Gweek 055: Rainn Wilson's Soul Pancake

Click here to play this episode. Gweek is a podcast where the editors and friends of Boing Boing talk about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, TV shows, music, movies, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff.

My co-hosts for episode 55 are:

Ruben Bolling, the author of the weekly comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug, which premieres each week on Boing Boing, Michael Pusateri, a lifelong tinkerer and former television tech executive for Disney who blogs at Cruftbox, and Rainn Wilson, the actor and comedian best known for his role as Dwight Schrute in the hit series The Office. He’s also the founder of a very cool website and YouTube channel called Soul Pancake, which is devoted to discussing life’s big questions in art, philosophy, creativity, and spirituality.

Here are a few of the things we talked about in this episode:

An interview with Rainn about Soul Pancake, the Bahá’í Faith, and the Malibu Triathlon.

Ruben: Uncle Scrooge “Only a Poor Man,” by Carl Barks

Ruben: Wherever I Wind Up, by R.A. Dickey

Ruben: You’re Not Doing It Right, by Michael Ian Black.

Rainn: Bossypants, by Tina Fey

Rainn: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling

Rainn: A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson

Rainn: The Seven Mysteries of Life, by Guy Murchie

Mark: I Should Have Stayed Home, by Horace McCoy

Michael: Gangstagrass: Rappalachia

Ruben: Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full of Holes

Rainn: Kathleen Edwards , Rhett Miller , The Head & the Heart , Caspar Babypants

Mark: Songs for Unusual Creatures

Ruben: The Inner Hive

Rainn: Chess.com

• [Joe The Wizard]

  Why the Mike Mitchell radish for the first entry?

• [Francis Delaney]

  I think Rainn has a somewhat unfair, though perhaps understandably limited opinion of atheists. The loud ones generally do tell people they’re stupid for believing, and are proactively anti-religion, but I myself am pretty positive and upbeat about humans and what we are to and for each other (sometimes), and I don’t need a god or gods to have those thoughts.

  • [Cowicide]

    Agreed, I have a feeling the boisterous, asshole commentors that Rainn Wilson is convinced are “atheists” within his SoulPancake website are far more likely to be common trolls and nothing more.

    They’re actually more likely to be some of those goddam nihilists pretending to be atheists.

    Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.

• [Cowicide]

  I liked the song at the end of the podcast.  What’s that from?