What can you do when you're face to face with The Antagonist? I'll tell you this much: no one gets out of here alive. Unless there are Martians. This podcast is about suffering, and it's also about transcendence.
It's about nervous breakdowns -- maybe your 19th. It's about George's Way with us. And it's about the music.
What's really important? "Soul Coaxing" is really important. But not the practice. The song! By Raymond Lefevre and his Orchestra. THAT's really important. Gosh, I hope you like this.
Here we journey to the outer limits of compassion. Will that suffice? Or do we need a little help from our friends -- like Jeff Beck, maybe.
And now a word from our sponsor -- George!
In which I talk about George, my new hero.
Here's the Gospel as I would put it this Easter. It's never not been the Have Mercy on Me (Cannonball Adderley/ The Buckinghams) of God in relation to the Outta Gear (Los Straitjackets) of us. But it needs to not become a mental exercise. It needs to be hooked into us, the whole being of our compounded selves. If it's not making the connection, then it will fail. (And it often does.)
This is a meditation on self-forgiveness. I used to think that was a lame phrase, an exercise in twaddle. Not so! Here we have The Walker Brothers, Los Straitjackets, even Frankie (Goes to Hollywood). The Lesson This Morning is from Isherwood's journal entry of July 14, 1940, which is to say, the Second of the Two Great Commandments.
It's here: that surgical song by Lobo, the balladeer's portrait of an ordinary, heart-rending tragedy. Because the picture's true to life, however, there may be room for hope. Roll up for a magical mystery tour, -- with a Dog Named Boo.
He has much to teach us! This podcast, for me, is Camp.
A short exegesis of personal pacifism. Scott Walker's song "Hero of the War" made me do it! Oh, and it's John Lennon in "Oh! What a Lovely War". That's a correction.
The La Verne Seminar, which took place in the Summer of 1941, is the second most desired destination for PZ the Time Traveler. If only one could have been there. It was the ultimate religious retreat! But still, I think I'd choose, for first place, if I had to choose, a trip to Universal Studios during the Great Depression, to witness the filming of that most desired of all works of cinema art: The Bride of Frankenstein.
That's Where the Happy People Go! Here is "a new way of talking, a new way of walking" -- about praying, about grace, about One Love and the Underground River. Jerry Lewis (but you won't like this) has a walk-on, too.
The music! -- evoking Lot's wife and then the Lord's words to St. Peter. I guess I think it's more and more about the music. But let's here it for the Haiku, tu.
This is not a case of "interpretive signage" ! You'll have to make up your mind on your own. But Looking Glass will be there to help you, followed by, close by, Scott W.
This is about forging forward in the spiritual life. Let Bananarama lead the way!
Here is a thought for the end of the year. And Merry Christmas to all!
Had to do this one. Victor Hugo is great. "Victor Hugo" the Phenomenon seems like another turn of Journey's "Wheel". (Listen and you'll find out why.) Nevertheless, I had fun doing this and hope you like it. Karen Carpenter (R.I.P.) helped me. Mr. Leitch, too.
This is an experiment. It's a true story, from the true-life adventures, tho' I truly wish it never happened. Is PZ trying for a James Agee moment? Maybe so. Podcast 129 is dedicated to Adrienne Parks.
This podcast is not just about another movie, the 1973 musical version of "Lost Horizon". It's about Reflections of yourself, the divine Approach when "I Come to You", and the Things I Will Not Miss. The movie's an incongruous knockout. This is because it's about Life.
Look within yourself, look inside the Black Cauldron. If you take the time to Drag the Line, you'll almost definitely find your hope, even joy. Let the bells ring, and let's Listen to the Music.
Suffering, Transitoriness, and Insubstantiality: three marks of being that seem beyond dispute, at least from the perspective of experience. To be sure, the last, insubstantiality, takes some unpacking. Podcast 126 drinks some Matthew's Southern Comfort, and makes common cause with The Peanut Butter Conspiracy.
In the spirit of the J. Geils Band, 'Sinuhe the Egyptian' spent his entire life looking for it. A proto-hippie, an inspired near-mad man (not across the water), gave Sinuhe the answer. The result was elation, and courage, and even creation. And for me. And for you?
Here's a Sixth Sense! Galsworthy sheds light -- but where did it come from? -- and jump-starts us "Going Up The Country".
John Galsworthy's play "A Bit O'Love" (1915) and his novel "Saint's Progress" (1919) diagnose the problem and also the possibility inherent in parish ministry, and especially within parish clergy. Galsworthy gives his readers a shattering exercise but also a hopeful one. So we just want to say: Goodbye, Columbus !
It's being labelled a "Zwinglian"! And there's something even worse than that. This podcast is a plea for the wheels to be put back on religion.
Freedom and Love: Love can't exist from anything but, and Freedom can't result in anything but. This cast wants to consult St. Augustine, concerning human nature; and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, concerning intangibles. Maxim Gorky makes an appearance, too. I hope you'll like what he says.
Here's a short talk about creativity, renewal, "work stoppage", and a couple of terrific movies. It's also a lesson in How to Empty a Room!
"Trouble in my way" is the name of the game. This podcast tells the story of how it came to me, and what it forced me to learn. Episode 119 of PZ's Podcast is a two part swan song.
This is intended to be the opposite of a rant. Even if I wanted to, I could not come a thousand light years close to Antoine's great one, which once so delighed the French. What I can try to give you instead is a little reading list, plus a little movie, a profound one, even a study in scarlet.
