Preface To Reflections: Reflecting On Mirrors

Not only have I already done a show about mirrors - in October of 2004 - & not only that, I revisited the theme of mirrors in October of 2018.  But is a show about reflections necessarily a show about mirrors?

Gosh, that's like saying that once you've interfered, you're terribly involved!  It's like a marriage - the only thing is to simply go in & break it up!

Perhaps that doesn't sound right.  But when you pretend to love someone you don't love, you create hatred.  The person knows you're loving them because you feel it's duty.  That's why it's completely absurd to be dishonest with your feelings.

But what if no one delivers the mail?  What if there are no garbage collectors?

All the resentment piles up.  One day it just blows up.  For twenty years, see.  Meanwhile everybody's getting more bored & frustrated & suddenly the bombers are over you!  A whole life done away with.

We've been lucky.  The Swiss have been lucky.  The Swedes have been lucky, minding their own business.  But all that's over - technologically.

Nobody knows what the answer to it is!  But I'm certain that it has nothing to do with mirrors, which as a natural result has very little to do with reflections, while we can be confident to note that reflections might have something to do with mirrors.  They all have their place in the scheme of things without knowing they have a place.

The lesser doubts change your nature, the greater doubts change your purpose.  Go easy on yourself.

Where I'm Going Tonight

To see this guy:

Interestingly, this is the second Kid In The Hall I've seen since moving to Portland.  I did once get to see the Kids In The Hall in Dallas - they never made it down to Austin when they were touring, as far as I know - but I doubt the one-person shows the individuals Kids do would make it very far into the United States, & definitely not to Kentucky or Texas.

Another reason to be grateful we moved here!

Library Of Mirrors

This week's show - not the one that happened last Monday but the one that will happen next Monday - which I know is technically next week - but it feels weird saying "next week's show" - all right, technically it is next week's show - what I want to say is - the next Self Help Radio, happening next Monday, is about "reflections."

If you'd like to read that paragraph in German, here is how Google Translate phrased it:

Die Show dieser Woche - nicht die, die letzten Montag stattfand, sondern die, die nächsten Montag stattfinden wird - von der ich weiß, dass sie technisch nächste Woche ist - aber es fühlt sich seltsam an, "die Show der nächsten Woche" zu sagen - in Ordnung, technisch ist es die Show der nächsten Woche - was Ich möchte sagen: Beim nächsten Self Help Radio, das am nächsten Montag stattfindet, geht es um "Reflexionen."

Just FYI.

What I got to thinking today, when one of my regular contributors stood me up, was how many books  were called "Reflections."  How many could there be?

Good Reads listed 35,332 results for "Reflections."  Here are the first twenty from the first page:

Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C.G. Jung,
Reflections by Clifton Kenny
Fables & Reflections (The Sandman, #6) by Neil Gaiman, Bryan Talbot, & Stan Woch
Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography by Roland Barthes
Reflections by Hermann Hesse
Trick Mirror: Reflections On Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
Reflections Of A Man by Amari Soul
Illuminations: Essays & Reflections by Walter Benjamin
Reflections by Anita Stansfield
I Remember Nothing: & Other Reflections by Nora Ephron
Reflection (Twisted Tales #4) by Elizabeth Lim
Reflections by T.R. Whittier
This Time Together: Laughter & Reflection by Carol Burnett
Reflection by Diane Chamberlain
Reflections by Iceberg Slim
Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley
Reflections by Charles Le Gai Eaton
Reflections by Idries Shah
Reflections by Marcia Willett
Reflections by Justin South

Have I read any of these?  Only the Sandman comic!  Do I want to read the rest?  Now I do!

Will I have the time to do so?  No, I will not.

Is this week's show full of these sorts of reflections?  I certainly hope so.

Will I stop asking myself questions & then answering them?  Yeah, that seems like a good idea.

PS, here are those questions & answers in German:

Habe ich etwas davon gelesen? Nur der Sandman-Comic! Will ich den rest lesen?  Jetzt mache ich!

Habe ich die Zeit dazu? Nein, werde ich nicht.

Ist die Show dieser Woche voller solcher Überlegungen? Das hoffe ich sehr.

Werde ich aufhören, mir Fragen zu stellen und sie dann zu beantworten? Ja, das scheint eine gute Idee zu sein.

Self Help Radio 010620: Iron

(Original image here.)

Sometimes you think you're absurd, & the world is like,  ha ha ha no.  On today's ridiculous show, I talk to a writer who advocates building a furnace in your own backyard to smelt your own iron.  I wasn't really talking to a writer, I was talking to a funny friend, who laughed when I suggested it, & then ad-libbed a funny response.  Then I was looking for images of iron smelting & I discovered this web page which - talks about building your own furnace to smelt iron.  Everything is absurd.

But yeah, that's the way it goes in Self Help Radioland, & the new year promises more of the same.
More odd themes, more goofy interviews, more attempts by me to be funny that fail more than they succeed.  In the meanwhile, please enjoy the first Self Help Radio of 2020, which is a show about iron.  The element.  The metal.  The stuff in our blood.

The show is at Self Help Radio dot net like it normally is.  Nothing has changed, you need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) to listen.  & the stuff that happens in the show is listed below.  Happy new year!  Be careful with home smelting.

Self Help Radio Iron Show
"Zavod (Iron Foundry) Op. 19" The U.S.S.R. Symphony Orchestra _The Music Of Alexander Mosolov (1900-1973)_
"Ironside" Quincy Jones _Smackwater Jack_
"Iron Man" Four Tet _Everything Comes & Goes: A Tribute To Black Sabbath_

introduction & definitions

"Rags & Old Iron" Nina Simone _Forbidden Fruit_
"Iron & Ore" Ohbijou _Metal Meets_
"Travel Iron" Les Barker _Up The Creek Without A Poodle_
"Clay & Cast Iron" Darlingside _Birds Say_
"Iron Ore Betty" John Prine _Bruised Orange_

interview with nutritionist Dr. Greg Louisiana Ned Dry interrupts!

"Iron Deficiency" The Courtneys _II_
"Iron Lung" Black Marble _It's Immaterial_
"Anchovy Ironer" Bob & Ray _Classic Bob & Ray, Vol. 3 - Selections From A Career: 1946-1976_
"Paper & Iron (Live At The Lyceum In London)" XTC _Coat Of Many Cupboards_
"Brenda's Iron Sledge (Live)" Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians _Gotta Let This Hen Out!_

interview with author Hieronymous Kalb

"Big Iron" Johnny Cash _American IV: The Man Comes Around_
"Iron Lady" Phil Ochs _I Ain't Marching Anymore_
"The Man In The Iron Mask" Billy Bragg _Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy_
"Any Old Iron" Peter Sellers _The Peter Sellers Collection_
"Any Old Iron (Part 1)" James Kirk _You Can Make It If You Boogie_

interview with chemical heir Little Prince Boy Dow Jr.

"Marble & Iron" Carl Douglas _Marble & Iron_
"(Ride On) Iron Horse" The Marlboro Men _Absolute Funk, Vol. 2_
"Iron Sharpening Iron" Culture _Harder Than The Rest_
"Iron Lemonade" Black Moth Super Rainbow _Eating Us_
"Ride The Iron Horse" BMX Bandits _Theme Park_

conclusion, upcoming Freeform Events, & goodbye

"Strike, While The Iron Is Hot" Hot Lips Page & His Orchestra _1950–1953_
"Cast Iron Arm" Peanuts Wilson _West Texas Bop_
"My Big Iron Skillet" Wanda Jackson _The Ultimate Collection_
"A Silver Key Can Open An Iron Lock Somewhere" Liliput _Kleenex/Liliput 1977 1983_
"Iron Claw" Nuns _Rumania_

Whither Iron?

(Art by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito - Iron is the big purple one.  Found this here.)

This week's show is about "iron."  Specifically, the character Iron from the Metal Men, a weird superhero team created in 1962 by Robert Kanigher & Ross Andru.  There were six of them, they were named after elements, they were advanced robots created by a pipe-smoking genius doctor of the 1960s variety, & Iron was the strong, brave one.  & I'm certain there are enough songs about this comic book character to fill an entire show.

What, you don't believe me?  You think it might be better to do a show about a superhero named "Iron Man" who's been in three of his own movies plus various others?  Preposterous!  No one gives a toss about that character!  All people really want to do is talk about Iron of the Metal Men!  If not Iron, then his teammates: Gold, Lead, Tin, Mercury, & Platinum!  You just wait, there'll be dozens of movies about them soon enough, & they'll make you forget about an people who's not a robot made of iron but rather a human being in an iron suit.

Wait - you don't think that all those songs somehow reference the element iron, do you?  How could that be?  Iron itself seems completely dull, while Iron of the Metal Men is - well, he's also dull, but in a more interesting way.  I guess I'll have to relisten to some of these songs - oh crap, it does appear the songs are about the element iron & not Iron of the Metal Men.

Oh well, I guess you'll have to make do with a Self Help Radio about the metal called iron.  Maybe I shouldn't bring the Metal Men up at all.  We'll see.  The show's on Monday morning - that's tomorrow - from 6-8am Portland time on 90.3+98.3fm Freeform Portland, online at freeformportland.org.  It might turn out that a radio show about iron is part of your recommended daily allowance for iron, in which case, listening is also good for you!