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The podcast marketplace is overstuffed with comedians goofing off, insubstantial interview shows, longwinded human interests stories, and current event deep-dives. But there are plenty of podcasts out there that focus on informational or historical content that can provide deep insight, reveal new perspectives on things you thought you knew, or just can shine some factual light on interesting subjects. Here are a few of my favorites: Hardcore History The mother of all history podcasts, Dan Carlin goes in depth in a way that most podcasts don’t even approach. From 20+ hour series on the fall of the Roman republic and the rise of the Mongol Empires to one-off shows on the impact of drugs and alcohol on history and the great lies of our past, Carlin attempts to take a well-rounded look at our collective history. My recommended first episode: It’s gotta be Death Throes of the Roman Republic: Part I. The rest of the series continues on for quite some time, but this really lets you sink your teeth into Carlin’s style. Stuff You Missed in History Class The people from How Stuff Works tackle a topic each week about the bits of history that have slipped through the cracks including how influential Nikola Tesla actually was, the early wars between rival paleontologists, India’s own Joan of Arc, the actual historical accounts of Spring Heeled Jack, the “Indiana Jones of Botany”, and much, much more. Good research, interesting subjects, and charismatic hosts. My recommended first episode: You really can’t go wrong here, but a recent favorite of mine was the story behind the woman behind Madame Tussad’s wax museum. In Our Time Actually a BBC Radio 4 broadcast, each week Melvyn Bragg gets together with three expert University professors to discuss a new topic relating to culture, history, philosophy, religion, or science. Dry, but extremely informative. My recommended first episode: Think you know about the Library of Alexandria? You’re probably wrong. This American Life I’d be remiss to not include This American Life, Ira Glass’s show that tells the true stories of (usually) real people based on a weekly theme. Incredible storytelling and editing, amazing insight into other slices of life. My recommended first episode: Honestly, they’re all incredible. The first one I saw in the archive that jumped out to me was Switcheroo Skeptoid Brian Dunning turns a skeptical eye on conspiracy theories, popular misconceptions, and historical mysteries. From Bigfoot and Lost Cosmonauts to organic farming and pit bull attacks, Brian systematically breaks down not only the history of these myths and fabrications, but the poor arguments and logical fallacies behind their supporters perspectives. My recommended first episode: His recent episode on The Bermuda Triangle really opened my eyes to the myth in a way I’d never heard anyone approach it before. History of Rome It’s right there in the name. You can’t get much more straightforward than that: Mike Duncan breaks down the history of Rome in chronological order. A little dry, but in a good way. My recommended first episode: Right at number one. China History Podcast Similar to the History of Rome podcast, but without the chronological order. My recommended first episode: Can’t go wrong with The Ming Dynasty. Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir Fantastic discussion of classic film noir without the bad jokes and uneducated perspectives you get with most film podcasts. Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards are actual experts on the subject, and really go in depth when it comes to the films involved. My recommended first episode: Can’t go wrong with everyone’s favorite neo-noir, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Though if you’re in the mood for more classic fare, nobody could object to The Maltese Falcon. The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith Jeff Goldsmith gets access to some of the most interesting screenwriters in Hollywood and tries to get in depth in the process of how they wrote their scripts, and how the films translated from page to screen. He’s publishing a new iPad magazine these days, so he’s often able to get the screenwriters from very recent big movies. Amazing insight. My recommended first episode: The first one that really blew my mind was the Rise of the Planet of the Apes one. Radiolab Despite having its own thread, it's worth including: Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich provide short documentary pieces with the sort of kinetic energy and editing that most podcasts lack. Their podcasts tend to focus on science, often with the philosophical implications thereof. My recommended first episode: Again, can’t really go wrong. Talking to Machines is one of my personal favorites off the top of my head, though. e: quote:Zorak wrote: If anyone else want to contribute podcasts and blurbs for the OP, let me know! I'd prefer this to steer away from podcasts with lots of jokes or banter, but if you absolutely love a podcast that has either but is also primarily informative go for it. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 12:50 on Sep 6, 2018 |
# ¿ Feb 6, 2013 08:56 |
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# ¿ Mar 28, 2024 23:24 |
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MostlyLucid posted:Naked Astronomy - one of many Astronomy podcasts. Going to listen to this now after having listened to a bunch of Astronomy Cast. What I like about Astronomy Cast is how wide they cast their net. I particularly enjoyed their five part series on the history of astronomy and them covering interstellar travel, as well as their three part series on Mars which, unlike other astronomy podcasts I've seen, covers things like the colonization of Mars and terraforming Mars. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Mar 4, 2013 |
# ¿ Mar 4, 2013 04:26 |
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ColonelJohnMatrix posted:I've been a fan of Hardcore History since a goon turned me onto it a few years ago. The 4 part "Ghosts of the Ostfront" episodes which covers the WW2 Eastern Front (GER vs. RUS) is a loving masterwork as far as long form podcasts go. The episodes are riveting/horrifying and at 4 parts I feel the length is just right. I've listened to the Ostfront series probably 5 times over the last couple years. I'm the exact opposite. I didn't discover that I loved history until my mid 20s because 90% of my exposure to it was WWII which I find quite boring. Either that or Civil War and American Revolution in school, which I find equally dreadful. I've heard that the Ostfront episodes are really well done, but I just can't get into post-medieval history; it just doesn't set my imagination running. Military History Podcast seems like it has a nice mix of the two, though.
