Ever since picking up Jen Sincero’s You Are a Badass, I have been really trying to get into a self-help regiment. When I was picking podcasts to listen to, I tried to find one that was going to impact that part of my life and found Good Life Project in iTunes’ Top podcasts.
I don’t know if it’s due to my young state in the realm of what I call “life enrichment” or if it’s just my general personality, but I find it hard to deal with the soothing voice of self-help and life design gurus. Once I got past this petty complaint, however, I found a lot of the episodes incredibly inspirational, and I will definitely be looking more into the Good Life Project as an organization. I recommend starting with the episode Dave Evans: Designing Your Life from Jan. 23.
My first rated-R movie was Scary Movie, so it seemed appropriate to me that one of my first podcasts be Anna Faris Is Unqualified.
I will preface this by saying that I did not listen to every available episode, but one of the great things about Unqualified is that they have an extensive back catalog of episodes. A short list of guests I tuned in to were Rosie O. Donnell, Katie Couric, Lisa Kudrow and Shaq.
The podcast is mostly humorous. The guests drink on the podcast so it tears down some inhibitions and the majority of the guests are comedy-based so the podcast is very enjoyable to listen to. A lot of the guests give some career advice or insight into their own career journey that can be very helpful, especially to those interested in showbiz. There are also a lot of interesting conversations on feminism and sexuality. They also end with one to two calls per episode where they try to help listeners with problems, which can be insightful.
My only PROBLEM with the podcast is the problematic behavior or white-het Hollywood. You learn (not altogether surprisingly) that some of your favorite celebs, like Chris Evans, have some problematic language and beliefs. They also take calls on issues that a guest is not exactly well-versed in, example: in an episode with Julia Stiles, they talk a call from a gay teen struggling to introduce his boyfriend to his family who don’t support his sexuality, so some of the advice didn’t sit well to me as a gay male.
From an early age, I have been an M. Night Shyamalan fan. I have always been preferential to Signs, but I also love Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, and even The Happening, The Village and Lady in the Water. I skipped over his deviation outside of sci-horror (Avatar: The Last Airbender and After Earth) and I missed his critically acclaimed 2015 return The Visit. When Split was announced, I got excited. The idea of a James McAvoy-Shyamalan pairing was like a dream.
As the premiere date crept close, the ideological argument crept up on the portrayal of people with MPD. I was going to avoid it, but my dad offered to pay and my curiosity and excitement got the better of me. For the majority of the movie, I was fairly impressed with the treatment of the mental disorder. James McAvoy’s character work really gives each of the personalities a fully fleshed-out reality, and the idea postulated by the film that people with MPD may have accessed a higher function of the brain was interesting to me, although I have very little knowledge of MPD and this could be damaging to the community. There was some laughter at the characters, but I think that was a byproduct of society’s harmful association of humor at a man-as-a-child or a man-as-a-woman and not so much to the film’s detriment.
There was an interesting subplot, but I didn’t quite understand the need for beyond sympathy for a main character. Also SPOILER, the film makes a connection to Unbreakable, and this is where I believe the real damage to the MPD community comes in as it sets up MPD as a kind of superpower that goes beyond normalizing the disorder into fetishizing it. This was what killed the fiml to me.
Grade (as a film reviewer): B
Grade (as a socially conscious film reviewer): C-
I found this super cool book challenge via facebook to encourage me to read more and to read outside of my comfort zone and interests. i will keep this list updated throughout the year as i knock off categories, with the title, author and a star rating review of the book. If you have any questions or want reviews, let me know!
