Christopher Media

Special Guest: Tami Stronach Mike talks with actress Tami Stronach from her early days and starring as The Childlike Empress in The Neverending Story (1984) to her dance and theater career as the co-founder of The Paper Canoe Company. Links: Follow Tami on Twitter Learn more about Beanstalk Jack Get the Beanstalk Jack album on Bandcamp

Special Guest: Ernest Mathijs Guest Co-Hosts: Jessica Kramer, Dustin Kramer eXistenZ, the 1999 film from writer/director David Cronenberg stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allegra Geller, a game designer who has been marked for death by a faction known as the “Realists”. After an assassination attempt she escapes with her ineffectual bodyguard, a PR nerd named Ted Pikull played by Jude Law. The pair eventually test out Allegra’s new game, eXistenZ, in order to make sure her biomass game pod is still functional. From there the film traverses many layers of game play, making viewers question what’s real and what’s part of play. Dustin & Jessica Kramer of the Popcorn Poops podcast join Mike to discuss existentialism, Freud, Philip K. Dick, The Matrix, and more. Buy eXistenZ on DVD Buy the eXistenZ novelization by “John Luther Novak” (AKA Christopher Priest) Buy the eXistenZ soundtrack by Howard Shore Buy The Cinema of David Cronenberg: From Baron of Blood to Cultural Hero Buy The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich by Philip K. Dick Buy The Days of Perky Pat by Philip K. Dick Listen to the Popcorn Poops podcast

Mike speaks with actor Faran Tahir about his early days and more recent roles in Iron Man, Star Trek, Escape Plan, Once Upon a Time, and more. Follow Faran Tahir on Twitter at https://twitter.com/farantahir123

Guest Co-Hosts: Daniel Bird, Maitland McDonagh Daniel Bird and Maitland McDonagh join Mike to discuss the 1948 film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, The Red Shoes. The film centers on the tumultuous world of dance, namely ballet. We follow Julian Craster (Marius Goring) and Vicky Page (Moira Shearer) through triumphs and misfortunes. A favorite of Martin Scorsese, the film is a triumph of melodrama and includes several breathtaking dance sequences, most notably an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Red Shoes. Buy The Red Shoes on DVD Buy A Life in Movies by Michael Powell Buy Michael Powell: International Perspectives on an English Film-maker by Ian Christie (Editor) Buy the books of Maitland McDonagh Buy Tenebrae on Blu-Ray Read an interview with Daniel Bird by Samm Deighan