Podcasts about Wonderful Life

Hans is joined by E.J. Antoni, Heritage's chief economist and a leading expert on the federal budget, explains the Federal Reserve, its problems and effects on our banking system and the economy, and the case over the firing of Reserve member Lisa Cook by Pres. Trump that is now before the Supreme Court. The classic movie review is of “It's a Wonderful Life,” the 1947 Frank Capra Christmas movie in which one of the essential plot elements is a bank run on the small building and loan run by Jimmy Stewart.

Lionel explores the power of film and cinema, asking listeners to share the movies that didn't just entertain, but made a real impact or changed the way they think. Delving into the importance of presentation—from listening to music loud to the communal experience of watching a film in a classic art house theater—Lionel laments the current era of "dopamine schllock" on personal screens. Callers discuss formative political thrillers like The Manchurian Candidate, the emotional weight of films like Sleepers and It's a Wonderful Life, and the sheer terror of The Exorcist. Also featured are sharp takes on conspiracy culture, including the Enigma Project and the real focus of the Epstein case (the financial aspect, not just "sex trafficking"). Tune in to find out if the days of truly poignant cinema are over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I had the privilege of sitting down with the remarkable Ivan Cury—a man whose career has taken him from the golden days of radio to groundbreaking television and, ultimately, the classroom.   Ivan began acting at just four and a half years old, with a chance encounter at a movie theater igniting a lifelong passion for storytelling. By age eleven, he had already starred in a radio adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk and went on to perform in classic programs like Let's Pretend and FBI in Peace and War. His talent for voices and dialects made him a favorite on the air.   Television brought new opportunities. Ivan started out as a makeup artist before climbing the ranks to director, working on culturally significant programs like Soul and Woman, and directing Men's Wearhouse commercials for nearly three decades. Ivan also made his mark in academia, teaching at Hunter College, Cal State LA, and UCLA. He's written textbooks and is now working on a book of short stories and reflections from his extraordinary life.   Our conversation touched on the importance of detail, adaptability, and collaboration—even with those we might not agree with. Ivan also shared his view that while hard work is crucial, luck plays a bigger role than most of us admit.   This episode is packed with insights, humor, and wisdom from a man who has lived a rich and varied life in media and education. Ivan's stories—whether about James Dean or old-time radio—are unforgettable.     About the Guest:   Ivan Cury began acting on Let's Pretend at the age of 11. Soon he was appearing on Cavalcade of America, Theatre Guild on the Air,  The Jack Benny Program, and many others.  Best known as Portia's son on Portia Faces Life and Bobby on Bobby Benson and The B-Bar-B Riders.    BFA: Carnegie Tech, MFA:Boston University.   Producer-director at NET & CBS.  Camera Three's 25th Anniversary of the Julliard String Quartet, The Harkness Ballet, Actor's Choice and Soul! as well as_, _The Doctors and The Young and the Restless. Numerous television commercials, notably for The Men's Wearhouse.   Taught at Hunter, Adelphi, and UCLA.  Tenured at Cal State University, Los Angeles.  Author of two books on Television Production, one of which is in its 5th edition.    Ways to connect with Ivan:       About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:16 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. And the fun thing is, most everything really deals with the unexpected. That is anything that doesn't have anything to do with diversity or inclusion. And our guest today, Ivan Cury, is certainly a person who's got lots of unexpected things, I am sure, and not a lot necessarily, dealing with the whole issue of disabilities, inclusion and diversity, necessarily, but we'll see. I want to tell you a little bit about Ivan, not a lot, because I want him to tell but as many of you know who listen to unstoppable mindset on a regular basis. I collect and have had as a hobby for many years old radio shows. And did a radio program for seven years, almost at UC Irvine when I was there on kuci, where every Sunday night we played old radio shows. And as it turns out, Ivan was in a number of those shows, such as, let's pretend, which is mostly a children's show. But I got to tell you, some of us adults listened and listened to it as well, as well as other programs. And we'll get into talking about some of those things. Ivan has a really great career. He's done a variety of different things, in acting. He's been in television commercials and and he is taught. He's done a lot of things that I think will be fun to talk about. So we'll get right to it. Ivan, I want to thank you for being here and welcome you to unstoppable mindset. Thanks. Thanks. Good to be here. Well, tell us a little bit about kind of the early Ivan growing up, if you will. Let's start with that. It's always good to start at the beginning, as it were,   Ivan Cury ** 03:04 well, it's sorry, it's a great, yes, it's a good place to start. About the time I was four and a half, that's a good time to start. I walked past the RKO 81st, street theater in New York, which is where we lived, and there was a princess in a in a castle kept in the front of this wonderful building that photographs all over the place. Later on, I was to realize that that Princess was really the cashier, but at the time, it was a princess in a small castle, and I loved the building and everything was in it. And thought at that time, that's what I'm going to do when I grow up. And the only thing that's kind of sad is it's Here I am, and I'm still liking that same thing all these years later, that's that's what I liked. And I do one thing or another, I wound up entertaining whenever there was a chance, which really meant just either singing a song or shaking myself around and pretending it was a dance or thinking it was a dance. And finally, wound up meeting someone who suggested I do a general audition at CBS long ago, when you could do those kinds of things I did and they I started reading when I was very young, because I really, because I want to read comics, you know, no big thing about that. And so when I could finally read comics, I wound up being able to read and doing it well. And did a general audition of CBS. They liked me. I had a different kind of voice from the other kids that were around at the time. And and so I began working and the most in my career, this was once, once you once they found a kid who had a different voice than the others, then you could always be the kid brother or the other brother. But it was clear that I wasn't a kid with a voice. I was the kid with the Butch boy. So who? Was who, and so I began to work. And I worked a lot in radio, and did lots and lots of shows, hundreds, 1000s,   Michael Hingson ** 05:07 you mentioned the comics. I remember when we moved to California, I was five, and I was tuning across the dial one Sunday morning and found KFI, which is, of course, a state a longtime station out here was a clear channel station. It was one of the few that was the only channel or only station on that frequency, and on Sunday morning, I was tuning across and I heard what sounded like somebody reading comics. But they weren't just reading the comics. They were dramatized. And it turns out it was a guy named David Starling who did other shows and when. So I got his name. But on that show, he was the funny paper man, and they read the LA Times comics, and every week they acted them out. So I was a devoted fan for many years, because I got to hear all of the comics from the times. And we actually subscribed to a different newspaper, so I got two sets of comics my brother or father read me the others. But it was fun reading and listening to the comics. And as I said, they dramatize them all, which was really cool.   Ivan Cury ** 06:14 Yeah, no doubt I was one day when I was in the studio, I was doing FBI and peace and war. I used to do that all the time, several it was a sponsored show. So it meant, I think you got $36 as opposed to $24 which was okay in those days. And my line was, gee, Dad, where's the lava soap. And I said that every week, gee, Dad, where's the lava soap. And I remember walking in the studio once and hearing the guy saying, Ah, this television ain't never gonna work. You can't use your imagination. And, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 06:52 well, except you really don't use your imagination near especially now I find that everything is way too spelled out, so you don't get to use your imagination.   Ivan Cury ** 07:03 Radio required you to use your radio required you to use it. Yeah, and, and if you had a crayon book at the time, well, and you were 12 or No, no, much younger than that, then it was and that was what you did, and it was fun.   Michael Hingson ** 07:17 So what was the first radio program that you were   Ivan Cury ** 07:20 it was very peculiar, is it New Year's Eve, 19 four? No, I don't know. I'm not sure. Now, it was 47 or 48 I think it was 48 Yeah, I was 11, and it was New Year's Eve, and it was with Hank Severn, Ted Cott, and I did a Jack and the Beanstalk. It was recording for caravan records. It became the number one kids record. You know, I didn't, there was no he didn't get residuals or anything like that. And the next day I did, let's pretend. And then I didn't work for three months. And I think I cried myself to sleep every night after that, because I absolutely loved it. And, you know, there was nothing my parents could do about this, but I wanted, I wanted in. And about three months later, I finally got to do another show. Peculiarly. The next show I did was lead opposite Helen Hayes in a play called no room for Peter Pan. And I just looked it up. It was May. I looked it up and I lost it already. I think, I think I may know what it is. Stay tuned. No, now, nope, nope, nope, ah, so that's it was not. This was May 1949, wow. What was it? Well, yeah, and it was, it was a the director was a man named Lester O'Keefe, and I loved Barry Fitzgerald, and I find even at a very early age, I could do an Irish accent. And I've been in Ireland since then. I do did this, just sometimes with the people knowing that I was doing it and I was it was fine. Sometimes they didn't, and I could get it is, it is pretty Irish, I think, at any rate, he asked me father, who was born in Russia, if we spoke Gaelic at home, we didn't. And so I did the show, and it was fine. Then I did a lot of shows after that, because here was this 11 year old kid who could do all this kind of   Michael Hingson ** 09:24 stuff. So what was no room for Peter Pan about,   Ivan Cury ** 09:27 oh, it was about a midget, a midget who is a young man, a young boy who never grows up, and there's a mind. He becomes a circus performer, and he becomes a great star, and he comes back to his town, to his mother, and there's a mine disaster, and the only one who can save them is this little person, and the kid doesn't want to do it, and it's and there's a moment where Helen Hayes, who played the lead, explained about how important it is the to give up your image and be and be. Man, be a real man, and do the thing, right thing to do. And so that was the   Michael Hingson ** 10:04 story. What show was it on? What series?   Ivan Cury ** 10:07 Electric Theater, Electric Theater, Electric Theater with Ellen Hayes, okay,   Michael Hingson ** 10:10 I don't think I've heard that, but I'm going to find it.   Ivan Cury ** 10:14 Well, yes, there's that one. And almost very soon afterwards, I did another important part with Walter Hughes, Walter Hamden. And that was on cavalcade of America, Ah, okay. And that was called Footlights on the frontier. And it was about, Tom about Joseph Jefferson, and the theater of the time, where the young kid me meets Abraham Lincoln, Walter Houston, and he saves the company. Well, those are the first, first shows. Was downhill from there. Oh, I don't   Michael Hingson ** 10:50 know, but, but you you enjoyed it, and, of course, I loved it, yes, why?   Ivan Cury ** 11:00 I was very friendly with Richard lamparsky. I don't even remember him, but he wrote whatever became of series of books. Whatever became of him was did a lot, and we were chatting, and he said that one of the things he noticed is that people in theater, people in motion pictures, they all had a lot of nightmare stories to tell about people they'd work with. And radio actors did not have so much of that. And I believe that you came in, you got your script, you work with people you like, mostly, if you didn't, you'd see you'd lose, you know, you wouldn't see them again for another Yeah, you only had to deal with them for three or four hours, and that was in the studio. And after that, goodbye.   Michael Hingson ** 11:39 Yeah, what was your favorite show that you ever did?   Ivan Cury ** 11:42 And it seems to me, it's kind of almost impossible. Yeah, I don't know,   Michael Hingson ** 11:51 a lot of fun ones.   Ivan Cury ** 11:54 I'll tell you the thing about that that I found and I wrote about it, there are only five, four reasons really, for having a job. One of them is money, one of them is prestige. One of them is learning something, and the other is having fun. And if they don't have at least two, you ought to get out of it. And I just had a lot of fun. I really like doing it. I think that's one of the things that's that keeps you going now, so many of these old time radio conventions, which are part of my life now, at least Tom sometimes has to do with with working with some of the actors. It's like tennis. It's like a good tennis game. You you send out a line, and you don't know how it's going to come back and what they're going to do with it. And that's kind of fun.   Michael Hingson ** 12:43 Well, so while you were doing radio, and I understand you weren't necessarily doing it every day, but almost, well, almost. But you were also going to school. How did all that work out   Ivan Cury ** 12:53 there is, I went to Professional Children's School. I went to a lot of schools. I went to law schools only because mostly I would, I would fail geometry or algebra, and I'd have to take summer session, and I go to summer session and I'd get a film, and so I'd leave that that session of summer session and do the film and come back and then go to another one. So in all, I wound up to being in about seven or eight high schools. But the last two years was at Professional Children's School. Professional Children's School has been set up. It's one of a number of schools that are set up for professional children, particularly on the East Coast. Here, they usually bring somebody on the set. Their folks brought on set for it. Their professional school started really by Milton Berle, kids that go on the road, and they were doing terribly. Now in order to work as a child Lacher in New York and probably out here, you have to get permission from the mayor's office and permission from the American Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children. And you needed permits to do it, and those both organizations required the schools to show to give good grades you were doing in school, so you had to keep up your grades, or they wouldn't give you a permit, and then you couldn't work. PCs did that by having correspondence. So if a kid was on the road doing a show out of town in Philadelphia or wherever, they were responsible for whatever that week's work was, and we were all we knew ahead of time what the work was going to be, what projects had to be sent into the school and they would be graded when I went, I went to Carnegie, and my first year of English, I went only, I think, three days a week, instead of five, because Tuesdays and Thursdays Were remedial. We wrote We were responsible for a term paper. Actually, every week, you we learned how to write. And it was, they were really very serious about it. They were good schools   Michael Hingson ** 14:52 well, and you, you clearly enjoyed it. And I know you also got very involved and interested in poetry as you went along. Too do. Yes, I did well, yeah, yeah. And who's your favorite poet?   Ivan Cury ** 15:07 Ah, my favorite poets. If that is hard to say, who my favorite is, but certainly they are more than one is Langston, Hughes, Mary, Oliver, wh Jordan, my favorite, one of my favorite poems is by Langston Hughes. I'll do it for you now. It's real easy. Burton is hard, and dying is mean. So get yourself some love, and in between, there you go. Yes, I love that. And Mary Oliver, Mary Oliver's memory, if I hope I do, I go down to the shore, and depending upon the hour, the waves are coming in and going out. And I said, Oh, I am so miserable. Watch. What should I do? And the sea, in its lovely voice, says, Excuse me, I have work to do.   Michael Hingson ** 15:56 Ooh. That puts it in perspective, doesn't   Ivan Cury ** 16:00 it? Yes, it certainly does.   Michael Hingson ** 16:03 So So you, you went to school and obviously had good enough grades that you were able to continue to to act and be in radio, yes, which was cool. And then television, because it was a television Lacher, yeah, yeah. It's beginning of television as well. So I know one of the shows that you were on was the Jack Benny show. What did you do for Jack? Oh, well,   Ivan Cury ** 16:28 I'm really stuffy. Singer is the guy who really did a lot of Jack Benny things. But what happened is that when Jack would come to New York, if there was a kid they needed, that was me, and so I did the Benny show, I don't know, two or three times when he was in New York. I, I did the Jack Benny show two or three times. But I was not so you were, you were nice, man. It came in. We did the show. I went   Michael Hingson ** 16:51 home. You were a part time Beaver, huh?   Ivan Cury ** 16:54 I don't know. I really don't know, but I was beaver or what? I don't remember anything other than I had been listening to the Jack Benny show as a kid. I knew he was a star and that he was a nice man, and when he came into the studio, he was just a nice man who who read Jack Benny's lines, and who was Jack Benny, and he said his lines, and I said my lines, and we had a nice time together. And there wasn't any, there wasn't any real interplay between us, other than what would be normal between any two human beings and and that was that. So I did the show, but I can't talk very much about Jack Benny.   Michael Hingson ** 17:32 Did you? Did you primarily read your scripts, or did you memorize them at all?   Ivan Cury ** 17:37 Oh, no, no, radio. That was the thing about radio. Radio that was sort of the joy you read. It was all about reading. It's all about reading, yeah. And one of the things about that, that that was just that I feel lucky about, is that I can pretty well look at a script and read it. Usually read it pretty well with before the first time I've ever seen it, and that's cold reading, and I was pretty good at that, and still am.   Michael Hingson ** 18:06 Did you find that as you were doing scripts and so on, though, and reading them, that that changed much when you went in into television and started doing television?   Ivan Cury ** 18:22 I don't know what you mean by change.   Michael Hingson ** 18:24 Did you you still read scripts and   Ivan Cury ** 18:26 yeah, no, no, the way. I mean the way intelligent show usually goes as an actor. Well, when I directed television, I used to direct a lot of soap operas, not a lot, but I directed soap operas, but there'd be a week's rehearsal for a show, danger, I'm syndicated, or anything, and so there'd be a week's rehearsal. The first thing you do is, we have a sit down read, so you don't read the script, and then you holding the script in your hand walk through the scenes. Sometimes the director would have, would have blocking that they knew you were going to they were going to do, and they say, here's what you do. You walk in the door, etc. Sometimes they say, Well, go ahead, just show me what you'd like, what you what it feels like. And from that blocking is derived. And then you go home and you try to memorize the lines, and you feel perfectly comfortable that as you go, when you leave and you come back the next day and discover you got the first line down. But from there on, it's dreadful. But after a while, you get into the thing and you know your lines. You do it. Soap opera. Do that.   Michael Hingson ** 19:38 The interesting thing about doing radio, was everything, pretty much, was live. Was that something that caused a lot of pressure for you?   Ivan Cury ** 19:51 In some ways, yes, and in some ways it's lovely. The pressure is, yes, you want to get it right, but if you got to get it but if you get it wrong, give it up, because it's all over. Uh, and that's something that's that isn't so if you've recorded it, then you start figuring, well, what can I do? How can I fix this? You know, live, you do it and it's done. That's, that's what it is, moving right along. And this, this comment, gets to be kind of comfortable, you know, that you're going to, there may be some mistakes. You do the best you can with it, and go on one of the things that's really the news that that happens, the news, you know, every night, and with all the other shows that are live every day,   Michael Hingson ** 20:26 one of the things that I've noticed in a number of radio shows, there are times that it's fairly obvious that somebody made a flub of some sort, but they integrated it in, and they were able to adapt and react, and it just became part of the show. And sometimes it became a funny thing, but a lot of times they just worked it in, because people knew how to do that. And I'm not sure that that is so much the case certainly today on television, because in reality, you get to do it over and over, and they'll edit films and all that. And so you don't have that, that same sort of thing, but some of those challenges and flubs that did occur on radio were really like in the Jack Benny shows and burns and Allen and Phil Harris and so on. They were, they just became integrated in and they they became classic events, even though they weren't necessarily originally part of the plan.   Ivan Cury ** 21:25 Absolutely, some of some of them, I suspect some of them, were planned and planned to sound as if they would just happen. But certainly mistakes. Gosh, good mistakes are wonderful. Yeah, in all kinds of I used to do a lot of live television, and even if we weren't live television, when we would just do something and we were going to tape it and do it later, I remember once the camera kind of going wrong, video going wrong. I went, Wait a minute. That's great. Let's keep it wrong like that, you know. And it was so is just lovely that that's part of the art of improvisation, with how   Michael Hingson ** 22:06 and and I think there was a lot more of that, certainly in radio, than there is on television today, because very few things are really live in the same   Ivan Cury ** 22:17 sense. No, there. There are some kinds of having written, there are some type formats that are live. The news is live, the news is live. There's no, you know, there are. There used to be, and there may still be some of the afternoon shows, the kind of morning and afternoon shows where Show and Tell Dr whatever his name is, Dr Phil, yeah, it may be live, or it's shot as live, and they don't, they don't really have a budget to edit, so it's got to be real bad before they edit. Yeah. So do a show like that called Woman of CBS. So there are shows that are live, like that, sport events are live. A lot of from Kennedy Center is live. There are, there are lots of programs that are live, concerts, that are that you are a lot of them. America's Got Talent might as well be live. So there's a lot of that. And certainly things go wrong in the ad lib, and that's the way, because, in fact, there's some lovely things that happen out of that, but mostly, you're absolutely right. Mostly you do show it's recorded. You intend to edit it, you plan it to be edited, and you do it. It's also different when you shoot multiple camera, as opposed to single camera, yeah, single camera being as you say, again and again and again, multiple camera, not so much, although I used to direct the young and the restless, and now there is a line cut which is almost never used. It's it's the intention, but every shot is isolated and then cleaned up so that it's whatever is, whatever is possibly wrong with it gets clean.   Michael Hingson ** 24:03 Yeah, it's, it's a sign of the changing times and how things, everything   Ivan Cury ** 24:09 is bad. It's just, it's different. In fact, that's a kind of question I'm really puzzled with right now for the fun of it. And that is about AI, is it good or bad?   Michael Hingson ** 24:20 Well, and it's like anything else, of course, it depends. One of the one of my, my favorite, one of my favorite things about AI is a few years, a couple of years ago, I was at a Christmas party when there was somebody there who was complaining about the fact that kids were writing their papers using AI,   Ivan Cury ** 24:43 and that's bad   Michael Hingson ** 24:44 and and although people have worked on trying to be able to detect AI, the reality is that this person was complaining that the kids were even doing it. And I didn't think about it until later, but I realized. Is one of the greatest blessings of AI is let the students create their papers using AI. What the teachers need to do is to get more creative. And by that I mean All right, so when children turn in and students turn in their papers, then take a day and let every student take about a minute and come up and defend the paper they wrote. You're going to find out really quickly who really knew the subject and who just let ai do it and didn't have any interaction with it. But what a great way to learn. You're going to find out very quickly. And kids are going to figure out very quickly that they need to really know the subject, because they're going to have to defend their   Ivan Cury ** 25:41 papers. Yeah, no, I think that's fine. I I don't like the amount of electricity that it requires and what it's doing to our to our needs for water, because it has to be cooled down. So there's some physical things that I don't like about AI, and I think it's like when you used to have to go into a test with a slide rule, and they you couldn't use your calculator. When I use a calculator, it's out of the bag. You can't put it back anymore. It's a part of our life, and how to use it is the question. And I think you're absolutely right. I don't even need to know whether. I'm not even sure you need to check the kids if they it. How will you use? How will we get to use? Ai, it is with us.   Michael Hingson ** 26:30 Well, but I think there's a the value of of checking and testing. Why I'm with you. I don't think it's wrong. I think, no, no, but I think the value is that it's going to make them really learn the subject. I've written articles, and I've used AI to write articles, and I will look at them. I'll actually have a create, like, eight or nine different versions, and I will decide what I like out of each of them, and then I will add my part to it, because I have to make it me, and I've always realized that. So I know anything that I write, I can absolutely defend, because I'm very integrally involved in what I do with it, although AI has come up with some very clever ideas. Yeah, I hadn't thought of but I still add value to it, and I think that's what's really important.   Ivan Cury ** 27:19 I did a I've been writing stuff for a while, and one of the things I did, I wrote this. I wrote a little piece. And I thought, well, what? What would ai do if they took the same piece? How would they do it? So I put it in and said, rewrite it. They did. It was kind of bland. They'd taken all the life out of it. It wasn't very Yeah. So then I said, Well, wait a minute, do the same thing, write it as if it were written by Damon Runyon. And so they took it and they did that, and it was way over the top and really ugly, but it I kind of had fun with what, what the potential was, and how you might want to use it. I mean, I think the way you using it is exactly right. Yeah, it's how you use it, when, when you when, I'm just as curious, when you do that, when you said, you write something, and you ask them to do it four or five times or many times. How do you how do you require them to do it differently.   Michael Hingson ** 28:23 Well, there are a couple different ways. One is, there are several different models that can use to generate the solution. But even leaving aside such as, Oh, let's see, one is, you go out and do more web research before you actually do the do the writing. And so that's one thing and another. I'm trying to remember there were, like, six models that I found on one thing that I did yesterday, and but, but the other part about it is that with AI, yeah, the other thing about AI is that you can just tell it you don't like the response that you   Ivan Cury ** 29:09 got. Aha, okay, all right, yep,   Michael Hingson ** 29:13 I got it. And when you do that, it will create a different response, which is one of the things that you want. So, so so that works out pretty well. And what I did on something, I wanted to write a letter yesterday, and I actually had it write it. I actually had it do it several times. And one time I told it to look at the web to help generate more information, which was pretty cool, but, but the reality is that, again, I also think that I need to be a part of the the solution. So I had to put my my comments into it as well, and, and that worked out pretty well. Okay, right? Yeah, so I mean, it's cool, and it worked. Right? And so the bottom line is we we got a solution, but I think that AI is a tool that we can use, and if we use it right, it will enhance us. And it's something that we all have to choose how we're going to do. There's no no come, yeah, no question about that. So tell me you were successful as a young actor. So what kind of what what advice or what kind of thoughts do you have about youth success, and what's your takeaway from that?   Ivan Cury ** 30:36 The Good, yeah, I There are a lot of things being wanting to do it, and I really love doing it, I certainly didn't want to. I wanted to do it as the best way I could Well, I didn't want to lose it up, is what it really comes down to. And that meant figuring out what it is that required. And one of the things that required was a sense of responsibility. You had to be there on time, you had to be on stage, and you may want to fidget, but that takes to distract from what's going on, so sit still. So there's a kind of kind of responsibility that that you learn, that I learned, I think early on, that was, that's very useful. Yeah, that's, that's really, I think that's, I wrote some things that I had, I figured, some of these questions that might be around. So there, there's some I took notes about it. Well, oh, attention to details. Yeah, to be care to be watch out for details. And a lot of the things can be carried on into later life, things about detailed, things about date. Put a date on, on papers. When, when did, when was this? No, when was this note? What? When did this happen? Just keeping track of things. I still am sort of astonished at how, how little things add up, how we just just noted every day. And at the end of a year, you've made 365 notes,   Michael Hingson ** 32:14 yeah, well, and then when you go back and read them, which is also part of the issue, is that you got to go back and look at them to to see what   Ivan Cury ** 32:23 right or to just know that they're there so that you can refer to them. When did that happen?   Michael Hingson ** 32:28 Oh, right. And what did you say? You know, that's the point. Is that when I started writing thunder dog, my first book was suggested that I should start it, and I started writing it, what I started doing was creating notes. I actually had something like 1.2 megabytes of notes by the time we actually got around to doing the book. And it was actually eight years after I started doing some, well, seven years after I started doing writing on it. But the point is that I had the information, and I constantly referred back to it, and I even today, when I deliver a speech, I like to if there's a possibility of having it recorded, I like to go back and listen, because I want to make sure that I'm not changing things I shouldn't change and or I want to make sure that I'm really communicating with the audience, because I believe that my job is to talk with an audience, not to an audience.   Ivan Cury ** 33:24 Yeah, yeah. I we say that I'm reading. There are three books I'm reading right now, one of them, one of them, the two of them are very well, it doesn't matter. One is called who ate the oyster? Who ate the first oyster? And it's a it's really about paleon. Paleological. I'm saying the word wrong, and I'm paleontological. Paleontological, yeah, study of a lot of firsts, and it's a lovely but the other one is called shady characters by Keith Houston, and it's a secret life of punctuation symbols and other typographical marks, and I am astonished at the number of of notes that go along with it. Probably 100 100 pages of footnotes to all of the things that that are a part of how these words came to be. And they're all, I'm not looking at the footnotes, because there's just too many, but it's kind of terrific to check out. To be that clear about where did this idea come from, where did this statement come from? I'm pleased about that. I asked my wife recently if you could be anything you want other than what you are. What would you want to be? What other what other job or would you want to have? The first one that came to mind for me, which I was surprised that was a librarian. I just like the detail. I think that's   Michael Hingson ** 34:56 doesn't go anywhere. There you go. Well, but there's so. There's a lot of detail, and you get to be involved with so many different kinds of subjects, and you never know what people are going to ask you on any given day. So there's a lot of challenge and fun to that.   Ivan Cury ** 35:11 Well, to me also just putting things in order, I was so surprised to discover that in the Dewey Decimal System, the theater is 812 and right next to it, the thing that's right next to it is poetry. I was surprised. It's interesting, yeah, the library and play that out.   Michael Hingson ** 35:29 Well, you were talking about punctuation. Immediately I thought of EE Cummings. I'll bet he didn't pay much attention to punctuation at all. I love him. He's great, yeah, isn't he? Yeah, it's a lot of fun. An interesting character by any standard. So, so you, you progressed into television, if, I guess it's progressing well, like, if we answer to Fred Allen, it's not, but that's okay.   Ivan Cury ** 35:54 Well, what happens? You know, after, after, I became 18, and is an interesting moment in my life, where they were going to do film with Jimmy Dean, James Dean, James Dean. And it came down and he was going to have a sidekick, a kid sidekick. And it came down to me and Sal Mineo. And Sal got it, by the way. Case you didn't know, but one of the things was I was asked I remember at Columbia what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to go to college, and my there was a kind of like, oh, yeah, right. Well, then you're not going to go to this thing, because we don't. We want you to be in Hollywood doing the things. And yes, and I did go to college, which is kind of great. So what happened was, after, when I became 18, I went to Carnegie tech and studied theater arts. Then I after that, I studied at Boston University and got a master's there, so that I had an academic, an academic part of my life as well, right? Which ran out well, because in my later years, I became a professor and wrote some   Michael Hingson ** 36:56 books, and that was your USC, right? No, Cal State, Lacher State, LA and UCLA. And UCLA, not USC. Oh, shame on me. But that's my wife. Was a USC graduate, so I've always had loyalty. There you go. But I went to UC Irvine, so you know, okay, both systems, whatever.   Ivan Cury ** 37:16 Well, you know, they're both UC system, and that's different, yeah, the research institutes, as opposed to the Cal State, which   Michael Hingson ** 37:23 are more teaching oriented, yeah,   Ivan Cury ** 37:26 wow, yeah, that's, that's what it says there in the paper.   Michael Hingson ** 37:30 Yes, that's what it says. But you know, so you went into television. So what did you mainly do in the in the TV world?   Ivan Cury ** 37:44 Well, when I got out of when I got through school, I got through the army, I came back to New York, and I, oh, I got a job versus the Girl Scouts, doing public relations. I I taught at Hunter College for a year. Taught speech. One of the required courses at Carnegie is voice and diction, and it's a really good course. So I taught speech at Hunter College, and a friend of mine was the second alternate maker man at Channel 13 in New York. He had opera tickets, so he said, Look standard for me, it's easy, men seven and women five, and telling women to put on their own lipstick. So I did. I did that, and I became then he couldn't do it anymore, so I became the second alternate make a man. Then it didn't matter. Within within six months, I was in charge of makeup for any t which I could do, and I was able to kind of get away with it. And I did some pretty good stuff, some prosthetic pieces, and it was okay, but I really didn't want to do that. I wanted to direct, if I could. And so then I they, they knew that, and I they knew that I was going to leave if, if, because I wasn't going to be a makeup I didn't. So I became a stage manager, and then an associate director, and then a director at Channel 13 in New York. And I directed a lot of actors, choice the biggest show I did there, or the one that Well, I did a lot of I also worked with a great guy named Kirk Browning, who did the a lot of the NBC operas, and who did all of the opera stuff in for any t and then I wound up doing a show called Soul, which was a black variety show. But when I say black variety show, it was with James Baldwin and but by the OJS and the unifics and the delphonics and Maya Angelou and, you know, so it was a black culture show, and I was the only white guy except the camera crew there. But had a really terrific time. Left there and went and directed for CBS. I did camera three. So I did things like the 25th anniversary of the Juilliard stringer check. Quartet. But I was also directing a show called woman, which was one of the earliest feminist programs, where I was the only male and an all female show. And actually I left and became the only gringo on an all Latino show called aqui I ahora. So I had a strange career in television as a director, and then did a lot of commercials for about 27 years, I directed or worked on the Men's Warehouse commercials. Those are the facts. I guarantee it.   Michael Hingson ** 40:31 Did you get to meet George Zimmer? Oh, very, very, very often, 27 years worth, I would figure, yeah.   Ivan Cury ** 40:39 I mean, what? I'm enemies. When I met him, he's a boy, a mere boy.   Michael Hingson ** 40:45 Did you act during any of this time? Or were you no no behind the camera once?   Ivan Cury ** 40:50 Well, the only, the only acting I did was occasionally. I would go now in a store near you, got it, and I had this voice that they decided, Ivan, we don't want you to do it anymore. It just sounds too much like we want, let George do this, please.   Michael Hingson ** 41:04 So, so you didn't get to do much, saying of things like, But wait, there's more, right?   Ivan Cury ** 41:10 No, not at all. Okay, okay. Oh, but you do that very well. Let's try.   Michael Hingson ** 41:13 Wait, there's more, okay. Well, that's cool. Well, that was,   Ivan Cury ** 41:18 it was kind of fun, and it was kind of fun, but they had to, it was kind of fun to figure out things. I remember we did. We had a thing where some of those commercial we did some commercials, and this is the thing, I sort of figured out customers would call in. So we recorded their, their call ins, and I they, we said, with calls being recorded. We took the call ins and I had them sent to it a typist who typed up what they wrote that was sent to New York to an advertising agency would extract, would extract questions or remarks that people had made about the stuff, the remarks, the tapes would be then sent to who did that? I think we edited the tapes to make it into a commercial, but the tags needed to be done by an announcer who said, in a store near you were opening sooner, right? Wyoming, and so those the announcer for the Men's Warehouse was a guy in in Houston. So we'd send, we'd send that thing to him, and he'd send us back a digital package with the with the tags. And the fun of it was that was, it was from, the calls are from all over the world. The the edits on paper were done in New York, the physical work was done in San Francisco. The announcer was in Houston. And, you know? And it's just kind of fun to be able to do that, that to see, particularly having come from, having come from 1949 Yeah, where that would have been unheard of to kind of have that access to all that was just fun, kind   Michael Hingson ** 42:56 of fun. But think about it now, of course, where we have so much with the internet and so on, it'd be so much easier, in a lot of ways, to just have everyone meet on the same network and   Ivan Cury ** 43:09 do now it's now, it's nothing. I mean, now it's just, that's the way it is. Come on.   Michael Hingson ** 43:13 Yeah, exactly. So. So you know, one of the things that I've been thinking about is that, yes, we've gone from radio to television and a whole new media and so on. But at the same time, I'm seeing a fairly decent resurgence of people becoming fascinated with radio and old radio and listening to the old programs. Do you see that?   Ivan Cury ** 43:41 Well, I, I wish I did. I don't my, my take on it. It comes strictly from that such, so anecdotal. It's like, in my grandkids, I have these shows that I've done, and it's, you know, it's grandpa, and here it is, and there it's the bobby Benson show, or it's calculator America, whatever, 30 seconds. That's what they give me. Yeah, then it's like, Thanks, grandpa. Whoopie. I don't know. I think maybe there may there may be something, but I would, I'd want some statistical evidence about well, but   Michael Hingson ** 44:19 one of the things I'm thinking of when I talk about the resurgence, is that we're now starting to see places like radio enthusiasts to Puget Sound reps doing recreations of, oh yes, Carl Omari has done the Twilight Zone radio shows. You know, there are some things that are happening, but reps among others, and spurred back to some degree, yeah, spurred back is, is the Society for the Prevention, oh, gosh,   Ivan Cury ** 44:46 not cruelty children, although enrichment   Michael Hingson ** 44:49 of radio   Ivan Cury ** 44:50 drama and comedy, right? Society, right? Yeah, and reps is regional enthusiasts of Puget Sound, Puget   Michael Hingson ** 44:58 Sound and. Reps does several recreations a year. In fact, there's one coming up in September. Are you going to   Ivan Cury ** 45:04 that? Yes, I am. I'm supposed to be. Yes, I think I Yes. I am.   Michael Hingson ** 45:08 Who you're going to play? I have no idea. Oh, you don't know yet.   Ivan Cury ** 45:12 Oh, no, no, that's fun. You get there, I think they're going to have me do a Sam Spade. There is another organization up there called the American radio theater, right? And I like something. I love those people. And so they did a lot of Sam Spade. And so I expect I'm going to be doing a Sam Spade, which I look forward to.   Michael Hingson ** 45:32 I was originally going to it to a reps event. I'm not going to be able to this time because somebody has hired me to come and speak and what I was going to do, and we've postponed it until I can, can be the one to do it is Richard diamond private detective, which is about my most favorite radio show. So I'm actually going to play, able to play Richard diamond. Oh, how great. Oh, that'll be a lot of fun. Yeah. So it'll probably be next year at this point now, but it but it will happen.   Ivan Cury ** 45:59 I think this may, yeah, go ahead. This may be my last, my last show I'm getting it's getting tough to travel.   Michael Hingson ** 46:07 Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Let's see. Let's see what happens. But, but it is fun, and I've met several people through their Carolyn Grimes, of course, who played Zuzu on It's A Wonderful Life. And in fact, we're going to have her on unstoppable mindset in the not too distant future, which is great, but I've met her and and other people, which I   Ivan Cury ** 46:34 think that's part of the for me. That really is part of the fun. Yeah, you become for me now it has become almost a sec, a family, in the same way that when you do show, if you do a show regularly, it is, it really becomes a family. And when the show is over, it's that was, I mean, one of the first things as a kid that was, that was really kind of tough for every day, or every other day I would meet the folks of Bobby Benson and the B Barbie writers. And then I stopped doing the show, and I didn't see them and didn't see them again. You know, I Don Knotts took me to I had the first shrimp of my life. Don Knotts took me to take tough and Eddie's in New York. Then I did another show called paciolini, which was a kind of Italian version of The Goldbergs. And that was, I was part of that family, and then that kind of went away. I was Porsche son on Porsche faces life, and then that way, so the you have these families and they and then you lose them, but, but by going to these old events, there is that sense of family, and there are also, what is just astonishing to me is all those people who know who knows stuff. One day I mentioned Frank Milano. Now, nobody who knows Frank Milano. These guys knew them. Oh, Frank, yeah, he did. Frank Milano was a sound. Was did animal sounds. There were two guys who did animal sounds particularly well. One was Donald Baines, who I worked with on the first day I ever did anything. He played the cow on Jack and the Beanstalk and and Frank, Don had, Don had a wonderful bar room bet, and that was that he could do the sound effects of a fish. Wow. And what is the sound effect of a fish? So now you gotta be required. Here's the sound effect of a fish. This was what he went $5 bets with you. Ready? Here we go.   Michael Hingson ** 48:41 Good job. Yeah, good job. Yeah. It's like, what was it on? Was it Jack Benny? They had a kangaroo, and I think it was Mel Blanc was asked to do the kangaroo, which is, of course, another one where they're not really a sound, but you have to come up with a sound to do it on radio, right?   Ivan Cury ** 49:06 Yes. Oh my god, there were people who want I could do dialects, I could do lots of German film, and I could do the harness. Was very easy for me to do, yeah, so I did love and I got to lots of jobs because I was a kid and I could do all these accents. There was a woman named Brianna Rayburn. And I used to do a lot of shows in National Association of churches of Christ in the United States. And the guy who was the director, John Gunn, we got to know each other. He was talking about, we talked with dialects. He said Briana Rayburn had come in. She was to play a Chinese woman. And she really asked him, seriously, what part of China Do you want her to come from? Oh, wow. I thought that was just super. And she was serious. She difference, which is studied, studied dialects in in. In college not long after, I could do them, and discovered that there were many, many English accents. I knew two or three cockney I could do, but there were lots of them that could be done. And we had the most fun. We had a German scholar from Germany, from Germany, and we asked him if he was doing speaking German, but doing playing the part of an American what would it sound like speaking German with an American accent? You know, it was really weird.   Michael Hingson ** 50:31 I had a history teacher, yes, who was from the Bronx, who spoke German, yeah, and he fought in World War Two. And in fact, he was on guard duty one night, and somebody took a shot at him, and so he yelled back at them in German. The accent was, you know, I took German, so I don't understand it all that well, but, but listening to him with with a New York accent, speaking German was really quite a treat. The accent spilled through, but, but they didn't shoot at him anymore. So I think he said something, what are you shooting at me for? Knock it off. But it was so funny, yeah, but they didn't shoot at him anymore because he spoke, yeah, yeah. It was kind of cool. Well, so with all that you've learned, what kind of career events have have sort of filtered over into what you do today?   Ivan Cury ** 51:28 Oh, I don't know. We, you know. But one of the things I wanted to say, it was one of the things that I learned along the way, which is not really answering your question until I get back to it, was, I think one of those best things I learned was that, however important it is that that you like someone, or you're with somebody and everything is really terrific. One of the significant things that I wish I'd learned earlier, and I think is really important, is how do you get along when you don't agree? And I think that's really very important.   Michael Hingson ** 52:01 Oh, it's so important. And we, in today's society, it's especially important because no one can tolerate anyone anymore if they disagree with them, they're you're wrong, and that's all there is to it. And that just is so unfortunate. There's no There's no really looking at alternatives, and that is so scary   Ivan Cury ** 52:20 that may not be an alternative. It may not be,   Michael Hingson ** 52:23 but if somebody thinks there is, you should at least respect the opinion,   Ivan Cury ** 52:28 whatever it is, how do you get along with the people you don't   Michael Hingson ** 52:32 agree with? Right?   Ivan Cury ** 52:35 And you should one that you love that you don't agree with, right? This may sound strange, but my wife and I do not agree about everything all the time, right?   Michael Hingson ** 52:43 What a concept. My wife and I didn't agree about everything all the time. Really, that's amazing, and it's okay, you know? And in fact, we both one of the the neat things, I would say, is we both learned so much from each other when we disagreed, but would talk about it, and we did a lot of talking and communicating, which I always felt was one of the most important things about our marriage. So we did, we learned a lot, and we knew how to get along, and we knew that if we disagreed, it was okay, because even if we didn't change each other's opinion, we didn't need to try to change each other's opinion, but if we work together and learn to respect the other opinion, that's what really mattered, and you learn more about the individual that way,   Ivan Cury ** 53:30 yeah, and also you have you learn about giving up. Okay, I think you're wrong, but if that's really what you want exactly, I'll do it. We'll do it your way?   Michael Hingson ** 53:42 Yeah, well, exactly. And I think it's so important that we really put some of that into perspective, and it's so crucial to do that, but there's so much disagreement today, and nobody wants to talk to anybody. You're wrong. I'm right. That's all there is to it. Forget it, and that's just not the way the world should be.   Ivan Cury ** 53:59 No, no. I wanted to go on to something that you had asked about, what I think you asked about, what's now I have been writing. I have been writing to a friend who I've been writing a lot of very short pieces, to a friend who had a stroke and who doesn't we can't meet as much as we use. We can't meet at all right now. And but I wanted to just go on, I'm and I said that I've done something really every week, and I'd like to put some of these things together into a book. And what I've been doing, looking for really is someone to work with. And so I keep writing the things, the thing that I wrote just today, this recent one, had to do with I was thinking about this podcast. Is what made me think of it. I thought about the stars that I had worked with, you know, me and the stars, because I had lots. Stories with with people who are considered stars, Charles Lawton, Don Knotts, Gene crane, Maya, Angelou, Robert Kennedy, the one I wrote about today. I wrote about two people. I thought it'd be fun to put them together, James Dean and Jimmy Dean. James Dean, just going to tell you the stories about them, because it's the kind of thing I'm writing about now. James Dean, we worked together on a show called Crime syndicated. He had just become really hot in New York, and we did this show where there were a bunch of probably every teenage actor in New York was doing this show. We were playing two gangs, and Jimmy had an extraordinary amount of lines. And we said, What the hell are you going to do, Jim? If you, you know, if you lose lines, he's, this is live. And he said, No problem. And then what he said is, all I do is I start talking, and then I just move my mouth like I'm walking talking, and everybody will think the audio went out. Oh, and that's, that's what he was planning on doing. I don't know if he really is going to do it. He was perfect. You know, he's just wonderful. He did his show. The show was great. We were all astonished to be working with some not astonished, but really glad to just watch him work, because he was just so very good. And we had a job. And then stories with Jimmy Dean. There were a couple of stories with Jimmy Dean, the singer and the guy of sausage, right? The last one to make it as fast, the last one was, we were in Nashville, at the Grand Ole Opry Opperman hotel. I was doing a show with him, and I was sitting in the bar, the producer and someone other people, and there was a regular Graceland has a regular kind of bar. It's a small bar of chatter, cash register, husband, wife, team on the stage singing. And suddenly, as we were talking, it started to get very quiet. And what had happened is Jimmy Dean had come into the room. He had got taken the guitar, and he started to sing, and suddenly it just got quiet, very quiet in the room. The Register didn't ring. He sang one song and he sang another song. His applause. He said, Thank you. Gave the guitar back to the couple. Walked off the stage. It was quiet while a couple started to sing again. They were good. He started to sing. People began to chatter again. The cash register rang, and I, I certainly have no idea how he managed to command that room to have everybody shut up while he sang and listened to him. He didn't do anything. There was nothing, you know, no announcement. It wasn't like, oh, look, there's Jimmy. It was just his, his performance. It was great, and I was really glad to be working with him the next day well.   Michael Hingson ** 57:56 And I think that having that kind of command and also being unassuming about it is pretty important if you've got an ego and you think you're the greatest thing, and that's all there is to it. That shows too, yeah?   Ivan Cury ** 58:08 Well, some people live on it, on that ego, yeah, and I'm successful on it, I don't think that was what. It certainly   Michael Hingson ** 58:17 wasn't, no, no, no, and I'm not saying that. I'm sure it wasn't that's my point. Yeah, no, because I think that the ultimate best people are the ones who don't do it with ego or or really project that ego. I think that's so important, as I said earlier, for me, when I go to speak, my belief is I'm going to to do what I can to help whatever event I'm at, it isn't about me at all. It's more about the audience. It's more about what can I inspire this audience with? What can I tell the audience and talk with the audience about, and how can I relate to them so that I'm saying something that they want to hear, and that's what I have to do. So if you had the opportunity to go back and talk to a younger Ivan, what would you tell him?   Ivan Cury ** 59:08 Cut velvet? No, there you go. No, what? I don't. I really don't. I don't know.   Michael Hingson ** 59:18 Talk Like a fish. More often   Ivan Cury ** 59:20 talk like a fish. More on there. Maybe. No, I really don't know. I don't know. I think about that sometimes, what it always seems to be a question, what? Really it's a question, What mistakes did you make in life that you wish you hadn't done? What door you wish Yeah, you would open that you didn't? Yeah, and I really don't, I don't know. I can't think of anything that I would do differently and maybe and that I think there's a weakness, because surely there must be things like that. I think a lot of things that happen to one in life anyway have to do with luck. That's not, sort of not original. But I was surprised to hear one day there was a. It. Obama was being interviewed by who was by one of the guys, I've forgotten his name that. And he was talking about his career, and he said he felt that part of his success had been a question of luck. And I very surprised to hear him say that. But even with, within with my career, I think a lot of it had to do with luck I happen to meet somebody that right time. I didn't meet somebody at the right time. I think, I think if I were to do so, if you would, you did ask the question, and I'd be out more, I would be pitching more. I think I've been lazy in that sense, if I wanted to do more that. And I've come to the West Coast quicker, but I was doing a lot of was in New York and having a good time   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:50 Well, and that's important too, yeah. So I don't know that I changed, I Yeah, and I don't know that I would find anything major to change. I think if somebody asked me that question, I'd say, tell my younger self that life is an adventure, enjoy it to the fullest and have fun.   Ivan Cury ** 1:01:12 Oh, well, that's yes. That was the I always believe that, yeah, yeah. It's not a question for me, and in fact, it's one of the things I told my kids that you Abraham Lincoln, you know, said that really in it, in a way a long time ago. He said that you choose you a lot of what you way you see your life has to do with the way the choices you make about how to see it, right? Yeah, which is so cool, right? And one of the ways you might see it says, have fun,   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:39 absolutely well, Ivan, this has been absolutely fun. We've been doing it for an hour, believe it or not, and I want to thank you for being here. And I also want to thank everyone who is listening for being with us today. I hope you've enjoyed this conversation, and I'd love to hear what your thoughts are. Please feel free to email me. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this. Email me at Michael h i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, so Ivan, if people want to reach out to you, how do they do that?   Ivan Cury ** 1:02:10 Oh, dear. Oh, wait a minute, here we go. Gotta stop this. I curyo@gmail.com I C, u, r, y, o@gmail.com There you go. Cury 1r and an O at the end of it, not a zero. I curyo@gmail.com Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:30 Well, great. Well, thank you again, and all of you wherever you're listening, I hope that you'll give us a great review wherever you're listening. Please give us a five star review. We appreciate it, and Ivan, for you and for everyone else listening. If you know anyone else who ought to be a guest on our podcast, love to hear from you. Love an introduction to whoever you might have as a person who ought to come on the podcast, because I think everyone has stories to tell, and I want to give people the opportunity to do it. So once again, I want to thank you, Ivan, for being here. We really appreciate it. Thanks for coming on and being with us today. Thank you.   1:03:10 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Father Ryan Boetcher | September 28, 2025 What does it mean to be truly wealthy? Drawing from the prophet Amos, Psalm 146, and Jesus's parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Father Ryan contrasts two visions of wealth: one that isolates us through accumulation, and God's "great economy" where wealth is measured by what we give away. Through stories ranging from "It's a Wonderful Life" to the Lakota people to St. Francis, this sermon challenges us to find "life that is really life."

