AudioShocker

Sorry folks, Nick and Justique are off this week. Podcast 18 will air next week. In their absence, I decided to try something new. I rounded up two of my favorite ladies, triathlete-in-training Rohini and Kirsten of Yumbrosia, for an oldschool AIM chat. Read on as we discuss The Lovemakers, Umbrella by Rihanna, The Decemberists, Rogue's Gallery, Aimee Mann in the sack, the definition of cute, Chuck, Lost, Katherine Heigl, The Spirit of the Marathon, Biggest Loser, The Cutting Edge 3, and so so so much more!

Special Thanks to Kirsten for her excellent editing, Ro for her patience with AIM, and the continued Writer's Strike for all the extra free time.

You have just entered room "AudioShocker!"
Ro has entered the room.
Kirsten has entered the room.
Neal: Ok. Well then. AudioShocker AIMcast 01
Kirsten: Cool
Ro: Woot
Neal: Nick couldn't be here tonight because he’s on a cruise with his mom or something.
Ro: Will people read this?
Neal: I certainly hope so.
Kirsten: So
Kirsten: Okay, I don't know anything about Ro
Kirsten: and if Neal talks about me as much as he does you, you probably don't know anything about me either
Ro: I know you write Yumbrosia!
Neal: Well
Neal: Kirsten and I went to high school at Choate
Neal: Ro and I went to CMU
Neal: Kirsten kind of lives between Amherst and CT
Neal: Ro lives in DC
Neal: Anything I’m missing?
Kirsten: Yes, a lot
Ro: Oh so do you know Val, Kirsten?
Neal: Of course. they are like best friends.
Kirsten: I knew Val
Ro: Gotcha
Kirsten: I haven't talked to her in about seven years
Kirsten: but yeah
Ro: Cool
Ro: Val is my BFF
Ro: fo LIFE
Ro: (I hope :p)
Ro: What's the plan, Neal?
Neal: I was hoping we could start with music, hit movies, possibly a little TV, and then whatever else.
Kirsten: Sounds good
Ro: Cool
Neal: So. Who listened to new stuff this week? I’ve had Fiona Apple's discography playing for the past two weeks.
Ro: So I discovered a new band
Ro: I really liked
Ro: The Lovemakers
Ro: Very eighties
Ro: which is slightly confusing
Ro: but whatev
Neal: Like, "I’m Walking on Sunshine" 80s?
Ro: No, more the electronica
Ro: Daft Punk, maybe?
Ro: If anyone wants to check ‘em out: www.myspace.com/thelovemakers
Ro: Kirsten?
Kirsten: I have listened to know no music this week
Kirsten: Sorry, guys
Kirsten: I've actually been downloading a lot of older stuff: Garbage, Moldy Peaches, maybe Cranberries
Neal: Ugh. Garbage.
Ro: Oh man!
Ro: The Cranberries!
Ro: They keep playing on my Pandora stations
Kirsten: Okay
Kirsten: So do you guys get what I mean when I say that "Umbrella" sounds like the Cranberries?
Ro: Yeah, I def do
Kirsten: Nobody else seems to hear that
Neal: Yeah. I get it
Neal: but only because you mention it.
Ro: especially after you said it
Ro: Exactly
Neal: I totally dig that song. but it took a long time to get into it.
Neal: Ro - I think you were rocking in a few months back before I got into it and you were like "This is my new jam" and I was all "Yeah this blows"
Ro: Yeah I remember that
Ro: but now you loooove it
Neal: and then, I started rocking it on the treadmill.
Kirsten: I love that song
Kirsten: I know it's totally overplayed, but I think it's brilliant
Kirsten: I feel like Rihanna always does something interesting with her songs
Kirsten: even if I don't like them.
Kirsten: like that "Hey Mr. DJ" and that one with the "Tempted Love" hook that drove me insane
Neal: I wish she'd do something new with her hair. That razor sharp bob is getting to me
Kirsten: I hate the hair
Ro: She's HORRENDOUS live
Kirsten: Why's she so bad live?
