Unramblings

This week we tackle the Broadway sensation Hamilton. We discuss the way that seeing the live production (on streaming) changed how we perceived certain parts of the narrative, how the staging and blocking adds to the storytelling, and the nature of Burr as an antagonist. We also question what the musical says about ego and legacy, push back against the implicit messages around Hamilton’s affair, and gush over Daveed Diggs. 

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.    

Show Notes:   

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow The biography that inspired the play

Washington Post - Yes, any kid can wear a Black Panther costume, say creators who helped shape the character  

Today I Found Out - Thomas Jefferson, the "First Foodie" of America   

Time - Forget Hamilton, Burr is the Real Hero

The Federalist - The Real Hero of Hamilton Is Aaron Burr

NY Times - Decision Fatigue Article summarizing research and impacts of decision fatigue on decision-making and willpower

Medium - Stop Buying Into 'Decision Fatigue' Article summarizing the evidence that the strength of decision fatigue is mediated by a person’s belief in decision fatigue and that those that view willpower instead as a muscle that strengthens with use experience much less decision fatigue.

NBC News - Historians Uncover Slave Quarters of Sally Hemings at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

Black Youth Project - Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and the Normalization of Slave Rape Narratives

Monticello - Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: A Brief Account

Popular Science - Your memories are less accurate than you think

[Video] 8 Mile - Rabbit Battles Papa Doc The rap battle from 8 Mile referenced during the podcast

We’re jumping on the bandwagon! This week we’re talking about Avatar: The Last Airbender. And it is actually a lighter episode this time, finally… We talk about the show’s messages around the value of diverse perspectives, the cost of divorcing yourself from the world, and Fire Nation exceptionalism. And of course, it wouldn’t be an episode of Unramblings without conversations about sexism and intergenerational dysfunction!  

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.    

Show Notes:   

Soka Gakkai International (SGI) - Bodhisattva 

Fire nation/USA meme 

Wikipedia - White Lotus – Apparently, the White Lotus Society was an actual secret society that inspired multiple rebellions in imperial China 

Behavioral Scientist - How Couples Share Cognitive Load and Why It Matters 

Harper's Bazaar - Women Aren't Nags, We're Just Fed Up – Emotional labor is the unpaid job men still don’t understand 

The depressing subject matter train keeps on rolling! Instead of talking about toxic, extractive, colonial-feudal systems, we’re talking about the toxicity of a world in which all the messaging says you have to be either a perpetrator of violence or a victim of it. Yay? The Last of Us is dark in a different way; a great, character-driven story that makes skillful use of the videogame medium to tell a familiar story in a novel way. We go a bit into the weeds on how Naughty Dog leverages standard and innovative videogame mechanics to control the tension and move the story forward and speculate on what the evolution of Cordyceps might look like in the sequel. And we only briefly mention toxic masculinity! 

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!   

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.    

Show Notes:   

NY Times - Decision Fatigue – Article that references the parole study and the effect of blood sugar on decision fatigue 

Yale News - Warm Coffee, Warm Heart 

Design Practices and Uncertainty - need login or abstract-only 

ASCE News - What COVID-19 Has Taught Us About Our Infrastructure 

Urban Parks Survey – How have you been using urban green space during COVID-19? 

BBC - The hidden biases that drive anti-vegan hatred  

Grey’s Anatomy 14x10 – Ben and Miranda Give Tuck ‘The Talk’ About Surviving Contact with Police 

Get Home Safely - 10 Rules of Contact with Police 

Movement for Black Lives – Learn about the movement from the movement leaders! M4BL has an array of amazing resources, including policy platforms, toolkits, and ways to help the movement. They even have a great Q&A section on what ‘Defund the Police’ really means and what it could look like. 

Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) – Excellent site to start educating yourself on the history of racial terror in the U.S., as well as about the forms in which racial injustice persists today. If you are able to visit the Memorial or the Museum, we highly recommend it. It is a truly powerful and humbling experience. 

EJI Community Remembrance Project – If your area has a freshly vacated spot for a statue or monument, or even if it doesn’t, encourage your local officials and community to partner with EJI to install a historical marker at the site of racial terror lynchings.   

Rolling Stone - Here’s Where You Can Donate to Help Protests Against Police Brutality 

Push Square - The Last of Us 2 May Be the Most Accessible Action Game Ever Made 

We’re back and tackling more depressing subject matter than ever! Last time you joined us, we talked about the surprising themes and messages around the toxicity of extractive, colonial-feudal systems contained within a delightful and progressive children’s cartoon; this time we’re still talking about the toxicity of those systems, but in the significantly gloomier David Mamet play-turned-film Glengarry Glen Ross. We break down the way that Mamet uses constrained locations to evoke a sense of how trapped we all are by capitalism and the influence of the work as a play on the work as a film. We also hope you enjoy our attempts to define just who, exactly, is the most punchable character in this work (hint: the actor who plays him is also quite punchable!).  

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!  

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.    

Show Notes: 

The Correspondent - The neoliberal era is ending. What comes next?

Tinbergen Institute - Socially Useless Jobs Study by two Dutch economists examining responses from over 100,000 workers in 47 countries regarding the perceived value of their jobs to society, referenced in the article from The Correspondent listed above.  

David Graeber - Bullshit Jobs Essay from 2013, also referenced in the articles listed above, about why instead of massively shorter work-weeks, we have a bloat of pointless jobs that produce little-to-no social good and a population that resents and exploits the section of workers who do produce social good.  

