Podcasts about Media studies

What does it really mean to build bridges that last for decades? I want you to meet Bircan Unver, whose lifelong commitment to responsibility, creativity, and global citizenship has shaped more than 25 years of meaningful work through Light Millennium. From growing up as the eldest of seven children in Turkey to creating an internationally recognized nonprofit connected with the United Nations, Bircan shares how art, public media, and open dialogue can bring people together across cultures. We explore why responsibility begins with each of us, how local communities can help solve global challenges, and why issues like water security, environmental stewardship, and human connection matter more than ever. I believe you'll enjoy hearing how one person's unstoppable mindset continues to inspire collaboration, education, and hope for a better future. Highlights: 06:55 - How growing up with responsibility shaped Bircan's lifelong commitment to serving others. 18:30 - Why public access television became the foundation for sharing voices and building community. 26:15 - The story behind founding Light Millennium and creating a nonprofit built on dialogue and education. 36:55 - How local communities can play a meaningful role in advancing United Nations goals. 49:45 - Why water security, cybersecurity, and gender equality are becoming deeply connected. 55:40 - Bircan reflects on preserving ideas through books, creativity, and lifelong learning. About the Guest: Bircan Ünver is the Founder-President of The Light Millennium, a Charitable Global Human Advancement Organization (LMGlobal.Org, 2001, New York); Executive Producer of the LMTV Programs; Multi-Media and Event Producer; Host, Author, Publisher, Public Speaker; [Head] NGO Representative of The Light Millennium to the United Nations Department of Global Communications since 2005 (formerly, UN.DPI); and Chair, Outreach and Partnerships Subcommittee at Global NGO Executive Committee and director for the 2021-2023 term. She has been also a Content Provider at QPTV since 1992, and she is the editor and co-founder of the U.S. Turkish Library & Museum Project. She has undertaken the Organization's e-publications, public programs since its inception in August 1999, and #LightMillenniumTV Series and Specials in all aspects of it since January 2000; along with, the LMGlobal.Org's all UN-related activity and programs since 2005. Bircan is the author and director of the Compulsory Peace & ICTs Education from Kindergarten to K-12, and Beyond Campaign, which she launched it through the Light Millennium Global in support of the Summit of the Future in 2024. The Campaign has delivered its 8th session along with the Coalition for the Campaign, which contains 22 organizations and educational institutions including The Light Millennium Global as the leading organization. Further,  she is also author of the bi-annual international high school project, “J.U.C. Media, Research, Writing & Innovation Awards”. The third of its kind was dedicated to the “Water Action Decade” and was delivered  (virtually) on the World Water Day, March 22, 2025. Bircan served as a mentor to the GPODS for three consecutive terms in Winter'22, Summer'22, and Fall'22 Fellowship Programs; and delivered lectures on “How to associate with the UN-NGO”, Public Access TVs in the U.S., and the latest one was on the #WaterActionDecade and the #2023UNWater Conference. To attach that, on behalf of LMGlobal.Org, she organized and hosted an Outside-UN Side Event ID #W175, titled, “What Is Your Commitment To The #WaterActionDecade? ~ Seven Core Ideas Toward #WaterAwareness, #WaterConscience and #GameChangers” in NYC on March 21, 2023, and was the head delegate of the LMGlobal.Org at the #UN2023WaterConference. Based on LMGlobal.Org's Commitments to the #WaterActionDecade, she launched #OneMinuteWaterActionCommitment during the #W175 Side Event, along with continues to work toward #WaterAwareness toward building up #WaterConscience.  She served as the chair of the ATAA Committee on UN Relations, guided its association to the UNDGC in 2020, and also served as the New York Regional Vice-President of ATAA (Assembly of Turkish American Associations) from October 2019 to January 2022. Furthermore, she served on several Planning Committees of the UN-Civil Society Conferences, and the Planning Committee of the High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace (HLF-CoP). She has been a strong advocate of the UN Vision, Programs & Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) along with the relevant UN Days, which are in line with the LMGlobal.Org's Mission/Purposes since its association with the UNDGC (formerly, UN.DPI/NGO) in December 2005. Currently, Bircan is on the Advisory Board of the Turkish Forum (based in Germany). She encourages and guides interested civil society organizations and members of academia toward their educational institutions' associations with the UN, along with engaging them with the UN Programs that are within her networks and beyond. Further, she is an Ambassador of Peace and Goodwill for Anuvrat (Anuvibha) Global Organization (Jaipur, India, since 2014); and a Member of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace (GMCoP, since 2012). Bircan is also the founder and president of the IsikBinyili.Org Association based in Istanbul (2010), which is a sister organization and counterpart of the LMGlobal.Org. Author of the following four book titles in print (Turkish): “En Kutsalı Yaratmak” (The Most Sacred is to Create) (1995, 2022), “Sanatın Labirentlerinde” (The Labyrinths of Arts) (2016), and “Işık Yollarında (“The Ways of the Light”) (poetry, 2017), and “Bin Yıl Daha…” (2020, A Thousand Years More…). Also, she is the author of the concept and compilation of the “Hope Never Fades” (English) book (Istanbul, 2023). Bircan initially received her local and studio television production certificates at QPTV.Org in 1992. Based on this capacity, she produced and broadcasted near to 260 television programs through local channels in New York City, which are also available online through www.vimeo.com/channels/LightMillenniumTV including 36 #OneMinute #WaterAction PSAs. Bircan celebrated her 30th Anniversary at QPTV.Org through a video profile, titled, “A Turkish Experience in America” (Duration: ~9 min. Production Year: 2022). Her works through The Light Millennium Global is a recipient of various national (U.S.) and international awards and recognitions including two awards from the Foundation of Alliance Community 2023 Hometown Media Awards (F-ACM-HMA for her “GroundWater” Light Millennium TV program in Web-based Programming and Online Events / Independent Producer categories (received at Brick TV, New York), the Anuvrat Ahimsa Award For International Peace-2023 (received in Mumbai, India), and the 2023 International Volunteer President Award by Institution of Green Engineers (received in Chennai, India), and ashe is also the recipient of the 2024 Best Web-Based Program – Independent Producer for the #HopeNeverFades program by F-ACM-HMA, which was produced based on the 2023 J.U.C. Media, Research & Writing Awards (ACM HomeTown Media Awards, San Jose, CA). Bircan holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree from the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (Istanbul, 1988) and a Master's Degree (M.A.) from Media Studies of the New School University (New York City 1999). Ways to connect with Bircan**:** Websites: www.lmglobal.org  (active web site) | www.lightmillennium.org (serves as the organization's web archive)#LightMillenniumTV | www.vimeo.com/LMTV | www.vimeo.com/channels/LightMillenniumTV Social Media: Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bircan-ünver-7353207 X@lightmillennium Instagram@lightmillennium About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Well, hello everyone, and I want to welcome you to another edition of Unstoppable Mindset, and today we get to talk to a very interesting person with a with a lot of roots in Turkey, but she is also doing a lot of work with the United Nations here in the U.S. and other places. Her name is Birchan Umfer, and I hope I got that right. And Bircan Unver  01:23 thank you. Michael Hingson  01:24 Oh, good. And Berjan is is with us, and is going to talk about a number of things that she is working on. She's working on, and for years has been involved with a program called Light Millennium, and we'll we'll talk about all that, but let's just start and and as usual we'll have a great conversation. So, Bir John, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're here. Bircan Unver  01:50 Thank you so much, Michael Hingston. It's great honor and privilege to have your guests. Especially, I love the title Unstoppable Minds. It's really inspiring and triggering the mind. Thank you. Michael Hingson  02:08 Well, my pleasure. We're glad that you have the time to to spend with us, and we will we will we will do it and make it work. Well, let's start. I love to start this way because I really want people to learn about you. Tell us kind of about the early Birchan growing up, and then we'll go from there. So tell us about Birchan and growing up, and and and all of that. Bircan Unver  02:32 Thank you. This will be a little bit different than most people know about me, my work. Well, we'll get to Michael Hingson  02:38 your work. Bircan Unver  02:40 Yeah, I know. I mean, the people who already know my work. What I'm gonna say now is completely too different from Berja. So I am a elder of seven siblings, and I was born in an ancient village in Mid Anatolia, actually nearby the Black Sea region, and I'm proud with my age, 1959, and my family moved to town first from the village, and then Istanbul for our educations for their kids, and but I don't know really as a girl child growing up with seven kids, as especially with a traditional family, being older girl is not a good idea. But but maybe it was a kind of tough childhood as a girl child. I I don't feel that I never been a child. That's really what I feel. But on the other hand, and that was you know when you are growing up, living through like I was a kind of second mom, and also our home was kind of everyone our guest from the village town and stay over not only one night, like or a week, like sometimes months, even years. You won't believe that, and it was not because either. So, but those kind of build up maybe my feeling to be responsible, so I consider myself a responsible person because I was responsible for my sisters, brothers, and also washing dishes, making helping my mom to prepare the meal, lunch, breakfast, and clean up. Like you know, I was kind of second person, second mom at home. So those early things, all those stolen my childhood, but at the same time, provide me being able to do everything from very early age. Even though I remember several times at the time. The bread wasn't, you know, you you weren't buying the bread from the market, but from the bakery, real where they were baking the bread. So she was, and time to time also she was making the the bread at home, and then she she wasn't sending me to school because then I had to stay with my brothers and kids so she can make the you know breads a big amount for a couple days. So that said, also gave my idea. I want to suddenly want to work as soon as you know I'm 17, 1617, So and then I started early working at a bank, and it was my first eight years. I worked at a bank in Istanbul. It is called Istanbul Bank, and then my graphic is like life graphic is a little bit different, like curvy, not like straight line. Then after eight years working at a bank, I started to university and fine arts, and then I had kind of interest art history, especially TV production, art history, arts in in the concept is producing art documentaries. That was kind of my vision. Also, it was also my reason initially coming to the U.S. learning TV production. Of course, English as first. So that was very much my childhood until you know 18 until starting at the bank, and then the rest is another story. I have, I must say, I would have three different life. Michael Hingson  06:48 Well, you had certainly an interesting childhood, needless to say, and I, I can understand what you're saying about being the oldest and all the challenges. I was not. I was the youngest, but we only had two siblings, and neither of us we were we were both males, and so we we did not do a lot in terms of preparing meals and all that sort of stuff. Except my brother and I were both in the Boy Scouts, and so when we went camping and other things like that, we learned how to cook on an open or an open fire and and things like that. But still, I understand that you you had a a lot that you had to do. What lessons did you learn by being the oldest child? What kinds of things do you think that you you carry over to what to your life today, because you were the oldest. Bircan Unver  07:44 I think two different components of that. One is also because it wasn't only I was the as a kid at the home and as a girl, girl, but also at the time there wasn't that kind of awareness which we have today. Which I mean, my mom got married with my dad at the age of 15, and she had birth. She had given me birth at the age of 16, the reason I'm bringing up this, when we were going to shopping Kapolechar, Grand Market of Istanbul, when I was 1516, and literally we were halfway age difference between my mom and myself. And when I was saying mom, and the people were surprised, and she and isn't your sister, other sister? They were asking me, and she was my mom. So, but this is in the long later years. I always become the best friend with my mom, and even my brother was saying, "Oh, now I understood that she, you are the joy of my mom because she can kind of a joke, and the others, my kids, like they are kids, but I'm her friend because they kind of feel similar. That is one, you know, lifetime developed feeling and strong connection, different connection with my mom, and the other also, as I mentioned at the beginning, it really this whole, you know, not selected, but where you, which house you born, which condition you grow up, that build up for me early high level responsibility. I feel responsible to do everything, and I, you know, that's a little bit tiring because that's what I want to say here. You say something in our after our initial Zoom meeting. It's really very inspiring. You say something. I just took note. We can solve all the worst problem. We can. You say you don't say we cannot. You say we can. Solve all the world's problems. So, like, it wasn't possible. It's not possible, but you know, as if I could solve the problems or I could carry everything. So it's kind of you know build up my bricks in my life. Michael Hingson  10:18 One of the things that you certainly, it sounds like you learned as you were growing up, though, was was all about responsibility and and and learning to take charge, but learning about responsibility and and feeling that it was okay to be responsible for others in your family and so on. And I think a lot of people don't necessarily learn a lot of lessons about responsibility, like they should. But you were put in a position where you had to do that, which is is certainly a good thing because you clearly have have done that in your life. Bircan Unver  10:54 That's very true, and also it goes with everything. Let's say sometimes some people think maybe unnecessary action when people cut trees, even in their you know backyard or front yard, whatever trees or any type of trees or fruit trees. I really get mad and upset because it is irresponsible to nature, to their own environment, just feeling they're responsible to trees, loving the trees, loving the you know, for instance, if when I was it was two weeks ago, I was working on at my desk, a bees was you know flying around me, and I don't like you know trying to hit and chase the bees, and I just left the window open, moved the room two hours, and it's gone. So I don't want to hurt things, even though if it bites, it would hurt me, right? So to kind of find a way, being responsible, because also I have a subconscious thinking that if I try to chase a herd, if an insect, any of them, they you know they react sharp. So I'm not a threat to them. So they are not threat to me. So I kind of make a subconscious connection, communication. Michael Hingson  12:22 Well, and it's it's better to to learn to love than than not. So I I hear what you're saying. Now you didn't go to college or university, right? Or you did? Bircan Unver  12:35 Of course, I did. That's what I was just briefly brought this stair at that level. That after eight years working at at Istanbul Bank, from literally actually 17 to 24 or 23 late 23 early 24 then I started at the Fine Arts University in Istanbul, and I mainly study both as major Turkish tradition arts and also along with as a minor. We didn't have a minor, but we had we didn't have the minor degree, but we had a selected course. So I was following up several like four years in a row and also whole year around, not a quarter semester base artist troy and contemporary art. So I started writing on art and exhibit and interviewing artists while I started study at the Fine Arts University, which is top university in Fine Arts in Istanbul, Myanmar, Sinan Fine Arts University. Michael Hingson  13:44 So you learned a lot about fine arts, and Bircan Unver  13:47 yeah, Michael Hingson  13:47 and you had obviously learned about finance from the bank, which Bircan Unver  13:51 is didn't learn that Michael Hingson  13:53 much, huh? Bircan Unver  13:53 Not at all, and I didn't like it. That's why I, you know, I changed all my life line. Michael Hingson  14:00 Right, but but you enjoyed art. Bircan Unver  14:03 Yes, and because also art always for me, and it as it is today. Whatever the life problems we cannot be resolved, art is always for me a branch to hold on and to kind of feel strength, connect with the nature, with the art culture, whom I never might met, or maybe you know through art, through music, through books. So it's kind of really, I think the the best human conscious and what we leave behind is what we produce. Creative might be a little bit another discussion. What is the term defined? And now everyone using like creative for everything, but creativity is like really what stays, you know, central. And something as what is already before, and what you brought it something new, that new perspective, like cubism and faism and expressionism and all that different genres or pop arts and another one Dali's movement. So all the Dadaism, so each of them brought something what is already existed, and then you know moved to different level, and also technology and communication brought where we are today. So and music, I'm not any degree. Degree train or understand, but I love music as most people about music and arts and literature and writing is always for me. Also taking pictures. I don't trust my memory much, but this is not new, not because of my age now. But I somewhat I always like take the pictures, whether I have cell phone, the oldest, you know, digital or the manual photo photographs. So even though when I run into where where was it, where I was, who was with, who next to me? I can't remember. But why I love that? Because really, it brings, it captures your life, even you don't remember, and then reconnect. Also, I I come up with a new concept. I haven't done anything yet, but it's kind of developing in my mind, that we can, we are able to capture the past, but we cannot capture the future, because you know whether you know unexpected the one photo comes up, or an audio recording, or all those movies, musics, and documentaries and paintings throughout artistry, you can really capture the past depending on what you know your background or interest and education, but you cannot capture the future. But you can imagine, we can imagine the future. We can invest into the future. Michael Hingson  17:16 Well, and and the the reality is that that the future is based on so many things that happen in the past, and so you can learn to to use some of that information and and have a better idea of what the future might be like, and that's that's pretty fascinating too. So so, how long did you go to college Bircan Unver  17:42 in in Turkey the basic four university education is annual base, not semester base. It's a four years, and actually when I started it was five years. Then later on they the system education board changed it to like four years plus two years. So I graduated from a four years fine arts, and then I have a master's degree based in New York News School University. Michael Hingson  18:20 Ah, in New York. Bircan Unver  18:21 Yeah. Michael Hingson  18:22 Okay. So that was was that two years. Bircan Unver  18:27 Yes, but it was a little bit different again. Yeah. See, because first when I was here for the first time, 18 919, 89 to 1994, I started and I took to six credits and I love it. But I had to go back to Istanbul, so then I got the you know absence live of absence, and then but coming back three years later, I readmitted, and then I finish it. I got my graduate diploma in 1999 May 1999 Michael Hingson  19:12 Okay, so Bircan Unver  19:14 you've been dealing late. You've been Michael Hingson  19:17 dealing with school for a while, but but while all that was going on, you got interested in, and you started to to do things regarding public access television. And you started that, if I read your biography correctly, in in 1991, you started doing things with public public access TV. Tell us a little bit about that, and why did you do that? Bircan Unver  19:41 That's really the kind of key point in my life. In as for the initial one of the two reasons that I came to the U.S. as the first time, I was you know the first aim to learn English. The second also. To learn the TV production, and then my first year was in the U.S. was in L.A. and then I was looking for the schools and just I'm I I'd like to get the formal education, formal training, and then one of my friends there, whom I met there, she said my aunt is TV producer at Queens Public TV in New York, and she is looking for someone like you who really wants to get in and all that. And then I think a couple months later, I had a very brief trip to New York, and I met with her, and then I met with her at QPTV. Now she is unfortunately not with us, but she was also she was the first Turkish producer at QPTV, and I'm forever grateful in memory of her. She was the one who introduced me QPTV, so I met Victor at QPTV in 1990, and then when I went back to LA, I decided to move to New York. So as soon as I moved to New York and I registered to QPTV's both field production and studio, and at the time, there were seven, eight months waiting list. Eventually, I got it on the list, 1991, and first I got the field production certificate, and it was I think six months something, and we had a group project and solo project, and then studio and studio production. It's when the same group project after you are learning all the equipment and then shooting and everyone is crewing everyone is helping each other within the same group of the class and then also producing group project and then the individual project that it is the similar step for the field production and the studio, that also provides a certificate to enabling us to use QPTV equipment, studios taking out the equipment, inviting studios, studios. Unfortunately, after COVID 19, there has been a long dragging issue. They haven't opened the studios. This is I don't want to get in because it is beyond our concept, but because that was my initial reason also moving to New York. And then once I started producing program and airing, I really loved idea from one idea, just idea, and then put paper and develop it. Bring yes, bring the crew, especially with the manual three-inch tapes, and to present, put everything in a tape, and then submit it an ARC schedule. I really love that. So then, while I was there, and then I said, "Okay, I want to really have a master's degree on TV production. So my master's degree from New Zealand University is in media studies. So and I got my diploma May 1999 So, but New Zealand was amazing. I learned all the first my you know my life although it was 39 maybe 3839 years old when I was Photoshop and Premiere or Evid and all the first offline digital all the software program I learned at the new school and I edited my first program offline at the new circle as well, but when I got diploma, and then I had nowhere no access to continue. Also, you know, it's just I, I never been about the person. My mind and my heart wealthy, but not financial terms. And then, so QPT was always my second home because it provides me continuing the producing and provides me access, provides me equipment. It's like provides the community. That's what it is exists for, especially in support of the Article First Amendment and freedom of expression, and also QPTV format is really, really not well known, or not QPTV loaned. It is public access, pack programming, public education and government programming, non-commercial. So it's it is not much known widely, but it is really one of the best symbol of democracy. And now it's kind of a little bit diminishing because also widespreading out other web streaming platforms like this or other, so that there are so many. Discussion and issues, and also there is one petition to the New York Senate that is called Team New York that could also bring in all the web streaming to this community media access public access media. So then, Michael Hingson  25:19 oh, go ahead. Bircan Unver  25:20 No, I mean the question is so QPTV had has been the longest since 1991. I've been providing content, and as long as I am in the US, if I'm out of the country, even if I am out of the country, my previously submitted programs are rerunning in different, you know, whenever they schedule for my new programs, I determine which time slot because I have a time slot to be scheduled, and whether 28 minutes or one hour. But especially again after COVID 19, I couldn't produce anything at the studio at QPTV, but like this Zoom-based programs, and then for the late million organization, the programs I produce and then edit them, reformat them to schedule for QPTV. But it wasn't as it used to be produced at QPTV, at the studio with the crew, that's the excitement teaming up. It's really, I love it. But Zoom, this type also make more maybe manageable, but also bring more intonation speakers. You know, through online connection. If Speaker 1  26:54 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  27:28 So you you started in public access television and and and are still doing that essentially. But in 2000 you started Light Millennium TV. Tell us about