The Podcast Hour for Saturday 15 December 2018
The Podcast Hour for Saturday 15 December 2018
'Unspooled' dissects the top 100 films ever made. The mysterious death of a high-ranking Nazi is investigated in 'The Ratline'. 'Freakonomics Radio' asks the question; do open plan offices (help us) work? And 'No Feeling Is Final' offers a powerful account of living with a mental illness.
Unspooled: dissecting the top 100 films ever made
Unspooled logo (Supplied) Photo: Supplied
If you're into films and listening to clued-up people talking about them, then do check out 'Unspooled'.
In each episode the film critic Amy Nicholson and the actor, comedian, and all-round movie buff Paul Scheer take a film from the American Film Institute's Top 100 list, and pull it apart.
I've listened to episodes recently about Apocalypse Now, 2001: A Space Odyssey, ET, and Taxi Driver. We play some of their take on Number 83 on the AFI list: James Cameron's 1997 epic Titanic starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Unspooled is presented by Amy Nicholson and Paul Scheer and produced by Josh Richmond for Earwolf.
The mysterious death of a high-ranking Nazi: The Ratline
The Ratline Logo (Supplied) Photo: Supplied
Jackie McMillan's an avid podcast listener who emailed us at pods@rnz.co.nz about a new favourite of hers, a recently released BBC series called' The Ratline'.
The Ratline tries to uncover the truth about a senior Nazi, Baron Otto Gustav von Wächter, who disappeared after the Second World War, then died in mysterious circumstances in Italy.
We play some of Episode 1 of The Ratline called 'The Secrets In The Castle' presented by Philippe Sands, produced by Gemma Newby for BBC Radio 4 and the editor is Hugh Levinson.
Freakonomics Radio: How could open-plan offices be less terrible?
'American journalist Stephen J Dubner explores the "hidden side of everything" with "Nobel laureates, provocateurs, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and various other underachievers" in the super-popular podcast Freakonomics Radio.
Photo: (Photo by Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash)
In the recent episode Yes, the Open Office Is Terrible — But It Doesn’t Have to Be, Dubner looks at the history of office design, why today's open offices are often "a nightmare of noise and discomfort" and whether they can be saved.
Stephen J Dubner Photo: Troy Tuttle
One of Dubner's regular guests is the economist Steven Levitt with whom he wrote the 2005 nonfiction bestseller Freakonomics, which he calls "a book about cheating teachers, bizarre baby names, self-dealing Realtors, and crack-selling mama’s boys".
Listen to 'Yes, the Open Office Is Terrible — But It Doesn’t Have to Be' in full below:
In the special series The Secret Life of a CEO, Dubner speaks to the leaders of some of the biggest companies in the world, including Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Richard Branson(Virgin) and Ellen Pao (Reddit).
Listen to episode one - 'What Does a CEO Actually Do' - below:
A powerful account of mental illness: No Feeling Is Final
No Feeling Is Final logo (Supplied) Photo: Supplied
In 'No Feeling is Final ' from the ABC the writer and podcaster Honor Eastly presents a highly personal account of her experiences of living with anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
To repeat the warning that Honor gives her listeners before each episode, her story touches on 'heavy lifting feelings territory including what it's like to feel so hopeless that you want to die'.
The show weaves together years' worth of audio diaries with scripted narrative and recreations of scenes from her past. It creates a moving memoir about mental health that's difficult and heartbreaking and confronting at times, but also speaks powerfully and with humour about the experience of living with a cruel voice in your head that's always trying to put you down.
We play some of Episode 1 of 'No Feeling Is Final' from the ABC called The Voice presented by Honor Eastly, produced by Alice Moldovan, the sound engineer's Russell Stapleton, and the Executive Producer is Joel Werner.