January 2024 - Page 113 of 159 - CouRRier News Today

Looking to change your habits for the better in the new year? Sure, you could cut the sugar from your coffee or start walking to work instead of driving. Or you could adopt a new podcast into your daily routine. Here are the best shows dropping a new episode every day, from the informative, to the inspiring, to the amusing. Comedic news coverage, quick true crime updates and even the peaceful sound of birds: There’s a show here for all types of listeners.

The Daily Zeitgeist

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Every day on The Daily Zeitgeist, Jack O’Brien (founder of Cracked) and Miles Gray bring on a comedian or artist or just general smart person to cover whatever is, er, in the zeitgeist—whether that be looming abortion bans or the newest Taco Bell menu item. You’ll get a great rundown of the news from a progressive slant, with jokes from the very funny hosts to leaven the mood—smart guys who are willing to get silly when the moment merits it. The more you listen, the more you’ll love it. I have been listening for years, sometimes multiple times a day (they have longer episodes in the morning, and shorter episodes in the evening), which means I have listened to Jack and Miles for perhaps thousands of hours, and I regret nothing.

The Puzzler

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If you’re obsessed with Wordle, Heardle, or any other daily puzzles, you’ll want to add The Puzzler With A.J. Jacobs to your morning listening routine. Each week, A.J. drops five episodes (one a weekday), welcoming guests like Ben Bowlin (Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know) Michael Ian Black, Ophira Eisenberg, Roy Wood Jr., and more, and talking them through tricky word puzzles that were written just for them. Listening to The Puzzler is the most fun way to sharpen your brain every day—while episodes are educational, they’re packed with fun, and there’s always a puzzle at the end that goes unanswered until the following day, making it easy to play along.

TED Talks Daily

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TED Talks Daily is a mini TED talk delivered to your ears every single weekday. Host and journalist Elise Hu sets up presentations from some the brightest thinkers in the world, who give talks on everything from AI, to zoology, to leadership philosophies, to what happens when we die. You’ll hear from people like Glenn Close, Debbie Millman, Laurie Santos, and Charles M. Blow, and in just a few minutes, you can expand (and challenge) your brain, spark your curiosity, and learn something new.

Breaker Whiskey

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The audio fiction podcast Breaker Whiskey is cool for two reasons: it’s released every weekday in bite-sized episodes, and it’s recorded on a 1976 Midland CB Radio. The premise: you’re hearing one woman’s audio diary as she treks across 20th century America after an apocalyptic event in 1968 that appears to have obliterated everything around her. It’s great for fans of Alice Isn’t Dead.

Commotion

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Sam Sanders’ Into It was canceled last year, and the world was sad about it. I was sad too, but less sad because of Commotion, a daily culture podcast from CBC with similar vibes. Host Elamin Abdelmahmoud invites writers and culture critics to unpack movies, TV, music, and more, delving into controversial social media topics of the day. (Like…is Buffy Saint Marie being canceled?) Each 30-minute conversation is full of insight and lots of laughs.

The Journal

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There are a lot of daily news shows, but The Journal is my favorite. Every evening they drop a business story, usually about a failing business, which will appeal to people interested in business and people interested in schadenfreude. (I’m the later.) Every so often there’s a longer story (I loved “Our Refinery Is On Fire: Two Brothers and a Deadly Explosion.”) They’re not all business disaster stories. But those are may favorites. And The Journal knows its strengths, so there are a lot of them.

True Crime Daily

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There are a lot of true crime podcasts, and even more true crime stories. True Crime Daily doesn’t want you to miss a single one. Every day, Ana Garccia brings on crime experts, police officers, defense attorneys, and other leading authorities in their fields to go in-depth on shocking and bizarre stories you’ve heard about, and some you haven’t. This stuff can get grim (content ranges from an art heist to scams to brutal murders) and the show doesn’t hold back, but Ana brings a lot of personality (and a love of chihuahuas) to make it feel less of a drag, and more of a quick blitz of addictive true crime news.

History Daily

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Every day is historic for something, and on History Daily, host Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers) takes you back in time to explore an epoch-making event that happened on that day. Whether you’re listening on Jan. 1 (Ellis Island opens its doors to), March 1 (Yellowstone becomes the world’s first National Park), or June 1 (the execution of a former high-ranking Nazi and architect of the Holocaust), you’re bound to discover something momentous. On the weekends, Lindsay releases “Saturday Matinee” episodes, which are drops of other interesting history podcasts he thinks you’ll like, and it’s worth subscribing just for that excellent curation.

Make Your Damn Bed

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If you make your bed every damn day, why not turn on Make Your Damn Bed while you’re doing it? Every bite-sized episode (we’re talking 7 minutes) offers real talk and daily motivation that you can listen to while you’re positioning those pillow cases or tucking in your sheets. Not only is it easy to apply this show to your daily routine, it’s a way to will pair something fun with something you’d probably rather not be doing. Making your bed is the first step toward global domination!

