shark week shark week shark week - July 13th, 2024

the cycle has ended!

Author

Fancy Anne
July 14, 2024

The cycle of “Dear God That is Too Many Podcasts” has ended and I am FREE!

This week I only listened to 46 hours and 24 minutes of podcasts.

That’s a little more than half of what I listened to last week.

I did get some TV show recommendations, so thank you to Wil, Shreya, and Devin for getting me into The Bear—I watched the first two seasons this week and saved the third for next week. I was alsooooo a little sick this week, so I spent a lot more time napping than listening, which definitely contributed to the lower audio hours.

(I’m also probably going to try out White Lotus because Wil has been telling me to watch it for ages.)

If you love another show (or podcast 😈) that you think I should check out, let me know! Maybe it’ll make my list of Top Episodes next week!

Table of Contents

Listening Stats

For July 7th - July 13th, 2024…

  • Listening Time: 46 hours and 24 minutes

  • Listening Time (at 1.5x Speed): 30 hours and 56 minutes

  • Number of Episodes: 64

  • Average Episode Length: 43 minutes and 30 seconds

  • Approximate Daily Listening: 6 hours, 37 minutes, and 43 seconds

  • Approximate Daily Listening (at 1.5x Speed): 4 hours, 25 minutes, and 9 seconds

Overall Weekly Averages to Date:

  • Listening Time: 46 hours, 25 minutes, and 48 seconds

  • Listening Time (at 1.5x Speed): 30 hours, 57 minutes, and 12 seconds

  • Number of Episodes: 63

  • Average Episode Length: 42 minutes and 54 seconds

  • Approximate Daily Listening: 6 hours, 37 minutes, and 58 seconds

  • Approximate Daily Listening (at 1.5x Speed): 4 hours, 25 minutes, and 19 seconds

I’ve removed the first week off the chart and will be keeping it to only show 8 weeks at a time.

Top Episodes This Week

🦈 Short Wave

Hello. If you are new to knowing me, then you may not be aware that I love sharks. I don’t know when my obsession with them started, but my favorite fun fact (that may or may not be true) is that if you are knee deep in ocean water, there is most likely a shark within 5 feet of you. My skepticism comes from this being told to me by a surf instructor on the coast of Sydney, Australia in 2009. But I’ve never forgotten that, and as someone who lives by the ocean it’s relevant to a LOT of conversations!

But anyway: It’s SHARK WEEK! 🎉 So we have to celebrate these beautiful amazing little ocean puppies, and how better than with an episode of Short Wave?

If you’re a fellow shark lover, I’d love to know your favorite kind of shark. I really love hammerheads, but whale sharks have grown to be my absolute favorite. There is only one aquarium in the western hemisphere that’s large enough to keep whale sharks—the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m going there for my birthday this year, so expect to hear more about these gentle giants in October!

Sharks Often Get A Bad Rap, But Oceans Need Them

It's that time of the year again: Shark Week. The TV program is so long-running that if you're under 37, you've never known a life without it. In honor of this oft misunderstood critter, we revisit our conversation with shark scientist Melissa Christina Marquez. She explains just how important sharks are to keeping the oceans healthy, including their role in mitigating climate change. Plus, there may be some talk about shark poop.

🦖 Tiny Dinos

This episode of Tiny Dinos was just… so unhinged. And it ends on a BIG SURPRISE that may change things for James and Connor going forward!

Aquarium Reminiscing

“What Kind of Day Has It Been” Feat. Paul F. Tompkins

James and Connor are visited by Dr. Crispy, the controversial family doctor who delivered Connor into the world as a baby.

🏰 Land of the Giants

How many of you know the biggest money-maker for Disney? Probably not many, unless you’re obsessed with going down Wikipedia rabbit holes on a regular basis. Land of the Giants is jumping right into the growth strategy of the House of Mouse throughout the years… and reveals where they might be coming into some trouble if things don’t change soon.

Disney is a TV Company

When you think about Disney, your first thought isn’t “cable television giant.” But Disney’s broadcast and cable television holdings, especially ESPN, helped turbocharge Disney’s growth over the last 30 years. It was a formula that worked extremely well – until now. As more and more consumers cut the cable cord, Disney must reckon with declining assets and the hit to its bottom line.

🥱 Unexplainable

I’m including this episode of Unexplainable purely to curse you all with yawns. Sorry not sorry. 😉

Yawn baby yawn

People yawn when they’re bored, right? So then why do athletes yawn before races? And why do so many animals yawn? … And why does reading this paragraph make you more likely to yawn?

📚 If Books Could Kill

I looooove If Books Could Kill (and honestly everything else Peter and Michael do) so it’s about time I include an episode of the show! If you want to hear about a book that might actually be able to result in some deaths because of the ideologies it covers, then this is a great intro episode. (But if you’re looking for something a little more lighthearted, might I suggest their episode on the “5 Love Languages” book?)

Richard Hanania's "The Origins of Woke"

Peter and Michael discuss "The Origins of Woke," a glimpse into the dark aspirations of the Republican Party and the mind of a very unusual man.

🐈‍⬛ Pop Mystery Pod

The Cats 2019 movie is an abomination. Cats as a musical though? I love it. I think it’s so silly and ridiculous and it’s just About Cats. There is no other plot to this show really. It’s just about cats being cats and doing cat things. The movie tries to add a plot, and I think that’s one of the main reasons why it’s so bad. And Pop Mystery Pod is here to find out just why we continue to be haunted by this show,

If you want to hear more about my thoughts on the movie, you can check out my annual podcast You Are Not the Jellicle Choice, in which I watch Cats (2019) with Wil Williams and one of our friends every year on October-Eve to ring in the scariest month of the year. We’re three years in and will have another episode out on September 30th!

Cats: Crime of the Century?

“Cats” is a musical so ridiculous that it often drives people to anger. So why has this absurd show made so much money, and how does it keep taunting us all with its reemergence into culture? Jellicle journalist, comic, and pop culture junkie Tess Barker is on the case.

What were the stand-out episodes that you listened to this week? Know of a podcast you think would make it on to my list of favorites? Let me know in the comments or a reply to this issue in your inbox!

And if you happened upon this on the web, make sure you subscribe to get weekly updates on my listening habits!

See you all next week!

- Fancy Anne