The Projection Room: Recent Episodes
Rikki Grace / Dusty Baker
Rikki is a certified mental health therapist. Dusty is certifiably mental when it comes to movies. Every week, they evaluate a movie scene from two very different angles.
**Major spoilers for the film
No Time To Die** was Daniel Craig's swan song, so does this episode spell the end of Dusty's James Bond fascination, too? Probably not, but the film's opening scene is both menacing and uncharacteristically complex for the average 007 film. Rikki and Dusty unpack all of the flashback sequence's traumatic implications as well as the potential treatment avenues for its main character.
- f you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
Back to school! This double-sized episode starts with an iconic scene from Dead Poets Societyand then it catapults Rikki and Dusty into a far-reaching conversation about education, 1950s-era films, "Serious Robin Williams," the difference between inspirational and irresponsible teachers, and much more.
- If you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
This episode contains major spoilers for the film.Dusty rode (Han?) solo to see the latest and purportedly last "Indiana Jones" film. Using one scene in particular from Dial of Destiny, your co-hosts find that Indy must come to terms with a great loss, all while Dusty must come to terms with the loss of the Indy franchise as a whole. Rikki helps Dusty explore not only the nature of nostalgia, but why this scene in particular stands out as honest and authentic against an otherwise artificial, CGI-informed coda to Harrison Ford's beloved character.
- If you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
It's either a world of pure imagination or decades of nightmare fuel. Take your pick. This week, Rikki and Dusty dare to board the S.S. Wonkatania from the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The sinister kids' movie's hallmark sequence -- known by millions of scarred adults simply as "the boat ride" -- glides into The Projection Room under its own horrific steam. And 50+ years later, it still manages to punch them right in the snozzberries...
- If you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
****TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
- Theme Song:** Springtime Carnivore, "Face in the Moon"
- Music: DJ Press, "Our Time" & "Joy"
For the Season 3 premiere, Rikki and Dusty tackle a scene that is 1.) from a movie so new that it's barely out of theaters, 2.) from the fifth sequel to a 1996 movie, and 3.) from a horror movie, but involves no violence or gore whatsoever.
This week, they stab their way into a shockingly deep, insightful conversation in the most unlikely of places: Scream VI. It's a contentious scene between two sisters (played by Melissa Barrera and Jenny Ortega) that somehow reveals a great deal about family dynamics, contemporary teenage life, the reality of PTSD, why counseling works for some but not others, how there are ways to cut other people in a horror movie other than using a knife, how the survivors of Woodsboro might seek help in real life, the true terrors of being a parent and/or an educator trying to navigate the fallout from an event like this, how not one person in this movie seems to need to stay in a hospital despite being stabbed 13 times, and why the name "Ghostface" pisses both Dusty and Rikki off to no end.
- If you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
****TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
- Theme Song:** Springtime Carnivore, "Face in the Moon"
- Music: DJ Press, "Our Time" & "Joy"
Scream VI is currently available on all streaming platforms and Blu-Ray. You can rent it on Amazon here.
Rikki and Dusty somehow manage to discuss one of the most iconic film scenes of all time (from 1980's The Empire Strikes Back) without discussing the Star Wars-ness of it. It's a surprising, insightful conversation about nurture vs. nature, human behavior, predetermination, parenthood, the dangers of 23andMe, the science of epigenetics and... well, wow. It's a lot. Get your X-Wing out of the swamp, people. It's time to think about Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, trauma, mental health, and counseling in ways that even George Lucas and Industrial Light & Magic couldn't CGI into your brain.
Click here to watch this week's primary scene.
- If you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
[Intro: Springtime Carnivore, "Face in the Moon"]
The Projection Room vs. Pop Culture [Bonus Content]Rikki and Dusty tackle Pearl Jam's ever-controversial 1991 music video "Jeremy," which, some thirty years later, carries an ever sadder, heavier weight given the scourge of American school shootings.
- If you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
Today's scene comes from the 1986 John Hughes classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off, starring Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck. Rikki and Dusty dismantle the scene more methodically than (SPOILER) Cameron dismantles his father's Ferrari.
Is Ferris not-so-secretly a terrible friend? Is Cameron actually prepared for the confrontation with his father that we never get to see? Is he in therapy? Is he even alive...? Thoughts on those questions and many others await you with this week's Projection Room patient.
- If you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
[Intro: Springtime Carnivore, "Face in the Moon"]
This week, Rikki and Dusty find themselves not wanting to find themselves reflected somewhere in the character of 15-year-old Max Fischer from Wes Anderson's 1998 indie classic "Rushmore," starring a young Jason Schwartzman and an old(er) Bill Murray. It's an episode about identity, coming of age, and trying to not hate the main character of this movie in this scene.
- If you or someone you know is looking for mental health counseling suggestions, you can search for a therapist near you at The Therapy Den or the Psychology Today Directory.
