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That Solo Life Episode 344: The Secrets that Filmmakers Know About Marketing That Most Business Owners Never Learn with Jake Isham Episode Summary Jake Isham describes himself as an accidental marketer. He went to film school, realized he wasn't going back for a grad degree, and spent his 20s learning to build a business the hard way. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Creative Minds, a creative agency rooted in filmmaking and storytelling that helps entrepreneurs build personal brands through video content, photography, and a signature podcast model that takes clients out of the studio and into the environments where they actually come alive. In this episode, Jake joins Karen and Michelle to talk about his journey and the hard-won lessons along the way. He breaks down how a filmmaker's lens changes the work he does for clients, why the Hero's Journey is a more useful brand-building framework than most marketing playbooks, how his on-location podcast model turns a client's hobby into a content engine, and the business development principle that he wishes someone had told him on day one: promote at a volume that feels impossible, measure the results six weeks later, and get 1% better every time. Episode Highlights [01:43] The Accidental Marketer Origin Story: Jake went to film school, considered grad school for about a semester, and decided he'd already spent four years doing what he was about to spend two and a half more years doing. What followed was a decade of figuring it out, freelancing, building, and course-correcting, guided by a piece of advice from his father. [07:35] The Filmmaker's Lens: Why the Hero's Journey Is the Real Brand Framework: When everyone claims to tell stories, the differentiator is understanding what storytelling actually means. Jake draws the line between sharing an anecdote and structuring a narrative. payoff. He uses Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey as a practical brand-building tool: who is your hero, who is your enemy, who are your allies, what are you standing for, what are you standing against. These are the questions that build a brand identity rather than a content calendar. [10:24] Getting Clients Comfortable on Camera: Jake's superpower as a director is making people comfortable in front of a camera, and he leverages that in his work with clients. He describes a client whose first shoot took four hours with a teleprompter. Their most recent shoot took one hour, no teleprompter, off the top of his head, and produced more usable content than the first session ever did. The skill is not just technical but the accumulated experience of working with actors, directing scenes, and creating the conditions for someone to be fully themselves. [12:30] The Signature Series Podcast Model: Rather than building another studio podcast, Jake developed a signature format: take the client's hobby or genuine interest and build a location-based show around it. A golf enthusiast on the course. A client at their place of worship. The host is in an environment that makes them feel natural and engaged, which changes everything about how they show up on camera. [20:12] The Business Development Truth Nobody Tells Creative Entrepreneurs: When asked what he wishes someone had told him at the start, Jake doesn't hesitate: promote, promote, promote, promote. He describes watching a gym owner tell his mentor he had distributed 300 flyers. The mentor's response: I do 5,000 a day. The lesson is not that what you're doing is wrong. It is that you are almost certainly not doing it at anywhere near the volume required. Jake shared the experiment he used and the data that he relies on for business development success. [23:04] The Six-Week Lag: How to Measure Business Development Without Losing Your Mind: Jake has identified a consistent pattern in his own practice in which promotion activity produces income results approximately six weeks later. The implication is practical and clarifying. Don't judge a business development effort in the first six weeks. Measure from week six to week twelve. [26:52] The 1% Better Principle: Why You Don't Need to Leap to Progress: Jake co-hosts a filmmaking show called The Creative Lens. He shows his first episode as an example: his setup was visibly rough next to his co-host's polished rig. By episode eight or nine, the gap had closed — not through a single overhaul, but through consistent incremental improvement. One better backdrop. One better light. One more structured opening. He applies the same logic to business development: not 100 posts more, but one more post. Not a complete brand overhaul, but one sharper headline. Get 1% better. Then do it again. About Jake Isham Jake Isham is a filmmaker, photographer, and the owner and founder of Creative Minds, a creative agency focused on personal brand building through video content, photography, and signature podcast production. After film school and a brief flirtation with grad school, Jake spent his 20s learning how to build a business without a mentor and without a safety net — and has turned that hard-won experience into a practice that helps entrepreneurs show up authentically on camera and build content strategies that compound over time. He is also the co-host of The Creative Lens, a podcast about filmmaking, gear, and the business of visual storytelling. Jake is based in the Los Angeles area and works with entrepreneurs building personal brands at every stage. Website: creativemindsofficial.com Instagram: @JakeCreativeMarketing LinkedIn: Jake Isham Resources & Related Episodes The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell: Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey That Solo Life, Episode 308: Branding, Bravery and Breaking Through with Melissa Vela-Williamson That Solo Life, Episode 296: The Big Idea with Jess Sato That Solo Life, Episode 319: Succeeding at Business Development in a Tough Year Join the Solo PR Pro membership community: Solo PR Pro Host & Show Info That Solo Life is a podcast created for public relations, communication, and marketing professionals who work as independent and small practitioners. Hosted by Karen Swim, APR, President of Solo PR Pro, and Michelle Kane, Principal of Voice Matters, the show delivers expert insights, encouragement, and practical advice for solo PR pros navigating today's dynamic professional landscape. Listen to all episodes and catch up on previous conversations at thatsololife.com. Did this episode inspire you? If you found value in this conversation, please take a moment to leave us a review. Your feedback helps us reach more solo pros just like you! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.
In today's podcast, Dave tells us about a book called Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces. It's the first in a graphic novel series by author-illustrator Carlos Sanchez. It's a great choice for middle-school and older kids – particularly those with an interest in D&D-style games and fantasy worlds. “Chiri and best friend Dai live in an orphanage right next to the deepest, darkest forest. On a scavenging mission to find some amazing new ingredients for her many culinary experiments, Chiri plunges both her and her best friend into the secret kingdom of Puddin', a secret place plagued by the Thousand Faces Monster and inhabited by all sorts of magical people and critters. Befriending witches, bards, ogres and sorcerers, can our two protagonists make it home and more importantly, can they evade the darkness that has awoken on their arrival?” Find this book in the FVRL collection: https://fvrl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S21C1922816
Ghost cats, haunted histories, and traditions, oh my! Shaun Duke and Daniel Haeusser interview Sunyi Dean about The Girl with a Thousand Faces! Together, they explore Sunyi’s approach to point of view, Kowloon Walled City and weaving history into a story of ghosts, different ghost traditions, and so much more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode! Show Notes: Sunyi Dean’s Things: Website Bluesky Facebook Threads Instagram The Girl with a Thousand Faces (Tor) Video versions of our episodes appear on our handy YouTube channel! Sub and watch! Don’t forget to catch our live format every Friday at 7 PM Central on Twitch at AlphabetStreams! If you have a question you'd like us to answer, feel free to shoot us a message on our contact page. Our new intro and outro music comes from Holy Mole. You can support his work at patreon.com/holymole. See you later, navigator!
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn & Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Writing for the Reader Experience with bestselling author Sunyi Dean. During the episode, Sunyi caters to the reader, discussing why authors should consider the reader experience, putting yourself in the “beginner's mindset," offering value to the reader, promises and hooking them from the outset, delivering information at the right time, simple vs. complex prose, writing for yourself vs. the reader, author voice, revision and more.NOTE: This is part two of a two-part chat with Sunyi. Click here to check out part one.
Best-selling author Sunyi Dean visits the show to dive into some of the themes and elements of her new book The Girl with a Thousand Faces, now available from Tor. She breaks down some of the book's origins, talks about generational and historic trauma, how we process those traumas, and how we act to move forward from the things in us that hurt and isolate us.You can find more about Sunyi Dean at her website, www.sunyidean.com, and you can get The Girl with a Thousand Faces at your local library or your favorite book retailer today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, Liberty and Vanessa discuss Moonlight Murder, Platform Decay, Verity Guild, and more great books! Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify and never miss a book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. Keep track of new releases with Book Riot's New Release Index, now included with an All Access membership. Click here to get started today! This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission Books Discussed On the Show: Birth Vibes by Jen Hamilton Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray Moonlight Murder by Uzma Jalaluddin The Fallen: The Lost Girls of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries and a Legacy of Silence by Louise Brangan The Miseducation of Caroline Bingley by Lindz McLeod Verity Guild by Mai Corland Honey by Imani Thompson Backtalker: An American Memoir by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean Platform Decay (The Murderbot Diaries Book 8) by Martha Wells Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu True Crime: A Memoir by Patricia Cornwell One Leg on Earth by 'Pemi Aguda Mother Tongue: A Memoir by Sara Nović What We Ask Google: A Surprisingly Hopeful History of Humankind by Simon Rogers Earthly Playing Field by Radhika Singh What We're Reading: Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America by Bridget Read Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan Brume, Volume 2: The Forest of Lost Souls by Jérôme Pélissier, Carine Hinder A Real Animal by Emeline Atwood Taipei Story by R. F. Kuang The Repairer of Reputations by Ed Park, Robert W. Chambers Paperbacks: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance by Riley Black The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, Ross Benjamin (translator) The Lilac People by Milo Todd The Museum Detective by Maha Khan Phillips How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir by Molly Jong-Fast Gliff by Ali Smith Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein You Belong Here by Megan Miranda My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende, Frances Riddle (translator) Flashlight by Susan Choi The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling August Lane by Regina Black As I Dream of You by Jennifer Lee, LeUyen Pham The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson Links: A new book from Chad Harbach The NYT Best Books of the Year (So Far) Bestsellers: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Theo of Golden by Allen Levi Famesick: A Memoir by Lena Dunham Hope Rises by David Baldacci London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America's Elite Universities by Elise Stefanik Kin by Tayari Jones The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bill Day is an American documentary filmmaker and YouTuber known for his work with major networks like the National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel. He has spent decades producing films and documentaries, including projects featured at festivals like Sundance, often focused on environmental, cultural, and real-world stories.He later built a large online audience through his YouTube channel “billschannel,” where his popular series “Real or Fake” analyzes viral photos and videos to determine whether they're authentic or staged. With over 2 million subscribers, his content blends adventure, storytelling, and investigative curiosity—often drawing from his experiences filming in remote locations like the Amazon.Connect with Bill Day!https://www.youtube.com/@billschannelCHAPTERS:0:00 – Introduction1:05 – Meet Bill Day1:28 – Bill's Amazon fishing trips3:11 – Is Bill filming for himself or for clients?4:19 – How tough the Amazon environment really is5:29 – What Bill has been doing over the last 10–20 years7:19 – Bill talks about the documentaries and films he has created12:00 – Bill shares his first exposure to YouTube (Vietnam trip)13:20 – Bill talks about how his YouTube journey began15:55 – Bill shares how YouTube prompted him to monetize his videos17:30 – Creating Amazon and wildlife content18:50 – Why Bill created “Real or Fake” YouTube content20:25 – Choosing YouTube over traditional media22:03 – Bill shares how his “Real or Fake” content grew his subscribers from 10K to 2.6M24:45 – Bill shares when his YouTube channel peaked and how COPPA impacted it37:39 – When YouTube stopped being his main source of income43:32 – How Bill learned investing45:04 – Bill shares his approach to real estate investing46:47 – How to find what “feels right” in life50:16 – Bill explains his philosophy on the word “float”51:19 – How to “float” when you don't have money54:09 – How Bill stores decades of footage58:24 – What's really happening in the Amazon rainforest1:03:19 – Bill talks about tribes in Indian villages having access to Starlink1:05:26 – Bill talks about “Real or Fake” in the Amazon rainforest1:11:30 – Bill talks about fishing content in the Amazon and filming it for promotional videos1:17:43 – Bill talks about his plans for the future1:20:46 – Bill shares how he sells his films1:26:36 – Bill shares why he doesn't pursue being a full-time writer1:27:49 – Advice on balancing passion and making money1:35:39 – Bill's advice for people experiencing lows in life1:38:24 – Bill shares why it's important not to lose your drive in life1:40:37 – Bill shares how he gets back on his feet when facing problems1:42:37 – Bill's recent life discoveries1:48:29 – Bill's personal goals and focus for the next 6 months1:49:08 – Bill shares how they have maintained their 30-year-long marriage1:50:51 – Bill shares advice on finding a partner1:52:51 – Bill's personal beliefs1:55:15 – Bill's take on Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell2:00:06 – Connect with Bill2:00:40 – Why he chose traditional publishing for his third novel2:02:04 – Bill talks about using AI to create videos2:05:37 – Outro
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn & Greta Kelly as they chat with bestselling author Sunyi Dean about her new novel The Ghost with a Thousand Faces, Chinese ghosts and folklore, Cantonese humor, Kowloon Walled City and the horrors of war, juggling multiple timelines, the Publishing Rodeo Podcast and transparency about publishing, living around the world, persistence and community, representations of neurodivergence in SFF, balancing work with family, messy first books and more.NOTE: This is part one of a two-part chat with Sunyi. Stayed tuned next week for her writing masterclass on Writing for the Reader Experience.
Skriv til os med kommentarer og spørgsmål på askov@nordcommunications.dkVi har fået at vide, at vi ikke må knokle. At hvis det føles hårdt, er vi på afveje. Men det er ikke hele sandheden. I både The Hero with a Thousand Faces og A Course in Miracles er der en dybere forståelse:At modstand, pres og følelsen af at knokle kan være en del af din proces. Ikke som en fejl – men som en fase.Problemet opstår først, når vi tror, at det er sådan, livet skal være. I denne Magic Monday taler jeg om forskellen på at være i en fase af knokleri og at gøre det til din identitet.For der er intet galt med dig – heller ikke, når det er hårdt.
Send us Fan MailSpacemen, this is sort of a will-they / won't they episode. Except, should I / shouldn't I. Should you correct your friend's parenting? No. Don't be rude. Maybe see how hard they want to be good parents. And stop thinking you're so good at it.Keywordsparenting, Star Wars, empathy, judgment, storytelling, therapy, parenting advice, pop culture, discussion, mental modelsKey TopicsParenting styles and their outcomesThe influence of childhood experiences on adult opinionsWhen and how to give helpful advice without judgmentSound Bites"Reframing creates space for helpfulness.""Judgment rarely leads to helpfulness.""Keep your advice brief and context-aware."Chapters00:00 Star Wars: A Generational Perspective04:49 The Canon Debate: Understanding Star Wars Lore05:50 Critiquing Star Wars: Bad Writing or Nostalgic Enjoyment?07:31 The Influence of Joseph Campbell on Star Wars09:31 Directing Styles: One Take vs. Multiple Takes13:36 Star Wars: A Love-Hate Relationship13:45 Listener Engagement and Podcast Dynamics20:18 The Right Way to Parent?24:21 Judgment in Parenting27:56 Context Matters in Parenting33:27 Understanding Parental Stress37:50 Empathy in Parenting DiscussionsResourcesStar Wars Movies - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_seriesJoseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces - https://www.amazon.com/Hero-Thousand-Faces-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936The Mandalorian (Disney+) - https://www.disneyplus.com/series/the-mandalorian/3jLIGMDYINqDAndor (Disney+) - https://www.disneyplus.com/series/andor/3jLIGMDYINqDThe Day of Disclosure Documentary - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234567/Spread the word! The Manspace is Rad!!
