15 Minutes: a podcast about fame, with Jamie Berger

Andrew Leland was kind enough to let me (Jamie) talk at him about the role of fame in the rise of Donald J. Trump. Andrew heads the team that makes the Beleiver/Mcscweeney's/KCRW-affiliated Organist podcast (http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/the-organist) after being a longtime editor of The Believer. Andrew also just moved to our Happy Valley and is teaching at Smith College. For more notes on the episode, and a compendium of post-election rants/raves/links, as well as all other episodes, please stop by http://15minutesjamieberger.com. Thanks and good luck/good fight to you all in the coming storm.

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Show notes!Anjali Mullahnny is the editor of the business magazine Fast Company’s Digital side. She’s also an old grad-school pal of mine. We talked about everything from journalism and the “scoop” as journo-fame to to Ivanka Trump to social media and the idea that everyone now needs "followers," to vaginal steaming.Here are links to some stuff mentioned in the episode:Studs Terkel’s "Working Then and Now" on Radio Diaries:http://www.radiodiaries.org/new-series-working-then-and-now/Anjali M. on the interwebs (where you can find her articles on Ivanka T. and Gwynneth P. and so much more!:twitter:@anjalimullanyhttps://www.fastcompany.com/user/anjali-mullanyHer Grad school program she spoke of - Studio 20, NYUhttp://journalism.nyu.edu/graduate/programs/studio-20-digital-first/4 Questions piece with AM:http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/4-questions-with-anjali-mullany-social-media-editor-at-fast-company/254228Thanks! Like the show? Put a little money where your ears are?http://www.15minutesjamieberger.com/news/2016/10/24/two-ways-to-chip-inThanks!P.S. One correction from my conscientious journalist guest. The word "ultraviolet" was used in error in this episode. The correct term is infrared:https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/30/sorry-gwyneth-paltrow-but-steaming-your-vagina-is-a-bad-idea

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Anja Schütz is a photographer. She's also my (Jamie here, not going to write about myself in the third person) wife. In the past two weeks, her life has changed a great deal as a project she embarked on as a way to make a political statement with a few friends has blossomed into something much bigger. One response to Donald Trump's "Grab her . . . " tape was the hashtag #grabhimbytheballot. Anja was inspired by the hashtag and came up with a photo project: strong, straighforward portraits of women, nude, holding a strategically placed ballot. It started with three portraits, and then a post on Facebook, and then two local papers wrote about it, then a national website picked it up, and then over 60-women from as far afield as Vermont and Connecticut arrived on Saturday 10/22/16, to be photographed. And the project keeps growing. Anja will be shooting women in NYC on 11/5 and here in the Pioneer Valley just about every day, posting a few each day, from now until election day. Here's where to find the pictures, and some of the pressAnja Schütz' Site (http://www.xn--anjaschtz-w9a.com/grabhimbytheballot-showbook/)Greenfield Recorder (http://www.recorder.com/-Take-a-stand-5553378)Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pg/anjashoots/photos/?tab=album&album_id=173989603056265)***Lindsay Mace is a friend and former student and a hooper and a person with thoughts about fame who came out to particpate in the #grabhimbytheballot shoot. We talked about the project, about Justin Timberlake and Adam West, about the Hooping Community, and other neat stuff!

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Jessica Abel is known to some for her comics/graphic novels such asLa Perdida, ArtBabe, Life Sucks, or Trish Trash. A new, teen-to-adult audience are about to know her from her coming November new release Trish Trash, Roller Girl of Mars. Still others know her for a skinny little handbook she and Ira Glass of this American Life put together in 1999 called Radio: An Illustrated GuideI only knew Jessica Abel's name as the editor of the annual Best American Comics anthologies I loved, until last spring, when, in a mix of preparation/procrastination for beginning this podcast, I was reading her hit book, Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio.The book led me to her podcast, which led me to her Creative Focus workshop, which helps artists get shit done. The workshop was six weeks long, six weeks which, coincidentally were scheduled to end exactly when I'd told myself (my fourth such deadline, the first three having failed miserably) that Episode 1 would be done and dropped! When that workshop and those six weeks were up, Episode 1 of 15 Minutes launched, and five months later, here we are at Episode 16.Jessica and I talked about fame, of course, and her books, and went deep into one of her primary missions of her work/creative life: "Helping creative people make their work, not just dream about it."Find her stuff at: http://jessicaabel.com/***Please rate review subscribe on iTunes or wherever you listen,and find us at:http://15minutuesjamieberger.comor by searching "15 minutes jamie berger" on facebookorWe’re@15minsjamiebOn twitter and instagramANDLast, and newest, any day now I’ll be up and asking you for money at patreon.comThanks!

