Category: Off The Chain Episodes

Episodes of Off the Chain

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Episode 27: Ode to Summer, Great Moments in Advertising, Small Talk, OTC Money, Would You Rather?, Unchained Melodies: Unrequited Love Edition, and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their old friend Howard. Together the three of them discuss their shared love of water parks and share recent child-related misadventures in public pools, cover some great moments in 1990s advertisements, cover the eight benefits of saunas, what it’s like to write political speeches for a dishonest moron, and the return (to Netflix) of Reading Rainbow. They also introduce a new segment, OTC Money, in which they give advice for buying a car, play a few rounds of would you rather, share heartbreaking melodies of love and loss by Dr. Hook, Van Morrison, Biz Markie, Pepe Aguilar, Phil Collins, and The Contours, and Howard shares some book wisdom from the storyteller Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years about how to make your life into a meaningful story.

Links

Great Moments in Advertising

Wendy’s — Where’s the Beef?

Listerine — Tarzan Song

Mountain Dew — Do the Dew

Honda — The Cog

Small Talk

Unchained Melodies

This week we tackled songs on the theme of ‘unrequited love.’ Watch out, there were some real heartbreakers.

Dr. Hook — Sylvia’s Mother

Van Morrison — Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do

Biz Markie — Just a Friend

Pepe Aguilar — Directo al Corazon (Por Unas Monedas)

Phil Collins — Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_qgSs65-mY

The Contours — Do You Love Me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhqmD1aVuNw

Book Wisdom

Howard chose this week’s passage from Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

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Episode 26: Summer Fashion, OTC Friendship, Unchained Melodies: 90s Hip-hop One-hit Wonder Edition, and Master & Commander

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This week Dave and Steel are joined once again by Dave’s nursing compatriot Katie. Together the trio discuss the latest in summer fashions (including the longstanding battle for GOAT between seersucker and white linen), Off the Chain friendships, share great timeless music from Nate Dogg and Warren G, Tag Team, Wreckx-N-Effect, Coolio, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Vanilla Ice, Partners in Kryme, and Wee Papa Girl Rappers, and dave drops some amicable hilarity from Patrick O’Brien’s Master and Commander series.

Links

Summer Fashion Musts

Here’s Steel’s & Dave’s guide to this summer’s must-have’s

  • Seersucker [classic]
  • White Linen Suits [will literally never go out of style. God himself wears these.]
  • Polo shirts with animals embroidered on them (like Izod, Lacoste, etc.)
  • Any male short with at least 4 inches of skin above the knee
  • Espadrilles
  • DIY/Home-made jorts and tank tops
  • Overalls. Just great for people of all ages. But not sexy overalls. Just regular ones.
  • Athletic shorts +black crew socks + slip-on men’s sandals
  • Mom jeans. High waisted, of course. Bonus points for pleats or acid/stone wash.
  • Puff paint t-shirts, XXL or bigger.

OTC Friendship

  • Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin. Who are these guys? Only the greatest friends in all of literature, that’s all.
  • Han Solo and Chewbacca. Renegade and wookie who owes a life debt. What more could you ask for.
  • Seinfeld and Costanza. The very model of neurotic, outraged, nebbish friendship.
  • Elliot and ET. Interspecies comraderie at its finest.
  • Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat. Not all friendships are healthy. Remember that.

Steel also wants to recommend Charlotte Delbo’s amazing Holocaust memoir, Auschwitz and After.

Unchained Melodies

Nate Dogg & Warren G — Regulate

Tag Team — Whoomp, There it Is

Wreckx-N-Effect — Rump Shaker

Coolio featuring L.V.– Gangsta’s Paradise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGbzYlnz7c

Sir Mix-A-Lot — Baby Got Back

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony — Tha Crossroads

Vanilla Ice — Ninja Rap

Partners in Kryme — Turtle Power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YceSXH9kRrE

Wee Papa Girl Rappers — Wee Rule

Book Wisdom

This week Dave (and Steel) read two passages demonstrating the literary friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin in Patrick O’Brien’s Master and Commander series.

