The 26 Best Podcasts of 2024 |
I really don't want to start this list with an irritating Can you believe 2024 is over already?! But ... yeah ... can you believe 2024 is over already? How is your year going compared with how you envisioned it back in January? Here's the thing to remember: December 31 is a Tuesday. In any other scenario, if you haven't accomplished everything you wanted to by Tuesday, you're still in great shape. So if your 2024 checklist is still in progress, that's just fine. Wednesday is another day. It's also crucial to remember—as AI bleeds further into your everyday life—that not everything in life is about optimization. While you should make some time for education and self-betterment, carve out an hour or two for just laughing or zoning out. Zoning out is basically modern parlance for meditation anyway, and there are plenty of podcasts about that. Which brings us home to the topic of the day: the final batch of our favorite podcasts from 2024, which run the gamut from insightful stories to artistic contextualization to some good old-fashioned absurdity. |
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My Middle-Age Music Crisis |
One balmy evening this past summer, I was hanging out in the bustling courtyard of a bar under the Williamsburg Bridge, celebrating a friend's thirtieth birthday. I was having a nice enough time making small talk with various partygoers—until a stranger asked what new music I had been listening to. The trains above screeched to a halt. Everyone at the party fell silent and looked my way. I racked my brain. Surely there was something cool and obscure I could turn this person onto. And… I had nothing. The truth was that most of what I'd been enjoying fell into two categories: Old Dad (Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Simon & Garfunkel) or New Dad (Vampire Weekend, Sturgill Simpson, Solange). There's a technical term for what was happening to me. I was becoming washed. |
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The AirPods 4 Are Officially the Best-Ever Earbuds |
It's hard not be an Apple die-hard. I might not be the kind who waits in line for the newest iPhone, but I do test all the latest and award them when deserved. Ultimately, the stuff that comes out of Cupertino is dialed in, looks good, and works for as long as you want it to. It's hard to compete with that. In the past, my only issue with Apple has been its AirPods. That's where the brand lost consumers like me. Noise canceling is nice, but it doesn't sell me. The Max in Midnight is beautiful and sounds incredible, but I don't need all that. My girlfriend loves the Pro 2, but I don't like the gummy ear tips or the price. Nothing ever convinced me to give up my wired Apple headphones. But the AirPods 4 got me. They're easy to use. The fit is good. And they're just techy enough, with Active Noise Cancellation and top-tier sound. All that for $180 retail. You're not going to catch me with another pair of earbuds for at least four and a half years. |
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What I've Learned: Emeril Lagasse |
My son E.J. and I have been building this restaurant with the team for over two years. It's called 34 because I'm Emeril the third and he's the fourth. It's a little homage to Portugal and to my mom. My first food memory is being inspired by my mom. We had a vegetable garden in the backyard. When I was about seven or eight, I was really interested in the soil. And I remember picking various vegetables. Standing on the chair with Mom making vegetable soup. Mom was Portuguese and my dad was French Canadian–slash–Portuguese. Mom ruled the house. I had an older sister—she's passed—and I have a younger brother, who works with me. We grew up very, very Portuguese in a very Portuguese community in Fall River, Massachusetts. It's still considered kind of the Little Azores of America. |
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How a VW Hatchback Looks at 50 |
Is this what flying feels like? As I dash through a bit of twisty Cappadocian desert road in a vintage Volkswagen Golf, my hair floats upward in the summer air. Along with my graying locks, a touch of nostalgia lifts on the breeze. Once upon a time, I owned a hot little hatchback quite similar to the 35-year-old VW I'm driving, and I'd forgotten just how much I loved it. This year marks the Volkswagen Golf's 50th birthday, a rarity in the automotive world. Few vehicles last in production anywhere near that long. But over the past five decades, VW has shipped more than 37 million Golfs to over 70 countries, making it the third-best-selling vehicle of all time behind only the Ford F Series and the Toyota Corolla. |
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46 Luxury Gifts for Men Who Appreciate the Finer Things |
A man who appreciates real luxury doesn't have to be a billionaire with a first-class seat on a private spaceship. He doesn't need a brutalist villa in the Mediterranean or reservations at buzzy restaurants. He does need an appreciation for the finer things. At Esquire, we define a luxury man as any guy who enjoys and buys the best of the best, whatever that may be for him. He could be your crypto-trading husband, investment-banking father-in-law, or lawyer dad. Or he could be your bartender brother who happens to have nicer taste than most. He's got beautiful furniture pieces, rare whiskeys, fine wines, and a wealth of knowledge about all of it. He knows what's a good investment, what's a faux pas, and what's a must-have product. He might even already have everything—he thinks—he's ever wanted. And that's fine. But you've got to buy him a gift. You've come here because his good taste makes him very annoying to shop for. That's where we come in. We can escort you through the upper echelons of his many fine likings. Whether he's a home-decor perfectionist or a Michelin three-star regular, here are the 46 best luxury gifts for men. |
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