Speaker 1: 0:20

Welcome to One Good Thing Media, your official podcast review channel. We search the vast digital landscape on a daily basis to discover the best shows that podcasters have to offer. Are you ready to discover new favorites to add to your playbook? Stay tuned and listen to One Good Thing Media.

Speaker 2: 0:53

My name is Gerald Spear and I am the host and creator of our show. Today marks our 30th episode of Season 2 and more than 100 podcast recommendations For those of you who are new to our podcast. We cater to the tastes of eclectic listeners, who may have a strong affinity for one podcast genre, but still crave variety. If that sounds like you, you've got plenty of company. If that sounds like you, you've got plenty of company. Like every summer, time just seems to be flying by. The days and weeks start blurring together. But it isn't really just summer, it's our lives. Do you remember how long it took for you to turn 16? How about 21? After that, it's like living life on a downhill slope where all you do is pick up speed. I was so puzzled by this that I once asked a noted psychologist how can I slow down my perception of time, and her answer was fascinating. She told me that living life on autopilot is a time sink. Once you let go of your familiar routines and commit to finding new ways to accomplish these same things every day, you'll be living more in the moment and slowing down your sense of time. Doing this may not guarantee you an endless summer, but at least it will make it seem much longer. We are going to be dark the last two weeks in August. We are hitching up our bright little red Winnebago trailer and heading out to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We're then going to be glamping around Capitol Reef in Utah and wrapping up our two-week trip by visiting Durango, Colorado, which is nestled right next to the magnificent Rocky Mountains.

Speaker 2: 3:03

Did you know that you can support us by supporting who Gives a Crap? A company that really does give a crap? We've been a loyal customer of WGAC for five years. They produce the greenest toilet paper and paper towels on the planet, have a microcarbon footprint and donate 50% of their profits to help underdeveloped countries safely manage human waste. Please give a crap by clicking on the sponsor's link in our show notes and go even greener, starting today. By the way, if you do that right away, you'll save some bucks on your first order. And because WGAC can be humorous and whimsical, for a limited time you can purchase their latest collection, Poetry and Wax Poetic, in the loo. What do you say? We get on with the show. Welcome to our news, updates, updates and highlights segment.

Speaker 2: 4:28

My first bit of news is about Spotify. Do you ever get frustrated about not being able to comment on a particular episode. Spotify has rectified that. When you are listening to your podcast on the Spotify player, just scroll down past the show description and voila, You'll see a link to leave comments. It's easy peasy and a very familiar process. Here's a great update, episode 27,. Entitled Transform Family Road Trips Summer Listening Series.

Speaker 2: 5:07

I featured a podcast called Discovering Dad. Dad is a Mr Milquetoast character who is overly protective of his kids, a goody-two-shoes to the nth degree and a middle school science teacher. But after his past comes roaring back and puts his kids in danger, Dad dusts off his superhero past and starts kicking ass. Well, I'm happy to report two things. Season one is now complete. So if you love to binge and haven't listened to Discovering Dad, now's your time to have some fun and share it with your kids. My second bit of news about this podcast is that they plan on creating Season 2, where Dad and kids go on another dangerous adventure dangerous adventure Also in episode 27,.

Speaker 2: 6:06

I did a quick review on a podcast named Trap Street. It is a comedy mystery, perhaps science fiction, we're not quite sure yet. It's about an unemployed gamer who is content to float through life until he receives a mysterious email and embarks on the first adventure of his life. I'm giving you an update on this because season two has just dropped and I think I'm going to listen to the first episode and then wait for a few to accumulate and then binge on them, like maybe three or four episodes, so that I can keep all the characters straight and follow the continuity of the story, along with the 47 other podcasts that I listen to regularly. Of course I'm exaggerating, but not by much. Here's the trailer from the show.

Speaker 1: 7:04

I got this really strange email last night. I need to see what's going on with this mystery file. Hey, it's a map of a town called Ocean Bay. Someone sent these images to you for a reason. I'm so lost right now. When was the?

Speaker 5: 7:20

last time you chose a direction and followed it.

Speaker 1: 7:24

I'm going to Ocean Bay. We don't get many tourists this time of year.

Speaker 7: 7:31

Ocean Bay is a friendly town, but we're not that friendly.

Speaker 1: 7:35

I never sent you an email.

Speaker 5: 7:37

I don't even know you.

