Podcasts about Pachinko

Korean drama, or K-drama, is enjoying phenomenal worldwide success. Thanks to video-on-demand streaming - and given a boost by the pandemic - South Korea is now one of the largest content providers in the world. In this edition of The Cultural Frontline actress Min-ha Kim, who stars as Sunja in the adaptation of the best-selling historical novel Pachinko, explores the worldwide impact of K-drama and speaks to writers, actors and producers about how it is evolving. K-drama fans come from all over the world, says Deema Abu Naser who runs the biggest K-drama community on Instagram, @deemalovesdrama. She was recently invited to visit film locations in Korea by Jeanie Chang, who posts about K-drama and mental health as @noonasnoonchi. But will K-drama's new international audience change it for better or worse? Now that many dramas are being shared internationally on streaming platforms, they are changing, says Forbes K-drama critic Joan MacDonald. Squid Game made the world sit up and notice K-dramas - but they were already gaining popularity. Most Korean dramas are made to be watched by the whole family, and that is part of their worldwide appeal. Korean cinema, on the other hand, was always aimed at an adult audience. Korean script writer Hong Eun-mi tells Min-ha that the gap between K-drama and cinema has narrowed - the pandemic led to a slump in the film industry and now many writers and producers are working in K-drama instead. Another Korean innovation, webtoons - comics designed to be read vertically on a smartphone – have become a primary source for K-dramas. Some have millions of fans and are published globally, acting as a sort of barometer for any drama reversion, says Minyoung Alissia Hong, an executive at Korean media company Kakao Entertainment. She saw the potential early on and first suggested turning the webtoon What's wrong with Secretary Kim? into a drama. Itaewon Class soon followed and was a huge success. K-dramas are also being remade in other countries - screenwriter Melis Veziroglu Yilmaz adapts Korean dramas for Turkish TV and says there are many parallels between Turkish and Korean culture. She hopes K-drama will remain family-friendly. Actress and singer Uhm Jung-hwa welcomes the changes. She recently starred in Doctor Cha, a drama about a middle-aged woman who decides to go back and finish her medical training after 20 years of looking after her family. Uhm Jung-hwa says roles for women have become more interesting since she first started out in the ‘90s, and pre-production has also improved the quality of K-dramas. Produced by Julie Yoonnyung Lee, Samantha Haque and Vibeke Venema

We have a little pre-thanksgiving treat for you all! Recently, Reera & Marvin had the pleasure to guest on a fellow book podcast The Novel Tea, hosted by Neha and Shruti, to chat about the modern classic Pachinko. If you like what you hear, remember to subscribe to The Novel Tea on your favored podcatcher!---We had so much to say about Pachinko that we had to record a part 2! Joining us on this episode are special guests Marvin and Reera from Books & Boba. We talk to them about their podcast and mission, and get to hear more about Asian diaspora stories and their impact. In continuing our discussion on Pachinko, we talk about themes of wealth and opportunity, generational trauma, and relate these to some of our own family's struggles. We talk more about Min Jin Lee's process in writing this book, and we also share our unfiltered opinions on the Apple TV adaptation. Books mentioned:Straw Dogs of the Universe by Ye ChunBanyan Moon by Thao ThaiSorcerer of the Crown by Zen ChoThe Magical Language of Others by E.J. Koh

Min Jin Lee could be considered an exemplar of the old adage “slow and steady wins the race.” The author's bestselling 2017 novel Pachinko—a National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller that was adapted into a television series for Apple TV+ in 2022—took 30 years to write from its inception as a short story. Her debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires (2007), took five years. These extensive periods of time become understandable, or even seem scant, within the sprawling, multigenerational contexts of her novels—Pachinko spans almost a century—into which she pours deep anthropological, sociological, and journalistic research. Lee is also the editor of the just-published The Best American Short Stories 2023 (Mariner Books) anthology, and she's currently at work on American Hagwon, the third novel in her diasporic trilogy.On this episode, she talks about the complex role of time in Pachinko, her miraculous recovery from chronic liver disease, and why she likens short-story writing to polishing diamonds.Special thanks to our Season 8 sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.Show notes: [00:25] Min Jin Lee[03:39] Viet Thanh Nguyen[06:08] Free Food for Millionaires[06:10] Pachinko[06:19] The Best American Short Stories 2023[08:08] Amy Tan[08:09] Salman Rushdie[09:36] “Bread and Butter”[09:37] “Motherland”[09:38] “The Best Girls”[10:04] William Trevor[10:06] Alice Munro[12:45] Yale University[17:23] Harvard Business School[17:34] Fashion Institute of Technology[47:37] Queens Public Library in Elmhurst[49:21] The Bronx High School of Science[49:32] The Hotchkiss School[49:33] Phillips Exeter Academy[58:46] American Hagwon[01:03:33] Stoner by John Williams

S3 Episode 33 - Les thés bio de Kagoshima avec Setsuna Pour ce trente-troisième épisode, nous accueillons Amandine et Benjamin, les créateurs de la maison de thé Setsuna, spécialisée dans les thés bios japonais. Nous les avions rencontrés l'an dernier lors du marché de Noël de Shizen market (à retrouver dans notre épisode 25) : le courant était bien passé et surtout, leurs thés bio sont délicieux ! Nous les avons donc tout naturellement invités dans cet épisode pour qu'ils nous parlent de leur parcours et de leur région préférée, réputée pour son thé : la préfecture de Kagoshima. Et pour entamer cet épisode, ils nous offrent une remise de -15% sur tout le site de SETSUNA avec le code promo "TABIBITO".  Si vous démarrez de zéro dans l'univers du thé japonais, Benjamin sera là pour vous guider ! Après en avoir brièvement raconté l'histoire, il vous parlera des spécificités du thés japonais, de son mode de production, et vous éclairera sur les grands types de thés. De quoi éclaircir un peu les termes spécifiques à cet univers foisonnant pour vous aider à trouver le thé qui vous correspond le mieux. C'est maintenant au tour d'Amandine de reprendre le micro pour nous présenter la région autour de Kagoshima, la plus grande ville du Sud de Kyushu chargée d'histoire. La visite incontournable à ne pas manquer ? L'immense jardin Sengan-en qui donne sur la mer et sur le volcan Sakurajima dans la baie. Cette montagne de feu toujours très active crache en effet des cendres tous les jours de l'année. Malgré une surveillance constante, il est possible d'y faire très facilement des randonnées, puis de récupérer de sa marche en plongeant les pieds dans des bains d'eau chauffée par le volcan (ashiyu).  Qui dit volcanisme dit terres extraordinaires ! Kagoshima est donc réputée pour sa gastronomie, particulièrement pour son thé vous l'aurez compris, mais aussi pour ses céramiques particulières. Amandine nous donnera donc de bonnes adresses à ne pas manquer, avant de nous emmener en road trip vers les champs de théiers. Pour profiter de ces beaux paysages symétriques et rectilignes parfaitement taillés, direction Kirishima à quelques kilomètres, à la rencontre des petites feuilles vertes si savoureuses. Bonne écoute et bon voyage !  ************ Chapitrage : 00:47 : intro 01:10 : présentation de la maison de thés bio SETSUNA 02:41 : code promo "TABIBITO" pour -15% sur tout le site SETSUNA 03:40 : l'histoire d'Amandine et du Japon 06:48 : la relation de Benjamin avec le Japon 13:25 : les particularités du thé japonais 16:38 : histoire rapide du thé au Japon 19:18 : les différences entre thés chinois et thés japonais 23:08 : les régions productrices de thé au Japon 28:18 : les types de thés japonais : gyokuro, sencha, matcha, hojicha... et bien d'autres ! 35:23 : premiers pas à Kagoshima city 38:26 : les bonnes adresses d'Amandine 40:45 : le jardin Sengan-en 43:58 : le restaurant de tonkatsu à ne pas manquer  47:01 : le parc naturel national de Kirishima et la figure du tengu 50:59 : les champs de thés de Kirishima 54:15 : escapade sur le volcan Sakurajima, le plus actif du Japon 01:03:55 : la boutique de céramiste à ne pas manquer 01:09:13 : le coup de coeur de Benjamin 01:12:12 : le coup de coeur d'Amandine  01:15:17 : le mot de la fin ************  Le coup de coeur de Benjamin :  - série de vidéos sur les saisons au Japon de Ichiban Japan  Le coup de coeur d'Amandine :   - roman "Pachinko" de Min Jin Lee Le compte instagram de Setsuna ************ Comme toujours, la carte pour retrouver les lieux présentés par Amandine si vous avez un voyage en préparation. ************ Nous remercions Yannick de La Feuille - production sonore & sound design qui a créé notre générique et nos jingles, et pour son aide précieuse au cours des premiers enregistrements. Suivez-nous en images sur le compte Instagram du podcast : @podcast.tabibito  

Book review 3 of 5. Goodreads 4.33 of 5. Listen to this podcast about the fictional history of Korea and Japan.

On the Overthinking It Podcast, we pay tribute to Bob Barker by overthinking “The Price is Right.” Episode 791: What is Plinko but a Novel Pachinko? originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

Gossip Girl and You star Penn Badgley joins Dua Lipa for a soul-searching conversation about what it's like to search for meaning and identity outside of one's work. Though the actor has come to be known for two truly iconic small screen roles, he opens up about the ways in which family, faith, and fatherhood have all played similarly pivotal parts in defining himself outside of the Hollywood machine. To get in touch, please send us an email to podcast@service95.com — and if you're enjoying the show, make sure to subscribe so that you are the first to hear about any new episodes of At Your Service. To follow along with this month's Book Club pick, Min Jin Lee's epic novel Pachinko, visit https://www.service95.com/book-club/. You can follow @service95 on Instagram and Twitter for all Dua Lipa: At Your Service updates. To receive the Service95 newsletter, introduced each week by Dua, subscribe at www.service95.com

In her first-ever podcast appearance, BLACKPINK superstar Jennie tells Dua about what it's been like bringing her culture to the world via her group's chart-topping K-pop music, the medium of dance, a recent foray into acting on HBO's The Idol, and so much more. Join Jennie as she rewinds time and takes listeners on a journey from her time split between South Korea and New Zealand as a child to what it was like coming up in the K-pop trainee system. You'll hear the BLACKPINK sensation look back on her years on the road, fighting burnout, reconnecting with her culture, and so much more. To get in touch, please send us an email to podcast@service95.com — and if you're enjoying the show, make sure to subscribe so that you are the first to hear about any new episodes of At Your Service. To follow along with this month's Book Club pick, Min Jin Lee's epic novel Pachinko, visit https://www.service95.com/book-club/. You can follow @service95 on Instagram and Twitter for all Dua Lipa: At Your Service updates. To receive the Service95 newsletter, introduced each week by Dua, subscribe at www.service95.com

The author of the award-winning novels “Pachinko” and “Free Food for Millionaires,” Min Jin Lee, discusses her remarkable career and the long journey and intention behind her Korean diaspora novels.

In this special weekend re-release, Zibby interviews New York Times bestselling author Min Jin Lee about Pachinko, a gorgeous, page-turning saga (and National Book Award finalist!) about four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fighting to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan."A powerful meditation on what immigrants sacrifice to achieve a home in the world. Pachinko confirms Lee's place among our finest novelists."―Junot Díaz"An exquisite, haunting epic...moments of shimmering beauty and some glory, too, illuminate the narrative...Lee's profound novel...is shaped by impeccable research, meticulous plotting, and empathic perception."―BooklistPurchase on Zibby's Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3O3XDvhPurchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3O0YRaLSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.Purchase Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books merch here. Now there's more! Subscribe to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books on Acast+ and get ad-free episodes. https://plus.acast.com/s/moms-dont-have-time-to-read-books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He plays Chao Fah in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and has starred such hits as Pachinko, Hunters, Bosch, The Man in The High Castle, and so much more. But when he's not kicking ass on the silver screen he's at home making gyoza. That's right Louis Ozawa loves making Gyoza! Not only does he tell host Clare Kramer and guest co-host Jake Marin all about how he first started making them in a vegetarian commune and how he shares the tradition with his children, he makes gyoza during the episode. Get ready for some epic cooking ASMR, because this episode is delivering real sizzle and crunch, only on Fanaddicts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Actor, director, and producer Louis Ozawa (Hunters, Predators, The Bourne Legacy, Pachinko) is back to discuss the final season of Jack Ryan (Amazon Prime). We talk about what it's like to join an established franchise, who is the all time best Jack Ryan (besides John Krasinski of course), and what it was like filming in several locations, including Tenerife, Spain! We also play some signature FNM games. No spoilers in this ep so take a listen and get pumped to watch Jack Ryan S4!  In solidarity with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, Friday Night Movie is supporting the Entertainment Community Fund, which provides emergency financial assistance and provides social services to a broad array of entertainment industry professionals.  Sign up for the Friday Night Movie Newsletter for giveaways, curated episode playlists from the hosts and guests (including our mom), and at MOST one email per month (and probably fewer).  Closed captions for this episode are available via the player on the official Friday Night Movie homepage, the Podbean app and website, and YouTube.  The Friday Night Movie Family supports the following organizations: the DC Abortion Fund, HIAS, NAACP Legal Defense Fund | Equal Justice Initiative | Asian American Journalists Association | The Entertainment Community Fund. Subscribe, rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform, including iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play | Podbean | Overcast. Catch up on all the Friday Night Movie SXSW special coverage in this playlist, including featured interviews from SXSW Wonder House hosted by the University of Arizona.  Play along with Friday Night Movie at home! Read the FNM Glossary to learn the about our signature bits (e.g., Buy/Rent/Meh, I Told You Shows, Tradesies, etc). Email us at info@p4tmedia.com or tweet @FriNightMovie, @pancake4table, @chichiKgomez, and/or  @paperBKprincess.  Follow our creations and zany Instagram stories @frinightmovie, @FNMsisters, and @pancake4table. Follow us on Letterboxd (@pancake4table) where we're rating every movie we've EVER watched.  Subscribe to our quarterly newsletter for exclusive giveaways and news! Theme music by What Does It Eat.  Subscribe and leave a review on IOS or Android at frinightmovie.com.

Makgeolli Moments 마모 Moment 114 Pachinko 02182023 Prep your balls and join us Art by: instagram.com/mwdoodlydoos Follow us: anchor.fm/makgeollimoments instagram.com/makgeollimoments facebook.com/mamomakgeollimoments --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/makgeollimoments/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/makgeollimoments/support

For the next few weeks, On My Mind will be sharing conversations from the Diane Rehm Book Club and Author Interview series. First up is novelist Min Jin Lee. Diane selected Lee's novel “Pachinko” as this year's January read. It tells a generation spanning story that begins in 1910 after Japan's invasion of Korea. As part of the book club event Diane first welcomed a panel of guests to discuss the novel – and the history that inspired it. You can find a recording of that here. Then she sat down with Min Jin Lee to hear about how a near fatal illness helped launch her writing career – and the decades of research that went into writing “Pachinko.”

