I see or hear of Skinner I have fleeting, sinking regrets that we did not go over and ask this young woman in floods of years if she was ok or needed any assistance.

So, as well as finding him deeply unfunny I also think he is a complete POS.

I'm not able to judge how funny he is because his nasal drone is so boring I literally can't bare to listen to him.

It's a shame because, as a fully paid-up lager-drinking, Loaded-reading, bucket-hat-wearing 90's LAD, I used to love Fantasy Football League.

At least Baddiel turned out okay.

Have I mentioned Welcome to Nightvale in this thread? If I haven't, I should have. For all your surreal horror comedy needs.

Just don't look at the dog park.

I've listened to it for years, and that must be from a recommendation here. So yes, somewhere, you have, thanks.