We've just concluded serializing THE BOOK EATERS audiobook by Sunyi Dean. Now we're excited to share this bonus conversation with the author and a sneak peek of her upcoming Gothic tale — THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES. Sunyi Dean's THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES will be on sale 5/5/26. You can preorder your audiobook here—don't miss this stunning and haunting tale! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is the second of a series of posts about the literary alchemy of J. K. Rowling, a discussion jumpstarted by a post by ‘Iris' at a Strike fan website, an article that championed a Jungian perspective on this subject. The first post in this series, Literary Alchemy – A Primer for Those Interested in J. K. Rowling's Artistry, both explained what the ‘Iris' post asserted and reviewed much of the critical literature that the brevity of the S&E Files article prevented her from discussing. See that post for links to this material. The conversation between Nick Jeffery and John Granger above was recorded in the same spirit as the first post was written, namely, simultaneously a welcome to Strike fans and Rowling readers who have learned about literary alchemy only recently and an introduction to the work of the last twenty five years on this subject. Upcoming posts in the series will include a counter-point discussion in the debate Rowling is fostering about whether a psychological or spiritual perspective is better for understanding art and life and a review of the alchemical signatures that crowd Rowling-Galbraith's Hallmarked Man.This post is largely links to sources for points Nick and John discuss in their naturally enthusiastic and contrarian conversation, question by question. Enjoy!1. Welcome to the Conversation! (Nick) I just sent out an article about literary alchemy, John, in response to an article written by ‘Iris' and posted on the Strike-Ellacott Files website, a piece titled ‘What is Literary Alchemy? Spotting symbols that map Strike and Robin's growth.' What advice or guidance would you give to, say, Cormoran Strike readers who are brand new to the subject? * There are three types of alchemy and it is important to understand the common ground they share and the differences between them;* The first type is alchemy proper, which is to say ‘metallurgical alchemy,' the sacred science of purifying metals and the adept's soul via the creation of a Philosopher's Stone that will transform lead to gold and exude an elixir of life, the drinking of which will bestow immortality;* The second and third types of alchemy derive from interpretations of metallurgical alchemy's aims and the symbolic texts detailing the work in the hermetic laboratory;* Literary alchemy is the use of metallurgical alchemy's language, colors, sequences, and symbols in plays, poetry, and story to foster an edifying and transformative experience in the artist's theater or reading audience;* Psychological alchemy is Carl Jung's use of metallurgical alchemy's texts during and after WWII to illustrate his ideas of the integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of the human mind;* Metallurgical alchemy was practiced in China, the Levant, India, and Europe within the revealed religious traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity until its degeneration in the late Medieval period and eventual evolution into the strictly materialist chemistry we know today;* Literary alchemy has been a continuous stream in literature from Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the Metaphysical poets through to Dickens, Yeats, the Inklings, Joyce, Nabokov, and J. K. Rowling;* The academic study of “alchemy in literature” was the province of Baconian and allegorical readings of Shakespeare (cf., Beryl Pogson, Peter Dawkins, Martin Lings) until the late 20th Century and the advent of academic specialists in ‘Hermetic Studies,' e.g., Stanton Linden, Lyndy Abraham, and Charles Nicholl (cf., Cauda Pavonis: A Journal of Hermetic Studies, 1982-2000).* Jung and his followers used their psychological interpretations of metallurgical alchemy as allegories of the soul to interpret mythology (cf., Erich Neumann, Marie-Louise Von Franz, Robert Johnson);* Jungian analysis of story using Jung's ideas of subconscious archetypes within a collective unconscious was popularized by Joseph Campbell in his guides to Joyce's Ulysses and his more well known works on mythology (e.g., The Hero With a Thousand Faces);* ‘Isis' in her S&E Files article, ‘What is Literary Alchemy?,' suggests that Rowling-Galbraith is writing an allegory of soul transformation in the Cormoran Strike series using metallurgical alchemy's symbols and sequences as understood by Carl Jung and his disciples rather than as used by English writers since the 13th Century;* It's a challenging theory, the depth of which is hard to grasp without an appreciation of the types of alchemy, what they have in common, and their differences in approach and subject matter.2. The Lake: (John) What I found most fascinating in your post, Nick, was your best guesses about where Rowling would have learned about literary alchemy. She claimed in 1998 that she'd read a lot of alchemical texts from which she set the “magical parameters” of the Hogwarts Saga; if you had only three chances to name one of those books, what would you choose? * Charles Nicholl's The Chemical Theatre;* Titus Burckhardt's Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul (or Mirror of the Intellect: Essays on Traditional Acience and Sacred Art);* Lyndy Abraham Summerhaze's Marvell and Alchemy or her Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery;* Martin Lings' The Secret of Shakespeare3. Carl Jung, Alchemy: (Nick) I see you're chafing at the bit, John, with book titles I haven't mentioned so let me name-drop the author not on my list because, as you pointed out, he wasn't really a literary alchemist so much as a psychologist who discussed alchemy as a means of illustrating his own ideas about the ‘Great Work.' You've written, though, that literary alchemy as with metallurgical alchemy is a subset of soul-allegories or Psychomachia. Don't Jung's ideas jibe with that? * Yes and no!* Jung's ideas of the soul and archetypes (or archetypal forms) are based on late 19th Century Volkischer German ideas, which is to say, modern and materialist (some say ‘vitalist') premises. His hostility to Christianity and Judaism was grounded in his acceptance of Darwinian evolution and derived philosophically from Nietzsche (see Richard Noll's The Jung Cult and The Aryan Christ).* He conflates the spiritual with the psychological, consequently, and embraces integrated individual psychological health as the telos of human existence, none of which is consistent with traditional metallurgical or literary alchemy (see Titus Burckhardt's Mirror of the Intellect, Philip Sherrard's ‘An Introduction to the Religious Thought of C. G. Jung,' and Harry Oldmeadow's ‘C.G. Jung & Mircea Eliade: ‘Priests without Surplices'? Reflections on the Place of Myth, Religion and Science in Their Work.'* Psychological alchemy, insomuch as it is ‘Jungian,' is well removed from the other two types of alchemy. Which is not to say that Rowling is not a Jungian and hence a Jungian psychological alchemist.4. Back into the Lake: (John) You covered in your article, though, Nick, the several reasons to think it possible, even probable that the evidence from Rowling's life suggests she is using Jungian ideas in her literary alchemy. Iris over at S&E Files obviously thinks that is the case. What are the for and against ideas with respect to Rowling being a Jungian? There's Plenty of Evidence That Rowling IS a Jungian Writer:John Granger's discussion in Troubled Blood: A Jungian Reading* Robin's name-dropping Jung in conversation about astrology;* The Jungian notes sounded throughout Strike 5: Archetypes, Synchronicity, Persona;* The connection between Jung's illustrated ‘New Book' and Talbot's ‘True Book;' and* Pointers to Cupid-Psyche myth as understood by Jungians (see below)The Advent of Prudence Dunleavy, Jungian Psychologist, in Ink Black Heart* Hard to imagine a more sympathetic portrait of a Jungian than half-sister Prudence!* She clearly was the genius behind the Rokeby reconciliation in Hallmarked ManThe Cupid and Psyche myth underpinning the Strike series* A Mythological Key to Cormoran Strike? The Myth of Eros, Psyche, and Venus (note the discussion here of the Jungian understanding of this specific myth)* Ink Black Heart: Strike as Zeus to Robin's Leda and as Cupid to Mads' Psyche* ‘Rowling Points to Myth of Cupid and Psyche in order to Console Strike Fans Disappointed with Hallmarked Man‘* The Hallmarked Man‘s Mythological Template (Nick Jeffery, John Granger)Anything Else? Oh, yeah —* Rowling studied mythology in her ‘Classical Studies' program at UExeter and almost certainly encountered Jungian interpretation of myths there (e.g. the work of Neumann, Johnson, Campbell).* Rowling told Val McDermid if she had not become a successful writer she would have sought training and certification as a psychologist. * Her work reflects a broad reading in psychology (cf., Louise Freeman Davis' ‘J. K. Rowling and the Phantoms in the Brain,' ‘Cormoran Strike and the Itch that Cannot Be Scratched') and it is likely that she has read her fair share of Jung and Jungian authors during her studies.* Rowling benefited from psychological therapy and exercises herself when suffering from depression, the experience of and recovery from which she depicted in story via the Azkaban Dementors and Robin Ellacott's treatment for PTSD in Lethal White.And There is Plenty of Evidence That Rowling Is NOT a Jungian Writer:* Rowling has never been asked or revealed how she learned about literary alchemy; this includes, of course, any reference to Carl Jung, whose work was not focused on literary alchemy per se but a psychological interpretation or explanation of metallurgical alchemy's symbolism.* All that Rowling has revealed about her experiences as a patient seeking help with depression are about Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), which treatment modality owes nothing to Jung or to Jung's students.* It is possible that Rowling encountered esoteric metallurgical alchemy, the precursor to literary alchemy, in her study of astrology, the complementary traditional sacred science to alchemy, a skill-set with which we know she was accomplished. That route to alchemy would have led her to Perennialist interpretations of alchemy, most notably Titus Burckhardt‘s Alchemy, Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul; the paperback cover of the Penguin Metaphysical Library edition of that book (1974) features an androgynous giant named REBIS standing on a dragon and a winged golden sphere (i.e., Rubeus, Norbert, Snitch).* As mentioned above, it is more likely that she encountered literary alchemy in her study of Shakespeare. The year she was studying for her A Levels, she traveled to see a production of King Lear which has prompted the idea that it was on her list of texts to prepare for her tests. The most challenging interpretation of Lear then in print was Charles Nicholl's The Chemical Theatre (1980), a book that explains almost every scene in perhaps Shakespeare's greatest tragedy as a parallel step in the Great Work of alchemy. If the budding astrologer was fascinated by this allegorical interpretation of the Bard, the most popular work in print at that time that championed reading Shakespeare as the author of soul allegories was Perennialist Martin Lings‘ The Secret of Shakespeare (1984).* Literary Alchemy is a tool set employed not only by Shakespeare but by a host of Rowling favorite authors to include Dickens, Nabokov, Lewis, and Tolkien. This view of alchemy, that is, as an allegorical depiction of the soul's transformation that affects that same cathartic experience in its theater or reading audiences, is the one found in Rowling's work, which is well removed from psychological alchemy, an analytic art which, though it springs from metallurgical alchemical texts, does not aim at the transformation at work in the sacred art or the science of traditional alchemy. * Rowling's use of chiastic structures and psychomachian allegory, tools that complement literary alchemy in spiritual perspective and aim, make a Jungian rather than a literary and Perennialist view of alchemy seem unlikely.* Alchemy: Jung, Burckhardt, or Maclean? John Granger, April 2007* Rowling's Soul Triptych Psychomachia: Is It From Shakespeare's ‘Macbeth'? John Granger, September 20245. The Debate at King's Cross: (Nick) So, John, you've mentioned Jung quite a few times in your posts about the Mythological framework of the Strike series and even written about the Jungian ideas of animus and anima with respect to Cormoran and Robin's relationship. You seem fairly confident, though, that Rowling is writing from the traditional esoteric ideas of alchemy a la Shakespeare rather than Jung's. Why is that? * Everything you just said!* As noted, Jung's ideas are modern and psychological while the stream of literary alchemy in English Literature is almost exclusively more Medieval and pointedly spiritual;* The Most Notable Exception: Angela Carter's The Passion of the New Eve (1977), that reads like a Jungian ‘Red Book' slide-show (think Bombyx Mori) or a transgender Odyssey written for feminists. Rowling has never mentioned her to my knowledge but it would be surprising if she hadn't read this book more than once. What Alana Bolton Cooke wrote about Carter's Passion could be said about Rowling's literary alchemy if she is a Jungian writer (or about Galbraith's fictional Elizabeth Tassel?):Angela Carter in The Passion of New Eve (1977) uses the exoteric phases of alchemy and Carl G. Jung's theory of esoteric alchemy as a means of demonstrating allegorically the idea ofrebirth and renewal. The purpose of this allegorical method is to produce an 'alchemical' change of thought in the reader about sexuality and gender associated with women's repression and liberation. In the novel Carter develops themes and ideas explored in her essay, The Sadeian Woman: An Exercise in Cultural History (1979), an analysis of the Marquis de Sade's pornography and its affect on the roles of men and women in society. The clash of opposites involved in combining alchemical symbolism, feminism and pornography within the fiction can be seen as representative of the state of chaos present in alchemy before the beginning of change. The circular narrative and alchemical structure of the fiction creates a literary version of the alchemical process as it brings together opposites involved in chaos, represented by events and characterisation that the protagonist, Evelyn/Eve, experiences, until, in the manner of alchemy, harmony is reached. The harmony created represents women's empowerment. Carter uses Evelyn's individuation process to encourage growth within the reader by altering patterns of thought to bring about change through self-confrontation and self-knowledge. The structure of Carter's fiction, thus, corresponds to the process of esoteric alchemy contained within the structure, imagery and symbolism of exoteric alchemy. The fiction is designed to stimulate the unconscious of the reader and make conscious hitherto unknown and repressed thoughts about gender and sexuality to bring about change in the lives of men and women.* I think what Rowling said she was trying to do with Harry Potter's meeting with Dumbledore at the dream-like King's Cross strongly suggests she is aware of the two approaches and wants readers to discuss them – but that she has made her own choice, however conflicted she may be.* In her 2008 interview with Adeel Amini, Rowling said that her hope for Harry's post-mortem conversation with Dumbledore at King's Cross was to stimulate “a debate” among readers about whether it was a psychological moment, that is, a fantasy in which Harry understands what he's been missing all along, or a spiritual event in which he is actually speaking with the late Headmaster:Enough Potter-plot, I think. Moving on to a slightly more contentious issue, Rowling has categorically said that she does believe in a higher power, a statement reinforced by her childhood church-going (“Till I was 17,” she clarifies). It must be difficult to reconcile her religious beliefs with those that denounce Harry Potter as anti-Christian, I wonder aloud. Rowling's expression does not change a fraction. “There was a Christian commentator who said, which I thought was very interesting, that Harry Potter had been the Christian church's biggest missed opportunity. And I thought, there's someone who actually has their eyes open.“I think he said it before the publication of the seventh book, and with the publication of the seventh book I think that clarified a lot of people's view on where I was standing. But I should emphasise that I am not pushing a specifically Christian agenda, and indeed till the very last moment in book seven, one can interpret what happens to Harry after he presents himself with death as him going into an unconscious state in which his subconscious reveals to him what he already knew.” I hum in faux-comprehension of what she's referring to; luckily my clued-in companion is nodding wildly. Proceed. “Any re-reading of Chapter 35 will show you that there's nothing that the Dumbledore he sees tells him that he couldn't have guessed for himself or already realised, and of course there's a key piece of information that Dumbledore doesn't articulate that Harry has realised. So you can deliberately interpret it that way, or you can say that he did go into a state of limbo beyond which there was another life, and that idea was expressed repeatedly, and most explicitly at the end of book five, Order of the Phoenix, where Harry understands that there is an ‘on', that you do go on. “I wanted there to be a debate there, so of my three main characters - when they come into the room which examines death at the Ministry of Magic - Hermione, the ultimate sceptic and a hyperrational person, hears nothing behind the veil and is scared of it. Ron is just uneasy; Ron is someone who does not grapple with anything deeper than beer, if he can avoid it. Harry's drawn to it, and therein lies Harry's slightly reckless, almost morbid streak, because Harry does have a hint of that dangerous adolescent trait which is the attraction to death.” Heavy. Obviously with this ambiguity, you do get a fair degree of misinterpretation as well; there is a certain section that does dislike Harry Potter intensely. “Oh, vehemently,” says Rowling, before muttering under her breath “…and they send death threats.”