Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast ‘funny,’ not funny

In this episode, our guest Matthew Roazen returns to talk to us about his time in Russia, and gives us a lesson in what was happening in Russia during the 1990s and early 2000s. Matthew explains the rise of the Russian Oligarchy and how it was linked to guarantees to banks via the IMF. This effected not only all the small businesses in Russia, but also foreign business and investment in Russia that the time. We hear more about how all of this affected his day to day life there, but end up talking about our understanding of the idea of corruption and how it changes depending on where you live.

Matthew Roazen, lawyer, and Russian history & linguistics expert, who lived in Russia for 16 years talks about his time in Moscow during the 1990s and 2000s. This is part one of a 2 part conversation with Matthew about what things are like in the country with the largest landmass in the world. We talk about his time managing a blues band in Moscow, the beginning of the perceived western bonanza there in the 1990s and why business was so keen on the newly “freed” Russian populace. We touch on the beginnings of the oligarchy and how Matthew saw it emerge.

We discuss the making of video clips for promoting our podcast and the futility thereof. The unruly beard is disparaged. Lionel brings up an episode of CSI where a civil war re-enactor was killed and found to be wearing a girdle as a response to Jim's thought experiment of having to be sewn into his clothes like foot soldiers in the civil war. We talk about the history men's fashion, men's vanity, and men's impossible expectations for both men and women.

Next, Jim brings up a book he had recently consumed called The Soul of Money by Lynn Twist, which he both enjoyed and did not enjoy. Jim shares a story from the book. This launches us into a discussion about what is enough or feels enough in our consumer society.

Jim talks about a movie he was impressed by called After Yang, starring Colin Farrell about a family who has purchased an android to look after their adopted daughter. This is one of a list of indie science fiction films Jim came across recently - we will probably cover others in future episodes.

Lionel talks about a book he read about the fall of the Soviet Union called Armageddon Averted by Stephen Kotkin which covers the events of 1970 to 2000 in the Soviet Union and eventual Russian Federation.

Lionel also relates a book/tv show combination called Rogue Heroes created by Stephen Knight who also created Peaky Blinders. The book and show cover the origins of the SAS during the second world war. Lionel continues giving interesting details about this show and book and pivoting to the battle of Midway until Jim informs him he has to leave and the show skids to a stop.

Do billionaires deserve our empathy? We passively mention the Brian Thompson murder, and Jim’s portrayal of The Vengeance in his books. Do we need the profit motive to create new drugs and medical treatments? Cialis, Viagra, and Ozempic all started out as drugs for different things than what they were intended. It’s the Bell Labs situation in another instance. Were the inventions from those labs worth paying ridiculous long distance rates? We don’t know. We talk about China hacking our phones and the relationship to aging networks and the search for spies. This leads into a discussion about the breakup of Ma Bell and international call-back systems in the long forgotten past.

We come back to billionaires and their carbon footprint, and more importantly, how it’s becoming not cool to be rich. What if we taxed everything over 1B? Who takes it? Is that unAmerican?

We break off from this line of thought to talk about the book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann as well as 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. We discuss both books in broad terms.

We end up talking a little about Dune Prophesy and the better and worse use of canon, Sackler Alley, and The City and The City again.

Lionel and Jim discuss a myriad of subjects this week with a subtile common thread. We move from Jim's recent experience with jury duty to return to discussing the novel The Devil’s Broker by Frances Stonor Saunders. From there we revisit the Steerswoman series with Jim's experience reading book 3: The Lost Steersman. Lionel has been left behind on these books, but talks about The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem.

In the end we land on the documentary about Robert Hughes and the downfall of the art world called The Mona Lisa Curse discovered for Lionel by (who else) Johnathan Coulthart, you can watch it here on the Internet Archive. This is an excellent movie - immediately engrossing which you should watch forthwith. While you are there, please make a donation to The Internet Archive, which is under attack by various groups.

Lionel and Jim talk about the book "The Devil's Broker" by Frances Stonor Saunders and about mercenaries and what happens when peace breaks out and they don't get paid. We also discuss Laurie Anderson, the dawn and death of classical synthesizer music, Dune Prophecy, briefly - more on this later, the Prague Diaries TV series, Firefly, and books by Stanislaw Lem. A rollicking good time.

Encore episode from January 2023

Jim Rosen, Catherine Pilfrey, Matthew Bellows, and Jim Infantino have been teaching meditation online for almost 3 years as part of a twice weekly session that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays called Mindful Aware. In this episode, Matt, Jim, Jim, and Catherine answer Lionel’s questions about meditating online and discuss the practice of teaching meditation from a western perspective.

References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S3~dot~02-Mindful-Aware/

We discuss two novels in this episode, the first, The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein, was suggested to us by Sarah Elkins. The second, The City & The City by China Miéville was suggested by Jim to Lionel and then by Lionel to the group. This four person book series seems to be a thing with us. We enjoyed ourselves, I hope you do too.

Monty joins the pod and we talk about his experience playing music, going to folk conventions, his “no-case” showcase at NERFA, playing, and Monty’s songs. Montgomery Delaney is an unusual performer in the folk world. Later in the show the conversation takes a turn, as we talk about how Monty was banned from Cafe Lena one time because of his political beliefs. We discuss what it means to speak your truth when your audience doesn’t agree with you. We talk about no agreeing and yet continuing to talk. This episode gets a little hairy as we talk about the new situation facing the United States. Our opinions stray further and further as the episode goes on, and yet we remain friends at the end. I don’t know how this episode will hit you. Here it is anyway.

David decided after graduating NYU in the late 80's that he did not want a traditional desk job. He joined the Seafarers International Union as an unlicensed deckhand. Eventually he joined the Sailors' Union of the Pacific and finally got his officer's license in 2013. He has sailed all over the world on US flagged vessels. He worked as a licensed deck officer in the Masters, Mates & Pilots union from 2103 until the COVID pandemic, as a Third Mate, on vessels stationed in South Korea and Saipan. David is an inveterate reader and collects books portraying mariners.

References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S1~dot~14-David-Partikian/

This conversation would qualify for ASMR in terms of the pacing and tone, except that we discuss the movie Vice with Christian Bale. Jim talks about his impressions of it and Lionel talks about a number of books and movies he's been watching, including 'Mordecai,' and Isaac Asimov's 'The Gods Themselves.' We talk about our viewings of The Americans, comparing the espionage in it to the behind the scenes machinations of Dick Cheney in the Bush Whitehouse. We end up getting ready for the election, which, by the time you hear this, has already happened.

Subject: A Night In The Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

Guests: Julia Tenney, Sarah Elkins

This curious summary was generated by AI:

The conversation explores various themes including biking adventures, car troubles, and the legacy of Subaru. It transitions into a discussion about the book 'A Night in the Lonesome October', focusing on character dynamics, plot unfolding, and the role of animals in the story. The group delves into dream sequences and Lovecraftian references, discussing Lovecraft's influence and legacy, as well as the appeal of his mythos. The conversation concludes with reflections on writing style, literary techniques, and favorite moments from the book. In this engaging conversation, the participants delve into various themes surrounding a book that intertwines elements of Sherlock Holmes, vivisection, and Halloween traditions. They explore character motivations, favorite moments, and chilling themes, while also discussing the philosophical implications of destruction and the historical context of Thanksgiving. The dialogue flows seamlessly through these topics, providing insights into literary analysis and personal reflections on food and tradition.

References

Video

This one has a big, red E on it. Take the kids to the bunker before hitting play. Eric Schwartz is possibly the only artist in the history of the world to get raves from Gloria Steinem and Hustler Magazine. His songs are alternately heart warming and ... something else. We sit down and talk about his work, his feelings about his craft, and what it all means. In addition to rude mentions of body parts and sexuality, this episode contains even more repulsive discussion of politics and the upcoming election, forcasting doom or salvation or neither. Enjoy.

Lionel and Jim talk about producing this podcast for video, which you can see in a separate post. The thumbnail did not show up but it's available from youtube - unlisted as of this posting. We also discuss transitions and productivity at work and our trip down the Empire Trail in New York State. We end up discussing two films which were first timers for Lionel and repeats for Jim: Mystery Men and In Bruges.

Lionel and I were talking about all our druthers in the literary and streaming world when I got a phone call from Chris Chandler, and I invited him on the pod to just talk about whatever was happening with him. We did discuss Hurricane Helene and our friends in the Asheville area as well as Chris' tour schedule and our upcoming visit to San Antonio to honor the late Monk Wilson.

This week we are joined by playwright, rowing coach, meditation teacher, songwriter/singer and all around fascinating human being, Mark Basquill to predominantly discuss the play he co-wrote with Jay Sefton.

Unreconciled is the true story of an adolescent actor cast as Jesus in a school play directed by a parish priest. The story chronicles a survivor’s journey as he confronts his past, navigates a victims’ reparations program set up by the Catholic Church, and discovers the courage to use his voice. This 80-minute piece is a poignant and at times humorous exploration of family, place, and the meaning of reconciliation.

At the end we talk about the details of rowing overseas, and our love of music.

For music makers, a producer/engineer can be a unique sort of friend. For all of us, except Lionel in this conversation, that unique friend came with the name "Ducky Carlisle" and helped us make the best music we could make, all while having the time of our lives. Bleu McAuley, Shaun Wortis, Mike Gent, and Jim tell the tales of the studio days and nights with the late great Duck Carlisle and we play some of examples of the songs he helped us bring into the world as recordings. Thanks so much to our guests for this episode.

This week we were fortunate to have songwriter, singer, producer, creator, Jeff Tareila on the pod. Jeff has toured internationally with his band and solo, has recorded and produced "tons of records" in his words, and shared a history back in the distant past with Jim, stomping around the SoHo folk scene in New York City. He talks about the creation of his own releases as well as work he's been doing in the Virgin Islands with Dan Ackroyd, Motto, and G-Love. This was a really fun podcast to record. I hope you enjoy it.

This one was recorded while Jim was in New York City at Rivendell (Peter Cooper Villiage) in the last homely house (his mom's apartment) with his daughters visiting his mom. We talk about Norman Cantor's In the Wake of the Plague, and touch on some other books about similar subjects before veering off to discuss Napoleonic surgeons, The Watchmen, and Lionel's idea for R.U.N.A.I.

Refrences

This week Lionel and Jim talk about the TikTok algorithm, Roy Casagranda, AB testing at PayPal in the 2000s, Survey Groups and Polling, The Bonfire of The Vanities ny Tom Wolfe, the real date of the Fall of the Roman Empire, The Printing Press As An Agent Of Change by Elizabeth Eisenstein, and Autonomous by Analee Newitz.

References here: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S5~dot~02-Bang-on-Killer-Virus/

We start our fifth season by considering a change of genre for our podcast, either to sports or economics, but ultimately settling on not giving a crap. We move on to considering the difference and origins of both Science Fiction and Fantasy, and then ponder the origins of Vanishing Point Perspective Drawings and whether human beings are biologically the same from a few thousand years ago to present day.

References coming soon.

In our final episode of a very long Season 4, Jim and Lionel talk about soundtracks, synthesizers, the limits of AI growth, political assassinations, and communication skills. From Ennio Morricone to Vangelis, from the Yamaha CS-80 to the Oberheim OBX, from Ed Zitron to The Paris Peace Talks, from Condoleezza Rice to the George Clemenceau shooter, we cover everything.

