Friday « Kenny Smith | A few words | Inventing typos since 2003

Friday

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16
Mar 18

No wendigos allowed

Here is today’s podcast. And if you’re hungry before you listen, we’ll either solve that problem or give you some ideas. It seems there’s a new kind of meat that may be making its way into your grocery shopping list. I doubt, very seriously, that it will happen, but it is fun to contemplate, as you will soon see.

I went for a run after work, sneaking in a quick four miles around the neighborhood before our dinner with friends. And I told them about this episode. Everyone agrees it is an unusual one, even the guy sitting at the table next to us.

We were at an upscale fancy kind of place, our friend who suggested it promised the best burgers in town. And that’s always one of those things you should follow up on. Because it would be a shame to not know where the best burger in town is, first of all. Plus, the previously nominated best burger in town was merely pretty decent. There was nothing wrong with it, but we went the one time and haven’t been back in 15 months, for whatever reason.

But this place, maybe we’d go back. The burgers were certainly good, if a bit overpriced. But you’re paying, you see, for the pleasure of sitting quite close to the next table over. And those people are paying for that same privilege. So it only seemed right that I should talk about recording a podcast where we discussed what is called clean human meat.

The guy at the next table was a little put off by this. Probably because I was talking about it. Definitely because I was talking about it with a little volume. Hey, these podcasts don’t publicize themselves, you know.

Anyway, we probably stayed at that places for about three hours, on the strength of burgers and fish. And everyone had a lovely meal and time. Our dinner dates work in the library and the art museum, so they have plenty of interesting things to tell us about. And we decided in the course of all of that that there are movies we all haven’t seen, but should.

How do you know which movies those are? It seems like we’d all need the input of someone else on this. But who knows all of the movies you’ve seen? No one, really. So it is down to self reporting. And so we decided on a methodology — because this is what you do on a Friday night in a college town. After much debate and thought, we figured we would self-nominate five films each from the Oscar nominated Best Screenplay and Best Film categories dating back to 1980. So you have to go over those and find five movies per. Mine were:

Her
Grand Budapest Hotel
Lady Bird
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
The Savages

Elizabeth
In The Bedroom
The Theory of Everything
Get Out
The Post

Next, someone is going to gather all of those in a spreadsheet and we’re going to start watching the common overlaps. There will be popcorn and merriment and, I’m sure, endless critiques.

There will be no human meat.

Happy weekend!

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Friday / podcast — Comments Off
9
Mar 18

Jokes, we got them

I’m thinking that there should be a regular humorous installment of this show. So we’re going to be experimenting with some things on Fridays. And here’s the first one now. It’s a basic thing still, really, but the process is organic … like we’re growing something.

They’re stealing plants!

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2
Mar 18

On the road again

On the podcast I talked with Ken Booth, a man who used to be my boss a few jobs ago. I have always enjoyed chewing the fat with him. He’s a clever and well-read person, so it was only a matter of time before he was on the show. Also he let me work for him for four-and-a-half years, so he’s clearly very smart.

Actually, he took a chance on me. I was leaving broadcasting and he was running what was then a news site that was something between a startup and a mainstay. They were making money and hiring and I was a journalist who could code a little and do some other things and we found ways to make it work and it became one of those things that led to other things and turned out to be pretty important, that job and the things I did and learned there. So I was clearly very smart to take the job.

And now here we are today, about 14 years since he hired me and nine-and-a-half years since I left — it seems like two lifetimes ago – talking about the success of the young craft brewing industry:

Also, most of today was spent in the car. Allie came along. She’s a great traveler, but we think she might not like the leather interior of my car. She spent most of the trip in the floorboard:

We drove for about seven hours — which is about four more hours than anyone should ever be in a car, but the cat was fine — and finally made it through a land where they now advertise on buses:

And now we have arrived, for a quick family trip and a birthday and more time in the car. And that’s the weekend. How’s your weekend shaping up?

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23
Feb 18

Then the Men in Black moved to the Bermuda Triangle

There was text here, but “they” removed it. It must be part of a larger conspiracy, which was the subject of today’s episode of the podcast. My former boss and longtime friend, Ken Booth, joined me to talk about conspiracy theories. No tinfoil hats are necessary here, but do keep an eye out for black helicopters.

And if you still haven’t been abducted by UFOs being flown by Bigfoot, go check out Ken’s projects. He’s the co-founder of Shorpy.com, which is full of historical photos and fine prints, and of Vintagraph.com, which h as loads of great posters. We have a couple at the house; they’re high quality.

Ken hired me a lifetime ago, when I was getting out of broadcasting. He was the editor at al.com and I worked for him as a producer for four-and-a-half years. I was always appreciative that he took me on. I learned a lot, and I was able to to be helpful to the project. We did some great stuff there, some incredibly important hurricane work and of course sports and I managed to work in some political coverage and some new storytelling features. And then I left, and he eventually moved on as well. They’ve done some other great things there since then, but it started with Ken, and those early sales and design and editorial teams. My time there served me well for what was to come later.

If it sounds like a grand scheme, it probably is.

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16
Feb 18

Sometimes Friday is just another Thursday

I can’t tell you what this is. If I told you what this is, as the spy movie joke-cliche goes, I’d have to kill you.

Which is, of course, ludicrous. If I told you what that is I would only have to take out a reduction of your salary, powers of the purse being very humbling things, of course.

Which is also rather silly. Oh, alright, it’s a remote control. You’d only guess it from the left and right, forward and back buttons. And maybe from the peeling label, which is no longer accurate. One presumes it once was a remote that lived in some room labeled 207. Why, in the new building (which is 111-years old, mind you) there isn’t even a room numbered 207. We have a 206 and a 208. And across the hall there’s a 206A and a 209, but no 207. It sounds very Harry Potteresque, I know.

Also, I’ve never seen the door to 206A opened. No idea what’s inside. Maybe that’s where they keep all of the extra remotes. Maybe it is is a closely guarded state secret.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be at work, because we’re doing a Saturday event for incoming students and it will be my job to stand around and point and occasionally talk to people or plug things in when there is a need for plugging in things. I will also hand this remote and a microphone to various people. It is decidedly less Potteresque, I know.

Today on the podcast, Carley Lanich, the editor-in-chief of the campus paper, joined me once more to talk about an investigative series being produced by The Indianapolis Star.

Lanich is a very recent winner of a Hearst Award. She won a $1,500 scholarship for her investigative story that examined the university’s sexual assault investigation process. Her’s was a four-parter, and it is was an impressive thing, year-long thing. She’s a sharp young woman on her way to big things, no doubt, and I’m always glad when she comes on my little program.

Anyway, off to your weekend. Mine starts sometime tomorrow afternoon. I hear they store them in Room 207.