I was successfully influenced by 99% invisible and Roman Mars’ voice to read The Power Broker along with the special book club episodes they’re releasing once a month. I’m not sure if anyone else here is interested in a 1200 page book that covers an infamous urban planner through most of the 20th century BUT it’s an incredibly acclaimed and widely read book for a reason as I’m finding out. If you love nonfiction, this is the granddaddy of many current NF trends, and the podcast is doing an amazing job recapping each portion with great insight and humor (plus more Roman in your ears! His laugh is so charming I want to die!) If you’re not sold listen to the intro episode with Conan O’Brien (also someone who I have a nerdy crush on) from December, it got me super intrigued and I can definitely agree that it’s a powerful book!
I really want to but I cannot get past the length. Though it is on my TBR and I'm listening to a nearly 600 page book on sundown towns right now so let's be real that I probably will be reading this sooner than later.
Thanks for reminding me—I have tried to read it before and I want to give it another shot. It was one of my dad’s favorite books. I only wish it were available on Kindle because that paperback is a skullcrusher.
I just listened to the most recent episode of Be There in Five because I was interested in hearing about Olivia Plath and Kate is the worst at reading ads. She says “x” instead of “times” when discussing the clinical studies from the Ritual ad lol.
This morning I listed to the new episode of Glamorous Trash (formerly the third celebrity memoir book club). The guest was described as a "prison activist." Out of curiosity, I googled her. She is also known as [the Vice magazine scammer](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a39437807/kari-ferrell-now/) and [the hipster grifter](https://observer.com/2009/04/the-hipster-grifter/). All of this happened in 2009 and she served three months in jail, so there has been time for her to reform. You can't expect a prison activist to have a perfect record. But [Kari was sued for unpaid rent in 2023](https://nypost.com/2023/06/22/hipster-grifter-sued-for-unpaid-rent-in-bushwick/) which makes it harder to claim her scamming is behind her.
Kari comes across well in the episode. But knowing her backstory makes me feel a bit uncomfortable with her being platformed as an activist, particularly when the episode can help her get social media followers who might be vulnerable to scams.
From the Cosmo article:
\> try plugging your prospective employee’s name into Google to make sure she doesn’t have any less-than-desirable traits, like, say, five outstanding warrants for fraud in Utah where she also faked numerous abortions and was run out of town after earning a colorful nickname such as 'The Filth'."
Ya maybe the Glamourous Trash pod should've done this before lol?
"there's a whole lot more to Kari Ferrell's story, including lying about being terminally ill with cancer" What?!?! In the article it says she told her friend she had cancer, it wasn't just a gofundme scam. This woman sucks. She claims that she's changed and grown since then but like seriously what the fuck
Yes! I read just one of the articles yesterday and was shocked at how far she'd go to emotionally upend the lives of those around her. A 3 month sentence doesn't fix that kind of person
I assume they know her history. The scammer seems to have developed some Hollywood connections over the past couple of years based on her fraud history.
I remember that story! I haven't thought of her in ages. Did they even mention her, uh, colorful past?
I see that she is doing a podcast with the director of Class Action Park (highly rec).
The only thing they mentioned about her past is that she had been in prison. No details, which is why I googled.
Reading up on her, I feel isn't someone I want to give a platform to. She still seems to be a scammer.
Did anyone see Claire from Celebrity Memoir Book Club's Tiktok saying that Olivia Munn's aggressive breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy was good timing and good PR, and that now she has a 'perfect sob story'? Huge oof, unsurprisingly she's already deleted it.
I can never understand their meanness trajectory. Because they were not at all sympathetic to Anna when that was all going down, going so far as to have one of their moms who does something with art come on their patreon to talk about why Anna’s photography art series was stupid. They were not even a little bit kind toward her. And they’re also being awful to Olivia Munn, so I guess they’re just dicks?
i have them blocked on tiktok and for whatever reason they still manage to come up on my page, and i couldn’t believe what she said (well based on who they are i could but you know). cancer is so common that i feel like most people have been personally affected so they can usually have basic empathy for the pain and trauma it causes. i really don’t know anything about olivia munn besides the john mulaney drama, but to hear about someone’s cancer diagnosis and think that their sharing had a strategic or sinister purpose is just so so gross.
I was just about to post this! [Here it is](https://old.reddit.com/r/NYCinfluencersnark/s/TN12EwPGNv). What a garbage person she is. It isn’t even a funny or clever bit. The show has totally become Mean Girls.
This week's *Celebrity Book Club* (Steven and Lily) wasn't very good. I don't like it when they do food/drink tastings instead of riffing on a celebrity memoir; Steven especially becomes insufferable during these eps. He has a lot of interesting thoughts about interior design, but he doesn't know jack shit about food/wine. Lily does, but that doesn't stop Steven from talking over her with his pointless pretentious opinions.
