Tag: Book Wisdom

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Episode 43: Our Favorite Things

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This week Dave and Steel take a page from the Oprah playbook and discuss some of their favorite things from 2015. They also tell some stories about their kids, share great music from their favorite musicians: Pavement, Damien Jurado, Wilco, and M. Ward, and Steel reads George Oppen’s poem “Psalm.”

We’re going to be taking next week off, so enjoy this one for the next little while. Here’s our plan for the rest of the year: on Christmas Eve we’ll release a very special present: Dave’s 2015 family spoken word Christmas album, and we’ll have a New Year’s Eve episode with the year in review (our Best of 2015 episode). Hope you all have a safe, loving December.

Links

Our Favorite Things

Beverage

Live Performance Experience

Penis Shaped Bread Tridents

  • Dave – The one Oprah recommends. The best review I saw was by Adam W:

    For years, I’ve searched the internet for assorted-size bread penises. When I have found them, they’re either way too expensive or uncircumcised. Well, now I don’t have to worry about that. This is one amazing bread penis set. The best part is the single penis with two heads that tangles itself to form the base of this treat. I can’t wait to gobble down every inch of this.

  • Steel – I’m partial to the bread penises baked by WeedPriest, a former Subway employee [Steel]

Salt

Mail order Catalog

Animal

  • Dave – Giraffe
  • Steel – Otter or capybara

    Month

    • Dave – May
    • Steel – December

Matching Family Pajama Set

 

Hat for a dog

 

Dance Party Song

  • Dave – Lotus Flower – Radiohead
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8
  • Steel – Kiss – Prince

Place to take the kids on walks/outings

Poem

  • Dave – that one about the guy in WWII talking to the shop keeper [it’s by Charles Reznikoff — ed. note]
  • Steel – Psalm – George Oppen

Local Attraction

Footwear

  • Steel – Oliberte shoes
  • Dave – Socks

Unchained Melodies: Favorite Musicians Edition

Book Wisdom

Steel shared his favorite poem: George Oppen’s “Psalm”

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Episode 42: Engerland, Oh Engerland

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This week Dave and Steel were joined by their old friend Dan to discuss the joys and virtues of the North of England, where each of the three served an LDS mission in the early 2000s. We talked about England for a long time, which was probably cathartic for all of us. Dan also did a great round of Expert Testimony: answering questions about weightlifting, hair care, clean energy business models, Middle Eastern food and weather women, and boxing, and we all shared great British Invasion music from The Rolling Stones, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Joe Cocker, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, and Lindisfarne and Steel read the Philip Larkin poem “The Explosion”.

Links

Unchained Melodies: British Invasion

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage of book wisdom was Philip Larkin’s gorgeous poem “The Explosion“

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Episode 41: College Memories

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On this week’s episode, we reunited with two old college friends, Matt Howard and Jarom Sidwell. The four of us shared stories of our undergrad adventures, talked about our favorite early morning cartoons and breakfast cereals, caught up with Jarom, who gave up a Hollywood animation career to spend more time with his young family, played tearjerkers from animated films, and heard some book wisdom from C. Terry Warner’s The Bonds that Make Us Free.

Links

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Episode 40: Characters

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Dave’s old neighbor Rosie joins us for our latest episode, in which we discuss times we pretended to be something we weren’t, share some small talk stories featuring some incredible characters, describe some of our most memorable literary personas, take some ‘everyday questions’ with Rosie, play great songs by The Cure, Led Zeppelin, Phish, Jefferson Airplane, Bruce Springsteen, and Loggins & Messina, and hear some book wisdom from Benjamin Hoff’s wonderful little book The Tao of Pooh.

Links

Small Talk

OTC Literary Characters

Unchained Melodies

Book Wisdom

Rosie shared the foreward to Benjamin Hoff’s philosophical classic The Tao of Pooh.

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Episode 39: In Praise of Youth

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their friend Spencer. Together the three of them catch up on old reading assignments, talk about child prodigies, debate whether various prominent public figures peaked early or late in their career, play youth-themed music by the Jackson 5, Hanson, Laura Marling, Big Star, Peter Tosh, and Cat Stevens and Dave shares some heartbreaking book wisdom from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Links

Wunderkinder: Child Prodigies

OTC Debate: Picasso or Cezanne

University of Chicago economist David Galenson wrote a book called Old Masters and Young Geniuses, in which he theorized that there are two types of creative minds: “Old Masters” and “Young Geniuses.” He argued that some people (like Picasso) hit their creative peak relatively quickly with an intense burst of production in their youth. Other geniuses (like Cezanne) peak later in life, after a lifetime of tinkering and amassing experience. We decided to debate whether various public figures were Picassos or Cezannes.

Unchained Melodies: In Praise of Youth Edition

Book Wisdom

This week Dave shared a passage from Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel The Road.

Featured image by Rosino

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Episode 37: Owning It

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This week Dave and Steel are joined once again by Dave’s old neighbor Matt Brown. Together the trio discusses Matt’s vinyl collection, the best and worst American sports teams owners in recent memory, give their recommendations for book of the year, play great music by Pavement, Jonathan Candido, Andrew W.K., The Baseball Project, and Barrett Strong, and share book wisdom from Don DeLillo’s first novel, Americana.

Links

Recommended Record Labels

OTC Sport Team Owners

BASEBALL

BAD

GOOD

  • Bill Veeck, the best owner of all time. Just watch the first 2 minutes of this if you need proof:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6pUm5SHfMA

FOOTBALL

BAD

GOOD

BASKETBALL

BAD

  • Donald Sterling [LA Clippers]. This guy’s whole life. Holy crap.