This week, we plant the seeds for some great movie discussion, talking about moments that foreshadow the events of their films. So look ahead with movie seers Ian, Dan and Dan as they point out the clues.War of the Worlds - 5:00Shawshank Redemption - 18:00Seven - 24:00Knives Out - 39:00Its a Wonderful Life - 49:00Casablanca - 58:00Mailbag - 1:09:00

Send us a textKen from the Sounds of Christmas talks to writer, film critic and podcaster Alonso Duralde about his new book Have Yourself A Movie Little Christmas (Revised and Updated) and lots of movies (including It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story and Die Hard)!Find a copy of Have Yourself A Movie Little Christmas (Revised and Updated)  Connect with Alonso on Instagram                                                                        Connect with Alonso on BlueSkyShow links:Listen to the Sounds of Christmas stationFind the Sounds of Christmas podcastConnect with the Sounds of Christmas on social mediaCheck out all the artists that made the 2024 season of the Sounds of Christmas station possibleSupport the show

Spoiler alert: this week we're analyzing the Twilight Zone episode “Dust.” Luis Gallegos sits in a jail cell, waiting to be executed. Why? A reckless night of desperation and inebriation led to the death of a young girl. And so, he waits. But, when a peddler of false hopes comes into town claiming that he has magic dust that can change hate to love, things start to become interesting. We'll dive into the difference between vengeance and justice, and bring in the movies John Wick and Tombstone to help us out; we'll talk about how our environments shape us into ways we might like and not like, with a bit of help from It's a Wonderful Life; and I'll reveal my moment of awe, or rather, a moment of awe from one of our characters. So, grab your keys, and let's unlock this door to the fifth dimension. As always, spoiler alert. If you have note seen the episode, go check it out and then come back here for the analysis. We're walking through Rod Serling's classic Twilight Zone series and asking difficult questions about life. So, if you love The Twilight Zone, science fiction, or even just philosophizing about life, consider joining us on this journey. There's always room for more. Google form to rate this Twilight Zone episode: https://forms.gle/USnupzKaAJPPVxe66Discord: discord.gg/QjNY9jcyFZX Handle: x.com/keyofishowYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thekeyofimaginationHead over to thekeyofimagination.com to learn more about me and to continue the conversation. Episode outline:00:0000:42 - Plot02:49 - Episode Details03:30 - Episode Tidbits04:12 - Question 112:44 - Question 220:02 - Question 321:55 - Episode rating22:41 - Next episode and questions23:09 - Announcements and comments25:01 - How to support the showNo show did a better job than The Twilight Zone at generating awe and wonder within its audience. It just so happens that awe is exactly what we need in these difficult, divisive times. So, join me, Joe Meyer, and let's walk through the fifth dimension with Rod Serling. Along the way, we'll discuss big questions and relate them back to our Twilight Zone episodes.Opening and Ending theme: by Jacob Williams @jakeproduces on Fiverr#twilightzone #rodserling #scifi #zone #outerlimits #sciencefiction

It's a battle between two ancient forces that defy description.  It's also a Wonderful Life.  It's the season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Mission Log Live's callers definitely had thoughts about it.

It's a battle between two ancient forces that defy description.  It's also a Wonderful Life.  It's the season finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Mission Log Live's callers definitely had thoughts about it.

What's up, dudes? I've got Ken Kessler from Sounds of Christmas here with me to talk about the fever dream "A Rock 'N' Roll Christmas!" Yes, it's the love child of "It's a Wonderful Life" and 'Weekend Update'... and Christmas rock.Dennis Miller hosts this event with interspersed segments of George Bailey trying to bring rock to Bedford Falls. Of course, in a show predicated on a pirate signal hacking a 'traditional' Christmas show, there has to be music. Subsequently, several bands provide holiday entertainment, including Eddie Money, Little Richards, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds!In the meantime, clips of Ernest Saves Christmas are intercut over Bryan Adams. Several acts, like Jimi Hendrix and Elvis, are cut short to make room for the It's a Wonderful Life parody. Pat Benetar provides a killer song via satellite, and popular videos from MTV by U2, Run DMC, and Buster Poindexter fill out the ranks.The Beach Boys? Yep. The Beatles? Check. Oingo Boingo? Only on a theater marquis. So grab your leather jacket, spin some records, and jam out to this episode on 'A Rock 'N' Roll Christmas!" Sounds of ChristmasFB: @SOCMusicTwitter: @SOCMusicIG: @socmusicGive us a buzz! Send a text, dudes!Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com! Later, dudes!

Today we will hear from a name that has been mentioned in some recent episodes but has never been on the show to tell his story. The time has come to sit down with retired DEA Special Agent in Charge David Downing. Mr. Downing entered on duty with the DEA in 1995 as a member of Basic Agent Class 95. After graduating the academy in Quantico, Virginia, Mr. Downing served in various roles within DEA in locations such as Houston, Little Rock, the Office of Professional Responsibility in Dallas, Atlanta, and an overseas tour in the Bahamas. Mr. Downing has held the following titles: Special agent, group supervisor, inspector, resident agent in charge, assistant special agent in charge, deputy special agent in charge, and special agent in charge. Special Agent in Charge Downing made it a priority to improve community partnerships as well as relationships with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. In addition, he led the Los Angeles Division through many successes, including two major diversion initiatives that significantly reduced opioid overdoses, the naming of Los Angeles as a 360 Pilot Project for opioid reduction and education, the indictment of Nemesio Oseguera-Cervantes, the leader of the most ruthless drug cartel in Mexico, and the formation of the Fusion Opioid HIDTA Task Force. But his most lasting legacy will be diversifying the Los Angeles Division. We are please that Margaret Bedolla is back as a cohost to help tell this story of leadership, integrity, and the unwavering mission to uplift those around him. Sit back in soak in this genuine good person's story.  

LinksMidwest emo - WikipediaMidwest Emo | Aesthetics Wiki | FandomMacramé - WikipediaHouse Democrats Release Epstein's Birthday Letter Apparently Signed by Trump - The New York TimesEpstein Birthday BookJeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich - WikipediaThe First Fifty Years | DocumentCloudPhoto of novelty check suggests Epstein ‘sold' Trump a woman for $22,500 | Donald Trump | The GuardianRoss McElwee - WikipediaRoss McElwee"Sherman's March" Official Trailer - YouTubeRemake — Ross McElweeAlien: Earth - WikipediaMx. Sugartits | Do By FridayKanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top DocumentariesZach Cregger - WikipediaThe Whitest Kids U' Know - WikipediaThe Civil War on Drugs (FULL MOVIE) - YouTubeWeapons (2025 film) - WikipediaThe Babadook - WikipediaThe Babadook - 10th Anniversary Trailer - YouTubeThe Babadook Creator Finally Acknowledges Her Character Becoming a Gay Icon | Vanity FairRemember You | Adventure Time - YouTubeDoctor Who | River Song "Spoilers" - YouTubeIt's A Wonderful Life | A Christmas Miracle (End Scene) | Paramount Movies - YouTubeAre Bert and Ernie named after characters from It's a Wonderful Life?Every time River says ‘Hello Sweetie' and ‘Spoilers' - YouTube"Hello, I'm the Doctor..." | The Eleventh Hour | Doctor Who - YouTube

It's Monday, September 8th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Russian pastor sent to prison labor camp for sermon On September 3, Russian Pastor Nikolay Romanyuk, age 63, was found guilty of making “Public calls to implement activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation,” reports International Christian Concern.   Despite the Russian pastor's age and poor health conditions, the court sentenced him to four years in a prison labor camp.   In a statement before the court, Pastor Romanyuk said, “Yes, I gave a sermon in which I touched on military, albeit forced, murder. I do not retract what I said. I set forth my personal view and attitude towards the taking of a human life. This is my personal attitude as a clergyman.”  Pastor Romanyuk gave his now-criminal sermon a week after Russia partially mobilized its forces against Ukraine in September 2022 at the Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church in a suburb of Moscow, Russia.   From the pulpit, Romanyuk preached, “It was written in our [church] doctrine that we are pacifists and cannot participate in this. It is our right to profess this on the basis of Holy Scripture.”  Svetlana Zhukova, Pastor Romanyuk's daughter, wrote on social media, “Imagine, Dad was convicted for his opinion, his position. There is no crime. Not a single person suffered from his actions. The state did not suffer at all.”  Acts 5:29 says, “We must obey God rather than men.”  Ted Cruz torches Tim Kaine for describing God-given rights as 'very, very troubling' Here in America, on September 3rd, the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee addressed the nomination of Riley Barnes to be Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. In response to Barnes' introductory statement before the committee, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia objected to Barnes who underscored Secretary of State Marco Rubio's assertion that our rights come from God, not government, reports The Christian Post. Listen. KAINE: “This is a quote from Secretary Rubio, our rights come from God, our Creator, not from our laws, not from our governments. I find that very, very troubling. … “The notion that our rights do not come from our laws or our government should make people very, very nervous, because people of any religious tradition, or none, are entitled to the equal protection of the laws under the 14th Amendment. It shouldn't matter what their religious background is, what they think about God or the Creator, what their church affiliation is.” Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, another member of the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee, took issue with Senator Kaine. CRUZ: “Senator Kaine said, in this hearing, that he found it a radical and dangerous notion that you would say, ‘Our rights came from God and not from government.' I just walked into the hearing as he was saying that and I almost fell out of my chair, because that ‘radical and dangerous notion,' in his words, is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created. “And if you do not believe me, then you can believe perhaps the most prominent Virginian to ever serve, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote, in the Declaration of Independence, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator,' -- not by government, not by the Democratic National Committee, but by God, -- ‘with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' “I have to say, it is stunning to me that the principle that God has given us natural rights is now deemed by Democrats some radical and dangerous notion. Mr. Jefferson was right when he wrote those words. Government exists to protect those rights.” Christian foster parents sue Massachusetts for requiring them to support ‘gender transitions' A pair of Christian foster families in Massachusetts is suing the state for barring them from fostering more children based on their refusal to affirm gender confusion among kids in their care, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Nick and Audrey Jones, who have cared for seven small children since 2023; and Greg and Marianelly Schrock, who have cared for 28 children since 2019. Despite both couples effectively providing needed, loving homes without incident, the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families decided they can no longer continue to do so unless they're willing to affirm the gender confusion of future kids placed with them, including support for so-called “gender transitioning” and the use of biologically inaccurate pronouns. Their attorneys said, what Massachusetts is doing “is a violation of foster parents' religious freedom under the First Amendment as well as a reckless rejection of needed homes for orphaned or abandoned children.” Matthew 18:6 says, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in Me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Jimmy Stewart's World War II heroism and his father's promise to pray And finally, do you recognize this voice? “Mary, I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow and the next day and next year, and the year after that. I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet, and I'm gonna see the world: Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum. Then, I'm coming back here and go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred  stories high. I'm going to build bridges a mile long.” If you guessed Jimmy Stewart, you're right.  He is the actor who famously portrayed George Bailey in the Christmas film “It's A Wonderful Life.” You'll be glad to know that Hollywood is now producing a movie about Stewart's life entitled “Jimmy” starring K.J. Apa, reports FaithWire.com. After earning five Oscars, Stewart felt somewhat of a “hollowness.” At that time in the early 1940s, the world's instability was coming to a head, with war clouds on the horizon. Stewart made a stunning decision. He had been a private pilot, but he decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He said, “I want to be something more than just a Tinseltown hero. I wanted to serve my country, serve my fellow Americans.” Stewart became a squadron commander — a job that involved leading thousands of men in bombing runs during the war. His father, Alexander, who will be portrayed by Neil McDonough, wrote a  letter which he slipped into Jimmy's uniform pocket before he went and that included a copy of Psalm 91, a Scripture which underscores the Lord's comfort and presence.  His dad wrote, “I will be praying for you the whole time you're away that God will be with you. You'll make it home safely.”  Jimmy Stewart kept that letter with him in his uniform on every mission that he went on. Providentially, the actor did make it back home, though he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after seeing hundreds of his men shot down and killed. By the time Stewart left the battlefield, he was far from the Hollywood leading man he was before fighting on the frontlines. An old friend named Frank Capra, a Hollywood director who also served in World War II, told Stewart he had the “perfect role” for him.  It was “It's  A Wonderful Life.”  God used that film to re-energize Stewart's career. Alexander Stewart, his father, embodied the verse found in Malachi 4:6.  “[God] will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, September 8th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

EPISODE 104 -  “MEMORABLE MINUTES: JOHN DILEO ON ACTORS WHO MADE THE MOST OF LESS” - 9/08/25 Back by popular demand! This week we welcome author and friend of the podcast JOHN DILEO who will talk about his 2022 book THERE ARE NO SMALL PARTS: 100 OUTSTANDING FILM PERFORMANCES WITH SCREEN TIME OF 10 MINUTES OR LESS, a fun, insightful look at the incredible actors who made the most with the limited screen time they were given. From GLADYS GEORGE in “The Hard Way” (1943) to RUBY DEE in “American Gangster” (2007), we cover the gamut!  SHOW NOTES:  Sources: There Are No Small Parts: 100 Outstanding Film Performances With Screen Time of 10 Minutes or Less (2022), by John DiLeo; Wikipedia.com; TCM.com; IBDB.com; IMDBPro.com; Movies Mentioned: Sharp Shooters (1938), starring Brian Donlevy & Lynn Bari; The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, & Mary Beth Hughes; Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), staring Jean Arthur & Gary Cooper; Blossoms In the Dust (1941), starring Greer Garson & Walter Pidgeon; My Favorite Wife (1940), starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Gail Patrick, & Randolph Scott; The Hard Way (1943), starring Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, & Jack Carson; Now, Voyager (1942), starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, & Gladys Cooper; Body & Soul (1947), starring John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, & Anne Revere; It's A Wonderful Life (1946), starring James Stewart & Donna Reed; Strangers on a Train (1951), starring Robert Walker, Farley Granger, & Ruth Roman; The Bishop's Wife (1947) starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, & David Niven; The Last Picture Show (1971), starring Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ellen Burstyn, Ben Johnson & Cloris Leachman; American Gangster (2007), staring Denzel Washington, Lymari Nadal, & Russell Crowe; Network (1976), starring William Holden, Faye Dunaway, & Peter Finch; Stagecoach (1939), starling John Wayne & Claire Trevor; Gone With The Wind (1939), starring Vivien Leigh & Clark Gable; The Wizard of Oz (1939), starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack haley, & Bert Lahr; The Letter (1940), starring Bette Davis & Herbert Marshall; Mrs. Miniver (1942), starring Greer Garson & Walter Pidgeon; State Fair (1945), starring Jeanne Crain & Dana Andrews; The Birds (1963), starring Tippi Hedren & Rod Taylor; --------------------------------- 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

