Aaron Beale, is a husband, a dad, a craftsman of fine furniture and the Vice President of Student Craft at Berea College, but what he really wants to talk about is watches. We discuss his love for beautiful and functional timepieces and the origins of this passion. We delve into deeper questions about the intersection of form, function and aesthetics, and even muse about the role of time keeping itself in this digital age where seemingly everything—except for maybe a mechanical timepiece—is disposable. We also touch on the notion of the watch as a marker of status and the keeper not just of time, but of a legacy. And, oh by the way, does anyone really know how all those gears and springs work anyway?

Dr. Jacob Dickerson is a husband , a dad and the Chair of the Communication Department at Berea College. He has a Ph.D in Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media. His current research examines the idea of “memory ecology” which is made up of the collection of many remembrances of a particular event. But what he really wants to talk about is MonsterVision, the late night movie marathon series—hosted by Joe Bob Briggs—that ran on TNT throughout the 90’s. We discuss the enduring popularity of horror/slasher films, the concept of “camp,” and Jacob does a deep dive into the uncannily terrifying Blair Witch Project. We also examine his near-obsessive mission to re-watch and rate every single movie that aired on MonsterVision during its nine-year run. And oh by the way there’s a shoutout to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.