BirdNote Daily

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The world is loud, social media is loud, but listening to BirdNote Daily when you first wake up is a great way to start the day connecting to nature. Each episode lets you immerse yourself in the rich sounsz of the bird world, and offers lots of facts that will shake up your brain. You’ll find yourself being extra attentive to the nature around you afterward, and you might even be able to identify some of the birds you see (and hear) on your daily commute.

It Could Happen Here

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It Could Happen Here is your daily guide to the insanity of our past, present, and future, covering all the drone wars, the rise in Antisemitism, worldwide infectious disease risks, the war on trans people, immigration shenanigans, and more. It won’t put you in a good mood about the world, but it will keep you informed. The team from Cool Zone Media (including Robert Evans, host of Behind the Bastards) jump on for history lessons, hellacious news of the week, and predictions for what’s to come.

Business Wars Daily

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Is there anything more intriguing than a rivalry in the business world? On Business Wars Daily, the battles between McDonald’s vs Red Robin, Alaska Airlines vs. Jet Blue, And Dior vs. Fendi vs. Gucci baby products are juicy and addictive listening, and will give you the gossip peering into board rooms, court rooms, and delivering the behind-the-scenes gossip that shape the world we live, breathe, and shop in.

Tubi is home to tons of scraggly movies that no one has ever heard of, but that’s not the only kind of cinema you can find on the totally free streaming service. There are also a ton of truly great movies among the turkeys and weirdo flicks. The 20 films below are certified gold, great movies in a variety of genres. There’s something for everyone—as long as they can put up with Tubi’s commercial breaks.

Boyhood (2014)

Shot over the course of 12 years, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood details the coming-of-age of its main character by letting us literally see him grow up from the age of 6 to 18. Watching a film’s characters age with the actors who portray them is like nothing that you’ve ever seen before, and it adds resonance and poignancy to this gently powerful movie about love, family, and what it means to be man.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

It’s 50 years old, but Texas Chainsaw Massacre remains the most harrowing, unrelenting horror movie ever made. It’s also the most influential: every fright flick that followed, from low-grade gutter trash to elevated horror like Get Out, owes a debt to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, a movie that is as smart as it is brutal.

Melancholia (2011)

I saw Lars Von Triers’ Melancholia when it came out, and I’ve never stopped thinking about it. It’s a film about the end of the world—a mysterious planet is hurdling toward earth—but it’s not about heroic scientists planning a desperate rocket launch or something. Instead, it’s about what people do with their days when they know annihilation is inevitable. Spoiler: They spend them arguing, chewing over family slights, and wasting time. It makes you want to scream “Why are you focusing on this meaninglessness; you’re going to die!” but then you remember that your death is just as inevitable as these characters’, and what are you doing with your days?

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Bruce Lee plays a Shaolin monk hired to infiltrate the island stronghold of a crime lord in this best-ever martial arts movie. The visceral-but-graceful combat choreography is amazing, and Lee’s charismatic, swaggering presence elevates this fighting-flick to masterpiece status, even when he’s not beating guys up. Lee fights Jim Kelly. He fights Chuck Norris. He fights a million other anonymous guys, sometimes dozens at once. Enter the Dragon reaches levels of pure cinematic badassery that many movies aspire to but few achieve.

Open Water (2003)

My wife hated Open Water. “Why aren’t they trying to swim for help or something?” she wanted to know. It’s a valid question, but it’s not that kind of movie. It’s the kind of movie where the innocent married couple who just wanted to try SCUBA diving on their honeymoon float on the endless ocean, forgotten and abandoned, while the sharks circle just below their feet.

Goodfellas (1990)

Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas is a rare perfect film. There’s not a dead moment in this sprawling story of organize crime and the loyalty, betrayal, and high-living swagger it brings. Every performance is perfect. Every situation compelling. If you haven’t seen Goodfellas, what are you waiting for? It’s as good as the hype, I promise.

Timecrimes (2009)

This tightly paced time travel thriller from Spain proves you don’t need a huge budget to make a science fiction film that will leave audiences saying, “whoooaa.” When an everyman sees a naked woman in the woods, it leads to a time machine, and a main a character who meets himself coming and going. It sounds goofy-as-hell, but trust me, it’s way smarter and better than it has any right to be. (Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Time Cop is also on Tubi by the way, and would make an interesting double feature with Timecrimes.)

Logan’s Run (1976)

Before Star Wars: A New Hope blew everything away, 1976’s Logan’s Run was what Hollywood science fiction was about. Largely shot in a Houston hotel lobby and set in a future city where everyone is beautiful, wears color-coded pajamas, and spends their day doing drugs and having sex (there’s a dark secret, don’t worry), Logan’s Run shamelessly ganks ideas from better known dystopian science fiction stories like 1984 and Brave New World but it shoves them into a goofy, pulpy, 1970s context that’s way more fun than either of those dour polemics. It loses steam when Logan leaves the city and meets Peter Ustinov, but the first half is cinematic candy.

