Unanswered

Lights, camera, action, print, distribute, queue, empty wallet, fill face, get anxious about noisy audience member, resist urge to check phone, watch film.

Steev and Nick discuss their experiences with the cinema and ask whether the magic of the place has been diminished by the way the industry has treated itself, or whether your hosts are just too jaded to take it on its own, rejigged terms. In a time where we can have a big enough screen at home, does the cinema still deserve to be the ultimate place to take in Hollywood’s finest?

There’s also way too much talk about popcorn and penises.

Download Show 26 [MP3, 29.5 MB]

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Oxygen is in plentiful supply. There is enough to go around for everyone, and doesn’t seem to have a problem supporting even more, despite the distant threat it could all be taken away. Some people like to take up more oxygen than they really need, and one can find themselves wondering whether the hoarders are really contributing enough to make that stockpiling worthwhile. And while you’re welcome to decide for yourself whether Unanswered qualifies, why not consider comparing the analogy to money.

In our twenty-fifth show we expand our horizons beyond amateur philosophy by also trying our hands at amateur history and amateur economics, to really drive home how little we know about the stuff we try to talk about.

Gasp you will as we wonder how the idea of money started, who drew the notes, and how that person got paid. We also invent unprofitable businesses, discuss what we did with our pocket money, as well as consider the value of things when we have to work to afford them.

Download Show 25 [MP3, 26.6 MB]

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Communication breakdown on several fronts lead to this episode of Unanswered. The show was intended to be a discussion on the differences between loneliness and solitude, and the upsides to be found in the latter. Somehow the conversation stuck around an aside about introverts and extroverts. Additionally, the traditional recording set-up on Nick’s side failed, causing us to rely on the less than stellar Skype feed resulting in the occasional appearance of Robonick.

Download Show 24 [MP3, 26.7 MB]

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Recorded in a month all about Europe, Steev and Nick freewheel into a conversation about the UK’s political climate, and in particular the debate around immigration.

Captured before the European Parliament elections and released after the dust had settled, this episode is as much a snapshot of a specific moment as it is a record of our own political perspectives and prejudices.

Find out what the deal is with Question Time, whether political parties have their own official dance, if suburban sprawls are our utopia, and which one of us would love to live near a cheese shop.

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Naked as the day you were born is the only true day you were naked as the day you were born. Before long, however, it’s clear we’ve got to cover up: first for warmth and to stop our untrained selves from defecating where we stand; and later, because as much as our egos don’t want to hear it, the rest of the world isn’t particularly interested in dealing with an unwarranted state of clotheslessness.

If there’s nothing actually wrong with the human form, and if it’s as beautiful as artists and Gok Wan insist, how come we get so bothered when even the random, non-sexual parts of it are exposed?

In an awkward episode Nick and Steev discuss the awkwardness of being born, tread a careful line while talking awkwardly about breasts, and look at a few other situations where states of nudity outside of the home are awkward at best.

Download Show 22 [MP3, 24.8 MB]

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Empathy in a world of sympathy must feel like an apologist in a room full of outrage, whilst sympathy in a world of empathy must feel like a narcissist in a room without a reflective surface. It’s just as well the world is much larger than a four metre squared patch of carpet otherwise the complexity of humans could get a bit noticed.

It’s a heady mix of the silly and serious as tragedy, charity, plasters, Harvard, and privilege checking are all quickly examined, before Steev and Nick push the concept of empathy into tougher territory—asking is it possible to have empathy with the most loathed people in our society, and if so what does that say about us?

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