Podcast appearances and mentions of oscar what

Episode 2: Doesn’t Make Us Friends Darkened Hallways is a product of Hear Me Out Productions. Find our other shows at hearmeoutproductions.com or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on social media @HearMeOutProd. This show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Thank you for visiting us at Sycamore Crossing. Come home soon – we’ll be waiting… Transcript Email Download New Tab Mia: Previously on Darkened Hallways. [SFX: Exciting recap music begins] Mia: Sycamore Crossing. Strange name for an apartment complex. Grey: Oh hey! Are you the infamous Mia? Mia: Yeah, that's me. Grey: I'm Grey. Just to let you know, I use they/them pronouns. Mia: Cool. I use she her. Grey: I needed a new roommate fast because I can't pay for this place on my own. Mia: I'd love to live here, if you'll have me? Mia: Oh hi! Are you Lauren? Grey mentioned you, but-- [SFX: Door slams] Grey: The door across from ours, number 42? The devils themselves live behind it. Oscar: You have awakened a dark presence... Grey: Oh ha ha, very funny, Oscar. Lauren: How did you like our graffiti? Grey: Screw you, Lauren. Mia: It looks like a crank? Did they sneak in here while they were calling us? What the hell? Let's get them back. Let's prank them so hard they end up being afraid of us. Grey: Coast is clear, Eagle One. Let's go. Oscar: What are you two doing in here? Lauren: Jesus, Grey, pranks are one thing, but breaking in is a red fricking line! Grey: Fine, we're leaving! [SFX: gasps, mysterious portal sound] Oscar: What the hell was that? Mia: Is it here for me? [SFX: Recap music fades out] [SFX: Theme music fades in] Voiceover: Greetings, my friends. Set aside your burdens for a moment and listen to an interesting tale. It has queer friendships, a found family, a hot cup of tea, fringe science and something dark and mysterious in the corner of your eye. Sound like fun? There are troublesome times ahead, but there is light and warmth as well, so relax, dear listeners… You are entering the darkened hallways of Sycamore Crossing. Welcome home. [SFX: Theme music plays out then ends] [SFX: Washing dishes] Mia: So… that just happened. Grey? You definitely saw the black hole too, right? Grey: I guess. Mia: Huh. Just making sure I didn't just imagine it. After my nightmare… I don't know what to think. Grey: Hey, Mia? Mia: Yes? Grey: Why is there a metal thing in the sink? Mia: Oh. That's the crank, the one that we thought Lauren and Oscar left in my bed yesterday… only I guess they didn't. Grey: Well, they're liars. Mia: They didn't sound like they were lying. Grey: So they're good liars. Come on, Mia, who else could have left the thing for you? Mia: Maybe it's related to the thing that we just saw? Grey: Ew, it's all rusty. Mia: I'll rinse the crank off and just... stuff it somewhere. That's what you're supposed to do with your problems, right? Stuff them somewhere and hope they don't come back to bite you in the ass? Speaking of, Grey, do you not want to talk about the black hole thing? Grey: Not particularly. [SFX: Someone knocks on the door.] Grey: Who the hell is that? Mia: I don't know. [SFX: The knocking becomes more insistent.] Grey: Fine. [SFX: Grey and Mia walk over to the door. Grey opens it.] Oscar: Hi. Lauren: Hey, neighbors. Grey: Are you here to prank us? Oscar: Would we announce our presence if we were? Lauren: We're here to talk about what we just saw, obviously. Grey: I didn't see anything. Lauren: Oh, please. Mia, can I come in? Mia: Uh, yes? Grey: What are you, a vampire? Do we have to invite you in? Lauren: No, I'm just being polite. Grey: Then why didn't you ask me? Lauren: Because I don't like you. Oscar: Come on, let's go sit in the living room. Talk this through. [SFX: They walk over to the living room. All four of them sit down on couches and chairs.] Lauren: Where did Sarah go, anyway? Grey: I don't know. Maybe you bullied her away. Lauren: Are you sure that was me and not you? Grey: What's that supposed to mean? Oscar: Guys, can we not do this? Let's discuss the elephant in the room, shall we? Mia: That black hole? Oscar: Exactly. Lauren: Ugh. Black hole? Is that what we're calling it? Oscar: Well, it's not a black hole as in a dying star, Lauren. Stars can't actually fit inside apartment complexes. [SFX: Unsettling music begins] Lauren: Yes, obviously, don't patronize me, Oscar. I just meant... "black hole" doesn't cover it. It was something entirely different, you know? Indescribable. Unsettling. Can science explain this stuff? Oscar: I don't know. I'm not a scientist like you. Mia? Mia: Not a scientist either. I do study English literature, though. Lauren: You should write a poem about this. Oscar: Grey? Grey: (snaps) What? Oscar: Any input? Grey: I'm not talking to you two. You're the enemy. Anyway, nothing happened. Nothing we can explain anyway. So why talk about it? Mia: Talking helps, right? Lauren: Grey would rather just play videogames until they have no more feelings. Grey: I don't even have any feelings about this. It happened, now it's over. Get out of my apartment. Mia: Has nothing like this ever happened before, though? Lauren: A black hole? Never. Not in my presence, anyway. Oscar: But... this place has always been strange. Sometimes I see something from the corner of my eye, like a smudge of darkness? And then I look and it's gone. Or sometimes I'll find random objects just lying around in the corridor. Like a wheel or a towel or a shoe. Grey: It's just trash lying around. I throw my old socks into the corridor all the time. [Awkward pause] Lauren: That was you? Oscar: There's a strange atmosphere here, is all I'm saying. I guess that's why so many residents leave. Lauren: Leave? More like, disappear. Mia: Like Sarah. Oscar: Yeah. I miss her. Mia: I thought you were enemies? Oscar: Nah, I always had fun doing the pranks. It's these two who take it too seriously. Mia: Huh, OK...so what do we do now? Grey: I'm leaving. I have work in half an hour. Oscar: We'll continue this later, okay? I have work now too, but we can't just go back to how things used to be. Everything's changed. Lauren, why don't you give Mia a tour of the complex? Bet she hasn't looked around yet. Mia: That's true! I haven't had time to explore! Lauren: God, stop telling me what to do, Oscar. You're not my father. Oscar: Whatever you say. [SFX: Oscar leaves the room.] Grey: Oh Mia, I forgot to ask - did you check in with the landlord yet? Show him your ID and references? Mia: My… ID? Grey: You know. Passport, driver's license, whatever. [Pause] Grey: Mia? Mia: Yeah, I heard you! Um… I thought your ad said you didn't care about identification? Something along those lines? Grey: Oh, that! No, I just meant - like, I don't need to see your identification. I hate showing mine to people because they'll see my birth name and I just thought, you know, just in case my new roommate's the same - I mean none of that's my business… Like, obviously the landlord will need your info, right? Lauren: Yes, that is how subletting works. Mia: ...Yeah, of course. So when would he want to see my passport? Grey: Honestly, whenever. I haven't seen him in for-freaking-ever so he's probably forgotten about it. Lauren: I doubt he even noticed you're here. Mia: Oh, okay. Good. I mean… it's good that I don't have to deal with that right now. I just have a lot on my mind. Lauren: Don't we all. Grey: Okay, I'm off. Mia, get rid of Lauren. [SFX: Grey leaves the apartment.] Lauren: (sighs) Are you ready for the tour? Mia: Uh...you don't have to be my guide, you know. I can look around on my own. Lauren: No, I actually want to. I hate it when Oscar tells me what to do, but that doesn't mean I don't want to do it. So yeah. Let's go. [SFX: Mia and Lauren walk through the hallway as they talk.] Mia: So...are you and Oscar dating? Lauren: Oh my god, no, definitely not. We're both gay. We're best friends, though. That's why we live together. After high school, I wanted to go to college, while Oscar wanted to get into art and stuff. So now I'm studying artificial intelligence at the local university, and he's working at a museum in the city center. Mia: That's amazing. I love that you two stayed together. Lauren: I don't know what I'd do without him. You're a student too, right? Mia: Um, yeah, I guess. I'm... an English major. At the same university as you, actually. But you're probably in a different building? Lauren: Yeah. The way campus is organized, I don't think I've ever met a humanities student. Mia: Well, here I am. Lauren: Here you are indeed. How are you paying for this? Rich parents? Mia: Oh, no, not exactly. I do translating work online. Lauren: That's cool. I should really get a job too, but with Oscar, it's just too easy to not do anything. I know he'll take care of me. His job pays pretty well. Mia: And you say he's not your dad...? Lauren: He's definitely not my dad. He's younger than me, for god's sake. He's twenty-one and sixty days, and I'm twenty-one and ninety-three days. Mia: You keep count of the days? Lauren: Eh, it just sort of happens. My mind keeps track of things. So how old are you? Mia: Twenty-two. Lauren: Damn, I'm not the oldest anymore. Actually, I think Grey's twenty-two as well, but they don't count. Mia: Why don't you like Grey? Lauren: We're enemies. Mia: Right! Lauren: Anyway, I'm