Light Millennium Television. Bircan Unver  27:42 Thank you so much. Because Late Millennium, I still consider it's my third child because already 25th anniversary. The flyer on my back says 25th That also refers the 25th anniversary of the Light Millennium. I think a the experience and production, and also providing three platform QPTV, Queens Public TV, but actually the 1992 Communication Act and PAC programming, public government public education and government programming; those emerge with my new school education, like Fatrus, Plato, the concept of the two ways of messaging, and for the first time in my life, at the age of I think it was I was 39 I was able 3039, I was able to use. It was very new, also for the war. Internet. We had the internet at the new school as our media class, the open forum. One week media theory class. We have open discussion forum about Greek philosophy, further is communication, media theory. The other class we had the classic format. So all these together merged in my mind, and I really felt I found my medium. That medium is the internet, which me, especially someone is living in New York, who has you know 30 years first life in Turkey, Istanbul, that culture, and then I I didn't want to kind of disconnect from my root cultures, and internet provided me that connections, and also I always like to write and communicate, so so it becomes like natural medium. And then when I just graduated in May 1999 I send out by then like 40 people with my friends. Colleagues, and then I said, "Oh, I want to start a platform. This platform is going to be ours. And everyone wants to say, kind of to expand the QPTV's concept, because when I say QPTV's concept, this is the again First Amendment, and they don't control the content. They don't say anything you can do, you cannot unless it is a threat to someone's life. So it's all the content, or you are responsible as the producer. So I really love that freedom and responsibility again. And then then I was mentoring at the New York Food Moon Finance and Television, and I was kind of trying to find what I want to do, and I was already producing programs at QPTV. I never give up as as long as I could afford to produce the time and edit. Edit is always more time consuming, and then the executive director of the at the time 1999 Woman Film Man Television, she said you can form a nonprofit. I never taught it before, and I'm forever thankful to her. And then I said I don't know what to do where to start because she perhaps she saw the potential because I was producing non-commercial and publishing, trying to promote, you know, through group emails, and whatever the you know social media available at the time. Well, mostly email and group emails, and then she suggested me a volunteer lawyers of arts that she said they can help you, and I never knew and I never thought I if I never came to U.S. maybe I will never had a concept of forming a nonprofit or light minimum. So that U.S. and all combination brought me and news called Queens Public TV, First Amendment, United Nations Article of 19 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everything together kind of merged in my mind. Also, the projects I produce, I communicate, is contact with people, I learn from them. So then, when I contacted with them, they ask me, you know, what is my statement this type? And then I drafted all of them, and they put in medical, you know, terms and terminology, and I was lucky that we got a pro bono at the time one of the you know major U.S. law firms. I I think I can say now because they even though I think merged K Shuler, but they took our case and they formed my organization on on a pro bono basis and officially the first as a non profit organization done with the 500 1c T V together. So we officially formed 2001 July 17, and we and then right after that they filed 501c3 for us, and then we granted that in September 18, 2002. Bircan Unver  33:14 My memory is not good, but I I remember that date as of today because it was kind of imprinted in my mind, but also the beauty was that the granted granting 501 c3 was effective of the formation date, which is July 17 2001 So then, since I developed started the light minimum concept, introducing speaking people trying creating an open platform that everyone can you know contribute be part of it, so then I started in January 2000 on January 13 2000 started first monthly the like TV series at like at QP TV. That's how it came about. Michael Hingson  34:02 Yeah, you have certainly created quite a niche in in the whole light millennium and all the other things that you've done, which is pretty fascinating. How did you get connected with the United Nations? Because I know you're doing work with them. Bircan Unver  34:18 Thank you. Actually, the concept with the UN use, I don't do work for them. Michael Hingson  34:29 Right. Bircan Unver  34:29 We do work with them. Right. You're connected Michael Hingson  34:34 with them. You're not working for them. I understand that. Bircan Unver  34:36 Yeah, I just you know one word, but it's key key differences. But as as I mentioned, how the light millennium concept emerged, and also my master's degree program, media studies at the New School, and also there is another person I have to mention here, also in. Separate for her respectful and loving memory, Danielle Camille. She was my advisor for my thesis project advisor at the new school, and all that TV ideas and my thesis project. And she loved, and I got all A. And my first TV ideas project was peace, reality, or utopian dream, and it was 11 minutes or so. It was just before the first Clinton administration election, just October, I think 2002 and then I interviewed many academicians, civil society, non-profits who whose focus area on peace and war and you know against nuclear or all that and and then that actually the concept peace reality or utopian dream that took me to the United Nations I don't know now as a as an outsider, at the time it was so welcoming, and I went to photo department. They share me with photos, and I got all the books I was looking for. Of course, public library. I got all the books about the peace and peace organization. So that 12 minutes program, peace rate or utopian dream, and physically led me to step in the UN for the first time, and then producing this project, searching kind of open to me new horizon, and also my advisor was persistent. Birjan, we know you are great. You produce fundamental programs on arts, but I want you to do something else. So that actually also forced me to move beyond producing something beyond arts. And so then then peace, reality, or utopian dream concept came in, but also it wasn't far topic in my life because my son was born 20 when I was 2022 Now he is 45 His name is Borush, and mean is in Turkish peace. Peace also at the time, you know, Africa hunger, and I was hoping when I get 4050, this will be over. It's not the case, but as a vision, I always look for humanistic positive for the humanity, not you know for myself well-being. Michael Hingson  37:38 Well, you you kind of act as a bridge between UN programs and local communities. Tell me more about that because you view that you view yourself as being a bridge between UN programs and the local community. Why do you why do you view yourself as more of a bridge? Bircan Unver  38:00 That's very nice metaphor, and I think it's very true for me too. Maybe I could take it two three step backs. One is the village I was born. There is a river, and and then there was a bridge, and that bridge was kind of fundamental. Really, going to where you know people are established, living in all the agriculture and large fields, and it was kind of nostalgic to me. It's a bridge, but it's a stone, short bridge. That's the the first part. The second Istanbul. You know, my life main path when I was in Istanbul, Turkey in Istanbul, and Istanbul the Bosphor and then the Istanbul Bridge. Now the name changed, and now three bridges, and not just the bridge itself, but also Turkish geographic Turkey's geographical space place on Earth and especially on in between Europe and Asia and Black Sea and then the Mediterranean Sea and then when you go down North Africa, and then you go up like Russia and North Europe. So you see that that connection physically, geographically, and troy physical bridges. We live, we grow up with this kind of as part of our DNA and vision. When I was working on this, the first the initial need you know in the non-profit world to describe the need need was to connect with my culture, people, friends, family, the internet medium, and then village is also metaphor, and when we associated with the. I let I'm proud to say it. Let the association process. That was also my vision from that small video for the class project. And then, then I realize this is also. I think today is real fact that local communities, even Queens here, people are paying 1000s of dollars to come to New York to get visas. All that trying to get the sponsor, you know, to attend a conference, and I I didn't see much interest within the local nonprofits there, and that little bit was shocking realization for me. So I brought to my programs UN visions programs, MDGs, UN days, sustainable development goals. For instance, when it was announced at the UN for the 2023 agenda, we created dreams for humanity. So we brought people from lots of life, poets, authors, and youths to really share their ideas for humanity, for peace. Michael Hingson  41:12 Well, you-it sounds like, from all that I've read and and studied, you're you're, or at some point, you kind of have moved more into dealing with a lot of things with the environment. So I know that your program has been able to get a credit accredited as an observer observer status with the UN Environment Program. How is how has that affected what you do and all of your work going forward. Bircan Unver  41:43 Thank you. This is also another important, I think, milestone for us. The first in connection with the UN, associated with the in the formerly United Nations Department of Public Information, and then it has changed to Department of Global Communications. Officially, we've been associated since 2005, active and good standing, and we are able to be presented at the UN with six representatives, and therefore we are able also to reflect back to our committee's networks from the UN and it's two ways. I really like the concept two ways messaging, and then always environment in somewhat it involves in our programs. But let's say through water, through energy, through, for instance, when the forest fires really burns my heart. So being sensible and trying to, as much as I could, to attend the meetings, especially MDGs for the first phase of the Millennium Declaration, really, it's. I consider UN is the best school I ever had, and it's for me lifetimes to call, and I learn about so many countries I will never otherwise know them much. Some of the names you hardly hear in media and anywhere else, so it's kind of opens and to see the global spectrum. Also, one of the things I really love at the UN, whether you you are a ambassador or president or prime minister of a country that has maybe a population 1 million or 2 million or 1 billion or two 1.6 billion, the largest one, so you have the same minutes of speaking time, same voting, especially of course, I'm talking about the general assembly. So those things I follow up, and we try to incorporate time to time. And water issue always, I wanted to involve. I want to do something about, but it's just not like because I love the tourists, and I'm not, you know, scientist, so I'm not officially trained. So also, I'm not able to protect the, you know, fires in the forest. And every year it's getting worse and worse. And then I'm sensible, but you know, you can't do much about it. And eventually, although our last name is same, but we are not blood connected. Professor Oljoymer, at the time he was vice president for the UN Water at the UN, and we connected. And I was following up, and I was aware his work before we met. We connected through the UN. So then, especially during the COVID era, then when I've seen his speeches, natural-based solutions, and then his piece on smart water, so I propose him if we can do something. About water, and then he was very supportive, very kind, very modest. We had our first water program on the World Water Day in March 2001 and then it has turned out an annual program, and we kind of made the global connections and collaborations, and especially first three, four of them, Professor Olja led and guide, and also we worked together in a sense that I brought one part of the speakers and he brought other parts. So it was also great, diverse speakers and also the level of the speakers from whether civil society, academia, UN, and youth, all that. So we already presented six of them, and 2023 we were part of the UN Water Conference. We presented a program, and then last year we participated and presented a program site event in Nice on the Ocean Conference, and we kind of we also had previously on the ocean again. So plastic also become whether ocean, whether water, whether land life, like plastic, is becoming a huge in every level. Not plastic, but also chemical, all all sorts of polluters on in environment. So then we become promoting, producing, and there are really great level of academicians and experts, and they also like to share and connect their research and their findings. So it's a platform to break down together, and then when it is a video, when it is posted as both a summary along with the full presentation or speech, so it becomes a really source where you know you can find diverse voices, diverse solutions, diverse ideas, and also we align them in support of the UN days, UN conferences, SDGs, sustainable development goals like Water Days. Also, we collaborate with an organization in India, IGEN Green Institution, Green Engineers Institute of Green Engineers. So they are focusing on energy SDG seven. So we contribute them, bringing speakers. Bircan Unver  47:40 So then they join us to our program. So really, it's an organic volunteer base. So that that actually, I was so proud that we got a call, invitation to submit the application for this accredited status, and it was June 2025 after the ocean conference. I think ocean conference kind of brought them cumulatively and maybe brought their attention. And then October they asked our official documents, the bylaws and and certificate of organization, which is the regular require any formal application at the UN, and then I I submitted them in I think it was October 1525 but I haven't heard anything, and then I thought maybe you know they didn't consider, and then literally a year later, in June, last June, we got approval, and with a, it's not just accredited for a special one particular conference. It is an observer status assembly to contribute draft ideas. I mean, to contribute drafts, draft resolution to observe, to participate, and then also to be responsible to provide every four-year quadrennial report. Let's say if we fail to produce contribution at any level to this cause, then you know we may lose that observed status, but of course we'll do our best to contribute and to continue. Michael Hingson  49:27 With all of the work that you've done in all of this, I want to come back to World Water Day in a moment. But with all the work that you've done and all the the the things that you've done in public television and so on, when you host these meetings or you participate in these meetings, do they get televised? Also, are you able to bring those to to the public through public television? Bircan Unver  49:53 When it is Zoom, then I edit within my time slot within the limits of. Time slots and QPTV provides two different time slots. One is 20-eight minutes, the other one is 50-eight minutes. So then, let's say if it's two-hour session, I you know a little bit edit and then title, etc. and part one, part two, and also depending on the length of the session or 20-eight minutes. So then I schedule them through the local channels, as we spoke at QPTV. Also, I make them available through our vmail.com/lmtv channel on web on the web. Also, when we have a summary or outcomes, so we also provide those links and share through social media. Try our best to make those information available, visible, and reachable. Michael Hingson  50:51 Well, that I'm glad you do that. I'm glad that it gets to be something that is a lot more publicized than you just attending a meeting-that's important, I would think, to do when when you talk about World Water Day and so on. One of the things that that I I understand you do is you compare water security directly with cybersecurity and gender equality. Those are three different sorts of things when you include water security. Tell us more about that. Bircan Unver  51:24 This was our latest program in last March, and we had in our prior program on AI a discussion on AI a public discussion on AI policy or AI arc. So he's a professor and at the SUNY, and he's a mathematician, and he's also teaching cybersecurity. And when I was talking about when we met about the water conference upcoming, actually in this December, in the United Emirates on I think December six to eight. Even I was thinking to attend, but I wanted part a bit this time virtually instead of going there. So when we were talking about and and I really like this idea and I say as I asked exactly what you asked for, and then his really statement explanation made great sense because everything is nowadays control troy some form of electronic or AI or a combination of those systems, right? Competing systems. So if or if there is a technical issues, that's one case. But if there is a hack, especially water is the life source for everyone, whether you are billion or trillion, or you are you know ordinary people on the you know everyday life. So water is the source for everything, including producing the energy. AI. So water is the life itself. So then, when he said, if any hacking, whether you know small you know some you know people with a bad intention or some maybe big corporation because some profit purpose they want to sell more you know bottled water whatever or some international security issues you you may name this many other things. So if a computer system, if the control mechanism, if the AI system, whatever that combination in that system, is hack, then everything is a huge risk, and that's number one. How it connects with the water. Also now you know we smart how everything is electronic. Everything and then when that somewhat the life collapses there. So including water, including energy. So everything is so much you know interconnected. And then how that the gender equality came. Also, we follow Michael the UN annual-based dedication team for each UN Day or conferences. For instance, last year, water and gender equality, because water and gender required is also so inseparable concept and conditions in many parts of the world, and then also our professor Emre Tokus, he also. Make beautiful connection that if woman or when woman, if and when women are more in the security, cyber security, IT technology sectors, they are more sensitive. They are more like maybe natural in their dealings, like mother protection. So more protective, so there is less risk than where it is now. So to increase the gender equality, both not burden on the woman, you know, where it's the water scarcity that woman has to carry the burden. Girls, even five, seven years old, when developing countries, when it comes to developing countries, and then if the girls are, and also that was staggering. Stats he gave sort of shocked me today because he is a professor at SUNY. So what I mean by that, he said one of his class has only four girls out of 31. of his class has only one girl. One of his class doesn't have no girl. So even though if if girls are girls are not getting in this field, how we gonna bring the gender balance in all cross-cutting sectors of society. So that's how both from the UN perspective, the dedication team, also cybersecurity, the profile from a university that girls are not showing attention, interest studying cybersecurity. That was the fact based on his class last semester. One Michael Hingson  56:46 of the things that you have done, as I understand, is you've written several books. Bircan Unver  56:53 Yes, there are more, but hopefully I could get work on them, publish them as well. The my first book was Michael, based on my interviews with artists and my reviews on art exhibits, and also when I had questionnaire surveys like with artists, galleries, academicians, professors, students. When I before my first life prior prior the U.S. So when I went back after four years and I was really eager to get in a job for as a TV producer and somewhat that didn't work despite all my efforts even I my project load and everyone was after me, but they want to take the project, but not give me the role what I deserve for. So then I kind of close myself, and then I said I want to compile my books, my articles, my interviews. So that was how my first book came about in Turkish. To create is the most sacred. So, like the value to give the highest value for the creativity, intellectual production. That is through all those interviews, reviews, and questions. So that's that was the first book. The second book is in a way a bridge again between U.S. and Istanbul, New York and Istanbul, or maybe L.A. New York and Istanbul. Because when I came in, also I've done freelance journalism, so I wrote some you know reviews and the magazine. I used to, you know, send and appear my interviews and reviews. So and it was include not too frequent, but it was include some of major exhibits, both from LA and also from the Metropolitan Museum in MoMA in New York. Also Turkish artists here. So I met them, you know, when I was living. I started living in here. So then I a combination of those, and also that was another metaphor developed in my mind when I was Istanbul. I was feeling like the labyrinths of arts. So that's my second book title in Turkish labyrinths in arts. So like you are like this kind of narrow and small world in Istanbul art worlds and very high competition, and then nobody expanding to New York and LA expansion means bringing some, for instance, Franz Bacon, Thomas Hart Benton, and Max Ernst and Marina Magritte. Those also the last part connecting with the New York Istanbul from my art based on my art background. Michael Hingson  59:51 So, were any of the books published in English? The Bircan Unver  59:54 last 120, 23 is English, but. It is a compilation concept is written me. I directed the project, and of course I have some pieces also beside the concept. But it is a compilation by 24 contributors. It is based on the JUC Media Research Writing Awards 2021 and 2023 High School Awards Project, and also it is also engaging the youth to involve the UN programs at an early age and encourage them award them. So that also the next one is going to be on the Water Action Decatur in the same line, same concept, and also I have a book project since 2022 I couldn't still 2022 2020 actually. I dream, therefore I am. I have 80% of the book manuscript is ready, but I couldn't finalize it, and so the other one also I was hoping but couldn't to have a book for the 25th anniversary of the latentium. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. It's a little bit seemingly not going to happen this year to come up 25th anniversary of late millennium, but I had 20 anniversary of the late millennium in Turkish, and so this is completely different issue because I introduced like Millennium both in Turkish and in English, so it's like Tiffany Sister is the Turkish one, and then I formed Turkish sister in 2010, and then so on the 20th anniversary of the Turkish organization, as it is association, official association. So I compile the first part, the concept vision, very much like Millennium, because it's the system. But the second part based on the programs, activities, and challenges in Istanbul. So this book also in English will be first the the manifesto and the first all the history will be very much in English, the original one. But the second part is going to be completely, you know, selected ideas and projects and programs from the website and public programs from the last 20-five years, and it's hard hard things to do. It it's very challenging. I couldn't do it. Michael Hingson  1:02:47 It's it's a lot of work. Well, Berjan, I I want to tell you that we have now been talking for more than an hour. Time flies when you're having fun. Man, I'm going to go. I'm going to have to go ahead and and end our time, but we'll have to do this again and and continue the discussion. But I really appreciate you taking the time to be here, and I hope that people will monitor your programs and and and read your books if they can read Turkish or English, whichever works. Troy Bircan Unver  1:03:18 has so many English pieces, and now everyone welcome to look out our website. And what's the Michael Hingson  1:03:26 website again? Bircan Unver  1:03:28 lmglobal.org. Michael Hingson  1:03:32 lmglobal.org. Okay. Bircan Unver  1:03:34 Yes, but the whole archive from 2019 to 2000 no, 2019 no. of course not 2019 1999 to 2018 The archive. Our initial website is light millennium.org Millennium is with double N double N. So the everything we are talking about, all the process, our UN programs, and the reports from the UN NGO briefings, some conferences we participated. If anyone has any question, I'll be happy to provide the link and you know to contact them. Michael Hingson  1:04:17 And we will put that information in the show notes, the notes for the podcast. So I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely informative. I really appreciate your time, and I hope the programs continue to go well. So I want to thank you again for being here, and this has just been a lot of fun. Bircan Unver  1:04:39 Thank you so much, Michael Kingston, it is great honor and privilege. Especially, you are a hero, and your your story is amazing, and you are also taking really one of the challenges works like producing these programs, and we never met in real life. And then this is also like Millennium and your work. How we connected through? Otherwise, there was no like regular environment or database environment that we could meet. Your work and your dedication and your inspiring contribution really connected us and bring us together in this session. Thank you, and I'm really grateful for that. Michael Hingson  1:05:29 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable Mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward together. Thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset

Giant Mess podcast host. Neal Lynch is breaking down the turbulent and largely disappointing 2026 season for the New York Mets up to the All-Star Break. From a disastrous 10-21 start in April to a brief glimmer of hope in May, it has been a rough ride that culminated in a major collapse and the firing of manager Carlos Mendoza in June. We discuss the standout performances from rookies Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, plus Juan Soto carrying the offense and earning a starting nod in the 2026 All-Star Game. However, with a 40-57 record at the break, baffling mental errors on the basepaths, and Little League-level defense, the Mets have their worst halfway record since 2018. Join us as we explore the looming August 3 trade deadline and whether the front office will sell off pieces like Freddy Peralta, Luke Weaver, and impending free agents like Brooks Raley. We also cover the struggles and staggering strikeout rates of major additions like Bo Bichette, Steve Cohen's confidence in President of Baseball Operations David Stearns, and what the rest of this season holds for interim manager Andy Green.#mets #nymets #newyorkmets #mlb #baseball #carlosmendoza #juansoto #franciscolindor #mlbtradedeadline #mlbtraderumors #davidstearns #stevecohen #metsbaseball NY Mets Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/MetsYTPlaylist Movie Reviews - https://bit.ly/GiantMessMovieReviews TV Show Reactions - https://bit.ly/GiantMessTV Funny Stories -  https://bit.ly/GiantMessFunnyStoriesABOUT NEAL LYNCH:Neal Lynch is the creator and host of Giant Mess, a podcast blending sports commentary, pop culture analysis, and storytelling. Former 4th string quarterback and middle relief pitcher at a Division III school. Degrees in Film & Media Studies and Communications. Helped multiple major media and entertainment publishers develop, produce, optimize, distribute, and promote videos across web, video, and social media platforms. Single dad who loves to blog, podcast, write, edit, optimize, strategize, and over-analyze.  ABOUT "GIANT MESS":"Giant Mess" is a weird sports and entertainment comedy podcast hosted by a giant mess, the Real Cinch Neal Lynch. Neal covers New York Giants football, NY Mets baseball, movies, and TV shows, mixing in funny stories along the way.  Episodes focus on movie reviews, tv show recaps, post-game analysis, predictions, breakdowns, reactions, and funny stories.Subscribe to Giant Mess on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessYT⁠⁠ Follow me on:* Link Tree - ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/neallynch⁠⁠  * My Official Blog - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/neallynchBLOG⁠⁠ * Facebook Page - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessFB⁠⁠    * Twitter - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchTW⁠⁠     * Personal Instagram - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchIG⁠⁠    * Podcast Instagram - ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessInstagram⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessApple⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessSpotify⁠⁠ 

