619 Bearcast & the Pursuit of Happiness
Jun. 5th, 2011 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mlrWhen Freud said Love and work... work and love, that's all there is, he clearly was not imagining the lives of the guys of the 619 Bearcast.
I would have to say I'm a fan of this podcast - partially because I've listened to it since the beginning. The boys are funny, sometimes witty, & for the most part intelligent. I learn lots about the gay/bear culture of San Diego and beyond - and not much else. Sometimes when it's over, I feel like it was almost a guilty pleasure.
I'm curious if this is just me.
I definitely have things in common with the boys, but after listening to a couple of hours of the chatter, I often wonder if that is a good thing?
Most of the podcasts are not so much about their lives as about their lifestyle. (I know that is a loaded word for most gay people, but it seems like the best one.) The boys rarely talk about their jobs - other than Brian's bartending job. I'm aware that one of them works as a web developer at San Diego State or something, but the others are more vague. And their relationships (when they exist), are usually kept more or less private.
What is talked about is the rest of their lives: the parties, the bar events, the drinking, the eating, the fairly heady consumption. Each podcast used to start off with a short summary of the past weekend. Sex and sexual mores are frequent topics. But the boys are hardly sexual libertines, more like aging fraternity boys. Topics like monogamy are duly discussed, but there are always giggles accompanying the mention of anything kinky.
There are obscene extremes in the world, like 21st century shanty towns & The Real Housewives of Orange County. And this simple & cheerful podcast is not one of them. The show is usually quite entertaining in a low-key way. And it's quite a little snapshot of a gay subculture. And as I said, I have lots of things in common with these guys.
But I sometimes wonder what the world's developing population would think of us. Some young person, stranded without resources and hope in Nicaragua or Uganda - who would give anything for the chance to prosper in a free & affluent society.
Is this what life is about, or should be about? This is a quandary for me.
I would have to say I'm a fan of this podcast - partially because I've listened to it since the beginning. The boys are funny, sometimes witty, & for the most part intelligent. I learn lots about the gay/bear culture of San Diego and beyond - and not much else. Sometimes when it's over, I feel like it was almost a guilty pleasure.
I'm curious if this is just me.
I definitely have things in common with the boys, but after listening to a couple of hours of the chatter, I often wonder if that is a good thing?
Most of the podcasts are not so much about their lives as about their lifestyle. (I know that is a loaded word for most gay people, but it seems like the best one.) The boys rarely talk about their jobs - other than Brian's bartending job. I'm aware that one of them works as a web developer at San Diego State or something, but the others are more vague. And their relationships (when they exist), are usually kept more or less private.
What is talked about is the rest of their lives: the parties, the bar events, the drinking, the eating, the fairly heady consumption. Each podcast used to start off with a short summary of the past weekend. Sex and sexual mores are frequent topics. But the boys are hardly sexual libertines, more like aging fraternity boys. Topics like monogamy are duly discussed, but there are always giggles accompanying the mention of anything kinky.
There are obscene extremes in the world, like 21st century shanty towns & The Real Housewives of Orange County. And this simple & cheerful podcast is not one of them. The show is usually quite entertaining in a low-key way. And it's quite a little snapshot of a gay subculture. And as I said, I have lots of things in common with these guys.
But I sometimes wonder what the world's developing population would think of us. Some young person, stranded without resources and hope in Nicaragua or Uganda - who would give anything for the chance to prosper in a free & affluent society.
Is this what life is about, or should be about? This is a quandary for me.
