Curated by Chance

Episode 101: Highly Medicated but Eternally Grateful Prompts: Paper, 94, Cerulean Neal sits in the host's chair solo for this episode as LT preps for her big move! Hopefully you stay on that dial and join us for a fun episode that covers a bunch of different topics. Starting off, Neal shares immense thanks and gratitude for all of you listeners on how you've supported the show and gotten us to 100...

Episode 100: Stars and Stripes Face Prompts: Switcheroo We made it to Episode 100! What an awesome accomplishment that couldn't have happened without all of your support. Whether you are a Patreon supporter, devoted listener, or just joined our journey, from the bottom of our hearts we want to say thank you for helping us get to 100 episodes. LT and Neal start the proceedings off by talking about...

Episode 99: Jesus Visits The Criterion Collection Prompts: Raspberry, Criterion, 549 We are ONE EPISODE AWAY from 100 episodes! We did it curators! Never thought we'd make it to 100, but we're so close. Thank you for all of your support. Lauren kicks off things talking about moving updates and why she never ended up doing improv professionally. Neal offers an alternative, Art History Improv, and s...

Episode 98: #ManCrushMonday Prompts: Lamp, 60, Dark Gray This week's episode is coming in hot! Lauren is trying to figure out how to get rid of a bunch of her stuff and Neal talks about getting injections in his neck. For the record, it was not injected with Portillo's beef juice! Then Neal talks a bit about Spielberg and surprisingly knows how old he is and when his birthday is off the dome. Laur...

Episode 97: The Legend of Big Boy Prompts: Nun, Rim, Olive, 411 We have some BREAKING NEWS... Lauren bought a house! Congratulations to Lauren, Steve, and Isaac on their new home. We'll be sure to give you updates on the move and all the other hijinks! This week's pod starts with the news of the house, Neal (kind of) sees Big Boy for the first time and is surprised everyone knows it's called Big B...

Episode 96: The Soft Hands of an Influencer Prompts: Golden Rod, Nordi, 537 This week's discussion begins with a small update on house hunting and Neal reveals information about why so many people must be driving the Mercedes G Wagons, especially celebrities and realtors apparently. Lauren kicks things off by exploring the fascinating world of Nordic and Scandinavian art. She talks about artists l...

Episode 95: If Your Eyes Don't Weep, Your Organs Do Prompts: 4891, Frog, Pumpkin This week's episode talks about Lauren (and her snazzy hat) washing and cleaning the bronze artwork in front of the museum. This conversation turns into the absolute need for an art calendar and slow motion commercial of museum workers toothbrushing bronze crack and wiping sculpted muscles in slow-motion. Neal starts...

Episode 94: Curly-Wurly Mustache Prompts: Tin, Mark, Cream, 487 This week's episode begins with Neal talking about his much-need day off and if it was really a day off or something else entirely. Both the hosts thank YOU the listeners for engaging with the show and repeat the call to help get 50 reviews on Apple and Spotify and 50 patrons! Lauren starts this week's episode by talking all about the...

Episode 93: I Thought it was Pearl! Prompts: Neptune, Pastel Blue, 991 This week's episode begins with Lauren recounting her conference that felt like a night out in Las Vegas complete with backlit menus and highly priced steak! Neal talks about handing in his book and making a video for Colleen's students before our dynamic duo hop into their respective topics. Neal begins and takes the word Nept...

Episode 92: Three Sports Cars in a Culver's Prompts: Beast, Emerald, 9 Welcome to an all-new and endlessly entertaining (we hope) episode of Curated by Chance. The episode starts off with a bang, or, more literally, a CUT, as Neal accidentally cuts himself and shows blood. He's okay, but after you hear the rest of the episode, it actually all comes together in relation to his topic and it was unpl...

Episode 91: Mother's Book Club Prompts: Hell, Gray, 106, Baby Blue This week's episode starts out with a joyous exclamation by LT that she is FREE from classes for the summer! Well, at least she thought so, but that'll be on next week's episode. Neal then recounts babysitting his two nieces with his wife, Colleen, and how quickly caring for your nieces can turn expensive. We've all been there righ...

Episode 90: Rain Pains Prompts: Wound, 1300, Walnut Wow! We are 10 episodes away from 100. Crazy that we've come this far and we cannot thank YOU, the listener, enough! On this week's episode Neal is battling an oncoming migraine from the huge weather shifts (that have given him six days of migraines) and Lauren coins the best description of it ever. Hint: It's the title. After a little catch-up,...

Episode 89: Swimsuits and Social Revolutions This week’s prompts: Bathing Suit, Mint Green, 1964 This week, Lauren and Neal kick things off by reading YOUR suggestions for open-house names and Neal comes up with a million dollar idea for a book villain that he may or may not use. Only time will tell. The pair then talk about movies that turn your brain off, and Neal recounts trying to watch a Jaso...

