The Occasionalists Podcast: Recent Episodes
The Occasionalists
We are jumping out of the booze and into the theater, for it is once again time to celebrate all things movies with the aptly named, Movie May.
This time we are tackling Secret Movies. Confused? Same here, but this episode should help explain it.
OOOHH YEAHHHH! It was a night of memories, tales of glory days long past when these maniacs ruled the roads and painted the town red. As the drinks flowed, so did the wild stories - outrageous adventures, narrow escapes, romantic conquests that would make your grandmother blush! For one night, they were young again, lost in a hazy brotherhood forged in the beers of their epic youth. OOOHH YEAHHHH, those were the days, my friends, the CREAM OF THE CROP living life full throttle!
We are back with our next drink review for Aperitif April. This time, we'll be tackling a pair of original recipes with a wedding theme!
Join us as we taste-test The Prenuptial and The Divorce Settlement.
Our first foray into cocktails for Aperitif April has us taking on three variations of a modern staple that surged out of West Texas the past decade: Ranch Water!
Several individuals have laid claim to creating this simple yet delicious tequila highball, there is one undisputed fact no one can deny: This shit is gooood.
Pour a glass and drink along as we have our own ranch-hand happy hour.
Our first episode of Aperitif April has us diving into the suds and a little science! In honor of the coming eclipse, we are taste-testing two beers with the cosmos in their hoppy hearts.
First, the specially-made for the big event Vanilla Blackout Stout from Great Lakes Brewing. Then we get a little spacy with Cosmic Haze from Market Garden Brewery.
What do these two different but fabulous beers pair best with? Some choice pop culture cuts with a cosmic twist, of course.
Crack one open, put your eclipse glasses on and let's space out together.
It's April, which means we are jumping into a new theme. I am happy to kick off our first month dedicated to the adult beverage, Grandpa's cough syrup, hooch, the hard stuff, aqua vitae...whatever you want to call it, we're talking about it this month in Aperitif April!
The end of March is here, which means we are wrapping up this year's In The March of Minisodes, which means we are done with The Occasionalists Daily. THANK GOD.
While this was a fun experiment, it's one that is not likely to be repeated any time soon...unless certain changes are made. But really, we probably won't do this again. Most likely. I mean, probably not...
It's Infrastructure Week Day here at The Occasionalists!
You know what that means: I am going to scare the absolute shit out of you with facts about the inherent unsafe conditions of our roads, bridges, drinking water, hazardous waste, schools and more. Oh, and I'm going to tell you about all of the disasters that human oversight and laziness caused. If you're listening to this while driving...prayers up.
Happy Thursday!
Pop quiz hot shot: What's a basic human right we have fought tooth and nail for yet obnoxiously violate or willfully give up for a few likes and comments? What's impossible to fully guarantee yet fundamental to our peace of mind? What is under constant attack, yet the individual's is rarely affected?
Privacy!
I'll bet you never look at your phone the same way again.
On the heels of one of the worst terror attacks ever in Russia that was almost certainly allowed to happen we take a look back at 20th-century Russian history and how Vladimir Putin's role in the KGB and early Russian Federation politics has shaped modern Russia for the worse.
We are kicking off our final week of daily episodes with our first current topic. We are diving into gambling, legal or otherwise, and how baseball's biggest star and the league office find themselves in quite the pickle.
We wrap up this week with songs exclusively with Friday in the title and almost exclusively about people's lives falling apart or coming together on Friday.
Turns out there's a surprisingly large subgenre of music I'm dubbing "very bad or very good shit happens to me on Fridays." It's a working title.
We're over the hump and on to Thirsty Thursday. Nay! We are on to Throwback Thursday! That's right, bringing back an early social media #classic as we celebrate some old music with today's playlist. How old? The newest songs on here would have just turned 30.
Let's throw it back!
We are back on a Wednesday to turn the volume back up after bringing it down yesterday. We are hitting the gym with some force, aggression and some equally angry music. It's time for some Crush Tunes!
Turn this shit up to 11 and start crushing some iron!
How about some mood and mind-altering music to change your attitude about the second worst day of the week? Thought you might like that.
What better way to start a new work week than with a playlist chock full of tv themes? It's rhetorical: there is no better way.
Don't think you can jam out to tv music? Think again!
What do picking up historic land markers, throwing giant logs, pulling airplanes, and dragging anchors have in common with everyday tasks in your life? Maybe a little more than you realized.
What do world-class bodybuilders, powerlifters, strongmen, and strength coaches all have in common according to jealous little trolls on the internet?
They're all ego lifters! And nothing they do ever counts!
I have a solution for this problem: Take the collective sticks out of your asses and join us in some good old fashion ego-lifting fun!
Q: What are we doing today mum?
A: We're gonna tear the tits off some high-rep sets!
For a lot of casual gym goers, a high rep set might entail 15, 16, or maybe even 20 reps.
We're about to enter a different realm of reps, where we don't even start counting until the lungs burn and the muscles get tight. Welcome to hell!
For today's episode, we are talking weight sleds. A great alternative to leg day and very much like a Transformer: more than meets the eye!
Tighten those shoes and get pushing. Or pullin'!
We're rolling right into the second week of The Occasionalists Daily with a look at how we can still get a good workout and have a little fun at the same time.
First up: Accommodating Resistance. Get your bands and your chains out. Let's go to work!
A two-fer to close out the first week of The Occasionalists Daily. We take on the gimmicky nature of professional soccer in America and try to figure out why the NHL wants to make itself look as bad as possible.
Today's episode covers the problems the NBA faces, one of which starts well before a player logs even a single minute in The Association.
And if you're a big nerd, the other problem has to do with math!
Today's episode has us looking slightly beyond the payroll imbalances of Major League Baseball and examining to new issues facing the league.
For the second episode of the podcast every day challenge for In The March of Minisodes, we tackle the problems threatening college football.
We're kicking off In The March of Minisodes daily podcast challenge with a look at some of the less obvious problems facing the NFL.
Viking horn sounds
In The March of Minisodes, has commenced!
Crowd cheers wildly
We are taking the minisode concept to new heights this year. For this March, The Occasionalists will become a daily podcast. That's right kids! Every weekday (that's weekday) this month you will be getting a hot new episode. Sports, music, headline news...it's all coming at you hard and fast.
Who's ready for 21 episodes?!
Crowd explodes into more cheers
Wow! The six of you are very excited for this!
We are putting the finishing touches on February and we are locking up The Vault. For now!
We go over the month and give some highlights, talk about how The Vault is going to come into play in the future and of course, finish with our final Top 5 of the month.
You even get a bonus peek at next month's minisode challenge.
Our third entry into The Vault finds us bringing in our first guest of the year. Rob Nugent is back to get in-depth with the 1993 stoner classic, Dazed and Confused.
This is a masterclass in independent filmmaking, Gen X defiance, and the aimlessness of youth. It's bolstered by a who's who cast before they were stars, an unbelievable (and expensive!) soundtrack, and Richard Linklater's unmistakable voice and fingerprints all over every scene.
You got two hours to chill and listen with us? No?
Be a lot cooler if you did.
The next piece of pop culture we are locking away from the impending apocalypse (asteroid, mega typhoon, new pandemic, whatever) inside of our trusty, underground vault is the greatest sitcom ever: It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
I said what I said! This show has charted its path to greatness by simultaneously subverting and playing directly to modern tv tropes. It has pushed boundaries, sometimes a little too far, in a way no sitcom had done previously.
And all it has to show for breaking new ground on television is an empty trophy case and a worldwide legion of fans.
Why don't yous pull up a seat and listen?
Our first episode of The Vault finds us taking a deep dive into the once-reviled, now-lauded sci-horror classic The Thing.
John Carpenter's nihilist masterpiece weaves together some of the grossest, most spectacular SFX of all time, with a tense story, top-notch cast, claustrophobic atmosphere, and growing paranoia while still leaving room for the audience to explore their interpretations and theories on the film.
Without a doubt, this is a solid first entry for The Vault.
Greetings Occasionalheads! We are back, kicking off February with the first of our imitation series. This month, we are jocking the style of a classic movie podcast, Filmspotting, and putting our twist on what we think of as being the best of the best.
We're unlocking...drum roll please...The Vault!
All month long we are picking some pieces of pop culture that we want to lock away in a massive, disaster-proof vault to protect from the inevitable crash and burn of civilization and preserve for the aliens that will arrive on our ashen husk of a planet future generations of humanity to enjoy.
Start thinking about what you want to put into The Vault!
Our last (more than likely) Loose End is being tied up as we discuss Sports Logos!
We've gotten into plenty of uniform talk when it comes to our sports-centric episodes, but we've never gotten directly into the team logos. What makes a good logo? How have design conventions changed over the years? Why do some logos become iconic and others never catch on?
I'm so glad you asked, let's answer all of those questions and more!
We hit our next Loose End and take on something that has been on the proverbial docket for....ever. At least it seems that way. We are talking about some video game music!
Soundtrack vs scores, ambient/background music and sounds, early video game music. We cover it all! Plus, we get a little video game music trivia that involves some big-time musicians and award winners.
Pick up those sticks and press play!
Welcome back Occasionalists fans! The first brand-new episode of the year has arrived!
In a vain attempt at a minisode, I spend a solid 45 minutes discussing some of the best things in pop culture I've come across recently, as well as some of the things that make my blood boil.
What made the lists?
- Marvel melting brains? You bet!
- Lyrical meteorologists? Absolutely!
- Reality-bending movies? Of course!
And a whole lot more. Without further ado, let's jump into 2024.
We wrap up the Best of 2023 with another look at two thrillers from Fright Fest V that embodied the legislative branch of The Body Politic and the power policy has to turn people against each other with a deep dive into The Purge and Battle Royale.
And now the second of two Best of episodes dropping today, in which we discuss the different types of modern sci-fi subgenres and their origins, and give some examples of some movies and tv shows you might have seen that fit into one or multiple different subgenres.
The first of two Best of episodes dropping today, in which we discuss the different types of modern sci-fi subgenres and their origins, and give some examples of some movies and tv shows you might have seen that fit into one or multiple different subgenres.
Our next Best of 2023 episode finds us going back to the totally awesome, totally tubular 1990s to talk about the golden age (maybe?) of sitcoms with none other than hockey correspondent Rob Nugent!
From our favorites, to absurd moments, to jokes we didn't get until we were older, this episode was an awesome blast of tv nostalgia.
Let's take a look back at the best episodes of the year as selected by uh....me! We'll do this in chronological order so first up was a very fun episode from Movie May.
The whole month was dedicated to war movies of various kinds and this episode (Battle Breakdown) got into the nitty gritty of combat by dissecting 9 different battle sequences from film and television. Some were from real battles, some were fictional, some did some things right and others did some things wrong.
Heyo! We are back and alive. Uh, obviously.
We are back with a new episode to close out the year that was, 2023 in case you forgot, by covering all of the previous episodes and themes and seeing what worked, didn't work, and where to go from there.
We also preview the top 4 episodes of the year and give a glimpse into the upcoming, year-long theme the podcast will be following.
Happy 2024! Eat shit, 2023!
And we wrap up the two-fer, and Best of the Best Week, with a look at villains in sports.
Are there as many as you think? When does villainy cross into appreciation?
One thing is for sure though: villains make for the best real fictional characters.
How about we close out Best of the Best Week with a good old-fashioned two-fer?
We start by doing a deep dive into bat flips, hip thrusts, coordinated dances, power slides, finger wags, spikes, shimmies, shakes, and war dances to determine what is the best celebration in all of sports.
We have reached the midpoint of our Best of the Best Week and we are hashing out what is the best sports television show of all time.
Here's a dirty little secret about fictional sports tv shows: they mostly suck.
