Point by Point

This week, we talk about what it means to not only be the hero in our own story, but also the small and insignificant parts we play in other peoples’ stories. Why do we tend to forget that everyone around us has an complex and interesting life?

We also talk a lot about empathy, and question why it’s easy for us to empathize with some emotions and not others. For example, at least for us, it’s harder to empathize with an angry person than a sad person.

We talk a bit about Inside Out. If you haven’t seen it, please do. It’s very good.

JP’s Media Diet

Steve’s Media Diet

Links:

• Swiss Army Tears - TV Tropes — Crying on things in movies/television to bring them back
• Sketching Interfaces – Airbnb Design
• The Fast and the Furious - Wikipedia — So many furious.
• Seth Godin - Wikipedia
• The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows — sonder
• Net Promoter - Wikipedia
• Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time: Brian Tracy: 9781458794352: Amazon.com: Books
• Against Productivity – The Message – Medium

This week it's the gut busting topic everyone loves: soul searching. Can you feel the humor radiating from those words? Steve talks smack about gluten free food, we search our souls until jp can't handle his emotions anymore and we run the religious gamut from the ancient egyptians to modern scientology.

We truly go... point by point.

Links:

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
• Mindbody Prescription
• How I Cured My RSI Pain
• Nightmares in adults
• Anubis
• Scientology
• Codeine side effects 😰
• Point by Point homepage

This week, we surprise everyone and spoil exactly zero movies! We talk about Steve's trivia experience, JP's knowledge of the Simpsons, Boy Scouts relaxing their gender requirements to allow girls to join, and web accessibility. Huzzah!

This week is also the official launch of our Facebook page — Not sure what kind of shenanigans that will bring... more to come.

Links:

• How to Convert to Judaism: 9 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
• Maccabean Revolt - Wikipedia
• Boy Scouts Will Admit Girls, Allow Them to Earn Eagle Scout Rank - NBC News
• Accessibility - iPhone - Apple
• Accessibility - React — Accessibility is a first class feature in React.
• ADA Tool Kit: Website Accessibility Under Title II of the ADA
• Homer at the Bat - Wikipedia
• Point By Point - Home

Hey! It's (a week after) Halloween! So spooooooky! This week we play monopoly and talk about what Halloween means to us.

Sorry for the belated episode. But we feel you've now cleared your palette in anticipation of our halloween spoooooky stories. That aren't exactly spoooooky but mostly just halloween related life expeeeeeeriences and meeeeemmmmmooorrrrrieeess.

We love you!

This week, we discuss our childhood! Kind of. Turns out it was mostly just playing video games and watching the Simpsons.

Steve teaches randos how to use garage band. JP can't sit still long enough to play a video game. A homeless man and a car at a stoplight share a magic moment. WOW!

Spoiler: We're big nerds.

This week, we consider failure in terms of other people — basically, what does it look like when other people think you've failed at doing the thing you love? Do you keep doing it anyways?

One of us would choose fame over loving the thing they were doing.

We talk a bit about the subjectivity of art, and how difficult it can be to determine what's actually good.

Spoiler warning: JP reveals a major plot point in IT. Also, after 45:00 we absolutely crush it on spoilers. Too many to detail.

Links:

• kottke.org - home of fine hypertext products — One of Steve's favorite blogs.
• Next Draft: The Day's Most Fascinating News from Dave Pell
• Rob Bell — Rob's pretty awesome (at least, Steve thinks so)
• Rob Bell - Wikipedia — Bell's book Love Wins caused a major controversy within the evangelical community. The controversy was the subject of a Time magazine cover story and a featured article in the New York Times.[26][27][28] In the book, Bell states that "It's been clearly communicated to many that this belief (in hell as conscious, eternal torment) is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear."
• I.T. (film) - Wikipedia — Not the one with the clown.
• It (2017 film) - Wikipedia — New one with the clown.
• "Gang Fight" -- Rebecca Black, as interpreted by a bad lip reader - YouTube
• Where the Streets Have No Name - Wikipedia

Wait for it… yeah, that’s theme music!

This week, the conversation revolves around the impact anxiety has on us — especially with regards to trying new things in front of other people.

Steve steals a joke his wife loves to tell about a turtle that can beat any animal in a race.

JP shares a life choice at around 40:00 — it’s good.

Links:

• Mentos and Coke
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) - Rotten Tomatoes — Neither of us saw it, so we really have nothing to say.
• The Painter of Light — Thomas Kinkade — One of us, we won't say who... grew up with these paintings.
• Why is Christopher Nolan considered great?...(2017) - Quora — Well... it's on the internet, it must be true!

This week, we discuss celebrities that turn out to be monsters, good and bad habits, and steve's love of horses.

Our main topics this week? Celebrities we love that turn out to be bad people, and our good and bad habits.

Podcast setup: Fireside

Spoiler: The Matrix. But come on, you've seen it already.

This week, JP gives a report about a book he's been reading — "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck. I guess if it ever gets adapted into a movie, the whole thing is a spoiler!

We talk about growth mindset versus fixed mindset. We talk about our quirks, and how difficult it is for us to multitask especially with different audio sources, and how our attention works.

Links:

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: Carol S. Dweck — JP gives a book report about this book and Steve's got a lot of questions. Spoiler: He definitely read it.
• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: Betty Edwards — It's not that you can't draw, it's that you can't see things the way other people who can draw see them.
• Gunnar Anderson — The weightlifter we talk about who was born with only one pec.
• Rigging the Game: How Inequality Is Reproduced in Everyday Life — A great read that tracks inequality from its roots to its regulation.
• Edison's Lightbulb | The Franklin Institute

This week, we discuss steve's cocktail bar adventure, the willingness to wait, and bathroom blackouts.

Our main topic this week? Waiting. Waiting for an experience, waiting through an experience, and what's worth the wait.

Also we stumble onto a new bathroom topic!

If you're brave enough to handle it - you too can visit Hop Sing Laundromat and marvel as Steve did.

Franklin's BBQ in Austin is where JP went.

Local worth-the-wait breakfast at Kitchen

And if Steve's tummy troubles don't dissuade you and you're in philly... Jim's Steaks

Spoiler: None this week. Except maybe spoiling the mystery of Hop Sing Laundromat.