Joshua Zaffos

The Moth Podcast
Weekly installments of first-person stories, told without notes, which frequently bring laughs and/or tears in under 15 minutes


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Baseball:


Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? by Jimmy Breslin
Breslin's book on the '62 Mets, baseball's worst team ever, is clever and cutting, and it sets up the historical backdrop for forlorn Mets fans


The Natural by Bernard Malamud
The scene between Roy and Iris swimming in the lake stands out. A deeper, darker story than Redford's film


Baseball History Podcast
Host Bob Wright is a baseball nerd's nerd, and I've already learned the origin of stadium tailgates, batting gloves and baseball fantasy camps


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TED
"Riveting talks by remarkable people," which are sometimes wonky, but usually enlightening


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Greek food and Ouzo

With much inspiration coming from Susanna Hoffman's The Olive and the Caper, a 2004 narrative cookbook that encourages healthy consumption of fennel, feta and olive oil


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All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
A great nonfiction book integrating Bragg's upbringing in rural Alabama with his experiences and lessons from journalism


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"Bored to Death"
The latest, greatest series from HBO...but it might be a little too close to home


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Mike Birbiglia: "What I Should Have Said Was Nothing"
Self-deprecating humor at its finest, with plenty of sports, family, drugs and wildlife jokes along the way


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Horseshoes
Ready to get my ringer on this summer