Except for the one selected here. FX's The League is truly head and shoulders (and downstairs mouth) above the rest of the competition and thus, earns a lifetime Shiva award.
Our next episode for Best of the Best Week finds us examining the intersection of sports and music. Nothing hypes up a crowd, or a team for that matter, like a well-placed song drop. Player and team entrances, fan chants, and even some sing-alongs are top of mind with this episode.
We tackle a variety of songs and tell you when it is best to give these tracks a try.
Plus, we open up Pandora's Box and potentially commit some kind of blasphemy by suggesting that maybe, juuuust maybe, Queen does not have the top stadium anthem of all time.
I've said too much, strap in to find out more.
We roll on with our Sports Bonanza and we're offering up a little curveball for your holiday week.
A new minisode every day this week presenting the Best of the Best. First up: The Best Sports Movie.
It's obviously the 1989 comedy classic, Major League. If you think it's something else, you're wrong. I think you'll see things, just give me like 5 minutes to convince you.
You still don't believe me? I guess there's only one thing left to do then...
Listen to the whole fucking thing.
We're jumping right back into another Sports Bonanza episode, this time with a few answers to our pressing Cleveland sports questions.*
Can the Guardians dream real big this offseason? How should we consider this wild, up-and-down Browns season? Will the Cavs have the first father-son duo in NBA history? Get answers to all that and more!
*Unfortunately, we didn't have time to provide any commentary or updates on the ever-growing steroid and cocaine scandal in the Greater Cleveland Interscholastic Bowling League. Check back in next week!
The November Sports Bonanza rolls on with (and you knew it was coming) a Cleveland-centric episode!
We're asking questions about the Browns, Cavs, and Guardians, obviously.
But we're also dipping into the Cleveland Monsters, John Carroll Blue Streaks, Notre Dame College Falcons, Cleveland State Vikings, and Case Western Spartans. And naturally, we finished out with a deep talk about the hyper-competitive Greater Cleveland Interscholastic Bowling League and the ongoing steroids scandal.
Wait, I'm being told that part of the recording has been lost.
I guess we'll have to replace it with some talk about THE Ohio State University Buckeyes. You win some you lose some.
Tomorrow, we'll be answering a few questions posed in this episode. Stay tuned!
We are officially kicking of our monthlong focus on sports, Sports Bonanza!, with an always fun and engaging round of sports trivia. We're digging deep into all of the major sports, college and pro, with an interesting bonus question to boot.
And if you're into excessively long rants about big corporations stealing money, are you in for a real treat!
In the words of the late, great Oscar Gamble: They don't think it be like it is. But it do.
We wrap up Fright Fest V (almost!) with our final double feature on the enforcement branch of The Body Politic as we take on Deathwatch (2002) and Day of the Dead (1985).
On the menu for this review: Isolation, paranoia, distrust, zombies, barbed wire, inhuman experiments, giant rats, machine guns, inept leaders, the apocalypse, and vengeful German spirits.
That sounds like a good meal to me, eat up!
We kick off the final week of our examination into the Body Politic with an introduction to the branch that represents the most immediate horror and threat to us: Enforcement.
There isn't a situation the boys in blue or (green) can't make worse and way more violent than it needs to be. Whether it's zombies, primordial gods, ghosts, or regular people in extraordinary circumstances, they'll find a way to screw it up.
On tap for this week's double feature are two 1980s classics, The Dead Zone and They Live.
An exploration into two sides of the same coin: The Power Elite. Dangerous, erratic politicians inflict terror on the one side and captains of industry wielding consumerism and capitalism cause horror on the other.
Who wins when that's the coin you have to flip? Buddy, it ain't you and me.
We start the second week of our Fright Fest V investigation into The Body Politic with a minisode wrapping up legislation and our legislative nightmare movies as well as laying the groundwork for a look at the next branch of political horror: The Elites.
We kick off the movie review portion of Fright Fest V with a look at two movies that examine how The Body Politic creates fear, distrust, and violence in its citizenry with legislation: The Purge (2013) and Battle Royale (2000).
When religious, authoritarian regimes need to get rid of undesirables in their society and scare others into compliance, what better way to do it than to create a system that encourages your own citizens to do it for you?!
Release the beast with us, won't you?
Gather 'round ye old gravestone, sharpen your finest meat hook, and put on your fanciest hockey mask because the most special time of the year has arrived: Fright Fest V is finally here!
In this year's edition, we tackle the intersection of politics and horror, and how society's fear and anxiety are reflected in our entertainment media. We're focusing on three particular branches (themes) of political horror:
- Legislation
- The Elites
- Enforcement
We'll review 6(!) movies this month that touch on some aspects of those branches.
First up, a little intro into how legislation can create an environment of fear.
Sci-Fi September is coming to an end, but we are going out with a bang!
Our final review has us checking in on the 2009's Triangle. An Australian Timeslip movie that's one part psychological thriller, one part stalker horror, two parts Greek myth, and a whole lot of self-flagellation.
Can our protagonist Jess escape the nightmare time loop (err, triangle) she finds herself in? Where did that mysterious ship actually come from? Why aren't the Australians allowed to use their own accents?
All of these questions and more are answered in our Triangle review!
We couldn't let Sci-Fi September end before getting in a couple of movie reviews.
First up, is the 1956 classic Forbidden Planet. Truly a foundational work that has been influencing science fiction entertainment for the past 60 years. From the characters to the visual effects, and storytelling techniques that would later become tropes of the genre, this movie has it all.
Did we also mention it has hunky Leslie Nielsen, the lower half of Anne Francis, a helpful but obese robot, and a ship full of horny, drunk dudes?
We'll see you on Altair 4, as long as our circuits don't short out.
We wrap up the discussion on the main subgenres of science fiction with a look at The Big 4 Subgenres:
- Hard Sci-Fi
- Cyberpunk
- Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi
- Social Sci-Fi
We discuss what is making each subgenre relevant now and how that has changed, or not changed, since the early days of science fiction storytelling. Of course, there are some recommendations and standout examples from each subgenre as well.
We came here to chew bubble gum and podcast...and we're all out of bubble gum.
Sci-Fi September rolls on into modern times!
We're talking about the emergence of science fiction subgenres and how they are best represented in film, television, and books. We also discuss a few less well-defined subgenres and whether they can stand on their own.
We keep the big 4 subgenres for their own episode. So tune in later this week!
Where we're going, we don't need roads.
Sci-Fi September continues with a look at the early days of science fiction media coming off the page and briefly dominating early pop culture through radio plays.
From pulp adventures to thought-provoking scenarios to hoaxes that redefined radio and pop culture, the early 20th century was an incredible time to be a sci-fi fan.
Don't mind those explosions on Mars, and come get your positronic brain filled with knowledge.
We are back to kick off a brand new month as we dive into Sci-Fi September!
We start off with an investigation into the ancient origins of science fiction literature, highlight some of the genre's luminary writers, and discuss the way modern sci-fi has evolved over time from pulp action serials to thought experiments, laden with analogies.
We also discuss what actually makes sci-fi...sci-fi.
Come with me if you want to learn.
We are back with the next installment of our 1990s series, as we look at sitcoms with Rob Nugent!
Is the 1990s the Golden Age of the Sitcom? Are people too sensitive to watch old tv shows? What will happen with sitcoms in the future? How unabashedly horny were Rob and I as kids growing up in the 90s?
Tune in to find out all that, and way more than you ever wanted to, on this week's episode!
Our look back into the 1990s starts with a deep dive into video game nostalgia with very special guest host Greg Cherry!
We talk about our gaming setups, consoles of choice, favorites you've heard of, and plenty more you've probably never heard of.
We also compare gaming as teens to gaming as adults and how the years have changed our gaming habits.
Pick up those sticks and hop into the first leg of this 1990s campaign!
WE ARE BACK DUDES AND DUDETTES!
The Occasionalists have come back from their summer hibernation to bring a totally radical 9th (maybe?) season of podcast shenanigans.
We're calling an audible and talking about The 1990s! Baggy clothes, thin eyebrows, terrible CGI, incredible movie soundtracks, and angsty teens galore. What a time to be alive!
We go over the particulars of this upcoming month as well as give you a little update on the goings-on of the people behind the mic.
To wrap up our first History Lesson, we take a look at how sneakers modernized and become a cultural force unto themselves.
From the innovations to the shoe itself to the business model around shoe endorsement, its influence in hip-hop culture, and the domination of Nike and athletes becoming synonymous with their shoes.
Hope those Omnis are pumped, we got some ground to cover.
We're kicking off June, our History Lesson month, with the first of a two-parter looking at the history and key moments in the development of the sneaker.
In part one, we look at how ancient footwear went from simple woven coverings to flip-flops and even radically enormous high heels. We note some important innovations ranging from ancient times all the way up to the Industrial Revolution, and discuss the first athletes with their own shoes. Hint: you definitely know one of them.
We even discuss history's first sneakerheads: wealthy Romans, of course.
Lace-up, we got a lot to talk about!
We move on to the next Battlefield Cinema installment with a movie review of the 1936 classic, Things To Come. Based on the shockingly prescient book by HG Wells, Things To Come follows the collapse of society after a devastating world war and its rise to utopia, 100 years later.
So strap on your big light bulb helmets and fire up that Peace Gas, we got a space gun to shoot and a right-wing mob to stop!
Battlefield Cinema rolls on with a review of a speculative fiction war movie about the fabled 9th Roman Legion that was lost to history around 120 AD.
That's right, we're talking about Centurion! Directed by Neil Marshall, starring Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, and a host of other British actors you've definitely seen in something before.
How does this movie's ancient battle stack up to others? How many meet-cutes can you recall that starts with public urination? Could Peter Jackson sue for this movie containing too many overhead shots of people running? Was this actually the correct movie?
Find out all of that and more!
We are back on a Monday to kick off the new week with a look at 9 different battle scenes, mostly from film but a few tv scenes sneak in as well. They are as follows: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Gladiator, 300, A Bridge Too Far, Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, Black Sails, Game of Thrones, and Children of Men.
We go over some (general) rules that make a great battle scene and discuss the key moments and elements from these 9 selections. We find out what was done wrong, what was done right, and if maybe there was a way to do things better.
We cover it all, from ancient battles to future urban warfare.
We are back baby!
Another packed month has delayed our usual celebration of all things film, but we are off and running with the first of 5, yes you read that correctly, 5 action-packed episodes about how wars are captured on film.
We kick off this week with an in-depth look at some of the reasons why war movies are almost universally enthralling, the rules many of them have to obey, the movies that can get away with bending those rules, and a whole lot of war information you didn't necessarily ask for but definitely signed up for by agreeing to listen to this podcast.
We'll see you on the beach!
We are finally back after a long delay with a single episode to start and begin our April theme, Man Tears.
In this episode, we explore what makes men cry, why crying has significant physiological differences between men and women, the societal/cultural acceptance of crying, and of course...we talk about some media that gets dudes a little weepy.
Grab your hanky and get your best excuse ready, we're about to do some crying, boys!
In The March of Minisodes concludes with a celebration of MLB Opening Day! Starting today, there is baseball for 26 consecutive weeks. Hallelujah!
So we get into some interesting baseball facts and have a few trivia questions for you to ponder in this episode, which will be answered tomorrow over on Instagram. You should probably follow us there: @the_occasionalists_podcast.
So tighten up your spikes, loosen up the arm, check your cup and get ready for some high heat, Occasionalists style.
Our last Straight to Series minisodes finds us tackling old tv shows. As stated in the episode, you could almost guarantee a few of these selections and honorable mentions will be remade, it's just a matter of when. Such is the nature of television.
So we explore how a future Mission: Impossible series would look and how you could adapt it for contemporary issues.