A Book You Read in School: A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, 5/5
A Book from Your Childhood: The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket, 4/5
A Book Published over 100 Years Ago: A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle, 5/5
A Book Published in the Last Year: The Girls, Emma Cline, 3.5/5
A Non-Fiction Book
A Book Written by a Male Author
A Book Written by a Female Author
A Book by Someone Who Isn’t an Author
A Book that Became a Film
A Book Published in the 20th Century
A Book Set in Your Hometown/Region
A Book with Someone’s Name in the Title
A Book with a Number in the Title
A Book with a Character with your First Name
A Book Someone Else Recommended to You
A Book with Over 500 Pages
A Book You Can Read in a Day
A Previously Banned Book
A Book with a One-Word Title
A Book Translated from Another Language
A Book that Will Improve a Specific Area of Your Life
Prompt: The main character has amnesia (source: Write the Story, Piccadilly)
A stranger on the street pointed Jessica to the library and a search through the library led her to a phonebook that led to a page on “Apartments.” A quick skim revealed three complexes with the word “Heights” in the title, but one specifically set off a little bell in her mind as the best place to start: Arbor Heights. She made a mental note of the address and headed to the computer bank. At the computers she did a quick search and printed off a map from the library to Arbor Heights.
The complex was about five miles from the library, and Jessica considered calling a taxi before she remembered that not only was she without a phone but also any form of payment. The walk took about an hour and the sun was directly overhead before she landed in front of the Arbor Heights sign.
After a quick moment to wipe the sweat from her brow, she pushed open the door to the management office. The one gentleman left in the office was halfway out of his chair with a hand on his lunchbox when he caught sight of the lady in the doorway.
“Ms. Brown, I was just about to break for lunch,” the gentleman, whose nameplate read “Bruce,” was visually off-put by her appearance but continued with a practiced professionalism. “Is there anything I can do for you real quick?”
Jessica was thrilled to finally have her last name back, and she felt a new light of realization dimming on in the back of her brain.
“Yes, actually. I seem to have misplaced my key, and I was hoping you’d have a spare I could borrow.”
Bruce, whom Jessica had a sudden ironic realization was rather slight for a “Bruce,” bit his lip in a moment of trepidation.
“Oh I don’t know Ms. Brown, we’re really not supposed to,” and he paused for a moment with his face worried into serious thought. Jessica was about to press her plea when he continued, “I’ll be back from lunch at one. Can you have it back by then.”
“Absolutely!” and Jessica rushed over to grab the key from Bruce.
On her way out of the door, Jessica saw a plate of cookies, presumably for prospective renters, but the pand in her stomach pushed her to grab one before her exit.
I’m a huge fan of TED talks. I love the ability to have new and innovative knowledge from a wide range of specialists easily accessible on the web. I have lost countless hours to TED talks on YouTube on a myriad of topics from education to gay rights to the powers of the mind. When I saw a podcast dedicated to the subject, I knew it had to be one of the first ones I tried.
Hosted by noted NPR broadcaster Guy Raz, the smooth tone of the show is everything that comes to your mind when you think about radio shows (see SNL’s “Schweaty Balls” sketch). The coolest thing to me about this Podcast is that it isn’t just an audio-only broadcasting of an old TED talk. Guy Raz and his team build each episode on an idea and incorporate TED talks based around that idea. They play clips from TED talks and then host interviews with the speakers to expound on their speeches. For example, the latest talk I listened to was on the Five Senses, so the episode was broken into five segments with each segment addressing a different speaker addressing a different sense.
While every talk may not be up your interest alley, the station has a great backlog of talks you can choose from to build a nice playlist to start, and the station uploads an episode every Friday, so there is a steady stream of new content.
Prompt: The main character has amnesia (source: Write the Story, Piccadilly)
The door had opened onto a small town Main Street, which she had walked down for about five minutes until a familiar smell stopped her.
Cinnamon, she thought and turned to find herself in front of that kind of coffee shop synonymous with a small town where the major chains haven’t found profit in developing. She took a step toward the door in response to a signal from her stomach, which told her she had not eaten in quite some time. Her hand touched the handle at the same time she realized that she had no purse on her. This brought with it the realization she didn’t have an idea to help her piece her story together. Totally fucked.
