San Francisco Views and Podcast Listens

Here are more pictures from my San Francisco trip. San Francisco is full of amazing views!

I flew from Seattle to San Francisco, but San Francisco reminds me of road trips. I went to college about 8 hours away from San Francisco. Where I went to school, it was a small town surrounded by trees and the sea. San Francisco was our nearest true city. It wasn't uncommon for my friends and I to take spur of the moment road trips to the beautiful city.

Back in the day, we mainly listened to music and chitchatted to pass the time on the road. But this was before the time of podcasts. In the modern days, podcasts are the perfect road trip companion. 

Several years ago when I discovered podcasts, I was thrilled at all the fascinating listening options at my fingertips! For a while I was super addicted to podcasts and listened them to constantly. But I have been out of touch from the podcast world lately. Recently, a friend recommended two podcasts I had never heard of: Limetown and The Message. Both are so good! These two podcast have got me reinvigorated about the world of podcast. When I first started listening to podcasts, I listened to mainly non-fiction, but the two my friend recommended are fiction and this has got me excited about finding more fiction ones. But I still love the non fiction podcasts too. Another friend of mine and myself got into a conversation about podcasts which led to me sending her a long list of podcasts that are great. Now I am going to share my podcast list with you!

NPR NonFiction Shows:

• This American Life- Is an NPR show about peoples lives. It is super interesting and if you haven't heard it before, there are soooo many episodes to catch up on.
• Radiolab- A science themed show for science people and non science people alike. You gotta listen to the episode about colors...so interesting!
• Wait Wait Don't Tell Me- This one is pretty nerdy, but delightfully so! It is a game show about current events. It is a good way to stay informed while laughing.
• Wiretap- This is a CBC show that NPR use to play sometimes. It is a humor show while also being really contemplative. The stories are fiction and non fiction. 
• Serial- This show was the darling of the podcast world last year. It is an offshoot of This American Life, but unlike TAL, the story continues throughout the season of the podcast. Also, it is mystery themed. So the first season investigated one mystery, now they are onto another.
• Snap Judgement: It reminds me of This American Life in a lot of ways but has a more energetic vibe. There was one episode that featured creepy twins that was really good called 'Unforgiven.'

Funny Shows:

• Judge John Hodgman: The premise of the show is that Judge John Hodgman who is not a real judge, listens to disputes. They are personal, every day disputes rather then about theft or murder. The cases are things like a husband and wife disputing on whether to get a cat or a dog...things like that. Despite it being a humor podcast and the cases being simple, the judge always puts a lot of thought and wisdom into his decision.
• Answer Me This: A British podcast where people write in questions and the hosts try to answer the questions. They also make up funny songs. It is funny and educational and you get to listen to delightful accents.
• Dead Authors Podcast: The premise of the show is that the host is H.G. Wells and with his time machine, he has traveled to our times. He uses his time machine to collect now dead authors and he interviews them. The host is a comedian as are the various people who play the dead authors. It is super hilarious!

Educational Shows:

• The New Yorker Fiction Podcast: The New Yorker Fiction editor brings in an author to read a short story written by another author. Then, after listening to the story, the two people discuss the story, it's meaning and significance. It is really interesting!
• StarTalk: Neil Degrasse Tyson talks about space and science.
• 99% Invisible: A podcast about art and design. The best episode of this that I have heard is actually about animals and is called Wild Ones Live.
• Stuff You Should Know: Two guys who obviously buddies pick a subject and talk all about it!

Pop Culture Podcast:

• Slate Culture gabfest: A group of people get together and talk about pop culture items. They really enthusiastically analyze, ponder-over and discuss both super low brow pop culture and high brow pop culture. The discussions are always passionate and thoughtful, even if the pop culture item is considered to be a trivial topic.
• Pop Culture Happy Hour: Same as above, just different people.

Non-Fictional Storytelling:

• Memory Palace: This podcast is a history podcast...sort of. All the stories take place in history but really it is a thoughtful and insightful podcast full of beautiful stories about people's lives.
• Mystery Show: A lady solves mysteries that cannot be solved on google. This show has a playful vibe.
• Strangers: Another podcast about people.
• Lore: A podcast recounting scary stories from history.

Fictional Storytelling:

• Limetown: You have to start from the beginning with this one because it is a continual story. It is about a spooky occurrence in a mysterious town.
• The Message: Same as above about starting from the beginning. It is about a mysterious message from space.
• The Truth: This one you can start anywhere because each episode has a conclusion and is a different story.
• The Black Tapes: A spooky and sometimes downright scary, fictional on going story. It reminds me of a scary, fictional Serial. 

 If anyone has recommendations for good podcasts, I would love to hear! Lately, I've been on the search for more fiction podcasts and mystery podcasts, but I am excited to listen to anything interesting that sparks curiosity.