Episode Reviews

This episode about ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) deserves a separate shout out for embedding its own ARG! Also a really cool topic to cover on a podcast like this - this is a great intro to the idea of ARGs, which is a huge and potentially puzzling subculture without a good entry point. I'm already excited to re-listen!

Willa Paskin has developed an impressive critical eye through years as a television critic for Slate, and now she has her own unique take on cultural criticism in podcast form. As the host of Decoder Ring, Paskin and producer Benjamin Frisch examine integral aspects of cultural that escape the bounds of a traditional review. On "The Incunabula Papers," the most ambitious episode to date and one of the most intriguing episodes of 2018, the duo diabolically writes and executes a mesmerizing crossover from straightforward audio reporting to performative auteurism. It is about the original alternate reality game (ARG), and really drives home the idea that crafting such a thing is a new form of literary art. (https://trustaleph.com/the-big-sleep)