My 12-Month Video Fast

And thanks for listening!

Visit http://richardloranger.com for writings, publications, reading and performance videos, upcoming events, and more! Also a podcast tab that includes large versions of all the episode logos. :)

7/25/24 - There's a new review of the podcast by Tom Greenwood in a monthly newsletter from Wholegrain Digital, a sustainable web company in UK, at https://www.wholegraindigital.com/curiously-green/issue-56. Yay!

Weeks 49-50: I'll Show You the Life of the Mind

Sat, 17 May 2025 01:00:00 -0700

Episode 32 – Weeks 49-50: I’ll Show You the Life of the Mind

In which the podcaster gives a bad review, takes you on a walk to nowhere, and advocates ecstasy as a form of resistance.

LINKS & INFO

Also sprach Zarathustra, tone poem by Richard Strauss

Barton Fink, 1991 film by the Coen Brothers

Coen Brothers

Equus, a play by Peter Shaeffer

Surrealism

Exquisite corpse

Influx Blinklists (chapbook)

Blinklists as text art

Mammal (Roof Books, 2023)

San Francisco International Arts Festival

Dandelion Dance Theater

Weeks 47-48: The H-Word

Sat, 03 May 2025 22:00:00 -0700

Episode 31 – Weeks 47-48: The H-Word

In which the podcaster explains the tragedy of humankind and you can’t stop laughing.

LINKS & INFO

The B-52s

“Rock Lobster” on YouTube

https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-do-we-laugh/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Doctor Strangelove

Waiting for Guffman

Weeks 45-46: Aye, I, Eye

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 02:00:00 -0700

Episode 30 – Weeks 45-46: Aye, I, Eye

In which the podcaster introduces himself, dissolves all boundaries, and stirs up some weather.

LINKS & INFO

Moustafa Bayoumi

graysexuality

Henri Tajfel

Mammal, Roof Books, 2023

Week 44: Resistance Mixtape

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster reanimates dialog, disobeys much, and proffers ingredients for an albatross stew.

LINKS & INFO

Network, dir. Sidney Lumet (1976).
Speech 1
Peter Finch as Howard Beale
Speech 2
Ned Beatty as Arthur Jensen

Joy Harjo, “The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window” from She Had Some Horses. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1983

Victor Hernandez Cruz, “tu no eres” recorded by Christopher Funkhouser at Naropa Institute, 1991. Rough translation in the episode transcript.

Barbie, dir. Greta Gerwig (2023)
America Ferrera as Gloria (main speech)
Voices in response:
Alexandra Shipp as Writer Barbie
Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie
Margot Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie
Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha, Gloria's daughter

Hidden Figures, dir. Theodore Melfi (2016)
Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Goble Johnson (speech)
Kevin Costner as Al Harrison, director of the Space Task Group

Stonewall Forever, dir. Ro Haber, is a documentary from NYC’s LGBT Community Center. You can watch it in its entirety at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjRv7dJTync, and PLEASE DO. The voices that you hear in the excerpts are, in this order, Chella Man, Jay Toole, Martin Boyce, Agosto Machado, Wallace Sanders, Judy Bowen, Sylvia Rivera, Karla Jay, Bianey Garcia, and Zackary Drucker.

Janice Mirikitani, excerpt from the film Why Is Preparing Fish a Political Act?, dir. Russell Leong (1990)

Jane Fonda, excerpt from her acceptance speech for a SAG Life Achievement Award, Feb 23, 2025.

Tongo Eisen-Martin, “The Course of Meal”, recorded for the Create Justice project in 2017.

Monolog from Episode 1 of The Newsroom, dir. Greg Mottola and written by Aaron Sorkin
Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy (main speech)
Other voices (in order):
David Cromer as Debate Moderator
Riley Voelkel as Jennifer Johnson
Elizabeth Marvel as Sharon
Jason Butler Harner as Lewis

Senator Cory Booker on the Senate floor, 2:45 pm Eastern Daylight Time on April 1, 2025, 19 hours 45 minutes into a filibuster that went on until 8:05 pm, breaking the record at 25 hours 5 minutes. .

The Great Dictator, written and directed by Charlie Chaplin (1940).