In Episode 37, the Boston Sisters (Michon and Taquiena) wrap up their second podcast season with 5 great Book/Film recommendations for Summer reading and watch lists. Film and series adaptations premiere this fall through 2024, with a few titles available for streaming now! DAISY JONES & THE SIX (streaming on Amazon) PACHINKO (part 1 is streaming on Apple TV+, part 2 in 2024) KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (coming to theaters in October) THE COLOR PURPLE movie musical (coming to theaters in December) A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW (in production, anticipated to stream in 2024) Scroll to the end of this podcast description for the transcript link. 0:08 Intro to Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters 0:47 Page to Screen Podcast Synopsis 2:38 “Daisy Jones & the Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid 13:11 “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee 23:45 Page vs Screen 25:08 “Killers of the Flower” Moon by David Grann 31:40 “The Color Purple” musical adapted from novel by Alice Walker 39:33 Representation Controversies in “The Color Purple” 41:58 “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles 52:00 For More Book Information for Affiliate Bookstore Purchases 54:11 Disclaimer PODCAST NOTES: The Boston Sisters were born and live in Washington, DC. We like to acknowledge persons from our hometown which include Taraji P. Henson, and Corey Hawkins in our discussion about THE COLOR PURPLE. Henson is an alum of Howard University (like Taquiena), and  Hawkins is an alum of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts (like Michon). J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972), mentioned in our discussion about KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, was also born in DC and graduated in 1913 from the then segregated (for white students only) Central High School known today as Cardozo.  We mention Billy Taylor and Charles Kuralt in our conversation about “The Color Purple” author Alice Walker. The Sisterfire music festival was produced by DC-based Roadwork Productions. Michon was doing PR for the festival and invited jazz composer, performer and then CBS “Sunday Morning” television correspondent Billy Taylor (1921-2010) to feature one of the festival's performing groups on the CBS magazine show. Taylor's colleague, CBS “Sunday Morning” host, journalist and author Charles Kuralt (1934-1997), was seen at the festival that year. Alice Walker was also at the festival. TRANSCRIPT LINK Re transcripts:  PLEASE NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS ARE GENERATED USING A COMBINATION OF SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE AND HUMAN TRANSCRIBERS, AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS. STAY ENGAGED with HISTORICAL DRAMA WITH THE BOSTON SISTERS LISTEN to past past podcasts starting with the guests featured in this bonus episode SIGN UP for our mailing list SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform You can SUPPORT this podcast on SpotifyforPodcasters or SHOP THE PODCAST for the books mentioned in this podcast and past episodes on our affiliate bookstore Thank you for listening! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/historicaldramasisters/support

Kim Chakanetsa meets two writers who, in their work, explore the themes of love, identity, belonging and inter-generational trauma. Min Jin Lee is a South Korean American author who wrote two novels, Free food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a multi-generational saga following the story of a Korean family in Japan. Pachinko was a New York Times bestseller and was nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction, and it's recently been turned into a TV series. Min is currently working on her third novel, American Hagwon. Elif Shafak is a Turkish British writer. She has written 19 books, most of them novels, which have been translated into 55 languages. She is a Booker prize finalist, and her most recent novel - The Island of Missing Trees - tells the forbidden love story between a Greek Cypriot man and a Turkish Cypriot woman. Produced by Alice Gioia (Image: (L) Elif Shafak, credit BBC. (R) Min Jin Lee, credit Getty Images)

Karoliny Kontra Życie: https://open.spotify.com/show/2B6XunF1TT9mKXWyJD2lUy Klub książki: Therese Bohman „Utonęła”⁠⁠ https://www.legimi.pl/ebook-utonela-therese-bohman,b648302.html ⁠⁠Chcesz wypróbować Legimi za darmo przez 30 dni? Skorzystaj z naszych linków:https://www.legimi.pl/kod/J4U75/https://www.legimi.pl/kod/ASQ6K/ (3:52) Pachinko, Apple TV (4:40) Japonia  Midnight Diner: Tokyo stories, Netflix (7:15) Podcasty:  Jak wytrzymać z ludźmi, Undressed (8:40) Sukcesja, HBO Max  Variety: Actors on actors  (12:30) Z pamiętnika alkoholiczki, Disney+  (13:35) Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Disney+ (16:50) Pierwsza historia  Dave Kroupa i Liz Golyar zaczynaja otrzymywać niepokojące wiadomości od Cari Ferver, byłej dziewczyny Dave'a. (36:50) Druga historia Yvonne Baldell Źródła:  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/devils-island-panama-murder-mystery-yvonne-baldelli-brian-brimager/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-marine-sentenced-in-girlfriends-panama-slaying/ https://people.com/crime/yvonne-baldellis-remains-found-in-panama/ https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sd-murder-plea-20160224-story.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3463814/Ex-Marine-pleads-guilty-killing-dismembering-fashion-designer-girlfriend-dumping-remains-Panama-jungle.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gqJj6HFqlk https://truecrimedaily.com/2016/09/13/island-of-lost-dreams/ Dołącz do nas na instagramie: https://www.instagram.com/2karoliny2podcasty/ Patronie: https://patronite.pl/prawdziwe-zbrodnie/

Today we're sitting down with Karen Chee, a comedian and writer who's worked at Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2019, more written for season two of Apple TV's Pachinko, and was included in Vulture's Comedians to Know, Variety's Young Hollywood list, and Forbes 30 under 30. We talk about starting her comedy career on such a big stage, dealing with impostor syndrome, and what's at stake in the Writers' Strike. Follow @karencheee on Instagram or check out her site. Learn more about the WGA strike at wgacontract2023.org Save 20% on TeuxDeux with code SOMEDAYLIST.

Florian Hoffmeister (Tár, Antlers, The Terror) joins Gordon to chat about their work on Pachinko!

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In this episode, we finish up our discussion on the poignant story of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. This book and its characters will stay in our minds for a very long time. Let us know if you read the book along with us! Learn more about the author here: www.minjinlee.com Ben also shares his love for Cat and Cloud Coffee, a coffee company located in Santa Cruz, CA. You can check out more about Cat and Cloud here: www.catandcloudcoffee.com ------ Make sure to follow us on Insta! www.instagram.com/pagesandpours.studio And check out our website: www.pagesandpours.studio

Kelly admits defeats against subscription services, as Ade ramps up her free 3 months! Yass! We got it all-Ted Lasso, Schmigadoon, Pachinko...oh and a bit of of organizing motivation to do while you watch all that TV, thanks Mel Robbins! #tv #tvreview #friends #appletv #appleplus #tedlasso #schmigadoon #pachinko #melrobbins #melrobbinspodcast #organize  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tv-told-me/message

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It's the only rational explanation.

Join us for Part I of our three part discussion of Pachinko by author Min Jin Lee! This poetic book spans across decades of a Korean family's journey through struggle, heartache, and fleeting moments of happiness despite all the hardships of life. Connect with us on IG: @pagesandpours.studio

Hoy toca hacer un análisis de Pachinko ⏱️

Jackie Chung (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Coming Home Again) and Louis Ozawa (Hunters, Pachinko) star in this rollicking tale from Africa about how the zebra got its stripes and the baboon got its bare bottom.

Listen to ASCO's Journal of Clinical Oncology essay, “I Want to Kill You” by Dr. Noelle LoConte, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The essay is followed by an interview with LoConte and host Dr. Lidia Schapira. LoConte shares her experience of a patient's threat to kill her and her reflections on how health care can be improved. TRANSCRIPT Narrator: I Want to Kill You, by Noelle K. LoConte, MD (10.1200/JCO.22.02896)  My patient threatened to kill me. I was in the middle of a busy medical oncology clinic. I was seeing her to discuss test results 1 week after I told her I was concerned that her cancer had returned. As I suspected, the test confirmed recurrent cancer, and this time, it was incurable. I walked into the room to share this news with a woman who I had been seeing for about 3 years. I had been her oncologist since she was first diagnosed with stage III cancer and saw her through surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. I had met her children, knew the names of her pets, and had discussed my children and pets with her. We were on very friendly terms, and I enjoyed seeing her name on my clinic schedule, certain that beyond discussion of her cancer and test results, we would also get into some interesting conversations about life, the weather, or college sports. Truly, it was a delight to be her oncologist. She had no known mental illness, no brain metastases, and had never been angry or violent with me. I used the SPIKES protocol to review why we were there and deliver the test results.1 I had done this many times before, and there was nothing that stood out to me in the moment about her or this clinical situation to make me think that I was in danger—a fact that made what happened next even more shocking. When I paused to see what questions or thoughts she had, she said, “I want to kill you. I want to blow your face off. You should never have become a doctor.” I intellectually understood that she was upset about the news of her cancer recurrence and had understandable anger at the dramatic impact this turn of events would have on her future. I understood that, in her mind, someone had to be blamed, and, mostly out of convenience, it was going to be me. I have since wondered if her lack of close friends and family may have amplified her reaction, in that she had few outlets available to her to discuss her fears and concerns. I have wondered if she felt let down by me after our years of cordial and friendly visits. It was a real-life example of kill the messenger.  She continued telling me that she could find my home address. At that moment, I scanned the room and recognized that I could be in real danger. I stood in the corner of the room. To get out, I would have to walk around the desk and between her and the examination table. I also realized that because it was a holiday, there were very few people around who might hear me yell for help. We did not have a panic button or hospital security on speed dial, and it would have taken them many minutes to get to me if I had used the phone in the examination room to call security. I looked down and saw that she had two large bags with her. Patients often bring bags such as these to their chemotherapy appointments, bags filled with things to pass the time such as iPads, books, knitting, board games, blankets, snacks, and water bottles. Suddenly, I realized that she was not scheduled to get chemotherapy that day, so why did she have these bags?  I was sure I was about to be killed. I was certain she had a gun in those bags.  I said anything I could think of to de-escalate the situation and get out of the room. I promised her a new oncologist, told her I would become a better doctor, and suggested that maybe the biopsy results were wrong (although I knew they were not). As she continued her tirade, I carefully walked past her to get out of the room, and although she never moved toward me, she continued to yell about what a terrible person I am. Once I was back in the workroom, a nurse escorted the patient out of the clinic. We called hospital security and were told they felt their services were not needed as the patient had left the clinic.  Despite this horrific encounter, I managed to make it through the rest of the clinic day in a daze. After the clinic was finished, I emailed my supervisor since it was a holiday and other employees were not in the hospital for me to call. In this email, I conveyed my fear and concern about this encounter while making it clear that I was still worried about my safety and the ability of the patient to continue to harm me. The response I received was generic: We will look into it. The very next day while I was at home, I received an alert that there was an active shooter in the area and realized with dread that it was on my block. It was not my patient, but her words about finding my home address haunted me. I hid on the floor after closing the blinds and locking all the windows and doors. My children were with me. For days, I did not sleep more than 1 or 2 hours. I was on constant high alert.  Three days later, I was seeing a different patient in the clinic and had what I now realize was a panic attack. I was barely able to complete the visit. The patient was kind and understanding, but I felt inadequate and knew that my patients deserved better. Importantly, I also knew that I deserved better. I reached out again to my immediate leadership team and said plainly that I was struggling and needed help. I was offered statements of support but no concrete actions.  While crying in my office, I searched our hospital's website for possible sources of help. I was lucky enough to come across our Employee Assistance Program and eventually got connected to a therapist. I will never forget the kindness and help she provided. She (correctly) told me that I had suffered an intense trauma and walked me through the next steps, which included meditation, hydration and nutrition, and intense aerobic exercise. She explained that the aerobic exercise (telling me to run as hard as you can with a goal for high heart rate and lots of sweating) can help the brain to heal from trauma and will prevent or diminish the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. I resisted my urge to search on PubMed to ascertain if these were evidence-based solutions and decided to try whatever she suggested. She also helped me accept a 2-week leave from work and find a therapist who specialized in trauma for health care workers. I continued to see a trauma therapist for a year until I felt I had adequately recovered.  Eventually, as is true with most traumas, time itself was the best healer. A few weeks later, when hospital leadership learned of my experience, things started to happen. Security did a walkthrough of the clinic space. Patient relations notified the patient that this type of behavior would not be tolerated. There was a backup plan put into place in the event the patient needed care when I was the only oncologist available (eg, on the in-patient unit). It was not all forward progress, however. I was told no changes needed to be made to the clinic and that we could not keep examination room doors open because of privacy concerns. The provider desk would continue to be in the corner of the room, and the patient would continue to sit between the provider and the door.  This was understandable given the cost to reconfigure rooms and the unfortunate reality with firearms that even being close to a door may not matter. I asked for panic buttons to be installed—I knew these existed in other clinics—but was told this could not happen. When I asked to be scheduled in rooms where my desk could be next to the door, I was offered a single conference room with no examination table and no medical supplies. I usually work out of three rooms on clinic days, so this would not work. I figured this was as good as it would get and elected to move on and suck it up. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago, when I learned that as much as I hoped these traumatic patient interactions would leave health care workers, they never truly do. I was the oncologist for the in-patient unit at our hospital, which is a liminal space of end-stage disease, anxious patients and families, and difficult decisions. The stakes and severity of the patients' situations are high. One patient and her family were furious at their medical situation of rapidly progressive cancer, as well as the hospital parking and layout, the plan of care, and even the cafeteria options. I was the recipient of all their frustration.  As the patient and her family yelled at me for being inept and stupid and not serving their needs, I had the distinct sensation that my spirit was floating away from my body. I was rising toward the ceiling, watching it all play out in front of me, seeing myself from a bird's eye view. I thought, “Wow, I am dissociating.” It was a surprisingly effective tool to Protect me at that moment and one that I now recognize as a normal response to trauma. Once the patient and family got all their anger out and told me to leave the room, I became unsteady and had to hold the banister to stay grounded. To drive home how vulnerable we all are in facing these kinds of threats, I reflected on the job of an oncologist. I give bad news on a regular basis, I control opiate prescriptions, and many of my patients feel their pain is not well controlled, a phenomenon seen across many oncology patients.2 If we think physicians are only murdered in the emergency room or on the psychiatry unit, we are fooling ourselves. Recent changes to concealed carry laws and increasing levels of medical mistrust and anger directed at health care workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic likely will increase all providers' risk of gun violence.  With reflection, I now understand that my experience then was made worse by the lack of informed response by leadership to mitigate my trauma and the lack of efforts to improve safety. We deserve leaders and hospital staff who know immediately what to do when a physician is threatened, including reassigning the patient to a new provider immediately, having hospital administration or patient care services review with the patient the zero tolerance policy to provider threats, and allowing a prompt leave from work to address the trauma response, which is best done immediately after the event not months later or only on request.  We deserve urgent access to therapists and peer support who understand how to process and overcome trauma. Institutions should track threats to providers in real time and make rapid changes to improve safety. As individuals facing a traumatic patient encounter, we cannot afford to wait for the system to catch up to our needs. We can seek our own counseling and professional support while also providing critical support for our peers.3-5 I thought I was the weak one for not being able (even still) to let this death threat be in the past. I realize now that I am brave and strong for asking for help. We deserve safe environments and clinical practices to allow us to do the difficult work of being an oncologist without worrying about our personal safety. Together we can create clinics, hospitals, and teams that prioritize provider safety and proactively work to mitigate the trauma of patients and families who threaten their physicians and providers.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Hello and welcome to JCO's Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology, which features essays and personal reflections from authors exploring their experience in the field of oncology. I'm your host, Dr. Lidia Schapira, associate Editor for Art of Oncology and a professor of medicine at Stanford University. Today we are joined by Dr. Noelle LoConte, associate professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In this episode, we will be discussing her Art of Oncology article ‘I Want to Kill You'.  Our guest disclosures will be linked in the transcript.  Noelle, welcome to our podcast. Thank you for joining us.  Dr. Noelle LoConte: You're welcome. Thanks for having me.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: It's our pleasure.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: I like to start the conversation by asking authors what it is that they're reading or what book they would recommend to a friend.  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Oh, that's a good one. I'm reading a book called Hell of a Book right now. Highly, highly recommend it. It's phenomenal. And a book that I would recommend that I recently read - well, Pachinko is a book that I read last year, but I just can't stop thinking about it. So I think that would be my recommendation.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: So good fiction is a wonderful way of releasing stress after a hard day at work.  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Truly.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Can you talk a little bit about what made you write this particular piece? Are you somebody who likes to write to process experiences, or was this a particular message that you needed to convey?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Yeah, I used to journal quite regularly, but gave that up when I started residency and haven't really picked it back up. But this story kind of wrote itself for me. I felt compelled. I could not stop thinking about it, and eventually, I had to do it.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Reading it is very impactful. And you start with this amazing line, "My patient threatened to kill me." So you're telling us immediately what happened. And the story is quite awful, and I don't know if I should ask you to tell us a little bit about it, but just for the sake of bringing the listeners into the story, can you very quickly recap what happened and how that made you feel? Dr. Noelle LoConte: Yeah, the quick version is I had a long-standing patient in Oncology who I had an established relationship with, who had no red flags for me, who was getting the news of a recurrence, and in response to that news, gave me what I thought was a credible threat to kill me. And the story is about sort of what happened after that, the ripple effect even years later, and how the response of my boss, my health system, my colleagues maybe amplified or made it worse. And then what really compelled me to write this story was when there was a physician that was murdered by a patient, I think not an oncologist, but I just felt the circle sort of tightening in that eventually we're all going to have to think about this. And so that's really what pushed me to write it.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Yes, and we're grateful for you bringing it to our attention. Let's just start by reflecting on this relationship you had with a patient. You opened the essay by saying that you seemed to trust each other, that you were delighted to see her name on the schedule, that she knew about you, that you had shared freely about your life. And then this threat comes out of nowhere. You didn't anticipate it, and it also comes at a time when there were very few people around because it's a holiday. So tell us a little bit about how you felt in that moment. You basically wanted to make a quick exit from the room, and that comes across, but can you tell us a little bit about what the feelings were that you experienced at the time?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Immediately, I felt terrified because whether she intended to or not, I believed her that she had a firearm and was going to kill me. The story goes into why I felt that way, but suffice to say; I couldn't sort of intellectualize my way out of this one. I really, deep in my heart, felt panicked. I think after the fact after I got out of the room and got through that day of clinic, I felt ashamed. I think that was probably the emotion I felt, that I fell for it, so to speak, that I didn't just trust that everything was going to be fine.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Can we talk a little bit more about that shame? I think that is such an important feeling that many physicians share an experience at some point and often doesn't get talked about. How long did it take you to understand that it was perhaps some shame that you were also feeling and perhaps that that was also isolating and compounding the trauma?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: I would say I felt ashamed because I got back to the workroom, and I had to ask for help. I'm of a generation of physician before work hour restrictions and caps and so forth, where I worked many a day, totally sick. I don't think I had ever called in sick to that point. I'm not saying that to say that's the right approach. I, in fact, do not think that's the right approach, but that's the type of physician that I am and how I grew up. I'm also from the upper Midwest, where work ethic really is like the most important personal characteristic, so I take my work pretty seriously. So I felt I had let myself down, I'd let my team down, I had let my patients down, that if I had been a “better physician,” that this wouldn't have gotten to me the way it did. So I would say I felt shame almost immediately. It's been the letting go of the shame that has taken a lot longer. Dr. Lidia Schapira: Talk to us a little bit about the process of letting go of the shame. You mentioned very specifically some activities that helped, finding a therapist that helped, taking time away from work that helped. But walk us through that process.  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Yeah, and I think part of the story, too, is that I kind of bumbled into this, and it would have been better for people above me or supporting me to be like, “You need to do X-Y-Z.” And ultimately, it was when I landed with Primary Care that they were like, “Oh yeah, we get threatened all the time. Here's how we do it.” But yeah, what I did was I used employee assistance program, and then they connected me with a trained therapist who worked with providers that have been threatened - so unfortunately, a growing population for her - and I just in that moment decided to set aside my need to kind of be evidence-based and intellectualize my way out of everything, and I said I am just going to trust that whatever they tell me is sound, and no matter how ‘woo' it sounds to me, I'm just going to do it. Because, at the time, I wasn't sleeping at all. At this point, it had been days, I think since I had slept. And she talked about hydration, nutrition, exercising to really get your heart pumping, get really sweaty, having a safety plan, not being alone. And so I just really just said, ‘I'm just going to do it.'. And then, ultimately, it's really time away from the incident. I mean, it still has not left me, but it is much better.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Can you share with us a little bit how this impacted your life away from work, at home, how it impacted your relationship with your kids, with your peers, and with people you interact with outside of medicine?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Yeah, I mean, the most immediate thing was that, unfortunately, there was an active shooter alert that happened shortly after my incident. And I was at home with my kids, and in the moment, I thought I was going to die, and I thought my kids were going to be left without a mother. So, my kids, I wanted to keep them safe from harm, and so I had real moments of thinking like, I should leave my job. It's not worth it. As far as my husband, he's also a physician, and so he implicitly understood.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: I'm glad you had the support that you needed. But you talk a little bit about the lasting trauma, and in the article, you mentioned that what led you to write about this was that there was a trigger that occurred. Can you share a little bit about that? And not only what the triggering incident was, but how do you continue to deal with sort of this ripple effect of what happened now several years ago?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Yeah, the triggering event for me was I was up on our inpatient unit. So I'm an academic oncologist, we have an inpatient oncology unit. At the time, it was staffed by medical oncologists, we do a week at a time. Now it's shared with the hospitalist, which is wonderful. Actually, it's a great model. But I was the medical oncologist up there, and so you get whatever comes in the door for that week, and there was a patient who was angry and frustrated and had a very bad cancer and the recipe for possible aggressive behavior. And so we were rounding, and I was in the room, and she started yelling at me, and her mother started yelling at me about parking and the food in the cafeteria and when her CAT scan was going to happen - things I have zero control over. But I'm used to– I think all oncologists are used to kind of being the receptacle for people's feelings about an out-of-control situation. At least they can control their conversations with us.  So in the moment, I was like, “Okay, she's not really mad at me, she's mad at the situation, and I'm just going to let her get this out.” But what happened was it brought me right back to that room with my patient, and I dissociated for the first, and I think maybe the only time in my life where I physically could feel myself, like, leaving my body. It was very unsettling for me in the moment, and I had to kind of back up against the wall and ground myself. I realize now what I was doing. But yeah, so that happened. And then that same day, I think, was the day that the orthopedic surgeon got killed. And so I was just like, ‘What is going on?' There's so much gun stuff right now that it's just impossible to be like, “Well, I'm never going to think about this again,” because it's in your face all the time.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: I'm so sorry this happened to you. And again, on behalf of all of our readers, we're grateful that you took the time to share the experience with us.  So thinking a little bit about how we can respond to colleagues and how we can perhaps prevent some of these consequences of violent threats or acts of violence, what have you learned, Noelle? How should organizations respond? What do we need? What can we expect?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Yeah, I think if you're in a leadership position over a clinic, over a group of providers, including physicians, NPs, APPs of any variety, learners, medical students, residents, fellows, you need to know at a moment's notice what to do if that person is traumatized. And I would include threats of violence in that trauma. Ultimately, it was sort of a game of hot potato with me, and nobody really knew, and they were looking into it, and it's really time sensitive. So I would say if you're a leader, know what to do and know it immediately. I think the other thing is, if you're a male, know that this happens to your female colleagues and non-binary colleagues much more. One of the strategies is to transfer the patient to a male provider. I think hospital security could have been more responsive to my concerns. So in my workspace, and it continues to this day, the provider's in the corner of the room, so you have to walk past. I think we could take some cues from psychiatry and emergency medicine, having things like panic buttons, easy exit for providers, security walk-throughs. Dr. Lidia Schapira: It saddens me to think that we need to think about it and plan for it in a way because we talk so much and train so much for establishing trusting relationships with our patients, and what you're saying is, basically, we can't take anything for granted, even in the context of what appears to be a functioning longitudinal relationship. And that's a scary thought. How do you go to clinic every day and think that this might happen again when you walk into a room?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: I mean, I'd be lying if I didn't say I sort of compartmentalize it, right? I am much more cautious about what I share with my patients about my family. I always kind of take a scan of the room when I'm entering right now and kind of know my surroundings a little bit better, I would say. And I don't assume, I think before this, I had assumed if they have brain mets, if they have a history of a psychotic mental illness, something like that, that I would be more concerned. I'm sort of always aware that this could happen. I think advocating for things like metal detectors, hospital security are all good things too, and I have much less tolerance for being the punching bag, I would say right now. So when people get angry, I just say, ‘I'm leaving the room. When you've calmed down, I'm happy to come back. Here's how to get a hold of me.' And that's all just self-preservation. That's not because I think patients are bad for being angry. I would probably be angry too, but I need to have clear boundaries about what I can and cannot do.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: How do you think this experience has changed you? And do you think that your colleagues and your patients appreciate the change?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: I think it's made me less open. It's definitely made me not want to have super close relationships with patients anymore. Less trusting. I mean, I know that my colleagues happily covered my clinic, but I know there are also hospitals where that wouldn't happen. I'm eternally grateful to those few weeks where they let me take a breather because that's when I realized I really love patient care, and I missed it. I don't know if everybody loves the new me, but I don't know that we had a choice.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Do you think this is, in part, a gendered conversation? You mentioned that it's more likely to happen to women. Can you expand a little bit on that for listeners?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Well, when you go to the literature, which of course, being an academic oncologist, was my first response, this happens all the time in emergency medicine and psychiatry. Much more common against women, I'll say providers, but physicians in particular. So yes, it is absolutely a gendered conversation. I think the expectation when we walk in the room is a different expectation about how relational we're going to be, how caring and compassionate. It's not just enough to be competent and intelligent. You also have to be motherly and loving and all this. So, yes, I absolutely think it's a gender conversation for sure. For sure.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Are there any texts or papers that have been particularly helpful to you or stood out to you that you would recommend to others?  Dr. Noelle LoConte: There was a series, I believe, in emergency medicine literature. I can circle back to you guys and get you the exact reference, but I found their strategies for dealing with aggressive patients very helpful. And I actually found talking to my nursing friends and colleagues was really helpful because they are really experts in de-escalation. So I really rely on them to kind of get language that makes sense coming out of my mouth like that whole, “I'm going to come back when you stop being angry.” So I would say more than any individual article, it was talking to nurses. Dr. Lidia Schapira: I imagine a simulation exercise could be helpful as well for all of us, right? Especially those of us who may be more at risk or have the sort of open, sincere approach to patient care as if we can trust everybody, and perhaps we can. We're very glad that you shared what you were able to share.  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Thank you. Dr. Lidia Schapira: That you brought attention to this very important topic to our community, and I'm sure you've already had responses from colleagues. We've certainly heard from a lot of people who really appreciate your honesty and bringing this story forward and have unfortunately heard similar stories from colleagues.  Dr. Noelle LoConte: Yeah, I think it's pretty common. Dr. Lidia Schapira: So good luck, read well, play a lot, exercise your brains out until your heart rate is in the stratosphere. And thank you. Thank you for sending it. Thank you for sharing it. I know it's been very difficult.  Dr. Noelle LoConte: You're very welcome. Thank you for reading it.  Dr. Lidia Schapira: Until next time. Thank you for listening to JCO's Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology. Don't forget to give us a rating or review, and be sure to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. You can find all of the ASCO shows at asco.org/podcasts.  The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions.  Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.  Like, share and subscribe so you never miss an episode and leave a rating or review.  Guest Bio:  Dr. Noelle LoConte is an associate professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.  Additional Reading:  1.         Richardson SK, Ardagh MW, Morrison R, Grainger PC. Management of the aggressive emergency department patient: non-pharmacological perspectives and evidence base. Open Access Emerg Med. 2019 Nov 12;11:271-290. doi: 10.2147/OAEM.S192884. PMID: 31814780; PMCID: PMC6861170.   2.         Incivility in Health Care: Strategies for De-escalating Troubling Encounters      

