The Televisheni Podcast

In this episode, Tony speaks with Boni about the Chris Kariuki + 1982 coup; Kabila I's assassination; Bashir's ousting; militarisation under Kenyatta II; Merkel's bio + political savvy; military fatigue here + beyond; political campaign statutes; struggles career + academic; time + growing older + aging parents; Clint Eastwood's moralism + Americanism; "Bayhem"; cannabis dependence; Christopher Nolan the neurotic Luddite?; fears + expectations about 2022; social intelligence; work-life balance; and many other topics. 

*Thinko @ 41:36: id✗ super-ego✓  

*Recorded on Dec 30, 2021 

*Spoiler warning for The Shawhank Redemption (1994); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011); The Irishman (2019) 

Get first access to more audio on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and feel free to drop a line @ twitter.com/komo_gitaua; spotifylive.link/ZLgxhdrEdwb

In this episode, Simon speaks to Tony (later joined by Brian Yego) about the election petition; the possibility of a protracted hearing; ethnic chauvinism & voting patterns; charisma & what else endears us to unsavory characters; the mind of Kim Wexler; Al Pacino; animation; and many other topics. 

*SPOILER WARNING* for Better Call Saul's series finale; Westworld: The Choice; Country Queen; Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019); The Godfather Trilogy (1972-1990); Seven (1995); The Sixth Sense (1999); Insomnia (2002); The Departed (2006)

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In this episode, Simon speaks to Tony about the just concluded general elections, how they rationalized their choices; democracy vs. technocracy; whether higher education is a reasonable requirement for aspiring legislators; prospects for the future; social media & misinformation; addiction; and many other topics.

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In this episode, Simon & Tony are joined by Mike, Sophie, DJ & Ivy. They respond to listener questions about aliens; ethnicity; COVID vaccines; free will & moral responsibility; social media & attention; their favorite movies; and many other topics. 

*SPOILER WARNING* for Interstellar (2014), Arrival (2016), The Social Dilemma (2020), etc 

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In this episode, Simon and Tony have an in-depth conversation about the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. 

They talk about the differences between the 1st and 2nd half of his filmography; his complex portrayal of masculinity; his hyperrealistic cinematography & how effectively he places you in the past; the various Freudian complexes on display in Phantom Thread & The Master; the psychological cost of ungoverned greed; latent homoeroticism; corporal punishment; and many other topics. 

*SPOILER WARNING* for "Hard Eight" (1996), "Punch Drunk Love" (2002), "There Will Be Blood" (2007), "The Master" (2012), "Phantom Thread" (2017)

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In this very brief episode, the hosts give a few shoutouts and announce a forthcoming Q&A episode. 

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In this episode, Tony and Simon are joined by Brian Sagini, Mike Kumuru, DJ Kobia, Ivy Wangeci, Njooro, and Evans to review the book, "Journeying Into Marriage: How to Choose Your Marriage Partner". 

They talk in-depthly about dating; hypergamy; the asymmetry between a man and a woman's love; power dynamics in intimate relationships; how to solve the impasse between African tradition & Western egalitarianism; sexual selection & the problem of generalization; gender roles; and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Tony and Simon talk loosely about next year's general elections; why we should vote out ALL career politicians; democracy in a multi-ethnic society; potential solutions for corruption; class conflict; voting for the lesser evil vs. 'kuchoma vote'; the seemingly zero-sum contest between economic progress and civil liberties in African countries; the Finance Act of 2021; the BBI; and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Tony and Simon break down Ari Aster's Midsommar. They talk in-depthly about its unnervingly colorful visuals; how effectively it manages to indoctrinate both Pugh AND the viewer; Ättestupa & other prehistoric Scandinavian rituals; why Ari Aster should ONLY make horror movies, and many other topics. 

*SPOILERS WARNING* for Midsommar (2019)

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In this episode, Tony and Simon discuss Netflix and its effects on TV and film quality. They also try to capture Martin Scorcese's director's style.

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In this episode, Tony speak with Bonface Gitaua about the movie MALCOLM & MARIE; honesty in romantic relationships; selfishness as a virtue; egoism as the default human condition; money & power in relationships; the search for a moral imperative; the role of empathy in moral reasoning; and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Simon is joined by friends, Ivy and D.J. They talk about the Kenyan education system and it's major flaws. They also talk about working from home and the kind of discipline needed for it.  Ivy and D.J also run a cat shelter based in Nairobi. Check them out on IG: @snowcatshelterke Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Stitcher. 

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In this episode, Simon and Tony get a bit personal. They talk about their childhoods and how it affects them as adults. They also question what it means to be happy, meaning of family and their relationships with women.

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In this episode, Simon and Tony review the 2021 Crime Thriller - The Little Things. They also briefly talk about Denzel's long career and the few misses he's had. 

*SPOILER WARNING* for The Little Things (2021)

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In this episode, Tony finally understands Tenet and explains what it's about. The conversation then naturally morphs into a discussion on time and time travel. 

Simon and Tony also talk Christopher Nolan's filmography, and debate on whether he really is a good filmmaker. 

*SPOILER WARNING* for Tenet (2020)

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In this episode, Simon and Tony review Boniface Mwangi & Sam Soko's 2020 documentary, Softie. They talk about how difficult it is to lead a life as an influential political activist in Kenya; the indignities of poverty; the slow but steady trudge towards a ballot revolution in Kenya; civic illiteracy; the myth of the poor, rational voter; family & fatherhood; and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Simon reviews the 2014 film - Foxcatcher. He talks about its themes and why it's such an unsettling movie. Foxcatcher stars Steve Carell and Channing Tatum and is directed by Benett Miller. 