Giant Mess podcast host Neal Lynch catches you up on the biggest and boldest life stories from June 2025. I kick things off with my frustrating hearing test in Monroe, NJ, and review the wildly expensive Lenire device that's supposed to treat my tinnitus. From there, I dive into the brutal gaslighting of the unemployed job hunt, including a painfully awkward interview with a fellow Johns Hopkins University alumni who wanted nothing to do with our old football coach. Things take a interesting turn during a trip to Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA. What started with $35 lockers and impossibly short water slides ended in a park lockdown due to an active situation at the neighboring Oxford Valley Mall. I had to explain the chaos to my six-year-old daughter before white-knuckling it home through a massive, Final Destination-style storm! Plus, hear about my mother's brutally honest assessment of my anger, texting my ex after watching Bad Monkey on Apple TV, dodging an insanely priced Alan Stein seminar, and how the Tooth Fairy paid out for a literally lost tooth.#SesamePlace #OxfordValleyMall #LanghornePA #Tinnitus #HearingLoss #TinnitusRelief #Unemployed #JobHunt #JobInterview #JohnsHopkins #Storytime #DatingFails #GiantMessPodcast #NealLynchNew York Giants Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/NYGiantsYTPlaylist NY Mets Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/MetsYTPlaylist Movie Reviews - https://bit.ly/GiantMessMovieReviews TV Show Reactions - https://bit.ly/GiantMessTV Funny Stories -  https://bit.ly/GiantMessFunnyStoriesABOUT NEAL LYNCH:Neal Lynch is the creator and host of Giant Mess, a podcast blending sports commentary, pop culture analysis, and storytelling. Former 4th string quarterback and middle relief pitcher at a Division III school. Degrees in Film & Media Studies and Communications. Helped multiple major media and entertainment publishers develop, produce, optimize, distribute, and promote videos across web, video, and social media platforms. Single dad who loves to blog, podcast, write, edit, optimize, strategize, and over-analyze.  ABOUT "GIANT MESS":"Giant Mess" is a weird sports and entertainment comedy podcast hosted by a giant mess, the Real Cinch Neal Lynch. Neal covers New York Giants football, NY Mets baseball, movies, and TV shows, mixing in funny stories along the way.  Episodes focus on movie reviews, tv show recaps, post-game analysis, predictions, breakdowns, reactions, and funny stories.Subscribe to Giant Mess on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessYT⁠⁠ Follow me on:* Link Tree - ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/neallynch⁠⁠  * My Official Blog - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/neallynchBLOG⁠⁠ * Facebook Page - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessFB⁠⁠    * Twitter - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchTW⁠⁠     * Personal Instagram - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchIG⁠⁠    * Podcast Instagram - ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessInstagram⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessApple⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessSpotify⁠⁠ 

What if the rivers we cross every day had stories to tell?This season, RealiTEA Podcast: Stories from the Rivers invites you to rediscover Malaysia through the rivers that shaped our history, sustain our communities, and connect us to nature. Across 16 all-new episodes, our second-year Public Relations students from the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam sit down with environmental experts, researchers, activists, artists, and community voices to explore everything from the history of the Klang River and urban biodiversity to climate action, river rehabilitation, culture, and the future of sustainable river management.Whether you're passionate about the environment, curious about Malaysia's rich river heritage, or simply wondering what role Gen Z can play in protecting our waterways, this season has something for you. Join us as we uncover untold stories, challenge perspectives, and discover why rivers are more than just bodies of water — they're living histories, cultural lifelines, and the future of sustainable communities. Because every river tells a story — and it's time we listened.16 all-new episodes. One shared journey.RealiTEA Podcast: Stories from the Rivers.#RealiTEAPodcast #StoriesFromTheRivers #MalaysianRivers #RiverManagement #EnvironmentalCommunication #GenZForNature #Sustainability #ClimateAction #UiTM #PublicRelations #MC242

In 2022, Freedom House released a report titled “Beijing's Global Media Influence 2022”, highlighting the numerous ways in which the Chinese government seeks to influence media across the world. They stated that China's main tactics were the mass distribution of content, harassment and intimidation of outlets that publish negative news, disinformation campaigns, and training for media workers and officials in different locales.The provision of free or subsidised training for local journalists in the Global south is a foundational aspect of China's efforts to ‘tell China's story well' through legitimate means. By co-opting local voices, China is able to disseminate its own message through local partners in an organic way and free of charge.But what does this training look like? Who is participating and what are they learning? And how does China ensure that after journalists return home, they continue to talk about China in the right way? Today's guest is here to discuss this and more.Dr Emeka Umejei is currently Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. He has a PhD in Journalism and Media Studies and has taught in institutions across Africa including the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, the American University of Nigeria, and the University of Ghana. Prior to this he worked as a journalist in Nigeria for leading national newspapers and served as an African correspondent for U.S.-based media outfit LNG Publications.He has written two books on Chinese influence on African journalism: Chinese Media in Africa: Perception, Performance, and Paradox (2020) and China in African Media: Between Influence Operations and Decolonization which came out this year.Buy bookclub books here            Buy me a coffeeLatest Substack postLinks to everythingSupport the showSign up for Buzzsprout to launch your podcasting journey: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=162442Subscribe to the Sinobabble Newsletter: https://sinobabble.substack.com/Support Sinobabble on Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Sinobabblepod 

This episode is sponsored by Kava Haven, Lagoon, Noogs, and Goodr. Today on the podcast, I'm excited to welcome Roisin Willis. Roisin has had an incredible first year as a professional runner. Last summer, she won the U.S. title in the 800 meters. In January, she broke the American indoor record in the 800, and just recently she ran her first Diamond League race in Stockholm, where she finished third, ran a personal best of 1:57.56, and made the podium against one of the deepest fields in the world. Roisin trains with Mark Coogan and Team New Balance Boston. She just graduated from Stanford University, where she was a two-time NCAA champion, majoring in History with a minor in Film and Media Studies. In this conversation, Roisin reflects on her transition from collegiate running to the professional ranks, what she learned from competing in two Olympic Trials before turning 21, her experience overcoming insomnia, growing in her faith, and how she developed the confidence to compete on the world stage. If you enjoy this episode, please leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts. It's one of the best ways to support the show. What we talked about: Roisin’s first Diamond League race and 1:57.56 personal best Learning to race against the world’s best 800-meter runners Joining Mark Coogan and Team New Balance Boston Finishing Stanford while beginning her professional career Foregoing her final NCAA season and turning pro Overcoming a year-long battle with insomnia Her parents’ role in her development as an athlete Competing at the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Trials Breaking through after three years without a personal best Growing in her Christian faith and finding freedom from performance pressure Studying history and film at Stanford Life beyond running, movies, books, and future goals Media Mentioned: Books: Malibu Rising Daisy Jones & The Six TV Shows/Series: Drive to Survive Off Campus Sponsors: Kava HavenKava Haven offers a kava-infused, non-alcoholic spirit designed to give you a relaxed, social “buzz” without alcohol, hangovers, or sugar. It's made with noble kava root and crafted as a functional alternative for winding down or social settings. Go to KavaHaven.com/illhaveanother and use the code “Illhaveanother15” for 15% off your order. Goodr Goodr sunglasses are no-slip, no-bounce, all polarized, and actually affordable, with tons of fun styles and colors for summer. Go to goodr.com/another and use the code ANOTHER for $10 off your first order. Noogs: Noogs Nutrition is my go-to for fun, flavorful fuel with carbs and electrolytes, with flavors like Lemon Zinger, Electric Watermelon, and Blue Raspberry, plus caffeinated options too. Use code “another15” for 15% off your first order. Lagoon Sleep — If you're ready to upgrade your sleep, Lagoon pillows are truly a game changer. Their customizable pillows are designed to help you fall asleep faster, stay cool, and wake up without neck or shoulder pain. You can adjust the fill to make it perfect for you. Save 15% by going to https://lagoonsleep.com/lindsey and using the code LINDSEY at checkout.

For those who remember the early outlaw days of no-holds-barred fighting, the idea of MMA history being taught as a serious university subject seems as improbable as....well, as a UFC event taking place at the White House, yet here we are.Meet Dr. Kyle Barrowman, an adjunct professor at DePaul University in Chicago, lecturer in Film and Media Studies, and recent recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Barrowman is just wrapping up the spring quarter of “The UFC in History and Popular Culture: From No Holds Barred to Mixed Martial Arts,” the first course on the history of mixed martial arts at a major university. He gives a deep-dive account of how this groundbreaking course came to be and how he came to teach it, as well as the unique challenges that come with teaching the history of a sport that is young enough that most of its founding figures are still alive.0:00 How did you come to teach the first-ever university course on the history of MMA?8:16 How did you put together the curriculum for a course that had never been taught before? 14:57 What kinds of students turned out for the first college course on UFC history? Were many of them already fans?22:39 How is the class structured? What are your students covering right now?26:26 How do the very early fights and stories go over with your modern audience?29:52 How did people even find MMA back in the day? Kyle and Ben talk about their routes to finding the underground bloodsport, and the struggles today's kids will never understand.43:55 What have you learned this semester, and how will it affect future iterations of the course?56:47 How confident are you that this course will continue to be offered at DePaul? Do you hope and/or plan to expand this offering to other schools?1:03:19 Is it a strange feeling to effectively become part of the history of the sport whose history you are teaching?1:09:19 History vs. Myth: The challenge of figuring out "what really happened" in a culture full of storytellers and secret keepers1:25:53 Closing thoughts1:27:15 BONUS: Kyle takes Ben to school on the underrated greatness of Ken Shamrock!

Most people think of romantic music as background noise for dates, movies, or weddings. But researchers have found that music can actually influence romantic behavior and attraction in measurable ways. Listen to discover how love songs may be doing more than simply setting the mood. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100618112139.htm Take a look around you and notice how many buttons surround you. Elevator buttons. Crosswalk buttons. Remote controls. Keyboards. Car dashboards. Humans push buttons all day long—and often repeatedly, even when pushing again does absolutely nothing. There's something deeply satisfying and psychologically powerful about pressing a button and getting an immediate response. But buttons are a surprisingly recent invention, and they fundamentally changed how humans interact with machines, technology, and even each other. Rachel Plotnick, associate professor of Cinema and Media Studies at Indiana University, explores the strange history and psychology of buttons, why people are so drawn to them, and how “push-button culture” transformed modern life. She is author of Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing (https://amzn.to/3xvIj5j). Humans don't just enjoy games—we seem to need them. From sports and gambling to video games, puzzles, and board games, people everywhere devote enormous amounts of time and energy to play. But games may be doing far more than entertaining us. Neuroscientist and physicist Kelly Clancy explains how games shape human behavior, influence culture, teach strategy, reward risk-taking, and even help societies evolve. In our conversation, she reveals why games are woven so deeply into human nature and why understanding games may help explain the way humans learn, compete, cooperate, and make decisions. Kelly is author of Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World (https://amzn.to/3W02BNR). Online product reviews have become incredibly influential. A surprisingly large number of people now trust reviews from strangers almost as much as recommendations from friends. We discuss how those reviews can dramatically affect what consumers buy, avoid, or return. https://www.cardrates.com/news/consumers-rely-on-online-reviews-study/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS POCKET HOSE: For a limited time, when you purchase a new Pocket Hose Ballistic, you'll get a FREE 360 degree rotating pocket pivot and a FREE thumb drive nozzle! Just text SYSK to 64000 AQUA TRU: Take the guesswork out of pure, great-tasting water. Head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://AquaTru.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ now and get 20% off your purifier using promo code SYSK. AquaTru even comes with a 30-day best-tasting water guarantee or your money back. RULA: This Mental Health Awareness Month, don't just think about your mental health - actually take the step to take care of it. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Rula.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get started. QUINCE: Refresh your everyday with luxury you will actual use! Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Quince.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! DELL:  With the Dell Pro laptop powered by Intel Core Ultra with vPro, no matter how many interruptions you have, your laptop won't be one of them. With battery that's optimized for the way you work, and built-in intelligence that quiets distractions the moment you're trying to focus, your tech won't slow you down.  Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠https://Dell.com/Dell-Pro⁠⁠⁠ SHOPIFY: It's time to turn those "what ifs" into CHA CHING with Shopify Today! Sign up for your $1 per month trail and start selling today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Shopify.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you listen to The Colin McEnroe Show regularly, you likely know that Colin has been influenced by two media theorists: Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman. Postman wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death, among other books, and McLuhan is probably most famous for the phrase "The medium is the message," in addition to other influential ideas. This hour, we look at the ideas of McLuhan and Postman, and discuss why they still resonate so much today. GUESTS: Bill Yousman: Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University Megan Garber: Staff Writer at The Atlantic who writes about the intersection of politics and culture. She is the author of On Misdirection: Magic, Mayhem, American Politics. She previously worked for Neiman Journalism Lab and the Columbia Journalism Review Andrew McLuhan: Founder and director of The McLuhan Institute, which was founded to conserve and continue media studies in the McLuhan tradition. He is the son of Eric McLuhan and the grandson of Marshall McLuhan MUSIC FEATURED (in order): Passacaglia by Johan Halvorsen (performed by Grégoire Blanc) Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron Medium is the Massage by Akira the Don, Marshall McLuhan Fish n’ Chip Paper by Elvis Costello Amusing Ourselves to Death by Winston Apple The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on September 5, 2025.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Around 2016, buoyed by so-called data kranti  ("data revolution"), an aspirational neo-middle class of users in India accessed internet for the first time on their mobile phones. Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution (MIT Press, 2026) tells the story of digital infrastructures that are being created by state-corporations for content and money to move and reach such users. It interrogates how their design impact the forms of inclusions and exclusions enacted as well as the horizon of social behaviors and expectations in "Digital India." The book contends that to understand the possibilities and limits of India's aspirational politics, media studies scholars should attend to infrastructures of aspiration: the distributional logistics of streaming content and mobile money are the infrastructural backbone that recalibrate thresholds of aspirational goals.  Digital content media distribution is also shaped by how user practices get entangled with particular affordances of platforms, and hence the need to study both participatory cultures of circulation and logistics of distribution together. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, critical discourse analysis and participant observation, the book traces the supply chains of content delivery networks enabling streaming video-on-demand services and informal ways of circulating "vernacular" music videos through memory cards. Unlimited does not restrict itself to formal media infrastructures, but also researches online phishing and lending scam assemblages to understand how such scams perform critical boundary work to reveal the cracks in and workings of financial distribution networks. This book offers a systematic examination of distribution considerations—including localization strategies—required for imagining mobile phone users across the varied regional geographies of "Digital India." Rahul Mukherjee is Associate Professor of TV & New Media and graduate chair in the Department of Cinema & Media Studies at University of Pennsylvania. His teaching and research focus on the logistical and environmental dimensions of digital infrastructures and platforms. Rahul is the author of the monograph Radiant Infrastructures, and his work has been published in Critical Inquiry, SM+S, New Media & Society, and Science, Technology & Human Values. He has co-edited a special issue on "Media Power in Digital Asia" for Media, Culture & Society journal.   Priyam Sinha is an Alexander Von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research interests lie at the intersection of critical media industry studies, disability studies, gender studies, affect studies, production culture studies, and anthropology of the body, and her work has been published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies, Media, Culture and Society; Communication, Culture and Critique; South Asian Diaspora, among others. She is also a regular podcast host at the New Books Network and has been published in public writing forums like the Economic and Political Weekly, FemAsia, Asian Film Archive, among others. More information on her ongoing projects can be found on her website and you can follow her on X. 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

