Everyone loves auditions. If you don’t, you’re probably the only one, and you should feel ashaaaamed. Regular living humans often enjoy being scrutinized in airless, fluorescent-lit rooms by overworked figures of authority who hold one’s career (along with scratchy notepads) in their hands. Isaiah devours the lion’s share of this week’s Overthought with the spine-chilling A Tale of Two Auditions. One day. Two auditions. A world apart. Hear all the grisly details, and shudder at those dreaded words: Would You Mind Going In Early.

-=- Show notes -=-
Book:  The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6065182-the-little-stranger

Tintinologist.org - The Tintin fan's resource
http://www.tintinologist.org/guides/books/

YouTube - What Does “Netflix And Chill” Actually Mean?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1MXlS_sjts

YouTube- DO ELDERS KNOW MODERN SLANG? (REACT: Do They Know It?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_P-RGz-s6A

YouTube - G. Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle - Alberto Zedda - OSG - COSG
https://youtu.be/-HxmlRrUlKo?t=16m8s

Featured Image:
Library of Congress - Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin and Oscar Hammerstein II, seated in back is Helen Tamiris, they are watching hopefuls who are being auditioned on stage of the St. James Theatre [...] / World Telegram photo by Al Aumuller.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3c26707/

This week, on a suggestion from a listener, Isaiah and Chris walk the tightrope of season planning and career strategy. Conflicting gig offers? Work-life balance? Try our handy formula! How to pronounce Anaïs Nin? We googled it so you don't have to! In the most digression-filled episode to date, the fellas unmask the Plague of Isaiah's Nesting Tangents (PINT), and Chris points out a blooper from last week that might make you question everything you thought you knew... (About the editing of Overthought Podcast, specifically.)

-=- Show notes -=-

Index of Articles on Work/Life Balance
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/work-life-balance/

'The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of a Man’s Ability to Compartmentalize', by The Mighty Most
http://www.singleblackmale.org/2011/12/05/the-good-the-bad-the-ugly-of-a-mans-ability-to-compartmentalize/

Stop patronising young people, and start listening, by John Green | World Economic Forum
http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/stop-patronising-young-people-and-start-listening

YouTube - Why the Word "Millennial" Makes me Cringe, by Hank Green, via vlogbrothers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSGqz_SE1uM

Book - 'Delta of Venus', by Anaïs Nin
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11041.Delta_of_Venus
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.

Alexenader Technique - Faulty Sensory Perception
http://www.hilaryking.net/glossary/faulty-sensory-appreciation.html

YouTube - CollegeHumor - The Guy Who Overpronounces Foreign Words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKGoVefhtMQ

Website - Schwalbe & Partners » Benjamin Butterfield, Tenor
http://schwalbeandpartners.com/project/benjamin-butterfield/

Fighting Cognitive Dissonance & The Lies We Tell Ourselves | World of Psychology
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/10/19/fighting-cognitive-dissonance-the-lies-we-tell-ourselves/

You Say “Fulsome,” I Say “Shut Up”, by Ruth Pennebaker
http://www.geezersisters.com/aesthetics/you-say-fulsome-i-say-shut-up

YouTube - Air Canada, Musical Experts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY-IkxbjdVA

Comic - Don't Let the Existential Dread Set In
http://www.overthoughtpodcast.com/images/existentialdread.jpg

Theme Music: Slyvius Leopold Weiss's Preludio in E Major, played by Jeff Carter
https://musopen.org/music/181/sylvius-leopold-weiss/ponce-preludio-in-e-major/

Geologically, a plateau is nothing to whine about - especially when it's silhouetted against a nice sunset. But what about when that setting sun is a metaphorical one that represents the diminishing of your worth and vitality? Not so pretty any more. Sometimes, what might seem like a relief - a break in the climb, a lull, the establishment of a routine - only serves to highlight pesky existential angst. Should we just be grateful for the constancy? Or is struggle what gives lives meaning? Chris discusses strategies for jolting out of those stultifying ruts, while Isaiah, ever the amateur scientist, tests whether oolong leaves taste as good as the tea they make. SPOILER: they don't. And it's a waste of good oolong.

