Episodit
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I’ve always had a problematic relationship to the news, and I’ve struggled to navigate that even more since this pandemic began. I talk to my father about the night I yelled at him over his insufficient fear of the virus, and I look back on a 1954 essay by E.B. White about the disparity between his experience of a hurricane and the coverage he hears of that hurricane on the radio.
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Music:Blue Dot Sessions
Links:The Eye of Edna by E.B. White
Cancel Everything by Yascha Mounk
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Like most people, I imagine, I've been having a lot of anxious thoughts these days. And I’ve been wishing I could get those thoughts out of my head. Then I remembered that I used to have a podcast called Anxious Machine.
So here’s my first episode in three years, part of a planned, ongoing audio journal. This episode starts with some thoughts about how this virus first entered my consciousness, how it felt to watch the movie Contagion with my daughter, and trying to stay awake to what's happening.
Music:The House Glows with Almost No Help by Chris Zabriskie
Contagion: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Cliff Martinez
Links:Contagion by Steven Soderbergh
Dana Stevens on the Slate Culture Gabfest
Wesley Morris on On The Media
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Puuttuva jakso?
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I'm announcing a whole new podcast, and giving you a listen to the first episode. The podcast is called Before It Had a Theme, and on it, Britta Greene an I discuss and deconstruct old episodes of This American Life. On this episode, we discuss the very first episode of that show, as well as why the show is worth discussing, how we and others became fans of the show, and why we love Ira Glass’s mother.
Clips from following were used in this episode:
Coffaro’s Theme by Bill Frisell
Episode of Tape with Jonathan Mejivar
Episode of Tape with Ben Calhoun
Ira’s talk at the Third Coast Audio Festival
Longform Podcast, Episode 159: Ira Glass
This American Life, Episode 1: New Beginnings
Ira’s talk at the Gel Conference
Rob's Twitter
Britta's Twitter
Show Twitter
Review us on Apple Podcasts
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Sometimes in your life, you reach a crossroads, go on a men’s weekend, spend too much time alone in the forest, have a mid-life crisis, and start thinking you can change the world with your podcast. This episode is about that happening to me. Part one of a three-part series.
Support Anxious Machine on Patreon
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Links:Startup
Music:Opening Credits by johnny_ripper
Divider by Chris Zabriskie
Audrey by johnny_ripper
Mario Bava Sleeps in a Little Later Than He Expected To by Chris Zabriskie
Black Book by johnny_ripper
The Dark Glow of the Mountains by Chris Zabriskie
A Void by johnny_ripper
Program Reverie by Podington Bear
Massive by Podington Bear
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Parents of young children have an especially fraught relationship with their smartphones. On the one hand, these devices are indispensable tools for getting things done and staying connected to the adult world while in the midst of childcare. On the other hand, the culture is constantly telling parents, and particularly mothers, that they’re too distracted by these devices, that smartphones are stealing precious attention away from our kids.
But the idea that parents should be focusing so much attention on their kids is itself a modern invention. In fact, our current understanding of parenthood and childhood is, in a very real way, the product of technology.
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Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Links:Moms, Let Go of Your Smartphone Guilt
Siobhan Adcock’s website
Amy Shearn’s website
Music:Opening Credits by johnny_ripper
Spring Solstice by Podington Bear
Cylinder Three by Chris Zabriskie
The Dark Glow of the Mountain by Chris Zabriskie
Walkin Flags by Sealadder
Button Mushrooms by Podington Bear
Stuck Dream by Podington Bear
88 by Podington Bear
What True Self? Feels Bogus, Lets Watch Jason X by Chris Zabriskie
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This past week, my kids went back to school. Summer vacation has come and gone. And that’s gotten me thinking about the very idea of summer vacation because every summer, for the past several years, my wife, her sisters and our families have had this tradition of going to a cabin for a few days to get out of the city. We don’t own a cabin. We have to rent one. And this year, the process of finding it, looking at pictures of all the possible cabins on all the possible lakes, made me wonder about this particular, middle-class American ritual of going into the wilderness for vacation, where that ritual came from, and what it says about our relationship to modern life.
Support Anxious Machine on Patreon
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Patrons:Special thanks this week to new Patreon supporter Matt Holliday.
Links:Where Was the Birthplace of the American Vacation?
Thoreau Leaves Walden Pond
Why Fire Makes Us Human
Working At Play: A History of Vacations in the United States
Music:Gentle Chase by Podington Bear
Arrival by North Hive
Tam by LJ Kruzer
Electron by Podington Bear
Halflight by Podington Bear
Tamz by LJ Kruzer
88 by Podington Bear
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Since the wide-spread adoption of embalming in the United States, most Americans have turned the process of handling the deceased over to experts in the undertaking business. On this episode, the story of one family who decided that they wanted to be the ones to wash and prepare the body of the son and brother they’d lost.