Around 2016, buoyed by so-called data kranti  ("data revolution"), an aspirational neo-middle class of users in India accessed internet for the first time on their mobile phones. Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution (MIT Press, 2026) tells the story of digital infrastructures that are being created by state-corporations for content and money to move and reach such users. It interrogates how their design impact the forms of inclusions and exclusions enacted as well as the horizon of social behaviors and expectations in "Digital India." The book contends that to understand the possibilities and limits of India's aspirational politics, media studies scholars should attend to infrastructures of aspiration: the distributional logistics of streaming content and mobile money are the infrastructural backbone that recalibrate thresholds of aspirational goals.  Digital content media distribution is also shaped by how user practices get entangled with particular affordances of platforms, and hence the need to study both participatory cultures of circulation and logistics of distribution together. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, critical discourse analysis and participant observation, the book traces the supply chains of content delivery networks enabling streaming video-on-demand services and informal ways of circulating "vernacular" music videos through memory cards. Unlimited does not restrict itself to formal media infrastructures, but also researches online phishing and lending scam assemblages to understand how such scams perform critical boundary work to reveal the cracks in and workings of financial distribution networks. This book offers a systematic examination of distribution considerations—including localization strategies—required for imagining mobile phone users across the varied regional geographies of "Digital India." Rahul Mukherjee is Associate Professor of TV & New Media and graduate chair in the Department of Cinema & Media Studies at University of Pennsylvania. His teaching and research focus on the logistical and environmental dimensions of digital infrastructures and platforms. Rahul is the author of the monograph Radiant Infrastructures, and his work has been published in Critical Inquiry, SM+S, New Media & Society, and Science, Technology & Human Values. He has co-edited a special issue on "Media Power in Digital Asia" for Media, Culture & Society journal.   Priyam Sinha is an Alexander Von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research interests lie at the intersection of critical media industry studies, disability studies, gender studies, affect studies, production culture studies, and anthropology of the body, and her work has been published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies, Media, Culture and Society; Communication, Culture and Critique; South Asian Diaspora, among others. She is also a regular podcast host at the New Books Network and has been published in public writing forums like the Economic and Political Weekly, FemAsia, Asian Film Archive, among others. More information on her ongoing projects can be found on her website and you can follow her on X. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

Around 2016, buoyed by so-called data kranti  ("data revolution"), an aspirational neo-middle class of users in India accessed internet for the first time on their mobile phones. Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution (MIT Press, 2026) tells the story of digital infrastructures that are being created by state-corporations for content and money to move and reach such users. It interrogates how their design impact the forms of inclusions and exclusions enacted as well as the horizon of social behaviors and expectations in "Digital India." The book contends that to understand the possibilities and limits of India's aspirational politics, media studies scholars should attend to infrastructures of aspiration: the distributional logistics of streaming content and mobile money are the infrastructural backbone that recalibrate thresholds of aspirational goals.  Digital content media distribution is also shaped by how user practices get entangled with particular affordances of platforms, and hence the need to study both participatory cultures of circulation and logistics of distribution together. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, critical discourse analysis and participant observation, the book traces the supply chains of content delivery networks enabling streaming video-on-demand services and informal ways of circulating "vernacular" music videos through memory cards. Unlimited does not restrict itself to formal media infrastructures, but also researches online phishing and lending scam assemblages to understand how such scams perform critical boundary work to reveal the cracks in and workings of financial distribution networks. This book offers a systematic examination of distribution considerations—including localization strategies—required for imagining mobile phone users across the varied regional geographies of "Digital India." Rahul Mukherjee is Associate Professor of TV & New Media and graduate chair in the Department of Cinema & Media Studies at University of Pennsylvania. His teaching and research focus on the logistical and environmental dimensions of digital infrastructures and platforms. Rahul is the author of the monograph Radiant Infrastructures, and his work has been published in Critical Inquiry, SM+S, New Media & Society, and Science, Technology & Human Values. He has co-edited a special issue on "Media Power in Digital Asia" for Media, Culture & Society journal.   Priyam Sinha is an Alexander Von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research interests lie at the intersection of critical media industry studies, disability studies, gender studies, affect studies, production culture studies, and anthropology of the body, and her work has been published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies, Media, Culture and Society; Communication, Culture and Critique; South Asian Diaspora, among others. She is also a regular podcast host at the New Books Network and has been published in public writing forums like the Economic and Political Weekly, FemAsia, Asian Film Archive, among others. More information on her ongoing projects can be found on her website and you can follow her on X. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

Around 2016, buoyed by so-called data kranti  ("data revolution"), an aspirational neo-middle class of users in India accessed internet for the first time on their mobile phones. Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution (MIT Press, 2026) tells the story of digital infrastructures that are being created by state-corporations for content and money to move and reach such users. It interrogates how their design impact the forms of inclusions and exclusions enacted as well as the horizon of social behaviors and expectations in "Digital India." The book contends that to understand the possibilities and limits of India's aspirational politics, media studies scholars should attend to infrastructures of aspiration: the distributional logistics of streaming content and mobile money are the infrastructural backbone that recalibrate thresholds of aspirational goals.  Digital content media distribution is also shaped by how user practices get entangled with particular affordances of platforms, and hence the need to study both participatory cultures of circulation and logistics of distribution together. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, critical discourse analysis and participant observation, the book traces the supply chains of content delivery networks enabling streaming video-on-demand services and informal ways of circulating "vernacular" music videos through memory cards. Unlimited does not restrict itself to formal media infrastructures, but also researches online phishing and lending scam assemblages to understand how such scams perform critical boundary work to reveal the cracks in and workings of financial distribution networks. This book offers a systematic examination of distribution considerations—including localization strategies—required for imagining mobile phone users across the varied regional geographies of "Digital India." Rahul Mukherjee is Associate Professor of TV & New Media and graduate chair in the Department of Cinema & Media Studies at University of Pennsylvania. His teaching and research focus on the logistical and environmental dimensions of digital infrastructures and platforms. Rahul is the author of the monograph Radiant Infrastructures, and his work has been published in Critical Inquiry, SM+S, New Media & Society, and Science, Technology & Human Values. He has co-edited a special issue on "Media Power in Digital Asia" for Media, Culture & Society journal.   Priyam Sinha is an Alexander Von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research interests lie at the intersection of critical media industry studies, disability studies, gender studies, affect studies, production culture studies, and anthropology of the body, and her work has been published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies, Media, Culture and Society; Communication, Culture and Critique; South Asian Diaspora, among others. She is also a regular podcast host at the New Books Network and has been published in public writing forums like the Economic and Political Weekly, FemAsia, Asian Film Archive, among others. More information on her ongoing projects can be found on her website and you can follow her on X. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

Around 2016, buoyed by so-called data kranti  ("data revolution"), an aspirational neo-middle class of users in India accessed internet for the first time on their mobile phones. Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution (MIT Press, 2026) tells the story of digital infrastructures that are being created by state-corporations for content and money to move and reach such users. It interrogates how their design impact the forms of inclusions and exclusions enacted as well as the horizon of social behaviors and expectations in "Digital India." The book contends that to understand the possibilities and limits of India's aspirational politics, media studies scholars should attend to infrastructures of aspiration: the distributional logistics of streaming content and mobile money are the infrastructural backbone that recalibrate thresholds of aspirational goals.  Digital content media distribution is also shaped by how user practices get entangled with particular affordances of platforms, and hence the need to study both participatory cultures of circulation and logistics of distribution together. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, critical discourse analysis and participant observation, the book traces the supply chains of content delivery networks enabling streaming video-on-demand services and informal ways of circulating "vernacular" music videos through memory cards. Unlimited does not restrict itself to formal media infrastructures, but also researches online phishing and lending scam assemblages to understand how such scams perform critical boundary work to reveal the cracks in and workings of financial distribution networks. This book offers a systematic examination of distribution considerations—including localization strategies—required for imagining mobile phone users across the varied regional geographies of "Digital India." Rahul Mukherjee is Associate Professor of TV & New Media and graduate chair in the Department of Cinema & Media Studies at University of Pennsylvania. His teaching and research focus on the logistical and environmental dimensions of digital infrastructures and platforms. Rahul is the author of the monograph Radiant Infrastructures, and his work has been published in Critical Inquiry, SM+S, New Media & Society, and Science, Technology & Human Values. He has co-edited a special issue on "Media Power in Digital Asia" for Media, Culture & Society journal.   Priyam Sinha is an Alexander Von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research interests lie at the intersection of critical media industry studies, disability studies, gender studies, affect studies, production culture studies, and anthropology of the body, and her work has been published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies, Media, Culture and Society; Communication, Culture and Critique; South Asian Diaspora, among others. She is also a regular podcast host at the New Books Network and has been published in public writing forums like the Economic and Political Weekly, FemAsia, Asian Film Archive, among others. More information on her ongoing projects can be found on her website and you can follow her on X. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology

Happy Pride y'all!This week, Pornhub launches a sapphic site for queer women and nonbinary viewers, Queen Latifah and Colman Domingo share their coming out stories, and we get into the latest WNBA updates.In Am I A Bad Queer?, we're talking lying about your body count, whether you've made your therapist hate your partner, and being jealous that all your friends are in relationships for the summer. Plus, Bad Queer Opinions on Queen Latifah's “come out without coming out” blueprint and Young M.A's comments about only dating (DL) straight women.Shoutouts:Kris: PrideBrary: Video library with pride created by Jess, an Emmy-nominated producer with a degree in Media Studies, exploring LGBTQ+, race, and gender representation in media and pop culture. Subscriber on Youtube @PrideBraryShana: National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network: Connecting QTPOC Folks to therapists and healing justice resources. Follow on IG @nqttcnEpisode notes:1:07 - Queer Urban Dictionary 5:02- Category is: Pornhub Sapphic? Pornhub launches new site for queer women 9:05 - Category is: Queen Latifah + Colman Domingo talk coming out14:27- Category is: WNBA updates28:17- Am I A Bad Queer?39:10 - Bad Queer Opinions 47:30 - ShoutoutsShare your Am I A Bad Queer? hereSupport the showPATREON: patreon.com/BadQueersPodcastSubscribe to our Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/@BadQueersPodcast The opinions expressed during this podcast are conversational in nature and expressed only for comedic purposes. Not all of the facts will be correct but we attempt to be as accurate as possible. BQ Media LLC, the hosts, nor any guest host(s) hold no liability over the conversations on this podcast and by using this podcast you understand that it is solely for entertainment purposes. Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, parody, scholarship and research.  