And we take a look at two series that were mishandled, cut short, and have had fans clamoring for closure or a reboot ever since, Sliders and Jericho.
Up next for our Straight to Series minisodes, we tackle some old movies that could be made into tv shows.
A mix of continuations (Escape From New York, The Last Starfighter) and adaptations (Groundhog Day) offer a unique look at how you can possibly advance a character into a new story, bring new characters into an old story, or simply introduce a clever idea into a new situation with new characters.
And again, if any of these become tv shows, you heard it hear first!
We roll on with another minisode, this time tackling what video games would make for interesting tv adaptations.
With the success of The Last of Us, Halo, The Witcher and others, there is sure to be a deluge of shows in the near future based on video games. We're just beating everyone to the punch.
So if there is ever an adaptation of Titanfall, Dead Space, or What Remains of Edith Finch...you can thank The Occasionalists.
Happy St. Paddy's Day, if that's your thing, more importantly, it's the last minisode this week!
In this installment, I'll be providing an update to thoughts and news from previous episodes or put a cap on some topics I didn't dive into as fully as I could have.
And then, I'm never talking about them EVER AGAIN.
That's probably not true but I'll be putting these topics to the side after this episode: perfection in the gym, AI is not really but kind of coming for us, and Marvel needs to stop being so far up its own ass.
Wednesday's episode brings back another oldie but a goodie, Recommendation Rewind.
For this iteration, instead of giving you recs based on the previous episode, I dive into a pop culture behemoth, The Last Of Us, and give you some solid post-apocalyptic shows and movies to watch.
Then I get into Moorhead and Benson's latest, Something In The Dirt, and rip out a few cosmic horror, meta-movie, mindf*ck recommendations.
New month, old theme. In The March of Minisodes returns! It was a hit last year, so it's coming back for a second round.
The first of three episodes this week goes through the new MLB rules, the objective behind them, and why everyone needs to chill the f*ck out about a clock ruining baseball.
We wrap up February with the final, and definitely most dangerous interview in our Ask The Experts series. We bring on adventure enthusiast, and all-around badass, Kayla Wernimont to talk about partaking in daring hobbies and the mindset needed to enjoy such unique physical challenges.
We get into rock climbing, water skiing, wilderness rescues, ornery animals, lots of falling, and dogs in climbing costumes.
Plus, who would Kayla take along with her on a celebrities-only adventure? Tune in to find out!
We are rolling on with Ask The Experts and bringing in the official Occasionalists hockey correspondent, Rob Nugent!
We get in some NHL updates and then dive into Rob's experience playing youth and rec league hockey. We talk about what keeps him playing, what are the challenges of playing organized sports as an adult and much more.
We also put together a fictional hockey team that would undoubtedly steamroll to a Stanley Cup win.
Strap on those blades, polish off your best snipe celly, and try to handle the dirtiest dangles in all of podcasting.
February is upon us and with that, so is a new theme.
This month, we are having a series of discussions with people who have some expertise in a particular subject. To kick off our "Ask The Experts" month, the pod is bringing back sometimes guest star Greg Cherry to talk about standup comedy.
A budding comedian himself, Greg gives us the lowdown on what got him into comedy, his experience working his way through the ranks and some of the unexpected obstacles in the comedy world.
We also get Greg's Top 5 world leaders, past or present, whose standup set he'd like to see.
You can find Greg on IG @craigory_berry & TikTok @gregcherrycomedy.
Despite some delays, the final episode of The Gatekeepers is here!
January wraps up with a deeper look at the play mechanics and rules of sports to give a casual fan (or not a fan at all) a look at what separates each sport from the other, some interesting sports trivia, and the barriers that have hindered certain sports from catching on with more people.
We also take a look at one of the most intense in-group vs. out-group examples: sports fanaticism and how those particular in-groups might be intentionally or unintentionally keeping others from enjoying the sport.
We are rolling through January with an episode about Gym Culture and what it's like to be an outsider trying to get in.
How can you minimize the awkwardness of doing something you've never done before, in a place you are unfamiliar with?
I am so glad you asked! This episode answers that question and addresses more reasons why people are hesitant to exercise, join a gym, or get hit with a severe case of Gymtimidation.
Another gateway has been opened for you, lift freely my friends!
Welcome on into another new year here at The Occasionalists!
We kick off 2023 with a month called, The Gatekeepers. We're going to talk about some subjects that seemingly have a lot of barriers to entry or perhaps even individuals separating the in-group from the out-group.
The first episode this month delves into new tech, specifically, the sudden ubiquity of artificial intelligence.
Is it really that intelligent? How can you use it? And will you just help your parents with their Facebook accounts already?!
Our final episode of the year is in and it's putting all of you on the clock to listen. We wrap up 2022 the same way we did with 20221, by setting up the next year.
This time, we decided to go all in and used our collective resources to hire Roger Goodell to host our first ever....drum roll...Occasionalists Theme Draft!
We are drafting all 12 months of the year this time, with each of us choosing the month and the theme. Who got the steal of the draft? Who reached on a pick? Will Mr. Irrelevant make an impact on his new team?
Find out all that and more in this week's episode.
Part two of our annual Year In Review episode is live!
We get into an Adam-centric trivia segment (Adam Trivalewski!) and segway seamlessly into Afro-Futurism.
We also wrap up with an in-depth look at the past year of podcasting and the things we listened to and are interested in bringing into our show.
We are officially winding down 2022 with a look back at all of the things, well most of the things, we talked about in the past year.
How we reformatted the podcast, the pros and cons of doing so, some of the missed opportunities, and of course, plenty of our highlights!
This is part one of a supersized finale.
The Occasionalists are back to round out Sports November, the final themed month of the year, with a deep dive into the most prominent form of sports entertainment in the world...WRASSLIN'!
This is a true megasode as we start with wrestling's beginnings in Civil War-era circuses and bring it all the way up to the modern age of highflyers diving into the announce table for YouTube views.
We see what has and hasn't changed since our time as regular wrestling viewers, discuss some of our favorite memories as young fans, and see if anything in the modern era might pull us back in.
Break out the steel chairs and watch out for the pyro, things are about to get crazy in the squared circle!
Make way losers!
Occasionalists Sports Radio has returned with a new installment of Over The Line. And you know what that means... the return of SMOKE AND THE BIG FREEZE!
Your favorite sports talk radio duo is back to give you some sizzling takes and cool down some callers who are coming in too hot. They're covering football, soccer, strongman, pasta, baseball, basements and clothes made out of endangered species.
Smoke and Freeze are back baby!
And we're back! We kick off Sports November, our final themed month of the year, with a classic episode format with a sports twist: 5 Good Sports Topics.
Normally we meander all over when doing a 5 Topics episode but this time we focus in on the world of sports. From College football, to our local teams, the cost/benefit analysis when making huge trades, slick uniforms and separating art from the artist (or sports from the...sportist?) we cover it all.
BECAUSE WE LIKE SPORTS.
The last episode of this year's Fright Fest has arrived! This week we are covering the absolute coolest vampire movie ever made and you can come fight me if you disagree.
That's right, we are talking The Lost Boys!
The 1987 Joel Schumacher teen horror classic, boasting an absolutely star-studded cast, finds vampires stalking the eccentric town of Santa Carla, CA aka The Murder Capital of The World.
- Does it still hold up after 35 years? (Well duh.)
- Is this one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time? (Totally.)
- Do we need more steak with all the sizzle? (It would help.)
- Are there too many hot people in this movie? (Maybe!)
- Which movie monster do you think Joel Schumacher would have sex with? (Wait, what?)
All that and more in this week's episode!
We Are back with our next selection for this year's Fright Fest; David Cronenberg's body horror, cult classic remake of The Fly. Metaphors abound in this version of the tale of a scientist being corrupted by his own creation. Death, grief, disease, aging, and legacy are just a few of the themes present throughout this movie.
And we couldn't discuss a Cronenberg movie without talking about someone being gruesomely transformed, disfigured, or mauled and this movie brings all of it in spades!
Strap in and we'll see you in the other telepod!
It is that time of year again as The Occasionalists welcome in spooky season with our annual celebration of all things scary, the Fright Fest!
Fright Fest IV comes with one warning for all brave enough to listen: Here Be Monsters!
This year we are taking a deep dive into the creatures that have been making our skin crawl for the past 100+ years of cinema. From giant creatures, to mini monsters, from those that look like us, to those that take over us and so many more.
Join us all month long as we Monster Mash!
And we're baaack! We're rounding out the month with our 1980s Movie Pitches.
Normally, we tack on a pitch whenever we cover some other form of media (like we did with Time War a couple of months ago) but we're doing a standalone pitch this time.
Only rule: the movie has to take place in the 1980s, of course!
We also put together some incredible 80s inspired soundtracks, give some insight into the movie ideas we abandoned and give a preview of next month's Fright Fest.
Are you ready for a bloodthirsty demon, a time-traveling fitness guru and a lot of anti-Soviet sentiment? Then buckle up and enjoy our pitches!
For the second episode in our 1980s month, we are taking a deep dive into a pair of 1980s cult classic movies, Red Dawn (1984) and The Running Man (1987).
While these are by no means perfect movies, they do perfectly capture the essence of the 1980s: from the rampant Russian/fascist paranoia, to the obsession with television and game shows, to Adidas track suits, and Arnold one liners, these movies are must watch for a peek at 1980s pop culture.
Arm up, take aim and let's start the show!
We are diving into a brand new month here on the pod and like all good media outlets, we're FINALLY going to cover something that has made a resurgence in both pop culture and the world at large the last several years: The 1980s!
They're back baby!
- Neon clothes with gargantuan logos? Check!
- Over-produced synthesizer music? Check!
- Russia staking its claim as the world's bad guy? Check!
- Kids on bicycles having adventures in movies and tv? Check!
Put that car phone back in its bag and turn off your new cd player so you can listen to our first installment all about the 1980s.
We are back to wrap up Beyond Borders month with a deep dive into international television. We talk about the earliest smattering of British shows that were available to us as kids, all the way to the visual feast of entertainment from all corners of the globe that we enjoy now.
We answer some important questions along the way:
- Why is everyone so hot?
- Have they been using the same cameras for 30 years?
- How many people get murdered in England every year? Millions?
- Seriously, why is everyone so hot!?
We also delve into the real issues as we talk about a pair of world leaders, President Vasily Petrovich Goloborodko and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That's right, we watched Servant of the People to compare a fictional reformer with a real one who just so happens to be fighting for his country's existence. Similarities, differences and eerie coincidences (or circumstances?) abound.
Join us!
Our second episode of Beyond Borders month finds us talking about movies from abroad. From our early favorites to recent discoveries, foreign film has been a massive influence on our lives.
We give everyone, especially those newer to international movies, a starting point for some accessible films as well as a few essential, landmark films to watch.
And maybe the biggest news from this episode: PC Culture Studios is reopening! We got our COVID bailout and we were able to assemble 8 (actually 9) great foreign filmmakers to helm the studio's first anthology movie series. Title not yet determined.
We also dish on a few foreign short films and lay out a few people to watch for in the coming years.
The Occasionalists are back baby! Summer break is over and we are kicking off Season 8 with a road trip.
This month, we are talking international media as we go Beyond Borders. We kick off this world tour with a dive into the music of the world.
We talk about our neighbors in Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, and explore the cutesy weirdness of Kawaii Metal.
And did you ask for an international playlist? Oh buddy, you got one!
We are wrapping up our Best Of (?) Month with an oldie but a topic we love talking about, good or bad, Embrace The Reboot!
As the title would suggest, we give up criticising Hollywood for not having any original ideas and instead, join in on the remaking, rebooting, prequeling, sequeling and adapting fun the major studios are having without us.
Let's do it! Again!
