Hello, world — it’s been a hot minute since my last podcast blog post so I figured it’s time to update you on what I’m listening to now! It’s actually been a while since my last blog post, period. As it turns out, finishing university then promptly moving to Toronto and starting a new job is tiring and great but also mostly tiring. I found out for myself that it’s very easy to fall into a monotonous pattern of work -> come home -> flop on the bed with the cat and watch Netflix while ignoring other responsibilities -> repeat.

And now I’m back because I missed writing and have so much backlog of content ideas to work through. First up is this post, which is a follow-up to my previous podcasts blog post and has been sitting in my drafts for the better part of four months (oops).

My favourite podcasts from the last year are, in no particular order:

DTR – The Official Tinder Podcast

In my last year of university, I took a course on dating and modern romance. Partly because some of my lovely friends were also taking it, partly because I was/am woefully ignorant on the finer details of modern dating, and mostly because it was a supposedly a bird course. While researching for that course I found this podcast which is a partnership between Tinder and Gimlet Media (no surprise there).  Important to note is that I have had no need to delve into the terrible world that is modern dating because I have been dating my human shield Mike since high school. DTR (which stands for Define The Relationship) is my window into this world and I have to say that I don’t think I have the self-esteem for modern dating.

DTR is super interesting and gets into exactly the topics you think we need more discourse on, like dick pics (episode 2). I’d swipe right on this podcast.

No Such Thing as a Fish

Otherwise referred to as No Such Thing, or Fish, this is a great trivia podcast where the hosts have a never-ending supply of puns, quips, and British accents. It’s light and always making me giggle to myself on a packed subway car or the grocery store. I truly wish I could be as quippy as they are but it seems to be an innate British characteristic that you can’t quite learn. At the very least you’ll always be ready with super interesting trivia to pull out during the next awkward silence on a first date.

99% Invisible 

I am never more aware of how little I know about the world around me as I am while listening to 99pi. This show is all about the architecture and design of our world and the history of things. That was admittedly, a terrible way to describe an amazing podcast. I will instead just recommend a couple of my favourite episodes and let Roman Mars do the explaining.

Articles of Interest – a mini-series within the podcast where they talk about the history of clothing and how each piece impacted our lives. My favourite one in this series is the one on blue jeans.

Barcodes – how often do you actually think about the invention of the barcode?

Inflatable Men – where did these come from? Why are they in ever used car lot that I’ve ever seen?

Twenty Thousand Hertz

This podcast is all about the sounds we hear, which is obviously extremely funny to me due to the nature of podcasts.

Some of my favourite episodes include:

Sonic Branding – even the idea that we can brand a specific sound, or a series of sounds is something that really fascinates me. Somewhere out there right now is a team of people analyzing the most potent string of notes to represent a company brand.

Hamilton – it’s not just half an hour of gushing over Lin Manuel but I’d listen to that too. This episode is about the nuances of theatre sound design and how intricate a production of Hamilton is each night.

Siri – obviously can’t recommend 20k without mentioning their first episode which was on the voice of Siri, how they chose the woman, and how spooky we’re getting with technology.

How I Built This

Ever want to pick the brains of some of the smartest and most successful people in this world? NPR does that with HIBT, talking with founders and CEOs of hugely recognizable companies about their lives, their ideas, and ultimately what it took for them to build their empires.

These are among some of my personal favourites, largely because I found the guests to be the most engaging and personable.

Rent the Runway, LARABAR, The Knot, and of course Dyson (my current employer).

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I hope you give one of these shows a chance because I really enjoy their content and want others to listen to it too! Granted if you were to start catching up on all of these episodes it would take you forever so I’m going to leave you with one tip for efficient listening, gleefully stolen from Mike. If you don’t already, start listening to your podcasts sped up.

Depending on the pace of the show, I have my podcasts set to anywhere from 1.4x to 2x speed. It took a bit of adjustment at first but now when I listen to these episodes at regular speed it seems to be going unbearably slowly. Your mileage may vary. My podcast app (Pocket Casts) also has a setting to trim silences and since turning on the feature it estimates that I have saved over 5 hours which is pretty neat.

Happy listening!

Vicky