Speaker 1: 7:39

And why exactly are you here? The map is the reason we're here. Maps help when you're lost, do you?

Speaker 7: 7:48

know what a trap street is. Trap streets aren't real. They don't exist.

Speaker 1: 7:53

Don't trust anyone unless they give you a reason to trust them.

Speaker 4: 7:57

I think he's dead.

Speaker 1: 7:59

How could so much damage happen to a human body in such a short period of time? What the hell is going on here? From the creators of Strange Air, this is Trap Street.

Speaker 6: 8:13

So maps can have secrets? Yes, maps can have secrets. I'm going to go.

Speaker 2: 8:49

Gerald, oh, no, not you again. What are you listening to? Are you spying on me? Oh, ais, you can't trust them. But yes, welcome to. What Are you Listening To? A segment where I share what I've binged this week, and it's a good one.

Speaker 2: 9:10

This week I went on more of a hunt for happiness than a podcast binge. Honestly, with everything that's going on in the world right now, I needed something to help cheer me up, so I carefully analyzed what that something could be. I zeroed in on tongue-in-cheek humor. You know the kind where people talk very seriously about an absolute absurd topic, things like the Mummy with Brendan Fraser and many, many scenes in Mel Brooks movies. Because of the remoteness of my search and the fact that you really don't have a central search engine on any podcast player, I was surprised when I actually found three tongue-in-cheek podcasts that I really enjoyed listening to. Needless to say, I felt as though I had struck gold.

Speaker 2: 10:01

The first tongue-in-cheek podcast that I'm going to talk about today is who Shat on the Floor at my Wedding. It stars Karen Whitehouse and Helen McLaughlin and the de facto detective, lauren Kilby. Your first reaction might be yuck, bathroom humor is so juvenile, and I quite agree, except this crime and their subsequent investigation is done in such an ardent, sincere way that you can't help just kind of sitting back rubbing your chin and looking at these ladies and saying what else you got, because this is really funny and Lauren Kilby, by the way, is the real hoot in this story, especially while she's interrogating a long list of suspects. The offense happened during a lovely river cruise, and on-board wedding party Guests and entertainers were called up to testify about that beautiful setting, yet egregious event, and in the end well, I'm not going to tell you, you'll just have to listen to it to find out who shat on the floor at their wedding. Here's a clip where they discuss their dilemma.

Speaker 9: 11:20

Welcome to who Shat on the Floor at my Wedding, episode number two. I'm Karen Whitehouse.

Speaker 4: 11:26

This is Helen McLaughlin and I'm the teacher of Lauren Kilby. Welcome to who's Shat on the Floor at my Wedding. Episode number two. I'm Karen Whitehouse. This is Helen McLaughlin and I'm Detective Lauren Kilby.

Speaker 9: 11:34

We're here because an actual human being shat on the floor at Helen and Karen's wedding and we need to find out who what have we got here, detective, all right.

Speaker 4: 11:41

So we have got a device that we will be using to extract the truth from our victims. You mean a lie detector test. It's a lie detector test, it's a polygraph, as we call it in the industry. It's actually called the USB Polygraph Police Edition Real Lie Detector.

Speaker 9: 12:04

Very high-end product. I did quite a lot of research and this was the only option that was actually in our budget range.

Speaker 4: 12:10

Right, and also, this exact real lie detector was featured in a movie with Jennifer Lopez, so it's the real deal. Yeah, and luckily it arrived just in time, because today we have got our very first interrogation planned. We need to double-check that the lie detector test works, and then we're going to be bringing in a very suspicious person for questioning the person who claims to have discovered the faecal matter.

Speaker 3: 12:38

Hello, my name is Mike Perry. I'm a consultant clinical forensic psychologist. I've worked in prisons, secure units, maximum security, special hospitals. I've dealt with crimes from murder, serial killing, serial rapists, arsonists. I've worked with Dutch police, Interpol and English and Welsh police on profiles in the past and English and Welsh police on profiles in the past.

Speaker 9: 13:08

Wow, and what on earth enticed you to work with us as complete amateurs, given this amazing resume and experience I have?

Speaker 3: 13:15

absolutely no idea why I said yes, I've never been asked anything. That's so stupid, stupid. That's why I find it bizarrely quite funny what do you think about this case, mike?

Speaker 4: 13:31

what's the kind of the motive that screams out to you?

