The Leverton Review

This is a podcast about objects, or things that were once an important part of people's lives, but have disappeared. It is strangely poetic. Episodes are under an hour. 4/5.

  This is probably one of the first podcasts. It has been on the air (it's also a radio program) for over twenty years. There's usually about three stories all connected to a theme. It covers normal life, crime, politics, science, and sometimes includes short stories from famous authors, written especially for the podcast. Episodes are under an hour. 5/5.

  A delightfully British lady explains the history of words.  Each episode is under 15 minutes long. 5/5.

  A podcast which details the corruption of Donald Trump, which goes far beyond what normal people could image. If you think Donald Trump was ever a good president, you should listen to it. It began shortly after the 2016 election, and probably will continue for decades. 3/5.

  Two comedian friends and their friend, a bartender talk about very bad movies. It is very funny.  It's more funny to watch the movies they watch after they talk about them. Very long, each episode is about an hour and a half.  I like that they are funny without being mean (to other people, they are sometimes quite mean to each other). It shows you can be funny without being a dick. 4/5.

  In this podcast, two friends travel around to investigate claims of the paranormal, and pseudoscience. They investigate things from a rational perspective, but have open minds about topics, and a few times they have said when something was a benefit to them. They rate the thing they are investigating  on a scale depending on how dangerous it is, and how scientific it is. They join these groups and organizations to really discover how they work. They have done investigations on Scientology, the Mormons, flat earth, anti-vax, and many more. They do it with humour.  One drawback to the show is that their investigations can be quite long, they did about twenty hours on Eckantar, a religion that was founded in the sixties and seems to be dying out. Episodes are at least an hour, sometimes two hours long. 5/5.

  This is a trivia show for the podcast age. It is unique from other game shows in that the guests actually pick the topic that they want to be asked about, and usually they have an expert who is connected to the topic to decide if the player got the answers right. The players are usually people from the entertainment industry, so they know how to keep an audience entertained.  4/5

  This podcast is about how design affects our lives. It is much better than it sounds. The host, Roman Mars, covers a wide amount of topics, and the podcast is also well-designed. Each episode is under 30 minutes. Sometimes the episodes are pretentious, but it has also introduced me to some ideas and people I never would have heard of otherwise. 5/5.

  An outcast doctor leads a team of outstanding doctors in a remote hospital. An evil director is trying to shut down the hospital. A young, troubled doctor joins the team, and after some misadventures accepts his place and is accepted. There are two series for this K-drama, which is unusual in the genre. Each series has the same basic plot. There are a lot of dramatic surgeries, and often the injuries are depicted graphically.  The first series is good, but the second is a little bit weaker. This is because the villain is the same in both, even though his ending didn’t give me much chance of redemption in the first series. In the second series, there are two new surgeons, who are generally more attractive than the first. It feels a little bit unfair, considering all of the other characters reappear. The second series is also a bit more cartoonish, with over acting and some ridiculous accidents. The male lead character, played by Han Suk-kyu is a great one. The acting is stron...

  A handsome young CEO with a severe allergy to human contact gets duped by a team of robotic scientists and an aspiring entrepreneur.  I won’t reveal any more of the plot than that, but I have to say that this is one of the better K-dramas I have watched. It shows the effects that loneliness can have on a person. Plus the actress playing the romantic lead is so cute. There are more beautiful Korean actresses, but she seems like someone you could actually talk to. The plot is pretty contrived, as with all of these dramas, but one scene that stands out is one in which a bunch of tiny crabs escape and two men are having a very serious discussion while they have crabs exploring them. I think there are many people who are lonely, and it is a fact that not all of them will find someone that they are compatible with-so if the future is to be robots like AG-3, I wouldn’t mind.  This is not the most moving K-drama, but it does make you cry a few times. I think I’m finally underst...