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# ¿ Mar 28, 2013 00:49 |
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Homeless Wonder posted:Startalk's format completely ruins it for me. Which is disappointing because I love Neil Degrasse Tyson. This is how I feel about the majority of talk podcasts. It's really unfortunate. That being said, my new favorite podcast is The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show. The concept is that the host interviews people who have had interesting jobs outside of the mainstream. Want to learn about what it's like to be the designer for a billion people on Facebook? Or host and be involved in the technical aspects of a 90s gameshow in Legends of the Hidden Temple? Or learn about what it's like to be a roller coaster designer? Or direct high quality porn parodies? Or run High Times magazine? Or create Settles of Catan? Or write Perry Bible Fellowship? Or be the top commenter on Reddit? Or run The Alamo Drafthouse? Or dozens of other fascinating positions? It's pretty incredible not only the scope of guests he tends to get, but also how in-depth he tends to be able to dive as an interviewer. This isn't just some fluff interview podcast, it's all about what it's like to have a fascinating, amazing job - both the ups and downs, seeing it for what it is realistically from their point of view. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Apr 18, 2013 |
# ¿ Apr 15, 2013 04:57 |
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I just started listening and I'm sure the rest of the episode is great, but Carlin spending the first 15 minutes of the episode apologizing for it is really turning me off.
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# ¿ Apr 23, 2013 03:59 |
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Anyone listen to NPR's Selected Shorts? The newest Radiolab was a selection from it and I really dug it, wondering what some other particularly good episodes are.
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# ¿ Apr 24, 2013 02:58 |
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barkingclam posted:Is there a History of Rome-style podcast for other periods of Classical history: Byzantium, Greece, Egypt? Byzantine. Podcast History of the World is getting into Greece by now.
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# ¿ May 2, 2013 07:10 |
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I'm assuming it's ripped off of Radiolab, they're constantly interrupting each other and chiming in after the fact. It's one of the main reasons I haven't listened to it in a while. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and when it doesn't it's very irritating.
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# ¿ May 8, 2013 00:27 |
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I can't believe I haven't recommended Omega Tau in here yet. Half of the episodes are in German, but half are in English. It's a hard science podcast that actually gets real experts on and explores topics in a way that are both accessible to the layperson and deep. From Artificial Intelligence and wind tunnel testing to Earth mapping, Quantum Computing, and Commercial Spaceflight, Omega Tau has everything a wanna-be science nerd needs.
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# ¿ Aug 2, 2013 03:16 |
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GrandpaPants posted:Jeff Rubin seems to have the same problem as Chris Hardwick in that he gets super interesting guests, but he's really not that great of an interviewer. For some reason I also get really annoyed when he brings the conversation to some tangential nerd subject, like videogames or something when the subject is not at all about videogames, but I could just be letting one or two incidents getting to me when it may not be an actual problem. I actually think Rubin is a great interviewer, but only when he doesn't have a lot of knowledge on the subject he's talking about. It seems like every time I wish I could ask the interviewee a question, Rubin asks it. When it's something related to a subject he knows about though, yes, way too tangential. But yeah gently caress Hardwick. For anyone who writes, I'd recommend the Nerdist Writers Panel. Their Key & Peele writers episode was really fantastic, recently he had Carl Gottlieb on to talk all about Jaws, and many others. Even though it's comedy related, the series definitely focuses on writers and writers rooms and gets in depth in a refreshingly open way.
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# ¿ Aug 29, 2013 01:38 |
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radlum posted:I don't mind analogies or tangents, it's just that it sounded too over the top for me and I wasn't looking forward to 90 more minutes of that. I'll give it another chance. I love the Roman Republic and Empire, so at least I chose an interesting topic to start. Well, just bear in mind, it's not going to be a few 90 minute intallments, it's something like 20+ hours for the Roman Republic episodes.