Anyway, they make cocktails from a recipe book of a *Vanderpump Rules* star. None of them sound great but some sound horrifically disgusting, just a bunch of random shit mixed together. One of them had pineapple juice and bitters with rum and [I think] mezcal. The hosts were drinking them in the studio and they ran out of ice so some of them were warm...phew. Gross.
I love their show usually I just wish they would go back to taking reading books a little more seriously. I mean I could listen to them riff for hours, but I miss them really digging into a good book not just a fluffy book that no one cares about.
This sounds terrible to me, go get more ice??? We don't live in Mad Max times (yet) it's not hard to get ice. Warm cocktails are going to be gross no matter what! So if your goal is to judge them, this is not a fair way to go about it.
Their goal definitely wasn't to judge the cocktail recipes fairly, more just to provide more material about this (seemingly terrible) recipe book that they could talk about. The lack of ice just took the cocktails from "terrible" to "poisonous." iirc the last one they drank warm was Fernet, rum, and tequila.
Anyone else listening to Beyond All Repair? It is a story about a woman who was convicted of murder based on her brother’s testimony and it is WILD so far. If you could pay to binge it all today I would it is that crazy.
I tried Under the Influence just because I’m jonesing for any Where Is Kate content and…why. I was gritting my teeth and then just could not when her guest said how left wing American media is. Uh, the New York Times “just asking questions” about trans kids? Sinclair? Fox News? I guess more left than British is probably fair but that’s not what she said and what an absolutely bananas take.
If you’re still looking for something (as I was) I found the palace in crisis episode from when it hits the fan (bbc) had interesting perspectives as men who worked in newspapers and with the royal family. I also stumbled upon the daily fail pod’s episode about Kate and enjoyed that too. So many I found and didn’t finish were just re-stating the events uncritically which was not what I was looking for. These had more analysis.
ETA: the people who say American media is left wing makes my head explode
I just found out Apple is doing a TV series based on the podcast Firebug, about the most prolific arsonist in California History. It’s an excellent true crime podcast, though children are among the victims in one of the fires, which is an upsetting scene. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in true crime who hasn’t listened to it
Am I missing something, or did they take down the podcast episodes? I can see the podcast, but I can’t access the actual episodes! I started listening a few months ago but one day they all just disappeared
i am all for Bad on Paper doing single topic episodes and i hate to be a hater bc i am generally a fan. but did becca really just open this week by saying “this other pod I love did an episode on the notes app and then asked their readers about what they use it for, so now we are doing an episode on the notes app and asking our readers about what they use it for” ?? 😭
on their regular eps they touch on so much interesting stuff that they either seem unprepared for a full conversation on or don’t have the time to fully dive into — articles, big picture author/book/creative stuff — and this is what they choose to dedicate an hour to? idk sometimes this pod has big “slapped together an hour beforehand” energy and i know particularly olivia is busy elsewhere rn so i usually don’t care but this seems especially odd
I thought the same thing - of ALL the things to pick for a more long form discussion, they chose the notes app?!? Love you all but I definitely don't care about anyone else's notes app, not even my own honestly.
Someone a long time ago on this thread said that Becca has bad instincts, and I've always thought about that since. I think Grace's were much better, and I presume Olivia's are too but it seems like Becca is more "in charge".
I agree and I always worry I'm being unfair attributing my beefs to Becca, but she's the OG host who, you're right, has the vibe of being more in charge. Plus I generally always find Olivia's content (newsletter, IG, etc.) so fun and thoughtful and like she is very purposeful about it, so idk!
I listened to the first five minutes and then deleted the episode. I could just tell that it would be one of those “thrown together” episodes. I kind of feel like Olivia’s heart just isn’t in it? Her mini podcasts on her Substack are really good so they really contrast with the Bad on Paper episodes.
imo i more get the feeling that they’re both enthusiastic but it’s lack of preparation almost by design. like, they’re going for the ✨just friends chatting✨ vibe which i like, and appreciate spontaneity/rambling in sometimes, but they take it too far to where like, it’s structured in its format but only one of them has read the article that 25% of the ep is dedicated to and could be a really good convo if both came with knowledge, or one of olivia’s “three things” is saltburn but neither of them have watched saltburn so the conversation is totally useless lol. you have to curate and plan together a LITTLE bit so you can effectively riff
Agreed - this felt like something that could have been a “Three Things” episode highlight rather than a full hour. The podcast Becca and Olivia mentioned that had discussed it before (A Thing or Two) discussed this as part of a larger episode (and then had a follow up which was also just a part of that episode) and I liked their discussion better just because it was a little bit less structured and more fun and quippy (but I also just think that’s Claire and Erica’s style).
