Reflections by G

Do you love podcasts? It isn’t a surprise that audio programming remains so popular nearly a century after the invention of the television. There is a level of intimacy between the voice on the radio and ourselves. There is more room for imagination than visual images offer, and a greater ability to build a connection when compared with reading text. Glendalynn reflects on some of her early exposu...

Downtime isn’t vacation. It isn’t the weekend. It the time we require to recover, mentally and/or physically, to recover from certain tasks. Understanding our unique recovery time enables us to plan ahead. To ensure we build time blocks into our schedule accordingly. Glendalynn dives into this topic after a particularly exhausting experience. Luckily, she started noting her recovery time requireme...

Oppenheimer is a 3-hour film, not an 18-hour documentary series. Why expect a Ken Burns doc? If someone watches Argo , or Bohemian Rhapsody or I, Tonya , and believes what they see on screen to be accurate, whose fault is that? Fictionalized accounts are meant to entertain. Yes, hopefully, they spark interest in learning more, but that isn’t their goal. Glendalynn discusses a series of recent film...

How can a novel written in 1897 be the found footage OG? With the upcoming release of The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Glendalynn revisits Bram Stoker’s classic novel, Dracula. As with most classics, hardly anyone has read the original, the fictional character having assumed its own mythology. Glendalynn discusses why the epistolary storytelling style and language may be a barrier for today’s reade...

When did movie marketers stop taking risks? Today’s marketing campaigns have ridiculously long trailers, show audiences far too much and are too afraid to hold anything back. It wasn’t always this way. 30 years ago, a little movie came out with a campaign promoting it as a legal drama. It was so much more, with a stellar cast bringing Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay to life, Glendalynn revisits Malice (...

What was the first book that really scared you? If that experience happened early in life, you might find it surprising just how bad - and not at all scary, some of those books are today. The runners-up are written by Dean Koontz and Stephen King. The number one book that left a scary lasting impression on Glendalynn is actually, quite bad. And it contained flies. So. Many. Flies. Prompted by the...

How do you handle the absolute messiness of popular fiction and the problematic authors that create those books? This isn’t an advice episode. Tackling the elephant in the room directly, J.K. Rowling, alongside two other classic children’s authors, Glendalynn shares her approach to reconciling a beloved novel and the life of the author. Prompted by the post Panic, Devilry & the Death of the Pu...

What do you find scary? The threat of a cyber attack or dangling by a wire from one of the world’s tallest structures? What if you discovered that the person you see and know to be real is actually a hallucination? Perhaps you’d prefer to curl up with a collection of folk tales from a state rich with cultural history. What if you went to bed, unaware of a deadly leviathan silently approaching your...

Why did Disney create such terrifying sequences and plot points for movies designed specifically for kids? Glendalynn reflects on the films that prompted late-night tears in her early years, why The Fox & The Hound was the worst movie decision her parents ever made and why trippy drug sequences are in Disney films. Prompted by the blog piece Nightmares at Grandma’s House https://www.glendalynn...

What movie moment is seared into your brain? Not because you love it. Because it snuck up on you and scared the crap out of you? Glendalynn reflects on how easily this happened in the ‘70s/early ‘80s, when PG didn’t mean anything - JAWS is PG after all. Turns out, the movie moment that sticks with her isn’t anything seriously scary - but it does feature Vincent Price. Prompted by the blog piece Ni...

Are you the person making the last-minute triple lane change to avoid missing your exit? Glendalynn looks at why people behave so strangely when they get behind the wheel. The heart of this reflection is mourning the joy she used to experience when intentionally getting lost. Subscribe to this podcast or the accompanying Reflections by G blog , for more reflections. https://www.glendalynndixon.com...

If a comedy can be nothing but comedic moments stitched together, why can’t horror be a series of scares? Glendalynn looks at the difference between the two genres, what drives her love of the horror genre and why it has to do double duty every single time. This episode includes a sneak peek at related content coming up in the Reflections by G blog. Subscribe to this podcast or the accompanying Re...

There are no shortcuts. Not for the big stuff. Not for those audacious goals we want most. In this episode, Glendalynn offers a brief reflection on a specific passage from the book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck . It mirrors her thoughts in an earlier piece, Public Speaking, The Good, Bad and Ugly. https://www.glendalynndixon.com/blog/public-speaking-the-good-bad-and-ugly Learn the key barri...

Do I have the worst timing? Could there be a worse time period to commit to writing? In this episode, Glendalynn offers a brief reflection on her decision to focus on writing in the face of Large Language Models, a shift in how readers consume the written word and a steady decline in remuneration for creators. Subscribe to this podcast or the accompanying Reflections by G blog , for more reflectio...

Have you ever known how to act in an emergency thanks to something you saw on TV or in a movie? In this episode, Glendalynn offers a brief reflection on her experience with instant recall during a high-speed emergency situation. Is this a common experience? Subscribe to this podcast or the blog listed above, for more reflections. Intro music : Fairy G, by Dan O’Grady, https://www.patreon.com/danog...

What was the first movie that truly scared you? In this episode, Glendalynn responds to the prior episode ( Horror Movies Aren’t Always Meant to be Scary ) by offering a brief reflection on how even a scaredy-cat like her younger self, could rationalize the scary movies she saw. Until the night of a 1986 drive-in double feature, when terror was hiding behind a pair of breathtaking blue eyes. Subsc...

What do you look for in a horror movie? In this episode, Glendalynn offers a brief reflection on why horror movies aren’t always intended to deliver big scares. The films that stick with us, offer more than a few cheap thrills. This episode was prompted by her post Pulse/Kairo: The Loneliness of Connection https://www.glendalynndixon.com/blog/pulse-the-loneliness-of-connection Subscribe to this po...

Do you lay awake at night dissecting 30 seconds of a 2-hour conversation? In this episode, Glendalynn offers a brief reflection on the habit of overthinking, why it can be beneficial and when it crosses a line. This episode was prompted by her rumination regarding her post Gender Blender: GenX, Gender and Pop Culture https://www.glendalynndixon.com/blog/genderblender-genx-gender-pop-culture Subscr...

How do you react when someone close to you lets you down? In this episode, Glendalynn offers a brief reflection on our contrasting responses. Distancing ourselves from the person or doubling down to defend them. This episode follows her 2-part piece When People Disappoint You https://www.glendalynndixon.com/blog/when-people-disappoint-you-part1 Subscribe to this podcast or the blog listed above, f...

What’s your favourite memory of the library where you grew up? In this episode, Glendalynn offers a brief reflection on the freedoms to be found in her childhood library and shares reader feedback on what they remember about their childhood library experiences. This episode follows her piece, The Magical Mystery of My Public Library https://www.glendalynndixon.com/blog/the-magical-mystery-of-my-pu...

Despite my best efforts - you found me. This introductory episode lets you know these pods are intended to be short reflections that weave together Gen X pop culture throughout my real-life adventures in IT, leadership & life. Usually in response to my written stories which you can find at https://glendalynndixon.com/blog Find out more about who I am and the stories I’ve got to tell at https:/...