1) I loved the write-up in Vulture! I was a little nonplussed by Nick’s assessment of Crypto Island (and your return to podcasting), so I absolutely fist pumped as I read his review of Search Engine. I’ve followed Nick’s work for years and trust his taste in recommendations, so this feature felt especially redemptive.
2) As a longtime podcaster myself, I actually love hearing ads on other podcasts, mostly because I’m nosy about who has booked which campaigns and what makes an ad read work. I don’t even skip non-host read ads because I do know how bills get paid in this industry.
3) Y’all are doing such great work. I’m just so happy for this entire team and especially especially you, PJ!
I find it bonkers when people complain about ads on a podcast they are getting for free - how do they think it gets made?! Unless you're advertising for Lockheed Martin or puppy farms I really don't care (and know where the skip button is).
For ad-free podcast, I would definitely pay $20 a year, and probably $5 a month. I'm guessing distributing your podcast via substack is not possible, but if so, that could be an option - some substacks I subscribe to get me access to a private url without ads.
I cannot emphasize how willing I am to pay for an ad-free version of your podcast. I would pay $1 per episode for an ad-free version. Maybe even $2. That’s more than the advertisers are paying per listener, right?
I see a lot of comments here already about the ads, which is ironic because it is also what I came here to comment on. This is also, coincidentally, a suggestion for an episode. I am curious with your experience in the Podcasting space, why you choose to do dynamic radio-like ad-insertions for Search Engine vs host-reads or something else, as it was clearly a choice you made deliberately. The whole space here is very interesting and a black-box for most people who aren't inside of the podcast space. Would selfishly be very interested to hear your voice on this particular topic.
Otherwise, this episode was lovely, and a very relevant topic to me personally. I hope that others who need to hear this will also stumble onto this episode and find some wisdom and solace here through you and Craig.
Kudos PJ, very well done!
P.S: - This aside, I also wanted to mention that when I smoked weed for the first time that it had the opposite effect on me, anxiety spiralling high. Needless to say, I wish that it was so chill as not feeling high at all!
P.P.S - Just read the email and now realize why there are so many comments haha, wanted to offer the episode suggestion before and just took the time today. How ironic.
This was pretty great. What I mainly took away from this is that we could all strive a lot more, be more ambitious. We could then, maybe, have holiday homes on the beach or wherever. Or we could be the most popular band in wherever. Happiness is a fucking spectrum. I read Nietzsche for fun, so I'm mainly miserable, but I am also looking for joy rather than happiness. My life is simple (boring to some) these days, and I have lamented this simplicity. But it brings me a modicum of existentialist/nihilistic joy.
Regarding the first time with weed. The first time I smoked it I was 14 and at school camp, and got so high and diggly but it was not weed. Well, it was some sort of weed. Anyway, PJ, I'm feeling such joy that you're back.
I loved this episode--maybe especially because I'm the person in their 20s wondering about work and this felt reassuring? But also because the journey from "this is the question I'm asking" to "oh, I'm actually asking a different question" was smart and interesting and curious.
I’ve loved The Hold Steady since high school. (I’m a Minneapolis native) and I am so happy to be able to hear this conversation and some PJ quality reporting on Craig’s story.
Weirdly I get a lot of ads in German, even though I’m nowhere near Germany. I skip ads if I’m totally honest, which I absolutely shouldn’t as I also make my living making audio, but I listen to a lot of podcasts for work and hearing the same thing over and over and over breaks my brain.
But, I would totally be a paid subscriber (in fact, I think I might already be at a nominal amount?!) Ad-free content is a nice perk - I’m not sure if there are other perks that I’d actually use. Extra episodes or early access? Appealing to me, but I imagine the expense/admin on those wouldn’t make them worth your while.
I'm a new listener. I've gotten through almost every episode in the last week, but so far this is the one that resonates the most. I've also always been a "non-content" who thought when she was finally traditionally published she would feel like she crossed the finish line (or whatever the "finally" was). It's such a lie! We are never satiated. But I will say, after a lot of personal tragedy and loss over the last 5 years or so, my perspective is shifting. So if you ever want to explore the question: "How do you shift your perspective" or something similar, I'd love to talk. I love what you do. Keep searching.