References coming soon.

Lionel and Jim talk about riding bikes along the Empire Trail, The Watchmen franchise, Gattaca, Ernest Borgnine, and more. References forthcoming at funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/

Jennifer Kimball, songwriter, performer, singer, horticulturalist and landscape designer joins the pod. One upon a time, she was in a legendary band called The Story with Jonatha Brooke and now she lives on an island, making music, and designing lawn free (or almost free) gardens of local flora and fauna. We also talk about her wintery songs project which is just outstanding, and growing up in NYC.

References here.

A lazy summer conversation between Lionel and Jim in which Jim talks about his adventures in recording his band’s new album and checks in with Lionel to discuss books, movies, and tv shows of interest. Check the references for information and links for each item discussed.

Jason comes back to talk more about his life in games. During his time at Gamewright and now at Happy Camper, Jason has explored the world of perfect logic games, cooperative games, games of chance, but always board or analog games, not the digital variety. We wonder what the first game ever played was, and Jim comes up from a past-life regression with a suggestion. We talk a little about Soul Coughing's new tour and the problem of playing what the fans want to hear vs. what the band wants to play. Examples of games and more are listed in the references section of the website for this episode.

Thumbnail for this episode by Elmir Jafarov

The multifaceted Jason Schneider joins us to talk about his life in fun and games. Jason has started his own game company after working for decades at someone else's. Jason started studying philosophy, then went to clown college. From there, he worked on Sesame Street, Zoom, and Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman. He discovered scores of games at Gamewright, and helped develop them into popular products for the company. His own company is called Happy Camper Games. Check them out.

References

I chose this episode to encore because the amount of data centers in use for AI has recently been in the news. Damien was talking about this a year and a half ahead of time. - Jim

Brothers revisited! This week, Lionel’s brother Damien joins us to talk about big construction, data centers for crypto mining and AI, modern art in the Hudson Valley, The M1 Abrams Tank, hybrids vs. electric cars, problems with money and guns, the end of work, and what’s still great about the United States of America.

References: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S3~dot~04-Damien-Cassin/

Jim Hood, a graphic designer experienced in naming and brand development, typography, communication, and environmental graphics joins the podcast to talk about typography. One important thing we learned is that it was his class in the 90s that developed the standard for the typeface pictogram on Wikipedia. We discuss this, and many, many typefaces. Jim Hood came to my (Jim I) office, so the microphone drifts a little bit. I (Jim I) did my best to fix it after the fact. Adding all typographical references to our website: https://funnynotfunny.bigego.com/links/f/S4~dot~45-Jim-Hood/

https://hooddesign.com is Jim Hood's website.

Andrew Silver is a research affiliate at MIT where he leads a seminar on leadership and film. He is a film director, producer, and writer of many films including Radio Cape Cod, Next Door, and Profiles In Aspiration.

Jim recorded his half of this podcast from his home, where champagne was added to the mix of the conversation. Andrew, Jim, and Lionel discuss a variety of films with regard to leadership in varying degrees, starting with Oppenheimer, but with attention paid to the previous attempts at a biopic of the "father of the atomic bomb," then Barbie, and Dune, which shared multiple attempts at telling the story, the latest being a huge success at the box office.

The idea of the power of the box office comes up over and over again. Lionel and Andrew try to land on what can make a successful release of either music or a movie, and after an hour, we decide to have Andrew back to talk more about these topics.

Ben Solo rejoins the pod to talk about 1 book and two short stories. We start by discussing a book by Rory Sutherland. The full title is Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense, although, it was previously called Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life.

We move on to talk about a short story by Jorge Luis Borges called The God Script, which we all felt was profound. Finally, we talk about a short story by Andy Weir called The Egg. There are spoiler for these short stories but a person could read them quickly before listening if a person wanted to.

A theme shared by the two stories is the infinity of dreams. which reminded Jim of a song, which turns out to be a poem by Calderón de la Barca and you can hear a reading of it here.

First, apologies for missing a week. Producing these takes a lot of work and I needed I week off.
- Jim

Our guest this week is Balazs Szelenyi, Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University.

From his university bio: Balazs Szelenyi received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1998 and teaches classes on Philosophy, Globalization, Sociology and History for Northeastern University. His first major area of research was on urban history and urban development. Based on that research he published his first book called The Failure of the Central European Bourgeoisie (2006), and an article on the dynamics of urban development in the early modern period in the American Historical Review. His second area of research was on the origins and causes of genocide, for which he received fellowships from the National Endowment of Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Fulbright Commission, and the German Marshal Fund. In 2003 he was named a Fulbright New Century Scholar for his research on genocide and the Holocaust. He has published articles in the academic journals Past and Present, Theory and Society, Social History, and the Austrian History Yearbook. Balazs has also co-edited a book called Cores, Peripheries and Globalization (2011). Currently Balazs is finishing his book on the Holocaust called From Minority to Übermensch, as well as developing a new interest on the impact of technology on society and the moral dilemmas involved in the evolution of transhumanism.

We talk about his work teaching with a focus on AI and transhumanism and the future of thinking/learning. We discuss mind-extension technologies such as AI and earlier, starting with writing and the telegraph. We touch on Kurtzweil and his singularity, the new purpose of higher education, and what happens when all the inputs and outputs are filtered by machines.

Balazs says that rather than use AI for avoiding work, his program is developing AI to better interactively teach students how to delve deeper into a topic.

We had a great time talking with Balazs, and this discussion went on for an additional hour, which will be released as bonus material on http://patreon.com/jiminfantino/ our Patreon member's site.