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, APRIL 19.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 42-43: Pop Quiz

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster gives you an unexpected assignment.

LINKS

The cut-up lines on the episode logo are from the poem “Final Exam” by Nancy Lambert, taken from the anthology Practising Angels, ed. Michael Mayo, Seismograph Publications (1986). You can find a digital copy of this terrific collection here on the Internet Archive.

Alien (1979) on Wikipedia (this entry is just for the first film of – currently – seven, along with crossovers and books)

Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive” on YouTube (3:15 version – with lyrics and roller boogie!)

Check out INeedANewPledge.com for New Pledges of Allegiance

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ONE WEEK FROM TODAY ON SATURDAY, APRIL 5.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 40-41: That Man Behind the Curtain

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster puts on a classic, takes off some masks, and explains the politics of the moment.

LINKS

The Wizard of Oz on Wikipedia (includes a link to the page about the books)

Muriel Rukeyser on Wikipedia

Adrienne Rich on Wikipedia

No More Masks! anthology – page on poets.org
(has a couple of links to purchase that are not Amazon)

To find Meta Support for Instagram or Facebook, you need to pay for Meta Verified at $11.99 per month. (Don’t sign up till you need it – then you can cancel later.) Besides a little checkmark by your profile pic, one of the benefits is called Enhanced Support, meaning you can get help via chat. Of course if you’re locked out of your account, you can’t access the support option either. But if you have both a Facebook and an Instagram account, you can start Meta Verified on the one can access and report the problem with the other account. It might take a few days (they say). As of this posting I haven’t heard from them about my hacked Facebook account after three days, so who knows – but I do know someone who got his hacked account back through this method. Don’t forget to cancel Meta Verified after everything is fixed (unless you want to keep it).

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, MARCH 29.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 38-39: On Losing Things

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 16:00:00 -0800

In which the podcaster takes on a tragicomic perspective while shattering glass, misplacing teeth, and taking a joyride through Hollywood.

LINKS

Dianoga – Wookieepedia page

Golden State Film Festival – 2025 Program

· Not sure this link will hold up, but you can open a pdf of the program. It has a bad interface, but if you click on the three bars on the upper left, you can scroll down it page by page. You’ll find the poster for our film “Force Drift” (which I designed) on page 5.

Ken Paul Rosenthal’s website (more links in Episode 21)

Itzhak Perlman on Wikipedia

Yaakov Andrew Cohen is @realyaakovcohen on Instagram

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, MARCH 15.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 36-37: Corrode to Joy

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0800

In which the podcaster exposes himself, offers his hand, chases ghosts from a bridge, rips off a few facades, and extols the joys of oranges.

LINKS

Ru Paul MasterClass excerpt

Ru Paul’s Wikipedia site

Heather Cox Richardson comments

Heather Cox Richardson’s YouTube channel

ACT UP

William Blake – Wikipedia page

Adrienne Rich – Wikipedia page

Dean Spade comments

Dean Spade’s website

In Defense of Looting by Vicky Osterweil

Halley Low IG Reels:

You must love yourself

Learn to love yourself

The art of non-offense

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, MARCH 1.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 34-35: The New Flesh

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 01:00:00 -0800

In which the podcaster recalls talking, derides cyborgs, and examines a chest of survival methods.

LINKS

Year of the Snake

Videodrome, dir. David Cronenberg (1983)

Tetsuo: The Iron Man, dir. Shin'ya Tsukamoto (1989)

Hardware, dir. Richard Stanley (1990)

Virus, dir. John Bruno (1999)

Transhumanism – Wikipedia page

Posthumanism - Wikipedia page

Posthuman - Wikipedia page

Bayo Akomolafe

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 33: How Artists Survive in America - Part 3 with Paul Corman-Roberts and Norm Mattox

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 23:00:00 -0800

In which the podcaster presents the third and final special episode for the month of January in which he interviews artists and writers about how they manage to support themselves and their creative work while carving out time for it in contemporary American culture.