This episode wholly made me think of of a kinda obscure (at least in America) animated series called Zom100--the main character hates his job so much that he finds a zombie apocalypse refreshing because it means he doesn’t have to go to work. (I definitely sent this in an email to PJ before realizing that I could just comment here so sorry for clogging your inbox).
It’s pretty hilarious--parts of the clip ‘Akira’s finally free’ from the show on vizmedia’s youtube channel accurately describes the way it sometimes feels to be stuck at a job you hate or dread.
Also--I barely even notice the ads, for what it’s worth :)
I'm re-reading David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. When I saw this article hit my inbox this morning I thought it must, obviously, be related but then it turned out to be a pretty good alternate path.
Kind of off topic but:
Bullshit Jobs doesn't answer the question of whether anyone actually likes their job, but it certainly does a good job of explaining a theory for why a lot of people hate their jobs. I like the provisional definition early in the book: a bullshit job is a form of employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence.
I agree with the author that a lot of people just plug away at their job because the don't have an alternative and mostly ignore the meaninglessness of their work when they forget about it at 5:01PM.
I've been fascinated by the concept since I read the book 5+ years ago. How could we untie the knotted economy of people with bullshit jobs selling shit to people with bullshit jobs?
> I was a little nonplussed by Nick’s assessment of Crypto Island (and your return to podcasting), so I absolutely fist pumped as I read his review of Search Engine. I’ve followed Nick’s work for years and trust his taste in recommendations, so this feature felt especially redemptive.
This reminds me of https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/no-one-can-explain-exactly-what-pj - I'm guessing PJ does not wish to rehash any of this, but I would love to hear more of his side at some point. But as the review states, overall, glad PJ did not return from his tar and feathering bitter and focused on that, instead just creating new great stuff.
1) I loved the write-up in Vulture! I was a little nonplussed by Nick’s assessment of Crypto Island (and your return to podcasting), so I absolutely fist pumped as I read his review of Search Engine. I’ve followed Nick’s work for years and trust his taste in recommendations, so this feature felt especially redemptive.
2) As a longtime podcaster myself, I actually love hearing ads on other podcasts, mostly because I’m nosy about who has booked which campaigns and what makes an ad read work. I don’t even skip non-host read ads because I do know how bills get paid in this industry.
3) Y’all are doing such great work. I’m just so happy for this entire team and especially especially you, PJ!
I find it bonkers when people complain about ads on a podcast they are getting for free - how do they think it gets made?! Unless you're advertising for Lockheed Martin or puppy farms I really don't care (and know where the skip button is).
All that build up and you didn’t talk about you bailing on running with Graig.
For ad-free podcast, I would definitely pay $20 a year, and probably $5 a month. I'm guessing distributing your podcast via substack is not possible, but if so, that could be an option - some substacks I subscribe to get me access to a private url without ads.
I cannot emphasize how willing I am to pay for an ad-free version of your podcast. I would pay $1 per episode for an ad-free version. Maybe even $2. That’s more than the advertisers are paying per listener, right?
I see a lot of comments here already about the ads, which is ironic because it is also what I came here to comment on. This is also, coincidentally, a suggestion for an episode. I am curious with your experience in the Podcasting space, why you choose to do dynamic radio-like ad-insertions for Search Engine vs host-reads or something else, as it was clearly a choice you made deliberately. The whole space here is very interesting and a black-box for most people who aren't inside of the podcast space. Would selfishly be very interested to hear your voice on this particular topic.
Otherwise, this episode was lovely, and a very relevant topic to me personally. I hope that others who need to hear this will also stumble onto this episode and find some wisdom and solace here through you and Craig.
Kudos PJ, very well done!
P.S: - This aside, I also wanted to mention that when I smoked weed for the first time that it had the opposite effect on me, anxiety spiralling high. Needless to say, I wish that it was so chill as not feeling high at all!