Episode 88: Willem DeFoal Prompts: Natural, Currency, LXXXV Today's episode goes from house hunting to Russian realism to a sweaty 80s crime thriller with some serious C.S.I. nudity! In a pre-prompt discussion, Lauren gives listeners an update on her house-hunting journey and decides, along with Neal, that they need fake open house names from YOU to help them as they peek around listings and hopef...

Episode 87: LT's 1940s Pick-Up Lines Prompts: 1940s, Orange, Linguist Lauren and Neal are EXCITED to be back on the moving train that is Curated by Chance. This week's brand-spanking-new episode covers two topics that were all the rage in the 1940s. Neal kicks things off, firmly back in the co-host chair, with a deep dive into the Transatlantic or Mid-Atlantic accent, otherwise known as the old-ti...

Episode 86: Never Trust a Big Butt and a Smile Prompts: Brick, 9399, Poison Guess who's back? Back again. Well, it's not Slim Shady, but Neal did have frosted tips early on in his high school career! Neal finished his latest book under a TIGHT deadline and is happy to be back. He thanks Lauren for holding down the podcast with solo and guest episodes, and thanks the listeners for their patience. H...

Episode 85: Steve is Camp Blind This week’s prompts: Stripe, 97, Green In the last episode without Neal (who finished his book) Lauren, relaxed on the couch, invites a very special guest: her husband, Dr. Stephen Polly. Together they provide an intimate, deep dive conversation into Steve's favorite movie of all-time, The Fifth Element. This episode, Lauren highlights Steve's total camp blindness,...

Episode 84: Scrolls, Shrines, and Spring Break Delusion This week’s prompts: 458, Salmon, Sleep Lauren is back solo again — slightly overbooked, a little raspy, and fully in the thick of spring-semester chaos — with an episode that moves from museum donor events and teaching highs and lows to ancient Japan, Buddhist scrolls, and the enduring power of visual storytelling. After a little life update...

Episode 83: Sick Voice This week’s prompts: Teal, Leg, 1960 Lauren is flying solo again and opens with a few updates from the past couple of weeks of guest episodes, a quick peek into the strange and wonderful conversations that happen at academic faculty parties, and a heartfelt shout-out to listener Dan for a timely and encouraging email. There’s also a little housekeeping about Patreon, reviews...

Episode 82: Princely Magnificence This Week's Prompts: 1600, Divine, Royal Purple With Neal out (we miss you, sir), Lauren brings in a guest co-host whose name is… suspiciously close. Enter Dr. Nile Blunt — museum professional, early modern historian, maximalist icon, and longtime friend — for an episode that begins at Wegmans and ends with a beheading. Nile takes us deep into the life of Charles...

Episode 81: Magic Mike Walked so Heated Rivalry Could Run This week’s prompts: Blue, Twitch, 15 Lauren flies solo — but not really — as she welcomes her longtime partner-in-podcast-crime Julia from Miss Information: A Trivia Podcast for a full-throttle celebration of the cinematic masterpiece that is Magic Mike XXL (2015). What begins as a prompt-inspired detour quickly becomes a passionate thesis...

Episode 80: Dr. Dermis: A Brief History of Nudity in Film This week’s prompts: Nude, Mirror, 2193 Neal flies solo this week — juggling book deadlines, radio producing, directing gigs, and on-camera classes — and takes the prompts “nude” and “mirror” as an invitation to dive headfirst into one of cinema’s most controversial, complicated, and endlessly fascinating subjects: nudity on screen. From th...

Episode 79: Reclining Nudes and One Rude Dude This week’s prompts: Nude, Mirror, 2193 Surprise! It's a solo episode, this time with LT! Neal is working on his book and way over his head, so we're changing things up a bit. He'll be back next week. Today, LT takes on the prompts of nude and mirror, and brings us along through a minor history of nudity... in what else? Art! LT talks about stereotypes...

Episode 78: Whose Cah We Gonna Take? This week’s prompts: Holy, New England, 530 Neal and Lauren welcome listeners to the deep winter doldrums with an episode that starts cozy and conversational… and then quietly spirals into bank robbers, nun masks, American realism, and one of the most haunting paintings of the 20th century. It’s a classic Curated by Chance hang: warm, thoughtful, and gloriously...

Episode 77: Betty Spaghetti This week’s prompts: Peach, Necktie, 309 It’s a solo mission this week as Neal takes the wheel for a heartfelt, history-rich deep dive into one of the most beloved sports movies ever made — a film that still makes audiences laugh, cheer, and maybe tear up just a little. Neal takes Peach straight to A League of Their Own (1992), Penny Marshall’s classic underdog comedy a...