Todd and Eric return to the TodCast bracket to decide whether a focused music-ranking origin story can defeat a pumpkin conversation that somehow travels from coffee and pie to Smashing Pumpkins. This is what happens when nostalgia, questionable scoring, and a complete lack of March Madness collide.
They compare two very different episodes using the highly scientific categories of entertainment, information, and original audio quality, because apparently a simple “which one did we like better?” would not be enough.
In this episode:
- Episode 119, “Eric the Music Mathematician,” faces Episode 82, “Pumpkins: Spice or Smash?” in the six-versus-eleven matchup.
- Eric revisits the long-running Music Ranked project, including music metadata, rating systems, algorithms, websites, WordPress, and years of conversations about how to quantify musical taste.
- Todd and Eric explain why the Music Ranked episode feels more focused and structured, with the kind of conversation that could happen at a family gathering before someone goes looking for bean dip.
- The music episode becomes a small history lesson about how hobbies evolve, how websites get rebuilt, and how one project can keep returning even after it has apparently fizzled out.
- Pumpkins: Spice or Smash? begins with pumpkin spice and wanders through pumpkin pie, Cool Whip, whipped cream, pumpkin carving, pumpkin painting, Halloween, and pumpkin smashing.
- The pumpkin conversation eventually arrives at the Smashing Pumpkins, proving that the title was not merely decorative and that the TodCast can usually find a logical path to a rock band.
From music algorithms and WordPress experiments to pumpkin spice, pie, carving, smashing, and a band whose name conveniently keeps the theme alive, this episode is a bracket recap with three scoring categories and just enough logic to make the result feel official.
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Produced & Edited by Eric Hersey – Strong Minded Agency
Listen to more episodes on the TodCast PodCast IMDb page.