Today's pick comes from the land of iTunes. As I logged in I quested to find a random podcast to review. In my explorations, I discovered The Household Helper.
Why would the Household Helper catch my eye? My house is a mess. A huge mess. I have 4 dogs, 4 cats, and me. That would cause any domicile to look like a thermonuclear exchange between two warring pet factions took place.
I fired up the podcast hoping for some good tips to use to help keep m house in shape. Unfortunately the podcast did not live up to my hopes. It does have a nugget of good information, but I feel it is a bit too short. It could stand to be about 30 minutes in length. The Podcast could also stand a bit less repetition. It does lean toward beating a dead horse on some topics, but those are some topics worth repeating a time or two. For educational material, I would like to have a few more actionable suggestions in the podcast and a little less personal anecdotes.
In addition to the content concerns, the production concerns are also a hindrance to enjoyment. The audio is soft and static at times. I have to have my volume pumped up to max to hear it at an easily understood level.
Overall, I believe it is a good start of a podcast. The Household Helper is a young podcast, so the content and production issues can be chalked up to learning the podcast process. If this were a long standing podcast with the same content and production issues, I would pass this podcast right on by. Though it is a young podcast just getting it's legs all worked out, I think I will check back in a few months to see how it is progressing. It has the potential to become a regular, but it needs to offer more at a higher quality.
Name:
The Household Helper
Length:
15-20 Mins
Frequency:
Weekly
Site:
http://thehouseholdhelper.com/podcast/
Audience:
Anyone trying to live a cleaner, more organized life
Rating:
5/10
Showing posts with label friday-podcast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friday-podcast. Show all posts
08 February 2008
01 February 2008
Friday Podcast #2: Wait wait, it's the Friday Podcast!
After opening up with a nice barrage of geekieness with TWiT, this week I aim to do a podcast with a little more general appeal.
From National Public Radio, Wait Wait... don't tell me! Wait Wait is a radio news quiz show that airs on NPR. The podcast is the quiz show minus commercials in a spicy podcast sauce.
What do they quiz you on? The News! All of it. From pop news to politics to some of the weirdest news reports I have ever heard of, this show has em all. The questions are posed to the hopeful competitors in a variety of games they can play for the ultimate in news quiz prizes, the announcer's voice on your home answering machine! If you win one of the games, the announcer will create a custom outgoing voice mail greeting just for you. Impress your friends with your fancy prize with each call you dreamily screen to voice mail.
In order to win the prize, you first have to win one of the Wait Wait games. One caller could be faced with answering two out of three questions about the news for the price. Another might have to complete limericks on news topics give by the announcer. Yet another caller might have to guess which story out of three outlandish news events is the real one. Yet another prize hopeful would have to cheer on a celebrity guest as the famous person puts it all on the line to win the prize for them. The questions make you think, laugh, and in some cases wish to that it can't be true.
Above and beyond hearing people compete for the vocal talent of announcer Carl Kasell, a highlight of the show and podcast is the celebrities that come on the show.
Each and every show has a 3 person panel of celebrities that try to help the contestant, provide some hilarious commentary, and try to win points so they can be deemed panel champ for the week. They don't win any prize; they do it for the NPR news quiz glory of being deemed champion. I personally am a huge fan of panelists Tom Bodett, Paula Poundstone, and Mo Rocca.
While the panelists can be known to a few people here and there, every episode has a celebrity come on to play a news game called Not My Job. It's a two out of three question game that they play on behalf of a randomly drawn Wait Wait listener. If they win for the contestant, the celebrity gets nothing, but the listener gets Carl on their home answering machine. The folks who come on to play this game come from all over the place on the celebrity spectrum. They've had presidential candidates (including my top pick, Mike Gravel), Ted Koppel, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Tom Hanks, James Lipton, and tons more on to play the game. It's a great chance to hear some more about big names in the news and to hear them sweat through the questions, which are tailor made to be on a topic they would know very little about to make it even better for those listening.
For my house, this is hands down our favorite podcast. I know my wife doesn't normally dig my techie podcasts much, but she loves this one. It has wide appeal and really should be a standard entry on your podcast list.
Name:
Wait Wait... don't tell me
Length:
50 mins
Frequency:
Weekly
Site:
http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/index.html
Audience:
All ages.
Rating:
10/10
With my two main favorites out of the gates, next week I am going to pick a random podcast from the Internet and review it for you, good or bad. I am pondering making this the format for the Friday Podcasts. One week will be a new podcast to me, the next week will be a pick of the week out of my normal podcast lineup. Also if you have any podcasts I should check out, leave me a note and I'll get em on a review!
From National Public Radio, Wait Wait... don't tell me! Wait Wait is a radio news quiz show that airs on NPR. The podcast is the quiz show minus commercials in a spicy podcast sauce.
What do they quiz you on? The News! All of it. From pop news to politics to some of the weirdest news reports I have ever heard of, this show has em all. The questions are posed to the hopeful competitors in a variety of games they can play for the ultimate in news quiz prizes, the announcer's voice on your home answering machine! If you win one of the games, the announcer will create a custom outgoing voice mail greeting just for you. Impress your friends with your fancy prize with each call you dreamily screen to voice mail.