Best Of (?) Month rolls along with our deep dive into one of the strangest years in our pop culture lifetimes, 1997.
In particular, we look at music and how the post-grunge, pre-modern pop era was a complete, jumbled mess that the music companies and consumers alike could not fully figure out.
Bland yet unforgettable earworms, the best year ever(!?) for movie soundtracks, the mainstreaming of hip hop and the women briefly taking over the alt rock scene.
There's a lot to work through here, join us!
This week's episode was one of the handful we did before the coronavirus pandemic forced the US into a nationwide lockdown. And guess what!? WE PREDICTED EVERYTHING!
Just kidding, in fact, we don't make mention of the pandemic at all. Which was refreshing since all of our episodes for awhile after would be tainted with talk of the ongoing outbreak.
In this episode we focus on the bad guys of film, television and literature. The Villains!
We get into what makes villains so compelling, how to deploy them in a story and we give a breakdown of classic villain archetypes and introduce a few that are newer to the entertainment world.
Give it a listen and SAY GOODNIGHT TO THE BAD GUY!
Welcome to July everyone! Like most people out there, The Occasionalists also like to get out and enjoy their summer vacation. To that end, we are taking the month of July off but we are not leaving you high and dry. No sir!
Every week this month we will be dialing up the way back machine to give everyone a second look at some of our favorite episodes. We reintroduce each episode, give a little detail on what was going on with us at that point in time, and lay out a few other things we noticed or perhaps had forgotten prior to the relisten.
First up, from July 30th 2018, our Cinema Dissection on Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi action classic RoboCop.
And a quick message from Clarence Boddicker: Bitches, enjoy.
Our final episode for our book club month is here and this time we turn our focus to the main (and really only) characters of This Is How You Lose The Time War, Red and Blue themselves.
We dissect their motivations, places in their respective factions, their relationship to one another and so much more. We also answer a few speculative questions about each character that were never totally filled in and ask a few of our own.
We then wrap up with something we love to do on this podcast: we pitch our own adaptations of the book!
Chemma handles the movie and Pags is all over the tv series.
Did you know that we here at The Occasionalists can read? Surprise! We can!
We like reading so much we are dedicating two robust episodes to the fabulous sci-fi romance novella from 2019, This Is How You Lose The Time War.
An epistolary novel by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, This Is How You Lose The Time War tells the story of two time-traveling assassins attempting to win an unending war and falling in love over the centuries via hidden messages.
That summary does this book no justice but hopefully our episode will.
Follow us upthread, will you?
Part two of our lost music discussion is now live.
We round out this conversation by delving into movie soundtracks and scores, our favorite musical subgenres and of course...we make a badass lifting playlist.
Press play, suckas!
Way back in April, we recorded two episodes showing our appreciation for pop culture that we really liked. The first episode was on Raised By Wolves (RIP) and it went over very well. We even got some dap from some of the stars of the show.
The second episode was a deep exploration of music and parts of the music industry. Because of unforeseen technical difficulties, the recording was fucked. A two hour plus discussion went down the drain.
So we are back with another crack at our music episode, appropriately titled, Music Appreciation Redux. This time, we managed to not fuck anything up and got a tremendous two-part episode out of the discussion.
Appreciation April rolls on into June!
We wrap up Movie May with our second double feature, covering the 1951 superhero movie Superman And The Mole Men and a Lovecraftian horror-comedy from 1991, Cast A Deadly Spell. This was a great look back at the progenitor of the superhero movie and a delight to revisit Fred Ward in a cooky, HBO movie with an absolutely stacked cast.
Fun fact: At 58 minutes in length, Superman And The Mole Men is less than 1/3 the length of Avengers: Endgame and just as much fun.
Another fun fact: Fred Ward never gave a bad performance. RIP Fred!
We are pumped to get into the thick of B Movie May with a double feature episode.
We start with the 1954 Roger Corman carsploitation film The Fast And The Furious! While there is nary a Corona or a family barbecue in sight, there is plenty of racing, dames and crashing!
Christopher Nolan's 1998, micro budget debut film Following caps off our viewing and somehow, despite growing his budgets from $6,000 to $200 million per film, it's still the same old Nolan!
Check em out!
We conclude our history lesson with the definitive eras of the B Movie (1960s-80s) and what lead to their decline in pop culture.
We also talk about what this portion of the industry has morphed into today and hit on some movies that are erroneously called B Movies.
We are back (with a fully functional recording this time) to kick off a new month on The Occasionalists. It's May, so you know what that means...Justin Timberlake memes! No!
It's Movie May! Every month of May we take a deep dive into a specific branch of the film industry. Last year, we held our own short film festival and this year we are taking on a long time staple in the American film industry: the B Movie.
For the first part of this double feature, we start from the origins of the B Movie in the Depression and work our way through the oaters of the 1940s and 1950s.
Strap in, baby. In the year 2022, podcasting is no longer a felony. It's the national sport!
A new month means a new theme here at The Occasionalists. We are now into Appreciation April!
This month we will be taking a closer, detailed look at things in pop culture that we are really into.
First up this month, the HBO Max series Raised By Wolves. We take a long look at the themes, metaphors, production and performances from one the best and most unique pieces of sci fi entertainment to come around in a long time.
But first, how about a joke?
An android, a serpent and an atheist walk into a bar...
Our final minisode installment for March has arrived and we are flipping the script on yesterday's episode.
We are tackling the other side of comic book adaptation industry and are attempting to lighten up the general cloud of angst, depression and darkness that hangs over much of the DCEU.
Put simply, DC needs to cut loose and stop being so serious. Sometimes.
We'll show you what movies and shows already figured out how to be less sad and uptight, plus how we would alter certain properties could be more fun given the right touch.
While Marvel Studios is undoubtedly an entertainment juggernaut the likes of which Hollywood has never seen before, one thing has eluded comic book hitmaker since the days of Howard The Duck and Blade: Legitimacy.
Whether the movies are bashed as formulaic carnival attractions or they miss out on the major awards, Marvel still has a few hills left to climb.
To that end, we humbly offer our services to Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios, for a nominal fee of course, to help get him those big awards and make the MCU a little more legit.
In The March of Minisodes rolls on, this time to a very simple premise: What is making us happy?
We discuss some great things in both pop culture and our personal lives and share some recommendations for everyone out there.
Let's get happy!
What's cracking knuckle heads? In The March of Minisodes rolls on with a brand new sports talk show, Over The Line!
Smoke and The Big Freeze are here and ready to take your calls on all things sports.
Wanna talk about Baker Mayfield? College football? Gambling?
We're here to talk all of that and more as we take you...Over The Line!
Hello there Screamin' Firehawks!
We are back with another minisode as we tackle the recently concluded (for now) SyFy/Amazon series The Expanse.
Is it the best sci-fi tv property in the last 20 or so years? Well duh, but why?
We dive into those reasons, talk about some slight tonal shifts and budgetary changes from SyFy to Amazon, and of course...talk about who is getting it on!
Check it out!
Donkey Balls.
Our next minisode is live as we take on the HBO Max show Peacemaker.
We breakdown a critical scene in the series and discuss how it was shot, how it impacts the series, the best lines and so much more.
Did I mention there's a riveting acting performance? Because there is!
Check it out now!
Our first minisode of March has arrived and with it, a few complaints.
We air out our problems with young people, the gym and the internet because we're grumpy elder millennials.
Up next, feats of strength!
We are back to complete The Last Faction Heroes trilogy for Factual February.
This time, we're doing battle with The Misinformation Machine.
We try to pinpoint who is responsible for the vast amount of misinformation readily available through all sorts of media outlets. We profile those most likely to share false info (spoiler alert: it's you!) and even give some examples of some egregiously bad information that gets digested by both mainstream and fringe audiences alike.
Is this the magic bullet for misinformation? Of course not, but it's a start.
Part two of our action movie falsehoods is live!
We take aim at some classic action movie scenes (explosions, car chases, etc.) and break them down to determine where the truth was stretched for the sake of movie magic.
We also discuss the most egregiously inaccurate action movie of all time: Armageddon.
Factual February is here!
The Occasionalists take on and examine movie realism, specifically, how real are action movies?
Do certain movies suffer because of their lack of verisimilitude? Or is a must to suspend disbelief for all movies where a hero is an unstoppable human weapon?
We dig into all that and much more in the first part of The Last Faction Heroes!
We are back with one last episode for the January Unknown Challenge. We tie up some loose ends from the previous episode and give a preview into what is coming in February.
Part two of our January Unknown Challenge is now live!
We take up some challenges based upon The Occasionalists 5 Ancestral Tenets: Mind, Body, Spirit, Community and of course Consumerism.
We push ourselves to live up the ideals of our ancient, podcasting predecessors, but did we succeed?
Spoiler Alert: Kind of!
We are back with our first episode of 2022, the first installment of the January Unknown Challenge.
We try out some newish things and tell you all about it! Pretty simple, so let's get to it.
It's that time of year where Chemma and I wrap up the year with a little (extremely long) look back at all of the things we've covered and some things we didn't get to cover throughout the course of the year.
We highlight some favorites of ours from across the pop culture spectrum both from this year and things we only discovered this year.
There's even some trivia for you!
See you in 2022!
Normally here at The Occasionalists, we try to cram in an extra episode about some piece of pop culture in the past year before tackling our annual Year In Review episode. THAT ENDS TODAY.
Instead, we are coming in hot with our first episode to set up the new year, A Look Ahead.
We go through month by month with hand selected themes and possibilities for what each month might be like for us and the listeners. We also do some prognostication on what some of the big stories of next year might be and what we hope to talk about throughout the year.
Mark your calendars!
One of the most anticipated films of 2020...err, 2021 after some delays...is finally here. Denis Villeneuve's Dune!
We dive deep into the Known Universe to look at some of the best moments, story beats, characters and shots of the latest adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal work of science fiction.
We even have enough time to give some grief to the curiosity that is David Lynch's disowned 1984 adaptation.
He who controls the Spice, controls the podcast.
Part two of our extra long Blind Sports episode is now live!
Is Zion too big? Where do you prefer to watch your sports?
And of course there's a bunch of uniform talk.
We are back with two part Blind Sports episode!
The concept: We have a prompt to answer about the various goings on in the sports world but we each have a question the other has not seen as of yet.
In this first part we talk about --amongst other things-- roller derby teams, college football coaches and expansion and of course, calcio storico.
Enjoy and look for part two tomorrow.
What better way to round out Season of the Trilogy than going with some 1980s horror as we tackle The Letterbox Trilogy: Videodrome, The Video Dead and Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
This week's episode finds us delving into the relationship between television and the viewer and the downsides of growing too attached on that medium.
One of these movies attacks that question really well, one of them does not at all, and one of them is a lot better than you might think.
Strap in for a lot of 80s grab-assing on the old boob tube.
We are back with the first of our constructed trilogies, The Red Flower Trilogy.
This trilogy consists of: Resolution (2012), Synchronic (2019), & The Endless (2017).
This three movie series from directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead is centered on the weird goings on in the boonies of San Diego's East County region and whatever is controlling them.
We then take a pitstop in New Orleans for the second movie to explore the consequences of an over-powered synthetic drug.
Join us as we dive into all aspects of this directing duo's unique takes on the horror genre.
Also, in case it isn't obvious, SPOILERS ABOUND!
It's October baby! You know what that means...Not PSLs, you basic-ass MFer!
It's time for The Occasionalists' monthlong celebration of all things spooky, The Fright Fest! We discuss why we changed the name of our annual festival of all things horror and discuss this year's format: The Trilogy!
You get some history on the trilogy as a story structure, what makes it so lucrative for movie studios and how the intricate cinematic universes of today can thank the horror movie franchises of the 1980s for making them so much damn money.