* I think that “debate” she's trying to foster is between the psychological, call it ‘Jungian' “just inside your head” subconscious perspective, and the authentically spiritual view of her work (well, of art and human existence, too, of course). And that this debate is one she has had for most of her life. Check out her comments about the “greatest missed opportunity” and explain to me how that doesn't line up with her preferring the spiritual, albeit “not explicitly Christian,” to the psychological and humanist. 7. Jungian Readings of Rowling's Work: (Nick) John, you're familiar with what has been written by Potter Pundits because of your PhD critical literature surveys; what are the better ones about Rowling and Jungian psychology and what do they emphasize? Here are seven off the top of my head (and Thesis ‘Works Cited' drafts):* Grynbaum, G.A. (2000). The Secrets of Harry Potter. The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal: Reviews From a Jungian Perspective of Books, Films and Culture, [online] 19 (4) pp. 17-48* Patrick, Christopher and Sarah (2007), ‘Exploring the Dark Side: Harry Potter and the Psychology of Evil,' in Mulholland (ed.), The Psychology of Harry Potter, BenBella Books, pp 221-232* Gerhold, C. (2011). The Hero's Journey Through Adolescence: A Jungian Archetypal Analysis of “Harry Potter.” PsyD. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. * Rectenwald, Bob (2019). ‘Carl Jung's Impact on the Work of J. K. Rowling' * Skipper, Alicia and Kate Fulton (2021) ‘Out from the Shadows into the Light: Persona and Shadow in Harry Potter‘ in Anne Mamary (ed.) The Alchemical Harry Potter: Essays on Transfiguration in J. K. Rowling's Novels, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2021, pp 79-96* The Unfolding Journey, Jung's Shadow Self in Harry Potter: Confronting the Darkness Within (YouTube video)* My own Troubled Blood: A Jungian ReadingBob Rectenwald's piece is the best of the six I didn't write but it shares the several faults all the Jungian pieces make:* the first failing of even the best Jungian readers is the assumption that Rowling is a Jungian, which is an open question;* the next is that Jung's ideas (and Joseph Campbell's) are indisputably true; and* the last is, when alchemy is mentioned, the critics do not clarify either the commonalities of or the differences between literary alchemy, psychological alchemy, and Jungian analytic psychology. * Note, though, that Rowling, while aware of such Jungian tropes as the Hero's Journey, tweeks it shamelessly, adding a symbol of Christ and resurrection scene in every Potter story (cf., How Harry Cast His Spell, ‘The Harry's Journey,' pp 21-28).* Read her brief PotterMore piece on alchemy and note that it is written in such a way that it can be read as confirmation of either a psychological or spiritual perspective on alchemy and art:One interpretation of the ‘instructions' left by the alchemists is that they are symbolic of a spiritual journey, leading the alchemist from ignorance (base metal) to enlightenment (gold). There seems to have been a mystical element to the work the alchemist was engaged upon, which set it apart from chemistry (of which it was undoubtedly both an offshoot and forerunner).This “original writing” by Rowling, especially the words “spiritual” and “mystical,” suggests that she is a Perennialist rather than a Jungian, at least with respect to her understanding of alchemy. But the debate is still possible with Jungians who read those words as cyphers for the subsconscious contact they hold we have with archetypes.8. Back to the Alchemy: (John) I think the real question of whether Rowling's literary alchemy is predominantly literary and spiritual or psychological in orientation comes down to the postmodern confusion about the immaterial aspects of the human person, which is to say, the soul (or mind, psyche) and the spirit. Rowling's recent work may seem prosaic or secular to a casual reader who compares it to the relatively otherworldly and “obviously” symbolic Potter books, but she loads each Strike book with Shakespearean romance of soul and spirit, i.e., alchemical dramas, and hermetic tropes. I'm writing a piece now about the lions, dogs, incest, and the red man and white woman in Hallmarked Man, each of which are touchstones of alchemy. I think, though, that your work with Rowling's favorite books and her epigraph sources, Nick, point to a strong spiritual rather than psychological foundation in Rowling's work —* Louisa May Alcott, Little Women* Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle* The Victorian Women Poets in Running Grave* Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh* Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book* The Jungian love of the I Ching, Running Grave's epigraph source9. Jung in Running Grave: (Nick) Rowling's favorite writers, from Shakespeare and Nabokov to C. S. Lewis and Victorian Women poets, all clearly believe in a world-transcending spiritual realm. Given the quantity of the Jungian scholarship in Rowling Studies that Iris referred to and you've mentioned, it's curious -- if Rowling is aware of it and is resistant to it -- that she doesn't push back against it explicitly in her work. Can you think of a character that seems something like Jung in the books, someone as bad as Prudence Dunleavey is good? I can think of three:* United Humanitarian Church's guru Jonathan Wace in Running Grave: his “psychologizing of religion,” the comparative religion avenue to denial of any true faith, the psychological critical analysis of a patient using mythological tropes (”Artemis”), the cult leader, and the abuser of women and children -- he's a ringer for Jung! * Paul Satchwell, one-eyed serpent with a one-track mind, in Leamington Spa, a true Jungian artist working psycho-sexual motifs graphically on canvas:Naked figures twisted and cavorted in scenes from Greek mythology. Persephone struggled in the arms of Hades as he carried her down into the underworld; Andromeda strained against chains binding her to rock as a dragonish creature rose from the waves to devour her; Leda lay supine in bulrushes as Zeus, in the form of a swan, impregnated her.Two lines of Joni Mitchell floated back to Robin as she looked at the paintings: “When I first saw your gallery, I liked the ones of ladies…”Except that Robin wasn't sure she liked the paintings. The female figures were all black-haired, olive-skinned, heavy-breasted and partially or entirely naked. The paintings were accomplished, but Robin found them slightly lascivious. Each of the women wore a similar expression of vacant abandon, and Satchwell seemed to have a definite preference for those myths that featured bondage, rape or abduction. (Troubled Blood, 542)* And then there are the Masons, kind of an old school Jungian cult in Hallmarked Man. Like the UHC and “harmless” fraternal and charitable group with Christian touches but which doesn't change a man or human nature per Hardacre (and which harbors the rich and powerful like Lord Branfoot). * Coupled with Prudence, the Front of Jungian Beliefs, we get the front and back of Jung in Rowling's work, a characteristic touch of Rowling nuance as she did with Islam in Hallmarked Man.10. Conclusion: (John) I'm obviously not a Jung fan and I don't think Rowling is writing Jungian psychomachia in alchemical symbols a la Angela Carter, but I see how people would come to a contrary conclusion; Rowling's ‘spiritual not religious' public statements and political positions with respect to Same Sex Attraction and abortion line up much more easily with New Age and Jungian types than with any kind of orthodox Christianity. The great thing about essays like Isis' at S&E Files is that it brings more people into the conversation of what literary alchemy is and the various approaches to it. You've been reading about literary alchemy for several years now, Nick; what do you think the person whose first encounter with the subject was the S&E Files article do to hone their alchemy detection skills? * “Read your books and online talks, John!”* How Metallurgical Alchemy Worked and How it Became Literary Alchemy (from Deathly Hallows Lectures, Chapter 1):Alchemy, in a nutshell, was the science for the perfection or sanctification of the alchemist's soul. This heroic venture I need to say straight off is all but impossible today because the way we look at reality, at ‘things' per se makes the Great Work itself almost an absurdity. Unlike the medieval alchemists, we moderns and postmoderns see things with a clear subject/object distinction, that is, we believe that you and I and that table are entirely different things and between them is there is no connection or relation. The knowing subject is one thing and the observed object is completely ‘other.'To the alchemist that is not the case. His efforts in changing lead to gold are based on the premise that he as the subject will go through the same types of changes and purifications as the materials he is working with. In sympathy with these metallurgical transitions and resolutions of contraries, his soul will be purified in correspondence as long as he is working in a prayerful state within the Mysteries (sacraments) of his revealed tradition.Now, historically there was an Arabic alchemy, a Chinese alchemy, a Kabbalistic, as well as a Christian alchemy; each differs superficially with respect to their spiritual traditions but in every one, the alchemist was working with a sacred natural science or physics to advance his spiritual purification. This was only possible because he looked at the metal he was working with as something with which he was not ‘other' but with which he was in relationship, artifex and artifact in sacred art imitating and accelerating the work of the Creator creating a bridge, so that, as lead changes to gold or material perfection, his soul was going through similar transformations and purifications.The common ground is the logos in every created thing, to include persons (cf. John 1:9), which are all continuous with the Logos fabric of reality. As much as the alchemist identifies with this metaphysical ground, purifying himself of the ‘old man' or ego-driven individual and identifying himself with the spiritual Heart or light within him, that light will become his dominant quality, hence his “illumination” or “enlightenment”. And lead or solid darkness turning into gold, hard light.How does this edifying magic become the scaffolding for Harry's adventures? Largely through the genius of William Shakespeare. Hermetic wisdom and alchemical efforts were such commonplaces in Elizabethan England that Shakespeare and his contemporaries recognized, I think. that the magic of staged drama is essentially alchemical. If we groundlings are all watching what's going on up on the stage and everything is working the way it's supposed to, the subject-object distinction dissolves inasmuch as we identify with the characters and their agonies through our logos-imaginations. As they go through their changes, like the metals in a crucible, we identify with them and pass through the same cathartic moment.As the great dramatists of that period realized, “if what we're doing is alchemical, why don't we use alchemical imagery and language, too?” And, voila, literary alchemy is born. This stream of English literature in which narrator or characters and the reader or audience in correspondence pass through the stages of the alchemical work, the black the white and the red (basically dissolution, purification, and then perfection) runs through the next five centuries of poetry, stage work, stories and novels. You may not have recognized it, but its a big part of things you have read.* Literary Alchemy: Sacred Science, Sacred Art, and ‘The Alembic of Story':A Perennialist Explanation of J. K. Rowling's Signature Hermetic Symbolism This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe
"If you think the world could be better and you want to change it, you're going to have to come up with a better story and know how to tell it better." —Joseph RommWhat happens when a physicist with a PhD realizes that data, charts, and credentials can't change a single mind, but a story can? Joseph Romm spent years working in climate science and clean energy before arriving at an uncomfortable truth: facts don't persuade people. Emotions do. In this episode, Joseph breaks down the ancient storytelling tools—the figures of speech used by Homer, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and yes, Taylor Swift—that make stories stick, spread, and move people to action.But this episode is about more than communication theory. Joseph and his daughter co-host the podcast Decoding Taylor Swift, where they analyze the storytelling craft embedded in her music. What started as a way to bond with his daughter over song lyrics became a masterclass in how great writers use foreshadow, irony, the hero's journey, and circular narrative structure to create stories that lodge in the brain and don't let go. As a father of a daughter himself, Rain finds this project deeply personal, and the conversation that follows is one of the most layered and surprising in the show's history.Whether you're trying to communicate complex ideas, reach an audience that doesn't share your worldview, or simply connect more deeply with the people you love, this episode gives you the framework to do it. In this episode, you will learn to:• Understand why storytelling is more effective than raw information in shaping beliefs • Recognize how narrative framing influences what people accept as true • Replace ineffective fact-based arguments with story-driven communication • Identify why misinformation spreads faster than truth • Apply narrative thinking to make your ideas more memorable and persuasiveFollow Joseph Romm: Podcast → Decoding Taylor Swift (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoding-taylor-swift/id1708550100)Book → How to Go Viral and Reach Millions by Joseph Romm (https://www.amazon.com/How-Viral-Reach-Millions-Shakespeare/dp/1944733779)Books & Talks Referenced: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Roger Federer's Dartmouth Commencement Speech Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph CampbellAnd, for more storytelling tips and strategies, visit: Website → https://rainbennett.com Podcast → https://thestorytellinglabpodcast.comOr follow along at: TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@chiefstorytellingofficer Twitter/X → https://twitter.com/rainbennett Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/rainbennett Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/thestorytellinglab YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@RainBennett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"She had a marvelous time ruining everything" This week, we're doing a Show and Tell episode on one of literature's most enduring narrative structures: the Hero's Journey. We explore three songs through the Hero's Journey lens: Maansi unpacks the cross-generational dual hero's story in "The Last Great American Dynasty" (Folklore, 2020), Jenn applies the framework to "Down Bad" (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024),and Jodi walks us through how "The Life of a Showgirl" (The Life of a Showgirl, 2025) follows every classic beat, from the call to adventure to the triumphant (and pithy) return. Plus: the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Hindu goddess Kali, The Traitors, and why Jodi thinks the bridge of "The Life of a Showgirl" might be Taylor's greatest bridge of all time. Subscribe for free to get episode updates or upgrade to paid to get our After School premium content: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics! aptaylorswift.com Mentioned in This Episode: The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell The Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien Star Wars (original trilogy) The Last Great American Dynasty (Folklore, 2020) — Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner Down Bad (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024) — Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff The Life of a Showgirl (The Life of a Showgirl, 2025) — Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback & Mathias Bielandt Episode Highlights 00:36 Welcome and intro — what is the Hero's Journey (the Monomyth)? 17:43 The Last Great American Dynasty: Multiple hero's journeys in one song 31:57 Down Bad: The Hero's Journey when you're sent home against your will 43:56 The Life of a Showgirl: A textbook Hero's Journey Follow AP Taylor Swift Podcast on Social! TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro Email us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com Affiliate Codes Krowned Krystals — krownedkrystals.com — use code APTS at checkout for 10% off! Libro.fm — Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here: tinyurl.com/aptslibro This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.
