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We have a lot of questions about the romance, and a lot more about the world of Doug Liman's 2005 action comedy sensation. Join in as we discuss the Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie affair, the movie's gender politics, and private assassination companies. Plus: How did the Smiths build separate weapons vaults without noticing one another's? Why is the first half of this movie so dull? Is Keith David just running Charlie's Angels? And, once again, how do private assassin companies even work? Make sure to rate, review, and subscribe! Next week: Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026)--------------------------------------------------Key sources and links for this episode:"What Was Brangelina?" (Vulture)"Brad Pitt is Fooling You" (Vulture)"Killer Sex - Hot Tales of Brad and Angelina from the Set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (New York Post)"Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and the Tabloid Drama behind Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (Entertainment Weekly)"Doug Liman Hopes his Wild Loop Means a Hit with Edge of Tomorrow" (Los Angeles Times)"Regency Saves its Marriage" (Variety)"A Monday with Brad Pitt" (Esquire)"Two More of Brad Pitt's Kids want to Ditch his Surname" (CNN)
What if - instead of The Beatles - the Velvet Underground had been the most commercially and societally successful band in history? This is the provocative and hilarious premise of the new book by Chuck Klosterman, entitled ROCK* A MAINSTREAM ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF ALTERNATIVE MAINSTREAM MUSIC. In this episode, we speak with the bestselling author about his work and successful career, which really took off when he was a columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal. While in Akron, Chuck wrote the books Fargo Rock City and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, which led to stints at Spin, Esquire, and the New York Times - and eleven more bestselling books. This is a fun episode! Listen Thursday, September 17, at 10 pm on The Summit FM, 91.3, or later anytime, wherever you get your podcasts!
Today on the program, a trip into the archive and a return to Episode 423, my conversation with Chuck Klosterman. We were talking about his book But What If We're Wrong: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past (Blue Rider Press) Air date: July 20, 2016 Klosterman is the bestselling author of nine nonfiction books (including Football; X; The Nineties; and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs), two novels (Downtown Owl and The Visible Man), and the short story collection Raised in Captivity. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ (London), Esquire, Spin, The Guardian (London), The Believer, and ESPN. Klosterman served as the Ethicist for The New York Times Magazine for three years and was an original founder of the website Grantland with Bill Simmons. He was raised in rural North Dakota and now lives in Portland, Oregon. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors. Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Instagram TikTok Bluesky Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Notes and Links to Danny Funt's Work Danny Funt is a Charlotte-based writer and editor. His reporting on the business of sports betting, politics, news and sports media, climate solutions, and healthcare innovation has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, TheWeek.com, and the Columbia Journalism Review, and he has discussed the consequences of the betting boom on CNN, NBC, CBS, NPR, and many other outlets. He's written profiles of Defector Media, football gambler Warren Sharp, Esquire editor David Granger, author Alana Massey, New York Times columnist David Brooks, Las Vegas bookie Chris Andrews, and the MIT personalized medicine researcher Leo Celi. Buy Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling Danny Funt's Website Review of Everybody Loses… from Library Journal At about 1:00, Danny talks about edifying feedback on his book Everybody Loses… At about 1:55, Danny talks about early reading and writing At about 2:55, Pete and Danny share their fantasy sports origin stories At about 3:45, Danny talks about early inspiration for his journalism career At about 6:15, Danny talks about boxing books that has thrilled and informed him At about 8:00, Danny reflects on ideas of objectivity in journalism, and how he approached the writing of the book with its particular subject matter At about 9:50, Danny responds to Pete asking about the ways in which his betting habits (or lack thereof) changed after writing the book At about 11:15, Pete and Danny commiserate on “the bet that got away” and the anger/sleaziness that comes with close loss in betting At about 16:45, Pete shares gushing blurbs for the book At about 17:15, Pete lays out the book's opening that features athletes talking about online harassment from jilted gamblers At about 18:00, Danny reflects on new, popular, frenzied areas of gambling that are also being resisted and rolled back in some places in the US At about 19:25, Danny talks a bit of the history of early US sports and gambling At about 21:40, Danny responds to Pete's question about early fantasy sports as a kind of “gray area” and connections to today's sports gambling landscape At about 25:05, Adam Silver as an early proponent of “regulated sports betting” is discussed At about 28:20, Danny outlines the importance of Murphy v. NCAA in later sports gambling developments At about 30:45, Pete asks Danny about political and religious divisions (or the lack thereof) regarding sports betting At about 33:50, Pete and Danny recount a few anecdotes from the book about gambling addictions At about 34:45, Chris Christie's and others' empty words on allocating money to help for gambling addiction At about 36:05, The pivotal wording used in many sports betting ads-like “risk-free”-are discussed At about 38:55, Jason shares a staggering statistic from Bank of América about the reduced saving At about 39:20, Pete cites the title of the penultimate chapter and the book's title and asks Danny about the lack of “winners” in (almost) all areas of sports gambling At about 40:50, Sharapova v. Serena, 2004 Wimbledon, is discussed At about 43:50, “Microbets” and “parlays” and their possible outlawing are discussed At about 44:40, Pete asks Danny about the UK's history and present of sports gambling and its possibly being a predictor of the US' sports betting future At about 46:50, The two discuss some proposed laws and pushing back against out-of-control sports betting At about 49:00, Pete cites an aspirational scenario that might prevent future unmitigated sports gambling You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode. Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, is up now at Chicago Review. Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This month's Patreon bonus episode is the second episode for Pete's limited podcast series, Rage is a Gift: Evil Empire at 30. Pete reflects on the Importance (and the power of this capital "I") of Rage Against the Machine and their seminal Evil Empire album, which is celebrating 30 years of resistance. The episode focuses on the opening track, “People of the Sun.” The limited podcast series will do a deep exploration of, and reflection on, the lyrics and context of each of the 12 powerful songs on the album. Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 349 with Jason Thornberry, whose writing appears in World Literature Today, Los Angeles Review of Books, Maryland Literary Review, Maudlin House, and many others. He was nominated in 2023 and 2024 for Best of the Net. Jason's chapbook, The Finish Line, is available now through Sand and Gravel Press. The episode airs on September 11 or 12. Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people. You can also donate at chuffed.org, World Central Kitchen, and so many more, and/or you can contact writer friend Ursula Villarreal-Moura directly or through Pete, as she has direct links with friends in Gaza.
Should you move your aging parents across state lines for care? In this episode, certified elder law attorney Janet Colliton, Esquire of Colliton Law Associates, P.C. in West Chester, PA, breaks down the critical legal and financial factors families face when planning elder care. With over 38 years of experience, Janet explains how Medicaid rules, income limits, and trust requirements vary from state to state—and why even a single dollar over the threshold can jeopardize your benefits. Learn how tools like Miller Trusts (Qualified Income Trusts) can help, and get the practical guidance you need before making a life-changing move for a loved one.
Michelle believes that she could've been a great lawyer, but definitely not a good doctor. Then, the crew dives back in to the drama around the LA Clippers. Was the punishment severe enough? ESPN NBA Front Office Insider Bobby Marks joins to break it all down. Plus, Respeck It or Check It! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Michelle believes that she could've been a great lawyer, but definitely not a good doctor. Then, the crew dives back in to the drama around the LA Clippers. Was the punishment severe enough? ESPN NBA Front Office Insider Bobby Marks joins to break it all down. Plus, Respeck It or Check It! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chris Jones, a former writer-at-large for Esquire, has won two National Magazine Awards. His new memoir, Legs Hearts Minds: Loss and Its Remedies, was recently released through Random House. He has also written for The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Golf Digest, Grantland, ESPN, and the CBC. His work was included in the Best American Sports Writing anthology six times.
As the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Cal replays one of the most powerful conversations in Big Questions' archive: his interview with Michael Wright, a survivor who was buried alive when Tower 2 of the World Trade Center collapsed on him. Michael was a 30-year-old account executive on an ordinary Tuesday morning when the hijacked planes hit. Cal interviewed him for Esquire Magazine just days after the attack and has replayed his taped recollections every year since Big Questions started. This year, Cal introduces curated archival images from that day, synced to Michael's narrative. The visuals can be found on youtube.com/@bigquestionspodcast. This is the story of how Michael survived after being buried alive near a fireman. He crawled to the fireman and stuck to him "like a sticky burr on a bear's ass." The fireman hacked them both out with an axe. When the story was first published, Esquire called it "the fastest 3,863 words you will ever read." It's a story about adaptation under the worst possible pressure, and about the connection between two strangers that made survival possible. Twenty-five years later, all of those involved still have everything to teach us.
