Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind.
Speaker 1: Listener Mail. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna jump right into the messages that we've
Speaker 1: received from you over the past week. Rob if you're ready,
Speaker 1: I'm going to jump right in with this first message
Speaker 1: from j Let's do it okay, Jay says, Dear Robert
Speaker 1: and Joe, medium time listener here, love the show, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: I was recently listening to your episode on the Universal Solvent,
Speaker 1: as is my habit, I was listening while at work.
Speaker 1: I'm a doctoral candidate in a chemical field, so in
Speaker 1: this instance that means I was working in a chemical lab.
Speaker 1: So color me surprised when I heard you mentioned piranha solution,
Speaker 1: which is an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide.
Speaker 1: Not because you were wrong, but because piranha has been
Speaker 1: a normal part of my life and I never reflected
Speaker 1: on its peculiar properties and never considered them something special.
Speaker 1: So when it came up, I immediately walked over to
Speaker 1: the dedicated Piranha workspace in the lab and snapped a
Speaker 1: picture attached Roba put it in our document here. There's
Speaker 1: no grand point I'm trying to make. I just figured
Speaker 1: you might get some enjoyment out of seeing a physical
Speaker 1: representation that some of the exotic topics you discuss are
Speaker 1: everyday stuff to others. Kind regards Jay and Jay is
Speaker 1: attached a picture of what is known as the Piranha
Speaker 1: fume cupboard, an absolutely beautiful cellar door of a pair
Speaker 1: of words, Yes and it's I should drive home that
Speaker 1: it does look very every day. This looks. This looks
Speaker 1: very professional, very normal. It does not look like something
Speaker 1: that would you would find in a Bond villain layer
Speaker 1: or anything like that. But it's it's neat. Nonetheless, just
Speaker 1: a little snapshot of of everyday life involving Piranha fume cupboards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one minute you're getting the groceries, the next minute you're
Speaker 1: working in the Piranha fume covered Okay, Rob, you want
Speaker 1: to do this? Next message from Anna, Yeah, this one
Speaker 1: is a response to our episode on Subterines. This is
Speaker 1: a vault episode, um and it writes high Robert, Joe,
Speaker 1: and Seth, I enjoyed your recent vault episode on subterines.
Speaker 1: In the episode, you were amusing how it is kind
Speaker 1: of dumb that so many digging machines are called the
Speaker 1: mole when there are so many other digging creatures out there.
Speaker 1: I agree. I think a much better name would be
Speaker 1: the wombat. A wombat is basically a creature that already
Speaker 1: looks like some kind of industrial device designed by a
Speaker 1: wacky engineer. It is as if they're trying to make
Speaker 1: a small tank that can dig, but it also has
Speaker 1: to be cute and furry. It has some extra whack
Speaker 1: features like backwards pouch so dirt doesn't get flicked in
Speaker 1: while digging, and cube shaped pooh. I believe that was
Speaker 1: a cube shape poo was an Ignoble Award winning um
Speaker 1: topic at one point. That's correct. They continue, and if
Speaker 1: you are going to design something to be used in battle,
Speaker 1: combat already rhymes with wombat. That rhymes, and you know
Speaker 1: it rhymes. Thanks for all your great work. It keeps
Speaker 1: me entertained while I have to scan and date documents.
Speaker 1: This includes a lot of time removing staples, so I
Speaker 1: really appreciate something that keeps my mind active. Thanks Anna, Anna.
Speaker 1: We are so glad we could enliven your times at
Speaker 1: the Staple Mill. I wonder if we could do an
Speaker 1: episode on the stapler. The invention of the stapler perhaps
Speaker 1: is that one that's like actually not interesting. We keep
Speaker 1: wondering if we're gonna like come across an invention like
Speaker 1: this at some point. Um, Yeah, I guess the thing is,
Speaker 1: I know we've looked into some before where they just
Speaker 1: don't catch our our fancy, but we haven't. Actually, I
Speaker 1: don't think we've actively researched the stapler yet. We'll take
Speaker 1: the stapler challenge. We'll see if we can make it work. Alright.
Speaker 1: This next message is from my Mia says, Hey, Joe
Speaker 1: and Robert love the podcast. I was listening to your
Speaker 1: episode on the Comfort in the Box and your descriptions
Speaker 1: of anchor rights reminded me of the modern phenomenon of
Speaker 1: hikiko mori. Hikiko mori has been defined as a state
Speaker 1: that has become a problem by the late twenties that
Speaker 1: involves cooping oneself up in one's home and not participating
Speaker 1: in society for six months or longer. But that does
Speaker 1: not seem to have another psychological problem as its principal source.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, so would that mean like, it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: agoraphobia or something else like that that has as a
Speaker 1: symptom staying at home, But it's just like the the
Speaker 1: act of staying cooped up at home by itself. I
Speaker 1: guess interesting. Yeah, I wonder anyway Maya goes on. Though
Speaker 1: not a religiously motivated ascetic lifestyle, there seemed to be
Speaker 1: a lot of similarities. Uh, talking about similarities to the
Speaker 1: anchoritic tradition. I hope you guys are safe over there, Maya. Rob.
