The Pink Smoke podcast
The Pink Smoke
A podcast on cinema & literature, from Action Jackson to Zeder.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 7, 2020 • 2h 3min
Ep. 58 James Bond In The 70s
With the tedious inevitability of an unloved season, host John Cribbs returns with special guest John Arminio to continue their decades-spanning reappraisal of the James Bond franchise one film at a time. That means moving from the mud clone/gorilla transforming/Sausage King madness of Diamonds Are Forever into the Roger Moore era that took cinema's favorite secret agent from Bond... to beyond. Whether playing hopscotch on the heads of 'gators, corkscrewing a Hornet 'cross a ravine, escaping enemies via free-fall with and without parachute, the extremes of 70's Bond ensured that even as the Cold War got colder, nobody did it better! Cribbs & Arminio examine every eye-popping stunt and shameless one-liner of this remarkable period of the series that sent its hero to an oil rig in Baja, a funhouse in Thailand, deep underwater and into outer space.
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

May 31, 2020 • 1h 30min
Ep. 55 Fassbinder Triple Feature
For what would’ve been the filmmaker’s 75th birthday, hosts John Cribbs and Christopher Funderburg are joined by editor/producer Eric Pfriender to discuss the work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. They’ve each picked a film to discuss from the notoriously volatile director, a Triple Feature of Fassbinder’s work that serves as a jumping off point for exploring the legendarily prolific filmmaker’s philosophies and obsessions.
In Love is Colder than Death, The Merchant of Four Seasons, and In a Year of 13 Moons, we can see the themes that would repeat and repeat themselves throughout his career: the disappointments of romantic love, the instability of identity (specifically sexual identity), the stresses and miseries of domestic life, the ironic way in which unhappy people can be both victims of fate and injustice while at the same time being the source of their own problems.
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Mar 26, 2020 • 1h 13min
Ep. 50 Stuart Gordon In Memoriam
A remembrance of Stuart Gordon, who passed away earlier this week. Gordon is one of the Patron Saints of The Pink Smoke, a fearless, risk-taking artist who refused to be confined to any particular corner of genre filmmaking.
This episode covers the essential viewing in Gordon’s filmography, the films that resonated on a personal level with the hosts & the wildcards in an unpredictable career lined under-appreciated detours into weirdness.
Gordon will be missed, especially by us.
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Mar 21, 2020 • 1h 21min
Ep. 49 True Grit
On this episode of The Pink Smoke podcast, we dig into Charles Portis’ classic Western, True Grit. Portis is a favorite author of hosts Christopher Funderburg & John Cribbs, a sui generis talent whose oddball humor & low-key weirdness defied easy categorization.
The discussion focuses, naturally, on the how the novel defines “true grit” in a moral context: the line separating “righteousness” from “goodness” - but mainly the hosts marvel over the novel’s marvelous language, sharp characterization, narrative ease and general genius.
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Mar 1, 2020 • 1h 20min
Ep. 37 The Burnt Orange Heresy
“The artist alone is the final judge of his work.”
Hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg discuss Charles Willeford's twisty thriller set in the hip, commercialized art world of Miami in the early 70's.
It's a funny, cynical and self-critical book about the relationship between artists and critics, but at the same time a typically outrageous & unpredictable work of Willeford pulp crime fiction. Join them as they discuss one of their favorite novels from one of their favorite authors.
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com/
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Jan 30, 2020 • 1h 20min
Ep. 45 Double Feature
Hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg discuss the upcoming reprint of Donald E. Westlake’s Enough, a pair of novellas that have been given the much more appropriate title Double Feature in conjunction with the re-release. The two works, A Travesty and Ordo, have been out of print for nearly 40 years despite ranking among Westlake’s very best work.
The breathless episode touches on everything from the history of Los Angeles as depicted in crime literature, the technicalities of locked room mysteries, the relationship of Westlake’s work to that of Charles Willeford as well as the strange moments when pulp fiction seems to transcend the pulp genre and transform into legit literature.
Special Thanks to Hard Case Crime!
order the book here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RL8THY7
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Oct 30, 2019 • 1h 54min
The Decade Of Horror III
The Decade of Horror I:
https://soundcloud.com/user-564624820/the-decade-of-horror-i
The Decade of Horror II:
https://soundcloud.com/user-564624820/the-decade-of-horror-ii
What are your favorite horror films from the last 10 years?
The third and final part of our epic Best Horror of the Decade series begins with Hellbent for Horror's S.A. Bradley sharing his love for one of the great under-appreciated horror films of the last 10 years. Christopher Funderburg chimes in with one of the most artful horror movies from the last decade and John Cribbs cautions to think twice before angering the Gods.
Mr. Bradley and our hosts sound off on some other great horror films from lists contributed by such notable horror filmmakers, writers and experts including freelancer writer Anya Stanley, horror film director and illustrator Patrick Horvath, horror watchdog Tim Lucas and writer-artist Tenebrous Kate.
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com/
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Oct 30, 2019 • 2h 26min
The Decade of Horror II
The Decade of Horror I:
https://soundcloud.com/user-564624820/the-decade-of-horror-i
The Decade of Horror III:
https://soundcloud.com/user-564624820/the-decade-of-horror-iii
What are your favorite horror films from the last 10 years?
Continuing from Part One of our Best Horror of the Decade series, Christopher Funderburg talks about his favorite tropical fish salesman/serial killer movie, S.A. Bradley of Hellbent for Horror gets starry eyed over a certain hellacious L.A.-set tale of a woman's breakdown and John Cribbs reveals the latest addition to his list of classic "malevolent parasites urging their hosts to commit murder" flicks.
In between, they talk about the favorite 2010's horror movies from lists provided by such horror cinema alumni as the prolific genre-defining author Joe R. Lansdale, horror film producer Heather Buckley and producers of the monumental horror documentary Horror Noire, Tananarive Due and Ashlee Blackwell.
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com/
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Oct 29, 2019 • 2h 1min
The Decade of Horror I
The Decade of Horror II:
https://soundcloud.com/user-564624820/the-decade-of-horror-ii
The Decade of Horror III:
https://soundcloud.com/user-564624820/the-decade-of-horror-iii
What are your favorite horror films from the last 10 years?
Hosts Christopher Funderburg & John Cribbs are joined by S.A. Bradley, host of Hellbent for Horror and author of the Rondo Award-nominated Screaming for Pleasure, to examine the Best Horror of the Decade by each sharing his respective list of 5 exceptional horror movies released between 2010 and 2019. As a bonus, the Pink Smoke reached out to writers, producers and experts of the genre to contribute their own Top 5 favorites.
In Part One of this three-part series they discuss trends in the decade in horror, reveal the first of their own picks and dig into the selections of guest contributors such as legendary horror author Kathe Koja, filmmaker Mattie Do, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Grady Hendrix and iconic horror star Tristan Risk.
The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com/
Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke
The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke
John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine
Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg
Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Aug 27, 2019 • 1h 15min
Ep. 34 Toronto International Film Festival 2019 Preview
Hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg are joined by a fresh-outta-the-hospital Marcus Pinn to discuss their impending trip to the 2019 iteration of the Toronto International Film Festival.
They run down the highlights of the schedule, the films they're most excited for, most curious about & dreading having to sit through.


