{"id":346,"date":"2023-02-23T21:11:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T21:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/?p=346"},"modified":"2023-05-20T23:09:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T23:09:37","slug":"experimenting-with-quick-recs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/23\/experimenting-with-quick-recs\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Recs? An Experiment!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-normal-font-size\">Two New Podcasts I&#8217;m into (for the moment \ud83d\ude02) <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-content-justification-center is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-94bc23d7 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NedsPod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-362\" width=\"192\" height=\"108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-4.png 336w, https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-4-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-4-330x188.png 330w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 192px) 100vw, 192px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCbv-kAhaiE4GU6VFwKf9g1Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-360\" width=\"104\" height=\"104\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-2.png 176w, https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-2-88x88.png 88w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 104px) 100vw, 104px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NedsPod\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NedsPod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ned&#8217;s Declassified Podcast Survival Guide<\/a><\/em> (rewatch podcast) <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-small-font-size\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCbv-kAhaiE4GU6VFwKf9g1Q\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCbv-kAhaiE4GU6VFwKf9g1Q\" target=\"_blank\"> <em>Growing up with Devon<\/em><\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\">I fill a lot <s>(too much)<\/s> of my time with \u2728<em>content\u2728<\/em>, so I feel compelled to make recommendations whenever I come across something that feels particularly high quality, or unexpectedly good. I plan on periodically returning to this <em>quick rec<\/em><span id='easy-footnote-1-346' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/23\/experimenting-with-quick-recs\/#easy-footnote-bottom-1-346' title='&lt;em&gt; &lt;\/em&gt;for sure, inspired by my favorite YouTube channel, &lt;a rel=&quot;noreferrer noopener&quot; href=&quot;https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@MicTheSnare&quot; data-type=&quot;URL&quot; data-id=&quot;https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@MicTheSnare&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;MicTheSnare&lt;\/a&gt;, and the &lt;a rel=&quot;noreferrer noopener&quot; href=&quot;https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XqxkyucB28c&amp;amp;list=PLJuvc6JqeFl7t6LARX-FLCMVsiVnEJ8E9&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&amp;#8220;Quick Review Basheroo&amp;#8221;&lt;\/a&gt; format he used to do for album listens.&amp;#8221; '><sup>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> practice as I continue to develop the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">I wanna elaborate on why these two got me to sit down and make this post, but to get there, here are some very un-hot takes that are worth repeating, even if they&#8217;ve become pretty standard: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><strong>1)<\/strong> There&#8217;s a growing surge of rewatch podcasts (mostly sitcoms), where casts reunite to somewhat quell their fanbases&#8217; insatiable appetites for in-universe <em>content<\/em>.<br><strong>1.5)<\/strong> Old (or old-adjacent) media = familiarity, which can be particularly welcoming for those navigating unprecedented crises\u2014like adulthood! <br><strong>1.75)<\/strong> &#8220;Adulting&#8221; has become a sub-genre of <em>content<\/em> (blogs\/self-help\/even entertainment media), probably due to <em>the current moment in tech\/social media<\/em><span id='easy-footnote-2-346' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/23\/experimenting-with-quick-recs\/#easy-footnote-bottom-2-346' title=' just wanna acknowledge that &amp;#8220;the current moment in tech\/social media&amp;#8221; has become a trope that gets talked to death &amp;amp; admit to the hypocrisy of taking it &lt;em&gt;even deeper &lt;\/em&gt;than the 6 feet it was already under.'><sup>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">So naturally, one worries that these rewatch pods just unscrupulously cash in on nostalgia, rather than providing something new, informative, or intriguing. <br>To my pleasant surprise, the Ned&#8217;s rewatch podcast doesn&#8217;t feel like that at all! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center\" style=\"grid-template-columns:29% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NedsPod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-8.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-366 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-8.png 320w, https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-8-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NedsPod\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@NedsPod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ned&#8217;s Rewatch<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:15px\">Yes, Devon\/Lindsey\/Daniel had to cope with the pressures of being child-actors in Hollywood, but aside from the relief that they didn&#8217;t permanently buckle under that weight, it&#8217;s nice to see that they all became <em>thoughtful people<\/em><span id='easy-footnote-3-346' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/23\/experimenting-with-quick-recs\/#easy-footnote-bottom-3-346' title=' I should elaborate on what I mean by &amp;#8220;thoughtful&amp;#8221;, at least in part due to Lindsey&amp;#8217;s recent Tik-Tok controversy. (I know just barely enough about it to know that I don&amp;#8217;t need to: &lt;em&gt;i)&lt;\/em&gt; look further into it, or &lt;em&gt;ii)&lt;\/em&gt; offer some kind of moral judgment of the situation). &lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;#8220;Thoughtful&amp;#8221;&lt;\/strong&gt;\u2014Each member of the trio speaks with careful consideration during their discussions, and their interest in transcending the superficial is refreshing. &lt;br&gt;That said, it&amp;#8217;d be irresponsible to not cite the very real possibility that my bar might be relatively low for meaningful conversation from former child-stars. And if that&amp;#8217;s the case, then I guess I&amp;#8217;m just outing myself for being biased\/judgmental\/pretentious. So &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;\/em&gt;, this is just a post disguising itself as a quick rec, but in actuality it&amp;#8217;s just my version of realizing that &amp;#8220;actors can be articulate conversationalists.