The Occasionalists Podcast

The Occasionalists Book Club Month: This Is How You Lose The Time War

Did you know that we here at The Occasionalists can read? Surprise! We can!
We like reading so much we are dedicating two robust episodes to the fabulous sci-fi romance novella from 2019, This Is How You Lose The Time War.  
An epistolary novel by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, This Is How You Lose The Time War tells the story of two time-traveling assassins attempting to win an unending war and falling in love over the centuries via hidden messages. 
That summary does this book no justice but hopefully our episode will.
Follow us upthread, will you?

The Lost Tapes Vol. 2: Music Appreciation Redux

Part two of our lost music discussion is now live. 
We round out this conversation by delving into movie soundtracks and scores, our favorite musical subgenres and of course...we make a badass lifting playlist.
Press play, suckas!

The Lost Tapes Vol. 1: Music Appreciation Redux

Way back in April, we recorded two episodes showing our appreciation for pop culture that we really liked. The first episode was on Raised By Wolves (RIP) and it went over very well. We even got some dap from some of the stars of the show.
The second episode was a deep exploration of music and parts of the music industry. Because of unforeseen technical difficulties, the recording was fucked. A two hour plus discussion went down the drain.
So we are back with another crack at our music episode, appropriately titled, Music Appreciation Redux. This time, we managed to not fuck anything up and got a tremendous two-part episode out of the discussion. 
Appreciation April rolls on into June!
 

B Movie Double Feature 2

We wrap up Movie May with our second double feature, covering the 1951 superhero movie Superman And The Mole Men and a Lovecraftian horror-comedy from 1991, Cast A Deadly Spell. This was a great look back at the progenitor of the superhero movie and a delight to revisit Fred Ward in a cooky, HBO movie with an absolutely stacked cast.
Fun fact: At 58 minutes in length, Superman And The Mole Men is less than 1/3 the length of Avengers: Endgame and just as much fun.
Another fun fact: Fred Ward never gave a bad performance. RIP Fred!

B Movie Double Feature

We are pumped to get into the thick of B Movie May with a double feature episode.
We start with the 1954 Roger Corman carsploitation film The Fast And The Furious! While there is nary a Corona or a family barbecue in sight, there is plenty of racing, dames and crashing!
Christopher Nolan's 1998, micro budget debut film Following caps off our viewing and somehow, despite growing his budgets from $6,000 to $200 million per film, it's still the same old Nolan!
Check em out!

B Movie May Part 2

We conclude our history lesson with the definitive eras of the B Movie (1960s-80s) and what lead to their decline in pop culture. 
We also talk about what this portion of the industry has morphed into today and hit on some movies that are erroneously called B Movies. 

B Movie May Part 1

We are back (with a fully functional recording this time) to kick off a new month on The Occasionalists. It's May, so you know what that means...Justin Timberlake memes! No!
It's Movie May! Every month of May we take a deep dive into a specific branch of the film industry. Last year, we held our own short film festival and this year we are taking on a long time staple in the American film industry: the B Movie.
For the first part of this double feature, we start from the origins of the B Movie in the Depression and work our way through the oaters of the 1940s and 1950s.
Strap in, baby. In the year 2022, podcasting is no longer a felony. It's the national sport!

Appreciation April: Raised By Wolves

A new month means a new theme here at The Occasionalists. We are now into Appreciation April!
This month we will be taking a closer, detailed look at things in pop culture that we are really into.
First up this month, the HBO Max series Raised By Wolves. We take a long look at the themes, metaphors, production and performances from one the best and most unique pieces of sci fi entertainment to come around in a long time.
But first, how about a joke?
An android, a serpent and an atheist walk into a bar...