Episode 25: Fear and Horror Movies

““Alone. Yes, that’s the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn’t hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym.” ”
— Stephen King
“The 3 types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it’s when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it’s when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there... ”
— Stephen King

We are joined in this episode by Issa Polstein, who discussed some of his favorite horror movies, his appreciation for the genre, and how they instill and explore various fears. We also examine what these fears say about us as people and what we look for in horror movie experiences.

Episode 24: Hip Hop and Cooking

“I want kids of this generation to see that everything is cool, that there’s some kind of unity in hip-hop. We all found something that’s really important to us, and music is all we’ve really got.”
— Missy Elliott
“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors - it’s how you combine them that sets you apart.”
— Wolfgang Puck

In this episode, Lucas joins us to express his passions for both hip hop and cooking. In doing so, he also elaborates on what links the two together, how both are social and self-reflective. He describes his personal exploration of both while also offering suggestions on how one could improve either as a craft.

Episode 23: The Concept of Friendliness

“We try to be real nice and friendly to people, but sometimes they take advantage of that.”
— Layne Staley
“It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

In this episode, we discuss "friendliness" as an idea which refers to strategic kindness and sympathy shown towards others primarily out of interest in social standing rather than genuine concern. We discuss how this phenomenon, conceived by Michael Moffatt, an anthropology professor at Rutgers in the 1980's, operates and what validity we ascribe to it.

Episode 22: Ideas of Home

“When you finally go back to your old home, you find it wasn’t the old home you missed but your childhood.”
— Sam Ewing
“Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.”
— Tad Williams

In this episode, we discuss some of our memories of home, how we define "home" as a place and as a set of ideas. We also consider how changes in environments affect our perceptions of home and what we seek in a home.

Episode 21: Introductions to Music

“Remember the first time you went to a show and saw your favorite band. You wore their shirt, and sang every word. You didn’t know anything about scene politics, haircuts, or what was cool. All you knew was that this music made you feel different from anyone you shared a locker with. Someone finally understood you. This is what music is about.”
— Gerard Way
“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”
— Plato

In this episode, we wanted to discuss our introductions to music, how our musical tastes developed and how we pursue new music and share our favorites with others.