Answer Me This! Podcast

EPISODE 115 – Ladies’ Night at Games Workshop

October 29, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

Hello hello hello!

Contrary to what we said last week about releasing Episode 115 a day late, here we are, on Thursday, with Episode 115 ready to go! Don’t believe us? The evidence awaits your ears:

Paving this week’s boulevard of broken brains are such topics as:

Antoni Gaudí
Wembley stadium
pre-Photoshop trickery
ancient nail-varnish
Durham Cathedral
war games
the Crystal Palace Museum
Fabric vs. fabric
prostitution vs. rental contracts
and
Chapel Carter.

Plus: Olly gives his Top Tips for bloggers; Helen gives her Top Tips for staying awake at Coldplay concerts; and Martin the Sound Man pretends to know about football, confuses Brazil and Mexico, and generally undoes all the good work he’d put in to convincing us all that he’s clever.

As usual, we’re hungry for YOUR QUESTIONS, which you can email to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com or leave as a voicemail on Skype ID answermethis or the question line 0208 123 5877; but we also really need your help in determining what this week’s final questioneer Reggie should do about his epilepsy/girlfriend/cat/overpriced dog problem. Listen, then please vote:

We’re sure Reggie will appreciate it, and that his girlfriend probably won’t. But hey, democracy can’t please everyone all of the time.

See you next week, lovelies!

Helen and Olly

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Tags: architecture, blogging, clubbing, drugs, etymology, eyes, football, fun, grandparents, larks, linguistics, nightlife, photography, school, sexism, USA, vernacular
Posted in PODCASTS, Rock the Vote | 3 Comments »

Don’t try this at home. At least not with kids present.

October 29, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

** Click here for Episode 114 **

In Episode 113 James from Portishead asked for advice about games to play at his daughter’s 7th birthday party. He should NOT play this game suggested by Andy from Swindon:

I used to work at a summer camp for kids and one of the people I was working with brought in a book of kids’ party games. Hidden among the usual favourites was a game called spankity spank. The rules of the game are as follows:

Person 1 sits on a chair.
Person 2 puts their face in person 1’s crotch.
The remainder of the people in the game take turns to spank person 2.
After each spank person 2 has to guess who is spanking them.
If they are right then the previous spanker has to take their place and be spanked and the game carries on.

Needless to say we did not play this one with the kids. We did however play it amongst ourselves once the kids had gone.

PS we kept our clothes on before Olly assumes that this is some kind of readers’ wives confession and the start of an orgy.

I thought this was inappropriate for a child at a party, but Andy from Swindon, you have scooped the win.

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Tags: parties
Posted in Answer Us Back! Your time to opine | Leave a Comment »

My morning jacket

October 29, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

** Click here for Episode 114 **

It’s the question that has been keeping us awake ever since Episode 112, but sweet merciful Jesus has delivered Joanna in Southam to us to vanquish the mystery and, at last, lay our minds at rest:

I, as a previous backward blazer wearing school girl believe I can answer this question.

1) Basically we don’t want to wear them as they don’t fit well/are unflattering/it’s not cool.
2) However we are cold so need to hold them up to cover our fronts to keep us warm.
3) This also pleases our parents as it keeps them off the floor.

So there we go. Next week: why do they roll their sleeves up in Miami Vice?

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Tags: sartoria, school
Posted in Answer Us Back! Your time to opine, inside scoop | Leave a Comment »

EPISODE 114 – a top hat full of goose feathers

October 22, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

What the Jazzy Jeff is going on with Answer Me This! Episode 114? It’s all full of SPORT! Bloody sport! Golf, boxing, Formula 1 AND the Cinnamon Challenge. We feel like traitors to our own podcast.

Thankfully, there’s less jocktacular business too, such as:

scurvy (again)
bridge rolls
Helge Rubinstein
Napoleon Dynamite
Acton bowling alley
Wanted
Johnny Ball Reveals All
butter vs. Banoffee Pie
Sean Kingston vs. Sean Paul
D.H. Lawrence
James McAvoy
and
the band Clock.

Plus: Olly suggests Angelina Jolie is ‘a bloke with tits, really’ AND manages to compare Cheryl Cole to a golf ball; Helen hopes that Auntie Tarantula isn’t listening to this episode; and Martin the Sound Man breaks the embargo on talking about balls, earning him 14 hours on the naughty step. Will he never learn?

Unfortunately Episode 115 will be out one day late next week; but if you need something to tide you over Thursday, perhaps this tract upon the benefits of dimples to the trajectory of golf balls, this will help. (I’m sure you’ll understand why we kept it brief in the podcast – laminar flow diagrams don’t come across so well in audio.) And you can help tide us over with YOUR QUESTIONS: email them to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com or leave a voicemail on Skype ID answermethis or the question line 0208 123 5877.

See you next Friday!

Helen and Olly

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Tags: baked goods, balls, best man, boxing, cake, cars, cookery, disease, driving, etiquette, family, farting, folly, food, golf, homoeroticism, literature, marriage, music, names, nicknames, racism, sport, Women In Love
Posted in PODCASTS | 4 Comments »

A thimble of sweet sherry

October 21, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

** Click here for Episode 113 **

Here’s a question from Sarah:

I’m hoping that you guys are booze connoisseurs…

Sarah has evidently not heard the episode in which the AMT! Team’s favourite grown-up drink is a mug of hot Ribena with brandy.

…because I need some help. In a couple weeks my friend is turning 17, and she’s never had anything other than church wine [LAME], so my best friend Tyler and I are planning on getting her mildly trashed.

Tyler and I aren’t sure what to give her that won’t feel like a kick in the face when she wakes up the next morning. Tyler drinks vodka straight and I got drunk for the first time at new year in Edinburgh and nearly died, so our first drinking experiences aren’t helping us out.

What can we buy that’s fun, tastes okay [enough so that it wont scare her away from drinking forever], but will get the job done?

Obviously we cannot answer this question because underage drinking is of course ILLEGAL. But if you have a suggestion for what refreshment the young lady might enjoy in a year’s time, then please put it in a comment below!

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Tags: booze, drinks
Posted in extracurricular questions, User-generated answers | 17 Comments »

EPISODE 113 – cheese on ice

October 15, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

Hello listeners,

Don your special silly-specs, because now, in INCREDIBLE 3D and GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOUR, it’s Answer Me This! Episode 113:

This classic episode is available to BUY NOW for just 79p, through iTunes or a secure PayPal server, without DRM restriction. CLICK HERE to find out more and support our podcast. (This helps keep our most recent episodes free)
Oh alright, it doesn’t look any different to our other episodes, but it definitely sounds different, for unlike all those other weeks, this week we’re talking about:

Veronica Mars
Sylvia Plath
musical chairs
Almost Famous
Priscilla Presley
Shakespeare’s Globe
Sharon Osbourne vs. Robert Mugabe
Time Out vs. the rest of the world
a ‘Janet Jackson-style mic’
Granny’s Garden
and
Rebecca Ritters.

Plus: Olly takes a trip down Memory Lane to the days of Lycos and Geocities; Helen proves to be not very ladylike in the bedroom; and Martin the Sound Man uses an expression that should probably get him put on some sort of register. We also reveal just how rock’n’roll we really are. Although I think you know already. More Horlicks than Hendrix, alas.

Now, like squirrels gathering a large supply of hazelnuts to get through the winter, we want to stuff a tree-trunk full of your QUESTIONS to see us right through to spring. So please email them to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com or leave a voicemail on Skype ID answermethis or the question line 0208 123 5877.

And do chip in with your suggestions as to the best party games: leave a comment below, and in due course this blog post will become Party Central. Minus the Twiglets.

See you next week!

Helen and Olly

PS: A madly-skilled young lady disproves Olly’s statement that you can’t play a pop song on a ukulele without sounding like you’re taking the piss:

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Tags: bands, bed, Cher, children, crime, decor, eggs, food, Halloween, hotels, journalism, movies, music, showbiz, theatre, vandalism
Posted in PODCASTS | 8 Comments »

Creepy fun!

October 15, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

** Click here for Episode 112 **

It’s Halloween soonish, and AMT! pal Brendy from Pappy’s Fun Club is putting on a special scary show which we thought you might enjoy. It’s called The Institute, and will be on at the Pleasance Islington 29th October – 1st November; it’s one of those Modern theatrical jobbies where you follow the actors around while all sorts of Things happen. Totally meta, yeah? A bit like The Man Who Knew Too Little or something.

It stars comedy princelings The Penny Dreadfuls, and you might even catch sight of Helen or Martin, who are helping out! Terrifying! Etc.

Click HERE to find out more about it, and to get tickets.

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Tags: plugs
Posted in friends of the show | 2 Comments »

sweary child

October 14, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

** Click here for Episode 112 **

Oh, the shame of it.

We have caused a little problem for ‘Luxembourg’s Hottest Hausfrau’, Vanessa from Luxembourg from Episode 77, regarding her son Tom from Luxembourg, from whom we also heard in Episode 72:

As you know, my son Tom of Luxembourg fame and his dad listen to your show, however Tom has been swearing quite a lot and I fear you guys may have contributed to this.

I am struggling to find a suitable punishment, other than ban him from listening to your show but then his dad would let him listen anyway so that’s pointless. I could shove a bar of soap in his mouth, squirt washing up liquid down his throat. I have thought of having a swear box and fining him but he has no money.

