A Life Well Wasted
| Podcast | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Life Well Wasted |
| Created by: | Robert Ashley |
| Date(s): | January 2009 - March 2013 |
| Focus: | |
| Fandom: | |
| External Links: | A Life Well Wasted, Archived version |
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A Life Well Wasted is a self-described "internet radio show about videogames and the people who love them" hosted by Robert Ashley.
The critically acclaimed show has often been likened to This American Life and Radio Lab due to its high production values and storytelling style. Each episode has a central theme with several stories about the subject, all of which are somehow linked with videogames. Artist Olly Moss created original artwork to be featured with each episode.
History
Years ago, before a huge wave of layoffs at 1UP.com and the closure of Electronic Gaming Monthly, 34-year-old Robert Ashley made his living writing about videogames, even contributing gaming-centric pieces to Wired on more than one occasion.
Ashley got his start podcasting on 1UP.com’s GFW Radio, possibly the most consistently fantastic discussion-style gaming podcast ever produced. The show was at its best when its four co-hosts went off-topic (if there ever was a topic) to tell lengthy but hilarious personal stories.
Ashley began releasing episodes of A Life Well Wasted in 2009. Its first episode focused on the EGM closure. With heartfelt interviews with his friends and former co-workers, it humanized the publication and the people behind it in a way that the dry news posts about its fate could not.
Ashley sporadically released eight episodes in total for the following year, and then abandoned the show until now (2013), almost three years later.[1]
The Episodes
- Episode One: The Death of EGM
- Episode Two: Gotta Catch ‘em All
- B-Side: The Henry Lowood Interview
- Episode Three: Why Game?
- B-Side: Why Game?
- Episode Four: Artists, Fans & Engineers
- Episode Five: Help
- Episode Six: Big Ideas
- Episode Seven: Work
Reactions and Reviews
Each episode goes forth and interviews a variety of people on the subject at hand and professionally edits it together into a tight package. I’ll use the word “professional” again, as it’s something which few Podcasts deserve. Put it like this: if you turned on Radio 4 and heard this playing and you wouldn’t be surprised. While the first episode regarding the death of EGM magazine is a little US-centric, the second about gaming collectors – from academics to arts to just game lovers – is wonderful stuff and the perfect place to join in. Robert Ashely even has a proper soothing radio voice, which strikes the nasally crew of RPS as somewhat unfair. The bast.[2]
If you have only the time and patience to listen to one podcast on the web, make it this one. It’s a gaming podcast with mind-blowing production values. Each episode has a theme and contains amazinly well-edited interviews with all sorts of interesting people. It is a good example on how the internet can be home to some first-class journalism. It is also a good example of a very different kind of games jouralism – one that offers true, thoughtful insights instead of falling into the old routine of trite fanboyism and consumer advice.[3]
References
- ^ "Time Well Wasted: Gaming's Radiolab is Back". Archived from the original on 2021-07-25.
- ^ "Sound Quality: A Life Well Wasted". Archived from the original on 2020-09-18.
- ^ "A Life Well Wasted By Krystian Majewski". Archived from the original on 2019-08-03.