The Pod Files - June to October 2026

 

It’s been a long time, I know. 

I’ve had more than six posts waiting to be issued for a few months, but just looked at them and thought “I haven’t got the time to spend tidying them up for release.” 

It was scary looking at them every now and then, at the same time as I have been doing the Podbites newsletters, the Pods Like Us episodes, and the Pods Like Us Chronicles episodes that I have been putting out since the end of May. 

So, instead of those almost too extensive notes from the last six months of listening, I have looked at the full notes that I have, and decided to look at those as well, and give generalisations on my over all listening. 

The ‘casts - 

In March I was finishing up working. I had been training people while trying to appeal the court’s decision to give me nine points on my driving licence, which they wouldn’t. 

It was a pain in the neck travelling wise, because obviously I couldn’t drive to work and back, adding more than four hours of travelling time each day to the thirteen hours of work, where I had to train drivers without actually driving myself. 

That certainly made things tricky, but somehow I was able to train them up. They are still there now, six months later, as far as I know. 

So, over the last six months I have listened to shows of course, and in fact the previous Pod Files went up to some time in May or June, so that’s only between three and four months behind. 

I have listened to many episodes of the fabulous BirdNote podcast, which is a relatively short form show, where they look at something to do with birds each day, and talk for around two minutes or so on the subject. 

Eggpod Express is an interesting show hosted by Chris Shaw of the now finished I Am The Eggpod show, a Beatles related show. Most of the time Chris is joined by a guest, such as the acclaimed Beatles archivist Mark Lewisohn, to look at newspapers and magazines from the day, and articles around the band, and look into those stories in more detail. 

I have kept up with Podnews Daily and The Download from Sounds Profitable, which you can find select notes of within the Podbites newsletters and Pods Like Us Chronicles episodes, alongside other podcasting based news items. 

I mentioned in numerous places about going to the Podcast Show in London in May, the people I met, and the connections that I made. I purposely paid for a VIP Platinum Pass, so that I could go to events and places where I could make connections. 

In the future, the Pod Files will be a little bit more detailed, but not as much as they were before. 

Tony Doe’s excellent Into The Podverse podcast has become an absolute necessity for me. I love Tony’s look at the world of podcasting as a whole, while bringing to the fore the growth of the industry on the African continent. 

5 Good News Stories continues to be a fun show, that is presented by my great friend John McDermott of Caloroga Media. 

Too Long Didn’t Listen is a good insight into the podcasting world, asking five people in the industry a different question each episode, and giving their own individual takes on that theme. It’s on a hiatus at the moment. 

Daily Tips That May or May Not Help You is a fun show that is also on hiatus at present. 

Listen Like Fans is a fabulous show presented by Bee France, where she chats with different fans of the band INXS, to get the stories of how they became fans. 

Comicbook Nation - [I forgot to get the release details of this episode] Presented by Kofi, Evan, Janell and Matt. Reactions to the trailer for the tv series X-Men ‘97 season two. Evan displays his “ability” to do the voice of Apocalypse from the original nineties tv series. Reactions to new trailer for Steven Spielberg’s film Disclosure Day. Cocoon mention. Reactions to trailers for Toy Story 5. Reactions to Spider Noir. Reactions to the film Backrooms. Reactions to the film Obsession. Absolute Wonder Woman comic issue 20. Matt was going up close to the microphone more than usual, which causes booming. The Ultimates issue 24. Matt is so excited because “new Witcher 3 content is happening!” Reaction to a question from listeners about wrestling not being on tv show, to which Matt says they have removed it from the show unless it intersects with comic book related issues. 

Seaside Pod Review - 24 May 2024: they’re recording together in person. Kev brought a Shepherd’s Cake with him, that he made himself. After this they look at feedback from the previous episode’s song, Ogre Battle, taken from Queen II. Bathing every three month saves on soap cost? After the chit chat they get to the randomly chosen song for the episode, which is John Deacon’s song If You Can’t Beat Them, taken from Jazz. Description of the phrase “mix down”. Using an effect while it was recording as opposed to adding it after the fact. Randy points out a similarity to a song by April Wine. Arguing about the word Jazz again. I like this song, but it’s not upper level Queen. They listen to a live version, which I have never heard. 

Phase Hero - 4 June 2026: they apparently had some tech issue? Presented by Brandon Davis, Jenna Anderson, Aaron Perrine, and Jamie Jirak. Reactions to Supergirl trailer and tickets have been made available. Hot Toys figures from the Supergirl film. Man Of Tomorrow filming footage released gives away characters coming to the DC movie universe? “Let’s switch over to Marvel.” The Avengers Doomsday “trailer is a mess.” Joe Russo quote about the film in the Hollywood Reporter. “They are at Phase Zero!” Tom Holland talking about Spider-Man Brand New Day. Spider Noir reactions. Cool fact - Pedro Pascal’s stand in on the Mandalorian is John Wayne’s grandson! 

