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10 Pod Takes

1) “When you get crushed and you live to fight another day, you realize that bravery is a muscle that you’re constantly exercising.”

Skimm’d from The Couch: Reshma Saujani: Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, Feb. 20 (13:47)

• Says Saujani, who once ran for a House seat in New York. Vote earned: 19 percent.
• She knows of what she speaks.

2) “When teens are on the airwaves saying don’t shoot my fellow classmates, that argument works.”

The Gist with Mike Pesca: Free Money City, Feb. 20 (28:30)

• Could students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who have impressed Pesca (and millions of others) with their response to the mass shooting on their campus, lead us to a safer future? Hope so.

3) “Losing is our best option.”

House Call with Dr. J: Mark Cuban – Dallas Mavericks Owner, Feb. 19 (21:15)

• Costliest pod take ever? Cuban’s crack on Dr. J’s debut pod cost him $600,000 for “public statements detrimental to the NBA.”

• Must have forgot the first rule of tanking.

4) “He was Che Guevara meets Oskar Schindler meets Mother Teresa.”

Deviate with Rolf Potts: Baseball writer Rany Jazayerli on fandom, and growing up Muslim in America, Feb. 20 (24:59)

• Potts invokes a power trio in summing up an incredible story by Jazayerli, about his ancestor Abd el-Kader.

5) “I read the Michael Wolff book with amazement and fascination. But the risk of that book is it points us toward the wrong problem and the wrong questions. Because [it says] this is all about Donald Trump. And it’s not.”

How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black: #79 David Frum, Feb. 21 (4:28)

• It’s a time of democratic crisis, says Frum.

• He points out that, among younger people worldwide, preference for living in a democracy is eroding.

6) “He brings in what he sees as easy targets for him to kind of perform this bonkers William F. Buckley-at-a-frat-party character.”

Recode Media with Peter Kafka: How Lauren Duca became and internet star overnight, Feb. 22 (18:40)

• That’s Duca’s take on Tucker Carlson’s TV persona.

• Duca revisits her confrontation-heard-’round-the-internet with Carlson and how it helped make her “fireproof.”

7) “Afrofuturism is the underrated movement of our time.”

The Indicator from Planet Money: The Olympics, Afrofuturism and Sichuan Food, Feb. 22 (3:31)

• “Deeply, deeply underrated,” says guest Tyler Cowen.

• “Black Panther” should move that needle.

8) “There’s no grammar for mutant bears.”

Channel 33: ‘Annihilation,’ ‘Ex Machina,’ and Alex Garland’s Disturbing Sci-Fi Vision, Feb. 23 (12:04)

• That’s host Sean Fennessey, teed up by writer and director Alex Garland.

• Lesson: The challenges of movie making are substantial when you need to render mutants or “psychedelic twilight.”

9) “It brings me great comfort to see a guy drinking at 8 a.m.”

Otherppl with Brad Listi: Willy Vlautin – Episode 505, Feb. 21 (11:30)

• That’s Vlautin’s take on dudes he can see through the window as he writes songs and novels in his “Sam Spade detective agency” office on the edge of Portland, Oregon.

• Adds Vlautin: “It’s the greatest office of all time.”

10) “Twitter’s definitely undefeated.”

Pardon My Take: Blake Bortles and Paul Bissonnette, Feb. 20 (28:55)

• So says the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback, who gets his share of online abuse.

• His love from “The Good Place,” however, remains unmatched.

• Bortles!

Go Deep

Dissecting the Netflix Effect

Business Wars: Netflix vs. Blockbuster, Feb. 6-22

Reed Hastings says broadcast television will go dark by 2030. This eight-part series goes far to explain why the Netflix CEO believes that.

• It chronicles Netflix’s rise from wannabe to game-changer to cultural touchstone to harbinger of the demise of broadcast television, and it does so with over-the-top production and drama that reflect Hastings’s prediction.

• Think conspiratorial asides by the host, action-movie music and tires-crunching-the-snow audio details.

• It’s a riveting deep dive for anyone wondering how they’ll mainline their future favorite shows.

Spoilers: Netflix vanquished Blockbuster with superior tech, long-term thinking and a little luck. HBO, Apple and Disney all should play a role in the future of streaming video.

Go deeper: The Watch asks, “Is Netflix Swallowing TV?” and a16z has a Q&A with Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

Guest Appearances By…