Nooks and Crannies

***SPOILER-FEST***

Avengers: Endgame

Welcome to the first of many more Spoiler-Fest Bonus Episodes; Avengers: Endgame!

Of course, we are pleased to welcome back, re: dragged back kicking, screaming and overall reluctantly, Paul, the really nice dude who needs a better podcast nickname than “That Movie Guy”, Combs!

If that were not enticing enough, Paul somehow convinced his former co-host (and RL good friend) Joseph from Matty’s FAVORITE Indie movie review podcast EVER! C & C Geekcast to join in on this SPOILER-Fest Episode!!

So total fan-boi moment right!!!??? True, but I also needed both Joseph and Paul’s assistance because, SPOILER ALERT: Matt has never seen an Avengers movie, and has maybe only seen 20 mins of some random Iron Man movie at some point…So, ya.

The conversation turned out to be fascinating and I know all you super fans out there will love it, and honestly, even those who are a little muh on Superhero sheeeeeet, will very much enjoy the analysis Paul and Joseph provide, which of course is well anchored in the Profundity that is Mamoo.

***PS: Duh, this is a spoiler episode, look at the title, don’t think you were not forewarned!!***   

Cheering Crowd, http://eliotlash.com/

Crickets Chirping, http://soundcloud.com/roocza

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Hear Paul, don’t call me Cosmo, Csomo from Varmints and Chris, don’t call me Paul, Osborne from Play Comics join Matty on May 17th at 3:00 for a 30 min roundtable music playlist-athon in support of the 3rd Annual Livestream for the Cure event in support of The Cancer Research Institute

Big thanks go to Nick Haskins from Epic Film Guys and RestuRant podcasts who has once again organized this and has continued to add more features like; Merchandise!

Follow this Link (https://www.twitch.tv/epicfilmguys) on May 17th for 30hours of Podcasting fun, all in support of this very worthwhile cause; personally dedicated to Perry and Lindsay Johnson::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Evan’s Blurry Pictures

Find Nooks and Crannies on Spotify

Listen to Evan’s Much Superior Musical Picks

Graphics by Donna Hume

Welcome to Episode 19 of Nooks and Crannies!

Concussed 80s Action Flicks, Feminist Teething, Confused Venezuelan Coups:

What Was That Like?  

Good to be back after the break week: Evan wrote an amazing paper and Matt got concussion number 28 on Good Friday! Suffice to say, the show notes are gonna be a little on the short side this episode.

We kick things off with an intro where Matty reveals the two playlists he has been listening to with Violet during breakfast: Violet’s Teething Remix and Vi’s Feminist Indoctrination, vol. 1

Next up is Brian, Matt’s Chronic Illness Muse, King who turned the tables at the end of our chat and interviewed me about anthropology and medical anth. Always a treat to have a thoughtful individual ask you questions about a passion. Thanks buddy P-)

After we lost Brian (his WiFi dropped randomly and we decided to just call it), we have another edition of the hottest segment in podcasting; “Podcast Recommendation Section, w/Nooks and Crannies”, on this edition we hear about Matt’s new favorite show: What Was That Like, hosted by perhaps the most perfectist interviewer in the game Scott Johnson. Just hit subscribe and take a peek at the episode titles, that’s all it took for Evan and I to get hooked.

***Trigger Warning: Episode 22 of What was that Like, it gets pretty rough. I would recommend proceeding with trepidation. It was one where part of it I wish I could have unheard.***

It is also one of the most harrowing accounts ever...

Anywho..Let's Lighten the mood a bit with Paul, the movie podcast guy who still needs a better podcasting nickname than this, Combs and Matty dorking out over 1980’s era Action Flicks!!! Don’t worry, somewhere in here I managed to wedge in Over the Top and Space Jam, but that also might have been last episode or on the next one, folks, what I am trying to say here is I got a concussion okay??!?! Jeeze

Okay back to the heavy, Matt gives you all a full account of his 28th concussion and how he somehow managed to pull off, with the able and supportive helpy of melly, his first ever full on Turkey Dinner! Do not know how I did it, cuz I barely remember Monday, or Sunday or … Talk to you all soon.

