Cosmic Blair Network

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Stories for Kids

Stories for Kids

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Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated 06/06/2022

08/30/2021

I, Tonya (2017) - America Wants a Woman to Hate

It was the tabloid story to rule them all - Tonya Harding involved in a plot to break Nancy Kerrigan’s leg. Trashy, over-the-top, and full of easy stereotypes, it neatly split the difference between the checkout aisle and late night comedy. But there’s a human toll to every juicy story - and in the US, that toll is often exacted disproportionately on women. I, Tonya (2017) attempts to complicate your understanding of a story you think you already know - but probably don’t. But more than that, it lays at your feet and mine the threads of misogyny and classism that run through so much of our culture. I, Tonya is a 2017 American biographical sports black comedy film directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Steven Rogers. It follows the life of figure skater Tonya Harding and her connection to the 1994 attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan. The film states that it is based on "contradictory" and "true" interviews with Harding and her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, suggesting they are unreliable narrators. (via Wikipedia.) *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

08/30/2021

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1h 14m
10/25/2021

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) - Feminist Allegory or Patriarchal Fairy Tale?

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) is a movie with baggage - a Rorschach test of a film that is really hard to reckon with even fifty years after its release. In one light, it’s a genius body horror film that uses Satanism as a powerful metaphor to depict the nightmare that is women’s sexuality and reproductive health in the United States. On the other hand, it is the work of none other than Roman Polanski, a man who remains a fugitive from justice, fleeing charges of sexual assault against a minor. How do we reconcile the undeniably influential legacy of this film with the reprehensible actions of its creator? Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, and starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Angela Dorian, Clay Tanner, and, in his feature film debut, Charles Grodin. The film follows a young, pregnant wife in Manhattan who comes to suspect that her elderly neighbors are members of a Satanic cult, and are grooming her in order to use her baby for their rituals. (via Wikipedia.) *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

10/25/2021

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1h 30m
11/29/2021

Slacker (1990) - I may live badly, but at least I don't have to work to do it.

What is the rational response to a system that seems to make a virtue out of its expense and futility? Richard Linklater’s masterpiece Slacker begs the question - in the face of the unbending, unelectable absurdity of the world, who’s crazier? Those who participate or those who withdraw in disgust from the status quo? Slacker (1990) follows a single day in the life of an ensemble of mostly under-30 bohemians and misfits in Austin, Texas. The film follows various eccentric and misfit characters and scenes, never staying with one character or conversation for more than a few minutes before picking up someone else in the scene and following them. (via Wikipedia.) *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

11/29/2021

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1h 14m
07/12/2021

The Running Man (1987) - Come See the Violence Inherent in the System

The Running Man (1987) has been a staple of basic cable and Saturday afternoon broadcasts for more than a generation now. Initially misunderstood and unfairly dismissed as a dumb B-movie detour on the otherwise accelerating trajectory of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action movie career, the film cuts deeply. It is a scathing critique of the violence inherent in the U.S. justice system - and the stories we tell ourselves as we rationalize that violence in the name of maintaining an often inequitable status quo. The Running Man is a 1987 American dystopian action film directed by Paul Michael Glaser and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, and Jesse Ventura. It is very loosely based on the 1982 novel of the same title written by Stephen King. Set in a dystopian United States, the film is about a television show called The Running Man, where convicted criminal "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers. (via Wikipedia.) *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

07/12/2021

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1h 18m
12/13/2021

Scrooged (1988) - We are the people that we always hoped we would be.

