1.5X Speed!

When I listen to an audiobook or a podcast...well, I have a confession to make:

My attention span for listening to someone speak has never been too great. My entire life, I've always murdered standardized tests in cold blood. I acheived the highest ACT score in my class, but thankfully, the ACT doesn't have a listening portion. Any standardized test that did, I'd get 99th percentiles on everything, and then sub-40's on the listening portions. I just have a really tough time sitting for more than 20 minutes, while focusing on one person's voice. I watched the entire 208-minute director's cut of Das Boot with my old man one time without even getting up, but if I had to just focus on one person's voice for 208 minutes, I would take a boot and beat my skull in.
With that said, getting into podcasts has been a difficult task for me. Now that I host one, I've not only got to network, but I'm discovering some really fun ones, like Good Times Great Movies, where I genuinely enjoy the hosts, their banter, and their topics of conversation. However, when it comes to listening to solely human voices, I still have the attention span of a parrot in the Harrah's Casino cash-out bin. Or at least, I did, until I made this discovery:

MY BRAIN JUST WANTS EVERYONE TO TALK LIKE THE MICROMACHINE MAN!

However, it's not fair to expect everyone to talk to me as if they were a star Galoob employee. As fast as I start nervously tapping on the counter when my wife is rolling out a list of stuff she wants me to do over the weekend, she isn't going to spit that list out any faster!
If only she was a podcast!
Then I would set her to 1.5X speed!
Yes, 1.5X speed!
I first discovered this miraculous tool while listening to a book on Audible. I found that I was enjoying the book and the reader, but also couldn't quite keep my attention focused, and felt like the book should be getting over with faster. I clicked OPTIONS, and there it was, just waiting for me!
1.5X speed! The option to make what I was listening to play at a speed 1.5X faster!
You also will see the option of .5X speed, though I don't know why anyone would want that...I guess it's for stoned people, or something. There's even a 2X speed, but that's a little too fast, even for me!

I soon realized I could apply this option to Apple Podcasts, and then, all bets were off.
The best part, though, is that I went out for a run yesterday, and decided to listen to the newest episode of Filmshake, the podcast I co-host with Jordan Courtney. This month, we converted our format from shorter <40 1990="" 1991="" around="" based="" centered="" classic="" different="" episode="" episodes="" films="" first="" glorious="" i="" in="" is="" longer="" minute="" of="" on="" our="" periods="" released="" s.="" solely="" the="" to="">Point Break
, and befitting the format change, Jordan and I have released our inner goofballs, or rather, we're just being our truest selves now, instead of trying to button those selves up. While I think that the episode we're going to release next month is more fast-paced and funny than this one (fitting, considering the movie it's focused upon), our 90's debut is still hilarious and awesome, and I absolutely love it. However, when I listened to it yesterday, I forgot to take my setting off of 1.5 speed...AND I AM SO HAPPY THAT I DID.
Filmshake, Episode 7, Point Break, at 1.5X speed, may be the greatest thing I have ever been a part of in my life. If you have not listened to the episode yet, go listen to it at 1.5X speed now. If you already listened to it at regular speed, disinterestingly while you were trying to make out a recipe for spaghetti bolognese on your cell phone, go listen to it again on 1.5X speed. It will, if not change your life, or at least make you feel like you are listening to a film noir breakdown of Point Break by two wacky interrogation room cops who just don't care anymore, except they do care, about Point Break.
It's awesome.
1.5X for life!