The Pink Smoke podcast

“We’re tigers, the three of us, but who the hell are we to make decisions for the world just because we’re compulsive?” For this special international episode, we’re joined by Nicolás Virviescas and Daniel Castro, founders of the Colombian online film criticism portal Filmigrana. Our guests selected Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination to discuss for the occasion, the story of a stranded astronaut whose only motivation for survival is revenge. The book, a favorite of filmmaker John Carpenter, recalls the work of William Gibson, Stephen King, J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick and Warren Ellis - despite being written in 1956 before any of those artists came to prominence. Join us for this NYC to Bogota transmission of our thoughts on the book’s sci-fi satire, violence, betrayal and metaphysics - it’s William Blake meets psycho-surgery, The Count of Monte Cristo & corporate espionage in Bester’s cult classic. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Filmigrana site: https://filmigrana.com/ The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Nicolás Virviescas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/valticam The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

Host John Cribbs is joined by Emmy-winning editor/producer & longtime Pink Smoke contributor Eric Pfriender to discuss the soundtrack work of Tangerine Dream, the experimental music conglomeration best known for their scores for films like Risky Business, Sorcerer, Thief and Near Dark. Inspired by the recent re-release of Sorcerer’s soundtrack (featuring cover art by the great Tony Stella!), this is an in-depth exploration of pulsating electronic psychedelia that feels like a chase scene leading straight into despair. Way more Ghost Dad talk than you were expecting, guaranteed. The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/CFunderburg Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg are joined by filmmaker, podcaster & critic Martin Kessler to discuss his new book, Maya Non Grata. An exploration of Apocalyto’s bizarre relationship to history, historicism and art, Kessler’s authorial debut is available for only $2 via our Patreon: patreon.com/posts/44478461 The group discusses this a deeply strange Hollywood action flick set at the dawn of European conquest of the Yucatan peninsula, a vanity project by disreputable actor-turned-director Mel Gibson. Maya Non Grata is Martin Kessler's engaging, meticulously researched odyssey into the controversies surrounding Gibson's representation of historic Mesoamerica, diving deep into the film's idiosyncratic approach to period drama and addressing the charges of inaccuracy leveled at its depiction of a nearly-vanquished culture. Kessler takes an inquisitive approach to Apocalypto's peculiar relationship to the spotty historical record concerning the post-Classic Maya, attempting to unravel the elusive historical truth and exploring the film's frequent whimsical reliance on the idea that "there's no reason this couldn't have happened." In 138 captivating pages, the author examines his own relationship to the movie - Kessler's deeply personal, colloquial, unpredictable book considers the question, "What does art owe to history?" The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter: 
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Martin Kessler on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MovieKessler Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

“There wasn’t a word for the way he felt about Melinda, for that combination of loathing and devotion.” Hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg discuss Patricia Highsmith’s 1957 novel, Deep Water, a cruel and curious marital thriller about a shamelessly philandering housewife and the seemingly meek husband who not only puts up with her affairs but invites her paramours into their home. Highsmith’s 5th novel might be her masterpiece; the writing combines the author’s cutting psychological insights with a slow-burning plot organized around capricious lies and equally capricious murders. It’s the story of slugs, a small press specializing in poetry, and when an unwillingness to address domestic strife becomes a kind of dangerous psychosis. The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

Hosts John Cribbs and Christopher Funderburg turn their attention to one of the most mysterious films from the golden age of Jean Renoir’s filmmaking career: 1932’s La Nuit du Carrefour. Despite being championed by André Bazin and described by Jean-Luc Godard as “the only great French detective film,” this film remains possibly the most obscure work produced by Renoir in the 1930’s. Adapted from a book by the punishingly prolific Belgian crime novelist Georges Simenon, the film serves as the first cinematic depiction of the author’s wildly popular Inspector Maigret - a character who appeared in 75 novels and 28 short stories in addition to innumerable films and tv adaptations. The conversation considers the strange place of the film in Renoir’s body of work, the synergy of Simenon and Renoir’s artistic sensibilities, and how to tell who will be the villain in any given Renoir film just by looking at them. The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
 twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