Peter Mulvey joins the pod in person, sitting side by side with Jim in the Slabmedia offices this week. We talk about his career in songwriting, hitting a little on themes and methods, but also on inspiration, and a long history of work. Jim mentions Peter's TED talk about his book Vlad the Astrophysicist. We talk about the creation of his recordings: Notes from Elsewhere and More Notes from Elsewhere and play some clips from recent albums, Are You Listening?, There Is Another World, and Love Is The Only Thing featuring SistaStrings.

On the literary front, Peter talks about reading The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones, the works of Lorrie Moore, and the poetry of Tom Hennin, notably, Darkness Sticks to Everything and The Herron with No Business Sense.

Jim mentions that Lionel compared some of Peter's work to the guitarist Nic Jones, especially his song, Canada-i-o. We talk about Norwegian prisons and the case of Anders Breivik being sent to a humane prison there, which, interestingly, he calls inhumane in this article.

Our conversation continues to trend in increasingly philosophical directions, including some discussion of meditation and groundlessness until we land on the topic of redemption for the crimes of popular figures, specifically Louis C.K.'s apology. Peter mentions an interaction with Amanda Palmer on forgiveness in this vein.

Ben Soto joins the pod to talk about The Monk and the Philosopher: A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life which is an extensive conversation between Matthieu Ricard and his father Jean-François Revel. Ben found this book particularly fascinating, given his interest in Buddhism, science, and the nature of mind. We also talk about The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self by Thomas Metzinger and Jim and Ben get very heavily into the nature of mind, while Lionel listens and adds his thoughts at the end.

We begin by espousing the benefits of corduroy jackets, move on to quality problems at Jim’s childhood bagel shop, lambaste The Onion, and wave the flamethrower of curmudgeonliness at perceived modern production optimization techniques. We then talk about our varying perceptions of the state of Connecticut. Jim mentions Rein’s Deli, where a photo of his band hangs on the wall. Lionel remembers his time growing up in that state.

On to the sujet de la semaine–The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., a novel by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. Jim is a fan of the character Grainne; a super powerful Irish witch who lives during the Elizabethan era, however, we feel that this book suffers from the caricatures in his other novels, regardless of Galland’s influence and writing. One of our key issues is the treatment of magic in the book, which is written like science fiction, but borders on fantasy. We praise his books The Diamond Age, and Anathem, but start to point to a common structure that speaks to the predictability of his plots. We compare his formula with other authors like Michael Crichton. Jim stops Lionel from spoiling the plot of Anathem which is a real surprise, even though it follows the Stephenson formula.

We contrast this novel with our previous two reads: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and The Midnight Library, as well as Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.

The connection gets dropped and we pick up by talking again about 2010: The Year We Make Contact which was inarguably horrible and points back to the idea that we make the best decisions we can at the time.

Lionel asks Jim to read a J.G. Ballard’s short story called Prima Bella Donna, and then we make promises we probably won’t keep about reading Ulysses, The Dubliners, and Finnegan’s Wake. We talk about not finishing Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Lionel says Ballard narrative is impossible to predict and the style has such a light touch, it’s easy to get disoriented in exciting ways. The Martian Chronicles comes up as well, and Lionel implores Jim to read the first story in that Ray Bradbury collection. Jim brings the conversation back to D.O.D.O. and the philosophical idea behind it, which he finds fascinating, but ultimately thinks were not fleshed out enough.

Jim mentions that he’s been working on a short story called The Paradox Principal. Lionel says Jim has written lots of short stories the form of songs. They talk about the opposite sort of song that is generally not a short narrative but a kind of suggestion: the love song. Lionel talks about wanting to set up his home studio differently. We talk about our motivations for creating music and stories and everything we do in a world of abundance of creative effort and a relative shortage of audience. Lionel says Vangelis has one answer, which is we write so that we do not feel alone. We talk about how an audience of one can sometimes be enough.

Lionel mentions watching Generation Kill on Max. The story is based on a book he read, which he liked. He says the show is worth a visit. Jim says his TV watching time is radically curtailed. We rifle through a series of TV shows and guage our reactions. Back to Generation Kill, we briefly discuss the history of the second Iraq war. We both say we want to watch Shogun. We both remember how the first TV series captivated America at a time when Japan was seen as threatening to our economy. This brings up the issue of having to subscribe to an increasing number of platforms to see everything we want. We talk about possible alternatives.

We try our best to put an end to this madness, but end up relaunching a discussion of several more films before we lose our legs and topple over.

We start by talking about what we like and don’t like about the band Cheekface. It’s mostly like. Then we talk about the novel Heavy Weather by P.G. Woodhouse. We talk about the line through Red Dwarf from that author and style of writing. We go on to discuss The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime by Mark Haddon and we discuss what we find dark and light about that novel. Lionel felt a lot of the influence of the band XTC in the story, which takes place in Swindon.

We move on to discuss Charade and somehow find ourselves comparing movies in the 1960s landing on the hit musical Singing In The Rain, which Lionel has not seen but will watch in the future.

We make plans to talk with film maker Andrew Silver to compare 3 treatments of the J. Robert Oppenheimer story.

We try to end by slamming 2010: The Year We Make Contact but discuss a book retelling the making of the original film, The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stephanie Schwam.

Jim says he started reading The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. and we agree to discuss in a future episode.

Lionel says what he wants to do is complete a reading of Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. The conversation devolves into two old men kvetching about various health concerns and this episode croaks.

Julia Tenney joins us for what we are pretty sure is the 100th episode of our obscure podcast. Depending on how you count, considering that Jim forgot to press record on episode 2 of Season 1 (so, not counted) and there were some encore episodes (so, not counted) this one should be the actual 100th.