This episode was previously aired on the podcast Neighbors, one of the podcasts in The Heard.
Support Anxious Machine on Patreon
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Music:Cylinder Five by Chris Zabrinskie
88 by Podington Bear
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My older brother Scott lives almost completely outside the network of modern life: he has no internet, no email address, no cable TV or satellite, not even an antenna for his television. Until recently, he didn’t even have a bank account or a telephone. In this episode, I try to get to the bottom of why he hates computers, and especially the internet, even though the internet helped him solve a question he’s had since the day he was born.
Support Anxious Machine on Patreon
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Music:Heavy Flutter by Podington Bear
I Am Running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum in Pursuit by Chris Zabriskie
The Sun Is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow by Chris Zabriskie
The House Glows with Almost No Help by Chris Zabriskie
The Theatrical Poster for Potergeist III by Podington Bear
The Dark Glow of the Mountains by Podington Bear
88 by Podington Bear
Patrons:Special thanks to Eric Keys, Cam Hudson, Bradley Dunham, and Gordon Delp for their support of this podcast.
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Humans have been reading for thousands of years, but ever since the invention of television, people have been worried that reading is in decline. The latest worry is that, even if the Internet has caused an uptick in the quantity of our reading, we're reading on screens instead of paper, and this seems to degrade the quality of our reading.
On this episode, technology writer Clive Thompson talks about the history of reading as a technology, why we’re worried about its future, and what happened when he tried to read War and Peace on his iPhone.
Support Anxious Machine on Patreon
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Links:Clive Thompson’s essay about reading War and Peace on his iPhone
Clive Thompson’s essay about the novelty effect
Clive Thompson’s book Smarter than You Think
Hanna Rosin’s article for The Atlantic about children and screens
Amaranth Borsuk & Brad Bouse: Between Page and Screen
Music:Curious Process by Podington Bear
Oxygen Garden by Chris Zabriskie
Deeper by Phlox.s
Rythn by Podington Bear
Mensa by Podington Bear
Steppin Intro by Podington Bear
Program Reverie by Podington Bear
Euphoric by Podington Bear
Respiration by Podington Bear
88 by Podington Bear
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When she was growing up, Adrienne didn’t want to believe she was losing her hearing, and she didn’t want to wear hearing aids. This is the story of how she decided to embrace the technology that restored her hearing, and what happened when she did.
Support Anxious Machine on Patreon
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Patrons:Mark Bramhill
Music:Cylinder Five by Chris Zabriskie
There Are Many Different Kinds of Love by Chris Zabriskie
Cylinder Six by Chris Zabriskie
The Sun Is Scheduled to Come out Tomorrow by Chris Zabriskie
I Am running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum in Pursuit by Chris Zabriskie
Heavy Flutter by Podington Bear
Brethren Arise by Chris Zabriskie
I Need to Start Writing Things Down by Chris Zabriskie
Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie
88 by Podington Bear
What True Self? Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X by Chris Zabriskie
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When I heard the news of the recent Supreme Court ruling on marriage between same sex couples, I wanted to go back to an interview I did in 2009 with two women who decided to get married before it was legal in their state. It’s easy to forget what couples like them had to go through back then — traveling outside of their state to get a document that would have no legal standing at all where they lived. I wanted to know why that piece of paper mattered to them. This is their story.
Support Anxious Machine on Patreon
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Patrons:This episode was supported in part by Mark Bramhill, through Patreon.
Links:Supreme Court ruling on marriage
Clip of All Things Considered on the ruling
Clip of Proposition 8 passing on KRON TV newscast
Music:CGI Snake by Chris Zabriskie
Cylinder Four by Chris Zabriskie
Filaments by Podington Bear
Happy Ending by Podington Bear
The Sun Is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow by Chris Zabriskie
Corridor by Podington Bear
88 by Podington Bear
What True Self? Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X by Chris Zabriskie
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Amelia’s childhood was largely devoid of technology. But when she got a computer and the internet in her own bedroom, she found the new mode of communication through chatrooms and email utterly addictive. She’s struggled ever since with how much technology she wants in her life, especially now that she’s a mother.
Support Anxious Machine on Patreon
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Sponsor: DueMy video review of Due
Links:The Knowledge, London’s Legendary Taxi-Driver Test, Puts Up a Fight in the Age of GPS
How to Be a Girl
Music:Respiration by Podington Bear
Heavy Flutter by Podington Bear
Data by Podington Bear
Epiphany by Podington Bear
Electron by Podington Bear
Jack by Podington Bear
Bugs Don’t Buzz by johnny_ripper
Vector Melody by Podington Bear
88 by Podington Bear
What True Self? Feels Bogus, Lets Watch Jaxon X by Chris Zabriskie
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Bernard did not get along with his father, who expected him to work like a full-time employee in the family gas station starting when Bernard was just eight years old. But then Bernard went off to the army, and when he came home, an incident with a gun changed his relationship to his father, to society, and to himself.