&amp;#8221; Which sounds a heck of a lot like the paradigm-shattering, totally revolutionary epiphany that &amp;#8220;actors are people too.&amp;#8221; \ud83d\ude2e Dehumanization rears its ugly head even in small, unexpected ways!'><sup>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. In particular, it&#8217;s been a privilege to take in Devon&#8217;s honesty and vulnerability about post-Ned life. And his manner of observation is most striking. He doesn&#8217;t bemoan his lack of superstardom; it feels really genuine that he&#8217;s reflected on what it means to have been a successful child-star of a series, how that came with a set of expectations, and (often humorously) how he&#8217;s humbled himself in reckoning with the realities of continuing to work in entertainment and growing as a person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:15px\">I&#8217;d already identified pretty strongly with the character he portrayed on one of my favorite shows growing up\u2014a <em>sort of everyman<\/em><span id='easy-footnote-4-346' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/23\/experimenting-with-quick-recs\/#easy-footnote-bottom-4-346' title=' it feels like a lie of omission to not acknowledge my ongoing &amp;#8220;narrator complex&amp;#8221;, so I should mention that it&amp;#8217;s entirely possible I &lt;em&gt;fancied myself&lt;\/em&gt; a Ned figure, more than I actually was.'><sup>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> afforded some measure of social mobility between the archetypical high school cliques by seeking to (and being sought out to) help those around him. But setting that aside, it&#8217;s been reassuring to hear about his experiences, at least partially given my own aspirations to some kind of notoriety. The second rec can be framed as a kind of joint project with the rewatch show:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:auto 33%\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCbv-kAhaiE4GU6VFwKf9g1Q\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCbv-kAhaiE4GU6VFwKf9g1Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Growing Up With Devon<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCbv-kAhaiE4GU6VFwKf9g1Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-367 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-9.png 320w, https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-9-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:15px\">Everything I&#8217;m pleasantly surprised by in the rewatch show, but without the constraint of relating discussion back to the experience of Ned&#8217;s as much as possible. Devon is an excellent host who gets authentic with interesting guests (like Alyson Stoner!<span id='easy-footnote-5-346' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/23\/experimenting-with-quick-recs\/#easy-footnote-bottom-5-346' title=' it makes sense that Devon&amp;#8217;s pool of people to pull from includes a lot of former child-stars. Jaleel White was up to a similar project for a short time, and it would be great to see his podcast, &lt;a rel=&quot;noreferrer noopener&quot; href=&quot;https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0XfYqgtD6LA&amp;amp;list=PLXF_YgsgzT75Gtq62yEbRAK5ucO66IWjK&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Ever After&lt;\/a&gt;, revived. Jaleel would make an excellent guest on Devon&amp;#8217;s, as well!'><sup>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span>), listens empathetically, asks engaging questions, and has discussions worth listening to. It&#8217;s still early in the show, but I also like the format of asking guests in closing about adulthood survival tips\/practices. Kind of like how the Bodega Boys (RIP) used to close by asking their guests on HBO what their neon sign would say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:15px\">Update: 5\/20\/23 &#8211; After spending more time with these shows I want to acknowledge <strong>a few things<\/strong> that my initial quick rec didn&#8217;t address: <br><em>i)<\/em> <strong>my own nostalgia<\/strong> definitely primed me to have an affinity for Daniel\/Lindsey\/Devon, so I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if a non-Ned&#8217;s fan were less invested.<br><em>ii)<\/em> it&#8217;s a podcast happening in LA, so of course <strong>gross overshares<\/strong> abound. Listeners beware. On the one hand, these aren&#8217;t the most enriching moments of conversation; but on the other, there&#8217;s something to be said for the trend in podcasts. Maybe it serves as a testament to developing intimacy among friends, old and new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two New Podcasts I&#8217;m into (for the moment \ud83d\ude02) I fill a lot (too much) of my time with \u2728content\u2728, so I feel compelled to make recommendations whenever I come across something that feels particularly high quality, or unexpectedly good. I plan on periodically returning to this quick rec practice as I continue to develop [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,48,35,34],"tags":[45,44,46],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-pop-culture","category-reflection","category-writing","tag-content","tag-media","tag-podcasts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayazkhan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}