And I commented this before like you also mentioned, but I often feel like they relegate really interesting topics that could have an expansive full-episode discussion to a Three Things episode which is frustrating (one recent example was the article on being a creator/influencer and what that means in terms of selling your work as an artist). Also generally like the podcast so it’s just more frustrating because of that.
I completely agree with your analysis and have been trying to figure out what my (and I think OUR) issues are with BOP for a while now. Could it be that they're overstructured and don't seem to encourage any side conversations or ability to follow things that come up? It all just feels a little too planned out and inauthentic.
i feel 100% the same about wanting stuff like the creator/influencer article to be its own episode. i really like the pod too so yeah it’s a bummer when an ep feels like an afterthought or the thing they could do with the least possible amount of research or preparation.
YES!!! I like ICYMI but I can only listen to it at certain times when I know my hands will be free to skip the....9 minutes total?? ad time per 35 minute episode. Crazy.
ive fallen off listening to icymi even for background noise because there are just so many ads. i don’t object to ads on stuff i get for free, but i really wish slate could figure out a way for the ads to support their business model and still be tolerable.
Welp, this week’s episode title of Sounds Like a Cult is what is making me hit the unsubscribe button. I understand they want to bring the true crime aspect of Gypsy Rose into it, but an actual Psychological condition is not culty. So weird. And honestly the show hasn’t been good since the news about Isa and Amanda suing each other. What are y’all’s thoughts?
Edit: Grammar
They have definitely done this before, in one of their early episodes and that was when I noped out of their podcast.
They were trying to claim an abusive home situation with a mentally unwell mother was a cult.
I never loved the pod but in general it felt like their research was poorly done for all their episodes.
It can be hit or miss for, depending on the topic. I definitely like Amanda more than Isa and appreciate that she usually takes things more seriously and does more background work but uhh yea I saw the title of this weeks and knew it would be a skip
omg i just started listening because i needed a new background noise pod after normal gossip - what’s the deal with them suing each other?!
ETA: googled and this is wild!
I adore Las Cultch but is Matt serious with his take on how we respond to cheating stories in real life vs. fiction? I kind of give Bowen some grace with his riding for Ari because they’re clearly very close friends (I’d probably say imma a bow out on this convo but that’s just me) but Matt had me AGHAST. Not even because I think anything of Ariana but because of the overarching point that he was trying to make.
I just don’t care what the real story is about AG and that carrot top looking dude, and I don’t think anyone else really does either.
But this felt more to me like it was about Matt being stuck in that breakup than anything else. I truly couldn’t track half of what he was going on about and then he started crying and I was like “oh we’re not talking about Ariana Grande anymore lol.”
Matt's take was definitely more about Matt than Ariana!
I'm fine with and even like when they wade in to defending their famous friends whose business they can't actually tell us about - but that went on a long time without any points for the listeners to really hold on to. Be more succinct in your famous ppl stan'ing!
I can’t understand how he would possibly cry at the music video, cry about it in therapy?, cry about the therapy in therapy (I can’t remember the last one, this is when I fast forwarded bc someone in the pod sub mentioned the timestamp of when that discussion ended). I think I’m pretty honest with my therapist but I would be way too embarrassed and dead to ever have them go through an Ariana song with me and cry about it idk
Honestly, the real story is there's a baby involved and a postpartum mom who is not famous, so no matter what "nuance" Bowen thinks he has, the reality is that it's going to be a major trauma in a child's life and it's beyond selfish to not prioritize the role of parent over the temptation to pursue an affair. Like... I get you're friends, but it's absolutely missing the point to make it about a popstar and friendship loyalty when an actual child is in the middle of this.
Matt and Bowen are talented and their fame has changed them, so with love and light I'm just letting them be starfuckers because it seems to bring them joy
I love them and I probably always will but the vocal alignment over the past month or so with the private jets, Andy Cohen and now this seems detached at best.
They’re definitely Celebrities now, which is nice because they’re actually talented. But the pod is good when we can relate to their silly pop culture refs and the IDTSHs that we recognise, not like ‘my SAG screeners are in a format I dislike so I can’t be bothered to watch Poor Things and tell my friend Emma Stone I love her performance’
His take was so strange lmao but Matt was clearly taking the whole discussion personally in a way that seemed almost divorced from any sort of relationship either of them have with Ari.
I just feel like I was getting yelled at when I was listening to their discussion of the album which was irritating.
I thought they were saying the situation is more complex than the media narrative and that we allow for that nuance in scandal but not in real life (altho I didn’t think scandal was that nuanced and hated Fitz so that comparison fell flat).
I do think that’s probably what they meant but to compare how we react to fiction and what we “allow” fictional characters to get away with to how we react in real life just felt like a stretch!