In order to win the prize, you first have to win one of the Wait Wait games. One caller could be faced with answering two out of three questions about the news for the price. Another might have to complete limericks on news topics give by the announcer. Yet another caller might have to guess which story out of three outlandish news events is the real one. Yet another prize hopeful would have to cheer on a celebrity guest as the famous person puts it all on the line to win the prize for them. The questions make you think, laugh, and in some cases wish to
Above and beyond hearing people compete for the vocal talent of announcer Carl Kasell, a highlight of the show and podcast is the celebrities that come on the show.
Each and every show has a 3 person panel of celebrities that try to help the contestant, provide some hilarious commentary, and try to win points so they can be deemed panel champ for the week. They don't win any prize; they do it for the NPR news quiz glory of being deemed champion. I personally am a huge fan of panelists Tom Bodett, Paula Poundstone, and Mo Rocca.
While the panelists can be known to a few people here and there, every episode has a celebrity come on to play a news game called Not My Job. It's a two out of three question game that they play on behalf of a randomly drawn Wait Wait listener. If they win for the contestant, the celebrity gets nothing, but the listener gets Carl on their home answering machine. The folks who come on to play this game come from all over the place on the celebrity spectrum. They've had presidential candidates (including my top pick, Mike Gravel), Ted Koppel, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Tom Hanks, James Lipton, and tons more on to play the game. It's a great chance to hear some more about big names in the news and to hear them sweat through the questions, which are tailor made to be on a topic they would know very little about to make it even better for those listening.
For my house, this is hands down our favorite podcast. I know my wife doesn't normally dig my techie podcasts much, but she loves this one. It has wide appeal and really should be a standard entry on your podcast list.
Name:
Wait Wait... don't tell me
Length:
50 mins
Frequency:
Weekly
Site:
http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/index.html
Audience:
All ages.
Rating:
10/10
With my two main favorites out of the gates, next week I am going to pick a random podcast from the Internet and review it for you, good or bad. I am pondering making this the format for the Friday Podcasts. One week will be a new podcast to me, the next week will be a pick of the week out of my normal podcast lineup. Also if you have any podcasts I should check out, leave me a note and I'll get em on a review!
25 January 2008
The Friday Podcast #1: TWiT
This blog needs an enema!
In lieu of an enema (because I am sure my readers would be horrified at the process of giving a blog an enema), I'll be starting up a regular series of posts on my blog. Lucia does Sweater Thursday, 11frogs started up Essay Tuesday (which I am still working on this weeks one. What word would describe me. Ideas?), and now I do Podcast Fridays!
Every Friday I will strive to review a podcast I listen to or have randomly found on the Internet. The podcasts will range from tech podcasts to game podcasts to pet podcasts to current event podcasts to sex chat podcasts. If you have some suggestions for podcasts for me to checkout, leave a comment or shoot me an email.
My first podcast to review is a favorite of mine, TWiT!
Name:
TWiT (This Week in Tech)
Length:
1 hour, +/- 15 mins
Frequency:
Weekly
Site:
http://twit.tv/twit
Audience:
Geeks, Mac enthusiasts, Gadget early adopters, technology activists
Rating:
8/10
This Week in Tech is run by Leo Laporte. Leo is a formal star of The Screen Savers on Tech TV. He is well known for helping people out with technology and getting it to work for them. The podcast is run by Leo and has a wide range of folks who join in. From the cranky John Dvorak (http://www.dvorak.org/blog/) to top editors from CNET to Cali Lewis from GeekBrief.TV (a future Friday Podcast review) and more. Topics range from tech politics, new technologies, upcoming tech trends, book recommendations, and the weird of the web. It is a great tech podcast to find out what new gadgets are coming up, what technology is emerging to watch out for, and what political issues are popping up with the technology and society.
In lieu of an enema (because I am sure my readers would be horrified at the process of giving a blog an enema), I'll be starting up a regular series of posts on my blog. Lucia does Sweater Thursday, 11frogs started up Essay Tuesday (which I am still working on this weeks one. What word would describe me. Ideas?), and now I do Podcast Fridays!
Every Friday I will strive to review a podcast I listen to or have randomly found on the Internet. The podcasts will range from tech podcasts to game podcasts to pet podcasts to current event podcasts to sex chat podcasts. If you have some suggestions for podcasts for me to checkout, leave a comment or shoot me an email.
My first podcast to review is a favorite of mine, TWiT!
Name:
TWiT (This Week in Tech)
Length:
1 hour, +/- 15 mins
Frequency:
Weekly
Site:
http://twit.tv/twit
Audience:
Geeks, Mac enthusiasts, Gadget early adopters, technology activists
Rating:
8/10
This Week in Tech is run by Leo Laporte. Leo is a formal star of The Screen Savers on Tech TV. He is well known for helping people out with technology and getting it to work for them. The podcast is run by Leo and has a wide range of folks who join in. From the cranky John Dvorak (http://www.dvorak.org/blog/) to top editors from CNET to Cali Lewis from GeekBrief.TV (a future Friday Podcast review) and more. Topics range from tech politics, new technologies, upcoming tech trends, book recommendations, and the weird of the web. It is a great tech podcast to find out what new gadgets are coming up, what technology is emerging to watch out for, and what political issues are popping up with the technology and society.
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