Comedy is serious business. Dean and Phil treat it as such by discussing the death of Dixie (”Designing Women”) Carter, the significance behind Tina Fey’s new movie “failling” to be #1 at the box office even though it was far and away the most attended film in the nation and by analyzing the careers of such performers as John Cusack, Vince Vaughn, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and … Crispin Glover! Even though comedy is on their minds, your friends in podcasting also take time to comment upon and compare the two television series that have established the contemporary Gold Standard for drama. Finally, the Thelma and Louise of podcasting answer an important question from a loyal listener regarding the role – or lack thereof – debunkers might play in their documentary The Truth Is OUt There, which concludes filming this month in the UK!
Dean. Phil. Earthquakes. Easter. Spring. God. Star Wars. Consciousness. Society. Rules. 3D. Alice. Dragons. Trotsky. Stalin.
Your. Chillpak. Hollywood. Hour.
The Thelma and Louise of podcasting are out the door to Arizona, where they’ll be interviewing physicist Bill Tiller for their documentary The Truth Is Out There before bum-rushing the University of Arizona’s consciousness lab in Tucson hoping to learn about something called The SOPHIA Project. Before they go, they’re giving reports on such disparate films as Hot Tub Time Machine, The Ghost Writer, and 1962’s Burn, Witch, Burn! Also, Lily Holleman’s acceptance speech while receiving the Method Fest’s Rising Star award and the death of Robert Culp both inspire Dean and Phil to revisit their “Is acting important” debate. Meanwhile, your friends in podcasting try to make heads or tails of the ANGER and VITRIOL surrounding the health care debate. The future of 3D movies and 3D televisions are debated, future episodes of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour are previewed, and the truth behind the Swastika found on the moon is revealed. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got load up the car and burn rubber out of downtown L.A.’s historic core.
This week’s show begins with a quote from Albert Einstein and ends with a quote from playwright Martin McDonagh. In between, Dean and Phil wade around in the deep end of the pool, discussing such topics as the weight of the human soul, the mysterious lights that recently appeared (for eight nights in a row) over Lake Erie, the Spiral that opened in the skies of Norway in November, how artists might be responsible for the events of 9/11, why your friends in podcasting have a hard time believing all this “freedom is dead” talk they’ve been hearing, and why Phil has heard just about enough religion-bashing. Plus Phil reports on his trip to the Big Apple, including the three plays he saw and the two meetings he had with loyal Chillpak Hollywood Hour listeners.
On the road again … This week, on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness, the Thelma and Louise of podcasting, head north of San Francisco, to podcast from a tepee, high above the rolling hills of Petaluma, at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where they shot an interview for their documentary with Institute President and CEO Marilyn Schlitz. Your friends in podcasting discuss the consciousness-expanding work being done by Noetic scientists and how it fits in with what Dean and Phil have learned thus far about the world of conspiracy. They also weigh in on the deaths of actors Peter Graves and Corey Haim. And there are tear-filled farewells as Dean heads back to Los Angeles and Phil splits for the Big Apple. Something for everyone! So, join us in the sweat lodge and tell a friend!
It’s Oscar Week here in Hollywood and it’s here on the Chillpak Hollywood Hour Oscar post-game show where the games REALLY begin! Dean and Phil have, as always, ten dollars wagered on the outcome of their predicted winners in all twenty-four categories. Phil has won each of the first three years. Will Dean finally exact some revenge? Find out and enjoy Dean and Phil’s insightful, irreverent and sometimes scathing takes on the motion picture industry’s night of nights. Before the festivities can commence, however, Phil responds to the feedback and criticism he’s received over his diatribe against Kevin Smith and Southwest Airline’s shameful publicity stunt of last month. He tries to clarify his points. Let us know if he succeeds. After all, it is YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!
It’s the USA vs. Canada, Thelma vs. Louise, Batman Begins vs. The Dark Knight, the 3-D Avatar vs.the black and wihte The White Ribbon … Dean and Phil are back from Laughlin, Nevada, where they attended the UFO Congress and interviewed David Sereda and Jordan Maxwell. Along the way, they tried to visit Baghdad and got stopped for felony speeding! All that, plus what harmonic bowls can teach us about the end of the Mayan Calendar, what it means to be over forty and interested in writing for television, and the return of Jay Leno on this free-wheeling installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!
For years, Dean and Phil railed against the collective Hollywood wisdom (”Hollywood wisdom” being a contradiction in terms) that films shouldn’t open in January and early February. Now, that they’ve been proven correct and the studios are releasing box-office behemoths like Shutter Island and Valentine’s Day in the first part of the year, Dean and Phil cry out for the need to see something that’s actually, you know, a half-way DECENT film! They finally caught up with Zombieland, and it only added to their cinematic depression. Where can a true movie lover turn for quality? Netflix? Don’t get Phil started on Netflix … Or, rather, please DO get him started as it’s always delightful to hear a podcast host take on one of his show’s sponsors! After concluding their discussion with a few insightful and promising takes on the future of their own films’ distribution, they reveal the latest from their search for the truth (because The Truth Is Out There) … Interviews abounded this week, including discussions about what really happened on 9/11 with Eric and Eliza Roberts and Bruno from WeAreChangeLA. Dean also sat down with G Edward Griffin to discuss the New World Order, the United Nations, the Federal Reserve system, collectivism and the possibility of a world without cancer. All in all, it’s scary stuff. And speaking of scary, yes that WAS Phil with kind words to say about both Ashton Kutcher AND Colin Farrell … Let the apocalypse begin!
Say what you will about Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness, they are two podcast hosts unlikely to ever get kicked off an airplane because they are too fat, which is exactly what happened to filmmaker and podcast host Kevin Smith this weekend. Obesity and the industrialization of food ARE foremost on Dean and Phil’s minds, however, and on the minds of such experts as Dr. Stanley Monteith and Alex Jones, subjects that have been interviewed for THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, individuals who believe that the New World Order is here and that its agenda involves a massive reduction in the human population. Meanwhile, it’s President’s Day here in the U.S., so Dean and Phil discuss some of their favorite stories relating to their favorite presidents. Finally, Phil dusts off his soapbox and unleashes a beauty of an oratory on subjects ranging from the Jungian “shadow” archetype to our intuitive understanding of the world and the need for biological diversity. The real question is What DON’T Dean and Phil talk about on this installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour?
Charlie Sheen reports his car as stolen hours AFTER it’s been found demolished at the bottom of Mulholland Drive … Phil worries about the budget cuts to state parks and facilities in Arizona … Tucson is apparently in dire need of toilet paper … The autopsy results in the death of actress Brittany Murphy rule that death accidental … Dean Haglund gets threatened with deportation in Texas … Dean and Phil visit the Benini Sculpture Ranch … The Oscar Nominations are announced … Dean Haglund makes a guest appearance on Alex Jones’ syndicated radio and internet show … Dean receives antagonistic emails as soon as he finishes his appearance on the Alex Jones’ syndicated radio and internet show …
Has the whole world gone insane? No, it’s just business as usual on the latest installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!
It’s time for Dean and Phil to count down their Top Ten Films of 2009. We fear it’s a show that inspires more questions than it answers, however. For example … Why did Phil even bother making a Top Ten list when he has yet to see The White Ribbon, In the Loop, or Broken Embraces? Can Dean even count to ten (you’ll hear what we mean by this!)? Is Avatar really a “game-changer”? If so, is this a good thing? Nevertheless, a more entertaining hour of free internet conversation you are unlikely to find. Trust us. This top ten show has some huge unexpected laughs.
Phil just got back from Park City, Utah, and he reports on all the Sundance and Slamdance activities. He and Dean also finish recapping their long voyage to the Pacific Northwest, with some particularly spooky stories about the area in and surrounding Yakima, Washington. This week, they’re on the road to Texas, but before they depart, they’ll be conducting an interview with the legendary Eric Roberts. They talk about this and weigh in on a wide variety of topics including Conan O’Brien’s last Tonight Show, the Producers Guild of America Awards, the Golden Globes, Avatar and what they’re reading … They even discuss complaints they’ve received about the audio quality of recent shows while actually having audio problems! It’s all this week on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour.
On Sunday, Dean and Phil drove all the way from Calgary, Alberta to Spokane, Washington. As soon as they crossed the border into the states, they recorded this podcast while driving through the natural splendor of Idaho’s panhandle Pile into the backseat of their rented RAV 4 and listen as your friends in podcasting discuss their on-going search for the truth in a world of conspiracy and their HELL GIGS documentary they shot with Roman Danylo in various parts of Alberta and supernatural British Columbia. Other topics include the war that has broken out in late night television, Jesse Ventura’s conspiracy show and the disaster in Haiti. Deprived of their usual podcast equipment, bringing this show to you again involved a great deal of work on Dean’s part, which is no problem at all as it is a labor of love. This is YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour, after all!
Your friends in podcasting, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness, are in Canada shooting footage for TWO projects: THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE (a documentary about the world of conspiracy) and HELL GIGS (about a return to Dean’s roots as a comic). While in Vancouver, they got together with Dean’s good friends Bruce Harwood and Tom Braidwood to record this week’s show. For those listeners who were not fans of The X-Files, Dean, Bruce and Tom played (respectively) Richard “Ringo” Langly, John Fitzgerald Byers and Melvin Frohike. Collectively, those characters are known to millions of fans the world over as “The Lone Gunmen”, conspiracy theorists, computer hackers, government watchdogs and publishers of The Magic Bullet newsletter, who aided agents Mulder and Scully through nine years of investigations and who were featured in their very own spin-off series. Oh, and because Dean and Phil are traveling without their producer (Lyle Skosey, who is back home in L.A. getting plenty of rest and regaining his strength – Thanks to so many of you who asked and sent your best wishes), they weren’t able to bring all their usual podcast gear. As a result, Dean pulled an ALL-NIGHTER figuring out how to get this show online and available. Why did he do this? Because he cares And because it is YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour, after all!
Happy New Decade! Welcome to a very special episode of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. Every year, Dean and Phil have boldly proclaimed their New Year’s Resolutions. This year, they discuss the importance of resolutions before launching into a recap and appraisal of how they fared in living up to their resolutions for 2009. Finally, they state their goals for 2010, as well as the intent with which they intend to embody these resolutions.