As you will learn, our guest this time, Walden Hughes, is blind and has a speech issue. However, as you also will discover none of this has stopped Walden from doing what he wants and likes. I would not say Walden is driven. Instead, I would describe Walden as a man of vision who works calmly to accomplish whatever task he wishes to undertake. Walden grew up in Southern California including attending and graduating from the University of California at Irvine. Walden also received his Master's degree from UCI. Walden's professional life has been in the financial arena where he has proven quite successful. However, Walden also had other plans for his life. He has had a love of vintage radio programs since he was a child. For him, however, it wasn't enough to listen to programs. He found ways to meet hundreds of people who were involved in radio and early television. His interviews air regularly on www.yesterdayusa.net which he now directs. Walden is one of those people who works to make life better for others through the various entertainment projects he undertakes and helps manage. I hope you find Walden's life attitude stimulating and inspiring. About the Guest: With deep roots in U.S. history and a lifelong passion for nostalgic entertainment, Walden Hughes has built an impressive career as an entertainment consultant, producer, and historian of old-time radio. Since beginning his collection in 1976, he has amassed over 50,000 shows and has gone on to produce live events, conventions, and radio recreations across the country, interviewing over 200 celebrities along the way. A graduate of UC Irvine with both a BA in Economics and Political Science and an MBA in Accounting/Finance, he also spent a decade in the investment field before fully embracing his love of entertainment history. His leadership includes serving as Lions Club President, President of Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound, and long-time board member of SPERDVAC, earning numerous honors such as the Eagle Scout rank, Herb Ellis Award, and the Dick Beals Award. Today, he continues to preserve and celebrate the legacy of radio and entertainment through Yesterday USA and beyond. Ways to connect with Walden: SPERDVAC: https://m.facebook.com/sperdvacconvention/ Yesterday USA: https://www.facebook.com/share/16jHW7NdCZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr REPS: https://www.facebook.com/share/197TW27jRi/?mibextid=wwXIfr About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset, where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. We're going to deal with all of that today. We have a guest who I've known for a while. I didn't know I knew him as long as I did, but yeah, but we'll get to that. His name is Walden Hughes, and he is, among other things, the person who is the driving force now behind a website yesterday USA that plays 24 hours a day old radio shows. What I didn't know until he told me once is that he happened to listen to my show back on K UCI in Irvine when I was doing the Radio Hall of Fame between 1969 and 1976 but I only learned that relatively recently, and I didn't actually meet Walden until a few years ago, when we moved down to Victorville and we we started connecting more, and I started listening more to yesterday, USA. We'll talk about some of that. But as you can tell, we're talking, once again, about radio and vintage radio programs, old radio programs from the 30s, 40s and 50s, like we did a few weeks ago with Carl Amari. We're going to have some other people on. Walden is helping us get some other people onto unstoppable mindset, like, in a few weeks, we're going to introduce and talk with Zuzu. Now, who knows who Zuzu is? I know Walden knows, but I'll bet most of you don't. Here's a clue. Whenever a bell rings, an angel gets his wingsu was the little girl on. It's a Wonderful Life. The movie played by Carol from Yeah, and she the star was Carolyn Grimes, and we've met Carolyn. Well, we'll get to all that. I've talked enough. Walden, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're   Walden Hughes ** 03:19 here. Hello, Michael boy, I mean, you, you had John Roy on years ago, and now you finally got to me that's pretty amazing.   Michael Hingson ** 03:25 Well, you know, we should have done it earlier, but that's okay, but, but you know what they say, the best is always saved for last.   Walden Hughes ** 03:34 Hey. Well, you know, considering you've been amazing with this show on Friday night for the last year. So here yesterday, USA, so we you and I definitely know our ins and outs. So this should be an easy our place talk.   Michael Hingson ** 03:47 Yes. Is this the time to tell people that Walden has the record of having 42 tootsie rolls in his mouth at once?   Walden Hughes ** 03:52 That's what they say. I think we could do more, though, you know. But yeah, yeah. Well, we won't ask, miss, yeah, we won't ask you to do that here. Why not?   Michael Hingson ** 04:03 Yeah, we want you to be able to talk. Well, I'm really glad you're here. Tell us a little about the early Walden growing up and all that.   Walden Hughes ** 04:12 I'm my mom and dad are from Nebraska, so I have a lot of Midwestern Nebraska ties. They moved out here for jobs in 65 and I was born in 1966 and I was the first baby to ever survive the world Pierre syndrome, which means I was born with a cleft palate, being extremely near sighted and and a cup and a recession. So I was the first baby through my mom and dad debt by $10,000 in 17 days, and it was a struggle for my folks. You know, in those early days, without insurance, without any. Thing like that. You know, people really didn't think about medical insurance and things like that in those days, that was not an issue. So, um, so I've always had extremely loving family. Then I went through five retina detachments, and starting when I was seven years old, up to I was nine, and I finally woke up one morning seeing white half circle so the retina detached. Sometime in the middle of the night, went to the most famous eye doctor the world at times, Dr Robert macchermer, who was the one who invented the cataract surgery and everything. Later, he wound up being the head of Duke Medical that was down in Florida, and they took one last ditch effort to save my sight, but it was a 2% chance, and it didn't work out. So they went blind in November 75 and went into school for people who may or may not know California pretty aggressive in terms of education, and so when I wear hearing aids, so I parted a hard of hearing class. Newport school. Mesa took care of the kids who were hard of hearing and the blind children went up to Garden Grove. So when I walked my site, went up to Garden Grove. And so that was my dedication. I was always a driven person. So and I also had a family that supported me everything I ever did. They didn't it just they were ultimately supporting me in education, all sorts of stuff. So I wound up in the Boy Scout Program. Wound up being an Eagle Scout like you, wound up being visual honoring the OA. And this was always side of kids. I was sort of the organizer all decided kid, and there was Walden that was right, I was that way in my entire life, which is interesting that the most kids are all hanging out. We were sighted and and even the school district, which was pretty amazing to think about it, Newport, they told my mom and dad, hey, when Wong ready to come back to his home school district, we'll cover the bill. We'll do it. And so my freshman year, after my freshman year in high school, we thought, yeah, it's time to come back. And so the Newport school, Mesa picked up the tab, and so did very well. Went up, applied to seven colleges, Harvard, a Yale Stanford turned me down, but everybody else took me   Michael Hingson ** 07:53 so, but you went to the best school anyway.   Walden Hughes ** 07:57 So I mean, either like Michael Troy went to UCI and I graduated in three years and two quarters with a degree in economics, a degree in politics, a minor in management, and then I went to work as a financial planner with American Express and then a stockbroker. I always wanted to go back get my MBA. So I got my MBA at UCI, and I graduated with my MBA in accounting and finance in 1995 so that's sort of the academic part Wow of my life.   Michael Hingson ** 08:32 How did your parents handle when it was first discovered that you were blind? So that would have been in what 75 how do they handle that?   Walden Hughes ** 08:42 They handle it really well. I think my dad was wonderful. My dad was the one that took, took me my birth, to all the doctor appointments, you know, such a traumatic thing for my mom. So my dad took that responsibility. My mom just clean house. But they, they My dad always thought if I were going to make it through life, it was going to be between my ears. It could be my brain and I, I was gifted and academically in terms of my analytical abilities are really off the chart. They tested me like in 160 and that mean I could take a very complicated scenario, break it down and give you a quick answer how to solve it within seconds. And that that that paid off. So no, I think, and they they had complete and so they put in the time.   Michael Hingson ** 09:47 What kind of work did your dad do? My dad   Walden Hughes ** 09:51 wound up being a real estate agent, okay, and so that gave him flexibility time. My mom wound up working for the Irvine camp. Attorney, which is the big agriculture at that time, now, apartments and commercial real estate here in oil County and so. So with their support and with the emphasis on education, and so they helped me great. They helped my brother a great deal. So I think in my case, having two really actively involved parents paid off, you know, in terms of, they knew where to support me and they knew the one to give me my give me my head, you know, because I would a classic example of this. After I graduated from college at UCI, I was looking for work, and mom said, my mom's saying, oh, keep go to rehab. Talk to them. They're both to help you out, give it. I really wasn't interested, so I sat down and met with them and had several interviews, and they said we're not going to fund you because either A, you're gonna be so successful on your own you pay for your own stuff, or B, you'll completely fail. So when I, and that's when they flat out, told me at rehab, so I I had more more luck in the private sector finding work than I did ever in the public sector, which was interesting.   Michael Hingson ** 11:39 I know that when I was in high school, and they it's still around today, of course, they had a program called SSI through the Department of Social Security, and then that there, there was also another program aid of the potentially self supporting blind, and we applied for those. And when I went to UC Irvine, I had met, actually, in 1964 a gentleman while I was up getting my guide dog. He was getting a guide dog. His name was Howard Mackey, and when I went to college, my parents also explored me getting some services and assistance from the Department of Rehabilitation, and I was accepted, and then Howard Mackey ended up becoming my counselor. And the neat thing about it was he was extremely supportive and really helped in finding transcribers to put physics books in braille, paid for whatever the state did it at the time, readers and other things like that that I needed provided equipment. It was really cool. He was extremely supportive, which I was very grateful for. But yeah, I can understand sometimes the rehabilitation world can be a little bit wonky. Of course, you went into it some 18 to 20 years later than that. I, in a sense, started it because I started in 6869 Yeah. And I think over time, just the state got cheaper, everything got cheaper. And of course, now it's really a lot different than it used to be, and it's a lot more challenging to get services from a lot of the agencies. And of course, in our current administration, a lot of things are being cut, and nobody knows exactly what's going to happen. And that's pretty   Walden Hughes ** 13:30 scary, actually. When I went to UCI, the school picked it up the pic, the school picked up my transcribing. They picked up my readers and all that. So interesting. How?   Michael Hingson ** 13:39 But did they let you hire your own readers and so on? Or do they do that?   Walden Hughes ** 13:43 They just put out the word, and people came up and and they paid them. So they just, they were just looking for volunteer, looking for people on the campus to do all the work. And, yeah, in fact, in fact, I had one gal who read pretty much all my years. She was waiting to get a job in the museum. And the job she wanted, you basically had to die to get it open. And so she for a full time employee with the read, can I be taking 20 units a quarter? Yeah. So I was, I was cranking it out. And in those days, everybody, you were lucky they I was lucky to get the material a week or two before midterm. Yeah, so I would speed up the tape and do a couple all nighters just to get through, because I really didn't want to delay, delay by examinations. I wanted to get it, get it through. But, uh, but, you know, but also, I guess I was going four times just throughout the quarter, set them into the summer. Okay, I wanted to get it done. Yeah, so that's, that's how I   Michael Hingson ** 14:50 did it. I didn't do summer school, but I did 16 to 20 units a quarter as well, and kept readers pretty busy and was never questioned. And even though we have some pretty hefty reader bills, but it it worked, no and and I hired my own readers, we put out the word, but I hired my own readers. And now I think that's really important. If a school pays for the readers, but lets you hire the readers, that's good, because I think that people need to learn how to hire and fire and how to learn what's necessary and how to get the things that they need. And if the agency or the school does it all and they don't learn how to do it, that's a problem.   Walden Hughes ** 15:36 If fashioning is just a sidebar issue, computer really became a big part. And with my hearing loss, TSI was really, yeah, telesensory, the one Incorporated, right? And they were upscale, everybody. It was, you know, $2,500 a pop. And for my hearing, it was the was for the card, the actual card that fits into the slot that would read, oh, okay, okay, right. And eventually they went with software with me, a lot cheaper, yes, and so, so my folks paid for that in the early days, the mid 80s, the computers and the software and a lot of that were trial and error terms of there was not any customer support from the from the computer company that were making special products like that, you were pretty much left on your own to figure it out. Yeah, and so time I went to graduate in 1990 we figured, in the business world, financial planning, I'm gonna need a whole complete setup at work, and we're gonna cost me 20 grand, yeah, and of course, when we have saying, We biking it, we're gonna finance it. What happened was, and this has helped with the scouting program. I knew the vice president of the local bank. And in those days, if it was, if it was still a small bank, he just went, he gave me a personal loan, hmm, and he, I didn't have to get any code centers or anything. No, we're gonna be the first one to finance you. You get your own computer set up. And so they, they, they financed it for me, and then also Boyle kicked in for 7500 but that was, that's how I was able to swing my first really complicated $20,000 units in 1990   Michael Hingson ** 17:33 the Braille Institute had a program. I don't know whether they still do or not they, they had a program where they would pay for, I don't know whether the top was 7500 I know they paid for half the cost of technology, but that may have been the upper limit. I know I used the program to get in when we moved, when we moved to New Jersey. I was able to get one of the, at that time, $15,000 Kurzweil Reading machines that was in 1996 and Braille Institute paid for half that. So it was pretty cool. But you mentioned TSI, which is telesensory Systems, Inc, for those who who wouldn't know that telesensory was a very innovative company that developed a lot of technologies that blind and low vision people use. For example, they developed something called the optic on which was a box that had a place where you could put a finger, and then there was attached to it a camera that you could run over a printed page, and it would display in the box a vibrating image of each character as the camera scanned across the page. It wasn't a really fast reading program. I think there were a few people who could read up to 80 words a minute, but it was still originally one of the first ways that blind people had access to print.   Walden Hughes ** 18:59 And the first guinea pig for the program. Can I just walk my site in 75 and they, they wanted me to be on there. I was really the first one that the school supply the optic on and has special training, because they knew I knew what site looked like for everybody, what Mike's describing. It was dB, the electronic waves, but it'd be in regular print letters, not, not broil waters, right? What   Michael Hingson ** 19:25 you felt were actually images of the print letters, yeah.   Walden Hughes ** 19:30 And the thing got me about it, my hand tingled after a while,   Michael Hingson ** 19:35 yeah, mine   Walden Hughes ** 19:36 to last forever,   Michael Hingson ** 19:38 you know. So it was, it wasn't something that you could use for incredibly long periods of time. Again, I think a few people could. But basically, print letters are made to be seen, not felt, and so that also limited the speed. Of course, technology is a whole lot different today, and the optic on has has faded away. And as Walden said, the card that would. Used to plug into computer slots that would verbalize whatever came across the screen has now given way to software and a whole lot more that makes it a lot more usable. But still, there's a lot of advances to be made. But yeah, we we both well, and another thing that TSI did was they made probably the first real talking calculator, the view, plus, remember   Walden Hughes ** 20:25 that? Yep, I know a good sound quality.   Michael Hingson ** 20:28 Though it was good sound quality. It was $395 and it was really a four function calculator. It wasn't scientific or anything like that, but it still was the first calculator that gave us an opportunity to have something that would at least at a simple level, compete with what sighted people did. And yes, you could plug your phone so they couldn't so sighted people, if you were taking a test, couldn't hear what what the calculator was saying. But at that time, calculators weren't really allowed in the classroom anyway, so   Walden Hughes ** 21:00 my downside was, time I bought the equipment was during the DOS mode, and just like that, window came over, and that pretty much made all my equipment obsolete, yeah, fairly quickly, because I love my boil display. That was terrific for for when you learn with computers. If you're blind, you didn't really get a feel what the screen looked like everybody. And with a Braille display, which mine was half the screen underneath my keyboard, I could get a visual feel how things laid out on the computer. It was easier for me to communicate with somebody. I knew what they were talking   Michael Hingson ** 21:42 about, yeah. And of course, it's gotten so much better over time. But yeah, I remember good old MS DOS. I still love to play some of the old MS DOS games, like adventure and all that, though, and Zork and some of those fun games.   Walden Hughes ** 21:57 But my understanding dos is still there. It's just windows on top of it, basically,   Michael Hingson ** 22:02 if you open a command prompt in Windows that actually takes you to dos. So dos is still there. It is attached to the whole system. And sometimes you can go in and enter commands through dos to get things done a little bit easier than you might be able to with the normal graphic user interface, right? Well, so you, you got your master's degree in 1995 and so you then continue to work in the financial world, or what did   Walden Hughes ** 22:35 it for 10 years, but five years earlier? Well, maybe I should back it up this way. After I lost my site in 1976 I really gravitated to the radio, and my generation fell in love with talk radio, so I and we were really blessed here in the LA market with really terrific hosts at KBC, and it wasn't all the same thing over and over and beating the drum. And so listening to Ray Breen, Michael Jackson, IRA for still kill Hemingway, that was a great opportunity for somebody who was 10 years old.   Michael Hingson ** 23:18 Really, they were all different shows. And yes, I remember once we were listening to, I think it was Michael Jackson. It was on Sunday night, and we heard this guy talking about submarines, and it just attracted Karen's and my attention. And it turns out what it was was Tom Clancy talking about Hunt for Red October. Wow. And that's where we first heard about it, and then went and found the book.   Walden Hughes ** 23:45 But So I grew up in the talk radio, and then that, and I fell in love with country music at the time on koec, and then Jim Healy and sports, yep, and then, and then we were blessed in the LA market have a lot of old time radio played, and it was host like Mike was here at K UCI, John Roy, eventually over KPCC, Bob line. And so my relatives said you should listen to this marathon KPFK, which was a Pacific did an all day marathon. I fell in love with that. Jay Lacher, then one night, after I walked my site, I tuned in. Ray bream took the night off, and Bill balance had frankly sit in. And the first thing they played was Jack Armstrong, and this is where Jack, Jack and Billy get caught up in a snow storm and a bone down the hill. And Brett Morrison came in during the one o'clock two o'clock hour to talk about the shadow. And so my dad took me to, oh, I'm trying to think of the name of the record. Or if they gave away licorice, licorice at the at the record store tower, yeah, not Tower Records. Um, anyway, so we bought two eight track tapes in 1976 the shadow and Superman, and I started my long life of collecting and so. So here we up to 1990 after collecting for 15 years. Going to spill back conventional meetings. I knew Ray bream was going to have kitty Cowan at the guest. Kitty Cowan was a big band singer of the 40s who later the fifth little things mean a lot. And I figured nobody was going to act about her days on the Danny Kaye radio show. And so I called in. They realized I had the stuff. I had the radio shows, they took me off the air, and Kitty's husband, but grand off called me the next day, and we struck up a friendship. And so they were really connected in Hollywood, and so they opened so many doors for me. Mike I Katie's best friend with Nancy Lacher, SR bud with the one of the most powerful agents in town, the game show hosting, who could come up with a TV ideas, but did not know how to run a organization. So that was Chuck Paris, hmm, and Gong Show, yeah, so I wound up, they wound up giving me, hire me to find the old TV shows, the music, all that stuff around the country. And so I started to do that for the Sinatra family, everybody else. So I would, while we do the financial planning, my internet consulting thing really took off. So that wound up being more fun and trying to sell disability insurance, yeah. So one wound up doing that until the internet took over. So that would that. So my whole life would really reshape through kitty Carolyn and Ben granoff through that. So I really connected in the Hollywood industry from that point on, starting 1990 so that that really opened up, that really sure reshaped my entire life, just because of that   Michael Hingson ** 27:28 and you've done over the years, one of the other things that you started to do was to interview a lot of these people, a lot of the radio stars, The radio actors   Walden Hughes ** 27:39 and music and TV, music,   Michael Hingson ** 27:44 yeah.   Walden Hughes ** 27:45 And I think when Bill Bragg asked me to interview kitty Carol, and I did that in 2000 and Bill said, Well, could you do more? And so one of Kitty friends, but test Russell. Test was Gene Autry Girl Friday. He she ran kmpc for him. And I think everybody in the music industry owed her a favor. I mean, I had Joe Stafford to Pat Boone to everybody you could think of from the from that big band, 3040s, and 60s on the show. Let's go   Michael Hingson ** 28:24 back. Let's go back. Tell us about Bill Bragg.   Walden Hughes ** 28:29 Bill Bragg was an interesting character all by himself. Born in 1946 he was a TV camera man for CBS in Dallas. He was also a local music jockey, nothing, nothing, big, big claims of fame boys working for channel two. And then he in Dallas, he was at a press conference with LBJ, and LBJ got done speaking, and the camera crew decided that they were going to pack up and go to lunch. And Bill thought it'd be fun to mark what camera, what microphone the President used for his address, and the guys were in a rush door in the box, let's go have lunch. So Bill lost track, and that bothered him. So he started the largest communication Museum in 1979 and he collected and was donated. And so he had the biggest museum. He had a film exchanger. So in those early days of cable TVs, you know, we had a lot of TV stations specializing in programming, and there were channels, I think this was called a nostalgic channel, wanted to run old TV shows and films. They had the film, but they didn't. Have the equipment. And they got hold of Bill. He said, Okay, I'll do it for you. But what you're going to give me is games. Bill was a wheel and dealer, yeah. And Charlie said, We'll give you your own satellite channel. And I was talking to Bill friend later, John women in those days, in the 1983 when Bill got it, the value of those satellite channels was a million dollars a year, and he got it for free. And Bill would try and figure out, What in the world I'm going to do with this, and that's when he decided to start playing with old time radio, because really nobody was playing that on a national basis. You had different people playing it on a local basis, but not really on a national basis. So Bill was sort of the first one before I play old time radio. I became aware of him because of bur back, so I was trying to get the service on my cable TV company. Was unsuccessful.   Michael Hingson ** 30:58 So what he did is he broadcast through the satellite channel, and then different television stations or companies could if they chose to pick up the feed and broadcast it. Did, they broadcast it on a TV channel or   Walden Hughes ** 31:13 on radio public asset channel. Okay, so remember note day a lot of public it would have the bulletin boards with the local news of right community, and lot of them would play Bill can't   Michael Hingson ** 31:28 play Bill's channel because the only because what they were doing was showing everything on the screen, which didn't help us. But right they would show things on the screen, and they would play music or something in the background. So Bill's programs were a natural thing to play,   Walden Hughes ** 31:44 yeah, and so Bill wound up on a stout then he wound up being the audio shop Troyer for WGN, which was a nice break and so. And then Bill got it to be played in 2000 nursing homes and hospitals, and then local AMFM stations would pick us up. They were looking for overnight programming, so local throughout the country would pick it up. And so Bill, Bill was a go getter. He was a great engineer, and knew how to build things on the cheap. He was not a businessman, you know, he couldn't take it to the next level, but, but at least he was able to come up with a way to run a station, 24 hours a day. It was all the tapes were sent down to Nash, down to Tennessee, to be uploaded to play into the system. Eventually, he built a studio and everything in Dallas. And so,   Michael Hingson ** 32:38 of course, what what Weldon is saying is that that everything was on tape, whether it was cassette or reel to reel, well, reel to reel, and they would play the tapes through a tape machine, a player or recorder, and put it out on the satellite channels, which was how they had to do it. And that's how we did it at kuci, we had tape, and I would record on Sunday nights, all the shows that we were going to play on a given night on a reel of tape. We would take it in and we would play it.   Walden Hughes ** 33:13 And so that's how it's done in the 80s. Eventually built bill, built a studio, and then started to do a live show once a week. Eventually, they grew up to four days a week. And so here is about 1999 or so, and they were playing Musa from kitty cat, and did not know who she was. I would quickly, I would quickly give a couple background from AIM hang up. I didn't really they had no idea who I was yet. I didn't talk about what I would do and things like that. I was just supplying information. And eventually, after two years, they asked me to bring kitty on the show, which I did, and then I started to book guests on a regular basis for them, and then eventually, the guy who I enjoyed all time radio shows listening to Frank Percy 1976 built decided that I should be his producer, and so I wound up producing the Friday Night Live show with Frankie, and eventually we got it up and running, 2002 So Frank and I did it together for 16 years and so that so Bill built a studio in Texas, mailed it all to my House. My dad didn't have any engineering ability. So he and my bill got on the phone and built me a whole studio in six hours, and I was up and running with my own studio here in my bedroom, in 2002 and so overhead, I'm in my bedroom ever since Michael, you know, there you go.   Michael Hingson ** 34:58 Well and to tell people about. Frank Bresee Frank, probably the biggest claim to fame is that he had a program called the golden days of radio, and it was mainly something that was aired in the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service on the radio, where he would every show play excerpts of different radio programs and so on. And one of the neat things that's fascinating for Frank was that because he was doing so much with armed forces, and doing that, he had access to all of the libraries around the world that the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service had, so he could go in and oftentimes get shows and get things that no one else really had because they were only available in at least initially, in these military libraries. But he would put them on the air, and did a great job with it for many, many years. Yeah, Frank   Walden Hughes ** 35:53 was an interesting character, a pure entrepreneur. He invented a game called pass out, which was a drinking game, board game, and he for 20 years, he spent six months in Europe, six months in United States. And he was making so much money in Europe, he would rent out castles and lived in them, and he would and he would spend months at a time in Germany, which was the main headquarter of art, and just sit there in the archives and make copies of things he wanted to play on his show, yeah. And so that's how he built that. And then he he started collecting transcriptions when he would to 10 he was a radio actor, and so he had one of the largest collection, collection, and he his house, his family house was in Hancock Park, which was the, it was Beverly Hills before Beverly Hills, basically, what did he play on radio? Well, when he was, he was he was deceptive. He was the backup little beaver. When someone Tommy, writer, yeah, when, when Tommy Cook had another project, it was Frank be was a substitute. And so that was a short coin of fame. He did bit parts on other shows, but, but that's what he did as a kid. Eventually, I think Frank came from a very wealthy family. He wound up owning the first radio station when he was 19 years old on Catalina Island in 1949 and then he wound up being a record producer. He worked with Walter Winchell, created albums on without about Al Jolson worked on Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante and anyway, Frank, Frank had a career with game with creating board games, doing radio and having an advertising company. Frank was responsible for giving all the game shows, the prices for TV and the way he would do it, he would call an advertise, he would call a company. He said, you want your product. Beyond on this section, go to say, yes, okay, give us, give us the product, and give me 150 bucks. And so Frank would keep the cash, and he would give the project to the TV shows,   Michael Hingson ** 38:17 Dicker and Dicker of Beverly Hills. I remember that on so many shows   Walden Hughes ** 38:23 so So Frank was a wheeling dealer, and he loved radio. That was his passion project. He probably made less money doing that, but he just loved doing it, and he was just hit his second house. The family house was 8400 square feet, and so it was pretty much a storage unit for Frank hobbies, right? And we and he had 30,000 transcriptions in one time. But when he was Europe, he had a couple of floods, so he lost about 10 to 20,000 of them. Okay? Folks did not know how to keep them dry, but he had his professional studio built. And so I would book guests. I arranged for art link writer to come over, and other people, Catherine Crosby, to come over, and Frank would do the interviews. And so I was a big job for me to keep the Friday night show going and get Frankie's guess boy shows. I would have been. He died,   Michael Hingson ** 39:22 and he was a really good interviewer. Yeah, I remember especially he did an interview that we in, that you played on yesterday USA. And I was listening to it with Mel Blanc, which is, which is very fascinating. But he was a great interviewer. I think it was 1969 that he started the golden days of radio, starting 49 actually, or 49 not 69 Yeah, 49 that was directly local, on,   Walden Hughes ** 39:49 on Carolina, and K, I, G, l, which was a station I think heard out in the valley, pretty much, yeah, we could pick it up. And then, and then he started with on. Forces around 65   Michael Hingson ** 40:02 that's what I was thinking of. I thought it was 69 but,   Walden Hughes ** 40:06 and well, he was, on those days there were armed forces Europe picked them up. And also, there was also the international Armed Forces served around the far eastern network, right? Yeah. And so by 67 he was pretty much full on 400 stations throughout the whole world. And I that's probably how you guys picked him up, you know, through that capability.   Michael Hingson ** 40:30 Well, that's where I first heard of him and and the only thing for me was I like to hear whole shows, and he played excerpts so much that was a little frustrating. But he was such a neat guy, you couldn't help but love all the history that he brought to it   Walden Hughes ** 40:46 and and then he would produce live Christmas shows with with the radio. He would interview the guest he, you know, so he had access to people that nobody generally had, you know. He worked for Bob Hope, right? So he was able to get to Jack Benny and Bing Crosby and yes, people like that, Groucho Marx. So he was, he had connections that were beyond the average Old Time Radio buff. He was truly a great guy to help the hobby out, and loved radio very much.   Michael Hingson ** 41:21 Well, going back to Bill Bragg a little bit, so he had the satellite channel, and then, of course, we got the internet, which opened so many things for for Frank or Frank for, well, for everybody but for Bill. And he started the program yesterday, usa.net, on the radio through the internet,   Walden Hughes ** 41:44 which he was the first one in 1996 right? There's a great story about that. There was a company called broadcast.com I bet you remember that company, Mike. Anyway, it was founded by a guy who loved college basketball, and he was a big Hoosier fan, and he was living in Texas, and so he would generally call long distance to his buddy, and they would put up the radio. He could went to the basketball games. And eventually he decided, well, maybe I could come up and stream it on my computer, and all these equipment breaking down, eventually he came up with the idea of, well, if I had a satellite dish, I could pick up the feed and put and stream it on the computer, that way people could hear it right. And he hired bill to do that, and he offered bill a full time job installing satellites and working Bill turned them down, and the guy wound up being Mark Cuban. Yeah, and Mark Cuban gave every every employee, when he sold broadcast.com to Yahoo, a million dollar bonus. So Bill missed out on that, but, but in exchange, Mike Cuban gave him broadcast.com While USA channel for free. So Bill never had to pay in the early days, until about 2002 so when Yahoo decided to get out of the streaming business for a while, then that's when we had to find and we found life 365 eventually, and we were paying pretty good. We're paying a really good rate with like 265 Bill was used to paying free, and we were paying, I think, under $100 and I knew guys later a couple years, were paying over $500 a month. And we were, we were, but there was such a willing deal able to get those things for really dope less   Michael Hingson ** 43:45 money, yeah. Now I remember being in New Jersey and I started hearing ads for an internet radio station. This was in the very late 90s, maybe even into 2000 W, A, B, y. It was a company, a show that a station that played a lot of old songs from the 50s and 60s and so on. And it was, it was, if you tuned on to it, you could listen. And after four or five hours, things would start to repeat, and then eventually it disappeared. But I started looking around, and I don't even remember how I found it, but one day I heard about this radio station, www, dot yesterday, usa.net. Right, yep.net.com,   Walden Hughes ** 44:31 yep, and yeah. And   Michael Hingson ** 44:33 I said, Well, oh, I think I actually heard an ad for it on W, A, B, y, when it was still around. Anyway, I went to it, and they were playing old radio shows, and they had a number of people who would come on and play shows. Everyone had an hour and a half show, and every two weeks you would have to send in a new show. But they. They played old radio shows, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, except they also had some live talk shows. And I remember listening one day and heard Bill Bragg talking about the fact that he was going to have his standard Friday night show with Walden Hughes, it would start at nine o'clock. I had no idea who Walden was at the time. And the problem is, nine o'clock was on the in Pacific Time, and it was, I think, Midnight in New Jersey time, as I recall the way it went anyway, it was way too late for me to be up. And so I never did hear Walden on yesterday USA, or I may have actually listened. Just stayed up to listen to one and fell asleep, but the show, the whole innovative process of playing radio all the time on the internet, was intriguing and just opened so many opportunities, I think. And of course, the internet brought all that around. And now there are any number of stations that stream all the time. And Bill Bragg passed away. What in 2016   Walden Hughes ** 46:15 2018   Michael Hingson ** 46:18 1819 2019 Yeah. And Walden now is the person who directs, operates, and is the manager of yesterday USA. And so when I go ahead,   Walden Hughes ** 46:30 it's fascinating. In the height of the station, there was 15,000 internet radio stations out there in 2000 they did a survey yesterday, USA was number three in the world, behind the BBC and CNN, which I thought was a pretty nice number to be concerned. We had no budget to promote, right? And the last time I saw the numbers been a couple years, we were number 44 in the world, which I don't think of, 15,000 radio stations. Not bad. No, not at all. You know, really not bad. But now there is more talk than there used to be, because Walden and the gasmans, who we had on years ago on this podcast, but   Michael Hingson ** 47:16 have interviewed a lot of people, and continue to interview people. And of course, so many people are passing on that. We're trying to talk to people as much as we can, as they can, and all of us now, because I've started to come a little bit and become a little bit involved in yesterday USA. And as Walden said on Friday night at 730 Pacific Time, see it's earlier, we we do a talk show. Bob Lyons, who did a lot of radio out here, and for 50 years, had a program called Don't touch that dial. And John and Larry and Walden and I get on the air and we talk about, Gosh, any number of different things. We've talked about Braille, we've talked about sometimes, everything but radio. But we talk about a lot of different things, which is, which is a lot of fun.   Walden Hughes ** 48:04 And I think it probably is, you know, in the old days, it would pretty much no entertainment, and Bill telling some stories and things like that. But with me, I always had a focus in interviews, but it's so much more fun to do radio as a co host. And that's when Patricia and I connected back in the 2007 I knew was in 2005 she's my co host. And Patricia didn't grow up with whole town radio. She became a fan after she found yesterday, USA into 2000 but she's a very articulate person, and so through the shows, what she and I did on Saturday night, the audience grab it and just we should talk about everything, and I just generate calls. I mean, when she and I were doing eight hours a night, we would average about 18 calls a night, which was pretty amazing, but we would cover the gamut, and I think a really good talk show host had to know a little bit about a lot of things. Yes, he got it. You got to be flexible. And Patricia and I compliment each other that way, that we're able to cover history and politics and music and just everything. And so when I do a show with her, you never know what direction we go with where. When I'm with John Roy, it's more radio centric. So it depends on what night a week people tune in, is what you're going to   Michael Hingson ** 49:40 get. And Walden has Patricia on now Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, but we know why she's really on there, because she likes hearing Perry Como song Patricia that starts out every show Walden plays that he's in love with Patricia. One of these days, there's still the possibility. But anyway, we. We, he, we love it when he, he has Patricia on, and it's every week. So, so it is really cool. And they do, they talk about everything under the sun, which is so fascinating. Tell us about Johnny and Helen Holmes.   Walden Hughes ** 50:15 Ah, well, it's an interesting story. I I say the second biggest old time radio station in the country, after yesterday USA. It's about half the size in terms of audience basis. Radio once more, and you can find them at Radio once more.com and they do a good job. No else with probably yesterday USA branch offers own internet radio station, and he found he would go to the east coast to the nostalgic convention, and he connected with Johnny and Helen. Holmes and Johnny and Helen are people who love to attend nostalgic convention and get autographs and things. And they became really friends. So Neil convinced them, why don't you come on? Just come on radio once more. And so after a while, they do the presentation the coffee shop. Neil convinced them to take it, take it to the air, and they started to have their own show, and I was aware of them, and I produced the spirback convention, 2017 in Las Vegas. So Johnny helm came to the convention, and Johnny wanted to say hi to me. I said, I know who you are. I think he was for by that that I knew who he was, but I invited Johnny and Helen to come on with Patricia and I one night to talk about their coffee shop presentation and their show on Radio once more. And we just bonded very quickly and easy to bond with Johnny. They really are really fabulous people. He's really a generous guy, and so over the last six, seven years, we have developed a great friendship on you, and almost have created a whole subculture by itself, playing trivia with them. Every time they come on,   Michael Hingson ** 52:17 they do a lot of trivia stuff, and Johnny produces it very well. He really does a great job. And he'll put sound bites and clips and music, and it's gotten me such a major production with Johnny and Helen. And people look forward to it. I sometimes count the interaction people hanging out in the chat room, on the phone, email, about 18 to 20 people will get and get an answer question, was it amazing that that many people will be interested in trivia like that? But and, and Johnny also collects, well, I guess in Helen collect a lot of old television shows as well. Yep. So we won't hold it against him too much, but, but he does television and, well, I like old TV shows too, you bet. Well, so you know, you are, obviously, are doing a lot of different things. You mentioned spurred vac oop. They're after you. We'll wait. We'll wait till the phone die. You mentioned, well, I'll just ask this while that's going on. You mentioned spurred back. Tell us a little bit about what spurred vac is and what they've been doing and what they bring to radio.   Walden Hughes ** 53:23 Sprint vac started in 1974 it's the largest full time radio group in the country, called the society to preserve and encourage radio drama, variety and comedy. John Roy Gasman were two of the main driving force behind the club. It reached up to a membership of 1800 people, and they've honored over 500 people who worked in the golden days of radio and to speak at their meeting, come to the special conventions. And so I attended some dinners at the Brown Derby, which was a great thrill. I started attending their conventions, and it was just, it was wonderful. So I so I really got to meet a lot of the old time radio personality and become friends with Janet Waldo and June for a and people like that. And so I eventually got on the board. I eventually became one young, somewhat retired. I wound up being the activity person to book guests, and started producing conventions. And so that became a major part of my life, just producing those things for spur back and in other places, and I first started to do that for reps. Was it the Old Time Radio Group in Seattle in 2007 so they were actually the first convention I produced.   Michael Hingson ** 54:54 And rep says radio enthusiasts of Puget Sound,   Walden Hughes ** 54:57 right? Reps online.org, G and so I would produce new convention. I was helping super vac, and I also helping the Friends of all time radio back in New Jersey and so. And it probably helped my contact, which is 300 pages long, so, and I would book it. I would also contact celebrities via the mail, and my batting average was 20% which I thought were pretty good. I got Margaret. I got Margaret Truman. She called me, said, Walden, I got your order, and I forgot that I did the show with Jimmy Stewart. I'd be happy to come on talk about my memory. You know, she talked about Fred Allen on the big show, and how, how Mike Wallace had a temper, had a temper. She was a co host. Was among weekdays, which with the weekday version of monitor. Monitor was weekend and weekday, we see NBC. And so she was just fabulous, you know, so and I would get people like that 20% bad average, which was incredible. So I met, that's how it's up to two, my guess was, so I, I was sort of go to guy, find celebrities and booking them and and so in that help yesterday, USA helped the different conventions. And so it and so you're so you're booking the panels, and then you're coming up with ideas for radio recreations. And so I produce 37 of them, ranging from one day to four days. And I get counted, over the last 18 years, I've produced 226 audio theater plays with it. A lot at least, have an idea of how those things   Michael Hingson ** 56:55 work. So right now, speaking of recreations, and we're both involved in radio enthusiasts of Puget Sound, and for the last couple of years, I've participated in this. Walden has done radio recreations, and twice a year up in the Washington State area, where we bring in both some some amateurs and some professionals like Carolyn Grimes Zuzu and so many others who come in and we actually recreate old radio shows, both before a live audience, and we broadcast them on yesterday USA and other people like Margaret O'Brien who won   Walden Hughes ** 57:46 Gigi Powell coming this year. Phil Proctor. David Osmond from fire sign theater. Chuck Dougherty from Sergeant Preston. John Provo from Timmy from Lassie, Bill Johnson, who does a one man show on Bob Hope. Bill Ratner from GI Joe. Bill Owen, the who might have had he is the author of The Big broadcast, Ivan Troy who Bobby Benson, Tommy cook from the life O'Reilly Gigi parole, a movie actress of the 50s, as you mentioned, Carolyn grime, Beverly Washburn and others, and it's just the radio folks are really down to earth, really nice people, and you get to break bread with them, talk to them and reminisce about what was it like doing that radio show, this movie, or that TV show, and then They still got it, and they can perform on stage,   Michael Hingson ** 58:43 and they love to talk about it, and they love to interact with people who treat them as people. And so yeah, it is a lot of fun to be able to do it. In fact, I was on Carolyn Grimes podcast, which will be coming out at some point in the next little while, and Carolyn is going to be on unstoppable mindset. So keep an eye out for that. Bill Owens program is coming out soon. Bill and I did a conversation for unstoppable mindset, and we're going to be doing Bill Johnson will be coming on, and other people will be coming on. Walden has been very helpful at finding some of these folks who are willing to come on and talk about what they did, and to help us celebrate this medium that is just as much a part of history as anything in America and is just as worth listening to as it ever was. There is more to life than television, no matter what they think.   Walden Hughes ** 59:40 And also, we do a Christmas thing too. And hopefully Mike, if his speaking engagement allow him, will be with us up at Christmas saying, Well, I will. I'm planning on it. We're gonna do, It's a Wonderful Life. Keith Scott, coming over from Australia, who's a he's the rich little of Australia. And we'll do, It's a Wonderful Life. We'll do. The Christmas Carol, milk on 34th Street film again, Molly Jack Benny will have a great time.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:07 These are all going to be recreations using the the original scripts from the shows, and that's what makes them fun. And for those of us who don't read print, we do have our scripts in Braille, absolutely so that's kind of fun. Well, Walden, this has been absolutely wonderful. We're going to have to do it some more. Maybe we need to get you, John and Larry all together on that. That might be kind of fun. But I really, I don't think we need a host if you that. No, no, we just, you know, just go on. But this has been really fun. I really enjoy it. If people want to reach out to you, how do they do that?   Walden Hughes ** 1:00:45 Oh, I think they can call my studio number 714-545-2071, I'm in California, or they can email me at Walden shoes at yesterday, usa.com, W, A, l, D, E, N, H, U, C, H, E, S at, y, E, S T, E, R, D, A, y, u, s a.com, I'm the president of radio enthusiast sound, that's reps online.org or on the board of Sper back, which is S, P, E, R, D, V, A, c.com, so while waiting shakes me down, when   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:25 will the showcase actually occur up in Bellevue in Washington?   Walden Hughes ** 1:01:30 That will be September 18, 19 20/21, and then our Christmas one is will be Friday, December five, and Saturday, December the sixth. And then we're also going back and spir back, and I bet we'll see you there. We're going to go back to the Troy Blossom Festival next April, 23 to 26 and we'll know, are we set up to do that now? Yep, looks like that gonna happen? Yeah? Oh, good, yeah. So kick out the phone with Nicholas here a few days ago. So everything's gonna go for that, so that will be good.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:03 Yeah, we will do that. That's cool. Well, thank you for being here, and I want to thank you all for listening. I hope you had fun. This is a little different than a lot of the episodes that we've done, but it's, I think, important and enlightening to hear about this medium into to meet people from it. So thank you for listening wherever you are. We hope that you'll give us a five star review of unstoppable mindset wherever you're listening or watching. Please do that. We'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at Michael H, I m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, and you can also go to our podcast page if you don't find podcasts any other way. Michael hingson.com/podcast, that's m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, O, n.com/podcast, singular. So thanks again for being here and for listening to the show, and Walden, once again, I want to thank you for being here. This has been great.   Walden Hughes ** 1:03:01 Thank you, Michael,   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:07 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