Oh wait, there is more! Next segment is a new one, tentatively called: What Just Happened, a political and current events segment that Evan came up with that, honestly folks, its just a convenient way for yours truly to stay up to date on politics! On the inceptional

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Hear Paul, don’t call me Cosmo, Csomo from Varmints and Chris, don’t call me Paul, Osborne from Play Comics join Matty on May 17th at 3:00 for a 30 min roundtable music playlistathon in support of the 3rd Annual Livestream for the Cure event in support of The Cancer Research Institute.

Big thanks goes to Nick Haskins from Epic Film Guys and RestuRant podcasts who has once again organized this and has continued to add more features like: Merchandise!

Follow this Link (https://www.twitch.tv/epicfilmguys) on May 17th for 30hours of Podcasting fun, all in support of this very worthwhile cause; personally dedicated to Perry and Lindsay Johnson.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Fears and Desires Podcast, hosted by the indelible Issa Wurie  

Witness the awesomeness that is Brian King, MSW

What Was that Like, hosted by the best interviewer in the indie podgame, Scott Johnson

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Vi's Feminist Indoctrination, vol. 1

Violet's Teething Remix (sadish songs)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Evan’s Blurry Pictures

Find Nooks and Crannies on Spotify

Listen to Evan’s Much Superior Musical Picks

Graphics by Donna Hume

If you or someone you know is suffering with Brain Inju

Welcome to Episode 18 of Nooks and Crannies!

Reflexive Concussed Methodologies, LBB’s and 80s Action Flicks w/Names Redacted

Matty sets the table with a heartfelt soliloquy on being chronically post-concussed. (3:05) the Intro starts, where Matty introduces Epen to one of the weirder yet developmentally rich Netflix baby shows which also happens to have one of the more disturbing names around. Again Matt pulls back the chronically ill 4th curtain to explain how he uses music in the morning to reset the emotional tenor of the day with wee lil baby Vi (5:25) by making a Hap-Phee Playlist.

Oh, Matt also made a Westcoast Gangsta Rap playlist for his own emotional wellbeing. Matt even slipped in a subtle name drop to Kristaps, his favorite Latvian and host of The Eastern Border podcast, cuz he is radical go support his show, participation is compulsory!!

(11:29) So, Matty goes for Thai take out from Thai Lemongrass but has time to kill so he heads over to his favorite and closest Cold Beer and Wine Store *The Caddy Bay Liquor Store. With yet more time to kill, he is doing his groove thaaaang outside and sees this public notice posted to the side of an electrical pole from: **NAME REDACTED FOR PERSONAL SAFETY**: Funny II; Even More Excerpts from my Written Stuff…Evan Reads.

(17:55) Hey folks, ever wanted to know how to apply Reflexivity to your very own Ethnographic Research Projects?? Well..um…look no further than right here I guess. Yes, Matty is Self-Indulgently talking about his own Concussion research in a rather uncomfortable self-congratulatory fashion. Oh hey, look…Is that an embedded hyperlink to his own research??

*Ya, I am THAT OLD, I use the phrase hyperlink still, go take a ride on the information superhighway you jerk!

(39:18) We have another chunk of audio from Paul, the guy who needs a better podcasting nickname than The Movie Guy, Combs and Matt and him are talking 80s ACTION FLICKS! We cover a lot of ground in this shortish segment in which Paul does a bang-up job corralling me, however, I did manage to shoehorn in a discussion on Space Jam *hit that link to see what the internet looked like in 1996!

And, of course, the underrated Sylvester Stallone arm-wrestling family film Over the Top which also has an amazing soundtrack highlighted by Kenny, the king of the 80s, Loggins and the Robin Zander classic which I hope no Trump supporter ever hears, might be a new theme song. Other fine cinematic masterpieces raised: Lethal Weapon, Blood Sport including an inordinate focus on JCVD’s splitting abilities (3:38), Turner and Hooch, Tango and Cash and our views on Danny Glover (two-time N&C Honourable Mention).

Screw it, here is a link to the Rocky 4 Training montage for no reason whatsoeva!

