Podcast appearances and mentions of werner hertzog

This week we come to you through the power of ZenCastr as Jim continues wandering Dead Island and gets vexed by a jet wash. Elton has that most relatable of issues, a pigeon in the east wing of his house. Darren is harassed by a mobility scooter. And Lee watches The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Wicked Little Letters, while also doing ILMs work for them when it comes to the new Alien movie poster. Then after some feedback and some bad Werner Hertzog impressions its on to this weeks film A Stephen King film in all but name with an extremely cathartic resolution, we answer The Black Phone.  Media Discussed This Episode Dead Island 2 - Xbox / Playstation Superman and Lois - BBC iPlayer / CW channel Cyberpunk 2077 - Xbox / Playstation No Mans Sky - Xbox / Playstation  Alien Romulus Trailer - YouTube Alien Romulus Poster - Online  Wicked Little Letters - Amazon Prime (paid rental) The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare - Amazon (Lionsgate Additional Subscription Req'd) Music "Boogie Party" and "Farting Around" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

If you'd like to see more just join our patreon, it helps me know who's out there. No money needed, it just helps me know who the super fans are, give money if you want. i just use it as a place to put cool free stuff like the full interview with our friend RAMSEY CAMPBELL  FIND US on IG! Sponsored by: ANYCUBIC KOBRA NEO 2 3D Printer $199, DB's fav printer!!! Glarry Guitars Inexpensive Guitars  Golden Goat CBD CBD & Delta 8 Edibles    FInd us on... INSTAGRAM Podbean Amazon Apple Stitcher Facebook Our Patreon

If you'd like to see more just join our patreon, it helps me know who's out there. No money needed, it just helps me know who the super fans are, give money if you want. i just use it as a place to put cool free stuff like the full interview with our friend RAMSEY CAMPBELL  FIND US on IG! Sponsored by: ANYCUBIC KOBRA NEO 2 3D Printer $199, DB's fav printer!!! Glarry Guitars Inexpensive Guitars  Golden Goat CBD CBD & Delta 8 Edibles    FInd us on... INSTAGRAM Podbean Amazon Apple Stitcher Facebook Our Patreon

Lawrence Krauss (President) is an internationally known theoretical physicist, bestselling author, and an acclaimed lecturer. He has also appeared regularly on radio and television, as well as in several feature films, including two directed by the legendary Werner Hertzog. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his research and outreach, including major awards from all three US physics societies, and the 2012 Public Service Award from the National Science Board, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society. He has held numerous professorships and distinguished research appointments, most recently as Foundation Professor and Director of Arizona State University’s Origins Project, and was Chair of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists from 2007 to 2018. The author of more than 500 publications and 10 popular books, his latest book, The Greatest Story Ever Told–So Far, was released in March 2017. Buy Lawrence Krauss new book “The Physics of Climate Change”: https://amzn.to/3aeG9Zt https://www.originsprojectfoundation.org Youtube: www.youtube.com/EloPodcast Apple Podcast: apple.co/2SFw4cr Spotify: spoti.fi/2BVPgwT Android Google Play: bit.ly/elopodcastplay Instagram: www.instagram.com/EloPodcast/ Website: www.elopodcast.com Comentarios & Sugerencias: info@elopodcast.com

The Jaws Effect: an idea that an imposing yet unseen mysterious force is driving much of the plot and actions in a movie. It makes it that much more impactful when that force is finally revealed. Now imagine that force is Kevin James, and the movie is called Here Comes The Boom. Apply to literally any movie plot, and you've got yourself a winner. Zach gets confused by a TikTok trend, Jared makes an attempt at true professionalism, and Adam is convinced that jockeys are prepared to kill their horse. Talking Points Include: Ben Franklin's Electric Urine, Kelsey Grammer's Breakfast Songs, Papa Tom Death Clause, Leutinant Vandersnatch and the Winter Wizard, Werner Hertzog is Coming to Town, A Nasty Horse's Guide to Murder, Young Joker

The gang gets destroyed this week as they review Destroyer (2018) starring Nicole Kidman as a grizzled LAPD officer on the prowl for vengeance or something. Directed by Karyn Kusama, Destroyer is a gritty vengeance flick where Nicole Kidman doesn't play her typical porcelain doll character. How did the the boys take to this flick chosen by Joseph? Tune in and find out!In News this week: Paramount, Top Gun: Maverick, homoerotic imagery, blue angels, Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible, Resident Evil, Paranoid Park 2, Netflix, Apple, David Arquette, David Arquette is back, Ready to Rumble, professional wrestling, Volunteer firefighter, Ronald Reagan biopic, Dennis Quaid, Tyler and Company, Ellen, Dennis Quaid is here, The day the Clown Cried, Jerry Lewis, Germany, Amazon Echo, Alexa, deutschland, Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, Hessen, Frankfurt, Spider-man, Into the spiderverse, From Dusk til Dawn, From Dusk til Shaun, Shaun of the Dead, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Finn Wolfhard, Bill Hader, Paul Rudd, A Cinderella Movie, Uncharted, Tom Holland, The Devil All The Time, Cherry, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, James Bond, No Time to Die, Daniel Craig, Cyberpunk, Chloe Grace Moretz, Cary Fukunaga, Godzilla vs King Kong, Larry King, Bee Movie, Christopher Nolan, Warner Brothers, James Cameron, HBO Max, The Matrix, Ice-T, Law and Order, Keanu Reeves, Total Recall, Tales from the Crypt. Robert Longo, Nicolas Cage, Nick Offerman, Sarah Silverman, Tik Tok, Michael Jackson, Salem Witch Trials, Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis, Steve Zahn, Judy Greer, Stephen Root, Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter, Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Sam Sheppard, Jaden Martel, It, Sebastian Stan, Scoot Mcneery, Bradley Whitford, Werner Hertzog, Bad Lieutenant Port of Call New Orleans, Email us at MCFCpodcast@gmail.com Joseph Navarro Pete Abeyta and Tyler Noe Streaming Picks: Johnny Mnemonic - Amazon PrimeThe History of Swear Words - NetflixUncle Frank - Amazon PrimeMidnight Special - HBO Max

