Podcasts about Odysseus

Al, Zach, Christian, and John Luke dig into The Odyssey, comparing Christopher Nolan's interpretation with Homer's original, from the diminished role of the Greek gods to Penelope's complicated fight to preserve her family and kingdom. They explore Telemachus' struggle to grow up without his father and the stark contrast between men who build and protect and those who simply live off what others have built. The guys ultimately contrast Odysseus' long journey home with Christianity's radically different picture of God bringing his people home. In this episode: Judges; 1 Samuel; Job; Daniel 2; Daniel 7; John 9; Hebrews 13:2; Hebrews 13:4; Ecclesiastes; Revelation 21-22 Today's conversation is about Lesson 1 & 2 of The Odyssey taught by Hillsdale Professor Dr. Benedict Whalen. Take the course with us at no cost to you!  More about The Odyssey: The Odyssey tells the tale of the cunning and crafty hero of the Trojan War on his journey home. After ten years of war, Odysseus faces another ten years of fantastic temptations, deadly monsters, treacherous seas, and impious men. Meanwhile, Ithaca is threatened by suitors who plague his wife and plunder his wealth. When Odysseus reaches home, he must slay the suitors, test the loyalty of his friends and family, and restore order to his marriage and his kingdom. Join Dr. Benedict Whalen as he explores themes of love, marriage, kingship, duty, and piety. Encounter Homer's epic, which displays the full human experience. In a world of uncertainty, Odysseus charts a path towards peace through perseverance, prudence, and justice.  Join Odysseus on his fantastic journey home from Troy in Homer's unrivaled story. Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters 00:00 ‘The Odyssey' Adventure Begins 06:15 Why Christians Should Care About Homer 09:58 Odysseus Chooses Home Over Glory 12:22 Why This Story Still Connects 3,000 Years Later 19:31 What Ancient Hospitality Reveals About Culture 23:47 Greek Gods vs. the God of Christianity 27:36 The Question Humanity Has Always Asked 33:07 Penelope, the Suitors & the Politics of Marriage 42:26 What Happens When a Father Is Missing 46:31 The Rise of “Parasitic Masculinity” 48:27 Two Very Different Roads Home - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marxism Got Into The Church. John Zmirak Says It Never Really Left. Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, John Zmirak joins Eric to discuss how the ideas of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud influenced modern Christianity. Zmirak argues that some churches tried to accommodate ideas they considered intellectually respectable and, in the process, began explaining away biblical miracles, reshaping Christian teaching around Marxist politics, and replacing traditional ideas about sin with Freudian psychology. Eric and John discuss Darwinism, Genesis, the Resurrection, liberation theology, Freud's influence, and what happens when Christians become embarrassed by the supernatural claims at the heart of their faith. Earlier, Eric continues his remarkable story from Greece and shares an update on plans to excavate the site believed to contain the palace of Odysseus.   John Zmirak Joins Darwin, Marx And Freud Inside The Church Why Christians Began Explaining Away Miracles How Marxism Entered Christian Churches Can Christianity Survive Without The Supernatural? Zmirak On Freud And Christian Morality Why Freud's Ideas Survived After His Theories Fell Apart C.S. Lewis, Freud And Eric's Unexpected Connection   Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/qvidVTUDGkE?si=xWigxQ7x7eh64glt Eric Metaxas 97.3K subscribers 14,182 views Premiered Sep 11, 2026 The Eric Metaxas Show ⭐ ORDER NOW: Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World

What happens when we wait until we're tired, overwhelmed, emotional, or dysregulated to make important decisions? In this episode, I share a vulnerable piece of my own journey with food, emotional eating, and my longtime goal to "make peace with food." Using the story of Odysseus and the Sirens, we'll talk about why it can be so powerful to make a plan while your thinking brain is online, before your emotional brain takes over. This isn't about control or perfection. It's about intention, order, and creating more peace in your life. Whether your struggle is food, exercise, shopping, scrolling, procrastination, or something else, the principle is the same: plan ahead of time for the moments when you might "lose your head." Sometimes the plan you make ahead of time can become one of your greatest weapons of peace.

The story moves through grief, courage and one of the most famous acts of compassion in the Trojan War, as an ageing king undertakes a dangerous journey into the enemy camp. Save the playlist for all episodes - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We'll then hear more of Odysseus's remarkable deeds, including the plan that finally gives the Greeks a chance to bring the long war at Troy to an end. As Menelaus finishes his account, Telemachus receives new hope that his father may still return home. And at last, Telemachus begins his own journey back towards Ithaka, unaware of just how close Odysseus may now be. If you would like a version with our relaxing sleep music please scroll down to the previous episode. Please leave a 5-star review & SUBSCRIBE on Apple and Spotify. Sleep Cove Premium Become a Premium Member for Bonus Episodes & Ad-Free listening: Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and become a Premium Member. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get Instant Access⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and sign up in two taps. Our Sister Shows: - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Cove⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - is our Sleep Hypnosis, Meditation and Bedtime Story channel, where you can find the perfect episode to help you sleep deeply all night long. - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Calm Cove⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠is our music Podcast, where you can find Relaxing Music, White Noise and Nature Sounds. - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Let's Begin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - is our Day Meditation podcast. Start your day feeling relaxed and positive, or take some time out to unwind with these calming meditations with wakeners at the end so that you can continue your day. - YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bedtime Story Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Hypnosis & Meditation Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Connect: - Join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a Bonus Meditation  - Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Recommended Products: Comfortable Sleep Headphones -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/headphones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Best Mattress from Puffy:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepcove.com/puffy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _______________ All Content by Sleep Cove is for educational or entertainment purposes and does not provide or replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your medical professional before making any changes to your treatment and if in any doubt, contact your doctor. Please listen in a place where you can safely go to sleep. Sleep Cove is not responsible or liable for any loss, damage or injury arising from the use of this content. _________________ Sleep Cove content includes guided sleep meditations, sleep hypnosis (hypnotherapy), sleep stories (visualizations) and Bedtime Stories for adults and grown-ups, all designed to help you get a great night's sleep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've experienced the movie event of the year, so now it's time for the podcast event of the year! We cover Nolan's latest masterpiece and tell our own journey with the film, including a fun rundown of Nolan's filmography near the end of the episode. We have chapters for easy navigation! Definitely easier than the route Odysseus took on his twenty year journey, and not nearly as long.The Odyssey (2026)Directed by: Christopher NolanStarring: Matt Damon - Tom Holland - Anne Hathaway - Robert Pattinson - Himesh PatelGenres: adventure - action - fantasyRuntime: 173 minutesOur Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reel Film Chronicles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Letterboxd Profiles: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nathan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nathan's Site: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Feed the Voices⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Letterboxd⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠| ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠IMDb⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chapters0:00: Introduction1:32: The Theatre Experience7:32: The Odyssey17:19: Feature Film Discussion1:14:08: Ratings Guessing Game1:15:57: Reel Film Ratings1:17:23: Christopher Nolan Filmography1:23:05: Final Thoughts and ConclusionEpisode 99The OdysseyOdysseus, the legendary King of Ithaca, embarks on a long and perilous journey home following the Trojan War. Throughout his voyage, he is forced to confront the whims of gods, mythological monsters, and trials that stretch both his cunning and his humanity to the breaking point.CreditsMusic by ⁠⁠⁠Alexi Action⁠⁠⁠ from ⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, Eric shares the possible answer to a mystery that has puzzled him for months. Eric and Suzanne independently witnessed nearly the same startling sight on the same day: a hawk holding a dove in its talons, once in Connecticut and once in Manhattan.After returning from Greece and rereading Homer's Odyssey, Eric discovered a strikingly similar bird sign in the ancient story, where it is interpreted as a warning that Odysseus is returning and justice is coming. Ken Fish joins Eric to discuss whether experiences like this can be interpreted as signs from God, how Christians should approach them carefully, and what divine justice means in the present moment.They also discuss current questions about political accountability before Ken previews the upcoming Orbis Ministries Luminosity conference in Nashville.⭐ ORDER NOW:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World

OpenAI heeft bekendgemaakt dat zich het afgelopen jaar zes vergelijkbare gevallen hebben voorgedaan waarbij AI-systemen zelfstandig besloten hun sporen te wissen, bestanden te delen of opdrachten te negeren, los van de eerdere hack bij Hugging Face. Het bedrijf noemt dit gedrag misalignment en kondigt aan voortaan binnen zes tot twaalf dagen melding te maken van dit soort incidenten, bij gebrek aan bestaande meldstandaarden. Verder bespreken we de AI-gegenereerde film Odysseus: The Fall, die naar verluidt ver achterblijft bij een échte Hollywoodfilm. Joe van Burik vertelt erover in deze Tech Update. Volgens OpenAI ontbreken nog algemene richtlijnen voor het melden van dit soort gevallen, dus stelt het bedrijf voorlopig zelf de regels op: binnen zes dagen na afronding van een incident, of binnen twaalf dagen als nader onderzoek nodig is. Volledig AI-gegenereerde film Odysseus: The Fall uitgebracht Het bedrijf Fountain 0 en filmmaker Ash Koosha, oorspronkelijk afkomstig uit Iran, brachten deze week Odysseus: The Fall uit, een 2,5 uur durende film die volledig met AI is gemaakt. Volgens de makers is dit een met AI geproduceerde film op het niveau van een Hollywoodblockbuster. Techsite The Verge is kritisch over de film. Volgens de recensie is de grootte van figuren niet consistent, waaien golven tegen de wind in en bewegen monden van personages niet synchroon met de gesproken tekst. Ook de riemen van roeiers in de boot van Odysseus bewegen volgens de recensie op willekeurige wijze. Huidige AI-modellen kunnen doorgaans scènes van slechts enkele seconden genereren, waardoor de film bestaat uit een reeks losse fragmenten. OpenAI-agents waren 2 maanden bezig voor Hugging Face hack, zegt nieuw onderzoek OpenAI onthult zes nieuwe gevallen van zorgwekkend AI-modelgedrag OpenAI geeft toe dat het eerder had kunnen ingrijpen bij Hugging Face hack Fountain 0 kondigt volledig AI-gegenereerde film Odysseus: The Fall aan Recensie noemt Odysseus: The Fall een reeks losse, saaie AI-fragmenten Over de maker:Joe van Burik volgt en duidt de belangrijkste ontwikkelingen in tech, met scherpte, vlotheid en de nodige humor. Je hoort hem dagelijks op BNR Nieuwsradio over het belangrijkste technieuws, van AI tot cybersecurity en social media tot quantumcomputers. Ook interviewt hij in De Grote Tech Show samen met Ben van der Burg leiders in digitale innovatie. In het bijzonder volgt Joe al twee decennia de wereld van videogames, nu voor zijn podcast All in the Game.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cutting Our Wisdom Teeth 2/4 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Seek It Like Silver. Wisdom is the subject of the whole of Proverbs – not because everybody has it, but because everybody should want it. It's a gift that only God can give, but there is a path toward it that a person has to choose and re-choose. The only problem is, there are many paths, including alluring paths that lead to whatever is the opposite of wisdom. (Proverbs often says “destruction.”) Those seductive options are personified as seductive women, like the sirens who call Odysseus to a treacherous shore. To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, John Zmirak joins Eric to discuss how the ideas of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud influenced modern Christianity. Zmirak argues that some churches tried to accommodate ideas they considered intellectually respectable and, in the process, began explaining away biblical miracles, reshaping Christian teaching around Marxist politics, and replacing traditional ideas about sin with Freudian psychology.Eric and John discuss Darwinism, Genesis, the Resurrection, liberation theology, Freud's influence, and what happens when Christians become embarrassed by the supernatural claims at the heart of their faith.Earlier, Eric continues his remarkable story from Greece and shares an update on plans to excavate the site believed to contain the palace of Odysseus.⭐ ORDER NOW:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World

Amphibian ambivalence, Cartographic correction, Tupac truth, Solar system synthesis, Odysseus opinions, Da Vinci delaying, Plastic pabulum. Jennifer, Angie, Way, and Bradley discuss the curated links for the week of 9/11/2026. Please consider supporting this ad-free content on Patreon.

