Finding Favorites with Leah Jones
Finding Favorites is where we learn about people’s favorite things and get recommendations without using an algorithm. Every other week, host Leah Jones sits down with a guest to learn about how they found their favorite thing, why they love it and why they think other people will fall in love, too.
Listen on:
Episodes
Saturday Aug 15, 2020
Saturday Aug 15, 2020
Robert Loerzel was once voted Chicago's best person to follow on Twitter and he still is. He also loves the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and all of the assorted books, comic books, and music associated with it. Robert almost picked David Lynch, so we don't leave him out of the conversation.
Leah recorded an extra-long introduction about the Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, which is available on Play per View until August 20, 2020.
Links
Follow @RobertLoerzel on Twitter and Instagram
Buy his new book Walking Chicago
Buy his first book Alchemy of Bones
2001: A Space Odyssey (the novel) by Arthur C Clarke
How Uptown became an entertainment hub on Curious City
2001: A Space Odyssey. What it means and how it was made, The New Yorker
Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece
Our beloved Music Box Theater
Bonus Links
Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity Play Per View available until August 20, 2020
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
Amy Hatch, a content consultant and CEO of her own business, loves all things Disney. The parks, the properties, the cruises and the movies. She takes us through her journey of melting her Gen-X cynicism with the power of Disney.
Links
The Imagineering Story
Disney Fairy Tale Weddings
Follow Amy on Twitter
Wednesday Aug 05, 2020
Wednesday Aug 05, 2020
In this episode, I flipped the script and interviewed one of my favorites - Andy Slavitt. You can find him on Twitter at @aslavitt or on almost any given news channel on a daily basis. He is a tireless advocate for improving healthcare access in the United States and is currently focused on stopping the public mismanagement of COVID-19.
The episode ends with a pep talk for people planning High Holy Day services at synagogues.
Links
In the Bubble - the podcast he and his son started during the lockdown
Laurie Kilmartin's tweets about her mother's death and a Washington Post article about the same subject
Paul Smith is the co-founder and CTO of Ad Hoc
Northwestern's Health Communication MS program
Get health insurance on the exchange
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
William Pacholski, the owner and founder of the Portland Psychic School, talks with me about Dave Malloy's musical Natasha and Pierre and the Great Comet of 1912. The Great Comet ran on Broadway for nearly a year, closing on September 3, 2017, but as you'll hear - it was performed in a variety of venues for a few years as Dave Malloy developed the show.
Additional Links
The One That Got Away videos are all on Vimeo. Here's Eric Himan performing Both Hands as a taste of the show.
The cast recording of The Great Comet is available on Spotify and lots of other places.
The Assassins
Dave Malloy - the artistic genius
Millikin University
Sunday Jul 26, 2020
Sunday Jul 26, 2020
Esther Kustanowitz is an LA based writer and journalist who loves most things Star Wars. Join us as we talk about how she found Star Wars, what she loves about it and her special appreciation for Carrie Fisher. She explains what the Machete Order is and recommends some novels that fill in Princess Leia's life story.
You can subscribe to Esther's podcast The Bagel Report, follow her on Twitter where she is @EstherK, or follow her TV Gone Jewy Facebook page for the latest in Jewish representation on TV.
Related Links
Bloodline by Claudia Gray
Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray
Newcomers podcast with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus
Bibi's Bakery in LA
Esther's essay on Star Wars and grieving
Transcript follows
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
Jill Alexander Essbaum is a poet, author and professor based in Austin, Texas. Her favorite thing is old time radio - specifically thriller radio programs. We talk about Suspense (CBS Radio from 1940 to 1962), how Jill found the first set of CDs that turned her on to Old Time Radio, and just how many hours of recordings she keeps on her iPod.
Her new book of poetry, Would-Land, is available from Cooper Dillon and her first novel, Hausfrau, has been translated into over 20 languages. Chances are good there is a copy available in your preferred language.
Other helpful links from our conversation
RUSC.com
USA Today article which covers Old Time Radio and many online archives
Libri Vox - the home of free public domain audiobooks
Sunday Jul 12, 2020
Sunday Jul 12, 2020
Brad Manilla, AKA DJ Sparklebomb, is a user experience designer and recovering entrepreneur who joined me to talk about how he became a DJ. In this episode, Brad describes his chill summer mix tape Infinity Pool, which I suggest you listen to before diving into our full conversation. Fakin' the Funk is his new mixtape that brings you a lot of underground hip hop that we talk about.
Learn more about Scribble Jam - a hip hop music festival in Cincinnati, Ohio that ran from 1996 to 2009. This video shows the graffiti walls that we talk about.
Follow Brad on Twitter and sign up for his emails for occasional mix tape drops.
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Brandy Agerbeck, who writes on and teaches visual thinking, loves Harold and Maude. In this episode she describes being drawn to the movie because of the distinct graphic design and how it led her to Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Find her classes, books and swag at Loosetooth.com
Recommendations
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders
Straight Up
All of Nicole Byer's podcasts
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
Zardoz
Danny Peary on Cult Movies
Sunday Jul 05, 2020
Sunday Jul 05, 2020
Scott Smith, known to the internet as Our Man In Chicago, is living his best Josh Lyman life as Chief Communications Officer for the Cook County Assessor’s Office. He is a writer and former journalist who produces The Frunchroom - a reading series that features five stories about the South Side of Chicago, often from South Siders, but also from those throughout Chicago who’ve experienced all that this part of the city has to offer.
You can find the Cook County Assessor's Office on Twitter - keep an eye out for quotes from The West Wing.
You can find the podcast that got me into podcasts at The West Wing Weekly.
Sunday Jun 28, 2020
Sunday Jun 28, 2020
Saul Colt is an experiential and word-of-mouth marketer based on Toronto (available for you to hire at The Idea Integration Co) who loved David Letterman. In this conversation, not only does Saul sing praises for the premise of Finding Favorites, he walks us through the bands, movies and comics that he found through David Letterman.
Late Night with David Letterman started on NBC in 1982 and lasted 10 years. He moved from NBC to CBS in 1992 when Leno took over The Tonight Show. He stayed at CBS until his retirement in 2015. You can now find David Letterman on Netflix with a long-form interview show called My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
We talk a bit about Larry Bud Melman, so here's a classic clip of Larry Bud Melman at Port Authority.
And for good measure, here are The Lemonheads singing It's a Shame about Ray instead of Mrs. Robinson.
Follow Saul on social media and subscribe to his podcast: We Now Join The Program Already in Progress
Twitter: @saulcolt
Instagram @saulcolt
Finding Favorites with Leah Jones
Everyone loves something. A hobby, a musician, an artist, a book genre - everyone has a favorite thing and this is the podcast where we hear the stories.
How did you discover your favorite thing? What do you love about it? Who have you met through it? How would someone sample your favorite thing?
At Finding Favorites, we get recommendations without using an algorithm.
Hosted by Leah Jones