-=-Show notes-=-

Article - 'Busy? Stressed? Do stop boasting about it. You're not the only one', by Nicole Mowbray - Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11252918/Busy-Stressed-Do-stop-boasting-about-it.-Youre-not-the-only-one.html

A Life of Productivity – How to ‘Flow’: Here’s the most magical chart you’ll come across today, by Chris Bailey
http://alifeofproductivity.com/how-to-experience-flow-magical-chart/#

Book - 'Flow', by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66354.Flow

The Akrasia Effect: Why We Don’t Follow Through on What We Set Out to Do (And What to Do About It), by James Clear
http://jamesclear.com/akrasia

Wikipedia - Dreyfus model of skill acquisition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_model_of_skill_acquisition

Mewsy the Adulteress (@MewsyAdulteress) | Twitter
https://twitter.com/mewsyadulteress

Theme Music: Slyvius Leopold Weiss's Preludio in E Major, played by Jeff Carter
https://musopen.org/music/181/sylvius-leopold-weiss/ponce-preludio-in-e-major/

In Episode 17 we discuss how the pressures and foibles of the singing life work to instill certain ubiquitous traits in many unsuspecting singers. Plus: Is the anti-diva the new diva? And where's the line between bitter and practical?
Opera singers get a bad rap (this is distinct from being bad at rap [http://youtu.be/uIjauW5xSOg]) in the world library of stereotypes; "diva" is almost synonymous with "singer", for one thing, and there's also this pesky rumour that we are impossibly fragile.
While the truth about any group of people is more slippery than can be conveyed with a single outdated pejorative, Chris and Isaiah believe** that, in general, the reputation is unwarranted. Neverthess, FEAR NOT! We've got a whole new set of stereotypes to erect in its place.
**All findings anecdotal


-=-Show notes-=-

Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Midsummer_Night's_Dream_%28opera%29

Leah Alfred on Twitter
https://twitter.com/leahsoprano

'The Really Big One', by Kathryn Schulz
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Urban Dictionary - PFO
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=PFO

Wikipedia - Butter Tart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_tart

YouTube - Veritasium - Learned Helplessness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMPzDiraNnA

YouTube - Brian Johnson - Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me9TI9JhvZw

Article - 'Overcoming “Special Snowflake Syndrome” as a Millennial', by Leah Bentley (Loughran) | Medium.com
https://medium.com/@leahbent/overcoming-special-snowflake-syndrome-as-a-millennial-2c3b83272e2b#.hx2y2vphw

Lise Lindstrom, Soprano
http://liselindstrom.com/

Book - Valley of the Dolls, by Jacqueline Susann
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/581811.Valley_of_the_Dolls

Chris and Isaiah don't have all the answers. In Episode 16, they don't have any. It's all about Fear, capital F, and it may have been created just to make our listeners feel better about their own capacities to cope with minor seismic events. As singers we might feel we've got some kind of handle on fear - thanks to overexposure to the nervous pressures of performing - but what about when real-life trauma threatens? Do the two kinds of fear have anything in common? What's the difference between an impending natural disaster and the unremunerated cancellation of a concert gig? IT'S NOT A JOKE PEOPLE GOOGLE CASCADIA SUBDUCTION ZONE.

The Earthquake That Will Devastate the Pacific Northwest, by Kathryn Schulz - The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

IMDb - 'The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990)'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099137/

Wikipedia - Psychological trauma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_trauma
Trauma can be caused by a wide variety of events, but there are a few common aspects. There is frequently a violation of the person's familiar ideas about the world and of their human rights, putting the person in a state of extreme confusion and insecurity. This is also seen when institutions that are depended upon for survival, violate or betray or disillusion the person in some unforeseen way.[3]

Book - 'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyways', by Susan Jeffers
http://www.susanjeffers.com/home/detailtemplate.cfm?catID=2234

Article - 'Glynis Leyshon, Canadian director, stabbed and robbed hours before Ryerson prof slain',  - Toronto - CBC News:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/woman-stabbed-before-ryerson-professor-1.3406885

YouTube - SciShow, Epigenetics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1bZEUgqVI

Webpage - TV Guide - Transparent
http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/transparent/599334/

Featured Image - 'At the Back', by Jeremy Segrott
Copyright info: "At the Back" by Jeremy Segrott, used under CC BY 2.0 / Modified: Original cropped; Text and 'Overthought' logo added to original. See link for further details on original work.

