Comfort Measures: Episode 9 - Sense and Sensibility

In today's episode, Jessica does things a little differently - not one book or movie or comfort show but three comfort shows, and not just three comfort shows but three comfort shows and their companion podcasts. So, join Jess as she discusses THE WEST WING and the podcast THE WEST WING WEEKLY; THE GOOD PLACE and the podcast THE GOOD PLACE THE PODCAST; and SCRUBS and the podcast FAKE DOCTORS REAL FRIENDS WITH ZACH AND DONALD. The Comfort Food is Blueberry Pancakes (with a side of crispy bacon). For the Community Comfort, Jess gets all Peace, Love, and Hippie on y'all suggesting some tree hugging; and, as with the last Corona Comfort she has some more comfort action suggestions, this time involving Frank Lloyd Wright. So, whip up some flapjacks and join Jess for a discussion of high quality hugs, connection despite Corona, and the importance of a solid "no ash-hole" workplace policy.

Tree Hugging Article:
https://www.treehugger.com/health/iceland-recommends-hugging-trees-instead-people.html

Pancake Recipe:
https://www.marthastewart.com/338185/basic-pancakes
*I actually eliminated the 2T of sugar the recipe called for and didn't miss them at all - especially with all the maple syrup I poured on them. :)

Frank Lloyd Wright Houses Virtual Tour:
https://thespaces.com/12-frank-lloyd-wright-buildings-are-now-hosting-virtual-tours/
*The tours are on the instagram pages of each building.

Future Crunch:
https://futurecrun.ch/

...and the article about the factory workers living at work for 28 days:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/23/factory-masks-coronavirus-ppe/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

Please feel free to rate and review Comfort Measures on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at http://goingtotahitiproductions.com/podcasts/, www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

In the second episode of season 2, Jessica and Laura do a re-read of the Lucy Maud Montgomery novel THE BLUE CASTLE. The comfort food is chinese food, specifically wonton soup and pork fried rice. And the community comfort is the tactile experience of a bowl of dry rice or beans (listen to the episode for details, you'll get it). So, crack open your copy of THE BLUE CASTLE, and join Jess and Laura for a discussion of the sin of fear, the theft of a silver spoon, and love (and sex) in the time of L. M.  Montgomery.

For more information about Lucy Maud Montgomery and her marvelous books, check out www.lmmontgomery.ca.

Thank you to Nat Keefe and The Bow Ties for the use of their songs, "Daley's Reel" during the intro to the media discussion and "Terrier Waltz" during the Comfort Comp. For more of Nat's music find him at his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr1hW0rMwhUGBPne6FYdyIQ and for more from The Bow Ties, find them at: http://www.bowtiesbluegrass.com/

If you're looking for the Psuedo Angina article that Jessica mentioned, it can be found here:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM190909161611201

The cottonball moment Laura references is from the tv show SCRUBS, Season 4 Episode 23 titled "My Faith in Humanity" and the moment can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNXfV6do_ts The full episode is available on hulu.com.

As always, thank you to Camilla Ammirati and THE DON'T TELL DARLINGS for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

Please feel free to rate and review Comfort Measures on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at http://goingtotahitiproductions.com/podcasts/, www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

In the midst of the global pandemic of Covid 19, we here at Comfort Measures thought we should try in some small way to help address the crisis and since we're not medical professionals, or essential workers or ventilator manufacturers, we're doing it the only way we know how by discussing a comfort movie and eating some comfort food. As you'll hear, these Corona Comfort episodes will be a little more freeform than our normal eps but will hopefully provide some comfort all the same. In today's episode, Jessica chats about the 1995 Dustin Hoffman gem, OUTBREAK, and addresses the reasons (in these difficult times) it can actually be considered a comfort.

The Comfort Food is Oatmeal Rasin cookes and the link to the recipe is below. No Community Comfort this episode but there are some comfort action suggestions in the podcast. The Virtual Tour of the Musee D'Orsay (mentioned in the ep) is linked below. So grab some oatmeal raisn cookies, cue up OUTBREAK on Netflix and join Jess for a discussion of comfort in the age of Coronavorus.

Oatmeal Cookie recipe:
https://www.food.com/recipe/oatmeal-raisin-cookies-35813

Virtual Tour of the Musee D'Orsay
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-dorsay-paris
scroll down to almost the bottom of the page (right above the map) and you'll see a pic of the main hall with a little yellow dude in it, click on the pic or the yellow dude and explore away...

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

Please feel free to rate and review Comfort Measures on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at http://goingtotahitiproductions.com/podcasts/, www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

Episode 12 - In our 12th episode, Jessica tackles her first (but far from her last) science fiction Comfort Media as she takes a deep dive into the premiere episode of the (criminally-cancelled-too-soon - Thanks, Frelling SciFi Channel!) television series, FARSCAPE. The Comfort Food is buttermilk biscuits. And the Community Comfort is (a bit on the nose, we know) Stargazing...so pull some buttermilk biscuits out of the oven, cue up the first episode of FARSCAPE (now available on Amazon Prime) and join Jess for a discussion of a Broken DRD, a Helium-farting Hinerian, the luminous Claudia Black, and action-figure wedding cake toppers.*

*A word from Jess about spoilers: Usually, I don't worry about spoilers. I assume if you're listening to the podcast, you've already consumed the media so I'm not particularly careful about what I say. However, for some reason with this episode (maybe because it's science fiction (and we sci-fi geeks are pretty spoiler-phobic), maybe because we're in the middle of the final season of GoT and Avengers:Endgame literally just opened so I'm hyper aware of spoilers, but whatever the reason), I was concerned that people watching might not have seen any future episodes and I didn't want to ruin anything for anyone, so I tried to be very careful about not revealing things that are to come. So! There are a couple of places that had mild spoilers, where I give the heads up to fast forward 30 seconds just to avoid hearing those little nuggets.