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# ¿ Sep 13, 2013 23:21 |
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Meme Emulator posted:I think Im just a little dissapointed because I would have liked a little history and information on the topic before the debunk came, but the podcast is 100% debunk, or at least the early episodes Ive listened to. I don't know anything about the details of, say, homeopathy and a little information on what the beliefs the adherents have would have been nice. This is definitely more what it becomes later on, or at least what it tends to be fore the more "supernatural" topics. He spends the first section getting into a topic's history as if it were fact, then lays down his research. The recent Patterson bigfoot one was a good example of that.
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# ¿ Oct 7, 2013 04:56 |
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I hope I'm not breaking the rules of my own thread, but just because we haven't gotten much new podcast blood in here recently, something that I've been enjoying quite a bit lately is the You're the Expert podcast. It is a comedy podcast, but it's the host and 3 comedians using games and bits each week to try and shed light on Harvard professors positions and areas of focus. You'll get anything from rare book experts to quantum theorists and everything in between. There's maybe slightly more comedy than intellectual discussion going on, but it's definitely got a fair share of both and after listening to a dozen or so episodes, I can say that I've definitely learned more than I thought I wanted to know about at-first boring-sounding jobs.
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2013 05:47 |
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After listening to that episode I immediately went out and bought the book. Smaller than I thought it would be, but highly entertaining.
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# ¿ Nov 6, 2013 22:06 |
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Drunkboxer posted:I am thinking about getting it but I was also just thinking about going by Barnes and Nobel just to eyeball it. Is it not like coffee table book size? Nope, probably 9x9. There's a decent amount of text in there, but not enough that you couldn't skim through it satisfactorily.
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# ¿ Nov 7, 2013 00:15 |
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Drunkboxer posted:Jeff Rubin's most recent show has a guy who wrote a history of the "golden age" of Nickelodeon is pretty interesting, but the guy that wrote it is clearly a bit of a crank. I mean, I like Pete and Pete as much as the next 30 year old but declaring the era as some kinda high point in television history when you haven't watched tv in years is crazy. Also horrifically misinformed. I mean maybe if he could have stopped rambling about how everything on TV looks the same now and everything else looked different back then because of artistic vision or whatever it wouldn't have bothered me so much. I had to turn it off halfway through. Not only crazy and misinformed, but pretty arrogant about it too. I think I see what he's trying to say about visual style and sameiness when it comes to, say, your average episode of NCIS or 2 1/2 Men, but his point really falls flat if you broaden your scope even a little bit.
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# ¿ Nov 27, 2013 20:38 |
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If you're worried about being engaged while learning things, I couldn't recommend The Infinite Monkey Cage enough. It's 60/40 informational and comedy respectively, but even the comedy is of an educational bent - if you need a segue into these kind of podcasts that's a good gateway drug.
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# ¿ Aug 1, 2014 06:02 |
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I was turned off Radiolab the first time I listened to one that was on a subject I knew a lot about. I was shocked at how inaccurate and misleading so much of it was, and how they missed the point of the subject entirely. I couldn't help but assume they put as little research and effort into understanding their other subjects as well.
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# ¿ Aug 17, 2014 01:55 |
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He has other people reading the episodes. Every once in a while there's a Brian episode mixed in. I skip every one that he doesn't do, the other readers are uniformly terrible. e: Some favorite episodes off the top of my head are Bermuda Triangle, organic farming, the sounds of hell, and the disappearing Inuits(?).
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# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 18:16 |
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Exactly why it's so devious.
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# ¿ Mar 3, 2015 18:59 |
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Finally! I love HH, but the two world wars are the least interesting part of history to me.
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# ¿ Jul 20, 2015 03:58 |
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Psh, neophyte. Come back when you're subscribed to 79 podcasts.
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# ¿ Jul 23, 2015 04:45 |
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Geez, you guys weren't kidding about The Dollop. I tried it when it originally came up in the thread but got immediately turned off by the hosts laughing and goofing around. I eventually listened to The Rube and was blown away. The over-laughing still annoys me a bit, but if anyone in here hasn't given it a full chance because of that just listen in full to that episode and you'll change your tune. What are some of the top episodes outside of that? I've listened to a few, including the Dolphin episode, but I just feel intimidated by this wall of episodes.
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# ¿ Nov 15, 2015 05:54 |
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New podcast recommendation time. Mystery Show Starlee Kine has a knack for solving mysteries. The sort of mysteries that can't be Googled. The sort of mysteries that have only mattered to one person. But through her investigations she makes it matter to you, too. One episode revolves around a woman who saw her favorite celebrity Brittany Spears in a paparazzi photo holding that woman's underperforming debut novel. All she wants to know is: did Brittany read it? And if so, did she like it? Starlee is determined to find out. This right here might be my favorite episode of a podcast ever - Episode 3 of 6 in the first and currently only season of the show. It involves a simple, custom-made belt buckle that a boy found in a gutter more than a decade ago, having sat dormant all that time as the prized possession of his knick-knack collection. And he wants to get it back to the owner. It's in a very NPR podcast style, and at first seems a little twee, but definitely give it a chance. It stretches this thread title slightly, but I made the thread so it counts. Highly, highly recommended. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Jan 8, 2016 |
# ¿ Jan 8, 2016 22:14 |
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Really dug the first ep, and it's a subject I'm really interested in at the moment. Great toning!
