Ride the Omnibus

Send us Fan Mail Sammy Gensaw joins the show to discuss the recent documentaries that he has been a part of, Gather (2020) and Guardians of the River (2021). He talks about his identity, from his Yurok ancestry to his feeling of kinship with indigenous communities around the world, but most importantly, his identity as an American. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Monica and Andrea join in a conversation about the emotional roller coaster Americans have lived through this January, and what the competing narratives communicate to us, through the media and pop culture, about the Capitol attack and the Inauguration. What is an America, anyway? Support the show

Send us Fan Mail London-based film critic Zoë Rose Smith sits down to discuss controversial filmmaker Lars von Trier's highly controversial film, AntiChrist. The conversation evaluates the aesthetics of the film and performances, the role of misogyny in the film and its reception, the graphic body horror, but most importantly, the lengths we go to in grief to feel some thing. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail The multi-talented creators Weshoyot Alvitre (author and illustrator) and Chag Lowry (author and documentarian) discuss their newly published comic book, My Sisters , about the significance of indigenous basket-weaving traditions in California. They  share their reflections on the comic book industry and how they share their own native identities in their work. Link to purchase My...

Send us Fan Mail On November 8th, 2020, we lost beloved TV personality and game show host, Alex Trebek, who hosted 37 seasons of Jeopardy! My guest Emily, a former champion from Jeopardy! shares her fond memories of her time on the show, and what the show and Alex Trebek have meant to her long-term. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Ariel reunites with a group of film friends - Zoya Fansler, Barbara Sadhana and Andy Gyurisin, the creative manager and film programmer at the Alamo Drafthouse Winchester who crafts communities dedicated to film. Together they discuss how their viewing habits have changed in 2020, and the films that defined 2020 for them. All films discussed on the podcast can be found in this lis...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel reflects on the nature of alternate realities and narratives promoted to justify political violence across American history. She discusses what the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma has to tell us about this particular moment in our country's history, and how we got here. Included is a re-broadcast of the interview conducted in October 2020 with Jeff Orlowski, the...

Send us Fan Mail To ring in 2021 right, Kieran hosts a rousing game (and loving tribute to) QI. Also known as Quite Interesting, this British panel show tests the knowledge of guests on esoterica, with a dose of silliness thrown in for good measure. Join the party as Ariel, Megan, Dan, and Ellen prove their ignorance once and for all with some punny, trivial, goofy fun. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail As we say farewell to 2020, Ariel sits down with three fellow members of the Comics Bookcase crew, Zack Q, Harry, & Jacob. Together they evaluate the best graphic novels and comics of the many they read and reviewed this year. ComicsBookcase.com is a website that features analysis, reviews, creator interviews and in-depth discussion of any and every aspect of the comic creatio...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Monica Belton, a social worker specializing in racial trauma and healing, and Andrea Weiskopf, a teacher researching modern textbook treatments of the concept of slavery,  join us to discuss the words that moved us most toward action in our anti-racist efforts this year. As a multi-racial group of educators, we talk about our approaches to the difficult conversati...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel is joined by Joyce, Linda, and Clyde, three avid readers, to discuss the books that carried them through this difficult year. Which books surprised them the most? Which books prompted the best or most difficult conversations? Listen and share in their passion for the written word.  This episode was edited by William Dass Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Ariel sits down with Ron and Andrew to discuss the games that have gotten us through this strange year in the life of our world. From RPGs to interactive family games, we've got recommendations that come from our own desert islands, adrift in the ocean of 2020. This episode was edited by William Dass. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Ariel talks to Lisa and Brad Gullickson of the Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast about Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel adaptations of the Parker novels by Donald Westlake writing under the pseudonym Richard Stark. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Ariel and Kieran discuss the film from 1950 that should really be titled, 2020: The Movie. A generally overlooked noir in its time, Panic in the Streets stars Richard Widmark, Jack Palance, Zero Mostel, and Barbara Bel Geddes. With connections from the Ottoman-Turk Empire, to the Hollywood Blacklist, to the pandemic, we're taking you everywhere Philip Marlowe would never dare...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel talks with Los Angeles-based professional chef and independent farm enthusiast, Katy Watson, about Jonathan Safran Foer's book, Eating Animals,  and the documentary of the same name from 2017, directed by Christopher Quinn. How much does the treatment of animals affect your health? How far, exactly, do you need to go to make sure that your food doesn't come with a...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel and UK-based film critic Zoë Rose Smith discuss all things Possessor (2020), the newly released horror film from Brandon Cronenberg, starring Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott. The conversation about this technonoir ranges from commentary on social media personas to data mining to drone pilots to body dysmorphia to that sneaking suspicion that you're really the...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel sits down with playwright David S. Kessler to discuss the importance of the trailblazing actor, writer, director, and producer, Ida Lupino. David shares insights into her life from writing and researching his play Gwen and Ida: the Object Is of No Importance. Working as one of the few female directors in film and television at the time, her unique voice shone through especia...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel discusses the genre of giallo with fellow film fanatics Sean and Dan. Giallo means "yellow" in Italian but as a film genre, is a descendant of noir. They discuss why the Italian offshoot of expressionism became so visually fantastic and explosive with color (specifically that particular shade of red from Max Factor nail polish), and the psychologically complex natu...

Send us Fan Mail In a follow-up to episode #25, Ariel, Dan, Megan, and Miriam return to play Just a Minute, while Kieran returns to his duties as chairman in the magical game invented by Ian Messiter, and brought by the BBC World Service countries around the world. The game requires each player to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition, or deviation. Recorded leading up to Election Da...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel has a chat with Kristina and Rob of Rob Paints the Movies, all about Lovecraft Country. They pick up their conversation where it left off in episode 19, discussing predictions made then about the season, theories about where Season 2 may be headed, the power of history, and how trauma binds families and communities together. Warning: Does contain spoilers and some explicit l...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel has a horrorifically lovely conversation with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Zoë Rose Smith, and Alison Taylor, three female film scholars and critics from Australia and the UK. They discuss why extreme horror holds so much power, the problematic nature of censorship and classification, film criticism, and media narratives across the Australia, the UK, and the US. Warning: This...

Send us Fan Mail A discussion of the acclaimed Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma  with its creators, director Jeff Orlowski and producer Larissa Rhodes. Their documentary addresses the toxicity of social media platforms, and how they are changing information ecosystems around the world. They stop by to discuss how they were able to refine their ideas and address the many effects of social med...

Send us Fan Mail Ariel sits down with Dr. Ceres Artico to discuss mental health concerns in the pandemic, and how through self-care and careful consumption of media, people can improve upon their individual quality of life. This episode was edited by William Dass. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail For this episode, Ariel joins forces with Mick Manhattan of theSceneSnobs.com to host a panel on the problematic, with Allyson Holland, Shannon Hollander, Katy Watson, and Kris PHZ-SICKS Williams. These six voices in podcasting and the film industry come together to talk about the representation of women, BIPOC individuals, people with disabilities, members of queer and trans comm...

Send us Fan Mail A conversation with Myriam and Michael, a pair of educators and writers, who share their passion for Drácula (1931) with us. Not the one starring Bela Lugosi, but the one that shot on the same sets at night. Myriam's work as a researcher into Latin American literature and history, and her identity as a puertorriqueña (she is a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico) give her special...