WITH GUESTS

Paul Corman-Roberts

Paul Corman-Roberts has been learning how to be an on-the-fly organizer, publisher and all around hustler pretty much since he was able to learn. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books Bone Moon Palace and The Sincere. As well as being a co-founder and co-director of Oakland's Beast Crawl Lit Festival, he is also the co-founder, co-director and full-time lackey at Collapse Press Books, a boutique indie press for goths who refuse to age gracefully.

Links:

Substack

Collapse Press

The Sincere (Graphic Chapbook with Ray Swaney)

Bone Moon Palace

Beast Crawl Literary Festival

San Francisco Creative Writing Institute

Norm Mattox

norm mattox is a poet and a retired spanish bilingual educator whose poetry tells a story of love and resilience in our times of challenge, struggle, and transformation. norm's published collections include: Get Home Safe, Poems for Crossing the Community Grid, published in 2016, Black Calculus published in 2021 by Nomadic Press (Pushcart Prize nominated), four crescents published by Collapse Press in 2023, and evaporating rage, published by Black Lawrence Press in 2024. norm’s poetry also shows up in a number of anthologies: Love Letters to Gaia, Letters for the End Times; Vols 1 & 2, maintenant 18, and a shape produced by a curve to mention a few. norm is presently working on a couple of projects for the 2025 season.

Links:

Norm’s website

Black Lawrence Press page

Norm reading at San Francisco Public Library (2018)
.
.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 32: How Artists Survive in America - Part 2 with Jennifer Blowdryer and Tammy Melody Gomez

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 18:00:00 -0800

In which the podcaster presents the second of three special episodes for the month of January in which he interviews artists and writers about how they manage to support themselves and their creative work while carving out time for it in contemporary American culture.

WITH GUESTS

Jennifer Blowdryer

Jennifer Blowdryer is a singer and writer whose songs observe in a somewhat detached manner the underworld of punk rock and regular people. She started as front person for an SF Punk Band, The Blowdryers, in 1978. When JB moved to NYC she wrote for sex magazines and went on to produce and MC Smut Fests at a lap dancing parlor in Tribeca, which toured internationally. Blowdryer has also worked as a columnist for Maximum R’n’R, Downtown, and New York Press, an adjunct teacher, coat checker and every damn thing that kept up with the rent. Today, Jennifer gigs and records alongside some of NYC’s best, most lived-in musicians, has published several books from 1984 – 2024, and is on the last available welfare in the United States.

Links:

Tammy Melody Gomez

Tammy Melody Gomez, based in north Texas, serves as mentor and literary maven to folks circling the DIY/TAZ spaces. She has most enjoyed living as an interdisciplinary artist/performer, while making her rent by: working as a teaching artist (poetry, theatre, language arts); sitting on grant panels; reading “brown people” poetry for city-sponsored events; divining people’s futures using Loteria cards; and assorted other gigs. She also has bicycled to her part-time medical library job since January, 2000. Residencies and grants have figured into her calculus of survival, and she advises all to APPLY because you never know who on the panel might decide in your favor: for something else.

Links:

Socials

IG - @tejanatongue
FB - Tammy Melody Gomez

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 30-31: How Artists Survive in America - Part 1 with Taneesh Kaur and Ken Paul Rosenthal

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0800

In which the podcaster presents the first of three special episodes for the month of January in which he interviews artists and writers about how they manage to support themselves and their creative work while carving out time for it in contemporary American culture.

WITH GUESTS

Taneesh Kaur

Taneesh Kaur ("Core") is a US-born Punjabi teaching artist whose primary media are writing (poetry, memoir, fiction, essays) and painting. She's been doing both off and on her whole life. For a long time she was working full-time or freelance in corporate jobs (editing, linguistics, copywriting). Since going back to school, it's been loans and jobs in education. She is working toward being a full-time artist and educator in post-secondary. Some milestones in her career:

Thawing: A Poetic Memoir (2024), her full-length collection with Collapse Press
Poetry in journals (see links)
APAture Festival (2024) with Kearny Street Workshop
Solo art show "Haiga of Resistance: Body" (2023)
Experimental film artist residencies with Queer Rebel Productions (2022)

Relevant links:

Thawing: A Poetic Memoir (2024)
Taneesh's website; IG/YT/Twitter: @TaneeshCantos
Collapse Press
Narrative Northeast
Great Weather for MEDIA
Colossus Press
Bay Poets on KALW

Ken Paul Rosenthal

Ken Paul Rosenthal makes lyrical, character-driven documentary films that explore the spectrum of difference and enrich the world with kindness and compassion. These stories of trauma and transformation are presented against a backdrop of urban and natural landscapes, archival social hygiene films, re-authored home movies, and animated text. In his spare time, Ken stages an emotional wellness pop-up, Your Empathy Stand (Y.E.S.) in public parks, freely offering active listening to one and all.

