Critical Nonsense

Where might we find more empathy for each other? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about etiquette, niceties, deplaning, consideration, the inverse crush, and villains. They don’t talk about Brother Bear. 

references 

• Take a look at something that's not The Lion King now 
• Whatever you're feeling in the air tonight, it's not The Lion King 
• It might just be love though 
• Bumble released its female users height preferences 
• Pulmonary embolism 
• Paramore's "crushcrushcrush" 

How should we think about things that are created that wind up being more beloved by audiences that weren't the original target? 

This week, Joey and Aaron talk about Bluey, Pixar, Adult Swim, Married With Children, Patricia Richardson, and drag queens. They don’t talk about Left Eye. 

references 

• In case you Don't Know Much about Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt 
• Lisa Stansfeild aka Definitely-Not-Linda-Ronstadt 
• Bluey 
• Bandit 
• Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood 
• The Most Subversive Kid’s Television Shows Ever Made 
• Married... With Children 
• Mom Power: ‘Home Improvement’s’ Jill Taylor Is The Best Sitcom Mom Of All Time 
• Shrinking 
• Dungeons and Drag Queens 
• Australians 

How important is attractiveness? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about self-rating, the butt phase, dating apps, dating profiles as brand strategy, TMI, and hotties. They don’t talk about teratophilia. 

references 

• Debutante Ball's are real 
• ... as are narwhals 
• "Physical and Psychosocial Correlates of Facial Attractiveness" by Marco Costa and Dario Maestripieri (PDF) 
• "80% Of Women Choose Only The Top 20% of Attractive Men" Is A Big Fat Incel Lie 
• Pew Research: The Virtues and Downsides of Online Dating 
• Institute for Family Studies: On Internet Dating Sites, Women Prefer Men With Higher Incomes and More Education 
• Fast Company: I Found Out My Secret Internal Tinder Rating And Now I Wish I Hadn’t 

What is patriotic? 

This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about American Democracy, fusion foods, the spirit of the thing, beer holding, the cronut, and empanadas. They don’t talk about pastechi. 

references 

• Dance Moms 
• BuzzFeed: "Maddie Ziegler On Being Sia's 'Muse' From Age 11" 
• "Majorities in most countries have a positive opinion of the U.S." 
• "Will Democracy Win? Barack Obama in Conversation with Christiane Amanpour" 
• Revisiting: Critical Nonsense 233! The Familiar Unexpected 
• Empanada Mama 
• TasteAtlas: "100 Most Popular Dumplings in the World" 
• USA! USA?: A patriotic playlist for people who aren't sure how they feel about America 

Why are we all suddenly calling these chicken "tendies"? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about children's food, compression, self-deprecation, cutification, Big Chicken, and expressivity. They don’t talk about brekky. 

references 

• Chicken Fried 
• philology 
• ScienceDirect: Compression and communication in the cultural evolution of linguistic structure 

Do you believe in the idea that collective vibes could exist, and are we fully entering into a new vibe? 

This week, Joey and Aaron talk about the debt ceiling battle, the Writers Guild of America strike, AI, not sitting idle, Lucy Lawless, and pasta. They don’t talk about cowboy pasta. 

references 

• A long "May-tember" 
• ARTnews: Hannah Gadsby’s Disastrous ‘Pablo-matic’ Show at the Brooklyn Museum Has Some ‘Pablo-ms’ of Its Own 
• The Writers Guild of America strike 
• Cascatelli pasta 
• The New York Times: "The Best Canned Tomatoes" 

What have you learned in one year of playing DnD together? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about Dungeons & Dragons, body doubling, Type 1 and Type 2 Fun, hobbies, forks, and the Metaverse. They don’t talk about the D&D All-Stars. 

references 

• Dungeons & Dragons 
• DM = Dungeon Mster 
• OBS 

How should we feel about optimism? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about genetics, pessimism, risk aversion, oxytocin, hugs, and butt pats. They don’t talk about why cats like butt pats, though. 

references 

• chanteuse 
• Is Optimism Genetic? 
• oxytocin 
• Do you believe in life after love? 
• Chimp Empire 

When was the last time that you experienced something familar unexpected? 

This week, Jess, Joey, and Aaron talk about mochi, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, chord progressions, rollercoasters, Warrior Cats, and Doppler radar. They don’t talk about The Lloyd Dobler Effect. 

references 

• Corrections Department: The original The Parent Trap film came out in 1961 
• Kramer vs. Kramer 
• Mochi 
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor 
• Carolina Chocolate Drops "Hit Em Up Style" 
• "7 Common Chord Progressions You’ll Instantly Recognize" 
• Boomerang Coaster 
• Suspended Looping Coaster 
• Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
• Warriors 
• Blindness by José Saramago 
• This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone 
• Critical Nonsense Bookclub 

What are you watching right now and why? 

This week, Aaron, Jess, and Joey talk about SpongeBob, YouTube shorts rabbit holes, RuPaul's Drag Race, the NBA Playoffs, Alan Wake, and bikinis. To the Sunbathing Angel's dismay, they don’t talk about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. 

references 

• Calm Down 
• Revsiting Critical Nonsense 217! AI Centaurs 
• Progress Report Edition 092: Consider the Centaur 
• Only Murders In the Building 
• "A potato flew around my room until you came" 
• The Ren & Stimpy Show 
• Stephen Hillenburg 
• John K. 
• BuzzFeed News: The Disturbing Secret Behind An Iconic Cartoon: Underage Sexual Abuse 
• "... babyyyyyyy" 
• How The Design Of Spongebob Has Changed Over The Years 
• RuPaul's Masterclass 
• RuPaul on How to Live Your Best Life 
• Jungian Therapy 
• Daisy Jones & the Six 
• Riley Keough 
• The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch 
• Alan Wake 
• How It's Actually Made - Bread