Listening Chronicles #14
Listening Chronicles #14
A series documenting some thoughts on the podcasts I've been listening to and those I would recommend
Hello,
I know so many of us are going through difficult times.
It is only the beginning of June, however it feels like a year has passed and I’ve actually aged a bit. Podcasts for me have often been a place where I found a lot of comfort. I would listen to podcast episodes when I was incredibly confused, or if I felt burdened and worried. They often help calm me down and take my mind to a better place.
This edition features some episodes I’ve heard during the last couple of weeks, that has helped me get by.
Podcasts I Listened To
70 over 70 | Prologue, “What if Fire is Just Love?” with Sister Helen and “Slowly Is The Fastest Way to Get to Where You Want to Be” with André De Shields
Max Linsky is the co-host of Longform podcast, one of my favourite interview shows. He recently said he’s launched a new interview and conversation series with an interesting premise - all guests on the show are people who are above the age of 70.
I already love the premise. Too often, we’re listening to conversations with people who are in their 30s/40s i.e. those who haven’t even lived most of their lives yet, so it’s refreshing that this podcast does something different.
It starts off with a conversation with someone who’s known him the longest his father. And then you have two guests, Sister Helen - someone who’s been working against the death penalty for decades and André De Shields, a broadway actor for over 50 years.
I really found these episodes to be comforting, particularly at a time when there was a lot of chaos around me. Listening to these people, gave me some hope about the times to come. I’ll leave you with something I came across only because of the episode with André - 3 cardinal rules of longevity.
"1) Surround yourself with people who's eyes light up when they see you coming.
2) Slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be.
3) The top of one mountain is the bottom of the next so keep climbing."
Jack of All Knowledge | Nirmal Bhansali
Plugging a friends’ podcast where I was a guest. It’s the first time I was on the receiving end of questions. I speak about my love for podcasts and talk a bit about my experience in going to law school, and how I tackled the problem of choice paralysis (spoiler alert: I didn’t tackle it well).
This American Life | Daily
This American Life makes a 3 act episode about the different daily rituals that some people/groups have been taking part in during the last year. It is a lot of fun and weird as well.
I loved listening to this episode. It’s an hour long, I enjoyed it all the way till the end.
The Colin and Samir Show | The Mr Beast Interview: Spending millions of dollars for billions of Views
I enjoy YouTube. Love watching videos and creators make content. The Colin and Samir (YouTube channel and podcast) essentially talk about the creator economy and the trends in that space. They have amazing videos breaking down different aspects of TikTok trends, how creators make money, what kind of YouTube analytics to pay attention to etc. The also host a podcast, where they regularly get different YouTube creators to talk about their channel - the way they think, how they approach making videos etc.
This one features Mr. Beast (it’s actually their 2nd interview, check out the first one as well). Mr. Beast’s main channel has over 50 million subscribers and he’s been viewed over 2 billion times on YouTube. He lives for and dies for YouTube and has perhaps cracked the algorithm in a way that no one has.
This episode is a breakdown about how much money he spends and what his plans are for the variety of businesses he started while being a creator. Honestly, it’s just fun listening to Mr. Beast speak and discuss his ideas - they’re crazy.
(Another episode worth checking out is with Airrack - a creator who uploaded his first video in Jan 2020 with 0 subscribers, and eventually reached 1 Million subscribers by December 2020. I’ll leave it there, definitely check it out.)
That’s it for this edition !
I recently released a set of short episodes that deal with poetry. Do check them out as well !
Let me know what you think, which podcasts have you been listening to and what would you recommend?
Happy Listening !
Nirmal Bhansali