The Occasionalists Podcast

2008: The Outsiders - Protest Appropriation

Our next episode of The Outsiders finds us examining how the tools of digital activism and online protest were co-opted by the oppressors and turned against The Outsiders in just a few years.
And how in less than a generation, the idea of digital activism has fundamentally changed for the worse.
But it's not all bad, right?! Right?
*insert Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker meme here*

2008: The Outsiders - The Mirror Twins

Our first political minisode of 2008, The Mirror Twins, is here!
Surely there's nothing that Barack Obama and his public nemesis, Donald Trump, share in common. Right!
Right?!
*Insert Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker meme here*

2008: The Year of Firsts and Lasts

The March of Minisodes is upon us, and so is a brand new year! This time, we are tackling the latest year of our challenge, 2008. 
For many of us older folks, 2008 feels like only yesterday. Yet, despite that sense of recency, it was a year of pivotal beginnings and endings—many of which flew under the radar at the time.
Pause that special edition VHS and have a listen to The Year of Firsts and Lasts.

From The Balcony: February 27th 2070

As it turns out, the physics-defying Einstein-Rosen Bridge in my apartment receives multiple frequencies from across different times. This one is from exactly 44 years in the future, believe it or not!
So, without further ado, I present a Chicago-based movie review show featuring two aging Gen Alpha culture critics: From The Balcony.
 

1991: Enemies of the State

We close out our 1991 coverage by examining the most dangerous weapon ever unleashed on the American public: RAP MUSIC. That's right — not the threat of nuclear war, not the crack epidemic, not even a backmasked Judas Priest record begging every child to join their local Satanic Church — Rap.
Thanks to the tireless moral guardians at the Parents Music Resource Center, we now know that 2 Live Crew, NWA, Public Enemy, and Ice-T were single-handedly responsible for the complete collapse of Western civilization.
So join us for a look at the world before these men destroyed it forever. Somehow, improbably, we survived.

1991: The Hollywood Parallel

Our next 1991 pop culture episode is live. This week, we're looking at how cinema diverged sharply from its past — and discuss whether or not that divergence still holds today.
We're highlighting three movies from 1991 that show how studios and filmmakers were positioning their movies along three distinct tracks, and give the hallmarks for each:
The Silence of the Lambs (Prestige Cinema)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Modern Blockbuster)
Slacker (Indie Film Takeover)
 

1991: Death to the 80s

Our first episode of February finds us navigating a big year for pop culture, 1991.
We kick off our coverage of this critical numerical palindrome with a look at how the dedicated fans of underreported music genres and proper data collection radically changed the musical identity of an entire decade.
Plus, we talk about how to make your music more mechanical and why it's super chic to rebel against your parents.
Dust off those flannels, we're going back to 1991!
 

OCC Headline News: January 30th 2046

In one of the more interesting developments on this podcast, we accidentally found a direct signal from the future. It's only tuned into this one news broadcast, but it seems like a valuable resource we're definitely going to tap every month.
Here's the first dispatch we received from 20 years in the future.