 (55:08) Last and certainly least Evan, the Kasparov acolyte, Ferguson throws down a gauntlet and challenges you all to a Chess.com ass whooping at the hands of Iamnotarook420! Or if you need a confidence booster then come challenge Matty over here on the Bott Account.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Evan’s Blurry Pictures

Find Nooks and Crannies on Spotify

Graphics by Donna Hume

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Proud of you Lindsay

Welcome to Episode 17 of Nooks and Crannies!

Paa_ul_s Podcast: Action Flicks, First Blood Part 1ish

This week on Nooks and Crannies, Paul Combs foolishly agreed to join Matty for what turned into an absolute marathon session, and I ain't talking about Paul’s Running, nope we did a genre deep dive on Action Movies. (5:05) We kick things off with an overview of some of the features of the genre, spoiler alert: not a lot (any) female leads until the 1980’s, so this is a dudefest episode…good thing Paul is so darn likable. Paul uses Commando as the quintessential action flick, we also name drop: Beverly Hills Cop as action-comedy, Rambo 3 to see Rambo in Afghanistan and the Last Action Hero as a perfect parody action movie.

We then get into the real early history (8:15) including the Lumiere bros. classic “proof of concept” film from 1895 Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat technically this is the first “Action” film. (12:10) Buster Keaton (IMDB) gets a well deserved focus in this early history (1920’s), be sure to watch The General (1926) in Paul’s opinion it is his finest work or The Frozen North (1922) cuz its Buster in Canada! I also found this amazing interview he gave in the early 70’s overdubbed on a compilation of his greatest stunts. Paul reminded us all about Harold Lloyd who Matty treated like the lesser Keaton (14:35), but I did remember to bring up the famous hanging from a clock stunt from Safety Last! (1923).

To cap the 20-30’s off, Matty gushes over Errol Flynn and the impact The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) had on young Mamoo when he was a wee lad (20:11), but not this one from the 20’s that is really quite awful. After an awkward edit break where I was planning on playing a movie trailer but thought better of it…We chat about Paul’s favorite role model James Bond and who he considers the personification of his own personality Sean Connery (28:20).

The 1950-60’s was dominated by Westerns and military films when it came to “Action” films, the 1970’s was kinda depressing and Sci-fi then took over the action genre for the latter half of the decade. It was not until the 1980’s that the genre itself became fully fledged. So in this last segment (33:00), Paul and I try to name as many movies as possible, including for some reason T1 and T2? The OG Mad Max, The French Connection (35:26) Paul has a doozy of a tidbit on this film, Dirty Harry, Bullet surprised to learn that this is one of Paul’s favorites and he smartly explained why the late 60-70’s saw a boom in car-centric action movies, Death Race 2000 (1975) the amazing early Sylvester Stallone film, Dirty Dozen and The Wild Bunch, Independence Day and Saving Private Ryan dunno why here but there you go.

Oh right, Matt tries to explain why there is no such thing as a Canadian Action movie but does throw Last of the Mohican out there as a pitiful example (46:00). Then we finally cap this half!?! That’s right folks, this is only the first half of the Marathon. But we end with one of the most controversial reveals in Nooks and Crannies HISTORY, Paul almost gets booted..it got real ugly (47:26).

 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Evan’s Blurry Pictures

Find Nooks and Crannies on Spotify

Listen to Evan’s Much Superior Musical Picks

Graphics by Donna Hume

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Proud of you Lindsay

Welcome to Episode 16 of Nooks and Crannies!

Reflexive Wellness and Embodied Empathy w/Headhunters

This episode is all about Reflexivity and Wellness, how we can draw on our own experiences to forge relationships based on mutual understanding and by sharing experiences. Fear Not! We will unpack all this in the following ways:

(6:55) Reflexivity is an anthropological methodology and perspective popularized by Renato Rosaldo in the early 90’s. His wife Michelle and he, went off to the Philipines in the 1970’s to conduct fieldwork with a group of Illongot headhunters. Tragedy befell Renato out there and it was this personal experience that inspired the amazing Culture and Truth: the remaking of social analysis. Evan and Matt read passages from this text as a way of unpacking the nuances, Matt of course almost cries, Evan is as smooth as silk as always.

Next episode we will include a discussion on how I applied this concept to my research on post-concussion syndrome in athletes, but for now, consider this a primer and introduction to ol Matty’s favorite anthropologist. Stay tuned to the end of this episode where I share the story of meeting Renato in Chicago at the AAA (American Anthropological Association), no spoilers, but of course Matty started slobber crying (1:00:15).

Next (29:02) we hear from Brian King (MSW), Matty’s personal chronic illness muse we had a rangey conversation that centered on; ADHD, Mindset, how and why Brian shares his illness Publically, the dimensions of parenting with ADHD, why he is such a nice guy and the reasons he formed his own community of the empathetic on the evil platform known as The Facebook!

I included an extra bit of audio leading into this chat (27:50), it’s of him and I checking in on each other. I thought it was interesting to witness reflexive empathy, the vehicle through which individuals with chronic ailments tend to connect: call this, Pragmatic Reflexivity, cuz im a dork

**Side note: Brian needed to have a desk fan on during the conversation and he had some birdies in the background which was a pleasant addition. Plus side: Matty learned how to scrub audio through Audacity thanks to the helpful help of John Bukenas Podcasting Editor EXTRAORDINAIRE! He is a saint, took the time out to answer my super simple question in a very clear and helpful way. I think it sounds decent but as they say in indie podcasting: the sound might not be perfect but the content is gold!

(52:50) Following Brian, we hear from Paul, really needs a better nickname than Movie Person, Combs and we talking Wellness: why and how he got back into running, how he uses technology to help track his results and keep himself motivated and I even demanded that he submit a playlist I titled: Run Paul Run: 4mi, its roughly 50mins long which based on his posts is approximately his 4mile run time. See what we did there? No word on why he is so darn photogenic though…

Let’s wrap this up, hey anyone want to hear about one of the more tragic stories from anthropology that doesn’t involve the perpetuation of colonialism?? Well (1:00:15) hit that timestamp and hear the conclusion of the reflexivity chat in which Renato Rosaldo learned of the Rage that individuals feel through Loss.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Evan’s Blurry Pictures

Find Nooks and Crannies on Spotify

Graphics by Donna Hume

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Proud of you Lindsay

Welcome to Episode 15 of Nooks and Crannies!

Misogynistic Gardening and Unicorn Riots at Floyd’s Diner

Surprise! Matty unilaterally moved Nooks and Crannies’ release day to Friday’s, sometimes Thursday’s. Tis a new day in paradise…

Anywhooozy Doozy, This week on N&C we kick things off by digging around in Matty’s gardening adventures while Evan is mired in melting snow and sedimented dog poop. Although he did get a fun new office plant that is, honestly, it just sounds terrifying (4:51).

 Take a hard lefthanded turn (7:00) Matty lets Epen in on a little organization called Unicorn Riot that he heard about after hearing them featured on a recent On the Media episode called Hating in Plain Sight.

Evan then misogynistically takes over the mic (13:21) to recommend Venus in Furs! A book published in 1870 which seems to have introduced the world to the magical world of Sadomasochism! So, folks, this is not as raunchy as it might seem at first glance, it is actually quite tame and in Evan’s humble opinion, kinda badly written and contains weak immature philosophy written by rich folks who do not need to live in the real world with all us stiffs who clearly do not have time for this kind of juvenility. However, obviously, I guess, books like this influenced Freud and friends in their establishment of personality typologies. Solid Evan reads in this one, hope you also agree. If not, Evan might spank me :(

To allow the fellas a chance to collect themselves after that sensual Evan Reads, we play a couple banked mini-segments on future topics we are interested in; Eugenics in Iceland (28:33) and (32:18) Matt assigns Epen some homework, he gets to go deep dive Shoshana Zuboff who has written extensively on Surveillance Capitalism. Epen and Mamoo would like Kristaps, host of the amazing Eastern Border Podcast to read a recent David Brooks article called If Stalin had a Smartphone, report back with your findings comrade! *Sorry for the sound quality in these two segments, Matty fixed it.

To close things out, Matty talks about the Amazing Floyd’s Diner in Victoria BC as a way of shamelessly sharing the one and only podcast-celebrity moment he will ever have (35:36).   

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Matty’s Garden Wedge

Find Nooks and Crannies on Spotify

Graphics by Donna Hume

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Proud of you Lindsay

Welcome to Episode 13 of Nooks and Crannies!

Blue Jays Season Preview: a retail nightmare

This week’s episode was delayed because, well, it was just one of those weeks.

Kicking things off awkwardly, Matt sings the girls softball cheer “Little Red Rooster” which he parlays seamlessly into a lefty diatribe about how pleased he is that the Blue Jay’s have become the first MLB team to raise the salaries of their minor league players.

Lisa and Sam helped Matty, the bunting machine, Sanderson with the much anticipated Toronto Blue Jay’s 2019 Season Preview SPECTACULAR! (5:50) This season is full of storylines but we all feel like the team is going to be awful but also weirdly hopeful as the team is clearly in rebuilding mode. Lisa it turns out would make a ruthless ‘new style’ GM, Sam is a big fan of the notorious bully Bud Norris, and Matty likes to play favorites especially with his undersized 2nd Base-People like Devon Travis.  

After the season preview, Matty the stuffy-nosed podcast co-host, returns with a podcast recommendation section (37:01) suggesting that you all listen to At the Letters, Birds all Day, Artificial Turf Wars and Around the Nest (the Jays minor league podcast)

*****TRIGGER WARNING: Human Bodily Dysfunctions*****

(40:53) Alright folks, fair warning starts here but Lisa and Sam told the funniest story yet renditioned on Nooks and Crannies, but if you are made queasy or uncomfortable by tales of human digestion gon wrong, do not listen to this one. You have been warned…The Retail Nightmare Story starts here (42:10).

Last segment; bit of a pallet cleanser I hope (49:19) is a really heartwarming happy spring message from Ol Matty, including mention of his Radical 80’s Mixtape (up now on Spotify).

Happy Spring Equinox all you Polytheists’ out there, Talk To You all as soon as I get some rest.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Episode 14 Links:

I Shake My Head with Lisa and Sam, Support their show, Buy their Stuff, Creep them on Twitter, Or see the real life Bit-Moji version of them on Insta, Their show is edited and produced by John Bukenas

Hey, find out why Sam was so offended to have her name attached to Lisa’s Amazing Playlist

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Evan’s Blurry Pictures

Find Nooks and Crannies on Spotify

Listen to Evan’s Much Superior Musical Picks

Graphics by Donna Hume

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Proud of you Lindsay

Welcome to Episode 13 of Nooks and Crannies

Gin Soaked Spotify, iSMH w/Lisa and Sam and a Green New Deal for Rider Nation

This week the fella’s kick things off with an earth-shattering revelation concerning Spotify spoiler alert; we are now on Spotify. Then we talk Gin (6:00), Matt is drinking the World Class Winning Sheringham’s from beautiful Sooke BC, whilst Epen is consuming the sad, dregs of gin bottles gone by, topped off with an equally sad, still frozen cranberry. Listen to episode 14 to see how that went for Evan.

Okay, so here is the real Spotify announcement; Nooks and Crannies is now making Music Playlists!!! Matty offers up the First 11 or so songs he played for Violet, plus En Vogue..cuz obviously. Whereby Evan matched Matty retroactively with his own Martini Mix, be sure to follow our playlist feed to hear playlists from Lisa and Sam, co-hosts of the I Shake My Head podcast!

(11:55) Picture this; a windswept vista…populated by the funniest and most endearing podcasters in my podcatcher’s feed; Lisa and Sam from I Shake my Head Podcast with Lisa and Sam! In this segment of 3 or So Questions with…we talk about their in-car podcast, why people like them, aside from Lisa’s amazing “Tow-soooollld” hairdoo and Sam’s fabou 2019 Spring jacket lineup, or its their extremely firm Canadian accents? Nope, turns out it is all due to the diligent works of (27:10) Hyper Hype Girl (HHG) and the supporting role played by the Dirty Hippy, who it turns out does not stink, but Regina sure does!

(30:00) Matty has a colonial-correction for ya’al, probably not the last time you get a correction from me…oh BTW, Matt confused Marcel Mauss with Claude Levi-Strauss on the Alison Smith Episode as well, I am sure you all picked up on this and have since sent in the hate mail.

Hey Folks, wanna hear Evan explain the Green New Deal and the Intersectionality of wider socio-cultural and political dimensionality all while adhering to the morality of Marxism? Well if your answer was anything stronger than a muh, be sure to click this Time Stamp: (31:00). Matty learned a ton in this one, hope you all find the GND and AOC as inspired as these gin soaked Canucks seem to…

(47:07) Speaking of Saskatchewan, wow..that turn was as hard as that right-hand turn you need to make, after driving 2.5 hrs south from Saskatoon to enter Regina…Hey, did you know that province has the most Timmies per-capita yay! (Canadian Sarcasm), Tim Horton’s is the worst coffee ever…have produced the most NHL hockey players even though Lisa and Sam could only come up with the pretty solid and well liked goon, Jody Mitchell. Then they name dropped Joni Mitchell (who is a legendary singer, songwriter and guitarist from up here) because they share a surname, we discussed canola in heavy depth, much like that not-mountain they mentioned or that former garbage dump ski hill called Black-Strap. Yes folks, hold-on to your Combine Seat…We are talking about the most awe-inspiring province, the New York of Canada, the greatest night out of your life, and home to the most passionate CFL fans; SASKATCHEWAN! w/Lisa and Sam, two fabulous women who podcast from their car! (1:06:22) Evan takes another sudden left-handed turn at the end that not even a German Dam could hold back!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Episode 13 Links

I Shake My Head with Lisa and Sam, Support their show, Buy their Stuff, Creep them on Twitter, Or see the real life Bit-Moji version of them on Insta, Their show is edited and produced by John Bukenas

Sheringham’s Seaside Gin and the Award they Just Won!

Learn more about the Green New Deal

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Talk to You All Soon, Eh.

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Evan’s Blurry Pictures

Find Nooks and Crannies on Spotify

Listen to Evan’s Much Superior Musical Picks

Graphics by Donna Hu

Welcome to Episode 12 of Nooks and Crannies!

Alison Smith; Empathetic-Polymathematical Parenting  

So one day, Matt met Alison on Facebook; next thing they know they are recording a 1hr+ long podcast all about parenting. I will try my best to sum up this fascinatingly rangy conversation…

Alison Smith is a Canadian parenting coach who got her start in Elementary education after completing degrees in psychology and education. When pregnant with her first child she embarked on an ongoing journey of discovery and self-education about parenting in a “different” way. After searching in vain for a guru who encapsulated her own approach and doing buckets of research she decided to host a workshop as a way of passing on what she learned to her new network of parents that she had developed. One of the many jump out points for me is Alison’s commitment to running these findings past people who have parented longer than herself as a way of confirming or dispelling her findings.  

Since then, Alison has developed her own “gentle parenting” model based upon three pillars: “Connection” “Empathy” *Matty’s Super Nerdy Anthro Topic, don’t worry, I held back, somewhat… and “Teaching Life Skills” in addition to a substantial weight placed upon Respect, Understanding, Collaboration, and Reciprocity. This totally flies in the face of conventional wisdom (psychological and pedagogical); among other topics, we discuss how this impacts parenting, schooling, children’s mental and social health as well as some of the wider politics involved in the education system: STEM v the Creative Arts, Critical v Linear Thought and the value of Emotional Intellegence.

Okay, so this is about the midway point, and I have not even scratched the surface yet…

Additional Topics Covered: spanking and discipline/punishment (yes, I talked Foucault!), how much screen time is too much, fatigue and self-care, parenting relationships, tips for single parents, how to find sneaky child care, the value of getting a children’s climbing wall and that Ol’ Capt Concussion should avoid the adult-sized versions, communication and emotional care, being an entrepreneur, the parent-child relationships and value of valuing children for their perspectives and personalities-believe it or not, sadly, that’s rather revolutionary…

To say I learned a few things would be the greatest understatement in Nooks and Crannies’ history! What a wealth of information Alison Smith is and you know what is even better??? She is one of those wonderful people who see the value of passing knowledge on and has the confidence to admit that she does not know “Everything there is to know about Parenting”…for the sake of all of Humanity, Alison-Polymathematical parenting empathy coach-Smith, keep up the Great Works! Maybe someone should fashion some sorta Manifesto out of all this, hey wait a tick, is that a hand-written scroll? Oh, it's from Alison, her gift to all of ya’all :)

Special non-monetary thank you goes out once again to Nooks and Crannies very own, very much appreciated, researcher-extraordinaire, Juhli. She has been involved with the NGO CanUgan for years and serves on the board as well as throwing Ottawa-based events, a super worthy cause if you are looking to chuck some loonies around. Thanks in advance for supporting this amazing organization.