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Episode 15 - Eugene MirmanHello listeners! We made it to 15!Serendipitously, this article (http://www.recorder.com/15-Minutes-4996757) in the local press came out today about the show. Are we famous yet?!At this mini milestone, I’d like to send out huge thanks to my guests so far for their trust and earnest, eager, fun participation, so here we go. THANKS: John Hodgman, Case Hudson, Mark Berger, Annie Duke, Tim Lockfeld, Lois Parkison, Monte Belmonte, Hearty White, Matthew Latkiewicz, Soren Mason-Temple & Dave Rothstein, Daniel Oppenheimer, Andi Zeisler, Penny Lane, and Sara Jaffe, thank you thank you thank you . . . you get the idea. Thank you. (You can find all those episodes at http://15minutesjamieberger.com .Also and of course, thanks so much to all you listeners for joining us on this little exploration. And to Ed Patenaude, for always making me sound as pretty as is achieveable.And to Christian Cundari, for our theme music.Please, if you haven’t already, rate and/or review 15 Minutes on the Great Satan - sorry, I mean iTunes - or wherever you listen to podcasts - it’s more important than you can imagine, unless you have a podcast of your own, then you know how important it is. ***You may know Eugene Mirman from his comedy albums or Comedy Central Specials, from his roles on series such as Flight of the Conchords, Delocated, Startalk, and most recently and ongoing-ly, Bob’s Burgers. You may even know him as “Berny Foy,” the bad guy in the the 1999 “Firestarter” episode of Third Watch. I don’t actually know Eugene from that one, but I’m sure gonna try to find it! OR, as I said back in episode 1, about Mr. Hodgman, you may not know him at all, and if so I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know Eugene via this conversation and a couple of cuts thrown in from Monumental 9-volume latest release on Sub Pop Records, “I’m Sorry (You’re Welcome).”Those of you who know me know that my Sub Pop ( http://subpop.com ) hoodie (which I stole from Eugene) is one of my prized possessions, not only because great artists like Eugene Mirman and Death Vessel and so many more have been on there, but that Sub Pop has been rocking my world since way back when I used to eagerly await the arrival at Sounds Records of the next Sub Pop Cassette Compilation to arrive back in the 1980s. So it’s a huge honor to be able to thank to Sub Pop for permission to use a couple of Eugene’s tracks! Go Shop for Eugene’s albums and so many more beautiful noises on Sub Pop’s Megamart (www.megamart.subpop.com). We talked earlier this month of September 2016 at his home in an undisclosed location in Eastern Massachusetts. Tune in! for upcoming episodes with graphic novelist Jessica Abel, NPR producer/reporter Tina Antolini, in a couple of months, writer George Saunders but I’m so excited I’m going to mention it right now.And much much more!Find us wherever podcasts are found or at 15minutejamieberger.com where you can also find out how to find us on twitter, instagram @15minsjamieb and on facebook.Thank you so much for listening!

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Sara Jaffe writes fiction. She used to and still does make music, was one of the founding members of Erase Errata. New Yorker review of Dryland:“Its title notwithstanding, this moody coming-of-age novel is soaked in the damp of Oregon winters and poolside locker rooms. Julie, a high-school student, joins the swim team, hoping to orbit a female crush and to understand the disappearance of her brother, a former Olympic hopeful. She is exquisitely attuned to itches and aches―the constriction of a new bathing suit, the throb of a full bladder. Only the pool releases her to a dimension 'like sugar, like a dream.' Jaffe’s meticulous, frank texturing keeps the sex talks and scenes from sinking under tropes of adolescent awakening and presents queer desire as just one of Julie’s innumerable, unstoppable sensations.” (The New Yorker)Links to stuff we talked about:Dryland The story Sara read on the show, “A Form of Love”The Art of Touring book“Salt and Water” E.P. , which includes the song “Walking Tour” that was played on the showFind us: http//15minutesjamieberger.com twitter/instagram: @15minsjamieb Yeah, Facebook too, come find us.

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Andi Zeisler cofounded Bitch Magazine in 1996, It has grown into Bitch Media, a feminism-meets-pop-culture independent media conglomerate. Her book, We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement is a detailed history of feminism in media and culture, and a takedown of the easy and breezy way celebrities and fan culture and products are taking on the term “feminist,” even to the extent that boys all over are wearing “This is what a feminist looks like” t-shirts for street cred with the ladies. Z argues that while there is good to this, it’s also just . . . too easy, too ignorant of history, a capitalist co-optation of a century-plus old social and political movement into what she and others are calling “marketplace feminism.”Her article, “The Bitch America Needs,” in support of Hillary Clinton for President, appeared in the New York Times last Saturday, 9/10/16. If you want to hear her discuss the naming of the magazine, or the word “bitch” in general, there’s plenty on youtube. It didn’t come up in our discussion.Vanity insists that I tell you I was getting over a nasty summer headcold at the time. We talked, Skype to celphone, in August.***Rate us! Review us! Please please please!The site is: http://15minutesjamieberger.comThe instagrams and tweeters are: @15minsjamiebThe fame hotline is 872-215-6467Huge thanks as ever to Ed Patenaude as always for making me sound pretty, even with a cold.