Here are the three articles Jess mentioned in the pod:

Who killed Farscape?
http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/who-killed-farscape/

The Entertainment Weekly review that started it all (at least for Jessica)
https://ew.com/article/1999/03/19/farscape/

The Ethical Drama of John Crichton (Warning: Spoiler-ific if you haven't watched the full series)
https://www.tor.com/2019/01/16/the-ethical-drama-of-farscapes-john-crichton/

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

Please feel free to rate and review Comfort Measures on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at http://goingtotahitiproductions.com/podcasts/, www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

In our latest episode, Jessica does a re-read of the hilarious Jennifer Crusie novel FAKING IT. The comfort food is blueberry muffins. And the community comfort is the scent of cinnamon (and the Christmas spices that go with it - clove and nutmeg)...so drop a nice cinnamon Christmas blend in the diffuser, grab a warm blueberry muffin (with some soft-but-not-melted butter), crack open your copy of FAKING IT, and join her for a discussion of closet meet-cutes and familial relations, asthmatic artists and multiple personalities, possible hit-men and definite con-men, and the comparative benefits of muffins vs. doughnuts.

For more of Jennifer Crusie's marvelous books, check out www.jennycrusie.com.

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

Please feel free to rate and review Comfort Measures on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

Episode 10 - In our February episode, we jump in to the 1987 Rob Reiner classic - THE PRINCESS BRIDE. So, in the spirit of Inigo Montoya:

Hello.
My name is Jessica Ammirati.
You're seeking comfort.
Prepare to (re)watch!

Jessica's co-host this month is none other than retired English and American Studies and Dean of Studies, Theresa (aka Mom) Ammirati. The comfort food pairing is beef stew. Get yerself a bowl, grab some crusty bread to go with it, and settle in for a discussion of a princess, a pirate, a giant, a Spaniard, a six-fingered man, and some very large rodents.

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

Please feel free to rate and review Comfort Measures on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

COMFORT MEASURES is BACK! And, in our first episode of 2019, Jessica is joined by Camilla Ammirati for a deep dive into the Jane Austen film classic - SENSE & SENSIBILITY. Join us for tea and biscuits and a discussion of sisters, WILLOUGHBY(!), weird fingernail things, and spray-painted sheep.

For more about Camilla and her folklorist work, check out www.TAUNY.org and for more about Camilla the musician, check out the links below for The Don't Tell Darlings and Uprooted, or, if you're ever in Canton, NY swing by The Buccaneer Lounge, https://www.facebook.com/Bucclounge/.

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

If you enjoy Comfort Measures, please rate and review us on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

Episode 8 - In episode 8, Jessica does a re-watch of the pilot episode of the Gilmore Girls. The comfort food is apple pie. And the community comfort is a fire in a woodstove...so, light up a (nice and contained - safety first!) fire, grab a slice of homemade apple pie, cue up Gilmore Girls on Netflix, and join Jessica for a discussion of the fast-talking/pop culture spouting Gilmores, frying pans to the face, Officer Krupke, and super dry (but very healthy) muffins...

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

If you enjoy Comfort Measures, please feel free to rate and review the show on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

Episode 7 - In episode 7, we discuss Nora Ephron's uniquely Washington DC novel, HEARTBURN. Joining Jessica for the deep dive, is actor/producer/writer/director and founding artistic director of Tongue In Cheek Theater (www.tictheater.com), Jake Lipman* (www.jakelipman.com). The comfort food is (Nora-approved) mashed potatoes. Community Comfort is a new one for us at CM - a scent - specifically Calendula - courtesy of Jake.

So, get yerself a bowl of hot mashed potatoes, some Kerrygold butter to mix on in, pick up your copy of HEARTBURN, and join Jess and Jake for a discussion of The Eastern Airlines Shuttle, handsome muggers, group therapy, and hamster-raising ex-husbands...

*A special note - as Jessica mentions in the intro to the episode, as a dramaturge and associate producer, Jessica collaborated with Jake on the creation of a new play called Relentlessly Pleasant. The play is having it's world premiere run off-off-Broadway October 10th-27th, 2018 at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street. For more information and to get tickets (if you happen to be in NYC for October) go to www.tictheater.com.

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod, and for the song "Guess That's Why" (underscoring the Comfort Comp). For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

Please feel free to rate and review Comfort Measures on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.

In episode 6, Jessica takes a deep dive into the pilot episode of the JJ Abrams Spy Show Classic - ALIAS. The comfort food is the NY Deli Classic - the black and white cookie. And the community comfort is the Winter Classic - the towel warmer...so, throw on a pair of warm sweat pants, cue up Alias on Amazon, grab a black and white, and join Jessica for a discussion of double agents, (seemingly) absentee fathers, a truly extraordinary chair flip, and blazing red hair...

As always, thank you to The Don't Tell Darlings for use of their songs "Never Saw Nothing" and "Till I Get Home" in the intro and outro (respectively) to the pod. For more of Camilla's music you can go to www.donttelldarlings.com and www.facebook.com/UprootedStringBand

Please feel free to rate and review Comfort Measures on iTunes and don't forget to subscribe to the show while you're there.

You can get more Comfort Measures at www.patreon.com/comfortmeasures, www.facebook.com/comfortmeasurespodcast, www.twitter.com/ComfMeasuresPod, www.instagram.com/comfortmeasurespodcast.