“Geek Fu Action Grip” by Mur Lafferty
I had some time yesterday between things, and while waiting during my daughter’s orchestra practice, so I thought I’d catch up with a few podcasts that have intrigued me enough to load on my player, but which I’d not seriously listened to. This post I’ll focus on “Geek Fu Action Grip” by Mur Lafferty.
Mur (I guess this is a kind of nickname, but she obviously prefers it to her “real” name, so I’ll leave that for you to find out, if you care) has been producing a podcast approximately once a week since December 2004. ‘Casts range in length by a few minutes, but are usually each around 10 minutes long. Mostly the format is the same each time. Each ‘cast starts with a few minutes of general discussion, business, whining about things, and general hat-tipping and back-slapping to other podcasters. So far this is much like many others. What distinguishes Mur’s podcast is the bit that follows.
The “meat” of each ‘cast is an audio essay. Subjects range widely - I listened to things from a discussion of the subtext of a trip to a pharmacy, through the hidden passions of housewives for childrens’ TV presenters and stereotypical “hot doctors", to memories of youthful ballet and martial arts lessons and the liberal guilt of owning an “SUV". Mur obviously has an extensive “back catalog” of material, and mixes older pieces with more reccent ones. Sometimes she will add an update, such as following the essay on being a “cry baby” with the note that she finds it strangely easier to well up now she has a child of her own.
I thoroughly enjoy Mur’s style - both in the “writing” of the essays, and the pleasant way she delivers them as audio. Mur podcasts from Durham in North Carolina (at least I assume it’s spelled “Durham” like the town in the north east of England, rather than “Durum” like the wheat used in pasta - that’s the trouble with podcasts). I’ve never listened to anyone else from around there, but I guess she has the local accent. Her voice is melodic and easy to listen to, without the harshness and stridency of many podcasters.
In general the presentation is Mur’s voice only. Occasionally she adds some music (I laughed out loud at the “Bjork” song), or a snippet of another podcast. This seems to be partly due to trepidation about using the Audacity sound-editing software, as much as a production choice, but it certainly suits me. As an aside, if you want to listen to a podcast that’s more like 80% intro/outro and only 20% content, check out Sound of the day!
I find the content of the essays engaging because they deftly mix a dash of personal experience with just enough of the general human condition, and don’t go so deep or long that I get twitchy with the lack of somewhere to take notes, or a web browser to cross-check details.
Sometimes the cultural context leaves me slightly adrift, though. The whole North vs South and Liberal vs Democrat thing adds a bit of local colour, I’m sure, but it lacks emotional impact for me - from here they seem much more alike than different. As another example, in one ‘cast, Mur makes much of the difference between two presenters of the kids’ TV show “Blue’s Clues". I’ve seen the show a few times, but didn’t recognize either of the names of the presenters. In my memory the presenter’s name was “Kevin". On later research it seems that the show is extensively localized, with a wholly different presenter, and different voices for the cartoon characters, for different target markets. If you are familiar with the US version, check out the UK version to see how strangely different it looks and sounds.
In summary, this podcast evokes fond memories of some of the BBC talk radio I listened to in my youth. There are presumably similar things on NPR in the USA. If that’s what Mur was aiming for, I reckon she’s made it.
I’ll certainly keep listening.