supposed to be your tour guide, right? This is the third floor. Six residents live here, but I only really know Mrs. Finley. She's a sweetheart, but also kind of a loner. She barely ever leaves her apartment. Okay, at the end of the hallway here is where the landlord has his office. His name is Mr. Greer, but Oscar and I just call him Mr. Grumps. Not to his face, though. Mia: Is he nice? Lauren: Nice? No. He's grumpy, and he smells bad, but he is good at fixing things. [SFX: The rattling of an old elevator door. The elevator dings three times.] Lauren: Come on, let's go down to the second floor. [SFX: The elevator door opens. The elevator dings twice.] Lauren: Here we are. I don't know anyone who lives on this floor, but at least one of these apartments has to be occupied. Mia: What are these scratches on the wall? They look like... mathematical formulas? Lauren: No idea. Oscar's always telling me to "decipher them," but just because I study artificial intelligence doesn't mean that I understand every single formula. Besides, "decipher" makes it sound like it's some kind of code. It's probably just random squiggles. Mia: On a wall. Lauren: I know. It's ridiculous. Vandalism and all that. Mia: The writing looks old. How old is this place anyway? Lauren: Fifty-three years and six months. You don't have to widen your eyes at me, I just have a good memory, okay? [SFX: Eerie music begins] But yeah, this used to be just a grass field. Then more people wanted to live around here so they needed more housing. Mia: And now barely anyone lives here anymore. Lauren: Exactly. If I could afford it, I could totally get my own apartment in here. Be Oscar's neighbor instead of his roommate. I'd miss him though. Mia: How did you two become friends? Lauren: Oh, you know. He was the new kid in school, he approached me and asked if I wanted to be friends, and I said "yes". [SFX: Eerie music fades out] Mia: It was that easy? Lauren: Easiest relationship in my life. At the time, it was the only easy relationship in my life. Mia: How so? Lauren: Ugh, it's embarrassing. I didn't really have any friends. Everyone at school saw me as "the angry kid". And as for my family... well, at home I was even angrier. Mia: You don't get on with your family? Lauren: I do now, but at the time... Look, I have six siblings. Three of them older than me, three of them younger. Mia: Wow. That's... a lot. Lauren: Yeah. It's too many. Between the seven of us with only two parents to care for us, I felt pretty neglected. My parents didn't really neglect me, but I needed attention. So I'd get these angry outbursts that got me their attention, but not in a positive way. I don't know, I just had a lot of anger in me. And I was pretty lonely too...that's why I'm so glad Oscar approached me. On his first day at my high school, he just... walked right up to me. He could have been a popular kid - he was attractive and he was wearing the right kinds of clothes. A stylish jacket and designer jeans. But instead, he stuck with me. Mia: Maybe you two were destined to be friends. Lauren: I don't believe in that stuff. Maybe he just had impeccable queerdar. Or maybe he needed someone to fuss over, and he picked me. That sounds like Oscar. [SFX: Eerie music starts playing as Mia and Lauren see something flicker. It makes a staticky noise.] Mia: Did you… see that? A sort of dark flickering in the corner of your eye? Lauren: Let's get back to the apartments, yeah? Mia: Good idea. [SFX: Eerie music stops. The elevator DINGS FOUR TIMES. The doors OPEN.] Lauren: Here we are, our apartments. Time to go our separate ways. Mia: Will we still hang out together? The four of us? [SFX: Eerie music starts] Lauren: Why would we? I know Oscar wants us all to be friends, but Grey clearly doesn't feel the same way. Mia: But... we went through something together. Lauren: We all saw something bizarre. So what? It doesn't make us friends. Doesn't make us anything. You look tired. Mia: I am tired. Lauren: You should take a nap. Goodnight, Mia. Or good afternoon. Whatever. [SFX: Mia enters her apartmnet] Mia: Grey? Right. They're still at work. You know, Lauren was probably right, I should take a nap. I'll shower first. Anxiety makes me sweaty. [SFX:] Mia undresses, showers, brushes her teeth, dresses again, lies down in bed, and hits the light switch.] Mia: (yawns) Just… the black hole… could it be my fault? Did I dream it into existence? [SFX: Dream music. Mia's dreams sound echoey. Voices from her memoriess appear like distorted, ghostly whispers.] Past Oscar: You have awakened a dark presence. Soon, it will devour you. Past Grey: Oh, ha ha, very funny, Oscar. PAST Mia: Grey? Did you leave a… a metal thing on my bed? Past Oscar: Uh, what is that? Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing? Past Grey: Mia, does that… does that look like the black hole you saw in your dream? Past Lauren: What the hell was that? Low Voice: Mia… Mia… [SFX: A door slams shut. Dream music ends.] Mia: (jerking awake) Ah! [SFX: Mia breathes heavily] Mia: It was just a dream this time… just a dream, Mia. Grey: (from another room) Mia, I'm home! Mia: (clears throat) How was work? [SFX: Grey enters Mia's room] Grey: Boring. Did I tell you what I do? I'm a cashier at the supermarket. Exciting stuff. Hey, are you okay? Did you have the nightmare again? Mia: I think we need to call Lauren and Oscar over. I need to tell them something. Grey: Ugh, fine. Let me just get changed. [SFX: Scene transition music.] Lauren: You're wearing a unicorn onesie? Grey: Shut up, it's comfortable. Oscar: I think it's cute, Grey. Grey: Again, shut up. Oscar: Mia, what did you want to talk about? Mia: Have you guys had any... nightmares? About the black hole? Lauren: About the black hole? No, not that I'm aware of. Oscar: Me neither. Mia: Okay. Well... I have. I had one before we even saw it in the hallway. I told Grey about it already. Oscar: Was it like a premonition? Mia: I don't know. But what if I caused the black hole? By dreaming about it? Lauren: That's absurd. [SFX: Unsettling music begins] Oscar: Mia, you don't know that. We don't know anything. Mia: At the very least, I seem to be connected to the hole somehow. In my dream it… it pulls me in. And the fact that I just had the nightmare again makes me think that this wasn't a one-time thing. The hole could appear again. Or something else might happen, I don't know. I have this foreboding feeling in my stomach. Grey: Me too. Mia: Really? [SFX: Unsettling music fades out] Grey: Yeah. I don't know. Like Oscar said this morning, this place has always been weird. And I've always tried to ignore it... because I don't want to leave. This is my home. I don't want my home to be terrifying. Oscar: Why don't you want to leave? Grey: Because! Because I lived here with Sarah. Because I've made good memories here. Because what if Sarah comes back and I'm gone? But you know what? You're right. This apartment complex, it's wrong somehow. Something's going on... something's always been up, but it's different now. I'd never seen a black hole like that before. That started yesterday. Mia: When I moved in. Lauren: Mia, if you blame yourself, I will literally fight you. Oscar: Seconded. Well, in my case, not literally. Figuratively. Grey: So what do we do? Oscar: You don't want to leave, right? I'd rather not leave either. So we stay, and we figure this thing out. We team up to find out what's going on. Lauren: "Team up"? What, like we're a band of superheroes? Grey: Uh, pass. Oscar: Come on, guys! We want to know what's going on here, don't we? Mia: I sure do! I'm all for teaming up. [SFX: Friendship music begins] Oscar: Thank you. Can't we at least try? I'm sure we will get along. Look at us having a mature conversation right now. Lauren: Fine. But I'm only doing it for you, Oscar. Grey: Well, then I'm doing it for Mia. Mia: Thanks, Grey. Lauren: So what should we do? Besides keep an eye out for creepy happenings? Oscar: We could dig into the history of Sycamore Crossing. There must be some information online...oh, maybe in the library. Mia: Good. We need to know what we're up against. [SFX: Friendship music fades out] [SFX: Darkened Hallways theme music fades in] Voiceover: Darkened Hallways is written by Asa van der Lecq and produced by Kimberly Dauber. Our director is Kris Kim. Our production manager is Max Evans. Sound design is by John Bond, music is by Joelle Doriani, and cover art by Manon Groos. Our sensitivity reader is Stacey Parshall Jensen. This episode featured Victoria Longe as Mia, PJ Hernandez as Grey, Ari Sylvin as Lauren, and Kelvyn Koning as Oscar. Darkened Hallways is a product of Hear Me Out Productions. Find our other shows at hearmeoutproductions.com or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on social media @HearMeOutProd. This show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Thank you for visiting us at Sycamore Crossing. Come home soon - we'll be waiting. [SFX: Darkened Hallways theme music ends] Voiceover: Darkened Hallways is a creation of Hear Me Out Productions. HMOP logotone: All we have are dreams and a microphone. Scroll back to top Sign up to receive email updates Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you periodic updates about the podcast. powered by The post Doesn't Make Us Friends first appeared on Hear Me Out Productions.