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Episode 25: Summer Movies, On Death and Dying, Ask OTC, Unchained Melodies: Funeral Music, and Preparing for Death

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On this week’s episode, Steel and Dave are joined by Katie, Dave’s friend and fellow nurse. Together, the trio discusses favorite summer blockbusters from their adolescence, discuss their views on death, modern medicine, and what constitutes a good death, answer listener questions (in which Dave confesses his most embarrassing medical secret) and endure another of Katie’s lightning round of questions. They end the episode with great music from Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Silver Jews, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, Neil Diamond, The Weather Girls, and Lisa Hannigan, and some deep wisdom from the Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus’ treatise “Preparing for Death”.

Links

Summer Movies

  • In God’s Hands [Steel]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzenjcClUBU
  • The Goonies [Katie]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFEfHCJG4G4
  • Star Wars: The Phantom Menace [Dave]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD7bpG-zDJQ

 On Death and Dying

Unchained Melodies

Bonnie “Prince” Billy — I See A Darkness


Version Two:

Silver Jews — Random Rules

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole — Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Neil Diamond — Hell Yeah

The Weather Girls — It’s Raining Men

Lisa Hannigan — Safe Travels, Don’t Die

Book Wisdom

Today’s passage came from Desiderius Erasmus’ classic treatise De Praeparatione ad Mortem [Preparing for Death].

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Episode 24: Life Hacks, Small Talk, Expert Testimony: Mississippi, Duke Basketball, and Buffalo!, OTC Authors: Thomas Nashe, Unchained Melodies, and The Genealogy of Morals

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by Steel’s graduate school buddy Eric. Together the trio share some recent life hacks, discuss the New Horizons spacecraft’s visit to Pluto (and its cargo of human remains), Sepp Blatter’s pope-blessed gold cross, and the strange phenomena of enormously popular online videos of other people playing video games. We grill Eric about all things Mississippi, his past life as an executive at Steve & Barry’s and a proud inhabitant of the Krzyzewskiville tent village, and his longstanding love for the Buffalo Bills, and Eric introduces us to the wild world of late 16th century English satire via the esteemed personages of Thomas Nashe and Gabriel Harvey. We round the episode off with great Mississippi-connected music from Bob Dylan, The Weeks, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Mavis Staples, and Mountain, and Eric drops some book wisdom from Friedrich Nietzsche about the dangers of believing that we can achieve objectivity.

Links

Life Hacks

Small Talk

Expert Testimony

Thomas Nashe

Unchained Melodies

Bob Dylan — Oxford Town

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSf_n8RispY

The Weeks — Dear Bo Jackson

Muddy Waters — I Can’t Be Satisfied

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSF-T5gwdxU

B.B. King — 3 O’Clock Blues

Mavis Staples — Down in Mississippi

Mountain — Mississippi Queen

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage of Book Wisdom comes from nineteenth century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Genealogy of Morals.

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Episode 23: NBA Draft Fashion, Jurassic World, Lost the Plot: Escape Plan, Overlooked Biblical Names, OTC Hall of Fame, Unchained Melodies, and The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro

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This week Dave and Steel discuss highlights in NBA draft fashion, Dave’s opinion of the film Jurassic World, play another version of Lost the Plot with the Stallone/Schwarzenegger film Escape Plan, share some unjustly forgotten Biblical baby names, induct the newest member of the Off the Chain Hall of Fame, share some great America-inspired music from John Wayne, Ray Charles, Neil Diamond, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Brother Ali, and James Brown, and drop some moving wisdom from a famous July 4th speech by Frederick Douglass.

Links

NBA Draft Fashion

Lost the Plot: Escape Plan

Biblical Baby Names

Recent trends in baby Bible names.

OTC: Hall of Fame

Dave inducted The Gummi Bear, and not Haribo founder Hans Riegel.

Unchained Melodies

John Wayne — Why I Love Her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuteyiYN6js

Ray Charles — America, the Beautiful

Neil Diamond — America

John Mellencamp — Pink Houses

Bruce Springsteen — Born in the U.S.A.