Plus we unveil how we are going to attack the trilogy in the subsequent episodes this month.
Let's get to it!
Part two of our Lindelof Deep Dive is here!
In this one, we wrap up our Lost and Lost Offspring discussion and we, per usual, try our hand at some revisionist entertainment history and pick out some projects we think would benefit from the Lindelof treatment.
We also make a pitch for our own future Lindelof projects.
Better listen to this one now! Tick tock...
We are back with the first part of a mega episode chronicling one of tv's preeminent voices, Damon Lindelof.
The first part covers the start of his career: from humble beginnings on MTV, to police procedurals and finally helming the last great network tv drama and one of the last true entertainment phenomenons, Lost.
We debate the deeper meanings of Lost, character types and even dig into particular episodes that upon reflection can only be described as, Lindelofian.
Occasionalists Flight 815 is boarding now, you coming?
We are dusting off the shoulder pads, cleats and of course, our balls, to get ready for our first sports episode of the new season. What are we talking about this time?
College football. The Browns. Note Dame. Cornfields. 40 year old football players. Roller derby. 7-footers who can shoot. A very particular disgusting LA Dodgers Pitcher. Guarding things.
It's all here folks! We like sports!
The Occasionalists are back!
After a nice summer break filled with travel, friends and catching the coronavirus, we are back to officially start Season 7 with one of our favorites, 5 Good Topics.
Welcome back everyone, we have a great season in store for you!
The Occasionalists are about to go on summer break but before we do that, Chemma and I hopped into the proverbial time machine to take a look at the year 2060.
Back-to-back sports episodes? You bet!
In this episode, Chemma and Pags square off with a gauntlet of unique, quirky sports trivia that pulls out a great sports discussion.
We formulated 12 of our own questions of varying degrees of difficulty that touched on all major sports as well as some sports adjacent topics.
How many of these questions did you know without googling? Be honest!
It's time for another sports episode!
We're talking two-way baseball players, the NFL offseason, the futility of being a basketball fan and when we should think about buying new Cleveland Named-To-Be-Determined baseball jerseys. Among other things.
Also, if you're interested in Marvel and NBA crossover promotions...well...maybe don't listen to this episode.
We are back to wrap up another awesome Movie May with a look at one of the very few short film anthologies available on any platform: the Netflix original Love Death + Robots.
We take on both seasons of the animated shorts and discuss our favorites, least favorites and the noticeable shift in identity and maturity between the seasons.
We also pick out a few films we think are worthy of some sort of expansion, be it television or a full feature.
Enjoy it, we did!
We are continuing our short film centric Movie May with Chemma's additions to the festival! In this episode we take a look at movie with some legitimate star power, the shortest film ever nominated for an Academy Award, and a film that feels a little too real after having lived through 2020.
We wrap up our contributions to the festival with a few noteworthy honorable mentions that run the emotional and filmmaking gamut.
We are back and kicking off Movie May with our first ever short film festival!
Not many people are too familiar with the world of short films and what makes this movie medium such an interesting way to tell a story, so we break it down for you.
From the shooting styles, to the dialogue, to the technical production and more...we cover it all.
Best of all, you can check out all of the movies we're discussing in the first episode in under 50 minutes!
We are back with another edition of the 24HR Movie Review Challenge, this time with blood and guts to spare as we take on the Mortal Kombat reboot!
Does this movie kick ass? If so, how much ass does it kick? And who kicked the most ass?
Is this a proper homage to both the video game and the beloved (bad) original?
Did they finally figure out how to make a good video game movie?
All of these questions and more are answered, flawlessly.
FINISH THIS.
Okay, I'm done now.
We are back with a brutal, jaw-breaking, spine-ripping, fatality filled preview episode for the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot! We touch on some things from our previous episode that covered the 1995 (bad movie) classic, discuss the Techno Syndrome remake, throw about some things we think make for a good video game movie and make a few predictions for what we're going to see this weekend.
Ready?
FIGHT!
The Big Fix of our Let's Fix This Sh!t episode is here. Are these the most important things in the world? Of course not. The effort needed to make these things possible and the gatekeepers that would be necessary to bypass make these the biggest fixes of the episode.
A brand new episode is here and Chemma and I are out to fix all kinds of shit. We lay out an issue that is plaguing society, or at least bothering us, and we walk through how we would fix it. We're fixing sports, tv, movies, politics and more!
Surely if Roger Goodell and George Lucas are listening to this podcast, as they usually do, everyone will be seeing the fruits of mental labor in short order.
We are back with a new episode dedicated to our friends from the Great White North and the massive impression a relatively small country has made in the entertainment industry.
That's right Canada, this one is all aboot you!
A fun little episode where we explore the veracity of the entertainment we consume.
How real is real in Hollywood? Does it even matter? How much disbelief are you willing to suspend?
It's about that time here again on The Occasionalists for us to dive into some sports! We look back on the past few months of sports news and do a little prognostication about what might happen in the future with the various leagues and of course our local Cleveland teams.
We also touch briefly on a very serious matter with an important PSA.
And uh, why is it called the Blind Sports Check-Up? Tune in and find out!
QUIET!
Line up and prepare yourself for a deep look at the YouTube/Netflix continuation of the Karate Kid Saga, Cobra Kai! Decades after the devastating (and very illegal) crane kick ended Johnny Lawrence's run on top of the SoCal youth karate scene, we catch up with the former champ and see that life is not going as he planned.
How does the refocusing of the story on Johnny's struggles and growth work for this show? Is Daniel LaRusso a villain? Has he always been a villain? Where on earth did they find all of these dangerous teenagers for this show? Are there cops in the valley?
We answer those questions and even start our own dojos in this in depth look at karate storytelling.
We wrap up the month of January with a look back the mayhem and disregard for protocol that defined the Trump Administration and peek ahead at what might come to define the Biden Presidency. Our most pointed political episode and probably our last for quite awhile.
Buckle up!
Like a lot of people out there, we are kicking off our new year at The Occasionalists with some fitness talk!
We're not necessarily giving advice or breaking down our routines, though some of that does get discussed. Rather, we're focusing on our personal paths to becoming healthier, motivations to get fit and even throwing in some entertainment media that gets us ready to workout.
Let's roll!
The second part of our Year In Review focuses more on the pandemic and the lasting effects we think it will have on various segments of society. We also cover some of our favorite topics from the last year of The Occasionalists and we discuss some other pieces entertainment media that we enjoyed or discovered in the last year.
After this episode, we can all turn the page on 2020.
What better way to finish off the year than with a mega sized, year in review episode with two special guests!? You're right, there is no better way! Chemma and I are joined by longtime friend and former host Dennis Kisela and 2/3 of Greg Cherry's attention!
In this first half we mostly focus on how things have gone for us in the past 12 months and what if anything we can take away from all the garbage that happened.
We do get into some entertainment topics as well but the bulk of the first part is more personal.
What better way to cap off our last singular topic episode of the year than with a little war talk? Specifically, what the next Civil War could look like. It's 2020 and there's still a few days left, don't sleep on an armed, domestic conflict starting before January 1st.
But is it even possible? Does the rhetoric we've heard in recent years about the political and philosophical divide in the country amount to a "Civil War"?
If there was an armed conflict, what would it look like and how would it unfold?
Let's find out together! To arms!
We finish out our fall sports mega episode with some talk about the local teams!
The always influx Indians, the burgeoning Browns, and the completely anonymous Cavaliers.
Who are we down on? Who are we riding with? Who's on the Cavs again? Find out!
After the strangest year of sports in a long time, we huddled up to breakdown how the major sports handled their respective seasons in the face of the coronavirus.
The various leagues gave us plenty of hits, misses and weird stuff we'd never seen before. Will we see any of this again?
When we first got together to do our election episode, there was still no projected winner of the Presidency. While the hyper conservative media creates an alternate reality in which Donald Trump won reelection, we now know Joe Biden was proclaimed President-elect.
So now that we know that, we can round out election discussion with a quick 20 minute wrap up!
Part two is a little bit lighter as we discuss the Presidency, undecided voters and we appoint ourselves to an important position that sets standards for the entertainment industry: The Entertainment Czar.
The votes have been tallied, lawsuits have been filed and landscaping companies have been cashing in. That must mean we have a new President-elect! Although we didn't know that as of this recording. Nonetheless, the first part of this election special finds us discussing demographics, polling numbers and the political and cultural trends of the last four years.
This is our last bit of house cleaning for Spooky Season 2020, as we look back at our coverage of John Carpenter and look forward to how and what we might tackle next year for our month long celebration of all things horror.
Our final full episode of this year's Spooky Season finds us covering the forgotten classic(!?) In The Mouth Of Madness from 1995. An homage to the horror stories of HP Lovecraft and a metamovie all in one, In The Mouth Of Madness feels like a movie well ahead of its time.
Take a deep dive with us as we discuss all of the wonderfully weird things we like, and some things we didn't like, from this odd but refreshing entry in John Carpenter's legendary filmography.
On this installment of Recommendation Rewind, Pags takes on a handful of movies that would be better in the hands of horror auteur John Carpenter. Do you agree? Do you have some of your own?
Time for our first review episode of our John Carpenter-centric Spooky Season as we dive headlong into the 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's Christine.
In an attempt to shake his status as the class nerd, Arnie Cunningham buys a junked 1958 Plymouth Fury much to the concern of his best buddy Dennis Guilder. As Arnie goes about restoring his new prized possession, named Christine, he changes dramatically and the line where Arnie ends and the haunted, killer car begins becomes more blurred by the day.
Does it hold up? Is this a cult classic? Something else? Is there anything we would have changed? Could this story still work now?
We answer those questions and a whole lot more, so buckle up for some fun!
It would be a crime to go the whole Spooky Season and not talk about the works of John Carpenter, the composer. On this episode of The Third Spin, Adam takes us through Carpenter's signature synth-wave style and its uses in today's world of entertainment.
Plus, did he discover which unused pieces of music from The Thing score made their way into The Hateful 8? Let's find out!
Part 2 of our discussion on the filmography of John Carpenter is live!
We finish up with a discussion on his later, unsuccessful (critically and commercially) films and why we think things went sour at the end of his career.
We then do a dive into his pantheon movies: Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Escape From New York , The Thing, They Live. We talk about the lasting impacts of each movie, the unique touches that set these movies apart and even discuss which ones rank our favorites and why they mean so much to us.
Quick the kickoff the Spooky Season 2020 with plenty more to come!
Spooky Season has arrived! We are pleased to dive head first into this year's celebration of all things scary with a month long dedication to one of the master's of horror, John Carpenter.
The first episode will dig deep into filmography and discuss the good, the bad, the ugly and the little tidbits you might not know about his various projects.
It's going to be a great month, join us!
We are back from an extended summer break to kick off season 6-ish with a hot new episode, 5 Good Topics.
We are simply taking the five good minutes from every episode and expanding that so we can jaw about whatever has been on our minds since we wrapped up season 5-ish at the end of July.
There's a musical twist as a bonus! Let us know if the songs we mention fit what we're talking about.
Glad to you have on board for the start of season ~6!
The second half our Worldview episode is filled with cultural events, movements and more that are currently dominating the social landscape in America. What will be the lasting impact from the movements we are seeing today?
The first part of our newest episode in which we look into the near future to explore how attitudes and opinions have changed regarding some of our biggest topics in society and pop culture. Another extended thought experiment episode that is a lot of fun to think over. Join us!
Part two of The Remix finds us switching genres and mediums, doing some major chopping and screwing as well as pondering a few open-ended what if questions. Things are getting weird and fun.
We love talking about rebooting and reinterpreting certain pieces of entertainment here at The Occasionalists so we decided to dedicate a big two part episode to just that!