Seaside Pod Review - General catch up between Kev and Randy. Randy isn’t an extrovert, and has trouble with connecting with fans, despite being the lead singer of the band he is in. Kev has had a good time as a sports coach recently. Randy asks if Kev has trouble “calling it soccer instead of football.” After this they look at listener response to the previous episode’s randomly chosen song, If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, the John Deacon written song from the album Jazz. When they’re done looking at the listener feedback they get to this episode’s randomly chosen song, Life Is Real (Song For Lennon), a Freddie Mercury written song from the album Hot Space. 

Comicbook Nation - presented by Kofi, Matt, Janell, and Evan. “no one is bothered about CMA!” First look at season two of Batman: Caped Crusader. Matt’s history of hats. Season three trailer for Silo. Janell - “why don’t they just die?” Woah, that’s different, J! The trailer for End of Oak Street. They mention their love for films with Anne Hathaway. Talk about how horror is doing at the box office. Spider Noir talk. Kofi went to see the new Scary Movie film that is just called Scary Movie. Matt went to see He Man and the Masters of the Universe. Issue one of DC’s Dead Man. Supergirl Survive issue one. New Power Rangers book out. The upcoming game from Insomniac, Marvel’s Wolverine. God Of War game. “Not a good week for redheads!” “Everybody getting out of the way” for the release of Grand Theft Auto 6! Blood Of Th Dawnwalker game. Silent Hill: Town Fall game. 

Comicbook Nation - 24 July: Kofi and Janell chaired a comic con event before this episode. “Spider-Man Brand New Day is coming…” “what is the real, Neo?” First full trailer for Avengers Doomsday. “What is Marvel going to do in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con this year?” “Why would you give Janelle the scariest trailer to watch?” Resident Evil. Trailer for Clayface. Trailer for The Other Mommy. X-Men 97 reactions. Trailer for the game Wolverine. The latest issue of the comic Absolute Wonerd Woman. The new Terminal series of comic books. 

Seaside Pod Review - 11 July 2024: veiled cover that they accidentally didn’t record for 45 minutes, and having to start over. Queen World Cup now going on. Randy busy working on tv production for football at Edmonton. After the catch up there is feedback from listeners about the previous song, Water, a demo recording from The Miracle era. After this they look at this week’s randomly chosen song, Khassoggi’s Ship, from The Miracle. 

Comicbook Nation - 28 August 2026: I actually watched this on the tv at home. Yes, me watching a podcast!  Hosted by Kofi Outlaw (including the supervillain style chair turn entrance), Matt Aguilar and Janell Wheeler. So many people have passed away - Hayden Panettiere, Tim Curry, Peter Cullen, Dolly Parton, and many more. News about the forthcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 game. Kofi’s Secret Labs Spider-Man Variant chair is superb! Reactions to episode two of DC’s Lanterns. Season four of Reacher discussion, mainly for Kofi. He then talks about season three of the Taylor Sheridan series Lioness. Reactions to the horror film Buddy. The film Power Rangers: Legend of the White Dragons has now come out. Absolute Wonder Woman comic issue 23. Terminal comic issue 1. “Get on the plane!” “A bunch of The Witcher stuff coming out!” Cool looking tabletop/board game The Mandalorian Adventures! Another tabletop One Piece Arkana. K-Pop Demon Hunter light sticks. New Furbies that Matt got to review that his daughter has taken already as her own. K Pop Demon Hunters Monopoly now available. 

Seaside Pod Review - 18 July 2024: nice intro with the addition of a clip from the sitcom Porridge. Kev feels magic! Nestor’s Bakery near to Randy. Randy asks if people in the U.K. know what a Long John is - it sounds like a chocolate dipped yum yum. Long John’s in the UK are all in one thermals. Feedback about the previously discussed song, Khassoggi’s Ship. Kev got backlash from a Van Halen discussion. Finally they get to this week’s randomly chosen song, Funny How Love Is, taken from Queen II, and written by Freddie Mercury. Fascinating history of filming terminology from Randy after they talk about the song. 

