Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com* Wait, Lizzo wants that dancer to eat a banana from where? We look at the lawsuit filed against Lizzo by three dancers that includes many wild details, but Sarah is suspicious of that “fat-shaming” accusation * How did Jim Larkin and Mike Lacey, two alt-journalism pioneers and heroes, get smeared by government lawyers as “child sex traffickers” and have their assets, their reputations and their freedom taken from them? We talk about the fight over Backpage.com, and the tragedy this week of Larkin’s suicide * Why alternative newsweeklies matter(ed?)* Joe Biden finally acknowledges his seventh grandchild (sigh of relief)* Nancy’s got a new nickname* Sarah’s finds a narrative podcast fix* The sweetness of the county fair (and piglet races!)Don’t forget: FIRST SUNDAY ZOOM this Sunday, August 6, 8pm ET / 5pm PT, for paid subscribers. Come hang! We’ll send out a link on the day-of.Nancy ate six zeppole at the Ulster County Fair yesterday. Become a paid subscriber and she’ll double that!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com“They tried to bury me,” Sinead O’Connor said in the 2022 documentary about her, Nothing Compares. “They didn’t realize I was a seed.” We look back at the life and legacy of Sinead O’Connor, who died this week at the age of 56. Sinead was a firebrand onstage, but her 2021 memoir Rememberings reveals her to be funny and unpretentious and not very interested in fame. She was a protest singer cast in the role of pop star. Topics discussed:* Ghosts in the piano, writing songs to the rhythm of a rocking chair* Why do some children of abuse mourn their parents so deeply?* That time she shaved her head* A bizarre anecdote about Prince, who wrote “Nothing Compares 2 U”* How she managed to sneak the Pope moment onto “SNL”* Four children with four different fathers* Morrissey gets the last word* Pivot to Israel: What is going on? * Kevin Spacey exonerated, but huh, there’s a pattern here* Graphic novels are cool

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comWe Barbenheimer-ed! And we weren’t the only ones: Sarah found a 20-minute concession line in Dallas, the loo in NYC was out of toilet paper, and the two films took in more than $500 million globally. Still, would America have cared as much had the cinematic landscape not been so scorched-earth? Would Oppenheimer have been better as a mini-series? Did a Ken doll get more screen time than all the women in Oppenheimer’s life combined? We ponder these questions, as well as:* That time Tony Bennett wrote a hate letter to Sarah in the New York Times* Nancy has “guy-dar”* The Oppenheimer supporting actor who captivated Nancy* The problem with biopics* Which is scarier: the atom bomb or AI? * How seriously should we take the gender politics of Barbie? * How great is Ryan Gosling?* Did one of us cry during Barbie? Hold on, did both of us?* X marks the Twitter?* The Eddie Murphy sketch that Nancy swears she’s never seen (but how?)* The WWII book that made a bigger impact on Sarah than OppenheimerWhat’s cheaper than a movie with much shorter lines? Becoming a paid subscriber!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comOn the docket this week: * Nancy has crisis-of-masculinity fatigue* Jonah Hill and what do people expect from posting private encounters* Lost Girls, the Gilgo Beach serial killer, (not) understanding sadism* The unlikely origin story of Barbie* Is Barbie “everything the feminist movement was trying to escape from,” as Gloria Steinem said, or is she actually a feminist success story? * The question of Ken’s bulge* Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach take on Barbie, because why not?* George Michael, rats, and a new book Nancy cannot tear herself away from* Don’t sleep on a new Smoke ‘Em interview series, which launched on Wednesday with Sophie Scott, professor of cognitive neuroscience and author of the new book, The Brain: 10 Things You Should Know, which in addition to being brilliant, is a sexy little size that fits in your purse* Plus, since “Choose Your Own Adventure” comes up several times in this episode, Nancy thought she’d show you hers:Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comNancy here. Among the things I learned reading Sophie Scott’s fabulous, super-smart and sexy new book, The Brain: 10 Things You Should Know: The brain itself has no feeling, I could be poking your exposed brain with my fingers (though I wouldn’t!… I don’t think) and you’d be like, “Pass the salt, please.” That everything we experience is the brain’s best guess at what is out there. And that while your body constantly renews itself - the lining of your gut in 2 - 4 days; all your red blood cells in 40 - there is one and only one body part you keep from birth to death."I am also interested in the expression of emotion in the voice, especially laughter,” writes Scott, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and director of the Institute for Cognitive at Neuroscience at University College in London, who joins me to talk about: * “The good glue” that is laughter* Why left-handed people pay attention to the world differently* “Synaptic exuberance,” or humans’ terrific inventiveness and flexibility in adapting to different environments, all of which relies on our brains’ ability to change* The endorphin rush that made Scott fall backwards into a bath while attempting to take off her coat* The reason my brain once created the sound of a hard hat striking cementAnd much more! Intro/outro music: “Sleeper Awake” by Kelly Hogan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comIn this week’s episode:* Nancy’s pro tips on trying to stitch herself* The TikTok lady on the plane who claimed “that m***erfucker isn’t real” prompts a talk on the dangers of mixing Ambien and alcohol, the nature of religion, and what technology is doing to our sense of reality* The New Yorker’s story on penis enlargement surgery makes Nancy yelp* The REAL reason men want larger penises is…* What is tetanus anyway?* Nancy makes squoogy food sounds while talking about The Bear* Sarah has a new reality show addictionAnd much more!