This week, I'm trying something a little different. In addition to this essay and podcast, I made a video.It’s part of my ongoing series, “How It’s Written” I’m explaining, in detail, why I think the TV show the Mandalorian is so well-written. And to do that, I delve into the world of the internal story. I think this essay it's more fun as a video, but it totally works as a podcast or an essay. So consume in the form that you find most palatable. IntroductionToday on "How It's Written" we're going to dig into the immensely popular Mandalorian, I've seen lots of people commenting on this story, good and bad, but I don't think any of them have really nailed what makes the show so great.But that's not surprising, because that's what a well-crafted story does. It hides its workings so that you are drawn into and through the story, without fully realizing what's being done to you.But I'm going to lay it all out for you. Obviously, if you haven’t seen the whole show, here’s your spoiler alert. Go binge it and come back.  The most important thing to realize is that for all it's wonderful action sequences, The Mandalorian is driven by its internal story. And if you don't know what I mean by that, or that all great stories are driven by the internal conflict, stick around. Internal v. External StorySo, quick primer. One way to think about an internal story is that it is the story that matters most to the main character. I think this is what William Faulkner meant when he said, “The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.”Take Rocky, for example. On the outside, Rocky is a movie about a hopeless loser who tries his best who gets a shot, tries his best, and loses. In fact, he gets beat up and loses in front of his girlfriend. But on the inside, it's a triumph. And we triumph with him. Which is why we love Rocky. Could you tell the story of Rocky without the boxing scenes? On one hand, the idea is silly. The boxing is how you show the conflict on the screen. It’s how Rocky demonstrates his passion and sacrifice. When you write a book you can put the reader directly into the mind of your character, but with film or television, you can't. So you have to have some way to symbolize what’s going on in your character’s head. But it can be anything that’s fun to film, boxing, wrestling, bobsledding, hunting a giant shark, a chess game, performing a difficult piano concerto, lightsaber duels, or a gunfight. So here's how the show worksEvery episode has the same structure. Mando gets a job, Mando does a job. He wants someone from someone, in exchange, they give him a quest, and he completes it in exciting and unexpected action sequences. That's it. That’s pretty much all there is to the external story. It's a formula and I love it. And, unless you're over-intellectualizing it, or trying to score clicks in pointlessly snarky YouTube commentary, you love it too. Because it’s amazingly well done. Because as fans and viewers don't want our expectations subverted. We don't want genre conventions broken. We want all of those things honored and given back to us in a way that makes them fresh and new. We want our expectations fulfilled in a way that we don't see coming, or with such a high emotional charge we just don't care. And I think that is one reason the Mandalorian is so refreshing. It doesn't have any pretensions to being important to the culture. They're just trying to tell an entertaining story. And that’s all that George Lucas was doing when he made the original films. And it’s not a thriller. The whole world isn’t a risk. The Galaxy is not in jeopardy. The kid is. And for me, that makes the stakes more real.Is anything in the universe going to change if Baby Yoda gets snuffed? Probably not. But, to the Mandalorian, it would be Armageddon. And that’s the internal story. Or part of it at least. So we’ve got sixteen chapters across two seasons. And across the loom of these episodes the internal story of the Mandalorian is woven. It’s the story of a traumatized orphan raised to be a violent killing machine who rediscovers his humanity by caring for an orphaned child. And his real change, I think, is from cold indifference - that detachment of the professional not just to love, but something beyond love. I call it selfless love.I’m going to go through this in detail, but my first thought is that it is kind of a small story. It doesn’t feel like two seasons worth of television. So I think any flaws in this show are because they were shucking and jiving, filling episodes. Or what you might see as a flaw or a misstep is the writers intentionally sacrificing the external story to make the internal story stronger. The most glaring one in my mind is in Episode 14 — titled the Tragedy, but what I think of as the Return of Boba Fett. In the standoff, Boba Fett demands that the Mandalorian takes off the jet pack. This means that he doesn’t have it on when the Child is taken by the Dark Troopers. Honestly, this is very, very dumb. Why wouldn’t he have put his jet pack back on? Seems very valuable, not the kind of thing you’d leave lying around? Because, if he had it, he’d just fly up to save the Child either, saving him or dying in the process. And it’s very important for the internal story to have the child taken from him. Because it is in recapturing the child — because the big fight that is to come, is how he will show that he loves the child.These “missteps” sets up a bigger, more satisfying story beats in the end. Find me anything you love and I will find you a misstep. This show isn’t perfect. But nothing is. Work doesn't succeed because it's flawless. It succeeds because its strengths overcome its flaws. And that’s worth knowing if you want to be a maker instead of a critic. This why hatchet job reviews and commentary bother me. Everything has flaws. And it takes no real skill or insight to them. What's harder to explain is why anything is good. In other words, how its strength’s overcome its flaws. In the first episode, there are only two beats in the internal story. 1. Mythrol tries to bribe him to not take him in. And the Mandalorian doesn’t accept. Because, even though he’s not exactly a good guy, he’s a man with a code. Which the show will beat us over the head with for a couple of episodes. This is the way. This is the way. This is the way. Yup, he’s got a way. Because this is a Western and Samurai movie. And Westerns and Samurai movies are the same thing. Because even if you swap out the pistols for swords a showdown is a showdown is a showdown. Yojimbo is a Fistful of Dollars. The Seven Samurai is The Magnificent Seven.And Kurosawa, the guy who made these Samurai epics, was in turn influenced by earlier Westerns. The cycles of influence never end. Until in 1970, Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima produce a Japanese comic called Kozure Okami. Which literally translates as "Wolf Taking Along his Child" but which you probably know as Lone Wolf and Cub.It’s a monster manga epic. This is the first volume and there are twelve of these books in the series. As you can see from the fabulous cover art by Frank Miller, we’ve got the cute kid in the baby carriage and everything. So it seems like it’s the same as the Mandalorian, but it’s not. Because of, you guessed it, the internal story. Now I love Lone Wolf and Cub, so don’t take this as a real criticism, but compared to the Mandalorian, The Wolf — Ogami Itto — is kind of an a*****e. Or a real hardass. At the beginning of the story, he has been ordered to commit suicide — his wife is dead and his clan has been betrayed. He is setting off on a path of revenge, but he’s got this little boy. So he lays out a sword and a ball and lets the kid choose. If the kid chooses the ball, he’s going to “send him off to be with his mother.” In other words, kill him. But the kid goes for the sword. So he takes him with him in one of the most satisfying stories of reckless child endangerment I’ve ever read. But that’s not the Mandalorian’s story. And we don’t quite know it yet. The only hint we get in this episode is when he tells the armorer, “I was a foundling.” So when he teams up with IG-11 and the droid wants to kill him, the Mandalorian shoots him in the head. Why? Why would a ruthless professional, one who’s code includes the phrase, “I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold” not let the Droid kill the kid? Well, it could be that he wants the money for himself. We’ve both seen the show, so we know it’s not. It’s that he sees himself in the kid. He was rescued by a Mandalorian in a gunfight. And we’ll get all of that in the third episodeThe second episode is fun, including the line, “I’m a Mandalorian, weapons are my religion.” But from the internal story perspective, only one thing happens. The kid saves him from the Mudhorn. Now, it’s super geeky awesome that baby Yoda used the force, but for the internal story, it doesn’t really matter how the kid saves him. In the third