Web Links:

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 28-29: Solstice Song

Sat, 21 Dec 2024 01:00:00 -0800

In which the podcaster sings to you a composition of his own design, humbly made and humbly offered.

NOTE: This episode comes across much better with headphones or earbuds. A medium volume may serve it well in any case.

I accompany my vocals with djembe for the drum track and balafon for supporting melody.

Balafon – Wikipedia page
Djembe - Wikipedia page

As a bonus for reading the episode notes, here’s a Solstice poem that I wrote when I was much, much younger. It bears no resemblance or relationship to the song.

DECEMBER 21

It is a return
of the sun It is a
return of the sun Oooo
Spring is coming
We are ready once
again to breathe honey

Wishing you all the best possible year to come.

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2025 and will be the first of a three-parter in which I’ll be interviewing artists about how they survive to make their art in America. Tune in for that!

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 26-27: "Clean"

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 18:00:00 -0800

Episode 19 – Weeks 26-27: “Clean”

In which the podcaster jumps up and down, makes an argument for impurity, and reveals his true desire.

Weeks 23-25: My First Disillusionment

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 01:00:00 -0800

In which the podcaster finally reveals where and when his beef with the televised world began, and uses that to try to light a way forward through darker times.

Video link: Little Billy Magee on "Happy The Clown" - June 1955

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 21-22: Tree

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster defends asymmetry, antagonizes Buddhists, and takes you on a journey somewhere very close you’ve never been.

Referenced Texts

The Overstory by Richard Powers
https://www.richardpowers.net/the-overstory/

Poetry and Flash Prose (by Richard Loranger)

"I Daphne May" was originally printed in the chapbook Poetry is a Form of Light (1986, Clamor Press, SF), and was reprinted in Mammal (2023, Roof Books, NYC).

"Earth Punk" can be found in Unit of Agency (2021 & 2024, Collapse Press, Oakland, CA).

"Sun Sonnet" can be found in in Mammal (2023, Roof Books, NYC).

For more information on these and other books, go to http://richardloranger.com/books-chapbooks.

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22.

BECAUSE I SAID SO.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 19-20: Get-a-Job & Other Misnomers

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster plays Telephone Games with prehistory, breaks down the industry of Western tradition, and leaves you with a pile of bacon. Mhe!

He also humbly begs your forgiveness for his zombie-like pronunciation of dead languages.

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 17-18: Re-re-re-re

Sat, 05 Oct 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster regresses, confesses, and redresses.

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 15-16: Cycle

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster starts a new chapter with blank pages, makes a foul shot, and has an in-body experience.

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 14: Memory & The Green Door

Sat, 07 Sep 2024 22:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster lays down some tracks of extended and deleted scenes, explains why you can trust him, then ties up all the episodes to date with a pretty green ribbon, kind of like the writers of 24 accidentally wrapped up the plot of Season 1 halfway through, but unlike them pledges to actually provide new plotlines instead of just repeating the same one twice over.

Whereas this isn't a bonus episode per se, it kind of is in that it helps to have listened to some (or all) of the earlier eps. Here's a list of those that are useful to have heard. "Week 4: Sound and Silence" will be the most helpful for both.

Also note that this episode has two chapters, so you can skip over the "bonus tracks" and listen just to the story (which illustrates some points from the first part, but can be heard without them).

STRONGLY SUGGESTED LISTENING FOR “THE GREEN DOOR”

Week 4: Sound and Silence

LIGHTLY SUGGESTED LISTENING FOR “THE GREEN DOOR”

Week 5: Intentionality and the Blackhawk Blues
Week 6.5: A Musical Interlude
Week 9: The Purpose of Rash Action

"This Is Not a Jig" on YouTube

Cover of "Billie Jean" by sax-playing chickens
(Same link as last ep because it might save your life.)

THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 12-13: Drink the Light

Sat, 31 Aug 2024 02:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster takes you on a Fantastic Voyage into the wilderness of the brain to discover the roots of the hit song "Dopamine Jones" (c.f. Episode 2).

REFERRED TEXTS

The Molecule of More by Daniel Z. Lieberman, M.D. and Michael E. Long

Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke, M.D.

Goodreads page
NPR interview
Note: Anna Lembke is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. I mistakenly refer to her as a therapist without citing further.

Cover of "Billie Jean" by sax-playing chickens
(You didn't think I'd leave this out, did you?)

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 10-11: The Final Fantasy of Commander Shepherd, Nora Witcher

Sat, 17 Aug 2024 23:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster takes you down a rabbit hole but doesn't guarantee he'll lead you back out. But don't worry, it's not a real rabbit hole, not really. Or is it?

Remember, I'm now posting these on Odd Saturdays, so the next episode will appear on the fifth Saturday of this month, August 31. And hopefully it won't go up as late in the day as this somewhat special episode did (though I still got out in on Saturday!).

Enjoy!

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 9: The Purpose of Rash Action

Sat, 03 Aug 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster travels back to a snarkier time, performs strange rituals in the underworld, and witnesses a life-changing moment of physics.

NOTE: THE NEXT POD WILL BE CAST ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 17.

THEY ARE NOW DROPPING ON ODD SATURDAYS ONLY.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Weeks 7-8: AI-YAI-YAI

Sat, 27 Jul 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster jousts with Theodor Adorno, takes a digestif with Jerry Mander, and loses patience with certain techn(olog)ical difficulties.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 6.5: A Musical Interlude

Sat, 20 Jul 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster gives you a break from his relentless wit and presents you with a mixtape based on the first seven episodes.

Featuring:

“No Place” by Eskimo from the album Jack
which can be found at https://eskimo.bandcamp.com/

“Sucmel Ground” and “Dan and Bill” by Baldo Rex from their San Francisco recordings
which can be found at https://baldorex.bandcamp.com/album/baldo-rex-san-francisco

Additional Baldo Rex info:
“It Ain’t You I’m Lookin’ At” – music video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyIr_s1X2pw
Albums on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/2458202-Baldo-Rex
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/54954041625

"Onion Love" by The Onion Underground

“I Haven’t Got a Hat” featuring Ham and Ex in a 1935 Merry Melodies cartoon of the same name, which can be seen in full at https://www.b98.tv/video/i-havent-got-a-hat/

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 6: In the Middle of Nowhere

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster takes you for a ride, makes a movie, and recalls living on the planet.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 5: Intentionality and the Blackhawk Blues

Sat, 06 Jul 2024 20:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster sees a ghost of his television, escapes from nuns, and gets unintentionally lost.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 4: Sound and Silence

Sat, 29 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster falls into a memory hole and establishes palaver with a throng of angry instruments in order to find a way to improve his current situation.

The episode logo this week features an actual photo of the podcaster in 1980 stepping into the world via the meadow in what is now known as Olympic Valley, CA.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 3: Book Report on Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 20:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster gives an in-depth report on the 1978 text Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander, to see how well the book holds up in the contemporary environ, how well the listener’s patience holds up through a longer episode, and how well the podcaster’s voice holds up through a full day of recording. This episode contains Chapter Markers to take you between the sections of the book.

Click here for the Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television Goodreads page.

Click here for the Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television Wikipedia page.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 2: Status Report

Sat, 15 Jun 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster foists a recap, gives you a status report, and plays with dolls.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 1: Meet the Joneses

Sat, 08 Jun 2024 01:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster sketches his first reactions to life without television and worries about falling off the wagon.

Drop me a note!

Support the show

Week 0: The Time-Out Corner

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 11:00:00 -0700

In which the podcaster explains his motive and purpose for putting his television in the Time Out Corner for a year, and suggests why that might be of concern to you.

Drop me a note!

Support the show