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# ¿ Feb 2, 2016 17:56 |
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Goddamn is the new You Must Remember This blacklist episode depressing. I never knew HUAAC was so blatantly and openly racist, sexist, anti-semetic, and generally anti-progressive. I just knew it was a communist witch hunt. Thanks, history, for making me feel terrible this morning.
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# ¿ Feb 9, 2016 15:33 |
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Is there any decent podcast out there that covers pirates relatively extensively?
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# ¿ Jun 28, 2016 17:18 |
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Any good podcasts that cover conspiracy theories in an objective educational/historical way? I'm not looking for a debunking podcast like Skeptoid, or one where the hosts drink the coolaid and are truthers. Just someone who breaks down what the theories are, not whether they're true or not.
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# ¿ Jul 17, 2016 18:19 |
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Because hearing the story of a conspiracy theory is a lot more interesting than hearing the facts? As the facts are generally "Well yeah of course that didn't happen." Basically I want to learn more about what the conspiracy theories were culturally at the time, rather than hearing someone spend time digging into the veracity of them or trying to convince the listener that they're true. Stuff They Don't Want You to Know is the closest I've found so far, but it's pretty corny.
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# ¿ Jul 17, 2016 19:04 |
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Ron Roenicke posted:Lizard People might be along these lines. I only recently heard about it and haven't actually gotten around to any episodes yet, though, so I can't vouch for how seriously it takes the actual theories (it's styled as conspiracy theories and comedy, so maybe something Dollop-esque?) Really digging this, pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
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# ¿ Jul 26, 2016 02:24 |
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Lurks Morington posted:I think Carlin's issue with contemporary politics is his fan base. The type of person who listens to a six hour podcast on Roman history is probably not sporting an NPR tote bag. Really? Every history nerd I know is super liberal. Though, I guess pretty much everyone I know is super liberal. Am I just in a bubble (yes) and history nerds are generally conservative? feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Aug 30, 2016 |
# ¿ Aug 30, 2016 11:59 |
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"his goodbye door" Have a new term for buttholes.
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# ¿ Dec 27, 2016 05:46 |
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Can't confirm, as I haven't returned to Radiolab in years, but I'd be curious about any rise in quality as well. I enjoy their subjects, but as soon as they talk about something you know a decent amount about you realize how surface-level and borderline inaccurate everything they say is. If their research has gotten better I'd be interested in returning to it. It's always interesting outside of the over-production, but it's total fluff.
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# ¿ Jan 29, 2017 17:51 |
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What are some of the more outrageous or outlandish Dollop episodes? The Rube and Dolphin are the two I hear the most from fans, but if I were to put together a list of 5-10 to listen to with a newcomer what are the other craziest ones?
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# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 18:10 |
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Thaddius the Large posted:Yeah, I don't mind their general approach, my big issue is they make the same drat jokes every single episode, and their "improv skits" are absolutely godawful, just them laughing at an absurd story is usually what I like about it. I think the strength of the podcast lies in the fact that they're great storytellers, as in, the way the stories are written are fantastic. The jokes are very hit or miss but overall add a sort of light tone that compliments the stories. But it took a while for me to settle into it.
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# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 19:25 |
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Our Fake History is great, definitely going to be sticking with it.
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# ¿ May 18, 2017 16:04 |
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The Glumslinger posted:Reminds of Meat Planet by (mostly) Carl Satan Oh poo poo, how have I never seen this?
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# ¿ May 31, 2017 00:16 |
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Myths and Legends just doesn't work for me. I appreciate the concept but the host's attempts at humor really don't land. Every time he adds some winking dialogue or a modern reference or some ironic interpretation I cringe. I get that he's trying to make it less dry than it would be otherwise, but I don't need it to be so "wacky". It's a shame because I love the subject matter and general format otherwise. It just feels like an excited high schooler trying to spice up the stories he read for class.
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# ¿ Jun 19, 2017 01:40 |
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Yeah, I've been jumping around, but the Sinbad ones were the final straw for me.
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# ¿ Jun 19, 2017 04:10 |
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# ¿ Mar 28, 2024 23:24 |
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Dollop is great in small doses but you burn out fast. The guys are just too much.
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# ¿ Jun 24, 2017 20:23 |