Try a New Thing

Cassi's working. Braeden's home, podcasting, while Jack the dog sits in the back of his chair like the world's worst and squirmiest lumbar support. And now you get to hear the fruits of his labor. He'll play you some tunes he doesn't remember to tell you the title of. It's a bit like public access or student radio, honestly. Talking points include: oil companies are bad, darkwave is good, actually, puppies are cute. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). Home alone in the dark, apparently.

It's a whole new world at doma nova afero this week, as we talk about our broken appliance and our new air-drying life. Talking points include: making music with impromptu instruments, Wandersong spoiler warnings, laundry memories. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). Cyberspace and in your face.

Damn, listener! Back at it again at the dinner table. After a hiatus, what better way to celebrate getting back to that podcast lifestyle than by playing with toys? Or should I say . . . building some toys? Talking points include: fighting robots like Pokémon, a tiny house museum of tiny houses, mothra is the queen of Braeden's heart, ¡soy yo! tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). At the hobby store.

Cassi's mom Heidi is on the podcast, y'all! She's out visiting and was game to sit down and chat with us about the advantages of building intergenerational friendships and mentorships in our lives. It's nice to have a new voice and new perspective on the pod. Talking points include: kayfabe, Cassi doesn't believe kayfabe is a real word, socioeconomic inequities. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). Out to dinner with your grandparents.

It's a short one this week, as Cassi is feeling under the weather again. But there's a new surprise in store for you, and basically this podcast is two-in-one. You'll see. We talk about our weeks living that vegetarian lifestyle. Talking points include: how do you make a rosé out of apples, seriously tho most restaurants are lousy for vegetarians, alibis don't count for anything if the cops don't care. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). In your podcatcher.

Cassi and Braeden have been spending a lot of time together lately. Find out why?!? Talking points include: it's the worst when bands break up when humans break up, loose leaf teas, romantic comedy as a board game, black-screened telephones. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). Probably playing board games or something in your basement.

Real talk: figuring out what traditions to keep and what traditions to change when you're growing up, when you're building your own family, can be hard. So hear Cassi and Braeden talk about what they grew up with and what, if anything, they do now to celebrate. Talking points include: melancholy but not morose, sugar cereal problems, BB-8 vs. R2-D2, lost easter eggs. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). In a box in your basement somewhere.

It's the end of an era. After years of careful planning, hard work, and absolute secrecy, Cassi and Braeden have completed their lives' work to . . . nah none of that is true. We saw Avengers: Endgame and so we're gonna talk about it. The first 20 or so minutes are spoiler-free, and the last 40 minutes or so are complete and utter spoiler territory, so know that going in. Talking points include: racism begets the concept of race, smoothibrations, that Avengers theme is still good, SPOILERS. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). At your local cinema.

Here in the Casa de intentos nuevos, we've been thinking a lot about money, income inequality, and wealth. You know how it is - tax season will do that to you. Come for the stories of our growing up and our money histories, stick around for Braeden's anti-capitalist jeremiads. Talking points include: Elizabeth Warren's college debt plan, Antoni Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, intergenerational wealth, margaritas. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). In the streets, ready for the revolution.

Cassi is sick. In bed. So that's where we recorded. Talking points include: beet blood, shooting Nazis, water bottles, dog barks. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). In bed!

It's been a long week at Chez Ensayez une Novelle Chose, so we kick back with a snack and chat about all sorts of strange things we've tried in the last few days. Is this a good episode at all? I suppose only time will tell. Talking points include: banana segmentation, overpriced emergency vets, do all german beers taste alike, grapefruit spoons are a useful tool. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). Available at a green grocer near you. CW: food sounds, descriptions of bodily excretions

Beloved, we've had a wild experience this week. We played Her Story, which is a game that . . . needs to be seen to be believed. For the first half, we explain the setup and give general impressions of the game. Then, for the back half, we dive straight into spoilercasting, and tell you exactly what we think happened in this sordid tale of murder, betrayal, and . . . all the other stuff we don't want to spoil in the writeup. Talking points include: Coralville has terrible water, sometimes Obama acolytes run for office and we meet them, video games!, why is it so hard to find an uncorrupted version of abandonware from Cassi's childhood?!? tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). Coming to a theater near you.