The amazing Tom Odell performs some tunes from his new album ‘A Wonderful Life' which is out now!Comedian Marcus Brigstocke pops by in the midst of his tour, Vitruvian Mango, which continues next Friday 12th September.Join Chris and the Class Behind The Glass every weekday morning from 0630am on Virgin Radio, just ask your smart speaker to "Play Virgin Radio!" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doug Spillman reflects on a well-lived life as a soldier, Deputy U.S. Marshal, state trooper, and Free Will Baptist deacon. #NAFWB #BetterTogether #Christian #Testimony #Servant

8/29/25: Rep Lindsay Sabadosa. Ethel Everett & Jeff Jones: Labor Day demonstration in Holyoke. UMass researcher Shannon Roberts - teen driver safety study. Valley Players Matteo Pangallo & Chris Rohmann on It's a Wonderful Life auditions next week. Rabbi Riqi Kosovske, Naor Deleanu and Rabbi Riqi Kosovske: “RAW-GAZA” bike ride for Gaza, 4,000 miles, San Fran to NH.

8/29/25: Rep Lindsay Sabadosa. Ethel Everett & Jeff Jones: Labor Day demonstration in Holyoke. UMass researcher Shannon Roberts - teen driver safety study. Valley Players Matteo Pangallo & Chris Rohmann on It's a Wonderful Life auditions next week. Rabbi Riqi Kosovske, Naor Deleanu and Rabbi Riqi Kosovske: “RAW-GAZA” bike ride for Gaza, 4,000 miles, San Fran to NH.

8/29/25: Rep Lindsay Sabadosa. Ethel Everett & Jeff Jones: Labor Day demonstration in Holyoke. UMass researcher Shannon Roberts - teen driver safety study. Valley Players Matteo Pangallo & Chris Rohmann on It's a Wonderful Life auditions next week. Rabbi Riqi Kosovske, Naor Deleanu and Rabbi Riqi Kosovske: “RAW-GAZA” bike ride for Gaza, 4,000 miles, San Fran to NH.

8/29/25: Rep Lindsay Sabadosa. Ethel Everett & Jeff Jones: Labor Day demonstration in Holyoke. UMass researcher Shannon Roberts - teen driver safety study. Valley Players Matteo Pangallo & Chris Rohmann on It's a Wonderful Life auditions next week. Rabbi Riqi Kosovske, Naor Deleanu and Rabbi Riqi Kosovske: “RAW-GAZA” bike ride for Gaza, 4,000 miles, San Fran to NH.

8/29/25: Rep Lindsay Sabadosa. Ethel Everett & Jeff Jones: Labor Day demonstration in Holyoke. UMass researcher Shannon Roberts - teen driver safety study. Valley Players Matteo Pangallo & Chris Rohmann on It's a Wonderful Life auditions next week. Rabbi Riqi Kosovske, Naor Deleanu and Rabbi Riqi Kosovske: “RAW-GAZA” bike ride for Gaza, 4,000 miles, San Fran to NH.

The Green Bay Packers acquired Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks. The trade shocked the NFL world, and brought back memories of Reggie White. These are fun times.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We finish the month with the last chapter for the Shrek Franchise so far until the reboot in 2027, yay?Shrek Forever After is the It's A Wonderful Life but with disco balls, war & craziness. Make sure you follow Billy and Raul on @MasterOfPuns196 and @raulvaderrdz, respectively, as well as the main show @SYNSPod, all on BlueSkyhttps://zencastr.com/?via=raul

Dr Adam Koontz answers a listener question about how and whether we can make meaningful differences in the lives of our communities using by talking about the film It's a Wonderful Life. Visit our website - A Brief History of Power Dr Koontz - Redeemer Lutheran Church Music thanks to Verny

Nobody would discuss how strange everything became on the Left after Trump won the first time. But here's the truth: We went stark raving bonkers, especially the women.There was never anyone to pull us back from the abyss. The legacy media profited from our collective hysteria. The Democrats amplified it to scare voters to the polls. It worked for a while, until it didn't.And most of all, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seemed to like watching the world burn on their behalf. I never thought that at the time, but looking back on it, I can see how cynical they were, how greedy for power they became. Along with the legacy media, Hollywood, and all institutions and corporations, we were their weapons of war, and they never seemed to care what that would do to us over time.The day my father died, I arrived at the VA hospice five minutes too late. His body was still warm. The day before, I recorded this scene from It's a Wonderful Life. The next day, he was dead.When the hospice nurse handed me his flag and said, “On behalf of the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump…” I burst out laughing. I was laughing at my father's deathbed.It was like a Facebook status update come to life, where I seemed to believe my narrative of who I was and what I stood for had followed me into that room, or that everyone else in that room would find it as ridiculous as I did that Trump was the president. No one else laughed. It wasn't funny. And I seemed delusional.I wish I could say that was my wake-up call, but it wasn't. That was only the beginning. It would get so much worse.When my younger sister, a Bernie supporter, showed up, we were screaming at each other in a hospice with all of the other dying veterans and their families within earshot. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sashastone.com/subscribe

Episode #44 - Welcome to the sixth Fresh Air Award! Four cinephiles continue a Fourwind Films tradition of awarding a film that pushed cinema forward the most as an artform during a particular decade. To be nominated, a motion picture has to have advanced cinema in some way and made a lasting impression on how movies are made. This episode delves into the decade frought with the greatest war ever known to humanity, World War II. To start the episode, our host, Justin Joseph Hall goes through a quick history lesson on what was happening in cinema business during the decade. The four cinephiles who select the nominees in this panel are cinephiles Kevin Cecil, Justin Joseph Hall, John Robert Hammerer, and Kevin Hinman. Any moving images that came out in the appropriate decade is eligible for nomination. Nominations spanned documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films. They featured cinema with thoughtful use of the first green screen, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome patients, and maybe the most immediately influential film in all of cinema's history. Here is the link to all the nominations: 1940's Fresh Air Award Nominees - Letterboxd list There were several overlaps, but here are the main nominations made by each panelist: Kevin Cecil's nominations Citizen Kane (1941) The Thief of Bagdad (1940) Hellzapoppin' (1941) Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) Bicycle Thieves (1948) Justin Joseph Hall's nominations Thief of Bagdad (1940) Bicycle Thieves (1948) Von Gogh (1948) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Begone Dull Care (1949) John Robert Hammerer's nominations Citizen Kane (1941) Cat People (1942) Fantasia (1940) Fireworks (1947) Rome, Open City (1945) Kevin Hinman's nominations Citizen Kane (1941) Children of Paradise (1945) Let There be Light (1946) Fireworks (1947) The Red Shoes (1948) We hope you enjoy this episode! Share with us your own lists, comments, arguments, and films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms. We're on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Thank you to our cinephiles who did joined this out of their passion. Credits for podcast: Production Company - Fourwind Films Fresh Air Award Contributors for 1940's Decade - Kevin Cecil, Justin Joseph Hall, John Robert Hammerer, & Kevin Hinman Host, Producer - Justin Joseph Hall Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger Intern - Olaf Jiménez Special Thanks - Laura Davi The theme song of Season 6 is New Tires by Silent Partner. Additional Music - One Machine at a Time & Driving Nowhere by Shonali.

Wonderful Life - Katie Melua

Ever thought about writing a book but never started? David Curley did and turned his love for It's a Wonderful Life into a one-man stage show and the book 50 Curly Q's to My Wonderful Life. We talk about his leap of faith, lessons from George Bailey, and why your story might be worth telling.

Send us a textToday's episode is my conversation about the 1929 film Madame X. I'm joined by Dan Pal from the "PalCinema, Television, & Music" newsletter and we talk about the theme of forgiveness which appears in the film, director Lionel Barrymore's conscious decision to limit the amount of music in the film, and whether the story  might have worked better as the original stage production. You can watch Madame X on YouTube and be sure to check out Dan's newsletter.Other films mentioned in this episode include:Madame X (1937) directed by Sam WoodThe Broadway Melody directed by Harry BeaumontThe Hollywood Revue of 1929 directed by Charles F. ReisnerMadame X (1966) directed by David Lowell RichMadame X (2021) directed by Ricardo Gomes, Nuno Xico, and Sasha KasiuhaThe Wizard of Oz directed by Victor FlemingThe Jazz Singer directed by Alan CroslandThe Patriot directed by Ernst Lubitsch (lost film)It's a Wonderful Life directed by Frank CapraDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde directed by Rouben MamoulianThe Divine Lady directed by Frank LloydCoquette directed by Sam TaylorApocalypse Now directed by Francis Ford CoppolaOther referenced topics:Madame X (play) by Alexandre BissonMadame X (album) by MadonnaThe Dark Side of the Moon (album) buy Pink FloydVariety reviewHartford Courant review"Too Much Padding Spoils the Fun" by Mordaunt Hall in the New York TimesHeart of Darkness (novel) by Joseph ConradSupport the show

The Daily Quiz - Entertainment, Society and Culture Today's Questions: Question 1: Which film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1998? Question 2: Who won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Leading Actor for playing the role of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland? Question 3: In which iconic '90s film did Tom Cruise play the role of Ethan Hunt? Question 4: Which actor has starred in films including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Batman Returns? Question 5: Which actor has played roles in both Twin Peaks and Pulp Fiction? Question 6: Which Disney film from 1967 features a tiger trying to eat a man-cub? Question 7: Which James Bond theme song was performed by Sheena Easton? Question 8: Which actor has appeared in both Django Unchained and The Wolf of Wall Street? Question 9: Who directed the 1946 classic 'It's A Wonderful Life'? This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let's keep it rolling with more interviews from Newport Folk Festival!! This Part 2 of the Series features my conversations with three amazing artists, each with a unique perspective on self-reflection, self-acceptance and the power of music as a vehicle for personal change and catharsis.First up is one of my new favorite artists, Tom Odell, a British sensation who has garnered over 14 Billion streams of his music across all platforms. Much to my delight, Tom brings down-to-earth vibe and his love of conversation to Roadcase as we talk about the impact his evocative lyrics and powerful musical vibes have had on his many fans worldwide. Tom sets out on a European arena tour this Fall, and his new album, A Wonderful Life, is out September 5.Jensen McRae's fresh pop-Folk vibe pairs confessional-style honesty with a commitment to the Americana tradition, weaving personal stories and raw lyricism with an ethereal vocal style. A native of LA, we go deep on her songwriting and what it means to play songs for those the really need to hear them.Roz Raskin, a Rhode Island native, is one-of-a-kind human with a huge heart and a way of lifting up others. Their project NOVA ONE explores the complexity of the human condition with a focus on acceptance and love while keeping it spicy with 60s-inspired synth-pop vibes.  ==============================Episode Chapters:00:00 Episode Greeting with Host Josh Rosenberg:  Introducing Tom Odell 04:48  Interview with Tom Odell40:40  Tom Odell wrap-up with Host Josh Rosenberg45:10  Introducing Jensen McRae46:18  Jensen McRae Interview1:07:42  Jensen McRae Wrap-Up with Host Josh Rosenberg1:10:01  Introducing Roz Raskin1:11:54   Interview with Roz Raskin1:34:39 Episode Wrap-Up with Host Josh Rosenberg================================For more information on Roadcase:https://linktr.ee/roadcasepod and https://www.roadcasepod.comOr contact Roadcase by email:  info@roadcasepod.comRoadcase theme music:  "Eugene (Instrumental)" by Waltzer