Ro: She just can't sing
Ro: Lots of studio work
Neal: Ro - aren’t almost ALL pop acts horrible live? Especially when their whole thing is dance anyway?
Ro: Um, not Justin
Ro: or BSB
Ro: or Kelly Clarkson
Neal: No comment.
Kirsten: I've never seen any of those live
Neal: The Decemberists were NUTS live
Kirsten: Yes
Kirsten: The Decemberists are even better live than on the album, and that's saying something
Ro: I don't think I've heard more than two songs by the Decemberists
Neal: Really? They are savage good.
Neal: Sea shanties and such
Ro: I'll check em out
Kirsten: Yes
Kirsten: Download or buy them immediately
Kirsten: They're different
Neal: YouTube that shit.
Neal: They have a funny Rushmore-eque video for 16 military wives.
Kirsten: I expected them to be totally ordinary indie rock, ie. Death Cab or something similar
Neal: No.
Neal: Nothing like Death Cab.
Neal: I was hoping I would like Death Cab.
Neal: and I downloaded a ton of their stuff, but I just cant get into it.
Kirsten: but the Decemberists are digging in a completely different area
Neal: It's not like listening to Modest Mouse or the Shins.
Kirsten: No
Kirsten: although I love both
Kirsten: There's an awesome cd of sea shanties that doesn't have the Decemberists on them, surprisingly
Kirsten: It is called Rogues Gallery
Kirsten: and it’s awesome
Kirsten: Speaking of downloading old stuff, Neal, do you want to say anything about Fiona Apple?
Neal: Fiona... I think I dig Tidal more than any of her other albums.
Neal: At 18, she was better than at 30.
Kirsten: How so?
Neal: It feels so much more throaty and raw.
Neal: Extraordinary Machine is too Regina Spektor for me -- although don’t get me wrong, I LOVE RS
Ro: Have either of you heard Nicole Atkins?
Kirsten: No
Neal: Who?
Ro: Another Pandora find
Kirsten: What's she like?
Ro: Her song "Maybe Tonight" is probably the most well known
Ro: I'd say a mix between
Ro: Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse
Ro: and Sarah McLachlan
Ro: Kinda weird
Neal: You had me until McLachlan.
Kirsten:I'm so over Norah Jones
Neal: I liked Norah Jones' first disc. After that I was done.
Neal: but I'll never get over Amy.
Kirsten: You say that now
Kirsten: I have a soft spot for Sarah McLachlan
Kirsten: In my youth, I once went to Lilith Fair
Neal: You went to Lilith?
Neal: Did your menstrual cycle immediately sync up?
Kirsten: I was young and impressionable
Kirsten: Aimee Mann was there
Kirsten: That was the best part
Neal: Hm. I do like Aimee Mann quite a bit as well
Kirsten: Well, she's awesome
Kirsten: A better songwriter than she is a singer, but not by much
Neal: Didn't you say that you'd think she'd be really into bondage and kinky stuff?
Kirsten: Did I?
Kirsten: I think she'd be kind of impatient
Neal: She'd def take control.
Kirsten: What's up with Ro?
Neal: I think Ms. Ro is having some technical difficulties.
Ro has left the room.
Neal: I think Ro is going to try rejoining us in a minute.
Ro has entered the room.
Ro: Okay
Ro: Maybe this will work
Neal: Welcome back, Rohini.
Neal: What do YOU think of Ms. Aimee Mann? Specifically in the boudoir
Kirsten: I think she'd be on top and not want to look at you
Neal: Hrm. Reverse cowgirl?
Kirsten: Yeah, but not in a sexy way
Kirsten: More like, let's get this done
Ro: LOL
Ro: I don't really think of her in that way
Ro: No clue
Neal: My roommate freshman year was really into her.
Neal: But said "Yeah. But she's not hot"
Kirsten: She's not hot
Kirsten: but she is really sexual
Kirsten: She's got a kind of magnetism, I think
Neal: I think I disagree, she's not Diana Krall hot or anything, but I wouldn't say she's unattractive.
Kirsten: She's not pretty
Kirsten: You know?
