How about that complicated title, huh? Allow me to explain:

On January 9, 2015, an essay by Mandy Len Catron entitled To Fall In Love With Anyone, Do This took the Internet by storm via the New York Times column Modern Love (also a great podcast if you just cannot get enough content!). The “this” in Mandy’s essay is a list of 36 questions which, when consciously discussed, allegedly produce a deep level of intimacy. In other words, these 36 questions are the collective key to falling in love with someone.

The original conditions under which these questions were asked involved a laboratory and other controlled elements. Mandy admits in her essay that she reproduced the experiment at a crowded bar to provide her insights, but she also explains that the questions and their proposed effects should hold true once communication amongst all involved parties is intentional.

I tried this experiment with my girlfriend, and we decided to record our conversation as a podcast. We cheated a bit, given that we are already in love and apparently quite obnoxious about it (See: this post).

If you click play below, you can listen to us answer the first 6 questions. Our current plan is to produce 6 installments, total. We will, however, be drinking red wine during each recording session and possibly discussing some questions more passionately than others. Our only definitive goals are to go with the flow of each conversation and to keep things as honest as possible. Please join us and let us know what you think. If you have time, please find and rate this podcast on iTunes!

The six questions we answer in this installment are:

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you want as a dinner guest?
2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?
3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you’re going to say (and why)?
4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
5. When did you last sing to yourself or to someone else?
6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?

Oh, and if you’re wondering how we smoothly cycled through the questions while recording, there’s an app for that! Intimacy on the go!

Shout-Outs Throughout:

1. Yeezer mashup American Island  (song sampled as opening)
2. Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (performance & visual artist)
3. Naomi Novic (author)
4. Kanye (here, comparing himself to Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph)
5. Tilda Swinton in a box
6. Amy Winehouse
7. Pop Rocket (Maximum Fun podcast)
8. Here’s How Winning the Lottery Makes You Miserable
9. Jennifer Lawrence
10. the word “bumbling”
11. DOGS
12. John Mulaney on “Doing Nothing”
13. Bridget Everett – What I Gotta Do
14. Grande Iced Soy Americano
15. Hotline Bling
16. The Weeknd – The Hills
17. The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face
18. Justin Timberlake – SexyBack
19. Pasta Roni
20. The Death of Queen Jane from Inside Llewyn Davis
21. Sparkling wine
22. The Zoom H4n Portable Digital Recorder
23. Links I would gchat you if we were friends (a wonderful email newsletter – created by Washington Post digital culture critic Caitlin Dewey – which inspired this list of shout-outs!)

Thank you! Until next time.

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Originally posted on my old blog, Nick vs. the Blog · More from my writing archive