21: Jesse Thorn Interview

January 18, 2008 1:06 PM

Show #21 of the podcast is our return from a long holiday break. We've got an interview with Jesse Thorn followed by recaps from the best of the last six weeks of MetaFilter. It was recorded on January 16, 2008 and runs 1 hour 10 minutes long.

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Helpful Links

Podcast Feed
MeFi Podcast on iTunes
Direct mp3 download

Jesse Thorn Interview

YoungAmerican's mefi profile

The Sound of Young America site (blog, podcast)

The Pee Wee Herman thread


Misc Links mentioned

Kaycee Nichole FAQ (archive.org link)

Givewell wiki summary, NYT piece on it.

Ask MeFi Collections:
featuring Best Of lists like this one for books and this one for cooking.

MeFi users share shots of their desks


MeFi Jobs

Cool job at the Guggenheim Museum


MeFi Projects

Bike Hacks

Alvy's MeFi Music Podcast


MeFi Music played in this podcast

Janie in the Lake by Baby_Balrog

At The Airport by scottandrew

Nothing to Say by not_on_display

Political Science by BrnP894


MetaTalk

carsonb's exhaustive post about one-off pages on the MetaFilter server


MetaFilter posts

Which Solid Gold dancer are you?

Awesome photos from Olan Mills/Sears portrait studios

Live action Garfield strips

The Sonderkommando Revolt


Ask MeFi posts

Going to rock shows alone?

Cheap but bombproof products

Slightly morbid question about cremations and atoms being passed around (related: no smells at the crematorium)

How far can go when making Pizza from scratch? (which reminded me of the kids book Pancakes Pancakes also: mefi pancakes joke image)

Games to play while in line (Set game)

Porn for girls that isn't gross? (Violet Blue's guide)

Bunk and Bubs on The Sound of Young America

posted by mathowie to MeFi Podcast at 1:06 PM (57 comments total)

I feel weirdly validated.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:24 PM on January 18, 2008

Only one good MetaTalk post in the last month or so? That sounds about right.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:35 PM on January 18, 2008

You were sooooo gonna get an incoherent, ranting MeMail if there was no podcast this weekend. Thank you thank you!
posted by steef at 2:10 PM on January 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

I feel weirdly validated violated.

Fixed that for you.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:29 PM on January 18, 2008

Sidebarred and mentioned in the podcast in the same day?

I. Have. Arrived.
posted by absalom at 2:31 PM on January 18, 2008

Well, my post anyway. I'll take it.
posted by absalom at 2:33 PM on January 18, 2008

I was drunk drunk drunk when I posted in that Solid Gold Dancers thread. So drunk that when I awoke the next morning I got an email confirming my purchase of thesolidgolddancers.com domain.

WTF, me?
posted by dobbs at 2:46 PM on January 18, 2008 [4 favorites]

Jesse doing Peewee and Charo? That's gettin' sampled.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:55 PM on January 18, 2008

Jessie Thorn is certainly my radio sweetheart.

Jordan Jessie Go, is his other podcast by the way, it's very funny.
posted by Divine_Wino at 2:56 PM on January 18, 2008

Sorry Jesse, I forgot you eschew the I.
posted by Divine_Wino at 2:57 PM on January 18, 2008

dobbs, I think everybody has, once or twice, gone to bed at 2 with a 10 and woken up at 10 with a receipt for a domain name.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:58 PM on January 18, 2008 [2 favorites]

What was yours, cortex?
posted by dobbs at 3:15 PM on January 18, 2008

What else?
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:17 PM on January 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

I. Have. Arrived.

I'm still sitting out in the harbor.
posted by pjern at 3:22 PM on January 18, 2008

cortex, you have way too much damned time on your hands.
posted by desjardins at 3:27 PM on January 18, 2008

My favorite part of this one so far is when mathowie makes a snickery sound when asked whether he has an amazing grand vision for Metafilter.

The podcasts seriously rock, by the way. And the volume levels are much better in this one.
posted by Tehanu at 3:30 PM on January 18, 2008

Jessamyn's ebullient "when you fart, your poop goes into somebody else's nose" is also damned quotable.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:31 PM on January 18, 2008

Whoa. I got called out by my real name by both Matt and jessamyn.

