WPRB Princeton 103.3 FM

Hi! The Sonic Bloom will be three hours tonight.

This week, The Pidgin is keeps its wits about it and takes on something that's been plaguing our online spaces, and our heads: brainrot. Mind-numbing and addictive, born on TikTok and leaking into real life, brainrot has come to be a quintessential part of contemporary culture. And we're turning it on its head. For our community section, Maggie Stewart turns the TikTok Rizz Party on all sides. She talks to sociologist Niobe Way, to Stanford psychologist Judy Chu, and to some of her own male friends, to understand what an internet phenomenon reveals about modern masculinity, and boyhood. Up next, in our culture section, reporters Martiza Roberts and Emilka Puchlaski go to an Everyone Asked About You Concert, and they get the feeling that emo isn’t dead, but concert etiquette might be. And for science, we stay on our social science kick, and we have WPRB usual suspect Margo Mattes interviews a sociologist from the Toronto Metropolitan University about the experiences of older adults with social media.

The Pidgin knows what you truly want: some gosh darn peace and quiet… We are still working on bringing that to you, but we did the next best thing: talked about it! Our show today opens with its Community segment, in which Ariel Chen and Maggie Smith report on the long-standing silent protests that the Society of Friends (and their friends) have been organizing in the town of Princeton. Next, Margo Mattes takes on Culture, and lets us know just how a silent retreat unfolds, and the good, the bad, and the–shht!– of being silent for ten days. Lastly, our Science section has Maritza Roberts and Ameila Carneiro Zhu attend a glacier meditation, and goes beyond the tip of the iceberg to learn about the special place glaciers occupy on our planet.

Hosted, Recorded, Produced by Teo Grosu and Natalia Maidique. Reported, Recorded, and Produced by Maggie Smith, Maritza Roberts, Margo Mattes, Ariel Chen, Natalia Maidique, and Ameila Carneiro Zhu.

All music under Creative Commons license.

Theme music: “Montanita” by Ratatat.

Today, we’re talking Dissonance – but no, we won’t be sharing tips on how to navigate political conversations with difficult people. Instead, we’re talking about dissonance in music and in our inner worlds, to help us all remember how dissonance can sometimes be a great thing. First, Brianna Dai asks composers about how dissonant sounds can add emotion to compositions. Next, Lucy McWeeny talks Oedipus Rex and how we all struggle to reconcile the two halves of ourselves. Finally, to end with another musical story, Navani Rachumallu and I dissect what dissonance in music actually is–and, in fact, what music itself is.

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Brianna Dai, Lucy McWeeny, Navani Rachumallu, and Natalia Maidique.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. Audio clips in “Music Philosophy” from What Makes Music Sound Good by Dmitri Tymoczko and Sound Examples for Tuning Timbre Spectrum Scale by Bill Sethares.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:39) Conducting with Dissonance

(11:50) Oedipus Rex

(27:07) Music Philosophy

On 11/11, The Pidgin has stories about superstitions, wishes and symmetry. Something about the date being a palindrome, the same read forwards or backwards (or upside down), makes it feel like anything can happen. Lucy McWeeny and Cynthia Torres revisit middle school crushes and angel numbers. Then, Izzy Jacobson looks at how random alignments can lead to the closest friendships.

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Lucy McWeeny, Cynthia Torres, and Izzy Jacobson.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. Music used in Friendship and Chance story: “Calm Indie Rock Atmosphere” by Universfield, “NFLD” by Mr Smith, “Stone Crow” by Mr Smith, and “Grace” by Mr Smith.

WPRB News and Culture: The Pidgin sends out sound waves about sound waves this week. Sena Chang and Brianna Dai learn how wind ensembles are created, and listen in on one. Next, Sophie Leheny discusses the benefits of talking to herself. And finally, Teo Grosu hears about asteroseismology, the study of the sounds stars make in outer space.

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Sena Chang, Brianna Dai, Sophie Leheny, Teo Grosu, and Natalia Maidique.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. Music used in “Self Talk”: “Summer Walk” by folk_acoustic. Star sounds used in “The Sounds of Stars”: “Flare Star” from the Astronify sonification examples folder through the Space Telescope Science Institute.

WPRB News and Culture: The Pidgin grapples with rejection this week. Lucy McWeeny and Annie Wang some local canvassers about the many, many, many times a day they are ignored and sent away. Next, Sena Chang and Brianna Dai learn how artists handle rejection, when their work is both an extension of themselves and how they make a living. And finally, Cynthia Torres asks a psychic about reading rejection in someone’s cards.

WPRB News and Culture has been patiently waiting for this season's first episode. Navani Rachumallu talks to ecological researchers, whose work depends on observing an animal that may or may not show up, and hears how they deal with that time in between. Natalia Maidique finds out about the hidden guild of people making lace all around us, and how they’ve learned patience from their craft.

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Navani Rachamallu and Natalia Maidique.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat.

News and Culture embraces the journalistic love of gossip – with stories of and about the habit. Natalia Maidique and Navani Rachamallu speak to bartenders about the ways gossip shapes their job. Sophie Leheny and Synai Ferrell learn about the anthropological bases of gossip. And Clara McWeeny, Izzy Jacobson, and Helen Heuer explore some real-world gossip from listeners like you.

News and Culture takes a trip to the cinema to denounce the myth that movie theaters have died. First up, Navani Rachumallu and Sophie Leheny explore the intricacies of the Princeton Garden Theatre and its success as a nonprofit cinema. Then, Tommy Goulding looks at the trailer for the new film Napoleon and questions why it's gotten history buffs so hot and bothered. And in a story from our archives, Adam Sanders speaks to researcher Adam Golub about the nature of twins in horror film.