I proudly sit atop a throne of lies
Plus information on the shitty woodpeckers that might cure your depresh
Seems like a pretty good sign that listener reviews are starting to come in about Depresh Mode with John Moe and they are raves. This is an exceptionally good sign on account of that the people reviewing it have not heard the show yet. They’re reviewing the notion of the show. And they are notion fans.
There is an art to being interviewed. And just like any other art form, some people are really gifted artists, and I’m not sure if they were naturally born that way or consciously developed the skills or both.
I spoke with a great interviewee last week, my good friend Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess. She has a wonderful book coming out next month and we spoke about life during covid and mental health in general. It will air on Depresh Mode in mid-April. I asked why she, the most anxiety-ridden person I know, chose to open an independent book shop in the middle of a pandemic. And, as in the book, she talked about her experiences with TMS treatment. It’s the descendant of electroshock therapy but without all the “ruin your life” parts. My pal Neal Brennan said it’s like being pecked by a real shitty woodpecker every day for 40 days.
Jenny’s a great interviewee because she listens to every question and gives candid answers that address the larger curiosity behind the question itself. The answer build on the premise of the question. I don’t know how people can do that in interviews. Personally, I get nervous and try to please the interviewer, getting in my own way in the process.
Some other people I’ve interviewed who are very good at being interviewed.
Rosanne Cash
David Sedaris
John Anderson, writer at The New Yorker, who I talked to after this story came out
Maria Bamford
Darryl “DMC” McDaniels
There are many, many more. Those are the first that came to mind. There are some other people who are very hard to interview but I am not going to say any of those names. Often very nice people, just no good at getting talked to.
Here’s the Mayo Clinic’s write-up about TMS, or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. The whole thing sounds ridiculous, really. But according to Jenny and other people I’ve talked to, it has a pretty good record. About a third of patients are unaffected afterwards, a third feel some improvement, and a third are straight up cured. They feel great.
And here’s a video about it that shows what actually happens. This is a TMS report.
And here’s a video about TPS reports, a totally different thing.
And now, I’ll watch the stats to see which one gets the most clicks.
One of my favorite parts of traveling somewhere new is just being on the streets of a city. Because they’re all kind of alike but then the differences bloom when you get further into the details of names on shops and streets, what people are wearing, and the traffic signs that don’t make much sense.
This site is called Drive & Listen. It’s a site, not an app, just hop on in and you’re in the passenger seat going around cities all over the world and listening to the local radio stations in those cities. I spent some time cruising around Oslo, a city I have been to many times and it turns out I miss it. You can go to Wuhan, China, where the parking messed with my head.
I found the whole thing to be mind-expanding and relaxing so that’s a mental health value, right?
This is a very neat thing and you should try it right now. Via kottke.
I’ve been laughing over the phrase “apology lighting consultants” for a few days now.