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In this episode, Tony speaks with Ian Ngaara about Christopher Nolan's latest film, TENET. They talk about its intricate (/convoluted?) plot; the physics behind inversion; the (dis)analogies between it and classical time-travel; the shitty sound-mixing in Nolan's recent films; DJ Afro; Brannagh's awesome performance, and many other topics.

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In this episode, Simon talks about local music from newer releases like Midnight Train by Sauti Sol to Kenyan classics like Bongo La Biashara. He also talks about the local rap scene from Wakadinali to the more Shrap-inclined Boutross. 

You can listen to Simon's Kenyan music playlist on: https://music.apple.com/ke/playlist/playke/pl.u-8aAVXDVTvWbKV24

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In this episode, Simon talks about the various types of movie producers there are & the role each plays in the filmmaking process, the slow but steady rise in the quality of Kenyan films, unique hurdles faced by Kenyan storytellers, Nick Mutuma's Sincerely Daisy, and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Simon & Tony talk about old primary school brawls, mildly traumatising things they went through in their younger days, the merits of political anger, police brutality, Hessy & the problem of vigilantism in crime-ridden Nairobi, the latent tribalism deep within the Kenyan psyche, the link between poverty & violent crime, the link between violence & democratisation, speculations about possible violence in 2022, corruption as the bane of economic progress in Kenya, graft in pre- & post-colonial Kenya, the 2016 biopic Snowden, privacy & mass surveillance, internet pornography, the (de)merits of living in the information age, social media & groupthink, Twitter & the death of conversation, rape & responsibility, and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Simon and Tony talk about Westworld: The New World, free will, artificial intelligence, what the 2070s might look like, the possibility of human extinction, time & the inadequacy of language to define what it is really, the illusion of the present, the long wait for Christopher Nolan's Tenet, Russell's 5-minute hypothesis, the hubris inherent in human intelligence, sentience & the problem of evil, Fermi's paradox, and many other topics. 

*Recorded in June 2020

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In this episode, Simon and Tony talk about the long wait for a Coronavirus vaccine, implications of post-infection immunity, the symptomatic sweet spot occupied by COVID-19, comparisons with the ordinary flu--both valid and invalid, zoonotic origins of Ebola, their first few months in quarantine, access to online learning as an economic privilege, new things Simon is learning about space, Voyager 1, gravity as the glue that holds together the solar system, time dilation as portrayed in the movie Interstellar, the possibility of time travel & the existence of extra-terrestrial life forms, the Netflix documentary Have A Good Trip, profound questions that are made urgent while under the influence of mild psychedelics, bad trips & what they might entail, the origin of the universe, our self-assigned life-purposes & whether we ought to question them, living righteously, the innateness of greed to the human condition, frugality as a necessary tool for self-transcendence, asceticism & willpower in Eastern cultures, wealth & happiness, Seneca's stoicism, and many other topics. 

*Recorded in May 2020

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In this episode, Tony speaks with Bonface Gitaua about Andy Stanley's definition of grace, common misunderstandings about God's will for humanity, how to contextualize the mayhem in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ's role in revising (improving?) Mosaic law, grace as an effective antidote to resentment, the pardoning of the penitent thief & the story of the adulterous woman as two major grace events, the implications of a grace-oriented lifestyle on moral responsibility, incarceration & capital punishment, and many other topics. 

References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ZW8tqojvU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzlQD1yuRFw

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In this episode, Simon and Tony talk about the origins and appeal of soukous, Konshens's 2019 HYPE Fest concert, Kenya as a hub for dancehall music, the origins and evolution of gengetone, Tony's top 5 favorite Kenyan rappers, whether there is indeed *a* Kenyan sound, and many other topics.

*Recorded in September 2019

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In this episode, Simon and Tony talk about their experiences with death & grief, cancer, air travel, the belief in an afterlife as a psychological imperative, life purposes & how we ought to live, wealth & happiness, how to deal with negative states of mind, what it means to live in the moment, and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Simon and Tony talk about the movie Joker, millenials & their coddling (in relation to this tweet: twitter.com/davidndii/status/1214799849595555840), the psychological differences between altruists and psychopaths, various recreational drugs & their phenomenological effects, addiction, drunk driving, psychedelic experiences, drugs & spirituality, the season finale of Mr. Robot, Mindhunter Season 1, repressed emotions, and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Simon and Tony are once again joined by their friend, Brian Sagini. They talk about the season finale of Game of Thrones, Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Blacklist, the multiverse theory, Westworld, free will, moral responsibility, consciousness in animals, the notion of the soul, human rights, artificial intelligence & the rights of humanoid robots, the nature of pain, experience, memory & human emotion, brain replication & mind uploading, identity & the self, the ship of Theseus, the (de)merits of human intelligence, morality, religion & spirituality, Eastern meditation, ego death, happiness, regret, the brevity of life, and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Simon and Tony are joined by their mutual friend, Brian Sagini for some good old armchair political banter. They talk about the state of the nation, world politics, the Kenyan economy, violence & democratization, Miguna Miguna, David Ndii, Paul Kagame, benevolent dictatorships, corruption in Kenya, and many other topics.

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In this episode, Simon and Tony talk about free will, human consciousness, moral responsibility, the meaning of life, the phenomenological effects of marijuana (as compared to alcohol), and many other topics.

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In this episode, Simon and Tony review Quentin Tarantino's 9th film. They talk about his film catalogue, his penchant for bloody third acts & racial expletives, Leonardo Dicaprio's seeming prowess at picking movies, and many other topics. 

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In this episode, Simon and Tony review recent episodes of the aforementioned shows. They talk about the awesome cinematography of Mr. Robot, the strange detachment in Mad Men's plot, The Wire, Atlanta, Better Call Saul, and they reminisce nostalgically about old 22-episode show format.

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