episode, he delivers the Child to the client and takes his Beskar to the armorer to make a new set of armor. While it’s being made, we get a flashback sequence that shows him as an orphan. A flashback sequence that for me, broke the flow of the episode a little. It was exposition I didn’t think we needed the first time I watched it. EXCEPT, I think we did need it. For the internal story. Because he’s about to blow up his entire life. So he goes to his ship, and we have a great moment with the little metal ball. I think the technical term for this is Recognition by Token. The ball is a symbol for the kid. This is very skillful here because, in film, we can’t crack open his head and know what is going on. But if he stares at the metal ball the kid played with, what else could he possibly be thinking about? It’s a lovely internal moment and quietly one of the biggest moments in the series. Does he leave the kid or does he rescue him? There are two things to note about this. A crisis is always a choice. Great crises are never a choice between good and bad things. A crisis is always a choice between irreconcilable things. Think Sophie’s Choice. In this moment the Mandalorian recognizes that he’s not who he thought he was. He’s not just a Mandalorian, inside, he’s still also that scared 5-year-old kid. Except this time he’s big and he’s strong and he knows how to fight. So what’s he going to do? Which one of these identities is he going to kill? Because a ruthless, cold-blooded bounty hunter doesn’t break the deal. But if he doesn’t break this deal, that little 5-year-old boy inside of him is going to die. So he goes back, rescues the child, and goes on the run. And this is also gigantic on an external level. Because he blew up his entire external life. Now he can’t be a bounty hunter anymore. He’s on the run with the kid. And he is estranged from all the other Mandalorian. He has no idea what comes next. Next episode, we have the wonderful defense in-depth scene against the bandits with the AT-ST. Which is a great introduction to a great character, Cara Dune. Who is a female badass, who looks like she’s a female badass. Bravo proper casting. I don’t want to get too deep into the details of the external story but I will point out that tactically, this may be the best battle scene in all of Star Wars. This episode is also the Magnificent Seven in a nutshell. Call it the Magnificent Duo. And what’s important about this episode is he that won’t take off his helmet. He’s going to leave the child because it’s best for the child. But Bounty Hunters come and they have to stay on the run. But the very moment before that attack, Cara Dune lays this on him.   Cara Dune: (incredulous) That's it? So, you can slip off the helmet, settle down with that beautiful young widow and raise your kids sitting here sipping spotchka?And he refuses. No taking off the helmet. This is the way. He’s a man with a code. Shane rides off into the sunset. Now the chapter is fun action in the desert, but a bit of a nothing burger for the story that’s driving this whole thing. The stakes aren’t raised on the key value. He does what he has done before, saves the kid from the bounty hunter. In Chapter 6, the Prisoner, the Mandalorian has taken a job with old associates. And this is a bit of reversal from love to indifference. He’s risking the child’s life Ogami Itto style. You could see it as he doesn’t have a choice, but I dunno. Seems a little sloppy and risky for a professional. But he saves the kid in the end, the status quo is maintained, and we’re off to Chapter 7.To keep the kid safe, The Mandalorian pulls together all of his allies in a plot to kill the Client. Which is bittersweet for me. Because I love Werner Hertzog’s performance. “He is so marvelously nihilistic. As at home in the RealPolitik of the crumbling of empire as a crow feasting upon a battlefield.” Seriously, I love that guy. Over the next two episodes, The Mandalorian kills the client and, we think, Moff Gideon but that’s kind of what he’s done before. But it can be read as just getting himself out of a mess. But tanking on the obligation to find the child’s people and see that he is taken care of, that’s a new step up. At the end of episode seven, we have this great speech by Moff Gideon. Moff Gideon: You have something I want. You may think you have some idea of what you are in possession of. But you do not. In a few moments it will be mine. It means more to me than you will ever know.At the open of episode eight, we have the Scout Tropper scene. Written by Taika Wattiti — because of course it’s written by Taika Wattiti — this scene is amazing. We get utter humanity from two Storm Troopers. Funny, sympathetic, it feels like the most real scene in the whole show for me. But, we can’t like these guys too much, because they are about to get absolutely murdered by IG-11. So what does Taika have them do. Punch Baby Yoda. Now, even though you totally sympathized with them, it’s totally okay they get killed. That’s so well done. Instantly one of my favorite scenes of all time. Also, I have to point out that IG-11 steals the entire first season for me. It’s his episode. It’s called Redemption, is because the droid redeems himself.The group hears the Child squeal over the comms. Cut to IG-11 on the speeder bike with the Child in a bag strapped to his chest. ]IG-11: Kuiil has been terminated.[ Cut to the common house. ]Din Djarin: What did you do?IG-11: (over comms) I am fulfilling my base function.Din Djarin: Which is?[ Cut to IG-11. ]IG-11: To nurse and protect.But, from an internal story standpoint, IG-11’s sacrifice prefigures the sacrifices that the Mandalorian will make for the Child. Because I think you have to see a person who never takes off his helmet as someone who’s trying to be a machine — and IG-11 as a machine that is trying to be human. This is all b******t, from the text of the story. With IG-11 insisting repeatedly, that he’s never been alive. But I think my explanation is what most people get as a viewer, if only as a feeling. THE HELMETAgain, we get the Mandalorian refusing to take off his helmet. He’d rather die than show his face to another living thing. And, the scared little boy inside him just assumes that when he is powerless before the Droid, that IG-11 is just going to kill him. My guess is that there’s not a lot of room for weakness in the code of the Spartans.But IG-11 is not alive, so we have a loophole. Now, if you're not a writer, you probably don't think about story much at all. You just enjoy it. Which means, when a story is well constructed, you don't notice any of the plot points. Your emotions are running high and you just want to know what happens next. Both on an intellectual and an emotional level, you are drawn into the story. But if a story isn't together well, you notice all the errors and the gaps in the story. This is why, I think, if you want to understand what makes great stories, great, you have to outline them. Because, on first inspection, they've cast their spell over you and it's very difficult to see them clearly.Since The Mandalorian won't take off his mask in the beginning, it means, he HAS to off his mask in the climax of the story. Now, if you say this out loud while watching season one for the first time with your friends, you're a jerk. But if you are Jon Favreau trying to write a television show that's what you call a clue. Very often stories are worked back to front. What's your great ending? Now, how do you set up that great ending? Twists are easy-er. Great scenes are easy-er. But great endings are rare, so one very good school of thought is don't start writing until you have your ending. Because just assuming a great ending will be waiting when you get there can really get you into trouble. As I think we've seen with other Star Wars stories. And, of course, Game of Thrones. *Shudder*Anyway — IG-11 makes the Mandalorian promise to take care of the child. And we get real emotion out of the Mandalorian from this.Din Djarin: (voice rough with emotion) No. We need you.IG-11: There is nothing to be sad about. I have never been alive.Din Djarin: I'm not sad.IG-11: Yes you are. I'm a nurse droid. I've analyzed your voice. (caressing the Child in farewell)Then we get a stupid ridiculous action sequence. This is something that you would do playing with Star Wars action figures. And part of me loves it and the other part just doesn’t care. Because, as we’ve seen from following the internal story — it doesn’t matter. It’s a boxing match. A symbol of the internal struggle and triumph.Annnnd, season two.For what I read as the internal story of the Mandalorian, nothing happens for like seven Chapters. Oh, plenty happens, in the way of action. And I like all of these episodes. I even like Chapter Ten with the crazy ice spiders and it’s Deus ex Machina ending. Because I’m bought into the internal story by this point. And, for that story, the jeopardy is: is Baby Yoda going to