Welcome to the fifth installment of USELESS/USEFUL, in which we recommend things we think you should know about. We use the term USELESS to lovingly describe topics that have to do with pop culture, music, film, etc. And USEFUL covers topics like relief efforts, charitable campaigns, social issues, and other things that we want to encourage you to consider supporting. And we’ll also share about projects going on at Stereoactive Media. Here are our topics for this episode… 

USELESS ITEM ONE: Netflix’s Adolescence is a 4 part limited series based in the UK that is really unlike anything I’ve seen on television before. It tells the story of a 13 year old boy accused of murdering a girl at his school and how the fallout of the murder and arrest affects the boy, his family, and those investigating him and the crime.

USELESS ITEM TWO: The Pitt is a show that I was initially skeptical of. Seeing Noah Wyle do another hospital drama three decades after he shot to fame with the rest of the original ER cast just seemed like it had to be lazy casting indicative of yet another cookie-cutter hospital drama. But my good friend – shout out to Stephen, by the way – told me it was actually pretty good and that actual ER doctors thought the portrayal of The Pitt’s emergency room was more realistic than most other hospital shows… so I downloaded several episodes to watch while traveling and quickly got hooked and realized my impressions of the show before watching it were way off the mark.

USEFUL ITEM: In case you haven’t been tuned into this, I just want to let you know that in the face of the oligarch-led dismantling of our civil society that we’ve been witnessing this year, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been on the road recently with Bernie Sanders doing what most Democrats elected to office or in the party establishment are failing to do well, if at all... So, please, if you’re not already, support AOC in whatever way you’re able. Follow her on social media – especially Bluesky – and pay attention to where she says support is needed. And obviously, please support whatever campaign she embarks on next, whether it’s reelection to the House, a primary challenge to Chuck Schumer, or to succeed Donald Trump or whatever ghoul happens to be in office by the time we hopefully have another free and fair election in which we can start to set things on a better path.

STEREOACTIVE BULLETIN BOARD: We’ve got a couple of things to let you know about in Stereoactive World…

1.We recently released our second Kind of a Lot with Matt Ruby episode of the year. It’s called “The Boy who cried ‘Wow!’” and features Matt discussing how a 9 year old's excited exclamation at a symphonic concert reveals truths about how we experience the world.

2.And we also recently released our fourth episode of the relaunched When We See Each Other podcast in which, after nearly five years, R&B artist NYALLAH returns to the show! 

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EPISODE CREDITS:

• Produced and presented by Jeremiah Lee McVay
• Music by Hansdale Hsu and Maia Macdonald

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LINKS & MENTIONS:

-Adolescence (Trailer) >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk5OxqtpBR4

-The Pitt (Trailer) >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufR_08V38sQ

-AOC >>> https://www.ocasiocortez.com/

-Kind of a Lot with Matt Ruby Ep 39 // The boy who cried "Wow!" >>> https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/kind-of-a-lot-with-matt-ruby-ep-39-the-boy-who-cried-wow/

-When We See Each Other Ep 2.4 – NYALLAH >>> https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/when-we-see-each-other-ep-2-4-nyallah/