Speaker 1: Do you know anything about this this condition? Um? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't think I've looked at any anything
Speaker 1: about it before. Um, but it's it's interesting it. I
Speaker 1: wonder if it how much of it is tied to
Speaker 1: just sort of modern urban living, you know, and smaller
Speaker 1: environments that that people didn't to to to reside. And
Speaker 1: and of course, as we kind of mused in in
Speaker 1: that episode, I just wonder what impact the global pandemic
Speaker 1: will have on this sort of thing moving forward, you know. So,
Speaker 1: I know it is a is a Japanese term that
Speaker 1: comes from the Japanese language, but I would assume that
Speaker 1: this is not just an isolated cultural phenomenon in Japan,
Speaker 1: but probably describes something that is has a broader reality
Speaker 1: in the world. Um, I would wonder if this kind
Speaker 1: of thing becomes more common in the Internet age. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, because that does allow you to be somewhat
Speaker 1: socially connected, uh and and connected via media to the
Speaker 1: to the rest of the world while occupying your small place. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I kept thinking about that, the anchorite situation, and I
Speaker 1: was like talking to my wife about it over over vacation,
Speaker 1: and I was like, yeah, and you're you're just right
Speaker 1: there in the church walls and you'd get to watch
Speaker 1: church whenever you want. Um, like that was your that's
Speaker 1: your only channel, that's your only web page, is whatever's
Speaker 1: going on in church at that given moment. But nowadays,
Speaker 1: you know you can just you can be hooked up
Speaker 1: to all churches at all times. I was talking to
Speaker 1: one of my friends about it, who ended up looking
Speaker 1: into it himself, and he said that he came across
Speaker 1: some examples at least or at least one example where
Speaker 1: the person could leave their cell but only into the church,
Speaker 1: and that was, like, I guess a variation. So normally
Speaker 1: you'd be totally stuck in the cell and you can
Speaker 1: just view the church through a window. The other version
Speaker 1: is there's a door going into the church, but you
Speaker 1: can't leave the door of the church going outside. Is
Speaker 1: that better or worse? I don't know. I mean, of course,
Speaker 1: so part of the reality is like you're you're pooping
Speaker 1: in there, right, so, um, I don't know. It means
Speaker 1: you you occupy the closest bathroom to the church, to
Speaker 1: to the sanctuary itself. That's a good point. See in
Speaker 1: the middle of the sermon, somebody's knocking on your door, like,
Speaker 1: really need to use your pot, but you can't because
Speaker 1: it's sacred, right all right. Here's another one. This comes
Speaker 1: to us from Helen on the topic of an iconism. Hello,
Speaker 1: Robert and Joe. I just finished listening to the first
Speaker 1: of the Anichonism series, and of course the second isn't
Speaker 1: available yet, so this may be premature, but listening to
Speaker 1: the episode, and particularly hearing about the religious symbol of
Speaker 1: the conical stone connected to afroddity, reminded me about C. S.
Speaker 1: Lewis's book Until We Have Faces This, by the way,
Speaker 1: this is one I have not read. I read a
Speaker 1: fair amount of C. S. Lewis back in the day,
Speaker 1: but I never read till we have faces. No, I
Speaker 1: haven't either, so this is new to me. Helen continues.
Speaker 1: Quote in this novel, which retells the story of Cupid
Speaker 1: and Psyche from the perspective of Psyche's sister, that is deeply,
Speaker 1: deeply limited synopsis, and I apologize to all the literary
Speaker 1: scholars who wrote their thesis on this book and would object.
Speaker 1: There is a deity known as unget connected, I believe
Speaker 1: with Aphrodite, whose icon in her own temple is a
Speaker 1: great stone. Beyond that, holding the gods and the self
Speaker 1: is a major theme in the book, obviously, both in
Speaker 1: that Psyche was expressly forbidden from looking upon the face
Speaker 1: of her divine lover, and that the main character struggles
Speaker 1: with her appearance, described from her youth as particularly ugly
Speaker 1: in direct contrast to the other worldly beauty of Psyche.
Speaker 1: When the main character begins acquiring power in her city
Speaker 1: state and ultimately becomes queen, she makes a point of
Speaker 1: covering her face with a veil. Over time, enough people
Speaker 1: have either forgotten the specifics of her appearance or never
Speaker 1: seen her face to begin with, and the rumors begin.
Speaker 1: Is she impossibly beautiful? Is she monstrous? This unknowable mystique
Speaker 1: becomes central to her image as a queen, while at
Speaker 1: the same time continuing the theme of what it means
Speaker 1: to be seen, to be known, and to be either
Speaker 1: ugly or beautiful. Again, apologies to all literary scholars everywhere.