get caught eating the Frog lady’s children? I think Blake Synder of “Save the Cat” would call these episodes “Fun and Games” it’s the promise of the premise. The Mandalorian is doing cool Mando things. He’s taking care of the kid, but it’s not like the stakes of his sacrifice are rising. Then Moff Gideon captures the kid. And he kills a main character.Blows up the man’s ride. But it’s more than blowing up the man’s ride. That ship is a character in the show in the same way the Millennium Falcon is. Once it’s gone, things can’t really be the same. Maybe this is an intentional signal, maybe not. But the story formula is broken. Losing the ship is a powerful sign that we’re not going back to the way things were. The Mandalorian calls in all his allies and they put together a plan to get the kid. But along the way, we have another climax to the internal story. He needs the location of Moff Gideon, but to get it he has to break his code and take off his helmet. Which he does. Is this it? This the big scene where the Mandalorian removes his helmet — well, not exactly. But I think it actually heightens the big scene. Because what we see is that he doesn’t exactly know how to be a person without the helmet. He’s damaged, and to protect his weak point, he has donned armor. And what he’s armored himself against is trauma. All that terrible s**t that happened to him, not only his parents being killed but also the terrible things that happened making him a Mandalorian. To the Mandalorian, foundling might just be another term for child solider. And the time-honored way — to make superhuman warriors — from Spartans to SEALS — is to put them through trials that only a very few can survive. This guy is broken and we see it in his eyes in Chapter 15We also get the great scene where Bill Burr just blows the whole operation because he has to shoot his ex-commander. “Yeah, was it good for them though?” For me, this is the most political moment in the entire show. But it doesn’t feel forced and is totally consistent with the character; and what is the arc of most of the secondary characters in the show. Every single one of them redeems themselves, just as the Mandalorian redeems himself in the end. Look at the transformations. Greef Carga goes from running bounty hunters to becoming a governor. The Mandalorian brings the Sandpeople and the people of Mos Pelgo together. Cara Dune goes from wanted fugitive to Marshall. Bill Burr redeems himself when he kills his commander and blows up the base. For all the violence, this is a show about redemption. At the end of episode fifteen, he puts Moff Gideon on notice with a lovely bit of parallelism, repeating Moff Gideon’s speech back to him word for word.Now, this is not strategically sound, but it’s so cool, who cares? I’m not here for a lesson in tactics, I’m here to be entertained. So, Fight, fight, fight. Rescue the kid, trapped on the bridge. Robots hammering at the door. All is lost — but then a lone X-wing flies in. “GREAT WE’RE SAVED”Now, I don’t want to underestimate the feels that come with Luke Skywalker making an appearance. It got me. And it really got me because the prequels and the sequels were so bad. My goal with these essays is not to be critical — and there are things to be learned from those stories. But they were bad. And, especially with the sequels, maybe the expectations, the corporate meddling, all of that made it impossible to make it good. Honestly, I thought the first one did an amazing job of threading an impossible set of needles — but after that, ugh. And those prequels, “messa say *hurling noise*.”Now, you may feel differently and that’s fine. I don’t blame or judge you. But what you have to understand about me is that my Dad took me to see Star Wars in 1977. I was five. And we saw it, in the theatre, at least three times. I loved that movie so much that whenever a movie would come on television with the 20th Century Fox intro, with the drum roll and the fanfare. I would stop whatever I was doing on the off-chance, on the hope that it might just be Star Wars. It almost never was. Empire Strikes Back blew my mind. Return of the Jedi wasn’t at good as that, but it was close. Luke saving and forgiving his father is still very powerful. Maybe more powerful now that I am a father and I come to understand a little bit about what having a son means. And it is saying a hell of a lot that a piece of pop culture still works on any level 38 years later. Or 44 years later if you count from the first film. Here’s the thing, that five-year-old boy is still inside me. Honestly, I didn’t have a very happy childhood. I haven’t always had that great of a relationship with my Dad. We both can be very difficult people. It was his first time being a Dad and my first time being a kid, so neither of us knew what the hell we were doing, but I remember the moments surrounding those films as being very happy. And since Return of the Jedi, that five-year-old kid has waited for that Star Wars to show up again. To this day, my ears still prick up when I hear the 20th Century Fox fanfare. Because maybe, just maybe it’s going to be that Star Wars movie I’ve always wanted but never got to see. But it never has.The lesson a writer could learn from this is the expectations you set with a book, or a film or a genre are crucially important. And if you don’t handle them correctly, you’re going to be in for rough sledding. But the five-year-old me doesn’t care about any of that. He’s been waiting for Luke Skywalker to show up on-screen since 1983. Not this guy:This guy:So yeah, that was an emotional moment for me. And I don’t care about the quality of CGI. It didn’t matter anyway, because tears welled up in my eyes.I tell you all that so you can put what I will say next into proper context. That moment was genius. But it’s not storytelling genius. It’s a manipulative, sentimental genius. And if an emotional moment like that is wrong, I don’t want to be right. For reasons beyond my conscious control, I am all in.But, it’s still Deus ex Machina. The God from the Machine. The term was coined by Aristotle, who used it to point out that it’s generally bad writing. This kind of thing has been recognized as a mistake since 300 B.C. But in this case, it’s a mistake you want to make. Deus Ex Machina (not a New Wave Band)So here’s how it worked in Ancient Greece. At the end of the play they would literally use a crane to drop a totally new actor, playing a god onto the stage and he would magically resolve everything. But now, 23 centuries later, instead of a crane we get an X-wing dropping the god into the story. But it doesn’t matter. Because all this only resolves the external story. And the internal story is what matters. Let’s break it down. As the Dark Troopers are banging on the door, Moff Gideon gets a hold of a blaster. And when he shoots at the child, the Mandalorian throws his body in front of the shot to save Baby Yoda. For me, this is a superfluous beat. Meh, it’s just his life. Mando has risked his life a whole bunch for the kid.But at the very end, after Luke has cleaned house, The Mandalorian risks, far, far more. In the end, he risks his identity. He grows and changes to save the child. And he loves the kid so much that his ego — that wounded thing inside him that fights to hold onto his code, that won’t let him take off his helmet, that holds onto all the pain and the trauma because the Ego needs it; believes without it, he won’t exist. That same thing in all of us that clings tightly to who we believe we are — that it gets in the way of us becoming someone better — that won’t let go even when things about us, threaten to destroy us and everyone else around us. The Mandalorian loves the kid so much, so unselfishly, that he lets him go. He doesn’t do it to be the hero. He doesn’t do it to save the kid’s life, or his own. He does it because the child needs it from him. And he loves the child so much, he has to give it to him. Loves him enough to let him go, even though it had to hurt like hell, even though, he’s probably not going to know who the hell he is for a while. Because his ego has been dissolved in an act of selfless love.  THAT is a story. That is a character arc. That is an ENDING.And while I could quibble over beats or choices or minor things, when you see the whole arc of what’s really going on, I don’t know why you would waste your time. It’s like complaining about a rainbow because you think it should be six inches to the left. It’s f*****g rainbow jackass! If you’re not going to enjoy it, you’re not going to enjoy anything. If you’ve liked this episode, you should totally subscribe. And if you like the way I think about story, you should probably check out my latest series, How to Succeed in Evil. Here’s a link that get you a free copy of the first book. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time. Get full access to How It's Written by Patrick E. McLean at patrickemclean.substack.com/subscribe