This episode we're continuing our conversation from last year and talking about What is a Book? We talk about hypertext, instruction manuals, visual novels, campfire stories, and more! You can download the podcast  directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards Media We Mentioned DC Pride 2022 #1 Tic Tac Tome: The Autonomous Tic Tac Toe Playing Book by Willy Yonkers Homestuck (Wikipedia) Doki Doki Literature Club! (Wikipedia) Everything Everywhere All at Once (Wikipedia) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Wikipedia) Lasers & Feelings Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud Links, Articles, and Things Episode 144 - What is a Book? I read all 337 books in Skyrim so you don't have to  Episode 108 - Visual Novels Choose Your Own Adventure (Wikipedia) Demian's Gamebook Web Page KineticNovel (Wikipedia) Hypertext fiction (Wikipedia) HyperCard (Wikipedia) Flip Book (Wikipedia) Desert Bus for Hope Microform (Wikipedia) Rice writing (Wikipedia) Matthew was just wrong about this Changes to new editions of Roald Dahl books have readers up in arms Jaffa Cakes: Legal Status (Wikipedia) That time the X-Men's humanity was put on trial in a real court of law Fountain (Duchamp) (Wikipedia) 20 Books Adapted into Film/TV by BIPOC Authors (and 7 Being Adapted Soon) Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here. The Color Purple by Alice Walker | The Color Purple (1985) The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor | The Women of Brewster Place (1989 mini-series) Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, translated by Carol & Thomas Christensen | Like Water for Chocolate (1992) The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan | The Joy Luck Club (1993) Beloved by Toni Morrison | Beloved (1998) The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie | Smoke Signals (1998) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi | Persepolis (2007) Q&A by Vikras Swarup | Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Push by Sapphire | Precious (2009) Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup | 12 Years a Slave (2013) Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly | Hidden Figures (2016) Silence by Shūsaku Endō, translated by William Johnston | Silence (2016) Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese | Indian Horse (2017) Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan | Crazy Rich Asians (2018) The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas | The Hate U Give (2018) If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin | If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han | To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018) Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Chararipotra | Tiny Pretty Things (2020 TV series) The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga | The White Tiger (2021) Pachinko by Min Jin Lee | Pachinko (2022 TV series) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang | American Born Chinese (2023 TV series) The Color Purple by Alice Walker | The Color Purple (2023) Exit West by Mohsin Hamid | Exit West (2023) Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam | Leave the World Behind (2023) The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu | The Three-Body Problem (2023 TV series) Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon | Blackout (forthcoming film & TV series) The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris | The Other Black Girl (forthcoming TV series) Give us feedback! Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read! Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email! Join us again on Tuesday, March 7th we'll be discussing the genre of Gender Theory/Studies!  Then on Tuesday, March 21st we'll be talking about Moving and Management of Books!