Ro: I don't think Aimee Mann is pretty at all
Kirsten: She's kind of anti pretty
Kirsten: She might be beautiful, but she's not pretty
Kirsten: My feeling is she has contempt for pretty
Neal: Well, that's something you are going to have to explain for me.
Kirsten: Pretty is really conventional, I think
Kirsten: So is cute, although it's a different look
Kirsten: Beautiful is not the right word for I want here, but it has to do with more than hair color and face shape, etc.
Neal: Ok. Think fast.
Neal: Examples ... as in people
Kirsten: Okay
Kirsten: Mindy Kaling is cute
Kirsten: January Jones is pretty
Kirsten: Beautiful is more subjective
Kirsten: but there's more of a sense of having lived through something
Neal: Mindy Kaling is not cute. January Jones is straight up gorgeous in Mad Men
Kirsten: Why is she not cute?
Kirsten: Oh, cause she's Indian?
Neal: It has nothing to do with being Indian.
Neal: Her voice kills me.
Kirsten: Well, she's playing a character
Kirsten: who takes cute to an extreme
Neal: Ro - what do you think?
Ro: Wait, who is that?
Ro: I'm so lost
Neal: Mindy Kaling? Kelly Kapoor from The Office.
Ro: Ohhhh
Ro: Mindy is not very pretty at all
Ro: She's got a lesbian look to her
Neal: Haha.
Neal: What makes a lesbian look?
Ro: I don't know
Ro: Just kinda not straight?
Kirsten: Oookay
Neal: Well. Thats really descriptive, Ro
Neal: Have you thought of becoming a professional describer?
Ro: Yeah
Ro: This is why I would never be good on Audioshocker
Neal: Ha. Everyone is good at the Audioshocker!
Kirsten: I want to be a professional describer
Kirsten: Are there job openings?
Neal: Ok, Kirsten. Here’s your chance -- tell us about TV
Neal: You watch more than any of us.
Kirsten: Ha
Kirsten: Well, there is no tv right now
Kirsten: but if there were, I'd be telling everybody to watch Chuck
Kirsten: and have been, actually
Neal: That's not entirely true. House just restarted last week
Kirsten: I don't watch House
Kirsten: Whatever to House
Neal: Psh. Ok. Well, Chuck just finished up for the season then, right?
Neal: Ep 13 or so?
Kirsten: Not for the season
Kirsten: but all the ones they have filmed
Kirsten: It's a lot like Buffy or Veronica Mars (not quite on that level, though) in that it's a mix of funny and cool and extraordinarily nerdy
Ro: Lost is coming back right?
Kirsten: Lost just came back
Kirsten: but I don't watch Lost
Kirsten: because it's stupid
Neal: I've never seen it --- but I totally cosign what Kirsten just said.
Ro: Then how can you say it's stupid?
Neal: I wasn't present during the Holocaust but I know that was bad too.
Ro: You're an ass
Ro: (That was directed towards Neal)
Neal: It always is...
Kirsten: I watched the first half of the first season
Kirsten: and everything I've heard since has supported my feelings then
Kirsten: that they're digging themselves into a ridiculous hole
Kirsten: Instead of answering anything, they just pile on more questions
Kirsten: and the most frustrating thing is that as little the information that the characters have is, they never talk to each other
Kirsten: Like, I watched the first episode of this season, and Locke's like, I know I have a lot of explaining to do . . . and then doesn't explain! Just lays down some retarded ultimatum
Ro: Well, I don't think there are too many more seasons
Neal: This is the final season for Lost right? 4 seasons and that's it I thought.
Neal: How does Lost compare with Heroes in terms of large cast dramas?
Ro: I think they're pretty comparable
Neal: Because I really enjoy Heroes. but it took fucking forever to get into season 1
Kirsten: I got sick of heroes really early on too
Kirsten: Heroes did the same thing
Ro: Yeah, but heroes does resolve some things
Kirsten: Fewer questions, but no reveals, so why stick around?
Ro: Because you just gotta hope that soon enough it does
Neal: I dunno. If Heroes doesn't come back for 6 months, I'm not going to cry or anything.