Episode 1: Roof Over My Head Darkened Hallways is a product of Hear Me Out Productions. Find our other shows at hearmeoutproductions.com or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on social media @HearMeOutProd. This show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Thank you for visiting us at Sycamore Crossing. Come home soon – we’ll be waiting… Transcript Email Download New Tab [SFX: CAR NOISES, TURN SIGNAL, BIRDS] Mia: [sighs, this car ride is long and boring] [SFX: A CAR DRIVES INTO A PARKING LOT, THEN COMES TO A HALT.] Taxi Driver: Well, here we are. Sycamore Crossing.  [SFX: COINS are transferred from Mia's hands to the taxi driver's.] Mia: Keep the change.  [SFX: Mia OPENS THE CAR DOOR. She STEPS OUT, PULLING A SUITCASE WITH HER.] Mia: Thanks for the ride!  [SFX: The taxi DRIVES OFF.] Mia: Right…  [SFX: Mia TAKES A FEW STEPS, CARRYING HER STUFF.] Mia: Sycamore Crossing. Strange name for an apartment complex. Okay. Just enter the building, Mia. You've done scarier things than that.  [SFX: Mia OPENS A DOOR. She ENTERS, PULLING A SUITCASE WITH HER.] Mia: Stairs… and an elevator. But what if the elevator gets stuck and I can't get out? Better take the stairs. I can leave my luggage here for now.  [SFX: She HURRIES UP A SET OF STAIRS.] Mia: It's dark in here.  [SFX: Mia moves further up the stairs. Then she OPENS ANOTHER DOOR. She arrives in a hallway. ] Mia: This hallway is dark too. Y- At least I can see the door numbers.  [SFX: We hear Mia's FOOTSTEPS as she walks down the hallway.] Mia: Number 38, number 38... Ah, here it is. [SFX: Her FOOTSTEPS STOP as she arrives at apartment 38.] Mia: [sighs] You can do this, Mia. It's just a conversation. You'll just have to talk to them. Okay. Here goes nothing. [SFX: She KNOCKS ON THE DOOR. We hear SOFT FOOTSTEPS on the other side of the door. The DOOR OPENS.] Grey: Oh hey! Are you the infamous Mia? ...I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. I'd literally never heard of you before you contacted me. Mia: Uh, yeah, that's me. Am I on time? Grey: No idea. Anyway, hi, I'm Grey. Come in. Mia: Thanks. [SFX: Mia WALKS INTO THE ROOM. Grey FOLLOWS.] Grey: Just to let you know, I use they/them pronouns. Mia: Cool. I use she/her. [SFX: They STOP WALKING.] Grey: Sorry for the clutter. I'm not exactly a tidy person. Just another part of my eccentric personality, if you know what I mean. Einstein had bedhead too, right? Anyway, do you mind the mess? Mia: Uh… No, that's fine. I can't exactly tell you how to live your life. Grey: Probably not. Many have tried. Uh, anyways, I emailed you about the price, right? Mia: Yes! I actually emailed you back. I can pay the rent, don't worry. Grey: Oh, I must have forgotten to check my email. Uh, can you cook? Mia: Sure. Grey: Can you teach me to cook? Mia: Uh, I-I guess so? Grey: Great. I'm terrible in the kitchen and Sarah tried to get me to cook dinner but- Mia: Wait, who's Sarah? Grey: Oh. She was my previous roommate. She moved out really suddenly last week. She even left some of her stuff behind. Something must have come up. Mia: She didn't even give you a heads-up? Grey: No. Mia: That's...rude. Grey: Yeah. Anyways, I needed a new roommate fast, because I cannot pay for this place on my own, so I'm glad you responded. Sooooo do you like the place? Mia: Well, the living room looks good. But, uh, I haven't seen any other rooms yet. Grey: Right, I'm such a klutz. Come, I'll be your guide on this epic adventure through my apartment, perhaps soon to be our apartment. Follow your leader! [SFX: Chill, ambling "house tour" music begins. Footsteps as they walk around the house. Door opens.] Grey: This is the bathroom. Mia: Oh. It's actually pretty clean. Grey: What did you think, that it'd be a swamp? Mia: No! I just...thought it might be more like the living room. Grey: I thought you said you didn't mind the mess! [SFX: Door opens.] Grey: The kitchen. I have leftover pizza in the fridge, if you're hungry.  [SFX: Door opens.] Grey: The dining room. [SFX: Door opens.] Grey: My bedroom. Yes, I know it's a mess. [SFX: Door opens. Music becomes relaxed and comforting. We hear an AIR CONDITIONER.] Grey: And this is your bedroom.  Mia: It's... perfect. Grey: Cozy, right? I always like small bedrooms. I know the room only has a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk, but you can decorate it. Make it into your own evil lair or whatever. [SFX: Music stops.] Mia: What's with that window? Grey: Hm? Mia: Uh, the small window, above the bed. Grey: It looks out on the corridor. You can close the curtains at night, if you want. Mia: I'll definitely be doing that. Grey: There are no creeps out there, I promise. Well... apart from those jerks at number 42. Mia: Sorry? Grey: The door across from ours, number 42? The devils themselves live behind it. Mia: There's more than one devil? Grey: Oh, yes, and their names are Lauren and Oscar. Mia: I thought the devil's name was Lucifer. Grey: He has nothing on them. Mia: What did they do? Grey: What didn't they do? Just last night, they smeared fricking dog poo on my front door. Mia: ...The same front door that I knocked on? Grey: The very one. Of course, I responded by throwing several water balloons through their open window. (laughing) I could hear them squeal. Sarah would have been so proud of me. Mia: Can't you guys just... like, get along? Grey: You don't make a deal with the devil, Mia. Mia: But... why? Why are you guys doing these pranks? Grey: Why did Harry Potter fight Voldemort? And they're not pranks, Mia, they're attacks. Attacks on our dignity. Sooo do you want to live here? Mia: Yes, I'd love to live here. If you'll have me. I'm not taking part in this neighborly rivalry, though, if that's okay. I just want to live a quiet life.  Grey: Fine, fine. You can move in whenever. I assume you have to go get your stuff... Mia: Yeah, I left it downstairs. Wasn't sure if the elevator was trustworthy.  Grey: Seriously, you already took all of your stuff with you? You really were in a hurry, huh? Mia: Oh, you know. Just trying to be efficient. Grey: I admire that. I have never been efficient in my life. It's a lifestyle. Mia: Is it? Grey: Yeah. [SFX: Scene transition music.] [SFX: Mia WALKS DOWN THE LAST FEW STEPS. Mia TAKES HER SUITCASE AND PULLS IT OVER TO THE ELEVATOR. Mia PUSHES THE ELEVATOR BUTTON.] Mia: Do I have everything? Bedding, books, clothes… Yes, that's it.  [SFX: The ELEVATOR DINGS ONCE and the ELEVATOR DOORS OPEN, then CLOSE. The elevator DINGS FOUR TIMES. The doors OPEN. We hear Mia'S FOOTSTEPS as she leaves the elevator and walks down the hallway. She's carrying her stuff.] Mia: (heaving) This is heavier than I thought. Wait, is that door open?   [SFX: Mia continues walking until she's closer.] Mia: Oh, hi! Are you Lauren? Grey mentioned you, but- [SFX: Lauren SLAMS HER DOOR.] Mia: And she's gone. God, I am so awkward.  [SFX: She KNOCKS ON THE DOOR to apartment 38.] Grey: (from inside the apartment, shouting) You can just come in, the door's open! Mia: Okay! [SFX: She OPENS THE DOOR. She ENTERS the apartment. She DROPS HER STUFF (bag, bedding) on the floor.] Mia: Oh my God.  Grey: (from the living room, with a raised voice) What is it?  Mia: There's - there's graffiti on the wall! Here, near the door to my bedroom.  Grey: Seriously? What does it say? Mia: “Good luck explaining this to the landlord”.  Grey: (whistles at the sight of the graffiti) Oh, frick. Mia: "Oh, frick"? The landlord's going to kill us. Grey: Hey, chill out. You haven't even met the guy yet. Mia: So he's not going to kill us? Grey: Well, yeah. He'll definitely be pissed. Mia: (whispering, panicked) Oh no. Grey: Calm down, okay? It wasn't us. Mia: But he doesn't know that! Grey: Besides, we can paint it over. Mia: Can we? Grey: No idea. Lauren and Oscar have never pulled anything like this before.  Mia: They did this? Grey: Oh, definitely. Don't you worry, though, I'll get them back. Will you help me? Mia: This is not my fight. And won't you just make things worse? How did this happen, anyway? This rivalry, how did it start? Grey: Honestly? I don't remember. But they definitely started it. Unless they didn't... Yeah, I don't really remember. Mia: That is reassuring. Grey: Wait, do you not want to move in anymore? Mia: (quickly) No! No, I want to live here.  Grey: Okay. Well, I'm off to play some vid-ya-games.  [SFX: Grey WALKS AWAY.] Mia: You need this, Mia. You can survive the antics, the rivalries, whatever. It's not your problem. [SFX: Scene transition music.] [SFX: AIR CONDITIONER. Mia FINISHES MAKING HER BED.] Mia: That's my bedsheets done. I'll just need to unpack my clothes now.   [SFX: SUBTLY CREEPY MUSIC starts playing.] Mia: (shivers) Let me just… check the window above my bed real quick. Make sure our neighbors aren't pranking us or something.  [SFX: Mia STEPS ONTO HER BED. It SQUEAKS as she does so.] She peers out of the window.  [SFX: A crackling noise, like static with a deep bass.] Mia: I could swear I just saw something flicker in the corner of my eye? ...No. No no no, nah, it's nothing. Just my nerves. Talking to myself again. Very healthy behavior, isn't it, Mia?  Grey: (from the living room, raising their voice) Mia! [SFX: CREEPY MUSIC fades out.]  Mia: (also with raised voice) Yes, Grey? Grey: Dinnertime! Mia: I thought you didn't know how to cook! Grey: I don't! This is me asking you if you'll cook something. Pretty please? Mia: I'm coming! [SFX: Mia's bed SQEAKS as she get off and WALKS to the door.] [SFX: RAPID-FIRE SFX OF DINNER PREPARATION - Mia TAKING A PAN FROM THE CUPBOARD, CHOPPING ZUCCHINI, then CHOPPING ONION.] Radio Announcer: You just heard [?] by kkim, and up next we have "Ivory Blush" by Jordan I. Lode. Enjoy it! Grey: Oh my God my eyes! What is that? [SFX: Calm COOKING MUSIC begins.] Mia: … You do know what onions are, right?  [SFX: The stove is TURNED ON, VEGETABLES ARE THROWN INTO A PAN, then we hear SIZZLING VEGETABLES, then Mia THROWS RISOTTO RICE INTO THE PAN. It all SIZZLES. CUTLERY IS LAID OUT on the table.] Grey: This risotto is really good, Mia. But yeah, anyway, I pressed Lauren and Oscar's buzzer and ran away like a freaking antelope. Wait, are antelopes fast?  [SOUND: Grey's voice fades as if at a distance. COOKING MUSIC transitions to CREEPY MUSIC.]  