David Huntsberger returns to discuss his new podcast Intercepts, the comedy "circuit", Amsterdam, Pachinko, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Untold, Only Murders in the Building, and the future of the movie-going experience.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Host Miko Lee talks about Theatre & Memory with Bay Area native artists: composer Byron Au Yong and playwright Lauren Yee. They provide behind the scenes news about their upcoming productions at ACT and Berkeley Rep. More info on our guests: Byron Au Yong, composer The Headlands, ACT   Lauren Yee, playwright Cambodian Rock Band, Berkeley Rep   Transcript: Theatre and Memory or Why Art Matters [00:00:00] Miko Lee: Good evening and welcome to APEX Express. I'm your host, Miko Lee, and tonight we're talking about theater and memory or why art matters. So many artists grapple with this concept of memory and how each of us has a different story to share. And tonight we get to hear from two bay area locals, a playwright, and a composer, each share a bit about their creative process and why art matters to them. I have the pleasure of speaking with composer, Byron Au Yong who had been creating music for the Headlands, which opens this weekend at act. And with playwright Lauren Yee who's musical Cambodian rock band comes back home to Berkeley rep at the end of the month. First off. Let's take a listen to one of Byron Al Yong's compositions called know your rights. This is part of the trilogy of the Activists Songbook. This multi-lingual rap, give steps to know what to do when ice officers come to your door. song That was know your rights performed by Jason Chu with lyrics by Aaron Jeffries and composed by my guest, Byron Au Yong. Welcome, Byron Au Yong to Apex Express. We're so happy to hear from you. [00:04:11] Byron Au Yong: Thanks, Miko. It's so great to be here. [00:04:13] Miko Lee: I wanna talk to you about a couple of things. First and foremost, you have the Headlands that is opening up at ACT really soon. Tell me about who your people are and where you come from. [00:04:27] Byron Au Yong: Sure. So my grandparents, both maternal and paternal, left China in the late thirties and they both immigrated to the Philippines. And so both my parents were born to Philippines in different areas. And so I come from a family of refugees who then settled into Philippines and my parents were not the first in their family. They were actually both the fourth and they left and immigrated to the United States when the United States opened up immigration in post 1965. So they were part of that wave. And then I was born in Pittsburgh. They, they were actually introduced here in Seattle. And I was born in Pittsburgh because my dad was in school there. And then they moved back to Seattle. So I'm from Seattle and in 2016 I moved to San Francisco. [00:05:17] Miko Lee: Thank you. So you are a composer. Have you always played music and have you always been attuned to audio? Tell me about how you got started as a composer. [00:05:28] Byron Au Yong: Sure. As a kid my parents divorced when I was age seven and I was an only child up until age 16. My mom worked. In the evenings. And my dad wasn't in the household and so I had a lot of time to myself and I would sing a lot to myself. And then my next door neighbor was a piano teacher, and so I started to play the piano at age nine, and then at age 11 I started to write stuff down. And yeah, so I've been doing music for a bit. [00:05:59] Miko Lee: So music has always been a part of your life, essentially. It's been your playmate since you were young. [00:06:04] Byron Au Yong: Yes, absolutely [00:06:05] Miko Lee: Love that. So tell us about the Headlands that's gonna be opening at ACT pretty soon. [00:06:11] Byron Au Yong: Yeah so The Headlands is a play by Christopher Chen, who you may know is playwright, who is born and raised and continues to live in San Francisco. And it's his love letter to San Francisco. It's a San Francisco noir play. It's a whodunit play. It's a play about a main character who's trying to figure out who he is after the death of his dad. Which causes him to wonder who he is and where he is from. I'm doing original music for the show, this is gonna be an American Conservatory Theater, and Pam McKinnon, who's the artistic director, will be stage directing this production as well. I actually met Chris Chen in 2013 when I had a show called Stuck Elevator that was at ACT. And I've been really fascinated with his work as a playwright for a while, and so I was thrilled when ACT invited me to join the creative team to work on music. Miko Lee: Oh, fun. Okay. I wanna talk to you about Stuck Elevator next, but first let's stick with the headlines.This is a play that's about memory and storytelling. I'm wondering if there is a story that has framed your creative process. Byron Au Yong: Yeah. Thinking about this show as a memory play, and, memory as something, we go back in our memories to try and figure stuff out, which is very much what this play is. And also to claim and to. figure out if something from our memory was recalled maybe in completely. And so the main character is, piecing together fragments of his memory to figure out who he is in the present. And considering this I actually went back to music. I composed when I was still a teenager. I actually dropped outta school and was working a lot. I think I realized early on that I was indeed, I wanted to dedicate myself to being an artist and was very concerned about how I would make a living as an artist in the United States. And so I thought I'll figure out how to make money away from the music. And so I had a lot of jobs and I was trying to write music, but, I was in a sad place, and so I never finished anything. I have a bunch of fragments from this time. But on Memorial Day I woke up and, it was sunny in Seattle and so I said, I'm gonna finish a piece of music today. And that became part of a project in mine where every Memorial Day I finish a piece of music and it's a solo piano piece that I finish. And so, going back in my personal history, I found one of these Memorial Day pieces and thought, oh, this actually works. Because it's a bit awkward and it doesn't resolve, and I remember who I was back then, but it's also me piecing together things and so I used that as the foundation for the music, for The Headlands, which is a different thing. If you didn't know that was my source material, that's in some ways irrelevant. But that's my personal connection in thinking about music for this. And of course I've also done a lot of research on film noir. A lot of noir films were set in San Francisco. And and the music is awesome, amazing of this genre. And, it's mysterious it is a certain urban Americana music. And so I include those elements as well. [00:09:36] Miko Lee: Thank you. That's so interesting that you have a Memorial Day ritual to create a piece of music. I'm wondering if, aside from the Headlands, have you used the Memorial Day Music in other pieces you've created? [00:09:48] Byron Au Yong: No this is the first time. [00:09:51] Miko Lee: Wow. Yeah. That's great. [00:09:53] Byron Au Yong: I think Miko is because, it's a private thing for me. I think the other thing too is as you mentioned, music was my friend growing up. The piano was. Definitely one of my best friends. And so solo piano pieces for me are, it's where you can have an audience of one. And one of the things that helped me, when I was not in school was. Playing through a lot of different other solo piano pieces. And so part of these Memorial Day pieces too are that they're meant to be simple enough that they could be sight read. And so if, if there's a musician who you know, is in a similar state of, oh, I'm not able to really do anything, but I want to be with music. I can sight read through, these different Memorial Day pieces. [00:10:38] Miko Lee: And do you have them set in a specific part of your house or where, how, where do you keep your Memorial Day projects and when do you open them up to look at them? [00:10:48] Byron Au Yong: Oh yeah. They're handwritten in a folder. None of the things so special. [00:10:54] Miko Lee: What was it that inspired you to go back and look at them for the headlands? [00:10:58] Byron Au Yong: Oh, you know what it is there are, be, because I know you, you also create stuff too in your memory of your catalog.I'm wondering if you have. If you have works that, that you remember that you made and then tho those works may remind you of a certain mood you were in or a certain room or and so I think they're musical things from certain or, things I was experimenting with for these Memorial Day. Said, I'm like, oh, I remember this. Let me go back to the folder where I collect this stuff every year and look through it. And I think that parallels actually the headlands and what the main character is doing because he recalls, and what's so cool about the production is we go into the same scene, but there's like a clue that's been revealed. And so we as an audience get to revisit the scene again. And there's a different interpretation of what was happening in the scene. And so what might have been like a scene between Henry's parents, Lena and George, which he thought, oh, this is how it was when I was a kid, when I was 10 years old. Thinking about it, remembering it, but now with this new information, this is how I'm gonna interpret the scene. And so I think similarly with, music from my past, these Memorial Day pieces, I'm like, oh, this is what I was interested in working on. But now as a older composer, I'm like, ah, and I can do this with this material. [00:12:26] Miko Lee: I love that. And I also really appreciate that this play about memory you pulled from your Memorial Day pieces, that it goes with this whole flow of just re-envisioning things with your own frame and based on where you're at in any given time. [00:12:42] Byron Au Yong: Totally. [00:12:43] Miko Lee: I know that the show was created 2020, is that right? Yes. Is that when, first? Yeah, Byron Au Yong: I think it's right before the pandemic. Miko Lee: Yeah. And you've had several different directors, and now in a way you both are coming home to San Francisco and artistic director, Pam McKinnon is directing it. I wonder if you have thoughts about some of the difference approaches that these directors have brought to the process. [00:13:06] Byron Au Yong: Oh, yeah. And, miko, this is the first time I'm working on the headlands. And so when it was at Lincoln Center, there was a different creative team. [00:13:12] Miko Lee: Oh, so the music, you're just creating the music for this version of the show. [00:13:16] Byron Au Yong: Yes, correct. Wow. And it is a new production because that Lincoln Center was in a stage called LCT 3, which is a smaller venue. Whereas this is gonna be in a Toni Rembe theater, which is, on Geary. It's a 1100 seat theater. And the set is quite fabulous and large . And what's also great is, aside from Johnny, all the cast is local. And like it will have the feel of a San Francisco production because many of us live here, have lived here and know these places that are referenced in the show. [00:13:51] Miko Lee: Thanks for that clarification. So that's really different to go from a small house at Lincoln Center to the big house at a c t Yes. With local folks with, your local music. That brings a very different approach to it. I'm excited to see it. That sounds really interesting. And now I wanna go back to talk about Stuck Elevator, which I was so delighted to learn about. Which was your first piece That was at ACT what, back in 2013? So tell our audience first about where Stuck Elevator came from and then tell what it's about. [00:14:23] Byron Au Yong: Sure. So stuck elevator. So I was living in New York in 2005 and there were some there were some images of like photos in the newspaper, initially it was local news because it was a Chinese delivery man who was missing. And most of the delivery people at the time, they carry cash, they won't go to the police. And there, there had been a string of muggings and then one was actually beaten to death. And so it was local news that this guy was missing. And then a few days later, and in New York Times, there was a big article because he was found in an elevator in the Bronx and he had been trapped in his elevator which had become stuck. And he was trapped for 81 hours, which that's like over three days. And so it made international news. And then when I read the article and learned more about him, there were many parallels like where he was from in China, which is Fujan Province, which is where my grandparents left that he was paying a debt to human smugglers to be in the United States. And different things that I thought, wow, if my grandparents hadn't left I wonder if, I would be the one who was, paying to be smuggled here rather than paying for grad school. And so I became quite fascinated with them. And then also, realized at the time, in 2005, this is like YouTube was just starting, and so all like the Asian American YouTube stars, they weren't as prominent in the news. And, BTS wasn't around then. So for me to see an Asian male. In the US media there was always this feeling of oh why is this Asian male in the news? And then realized, oh, it's actually part of a larger story about being trapped in America about family obligation, about labor, about fear of, in his specific case because he's an undocumented immigrant, fear of deportation. So there were many issues that, that I thought were broader than the specific story. And so I thought, this would be a great opera slash musical. So that's what it became at [00:16:23] Miko Lee: you, you basically read a story and said, whoa, what is this? I feel this is so wild. And then created it into an opera. Yes. Also, it just resonated with me so much as a person who has been trapped in elevators, in broken elevators six different times, . Oh my goodness. Yes. I'm like, wow. And his story, that many hours, that has to be like a record. Byron Au Yong: Right? Nobody else has been trapped that long. Yeah. It's a record. Miko Lee: So you created this piece, it premiered at ACT? Yes. Did you ever connect with the guy that was stuck in the elevator? [00:16:59] Byron Au Yong: No. So the New York Times did something which is actually not cool. They they revealed his immigration status and that at the time I'm not sure if it's still the case,but at the time, you're not allowed to reveal people's immigration status. Especially, in such a public way. And so what was cool was that the AALEDF, which is the Asian American Legal Education and Defense Fund, they the volunteer attorneys there step forward to represent Ming Kuang Chen and his case and ensure that he had legal representation so he would not be deported. The thing is, he was suffering from PTSD and there was also another case at the time it was a different un undocumented immigrant case that AALEDF was representing that had a bit more visibility and so he actually didn't want to be so much into public eye, and so he went back into hiding. And so while I didn't meet him specifically, I met his translator. I met other people at AALEDF met with other people who were related to the stories that he was a part of. So for example, used to be an organization, which I think they've changed their name, but they were the Fujanese Restaurant Workers Association. Most of the undocumented immigrants who worked in restaurants at the time are from Fujan Province. Also, Asian Pacific American Studies at New York University. Is a mix o f people who were working in restaurants as well as people, scholars who were studying this issue. [00:18:46] Miko Lee: Can you describe a little bit about Stuck Elevator for folks that haven't seen it? Sure. How did you conceive of this piece, that song? [00:18:53] Byron Au Yong: Yeah so it's a thru sung piece about a guy who's trapped in America. He's a Chinese food delivery man, and he's, delivering food in the Bronx. And what I think is You know what I didn't realize when I started it. And then I realized working on it was the thing about being stuck in the elevator is, especially for so long, is that you and I don't know if this is your case, Miko it's so fascinating to hear you've been trapped six different times. There's the initial shock and initial oh my gosh, I have to get out. And then there's this. Maybe not resignation but there's this, okay. Okay. I'm gonna be here so now what? Now what I'm going to do and the time actually, especially for someone who works so much delivering food and sending money back home to his wife and son in China and his family is that he actually is not working, right? And so he has time to consider what his life has been like in New York for the past, the two years he's been there. And to consider the choices he's made as well as to remember his family who are back in China. And part of this too is you're not awake the entire time. Sometimes you go to sleep, and so in his sleep he dreams. He has hallucinations. He has nightmares. And this is where the music theater opera really starts to confront and navigate through the various issues of being trapped in America. [00:20:22] Miko Lee: Any chance this will come into production, somewhere? [00:20:26] Byron Au Yong: Yeah, hopefully, we were just at Nashville Opera last week, two weeks ago. [00:20:30] Miko Lee: Oh, fun. [00:20:31] Byron Au Yong: so Nashville Opera. So the lead Julius Ahn who was in ACT's production is an opera singer. And and he had told the artistic director of Nashville Opera about this project years ago. And John Hoomes, who's the artistic director there had remembered it. Last year John Hoomes reached out to me and said, you know, I think it's the time for to be an operatic premiere of Stuck Elevator. And so we had an amazing run there. [00:20:58] Miko Lee: Great. Wow. I look forward to seeing that too somewhere soon. Yes. I also wanted to chat with you about this last week, a lot of things have been happening in our A P I community with these mass shootings that have been just so painful. Yes. And I know that you worked on a piece that was called The Activist Songbook. Are you, can you talk a little bit about that process and the Know Your Rights project? [00:21:23] Byron Au Yong: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm gonna back up because so Activist Song Book is actually the third in a trilogy of which Stuck Elevator is the first, and related to the recent tragedies that have happened in Half Moon Bay and also in Monterey Park. The second in the trilogy is it's called the Ones. It was originally called Trigger, and it also has the name Belonging. And I can go through why it has so many different names, but the first in the trilogy was Stuck Elevator, and it was prompted by me again, seeing an Asian male in the US media. So the second actually all three are from seeing Asian males in the US media. And the second one was an incident that happened in 2007 where a creative writing major shot 49 people killing 32, and then himself at Virginia Tech. And and when this happened I realized, oh shoot Stuck elevator's part of a trilogy. I have to figure out how to do this show called Trigger or what was called Trigger. And then realized of the different layers in a trilogy. Yes. There's this initial thing about Asian men in the US media, but then there's this other thing about ways out of oppression. And so with Stuck Elevator, the way out of oppression is through the main character's imagination, right? His dreams, his what ifs, right? The possibilities and the different choices he can make with the second one, what me and the creative team realized is that, the way out of oppression is that the creative writing major who you may remember was a Korean American he was so isolated at Virginia Tech and the tragedy of him being able to purchase firearms and then kill so many people, including himself in working on it, I was like, I need to understand, but it's not this story I necessarily want to put on stage. And so what it became is it became a story, and this is also the national conversation changed around mass violence in America. The conversation became less about the perpetrator and more about the victims. And so it became a choral work for community performers. So rather than a music theater opera, like Stuck Elevator, it's a music theater forum with local singers. And this was actually performed at Virginia Tech during the 10 year memorial of the tragedy. And this one I did eight site visits to Virginia Tech and met with people including the chief of police of Blacksburg. First responder to director of threat assessment to family members whose children were lost. A child of, teachers were also killed that day to counselors who were there to Nikki Giovanni, who was one of the faculty members. So yeah so many people. But this one, the second one, the way out of oppression is from isolation into community, into belonging. And Virginia Tech Administration said we could not call the work trigger. And so the work there was called (Be)longing with the be in parentheses. And now we've done a new revision called The Ones partially influenced by the writer, one of his teachers was June Jordan who was at UC Berkeley. And she has a phrase, we are the ones we've been waiting for. And so the ones which is a 2019 revision, the show, what it does is Act three youth takeover, right? It's about coming of age and an age of guns, and the youth have become activists because they have no choice because they are being shot in places of learning, and so Parkland in Chicago and other places have been influential in this work. And then the third in the trilogy is Activist Songbook. And for this one we went back to an earlier asian male who was in the US media, and that was Vincent Chin who you may know was murdered 40 years ago. And so activist song book is to counteract hate and energize movements. And it's a collection of different songs that is even further away from musical theater opera production in that the rally component of the songs can be taught within 10 minutes to a group of people outdoors to be used right away. And that one, the way out of repression is through organizing. [00:25:49] Miko Lee: Well, Byron Au Young, thank you so much for sharing with us about all the different projects you've been working on. We'll put a link in the show notes to the headlands that folks can see at a c t. Tell our audience how else they can find out more about you and your life as a composer and more about your work. [00:26:05] Byron Au Yong: Sure. I have a website. It's my name.com or b y r o n a u y o n g.com. [00:26:12] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for spending so much time with me. [00:26:14] Byron Au Yong: Of course. [00:26:15] Miko Lee: You are tuned into apex express on 94.1, KPFA an 89.3 K P F B in Berkeley and online@kpfa.org. We're going to hear one more piece by composer, Byron Al young called This is the Beginning, which was prompted by Lilly and Vincent chin and inspired by Helen Zia and other organizers. song That was, This is the Beginning by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jeffrey's. Featuring Christine Toi Johnson on voice and Tobias Wong on voice and guitar. This is a beginning is prompted by organizing in response to the racially motivated murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. This hate crime was a turning point for Asian American solidarity in the fight for federal civil rights. Lily chin Vincent's mom refused to let her son's death be invisible. Next up, I have the chance to speak with playwright Lauren Yee who's musical Cambodian rock band. Returns to Berkeley rep where it first got its workshop and it will be there from February 25th through April 2nd. And here's a teaser from Cambodian rock band by Lauren Yee. Take a listen to seek CLO. song Miko Lee: Welcome Lauren Yee to Apex express. [00:34:35] Lauren Yee: Thank you so much, Miko. [00:34:37] Miko Lee: We're so happy to have you a local Bay Area person. Award-winning playwright. Coming back to town at Berkeley Rep with your show, Cambodian Rock Band. Yay. Tell us about the show. [00:34:51] Lauren Yee: Yes so Cambodian Rock Band. Is actually a piece that has some of its like earliest development roots in the Bay Area and also like specifically at Berkeley Rep. Getting to bring the show to Berkeley rep really feels like some sort of poetic justice. In addition to the fact, that it's like my old stomping grounds. . Essentially Cambodian rock Band started in 2015, or at least the writing of it. It actually started, if I'm being honest much earlier than that. I think it was about 2010 2011. I was down in San Diego in grad school and one of my friends was just like dying to go see this band play at a music festival. She was like, I saw this band play. They're amazing. You should totally come. And I was like, sure. And I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but it's like, going somewhere, hearing a band, and even before you know anything about them or their story, you just fall in love. You fall like head over heels in love and you say, oh my God who are these people? And I wanna know everything about them. And that band was Dengue Fever. Which is amazing. You fell in love with the band first. Yep. Before the play. Yes. And it was the band Dengue Fever which is an LA band. And their front woman Choni Mall is Cambodian American and she leads this sound that I think started in covers of Cambodian oldies from that golden age of rock for them, and has over time morphed into Dengue Fever's own original sound. Like we're nowadays, they're coming out with an album soon, their own original songs. But I fell in love with Dengue Fever and I was like, oh, okay, who are these people inspired by? And I just went down that rabbit hole of learning about this whole musical history that I never knew about. My own background is Chinese American. I'm not Cambodian American. And so a lot of kids who grew up in the public school system, I did not get basically any education about Cambodian history and America's role in seeding the elements that led to the Khmer Rouge's takeover the country, and the ensuing genocide. [00:37:12] Miko Lee: So you first fell in love with the band and then you went down an artist rabbit hole. We love those artist rabbit holes. Yes. And then what was your inspiration for the play itself? The musical? [00:37:22] Lauren Yee: Yeah so I fell in love with the music and I was like, there is something here because you had all these musicians in Cambodia who like, when 1975 hit and the communists took over the country there was just a time when like the country was a hostile place for artists where artists were specifically targeted among other groups. And so much of Cambodia's musicians and its musical history, was snuffed out, and I was like, there is a story here, that I find deeply compelling. And for a long time I didn't know how to tell that story because there's just so much in it. And then came 2015 where two things happened. One was that I was commissioned by a theater in Orange County called South Coast Rep, and they invited me to come down to their theater and just do research in the community for two weeks on anything you want. So I was like, I wanna look at malls, I wanna look at the video game culture down there, all kinds of things. And one of the things that I was interested in and just bubbled to the surface was the Cambodian American community, which is not in Orange County proper, but in, situated largely in Long Beach, right next door. And it just so happened that while I was there, There were just a lot of Cambodian American music related events that were going on. So the second annual Cambodian Music Festival, the Cambodia Town Fundraiser, Dengue Fever, was playing a gig in Long Beach. Like all these things were happening, that intersected me, with the Kamai or Cambodian community in Long Beach. And the other thing that happened coming out of that trip is that I started beginning to write the seeds of the play. And I did a very early workshop of it up at Seattle Rap. And I'm the sort of playwright. probably like writes and brings in collaborators like actors and a director sooner than a lot of other people. Most people probably wait until they have a first draft that they're comfortable with, whereas I'm like, I have 20 pages and I think if I go up and get some collaborators, I think I can generate the rest of it. So I went up to Seattle with kind of my, 20 or 30 pages and we brought in some actors. And that workshop had an actor named Joe No in it, and I knew Joe from previous work I'd done in Seattle. But during our first rehearsal when we were just like chatting he said to me like, this is my story. And I was like, oh, it's a story that calls out to me too. Thank you. And he was like no. You don't understand. Like, So my parents were born in Battambang Cambodia. They were survivors of the Khmer Rouge. I feel deeply connected to this material. And that conversation sparked. a very long relationship, between me and Joe and this play. That I, I think of him as like the soul, of this play. He became just like an integral part. And in the South coast rep production and in subsequent productions he's kind of been like our lead. He is Chum, and it's a role that I think is like perfectly suited for who he is as a human being and what his like essence is. And also he plays electric guitar which I think influenced things a lot because initially it was a play about music, right? It wasn't a musical, it was just people like talking about a music scene that they loved. And as I went along and found like the perfect people for these roles it was like, Joe plays electric guitar. It would be crazy not to have him try to play a little electric guitar in the show. And that kind of began that, the evolution of this play into a piece where music is not only talked about, but is an integral part of the show. You know that it's become a show that has a live band. The actors play the instruments. They play about a dozen songs. And it's a mix of Dengue, half Dengue Fever songs, half mostly Cambodian oldies. It's kind of been an incredible journey and I could not have imagined what that journey would be, it's hard to replicate. [00:41:53] Miko Lee: I love that. So has Joe been in every production you've done of the show so far? [00:41:57] Lauren Yee: So he hasn't been able to be in everyone. There were two productions happening at the same time, and so he could only be in one place at one time. But I bet you he would've tried to be in two places at once. But he's basically been in almost every production. And the production that he's in currently running at the Alley Theater in Houston is is like the production, the original production directed by Chay Yew. [00:42:24] Miko Lee: Wow. And was it difficult to cast all actors that were also musicians? [00:42:30] Lauren Yee: In some ways there there's I think if you were starting from scratch and you like open your window and you're like, where could I find some actors? I think it would be tough. But I just kept running into kind of like crazy happenstance where I would find a person and I wasn't even thinking about them musically. And they'd be like, yeah, like I've played bass, for 15 years. and I could kind of do drums, right? That what was remarkable is that there were all these Asian American actors who were like known as actors. But then once you like, dig down into their biographies, you're like, Hey, I see like you've actually played drums for X number of years, or, Hey, I see that you play like guitar and bass. Miko Lee: Tell me more about that. Lauren Yee: So it's almost like finding all these stealth musicians and like helping them dust the instruments off and being like, Hey, come back here. Fun. And so it's just been, it's just been like a joy. [00:43:27] Miko Lee: Oh, that's so great. I know the play is about music and also about memory, and I'm wondering if there's a story that has framed your creative process that stands out to you. [00:43:39] Lauren Yee: I don't know if it's one specific memory, but I find that just a lot of my stories I think they deal with family. I think they deal with parents and their grown children trying to reconnect with each other, trying to overcome family secrets and generational struggles. I would say I have a great relationship with my father. But I think, in every parent and child relationship, one thing that I'm fascinated by are these attempts to get to know someone, like especially your own parent, even when you know them well, and especially when you know them well. That kind of is able to penetrate that barrier that sometimes you hit in generations, right? That there's a wall that your parents put up. Or that there's this impossibility of knowing who your parents were before you had them because they had a whole life. And you only know this like tiny bit of it. And I think I'm just like fascinated by that. I'm fascinated by the impact of time. I'm fascinated by extraordinary circumstances and the ordinary people who lived through those times. And I think for a large part, even though Cambodian rock band features a family whose lived experience is different from my own. I think there's a lot of my own relationship with my father that I put into that relationship. This desire to know your parent better, this desire to know them even as they're trying to protect you. So yeah. [00:45:06] Miko Lee: What do your parents think about your work? [00:45:10] Lauren Yee: I think my parents are incredibly supportive, but like different in the way that one might think because my parents aren't arts people they of course like enjoy a story or enjoy a show, but they're not people who are like, I have a subscription to this theater, or I'm gonna go to this museum opening. and so their intersection with the arts, I feel like has been out of a sense of like love for me. Their ways of supporting me early on when like I was interested in theater and trying to figure out a way to go about it, like in high school when I was trying to like, put on a show with my friends and they were like in the back folding the programs or like building, the door to the set. And hauling away, all the furniture, so we could bring it to the theater. So like my parents have been supportive, but in a very, like nuts and bolts kind of way. Miko Lee: That's so sweet and that's so important. When I was doing the theater, my mom would come to every single show. Lauren Yee: Just Oh, bless that is, bless her. [00:46:14] Miko Lee: Ridiculous commitment. Yeah. I don't that for my kids, like every show. I wanna back up a little bit cuz we're talking about family. Can you tell me who are your people and where do you come from? [00:46:27] Lauren Yee: Ooh. That's such a great question. I think there are like many ways of answering that. When I think of home, I think of San Francisco, I live in New York now. But my whole youth, I grew up in San Francisco. My parents were both born there. My grandmother was born and raised there, one of my grandfathers was, born more like up the Delta and the other side of my family, my grandparents came from Toisan China. So on one hand, my family's from like that Pearl River Delta part of China. And at various times, like made a break for the United States. I think starting in the 1870s and spanning into the early 20th century you know, so we've been here for a while. And another way of thinking about it is we're all very, I think, suffused in our family's history in San Francisco. It's hard for me to go to a Chinese restaurant with my family without somebody from our table knowing somebody else in the restaurant, like inevitable. And it's something that never happens to me. I don't think it's ever happened to me when living in New York. Yeah. And I think And that's fun. That's fun. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And I think b eing able to be Chinese American. Growing up in San Francisco, it's different than other, Asian Americans living in other parts of the country. Like in a strange way, it allows you to like be more of whoever you wanna be, right? When you're like not the only one. That it allows you to like, potentially choose a different path and not have to worry about. I don't know, just like carrying that load. [00:48:01] Miko Lee: That is so interesting. Do you mean because there's safety, because you're around so many other Chinese Americans, Asian Americans, that you can bring forth a greater sense of your individuality? [00:48:13] Lauren Yee: Yeah, I think so, like I went to Lowell High School where, you know, two thirds of the class is Asian American. There's just such a wide range of what an Asian American student at Lowell looks like. And what we're interested in and how our weird obsessions manifest so I think I just felt more freedom in differentiating myself cuz I like theater and I like storytelling. [00:48:36] Miko Lee: That's really interesting. Thanks so much for sharing that. I'm wondering, because Cambodian rock band is partially about when the communists took over Cambodia. If, when you were growing up as a multi-generational Chinese American, did you hear very much about communism and the impact on China? [00:48:57] Lauren Yee: I did not. And possibly it was swirling around. And I was too young to really understand the impacts. But when I look back on it, a lot of my plays, Cambodian Rock Band included, have to do with the intersection of Communism and American culture. Like another play I have called The Great Leap which was at ACT in San Francisco, also dealt with American culture like basketball, intersecting in communist China in the 1970s and then the 1980s. And like, honestly, in retrospect, the effects of communism were all around me growing up in San Francisco in the nineties. That the kids that I went to school with, like in elementary school, came there in various waves, but a lot of them pushed from Asia because of the influences of communism that you had of a wave of kids who came over. In the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, you had kids who came preempting, the Hong Kong handover back to China. You had kids, who came to San Francisco in the wake of the fall of the Vietnam War. So there were like all these, political movements the effects of war that were like shaping the people around me. And I didn't realize it until like very much later. [00:50:19] Miko Lee: Oh, that's so interesting. Thank you so much. By the way. I really loved the Great Leap. It was such an interesting thank you way of really talking about some deep issues, but through such an American sport like basketball I enjoyed that so much. So thank you so much for sharing about your San Francisco influence. I'm curious because you've been writing TV now limited series like Pachinko and also congrats on writing the musical for Wrinkle In Time. Amazing. Thank you. [00:50:49] Lauren Yee: That is a book that I loved and just shook me, I forget what grade I was in, but I was probably like, 10 or 11 or something. So I think the fact that I get to interface and get to dig into such an iconic work as Wrinkle in Time, blows my mind. [00:51:05] Miko Lee: That is going to be so exciting. I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah. Yeah. But my question was really about you working on Pachinko and these other series, how different is playwriting to screen versus TV writing? [00:51:17] Lauren Yee: Yeah. I think in a way like the work that I did on Pachinko, for instance, like I was on the writing staff, that's a role where you're like supporting the creator of the show, which in this instance is Sue Hugh, who is just an incredible mind. And she had like kind of this vision for what she wanted to do with the adaptation of Pachinko. And, you know, you, as a writer on staff you're really helping to support that. So I think your role is a little bit different when you're brought on staff for tv that you're helping to birth the thing along and contribute your part. Whereas when you're a playwright like the piece remains with you, and you just have I think a greater sense of control over what happens to it. [00:52:00] Miko Lee: What surprised you in your creative process while you were working on this play, this musical? [00:52:08] Lauren Yee: I think the thing that I realized when I was writing Cambodian Rock Band is that in order for the play to really click together is that joy has to be at the center of it. That Cambodian rock band is a piece about art and artists and family surviving really horrific events. And in order to tell that story, you need to fall in love with the music. You need to understand why these people might have risked their lives. For art, you need to understand why art matters. And I think a feature of my work is finding the light in dark places that there is a lot, in the play that is heavy. There are points where it is surprisingly and shockingly funny and that there are moments of just incredible heart in places like you probably won't be expecting. And I think that's been a big lesson of developing this piece. [00:53:14] Miko Lee: Lauren Yee thank you so much for talking with me and sharing about Cambodian Rock Band and your artistic process. I know it's gonna be running at Berkeley rep February 25th through April 2nd. Where else is it running for folks that might not live in the Bay? [00:53:30] Lauren Yee: Yeah, so if you live in the Bay Area, or if you want just see it again, which is totally fine. Lots of people see it again. This same production is going to travel to arena stage in DC over the summer in the fall it'll be at Fifth Avenue and Act Theater up in Seattle, and then at the very beginning of 2024 it will be at Center Theater Group. [00:53:54] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for chatting with me today. I really appreciate you and your work out there in the world. [00:54:00] Lauren Yee: Thank you, Miko. [00:54:02] Miko Lee: That was playwright Lauren Yee. And I'm going to play you out, hearing one song from Dengue Fever, which is in Cambodian rock band. This is Uku. song [00:56:55] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for joining us. Please check out our website, kpfa.org backslash program, backslash apex express to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. Apex express is produced by Miko Lee Jalena Keane-Lee and Paige Chung and special editing by Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the KPFA staff for their support have a great night. The post APEX Express – 2.9.23 Theatre & Memory or Why Art Matters appeared first on KPFA.