Economic Policy Institute - Let’s not give up on the American Dream Testimony before the Economic Policy Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; provides data on the current state of economic opportunity, mobility, and inequality in the U.S. and a policy agenda to restore the American Dream.   

State of the Nation 2018-19: Social Mobility in Great Britain States that social mobility in the UK has been stagnant for four years. Key findings for the Assessment of Social Mobility (which indicate that social mobility is low) are on page 1; the Executive Summary on pp. vii – xi provides recommendations for government departments, employers, education chiefs, local councils, and communities to use in addressing the lack of social mobility and equal opportunity in the UK.  

World Bank - Fair Progress? The State of Economic Mobility Across Generations Around the World Summary of the report, which is essentially an entire book on this topic; lists key findings and, surprise, surprise, the PUBLIC INVESTMENTS and POLICIES related to ensuring access to opportunity that affect social/economic mobility.   

Paolo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed Great book, and really short! One of the foundational texts of critical pedagogy; his analysis of class relationships in colonial systems is particularly relevant.  

In the second of our Steven Universe episodes, we zoom out and get into how the show tackles ideas of colonialism, oppression, and the dehumanizing effects of living in a society that only values you to the extent that it values your job. Not that we would know anything about that… The references on economic and social mobility, Citizens United, and critical pedagogy in the show notes are totally relevant to our discussion, we promise! And if that sounds like a bit of a downer, we also theorize about fusion between diamonds and whether a fusion with gems for eyes can see.  

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!  

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.  

Show Notes: 

Polygon - Steven Universe Future: Rebecca Sugar Interview 

Economic Policy Institute - Let’s not give up on the American Dream Testimony before the Economic Policy Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; provides data on the current state of economic opportunity, mobility, and inequality in the U.S. and a policy agenda to restore the American Dream 

State of the Nation 2018-19: Social Mobility in Great Britain States that social mobility in the UK has been stagnant for four years. Key findings for the Assessment of Social Mobility (which indicate that social mobility is low) are on page 1; the Executive Summary on pp. vii – xi provides recommendations for government departments, employers, education chiefs, local councils, and communities to use in addressing the lack of social mobility and equal opportunity in the UK. 

World Bank - Fair Progress? The State of Economic Mobility Across Generations Around the World Summary of the report, which is essentially an entire book on this topic; lists key findings and, surprise, surprise, the PUBLIC INVESTMENTS and POLICIES related to ensuring access to opportunity that affect social/economic mobility. 

The Brennan Center - Citizens United Explained Explanation of how the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Citizens United v. FEC “reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections,” giving the wealthiest people and, especially, corporations, even more influence in U.S. elections.  

Paolo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed Great book, and really short! One of the foundational texts of critical pedagogy; we refer to some of his analysis of class relationships in colonial systems, particularly the trap of becoming the oppressor instead of achieving true freedom. 

In the first episode in this two-part series, Charlyn and Mark delve into issues of identity raised in the Steven Universe world. We get into how the show conveys healthy messages for kids and adults alike through its relatable alien-rock-based creatures from another world, we discuss how music is used in the show, ask why some of the episodes are so horrifyingly terrifying for these two grown-ass adults, and talk about how even turning into a giant monster and trying to destroy your friends can be a form of communication.  

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!  

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.  

Charlyn & Mark try to lighten things up for you with a fun-filled discussion of Onward, Disney-Pixar’s recent film about two grieving brothers desperately trying to find an artifact that will let them spend a day with their father, who tragically died years before…Wait… That sounds sad and emotional, doesn’t it? Well, we tried! It’s a kid’s movie…about death. But still. A kid’s movie. Some of the discussion is silly! We promise! Listen to us debate about whether Ian is a wizard or a sorcerer, and how the real dad is the dad we made along the way!  

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!  

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.  

Show Notes:  

SuperCarlinBrothers - How Onward Fits into the Pixar Theory  

Charlyn & Mark discuss Angela Carter’s 1979 short story collection, The Bloody Chamber. Highlights include very unsexy sex, terrible people, why that ‘nice guy’ is a werewolf, and why our culture has been on a fairytale subversion kick for the last 50+ years.  

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!  

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.  

Show Notes:  

GQ - The Strange and Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit  

Reddit - Robin Hood is corrupting children and also the poor  

In this episode, Charlyn & Mark discuss Pixar’s adorable WALL-E. We hope you enjoy this ramble about capitalism (of course!), storytelling with mute protagonists (again!), and messaging for two different audiences as we pull at the loose plot threads of the metaphorical sweater that is Pixar’s delightful WALL-E.  

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.

Show Notes: 

The Pixar Theory

WALL-E As Sociological Storytelling - Pop Culture Detective [Video]

Not so subtle joke - Animaniacs [Video]

In this episode, Charlyn & Mark review and then ramble about Birds of Prey, which you should definitely check out while it’s still in theatres (not a sponsor)—do your part to combat sexist narratives about female-fronted films in the movie industry! We get into what we think this film has to say about the female experience, masculinity as neocolonial, badass choreography, and the best breakfast sandwich.  

Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Unramblings, on Twitter at @UnramblingsPod, and on our website at MarkCollington.com/Unramblings. Email us with feedback, questions, and suggestions at [email protected]. Continue the conversation on social media with #Unramblings!  

Please rate and review wherever you listen, as it helps more people to find the show. Recommendations and shares are good, too.  

Show Notes:  

BookRiot - Birds of Prey, Trauma, and the Female Gaze

GQ - Birds of Prey Carnival Battle

Hot Ones with Margot Robbie

E-Online - Why Margot Robbie Has Hung Up Her Tattoo Gun