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Links:The Heard
ARRVLS
Samuel Colt
A Tradition of Arms
The Price of Valor
Music:LAX from American Residue Records Presents - Last Foxtrot in Burbank: The Mixtape
Mario Bava Sleeps In a Little Later Than He Expected To by Chris Zabriskie
Take off and Shoot a Zero by Chris Zabriskie
I Am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor by Chris Zabriskie
Dead Inside by dustmotes
1 by John R. Barner from Funayurei
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Humans have been getting intoxicated, and finding new ways to get intoxicated, for thousands of years. On this episode, I explore the history of intoxication, and how that history played out in the life of one young woman.
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Links:In researching this topic, I relied on the following sources (in addition to Wikipedia):
The Beer Archaeologist
‘Apparently Useless’: The Accidental Discovery of LSD
The Trip Treatment
The Cocoa Crux
Heroin: A Hundred-Year Habit
Music:"The Dark Glow of the Mountains" by Chris Zabriskie
"But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton" by Chris Zabriskie
"Take off and Shoot a Zero" by Chris Zabriskie
"Dance" by American Residue Records, from Last Foxtrot in Burbank
"Black Book" by Ori, remixed by johnny_ripper
"Time Stop" by American Residue Records, from Last Foxtrot in Burbank
"Hikikomori" by John R. Barner from Hikikomori
"Cylinder Seven" by Chris Zabriskie
"Cylinder Three" by Chris Zabriskie
"Cylinder Nine" by Chris Zabriskie
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I recently decided to ask a big question at a cocktail party. This episode is about asking the question, some of the answers I got, and how that question is shaping the stories I’m trying to tell in the second season of this show.
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Share Your Story
Music:I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary by Chris Zabriskie
Divider by Chris Zabriskie
A Void by johnny_ripper -
I’ve always loved telling the story of the first (and only) time I got punched in the face, and not because I won the fight. I lost, by a long shot. But it’s a story about standing up to one of the toughest scariest guys in my high school, and it made me feel like a hero.
But the stories we tell about ourselves are rarely the whole story. This story changed for me when I decided to pick up a microphone and interview the guy I fought that day. The story I’d been sharing at parties for years was the story of a moment he has long wished he could forget.
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Music:The House Glows (with Almost No Help) by Chris Zabriskie
The Theatrical Poster for Poltergeist III by Chris Zabriskie
Corridor by Podington Bear
The Dark Glow of the Mountains by Chris Zabriskie -
Sara thought she knew her son, but then a medical diagnosis left her questioning everything. This is the story of how she coped when the medical treatment turned him into a completely different child.
Subscribe (or write a review) in iTunes
Music:Mario Bava Sleeps in a Little Later Than He Expected by Chris Zabriskie
Enough of Our Machines by Son Lux, remixed by jonny_ripper
Summa by Tape. -
Fewer and fewer people writes letters anymore, especially by hand. It’s a dying technology. But for this episode, I have a story from the 20th century about how a single, handwritten letter changed the course of a life.
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Music:CGI Snake by Chris Zabriskie
Constellation by Podington Bear -
Sarah’s parents got divorced when she was little. She and her siblings stayed with their mom, even though Sarah preferred her father’s company. She only saw her father for dinner once a week and stayed with him every other weekend. When she got to talk to him on the phone, her mother often stood nearby and listened.
So when email entered their lives, Sarah finally had a mode of communication with their father that felt private. This is the story of how email affected their relationship, what kinds of communication it enabled, and what kinds of communication it shut down.
Anxious Machine on iTunes
Music:
All music for this episode by Chris ZabriskieCylinder Two
Divider
Cylinder Five
The House Glows (with Almost No Help)
I Am a Man who Will fight for Your Honor
The Theatrical Poster for Poltergeist III
What True Self? Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X
Androids Always Escape
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Mohamed fell in love with air travel at a young age. He lived in Kuwait, but he would fly with his family back to Egypt at the end of every school year, so air travel was imbued with the pleasure of summer, vacation, family, and fun.
Then he grew up and moved to the United States, and suddenly air travel was much more expensive, much more difficult. This is the story of how his relationship to flying changed.
Download mp3(Mohamed)
Subscribe in iTunesLinks:
Louis CK on the Conan O’Brien showMusic:
Halflight by Podington Bear
Mensa by Podington Bear
Constellation by Podington Bear
Filaments by Podington Bear - Näytä enemmän
