Good podcast episode about an "experience designer" named ND Austin

The episode is called "The Real-Life Willy Wonka Who Built Tony Hawk a Secret Desert Train" (think Michael Douglas's adventures in The Game). The episode starts by describing some of the experiences he created, and progresses to describing his very unusual upbringing. (Here are reviews about the tiny bar he created)


Speaking of experiences:

@subwaycreaturesofficial The subway has turned into an obstacle course #subwaycreatures #iloveny #subway #storm #flood #nyc ♬ original sound - SubwayCreatures

Podcast interview with Jason Blum discussing M3GAN 2.0 flopping

It starts with him noting that it wasn't long ago that tracking indicated M3GAN 2.0 might beat F1.


Meanwhile, in real waste:

the trailer did look suspiciously too good to be true. the john wick kills she did had no clear action prompts https://t.co/Sc1wcaR6NV

— Gene Park (@GenePark) July 2, 2025

It never ceases to amaze me (derogatory) how much money and effort game publishers are willing to just walk away from and never see any kind of return on. Major cancelations like Perfect Dark, Everwild, and Zenimax's thing represent decades of work by hundreds of devs that's just *gone.* Shocking.

— Dan Stapleton (@danstapleton.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 10:32 AM

Also:

Cannot delete the app pic.twitter.com/75iLmdxb4S

— Sar Haribhakti (@sarthakgh) July 2, 2025

(Background)

Pablo Torre's latest podcast is a remarkable discussion about the NFL Player's Association seemingly sabotaging itself with ineptness and self-dealing

He and Mike Florio of PFT heard about a secret document that concerned possible collusion among NFL owners to prevent guaranteed contracts in the wake of Watson's deal. The two reporters understood why the NFL might want to keep the document secret, but why would the NFLPA? So they made a bet as to who could uncover it, and Torre won.

Compelling listening, and stay tuned til the end to hear which ESPN personality and former NFLPA president refused to comment.

Here's Florio's follow-up today discussing whether Justin Herbert might want to sue the league and the PA.

Today's news and jokes

More skorts madness from the world of camogie.

The Munster council have tonight issued a statement saying that tomorrow's Munster final between Cork and Waterford has been postponed because both teams indicated they'd wear shorts instead of skorts.

Rather than simply allowing… pic.twitter.com/ZFzWsLbaRE

— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) May 9, 2025

BBC

The Ankler's "Tales from the 90's" series of podcasts is fun

So far, I've enjoyed, "'Last Action Hero' Screenwriters Tell All" and "How New Line Dominated the Decade."

The Quentin Tarantino movie review podcast is back, and great

They're always so wonderfully enthusiastic, it's great listening, even if I almost always end up unimpressed when I try watching the movies. This week it's Peter Hyam's "Narrow Margin", which doesn't seem to be streaming on any of the subscription services:

This is a particularly good episode of the F1 Nation podcast

It's consistently my favorite F1 podcast, but this week's episode has Davide Valsecchi as a cohost, and he's always an absolute delight.

The podcast episode of My Perfect Console with author Veronica Roth is fun

She wrote the Divergent series (which I haven't read/seen), and likes video games a lot. (The through line is that the discussion helps her realize she's consistently attracted to destroying stuff with fire, indeed, she doesn't notice toward the end when he points out that the specific detail she cites about the last game is also about fire.)

Powerful podcast discussion between Dan Le Batard and Stan Van Gundy about the devastating loss of their loved ones

Dan lost his brother to illness, and Stan lost his wife to suicide. Intense discussion about dealing with unexpected loss. (And no, there's no ad for internet therapy services, or any ads at all.)

If you want even more Disney Star Wars hotel commentary, here's a long podcast from several months ago

It's a group of adults describing their disappointing immersive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience in detail--a funny point made is that, when you think about it, most "high end" Disney hotel experiences are extremely lackluster compared to high end experiences at non-Disney hotels and restaurants. 

(That's certainly my opinion of the hotel on Oahu.)

If you want a NBA team to root against, listen to this podcast about "independent" mortgage brokers

On its face, the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out sounds like it's describing what should be deemed blatant, massive fraud by an NBA owner. (The early response has been some finger-pointing by the the main players discussed in the episode.)

This is the in-game NBA moment described at the start of the episode, which really was a remarkable character moment: 

The "Replay" podcast is a terrific playthrough of the RPG "Die"

Die seems so absurdly demanding of creativity from its players, but this is a wonderful, funny playthrough (I have two episodes left). Even the "Prelude" where they design their characters is entertaining.

I agonized over which 2 minutes of @deadghostpro's "Replay" would make the right trailer for @lawebfest2024.

The magical girl transformations? The first Paragon fight? Toebeans?

All good options, but in the end — this is us. pic.twitter.com/4GeifbnNxS

— Aram (@AramVartian) March 19, 2024

The episode of My Perfect Console with Iain Lee is particularly good

Had never heard of him before.

The episode of the podcast Win-Win with gambler Haralabos Voulgaris is very good

He talks about everything from his father's gambling, the worker's comp he got for a grisly injury that jumpstarted his career as a gambler, and his current effort to elevate a soccer team to La Liga.

Good podcast series about people playing the RPG "Die"

Such a seemingly intimidating game that demands a lot of character creation effort, but these players are skilled, and the pods are edited to cut down on empty space. (I've only listened to ther first 1.5 episodes.)

The episode of My Perfect Console with game Designer Jake Solomon (Marvel's Midnight Suns) is great

Consistently my favorite podcast--his picks for five video games are very dull, but he's very engaging discussing his career.

The Popular Front podcast is very good

From May, "Has Palestine's Third Intifada Already Begun?"

*From March: "Israel Is Courting Disaster"

Tom Bissell 's episode of the "My Perfect Console" podcast is great

Filled with raw and vivid anecdotes about his career, and experiences with videos games. Especially funny is his recounting of realizing with dawning horror the nature of the knight "Yurt" from the game "Demon Souls."

The "My Perfect Console" podcast is great

Simon Parkin interviews people in the video game industry, and alternates between asking them about their career and five video games that are special to them. So far I've listened to the Frank Lantz and Sam Barlow episodes.

My five:

WCW/nWo Revenge

Jet Force Gemini

Fallout

Draw Something

Tales From the Borderlands 

Excellent podcast about being a reporter for the NY Times

I wasn't familiar with Astead Herndon, but this is a great interview with him about his early career and current work for the NY Times.