"She is all merciless night animal...yet with a wisdom that goes back to Egypt and beyond - and which is invaluable to me. For she is my spy on buildings, you see, my intelligencer on metropolitan megastructures. She knows their secrets and their secret weaknesses, their ponderous rhythms and dark songs. And she herself is secret as their shadows. She is my Queen of Night, Our Lady of Darkness." In two books written nearly 25 years apart, "weird fiction" guru Fritz Leiber examined how ancient witchcraft and black magic continue to prey malignantly on unsuspecting contemporary characters deeply entrenched in the rational. Whether it's faculty wives hexing a sociology professor in CONJURE WIFE or the paramental entities tormenting a writer in San Francisco in OUR LADY OF DARKNESS, Leiber sees modern life as a conduit for a "new science" of the supernatural, which we dig into with this horror-themed October episode! Our guest is Rebecca Baumann, head of public services at Lilly Library, curator of the 2018 exhibition Frankenstein 200: The Birth, Life and Resurrection of Mary Shelley's Monster and avid collector of genre fiction. Baumann shares her take on these essential "weird" tales as well as details of Leiber's life that offer rare insight into his perspective on femininity. (Also on how to pronounce his name, which John gets wrong through most of the episode.) The Pink Smoke site: 
www.thepinksmoke.com Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke For the Frankenstein 200 book: https://iupress.org/9780253039057/frankenstein-200/ Hellebore issue discussed in the episode: https://helleborezine.bigcartel.com/product/hellebore-3-the-malefice-issue The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
 twitter.com/thepinksmoke Rebecca Baumann on Twitter: twitter.com/arkhamlibrarian John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

Hosts Christopher Funderburg & John Cribbs are joined by filmmaker & professor Mtume Gant (Whiteface, Spit) to discuss Elem Klimov's shattering WWII phantasmagoria, Come & See. The conversation touches on the function of even the best war films as righteous propaganda, extreme cinema, the film's relationship to post-War cinema in Japan & Germany as well as Tango & Cash's deep connections to Andrei Tarkovsky. It's a surprisingly light-hearted episode about an incredibly tough film. The Pink Smoke site:
 www.thepinksmoke.com Patreon: 
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
 twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter:
 twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: 
twitter.com/CFunderburg Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

We’re joined by screenwriter Tom Vaughan (Winchester, Unstoppable) to discuss his picks for the 10 greatest horror screenplays ever written. From consensus classics like Dan O’Bannon’s script for Alien and Joseph Stefano’s work on Psycho, to offbeat choices like the remake of The Blob, the conversation digs into what makes for brilliant writing in a genre where the art of the screenplay often gets overlooked. Vaughan breaks down Howard Hawks' maxim that a great film is "three good scenes and no bad ones," the importance of scene work, what constitutes "cheating" in a narrative, and how to breathe life into clichés, homages and remakes. An in-depth conversation about craft and how legendary films lay their foundation before the shooting starts. The Pink Smoke site:
 www.thepinksmoke.com Support our Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter: 
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Tom Vaughan on Twitter:
 twitter.com/tomvaughan John Cribbs on Twitter:
 twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
 twitter.com/CFunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

“I don’t know where that ham came from, she thought. And I’m not going to think about it. Ever.” We’re joined by writer Steven Sheil to discuss a book of his own selecting: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding’s The Blank Wall. Sheil is the screenwriter and director of Mum & Dad, Dead Mine and Unmade as well as the co-curator of The Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham. Holding’s “domestic noir” provided the basis for 2001’s The Deep End starring Tilda Swinton and Max Ophüls’ The Reckless Moment - it’s the story of an average housewife who finds herself wrapped up in manslaughter, blackmail & all manner of mayhem seemingly at odds with her gentle, genteel character. The Pink Smoke site:
 www.thepinksmoke.com Support our Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter: 
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Steven Sheil on Twitter:
 twitter.com/SSheil John Cribbs on Twitter:
 twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
 twitter.com/CFunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

In Part Two of our look at “James Bond in the 80's" the focus shifts to the unjustly-maligned Timothy Dalton films that wrapped up the decade. We welcome back John Arminio to discuss the real-life inspirations for The Living Daylights, why a more humorless tone was rejected by audiences with the Dalton films but celebrated in the Daniel Craig era, why it was for the best that Sam Neil wasn’t cast as 007 (despite his aces work in Reilly, Ace of Spies) and how the ultimate Cold War military icon faced the end of the Cold War. The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Support our Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
 twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Arminio on Twitter: https://twitter.com/QuasarSniffer John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”