Strategy executive and self-described capital H hater Nick Susi joins host Dani Loftus to explore the art of dispassionate curiosity and the illusions that dominate creative industries. Nick unpacks why distance creates clarity, how the internet tricks us into thinking we need to know everything about Dubai chocolate, and why so many talented people write essays about world-building instead of actually building worlds. They discuss the false war between TikTok green screen strategists and academic researchers, the size-weight illusion that makes everyone think they can juggle, and why trust hasn't collapsed at all—it's just transferred to random strangers on the internet.

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Nick's website

Dani's newsletter

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01:58 — Dispassionate curiosity aka observing without getting wound up

04:50 — Why rage bait proves we care about too many things

07:41 — Would Tolkien have written LOTR or just had a Substack?

09:43 — The size-weight illusion and why everyone online thinks they can juggle

12:01 — The false war between TikTok strategists and academic researchers

16:06 — The best ideas are formless and travel like mind viruses

17:34 — Dating ick: people who can't communicate their desires

19:41 — Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation in Japan vs America

21:14 — Technology ick: bragging about being terminally online

22:41 — Using social media like a shotgun instead of a sniper rifle

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Our music, Stamford Brook Style, is by Adrian Michna.

Actor, comedian, and writer Sydney Battle joins host Dani Loftus to discuss the icks that drive her creative life. Sydney opens up about navigating rejection in Hollywood, where celebrities now take tiny parts that once went to rising actors.

They explore tactful complaining versus toxic positivity, the relatability trap that makes celebrities build airport pillow forts and why people need to just say "excuse me."

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Sydney's Instagram

Dani's newsletter

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00:59 — Don't tell people who they look like (unless it's the hottest person alive)

06:09 — "Honesty without tact is just cruelty"

06:47 — Toxic positivity and the 16-page audition complaint

08:31 — When celebrities get the part you auditioned for

09:20 — Separating career opportunities from talent to stay sane

10:52 — When your happy side quest becomes your main career

12:19 — Post-strike scarcity: celebrities taking two-scene parts

14:34 — Dating ick: low effort and people who don't value you correctly

17:28 — Celebrities need to stop trying to be relatable

18:51 — Jessica Chastain's valid complaint vs. Kristen Bell's airport fort

24:46 — Just say "excuse me"

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Our music, Stamford Brook Style, is by Adrian Michna.

Writer and comedian Sophia Benoit joins Dani Loftus to discuss the art of complaining as a form of connection. They touch on texture-based food aversions, surveillance culture, and people who take jokes too literally online. Also, we learn what a "rat room" is.

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Sophia's podcast

Sophia's website

Dani's newsletter

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00:00 — What is this podcast

00:54 — How Sophia doesn't like talking about herself (despite writing a memoir)

02:20 — Sophia's approach to complaining and how it got her all her jobs

04:11 — European-style complaining as connection, not misery

05:29 — Biggest industry ick: pretending writing is hard work

07:41 — When your dentist wants to discuss your sex writing career

08:00 — How writing about relationships affects personal expectations

12:27 — Is messiness a personality trait or a diagnosis?

14:15 — Being seen as negative online when you're actually positive

15:00 — The wealthy patron system vs. needing hundreds of thousands of followers

17:42 — The guy in Ohio who thinks you're the worst person alive

18:16 — "Can they eat you?" Sophia's grandfather's motto for anxiety

18:41 — Good morning texts...ick

19:47 — Cottage cheese and other aversions

21:11 — American individualism and pretending cities are that different

22:39 — Surveillance culture

24:38 — People taking jokes too literally online and explaining things back

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Our music, Stamford Brook Style, is by Adrian Michna.