Groucho, Zeppo, Gummo, Chico, and Harpo--also known as The Marx Brothers--not only changed the way we think of comedy, but they helped shape our modern notions of cinema as well. Does their biting wit and chaotic humor hold up today? I absolutely think so. In fact, I think we need a lot more humor today to help us break the tensions that we feel on a daily basis--and our guest agrees. Dr. Robert Weir is a retired history professor who most recently taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He's a former senior Fulbright scholar to New Zealand, a past president of the Northeast Popular Culture Association, and the author of 11 books and numerous other academic works. We talk about comedy today, do college-age students get the humor of the Marx Bros, the anti Semitism that they faced, and the origins of their rise to stardom. If you have never seen a a Marx Bros. film, drop everything and go check out A Night at the Opera or my personal favorite, Horsefeathers. In fact, you stay here and I'll drop everything and go watch a Marx Bros. film.

If you want to join our growing community and support our efforts to bring civility back to mainstream discourse, hit the subscribe button, the like button, leave a thoughtful comment for me and my guest, and share the show with a friend. As always, your support is greatly appreciated.

// EPISODE LINKS //

Book link: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/th...

// EPISODE OUTLINE //

00:00 Teaser

01:16 Introduction

03:22 Start of conversation

06:25 How did the Marx Bros. become a cultural interest?

10:17 Did the humor catch on with your college students?

16:08 My approach to education with my students

19:15 How did their mother impact the Marx Bros. showbusiness careers?

23:46 Pioneers in "talkies" or early cinema with sound

28:27 Some feedback from the Catholic Telegraph for the Cocoanuts. (It sounds like the setup for a great Groucho zinger.)

33:51 How did anti-Semitism impact their careers?

45:54 Before Jim Halpert was breaking the wall, Groucho was showing how it is done by bringing in popular culture.

49:02 The Marx Bros. did NOT want the music in the film, which sounds absurd.

52:15 Why was Harpo silent?

58:23 Margaret Dumont reminds me of Bea Arthur--owning every scene she is in with nothing more than a look.

1:01:06 Why was Horsefeathers an unpleasant film to make?

1:04:14 Is the speakeasy in Horsefeathers a reflection of reality or a political statement?

1:06:56 What did writing this book teach you about comedy?

1:10:09 I get asked about my favorite form of comedy. Things get chaotic.

1:11:40 Concluding thoughts and I even throw in a few of my own Marx Bros.-inspired jokes.

// WEBSITE //

Head over to the website to learn more about me and to contact me. https://theneutralgroundpodcast.com/

// EPISODE SUGGESTIONS //

1. ChatGPT, Cheating, Critical Thinking, and the Future of Humanity and AI | Dr. Teo Susnjak #65? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Z6n...

2. What we don't hear about incel culture | Drs. Sarah Daly & Shon Reed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynYdp...

3. Why not violence? Dr. Duane Armitage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohhht...

4. Visual Thinking, Rebuilding the Trades, Animal Consciousness, Training AI | Dr. Temple Grandin - https://youtu.be/P8FvlKD6Y9Q

5. Crisis in Men, Anger and Alienation in boys, What is Going on? | Dr. Robert Tyminski - https://youtu.be/cwFMjuXf5xI

Would you like to do your part to help bring civility back to our conversations? We need to get The Neutral Ground message in front of more people, and you can help with just a few keystrokes and some clicks of a mouse. Head over to the website to find out how you can support our mission.

