Piqued Podcast

While watching ‘Couples therapy’ Dr. Orna’s prompt to a couple on opposite ends of the political spectrum was to ‘Take politics out of it and try to state what is important to you. While this technically led to the husband saying the wife had ’Trump derangement syndrome”(new term un-locked for me)it did give me an ‘aha’ moment. We all have a political hysteria, fatigue and raw nerve when it comes...

 I have had my eyes on three men whose names begin with R for a while now(oddly two out of three are named Russell)and recently ProducerHusbandCharlie linked me to an article about Rick Rubin’s(my number one para-social nemesis)fairly new podcast and the unsavory characters he has chosen as his first guests. Woody Allen alone should raise enough red flags in this day and age.     Anyone who knows...

I don’t know about you folks but I have a throbbing hangover from Summer House and Scamanda and-You know-the state of the globe. Fifa couldn’t have timed our country’s redemption arc any better quite frankly. As a U.S. citizen and resident you may think I’m celebrating the rest of the world getting a better perspective on our often controversial country, but as a matter of fact it is acting as a m...

It has been a fun ride and a welcome outlet for my pettier side to indulge in not one, but two episodes centered around a reality show drama. II’m making a characteristically Steep pivot this week in to more serious matters. The small matter of a certain sector of societies direct and concerted assault on joy. I know it sounds dramatic, but let us explain how a slew of videos of CEO’s trying to sh...

I am on a prediction losing streak-but it’s a win for all of us bravo viewers. Summer House reunion P.2 actually delivered. I thought we cashed it in the first part but it turns out we had more juice. I think the first part really solidified Amanda’s mindset. It showed us that she was seated firmly in her victimhood if not on the reunion stage. The second part really is the peeling of the pungent...

Put your mind on airplane mode with me this week and let’s indulge a bit of brainless salacious gossip. Summer House reunion Part.1 dropped last week so here’s my commentary ahead of the next part. I get in to my general feelings about the cast over time, my expectations going in to the reunion, my reactions and impressions of this reunion, and  my projections about the next parts. I’m of the mind...

This week my social media was unexpectedly flooded with Clavicular(infamous Looksmaxxer)interview clips, and let’s just say it was fascinating if a little disturbing. I did find myself wanting to figure out how he came to his methods and his general outlook on attractiveness and external appeal. As is our tendency on Piqued, we ended up turning those questions inwards  and zooming them way out as...

The Roast of Kevin Hart came out and it brought up some loaded dynamics in comedy, media, and society in general. My decision not to watch it after seeing some alternately funny and then really distasteful clips, culminated in me really coming to grips with how much of a stranglehold the bid to appear ‘unbothered’ has on our culture. I am realizing that some deeply uncharismatic, anti-social chara...

There is a whole lot of talk about female gold diggers, star fu**ers, clout chasers and so ons, I figured I’d balance the dialogue and explore some men in the zeitgeist who I think have some grifter, coattail rider, clout-chaser-well just THIRSTY-energy. It’s not always about financial gain or who has the most star power. People are thirsty myriad things. Some latch on to someone for identity, oth...

Watching Hulu doc “The Cult of NatureBoy” sent me and Charlie in to veritable orbit and it sparked an interest in what causes some people to view certain people as magnetic and charismatic when to us they seem unhinged or just plain creepy. We have watched many a cult documentary in our time and I’m always struck by how unsavory or inept some of these cult leaders seem. How do they amass a followi...

n his Episode I am running down some epic flip floppers in culture. This was spurned by the veritable onslaught of prominent Trump apologists turning coat lately, but in pure piqued fashion, my skittish swarthy brain wanders over to the epic change-up of the front line warriors of body positivity in the skinny shot era. It is not long before I’m in influencer territory talking about the MJ Gray’s...

This week I discuss my take-aways from watching Lamar Odem’s Documentary(Untold:The life and Death of Lamar Odem,Netflix)and reflect on the period in my late teens and early 20s when young Hollywood(Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie,Amanda Bynes etc), was racking up mugshots and showing early signs of active addiction, publicly at that. It’s an eery feeling looking at some of these older prominent figu...