As she broke away from her thoughts, she caught sight of herself in the storefront window. She assumed she had looked better. Her hair was ratted, her clothes had that frumpy one-night-stand look, and a lack of makeup revealed dark bags under her eyes and a slight bruise on her left cheek.
“Jessica?” A voice broke her out of her self-inspection, and she turned to face the speaker. “ Oh my gosh! Are you alright?”
The voice belonged to a slight blonde woman whom a tug in the back of her brain told her she knew but whose face she couldn’t quite place with a name.
“Jessica, what happened to you?” The voice tugged at her again.
“Oh ... I broke up a bar fight last night,” she scrambled to put together a story that was equal parts believable and devoid of reason for the woman to pry any more. “Guy wouldn’t leave this woman alone. Got ugly, but the police took care of it. Everything’s fine now.”
“Oh my goodness. Well that sure was brave of you. I’d put a cold steak on that eye to help with the bruising.”
“I’ll do that, thnaks.” And Jessica, now relieved to assign herself a name, turned to walk down the street.
“Oh, Jessica!” - she turned back - “don’t forget that The Heights is throwing a little party tomorrow night.”
“I’m sorry ... The Heights?”
“Arbor Heights? The apartment complex?” the voice held a note of either concern or suspicion, maybe both.
“Oh right. Sorry, still a little rattled. I’ll try to be there.”
“Well, I’ll see you there!”
Once the woman had gone into the coffee shop, Jessica finally turned to continue her journey.
Alice Isn’t Dead comes from the team behind Welcome to Nightvale. The Podcast is a sort of road-trip story from the perspective of a woman whose life becomes impacted by an urban legend. Each episode is told as a retrospective on the events between the previous episode and the current episode’s retelling.
The entire series is narrated by Jasika Nicole, best known for her work on the cult television hit Fringe. She is not the most enthralling narrator in my opinion, but I like her voice work with each new character that’s introduced. Her character is also a married lesbian on a search for her missing wife, so it’s a great podcast for the LGBT+ community. The story itself is also a little hokey, the urban legend in question is named the “Thistle Man/Hungry Man,” which is almost as cheesy as the Bye Bye Man.
For my first foray into Podcasts, I was not inspired, but I am intrigued enough that I subscribed to the podcast to wait for Season 2. I have another Podcast, Homecoming starring Oscar Isaac, Catherine Keener and David Schwimmer, that I am more interested in listening to, and I am curious to see if it is the format of a radio serial I do not enjoy or just the plot of Alice Isn’t Dead.
just wanted to signal boost an app i heard about real quick.
a facebook friend recommended @countableus, so i thought i’d give it a shot.
what does it do?: allows you to pick topics of interest and see bills related to those topics that are coming through congress. the app asks for your address information so that you are connected to your state representatives. as legislation comes up that you have signaled interest in, you are allowed to “vote” on the legislation and send your vote to your representative with an email message.
cool new feature: this week they have added a feature that allows you to send a video message to your representatives so that you can feel like you are speaking to them more directly
availability: you can set up an account online, or on android and apple devices
In an interview Sunday morning with Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press, former campaign manager and current adviser to the president Kellyanne Conway made an attempt to defend White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s comments about the crowd size at Friday’s Inauguration.
On Saturday afternoon, following reports of low crowd size, Sean Spicer gave his first press conference as official Press Secretary. He began by countering this with the argument that, “No one had numbers,” related to the actual size of the crowd. He rebutted this by saying, “This was the largest crowd to ever witness an inauguration ...”
This report came in response to images like the one above, taken from an interview via Chris Wallace on Fox News. The image shows vast differences in crowd size between Obama’s first inauguration in 2009 and Trump’s inauguration on Friday.
