Hola, Sneakers. Welcome to Episode 469 – the 400th-sexiest episode!
This week, Ian and David talk: all drawled up;scary actors; ghost drop-in; math is hard; podcast development; hairy legs and all; listen to reason; A Room with a Review; old horndog; just end the movie; bread fucker; Regency jazz; masked men; Shirley Temple’d; dimpled; monolith monomania; stages of childhood; guidance; teach your children; plenty of blame to go around; kid perfect; fateful moment; study time; before school; paying your theatre dues; how to pronounce NXIVM; joy and suffering; let’s start a sex cult; agreement and want; malice aforethought; eleven year-old judo champ-slash-genius; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; ongoing turd debate; Katherine Hepburn visits; international swears; agreeable cat; and, finally, Asterix PSA.
Thanks for listening.
Question of the week: Have you ever felt like you were being recruited into something culty?
Sub-question of the week: What’s something valuable that your parents taught you?
L’esprit d’escalier Department:
Willoughby!
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I was in a large community choir of around 80 voices for several years. It was run by a very charismatic director and their spouse. I learned a lot and enjoyed the music we performed, but it did start to feel a little cult-y before I left. We were expected to sell tickets to our concerts and we were constantly told to aim for sold-out shows which was fine. But when they started offering online ticket sales, maybe half the audience would wait until the last week to buy their tickets. So in the time leading up to the concert, the director and their partner would freak out and give us a stern lecture, reminding how much it cost to rent the venue and pay musicians, and how much time it took the director to write and arrange our music. “This is how we make our living!” they’d say. It was NOT a registered not-for-profit group and there was no financial transparency so I felt if they were putting up their own money, that was their problem. We paid our dues – literally – at the beginning of the year to cover rehearsal costs and we were performing for free. So after one too many scoldings, I joined another choir.
Something valuable my mom taught me was a love of reading and borrowing books from libraries. I can still remember my first library card I got when I was four which I signed in my neatest printing. Although some people I could name enjoy owning a vast private book collection, I was library all the way with more books than you could ever read in a lifetime. My mom also taught me how to build a fire with tinder, kindling and fuel, both log cabin and tepee style. It’s hard to read a book by firelight, mind you, but not impossible.
Thank you for the Asterix recommendations, I will check those titles out. I’m sure there’s a library somewhere in Delaware that has those particular books. The Atari 2600 game is actually pretty fun, it’s simple and difficult to tell you’re playing as Asterix and Obelix, but I still enjoyed it. Thanks for the plug for my show!
My parents taught me to not be afraid of work, to a somewhat detrimental degree. My dad was a baker and he eventually bought his own shop in the 80s, and I loved going in to help him. When I HAD to go in and help him, I didnt like it as much. When he finally sold the business, he had two bakeries and it was basically him and me doing all the baking for both. I did resent it at the the time, but I discovered in later jobs that I was willing to work hard and to be proud of my work. But I worked a little too hard in some jobs and missed out on a lot of family stuff. I’m better at regulating that now.
No cult experience for me besides the Catholic church, thank goodness. Thanks for the show guys!