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, Eric returns from Greece with a remarkable update on a story he has followed for more than three decades: the search for the historical world behind Homer's Odysseus.Eric recounts how researchers used details in The Iliad and The Odyssey to identify a location on Kefalonia, where archaeologists later uncovered a major Mycenaean tomb. He discusses a seal stone found at the site that he says bears imagery resembling a description in The Odyssey, his frustration with the way the discovery has been handled, and the new development that the site believed to contain Odysseus's palace may finally be excavated.Later, John Zmirak joins Eric to discuss Milo Yiannopoulos, Islam and Christianity, immigration and free speech in Europe, and Gloria Steinem's legacy.

In this episode of Dialogue Unbound, Caroline Kline talks with literary scholar Michael Austin and filmmaker Daniel Foster Smith about The Odyssey, modern adaptation, and the stories cultures tell about their heroes. From Odysseus's hubris… The post From Odysseus to Nephi: Heroes, History, and Myth appeared first on Dialogue Journal.

Watch this episode ad-free by joining the ITBR Patreon! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/ivorytowerboilerroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----It's another full house on the ITBR! Joining us today are Professors Angela Weisl, Liz Schmermund and Elizabeth Redwine! Nolan's “The Odyssey” adaptation was the biggest hit of the summer, spanning a massive production with Hollywood A-Listers that some would call his most ambitious film yet. But…how did it land with scholars?Being familiar with the source material, we dug into all the changes made from the book, what we enjoyed and what could have been improved upon. From the characterization of the titular character Odysseus to the portrayal of Circe, we made sure to touch as many bases as possible within this epic adaptation of the classic story!Check out these professors!https://www.shu.edu/profiles/angelaweisl.htmlhttps://www.shu.edu/profiles/RedwineElizabeth.htmlhttps://www.elizabethschmermund.com/-----Follow ITBR on IG ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@ivorytowerboilerroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and TikTok ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@dr.andrewrimby⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can watch video episodes of the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@ivorytowerboilerroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To subscribe to The Gay and Lesbian Review visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠glreview.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Click Subscribe and enter promo code ITBRChoice to get a free issue with a subscription purchase. Follow them on IG ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theglreview⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and TikTok ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@g_and_lr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ broadviewpress.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠order. Follow them on IG ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@broadviewpress⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Thanks to the ITBR team! Dr. Andrew Rimby (Host and Director), Mary DiPipi (Chief Contributor), Sean Penta (Editor), and Tyce Fiorino (Intern)

Would you cheer for a hero who tricks a Cyclops but never sleeps with a witch? Classics professor Adam Kemezis joins Matthew Fox to dig into how Christopher Nolan's Odyssey reshapes Homer's most cunning warrior for a modern audience, and what gets lost when three thousand years of moral complexity gets smoothed down to relatable and redeemable.Kemezis, who teaches Greek and Roman mythology at the University of Alberta, and Fox work through why the movie's Odysseus loses his cunning and his affairs while keeping  his violence intact, and how Emily Wilson's own translation, and her since-published critique of the film, shaped the conversation. Is a hero still worth rooting for once the trickery gets stripped away?Full show notes and resources**************************************************************************This episode is a production of Superhero Ethics, an Ethical Panda podcast and part of the TruStory FM Entertainment Podcast Network. Check out our website to find out more about this show and our sister podcast Star Wars Generations.We want to hear from you! Keep up with our latest news and send us feedback, questions, or comments via social media or email.TikTok · Twitter/X · Instagram · Facebook · EmailJoin the conversation in the Star Wars Generations and Superhero Ethics channels on the TruStory FM Discord.Want even more content while supporting the podcast? Become a member! For $5 a month or $55 a year you get access to bonus episodes and bonus content at the end of most episodes — and you can even give membership as a gift. Sign up here.You can also support us through our sponsors:Purchase a lightsaber from Level Up Sabers, run by friend of the podcast Neighborhood Master Alan.Use Audible for audiobooks. Sign up for a one-year membership or gift one through this link.Purchase any media discussed this week through our sponsored links.

Sperlonga and The Odyssey have been intertwined for nearly two thousand years, and now Sperlonga is having an unexpected new moment in the spotlight thanks to Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. The connection couldn't be more appropriate. Long before Hollywood turned its attention to the epic adventures of Odysseus, a Roman emperor created an astonishing celebration of those same adventures in a vast seaside grotto here in Sperlonga. If Sperlonga has already captured your attention and you'd like to visit, here's where you can stay. For this episode's show notes and photos find them here.

DEFENDANT: The Odyssey EVIDENCE: "Odyssey" Miner Family Winery Red Blend 2021 SCENE OF THE CRIME: Napa, CA -- Hey friend — welcome to our Season 6 kickoff of True Crimes Against Wine! We popped a slightly fancier Napa GSM, uncorked some ancient Greek drama, and laughed (and cried a little) our way through Polyphemus, Calypso, and the many questionable choices of Odysseus. We took this bottle on a little detective walk-through — sniffing eucalyptus, tasting red plums, and decoding why the wine felt lighter than expected. It's a celebration-splurge kind of pour: balanced, food-friendly, and surprisingly low-ABV for a Napa blend. We also dove into Christopher Nolan's new Odyssey film — casting surprises, scene highlights (hello sirens and practical effects), and the ways the movie leans into war trauma more than the racy bits of the original epic. Plus, a rapid-fire Greek-or-not quiz that may have gotten a little too competitive, lots of gossip about wishbone and pop culture, and of course, a plea for listeners to Venmo us so we can go sample vineyards in person. This episode is cozy, honest, and full of nerdy joy — think wine notes, mythological tangents, and big feelings about dogs, hubris, and how language evolves. Pour yourself something special and join us for the ride — we're loud, affectionate, and absolutely here for season six.

1.20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”21 The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.” 23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young… 21 And Hannah prayed and said,“My heart exults in the Lord;     my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies,     because I rejoice in your salvation.2  “There is none holy like the Lord:     for there is none besides you;     there is no rock like our God. 3 Talk no more so very proudly,     let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge,     and by him actions are weighed. 4 The bows of the mighty are broken,     but the feeble bind on strength. 5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,     but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven,     but she who has many children is forlorn. 6 The Lord kills and brings to life;     he brings down to Sheol and raises up. 7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;     he brings low and he exalts. 8 He raises up the poor from the dust;     he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes     and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,     and on them he has set the world.9  “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,     but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,     for not by might shall a man prevail. 10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;     against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;     he will give strength to his king     and exalt the horn of his anointed.”1.     The sermon contrasts Odysseus — take back what's yours, make your name known — with Hannah, who gives away the one thing she has. Which of those impulses do you feel more in yourself, and in what area of your life?2.     Is it believable that Hannah, or anyone, could take the one thing they longed for most and give it over to God in worship, finding ultimate joy there? Can we be satisfied in giving to God?3.     Hannah's song says God lifts the humble and brings down the proud. Do you believe that for your life and this world? 4.     How easy is it for you to know and own your need before God? What gets in the way?5.     Can you see the Great Reversal of the death and resurrection of Jesus in Hannah's song? Does that help you be willing to be low and humble that God might lift you high?6.     What would our relationships and culture look like if they ran more on Hannah's song and less on the Odyssey's value system?

