Sort of Sophisticated  By  cover art

Sort of Sophisticated

By: Pete + Amanda
  • Summary

  • A podcast rooted in becoming more cultured and curious. Where we endeavor to suspend judgment, expand our worldview and explore new topics that will help us learn to appreciate varying perspectives and values. But really it's a show where we hope to enlighten anyone who cares on topics that might make them more interesting and well versed humans and just dangerous enough to hold their own in this sophisticated world. Well, sort of.
    © 2024
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Episodes
  • Ep 009: Psychology
    Jun 18 2024

    Disney is releasing Inside Out 2.

    The sequel to the O. G. You know the movie about Riley, our favorite 11 year old girl who moves with her parents from Minnesota, freezing cold, to San Francisco, and freaks out a little?

    So they tell the story in her head about the five personified emotions, joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust, and how she manages her emotional responses from mission control headquarters in her brain.

    So, anyway, Inside Out 2, right, Riley's now a teenager, and they added a few new emotions. Mainly anxiety, envy, ahn wee , the French word for boredom,and embarrassment. And she's got to work herself through all this new stuff that comes with these more complex emotions, because she's a teenager.

    I love me a good movie and all, but what does this even have to do with being cultured and curious Pete?

    I just like going to the movies and eating popcorn and drinking Diet Coke . If you're putting a gun to my head, I would say it's got everything to do with being cultured and curious. It's psychology, man.

    And in my book, psychology is fascinating. It is the ultimate way to gain insight into human behavior across our planet.

    It helps us appreciate the diversity of the human experience. And if we can do that, Then we're going to be more empathetic and better handle and navigate all the social interactions we have to manage all day long. And probably most important, it encourages critical thinking and self awareness and it gets us out of our own head.

    It helps us reflect on our own biases and hopefully be more open minded.

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    42 mins
  • Ep 008: The Regency Era
    Jun 13 2024

    So, what do the Regency years have to do with being more cultured and curious?

    I thought you'd never ask. Okay, so if the fact that Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma were all published during the Regency era is not enough to Be fascinated with a time period, then I don't know what is.

    It was a time that finally gave women voices, outside of just marrying for status, and allowed for women to finally just fall in love. Jane Austen quite literally led the way during the era of Romanticism in both the arts and literature people.

    Then, how about the fact that Mary Shelley also wrote Frankenstein during the same period? Or that Edgar Allan Poe started penning his most famous poems? Or even that Ludwig van Beethoven was composing music like a madman already. It was a very short period, but one renowned for its advancements in architecture, fashion, literature, and art that forever shaped modern society as we know it today. And that, Amanda, is what it has to do with being more cultured and curious.

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    36 mins
  • Ep 007: Cricket with special guest Evan Sturrock
    Jun 7 2024

    But what does gambling have to do with becoming more cultured and curious, Pete?

    Not gambling, cricket. I'm going to tell you what cricket has to do with being more cultured and curious because we got to learn to appreciate varying perspectives and values. That's why. We have to want to care to learn about other countries, histories, and traditions.

    We have to have at least a modicum of self awareness to know we aren't the only people on this planet that matter. Selfish Americans. Did you know in 1994, when America hosted the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, just 10 percent of Americans knew it was even happening? In their own country. And today, not only do Americans know about soccer, but 33 percent of Americans who follow the sport describe themselves as avid soccer fans. Avid.

    But are they even fans? Because if they were, they'd call themselves football fans.

    Did you just say food, football, football fans? Well, they say they're fans. My point is it caught on three decades after soccer's first big American out and cricket is on its way to the world's biggest stage in June, 2024 people.

    The United States will jointly with the West Indies host the men's T20 cricket world cup, and around a third of the 55 matches will take place right here. In the United States, the American team as host automatically, automatically qualifies for the tournament. It's first ever top tier competition. And here's hoping it's a freaking coming out party for the Americans.

    I mean, it's really the only reason why the U S would ever make it into a cricket tournament.

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    45 mins

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