Reserved Recommendations

In one of our less-reserved recommendation episodes, I'm joined by Arka and Caleb of the Life, Love & Lenses project (www.lifeloveandlenses.co.nz) to talk about Giuseppe Tornatore's beautiful 1988 film "Cinema Paradiso". We chat about the movie's difficult relationship with nostalgia, and it's many themes around love and creativity.

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.

The Punk (1994) is a movie that has fascinated me since I saw it. It hit my friend group in the mid-90's with a force that permanently altered our mimetic speech patterns. It was ubiquitous enough to be in pretty much all video stores with a "festival" or "art" section and show up as a late night TV movie several times throughout the decade, and then vanished pretty much without a trace. My brother Angus joins the pod to discuss the impact and dubious merits of this strange, ephemeral film.

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.

Dark Star (1974) is a cult classic sci-fi movie mostly notable as the first project of both Dan O'Bannon (wrote Alien, did some SFX for an obscure late 70's movie called "Star Wars") and John Carpenter (no introduction needed!) It follows the misadventures of the titular ship's crew, and did an enormous amount to set the tone of sci fi that looks at space as a shitty blue collar job. Returning champ Ross Palethorpe joins the pod to discuss the movie, its influence, and his affection for it.

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.

In another "big issue" episode, this time I talk to Vixen, Scarlett, and Willow from The Good, The Bad, and the Whoreable podcast (www.goodbadwhoreable.com) about sexual shame. We compare and contrast NZ and US attitudes around sexuality, and talk about the influence of history, politics, and religion on the way things are right now.

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.

An announcement from Hugh for the end of Season 3, and best wishes to listeners for the holidays.

"Adventures in Odyssey" is a radio (and video, and video game!) series produced by Focus On The Family as children's entertainment for fundamentalist evangelical Christian families. Hannah Blake (@exfundyfeminist) joins me to discuss the "Castles & Cauldrons" two-part episode (which is AiO's contribution to the Christian panic about roleplaying games) and the wider ecosystem of fundamentalist Christian media.

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.

Over the course of their 30 year career (from 1965 until Jerry Garcia's death in 1995) the Grateful Dead took a long strange trip through almost the entirety of the American musical vernacular, while maintaining almost exactly the same core lineup. Michiel Verkade joins me to talk about the Dead, and we discover in short order that an hour is not really enough time to talk about the Dead.

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.

This week Spencer Hall from OAR FM Dunedin joins the pod to talk TISM! This Is Serious Mum (TISM) are an anonymous Australian band who kind of defy classification.

They concealed their identities behind bizarre costumes and made music that mocked norms of good taste and decency as often as it mocked people they thought deserved it, all while being perversely listenable.

Find Spencer's Oddities show at www.r1.co.nz/programme/monday/theoddittiesshow

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.

Hardcore is an aggressive style of rock music that emerged from punk in the late 70s and early 80s in the USA. Since its inception, it's evolved in all directions simultaneously and spawned dozens of subgenres, each with their own nuances of style and approach. On tonight's show I talk to Kane Power (Precision Podcasting, TeamSquad), hardcore fan and person who has actually studied the genre from an academic standpoint.

Precision Podcasting: www.precisionpodcasting.com

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.

There's been a lot of talk in relation to the Parliament Occupation in New Zealand (and the Jan 6 riots in America, among others) about the involvement of the online far right ("internet Nazis") in organising and facilitating these events. This is met with some confusion by some participants, who don't see themselves as far right. In this episode I talk to my brother Angus about how the online far right works, what they want, and how that manifests in meat space.

Produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of NZ On Air.