Episode Summary: In this special bonus episode of "With All Due Respect," Megan Powell Du Toit and Michael Jensen dive into a discussion about Christopher Nolan's 2026 film, "The Odyssey." This adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic is dissected through the lenses of both the original text's themes and contemporary interpretations, offering listeners a rich tapestry of theological and cultural insights. Key Takeaways: Modern Adaptations of Classic Epics: Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" provokes dialogue not only about its faithfulness to Homer's epic but also its reinterpretation in a contemporary context. Themes of Guilt and Atonement: The film explores psychological and spiritual depth, highlighting Odysseus's journey through guilt and atonement as a reflection of modern sensibilities influenced by Christian thought. Hospitality's Role in Society: The concept of hospitality is critically examined, both as a part of Homer's world and in its implications for today's global and often divided landscapes. Cultural Relevance and Critique: The discourse reflects on how adaptations resonate with current socio-political climates, posing questions about home, belonging, and societal norms. Lewis and Tolkien's Influence: There is a discussion on how ancient longings reflected in texts like "The Odyssey" find answers in the Christian gospel, drawing parallels with the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Notable Quotes: "When you're using source material like this… I'm really, I really enjoy a reworking." – Megan Powell Du Toit "The goodies turn out to be the baddies… evil lurking in your own heart." – Michael Jensen "Guilt and atonement… how Christian are those themes." – Michael Jensen "Home is a place that is safe for you and yours, but also must have that permeable border." – Megan Powell Du Toit "There is no real atonement possible, even in Nolan's epic." – Megan Powell Du Toit See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode, I take a look back at the movies and streaming shows I watched in Summer 2026 and rate them. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Ghost Armor series at my Payhip store: FALLARMOR The coupon code is valid through September 21, 2026. So if you need a new ebook this fall, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 319 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September the 4th, 2026, and today I'm looking back at the movies and streaming shows I watched over Summer 2026. We will also have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Ghost Armor series at my Payhip store. That coupon code is FALLARMOR. As always, you can get the coupon code and the links to my Payhip store available in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code will be valid through September 21st, 2026, so if you need a new ebook for this fall, we have got you covered. Now an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. I'm pleased to report that the rough draft of Blade of Visions is done. It came to 99,000 words. It'd be kind of cool if it came to 100,000, but as I've learned in the 15 years I've been doing this, it's not a good idea to pad things for length. Editing is underway. I'm about 15% through the first pass of edits. I'm working on the cover design, so I'm on good track to have the book out before the end of the month. I also wrote a tie-in short story called Winter Crown and don't forget that [newsletter] subscribers will get a free ebook copy of that short story when Blade of Visions comes out later this month. So this makes a very excellent time to subscribe to my new release newsletter. I am also 12,000 words into Elven-Warlock, which will be the seventh book in the Half-Elven Thief series. Hopefully that will be out in October, if all goes well. In audiobook news, I think Blade of Thieves (as narrated by Brad Wills) and Cloak of Worlds (as narrated by Hollis McCarthy) are now finally available at all the usual audiobook stores, which includes Audible, Apple, Amazon, Kobo, Google Play, Chirp, and all the others. So if you want to listen to those if you are going on a Labor Day road trip, you can check those out. A reminder that Stealth and Spells Online: The Complete LitRPG trilogy (narrated by C.J. McAllister) is also available on Audible, so check that out. That's 32 hours long and that would also cover all your Labor Day travels. So that is where I'm at with my current writing, publishing and audiobook projects. 00:02:22 Main Topic of the Week: Summer 2026 Movie Roundup So let's move on to our main topic this week. Our main topic this week is the Summer 2026 Movie Roundup and I always enjoy doing those. These episodes are a little less serious than some of the other episodes and it's fun to talk about things I enjoyed and that you might enjoy as well. And I did see a lot of new movies this summer. In fact, I went to the actual theater four times for Masters of the Universe, The Odyssey, Spider-Man, and Coyote vs. Acme, which is probably more than I've gone in a single season since before COVID times. So as usual, here are the movies I saw this summer (rated from least favorite to most favorite). The grades are totally subjective and based on nothing but my own thoughts and opinions. First up is The Breadwinner, which came out in 2026. This is basically standup comedian Nate Bargatze's act come to life as a movie. If you've seen Bargatze's standup, his usual routine is to portray himself as the dumb husband and bumbling Girl Dad, which is actually quite clever from a comedic standpoint since you're unlikely to have outraged mobs calling for your head if all you're doing is making fun of yourself. Anyway, Bargatze portrays Nate Wilcox, the best Toyota salesman in Nashville. (Don't worry, this is the first of only many product placement moments.) He lets his wife Kate manage the household and do the bulk of the work with their three daughters. When Kate's invention takes off on Shark Tank, she has to go to South Korea for two weeks to oversee manufacturing, leaving Nate in charge of the kids. Comedic chaos ensues. On the positive side of this movie, I did approve how this movie showed a married couple trying to work through a rough patch and do what's right for their kids and each other in a semi-productive way rather than blowing up their lives over nonsensical trivialities in the style of Eat, Pray, Love. On the downside, there was a lot of product placement, to the point where it at times felt like an extended commercial with bits of plot jammed in between product endorsement. No doubt most of the production budget came from product placement money. Will Forte was funny as an eccentric roofing contractor and Martin Herlihy as a shifty DoorDash employee. Kumail Nanjiani was funny as Nate's rival salesman at the car dealership. So overall, I would say this was blandly amusing and inoffensive with some funny slapstick moments. Overall grade: C- Next up is Supergirl, which came out in 2026. This movie really was sort of a strange combination of John Wick and the human trafficking subplot from 2020's Black Widow. The end result wasn't quite as good as Superman from 2025, alas. I did like this movie's interpretation of Supergirl. Kara Zor-El's departure from Krypton was way more traumatic than Superman's, so she's dealing with her unresolved emotional issues by traveling from planet to planet with red suns and getting hammered since the same yellow sun that gives Kryptonians their superpowers on Earth also keeps them from getting drunk because their bodies process alcohol too efficiently. However, Kara comes to a planet where a girl named Ruthye lives. Ruthye's family has been slaughtered by ruthless brigands yet led by Krem of the Yellow Hills and she's going on a quest for revenge. When Ruthye tries to recruit Kara for the quest, she's not interested, but then Krem steals Kara's spaceship and poisons her dog Krypto. Krem carries the antidote on his person, so now Kara and Ruthye team up to get vengeance on Krem and to heal Krypto. Krem is a nasty piece of work and he and his space gang travel from planet to planet abducting women to be their wives. I think the problem was that Krem was kind of a boring but nasty villain, but he was still boring. He was basically a space thug with too many piercings. Lex Luthor from 2025 Superman, by contrast, was a really interesting villain, this malignant narcissist who knows that his obsession with Superman is over the top, but he's going to act on it anyway. Additionally, I don't think this version of Supergirl is quite capable of being a lead character on her own. She'd make a superb secondary character, but I don't think she could quite carry a movie on her own. And Jason Momoa was pretty good as Lobo. Overall grade: C- Next up is Troy, which came out in 2004. I wanted to see this either before or after I watched The Odyssey this summer and ended up watching it the day before I went to see The Odyssey. I would say this movie was slow and ponderous, but I did enjoy watching it. This is an adaption of The Iliad and has the sort of slow stateliness of epic films from the '60s. It had good performances and good battle scenes. Brian Cox was enjoyable as a scenery chewing Agamemnon and Brad Pitt worked as Achilles. Interestingly, his version of Achilles reminded me of the interpretation of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen from Dune 2 as sort of a violent psychopath with his own twisted sense of honor. Oddly, despite the fact that this was rather a long movie, the ending seems a bit rushed, like we needed to hurry up and get to the Trojan Horse. It was amusing how Achilles' relationship with Patroclus was changed to "cousin" for the modern audience, but Greek views on sexuality would definitely be unpalatable with both right-wing and left-wing versions of the modern mind, which is a good thing because while the Greeks contributed a great deal to the development of civilization, they were into a lot of unsavory stuff. So overall, I would say this was a fun, epic movie, but I think this walked so the 2026 version of The Odyssey could run. Amusing fact: Christopher Nolan was apparently supposed to direct this, but the deal fell through and he got Batman Begins as a consolation prize instead. Overall grade: B- Next up is The Dink, which came out in 2026. This is an Apple TV comedy movie about pickleball of all things. I feel like this was made because some Apple executive got made fun of by some tennis players for playing pickleball and then decided to take revenge through media. Jake Johnson plays Dustin Boyd, a washed up former child tennis star who now works at his father's tennis club. The club has difficulties because of a growing influx of pickleball players who the hardcore tennis players hate. Dustin's father decides to use the club's bylaws to force a duel match to decide the issue, in the grand tradition of wacky comedy stakes. Dustin really wants to play the duel match, but his wrist is injured in an accident. To get his wrist mobility back, the doctor suggested he play some pickleball and Dustin views this as beneath him, but he really wants to play again, so he signs up for pickleball. This ends up being a wacky sports company/buddy movie as Dustin gradually befriends an eccentric older pickleball player. Ed Harris should really do more comedic roles. He was great as Dustin's stern, yet unscrupulous father. I do admire Apple TV's dedication to making random stuff. Overall grade: B- Next up is Green and Gold, which came out in 2025, and this is a melodrama about a farmer and his granddaughter dealing with the grim economic realities of farming. This is set in 1992/1993 era Wisconsin. Buck refuses to modernize his dairy farm in Door County, Wisconsin. His granddaughter Jenny is a talented musician and also a skilled farmer, and Buck wants her to take over the farm one day, but Jenny's ambitions are looking elsewhere. Events come to a head when Jenny realizes that Buck is deeply in debt to the bank, which is about to foreclose on the farm. However, Buck and the chief banker have a personal animosity, so they settle on a bet. If the Green Bay Packers win a Super Bowl title in 1993, the banker will give Buck one more year to turn things around on the farm. Meanwhile, Jenny begins to wonder if her music ambitions might generate the money to save the farm. Of course, if you are familiar with the history of the Packers, you know that they won a Super Bowl in 1996, not 1993. The movie has carried on the back of the very strong performances of its actors. It also has an ambiguously happy ending, as is true with so many things in farming. I like this movie because I've spent a lot of my life in the American Midwest, [and] I did appreciate how it shows the difficulties of the farming life. Also, this is important: a fall from a ladder is a plot point. Ladder safety is important, people! If you are going up a ladder, for heaven's sake don't climb the ladder in high heels like the character in question does. Wear sensible, well-fitting shoes with good soles. A very long time ago, I used to work with a guy who would climb extension ladders in cowboy boots. It is nothing short of the mercy of God that he didn't fall off and shatter half the bones in his body. Overall grade: B Next up is Grumpy Old Men, which came out in 1993. Apparently this is set in Wabasha, Minnesota, which is amusing because filming actually took place in several areas in the Twin Cities in Eastern Minnesota, but not actually in Wabasha. I found that personally amusing because I'm quite familiar with the area and so I recognize several filming locations. Anyway, the movie is about two retirees, Max and John, who are enemies and have been enemies for years, but Max is lonely and wants to get married again, and John is about to lose his house to the IRS due to tax problems. Things come to a head when an attractive literature professor moves across the street and both Max and John take an interest in her and start competing for her affections. However, it turns out that Max and John are actually best friends whose love language happens to be hatred and practical jokes, kind of like Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, but more on them below. This was a good character comedy/drama. It was interesting that the professor was an early version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, albeit several decades before someone came up with the term. This is worth watching both as a character and comedy drama and a time capsule of the 1990s. Sometimes a movie ages a bit badly (Airplane and the Thomas Crown Affair from the Spring Movie Roundup come to mind), but this didn't. The sequel Grumpier Old Men from 1995 is basically the same movie, but with the characters acting about 20% dumber so a sitcom style plot can happen. Still entertaining, but not as good as the first one, so Grumpier Old Men only gets a B-, but Grumpy Old Men gets a B+. Next up is Masters of the Universe, which came out in 2026. It was amusing to read reviews of this movie because people thought way too hard about a movie that is essentially about battling action figures. Anyway, this was pretty good. It was nice to see a movie about a science fiction property that doesn't actually hate the source material. Basically it's a live action version of the cartoons from the '80s, albeit with somewhat more thoughtful moments. I heard someone suggest that it was close in tone to Thor: Ragnarok, and that seems accurate. The plot is that Skeletor conquers Eternia and 10-year-old Prince Adam is sent with the Sword of Power through a magical portal to Earth to keep him and the sword out of Skeletor's reach. However, Adam loses the sword while passing through the gate and 15 years later is working in human resources. He's still seeking for the sword despite his therapist trying to convince him that it was a trauma-induced fantasy. However, his persistence pays off and he does find the sword. Teela, who is one of the resistance leaders against Skeletor's rule, comes to Earth to find him and bring him back, but Skeletor's minions arrive to claim the sword as well. Adam and Teela escape back to Eternia and it's up to Adam to find a way to use the Sword of Power to become the hero that Eternia needs. Dolph Lundgren's cameo was great. Overall, I would say this is a fun movie to watch, especially if you're a Millennial or Gen Xer who saw the cartoons or the live action movie back in the '80s. Jared Leto has something of an increasingly questionable reputation these days, but he did a good job as Skeletor, played him halfway between the solemn gravitas of the 1987 version and the malevolent comedic cornball of the cartoons. Of course, in my opinion, the Frank Langella version from 1987 is the best version of Skeletor since he placed it with all the seriousness of a Shakespearean villain monologue at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In hindsight, it wasn't terribly surprising that this underperformed at the box office. It felt like it was made for guys my age, not for kids. I would've been comfortable bringing an eight-year-old to see The Mandalorian and Grogu or Super Mario Galaxy, but I would've been less certain bringing a kid that age to see Masters of the Universe. Additionally, it seemed very Marvel in tone, and I think the overall mood of the US these days is less "Marvel Cinematic Universe quips and banter" and more sort of the grimness of The Odyssey, which we'll talk about shortly. Overall grade: B+ Next up is Young Washington, which came out in 2026, a biopic of the early life of George Washington, covering how he more or less accidentally started the French and Indian War and how he recovered his reputation at the Battle of Braddock's Field. To be fair, the international situation at the time meant that someone was going to start the French and Indian War. It just happened to be Washington, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Overall, I liked this. It was reasonably historically accurate, though some of the emotional and family dialogue at times was a bit clunky. Additionally, Washington was portrayed as having revolutionary leanings much earlier in life than he actually did, since when he was a young man, he had no thoughts of being anything but a British subject and officer. That said, some of the most implausible stuff in the movie actually happened in real life. Like if I were to write in a novel that the future president of the United States personally rallied the army's rear guard to save as many men as possible from an ambush, and in the process had two horses shot out from under him and ended up with bullet holes in his hat and coat (all while fighting continuously), you would probably find that a bit implausible, but it actually happened that way. Washington's daring actions during that battle were one of the reasons he was appointed commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, that and there weren't many other colonials with as much experience of military command as Washington. In that vein, the battle scenes were the best part of the movie. They captured the brutality and messiness of 18th Century warfare without being especially graphic. Anyway, I'm glad this is getting a sequel. Maybe we'll end up with a Young Washington Cinematic Universe. Overall grade: B+ Next up is Meet the Parents, which came out in 2000, and this is probably one of the apex forms of cringe comedy. Ben Stiller plays Greg Focker, a nurse who's in love with schoolteacher Pam Burns. Greg wants to marry Pam, but overhears a phone call with her sister where she says her fiancé asked permission of her traditional father first. Greg decides that he's going to ask Pam's father's permission first to get off on the right foot, and so accompanies Pam to her sister's wedding and her parents' house to, as the title says, Meet the Parents. However, Pam's father is the former CIA counterintelligence officer Jack, and he and Greg immediately get on each other's nerves. To make things worse, the airline has lost Greg's luggage. From these two starting premises follow a cascading series of hilarious disasters that accumulate in a septic tank fire on the lawn. I'm not sure, but I think I saw this one in the theaters when it came out in 2000, and I thought it was funny then. With 26 years of additional life experience under the belt, I still think it's pretty funny, though you could still tell that this movie was filmed before 9/11 because if Greg had his airport meltdown seen today, the consequences would've been much worse. Overall grade: B+ Next up is O Brother Where Art Thou, which came out in 2000. This is a very, very, very specific adaptation of The Odyssey directed by the Coen brothers. George Clooney plays Everett, a convict who escapes from a chain gang in Mississippi during the Great Depression. He wants to find a treasure and he recruits fellow convicts Delmar and Peter to assist him. Along the way, Everett and his team encountered 1930s era versions of the Sirens, the cyclops, the blind prophet Tiresias, and other characters and foes from the original Odyssey myth. Everett and his friends end up running a scam where they pretend to be a Christian music group, but as it turns out, they're actually pretty good at singing, so this leads to unexpected hilarity and opportunities. This was also a very funny movie. Imagine The Odyssey is a comedy with a lot of singing set in the Deep South during the Depression, and you're there. If you're a fan of bluegrass music, this is worth watching. If you've seen Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, it's worth watching this just to ponder how the same source material can produce such wildly divergent interpretations. If you don't care about The Odyssey, then this is still a fun movie to watch. Proof: I mentioned to someone that I had seen this and she responded that she both loved the movie and was surprised to learn that he had in fact been inspired by The Odyssey. Overall grade: A- Next up is Hoppers, which came out in 2026. Like most Pixar movies, this was very high concept. Unlike many recent Pixar movies, it wasn't too depressing and didn't disappear up its own tailpipe. In the city of Beaverton, hot tempered girl Mabel bonds with her grandmother in their favorite place, a woodland grove favored by beavers. Years later, Mabel is a biology student under Dr. Fairfax, but is neglecting her studies to face off against her nemesis, the popular yet sketchy Mayor Jerry of Beaverton. Mayor Jerry wants to build an expressway that will wipe out the woodland grove, and he's perfectly within his rights to do it since no animals have been found living there. Since Mabel's grandmother has died, she's unwilling to give up the grove. However, Dr. Fairfax's research might give her a way. Dr. Fairfax has worked out a way to temporarily transfer human consciousness to a robotic beaver capable of speaking to real beavers, much like the plot of Avatar. In a funny scene, Fairfax angrily denies that it's just like Avatar. Mabel gets the idea to use this to convince real beavers to settle in the grove, thereby thwarting Mayor Jerry's plans. This touches off both a wacky yet poignant adventure. The plot was very well structured and it followed the proper rules of story structure, which I've talked about before. Mabel definitely is a protagonist who takes action, but experiences setbacks and problems of her own creation. It was pretty good. I say it was a return to form for Pixar after some of their weaker movies in the 2020s. Overall grade: A Now it's time for my three favorite movies of summer 2026, all of which I actually saw in the theater. First up is Coyote versus Acme, which came out in 2026. This movie had an extra surge of popularity from the fact that Warner Brothers canceled it as a tax write-off, but distributor Ketchup Entertainment revived it. That makes it a plucky underdog since Warner Brothers senior executives are kind of like the apex version of soulless corporate bug men. Like if I wrote characters in my books who acted like Warner Brothers senior executives, people would think I was being didactic and heavy-handed. Anyway, after decades of failures in efforts to capture the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote decides to sue Acme Corporation for its numerous defective products. Coyote teams up with a lazy strip mall lawyer named Kevin Avery, who specializes in getting small settlements from Acme. However, Avery and Coyote end up filing a massive lawsuit against Acme, which means they'll face the full wrath of Acme Corporation, including its ace lawyer Buddy Crane and its ruthless CEO, Foghorn Leghorn. What follows is a comedic courtroom battle as Coyote and Avery try to defeat Acme Corporation, defeat its sinister plans, and Coyote starts to realize that Road Runner might actually be his best friend. Both quite amusing and touching, and I'm glad this was rescued from the tax write-off vault. Overall grade: A Next up is The Odyssey, which came out in 2026. This wasn't quite as good as Oppenheimer in 2023 in my opinion, but it was still very good and very much worth seeing. It was weird that The Odyssey was briefly a football in the never-ending US culture war scrum because the movie isn't really political and doesn't really have a message beyond "war is destructive and bad", which every sensible person would agree with, and a lesser message of "violating the law of morality has unforeseen cascading bad consequences, including the destruction of civilization", which is also quite true and was one of the themes of Oppenheimer. Nolan himself dismissed the controversies as "irrelevant" and "part of the territory" since no one had actually seen the movie yet, and given that The Odyssey has made a billion and a half dollars as of this recording, I think that may have proved his point. I imagine the scrutiny from Batman fans back in the 2010s was way more intense since in the modern era, many people care more deeply about the accuracy of Batman than The Odyssey. I do think the debate over the historical accuracy in The Odyssey is pointless because the Odyssey is myth, not history. The Iliad and The Odyssey are a lot like Arthurian myth in terms of their actual historicity. Even when Arthurian legend was massively popular with English kings and nobles in the late medieval and early modern period (for example, Henry VIII's older brother was named Arthur in imitation of King Arthur), the version of Arthurian myth they celebrated and wished to emulate had virtually no connection to the reality of Britain in the 500s AD and was instead a sort of fantasy version of their own time in the 14th and 15th centuries. By the time The Odyssey was written down, no doubt a similar process was underway. Both The Iliad and The Odyssey and the Arthurian cycle probably have a kernel of historical truth buried underneath the tales of magic swords, sirens, cyclopses, and vengeful witches with magic islands. There likely was a Romano-British warlord who might have been named Arthur (or possibly Ambrosius Aurelianus) who held off the Saxons for a while before he was overwhelmed and killed. Likewise, Heinrich Schliemann was a highly eccentric and very sketchy crazy rich guy, but he did prove that there really was some version of the city of Troy that was destroyed at the end of the Bronze Age. But everything beyond those basic details came from thousands of years of embellishments and flourishes from later poets and writers. So arguing about the historical accuracy of The Odyssey is a bit like arguing if Star Wars portrays faster than light travel in an accurate way. That kind of argument is just missing the point entirely. It's also interesting to see how modern standards clashed with the ancient mindset. You know how I always say that everywhere in the United States is exactly the same right until it really, really isn't? I think ancient people are just like us until they really, really weren't. Like ancient people would have been superstitious to an extent that even the most credulous crystal and aura influencer on TikTok would find horrifying and frequently violent in a way that the most strident self-defense advocate would find shocking. The Odyssey's version of Odysseus feels guilt and remorse over his actions in a way an actual ancient Greek probably wouldn't have, but so what? This is The Odyssey viewed through the lens of the 21st century, just as those English nobles viewed the myth of King Arthur and his knights through the lens of their time. As I mentioned with Troy above, the ancient Greeks were often quite brutal and would celebrate sacking an enemy city. One side note before we get to the movie, I probably found it funnier than I should have how Nolan favorably cited classicist Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey as a source, and Wilson then had an extended and unintentionally comedic multi-article crashout about how much she hated the movie and of course how much she hated the commemorative Trojan Horse popcorn bucket. Apparently Wilson hated the movie so much she's going to do a new translation of The Odyssey, much to her publisher's baffled dismay. No one does offended huffy petulance quite like an academic. Anyway, back to the movie. It follows the familiar story of Odysseus through Christopher Nolan's preference for non-linear storytelling and practical effects. I did think it was interesting how in this interpretation, Odysseus explicitly connected the ruse of the Trojan Horse with the collapse of the Bronze Age and the rise of the Sea Peoples. It's also probably the most supernatural film Nolan has ever done with actual fantasy and supernatural elements as opposed to science fiction like Inception, Tenant, and Interstellar. Odysseus talks to Athena throughout the movie and it's left up to the viewer's interpretation whether or not he's actually talking to Athena or his own guilt-ridden hallucinations. That said, Odysseus encounters a witch with actual magic powers and travels to the underworld to speak with the shades of the dead, so it's entirely possible he's talking to the actual Athena. In this version, as I mentioned, Odysseus is guilt-ridden over the ruse of the Trojan Horse, which is shown as a violation of the sacred hospitality of Zeus's law and as great a crime as the creation of the atomic bomb in Oppenheimer, which of course is similar to Oppenheimer, where Oppenheimer's creation of the atomic bomb is treated similarly. There are also some genuinely scary sequences in the movie. The bit with the underworld is very spooky, the cyclops is actually quite frightening, and the character of Circe reaches the level of scary previously attained by Heath Ledger's version of The Joker in The Dark Knight. If Nolan ever decides he wants to do a horror movie, it will probably be one of the scariest ones ever made. To sum up, The Odyssey has great performances, great spectacle, great cinematography, and great action sequences. As an interesting interpretation of the original myth, definitely worth seeing. I think you can tell it was a great movie because of all the arguments on the Internet about "what does it really mean?" Great art often has that effect. Overall grade: A The final of my three favorite movies of [Summer] 2026 is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which came out in 2026. There's a rumor, and I don't know if it's true or not, that Tom Holland found the experience of working with Christopher Nolan on The Odyssey so eye-opening that he insisted that if they made another Spider-Man movie, it had to have a reason for existing other than "make a lot of money". If this story is true, it clearly worked. Previously, I though the two best Spider-Man movies were Spider-Man 2 from 2004 and Spider-Man: No Way Home from 2021. I must now amend that opinion to say that there are three best Spider-Man movies and Spider-Man: Brand New Day is one of the three. It is pretty good. I would've trimmed it here and there, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and is an excellent Spider-Man story that totally captures the essence of the character within a good story. It takes place four years after the events of No Way Home erased everyone's memory that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Peter has now been crime fighting full time, but it is taking a severe toll on his emotions and personal life that he's deliberately ignoring. Meanwhile, Spider-Man has become the beloved crime fighter of New York, trusted by both the NYPD and the Federal Department of Damage Control, which is a reoccurring frenemy for superheroes from other movies. When someone launches an attack on the headquarters of Damage Control, the director recruits Peter to fight their new enemy, a mysterious figure who uses telepathy to possess people from a distance. Peter is the only one who can sense it thanks to his spider sense, and he's also the only one able to resist the telepath's possession abilities. But despite his resistance to possession, fighting a telepath is a dangerous proposition for someone with as many emotional issues as Peter, and things start to spiral out of control when the telepath starts digging into his life. But there's another lesson Peter has to learn. People (and especially superheroes) who take the federal government at its word tend to regret it. For that matter, ignoring his emotional issues is causing Peter's spider powers to start acting in strange ways. But of course, at the end of the day, Spider-Man always follows his conscience, no matter how high the cost to him personally. Definitely an enjoyable movie. All the scenes with Spider-Man and Punisher were great, and the two of them had a great dynamic together. A few other Marvel Cinematic Universe people show up, but this is probably one of the most standalone movies the MCU has done in a while. Of course, the risk of MCU Continuity Lockout is always there (which is one of the reasons I started writing Half-Eleven Thief in 2023). Overall grade: A So I would say it was a pretty good summer for movies. It's also valuable lessons in not taking the Internet too seriously, which too many people do nowadays. There are all these dedicated analyses on X, Threads, and Reddit in June and May explaining why The Odyssey was going to fail for whatever reason, and instead it made $1.5 billion. So I think that's a good lesson in not taking everything you read on the internet a little too seriously. So that's it for this week. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show enjoyable. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy, and we'll see you all next week.  

Narrator: Thomas Jones

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey becomes most powerful when its monsters reveal the film's hidden structure. Jacob Krueger explains Circe, Scylla, xenia, the Trojan Horse and why Odysseus must leave Ithaca after saving it.

Odyssey-mania has taken over the world, and it hurts to see so many people have forgotten its unofficial 2004 prequel, TROY. Sure, it wasn't a big hit with critics back then, but can we not appreciate the lost art of hot men trying to kill each other today? While Nolan's movie is all about Odysseus running away from fights, Wolfgang Petersen's adaptation of The Iliad is about Brad Pitt kicking butt and taking names. Listen to Alex & Julio geek out the way Homer intended!TIMELINE00:01:26 Troy00:12:53 Contrarians Corner- Wanna know how we really feel about TROY? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your feed RIGHT NOW! (or pretty soon — Spotify can be a pain when it comes to refreshing the feed)- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on our Patreon Page! Deleted clips, extended plugs, bonus episodes free from the Tomatometer shackles… It's everything a Contrarians devotee would want!- Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos!- Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that's emblazoned with one of our four different designs!- THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website.- THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn't just a show about wrestling: it's a brand, a lifestyle. And they're very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we'd like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time.- Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at mildemonios@hotmail.com in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he's written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

Laci and Matt turn in their longest podcast ever to talk about Oppenheimer... and honestly, it could have been twice as long. There's so much to say about this movie, which, after spending the summer consuming the man's movies, it's pretty easy to call his best film, and one of the best films of the 21st century. In the history segment, we go through the life and legacy of the real J. Robert Oppenheimer and try to parse what drew Nolan to him. In some ways, Nolan's quotes about Oppenheimer the man and the movie are directly contradicted by what his movie seems to be saying. And that only makes this miracle of a film all the more fascinating. In the movie discussion, we go as fast as we can through the three-hour running time that breezes by. Film critic Bilge Ebiri said Oppenheimer is "an action movie about scientists talking" and that's about right. It's about some pretty dark shit. But it also might be the most entertaining movie ever made.  One last time, THANK YOU to the amazing Wade Hymel and TJ Barends for helping us produce our Summer of Nolan theme song!    Watch this Oppenheimer podcast in full on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gb65tOc4kBQ Get more 1-Week Rental on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1weekrental  Next episode (Sept. 11, 2026): Practical Magic (1998)!   The Summer of Nolan is our summer 2026 miniseries covering the movie career of Christopher Nolan through nine movies on the main feed (plus additional episodes on the Patreon!), presented in chronological order, starting with Memento and going through Oppenheimer. And don't be surprised if our old pal Odysseus drops by to tell us about his long journey home to his wife.   Time stamps: 00:03:25 — Opening thoughts on Oppenheimer 00:14:35 — History segment: The life and legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer; the long development of a movie adaptation of the Oppenheimer biography American Prometheus; casting Cillian Murphy; reception and success of Oppenheimer  01:09:15 — Movie discussion + Oppenheimer film analysis 03:33:15 — Star ratings, final review of Oppenheimer, and ranking Christopher Nolan's movies   OPPENHEIMER (2023) was written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on AMERICAN PROMETHUS by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. Starring Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, Josh Hartnett, David Krumholtz, Benny Safdie, Dylan Arnold, Tom Conti, and Gary Oldman as Harry S. Truman. Plus a million other people.   Sources: "The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan" by Tom Shone (2020) - https://amzn.to/4yiNtw0  "American Prometheus: The Triumph & Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin (2005) - https://amzn.to/4cvnmIQ "Christopher Nolan and the Contradictions of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Dennise Overbye | The New York Times (2023) - https://bit.ly/4gnJFkZ  "A nuclear legacy in Los Alamos" by Alicia Inez Guzmán | Searchlight New Mexico (2024) - https://bit.ly/4c5Hr8C   "In 'Oppenheimer,' Cillian Murphy leads a Nolan epic" by Lindsey Bahr | The Associated Press (2023) - https://bit.ly/4qxUiq3  "An Action Movie About Scientists Talking" by Bilge Ebiri | Vulture (2023) - https://bit.ly/4qCwi5e  "Why Did Oppenheimer Say "Now I am Death, the Destroyer of Worlds" and What Did It Mean?" by James Grebey | SyFy.com (2023) - https://bit.ly/4hQtzCJ  "The Decision To Drop The Bomb" 1965 NBC News Documentary - https://youtu.be/lb13ynu3Iac    Transcript: https://1weekrentalpod.com/2026/09/oppenheimer/#transcript  Artwork by Laci Roth.   Matt has two monthly spin-off podcasts!  PodJob: A James Bond Podcast on Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/4jRL2K1), Spotify (https://bit.ly/4a8jM6E), and YouTube (https://youtube.com/@podjob007). The Sign Post Up Ahead: A Twilight Zone Recap Podcast on Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/4vtO6jG), Spotify (https://bit.ly/4w1qDat), and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@TheSignPostUpAhead).   Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).   Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: "Summer of Nolan" - https://youtube.com/shorts/CAIzthDLrT8  "Winston-Salem" - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM "Snake Drama" - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg "The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet" - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ    The "Summer of Nolan" theme song was written by Matt Stokes. Produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends. Performed by: TJ Barends - backing vocals Wade Hymel - drums, percussion, and backing vocals Laci Roth - vocals Matt Stokes - vocals, guitar, and bass   Follow 1-Week Rental, a movie podcast: Twitter: @1weekrental | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConcepts Facebook: @1weekrental Instagram: @1weekrental TikTok: @1weekrental | @mattstokes9 Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9 Bluesky: @1weekrental.bsky.social   1-Week Rental used to be Load Bearing Beams.

Odysseus spent 20 years trying to return to his home in Ithaca.I spent 50 years trying to find my home, after moving to different countries, cities and even continents. The trip to my hometown Kishinev a few weeks ago helped me to understand where my real HOME is.

In part two of their discussion of The Odyssey, Dr. Jacobi Cleaver and Dr. Jacob Wilson are joined once again by honorary co-host Dr. Morgan Jones. Together, they follow Odysseus through the darkest and most dangerous stages of his journey home. Between thoughtful analysis and hilarious side conversations, the three doctors explore the film's horror elements, […]

In the wake of Christopher Nolan's movie 'The Odyssey', an episode about Greek and Roman myths plus other mythologies from around the world.

We're not the first to look around us and think the world is a mess. Just look at what Odysseus had to contend with in The Odyssey ..based in the distant past sure, but many of his problems are actually a lot like ours today, which goes to show monsters and distractions have always been a problem. Author Ryan Holiday says stoicism could be the answer, that the ancient stoics believed we can't always control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond. Holiday's successful books, and podcast The Daily Stoic, try to offer guidance in an uncertain world. Now he's bringing those insights to Auckland next month with a live tour.

Narrator: Thomas Jones

On this episode of The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast, Jeremiah and Juan discuss Odysseus' journey to the underworld before introducing a lecture from Dr. Benedict Whalen. In the underworld, Odysseus meets the blind prophet Tiresias, his fallen comrades, and his mother. But his men do not heed his warning and are killed for slaughtering the cattle of the Sun god. The Odyssey tells the tale of the cunning and crafty hero of the Trojan War on his journey home. After ten years of war, Odysseus faces another ten years of fantastic temptations, deadly monsters, treacherous seas, and impious men. Meanwhile, Ithaca is threatened by suitors who plague his wife and plunder his wealth. When Odysseus reaches home, he must slay the suitors, test the loyalty of his friends and family, and restore order to his marriage and his kingdom.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast, Jeremiah and Juan discuss Odysseus' journey to the underworld before introducing a lecture from Dr. Benedict Whalen. In the underworld, Odysseus meets the blind prophet Tiresias, his fallen comrades, and his mother. But his men do not heed his warning and are killed for slaughtering the cattle of the Sun god. The Odyssey tells the tale of the cunning and crafty hero of the Trojan War on his journey home. After ten years of war, Odysseus faces another ten years of fantastic temptations, deadly monsters, treacherous seas, and impious men. Meanwhile, Ithaca is threatened by suitors who plague his wife and plunder his wealth. When Odysseus reaches home, he must slay the suitors, test the loyalty of his friends and family, and restore order to his marriage and his kingdom.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We continue our coverage of The Odyssey with a focus on proper sacrifice and hospitality rules. As we cannot read the entire epic, there’s no main story reading for this episode. However, towards the very end of the episode, Raisa reads a summary of Odysseus’s reunion with Penelope from ⁠Claudio Patrini’s, “Odyssey: Symbols and Meaning.”⁠ There are many versions of The Odyssey out there, but these are the ones that we have found most recommended: Stephen Mitchell translation. (Adina’s read this one) Robert Fagles translation. (Raisa listened to the audiobook version, read by Sir Ian McKellan) Emily Wilson translation. (First translation by a woman and entirely in iambic pentameter. Highly recommended by Raisa’s wife, brother, and many others. Unfortunately the audiobook is exclusively on Audible) Stephen Fry retelling. (A contemporary version that adds extra context and is easy to digest. Brilliantly narrated by Stephen Fry himself. Raisa listened to this one first before moving on to Fagles and McKellan) Our intro/outro music a sample of Seikilos Epitaph with the Lyre of Apollo, by Lina Palera, under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License. You can find the full version at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FreeMusicArchive.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Banner Image: Athena appearing to Odysseus to reveal the Island of Ithaca by Giuseppe Bottani Email: jungianeverafter@gmail.com Twitter: @JEA_Podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/GEdn4TPgHR Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/jungianeverafter

Join us as we explore the worldwide phenomenon behind the revival of Homer's 3000-year-old story, the kaleidoscopic and hallucinogenic return of Odysseus to Ithaka, the Greek island that has become an icon for home itself. There is the immense beauty of the poem itself and the historical importance of Homer's accomplishment, but what does the story mean to us now, how can it help illuminate the chaos of our lives today? Composed by the Poet Known as Homer, around 650 BC, it was based on a story about the Trojan War that was already hundreds of years old. Since then, the story about the hallucinogenic adventures of Odysseus, his son Telemachus, and wife Penelope have cast a spell over cultures around the world, haunting poets, playwrights and philosophers, and taunting the efforts of archaeologists, linguists and now filmmakers to render it in modern terms. Our conversation will explore the myriad life lessons of Homer's masterpiece that have inspired readers, listeners and now viewers for millennia, with a focus on the central theme of the nostoi, the return stories of ancient Greek soldiers, adventurers, philosophers and scientists coming home, and the wider question of what home meant to the ancients—and what home means to us now, the most rootless people in recorded history. Along the way, we will have an animated exchange about the wide range of translations, from Alexander Pope, T. E. Lawrence, and E. V. Rieu, to Richard Lattimore, Emily Wilson and Daniel Mendelosohn. Finally, we will playfully review the myriad movie versions, from George Melies' four-minute version in 1905, to the 1956 Ulysses with Kirk Douglas, and the freshly minted Odyssey helmed by Christopher Nolan.   Finally, there is the surprising realization that it is five female characters (Penelope, Athena, Calypso, Circe and Nausicaa) who helped guide Odysseus homeward, and the centuries-long influence on art, literature and cinema. Join us for a celebration of the soul-saving power of this ancient Greek tale, which sings of the aftermath of a savage war and the restoration of our hero's home, all the while insisting on need to say “yes” to life.  About the Speaker Phil Cousineau is the author of The Wisdom of the Odyssey and over 40 other books, including the bestselling The Art of Pilgrimage, and The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work. Cousineau is a writer, teacher, filmmaker, storyteller and cultural historian, who has consulted on mythology and story for major studios, including Warner Brothers., Pixar and Lucasfilm, and has led mythology travel programs to Greece for more than three decades. Cousineau has been featured on NPR, CNN International, the BBC, the Smithsonian and Discovery channels, and was the host of PBS and Link-TV's "Global Spirit." He lives in San Francisco. Visit him online. Valerie Andrews is the founder of the digital magazine and podcast "Reinventing Home," the author of Our Story of Home: Tales of Longing and Belonging, and A Passion for This Earth: Toward a New Partnership of Man, Woman and Nature, and the editor of Sanctuary: The Inner Life of Home. Her articles have appeared in Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche, Intuition magazine, Esquire, Vogue, and The Sun. She has moved—or rather been unmoored—33 times and understands the wandering Odysseus. The Bay Area has been her home since 1990. A Grownups Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Organizer: Denise M. Michaud  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and what we found interesting about it, and then chat with some podcasters who've just released relevant books! Oh, and Marcie has a song about Odysseus. Doug Metzger's podcastThe Odyssey: An Illustrated GuideJeff Wright's websiteMythtake podcastLiv Albert's websiteThe Odyssey: A Modern RetellingJoel Christensen's new book The Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's OdysseyErica Stevenson's new book The Odyssey Effect: How Homer's Epic Poem Shaped the WorldThe theme song from the 60's Hercules cartoon Marcie's song “Can't See No Blues”Transcript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

In this episode of Wake Up, Look Up, Pastor Zach explores our desire for a hero and the competing stories that promise to lead us toward freedom and human flourishing. He contrasts cultural narratives represented by figures like Odysseus and Barbie with the gospel, which points us to Jesus as the one true hero who brings freedom and flourishing to all people. Pastor Zach challenges listeners to consider who is at the center of their story and reminds us that following Jesus means laying down false heroes and divisions and finding our identity in Christ.Have an article you'd like Pastor Zach to discuss? Email us at podcast@ccchapel.com!

Send us Fan MailNolan turns one of the oldest adventure stories into a modern IMAX gut punch, and we have a lot of feelings about it. We start with some real life chaos, including newborn sleep shifts, late-night watches, and the odd comfort of slipping back into games like Final Fantasy when your schedule makes no sense. From there, we pivot into The Odyssey, the Homeric epic that basically taught Western storytelling how to build a hero's journey, and what it means when a filmmaker as confident as Christopher Nolan decides to reshape it.We get into the adaptation choices that sparked the most debate: the tone shift toward horror, the Cyclops sequence that feels more nightmare than myth, and the Cersei transformation scene that is so disturbing partly because it looks practical and physical. We also talk about translation and accessibility through the lens of Emily Wilson, plus the bigger question of what changes are harmless trims versus changes that rewrite the entire point of the story. Along the way we argue about the missing “Nobody” energy, the way temptation and crew motivation are framed, and how a star-studded cast can either elevate a scene or pull you out of ancient Greece when the actor is too recognizable.The core of our critique is Odysseus himself. In the original Odyssey, he travels from boastful cunning to humbled survivor, and that arc powers the meaning of homecoming and even the roots of “nostalgia.” When the movie starts him emotionally “finished,” we think the journey risks losing its reason for being, even if the filmmaking is undeniably brilliant. If you care about Greek mythology, Homer, movie adaptations, and how the hero's journey works when you change one key beam, you will have opinions right along with us.Subscribe for more deep dives, share this with the friend who loves Nolan or hates book-to-film changes, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What is one adaptation change you will never forgive?Support the show

Alexius Comnenus is a well-known Byzantine Emperor not least because his daughter, Anna, wrote one of the greatest works of medieval literature about him called “The Alexiad.” It's a cracking read, full of vivid character descriptions, battle scenes, back-stabbing politics and written in an epic style that echoes the Roman and Greek classics. It's not just central to the history of Byzantium but also to the Crusades since she's our main non-western commentator on the First Crusade and wrote some of the best descriptions of the fiery leaders of that Crusade, like Count Bohemond. It is of course, a tribute, or a hagiography to use that term, to her father who emerges as an Odysseus-like hero. She describes him thus:“His dark eyebrows were curved, and beneath them the gaze of his eyes was both terrible and kind. When he came into a gathering and began to speak, you were conscious from the moment he opened his mouth of the fiery eloquence of his tongue…”Alexius has gone down in history as the man who saved Byzantium largely because that's what his daughter has told us, but historians are now questioning whether that was true and, in this episode, I want to suggest his reign was failing by 1095, and his appeal to the Pope for help against the Turks was the result of weakness, and not because he was in a strong position to launch a counter-offensive against the Turks as proposed in the Alexiad. Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

El Uno and TraB the Wonder are back for Episode 434 of The Straight Dope Show to break down Marvel movie homework fatigue, and post-credit "nerd" cultureThe hosts dive into a scene-by-scene autopsy of The Odyssey, breaking down Odysseus' endless series of bad choices, ignoring warnings about Poseidon, and why everyone on the boat should have listened regarding Zeus' cows. The conversation pivots to real-world observations, from Sacramento's traffic explosion and construction delays to the deliberate media narratives that erase present Black fathers in professional sports.Later in the episode, the duo covers:Dark Disney Tropes: Re-examining Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame through an adult lens.Financial Reality Checks: Athlete taxes (1099 vs. W-2), contract missteps, interest math, and why $300 Big & Tall polo shirts make no sense.Sneakers & Tech: El Uno's origin story on why peeling patent leather made him stop chasing Air Jordans, and why modern cars create more inconveniences than solutions.Don't let the algorithms censor your culture! Take control of your media diet. Download the Rock Da Crowd TV app today on Roku, Apple, or Android, or visit RockDaCrowdTV.com to stream the latest uncut episodes of The Straight Dope Show!Timestamps00:00:00 - Marvel Homework Fatigue & Watching Post-Credit Breakdown Videos00:03:35 - Movie Breakdown: The Odyssey & Odysseus' Series of Bad Decisions00:17:32 - Human Society in a Holding Pattern, Estate Sales, & Respecting the Ocean00:23:00 - Sacramento Urban Growth, Traffic Explosion, & Construction Cones00:29:46 - Sports Media Narratives: Highlighting Single Mothers while Erasing Black Fathers00:33:00 - WNBA Narratives, MVP Fatigue, & Evaluating Player Longevity00:40:20 - Questionable Plot Lines & Dark Themes in Classic Disney Movies00:45:15 - Russell Westbrook's Legacy, Jonathan Kuminga's Contract, & How Athlete Taxes Work00:57:40 - Overpriced Big & Tall Fashion, The Air Jordan Patent Leather Story, & Cybertruck Obsessions01:13:30 - Why Mechanics Realize Society Is Dumb & Episode Wrap-Up

