Virtue in the Wasteland Podcast

We list great classical, early modern, and modern books and why they are worth reading.  

Direct download: ViW39_Great_Books.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am PDT

Art prof Rachel Hays raps with Dan and Jeff about art, its history, and why Jeff is wrong to dig Banksy so much.  

Direct download: ViW38_Embroidery_Faith_Banksy_Whatever.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am PDT

Veteran journalist, author of a new book on the Vietnam War,  Triumph of the Absurd: A Reporter's Love for The Abandoned People of Vietnam shares a story from his travels, and explains how unethical journalism failed the people of Vietnam.

Direct download: ViW37b_Rethinking_Vietnam.mp3
Category:Bonus B-Side -- posted at: 5:00am PDT

We discuss holidays associated with American immigrant communities and ask whether they might be culturally inappropriate. Joe Laughon joins us once again.  We discuss Public Enemy's "By the Time I Get To Arizona" video, St. Patrick's Day, and Cinco De Mayo.  

Direct download: ViW37_Racist_Holidays.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am PDT

Dan and Jeff start by a list of regrets, clarifications and retractions from prior shows. Then they talk about MBTI (Meyers Briggs) profiles and what celebrities share them.  Finally they answer listener questions.  We talk Lana Del Ray, Putin, the Big Lebowski, nihilism, and narcissism.

Direct download: ViW36_You_Asked_for_It.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

On this, our 50th episode (enter fanfare) we discuss the nature of sanity and insanity. Wait, before you think that this is a highfalutin' philosophical show (well, it does have some philosophy) we came to this show by way of a question we asked ourselves: who is the sanest person we know?
This lead us down a rabbit hole for a week as we tried to put together a composite of the "sanest person" we know. Perhaps, sanity is illusive. Perhaps we are all insane. Or, like most things... it's complicated and we're not quite sure. But, join us as we discuss Dan's adventure with his two boys and missing cat, Jeff's new bike, and we think out loud through the thought of G.K. Chesterton, Soren Kierkegaard and others. We play some Old 97's and Beastie Boys and get around to making a little more sense of the world, our collective selves, and what it means to be sane.  The closing song is a cover of "Crazy Train" by the Denver country band The Railbenders.

Direct download: ViW35_Are_You_Insane_.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am PDT

1