The Substance

This week on The Substance, we are welcoming back a returning guest and talking about a book that has the best cover we've seen in quite some time! Courtney Ellis returns to the show and this time we are talking about her new book from InterVarsity Press, Looking Up: A Birder's Guide To Hope Through Grief. It's a beautiful book that is part memoir, part counseling session, and part sales pitch for the hobby of birding (Spoiler Alert: we have already downloaded the Merlin Bird ID app since our conversation with Courtney).

We also talk coffee vs. tea, how birding has positively impacted her life (including relationships that span ideological boundaries), natural theology and why we don't need to be afraid of it, the role of her grandparents in her formation, and much more! Courtney is also the first guest we have had who has nerded out with my son about their mutual affinity for the Wild Kratts (stay tuned to the end).

We hope you enjoy the show and if you do, we invite you to write a 5-star review and share it with a friend!

Courtney's previous appearance on The Substance (Ep. 65)!

Buy Looking Up

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The Thing With Feathers podcast

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Happy April Fool's Day! We had a great time covering Manos: The Hands of Fate back in 2022 and we were bummed that we missed it last year but are delighted to be back this April Fool's with another Un-Substantive Cinema show. This year it's Hot Shots! Part Deux, one of the silliest movies of all time. Written and directed by Jim Abrahams (of Airplane!, Top Secret!, & The Naked Gun) and starring Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, and Valeria Golino, Hot Shots! Part Deux mirrors the plotlines of films like Missing in Action & Rambo II along with a major subplot from Casablanca. The film is tonally all over the place riffing on movies like The Wizard of Oz, Lady and the Tramp, The Godfather, Enter the Dragon, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Predator, and many more! It's pretty juvenile but it's nonstop gags and it's a lot of fun!

Dale_A loves these movies just as much as Philip so he was the perfect guest! We had a great time and we hope you enjoy it too!

Substantive Cinema List

Shoutouts:

The Plants of Middle Earth: Botany and Sub-Creation

Masters of the Air

Dale's IG

Bat & Spider podcast

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When people think of the American western movie, it's usually gunfights and cowboys and bank robbers and romance and, if we're being honest, a pretty rough portrayal of nearly anyone who isn't a white man. They can be fun and exciting but they are often devoid of substance and many times can end up promoting some unhealthy perspectives. The fact that John Ford and John Wayne were two of the most prolific and influential figures in this genre makes their work in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance that much more interesting. Rather than being a simplistic tale of a strong, quiet man with a gun saving the day, the movie is far murkier than that and actually examines the legacy of that type of story as well as the American myth in general.

Nightmare(s in a Damaged Brain)

Peeping Tom

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Nate is a creator whose work I've followed for almost 15 years and it was an absolute pleasure to sit down and talk with him about his work and the substance behind it. I first encountered his work in Jeff Lemire's acclaimed Vertigo Comics series Sweet Tooth (still need to check out the Netflix adaptation). His style really spoke to me so I went back and read his debut graphic novel, Swallow Me Whole, which won the Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel, and I was in for pretty much everything he made after that.

Most folks know of Nate because of the March trilogy that he did with civil rights advocate and United States Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin. The three graphic novels were massively successful in both critically and commercially but they also have been influential in communicating an important national story and inspiring folks to join the cause and work for a better future. The March books won multiple Eisners (the comic industry equivalent of The Oscars), The Coretta Scott King Award, and made Nate Powell the first cartoonist to win a National Book Award.

We talk about the impact of these books on his life and career as well as the themes of militarism and how war and violence can become culturally pervasive (he shares a great story of getting a positive review from G.I. Joe creator Larry Hama on one of his books dealing with this), how we need to take care to always be pursuing justice and sticking up for folks who can't do it for themselves, as well as being intentional in teaching these values to the next generations.

We hope you enjoy the episode and if you do, be sure to share it with your friends!

Read Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story

Nate's new books:

Read Fall Through on Hoopla

Pre-Order Lies My Teacher Told Me

Holy Food by Christina Ward

Half American by Matthew Delmont

Alpine Sequences (OK Ikumi album)

Love on the Spectrum (TV series)

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Topic Toss Up shows are not really possibly with our current hosting situation as Philip is not terribly keen to record a solo monologue on various topics but we are excited to welcome Trevor back and jump in!

Here at The Substance we love engaging with thoughtful art and artists as they are able to get at truth in a way other mediums just are not capable, and among the various forms of art, movies are probably our favorite. That is why we are so delighted to share this exciting first with you all: on this episode we have the pleasure of being joined by a well established actor who recently made his directorial debut, John Carroll Lynch!

John's career as an actor spans over three decades and he has worked with some incredible directors in that time. Folks like Martin Scorsese (right off the bat we get a GREAT Shutter Island story), David Fincher, Joel and Ethan Coen, Clint Eastwood, John Woo, Pablo Larraín, Albert Brooks, Karyn Kusama, Tony Scott, and even Tom Hanks on HBO's From the Earth to the Moon. And a few years ago, he took all those experiences and channeled them into a stunning directorial debut, 2017's Lucky.

