The content below is from Episode 143 of the Who’d a Thunk It? Podcast
RECOMMENDATION SEGMENT
- This week I recommend you read (or listen to the audio book) of READY PLAYER ONE
- Steven Spielberg directed the 2018 movie rendition of this book and I thought the movie was kickass.
- It has its flaws like I felt as if it took gaming culture and whitewashed it a bit so that it would apeal to a wider audience. But regardless, it was a fun movie.
- But then I saw a comment on some social media post saying how the book is leagues better. I placed a hold on my Libby App and within a few weeks I was listening to the virtual adventures of Parzival.
- I think I’ve mentioned it before, but the Libby App is the library on your phone. You download Libby and all you need to access the Library’s expansive and free catalog of books/audiobooks is a Library card.
- Anyway, one of the main differences from the movie is that the book can take its time with details further immersing you into the story (like most books vs movies), but it also doesn’t hold punches.
- Whereas Speilberg had to appeal to a wider audience to turn a profit after using the $175 million dollar budget, author Ernest Cline was writing a story for those who wanted to hear it. PERIOD.
- Released in 2011, the book doesn’t shy away from the protagonist Wade Watt’s religious and political views.
- A good example of how the book is more gritty than the movie: in the movie Wade is played by actor Tye Sheridan, a handsome, young, and physically built man. In the book, Wade is a dirt-poor, fat, short, high school student with acne… you know what a LOT of obsessed video gamers actually look like.
- One last incentive to check out the book: while Spielberg did get the rights to reference an impressive amount of pop culture characters and titles (a central part of the story), the book didn’t have NEARLY as many hoops to jump through as a film maker would. So the best references were made that fit the story instead of what the movie studio owned/could afford.
- Steven Spielberg directed the 2018 movie rendition of this book and I thought the movie was kickass.
NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENT
- For my 3rd Anniversary episode, we will be taking a look back on the past year, not just in what the Podcast has done, but what my wife and I have been through in our personal lives. This is a reflection on 2022.
- This episode will mostly be Shannon and I recording together and just speaking, not from a script, but from memory.
- Spotify bought Anchor.fm (the hosting platform for this podcast) and so we get a Wrapped this year.
- I can’t remember if we got a Wrapped last year, we might have. But this year I will be sharing those stats among others.
- I feel like that is a high percentage… are most podcasts still technically open, but no longer crank out new episodes?
- Just sitting there on a server somewhere with no one creating new content or listening to old content?
- This one I have always been proud of this one because it shows the range of my topics.
- Ever since the beginning I’ve been reaching all over the world… may not be many listeners, but the listeners I have are from everywhere.
- 83 countries have tuned in total (not just counting 2022)
- The Facebook and Other are most likely from me shamelessly promoting my podcast on social media all the time… but I haven’t used WhatsApp since 2015 and I don’t think I text people the link…
- Have you Who’d a Thunkers been sharing with your friends and family?! THANK YOU!
- It is always good to grow.
- I don’t make money off of this podcast. I just like knowing that SOMEONE is listening to the topics I find interesting.
- I have had quite a lot of people ask me about this podcast in person which is nice. I can talk for hours about topics I’ve covered on here.
- This one I was baffled by… Who are these people?
- We have about 30K listens total that Anchor.fm can track. I know there are some sites that my podcast is on and Anchor.fm cannot track how many listens it gets there.
- 30K is not something a professional podcaster would be proud of… it only comes out to about 10K a year. But I’m not a professional podcaster. I do this for a sense of accomplishment and because I found a passion for hosting shows when I was just a little kid. I enjoy it.
- So I AM proud of that number.
- Only counting Spotify, the listenership is 92% male and 51% between the age of 28 – 34.
- Across all platforms the listeners this past year were 78% from Spotify and 94% from the USA
- The Blog (accompanying blog post for virtually every episode since mid-2021) has been doing very well.
- Each year we get more views and visitors from all over the world
- It is nice to see the blog reaches countries all over the world just like the podcast.
- WordPress tells you stats down to how many words you typed! LOL
FAVORITE EPISODES OF THE YEAR
ENOUGH ABOUT THE PODCAST! TIME TO HAVE A CATHARTIC REFLECTION ON OUR LIVES THIS PAST YEAR!
- On December 23rd, 2021, I became an uncle!
- Enjoy pictures of Shannon and me with little baby Whimsy girl!
- Then we bought a house!
- I almost did a separate episode just on us buying this house during one of the craziest times ever to buy a house in this country. It was nuts.
- We literally saw the house for 15 minutes tops before the we bought it LOL.
- My dad bought me a Kilt!
- We went to a few weddings…
- One wedding was in Pittsburgh and the other was in Las Vegas… and they happened within 24 hours of each other. LOL it was a spur of the moment thing and I’m so glad.
- And then we had our own!
- The amount of joy had that day was unbelievable.
- Thanks for stopping by Who’d a Thunkers!
- This episode was mostly unscripted, but if you are reading this on the blog that means you got to see all the awesome pictures!
CREDIT
The Journal of A_C_Unit 