We start by talking about Jim’s new apple watch and then veer perpendicularly headlong into Pokémon Go. Then we discuss the recent eclipse and all of our various vantage points. Julia says that she thinks the dawn of science must have coincided with experiences of eclipses, which is an opinion shared by PBS.

We discuss The Midnight Library (referenced in a previous episode), as recommended by Julia, and the Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (to be referenced in a future episode), which was also recommended by Julia, which links back to our eclipse discussion. Lionel mentions The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (which we will discuss in the very next episode). We talk about the TV show Resident Alien, and the refreshing way the show deals with Native American communities and characters.

Julia talks about work she is doing for the Independent Film Festival, processing images for their website.

Of the movies that are coming to the festival, Julia is most excited about Janet Planet, which is playing at the same time as The Road to Ruane, about a person that Jim says he saw all around the Boston rock scene of the 90s. Janet Planet triggers Julia’s memory of ushering for the Boston production of Sleep No More, and we talk about that for a good long while before Jim and Julia bash out the details surrounding Jim’s band playing on Julia’s porch for PorchFest in Somerville, MA, May 11 at 2pm.

As if our conversation couldn’t get more self-involved, we shift deftly to discuss the merits of ice cream and beer. Then we hit again upon { feuilleton } and Johnathan Coulthart. In this way, we land on the topic of Optima, and other typefaces. We are reminded of the old press-type kits called Letraset, and long lost art of manual layout. At this point, over an hour in, we find our theme and play the intro music. Then we quibble and mumble on about waxers and typography until our 100th episode expends its final fuel and collapses in on itself.

This week we talk about The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Suggested by Julia Tenney, this book deals with regrets we've felt throughout life and wishing we could go back and fix things. Lionel contrasts this book with The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. The conversation turns to a book Jim wants to write about acceptance and meditation. We finish up by talking about the recent total eclipse, and our two vantage points, and how unlikely and precious our earth and universe is. Short description this time, but this pretty much covers our conversation this week.

This week, we welcomed Bing Broderick as our guest.

Bing Broderick comes to justBook-ish after years in marketing, community organizing, and nonprofit management. Early in his career, he marketed and sold music into niche outlets across the country (including bookstores) as Director of Special Marketing for the Cambridge-based record label, Rounder Records. Mid-career, Broderick shifted his focus to food justice, arriving at the Boston-based nonprofit Haley House to manage the newly launched social enterprise Haley House Bakery Café. Located in Nubian Square, Roxbury, the Café; provided hearty heathy food, a vital community space, and a workplace for men and women who faced significant barriers to employment. In December 2013, Broderick succeeded Haley House‘s founder as Executive Director of the non-profit organization, stewarding (in addition to the cafe) its soup kitchen, food pantry, housing, farm and educational programs. Bing transitioned out of this role in April 2022, having welcomed Haley House‘s new Executive Director, Reggie Jean. He will be opening justBook-ish in Dorchester with co-founder, Porsha Olayiwola, in Summer 2024.

We talk about his past and present projects, the history of Haley House, poetry slams, the business of running a bookstore, and his experience at Rounder Records.

For books, we discuss Bing’s reading of Morgenthau: Power, Privilege, and the Rise of an American Dynasty by Andrew Meier.

Lionel talks about reading Ulysses S. Grant: A Biography by Robert P. Broadwater and The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss by Edmund de Waal

We touch on Oppenheimer and Maestro, which Lionel asserts are variations on the same movie.

Bing says he read In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson.

In our discussion of Rounder Records, we mention a startup called Hear Music. The Wikipedia article omits most of its early history, but it was originally a music catalog that was eventually bought out by Starbucks.

During his time at Rounder, Bing met Iris Dement who was on the label for a number of years.

We end with a discussion of the summertime opening of justBook-ish in Fields Corner in Dorchester, MA.

Lionel talks about The Three Body Problem, both the novels by Liu Cixin and the Netflix series. We contrast the style of this series with our recent reads. Lionel contrasts the tv show with Red Queen on Prime. Back to The 3 Body Problem again, we discuss the ideas of Alastair Reynolds (not Ian) and killer alien traps.

We then launch into an enervating discussion of doing taxes and finding a general practitioner. This only lasts 12 minutes, so you might want to fast forward.

We talk about the different styles of writing in Science Fiction and the origins in pulp fiction started by writers like Asimov and evolving to present day fiction.

Dar joins the pod to tell us about her experience writing What I Found In A Thousand Towns, her songwriting and creative process, her experience in Beacon New York with Roger Ailes, the remarkable Jaimie Raskin, our relationship to art, the environment, and each other, Active Citizenship, and so much more.

I could not find the live performance of The Mark Rothko song. If someone knows where it is, please send an email so I can post it here.

Dar's Website

Writing A Song That Matters (her retreat)

References

All song clips included with permission from Dar Williams.

Lionel and Jim start by inexplicably talking about oat and almond milk. Lionel talks about how he considers upstate New York New England as per American Nations by Colin Woodard. We run through some of the "Nations" again. They touch quickly on tax season before Jim talks about his read of Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher. Naturally, this leads us to Calvinism in America. Jim asserts with no real authority, that John Calvin was a kind of logician who was a religious writer. His point is that Americans tend to imbue the rich with knowledge and wisdom they may not actually possess. Lionel mentions the PBS series Triumph (not revenge) of the Nerds and talks about how luck figures prominently into the story of success of most tech billionaires. We touch on our impressions of The Social Network again and Jim talks about the Winklevoss twins and their role or non-role in the creation of Facebook as well as other supporting characters in that story. Naturally, we discuss the dawn of file sharing apps like Napster and Kazaa.

Jim returns to Burn Book and Kara Swisher’s writing and speaking style, highlighting her writings on Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. They contrast their two approaches to the dawn of personal computing. Jim mentions the print ads his father worked on for Apple. He also talks about working on the Xerox computer that was the inspiration for the MacIntosh.