The hosts behind the podcasts The Unspeakable and Smoke ‘Em were just sitting around being all heterodoxy when lo! The call came from the newly formed University of Austin: Want to come to Dallas to discuss the current state of media, whether feminism has impacted the desire to raise children, how we treat the work of artists whose behaviors we don’t agree with, and to answer student questions along the lines of, for instance, how are you a “feminine woman”? Yes please!And so Meghan Daum, Sarah, and Nancy took the stage last Thursday at Old Parkland, an eye-popping and glorious campus founded in 1984 and now owned by real estate billionaire Harlan Crow (yes, that Harlan Crow). The conversation was hosted by the Mill Institute, an initiative that works in “educational settings to explore and challenge the entrenched thinking that leads to a breakdown of conversation on contentious issues.” Our moderator was Ilana Redstone, the faculty director of the Mill Institute and associate professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. See if you can guess which one of us remembered to take pictures!No paywall because we love you AND because we trust you to become a paid subscriber right… now!Nancy here. It was 15 minutes before sound check when my daughter and I decided to scoot around Old Parkland for a few minutes. I mean, the place is crazy gorgeous, very grand, we get a few steps out of the building and …“Is that a bar?” my daughter asks. It is, right there on campus and a stone’s throw from where we will be speaking, and I mean, we do have 15 minutes.It’s a Negroni for Tavie, a glass of rose for me, which we might have had plenty of time to sip but for the bartender, a guy who had many many stories to tell before making the drinks. Which was fine! He was entertaining and sweet and very funny, and if I had to lay money, I’d say he might also do stand-up (or should). As he went finally to grab the drinks, Tavie looked at who was at the bar with us, maybe 15 people, all dudes, in button-down shirts but not fancy.“These guys are probably younger than me,” said Tavie, who is 33. Maybe so. Also, we were definitely not in Fort Greene. “I like preppy guys,” she said. Me too.We brought our cocktails with us for sound check. The camera guy told me I better keep my legs crossed, because the way the cameras were positioned, below the stage, made it, um …“It is kind of Sharon Stone,” said Sarah, referring to the then-scandalous scene in Basic Instinct, and you know what? She was right!Anyway, Stone is not the beautiful girl I referred to above. That would be my girl. Thanks for subscribing! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comNancy reports from storm-strewn Tulsa while Sarah reports from the future, where they discuss:* The worst storm in Tulsa since 2007, not that the news is covering it* Sarah has a new boyfriend, and he is exactly one day old* The predictive genius of the movie Her* Is it cheating if you’re fooling around with an AI?* Do we have to tell our partners everything?* The future where Siri becomes personalized, and we all get AI assistants* The difference between “falling in love” and “being in love”* A new season of The Bear is coming* Is Nancy’s Native American accent offensive?* Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian* Black Mirror is back, baby!* UATX event with Nancy, Sarah, and Meghan Daum

Good morning from the Delta Lounge at LaGuardia airport. Got here from the pad in Chinatown and through security (thanks, Clear!) in 25 minutes, a record. En route to Oklahoma, where this happened yesterday. Also in Texas, where I’ll be headed Monday or Tuesday, and eventually on Thursday to Dallas, for an on-stage event with the University of Austin (yes in Dallas, though apparently there are more local digs in the works) with Hepola and Meghan Daum. The event is for students-only but UATX is growing - check them out.I interrupt the usual Pie Talk by reading an essay as, alas, I have not been making much pie or anything else, the only thing in my refrigerator are condiments and Diet Coke and maybe a half-bottle of wine. At least Cameron Diaz’s has some salad…So I mention in the episode a short book/manual/pdf thingie written by two genre authors about 15 years ago, about the ways and whys of self-publishing. I thought it was called “Be the Monkey,” and maybe it is, but alas, I cannot find it. What I can find are oodles of other books about self-publishing as it’s gone so mainstream and become for many so lucrative. I mean, hello Colleen Hoover, who knows the trick to success (and practices it better than any of us) is to write write write; there lies the radiance.I did yesterday, over on Make More Pie, and the response has been gratifying. It’s the piece I read for you here. Go ahead and subscribe over there if you have not already, and thank you.Onto the deliciousness! Do try this one, which is just in time for zucchini season, which lasts at least a week (though it won’t) and, I am told, freezes beautifully.Must-Try, Super-Moist Zucchini Bread from Alexandra’s Kitchen* Scant 2 cups (227 g) flour * ¾ teaspoon baking powder* ¾ teaspoon baking soda* 1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional* 1 teaspoon kosher salt* 1 cup light (213 g) brown sugar* ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar* ¾ cup vegetable oil* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional* 2 eggs, lightly beaten* 2½ cups grated zucchini (12–16 oz.)* Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 8.5 x 4.5-inch loaf pan or a 10 x 5-inch loaf pan if using as much as a pound of zucchini (see notes above). For easy removal, line the pan with a sheet of parchment paper that hangs over the edges. * Whisk together first five ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk remaining ingredients except zucchini. Add zucchini to the flour mixture and toss to coat. Add dry to wet and stir till until combined. Pour into pan. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should register 205ºF or above. (Note: Every oven is different, and different pans conduct heat differently —  be patient with the cooking. It may take 20-30 minutes more. With the longer cooking time, the bread shouldn’t burn, but if you are noticing the bread getting too brown, cover it with foil.)* Let bread cool for 15 minutes in pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. She also offers a step-by step video! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comThis week, we tackle:* Elizabeth Gilbert’s para-social relationship with her fans* Victimhood as status, online campaigns as feel-good mirage* Will Sarah defend Elizabeth Gilbert? Yes, she will.* Our Moderate MILF watched “The Idol,” and she has thoughts!* Is HBO’s new show a critique of our hyper-sexualized world, or a victim of it?* Which Britney Spears was the hottest Britney Spears? * Tom Wolfe gives a wedgie to the world* The greatness that is Rick Rubin