In this second “Odysseason” panel, another group of classicists discuss Christopher Nolan's new “Odyssey” film and the major changes made in his adaptation and what those changes enable, including: a traumatized, guilt-ridden Odysseus; the Aeneid-derived character Sinon reframed as Odysseus's victim; an expanded, emotional focus on Argos and a merged Argos/Telemachus recognition scene. Panelists critique the film's persistent visual and aural darkness, the diminished role of gods and humor, omissions like the Phaeacians and Penelope's bed recognition, and Nolan's war-movie/PTSD framing with parallels to Oppenheimer and Interstellar. They debate whether the Odyssey “belongs” to Greece, note Greek and Greek American reactions (including promotional and casting concerns), and consider scholarly responsibilities regarding political/ethical production issues. They emphasize using the film's popularity to spur reading Homer, teaching critical reception, supporting new adaptations, and encouraging creative retellings, including Odyssey Day on Oct. 15. Originally recorded August 14, 2026.Panelists: Dr. Melissa Funke (Prof of Classics, University of Winnipeg)https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/classics/faculty/melissa-funke.htmlDr. Deb Trusty (Prof of Classics, University of Iowa)https://interdisciplinaryprograms.uiowa.edu/people/debra-trustyDr. Justin Arft (Prof of Classics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville) https://classics.utk.edu/people/justin-arft/ Dr. Rachel Lesser (Prof of Greek and Roman Studies, Gettysburg College)https://www.gettysburg.edu/academic-programs/classics/faculty/employee_detail.dot?empId=010208999320013288&pageTitle=Rachel+Lesser Dr. Christie Vogler (Co-host of the Movies We Dig podcast)https://shows.acast.com/movies-we-dig/aboutDr. Suzanne Lye (Prof of Classics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)https://classics.unc.edu/people-3/faculty-2-2/suzanne-lye/Lexie Henning (University of Bristol Classics PhD student, host and moderator) https://www.bristol.ac.uk/people/person/Lexie-Henning-771d72b2-fe81-48e0-94b1-a3135ee2a618/ Want more Odyssey material? Check out The Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's Odyssey (which was edited by Joel Christensen): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-critical-guide-to-homers-odyssey-9780198985099?cc=gb&lang=en&Check out an article where Suzanne talks about the ancient concept of Xenia: https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a73170278/the-odyssey-movie-zeus-law-explained/For more Homer content check out Justin's book Arete which was mentioned in the episode: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/arete-and-the-odysseys-poetics-of-interrogation-9780192847805?cc=gb&lang=en&Listen to the Movies We Dig Odyssey panel: https://shows.acast.com/movies-we-dig/episodes/the-odyssey-2026-reception-battle-part-1-with-joel-christensCustom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday. Want a transcript of the episode? Email us at theozymandiasprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we can provide one. Ancient Office Hours is a proud member of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast, Jeremiah and Juan discuss how Homer treats leadership in The Odyssey before introducing a lecture from Dr. Benedict Whalen. On the island of Circe, Odysseus rescues his men from being turned to pigs, but he himself falls to beastly temptations for a full year. The Odyssey tells the tale of the cunning and crafty hero of the Trojan War on his journey home. After ten years of war, Odysseus faces another ten years of fantastic temptations, deadly monsters, treacherous seas, and impious men. Meanwhile, Ithaca is threatened by suitors who plague his wife and plunder his wealth. When Odysseus reaches home, he must slay the suitors, test the loyalty of his friends and family, and restore order to his marriage and his kingdom.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast, Jeremiah and Juan discuss how Homer treats leadership in The Odyssey before introducing a lecture from Dr. Benedict Whalen. On the island of Circe, Odysseus rescues his men from being turned to pigs, but he himself falls to beastly temptations for a full year. The Odyssey tells the tale of the cunning and crafty hero of the Trojan War on his journey home. After ten years of war, Odysseus faces another ten years of fantastic temptations, deadly monsters, treacherous seas, and impious men. Meanwhile, Ithaca is threatened by suitors who plague his wife and plunder his wealth. When Odysseus reaches home, he must slay the suitors, test the loyalty of his friends and family, and restore order to his marriage and his kingdom.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Fatefully, I tried to pick my battles 'til the battle picked me” This week, we're diving into the timeless influence of Greek mythology in Taylor Swift's music by exploring connections between Taylor's songs and classic Greek myths. Jodi finds links between Demeter and Persephone's sorrow in The Hymn to Demeter and the Folklore song "My Tears Ricochet.” Maansi shows us how  "Long Story Short” sounds like Odysseus recounting his epic journey as he returns home. And Jenn gets into the ancient story of the Labyrinth and how it reflects themes of self-discovery and transformation in "Labyrinth." Is Taylor Swift a modern-day Homer? Listen and find out!    Subscribe to get new episode updates: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe Stay up to date: www.aptaylorswift.com    Mentioned in this episode:  Mythology, Edith Hamilton The Iliad, Homer The Odyssey, Homer Metamorphoses, Ovid Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan E44: Metaphors + “The Tortured Poets Department” E22: Mastermind  Homeric Hymns  The Hymn to Demeter Hadestown (musical) Hercules (Disney animated film) E54: One Year Anniversary of AP Taylor Swift Circe, Madeline Miller Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell Stephen Fry's Mythos, Heroes, and Troy  Episode Highlights:  Introduction to Greek Mythology "my tears ricochet" folklore "long story short" evermore "Labyrinth" Midnights Follow us!  TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift Link Tree →linktr.ee/aptaylorswift Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts Libro.fm →  tinyurl.com/aptslibro Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com   Affiliate Codes:  Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!  Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro *** This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

Is life just unrelenting drudgery? Sure, the Psalmist describes it as a "vale of tears". But that bitterness is routinely alleviated by sweet music, good food, tenderness, friendship, the delight of a clever plan coming together (thanks, George Peppard), tears of joy as well as of sorrow. Or at least there is in real life and in Homer's Odyssey. But there doesn't seem to be much (any?) of those things in Christopher Nolan's unrealistic screen adaptation of the famous epic. Jeff and Dave devoted three hours of their lives to seeing the movie, now they ask you to surrender one hour of yours to listen to their screed. Bottom line? Nolan's Odysseus is a flattened, unimaginative, perpetually depressed character. His Calypso is dull, unappealing, merely therapeutic. His Penelope merely regal, not her husband's witty match as in Homer. And the gods? Though frequently mentioned and referenced, and in the case of Zendaya's Athena occasionally seen, the movie would have been pretty much the same without them. In conclusion, despite the stunning visuals, despite the beautiful scenery, give us the shampoo commercial of Wolfgang Peterson's Troy. And don't even get us started on the music. Back to School coupon code for Dr. Noe's Greek and Latin classes : AUTUMN15.

Author and classicist Daniel Mendelsohn was teaching a university class on Homer's The Odyssey, when his elderly father decided to enrol in it.Daniel became fascinated by the stories of the ancient world as a child and grew up to study the classics and then write books and essays to share his knowledge with the wider world.Eventually he began teaching the Ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey, to first year university students at Bard College in New York State.But when his elderly father Jay asked to sit in on the course, it led to a big change in their relationship.This episode was first broadcast in 2020Further informationAn Odyssey: A father, a Son, and an Epic is published by KnopfDaniel's latest book is The Odyssey: A New Translation This episode was first broadcast in 2020.It explores the Ancient World, Homer, The Odyssey, the Classics, translation, poetry, writing, teaching, parents, family, fathers, students, New York State, memoir, Odysseus, hero, storytelling, siblings, Winnie the Pooh, emotions, love, books.

Fresh off the first Cascadia Men's Conference, I'm pleased to share my first long-form podcast episode in some months. Right now, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is storming around the world, a $1.3 billion phenomenon that has returned one of humanity's oldest stories to the center of our cultural conversation.My guest today is a man who has been steeping in this epic for years. Phil Cousineau is the author of newly published ‘The Wisdom of the Odyssey: Twenty-four Life Lessons from Homer's Epic' and more than forty other books, including the bestselling The Art of Pilgrimage and The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work. He is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who has consulted on myth and story for Warner Brothers, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, led mythology travel programs to Greece for more than three decades, and hosted the PBS television series Global Spirit.In our conversation, Phil invites us to look at why The Odyssey has risen once again. He suggests the epic poem is Western culture's first articulated case of PTSD and the consequence of war and conquest. We speak of the women who guide Odysseus back to himself, the terror of crossing your own threshold after twenty years away, and what it means when love rather than fame becomes the gravity that pulls a man home.Phil reminds us that the Odyssey is everybody's story, and the courage required to bend down and kiss the earth in gratitude for the chance to begin again.Here in full is the Rumi poem I reference (translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)LOVE, YOUR waters, your melodieswhirl me and whirl me.I'm the wheel in a mill.Whirl me forever.When my heart is troubled,when my heart has fled,keep me close.No branch, no leaf, no piece of straw drawn to amberwill move without a breeze.Unless desire stirs it, nothing in this world will dance.Every element, every particle of every elementis a whirling lover, drunk on union.The generous host lays out a feast.Animals graze the sweet grass.Didn't the ants tell secrets to Solomon?Didn't the mountains singwhen David sang his songs of praise?The sky is your lover.Lay your head on its peaceful chest.The sun is your lover. Drink its light.Love moves through every mountain and field.How else would green grow from earth's dark body?LINKS * Phil Cousineau - Official Website* The Wisdom of the Odyessy - BookHeads up, if you are a man seeking to explore the mythopoetic path, you are invited to check out The Archetypal Compass. This mini-guide is designed to help you navigate the internal archetypes of the soul, providing a map for those ready to move beyond personal inquiry and toward a more conscious stewardship of their lives and the world.Also, the next cohort of The Deep Masculine, my 3 month online journey for men begins Sept 20th. Join a mythic brotherhood aimed at re-patterning your relationship to sex, soul and purpose.SHOW NOTES00:04 — Quebec and Detroit Roots: Phil traces his ancestry to Jean Baptiste Cousineau, one of the nine founding families of Montreal, and his mythic upbringing in Detroit.00:06 — A Family of Readers: Growing up reading Homer, Grimm, and Canadian folk tales aloud together, and the inherited practice of read, pilgrimage, and the Long Conversation.00:10 — The Odyssey Sketched: A whirlwind through the enchantment at Olympus, the judgment of Paris, Helen, and the 1,156 ships sailing for Troy.00:16 — The First Documented PTSD: Why Odysseus is arguably history's first case of post-traumatic stress, and why a soldier cannot go straight home from war.00:22 — The Bard Scene: On the island of Phaeacia, when Odysseus hears his story sung, takes it back, and the healing begins.00:25 — Why Myths Rise Again: James Baldwin on reading as the antidote to unprecedented pain, and why myths that never happened are always happening.00:33 — The Masculine Arc: From the hunger for kleos (glory) to being pulled home by eros (love), and the grief of men who have achieved everything yet feel lost.00:39 — Polytropos: What it means that Odysseus is "many-turning" — the colossal, radical act of a man capable of changing his mind.00:42 — The Six Women: How Athena, Calypso, Circe, Nausicaa, Eurycleia, and Penelope guide Odysseus home, making the epic the world's first romance.00:46 — Achilles in the Underworld: The axis mundi where glory confronts the choice for one more day of sunshine over eternal fame.00:52 — Gratitude and Kissing the Earth: On Rumi, Coleman Barks, and Odysseus bending down to kiss the beach as literature's first grateful male hero.00:56 — The Beggar's Return: Odysseus comes home not in triumph but humbled, bent, and listening — a diminishment that is actually a deepening.01:06 — Nolan's Ending vs. the Greek Original: Why sailing away into the sunset is American Western mythology, not a Greek ending, and what the film sacrifices.01:10 — Talking Until Dawn: Penelope's fierce "My heart can take it" and the moment husband and wife talk and listen to each other until dawn.01:13 — The Wisdom of the Odyssey: Phil's new book, recommended translations by Lattimore and Emily Wilson, and upcoming mythology tours to Greece. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit themythicmasculine.substack.com/subscribe