Jim moves on to talk about MacKenzie Scott, misrepresenting her original pile of money which was 40 Billion, not 100 Billion, touching back on Kara Swisher's book. Lionel talks about the possible origins of the nature of the philosophy of wealth in the USA.

Jim talks about the dangers of allowing for the creation of billionaires. Lionel says the interesting issue is that of inheritance.

Lionel and Jim have both read Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel and both really liked it. Lionel talks first about the tone of the novel and they both move on to talking about elements of the plot they liked. Lionel wonders of St. John Mandel was thinking about the book Blackout by Connie Willis, seeing parallels between that book and Sea of Tranquility. And yes, of course, Lionel mentions Piranesi by Suzanna Clarke. They talk about the autobiographical notes that pop up in Sea of Tranquility.

Lionel talks about watching Resident Alien with Alan Tudyk. Jim talks about watching The Gentlemen by Guy Ritchie. Lionel mentions watching Tenet which he found exasperating and inexplicable. Jim brings up the movie Primer, which he says is way more cryptic. Lionel says he finds time travel movies and books a bit exhausting, but loves William Gibson’s approach in his later novels. Jim reminds Lionel of Timebomb by Scott K. Andrews, and Scott’s meticulous approach to overlapping timelines. Sea of Tranquility doesn’t aggravate Lionel in the same way as these other novels. Jim talks about how science fiction is becoming elevated in status lately with advances in tech.

They veer into the breakdown lane and lurch to a stop.

We start by talking about the possible death of TikTok in the USA and move on to introduce Julia Tenney and marvel over her pysanky eggs, the methods for their creation, and their Ukrainian and eastern European roots. Lionel discusses the historical Piranesi and his sketches. This leads us to talk about dreams and their origins and consequences. We launch into a discussion of Dune, the books by Frank Herbert, and a little about the first recent movie. None of us had seen the second. Lionel mentions his enjoyment of the movie Bullet Train, directed by David Leitch, not Guy Ritchie with Brad Pitt.

We talk a bit about The Fifth Element and Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets which Lionel says taps into the aesthetic of the artist Moebius.

Julia recommends a book called House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski which must be enjoyed physically as a printed book. She is also reading S. (Dorst) (Ship of Theseus) by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams which is also full of printed marginalia. Finally, she says she read The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland which is about time travel and witchcraft. Julia also mentions The Midnight Library by Matt Haig about someone with regrets who moves into the multiverse to experience alternate timelines.

Jim mentions that he has some Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz books to return to Julia. Jim is a regular listener to their podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Julia mentions, correctly, that she was responsible for our podcast’s name.

We finally get down to the “Theme” which is Julia’s quantum daydreaming. She talked about going back to Pennsic Warwhich is a medieval reenactment festival in Western Pennsylvania. She found out recently that her ex, who fought for her in Crown Tournaments, is dying from something fatal and painful. So, she’s been thinking about quantum reality and doing meditations on it via The 3AM Reading and the Reality Shifting Reddit. We talk about lucid dreaming and meditation practices involving dreams. Jim quotes the title of a John Cougaralbum and Lionel quotes Miller from The Expanse. Lionel also mentions the German TV series Counterpart, where there are 2 Berlins superimposed upon each other. Jim brings up Robert Downey Junior today vs in the 80s and talks about his own past decisions.

Jim says he wants to see a fanfic erotic love story written about the podcast. We act out a little of what it would be like. Lionel says his fantasy is to make a porn movie with all the sex cut out. Jim says he wrote that song and Julia remembers him doing a mashup of Porno Plot with Meanies, sung in a Christopher Walken voice.

We agree to talk more about Vampires in our next meeting and Julia says it wasn’t Anne Rice who brought Dracula back but the Broadway Show and the movie with Frank Langela. Jim wonders why vampires are so sexy. Lionel contrasts the characters of Dracula and Frankenstein and says he wants to see the movie The Master and Margarita.

In closing, Julia plugs her website where you can view and buy her pysanky eggs, and Jim and she talk about their original meeting in Syracuse and Utica.

Discussion of Bram Stoker’s Dracula starts with Jim trying to do a Boston Brahmin accent, and talks about his daughter’s inexplicable accent when she was younger. They move on to talk about xenophobia in the book, alongside the treatment of the other in Frankenstein. We return to Mary Shelley’s work repeatedly to compare and contrast. Lionel mentions all the new technology occurring in Bram Stoker’s book. Jim compares the book favorably to the movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Gary Oldman. Lionel mentions the film Renfield with Nicholas Cage. Jim maintains that the book is really about the fear associated with rampant colonialism by Victorian England, Lionel is skeptical about this notion. They touch on the predecessors to Stoker’s book, including The Vampyre by John William Polidori, writing alongside Mary Shelley’s book.

Jim goes further out on a limb by suggesting the book can be read as a fear of aristocratic power, and ultra-wealth, pointing out that the story centers around a real-estate deal. We talk about Stoker’s treatment of the Romani people, and implicit bigotry there. We note the attitude to the lost Byzantine empire in the text as well.

Lionel talks about how improvements to quality of life in England feature prominently in Bram Stoker’s book. He wonders why this book is the leading vampire novel, rather than Carmilla or The Vampyre, or Nosferatu.

In the middle of this discussion, Lionel wonders why so many Phillip K. Dick stories were turned into films, rather than Samuel R. Delaney or other authors. Jim mis-titles Dahlgren as Grendal. Jim says that he used to go to Blade Runner over and over in the Theater when he was younger, and explains why he found it so deep. In Blade Runner, we find our modern tie-in to Frankenstein. We talk about Vangelis, and his important role in the film. Lionel mentions a documentary about him as well as Dangerous Days, which is the account of the creation of the movie. They talk about The Ladd Company and Sir Run Run Shaw. We poo-poo the sequel and the edits. Lionel mentions the deleted scenes he found on youtube.