Speaker 1: It is an intricate novel, much more so than I
Speaker 1: have laid out here, and very worthy of bringing up
Speaker 1: in conversation, not just because of the seed at the
Speaker 1: center that is the story of Cupid and Psyche, but
Speaker 1: also because the lens applied by C. S. Lewis's own
Speaker 1: faith and perspective as a Christian author known for weaving
Speaker 1: Christian symbolism into his written works see as Lan. Thank
Speaker 1: you for the great listens, Helen. Oh thanks Helen. That
Speaker 1: sounds really interesting. It's I've never read it, but right
Speaker 1: up my alley a bit. I was. I've been thinking
Speaker 1: about C. S. Lewis his work recently because the ended
Speaker 1: up watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and
Speaker 1: the Four Kids recently, and then the boys been reading
Speaker 1: a couple of them because he wanted to. He was
Speaker 1: interested in reading more from the Narnia series, so he's
Speaker 1: been reading them and we've been thinking about watching some
Speaker 1: more of the films. So I've had just some of
Speaker 1: that stuff idly kicking around my brain. So it's interesting
Speaker 1: to hear back from a listener regarding the writings of C. S. Lewis. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd be interested to revisit those. I read them when
Speaker 1: I was a kid. I reflecting on them now, I
Speaker 1: seem I think I would probably enjoy the earlier novels
Speaker 1: in that series better than the later ones, where the
Speaker 1: it seems like in the later ones maybe the Christian
Speaker 1: allegories get a little too overt. Yeah, that that I
Speaker 1: guess that would be my word. I never read any
Speaker 1: of the Narnia books until I did the first one
Speaker 1: with my my son. I ended up reading a lot
Speaker 1: of Lewis work later on, like the Space Trilogy and
Speaker 1: so forth. Yeah, screwtape the classics alright. This next message
Speaker 1: comes from Ben Ben Rights. Hi, Robert and Joe. Thanks
Speaker 1: for your two recent episodes on aniconism as a devout Catholic.
Speaker 1: It tugged on a lot of thoughts and ideas for me,
Speaker 1: always a sign of a good episode. As you went
Speaker 1: through your rapid fire list of modern pop culture examples
Speaker 1: of antichonism, One example struck me as notably absent from
Speaker 1: your list Wilson the Neighbor and the TV show Home Improvement.
Speaker 1: His face was never shown, and the show often went
Speaker 1: to hilarious lengths to keep it concealed. This maintained the
Speaker 1: mystery of this character, who was the wise, independable dispenser
Speaker 1: of knowledge and reason. I never watched Home Improvement, so
Speaker 1: I'm only in the vaguest sense aware of this character.
Speaker 1: But he is he is supposed to be a normal human, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so. He wouldn't he like always behind a
Speaker 1: fence or something. Yeah, I vaguely remember like seeing images
Speaker 1: of this or clips that. Yeah, it's it's he's behind
Speaker 1: a fence. He's the neighbor that's talking to what's his name,
Speaker 1: the main character, buzz like Tim Allen, Tim Allen, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and um, and you only ever see the top of
Speaker 1: his head, like eyes eyes up is all you ever see.
Speaker 1: So but but presumably I'm guessing there is the rest
Speaker 1: of his body. It's not like like a hideous otherworldly
Speaker 1: being from the you know, from the nose down or
Speaker 1: anything like that was famous nineties teen dreamboat Jonathan Taylor
Speaker 1: Thomas also on that show, I think he was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but who played Wilson? Was Wilson someone of note? Was
Speaker 1: he the guy from the Munsters? Or you just sound
Speaker 1: like the guy from the Munsters had kind of fred
Speaker 1: Ward kind of quality? Right? Oh? Interesting, hold on, not
Speaker 1: fred Ward? Who am I thinking of? I apologize to everyone.
Speaker 1: I'm really jet lagged, so a lot of my associations
Speaker 1: are coming u. Yes, Seth this chimed in and told
Speaker 1: us that I'm thinking of fred Gwinn, not fred Ward.
Speaker 1: Fred Ward. That's right. Yes, he was in Tremors and
Speaker 1: he was in that that noir movie with sorcery in it. Oh,
Speaker 1: cast a deadly spell, cast a deadly spell? Yes? Oh? Oh?
Speaker 1: Is that? Is that a candidate for Weird House someday?
Speaker 1: Perhaps I've never seen it, but they're yeah, they're neither.
Speaker 1: We're a couple of sort of Lovecraftian noir films of
Speaker 1: of possible interest, and and that's certainly one of them.
Speaker 1: That's I guess it was like an HBO production, right,
Speaker 1: because it was always on h streaming. It was like
Speaker 1: the one constant, one of the pillars of the whole thing.