GOOD

  • Steve Ballmer [LA Clippers]. Amazing everything. THIS COMPANY YAAAAAAAAAAAASSSS!
  • Jim Dolan [NY Knicks]. Amazing musician, bizarre friendship with Isiah Thomas
  • Mikhail Prokhorov [Brooklyn Nets]. Just read this. Yikes.
  • Ozzie and Daniel Silna [Spirits of St. Louis]. These brothers and former ABA team owners worked out a deal guaranteeing them a fixed share of TV money in perpetuity for giving up their team. Best legal deal of all time?

Books of the Year

Unchained Melodies: Sports Owner Theme Songs

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage came from Don DeLillo’s 1971 debut novel, Americana.

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Episode 36: Wonka!

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by Dave’s old neighbor Matt Brown. Together the trio discuss their coldest ever nights, cover some important small talk topics (French Scrabble champions who don’t speak French, achievement beards and Bastrop, Texas’ Chicken Refuge), have the first ever segment of OTC Debate, and play great Wonka-approved music from Mary Lou Lord & Semisonic, The Flaming Lips, The Silver Jews, Cibo Matto, Woods, and Abner Jay before Dave closes the episode with some book wisdom from Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Links

Small Talk

OTC Debate

Topics Covered:

  • Willy Wonka: artistic genius or weird candy guy?
  • Poems should rhyme or maybe they don’t have to?
  • Cursive: let it die or teach the children?
  • Apes or Bears?
  • Kenny Rogers or Dolly Parton?
  • Magic the Gathering: cool or uncool?
  • Phil Collins or Peter Gabriel?
  • Turtles or tortoises?
  • Should the NCAA pay its student/athletes?

Listen to the episode for our hot takes on these pressing issues!

Unchained Melodies: Songs Willy Wonka Would Dig

Book Wisdom

This week’s book wisdom comes from Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Featured image by JaredFrazer

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Episode 35: We've Got You Covered!

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This week Dave and Steel bring Zac back on the show to discuss the joys and terrors of fairs (County and State alike), the golden era of Pauly Shore films, a guy who surfed a 20 foot wave on a motorcycle with skis attached, and the new Alexander Hamilton hip-hop Broadway musical. They also have their first poetry face-off (Mary Oppen vs. David Berman), cover some zany corporate hijinks, play great cover songs by Earth, Wind, & Fire, Pavement, M. Ward, Jamie Cullum, the Lemonheads, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and Steel shares some book wisdom from the poet Brian Teare.

Links

Small Talk

  • Top 5 Pauly Shore films [Dave]
  • Robbie Maddison surfed a 20 foot wave on a motorcycle with skis:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDi9uFcD7XI
  • Alexander Hamilton, the hip-hop musical

Unchained Melodies: Cover Me!

Book Wisdom

This week’s book wisdom was provided by Brian Teare‘s poem “When we are on the right track, we are surprised by joy”

Featured image by Robert Bejil Productions

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Episode 34: A Mighty Wind

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by Dave’s old neighbor Zac, an accomplished pianist (you probably know him from his work with world-renowned Neil Diamond cover band Diamond in the Rough or his life-changing guest session with George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars at a Barack Obama inauguration with the Congressional Black Congress in a DC hotel) and holder of a five-year chip for meritorious bus driving in the Mesa Unified School District. He’s a big deal, obviously! In addition to Zac’s “expert testimony,” in which he explains the cultural value of jazz to the philistinic hosts, and gives some tips for avoiding disciplinary hearings as a high school bus driver, the trio share the latest in Vin Diesel developments, some great music featuring wind instruments from Beirut, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Beastie Boys, Radiohead, Vulfpeck, and Tjupurru, and Dave drops some great vehicle related wisdom from Flannery O’Connor’s novel Wise Blood.

Links

Vin Diesel: Running on Gas

  • Vin’s a must-follow on Instagram
  • The Last Witch Hunter is less than one month away.
  • Although the search for a director for Fast & Furious 8 continues, Vin promises a closing trilogy for the series.

Unchained Melodies

Songs with wind instruments

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage was chosen by Dave and comes from Flannery O’Connor’s first novel Wise Blood.
Featured image for the post by Tom Marcello

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Episode 33: Small Town USA, Small Talk, To the Limits, Great Moments in Advertising History, OTC Hall of Fame, Unchained Melodies: 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and "Pig in First Person"

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their old friend Jordan to discuss Dave’s recent move to a small town in Arizona, cover some small talk topics, describe some extraordinary feats of human endurance, great advertisements featuring pro athletes and attorneys for local markets, induct the newest member of the OTC Hall of Fame, share great music from The Bacon Brothers, Arcade Fire, Stan Rogers, The Tragically Hip, Fujima and Miyagi, and Kenny Loggins, and share a wrenching poem by John Levy, a Tuscon-based poet who works as a public defender.

Links

Small Talk

To the Limits

  • Terry Fox ran with one leg across Canada to raise money for cancer. The 30 for 30 documentary Into the Wind tells his story. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIBLJn48IpU

  • Filip Müller was a Jewish prisoner of Czech origin who was forced to serve on the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz. He was one of a very few crematorium workers to survive Auschwitz.
  • Hesham Modamani and Feras Abukhalil, two Syrian refugees who recently swam from Turkey to Greece.

Great Moments in Advertising History

Athletes in Local Commercials

Scottie Pippen for Submarine sandwiches

Some Incredible Lawyer Commercials

OTC Hall of Fame

Lawyer Mike

This guy is incredible. Just watch his videos and you’ll understand.

Unchained Melodies: 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Book Wisdom

Today’s selection for book wisdom, “Pig in First Person” is a poem from John Levy‘s collection Oblivion Tyrants Crumbs.