Unanswered

Unanswered 26: The Cinema Experience

September 10, 2014 16:30 - 29.5 MB

Steev and Nick discuss their experiences with the cinema and ask whether the magic of the place has been diminished by the way the industry has treated itself, or whether your hosts are just too jaded to take it on its own, rejigged terms. In a time where we can have a big enough screen at home, does the cinema still deserve to be the ultimate place to take in Hollywood’s finest? There’s also way too much talk about popcorn and penises. Continue reading →

Unanswered 25: Money

August 07, 2014 06:00 - 26.6 MB

In our twenty-fifth show we expand our horizons beyond amateur philosophy by also trying our hands at amateur history and amateur economics, to really drive home how little we know about the stuff we try to talk about. Gasp you will as we wonder how the idea of money started, who drew the notes, and how that person got paid. We also invent unprofitable businesses, discuss what we did with our pocket money, as well as consider the value of things when we have to work to afford them. Continue ...

Unanswered 24: A conversation that should’ve been about Loneliness and Solitude

July 11, 2014 13:21 - 26.7 MB

Communication breakdown on several fronts lead to this episode of Unanswered. The show was intended to be a discussion on the differences between loneliness and solitude, and the upsides to be found in the latter. Somehow the conversation stuck around an aside about introverts and extroverts. Additionally, the traditional recording set-up on Nick’s side failed, causing us to rely on the less than stellar Skype feed resulting in the occasional appearance of Robonick. Continue reading →

Unanswered 23: Euro Vision Throng Context

June 04, 2014 11:50 - 28.3 MB

Recorded in a month all about Europe, Steev and Nick freewheel into a conversation about the UK’s political climate, and in particular the debate around immigration. Captured before the European Parliament elections and released after the dust had settled, this episode is as much a snapshot of a specific moment as it is a record of our own political perspective and prejudices. Find out what the deal is with Question Time, whether political parties have their own official dance, if suburban ...

Unanswered 22: When Is It OK To Be Naked?

May 08, 2014 17:00 - 24.8 MB

Naked as the day you were born is the only true day you were naked as the day you were born. Before long, however, it’s clear we’ve got to cover up: first for warmth and to stop our untrained selves from defecating where we stand; and later, because as much as our egos don’t want to hear it, the rest of the world isn’t particularly interested in dealing with an unwarranted state of clotheslessness. If there’s nothing actually wrong with the human form, and if it’s as beautiful as artists and...

Unanswered 21: Empathy v. Sympathy

April 02, 2014 11:30 - 24.1 MB

Empathy in a world of sympathy must feel like an apologist in a room full of outrage, whilst sympathy in a world of empathy must feel like a narcissist in a room without a reflective surface. It’s just as well the world is much larger than a four metre squared patch of carpet otherwise the complexity of humans could get a bit noticed. It’s a heady mix of the silly and serious as tragedy, charity, plasters, Harvard, and privilege checking are all quickly examined, before Steev and Nick push t...

Unanswered 20: Procrastination

March 05, 2014 19:04 - 30.9 MB

It took Steev and Nick thirteen months to record their first podcast after deciding they would make one together. Twenty episodes of Unanswered later they get around to tackling procrastination as a topic. They are well suited to discuss it. Is procrastination a manifestation of boredom, distractibility or fear? What are the barriers procrastinators build for themselves to avoid doing the things which really matter? Can displacement activities themselves be productive? Steev and Nick ask a l...

Unanswered 19: Home

February 06, 2014 10:15 - 22.9 MB

Returning from a month's hiatus turns out to be a tricky thing, thanks to the disruptive power of moving home. Steev’s moving moving experience is the starting point for a discussion on what home means to us. We look at the various places we call home, and try to figure out what turns a collection of bricks and stuff, or roads and places, into an emotional connection. Continue reading →

Unanswered 18: Happiness

December 04, 2013 18:10 - 27.4 MB

We are all prone to bouts of wondering what it is we’re supposed to do with our lives, and it seems one of the most popular answers is to be happy. Our governments and corporations wish for us to be happy as much as our nearest and dearest do. Whilst all this goodwill is lovingly received, can we even begin to understand what our pursuit of happiness really means? Why is happiness the emotion that wins out amongst all others, and do we risk confusing it with a sense of contentment? It’s a d...