Theme Music: Slyvius Leopold Weiss's Preludio in E Major, played by Jeff Carter
https://musopen.org/music/181/sylvius-leopold-weiss/ponce-preludio-in-e-major/

Being "in the zone" - that perfect balance of focus and relaxation that allows us to perform at our best - is not just a vague feeling. It's a powerful, concrete state of mind that many creative types recognize instantly. That said, it can still be incredibly elusive. Accessing this sweet spot means shifting focus to the active present, and being unfettered by impediments like judgement, anxiety, and analysis. This is particularly burdensome to the Overthinker, for whom banishing unwanted thoughts is already Sisyphean. For the singer, the challenges of the craft mutate daily along with our changing bodies. How to make The Zone one's home base? Is imagining the volume of one's big toe the answer? Or is it terror-driven tunnel vision the only reliable approach to achieving optimum creativity? FIND OUT HERE!*


-=- Show notes-=-
YouTube: Carcassonne: TableTop, with Wil Wheaton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6VpW4Vljr8
with Jesse Cox, Nika Harper, Kimail Nanjiani

Book: The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, by Neil Strauss
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/900.The_Game

Article: 10 Steps to Mastering the Art of NLP, by Joel Brown at Addicted2Success
http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/10-steps-to-mastering-the-art-of-nlp-used-by-tony-robbins-derren-brown-paul-mckenna/

Article: Change your Thinking with NLP, by Penny Tompkins and James Lawley
http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/nlpthink.html
Don't think about Blue Frogs

Opera NUOVA Training Program and Vocal Festival
http://www.operanuova.ca/opera-training

Book: The Open-Focus Brain, by Les Fehmi & Jim Robbins
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1066013.The_Open_Focus_Brain

Website - Open Focus
http://openfocus.com/home/

YouTube: Jerry Hadley - Lonely House - Street Scene, by Kurt Weill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QJa1RrxlHg

Article: Want to Stop Anxious Thoughts? Thank Them, by Dina Overland | elephant journal:
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/07/want-to-stop-anxious-thoughts-thank-them/

Image: Phteven the Dog
http://www.overthoughtpodcast.com/images/phteventhedog.png

Article: Metaphor, Simile and Analogy: What’s the Difference?, by Brian Clark - Copyblogger
http://www.copyblogger.com/metaphor-simile-and-analogy-what%E2%80%99s-the-difference/

Theme Music: Slyvius Leopold Weiss's Preludio in E Major, played by Jeff Carter
https://musopen.org/music/181/sylvius-leopold-weiss/ponce-preludio-in-e-major/

The Jazz Evangelist: how Ella Fitzgerald's mistake made her a Grammy winner on CBC Music, by Tim Tamashiro
http://music.cbc.ca/#!/blogs/2013/2/The-Jazz-Evangelist-how-Ella-Fitzgeralds-mistake-made-her-a-Grammy-winner

This week we're talking about a sort of reverse Golden Rule: "Would you ever treat other people the way you treat yourself?" To many of us self-critical, people-pleasing types, cutting ourselves some slack feels like a sign of weakness; if we learn to treat ourselves gently, won't we sacrifice productivity? Or could love and understanding make us better at what we do? Sounds like commie talk, but at this point we'll try anything. Brought to you by the Palomino Blackwing, ideal for those who prefer a soft, dark line.

In keeping with the Overthought collaborative spirit, we've designated this space for your best "self-love" joke: [                                                         ].
Thank you for your contribution!

We all know that colleague who has to turn every conversation into a promo for their upcoming show, or their side business, even though you're a friend and not a casting director.

Where is the sweet spot between being "savvy self promotor" and an annoying blow-hard? As contractors and sole proprietors, we need to let people know that we are good, and that we are busy, and sought-after. And we have to be responsible for getting our own work (agents or no agents). But how do we do this in a genuine way? Perhaps the answer lies in effective networking. But what does that actually mean?

How do you sing an audition, or have a conversation with a general director, in such a way that you seem "eager & energetic", but don't seem "desperate & irritating"?