"Man plans and God laughs" is currently, my favorite Yiddish proverb. My second favorite Yiddish proverb is "If Grandma had wheels she would be a wagon." (I just ran into that one searching for the origin of "Man Plans and God laughs")The reason that this is on my mind is that I'm trying to make a plan for 2021. But, honestly, I'm flinching like a hand shy dog over the whole thing. Every time I sit down to give it some thought, I wince and shy away, expecting the next cruel blow of fate. I had such a great plan for 2020. Honestly. Going into 2020, I had my act together as much as I ever had. Business-wise the year was going to be tremendous. It felt like it was all just laid out in front of me, for the taking. And then... and then...Man plans, and God LaughsIt all got 2020'd. And in some ways, this was a very good thing. For one thing, it lit a fire under me with my writing again. You see, I had been putting off my own writing so that I could be available for and provide for my family.You almost can't overestimate the amount of time and effort young children take, especially in the first three years of life. From what I understand of both the research and my experience with actual people, those years are the crux. After that, you've got what you've got. But proper nutrition, safety, love, physical affection, structure, and discipline in those early years are very important. And all of this can be collapsed into the single phrase, spend attentive time with your children. As a family we've made sacrifices to make that happen. Most of me not writing and not podcasting, was, part of the plane. And I think that's the correct thing to do. I mean, unless something very unusual happens, my greatest creative works, in terms of impact and longevity, are going to be my kids. If I screw them up (more than the amount required to make them funny) then that mistake is going to compound, possibly across generations. But when everything shut down, I got mad. I felt like I had made a spurned sacrifice -- or at least a mistake. I felt, like I think everyone felt, that I wasn't in control. This too is a gift of 2020. I got snapped around to how little input I had in the course of events. And that's a gift when it makes you focus more intently on the things you can control. The way I look at it like this, when you concern yourself with things you can't do anything about, your power, your ability to affect change in the world, shrinks. Think about that friend you know who is unreasonably obsessed with national politics. Wild emotional swings. Destroying friendships and straining family reunions. And their ability to change the course of politics is infinitesimal, if not non-existent. Yet they get so worked up, that they neglect to do the things they should or could do to make their situation and the situation of those they love better. You know someone like this I'm sure. They rage and their life falls apart more and more, while their attention is devoted to things like correcting someone who is wrong on the internet. But, when you focus on the things you can do, your ability to create change in the world grows. This effect can seem eerie, but honestly, it's one of the truest things I know. So what can I control? My output. Writing is a matter of time and will. So I tore into How to Succeed in Evil once again. In some ways, this is a stupid thing to do. Satire is a very difficult genre to crack. But I had the series outlined. So I followed the outline and threw my hands at the keyboard. In frustration and fear, I wrote. I'm really sketchy on psychotherapy. I think it's a load of horseshit, and the true benefits that someone gets from therapy are accountability and simply having someone to talk to. I don't doubt that depth psychology -- the idea that there is more going on in us than we know -- is correct. But I'm not convinced that delving into the depths of someone's personality is a good idea. The way to unite the plurality of urges and thoughts and evolved needs that is a human being into a strong and working personality is not through analysis, it's through synthesis. I think you have to make something to make something of yourself. This is not to say you should tackle things alone. Talking to someone about your problem, really being heard, is like a gift from God. And it is the lonely tragedy of the modern world that the average person isn't truly listened to. But that kind of coaching and counseling is a far cry from psychoanalysis as I understand it. All of this is a long-winded digression to say, if you are in trouble in your life, my suggestion is to immediately create something. It might not work for you, but it has always worked for me. And it has worked for everyone I've seen who's tried it. So, it's worth a shot.Plunging into 2021So as I stand here on the precipice of 2021, I have basically, three books completed. The second evil book, currently titled, "Half-man, Half-alligator, Half Plumber" is complete. It's been proofed, I'm giving it the final pass as I read the audiobook, and as soon as I am done, I will release the ebook, say Jan 15th at the latest. After editing and mastering the audiobook will be available. I'm also about 5,000 words away from a first draft of the third book in the series, "Guy Who Amputated his Body" which is the story of Brainitar, who has featured in every iteration of How to Succeed in Evil, but was never really explained. My plan is to finish that up and release it in the Spring. Writing more books seems like the highest leverage thing I can do. And the question for 2021 is, "What now?" And whither the content of this Substack? I'm getting a lot of joy out of these essays and I hope you are too. But the overwhelming feedback from my reader survey (which if you haven't taken, you totally should, it's right here) is that I should write more fiction. So the question I have is, do I continue to podcast every chapter of these new Evil books? Or do I do a podcast the first few and make the whole book available to subscribers for free? And for sale, etc.Or do I make the books available on another feed? It's tough to figure this stuff out, and I have recently come to grips with the fact that I suck at it. After I overcame the pain and embarrassment of this realization, became fascinating to me. See, I have always assumed that the road to success was to become a better writer. To try new things, to grow, to seek out wider and more experimental horizons. But I have come to realize that that is not the case. Not that I shouldn't do those things. But the fault isn't the writing. There are people who don't write as well as I do who are making a better living than I am writing. They're better at authoring. And by that, I mean some alchemy of promotion, networking, time management, and whatever else it is that I don't know. At first, this realization is humbling, but then it is liberating. Realizing what you don't know is, in itself, a map. Hey, look at this blind spot. Well, what shape is it?And once you've named the blind spot and outlined it, you can fill in your knowledge. You can ask for answers. You can make a plan. So, the plan…Which brings me back around to planning for 2021. You see, every time I start to make a 2021 plan, I start by saying something like, "If I could just find a way to grow by readership a little faster..." And then I hear a voice in my head saying, "Yeah, and if Grandma had wheels she would be a wagon."My number one problem is that my audience isn't growing fast enough. I'm not getting my work in front of enough new people. I'm not putting myself out there enough. Any suggestions that you (dear reader or listener as the case may be) have are most welcome. The good news is that my audience is growing. And for six-and-a-half months of cranking out words, I've made a lot of headway. But the nature of the world has become more increasingly winner take all. Those who are at the top of a field, have a greater share of the spoils than ever before. Now, you could say, why should you care about that. The work should be its own reward. And I agree with you completely. But right now my attention is fragmented. What I'm doing now, is a fraction of what I am capable of, because I can't focus solely on writing and thinking. And what I want to do is get to the point where this generates enough income so I can really give it everything and see what I've got in the tank.Right now, every word I write is written on stolen time. I'm not complaining. It's hard and, it's good that it's hard, But that's just a fact. I heard Werner Hertzog talking about what it takes to be a filmmaker, specifically what he saw lacking in some younger filmmakers, and he said, "A certain criminal element". He was not referring to a method of financing, but rather to being creative and ruthless with the world in pursuit of getting work done. Success in any creative field is impossible. But some people do succeed. So, the conclusion I draw is, you're going to have to break, or at the very least ignore some rules. So, while God is laughing, here is my current, rough plan for 2021. I'm going to publish less frequently, but with higher quality. I will write essays as the spirit moves me. Because, honestly, writing these things really help me work through what's troubling me. And I turn a good phrase in them every now and again, which I take as evidence that they don't completely suck. My target is one piece of new fiction a month. 5-10k words. So short stories. What you might think of as preludes to larger works. I've been noodling stories set in space for 10 years. And I've been trying to get the world-building right. Not the politics or the economics, but the physics of it. Not the actual physics, you understand. Spend time on Atomic Rockets http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/index.php and you will realize, in great depth and with great rigor how scientifically inaccurate all sci-fi you love really is. But what I have struggled with is how to have the story grounded in a physical reality, such that the kinds of stories you tell are a natural outgrowth of the reality, just as much as a cowboy story is grounded in the plains or high desert.I could spend another 10, scattered, years at this task, but honestly, I've made enough progress to just write one and see how it turns out. At its core, all writing is like this. You prepare as best you can, but at some point, you just have to grab the parachute, jump out of the plane and figure it out on the way down. Undergirding all of this is a feeling that a long-form story running in serial form is not friendly to new listeners. It seems like a three-hour episode would be fine. And a 10-minute episode is fine. And letting someone binge an entire book right away is fine. But asking someone in our distracted age to keep track of a week over week chapters -- or search back through a feed for the first episode, seems like it just asking for too much focus. Any feedback you might have on this question is very welcome. The other thing that I'm playing around with is a series of videos called "How It's Written." The topic has great keyword juice on YouTube, and I see a way to talk about how books are made in a way that nobody else does. Looking at things from the highest levels - plot, theme, characterization - right down to the way individual authors use words, sentences, and paragraphs.I've put the first one up on YouTube. It is for Game of Thrones. It was easy because I did a pretty detailed outline of it a few years back. I think this is a great first attempt and totally works, but I have ideas of how to make the next one even better. You can watch the video here:And here's the infographic.What's great about this is its content, but it's all practice for me. And, the kind of thing I should be doing on a regular basis anyway. So I thought I would shoot for one a month in 2020. It's really modeled on Rick Beato's "What Makes This Song Great?" series, which, if you haven't checked out yet, I highly recommend.So that is my, admittedly somewhat discursive plan. To summarize. Each month, one new piece of fiction, one "How It's Written", excerpts from "How to Succeed in Evil" and various essays and oddments as the spirit moves me. I don't know if this is the best plan, this is just what I think I should test next. So if you have any suggestions or comments, please reply to this email, or leave a comment. Help me plan, and that way God can laugh at us together. Get full access to How It's Written by Patrick E. McLean at patrickemclean.substack.com/subscribe

Our intrepid podcaster has a million dollar idea for an app that he may have stolen from acclaimed German film director Werner Hertzog, or maybe not. Ed also gets the low down from Gerry on what exactly happened on that rainy night in Limerick. There's a dive into Ed's joke book and he wonders how drug dealers and assassin's are dealing with the pandemic crisis, plus singing.

The gang get their Cage on this week as they review The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) directed by Werner Hertzog. This movie was rife with controversy when it debuted, as it was seen as an unauthorized remake or sequel to Bad Lieutenant (1992) by Abel Ferrara, starring Harvey Keitel. Listen as as the guys discuss the movie and the controversy. This was Joseph's wildcard movie, which means he is down to 2 spots on the wheel, and Pete and Tyler have 3 spots. What will the wheel of destiny choose this week? Listen along to find out, and to get some streaming movie selections from Hulu, Amazon prime and Netflixhttp://facebook.com/MCFCpodcastEmail us at MCFCpodcast@gmail.com Tyler Noe Joseph Navarro and Pete Abeyta

The annual team meetings are rolling around - what should you be doing and expecting from them? Also, we discuss what a big contract like JEDI can mean for a vendor, and also what those whacky developers are up according to a survey. Mood board: Stroke City. QBR times four. Travel costs. We need a better word than “politics.” Corporate virtue signaling. Never ask anything. There’s going to be Werner Hertzog! There’s a difference between making a point and making money. Are you just fillin’ a seat? The fixie of IDEs. Hey, Coté got off his ass and finally reved back up his newsletter (https://buttondown.email/cote). People love it! Subscribe (https://buttondown.email/cote) and tell all your friends to subscribe (https://buttondown.email/cote). Latest issues: Relevant to your interests Too many conferences this week. DOES, Ghent, OSS Summit, LISA. “How do you decide where to go? I stayed home.” Microsoft beats Amazon to win the Pentagon’s $10 billion JEDI cloud contract (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/10/25/20700698/microsoft-pentagon-contract-jedi-cloud-amazon-details) Microsoft wins Pentagon's $10 billion cloud computing contract (https://www.axios.com/microsoft-pentagon-computing-contracts-3f435663-fdb0-4185-830d-5f9cbc5aaf5c.html) Amazon's earning shocker is set to wipe over $50 billion from its market cap (https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amazon-q3-earnings-shocker-wipes-54-billion-off-market-cap-2019-10-1028630546) Alternate title: “Market cap drops just 4.8% Amazon still kind of a big deal.” Introducing the Red Hat Global Transformation Office (https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/introducing-red-hat-global-transformation-office). The state of Developer Ecosystem in 2019 Infographic (https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/devecosystem-2019) “89% of developers customize their IDEs in some way.” What’s up, 11%?x DevOps: Tools Can Lead The Culture Change (https://redmonk.com/rstephens/2019/10/25/devops-tools-can-lead-the-culture-change/) Open Sourcing Mantis: A Platform For Building Cost-Effective, Realtime, Operations-Focused Applications (https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/open-sourcing-mantis-a-platform-for-building-cost-effective-realtime-operations-focused-5b8ff387813a) My company sold for $100 million and I got Zilch. How can that be? (https://medium.com/help-me-heidi/my-company-sold-for-100-million-and-i-got-zilch-how-can-that-be-f7be0563f1f8) Google moves to buy Fitbit (https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2019/google-moves-to-buy-fitbit-.html) Google brings its ‘.new’ domains to the rest of the web, including to Spotify, Microsoft & others (https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/29/google-brings-its-new-domains-to-the-rest-of-the-web-including-to-spotify-microsoft-others/) AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile have finally agreed to replace SMS with a new RCS standard (https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/24/20931202/us-carriers-rcs-cross-carrier-messaging-initiative-ccmi-att-tmobile-sprint-verizon) Sponsors SolarWinds: To try it FREE for 14 days, just go to https://loggly.com/sdt. If it logs, it can log to Loggly. PagerDuty: To see how companies like GE, Vodafone, Box and American Eagle Outfitters rely on PagerDuty to continuously improve their digital operations visit https://pagerduty.com. Conferences, et. al. Nov 2nd - EmacsConf (https://emacsconf.org/2019/) 2019 https://live.emacsconf.org/ December - 2019, a city near you: The 2019 SpringOne Tours are posted (http://springonetour.io/): Toronto Dec 2nd (https://springonetour.io/2019/toronto). December 12-13 2019 - Kubernetes Forum Sydney (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/kubernetes-summit-sydney-2019/) Discount off KubeCon North America which is November 18 – 21 in San Diego. Use code KCNASFTPOD19 for a 10% discount. NO-SSH-JJ wants you go to DeliveryConf (https://www.deliveryconf.com/) in Seattle on Jan 21st & 22nd (https://www.deliveryconf.com/), Use promo code: SDT10 to get 10% off. JJ wants you to read about Delivery Conf Format too (https://www.deliveryconf.com/format). † SDT news & hype Join us in Slack (http://www.softwaredefinedtalk.com/slack). Send your postal address to stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com) and we will send you free laptop stickers! Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/softwaredeftalk), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/softwaredefinedtalk/) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/software-defined-talk/) Listen to the Software Defined Interviews Podcast (https://www.softwaredefinedinterviews.com/). Check out the back catalog (http://cote.coffee/howtotech/). Brandon built the Quick Concall iPhone App (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quick-concall/id1399948033?mt=8) and he wants you to buy it for $0.99. Use the code SDT to get $20 off Coté’s book, (https://leanpub.com/digitalwtf/c/sdt) Digital WTF (https://leanpub.com/digitalwtf/c/sdt), so $5 total. Recommendations Brandon: eBay (https://www.ebay.com/) for selling your Cambrionix PowerPad15S Charge & Sync 15 Port USB Hub (https://www.cambrionix.com/products/powerpad15s-pp15s-industrial-usb-hub) Matt: Dolly Parton’s America (https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america). Coté: The Grand Budapest Hotel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Budapest_Hotel). Whole Foods hot buffet for the business traveler.

This week on Cult Film in Review, the guys are getting introspective and reflective about family, because they’re talking about the 1999 drama Julien Donkey-Boy!  In this episode, the guys talk about where this film ranks with Harmony Korine’s other cinematic endeavors. Later, is there anything more soothing and frightening as Werner Hertzog reciting poetry […] The post Julien Donkey-Boy appeared first on Cult Film in Review.

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-390 – Pam Rickard - Ultras, addictions and recovery (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4390.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-390.  This is Chris your friend and host.  Today we continue with our ultra-training themes.  I’ve got a long write up of my last hard week of training before my race.  I’ve also got an interview with Pam who is an ultra-runner and the director of the Herren project.  She’s a talker!  But I think you’ll get some good thoughts out of it. Again, this week since the interview is long and the write up is long I’ll just air the two segments.  I’m in my taper for my 100-miler at the end of the month.  Today it actually that rarest of animals, a rest day.  Last weekend I knocked out an all-night-long 50 miler and a follow up 20 milers that you will hear all about today.  Now I’m in my taper and trying top do some race prep. … Episode 390… 390 is another good year to talk about on the Julian and Gregorian calendars.  There was the Thessalonica Massacre where the Roman governor killed a bunch of people who were rioting over a sporting event.  See?  This stuff never changes.  Some popular chariot driver got killed and it kicked off a little revolt.  But, more importantly a Goth named Alaric was starting to make trouble up in Thrace.  A Roman general named Stilicho, who was half Vandal spent the next 20 years pushing these Goths around.  You may recognize Alaric.  He ended up sacking Rome with an army of Visigoths in 410, which many historians consider the end for the Roman Empire.  And you know why the Goths were migrating West from the Steppes?  Because they were being pushed on by the Huns.  It’s all interrelated.  But, let’s set all this talk of barbarian hordes aside and talk about some ultra-running stuff. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Ultra Training Update the last big week - http://runrunlive.com/100-miler-training-the-last-big-week Voices of reason – the conversation Pam Rickard Over the 30+ years of her running career, Pam Rickard has completed countless races, including more than 75 marathons and ultra-marathons. During the past 10 years, her races have included a 7-day adventure across China’s Gobi Desert and a 100k trek through the Alps from Italy to France. In 2008, her journey from addiction to recovery and redemption was featured in the book “A Race Like No Other,” New York Times writer Liz Robbins’ chronicle of the 2007 New York City Marathon. She was also a member of the 2016 6-person Icebreaker Run team, running across the US to bring awareness to mental health issues. Pam lives in Rocky Mount, VA and serves as the Director of THP RUNS, an initiative of former NBA basketball player Chris Herren’s foundation, (THP). THP RUNS engages people to run, walk, and participate in healthy activities, helping each other, and others, live stronger, healthier lives.  The initiative raises awareness and funding for THP’s mission, which includes providing addiction recovery resources, education and prevention initiatives across the country. Links: For help: To join our movement/run with us: Outro OK my friends, you have trotted through the woods listening to one note of binaural audio to the end of episode 4-390 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Good job.  You are fit and ready to race.  My training is going great.  I’m ready for my race.  Anything can happen of course but I’ve done the bits that I can control.  Looking at the calendar I can see that the next episode is scheduled to fall on the weekend of the race.  That’s probably not going to happen.  I’ll figure something out. As is my habit I tend to focus on running the race, not on social media or taking pictures.  Don’t expect me to do a running commentary.  I don’t see any facility for athlete updates either.  I would suggest following Mike Croy and Kevin Green on the social media feeds because they will be with me and lucid.  I could give my phone to my wife but she is fairly useless with social media.  If anyone wants to say ‘hi’ at the race I’ll be driving out from Massachusetts the morning of the 27th so I can make check in Friday night.  If you DM me or shoot me an email at cyktrussell at Gmail I’ll give you my contact info.  … I found a couple odd things on Netflix this past week.  One is a documentary by Werner Hertzog called .  Werner Hertzog is a German director.  Every time you see a movie that caricatures German directors they are talking about Werner.  They let him bring cameras inside the Chauvet Cave.  This is a cave that contains the oldest human paintings on earth (as far as we know).  The paintings are pristine because a landslide sealed them off in antiquity.  These are beautiful works of art from our ancestors of 30,000 years ago.  There’s also a pretty good documentary on Bob Weir called   There’s a new podcast I’m listening to which is called about the history of the Northwest.  All the links are in the show notes. That’s it for me this week.  I appreciate all your support and encouragement.  There is a membership option on my website if you feel motivated to help me pay my bills.  I wanted to take a moment to thank my coach for getting me to this point.  I, frankly, wasn’t sure I had this kind of training in me, but, here we are.  Once more into the breach. Also wanted to thank a couple other folks for reaching out with their notes on the Burning River.  Local Sheila and runner Rick.  And my team mate Dane for the encouragement.   It’s been an epic training cycle. and I’ll see you out there! MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-390 – Pam Rickard - Ultras, addictions and recovery (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4390.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-390.  This is Chris your friend and host.  Today we continue with our ultra-training themes.  I've got a long write up of my last hard week of training before my race.  I've also got an interview with Pam who is an ultra-runner and the director of the Herren project.  She's a talker!  But I think you'll get some good thoughts out of it. Again, this week since the interview is long and the write up is long I'll just air the two segments.  I'm in my taper for my 100-miler at the end of the month.  Today it actually that rarest of animals, a rest day.  Last weekend I knocked out an all-night-long 50 miler and a follow up 20 milers that you will hear all about today.  Now I'm in my taper and trying top do some race prep. … Episode 390… 390 is another good year to talk about on the Julian and Gregorian calendars.  There was the Thessalonica Massacre where the Roman governor killed a bunch of people who were rioting over a sporting event.  See?  This stuff never changes.  Some popular chariot driver got killed and it kicked off a little revolt.  But, more importantly a Goth named Alaric was starting to make trouble up in Thrace.  A Roman general named Stilicho, who was half Vandal spent the next 20 years pushing these Goths around.  You may recognize Alaric.  He ended up sacking Rome with an army of Visigoths in 410, which many historians consider the end for the Roman Empire.  And you know why the Goths were migrating West from the Steppes?  Because they were being pushed on by the Huns.  It's all interrelated.  But, let's set all this talk of barbarian hordes aside and talk about some ultra-running stuff. On with the show! … I'll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don't have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member's only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Ultra Training Update the last big week - http://runrunlive.com/100-miler-training-the-last-big-week Voices of reason – the conversation Pam Rickard Over the 30+ years of her running career, Pam Rickard has completed countless races, including more than 75 marathons and ultra-marathons. During the past 10 years, her races have included a 7-day adventure across China's Gobi Desert and a 100k trek through the Alps from Italy to France. In 2008, her journey from addiction to recovery and redemption was featured in the book “A Race Like No Other,” New York Times writer Liz Robbins' chronicle of the 2007 New York City Marathon. She was also a member of the 2016 6-person Icebreaker Run team, running across the US to bring awareness to mental health issues. Pam lives in Rocky Mount, VA and serves as the Director of THP RUNS, an initiative of former NBA basketball player Chris Herren's foundation, (THP). THP RUNS engages people to run, walk, and participate in healthy activities, helping each other, and others, live stronger, healthier lives.  The initiative raises awareness and funding for THP's mission, which includes providing addiction recovery resources, education and prevention initiatives across the country. Links: For help: To join our movement/run with us: Outro OK my friends, you have trotted through the woods listening to one note of binaural audio to the end of episode 4-390 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Good job.  You are fit and ready to race.  My training is going great.  I'm ready for my race.  Anything can happen of course but I've done the bits that I can control.  Looking at the calendar I can see that the next episode is scheduled to fall on the weekend of the race.  That's probably not going to happen.  I'll figure something out. As is my habit I tend to focus on running the race, not on social media or taking pictures.  Don't expect me to do a running commentary.  I don't see any facility for athlete updates either.  I would suggest following Mike Croy and Kevin Green on the social media feeds because they will be with me and lucid.  I could give my phone to my wife but she is fairly useless with social media.  If anyone wants to say ‘hi' at the race I'll be driving out from Massachusetts the morning of the 27th so I can make check in Friday night.  If you DM me or shoot me an email at cyktrussell at Gmail I'll give you my contact info.  … I found a couple odd things on Netflix this past week.  One is a documentary by Werner Hertzog called .  Werner Hertzog is a German director.  Every time you see a movie that caricatures German directors they are talking about Werner.  They let him bring cameras inside the Chauvet Cave.  This is a cave that contains the oldest human paintings on earth (as far as we know).  The paintings are pristine because a landslide sealed them off in antiquity.  These are beautiful works of art from our ancestors of 30,000 years ago.  There's also a pretty good documentary on Bob Weir called   There's a new podcast I'm listening to which is called about the history of the Northwest.  All the links are in the show notes. That's it for me this week.  I appreciate all your support and encouragement.  There is a membership option on my website if you feel motivated to help me pay my bills.  I wanted to take a moment to thank my coach for getting me to this point.  I, frankly, wasn't sure I had this kind of training in me, but, here we are.  Once more into the breach. Also wanted to thank a couple other folks for reaching out with their notes on the Burning River.  Local Sheila and runner Rick.  And my team mate Dane for the encouragement.   It's been an epic training cycle. and I'll see you out there! MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

