Greg and Chad’s Power Half Hour Episode 22: Can We Go Back To The Past?[ 30:00 | 41.15 MB ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (767)
AKA “Get Off My Lawn!”
Nostalgia is a funny thing. We can often look back at our youth and say, “things were better then” when compared to today. With that attitude in mind, on this episode Greg and Chad talk about what items we have today that didn’t exist during their childhoods they would delete if possible. Even though the item might make some part of life better, the negative effect it’s had might be greater the good.
POSITIVE CYNICISM EP. 58: QUESTION EVERYTHING; TOM HARNESS[ 32:43 | 0.01 MB ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (476)
Social media is a tricky minefield to navigate. This edition of Question Everything, @chadsmart has the founder of Harness Digital Marketing, @iTomHarness on to discuss the reasons for why an online presence is important as well as how to brand yourself successfully. In addition to social media, the discussion also touches on Tom’s latest endeavor with a friend to start the Southern Illinois Film Commission in an attempt to bring more film production to the region known for it’s scenic beauty.
I’m not opposed to shaving for good causes. Here’s when I shaved my head for the Bald Men Walking Relay for Life team five years ago.
Backstory: If you recall a recent post, you’re aware of my love of shaving. It’s not a chore anymore, it’s an event. And this is a great community of people who share the hobby.
I’ve not met anyone in the wet shave community that I didn’t know before I got into it. That will change in a few weeks when I attend the STL Wet Shavers Meet Up. That will be awesome.
But still, it’s a great community. We have good times and plenty of laughs. We have memorial shaves, we have congratulatory shaves for weddings, graduations, retirements, etc (I know I had a helluva shave when my son was born), and we have shaves just to show support. So when it was learned that one of our own was going through something major (learned his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer), one of our fearless leaders created a shave event in her honor. Predicated on her favorite scents, citrus based
Now I don’t know him and I certainly don’t know her, but “when in Rome,” right?
So the event is technically Sunday. But some of us are doing citrus shaves all week long. I began tonight.
Now a normal shave would be just fine. But dammit, I had an idea.
AHH! My boobs are on the Internet!
That’s right, kids. I did the unthinkable.
I SHAVED MY CHEST!
#ShaveTheTatas
The band-aid? I had a mole right in the center. And it’s not perfect, but I’ve never shaved my chest before.
And I never will. And yeah, I left the hair around the nips. You saw the razor in the feature image.
As an unforeseen bonus, now my boy can’t pull my chest hair.
Melinda, our thoughts and prayers are with you as you continue your fight
But I hope to God that no one gets testicular cancer!!!
So I’ve dropped this topic on a few recent episodes of the podcast, I’ve hinted at an upcoming episode I’d like to have where I discuss some parts of some classic Disney movies that are overlooked in the grand scheme of the story. At the time, I told you to give me a classic Disney feature animation, and I’d find at least one thing to complain about.
Well, y’all forgot to submit your entries to be a part of the show, so I’m taking matters into my own hands.
There may be more to this down the road, but these are two big issues I have with two high-profile Disney cartoons from my childhood. But they are things I didn’t really consider until recently.
In 1989’s The Little Mermaid, Ariel escapes to her cave of wonders, where her collection of human trinkets is, well, it’s massive. She has more crap that she found on the bottom of the ocean than I packed up and put in the moving truck last year when we relocated. In her song Part of That World, she sings:
Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat? Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?
Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl, The girl who has everything?
Look at this trove, treasures untold. How many wonders can one cavern hold?
Lookin’ around here you’d think ‘Sure, she’s got everything,’
I’ve got gadgets and gizmos aplenty.
I’ve got whooz-its and whatz-its galore.
You want thingamabobs? I got twenty.
But who cares? No big deal. I want more.
Now, I’ve never been a sea princess. I haven’t been a land princess for that matter, either. But what does it tell the young, impressionable children watching this movie? “No matter how much you have, it’s not enough.” Now that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. You can work hard to achieve your goals.