We're not just talking reboots either! No sir, we expand this grand pop culture thought experiment to reinterpret all sorts of media. From things we would like to see remade, to swapping famous bodies, inserting our choices for major roles and much more.
This is a fun one, join us!
Burning Cleveland sports questions? Check!
A conversation about the GOAT? Check!
A deep discussion into the collision of the sports world with the civil rights protests roiling the sensibilities of of previously unconcerned Americans? Check!
It's been awhile since we've had a sports discussion as the global pandemic has at one point in time halted every major sport worldwide. As America begins to pick up the pieces of a lost season, Chemma and I are absolutely foaming at the mouth to discuss the goings on in all of our major sports.
How eager were we to talk about the challenges facing each sport and what things will look like going forward? We talked for over 4 HOURS. This is what happens when sports nerds finally get to unload all of their thoughts for the first time in a long time.
Needless to say, this is a two-part episode and the second half will be up tomorrow!
The last movie of our annual Movie May spectacular finds us back in some familiar territory: talking about Adam Sandler! And before you give us some shit, this totally counts as Movie May because that's when we recorded it! Boom!
This time we are talking good Sandler as Howard Ratner, a gambling addicted jewelry dealer in the Safdie Brothers 2019 crime thriller 'Uncut Gems.'
Sandler was good but what and who else stood out? Is it a stressful movie or are have we become accustomed to movies with no stress level?
Kevin Garnett and a mystic Ethiopian opal? Kevin Garnett and a mystic Ethiopian opal!
All that and more on this week's episode.
It wouldn't be Movie May without talking about the Soundtrack songs that kept us jamming long after we leave the theater. But where have all the good Soundtracks gone? Did the 2000's derail the Soundtrack train? Those are the questions Adam hopes to answer on the latest episode of The Third Spin.
Movie May continues with an ass kicking, neck breaking, hammer smashing, blood soaked edition of Cinema Dissection. We took a deep dive into the 2011 and 2014 Indonesian martial arts crime epics The Raid and The Raid 2, directed by Gareth Evans, starring Iko Uwais and a horde of stuntmen who might actually be dead.
Is either movie a "perfect" movie? We crunched the numbers, dodged the bullets, threw a few elbows and avoided serious injury on this deadly, wild, movie journey to find out.
Movie May is in full swing here as we hit our next film with the 1985 comedy classic Clue! Will an all-star cast of comedy legends and character actors be able to bring a board game to life? Spoiler alert: ABSOLUTELY!
Welcome all of my quarantined friends to The Occasionalists' annual trip through Hollywood as we begin Movie May 2020.
We're starting off this month with a Bad Movie Review and maybe for the first time ever in the history of the BMRs, it's a bad movie we actually like!
Join us and TEST YOUR MIGHT!
Part two of the cover songs discussion leads us into a few top five lists, a question about who could make a great cover song and whether or not there are "untouchable" songs.
This week on the program we are talking cover songs!
We cover songs you didn't know were covers, what we're looking for in a good cover, where the cover band and tribute band fall in the music world.
We also discuss remixes, samples and give a big shout out to Triple J's "Like a Version" cover song radio segment.
The second part of our big time travel episode is full of fun stuff!
We're talking...
- Paradoxes
- Warp drives
- Heisenberg
- Theoretical physics
- Ethics
- Dinosaurs
- War
- Time dilation
- Conversations with ourselves
- Hitler!
Join us for a good old time!
Where we're going, we don't need roads...
Because this is a podcast about time travel and all you need is something to stream us on and an open mind. This is a dense episode with a lot of theoretical scientific principles put into layman's terms. Or at least we tried to anyway.
The desire for time travel, its use in stories, theories of time and the immutable laws of physics and the structure of our universe are all in play in the first half of this incredible episode.
Excellent!
It's time for another Recommendation Rewind!
I'm heading back to our Pandemic episodes and throwing out a few ideas for a couple of movies and a tv show that you can watch to help beat that feeling of cabin fever we're all experiencing to some degree.
We'll take a trip to some exotic beaches, watch the world from above and even dip into a majestic fantasy realm. If you're feeling cooped up, this minisode is for you.
If you've listened to Disturbed's The Sickness like a million times since you've been quarantined, check out the latest episode of The 3rd Spin! Adam gives you a song, an album, and a band for you to enjoy during these crazy days.
For the time being we are officially off pandemic duty and getting back to our bread and butter which of course is pop culture and entertainment!
We're kicking off our post-quarantine episodes with a new series we'll be visiting from time to time: Salute to the Supporting Cast. In this series, we'll be examining ensemble shows in depth and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each one.
What better way to kick off this series than with a show that informed our formative tv watching years AND is focused primarily on everyone besides the lead character...Entourage!
After some serious technical difficulties, a new pandemic episode has arrived!
In this installment of The Occasionalists we give a few updates as follow up to last week but we take things down a few notches in seriousness with our first big thought exercise in awhile: we pitch our own coronavirus movies!
Which movie pitch do you like better? Which one do you see succeeding? Let us know!
We then wrap up the episode with a discussion about the way pandemics are presented on film.
Since you're at home doing nothing, might as well give this a listen!
The Occasionalists have reassembled to talk about the only thing that we really can talk about right now: the Coronavirus!
Chemma and I share our separate experiences and compare what the states of California and Ohio are doing to combat the spread of the virus.
We finish off with a dive into how the federal government's response is worrisome and why the 'internet of things' might be making things worse.
In this episode of Recommendation Rewind, Pagel classifies a few new hero types from some properties that were previously talked about on The Occasionalists and asks you to consider whether or not one of the most notorious fictional villains was actually acting heroically.
On this episode of The 3rd Spin, it's all about the heroes. In the follow up to our big Heroes Podcast, Adam provides a few of the jams meant for the ones who strive to be something more than themselves while discussing the definitive heroism song of our generation. Enjoy!
In part two we do a very deep dive into hero archetypes and whether or not they represent something larger than just a force for good.
We also give our key ingredients for a compelling hero, give a few examples of what template we use when creating a hero and reexamine if certain characters are heroic or not, or if they also defy classification.
In part one of The Heroes, Chemma and I do a little cleanup work from The Villains. We discuss the actor we'd most like to cast as a bad guy, whether or not certain characters defy classification and who is society's biggest villain.
We then switch gears and delve into the Hero's Journey and ask a few questions about the story structure and who we would want to carry the torch as our hero in a big time movie.
The first(ish) episode of Recommendation Rewind is here!
In this series of minisodes, I will be looking back at the topic we just covered to add a little more insight, give you some different angles to consider and of course....give you a few recommendations -- be they movies, tv shows, books, music, scholarly articles, off Broadway plays, graduate theses, literally ANYTHING -- to check out.
Enjoy!
Another 3rd Spin minisode with a soundtrack fit for the most evil dictator, ruthless assassin or vengeful demigod.
Come jam out like a villain with Chemma!
We wrap up our look at the villains with the anatomy of a bad guy, or a look at the key ingredients that make an antagonist a compelling character. We discuss how we write an antagonist based on a couple of examples of what we consider to be the prototype bad guy.
Finally, we wrap up the episode with a quick discussion about whether or not all antagonists are even villains.
The first part of an exciting conservation in which Chemma and I discuss protagonists and antagonists, good guys and bad guys, or as we are calling it on this podcast....The Villains and The Heroes.
Why start with The Villains? Because they're more fun, duh! As we discuss in the first part of the series, a good villain (or multiple villains) allows for a deeper exploration of both protagonist and antagonist. While some heroes do offer a similar storytelling opportunity, it is usually through an antagonist that we better understand our own motivations and choices. Deep shit, right?
What types of villains are there? Is every antagonist bad/evil? What is necessary for a compelling bad guy?
Tune in and find out!
Welcome to the first episode of The Third Spin! The Occasionalist's minisode for the music fans. The rules are simple, he listens to an album three times and gives you his thoughts.
On this episode, Adam discusses the latest Nada Surf record Never Not Together and how it compares to the rest of their discography.
We wrap up our extra long winter sports talk with a look at our Cleveland Browns (Dawg Check!), the MLB Sign Stealing scandal and what should happen next.
We also talk some NHL (I'm not kidding!) talk and discuss how the league can make a casual sports fan aware of its existence.
We wrap up with discussion on HBO's Ballers. What the show was in the grand scheme of things, what it got right about pro sports, what it got wrong and what could have been done better.
Hellllllooooo sports fans! The Occasionalists are back to dish on some winter sports.
We obviously cover the incredible tragedy of the helicopter crash that claimed 9 lives, including those of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. We take a sincere attempt at examining the controversy in his life and what it means to the legacy of a true global icon.
We also talk some pigskin as we do a quick review of the Superb Owl, the plays, players and commercials that made it a solid Super Sunday. Included in this segment is a little XFL talk too! What's it like, will it last and what are the key things this experimental league is doing that might influence the NFL?
The world is heating up and as the temps rise, so do the incidents of wildfires. Places prone to them, like Australia and the Western US, are seeing both the intensity and frequency of fires rise. Why is this? (You already know the answer to that, you're smart!) We do a dive into how and why conflagrations have become so common and if there is anything we can do to stop them.
Part two of our dive into the 2010s is live!
We finally hit some entertainment topics and talk about a little personal growth, what might happen next decade and what we hope for when we reconvene to review the 2020s.
We are officially back from hibernation with our first episode of 2020!
We take a long look back at the decade that was in the realms of pop culture, society and humanity. This is not comprehensive, we don't have enough time to go through each year for you, but rather we picked some things that stood out most to us and discussed the broader impact they had on us and everything else in the 2010s.
The argument that divides families, turns brother against brother, ruins ugly Xmas sweater parties and generally causes holiday mayhem has come to The Occasionalists: is Die Hard a Xmas movie?
It is! I have the evidence to prove my case.
And if you disagree, you're a total grinch.
We finish up our yearly review with tv, movies and music we really liked, some stuff we caught up on this year and a few hopes for the next year and next decade.
Once again it is time for our Year in Review episode in which we look back on things that we did, we liked, we didn't like and other entertaining stories and moments from 2019. Part one is full of fun stuff, give it a listen!
Fads are a staple of American consumerism, from the shelves of retail stores to the silver screen. This week, we discuss the various fads we've encountered in our lives, the anatomy of a fad and whether or not various segments of pop culture can even produce fads.
But we start off with something that has captured America and held it hostage for the better part of five months: The Popeye's Chicken Sandwich.
We convene an emergency minisode to talk about the fisticuffs between bitter Rust Belt rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. Specifically, we're discussing the helmet yank and smash heard 'round the NFL and whether or not this situation is as cut and dry as it seems.
We've reviewed the various clips of the fight as if they were the Zapruder Film and we're ready to render our judgment.
Greetings friends! We have emerged from a brief hiatus and come down from our Spooky SZN high to talk some sports!
We cover a smattering of things from the World Series to mustachioed QBs to heavy weight heavyweights and everything in between.
Boy howdy do we have a doozy of a movie to wrap up Spooky SZN 2019. We are hitting one of our signature Bad Movie Reviews as we take on the 2013 slasher(?) gorefest(?) Texas Chainsaw 3D(?).
If the question marks weren't enough of a hint, we're not entirely sure any of those words accurately described what we watched. There are a lot questionable choices in all phases of this production: directing, acting, 3D use, writing, props, kills, dialogue, hiding places, sexual affairs, cell phone calls, letter reading, Bat Caves(?).
We discuss what we thought about those confusing choices and whether or not the iconic masked murderer Leatherface should have stayed in the 1970s.
I had to give this episode a longer title because four letters isn't long enough. Anyway...
As Spooky SZN 2019 rolls on we investigate the whos, whats, wheres, whys and hows of fear.
We discuss its role in shaping humanity, how it can be weaponized, politicized and used for entertainment.
