The Occasionalists Podcast

 
It's 1993 folks. UB40 and Haddaway are tearing up the charts, Jurassic Park was dominating the box office and I was a fat kid. Well, fatter kid. 
Also, Emilio Estevez, Denis Leary, Cuba Gooding Jr, Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff were all in the same damn movie. What would a movie with this cast look like now? 
Some kind of nightmarish, drug-fueled rendition of Wild Hogs or Grown Ups, no doubt. So instead of walking down that road, let's focus on their cult classic(?) Judgment Night.
Estevez was already an established star in Hollywood, Piven was an up-and-coming talent though it was still a full decade before he really splashed on Entourage. We were still 3 years away from Cuba being shown the money and an Oscar, Dorff was only 20 years old and at the beginning of a long and rather confusing career. Leary had just controversially topped friend-turned-rival Bill Hicks in the comedy world and was on his way to stardom and a long, still thriving career. 
This sort of breeding ground for a handful of unquestionably successful Hollywood careers, combined with the distinct action, atmosphere, direction and one of the more unique soundtracks in movie history make Judgment Night a perfect subject for our latest Cinema Dissection.

It's that time of year folks! Pumpkin spice lattes are back, football is in full swing and most importantly: the big networks are unleashing a torrent of new and returning shows. 
It's fall, baby!
Chemma and I breakdown a few of the shows we're dying to see, talk about the void Game of Thrones has left this past year and the void it will surely leave once it has ended, and discuss how the streaming services fit into the scheme of "regularly scheduled programming."
What shows are you looking forward to? Let us know!

Football is back baby! So are the feelings of anxiousness, apathy, anger, nausea and confusion that comes with being a Browns fan.
But is this year actually different? Are we no longer deluding ourselves by thinking that the team looks like a competent, professional team? 
How does this past season of Hard Knocks affect how someone might view the Browns?
We answer all this and make some predictions for what should be an interesting season. 

1/3 of our life is spent asleep but what do you really know about it? How it evolved? The everyday impact on society? Despite it being one of life's necessities, sleeping still tiptoes the margins of the unknown.
We also delve into dreaming, the root causes of it and how they might affect our daily lives. As a topper, we talk about some of our own personal dreams and what we think they might mean and why they're so important to us.
 

What's life without a little adventure?
Whether you're exploring new worlds, trying new foods or exploring your own limits, we all have a little spark of what created the modern world: the adventurous spirit. Without this one flicker of desire, perhaps humanity never flourishes, perhaps humanity never survives.
Come along with us as we discuss various aspects of adventure in history, pop culture and within our own lives.

We kick off this week's episode with some big news from the Chem Dog and what that means for the show going forward.
We dive into another Cinema Dissection but this episode is done with a twist: we're both boozing our tails off while we attempt to sound coherent in a discussion about the genius of RoboCop. 
Paul Verhoeven's dystopian scifi classic is more than just an action movie; it's loaded with social commentary and satirizes everything from the corporate workplace to the 24-hour news cycle. 
This is quite possibly another "perfect movie."

In the second part of the episode we discuss how the wars have not yet touched movies in a menaingful way but there are plans in motion from various streaming outlets to make a big impact in the film industry.
We also briefly discuss what the emergence of streaming entertainment has done to us, positively and negatively, on a personal level.

The streaming media wars are underway! Which side are you picking?
Can you afford it? Can you afford not to? What happens to the neutral parties in what is a battle that is only going to heat up?
We have some answers for you as well as some theories on what will come next to reshape the streaming television landscape.