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 3! Happy Lunar New Year! We're back with a new episode. Have you heard of the Kim Loo Sisters AKA the Kimmies AKA the Chinese Andrews Sisters? We wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't, but they were really famous as a vaudeville family act and grew bigger… even performing on Broadway and in Hollywood. It's a shame that there are so few recordings of their work that have been saved over the years, but Leslie Li, the daughter of the third sister Jeneé, is working on a documentary and has written a companion book called Just Us Girls: The Kim Loo Sisters that's available on the Amazon Kindle store. The documentary is in post-production, but you can see a trailer on the movie site. You can also see Leslie's other books on her site. We begin the show by talking about Lunar New Year, including the tragic shooting in Monterey Park, CA. We close the show with Celebrations and talk about Miss Universe, The Golden Globes, and The Critic's Choice Awards… Big wins for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Michelle Yeoh, and Ke Huy Quan! For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com. Segments 00:25 The California Government Recognizes Lunar New Year and Tragedy in Monterey Park, CA 03:00 The History of the Kim Loo Sisters 21:59 Celebrating R'Bonney Gabriel, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once, the Daniels, Pachinko, and Naatu Naatu from RRR

Florian Hoffmeister is a prolific director of photography. Recent works by Hoffmeister include his lensing on the Apple TV+ series Pachinko, the critically-acclaimed political thriller Official Secrets starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, and Matt Smith, and TÁR starring Cate Blanchett. Hoffmeister is well-known for his collaboration with Terence Davies on feature films The Deep Blue Sea, starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russel-Beale, and A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle. His work on Brian Kirk's television phenomenon Great Expectations earned him further distinction as well as numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy, a BAFTA, and an ASC Award.

Florian Hoffmeister is a prolific director of photography. Recent works by Hoffmeister include his lensing on the Apple TV+ series Pachinko, the critically-acclaimed political thriller Official Secrets starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, and Matt Smith, and TÁR starring Cate Blanchett. Hoffmeister is well-known for his collaboration with Terence Davies on feature films The Deep Blue Sea, starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russel-Beale, and A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle. His work on Brian Kirk's television phenomenon Great Expectations earned him further distinction as well as numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy, a BAFTA, and an ASC Award.

Florian Hoffmeister is a prolific director of photography. Recent works by Hoffmeister include his lensing on the Apple TV+ series Pachinko, the critically-acclaimed political thriller Official Secrets starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, and Matt Smith, and TÁR starring Cate Blanchett. Hoffmeister is well-known for his collaboration with Terence Davies on feature films The Deep Blue Sea, starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russel-Beale, and A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle. His work on Brian Kirk's television phenomenon Great Expectations earned him further distinction as well as numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy, a BAFTA, and an ASC Award.

Florian Hoffmeister is a prolific director of photography. Recent works by Hoffmeister include his lensing on the Apple TV+ series Pachinko, the critically-acclaimed political thriller Official Secrets starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, and Matt Smith, and TÁR starring Cate Blanchett. Hoffmeister is well-known for his collaboration with Terence Davies on feature films The Deep Blue Sea, starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russel-Beale, and A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle. His work on Brian Kirk's television phenomenon Great Expectations earned him further distinction as well as numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy, a BAFTA, and an ASC Award.

