CATHARSIS AND SWEATSHIRTS

All caps, John? Yeah, I know, I'm sorry.

This is good and I enjoyed it.

Here are some things I like:

• Loud, heavy music

• Catharsis

• Smashing the patriarchy

• Earnest kids in earnest bands

• Performances in libraries

Earthling @ziyatong

I am I LOVE with these girls. Their band is the Linda Lindas and this song is called Racist, Sexist Boys. Fuck, they’re great. Just watch. Ht @Sasha_Tong

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Sweatshirts, not really

So there’s some new podcast out there - because everyone has a podcast, you have one, even if you don’t know it yet - that’s been sending very nice sweatshirts out to famous people. The idea is that you, the famous person, then photograph yourself in the sweatshirt, plugging the podcast as a way of saying hey thanks for the sweatshirt.

And I saw some of these tweets and here’s what I thought: “Damn, I need to print up some sweatshirts and send them off to famous people once I get the mailing addresses of the famous people.” To do all that would mean a pretty big investment in terms of time and energy and a not small investment of money. The reward is kind of abstract. You have to hope that the famous person tweets that tweet, that a lot of their followers see the tweet and are compelled to check out the podcast, that a substantial number of those followers then subscribe and download episodes, and that all this happens in such a way that the podcast can charge enough to advertisers to cover the cost of all the time and materials involved in the sweatshirt escapade plus a profit.

This seems like a tenuous proposition.

In my case, I shot down the immediate necessity of a sweatshirt initiative before even gaming out the economics and it was because I had episodes of the podcast to finish editing. I had to make the actual thing. There is a small number of people working on our episodes so I don’t actually have time to push PR projects or drum up a lot of free advertising or otherwise make a splash. I have to do the things that a splash would support.

We had a good membership drive. I have to decide that this is enough for now. I have a list of a hundred things I would love to do for the show, had I the time and energy and investment money to put into it. Sweatshirts for celebrities? Maybe like 85th place on that list.

Still: sweatshirts are cool.

This is my mom and dad.

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Okay great so it turns out you can’t win that’s neat

Thanks, Psychology Today, for bringing our attention to an issue that will keep us awake tonight and drive us insane.

The Link Between Insomnia and Mental Illness

The incidence of psychiatric illness in patients with insomnia is estimated to be near 50 percent. The highest comorbidity rates have been noted in mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder, as well as anxiety disorders. In patients with diagnosed major depressive disorder, as many as 90 percent struggle with insomnia.

Insomnia has also been identified as a risk factor for the development of a mental illness. In a meta-analysis of patients with insomnia published in 2011, the authors concluded that persistent insomnia can more than double the risk of major depression.

No wonder you have insomnia, you’re trying to solve an UNSPEAKABLE MURDER.

It’s a lot higher stakes than solving a SPEAKABLE MURDER.

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Only sort of about Charles Grodin but not really

Here’s a song called “Charles Grodin” from one of my top two television shows, Patriot.

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Have you noticed?

So on the old show I created and hosted, the one that belongs to someone else, I would do all the episodes as narration through tape. That is, I would talk for a while, play some of the conversation with the guest for a while, talk some more. It was kind of part essay and part interview.

On the new show, Depresh Mode, I knew I had a smaller staff and a much higher number of shows to put out so I’ve reverted to more of a standard podcast arrangement. Introduce the guest and set up the focus of the interview, then play the interview, take breaks and clarify any information that needs it, then wrap up, get some conclusion stuff in at the end that’s just me.

This makes the episodes easier to make from both a creative side and an engineering/mixing side.

Have you noticed the change? I don’t think many people have.

And if you have, do you mind or have a preference?

Thank you.

I lived in Seattle in the 90s: