The Substance

The Substance

By The Substance TeamTV & Film
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The Substance episodes

  • 161: Films For All Seasons feat. Abby Olcese

    Hey! This is our third weekly drop in a row and we've got a great one coming next week as well! We are back (but will probably shift back to biweekly shortly so we don't burnout)!


    This week, we welcome back friend of the show Abby Olcese to talk about her wonderful new book, Films for All Seasons: Experiencing the Church Year at the Movies (InterVarsity Press). You may know Abby from her work at The Pitch in Kansas City, RogerEbert.com, Paste, Sojourners, and more OR you may have seen her incredible viral tweet (possibly the last one?!). Either way, we're talking cinema and the church calendar and hope you enjoy!


    Topics covered include: liturgical spirituality, the horror movie fan scene in KC, finding and cultivating community during the pandemic, discovering the wonder of The Muppet's Christmas Carol, finding her grandmother's devotional notes at the perfect time, and more!


    Letterboxd list of films covered in Films for All Seasons


    Lucky episode with Abby and Director John Carroll Lynch

    First Think Christian article


    Shoutouts:

    Janet Planet


    Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian



    Purchase Films For All Seasons

    Follow Abby on Twitter

    Bluesky

    Letterboxd


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    Philip's Letterboxd

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    Support Us: Support the show with an individual donation on CashApp to $TheSubstancePod or become a monthly Patreon supporter at patreon.com/TheSubstancePod

    1 hr 21 min
  • 160: Substantive Cinema | Shock Corridor feat. Mike White & Spencer Parsons

    Once again, we recorded this episode a while back (a number of months ago, in this case) but due to the lamentable state of many things in the US, our episode this week feels eerily timely.


    For our first Noirvember Substantive Cinema epsiode of 2024, we are looking at one of Samuel Fuller's most celebrated and highly regarded films, Shock Corridor. In the movie, Johnny Barrett, a journalist in pursuit of fame and acclaim, poses as a lunatic in order to infiltrate a mental institution where a murder has taken place. Can he keep his sanity long enough to solve the case and what will be left of him if he can?


    In our discussion we cover: how Sam Fuller bluntly portrays America's various psychoses (nationalism, racial hatred, and the worship of violent power) in the three eyewitnesses that Johnny needs to interrogate, the legacy of Fuller's work in filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Spike Lee, and Jim Jarmusch, the role of journalism in a free society, and more!


    Watch Shock Corridor on the Internet Archive


    Listen to Mike, Spencer, and I talk about The Naked Kiss, Fuller's follow up to Shock Corridor which also stars Constance Towers.


    My discussion of Fuller's war films on The Stacks


    Forty Guns episode of The Criterion Connection


    Follow Mike's work at Weirding Way


    Shoutouts


    Spencer: When the Clock Broke by John Ganz

    The Surrealism of Friday the 13th

    Mike: The Good Fairy

    The Strawberry Blonde

    Philip: The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch


    If you're newer to the show be sure to check out our library of 150+ episodes with folks like Karen Swallow Prior, Jemar Tisby, Tyler Huckabee, Kaitlyn Schiess, Propaganda, Josh Larsen, Stephanie Stalvey, and John Carroll Lynch.


    Share Your Questions/Suggestions/Feedback With Us:

    DM on Instagram


    Support Us: Support the show with an individual donation on CashApp to $TheSubstancePod or become a monthly Patreon supporter at patreon.com/TheSubstancePod

    1 hr 50 min
  • 159: The American Gospel feat. Jon Guerra

    We are back! We weren't planning on holding this episode until right before the US Election Day but here we are.


    Jon Guerra is an immensely talented devotional music singer songwriter and his new project American Gospel is a beautiful, timely project that some of our listeners put on our radar a while back so we were delighted to have this conversation with him!


    We talk music, faith creativity, film (Jon composed some of the music for Substantive Cinema favorite film A Hidden Life), what it means to be a faithful and hopeful believer in such difficult times and more!


    If you enjoy the episode, please consider giving us a 5 star review and share it with a friend!


    Shoutouts:

    The Song That I Am

    Shogun

    The Chosen (series)

    Reading Genesis

    Passions of the Soul


    Buy American Gospel

    Sign up for his mailing list on his website

    If you're newer to the show be sure to check out our library of 150+ episodes with folks like Karen Swallow Prior, Jemar Tisby, Kaitlyn Schiess, Propaganda, Josh Larsen, Stephanie Stalvey, and John Carroll Lynch.


    Share Your Questions/Suggestions/Feedback With Us:

    DM on Instagram


    Support Us: Support the show with an individual donation on CashApp to $TheSubstancePod or become a monthly Patreon supporter at patreon.com/TheSubstancePod

    1 hr 14 min
  • 158: Vanitas + Viriditas feat. Josh Tiessen

    Happy to be back in your feeds! Our old friend Josh Tiessen (see Ep. 61 for his first appearance on the show) is back with an incredible new book and body of work and we're excited to share this conversation with you!


    Purchase Josh's new book!


    From Josh's website:

    Completed between 2020-2023, this new body of work explores two divergent perspectives on wisdom, and how might flourish in a society filled with facts, but mired in confusion. The solo exhibition was on display at Rehs Contemporary Gallery (New York, NY) from April 28 - May 26, 2023.


    Shoutouts:

    John Mark Comer Podcast

    The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

    Antoni Gaudi

    Follow Us:

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    If you're newer to the show be sure to check out our library of 150+ episodes with folks like Karen Swallow Prior, Jemar Tisby, Kaitlyn Schiess, Propaganda, Josh Larsen, Stephanie Stalvey, and John Carroll Lynch.


    Share Your Questions/Suggestions/Feedback With Us:

    DM on Instagram


    Support Us: Support the show with an individual donation on CashApp to $TheSubstancePod or become a monthly Patreon supporter at patreon.com/TheSubstancePod

    1 hr 10 min
  • 156: The Straight Story feat. Tyler Huckabee Replay (Ep. 96)

    Happy Father's Day! We will hopefully be back on track with our replay schedule here as we build up to our relaunch!


    Tyler Huckabee is someone who's work and perspective I've appreciated for a long time and it was a real joy to sit down and talk about movies and the work of David Lynch with him. We cover our mutual, less than virtuous, introduction to his work in Mulholland Drive, finding humanity in people of all walks of life, the value and wisdom of old age, the importance of tending to our relationships, the beauty of the Midwest & much more!


    Consider sharing this episode with a friend who loves the movie (or someone who you think would like it!) and if you have any suggestions for movies to cover on future episodes, please let us know!

    Shoutouts:

    Station Eleven (HBO Max)

    X-Men Hickman ⁠Amazon ⁠& ⁠Hoopla⁠


    Follow Tyler:

    ⁠Twitter⁠

    Instagram

    Substack

    ⁠The Relevant Podcast⁠

    ⁠Cape Town podcast⁠


    Follow Us:

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    YouTube Channel


    Send us a note or audio message: [email protected]



    Support Us:


    1 hr 37 min
  • 154: Felicia Wu Song Replay (Ep. 89)
    Hi friends! We are in a busy season at the moment and are working on a number of exciting things for The Substance and to help give us some time to do things at a high level, we are going to take a few weeks to replay some classic episodes from our 150+ show library.
    This episode was remarkable for how high it made it on our highest download charts when our guest doesn’t have a traditional social media presence. What she does have however, is a track record of high quality work and an email list of folks who love what she does. Our conversation about personal and spiritual formation in a technology saturated world was really valuable for us and as it doesn’t look like our world will be having less tech anytime soon, this should be just as relevant for the foreseeable future.
    If this is your first time listening to this, we hope you like it! Let us know on social media or email us a note or a voicemail and tell us what you think.
    Reminder that we are still collecting for a thank you gift for Editor Dave for his great work at The Substance for the last year or so and if you send us something for him on CashApp ($thesubstancepod) make sure to let us know in the notes that it's for him!
    1 hr 10 min
  • 153: Bradly Mason Replay (Ep. 56)
    Hey friends! We are in a busy season at the moment and are working on a number of exciting things for The Substance and to help give us some time to do things at a high level, we are going to take a few weeks to replay some classic episodes from our 150+ show library.
    Our conversation with Bradly in 2021 was the fastest episode to hit 1,000 downloads and for good reason! We talked not only about CRT but about how and why conversations focused on addressing societal shortcomings and human failure can so easily get hijacked by bad actors and have many people in the general public confused and worked up, often by the wrong things.
    If this is your first time listening to this, we hope you like it! Let us know on social media or email us a note or a voicemail and tell us what you think.
    Reminder that we are still collecting for a thank you gift for Editor Dave for his great work at The Substance for the last year or so and if you send us something for him on CashApp ($thesubstancepod) make sure to let us know in the notes that it's for him!
    1 hr 12 min

About The Substance

From the publisher's feed

A podcast starting conversations that aim to help us all better appreciate Goodness, Truth, and Beauty. Engaging the culture without the Culture War™. Kansas City based!