Read or Die a Slave

C. talks about changes in creative output, Lam and C. ponder the importance of deadlines and weekly routines, they question the meaning of things once the obvious goals are gone, Lam praises repetition while begrudging coming home to make choices, somehow they make the point that pure democracy is terrifying without descending into actually talking about politics, they debate the existences of genius and natural talent, they tear apart the idiom of 'practice makes perfect,' Lam informs C. that there will be a fourth Matrix movie, he then tries to convince him to watch the Foundation tv show, and C. replies by telling him that he has no interest in the Will Smith adaptation of I Am Legend.

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C. talks about changes in creative output, Lam and C. ponder the importance of deadlines and weekly routines, they question the meaning of things once the obvious goals are gone, Lam praises repetition while begrudging coming home to make choices, somehow they make the point that pure democracy is terrifying without descending into actually talking about politics, they debate the existences of genius and natural talent, they tear apart the idiom of 'practice makes perfect,' Lam informs C. that there will be a fourth Matrix movie, he then tries to convince him to watch the Foundation tv show, and C. replies by telling him that he has no interest in the Will Smith adaptation of I Am Legend.

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The guys return again after a false start last year and the mess that was 2020 (and part of 2021.) Will they survive? Will they record again? That's the plan. This week's tangents include: dieting to relieve stress, college radio, the story of why Chad's grandfather believed in UFOS, a strange magazine synchronicity, Dune vs The Foundation, the question of what is Dune really about, mall culture, dealing with PTSD, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and why the transporters on Star Trek are murder machines.

Mentioned Media

Patreon link: College Dropout Radio #1

TV: Star Trek: Voyager

Podcast: Ep 35 - Chaotic Neutral with Lam

Magazine: Fate

Movie: Dune

TV: Foundation

Book: Dune

Book: Foundation

The Robot Series

Jasper Mall

Toto- Africa (playing in an empty shopping centre)

Book: Born on the Fourth of July

Movie: Born on the Fourth of July

Book: Dawn of the New Everything

Book: Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life

Podcast: Ep 42 - Missing Logic in Missing 411

Follow Lam on Instagram

Subscribe to C.A.’s Substack

Get full access to Curly’s Curated Books at cahall.substack.com/subscribe

The guys return again after a false start last year and the mess that was 2020 (and part of 2021.) Will they survive? Will they record again? That's the plan. This week's tangents include: dieting to relieve stress, college radio, the story of why Chad's grandfather believed in UFOS, a strange magazine synchronicity, Dune vs The Foundation, the question of what is Dune really about, mall culture, dealing with PTSD, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and why the transporters on Star Trek are murder machines.

Mentioned Media

Patreon link: College Dropout Radio #1

TV: Star Trek: Voyager

Podcast: Ep 35 - Chaotic Neutral with Lam

Magazine: Fate

Movie: Dune

TV: Foundation

Book: Dune

Book: Foundation

The Robot Series

Jasper Mall

Toto- Africa (playing in an empty shopping centre)

Book: Born on the Fourth of July

Movie: Born on the Fourth of July

Book: Dawn of the New Everything

Book: Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life

Podcast: Ep 42 - Missing Logic in Missing 411

Follow Lam on Instagram

Subscribe to C.A.’s Substack

Get full access to Curly’s Curated Books + at cahall.substack.com/subscribe

This conversation picks where I'm reminded that Lam had wanted me to tell him about my new writing habits, which I was eager to do because I'd been trying for a while to articulate what I'd been discovering in the past month. Process—when it's working—turns out to be incredibly hard to explain.

Most of this new process originates from a small story in a Seth Godin interview where he shares part of Isaac Asimov's own writing process. There are few better places to seek answers on writing than from Asimov who was one of the most prolific authors of all time. In fact, "prolific" may not even be the right word. We may have to invent a new word. Micheal Crichton is prolific, having written 32 books. Above that is the category where you find Stephen King (with approximately 79 books and 200 short stories) and Joyce Carol Oates (with approximately 170 books.) But above them, all sits Isaac Asimov who wrote approximately 400 books!

