Midlifing

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Lee and Simon talk about men they are attracted to. Also, Lee takes away Simon's last pleasure in life and they accidentally hang up on each other.

Some other details from the episode: Cirque de Soleil, Lee's parents visiting, Norman Miller's (postcard sized) book of life, more on Lee's Swytch wheel, bad Australian accents, Alan Watts (definitely dead), cut glass English accents, inner beauty, jumping the shark (again), Lee's gently (gender) fluid ways, Jack Reacher's bottom, (little) Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, Tom Holland and not Tom Daley, Timothée Chalamet, Alan Ritchson, wrestling to see who gets to be on top (and television sex scenes in general), erogenous zones, releasing fingers while coming, Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (and the Judy Bloom novel), Keanu Reeves being untouchable, Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises, Mads Mikkelsen, Morten Harket (from a-ha), slightly dirty looking men, John Wick, nice smelling men, Brad Pitt not changing his underpants, New Year's Eve (non) plans, NYE in the southern hemisphere, Prince's 1999, Mount Maunganui, and (not) pashing Chris Robinson.

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Related links (and necessary corrections):

• Alan Watts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Watts
• Lee Child Reacher novels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reacher_(book_series)
• Morten Harket: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morten_Harket
• Prince album 1999 (from 1982): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_(Prince_album)
• Mount Maunganui: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Maunganui

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Lee and Simon talk about their experiences of Christmas

Some other details: Simon the Christmas Grinch; Christmas, religion and commercialism; this time of the year in the Northern hemisphere; being communal in the dark and warm; spying on other people's Christmases; stress and violence at Christmas; enforced jollity of being with people; Christmas presents and showing them to your friends; working on Christmas day; Christmas being time not with friends; buying a bicycle for Lil; learning to ride a bicycle as an adult; Swytch electric bike kits; cycling in the Netherlands; dinner at Bel Canto; dog owners, and Jefrey needing to update his priors.

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Related links (and necessary corrections):

• 1970s Raleigh Tomahawk bicycle
• Swytch bike kits
• Bel Canto Lisbon

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Lee and Simon don't quite talk about bribery and corruption, and instead think through if the world is uniquely crazy in this moment.

Some other details: Simon is gifted an advent calendar; being bribed and/or blackmailed; John Wick (pre-emptive revenge); illegal Russian websites; how shit the weather has been; how small human beings are; the wonkiness of the world; Simon's clunk on 9/11 (and not quite censoring the thought); the 24 hour news cycle; Martin Luther's 95 theses (in 31 October 1517); emergence of a Protestant Church; German accents (and a bit of German itself); JFK calling himself a doughnut; the telegraph and the historical slowness of communications; queques (Portuguese lemon-orange cakes); being content creators; closing the lid when flushing; fecal plumes; and a big apology for the poo talk at the end. 

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Related links (and necessary corrections):

• JFK was assassinated on 22 November 1963: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy
• Martin Luther's 95 Theses: https://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html
• JFK did not really call himself a doughnut: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-does-everybody-think-jfk-said-im-jelly-donut-180963779/

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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The episode starts like it is part 2 but it's not really so don't get upset. Lee and Simon talk about the closure of University dance courses in the UK, and Simon mixes metaphors (again) while remaining ambivalent about having opinions.

A list of things they cover: Going to University to do one thing but ending up doing something else; Universities as places that make things possible for people; dance as the canary in the Higher Education coalmine; how methodologies don't fucking matter; leaving University in debt and not making enough money ever to pay it back; dance as something trivial; developing a practice and avoiding the University; the wind blowing in a very clear direction; Lee sounding like a product manager; arts still being important in very expensive schools; universities not supposed to be for everyone; blaming a member of your own family; Norman up a ladder; listening a bit more; a bread update; and Simon's next tattoo.

Related links (and necessary corrections):

• WEIRD: The W stands for Western not white: https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2010/10/western-educated-industrialized-rich-and-democratic/181667/

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Lee and Simon ensure they talk about something and end up deep in the land of world politics.

A list of things they cover: Susan's concern about lack of content, fist bumps, clearing throat sounds in middle-aged men, slowing down, elderly neighbours, still being above ground, far right victory in the Netherlands, Christopher Isherwood's The Berlin Diaries, Lee singing, how and why something is important, requels, Scream 7 (and other horror movies), Melissa Barrera being fired, riots in Dublin, UK's Secretary of State calling a place in the north a shithole, things feeling febbrile, and not-so-long-ago anxiety about WWII.  

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Simon and Lee talk about how understanding one's role at work changes, and watching people under enormous stress. Oh, and Lee has a little tantrum.

Some words that help describe this episode: management, stress, leadership, dog noises, acronyms, ambition, meeting challenges, not pushing a point, being right, mince pies, helplessness, uncertain emotional places, wanting to be heard, and the line between supporting and intervening.

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Simon regales Lee with stories from an airport and almost pulling an all-nighter. Lee mentions Marc Augé (for the first time) and cocktails (again).
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Related links (and necessary corrections):

• Humberto Delgado Airport: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon_Airport
• Air side: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/airside
• Marc Augé and non-place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-place
• Venchi Rome airport: https://eu.venchi.com/venchi-cioccolato-e-gelato-roma-aeroporto-fiumicino-t2-d
• Karrasekare by Igor and Moreno: https://igorandmoreno.com/works/karrasekare/
• Because We Care by Colin, Simon and I: https://www.skellis.net/colinsimonandi/because-we-care 

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Lee and Simon talk about merit, the meritocracy and doing selection processes by chance.

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Related links (and necessary corrections):

• Michael Sandel's The Tyranny of Merit (TED talk) https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_the_tyranny_of_merit

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Lee and Simon talk burlesque, cocktails and Cornish pasties. They do not talk about zombie stormtroopers but do (also) chat a bit about learning things (mostly because of a crisis of confidence on Simon's part)

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Lee and Simon talk pizza, pastel de nata and signing petitions.

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Related links (and necessary corrections):

• Rome pizza institution (called da Baffetto): http://www.pizzeriabaffetto.it/
• Naples tiktok thing: https://thetakeout.com/tiktok-viral-chaotic-italian-sandwich-maker-farewell-1849331317
• Da Michele pizzeria (Napoli and Julia Roberts): https://guide.michelin.com/en/campania/napoli/restaurant/da-michele
• Forensic architecture: https://forensic-architecture.org/

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at [email protected].

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)