Expectation and the Unexpected

Listen NOW to “Expectation and the Unexpected” in our archives at Unity Online Radio or download the podcast from iTunes!

Original air date: Monday, March 23, 2015

Pop culture is where many of us get our ideas about how life should be, but many of the best-loved stories are based in the unexpected. Stacy and Malayna will take a look at the TV shows, films, and songs that informed their expectations, and some of the places they look for when those expectations seem frustrated. How can we prepare ourselves to expect the unexpected, when by definition, it can’t be done? Just remember, “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

NOTES for further contemplation!

Monty Python – On several occasions throughout the above mentioned sketch, an English townsman says “I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition” in retort to a woman’s incessant questioning, which would prompt a group of men dressed in Spanish Catholic robes to storm into the house and proclaim “Nobody expects a Spanish Inquisition!”

Check it out at http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nobody-expects-the-spanish-inquisition

The movie Sliding Doors (Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, 1998) – references it – and that whole movie is about the expected versus the unexpected!

Unexpected Plot Twists in Film:
•    Planet of the Apes
•    Sixth Sense
•    Shawshank Redemption
•    Primal Fear – Ed Norton & Richard Gere
•    Psycho
•    Arlington Road – Tim Robbins Joan Cusack
•    Se7en – David Fincher (Gone Girl)
•    Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – Luke, I am your father!10 Ways Friends Gave You Unrealistic Expectations for Your Twenties
http://time.com/88806/friends-10th-anniversary-unrealistic/

A Psychology Today article we mentioned: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200911/not-so-great-expectations

Expectation Hangover Lessons
http://www.aspiremag.net/expectation-hangover-lessons

Check out this book and these authors!

Expectation Hangover: Overcoming Disappointment in Work, Love, and Life ©2014 by Christine Hassler. She left her successful job as a Hollywood agent to pursue a life she could be passionate about. For over a decade she has been sharing her passion as a speaker, retreat facilitator and life coach specializing in relationships, career & life purpose, and fulfillment. Visit her online at www.ChristineHassler.com

Co-wrote a book called Choosing Me before We – with Christine Arylo who will be our guest on April 13 with Amy Ahlers, with whom she wrote Reform Your Inner Mean Girl: 7 Steps to Stop Bullying Yourself and Start Loving Yourself.

And be sure to watch Unlikely Animal Friends on Nat Geo WILD!

British Media From Across the Pond

Click to listen Now! 

 

Original air date: Monday, July 14, 2014

Episode Description:

We at Pop Conscious are Anglophiles. As much as we are proud to be Americans, we also admire England, its people, and its culture.  Join us as we share our love of the British invasions into our pop culture awareness in music, comedy, film, television, and wherever we can find it. Pip, Pip, Cheerio!

Moral of the story:  We can declare our independence, and still celebrate our shared history.

We also learned that it’s hard to talk.  Listen and find out!

SHOW NOTES (from Malayna):

~ My dad was in the British Royal Navy, and lived in England for a short time before coming to the US
~ I went to London for the first time when I was 7 years old
Early pop culture influences:
•    Mary Poppins – Julie Andrews – (Practically perfect in every way), Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Alice in Wonderland

•    Shakespeare in 5th grade – Midsummer Night’s Dream – I was stage manager. The same year, My Fair Lady was the musical, I played Mrs. Higgins, Henry Higgin’s mum. On the school bus, there was a kid who used to lead us in Beatles sing-alongs on the way home.
•    Monty Python & Fawlty Towers – 1985
•    My bro loved The Who, my dad took him to see them live in 1982.

RESEARCH
•    The British Invasion the 1960s influx of British music groups like The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, Herman’s Hermits, The Kinks,  The Rolling Stones, and The Who
(paraphrased from Wikipedia)

•   “Second British Invasion” The 80’s New Wave –In 1981, MTV ushered in new wave’s most successful era in the United States. British artists had learned how to use the music video early on — (especially Duran Duran’s musical travelogues of exotic locales like Sri Lanka & The Maldives).  New wave artists from the UK included Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC, and The Thomson Twins.  (paraphrased from Wikipedia)
...Queen, George Michael, Elton John,
•    Do They Know It’s Christmas by Bob Geldof 1984, Live Aid 1985
•    Far Pavilions – 1984 – Amy Irving & Ben Cross  (Story of forbidden love in 1800’s Indi