Because we are a pop culture and entertainment show, we also do a quick dive into what historically made us afraid and what that meant for movies during the 20th and 21st centuries.
Join us! What are you afraid of?
Hey gang!
We have a full episode on Fear coming next week but in the meantime here's a short one full of some under-the-radar movies that you should check out if you're into scaring yourself shitless.
There's also some tv recommendations of some specific episodes you should watch and the introduction of a new game that we're trying out for Spooky SZN 2019.
Spooky SZN is officially here! To celebrate the month of scary movies, goblins, ghouls and women dressed as "sexy" referees and "sexy" waste management workers, we are kicking off the month with an in depth look at one of best horror movies ever made: Psycho!
We'll also be talking about one of the strangest, soulless, confounding and unwanted horror movies ever made: Psycho!
The 1960 and 1998 versions are the exact same movie separated by an ocean of differences and we're not talking about the color saturation.
Join us as we take a trek to Fairvale CA and the Bates Motel to kick off Spooky SZN 2019.
Two years after our initial trip to New England, Chemma and I return to Derry Maine to catch up with The Losers Club and check in on subterranean, child-eating clown/metaphysical being Pennywise.
Of course, things have not gotten much better since the late 1980s.
27 years after their showdown in the sewers, The Losers are still dealing with baggage, trauma and acute memory loss and Pennywise is back to his old bloody shenanigans.
Does Chapter 2 live up to Chapter 1? Do The Losers find peace and love after childhood trauma? Did the producers find a way to speed up Jeremy Ray Taylor's aging process?
Press play and found out!
This week's episodes find us checking in with our beloved Cleveland Browns.
Is this a team on the rise? An overrated squad? Or are there too many unknowns to make any solid predictions? Against our better judgment, we throw out some predictions to back our observations and give you our parameters for what a successful season will look like.
We also talk some AAF, XFL and a little CFL.
Are you ready for the football?
This episode finds us talking about NASA.
But mostly I talk Chemma down from the various non-scientific clickbait articles insisting that an asteroid is going to impact his apartment in Los Angeles.
With that out of the way we discuss where NASA came from and where the Agency is going.
This week's episode has us delving into how the world of sports influences and is influenced by the entertainment realms of music and movies.
We also take a look at any commonalities entertainers and athletes share, what makes a good sports movie, what music goes best with certain sports and we talk about some crossover stars, some of which will surprise you.
We also play a little switcheroo with our favorite bands and some local superstar athletes to see what a band full of athletes and a team full of musicians would look like.
Let's get to it!
We are back, baby!
After taking our own summer break to do some summer things, we bounce back with a look at the incredible amount of sports news that unfolded on our extended hiatus.
The NBA was as dramatic as ever, Cleveland shined on the national stage, the NFL is revving up and the other sports did stuff too! We think.
Join us as we discuss all that and and a little more in this week's episode.
For the final time we set out to discuss one of tv's most historic shows and an entertainment staple of the last decade: Game of Thrones.
We share how we became fans of the show, what it has meant to us personally and whether or not it occupies that top slot as our "favorite show of all time".
We dig into some of the show's strengths and weaknesses, talk about some problematic writing, characters and direction and offer fixes as well as our own vision for what Thrones could have been.
You'll also get some tv recommendations if you like Thrones, if you don't like Thrones and if you want something wildly different from Thrones.
For this supersized episode we also bring in a special guest (is he shuffling papers or warding off attackers in the background, who knows!?) to help us chew on all that is GoT.
In part two of the episode, we dive into the season as a whole, ponder the biggest mistakes Weiss and Benioff made and offer some easy fixes and hand out our season awards.
Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of the finale and the last season?
How about our season awards?
Let us know!
In part one of this extra large episode, we talk a lot about how the series wrapping up felt to each of us and whether or not we feel it was a fitting end to something very important to both of us.
We also dive into some symbolism, ancient mythology, Nazism and the things we liked, didn't like and were confounded by throughout the episode.
On the heels of two of the best episodes of the entire series (in terms of character work and spectacle) Thrones followed up with a resounding pair of duds. There was however, great direction, great acting, great cinematography, excellent prop and costume work...so what's left that is rubbing people the wrong way?
The writing.
We chew over the odd, rushed decisions that have been more frequent in the last three seasons of the series but clearly came to a head in these episodes.
With the finale on the horizon, are all of the missteps a cause for concern?
A mega sized battle and a mega emotional conversations deserve a mega episode!
Buckle up as we run the gamut of emotions along with our favorite characters over the course of two of the best episodes the series: 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' and 'The Long Night.'
We discuss character pairings, conversations, unrequited love, character arcs, battle tactics and whether or not we could see anything.
It's long and fun journey, join us!
Episode one of the pop culture phenomenon came and went with a lot hype, some sizzle, a dash of dragons and some revelations for a few of our favorite characters.
But did it live up to our expectations? What was this premiere episodes' job? Was there anything that didn't land right or that we would change?
Find out all of this and more as we do a deep dive into "Winterfell."
IT'S ALMOST HERE!
We are now just 4 days away from the final season of the show that has revolutionized TV and what spectacle means for the small screen. Accordingly, we are shifting our focus solely on Game of Thrones for the next several weeks.
There's a lot of ground to cover in this episode: some predictions, what Thrones means to the television landscape, the fan experience, our own life experiences, and a lot more.
Strap in and get ready for a wild few weeks!
Spring sports season is a busy one! NCAA Tournament is in full swing, MLB is starting up, the NBA playoffs are right around the corner and even the NFL is making headlines with some big free agency moves and the upcoming draft.
We cover it all (well, some of it) in this week's episode. We talk the waves the Browns are making, which NBA draft prospects we're looking forward to seeing in the tournament, touch on LeBron and his most recent free agent decision and debate what it's going to take to break the free agency system and payroll disparity in baseball.
Hailed as a return to form, season three of True Detective wrapped up recently and we did a deep dive to see if the critical praise holds up. Spoiler alert: it does.
We examine what this season did best, what it did better than the first season and do a quick examination of what went so wrong with season two.
Lingering question for this week: Where will the next season of True Detective take place?
Also, if you haven't seen this season yet, spoilers abound!
Before you freak out, we're not talking "alternate facts" on the show this week. We are discussing the flipside of known events. What would happen if something important unfolded differently? Would society remain the same or would there be unfathomable changes?
We chew on these questions, eliminate certain entertainment properties from consideration and lay out some alternate historic scenarios of our own.
For you out there: what event in your lifetime is due for the alternate history treatment?
The big game has come and gone but there's still plenty to talk about!
We discuss the game itself and the impact it has on both teams heading into the next few seasons.
We also wrap up with some local sports talk and discuss how the future of the NFL can only benefit the Browns, whether or not the Indians have enough players to field a full team next year and we also talk about the other team in Cleveland! Neat!
Once again we dip into the Nerd Files to talk about the various ways Hollywood bungles the video game genre of movies and tv. Be it the wrong game, the wrong interpretation or simply misreading the audience for a particular title, there are simply more bad than good game adaptations.
We also discuss some non video game movies and give a quick list of things we'd like to see get a proper adaptation. We then wrap up with some entertainment that feels like you're playing a game.
Grab those sticks and listen up!
We're getting nerdy again, discussing what one might consider the most sacred of objects in the realm of Nerds: the computer.
Why is it nerdy? Why is it nerdy despite our complete and total dependence upon them? How do they affect our daily lives? And where is computing going in the future?
Find out with us!
This is pretty straightforward: Chemma and I wrap up the best and worst of the year on both the podcast and out there in real life. Plus we make a few predictions for 2019.
We introduce a new(ish) type of episode to the show in which Chemma and I show you the depths of our personal nerdiness. The Nerd Files will serve to explore subjects with greater depth and nuance and highlight some our own experiences and fascination with them.
Our first subject is weird history but before diving into the meat of our episode we have a general discussion about the term 'nerd' and what it means in society and pop culture right now.
Adjust your suspenders, shine up those pocket protectors and prepare to get nerdy.
The fifth onscreen incarnation of Tom Clancy's famed CIA analyst turned field hero sees John Krasinski take the action to the small screen for the first time.
We ponder why the character of Jack Ryan and Tom Clancy have had such an important part of the political thriller genre for so long. Between the titular character and his creator: nearly 40 years in the pop culture consciousness with dozens of books, several movies and...get this...56 video games!
We also discuss where the show stacks up to some other political thrillers and dive into the headlining characters' performances and motivations.
So does Jim Halpert cut it as Jack? Is the story relevant to today's world? And have Hollywood's ideas of terrorism changed over the years?
Let's find out!
While one's taste in entertainment is completely subjective there are times in pop culture history when even the snobbiest of snobs and the lowest of low-brow connoisseurs come together in confused agreement.
1997 is when pop culture consumers of all stripes collectively asked: what the hell is going on?
It's not so much that '97 was filled with bad music (but seriously, it was!) it's that some seminal albums, important movements and well-known artists solidified themselves as forces in the music industry, while somehow sharing the spotlight with a glut of completely forgettable or downright terrible songs.
The end result is that we remember Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' and forget that Daft Punk burst on the scene that year. We know all the Spice Girls by name but struggle to remember a single track off the biggest rap album (Life After Death) ever made.
1997 was weird, man.
The most important midterms in a long time have concluded with a clearer picture of the American political landscape heading into the 2020 Presidential election. What changed? What does it mean for us? What can we do going forward?
Chemma and I try to answer a few of these questions, throw our hats into the political arena, dig up some dirt on both of our major political parties and give you some recommendations in the political entertainment realm.
Check this episode out and see you in the voting booth in two years!
We conclude spooky szn with a cinema dissection of the 2000 sci-psych-thriller-horror-fever dream of a movie directed by Tarsem Singh, The Cell.
It stars Jennifer Lopez when she still gave a damn about acting and Vince Vaughn, when he was thin, and also gave a damn about acting. This duo netted a few minutes of discussion before we even got into the meat of the movie.
Does it qualify as a perfect movie? Is the odd reception it received the fault of Tarsem or the fault of the viewer? Let's find out!
Spooky SZN continues over at The Occasionalists as we take a deep, deep dive into the horror movie genre and it's many, diverse sub-genres.
We also take a swing at making horror movies out of non-horror movies, tackle the recent surge in horror television and discuss why horror movies are snapshots of our fears as a collective society.
This is a good one! Trust me!
Spooky season has arrived so Chemma and I take a deeper look at one of our favorite holidays; from the ancient roots of Halloween all the way to the uniquely American celebration it has become today and everything in between.
It's 1993 folks. UB40 and Haddaway are tearing up the charts, Jurassic Park was dominating the box office and I was a fat kid. Well, fatter kid.
Also, Emilio Estevez, Denis Leary, Cuba Gooding Jr, Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff were all in the same damn movie. What would a movie with this cast look like now?
Some kind of nightmarish, drug-fueled rendition of Wild Hogs or Grown Ups, no doubt. So instead of walking down that road, let's focus on their cult classic(?) Judgment Night.
Estevez was already an established star in Hollywood, Piven was an up-and-coming talent though it was still a full decade before he really splashed on Entourage. We were still 3 years away from Cuba being shown the money and an Oscar, Dorff was only 20 years old and at the beginning of a long and rather confusing career. Leary had just controversially topped friend-turned-rival Bill Hicks in the comedy world and was on his way to stardom and a long, still thriving career.
This sort of breeding ground for a handful of unquestionably successful Hollywood careers, combined with the distinct action, atmosphere, direction and one of the more unique soundtracks in movie history make Judgment Night a perfect subject for our latest Cinema Dissection.
It's that time of year folks! Pumpkin spice lattes are back, football is in full swing and most importantly: the big networks are unleashing a torrent of new and returning shows.