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Penny Lane is an award-winning nonfiction filmmaker. Her most recent film NUTS! premiered at Sundance 2016, where it won a Special Jury Award for Editing. Her debut feature-length documentary OUR NIXON world premiered at Rotterdam 2013, had its North American premiere at SXSW, won the Ken Burns Award for "Best of the Festival" at Ann Arbor. She was named "Most Badass!" at the Iowa City Documentary Film Festival in 2009.Her 2005 short THE ABORTION DIARIES has become an important organizing and educational tool across the nation.I met Penny here in the Pioneer Valley back in 2005 when I first got to Massachusetts, when she was teaching at Hampshire College. Then she moved to Troy and RPI, where I caught up with her once or twice, and then she moved farther away, to New York City, and eventually upstate to Colgate University where she is now a professor in the Art Department.We spoke in July about an hour before her screening of Nuts! at Amherst Cinema in a lovely loft space B&B right down the street from the theater.“Nuts!” is available 9/6 on iTunes and soon other platforms: Find Penny's stuff at:http://pennylaneismyrealname.com/http://www.nutsthefilm.com/http://ournixon.com/As ever, please rate and/or review 15 Minutes on iTunes or Soundcloud or wherever you listen, and you can find us on Facebook by searching the name of the podcast or on instagram or twitter @15minsjamieb. Thanks for listening!

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I met Dan Oppenheimer soon after I moved to this here Pioneer Valley in 2005. We ended up writing a blog together, Masculinity and Its Discontents (M.A.I.D.) for several years while I was in grad school and he was the arts writer and anonymous advice-giver, as Dear Dexter, for our region’s alternative weekly, the Valley Advocate.This year, his long awaited and much longer toiled-over book, Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century was published by Simon and Schuster to the kind of fanfare authors of such books dream of, with reviews and features everywhere from the Atlantic to the New Republic, the New Yorker, Time Magazine and the New York Times Book Review.Exit Right explores the lives and careers of six major 20th Century figures - Whittaker Chambers, James Burnham, Ronald Reagan, Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, and Christopher Hitchens - who moved from the political right to the political left, often quite suddenly. It’s a really fascinating read, which I mention especially because you might want to go check it out, seeing as Dan and I talked about jealousy and fame and ambition and podcasting and filmmaking and Morris Dickstein and a bunch of other stuff, but hardly at all about the book.We talked on the phone for the first time in a long time, in June.If you're digging what we're laying down please pass it on, and please please please rate and even review us on itTunes. Thanks! 15 Minutes is also on Twitter and Instagram at @15minsjamieb.Also, as mentioned, you can find my essay "Peep Show," which Dan mentioned (warning adult content blah blah blah, here:http://jamiebergerwords.com/peep-show/"See" you next time!

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"As an artist it feels good to be recognized for your work, as a narcissist it feels great to be recognized for nothing." - J. HodgmanHello Fabulous People,Note: to read this with lots of fun hyperlinks, go to:http://www.15minutesjamieberger.com/news/2016/8/12/episode-105-aka-episode-1-john-hodgman-the-directors-cutHope you are near water this hot day. We've got our first repeat this week, as we prepare upcoming episodes with writer/podcaster/radio historian/artist-enabler (in a good way) Jessica Abel, author Daniel Oppenheimer, filmmaker Penny Lane, and plenty of interesting people you've never heard of because maybe they want it that way! Coming this fall and beyond, we're lining up episodes with Matt (The Suitcase Junket) Lorenz, comedian Eugene Mirman, and writer George Saunders, to name just a few of the famouser ones.But remember, in between those folks will be lesser-known-if-known-at-all names with stories rants and other interesting takes on the topic - could YOU be one of them?Let us know by writing us at 15minutesjamieberger@gmail or though our facebook page or Twitter or Instagram or even by leaving a story on the fame telephone hotline at 872-215-6467. We really, truly, pinky-swear would love to hear from you. ***For this shorter version of Episdode 1: John Hodgman, we cut out the rather rough-sounding recording of the Judge John Hodgman semi-impromptu meeting that took place the day of our conversation back in aught-14. Super-Hodgman-fans, or Judgalos, as I like to call you, you can still hear that meet-up by going to Episode 1 on iTunes or Soundcloud or just about anywhere you look for podcasts!As always, the call goes out. PLEASE review and rate us on iTunes and anywhere else you can. Takes a minute, makes a BIG-ASS DIFFERENCE to us and the future of 15 Minutes!THANKS!Stay cool, all!

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