Feature Friday: Podcasts

What? A week without a blog post on sewing? I know, blasphemy. Honestly, I’ve been sitting (pun intended) on my pants challenge post for the last week because I haven’t taken pictures yet (side note: if you have any recommendations for a point-and-shoot camera, please let me know). This weekend, I promise! On to this week’s feature.

I like background noise when I sew. For a long time, I watched my “comfort food” TV shows–shows that I can watch on repeat and/or don’t require much in the way of attention. I’ve barreled my way through How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory multiple times thanks to long sewing marathons.

Recently, though, I’ve started listening to more and more podcasts. I like feeling like I’m learning something while crafting. Plus, my iPad makes this super convenient.

Here are a few of my go-to podcasts:

• The Broad Experience: This is a newer bi-weekly podcast that looks at the concerns of women in the workplace. The one that hooked me was the one on academia (since that’s my field of employment). Really eye-opening.
• Stuff You Missed in History Class: From howstuffworks.com. this podcast covers lots of quirky historical factoids. There are sooooo many of these, but if you’re reading this blog, then you’d probably be interested in the one on the history of the sewing machine.
• Geeks Guide to the Galaxy: A science fiction podcast. They’ve interviewed numerous sci-fi authors and also talk a lot about issues related to writing. The early podcasts don’t have the greatest audio quality. That actually turned me off of the show for a while, but recent episodes are much better in that regard. I do need to suck it up and listen to the older ones, in particular the one with George R.R. Martin. Le sigh.
• Girl on Guy: Hosted by Aisha Tyler, a.k.a. the lady who voices Lana on Archer. You might also know her as the current host of Who’s Line is it Anyway? Aisha is an awesome lady nerd and has some interesting interviews with all manners of celebrities.
• Pop Culture Happy Hour: From NPR. I love this panel and follow all of these people on Twitter. Just a one-hour weekly podcast on pop culture topics.
• The Nerdist: Hosted by Chris Hardwick, a.k.a. that guy who hosts The Talking Dead. Basically, Hardwick interviews celebs and chills with his nerdy friends. I just listened to the live show with Tom Lenk (from Buffy and Angel), and it was… glorious. I like nerdy things, guys.
• Sex Nerd Sandra: Forewarning, this podcast talks about sex. Very explicitly. What really drew me to this podcast was the very body- and sex-positive messages. I feel like this is a topic that we shy away from way too often. I really appreciate all of the angles Sandra takes with sex topics and how many academics she pulls in for interviews.
• The Indoor Kids: I just started this one, but I’m really liking it so far. This is from the Nerdist. It’s a husband/wife team talking about video games. Enough said.

What do you guys watch or listen to while you craft?