Mia: Uh-uh. That's great. Grey: So then, for the rest of the week, they thought their buzzer was malfunctioning! Until they spotted me running away and they realized what was happening… Mia: Yeah. [SFX: MUSIC ends. AIR CONDITIONER.] Mia: (yawns) Man, I'm tired. Can't believe Grey's still playing video games. Guess it's time for bed.  [SFX: We hear a RAPID-FIRE SEQUENCE of Mia preparing to go to bed: taking off her clothes, showering, putting on her PJs, brushing her teeth, settling into bed, turning off the light with a final CLICK.] Mia: (snores) [SFX: NIGHTMARE MUSIC begins. The sound here is ECHOEY, like we're in a large, undefined space. People talking sound like they're ghostly whispers in the night. We also hear Mia'S FOOTSTEPS as she walks through Sycamore Crossing's hallway.] Past Mia: Sycamore Crossing. Strange name for an apartment complex.  Past Mia: It's dark in here. Past Grey: Oh hey! Are you the infamous Mia?  Past Grey: The door across from ours, number 42? The devils themselves live behind it. Past Mia: I'm not taking part in this neighborly rivalry, though, if that's okay. I just want to live a quiet life.  Past Mia: Oh, hi! Are you Lauren? Grey mentioned you, but-  [SFX: Dream Mia continues walking.] Past Mia: It's dark in here. Low Voice: Mia… Mia…  Mia: Who's there? [SFX: Scary crackling noise.] Past Mia: I could swear I just saw something flicker in the corner of my eye? Grey: Maybe you did, Mia. Maybe they've found you. (echoing) Found you, found you…  Low Voice: Mia… [SFX: The voices die down. In their place comes a SINGLE CONTINUOUS MUSICAL NOTE, a deep, eerie sound. Mia's footsteps continue. The NOTE gets more and more overwhelming, with CREEPY MUSIC building behind it. Then, in the distance -] Grey: Mia!  [SFX: And suddenly all of the sound is sucked away as we move to-] Grey: Mia! Mia, are you okay? [SFX: AIR CONDITIONER.] Mia: (confused) What? [SFX: We hear the RUSTLING OF SHEETS as Mia sits up.] Grey I'm sorry I barged into your room, but - you were screaming. Are you okay? Mia: (sniffles, still in shock) ...Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Grey: Liar. Mia: Excuse me? Grey: I'm just saying, you- you're crying. Clearly something's wrong. Mia: I… I had a nightmare. I was walking through the hallway here in Sycamore Crossing… the hallway seemed unendingly long… and then I heard a continuous sound, and with it came this - this thing.  Grey: What thing? Mia: It was like the gaping mouth of a creature intent on devouring you, only there was no creature attached to it. The mouth was so dark, darker than night, and it felt like it was pulling on me. Like it was trying to swallow me. Darkness pooled out of it, coloring the hallway dark a dark gray.  Grey: Okay. So basically what you're saying is that it was like a huge black hole?  Mia: That's one way of putting it. But way, way more terrifying than you're thinking. Its presence... clutched my heart.  Grey: Sounds poetic. [SFX: In the distance, a PHONE RINGS. EERIE MUSIC starts playing, similar to what we heard when Mia saw something from the window in her bedroom.] Mia: Is that for us? Grey: It must be. It's the living room phone. Come on, let's answer it.  [SFX: Mia GETS OUT OF BED. She and Grey WALK into the living room. The phone RINGS still as they walk.] Grey: Mia, you're shaking. Mia: Just trying to shake off the nightmare. I barely feel awake. Are you sure this isn't another dream?  Grey Like 80% sure?  [SFX: They reach the phone.] Mia: What if it's the landlord? Maybe he heard me scream and he wants to throw me out. Grey: No one's throwing you out. They'll have to go through me first, okay? [SFX: The phone RINGS again. Grey PICKS IT UP.] Grey: I'll put it on speaker. [SFX: They PRESS A BUTTON.] Grey: Hello? Phone Voice: You have awakened a dark presence. Soon, it will devour you. Mia: What?  Phone Voice: New girl, I am speaking to you. I know that you are there. I know that you are listening. It will come for you. Remember my voice. It is the last voice you will ever hear- Grey: Oh, ha ha, very funny, Oscar. Oscar and Lauren: (giggle)  Mia: (weakly) Oscar? Grey: "You have awakened a dark presence"? Is that the best you can do? Get off the line. Lauren: How did you like our graffiti? Grey: Screw you, Lauren. [SFX: Grey HANGS UP.] Mia: That's their idea of a prank? Grey: It's original, I'll give them that. Mia: Why did they want to scare me? What have I ever done to them? Grey: Well, you're my ally. That makes you their enemy. Mia: Since when am I your ally? Grey: Ouch. Mia: No, sorry, I j- No, that's not what I meant. I'm going back to bed. [SFX: We hear her FOOTSTEPS as she goes back to her bedroom. They STOP. The AIR CONDITIONER is still on in her room.] Mia: Grey? Did you leave a… a metal thing on my bed?  Grey: (from the living room) Clarify “metal thing”. Mia: It looks like a crank? Like it's for turning levers or something. Ugh, it's actually pretty gross. I think there's oil on it. It's ruining my bedsheets. I can't sleep under these anymore, not until I wash them.  Grey: Ew. It must have been Lauren and Oscar.  Mia: Are you serious? Did they sneak in here while they were calling us? What the hell?  [SFX: Mia ENTERS the living room. The AIR CONDITIONER fades as she leaves her room.] Mia: You know what, Grey? Grey: What? Mia: Let's get them back. Let's prank them so hard they end up being afraid of us. Grey: Seriously? You're in? Mia: I'm in. [SFX: Transition to HEIST MUSIC!] Grey: (whispering) Okay, it's 9 am. They always leave the apartment around this time to get croissants. Mia: Croissants? Grey: I know, right? Aren't they fancy. Mia: Just because it's a French word doesn't mean that croissants are fancy. Grey: They could just eat cereal like the rest of us. Oh, here they come. [SFX: Lauren and Oscar EXIT their apartment and CLOSE THE DOOR behind them. We hear their voices slowly fade out as they WALK towards the stairs.] Lauren: I'm starving. I could eat a bear. Oscar: Huh, I didn't think that was your type. Anyways, that's not the expression. Isn't it "I could eat a horse"? Lauren: I'm improvising. Also, it's early, so give my brain a break.  [SFX: In the distance, Oscar and Lauren DESCEND THE STAIRS. Their voices have faded.] Grey: Coast is clear, Eagle One. Let's go. [SFX: We hear Grey and Mia's FOOTSTEPS as they walk up to Lauren and Oscar's apartment.] Mia: Is it always this quiet? Grey: Usually, yeah. Mia: How many people live here? Grey: On this floor, like five? A few apartments are empty. In total there are probably thirty residents. Not as many as the housing complex a few streets over. Mia: Why is that? Grey: I don't know. Some people think it's haunted here. Mia: Are you serious? [SFX: HEIST MUSIC intensifies] Grey: Oh my god. Do you think Lauren and Oscar have been prank calling every apartment? Is that why people think it's haunted? Mia: I highly doubt that. Grey: So anyway, those jerks left their window open, so if I can just reach in and open it further... (straining) Almost there... [SFX: We hear the WINDOW OPEN.] Grey: Got it. Time to climb. (grunts as they climb through) [SFX: Grey PULLS THEMSELVES UP THROUGH THE WINDOW, then FALLS TO THE GROUND.] Grey: (panting) Made it! Come on through, Mia, the coast is clear. [SFX: Mia CLIMBS THROUGH THE WINDOW, then also FALLS TO THE GROUND.] Mia: Ouch. That was very graceful. Grey: To business. Do you have the salt? Mia: Right here. Grey: Cool. I'll try to find their sugar bowl. [SFX: We hear Grey's FOOTSTEPS as they explore the kitchen. HEIST MUSIC fades out.] Mia: Wow, their kitchen is squeaky clean. Grey: How do they do it? Mia: They clean, I suppose. Grey: I ask again: how do they do it? Mia: Please tell me you occasionally clean the apartment. Grey: You saw the apartment, didn't you? It's reasonably clean. Mia: And it wasn't just Sarah who cleaned it sometime before she left? Grey: ...No comment. (sighs) I miss Sarah. Mia: Were you close? Grey: She was my friend. I figured she'd at least tell me if she was leaving. We could have said goodbye. SOUND: Grey OPENS A DRAWER. Grey: Found the sugar bowl! I'll just dump the sugar in the trash? So then you can pour in the salt. Mia: Wait, do you hear that? [SFX: A DOOR OPENS. We hear FOOTSTEPS.] Lauren: -okay, but if you hadn't talked over me, then none of this- (she sees Mia and Grey) Mia: Oh no.  Oscar: What are you two doing in here? Grey: Uhhhh nothing? Lauren: Jesus, Grey, pranks are one thing but breaking in is a red freaking line. Grey: Are you kidding me? You guys graffiti'd our wall! Do you not call that breaking in? Lauren: The door was open! Oscar: That was your fault, really. Grey: Was it? And what about calling us in the middle of the night? Trying to scare Mia? Oscar: That was an initiation. Mia: I'd really rather stay out of this. Lauren: Stay out of this? You're in our apartment. Get out! Grey: Fine, we're leaving. We don't like it here anyway. It's ugly. Oscar: It literally looks the same as your apartment! Grey: No, it doesn't! You have different... furniture! Come Mia, let's go. [SFX: We hear Grey AND Mia'S FOOTSTEPS.] Lauren: Yeah, you'd better go. Flee into the hallway, miscreants.  [SFX: Mia's footsteps STOP.] Mia: Can I ask you something? Why the crank? Lauren: What crank? Mia: The crank! The one you left in my bed! You literally broke in to leave it and you're getting angry at us? Oscar: What are you talking about? We didn't leave anything in your bed. Grey: Yeah, right! Lauren: Grey, shut up. That wasn't us, whatever you're talking about. You think we'd go into your bedroom? Mia: I think you're trying to scare me! Lauren: Well, I think that you're a whiny little- [SFX: Suddenly, we hear the CRACKLING NOISE followed by a CONTINUOUS NOTE and EERIE MUSIC. All four GASP.] Oscar: (softly) Uh, what is that? Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?  Grey: Mia, does that… does that look like the black hole you saw in your dream?  Mia: Yes. It looks exactly like the black hole I saw in my dream. And it feels even worse. I can't… I can't feel my heartbeat. I can only feel that thing.  [SFX: Suddenly, the sound and music END. It's quiet for a beat.] Oscar: It's gone.  Lauren: What the hell was that? Mia: Is it here for me?   [SFX: Transition to THEME MUSIC for outro.] Voiceover: Darkened Hallways is written by Asa van der Lecq and produced by Kimberly Dauber. Our director is Kris Kim. Our production manager is Max Evans. Sound design is by John Bond, music is by Joelle Doriani, and cover art is by Manon Groos. Our sensitivity reader is Stacey Parshall Jensen. This episode featured Victoria Longe as Mia, PJ Hernandez as Grey, Ari Sylvin as Lauren, and Kelvyn Koning as Oscar. Darkened Hallways is a product of Hear Me Out Productions. Find our other shows at hearmeoutproductions.com or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on social media @HearMeOutProd. This show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Thank you for visiting us at Sycamore Crossing. Come home soon - we'll be waiting. [SFX: THEME MUSIC ENDS.] Voiceover: Darkened Hallways is a creation of Hear Me Out Productions. HMOP logotone: All we have are dreams and a microphone. Scroll back to top Sign up to receive email updates Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you periodic updates about the podcast. powered by The post Roof Over My Head first appeared on Hear Me Out Productions.

