Finding Favorites with Leah Jones
Finding Favorites is where we learn about people’s favorite things and get recommendations without using an algorithm. Every other week, host Leah Jones sits down with a guest to learn about how they found their favorite thing, why they love it and why they think other people will fall in love, too.
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Episodes
Sunday Dec 20, 2020
Sunday Dec 20, 2020
Jen Usellis is a Chicago-based performer known online and in Star Trek circles as the Klingon Pop Warrior. With lifetime membership in the Klingon Language Institute, Jen translates and records covers/interpretations of pop songs. She went "moderately" viral last year with her performance of Let It Go from the movie Frozen. We talk about how singing in a Twin Cities cover opened the door to performing in Klingon. Do we talk about Klingon music theory? Yes, yes we do.
Klingon Pop Warrior's third Kickstarter campaign for her COVID-produced EP launches on January 1, 2021 and you can find it here.
Follow Jen online
Twitter and Instagram
KlingonPopWarrior.com
Bandcamp and Twitch
Show Links
Commedia Beauregard
Klingon Christmas Carol
Warrior Song and lyrics to Warrior Song
Improvised Star Trek: Today A Good Day to Cry
Klingon Language Institute
Jen's second Kickstarter
Marc Okrand (creator of Klingon language)
Extralife Fundraising - Chicago Guild
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
David Simmer II, known to old school bloggers as Blogography, is a photographer and traveler based in Washington. We hopped on Zoom on Thanksgiving to talk about all aspects of his world travels including trips with his mom, falafel in Israel, returning to Spain and his photography expedition to Antarctica.
Show Links
Blogography
Posts about David's trip to Antarctica
Posts about his travels to Barcelona
I love you around the world and back (traveling with his mom)
Philosophy Shampoo
Ted Lasso preview
Adventures by Disney
Photography Will Burrard Lucas
The Little Insurgent in Warsaw
CADIC in Ushuaia
First night Hanukah candle with Hanukah on Miller Drive
Sound effects by Freesound.org users Klankbeeld and trouby
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
Lauren Cerand, currently based in New York City, is a freelancer and jewelry student. In 2019, she gave up her apartment, sold most of her belongings and moved to Italy to learn how to make jewelry at the Alchimia Contemporary Jewelry School in Florence. We trace her path from a class at the 92Y to Pratt School of Design and finally to Italy.
Follow Lauren on Instagram or her project Shop Cerand.
Links
Alchimia Contemporary Jewelry School
92Y Jewelry programs
Brooklyn Metal Works
Pratt Arts & Design
Jewelry Arts in NYC
Ponte Vechio in Florence
Shibuichi metal
Civilization on PBS: Light and Color
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
Based in Denver, Colorado, Marni tells us why she picked up a deck of Tarot cards in 2016 and how she fell madly, deeply in love with all things Tarot. You will want to pick up a history book before you are halfway through the podcast and buy a beautiful deck by the end.
Follow @mystic.marni on Instagram
Show Links
Rider Waite Smith Deck
Mamluk Card Decks
Triomphe (Trump)
Visconti Sforza Deck
Tarot of Marsailles
Il Meneghello (Italian historical decks)
Crowley Thoth Deck
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Holly Simple Deck
Dark Star Tarot on YouTube
Slow Holler
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
Scott Weston is a Chicago-based Drupal developer who would like to move to Schitt's Creek. In this episode we talk about the Moira costume party that opened the door of the Canadian sitcom to him, debate which characters had the most personal growth and we talk about our cats.
CW: We discuss a death by suicide that happens in Season 1 during our discussion about Bob. Hop from 1:10:00 to 1:12:00 to skip
The only link you need from this episode is: Fold In The Cheese
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Aimee Giese is a Denver-based graphic designer and concert photographer. We talked about how organizing a fundraiser at her son's school opened the door for her to become an accomplished concert photographer. She explained to me the rules of shooting concerts, declares Red Rocks the best venue in the world (fair) and introduced me to a dozen new bands and photographers over the course of our conversation.
Links
Follow Aimee Giese, aka Greeblehaus, on
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Reading her blog, start here
U2 Concert Photos
Halloqueen with Ghost in the Jukebox
Denver and Colorado Concert Photographers on Instagram
Additional links
#SaveOurStages
Jim Marshall
Lynn Goldsmith
Mary Ellen Matthews, SNL
Mik Rock
Bluebird District
Mission Ballroom
Prelude Press
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
Caroline Dorn and Ellie Klein Goldman are the women between @RogueShul. Until this week, the account was anonymous, but that didn't stop it from being at the center of many delightful conversations for people active in the Reform movement (and beyond). The account was from the POV of imaginary synagogue staff dedicated to the mission and the people, but a little exasperated from time to time.
Ellie and I are from the same hometown in Indiana (aka The Crossroads of America), her bestie from Camp GUCI is my Rabbi's daughter, and her younger brother was in my class at Woodrow Wilson Junior High.
In 2021, Ellie and Caroline are launching the Real Time Strategy Group to help synagogues and teams with trainings, workshops and professional development.
Links
Follow Caroline on Twitter and Instagram
Buy some RogueShul merch
Buy a copy of my self-published children's book Hanukkah on Miller Drive on Snapfish
Terre Haute, Indiana, the Crossroads of America
Sunday Nov 08, 2020
Sunday Nov 08, 2020
Sean Ellis is a co-founder of the Los Angeles Historical European Martial Arts Society and an avid participant in Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) aka sword stuff. If you were ever obsessed with the sword fight in Princess Bride, this episode will teach you what the dialogue really means and Sean will find a way to get you psyched about picking up a sword this year.
Link Round-Up
LAHMAS on Facebook
SoCal Swordfight
Forteza Fitness in Chicago
Academy of Arms in Burbank
Hero's Journey LA
Directory of online HEMA classes for COVID times
Sharp swords live stream (not from Poland, no blood)
Fastest forgotten archery
Hans Talhoffer Manuscript project on IndieGoGo
Hans Talhoffer Wikipedia
Manuscript I 33
Steve Martin in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
A Christmas Story
Vigo County is no longer a bellweather county
Field Band 101
Hi Josh Cheney
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Thea Lux, an LA-based actor, writer, comic and voice-over artist, jumped on Zoom with me to talk about knitting - specifically all the sweaters she's been knitting during COVID. We talk about patterns, finding errors and deciding when to start over.
Did you vote yet?
Show Links
Follow Thea on Twitter and Instagram
Hot Dog City, USA on Etsy
Like Mother on Audible
Support Geeky Teas in LA
Thea was Comic of the Week on The Jackie and Laurie Show (on my birthday)
Hollywood Fringe Festival
22
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
Author Joanna QL and I talked about Writing the Rails, I Fight Dragons and what it was like to mix social media and music business in the late aughts.
Links
Writing the Rails
I Fight Dragons
A Seasonal Table: Winter
Finding Favorites with Leah Jones
Everyone loves something. A hobby, a musician, an artist, a book genre - everyone has a favorite thing and this is the podcast where we hear the stories.
How did you discover your favorite thing? What do you love about it? Who have you met through it? How would someone sample your favorite thing?
At Finding Favorites, we get recommendations without using an algorithm.
Hosted by Leah Jones