Welcome to my first episode of 2026, wherein you will hear some audio unboxings, I talk about improving my reading habits, and my in-house book reviewer, Fox Loves Carrots (formerly known as Little Munchkin), returns to talk about Carlos Sanchez's Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces. Featuring: Helluva Town - Cartoon Gangster RPG from Achron Games, Cosmic Dark by Graham Walmsley, The Wind's Twelve Quarters by Ursula K. Le Guin, A Dreamer's Tales by Lord Dunsany, Bound In Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror edited by Lor Gislason. Find the Movie Monday Letterboxd list here https://letterboxd.com/the39thman/list/movie-monday-1/This month Movie Monday is dark fantasy action comedy The Golden Child from 1986. Directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Eddie Murphy. That episode will air on January 26th, so please send your submissions by the 24th if you'd like to be included in the show.Also, be sure not to miss the new podcast I'm involved with, entitled With Wife and I. Isla and I take turns choosing movies to watch together, then share our thoughts with anyone who cares to listen. “Warning” by Lieren of Updates From the Middle of Nowhere Leave me an audio message via https://www.speakpipe.com/KeepOffTheBorderlands You can email me at spencer.freethrall@gmail.com, follow me on BlueSky @freethrall.bsky.social or look me up on Discord by searching for freethrall You can also hear me in actual plays on Grizzly Peaks Radio and find me in a bunch of other places here https://freethrall.carrd.co This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit freethrall.substack.com
Why This Episode Matters This milestone 550th episode brings the Business of Story full circle to its foundational inspiration: Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Journey. Host Park Howell interviews John Bucher, PhD, Executive Director of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, revealing why the Hero's Journey is more than a story framework - it's a neurological blueprint for business success. What You'll Discover The Neuroscience of Storytelling Modern research shows the Hero's Journey mirrors the exact neurological patterns your brain uses to solve problems. When you structure business communications around this framework, you're speaking the native language of human decision-making. How Customers Really Make Decisions John Bucher reveals the truth most businesses miss: Customers make emotional decisions first, gather evidence to support those feelings second, then justify logically third. As Robert McKee said, "The conscious mind is simply the PR department that justifies all the decisions the emotional subconscious mind makes." This is why stories (which communicate feelings) are more powerful than data alone. The Two Paths to Business Transformation Discover how the "Call to Adventure" manifests differently for entrepreneurs versus managers: • Entrepreneur's Journey: Driven by dissatisfaction, voluntarily leaves comfort zone, proactively pursues opportunity • Manager's Journey: Forced by circumstances, faces organizational changes, adapts to involuntary transitions Understanding both paths helps you connect with any audience. Your Customer Is the Hero (Not Your Brand) The positioning shift that transforms marketing from pushy to magnetic: Your brand is Yoda, not Luke Skywalker. You're the mentor providing guidance, not the hero seeking glory. John explains: "We all trust ourselves more than we trust anyone else. When we create the framework for listeners to tell themselves the story, it's so much more powerful." What You're Really Selling "Chevrolet doesn't sell automobiles, they sell freedom." Customers don't buy based on specifications - they buy emotional stories about what products enable in their lives. You're selling transformation, not products. From Intuitive to Intentional Storytelling We're all natural storytellers, but there's a difference between intuitive and intentional storytelling. Learn how to replicate storytelling success consistently without becoming a story theorist. The Hero's Journey as Life Instruction Manual Christopher Vogler calls the Hero's Journey "an instruction manual for life." John Bucher agrees: "No matter how good things are going, bad times always come. That road of trials is something we all keep returning to." The framework helps you recognize patterns, identify mentors, and embrace transformation as natural. Guest Expert John Bucher, PhD, is a renowned mythologist and story expert who has been featured on the BBC, the History Channel, the LA Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and numerous other international outlets. He serves as Executive Director for the Joseph Campbell Foundation and is a writer, storyteller, and speaker. John has consulted and worked with government and cultural leaders around the world, as well as organizations such as HBO, DC Comics, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, A24 Films, Atlas Obscura, and The John Maxwell Leadership Foundation. He is the author of six influential books on storytelling and has worked with New York Times best-selling authors, YouTube influencers, Eisner winners, Emmy winners, Academy Award nominees, magicians, and cast members from Saturday Night Live. Holding a PhD in Mythology & Depth Psychology, he integrates scholarly insights with practical insights, exploring the profound connections between myth, culture, and personal identity. His expertise has helped shape compelling narratives across various platforms, enriching the way stories are understood, told, and experienced globally. Website: tellingabetterstory.com Episode Highlights • The Deathbringer and Lifebringer Native American story that illustrates what you're really selling in business • Why Joseph Campbell opposed dogmatic application of the Hero's Journey (and championed diverse adaptations) • Park Howell's synchronicity experience: Lights flickering when mentioning Campbell's death anniversary • How Park's career demonstrates multiple hero's journeys (agency founder at 35, story consultant at 55) • The Refusal of the Call in sales: Why customer resistance is a natural stage, not permanent barrier • John Bucher's accidental hero's journey (enrolled in music program, ended up in film/TV by mistake) • The Fundamental Attribution Error and how it affects business communication • Why the Hero's Journey is a form (not formula) - the tango dancing metaphor • How to use storytelling language to create deeper listening and engagement Resources Mentioned Quick Introduction (3 minutes): "What It Takes to Be a Hero" by Matthew Winkler (TED-Ed video) - Created by a teacher to help struggling teens understand they're not alone Accessible Learning: • "The Writer's Journey" by Christopher Vogler (5th edition) • "The Power of Myth" book and PBS series with Bill Moyers (6 one-hour episodes) • "Finding Joe" documentary Deep Study: • "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell (1949 - warning: very arcane) New Release: • "Joseph Campbell on the Hero's Journey" - Joseph Campbell Essentials series pocket gift book (available on Amazon) Business Application: • Story Cycle System by Park Howell • Venables Bell & Partners Audi campaigns (perfect 30-second Hero's Journey examples) Key Quotes John Bucher on Decision-Making: "When we understand story, we start to get shortcuts into the thinking of people behind how they make decisions." On Campbell's Philosophy: "Joseph Campbell was not a fan of dogma. He was interested in putting things out on the table for thoughtful engagement and good conversation." On Story Power: "Stories bypass the head and go straight to the heart. We've heard it all before in business - we're looking for different ways to bring information that hold just a bit of surprise." Park Howell on Intentional Storytelling: "We are all by nature intuitive storytellers. But you can become an intentional storyteller simply by understanding these frameworks." On Story as Operating System: "Storytelling is the software that drives the hardware of the operating system - our meaning-making machine in our limbic system, hippocampus, and amygdala." Connect John Bucher: tellingabetterstory.com Joseph Campbell Foundation: jcf.org (weekly newsletter available) Park Howell: businessofstory.com Story Cycle System: businessofstory.com/story-cycle-genie Related Episodes • Episode 425: The ABT Framework Explained - Mastering And-But-Therefore for Business • Episode 380: Customer Journey Mapping with Story Frameworks • Episode 510: Brand Archetypes in Action - Finding Your Authentic Voice About Business of Story The Business of Story podcast helps business professionals, marketers, and entrepreneurs master the power of strategic storytelling. Host Park Howell, creator of the Story Cycle System, interviews world-class experts on applying narrative frameworks to business growth, customer engagement, and brand development. Subscribe: businessofstory.com/podcast
The Taproot Therapy Podcast - https://www.GetTherapyBirmingham.com
The Story Science Forgot: Why Psychotherapy Needs Narrative More Than Ever by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Dec 15, 2025 | 0 comments Joseph Campbell is arguably one of the most influential intellectuals of the twentieth century. If you have watched a Marvel movie or read a modern fantasy novel or sat in a screenwriter's workshop you have encountered his fingerprints. George Lucas explicitly credited Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces as the structural backbone of Star Wars. Every major Hollywood studio has copies of his work floating around their development offices. Even filmmakers who actively deconstruct his monomyth model still have to be in conversation with Campbell to do so. You cannot escape him if you are telling stories in the Western tradition. But here is the thing about Joseph Campbell that we need to hold in our minds when we think about what psychology has become. He was a showman. He was a legitimate scholar but also someone who understood that the truth sometimes needs a little theatrical assistance. The Showman and the Bear Bones One of Campbell's favorite presentation techniques involved showing an image of ancient bear bones that were perhaps two million years old and discovered in a cave. The bones had been arranged in a particular way with pieces shoved back into the bear's mouth. Campbell would present this with his characteristic gravitas and explain that the ancients understood that nature must eat of itself. They knew that to take life is to participate in a cyclical loop of giving and receiving. The bear consuming itself was a ritual recognition that we are all food for something else. It is a beautiful interpretation. It is probably even partially true. We know through depth psychology and early anthropology that prehistoric humans were almost certainly trying to make meaning of existential realities. Ritual practices around death and consumption are well documented across cultures. Campbell was not fabricating this from nothing. But also come on Campbell. These are two million year old bones shoved in a hole. Maybe the jaw just collapsed that way. Maybe soil shifted. Maybe an animal disturbed them centuries after burial. He did not know. He could not know. And yet he presented it with the confidence of revealed truth. Here is why this matters. Campbell's influence is incalculable despite his methodological looseness. He told a story that resonated so deeply with something in the human psyche that it became the invisible architecture of our entire entertainment industry. He was not objectively right about those bear bones but he was pointing at something real about how humans make meaning. The story he told about that meaning making was more powerful than any peer reviewed paper could have been. We need to remember this when we think about psychotherapy and what it has become. The Dream I Had and the World I Found When I first entered the field of psychotherapy I had a fantasy. I thought I was going to be Joseph Campbell. I was going to find my way to someplace like Berkeley and immerse myself in the grand conversation between psychology and mythology and anthropology and philosophy. I imagined something like the Esalen Institute in the 1970s where Fritz Perls developed Gestalt therapy and where researchers and mystics and clinicians sat together in hot springs and argued about the nature of consciousness. Those places barely exist anymore. What I found instead was a competitive model built on H-indexes and impact factors. I found academic departments that had been siloed into increasingly narrow specializations. Each department defended its territorial boundaries against incursion from neighboring disciplines. The institute model where a psychologist might spend an afternoon talking to an anthropologist about ritual has been systematically dismantled. What we have instead are specialists who do not read outside their sub specialty and researchers whose entire careers depend on defending one narrow hypothesis. We have an incentive structure that actively punishes the kind of cross pollination that leads to genuine discovery. The Hollow Room: How the Biomedical Model Fails This is not just an academic inconvenience. It is a catastrophe for the human sciences and for the actual treatment of patients. There is a reason Freud stuck around. It is not because psychoanalysis was rigorously validated through randomized controlled trials. It is because as the science writer John Horgan observed old paradigms die only when better paradigms replace them. Freud lives on because science has not produced a theory of and therapy for the mind potent enough to render psychoanalysis obsolete once and for all. The biomedical model promised us a better story. It told us that humans are biological machines and that suffering is just a mechanical malfunction. It promised that if we could just find the right neurotransmitter or the right gene we could fix the machine. But look at what that looks like in practice. It looks like the 15 minute medication management appointment. A person comes in with their life falling apart. They are grieving a divorce or wrestling with the trauma of their childhood or facing a crisis of meaning. And the doctor looks at a checklist. They ask about sleep. They ask about appetite. They ask about energy levels. They treat the symptoms like check engine lights on a dashboard. They prescribe a pill to dim the lights and they send the person away. It looks like manualized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This is the gold standard of evidence based treatment. But in the vacuum of a manual it becomes absurd. A patient might be crying about the loss of a child and a therapist who is strictly adhering to the protocol has to redirect them to the agenda for Module 3 which is identifying cognitive distortions. The model has no room for the tragedy of the situation. It only has room for the erroneous thought that the patient is having about the tragedy. The result is that by most measures we are not actually helping people more effectively than we were fifty years ago. To understand the depth of this failure, we must look at the “smoking gun” of the psychiatric establishment: the STAR*D study. For nearly two decades, this massive, taxpayer-funded study was held up as the irrefutable proof that the “medication merry-go-round” worked. It cost $35 million and was cited thousands of times to justify the idea that if a patient didn't get better on one antidepressant, you simply switched them to another, and then another. The study claimed a “cumulative remission rate” of 67%. It told us that two-thirds of people would be cured if they just complied with the protocol. This was a lie built on methodological quicksand. A forensic re-analysis of the data (Pigott et al., 2023) revealed that the researchers had inflated their success rates through a series of stunning methodological sleights of hand. The original design called for the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) to be the primary outcome measure. But when that scale wasn't showing the numbers they wanted, investigators switched to a secondary, unblinded, self-report questionnaire (the QIDS-SR) which painted a rosier picture. Furthermore, the re-analysis exposed that hundreds of patients who dropped out due to side effects were excluded from the failure count, effectively scrubbing the negative data. Even worse, over 900 patients who didn't even meet the minimum severity for depression were included to boost the numbers. When the data was re-analyzed using the study's original criteria and including all participants, the cumulative remission rate plummeted from 67% to 35%. But the most damning statistic is the sustained recovery rate. Of the 4,041 patients who entered the trial, only a tiny fraction achieved remission and actually stayed well. When accounting for dropouts and relapses over the one-year follow-up period, a mere 108 patients achieved remission and stayed well without relapsing. That is a sustained recovery rate of 2.7%. If a heart surgery or cancer treatment had a failure rate of 97.3%, it would be abandoned. Yet, this study was championed by investigators with deep financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, and the results were codified into clinical guidelines that still rule the profession today. This is the indictment: we have built an entire system of care on a statistical fabrication, prioritizing the protection of the model over the healing of the human. I have big problems with Freud. I have big problems with classical psychoanalysis. I am more of a Jungian. But here is what the depth psychologists understood that the biomedical model forgot. Humans are not just biological machines. We are meaning making creatures who navigate the world through story. When you take away our stories you do not make us more rational. You make us lost. The Flock of Dodos This separation of science from narrative has hurt the researchers too. In his book The Ghost Lab journalist Matt Hongoltz-Hetling uses the flock of dodos metaphor to describe this phenomenon. He argues that specialized creatures that are perfectly adapted to narrow environments become extinct when conditions change. Academic science has become a flock of dodos. A neuroscientist studies one particular brain region. A psychologist studies one particular therapeutic intervention. An anthropologist studies one particular culture. Nobody is allowed to step back and ask what all of this means together. When you silo information into separate academic disciplines instead of organizing it into a holistic understanding you kill the narratives that are already there. You cannot see the story until you step back far enough to recognize the pattern. Heidegger and the AI Bubble One of the primary functions of a subjective narrative in an objective field like psychotherapy is that it lets us start with things we consider self evident. These are things that do not need evidence because they are the ground upon which evidence stands. Things like humanity is important. Things like we contain multiplicities and conflicting parts. Things like consciousness is a mystery. The biomedical model has no way to accommodate these self evident truths because they are not measurable. You cannot run a randomized controlled trial on human dignity. Martin Heidegger understood this trajectory. He warned that science and technology were becoming self justifying systems that asked only whether something could be done and never whether it should be done. We are watching this play out right now with Large Language Models and Artificial Intelligence. The tech industry is boiling seawater and consuming enormous amounts of our remaining resources to build ever larger systems. As Ed Zitron has documented the current AI boom is likely a bubble that will crash and burn. It may leave us with a Google monopoly on Gemini that will not actually help anybody. Should we be doing this? Should we be fundamentally restructuring our economy around technology whose benefits are speculative at best? The Heideggerian answer is that we are not even capable of asking these questions properly because we have lost the narrative framework within which “should” makes sense. When everything is reduced to capability and efficiency the concept of values disappears. The Perennial and the Possible Can we just recognize that having