Anxious Machine

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.

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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

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

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: Due

My 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

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.

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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

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

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.

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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 Zabriskie

Cylinder 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