I have husband/producer Charlie on this week, and seeing as we just celebrated our 15 year anniversary (on April fools day no less), I thought we should reflect on what has made our relationship successful. We give a run-down of our dating histories before this coupling, to give a clearer picture of where we were in our lives mentally and emotionally when we met. We discuss communication, compatib...

I’ve been living in ATX as a North Eastern transplant for a while now, and I have noticed a rampant tendency down here for jolly side-swipes dressed in a honey glaze of ‘helpful tips’. I’m calling it the ‘Texas two Cents’,and I’m asking that you round it down to zero.   Then the exposing of Kristy Noem’s husband’s proclivity for busty prosthetics sent me on a medium dive(you don’t have to dig too...

After a brief foray in to the ‘Manosphere’ I want to shift my focus to some women in culture for my 30th episode(confetti!). There are three prominent women getting some heat right now and I am here to unpack the discourse around them with the full context of their image, their digital footprint and social media. This age doesn’t let us live anything down and our skeletons are up on the cloud wait...

Me and producer/husband Charlie watched Netflix documentary by documentarian Louis Theroux(My Scientology Movie, Louis and the Nazis) 'Inside the Manosphere' which explores a contingent of creators/influencers/entrepreneurs who ascribe to a certain 'alpha male' rhetoric which some may view as misogynistic. We try to parse the philosophy, the genesis and the appeal of this messaging...

This week I have Charlie on deck to have a conversation about confrontation. We unpack our relationship with conflict/confrontation and try to parse out some insight about how we came to our way of dealing with those inevitable moments when you simply have to bite the bullet and take a stand. I’m sure you can tell from my phrasing that I have a complicated relationship with confrontation and It ha...

Producer/husband Charlie is releasing a new album this Friday so I took the opportunity to interview him about his beautiful affecting piece of art titled "the gravity of hope". We also discuss his creative process, the evolution there-of,and just his philosophy as a creative. it is a candid and engaging converstation and I I'm so excited to share it1 If you are going to be in the Au...

I can't quite quit being in NYC business no matter how long I'm out here in Austin, so I just have to touch on Mamdani snow Shoveling gate,I also take a moment to digest the absolutely tone deaf response some of my fellow citizens are having to the violence in Nayarit, Mexico following the death of a cartel boss. For the main course, producer/husband Charlie and myself watched Netflix'...

Well everyone has their hot(and cold)takes on the Bad Bunny half time show, so what is one more? Some people felt it reeked of agenda, others thought it was a much needed representation moment for a prevalent cultural group in our country who have been dealing with a lot of malignment of late. Im using this discourse to really explore the idea of cultural representation in a multi-cultural nation,...

Now what could have inspired me to have Charlie on the pod to discuss the phenomenon of conspiracy theories this week? It seems so random right(wink wink)? well I have had the shadowy networks within the powers that be and their imprint on our world on my mind, as, I'm sure, do many of you! We get in to our understanding of what conspiracy theories are, how they have been metabolized by cultur...

This week I have Charlie in studio and we are drinking a cold chalice of hateraide together. We have some long-standing one-sided beefs in common ,and on this episode we are going to unpack one very close to Charlie’s heart as a drummer and very close to my last nerve as someone with few nerves. We HATE the movie Whiplash. Yup-you heard it here. We hate the beloved J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller fi...

I know a lot of you are like me and you have been glued to the news cycle so this week I hope you'll join me in a cerebral time-out. Lets indulge in some pop culture brain rot like old times before the madness. Fetty Wap has been released and it's providing a hope-core moment we badly need. The man was only in for some simpler times crimes(no Diddy), and he's bringing back that feel go...

All of my new year existential hand-wringing has taken me down a rabbit hole of what may be lurking in my blind spots. What are some things that have been so commonplace for myself-and ,largely, my generation-that we have let them go un-checked? I'm unpacking some of the seemingly trivial things millennials may have let slide that could potentially be unproductive. Can the buck stop with us? L...

Piqued friends, the impossible has happened. I have found an easy and healthy way to maintain weight and energy. Maybe I’ll save one of you a good 20 years if you happen to be spinning your wheels and up to the same harebrained, diet-girl math, I was frying myself with. I break down my general history with the mess that is diet, health and body image, but-don’t worry-there is light at the middle(a...