  My Holo Love is a typical K-drama. There's an attractive male lead, and a woman, who is quite attractive, but due to her face-blindness is an outcast. The male lead is a hacker who lives with his adopted sister, who also plays a crucial role in the events of the drama. The hacker invents a hologram called Holo which can be used as a personal assistant. But Holo becomes an AI and falls in love with the face blindness woman. In the world of K-drama, this can't be left to stand, and she realizes that she doesn't actually love him, but his creator (who I didn't mention, looks exactly like him). The plot is very conventional, but this doesn't mean that it's bad. The most moving scene is when the woman with face blindness finally recognizes her mother's face after so many years. The villain of the piece, while completely predictable, is a delight to watch. Another good aspect to this particular drama is that it wraps up with one episode. Usually in K-dramas ther...

  I have mixed feelings about this one. I think in terms of longevity, it’s one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, but it is also grating in unforgivable ways. Let’s start with the positives. The cast is superb, and their comedic timing is brilliant. Sometimes the writing is also very sharp, especially some of the throwaway lines are hilarious and absurd. However, the show was on for so long that the younger members of the cast grew up, and not all of them grew up into good actors. This is especially true for the actors playing Manny and Lily. Lily is so bad that the writers just made her into someone scary, (which is not how most eleven-year-olds act). That is a natural, but unfortunate problem. The bigger problem is that the characters are just not that likeable. Mitch and Cam are presented as this ideal couple, but if they weren’t gay, they would be divorced. And they are so gay...I mean stereotypically gay-can’t gay people have various interests and personalities on te...

  This is a true crime podcast, which is trying to solve a cold case that involves a serial killer who targeted prostitutes on Long Island. The investigation revealed nothing, so the podcast itself is, unfortunately, not very interesting.  ⅖

This Netflix documentary is narrated by Sean Bean who does an excellent job, and the acting is excellent. It seems to be relatively accurate, but some things are exaggerated for effect. Commodus didn’t usually kill gladiators in the arena, but he killed many while practising. The actors swear during stressful moments, which is something I have never seen in similar productions, but which does give it a sense of realism.  Informative, but a bit of a waste of time. Leverton Review: 2/5

  This is a controversial series, but it shows in an informative, and moving way, the life of a woman who hasn’t changed history, but nudged it along. It is easy to get frustrated with some aspects of the series, sometimes the actors feel like caricatures of real people...but sometimes it is quite moving. The scenes between Phillip and Charles are often telling. I like that they used a different cast for different parts of Elizabeth’s life, rather than putting people in make-up. The series doesn’t shy away from the pathos and absurdity of the most powerful women in the world who is also trapped in her position and values. Leverton Review ⅘

  I am of the generations that could watch Mr. Rogers on television, and I do have vague memories of a man tying his shoes and wearing a sweater. I had problems learning how to tie my shoes and maybe that’s why I remember it. This documentary is factual, and gives a good sense of what the man was about. He said something in the film that I think I need to hear in my life now-you don’t have to accomplish great things to be deserving of love. In my last relationship, I felt that there was so much pressure to be financially successful, and I wasn’t able to do it. I just needed to be loved. I and my ex, we both deserve love. Not because we are extraordinarily talented, or rich, or successful, but because we are humans, and all humans deserve love. That relationship failed because we both didn’t recognize that. Leverton Review 5/5

In 1993, Sean K. Ellis went to buy diapers for his cousin. When he got back, he found that both of his cousins had been murdered. Surprisingly, these murdered played only a small part in what happened to him next. He was interviewed by the police, and mentioned that he had gone to Walgreen’s to buy the diapers. He was then connected to the murder of a cop who was killed the same night. He was tried twice, which ended in a mistrial, and then at a third trial he was convicted. Then, after many years, this verdict was overturned because the cops who arrested him were corrupt, and the guy who was killed was also corrupt. The D. A. eventually drops the case, due to a lack of reliable evidence but still believes he is a killer. This is a fascinating look at the life of man who was punished for a crime he probably did not commit, and yet, in the eyes of many is a cop-killer.   Leverton Review:  4/5