It was my turn to choose topics so I decided that we’d talk about spirit animals, animal-human hybrids, animal-animal hybrids, guides through the spirit world, King Tut’s D in a jar, my dad’s music career, the ancient Egyptian practice of putting earring on Crocodiles and bringing them to parties, sexy cat girls with and without tails, the Muppets, Prince Rupert’s dog, Tigra, Manimal, Beastmaster, James Earl Jones’ character from Conan the Barbarian, Sobek, Horus & Felicia. We discuss some other things also but you’ll have to listen to find out what they are. If you listen but don’t comment, you’re in the doghouse.

I took the quality down a bit to get the file smaller, let me know how it sounds.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

At long last, A Very Serious Conversation addresses the important issue of how to bewitch your beau, to beguile your best guy, to gently entrance your gentleman escort.

Should you be like “one of the dudes”? Should you make him pay for everything? Should you “give it up” on the first date? What effects will Love Potion #9 have on him? Should you play jealousy games? Should you read books, or at least pretend to? What do the rapper Ludacris or Cosmopolitan magazine have to say on the matter? (more…)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This episode of A Very Serious Conversation is kind of a hodgepodge of ideas thrown this way and that without much rhythm or rhyme to it. I’m not even sure what the original intended topic was. We start with a discussion of author Michael Pollan (I just read his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma), touching upon my vegetarianism and Phil’s non-TV-ownershipism. We talk about the rubber ducky that Phil wishes he had.

About halfway through the conversation, our friend and recurring guest Jason joins in, as we recall some of the things we used to see as kids that we don’t see anymore, and how we’re dumber than we used to be. I tell a story about when I held a baby white tiger while in Denver, and Phil tells the story of the time he got stranded in that same city. Jason outdoes both of us with his story of flying the Goodyear blimp. (more…)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nick has a giant stack of G.I. Joe File Cards that he cut from the backs of action figure packages when he was a kid in the Eighties. Jake thought it would be fun to read through the cards, talk about whatever comes up and record those conversations for a series of short-length podcasts. G.I. Joe provides the framework each episode, but a variety of topics spring forth.

In this episode Nick, Jake and Pete discuss Roadblock (Mark II).

If you want to read along, click on the File Card to see it bigger.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In celebration of veryserious.org’s newest category– and to tickle Phil’s fancy– this episode of A Very Serious Conversation is about Beetle Bailey, Garfield, Doonesbury and the like. That’s right: newspaper comic strips.

We start by reviewing the origins of the comic strip, tracing its predecessors as far back at the ancient Egypt. On the voyage through the history of sequential art we makes stops at significant signposts like the Bayeux Tapestry and the works of William Hogarth (illustrator of– amongst other things– the inaugural Very Serious Picture). Our discussion of the early days of newspaper funnies includes the Katzenjammer Kids, Mutt & Jeff, Hogan’s Alley (the Yellow Kid’s home) and Little Nemo in Slumberland.* (more…)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

For this episode of A Very Serious Conversation, Phil hoped to talk mainly about the song “Air Force Ones” by Nelly. Before he can even bring up the subject, I insist we first address the term (and phenomenon) known as “pod-fading” and the Nineties sitcom Martin. He eventually manages to get the conversation moving in his preferred direction, but it’s not long before I’m digressing to such topics as Obama’s reference to Lil’ Wayne and the billboard ban in São Paulo. (more…)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Phil and I grew up reading comic books, and we still read them today. We go to the comic store on a weekly basis, listen to podcasts about comic books, and read comic book blogs. If it’s just the two of us, chances are we’re talking about comic books. We usually manage to keep too much comics-talk out of A Very Serious Conversation, but if you’re a regular listener you’ve probably heard us make a comic book reference every so often.

This episode is all-comics. If you don’t know (or care) much about comics, don’t let that frighten you. You won’t get too confused, because we make an effort to explain everything we refer to. You won’t get too bored, because what we’re talking about isn’t so much what happens in comics as it is how they apply to our lives. The discussion is framed around a list of lessons we learned from a life of reading them, including: (more…)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nick has a giant stack of G.I. Joe File Cards that he cut from the backs of action figure packages when he was a kid in the Eighties. Jake thought it would be fun to read through the cards, talk about whatever comes up and record those conversations for a series of short-length podcasts. G.I. Joe provides the framework each episode, but a variety of topics spring forth.

In this episode Nick, Jake and Pete discuss Shipwreck.

If you want to read along, click on the File Card to see it bigger.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nick has a giant stack of G.I. Joe File Cards that he cut from the backs of action figure packages when he was a kid in the Eighties. Jake thought it would be fun to read through the cards, talk about whatever comes up and record those conversations for a series of short-length podcasts. G.I. Joe provides the framework each episode, but a variety of topics spring forth.

In this episode Nick, Jake and Pete discuss Beach Head.

If you want to read along, click on the File Card to see it bigger.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of A Very Serious Conversation, Phil and I enumerate the things that some of us at Very Serious wish were real. These range from words wisdom and patriotic parables to lessons learned from TV ads, from super powers and mystical objects to hip-hop sex supplements and porn performances, from Mary Poppins to– surprise, surprise– Jessica Rabbit.

Along the way, we discuss Phil’s regret for not joining the Navy (where he could have learned about “rat kings”), our experiences dealing with bullies, my powers of telepathy, the big ideas behind the X-Men, and much more. I also reveal a detail or two of the my Mary Poppins/Jessica Rabbit team-up idea.

Questions that arise during the conversation include:
- Is a college education really as valuable as they say it is?
- Why is prostitution illegal, while pornography isn’t?
- How exactly does a bag of holding work (and what happens if you put a portable hole inside it, or vice versa)?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nick has a giant stack of G.I. Joe File Cards that he cut from the backs of action figure packages when he was a kid in the Eighties. Jake thought it would be fun to read through the cards, talk about whatever comes up and record those conversations for a series of short-length podcasts. G.I. Joe provides the framework each episode, but a variety of topics spring forth.

In this episode Nick, Jake and Pete discuss Buzzer.

If you want to read along, click on the File Card to see it bigger.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of A Very Serious Conversation, Phil and I return to the recurring theme of  “something about which we know, with the word ’sexy’ inserted before it.”  We both have college degrees in history, so “Sexy History” came naturally. It starts at the beginning of (sexy) life on (sexy) earth and proceeds from there through a sampling of the sexiest people, places and things of all time.

Eve– the original sexy person– comes first, bringing along all the sexy cave-people that were her contemporaries (I know… that doesn’t make sense to me, either). As we discuss whether ancient fertility-goddess statues were used for masturbation, our friend Jon briefly joins the conversation. We move from there to sexy Greeks, such as Helen of Troy and Sappho of Lesbos.

Cleopatra probably gets the most attention of anyone in the podcast. If you frequently wonder “What did Cleopatra look like?” then this is the thing for you. We review contemporary images and descriptions of her, as well as portrayals of her in modern times (Elizabeth Taylor in the film Cleopatra; Lyndsey Marshal in the HBO series Rome). Next is sexy Roman emperor Caligula, which quickly leads to Penthouse Magazine (the publisher of which produced the 1979 Caligula movie), which in turn leads to finding hardcore stuff in your friend’s dad’s porn stash. We also talk about the thing Caligula did with a horse. (more…)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download