Friends and guests of Finding Favorites are back to tell us about their favorite things from 2022. This is a clip show with SO many great recomendations, most of which are in the show notes below. This includes clips from How Did This Get Made (Leah asking a question at the Stone Cold live show in LA) and Doughboys (Burger King 6 with Jon Gabrus and Adam Pally) Leah Intro 1 - best movies of 2022 Steroid Saturdays Everything, Everywhere, All at once RRR 4DX theaters   Liz Nord Pennyworth on HBO Max  Steve Higgins Everything, Everywhere, All at Once Strange Loop (Broadway) Eight Billion Genies (Comic book)   Mark Smithivas Only Murders in the Building, Hulu Wakanda Forever Leah intro 2: The return of Live Shows with Friends Boston for a cancelled Doughboys show How Did This Get Made in LA with Esther and Susan Return to Boston for Doughboys and introducing Ronnie to the Doughboys in Milwaukee How Did This Get Made in  Chicago with Jocelyn over halloween LetterKenny live with Amy Guth and Kevin Alves Hadestown with Rob Going to Weird Al with Shai Korman's family in DC Esther Kustanowitz, The Bagel Report The Ringer-Verse Podcast  Shai Korman, The Friday Night Movie Podcast Weird Al at the Kennedy Center Pam Rose Stranger Things, Hulu Severance, Apple TV  Tehran, Apple TV Pachinko, Apple TV Kelsea Ballerini Tate McRae Mimi Webb Taylor Swift Love after Lockup, TV Rob Schulte Dark Web Comic Books His dog Elvis Bug Con (Bugmane event) Doin' it with Mike Sacks (Podcast) How Did This Get Made clip: Leah is the person in the audience. Episode is Stone Cold, recorded live at Largo Leah Intro 3: Cancer Stuff Finishing chemo, radiation and immunotherapy Celebrated with my trip to Boston after chemo and a trip to LA after Radiation Got a sparkly caftan for my radiation gong Three trips to the Mayo clinic Returning to Israel COVID Bivalent Booster, Flu Shot and the Pneumonia vaccine Cameron MacKenzie Premier League Football Jason Mathes Inside Job on Netflix Gravity Falls on Disney Caroline Berkowitz Uno Go Fish Taco Cat Go Cheese Pizza Scrabble Slam SET Sleeping Queens SkipBo Monopoly Deal Yahtzee Yam Slam Trouble Phase 10 Monica Reida Pentament (Xbox, PC video game) Crimes of the Future (movie) Leah Intro 4 101 Places to Party Before You Die Jackass Forever Mike Nichols, A Life by Mark Harris Art by Phineas Jones aka Octophant Lyndsey Little Doughscord Stories to Dismember Podcast Love on Netflix Doughboys Podcast Doughboys clip from Burger King 6 with guests Adam Pally and Jon Gabrus. Leah created the drop that Mitch plays towards the end of the clip. Robert Persinger Boston Milwaukee Great people Keidra Chaney Southside on HBO Max Bunny instagram Red Door Shelter Jocelyn Geboy Candy Chat Chicago 101 Places to Party Before You Die Avett Brothers The Diffs Firepits How Did This Get Made Jo Wash your hands, wear your mask, get your booster and keep enjoying your favorite things.   Transcript 1:12:55   Zoom Bomb  00:00 Hello, hello. Hello. Hi. What's good? [Switches to German]   Announcer  00:08 Welcome to the Finding Favorites Podcast where we explore your favorite things without using an algorithm. Here's your host, Leah Jones.   Leah Jones  00:20 Hello, and welcome to Finding Favorites. It's that time of year, which is the last day of the year. And that means the Call-In Show, the best of 2022 is back. This is the second time I'm doing it. So that might mean it's a tradition. Check back in 12 months and see if that's true. Right now I've got clips about 10 clips. As I'm recording this intro, I might have more by the time I finish recording. But I'm going to break my favorite things of the year into three chunks. It'll be me a few clips me a few clips.   Without further ado, I wanted to kick off my best of ‘22 with my top movie theater experiences of the year. The year started, and I was finishing chemo, which meant that Ronnie and I were still celebrating what we lovingly called Steroid Saturdays, which is when I would get chemo, I would get steroids along with my chemo infusion. And then I would be wired on steroids. And the amount of time that I had energy from the steroids got smaller and smaller over the course of the three months of chemo. But what we did was every almost every Saturday morning, after I would get chemo on Fridays, we would go and see a matinee. And so I saw a lot of movies in the theater over the winter of 21 and 22. But my top three movie going experiences were not on Steroid Saturdays. it was seeing Everything Everywhere, All At Once, in a packed movie theater. This was the first time I had been in a packed movie theater part of going of the Steroid Saturdays, The MO was we went to matinees of things that have been open for more than one or two weeks. So generally, we went to private, we created private screenings for ourselves.   Everything, Everywhere, All At Once was at the theater on Diversey and Surf. So it was an it was a sold out theater. It was jam packed. There were not assigned seats. But seeing that movie, in a theater full of people was outstanding. It was such a great experience. And only topped by at the end of the year going to a sold out show at the music box. In a theater that holds 700 people to see the Indian movie, RRR. RRR was a movie I'd heard about on podcasts, where people were just like, don't know anything, go in blind and watch it. I watched it at home alone really enjoyed it. But getting to go with three of my friends to see our RRR in a movie theater where people cheered, booed, clapped along, plus the director was there in from Tollywood to answer questions. And that was very, very cool. Seeing an Indian movie in a packed house of people cheering for these historical revolutionaries set into magical realism. It was amazing.  And finally, I have to give a shout out to 4DX. Like I said, on previous episodes, I saw Wakanda Forever 3D 4DX. It's the fourth dimension. The chair is essentially a roller coaster through the whole movie. I'm still talking about it. It's been a month later. Don't see a movie in 40x If you want to experience emotions, other than the hysteria that comes from being on a roller coaster. So you're going to hear some people talk about Wakanda Forever because it was an outstanding movie. I did not connect to it emotionally because my chair kept making me laugh. That's all I can say.   Coming up in this first block. We've got a filmmaker Liz Nord is back. You just met her last week. So Liz Nord is back. Steve Higgins who has been on the podcast twice is back with his favorite movie Broadway show and comic book of the year. And then Mark Smithivas, who I've known on since the earliest days on Twitter and who has been the person… Probably the person I know into audio the longest of anyone I've known. He joins with a TV show and a movie recommendation. Without further ado, here are Liz, Steve and Mark   Liz Nord  05:32 Hi, I'm Liz Nord. I was just on the last episode of the show talking about my love for documentary films. But I watch a lot of other stuff too. And my guilty pleasures are the comic book sci fi supernatural TV series, usually aimed at young adults. My favorite discovery from this past year is probably Pennyworth. on HBO max is the origin story of Batman's infamous butler Alfred Pennyworth. In 1960s, London, we also meet a young Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane, the future parents of Bruce Wayne, aka Batman. No one has any superpowers in this show. They're just regular people in extraordinary circumstances. And that is part of what makes it so fun. It's funny and stylish and cheeky. And over the top. There are three seasons so far. The first one is probably the best because it doesn't try to be anything it's not. The show is a total romp. But note to parents, it's definitely not kid friendly. Enjoy and Happy New Year. Hello,   Steve  06:29 I am Steve Higgins. And I am here to talk about three of my favorite things of 2022. First, I want to talk about my favorite movie of 2022. I actually got to the theater quite a bit more this year than in the past two years, obviously, because of the pandemic. And one of the movies that I saw in theaters this year that absolutely blew me away. It made it shot to the top of my list. The second that I saw it, and it never left even though it was pretty early in the year and never left that top spot. And that is Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. I remember first seeing trailers for the movie and hearing the premise that it was kind of about alternate realities. And just how visually stunning the trailers were. And I was pretty interested. But then I heard that the directors of the film The Daniels, Daniel Kwan, Daniel shiner. Were also the directors of Swiss Army Man, that was a movie that I saw in theaters back in 2016. And I absolutely loved I thought it was brilliant. And so to find out that they had done this film as well, I was sold, I absolutely had to see it as soon as I could. You know, the the premise of it is very sci fi but I like to tell people it's sci fi like Slaughterhouse Five is sci fi it's it uses a science fiction premise, in order to explor human themes. You know, it's really about our hopes and dreams and desires in life and who we want to be who we wish we had been the regrets of choices that we made. The great what if what if I had done my life differently? So it's very much the road not taken. I think the premise then getting at the heart of it is yes. To story about, you can jump from one alternate reality to another and you can grab the skills of a different version of yourself from a different reality. But really, it's about people and connections and relationships. And how would you feel if somebody came to you and said to you, alternate realities are real there's a multiverse and in all the different versions of you that exist out there, you the version you are right here right now are the worst. You're the worst version of yourself that you could be and how, how hard that is. It's a movie that has a lot of heart. A lot of soul searching, the acting is fantastic. Michel Yao, Ki Quan, and Stephanie Chu is kind of the core family of Evelyn Waymond and joy are amazing. You feel like their family dynamic is real. And it's it's a really powerful film because of that dynamic. It's It's hilarious. It's got great action sequences. It's visually stunning. It's high concept. And it's, it's moving. It's incredibly, incredibly moving. And I think this film is not only my number one movie of this year, but might be, you know, the best movie that I've seen in In the past five or 10 years, probably barn on an amazing, amazing film.   Steve  10:07  I also got to go to the theater a little bit this year to see some live theater, took a trip to New York in June and saw some Broadway plays. And so my favorite experience with the live theater this year was seeing A Strange Loop. I saw it about three days before it ended up winning the Tony for Best Musical. And it was an amazing experience. I it's it's been a, it's been a work that I have had trouble recommending to people, because I feel like the soundtrack doesn't quite do it justice. The songs are good and powerful but it doesn't have the same gravitas to it as when you see it live. And you can see the the actors performing on stage and you can see the sets and you can you can be there. Unfortunately, it is wrapping up its Broadway production on January 15. I'm very hopeful that that means they're going to move it to another city. I'm really hopeful that that city in Chicago because I will absolutely drive up to Chicago to see it again. It was it was an amazing work. Now it being wards and all kind of portrait of a black gay man in New York City.   Steve  11:39 In the modern era, it is not a film. Sorry, it's not a play, that I would recommend to anybody. We actually had a friend of ours, who was going to New York with their teenage son and asked him he really wants to see this. Should we let him go see it? No, you absolutely shouldn't. It is. It is not appropriate for young audiences. There's a lot of very frank discussion of the realities of relationships and gay sex and things that you probably don't want your teenage son to hear.   Steve  12:30 But if that sounds like a thing that you might be interested in, you know, seeing a creative person floundering, not feeling like they're able to live up to their full potential, and not just creatively but also romantically also just in life. And see them kind of come to terms with that seems to be a bit of a theme between my film in my and my play that I chose, but I would recommend at least giving the soundtrack a listen. And if you think after you hear the soundtrack that interested me, then if you can get a chance to see it live, it will take it to the next level.   And then finally, I want to recommend a comic I'm a big comic fan comic reader read a lot of great comics this year, but one that really blew me away the most is a eight issue miniseries from Image Comics, written by Charles Soule, illustrated by Ryan Brown, it's called 8 Billion Genies. And the basic premise of this comic is that, at the same instant, every single person in the world is given a genie. And given one wish that they can make and how those wishes change the world for the worse unfolds over the course of the eight issues. The first issue is the first eight seconds. Second issue is the first eight minutes third issue is the first eight hours, and so on. Up to now only the first six issues have come out. Issue seven and eight are coming in January and February respectively. And that's the first eight decades and the first eight centuries to show how this world gets changed by the introduction of everyone suddenly getting one wish that they could make anything come true. How would that play out and people being people? It doesn't play out well, but the basic premise is the the our main characters are in a bar. And there's only a handful of people in the bar and the second that this happens, the bartender slash owner of this bar makes his wish that all of the effects of everybody else's will issues in the world will not affect what happens in the walls of this bar. So this bar becomes a safe haven, from all the craziness and chaos that goes on outside. It's beautifully drawn by Ryan Brown, who makes the characters seem real. And the fantasy elements are jarring, obviously, with the reality of the world, but in a way that it's cohesive, if that makes any kind of sense. It's a cohesive narrative, I should say. And again, the high concept from Charles Sol is just just brilliant. It's an absolutely great comic. If you only read one comic, check out 8 billion genies by Image Comics. So those are my three favorite things of 2022. The film, everything everywhere all at once. The play musical, a strange loop, and the comic, 8 billion genies. Hope you check them out. Hope you dig them. Thanks for having me back on the show.   Mark Smithivas  16:09 Hi, Leah, this is Mike Smithivas. I hope you're having a great end to the Year. Happy New Year. And my favorites that I wanted to let you know about is the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building. I really loved this series with Steve Martin. It just had a level of sharpness to its writing, and the cast was top notch. And I like to say that it's a great achievement when you have a series that tries to parody something, in this case, True Crime podcasts while managing to also be what it's parodying. Meaning that I was kept guessing until the very end of who the murderer was. So I would highly recommend binge watching it. There's two seasons to it. Both seasons are really good in my opinion. And if you love that kind of New York, character actor, type of vibe, there are there are many veteran actors who are in that series. What else I just watched with my family, Black Panther to Wakanda Forever. And I was truly surprised that a movie could a Marvel movie could be something more than just your standard superhero movie. I know it had big shoes to fill, trying to be the sequel to an amazing breakthrough movie like Black Panther. But in this one, I think they managed to be poetic, while also celebrating or memorializing the death of Chadwick Boseman. And also highlighting a lot of strong black female characters. So I think it set the bar pretty high for what a Marvel superhero movie could be. And I'm hoping to see more of that in the in the future with other Marvel franchises. I think I'll stop there. I hope you have a happy new year again, and we'll catch up to you and 2023.   Leah Jones  19:00 All right, thank you, Liz, Steve, and Mark for your recommendations. All right, so in 2022, we were vaccinated. And for me, that meant the return of live shows and seeing live shows with friends. Again, a lot of my year was overshadowed by my treatment for breast cancer and a long slow recovery. That in part because I had an undiagnosed chronic illness on top of the cancer. A lot of my live shows were on my calendar as the emotional carrot to get through a part of cancer treatment. The first thing I looked forward to all through chemotherapy was going to Boston to see the Doughboys it was a doubleheader in January of 2022. And it got canceled because COVID was too high. I think that was the Omicron. It might have been Delta, like I don't even remember anymore. But their winter tour got cancelled. But I could not give up emotionally kind of could not give up the trip. So I went to Boston, I met a few people who also kept their trips. And so we hung out. And the week before the Boston trip, there was a Chicago show that got canceled. But people still came into into Chicago. So two weeks in a row, I got to hang out with my friend Geno, and then see other Doughmies in Chicago and Boston. And then other friends who aren't into the Doughboys but do live in Boston. So it was sort of like come hell or high water. I am marking the end of chemotherapy with Boston. And so I went to Boston in January, it was very cold. I slept a lot. I was very weak. But it was such a good trip.   A week, like a week after I finished radiation. I got on a plane again. I went to LA and that time it was for How Did This Get Made live show. It was right after my birthday. I stayed with my friend Esther. But this time I took… Esther and I have a mutual friend Susan, who is as into How Did This Get Made? Like we're both huge fans of it. And we have both gone to shows at the Largo and taken Esther and Esther is always a very willing guest. But this time Susan and I went together. And then when we got done with the show, Esther surprised me with a birthday charcuterie… a chocolate… a plate of chocolate for my birthday. And that was a fantastic trip.   Then Doughboys got rescheduled. So I went back to Boston again. And they had so I went to Boston and shot saw two shows in Boston. absolute blast. And then I got to take Ronnie up to Milwaukee to see the Doughboys live in Milwaukee, which I was just like, “your opinion of me might change a lot when you see the experience the live show of one of my favorite podcasts.” Introducing him to Doughboys at a live show was great seeing some Doughmies and Milwaukee. Having it was just a really fun trip.   And then Halloween I got to introduce Jocelyn, my co-host of Candy Chat Chicago to How Did This Get Made at the Chicago Theater. Again, this was one that had been in the summer got rescheduled pushed to October. I have talked about this show ad nauseam, especially on my interview with Kevin Alvis. So needless to say, this is the show. It was Morbius it's coming out next week finally, and this was the one where I realized that Jason Mantzoukas now knows who I am, which is mortifying and, but was wonderful. I got to see Letterkenny live this year with Amy Guth. That's also how I met Kevin Alves. My friend Rob and I, we went to see a ton… I would get Broadway in Chicago season tickets and Rob was my standing plus-one for a few years. Broadway in Chicago was back a highlight this year was seeing Hadestown. And finally, I went to Washington DC to meet up with Shai Korman and his family. Shai is from Friday Night Movie Podcast. And I got to go with his family to see Weird Al at the Kennedy Center, which was just the coolest venue and such a great group of people. So in this section, these are people that I have been to live events with or know through podcasts community. So we've got Esther Kustanowitz from the bagel report. Shai Korman from Friday Night Movie podcast. Pam Rose, who I know through How Did This Get Made? And Rob Schulte who I know through the Doughboys community.   