Description: What happens when the faith you were raised with no longer fits? Join us as we explore faith deconstruction and what it looks like to hold on to what matters while letting go of harmful narratives. Our guest, Mary Katherine Backstrom, knows this journey well. Once rooted in evangelical certainty, her world began to unravel—her marriage, career, and faith all shaken. In her raw and hilarious memoir, Not That Wheel Jesus, MK shares what it was like to question everything, wrestle with purity culture's impact, and walk through the grief of lost certainties. As she puts it: “I walked through the rubble, I danced in the fire pits with my friends, and I've emerged into this quiet post-apocalyptic space where I can hear my own voice.” Whether you're navigating your own faith shift or just curious, this conversation will resonate. And don't forget—you can leave us your thoughts at jenhatmaker.com/podcast! Thought-provoking Quotes: “Everybody I speak to that's been on a growth journey of any sort—spiritual, emotional, whatever—you get to a point where you realize that confidence comes from not knowing everything and being at peace with what you can't figure out.” – MK Backstrom “It felt like I was looking at my life and feeling  like there's so much loss here, especially my sexuality. My church robbed me of joy. And that's the opposite of what was promised. Once I realized I participated in that behavior, I was able to make amends.” – MK Backstrom  “When I walk into that [church] space, it feels like going into a home where a child experienced abuse. I don't know that that's going to leave my body for a very long time. And it doesn't mean that I'm never gonna go back, but I also listen to myself better now and I'm not going to go somewhere where my body feels like it's on fire.” – MK Backstrom “My body is still responding to everything it's experienced for 40 years in the church. And I'm finally getting to the place where I'm starting to understand what my baseline feels like.” – MK Backstrom “If there is a God worth worshiping and there's a life worth living, those things can stand up to your big questions. No God is so fragile that your human curiosity is going to break this to pieces. No problem is so big in your life that you're not gonna get up and keep moving. There's a lot of freedom after the fear. Trust the process, ask questions.” – MK Backstrom Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Holy Hot Mess: Finding God in the Details of this Weird and Wonderful Life by Mary Katherine Backstrom - https://amzn.to/3ZV5GAi Not That Wheel, Jesus!: Stories From a Faith That Went Off-Road in the Best (and Worst) Possible Ways by Mary Katherine Backstrom - https://amzn.to/45KbY9v Rachel Held Evans - https://rachelheldevans.com/ Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans - https://amzn.to/4lxKkRY Dallas Willard - https://dwillard.org/ Sarah Bessey - https://www.sarahbessey.com/ Sex MeCourse - https://shop.jenhatmaker.com/products/sex-101 Dr. Celeste Holbrook - https://www.drcelesteholbrook.com/ Guest's Links: Website - https://www.mkbackstrom.com/ Twitter - https://x.com/mkbackstrom Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MKBackstrom TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@marykatherinebackstrom Substack - https://marykatherinebackstrom.substack.com/ Connect with Jen!Jen's Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen's Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen's Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen's Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See J.P.'s thirty second version of "The Birds" here: https://youtu.be/kjiSyts0xnk?si=1KZK5e7fOymLmtLU EPISODE 98 -  “BEHIND THE SCENES: GETTING TO KNOW THE TEAM BEHIND FBTHS” - 7/28/25 As they say, it takes a village. And that is very true here at FROM BENEATH THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN podcast. This week, we decided to pull the curtain back and reveal two unsung heroes of the show who work tirelessly behind the scenes at the podcast. Meet Executive producer and Post Production Supervisor LINDSAY SCHNEBLY and Associate Producer and Researcher JOHN PRICE RICHEY. They are the true backbone behind this show who do an amazing job keeping us technically proficient and as factually accurate as possible. Listen and get to know these two remarkable artists who both have very interesting stories to tell. We would be lost without them!  SHOW NOTES:  Sources: Wikipedia.com; TCM.com; IBDB.com; IMDBPro.com; Movies Mentioned: The Birds (1963), starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, & Suzanne Pleshette; Vertigo (1958), starring James Stewart & Kim Novak; It's a Wonderful Life (1946), starring James Stewart & Donna Reed; The African Queen (1951), starring Humphrey Bogart & Katharine Hepburn; Singin' in the Rain (1952), starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, & Donald O'Connor; The Bad and Beautiful (1952), starring Kirk Douglas & Lana Turner; Sunset Boulevard (1950), starring Gloria Swanson & William Holden; 8 1/2 (1963), starring Marcello Mastroianni & Claudia Cardinale; My Favorite Year (1982), starring Peter O'Toole; Mulholland Drive (2001), starring Naomi Watts & Laura Harring; The Star (1952), starring Bette Davis & Sterling Hayden; Cinderella (1997), starring Brandy & Whitney Houston; Ninotchka (1939), starring Greta Garbo & Melvyn Douglas; The Red Shoes (1948), starring Moira Shearer; City Lights (1931), starring Charlie Chaplin & Virginia Cherrill; North By Northwest (1959), starring Cary Grant & Eva Marie Saint; The Sting (1973), starring Paul Newman & Robert Redford; The Godfather (1972), starring Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, & James Caan; The Godfather II (1974), starring Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro & James Caan; The Shop Around The Corner (1940), starring James Stewart & Margaret Sullivan; The Merry Widow (1934), starring Jeanette MacDonald & Maurice Chevalier; The Poseidon Adventure (1972), starring Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine & Shelley Winters; Grand Prix (1966), starring James Garner & Eva Marie Saint; --------------------------------- 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

Before The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins' What If. hit theaters in 2010. It returns to theaters Aug 5 & 7 for the 15th anniv., with a special reunion conversation among cast and Jenkins.SYNOPSIS - It's a Wonderful Life--modern day. What If... follows Ben Walker (Kevin Sorbo), a businessman who abandoned his faith. One day, Ben wakes up living the life he was destined for-married to his college sweetheart (Kristy Swanson) and serving as a small-town pastor. The film also features memorable performances by John Ratzenberger and Debby Ryan, packed with human, faith, and family.Here's the trailer for What If. 15th Anniversary event:Https://www.fathomentertainment.com/releases/what-if-15-anniversary/ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Before The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins' What If. hit theaters in 2010. It returns to theaters Aug 5 & 7 for the 15th anniv., with a special reunion conversation among cast and Jenkins.SYNOPSIS - It's a Wonderful Life--modern day. What If... follows Ben Walker (Kevin Sorbo), a businessman who abandoned his faith. One day, Ben wakes up living the life he was destined for-married to his college sweetheart (Kristy Swanson) and serving as a small-town pastor. The film also features memorable performances by John Ratzenberger and Debby Ryan, packed with human, faith, and family.Here's the trailer for What If. 15th Anniversary event:Https://www.fathomentertainment.com/releases/what-if-15-anniversary/ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Now well over a decade in the music industry, Tom Odell is motoring through a successful second phase as an independent artist. His recent albums have leaned into more introspective, personal material that has resonated so much that he now attracts bigger audiences to bigger shows (an arena tour is forthcoming), and continues to grow a very large base of listeners on the streaming platforms. Indeed, he sits comfortably (and ironically) within Spotify's elite of Top 200 streaming artists. He is in the 0.01% of working artists, the “Billions Club”, a place he never set out to be but nevertheless, belongs. Odell broke free of the major label system (not his choice at the time but transformational as it turned out) three albums ago, to find a whole new level of creative and commercial success. Most of all, with his seventh studio album A Wonderful Life on the horizon, the singer-songwriter has found a renewed sense of purpose. His time touring with artists like Billie Eilish and the Lumineers has given him a first-hand glimpse of the very top tier of success in a changed industry, a secret sauce that may well rub off on him more as a result of those experiences. Odell is a hopeful soul. In a world of quantity over quality, 100,000 songs a day and AI about to increase that number ad infinitum, he has a strong idea about where a solution may lie to all the madness. “I really have faith in the listener. I believe people will find the good stuff. And when I look at what's big right now, most of the time I go, ‘Yeah, that's really good, that's why it's big”. As A Wonderful Life gets closer to release, Odell isn't looking to chase the numbers, or meet any industry expectations. He's following the music. “I didn't get into this to be big,” he says. “I got into it because I love it. And I still do.” His Spotify biog says it all. No flowery press copy, no AI generated summary, no self-penned promo, just 33 million monthly listeners and a simple keyboard smile emoji. One wonders how far he will go. Season 12 of The Art of Longevity is Powered by Bang & Olufsen. Long copy can be found on www.songsommelier.com.Support the showGet more related content at: https://www.songsommelier.com/

Garry "G" Cobb (former NFL linebacker & longtime Philadelphia sports media host) checks in with the scoop from the Philadelphia Eagles training camp which opened this week, the mentoring work he does with NFL players, and an update on 3-year old grandson Garry III's latest shenanigans :). Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, Andromeda, God's Not Dead) Zooms in to the show regarding the upcoming re-release of What If..., in theaters August 5 & 7. Directed by Dallas Jenkins (The Chosen) in 2010, What If... has drawn comparisons to It's A Wonderful Life (but in reverse order) and also stars Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), John Ratzenberger (Cheers & multiple Pixar films) and Debby Ryan (Disney). We also also feature a chat from the archive with Danica McKellar (Wonder Years, West Wing, How I Met Your Mother) from November 2024. Sports clips:Rob Thomson (Philadelphia Phillies manager) (MLB.com)A.J. Brown (Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver) (philadelphiaeagles.com)Saquon Barkley (Philadelphia Eagles running back) (philadelphiaeagles.com)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David and David are back and this time David Edwards has a massive pile of movies to review. Also, a very interesting evening with a cake in the shape of an X Box. He also reviews the randomly chosen movie, It's a Wonderful Life. If you would like to receive this podcast earlier, get longer episodes as well watch the show recorded LIVE every Saturday - then head over to patreon.com/davidearl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textToday's episode is my conversation about the 1929 film The Hollywood Revue of 1929. I'm joined by Chris Mann from the "Daily Movie Question" newsletter and we talk about how the film truly feels like watching a stage revue like those that were popular at the time, some interesting visual effects that the film employed at various points, and the propensity for women to be physically carried off stage by a group of several men throughout the film. You can watch The Hollywood Revue of 1929 on YouTube and be sure to check out Chris's newsletter.Other films mentioned in this episode include:"The Karnival Kid" directed by Ub Iwerks and Walt DisneyFerris Bueller's Day Off directed by John HughesStar Wars TrilogyThe Broadway Melody directed by Harry BeaumontPinocchio directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton LuskeStan and Ollie directed by Jon BairdIt's a Wonderful Life directed by Frank CapraOther referenced topics:Smoot–Hawley Tariff ActRalph McQuarrie artwork from The Empire Strikes Back"Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson"We Are the World" by U.S.A. For AfricaNew York Times reviewVariety reviewFilm Daily reviewThe New Yorker reviewSupport the show