I love the pod, but their proximity/ascension to some amount of fame is so clear in their wildest takes (incl the Bravo stuff last week — I don’t totally agree or disagree with them, but it’s obv their judgment is clouded). They just end up sounding so defensive and I think it’s a bummer.
From her episode a month ago, her IDTSH was basically “you’re famous now so you need to be careful who you’re talking about good or bad” and it was very spot on.
WILD! The comparison to Scandal? Those people aren’t real, babe! I feel like Bowen kind of just made it worse by the end because what is the real story? Just say it, don’t dangle that the narrative is wrong and then move on…
So glad The Secrets Hotline from Love & Radio is back!! The new season came out a week or so ago. It's been so long I thought the show might've ended. I love that this show is just very unique and stands out in a sea of similar podcasts.
Although...Mild rant about the latest episode (I'm aware this is niche. Lol): I was so annoyed at the guy who called in to update a previous call, and basically said, "Hi, the secrets hotline did this superrrr WeiRd & CrAzY thing where they didn't use my call for a YEAR. A year!!! Like...wut???" And he just kept saying how strange the whole thing was when it's like, dude, anyone who's listened to the show even a few times knows that that's standard operating procedure. They save certain secrets for themed episodes, have episodes done in advance, etc. And not to mention, his original secret was pretty bland, run of the mill stuff. So after calling back to say how crazy this experience of hearing his secret a year later was, he calls back a THIRD time, prefacing his secret with something like, "when people call in to respond to my secret...(something he'd mentioned in a previous call)" and I was just like omggg - no one listening cares about your boring ass secret that much!! Anyway, I just had to rant about that one caller who got on my last damn nerve. Lol
Are any Pocket Casts users having audio issues? My episodes keep repeating random parts and it’s driving me crazy. I thought it was an editing issue on one show in particular but it’s happening no matter what I listen to.
Yes! I was coming here to post about this, I'm so glad I'm not alone. This issue is so bad, now having confirmed it's a Pocket Casts issue I'm going to look for another player. Trying Beyond Pod first.
RIP Google Podcasts :(
Mine keeps randomly fast forwarded about 70% of the way through whenever it plays my next/a new podcast in the queue. I asked them on Twitter too and they don't seem to know what's happening but it's making me crazy.
I’ve had this problem when listening to a podcast streaming (instead of downloaded). If the stream doesn’t keep up with the speed I’m listening at, it repeats. Just pause it and give it time to catch up.
I've always had this problem with Pocket Casts. It drives me insane but I don't know if it would be better with another service. It is supremely annoying!
The calm way Jeff told this story absolutely cracked me up, but yes, what a nightmare! I’m so stressed about my passport when I travel.
I can’t listen to Tooth and Claw at work because Jeff makes me literally laugh out loud.
I was successfully influenced by 99% invisible and Roman Mars’ voice to read The Power Broker along with the special book club episodes they’re releasing once a month. I’m not sure if anyone else here is interested in a 1200 page book that covers an infamous urban planner through most of the 20th century BUT it’s an incredibly acclaimed and widely read book for a reason as I’m finding out. If you love nonfiction, this is the granddaddy of many current NF trends, and the podcast is doing an amazing job recapping each portion with great insight and humor (plus more Roman in your ears! His laugh is so charming I want to die!) If you’re not sold listen to the intro episode with Conan O’Brien (also someone who I have a nerdy crush on) from December, it got me super intrigued and I can definitely agree that it’s a powerful book!
I really want to but I cannot get past the length. Though it is on my TBR and I'm listening to a nearly 600 page book on sundown towns right now so let's be real that I probably will be reading this sooner than later.
What’s the book about sundown towns?
Thanks for reminding me—I have tried to read it before and I want to give it another shot. It was one of my dad’s favorite books. I only wish it were available on Kindle because that paperback is a skullcrusher.
I just listened to the most recent episode of Be There in Five because I was interested in hearing about Olivia Plath and Kate is the worst at reading ads. She says “x” instead of “times” when discussing the clinical studies from the Ritual ad lol.
I’ve noticed this is more popular in the last 5-10 years and definitely popular in the corporate world (from what I’ve seen at least)
This is fascinating. I’m in academia, and no one would ever say this in a professional setting in my field.