Comicbook Nation - season 8 episode 36: 11 September 2026: presented by Kofi Outlaw and Janell Wheeler. Starts with the announcement based on there not being an episode last week, and that due to changes at Comicbook, Matt Aguilar and Evan Valentine no longer work for the company. Dang it, I’ll miss those guys. Kofi then gave us a history of the show. All of these years listening to such a great podcast, that’s still here to a degree. They are planning on carrying on with guest co-hosts now and then, and are not replacing the others on a permanent basis. No movie reviews this week. Actual casting for The X-Men films, with Asa Germann acting as Angel. The future for The Punisher rumours of a new project. Reactions to the latest episode of Lanterns, which I will admit that I skipped through as I hope to watch it eventually. Both me and Louise are fans of Kyle Chandler as an actor. After this they discussed the finale to season three of Silo. Another bit that I skipped through as I intend to watch the show at some point. They then look at the comic Marvel Gold ‘76. I am tempted to check that out myself! Kofi mentions the character Jack of Hearts, who is a character that I own the original run of comics for. Janell mentions loving Reacher season four, as are we at home. Since we can no longer get Matt’s Agenda, Janell and Kofi give us their own agendas. Janell’s is the now available Nintendo Direct. Kofi’s agenda is about badass female characters on tv, particularly the Apple TV series Furious, and the Paramount show Lioness. 

Agents of Fandom: Comic Corner - 10 September 2026: Matt Aguilar has joined the team alongside TJ, AF, and Jam. First up after introductions, new comic coming that has made Black Cat into a mutant. “Characters live long enough to either get a symbiote or become a mutant.” Next up is the release of the Image Comics issue number 2 of Chachu, written by Iman Vellani. They looked at Ultimate Endgame issue number five that was missed when it came out. “Bait and switch.” Green Lantern Corps episode 20. Issue one of IDW publisher’s comic Fixation. 

The Chris Evans Show with Moneybox- 14 September 2026: the first half of the show saw Chris chatting with producer/composer/musician Giles Martin about the then forthcoming special deluxe reissue of the the 1965 Beatles album, Rubber Soul. The second half of the show Chris interviewed magicians Penn Gillette & Piff the Magic Dragon. 

Seaside Pod Review - 25 July 2024: “grab an ovaltine and a Woodbine.” Kev and Randy presenting as ever. Randy loaning tools to Kev, and not getting them back. Kev guested on the Van Halen podcast. Van Halen were Randy’s introduction to The Kinks. After the catch up they look at feedback from last week’s song, Funny How Love Is. After that they get on to this week’s randomly chosen song, the Freddie Mercury written Bicycle Race from the album Jazz. The furore over the naked bicycle race promotion. 

Phase Hero - 10 September 2026: recorded on September 7th. Presented by Jenna Anderson, Aaron Perine, and Jamie Jirak. Creative Arts awards at the Emmys. Spider-Noir winning five awards at the Emmys after Amazon cancelled the series. Jamie says that one issue is how can Amazon make money from tv shows after paying what they did for the show. Casting news for Marvel’s Secret Wars. New quote about VisionQuest. Robert Pattinson talking The Batman Part 2. Casting News for Man of Tomorrow. James Gunn's fun reaction to someone about Tom Holland. Supergirl available to watch on HBO Max. The Mandalorian and Grogu film now available on Disney Plus. Listener question about Avengers Endgame Encore ticket sale potential. Reactions to the latest episode of Lanterns. “Naked grandpa and sexy grandma, make it a t shirt…” “Bring back The Muppets!” 

The Chris Evans Show with Moneybox - 18 September: the first half of the episode saw Chris chatting with Psychologist Angela Duckworth about her book Situated. The second half he spoke with comedian/actor/writer/musician Eric Idle about his new book, Idle in Provence: A Brief History of Thyme. 

The latter was the main reason why I listened, I’ll be honest… Eric was famously one of the Monty Python team, which is deservedly seen as an important milestone in the history of comedy. 

He spoke about his relationship with the former members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and others. There was a nice mention of joining the Footlights Theatre troop, and the first stage production being written by colleague John Cleese. 

This plus an incredibly heartfelt discussion about his beautiful friendship with the late great Robin Williams.

The Gerry Anderson Podcast - episode 399: 21 September 2026: Jamie, Richard and Chris are joined by Oscar-nominated composer and arranger John Cameron. Together they look back over his career, including scoring Ken Loach's Kes, working with Donovan and Hot Chocolate, and providing the music for Gerry Anderson's The Protectors. The hosts also cover some news, pick their top five favourite things from Anderson Entertainment, and answer listener and viewer questions. 

Comicbook Nation - 18 September 2026: presented by Kofi and Janell. Kofi mentioned about them not going live on video due to an issue with producer Richard not being available. First up is that Zack Snyder wants to make a Batman movie. Marvel talking about Avengers Endgame Encore and Infinity Vision. Reactions to Lanterns episode five. Janell dipped back into South Park. “Zoom, you are a terrible platform!” Resident Evil film. Look at the new comic book DMX, of which Janell mentions in passing that she knows the writer. Issue five of Absolute Green Arrow. Kofi talking Lioness and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. 

