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The Big Minute

By: Mark Steadman
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  • Summary

  • Exploring what “good” sounds like, one minute at a time.
    © Mark Steadman
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Episodes
  • Forward This to Five People and Good Things Will Happen

    Forward This to Five People and Good Things Will Happen
    Apr 23 2023
    I don’t know about you, but I have limited patience for films and TV shows that pile mystery upon mystery, with a promise of resolution that never seems to be fulfilled. There are shows that walk the line really well, like Counterpart and the outstanding Severance. But no matter how many times someone tells me The Leftovers is amazing, I know I can’t trust their recommendation. A good mystery keeps you hanging just enough to remain curious, then rewards you with a bit of a clue. It’s like a key turning in a lock that then leads to another lock. Get the timing right, and you can signal to the viewer, the reader, or in our case the listener, that you’re in safe hands – that you’ll have questions along the way, but they’ll all be answered to a reasonable degree of satisfaction. This week’s minute comes to us courtesy of Petrified, a horror anthology podcast set in 1980s Ireland you can binge in a morning. If you’re the squeamish type, this particular episode from March 1st isn’t one that’ll scare you silly or anything. The minute I’m referring to starts at around 12:38 in my copy. In this scene, we get our first turnkey moment. We’ve been following a young student, broke, and looking desperately for work. When a seemingly ever-lucky flatmate offers her a job in a strange, brightly-lit room, the tension built up by the episode’s little mysteries slackens just enough. [podcast "https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-why-will-show-the-way/id1446214817?i=1000602206749"] There’s a real Doctor Who quality about this story that I appreciate. I could see the Doctor sweeping in at the last minute, admonishing Catherine for taking advantage of her flatmate, and using her sonic screwdriver to keep the monster-of-the-week at bay. And that, my friend, is your minute for this week. If you haven’t yet twigged the connection between the subject linen and this podcast, listen to the episode and you’ll get it. Or if in doubt, just encourage five of your mates to subscribe and good things will happen. On the other hand, I can’t vouch for what might happen if you don’t… 😉 Anyway, lulz aside, have a great week. Keep listening, and I’ll do the same.
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    4 mins
  • Now You Have a Nazi Bar

    Now You Have a Nazi Bar
    Apr 16 2023
    The dimly-lit crustpunk bar was not a place where anyone would want to spend their evening, but that’s where Mike found himself, after work, looking for a beer. He and the bartender were busy ignoring each other when a punk kid sat, a couple of seats down. Without missing a beat, the bartender pointed a finger at the newcomer and said "Get out". "Hey, I'm not doing anything. I'm a paying customer!" said the punk. The bartender reached for a bat. "Out. Now." The punk kid left, although not quietly. The bartender caught Mike’s quizzical expression, and in answer said "You didn't see his vest, but it was all Nazi shit. Iron crosses and stuff. You get to recognise them." Mike crooked an eyebrow. "You have to nip it in the bud immediately”, the bartender continued. “These guys come in, and it's always a nice, polite one. And you serve them because you don't want to cause a scene. And then they become regulars, and after a while, they bring a friend. And that dude is cool too. “And then they bring friends, and the friends bring friends, and they stop being cool. Then you realise, “oh shit, this is a Nazi bar now”. And it's too late because they're entrenched. If you try to kick them out, they cause a problem. So you have to shut them down." This little playlet is a dramatisation of a tweet thread posted by @lamRageSparkle (who is sensibly no longer on Twitter). This story was invoked by Mike Masnick in a post for TechDirt, in which he likened Substack to that same crustpunk bar, but without the proactive bartender. Why? Because Substack’s policy has long been iffy – and now is getting more problematic – when it comes to censorship of hate speech. I’ve “known” for a while that it wasn’t a wholesome place when it came to moderation, but couldn’t dig up any actual evidence. Which brings us to this week’s minute: from Decoder, with Nilay Patel. The bit in question starts at around 48:04 in my copy, and is the slow melting of a tech CEO under the glare of a journalist that’s about as blazing hot as a desk lamp. That is not a knock against Nilay. He asks good questions… I just don’t think they’re all that hard. Essentially, Patel asks Substack’s CEO Chris Best if his platform would censor an overtly racist and inciting comment. The correct and obvious answer is “yes”, and somehow Best manages to completely miss the target. It’s as if he were trying to throw rolled up pieces of paper into a bin, but somehow completely missed the bin and stabbed himself in the eye. [podcast "https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/is-substack-notes-a-twitter-clone-we-asked-ceo-chris-best/id1011668648?i=1000608829763"] I don’t know if this is good journalism. Best accuses Patel of asking a “gotcha” question which I think is wrong. Whether it’s good journalism to make the question s personal one, I don’t know. What I do know is that it was a fascinating listen, with Patel not giving any quarter and even calling out how Best was blowing the answer. I wanted to share it, not because of the sensationalism of it, and not to revel in someone’s epic PR fail. But there are moments in audio when everything else drops away. When you’re no longer folding the laundry, or watching the dog run around, or chopping vegetables, or getting out of your car. You’re still – in a timeless vacuum – just waiting to hear what they say next. And with that, it’s closing time. Please take your gasses back to the bar. We’ll reconvene next week. So until then, keep listening, and I’ll do the same.
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    6 mins
  • Selling Pigeons to Chinese Restaurants in Exchange for Crack

    Selling Pigeons to Chinese Restaurants in Exchange for Crack
    Apr 9 2023
    I don’t travel on public transport all that often since my commute is the clichéd ten feet of the work-at-homeer. But in my early days of employment I remember catching the bus to work and back, thinking how cool it would be to carry a Zoom recorder and talk to people. Well, someone actually did it. And it’s really good. Where Are You Going? was a radio show from the BBC World Service that’s now been reborn as a podcast. In it, host Catherine Carr interviews people on their way somewhere. She asks one simple question: “Where are you going?” and then follows her curiosity. In many ways, podcasting was always the right medium for this kind of storytelling. When stuck inside a 27 minute scheduling window, you end up either having to stretch what you’ve got, or cut something good. But as anyone who’s made a podcast for any length of time knows, there’s no such thing as too long, only too boring. So, to that story I alluded to in the subject line. It wasn’t much of an allusion; the New Yorker Carr interviewed literally said he caught pigeons in the park where he slept, sold them to Chinese restaurants, and used the money to buy crack. That came from the BBC series, but the stories Carr pulls out from people are no less fascinating in podcast form. As a case in point, the minute I’m bringing you is from 8:20 in my copy, and concerns the story of a gentleman who works on boats owned by the super rich, but whose life story is far from luxuriant. Earlier in the episode we hear about how this man saw two friends die in a horrific accident. This clip sums that up, and offers us some wisdom too. [podcast "https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-central-line-an-anchor-and-a-crown/id1679013017?i=1000607797529"] The clip ends with the interviewee reminding us that “people don’t know what other people have been through”. I’m thinking about that as I remember the story of the man in the park selling pigeons to buy crack. That man once had a successful carer, and savings that would see him through to retirement. I’ll be thinking about that the next time I see someone in the street and rushing to judgement. And on that lofty note, I’ll leave you. Take excellent care of yourself, keep listening, and I’ll do the same.
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    4 mins
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