Al and Kev talk about whether or not farming game remakes are worth it. Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:08: What Have We Been Up To 00:38:42: Game Updates 00:58:01: New Games 01:11:11: Farming Game Remakes 01:51:29: Outro Links Research Story 1.0 Tiny Garden Switch Info Go-go Town “Tourist Trap” Update APICO Physical Edition Farming Simulator 16-bit Limited Edition Romestead Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello, farmers, and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Al. (0:00:34) Kev: My name is Kevin (0:00:36) Al: And we’re here today to talk about Cottagecore games. (0:00:39) Kev: You woo supposedly the word on the street is it says on the box (0:00:46) Al: Does it? (0:00:47) Kev: That’s odd, yeah, it does it what does the websites I’m assuming it does (0:00:51) Al: I don’t know. This is a good question. What does it say on the website? (0:00:54) Kev: You know, we’ve never done (0:00:55) Al: It says farming. It says a podcast about farming simulators. (0:00:58) Kev: Well, there you go, I guess we were lying somewhere, you know one of these days (0:01:00) Al: Yeah, classic. (0:01:04) Kev: Not days we should do in April fools and switch it up (0:01:07) Kev: Or we talk about I don’t know something else. I guess we kind of do that sometimes but you know something really different (0:01:12) Al: Something, something else. (0:01:14) Kev: Yeah (0:01:16) Kev: We talk about gotcha games, I mean I already do but you know all in oh (0:01:23) Kev: Yeah (0:01:24) Al: Hello. We are going to talk this episode about, I want to have a discussion about remakes. (0:01:25) Kev: Hello listener (0:01:34) Kev: We don’t oh (0:01:34) Al: Specifically remakes of farming games. (0:01:38) Kev: Oh, that’s well hmm. I mean it’s still in the neighborhood like there’s stuff to be discussed for sure (0:01:47) Al: Well, that’s why we’re doing it. (0:01:51) Al: I don’t tend to have topics that I don’t think I’ll have much discussion. (0:01:55) Kev: That is died and I believe that’s factually not true (0:02:00) Al: Wow, how dare, how dare you, how very dare you. (0:02:04) Kev: Oh (0:02:06) Al: Before that, we have a bunch of news, but first of all, Kevin, what have you been up to? (0:02:13) Kev: Okay, let’s see here when I wrote things down (0:02:16) Kev: Okay, Marvel snap. Okay, I should have talked about this earlier because it ended this week, but I mean all snap goes (0:02:22) Kev: It’s good the the new Fantastic Four (0:02:27) Kev: Season with cards based off the movies coming up (0:02:30) Kev: They’re just doing a whole new season like first step family (0:02:34) Kev: First steps whatever but but that’s coming so you know and that looks good (0:02:38) Kev: But I didn’t talk about maximum voltage overdrive or whatever that thing was called (0:02:45) Kev: You played snap outs been a minute. Did you play maximum voltage? (0:02:49) Kev: Do you remember that mode at all? (0:02:50) Al: I think it was around when I was playing, but I don’t think I played it. (0:02:54) Kev: Uh-huh (0:02:56) Al: I did the Deadpool Diner and I did. (0:02:59) Kev: Yeah (0:03:00) Al: There was one other one that I did, but I don’t think I did maximum. (0:03:02) Kev: Okay, so (0:03:04) Kev: So yeah, every once in a while snap introduces these like alternate modes with different rules or different words or whatever (0:03:12) Kev: And so one that they’ve done is called maximum voltage (0:03:16) Kev: and previously maximum voltage was a three-turn game instead of six turns and (0:03:20) Kev: They would give you a random amount like two to four energy every turn like extra so it was you know (0:03:27) Kev: Not just the one two three four (0:03:29) Kev: So you had you could play cards quickly and you had to do on three turns (0:03:34) Kev: It’s a it’s a different pace a game. It’s fun even shorter. I liked it (0:03:41) Kev: Well this past week or two they did maximum voltage overdrive or overcharge whatever’s over something (0:03:50) Kev: Where it was a four-turn game (0:03:53) Kev: The same rules of okay, you get random two to four energy every turn (0:03:59) Kev: on top of what you already have (0:04:02) Kev: But they (0:04:04) Kev: Also filled your deck out with like was it eight or twelve extra random cards in your deck (0:04:10) Kev: Those extra cards had lower costs and higher power (0:04:15) Kev: So it was it was a wild ride because it was a lot of like kind of RNG really right what you get (0:04:22) Kev: It’s hard to build around like, you know real strategy around it (0:04:26) Kev: and you know, I (0:04:28) Kev: I enjoyed it enough. It was fine enough. You know a lot of people don’t like RNG sort of (0:04:34) Kev: modes or strategy so you know I don’t think as popular as other ones but at (0:04:40) Kev: least they tried something right like I always did they say hey try it and then (0:04:43) Kev: we’ll see how it goes but the bigger fiasco was the rewards because when they (0:04:52) Kev: have these side missions they’ll give you usually like a sort of bonus currency (0:04:56) Kev: or side currency or whatever specific for that mode with a shop or reward tier (0:05:01) Kev: or something like that. (0:05:04) Kev: In this case they gave you a shop, you could earn let’s just call them vault points or whatever they were called. (0:05:08) Kev: And so there was a new card in the shop. (0:05:12) Kev: Kid Omega, I don’t know who that character is but they had a decent enough ability. (0:05:16) Kev: But regardless, so yeah, it was a new card and very cool and all. (0:05:24) Kev: But here’s the thing, for the first time ever in one of these side modes, you could not earn the card for free. (0:05:32) Kev: Um… (0:05:34) Kev: Well, I guess you technically could, but… (0:05:36) Kev: So how it works is every eight hours you get a set of three missions, and you get X number of points for it, right? (0:05:44) Kev: Well, people did the math. (0:05:46) Kev: If you did all the missions, every single set of three for every eight hours for the entire duration of the thing, (0:05:52) Kev: you would still have to win 500 games, I think it was, to earn enough points to earn the new card. (0:05:57) Al: That is so many games. (0:06:04) Kev: But… (0:06:04) Al: I don’t think I’ve ever won 500 games combined in the, like, what, combined what, six months (0:06:06) Kev: Yeah, totally. (0:06:14) Kev: I mean, I might be there with you. (0:06:18) Kev: But yeah, so that was wild. (0:06:24) Kev: And a lot of people were up in arms about it, as you can imagine, and I think understandably so. (0:06:30) Kev: Also, because Marvel Snap, traditionally, has been… (0:06:34) Kev: Play-ish where or at least you if you played enough you could get a decent pool of cards or you could get work (0:06:40) Kev: You know the new cards they were releasing if you kept up you could (0:06:45) Kev: You could you could play for free (0:06:48) Kev: the boat the money was either spent on generally speaking on (0:06:55) Kev: Cosmetics, you know variants and bundles (0:06:57) Kev: I guess the season passed you could unlock a new card and that’s ten bucks a month and like that (0:07:02) Kev: But they would drop for free later (0:07:04) Kev: So you didn’t have to do it. But anyways (0:07:08) Kev: Point is that a lot of players feel like the the snap devs are kind of leaning a little more into (0:07:15) Kev: You know pay to win or pay to get the new cards (0:07:19) Kev: So that was a big (0:07:20) Kev: Yeah, big big bit a little bit of fiasco (0:07:25) Kev: and (0:07:26) Kev: Yeah, it’s over now. We went to another mode called sanctum showdown, which is but it’s much slower paced modes fun (0:07:35) Kev: They’re playing it safe. No crazy (0:07:38) Kev: Expensive card or whatever but (0:07:40) Kev: It’s interesting to see (0:07:43) Kev: kind of a shame that they you know, they’re a little money hungry, but (0:07:48) Kev: Cuz though otherwise the game I think is in still in a decent shape (0:07:52) Kev: They’ve released so many cards like I think it’s almost in a state of we can play whatever you want more or less (0:07:59) Kev: But yeah, I mean I’m still playing it. I’m still enjoying it. I did not get the kiddo-megan card (0:08:05) Kev: You know, it’s wild. I saw somebody with that card on day one (0:08:08) Kev: Which means they must have put a lot of money or gold or whatever. Yeah, there’s always an I found the whale. Oh (0:08:08) Al: Hmm there’s always one. There’s always one. Yeah (0:08:16) Kev: Speaking of not having money or wanting money (0:08:20) Kev: Yes, let’s talk about unicorn overlord. So I reached the end of what’s called best stories. That’s the beast land (0:08:30) Kev: Campaign area there’s basically like five countries in the game or whatever and each one is kind of (0:08:34) Kev: Its own little chapter if you will write its own little story and arc and so I reached the end of the best stories chapter (0:08:41) Kev: Which is fine and all the villain was a rat man a rat where rat I guess. I don’t I don’t know how to describe it (0:08:50) Kev: You know, I’ll show you a picture (0:08:52) Kev: but (0:08:53) Kev: And so I enjoyed it. It was a fun chapter. I think the Beast people were cool, but what is funny and (0:09:00) Kev: I can feel it. I learned about this (0:09:04) Kev: When I went online because it felt something felt like it was changing the writing in unicorn overlord who was pretty alright (0:09:12) Kev: Up until around now because they really just kind of did not give the the rat man’s name (0:09:19) Kev: His name was Elgore and he kind of had an interesting story (0:09:23) Kev: The rats were generally oppressed people and he wanted to rise up and then you know, he became a general (0:09:29) Kev: So it’s kind of an interesting story and there was some evil the evil bad guy team (0:09:34) Kev: We’re doing experiments on him yada yada (0:09:38) Kev: But it was really really rushed. And so I kind of looked into it and it turns out (0:09:45) Kev: That oh (0:09:47) Kev: Hold on one second now (0:09:49) Kev: my mic (0:09:51) Kev: Sorry, there we go. Sorry. My mic had a hiccup and I think we’re good now while checking (0:09:57) Kev: double-checking (0:09:58) Al: Sounds fine to me. (0:09:59) Kev: Yes, okay. I lost a few seconds of the recording, but okay. I’m okay (0:10:03) Kev: I don’t know, at least the– (0:10:03) Al: It’s fine now. (0:10:05) Al: Zoom is pretty good at like starting out. (0:10:05) Kev: Yeah, all right (0:10:09) Kev: Well, anyways, so I looked up that why it started feel rushed and turns out that the unicorn (0:10:15) Kev: Overlord development ran out of money and basically the director producer they started funding it out of their own pocket (0:10:22) Kev: so apparently this last (0:10:25) Kev: quarter or so of the the game is gonna feel very rushed and (0:10:30) Kev: There’s no time for story anymore. Which is sad but (0:10:34) Kev: That said the game is still (0:10:38) Kev: Entertaining. I like it. It’s fun. Yeah, like unicorn overlord to two thumbs up from me (0:10:45) Kev: Let’s see (0:10:47) Kev: So yeah, so that’s good. Um, oh, okay follow up from last week (0:10:50) Kev: So we spent a little time having a fun little chat about magic the gathering and capitalism and the $1,000 (0:10:58) Al: Like 20 minutes. (0:10:59) Kev: pack of set of four packs (0:11:02) Kev: and it was all started as you may recall because (0:11:04) Kev: I was looking at the, or you know, the Final Fantasy set of Magic the Gathering cards came out, (0:11:12) Kev: and I did not want to buy them because I didn’t want to spend them, or spend the money for them. (0:11:17) Kev: Well, this week I bought the Final Fantasy card set from Magic the Gathering, virtually, virtually, there’s my caveat, haha. (0:11:26) Kev: Uh, no, I did not spend money, but… yeah, haha, virtual versions of my cardboard. (0:11:27) Al: Oh, wait, that’s that’s even that’s even all right. (0:11:30) Al: I was going to say that’s even worse if you bought digital cards. (0:11:35) Kev: No, no money spent. So I’ve been, I’ve played Magic the Gathering Arena, though that’s the online client. I fired it up to get in there and try. (0:11:43) Al: Good game. I’ve not played in a long time, but when I was playing, I was doing a lot of arenas. (0:11:49) Kev: Alright, it’s good. It feels comparable, I think, to, you know, Pokemon TCG live. (0:11:54) Al: Oh, I think it’s way better. (0:11:56) Al: I think it’s way, way better. (0:11:57) Al: I think the I mean, it’s been a while since I played it. (0:12:00) Al: But in my experience, the app was much less slow in menus and the effects were much better. (0:12:05) Kev: Yeah. (0:12:08) Kev: I agree with that. It is much, much more polished, right, overall. A little fancier. And you’re right, a little less laggy. (0:12:17) Kev: But, yeah, but I mean, the point is, it serves as a decent online, you know, substitute for the paper game. (0:12:26) Kev: So I got some, yeah, Final Fantasy cards there and played a little, doing a choco bow deck. (0:12:33) Kev: I’m really upset (0:12:35) Kev: Those cards are really good, art-wise and gameplay-wise (0:12:42) Kev: They have, because I mentioned I was playing Final Fantasy, the proper FFTCG (0:12:49) Kev: That game doesn’t have equipment cards (0:12:51) Kev: Magic the Gathering does, so Magic the Gathering can include iconic items and weapons (0:12:57) Kev: Like the Buster Sword, or a cup of instant noodles from Final Fantasy XV (0:13:04) Kev: So I’m more…a little… (0:13:05) Kev: I’m jealous that Magic did it so well. (0:13:07) Kev: Whoever…the people working on the Final Fantasy set, they really love Final Fantasy. (0:13:13) Kev: They have Souplex the Train as a card. (0:13:17) Kev: People who know FF5 understand that reference. (0:13:25) Kev: But yeah, I mean, I try to… (0:13:27) Kev: I’m still thinking about it. I’m looking at it. (0:13:31) Kev: The card’s proper. I’m not gonna buy it yet. (0:13:35) Kev: Oh, it’s been…I’ve been craving it. It’s a siren song. (0:13:38) Kev: So I had to…you know…I had to at least do it virtually to enjoy it a little. (0:13:46) Kev: But I digress. That’s what I’ve been up to this week. (0:13:50) Kev: What about you, Al? What’s going on? (0:13:52) Al: Well, let’s see, what have I been up to? (0:13:56) Al: Shock surprise. (0:13:58) Al: I have been playing some Mario Kart World up. (0:14:00) Kev: Yeah, you’re going for it, man. Getting all those knockouts here. I’ve seen your progress. (0:14:04) Al: Yes, so update on that. (0:14:07) Al: I have done all of the Grand Prix’s 150, three stars and all of the knockout (0:14:13) Al: all of the knockout tours, 150, three stars. (0:14:19) Al: and I have done enough in free. (0:14:22) Al: Rome to unlock mirror mode. (0:14:25) Kev: Okay. (0:14:27) Al: And I have unlocked all of the costumes. (0:14:30) Kev: Oh, you’re- you’ve done it all almost pretty much at this point. (0:14:33) Al: I am still missing three characters. (0:14:36) Kev: Wait, wha- oh. How d- uh- uh-huh. (0:14:38) Al: But that’s because they are the Kamek characters, (0:14:43) Al: so you have to be on a specific course (0:14:47) Al: and someone use the Kamek behind you on that specific course. (0:14:50) Kev: Uh, okay, I did notice that I got some kamiks and I think I got kamiks characters out of that. (0:14:53) Al: There’s a chance that you get one that character, so. (0:15:00) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:15:01) Al: So I’ve got most of them, but I’m still missing three of them. (0:15:04) Al: And it’s like they are dreadful to try and force like the bet. (0:15:08) Kev: Yeah, who are they? (0:15:10) Al: How who am I missing? (0:15:12) Al: Let me check my spreadsheet. (0:15:14) Al: I am missing Rocky, wrench. (0:15:18) Al: Peepa and Swoop. (0:15:20) Kev: Oof, oof, oh man, I like swoop. (0:15:21) Al: I have the rest of them. (0:15:22) Al: So that’s I have that’s 15 out of 18 characters unlocked (0:15:26) Al: and 103 out of 103 costumes unlocked. (0:15:31) Al: So, yeah, and I’ve got all the vehicles as well. (0:15:36) Al: All 40 of them. (0:15:37) Al: So I am going to I’m definitely going to do. (0:15:40) Al: I’m definitely going to start doing mirror modes. (0:15:42) Al: I really want to restart all the mirror modes (0:15:45) Al: before I get too much muscle memory for specific courses. (0:15:46) Kev: Yeah. (0:15:49) Kev: Mmm. (0:15:50) Al: Right, because that that’s when it becomes really hard. (0:15:52) Kev: Yeah, you’re right. (0:15:53) Kev: That’s an excellent point. (0:15:53) Al: But I’d love I’d love to three star mirror mode (0:15:56) Al: because I’ve never restarted every mirror mode in a Mario cart. (0:16:00) Kev: I mean you’re like there, you’re wide as well, right? You’ve gone the 90%? (0:16:06) Al: Yeah, it’s I guess the thing is it’s just about like time now, right? (0:16:10) Kev: Uh-huh. (0:16:10) Al: Like we’ve got two and a bit weeks until Donkey Kong comes out. (0:16:15) Al: That’s basically my deadline, right? (0:16:15) Kev: I was about to say, that’s the deadline, right? (0:16:17) Al: Like if it’s if I’ve not done it by (0:16:20) Al: Donkey Kong coming out, it’s probably never happening. (0:16:23) Kev: Yeah, well, maybe they’ll release some DLC, but I understand what you generally say. (0:16:28) Al: Yeah, but at that point, I don’t I think at that point I’ll play the DLC, (0:16:31) Al: but I don’t think I’ll go back and try and do the other mirror modes. (0:16:31) Kev: Yeah, it’ll be out of your system, I get it. (0:16:34) Al: Right. (0:16:36) Al: So we’ll see. We’ll see how I feel. (0:16:38) Al: But I’m going to I’m going to at least try and see how far I get. (0:16:42) Al: But obviously it’s quite few and, you know, I can see I should be able to do them. (0:16:47) Al: Right. Because I’ve done one hundred and fifty. (0:16:49) Al: I should be able to do mirror mode. (0:16:50) Al: I don’t think I’m in use to them enough that I will cause problems. (0:16:53) Al: Although maybe there’s a couple of courses that are recreations of previous ones, (0:16:58) Al: like the Mario Bros circuit, which is just like the continuation from the one (0:17:00) Kev: Yeah (0:17:03) Al: and since the sna is- (0:17:06) Al: right? That one might be trouble because I suspect I’ll have muscle memory for that course (0:17:06) Kev: Yeah (0:17:12) Kev: Sure sure (0:17:12) Al: but we’ll see, we’ll see. I’m gonna try and we’ll see how I go (0:17:17) Al: and I think that’s all I was considering. So have you done much free roam? (0:17:22) Kev: Not too much myself now (0:17:25) Al: So you’ve got the P switches, you’ve got peach medallions and you’ve got the question mark blocks. (0:17:27) Kev: Yeah (0:17:29) Kev: Yeah (0:17:32) Al: the only one that’s actually like shown on the map. (0:17:36) Al: The P switches where each course has a certain number of P switches and it shows you how (0:17:38) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:17:40) Al: many you’ve got. So I’m considering doing the P switches, but there’s no way I’m going (0:17:47) Al: to look for all of the peach medallions and all not not P switches sorry the question mark blocks. (0:17:52) Al: It’s not the P switches the question mark blocks. There’s no way I’m going for the piece all the (0:17:56) Al: P switches and all the peach medallions. I’ll probably do some more just playing around in (0:18:00) Al: free roam and if I see some I will do some, but I’m not going to go out my way to get (0:18:04) Al: every day because it’s like (0:18:06) Al: 300 P switches or something it’s mad how many there are I’m not going to do (0:18:08) Kev: Yeah, you don’t want to collect all the Koroks? (0:18:12) Al: all of them definitely not but I can see myself doing all the question mark (0:18:17) Al: blocks just because they’re like clearly like there’s six on this course six on (0:18:22) Al: this course six on this course I could see myself doing that but I’m not I’m (0:18:28) Al: not going all in on that at this point right like we will see (0:18:31) Kev: man. I gotta say the free roam is a little disappointing from what I’ve experienced and (0:18:39) Kev: seen. I was really hoping for, for lack of a better word, secrets, right? Little nooks (0:18:47) Kev: and crannies you could explore that, you know, you wouldn’t experience on a race or whatever, (0:18:52) Al: - Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:18:53) Kev: right? Like in, you know, shooting for the stars, like even a handful of courses not in any of the (0:19:01) Kev: pre-write, you know, unofficially labeled, like you enter a cave and all of a sudden (0:19:06) Kev: there’s this little racetrack down there. Stuff like that, but anyways, yeah, there’s not much (0:19:12) Kev: going on other than unlocking mirror mode, I guess, on free roam. Although I do like the (0:19:20) Kev: Princess Peach Castle, the window easter egg, that’s fun. (0:19:23) Al: Yeah, yeah, it’s I will agree that I think free roam is a little bit of a disappointment, but yeah, I am still very much having fun. (0:19:35) Al: And I will definitely be playing this with people in person a lot. (0:19:40) Kev: I’m sure. I mean, it’s Mario Kart. It’s built for that. (0:19:41) Al: No, it’s 100% worth. (0:19:44) Al: Yeah, it’s 100% worth it, especially as, you know, it was what, like 30 quid in the bundle, right? (0:19:49) Kev: Yep. (0:19:50) Kev: Exactly. (0:19:50) Al: Like it was very much worth that. (0:19:53) Al: And just, it is, I still stand by it’s the most fun to control the, with the new physics reactions. Like I feel like all the other ones will feel quite stiff going back to them. (0:20:04) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don’t think (0:20:10) Kev: Yeah, I yeah, I don’t think a lot of people are gonna push back on that it does feel very good to control (0:20:16) Kev: I agree (0:20:19) Kev: Yeah, it’s it’s I mean it’s Mario Kart right like it’s still gonna be good (0:20:22) Kev: It’s a but it is funny though that you know insert the the Simpsons sheep gif when Donkey Kong bonanza comes out (0:20:28) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely. That is going to be like a couple of weeks of just (0:20:34) Kev: Yeah (0:20:37) Al: like that’s the only thing I’m playing. Yeah. And we, has the direct been since we recorded (0:20:39) Kev: It looks so good, I only more (0:20:44) Al: our last episode? I can’t remember. Super fun. I’m so excited for this. I think it’s (0:20:44) Kev: I I can’t remember. We haven’t talked about it either way, but that’s uh (0:20:51) Kev: that’s a (0:20:52) Kev: good looking direct (0:20:53) Al: really, yeah, I think they, that was a great direct because it shows (0:20:58) Al: it kind of confirmed a bunch of the stuff we already knew while also giving us enough (0:21:03) Al: to be like, oh, there’s more. Right. And, and I think it’s really, I think it’s really (0:21:09) Al: good looking. Like I love the different effects that you get in transforming into other animals (0:21:16) Al: and also having Pauline basically be like a parrot on your shoulder. Right. It’s really (0:21:22) Kev: yep it’s it’s so good I i love the online reaction that we the internet gave of like you (0:21:23) Al: fun. (0:21:30) Kev: know the trifecta of uh was it ralph and vanellope uh sully and boo and now we’ve got dk and pauline (0:21:38) Kev: you know big guy and then little girl um it’s it’s fun (0:21:38) Al: Look, it works, right? Like why, why break it? Why try and fix it if it’s not broken, (0:21:47) Kev: Exactly. It’s great. Um, yeah, I’m I’m very pumped. Uh, (0:21:52) Kev: for uh uh the the game or general, I guess. Um, it’s I’m a (0:21:59) Kev: little disappointed that we don’t get the animal buddies (0:22:02) Kev: per se. I mean, I know Rambi’s in there and and it’s kind of (0:22:06) Kev: in there, but you know, it’s it’s the functions been replaced (0:22:09) Kev: by your transformations and the transformations are cool. I (0:22:12) Kev: won’t lie. Um but uh I don’t know. I’m a guy who likes Rambi. (0:22:17) Al: Well, look, I don’t have any real history with the previous DK games other than trying them and not enjoying them. (0:22:23) Al: So I don’t particularly mind. (0:22:27) Al: I’m not a lower muncher. (0:22:30) Kev: Sure, I mean, it’s not even like lore stuff because that’s uh, that’s just uh, you know, I guess mechanics or (0:22:38) Kev: Gameplay traditions, whatever. But if you want to talk about lore, I mean we can get trying to you know (0:22:43) Kev: We can try figure out why on earth (0:22:48) Kev: Does how is Pauline hanging out a DK? How does that timeline work? (0:22:52) Al: Well, I think everything lines up if you just ignore the original DK game. I don’t think (0:22:59) Al: anything else is a problem. I think it’s only that. And I think that this ties in so much (0:23:00) Kev: Yeah. Which… (0:23:05) Al: better to Odyssey, because why would Pauline be the mayor of a city that’s named after (0:23:11) Al: her kidnapper? But she would be the mayor of a city that’s named after her hero. (0:23:12) Kev: Yeah, I like the way you think there that’s a good point, yeah, but and also like this (0:23:28) Kev: is even more so than Odyssey cuz I mean Paulina was in there was you know, she’s first time (0:23:32) Kev: back in forever or whatever but she’s you know, she has a starring role finally, that’s (0:23:40) Al: Yeah, my I also I have another theory that it might be time (0:23:47) Kev: All right, oh well there you are now we’re talking let’s get into that Zelda split timeline (0:23:55) Al: Well, I don’t even think it needs to be a split timeline, right? (0:23:58) Al: Like, if something happens and she gets shot forward and then she goes back in time after this, (0:24:04) Kev: Oh, I like it. I like. (0:24:05) Al: you know, she could still go through the whole thing, because the thing is, right, (0:24:09) Al: Pauline in Donkey Kong, that’s not this Donkey Kong, that’s Cranky Kong. (0:24:14) Kev: that is cranky kong who does exist yeah oh I like that that’s clever yeah there you go all right I like it (0:24:15) Al: So, you know, she’s obviously from the past. (0:24:22) Al: Or, or, here’s another suggestion. (0:24:25) Al: If Donkey