111: It's Too Late To Play The Accordion

This month on Best Of The Web, our special guest is each other, as Jessamyn and I pull a dynamic duo all by our collective lonesomes for once. Recorded earlier today, this episode runs about an hour and three quarters and covers November 2nd through December 1st.

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Helpful Links

Podcast Feed
Subscribe with iTunes
Direct mp3 download

Misc
- the butts-over-time graph
- Thanksgiving Stanhope
- not_on_display has Quirkle probs
- do androids indeed
- a legit (?) but still tremendously bullshitty hoverboard
- vs. a thing that isn't even remotely a legit-but-bullshitty hoverboard at all, why would they call them that, what is even, I can't

Jobs
- Demographic research sysadmin in Minnesota
- videography this Friday at Tufts U (too late to play the accordion)

Projects
- Explaining general relativity, a BBC animation featuring freelanceastro
- Trans, Kink, and Poly-inclusive sex ed by not that girl
- My Path to Trans Motherhood by elephantsvanish
- an 11-minute supercut of movie screams by azarbayejani
- some more Hirsute History designs from Jezztek
- a fictional emergency alert bot by ignignokt, Metroid Baby, and EndsOfInvention
- Magic Realism Bot by dontjumplarry (MeFi post)

MetaFilter
- "This one's not making the podcast, huh?", a tale of postly woe from josher71
- on being a parade balloon jockey, a neat comment from allkindsoftime
- Endless Sky, a rad free space game ala Escape Velocity
- Custom box templates
- isochronic maps are super dope
- check out this amazing papercraft microbe
- mefites talk about those super awkward moments
- suck.com rebroadcast 20 years later
- fun with n-grams (the n stands for "n")
- Stanhopes, or how your great great grandpa got his secret porn on
- epic post about day-planner fandom

Ask MeFi
- looking for specific sorts of repetitive music
- new non-fiddly non-endless boardgames
- help me find a specific Win10 offline Scrabble game
- what are some quality memoirs by comedians
- hit me with your fave holiday album
- help me deal with people reacting to me changing my appearance
- gimme that Blade Runner-ish future noir fiction
- and how about some smart thrillers while we're at it

Music
Featured in this episode:
- Thanksgiving Snow by Wolfdog
- Blackberry Blossom by OverlappingElvis
- Elegy by talltaleheart
- Dirtbag, a cover of frenetic aka Brad Sucks, by comealongpole
- Choc Cream-O-Land, by grumpybear69

MetaTalk
- posts you wish had gotten more love
- hey, MeFites, what do you collect
- Meyers-Briggs throwdown
- jessamyn did an AMA (o'er yonder)

posted by cortex (staff) to MeFi Podcast at 5:42 PM (52 comments total)

No accordion? We missed out. :( :( :(
posted by mudpuppie at 6:07 PM on December 1, 2015

Little houses of Peoria Instagram is here.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:04 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

You can really hear the glasses.
posted by boo_radley at 7:41 PM on December 1, 2015

What ho, Mod and Mod Emerita In A Sidecar!

I am hoping for more holiday music recommendations in this thread, and had hoped for some Jingle Rock Bell (or whatever Cortex's brain-shredding Xmas Tune randomizing thing was called) in the podcast. Maybe next month? It would make sweet bumper music!
posted by wenestvedt at 8:10 PM on December 1, 2015

Cortex's thing is called Endless Jingling. I think there is no holiday music stuff because we both sort of are shruggo on holidays (and I listen to nothing but this most days)
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:15 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

This dynamic duo?
posted by Literaryhero at 8:38 PM on December 1, 2015

OMG, so delighted Jessamyn mentioned my instagram! I'm working on writing up information on the architectural and social history of the neighborhood, and I'll probably post it to projects once I have at least the outline of the history put together (slowly working through historic sources online and at the local library, just hit a BIG CACHE OF 1896 PLATTING MAPS, AM PSYCHED*), but I have a little bit of info here.

The brief background is, I have always loved the housing stock in the older parts of Peoria and I think it's vastly underappreciated and since Peoria hasn't really gentrified (but didn't go Full Detroit in decay) there are a lot of really great old houses and old neighborhoods and obviously I hang with the sort of people who agitate for "complete streets" and "new urbanist zoning codes" and stuff so I was always being like "MAN WHY DO PEOPLE NOT APPRECIATE THESE GREAT HOUSES?" Anyway, one of my kids requires an adaptive classroom, and the classroom that can serve him this year is at this school in an older neighborhood of Peoria I'd just visited a few times in the past, and suddenly I was there twice a day, every day and I was like, "OMG these houses are amazing, this is like all my favorite things about Peoria housing stock, in this fantastic old streetcar neighborhood, somebody should be taking pictures of theses HEY WAIT I HAVE A CAMERA!" So every day we go about 10 minutes early and drive down a random street and I pull over and jump out of the car and take pictures and my kids loudly shout their opinions of what I should be taking pictures of and it's really fun! I'm interested in the pre-zoning mixed-use neighborhood (little commercial properties on most corners), the little houses, how those little houses have adapted over the past 115 years of continuous occupation, and the architectural details (like brickwork patterns or fancy woodwork) and bits of infrastructure that make neighborhoods interesting and houses pretty. And also the insane colors people paint their houses, like pumpkin orange and hot pink and mustard yellow and carribbean blue.

*MAY ALSO BE NERD
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:39 PM on December 1, 2015 [17 favorites]

NO JINGLING
posted by poffin boffin at 9:04 PM on December 1, 2015

Poffin B., today I am taking some no-shit sleigh bells to work to hang on my door. JINGLE ALL THE WAY.
posted by wenestvedt at 3:06 AM on December 2, 2015

Eyebrows McGee, that is awesome, and now I am sadder than ever (which really isn't that sad, but more disappointed with developers) to live in a modern desert suburb/exurb, where everything is one of five shades of brown. My version of your project would end up more of a guessing game along the lines of "did he take a picture of a different house, or that the same house at a different time?" (There's an appreciation what people do to make their homes their own, but honestly the best I've seen is a giant metal lion who is frozen in a "get the heck back" roar.)
posted by filthy light thief at 4:33 AM on December 2, 2015

A. B. J.

Always. Be. Jingling.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:16 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Well, "Make the podcast" is off my bucket list. Now it's pretty much all "Avenge..." and "Make the short-sighted fools pay for..." sorts of things.
posted by Etrigan at 7:22 AM on December 2, 2015 [7 favorites]

I've been doing some thinking, and I've got some ideas to improve the podcast. I got it right here. One, every conversation should be about Chrysostom. Two, whenever Chrysostom's not the subject, all the mods should be asking "Where's Chrysostom"? Three--
posted by Chrysostom at 7:46 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Hey, thanks for putting my tune in the podcast!
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:55 AM on December 2, 2015

Just wanted to note that the MBT survey is still open if people want to submit. (One free test, another, and another.) I last ran the graphs when we had 513 submissions; currently we have 540.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:01 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

I *howeled* when I heard cortex try to do the Nelson Muntz laugh. Scared the drive-through lady...
posted by ersatzkat at 8:22 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

ersatzkat, was your howl any closer to the original?
posted by wenestvedt at 8:49 AM on December 2, 2015

There is no more potent juxtaposition of childlike joy and profound adult embarrassment than the moment in which you impulsively try to do an impression for the first time and thereby learn how ill-equipped you are to do said impression. It's like a rocketship to a planet composed entirely of awkward self-discovery.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:52 AM on December 2, 2015 [10 favorites]

- "This one's not making the podcast, huh?", a tale of postly woe from josher71

AND YET, it totally made the podcast. :D

Haven't listened yet, but the mere fact that y'all included it is ten kinds of awesome.
posted by zarq at 9:13 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

There is no more potent juxtaposition of childlike joy and profound adult embarrassment

I hope you remain confident that this is a thing you could master given more than the five seconds prep time that you had. It's only fun to tease you about it because we know it's not actually something you'd realistically have trouble doing.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:34 AM on December 2, 2015

Also give yourself a huge pat on the back for turning the podcast around in a few hours. That is amazing stuff during the holiday season and a huge change from Ye Olde Days where we'd wait 3-4 DAYS just to hear ourselves tease each other. I know you are only sort of kidding about the embarrassment thing but I wanted to give you a hearty high five for that

o/**\o
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:45 AM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]

The highest of fives, yo.

And, yeah, taken in the spirit intended; trust me, I'll never stop or anything. Really it's something I have a philosophical take on because that's the kind of impulsive goofiness I enjoy regardless of those mortifying "what just came out of me" moments. And I genuinely enjoy listening to other people try-and-often-fail at such stuff. If I could somehow non-awkwardly force entire social gatherings to spend five minutes taking turns trying to e.g. do Walken impressions, that'd happen at every single party I go to.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:46 AM on December 2, 2015

"It's like a rocketship to a planet composed entirely of awkward self-discovery."

If you're an alien. Most of us were born on this planet.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:51 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

YIS! not_on_display report to the podcast!
posted by ignignokt at 9:51 AM on December 2, 2015

Brad Sucks! Wow, I had no idea he was on MeFi and made the first Music post! Found his music on Jamendo several years before joining MeFi. Awesome!
posted by floatboth at 9:53 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

ersatzkat, was your howl any closer to the original?

AFTER I howled, then I did a super loud "HA HA!" as I drove off, and it was spot-fucking-on!
posted by ersatzkat at 10:14 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's like a rocketship to a planet composed entirely of awkward self-discovery.

Welcome to my planet! I have some literature here for first-time visitors!!! Square dancing in the main building every night at 7!!
posted by ersatzkat at 10:15 AM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]

Thank you for making room for my little bit of piano in there.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:36 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

That tune is great, Wolfdog. Do you have more like it at home that you can share?
posted by wenestvedt at 10:50 AM on December 2, 2015

Not lots like that just sitting around, no, but thank you! You might like this other short piano piece I posted a few months ago. I've been enjoying concentrating on the piano and I expect there will be a few more piano pieces coming in the next year.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:58 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

For clarity, my musical contribution isn't a cover by me, it's an endearingly-shoddy remix I did years ago (demix?). I pretty much just downloaded a zip of the original song in loop form, threw away half of 'em and stuck the rest together in a different order (with a few minor tweaks and a reasonable idea of what I was aiming for). Standing on the shoulders of giants, etc, etc.

Also, I don't know how I missed the Borges-bot, that's excellent!
posted by comealongpole at 11:33 AM on December 2, 2015

Eyebrows McGee, your Instagram just made me google street view my childhood home in Peoria because I could have swore that dodgy addition pic was what I remember of our playroom: tilted floor and closed all winter because there was no heating or insulation.
posted by romakimmy at 11:37 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

it's fucked up that you just said "Greg Nog" without using first the traditional epithet "The Beautiful And Elegant"

I asked your mom and she says your given name is just Greg despite your protestations.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 11:46 AM on December 2, 2015 [5 favorites]

Did anyone else hear that rumor that Greg Nog is an elephant?
posted by Etrigan at 11:47 AM on December 2, 2015

Did anyone else hear that rumor that Greg Nog is an elephant?

That's not his trunk.
posted by zarq at 12:13 PM on December 2, 2015

filthy light thief: "now I am sadder than ever (which really isn't that sad, but more disappointed with developers) to live in a modern desert suburb/exurb, where everything is one of five shades of brown. My version of your project would end up more of a guessing game along the lines of "did he take a picture of a different house, or that the same house at a different time?" "

A photographer did this in California, with a big Leavittown-type suurb, and went back every ten years to take pictures of the houses and put together a series showing how it went from a homogenous development of identical houses to a relatively diverse mature suburb as people added on and changed trim and grew trees and things. If you were willing to commit to 30 years, it's doable!