Chris Jones sits down with me to have an open and honest conversation about fatherhood. We cover so many topics in the world of parenting. We talk about miscarriages, divorce, co-parenting and starting over. After that we talk about his new book, Legs Hearts Minds. In addition, he shares all the different topics he writes about in his book. Next, we talk about suicide and mental health. Chris shares how talking to a therapist really helped him. Plus we talk about the power of sports. Lastly, we finish the interview with the Fatherhood Quick Five. About Chris Jones Chris Jones, a former writer-at-large for Esquire, has won two National Magazine Awards. He has also written for The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, Golf Digest, Grantland, ESPN, and the CBC. His work was included in the Best American Sports Writing anthology six times. Born in London, he lives in Peterborough, Canada, with his family. Make sure you follow Chris on Twitter over at @EnswellJones. In addition back top his book, Legs Hearts Minds wherever you purchase books. Fore Fathers Is This Week's Sponsor From the boardroom to the back nine, barbecues to bath time, changing diapers to changing the oil, we offer beautifully designed, thoughtfully tailored, ultra-comfortable, and original polos for Dads of all shapes and sizes. Inspired by what it means to be a father, we celebrate the joys of this adventure with fun and friendly Dad apparel meant to be worn as a Dad badge of honor! Check out all of the Fore Fathers gear at shopforefathers.com. About The Art of Fatherhood Podcast The Art of Fatherhood Podcast follows the journey of fatherhood. Your host, Art Eddy talks with fantastic dads from all around the world where they share their thoughts on fatherhood. You get a unique perspective on fatherhood from guests like Bob Odenkirk, Hank Azaria, Joe Montana, Kevin Smith, Danny Trejo, Jerry Rice, Jeff Foxworthy, Patrick Warburton, Jeff Kinney, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Kyle Busch, Dennis Quaid, Dwight Freeney and many more.
Join us as we explore the worldwide phenomenon behind the revival of Homer's 3000-year-old story, the kaleidoscopic and hallucinogenic return of Odysseus to Ithaka, the Greek island that has become an icon for home itself. There is the immense beauty of the poem itself and the historical importance of Homer's accomplishment, but what does the story mean to us now, how can it help illuminate the chaos of our lives today? Composed by the Poet Known as Homer, around 650 BC, it was based on a story about the Trojan War that was already hundreds of years old. Since then, the story about the hallucinogenic adventures of Odysseus, his son Telemachus, and wife Penelope have cast a spell over cultures around the world, haunting poets, playwrights and philosophers, and taunting the efforts of archaeologists, linguists and now filmmakers to render it in modern terms. Our conversation will explore the myriad life lessons of Homer's masterpiece that have inspired readers, listeners and now viewers for millennia, with a focus on the central theme of the nostoi, the return stories of ancient Greek soldiers, adventurers, philosophers and scientists coming home, and the wider question of what home meant to the ancients—and what home means to us now, the most rootless people in recorded history. Along the way, we will have an animated exchange about the wide range of translations, from Alexander Pope, T. E. Lawrence, and E. V. Rieu, to Richard Lattimore, Emily Wilson and Daniel Mendelosohn. Finally, we will playfully review the myriad movie versions, from George Melies' four-minute version in 1905, to the 1956 Ulysses with Kirk Douglas, and the freshly minted Odyssey helmed by Christopher Nolan. Finally, there is the surprising realization that it is five female characters (Penelope, Athena, Calypso, Circe and Nausicaa) who helped guide Odysseus homeward, and the centuries-long influence on art, literature and cinema. Join us for a celebration of the soul-saving power of this ancient Greek tale, which sings of the aftermath of a savage war and the restoration of our hero's home, all the while insisting on need to say “yes” to life. About the Speaker Phil Cousineau is the author of The Wisdom of the Odyssey and over 40 other books, including the bestselling The Art of Pilgrimage, and The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work. Cousineau is a writer, teacher, filmmaker, storyteller and cultural historian, who has consulted on mythology and story for major studios, including Warner Brothers., Pixar and Lucasfilm, and has led mythology travel programs to Greece for more than three decades. Cousineau has been featured on NPR, CNN International, the BBC, the Smithsonian and Discovery channels, and was the host of PBS and Link-TV's "Global Spirit." He lives in San Francisco. Visit him online. Valerie Andrews is the founder of the digital magazine and podcast "Reinventing Home," the author of Our Story of Home: Tales of Longing and Belonging, and A Passion for This Earth: Toward a New Partnership of Man, Woman and Nature, and the editor of Sanctuary: The Inner Life of Home. Her articles have appeared in Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche, Intuition magazine, Esquire, Vogue, and The Sun. She has moved—or rather been unmoored—33 times and understands the wandering Odysseus. The Bay Area has been her home since 1990. A Grownups Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Organizer: Denise M. Michaud Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Listen to the podcast version of this above.I could have made this post a part two on Audre Lorde's influence on why I'm moving in this direction. After all, she was the one who said our silence wouldn't protect us.But in meditating on said silence and learning more about my Black queer feminist foreparents, I came across a The New Yorker article from 2020 that detailed how June Jordan was a noted scholar of what she called “environmental design” despite being lauded in most writings about her as just a poet.June Jordan, The OG Black Queer Feminist UrbanistRecently, the Black radical publication Hammer and Hope dug even deeper into the journey of her not publishing what they and she called a “land reform” novel called “Okay Now”.It was right on time for this Black August series.The New Yorker article details how she reached out to Buckminster Fuller, the designer of the architectural geodesic dome, of which the most prominent example is the blue golf ball-looking building at Epcot Center, among other housing, transportation, and spiritual inventions.She'd spent several months studying architects on the weekends at a Manhattan library and taking a trip to Greece, despite struggling to make ends meet and living in a Queens housing project. Her husband left her and her toddler during this time, and she sent her toddler to his parents because of her poverty.However, she did have the ear of folks like Fuller and writers at publications such as Esquire and the New York Times.But, when writing about a joint-conceived project with Fuller for “urban renewal” in Harlem for Esquire, she omitted her role in it in print. Then the editors at Esquire turned around and turned the article into the case for getting rid of the Black folks that Jordan had reached out to Fuller to create the project for.In the Hammer and Hope article, it mentions that she visited Mississippi for the New York Times and had become a housing researcher, espousing many of Jane Jacobs' tenets of housing and street design, helping people be better humans at the same time as Jacobs.However, Jacobs was able to get her nonfiction urbanist manifesto published, multiple to be exact, even though she was not without criticisms of her own, just for being a woman.While Jordan was questioned by her publishers at Knopf for her own urbanist nonfiction draft, which diverged from Jacobs' reasoning on what was needed for a better relationship between humans and the Earth. Jordan asserted, based on her Mississippi trip, that Black Southerners held the keys for land reform, on their farms and in their towns and cities.Jordan tried to pivot her manifesto into a novel, Okay Now, that never was completed in her lifetime and she was working on up to her death.Fuller at least wrote her a letter or recommendation for a fellowship in Italy that allowed her to start on Okay Now; other reporters and museum retrospectives continued to allow Jordan to be erased from their Harlem project, which was never built.And she continued to write poetry and speak up for folks in Palestine and the US South!How I'm Changing this Narrative of No Black Woman “armchair” urbanistsJane Jacobs is considered an expert on urbanism, despite having only some college credits from Columbia University, being married to an architect, and writing commentaries, articles, and books. She does not hold a degree, and neither did June Jordan. They both self-studied or took classes that enhanced their writings, but didn't result in a full degree, some of which could be blamed on the sexism and racism around Barnard College and Columbia University at the time.So how does this relate back to me.In this current backlash against DEI and in my first ten years of running my design consultancy and practice, I've been met with more criticism than praise, despite holdiing a Master of Public Affairs where I concentrated on community and economic development, along with my own writings and speeches around the US and Canada.I was used to how we as Southerners can praise and criticise and then go back to praising over a plate of