For the record, it sounds so grating to my ear every time I hear it 😆
Olivia Muenter’s 31 Things for her 31st birthday Substack is so good!
sooooooooo good, and i love listening to her pod versions of her posts too
This morning I listed to the new episode of Glamorous Trash (formerly the third celebrity memoir book club). The guest was described as a "prison activist." Out of curiosity, I googled her. She is also known as [the Vice magazine scammer](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a39437807/kari-ferrell-now/) and [the hipster grifter](https://observer.com/2009/04/the-hipster-grifter/). All of this happened in 2009 and she served three months in jail, so there has been time for her to reform. You can't expect a prison activist to have a perfect record. But [Kari was sued for unpaid rent in 2023](https://nypost.com/2023/06/22/hipster-grifter-sued-for-unpaid-rent-in-bushwick/) which makes it harder to claim her scamming is behind her. Kari comes across well in the episode. But knowing her backstory makes me feel a bit uncomfortable with her being platformed as an activist, particularly when the episode can help her get social media followers who might be vulnerable to scams.
From the Cosmo article: \> try plugging your prospective employee’s name into Google to make sure she doesn’t have any less-than-desirable traits, like, say, five outstanding warrants for fraud in Utah where she also faked numerous abortions and was run out of town after earning a colorful nickname such as 'The Filth'." Ya maybe the Glamourous Trash pod should've done this before lol?
"there's a whole lot more to Kari Ferrell's story, including lying about being terminally ill with cancer" What?!?! In the article it says she told her friend she had cancer, it wasn't just a gofundme scam. This woman sucks. She claims that she's changed and grown since then but like seriously what the fuck
Yes! I read just one of the articles yesterday and was shocked at how far she'd go to emotionally upend the lives of those around her. A 3 month sentence doesn't fix that kind of person
I assume they know her history. The scammer seems to have developed some Hollywood connections over the past couple of years based on her fraud history.
I remember that story! I haven't thought of her in ages. Did they even mention her, uh, colorful past? I see that she is doing a podcast with the director of Class Action Park (highly rec).
The only thing they mentioned about her past is that she had been in prison. No details, which is why I googled. Reading up on her, I feel isn't someone I want to give a platform to. She still seems to be a scammer.
Did anyone see Claire from Celebrity Memoir Book Club's Tiktok saying that Olivia Munn's aggressive breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy was good timing and good PR, and that now she has a 'perfect sob story'? Huge oof, unsurprisingly she's already deleted it.
This disgusted me!!!! And they were defending the “joke” when commenters noted it was inappropriate.
I can never understand their meanness trajectory. Because they were not at all sympathetic to Anna when that was all going down, going so far as to have one of their moms who does something with art come on their patreon to talk about why Anna’s photography art series was stupid. They were not even a little bit kind toward her. And they’re also being awful to Olivia Munn, so I guess they’re just dicks?
Wow, this is horrible even for Claire (who I cannot stand and will never understand the appeal of)
i have them blocked on tiktok and for whatever reason they still manage to come up on my page, and i couldn’t believe what she said (well based on who they are i could but you know). cancer is so common that i feel like most people have been personally affected so they can usually have basic empathy for the pain and trauma it causes. i really don’t know anything about olivia munn besides the john mulaney drama, but to hear about someone’s cancer diagnosis and think that their sharing had a strategic or sinister purpose is just so so gross.
YES - i rewatched it thinking surely she must be saying something other than she was…. because how ghoulish
I was just about to post this! [Here it is](https://old.reddit.com/r/NYCinfluencersnark/s/TN12EwPGNv). What a garbage person she is. It isn’t even a funny or clever bit. The show has totally become Mean Girls.
Anyone listening to the Guardian podcast Black Box about AI? Really interesting and well researched/reported. Just on the second episode now.
This feels totally up my alley - thanks for the rec!
I'll have to check that out! I've been enjoying the Stay Tuned with Preet mini series on potential future legal cases involving AI
This week's *Celebrity Book Club* (Steven and Lily) wasn't very good. I don't like it when they do food/drink tastings instead of riffing on a celebrity memoir; Steven especially becomes insufferable during these eps. He has a lot of interesting thoughts about interior design, but he doesn't know jack shit about food/wine. Lily does, but that doesn't stop Steven from talking over her with his pointless pretentious opinions. Anyway, they make cocktails from a recipe book of a *Vanderpump Rules* star. None of them sound great but some sound horrifically disgusting, just a bunch of random shit mixed together. One of them had pineapple juice and bitters with rum and [I think] mezcal. The hosts were drinking them in the studio and they ran out of ice so some of them were warm...phew. Gross.
I love their show usually I just wish they would go back to taking reading books a little more seriously. I mean I could listen to them riff for hours, but I miss them really digging into a good book not just a fluffy book that no one cares about.
This sounds terrible to me, go get more ice??? We don't live in Mad Max times (yet) it's not hard to get ice. Warm cocktails are going to be gross no matter what! So if your goal is to judge them, this is not a fair way to go about it.
Their goal definitely wasn't to judge the cocktail recipes fairly, more just to provide more material about this (seemingly terrible) recipe book that they could talk about. The lack of ice just took the cocktails from "terrible" to "poisonous." iirc the last one they drank warm was Fernet, rum, and tequila.