Agents of Fandom - 17 September 2026: Comic Corner episode. Presented by TJ and Matt Aguilar. Matt loves their intro music. First up is news of Miracle Man coming to the Marvel comics Avengers universe, where he is in issue four of Avengers Armageddon. A character originally created by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, which has been tied up in rights issues for many years. This issue and run is written by Chip Zdarsky. Jam joins them presenting at around ten and a half minutes into the show. Issue one of Space Ghost vs The Herculoids. Absolute Green Arrow issue 5. Absolute Cassandra Cain issue 1. Wonder Woman issue 37. New issue of Daredevil. New Wolverine comic series and game. 

The 7th of May episode of How To Save It was a special episode to celebrate the 100th birthday of the wildlife conservation and television legend Sir David Attenborough, talking about his history in conservation. As well as this they played a portion of a discussion that presenter Kate Humble had with Sir David a few years ago, as will as clips from talks that Kate has had with those who have met and worked with him. 

I listened to a trailer for a show entitled Call Sign Condor: Latino Soldiers Fighting In Ukraine. The show is about soldiers from South America who have joined the Ukrainian forces in their fight against Russian insurgents. 

On the 23rd of September a bonus six minute long episode of Agents Of Fandom was released that featured Matt Aguilar interviewing three stars of the new film Descendants: Wicked Wonderland; Liamani Segura, Alexandro Byrd, and Kiara T Romero. 

The episode of Tape Notes from the 23rd of September 2026: host John Kennedy speaks with producer/composer/musician Giles Martin about the release of the special edition of the Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul, and the remixing of it into stereo, as well as other archival extras that he came across. 

Three songs in particular were highlighted, where he looked at the first takes, the individual tracks that were isolated using MAL technology, allowing for an easier stereo mixing experience. 

Norwegian Wood was an interesting one, in that we heard the first take, and found out that after recording it, John Lennon thought that something was needed. Luckily George Harrison had a sitar with him, which he had been playing around with in his free time. 

Because of that, a second take was done, which was a complete change to the arrangement, with it being very Indian in sound. 

From there we got take three, which was what the version used for the released version. That was more like a merger of the two approaches - the Dylan influenced folk of how it was originally written, with George adding a double tracked sitar to give it that world music edge. 

We also heard the wonderful story of that solo in the song In My Life, which as many of us know was played on piano at a slower tape speed. When replayed at the correct speed it meant that the piano sounded like a harpsichord. 

A great outtake we heard was it played on a Lowrey Organ. 

Comicbook Nation - 25 September 2026: presented by Kofi and Janell. “As we are speaking people are going to see Avengers Endgame ENCORE!” While discussing this film’s return to the cinema, the sound changes on Kofi’s mic. Kofi took his son to see this at the cinema in 3D. The new stuff they have added is “gimmicky.” On added scene basically says that you don’t need to watch phase four, five, or six property. Mid credit sequence. Post credits scene. After talking about Endgame Encore they get onto discussion episode seven of Lanterns. Talk about the latest comic issue of Absolute Batman. 

Phase Hero - 21 September 2026: Spider-Man Brand New Day has made $944.5m at the US box office. Thats just at the US. The writer has been on another podcast talking about what was nearly the story for the film. Paul Bettany has been talking about possible cameos in VisionQuest. Chlöe Bennett is annoyed that Agents of SHIELD isn’t MCU cannon. A lesson in movie theatre etiquette from Jamie Jirak. Casey Boyes talking about how they look at and decide upon what DC based tv shows get made. Reactions to episode six of Lanterns. 

On the 14th of September we got an episode of The Stupid History Minute with Neil McGraw presenting, which is regular host Kev Pound doing a voice for some reason - to give himself a giggle I guess? 

I can’t believe that I hadn’t noticed that the BBC had done five part series about Miles Davis back in May of this year, but finally I’m listening to it, and hot damn it’s good. 

At the time of writing I listened to one episode on the day of finishing this post off (finally), and the clips they have are fabulous, including some first live performances by the nine piece outfit that Miles had fronted in 1948, after leaving Charlie Parker’s backing band. 

I am a huge fan of Miles Davis, and have often thought that if I had the time then I would happily do an album by album show about his incredibly extensive catalogue. 

For those who do not know, Miles Davis had released 60 studio albums alone, all of which were recorded between 1948 and 1991, with the last one being released in January of that year. Miles sadly passed away in September of 1991. One of my regrets is never having seen him play live! 

This is the 100th anniversary of his birth - the birth of the cool to use a pun. Also, not just a trumpeter, but a superb pianist as well by the way, who played synthesiser on his work from 1972 onwards. 

As the pictures can attest to, there was a lot more listening during this time, BUT it’s a lot to react to everything on there individually, as well as incredibly long!