The B.E.E. Podcast - 4/26/20 - The Season of The Virus - SILVER

My guess: quality, sound quality. In my experience listening to podcasts the sound quality drops when they resort to teleconference. I think Bret is a perfectionist in that regard.

Jorge Espinha

Wow such virums

Daniel

As Bret has said many times, novels just don't have the same cultural impact anymore. Neither does theatre or poetry or opera or classical music. Most influential story telling content creation has actually been by gen xers if you look at stuff like The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Black Mirror. Pretty much everything on TV. I guess 'Girls' was something created by a millennial which had a millennial sensibility and some cultural impact. Another one would be 'Atlanta' by Donald Glover. I think we will see more once the gen xers get older and pushed out of their positions of influence I think in music we are seeing the passing of the torch to a younger generation though

Billy Vega

Bret, if you read these, an interesting topic to cover would be what your theories for what the "great millennial novel" will look like. I think it hasn't arrived because the Great Xennial Novel needs to pave for the way. Now 40, Xennials have lived with a foot firmly planted in both Empire and Post, their adulthood defined by the beginning of the collapse. Though a half-generation, or sub-generation, their experience is unique in this regard and covers so many aspects of how we form our values. Xennials collected physical music created by X, the artists they loved were idols and created catalogs. The music they created, absorbed by Millennials, strove for this immortality, but was, like all things to Millennials, ultimately disposable, to illustrate one example.

BrienPiechos

last thought - you could now get even bigger guests (on Zoom) since they are sitting around with nothing to do, and don't have to come to your place - maybe you could get Kanye again or Frank Ocean?!

Sam Willis

quick update - just discovered that Marc Maron's doing his WTF interviews via Zoom, so there you go - pretty much the biggest pod on the internet! get to it guys! :)

Sam Willis

I fairly enjoyed the type of journal entry you basically described of your experiences watching sonic with the millenial it was funny yet so real, it would have been great if you read the audiobook of American Psycho out loud instead of the other guy he was good but you are Patrick Batemen.

Mike Hass

Bret you are a joy!

Stewart Hieb

I was hoping that the Call of The Wild review would morph into Bret musing more on Jack London than the atrocious film that sterilized his very violent and bloody source material. I get it that most of us were forced to read Call of The Wild or White Fang in elementary school, but Jack London, like Bret, is a pillar of Californian literature. Sure, Jack was a socialist, but his brand of socialism didn’t criminalize individuality...I also wonder what Bret & The Millennial think of the anti lockdown protests?

Terrance

Also Zoom would have the added benefit of keeping Todd happy since there'd be no guests bringing the virus into your place ;)

Sam Willis

Is there any reason why you guys can't do interviews over Zoom?! I get that Bret isn't keen on it, but who knows how much longer lockdown will continue for, and I for one would much prefer a new conversation between Bret and a remote guest (even with shoddy audio capture - I DO NOT listen to this podcast for professional audio - it's all about the content) That being said - I'm absolutely loving Bret's monologues - so great, and worth the fee alone..

Sam Willis

this reminded me of the podcast one BEE days, when sometimes i would slow the monologue down to play at 1/2 speed afraid i would split-second space out and miss a chapter. I always wished there was a 3/4 speed, that would have been perfect.

jena g

For those unfamiliar, Bret’s podcast on Podcast One was excellent and each episode was worthwhile. 2015?

Brian Rooney

We’ll need Bret’s thoughts on Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood

Brian Rooney

I'd be ok with an occasional guest-less podcast. This is a great episode. Stay safe!

Matt De Marco

Really enjoyed this but was slightly disturbed to hear that Bret drinks Stella Artois... In the UK 'Stella' is colloquially known as "Wife Beater" because it's said to drive men insane (something to do with the chemicals in the brewing process) and cause them to assault their spouses! Happy to suggest some nicer tasting European lagers if you want?!

Harry Roth

Hmu bb

Daniel

Loved the interview with Matthew Modine, but was really hoping to hear him discuss working with R. Lee Ermey.

PeZ

Tod needs to join Fight Club

phuq paytch

Totally agree! Testing is the key to all this and government’s are just completely unprepared.