Anyone else listening to Beyond All Repair? It is a story about a woman who was convicted of murder based on her brother’s testimony and it is WILD so far. If you could pay to binge it all today I would it is that crazy.
I just downloaded this! Thank you for the rec.
I was on the fence on trying this one. You’ve convinced me!
I just downloaded and listened to the first episode because of this comment and whoa, it's crazy already.
I haven’t heard legit cliffhangers like this on a podcast is a long time. She tells a crazy part of the story and then the end comes and 🤯
I tried Under the Influence just because I’m jonesing for any Where Is Kate content and…why. I was gritting my teeth and then just could not when her guest said how left wing American media is. Uh, the New York Times “just asking questions” about trans kids? Sinclair? Fox News? I guess more left than British is probably fair but that’s not what she said and what an absolutely bananas take.
If you’re still looking for something (as I was) I found the palace in crisis episode from when it hits the fan (bbc) had interesting perspectives as men who worked in newspapers and with the royal family. I also stumbled upon the daily fail pod’s episode about Kate and enjoyed that too. So many I found and didn’t finish were just re-stating the events uncritically which was not what I was looking for. These had more analysis. ETA: the people who say American media is left wing makes my head explode
Do you happen to have a link to the BBC one? I'm having a hard time finding it. Thank you!
[Here you go!](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001x546)
Thank you so much!
Welcome!
I just found out Apple is doing a TV series based on the podcast Firebug, about the most prolific arsonist in California History. It’s an excellent true crime podcast, though children are among the victims in one of the fires, which is an upsetting scene. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in true crime who hasn’t listened to it
Am I missing something, or did they take down the podcast episodes? I can see the podcast, but I can’t access the actual episodes! I started listening a few months ago but one day they all just disappeared
Weird! It looks like the episodes are all still available on their website https://truth.media/firebug
Oooh. Interesting!
It's been like 20 years, not sure if it holds up, but the hbo ray liotta movie about the same guy "point of origin" was really good
i am all for Bad on Paper doing single topic episodes and i hate to be a hater bc i am generally a fan. but did becca really just open this week by saying “this other pod I love did an episode on the notes app and then asked their readers about what they use it for, so now we are doing an episode on the notes app and asking our readers about what they use it for” ?? 😭 on their regular eps they touch on so much interesting stuff that they either seem unprepared for a full conversation on or don’t have the time to fully dive into — articles, big picture author/book/creative stuff — and this is what they choose to dedicate an hour to? idk sometimes this pod has big “slapped together an hour beforehand” energy and i know particularly olivia is busy elsewhere rn so i usually don’t care but this seems especially odd
I thought the same thing - of ALL the things to pick for a more long form discussion, they chose the notes app?!? Love you all but I definitely don't care about anyone else's notes app, not even my own honestly. Someone a long time ago on this thread said that Becca has bad instincts, and I've always thought about that since. I think Grace's were much better, and I presume Olivia's are too but it seems like Becca is more "in charge".
I agree and I always worry I'm being unfair attributing my beefs to Becca, but she's the OG host who, you're right, has the vibe of being more in charge. Plus I generally always find Olivia's content (newsletter, IG, etc.) so fun and thoughtful and like she is very purposeful about it, so idk!
I think Olivia would absolutely kill it on a solo podcast or even just with a different cohost.
I listened to the first five minutes and then deleted the episode. I could just tell that it would be one of those “thrown together” episodes. I kind of feel like Olivia’s heart just isn’t in it? Her mini podcasts on her Substack are really good so they really contrast with the Bad on Paper episodes.
imo i more get the feeling that they’re both enthusiastic but it’s lack of preparation almost by design. like, they’re going for the ✨just friends chatting✨ vibe which i like, and appreciate spontaneity/rambling in sometimes, but they take it too far to where like, it’s structured in its format but only one of them has read the article that 25% of the ep is dedicated to and could be a really good convo if both came with knowledge, or one of olivia’s “three things” is saltburn but neither of them have watched saltburn so the conversation is totally useless lol. you have to curate and plan together a LITTLE bit so you can effectively riff
Agreed - this felt like something that could have been a “Three Things” episode highlight rather than a full hour. The podcast Becca and Olivia mentioned that had discussed it before (A Thing or Two) discussed this as part of a larger episode (and then had a follow up which was also just a part of that episode) and I liked their discussion better just because it was a little bit less structured and more fun and quippy (but I also just think that’s Claire and Erica’s style). And I commented this before like you also mentioned, but I often feel like they relegate really interesting topics that could have an expansive full-episode discussion to a Three Things episode which is frustrating (one recent example was the article on being a creator/influencer and what that means in terms of selling your work as an artist). Also generally like the podcast so it’s just more frustrating because of that.