Kong, if Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong are both Donkey Kong, then maybe Pauline. (0:24:32) Al: This could be a different Pauline. Maybe this is Pauline’s daughter. (0:24:35) Kev: You know, I mean, that’s well established, right? Bowser Jr. looks just like Bowser when he’s a baby, I guess, so you know. (0:24:45) Al: Pauline Jr. (0:24:46) Kev: Pauline Jr. could be! (0:24:49) Kev: Although, okay, you know what? You know what? I’ll even point the bat at the stands here. (0:24:54) Kev: I bet we get little Pauline here as a character in Mario Kart World War 2. (0:24:58) Al: I hope so. I do hope there is some stuff coming, so I saw someone note that some of the characters (0:25:06) Al: have lots of costumes, and some of them have almost none. In fact, some of them have none. (0:25:11) Al: And the interesting thing is, one of the characters that has almost none is Donkey Kong. He only (0:25:12) Kev: Yeah. (0:25:16) Al: has one costume. Just before a Donkey Kong game comes out, suspicious. So are we interested (0:25:17) Kev: It is very strange considering, you know, he’s… (0:25:21) Kev: Uh-oh, uh-oh! (0:25:28) Al: in a Mario Kart World update coming with some Donkey Kong costumes to encourage you (0:25:34) Kev: I mean (0:25:36) Al: to be interested in the new game? Maybe. Yeah. And we obviously have all the baby characters, (0:25:37) Kev: If if it feels like the most obvious dough in the world, right, um, so yeah (0:25:46) Al: so would we get a young Pauline, as well as the babies that we’ve got of the other characters? (0:25:48) Kev: I like it (0:25:51) Kev: How cute (0:25:51) Al: We don’t have Pauline at all. Oh no, we do have Pauline. But also Pauline only has one (0:25:53) Kev: We do it, Paul (0:25:58) Kev: Like a generic racer costume, so there you go (0:25:58) Al: costume. So, you know, the two of them, both in an upcoming game. You know, I will be very (0:26:05) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah (0:26:09) Al: disappointed if there’s not. But this makes you wonder what else could be related to things, (0:26:11) Kev: I you know that’s I don’t think you’re being unreasonable (0:26:16) Al: right? Birdo only has two costumes, so that’s an interesting one. Could there be a Birdo (0:26:22) Al: thing coming up? Who knows? Lakitu only has two costumes, and there is an update to… (0:26:28) Al: Why can’t I remember the name? Goodness me. Mario Party. Which Lakitu obviously has a (0:26:34) Kev: Which Mario what okay? (0:26:40) Al: big part in Mario Party. Maybe I’m stretching at this point. Who knows? But we’ll see. I’m (0:26:41) Kev: Yeah (0:26:48) Kev: We we will see I think that’s the end that’s all we can kind of say really um (0:26:54) Al: I’m sure we can say much more, but let’s not. (0:26:56) Kev: Well, well, okay, yeah, you know, I will say this like each his legs still make me very uncomfortable. I (0:26:59) Al: Fair, very fair. (0:27:03) Kev: Don’t like it (0:27:05) Kev: Get in the car. Don’t look at those freak. Yeah, no, no, I don’t like it. That’s (0:27:08) Al: Don’t put him on a bike. (0:27:15) Al: He should be in the cloud cart. (0:27:19) Al: That’s the only one he’s allowed to be in. (0:27:20) Kev: Yeah, you really or you know, I don’t care I (0:27:23) Al: No, I’m just saying. (0:27:26) Kev: Look, I don’t care if it’s like (0:27:29) Kev: Horrendous I don’t care if it’s horrendous like animation clipping just (0:27:35) Kev: Just stick the the dang (0:27:36) Al: The cloud around every cart you put them in. (0:27:40) Kev: Yeah, yeah, when he’s the bike it’s just clipping right to the cloud (0:27:45) Kev: Okay, you make it it’s worth it (0:27:50) Al: All right, so that’s my car. (0:27:52) Al: I’ve also I don’t want to talk too much about this, but I do want to mention it. (0:27:58) Al: I’ve opened Lens Island again and started playing that. (0:28:02) Al: So for context, I originally backed on. (0:28:06) Al: Kickstarter and I started playing it when it first came out, but it had no controller (0:28:11) Al: support and basically was horrible to use on the steam deck. (0:28:16) Al: So I have started playing it again, and it is less horrible to play on the steam deck. (0:28:24) Kev: But that’s always the bar we want less horrible (0:28:25) Al: And I think that’s as far as I’m going to go on this comp on it just now. (0:28:33) Al: I will probably go into it a lot more in the next. (0:28:36) Al: episode, probably, but no promises. (0:28:38) Kev: Okay, fine. Okay. (0:28:43) Al: So that is a thing that is currently happening that I am not going to give any opinions on right now. (0:28:52) Al: But finally, we are recording this on Saturday, the 28th of June. (0:28:57) Al: I have just finished the first day of Pokémon Go Fest 2025 Global. (0:29:01) Kev: Oh, is that what’s going on? Okay. (0:29:03) Al: That’s what’s today. (0:29:04) Al: Yeah. So, uh, I had. (0:29:06) Al: Fun. I got a few hours where I was allowed to remove my (0:29:14) Al: responsibilities from children and just go play Pokemon in Edinburgh. (0:29:17) Al: And yeah, I got a good amount of stuff done and I enjoyed that. (0:29:20) Kev: Cool. What is going on? What are they releasing? (0:29:24) Al: This is the Crowned in Shield form Zacian and Zamazenta. (0:29:30) Kev: Wait they weren’t in there already that’s weird, but okay (0:29:32) Al: No, they had the base forms, but not this Crowned in Shield form. (0:29:37) Al: Uh, because they’ve got to release them separately to make the most money, right? (0:29:42) Kev: - Oh, yeah, yeah. (0:29:46) Al: But yeah, so, uh, yeah, I think they did this one a lot better than the previous (0:29:52) Al: other forms, because with Curum and with, uh, oh, what’s the other one? (0:29:59) Kev: Uh, uh, uh, Nick Asma. (0:30:03) Al: Nick Rosma, thank you. (0:30:05) Al: with both of them. (0:30:06) Al: You have a certain amount of energy you need to get to fuse them, but if you separate (0:30:15) Al: them, you have to use the same amount of energy again to fuse them again. (0:30:21) Al: It’s like a thousand-fuse energy, or whatever they call it. (0:30:25) Al: I can’t remember and I don’t care. (0:30:26) Kev: Yeah, that’s correct (0:30:29) Al: Once you fuse them, you use up that thousand, but you get like a hundred per raid that you (0:30:33) Al: do. (0:30:34) Al: raids to get enough defuse once (0:30:35) Kev: Okay (0:30:36) Al: set of them. And then if you’re like, “Oh, I fused the wrong one”, and you unfuse it, (0:30:37) Kev: Yeah, oh (0:30:42) Al: you then have to do another 10 raids to do it. But of course, those raids were only available (0:30:45) Kev: It sounds like a lot (0:30:48) Al: for one weekend. They’ve never been available again, so you can’t get the energy anymore. (0:30:55) Al: It’s dreadful! (0:30:56) Kev: That sounds like a lot. (0:30:58) Al: Well, the good thing is that Zamasenta and Zacian, once you turn it into crown form, (0:31:04) Al: If you revere its form, you can… (0:31:06) Al: you can then do it again without using any energy. (0:31:09) Kev: Sure, okay. Okay, I mean, that’s that’s definitely nice. I just, man, I just got to say I didn’t go that long at all. But hearing how like, because I think Megas were kind of the first one where you had, you know, special mega energy or whatever. Like, it’s, oh, it doesn’t sound great. Just the oddest. (0:31:33) Al: The the Megas actually I think is a lot better than it was when it first launched. (0:31:38) Al: So like you you can get one free mega for each of your mega Pokemon once a week. (0:31:45) Al: So once you’ve done the initial one, every week, you can do it once for free. (0:31:49) Al: You only have to pay more energy after the first one (0:31:53) Al: if you want to do it faster than that. (0:31:55) Al: And as you get up the power, like once you can level up the mega and once you get (0:32:00) Al: Mega level 3. It matters. (0:32:04) Al: How much it costs so like every if you were to do it every single day, you wouldn’t be using a huge amount of energy so it’s it’s not it’s it’s much better than it was initially launched and I get why you know it is a bit frustrating that you still have to use it energy at all but it’s a lot less annoying you also get energy if you walk with them as a buddy and stuff like that so you know it’s it’s fine it’s fine it’s these fusing ones that are the most annoying because it’s like. (0:32:33) Al: I know have my necrosimas and my cutums fused and I can never unfuse them because I would never be able to fuse them again right like it’s just that’s it if you chose the wrong one tough and it’s really annoying because one of them I did choose the wrong one and but there’s nothing I can do about that I’m stuffed and that’s just what I have to live with. (0:32:40) Kev: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. (0:32:46) Kev: Oh, no! (0:32:50) Kev: Ugh. (0:32:52) Kev: Oh, that’s rough. That’s rough, buddy. (0:32:53) Al: Still. Yeah, that is life but yeah so there’s actions Amazon to was done much better and I got shiny. (0:33:03) Al: And I got my energy and I’ve I’ve powered them up so nice powerful Pokemon looking looking great my shiny shield was it shield form kind of what it’s called and they have new adventure effects so. (0:33:04) Kev: Yeah! (0:33:10) Kev: Yeah, that’s the game! (0:33:18) Kev: That’s cool, that’s good. (0:33:19) Al: There we go. (0:33:22) Al: And they can also be used because they’re when they’re in that form they can be used at power spots, which normally only dynamics Pokemon can be used a pair of spots, but of course you can’t you can’t. (0:33:33) Al: And they can also be used in Dynamax session and Amazon to but when they’re in that form you can use them a pair of spots so that’s fun. (0:33:44) Al: So yeah, I probably do a little bit tomorrow as well because it was Amazon to things action tomorrow, but which is a bit annoying, but if you got the ticket for go fest you do get enough energy to do one of one of the dogs, so I do have enough to do as action, but I probably want to get enough to do another one. (0:34:02) Kev: Sure. Well, I am glad that you’re enjoying it. (0:34:03) Al: Continuing to enjoy Pokemon go despite everything. (0:34:07) Kev: I don’t… (0:34:11) Kev: This, well, that’s kind of, uh, I mean, that’s just a blanket save these days. (0:34:20) Al: They keep trying to ruin the game, but I still somehow enjoy it. (0:34:24) Al: All right, let’s talk about some game use a woo. (0:34:31) Kev: Oh, wait, wait, back up. (0:34:32) Kev: I’m sorry, I just– (0:34:33) Kev: I don’t know why you just clicked something in my mind. (0:34:34) Kev: I forgot. (0:34:35) Kev: I want to follow up my Magic the Gathering thing. (0:34:39) Kev: So as I look, you know, I was dipping my toe in the MTG pool. (0:34:44) Kev: Guess what’s the next secret layer? (0:34:45) Al: I don’t know. (0:34:46) Kev: You know me. (0:34:48) Al: Ah, ah, ah, pressure, um, unicorn over the light! (0:34:53) Kev: Haha, oh, oh, that’d be so (0:34:54) Al: No, ah, no, um, let’s see, so Kevin, something Kevin would like. (0:34:59) Al: Well, it’s not going to be like anything Nintendo. (0:35:02) Kev: No, no it’s just very funny hearing that. (0:35:04) Al: Wait, is it? (0:35:06) Al: No. (0:35:08) Kev: I didn’t intend, I didn’t intend, life log Nintendo Pass. (0:35:09) Al: Well. (0:35:12) Kev: You don’t like Nintendo things, um, but it won’t, uh, MTG, I gotta say, it wouldn’t be (0:35:15) Al: I mean, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that’s the opposite of what I thought, Kevin. (0:35:19) Kev: in there. (0:35:20) Kev: Yeah, okay. (0:35:21) Kev: Yeah, okay, yes, yeah, I know what you’re saying, but the way it came in my ears, it’s (0:35:21) Al: What I thought was, oh yeah, it could be, you know, you like Nintendo stuff. (0:35:25) Al: And I was like, oh no, but they’re not going to do something with Nintendo. (0:35:27) Al: That was my point. (0:35:30) Kev: It’s not too funny. (0:35:31) Al: Trying to accuse me. (0:35:32) Al: Accuse me of not thinking you like Nintendo stuff. (0:35:34) Al: Ah, no, I’ve not got anything. (0:35:39) Al: Nothing’s coming. (0:35:40) Kev: Ow! The lowest hanging fruit! Gotta go fast! (0:35:44) Al: Oh, Sonic. (0:35:45) Al: What? They’re doing Sonic, Magic the Gathering? (0:35:47) Kev: They’re doing- okay. (0:35:49) Kev: Yeah! Dude, they already did SpongeBob! Who cares? (0:35:53) Al: What? This is what one out all these cards look so good. (0:35:54) Kev: Oh, you missed that! SpongeBob’s in magic! Oh, yeah! (0:36:02) Kev: Don’t they? (0:36:03) Al: Oh, no. Oh, no. (0:36:04) Kev: They look- that’s- that’s the exact reaction. (0:36:10) Al: I don’t want this. Well, no, I do want this. (0:36:14) Kev: And you- and- oh, my- like, Shadow- (0:36:15) Al: I managed to not even look at the Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings ones somehow. (0:36:18) Kev: Oh- oh, yeah. (0:36:20) Kev: Shadow looks busted. It’s insane. (0:36:24) Kev: They’re no big the cats, so point against them for that. No cream, either. (0:36:28) Kev: But overall, it’s- it’s in their- (0:36:31) Kev: Ugh, Sonic’s ability, ‘cause you know, when they have an ability, they have a little, like, name for it. (0:36:36) Kev: It- it’s literally “Gotta go fast.” (0:36:38) Kev: You know “Gotta go fast” isn’t even from the games. (0:36:40) Kev: It’s just from the, uh, the- the dub intro of an anime. [Laughter] (0:36:45) Al: Yeah, I’m not particularly surprised. (0:36:48) Kev: Oh, yeah, Sonic’s going to magic. (0:36:50) Kev: It’s- ugh. I don’t like it. I’m- I’m- I’m- oh, dear. I’m cooked, as the children would say. (0:36:58) Kev: You know, Unicorn Overlord, it- wild as it- it’s not in Magic the Gathering, but in- they have one of those- (0:37:04) Kev: What is it? I think it’s, like, the Overlord edition. You know, one of the big fancy collector’s editions. (0:37:08) Kev: There’s actually a whole (0:37:10) Kev: building card game inside that it’s wild (0:37:16) Kev: Yeah, card games are my vice. They’re my legal addiction. Sonic’s coming to magic (0:37:16) Al: And will this be coming and will this be coming to arenas? (0:37:28) Kev: uh good question I don’t know arena is very weird because arena has (0:37:39) Kev: arena is kind of its own environment it has exclusive arena cards it has its own formats (0:37:45) Kev: and i’ll tell you the the bad ones we’re getting a spider-man set in a few months (0:37:51) Kev: that the spider-man set cards are coming to arena but not with spider-man full (0:37:58) Kev: they’re going to replace them with whatever generic magic card characters or whatever (0:38:02) Al: What? What does that even mean then? (0:38:05) Kev: it means they didn’t get the license to use it digitally (0:38:07) Al: What would be the point in adding the cards then, if they’re not the cards? (0:38:11) Al: So they’re gonna have like the same effects, but not use any names for Spider-Man. (0:38:14) Kev: yeah yeah you you get yeah you get pied or arachnid avatar I don’t know (0:38:18) Al: That’s so stupid. (0:38:20) Al: Just don’t do it. (0:38:28) Kev: uh good old magic together I i joined just this year what a good time to get into this game (0:38:36) Al: Update, I have downloaded Magi the Gathering Eraser. (0:38:39) Kev: yeah oh we gotta play some games um all right let’s go to non sonic base oh or is there (0:38:44) Al: Yes, yeah, news, game news. No, no, no, no, there’s obviously not. Research story have (0:38:47) Kev: is there sonic base news maybe not yet one day it’s inevitable (0:38:56) Al: announced that their 1.0 is coming the 21st of July, so it has been a long time coming. (0:39:00) Kev: Okay (0:39:02) Al: Let’s see, when did this first come into Early Access? February 2023 was when this launched (0:39:04) Kev: Yes, oh wait research, so I don’t know I heard something else okay that that is exciting (0:39:11) Al: in early access. (0:39:12) Kev: Research work takes forever to ask Cody. That’s why the 1.0. It’s it’s forever (0:39:14) Al: So, maybe we need to get our second harvest on this after the 1.0 is out. (0:39:18) Kev: It’s the equivalent of getting their PhD congratulations research story (0:39:23) Kev: I’m sure Cody isn’t triggered by this at all (0:39:31) Kev: Okay, so wait we got let’s see what is the date on the oh July 21st there (0:39:38) Kev: It is but it’s available on the on a beta branch. That’s weird. What do you mean? (0:39:43) Kev: 1.0 will be available in beta before one point (0:39:45) Al: No, no, that’s so. So that’s before launch, you’ll be able to play the beta. (0:39:48) Kev: Yeah, I know that that’s very weird to me like (0:39:52) Al: Well, OK, I see what you mean. I see what you mean. I see what you mean. So (0:39:57) Al: it’s not actually that uncommon in software development where you go, this is our beta for (0:40:05) Al: 1.0 or 1.1 or whatever. That is not that uncommon, actually. I think it’s less common in games, (0:40:07) Kev: Sure. Yeah. Sure. And I mean, like, you know, public betas and test servers, (0:40:12) Al: But it’s definitely something that you see quite a lot. (0:40:18) Kev: like they’re common and I’m not saying it’s unheard of, but I don’t know. (0:40:21) Kev: It just feels weird, especially in game dev, like the 1.0 is the big fitting, right? (0:40:25) Kev: So, uh, I don’t know, but whatever, um, but hey. (0:40:28) Al: You still have to pop the game you can’t just play it’s not just anybody can play it like it’s public (0:40:33) Kev: Yeah. (0:40:34) Al: But public for people who have paid for the game, right? (0:40:37) Kev: That’s true. Good point. (0:40:40) Kev: All right. But hey, it’s here. (0:40:42) Al: Tiny garden the content the (0:40:45) Al: Featured game of last week’s episode have released a statement regarding the Nintendo switch version (0:40:52) Kev: I didn’t think I’d ever hear a statement from Tiny Garden. (0:40:56) Al: This is this is great. I’m just (0:40:58) Al: going to read some of the statement because I don’t think I can really (0:41:01) Al: summarize it better than they have done. “We wanted to clarify some questions (0:41:06) Al: that have arisen regarding the Nintendo Switch version of Tiny Garden. We have (0:41:09) Al: been vague and perhaps not communicated with you as well as we could have, for (0:41:14) Al: which we apologize. We did not want to cause you unnecessary concern or bore (0:41:18) Al: you with technical details. The truth is that the Switch version of Tiny Garden (0:41:23) Al: will be ported by an external company. As we are such a small team it was very (0:41:28) Al: hard for us to do everything in-house. The problem here is we’ve not yet found a (0:41:32) Al: company that can port the game with the polish and quality that we feel (0:41:35) Al: comfortable with. Both our publishers Super Rare Games and us want to deliver (0:41:40) Al: the best possible version of Tiny Garden on Switch. However, we did not (0:41:43) Al: anticipate that this porting would be so complicated.” Hey, I could have told you. (0:41:48) Al: We’ve seen this before. (0:41:50) Kev: What are you talking about? (0:41:52) Kev: It’s katrossi katronfi, it’s fuckies! (0:41:56) Al: And then they go into details about complaining. (0:41:58) Al: About their game engine and that’s the reason. (0:42:02) Al: Sure, fine. (0:42:05) Al: It’s funny because it’s like, oh no, we didn’t know it would be complicated to bring it to a (0:42:10) Al: console. Like what did you expect? Like these things are always complicated. (0:42:14) Kev: Well, yeah, I mean anything game dev is complicated pretty much anything dev software dev is always complicated (0:42:19) Al: Yeah, exactly. (0:42:21) Kev: Well, look here. Here’s your free advice tiny garden people call biting studio (0:42:27) Kev: Those are the guys who make cassette beasts that except beasts is on Godot. They brought it to switch (0:42:32) Kev: It’s awesome on switch. There you go (0:42:33) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s the thing. I suspect if you do it in Unity or Unreal, I suspect (0:42:42) Al: it is slightly easier because they are obviously like larger companies use them and so therefore (0:42:51) Kev: They’re established. (0:42:53) Al: need the console support to be as good as it can be, right? Because otherwise there (0:43:00) Al: There would be big problems because Godot is. (0:43:04) Al: open source and therefore more likely to be used by smaller teams, and they are less likely to be focusing on consoles at all more likely to be focusing on just PC because that is the easiest for. (0:43:18) Kev: Uh-huh (0:43:18) Al: I mean, it’s just the easiest to develop for full stop right because there’s no gatekeeper right like that has has been the case for a long, long time. (0:43:20) Kev: Yeah, I mean yes, yes, that’s correct (0:43:26) Kev: And probably will always be the case because just the nature of the beast so yeah (0:43:28) Al: Exactly. (0:43:29) Al: Exactly. (0:43:30) Al: Exactly. (0:43:31) Al: So there’s, they’re probably simplifying. (0:43:33) Al: Things in what they’re saying, you know, these things happen. (0:43:40) Al: I would like to clarify again, please, if you’re backing a game on Kickstarter, if you (0:43:47) Al: want it for console, don’t back it on Kickstarter, right? (0:43:50) Al: Like just, just like it’s the console is always like, it is when the Kickstarter happens normally, (0:43:59) Al: the way that it is happened is there is a working version of the game. (0:44:03) Al: It may not be final. (0:44:04) Al: It may not have all the content, but they have a game and it can run on PC. (0:44:08) Al: There will be nothing running on console at that point. (0:44:11) Al: And it’s very likely, unless they are a team that have ported to console before, it’s very (0:44:16) Al: likely that they have no idea what they’re doing with consoles at all, right? (0:44:20) Kev: Yep. (0:44:21) Al: And this, this isn’t meant to be harsh on them. (0:44:24) Al: This is just a fact that if you have, if you’re not a console developer, you do not know how (0:44:29) Al: complicated it is. (0:44:30) Al: I am not a games developer, right? (0:44:33) Al: I’m a web developer. (0:44:34) Al: And even in web development, there are things that if you don’t know how it works, it is (0:44:38) Al: so much more complicated than you realize. (0:44:42) Al: And there are just certain things that are more awkward. (0:44:45) Al: And if you haven’t started development on it, you don’t know how complicated it is. (0:44:49) Al: And it is likely not going to be done until the game is finished. (0:44:52) Al: That’s the other thing, right? (0:44:55) Al: Even Stardew Valley still doesn’t get updates out day and date on console, right? (0:45:00) Kev: Yeah. (0:45:01) Al: and stardew valley (0:45:03) Al: is one of the biggest indie games, full stop. (0:45:06) Kev: Yeah. (0:45:07) Al: It’s not like he’s only on his own anyway. He has a team that he works with, he worked with (0:45:12) Kev: Nice. (0:45:12) Al: porting companies before, he has done many different things, and even he can’t do it. (0:45:20) Al: It takes so much work, even big companies struggle with that. (0:45:26) Al: It is rare for a game to come out at the same time on PC and console unless you are one of (0:45:31) Al: of the biggest games and they will. (0:45:34) Al: Completely different teams working on the PC version, working on the switch version, working on the PlayStation version Xbox is different because they’re like the Microsoft of well, pretty much Microsoft have done so much work and I, you know, I’m the first to jump on Microsoft a bad bandwagon, but Microsoft have done so much work to make putting games to Xbox so incredibly easy it’s not. It’s still not just as simple as click a button. It does. (0:45:36) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:45:41) Kev: Yeah (0:45:44) Kev: They are a PC (0:46:03) Al: It does it, but it is so much easier than any other console. If you have an existing PC game, especially if you’re using the tools that Microsoft give to make the game on PC. (0:46:07) Kev: Sure. Yeah. Well, I mean, guess. Hi. Hey, I’m still holding out for mighty number nine (0:46:15) Al: All that being said, all that being said, never back a Kickstarter for a switch game. Just don’t do it, right? (0:46:25) Kev: on the 3DS. Uh, but. (0:46:31) Al: I have, I have, when I, when I bought my steam. (0:46:33) Al: Dick, it was so good because it meant that I could go through and like change (0:46:37) Al: all of my kickstarters to use to steam codes instead of switch get codes. (0:46:41) Kev: Mmm, yeah, at least (0:46:41) Al: And you get the game a year before, right? (0:46:44) Al: It’s just every, every, every single one is there’s none of them. (0:46:49) Al: Not a single game that I have backed on Kickstarter has released (0:46:53) Al: on switch at the same time as steam. (0:46:54) Kev: year you’re not wrong not at all ah well you know what though in this (0:47:03) Kev: particular case there’s an easy way to fix this you know what you don’t even (0:47:07) Kev: have to release on the switch tiny garden just so you know what we’re (0:47:11) Kev: canceling it we’re investing everything into the playdate port and we’re all in (0:47:12) Al: Honestly, a Playdate port would probably be quicker, because it would have to lose features, (0:47:17) Kev: we’re good all is forgiven (0:47:24) Al: right? It’s not going to be the same, the graphics are simpler, like honestly, if they started now (0:47:31) Al: from scratch, they could probably get a Playdate version out before they could port their version (0:47:34) Kev: Well, well there you go, Tiny Guard. The path is there. (0:47:34) Al: to Switch. I’m not joking. They would of course get a fraction of the sales, right? There are (0:47:42) Al: Playdates. Yes, it does. I love the Playdate, it’s so good. I just wish I played it more. (0:47:44) Kev: the dozens look I mean I might join the dozens I’ll say that (0:48:00) Kev: Yeah (0:48:05) Al: As far as I can see, the only number I’ve seen on Playdate sales was in May of last year, (0:48:10) Al: They said 70,000 have been sold (0:48:12) Al: But that was one year into it, and we’re now a year later, so who knows

