Obligatory Cartoon Mentioning "Self-Help" Presentation

By the brilliant Tom Gauld. 

If only my radio show were as clever!

Drowning In Films Featuring Drowning

(image from the IMDb)

It will come as no surprise to you that, just as drownings happen in real life, they happen in the movies too.  Our resident cinephile Chuck came by this week to talk about films - thrillers, specifically - in which drownings occurred.  You can listen to that show if you missed it at either the KBOO website or the Self Help Radio website.

Chuck has shared some helpful links for you.

Here is the IMDb keyword search list Chuck used to find thrillers tagged with "drowning" & "murder."

Here is his YouTube playlist of films with drowning within.
Here's a list of some films available for free elsewhere.

Chuck used Letterboxd to comment on some of the films he watched.

Chuck watched way more films than he talked about on the air, but he did talk about them on Twitter.  Maybe follow him to see what he's watching?

Be safe out there!

Self Help Radio 040522: Drowning

(Original image here*.)

This is true: a listener called me to tell me that, as a child, he lived in Germany & his father fished in the North Sea.  He said he had nightmares that his father would drown regularly.  I worried that a show about drowning might be triggering for him, but he said no - he actually now dreamed regularly about being rescued from drowning by aliens in spaceships that looked like transparent cubes.

It's true, I fretted aloud that this particular show's subject matter might be too gruesome, & in fact another listener told me that he fully expected the show to be way more sad than it actually was.  Which, come to think of it, is a little triumph for Self Help Radio, which in its way is always way more sad than it means to be.

In any event, if you can stomach a radio show about drowning, which features music & interviews, you can listen now at the KBOO website, or at the show's website at Self Help Radio dot net.  If you choose the show's website, make sure you remember the username is SHR & the password is selfhelp.  All the things that happen on the show are below.

Be safe out there!

Self Help Radio 220405: Drowning

"Drowning" The English Beat _Wha'ppen_

"Drowning" New York Dolls _'Cause I Sez So_

"Drowning" The Luxembourg Signal _The Luxembourg Signal_

introduction, definitions, statistics

"Drowned In My Own Tears" Mitty Collier _Shades Of A Genius_

"Drowning On Dry Land" O.V. Wright _The Soul Of O.V. Wright_

"Drowning In Berlin" Mobiles _The Edge Of The Eighties_

"The Drowning Man" The Cure _Faith_

"Fear Of Drowning" British Sea Power _The Decling Of British Sea Power_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by to talk about movies featuring drowning

"Drown" Black Tambourine _By Tomorrow_

"Drown" Even As We Speak _Feral Pop Frenzy_

"Drown" Beliefs _Leaper_

"Drown" Chastity Belt _Chastity Belt_

"Drown (feat. Kirin J Callinan)" Genesis Owusu _Smiling With No Teeth_

interview with & performance by storyteller Noah Swimmer

"Duck Before You Drown" Dinah Washington _Back To The Blues_

"The Drowned Girl" David Bowie _Baal_

"Drowning Butterflies" Cleaners From Venus _Under Wartime Conditions_

"Drowned Rats" Melbourne Cans _Moonlight Malaise_

"Drown In The Now (feat. Matisyahu)" The Crystal Method _Divided By Night_

interview with lifeguard Jarvis Garvis

"Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning" Morrissey _Vauxhall & I_

"Drowning In You" Pluramon _The Monstrous Surplus_

"Watery (Drowning Is Just Another Word For Being Buried Alive Under Water)" A Sunny Day In Glasgow _Scribble Mural Comic Journal_

"Drowning In Plain Sight" The Delines _The Sea Drift_

"The Drowned Lovers" Nic Jones _Penguin Eggs_

interview with lifeguard & instructor Steve Gunter

"Pouring Water On A Drowning Man" James Carr _Beg Scream & Shout! The Big Ol' Box Of '60s Soul_

"I'm Drowning" Viki Adams _Casino Classics: The Forgotten Floorshakers_

"Ha Ha I'm Drowning" The Teardrop Explodes _Kilimanjaro_

"Drown With The Monster" White Lung _Deep Fantasy_

"Drown Me Out" Pity Sex _Feast Of Love_

"Drowning" Green Pajamas _Narcotic Kisses_

how to tell when someone is drowning - & what to do

"Drowning Head First" Adam Green _Sixes & Sevens_

"Drown" Westkust _Last Forever_

"I'll Try To Ignore The Fact That You're Drowning" Lux _We Are Not The Same_

"Death By Drowning" The Boys Next Door _Hee-Haw_

"Drowning In The Sea of Love" Joe Simon _Drowning In The Sea Of Love_

conclusion & goodbye

"Time Goes Slowly When You're Drowning" Television Personalities _Fashion Conscious_

"Mermaid Drowning On Dry Land" Miles Dethmuffen _Clutter_

*"Drowning In Bricks" by Walter Benson is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.

Whither Drowning?

(image from here.)

A long time ago, back in Austin, when I first started this show, someone at KOOP, which aired the show, came to me & asked about the show.  They said, "Your recent topics or themes seem very negative."  They had a touch of concern in their voice.

Now, I can't remember when this happened exactly - in the show's first year? or the second? I recall I did a show with the theme "broken" & a caller told me I had cursed her entire day with the show.  But I did wonder if I found "negative" subjects more interesting than whatever the opposite was.  Looking back, though, I see no clear pattern either way.

All of this is just to say I wonder what that volunteer would make of a show about drowning of all things.  & I'm not sure how I would explain exactly why the show today is about drowning, except that I came across a few songs recently that were about drowning - not in a physical sense, generally speaking.  & a cursory glance at my collection revealed I had a whole lot of songs involving drowning.  & that's usually how my shows take shape.

But I certainly hope this isn't triggering for anyone!  If so, please don't listen tonight from midnight to 3am on 90.7 fm in Portland or online at kboo.fm everywhere.  It does seem like a horrible way to go.

Preface To Drowning: What A Bleak Subject!

(no idea where I found this sorry)

Drowning is a gruesome thing, & a horrible way to die.  & lots of people drown to death - the World Health Organization says 236,000 people are lost in death related to drowning.  (Read all about it.)  Since humans have generally lived near water - & many of them throughout history have had to cross bodies of water regularly, sometimes on unsafe or shabbily made crafts - it's safe to say people have been dying by drowning for a long, long time.

But does that make it a suitable topic for a radio show?

Perhaps if I reassured you that drowning as a metaphor would make up the bulk of the song choices, would that help make the theme a bit more respectable?  After all, one can drown one's sorrows, or even drown out the bothersome noise around them.  Ray Charles famously sang he would drown in his own tears, & Joe Simon sang of drowning in a sea of love.  & it makes sense - in a world were drowning is so terrible, using drowning as a metaphor for how one is feeling can be quite powerful.

Besides, did you really think I'd get so lurid as to focus on death on this week's show?  To be fair, some of the songs will mention death, just as I have mentioned death in this discussion.  But we won't linger on it.  It won't be exploitative.  We're a not a true crime drama on the Netflicks or anything.

One confession: I haven't found a song that corresponds with a particular meaning I found on the Urban Dictionary:

Drowning, adjective:

You are beyond desperate & thirsty. You would hook up with anyone. It is not good to be drowning.

Jessica : hey Sally what are you looking at

Sally : ohh just the guy over their in the yellow

Jessica : umm I think he is ten. That is half our age not to mention the mud on his pants. Well I hope it's mud!

Sally : I don't care ima go and work my magic. Bye.

Jessica : your drowning

Because I would totally play that song.