Grace & Salome: I Have To Tell You Something
Episode Fourteen: For the Birds
In this episode Grace and I talk about 1800’s era simulated birdsong devices and Grace’s unwillingness to accept the current state of modern society’s fake birdiness.
Episode Notes:
1. I maintain there is a difference between wanting $5 million and wanting to temporarily possess something valued at $5 million.
2. This is the 1890 birdsong automata I am referring to by saying “the steampunky mechanical thing.”
3. 1820 Singing Bird Pistols. WANT.
4. I wasn’t comparing automata to mp3s. Just the functionality.
5. Clara from The Guild becomes enamored with Steampunk “clocky windy stuff” in episode 4 of Season 5.
6. “The functionality of the bird’s variegated song” was in my head, but the lips were not communicating with the brain. The problem was not pronunciation, but filtering. Again. This is different from someone not being able to properly pronounce simple spices.
7. Perfect Polly. Okay, yes, humanity has survived things like Big Mouth Billy Bass. It doesn’t bother me that Perfect Polly exists. What bothers me are the commercials pretending like it’s a great alternative to a real bird and not the god awful painted plastic waste of money that vision reveals it to be. Are they marketing to the visually impaired? I don’t understand. And that fascinates me. The scenes of actors pretending to pet it and treat it like a pet are brilliant in a horrible, horrible way.
8. I have suggested Perfect Polly for previous podcasts. It became clear Grace had a mental block. Sometimes podcasts are therapeutic.
9. I am very convincing. Also, saying “please” in a Southern accent goes a long way.