Ooh that voice so distinct and smooth! World renowned motivational and business speaker Scott McKain is my guest this week. Scott has a remarkable ability to captivate and motivate anyone. With a passion for business and bestselling books to back him up, Scott wows crowds with his dynamic presentations. We learn how he has become one of the best in the business. With a surprising start in not only radio but Future Farmers of America or FFA. As the state of Indiana FFA chapter president he took to the stage giving speeches all over the country. After college hear how Scott met the famed film director Werner Hertzog. Hertzog was so impressed he asked Scott to play a villain in the movie “Stroszek”. Which was named one of the 50 great movies in the history of cinema by film critic Roger Ebert. That role lead to a syndicated entertainment segment on 80 television stations for a decade and a stint as an anchorman for a CBS affiliate. And then came the speeches, 7 books, and the founder and owner of several businesses. Scott shares with us how to make your business stand out and some of the tricks to breaking into the speaking world. Are you one of the millions who suffer from public speaking? Well, Scott has help for you too! A gifted storyteller Scott shares some amazing tales with us. Like his chance meeting with a taxi driver in Jacksonville, FL and the hunt for cuff links on a Sunday night at closing time. Both are not to be missed. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. McKain and learn some tips from the best of the best. I am pretty sure he will be as informative and helpful to you as well. More info: ScottMcKain.com DistinctionNation.com

Louis and Fraser are back after an unexpected month long absence to bring you the "cursed"episode 15! Broke Nicolas Cage stars in this feverish movie by Director/madman Werner Hertzog! The film follows a very bad cop as he tears post hurricane Katrina New Orleans a new one as he hunts a killer, deals with gambling debt and feasts on almost every hard drug imaginable! You don't wanna miss this one!Music by The Rope River Blues Band!#Stayscary

On this week's show in the cinema section we review historical drama Rules Don't Apply, gory thriller in The Belko Experiment, war drama in Their Finest and The Zookeeper's Wife, and we round out with two smaller releases in The Transfiguration and Unforgettable.In the home release we cover weird movie Catfight, director Werner Hertzog is back with his latest Salt and Fire, horror with The Void, and drama with Clive Owen in The Confirmation. All this, plus the week's movie news, box office and DVD/Blu Ray charts.

In just 30 short minutes, Lou and Jaime review NIN, Mustard Gas and Roses, David Bowie, and X-Cult. Also discussed are penguins, monkeys, and rock star health insurance. Songs Featured in Episode 25: “The Day the World Went Away” (instrumental) - NIN “Becoming” – Mustard Gas and Roses “No Plan” – David Bowie “Curious George Theme Song” – Dr. John And, of course, the vocal stylings of Werner Hertzog

Matt and Aviv contemplate the meaning of life in this weeks episode; the guys review Season 2 Episode 5 - Baby Killer.  The dudes are super bummed that the content of the show is too sad/fucked up to ever get a sponsorship deal with Squarespace....or even stamps.com.  Aviv claims to have never seen any of the episodes reviewed in the podcast thus far, ad the audience gets another peak behind the curtain as the guys recount their memorial day weekends (sorry listeners, we're really up to date and current...)  Aviv tells us more about his blistered feet and his new New Balance shoes.  Matt gives a shout out to Paul F. Tompkins and his impression of Werner Hertzog.  All this and more! Rate and review us on iTunes, tweet at us @SVUPodcast, shoot us an email specialviewingunit@gmail.com

We're back! And so is everybody's favorite temporally displaced cave-teen, Gnarrk! Points of discussion include: Kelsey Grammer, subterranean xenophobic Native American frat guys, Werner Hertzog, and the controversial Equal Butts Act of 1970.

Photo: flicker - Graeme Churchard This essay is about how we became self aware, and how that awareness follows us--or doesn't--today in our modern lives.  You will find that I unapologetically reference our evolutionary past and encourage you to check out the film by Werner Hertzog, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"  I have it on DVD and I'm always taken back as if to that time thousands of years ago as modern humans awoke to culture and myth.   I encourage you to read some old existential material and something new as well: Albert Camus: "The Stranger", and "The Myth of Sisyphus" Stephen Hayes, Ph.D and Spencer Smith: "Get Out of Your Mind and into Your Life"   darenwlove.com  *  Relationship Glue  *  Quiet Creatives  *  The Analyzed Capitialist

Våre medarbeidere Sarah Kaurin Jonassen og Fredrik Longva fått på seg kostymene - og er klare for å navigere skuta gjennom en times kulturelt kostymedrama! Vi danser oss inn i den musikalske verden, med omtaler fra både "Hairspray" og "La Cage Aux Folles". Det blir også fager musikk fra Christiania mannskor, en splitter ny radiodokumentar om filmskaper Werner Hertzog og ikke minst kommer "Turkis 2" -aktuelle Arne Ingvaldsen i studio! (Medvirkende: Tone Knapstad, Cornelia Henriksen, Sunniva Rebbestad) (I studio: Fredrik Longva / Sarah Jonassen)

In this spoiler filled outing the Lizard of Leeds & Wirral Seagull get to grips with jolly quidditch sticks, civil war, murder and death. Yes it's the Werner Hertzog banter that is the Potterverse a world of magic, mystery, genocide and govenrment incompetence.   Natural fodder for the bantering Muggle bi-polarness that is Dissecting Worlds.   We're looking at Law and Order with particular attention on the Ministry of Magic, Dumbeldore's Army, Order of the Pheonix & You-know-who. This leads us into a merry dance down the First World War, Nazis, the Ulster Defence Association, 2nd Amendment of the US Consitution, the deference between vigilantes & miltia amongst much else.   And a hufftastic Quidditch argument. What's not to love? Sit down with your Butterbeer & Chocolate Frogs (or beverage & snacks of choice) and enjoy.   Feedback to dissectignworlds@yahoo.co.uk or @clarkythecruel or @theGrampus on twitter or on the lovely forums.   Compeition entries (beg) to the email address by 20th August.   News on future episodes and series as well.