Budapest Unscripted: An Audio Documentary

Chip Warren
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Personal Journals
  • Updated Weekly

Painfully honest stories, reflections, and mishaps that chronicle a writer's life reinvented in Budapest. chipwarren.substack.com

  1. 8h ago

    E17: ESSAY October in Budapest

    Back in Budapest after Ukraine and a summer stateside sorting out the visa. The novel is on page 290, the Bullet documentary is in preproduction, and there's a pile of un-shared media becoming digital crud. Ambient sound recorded at a bar called Zsír — Hungarian for lard. A photo dispatch from October.

    7 min

  2. Jun 25

    E16: One Year In (Day 365)

    A year ago today Chip boarded a plane to Budapest. Today he's under a blanket with a cold, watching the rain, thinking about what expatriation actually feels like — the absence of depth, the vertigo of starting over, and why challenge accentuates everything. Also: Greek temple friezes were painted in garish colors. He can't help himself.

    14 min
  3. E15: AI and the App (Day 364)

    Jun 19

    E15: AI and the App (Day 364)

    On Saturday morning Chip woke up wanting a better Hungarian flashcard app and, knowing nothing about coding, decided to build one with ChatGPT. By Sunday night it existed. What followed was a gray foggy Tuesday meditation on AI — what it's genuinely good for, what the hand-wringing gets wrong, and a Ben Affleck video worth looking up. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com

    25 min
  4. E14: Bullet and the Dream (Day 360)

    Jun 12

    E14: Bullet and the Dream (Day 360)

    Day 360 opens with a dream — a blurred Hungarian in a rabbit mask who appropriated all the furniture for mailbox-related reasons. Then the actual news: a green light to move into development on the Bullet documentary. Who is Bullet? Chip tells you. Also: the human rights film festival, a week of double duty with a camera, and why he missed a few recording days. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com

    16 min
  5. E13 Another Note About Nostalgia (Day 356)

    Jun 5

    E13 Another Note About Nostalgia (Day 356)

    Day 356, continued. Thirty years into a daily writing journal, something unexpected happens when you play back your own voice instead of reading your own words. A coffee malfunction, a film festival at 9 PM, and a case for feeling nostalgic for today — right now — before it becomes the past. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com

    7 min
  6. E12 - Autumn and the Curse (Day 356)

    May 29

    E12 - Autumn and the Curse (Day 356)

    Day 356. Watching the courtyard trees go bare and thinking about autumn in Appalachian Virginia — and whether the version in memory is any truer than the one outside the window. An honest look at the resistance that follows a creative through every project, every season, every country. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com

    9 min
  7. E11: Obama's Almonds (Day 353)

    May 22

    E11: Obama's Almonds (Day 353)

    Day 353. Making a smoothie at 9:47 AM on the morning after Trump's reelection. A digression about Barack Obama's precise almond discipline leads somewhere unexpected — into what it means to stay sane when the news machine runs on your anxiety. Strange times in Budapest, November 8, 2024. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com

    17 min
  8. E10 From Kyiv: The Proximity Effect

    May 15

    E10 From Kyiv: The Proximity Effect

    Chip spends three weeks in Kyiv during the war and discovers that fear has a proximity effect — the closer you get, the less terrifying it becomes. Air raid alerts, Telegram threat assessment, a 5am walk to an empty shelter. And a man foraging on a prosthetic leg who refused to let the Russians take the forest from him. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit budapestunscripted.substack.com

    15 min
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Painfully honest stories, reflections, and mishaps that chronicle a writer's life reinvented in Budapest. chipwarren.substack.com

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