Sounds Familiar

We hear a lot about the work goes into getting the eye-grabbing visuals Hollywood blockbusters… but how much work goes into getting the sounds? You may be surprised to learn that behind, not just the explosions and fight scenes, but behind every door creaking, every clothing rustle, behind ev...

It’s happened again. Your favorite TV show (or graphic novels or movie franchise or podcast) is headed down the tubes. The shark has been jumped, and now there’s no looking back.  What does it mean for a series to be in decline? What does it look like? And why does it happen? I intend...

In 1980, during a “very special episode” of Siskel & Ebert, Roger Ebert made a provocative claim about the emerging genre of “slasher” horror films: “these films hate women.”  Whether that’s true—and why—is a little more complicated. Dr. L...

Is three really the magic number? Sometimes it seems like it. From three blind mice to sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, things that come in threes just seem… right. This time I’ll speak with Michael Eck, who has tracked down and documented things in threes for decades, about why th...

The Loudness War is the pejorative name given to the decades-long struggle to try and make the loudest record, to have that one song that’ll stand out above the flood of other sounds we hear, musical and non-musical, on a daily basis. Of course, with everybody competing for the next loudest...

We all know a bad translation when we see one… or do we? Translations of all sorts can, at best, ensure our shared survival. And at worst, mistranslations have had varied, far-reaching and often disastrous effects, as basic as “all your base are belong to us” or as serious as botched post...

One of the most viral memes in popular culture came way before the invention of the internet. Ever since the iconic opening bars of the Ronettes’ hit “Be My Baby” first blasted from a hi-fi back in 1963, the same drum beat has been used in songs by everyone from The Beatles to Lady Gaga. Join...

Sounds Familiar is a hypertextual adventure for your ears, exploring the connections and surprising stories found everywhere, just underneath the mundane and everyday. Join us May 4th for the premiere episode of Sounds Familiar, on iTunes and pretty much anywhere else you can find podcasts. Downloa...