Tag: Small Talk

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Episode 12: Furious 7, Sports!, Small Talk: The Sport, Unchained Melodies, and The Goalkeeper

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their old friend Spencer. The whole episode is sports themed, so brace yourself for some incredible wingspan and raw athleticism. They discuss Spencer and Dave’s impressions of the latest Fast & Furious film, the NBA sneaker landscape circa 1993, their favorite basketball video games, best basketball haircuts, the most prolific reproducers in NBA history, and their favorite sports friendships and rivalries. They also have a special sports-themed segment of Unchained Melodies, featuring songs by Belle and Sebastian, Public Enemy, Simon and Garfunkel, Skee-Lo, Camper Van Beethoven, and The Duckworth Lewis Method, and close the episode with some poetic reflections on the ignominy of the goalkeeper from the great, and recently deceased, Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano.

Links

Sports!

NBA Shoes

The spreadsheet made by 11 year old Steel to document what kind of sneakers NBA players wore in 1993, according to their basketball cards.

A list of sneaker brands currently worn by NBA players, from Hoopshype.

Thinking about buying a pair of Ewings? Check out their latest models.

Favorite Basketball Video Games

Dr. J vs. Larry Bird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o9l9a0XWiY

NBA Jam

NBA Live 1995

Favorite NBA Hair Cuts

Complex Sports has produced several really outstanding lists of NBA things, including the 50 ugliest haircuts of all time.

Best NBA Names

SB Nation’s Dan Grunfield has written an excellent personal exploration of some of the NBA’s most outstanding names.

Most Prolific NBA Fathers

Complex has a list of athletes with the most children by the most women. Some famous NBA names there.

OTC Sports Friendships

You can learn more about Dave’s beloved Core Four, but more reasonable people wouldn’t recommend it.

OTC Sports Rivalries

The Price of Gold, the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan’s rivalry, is well worth checking out.

Unchained Melodies

Belle & Sebastian — Piazza, New York Catcher

Public Enemy — He Got Game

Simon and Garfunkel — The Boxer

Skee-Lo — I Wish

Camper Van Beethoven — Take the Skinheads Bowling

The Duckworth Lewis Method — Nudging and Nurdling

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage came from the recently deceased Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano‘s classic Soccer in Sun and Shadow.

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Episode 10: Baby Birthday Parties, To The Limits, Ask OTC, Small Talk, Diesel: Running on Gas, Unchained Melodies, and Montaigne's Essays

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This week Dave and Steel discuss some pro tips for successful birthday parties for infants and toddlers, talk about some incredible feats of human achievement (including Yeti sightings and some of the longest walks ever recorded), introduce you to the paranormal educational opportunities available at Arthur Findlay College, discuss Turning Point and Radio Diaries, answer great listener questions about vanity plates and rectal tubes, share some great music from Martha Wainwright, The New Christy Minstrels, Bahamas, and The National, and drop some humility from Michel de Montaigne.

Links

To The Limits

Sławomir Rawicz’s book is called The Long Walk. The book was the ‘inspiration’ for a 2010 film called The Way Back with Colin Farrell and Ed Harris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87kezJTpyMI

Here’s Elizabeth Weil’s NYT magazine article about the Swiss adventurer Sarah Marquis. Ms. Marquis maintains a website where you can hear interviews, find her TED talks, and see several videos of her exploits.

Small Talk

WSJ article programabout Arthur Findlay College, a Spiritualist-run school for psychics and mediums. The college also has its own website.

Dave highly recommends BYUTV’s programTurning Point.

Steel recommends Joe Richman’s podcast Radio Diaries, especially their recent episode about songwriter Rose Marie McCoy.

Unchained Melodies

Martha Wainwright — Everything Wrong

The New Christy Minstrels — El Camino Real

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btb2lEL4f7s

Bahamas — Lost in the Light

The National — So Far Around the Bend

So Far Around the Bend by The National on Grooveshark

Book Wisdom

Today’s passage was “To the Reader,” the brief preface to Michel de Montaigne’s classic Essays. Steel recommends the Donald Frame translation. You can also listen to the essays, as they’ve been recorded by LibriVox volunteers.

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Episode 8: Children's Picture Books, Small Talk, Ask OTC, Unchained Melodies, and The English Patient

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their old friend Amy to discuss children’s picture books, cave dwellings, pigeon-based Ponzi schemes, a once in a lifetime chance to own Hell, frog burgers, answer pressing questions from longtime listeners, share some of their favorite recent music, and drop some beauty from Michael Ondaatje.

