Men: An Explanation, Conversations Episode 4. The edges of things.

Hi everyone!

So, here is our podcast, episode #4. Still no title, so, I guess it’s still Men: An Explanation. Tim calls it Savage Amazement. Maybe it’s both.

In this episode, we talk about doing things badly, and about exploring the edges of the spaces that we’re supposed to stay inside, both in digital and analog worlds. Tom worries about AI, complains about business people, swoons over human voices reading to him and then Tim reads from The English Patient.

We are graced with the voice of Ell Potter in this (and future episodes). Go visit the Ell’s temple of creativity here and here. Thank you Ell!

Here’s an hour of the San Andreas Deer Cam:

Here are some timestamps:

00:12: “Drop the ball” - choose to do things wrong on purpose til you get it right, especially in art. Or don’t get it right. Try things that have never been tried by you
03:35: Tim’s daughter wanting to explore outside the boundaries of the video game course. Playing video game golf and seeing how far off the course you could go.
05:00: What do you say to people who come to school and want to be published the right way?
06:20: The value of Minecraft and other games that reward human curiosity. “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” and the random deer with its own will, wandering around video game L.A.
09:45: The joy of Google Maps / Street View
11:00 Selling chocolate bars and art to strangers door to door.
12:15: Kids selling drawings at a table.
13:50: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. Tim’s history with the movie and the book in 1996.
17:00 Tim discovers the soundtrack to the movie
18:30 None of these characters have kids!
20:50: Tom remembers Tim’s reading of Araby by James Joyce
21:10: The gift of voices that read fiction, and Tom’s favorite audiobook reader, Ell Potter
21:50: Audible using AI voices, 10,000 new books next year, and Tom’s fan letter to Ell Potter
23:00: AI taking over creative jobs, lack of legislation
24:20: Who business people are. People with no mission or guiding principle or belief in anything
25:20: 100 podcasts about organic gardening in one day
26:00: The world is changing and the powerful are still in control and the artists still need to figure out who is paying
27:15 - 41:46 Tim’s Reading Corner: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

Thanks to Tim for his wise thoughts in this conversation, and to you for listening.