Gaius and Germanicus: The hosts close on the president's health and psyche, referencing the new book by senior New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman and her colleague, which finds the eighty-year-old relatively healthy—minor hand bruising, blood-thinning aspirin—and fundamentally the same man, simply older, slower, and less articulate, aging traits Gaius admits sharing at seventy-eight. With no physical excuse, Germanicus argues the issues are "spiritual": the president has internalized his life as a literal "hero's journey," an Odysseus figure whose survival of the Butlerassassination attempt he embraces as personal "apotheosis"—a transcendental kingship Germanicus compares to Louis XIV and Alexander the Great. The public response is not anger but exhaustion at the predictable "lose, lose, lose"; citizens simply "turn the channel off." The decline into triteness is symbolized by the "Scrooge McDuck" gold obsession covering the Oval Office and the disputed five-story gold-gilded ballroom. The hosts find hope in Chief Justice John Roberts' ruling permitting the underground security hospital while blocking the gilded ballroom itself, referring it to the full court—the metaphor, Germanicus concludes, for how institutions will quietly contain the president's wildest excesses and let a gasping nation safely reach 2028. (3)

Young Washington and Odysseus walk into a fast and testimony meeting. Only one will emerge triumphant! Both are violent. Both play fast and loose with their source material. And both are myths. In this episode, Stephen Carter compares the two movies for what they might offer to a Mormon audience. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SLP-215.mp3

We turn our attention to a bona fide cultural phenomenon and ask: where do Homer's The Odyssey and Christopher Nolan's THE ODYSSEY (2026) intersect and diverge? PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus/posts/738-odysseus-and-167166546

As the Libu war wound down, Merneptah's troops took captives and plundered the bodies of fallen warriors. Along the way, we also hear of "foreign peoples of the Sea," who were involved in these events. Merneptah mentions Sherden, Lukka, Tursha, Ekwesh, and Shekelesh. Who were these "Sea Peoples" and why were they coming to Egypt? Music: Keith Zizza, Luke Chaos. We're on YouTube! Ancient history media @dominicperryae and the podcast (plus bonus lectures) @historyegyptpodcast Support the show and get bonus content at www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast Transcript and references at www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pharmakeia — Show Notes: Fight Laugh Feast Documentary In this Fight Laugh Feast documentary, CrossPolitic traces a single Greek word — pharmakeia — from Homer's Odyssey through the book of Revelation to argue that the ancient world never separated medicine from sorcery, and that the modern West's attempt to draw that line may be its most consequential mistake. The film follows materialism's promise from the Big Bang to the therapy couch, tracks the ladder from prescription pharmaceuticals to ayahuasca retreats in Peru, and asks why the men who most loudly deny the existence of demons are increasingly found in dark rooms communing with named spirit entities. Along the way it draws on C.S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley, Peter Hitchens, and the testimony of a man who sat in fifteen ayahuasca ceremonies — and what finally set him free. The answer is not another ceremony. It is guilt, repentance, and the One who drank the cup fully awake so we wouldn't have to. Timestamps 0:24 — What is a woman? What is a human being? — and why getting the answer wrong collapses everything 1:04 — The materialist answer: evolved apes, accidental universe, cosmic soup — and why it can't hold 2:06 — Materialism as a religion — no God, no soul, just chemicals and atoms colliding 2:39 — The swept house: materialism cleared out demons and filled the room with diagnoses and serotonin levels 3:36 — Ayahuasca retreats, psilocybin therapy, and $7,000–$20,000 luxury ceremonies in Jamaica and Peru 4:00 — Pharmakeia — one Greek word from Homer to Revelation meaning both medicine and sorcery 4:40 — The ladder: prescription → marijuana → ecstasy → mushrooms → the dark room in Peru 7:52 — Huxley's 1962 Berkeley lecture: the controlling oligarchy will get people to love their servitude 8:43 — Peter Hitchens and the Uvalde shooter — the marijuana detail that disappeared from the New York Times 11:12 — Attacker Smoked Cannabis — the man with a laptop building the file the national press unpublished 12:08 — Orwell's jack boots vs. Huxley's chains — drugs and sex as the state's soft bribe 13:20 — Dominion Wealth Strategies — sponsor read 14:41 — CS Lewis: the materialist magician — science and magic as twins, one that worked better 16:39 — Lewis's nightmare: magic returning in a lab coat, using the language of forces and energies 17:31 — The swept house revisited — Jesus's words and the seven demons worse than the first 18:06 — Henry's Demons — marijuana at 11, madness at 14, and the father who named it correctly 20:26 — Pharmakeia in Homer, Exodus, Galatians, and Revelation — nations deceived by one word 22:38 — The seam we drew — medicine on one side, sorcery on the other, and the line beginning to blur 24:00 — PhDs communing with Mama Ayahuasca — named entities, published journals, and credit cards accepted 25:57 — Demons allowed in as aliens — keeping God out while keeping the master narrative intact 27:29 — Lewis in Screwtape: the greatest evil is conceived in carpeted offices by quiet men with smooth cheeks 28:51 — Deuteronomy 18 — the law against consulters with familiar spirits, and the modern retreat that crosses every line 29:38 — King Saul, the demonized boy, and Legion — the man in the tombs clothed and in his right mind 31:04 — 2020: churches closed, pot shops open, abortion clinics essential — and how few said no 33:03 — Nepho — morally alert: Peter's word before warning that the devil prowls looking for someone to devour 34:29 — Red Balloon Recruiter — sponsor read 35:09 — Thomas Szasz and therapy culture — the inversion of personal responsibility 36:13 — Trauma culture in the church — the failure of biblical counseling and the endless loop of buried pain 37:47 — The man who sat in fifteen ceremonies: what finally changed him was guilt 38:25 — You are not evolved slime — made in the image of God, body and soul, homesick and lost 39:34 — Circe's cup and Odysseus's men — forgetting home, waiting to be turned into pigs 40:09 — The trade runs backwards: when Jesus showed up, the demons went into the swine 40:32 — One more cup — Christ at Golgotha refusing the narcotic, drinking the wrath fully awake 42:02 — The cure: a renewed mind, a household, a book, the discovery that responsibility is the greatest pleasure 43:39 — The real hero's journey — available for free, already paid for by another Fight Laugh Feast 2026: Holy Wars Join us October 1–3 in Franklin, Tennessee at The Factory in Franklin for the Fight Laugh Feast Conference. This year's theme is Holy Wars — Just War, the Crusades, and the Christian Life. Featuring Doug Wilson, Joe Boot, George Grant, Jared Longshore, Joe Rigney, Ben Merkel, and the CrossPolitic crew. Early Bird pricing ends July 1st — nearly halfway sold out. Tickets: https://tickets.flfnetwork.com/holy-wars-conference This Episode's Sponsors Dominion Wealth Strategies How you handle your money is not a neutral act — it is not separate from your walk with Christ. Dominion Wealth Strategies helps families think biblically and act wisely about what God has entrusted to them: budgeting, saving, debt management, life insurance, estate planning, and multigenerational financial vision. Not about chasing wealth. About faithfulness. Schedule a complimentary consultation today. Website: reform.money Red Balloon Recruiter An engaged, aware employee can grow your company's performance by 5, 10, or even 25%. Red Balloon's personalized source-and-screen process connects you with top talent — people who show up sober, think in straight lines, and take responsibility before anyone asks. Revenue up, costs down. Website: redballoon.work About CrossPolitic CrossPolitic exists to put Jesus over Politics and reclaim the public square through bold, joyful, biblically grounded media. We confront the chaos discipling America and build the next generation of Christian media infrastructure. Our mission is simple: all of Christ for all of media for all of America. Mainstream media is collapsing. Eighty-seven percent of journalists identify as progressive, and even many conservative outlets prioritize profit over principle. Meanwhile, billions of hours of digital content are discipling the world every day. CrossPolitic stands in that gap, producing courageous, entertaining, truth-filled media for households, churches, and leaders across the nation. Become a CrossPolitic Club Member Support the mission and unlock exclusive content, behind-the-scenes shows, and theology series. https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/menu/checkout Subscribe & Share! Every like, comment, and share helps push Christian media back into the algorithm where it belongs. Follow CrossPolitic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CROSSPOLITIC X: https://x.com/CrossPolitic Facebook: https://facebook.com/crosspolitic Instagram: https://instagram.com/crosspolitic Join our Email List: https://crosspolitic.com/ Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NRBTV, DirecTV, Dish, and everywhere podcasts are found. #CrossPolitic #Pharmakeia #FightLaughFeast #Drugs #Ayahuasca #CSLewis #ChristianMedia #Materialism

With Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey bringing Homer's ancient epic back into the spotlight, Cultish sits down with Professor Owen Anderson to explore what lies beneath the gods, monsters, and legendary hero's journey. From the polytheistic world of Homer to the deeper spiritual ideas that have shaped Western storytelling, the conversation asks whether Nolan is simply adapting a pagan classic—or transforming it into something very different.  What if Odysseus' greatest enemy isn't Poseidon, the Cyclops, or the journey home—but his own sin?  And what if this ancient pagan story ultimately points toward something the Greek gods could never provide: redemption?    The conversation explores the striking contrast between the traditional pagan hero's journey and what Professor Anderson describes as a distinctly Christian arc of sin, confession, sacrifice, and redemption. Along the way, the episode examines Greek mythology, the biblical worldview, the spiritual reality behind pagan gods, and the enduring influence Christianity has had on the way the Western world understands stories like The Odyssey. Be Part of the Mission to Change Lives: HERE SHOP OUR MERCH: HERE