Philip Huntley

Damn! I recently signed back up for PodcastOne just to hear the Modine interview (again). That was the only reason. And, then you guys posted this! Next time I’ll wait. Also, I had CV19. It’s a brutal and bizarre illness. I couldn’t get a test, they denied me. They told me due to my age and health—that I should wait it out and hope for the best. And, to call back if I have a breathing issues. They kept my number, and the Red Cross called me, hoping to have me donate my plasma. I took a test that was provided by a European distributor that allowed them to confirm that I had it. The current test available only confirms if you currently have it. It’s a total mess. So, everyone, keep quarantining—the lack of tests really hinders where we are with this thing. We still just don’t know who’s carrying it around.

M. Nero Nava

I was the book buyer for The Cinemastore in central London during the Spring of 2006, when Full Metal Jacket Diary was published in book form ( the app is actually much better btw) and at the time Matthew Modine was in London appearing in a play at the Old Vic. I wrote to him and asked if he would be interested in doing a book signing for the Diary and he rang us the the next day to arrange it! Listening to Brett’s interview I recalled his enthusiasm, energy and generosity. As for Brett’s coverage of the Season of the Virus it reminds me, through my laughter, that he is, at heart, a great American satirist. When I finally caught up with American Psycho, I saw that he was satirising corporate America, and all the commentators who were appalled by it, just lacked the necessary sense of irony. I only started my Patreon subscription last year so missed a lot of the earlier podcasts so I’m more than happy to hear some archive interviews. The BEE podcast is always great value for money. Being British it’s hard to say from this side of the pond which government has screwed up more in their handling of the Virus Crisis, the U.K. or America, but either way, we are all in for the long haul. If I may slightly mis-quote the Colonel from FMJ:”We’ve gotta keep our heads until this Virus craze blows over!” Stay safe.

Philip Huntley

Good ep but look up your pronunciation, Bret! It’s “eh-kid-na” and the actor is Omar “See”!

Joe Division

I think it's admirable you're taking this as seriously as you can. That said, the chances are pretty high you had it with that cold/flu thing you had a while back Aren't antibody tests kinda normal in LA? Might save you guys some grief

Billy Vega

It's curious how many of us Gen Xers are with millennials...it's fucking amazing to see our progenies, aughties-spawns? lap up the best of our curated tastes, cross-pollinating with their own findings, shockingly deeply cynical and "over it", "relax" tendencies. They are going to make our lives more fun, more exhilarating (exhausting?). And they mock the millennial crisis actors, to my amusement.

jana

Totally agree- This is the best introduction hands down. I've been saving these podcasts for my daily walks to get out of the house and I'm going to re-listen to it this week again.

Charlie C

Should, or have a Celebrity Death Book been written?

Jan Rörvik

You are solidly ancored in LA, but how about going abroad? I have this idea, based on real life, a story of these patetic macho men from Norway, who travels to Pamplona, Spain, to run with the bulls. The guys consisting of men magazine editors, creme of the police, Kraw Maga specialists etc. who all backed out of the run when the run started.

Jan Rörvik

I was a talented karatefighter in my early teens - legendary, which all ended as my eyesight went bad, and now it seems like the demons want to test how good I really was now as I'm past fifthy and out of shape. Is it ENVY? Madness? That's my anxiety now. The virus seem far away.

Jan Rörvik

Waiting with excitement for Summer Lovers - a greek island sexual dream, and Shades of Blue - season #1, and Serenity. I find myself way more interested in B-Movie type material than Oscarness.

Jan Rörvik

Thanks for another great episode. I found myself tearing up listening to the beginning of this episode. I hope everyone is doing their best to cope during this pandemic. Listening to Bret talking about Sonic the Hedgehog movie in such detail was possibly the funniest thing I've heard in a long time.

Bee Garns

Introduction was up there with the best, if not THE best. Interesting and hilarious! Just wondering why not have a guest teleconference in? I missing something? Sure some of the intimacy might be lost but could be an interesting experiment.

