Gadget Lab Podcast: The Virus and the Vote

MM: Sure. So I’ve been trying to de-stress a little bit by watching season two of Sex Education on Netflix. And so far, I am four episodes in and it is just as awesome as season one was. There’s already… We’ve already got some incredible new additions to the cast, but of course the old stalwarts are back at their usual shenanigans. And it’s just like… It’s just the most… I still don’t understand where in England this takes place where it’s sunny every day and it’s like a Pacific Northwest rainforest and everyone’s beautiful. That’s like my only quibble with the show. Other than that, it’s perfect as far as I’m concerned.

MC: And it’s on Netflix, is that right?

MM: It’s on Netflix, yeah.

MC: Nice. Brian Barrett, what is your recommendation?

BB: I’m going to go with a throwback of a book. I recommended a book a previous time I was on this podcast that Mike, I think, did not like that much. So I’m going back in for another book recommendation.

MC: Wait, was it The North Water?

BB: Yeah.

MC: Oh no, I love that book.

BB: Oh. Oh good. Well then I’m trying to go two for two.

MC: All right. I was just surprised that somebody as delightful to hang out with as Brian Barrett was recommending a book that was so emotionally traumatic.

BB: Yeah. Well that’s just what’s on the inside here, Mike. That’s just the bleakness shining through. This is less violence and has less to do with whaling. It’s called The End of Vandalism by a guy named Tom Drury, who is just a phenomenal, and I think underappreciated writer. It came out in the mid-90s. It reads like a sort of … a small town narrative, but it is incredibly deadpan and funny and off-kilter and great. So I would recommend people to start reading Tom Drury. Start there, and but really all of it’s good.

MC: Wonderful.

LG: Let’s add it to the WIRED book club.

MC: Lauren, what is your recommendation?

LG: My recommendation is Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season three on Amazon Prime Video. I’m a little behind on this. It became available in early December. It dropped in December, as the cool people say, and I’m just catching up. And I’m actually only through episode four at this point. It’s a little predictable, but the show is so … It’s stylized so well and the dialogue is so perfectly executed that it’s really a delight to watch and a nice break from stories about Iowa caucus apps failing and pandemics. Mike, last but not least, what’s yours?

MC: I would like to recommend a podcast. It is called Freak Flag Flying. And it’s an interview podcast between a WIRED contributor and author, Steve Silberman, and songwriter and rockstar, David Crosby. Crosby and Silberman are friends. They’ve been friends for a couple of decades, and they sit down to talk about David Crosby’s career. It’s an interview show, basically, intercut with music because they talk a lot about David Crosby’s music and the music of the people that he works with. And they talk about his entire career, which is The Byrds, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and then Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and then a solo career. And then a period of time where he had a very terrible drug addiction.

And then he’s come out of retirement in the 21st century and put out some really great contemporary music. So it’s like two old friends sitting down and one of them just happens to be a rock star who has lived this incredible life of big highs and big lows. And it’s just a delight to listen to. It’s also very well-paced, very well edited. It’s not chronological, it kind of hops around all over the place. They talk about politics. If you are a David Crosby fan, you probably already know about it and you’ve probably already listened to it. If you’re like a casual fan, like maybe you know some of his music and you know who he is and you’d like to learn a little bit more about him, it’s a great way in. Steve Silberman really knocked it out of the park with this one.

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