It’s Christmas in December - and what better way to celebrate than by dissecting Scrooged, one of the most biting takes ever on the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Full of stunning visual effects and strong performance from Bill Murray, Scrooged updates this story of a self-centered miser for the age of mass media. Scrooged is a 1988 American Christmas fantasy comedy directed by Richard Donner and written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue. The film follows Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a cynical and selfish television executive, who is visited by a succession of ghosts on Christmas Eve intent on helping him regain his Christmas spirit. The film also stars Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, Robert Mitchum, Michael J. Pollard, and Alfre Woodard. (via Wikipedia.) *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

12/13/2021

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1h 11m
07/05/2021

Space Jam (1996) - A History of Black Entertainment in America

Space Jam (1996) is set for a big sequel this year - expectations and nostalgia are running extraordinarily high for a movie that never claimed to be much more than a 90 minute adaptation of a Nike commercial from 1992. And yet, Space Jam IS so much more than that! In this episode of the podcast, Phil and Tom walk you through the ways in which the film serves as an inadvertent Cliff’s Notes on the Blackness of American entertainment - and exploitation that has gone hand-in-hand with that almost since the beginning. Space Jam is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka and starring basketball player Michael Jordan. The film presents a fictionalized account of what happened between Jordan's initial retirement from the NBA in 1993 and his 1995 comeback, in which he is enlisted by the Looney Tunes to help them win a basketball match against a group of aliens who intend to enslave them as attractions for their theme park. (via Wikipedia) *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

07/05/2021

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1h 21m
09/07/2021

Parasite (2019) - Money is an Iron

In observance of Labor Day (a bourgeois holiday ever there was one - look it up!) we're covering Bong Joon-ho's 2019 black comedy masterpiece Parasite. The film is a bracing look at late stage, unrestrained capitalism - a portrait of a system whose very object is to extract the maximum value from its every participant. Parasite follows a poor family who scheme to become employed by a wealthy family and infiltrate their household by posing as unrelated, highly qualified individuals. And it begs the question - who is taking advantage of whom? (via Wikipedia.) *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

09/07/2021

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1h 36m
02/22/2021

Robocop (1987) - We Are All Robocop

Robocop has all the trappings of a big. dumb, hyperviolent action movie, but it’s so much more than that. The film lampoons a society that prizes low taxes, corporate profit, and harsh "justice" over taking care of each other... Sound like any country you know? Hosts Phil and Tom look for a glimmer of hope in this bleak satire of Reagan’s American Dream. *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

02/22/2021

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1h 4m
11/22/2021

Singles (1992) - The Grunge Generation

Cameron Crowe’s Singles (1992) is a smart twist on the rom-com formula set in grunge-era Seattle. It’s ground zero for so much of what followed in the 90s, setting the stage for everything from grunge to Friends. While the idea of the “slacker” has its roots in Generation X, very few of these 20 somethings - pursuing their dreams, working to make their community a better place - fit the mold. Singles is a 1992 American romantic comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe, and starring Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, and Matt Dillon. It features appearances from Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Mark Arm, and many more musicians prominent in the early 1990s grunge movement in Seattle.… (via Wikipedia.) *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

11/22/2021

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1h 9m
02/09/2021

Alien (1979) - In Space, No One Can Hear Your Ennui

In this episode, we journey into the depths of space - and the depths of the human condition - as seen in the 1979 classic Alien. Does this film portray a triumph of gender equality, or the supremacy of HR in managing workplace interactions? Is it an extended pro-choice allegory, or a riff on the way that our jobs completely subsume our personal identities? In space, no one can hear your existential ennui! *** Support the show on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/join/cosmicblair) Visit us at Cosmic Blair Network for more podcasts like this! (https://cosmicblair.com)

02/09/2021

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1h 6m

Cosmic Blair is a network of podcasts for pop culture lovers, sensitive souls, and social burnouts.

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Cosmic Blair Network

Top Shows

I, Tonya (2017) - America Wants a Woman to Hate

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) - Feminist Allegory or Patriarchal Fairy Tale?

Slacker (1990) - I may live badly, but at least I don't have to work to do it.

The Running Man (1987) - Come See the Violence Inherent in the System

Scrooged (1988) - We are the people that we always hoped we would be.

Space Jam (1996) - A History of Black Entertainment in America

Parasite (2019) - Money is an Iron

Robocop (1987) - We Are All Robocop

Singles (1992) - The Grunge Generation

Alien (1979) - In Space, No One Can Hear Your Ennui

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