a livable planet is probably a self evidencing goal? Can we recognize that having a psychotherapy willing to engage with perennial philosophy might be more valuable than another meta analysis demonstrating small effect sizes for manualized interventions? This is what I mean by reintroducing narrative. I do not mean replacing evidence with myth. I mean recognizing that the facts do not speak for themselves. Data requires interpretation. Interpretation requires a framework. And frameworks are stories about what matters. The story science forgot is the story of science itself. It is the story of how inquiry emerged from human communities trying to understand their world. We can recover this story. We can rebuild the connections that the academic silos have severed. The path is there. It always has been. We just need to be brave enough to walk it. The Exodus of the Sick If academic science has become a flock of dodos clinical practice has become something arguably worse. It has become a reenactment of the Milgram experiment where the system plays the role of the authority figure and the patient plays the victim. We often remember Stanley Milgram's famous 1961 study as a lesson about the capacity for evil but its deeper lesson was about the capacity for distance. When the subject had to physically touch the victim compliance with the order to harm them dropped to 30 percent. The White Coat only retained its authority when it created a buffer between the human actions and their consequences. Modern psychotherapy has built a massive administrative White Coat that separates the healer from the healed. This is not just a metaphor. It is a structural reality that is actively driving patients out of the profession and into the arms of pseudoscience. The Bureaucracy as Trauma For a patient in crisis the Evidence Based system often functions as a machine of exclusion. A study on healthcare administrative burdens reveals that the psychological cost of navigating billing and insurance denials and intake forms acts as a friction that hits the most vulnerable the hardest. We ask trauma survivors to retell their stories to three different intake coordinators before they ever see a therapist. This process is itself retraumatizing. When they finally reach a provider they are often met with the biomedical gaze which is a checklist driven assessment that reduces their complex narrative of suffering to a code for billing. As the Australian Psychological Society has noted the chemical imbalance theory and the medicalization of distress have failed to reduce stigma and have instead left patients feeling defective and unheard. The result is a profound Low Trust environment. Theodore Porter in his book Trust in Numbers argues that we only rely on strict mechanical numbers when we do not trust people. We use the DSM and manualized protocols because insurers do not trust clinicians to judge and clinicians do not trust themselves to deviate. The Great Split: Why Research and Practice Are Divorcing This creates a fundamental schism that explains why the profession feels like it is cracking in half. On one side you have the academic researchers who are incentivized by grant funding and publication metrics. To get these rewards they must isolate variables and create reproducible manualized protocols. This means they must strip away the very thing that makes therapy work which is the messy and unrepeatable human relationship. On the other side you have the clinicians who are incentivized by patient outcomes. They are in the room with the messiness. They see that the manualized protocol fails the complex trauma patient so they improvise. They integrate. They use intuition. The academic looks at the clinician and sees a cowboy who ignores the data. The clinician looks at the academic and sees a bureaucrat who has never treated a suicidal patient. This is why the research is no longer informing the practice. We have created two different languages. The researcher speaks in p-values and population averages while the clinician speaks in case studies and individual breakthroughs. Why Pseudoscience Wins the Trust War This low trust environment creates a vacuum that wellness influencers are all too happy to fill. We often mock the public for turning to unverified supplements and TikTok diagnosticians and quantum mysticism. But we have to ask what these influencers are providing that we are not. They are providing narrative. They are providing connection. They are providing a. parasocial yes but still, High Trust experience. A recent analysis suggests that wellness fads thrive not because people are stupid but because the influencers offer a feeling of personal validation that the medical system denies. Even AI chatbots are now being described by users as more humane than doctors because the AI listens to the whole story without looking at a watch or a checklist. When a patient is told by a doctor that their pain is idiopathic or psychosomatic because it does not show up on a lab test and then an influencer tells them I see you and I believe you and here is a story about why this is happening the patient will choose the influencer every time. The trust gap drives them away from care that might actually help and toward solutions that feel good but do nothing. The Clinician's Moral Injury This leaves the ethical psychotherapist in a state of moral injury. We are forced to participate in a system that we know is alienating the very people we are trying to help. We are trained to value the therapeutic alliance or the bond of trust above all else yet we work in a system designed to sever it with paperwork and time limits and standardized protocols. We have to put down the White Coat of administrative distance. We have to stop hiding behind the Evidence Based label when that label is being used to deny the reality of the person in front of us. Proposals for a Unified Future If we want to stop this exodus and heal the split we need specific structural changes. We cannot just hope for better insurance reimbursement. We need to change what we consider valid science. First we must re-legitimize the systematic case study. For a century the detailed narrative of a single patient was the gold standard of learning. We replaced it with the aggregate data of the randomized controlled trial. We need to bring it back. We need journals that publish rigorous detailed accounts of what actually happens in the room when a patient gets better. Second we need to build open source repositories for clinical observation. Currently the wisdom of the field is locked behind for profit paywalls or lost in the private notes of isolated therapists. We need a Wikipedia of Clinical Practice where thousands of clinicians can document what they are seeing in real time. If ten thousand therapists report that somatic processing helps complex trauma that is a data set that rivals any RCT. Third we need to teach philosophy and narrative in graduate school again. We are training technicians when we should be training healers. A therapist who knows how to read a spreadsheet but does not know how to understand a story is useless to a human being in crisis. If we do not offer a therapy that is human and narrative and deeply relational we will continue to lose our patients to those who do even if what they are offering is a lie. The Mirror and the Map: Why Math is a Story We often treat mathematics as if it were the bedrock of reality itself. We act as though a p-value is a piece of the universe, like a rock or a proton. But we must remember that math is not the thing itself. It is a representation of the thing. It is a map, not the territory. It is a mirror, not the face. Theodore Porter's work in Trust in Numbers reminds us that we reach for these mirrors when we do not trust our own eyes. But the mirror is useless without someone to look into it and interpret the reflection. Data by itself is pointless. It is a pile of bricks without an architect. It requires interpretation to become meaning, and interpretation is fundamentally a narrative act. When we try our best to make a purely objective study, we are still telling a story. We are saying, “These numbers represent this phenomenon.” Then another researcher comes along, looks at the same numbers, and tells a different story: “No, they represent that.” This conflict isn't a failure of science; it is science. The Storytellers of Science The greatest breakthroughs in history did not come from people who just crunched numbers. They came from people who could see the story the numbers were trying to tell. These stories are really damn interesting, often stranger and more beautiful than fiction. Consider August Kekulé. He didn't discover the structure of the benzene molecule by staring at a spreadsheet. He discovered it by dreaming of a snake eating its own tail—the Ouroboros. His subjective, narrative brain provided the image that unlocked the objective chemical reality. The data was there, but it needed a myth to make it intelligible. Look at Quantum Physics. The raw math of quantum mechanics is cold and abstract. But when physicists like Erwin Schrödinger or Werner Heisenberg looked at that data, they saw a story about uncertainty, about cats that are both alive and dead, about a universe that only decides what it is when it is observed. They didn't just calculate; they interpreted. They told a story about reality that was so radical it changed how we understand existence. Even in psychology, the data of the “talking cure” was messy and anecdotal until Freud and Jung gave us the language of the Unconscious and the Archetype. Were they objectively “right” in every detail? No. But they gave us a framework—a story—that allowed us to navigate the chaos of the human mind. They provided the map that allowed us to enter the territory. The Final Integration We have spent the last fifty years trying to strip this storytelling capacity out of our profession in a misguided attempt to be taken seriously by the “hard” sciences. In doing so, we have thrown away our most powerful tool. The brain is a story-processing machine. To treat it with checklists and spreadsheets is to deny its fundamental nature. We need to be brave enough to pick up the mirror again. We need to be brave enough to look at the data—whether it's the 2.7% recovery rate of STAR*D or the trembling pupil of a trauma patient—and ask, “What is the story here?” The path forward isn't about choosing between science and narrative. It is about realizing that science is a narrative. It is the grandest, most complex, most rigorous story we have ever tried to tell. And it is time we started telling it properly again. More @ https://gettherapybirmingham.com/
In today's episode, Jim sits down with Dust Kunkel, the author of the dark fantasy debut Fly Stone, Fly, for a wide-ranging conversation about writing, influences, and the strange, brutal, deeply human story that's already turning heads.We start spoiler-free, getting to know Dust as a person and a reader—favorite books, movies, and inspirations—before diving into the origins of Fly Stone, Fly, why dark fantasy was the right home for this story, and how a debut novel ends up landing award attention right out of the gate.From there, we talk craft:
Before the Scientific Revolution, Western medicine was thought in terms of humors: cheerful people were sanguine and had a lot of blood, fiery cholerics had an excess of yellow bile, gloomy Melancholics had black bile, and mellow phlegmatics had phlegm of course. And the balancing of humors—hot and cold, wet and dry—was the key to a healthy life. It sounds medieval, it is, rooted in ancient Greeks, but we Catholics like medieval things, and some of us—especially Juan Domínguez, author: Knight, Monk, King, Prophet: A Christian Man's Guide to the Four Temperaments—has found wisdom in this way of thinking. And it's a way of thinking that we hear in some more conservative, or traditional, Catholic circles, so it's something I've been wondering about for some time. I've also been interesting in archetypes for since I first read Joseph Campbell and The Hero of a Thousand Faces many years ago. We also talk a bit about how one's role changes over time and also whether these models are applicable to women as well as men. I really enjoyed the conversation; I think you will too. Juan Domínguez's book, Knight, Monk, King, Prophet, on Amazon. Juan Domínguez: ‘Simple Men' on Substack. Juan's description of the book on Substack. Juan Domínguez with Steven Caswell on Missio Dei. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Before the Scientific Revolution, Western medicine was thought in terms of humors: cheerful people were sanguine and had a lot of blood, fiery cholerics had an excess of yellow bile, gloomy Melancholics had black bile, and mellow phlegmatics had phlegm of course. And the balancing of humors—hot and cold, wet and dry—was the key to a healthy life. It sounds medieval, it is, rooted in ancient Greeks, but we Catholics like medieval things, and some of us—especially Juan Domínguez, author: Knight, Monk, King, Prophet: A Christian Man's Guide to the Four Temperaments—has found wisdom in this way of thinking. And it's a way of thinking that we hear in some more conservative, or traditional, Catholic circles, so it's something I've been wondering about for some time. I've also been interesting in archetypes for since I first read Joseph Campbell and The Hero of a Thousand Faces many years ago. We also talk a bit about how one's role changes over time and also whether these models are applicable to women as well as men. I really enjoyed the conversation; I think you will too. Juan Domínguez's book, Knight, Monk, King, Prophet, on Amazon. Juan Domínguez: ‘Simple Men' on Substack. Juan's description of the book on Substack. Juan Domínguez with Steven Caswell on Missio Dei. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Before the Scientific Revolution, Western medicine was thought in terms of humors: cheerful people were sanguine and had a lot of blood, fiery cholerics had an excess of yellow bile, gloomy Melancholics had black bile, and mellow phlegmatics had phlegm of course. And the balancing of humors—hot and cold, wet and dry—was the key to a healthy life. It sounds medieval, it is, rooted in ancient Greeks, but we Catholics like medieval things, and some of us—especially Juan Domínguez, author: Knight, Monk, King, Prophet: A Christian Man's Guide to the Four Temperaments—has found wisdom in this way of thinking. And it's a way of thinking that we hear in some more conservative, or traditional, Catholic circles, so it's something I've been wondering about for some time. I've also been interesting in archetypes for since I first read Joseph Campbell and The Hero of a Thousand Faces many years ago. We also talk a bit about how one's role changes over time and also whether these models are applicable to women as well as men. I really enjoyed the conversation; I think you will too. Juan Domínguez's book, Knight, Monk, King, Prophet, on Amazon. Juan Domínguez: ‘Simple Men' on Substack. Juan's description of the book on Substack. Juan Domínguez with Steven Caswell on Missio Dei. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
This week, Liberty and Emily discuss some of the upcoming 2026 book releases they're most excited about, including Is This a Cry for Help?, Molka, Half His Age, and more! Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify and never miss a beat book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. Keep track of new releases with Book Riot's New Release Index, now included with an All Access membership. Click here to get started today! This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Books Discussed On the Show: Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily Austin (Atria, January 13) Heartstopper: Volume 6 by Alice Oseman (Graphix, July 7) Brawler: Stories by Lauren Groff (Riverhead Books, February 24) Molka by Monika Kim (Erewhon Books, April 28) All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun (37 Ink, March 10) The Body by Bethany C. Morrow (Tor Nightfire, Feb 10) Whidbey by T Kira Madden (Mariner Books, March 10) The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham (Kokila, June 2) Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker (Hanover Square Press, April 21) Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy (Ballantine Book, January 20) The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean (Tor Books, May 5) The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (1201 Books, April 21) Canon by Paige Lewis (Viking, May 19) Breakout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon (Quill Tree Books, June 2) Tata by Valérie Perrin, Hildegarde Serle (translator) (Europa, June 23) Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman (MIRA, August 11) What We're Reading: Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz The Lamb by Lucy Rose Cool Machine (The Harlem Trilogy) by Colson Whitehead More Books Out This Week: The Uninvited by Nancy Banks The Snowman Code by Simon Stephenson, Reggie Brown The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher Dig Me a Grave: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Who Seduced the South by Richard A. Harpootlian, Shaun Assael Love in Plane Sight by Lauren Connolly The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Carl Rivera became Shopify's Chief Design Officer in 2025, reinstating a design leadership position that was dormant at the company since the departure of its founding designer.Earlier in his career, Carl co-founded Tictail, the Stockholm-based social shopping platform and marketplace known for its design. Shopify acquired Tictail in 2018, bringing Carl into the organization. He has since held product leadership positions at Shopify, where he led major initiatives serving millions.AffiliatesThese are products we personally use and recommend.* Framer: build websites, the easy way* Rize: magically track everything you do* Color AI: generate meaningful color palettes* Sublime: turn ideas into worlds of inspirationBooks from the conversation* The Bhagavad Gita* The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell* The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by Carl G. Jung* How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul by Adrian ShaughnessyCarl on LinkedIn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.designdisciplin.com/subscribe
Story structure is what makes us love stories in the first place. We love a nice set of bookends. We root for characters who save cats. A hero's journey "there and back again" resonates with the human psyche. In this episode, Clare and Hannah talk about several kinds of story structures, including Three-Act, Five-Act, Chiastic, Save the Cat, and the Hero's Journey. Some of the books we mention in this episode:The Heroine's Journey by Gail CarrigerSave the Cat! by Blake SnyderScreenplay by Syd FieldThe Writer's Journey by Christopher VoglerThe Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph CampbellYou can pick up these books and many more at our Bookshop.org affiliate link. You can support your favorite nerdy mother-daughter podcast, get a discount on your purchase, plus support independent bookstores everywhere! Thank you!We'd love to hear your thoughts! Click here to send us a text message!Support the showWe provide links and other resources to help you find and enjoy the things we talked about on this episode! Note that some of these may include “affiliate” links to books and other products. When you click through and purchase, the price of the item is the same for you. In fact, most of the time you'll get a discount! But the company gives us a little somethin' somethin' to say “thanks” for sending you their way! This helps you enjoy the website and the podcast EVEN MORE by eliminating intrusive advertisements. Thanks for clicking! Theme music: “Splanchnics Riff” composed and performed by Clare T. Walker Clare is an independent author who would love it if you checked out her books! If you like exciting thrillers featuring an “everyman” hero who rises to his or her full potential in the face of peril—-you might enjoy The Keys of Death. It's a veterinary medical thriller about a small-town animal doctor who gets tangled up in a whistle-blowing scheme against a big biotech company. Or, if you prefer shorter fiction, try Startling Figures, a collection of three paranormal urban fantasy stories.
Most entrepreneurs think storytelling is about simply entertaining. But the stories that move markets, build movements, and create generational brands all follow a deeper pattern that is wired into every human across every culture in history. In this episode of The Russell Brunson Show we talk about the Hero's Journey! I open up Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces and show you why this framework has shaped your favorite movies, your personal development, your beliefs, and even the way ClickFunnels grew to a billion dollars in sales. If you want your message to resonate at a primal level and persuade people without feeling pushy, this is the story structure your business has been missing. Key Highlights: ◼️How Joseph Campbell discovered that every enduring story across time and culture follows the same pattern. ◼️Why George Lucas built the first Star Wars movie using this exact framework and how thousands of Hollywood films now follow it. ◼️The core steps of the Hero's Journey and why audiences subconsciously connect to it in movies, books, and real life. ◼️How applying this structure transformed my webinars, funnels, events, and ultimately the growth of the ClickFunnels movement. ◼️The three versions of the Hero's Journey you can study and use: Campbell's original, Christopher Vogler's Hollywood version, and my Expert Secrets version. The Hero's Journey isn't just some ‘fun' thing to talk about... It is the blueprint behind every story that has ever moved a crowd, converted an audience, or transformed a customer. Once you understand it, you start seeing it everywhere and you will know exactly how to weave it into your own marketing, sales presentations, and content. If you want my notes with all three frameworks side by side, you can find them here: ◼️https://russellbrunson.com/notes ◼️If you've got a product, offer, service… or idea… I'll show you how to sell it (the RIGHT way) Register for my next event → https://sellingonline.com/podcast ◼️Still don't have a funnel? ClickFunnels gives you the exact tools (and templates) to launch TODAY → https://clickfunnels.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
GGACP celebrates Halloween week by revisiting this conversation from 2021 as Gilbert and Frank celebrate the 90th anniversaries (1931-2021) of Universal Studios' original “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” with Oscar-winning makeup creator Rick Baker and late author-historian David J. Skal. In this episode, Rick and David talk about sympathetic monsters, mad scientists (real and imagined), the genius of Jack Pierce and the premature deaths of Colin Clive, Dwight Frye and Lon Chaney. Also, David interviews Carla Laemmle, Rick turns Martin Landau into Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange appears in Boris Karloff's obit and Bram Stoker's widow tries to kill off “Nosferatu.” PLUS: Ghoulardi! “Man of a Thousand Faces”! The influence of Forrest J. Ackerman! Bette Davis (almost) plays the Bride of Frankenstein! And the boys (once again) try to make sense of “The Black Cat”! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael Sheen is an award-winning actor.After finding his love for the stage with the West Glamorgan Youth theatre as a teenager, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He spent the 1990s making a name for himself as a stage actor, shining in the classics from Romeo and Juliet to Peer Gynt as well as in 20th century masterpieces such as Look Back in Anger and Amadeus, receiving several Olivier Award nominations along the way.A relocation to the US in the early 2000s with his then partner, the actress Kate Beckinsale, and their young daughter Lily prompted a move into films. His breakthrough came in 2003 when he portrayed Tony Blair in a Stephen Frears film called The Deal. It was the beginning of what became an unlikely specialism: morphing into real people from recent history: Kenneth Williams, David Frost, Brian Clough, Chris Tarrant, and Prince Andrew – with two more outings as Tony Blair thrown in for good measure.Michael was born in Newport, South Wales, in February 1969, the eldest of two children to Meyrick and Irene. He grew up in Port Talbot from the age of eight and considers it his hometown. His first love was football, and he was spotted as youngster by an Arsenal talent scout to play for their youth team. His parents decided against moving the family to London and he turned to acting instead and graduated from RADA in 1991.Alongside the classic dramas, his range extends to appearing in fantasy and science fiction films such as The Twilight Saga and Tron: Legacy. Michael has said that the most meaningful project to him was a modern restaging of the passion play in Port Talbot in 2011, which involved the participation of a thousand local people, because it opened his eyes to the difficulties many of them were experiencing. He has since used his own money to fund the 2019 Homeless World Cup in Cardiff and set up an organisation which supports community groups. Michael lives in Wales with his partner, the actress Anna Lundberg, and their two young daughters. DISC ONE: Vienna - Ultravox DISC TWO: The Ecstasy Of Gold - Ennio Morricone DISC THREE: Desire - Talk Talk DISC FOUR: Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones DISC FIVE: Ready for Drowning - Manic Street Preachers DISC SIX: Passion - Peter Gabriel DISC SEVEN: Dark Secret - Lau DISC EIGHT: Oh Yeah - Yello BOOK CHOICE: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell LUXURY ITEM: A football CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Vienna - Ultravox Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah TaylorThere are more than 2000 programmes in our archive available for you to listen to. We have cast away other notable actors including Sir Anthony Hopkins and some of the people Michael has played including Kenneth Williams, Chris Tarrant and Tony Blair. You can find all those episodes and more by searching BBC Sounds.
Love can make a guy do funny things. Mass murder, torture, abduction... but he's just misunderstood? Maybe? Grab your backstage pass as we go way back to a classic classic - Lon Chaney's iconic turn in the film that launched the Universal Monsters. But do words like "iconic" and "classic classic" still hold true for a silent film? Do we feel obligated to enjoy a 100 year old movie, or does it actually stand the test of time? We're very excited to explore this, silent movies, and more. And we can't thank Paul McGuire Grimes enough for joining! Happy Halloween, friends. If you like Camp Kaiju, please leave a rating and review. Subscribe to campkaijupodcast.com or leave a comment at campkaiju@gmail.com, Letterboxd, or Instagram (@camp_kaiju_podcast); or leave a voicemail at (612) 470-2612.Visit Patreon.com/campkaiju and campkaiju.threadless.com for perks and merchandise. We'll see you next week for 20 Million Miles to Earth, with Naomi Osborn joining us!MOVIES MENTIONED: The Cameraman (1928), The Monster (1925)TRAILERS The Phantom of the Opera (1962); Phantom of the Opera (1943); The Phantom of the Opera (1989); Phantom of the Paradise (1974); Sunset Boulevard (1950); Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)SHOUT OUTS & SPONSORSSubstack Film Criticism by Matthew Cole LevinePlays by Vincent S. HannamZack Linder & the Zack Pack Info about PHANTOM OF THE OPERALink to 1929 version of PHANTOMPaul's Trip to the Movies - Paul's websitePaul's Instagram - @paulsmovietripPaul's YouTubeCamp Kaiju: Monster Movie Podcast. The Phantom of the Opera (1925) Movie Review. Hosted by Vincent Hannam, Matthew Cole Levine, Paul McGuire Grimes © 2025 Vincent S. Hannam, All Rights Reserved.
Join Zeckthar and Yuksen as they discuss the first Grey Knight Supreme Grand Master Janus, the Grey Knights very own McGuffin Kaldor Draigo, and one of their most dangerous nemesis, the Prince of a Thousand Faces!
EPISODE 110 - “LON CHANEY SR, and LON CHANEY JR” - 10/25 LON CHANEY, known as the 'Man of a Thousand Faces,' amazed audiences in the silent era with his unforgettable performances in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). He was a master of transformation, using makeup, physicality, and raw emotion to create these classic characters no one had ever seen before. His son, LON CHANEY, JR., had the difficult job of following in his father's footsteps. But he made his own mark, especially as The Wolf Man (1941), a role that turned him into one of Universal's great horror stars. Join us as we discuss this remarkable father-and-son duo, their careers, their lives, and how the Chaney name became synonymous with both monsters and movie magic. SHOW NOTES: Sources: “Not the Girl Next Door” (2008), by Charlotte Chandler; “Lon Chaney: The Man Behind the Thousand Faces” (1993), by Michael F. Blake; www.lonchaney.com; PBS.org/WNET/AmericanMasters; Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces, Documentary (2022); Lon Chaney, Jr.: Son of a Thousand Faces, Documentary, A&E Biography (1995); “Secrets from Lon Chaney's Oklahoma Odyssey,” November 14, 1982, by Sam Anderson, The Oklahoman; “9 Transformative Facts About Lon Chaney Sr.,” November 6, 2019, by Jane Rose, Mental Floss; Wikipedia.com; TCM.com; IBDB.com; IMDBPro.com; Movies Mentioned: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923); The Phantom of the Opera (1925); The Wolf Man (1941); By the Sun's Rays (1914); The Wicked Darling (1919); The Miracle Man (1919); The Penalty (1920); He Who Gets Slapped (1924); The Unholy Three (1925); The Blackbird (1926); The Road to Mandalay (1926); Tell It to the Marines (1926); Mr. Wu (1927); The Unknown (1927); London After Midnight (1927); The Big City (1928); Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928); While the City Sleeps (1928); West of Zanzibar (1928); Where East is East (1929); Thunder (1929); Girl Crazy (1932); Undersea Kingdom (1936); Of Mice and Men (1939); One Billion BC (1940); Billy the Kid (1941); Riders of Death Valley (1941); Badlands of Dakota (1941); Too Many Blondes (1941); San Antonio Rose (1941); Man Made Monster (1941); Frankenstein (1932); The Mummy (1932); The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942); The Mummy's Tomb (1942); Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943); Son of Dracula (1943); House of Frankenstein (1944); Abbott and CostelloMeet Frankenstein (1948); High Noon (1952); Bride of the Gorilla (1951); The Black Castle (1952); Indestructible Man (1956); The Alligator (1959); The Bushwhacker (1952); The Silver Star (1955); The Haunted Palace (1963); Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971); --------------------------------- http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this Rich Reflections session, Rich invites listeners into an early-morning meditation on curiosity, creativity, and energy. From candlelit writing at 3:42 a.m. to reflections on caffeine habits among history's greatest minds, the episode explores how we fuel our bodies and minds for the work that matters most. Rich shares insights from The Hero with a Thousand Faces, The Tao Te Ching, and the unexpected recommendations of ChatGPT—using them as jumping-off points to ask what books, habits, and thoughts expand our own perspective. With humor, grounded philosophy, and a farmer's eye for clarity, this session encourages you to ask: what's worth my energy, and how am I choosing to feed my mind? Subscribe to the email newsletter for inspiration, self-development, & updates: https://richhebron.com/ Questions from this session: What are we grateful for? What is a time of day or environment that makes us feel good and empowered? What is something we could benefit from getting clearer on? What are our observations with caffeine? What is our consumption of audio like? What have our dreams been lately? What's our interpretation? What are 3 books that we could read to expand our perspective most? What are we energized for? What thoughts or habits are we practicing lately? How will we pursue our curiosity in the next week?
Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3131: Steve Kamb shares a playful yet practical framework for transforming your life by thinking like a superhero. From identifying your origin story to choosing your superpowers, allies, and training ground, he shows how adopting a hero's mindset can make personal growth fun and deeply motivating. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/how-to-become-a-superhero-in-4-easy-steps/ Quotes to ponder: "Every superhero has an origin story, and you do too." "A hero is nothing without allies." "The world needs good people to step up and become superheroes." Episode references: SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully: https://www.amazon.com/SuperBetter-Power-Living-Gamefully/dp/0143109774 Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Strong-Ability-Transforms-Parent/dp/081298580X The Hero with a Thousand Faces: https://www.amazon.com/Hero-Thousand-Faces-Collected-Works/dp/1577315936 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3131: Steve Kamb shares a playful yet practical framework for transforming your life by thinking like a superhero. From identifying your origin story to choosing your superpowers, allies, and training ground, he shows how adopting a hero's mindset can make personal growth fun and deeply motivating. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/how-to-become-a-superhero-in-4-easy-steps/ Quotes to ponder: "Every superhero has an origin story, and you do too." "A hero is nothing without allies." "The world needs good people to step up and become superheroes." Episode references: SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully: https://www.amazon.com/SuperBetter-Power-Living-Gamefully/dp/0143109774 Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Strong-Ability-Transforms-Parent/dp/081298580X The Hero with a Thousand Faces: https://www.amazon.com/Hero-Thousand-Faces-Collected-Works/dp/1577315936 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send us a text Julie Berry is the New York Times bestselling author and award-winning storyteller. Julie's works span across genres and age groups, from the NCTE Walden Award–winning Lovely War to the Printz Honor novel The Passion of Dolssa, to middle grade adventures like The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place and the Wishes and Wellingtons trilogy, to heartwarming picture books. Her brand-new YA novel, If Looks Could Kill, just released yesterday—congratulations, Julie! Julie also owns Author's Note, a charming independent bookstore in Medina, New York, where she fosters community, conversation, and a love of reading.In this rich conversation, we explore:How Julie chose the monster and villain at the heart of her latest novelWhy mythology, symbols, and metaphors are essential for making sense of the worldThe surprising and powerful benefits of book clubs—especially for middle grade readersWhy cultivating lifelong readers matters so deeplyThe joys and positive ripple effects Julie has noticed since opening her bookstoreJulie's insights remind us of the transformative power of stories, the importance of keeping curiosity alive, and the role books play in shaping thoughtful, imaginative communities.Connect with Julie:InstagramFacebookWebsiteBooks and authors mentioned in the episode:P.G. Wodehouse booksTerry Pratchett booksDave Barry booksErma Bombeck booksThe Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. TolkienThe Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. LewisAgatha Christie booksJane Austen booksThe Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph CampbellService Model by Adrian TchaikovskyBook FlightThe Raging Erie: Life and Labor Along the Erie Canal by Marc S. FerraraHeaven's Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal by Jack KellyNew York's Burned-over D
Can there be too much of a good thing? Laura and Rachel are back to talk about a persistently trendy topic in media, porn, and bedrooms across the world. They analyze viscosity, volume, and placement in incredible detail while talking about a tasteful video from Thousand Faces and an aggregate offering that makes them both want to suck up their spit and go home. From witches to soda cans, you're going to discover a lot in this episode!Be sure to rate Girls on Porn 5-Stars on Apple Podcast and Spotify! And leave your favorite search term OR your porn star name in the review for a chance to have it read on-air. Follow Us on Social Media:Show: @girlsonprnLaura: @ramadeiRachel: @_rrratchelShow Credits:Producer: Amanda CMixed and Edited by Grace HarperIntern: Matt WoodwardTheme by Eli JanneyAdvertise on Girls On Porn via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dimitri and Khalid embark on a wide-ranging quest to uncover the true nature and function of the STAR WARS ritual complex in the Late American Empire, including: The murky influence of sus Joseph Campbell and the 1974 Stanford Research Institute report “Changing Images of Man”, “THX-1138” and Bay Area mind control programs, whether Star Wars was George Lucas's sublimated Vietnam War film, Star Wars as the dominant mythopoetic cult of the post-1960s American Empire, the Esalen roots of the Jedi pseudo-religion, Disney's domestic gladio utilization of Star Wars with a Thousand Faces, whether “Andor” is a heckin' leftist masterpiece, George Lucas' curious early work as an Altamont cameraman (and likely stint at Lookout Mountain AFB making internal government films), and much more… For access to premium SJ episodes, upcoming installments of DEMON FORCES, and the Grotto of Truth Discord, become a subscriber at https://patreon.com/subliminaljihad.
In this episode of The Podcast with a Thousand Faces, we're joined by Dr. Stephen Larsen, psychologist, mythologist, author, and longtime student and friend of Joseph Campbell.Together with his wife Robin, Stephen co-authored Joseph Campbell: A Fire in the Mind, the definitive biography of Campbell. As close personal friends of Campbell for over two decades, the Larsens were uniquely positioned to offer an intimate, multidimensional portrait of the man behind the myths. Their book, written with exclusive access to Campbell's journals, papers, and inner circle, brings both the public and private facets of his life vividly to light.Stephen served on the founding board of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and co-founded the Center for Symbolic Studies, where he has spent decades exploring the intersection of myth, psychology, and human transformation. Trained by Edward Whitmont, Stanislav Grof, and Campbell himself, Stephen has also been a pioneering figure in the field of neurofeedback and consciousness research.In this conversation with JCF's John Bucher, Stephen reflects on his relationship with Campbell, the writing of A Fire in the Mind, and why mythology still matters—perhaps more than ever—in a world aching for meaning. For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org. To subscribe to our weekly MythBlasts go to jcf.org/subscribeThe Podcast With A Thousand Faces is hosted by Tyler Lapkin and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive producer, John Bucher. Audio mixing and editing by Tristan Batt.All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)
EPISODE 103 - “ELEANOR PARKER: CLASSIC CINEMA STAR OF THE MONTH” - 9/01/25 This week, we celebrate our Star of the Month: the extraordinary ELEANOR PARKER. Known as “the woman of a thousand faces,” Parker built a remarkable career defined by range, subtlety, and strength. From her Oscar-nominated turn as a wrongly imprisoned woman in Caged, to her quietly powerful presence as the Baroness in The Sound of Music, she consistently defied typecasting and brought nuance to every role. But behind the glamour was a private, fiercely independent woman whose legacy has too often been overlooked in Hollywood history. Join us as we dive deep into the life, career, and enduring mystique of Eleanor Parker—a star who truly deserves to be remembered. SHOW NOTES: Sources: Eleanor Parker: Woman of a Thousand Faces (1989), by Doug McClelland; “Eleanor Parker: Above and Beyond,” Vol 13., #2, by Jim Meyer, Hollywood Studio Magazine; “Eleanor Parker: Miscasting Has Sabotaged Her Beauty and Ability,” March 1962, by Doug McClelland, Film In Review; “Hollywood's Mystery,” June 1954, Screenland; “She Loves To Act,” November 11, 1951, by Hedda Hopper, Chicago Sunday Tribune; Wikipedia.com; TCM.com; IBDB.com; IMDBPro.com; Movies Mentioned: The Sound of Music (1965); Caged (1950); They Died with Their Boots On (1942); Soldiers in White (1942); The Big Shot (1942); Men of the Sky (1942); Vaudeville Days (1942); Busses Roar (1942); We're With the Army Now (1943); Mission to Moscow (1943); Destination Tokyo (1944); Between Two Worlds (1944); The Very Thought of You (1944); Hollywood Canteen (1944); Pride of the Marines (1945); Of Human Bondage (1946); Never Say Goodbye (1946); Escape Me Never (1947); Voice of the Turtle (1947); The Woman in White (1948); It's a Great Feeling (1949); Chain Lightning (1950); Three Secrets (1950); Valentino (1951); A Millionaire for Christy (1951); Detective Story (1951); Above and Beyond (1953); Escape from Fort Bravo (1953); The Naked Jungle (1954); Valley of the Kings (1954); Many Rivers to Cross (1955); Interrupted Melody (1955); The Man with the Golden Arm (1955); The King and Four Queens (1956); Lizzie (1957); The Seventh Sin (1957); A Hole in the Head (1959); Home from the Hill (1960); Return to Peyton Place (1961); Madison Avenue (1962); The Oscar (1966); An American Dream (1966); Warning Shot (1967); The Tiger and the Pussycat (1967); Eye of the Cat (1969); Sunburn (1979); Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring (1971); Home for the Holidays (1972); The Great American Beauty Contest (1973); Dead on the Money (1991); --------------------------------- http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week on Skytalkers we're looking back at the Emmy-nominated “Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed” documentary from 2007! Don't worry if you haven't watched, we go through some of the highlights and what we learned! Tune in to hear: What are our memories of this documentary when it first aired? How does this documentary discuss Star Wars and the Hero with a Thousand Faces? Are there new-to-us mythical figures and stories we can compare to Star Wars? How has this documentary aged in the past 18 years? …and much more! Watch the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5e9pWgyZYA&t=1s Try Nello and the Supercalm supplement we always have on the go at drinknello.com with the code SKYTALKERS10 Join our Patreon community and unlock bonus episodes + more! Our website! Follow us on Twitter/X @skytalkerspod Follow us on TikTok @skytalkers Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram @skytalkerspodcast Follow Charlotte on Twitter/X @crerrity Follow Caitlin on Twitter/X @caitlinplesher Email us! hello@skytalkers.com For ad inquiries please email: skytalkers@58ember.com Please note this Episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this Episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On the latest episode of A Life In Movies, the movie interview podcast by All The Right Movies, we're talking to acclaimed novelist David Morrell.David is the esteemed author of over 30 novels, short stories and comics, including the creation of pop culture icon John Rambo in his groundbreaking novel "First Blood". Originally an academic who taught American literature, David balanced his writing career with university life before becoming a full-time author.Speaking to us from Santa Fe, David takes us behind the scenes on the incredible journey of First Blood from page to screen - a process that took years and went through multiple studios, with potential stars including Steve McQueen and Paul Newman before Sylvester Stallone ultimately brought Rambo to life. We discuss the differences between his novel and the film adaptation, his work on the novelizations for the sequels, and his experiences on set during the filming of Rambo III.David also shares fascinating insights into his academic influences, particularly Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", and how the Rambo phenomenon helped bring awareness to PTSD and the treatment of Vietnam veterans. A truly captivating conversation about one of cinema's most enduring action heroes.Connect with ATRM: To support what we do, access our archive and listen to exclusive episodes, become an ATRM patron:Listen on Patreon Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyTwitter/X: @ATRightMoviesYouTube: Subscribe to our channelInstagram: @allthe_rightmovies Threads: @allthe_rightmoviesFacebook: Join our movie groupBluesky: @alltherightmovies.comTikTok: @alltherightmoviesWebsite: alltherightmovies.com
We conclude our pregame coverage of the 2025 Gene Frankel Theatre Festival on the latest Whisper int he Wings from Stage Whisper. This time around, we were joined by four more fantastic artists and the shows they are bringing here to the Big Apple. So be sure you tune in and turn out for this great event!First Annual Gene Frankel Theatre Festival August 4th- 17th@ The Gene Frankel TheatreTickets and more information are available at genefrankeltheatrefestival.com And be sure to follow our guests to stay up to date on all their upcoming projects and productions: Anne of a Thousand Faces written, directed and performed by Edward Gibbons-Brown August 6th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th, and 16th@anneofathousandfaces@edwardgibbonsbrown@frigidnightcapA Season for Iowans by Kevin Cheng August 5th, 9th, and 14th@aseasonforiowans@kevbot_chengBest Thing in the World written and directed by Stacey Manos August 8th, 11th, and 16th@skmpoetryBetween Them and Now by Sara Velasco August 6th, 10th, and 14th@sara.marvel
Send us a textDr. Max Klau is a consultant, author, speaker, and Integral Master Coach based in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2005 with a focus on civic leadership development. He served as the Chief Program Officer at the New Politics Leadership Academy (NPLA) from 2016-2024. NPLA is focused on bringing more servant leaders into politics, and Max designed leadership programs that have graduated more than 2,500 servant leaders to date. Previously, he was the Vice President of Leadership Development at City Year, the education-focused AmeriCorps program. He is the founder of the Center for Courageous Wholeness and his second book, Developing Servant Leaders at Scale, will be published in August 2025. He lives outside of Boston with his wife and two children.A Few Quotes From This Episode“One of the reasons our world is so divided is because we're divided from ourselves.”“We've hit the limits of how much change we can make without getting serious about owning our shadow.”“If we don't confront the shadow, it controls us from beyond our awareness and shows up in the systems we lead.”“Service turns pain into power when we use the gifts of our struggle to serve others.”Resources Mentioned in This Episode Book: Developing Servant Leaders at Scale by Max Klau Book: Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness by GreenleafBook: Abundance by Ezra Klein & Derek ThompsonBook: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph CampbellOrganization: Inner Development Goals Podcast: Living Myth with Michael MeadeAbout The International Leadership Association (ILA)The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!About Scott J. AllenWebsiteWeekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for LeadersBlogMy Approach to HostingThe views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace ♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.
When you hear the word "shaman," I'm guessing a web of associations starts to form in your mind. Perhaps you imagine strange ceremonies and strong substances; maybe you think of an earlier time when magic and superstition reined. But shamanism is not just some relic of the past, or a curio from exotic lands. It's part of our present, and it will almost certainly be part of our future. This is because the roots of shamanism lie within us all. My guest today is Dr. Manvir Singh. Manvir is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis and a regular contributor to The New Yorker. He's also the author of a new book—Shamanism: The Timeless Religion. Here, Manvir and I talk about his fieldwork with Mentawai shamans in Indonesia. We discuss what makes a shaman a shaman, and consider the cognitive building blocks that make shamanism so widespread and so appealing. We discuss the shamanic origins of Abrahamic religions. We consider how, over the course of history, shamanism has repeatedly resurged, despite attempts to snuff it out. And we also talk about the various forms and flavors that shamanism takes in contemporary Western societies. Along the way, Manvir and I touch on: drumming, fasting, and the “dark tent”; Jesus; experimental Edens; witches, prophets, and messiahs; glossolalia; disenchantment and re-enchantment; the rise of neoshamanism; Paleolithic rock art; hedge wizards and tech CEOs; Western exceptionalism; and the routinization of charisma. If you enjoy this episode, I highly recommend that you check out Manvir's book—it's a captivating blend of narrative and ideas and it goes far beyond what we were able to talk about here. I'll also flag that this Manvir's second time on Many Minds. Back in July of 2020 we had another conversation—broader in scope—where we talked about shamanism but also Manvir's work on witches, stories, and music. So you might check that one out as well. Alright friends, on to my conversation with Dr. Manvir Singh. Enjoy! A transcript of this episode will be available soon. Notes and links 4:00 – For a video examples of shamanic rituals from around the world, see Dr. Singh's recent thread on Bluesky / Twitter. 12:30 – On the idea of “cultural attraction” and “cultural attractors,” see here and here. For a recent treatment of the idea of “super-attractors,” see Dr. Singh's preprint here. 16:00 – On the case of cultural loss among the Northern Aché, see the recent work by Dr. Singh and a colleague. 17:30 – For more on Dr. Singh's theoretical framework for understanding shamanism, see his earlier academic paper. 19:00 – The 2005 review of altered states of consciousness by Vaitl et al. For more on psychedelics and altered states, see our recent episode with Chris Letheby. 29:00 – Murcia Eliade's classic work on shamanism—Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. 34:00 – For the book by Martin Riesebrodt on the nature of religion, see here. 36:00 – For more on the human propensity for ritual, see our earlier episode with Dimitris Xygalatas. 43:00 – For one influential interpretation of Paleolithic rock art as evidence for shamanism, see David Lewis-Williams' book, Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art. 52:00 – For a discussion of psychedelics and organized religion that touches on the “routinization of charisma,” see this article by Michael Pollan. 54:00 – For more about the case of Alice Auma, see Dr. Singh's recent piece in The New Yorker. 1:00:30 – For more about neoshamanism and Michael Harner, see the website of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies—www.shamanism.org. 1:03:00 – Samual Johnson analysis of money managers 1:04:00 – For the analysis of financial managers, by Samuel Johnson, see here. 1:06:00 – For more on the quasi-shamanic flavor of tech CEOs, see Rakesh Khurana's book, Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs. 1:08:00 – See, again, Dr. Singh's recent piece in The New Yorker in which he discusses Trump and prophet-like status. 1:13:00 – For Dr. Singh's work on other complex cultural traditions, see the website for his lab. Recommendations The Sambia: Ritual, Sexuality, and Change in New Guinea, by Gilbert Herdt The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman, by Davi Kopenawa & Bruce Albert Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute, which is made possible by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation to Indiana University. The show is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd. Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala. Subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also now subscribe to the Many Minds newsletter here! We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. s For updates about the show, visit our website or follow us on Twitter (@ManyMindsPod) or Bluesky (@manymindspod.bsky.social).