The talk about how these two kings of the bad guys (Frankenstein and Dracula) continue to live on and be relevant to our modern minds.

Not knowing when to leave well enough alone, Jim continues back to his comparison to billionaires as vampires, contrasting The Lost Boys to Anne Rice, saying that some Dracula stories are replete with money-porn (his term, not colloquial). Lionel continues to resist this idea that fear of extreme wealth is an intrinsic part of the narrative.

Jim lists the Erratica from the last episode, as the life from this episode drains away.

Jim opens with a thread sent regarding the previous episode on Frankenstein. They incongruously launch into a debate about artificial sweeteners. We get back on track discussing the Transcendentalist movement and what came after, as written about in The Metaphysical Club. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. is one of the main characters. Lionel asserts that he is  the father of legal positivism, but that was  Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.Lionel mentions another character, Charles Sanders Peirce (aka Chauncy), who handled a disputed will in a large whaling industry family with the case of a forged signature.

Lionel mentions that he re-read The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling. He found it to be “rollicking good fun.”

Jim snatches the conversation back and reads the weekly “Erratica,” a list of errors from the previous episode.

Jim mentions that he re-watched Kung Fu Hustle, and Defending Your Life, with his kids with high marks for both. He mentions that he is currently reading Volume 2 of P.G. Wodehouse’s The Blandings Collection, on audio book, read by Stephen Fry, and enjoying it very much.

Lionel says he bought three books recently and says he struck out on all three. One was Soulless by Gail Carriger, which he described as romance mixed with Anne Rice. He also tried to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab. This falls into the impossible Manhattan lifestyle series of entertainments and money porn.

We resolve to discuss Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandell and Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lionel and Jim return to the after effects of Piranesi by Suzanna Clarke. Lionel feels like the world in that book stays with him the way the game Myst did.

We talk about the vampire genre and its grip on the public and then talk about what makes zombie movies appealing. Jim brings up The Walking Dead, which Lionel hasn't seen. We also touch lightly on Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero. Jim wonders if zombie movies started with Omega Man. We wonder if the precursor to the empty world trope is Mary Shelley’s The Last Man. Lionel wonders about the effect of Nuclear War, AIDs, and dementia. Jim mentions The Day of The Triffids as a possible analog, but it doesn't match.

Jim describes his recent trip and walk along the Farmington Canal, where he sent a photo of a plaque to Lionel to read, tying into our discussion of the Erie Canal. His father in law is working on a bike trail that will run the length of the Farmington Canal through Bristol.

Lionel says he tried to watch the live action version of Avatar the Last Airbender and was not alone in hating it. Jim mentions that his daughters are currently enjoying Gilmore Girls. They talk about what it's like for kids to watch shows that are so much older than them and how changes in the way we enjoy entertainment has changed our watching habits. Lionel says his life was changed by Monty Python. Jim wonders where all the family sit-coms have gone and we bumble to a close.

Sarah Elkins joins us to discuss the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. We start with a Filk song to the tune of Funiculi funicula. What is Filk?

Victor spent
His teenage years pursuing all the lore of alchemy (alchemy)
Then he went
Away to college and he switched to modern chemistry (chemistry)

He was bent
On secret science studies in the lab

A descent:
His obsessive glory-seeking grab!

Let’s go, let’s go, let’s become a god!
I’ll create life with parts dug up from sod!
Homunculi, homunculus, homunculi, homunculus
My genius grants permission; I’m allowed to do thus!

The Creature

• Bag of books: He finds *The Sorrows of Young Werther* by Goethe, reads it over and over, and kind of imprints on this story of unrequited love from the proto-romantic "Sturm und Drang" (storm and stress) period in German literature.
• Poor lonely creature. Why oh why couldn't Victor have gotten him a puppy? Or a kitten?
• Seems like every character flaw in the creature traces back to Victor.
• In Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series, on Beta Colonies, clones are automatically legally the children of their creators. So, I am totally fine with all the readers who call Victor Frankenstein’s creation “Frankenstein”.

Literary follow-ons

• Why is Frankenstein Swiss-Italian? English person writing about those wild non-French European folks, like Bram Stoker writing about Transylvanian folks later. That kind of wildness doesn't come from "us" English, of course!
• Chapter 12, when our monster secretly took care of that family and loved them and learned language from them, I was forcibly reminded of how Tarzan helped Jane Porter's family when they were stranded on the African coast. Also, the creature and Tarzan both learned to read with the help of books others had left behind. Of course, Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote Tarzan well after Frankenstein. Had Burroughs read Frankenstein?
• Fred Saberhagen’s take on Frankenstein story (he’s pretty pro-creature): https://www.amazon.com/Frankenstein-Papers-Fred-Saberhagen/dp/0671655507

Audio Recordings

• Tantor media: https://tantor.com/frankenstein-or-the-modern-prometheus-mary-shelley.html
• Librivox has 6 different Frankensteins in English

Revisions analyses

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/e7d6qj/which_version_of_frankenstein_do_you_prefer_the/?rdt=52833
2. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Frankenstein/the-1818-and-1831-editions/
3. https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=741698&p=5306097 "the 1818 text, which is a mocking expose of leaders and achievers who leave desolation in their wake, showing mankind its choice - to live co-operatively or to die of selfishness"
4. https://stanforddaily.com/2018/11/29/frankenstein-and-its-transformations/
5. https://www.public.asu.edu/~hiroshi/eng400/frankenstein/project/editions.html

History

• Vulgar History podcast episode on Mary Shelley
• Galvanic responses & research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanism
• Re-animators of the early 1800s https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-real-electric-frankenstein-experiments-of-the-1800s
• Sarah Avery, 2015 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner, on homunculi from Paracelsus on: https://www.patreon.com/posts/rules-for-98233171
• *The Sorrows of Young Werther* (Napoleon was also a fan, took it to Egypt!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther
• "Sturm und Drang" period in German literature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturm_und_Drang
• Romantic literature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism

Funiculì funiculà - English and Italian lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH0TMmgPtjg

Tchaikovsky wrote the "1812 Overture" not 1815 (1815 was Waterloo); Bram Stoker was Irish & British, not English.