Unanswered 17: Spoilers

November 06, 2013 11:30 - 27.9 MB

“You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression” so the infamous phrase goes, and whilst you often have it told to you before a job interview or going on a date, it also applies to a good book or this year’s must-watch box-set TV show. Inspired in part by the fuss whipped up around the farewell of Breaking Bad, Steev and Nick delve into the dangers of time-shifting our entertainment diet, either by circumstance or by design. If everybody is talking about a thing you haven’t yet see...

Unanswered 16: Jobsworth!

October 02, 2013 11:30 - 27.5 MB

Despite themselves and their often inflated sense of self-importance, humans do a relatively good job of all getting along. That is, unless one of their contemporaries is proving to be an obstacle purely by performing the duties their employer has bestowed upon said ghastly hurdle. Surely it is not too much to ask to appeal to the hurdle’s better nature and sense of fairness? Well, yes you can ask. Questions have a habit of providing unwelcome answers, however. And the wind cries Jobsworth. ...

Unanswered 15: Privacy

September 04, 2013 11:30 - 25.8 MB

Everybody’s business is their own until it becomes somebody else’s. The question is: who gets to decide to make it somebody else’s business? Steev and Nick address privacy: where it exists in real life, and how online life has eroded our boundaries and highlighted the breadcrumb trail we leave, causing us to wonder what we’re left with. Follow us on a journey around baby pictures, condoms, soul stealing databases, the lives of the rich and famous, and what terrorists keep in their pants. Bu...

Unanswered 14: Changes

August 07, 2013 11:40 - 27.5 MB

With only days to go before the birth of his first child, Nick is in the mood to talk about some of the big changes in life and how we come to make them. Specifically, we discuss the milestones we pass in our relationships, why the decision to pass them seems like a big deal at the time, and why the weight of expectation can have a detrimental effect. Also, learn more than you’d ever wish to know about caffeine, what would terrify the versions of us from ten years ago, and which of us gurns ...

Unanswered 13: Luck

July 03, 2013 14:00 - 23.1 MB

The neighbourhood, let alone the world or the universe, is a pretty large place compared to a single solitary human being who would struggle to put a dent in anything most days. If we are so powerless to affect change wouldn’t it be more comforting to know that someone or something is making the dents for us? Luck is the term we commonly use to give reason to the things happening in our lives which we care not to analyse. Why are we so prepared to let luck take the wrap for the wrong stuff, ...

Unanswered 12: Offence

June 05, 2013 10:55 - 30.2 MB

When a person finds themselves offended it is described as them ‘taking offence’. We should be thankful for this grammatical distinction for offence, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder. This episode explores the modern malaise of militant indignation where the simple act of getting the hump somehow means this poor, fictional victim awards themselves the ability to force the rest of the world to adapt. Several examples from the world of comedy are brought into play, as well as racis...

Unanswered 11: Being a Fan

May 01, 2013 10:20 - 26.3 MB

When a like turns into a devotion and becomes a part of your emotional well-being, it’s possible you have become a fan. You enjoy, support and loyally follow an individual or group making something entertaining, or succeeding or failing in a sport. And that’s OK because you’re allowed to enjoy the fruits of another’s hard work. The person who worked hard to make it wants you to enjoy it. It’s a simple relationship. However, how much devotion is unhealthy and where can the relationship break...

Unanswered 10: Notebooks and Romance

April 03, 2013 12:00 - 22.7 MB

Nick has taken a look through his many swanky notebooks full of ideas, thoughts and observations. Starting along the path of youthful exuberance, and whilst the tenth episode started with the intention to be a bit of a round robin, we ended up focusing on affairs of the heart. We dissect the hopeless romantic; deconstruct the honeymoon period; and decide what defines an actual relationship from a schoolyard fling. We also talk crushes and crazy attention-grabbing schemes, and peek behind the...

Unanswered 9: Cities

March 06, 2013 23:34 - 22.9 MB

Cities: Hulking great machines keeping its populace in sportswear and takeaway coffees, hiring people to sell sportswear and takeaway coffees. With our attention so divided between threats, opportunities and more bus stop ads than you could shake Adam Sandler at, are we able to focus on anything but the next few minutes? Steev and Nick are your tour guides of a ramshackle conversation covering African tribes; cherry bakewells; suburban sprawl; Hitler’s legacy, and The Wow Factor. Curiously,...