Braeden grew up listening to Rush. Yeah, I know, it's cliché for a nerdy white boy to be into progressive rock, but hey - it's what he grew up listening to. So this week, he got to subject Cassi to it - specifically, the two songs in the Cygnus X-1 duology. Does Cassi get super into prog? Can she even understand the words Geddy is singing? Talking points include: Zentipede, moringa, give me a wrench in every videogame, also biotics. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). Under "taint" in the phonebook (it was a misspelling).

Your mom's favorite podcast is back, breaking down one of Cassi's favorite audio books from her youth. Braeden remains unconvinced because of its lack of terror. Both are back on their bullshit in the best ways possible. Talking points include: micheladas, NIMH, harpsichords, sad indie music that gets you right in the feels. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9639). Your favorite fortune teller. The back of the milk carton.

Braeden got his time last week. This week, it's Cassi's youth that we're excavating, as we deep dive into the Sword in the Stone, that 1963 "classic" that I bet you don't really remember all that much about. At least Cassi stayed awake through this one . . . ? Talking points include: Black tea in the evening, Cassi doesn't like pho, wizard battles, you're gonna die from measles. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638). Me? I'm here for the games.

For you, we'll do anything. Including watching a movie from Braeden's youth. That he remembers fondly. That he hasn't seen in two decades. That he got a bootleg copy that's a VHS rip from his cousin Jenny years and years ago. But guess what? Cassi fell asleep. Like three times. But! This movie has just enough weird stuff going on in it that you should deffo give it a listen and maybe a watch? Talking points include: blood drawing, Megan Gustafson, diamonds in the gullet, a catchy theme song. tryanewpodcast@gmail.com. YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

Whew, friends, it's been a while. This pale blue dot has gone around the sun nearly one entire rotation since we've recorded an episode of this, the world's greatest podcast. And yet - and yet - we return, unencumbered by having to read an entire book just to chat with each other, reinvigorated by fantastic experiences and ready to try something new. Talking points include: kefir, galactic aqua, Gamera, brooms.

This month, we're talking about Margot Mifflin's art-and-history book Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo, which we both found fascinating. We talk all about the history of women's tattoo in the modern Western world, and the ways in which it has been marginalized and mainstreamed in different manners throughout this history. We discuss different stories about tattoo as subjugation, tattoo as emancipation, bodies as subjects versus bodies as objects, and lots of other stuff. Talking points include: The Vulpes Galactic Technocracy, jaguar knights, the weenis, Janis Joplin. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

Relish caused our two cohosts to think a lot about food. And we mean, a lot. Hear as we remember some of the most strange, wonderful, and outstanding stories about our own experiences with cooking, eating, and the memories tied to them. Who knows? Maybe you'll hear about a dish you want to try - or something that makes you never want to eat again... Talking points include: dry Jell-O salad, milk butter sauce, what's the best paella? Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

We're finishing up January with a bang while talking about Lucy Knisley's comic memoir Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, a book that left us both reflecting on our memories of food and family growing up. Marvel as Braeden gets all up-ons about the term "graphic novel"! Celebrate how Cassi came to love asparagus! And ponder how food can be therapeutic! Talking points include: Punpun is better than Maus, buttery milk juice, Mexican porn mags and awkward pad purchases. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

Ah, 2017. A year that was great for us, personally, but that was a tire fire in most other respects. But! With the year ending, we decided to wrap up Year One™ with a chat about self help as a genre, the books we (didn't) read for December, and our plans for Year Two™. We wish you all a better 2018! Talking points include: samesies typography, personal highs of 2017, maybe just publish articles, guys. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

Whew, it's been a month. But! We've been satisficing as much as we can, we've been gratitude journaling, and we've been doing home repairs, and now we're ready to tell you all about it! Join us for a post-holiday expression of things we love and things we're grateful for. Talking points include: just listen to Barry's TED talk, mechas are actually good, end-of-year plans. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

After a too-long break, Cassi and Braeden are back at it again with the new books. Well, just one book: The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. We dig into the ways in which being middle-class in Late Capitalism can create a tyranny of decisions that weigh heavy on us. Quite literally, this is an episode filled with First World Problems™. Talking points include: Delilah After Dark, how to pronounce "satisficer", counterfactuals. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

After two weeks of a complete love-in, how much more do Cassi and Braeden love each other? Or do they hate each other? Or . . . are things basically the same? (What a thrilling possibility.) They talk about their own love languages and how they've tried to engage with each other in those langauges. Spoiler: they share the same basic love language. Talking points include: go to marriage counseling, Chums™, nighttime snuggling. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

