Ep 8 - The Class of 2007
Carry me back.
Carry me back.
LINKS
Johannes Hofer’s original paper coining the word “nostalgia”
The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts
Nostalgia by Billy Collins
I really wanted to include this in the episode. It’s a perfect complement.
Evolution by Langdon Smith
This is less about nostalgia and more about love and eternity, but I think it fits.
Brad Hebert - who made the instrumental tracks for my song, and makes tons of cool stuff
Ep 7 - Ghost Story
Ghost Story
There’s nothing much to say about this one. If I link to interesting relevant stuff it’ll be spoilery. Maybe I’ll add something later.
This is a pretty weird one, but sonically complex. Listen with good headphones if you can.
NOTE: Spotify players are currently having some bugs on certain browsers. If you can only hear a preview, please go to Spotify or wherever you get podcasts to hear the full episode.
Ep 6 - Question Everything
I Know nothing compares 2 U, but what am I?
I know nothing compares 2 U, but what am I?
NOTE: Spotify players are currently having some bugs on certain browsers. If you can only hear a preview, please go to Spotify or wherever you get podcasts to hear the full episode.
TANGENTS
I reeeaaallly wanted to talk about Barbenheimer in this episode, since we’ve just had this gigantic pop culture moment that’s all about juxtaposing the very serious and the very silly. The thing that struck me the most about the two movies was that, in my somewhat humble opinion, Barbie is by far the greater achievement. They’re both extremely well made, of course, and absolutely top-tier in their genres. Except…while Oppenheimer is one of the best biopics you’ll ever see, Barbie is really a genre unto itself. There’s never been a movie like it. And while Oppenheimer, for me at least, didn’t really give me any new thoughts or feelings, Barbie was full of constant surprises and had a lot to say. I think people who dismiss it as “just” comedy, or as essentially a toy commercial, are only seeing the surface and really missing out on a much deeper experience, It’s in your face and brazen, yes - but it’s also extremely clever and full of subtle touches.
To be fair, I was probably somewhat more familiar with the story of the Manhattan Project than the average person, and had explored the philosophical and moral issues around it quite a bit. So I’m sure Oppenheimer is a much more powerful movie for people who are newer to the ideas being presented. But my main point is that, no matter how good Barbie is, it is inevitably seen by almost everyone as the less meaningful of the too just because it’s a fantasy comedy about dolls. This bias against the light-hearted and fun side of art is something I think we’d all do well to shed.
Of course Pee-Wee Herman wasn’t the first, or the most influential, gender-bending character in the spotlight. But the ones who got the most attention tended to be pop musicians, not children’s TV hosts. I was a mostly cis male who still didn’t fit the gender expectations of my community, and I got a decent amount of grief for it, so Pee-Wee was really meaningful to me as an example of being male in a quirky, non-traditional way. But other people who were farther from the typical gender stereotypes (and maybe less into goofy comedy) identified more with people like David Bowie, Annie Lennox, and especially Boy George.
It can’t be overstated what a big deal Boy George was in the 80s, and how upset some people were about his clothes and makeup. But for the most part he was accepted, and even celebrated, and it seems to me that he broke a lot of social barriers for people who followed him.
Check out this comedy song by a couple of country bros in 1984. By today’s standards this might be offensive, but the intention was more to make fun of themselves and country stereotypes than to make fun of Boy George. I’ve read that Boy George actually liked the song, but I can’t find a reliable source one way or the other.
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure was Tim Burton’s first movie as director. Paul Reubens chose him after seeing the original short version of Frankenweenie and loving the style. I also think he was perfect for the movie, because he expertly captured the weird duality of Pee-Wee’s world being both real and a fantasy at the same time. The problem for me, though, is that Tim Burton has never gotten away from that veneer of artificiality on everything he makes. It works for some of his movies, not so well for others, but it’s become so recognizable as to be a cliché. It’s like he wants to constantly remind us (especially by the visual style) that what we’re watching isn’t real, and for me it stops me from getting absorbed in the movie. (I was excited to see the Wednesday series when it came out, but didn’t know it was his work. Immediately when it started I thought “oh no - this feels really Tim Burton-ish” and then I saw his name in the credits. I still enjoyed the series but it would have been great for it to feel less…purposely fake.)