Artist Oscar René Cornejo talks about burning his home down as a child and other early artistic endeavors. Neil talks about the erotics of Amazon checkout. ABOUT THE GUEST Oscar René Cornejo earned an MFA from Yale School of Art, a BFA from the Cooper Union, and was a recipient of the J. William Fulbright Scholarship for research in El Salvador. In 2004, he cofounded the Latin American Community Art Project (LA CAPacidad), where for seven years he directed summer artist residencies to promote intercultural awareness through community art education. He is a founding member of Junte, an artist project based in Adjuntas, a town in the mountains of southern Puerto Rico. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including To look at the sea is to become what one is, at Radiator Gallery, Queens International 2018: Volumes, at The Queens Museum, White Flag, at Princeton University; and Parliament of Owls, Diverseworks, Houston, TX. Cornejo has completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, where he is a Fresco Instructor, and at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2016. He currently teaches at the Cooper Union. ABOUT THE HOST Neil Goldberg is an artist in NYC who makes work that The New York Times has described as “tender, moving and sad but also deeply funny.” His work is in the permanent collection of MoMA, he’s a Guggenheim Fellow, and teaches at the Yale School of Art. More information at neilgoldberg.com. ABOUT THE TITLE SHE’S A TALKER was the name of Neil’s first video project. “One night in the early 90s I was combing my roommate’s cat and found myself saying the words ‘She’s a talker.’ I wondered how many other gay men in NYC might be doing the exact same thing at that very moment. With that, I set out on a project in which I videotaped over 80 gay men in their living room all over NYC, combing their cats and saying ‘She’s a talker.’” A similar spirit of NYC-centric curiosity and absurdity animates the podcast. CREDITS This series is made possible with generous support from Stillpoint Fund. Producer: Devon Guinn Creative Consultants: Aaron Dalton, Molly Donahue Mixer: Andrew Litton Visuals and Sounds: Joshua Graver Theme Song: Jeff Hiller Website: Itai Almor & Jesse Kimotho Digital Strategy: Ziv Steinberg Thanks: Jennifer Callahan, Larry Krone, Tod Lippy, Sue Simon, Jonathan Taylor TRANSCRIPTION NEIL: I'm so happy to have with me on SHE'S A TALKER, Oscar Rene Cornejo. I fear my pronunciation probably leaves something to be desired. OSCAR: No worries. It sounds good. You can't, unless you want to start rolling your R's that's another thing, but it sounds pretty good to me. NEIL: Okay. Well, I can roll an R but I think this is like a little metaphor for how I can go through life. It's like, I'd rather not try and then not be accountable for having tried, in terms of the rolling the R's, is a metaphor for me. OSCAR: They say that some, even though I do roll my R's, sometimes my parents tell me I exaggerate the rolling. NEIL: What do you think that's about? OSCAR: I don't know what it is. Maybe it's growing up and teaching others to roll the R. And so you backlog some self consciousness in the back of your head and you [inaudible 00:01:02] . And I have no idea, but it's like, "Oh, okay. That's a little extra, but it's fine." It's like, "All right. Well, I'm always caught in between where I'm like, English is my second language here. And then I visit El Salvador and then Spanish becomes my second language over there. I'm stuck in between. NEIL: Do you have anything that you would consider your first language? OSCAR: Yeah, I guess just loving to manipulate material. Just fucking with shit since did one. I remember, I don't know what age I was, but they called me ranch burner back in El Salvador. Because I was always tinkering with things. And that led me to burn a ranch down when I was a small child. NEIL: What is a ranch? A whole house? OSCAR: There was apparently an original ranch burner in El Salvador and my parents came over. I don't know if it was four or five, and I burned an apartment down and only left everyone with the clothes on their back. NEIL: Wow! OSCAR: They got wind of it in El Salvador. And apparently when I burned it down, was the week that the original ranch burner passed away. And so I inherited, Quemar Rancho, is what they called me, ranch burner. NEIL: Wow! And where was the apartment that you burned down? OSCAR: Houston, Texas. So it was an apartment unit, I think on the second floor they say. NEIL: And how did you burn it down? You were how old? OSCAR: I don't know, like four or five. I do have a memory of lighting something on fire, like in a closet, on a shiny surface. It was like the dry clean plastic that you cover your clothes. And I think the plastic caught on fire and it turned into liquid flame or something. And it got out of hand. NEIL: Do you put this on your art resume by the way? OSCAR: No, but it used to be my Instagram profile, ranch burner, in Spanish. Like what the hell is Quemar Rancho? Well, it's Quemar Rancho. NEIL: I was expecting it was your first enchantment with materiality, the translucence of the dry cleaning bag. And do you need it to do an intervention on it by way of a match? OSCAR: Yeah. Well, before that there was a draw towards the flame and I would set up stuff and then burn them down. I guess maybe I was a little pyromaniac or something, but I was always fiddling with things. NEIL: How do you succinctly describe to someone who doesn't know you, what it is you do? We're talking like you have an elevator ride with them. OSCAR: That's a tough one. I guess I reflect on the histories that I come from, that at a young age I had no idea that I was a part of. And so to make visible the history of my immediate family and community through objects. I feel that growing up my community and my family had a lot of PTSD due to the civil war conflict. They absorbed and internalized a lot of violence and were displaced. And so where do those energies go? And so I tried to, in my head, reconcile those energies in the types of objects that I'm making. So the objects become, not necessarily a MacGuffin. You have a conversation around the object, but it's something where you start project and amplify things that are considered whispers or not important. NEIL: Mm-hmm (affirmative). OSCAR: And so it becomes a speaking piece, something to a screen in order to project light onto and see what shadows have been cast onto that screen. NEIL: How would your parents describe what it is you do to their friends? OSCAR: They probably have no... They're like, "Oh, he's obsessed in working with kids in villages somewhere, like missionary work. Not that it's futile, you should just get a real job. NEIL: Can you just for our listeners, describe the work that you're talking about, that they would say he's a missionary. OSCAR: I spent a lot of time, when I was still an undergrad, I felt the closing door or light of losing that community and facilities. And while I was, I think towards the end of sophomore year into my junior year of undergrad, I started inviting my peers and friends of my peers down South to central America, offered them free studio space, but they had to teach two to three days out of the week what they knew, to the community.                 And so it was this mutual cultural exchange. It was a way to put our theories into practice and to anchor some of our ideas around some of the injustices that we thought were going on in the world. And then hitting hard reality too, with trying to do idealistic things in like a place with no running water, for instance. How do you run silkscreen workshops for that? How do we basically apply these idealistic notions of what a community should be developed when there's these conditions present? Like people living on dirt floors, or no running water, but they still should be exposed to culture and not just be treated as a workforce thing. NEIL: Right. OSCAR: So, yeah, that's the missionary work. NEIL: And your parents don't like that you do this work or what did they say about it? OSCAR: I know you mean well, but these people don't care kind of thing. You need to take care of yourself because it's always about the struggle and surviving and taking care of the family. NEIL: In their eyes? OSCAR: Yeah. It's like, "Why do you care so much about these other people?" Kind of thing. And I was like, "Well, that's exactly why. Because you're saying that." Because someone said that about you when you were displaced immigrant fleeing death squads in El Salvador and you're being dismissed as criminals or cockroaches in a new society. And so that's exactly why I do it. They don't really know, I guess the resume and what that means. They don't know Cooper union or... I don't want to start listing names. But Things that- NEIL: I'll do that for you at the beginning. OSCAR: No. Other people, their parents would be very proud. And for me they're like, "What about being a mechanic?" Which I don't mind, I would love to fix cars and pay bills that way. But they just want something that they feel that it's stable and it's not fleeting. I guess they'll stop thinking that way if I get a tenure track position or something. NEIL: There we go. Which if there's any justice, which there isn't, but if there were, and maybe there will be, you would have. It sounds like your parents' histories really informed the themes in your work. Have they informed the making of the objects, the form of the objects? OSCAR: I don't know something about just seeing my mom always cooking and my dad always working in constr... Working with their hands, their hands were always manipulating things. And I think I just tried to copy them. And then as I got old enough, I ended up joining them. I would clean houses with my mom and, or being assistant to my dad on construction sites.                 