Esther Kustanowitz  24:31 Hi, this is Esther Kustanowitz from The Bagel Report Podcast among other places. Leah Jones has been so instrumental in my own online development from blogging to Twitter to podcasting and I'm just thrilled to be able to continue in this tech meets pop culture dialogue that we have going on. So I have loved all of the pop culture this year except for Kanye obviously, not cool, but there was so much especially Within my chosen primary category of Jewish TV that I could talk about, but since I've already done an episode of finding favorites about that, I figured I'd focus on one of the other pod things that I loved the most this year, which was continuing to make the river ringer verse podcast part of my week.  I love a lot of other Ringer network podcasts with special shout outs to The Rewatchables, The Big Picuture as well as a lot of their other pop culture podcasts. But the Ringer-verse! they're my people. There are like two main teams and they're so dynamic and passionate about fandom. They're absolutely unapologetic about how nerdy they get about popular culture, sci fi, fantasy, etc. They totally like an every second of their recordings, they revel in how nerdy it is, and how intertextual it is, and how they know the comic books did this. And the previous movies did that. And I love the individual personalities that that are involved in recording this show and how they interrelate. And even when they disagree, and they sometimes really, really disagree, they all come back to the love they have for each other and for the primary cultural product. So I love that they can have a three hour discussion about a two hour movie, and they bring in experts to explain the lore, which helps me put things in a greater context. So being a regular listener has changed how I react to the pop culture that I consume. Because more often than not, I'll hear a phrase or a see a scene that I'll file away in my memory bank know just know somewhere in my like cells that the ringer verse team is probably going to talk about and love and criticize and contextualize and obsess over it. And I really just loved being able to partake in their conversational experience, even though it's really one sided, because I'm pretty sure they don't listen to the bagel report podcast, although, obviously they should. And I just had a guest spot on Jews on film podcast, where we talked about the fable mins for two hours so I'm honing my skills should they ever require an expert on Jewish content, I'm hoping that the reverse will give me a buzz. So if you are a fan of Star Wars or DC or Marvel properties or the Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones or anything else that kind of hits the the pop culture with a little bit of a sci fi fantasy heroes comic book infused element, the wringer versus a must listen. Thanks and have a great 2023 everyone.   Shai Korman  27:52 Hey there, Leah. This is Shai calling from the Friday Night Movie Podcast and my favorite of the year that I want to talk about is getting to go see the great Weird Al Yankovic at the Kennedy Center with none other than Leah Jones, host of Finding Favorites and Candy Chat Chicago because getting to see Weird Al with Leah Jones is one of the all time favorites that any person could experience. And I hope we get to do it again soon. And I love finding favorites and keep making this amazing show.   Pam Rose  28:35 Hi, this is Pam Rose. You may remember me from a previous episode talking about my love of one Jason Mantzoukas and How Did This Get Made. But right now I'm here to talk about things that I loved in 2022   Well, some of them at least in Number One on The List: Vechna from Stranger Things. Stranger Things came back with a vengeance this season. Epic epic episodes and at the center was the big bad vechna He was mean he was evil. He had the cutest bomb in the world and I want to be his best friend. So yeah, Batman. And speaking of TV and awesome TV, Apple TV continues to crush with its original programming. My number one favorite show of the year severance. Severance is so good if you haven't seen Severance please watch Severance. I was in California and vacation the night of the finale and my brother and I both put our headphones in and our beds. We watched the finale because I could not wait. I didn't want to get spoiled. But people talk about severance. We know how good it is.   But what about other shows on Apple TV? How about Tehran? Have you seen this show? Because it's awesome. If you'd like homeland, which is one of the all time greatest shows of all time, you might like Tehran it's got the same feel. Season two was stellar. Glenn Close was on season two she started speaking Farsi at one point what was happening, so 10 Iran I recommend it. Also, I'm not a girl who's into epic things, but let me tell you, Pachinko. Oh my god. So good apparently is based on a book. I don't have time for that. But I do have time for the TV adaptation of it and Pachinko is so good. It's multigenerational story about a family in Japan, Korea. I learned all kinds of things about history, but also so engrossing loved it so Pachinko check those things on an Apple TV if you have Apple TV if you don't get a trial of it, and you can watch these things. You could thank me later. On the music side. Kelsea Ballerini came out with a new album this year and it's her best one yet highly recommend it. We all know Taylor Swift killed it with her new album. Lavender haze midnight Rain Come on. Take McRae's debut album was awesome every track a banger and Mimi Webb continues to put out song after song. Never skip on any other things and I get to see her live twice this year. I was the oldest person there by about 20 years but that girl can sing her ass off. So watch out for that little 21 year old British girl because she's coming for you. She's putting out her first full length album next year. And don't sleep on it because she's great. And then if you need something trashy to get you through 2023 may recommend love after lockup. And I wish I was kidding. But really, it's so addictive. It's so trashy. We get love during lockup now. We get life after lockup. But love after lockup, we TV, you can catch the episodes once you watch one you're gonna get hooked. You're gonna say why am I watching this? What is happening? But then you'll keep watching, but it is that good. So anyway, those are some of the things that I loved. Yeah, here's to a great 2023 with awesome TV, music and movies. Let's do it. And also fellas, if you're single, I'm on Instagram hamster. Pam, come find me. Have a great 2023 guys.   Rob Schulte  32:09 Hey, Finding Favorites listeners. This is Rob Schulte. And I want to list off some of my favorite things of 2022. The Dark Web series of comic books. That's been fun. My dog Elvis, he's at the top of the list almost every single year. Bug Con, that was great. And let's see here is working on new episodes of Doing It with Mike Sacks. That has been a lot of fun. I think he was on his podcast as well. Great episode. Well, here's to you, 2022. And looking forward to 2023.   Clip from HDTGM: Stone Cold   Paul Scheer  32:52 Let me go to the audience here for a second. If you have any questions. You're in a beautiful shirt. It's like a baseball shirt. HDTGM shirt. I love this. Not one that we sell, but it's a great looking shirt. Okay, yes.   Leah Jones  33:10 So you mentioned before William Forsythe was also in Raising Arizona?   Jason Mantzoukas  33:13 Yes.   Leah Jones  33:14 So was Sam McMurry who played Lance the FBI agent.   Jason Mantzoukas  33:16 Yes.   Leah Jones  33:17 So my question is, who would you like Red Rover called over from Raising Arizona?   Jason Mantzoukas  33:22 Nicolas Cage.   Paul Scheer  33:23 Well, let me let me repeat the let me repeat these so I can make sure. So two of the actors in this film, the FBI agent and of course our second baddie, William Forsythe, were in Raising Arizona.  would there be anybody that we would call over from Raising Arizona?   June Diane  33:41 Imagine Holly Hunter as Nancy it's and it would be different and interesting. And they'd have to do something different   Jason Mantzoukas  33:50 Nicolas Cage as part of Boz.   Paul Scheer  33:54 Really? John Goodman as Ice   Jason Mantzoukas  34:04 I also think you could have John Goodman as the whip. [audience reaction] Guys. Cool. Cool. Okay. I know it's been a while but everybody be cool.   Paul Scheer  34:19 Great question. Great question. Great shirt.   Jason Mantzoukas  34:22 Great. Oh, so much overlap. Raising Arizona also because of the supermarket scene. I was thinking about Raising Arizona a lot during this movie. And I'm like, Oh, I gotta rewatch Ray's It's a great movie   Leah Jones  34:47 Awesome, thank you. Now you have got a lot of music to listen to and TV to watch podcasts to listen to. Here's my third chunk of things that my favorite things this year, which have to do with cancer, even though my treatments ended in March-ish, that's not true. Radiation finished in March. I was getting immunotherapy until October. But I had a really hard recovery from chemotherapy. And to get to the bottom of it, I wound up going to the Mayo Clinic this summer I drove up to the Mayo Clinic three different times. Each of those was a very fun road trip with a different friend and found out that there's a lot of good food in Rochester, Minnesota. There's a lot of good bartenders in Rochester, Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic for me was an outstanding experience. But finishing chemo in January and hitting the gong in March of '22. was incredible. And then finally getting a sarcoidosis diagnosis. And at the very end of the year starting treatment for sarcoidosis, starting my hormone therapy to gobble up all the estrogen in my body. I am finally walking without a cane. Breathing without coughing and feeling pretty good. I'm gonna put into this block.   In September I went to Israel went back to Israel hadn't been since 2019, which is a long gap for me. And with this incoming government, I'm not sure when I'll go back on that trip. I my goals were simple. At that point, I was still using a cane. Although it was getting stronger, I was still using a cane. So my goals were to have a hotel breakfast buffet every day and see a friend every day, which I did. There were some things that were really physically challenging about the trip emotionally challenging about the trip. But ultimately, I went to a beautiful breakfast buffet every morning. So at least one friend a day had ice cream had a few really amazing dinners laughed a lot, gotten the ocean. And it was a wonderful trip. So it was good to have to return to Israel, even if I don't know how to change a flight without accidentally getting charged $3,000. And finally I am going to give it up to science for the COVID boat bivalent booster, the flu shot and 15-20 years early I also have the pneumonia vaccine. So in this next block of people, we have Cameron MacKenzie, my friend Jason Mathes, my friend Caroline, get your pencils ready because she is recommending a dozen card games to play with your family. And Monica Reida is back with her favorite video game and movie of the year. Thank you to everyone who joined me on this clip show. And I'm sure I'll be back one more time for the last-minute clips that I have been asking people for.   Cameron MacKenzie  38:25 Hello, my name is Cameron MacKenzie. I had a book come out this year called River Weather from Alternating Current Press. And I wanted to talk about my favorite thing of 2020 to 2022 I think was really the year that I got into Premier League football. I'm gonna call it soccer for the sake of this conversation. Because the reason I got into Premier League football was that I got burnt out on American football, I grew up playing football. When I quit playing football, I started to watch it. But over the years, I just got ground down by the narrative of whatever Tom Brady is doing or the desire to buy Ford trucks or drink Budweiser beer. It's just sort of a constant loop and I couldn't take it anymore. My oldest boy is eight years old and he started playing soccer. And I realized I knew nothing about soccer. So I couldn't tell him what was good, what was bad what to do how to do it. So I started watching Premier League and I was blown a way the games are beautiful and exciting. The players are absolutely incandescent, the teams themselves. There's so much history to these teams and the fan bases are rabid. You if you're born in these places, you can't really choose what team you're going to watch. It's sort of handed down to you like a heritage or lineage. So if you're going to start watching Premier League, you got to choose a team and you got to stick with that team through the ups and through the downs through the good and Through the bad, the only thing I would compare it to in America maybe is college football, that sort of level of passion. But if you find yourself getting bored of the US sports landscape, give Premier League a try, you will not be disappointed. Just be sure that you choose team before you start. No arsenal.   Caroline  40:23 So I saw this tweet that said, a great alternative to screen time is playing cards as a family, so many learning opportunities. I taught my kids that there's no such thing as family while playing uno, and then I'll play I'll put a draw for down on a kindergartener and cackle like a swamp which, because I did not come to lose.   My name is Carolyn Musin Berkowitz, and I love playing cards with my family. So in my family, we play tons of card games, usually one or two per night. We started with uno, which is why I particularly like that tweet, but we've moved on a bit. Here are some of our favorites. We really like playing Go Fish. We even have a set of cards with fish on them. It's a nice easy one. It's how my little one learn to read. Sort of, we like Taco Pet goat Cheese Pizza, which is really funny to say and it's a quick game. And also, you might get your knuckles smashed. So buyer beware. Scrabble Slam is a super game that I found at Walgreens, by the way amazing games that you can find in the toy area at Walgreens. And it is a game where you make a four letter word, not one of those but whatever. And then you put other cards on top to make new words. Great way to teach your children spelling also, we have set my game of SET is probably from when I was a kid when I was a teen, and it is a math and patterns game. Super fun. There's also a junior version. But trust me, your early elementary child can handle the regular game.   Leaping Queens is a super fun game, where you have you want to collect as many queens as possible. But beware because your opponents are going to try to use knights to steal them or sleeping potions to put them to sleep. Skip It was a great counting game. And again to try to read your read yourself with all your cards before your opponents do super fun, lasts more than five minutes. Maybe it's 10 minutes. So it's good when you want something that will take a little longer. We also have been Monopoly Deal. If you've ever played Monopoly. With young kids, you know that it can last forever and it's not so pleasant. I recommend Monopoly Deal. It the game was over in 10 to 15 minutes. And I gotta tell you, my six-year-old was the first one figure out the strategy in this game. Super fun.   We also like Yahtzee not really a card game, but a pretty good game. Regardless. Yahtzee slam is a different version of Yahtzee a different iteration with poker chips. And it is super fun as with these. Now, this is not a card game, but I do have to mention trouble. It is a super game that requires zero skills, and a lot of trash talk when you send your opponents back to their home base. And finally a Chicago is about to have a terrible blizzard. And we're all going to be stuck inside for a few days. Let me introduce you to Phase 10, which is kind of like Rummy, you have to get certain arrangements of cards before your opponents do. You have to get through 10 rounds and it might take you more than 10 rounds to get there. So if you're going to be home for like a long Blizzard, make your hot cocoa sit down with phase 10 and enjoy a happy new year. I'm Caroline, and playing card games is one of my favorite things.   Jason Mathes  44:00 Hi, Leah Jones. This is past podcast guests, Jason Mathes checking in from Connecticut to tell folks about something that's probably popped up on the recommendations on Netflix and to tell them that it's worth the time. It's a cartoon, a very adult cartoon called Inside Job. And it features a lot of the comedians that I know both of us enjoy their work. Nominally it's the story of a young woman named Reagan who is a genius scientist whose father created the corporation that controls the world. So all the conspiracy theories that we've been told about the Illuminati, about the wizard people about those types of things are true. And this is the corporation that has to do all the grunt work to ensure that they dominate and control the lives of everyday citizens. It's a workplace calm empathy. It's also a father daughter divorce story. But it is highly intelligent. It's from at least executive produced from the gentleman who brought us. Gravity Falls, which is very popular in a lot of communities for being a, what I call the opposite of loss, the TV show, and so much that he weighed the show out. So there are easter eggs contain throughout and riddles and puzzles and Gravity Falls that we do to the answers. So if people have not checked out Gravity Falls, that's a completely kid appropriate. It was on Disney. And it's genius. It's smart. It's funny, it's very endearing. But inside job is all of those things, but it's for a PG 13 Plus audience, just just so folks know. And it's really great. It's a smart, funny comedy that people will enjoy. And it's something to binge watch over the holidays, and just enjoy the heck out of it, and laugh about it. And enjoy Happy Holidays to everyone and especially to the Jones family. Talk to you soon hopefully. Hello,   Monica Reida  46:22 my name is Monica Reida. And in 2022. I loved Pentamento and Crimes of the Future. Pentimento is a video game for Xbox and PC, where the premise is you are a young artisan who is in Bavaria in the 1500s. And you are currently working at a Abbey as working on illuminated manuscripts. And one day a baron comes to visit and the next day and there's a lot of you know, tension as to the Barrett and a lot of people in the village seem a little unhappy, he's there. And then the next day the Baron is found murdered in the Abbey. And so it's up to you, you are a scholar, you are a dropout from college like the best of us. And you have to try to figure out who killed the Baron to try to clear an elderly monk from being executed. The art style for the game, it looks like you're walking through an illuminated manuscript from the Middle Ages. It's one of the most beautiful video games I think I've ever played. And it requires a lot of critical thinking. It's kind of the opposite of a lot of games I tend to play where it's like, Oh, I'm just going to try to make the best moves and you know, score enough shots on goals in NHL 22. Or I'm just going to kill a bunch of guys to save the day in Yakuza. So it's kind of the opposite of that where you have to critically think about the choices you're making. And I'm not even close to being done with this game. But I already can't wait to play it again. And see how different choices affect the story how it affects the characters. So Pentiment on Xbox and PC.   