Playing Favorites

From her ASMR intro to her Sinatra-inspired sendoff, Suani Rincon proves a more subversive podcast guest than I expected. 

Among many topics, we discuss Channing Tatum, Killers concerts, differences between ‘Western' and 'Eastern’ approaches to theatre, and Brandon Flowers’ singing voice - plus, Suani reads from 70 Hilariously Funny Jokes to Tickle Your Family’s Funny Bone, which is definitely not something she googled seconds before we started recording. Tune in!

You read that right! My guest on Playing Favorites tonight is Apphia Campbell, the brilliant writer and performer who has brought two ingenious and universally acclaimed pieces to the Fringe, and I am lucky to say has been a wonderfully gracious new friend and guest.

We sat down in mid-August, minutes after her now legendary piece Black Is The Color of My Voice finished at the Pleasance EICC. We discussed the show, what it’s been like performing it for nearly 10 years, thoughts on writing new projects, past Nina Simone-inspired stories, how to think about a one-person show, her phenomenal play Woke, our admiration of Miriam Makeba, Rebecca Hall’s brilliant film Passing, making theatre in Shanghai, and lots more. It’s a very special episode of Playing Favorites!

IT'S THE 50TH EPISODE OF PLAYING FAVORITES!
Thank you all for listening!
What better way to celebrate than by soaring on the wings of F18s as the fourth PF Series tackles the high-flying-est film of the year. 

Nathaniel, Phoebe, Emily & Elihu throw caution and skepticism to the wind as they get their spines rattled and their spirits cleansed at a 4DX screening of Top Gun: Maverick and then immediately podcast about it, exactly as the listening fans deserve. Only the best at Top Pod / Pod Gun / Pod Fun / Podverick / Playing Flyvorites / Flying Mav-orites.

Topics discussed range all over the airmap, including our favorite callsigns, how we'd each be as pilots, the film's relationship with military propaganda, Tom Cruise & the "star career,"  the concept of movies as amusement park rides, exemplary grunt-acting, the film's Cannes premiere (which one of us attended), and why the 4DX option might be severely underrated. 

So have some Pod Fun with PF IV. Here's to 50 more!

Delightful fellow and frequently gut-bustingly funny performer Oscar Brudenall-Jones joins Playing Favorites tonight! He discusses his bizarre comedic taste, The Death of Stalin, Richard Harris, magpie-ing, grief, and resting places for those we love. A genuinely moving conversation. 

Emily Oxley, occasional target of japes and fellow Edinburgh theatre proselytizer, hops on Playing Favorites to chat radium, name changes, P.T. Anderson, Matthew Vaughn’s Stardust, Steve McQueen’s Widows, Austen’s Persuasion, Luhrmann’s Gatsby, and when podcasts will (understandably) be made illegal.

The one and only PRJ joins Playing Favorites at long last, to discuss feminism, women, FKA Twigs, old and good plays, the beauty of getting rid of theatrical fuss, Emma Thompson, and women.

In Everglade Special - Part 2
Our cast-tastic four-part special continues with the delightful and slightly unhinged Hannah Omisore, who plays the delightful and slightly unhinged Matilda in In Everglade Studio! We chat East London locales, getting tricked into enjoying scary movies, and quite a lot of Batman film history. It's another great chat with a great performer tonight on Playing Favorites - enjoy! 

Further In Everglade Studio details, and tickets to the premiere, available here: www.mountview.org.uk/whats-on/show/in-everglade-studio/

Tonight, it's my former photography teacher and long-time fellow conversationalist, Bill Crandall! He's a fascinating artist and citizen, and a multi-talented fella who's released albums under this own name and as Mistochord, and continues to innovate and educate in various manners. We really have at it with the long-form discussion format this week, but somehow it all ended up a fairly coherent conversation nevertheless. 

We covered a sprawling but rich range of society-and-culture-related topics, including how an individual's favorites change over time, when re-evaluating certain old picks can show growth, what dancing at weddings can show us about our perplexing times, whether we’re seeing a “race to the bottom” in certain cultural arenas (we are), and the ethics within (or without) modern sport, education, plastically progressive marketing copy, escapism, and the intersection of art & climate change. 

It's a hefty one, but certainly a delight chatting again like the old dayz. It's Playing Favorites!

Extraordinary producer/person Grace Dickson (of Grace Dickson Productions!) plays favorites tonight! As we both agree too much of our time is spent somehow discussing theatre and the like, we decided to focus on different kinds of media for once in our lives. So, instead, we covered a litany of topics sprouting from Grace’s lifetime of knowledge. 

Recorded rather a few weeks ago but hardly out of context nevertheless, our chat included small-seaside-town politics, impressively-stocked gift shops, lamps, the ingenuity and parallels of She’s The Man and Some Like It Hot, and how to say “fly” in the past tense. Among other things. Listen in!

Actress, jetsetter and Cannes regular Marta Castellvi joins in tonight for a chat about fun times on the Croisette, Mexican locales and words, and the enduring appeal of Chet Baker - and mid-20th-century music in general! It's Playing Favorites!

Playing Favorites returns! With splendid new guest and new friend Rachel Oyawale! Our chat ranged from picturesque Italian hostels to Carné's resplendent Black Orpheus, to our shared Jewish backgrounds and (mostly shared) Jewish senses of humor, and beyond.

Listen in! It's Playing Favorites! Glad to be back!

The charming, well-traveled, and always interesting David Ruffin joins today! He may not be the one from The Temptations, but this David Ruffin did bring in some excellent Smokey Robinson stories, a great travelogue relating to his decades-long love for David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, and the great Chris Rock's connection between bad cops and airlines. It's a great chat, on Playing Favorites.

Mouse associate and old friend Jack Arnholz is on tonight, discussing his favorite landmarks of Maine, the spectacle of Eric André vs. Lauren Conrad, the cinema of Alejandro Jabberwocky (sic), and his fondness for pediatricians. Catch Jack's podcast "Buried or Cremated (and Also Paintings and Buildings)" on a near horizon. It's Playing Favorites!

It's Giulia De Vita! A tremendously lovely person and great film conversationalist, joining us tonight to discuss everything from her love and memories of Rome, to our time studying together in King's College London, to our shared interest in haptic theories of cinema - no matter how niche they may initially seem! It's Playing Favorites.

Briana Pegado! One of the loveliest people around! On the show tonight! We chat everything from Blink-182 to Black DC punk rockers, to our respective approaches to facial expressions, to the comedy stylings of Elsa Majimbo, and beyond. She's a great person, with a great great laugh, and I'm lucky to have known her so long! It's another Playing Favorites!

Twenty episodes in! Marking the occasion with me is renowned historian and author of such works as Herzl, A Concise History of Austria, Antisemitism: A Very Short Introduction, Democracy: All That Matters, and The Habsburg Monarchy 1815-1918, who also happens to be a very amusing and interesting person, and also my dad: Steven Beller!

We discuss all sorts of topics, ranging from childhood memories on the Isle of Skye to the pluralist heart of Mel Brooks movies. It's another special-length episode, but as you'll hear, my dad and I share a love of talking, for the better I'd wager. It's Playing Favorites!

Keep your friends close, but your regular podcast contributors closer. The Godfather was released 49 years ago today, and tonight marks our first in the PF Series: special episodes featuring Problematic Faves throughout movie history, no matter how the phrase's various definitions may apply, with splendid guests, riveting conversations, deep-dives on all sorts of themes and connections, and what promises to be a great time, every time. 

This particular cosa nostra welcomes Laura Hounsell, Dominika Ucar, Michael Zwiauer, and Ruby Sullivan to discuss/celebrate/debate this gigantic piece of work, which was first released 49 years ago today! A must-listen for any Corleone fans or foes. It's Playing Favorites, it's The Godfather, and it's not to be missed.

Tonight, the de-lovely Anna Phillips chats all manner of pop culture topics and pressing questions with characteristic grace and charisma! Our conversation ranged all over the map, including our mutual respect for Ariana's Positions, the comedic genius of Charlie Kelly & the whole It's Always Sunny setup, and the curious dynamics we have both experienced when traveling in rather mono-ethnic European locales. 

It's a great talk. And it's Playing Favorites!

Tonight, we welcome CEO and Executive Director of NAFSA, former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations Affairs in President Obama's administration, holder of many other preeminent titles and also, the best Mom in the world: Esther Brimmer! 

We talk music, movies, cats, and diplomacy - the four essential elements of life. It's Playing Favorites, episode 10!

INT. DINER - DAY.
THE ROCK and DAUGHTER OF ROCK eat large brunch.

THE ROCK: In life, things happen. You may not want them to, but... they do. You just got to do your best... and move on.

Words to live by.
Please welcome Angus Bhattacharya.

Further analysis is available here: filmdaze.net/things-that-happen-in-life-and-what-to-do-about-them

Fair Warning: This episode contains multiple Dad jokes that may prove distressingly Dad joke-y to listeners. Discretion is advised...

The extremely lovely Camilla Hallman plays favorites this week, all the way from my hometown DC. In the process, we talk Norah Jones, Clairo, Mary's Milk Bar, Capitol Hill Books, and more, I pose a comedy-based political theory, and Camilla runs afoul of Big Literature. Tune in!