The Occasionalists Podcast

We kick off this November by diving back into the 1970s. This time, we find ourselves in the midst of an absolute sonic boom of legendary songs, musicians and albums all being released within a very small window of time: 1977.

New musical styles were developing just outside the mainstream gaze, as the bands of the hour were taking the first steps toward becoming iconic, while other icons were passing before their time.

1977 is going to be one helluva ride!

Another dispatch from the future has made its way back to our time through the Einstein-Rosen Bridge and let's just say it's uhhh...a little bit alarming.

The future is quite a bit more authoritarian than we had hoped. 

Get out and vote like your future depends on it!

We are back with one last episode to close out this year's Fright Fest. Check that: a minisode to close out this year's Fright Fest!

After diving deep into the rise of torture porn in the last episode, there were still a few ideas left on the table—which is exactly why we needed this minisode.

In addition to tying up those loose ends, we also have two final rounds of horror movie trivia for you as well.

You are welcome!

We're keeping the ball rolling on techno horror, and as promised, we take a deep dive into the 2006 movie Pulse. A port of a Japanese horror movie that, by all accounts, is significantly better than this one!

However, there are still some interesting strings to pick at, even with a poor adaptation led by a cast that's usually pretty good but is completely wrong for almost all of these roles.

Sit back and enjoy this discussion about digital ghosts haunting us IRL. Or are they vampires? Who really knows?!

Our next episode looks at the emergence of a very particular brand of techno-horror focused on the increasing intrusion of the internet into our everyday lives.

Prior to the early 2000s, the internet was a tool that few accessed regularly. By 2006, broadband internet flipped the switch on cyberspace, keeping it permanently on and making the web a sometimes inescapable nightmare for its users. 

Have we learned anything from this early Web 2.0 period, or are we making the same mistakes in new ways as we barrel toward the great unknown future?

The first full-length episode of Fright Fest 8 is here!

In it, we have a great big discussion about the emergence of a new type of violent, nihilistic horror movie that was sweeping the nation in 2006: Torture Porn.

The subgenre was brutal, visceral, bleak, and unforgiving, yet somehow managed to be a massive box office draw for the next decade.

How did this happen? Blame the terrorists, of course!

We are back with our 8th installment of the much heralded Fright Fest!

That's right, folks, it's October, and all things scary are at the top of mind here on the podcast. However, we are not abandoning the year format; we are talking about what scared us in 2006.

To kick off this month, we start with a little movie trivia about 2006 horror movies.

The space-time anomaly has provided us with a glimpse into the sports world of 2051.

Sad to say, it feels kind of the same as it ever was.

Our final episode of Sports in '61 looks at one of the most famous seasons in any sport, ever.

The season Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle went swing for swing in pursuit of the most hallowed record in baseball and likely, all of sports: Babe Ruth's single-season home run record.

In 1927, Babe Ruth slugged a truly astonishing 60 HRs, a record most considered impossible to break.

Until a former high school football star from North Dakota took down the Bambino's record all while fending off the vultures in the New York media, toxic fans, and the commissioner of baseball.

In our next episode of Sports in '61, we examine a tragedy that reshaped American sports overnight: the crash of Sabena Flight 548, a disaster that claimed the lives of the entire elite tier of U.S. Figure Skating.

In the wake of the disaster, hard lessons were learned about everything from team travel protocols and national sports administration to international aviation safety standards.