Oh, why not, March is TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) Awareness Month. Your valiant co-host (Matt) suffers from this inexplicable condition and if you do have a few toonies left over, I would love if I saw them go to the Brain Injury Association of the Ottawa Valley. They are a resource center that also holds peer-support and caregiver support events, and sadly, this was the only such place available to Melly and I when we lived there. Thanks in advance, I seriously appreciate the heck out of them.

Talk to ya‘all soon; after a nap but not before staring blankly at that wall for a quick second, and that I have learned is A-OK!

Love You Be-Bee Violet!

Welcome to Episode 11 of Nooks and Crannies!

Nasal Tubes, Black Eyed Kids and Timely Oscar Picks

Matt talks all about the Sneaky Weasel’s at Balderdash Brewery and Evan discusses the ABC’s of a great Ontario nut brown ale with his selection from the much better Ashton Brewing Company. Matty then needed a swig before informing Epen of the vilest baby accouterment he has yet encountered **TRIGGER WARNING: GROSS DESCRIPTIONS** (3:00), Evan then matches Matty with a pet peeve of his own relating to sidewalks and precipitation (5:37).

This week we are recommending three, Paranormal/UFO shows (7:42)! We start with the real-life giants over at Astonishing Legends with Matty sharing his heroic Black Eyed Kid’s story; Next is Not Alone, hosted by Sam and Jason who take silly deep dives into the paranormal and 100% based in reality conspiracies, highly recommend them, Matty has been a listener since episode 1!

Last and certainly, well…is the Canadi-Alien Rob, don’t call me Kris, Kristofferson host of the critically acclaimed and fan-driven masterpiece known as Our Strange Skies, Matty graced Rob with his presence a while back and Rob was the very first podcaster who shared a Nooks and Crannies episode. He then defended my honor in response to this awful troll who lived under a bridge in his FB group. Anywhozydoozy, Rob is the greatest friend of podcasters around and I consider him a RL friend, despite his potential of being an ancient Man-In-Black, Canadi-Alien!!

Evan wrestles the mic away and teaches Matty all about Zora Neale Hurston, a pioneering female anthropologist from the 1920’s (13:36), we talk a bit about how this was unusual for the time but not unusual for anthropology and finish off with a bonus recommendation of Hortense Powdermaker, who it turns out, is not African American rather she worked with them in impoverished rural America. She was actually born into a Jewish Family in Pennsylvania…I could go edit that error out, but I figured, good reminder to look things up first eh!?! Frances Slaney would be so disappointed in me, yet so proud of Evan…

Hold onto your Jay’s Hats, it’s the Nooks and Crannies 1st annual Totally Unsubstantiated Oscar Prediction Spectacular (20:05). See Paul, this is what happens when Evan and I are left to our own devices. Matty manages to wedge in a shameless self-promotional plug, one of those “I totally know that guy” type move, awkwardly shouting out Murray Valeriano and his much more acclaimed and talented wife Mary Zophres :-) who is a costume designer who works with the Cohen bros. on all their movies and was up for an Oscar for the Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Evan finishes off this amazing analysis with a story of him being shitty to some new friends at Carleton, what a guy Epen is eh?

**Not sure what happened to my mic in the Oscar segment, not bad, just weird sounding.**

And last, and seriously, certainly not least! My wonderful and adoring wife Melly got a very special birthday shout-out because I love her very, very much (37:05). Much like Murray V, I totally married above my pay grade, and I let her know that constantly and on occasion publically. But, in reality, this was just an opportunity to self-aggrandize myself and talk about my culinary prowess. So…ya I am an awful person. Happy Birthday Love, thanks for making me a happy father and bringing me Joy!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Talks atchya'al Soon, Eh.

N&C Links

Archive of Episodes

Topics and Lighthearted Complaints

Watch Matty Fight on Social

Ponder Evan’s Blurry Pictures

Graphics by Donna Hume

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Our Condolences Lindsay