- You can email us directly at projectionroompod@gmail.com. We will do our best to answer quickly.
- Rikki can be contacted directly through her professional website Rikki Grace Counseling.
- Dusty can be contacted by scribbling an adjacency matrix problem on a dry-erase board (after hours) at any MIT lab building.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.
Rikki and Dusty welcome the New York Times bestselling author, award-winning composer, and film scholar Raymond Benson (The Black Stiletto) into The Projection Room, where they examine one of the most unsettling and perhaps most overlooked scenes from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi masterpiece, 2001; A Space Odyssey. It's a claustrophobic sequence that's both disturbing and deceptively complex, as well as one that questions what it means to be human in the long, looming shadow of artificial intelligence. Also, Dusty and Rikki close out the episode by playing their brand-new trivia game, The Final Act.
Learn more about Raymond Benson and his works at his website. His new novel, The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way, is now available in hardcover through Beaufort Books.
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the media featured in this episode.This is a MINDFUL ZEPHYR production.
Mi6 agent James Bond saunters into therapy with not one, not two ... but three separate scenes that Rikki and Dusty unpack for the betterment of Her Majesty's Secret Service. Was Daniel Craig's emotionally vulnerable 007 a welcome and/or necessary change in today's shifting cultural landscape? Does the character's evolution make sense, serving as a fresh, engaging twist on a 60+ year old icon? Two scenes from "Skyfall" and one from "SPECTRE" provide a fascinating glimpse into the psyche of a newly three-dimensional character whose one-dimensionality was long considered one of his defining characteristics.
In other words: when Bond enters The Projection Room, is it the same Bond who exits...?
Scenes:
- Word Association (Skyfall)
- Escape to the Scottish Moors (Skyfall)
- Patient Assessment (SPECTRE)
*The opinions and insights contained in this podcast are not intended to serve as substitutes, alternatives or replacements for professional, one-on-one psychological or mental health counseling.
**TPR does not claim ownership of the clips featured in this episode.
The most-referenced and strangely misunderstood scene from 1997's "Good Will Hunting" (dir. Gus Van Sant) has checked into The Projection Room for this week's session. Rikki and Dusty explore the surprising depths of this iconic scene that, 25+ years after its release, continues to resonate on a number of levels. Featuring the film's co-writer Matt Damon as well as Robin Williams, who won the Oscar for this role, the scene reveals much about childhood trauma, abusive relationships, family, friendship, and some troubling truths about moving forward in life through (and after) therapy.
The creators of this podcast do not claim to hold any copyrights to, or ownership of, the audio clips featured in this episode.
*This podcast is not intended to serve as a replacement or substitute for professional mental therapy, recovery services, or any other psychological work in any capacity. The opinions shared here belong solely to the individuals included in this episode.
Ever hear a movie fan theory so bonkers that you almost believed it? Well, G.E.R.T.R.U.D.E. throws weird-ass fan theories from four wildly different movies ("Titanic," "Finding Nemo," "Willy Wonka" & "Back to the Future") at Rikki and Dusty. They have 5 minutes per theory to work together and talk through whether the theory makes sense or it's just bullshit. Find out if they win. (Chance at a special prize if you listen to the whole episode, btw.)
"Look closer." Not only was this the tagline of the 1999 Oscar winner AMERICAN BEAUTY, but it's precisely what Dusty & Rikki do with a thorny scene featuring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. Marriage, masculinity and materialism are on the table this week, along with the question of whether you can/should appreciate a film starring a now-problematic personality.
Watch the scene(s) here:
1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw0kuEG7NR8
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P7bIH5iC7M
<This show is not intended to be a substitute for professional one-on-one mental health counseling. All rights to the movie scene belong to its copyright holders.>
Rikki and Dusty hit the psychological basketball court with a scene from the 1985 Michael J. Fox magnum opus Teen Wolf. In less than 20 minutes, they discuss identity, 1980s movie clichés, panic attacks, anxiety, the thorny responsibilities of educators, and high schoolers who identify as cats -- not to mention how a hypothetical therapy session with a (potential) teenage werewolf would go...
Watch the "Teen Wolf" scene here: https://youtu.be/5ZD-_OIcNr8
This podcast does not claim rights to the film scene included. Also, The Projection Room does not replace or serve as a substitute for one-on-one counseling or therapy.
1959 might as well be ancient history, but Rikki and Dusty never back down from an archaeological pop culture dig -- especially a risqué film suffused with sex and dicey dialogue that now seems quaint. Starring old-school icons like Rock Hudson and Doris Day, "Pillow Talk" set the template for the wave of similarly effervescent movies that followed in the 1960s, but it stands out sixty years later for all the wrong reasons...
Watch the scene here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPyHAsdnX7Q