#WillDodson #Comebacks #Gloria Monti #MitchHamptonInside this episode with your host, Mitch Hampton:I enjoyed the discussion with Will Dodson so much that I had to have him back for a second episode. I think this might be one of the few podcast episodes wherein we mention figures as varied as Jimmy Stewart, Woody Strode, John Ford, Chuck Vincent, Gloria Swanson, Fred Olen Ray, Wes Craven and Pam Grier, but that is the kind of thing that can happen when Will and I come into contact. Not only was I happy that Gloria Monti brought the wonderful book that is Comebacks: The Return of the Aging Film Star (Wayne State UP, 2025) into our world that she co-edited with Martin Shinglerand. They bring the story of artists like Woody Strode to future generations but I can't help but feel that, speaking philosophically, the subject or concept of the comeback itself might be one that is most integral to all of the arts in any age. I hope you share in our enthusiasm on this one.Will's Bio and Links:Will Dodson is a writer and editor; film, rhetoric, and literature professor; audio commentary and visual essay producer .He is a Lecturer of Media Studies and co-editor of The Anthem Series on Exploitation and Industry in World Cinema, Foundations of Horror Studies (Manchester UP), and American Twilight: The Cinema of Tobe Hooper (University of Texas Press). His most recent essays are “One Thing About Time:' Woody Strode's Late Films,” included in Comebacks: The Return of the Aging Film Star (Wayne State UP, 2025)Links to Will's Social Media and works:LinkTree: @linktr.ee/willdodsonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/wdodson52/Amazon Author Page ( link embedded)Additional links:Series Co-editor, The Anthem Series on Exploitation and Industry in World CinemaSeries Co-editor, Foundations of Horror StudiesCo-editor, American Twilight: The Cinema of Tobe Hooper#cinema #television #johnford #western #spaghettiwestern #expolitationmovie #blackploitation #pamgreir #jimmystewart #willaimholden #gloriaswanson #sunsetboulevard #billywider #silentmovie #1920s #1930s #1940s #1950s #1960s #1970s #1980s #1990s #directtovideo  #vhs #compactdisc #computer #bodymodification #lifeextension #genetics #race #civilrights #nativeamerican #indigenous #italy #horror #gothic #erotica #screamqueen #jimwynorski #jewelshepard #juliestrain #shannontweed #genesimmons #howardberger #bluray #restoration #jade #williamfriedkin #davidcaruso #lindafiorentino #eroticthriller #blackpanther #blackpanthers #fredwilliamson #jimbrown #jimkelly #larrycohen #joedante #jonathandemme #jonathankaplan #rogercorman #theater #thirdplace #jackiebrown #quentintarantino #robertforster #johntravolta #jackhill #claudiajennings #gatorbait #francisfordcoppola #stanleykubrick #spartacus #gorevidal #howardfast #plutarch #daltontrumbo #kirkdouglas #laurenceolivier #tonycurtis #jeansimmons #lisakudrow #hbomax #stream #sports #football #integration

Is 2026 a bridge year, or are the New York Giants playoff-bound? On this episode of Giant Mess, Neal Lynch breaks down the monstrous New York Giants offseason, starting with the massive culture shift brought on by new Head Coach John Harbaugh.We react to the heartbreaking Dexter Lawrence trade, grade the NFL Draft, and dive deep into the completely overhauled coaching staff. Will Matt Nagy actually elevate Jaxson Dart? Why are we hoarding former Titans coaches like Dennard Wilson and Brian Callahan? Plus, we go game-by-game through the 2026 Giants schedule release to predict whether this squad is destined for a 7-10 rebuild or a shocking playoff run.Episode Highlights:The Harbaugh Effect: Why the Giants are suddenly a destination franchise again.The Nagy Dilemma: Can Matt Nagy recreate his Patrick Mahomes magic with Jaxson Dart, or are we doomed for a Chicago Bears repeat?Life After Sexy Dexy: Reacting to the Dexter Lawrence blockbuster trade and what it means for the defensive interior.Coaching Carousel: Analyzing the additions of Greg Roman, Dennard Wilson, and Charlie Bowen.Schedule Predictions: Examining the full New York Giants schedule release for guaranteed wins and brutal primetime matchupsNew York Giants Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/NYGiantsYTPlaylist NY Mets Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/MetsYTPlaylist Movie Reviews - https://bit.ly/GiantMessMovieReviews TV Show Reactions - https://bit.ly/GiantMessTV Funny Stories -  https://bit.ly/GiantMessFunnyStoriesABOUT NEAL LYNCH:Neal Lynch is the creator and host of Giant Mess, a podcast blending sports commentary, pop culture analysis, and storytelling. Former 4th string quarterback and middle relief pitcher at a Division III school. Degrees in Film & Media Studies and Communications. Helped multiple major media and entertainment publishers develop, produce, optimize, distribute, and promote videos across web, video, and social media platforms. Single dad who loves to blog, podcast, write, edit, optimize, strategize, and over-analyze.  ABOUT "GIANT MESS":"Giant Mess" is a weird sports and entertainment comedy podcast hosted by a giant mess, the Real Cinch Neal Lynch. Neal covers New York Giants football, NY Mets baseball, movies, and TV shows, mixing in funny stories along the way.  Episodes focus on movie reviews, tv show recaps, post-game analysis, predictions, breakdowns, reactions, and funny stories.Subscribe to Giant Mess on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessYT⁠⁠ Follow me on:* Link Tree - ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/neallynch⁠⁠  * My Official Blog - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/neallynchBLOG⁠⁠ * Facebook Page - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessFB⁠⁠    * Twitter - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchTW⁠⁠     * Personal Instagram - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchIG⁠⁠    * Podcast Instagram - ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessInstagram⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessApple⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessSpotify⁠⁠ 

Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations (Columbia UP, 2026) offers a powerful new account of how film shaped international relations and national identity. Drawing on previously unexamined and recently declassified archives in Turkey and the United States, Ayşehan Jülide Etem demonstrates how both countries used educational films to align institutional agendas and geopolitical interests. By tracing the transnational network of educational cinema, Etem uncovers how film functioned as infrastructure, circulating ideologies, organizing institutions, and training citizens. Moving beyond conventional accounts of propaganda and soft power, this book exposes how film was central to the making of modern Turkey and sheds new light on the media's role in global politics. Author Ayşehan Jülide Etem is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where she also directs the Film Studies Concentration. A media studies scholar, Dr. Etem's research examines how film operates within infrastructures, how it is strategically sponsored, produced, exhibited, and circulated to shape public behavior, manage populations, and mediate power. 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

Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations (Columbia UP, 2026) offers a powerful new account of how film shaped international relations and national identity. Drawing on previously unexamined and recently declassified archives in Turkey and the United States, Ayşehan Jülide Etem demonstrates how both countries used educational films to align institutional agendas and geopolitical interests. By tracing the transnational network of educational cinema, Etem uncovers how film functioned as infrastructure, circulating ideologies, organizing institutions, and training citizens. Moving beyond conventional accounts of propaganda and soft power, this book exposes how film was central to the making of modern Turkey and sheds new light on the media's role in global politics. Author Ayşehan Jülide Etem is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where she also directs the Film Studies Concentration. A media studies scholar, Dr. Etem's research examines how film operates within infrastructures, how it is strategically sponsored, produced, exhibited, and circulated to shape public behavior, manage populations, and mediate power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/film

Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations (Columbia UP, 2026) offers a powerful new account of how film shaped international relations and national identity. Drawing on previously unexamined and recently declassified archives in Turkey and the United States, Ayşehan Jülide Etem demonstrates how both countries used educational films to align institutional agendas and geopolitical interests. By tracing the transnational network of educational cinema, Etem uncovers how film functioned as infrastructure, circulating ideologies, organizing institutions, and training citizens. Moving beyond conventional accounts of propaganda and soft power, this book exposes how film was central to the making of modern Turkey and sheds new light on the media's role in global politics. Author Ayşehan Jülide Etem is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where she also directs the Film Studies Concentration. A media studies scholar, Dr. Etem's research examines how film operates within infrastructures, how it is strategically sponsored, produced, exhibited, and circulated to shape public behavior, manage populations, and mediate power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations (Columbia UP, 2026) offers a powerful new account of how film shaped international relations and national identity. Drawing on previously unexamined and recently declassified archives in Turkey and the United States, Ayşehan Jülide Etem demonstrates how both countries used educational films to align institutional agendas and geopolitical interests. By tracing the transnational network of educational cinema, Etem uncovers how film functioned as infrastructure, circulating ideologies, organizing institutions, and training citizens. Moving beyond conventional accounts of propaganda and soft power, this book exposes how film was central to the making of modern Turkey and sheds new light on the media's role in global politics. Author Ayşehan Jülide Etem is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where she also directs the Film Studies Concentration. A media studies scholar, Dr. Etem's research examines how film operates within infrastructures, how it is strategically sponsored, produced, exhibited, and circulated to shape public behavior, manage populations, and mediate power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations (Columbia UP, 2026) offers a powerful new account of how film shaped international relations and national identity. Drawing on previously unexamined and recently declassified archives in Turkey and the United States, Ayşehan Jülide Etem demonstrates how both countries used educational films to align institutional agendas and geopolitical interests. By tracing the transnational network of educational cinema, Etem uncovers how film functioned as infrastructure, circulating ideologies, organizing institutions, and training citizens. Moving beyond conventional accounts of propaganda and soft power, this book exposes how film was central to the making of modern Turkey and sheds new light on the media's role in global politics. Author Ayşehan Jülide Etem is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where she also directs the Film Studies Concentration. A media studies scholar, Dr. Etem's research examines how film operates within infrastructures, how it is strategically sponsored, produced, exhibited, and circulated to shape public behavior, manage populations, and mediate power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations (Columbia UP, 2026) offers a powerful new account of how film shaped international relations and national identity. Drawing on previously unexamined and recently declassified archives in Turkey and the United States, Ayşehan Jülide Etem demonstrates how both countries used educational films to align institutional agendas and geopolitical interests. By tracing the transnational network of educational cinema, Etem uncovers how film functioned as infrastructure, circulating ideologies, organizing institutions, and training citizens. Moving beyond conventional accounts of propaganda and soft power, this book exposes how film was central to the making of modern Turkey and sheds new light on the media's role in global politics. Author Ayşehan Jülide Etem is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where she also directs the Film Studies Concentration. A media studies scholar, Dr. Etem's research examines how film operates within infrastructures, how it is strategically sponsored, produced, exhibited, and circulated to shape public behavior, manage populations, and mediate power.

On this episode of Mind the Gap, Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Tom Needham - teacher, school leader, and author of Engelmann's Direct Instruction in Action - to explore what direct instruction really means. Marking the final book in the In Action series, the conversation digs into Siegfried Engelmann's work, from the power of carefully sequenced examples and non-examples to the importance of “sameness,” big ideas, generative content, and tightly designed practice. Tom explains how direct instruction transformed his teaching of English, particularly for pupils who had struggled with writing, spelling and foundational skills, while also showing how its principles apply across subjects from maths and science to history and geography. Along the way, they discuss the philosophical and practical objections to scripted programmes, the role of teacher expertise in curriculum design, and why precise instruction can be a route to greater pupil success, confidence and independence.Tom Needham has been teaching for nearly twenty years. He has previously taught English in International schools in Malaysia and Nigeria; EFL in Bangkok and Harrogate, as well as Sociology, Media Studies and all the Humanities in Croydon. He is author of Explicit English Teaching, and most recently Engelmann's Direct Instruction in Action, which will be available on the 19th of June. Tom is currently an Assistant Headteacher at a school in Charlton.Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specialising in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. He regularly contributes to conferences and CPD sessions locally and nationally and is busy working in schools and colleges across the UK and around the world. Follow Tom on X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@teacherhead⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Emma Turner FCCT is a school improvement advisor, education consultant, trainer and author. She has almost three decades of primary teaching, headship and leadership experience across the sector, working and leading in both MATs and LAs. She works nationally and internationally on school improvement including at single school level and at scale. She has a particular interest in research informed practice in the primary phase, early career development, and CPD design. Follow Emma on X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@emma_turner75⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This podcast is sponsored by Teaching WalkThrus and produced in association with Haringey Education Partnership. Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://walkthrus.co.uk/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://haringeyeducationpartnership.co.uk/⁠⁠

Sir Thomas seems to have it all - an inquisitive mind, a dreamer's spirit, a great relationship with his sister…but all is not what it seems on the surface.  Sip some tea with us to see what lurks beneath the red clays of Crimson Peak (2015). ***CONTENT WARNING: death of a parent, death of a infant, inc*st, animal cruelty Follow us on Instagram at @thewhorrorspodcastEmail us at thewhorrorspodcast@gmail.comArtwork by Gabrielle Fatula (gabrielle@gabriellefatula.com)Music: Epic Industrial Music Trailer by SeverMusicProdStandard Music License Sources: ​Briefel, Aviva. "Live Burial: The Deep Intertextuality of Jordan Peele's Get Out." Narrative, vol. 29 no. 3, 2021, p. 297-320. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/nar.2021.0019.​Crimson Peak (2015 Film) Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimson_Peak  ​Crimson Peak (2015) IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2554274/ ​Kindinger, Evangelia. “The Ghost Is Just a Metaphor: Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, Nineteenth-Century Female Gothic, and the Slasher.” NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies, 6 Dec. 2017, https://necsus-ejms.org/the-ghost-is-just-a-metaphor-guillermo-del-toros-crimson-peak-nineteenth-century-female-gothic-and-the-slasher/​Miquel-Baldellou, Marta. “‘As Soon As Ever She Died, the Hauntings Began': Revisiting the Victorian Fallen Woman as a Gothic Archetype in Susan Hill's The Woman in Black." Ex-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media [Online], 0.5 (2021): 164-183. Web. 27 Apr. 2023 ​Roberts, Robin. “Gender, Adaptation, and Authorship: Three Decades of The Woman in Black”. Studies in Theatre and Performance 34:2, pages 126-139. Web. 24 Apr. 2023

What would you do if you were detained in a foreign country for 14 days? In this powerful episode of the Find Your Leadership Confidence Podcast, host Vicki Noethling welcomes returning guest Chancellor Jackson, author of the #1 ranked book 14 Days in Beijing, to discuss how adversity can become the defining moment that shapes your purpose. Born in Fulton County, Georgia, and raised in Smyrna, Chancellor played football for nine years before earning his degree in Communication and Media Studies from Stetson University. After moving to China, his life took an unexpected turn when he was arrested and detained in Beijing for 14 days — an experience that transformed his trajectory and led to his bestselling book. In this episode, we discuss: ✔ Turning trauma into purpose ✔ What it's really like living in China ✔ The realities of jail in Beijing ✔ How to publish your first book ✔ Emotional intelligence and growth through adversity ✔ Leadership resilience in uncertain moments Leadership confidence isn't built in comfort — it's forged through challenge. If you've faced a setback, failure, or life disruption, this conversation will remind you that adversity doesn't have to define you — it can refine you.

