Critical Nonsense

Why is failure the best way to learn a lesson? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about New York laundry, errant emails, the instant amplitude of the feeling of failure, "Fail fast!," biffing and flop sweat, and overlearning. They don’t talk about Sonic Youth's Washing Machine LP. 

references 

• Critical Nonsense Merch! 
• Fortune: How an NFT creator lost $34 million due to a smart contract error 
• The Atlantic: Pandemonium and Rage in Hawaii 
• Rube Goldberg machine 

How can we better tap into inspiration from weirder, wilder places?

This week, Joey and Jess talk about The Office, diverse sourcing, walking away, "do it now," and ... thots. They don’t talk about Chicago. 

references 

• HAIM "Right Now" 
• Corrections Department: Pronunciation Guide: HAIM Teach You How to Say Their Name 
• Just FYI: How Caribbean People Eat Mango 
• Corrections Department: Who vs. Whom 
• Neuroscience News: Unique Connectivity Lets Highly Creative People’s Brains Take ‘Road Less Traveled’ to Their Destination 
• The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc 
• Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson 
• Simplenote 

Which CCU team should get our backing? 

In the latest installment of Nonsense VC!, Jess pitches Cereal Cinematic Universes to Joey. They talk about Kellogg's vs. General Mills, character strength, biome corners, villains, tummy troubles, and the rampant commingling of ice cream and cereal. They don’t talk about cereal commas. 

references 

• The lineup card: Kellogg's vs. General Mills 
• Yesterworld: The History & Downfall of McDonaldland and the Disney-McDonalds Happy Meal 
• The Wacky Adventures Of Ronald McDonald: THE COMPLETE SERIES! 
• The A.V. Club: A thorough history of Honeycomb’s bygone mascot monster 
• "currently on leave" and "previously a dog" 
• Teen Vogue: Ben & Jerry's Now Makes Cereal-Flavored Ice Cream 
• See also: Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles, Lucky Charms, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch ice creams 
• The limited edition Cocoa Puffs Neopolitan colorway: a review 
• Peeps cereal: a review 
• Ice Cream Pebbles cereal: a review 
• Look away, Joey: Cereal ice cream sandwiches 

How far can we take malicious compliance? And what happens when a nothing turns into a need? [26:12]

This week, Joey and Jess talk about Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law, rules, Originalism, lip balm, deodorant, and skin care routines. They don’t talk about Judas Priest.

references

• A look back at Teen Beat 
• Selena + Chef on HBO Max 
• Selena Gomez & The Scene "Un Año Sin Lluvia" 
• Critical Nonsense on YouTube 
• The teacher template letter in response to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law 
• Baader–Meinhof phenomenon/Frequency illusion 
• Diana Taurasi couldn’t stop making dick jokes on ESPN during the Final Four 
• What Is Originalism? Definition and Examples 
• Corrections Department: The questionably worded common law marriage bill in Tennessee (not Kentucky) 
• Real, wrath of God type stuff 
• Again, Baz Luhrmann's "Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen" 
• Reuters: You may be eating a credit card's worth of plastic each week: study 
• Wikipedia's list of generic and genericized trademarks 

How dead is Rock and Roll? And how are we tied to our genetic identity? [28:31]

This week, special guest Harmand Ponder joins Joey and Jess to talk about Tame Impala, Rock subgenres, Baroque Pop, genetics vs. culture, epigenetics, and beaches. They don’t talk about Bette Midler.

references

• Hey, Dude 
• kumquats 
• List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees 
• Baroque pop 
• Brian Falduto, gay life coach, and his identity struggles after School of Rock 
• What Is Epigenetics, and Why Is [Joey] Talking about It? 
• Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 
• We remember, Joey. We remember. 

How do you think different? And what office supplies do you miss? [45:20]

This week, a rerun from Nonsense past!

Again, Joey, Aaron, and Jess talk about aphantasia, internal monologues, learning styles, pilfering printer paper, binder clips, and ugly cups. They don’t talk about The Mind Palace.

references

• Junkee on aphantasia and visualizing apples 
• NPR on how Jess's favorite apple, the Honeycrisp, changed the world 
• Jess's dreams as the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster 
• Aaron's dreams as The Beast roller coaster 
• Joey's mind as a Fast & Furious theme park ride 
• Joey's horror: Not everyone has an internal monologue 
• What is the corpus callosum? 
• And, for only the sexy people: Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It" 

Is Goblin Mode a privilege? And how should we feel about pathologizing our behaviors? [27:24]

This week, special guest Ilana Bondell joins Joey and Jess to talk about the versions of Goblin Mode, pandemic nihilism, identity politics, repressing trauma, the western medical industrial complex, and "The Man." They don’t talk about Jareth.

references

• "Iris" and the City of Angels 
• The doobily-doo ... er ... link to reach our Corrections Department 
• Revisiting Vibe Shifts in Episode 161! 
• The Guardian: "Slobbing out and giving up: why are so many people going ‘goblin mode’?" 
• The original meaning of goblin-ing? 
• Sex and the City: Season 4 Ep 13: The Good Fight 
• Corrections Department: Zen-DAY-uh 
• "Going to the Bathroom" Is Not Normal 
• Here Comes Old Gregg 
• Gollum and Sméagol 

Why do we keep doing things that don't make any sense at all? And is youth culture always the same? [24:34]

This week, Jess and Joey talk about Pi Day, songlines, dead reckoning, Billy Joel, the Flynn effect, and the global mean hat size. They don’t talk about the Tau of Pooh.

references

• Give Me ... the Beach Boys? 
• NPR: Ways to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine 
• "We'll do it live!" 
• Vihart: Pi is (still) wrong. 
• Smart by Design: Base 12 - Why Counting In Twelves Would Make Life Easier 
• Songlines: the Indigenous memory code 
• Dead reckoning 
• "TikTok is just ..." 
• Remembering GeoCities, the 1990s Precursor to Social Media 
• Billy Joel's "Piano Man" 
• James Flynn's Ted Talk: Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents' 
• The Flynn effect 

What do we do about disposability culture?

This week, Joey and Jess talk about fast furniture, Shein, quality-assurance signaling, direct-to-consumer mattresses, darning, and nubby sherpa chairs. They don’t talk about Dres and Mista Lawnge.

references

• Salt-N-Pepa's here, and "here" appears to be a veterinary office 
• NPR: Ways to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine 
• Helen Rosner's Twitter question about fast furniture 
• Brightly on the environmental waste of fast furniture 
• Vox: Shein is the future of fast fashion. Is that a good thing? 
• CNBC: There are now 175 online mattress companies—and you can’t tell them apart 
• Corrections Department: The (possible) 18th-century New England origins of "Darn it!" 
• ShINO vs. Sherpa 

When did Instagram get so boring?

This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about Facebook/Meta business strategy, The Viola Davis Orbit, positive affirmation, and creators vs. lurkers. They don’t talk about Smell-O-Vision.

references

• THX 
• NPR's Planet Money on sound branding (excerpted from Twenty Thousand Hertz's original two-part series on HBO and sound branding: Part One | Part Two) 
• Eureeka's Castle 
• Viola Davis on Instagram 
• Path