One of my very favourite podcasts, Hypercritical, hosted by John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin on the 5by5 network is due to end in a few weeks time when it reaches episode 100. On hearing the news, I felt motivated to draw a little illustration of J-Sir climbing a mountain*. To infinity and beyond, John. To infinity and beyond.

Hypercritical is a tech podcast of sorts. Each week, everything from Apple to Pixar to toaster ovens is tackled (and often torn apart) by Siracusa in his particularly, um, hypercritical manner while Dan gently steers the ship. Their insights are consistently interesting, surprising and funny, even when I have absolutely no idea what they're talking about (both hosts have backgrounds in development, I most definitely don't).

It's nerdy and no mistake, but that's not a bad thing. Clever people talking with enthusiasm (and going into very specific specifics) on topics that they really care about is something I have a lot of time for, even if I'm too dumb to keep up. When a topic does come along that I know something about, it's the best. The best, Jerry, the best. The more detail the better.

If a 3 hour discussion about Goodfellas sounds like a very good thing and not a very bad thing, hello, take a seat, you're amongst friends.

Although I'll be sad to see Hypercritical go, the archive lives on. I recommend the aforementioned toaster oven and Pixar episodes as well as Siracusa's two part history of video game controllers (my personal favourite) as good starting points for non-technically minded folks. He also continues to semi-regularly co-host the very good geek culture podcast The Incomparable on 5by5. Elsewhere, Siracusa has a blog and famously reviews Apple's operating software for Ars Technica.

Big thanks to John & Dan for the many (many) hours of entertainment and good luck for the future.

* I gave Siracusa glasses - I think he wears glasses despite being glassesless in my, um, extensive Google Images research. Ach, even if it's inaccurate, it looks funnier.