After some audio problems at the start, we start talking about Valentines Day and the variety of items available and not available at Trader Joes, and not unlike the olds that we are, we stop just short of listing all the items in our freezers. We quickly move on to our admiration of Katherine Ellis and her character Concordia Shwarma-McGraw on TikTok. We move on to a couple of additions to our list of musicians like They Might Be Giants. As before, we draw a line between the surrealist movement after the first world war to these bands, decades later.

Jim talks briefly about the beginning of the book Distraction by Bruce Sterling, which is, as far as we can tell, is widely unavailable now. We do get a little into the book Holy Fire, which is about a gerontocracy and is available both on audio, ebook, and paperback. Lionel mentions Love, Death, and Robots on Netflix, specifically Jibaro. Two of Michael Swanwick’s short stories are in this series as well, and we talk about these.

Jim moves on to two books he’s been reading, The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger, and Slouching Towards Utopia by J. Bradford DeLong. First, he gives his account of The Ego Tunnel and has many issues with the approach of the philosopher, trying to validate his philosophy with neuroscience. His main objection is that he takes an a priori stance from a materialist point of view and writes off all idealism as folklore. Lionel acknowledges Jim’s frustration, but takes the stand that such investigations are futile.

As we dig in, Jim and Lionel, talk through various ideas of materialism, idealism, and the mind-body split. Jim brings up a class he took with Aryeh Kosman years ago, which is the thumbnail for this episode.

Lionel talks about Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark stating that the universe is fundamentally Mathematic. We agree that the nature of consciousness may be a hot topic right now because of AI, but Lionel doesn’t think this is a useful or answerable question. He feels the important question is what kind of stories we are telling each other and where are those stories coming from. We get deeper and deeper into speculation about intelligence and reason.

Lionel departs from this tedious subject to talk about A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles, which he found charming. He also recommends Across the Spiderverse, which Jim has been meaning to view.

Back to The Ego Tunnel, Lionel brings up David Hume and Immanuel Kant, and Jim talks about his experience wrestling with these questions through meditation. We come back to a brief description of Slouching Towards Utopia which may be the subject of another episode. Nearing the end of this episode, Lionel quotes one of Jim’s songs to illustrate the importance of storytelling. We end with recollections of a recent Valentines Day/Mardi Gras/The Lunar New Year, and get ready for our discussion with Sarah Elkins about Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Lionel tells us all about the Garbage Plate at a restaurant in Rochester, NY. Apparently, it’s like Poutine. We talk a bit without fact checking ourselves about the creation of the Erie Canal and Dewitt Clinton, it’s creator. Somehow this references the demise of the Pony Express due to the advent of the telegraph.

We continue in this fashion, touching on a myriad of subjects. Here is a partial list:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - parallels are drawn between William Gibson’s The Peripheral and the above book. Jim talks about his experience reading Infectious Generosity by Chris Anderson

They Might Be Giants and albums: I like Fun, Book, John Henry

This leads us into a short discussion about surrealism, including: Remedios Varo a surrealist painter from Uraguay and Renee Magritte

Back to music, we try to find similar artists to TMBG and come up with: Cake and the album Comfort Eagle, Ween and the album Chocolate & Cheese, Beck, Daft Punk, and Laurie Anderson

We start to list musical inspirations like Lana DelRey, the documentary Summer of Soul by Questlove, Roots Manuva from a collection by Ninja Tune. We touch briefly on Amon Tobin, Juana Molina, The Cinematic Orchestra and their album Ocean, the song Birthday by The Sugarcubes, and Kaktus’ father Einar Örn Benediktsson

We close with a recommendation by Jim to look up Concordia Shwarma-McGraw aka Katherine Ellis on TikTok or YouTube.

Shawn Peters joins us to talk about his adventures in the publishing world and his two books out on Harper Collins The Unforgettable Logan Foster and The Unforgettable Logan Foster and The Shadow of Doubt. We talk about his writing origins, the creation of these two books and plans for future novels.

The Unforgettable Logan Foster is a middle grade superhero story that deals with neurodivergence, autism, foster parenting, and the trials and tribulations associated with defeating a supercharged tectonic-powered villian creating havoc in downtown LA. Shawn shares a lot about his past history writing screenplays and his descision to start writing stories for kids. We hear about Shawn’s quest for an agent and the process of getting published, along with the extended timelines involving editing and promotion. Jim shares comparisons between the Logan Foster stories and DC/Marvel comic book dramas and Lionel draws a parallel between Shawn’s book and other books about autism such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.

Shawn talks about traveling to schools and the joys of reading his books to middle grade students and the excitement of being part of their early literary lives. We venture off to the excitement of creation and sharing that creation with others. We get some other inside stories about how the stories were created and Shawn shares another author he is excited about: Ernesto Cisneros and his book: Efrén Divided.

Follow Shawn’s future writing and find out more about his two published books at shawnpeterswrites.com.

Jim begins by listing his mistakes in the previous podcasts, creating new errors as he goes. A "detraction" is actually a term from Christian theology. Jim should have said "retraction."