Out now
Mid-faith Crisis 356: No, you can’t get an Amen
New year, new podcast. But same old us, sadly. Anyway, good to be back with you. This week we visit some old emails and talk about the ‘right’ way to grieve, how names for God are a bit like old streets, and why Jesus might be a dance teacher. Normal service has resumed, then.
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Mid-faith Crisis 355:so, what have we learned?
In our final (probably) podcast for 2025, we look back on the three things we’ve learned this year. Which doesn’t, apparently, include (a) watching the Ashes and (b) not eating mince pies while recording. Happy Christmas everyone and a massive thank you to everyone who has supported the podcast this year.
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Mid-faith Crisis 354: Who do you say you are?
Joe is back from Mexico and Nick has recovered from man flu. So we talk about who we really are as individuals, and how that affects our relationship with others. Also, we think about what we really need to prepare for Christmas, and the difference between entertaining people and hospitality.
After Coke’s bizarre advert, another cash-strapped company decides to save money by using generative AI. This, though, has a double whammy: the message – avoid Christmas and hide in MacDonalds until January – is as crass as the AI.
“Thanks to the rise in popularity of generative AI, mainstream companies like Coca-Cola and Google are jumping on the bandwagon to plop out new advertisements. There’s just one issue: pretty much everybody hates it.”
If you care about typography – especially on the web – this is a brilliant resource.
Required Christmas listening.
Out now
Mid-faith Crisis 353: The birds and the bees with Ros Gleadow
Joe talks to Professor Ros Gleadow, Emerita Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University, Australia. They discuss the scale and impact of the climate crisis and, crucially, what we can do to make a difference.
A while back, I went to a fascinating talk on The Theatre – the original Elizabethan theatre where Shakespeare learned his trade when he first came to London. It was given by the author Daniel Swift, drawing on his book, The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare. Having just finished the book, what struck me was the idea of Shakespeare as an apprentice, as someone who learned his trade.
A brilliant, disturbing and important essay. “The real tragedy isn’t that students use ChatGPT to do their course work. It’s that universities are teaching everyone—students, faculty, administrators—to stop thinking.” https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-destroying-the-university-and-learning-itself
Every now and then I am reminded how wonderful the web can be. Amidst the constant enshittification, in the face of all the AI slop and the death by clickbait, you can still find gems like Jazz Collector. A terrific podcast from a community radio station. Great music, and a knowledgeable and passionate host. And a really good website.
HT to Kagi smallweb for the discovery.