Snuggle on down next to the fire, cozy up in a blanket with a cup of your favorite relaxing hot beverage, it's time to talk . . . love. Cassi and Braeden break down all the barriers and chat about Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages. Is this a useful framework? How can couples communicate more effectively? What is love? (Baby, don't hurt me.) Talking points include: car canoodling, "limerance", just talk to each other, guys. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

We KonMari'ed our stuff. Joy was sparked. Thanks were given. Class issues were discussed. The ways in which ethical consumption is impossible under capitalism were expounded upon. Cassi has lots of tools. Braeden offered up the pie-in-the-sky solution of anarcho-syndicalism. Basically, this one has it all, people. Talking points include: can supplies spark joy?, unicorn art, Black Friday shaming as classist nonsense. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

It's time. It's here. Braeden and Cassi are gonna talk all about the KonMari method, its underlying spirituality, the ways in which minimalism can become a secular religion for its adherents, and why Braeden still thinks the whole thing is middle-class bougie nonsense. Talking points include: imaginary math, things are things not friends, surreptitious voicemails. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

So . . . Braeden hasn't finished reading Marie Kondo's book yet. For lots of reasons! But he's working on it. In the meantime and to tide you over between episodes, please enjoy this conversation Cassi had with her mom, aunts, and cousins this summer about hoarding, clutter, minimalism, and what to do with the things you don't want. We promise we'll be back next week with hot minimalism takes. Talking points include: violin vases and fur coats, trash diving, THE CLOSET™. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

Thanks to some technical errors with the first recording of the podcast, this one's coming to you new and improved (to use that most contradictory of marketing speak)! We chat about questions we should ask ourselves when we're de-cluttering and ways in which we tried to decrease and avoid clutter in our lives. Talking points include: camarones a la diablada, fanny packs, non-office space. Stay tuned after the episode proper for a fun glimpse at part of the fabled lost episode! Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

Piles of stuff everywhere. The smell of decomposing leftovers. A danger to yourself and others. That's probably not you, and it's not us, but it is the case of people with compulsive hoarding issues. But maybe, just maybe, there's a little bit of hoarder hidden inside each of us. That's the premise of this week's book, Dr. Robin Zazio's great read The Hoarder In You. We break down the book and talk all about clutter catastrophes and continua. Talking points include: what kind of clutter creature are you?, how to help a hoarder, Braeden's problems with minimalism. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

This week's episode is full of the type of hard-hitting commentary you've come to expect from your two intrepid hosts, as they revisit some of the ideas from Adam Alter's Irresistible, talk about their own experiences with trying to measure and meter their media consumption, and as they chat about an older book, Neil Postman's Seminal Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of show Business, which is maybe a little too prescient in the ways in which it predicts internet culture as TV culture turned to 11. Talking points include: behavior vs. substance addiction, Mark Zuckerberg running for president, Futurama as fact. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

We're back with our next book, Adam Alter's brand-new book Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. We delve into behavioral addictions, their growing prevalence, and the ways in which we all seem to suffer from some of these maladies. We'll chat about where they come from, how they're perpetuated, and what we can do to avoid them. Talking points include: obsession and compulsion vs. addiction, marathon runners' times, the Dollar Auction Game. Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

Just a quick explanation as to why our next episode will be late. It'll be worth it, we promise!

After two weeks spent trying new things about how, where, and why we eat, Cassi and Braeden sit down to assess the new things they've tried. What were their three food goals? Did they do them? And perhaps most importantly, will they keep doing them? Special appearance by Brian Wansink himself via a mid-2000s interview from the Today Show, thanks to the internet's way of archiving everything. Talking points include: the battle of Jakku, the perils of changing behaviors, how can you change your snack if you just don't snack? Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638).

We're back to reading and gabbing this week, with Brian Wansink's really quite interesting 2006 book, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. We chat all about the "mindless margin" and ways in which small, not-really-noticeable changes can make for lasting, meaningful dietary improvements. Seriously, though; this book made us both ponder a lot on our eating habits and gave us a bunch of new things to try in the next couple of weeks. Talking points include: fruit person vs. vegetable person, how to name your dishes to get people to eat them, just use smaller plates or something, okay? Comments? Questions? Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or call YALL-TRY-NEW (925-587-9638). Content warning: this episode contains talk about eating disorders.

