Skylight Books Podcast Series

Abashed the devil stood, and felt how awful goodness is. The Crow (1994) is a one-of-a-kind film, borne out of tragedy and thought to be cursed. Critic and culture writer Alisha Mughal takes a look at the film, its graphic novel origins, its beautiful but doomed star Brandon Lee, and much more in her new book for the Pop Classics series, It Can't Rain All the Time: The Crow . Alisha joins Skylight...

Author and comedian Sophia Benoit ( Well, This Is Exhausting ) joins the Better Than the Movie crew to discuss a modern children's book classic, HOLES by Louis Sachar, and its 2003 live-action Disney adaptation, which was scripted by Sachar himself, directed by Andrew Davis (The Fugitive), and starred an insanely talented ensemble cast headed by Megalopolis co-stars Shia LaBeouf and Jon Voigt. Bot...

Don't drink? Don't smoke? What do you do? THE VINYL DIARIES follows Pete Crighton's journey from a closeted goody two shoes to a blissfully self-possessed lover of queer community, queer joy, and queer sex, while keeping track of the key pop music that resonated along the way. For this episode, Pete Crighton ( The B-52s' Cosmic Thing ) discusses releasing a memoir as a first-time writer, processin...

This is so unexpected, we didn't even have a speech prepared. Author Veronica Litt joins us to talk about her new book in ECW Press's Pop Classics series,  Ugh! As If! , on Amy Heckerling's classic film comedy Clueless. This is the 30th Anniversary of Clueless's theatrical release, and the book is both a warm, conversational appreciation and clear-eyed dissection of what the movie gets wonderfully...

The Old Man WAS Still Alive! Film writer and physical media enthusiast Conor Holt returns to Better Than the Movie to discuss a pair of classics: John Huston's film The Dead (1987), adapted from the short story by James Joyce, which first appeared in  Dubliners (1914). Spoiler alert: Everyone loved them both. But between the film and the story, which did they think was better? Hosted by Allan Tray...

From BITCHES BREW to "Feels So Good" and beyond, author Matthew Reed Baker delves into the funky, smooth, and transcendent records that resulted from the merging of jazz with R&B, pop, rock, and much much more in the 1970s. Miles Davis, Weather Report, Chuck Mangione, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, and Steely Dan are just some of the acts that are discussed in 1970s Jazz Fusion , a welcome new...

Abe is Bae? The wonderful Emily VanKoughnett (Los Angeles Review of Books; LIT ANGELES ) returns to Better Than the Movie with a classy pick: Kobo Abe's existential psychological thriller The Woman in the Dunes. The novel, from 1962, was made a few years later into an Oscar-nominated film adapted by Abe and directed by the inimitable Hiroshi Teshigahara. Both are considered top-tier classics... bu...

Award-winning graphic novelist and illustrator Sina Grace ( Superman: The Harvests of Youth ) joins host Tyler Austin to discuss his new book,  West Hollywood Monster Squad . A ragtag crew must make their way across West Hollywood after some unexpected pink snow begins creating giant monsters in their midst. It's a sweet, funny "turbo gay" story for our time. Sina and Tyler discuss themes of the s...

Happy Opening Day! Baseball is back, and BTTM is back with another baseball-themed book adaptation. Bookseller and writer Jonah Lipton joins the crew to discuss Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel THE NATURAL, and its 1984 film adaptation starring Robert Redford. Famously the book is downbeat and cynical, reflecting postwar disillusionment, while the movie is upbeat and heroic, reflecting Reagan-era opti...

Film journalist and critic Marya E. Gates talks with Justin about her new book,  Cinema Her Way: Visionary Female Directors In Their Own Words . The book is a stylishly illustrated collection of interviews with 19 film directors, including Gillian Armstrong, Jane Campion, Mira Nair, Mary Lambert, and Katt Shea. Another great chat for our cinephile listeners! Hosted and produced by Justin Remer.  R...

Come to... Pod-dy? We're straining for puns over here, but we've got a fun remote-recorded episode today, featuring the return of author and podcaster Garon Cockrell ( Demonic and Other Tales ). It's a follow-up to last year's Nightbreed episode, in which Tyler voiced his dislike for body horror. For being such a good sport, we reward him with more Clive Barker: the 1987 film Hellraiser, directed...

We're podcasting... Yeah yeah yay-yo! Justin speaks with Leah Kardos, the author of the new 33 1/3 book on Kate Bush's Hounds of Love . Together, they discuss the impact of the album and Kate Bush's undersung influence as a record producer. Leah also talks about the process of finding the structure and narrative for her book. There's music nerd stuff in there too, but it's GOOD, smart music nerd s...