While it is true that no one keeps up with the actual numbers of people at the inauguration, there are several things we know about inauguration day that throws Spicer’s claims into question. The above graphic, taken from the Washington Post, shows that D.C. Metro rides before 11am for Trump’s inauguration were a little more than half of those for Obama’s inauguration by a little more than a third of those at Obama’s first inauguration and more than 100,000 less than Obama’s second inauguration. For the day as whole, Snopes reported that 570,577 rode the Metro on Jan. 20 compared to the 1.1 million of Obama’s first inauguration and the 782,000 of Obama’s second inauguration. Furthermore, Snopes reports that Donald Trump’s inauguration is only the fifth most viewed inauguration (after the second inauguration of Reagan, the inauguration of Jimmy Carter, the first inauguration of Reagan and the first inauguration of Obama).
my boyfriend has gotten me into podcasts recently, so i’ve downloaded 10 that i’m gonna give a shot. i’ll post a list of the ten i downloaded today, and post reviews of them as i go.
hey barry, i just wanted to start by saying thanks. you weren't a perfect president, but who has been? the aca had its flaws, but you tried. your foreign policy had its flaws, but you tried. your legacy will be forever remembered by all the strides you started us on into a new era of humanitarianism. not since carter have we had a president who cared so much about the american citizen. when you started out, i was a republican 9th grader swayed by family influence, and i opposed you. then i came out of the closet to a president who still didn't support full queer equality, and i opposed you. but we grew together. we learned together. we fought and believed together. i am better because of it. you are better because of it. america is better because of it, and we will realize that eventually. i love you, mr. president.
Prompt: The main character has amnesia (source: Write the Story, Piccadilly)
She awoke slowly, a throbbing in the back of her skull a sign that things weren’t quite how they should be. A familiar smell filled her nose as she took a deep breath in and began to blink herself into reality. As her eyes opened, a look around found her surrounded by bookshelves. She used the nearest one as a crutch to pull herself off the ground.
As she hobbled her way out of the aisle she had awoken in. When she had located the door, she took a brief moment to take in the spot into which some past venture had dropped her.
Rather antiquarian, she thought to herself. All the books seemed to have experienced the passage of well read time. Creased spines and loose pages said these books were, for the most part, third-hand.
She finally breached the last row of shelves and put herself in the line of sight of the cashier.
“Hello ma’am! Is there anything I can help you with today?” the man asked with that tone you only hear from the owners of little shops like this who use kindness to turn positive reception into word-of-mouth.
“No thanks,” she said as she pushed herself toward the door. Then a pause. “Actually, I was wondering if you saw me come in here today? If you saw someone with me or I was acting strangely.”
“Well no ma’am, but I just recently opened shop for the day and stepped out for a smoke. I figured you must have come in while I was getting my lighter out of the car.”
“Thanks.”
The woman glanced down for a watch her instincts told her should have been there, only to find a bare wrist. “Do you have the time?”
The man pulled a phone out of his pocket. “It’s 9:35.”
She thanked the man and pushed her way out of the shop.
(This is the first part to a series of blips I will publish in the story as I write them. Feedback is always welcome.)
I found this super cool book challenge via facebook to encourage me to read more and to read outside of my comfort zone and interests. i will keep this list updated throughout the year as i knock off categories, with the title, author and a star rating review of the book. If you have any questions or want reviews, let me know!
A Book You Read in School: A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, 5/5
A Book from Your Childhood: The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket, 4/5
A Book Published over 100 Years Ago: A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle, 5/5
A Book Published in the Last Year
A Non-Fiction Book
A Book Written by a Male Author
A Book Written by a Female Author
A Book by Someone Who Isn’t an Author
A Book that Became a Film
A Book Published in the 20th Century
A Book Set in Your Hometown/Region
A Book with Someone’s Name in the Title
A Book with a Number in the Title
A Book with a Character with your First Name
A Book Someone Else Recommended to You
A Book with Over 500 Pages
A Book You Can Read in a Day
A Previously Banned Book
A Book with a One-Word Title
A Book Translated from Another Language
A Book that Will Improve a Specific Area of Your Life