Having myself tried the technique that Godin describes, I can understand why Asimov was able to write that many books. This technique, which I refer to as "freewriting," is a bit like turning on a fire hose. You'll hear me use those exact words with Lam when I tell him how it scared the hell out of me. This is one of the parts that I was having trouble trying to find words for. The others being:

how this ties into habit-forming

why notebook abandoning is so common among writers

why I was continually busting my ass and achieving so little

what I got wrong about what writing is

how it feels for me to be writing again

and another big one: the difference between understanding and knowing

Mentioned Media

North Star Podcast — Seth Godin: Writing Every Day

Wilderness — Jim Morrison

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results — Gary Keller & Jay Papasan

The Tim Ferriss Show #483 with Jim Collins

Follow Lam on Instagram

Subscribe to C.A.’s Substack

Get full access to Curly’s Curated Books + at cahall.substack.com/subscribe

This conversation picks where I'm reminded that Lam had wanted me to tell him about my new writing habits, which I was eager to do because I'd been trying for a while to articulate what I'd been discovering in the past month. Process—when it's working—turns out to be incredibly hard to explain.

Most of this new process originates from a small story in a Seth Godin interview where he shares part of Isaac Asimov's own writing process. There are few better places to seek answers on writing than from Asimov who was one of the most prolific authors of all time. In fact, "prolific" may not even be the right word. We may have to invent a new word. Micheal Crichton is prolific, having written 32 books. Above that is the category where you find Stephen King (with approximately 79 books and 200 short stories) and Joyce Carol Oates (with approximately 170 books.) But above them, all sits Isaac Asimov who wrote approximately 400 books!

Having myself tried the technique that Godin describes, I can understand why Asimov was able to write that many books. This technique, which I refer to as "freewriting," is a bit like turning on a fire hose. You'll hear me use those exact words with Lam when I tell him how it scared the hell out of me. This is one of the parts that I was having trouble trying to find words for. The others being:

how this ties into habit-forming

why notebook abandoning is so common among writers

why I was continually busting my ass and achieving so little

what I got wrong about what writing is

how it feels for me to be writing again

and another big one: the difference between understanding and knowing

Mentioned Media

North Star Podcast — Seth Godin: Writing Every Day

Wilderness — Jim Morrison

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results — Gary Keller & Jay Papasan

The Tim Ferriss Show #483 with Jim Collins

Follow Lam on Instagram

Subscribe to C.A.’s Substack

Get full access to Curly’s Curated Books at cahall.substack.com/subscribe

Lam returns from two months in the Sarlacc pit we affectionately call the 2020 election. as usually we talk about more stuff than I care to list but the nature of political opinions, the future of news, the credibility of garbage content, and the scorpion tale of corporations all come up. Yet! I honestly don't think this is a heavy episode. I'm just really trying to convince everyone to move to Bangkok.

Lam returns from two months in the Sarlacc pit we affectionately call the 2020 election. as usually we talk about more stuff than I care to list but the nature of political opinions, the future of news, the credibility of garbage content, and the scorpion tale of corporations all come up. Yet! I honestly don't think this is a heavy episode. I'm just really trying to convince everyone to move to Bangkok.

Brief

Sleepy Hollow

Somebody Feed Phil

Follow Lam on Instagram

Subscribe to C.A.’s Substack

Get full access to Curly’s Curated Books at cahall.substack.com/subscribe

Lam returns from two months in the Sarlacc pit we affectionately call the 2020 election. as usually we talk about more stuff than I care to list but the nature of political opinions, the future of news, the credibility of garbage content, and the scorpion tale of corporations all come up. Yet! I honestly don't think this is a heavy episode. I'm just really trying to convince everyone to move to Bangkok.

Brief

Sleepy Hollow

Somebody Feed Phil

Follow Lam on Instagram

Subscribe to C.A.’s Substack

Get full access to Curly’s Curated Books + at cahall.substack.com/subscribe

This feed will stay active as an archive of the original run of Random Badassery but all new episode with Lam and Chad will be part of the currently named "Further Questions" feed. That feed will include all of the new content that Chad is creating and will eventually be renamed "It Matters But It Doesn't."