The Pink Smoke podcast

For this episode in our Patreon-exclusive series on Franz Kafka’s The Trial, we’re joined by Martin Kessler to discuss unfinished masterpieces, over-finished masterpieces, post-humous puzzles, re-edits, rejiggerings, and all manner of ways in which the “completeness” of a masterpiece can remain unresolved. Naturally, Kafka’s work leads the way in the discussion, but quickly turns to artworks ranging from the various film versions of Don Quixote to Bizet’s Carmen to Blade Runner, The Confessions of Felix Krull, Zulawski’s On the Silver Globe, German’s It’s Hard to be a God, Billy Budd and The Good Soldier Schweik. Support our Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site:
 www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: 
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
 twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: 
twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two”
 Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

We’re back. After an extended Covid, malaise and illness-induced hiatus, John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg return to the 47th annual Toronto International Film Festival to watch all the best in the current world of le cinema. The preview follows their traditional format: each picks 3 must-see films, 3 films to avoid & a handful of wildcards! Included in this year’s slate are North American debuts of new movies by Hirokazu Kore-eda, Sarah Polley, Jafar Panahi, Steven Spielberg, Sally El Hosaini…choosing which titles among the 300+ entries to see is going to be tough. But the experience is always unique, there are always fun discoveries and unexpected screenings, hopefully our excitement for this always monumental event is palpable on the episode! Support our Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site:
 www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: 
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: 
twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: 
twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two”

Parker, that stoic solo brute of independent career criminals, made his debut in the pages of Richard Stark's The Hunter 60 years ago. Stark (the pseudonym under which legendary crime fiction writer Donald E. Westlake chronicled the Parker stories) introduces the world to this ultimate anti-hero at his lowest: backstabbed by a coward, shot by his own wife, ripped off for his take from a bold heist, forced to kill his way out of a prison labor camp and travel penniless cross country to New York, where he expects to enact some savage revenge on those who crossed him. Hosts Christopher Funderburg and John Cribbs revisit this first entry in the 24-book Parker series to examine what made the character so instantly intriguing and why the novel, adapted twice as the Lee Marvin-starring Point Blank and Mel Gibson-ruined Payback, seems weirdly detached from the subsequent books. What does this very readable pulp thriller have to say about lazy corporations and bad luck and monogrammed belt buckles? And the big question of the episode: when does Parker become Parker? Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

Host Christopher Funderburg is joined by critic & author Martin Kessler for the second of four episodes covering Errol Morris’ stunningly brilliant documentary television show, First Person. Filmed on Morris’ notorious documentary-interrogation device, The Interrotron, and touching on all his favorite obsessions, First Person brought Morris’ ground-breaking documentary style to the small screen. This podcast episode, titled “Wastebasket Taxon,” focuses on the episodes of First Person that looked at one of his favorite subjects: weird science. This episodes covers “Eyeball to Eyeball,” “I Dismember Mama,” “Harvesting Me,” and “Smiling in a Jar.” Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Movie Kessler on Twitter: twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

Host Christopher Funderburg is joined by critic & author Martin Kessler for the second of four episodes covering Errol Morris’ stunningly brilliant documentary television show, First Person. Filmed on Morris’ notorious documentary-interrogation device, The Interrotron, and touching on all his favorite obsessions, First Person brought Morris’ ground-breaking documentary style to the small screen. This podcast episode, titled “Likely Heroes,” focuses on the episodes of First Person that looked the rarest of all subjects in Morris’ oeuvre: heroes. Possibly. Maybe. Arguably heroes. This episodes covers “The Little Gray Man,” “Leaving the Earth,” “You’re Soaking in It!,” and “Mr. Debt.” Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Movie Kessler on Twitter: twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

Host Christopher Funderburg is joined by critic & author Martin Kessler for the second of four episodes covering Errol Morris’ stunningly brilliant documentary television show, First Person. Filmed on Morris’ notorious documentary-interrogation device, The Interrotron, and touching on all his favorite obsessions, First Person brought Morris’ ground-breaking documentary style to the small screen. This podcast episode, titled “Crime (Adjacent) Stories,” focuses on the episodes of First Person that looked at people embroiled in crime without being criminals themselves. This episodes covers “The Killer Inside Me,” “In The Kingdom of the Unabomber,” “The Only Truth,” “The Stalker,” and “The Parrot.” Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Movie Kessler on Twitter: twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

Host Christopher Funderburg is joined by critic & author Martin Kessler for the first of four episodes covering Errol Morris’ stunningly brilliant documentary television show, First Person. Filmed on Morris’ notorious documentary-interrogation device, The Interrotron, and touching on all his favorite obsessions, First Person brought Morris’ ground-breaking documentary style to the small screen. This podcast episode, titled "The Best and the Brightest," focuses on the episodes of First Person that explored the inscrutable nature of human intelligence. This episode covers “Stairway to Heaven,” “The Smartest Man in the World,” “One in a Million Trillion,” and “Mr.Personality.” Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Movie Kessler on Twitter: twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

“I want to kill someone but everybody’s already dead.” Hosts John Cribbs and Christopher Funderburg sit down to discuss Tom Piccirilli’s grotesque Southern Gothic novel A Choir of Ill Children. This movie comes via a recommendation from author Stephanie Crawford, who paired it with John Farris’ All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes by on our episode about that book. It’s a deeply eerie and unsettling book, in utterly poor taste in the best possible sense. Their discussion digs into the books’ diffuse plot, the gentrification of horror/exploitation genres and what happens when the ham is in the house. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"

Hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg discuss Jim Thompson's haltingly bizarre crime novel THE GOLDEN GIZMO, originally published in 1954 as part of a flood of work by Thompson following the success of THE KILLER INSIDE ME. GIZMO, however, is based on a manuscript written by Thompson years earlier and rejected by publishers until demand for Thompson's work resurrected it. Visit The Pink Smoke site: http://thepinksmoke.com/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheLastMachine https://twitter.com/thepinksmoke

“You are what you do. A man is defined by his actions, not his memory.” Martin Kessler returns to take a trip down memory lane, joining John Cribbs in conversation about Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall. Since its release in 1990, Verhoeven's consciousness-expanding roller coaster ride has remained a mind-blowing anomaly, a fusion of high-minded philosophical science fiction and pulse-pounding big Hollywood action that thrilled audiences even as it explored the dangers of sinking too far into escapist fantasy. Kessler and Cribbs discuss the wonders of Verhoeven's epic achievement, its source material (the Philip K. Dick head trip "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale") and the decade-long aborted attempts to bring it to the screen. Grab a Johnnycab and join our hosts as they dive into the ultimate vacation reverie/nightmare - open your mind and get your ass to Mars! Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Martin Kessler on Twitter:
 twitter.com/MovieKessler The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
 twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two”
 Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"