I didn't see it immediately. It became very evident much later, I would say even into my early thirties, when I started to be very over scrutinizing every decision I was making, formal decisions. Then I started seeing fabrics, draped fabrics. Thinking about changing beds and pillows or washing clothes with my mom. And then carpentry. Even before carpentry, I got into woodcuts a lot, carving wood to make images. And so that was the close connection that I had with my dad, as far using knives and tools and manipulating wood that eventually evolved into carpentry and fresco, which I feel share a relationship to the construction site. Working with plaster and covering surfaces. That instead of using cement, you're using plaster, but there's an [inaudible 00:10:42] affinity, it's physics and it's chemistry that made it easy for me to be drawn to those mediums as an artist, just the visual vernacular of the construction site starts to come into the way I make decisions in the studio. Yeah. NEIL: If your parents were looking at, let's say an object that you made, how would they describe that? OSCAR: I had an installation at the Queens Museum, and I think that my mom would respond to the fabrics, the naturally dyed cotton fabrics. She would associate them to altars. And my dad would respond to the material, the construction, like joints and carpentry and chalk lines and tar. He would respond to the materiality, that it's being used in a fine art setting, but they could easily translate to finishing the surface of a countertop or cutting a surface of a wall or cutting into and repairing a broken window by putting new two by four studs. And so he would respond to it in a construction material manner. NEIL: Deep. Did any of them- OSCAR: What's a right angle. What's not. It's like, "Oh, that's not meeting," and stuff. NEIL: Do you get critiques about your construction skills? OSCAR: Oh yeah. It's still a little wonky. NEIL: That's what they would say. I would say your work is often strategically wonky. Wouldn't you say? OSCAR: Yeah. NEIL: If I looked at, not consistently, but if I see something that isn't a good right angle, I feel deep trust that that is significant. Is there ever any joking about like, let's set this on fire, burn down the ranch. OSCAR: Personally, I do have a fantasy of a body of work in a certain timeframe to, instead of keep paying storage on it. Like burn all that series of work and take the ash as pigment and a one monochrome painting. So I've consolidated and condensed the entire body work into one piece. NEIL: And would you call it... How do you say ranch burner? OSCAR: Quemar Rancho's dream or requiem or something. I don't know. I don't know why. NEIL: Not to put titles on your piece, but I could talk about this forever, but shall we, Oscar, move to some cards? OSCAR: Yeah, sure. NEIL: First card is, the uncanniness of bird songs. Not just the sound of them, which can sound so electronic, but how the sound feels disconnected from the movement of the bird's mouth. OSCAR: I have a bird myself. I have a parrot. NEIL: What's your parrot's name? OSCAR: Her name is Pepper. She's charcoal, peppery and has a bright red tail like a red pepper, but she's also sassy and spicy in character. So it's just like pepper all over. Uncanniness of bird songs. Yeah, it's like really weird to see this static beak. You usually associate lips and you think that lips and the tongue is super important to articulate the sounds, but their beak is just static and just opening and shutting and they have a stiff tongue.                 And so that for me is so super weird. And especially with birds that speak, right? NEIL: Right. OSCAR: How did you just say that word without lips and very stiff tongue? NEIL: Did you ever say that on a date? OSCAR: No, I think they bring it up. Especially parrot tongues, it looks like the head of a penis. NEIL: Oh, really. OSCAR: Yeah. It's weird. NEIL: Wow! Sexy. OSCAR: Yeah. They're like, ugh. But I think that the way it operates is that they have amazing muscles in their trachea. And so their tubes or their trachea is so sophisticated that it does all that movement for them to create the sound of words. Or even like a chainsaw. NEIL: Yeah. OSCAR: It's so weird. NEIL: You've named something though, so the uncanniness is about the lack of lips, primarily, and also the stiff tongue, which I haven't observed before. But now that you say it, yeah, I could see that. OSCAR: I think that's what it is. It's kind of opening and shutting that beak and these sophisticated sounds are coming out of it. Like it's being let loose. It's being let loose, like prerecorded. NEIL: Right. OSCAR: But it's this kind of internal thing that you're not seeing that's moving in such a complicated way, that's manipulating those sound waves that create such a beautiful thing. NEIL: I love it. It just sounds other worldly. It's like an electronic, like I said, it has an electronic quality to it or something. OSCAR: My parrot sounds like a robot or a voicemail. Usually there's parrots that sound phonetically like their masters or their owners or whatever you want to call it, their companions. But mine sounds like a terminator. It's like, "Hello Oscar," like, "Stop it, stop it." And they pick up electrical sounds easily. Those are first things that she picks up, are those electrical sounds. And I'm sure there's other things on higher frequencies that we're not even catching or lower frequencies. That I think it is, I'm wondering how it sounds to a bird. It sounds electronic to us because of the type of limited hearing that we have, but to birds could sound completely, I don't know, godly. NEIL: Right. OSCAR: They also have ultraviolet, like I know parents have ultraviolet vision. They can see [inaudible 00:17:29]. Right? And so certain flowers look like landing strips and we just see a little flower. NEIL: Oh God. I spend so much time thinking about what things look like to animals, especially my cat. But just generally it's the eternal question. Because cats, we have our cat, Beverly. He just spends so much time looking, and so you spend a lot of time looking at them looking, and I'm just wondering like, what is it?                 And you know that they have different color spectrum, as you say, are available, or in the case of predator animals, I know they have different contrast or reduce variation in color as a way to target and focus their attention. So I have a pet that prays on your pet. How do you feel about that? OSCAR: I'm always flirting... We were talking about, when things go out there, there's always that danger. Like God, my roommates, I'm enlightened at the moment, and my roommates have two cats at this farm house and one's definitely a killer. And it's not like you want to prevent anyone from doing what they got to do, but it's like you just got to monitor and be very mindful. I haven't been put in a position of a [inaudible 00:18:49] cat where you see those memes where the parrot is hanging out with the cat or it's on top off the cat and they're cuddling.                 But there's always that sense of danger in the back of my head, because just a cat scratch can kill a bird, just the bacteria in its claws. NEIL: Yeah. I never trust those videos of the... It's such a trope in internet culture in generally this idea of animals getting along. And I think I read something about that in certain interpretations of the story of the garden of Eden. It's that before the fall there was no predation. But whenever I see, yeah, the cat snugging with the parrot, it's like, "Well, what comes next? OSCAR: Yeah. Well, and that's where the hard wired nature of the animal. Like you can socialize a parrot but it's still wild. It's not domesticated like dogs. NEIL: Right. OSCAR: And they even say that with cats, if the cat's were just- NEIL: Exactly. OSCAR: 20 pounds larger, they will totally kill their owners. NEIL: I hear that. Totally. OSCAR: They're like,"You didn't feed me, you got to feed me. All right?" NEIL: Yeah. Next card. How everything changes at the cart stage of an online transaction, like in sex when you say, "I'm close." OSCAR: I'm more curious what you have to say about it. NEIL: All right. So this is something I had the other day, I'm just going to talk about Amazon here, speaking of birds. So when you're browsing on Amazon, it's a guilty thing I try not to do. But when you're browsing on Amazon, there's a kind of casualness. It's like, this is what other people say. You might also like this, click here. And then you put it in your cart, and okay, it's in your cart and maybe you go look at something else you need. But then I find, once you hit the cart button, everything gets really fucking intense. It's like, "Do you want to buy it in one click? "Where do you want to send it?" And it just reminds me of like, okay, that's like in sex when you go from just fooling around to, okay- OSCAR: That moment. NEIL: I'm going to cum, or I'm getting close. Do you feel that at all? OSCAR: Yeah. I think, I think when you started sharing your relationship to that, it is being like overly self aware and not being... When you're shopping, you're kind of swept off your feet. You're shopping, you're only gazing, you're going through, you're not over analyzing. And if you are over analyzing, it's like really to legitimize your buy, it's like [crosstalk 00:21:39] in the reviews and all that. But it's still part of the courting, the dancing of that final [inaudible 00:21:45], that final click. And I feel like going to the cart is somehow replaying all the foreplay and then putting up the possibility of criticizing, "Oh, I did that wrong." Or I took too long. It's like, "Do I really need to buy all this stuff?" It's like you're overthinking it. And it's funny you say that because you're kind of reliving your life right before you cum.                 