Brother Ali — Uncle Sam Goddam

James Brown — Living in America

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage of Book Wisdom came from Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro“

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Episode 22: Adventures in Homeschooling, Small Talk, Expert Testimony: Parenting and Creativity, Everyday Heroes, Unchained Melodies, and I Hate To Leave This Beautiful Place

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This week Dave was out, so Steel had to hold down the fort without him. Fortunately, Rose and Emeline were available, and together the three of them had a delightful time, discussing Rose and Emeline’s homeschooling experiences, a newly discovered connection between the brain and the lymphatic system, the survival ability of the word ‘mother’, and the surging greatness that is emoji. The three of them also discussed some of the challenges of parenting and their struggles to balance familial commitments with the desire for a creative life, what it’s been like raising boys, the style era they’d feel most at home in, and three everyday heroes (all women) they wanted to praise. In this week’s edition of Unchained Melodies, the focus was on songs sung in languages other than English, and they shared great sounds from Fran Jeffries, Peter Pan Complex, Ana Tijoux, Natalia LaFourcade, Glen Check, and Super Furry Animals, before Rose shared some moving book wisdom from an Inuit folklorist recounted in Howard Norman’s memoir I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place.

Links

Small Talk

Everyday Heroes

Unchained Melodies

Fran Jeffries — Meglio Stasera

Peter Pan Complex — 자꾸만 눈이 마주쳐 (Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)

Ana Tijoux — 1977

Natalia LaFourcade — Aventurera

GD & TOP – 집에 가지마 (Glen Check Remix)

Super Furry Animals — Ymaelodi Â’r Ymylon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdUx2SYOiEk

Book Wisdom

This week’s edition of book wisdom was read by Rose, and came from Howard Norman’s memoir I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place.

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Episode 21: Pickup Basketball, Assigned Reading, Expert Testimony: Urban Planning, Unchained Melodies, and Those Winter Sundays

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their friend Spencer. Together the trio discusses Steel and Spencer’s pickup basketball escapades, give reports on their recent reading (books by Thomas Pynchon, Dan Simmons, and Sabine Heinlein) and give each other new reading assignments (books by Frank Herbert, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Ignazio Silone, Brandon Sanderson, Daniel Kahneman, and Alexander Dolgun), Dave & Steel ask Spencer all their burning questions about urban planning and transportation issues, share great music by Dawn Landes, Saintseneca, Christopher Paul Stelling, Strand of Oaks, Adult Mom, and Konono No. 1, and drop a beautiful poetic tribute to fathers from the twentieth-century American poet Robert Hayden.

Links

Assigned Reading

For Dave:

  • Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy epic Warbreaker [from Steel]
  • Ignazio Silone’s classic Italian novel Bread and Wine [from Spencer]

For Spencer:

For Steel:

  • Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic Dune.
  • Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile

Expert Testimony

Portland’s spending on bike infrastructure relative to the cost of 1 mile of urban freeway, as checked by Polifact.

Unchained Melodies

Dawn Landes — Straight Lines

Saintseneca — Or or No

Christopher Paul Stelling — Every Last Extremist

Strand of Oaks — Kill Dragon

Adult Mom — Survival

Konono No. 1 — Lufuala Ndongo

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage of Book Wisdom was Robert Hayden’s moving tribute to his father, the poem “Those Winter Sundays.” Fathers everywhere, we thank you.

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Episode 20: The Tennant, OTC Time Travel, Ask OTC, Brother vs. Brother, Unchained Melodies, and Richard Feynman

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by Jon, the infamous younger brother of Alan, their guest last week. Together, the trio discusses Jon’s acting chops, amateur physicists and Jon’s impressively detailed theory of time travel (first developed when he was in the 6th grade!), answer listener questions about dating, The Hulk, space travel, and NASA’s dreamiest astronaut, hear Jon’s versions of the family stories Alan shared last week, talk about their favorite video games (old and new), share nerdly music from They Might Be Giants, Socalled, The Aquabats, Bombadil, The Uncluded, and the Thomas Was Alone video game soundtrack, and share some book wisdom from the illustrious physicist and science popularizer Richard Feynman.