Speaker 3: 13:35

I work from the couple outwards and the first thing you always do is look at the nearest and dearest. But this chap tobin is is um karen's ex um, and he didn't know that karen batted both sides, to use the local expression well, I didn't even know at that stage.

Speaker 9: 13:54

It was uh, it was more that I fell in love with the woman.

Speaker 3: 13:59

I'm being worried in the sense that he may be angry that Karen's changed from straight to gay questions his own sexuality. No, he may want to get back at either one of you or both of you. The other possibility is that he could be professionally jealous of both producers who are in the same business. He might want to upset you. No, nay, no, no.

Speaker 7: 14:42

So here's the tricky part when I was in high school, I was at a party and a very pretty girl named Leslie came out and she didn't say anything and just sort of glanced at me and walked away quickly and I was like that's weird. And then I went into the bathroom and it was god awful, like it was the worst smell you could ever imagine, and so and so I was like wow, I plugged my nose and I I went to the bathroom and then, as I was leaving, I realized that there was this next person who was now waiting in line, thinking it was you. And so then and luckily it was a friend of mine I explained that hey, I didn't do this, it was actually someone else. They didn't really believe me, it was Leslie, but then I thought maybe there was somebody before Leslie.

Speaker 4: 15:31

When did you first learn about the shit on the floor?

Speaker 2: 15:35

What do you all think? Oh my gosh, I think it's a hoot. In fact, I think I'm going to binge the entire podcast again. My second mention is also by the same ladies. They followed up their smash hit who Shat on the Floor at my Wedding with the case of the tiny suit forward slash case, which takes place in Sweden. While the subject matter isn't nearly as salacious, their newest podcast also pulls off their now signature tongue-in-cheek humor with absolute aplomb. In my search for absurd humor, I also discovered who Replaced Avril Lavigne. It's by comedian Joanne McNally and produced by the BBC.

Speaker 2: 16:28

In this six-episode series, mcnally investigates the conspiracy theory. Avril Lavigne died or disappeared around 2003 after releasing her second album, and the current Avril is really her old roommate named Melissa. This conspiracy theory, by the way, has been circulating since the early days of MySpace and continues to circulate on TikTok and other social media apps. Through the intervening years, the rumor has actually taken on a life of its own, with many ardent fans accepting it as fact. Like Lauren Kilby in who Shat on the Floor at my Wedding, mcnally takes her investigation very seriously, including visiting Avril's one-time family home and setting up what she calls a war room at her studio where she invites quote-unquote experts to review all the evidence she has collected and to discuss the case. I'm going to play the trailer from the show.

Speaker 6: 17:40

Let's take a journey back to 2003, a year when Canadian teen sensation, avril Lavigne was topping the charts and turned the music industry upside down, making her first ever television performance coming to you live from MTV's Shore thing it's called Complicated.

Speaker 8: 17:56

It's five years, avril Lavigne.

Speaker 6: 17:59

But what if I told you that the Avril Lavigne we know and love might not be the same Avril?

Speaker 4: 18:08

Oh, apparently she died in 2003 and they claimed her.

Speaker 8: 18:11

She died years and years ago and replaced her just after the second album, I think it was.

Speaker 6: 18:17

What Well? The internet is buzzing like an old fridge with wild rumours, from body doubles to questions about her very existence.

Speaker 5: 18:27

Avril Lavigne is dead and has been dead since 2003.

Speaker 7: 18:32

That Avril died and was replaced by an Avril lookalike. The current Avril the current one you're seeing is allegedly a clone named Melissa.

Speaker 6: 18:44

I know what you're thinking Impossible, right? Well, not so fast. I think this story could be true. I want this story to be true.

Speaker 9: 18:53

The name Melissa is written on her hand. This is a cry for help.

Speaker 6: 18:59

If that was her, why would she do that? So who am I? Well, my name is joanne mcnally. I'm a comedian. I tell jokes of an evening. It also means I have a lot of errors to kill during the day time, to consume and dissect several conspiracy theories. And I have a new personal favorite. Has avril lavigne died and be replaced by a goddamn look-alike? It seems crazy to me that someone from this small town can like something like that. You know, are you Avril's father? She definitely. This isn't her family home. Joe Lycett, hello, welcome to my show.

Speaker 9: 19:32

I think Tom literally knows the guy who killed her, doesn't?