Knives Out (2019)

In Knives Out, a cadre of colorful rich people gather at the Thrombey estate, and there’s a murder—a murder most foul! This everyone-is-a-suspect set-up seems played out on paper, but it’s brought to the screen here with such style, affection, and skill that you quickly forget the well-worn whodunnit premise and focus on the sly humor and cinematic sleight-of-hand. It’s just a cracking good mystery, and that never gets old.

Heathers (1988)

Heathers came out at the end of the 1980s teen movie craze, and it puts a bow on the genre with an arch, satirical vibe that points toward the burned-out cynicism of the 1990s. Winona Ryder plays a high school kid so disgusted with the popular clique that she endeavors to murder them with the help of a juvenile delinquent (aptly named “J.D.”) played by Christian Slater. It’s dark and hilarious, just like high school.

Barry Lyndon (1975)

It’s not a proper “great films” list if you don’t include Kubrick. Like a lot of his work, Barry Lyndon demands patience. It’s purposefully distant and bloodless, choosing to coolly portray the main character’s rise and fall instead of telling us how to feel about it. Given the coldness of the story, it’s a good thing Barry Lyndon is such a beautiful film, with a visuals inspired by European fine art of the 18th century.

Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)

I have a taste for 1990s indie art-house cinema, and Welcome to the Dollhouse is a great example of the genre. Director Todd Solondz’s endless contempt for the characters in his own movie rubs off on the audience. Your initial sympathy for the ‘tween main character who everyone calls “Wiener Dog” grows into an unsettling feeling of “I’d probably punch her too.” It’s all very creepy, but in a good, 1990s indie movie way.

The Thing (1982)

I’m trying to avoid listing every good horror movie on Tubi in this general-audience post (there are a lot of them), but I have to include John Carpenter’s The Thing. An Antarctica research station is perfect setting for a claustrophobic horror movie about paranoia, and the covered-in-goo practical special effects have never been topped. None of that would mean anything though, if the story wasn’t so suspenseful and well-crafted.

Downfall (2005)

This movie is best known for an ubiquitous internet meme of Hitler raging about the imminent defeat of the Third Reich, but Downfall is a riveting, unforgettable movie from the first frame to the last. By sticking as closely as possible to the historical record and avoiding moralizing, Downfall is the final filmic word on the depravity and horror of Nazi Germany.

Strangers on a Train (1951)

There are a ton of Hitchcock movies on Tubi, including Notorious, North by Northwest, and Foreign Correspondent. They’re all great, but I chose Strangers on a Train for its rock solid premise premise: two men with no connection to each other randomly meet on a train and decide to “swap murders.” It’s pure suspense movie perfection delivered with that hypnotic Hitchcock style.

Rock n’ Roll High School (1979)

I love this movie. The low-budget teen exploitation comedy still crackles with youthful energy, even though it’s nearly 45 years old. Filled with cheesy jokes and self-deprecating charm, the story of Riff Randell’s dedication to The Ramones is a love letter to weirdos everywhere. Highlight include the braindead “acting” by the Ramones, cult queen Mary Woronov’s over-the-top portrayal of evil Principal Togar, an extended Ramones concert sequence, and the total destruction of Vince Lombardi High School. What’s not to love?

Man on Wire (2008)

This documentary tells the story of French high-wire walker Philippe Petit’s most daring clandestine stunt: stringing a wire from one of the twin towers to the other and walking across. Think of how terrifying and batshit that is. The footage from atop the World Trade will make your palms sweat with second hand vertigo, but it’s just as interesting for the look into the unique mind of Petit. What drives a guy to do such a foolhardy thing?

Ghost World (2001)

If you’re in the mood for a turn-of-the-Millenium hipster comedy, try Ghost World. It’s rooted in its era, but timeless too, especially for anyone who ever felt they were smarter and cooler than everyone around them. That’s the life of main character Enid, who just graduated from high school and has no plans beyond hanging out with her best friend in their boring town and sneering at everything. This kind of character would get old fast if the film wasn’t so honest and empathetic, especially when Enid starts to realize that maybe the joke has been on her all along.

Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Cabin in the Woods begins like thousands of horror movies—a group of shallow, stereotypical teenagers drive to a deserted cabin for a weekend of fun—but then it takes the biggest left-turn in horror movie history, driving straight into a whole world of meta-commentary where nothing is as it seems. Cabin in the Woods works because the scares are as scary as the jokes are funny, and the filmmakers clearly love the genre they’re commenting on.

The Love Witch (2016)

In a better world, Anna Biller, the writer, director, editor, production designer, music supervisor, and costume designer of The Love Witch, would be a household name. Her film is a complete expression of her personal aesthetic, an illustration of the power of the auteur. Biller’s world looks like a technicolor musical from the early 1960s, a sensory overload of bright colors and cartoonish characters, but beneath the distinctive style are real questions about female power and the ways in which it’s expressed and controlled.