2/6 - Going Incognito

"The trade off is almost always: security is inconvenient"

Is your smartphone spying on you? Just how secure is the dark web? And is your 'Private Browsing' time actually, you know... private?

Buzzfeed's James Ball was just 23 when Julian Assange thrust a USB stick with nearly 400,000 confidential Iraqi war logs into his hands. In this episode he shares with Olly his top tips for conducting conversations, managing documents and meeting associates whilst avoiding unwanted surveillance.

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If you'd like to try James' 'Location Services' trick on your iPhone, here's are the menus you need to navigate: 

Settings → Privacy →  Location Services → System Services →  Frequent Locations

Also this week: in The Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart ponders the year's hottest BBQ trends, the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest, and the return of Peaky Blinders.

And we've a special edition of The Foxhole, for which Alix Fox takes Olly on a tour of her favourite sex boutique, Sh! in Hoxton. She'll be tackling sex questions again next week, though - so if you have one, just submit it using our Feedback form.

Music this week comes courtesy of Martha Ffion, with her new single We Disappear, out now on Turnstile Records:

 

 

 

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Olly Mann and filed under Season Two and tagged kweku julie.

2/5 - How To Be A Dad, part 2

"Having a child obliterates the person that you were."

Six months ago, Olly met with comedians Stuart Goldsmith and Tom Price to discuss their fears and anxieties around their impending fatherhood. Now, three months since they each spawned a son, the trio reunite to compare notes...

Price, Mann, Goldsmith: this is what three tired men look like

What has having a baby done to their time management, sleep routines and sense of self-worth? Which gadgets would they recommend to future dads? And is there such a thing as male post-natal depression? 

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Meanwhile, in The Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart learns French via his smartphone, discusses Radiohead's temporary disappearance from the internet, and the trend for 'dentist beards'.

And, in The Foxhole, Alix Fox flogs a truck-load of her old sex toys for charidee, and considers whether a listener should be loyal to the mirena coil if his wife's contraceptive prevents her from achieving orgasm. If you have a question for Alix for next week's show please go ahead and submit it on our Feedback page. 
 
Our song of the week is, appropriately, from the lullaby archives at rockabyebabymusic.com!

Thanks to Soho Theatre London for hosting our discussion. You can hear more from Stuart Goldsmith in The Comedian's Comedian, in which he interviews a headline comic about their career and creative process; and more from Tom Price in The Leak, a topical comedy show returning soon. in which Tom and guests look back over the week's news. We'd strongly recommend both!

See You Next Tuesday.

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Olly Mann and filed under Season Two, How To Be A Dad and tagged dads dads8.

2/4 - Let's Build A Theme Park

Thrills, spills, and forming an orderly queue.

Theme parks have transformed from the travelling fairs of the fifties and Disney-inspired family resorts into playgrounds for adrenalin junkies of all ages.  So, how do ride designers meet the needs of their discerning public?

Bradley Wynne, lead creative artist at Merlin Magic Making, is a man who knows - he's spent a lifetime obsessing about all things theme park and is now heading up the team for Thorpe Park's biggest ever launch, Derren Brown's Ghost Train. 

In this episode, Olly learns from him how sounds, smells and touch can enhance the experience of riding a rollercoaster; discusses the fallout from the tragedy on The Smiler, and how you can use a very boring interest in planning application data to your advantage, to secure a dream job.

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Also this episode: Ollie Peart debates the pleas for 'no spoilers' following the return of Game Of Thrones, the declining sales of pasta, and the enduring power of dial-up; and in The Foxhole, Alix Fox considers whether having sexual fantasies about your schooldays makes you a paedophile. (It doesn't). If you have a question of sex for a future episode of the show - just click Feedback. Go on! You can remain completely anonymous if you wish. 

Our record of the week? Why, that's Damien Jurado's new single, Qachina, out May 6th:

Good, innit? 

This episode has been sponsored by Fallen London, the brand new text adventure game for iOS. Download it for free now in the App Store, or sign up to get a gift from us at failbettergames.com/modern. Thanks to them, and everyone who has bought us a beer or left us an iTunes review  - you're the bestest! See you next Tuesday.

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Olly Mann and filed under Season Two and tagged Mickey.

2/3 - Britain's Best Barista

How DO you make the perfect cup of coffee?

... Do you grind? Do you press? Do you froth? One man who knows is Coffee Masters champion Ben Morrow, of Melbourne-based coffee roasters St. Ali.

In this episode, Olly meets him at Hackney Coffee Company to discuss how to buy coffee, how to prepare it, and how to capture the essence of a Columbian farm in liquid form... 

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Also this episode: what do you do when your partner has a latex fetish, but you're highly allergic to it? Alix Fox has the answer in The Foxhole. And, over in The Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart considers name-changing, the surge in vinyl record sales, and his trip to watch Drone Racing at Wembley Stadium:

Last but not least, we are ROCKING OUT this week with our Song of the Week. It's by The Amazons, and it's called Stay With Me, out now on Fiction Records, and it has a video that begins in a bloody Travelodge, which can't be bad, really:

This episode is brought to you by Fallen London, the brand new text adventure game for iOS. Download it for free now in the App Store, or sign up to get a gift from us at www.failbettergames.com/modern. Thanks too to everyone who has bought us beer in the past week - it's with your support we are able to keep making this show, and keep it independent. See you next Tuesday!

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Olly Mann and filed under Season Two and tagged Maxwell.

2/2 - Shooting A War Zone

Earl Grey, body armour and preparing for War

Photojournalist Alison Baskerville was serving in the RAF in Iraq when she began documenting the lives of her fellow soldiers. She now independently produces astonishing images from the front line across the world, including Afghanistan, Mali, Israel/Gaza and the Philippines. 

In this episode, she tells Olly about the moments on basecamp that embedded journalists never get to see, the best way to pack to prepare yourself for a warzone, and why she needed to leave the armed forces to gain objectivity.

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Here is just a sample of Alison's great work - you can see more on her website and by following her on Instagram.

Elsewhere in the episode, Ollie Peart talks Disney pet trends, 'Shakespeak', and the Chris Packham wasp controversy in this week's Zeitgeist; whilst Alix Fox considers the twenty-first century role of the Femidom and a question of cross-dressing in this week's Foxhole. Remember, if you have a question of sex for Alix, just fill out our Feedback form - you can remain anonymous if you wish.

And finally, our Single of the Week is the wonderful 'Walk To The One You Love' by Twin Peaks, out now on Communion Records:

Big thanks to this week's sponsors DriveNow, and, remember, if you enjoy the show, don't hesitate to leave us a review on iTunes or buy us a beer - and we'll see you next Tuesday!

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Olly Mann and filed under Season Two and tagged Craig.