I'm like awed. Humbled. Warm and fuzzy. Now, I. have, arrived. :)

But it was Berlin, not Vietnam. Just to set the record straight. I'm still working on the memoir with links.

At least I know jessamyn reads my Flickr comments. :)
posted by pjern at 3:38 PM on January 18, 2008

But it was Berlin, not Vietnam.

My memory banks for "wartime places" are horribly disorganized, so I'm just as likely to swap Gettysburg with Guadalcanal.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:47 PM on January 18, 2008

that's my first podcast I've listened to. very good. and Mat, you sound exactly as I thought you might.

top stuff.
posted by Frasermoo at 3:58 PM on January 18, 2008

Both my song and my FPP?! And that my FPP caused someone to rent a domain name? Holy crapoly, thank you! (I'm about to listen.)
posted by not_on_display at 4:03 PM on January 18, 2008

Hmm. Well, at least mine can be used on a business card.
posted by dobbs at 4:06 PM on January 18, 2008

Having listened to the podcast and never really known the Kaycee Nicole hoax story, I read the Kaycee Nichole FAQ mentioned above and decided to learn more. I spent the past hour reading through how the "unmasking" unfolded (from May 18 - 21, 2001). Fascinating how the story evolved, how individuals reacted (and their thoughts/feelings evolved) and how an online community worked through the affair.
posted by ericb at 4:15 PM on January 18, 2008

What else?

cortex, does your wife know?
posted by dersins at 4:29 PM on January 18, 2008

dersins, don't turn this into the bi sluts thread.
posted by desjardins at 4:33 PM on January 18, 2008

I'm totally secure in my gluteus maxulenity, dersins. And she helped with the google image searches.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:40 PM on January 18, 2008

Hmm. Well, at least mine can be used on a business card.

Did you get a package deal?
posted by Tehanu at 4:45 PM on January 18, 2008

Did you get a package deal?

No. Even in my drunken state I somehow managed to avoid Godaddy's insane "upgrades".
posted by dobbs at 5:39 PM on January 18, 2008

I'm drunk now. What domain name should I buy?
posted by desjardins at 8:15 PM on January 18, 2008

I'm drunk now. What domain name should I buy?

seemedlikeagoodideaatthetime.org
posted by burnmp3s at 8:21 PM on January 18, 2008

jessamyn: ...when we redesign the header

What.
posted by carsonb at 11:55 PM on January 18, 2008

shit Shit SHIT! I always forget that I'm streaming this and listening to it in the thread and then comment. Bah, I'll just download the damn thing...
posted by carsonb at 11:57 PM on January 18, 2008

OK, great show! I loved the interview with Jesse and will have to check out his podcast(s) to see what is the what. And as usual jessamyn is a total riot.

I'm glad everyone enjoyed that crazy MeTa thread. There's a little more room in the noggin having vomited that cluttered mass of ephemera out. Now I need to go to bed before I get sucked into the next previous coupla thou.
posted by carsonb at 12:25 AM on January 19, 2008

"...who, all of a sudden, like, showed up in my, like, universe, out of nowhere, with this awesome post and this awesome music..."

Glad you appreciated it. Three possible responses:

(a) But now my work here is done. Hi Ho, Silver! Away! (b) Wait, this doesn't look like Pismo Beach. I shoulda taken that left turn at Alba-koi-kee. (c) So this is your universe, huh? (looking around) Ya got any Triscuits? Where's the bathroom?

Please type your choice on your keyboard, or simply say your choice now.
posted by not_on_display at 11:55 AM on January 19, 2008

(BTW, it's the first podcast I've ever listened to in full, too [aside from WFMU's warez]. Good everything.)
posted by not_on_display at 12:01 PM on January 19, 2008

Yo, Feliz Naviblah, everybody
posted by growabrain at 12:23 PM on January 19, 2008

I like the desk threads, but for different reasons. If it was in the NYT, it'd price tag everything out and say that the "basic" desk with accessories will cost you something like $15,000 but if you spend the weekend antique hunting in Maine, you may get it for $12,000. Then they show me opulent desks that are $30,000 by someone with a much cooler job than me. Metafilter has regular people desks and suddenly I don't feel like a loser for not having a coherent "design style," nor designer colors on the wall.
posted by geoff. at 1:29 PM on January 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

