Greetings from Vejer de la Frontera, Spain, where I have a case of hay fever that makes me feel like my face is about to explode off my head. (Sorry for that image.) The photo below is one of many lovely towns we passed on the way from Ronda yesterday. See all those yellow flowers? Yeah.
With over 500 episodes under my belt, I think it’s safe to say that Tangentially Speaking represents the most consistent effort I’ve ever made in my life. I thought it might be interesting for me, and useful for you, to periodically revisit past conversations, adding a bit of background context to the conversation. Every week or so, I’ll post an episode from the archives that seems especially worth listening to again (or checking out for the first time if you haven’t been here quite as long as I have). I won’t always do them in chronological order, but in this case, #1 is definitely the place to start.
Episode #1: Neil Strauss. (10/18/2012) Best known as the author of the mega-bestseller, The Game, in which Neil embedded himself with a crew of so-called “pick up artists,” Neil and I probably seem unlikely to strike up a friendship. In fact, when I was working on Sex at Dawn, a friend of mine with only a vague idea of what I was writing about told me I should read The Game. When he told me about some of the techniques described in the book — which seemed to consist mainly of men posturing like shithead peacocks while “negging” women in order to undercut their confidence — I said, “Fuck that. What I’m writing is the opposite of that kind of shit.”
So a few years later, when Neil reached out to interview me for his follow-up book (ultimately published as The Truth), I was frankly surprised to find him to be kind, humble, and funny. Turns out that he was about as skeptical of those PUAs as I was.
In this first episode of the podcast (and first of several Neil and I have recorded over the years), you’ll hear us getting to know each other a bit better, talking about my first (mis)impressions of him, and see how easily an accomplished journalist like Neil can turn the tables on a would-be podcaster recording his very first interview!
Such a beautiful area. I had fond memories of a hippie centric north European riddled Castellar de la Frontera 25 years ago, full with a hashish haze and the reverberations of flamenco from within the old fort walls, so much so, that we revisited recently. Either the times have changed or I my phantasy rules the roost. Both no doubt. I wouldn’t know where to begin with suggestions for travel in Anadalucia, it’s a veritable spring of delights. We did however end up in Lagos (Portugal), where we hooked up everything one might desire for a serotonin drenched night. Bon voyage Love birds.
Hope you make it to Tarifa (across from Tangier)! Fond memories taking the ferry there when I needed to re-up my Moroccan tourist visa