Speaker 6: 19:34

he. I literally just want to know if she's alive. This is a welfare check. Tell her it's a welfare check. Wouldn't happen to Louis Theroux. Tell them I'm Louis Theroux, who replaced Avril Lavigne. Listen on BBC Sounds, CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2: 20:25

Did I do good this week or what? And now it's time for our main attraction. I have two great podcasts that I'm going to be highlighting today, and my first one is called McGillicuddy and Murder's Pawn Shop. It opens in late summer 1921 with lead character Maude, a timid young lady who's quite alone in the world, leading a mind-numbing life as a typist and a dreamer. The only highlight of her dreary existence is visiting the pawn shop, where she seems to be the only customer.

Speaker 2: 20:50

Mcgillicuddy and Murders Pawn Shop is by Minerva Sweeney Wren. Unlike many highly produced podcasts that keep us on the edge of our seat, Wren's podcast comes wrapped in a brown paper package, the perfect disguise for all the magic and wonderment that hides. Within One day, while visiting the pawn shop, Maud is given a fragment of bone china decorated with a painted eye by the proprietor, Mr McGillicuddy. She accepted his gift without realizing it would transform her into a magical being. Soon, Maude would master teleportation, find herself in the underground world of paranormal speakeasies and magic doorways and leading an extraordinary life that she had always longed for but imagined quite differently.

Speaker 2: 21:43

Honestly, I was excited when this podcast was first recommended to me, only to be instantly disappointed as soon as I tuned in. I have an aversion to podcasts with prim and proper characters that harken back to Edwardian times. To be fair, this podcast does take place 11 years after the Edwardian period, but that was my first impression. My FOMO finally won out and I decided to give it another try. Here's what I discovered. Mcgillicuddy and Murder's Pawn Shop deftly unveils a magical world of beings, the intrigue that naturally follows and a cast of well-developed characters. The details are so vivid, without being overwrought with words, that you feel like you're part of Maude's new abnormal world. The mood is light and airy two things I craved during this week, and my only hope is that Wren will one day turn this podcast into a book, which I believe could become a classic read for children and adults, on a par with the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Here's a clip from the show.

Speaker 5: 22:59

I know what's happened to you, mr Renfield said Please, I can explain everything. My hands started to shake. Here, at last, was the answer. I was going to find out what I was, find out why my eyeballs had almost given me a heart attack when they made me look like a ghoul in my own bathroom mirror. I would know why I was so strange, why I had started to change. I would know what my mission was, what the purpose of this transformation would be. Perhaps I'd pack my bags and sail to Peru or India or Egypt and live out my days as some magical woodland creature that deals in blessings and curses.

Speaker 5: 23:39

I leaned forward on the couch. You'll have to close the door, he whispered. He glanced out into the hall as if afraid someone was listening. I know better than to let a strange man into my apartment without the door open. But I didn't care anymore. I had to get answers. I got up and I shut the door Quick. I said Mrs Kubler will have my hide if she catches this door shut. Hurry up and tell me. I vaulted back onto the couch. Mr Renfield cleared his throat. I thought my blood vessels would burst from the suspense.

Speaker 5: 24:17

You're what's known as a magic. Unusual, mr Renfield said and the old man at McGillicuddy and Murders made you this way by giving you that china eye, a magic unusual. It has a lovely ring to it, doesn't it? And that dastardly old man not even asking me first if I wanted to glow in the dark like a Halloween decoration. I guess the eye was where it started. I said but how Is it? Some sort of magic spell, sort of? Mr Enfield said McGillicuddy and Murders is a cryptic place. They're dangerous over there. I'm incredibly grateful I got to you first. If they had asked you to join their ranks. He shuddered Miss Merkel, please listen, there is something you must know.

Speaker 5: 25:17

Suddenly the lights went out. Mr Renfield and I looked at each other, our eyes both glowing in the dark. Quick, he said You're not safe. I leapt to my feet. The room was dark and all I could see was light spilling in from under the door. I heard loud footsteps on the other side. Someone pounded on my apartment door, mrs Kubler. I said Quiet. Mr Renfield barked. The voice on the other side of the door was not Mrs Kubler's, it was a man's voice. He shouted at us, then hammered on the door again In the darkness. Mr Renfield snatched my hand and vaulted towards the window. He whisked the window open and clambered out onto the fire escape Quickly, he said.