And for some people, they say when you cum, [inaudible 00:22:20], that it's a little death. NEIL: Oh right. OSCAR: Yeah. NEIL: [inaudible 00:22:26]. OSCAR: Yeah. And so I think that the cart or the clicking is like seeing a little portrait of how you lived your life in that shopping cycle. And it's like, "Do you really need that?" When it just started with a casual, like, Oh, and then being captivated and seduced by the product, and you courting it and being coy and all that stuff. And then you come to the finish line, it's like, "Oh, was it all worth it?" NEIL: Oh my God. I love it. I love it. It's also a little different for me. I think this also speaks to, well, it speaks to a lot of things, but I find, like in sex, not to go too deep into it. There can be a certain part of me that's like, "Okay, this is so intense. Let's just get this over with.' So with shopping, it can also be like, "Let's just resolve this. Let's just-" OSCAR: Well, they even add more stuff. It's like, "Is this a one time buy? Is this a 12 week recurring buy?" Or, "We do have warranty on it. And if you want one its used at 30 days.", How committed are you into this [crosstalk 00:23:37] or this relationship? NEIL: Right. It's almost like that, you know that meatloaf song, I'm going to date myself like paradise by the dashboard light. OSCAR: Oh my God, no. NEIL: Do you know that song? OSCAR: I've probably heard it. I just don't know it by title. NEIL: Basically, it's a fucked up song, but the gist of it is he wants to have sex. His partner wants to get him to commit to marrying him. So there's this negotiation of, he's saying, "Let me sleep on it. I'll give you an answer in the morning." And she's like, "I got to know right now." And so, I think that thing that happens with the ad-ons is like, because you're trying to cum, you're trying to make the purchase, and then they're like, "Yeah, do you want to subscribe? Can we do the subscribe and save?" Because they have you, they have your right before you're about to cum. OSCAR: Yeah. And sometimes, yeah, there's a shame of, of course it's like I definitely don't shy away at it from commitment, but the kind of sincerity, and maybe impulse is a strong word, but the initial seduction or eye contact, the initial moment of connecting and organically following through to then start to rationalize it. Like, what is this? Is this going to be a longterm thing? When you could just be in the present and enjoying the moment. NEIL: But that also is a big part of like, I don't know how this extends to the Amazon shopping cart stage. But so much, I think of the work in a relationship where you're already fully committed is finding your way back to those initial seductions where the pleasure is not knowing, you know what I mean? OSCAR: Yeah. Mm-hmm (affirmative). NEIL: It's just in your cart. OSCAR: I think that's romance right there. NEIL: Neoliberalism and feeling virtuous about donating your plasma. I noticed I had COVID as, maybe, no. And as soon as that happened, this is early in the pandemic. It was like, "Well, you get to be a hero by donating your plasma." And there was a type of language around it. I often feel that way about like, to me, blood drives or the height of neoliberalism or walk-a-thons. It's like, "Why should this be something that gets this outsized validation?" Why isn't it just something you do? I don't know. Does that resonate with you at all? OSCAR: Yeah. It's the same... Valentine's day or you show your love by how much you spend. Yeah. It cheapens things. It should be natural for you to want to share your plasma because you're trying to find a cure. But it doesn't mean it should be tied to heroic deeds. But it's not in your nature to supposedly share and care about the other, you're just trying to survive. But if you do this, you're a hero. I start to think in relationship to neoliberalism is that you start to create human emotions and human qualities into commodities. NEIL: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Right. Yeah. Yeah. OSCAR: Because what they're asking is literally a piece of you and your time, which is precious. And so, what do you have for me, for me to take time out of my day? What do I get out of it? NEIL: Right. And so what they're offering you is the feeling of being a hero rather than whatever you wouldn't- OSCAR: Whatever sells at the moment. If it's xenophobia or nationalism, or whatever's kind of hot at the moment. They'll use something that's very natural and a part of us, but it's been pushed down. It's not practical to evoke those feelings of like, yeah, I am contributing. I guess it's social capital to think that you're courageous and a hero, short of like giving you money.                 And so they're selling you an idea for you to donate instead of it being like, I don't want to say social duty, but your care and love for your people. NEIL: All right. Some closing questions. What is a bad X you take over a good Y? OSCAR: Huh. A bad X over a good Y. I'm going to expose myself here. I'll take a really funny, dumb cartoon over a good independent or supposedly good independent film. Because I'm maybe spending a little bit too much time watching the good independent films for preparing for a syllabus or something, I'll probably take a break and breather for a good bad episode of cartoon network, which I haven't done in a year or something. But now you've reminded me. NEIL: When the specific limitations of quarantine, however you want to describe this current situation around COVID is over, what are you looking forward to? OSCAR: When it's over? NEIL: Yeah. OSCAR: When I drive through New York, I do get nostalgic feeling when people are basically not social distancing, they're not wearing masks. They're like, "Oh my God, you're killing me." But I'm like, "Oh man, I miss just going out to a bar and just meeting with a bunch of friends with the coffee in the background of-" NEIL: Right. OSCAR: Connecting on a social level without the invisible boogeyman. NEIL: Right. So you're having, when I look at those scenes and I think when a lot of people look at them, they're like, "How fucking irresponsible." Like a lot of judgment, a lot of anger. You're secretly not feeling that or not so secretly not feeling that. OSCAR: I do feel that, but then there's this aftertaste of like, "Oh man, it would be nice to just go it all, just to be social in that manner. NEIL: Yeah. OSCAR: But then going back to what is COVID or this situation presenting is presenting a situation to be more nuanced of the different types of way that we are social. For instance, in this, like what we're doing now, it's like another element of... And so that has been amped up like FaceTiming and connecting with people more frequently, that usually it would be related to a zip code if you're not in the city. Like, I probably won't see you. So there is a silver lining of gaining that type of social connection, even though it's mediated through technology that is being lost by just the kind of serendipity of going to a bar and then bumping into someone. Which in New York is I think the great thing about New York. Is walking through space and just meeting someone by chance and like, "Oh, what are you doing here?" And then you grab a coffee or a beer or something. NEIL: Let's say I never liked that kind of stuff. OSCAR: No. NEIL: I'm so relieved not to have that opportunity, but that's me. But on that note, Oscar Rene Cornejo, I try to do a little [crosstalk 00:31:52]. But what about if you were trying to do that thing you were talking about before of like doing a more flamboyant rolling of the R. OSCAR: It'd be like, Oscar Rene Cornejo. Yeah. So there's a little like, okay, that R was a little bit millisecond too long. NEIL: Right. Oh, I love you. I love talking to you. Thank you for making the time. I do feel like this is a model for me of like, God, a hopeful model for how one can exist in the world without physical presence. Thank you for being on SHE'S A TALKER.      

In our second installment of "John Finally Watches", John watches for the first time the Martin Scorsese classics Goodfellas and Casino. We discuss his opinion of the two movies.  We talk what is similar and what is different as well as the acting performances of all involved. Was Scorsese robbed of an Oscar? What is the better movie? Listen and find out!

Liam flew a fkn plane! Sonic for the Oscar What happened on school camp? Daniel Andrews the dawg Where did you chuck? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Oscars Trivia We are thrilled to welcome our good friend Bob Pantalone from The Analysis podcast to this Oscars trivia episode. The Analysis is the everymans movie podcast doing weekly chops discussing the big and small screen from die hard cinefile fans. So he is a huge film buff and wrote up some Oscar questions to get us excited for the Academy Awards this Sunday. You don't have to know anything about the movies this year to enjoy this episode. There is a little bit of something for everyone. Do you know how to answer questions like: Name 2 of the 4 Women who have been nominated for best director and best screenplay Oscar? What classic movie does wall-e enjoy watching and dancing to? Which beer did Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belforts wife model for before she met him? Denzel Washington reprised his starring role for the feature film version of which Broadway play that he was later nominated for?   If you like this episode, you might also like our Disney Themed episode. Music Hot Swing, Fast Talkin, Bass Walker, Dances and Dames, Ambush by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Don't forget to follow us on social media for more Oscars Trivia: Patreon - patreon.com/quizbang - Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Check out our fun extras for patrons and help us keep this podcast going. We appreciate any level of support! Website - quizbangpod.com Check out our website, it will have all the links for social media that you need and while you're there, why not go to the contact us page and submit a question! Facebook - @quizbangpodcast - we post episode links and silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess. Instagram - Quiz Quiz Bang Bang (quizquizbangbang), we post silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess. Twitter - @quizbangpod We want to start a fun community for our fellow trivia lovers. If you hear/think of a fun or challenging trivia question, post it to our twitter feed and we will repost it so everyone can take a stab it. Come for the trivia - stay for the trivia. Ko-Fi - ko-fi.com/quizbangpod - Keep that sweet caffeine running through our body with a Ko-Fi, power us through a late night of fact checking and editing!

