solareena

My comments pertain to the interview with Jen, and unfortunately not dog crap or body rapping. I was interested to hear your comments about traditional books versus e-books. I am old school in my book reading - I love paper and ink - the feel, scent, (and the joy of highlighting)! I, too, collect unusual books. I feel that the quality of publishing is compromised due to e-publications. It homogenizes the format, and from a production standpoint, reduces the time that could be spent on editing, rather than formatting for electronic usage. Long live books with real pages.

THANK YOU, TIG! I was so happy to learn of your disdain for pop words. I won't befriend someone who uses the word "awesome." I stopped dating a woman who turned to me and said, "What evs." I agree with you and your girlfriend -it's an indication of someone who isn't able to articulate with his/her own words/thoughts.

Tig - Regarding GEDs... I left high school one month before turning 16. A few years later, I took my GED and went to a community college for one semester. I then wrote a lengthy admissions letter to Connecticut College, and scheduled an interview. I was accepted with 95% of my tuition on scholarship, and graduated with a triple major. I took tooooo long of a time off to paint and wander, then I applied for the PhD program at Brown. I come from such a poor, nonacademic background, that I didn't even know Brown was an Ivy League university. I was accepted - rec'd my MA, then had a huge issue with my homophobic, sexist advisor who refused to acknowledge the persecution of gays during the Holocaust. I promptly taught my own section on it, had a screaming match with him...and alas, walked out for good. Phuck dat. Anyway - this rambling is all to say, you, too, can get your PhD and maybe quit before your last few years, and hey maybe even become penniless from student loans, and drive a '95 Miata with metallic KISS stickers that cover up all of the rust spots.

Great show. I'm curious as to Sasha's opinion on the fairly recent addition to academic topics - "Porn Studies." Until this podcast, I didn't think about the potential feminist argument. In my job as an editor at an academic press, I've worked on many Porn Studies books, and while the content is always scholarly, the photos at times, strike me as gratuitous - yet they're under an academic umbrella (some so well endowed that they hardly fit under it).

I misheard the conversation in the beginning regarding Kyle's balls, and it turned out that the world has a new superhero (in my head, at least): Los Grotum "Saving the world, one ball at a time." Perhaps, then, his superpower is that he slays villains by dancing.

Frankly I think the listeners need an explanation from Kyle and the crew for allowing such an ignorant, hateful cretan on the show. Regarding AIDS - "If you're straight and white, you don't have it..." I don't care if that creature was using irony or not, doubtful because of the intelligence factor; his statements were hateful and completely false. Of course everyone has a right to an opinion, but to give credence to such remarks by airing them either as knowledge or entertainment is shameful. I've listened to every episode, and had been a fan, but after this, unless some sort of explanation or retraction is made, I'm done. I refuse to support a broadcast that allows ignorant dimwits with an inflated sense of ego to spout such hatred. Tig has brought new audiences to this podcast because of her recent appearances on NPR, etc. If you want to maintain a diverse following, you need to put more thoughtfulness into your guest selection, clearly. As a fellow former Catholic, former CT resident with a mother fixation, I'm disappointed in you, Kyle. PS - His comment about using Wikipedia to learn about the Middle East was actually the only humorous line in his entire segment, sadly.

Doing a marathon watching of every podcast and I'm sure these notes from old podcasts will never been seen - but here I go. My claim to fame is that I met Bill Clinton with MY fly down. We had a brief chat and he put his arm around me, and when I left and walked out to my car, I phoned my mother to tell her about my Clinton conversation. I suddenly felt a cool gust of wind near my crotch. I looked down and my fly was wide open, and not only that, but I was wearing Fred Flintstone "yabba dabba doo" boxers. A few years later, I met Sarah Palin in person. She came over to me and I was astounded as I saw her walking toward me. Momentarily I thought - "Is my fly down again and she see's Russia from the window?"

