‘funny,’ not funny

After some audio problems at the start, we start talking about Valentines Day and the variety of items available and not available at Trader Joes, and not unlike the olds that we are, we stop just short of listing all the items in our freezers. We quickly move on to our admiration of Katherine Ellis and her character Concordia Shwarma-McGraw on TikTok. We move on to a couple of additions to our li...

Lionel tells us all about the Garbage Plate at a restaurant in Rochester, NY. Apparently, it’s like Poutine. We talk a bit without fact checking ourselves about the creation of the Erie Canal and Dewitt Clinton , it’s creator. Somehow this references the demise of the Pony Express due to the advent of the telegraph. We continue in this fashion, touching on a myriad of subjects. Here is...

Shawn Peters joins us to talk about his adventures in the publishing world and his two books out on Harper Collins The Unforgettable Logan Foster and The Unforgettable Logan Foster and The Shadow of Doubt . We talk about his writing origins, the creation of these two books and plans for future novels. The Unforgettable Logan Foster is a middle grade superhero story that deals with neurodivergence,...

Jim begins by listing his mistakes in the previous podcasts, creating new errors as he goes. A "detraction" is actually a term from Christian theology. Jim should have said "retraction."It reminds Lionel of something he saw at the Newseum in Washington, DC. Jim talks about his recent move from his old office to the new one upstairs, listing some of his Uncle's old books and collectables. Nota...

We launch into the pod by talking about a short Punch and Judy animation by Jan Švankmajer , Czech filmmaker and artist, which leads us into a talk about The Brothers Quay and then into reflections on Ridley Walker by Russell Hoban which leads into thoughts on Philip Glass, which leads to Lionel mentioning Kraftwerk, and electronic processing of found sound and spoken word when Jim says he...

Jim starts talking about the transparent OLED display at the current CES . We move on to keyboards you stick on your iPhone and the new round of visors .Lionel is inspired to go on 2 rants. The first is about youtube reviewers who get free gear. His second rant is about a story that shows how AI can be used to get around restrictions imposed on AI . Jim compares this to the Heartbleed exploit of t...

In our final episode of 2023, we talk about Trust by Hernan Diaz and the pulitzer prize, The Future by Naomi Alderman , and families as cults. Lionel talks about his visit to Jim's childhood home in Peter Cooper Village, where a scene from Three Days on the Condor was filmed. Jim talks about going to the Speakeasy Open Mic on MacDougal Street when it was run by Dave Van Ronk .Lionel recalls h...

Catherine Pilfrey returns to the podcast to talk about her new creation: The I Ching Oracle card deck : a 64-card illustrated deck and guidebook. Catherine Pilfrey is a designer, and meditation teacher who has been consulting the I Ching Oracle for 25 years. We start talking about the death of Norman Lear and increasingly long life spans for some people. Catherine talks about the process of creati...

Jim begins by talking about Kung Fu Hustle and suggests Lionel watch it. He then moves on to the AI songwriter that’s going around the socials. Lionel remembers the song David Wilcox got an AI to write. Jim says that songwriters are the canary in the coal mine. Lionel likens the current situation to the loss of work for the U.S. autoworkers in the 1980s. Jim and Lionel dispute Shel Silverste...

We start with Hewitt retelling his favorite joke as told by his friend Jan Luby . Jim actually snorts. We resume the interview from part 1, and Hewitt talks about his reaction to his listening of Utopia Revisited . Hewitt then shares a story of his part in the origin of Jim’s band name Jim’s Big Ego . As punishment, Jim plays another clip from Hewitt’s album, The Only Drowning Go...

Just a note: Hewitt was recording into his tablet and there are lots of digital glitches that Jim could not remove. We begin with Lionel’s favorite part of the podcast which we almost never capture: the sound check before we press record. Obviously, we pressed record this time. Jim launches in with a tweet from Elon Musk and we reminisce about the movie Stripes . Jim introduces Hewitt Huntwo...

Dave Herlihy is an Intellectual Property/Entertainment Lawyer, a Teaching Professor on the Music industry at Northeastern University , a songwriter, and the leader/vocalist/guitarist of O Positive . We talk about his return to songwriting, his hits with the band, working with limited time, in both the daily sense and life sense, and how Dave instructs his classes in leading a musical life. We begi...