The guys are back and Matt and Jay get fresh haircuts! This week we discuss Jason Kidd's recent firing (news alert: Matt fired him when he coached The Pugs), who might replace him, if it helps or hurts the Bucks, how much Kurt Rambis love fitness booties, the rumors that Kemba Walker is getting traded and where he would fit best, the shit show that is the Cavs locker room right now, everybody hates Kevin love, Boogies HUGE night, the All-Star game reserves have been announced, who got snubbed?, Nicky and Matt draft their All-Star rosters, Kobe getting nominated for an Oscar (WHAT?!), LeBron hits 30K (will he ever beat Kareem?) Follow Us: Instagram: @nbyaypod Twitter: twitter.com/NBYAYPOD Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NBYAYPOD/ Jay: @Jay_Quiles Nicky: @Nickypalooza Matt: @fattreed Music by: @dixon-hill-beats

Dr Oscar Serrallach is a Doctor of Functional Medicine with a special interest in postnatal well-being.Prior to completing his Fellowship in General Practice and Family Medicine in 2010 he was working mainly in emergency medicine. His initial studies in Functional Medicine coincided with starting a family, which naturally let him to consider the science through the particular lens of pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period - observing his own partner and many others through his clinical work.Dr Serrallach was first to recognise something he turned Postnatal Depletion, describing a broader clinical pattern of many women presenting with symptoms after having children. He has since dedicated his work towards researching this condition, and applying the practice of Functional Medicine to help his clients with their recovery - and has written a book titled The Postnatal Depletion Cure.Join me as I ask Dr Oscar:* What functional or integrated medicine is and what processes it involves* Why don't more doctors specialise in this field?* How he quantifies success in holistic medicine.* How much can diet change someone's integrated wellness?* Who needs to read The Postnatal Depletion Cure?* What signs of postnatal depletion to look for, and how to get back to a place of health for mother and child.* His ingredients for a great recipe for life!You'll also hear:* The importance of purpose in wellness* His successes with functional medical treatments* The importance of what we eat, and how we eat* The importance different cultures place on a mother's deep restoration after giving birth* Engaging dads in restoring mums' healthA few things Dr Oscar said that I loved were:“That's lab tested, on paper, can't-be-denied types of data and I see that all the time in terms of things that technically can't be reversed, or shouldn't improve, improving.”“Our main source of interaction with the environment is through the intestine.”“Motherhood is not really that well regarded, supported, acknowledged and thought about an our society - I hear so many mothers say ‘I'm just a mum.'”Dr Serrallach lives near Byron Bay Australia with his partner and their three children, and runs The Health Lodge. The Postnatal Depletion Cure is his first book.I'd love to know your thoughts and experiences - join the conversation on my Facebook page.      For more episodes of HEAL, find us on iTunes at https://apple.co/2NpsIba, Spotify at https://spoti.fi/2NpSiN0, Acast at https://play./s/pete-evans, click the link on https://peteevans.com, or just look up "HEAL" in your favourite podcast app.    I'd love to spread the knowledge in these podcasts far and wide. If you liked this episode, I'd love it if you could share it with your friends, and perhaps even leave a review on iTunes.    This podcast is proudly presented by The Institute For Integrative Nutrition, or IIN for short.I've completed this amazing health training course through IIN, and I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone wanting to start a career in the health coaching and wellness...  See /privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's been quite a while since our last Oscar Podcast but we're back with #58 talking about the downfalls of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and the avalanche of accusations and allegations that have rocked Hollywood this last month. The first section of the podcast my guest, Gold Rush Gang member Matt Dinn, and I talk about the impact of this on the current landscape of the Oscar race, specifically to The Weinstein Company's awards efforts and the surprising news last week that Ridley Scott would cut Kevin Spacey out of his Getty kidnapping drama All the Money in the World, replace him with Christopher Plummer (the actor he originally wanted for the role of Getty) and the race to do this and keep the film's December 22nd release date.  The Gold Rush Gang's 2018 Oscar Predictions Then we examine the exciting and complicated Supporting Actor race with its multiple dual contenders from the same films this year, including Call Me By Your Name, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. We make our cases for the top 3: Sam Rockwell, Willem Dafoe and Michael Stuhlbarg as potential winners and if Armie Hammer can break the 26-year curse in this category.  Interview: CALL ME BY YOUR NAME’s Luca Guadagnino and Michael Stuhlbarg Next is Supporting Actress which focuses on frontrunners Allison Janney (I, Tonya) and Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird) and the mother-daughter theme of this category and the contenders at large. I make my case for Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) to get in if Universal pushes hard and gets her out there and that this acting category could be the only that will have a POC represented (most notably, Octavia Spencer in The Shape of Water and Mary J. Blige in Mudbound).  Lead Actress gets a ton of talk time (of course) with Meryl Streep (The Post) and Frances McDormand (Three Billboards) dominating that as well as looking at our existing top 5 and wondering how or who could break through that solid-looking lineup that includes Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Margot Robbie (I, Tonya) and Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird).  The trailer for Steven Spielberg’s THE POST has been delivered Lead Actor also finds itself with three solid contenders but open doors for spots 4 and 5. Will Tom Hanks go supporting for The Post like Jason Robards did for All the President's Men? Will Jake Gyllenhaal see another year where he hits precursors only to be snubbed at Oscar? What about how very white this category is? It seems only Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) and Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.) could make that not happen but it's going to take some heavy lifting by their studios to do it.  With intro and outro this podcast runs 2h 7m. Intro: The Post trailer via 20th Century Fox Outro: "New York City by Day" by Thomas Newman from the Desperately Seeking Susan Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Dr Oscar Serrallach is a Doctor of Functional Medicine with a special interest in postnatal well-being.Prior to completing his Fellowship in General Practice and Family Medicine in 2010 he was working mainly in emergency medicine. His initial studies in Functional Medicine coincided with starting a family, which naturally let him to consider the science through the particular lens of pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period - observing his own partner and many others through his clinical work.Dr Serrallach was first to recognise something he turned Postnatal Depletion, describing a broader clinical pattern of many women presenting with symptoms after having children. He has since dedicated his work towards researching this condition, and applying the practice of Functional Medicine to help his clients with their recovery - and has written a book titled The Postnatal Depletion Cure.Join me as I ask Dr Oscar:* What functional or integrated medicine is and what processes it involves* Why don’t more doctors specialise in this field?* How he quantifies success in holistic medicine.* How much can diet change someone’s integrated wellness?* Who needs to read The Postnatal Depletion Cure?* What signs of postnatal depletion to look for, and how to get back to a place of health for mother and child.* His ingredients for a great recipe for life!You’ll also hear:* The importance of purpose in wellness* His successes with functional medical treatments* The importance of what we eat, and how we eat* The importance different cultures place on a mother’s deep restoration after giving birth* Engaging dads in restoring mums’ healthA few things Dr Oscar said that I loved were:“That's lab tested, on paper, can't-be-denied types of data and I see that all the time in terms of things that technically can't be reversed, or shouldn't improve, improving.”“Our main source of interaction with the environment is through the intestine.”“Motherhood is not really that well regarded, supported, acknowledged and thought about an our society - I hear so many mothers say ‘I’m just a mum.’”Dr Serrallach lives near Byron Bay Australia with his partner and their three children, and runs The Health Lodge. The Postnatal Depletion Cure is his first book.I’d love to know your thoughts and experiences - join the conversation on my Facebook page. For more episodes of HEAL, find us on iTunes at https://apple.co/2NpsIba, Spotify at https://spoti.fi/2NpSiN0, Acast at https://play.acast.com/s/pete-evans, click the link on https://peteevans.com, or just look up "HEAL" in your favourite podcast app. I'd love to spread the knowledge in these podcasts far and wide. If you liked this episode, I'd love it if you could share it with your friends, and perhaps even leave a review on iTunes. This podcast is proudly presented by The Institute For Integrative Nutrition, or IIN for short.I've completed this amazing health training course through IIN, and I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone wanting to start a career in the health coaching and wellness space.This course is conducted over a year long period and it's constructed in a way that if you're a full time worker or a busy parent or wherever you are in your life will still be able to... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Could Wonder Woman win an Oscar? What's 70mm? What's the worst movie we saw in theaters? What did we think of The Big Sick. We've got answers to all those questions.

How gold is Goldar? What is Episode VIII called? Who will play Hal Jordan next? How long has Jason Momoa been cast as Aquaman? Was Deadpool nominated for an Oscar? What was our favorite movie of 2016? We answer these questions and more in The City of Stars Edition!

Movie Addict HQ welcomes Susan Marg, author of Hollywood or Bust: Movie Stars Dish on Following Their Dreams, Making It Big, and Surviving in Tinseltown. This award-winning book includes over 500 quips, quotes, and off-the-cuff remarks by everyone’s favorite actors, directors, writers, and others involved in the business. The list is a WHO'S WHO of Hollywood history!  Film historian James Colt Harrison will co-host this special episode. Susan's book contains many delicious surprises for movie fans. For example, how does Harrison Ford define a movie star? Why did Mel Brooks start out as a drummer? What did Sandra Bullock learn from directing a film? Why did Michael Caine want an Oscar? What did Elizabeth Taylor have in common with the critics? Listen in and find out! And that's just the tip of the show-biz iceberg in Hollywood or Bust, which won First Place in the Compilations/Anthology category at the 2013 Beach Book Festival.  Susan Marg is also the author of Las Vegas Weddings: A Brief History, Celebrity Gossip, Everything Elvis, and the Complete Chapel Guide.