But that’s not how the movie plays out. With the help of the sea witch Ursula, she trades her voice for some legs. And then with the help of her friends, she tries to get Prince Eric to fall in love with her. It is complicated when Ursula shows up, yadda yadda, you know the story.
It just seems to me that the “I have so much, but I need more to be happy” mentality is part of this wave of entitlement that has been around out society for much of this millennium. Now I’m not blaming Disney, but it could certainly be a factor. Also…that’s very old-man of me. And I get that. And it’s not a plot hole, unlike our next venture.
The second part is this post centers on Beauty and the Beast, and is all plot hole. Recall if you will that Belle leaves the castle to go check on her father. While there, Maurice is about to be taken to the asylum. Belle pleads on behalf of her father, who had already claimed to see a beastly, monstrous creature. No one believes him. So when Belle whips out the magic mirror to prove her father isn’t crazy. They see the Beast in the viewer, and of course, it’s the wild-eyed, evil Beast. Not the calm, more sophisticated Beast that Belle grew to love. What happens next?
Gaston whips the mob into a frenzy, saying the Beast needs to be killed before he wreaks havoc on the village.
WHAT?!?
That spell has been on the castle for a decade, and the villagers didn’t even know about it. They had no idea there was a Beast. They go from clueless to concerned in just a few seconds. Aside from a couple images of a creature on the magic mirror, there has been no proof that the Beast is dangerous. Furthermore, the Beast has no history of attacking the village.
Seriously…with absolutely no cause other than to puff his chest out and add a trophy to his wall, Gaston incites a riot and marches on the castle, and his undoing.
It’s just a problem I’ve encountered with Beauty and the Beast. It unnerves me more than the Stockholm Syndrome aspect.
So that’s what I wanted to talk about today.
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Here I am on Facebook, and this is where you can find me on Twitter.
It’s celebration time this week on Positive Cynicism. Host Chad Smart celebrates the ten year anniversary of moving to Los Angeles with some anecdotes about experiences he had in the City of Angels. After reminiscing about the last decade, it’s time to look towards the future and the next crazy sports trip. This one may be a bit too extreme. As always, the episode ends with the “Question of the Week.”
What if you had a podcast and no one listened? How well do you know your “friends” on Facebook? In this week’s episode, Chad examines the love-hate relationship he has with social media. On one hand, social media is a necessary tool to build a brand. On the other hand, social media has become a wasteland for one sided non-conversation postings. Is it possible for the two sides to co-exist? Listen and find out. Plus, the random question of the week looks to the future.
Welcome to a brand new episode of Nerds United. In Episode 59, I’m talking with Irish filmmaker and writer James Mulholland.
Lettering done by Episode 58 guest Micah Myers.
James’ path to comic book writing is unconventional. Despite writing his whole life, it was just a recent introduction to comics and their characters through the films of Hollywood that sparked an interest in comic books.
Hear James’ story from his “small town” (only 40,000 people, making my town of 7,500 a “village” or worse) to film school. Learn about some common themes in his writing, and the very personal stories from which they are derived.
“High Noon Rising” – a free comic available online.
Be sure to Like James on Facebook and check out his work on Comic Fury. (Definitely check out “Minority.” Great art with a gripping story that I’ve only just begun.)
And if you’re in the social media mood, follow James on Twitter.
Might as well Follow me on Twitter as well. Yes…I tweet.
I also Periscope on occasion, but I’m pretty bad at that. I’ll share that when I have more confidence.
Last week’s #ToughCallTuesday had such a response that I thought I’d revisit another pair of families from the realm of classic television.
That’s right! Flintsones versus Jetsons.
Hanna-Barbera was living right, dominating the world of animated entertainment for decades. Many of the cartoons I watched as a child were Hanna-Barbera creations. Think back. I bet you can say the same. It’s okay, I’ll wait.
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See? I was right!
These two families were two of HB’s more popular characters.