I thought David did a fantastic job. Very interesting and I enjoyed the conversation with his mother. I really liked the concept of multiple guests because it gave a much broader perspective on the issue. Maybe someday you could think about two guests with opposing viewpoints on an issue. They wouldn't necessarily need to be in the hatch at the same time, but even if they were done in sequence, it might provoke a lot of thought and commentary. Just a few weeks ago my best friend passed away and we used to speak about the impact that meditation/zen, etc., had on health. That might be an interesting pro-con topic. Medication with Meditation!

This "artist" is incredibly ignorant. He is a technician, not an artist. I went to college with a major in painting, and for three years developed my technical skills so that I could draw a person, landscape, still life - whatever, anything - almost precisely as it appeared. My professors taught us that underneath good (ie sincere) art, there are skills. In my fourth year, I began painting abstract art based upon nature. All with an underlying structure developed from my years of realistic drawing and painting. i wanted to develop my own image vocabulary and do paintings that anyone could interpret as meaningful to his/HERself. My first solo in CT caught the attention of the NYTimes, and I was in the Sunday edition. I have had only 5 solos in the past two decades, but continue to paint. Your speaker is pretty clueless about "art." Disappointing show for encouraging such uniformed speakers to vomit their ignorance over the proverbial airwaves. The speaker didn't say that he didn't like abstract art - he implied that it wasn't art - and that's where he's painfully ill-informed.

Tig - Re: Old Woman in a Shoe - There are a couple of theories regarding the true meaning. I tend to believe that it alluded to King George II and his contemporaneous political issues. He had eight children. Another theory is that there's a connection between shoes and giving birth. Not sure of the origin. I believe it continues today when shoes are affixed to the cars of newlywed breeders couples. Instead of WikiLeaks, maybe we should go back to composing nursery rhymes with hidden meanings, i.e. "there was an old bear, with slicked back hair, who created some friction, with his topless fishin'." FYI - ditto on education. I left high school when I was 15 years old. Never returned, never took an "SAT", etc., and ended up going to grad school at Brown. When I did go to college, I was better prepared than the vast majority of my classmates.

Cannot believe someone mentioned Chung Ling Soo! I presented a paper on Chinese Yellowface Magic at a conference at Yale a few years ago. Soo featured prominently in my research. A number of magicians have died during the bullet-catching trick (surprise, surprise). My fav is the guy who was killed by flying shards from his magic wand. Doesn't every gay male in America want to go out that way? The magican had used the wand to cram the ammunition into the gun, and the wand broke. When the gun fired, the splinters came at 'em full force. Anyway - there was a huge fad for awhile in the late 19th and early 20th century for white men to put on yellow makeup and pretend they were Chinese. I could go on - but I'll stop and say it's a fascinating topic and reflection of culture and gender at the time.

Ohhh incredibly sexist comment by David. Underlying assumption that having many shoes is strictly a female thing. What does the number of shoes have to do with feminism? I'm a lesbian who cares nothing for fashion. Essentially, I wear burlap that is left over from Columbian coffee bags and don't even own a comb; I loathe collars because they're too complicated to wear. BUT the one item of apparel for which I do care, is Converse Chucks. I never throw them out, and I own over 20 pairs. So what are trying to tell me, David? That because I own these shoes, I must somehow be subservient to men?? I know! Let's do a test. I'll put on my heavy, leather, studded pair, and you can bend over.

Tig - I think you were referring to Brian Keith in Family Affair, not Stacey Keach. I understand the confusion. Both have led fairly tragic lives. Brian Keith had terminal lung cancer and emphysema. His daughter committed suicide and a few weeks later, Brian Keith also committed suicide. Stacey Keach was in the films "Man with the Screaming Brain," "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America," and played "3V3" in the film, "Galaxy Hunter." Also the hairlip thing.

No, Tig - She wipes with a bologna sandwich, or perhaps a Whopper is more appropriate.

The poofy thing in the back of a dress to which Tig refered is a "bustle." I've acted in a couple of period theatrical productions and had to wear a bustle. I'm a lesbian. Ugh. Take it from me - a lesbian wearing a bustle is more unnatural than a meth head with a spare toothbrush.