Satellite Haiku

We share some things we especially enjoyed in 2024—music, shows, books, and more. There are many more things we could have mentioned, but we digress as we do.Mentioned in this episode…Music* Jon Batiste * Snow Raven* Utah (Spotify link)Television* Shrinking (Apple TV+)* Reservation Dogs (FX)* Severance (Apple TV+)* Pachinko (Apple TV+)Books* Saving Time (Jenny Odell)* Oliver Sacks* My Stroke of Insight (Jill Bolte Taylor)Tech* Apple M-Series Macbook Pro This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit satellitehaiku.substack.com

Memories of MiLo’s old family tradition of dancing around the Christmas tree sends us down weird side road into horror movies and the uniquely Japanese ability to find comedy in gore. Then we spend most of the episode discussing various perils and pleasures of city life, both physical and psychological. We each remember our experiences adjusting to life in NYC and talk about differences between east coast urban centers and the western cities we now call home.Mentioned in this episode:MiLo’s Odhner ancestry (the name originally referring to certain followers of Odin)Midsommar (2019 horror film starring Florence Pugh)Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (2009 horror film, featuring Nae Yuuki)2LDK (2003) A Japanese film originally released as one of a pair of entries for something called the “duel project,” where the film’s director Yukihiko Tsutsumi and another Japanese filmmaker, Ryuhei Kitamura, were challenged to use the following template: feature-length film, set in one location with two characters, featuring a duel to the death, shot in a week or less. The two films were then screened as a “duel” where audiences voted for one winner.Oldboy (2003 Korean dark comedy)Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986 horror / dark comedy)Louis CK: “Homeless Guy” — This hasn’t aged super well and is a little hard to listen to, but the payoff, including how he incorporates the audience response, is worth it IMO.Jesus goes ‘Voldemort’ on a fig tree: The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it…When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered! (Mark 11:12-14, 19-21) Paolo Soleri, founder of Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti and his book on the idea of a “Lean, Linear City”FORM (music festival)SFCASA — nonprofit that works with foster youth in the SF Bay AreaDutch photographer Hans Eijkelboom who has, through countless photos taken over decades, documented how we all dress alike: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit satellitehaiku.substack.com

Note: Shawn had some technical issues with his sound on this one. Apologies for the subpar audio.Post-Thanksgiving, we weigh in on the pie vs cake question and veer into tales of pudding skin and lumpy oatmeal. Then we dive into a long chat about parenting. From the “mission accomplished” end of the parenting journey, Milo offers a perspective on the recipe for his girls’ success. Shawn, still in the thick of it with grade-school-age kids, shares a personal mantra that has helped him as a dad and with life in general. We dig into nature vs nurture, tackle picky eating, discipline, the importance of seeing your kids as actual people, and being present and curious and interested in who they are.Mentioned in this episode* Nature vs nurture studies using identical twins* The Accidental Twins (Netflix)* Parenting without Power Struggles, by Susan Stiffelman, MFT* Waldorf School Principles This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit satellitehaiku.substack.com

We recognize that we are a stereotype—two white dudes with a podcast—and we talk about dealing with the critical and dissenting voices in our heads. And in the tradition of the holiday, we share what we are grateful for and tell some stories about our families. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit satellitehaiku.substack.com

We recap the phases of our friendship, from the time we met in kindergarten, then when we reunited (and wrote folk songs together) in high school, and roomed together in NYC. Eventually we deep dive into questions about AI—is it like a brush, a tool for artists? Will it give rise to a creative revolution like photography did with painting? Will it destroy the market for artists’ work? What kinds of jobs are safe? Somewhere in there we ponder what it means to be an artist and what defines art.Mentioned in this episode…* The Onion bought Infowars LOL* Amusing Ourselves to Death (Neil Postman)* Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art - Ted Chiang in the New Yorker* The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894* John Baldessari - Influential artist who enlisted his students to be his ‘paintbrush’* Tristan Harris (featured in the documentary, The Social Dilemma) and his sometime collaborator, Daniel Schmachtenberger, who writes on “sensemaking” and lots of other stuff. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit satellitehaiku.substack.com

Welcome to the second episode of Satellite Haiku. We plan to put out a new episode roughly every week, covering a wide range of topics. In this episode we discuss the multiple causes of the national epidemic of loneliness: from early mobile phones, the rise of smart phones, social media channels and addictive algorithms, geographic mobility, the Covid pandemic and zoom kindergarten. We look at how living in a world where a firehose of content is always in one's pocket—and at one's fingertips—necessitates a pivot to a reductionist mindset, where building a set of mental filters is required to protect our primitive brain functions. Also mentioned in this episode...* Laika the dog, the band (Spotify)* Shōgun 2024 limited series This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit satellitehaiku.substack.com

Is this thing on? Welcome to the first episode of our podcast, Satellite Haiku! Please pardon some hiccups while we figure this out. Like, we forgot to actually introduce ourselves (that’s Shawn talking first. Milo is the other). We plan to put out a new episode roughly every week, covering a wide range of topics. This episode is political for obvious reasons, and they won’t always be like that.Milo and Shawn discuss the election results, trying (but not completely succeeding) to avoid offering a diagnosis or postmortem. Milo comes with the perspective of a union member who spent many hours knocking on doors to get out the union vote for Harris. Both friends reflect on ways they still feel hopeful and how to start bracing ourselves (and preparing) for dark days that will come.One topic mentioned was the possibility of mass deportations, and how it might make sense to reach out to organizations that advocate for immigrants. SIREN is one that does good work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit satellitehaiku.substack.com