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This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, soothe your brain by saying a load of words that don’t really mean very much, to give you an emotional break by temporarily supplanting your interior monologue with something you can benignly ignore.
Note: this is NOT a normal episode of the Allusionist, where you might learn something about language and your brain might be energised. The Tranquillusionist's purpose is to rest your brain and for you to learn nothing.
If you like it, there's a collection of Tranquillusionists at theallusionist.org/tranquillusionist, on themes including champion dogs, Australia's big things, gay animals and more.
Today: a list of the characters who don't have names in film credits.
Content note: this episode contains some terminology from the original film credits that I do not endorse, plus one Category B swear and four Category A swears (which I endorse just fine). If you’re not sure about the Category A/B/etc, I refer you to episode 4.
ALSO:
Enormous thanks to Jez Burrows for letting me use some 2,700 of these credits that he had collected for his book And Introducing. Find it at jezburrows.com, as well as his other work - including his book Dictionary Stories, short stories composed of the example sentences from dictionaries, which he talked about in the Trammels episode of the show a few years ago.
Want more relaxing listening? I’m on a couple of other podcasts this week:
1. Shedunnit has started a book club of the Green Penguin crime novels, and I’m on the first episode, discussing The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers. ‘Unpleasantness’ is such a euphemistic euphemism for a murder. Whether or not you have read the novel, this is a good show to listen to. Find it here.
2. The Incomparable Game Show’s Random Pursuit, where we played Trivial Pursuit from dozens of different sets. Some of the sets are ideal for the trivia stuffed in the trashbin of my brain; others, I am very not good at. Find out which by listening here!
3. The fortnightly YouTube livestreams where I read from my collection of reference books. Here is an example of one, the rest are for members of the Allusioverse, and it’s very easy to become one of those: just head over to theallusionist.org/donate. You also get a host of perks, including the inside scoop of the making of every episode; watchalong parties (lately, weekly gatherings to watch Great Pottery Throwdown, and now the Canadian version too) - AND to hang out with your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
haecceity, noun, philosophy:
1. the quality of a thing that makes it unique or describable as this (one).
2 individuality.
CREDITS:
This episode is based on the book And Introducing by Jez Burrows, get it via jezburrows.com.
The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social and instagram.com/allusionistshow
Back in two weeks with a new, non-tranquil episode. Well it might be tranquil too, but it’ll be not deliberately aiming for tranqullusioneity - HZ.
Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk lovingly and winningly about your product or thing on the show in 2024, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase.
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online empire. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
