Agitator

Kelby binged the Twisted Metal TV series and has some thoughts on what works and what doesn't.

On today’s episode, we’re chopping it up bout the legacy of Osamu Tezuka—in real time, as we learn about the godfather ourselves—plus: giving the OGs their flowers, being honest bout who can be considered a GOAT, continued development of inspiration yielding better shit than what came before. Also: Barbie , skateboarding, Jackie Chan, what were the best years for film/music/books, and more.

Continuing our discussion on the Homunculus manga vs. film, we dive deep into shamanic soul retrieval, what even is a soul, being a person, manifest destiny, looking at our own and others' homunculi, and - regarding this work of art - we ask the important question: what would Miike do? For the full conversation and a lot more, go to patreon.com/agitator

Homunculus (manga) by Hideo Yamamoto (2003-2011) Homunculus (movie) dir. Takashi Shimizu (2021) There's a lot to unpack here, plus the usual writing and publishing and hustle tangents, so this'll be a two-parter. We go more into themes and first impressions here, next week will be a deep dive comparison between the manga series and the film. 

Today on the show, we're talking Hiroya Oku's 37-volume manga Gantz , which ran from 2000-2013. Joining us is our favorite expat drag queen in Japan, author and airwave artist Zach Langley Chi-Chi of I'm So Popular . We dive into this libidinal freestyle epic and also dig into revisiting the artist's vault, and what we can learn from our past selves. This is a prime example of the craft talk we ge...

On this first episode of the Ghost in the Tome book club, we talk Richard Morgan’s 2003 Philip K. Dick Award winning novel Altered Carbon. Kelby and JDO invited writers Jayson Young and Nick Spinnett to chat about the book. They brought the heat. This is peak radio. What is a soul if you can “re-sleeve” it into a new body whenever you want (if you can afford it)? Are we all just random data points...

This is episode 100, where we stop coming up with descriptions. Who reads this shit anyway? It's a podcast. Listen to it.

FAN SERVICE EPISODE! JDO gets a business call from a bill collector, the city mafia, dumb money bullshit, living close to the bone, decision to steal, Robin Hood of Water, the cost of living has got people feeling down,  The Idol,  why does everyone hate this show?, what’s the criteria for “earning trashiness”?, getting opinions from Twitter, caring about tabloids, engaging with the backstory of a...

The Way of the Househusband (2021) by Kousuke Oono On this episode we finally have our good friends from the Soapbox podcast on to chat about retired yakuza, the spirit world, and Thai occult magic. Alligator car crashes, Willacochee or won’t it, alligator facts, taste of reptile, green things, sound board fail, shows that feel like manga, cut off from Netflix, trying to be normal after experienci...

Today, we have fellow Broken River novelists David Simmons and Grant Wamack on the show to talk everything John Wick 4 . In this episode: Waiting on Grant, Baltimore accents, Anthony Hopkins - y'all think he's a good actor? For real?, Bill Skarsgård's acting range, when your homies act out in odd ways, when snitching isn't snitching anymore, John Wick's speaking vs killing ratio, Colored People Ti...

In loving memory of Kahlua. Our Broken River collaborator and good friend E Rathke joins us to talk about how all three of us were recently shot down in an open call to work with CD Projekt Red. What do you do with rejection? Is there a point to the effort even if it doesn't turn out how you'd hoped? We explore all this as well as chop it up a bit about Cyberpunk 2077 and some things we would like...

We're on a path of healing and fulfilling our purpose. We're learning what it means to pay back karmic debt. We're performing magic rituals with our hearts and ears open to the universe. We're also talking Lara Croft S&M hentai, AI boyfriends joining ISIS, our progress in Cyberpunk 2077 , the tension sustained through every mission and errand in the game, playing on Hard mode, impossible NCPD...

This episode was recorded the night before Kelby had a major health emergency. He is currently undergoing treatment for erosions in his stomach and bouncing around doctors to find the root cause of what's tearing up his insides. If you'd like to support a hard-working father and an irreplaceable writer and co-host of this show, you can do so by clicking HERE .  Lady Snowblood (1973) Dir. Toshiya F...