One of the things I love this year, I also loved the new David Cronenberg film, Crimes of the Future. It takes place in a future where there are a lot of body mutilations and people enjoy getting surgery, including putting on performances to show off the mutilated bodies to show off the surgery. It is I would say kind of a form of sicko cinema that I think I associate with Cronenberg, and also John Waters. I mean, it's a film where people actually say surgery is the new sex. It is also I think, one of the funniest movies I have watched this year. I think benediction from Terence Davies is probably the only film that I saw this year that I think was funnier than crumbs of the future. But Cronenberg's dialogue and his most of which is delivered by Alyssa do. And I am just blanking on everybody else in the cast, Viggo Mortensen, Don McKellar, one of my boys and Kristen Stewart. It's delivered in just a brilliant, natural way that also lets the humor shine and put as a very dark and morbid film. But even just the visual cues and the cuts and the Justice positions of it the visual style. It's it's a very funny, very morbid film that has stayed with me since I saw it in theaters wearing a sickos shirt because yes, I do think that if you love Cronenberg, you might be a sicko, and the best way. So those were the two things I loved in 2022. I hope you and anybody else listening you know if you've got a fuzzy little friend or furry friend, curl up with them and enjoy some movies, enjoy some TV show, listen to some Quebec while pop and have a nice 2023   Leah Jones  50:41 and I'm back with my final block of favorite things from this year. Followed by a few more clips that have come in. So a favorite TV show of mine is 101 Places to Party Before You Die. It was on Tru TV. It is now available on HBO Max, so it's much easier to find than it was when it first came out. It is Jon Gabrus and Adam Pally. Adam, you might know from the TV show Happy Endings or from from The Mindy Project, John Gabriel was on a show called Guy Code that I never watched. I know John from podcasts. I originally saw him in a live episode of Nicole Byers podcast that was taped in Chicago many years ago. And then I started listening to High and Mighty, I started listening to Doughboys. His podcast is High and Mighty. He's a regular guest on Doughboys. I've seen him at two of the three Doughboy shows I've been to. And they have been best friends for 20 years. They came up together at UCB. And they got to shoot six episodes traveling the states. Going to bars going to restaurants, museums, and Jocelyn and I have watched it on my own at least twice. Jocelyn and I have watched it. There are times when we'll finish recording an episode of Candy Chat Chicago, and we'll just go back to the Denver episode because that is the episode that makes us cry from laughing so hard. What I love about it, honestly, it's the same things I loved about Jackass, which should have made the list (how did I not talk about Jackass Forever?), we are starting to get more positive representation of male friendship. And I think this show it was recorded both John and Adam have lost parents young. And this was recorded at a time when we had been vaccinated and the world was starting to open up again. And so they're they're traveling the country after a year of quarantine. really aware of what it means not to be with your friends and your family. And there's so much heart in between the laughter and so much realness that this little show. I hope someone picks it up for a second season. Let's keep talking about it. Let's keep watching about watching it and do watch the Denver episode all the way through the credits. Because you will be crying crying at the you'll just just watch it.   A book I read that then I bought for two people for Christmas and Hanukkah gift. So now I can talk about it is the biography of Mike Nichols called Mike Nichols a life by Mark Harris. Again, this was something that people were talking about on podcasts. And I had some audible credits and I picked it up and just lived in Mike Nichols world for like three weekends. just listened to it playing match three games on my phone and nonstop listening to Mike Nichols story. He is at some level, the for the real life Forrest Gump of pop culture and New York culture from like 1950 Odd. He is everywhere. He's friends with everyone. He's foes with everyone at certain times, but it is a compelling biography to understand pop culture, from truly from like the 1950s on, charted through his life. And then tonight, I ran out and picked up a painting by local artists Phineas Jones, other than my own dad's art, Phineas is the person is the next person that I have the most art in my house from. He was selling some original paintings and so I got an original little painting of some Chicago hot dogs. So with that, rounding out the podcast the best of 2022 Are. We've got clips from Lindsay Liddell, who I know from the Doughboys community, Robert Persinger, also known as drop King, who I know from the Doughboys community, Keidra Cheney, who is one of my very longtime Twitter pals. And Jocelyn Geboy, my co host on andy Chat Chicago Rounding things out. I do expect to wake up to two more clips. And so there will either be clips from Jaqui and Taylor when I wake up and they will be added to this, or you know that you will hear from him this year when I finally get to sit down and interview them. So with that, wash your hands, wear your mask, get your booster and keep enjoying your favorite things.   Doughboys Excerpt: Burger King 6 with Adam Pally and Jon Gabrus   Mike Mitchell  55:59 Wiges, how are you?   Nick Wiger  56:00 I'm doing well.   Mike Mitchell  56:01 Look, we have we have one guest it's way overdue. And then and then another   Jon Gabrus  56:07 who's the exact opposite of overdue.   Nick Wiger  56:11 Our most frequent guest, this is this is the duo. This is the odd couple that we have with us today. And, Mitch, we want to we want to get to them because they've been doing media all day. I'm sure they're their little bushwhacked. But before we do that, you got your you got to drop.   Mike Mitchell  56:25 I'm looking for it. All right, just   Nick Wiger  56:29 I can't believeyou're not ready with this. I said.   Mike Mitchell  56:33 We usually talk for five to 10 minutes. Well, you could have read time.   Nick Wiger  56:38 Yeah, but our guests were like, Hey, we we've been we're fucking wiped.   Mike Mitchell  56:42 I know. But that's if you get into Rush mode, it's going to be a bad episode. So don't go into Rush mode.   Nick Wiger  56:49 Well, I'm not going to rush mode. It's going to be good episode because our guests are great. I guess.   Adam Pally  56:53 Is this the Podcast?  This is what it is. Yeah. Yeah.   Jon Gabrus  56:57 Honestly, dude, I'm the most frequent guest and more or less, this is what it   emma  57:02 Mitch, do you want me to play it?   Mike Mitchell  57:03 No, I got it. I got it. I found it.   Nick Wiger  57:05 Gabrus was was air drumming some Neil Peart, I should say at the mention of Rush, which was Rush mode. That was a lot of fun for me. I saw that was the first concert I went to at the Anaheim pond   Adam Pally  57:16 Really? The first concert you went to is rush?   Nick Wiger  57:18 Yes,   Jon Gabrus  57:18 Mine was Soul Asylum at Jones Beach.   Nick Wiger  57:21 Wow.   Adam Pally  57:22 New Kids on the Block Rush  on the continental arrowheads. Oh, yeah. That's awesome.   Mike Mitchell  57:27 Mine was WBCN River Rave I believe is the first concert I went to. I saw the boss the Mighty Mighty Bosstones less than Jake. Yeah. Let's just   Jon Gabrus  57:38 lead with artists so that people know what you're talking about. Yeah, I don't quite remember the name of the tour. I want you otters jug band Christmas that my first concert was jingle ball 1992. Sponsored by Cadillac. Play the drums bass Hall.   Mike Mitchell  58:02 I went to I went to Roger Waters concert. My friend my friend's mom, Mrs. Tufo. She gave us a ride. My friend Martin he gave me what he said was acid. I bought it from him. And I took it and I was in the van with Mrs. Too far. She drove us to the concert. And then when we got out, he was like, that was vitamin C. It wasn't acid at all. But I think they expected me to like flip out and act like be like, This is crazy, but I never did it. You know what I mean? I never felt for the I passed the test. You know what I mean? Right? And, but then I did take two tabs of mescaline at that concert. It was really crazy.   Jon Gabrus  58:36 For how could you tell what was the mescaline in Hi-C? Right   Mike Mitchell  58:42 Alright, here's the drop Hold on. I'm gonna I got it. I got it loaded up.   Jon Gabrus  58:48 And you're gonna leave all this in right?   Mike Mitchell  58:51 I just think the crowd was changing   emma  58:54 not editing this at all. We haven't even announced our names to happen yet. Yes. All this shit has to happen first.   Mike Mitchell  59:06 I was watching prehistoric planet alright, I'll save that for later alright, here we go. Here we go. Wiges, Here is a little drop. Here we go plastic fork city. The city is also weird That's it. Perfect fucking length. It was nice and short. It was nice and short when   Jon Gabrus  59:52 he sat literally that's the only clip I've ever heard that's both not too short and not too long.   Mike Mitchell  59:58 I was kind of perfect. Yeah, great length. Hey, while you Norman in Boston, Mitch asked us to get back to the simple life drops with one or two clips from the show. To that end. Here's my Ode to Guns and Roses. Hope to see in Chicago in 2022. Oh, that was cancelled because of COVID xoxo Leah, aka Chicago Leah and the Doughscord  Hey, thanks for Chicago Leah. Thanks, Chicago Leah. Thanks.   Lyndsey Little  1:00:29 I'm Lindsay Liddell. And this is a strange list, but three of my favorite things are monsters, food and podcasts. This year was very unusual for me in the sense that it became such a culmination of significant moments for me, all relating to three of my favorite things. The stranger still was how my favorite things all intermingled together in some way, it felt like synchronicity. It began when as an avid listener of the Doughboys podcast, I joined the fan community Doughscord. I quickly felt at home there and made many friendships with others who loved the hosts, Nick and Mitch, and we all shared a mutual love of fast food of course, separate from this and after some time had passed, I along with two others began hosting our own horror movie recap podcast called Stories to Dismember. Even though the three of us had met through Reddit we surprisingly and quickly formed friendships and almost a familial bond. It's been a really fun and fulfilling project. And it just really gives me a love for podcasts in a whole other way now, in fact, it was our pleasure to have Doughboys host Mitch on as our guest for Halloween. For some added complexity and confusion to the layers of my favorite things. Long before I was a Doughboys listener and Mitch starred in my favorite show love on Netflix, so for me personally, it was a dream come true for him to speak with us. As an aside, Nick, if you are serious about guesting with the stories to dismember team we would still love to have you. You know where to find me flitting around on Discord. So anyone listening to this if you love podcasts, I presume this is one of your favorite ones, but also check out Doughboys if you love fast food, and if you love horror movies or monsters, then check out stories to dismember. And if your favorite thing is just Mitch Mitchell, then check out our episode where he guested with stories to dismember. Thank you so much for letting me share some of my favorite things Leah and I hope you have a wonderful new year.   Robert Persinger  1:02:34 Hello, my name is Robert per singer. And my favorite things from this year were traveling to new cities. I visited Milwaukee in Boston for some live shows and had an amazing time seeing the sights and meeting some great people. In Boston, I wanted to shout out the TAM. Jam curlies, the Trillium beer garden, Regina pizzeria, Legal Seafood, tasty burger emack and folios Mangia Mangia, Mike's pastry and the union Oyster House. In Milwaukee, I wanted to shout out to Feroz while skis, Thurman 15. Up down the Milwaukee Public Museum, Boone and Crockett, the Milwaukee pedal tavern, 's ads foundation Culvers lakefront brewing, lost whale, burn hearts, straight shots. Ian's else's Bryant's and landmark lanes, so happy to have met so many awesome people in these cities. And I wanted to include them too. So shout out to Kevin, Chelsea, Phish greeing, Aaron, Gino, Zayn. Kev, Nick. smo, Shawn, demo, Jess ,Taylor, shifty, Lou. And of course, Leah. If I forgot anyone, I apologize. It was a very fun time after all, here's to a great 2023   Keidra Cheney  1:04:11 So this is Keidra. So I wanted to share a couple of things to be alive trying to figure out what to share for the best of 2022 because 2022 didn't seem terribly eventful. And when it was eventful, it wasn't so great. Um, but there were things that were really good about the year. And one of the best things for me this year in pop culture, which is my usual obsession is a show that I constantly talk about called south side, which is on HBO Max. It's a comedy very Chicago. It's done by a group of actors and producers who are from the south side of Chicago and So the humor is very, very Southside and very Chicago specific, really funny, very weird at times, like a lot of funny, weird sci fi and geek culture-oriented humor, but also just random humor. So if you like to think of what it might be close, I compared it to, It's Always Sunny in that the characters are not supposed to be characters that are like, moral in any way, or like people that you should look up to. They're just, you know, weirdos doing, doing their thing in the world, working at a rent to own center, and basically taking people's stuff back once they can't afford it anymore. I'm probably not explaining it very well. But it is really hilarious. It's really not meant to have like, any broader message outside of making you laugh. And it's made me laugh more than any show that I've seen in the past decade, except for maybe the first season of Arrested Development. And that is like, like, the gold standard for me in terms of making you laugh. So yeah, Southside on HBO Max, three seasons, just perfection to me, every season has gotten better. And I just laugh at it nonstop. And I'm probably going to turn this off and watch the third season over again, as soon as I'm done with this. The other thing that has been really great for me, for 2022 That was my personal best, is starting to follow a lot of rabbit accounts on Instagram and Twitter. I love rabbits. I hope next year I will finally have a rabbit of my own. I just think they're cute and funny and weird and just adorable. And interesting little guys, and I just love seeing them eat and jump and zoom around. And just be lovely, lovely fellas and ladies, I follow Red Bull shelter on Instagram and there is an account that I follow on Twitter every morning and every evening they basically show this rabbit eating a meal alongside of his person. So this person is like eating super avocado toast or whatever in the rabbit is just they're eating their pellets or hay or greens every morning and evening. And I love to start and end my day with watching that burn habits delicious meal. So those are my favorite things of 2022 the things that really made me smile and made my life better. And I am wishing you and everyone listening a very happy new year and here's to a much better 2023 Then this past year   Jocelyn  1:07:54 fix Harry it's Jocelyn did this last year kind of off the cuff this time I made notes. I am dears best friends with Leah and co host of our joint podcast. Candy Chat Chicago, come to the candy state with the chat. So that has been a joy that has continued to be a joy. This year has really been something Hmm. I've had I had the joy and the honor and the privilege of being able to be with Leah while she navigated and figured out did cancer. And I was glad to be a part of that journey. Even better to have her be on the other side of it. Um, lots of things happened not to me, but I've seen I saw friends get married. I saw friends have babies. I saw friends get engaged. I saw one dear friend get a new job. She was really excited. So I've kind of been watching and letting things swirl around me. Lee is going to talk about I'm sure but she turned me on to the show called 101 Places to Party Before You Die. It's Adam Pally and Jon Gabrus. Oh my god, it's I want to tell you all the funny parts but like, it's kind of like you literally had to be there so like just go watch it and maybe you maybe think it's funny. Maybe you will I just fucking couldn't stop laughing. Um, I got the opportunity to see the Avett brothers again in 2022 for three night run at the Chicago theater March 31 first through April 2 It's been a really long time since I'd seen them so that was really nice and it was really nice to see and catch up with old friends and make new friends as well. firepit is still fucking rock and life we know that it's it's it's it's always been good and it continued to be good to us this year as well. I this new band I really loved called The Diff. They're kind of back on tour from their from the 80s from out east I don't know Massachusetts or something And they came back together and did a reunion show. I don't know earlier this fall, and it was really great. And I was really excited to see them. So that was a fun part of this year. Um, How Did This Get Made podcasts championed by Leah for many, many years, and I have problems listening to words like talk radio and stuff. So despite the fact that I have a podcast, it's been sort of hard for me to listen to one, but this is Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas and these cats are off the chain so I went to a live courtesy of Leah to a live taping of a show. the premise they don't like you know, how did this movie Get me and Chicago show was Morbius Jared Leto vampires Matt Smith weirdness and so it was really fun to it was really fun to listen to you and to go to go to you to make part of and Leah got some really fun interactions with Mantzoukas and Paul and all of them actually. So it was really it was really great. That was fun. And other than that, I wrote all my notes. I'm just putting out there for the year. I have a lot of attentions, always right. I always want to write that book. I always want to do the one woman show. But ultimately, like I really had an epiphany Today I had a little mini meltham panic attack over really nothing really if in the scheme of things that were told you the story you'd be like, okay, but I really my intention for the years to let go of that which does not serve me immediately. possessions, attitudes mindsets. I don't think it's gonna be easy to do but I think one of the mindsets that dogs me is this all or nothing thing black or white? I do it or I don't. And so I think this will be a fun way to kind of exercise that is to like, let go stick stuff like that. Right? Like even if I'm not letting go of stuff like you realize, like, it's not all or nothing like I get every day and I can I can you know do it again over and over again. And meeting my friend Jo was a huge part of this year. Mutual actually of Leah, so that's always fun when that shit works out. But um, yeah, I really glad to be around again, the sun one more time. Sure. It's crazy, but she's great too. And I wish you all a very happy new year and a great 2023   Announcer  1:12:30 Thank you for listening to finding favorites with Leah Jones. Please make sure to subscribe and drop us a five star review on iTunes. Now go out and enjoy your favorite things.   Steve  1:12:46 Now how do I stop this? That's a great question. Stop. I guess I'll just leave

Happy New Year Gemstones! Before we take on 2023, we do our best to remember all the amazing television of 2022 - and there really was a lot! Pachinko and Severance were stand outs, Attorney Woo stole our hearts, Nick discovered Boy Love and Claire Danes does a lot with the one face. Reminisce with us, (feel free to correct our perception of time), and if you're looking for something to watch this holiday weekend - we've got ideas! Show Notes: @1:00 - Hot takes | Winter wonderland, Tik Tok Truman Show, Documentaries/series, K pop and Boy Love wrap up, best shows of the year, reality shows of the year (and other nonsense). @24:00 - Tweets of the Week | Fabric scissor cops @41:30 - Game | 2022 Taboo Want to support us and get fun extras? Join our Patreon! At takespod.com or Patreon.com/takespod Like 30 Rock? Like Nick and Julie? Listen to them on their 30 Rock rewatch podcast: Blerg! (@blergpodcast) wherever you listen to Takes.

Festive tidings to friends and lovers, one and all! Welcome to our mammoth Christmas special, where we rate everything we've watched this year. Enjoy Part 1! The video version is available to tiers on our Patreon.Website | Apple | Patreon | Twitter | Instagram