An episode so good, it'll make you wish you had three ears. Buzzy Cohen ( Baby Got Facts: Totally '90s Trivia ) returns for another delightful episode, breaking down Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" and the 1990 film adaptation directed by Paul Verhoeven, with a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon & Ronald Shusett and Gary Goldman. Reality, virtual reality, false memo...

Like the proverbial Christmas miracle, the BTTM crew is back just in the (Saint) nick of time for a holiday-themed final episode of 2024. At the behest of Natalie Freeman and Allison Woodnutt (who you may remember from last year's A HAUNTING IN VENICE episode), Justin, Allan, and Tyler braved the cold to wave down THE POLAR EXPRESS, an illustrated children's book by Chris Van Allsburg (JUMANJI) an...

It's America, dude, learn the rules! Chris Andersen (Your Favorite Bad Movie Podcast) joins the BTTM crew to discuss the 2001 adaptation of the Daniel Clowes graphic novel GHOST WORLD , directed by Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Bad Santa). They discuss how one can grow up relating to a disaffected teen girl played by Thora Birch and find themselves an alienated physical-media-obsessed adult, played by Ste...

Ace interviewer Elodie Saint-Louis sits down with Lili Anolik to discuss Anolik's new book Didion & Babitz . Anolik talks about the complicated relationship between authors Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, their unique perspectives on the Feminist Movement, and how they were each consumed by and motivated each other. Anolik also tells the fascinating story of how she discovered the complexity of th...

What Price Vincent? Writer and improviser Mark Rennie (The Big Gay Movie Spreadsheet, Eat Pray Dunk) returns for a second appearance on BTTM, just in time for Spooky Season. Under discussion is the Edgar Allan Poe classic "The Masque of the Red Death," adapted to film by director Roger Corman and star Vincent Price in 1964.  Allan and Justin chat with Mark about horror in general, about Vincent Pr...

THIS... IS... JEOP-BUZZY! Jeopardy! champion Buzzy Cohen ( Baby Got Facts: Totally 90s Trivia ) drops in to talk about John Cheever's small slice of suburban surrealism, "The Swimmer." Burt Lancaster headlines the 1968 film adaptation, scripted by Eleanor Perry (Diary of a Mad Housewife) and directed by Frank Perry (Mommie Dearest). This is Better Than the Movie's first short story discussion, so...

Premier fiction interviewer Elodie Saint-Louis is back in conversation, this time with the amazing Danzy Senna, to talk about Senna's new novel Colored Television.   In this episode, Senna reads from her book, followed by an amazing talk about multicultural identity, Senna's relationship to humor, and who she would choose to soundtrack the novel.   Listen in and then stop by Skylight Books on Wedn...

The Better Than the Movie boys are hosting a screening of TANK GIRL (1995) on August 24, 2024, as part of American Cinematheque's Friend of the Fest 2024 podcast film festival. So here is a free-floating (read: CHAOTIC) chat about this underground comic-turned-quirky Hollywood movie, including another of Allan's absurd trivia competitions. If you're in LA, pick up a ticket for more of this insanit...

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert are arguably the most influential American film critics of the 20th Century. Clips from their movie review TV show continue to circulate on social media and Youtube to the delight of new viewers and old fans alike. In his book OPPOSABLE THUMBS, film writer Matt Singer looks at the history of these film critics, the TV show opportunity that brought them together and brou...

We've got a classic on BTTM today that's all killer. DJ and bookseller Elisa Garcia selected PERFUME, the 1985 German novel by Patrick Süskind that was originally deemed unfilmable. But co-screenwriter and director Tom Tykwer (RUN LOLA RUN, BABYLON BERLIN) surely got the job done in 2006. Elisa joins Allan, Tyler, and Justin to discuss the best bits of the book, the genius of Ben Whishaw's lead pe...

It's a golfing extravaganza as Geoff Shackelford joins Skylight's Tyler Austin to discuss his book  Golf Architecture for Normal People ! Together, they talk golf course design, the economic and ecological impacts of a golf course that people don't often think about, and how golf as a game is becoming more accessible to lower-class players.    It's a great episode about golf...for normal people!  ...

It's a madhouse! The BTTM fellas are on their own this month, talking PLANET OF THE APES. The main focus is the original feature film, directed by Oscar winner Franklin J. Schaffner and scripted by fellow Oscar winner Michael Wilson and TWILIGHT ZONE creator Rod Serling. The fellas compare this classic to the lesser known source novel by Pierre Boulle that inspired the whole franchise. But most th...

Join us for a conversation with Skylight favorite Maggie Nelson, whose newest collection of essays, Like Love, has already made its way into our booksellers' hearts. One of those booksellers, Elodie Saint-Louis, sat down with Maggie to talk about Like Love, her thoughts on genre distinctions with writing, and much more!   Produced by Elodie Saint-Louis and Mick Kowaleski   Music by Duck the Piano...