Inappropriate Conversations

Some Assembly Required (A NeoSurrealist Forsaking a Habit for Lent)

Note: explicit language throughout

Chapter 1

What the Anti-Formalists Thought

Bennie's Got It

Pop Quiz

Homegrown

My Brunch with Nicole

"You always do this to me. First, you bring up something offensive. Then, you tell me to stop you before you go too far. But how can I?"

Chapter 2

R.S.V.P.

Cat Burglar

Diary of a College Graduate

Backroads

Telemarketed

"Film Break"

"Whether the goal is to become a member of the Christian Community, or the cat-killing community, or simply the campus community, there is a compelling degree of comfort to be found in membership."

Different Drummer: Ze Frank

Dear Kitten ads

To our shame, our society still tends to teach women to separate themselves from their sexuality, treating pleasure as something regrettable while looking the other way with a "boys will be boys" shrug about men pursuing pleasure. Even within committed relationships, this has unfortunate and unnecessary consequences. Wise women have spoken against this, and their counsel is well worth considering.

Different Drummer: Ruth K. Westheimer

Spoiler alert regarding Avengers and Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the Life In Hell strips Matt Groening wrote years ago featured his criticism of film critics. One-liners included newspaper critics writing tight capsule reviews and more serious magazine critics wearing sweaters and giving away endings. I don't often wear sweaters, but I do struggle with how to openly discuss subtext without spoilers. For the movie The Sixth Sense, I ended up writing two reviews, one for before you've seen the film and one for after. That seemed to work. At the #p48EXPO #p48NOLA #p48LIVE event this year, I didn't have the time to offer such a dual perspective. If you are behind (as I was until this summer) on Infinity War and Endgame, you've been warned.

The primary focus of this episode was looking more deeply at what draws us into the popular art we consume. With movies, for example, the impetus seems to be different for comedy, horror, documentary, etc. What occurred to me about the draw of characters, regardless the actor or director, seemed most significant within the superhero genre. The tie-in with the Different Drummer seemed obvious.

As a live show, the format of this one is appropriately different. We dive right in, for one thing, with introduction and theme music coming along the way. For another, I've bookended this file with interstitials from the podcasting suite. Since it takes a few minutes to move one podcast off-stage and another one on, these interstitials tend to focus the audience toward something other than headphones being plugged in and drinks-of-choice being poured. The opener is the intro to Inappropriate Conversations this year, and the closer is one from the next day when I was invited to participate. There is more after the #IC live outro music. 

Thanks to Taylor and Taffy from Pod Is My Copilot. Bookends, indeed.

Different Drummer: Stan Lee

"Life's an essay test; we're obliged to give essay answers." (The Author)

The concept of parental control, even censorship, was clearly a part of my upbringing. I could cite numerous examples of inconsistencies, though:
Three's Company, Soap, American Graffiti, National Lampoon's Animal House, Queen, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Harold Robbins (The Betsy), Xaviera Hollander (The Happy Hooker), Hermann Hesse (Siddhartha), Alex Comfort (The Joy of Sex, More Joy of Sex), Bari Wood & Jack Geasland (Twins).

Different Drummer: Dolly Parton

George In Atlanta #52

Wrapping up the TalkBack series for November-December, I'm putting the 12 Days Of Christmas podcast on Christmas Day, which is when that concept actually starts. Only part, a large part, of the Christian world celebrates the holiday in December. The rest have 12 days to go. The wise men have yet to deliver their gifts, after all. Only shepherds have appeared on the scene at this stage. 

I plan to continue TalkBack with a new series in January, but it will feature only one prior podcast -- delivered again in parts.

AMC is televising "Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey" for the 2018 holiday season, with (sometimes very early) morning broadcasts on December 12th, 21st, and 24th. It isn't a Rankin-Bass classic, but it is worth the time to look back at the 1977 half-hour special. So far, the only commentaries of this sort I've done have been for Rudolph and Nestor. Make of that what you will.

Looking back at the 2018 Pride48 Podcast Expo in New Orleans with great memories of how the event went, looking forward to next time. 
Also, an attempt to take recent SCOTUS nominee testimony before the U.S. Senate judiciary committee seriously, and where that ultimately leads.

Different Drummer: Yvette Nicole Brown

The JV Club #25