Whatever, loser.
posted by chrismear at 1:52 PM on January 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

jessamyn: ...when we redesign the header

We just want to get coherent headers across every page so things are called the same thing and there's decent prominence for the FAQ and wiki. Nothing fancy, promise.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:29 PM on January 19, 2008

^ Chris Mear's desk.
posted by not_on_display at 2:36 PM on January 19, 2008

I cannot believe that a professional podcaster thinks Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain!!! Or that Donegal is part of Northern Ireland (as opposed to in the north of Ireland), for that matter.
Ooh, I do love a bit of geographical pedantry. And hyperbole too, obv.
posted by Abiezer at 2:46 PM on January 19, 2008

I'm glad to hear that the Travel subsite is getting official soon.
posted by mullacc at 8:48 PM on January 19, 2008

You don't know how to pronounce my NAME?

Sigh.
posted by dw at 9:41 PM on January 19, 2008

It's "dwuh", for the record.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:13 AM on January 20, 2008

The q is silent and invisible.
posted by dw at 7:17 AM on January 20, 2008

We just want to get coherent headers across every page so things are called the same thing and there's decent prominence for the FAQ and wiki. Nothing fancy, promise.

Boy, that fandango_matt's redesign idea sure was nifty, mmm hmm. Yep. Liked it. Good logo, everything.

*whistles tunelessly*
posted by middleclasstool at 7:23 AM on January 20, 2008

Okay, Jesus, I just saw the MeTa thread where you got your asshole handed to you for daring to actually change things. For fuck's sake. Previous comment hastily retracted.
posted by middleclasstool at 2:52 PM on January 20, 2008

Yet another fantastic podcast. With Jesse on the MetaFilter podcast and the "Never Not Funny" group on "Jordan, Jesse, Go" recently, it's like someone took my iTunes and shook it all up until everything gets squished together.

*waiting patiently for Matt or Jessamyn to appear on either "This American Life" or "A Prairie Home Companion."
posted by ColdChef at 1:16 PM on January 21, 2008

And the volume levels are much better in this one.

Indeed, what's your recording set up, mathowie?

And thanks for mentioning the podcast again!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:14 AM on January 22, 2008

I think we've fixed the volume level set up. Now we record both sides of the convo and I upload my side to mathowie and he combines them. A bit more labor intensive but definitely better quality and no latency issues or dealing with CPU overload when scrolling etc. I listened to this on my drive home last night and I was really impressed with the whole thing from a production standpoint. Can we use Jesse's signoff from now on?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:28 AM on January 22, 2008

Can we use Jesse's signoff from now on?

Where he says bye and thanks for mefi? Or do you mean the sign-off I did in the TSOYA style? I was going to do another take on it to clean it up and use it as the out-tro from now on.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:05 AM on January 22, 2008

Where Jesse says "MetaFilter is vital in the life of every public radio personality" or whatever at about 27:45 or so.

Your outro is nice and professional-sounding, but it's not really "TSOYA style", it sounds plain old NPR-ish to me with the piano and everything. Your call certainly, but I'd think we could do something more interesting with the same information.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:15 AM on January 22, 2008

The last time I was in Donegal I was 9, which coincidentally was the last time I was in Ireland. I'm sorry I misspoke and said "Great Britain" when I meant "United Kingdom." I guess.

My stepmother is from Belfast, and grew up in the thick of the troubles. Does that count for anything?
posted by YoungAmerican at 4:59 PM on January 23, 2008

Just joshin' you, YoungAmerican. We deliberately made it complex just so we could be smug about mis-speakings.
posted by Abiezer at 5:11 PM on January 23, 2008

It is essential that Matt, Jess and Cortex all know that with every single MeFi podcast, ever, I sing along to the intro, and occasionally sing just the "welcome to the metafilter... poooooooooodcast" bit to the dog at random for no reason at all.

That is all.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:48 AM on January 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

Warms my dang heart, Bri.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:41 AM on January 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Very entertaining. I signed up for the Sound of Young America podcast, and look forward to listening. Matt & Jessamyn were both very funny this week; "The long tail of tail" made me laugh out loud and scare my fellow passengers on the bus.
posted by mogget at 9:40 AM on January 30, 2008