Neal: but I wouldn't mind seeing how this season ends.
Ro: I'm gonna cry about Grey's, man
Ro: No joke
Ro: It needs to come back asap
Kirsten: Grey's Anatomy!
Kirsten: That's a show I only watch because I enjoy hating it so much
Kirsten: Actually, no
Kirsten: I just really enjoy hating Meredith and Derek
Neal: Are you guys Ellen Pompeo, Katherine Heigl, or Sandra Oh fans?
Ro: None of the above
Kirsten: Sandra Oh?
Kirsten: She's awesome, especially in Sideways
Kirsten: Ellen Pompeo has squinty little eyes
Ro: And her lips
Ro: have gotten bigger
Ro: over the last few seasons
Ro: and her face tighter
Kirsten: Katherine Heigl is incredibly hot, pretty talented, but really annoying
Kirsten: with the feminist bullshit
Neal: She did Knocked Up
Neal: It made her really famous
Neal: and then she condemned it
Ro: She did??
Ro: What did she say?
Kirsten: Yeah, she slagged on it, saying that she was ashamed to be in it because it was antifeminist
Kirsten: and then went on to 27 Dresses
Ro: Oof!
Kirsten: which my mom dragged me to this weekend
Ro: WTF?
Neal: Haha REALLY?
Kirsten: and it is hahrrrrrrrrrrrrrible
Kirsten: I mean, it does have moments, but they have more to do with Judy Greer than the script
Ro: I haven't seen it
Kirsten: Don't bother
Neal: Haha.
Ro: I've heard but still want to watchhh
Neal: HAHAHAHAH.
Kirsten: Wait for it to come to Lifetime and then channel surf while it's on
Ro: K, will do
Ro: Or netflix
Ro: probably netflix
Ro: Oh, I saw a movie: The Spirit of the Marathon
Kirsten: Yeah, what is that?
Ro: It is a documentary
Ro: about 6 people (2 repeat marathoners, 2 first-timers and 2 pro-marathoners)
Ro: all training
Ro: for the chicago marathon
Ro: It was pretty good but I don't think they went into the characters enough
Neal: Does anyone get injured?
Ro: Yeah, during training
Ro: someone does
Kirsten: Of course
Ro: But it did make me want to pound some more miles out
Neal: God. Everyone I know training for that damn thing got injured.
Ro: It's a lot of mileage
Ro: to put on your body
Kirsten: Ugh, I hate running
Ro: I love it now
Ro: I used to hate it
Kirsten: You should only run if you're being chased
Kirsten: It's so dull
Neal: Haha. I dont mind it.
Ro: But it's funny
Ro: Did you know they thought that women
Ro: shouldn't run
Ro: because their uteruses might fall out
Ro: No joke
Neal: Well, thats gross.
Kirsten: I know I have trouble keeping mine in
Kirsten: Slippery little bugger
Ro: HA
Neal: Is that even possible?
Neal: A subtended uterus?
Ro: No, but a subtended VAGINA is
Neal: Thanks, Rohini.
Ro: No problem
Ro: Just telling the truth!
Kirsten: Uteri do fall out though
Kirsten: Usually after labor
Kirsten: In James Herriot, he has to push them back into cows and sheep all the time
Neal: I am really NOT interested in hearing more about this.
Kirsten: Ever seen a degloved penis?
Neal: Does that mean... skinned?
Kirsten: Not just skinned
Kirsten: Still attached
Neal: Stop
Neal: Stop
Neal: Stop
Kirsten: There were pictures in my EMT textbook
Ro: I'll have to look that in a medical book one day
Ro: That's crazy
Neal: You are an EMT? And how does that even happen?
Kirsten: Yeah, although I need to get a move on renewing my license if I'm going to keep it
Neal: Do you get a little rooftop light for your car?
Kirsten: Um, no
Kirsten: I haven't worked as an EMT in a couple years
Neal: Well, that's no fun.
Neal: You need a rooftop light
Kirsten: Sorry, man
Neal: Eh.