Speaker 5: 26:22

I thought in a flash of all the things I wanted to pack but couldn't. I wondered in a flash if this was all some bizarre kidnapping scheme and the men on the other side of my apartment door didn't exactly sound friendly. I clambered out the window still wearing heels and clanged down the fire escape. When we reached solid ground, mr Renfield took my hand and ran with me down the alley. My lungs were full of night air and my heart pounded. I felt so deliciously alive. How can terror be so wonderful? Do those men want to kill me? I said Worse.

Speaker 2: 27:01

Mr Renfield said they want you to join their ranks. Minerva Sweeney Wren, by the way also has a podcast called the Ghost Catchers. Now, I haven't listened to it yet I'm still working my way through McGillicuddy and Murder's Pawn Shop but it does look intriguing. She also has a podcast called Good Imaginations. It's very limited in terms of the number of episodes, but she has some great storytelling that she presents so that you can daydream better. I love that concept. I've reached out to Minerva, by the way, which is a pen name. I found her real name and looked her up. I don't know if she's still checking her DMs on Instagram and Facebook, but I hope so, because I have offered to interview her for our show To be continued. Show To be continued.

Speaker 2: 27:58

My second review today is about a podcast called the Estate, and this one is much more serious than other things that I've covered today, but it's an intriguing tale and one that I just couldn't pass up sharing. It's about a man who seeks to find out who his father really was, and to do that he had to go back to 1973, when emergency services respond to a shooting in a public space. When they arrived, two things happened the shooting victim was still alive and before he ultimately succumbed to his injuries. And before he ultimately succumbed to his injuries, he accused his business partner, calvin Jones, as the person responsible for the attack. Subsequently convicted of murder, jones was sentenced to 30 years in prison. That should have been the end of it, at least in my book, but for one family it was only the beginning of a mystery that haunted and intrigued son Alex Estrada for decades.

Speaker 2: 28:59

The estate is told from the point of view of Alex, the son of Rosalio Estrada, a man who presented one face to his family and another to the outside world. Rosalio, or Rosie to his friends, was a close friend, and sometimes a business associate, of Calvin Jones. The podcast opens with Alex eulogizing his father at his funeral. His father's death also set Alex free free to find out who his father really was, including being a possible murderer. Over seven episodes, the estate melds true crime and a family memoir into a compelling tale of a complicated legacy that one son tries to uncover and reconcile with a man he knew only as his father. This story also underscores the likelihood that a dark family chapter lurks in most people's family's history which is left unspoken, unsaid, maybe forever. But in the case of people like Alex, inquiring minds want to know. I've uncovered several dark chapters in my family history too, have you? Here's a clip from the show.

Speaker 8: 30:21

I'll never forget giving the eulogy at my dad's funeral. Rosalio Estrada Rosie, to his friends, came from a huge Mexican family, so his brothers and sisters, their kids and grandkids all showed up. The place was packed. It was like a midnight mass in the middle of a summer day. I could feel myself sweating through my suit as I waited to go up to the pulpit In true Estrada fashion. My dad wasn't even at his own funeral. His remains didn't get cremated on time. They arrived a week later and sat my sister's Honda for six months after that. So there I was, giving the last words for a guy who wasn't even there. But I did my best to capture who he was. Dad called himself the maestro, the boss, because that's what he considered himself the conductor, the guy calling the shots, the one with a vision. And although the maestro is no longer with us, I concluded he certainly left his mark on the world, his city and his family.

Speaker 8: 31:34

I made it back to the pew trying to catch my breath between heaving sobs. I still have the eulogy, but when I read it now it makes me cringe, not because it was poorly written or badly delivered, but because I didn't really like my dad. I don't think he was a great person, maybe not even a good person. I also don't know very much about his life, and it feels like those are two rules for giving a eulogy you know the person and you have good things to say about them. And what I didn't tell people, as I stood at the pulpit of that Gothic cathedral looking out at everyone who had loved my father, was that for a long time, I had a sinking feeling that my dad had someone killed From Sonoro in partnership with Tenderfoot TV. I'm Alex Estrada and this is the Estate.

Speaker 2: 32:52

Well, that's it for this show. I hope all of you enjoyed it. I know I loved being with you, so until next time, please follow and recommend this show. I hope all of you enjoyed it. I know I loved being with you, so until next time, please follow and recommend our show. We can only grow through you.

Speaker 1: 33:05

We're going on vacation so we're going to be dark for two weeks, but we will be back. Love you guys. Bye, david Dodd, and our announcer is Robert Spear. Our theme song for season two is Force by HGST. Thank you.