barbecue and sweet tea.June Jordan notes our vibe herself in a line from her New York Times piece on how the Mississippians of 1969 didn't label themselves as rebels or radicals or bohemians; they just did them. There was also immense Black class solidarity.At times I worry we are losing some of that, especially with the pressure we get to be more “Northern” in the South. Now, with the internet and cultural exchange being at the tip of search bar or prompt, I'm seeing breakthroughs in Black folks finding subcultures like goth, but making it our own. Afro-Punk is a key site of this happening, both on and offline. Some will say that hard segregation was why we were in Black class solidarity, but I would counter that even with integration, in the South, we aren't that far apart from each other in the way we are in other regions that have better worker rights and pay equity.And as for me and my street cred…When I put them all together like this, erasure of my life and career is a joke.These photos and pictures stand for myself and themselves on what my career and life have looked like over the past 16 years. I wonder what our feminist foreparents would have done with the kind of access we have! But I am determined to pick up the baton and pass the torch.I need to finalize my The Defying Gentrification Playbook copyright registration, but I own my book, and I made it and published it myself.I own this newsletter space. I'm working on my own political thriller romance trilogy, that I'll design and print, and promote myself if I need to!I journal privately daily, and I have so many ideas for this newsletter and other publications I plan to pitch.Yes, I'm taking the book on tour.And I'm grateful for my Buckminster Fuller figures, who have answered my letters, booked me for speeches, and given me bylines.I will not let myself be erased, and I will not shrink myself anymore! I can open my own gates and I will press past any criticism!AnnouncementsI am going to be traveling to Greensboro next weekend for a panel on my colleague and friend Marrianne LeGrecco's book on food justice in Greensboro, Everybody Eats. We'll be at Scuppernong Books on Elm Street on Sunday 8/30/2026 from 4-6 pm.Next week's newsletter will be a returning classic from my archives that I'm annotating live from Greensboro. Then the following week we launch our next series here. It's the tenth anniversary month of the big cross-country move of my own volition. Get ready for me to revisit my reflections on bouncing between DC, Baltimore, and PG County, along with how I see myself as a North Carolinian and African in the diaspora.Finally, thanks to everyone who came to the inaugural Making New Fantasies: A Defying Gentrification Workshop, which we decided to do on every third Thursday as a virtual journaling workshop around processing these kinds of things. Come join us in September if you want encouragement in writing your own stories and making your own plans to make your community better.Until next time,Kristen Get full access to Defying Gentrification with Kristen Jeffers at theblackurbanist.substack.com/subscribe
Episode 650 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a roundtable with Jon Lewis, editor and founder of Sports Media Watch; Armand Broady, the co-host of the Sports Media Watch podcast and a contributor to SMW, and Derek Futterman, a multimedia writer and producer for Sports Media Watch. In this podcast we discuss Pat McAfee's new role on Monday Night Countdown, a possible MNF alt-cast for McAfee and his crew, and his growing on-air presence on ESPN; whether viewers should think of either McAfee or Stephen A. Smith as the face of ESPN or is the wrong question; Nielsen introducing passive co-viewing and other changes to data measurement; Jason Kelce joining Dave Pasch and Kurt Warner as an NFL Network booth; Bob Wischusen and Louis Riddick forming an additional booth; Jesse Doughtery's piece for Esquire on being a new father as he just got laid off from his dream job as a sports writer at The Washington Post; Matt Calkins, a sports columnist, for The Seattle Times, resigning after his editors refused to publish his column; former Alabama basketball player Kai Spears defeating the New York Times in his defamation lawsuit and Michael McCann's thoughts on that case; the Fever-Dream WNBA regular season game averaging 2.58 million viewers on ESPN; the WNBA's increased viewership numbers; MLB Field of Dreams having steep viewership decline in its Netflix debut and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.
Beowulf Sheehan is the author of The Father of the Man: The Last Author Portrait Sitting with Cormac McCarthy (Autofocus Books). Sheehan is a photographer of figures in the arts and humanities. To date, he's photographed better than 1,000 writers from more than 60 countries. His work has been published in the likes of Elle, Esquire, L'Uomo Vogue, The New Yorker, People, Time, Vanity Fair, and Vogue and has been exhibited at institutions such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Dostoevsky Museum, International Center of Photography, Museum of the City of New York, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and The Witliff Colelctions. Author: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan, a collection of portraits of 200 writers from 35 countries with a foreword by Salman Rushdie, was published in 2018. The Father of the Man: The Last Author Portrait Sitting with Cormac McCarthy is Sheehan's second monograph. Beowulf Sheehan is the proud son of an immigrant and translator, grandson of a poet and photographer, grandson of a copy editor, first cousin once removed from an editor, and cousin, first cousin once removed, and great-great-nephew of authors. Raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he lives in New York City. *** Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit www.rula.com/otherppl to get started. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors. Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Instagram TikTok Bluesky Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Naima Coster talks about how to trust that future writer self, about crafting beginnings that hold the seeds of the book, and about leaving behind the pages that we don't need anymore. Naima Coster is a New York Times bestselling author and a recipient of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 honor. Her novel, What's Mine and Yours, was a Read with Jenna pick and named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Esquire, Marie Claire, and more. Her first novel, Halsey Street, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, Time, and The Cut. She earned her MFA at Columbia University and has taught writing for over a decade. Naima lives in Brooklyn. Take What You Can is her most recent novel. The Cut article: https://www.thecut.com/article/learn-to-trust-writing-instincts.html⏰ DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SLOTS AVAILABLE (limited): http://rachaelherron.com/edit
On episode #200 of Making Media Now host Michael Azevedo chats with Sophie Vershbow the co-host, along with Rudi Greenberg, of a new podcast called It Was A Book First, which as you might guess from the title is all about new book-to-screen adaptations. On each episode Sofie and Rudi dissect the TV and film adaptations that are all across your feeds, what you'll be reading and watching next, and the business behind what actually makes it off the page. Along with co-hosting the podcast, Sophie is a freelance journalist and former-Big 5 publishing employee writing about books, the publishing industry, tv/film, and internet culture. Her work has appeared in Esquire, New York Magazine, Elle, The Atlantic, Literary Hub, and beyond. Making Media Now—which is available on all podcast platforms including YouTube--is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey. About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead
Melissa Rivers' Group Text is crossing over with The Sarah Fraser Show, and Melissa and Sarah have a lot to discuss when it comes to this week's celebrity headlines. Melissa and Sarah get into Zendaya and Tom Holland's intimate wedding celebration, Bradley Cooper and Gigi Hadid fueling marriage rumors in Paris, and Emma Roberts' Sun Valley wedding. Plus, the explosive article in Esquire surrounding Brad Pitt, the absurd speculation over Anne Hathaway's pregnancy, major Duggar legal news, and why Below Deck is delivering one of its most chaotic seasons yet. This podcast is a Hurrdat Media production. Hurrdat Media is an Omaha-based digital media company specializing in podcast production, video production, and digital content. To learn more about our services, visit HurrdatMedia.com. For more local stories, original podcasts, and video content, subscribe to the Hurrdat ONE YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Natasha Tynes, author of the book Karma Unleashed. Natasha Tynes is a Jordanian-American author and communications professional who owns and operates a digital media agency, Suburban Media Group. She has over twenty years of experience working as a journalist, writer and social media manager. She's a regular contributor to a number of publications inside and outside the United States. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Nature Magazine, Elle Magazine, The Post, Esquire magazine, and Aljazeera, among others and she's appeared on shows like Larry King Live and CBS's Morning Show. She also hosts the podcast, Read and Write with Natasha, where she talks with authors, publishers, and book marketers around the world. She's a fiction writer too. In my book review, I stated Karma Unleashed is a contemporary novel by Natasha Tynes. We meet Karma, a young woman from Bilaq Iran who has a gift - or a curse - depending on how you look at it. She can often see the future. She quickly learns that others do not understand her gift. Her mother teaches her to keep it hidden. However, hard as she tries, Karma often feels the need to intervene, especially when the vision is tragic. Inevitably, this leads to misunderstandings and even danger. She moves to America to start a new life with her husband, but soon, everything she understands about life is turned upside down. She meets Danielle who seems to know of Karma's power and also appears to have a darker side. Karma must decide to run from her gift or embrace it no matter where it leads. The twist at the end has left me a bit unsettled - and almost certain there will be a sequel! My biggest takeaway? I don't want to know the future. Not mine or anyone else's. And if I could see the future, the likelihood is that I couldn't change it. In fact, trying to do so may be what makes it happen in the first place! If you like books with a bit of mysticism and twists, this might be the book for you! Author's Note: There are some sexual scenes that might be more than some readers would enjoy. Subscribe to Online for Authors to learn about more great books! https://www.youtube.com/@onlineforauthors?sub_confirmation=1 You can follow Author Natasha Tynes Website: https://www.natashatynes.com/ IG: @natasha.tynes X: @NatashaTynes LinkedIn: @Natasha Tynes FB: @natasha.tynes Purchase Karma Unleashed on Amazon: Paperback: https://amzn.to/4upXxjI Ebook: https://amzn.to/3SqO6Tz Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor IG: @terimbrown_author X: @terimbrown1 Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors #natashatynes #karmaunleashed #contemporaryfiction #terimbrownauthor #authorpodcast #onlineforauthors #characterdriven #researchjunkie #awardwinningauthor #podcasthost #podcast #readerpodcast #bookpodcast #writerpodcast #author #books #goodreads #bookclub #fiction #writer #bookreview *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
In an interview with Esquire magazine, Brad Pitt admitted that he is off the wagon after 7 years sober. The actor saying he can have a few drinks, and after a few “overconfident” incidents, has decided to continue drinking, but “not in big quantities.” Pitt’s admission has rekindled an ongoing debate among recovering alcoholics, with Alcoholics Anonymous maintaining that “no one who has become an alcoholic has ever ceased to be an alcoholic” while other organizations support a moderation management technique, similar to what Pitt describes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In an interview with Esquire magazine, Brad Pitt admitted that he is off the wagon after 7 years sober. The actor saying he can have a few drinks, and after a few “overconfident” incidents, has decided to continue drinking, but “not in big quantities.” Pitt’s admission has rekindled an ongoing debate among recovering alcoholics, with Alcoholics Anonymous maintaining that “no one who has become an alcoholic has ever ceased to be an alcoholic” while other organizations support a moderation management technique, similar to what Pitt describes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In an interview with Esquire magazine, Brad Pitt admitted that he is off the wagon after 7 years sober. The actor saying he can have a few drinks, and after a few “overconfident” incidents, has decided to continue drinking, but “not in big quantities.” Pitt’s admission has rekindled an ongoing debate among recovering alcoholics, with Alcoholics Anonymous maintaining that “no one who has become an alcoholic has ever ceased to be an alcoholic” while other organizations support a moderation management technique, similar to what Pitt describes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In an interview with Esquire magazine, Brad Pitt admitted that he is off the wagon after 7 years sober. The actor saying he can have a few drinks, and after a few “overconfident” incidents, has decided to continue drinking, but “not in big quantities.” Pitt’s admission has rekindled an ongoing debate among recovering alcoholics, with Alcoholics Anonymous maintaining that “no one who has become an alcoholic has ever ceased to be an alcoholic” while other organizations support a moderation management technique, similar to what Pitt describes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode we spoke with Marian Scheuer Sofaer, Esquire, and Dr. Einav Yehuda-Shnaidman about The Expulsion of Jews from Iraq, 20th Century: The Agonies of Redemption (Brill, 2024), by Dr. Zvi Yehuda, and translated by Sofaer. Dr. Zvi Yehuda, born in Iraq in 1936, immigrated to Israel as a teenager during Operation Ezra and Nehemiah and went on to complete a PhD in History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, later founding and heading the research institute at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center. He began to write the book in 1984, in a conversation with former Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel, and grew into a forty-year project of archival research across Israel, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Iraq, conducted in Hebrew, English, French, German and Judeo-Arabic. Yehuda passed away before he could complete editing the English translation; his daughter, Dr. Einav Yehuda-Shnaidman, together with Sofaer, brought the English edition to completion. The book situates the modern Iraqi Jewish community within a more discontinuous history than is often assumed. Yehuda's research identified a substantial gap, from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, in which no functioning Jewish community existed in Iraq; the community that flourished into the twentieth century instead descended from waves of immigration beginning after 1740, drawing Jews from Kurdistan, Iran, and Europe, and developing its own distinct Judeo-Arabic dialect. Following Israel's establishment and victory in 1948, Sofaer and Yehuda-Shnaidman described the systematic persecution that followed: mass dismissals of Jews from government employment, punitive import-export regulations, and new restrictions on real estate and mortgages. Yehuda-Shnaidman emphasized that Prime Minister Nuri al-Said was a central architect of this policy, proposing to the United Nations a plan to force Iraq's Jews to leave within four months, stripped of citizenship and property—a plan ultimately abandoned only after Jordan refused to allow the deportation convoys to cross its territory. Central to Yehuda's research is his conclusion that the expulsion was not, as long assumed, a response to Zionist activity, but a deliberate, state-directed policy to remove Iraq's Jews and seize their assets. The book also overturns the long-standing claim that bombs thrown at Jewish targets in Baghdad in 1950–51 were planted by Zionists to encourage emigration; evidence uncovered only in 2013 by an Iraqi journalist instead implicates Arab extremists, and points to the wrongful execution of Jews framed for the attacks. Altogether, the book documents the expulsion and dispossession of some 150,000 Jews from Iraq, part of the roughly one million Jews forced from Muslim-majority countries across the twentieth century—a history Yehuda insisted be established on primary evidence rather than inherited assumption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this episode we spoke with Marian Scheuer Sofaer, Esquire, and Dr. Einav Yehuda-Shnaidman about The Expulsion of Jews from Iraq, 20th Century: The Agonies of Redemption (Brill, 2024), by Dr. Zvi Yehuda, and translated by Sofaer. Dr. Zvi Yehuda, born in Iraq in 1936, immigrated to Israel as a teenager during Operation Ezra and Nehemiah and went on to complete a PhD in History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, later founding and heading the research institute at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center. He began to write the book in 1984, in a conversation with former Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel, and grew into a forty-year project of archival research across Israel, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Iraq, conducted in Hebrew, English, French, German and Judeo-Arabic. Yehuda passed away before he could complete editing the English translation; his daughter, Dr. Einav Yehuda-Shnaidman, together with Sofaer, brought the English edition to completion. The book situates the modern Iraqi Jewish community within a more discontinuous history than is often assumed. Yehuda's research identified a substantial gap, from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, in which no functioning Jewish community existed in Iraq; the community that flourished into the twentieth century instead descended from waves of immigration beginning after 1740, drawing Jews from Kurdistan, Iran, and Europe, and developing its own distinct Judeo-Arabic dialect. Following Israel's establishment and victory in 1948, Sofaer and Yehuda-Shnaidman described the systematic persecution that followed: mass dismissals of Jews from government employment, punitive import-export regulations, and new restrictions on real estate and mortgages. Yehuda-Shnaidman emphasized that Prime Minister Nuri al-Said was a central architect of this policy, proposing to the United Nations a plan to force Iraq's Jews to leave within four months, stripped of citizenship and property—a plan ultimately abandoned only after Jordan refused to allow the deportation convoys to cross its territory. Central to Yehuda's research is his conclusion that the expulsion was not, as long assumed, a response to Zionist activity, but a deliberate, state-directed policy to remove Iraq's Jews and seize their assets. The book also overturns the long-standing claim that bombs thrown at Jewish targets in Baghdad in 1950–51 were planted by Zionists to encourage emigration; evidence uncovered only in 2013 by an Iraqi journalist instead implicates Arab extremists, and points to the wrongful execution of Jews framed for the attacks. Altogether, the book documents the expulsion and dispossession of some 150,000 Jews from Iraq, part of the roughly one million Jews forced from Muslim-majority countries across the twentieth century—a history Yehuda insisted be established on primary evidence rather than inherited assumption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies
In this episode we spoke with Marian Scheuer Sofaer, Esquire, and Dr. Einav Yehuda-Shnaidman about The Expulsion of Jews from Iraq, 20th Century: The Agonies of Redemption (Brill, 2024), by Dr. Zvi Yehuda, and translated by Sofaer. Dr. Zvi Yehuda, born in Iraq in 1936, immigrated to Israel as a teenager during Operation Ezra and Nehemiah and went on to complete a PhD in History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, later founding and heading the research institute at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center. He began to write the book in 1984, in a conversation with former Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel, and grew into a forty-year project of archival research across Israel, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Iraq, conducted in Hebrew, English, French, German and Judeo-Arabic. Yehuda passed away before he could complete editing the English translation; his daughter, Dr. Einav Yehuda-Shnaidman, together with Sofaer, brought the English edition to completion. The book situates the modern Iraqi Jewish community within a more discontinuous history than is often assumed. Yehuda's research identified a substantial gap, from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, in which no functioning Jewish community existed in Iraq; the community that flourished into the twentieth century instead descended from waves of immigration beginning after 1740, drawing Jews from Kurdistan, Iran, and Europe, and developing its own distinct Judeo-Arabic dialect. Following Israel's establishment and victory in 1948, Sofaer and Yehuda-Shnaidman described the systematic persecution that followed: mass dismissals of Jews from government employment, punitive import-export regulations, and new restrictions on real estate and mortgages. Yehuda-Shnaidman emphasized that Prime Minister Nuri al-Said was a central architect of this policy, proposing to the United Nations a plan to force Iraq's Jews to leave within four months, stripped of citizenship and property—a plan ultimately abandoned only after Jordan refused to allow the deportation convoys to cross its territory. Central to Yehuda's research is his conclusion that the expulsion was not, as long assumed, a response to Zionist activity, but a deliberate, state-directed policy to remove Iraq's Jews and seize their assets. The book also overturns the long-standing claim that bombs thrown at Jewish targets in Baghdad in 1950–51 were planted by Zionists to encourage emigration; evidence uncovered only in 2013 by an Iraqi journalist instead implicates Arab extremists, and points to the wrongful execution of Jews framed for the attacks. Altogether, the book documents the expulsion and dispossession of some 150,000 Jews from Iraq, part of the roughly one million Jews forced from Muslim-majority countries across the twentieth century—a history Yehuda insisted be established on primary evidence rather than inherited assumption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies
Hay una clase de terror particularmente eficaz que no necesita monstruos, casas encantadas, criaturas sobrenaturales ni acontecimientos imposibles. Es el terror que aparece cuando la realidad cotidiana nos coloca frente a una decisión moral y descubrimos, quizá demasiado tarde, que ninguna de las opciones disponibles resulta completamente cómoda. Stephen King ha demostrado en numerosas ocasiones que entiende perfectamente esta clase de miedo, y «Ese autobús es otro mundo» (That Bus Is Another World) es uno de los ejemplos más interesantes de esa vertiente de su literatura. El relato apareció originalmente en Esquire en 2014 y posteriormente fue incluido en The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, colección publicada en 2015 y formada por una veintena de relatos en los que King explora diferentes formas de culpa, miedo, muerte, moralidad y consecuencias inesperadas. La historia se aparta deliberadamente de buena parte de los elementos más reconocibles del autor. No estamos ante un pueblo de Maine amenazado por una criatura, ni ante una presencia sobrenatural que invade la vida de una familia. El protagonista es un hombre corriente que viaja en taxi por Nueva York para acudir a una reunión profesional extraordinariamente importante cuando, desde el interior del vehículo, observa algo terrible en un autobús que circula junto a él. Música y Ambientación: Mattia Cupelli Remixed by JoTa Blog del Podcast: https://lanebulosaeclectica.blogspot.com/ X: @nebulectica
In this episode we spoke with Marian Scheuer Sofaer, Esquire, and Dr. Einav Yehuda-Shnaidman about The Expulsion of Jews from Iraq, 20th Century: The Agonies of Redemption (Brill, 2024), by Dr. Zvi Yehuda, and translated by Sofaer. Dr. Zvi Yehuda, born in Iraq in 1936, immigrated to Israel as a teenager during Operation Ezra and Nehemiah and went on to complete a PhD in History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, later founding and heading the research institute at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center. He began to write the book in 1984, in a conversation with former Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel, and grew into a forty-year project of archival research across Israel, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Iraq, conducted in Hebrew, English, French, German and Judeo-Arabic. Yehuda passed away before he could complete editing the English translation; his daughter, Dr. Einav Yehuda-Shnaidman, together with Sofaer, brought the English edition to completion. The book situates the modern Iraqi Jewish community within a more discontinuous history than is often assumed. Yehuda's research identified a substantial gap, from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, in which no functioning Jewish community existed in Iraq; the community that flourished into the twentieth century instead descended from waves of immigration beginning after 1740, drawing Jews from Kurdistan, Iran, and Europe, and developing its own distinct Judeo-Arabic dialect. Following Israel's establishment and victory in 1948, Sofaer and Yehuda-Shnaidman described the systematic persecution that followed: mass dismissals of Jews from government employment, punitive import-export regulations, and new restrictions on real estate and mortgages. Yehuda-Shnaidman emphasized that Prime Minister Nuri al-Said was a central architect of this policy, proposing to the United Nations a plan to force Iraq's Jews to leave within four months, stripped of citizenship and property—a plan ultimately abandoned only after Jordan refused to allow the deportation convoys to cross its territory. Central to Yehuda's research is his conclusion that the expulsion was not, as long assumed, a response to Zionist activity, but a deliberate, state-directed policy to remove Iraq's Jews and seize their assets. The book also overturns the long-standing claim that bombs thrown at Jewish targets in Baghdad in 1950–51 were planted by Zionists to encourage emigration; evidence uncovered only in 2013 by an Iraqi journalist instead implicates Arab extremists, and points to the wrongful execution of Jews framed for the attacks. Altogether, the book documents the expulsion and dispossession of some 150,000 Jews from Iraq, part of the roughly one million Jews forced from Muslim-majority countries across the twentieth century—a history Yehuda insisted be established on primary evidence rather than inherited assumption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Brad Pitt gave Esquire a Monday. Molly McPherson breaks down what he actually bought with it.The September cover profile reads like an ordinary man letting a writer into his house — the dogs, the Perrier, a charcuterie board he builds himself. Molly walks through what each of those details is doing, why the drinking line was volunteered rather than asked for, and why a story that spikes and vanishes inside a week is exactly the outcome a reputation reset is aiming for.With Dr. Abby Medcalf, from the Substack members live.If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 in the US to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.The article: "A Monday with Brad Pitt" by Ryan D'Agostino, Esquire, September 2026 — https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a73336135/brad-pitt-interview-2026/Photographs by Chantal Anderson. Styling by George Cortina.Media data in this episode from Muck Rack (Aug 10–11, 2026).00:00 The thesis00:59 It opens with the dogs04:29 Guests get the view07:40 Why it ran in August08:41 The byline was the plan09:35 The photos argue with the words12:42 One sentence, one word15:42 The questions nobody asked21:21 What the numbers say24:47 Getting it on the record
Listen if you want to … Was the Netflix film The Last House inspired by COVID? Why is Brad Pitt revealing everything to Esquire? Remember To Catch a Predator? Now it has turned into a thriller starring Robert Pattinson and we have thoughts. The true meaning of our childhood fears and paranoia revealed. Real life run-ins with Michael Keaton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen if you want to … Was the Netflix film The Last House inspired by COVID? Why is Brad Pitt revealing everything to Esquire? Remember To Catch a Predator? Now it has turned into a thriller starring Robert Pattinson and we have thoughts. The true meaning of our childhood fears and paranoia revealed. Real life run-ins with Michael Keaton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen if you want to … Was the Netflix film The Last House inspired by COVID? Why is Brad Pitt revealing everything to Esquire? Remember To Catch a Predator? Now it has turned into a thriller starring Robert Pattinson and we have thoughts. The true meaning of our childhood fears and paranoia revealed. Real life run-ins with Michael Keaton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen if you want to … Was the Netflix film The Last House inspired by COVID? Why is Brad Pitt revealing everything to Esquire? Remember To Catch a Predator? Now it has turned into a thriller starring Robert Pattinson and we have thoughts. The true meaning of our childhood fears and paranoia revealed. Real life run-ins with Michael Keaton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Two Jersey Js with Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Fessler
Listen if you want to … Was the Netflix film The Last House inspired by COVID? Why is Brad Pitt revealing everything to Esquire? Remember To Catch a Predator? Now it has turned into a thriller starring Robert Pattinson and we have thoughts. The true meaning of our childhood fears and paranoia revealed. Real life run-ins with Michael Keaton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen if you want to … Was the Netflix film The Last House inspired by COVID? Why is Brad Pitt revealing everything to Esquire? Remember To Catch a Predator? Now it has turned into a thriller starring Robert Pattinson and we have thoughts. The true meaning of our childhood fears and paranoia revealed. Real life run-ins with Michael Keaton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dave Holmes spent the late '90s and early 2000s as one of the faces of MTV, and these days he's a sharp, funny voice at Esquire — but before any of that, he spent six years being told he had type 2 diabetes when he actually had type 1. This week, Rob sits down with Dave to talk about that misdiagnosis, the strange cluster of friends who were diagnosed around the same time, and a diabetes-age chart Rob saw at a conference that will change how you think about who gets T1D. From there, the conversation turns into a real, unpolished look at what it takes to live a creative life. Dave and Rob are both working through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way right now — morning pages, artist dates, and all — and they get honest about guilt, perfectionism, and the fear of putting out work that isn't ready. Dave, a professional writer with a book and a byline at one of the biggest magazines in the country, admits he still feels like a fraud turning in a rough draft. It's a good reminder that "getting easier" was never really the goal — getting better at the hard parts is. Along the way, Dave and Rob swap stories about the universe nudging you toward where you're supposed to be — a DJ gig that came out of nowhere, a stranger at a DVD store, a maintenance worker who turned out to also be living with diabetes. It's the kind of episode that starts as a diabetes story, turns into a conversation about creativity, and ends up being about paying attention to your life. And because no DDT episode is complete without some fun, Dave and Rob close it out with a segment they're calling the Bad Advice Song Draft — three rounds each of picking the most beloved songs with the absolute worst advice buried in the lyrics. Stalking anthems, teenage recklessness, and one song so ethically questionable that Kidz Bop wouldn't touch it. Tune in for all of it. Chapters: 00:00 Meet Dave Holmes: MTV VJ turned Esquire writer 02:52 Dave's six-year road to the right diagnosis 05:54 The surprising truth about T1D and age 07:13 How The Artist's Way found them both 08:37 Why Dave restarted the 12-week program now 12:48 Comparing morning page routines and habits 15:39 Getting unstuck: movement, walks, dumb writing 17:30 An artist date leads to an unplanned DJ gig 20:10 Beginner's mind and the fear of being filmed 21:09 Dave on perfectionism and feeling like a fraud 25:18 Resilience: "it doesn't get easier, you get better" 27:36 A screenwriter's ultimatum sparks Dave's fiction project 30:41 Meditation, synchronicity, and a DVD store coincidence 33:28 The ball-spinning experiment: "you can just do stuff" 38:05 Signs from Rob's dad, and a Disney parking-lot miracle 42:19 The Bad Advice Song Draft begins Resources: 1. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron 2. Dave Holmes on Instagram 3. Dave Holmes at Esquire — his latest writing and pop culture commentary.
Brad Pitt sat down for a tell-all Esquire cover story and dropped bombshell after bombshell: from confessing he's fallen off the sobriety wagon to admitting to a devastating moment from his past he's never spoken about. We're unpacking the wildest lines from the profile everyone's talking about.Meanwhile, Anne Hathaway's red carpet baby bump has spiralled into a full-blown conspiracy theory, with corners of the internet convinced it's fake. She's since clapped back on Instagram, and we're getting into why this always seems to happen to pregnant women in the spotlight.Plus, new Oscar winner Michael B Jordan and singer Raye were spotted looking very coupley at Six Flags, and honestly? We're rooting for it.Read Brad Pitt's Esquire profile here. If you or anyone you know needs to speak with an expert, please contact your GP or in Australia, contact Lifeline (13 11 14), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) or Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636), all of which provide trained counsellors you can talk with 24/7.TAKE THE SPILL'S WEEKLY POP CULTURE QUIZ HERE Become a Mamamia subscriber and get an all-access pass to everything we make, including exclusive podcasts and early listening, subscriber-only articles, monthly giveaways and our home workout app, MOVE.THE END BITS Find and follow us on socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespillpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thespillpod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thespillpodcast/ Support independent women's mediaGet access to Very Peri, Mamamia's exclusive perimenopause series, for just $59. 25 world-leading experts, over 20 on-demand sessions, available now. We’ve sorted through the noise so you don't have to. Go to veryperi.com.au and join me today. You hot? Same. Buy today and save 40% Want to join the conversation? Have feedback or a topic you want us to discuss? Send us a voice message or email us at thespill@mamamia.com.au and we’ll get back to you ASAP! Executive Producer: Monisha Iswaran Audio & Video Producer: Michael Kean Mamamia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Double Lives of Suburban Wives on TLC, OnlyFans model turned murder Courtney Clenney sentenced, Brad Pitt back to boozin', Lil Kim looks weird, Britney Spears posts her nips, and 2 Bears 1 Cave returns. 2 Bears, 1 Cave with Tom Segura & Bert Kreischer are back together. Forget the Christina Pazsitzky drama, let's discuss Bert's drinking. Don't forget to get your tickets to Bert Kreischer's Fully Loaded At Sea Cruise in November. DJ Khaled failed to produce an album he has already promoted over and over. OnlyFans murderer Courtney Clenney sentenced to 6 years for stabbing her boyfriend to death. She's served 4 years so she'll be out in 2028. Keefe D is on trial for the murder of Tupac Shakur. Suge Knight doesn't want to talk about it. Brad Pitt did an interview with Esquire. The big takeaway as he admits he's back on the hooch getting BOMBED. Some people are saying he's about to re-tap Jennifer Aniston. Jon Hamm is having his first baby at 55. Jared Padalecki apologized and deleted a message of support for Perez Hilton. Hey Lil' Kim... why you look different? Some dudes these days cut to the chase...but most youngsters just refuse to bone. Bathhouses are so back in NYC. Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz are the latest losers to attach themselves to Elton John. Their first wedding was so bad that they no longer acknowledge it. Britney Spears admits she failed as a mother. She keeps cranking out content, including nip slips and crazy rants. The Double Lives of Suburban Wives features hot moms that do OnlyFans content. Francesca Hong is running for Governor of Wisconsin. Some of her comments in the past are coming back to bite her. Angelina Jolie is so in love with her gay brother right now. Chud the Builder is free after 2 months in the slammer. Michael Phillips is trying to plump up that tiny penis of his with GoFundMe money. Enjoy a random encore of Gran Torino. Merch is available if you want to rep the show. Word of mouth, brah. If you'd like to help support the show… consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Drew Lane, Marc Fellhauer, Trudi Daniels, Jim Bentley, BranDon, and Roberto).
This morning, Jon Hamm is going to be a first-time father at 55. Plus, Anne Hathaway has shut down fake pregnancy speculation with the two most elegant words in the English language, and Tallulah Willis's Idaho wedding is the most beautiful story of the week. ☕ Jon Hamm and wife Anna Osceola are expecting their first baby☕ Anne Hathaway responds to fake pregnancy speculation with two words☕ An update on the Michael B. Jordan and Raye pics☕ F1 superstar George Russell is engaged☕ Brad Pitt reveals in Esquire he is no longer sober after seven years☕ Tallulah Willis best married in Balenciaga TAKE THE SPILL'S WEEKLY POP CULTURE QUIZ HEREBecome a Mamamia subscriber and get an all-access pass to everything we make, including exclusive podcasts and early listening, subscriber-only articles, monthly giveaways and our home workout app, MOVE.THE END BITS Once you’ve devoured this morning’s celeb stories, get your daily news headlines from The Quicky here. Support independent women's media The Out Loud hosts have handpicked their all-time favourite reads and one subscriber is winning the entire 12-book stack. Subscribe to Mamamia here to be automatically entered to win. Current subscriber? You're already in the draw. T&Cs apply.Get access to Very Peri, Mamamia's exclusive perimenopause series, for just $59. 25 world-leading experts, over 20 on-demand sessions, available now. We’ve sorted through the noise so you don't have to. Go to veryperi.com.au and join me today. You hot? Same. Buy today and save 40% Follow us on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. And subscribe to our Youtube channel. Read all the latest entertainment news on Mamamia... here. Discover more Mamamia Podcasts here. CREDITS Host & Producer: Ash London Executive Producer: Monisha Iswaran Mamamia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
"I wanted to write about friendships that are really, really close, and so they are more complicated, say, than friendships that are less close... And so I wanted to talk about a friendship that isn't always sunshine and roses," shared Naima Coster about her new novel, TAKE WHAT YOU CAN. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN, as Coster explained in the interview, "is a story of two best friends, Millie and Val, who decide to move near one another when they're both pregnant with their girls so they can raise their daughters together. They're both motherless mothers who want to be family to each other, but once they're living in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, things don't go the way they planned, and the ways that their lives have taken different directions becomes really apparent."Naima Coster is a New York Times bestselling author and a recipient of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 honor. Her novel, What's Mine and Yours, was a Read with Jenna pick, a statewide read for One Maryland One Book, longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, and named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Esquire, Marie Claire, Ms. Magazine, and more. Her first novel, Halsey Street, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and named a must-read by People, Essence, Well-Read Black Girl, The Skimm, and the Brooklyn Public Library. Naima's work has appeared in The New York.Follow Naima Coster on Instagram - @naimacoster Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social
One sentence from Marcus Aurelius made Tom Junod circle it three times, star it, and dog-ear the page. In this episode, Ryan talks with the acclaimed writer about reading Meditations for the first time, why Marcus still feels so modern, and the line he can't stop thinking about.Tom Junod is senior writer for ESPN, where his work has won an Emmy and the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. He is a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing, and a winner of the James Beard Award for essay writing. Previously he was a staff writer at GQ and Esquire. The film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was based on his article in Esquire. Grab signed copies of In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man by Tom Junod at The Painted Porch | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/Follow Tom on Instagram | @tom_junod
"It's a difficult thing, to separate legend from story from memory from fact." Folklore and legend are critical components to any culture, passing tidbits of local history and lessons learned through generations. The idea of the folk hero in particular plays an important role in creating this legacy, rooted in the idea of benevolence and a direct connection to the people themselves. As a child, author Isaac Fitzgerald was always captivated by the tales of Johnny Appleseed, drawn in by family ties to the legend. Spurred on by his father's larger-than-life stories and a shared restlessness to leave home and discover what lies beyond, Fitzgerald found himself compelled to go on a new adventure. In American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed, Fitzgerald sets out on a particularly ambitious hike: walk from Massachusetts to Indiana, following Appleseed's path and turning a childhood fascination into a year-long personal journey. American Rambler recounts both the tangible and emotional trails Fitzgerald uncovered along the way, littered with explorations of loss and grief, ritual and faith. Fitzgerald invites readers to meander beside him– stopping everywhere from grimy gas-station bathrooms to scenic apple picking destinations– with reflection, humor, and humility. Blending memoir, history, and travelogue through the American heartland, American Rambler presents a welcome step away from the breakneck pace of modern life and a return to the roots of connection. Isaac Fitzgerald is the New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts. He is also the author of the bestselling children's book How to Be a Pirate as well as the co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (winner of an IACP Award). He appears frequently on The Today Show, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, GQ, The Guardian, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and numerous other publications. He lives with his wife on the North Fork of Long Island. Jon Mooallem is the author of three books, Wild Ones, This is Chance! and the essay collection Serious Face. He lives on Bainbridge Island. Buy the Book American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed Elliott Bay Book Company
Black Sabbath says they never heard of Coven and we, of course, believe them... it's just that the calendar appears to have some follow-up questions. Eight months before Sabbath dropped their debut, a Chicago band named Coven had already arrived armed with Satanic lyrics, inverted crosses, fake blood, a song called Black Sabbath, and a frontwoman named Jinx Dawson who signed her record deal in actual blood. Unfortunately, Charles Manson held up a copy of their album, record labels collectively wet themselves, and history quietly shoved heavy metal's real mother into a cupboard for fifty years. Expect atheist comedy, religious satire, occult history, sketch comedy, and Satanic Panic. Fully scripted. Heavily produced. Featuring Satan and Tony Iommi's Heavy Metal Paternity Test, and a very stressed HR department dealing with human skulls.PATREON Our lawyers have asked us to clarify that Patreon membership does not include eternal youth, naked celebrity photos, millions of dollars, or legally binding blood contracts... It does include 2 bonus episodes every month, early ad-free listening, and exclusive extras.
Lauren is joined by The New York Times' Michael Grynbaum, author of ‘Empire of the Elite,' to mark the book's paperback release—which arrives with a fresh 5,000-word afterword on everything that's unfolded at Condé Nast in the year since it first published. They dig into the closure of Self, the decline of Glamour, and the challenges facing Vogue under Chloe Malle. They also check in on how Hearst's Esquire and Harper's Bazaar are faring.
Kevin Maguire sits down with me to chat about his fatherhood journey. He shares the values he looks to instill into his kids as they grow up. After that we talk about his book, The New Fatherhood. He shares the inspiration behind the book. Next we talk about the different places he and his family have lived and the importance living in those different parts of the world. Lastly, we finish the interview with the Fatherhood Quick Five. About Kevin Maguire Kevin Maguire is the creator of The New Fatherhood newsletter, read by dads in many countries. His work has been featured in Esquire and Emily Oster's ParentData, and he's appeared on podcasts with Daniel Pink, Oliver Burkeman, Brad Stulberg, and Jon Klassen. As an executive coach, he works with leaders at Amazon, Netflix, Google, and other Fortune 500 companies on the collision of career, identity, and family. He lives in Barcelona with his wife and two children. Make sure you pick up his book, The New Fatherhood at newfatherhood.com/book. About The Art of Fatherhood Podcast The Art of Fatherhood Podcast follows the journey of fatherhood. Your host, Art Eddy talks with fantastic dads from all around the world where they share their thoughts on fatherhood. You get a unique perspective on fatherhood from guests like Bob Odenkirk, Hank Azaria, Joe Montana, Kevin Smith, Danny Trejo, Jerry Rice, Jeff Foxworthy, Patrick Warburton, Jeff Kinney, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Kyle Busch, Dennis Quaid, Dwight Freeney and many more.
We kick off this loaded episode celebrating National Fortune Cookie Day by cracking open a few fortunes before dropping an announcement: we are officially heading to New York City as credentialed media for the USATF National Championships on Randall's Island! Expect plenty of athlete interviews and uncut unhinged content. Erin gives a 12 week pull up program progress report. We stack up our week 12 numbers against day one, revealing insane gains. We also vent about the discouraging social media comments claiming a pull up takes years, and recap our contrasting weekend social lives, including surviving a next door neighbor's party in "hard pants". Next up, we dive into a heavy dose of local shore chaos for "Erin's Tea Time". The controversial LBI mega house was somehow approved. The zero parking situation boiled over when contractors blocked a driveway, prompting two police cars to show up, much to the delight of our ticket obsessed seven year old. Meanwhile, Dan took on the local beach badge checkers after they called the cops on surfers, pulling out the official rule book to prove that anyone can legally "traverse" the sand to get to the water without a badge.We then put on our Esquire hats for a massive journalism and law segment, starting with a fascinating soccer history discovery: why players walk out holding hands with children. Speaking of soccer, we look at the concessions data out of Philadelphia's stadium, where 410,000 fans crushed 290,000 beers and 55,000 hot dogs, and we applaud FIFA's partnership with the nonprofit Musically Fed to donate leftover food instead of tossing it in a dumpster. We then shift to some wild court cases, covering the Troy Turkey Trot race director charged with grand larceny for stealing $114,000, the class-action lawsuit against United and Delta over "windowless" window seats, a ridiculous trademark battle between a sneaker company and Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes' new 1587 Prime steakhouse, and a petty cookbook author coming after a creator over a cake pop recipe. To wrap things up, we compare two totally different fitness movements: an incredibly cool, Rolling Stone approved underground calisthenics street league in New York City featuring a brutal 100 burpee and 65 pound dumbbell squat face off, versus a lame, corporate, $15 million backed CrossFit rival called Xenon that uses AI photos. Finally, we close out the episode with a health rant about the Cyclospora parasite outbreak causing weeks of explosive diarrhea across the country. Finally in our No Bad No Sad segment we talk about a kid getting advice from professional NFL players regarding his football stances.
