The Occasionalists Podcast
Examining the human condition. Sometimes. Mostly jawing about pop culture and other nerdy pursuits.
Episodes
We are in the hot, sweaty dog days of summer, folks. Which means it's a new month and a new year.
For August, we are taking things back to 1985! A pivotal year in the middle of a bunch of really important years for both pop culture and the world at large. Which means, we kind of miss out on some major events and critical pieces of art.
But that means we get to freestyle a little bit this whole month. Hooray!
First up, a look ...
Since you asked for it no one at all asked for this here's the Silas Crane cut of OCC Headline News for July 31 2100.
Amazing that I was able to clear up the signal!
We've once again found a frequency emanating from deep inside the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. There's some temporal jumbling happening, but this signal is the farthest in the future we've been able to intercept thus far.
Wait, this is actually two separate signals, but they are riding into our space-time together all the way from the year 2100!
Spoiler alert: Sounds great! OR IS IT?!
We wrap up this month's episodes covering the events of 1999 with a look at two of the most impactful, world-changing events of the last millennium: The Battle in Seattle (WTO Ministerial Conference) and the Columbine High School Shooting.
One forever changed our economies and dealt a blow to domestic labor and the environment and the other fundamentally shook every American to their core in a way no one ever fully recovered from.
Our second 1999 episode takes a wide look at the movies and musical acts dominating their respective charts, how consumer and studio habits have changed the movie landscape, and why certain musicians are just so indescribably "millennial."
Was it a hoax? A fear-mongering tactic? A crisis that was carefully averted? A little bit of all of the above?
One thing is for sure, though: Y2K was THE hot topic of 1999.
July is here, which means hot dogs, fireworks, swimming, and a new theme month!
It's 1999 all month long on the podcast, and what better way to introduce some of the big things we're going to be talking about than with some pop culture trivia?!
Is that your final answer?
An oddity sprang up today, as if having an Einstein-Rosen Bridge in your house wasn't enough of an oddity, but we received our first broadcast signal from the past.
This is a very exciting development in the short existence of this seemingly one-way street of communication. More puzzling is that it seems to be a combination of two distinct signals from different times in the past.
It's getting weird around here!
Our final episode of 1959 takes us to Moscow to fight the Soviets on unusual turf: the kitchen!
While scientific and medical leaps defined the Space Race and the broader Cold War, the geopolitical and ideological struggle had a tangible impact on the American household. Rapid advancements in consumer technology and everyday goods dramatically elevated the domestic standard of living, placing the US miles ahead of the Soviet Union.
...
The next episode in The Gateway to Tomorrow series has us rediscovering the incredible medical breakthroughs of 1959 that changed disease treatment for millions worldwide.
We also look at how stigma and shame around diseases perpetuate the barbaric treatment of the most vulnerable in society.
Our first full topic episode of the month takes us back to when the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union really kicked into high gear.
By 1959, the Soviet Union held a massive technological lead in the Space Race.
Driven by intense Cold War geopolitics, the United States and its newly formed space agency, NASA, went all-in on a singular, daring goal: beat the Soviets to the Moon.
As America stood on the precipi...
It's June, and you know what that means....new month, new year!
We are stepping into the WAAAYback Machine to take a look at the year 1959. The earliest possible year for this year's parameters and very likely, one of the farthest looks back ever on this podcast.
This whole month, we will be focusing on the pivotal scientific advancements from this year that touched the lives of everyone on Earth and set the world hurtling toward a...
Once again, the spatial anomaly in my house has delivered, albeit later than usual, a radio signal from the future.
We are checking back in with the movie review tandem of Brayson Lee and King Garcia Sato Jr. and their long-running movie review show, From The Balcony.
This time, they are tackling some legacy sequels, including a new Star Wars installment.
Shocking, I know!
Our final episode for this double-feature Movie May special takes us back into one of my favorite comedy subgenres: the spoof!
Yeah baby! We are looking at the movie that reinvented what movie spoofs would look like for the next 3+ decades with the ZAZ classic, Airplane!
Then we are off to posh, 1930s England to view a send-up of British period pieces, Fackham Hall.
Will Airplane! Hold up to another rewatch? Will Fackham Hall charm...
Our next double feature for Movie May finds us tackling a horror movie that feels decades ahead of its time and its sequel that somehow manages to balance a whole bunch of stylistic spinning plates.
First, we hammer down on The Shining. The movie that beat the "Trauma = Horror" trend by about 30 years and remains a polarizing film for fans and critics alike.
Then we take on The Shining's lega-sequel, set nearly 40 years after...
Our first review of Movie May is now live!
We tackle the "Dark Blockbuster" with a look at the second installment of the Star Wars franchise, The Empire Strikes Back. Somewhat controversial in its own time, it set the standard for how to create a blockbuster that was downbeat and saw our heroes lose and lose big.
Much more controversial in more recent times is its franchise mirror, The Last Jedi. A purposeful upending of some...
New month! You know what that means...new theme and a new year to cover!
For Movie May, we are jumping into the blockbuster films of 1980. A truly great year for film.
HOWEVA — We need to make a detour through the late 1970s to see exactly how films, marketing, technology, and even the business model changed in just a few short years.
Once again, we are using the spatial anomaly that has taken up residence in my house to explore the future. This time, we are getting what appears to be a series of previews for the Summer slate of programming on the newly formed mega-network, SkyMount Universal on Verscovery Bros+.
We are getting a rare glimpse at a new Yellowstone spinoff, and it looks like a grittier reboot of Star Trek.
How exciting! Let's see what this media c...
Our final TV in 73 episode for Boob Tube April finds us doing a mini-review for the gritty, visceral, macho cop show, Police Story.
Abandoning escapist storylines for something more real and borderline cynical, Police Story broke new ground in the early 1970s with a true-to-life approach to the criminals and cops that make up the Los Angeles crime world.
There are few happy endings in Joseph Wambaugh's vision of policing in LA.
Let...
Boob Tube April rolls on!
Our next episode of TV in 73 explores how the shift from escapist, light-hearted entertainment changed drastically over a few years. It was perhaps best exemplified by the massive popularity of the Watergate Hearings, where the American people watched in droves and in real time as all goodwill between them and the institutions they had come to trust evaporated over 47 days.
Plus, bonus coverage of one of t...
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