Unanswered 8: Trolling

February 21, 2013 14:08 - 28.6 MB

Once only residing in Nordic legend, trolls have rampantly multiplied and found new, fertile ground along the Information Superhighway. As the world started to connect, and as technologies and services grew to house it, the human race re-encountered behaviours that the rigours of meatspace had started regulating years before. What’s troubling is, as more significant and influential people are thrust into online confrontations they weren’t expecting, we’re all struggling for a term to describ...

Unanswered 7: Llamas and Storytelling

February 06, 2013 11:00 - 23.2 MB

Nick takes us back to his formative years to share a story about a llama, and relates it to the type of true stories told on The Moth podcast. This leads us to examine whether his tale could cut the mustard on the stage. We also ponder whether anecdotes or verbal vignettes, which don’t always guarantee a tidy resolution or lesson learned, really fit in anywhere without the context of already knowing the storyteller. No testicles were harmed during the making of this podcast. Continue reading →

Unanswered 6: I Don’t Think That Means What You Think It Means

January 23, 2013 11:00 - 23.8 MB

Sometimes we can be wrong without even knowing we’re wrong, because the meaning we thought we knew turns out not the be the meaning at all. Whilst this could lead to potentially disastrous effects, Nick and Steev instead prefer to focus mainly on songs. That is when they do actually focus on the topic and don’t find themselves distracted by social awkwardness; learning to drive; the movie Innerspace; or interruptions from a flaky broadband connection. The makers of this podcast also wish to...

Unanswered 5: Perception of Time

January 09, 2013 16:00 - 23.3 MB

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day, Nick and Steev are back; and this time it’s time to talk about time. Predictable chunks of time such as minutes, evenings and weeks can find a way of either running away from us or conversely wear out their welcome. For example: the long and possibly rose-tinted summer holidays of childhood stretched out ahead of us back then in a rather similar way to being trapped at a boring party now. Or worse still, a meeting. The cud is chewed until th...

Unanswered 4: Versions of Self

December 31, 2012 18:00 - 21.7 MB

Who we are as a person can depend on where we are, both in time and location. While we are busy adapting to our ever-changing environment is it possible to ever really be our true self? We look at the times and places that influence us and try to discover why we have subsets of our personality. We successfully fail at not focusing on the workplace. Also Steev has a cold. Continue reading →

Unanswered 3: Christmas obligations

December 12, 2012 23:03 - 27.8 MB

Christmas is coming and for those who choose to observe the seasonal celebrations, there’s a lot to do. There are lists to write, gifts to buy, cards to send, people to please and white lies to tell—so it’s just as well it happens but once a year. Everything and everyone is telling us what a happy time it is, so why can it end up feeling like work? We take a look at some of the obligations to fulfil during this most seasonal of seasons and share several personal stories. Hopefully for conte...

Unanswered 2: Fear of Flying

November 28, 2012 19:00 - 25 MB

Nick recalls his first experience flying on a small aeroplane, noting it can be quite different from long-haul journeys on much larger jets. This kicks off a conversation about the fear of flying or, more to the point, the myriad fears and issues captured within. In addition we discuss dreams, other tales of disaster, and we entirely resist the issue of airline food. Continue reading →

Unanswered 1: Opinions

November 21, 2012 20:29 - 25.5 MB

In the debut episode, we tackle the slippery subject of opinions in a rip-roaring display of low self-awareness as if Unanswered is in any way qualified to define what opinions are and who gets permission to express them. Marvel at our abuse of science and religion. Gasp as we wrangle Godwin’s Law. Restrain the urge to faint as we decide who is responsible for policing all of this thinking. Also learn how we like our tea. Continue reading →

Unanswered 0: The Things You Own Own You

November 15, 2012 15:20 - 24.8 MB

In our pilot episode we talk about how objects that are owned have a curious way of becoming far more than objects, representing and reflecting aspects of our personality, and digging in their hooks way beyond the point of their usefulness. Mugs, comic books, VHS cassettes, vinyl records and other seemingly harmless objects have their inherent evils revealed. Continue reading →

Episodes