Inappropriate Conversations

TalkBack: Walk The Earth 6

Ignoring the spiritual gifts of women is a mistake I do not tolerate. While this wasn't foremost in our minds when my family left one congregation, and denomination, to find a new church home. As this early Walk The Earth episode documents, it quickly became impossible to ignore -- sometimes from first impressions, but often from more lasting ones. 

 

http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/walk-the-earth-6/

 

TalkBack13: Companionship Marriage

Finding things to be thankful for will be a challenge for many in 2020. It has been a difficult year. An argument can be made that the trend over several years has been challenging. This TalkBack episode returns to the first May of Inappropriate Conversation, including what I am most thankful for.

Authorial Intent (A Neosurrealist Revising a Will from His Death Bed)

 

http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/13-companionship-marriage/

 

TalkBack 55: A Better Way to Debate

I never took a class in debate or participated in a club when I was in school. I've also never seen it as some sort of sport. To me, matters worth debating should be taken more seriously than that, and we ought to commit to higher standards than anything we've seen on television in decades. I'm not only referring to the presidential election cycle. No, my complaint covers punditry today in its entirety. 

Introductory material includes perspectives on this and the previous presidential election, recorded on the official election day in 2020 with important references to past Inappropriate Conversations podcasts.

http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/55-a-better-way-to-debate/

 

http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/190-dear-family-member/

http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/195-telling-your-stories-before-its-too-late/

http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/24-elections-are-not-horse-races/

 

TalkBack 152: Anticipating The Bang

We have become so accustomed to the twist ending that some film critics seem to dismiss films from recommendation for no other reason. I consider this a "sixth sense" effect, referring to M. Night Shyamalan. Done properly, though, stories of this sort can deliver two good movies, even great ones, from different genre within the same film. This Halloween-themed episode from 2014 celebrates one of the best. 

Introductory material encourages voting in 2020, even from registered voters who despair for one reason or another. 
Vote, perhaps as the ultimate patriotic act of defiance to some who seem obsessed with stopping people from participating in the 2020 election. 
Vote, even if you believe you already know how your state will lean in the presidential election. It may matter more than just the tally itself.

 

http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/152-anticipating-the-bang/

 

TalkBack 103: The Thriller Is Gone

I grew up in the Central Time Zone in the United States. The late news was at 10 p.m. On Friday nights, one of the local stations would start a movie at 10:30, and it was often quite thrilling to a kid my age. Some themes were supernatural, others science fiction. Endings weren't always as happy as the Disney and Pink Panther movies my parents preferred for a family outing to the cinema. Halloween in particular was peak season for this "late night" Friday movie of the week. 

Cases in point:

A Cold Night's Death
Carnival of Souls
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Sherlock Holmes and The Scarlet Claw
The Other (1972)
Asylum (Amicus)
The House that Dripped Blood
Trilogy of Terror

 

TalkBack 42: Made For TV Program Direction

When Inappropriate Conversations #42 was released in January 2011, I named it "The Morning After for Classic Made-For-TV Movies" and that title still works based on the flow of the show. I wanted this TalkBack episode to also note a relatively recent Facebook venture, a public group called Made For TV Program Direction. The idea is to accumulate what will be a long list of citations, nostalgic memories of past television program -- some seemingly forgotten. Feel free to join in if this podcast memory strikes some other memories.

 

http://www.inappropriateconversations.org/e/42-the-morning-after-for-classic-made-for-tv-movies/

 

TalkBack: Walk The Earth 5

I'm probably less sure now than I was 7 years ago about whether the Sunday School hour in most Christian churches is the best type of small group. It was the type I was most familiar with then. Now, I'd say the main requirement isn't location or time of meeting, but the ability to speak very freely about a challenging range of topics. Today, that range would include double-standards and miscarriages of justice from the halls of Congress to local district attorneys offices. Any small group that cannot handle conversations like that fails to achieve its mission. And any notion that conversations like that have no place within the church fundamentally misrepresents what "church" should be.