Neal: So Ro
Neal: Aren't you all about Biggest Loser or something?
Ro: Yes!
Ro: I love that show
Ro: It's couples this season
Neal: I saw the 1st ep. they were all fighting just to get their fav trainer. Is it like that every season?
Kirsten: Isn't it manipulative and unhealthy?
Kirsten:There are always stories about people who gain it all back because it's not a sustainable diet
Ro: I don't think it's unhealthy
Ro: because they're under the care of personal trainers etc
Kirsten: Yeah, but having weight loss as a competition is kind of innately unhealthy, isn't it?
Kirsten: (An outright competition, I mean; weight loss is always a competition in the real world)
Ro: Not when you weight 450 pounds
Kirsten: But then the focus isn't on getting healthier in the long run, it's how much can you lose in a short period of time, not for your health but so that you can beat someone else
Kirsten: Weighing 450 pounds doesn't make you less emotionally vulnerable
Kirsten: If anything, it makes you more
Ro: Right but it does help get them on the right track
Neal: Well, sometimes you just need the right incentive
Neal: Maybe being on tv in front of millions of people
Neal: is enough
Ro: I think
Ro: the fact that these people are willing to
Ro: get on the show
Ro: means they're willing to lose the weight for themselves
Kirsten: It's not healthy though
Kirsten: It's using a vehicle of shame and punishment/reward
Kirsten: instead of reorganizing your life to maximize your health
Ro: But they help you do that after and during the show
Ro: They give you a trainer after you leave
Neal: Well, they have to keep it up for like a year right?
Neal: It's probably healthier than getting a gastric bypass, and more sustainable
Ro: Yeah, you have to keep it off for like 6 months
Kirsten: Well, people are willing to go on tv for a lot of stupid reasons
Ro: Well this is one of the less stupid reasons in my opinion
Ro: and it helps a lot of other people lose weight because they have the whole online community
Kirsten: They may want to lose weight for themselves, but they give up control over their lives when they go on the show
Kirsten: because someone else dictates their diet and activity
Ro: That's what you do
Ro: when you go to a nutritionist
Ro: or a personal trainer at home
Kirsten: It's hard to sustain that when you have to live your own life afterwards
Neal: Yeah, but isn't that what most weight management programs do?
Neal: Try to teach you good habits?
Ro: Exactly
Kirsten: And a lot of those fail too
Ro: Not if you do it properly
Neal: It takes a few months.
Ro: There's no difference except one you're on tv
Kirsten: Yeah, but being on tv a huge difference
Kirsten: because it's not about what you want for your health anymore, it's about not embarrassing yourself in front of a national audience
Ro: Have you ever lost a large amount of weight?
Kirsten: I don't know what's large
Ro: I'm talking more than 30 pounds
Kirsten: I used to have eating disorders
Ro: Well, eating disorders go both ways right?
Kirsten: I know that you have to be careful about your attitude to food
Kirsten: You can't quit food addictions the way you can quit alcohol
Neal: Especially when you cook as well as Kirsten "the Kitchen"
Neal: ZING!
Ro: Right
Ro: and I think this show helps a lot of people realize that
Kirsten: And if your diet has the consequence of very public embarrassment, it's not really about your health anymore
Kirsten: It's about not screwing up
Ro: But there's no embarrassment
Ro: I don't know where you're getting that from
Ro: Have you ever seen the show?
Kirsten: If not embarrassment, a sense of failure
Kirsten: because you didn't do as well as other people
Kirsten: because you were not "The Biggest Loser"
Ro: They have an expected and healthy percent
Ro: If they don't lose it, yeah, they might get sent home
Ro: but they sign up for that
Ro: and then they have after-shots
Ro: and those people lose just as much weight if not more
Ro: at home
Kirsten: It's setting goals as something to either accomplish or fail at, not making progress towards a greater change
Ro: I see nothing wrong with that
Kirsten: and it reduces something that's really a lifestyle change to a number of pounds
Ro: But they do that!
Ro: They teach them how to eat
Ro: how to work out
Ro: how to be active people
Ro: etc
Ro: Isn't that what you want for someone who lives a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle?