It's fall, baby!
Chemma and I breakdown a few of the shows we're dying to see, talk about the void Game of Thrones has left this past year and the void it will surely leave once it has ended, and discuss how the streaming services fit into the scheme of "regularly scheduled programming."
What shows are you looking forward to? Let us know!
Football is back baby! So are the feelings of anxiousness, apathy, anger, nausea and confusion that comes with being a Browns fan.
But is this year actually different? Are we no longer deluding ourselves by thinking that the team looks like a competent, professional team?
How does this past season of Hard Knocks affect how someone might view the Browns?
We answer all this and make some predictions for what should be an interesting season.
1/3 of our life is spent asleep but what do you really know about it? How it evolved? The everyday impact on society? Despite it being one of life's necessities, sleeping still tiptoes the margins of the unknown.
We also delve into dreaming, the root causes of it and how they might affect our daily lives. As a topper, we talk about some of our own personal dreams and what we think they might mean and why they're so important to us.
What's life without a little adventure?
Whether you're exploring new worlds, trying new foods or exploring your own limits, we all have a little spark of what created the modern world: the adventurous spirit. Without this one flicker of desire, perhaps humanity never flourishes, perhaps humanity never survives.
Come along with us as we discuss various aspects of adventure in history, pop culture and within our own lives.
We kick off this week's episode with some big news from the Chem Dog and wht that means for the show going forward.
We dive into another Cinema Dissection but this episode is done with a twist: we're both boozing our tails off while we attempt to sound coherent in a discussion about the genius of RoboCop.
Paul Verhoeven's dystopian scifi classic is more than just an action movie; it's loaded with social commentary and satirizes everything from the corporate workplace to the 24-hour news cycle.
This is quite possibly another "perfect movie."
In the second part of the episode we discuss how the wars have not yet touched movies in a menaingful way but there are plans in motion from various streaming outlets to make a big impact in the film industry.
We also briefly discuss what the emergence of streaming entertainment has done to us, positively and negatively, on a personal level.
The streaming media wars are underway! Which side are you picking?
Can you afford it? Can you afford not to? What happens to the neutral parties in what is a battle that is only going to heat up?
We have some answers for you as well as some theories on what will come next to reshape the streaming television landscape.
Change is a natural and necessary part of life.
But is it the best idea if you're a celebrity?
Chemma and I debate whether or not certain celebrities have lost themselves over the years, whether or not that's really even a thing, and if they can recover the public images they spent decades crafting.
Give us your thoughts and let us know about some celebrities you think have either changed for the worse or endured with time.
The Decision. The Decision 2.0. The Decision 3.0.
LeBron has finally made up his mind and is now bound for Hollywood as he becomes the latest star to don the Lakers' fabled purple and gold uniform.
Chemma and I discuss the rammifications for the Lakers, the Cavs, the city of Cleveland and the NBA as a whole.
We've been sick over here at The Occasionalists lately: headache, fever, crawling skin, night sweats and the constant need to remind everyone when it's about to winter.
That's right, we're suffering from Thrones withdrawal.
In order to stem these symptoms and satisfy our cravings, Chemma and I embark on a loooong journey through Westeros. We make a few predictions, discuss some of the rumors and facts from production of the final season.
We wrap up with some offbeat guesses about the future of Thrones, where the cast might end up and decide if there's an 'Heir to the Throne', or a worthy successor to one of TVs greatest shows of all time.
In part two of this episode we share a few lesser known tales about Detroit's past and dive into our favorite part of the discussion: the rich music scene from punk, to house, to Motown.
We also discuss why Detroit is a great place to set a movie or tv show, share some of our favorite Motor City-centric pieces of entertainment and give you a few suggestions for how to best enjoy a quick trip in the city.
For this edition of our city series Chemma and I take a quick trip up I-75 to explore the modern ruin and one time beating heart of the midwest, Detroit.
In the first part we talk about Detroit's reputation, how it fell so far and so fast and why we love the automotive relic anyway.
We also share a few of the better known stories of Detroit and why they matter.
The Cavs have dropped another Finals to the Warriors so you know what that means...
IT'S SUMMER TIME, BABY!
After a quick byeweek, Chemma and I return to discuss the future of the Cavs, Warriors, LeBron and the NBA landscape over the next few seasons.
We finish off with a discussion about what to do now that you don't have to occupy your nights and weekends with basketball, specifically how to go out and enjoy the summer in Cleveland but also expand to the great state of Ohio and some of our regional neighbors.
We dig up some old summer memories and throw out our contenders for the best summer time song.
We’ve reached the end of Movie May and due to the complete incompetence of my ISP which shall remain nameless (though it does rhyme with RECTUM) that ending will naturally come several days into June.
It’s been a fun month covering a big blockbuster, cult classic and a questionable streaming original.
There’s no better way to wrap up Movie May than by sinking our teeth into what can be described as the Star Wars movie franchise’s first true –albeit small– steps into the SW Expanded Universe territory.
Will Solo live up to the lofty standards of some of its predecessors? Will we think of this as a turning point in the direction of Star Wars? Will Lando fuck that robot? Needless to say, spoilers abound!
Question: What do two rogue military doctors, cloned slave laborers from the Moon, a disabled Amish man, a Syrian cocktail waitress, English arms dealers and a black Russian gangster all have in common?
Answer: Not much!
We watched ‘Mute’, another Netflix original film written and directed by Duncan Jones (you might know his late father) and boy howdy! do we have some things to say about this film.
Is it worth watching despite some serious problems with the most fundamental aspects of filmmaking? Listen and find out!
Movie month continues here at The Occasionalists as Chemma and I take on a little known independent film called ‘Avengers: Infinity War.’
You may have missed out on this one as it’s a small movie with a limited marketing budget so it’s totally understandable if aren’t up to speed on this one.
Good thing for you, we both saw it! We discuss the movie’s overall place in the MCU, hit on some of our favorite parts and debate if there should have been a drastic shift in who should have been the focus of the movie.
We’re unleashing a new wave of movie episodes for the remainder of the month starting with a new series called Cinema Dissection.
In this series, we go back and take a look at certain movies that standout as memorable and endlessly enjoyable but for reasons that are hard to explain. Of course, we put our heads together and try to explain what is so appealing.
For our first subject we take on the horror-comedy cult classic Tremors. A movie that, after invading theaters in 1990, was seemingly on EVERY. SINGLE. WEEKEND. in our youth. Despite the amount of times this movie was on cable and the number of sequels of varying quality, the original is a perfect movie.
Yes. Tremors is a perfect movie. Want to know why? Press play and find out!
Scarlet and gray, maize and blue, pinstripes, golden helmets, the silver and black. Without including more specifics, you probably know that those are the iconic colors and features of some of sports most storied teams.
But why do we have such an attachment to fabric, patches and logos? What makes certain uniforms good and others bad? What do uniforms across different professions and disciplines mean to us and the people who wear them?
We discuss this and a lot more.
Because this is a highly visual episode, here’s a gallery of a few of the uniforms we talk about in this episode.
Check the unis out here ---> http://www.flyinmayan.com/?p=1497
This episode is one part mental reprieve from the grim Ohio weather, one part expansive discussion on the entertainment capital of the world.
This week, we set our sights on Los Angeles, explore the history of the entertainment industry and discuss the series of events that helped make Hollywood Hollywood.
We go over the some of the bigger stories that have defined the city on a national/international level and present two of our own tales that are lesser-known but still resonate with Hollywood energy.
But first, Chemma spills his guts about his first trip to Los Angeles.
Venerable co-host Chemma has (surprisingly) made his way back from Los Angeles and rejoins the podcast to discuss why the Browns might not be as bad off as you think, the reality staring the Cavs franchise and fans in the face, and why it's too early to worry about anything with the Indians but it's definitely not too early to bitch about the weather.
Strap in for some sports!
ref·or·ma·tion
ˌrefərˈmāSH(ə)n/ noun
1.
the action or process of reforming an institution or practice.
Easily our most 'political' episode to date, Chemma and I walk through some personal life and attitude changes and discuss some of the pressing issues facing our country that need a drastic overhaul and what it might take to get us there. Strap in for a long, important episode.
In the next 18 months, Hollywood is going to pump out an unprecedented number of tv shows and movies that are based on existing properties. Be they sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, reintroductions or adaptations, the cynical entertainment consumer would probably rehash this old line:
"There are no original ideas in Hollywood anymore!"
They wouldn't be wrong but truly original stories and ideas probably ran dry a few thousand years ago and everything we've seen since the dawn of film is a remake or reboot of something. However that's another podcast for another day.
Today, Chemma and I are opening our own studio (PC Culture Entertainment) but the catch is, we only use existing, known properties to make our movies, tv shows, albums, etc.
Listen in as we do some gender-flipping, end white-washing, and bring back some classic punk and hip-hop standards to a new generation.
In this portion, we go full blast into the future world of The Protectorate: Bay City, Harlan's World, the Envoys, CTAC marines and of course, Meths, Sleeves, Stacks and Simulspace. Sorry if we've already lost you.
This was one of our longest reviews of anything and if you've seen the show, you totally understand why.
This was a huge episode so we cut it into two parts.
In this part of our discussion on Netflix's cyberpunk cop show, we avoid getting into spoiler territory and talk about some of the overarching ideas about the future and motifs that serve as the basis for the show.
On the heels of the Oscars comes the most important awards show in all of low-level podcasting:
The Woodies!
Every 4 years, or whenever we remember to do it, we award some deserving and undeserving pieces of media and stories from more recent times the coveted Woodie Award. Which, to my knowledge, does not have any particular physical form and that's okay, because these awards have little-to-no structure but they are lots of fun.
The glitz! The glamor! The social justice issues and equality messages!
It's Oscars time, baby!
Chemma and I discuss the importance of THE marquee entertainment awards show: whether or not they got things right, if it needs some kind of overhaul, how much the outside world influences who wins what and of course the biggest, burning question:
WHY THE HELL IS THIS THING SO DAMN LONG!?
So it's been another shitty week(+) in America. Why not take your mind off some of the shittiness with a nostalgic sports, music and uniform talk?
Chemma and I discuss the fun and perhaps the necessity of the various sports' all star games, what could be done to improve the experience and if we have any notable all star memories.
Here at The Occasionalists we like to think we're a collection of pretty smart people. Some might argue to the contrary but at the bare minimum I think we do an excellent job of keeping our weekly discourse above the facile yelling of your typical cable news program. That's something, right?
Every now and then we take a stab at sounding super-duper intelligent and thus far, I think it's worked out pretty well. Some recent examples:
- Wish Lists
- Human Timeline 1 & 2
- The Next World War 1 & 2
These episodes fit a particular profile that Chemma and I talk about off the air quite a bit and it can be summed up thusly: "where is humanity going and what is driving us there?"
I'm calling it The Protean Man Series. There's a deeper meaning to that which we will touch on in the next episode as it's a little too wieldy to unpack via text.
In the spirit of that idea we take a deep look at...THE FUTURE! (If you didn't say it with a 1950s tv announcer voice, I'm disappointed in you.)
Chemma and I venture into three separate times and make some predictions and have a discussion about what has changed and what has persisted.
First we travel to 2048, our near future and a time many of us will be living in. Then we discuss 2118, a near future for what currently constitutes humanity though us rascally millennials will likely have faded from history. Finally we end in 3018, far enough out that humanity might be unrecognizable.
Ready to get weird?
Holy shit you guys! What an incredible game to decide the NFL’s champion this year, amirite!? It’s a good thing the goblins and gremlins populating the wordpress servers didn’t bottle neck this upload to prevent Chemma and me from delivering insightful football and entertainment commentary in a timely manner. That would be ultra annoying and […]