Episode 314: One Mountain Closer to Climbing Every Mountain

The Overthinkers tackle things bodily: Tattoos, diet, exercise, and sitcoms.

Pete Fenzel and Matt Wrather consider their fantasy tattoos, channel Rimbaud by becoming poems, go on the paleo diet, and ponder self-narrativization and self-improvement.

→ Download Episode 314 (MP3)

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6 Comments on “Episode 314: One Mountain Closer to Climbing Every Mountain”

  1. mezdef #

    I have no tattoos but not for lack of pondering on what exactly I’d like to get. The problem I run into is that I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t be trumped by the next thing to snag my imagination. By way of example I think of it like this: Whenever I play an online game or sign up for a new service which requires an alias—traditionally games—I consistently think up new names or am inspired by whatever I’ve just read / watched and want to use that name or idea. In the same way, I think up new ideas for tattoos constantly. I get the feeling anything I come up with would be trounced by the next interesting thing to come along and would ultimately be an irritation.

    To combat the transience of my attention, the only idea that I’ve had stick around for a fair amount of time would be a simple, solid black geometric shape. Possibly a square or circle on my right shoulder blade approximately 15cm square. The reason I like this is it’s simplicity—it would be sufficiently odd and fit with my interests in aesthetic form while avoiding some of the pitfalls of illustration style and specific ideas, i.e. it would be suitably vague and open to interpretation and narrativization such that I could interpret it and re-invent to my hearts content. I would also be interested in how it interacts with my body. I do a fair amount of rock climbing and I love the way shoulder muscles and the shoulder blade contort when in use. The way the geometric shape would distort could be quite interesting to watch (not that I’d be able to see it).

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  2. Count Spatula #

    In regards to tattoos – I myself have none and I’ve never wanted one, but lots of my friends do, and one of them is actually a tattoo artist as well.

    My best friend draws his own, which I always thought would be a necessary requirement if I was to have my own. I couldn’t use something that came out of someone else’s head, whether a line of text or a logo or a picture, because to me it would feel false or like I’m wrongly appropriating something. Maybe this is why you, Matt, feel more at home with the idea of an OTI tattoo because it’s something you’re an integral part of and something you have put alot of your own time and effort into creating?

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  3. Crystal #

    You guys obviously don’t have tattoos.

    People express their opinion about my tattoo(s) up to and including suggesting changes all the time.

    It’s really annoying.

    See, I have a tattoo of Spyro the Dragon circa Year of the Dragon. It’s a very cute tattoo. I get a lot of compliments. Unfortunately, I also get a lot of is that a cat/that doesn’t look like a dragon/dragons are supposed to be scary/no really, it’s obviously a cat. And I even get people telling me to get it colored purple–it’s black lineart more or less.

    So many people ask me why I got it or follow up with “so you’re a gamer?” And they are very disappointed that I am not a gamer.

    It’s about on par with following a special diet, depending on how politically charged the particular diet is.

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  4. David Jay #

    Now I’m rethinking getting a Keto Diet tattoo….

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  5. Jasin Nazim #

    the tattoos im really concerned with are Mark Wahlberg’s and their appearance in Transformers 4, Return of Explosion (or whatever).

    Come on guys. I don’t want to see that movie, and maybe you don’t either, but I was really looking forward to hear it overthought. Can we tie it all together?

    IN A WAY, when the transformers fall out of the sky and pick douchey cars to imitate, its like getting a tattoo. Optimus Prime picked a purple and flamed truck as his body and stuck with it for years, battle after battle, transformation after transformation sticking to the same increasingly ridiculous purple truck body. Rather than say, anything less silly. Even a prius would do. I like to think that Optimus picked the truck as a means to identify himself and individuality, he thinks of himself as big, a carrier of weight, (and purple?) The flames were a sense of whimsy (what the hell, im only on earth once, how long could I be stuck with this?) but over time the truck started to define him and limit him. In his older days appealing to Markey Mark instead of Lebouf, he had to apologize for the flames rather than own them. Like a beer logo tattoo right above the butt from spring break in college.

    Transformers, like people, are both improved and limited by the decisions they make in self-expression. Choose wisely your tattoos, and choose wisely your car body (careful with GM).

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  6. Hannah #

    I would be so into a podcast overthinking physicality and fitness. Mountaineering/alpinism would be a great subject to tackle.

    I live in the Lake District, so I have a vested interest. Lots of people visit my town just to hike and there’s an adventure travel company based here, so lots of locals are into mountaineering too. I know someone who summited Everest a few years ago.

    The psychology of it is absolutely fascinating – the level of desire and ambition you need to summit a serious peak can border on insanity. The physical extremes are beyond anything you’d think a human could bear; the altitude does crazy things to the body and mind.

    Long-distance hiking is a rich subject too. There’s so much mythology surrounding trails like the PCT and the Appalachian Trail and the communities that are created among the people that walk them. The new Reese Witherspoon film is centred on the PCT, actually – maybe that would be a good jumping-off point.

    Pete – I have to know which mountain you climbed!

    Also, on diet: the funniest joke I’ve ever heard about this is from The Simpsons. Lisa meets an environmentalist who tells her that he’s a level 5 vegan – he doesn’t eat anything that casts a shadow.

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