Kirsten: And then they punish them if they don't follow instructions
Ro: They don't punish them
Ro: It's all on them
Ro: to follow the plan
Neal: Well, it sounds like what Kirsten is getting at is maybe they need to focus more on habits
Neal: And less on competition?
Ro: Which they do
Kirsten: It's that, Neal, and also that I think a reality show is a really unhealthy environment for changing your life in such a massive way
Neal: Yeah, well. I think reality tv is a really unhealthy environment to begin with.
Ro: I think the fact that this show
Ro: probably affects more people positively than negatively
Ro: makes up for most of the negative aspects
Ro: No show is perfect
Ro: in its set up
Kirsten: Yeah, but this show draws people in with a purely positive image: we'll help you lose weight
Kirsten: and it's not that simple
Kirsten: There's a lot more to losing a hundred pounds or however much
Neal: But it does help doesn't it?
Kirsten: And it's not that I think the show should change
Kirsten: I just kind of abhor the existence of the show
Kirsten: It may help people in one way
Kirsten: but I think it probably hurts them in a lot of other ways
Kirsten: and also that that one helpful way isn't necessarily permanent
Ro: Yeah, but making it seem easier
Ro: helps more than all of the complicated crap
Kirsten: But it is complicated
Ro: Well, we might have to agree to disagree then
Ro: on this one
Kirsten: Yeah, okay
Neal: Quite the hot topic.
Kirsten: Ooh!
Kirsten: is just in:
Kirsten: The Cutting Edge 3!
Neal: A male ice skater and a female ice hockey player find love?
Kirsten: The cutting edge is one of my all time favorite stupid movies
Neal: Never ever heard of it
Kirsten: Oh my god it's amazing
Kirsten: See, she's a figure skater and he's a hockey player
Kirsten: and they both lose the Olympics
Kirsten: and he's injured, so he can't play hockey anymore
Kirsten: and she's impossible, so she can't find a partner
Kirsten: Whatever will they do?
Neal: This seems to be a theme then? Skater + hockey player?
Kirsten: Yes
Kirsten: The second one sucked, predictably, in ways that the first one did not
Kirsten: I mean, the first one is not an Oscar winning or anything, but it's so lovably cheesy
Neal: What about that movie with Michelle Trachtenberg or whatever?
Kirsten: No, that's Ice Princess
Kirsten: Also awesome
Ro: Isn't that like Ice Castles?
Kirsten: I haven't seen Ice Castles
Ro: The blind girl?
Kirsten: Blind girl?
Neal: No. Ice Princess, Michelle Trachtenberg is some nerdy D who wants to skate and so Kim Cattrall owns a ice rink and helps her learn to skate well or something.
Kirsten: Ice Princess is when Michelle Trachtenberg uses math to win at skating
Neal: and then she hooks up with Cattralls kid.
Kirsten: Yes
Ro: Ahh gotcha
Neal: Oh, and Kim Cattrall's daughter wants to be good at math
Kirsten: Ice Castles has blind ice skating?
Ro: Yeah, in Ice Castles
Ro: this girl is in an accident
Ro: and was an ice skater
Kirsten: Is it like Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, another fave?
Ro: Yeah
Ro: This girl is blind ends up learning to skate blind
Ro: and then her and her new partner
Ro: win some competition
Kirsten: I must see it
Ro: Yeah it's good
Ro: I liked it
Ro: Totally cheesy
Ro: but you know
Kirsten: I love those movies
Ro: K, I gotta hit the sheets, guys
Kirsten: Alright
Neal: Psh
Neal: You east coasters.
Ro: Yah, and oldies :-)
Ro: K, goooodnight guys
Neal: Peace.
Ro: Later Audioshockers. It's been real!
Ro has left the room.
Neal: Well as abrupt as that was, I suppose its a decent ending point.
Neal: AudioShocker AIMcast #1 - hope you enjoyed it. Thanks so much to Ro and Kirsten for joining us this week. We hope you liked our first AIMcast! Leave a comment and let us know if you want more.