Speaker 1: It's like, we paid for this baby, so it's it's
Speaker 1: always going to be available. Oh anyway, sorry to wrap
Speaker 1: up Ben's email. Ben also says that he enjoys a
Speaker 1: bunch of the stuff podcasts that he's listened to, to
Speaker 1: us to stuff you should know, stuff you missed in
Speaker 1: history class. Uh, he's listened to Invention, and he's about
Speaker 1: to start listening to stuff mom never told you, and
Speaker 1: says podcasts have helped me get through some truly dark times.
Speaker 1: So thanks again, sincerely, been glad to hear from you, Ben,
Speaker 1: Thanks for writing in. Yeah, and and certainly that's a
Speaker 1: that's a good example with Wilson though, and I guess
Speaker 1: also a reminder that that an ichonism need not mean
Speaker 1: anything at all, just it can just be kind of
Speaker 1: need as a visual choice or a visual gag. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but the message is concerning anichonism. Continue, all right. This
Speaker 1: one comes to us from Richard. Hi. Guys, the Anichonism
Speaker 1: episodes were utterly fascinating for me and made me think
Speaker 1: about devotion in a very different light. One thing, however,
Speaker 1: struck me very quickly, which perhaps was worthy of much
Speaker 1: closer attention. My perspective is one of a very lapsed
Speaker 1: Catholic with a degree in Catholic theology interesting. In the episodes,
Speaker 1: you use the term cross and crucifix pretty much interchangeably, when,
Speaker 1: especially in this context, they have distinct meanings generally and
Speaker 1: certainly in the realm of Catholic devotion, both Roman and Eastern.
Speaker 1: Across is in its basic form, two pieces of wood,
Speaker 1: one at right angles to the other, forming a cross beam.
Speaker 1: A crucifix is a cross with crucially a representation of
Speaker 1: crucified Jesus on it, whether a card figure or a
Speaker 1: painting usually expired. You always got to check your expiration dates. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I have come across this distinction before. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: crucifix is specifically the cross with Jesus on it. Yeah. Now,
Speaker 1: you always see people using a cross against a vampire.
Speaker 1: Can you also use a crucifix against the vampire? One
Speaker 1: of assume, right, I think you can. Yeah, I would. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I wonder if that would be more powerful or less.
Speaker 1: Maybe that actually depends on your soteriology. Yeah, anyway, they continue.
Speaker 1: The difference is therefore fairly significant when discussing the difference
Speaker 1: between a physical representation and the divine slash God had
Speaker 1: and an object associated with it. Even on the surface,
Speaker 1: there's a very obvious representational difference between an inanimate object
Speaker 1: and a literal representation of the Son of God. Books
Speaker 1: have been written on the topic, but as a basic
Speaker 1: one paragraph summary. Within Catholic theology, the cross is a
Speaker 1: representation of God's grace and and of salvation and the resurrection.
Speaker 1: The cross is empty. The crucifix is broadly the cost
Speaker 1: of salvation, underlying christ suffering in the wages of sin.
Speaker 1: This is one reason why Protestant churches generally skewed the
Speaker 1: concept of the crucifix. As to put it very bluntly
Speaker 1: and as somewhat of an over generalization. Protestant theology generally
Speaker 1: favors the impact of God's grace and salvation over the
Speaker 1: impact of the wages of sin. Within both Roman Catholic
Speaker 1: and Eastern churches, the way crosses and crucifix are venerated
Speaker 1: is subtly different, and I invite anyone to pay closer
Speaker 1: attention when visiting churches, especially pre Reformation ones in Europe
Speaker 1: and the Levant, when the churches were not specifically trying
Speaker 1: to distinguish themselves from other Christian denominations. There is a
Speaker 1: separate discussion to be had about the second diagonal crossbar
Speaker 1: on Eastern Orthodox crosses and crucifixes, but that is not
Speaker 1: directly connected to the issue of an ichonism. Keep up
Speaker 1: the good work helping my brain, working on my daily
Speaker 1: communite to work. Richard's some work, Richard. Uh yeah, well
Speaker 1: this is interesting. Thanks for getting in touch. I feel
Speaker 1: like this is something that was on the tip of
Speaker 1: my tongue in the episode, but maybe it just never
Speaker 1: came up as the difference between the the the occupied
Speaker 1: cross with Jesus on it represented figurally versus the the
Speaker 1: empty cross just as an inanimate symbol. But yeah, thanks
Speaker 1: for this explanation. I think you're generally on the mark
Speaker 1: about the the trends in the theological implications of the
Speaker 1: two different symbols. Alright. This next message is in response
Speaker 1: to our episodes about beans, and it comes from Windy
Speaker 1: in China. Wendy says, Hello, Robert and Joe. Love the podcast.
Speaker 1: Longtime listener, but I'm a little behind recently and had
Speaker 1: just heard the episodes about beans. When I heard about
Speaker 1: the yard long beans and you said that you didn't
Speaker 1: know how to eat them, I instantly knew I had
Speaker 1: to write to you. I haven't caught up to date still,
Speaker 1: so please excuse me if anyone had already mentioned it.