December 14-20, 1991   This week Ken welcomes former preacher, home school all star and current comedian behind the new Blonde Medicine lp "Almost a Grown Man", Jeremy Alder. Ken and Jeremy discuss growing up religious, Hannibal Lecktor's cell in Manhunter, birthdays, being 12, growing up in Texas, having to sneak TV at grandparents and friends houses, TV Guide's excellent writing, parents vs teens views on Beverly Hills 90210, the genius of Jane Pratt, Car 54, Where Are You? and the awful movie, the early 90s boom of movies based on old TV shows, being totally traumatized by the Christian appocalyptic scare film A Theif in the Night, The Rabbit VCR multipier, not knowing who certain products are for, Christmas movies, It's a Wonderful Life, how Ken feels Frosty the Snowman is blasphemous, how Madonna was best gotten in touch with via TV Guide, In Living Color, America's Funniest People, National Geographic Explorer, Ken's ultimate fear of deep water animals, treasure hunting scams, Silk Stalkings, when it's "Too Hot to Sleep", the religious Madonna episode of MacGuyver, cults, A Place for Mom, creepy non-discript low rent ads, suckling pigs, how it's not what you're eating it's what's eating you, detention, Michael Jordan, fake names, Waco, Santa lap time, simple folk at Christmas, Unsolved Mysteries, attemps at diversity, Bob Hope, Strays, Doogie Howser, Tracy Ullman Show, Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, Top Cops, The Simpsons, Can't Buy Me Love, Ken's small handful of celebrity impressions, Youth Group "Slave Auctions" for charity, when Jamacians were the #1 villain in action cinema, Austin, square dancing, wearing a cowboy hat, Ken's quest for "The Best of the Worst" and how Beavis and Butthead will never die. 

Pedro Iniguez is a Mexican-American Bram Stoker, Elgin, and Rhysling Award-nominated horror and science-fiction writer from Los Angeles, California. He is the author of Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future, and Fever Dreams of a Parasite, among others. Forthcoming books include his SFF collection, Echoes and Embers: Speculative Stories, and his debut picture book, The Fib, which are slated for 2025 releases.This story originally appeared in Infinite Constellations, 2023.Narrated by: Mary MurphyMary is a New York based actor/voice-over artist. She loves the world of audio drama and is delighted to be back on board the StarShipSofa. She has performed in theatre, film, TV, animation, radio, and video games. A few of her recent credits include the one-woman play An Evening With Lola Montez, It's A Wonderful Life, a streamed performance of the piece Near Nellie Bly, Divination of The Three for Asheville Fringe, and the audio dramas Frontier Gentleman, Chinook, and Newfield. She can be heard voicing various characters for Disney, GoKidGo, LeapFrog, the Center For New American Media, Audible, and Audimance. She has also been a regular performer on the audio drama series Fireside Mystery Theatre, The NoSleep Podcast, The Wicked Library, To the Manor Borne By Robots, and Campfire Radio Theater. marymurphyonline.comFact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H SturgisSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today Rachel and Thaddeaus are back to talk about It's a Wonderful Life and both of the remakes/spinoffs Pick up Miss Nguyen's Bodyguard by Rainie Dang https://amzn.to/3Fy1gbz (ad) Get your Factor Meals today at 50% off factormeals.com/hallmarkies50 (ad) For our episode on the first ever Hallmark Christmas movies https://youtu.be/MyNPN7tDR70 Check out our 5th episode https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chrt.fm/track/74D657/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADV1302574941.mp3?updated=1679286663 Check out our 4th episode recapping classics https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chrt.fm/track/74D657/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADV9117199170.mp3?updated=1676766251 Check out our 2nd episode recapping classics https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADV9685730290.mp3?updated=1660930806 Check out our 3rd episode of classics https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADV6881786759.mp3?updated=1664159654 Check out our 1rst episode of classics https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADV5173965639.mp3?updated=1657402166 Our Christmas podcasts are at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4f2KtBPzUE&list=PLXv4sBF3mPUDo41tHqhkjHCvedmZwLzHx Follow us on ITunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hallmarkies-podcast/id1296728288?mt=2 https://twitter.com/HallmarkiesPod on twitter @HallmarkiesPodcast on Instagram HallmarkiesPodcast.com Get some of our great podcast merch https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hallmarkies?ref_id=8581 Please support the podcast on patreon at https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies Follow Rachel's blog at http://rachelsreviews.net Follow Rachel on twitter twitter.com/rachel_reviews Follow Rachel's Reviews on youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/rachelsreviews Follow Rachel on facebook www.facebook.com/smilingldsgirlreviews Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kenya Barris talks about his messy childhood, the do's and don'ts of the writer's room, laying low during covid, Larry David making Kenya take the leap to star in a show, raising kids better than our parents, running a writer's room is like conducting music, making podcasts with Malcolm Gladwell, being pals with Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy putting points on the board, the pleasure and importance of dressing well, and having people around you who can tell you, you suck. Bio: Kenya Barris is an award-winning writer, producer, director and actor, whose innovative approach to comedy has firmly cemented his place as one of Hollywood's great modern storytellers. Best known as the creator behind groundbreaking series like ABC sitcom black-ish and the Netflix original series #blackAF, Barris has built a career telling powerful stories that reflect our culture and fearlessly tackle an array of topics. Most recently, Barris executive produced Diarra From Detroit, a dark comedy about a divorcing schoolteacher who refuses to believe she's been ghosted by her rebound Tinder date; The Vince Staples Show, a scripted series loosely inspired by the life of multi-hyphenate musician Vince Staples; the final season of grown-ish; and produced The Underdoggs, an Amazon original sports comedy starring Snoop Dogg as a youth football team coach. In 2023, Barris and his production company, Khalabo Ink Society, received Emmy nominations for two of their projects: Entergalactic, a first-of-its-kind adult animated music project that featured new music from the Grammy Award-winning musician Kid Cudi and CIVIL, a documentary that offered an intimate portrait of groundbreaking civil rights attorney, Ben Crump. Barris also made his feature directorial debut with Netflix's hit comedy, You People, which he also produced and co-wrote. Barris and Khalabo have multiple high-profile projects in various stages of development. On the television side, projects include: sophomore seasons of Diarra From Detroit and The Vince Staples Show; The Book of Jose, a television series chronicling the life of rapper Fat Joe; Group Chat, a collaboration with Kim Kardashian, based on LaLa Anthony's best-selling book The Love Playbook; a limited series that will offer an intimate look into the life and legacy of the legendary comedian Richard Pryor. On the film side, Barris is developing projects such as: Get Lite starring Storm Reid and marking Teyana Taylor's feature directorial debut; a remake of It's A Wonderful Life; a documentary on the life and career of rapper Chief Keef; Yumanzu, a high concept family adventure movie; Girls Trip 2; and The Man Who Lives Underground. Additionally, Barris and Khalabo have a first-look deal with Audible and in 2023, launched their first podcast, DJ Drama Presents: Gangsta Grillz. Hosted and produced with legendary hip-hop producer, DJ Drama, the popular podcast featured conversations with notable artists such as Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne and more. In 2025, they also launched The Unusual Suspects hosted by Barris and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell. Barris and Gladwell engage in raw, unfiltered conversations with some of today's most influential figures and titans across a spectrum of professions, including Ava DuVernay, Dr. Dre, Jimmy Kimmel, Sue Bird, and more. 

Today we're bringing you an incredible episode from You Must Remember This about director Frank Capra. The director of It's a Wonderful Life, who won five Oscars in the 1930s for films that embodied the pre-World War II notion of American exceptionalism, was pushed into semi-retirement by the early 50s by changes in tastes and political priorities. Capra was brought back to the Hollywood director's chair by Frank Sinatra in the 1960s, but quickly became embittered by an industry that he felt had left him behind, and in 1971 published an autobiography airing grievances about an industry that he believed was “stooping to cheap salacious pornography in a crazy bastardization of a great art to compete for the 'patronage' of deviates and masturbators.” To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices