Unusual Minds Unusual Minds

This episode I talk with documentary film maker Joe O'Connell. 

Dr. Steven Metz is Professor of National Security and Strategy in the Department of National Security and Strategy and Senior Research Professor, Geostrategic Affairs. From 1993 to 2020, Dr. Metz was in the USAWC Strategic Studies Institute serving as Director of Research; Henry L. Stimson Professor of Military Studies; Chairman of the Regional Strategy Department; Research Director for the Joint Strategic Landpower Task Force; Director of the Future of American Strategy Project; Project Director for the Army Iraq Stabilization Strategic Assessment; Director of the Strategic Studies Institute and Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Future Landpower Environment Project; and Co-Organizer (along with former Deputy Secretary of Defense John White and former Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch) of the Harvard-U.S. Army War College Symposia on Security Transformation. Dr. Metz has also been on the faculty of the Air War College, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and several universities. He has been an advisor to political campaigns; testified in both houses of Congress; and spoken on military and security issues around the world. He served on the blue ribbon advisory panel for the Secretary of Defense Strategic Portfolio Review for Close Combat Capabilities; the RAND Insurgency Board; the Board of Advisors for the U.S. Army history of Operation Iraqi Freedom; the Senior Advisory Panel on Special Forces—Conventional Forces Interdependence; the Atlantic Council’s Defense Austerity Task Force; the Central Intelligence Agency’s External Advisory Panel for the Iraq Working Group; the Board of Advisers for the American Enterprise Institute’s Defense Review; the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Defense Reform For a New Era Task Force; and the Lexington Institute’s Grading Government Performance on Homeland Security Task Force. He has also been an Adjunct Scholar at the U.S. Military Academy’s Modern War Institute. Dr. Metz is the author of Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy (2008) and several hundred articles, essays, monographs, reports, and book chapters. His research has taken him to 32 countries, including Iraq immediately after the collapse of the Hussein regime He holds a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University, and an MA and BA from the University of South Carolina.

On this episode of the show we have Taylor Morden, documentary filmmaker and producer. he has directed a wide range of short films as well as the documentaries , Pick It Up! - Ska in the 90s, Here's to Life: The Story of The Refreshments Project 88, back to the future part too and his recent the Netflix release The Last Blockbuster, now on netflix. 

Robert Bruce is a pop culturalist and producer of the Kevin Smith's Comicbook Men on AMC.  

On this episode I talk to legendary comic artist Bob Mcleod. 

Today on the show I am honored to have Paul Hirsch, academy award winning editor that has edited over 40 films, including "Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back";  Ferris Buller’s Day off, Mission Impossible and Ray. He has worked with titans of the industry including George Lucas, Brian De Palma, Herbert Ross, John Hughes, and for Joel Schumacher. He is also the author of a memoir titled "A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away." Paul thank you so much for coming on the show.