Speaker 1: In most of the regional cuisines of China, the long
Speaker 1: beans are for frying, for example, Sichuan style spicy fry
Speaker 1: with dry red hot pepper, or simply fried with some
Speaker 1: pork meat, like how you can fry most vegetables with.
Speaker 1: But my favorite way of preparing the yard long beans
Speaker 1: is definitely the fermented sour yard long beans called pickled
Speaker 1: Chinese long beans. Um oh, and I'm gonna try the
Speaker 1: pronunciation on this swan do jao. I hope that's close.
Speaker 1: And she links a video showing how these are being prepared,
Speaker 1: and in describing the video, Wendy says she's using the
Speaker 1: shorter kind of beans, but most Chinese use the longer kind.
Speaker 1: There are also some different ways to ferment. Some use water, salt,
Speaker 1: and brand seasoning the whole beans. Some cut them up
Speaker 1: before and only put salt without water. This results in
Speaker 1: some differences in taste and texture. I've also heard that
Speaker 1: if you want the beans to remain crunchy after being pickled,
Speaker 1: pick the beans young and they will be better than
Speaker 1: the fully ripe ones. Uh. You know I love fermented vegetables,
Speaker 1: so this sounds right, up my alley. I don't think
Speaker 1: I've had this before, but now I've got to try
Speaker 1: it out. Maybe I can find it at I wonder
Speaker 1: is this is this specifically a Sichuan pickled vegetable or
Speaker 1: is this uh? I guess she doesn't say. Anyway, Wendy
Speaker 1: goes on, however you ferment it, it is great to
Speaker 1: cook with it with minced meat after being cut in
Speaker 1: smaller pieces, or where I'm from the southwest regions of China,
Speaker 1: like Guangxi, Guizao or Junan Province, you simply put the
Speaker 1: cut up beans in rice noodles as an add on.
Speaker 1: It's made popular nationally by the famous rice noodle dish
Speaker 1: called low c fin or which means the Luzau River
Speaker 1: snails rice noodle. WHOA, that sounds cool. It's a very
Speaker 1: common ingredient in Guangxi cuisine and an important element in
Speaker 1: Guiland rice noodle too. People also cut up and fry
Speaker 1: the fermented beans with some oil and red pepper. It's
Speaker 1: great as a small dish to eat with rice or porridge.
Speaker 1: Really like the show and looking forward to learning more
Speaker 1: interesting facts, theories, history and stories, et cetera. All good
Speaker 1: stuff best Wendy awesome. Well, yeah, I always love to
Speaker 1: hear from from our listeners in China, and indeed I
Speaker 1: was looking at the video here these look These look great,
Speaker 1: you know, very vibrant looking. And it's also you know,
Speaker 1: Vegan recipe obviously. Yeah, all right, this one comes to
Speaker 1: us from Steve titled Invention of Beds. Hi, I'll thanks
Speaker 1: for the podcast. Only discovered it a couple of months ago,
Speaker 1: and I've been binging. I just listened to your Invention
Speaker 1: episode on beds and you were discussing sleep patterns. I'm English,
Speaker 1: but for a few years in the early aughts, I
Speaker 1: lived in uh Seville, south of Spain, down by Morocco.
Speaker 1: In the summer, in fact, most of the year, the
Speaker 1: middle part of the day is so crazy hot that
Speaker 1: it requires a siesta. This means that at least then.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it's like now, but I can't
Speaker 1: imagine it's changed the entire city, which shut down between
Speaker 1: maybe two pm and five pm. After siesta, you'd maybe
Speaker 1: go back to work for a few hours and do
Speaker 1: social activities outdoors in the evenings when it was cooler.
Speaker 1: Ten pm was a normal time to meet friends for
Speaker 1: a beer, getting to bed, maybe at three am, maybe
Speaker 1: sleeping five hours, then getting up for work. You'd supplement
Speaker 1: this with three hours siestas in the afternoon. During Cista time,
Speaker 1: it's too hot to do anything but sleep, have sex,
Speaker 1: drink somewhere shady, or go to church. I'm not religious,
Speaker 1: but those ancient, beautiful churches are always pleasingly cool inside.
Speaker 1: I was working as an English teacher, and my work
Speaker 1: day was split to allow for siesta and associated travel time.
Speaker 1: That the same was true for most workers. During siestas,
Speaker 1: shops shut, the city was silent. The saying was only
Speaker 1: mad dogs that Englishmen go out in the noonday sun.
Speaker 1: This Englishman declined to do so, but it took a
Speaker 1: while to adjust to this pattern of sleeping a few
Speaker 1: hours in the afternoon and a few more at night.