Reservoir Frog

I liked the first part of this podcast a lot (had heard the Modine interview before), recalls the odd pleasures of reading the author's book White. He tells us of his anxieties over Corona and the numbing amount of pointless La Dolce Vita leading to that ever simplifying domestic situation which is his life with his mate. Up to this point I think a lot of us probably figured Ellis must be the husband in his relationship, the lovestruck man who always has to balance on one foot and juggle four balls to keep his spouse satisfied, distracted; now I'm not so sure. The verbal biographical essay making up the first long section of the podcast suggests that his relationship is more like a neurotic entanglement between a widow and her devoted son, Violet and Sebastian, Sebastian and Violet--I'll let you figure out who's who. Yet on another level, when Ellis discusses the cocktail parties and premiers and deals, the phony relationships and their inevitable arriere pensees; the restaurants and the swirl of Hollywood movers, the mental shakes, and psychiatrists and the meds--well it's hard not to see in Ellis the numbed, world weary disillusioned Marcello Mastroiani writer figure from so many artsy Italian movies of the 60s, wandering from one highly coutured event to the next, searching for some meaning, some reason, The Girl In White; only to arrive at a nightclub where the beautiful undead party among stony ancient ruins, a metaphor for the indifference of the cosmos. To listeners and readers Ellis' malaise and world weariness represent a translation of fashionable European angst into Post New Wave, American Neveau Riche garb, viaJoan Didion at her most adrift and pillsed out. Meaning his emotional crises don't look too bad out here in the sticks, have an enviable glamour. To go beyond the fame trip; to be bored, numbed and utterly wised up to the vulgar trappings of shi shi Hollywood red carpet narcissism is to be nobody's fool; to be wealthy and well to do, or at least to have once been wealthy and well to do, beyond most listeners' most gilded, plushest and vulgar fantasies. If it weren't for Ellis' telling us he'd gotten off that fast train and grown up, his kind of life would be almost a mythical form of nihilistic Fuck Off, which might be offensive if not for his genuine guilessness and innocence. One has the feeling he's still really just a kid trying to show us he's as tough and knowing as the biggest baddest boys on the block, while continuing to be wowed by what he encounters; sometimes he's even wowed by the fact that he's not so wowed. The key to Ellis' psychology is in his interests and how he interprets them, massages them into aspects forming things he deems to be Eras or Ages, like his oft repeated notions of the Imperial and Post-Imperial Life, which is confusing until you realize It and all the Pop Cultural bric a brack which make It up is really a metaphor for the state of Ellis' own soul. Once he figures out the key to how everything interrelates "Out There" he may finally, as the wise ancients commanded, come to know himself-- as himself, and not just an aspect of the performance which is Bret Easton Ellis, foisted on him by the alienating weirdness that is fame. Yet it is that very perspective which makes him endlessly, cantankerously fascinating.

Joseph A Aisenberg

What about this?: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Pell

Ben Pell

Loved this. X’er also with a Millennial. Ditto (too much) Ativan. Ditto weird panics. Ditto N95 mask. My Millennial is like an anti-Millennial, just works like a beaver and keeps out of the bullshit. LA born/raised he, late 30’s, still is obsessed with the latest music, pop culture. Not msnbc thank god. I feel bad for yours. He’s a victim of an incredibly cynical exercise in masterful corporate media manipulation-they SCIENTIFICALLY figured out EMOTIONALLY what attracts eyeballs/clicks, which is-hello-fear, division and terror. He is a living breathing byproduct of this enterprise. One I think we can call evil. Oh and I’ll bet it will emerge Adam S’s death will be officially due to the ventilator...particularly with younger people they’ve been using too much pressure and it simply destroys the lungs...but who knows...

MikeE

'something called the Sega Genesis' man this is funny to listen to. Characters like (pause) 'Tails' haha. The utter bemusement in his voice during this is a great little comedy routine.

Billy Vega

Had Bret already properly reviewed Jojo Rabbit and I’ve just missed it? WHY do you not like JJR, Brett. WHY? Also thank you for introducing me to Tinted Windows several years ago through your bumpers.

Binyamin Ironstone

I just googled Ben Pell and apparently he’s contributed nothing.

Mark Cleary

Well done, Bret. Thank you for acknowledging the utter strangeness of this situation. Yeah, we may not be in dire straits, but it completely sucks to lose our routines and our simple pleasures, and it should be ok to say so.

Chris Funderburk

Ben Pell

Cool. Thank you.

Brian Rooney