#comedy #grouchomarx #humorous

We are growing increasingly more nervous about how the digital tools around us are able to gain more access to our information and to our lives. Whether we are thinking about simple things like malware and viruses to more complex applications like deep fake technologies and artificial intelligence. Even with my computer science background, I find these topics to be incredibly complex. That is why I have asked Dr. Daniel Graham on the show. Daniel G. Graham is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. His research interests include secure embedded systems and networks. Before teaching at UVA, Dr. Graham was a Program Manager at Microsoft in Seattle, Washington. He publishes in IEEE journals relating to sensors and networks. In this episode, we talk about ransomware, malware, ethical hacking, multi-layered threats to our infrastructures, and why we should take a beat and think about how much of our culture we want to digitize into the future. If you want to support our mission to bring civility back to discourse, hit the subscribe button, the like button, and leave a kind comment for me and my guest. The support is always appreciated.
// EPISODE LINKS // Guest's website: https://danielggraham.com/ethical-hacking-a-hands-on-guide-to-breaking-in/
// EPISODE OUTLINE // 00:00 Teaser 00:45 Introduction 02:12 Start of conversation 02:32 How did you get into cybersecurity? 07:04 What is ethical hacking? 10:32 Bug bounty hunting 11:44 Is there a strong community who want to help companies find these exploits? 14:39 How does ethical hacking help us defend our infrastructures 24:00 Can you envision a multilayered attack to our infrastructure in the USA? 32:07 How should we look at digital artifacts from a civilization perspective? 37:10 Why should we think of hacking people and not machines? 44:10 Should we be more worried about deep fake technology than we are? 48:46 Why is ransomware so successful? 53:52 Does the celebritization of hackers help or hurt our ability to stay ahead of threats? 59:53 What is one thing that makes you hopeful about the field and one thing that scares you? 1:06:01 Closing thoughts // WEBSITE // Head over to the website to learn more about me and to contact me. https://theneutralgroundpodcast.com/
// EPISODE SUGGESTIONS // 1. ChatGPT, Cheating, Critical Thinking, and the Future of Humanity and AI | Dr. Teo Susnjak #65? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Z6nUr-1Pg&t=0s 2. What we don't hear about incel culture | Drs. Sarah Daly & Shon Reed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynYdpuhqjLw&t=43s 3. Why not violence? Dr. Duane Armitage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohhht-zwNaU&t=1010s 4. Visual Thinking, Rebuilding the Trades, Animal Consciousness, Training AI | Dr. Temple Grandin - https://youtu.be/P8FvlKD6Y9Q 5. Crisis in Men, Anger and Alienation in boys, What is Going on? | Dr. Robert Tyminski - https://youtu.be/cwFMjuXf5xI
Would you like to do your part to help bring civility back to our conversations? We need to get The Neutral Ground message in front of more people, and you can help with just a few keystrokes and some clicks of a mouse.
1) Start by hitting the subscribe button and turning on notifications. 2) Then, hit the like button. 3) Leave a thoughtful/uplifting comment for others to engage with. 4) Watch another video on the channel. 5) Share the channel or a video with someone else on your social media accounts 6) Head over to my website at https://theneutralgroundpodcast.com/ Once on the website, you can actually go to the contact section and leave an audio comment for me to use on the podcast. 7) You can also subscribe to the podcast on any one of the following platforms as well: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music

#hacking #hacker #ethicalhacking #deepfake #ai

For many people, the emblematic scene from Todd Philipps ' The Joker is Joaquin Phoenix 's iconic dance on the steps. If you've seen the film, however, you know that Arthur Fleck dances throughout the entire movie. What does it mean? Sprinkled throughout the violence, the struggles to figure out how we can better help support mental health struggles, and the overwhelming feelings of detachment and anger, we find an individual in Arthur Fleck who wants to be good, to do good in the world. However, he is trapped in virtually all aspects of his life. It is only in dance that Fleck / The Joker seems to be his most free. But, with that freedom comes choice, and when Fleck becomes the Joker, he makes the choice to bring chaos and destruction upon the world. We cannot turn a blind eye to this. Trying to figure out where the line is between empathy for what Fleck is experiencing and disavowing his move toward destruction is incredibly difficult, which is why we're having a discussion about this film with our guest: Liz Wayson. Liz has written a wonderful article on The Joker entitled, "“Walking and Dancing in Gotham City: The Marginalized Flaneur, Mental Health Activism, and the Spectacle of Violence in Todd Phillips’s Joker." As always, if you enjoy the conversation, consider supporting our movement to bring civility back to discourse. Subscribe, hit the like button, and consider leaving a kind comment for me and my guest. As always, your time is appreciated.

// EPISODE OUTLINE // 00:00 Teaser 00:38 Introduction 02:09 Start of conversation 02:59 What was it about Phillips' The Joker that made you pursue this study? 05:46 What is a Flaneur and how does it connect with the Joker? 08:58 Is the Joker and activist or is he just viewed as an activist? 10:39 Were you able to reconcile the honesty of mental health concerns with the problematic depictions of mental illness and violence in The Joker? 12:11 It's important to differentiate mental health and mental illness to better serve everyone 14:47 We need to have difficult conversations about mental health and diagnosed mental conditions. 17:51 How does Gotham City dictate movement and body composition? 21:49 People are so disconnected in Gotham, even Thomas Wayne. 23:22 How does dancing help Arthur comprehend chaos? 28:45 Arthur understands his role in society 35:54 Has Arthur lost all agency to become his own person? 42:14 How did you read the relationship between Murray ( Robert De Niro ) and Arthur? 47:02 How do we read women and mothers in this film? 52:29 We need better mentors for young people 55:28 Final thoughts

Would you like to do your part to help bring civility back to our conversations?

1) Start by hitting the subscribe button and turning on notifications. 2) Then, hit the like button. 3) Leave a thoughtful/uplifting comment for others to engage with. 4) Watch another video on the channel. 5) Share the channel or a video with someone else on your social media accounts 6) Head over to my website at https://theneutralgroundpodcast.com/Once on the website, you can actually go to the contact section and leave an audio comment for me to use on the podcast. 7) You can also subscribe to the podcast on any one of the following platforms as well: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music

#joker #joaquinphoenix #batman #thejokermovie #desensitizing #brucewayne #toddphilips #toddphillips