Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

– I was a jerk in college

– Mispronunciation is a sign of intelligence (except with names, in which case it’s just a sign of laziness; sorry again)

– “Reticent” is not a chic way to say “hesitant”

– Growing up on Disney movies

– The real reason Grimms’ Fairy Tales isn’t suitable for children

– What ASMR and Louis Malle movies have in common

– “ASMR Chess”: weirdly soothing, and also kind of educational

– A bad definition of pornography

– Lars Von Trier’s movie Antichrist

– Aristotle’s three categories of human activity

– Is porn too useful to be art?

– The five wits (The one I couldn’t think of is estimation)

– Mark Strand’s smile

– Surrealists vs. fantasists

– Dreams and laughter, according to Freud

– The existence of podcasting is proof of widespread human misery

– Terror vs. horror

– The Queen’s Gambit is actually Warrior

– Knockouts vs. submissions

– Sisyphus vs. Oedipus

– A subject on which The Simpsons and Maurice Blanchot can agree

– Marcus Aurelius and the privilege of not having to blind yourself because you’ve killed your dad and married your mom

– Bill Coyle’s poem “Kolmârden Zoo”

Please rate, review, and subscribe!

Send questions, comments, and suggestions to [email protected]. Or just go to matthewbuckleysmith.com and direct your hate mail straight to my personal inbox.

Music by ETRNL

Art by Daniel Alexander Smith