Lucky tells the story of a 90-year-old atheist living in small desert town who goes on a bit of a spiritual journey when he is forced to confront his mortality after he experiences a fall. The titular character Lucky is played beautifully by veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton. It's a role that is infused with so many essential and biographical elements from Harry's own life but it very much stands on its own if you are unfamiliar with his life and career. The town is filled with wonderful actors, many of whom are longtime friends of HDS. People like David Lynch, Ron Livingston, Ed Begley Jr., Tom Skerritt (Harry's co-star in the sci-fi masterpiece and previous SC episode Alien), Barry Shabaka Henley, James Darren, Beth Grant, and more!

The movie is currently streaming on Hoopla so support your local library and check it out! You can also rent it on any major platform. And if you like it even half as much as we do, be sure to tell your friends about it!

Shoutouts:

Nyad

Dumb Money

Origin

The Bear (series)

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Outlaw Posse

Babes

Abby Olcese:

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Five Films to Watch During Lent

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Valentine's Day comes and goes every year and it's easy to either dismiss it as a commercialized event or to get swept up in the sentimentality depending on one's disposition, but we wanted to avoid both extremes and try to focus on true, genuine love. And we do, buuuut take quite an enjoyable detour on to topics of art, commerce, comic books, and more!

We are joined by artist, curator, and author Ned Bustard. Ned is a longtime artist and printmaker who has been on a run the last few years with children's books at IVP. His book on Saint Nicholas launched IVP Kids two years ago and last year he came out with one on Saint Patrick (a favorite in the Marinello house) and now we have Saint Valentine. Tune in to see what may be next if folks continue to buy these books!

We hope you enjoy our conversation and tune in next time for our first Substantive Cinema featuring the director of the film as longtime character actor John Carroll Lynch joins us to talk about his directorial debut Lucky!

Links:

Buy St. Valentine the Kindhearted

Steve Prince

Shoutouts:

Thursday Murder Club

Dr. Who (Research for an updated edition of Ned's Dr. Who book!)

Percy Jackson (New D+ series)

All Creatures Great and Small (series)

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World's End Images

Square Halo

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Welcome to The Substance, a variety podcast aimed at being biblical, thoughtful, and human where we seek to engage the culture without the Culture War™. Previous guests include folks like: Johnna Harris (The Bodies Behind the Bus podcast), Daniel Hill (White Awake & White Lies), Esau McCaulley (Reading While Black), Jemar Tisby (The Color of Compromise & How To Fight Racism), and multi-hyphenate artist Propaganda.

Grief is a topic that we have circled on a number of previous episodes and this week it's time to finally dedicate a whole show to it. It is something that many of us have not been properly educated on personally and communally. Hardships are nothing new to the human experience, but with the unique difficulties and risks of the day along with anemic to non-existent grief practices, the modern person is uniquely at risk for the negative effects of unprocessed pain and trauma.

We are joined for this conversation by author and spiritual director Terra McDaniel (shoutout to listener Summer for putting this book on our radar!). Terra has been through her share of grief and it has caused her to lean into it and not only discover and redeem practices of lament for herself, but she has built a ministry in helping equip others to deal with these things as well. The book is simple and extremely practical (and short!) and it's a great resource for a small group or book club type setting with others who are looking to grow in this area.

If you enjoy our conversation, please consider sharing it with a friend and hitting the 5 star button on your podcast app so that it will help others find it as well!

Accompanying Others Through Grief class

Buy Hopeful Lament

Shoutouts:

The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

Lessons in Chemistry (Apple+ series & book)

Sampha

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Merry Christmas, y'all! It's been an eventful year and we hope that you all have a nice time of rest over the holiday season.

We're joined here by Tim and Jay Winterstein from the Saints & Cinema podcast. Tim in a Lutheran pastor in Washington State, he writes about movies over at The Jagged Word, and does programming for a couple film festivals in different states. Jay went to film school and is the Senior Programmer for the Newport Beach Film Festival. They love engaging with movies, whether "serious" or just for fun, so they reached out and suggested we talk about how we can engage with and enjoy films that are made all over that spectrum.

Movies discussed: The Boondock Saints, Christmas Vacation, Dumb and Dumber, The Rock, Jackass Forever/Jackass 4.5, The Evil Dead, Calvary, A Hidden Life, Silence, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Spotlight, and After Yang.

Due to scheduling challenges, our Christmas movie episode recording has been delayed but feel free to go back and listen to past year's Christmas shows!

Christmas Movie Episodes:

Little Women (Ep #27)

Elf (Ep #80)

The Matrix Resurrections (Ep #83)

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Support Us: NEW OPTION! We have finally joined Patreon!

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