Links

The Tennant [The Tenant]

The Tennant’s End

OTC Science

  • Dave loves the idea of amateur physicists. See here and here and here for more on why.
  • Peter Vranas’ faculty page (see the research page to read about his thoughts on the retrosuicide paradox).

Ask OTC

OTC Video Games

Favorite Game of All Time

Favorite Game Currently

Unchained Melodies

They Might Be Giants — Purple Toupee

Socalled — Work with What You Got

The Aquabats — Cat with Two Heads

Bombadil — Laundromat

The Uncluded — Delicate Cycle

Book Wisdom

This week’s book wisdom was taken primarily from Richard Feynman’s book The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, which collected three of his best known lectures on science and human understanding.

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Episode 19: Hug Daddy Game, Top 5 Norwegian Words, Small Talk, Expert Testimony: Ask the Marketer, Brother vs. Brother, Unchained Melodies, and East of Eden

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their old friend Alan. Dave introduces the two men to a game he plays with his daughters called the “Hug Daddy Game,” Alan shares his fave favorite Norwegian words, and they run through a segment of small talk, discussing the latest FIFA scandals, Alan’s love of a well-edited Hobbit remake, and Nate DiMeo’s fantastic podcast the Memory Palace. We then present a very special feature, “Ask The Marketer,” in which we present several difficult to market products to Alan, a professional marketer, and he explains how he’d market these increasingly repulsive brands/products, following which we share great music about fictional characters from The Flaming Lips, The Brunettes, Mumford and Sons, The Spin Doctors, Suicide, and Duck Tales, and Alan closes the episode with some book wisdom from John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.

Links

Small Talk

Unchained Melodies

The Flaming Lips — Waitin’ for Superman

The Brunettes — Hulk is Hulk

Mumford and Sons — Timshel

The Spin Doctors — Jimmy Olsen’s Blues

Suicide — Ghost Rider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDKGohwlrZ4

Duck Tales — Theme Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUxuvs9vhKg

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage came from chapter 13 of John Steinbeck’s masterful novel East of Eden.

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Episode 18: Name of the Year, OTC Vacations, To the Limits, Unchained Melodies: Fight Edition, and White Noise

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This week Dave and Steel offer their congratulations to the 2015 Name of the Year (won by Idaho’s finest citizen!), discuss the allure of road trips, their dream vacations and vacation dreams, and are joined by Dave’s wife Arianne for a special To the Limits segment, in which the trio discusses Born to Run, Arianne’s visit to the Tarahumara tribe in Northern Mexico, and Aron Ralston, the man whose experiences inspired the film 127 Hours. Dave and Steel also try to answer two very important questions in a lengthy segment of Unchained Melodies which features music by Spoon, Mötley Crüe, Dizzee Rascal, Ratatat, The Gipsy Kings, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Okkervil River, and Stylophonic, and Dave drops some book wisdom from the great Don DeLillo.

Links

Name of the Year

Our sincerest congratulations to Amanda Miranda Panda, the 2015 Name of the Year. You’ve made Caldwell, Idaho very proud, Ms. Miranda Panda. Very proud, indeed.

OTC Vacations

To the Limits

  • Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run, which features the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico.
  • Some photos from Arianne’s trip to visit the Tarahumara people in 2006:
    IMG_0339
    A landscape in the Tarahumara’s native homeland.

    100_0152_412
    A Tarahumara male. Notice the colorful shirt and plain white skirt, well suited for running.
  • Aron Ralston’s story, as reported by the St. Petersburg Times.

Unchained Melodies

Spoon — I Turn My Camera On

Mötley Crüe — Kickstart My Heart

Dizzee Rascal — Fix Up, Look Sharp

Ratatat — Loud Pipes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iexoDhvwGbo

The Gipsy Kings — Bamboleo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mifnMC_Kn1Q

Rodrigo y Gabriela — Hanuman

Okkervil River — Last Long Song For Now

Stylophonic — If Everybody in the World Loved Everybody in the World

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage of Book Wisdom comes from the section in Don DeLillo’s White Noise about the ‘most photographed barn in America’.