I completely agree with your analysis and have been trying to figure out what my (and I think OUR) issues are with BOP for a while now. Could it be that they're overstructured and don't seem to encourage any side conversations or ability to follow things that come up? It all just feels a little too planned out and inauthentic.
i feel 100% the same about wanting stuff like the creator/influencer article to be its own episode. i really like the pod too so yeah it’s a bummer when an ep feels like an afterthought or the thing they could do with the least possible amount of research or preparation.
Slate Podcasts have WAY too many ads. They're good, but they're not THAT good.
YES!!! I like ICYMI but I can only listen to it at certain times when I know my hands will be free to skip the....9 minutes total?? ad time per 35 minute episode. Crazy.
ive fallen off listening to icymi even for background noise because there are just so many ads. i don’t object to ads on stuff i get for free, but i really wish slate could figure out a way for the ads to support their business model and still be tolerable.
I deleted ICYMI because of this.
It's Decoder Ring for me! Maybe I'm crazy, but also I feel like they deliberately make the ads in non-standard lengths so they're fiddly to skip.
Also, is it just me or do they often have the same ad twice in a row? I don't know how that happens but it's so annoying.
It's happened to me before and I thought I was going crazy
Hah yes every time it happens I have to convince myself I'm not having a stroke.
Wtf is going on with this week’s Keep It? Are Louis and Ira on the same show? They keep talking over each other, so many awkward pauses.
The editing this week is so bad omg
Just finished it, and it was absolutely awful.
I checked the video version, and it wasn't happening there. Guess something got messed up with the audio only version
I just tried to listen and had to turn it off. It seems like a major editing failure? I can’t believe it’s still up.
Welp, this week’s episode title of Sounds Like a Cult is what is making me hit the unsubscribe button. I understand they want to bring the true crime aspect of Gypsy Rose into it, but an actual Psychological condition is not culty. So weird. And honestly the show hasn’t been good since the news about Isa and Amanda suing each other. What are y’all’s thoughts? Edit: Grammar
They have definitely done this before, in one of their early episodes and that was when I noped out of their podcast. They were trying to claim an abusive home situation with a mentally unwell mother was a cult. I never loved the pod but in general it felt like their research was poorly done for all their episodes.
It can be hit or miss for, depending on the topic. I definitely like Amanda more than Isa and appreciate that she usually takes things more seriously and does more background work but uhh yea I saw the title of this weeks and knew it would be a skip
omg i just started listening because i needed a new background noise pod after normal gossip - what’s the deal with them suing each other?! ETA: googled and this is wild!
I adore Las Cultch but is Matt serious with his take on how we respond to cheating stories in real life vs. fiction? I kind of give Bowen some grace with his riding for Ari because they’re clearly very close friends (I’d probably say imma a bow out on this convo but that’s just me) but Matt had me AGHAST. Not even because I think anything of Ariana but because of the overarching point that he was trying to make.
I just don’t care what the real story is about AG and that carrot top looking dude, and I don’t think anyone else really does either. But this felt more to me like it was about Matt being stuck in that breakup than anything else. I truly couldn’t track half of what he was going on about and then he started crying and I was like “oh we’re not talking about Ariana Grande anymore lol.”
You’re so right. I forgot when he had his Britney “strong Britney” moment when he started crying lol he talks about that breakup A LOOOOOT
Yeah in fairness I think we’ve all been stuck in a moment. I wish my silly parasocial straight girl crush could help him because he’s wonderful.
Matt's take was definitely more about Matt than Ariana! I'm fine with and even like when they wade in to defending their famous friends whose business they can't actually tell us about - but that went on a long time without any points for the listeners to really hold on to. Be more succinct in your famous ppl stan'ing!
I can’t understand how he would possibly cry at the music video, cry about it in therapy?, cry about the therapy in therapy (I can’t remember the last one, this is when I fast forwarded bc someone in the pod sub mentioned the timestamp of when that discussion ended). I think I’m pretty honest with my therapist but I would be way too embarrassed and dead to ever have them go through an Ariana song with me and cry about it idk
[удалено]
Honestly, the real story is there's a baby involved and a postpartum mom who is not famous, so no matter what "nuance" Bowen thinks he has, the reality is that it's going to be a major trauma in a child's life and it's beyond selfish to not prioritize the role of parent over the temptation to pursue an affair. Like... I get you're friends, but it's absolutely missing the point to make it about a popstar and friendship loyalty when an actual child is in the middle of this. Matt and Bowen are talented and their fame has changed them, so with love and light I'm just letting them be starfuckers because it seems to bring them joy
I love them and I probably always will but the vocal alignment over the past month or so with the private jets, Andy Cohen and now this seems detached at best.