Today on the show, JDO and Kelby discuss everything nu-metal: the history, the appeal, and how it's the perfect template for a radical movement. Also, David recaps Sick New World and Kelby's health and mental state continue to rapidly deteriorate. Over on the Patreon: Inside scoop on some Broken River/Hollywood happenings, how to break into the mainstream independently, brand sponsorship face tatt...

JDO gives some thought to the idea to writing for an established audience. Are you giving up some kind of authenticity by making your book fit into a genre? Is there value in standing out from other artists? Probably not. But it's complicated.

We did this one extremely last minute, and life is crazy right now, so the description will be short. The first hour, Kelby and I talk about anime. I tell him about  Gantz: O, The Way of the Househusband,  and  Demon Slayer. Then we had on Glen & Psi from the Rare Candy podcast to talk about whether or not the moon was installed by aliens, Heaven's Gate cult, how to make a successful podcast,...

Today on the show, we're talking the art of acting, the process of dub, occult stage practices, and much more with actor/writer Luis Galindo , our H-Town homie and the voice of Vinland Saga 's King Sweyn. Topics discussed: Performing in Je'Caryous Johnson's stage rendition of New Jack City, tour life, tripping on cough syrup in school, dealing with sickness, meeting through Rune Soup , writing The...

Big time ASMR episode this week. David drives in the rain to pick up breakfast for his family, while Kelby tells him about Sand Land. Then, the boys talk about the process behind Kelby’s serialized cyberpunk book, Samurai Jesus. We talk: Getting in the car to get some breakfast, adjusting the levels, two tracks, black hole episodes, talking about writing, petrichor, Kelby’s love for mountains, Dav...

On this episode, there’s about five minutes of wind fifteen minutes in, but then it gets better. We talk: A journey outside, the insidiousness of screen time, teenage drug addicts, racially ambiguous babies, David’s unlikeability, ghetto trash services, eating leaves, Agitator mission statement, figuring out what people like to read, Will Wight’s background, having a team behind your books, three...

On this episode, Kelby and David try something new. They each focused on a different piece of media, and during the episode, they tell each other about it. David read Hideyuki Kikuchi's 1983 novel Vampire Hunter D , and Kelby watched Space Dandy. We talk: Scottish accents, people falling is hilarious, Kelby’s sleep schedule, David’s spooky dream, tax talk, only keeping 72% of what you earn, Mary K...

On this episode, we continue our conversation with Jay. We talk about: Voting on whether to drop the episodes all at once, listening to podcasts at 3x speed, LitRPGs, the Cradle series , SimLit , KickFlipLit, finding yourself fascinated by things you “shouldn’t” like, Beware of Chicken , Travis Baldree’s books , Scott McClanahan , prose doesn’t always have to be amazing, The Corporation Wars , Ala...

On this episode we have the host of 301 , Jay Springett , on to talk about Izumi Suzuki’s proto-cyberpunk, character-based short story collection Terminal Boredom . This is a unique episode of Agitator, in that we actually talk about the book. As Jay puts it, it’s “punk as f**k.” We talk about: Foghorn Leghorn, guests who listen to the show, Hit Parade of Tears , Suzuki's hand in inventing cyberpu...

Tampopo (1985) Dir. Juzo Itami Starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji Yakusho, and Ken Watanabe On this episode: How time works and what is now considered classic, the luckiest child actor ever, calling actors by the movies they're in, the Patreon economy, cyberpunk and weeb marketing, having no takes, "Black Pander," getting a kick out of being wrong, curiosity vs morality brain, the fr...

Jay Springett sent me this Esquire article about a woman who feels like she let her parents down in their time of need by pursuing the low-income life of a writer. It's a great article, well worth the read, that gave me about 18 minutes' worth of thoughts. I can certainly relate to what Chung is saying. So what do we do about it?