In their first minisode (to help tide over the extra-long space between episodes due to extra Sundays in April), Cassi and Braeden sum up the new things they've tried so far this year, inspired by the books they've read. Long story short: some of us are better at sticking with new behaviors than others. (It's Braeden. Braeden is bad at making and keeping new habits.) This episode powered by licorice and sleepytime vanilla teas. Talking points include: noise canceling headphones, the freedom of free time, Cassi is still obsessed with fiscal fasts. Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or 925-5-TRY-NEW.

So fiscal fasts: what are they good for? Lots of things, apparently. Join Cassi and Braeden as they talk about jobs, money, spending it, not spending it, etc. Did they really not buy anything for a whole week? Cassi loves spreadsheets. Braeden loves Cassi. Also: Braeden was sick during recording, and it shows. He's such a bummer. Talking points include: monthly money sabbaticals, LEGO and Transformers, 50/30/20. Contact us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or 925-5-TRY-NEW.

April: spring showers, blossoming daffodils, and everyone's favorite holiday: tax day. Join Cassi and Braeden as they dive into their latest book, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches by Jeff Yeager, and hear them chat about the concept of Return on Non-Investment, whether you really have to spend money to make money or if that's just something your stock broker tells you to get you to pay them more, and how this one book changed the way Braeden thought about finances all those years ago. Talking points include: fiscal fasts, the pitfalls of working in vending machine refilling, alphorn closets. Also: our contest continues! Send us a story of how you tried a new thing this year to tryanewpodcast@gmail.com and enter to win a copy of each of the first three books we read for the podcast!

So our last book was pretty heavy. So heavy, in fact, that we found it difficult to find substantive, meaningful ways to put its precepts into practice - but we find some anyway, because this is Try A New Thing™ and that's what you're here for. We talk about some of our problems with the book on reflection, ways we've talked politics and religion with family and friends, and our own moral foundations. Talking points include: Lauren Duca is amazing and Teen Vogue is on point, party conventions are the worst, we're not too big on purity. Also: we're having our very first contest for a copy of the first books we read! Listen to the end of the episode for info about how to enter to win all three books, shipped to you with a smile. Comments? Questions? Reach out to us at tryanewpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 925-5-TRY-NEW.  

This week, we read Johnathan Haidt's 2012 book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. We grapple with tough concepts like how to talk with people you vehemently disagree with, the importance of intuition, and how we're basically all just big, ambulatory bags of post hoc rationalizations. Hopefully we'll be better about talking politics with people now? Fingers crossed. Talking points include: morality taste buds, why ants are so powerful, this book was a hard read but we're glad we did it.

We laugh, we cry, we actually don't cry but we do talk about how we attempted to put the lessons we got out of Gretchen Rubin's Happier at Home into practice. The problem? We're no Gretchen Rubin, and we don't have the self-discipline it takes to do the things she does. We have enough trouble doing it for two weeks, guys. Talking points include: internalized sexism, hidden landscapes, making things work, twitter is a cancer.

Cassi and Braeden move on to their second book, Gretchen Rubin's Happier at Home, and talk about all of Rubin's myriad resolutions. Seriously - there's a lot. We'd be loathe to call her an overachiever, but this is actually her second time doing a project like this - it's a follow up to an earlier book, The Happiness Project, so it kinda applies in this case. Our intrepid duo break down her months and talk about her goals. Can you actually be happier at home, or does familiarity breed contempt after all? Talking points include: maybe we should clean our house, Tiggers and Eeyores, non-random acts of kindness.

It's time for a reckoning: Cassi and Braeden sit down to talk about what habits they decided to tackle based on last episode's discussion of Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit. Things were learned, souls were bared, tears were (not actually) cried. Talking points include: free will versus determinism, lunchy munchies, Teen Vogue. (Seriously, go get yourself a subscription to Teen Vogue NOW.) Content warning: talk of eating disorders.

In this inaugural episode, Cassi and Braeden read the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and discuss its salient points. Then, they explain the habits they're looking to tackle for the next two weeks to see whether they can grab ahold of the habit cycle of cue, routine, and reward and make it work in their favor. Talking points include: stinky animal smells, weak links, Target is terrifying, the power of belief. Read the book review mentioned by clicking here.