Links

Children’s Picture Books

Dave’s recommendations

Amy’s recommendations

Steel’s recommendations

Small Talk

Dave’s favorite cave homes.
Hell [Michican] for sale and the Damned artists who want to buy it. Amy’s list of her top 5 things to do in Hell.
Jon Mooallem’s story about Arlan Galbraith, the Ponzi-scheming Pigeon King.
And, ummm, don’t forget about frog burgers.

Ask OTC

The stuffed animal hospital that just might be what you need to revive your best friend from childhood.
Amy’s got a whole bunch of recipes on her blog, including this mouthwatering one for Skinny Texas Cheese Fries.
The tacocopter. Apparently they’re trying it out in San Francisco (beta version), which of course they are.

Unchained Melodies

Caroline Smith — Bloodstyle

Dom La Nena — Llegaré

Built to Spill — Living Zoo

The Decemberists — Carolina Low

D’Angelo and the Vanguard — Back to the Future (Part 1)

The Beatles — Golden Slumbers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykl4Uqrbhjc

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage comes from Michael Ondaatje’s beautiful novel The English Patient.

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Episode 6: At the Limits, Small Talk, Unchained Melodies, and Grooks

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their friend Ryan. Together the trio discusses the limits of human endurance by way of the stories of Ernest Shackleton and Yiannis Kouros, share some conversational anecdotes from old Chip & Dale cartoons, Finnish miltary history, and mathematical outsiders, share some favorite recent music, and drop some wisdom from Danish Scientist Piet Hein.

Links

At the Limits

Dave recommends checking out these two books about Ernest Shackleton, both called Endurance, after the name of Shackleton’s ship:

Steel recommends this fascinating 2006 profile of Greek-Australian ultramarathoner Yiannos Kouros from Runner’s World. Kouros also maintains his own website, with more biographical information for the curious.

Small Talk

Donald Duck pulls a handgun on Chip & Dale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biy5HrSCSSg

Finnish master sniper Simo Häyhä’s wikipedia page.

The recent New Yorker profile on mathematician Yitang Zhang.

Unchained Melodies

Waxahatchee: Under a Rock

London Grammar: Nightcall

Mina Tindle: L’Astrakan

Book Wisdom

The poems Steel read in this episode come from Danish scientist Piet Hein‘s book Grooks.

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Episode 5: Small Talk, Diesel: Running on Gas, Ask OTC, Unchained Melodies, and Shantideva

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This week Dave and Steel are joined by their old friend Jordan, a Las Vegas-based lawyer. Together, the trio talk about professional dumpster divers, meditating mummified monks, and the maker Jimmy DiResta, introduce a new segment focused on Dave & Jordan’s shared love of Vin Diesel, take a question from a listener about how to deal with boring lecture classes, share some of their favorite recent music, and explore the wisdom of the 8th Century Buddhist monk Shantideva.

Links

Small Talk

  • Wired Magazine’s profile of Matt Malone, professional dumpster diver in Austin, Texas.
  • Story on the unidentified mummified Buddhist monk in Mongolia from the BBC. A more in-depth feature appeared in the Siberian Times.
  • Jimmy DiResta’s YouTube channel. Jordan recommends starting with these two classics:
    Making an Aluminum Hatchet Handle:

    Making an AK47-shaped guitar for Wyclef Jean:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLmKrXjTwIo

Diesel: Running on Gas

Dave & Jordan discuss the 2013 film Riddick, the third in the Chronicles of Riddick franchise. Here’s the film’s trailer [warning: it’s pretty intense and probably not for children]:

Ask OTC

Here are a couple of images Dave and Jordan have drawn in class to help them pass the time.

Geometric Patterns
Geometric Pattern sketch made by Jordan during a law school course.

Gentle Bear checks his mail.
In this drawing by Dave, Gentle Bear checks his mail.

Dave has published a whole book of Gentle Bear cartoons, called Gentle Bear: Gentle Honey which you can buy in eBook form.

Unchained Melodies

DakhaBrakha: Baby

Animals as Leaders: Lippincott

AC/DC: Thunderstruck

Liam Bailey: Stun Me
Stun Me by Liam Bailey on Grooveshark
Alash Ensemble: Bashtak

Book Wisdom

This week’s Book Wisdom was stitched together from various passages in Vesna A. and B. Alan Wallace’s translation of Shantideva’s A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life.