-=- Show notes -=-

Book - The Introvert Advantage: How To Thrive in an Extrovert World
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49322.The_Introvert_Advantage

MailChimp - Mail Chimp; Send Better Email
http://mailchimp.com/

Canada's Law on Spam and Other Electronic Threats
http://fightspam.gc.ca

MailChimp Knowledge Base Article - About the Canada Anti-Spam Law (CASL)
http://kb.mailchimp.com/accounts/compliance-tips/about-the-canada-anti-spam-law-casl

The Grammarphobia Blog: It’s NYOOZE to us
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/07/nyooze-2.html

How To Network Without Being Fake, by Jenn Scalia
http://elitedaily.com/money/how-to-network-without-being-fake/

IMdb - It Should Happen to You (1954)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047123/

YouTube - It Should Happen to You - Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAe8YXCKpzU

YouTube - #AlexFromTarget Meets #EllenFromEllen, TheEllenShow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4NwTJFOm8M

Podcast - Get Fact
http://www.acast.com/getfact

YouTube - Judy Garland: 'Meet Me In St. Louis'. 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yudgy30Dd68

Theme Music: Slyvius Leopold Weiss's Preludio in E Major, played by Jeff Carter
https://musopen.org/music/181/sylvius-leopold-weiss/ponce-preludio-in-e-major/

And now, for your amusement: Chris and Isaiah stare into the abyss of human mortality. We fill our days with music and with the business of being alive, but it's the human condition to wonder, "What's it all about?"

How much of the creative life is fuelled by the idea of legacy? Will some piece of us live on when we've ceased to exist? When does a longing to be older turn into nostalgia for lost youth? Is the knowledge of death's inevitability present in our every action?

Our desire for meaning in life may go eternally unfulfilled, but your desire to hear a man yelling like a goat that yells like a man will not, if you listen through to the end. #YOLO"

-=-Show Notes-=-
Hooded nordic onesie | Simons:
http://bit.ly/1NtwcB8

These Are Not The Best Years of Your Life | A Silver Twig:
http://www.asilvertwig.com/these-are-not-the-best-years-of-your-life/

The Collaborative Piano Blog - Martin Katz Interview
http://collaborativepiano.blogspot.ca/2010/11/interview-with-martin-katz.html#.VmEDhsqSROA

Urban Dictionary - Yolo
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yolo

Grief.com – Because LOVE Never Dies Five Stages of Grief by Elisabeth Kubler Ross & David Kessler
http://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

10,000 Hours To Develop Talent
http://personalexcellence.co/blog/10000-hours/

5by5 | Back to Work #89: Burlap Sack Full of Oranges
http://5by5.tv/b2w/89

IMdb - Interstellar
www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/

YouTube - Henry Purcell: Dido's Lament, Anna Dennis, soprano, with Voices of Music 4K UHD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H--Z9UzQYE

Panoramio - Photo of Lobby, Salle Wilfrid Pelletier, Place des Arts
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/37689152
Busts of Claude Champagne and Beethoven

Image - Point of Origin
http://www.overthoughtpodcast.com/images/EquityAgreement-Point-of-Origin.png

How to Tell a Raven from a Crow
https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow

YouTube - Goats Yelling Like Humans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpccpglnNf0

Are other people's opinions of us more important than literally any other thing? We were pretty sure the answer was "No, for sure no!" but, upon further discussion, we've arrived at "...maybe?"

Why do put so much stock in what other people think? Caring too much can undoubtedly harm the integrity of our work (and our mental health) - but how can we learn to move past it?

Featuring an unprecedented number of references to therapy.

-=- Show Notes -=-

Book - 'The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Insdustry', by Jon Ronson
http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychopath-Test-Journey-Industry/dp/1594485755

YouTube - 'What's On Your Mind?'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVZYiJKl1Y

Website - Filling the sequence gaps - Jurassic Park Wiki - Jurassic Park, Dinosaurs, Stephen Spielberg
http://jurassicpark.wikia.com/wiki/Filling_the_sequence_gaps

Website - Urban Dictionary - Urban Dictionary: yp/mp
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yp%2Fmp

Wikipedia - Nancy Argenta, soprano
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Argenta

Website - Definitely the Opera - A Day in the Life of Canadian mezzo: Vicki St. Pierre
https://definitelytheopera.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/vsp/

Website - Quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/26110-you-wouldn-t-worry-so-much-about-what-others-think-of

Wikipedia - Marquis de Sade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Sade

Book - 'Juliette', by Marquis de Sade
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/314240.Juliette