P.P.S - Just read the email and now realize why there are so many comments haha, wanted to offer the episode suggestion before and just took the time today. How ironic.
This was pretty great. What I mainly took away from this is that we could all strive a lot more, be more ambitious. We could then, maybe, have holiday homes on the beach or wherever. Or we could be the most popular band in wherever. Happiness is a fucking spectrum. I read Nietzsche for fun, so I'm mainly miserable, but I am also looking for joy rather than happiness. My life is simple (boring to some) these days, and I have lamented this simplicity. But it brings me a modicum of existentialist/nihilistic joy.
Regarding the first time with weed. The first time I smoked it I was 14 and at school camp, and got so high and diggly but it was not weed. Well, it was some sort of weed. Anyway, PJ, I'm feeling such joy that you're back.
I loved this episode--maybe especially because I'm the person in their 20s wondering about work and this felt reassuring? But also because the journey from "this is the question I'm asking" to "oh, I'm actually asking a different question" was smart and interesting and curious.
I’ve loved The Hold Steady since high school. (I’m a Minneapolis native) and I am so happy to be able to hear this conversation and some PJ quality reporting on Craig’s story.
A great addition would definitely be a no-ads version for the $5/mo club.
Weirdly I get a lot of ads in German, even though I’m nowhere near Germany. I skip ads if I’m totally honest, which I absolutely shouldn’t as I also make my living making audio, but I listen to a lot of podcasts for work and hearing the same thing over and over and over breaks my brain.
But, I would totally be a paid subscriber (in fact, I think I might already be at a nominal amount?!) Ad-free content is a nice perk - I’m not sure if there are other perks that I’d actually use. Extra episodes or early access? Appealing to me, but I imagine the expense/admin on those wouldn’t make them worth your while.
I'm a new listener. I've gotten through almost every episode in the last week, but so far this is the one that resonates the most. I've also always been a "non-content" who thought when she was finally traditionally published she would feel like she crossed the finish line (or whatever the "finally" was). It's such a lie! We are never satiated. But I will say, after a lot of personal tragedy and loss over the last 5 years or so, my perspective is shifting. So if you ever want to explore the question: "How do you shift your perspective" or something similar, I'd love to talk. I love what you do. Keep searching.
This episode wholly made me think of of a kinda obscure (at least in America) animated series called Zom100--the main character hates his job so much that he finds a zombie apocalypse refreshing because it means he doesn’t have to go to work. (I definitely sent this in an email to PJ before realizing that I could just comment here so sorry for clogging your inbox).
It’s pretty hilarious--parts of the clip ‘Akira’s finally free’ from the show on vizmedia’s youtube channel accurately describes the way it sometimes feels to be stuck at a job you hate or dread.
Also--I barely even notice the ads, for what it’s worth :)
I'm re-reading David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. When I saw this article hit my inbox this morning I thought it must, obviously, be related but then it turned out to be a pretty good alternate path.
Kind of off topic but:
Bullshit Jobs doesn't answer the question of whether anyone actually likes their job, but it certainly does a good job of explaining a theory for why a lot of people hate their jobs. I like the provisional definition early in the book: a bullshit job is a form of employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence.
I agree with the author that a lot of people just plug away at their job because the don't have an alternative and mostly ignore the meaninglessness of their work when they forget about it at 5:01PM.
I've been fascinated by the concept since I read the book 5+ years ago. How could we untie the knotted economy of people with bullshit jobs selling shit to people with bullshit jobs?
Thanks for this episode. Deeply resonating with me this morning.
Echoing what Meg said
> I was a little nonplussed by Nick’s assessment of Crypto Island (and your return to podcasting), so I absolutely fist pumped as I read his review of Search Engine. I’ve followed Nick’s work for years and trust his taste in recommendations, so this feature felt especially redemptive.
This reminds me of https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/no-one-can-explain-exactly-what-pj - I'm guessing PJ does not wish to rehash any of this, but I would love to hear more of his side at some point. But as the review states, overall, glad PJ did not return from his tar and feathering bitter and focused on that, instead just creating new great stuff.