Can you answer me this: How would you two stop an 11-year-old boy swearing?

Well, evidently we can only cause the opposite effect; so readers, any ideas?

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Posted in Answer Us Back! Your time to opine, extracurricular questions, help! | 12 Comments »

EPISODE 112 – big doughnut abacus

October 8, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

Goodness gracious great balls of fire, Team AMT, it’s time for Answer Me This! Episode 112:

[
This classic episode is available to BUY NOW for just 79p, through iTunes or a secure PayPal server, without DRM restriction. CLICK HERE to find out more and support our podcast. (This helps keep our most recent episodes free)

In which we ponder:

Agatha Christie vs. depression
the regional Kriss Kross revival
modern scurvy
So I Married An Axe Murderer
fake Berocca
first date fault-finding
Theseus
Birds of a Feather
David Beckham’s squeaky voice
Gwyneth Paltrow’s greasy legs
and
calcium oxide.

Plus: Olly’s cat is a miracle cure; Helen’s got some fancy knobs (fnarr!); and Martin the Sound Man smooth-talks himself into the affections of the in-laws. NB that was in the days before he peppered his sentences with terms like ‘cunnyhouse’ and ‘jizzflappers’. We miss those innocent times.

Anyway, if you have any QUESTIONS with which to delight our foolish hearts and foolish minds, you can email them to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com or leave them in voicemail form on Skype ID answermethis or the question line 0208 123 5877. We look forward to them like we look forward to a cup of tea and a bun. That is, A LOT. Don’t you know us at all by now?

See you next week,

Helen and Olly

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Tags: beer, blindness, cake, cookery, dating, depression, etymology, food, marketing, marriage, sex, space, theatre
Posted in PODCASTS | Leave a Comment »

When stag nights go bad

October 7, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

** Click here for Episode 111 **

Back in Episode 110 we asked you to share your grisly stag or hen night stories, since none of us have been on a particularly rotten one. Nor has Matthew from South Africa, but he sure has heard of a good one:

A close friend of mine, we’ll call him Bob, recently told me the full reason why his uncle wasn’t invited to his stag night.

It turns out that at a stag night many moons ago, Bob’s uncle tied the groom, naked, to a lamp post. A fairly normal and harmless gag in most circumstances.
However, it was the middle of Cape Town’s winter which, although not as cold as England, does mean rather low temperatures.

The combination of copious amounts of alcohol, being unclothed and a freezing wind caused the groom to suffer a heart attack. Bad enough.

However, for some unknown reason, when the ambulance arrived to cart the groom off to hospital, Bob’s uncle thought it would be a great idea to steal the ambulance and drive around town. He awoke the next morning at the wheel of the ambulance, parked many miles away, with his friend lying in the back of the ambulance on a stretcher.

They rushed to hospital and luckily the groom survived the incident, although he spent some time in a coma and the wedding never took place.
I’m unaware of whether or not the uncle faced charges, but I would imagine so!

Um…lordy. Well, if the Prague or Dublin tourist boards ever want to return their town centres to stag-free historical pleasantness, then they should definitely give Bob’s uncle a call…

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Posted in Answer Us Back! Your time to opine | Leave a Comment »

Cinema armrests: Falkland Islands 2.0?

October 7, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

** Click here for Episode 111 **

Call the UN – borders are being disputed! A great many of you have written to us with the following question, so it is evidently very very important:

Which armrest is yours at the cinema?

We ~~couldn’t be arsed to devote even a second of thought to this problem~~ have decided to throw this one out to you:

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Tags: movies
Posted in extracurricular questions, Rock the Vote, User-generated answers | 8 Comments »

ladybits

October 7, 2009 by Helen Zaltzman

** Click here for Episode 111 **

Here’s a bawdy tale courtesy of Rachael from Clerkenwell:

After a work trip to Amsterdam a female colleague described to my boyfriend a live sex show that she’d seen.

Having embarked upon the anecdote, she faltered on realising that their working relationship was relatively formal such as to preclude the use of “sexual swearwords” and the story culminated in describing her boss pulling a long ribbon out the performer’s vagina.

After a moment’s pause to consider the full spectrum of possible euphemisms, she went with ‘flower’, perhaps the most incongruous word she might have picked to describe the lurid act.

Answer me this: have you heard any more ludicrous words used to describe a lady’s furry front bottom than a ‘flower’?

Yes we have, but we have used more than enough whimsical genitalia euphemisms in the podcast, so it seems to me that this is one for you, readers. Got anything stranger than mimsy, flange or botticelli? Comment below!

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Posted in extracurricular questions | 18 Comments »