James Leonard: How Blindboy makes information accessible inspires The Two Norries
James Leonard says growing up with TV shows that often scared him meant he developed a curiousity about dark topics.
James Leonard, 35, is co-host of The Two Norries podcast, which examines social issues like addiction, crime and mental health. He grew up in Knocknaheeny, Cork City and is studying a PhD in criminology at UCC. The Two Norries will podcast live as part of The Everyman Outdoors on Saturday, August 7. See everymancork.com.
As a child, I loved The Incredible Hulk with Lou Ferrigno. He was the original Hulk. I’ve seen various other Hulks down through the years, like the Marvel ones, but they’re very cartoony. There was something real about Lou Ferrigno. He was a monster of a man. I was born in ’85 so I watched re-runs in the 1990s. There was a part of the show that used to scare me because he was a mad-looking thing, but I was always intrigued by him, being afraid but curious at the same time. I was always attracted to dark stuff.
Growing up, I had a fascination with Hitler, Nazi Germany and World War Two. I watched a lot of Discovery Channel documentaries about that period. I found it fascinating a man could have so much control over other people and do so much damage to other people. It's mind-blowing. How a whole nation could look up to a leader like that and then how the leader could use his powers to try to eliminate a whole race of people. The thing about Hitler was he was an actor. It was all a show. He was able to speak to people’s fears and anxieties. I went on to study criminology. I'm interested in how people end up doing things that they do.
In adulthood, the best TV series I have watched is Breaking Bad. The writing was unbelievable. The acting was fabulous. Every episode your nerves were at you. You felt the anxiety of the situation. You want to know what's happening next. It's mad what it brings up for you. Any TV show that brings up emotions in you is good. I've watched a lot of TV series before and since but I’ve never come across something like it.
Goodfellas is based on a true story, which captured my imagination. In marginalised areas in the United States where you’ve poverty, alcohol, drugs, lack of opportunities, low social supports, a young Italian man is looking at what options he has for social mobility: How can I improve my life circumstances? How can I earn money, get status? Often crime is the only route. The Ray Liotta character in the movie looked at the role models on his street. The people that were respected or feared and had nice leather shoes and Italian suits were the Mafia. You could see why he would want to get into it. But once a guy like him gets into it, he sees it's not all about lovely Italian shoes and suits; it's about murder, abuse, violence, crime and deceit. A very nasty life.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle is a self-help book. It’s about staying in the present moment and keeping your mind out of the past and the future because a lot of the stuff that happened in the past we’ve no control over. It’s done. A lot of the stuff we think about into the future might never happen. A lot of negative life outcomes happen because we're consumed by the past and the future, whereas very little bad can happen to you in the present. It’s so helpful for people in recovery like myself. Even when you're years away from it, things can still crop up and affect you. It’s about understanding: OK, my thinking has gone bad here, but to observe the thinking and realise this bad thinking will pass. It’s about impulse control.
Bob Marley’s album Survival is amazing. A lot of music these days might have a good sound. It might have a good melody, but it’s just empty. You will never hear a Bob Marley song that has empty lyrics. So Much Trouble in the World. Zimbabwe. Survival. Africa Unite. One Drop. Ride Natty Ride. Ambush in the Night when he sings about being attacked and shot. All great songs. Great beats. They all have meaning. Songs about rebelling and standing up for your rights. It’s a great album.
My favourite podcast is a philosophy podcast called Philosophize This! It’s by an American guy called Stephen West. He takes a different philosopher each week and breaks down their theories in about 20 minutes. I love philosophy and sociology, but sometimes they can be hard to access because the theories and concepts might be big and abstract, but he articulates them in a way that is accessible. He’s got an easy voice to listen to. He’s entertaining. Anyone interested in philosophy – that would be the podcast to go to.
Blindboy on his podcast talks about topics that interest me. Like Stephen West, he takes stuff that is hard to understand and he articulates it in a way that's accessible. I would look up to Blindboy in terms of how I do my podcast. I learned a lot through my education, my professional work, going to conferences, having lectures. Having all these privileges, I learned a lot that helped me. I thought this stuff should be made accessible for everybody, not just people in academia or people in professions. With our podcast, we bring in psychologists, academics, people with stories and knowledge, and we share it with everybody, not just academics and professionals. Blindboy does a bit of that as well.
The best stand-up comedian I ever saw – though not in person – is Eddie Murphy. He’s the funniest man ever, especially his 1980s stuff: Delirious and Eddie Murphy Raw. He’s a genius. The stories he tells, the way he tells them, the different accents he puts on – there’s something about him. He even looks funny. His comedy isn’t just one-liners. It’s great all-round comedy.
I like documentaries around social issues. The documentary Banana Land is about bananas being harvested in Colombia and a right-wing government allowing American fruit companies to come in, move the locals off the land, harvest the land to death and move on. What you have then is FARC gorillas, the Communist rebels fighting corporations like United Fruit and the government’s right-wing troops. So you have a conflict based around bananas. The banana is such an innocuous, innocent fruit, but any raw material that is valuable is ripe for exploitation. You have similar abuses with, say, avocados in Mexico or diamonds.