We're ringing in the 250th anniversary of the United States with an episode on Garry Wills's superb, Pulitzer Prize-winning 1992 book, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade the America. It's central argument is that Abraham Lincoln succeeded in revolutionizing how Americans thought of the founding of their country, especially the Declaration of Independence, with the Gettysburg Address—a revolution not just in "thought" but in "style," one that placed the Declaration's assertion of equality at the very center of our political tradition. The book is one that only Garry Wills could have written, with his PhD in Classics allowing him to compare Lincoln's "funeral oration" to that of Pericles, with his long meditation on the American presidency and leadership preparing him to grasp the enormity of the task Lincoln set himself, and with his time at National Review in his youth helping him understand why the American right never forgave Lincoln for succeeding. We discuss all this and more in our conversation about one of our favorite writer's very best books. Tickets for Sam's events: Tuesday with Tad Devine / Thursday with Dan Denvir. Previous KYE episodes on Garry Wills: Nixon Agonistes The Kennedy Imprisonment (w/ Jeet Heer) Bomb Power (w/ Madeleine Baker) Sources: Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America (1992) — Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State (2010) — "Martin Luther King Is Still on the Case!" Esquire, Aug 1, 1968 — "The Blind Teach Us to See," Boston Globe, Aug 20, 1970 Abraham Lincoln, "Letter to Joshua Speed," Aug 24, 1855 Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1959) Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order (1974) Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey, The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition (1970) ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!
Since the late nineteenth century, amusement parks have been providing countless hours of enjoyment for people all around the world. Often driven by the latest technology and advances in mechanical engineering, the thrill rides at parks like Disney Land, Great America, and other independent parks offer a controlled environment to experience terror and excitement. While these rides, and the parks in general, are very safe and held to strict safety standards, there are times when the unthinkable happens—a cable snaps, a safety harness breaks—and the once safe ride becomes a nightmare for passengers. Far more often than not, tragic amusement park accidents are the result of human foolishness or, far less often, operator error. But other times, they are a bizarre fluke; a one in a million mechanical problem no one saw coming. Either way, the results can be shocking, horrifying, and even deadly. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Get Tickets for Alaina's Book Tour for THE BUTCHER LEGACY! Get Tickets to our MORBID LIVE show at Radio City Music Hall with Special Guest Jonathan Van Ness! References Akst, Daniel. 1982. "Short circuit found in fatal amusement ride." The Record (Hackensack, NJ), August 5: 3. Anaheim Bulletin. 1973. "D'land visitor drowning victim." Anaheim Bulletin, June 23: 1. Associated Press. 1980. "Roller coaster death probed." Free Lance (Hollister, CA), April 3: 10. —. 1998. "Disney visitor had no chance, surgeon says." Sacramento Bee, December 28: 4. Brown, Lee. 1964. "2 youths tell story of fatal 'bobsled' ride." The Independent (Long Beach, CA), May 22: 17. Daily News. 1983. "A ride to the courthouse." Daily News (New York, NY), July 3: 32. Daily Record. 1982. "Electrical shock killed man on Action Park ride." Daily Record (Morristown, NJ), August 1: 2. Fisher, Joseph. 1980. "Man who fell from alpine slide dies after several days in coma." Daily Record (Morristown, NJ), Juky 17: 1. Futia, Michael, and John Mintz. 1982. "Death doesn't cut lines for thrill rides." The Record (Hackensack, NJ), August 2: 13. Gaura, Maria. 1998. "Coaster victim's death witnessed by family." San Francisco Chronicle, September 11: 13. Gaura, Maria, and Manny Fernandez. 1998. "Victim's kin mull suit against Great America." San Francisco Chronicle, Seoptember 9: 1. Haefele, Marc. 1980. "Dangers cited by slide employees." Daily Record (Morristown, NJ), August 14: 19. Hatfield, Larry. 1980. "Roller coaster crash caused by 'phantom'." San Francisco Examiner, May 1980: 3. Hoover, Ken, and Sabin Russell. 1999. "Fall from ride kills boy at Great America." San Francisco Chronicle, August 23: 1. Kiely, Eugene. 1987. "Prosecutor: Action Park drowning accidental." The Record (Hackensack NJ), July 21: 28. Los Angeles Times. 1964. "Boy criticallt hurt on ride at Disneyland." Los Angeles Times, May 17: 3. —. 1966. "He tried to join his friends." Los Angeles Times, June 19: 3. —. 1964. "Inquest ruled out in fatal Disneyland fall." Los Angeles Times, May 27: 35. Lyman, Julie, Kevin Fagan, and Bill Workman. 1999. "Questions linger in amusement park death." San Francisco Chronicle , November 6: 1. Mulvihill, Andy. 2020. "Remembering Action Park, New Jersey's Deranged Theme Park, "Where You're the Center of the Accident"." Esquire, July 2. Press-Telegram. 1964. "Boy badly hurt in tumble from Disney bobsled." Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA), May 16: 13. —. 1966. "Monorail victim crashing party?" Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA), June 19: 4. —. 1964. "Bobsled rider's death probed." Press-Telegram, May 20: 39. Reckard, Scott, and Tracy Weber. 1998. "Autopsy sheds light on Disneyland fatality." Los Angeles Times, December 31: 31. Soiffer, Bill. 1980. "Brakes suspected in coaster tragedy." San Francisco Chronicle, March 31: 3. Stolztfus, Duane. 1984. "Water slide blamed for son's death." Daily Record (Morristown, NJ), August 28: 11. Webber, Tracy. 1999. "Fatal accident at Disneyland in '98 still haunts family." Los Angeles Times, December 13: 110. Yi, Daniel, and Robert Ourlian. 1998. "Man dies 2 days after being injured at Disneyland." Los Angeles Times, December 27: 76. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
The writer Tom Junod has spent a career crafting profiles for men's magazines like GQ and Esquire, often of famously complicated men like Norman Mailer, Kevin Spacey and Tony Curtis. But another man loomed behind Junod's interest in these figures, informing his own sense of masculinity and manhood: his father, Lou. Lou Junod was handsome, charismatic — a man who seemed like a celebrity, even though he wasn't famous. He was also mysterious, a keeper of secrets that have continued to reverberate through his son's life. On today's episode, Michael Barbaro talks with Junod about his new book, “In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man,” which is part memoir and part detective story, as well as a powerful meditation on fatherhood. On Today's Episode: Tom Junod is the author of “In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man.” Background Reading: Tom Junod Would Like to Tell You About His Father Art: Lou Junod with baby Tom in 1958. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Why do so many of the things that make us stronger, healthier, and happier require doing things the hard way? Mike sits down with bestselling author, journalist, and researcher Michael Easter to explore the surprising benefits of discomfort, challenge, and voluntary hardship in a world engineered for convenience. Easter, whose work has appeared in Men's Health, Outside, Esquire, and Scientific American, discusses the ideas behind his bestselling books The Comfort Crisis and Scarcity Brain, along with his newest release, Walk with Weight: The Definitive Guide to Rucking. From carrying heavy loads to carrying life's burdens, Michael explains why the easiest path is rarely the most rewarding—and why embracing difficulty might be the key to a better life. Tip o' the hat to our excellent sponsors GoodRanchers.com Purchase any Father's Day Gift Box and get FREE Wagyu Burgers. Pestie.com/Mike to get an extra 10% off your order. K12.com/Rowe See what's possible for your child with K12's Career and College Prep NetSuite.AI/Mike to try NetSuite Next for FREE!