Speaker 1: I love the only mad dogs and Englishmen go out
Speaker 1: in the midday sun. Wonderful. I've heard that before, but
Speaker 1: I'd never heard of an anecdote where it directly applied
Speaker 1: anyway they could, did you? Uh? Somehow? When I when
Speaker 1: I had made the adjustment, I felt it was a
Speaker 1: healthier way to sleep, the fact that I was able
Speaker 1: to adjust to a different routine of sleeping suggests to
Speaker 1: me that perhaps our Western pattern of sleeping for a
Speaker 1: long stretch during the night is not biologically imperative but
Speaker 1: entirely cultural. Makes me wonder if there might be even
Speaker 1: better ways to manage our need for sleep. I know
Speaker 1: shift workers who struggle with night shifts and rotating shifts.
Speaker 1: The demands of capitalism are often inimical to healthy sleep,
Speaker 1: but a short sleep and a nap later seemed to
Speaker 1: work well. Perhaps there are other possibilities not yet explored. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to share my experience. Thanks for the podcast,
Speaker 1: keep them coming. Oh and I'm loving the cinema ones too,
Speaker 1: cheers Steve. Yeah, very interesting, Thanks Steve. I've definitely read
Speaker 1: about Sista culture and um specifically in Spain, but I
Speaker 1: wonder maybe are there other parts of the Mediterranean where
Speaker 1: that's more common. Um Maybe so I would love to
Speaker 1: hear about regional different regional approaches to the same problem.
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, I seem to recall when I visited
Speaker 1: Italy that it I don't know if it had to
Speaker 1: do with a Cista culture, but I do recall shops
Speaker 1: and places being closed in the middle of the day
Speaker 1: a lot. But maybe that's a coincidence. Yeah, maybe that's
Speaker 1: just lunch break. I don't know now, I know in
Speaker 1: terms of different sleep pink patterns, I think we've we've
Speaker 1: touched on this before and I've seen this, uh this
Speaker 1: discussed multiple places, the idea that maybe we're not supposed
Speaker 1: to sleep, We're not really meant to sleep all the
Speaker 1: way through the night in one giant chunk. You know
Speaker 1: that at the very least, there's supposed to be a
Speaker 1: period in which we wake up and do other things
Speaker 1: and then return to slumber um, which I find myself
Speaker 1: doing that sometimes, you know where it's like you you
Speaker 1: sleep and you wake up and you can't sleep for
Speaker 1: a little bit, so you watch the first half hour
Speaker 1: of the Return of Swamp thing, you go back to sleep.
Speaker 1: This seems to be where a lot of our our
Speaker 1: weird house cinema ideas come from. It's like often lately
Speaker 1: it seems like we're talking, You're like, well, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I woke up at two am and I watched Transfers
Speaker 1: and now here we are. Yeah. I mean if for
Speaker 1: me anyway, it's like I wake up at a time
Speaker 1: like that, my brain is not functioning well enough to
Speaker 1: do anything else, including like look at a video game
Speaker 1: or whatnot, But watching a you know, a weird movie
Speaker 1: that generally that's about the right speed for the half
Speaker 1: asleep brain and we're all thankful for it, well speaking,
Speaker 1: a weird movie. So do we have some weird how
Speaker 1: cinema specific listener mail to look at here? Yeah, we
Speaker 1: got a couple on the cinema front. One comes from Amy.
Speaker 1: Amy jumps into the ongoing Sean Connery Scottish accent in
Speaker 1: Highlander saga, which has maybe we've now gotten more listener
Speaker 1: mail about than anything else. Um, Amy says, Hi, all
Speaker 1: the ongoing interest in Sean connery Scottish accent in Highlander
Speaker 1: made me remember the audio component from my high school
Speaker 1: Russian language class. We used a text book called Russian
Speaker 1: for Everybody, and I can't remember if the audio was
Speaker 1: part of the book or not. At any rate, I
Speaker 1: remember watching videos of a Russian woman who had evidently
Speaker 1: learned English in the Southern US as she had a
Speaker 1: strange combination of Russian and Southern accents. She pronounced words
Speaker 1: with a distinct Southern drawl. Okay, so maybe this in
Speaker 1: warms the question of whether whether you would have a
Speaker 1: Scottish accent if you learned English in Scotland, you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like i've I've heard. I didn't think about
Speaker 1: this in context of Sean Connery's accent, but I think
Speaker 1: I had heard accounts of people before who had acquired
Speaker 1: a foreign language with certain accents in play, and then
Speaker 1: like people pick up on it. Like I think I
Speaker 1: had heard about something of this nature with someone who
Speaker 1: had learned I can't remember it was Japanese or Chinese,
Speaker 1: but then when they went there, went to to China, Japan,
Speaker 1: whichever the case was, Like people picked up on the
Speaker 1: fact that they had a strange um, you know, regional
Speaker 1: accent for someone who is clearly not from that region.
Speaker 1: Amy's message continues also on the subject of the Punish
Speaker 1: the Machine episodes. Whenever an electronic device isn't working, especially
Speaker 1: on the occasions when printers don't work in my job,
Speaker 1: my first thought is to unplug it and make it
Speaker 1: think about what it's done. Thanks for reading, Amy, I
Speaker 1: like that because it it, you know, the the weird
Speaker 1: anthrom morphic reasoning. They're sort of maps onto the actual
Speaker 1: best first step in troubleshooting, usually, which is turned it
Speaker 1: off and turn it back on. Yeah, but yeah, should
Speaker 1: teach it a lesson? It knows what it did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right. We have another listener mail here related to
Speaker 1: Weird House Cinema. This one comes to us via the
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind discussion module Facebook group, which
Speaker 1: is which is out there. You can you can join
Speaker 1: their listeners who engage in discussions there about anything publishing
Speaker 1: and the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed. And
Speaker 1: Ed had this to say regarding Hanuman versus seven Ultraman, Hi,
Speaker 1: Robert and Joe. As a tie who was born in
Speaker 1: the late seventies, I grew up watching this movie several times.
Speaker 1: I am surprised you guys could find and discuss it
Speaker 1: in in deep detail despite the poor translation. You have
Speaker 1: brought my nostalgic memory back today. Thank you, Ed. Oh
Speaker 1: that just warms my heart. Yeah, it was. It was great.
Speaker 1: Great to hear from from someone who observed, who watched
Speaker 1: this film. Uh you know, back back in the day. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know as as a part of thaigh culture. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like because because that that that was part of
Speaker 1: my experience was watching this and wondering what that would
Speaker 1: be like. You know, what is it like? I I
Speaker 1: guess in general. I love to hear stories like that,
Speaker 1: where the new, you know, weird film for for us often,
Speaker 1: especially as a you know, as a as an American viewer,
Speaker 1: is to someone else just like a part of the
Speaker 1: fabric of their childhood. Um, Like the Jack Frost film
Speaker 1: is A is a great example of this um that
Speaker 1: we've you know, discussed in passing on the show before
Speaker 1: Russo finished movie. Yeah. Yeah, and I remember meeting, um,
Speaker 1: somebody from the Czech Republic who was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: they showed this every Christmas. This was our Christmas movie,
Speaker 1: you know, and and so it's it's I love I
Speaker 1: love stories like that. Yeah, And it also makes you
Speaker 1: reflect on how there are lots of things that you
Speaker 1: watched when you were a child, and because you were
Speaker 1: exposed to them often and early, they seem utterly mundane
Speaker 1: or normal to you. But if somebody who didn't have
Speaker 1: that exposure, like cultural or just exposure early in their
Speaker 1: life came across them, they might seem tremendously weird to them. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean, certainly there's a lot of tremendously weird films
Speaker 1: that that I feel like we we all watched growing up,
Speaker 1: but they're just a part of the fabric of our childhood.
Speaker 1: Uh so we we often don't realize how how how
Speaker 1: strange they are. Like sometimes it might be interesting to
Speaker 1: get a a you know, a Russian adult today or
Speaker 1: a tie adult today to watch the Disney movies that
Speaker 1: we saw as a kid and say, like, what what
Speaker 1: does this look like to you? Oh? Man? Yeah, if
Speaker 1: there's anybody out there who can speak to that. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, are you someone who was not exposed to
Speaker 1: sort of a mess American and or Western children's films
Speaker 1: until much later? And then and then in doing so,
Speaker 1: what was that like? I mean, we don't even have
Speaker 1: to go like Western, Like you see huge differences between
Speaker 1: people who grew up, you know, watching American television versus
Speaker 1: British television. Um, you know, things that are just like
Speaker 1: common touchstones, Like there's apparently a film or a TV
Speaker 1: series and I can't remember which called Stick of the
Speaker 1: Dump that is a that is I don't know, not
Speaker 1: something Americans know about for the most part, I think,
Speaker 1: but but for for many British listeners, like, yeah, there's
Speaker 1: this story about a kid who meets in Neandertal that
Speaker 1: lives in the garbage dump and that's just a part
Speaker 1: of what you grow up with. Whereas you know, I
Speaker 1: I hear that as a it's a grown person. I'm like,
Speaker 1: that just sounds really weird. Why would you rear a
Speaker 1: child on such a strange concept. Yeah, even considering how
Speaker 1: you know, because of shared language and all that, how
Speaker 1: close British and American culture are, Like how weird Doctor
Speaker 1: who is too? Americans who encounter it for the first time,
Speaker 1: but like, you know, British kids who grew up watching it,
Speaker 1: it seems very mundane and normal to them. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I wonder how much of this we're we're getting away from,
Speaker 1: or we're getting into weirder areas I guess where parents
Speaker 1: have more power to h to curate what their child,
Speaker 1: what weird things their child are into. You know, it's
Speaker 1: not just whatever is on television. In some cases, it's
Speaker 1: like we're cherry picking, like the strangest and most beloved
Speaker 1: things from our past and inflicting them on the children. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Uh that I wonder exactly how best to frame it,
Speaker 1: But that is something that could be an interesting episode
Speaker 1: in some way. I don't know what angle to approach it, really,
Speaker 1: but like the phenomenon of Okay, so you're an adult
Speaker 1: who remembers, say, the Dark Crystal from your childhood or
Speaker 1: something like that is something that was absolutely magical that
Speaker 1: you just loved and you still have all these fond,
Speaker 1: nostalgic memories for and you see the beauty of it
Speaker 1: and you want to make your kid love it too.
Speaker 1: What if they don't? What if you show it to
Speaker 1: them and they just don't get it? Do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Oh? Oh yeah, I mean I I
Speaker 1: know from experience what that's like. And you just have
Speaker 1: to you know, I guess you just have to roll
Speaker 1: with it and realize, you know, they're not gonna love everything.
Speaker 1: And if they love, if they take a shining to
Speaker 1: you know, half the stuff that that you loved growing up,
Speaker 1: then you're you're lucky that you could to experience it again.
Speaker 1: And if they're not into it, well then you just
Speaker 1: keep that just for you. You did. You did get
Speaker 1: lucky with the Dark Crystal though, right, Yeah? But that
Speaker 1: one was that one was hard. The Dark Crystal is
Speaker 1: not one that he seems jazz to necessarily watch again
Speaker 1: because it is kind of dark and serious in tone. Um,
Speaker 1: But there are other things that I either haven't been
Speaker 1: able to convince him to to give a shot to um,
Speaker 1: you know, or I just maybe I waited too long,
Speaker 1: or maybe it's not time yet. You know, that's Timing
Speaker 1: is everything, and every kid is different, especially when you
Speaker 1: get into some of the you know, the darker bits
Speaker 1: of media. You know, like when is the right time
Speaker 1: to show a child the never Ending Story? You know,
Speaker 1: you don't want to go too early, you don't want
Speaker 1: to go too late. I don't know, there's like a
Speaker 1: sweet spot. But you want them you still want them
Speaker 1: to feel it. That's the other weird thing about exposing
Speaker 1: these these these types of of properties to our kids.
Speaker 1: It's like there's part of this weird voyeuristic um thing
Speaker 1: there where we want to we're experiencing it again through them,
Speaker 1: but wherever mindful, Like what are they going to how
Speaker 1: are they going to react when they find out that
Speaker 1: the Darth Vader is Luke's father? You know, how are
Speaker 1: they going to react when that when when the when
Speaker 1: a tray use horse sinks into the swamp of despair
Speaker 1: never Ending story? You know? Um even you know, even
Speaker 1: though we we don't want them to hurt or anything
Speaker 1: like that, but you know, we it's like we we're
Speaker 1: watching them engage in the power of story and the
Speaker 1: power of myth and and part of it is is
Speaker 1: is anticipating engaging their reaction, you know, watching them watch
Speaker 1: it but not yet not Stephen King's head way too
Speaker 1: ear with my kid, I don't know. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know kids that are already super into Penny Wise. The
Speaker 1: clown that are that are about his age, so who know,
Speaker 1: it varies from child to job. What's the right age
Speaker 1: for the Tommy Knockers who? I don't know. I never
Speaker 1: made it through the Tommy Knockers. I think they're making
Speaker 1: it again though, right there are another version of they've
Speaker 1: like run that dry on Stephen King material to adapt,
Speaker 1: They're going into Tommy Knockers. I mean, I think just
Speaker 1: everything gets snatched up, right, Uh, I don't know. The
Speaker 1: weird thing with with king properties is, Yeah, it seems
Speaker 1: like there's there's a lot of competition to to make
Speaker 1: and remake all the novels, but there's still there's so
Speaker 1: many great short stories that haven't really been adapted outside
Speaker 1: of the you know, the agreement that he has. Uh,
Speaker 1: what is it the Dollar Club where anybody can any
Speaker 1: film student can make a Stephen King adaptation as as
Speaker 1: a student film. Um that you know, he had so
Speaker 1: many great weird short stories that I feel like could
Speaker 1: be revisited. Oh yeah, totally. Anyway, I guess we should
Speaker 1: probably wrap it up. Yeah, we're gonna go and close
Speaker 1: out the mail for this episode of Stuff to Blow
Speaker 1: Your Mind listener mail, but right in because we'll be
Speaker 1: doing it again next Monday. We'd love to hear your
Speaker 1: response to topics we covered in this episode. Response to UH,
Speaker 1: recent or old Stuff to Blow Your Mind episodes, episodes
Speaker 1: of Weird House Cinema. It's all fair game, so just
Speaker 1: keep it coming. Yeah, send him on in Stuff the
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Speaker 1: That's where we put it all out. Just rate, review
Speaker 1: and subscribe if you have the chance. Huge things. As
Speaker 1: always to our wonderful audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If
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Speaker 1: for the future, just to say hello, you can email
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