Quantum Nurse https://graceasagra.com/ Freedom International Livestream Thursday, April 23, 2026 @ 12:00 PM EST Guest: Dr Reza John Vedadi Topic: IRAN RISING: Power, Conflict and Future   Follow:  Instagram, LinkedIn   Bio:   Dr Reza John Vedadi has spent the past 12 years directing, producing, and filming over 50 documentaries on West Asian and Muslim identity and culture. He began his academic journey with a degree in Media Studies from London Guildhall University, followed by master's degrees in film production at London Metropolitan University and Islamic Studies at Middlesex University. In 2023, he earned a PhD from Loughborough University London, specializing in communication, politics, and culture. Dr. Vedadi's research explores the intersection of socio-political dynamics and the representation of West Asian and Muslim identity in Hollywood, as well as US culture and foreign policy. Alongside his filmmaking career, he is an active academic, presenting papers at various international conferences. He also researches and writes about the complex relationship between the film industry, international relations, and the decolonial framework, demonstrating his commitment to enriching understanding in these areas.     Special Guest Hosts: NICK PITRUZELLO (Algo Cowboy)              https://www.youtube.com/@AlgoFactory   Drago Bosnic BRICS portal (infobrics.org) Telegram -CerFunhouse   www.GlobalResearch.Ca Warren Monty Quesnell Facebook – Citizen Journalist   Nikki Watson               https://www.youtube.com/@beyondthelinespodcast1                         Creator Host:   Grace Asagra, RN MA Podcast:  Quantum Nurse: Out of the Rabbit Hole from Stress to Bliss TIP/DONATE LINK for Grace Asagra @ Quantum Nurse Podcast https://patron.podbean.com/QuantumNurse https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=FHUXTQVAVJDPU Venmo - @Grace-Asagra 609-203-5854 WELLNESS RESOURCES Premier Research Labs - https://prlabs.com/customer/account/create/code/59n84f/ - 15% discount - 15%_59N84F_05 Standing Co-Host:   Hartmut Schumacher www.dragonnous.com

What does The Fast and the Furious actually tell us about Hollywood—and about us?This week on Reckoning with Jason Herbert, I'm joined by Dan Hassler-Forest to break down one of the most unlikely blockbuster franchises of the 21st century. From its origins as a street racing film in 2001 to a global, multi-billion-dollar saga, Fast & Furious didn't just evolve—it helped reshape how Hollywood thinks about franchises, audiences, and storytelling.We dive into the rise of serialized blockbusters, the meaning of “family,” the franchise's approach to masculinity and diversity, and why this series resonates with audiences around the world. Along the way, we explore the turning points—from The Fast and the Furious to Fast Five—and ask whether the franchise ever jumped the shark… or if that's the whole point.If you've ever wondered why these films endure—or why you can't stop watching them—this episode is for you.

What happens when we assume women's presence in film history instead of their absence? This is the question at the heart of Archiving the Past: Women's Film History in France, 1927–1978, the newest addition to the Feminist Media Histories book series at the University of California Press. The first book by Aurore Spiers, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at Texas A&M University, Archiving the Past is a fascinating account of some of the many women in France whose labor had a decisive role in the formation of cinema history across the twentieth century. Aurore shows that the film-historical archive has always been a site of feminist agency and power, even if women's work in and around the archive has been diminished, interrupted, erased, or ignored. In this conversation with fellow feminist film scholar Alix Beeston, Aurore shares about the historical, methodological, and political stakes of her work, from the archive to the classroom. She describes her process for discerning the traces of women's archival labor, however fleeting, contingent, or speculative they may be. She reflects on how gendered ideas and norms have defined—and limited—our sense of what counts as film-historical labor. And she ruminates on what it means for feminist scholars, in and beyond film and media studies, to collect and recollect the past—for the sake of the feminist present and its still-possible futures. Alix Beeston is Reader in Literature and Visual Culture at Cardiff University. She's the author of In and Out of Sight: Modernist Writing and the Photographic Unseen (Oxford UP, 2018) and the co-editor of the award-winning volume Incomplete: The Feminist Possibilities of the Unfinished Film (University of California Press, 2023). 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

What happens when we assume women's presence in film history instead of their absence? This is the question at the heart of Archiving the Past: Women's Film History in France, 1927–1978, the newest addition to the Feminist Media Histories book series at the University of California Press. The first book by Aurore Spiers, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at Texas A&M University, Archiving the Past is a fascinating account of some of the many women in France whose labor had a decisive role in the formation of cinema history across the twentieth century. Aurore shows that the film-historical archive has always been a site of feminist agency and power, even if women's work in and around the archive has been diminished, interrupted, erased, or ignored. In this conversation with fellow feminist film scholar Alix Beeston, Aurore shares about the historical, methodological, and political stakes of her work, from the archive to the classroom. She describes her process for discerning the traces of women's archival labor, however fleeting, contingent, or speculative they may be. She reflects on how gendered ideas and norms have defined—and limited—our sense of what counts as film-historical labor. And she ruminates on what it means for feminist scholars, in and beyond film and media studies, to collect and recollect the past—for the sake of the feminist present and its still-possible futures. Alix Beeston is Reader in Literature and Visual Culture at Cardiff University. She's the author of In and Out of Sight: Modernist Writing and the Photographic Unseen (Oxford UP, 2018) and the co-editor of the award-winning volume Incomplete: The Feminist Possibilities of the Unfinished Film (University of California Press, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/film

The Fantasy/Animation podcast welcomes as its special guest for Episode 172 Professor Karen Redrobe, who is Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Professor and Undergraduate Chair in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work traverses film theory, animation, and feminism, and she is the author of Vanishing Women: Magic, Film, and Feminism (2003) and the new book Undead: (Inter)(in)animation, Feminisms, and the Art of War (2025), as well as editor of Animating Film Theory (2014) and Deep Mediations: Thinking Space in Cinema and Digital Cultures (2021, with Jeff Scheible). In this instalment, Karen introduces Chris and Alex to the life and career of the artist and filmmaker Helen Hill, who died in 2007 aged only 36, but whose ebullient imagination on display across her experimental shorts pushed at the boundaries of direct animation, stop-motion, and do-it-yourself methods of animated filmmaking. Listen as the trio discuss Hill's last short The Florestine Collection (2011) completed by her husband Paul Gailiunas, alongside earlier works Mouseholes (1999), and Madame Winger Makes A Film (2001), to reflect on mixed media film as a negotiation of trauma and mode of catharsis; unfinished animation and the political act of recovery; film-based activism, education, and the interpretive form of experimental animation; pantomime aesthetics and the role of paper, puppets, fabric and ‘stuff' in crafting worlds that only animation can access; and the playfulness of Hill's animated experiments and projects that expressed not just her delight in life but confronted what it means for a community to have filmmaking at its centre. **Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo** **As featured on Feedspot's 25 Best London Education Podcasts** **As featured on MillionPodcast's Best 10 UK Animation Podcasts and Best 60 Movie Podcasts in the UK**

What happens when we assume women's presence in film history instead of their absence? This is the question at the heart of Archiving the Past: Women's Film History in France, 1927–1978, the newest addition to the Feminist Media Histories book series at the University of California Press. The first book by Aurore Spiers, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at Texas A&M University, Archiving the Past is a fascinating account of some of the many women in France whose labor had a decisive role in the formation of cinema history across the twentieth century. Aurore shows that the film-historical archive has always been a site of feminist agency and power, even if women's work in and around the archive has been diminished, interrupted, erased, or ignored. In this conversation with fellow feminist film scholar Alix Beeston, Aurore shares about the historical, methodological, and political stakes of her work, from the archive to the classroom. She describes her process for discerning the traces of women's archival labor, however fleeting, contingent, or speculative they may be. She reflects on how gendered ideas and norms have defined—and limited—our sense of what counts as film-historical labor. And she ruminates on what it means for feminist scholars, in and beyond film and media studies, to collect and recollect the past—for the sake of the feminist present and its still-possible futures. Alix Beeston is Reader in Literature and Visual Culture at Cardiff University. She's the author of In and Out of Sight: Modernist Writing and the Photographic Unseen (Oxford UP, 2018) and the co-editor of the award-winning volume Incomplete: The Feminist Possibilities of the Unfinished Film (University of California Press, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when we assume women's presence in film history instead of their absence? This is the question at the heart of Archiving the Past: Women's Film History in France, 1927–1978, the newest addition to the Feminist Media Histories book series at the University of California Press. The first book by Aurore Spiers, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at Texas A&M University, Archiving the Past is a fascinating account of some of the many women in France whose labor had a decisive role in the formation of cinema history across the twentieth century. Aurore shows that the film-historical archive has always been a site of feminist agency and power, even if women's work in and around the archive has been diminished, interrupted, erased, or ignored. In this conversation with fellow feminist film scholar Alix Beeston, Aurore shares about the historical, methodological, and political stakes of her work, from the archive to the classroom. She describes her process for discerning the traces of women's archival labor, however fleeting, contingent, or speculative they may be. She reflects on how gendered ideas and norms have defined—and limited—our sense of what counts as film-historical labor. And she ruminates on what it means for feminist scholars, in and beyond film and media studies, to collect and recollect the past—for the sake of the feminist present and its still-possible futures. Alix Beeston is Reader in Literature and Visual Culture at Cardiff University. She's the author of In and Out of Sight: Modernist Writing and the Photographic Unseen (Oxford UP, 2018) and the co-editor of the award-winning volume Incomplete: The Feminist Possibilities of the Unfinished Film (University of California Press, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

Boom to Bust is a timely investigation into the rise of Peak TV and the perfect storm that caused a rapid decline in Hollywood work. When Hollywood writers and actors went on strike in 2023, they drew attention to the rapidly changing nature of film and television production. In Boom to Bust, media industry experts Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller combine economic and cultural analysis and interviews with industry workers to capture the lived experience of Hollywood in crisis. Tracking major disruptions of the preceding decade—including the transformation of streaming services into studios, the overproduction of series during Peak TV, as well as #MeToo and COVID—the authors explain how the conflicting interests of studio executives, creative workers, and workers' unions compelled a renegotiation of the terms of work. Grounding readers in the history of Hollywood labor negotiations, the authors provide a road map to make sense of Hollywood's present—and what comes next. Miranda Banks is Professor of Film, Television, and Media Studies at Loyola Marymount University, author of The Writers: A History of American Screenwriters and Their Guild, and coeditor of Production Studies. Kate Fortmueller is Associate Professor of Film and Media History at Georgia State University and author of Below the Stars: How the Labor of Working Actors and Extras Shapes Media Production and Hollywood Shutdown: Production, Distribution, and Exhibition in the Time of COVID. Peter C. Kunze is an assistant professor of communication at Tulane University. 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

Boom to Bust is a timely investigation into the rise of Peak TV and the perfect storm that caused a rapid decline in Hollywood work. When Hollywood writers and actors went on strike in 2023, they drew attention to the rapidly changing nature of film and television production. In Boom to Bust, media industry experts Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller combine economic and cultural analysis and interviews with industry workers to capture the lived experience of Hollywood in crisis. Tracking major disruptions of the preceding decade—including the transformation of streaming services into studios, the overproduction of series during Peak TV, as well as #MeToo and COVID—the authors explain how the conflicting interests of studio executives, creative workers, and workers' unions compelled a renegotiation of the terms of work. Grounding readers in the history of Hollywood labor negotiations, the authors provide a road map to make sense of Hollywood's present—and what comes next. Miranda Banks is Professor of Film, Television, and Media Studies at Loyola Marymount University, author of The Writers: A History of American Screenwriters and Their Guild, and coeditor of Production Studies. Kate Fortmueller is Associate Professor of Film and Media History at Georgia State University and author of Below the Stars: How the Labor of Working Actors and Extras Shapes Media Production and Hollywood Shutdown: Production, Distribution, and Exhibition in the Time of COVID. Peter C. Kunze is an assistant professor of communication at Tulane University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/film

Boom to Bust is a timely investigation into the rise of Peak TV and the perfect storm that caused a rapid decline in Hollywood work. When Hollywood writers and actors went on strike in 2023, they drew attention to the rapidly changing nature of film and television production. In Boom to Bust, media industry experts Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller combine economic and cultural analysis and interviews with industry workers to capture the lived experience of Hollywood in crisis. Tracking major disruptions of the preceding decade—including the transformation of streaming services into studios, the overproduction of series during Peak TV, as well as #MeToo and COVID—the authors explain how the conflicting interests of studio executives, creative workers, and workers' unions compelled a renegotiation of the terms of work. Grounding readers in the history of Hollywood labor negotiations, the authors provide a road map to make sense of Hollywood's present—and what comes next. Miranda Banks is Professor of Film, Television, and Media Studies at Loyola Marymount University, author of The Writers: A History of American Screenwriters and Their Guild, and coeditor of Production Studies. Kate Fortmueller is Associate Professor of Film and Media History at Georgia State University and author of Below the Stars: How the Labor of Working Actors and Extras Shapes Media Production and Hollywood Shutdown: Production, Distribution, and Exhibition in the Time of COVID. Peter C. Kunze is an assistant professor of communication at Tulane University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Boom to Bust is a timely investigation into the rise of Peak TV and the perfect storm that caused a rapid decline in Hollywood work. When Hollywood writers and actors went on strike in 2023, they drew attention to the rapidly changing nature of film and television production. In Boom to Bust, media industry experts Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller combine economic and cultural analysis and interviews with industry workers to capture the lived experience of Hollywood in crisis. Tracking major disruptions of the preceding decade—including the transformation of streaming services into studios, the overproduction of series during Peak TV, as well as #MeToo and COVID—the authors explain how the conflicting interests of studio executives, creative workers, and workers' unions compelled a renegotiation of the terms of work. Grounding readers in the history of Hollywood labor negotiations, the authors provide a road map to make sense of Hollywood's present—and what comes next. Miranda Banks is Professor of Film, Television, and Media Studies at Loyola Marymount University, author of The Writers: A History of American Screenwriters and Their Guild, and coeditor of Production Studies. Kate Fortmueller is Associate Professor of Film and Media History at Georgia State University and author of Below the Stars: How the Labor of Working Actors and Extras Shapes Media Production and Hollywood Shutdown: Production, Distribution, and Exhibition in the Time of COVID. Peter C. Kunze is an assistant professor of communication at Tulane University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

How teachers and students are using AI at school and beyond. About John Dolman John Dolman is a Media Studies teacher at Ponteland Community High School. He holds an MEd in Educational Leadership and Practitioner Enquiry and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Newcastle University. He has worked in schools in the UK, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, teaching English and Media and holding leadership roles including Head of Languages and Cultures and Raising Achievement Deputy. His responsibilities have included curriculum development, teacher training and mentoring, data analysis, and performance management. He is interested in using AI and generative AI in practical ways to support teaching and learning. Outside of work, he enjoys the outdoors, practises martial arts, and cares about the environment and his local community. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-dolman-3836b8251/  Resources https://theaienglishteacher.wordpress.com/  https://activelyintelligent.org/about John Mikton on Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmikton/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmikton Web: beyonddigital.org Dan Taylor on social media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/appsevents  Twitter: https://twitter.com/appdkt  Web: www.appsevents.com Listen on: iTunes / Podbean / Stitcher / Spotify / YouTube Do a full security audit of your Workspace for free at https://workspaceaudit.com Would you like to have a free 1 month trial of the new Google Workspace Plus (formerly G Suite Enterprise for Education)? Just fill out this form and we'll get you set up bit.ly/GSEFE-Trial

