Hola, Sneakers! It’s Episode 622 of the podcast voted most likely to reach five episodes!
This week Ian and David talk: too, too boring; the ballet I idolize; the beak of perfection; gory time; fade to bleak; giallo shots; a discovery of witches; black magic women; power plays; I confess; othering others; rant some; rhythm of cruelty; Arthur, Arthur; magically medicinal; hunter-gatherer; costume drama; the Gabor mystery; the upside-down; dead right; stream weaver; the right to fail; joke breakdown; you gotta caption them all; cartoon greats; there at The New Yorker; on thin ice; skater boy; missed signals; family time; what in the Samhain; Cage fight; how to listen to praise; pain pizza; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; the James gang; man of the sloth; the ties that blind; accidental fireworks display; dream screams; shit site; and, finally, wise shit.
Question of the Week: What is the last candy you’ll eat at Halloween?
Sub-question of the Week: Have you ever Googled your name? And if you found someone who shared it, what did they do?
Thanks for listening.
Dept. of Clarifications:
Of course, Dave couldn’t remember the author’s name during the show, but it is Charles Williams and the book is called Witchcraft. You can find a downloadable version of it here.
And here is the Avatar costume as drawn by French cartoonist Margot Mautin:
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At our house, we sort the Halloween candy from those variety packs into separate bowls. Then we give away all the candy we don’t like to the trick-or-treaters. The first to go are candy-coated ones like Smarties, M&Ms and Reese’s Pieces. Next are boring ones like Aero, Jersey Milk or Caramilk. Then chewy and/or nutty ones like Snickers, Mars Bars and Oh Henry. We hand out Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Coffee Crisp and Kit Kat last so we never have to eat leftover candy we don’t like.
There is another Louise Moon in the entertainment industry who pops up on google searches. She is a hairstylist for celebrities and high fashion photography. I first found out about her from IMDB.com. She is Louise Moon (I) and I am Louise Moon (II).
Ian seemed mystified at the idea of people who want power for power’s sake. It’s as much an addiction as any other. Their brains reward them with a chemical rush whenever they exert power over others. That’s why we say someone is “drunk with power.” And those who crave power are “power-hungry” or have “a thirst for power.”
Hi gents,
Nothing to add here regarding Halloween candy other than to say that my son amassed a bucket full of lollipops while trick or treating this year. I am transferring my life savings directly to our dentist.
I haven’t googled my name for years, though I recently discovered that there is a producer-director on IMDB called Mike Elliott with over 100 film credits, mostly direct-to-video sequels, including – and this is where worlds may just collide in the great venn diagram of flapping butterfly wings – several Casper sequels! Ian, is it possible that you wrote a screenplay for my almost-namesake?
To more pressing matters, can we anticipate a Compleatly Beatles special episode for a deep Dedrick dive into Now and Then…?
A question about confectionery – how on-brand;- hooray!
The first bars to be stolen from my son’s haul this year were a couple of Cadbury’s Twirls – the Flake perfected! For those that don’t know, this is a rippled chocolate bar made by drizzling chocolate through a long slot, then coating the waves of cocoa in another layer of choc. Half of the bar is air, which isn’t just a clever way to charge more for less, but a way to make every bite a delight. For extreme indulgence, you just bite both ends off and slurp hot coffee through the bar, turning the inside to molten goo that collapses as you bite into it. Yum.
The biggest anticlimax comes from the candy distributed by the expat Americans in our part of London. American chocolate is a conundrum. How can it be both greasy and dusty in texture? How can something so loaded with sugar be so devoid of flavour? The only way they can get away with such uniformly terrible chocolate is by brilliant marketing, which leeches through through pop culture in films like ET. And whilst I’m probably inciting a sneaker-storm by saying this, I include Reeces Pieces in my thesis.
On namesakes: I have a namesake who, like myself, works in the construction industry, although he’s an engineer where I’m an architect. The other Peter Ayres worked on a polar research station in Antarctica, and after a few confusing emails from mutual colleagues we met for lunch a few years back, comparing notes and enjoying the talk of our parallel lives.
A tip of the hat to you and your crew,
Peter.
Ian, I find it most endearing you tried so hard to fathom a reason someone would want power for trivial (or no) reasons. This is because you’re a good person who cares about others. As Louise says, there are some who desire power for its own sake and will justify hurting others to get it. It doesn’t matter that they have no material or pragmatic goals in mind. The acquisition and holding of power IS the goal. Similarly, the Scrooge McDucks of the world couldn’t possibly spend down the contents of their money bins, but they still crave more.
Last candy of Halloween? Hands down it’s plain M&Ms. Splech.
Happy post Halloween!
The last candy anyone eats are those orange and black wax paper wrapped things that look like sick, pale caramel. What are those things? A close runner up are those orange circus peanuts, the Grandmother of one of my friend’s used to keep them in the freezer when he was a kid.
The winner of the Draganski Google contest is Bogdan Draganski, some distant relative who’s a neurology researcher in Switzerland. I’ve never met him but Dad says we’re related somehow even though we all know he’s smarter than the rest of us Draganski’s. The runner up is my Uncle Donald Draganski who is a published musician, composer and retired as a music librarian. He’s smart too and right next to Bogdan. I’m somewhere on page 3 showing off some shit I drew using the Google image search, right next to my brother’s mug shot(s).
Another tip of Peter’s hat to you and two of your crews!