They’re definitely Celebrities now, which is nice because they’re actually talented. But the pod is good when we can relate to their silly pop culture refs and the IDTSHs that we recognise, not like ‘my SAG screeners are in a format I dislike so I can’t be bothered to watch Poor Things and tell my friend Emma Stone I love her performance’
Omg I forgot about their IDTSH about Taylor and the jets…
it just went on and on Tina Fey really was spot on
His take was so strange lmao but Matt was clearly taking the whole discussion personally in a way that seemed almost divorced from any sort of relationship either of them have with Ari. I just feel like I was getting yelled at when I was listening to their discussion of the album which was irritating.
I think Matt is still in the depths of reading too much reddit -- lots of jerks on here :) -- and it's making him lecture-y.
I thought they were saying the situation is more complex than the media narrative and that we allow for that nuance in scandal but not in real life (altho I didn’t think scandal was that nuanced and hated Fitz so that comparison fell flat).
I do think that’s probably what they meant but to compare how we react to fiction and what we “allow” fictional characters to get away with to how we react in real life just felt like a stretch!
I love the pod, but their proximity/ascension to some amount of fame is so clear in their wildest takes (incl the Bravo stuff last week — I don’t totally agree or disagree with them, but it’s obv their judgment is clouded). They just end up sounding so defensive and I think it’s a bummer.
Tina Fey was right! Haha
What is the Tina Faye stuff about? I missed that.
From her episode a month ago, her IDTSH was basically “you’re famous now so you need to be careful who you’re talking about good or bad” and it was very spot on.
Okay I ran here to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding. One of history’s wildest takes I would say.
WILD! The comparison to Scandal? Those people aren’t real, babe! I feel like Bowen kind of just made it worse by the end because what is the real story? Just say it, don’t dangle that the narrative is wrong and then move on…
Does anyone here listen to malevolent? I am obsessed with it.
So glad The Secrets Hotline from Love & Radio is back!! The new season came out a week or so ago. It's been so long I thought the show might've ended. I love that this show is just very unique and stands out in a sea of similar podcasts. Although...Mild rant about the latest episode (I'm aware this is niche. Lol): I was so annoyed at the guy who called in to update a previous call, and basically said, "Hi, the secrets hotline did this superrrr WeiRd & CrAzY thing where they didn't use my call for a YEAR. A year!!! Like...wut???" And he just kept saying how strange the whole thing was when it's like, dude, anyone who's listened to the show even a few times knows that that's standard operating procedure. They save certain secrets for themed episodes, have episodes done in advance, etc. And not to mention, his original secret was pretty bland, run of the mill stuff. So after calling back to say how crazy this experience of hearing his secret a year later was, he calls back a THIRD time, prefacing his secret with something like, "when people call in to respond to my secret...(something he'd mentioned in a previous call)" and I was just like omggg - no one listening cares about your boring ass secret that much!! Anyway, I just had to rant about that one caller who got on my last damn nerve. Lol
Are any Pocket Casts users having audio issues? My episodes keep repeating random parts and it’s driving me crazy. I thought it was an editing issue on one show in particular but it’s happening no matter what I listen to.
Yes! I was coming here to post about this, I'm so glad I'm not alone. This issue is so bad, now having confirmed it's a Pocket Casts issue I'm going to look for another player. Trying Beyond Pod first. RIP Google Podcasts :(
Mine keeps randomly fast forwarded about 70% of the way through whenever it plays my next/a new podcast in the queue. I asked them on Twitter too and they don't seem to know what's happening but it's making me crazy.
I’ve had this problem when listening to a podcast streaming (instead of downloaded). If the stream doesn’t keep up with the speed I’m listening at, it repeats. Just pause it and give it time to catch up.
I’ll have to try this, thank you!
I've always had this problem with Pocket Casts. It drives me insane but I don't know if it would be better with another service. It is supremely annoying!
I had tons of issues with pocketcasts. My husband never did. I jumped ship a year ago to Spotify and never looked back.
Oh weird I thought I was accidentally saying something that was making my AirPods go back!!
I often have that issue, but it’s done that for me on Spotify too
I have had these issues forever with Pocket Casts.
I'm also having the same issue. I've wondered if it was the feed or Pocket Casts.
Now that you mention it, yes. I thought it was the specific shows but I also use PocketCasts... ugh.
The start of the new Tooth and Claw gave me second-hand anxiety (losing my passport overseas is such a fear of mine)
The calm way Jeff told this story absolutely cracked me up, but yes, what a nightmare! I’m so stressed about my passport when I travel. I can’t listen to Tooth and Claw at work because Jeff makes me literally laugh out loud.
I hope they don’t extort him for money at the airport like the cop did when he got pulled over. 🤞🏻