LINKS
Ye gods, it was hard to narrow down the Sinéad O’Connor songs to a reasonable number.
If you haven’t seen Nothing Compares 2 U or the infamous performance of War on SNL, go there first.
The Times They Are A’ Changin’
Have I Told You Lately with Van Morrison
Help Me Make It Through the Night with Kris Kristofferson
Danny Boy - yes, Danny Boy. Trust me.
The Pee-Wee Herman Show - where the character first appeared, and still my favorite thing Paul Reubens has done.
Here’s a rundown of some of his most memorable non-Pee-Wee performances.
Oh, he was also a great voice actor - here’s a list of his roles.
Ep 5 - Ann Dunn part 2
More conversation with one of my favorite Curious People.
More conversation with one of my favorite Curious People.
LINKS
A picture of Ann in Rolling Stone as part of a photo essay on the effects of COVID
Ann’s bio at The Asheville Ballet
The UNCA Humanities program
Ep 4 - Ann Dunn part 1
An interview with one of my favorite Curious People.
An interview with one of my favorite Curious People.
LINKS
Ann’s bio at The Asheville Ballet
The UNCA Humanities program
A trailer for “ANNA!” (The rock ballet where I first met Ann)
Memorial page and bio for Ann’s father, Robert Hentz
Some opinions about pronouncing Bernstein
A fascinating look at Merce Cunningham’s work with computers
(be sure to watch the video of BIPED)
Another article about Merce Cunningham and computers
Info about Ménière’s disease
Ep 3 - The Almost Butler Almost Did It
Had I but known…
LINKS
The episode of Good Job, Brain! where I first heard this story.
(Check out any of their episodes. It’s the most fun podcast out there for curious people.)
The Wonder View Inn - built on the site of Mary’s estate
A short interview with historian Chris Dubbs about female reporters in WWI
An in-depth article by Stephanie Seul on the same subject
A good profile of Mary by a mystery fan
An excellent telling of the story of Mary and the cook
Articles about Mary’s books on The Passing Tramp mystery blog
A bit of research on how often the butler actually did it
Ep 2 - Blinkenlights
Before listening, be sure you have a sufficiently robust spiral decommutator.
Before listening, be sure you have a sufficiently robust spiral decommutator.
ABOUT “ME TOO”
Back in the days when you had to sit around and wait for every single webpage to load, even if it’s only text…
and a picture might easily take half an hour to show up, line by line by line…
and the idea of watching video online was only a fantasy…
…it was considered extremely rude to get on a message board or newsgroup (the medieval ancestors of social media) and make a post that simply agreed with someone, without adding something new to the conversation. Everyone had to waste their precious time, bandwidth, and limited AOL minutes loading up your pointless comment, and they weren’t happy about it. Posting “me too!” would draw down upon you the wrath of everyone else on the site. And their verbal smitings would load…very…slowwwwlllllyyyyyyyy…
LINKS
William Isaacson - this episode’s guest composer - on SoundCloud
Sid Caesar explaining doubletalk on Letterman (the whole interview is worth a watch)
“Mr. Doubletalk” Durwood Fincher
The original Turbo Encabulator article
GE’s 1962 spec sheet
Bud Haggart’s first Turbo Encabulator video
A version for Chrysler with a perfect added scene
The version of Blinkenlights that I originally saw.
Purportedly, an example of the type of sign common during WWII in Allied machine shops.
Ep 1 - Beginnings
All good things must eventually come to a beginning.
All good things must eventually come to a beginning.
After literal years of thinking, prepping, delaying, trying, re-trying, and re-re-trying - it’s finally here! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
LINKS
A great timeline-style description of the big bang and the evolution of the universe
The main evidence for the big bang model
Sir Fred Hoyle and the steady state theory
You might also be interested in Einstein’s cosmological constant - but it might be the subject of a future episode, so for now you’ll have to look up your own links.