#12: Strength in Awareness: What Meditation Is, Why It Matters, and its Connection to Exercise and Weightlifting

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Today, I had the great pleasure of chatting with my close friend Laura Castonguay, MFA, about some pretty interesting stuff. Unsure where the conversation would go, we sat in silent meditation before recording, allowing our minds to settle. Lo and behold, the conversation ended up developing about meditation itself and what it means for both of our lives. While Laura and I have different approaches to meditation - mine tends to be seated, Laura's tends to be active and physical - each of us experiences it as a way to connect more to our bodies on this earth, where we are right now. 

We hope that this conversation fills you with a deep sense of peace, Listener, and we hope that it encourages you to recognize your own meditative potential. For through our meditation, the bounty of the universe unfolds, and with that bounty comes the limitless delight of eternal Snobbery. 

Enjoy this Haiku, Listener:

#6: What's the Deal with Sequels?

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Feeling that their conversation re: Roland Emmerich's great sequel Independence Day: Resurgence ended insufficiently, Matt and Sean migrated from the basement to sit at table beneath the seven stars of the St. Louis night. Situated amidst the crickets and cicadas, beneath the jet airplanes, within the cool and gentle breeze, they set out to discuss the question: What's the deal with all the sequels these days? What topics, ideas, and questions then arose? Well, dear listener, to offer a brief teaser trailer: Indiana Jones/Indian Death Cults, Pulp Fiction, change in character as "deserved" and "necessary," Breaking Bad, emotion, The Truman Show, recycling of formulaic material, P.T. Anderson and Richard Linklater’s superiority, the relation between pop novels, pop songs, and big-budget films, art's facilitation of a "confrontation with reality", and, finally, the ensuing moral responsibility of the artist. How, the hosts ask, can a film become truly enduring? Tune in, dear listener, and join us in our philosophical considerations of these many topics and questions, and together let us snob our way into a discussion that unveils the calm, serious tonalities of the ancient art of snobbery.