No Cure for Curiosity
A podcast for curious people! Shanny Luft, administrator and professor of religion at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, talks with experts about a broad range of topics from the sciences, pop culture, media, politics, and the arts.
"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." - Dorothy Parker
Episodes
26 episodes
Our Dopest Episode Yet: Slang!
This bodacious episode of No Cure for Curiosity was supported by Magic Mind. Magic Mind really helped with my productivity during this cold, dank Wisconsin weather. You can receive 20% off your next order by going to magicmind.com a...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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48:38
2023 in Media News + Our Favorite Content!
If you are in a show hole, this episode is for you! Shanny talks with several guests who share their favorite movies, tv shows, and books from 2023. He also continues his conversation with media studies professors Kelly Wilz and Ca...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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30:14
Podcast Barbie
Shanny Luft is curious about Barbie so he invited professors Cary Elza and Kelly Wilz in Media Studies at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, to talk about it. Why was Barbie the most successful movie of 2023? We also talked...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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31:24
The Exorcist 50th Anniversary!
The power of curiosity compels you! On this episode, we talked about William Friedkin's The Exorcist with Cary Elza, (Associate Professor of Media Studies from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point) and Kathryn Lofton (the Lex Hickson...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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37:45
God the Bestseller: with Stephen Prothero
On this episode of No Cure for Curiosity, I spoke with Stephen Prothero, author, religion scholar, and now retired professor from Boston University. Throughout his career Stephen Prothero has promoted thoughtful public consideration about relig...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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35:53
Our Favorite Things
On this episode of No Cure for Curiosity, I asked five people to share their favorite media of the last year! If you are in a show hole or looking for a new novel for your book club, this episode is for you!Lauren Gantz, Associ...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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43:29
James Cameron and his Avatar Pentalogy!
In our first episode of 2023, Shanny talks with Cary Elza and Kevin Obsatz, two media studies professors at UWSP, about the career of James Cameron and his latest movie, Avatar: The Way of Water. We talked about the themes that hav...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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42:02
It's the Great Podcast, Charlie Brown!
November 2022 would have been the 100-birthday of Charles Schulz. To wrap up the second year of No Cure for Curiosity, we were curious about Schulz and his strip, Peanuts with Rob Stolzer, Professor of Art, and Neil Prendergast, U.S. Hist...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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41:28
Snakes on a Podcast
For Halloween, Shanny Luft speaks with Robert Jadin, an evolutionary biologist, and Chris Diehm, an environmental ethicist, about SNAKES! How did snakes evolve? Why do they scare us? What do snakes taste like? (Plus, w...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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38:19
When Robots Rule the World
Shanny Luft speaks with Vera Klekovkina (Department of World Languages), Joshua Horn (Department of Philosophy), and Tomi Heimonen (Department of Computer Science) about their thoughts and concerns about robots.This episode was inspired...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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26:38
The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway
In 2021, Ken Burns released a 3-part documentary about Ernest Hemingway, which inspired my conversation about Hemingway with English professor Ross Tangedal and PhD candidate Katie Warczak. Should we still care about Hemingway? Or s...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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26:45
The Matrix Resurrections
In December 2021, writer and director Lana Wachowski delivered the fourth movie in the Matrix universe, The Matrix Resurrections, after a 20-year wait. Shanny invited Kelly Wilz, Professor of Communications, and Cary Elza, Associ...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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34:26
Stories About Sports
With the Super Bowl a week away, and the Olympics playing out now, Shanny invited Robert Sirabian, professor of English at UWSP, and Art Remillard, professor of Religious Studies at St. Francis University in Pennsylvania, to talk about sports, ...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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30:55
Could Ranked-Choice Voting Fix American Politics?
Shanny talks with Andy Felt, mathematics professor at UWSP, about ranked-choice voting. What is it? How does it work? Where is it already being used? And how would it change the culture of extreme partisanship in the Un...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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24:29
The Unkillable Popularity of Zombies
Shanny talks about Zombies with Kelly J Baker, a religious studies PhD, editor, and award-winning author of five books, including The Zombies are Coming, and Cary Elza, professor Media Studies at UWSP, who teaches courses on screenwriting, film...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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29:32
Famed Firework Artist Cai Guo-Qiang
Shanny talks with Cortney Chaffin, an art historian at UWSP, and Ellen Larson, a PhD candidate at the University of Pittsburgh, about Cai Guo-Qiang. Cai is a Chinese artist renowned for his firework art you have to see to believe. W...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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27:34
Lizzo's Rumors: The Art of Body Positivity
Shanny talks with Kimiko Matsumura, an art historian, and Chad Seales, a scholar of religion and culture, about Lizzo and the video for "Rumors." Why was the video set in an ancient Greek and Roman visual world? How does the song ...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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24:06
The Colbert Report and Catholicism
In the first episode of the second semester, we are curious about Stephen Colbert and American Catholicism. So we invited Stephanie Brehm, author of America's Most Famous Catholic (According to Himself): Stephen Colbert and American R...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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24:59
The Supreme Court (2021)
Shanny talks with Political Science John Blakeman about the Supreme Court. What have been some of the most interesting and important cases from this past term? How have the three new justices impacted the rulings of the Supreme Cour...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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31:25
The Classic Films of Godzilla and King Kong
In our fifth episode of Season 1, Shanny talks with Cary Elza and Valerie Barske about Godzilla and King Kong. We had such a great and wide-ranging conversation, we're splitting it into two parts. In part I, we primarily focus on th...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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28:23
Nick Kroll's Big Mouth and Sexual Identity
In our fourth episode of Season 1, Shanny talks with Kelly Wilz and Cary Elza, two UWSP professors in The Department of Media Studies, about Netflix's Big Mouth!If you are enjoying No Cure for Curiosity, please tell a friend about us.&n...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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30:20
Deep Ecology: Our Relationship with Nature
In our third episode, Shanny talks with Chris Diehm, Professor of Philosophy and program director of Environmental Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and Ella Janson, a UWSP alum who holds degrees in Environmental Ethics, Dram...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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34:58