Cool Mules is a podcast by Canadaland about a cocaine-smuggling ring led by Slava Pastuk that operated within Vice Media.
| Cool Mules | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | Kasia Mychajlowycz |
| Genre | True crime |
| Production | |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | 2 March – 29 March 2020 |
| Provider | Canadaland |
| Related | |
| Website | www |
It won a National Magazine Awards Gold Award for best podcast in 2021.
Production
editCool Mules was produced and co-written by Jesse Brown; Kasia Mychajlowycz was the host, reporter and producer, Jonathan Goldsbie did research, Nathan Burley did the music, and Chandra Bulucon did the sound design and mixing.[1][2]
It was released in six parts, the first of which was released on March 2, 2020.[3]
Synopsis
editThe podcast tells the story of Toronto-based[3] Yaroslav Pastukhov/Slava Pastuk, a Vice Media music editor who goes by the pseudonym of Slava P.[4][5] The story takes placed between 2014 and 2016,[3] in which Slava P recruits younger Vice employees into an international cocaine-smuggling ring.[6]
Themes in the podcast include the gig-economy, worker exploitation, and the line between journalists reporting news and creating news.[4]
Critical reception
editIn 2021, Cool Mules won a Digital Publishing Awards Gold Award for best podcast (arts & culture) from the National Magazine Awards.[7]
Maxine Betteridge-Moes writing for Smack Media described the podcast as refreshing and fascinating.[4] Lizzy Steiner, writing in CrimeReads writes "host Kasia Mychajlowycz painstaking unpacks a crime that seems custom-built for the millennial generation."[3]
US corporation Storied Media Group bought the rights to the story.[6][8]
See also
edit- Bad Trips, 2022 by Slava Pastuk about the same subject.
References
edit- ^ "Cool Mules is a new podcast about that cocaine-smuggling ring run out of Vice". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "Presenting the Winners of the 2021 Digital Publishing Awards". Digital Publishing Awards. 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ a b c d Steiner, Lizzy (2020-03-26). "12 True Crime Podcasts to Listen to this Spring". CrimeReads. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ a b c Betteridge-Moes, Maxine (3 April 2020). "Cool Mules is the #1 Podcast You Need To Hear Right Now". www.smackmedia.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ Thiessen, Connie (2021-04-29). "SMG to market Canadaland IP for TV & film adaptation". Broadcast Dialogue. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ a b Ramachandran, Naman (2021-04-29). "Canadaland Podcasts to Be Adapted For Film and TV Through Storied Media Group Deal (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
- ^ "2021 National Magazine Awards Nominees Announced". National Magazine Awards. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- ^ "The surprising rise of Canadaland". mcgillnews.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
External links
edit- Cool Mules podcast official website
- Sean Craig and Adrian Humphreys, How a former editor allegedly used Vice Canada to recruit drug mules for a global smuggling ring, The National Post, 2 February 2017