Leigh joins the pod with a conversation about their work at The Brooklyn Public Library and their pioneering program Books Unbanned. They are the Collections Manager and a librarian. This was a marvelous conversation, and like a great librarian, they have provided a bounty of references, which I'm including here:All Things Brooklyn Public Library - Brooklyn Public Library Books Unbanned page...

Karaugh Brown joins us to talk about her return to the creative life after years of pursuing a career in Museum patron management at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , The Guggenheim , The Frick Collection , and currently, her role as Vice President of Development and Partnerships at World Monuments Fund . We talk about balance between our professional and creative lives. We listen to her past...

Jim starts by talking about a candy bar he’s eating. Lionel references The Simpsons . Jim talks about feeling under the weather and needing some sugar energy. We talk about putting our show on YouTube ( some episodes are there now .) Lionel talks about visiting Sacramento. Lionel talks about his favorite cafe Recess Coffee . Jim recalls a music venue called Happy Endings and Lionel mentions...

This week, we talk with Robert Blake Whitehill , the author of the Ben Blackshaw thrillers . Deadrise , the first book, takes place in the Chesapeake Bay , on Smith and Tangier Island s and the surrounding areas. We talk about this history of those islands in relation to the books, as well as the meaning of the title, and boats called Deadrise , and work boats like the Winnie Estelle . Our convers...

Podcaster, musician, songwriter, artist, writer, thought leader, and our somnolent listener, James O’Brien joins the pod to talk about his many projects and how he gets it all done. We talk about his podcast, All Your Days , Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Pump Club project , and his documentary about Betsy Siggins, Long Ago Way . We talk about the Wes Anderson film, The Wonderful Story of Hen...

Jim starts talking about his adventures in social media and James O’Brien’s wisdom on how not to get noticed there. We tell 2 jokes and Lionel talks about discovering Literacy CNY at his local library and his volunteer work in digital literacy. Jim and Lionel talk about Lionel’s upcoming trip to Boston. They talk again about The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. They talk about...

In this episode, we welcome Nick Bruel. Nick is the New York Times best selling author and illustrator of Boing , Who Is Melvin Bubble , and the Bad Kitty books . We start the discussion with Jim and Nick's history together from first grade, where they met their common nemesis and how it continued in college, where Nick drew a comic strip called Kawala Bob for the bi-college newspaper. We tal...

Jim starts things off by sharing his impressions of The Day of the Jackal , and Lionel and he talk about the historical background, touching briefly on Albert Camus and the feel of the film, the pacing and the cinematography. We split off into the genre the film pioneered. They move on to an initial impression of Deadrise by Robert Blake Whitehill . Jim talks about getting up at 5am and doing yoga...

Jim launches into a diatribe about the use of the word ‘ mindset ,’ matcha vs. coffee for increasing combativeness, the Clover Machine that used to be at Starbucks , Lattes and the word puerile . Lionel extols the virtues of Syracuse and its surrounding towns, replicable results in chain cafes, and the conversation continues from there. References to: Too Much Coffee Man by Shannon Whe...

It was Lionel’s big birthday when we recorded this one. We talk inexpertly about cigars and the crash of 2008, Jim being mistaken for Stanley Tucci, the Bats Man, the J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies, Piranesi (BIG SPOILERS), and our first email from a listener. Warning to people who haven't read Piranesi, you might want to skip this one. Also, Jim’s mic was all wrong during th...

Sarah and Ben met with us once before to discuss Jim's novels, and now they return to talk about what they've been reading. The books and movies are too numerous to list here but we start our conversation with the novel Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and move on through the new Teen Age Ninja Turtles movie to Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk and Ho...

This episode is resplendent with expletives. You have been warned. Greg Olear joins the pod to discuss his novel “ Empress: The Secret History of Anna K . ” Greg Olear is an author, novelist, journalist, and podcaster. His substack, PREVAIL tackles the currently mad political news cycle as both weekly articles and podcast episodes. His Friday YouTube podcast is called The Five 8 featur...

While Lionel gets settled in to his new home in the northeast, enjoy this episode from 2022. We will be back with a new epsiode next week. Bill is a professor of the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvard and the co-director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. Jim met him while on tour with Jim’s Big Ego in London. We talk about English Football, Thanksgivin...