Friday, September 4, 2009

mysterious universe is back!


One of my favorite podcasts, Mysterious Universe, is back after a year and a half hiatus. It a podcast that covers alot of the same subjects as coast to coast with George Noory. UFOs, Ghosts, Cryptozoology, shadow people, all that weird jazz, but the host Benjamin Grundy has a great attitude towards the paranormal and takes everything with a grain of salt and a sense of humor. Instead of an interview format the show is set up more like a this week in the strange and bizarre news with Grundy reading from stories he's found round the net or sent to him from listeners. The first run of the show was one of the best produced and put together podcasts i've ever listened to and you can really hear how much he enjoys talking about these subjects in his voice and enthusiasm. MU was definitely something that i looked forward to listening to every week and missed once he had stopped podcasting.

Season one of Mysterious Universe consisted of about 94 long format podcasts ranging from 60 - 90 minutes, 91 shorter format "Mindshot" episodes (maybe 20 minutes) and a bunch of specials in there somewhere too. If you can get your hands on them each episode is amazingly put together and proven to withstand multiple listenings. Unfortunately the back catalog of episodes from season 1 are no longer available for download on itunes but if you want you can buy a limited edition dvd set of all the episodes including the ultra rare first 7 episodes which Mr. Grundy finds completely embarrassing (I'm guessing because you can still hear him cutting his podcasting teeth and the production values are really low).

the the start of season 2 of Mysterious Universe, Benjamin Grundy is joined by scientist Aaron Wright. I've listened to the first episode of the new season and while it is a little rough around the edges they seem to work well together. It will be interesting to see how the more skeptical Wright will counterpoint Grundy's views.

if you have a free ear to listen to some fun spooky stories give the podcast a listen.

-a

2 comments:

Anthony said...

Hmm, you've piqued my interest. I've never listened to a podcast, but I think that I'll give THIS a try! I love all things paranormal, supernatural etc., even though I am also a bit sceptical.

So, it must not just be audio, right? I'm assuming that because you said the first season is available on DVD. I have an iPod that plays video, so I'm good.

Viva la spooky!

andy ristaino said...

hey anthony,

it's all audio. i think it's on a dvd because the files take up alot of space.

-a