(Actually, upcoming, I have been locating two-to-four-house groups that appear to have all been built on identical plans by the same builder, but I have to get a sunny day with little traffic to be able to shoot three or four houses from across the street. They're doing utility work in my best spot right now so BOOOOO I can't get pictures.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:14 PM on December 2, 2015

I think it's been pretty explicitly stated that podcast topics are "posts the mods remembered and want to talk about" rather than "posts that are important." There have been some pretty big MeTa brouhahas that have gone unmentioned, for example.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:37 PM on December 2, 2015

Yeah, this is very much a "whatever comes back to mind from an entire month of posts while we're chattering and that we feel like chattering about" sort of deal. The stuff I'm most likely to bring up is stuff that made me personally smile or laugh or play something or dive down an interesting rabbit hole, and even at that is gonna come down to a bit of recency bias, and the things I've chanced to comment on or favorite so I can dig them back up easily before and during the recording.

I don't and can't read the whole site, and one of the things that keeps the podcast as a fun thing for me rather than a chore is avoiding making it into something that requires a bunch of extra preparatory reading for and like political prioritization of posts based on any perceived popularity matrix. There's a ton of great, interesting stuff every month that we don't mention, and that's just the practical reality of the the thing.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:55 PM on December 2, 2015

One of the reasons we like having guests is because the things we like are getting a bit predictable over time.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 12:56 PM on December 2, 2015

I just assumed my first-in-a-long time FPP consisting of a single link to an article about Italian accents was omitted from the podcast due to the obvious anti-Italian stance of the mods. I mean, Millard and West don't really scream paisano. I heard Cortex doesn't even like meatballs.

We need a mod with a vowel at the end of their name, is what I'm sayin'.
posted by bondcliff at 1:14 PM on December 2, 2015

Ha! Never so glad to be wrong.

And that blog was not spammy earlier, you are correct. Grrrr
posted by josher71 at 8:54 AM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

I love the music featured, some great stuff. And it turns out that Blackberry Blossom is perfect for dancing a little "I made the podcast!" jig.
posted by billiebee at 12:35 PM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

My posts have been on the podcast a few times, and I've had some successful posts overall, but I'm still flabbergasted that the planner fandom post of all things is apparently the most successful one. Credit to Crone Island for giving me motivation and structure!
posted by divabat at 8:04 PM on December 3, 2015

Also I'd identify closer on the book-reader end of the scale than the gamer scale, but I do both, AND read on devices a shit-ton! (Which all probably contributes to the fact that I, too, have joined the "need reading glasses" club as of a couple of hours ago, though I blame genetics.)
posted by divabat at 8:11 PM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

can we recommend guests? because out of Chicago, phunniemee would be great I think.
posted by garlic at 10:37 AM on December 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Cortex's thing is called Endless Jingling.

Aw man how did I forget my ol' holiday fave "Go Tell it O Come Teeth"
posted by Hoopo at 11:35 PM on December 4, 2015

Open transcript!
posted by Pronoiac at 9:30 PM on December 9, 2015

Beauty, added it to the post.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:10 PM on December 9, 2015

The original thread has closed, but I've run the numbers a final on the 564 submissions and put everything on GitHub. You can look at the notebook, or download the data & code & play around yourself.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:36 PM on December 24, 2015

I am crafting the perfect post, so that whomever does the podcast will have to say my username three times quickly for a prize.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:52 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

Made the podcast on the one month I missed listening to it!
*basks retroactively but discreetly over here*
posted by Iteki at 9:41 PM on January 13, 2016

I am crafting the perfect post, so that whomever does the podcast will have to say my username three times quickly for a prize.

"...post made by 4a (mod 256)"
posted by Wolfdog at 6:13 AM on January 14, 2016