‘funny,’ not funny

Jim Infantino and Lionel Cassin
  • 5.0 (9)
  • FILOSOFÍA
  • CADA SEMANA
‘funny,’ not funny

Conversations about books, music, movies, shows, tech, culture, and more. Jim is a songwriter and leader of the band Jim’s Big Ego. He is also an author of The Wakeful Wanderer’s Guide series. Lionel Cassin is an IT security specialist and a voracious reader of Science Fiction and History. They enjoy lively conversations and are now sharing those with you.

  1. HACE 4 DÍAS

    “We're in the transportation business” | topic: The Grateful Dead | a conversation with Dr. Christopher K. Coffman

    Dr. Christopher K. Coffman is Master Lecturer in Humanities at Boston University. He has published on a wide variety of topics in literature and music, and has increasingly been focusing in his research on points at which the two fields intersect. The author or editor of four books, Coffman's current project is a study of the Grateful Dead in relation to the literary tradition. Lionel and Jim learn a lot from our guest about the literary ground from which the Grateful Dead sprang. We discuss the writers behind the band.

    1 h y 16 min

  2. 20 FEB

    ENCORE EPISODE: “I have a Passim tattoo.” | topic: Folk Music, World Music, Music Club | a conversation with Abby Altman

    Abby Altman, Club Manager of Passim joins us to talk about her experience guiding the iconic music club, located in the heart of Harvard Square Cambridge, MA through its many programs. We discuss the mission and history of the club and its importance to the music scene not only in the Boston area, but worldwide. Abby is the second millennial to appear on our podcast. We look forward to talking more about this amazing venue next week.

    57 min

  3. 12 FEB

    “I feel old and foolish now” | topic: Hundreds of Beavers, A Complete Unknown, Putin's People, Jesse Welles | Jim & Lionel

    We begin by talking about Hundreds of Beavers and move into Jim’s experience with the Raw Diet and Johnny Gottado. From there we talk about food delivery and inactivity. We talk about A Complete Unknown and Dylan’s life in general from Jim’s recollections of interviewing Dave Van Ronk, and Jim’s reading of Dylan’s autobiography Chronicles. We touch on the band Boston and the Rockman, and They Might Be Giants, but only because our brains keep bouncing around. Lionel talks about the jazz station KRTU and how real winter has arrived in Syracuse. Jim mentions the book Putin’s People and we discuss the law suits Kinsman 1 & 2 in Buffalo, NY. We close by sending a shout out to Jesse Welles who we both find cool.

    58 min

  4. 5 FEB

    “I almost stayed in that world” | topic: comedy, music, & songwriting | a conversation with Don White

    The amazing, wonderful, comedian, storyteller, songwriter, performer, author, and great friend to have, Don White joined us this week to talk all about his process, his art, and his life as a student of the craft. We begin talking about the Naked City, where Jim and Don first met, and move on to discuss the music and comedy blendings of Catch A Rising Star. Don fill us in on his method stories from his life on stage.

    1 h y 7 min

  5. 29 ENE

    “He got his start wiping windows.” | topic: Yeltsin, Oligarchs, Clinton, IMF, Corruption | a conversation with Matthew Roazen pt 2

    In this episode, our guest Matthew Roazen returns to talk to us about his time in Russia, and gives us a lesson in what was happening in Russia during the 1990s and early 2000s. Matthew explains the rise of the Russian Oligarchy and how it was linked to guarantees to banks via the IMF. This effected not only all the small businesses in Russia, but also foreign business and investment in Russia that the time. We hear more about how all of this affected his day to day life there, but end up talking about our understanding of the idea of corruption and how it changes depending on where you live. References

    1 h y 5 min

  6. 22 ENE

    “The Wild Wild East” | topic: Russia, Moscow in the 1990s | a conversation with Matthew Roazen

    Matthew Roazen, lawyer, and Russian history & linguistics expert, who lived in Russia for 16 years talks about his time in Moscow during the 1990s and 2000s. This is part one of a 2 part conversation with Matthew about what things are like in the country with the largest landmass in the world. We talk about his time managing a blues band in Moscow, the beginning of the perceived western bonanza there in the 1990s and why business was so keen on the newly “freed” Russian populace. We touch on the beginnings of the oligarchy and how Matthew saw it emerge. References

    1 h y 2 min

  7. 15 ENE

    “Everything is due to accident” | topic: The Soul of Money, After Yang, Rogue Heroes, and the fall of USSR | a conversation with Lionel & Jim

    We discuss the making of video clips for promoting our podcast and the futility thereof. The unruly beard is disparaged. Lionel brings up an episode of CSI where a civil war re-enactor was killed and found to be wearing a girdle as a response to Jim's thought experiment of having to be sewn into his clothes like foot soldiers in the civil war. We talk about the history men's fashion, men's vanity, and men's impossible expectations for both men and women. Next, Jim brings up a book he had recently consumed called The Soul of Money by Lynn Twist, which he both enjoyed and did not enjoy. Jim shares a story from the book. This launches us into a discussion about what is enough or feels enough in our consumer society. Jim talks about a movie he was impressed by called After Yang, starring Colin Farrell about a family who has purchased an android to look after their adopted daughter. This is one of a list of indie science fiction films Jim came across recently - we will probably cover others in future episodes. Lionel talks about a book he read about the fall of the Soviet Union called Armageddon Averted by Stephen Kotkin which covers the events of 1970 to 2000 in the Soviet Union and eventual Russian Federation. Lionel also relates a book/tv show combination called Rogue Heroes created by Stephen Knight who also created Peaky Blinders. The book and show cover the origins of the SAS during the second world war. Lionel continues giving interesting details about this show and book and pivoting to the battle of Midway until Jim informs him he has to leave and the show skids to a stop. References

    1 h y 2 min

  8. 8 ENE

    “Misa No Kinda Wizard!” | topic: Luigi Mangione, Eat The Rich, Dune, LOTR | a conversation with Lionel & Jim

    Do billionaires deserve our empathy? We passively mention the Brian Thompson murder, and Jim’s portrayal of The Vengeance in his books. Do we need the profit motive to create new drugs and medical treatments? Cialis, Viagra, and Ozempic all started out as drugs for different things than what they were intended. It’s the Bell Labs situation in another instance. Were the inventions from those labs worth paying ridiculous long distance rates? We don’t know. We talk about China hacking our phones and the relationship to aging networks and the search for spies. This leads into a discussion about the breakup of Ma Bell and international call-back systems in the long forgotten past. We come back to billionaires and their carbon footprint, and more importantly, how it’s becoming not cool to be rich. What if we taxed everything over 1B? Who takes it? Is that unAmerican? We break off from this line of thought to talk about the book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann as well as 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. We discuss both books in broad terms. We end up talking a little about Dune Prophesy and the better and worse use of canon, Sackler Alley, and The City and The City again.

    1 h y 2 min
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Conversations about books, music, movies, shows, tech, culture, and more. Jim is a songwriter and leader of the band Jim’s Big Ego. He is also an author of The Wakeful Wanderer’s Guide series. Lionel Cassin is an IT security specialist and a voracious reader of Science Fiction and History. They enjoy lively conversations and are now sharing those with you.

Información

  • Creador
    Jim Infantino and Lionel Cassin
  • Años de actividad
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodios
    138
  • Clasificación
    Explícito
  • Copyright
    © 2021 Jim Infantino and Lionel Cassin
  • Mostrar sitio web
    ‘funny,’ not funny

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