Send us Fan MailIn today's episode, I'm chatting with Jennifer N. Brown. Jennifer is the Dean of Arts & Sciences at Bentley University, where she is also Professor of English and Media Studies, with a specialization in medieval literature written for and by women. She has published a lot on this topic but The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton is her first novel. She lives in the Boston area with her husbnad, their two children, and two miniature dachshunds. Episode Highlights:The real history behind Elizabeth Barton and the lost manuscriptWriting as both a historian and a novelistThe freedom fiction offers compared to academic writingBalancing historical accuracy with compelling storytellingWriting across dual timelines (historical + modern)How present-day perspectives shape historical fictionThe role of empathy in both history and readingLetting go of perfection and knowing when to finish a bookConnect with Jennifer:InstagramWebsiteSome links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.Books and authors mentioned in the episode:Orlando by Virginia WoolfHeart the Lover by Lily KingFlashlight by Susan ChoiBook FlightThe French Lieutenant's Woman by John FowlesThe Weight of Ink by Rachel KadishWolf Hall by Hilary Mantel✨ Find Your Next Great Read! We just hit 175 episodes of Bookish Flights, and to celebrate, I created the Bookish Flights Roadmap — a guide to all 175 podcast episodes, sorted by genre to help you find your next great read faster.Explore it here → www.bookishflights.com/read/roadmapSupport the showBe sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!InstagramFacebookWebsite

Two of our earliest guests are back — and 200 episodes later, the conversation is better than ever.Jason sits down with Emily Contois (Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Tulsa and author of *Diners, Dudes, and Diets*) and Mark Johnson (Assistant Professor of History at UT Chattanooga and author of the newly released *American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon*) to dig into the 2022 satirical horror film *The Menu* — and end up covering pretty much everything worth knowing about American food culture along the way.What starts as a film discussion quickly becomes a wide-ranging conversation about class anxiety and culinary capital, the rise (and fall) of the celebrity chef, the myth of Southern food exceptionalism, why farm-to-table can only exist after industrialization, and what it really means when you pull out your phone to photograph your dinner. They debate who deserves their fate in the film, why the cheeseburger scene might be the most important moment in the whole movie, and whether food can ever truly be "authentic."Plus: Jose Andres, Anthony Bourdain's complicated legacy, Mario Batali, the bread scene, s'mores as satire, Noma's $1,500 tasting menu, and why gumbo might just be the most American food there is.*Spoilers throughout — watch the film first.*---*Emily Contois is on Instagram and Bluesky. Her book Diners, Dudes, and Diets is available wherever books are sold. Mark Johnson's American Bacon is out now — and he'll be back on the pod soon for a dedicated book episode.*

University of Chicago Assistant Professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, AE Stevenson and Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Brooklyne Gipson join us to talk about digital Black feminism online. We start our discussion with America's relations with the platform TikTok, and how it is a large social media site for Black creators. We then explore how to define community and culture, especially for Black people online, in a world resistant to progress. Building from this, AE and Brooklyne discuss how certain communicative practices in the Black community focus on storytelling as a vehicle for critical thought rather than a lack of media literacy education. This leads to the larger topic of online discourse around the films Sinners and One Battle After Another. We end with dissecting how the recognition of, or lack thereof, Black culture affects people's views of these films. Although they both feature Black actors, they interact with culture very differently. Ultimately, we push for an awareness of the multilayered discussions of media seen as progressive or discursive. They should think about what cultures and communities are being featured and how.        Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper: Academic/Educational readings and resources: Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code Algorithms of Oppression  Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness Renegades: Digital Dance Cultures from Dubsmash to TikTok Digital Pleasure and Danger: A Roundtable Discussion Niggas on the Internet: Scenes of a Black Social Life (Dissertation) Sites of Chaos: Scenes of a Black Social Life (book in progress) he Black Mirror World: Racialized Disinformation and Misogynoir Online (book in progress) The Comet (1920) [short story, article] The Souls of Black Folk Black Oscars: From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us about African Americans People & Places: Ruha Benjamin Ryan Coogler Teyana Taylor Safiya Noble Simone Browne Jasmine Crockett Centinela Drive-In Steve Jobs Charli D'Amelio Leonardo Chiariglione Toni Cade Bambara W. E. B. Du Bois Denzel Washington Lupita Nyong'o Michael B. Jordan Nia DaCosta Sonja Norwood (wickdconfections) Leonardo DiCaprio Timothée Chalamet Sam Raimi Kevin Samuels Andrew Tate Candace Owens Charlie Kirk Erika Kirk Nicki Minaj Steve Bannon Paul Thomas Anderson Maya Rudolph Minnie Riperton Media: Michael B. Jordan Wins Best Actor | 98th Oscars Speech (2026) Sinners (2025) One Battle After Another (2026) Twister (1996) #OscarsSoWhite and The Legacy of Halle Berry by Be Kind Rewind Scream franchise Scream (1996) Scream 7 (2026) Scary Movie franchise Scary Movie (2026 film) Black Panther (2018) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) Bugonia (2025) Magnolia (1999) Punch-Drunk Love (2002) Inherent Vice (2014) Phantom Thread (2017) Licorise Pizza (2021) Moonlight (2016) James Bond series Live and Let Die (1973) Oregon Trail (game) Lex Marie artwork A Thousand and One (2023) From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) The Jazz Singer (1980) TikTok finalizes deal to form new U.S. unit with major American investors Is the new US TikTok safer? Candace Owens takes on Erika Kirk in 'The Bride of Charlie' Erika Kirk Accidentally Mixes Up 'Grift' Instead of 'Grit' in Awkward Moment at Turning Point USA Event Vine TikTok YouTube Wickdconfections Black American recipe series Exalted (book) ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at howdoyoulikeitsofarpodcast@gmail.com.Music:“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmetSpaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeatsCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumentalFree Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceshipMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

In this episode of "Giant Mess", we're heading to the Death Planet Genna for our full movie review and cinematic breakdown of Predator: Badlands. We dive deep into Dan Trachtenberg's latest entry in the franchise , exploring how the controversial PG-13 rating totally worked by substituting human gore for "synth-on-synth crime". We analyze Dek, the underdog "Gen-Z" Yautja protagonist played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi , and his unconventional alliance with a damaged Weyland-Yutani synthetic named Thia, played by Elle Fanning.We also break down the incredible organic tech and creature designs—from razor grass and bone bison to the unkillable Kalisk and fan-favorite infant sidekick, Bud. Plus, what do the Alien universe Easter eggs mean for the future of the franchise? We connect the dots between Badlands, Prey, Alien: Romulus, and the Alien: Earth TV series , and explore the insane ending theories surrounding Dek's "Mother" and a potential live-action return for Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch.See where Predator: Badlands ranks in our ultimate Alien and Predator timeline , and why the Yautja Renaissance has ushered in a new era.New York Giants Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/NYGiantsYTPlaylist NY Mets Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/MetsYTPlaylist Movie Reviews - https://bit.ly/GiantMessMovieReviews TV Show Reactions - https://bit.ly/GiantMessTV Funny Stories -  https://bit.ly/GiantMessFunnyStoriesABOUT NEAL LYNCH:Neal Lynch is the creator and host of Giant Mess, a podcast blending sports commentary, pop culture analysis, and storytelling. Former 4th string quarterback and middle relief pitcher at a Division III school. Degrees in Film & Media Studies and Communications. Helped multiple major media and entertainment publishers develop, produce, optimize, distribute, and promote videos across web, video, and social media platforms. Single dad who loves to blog, podcast, write, edit, optimize, strategize, and over-analyze.  ABOUT "GIANT MESS":"Giant Mess" is a weird sports and entertainment comedy podcast hosted by a giant mess, the Real Cinch Neal Lynch. Neal covers New York Giants football, NY Mets baseball, movies, and TV shows, mixing in funny stories along the way.  Episodes focus on movie reviews, tv show recaps, post-game analysis, predictions, breakdowns, reactions, and funny stories.Subscribe to Giant Mess on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessYT⁠⁠ Follow me on:* Link Tree - ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/neallynch⁠⁠  * My Official Blog - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/neallynchBLOG⁠⁠ * Facebook Page - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessFB⁠⁠    * Twitter - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchTW⁠⁠     * Personal Instagram - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchIG⁠⁠    * Podcast Instagram - ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessInstagram⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessApple⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessSpotify⁠⁠ 

Universities, long celebrated as sanctuaries of free thought and intellectual rigour, have for centuries been regarded as the best way to educate and conduct research. But increasingly, this assumption is being questioned. A recent study found that two-thirds of academics feel their freedom to teach and study is being curtailed. In 2022 alone, over 1,000 instances of content warnings or text removals were documented across UK universities. While some academics now criticise PhD programmes as a way to extract "fees and cheap labour" from students, reports suggest that most academic papers are read by an average of just ten people. More than half of respondents now say that going to university is not worth it. And in the US, graduate student debt averages over $71,000, while similar information is often freely available online.Should we call time on the age of the university and find new, innovative ways to educate people? Should we leave research and innovation to the business sector and free-market forces? Or are universities still vital to our education and culture and can a radical overhaul restore them to their original purpose?Yaron Brook is a political scientist, and chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute. He's a bestselling author and the host of The Yaron Brook Show. Catherine Liu is a Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She's the author of Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class. Eric Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham. He's the author of Taboo and Whiteshift: Immigration, Populism and the Future of White Majorities. Jay Shapiro hosts.Email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts on the episode!To see your favourite thinkers tackle philosophy's most current issues, buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is this the most chaotic offseason in New York Mets franchise history? We break down the "Great Purge," David Stearns' roster overhaul, and give our official 2026 Mets season predictions.In this Giant Mess, Neal Lynch dives into the state of the Mets empire on the eve of Opening Day. After saying goodbye to franchise cornerstones like Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, and Jeff McNeil, the front office rebuilt a pennant contender in just 90 days.We cover all the blockbuster signings and trades, including Bo Bichette's shocking move to third base, Jorge Polanco at first, Luis Robert Jr. taking over center field, and Juan Soto's shift to left. Plus, we look at the revamped pitching rotation featuring Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, and the bullpen additions of Devin Williams and Luke Weaver. Will this completely retooled roster be enough to guarantee a playoff spot, or will it backfire?Intro: The State of the Mets EmpireThe "Great Purge" (Losing Alonso, Diaz, Nimmo, & McNeil)David Stearns' Masterclass: Rebuilding in 90 DaysThe New Infield: Polanco, Semien & Bo BichetteOutfield Shuffle: Juan Soto in Left & Luis Robert Jr. in CenterStarting Rotation Breakdown: Freddy Peralta & Nolan McLeanFixing the Bullpen: Luke Weaver & Devin WilliamsSeason Predictions & Player Projections#NewYorkMets #Mets #LGM #MetsPodcast #GiantMess #JuanSoto #BoBichette #MLB #MetsFansNew York Giants Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/NYGiantsYTPlaylist NY Mets Fan Rants & Analysis - https://bit.ly/MetsYTPlaylist Movie Reviews - https://bit.ly/GiantMessMovieReviews TV Show Reactions - https://bit.ly/GiantMessTV Funny Stories -  https://bit.ly/GiantMessFunnyStoriesABOUT NEAL LYNCH:Neal Lynch is the creator and host of Giant Mess, a podcast blending sports commentary, pop culture analysis, and storytelling. Former 4th string quarterback and middle relief pitcher at a Division III school. Degrees in Film & Media Studies and Communications. Helped multiple major media and entertainment publishers develop, produce, optimize, distribute, and promote videos across web, video, and social media platforms. Single dad who loves to blog, podcast, write, edit, optimize, strategize, and over-analyze.  ABOUT "GIANT MESS":"Giant Mess" is a weird sports and entertainment comedy podcast hosted by a giant mess, the Real Cinch Neal Lynch. Neal covers New York Giants football, NY Mets baseball, movies, and TV shows, mixing in funny stories along the way.  Episodes focus on movie reviews, tv show recaps, post-game analysis, predictions, breakdowns, reactions, and funny stories.Subscribe to Giant Mess on YouTube: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessYT⁠⁠ Follow me on:* Link Tree - ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/neallynch⁠⁠  * My Official Blog - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/neallynchBLOG⁠⁠ * Facebook Page - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessFB⁠⁠    * Twitter - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchTW⁠⁠     * Personal Instagram - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/NealLynchIG⁠⁠    * Podcast Instagram - ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/GiantMessInstagram⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessApple⁠⁠  * Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/GiantMessSpotify⁠⁠ 

Irish Digital Cultures: Identity, Contexts, Space (Routledge, 2025) explores how questions of Ireland and Irishness are represented in online environments, and what these phenomena say about contemporary Irish identities both within the country and globally. It will interest Irish Studies, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Race, Gender, Identity, and New Media. 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

Irish Digital Cultures: Identity, Contexts, Space (Routledge, 2025) explores how questions of Ireland and Irishness are represented in online environments, and what these phenomena say about contemporary Irish identities both within the country and globally. It will interest Irish Studies, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Race, Gender, Identity, and New Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

Scholar of science and technology studies and Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Media Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Anita Say Chan, is back to break down the fight between the Pentagon and Claude A.I., & explain big tech's increasingly obvious and ominous gestures to a techno feudalist future where intelligence is paywalled, human bodies exist to be rented by AI agents, and big tech runs the American military machine. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Has the internet always been a magical space?Shira Chess, a Professor of Entertainment and Media Studies at the University of Georgia and a leading scholar of digital folklore, dive into her new book, The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse, to explore the hidden spiritual architecture of our digital lives.From the open-source creation of digital cryptids like Slender Man on early forums to the summoning of AI entities in latent space, Chess argues that technology and magic have become indistinguishable. Rushkoff and Chess discuss how the countercultural, techno-shamanic roots of the 1990s internet (including the Mondo 2000 era) transformed into today's algorithm-driven corporate landscape, and how we might reclaim our agency by finding subversive ways to use these technologies.They also unpack algorithmic conspirituality, exploring why we treat our social media feeds like modern-day oracles, and how meme magic has evolved from an online joke into a force that shapes political reality. Ultimately, is our digital occultism a path to liberation, or just a new way to decorate our corporate cages?Substack: Subscribe to The Unseen Internet at https://unseeninternet.substack.com/Book: Get The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse wherever books are sold.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@douglasrushkoffTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.