Weekly Podcast Review
A Life Well Wasted Podcast
(http://alifewellwasted.com/, also available on iTunes)
Why A Life Well Wasted?
This podcast was recently suggested to me by my editor and one of the head honchos at Anime 3000. His email to me simply read: “A Life Well Wasted. To explain more would ruin it. Just download every
episode, listen to it and thank me later.” A Life Well Wasted is not an anime podcast, but that’s ok for today’s review. Sometimes we need to step outside of our comfort zones and check something new out anyway. I have to admit to some initial nervousness in reviewing A Life Well Wasted. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and my editor’s email only increased the mysterious shroud surrounding this unconventional podcast.
Wow, I feel like I’m in a trance. A soft, electronic beat flows while the creator, Robert Ashley –described as a freelance journalist and aspiring radio producer—carefully and smartly edits user-submitted ideas about video games into a kind of brainwashing tune. I’m still nervous about the set-up for this particular podcast. I’m used to following a format wherein hosts introduce themselves and their topics for each show. Robert eschews this format completely. His podcast is like some sort of unholy combination of mind control and smooth electronic jazz.
The main focus of Robert’s most recent update is the videogame Tetris. He accurately notes that most people have played Tetris; that this videogame scratched some kind of itch we didn’t know as a society we had. His guest is Henk Rogers, the Netherlands-born entrepreneur who helped introduce Tetris to a Western audience. Henk’s thoughts are interesting, fascinating, and well worth a listen. Robert carefully edits music, a similarly trance-like electronic beat, into the background of his interviews. This is some great work. I have to admire Robert’s skills at music production.
Robert’s interview with Henk Rogers hits some spectacular moments, including Rogers’ thoughts on terraforming Mars, global warming, and European relations and how they relate to Tetris. Rogers’ story of visiting Moscow in order to bring Tetris to the states is fascinating. Next, Robert interviews Frank Lance, director of the NYU game center. This interview is no less interesting than the first.
A Life Well Wasted plays more like a documentary than a podcast. Robert’s non-traditional interviews are phenomenal. I wonder how I’ve gone this long without knowing about this podcast. It is a mature, highly respectable piece of audio engineering that I highly recommend.
“Ideas are common. You couldn’t sell one on eBay for a dollar.” –Robert Ashley, creator of A Life Well Wasted