The Flintstones consisted of your every-man Fred, his wife Wilma, little girl Pebbles, and pets Dino and Baby Puss. I include Baby Puss because one of my favorite parts of the cartoon was always the ending credits when the sabretooth cat hops back in the house and puts Fred out for the night.
The Jetsons featured George as the patriarch, Jane as the mother, Judy, the firstborn, and Elroy, the inquisitive and somewhat brainy younger son. (The other way to introduce them is “Meet George Jetson. His Boy Elroy. Daughter Judy. Jane, his wife.”) The Jetsons also had a pet, a dog named Astro. And they had an in-home robot maid, Rosie.
Fred Flintstone was a quarryman, working construction. His time-rock got punched twice a day, and then he would head home to his family. Fred’s best pal, Barney Rubble, also worked at the quarry. The two were bowling buddies and members of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes. Barney had a wife, Betty, and an adopted son, Bamm-Bamm.
George Jetson worked at Spacely (Space) Sprockets, where he got blamed for a lot! His at-work companion was R.U.D.I., is a computer with a human personality. And while I recall an episode where some bad programming meant some unfortunate things for George, R.U.D.I. was primarily a human-friendly computer, unlike this program…
Outside of work, George didn’t have much of a life, except for the time he spent zooming around trying to keep his family safe. It just seemed that Fred had a bit more downtime to enjoy some of the finer things in life.
In all actuality, maybe these two shows were inadvertent metaphors for life with and without technology. The Flintstones seemed to have more fun, and even though they faced their share of challenges, they each had time for hobbies. The Jetsons were seemingly always getting into trouble, and George was fired from his job in an unfair amount of episodes.
In a way, I empathize with George a bit more than Fred. George seems like a tough-luck loner. Fred at least had Barney. George didn’t really have anywhere to turn when he needed to vent his frustrations.
And let’s not forget the very real fact that these two families met once.
Before I render a verdict, I do want to include quite possibly the best result of either of these two storied franchises.
You’re damn right I’m talking about sugary cereals. And ever since I was a kid, that particular commercial has stuck with me. I can practically recite it word for word, playing all three roles.
This week’s decision really comes down to a topic I mentioned above – technology and the speed of the world with it and without it.
I have essentially been raised with technology. I had a Nintendo Entertainment System and an MS-DOS computer (only one of those I’d take back). I have had many types of cell phones over the years. That’s not to brag. In fact, I have had the same phone for several years (thank you Otter Box). But for the last fifteen years, I’ve had cell phones and other mobile devices, desktop computers, laptops, etc.
I’m connected. Often, I think I’m too connected.
That’s why I’m calling this week’s #ToughCallTuesday for the Flintstones, and it’s a direct result of my own personal longing to be just a little less plugged in. It’s a difficult task, certainly, because my job requires me to maintain the business Facebook page, I have my own business page as a sales consultant, plus there’s the Jittery Monkey Podcasts and Nerds UnitedFacebook pages and Twitter accounts.
And I’ll always have that, especially if I’m ever a business owner myself (Nerds United – The Store…it’s happening…someday).
Here’s my only question though…
We’ve seen two live action Flintstone movies. Where’s our Jetsons movie? Sci-fi is at an all-time high. And these are some iconic characters due for a big screen moment. I mean, everything else from our childhood has its own movie now, so what’s the worst that could happen?
Agree? Disagree? You know what to do. Sound off in the comments. What’s your preference? Flintstones or Jetsons? And do we deserve a Jetsons movie?
Also – your topics for #ToughCallTuesday…I WANT ‘EM!
Kevin and Farmer Billy Hills in an archived photo from the AAPW days.
Grab your overalls and cowboy hat: we’re heading down to the farm! The guest this week is Farmer Billy Hills. He has made a name for himself on the Indy scene in the Midwest and Midsouth areas. Farmer has a big benefit show set for July 26 in Harrisburg, Illinois. Look up Farmer Billy Hills on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Greg and Chad’s Power Half Hour Episode 22: Can We Go Back To The Past? [ 30:00 | 41.15 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (767)