Episode Sponsor: Ritual and Shelter Recording Location: San Diego, California Episode Overview Welcome to a transformative journey through the archetypal wisdom of the tarot's Major Arcana, perfectly timed with the extraordinary cosmic energies of July 2025. In this special episode, we explore how four planetary retrogrades, the Sirius Gateway, and Uranus entering Gemini create the ideal conditions for deep spiritual transformation. Join us for an immersive guided meditation that takes you through Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey using all 22 Major Arcana cards, from The Fool's innocent beginning to The World's cosmic completion. This episode also introduces our Summer Bootcamp for Emotional Eating, showing how cosmic timing supports practical healing work around food, body image, and self-worth. Whether you're new to tarot or a seasoned practitioner, this episode offers profound insights into the universal patterns of growth and transformation that guide every soul's journey. What You'll Discover In this episode, you'll learn about the unprecedented cosmic alignment happening in July 2025 and how it supports your personal transformation. We dive deep into the connection between Joseph Campbell's monomyth and the tarot's Major Arcana, revealing how these ancient wisdom traditions tell the same story of soul evolution. I offer a guided meditation that takes you through each archetypal stage of the Hero's Journey, allowing you to embody the wisdom of all 22 Major Arcana cards. You'll also discover how this cosmic timing perfectly supports practical healing work, particularly around emotional eating patterns and body image challenges that often surface during summer months. The episode bridges the mystical and the practical, showing how spiritual insights can transform everyday struggles into opportunities for growth and empowerment. Whether you're dealing with food and body issues, seeking spiritual guidance, or simply curious about the deeper patterns that shape human experience, this episode offers tools and insights that can shift your perspective and support your journey toward wholeness and authentic self-expression. Key Themes Explored Cosmic Timing and Spiritual Transformation: We explore how the current planetary alignments create optimal conditions for inner work and spiritual awakening. The multiple retrograde energies invite deep reflection and review, while the Sirius Gateway offers high-frequency light activations that enhance intuition and spiritual connection. Uranus entering Gemini brings innovative thinking and breakthrough insights to our spiritual practice. Archetypal Wisdom and Personal Growth: The episode reveals how the 22 Major Arcana cards represent universal patterns of human development and spiritual evolution. Each card corresponds to a specific stage of the Hero's Journey, offering guidance for navigating life's challenges and opportunities. We explore how these archetypal energies live within each of us and can be consciously accessed for healing and transformation. Integration of Mystical and Practical: Rather than keeping spiritual insights separate from daily life, this episode shows how cosmic awareness can inform practical decisions about health, relationships, and personal growth. The connection between the meditation and the emotional eating bootcamp demonstrates how spiritual work supports tangible healing in our relationship with food and body image. Summer as Sacred Mirror: We examine how summer's call to greater visibility and vulnerability mirrors the cosmic invitation to reveal our authentic selves. The season's challenges around body image and self-confidence become opportunities for spiritual growth and the integration of shadow aspects that may have been hidden during other times of the year. This transitional section prepares listeners for the guided meditation by explaining the connection between Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey and the tarot's Major Arcana. Both tell the story of the soul's evolution from innocence to wisdom, from separation to wholeness, from unconsciousness to cosmic awareness. We explore how this meditation isn't just a relaxation technique but an archetypal initiation that allows us to consciously experience each stage of the universal journey that every human soul takes. The cosmic timing couldn't be more perfect for this kind of deep inner work, with retrograde energies creating the ideal container for reflection and transformation while the Sirius Gateway's light codes support spiritual awakening. Practical guidance is offered for getting the most from the meditation experience, including finding a comfortable position, ensuring uninterrupted time, and setting intentions for the journey ahead. The section emphasizes that this is experiential wisdom rather than intellectual understanding, inviting listeners to feel and embody each archetypal energy rather than simply thinking about it. The Hero's Journey Meditation (26:00 - 52:00) This is the heart of the episode: a complete guided meditation through all 22 Major Arcana cards, structured according to Joseph Campbell's three-act Hero's Journey framework. The meditation is divided into Departure (Cards 0-VII), Initiation (Cards VIII-XIV), and Return (Cards XV-XXI), with each section building upon the previous one to create a complete transformational experience. The episode concludes with guidance for integrating the meditation experience into daily life. We explore how the 22 archetypal energies are now available as inner resources and guides, and how the cosmic timing continues to support the implementation of insights received during the journey. Practical suggestions are offered for working with specific archetypes that may have resonated strongly during the meditation, as well as trusting that the wisdom received will emerge naturally as needed in daily life. The closing emphasizes the connection between personal transformation and collective awakening, showing how individual healing work contributes to the larger shift in consciousness happening on our planet. Final reminders about the Summer Bootcamp registration and other resources are provided, along with gratitude for the shared journey and encouragement to continue using the cosmic energies for ongoing growth and transformation. Resources Mentioned Summer Bootcamp for Emotional Eating •Dates: July 22-26, 2025 •Format: Free 5-day program with optional VIP experience •Focus: Gap tapping technique for transforming food and body image patterns •Registration: Links provided in show notes and host's bio •Alignment: Perfectly timed with cosmic energies for maximum transformation Cosmic Events to Track •Mercury Retrograde in Leo: July 17 - August 11, 2025 •Saturn Retrograde in Aries: Ongoing through 2025 •Neptune Retrograde in Aries: Ongoing truth-revealing energy •Chiron Retrograde in Aries: Healing pause and integration period •Uranus in Gemini: Long-term innovative thinking and communication shifts Meditation Resources •Complete 30 minute Hero's Journey meditation included in episode •Can be repeated for deeper integration and ongoing transformation •Best experienced in quiet, uninterrupted space •Suitable for all levels of tarot and meditation experience Further Learning •Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" for monomyth understanding •Major Arcana study for deeper archetypal wisdom •Cosmic timing and astrological awareness for spiritual practice •Gap tapping and emotional eating resources through bootcamp Personal Empowerment: Learning to work with the gap between current reality and desired outcomes through gap tapping provides practical tools for transformation that honor both spiritual and psychological aspects of growth. https://terriannheiman.com/the-empowered-spirit-show#/
Olivia LaVoice is aCrime reporter and Host of the Bakersfield Three and The Man with a Thousand Faces podcasts.Olivia's podcast links https://open.spotify.com/show/2c1Qap8SSElRakXKUdFprZhttps://open.spotify.com/show/3rFNEokFoYCX1bRI1zEW9cGet your Free Credit Repair Letter Templates: https://www.mattcoxcourses.com/signupJoin the Con-Man's Credit Secrets Online Course Here: https://www.mattcoxcourses.com/conmanscreditsecretsFollow me on all socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrimeDo you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7Send me an email here: insidetruecrime@gmail.comDo you want a custom "con man" painting to show up at your doorstep every month? Subscribe to my Patreon: https: //www.patreon.com/insidetruecrimeDo you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopartListen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox Check out my true crime books! Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCFBent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TMIt's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5GDevil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3KBailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WXIf you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69Cashapp: $coxcon69
Send us a textAn innovative businessman and grieving widower, builds a device to connect with the deceased hosts of his favorite radio show! On Episode 677 of Trick or Treat Radio we discuss The Shrouds, the latest film from the maestro David Cronenberg! We also talk about getting caught on camera doing stupid sh*t, people named after different varieties of apples, and high concept sci-fi body horror! So grab your plot at the local high tech graveyard, get ready for some hot new weird ass facts, and strap on for the world's most dangerous podcast!Stuff we talk about: Film marketing crossovers, Marvel, Superman, Wendy's Wednesday Season 2, Greasy Strangler, Salo, Batpussy, this day in horror history, Return of the Ape Man, Robocop, Jaws The Revenge, Michael Keaton, The Laughing Dead, Multiplicity, Mimic 2, Eight Legged Freaks, Big Ass Spider, Tales of the Dead, Mike Vogel, Bates Motel, Cloverfield, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alex Winter, Freaked, Umbrella Entertainment, Heather Langenkamp, PJ Soles, Halloween, Donald Sutherland, An American Haunting, Jungle Woman, Dead Mans Eyes, Phyllis Diller, Mad Monster Party, The Fat Spy, James Cagney, The Man of a Thousand Faces, Coldplay, vintage Ravenshadow, don't get caught on camera doing stupid shit, Donald Pleasance, Gilbert Gottfried, John Lithgow, Star Wars Radio Dramas, Ed Asner, Ed Begley Jr., Larry Howard, Jabba the Hutt, Red Delicious Paltrow, Coco Crisp, Shea Hillenbrand, euphoria, James Gunn, Zack Snyder, The Shrouds, David Cronenberg, Friday the 13th: The Series, Videodrome, The Fly, Scanners, Naked Lunch, A History of Violence, Crimes of the Future, Brandon Cronenberg, Possessor, Humane, Caitlin Cronenberg, Infinity Pool, Dabney Coleman, Cloak and Dagger, Sheitan, Tombs of the Blind Dead, zombies, mummies, revenants, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Weird Ass Facts, The Melvins, LolliLove, Jenna Fischer, Revelations, Yeon Sang-ho, Red Delicious Paltrow, Waiting For the Cronenberg Hammer to Drop, Post Boredom Depression, The Shroud of Silent Morbidity, and Nefarious Love Explosion.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/trickortreatradioJoin our Discord Community: discord.trickortreatradio.comSend Email/Voicemail: mailto:podcast@trickortreatradio.comVisit our website: http://trickortreatradio.comStart your own podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=386Use our Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2CTdZzKFB Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/trickortreatradioTwitter: http://twitter.com/TrickTreatRadioFacebook: http://facebook.com/TrickOrTreatRadioYouTube: http://youtube.com/TrickOrTreatRadioInstagram: http://instagram.com/TrickorTreatRadioSupport the show
Dr. Joel Christensen, a professor of Classics at Brandeis University, joins Lexie to discuss how his childhood in rural Maine and frequent library visits led to a passion for classics, finding parallels between Homeric themes and modern narratives, and re-analyzed Joseph Campbell's 'Hero of a Thousand Faces,' critiquing its limitations while highlighting its impact on modern storytelling. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week's exciting odyssey! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram or visit our website www.theozymandiasproject.com! Originally recorded December 2, 2024.Learn more about Dr. Christensen: https://scholarworks.brandeis.edu/esploro/profile/joel_christensen/overview Follow him on Bluesky (ft. Hermes): https://bsky.app/profile/sentantiq.bsky.socialFollow him on Twitter: https://x.com/sentantiq Sign up for his substack: https://joelchristensen.substack.com/ Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheOzymandiasProject Custom music by Brent Arehart of Arehart Sounds and edited by Dan Maday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“Fatefully, I tried to pick my battles 'til the battle picked me” This week, we're resisting our episode on Greek Mythology, where we dive into the timeless influence of Greek mythology in Taylor Swift's music by exploring connections between Taylor's songs and classic Greek myths. Jodi finds links between Demeter and Persephone's sorrow in The Hymn to Demeter and the Folklore song "My Tears Ricochet.” Maansi shows us how "Long Story Short” sounds like Odysseus recounting his epic journey as he returns home. And Jenn gets into the ancient story of the Labyrinth and how it reflects themes of self-discovery and transformation in "Labyrinth." Is Taylor Swift a modern-day Homer? Listen and find out! Subscribe to get new episode updates: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe Stay up to date: www.aptaylorswift.com Mentioned in this episode: Mythology, Edith Hamilton The Iliad, Homer The Odyssey, Homer Metamorphoses, Ovid Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan E44: Metaphors + “The Tortured Poets Department” E22: Mastermind Homeric Hymns The Hymn to Demeter Hadestown (musical) Hercules (Disney animated film) E54: One Year Anniversary of AP Taylor Swift Circe, Madeline Miller Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell Stephen Fry's Mythos, Heroes, and Troy Episode Highlights: [02:15] Introduction to Greek Mythology [09:01] "my tears ricochet" folklore [15:22] "long story short" evermore [32:52] "labrynth" Midnights Follow us! TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift Link Tree →linktr.ee/aptaylorswift Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro Affiliate Codes: Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off! Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro *** This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.
Hey, book lovers! This week, Meagan and Sarah catch up on our latest reading adventures. We share some books we've been loving lately, our TBR lists and check in on our library habits. We also discuss how reading habits change when we're on vacation or just shaking up our routines. Oh, and with Meagan's book launch on the horizon, we're giving you a peek into how she's keeping up with all the new releases and buzz in the book world. So grab a cup of your fav beverage and let's dive into this bookish catch-up!HELPFUL LINKS:Episodes From The Archives On Reading & Libraries:7 Habits Of Moms Who Make Time For Reading: Episode 492More Than Mom: For The Love Of LibrariesMeagan and Sarah both use the Libby App to borrow books from the local library.Sarah subscribed to The New YorkerMeagan's Books (book links are affiliate links)The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency SeriesThe Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything by Ruth GoodmanA Walk Across America by Peter JenkinsHero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell is on Meagan's TBR listThe Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies is on Meagan's TBR ListSarah's Books(book links are affiliate links)Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes by Jessica PanWintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine MayJedidiah Jenkins, author of Mother Nature, was featured on Armchair Expert.Meagan wrote about her current relationship with the library in a new Substack post.Meagan interviews Gretchen Rubin on her podcast The Kettle on April 15OTHER HELPFUL LINKS:Pre-Order Meagan's book: The Last Parenting Book You'll Ever Read: How We Let Our Kids Go and Embrace What's NextVisit our websiteCheck out deals from our partnersFollow us on InstagramJoin our private listener group on Facebook (be sure to answer the membership questions!)Sign up for our newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
On this week's episode, we welcome back writer and raconteur, Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death), to chat about New Year's Resolutions, his latest book Karma Doll (the third book in the Doll detective series), the Macarena, and more! Buy Jonathan Ames's newest book, Karma Doll, out now!Justice for migrants. Please consider donating to Al Otro Lado this holiday season.Want your Capybara roasted? Send to our Instagram!#RoastMyCapy Jordan is writing an official Spider-Man comic!Be sure to get our new 'Ack Tuah' shirt in the Max Fun store.Or, grab an 'Ack Tuah' mug!The Maximum Fun Bookshop!Follow the podcast on Instagram and send us your dank memes!Check out Jesse's thrifted clothing store, Put This On.Go see Free With Ads and Judge John Hodgman LIVE at SF Sketchfest!Come see Judge John Hodgman: Road Court live in a town near you! Jesse and John will be all over the country so don't miss your change to see them. Check the events page to find out where!Follow brand new producer, Steven Ray Morris, on Instagram.Listen to See Jurassic Right!
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