Episode 74 - Queen's Gambit

Qualifying for the vaccine, rural vs. urban living, hiking in Benicia, celebrating Lunar New Year in lieu of Valentine's Day, rolling a coin over your knuckles, Trump's second impeachment acquittal, finishing "The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix, being less enamored with it than others seem to be, the serious portrayal of chess, likely inspiring a generation of female chess players, watching "Movie 43" under the influence, living under the yoke of smoking cigarettes as a teenager, the potentially cool but ultimately disappointing movie "Looper," Dostoevsky's "Notes from a Dead House," faking a translation, struggling to retain information, being cooler as a kid, disappointing others as a consequence of knowing yourself better, and the value of doing what you need to do for yourself.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 69 - The Cathedral

A return to form episode. Failing miserably at work this week, the attempted siege of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, Trump inciting his base, questioning what the rioters hoped to accomplish, why there wasn't a stronger military opposition, the dubious body-cam footage of a cop shooting in California, taking a pistol shooting class yesterday, performing exceptionally well on the range, the cartoon characters populating and working the range, the adversarial relationship between gun owners and lawmakers in California, Dostoevsky's disappointing novel "The Adolescent," and a wrap-up of movies from last week including "Sexy Beast," "Capturing the Friedmans," "Mad Max: Fury Road," "Wild Strawberries" (plus a reading of Bergman's introduction to the script for "The Seventh Seal"), "2001: A Space Odyssey," "The 400 Blows," "8 1/2," as well the exceptional films "Safe" starring Julianne Moore and "Bad Education" with Hugh Jackman.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 67 - Creative Mechanism

Reflecting on one of the strangest years of our lives, feeling typically down around this season, remembering when shelter in place took effect, still having no clear end in sight, feeling unfulfilled creatively, not feeling connecting to songwriting anymore, a meta commentary on the state of the podcast, re-watching Akira Kurosawa's films and enjoying them more as an adult, a budding interest in recreational firearms, re-watching and evaluating M. Night Shyamalan's "Unbreakable," my gratitude for your listening to the podcast up until now, and best wishes for 2021.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 66 - Dereliction of Duty

A summary response to David Mitchell's novel "Cloud Atlas," a protracted discussion of my feelings about the latest Christopher Nolan film "Tenet," feeling frustrated at not being able to follow the plot, the conflict between clarity and high-concept, the duty of an artist to communicate clearly, still admiring Mitchell and Nolan's ambition, creative interests as a source of both emotional avoidance and meaning, and looking forward to new things in 2021.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 65 - Definition of Insanity

Waiting to do things until I really have to, reflecting on Bram Stoker's "Dracula," reading David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" right now in lieu other popular fiction, the most recent season of The Great British Baking Show, one of the finalists reiterating the "definition of insanity" cliche, true insanity in the 1988 film "The Vanishing," Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and the rise of the "new atheism," my brief dabble with Christianity as a boy, being converted to skepticism by a Carl Sagan quote, the bulletproof contrarianism of Christopher Hitchens, Tom Hanks' performance in both "Sully" and "Captain Phillips," feeling protective of my creative areas of interest, a summary of Korean films I've seen recently including "I Saw the Devil" and "The Man From Nowhere," the over abundance of digital content, feeling far removed from my former creative outlets, and wanting to recuse myself from future gift giving.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 64 - Saint Stephen King

School finals approaching fast, being in full Dad-fiction mode, the relative greatness of Stephen King and Elmore Leonard compared to other popular writers like Michael Crichton and Dan Brown, confusing the content recommendation algorithm for the divine hand, equating the internet echo chamber with love bombing, the one-sided nature of therapy, casting your therapist as whoever you need them to be for a period of time, and a survey of my brief interest in jam bands and tape trading as a kid.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 61 - Preemptive Apologism

Staying up until 7am reading "The Exorcist" to avoid sleeping in the dark, torturing myself with my own imagination, novels that are able to cast a spell despite already seeing the film adaptation, correlations between "The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix and Stephen King's novel "Carrie," going on a grumpy hike, the dangers of consuming outrage, the case for keeping parts of your life private, social media making you feel accountable to everyone you've every met in your life, the overeagerness of strangers to connect on social media, equating cancel culture to The Twilight Zone, no one wanting to hear a white dude with a podcast commenting on the state of culture, and looking forward to reading "Shibumi" by Trevanian.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 59 - Seventy-Five Percent

Humbugging Halloween, dudes who can't bring themselves to put on formal wear, hanging with friends for the first time since shelter-in-place, coincidentally reading "Night Shift" by Stephen King around Halloween, recounting reading "Misery" for the first time, King being at his best before the monsters show their face, the allure of the video game "Return of the Obra Dinn," starting to re-read Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club," a recent confidence crisis with the podcast, stepping away from the synthesis education software Syntorial at 75% completion, looking forward to having guests on the podcast soon, recent stand up specials that fell short for me, and recounting my time in LA with my comedian friend Aaron Marsh.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 58 - On a Spectrum

Reading "Slaughterhouse Five" three times since the last podcast, not fully understanding books after one reading, a basic synopsis of the novel's plot, the importance of structure and motivic development in great art, one superficial interpretation of the novel, my tendency to do things because I "should" do them, the self-awareness of Chuck Palahniuk, the importance of creative confidence, The New York Times' "Ten Meter Tower," the Japanese film "Onibaba," possible connections to Goosebumps and Marcel Marceau, why protesters tape their mouths, and a swift summary of the film "District 9."

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 57 - Betraying the Muse

Suffering the current heat weave, the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast's second life on Patreon, the spooky synchronicity of the episode with Chuck Palahniuk, how the film adaptation of both author's most famous novels are better than the original, inspiration as a glimpse into the spiritual realm of creative ideas, which ideas work best for a film or a novel, the role of the artist as a spiritual medium, the social obligation of artists to strive for clarity, not betraying the muse, art that improves on the source material, the Great Work being carried out in the world through art, not recognizing yourself as the villain in literature, common themes of the Coen brothers, especially "Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men," their upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," the films of Christopher Nolan, and their merits, especially "Dunkirk."

Music by Disasterpeace.