The B.E.E. Podcast - 4/5/19 - David Shields - SILVER
Added 2019-04-05 15:12:04 +0000 UTCBret Easton Ellis reviews Jordan Peele's Us and is joined by writer David Shields to discuss mining your own masochism for material, the complicated aesthetics of war photography and writing Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump.
Comments
Craig Zahler: Seconded.
Antonio Primavera
2021-10-02 23:38:02 +0000 UTCAt least Shields waited until his last words, at podcast’s end, to admit his racism. My rule of thumb: any one who labels another as racist, in a matter of fact manner with no evidence, is indeed the racist.
Jim Weaver
2020-08-23 02:11:50 +0000 UTCThis dude is bonkers! Very listenable,...but bonkers.
Nicholas Triplett
2020-06-15 04:04:28 +0000 UTCEverything that he doesn't like his filler? Well. Most of my life is filler, then.
Kezoui
2019-07-12 22:03:22 +0000 UTCLoved this one, especially the Trump stuff nr the end. Thanks guys
George Barnett
2019-05-13 16:57:59 +0000 UTCCatching up with all the episodes.. This one is the worst. Shields comes off as a fucking creep, I'm sorry for his wife and daughter.
Alexandru Constantin
2019-05-04 17:37:01 +0000 UTCDude definitely has TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).
Alexander Quattlander
2019-04-23 19:39:49 +0000 UTCGreat pod! I would love to have Bret interview Ben Shapiro or vice versa. Also Joe Rogan or vice versa, although I prefer Bret to go Joe(4 hour podcast) Keep up the great work!!
Erick
2019-04-16 03:40:27 +0000 UTCI like how different you two are, the aesthete and the pessimist, as if Wilde and Freud had become friends.
David
2019-04-12 11:34:39 +0000 UTCVery good episode and I think Bret Will find his voice and his audience in the political chaos that is raging throughout the world. Book about freedom of speech - murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma. Read it Bret and give a view on it!
Erik
2019-04-11 10:20:07 +0000 UTCThanks, David.
Zachary Munro
2019-04-10 04:21:01 +0000 UTCThis guy, I think: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran</a>
David Kordahl
2019-04-10 03:02:00 +0000 UTCCan anybody tell me the name of the author David mentioned who authored the essay "On Sickness"? It was EM and something like sharone... the reference is at 1:23:35. I'm trying to find the essay. Thanks.
Zachary Munro
2019-04-10 01:36:07 +0000 UTCI’m happy to let Bret have his opinion, but it’s really dumb to use the phrase “mainstream media” when talking about media. The media is galaxy, with good and bad actors. TV news was overzealous about the Mueller reporter, but almost everything the print media reported was true. And continues to be so today. Beat reporters at the Washington Post weren’t calling Trump a colluder. They were reporting things he did that made him look like one. To say otherwise is disingenuous.
Tremontirocks
2019-04-09 22:44:54 +0000 UTCGreat episode. A lot of real and raw talk. Amazed in retrospect that it took this many episodes to just talk openly about porn proclivities?
Christopher Hooton
2019-04-09 21:07:37 +0000 UTCThinking Mike Pence is a DILF is pretty much the epitome of being a self-loathing homosexual. Sweet Jesus, Bret. Get new friends!
Michael MacGowan
2019-04-09 03:10:35 +0000 UTCI loved this episode, but whenever Shields tried to cast himself as just another typical hetero dude in the discussion, I had to laugh.
David Kordahl
2019-04-08 08:03:44 +0000 UTCI often hear people on the podcast say SNL isn’t funny, just before citing word for word it’s hilarious bits. Hating SNL is clearly post-Empire.
David
2019-04-08 04:59:23 +0000 UTCWhat a marvelous discussion. Thanks, Bret and David. It sounded like you were both enjoying yourselves. I think the show has gone to another level in 2019.
JEREMY ROBERTS
2019-04-08 04:00:26 +0000 UTCWhen David started describing Obama, I thought how great it is that Bret comments mostly on the spectacle of politics, but never his own politics. Cool episode.
Christopher Neu
2019-04-07 13:21:05 +0000 UTCHe might have already answered that on his previous appearance.
Samuel Setenyi
2019-04-07 09:09:22 +0000 UTCZahler would be an awesome guest, hope it happens
Harman Virdee
2019-04-07 08:21:51 +0000 UTCThe return guest we really need is Kanye. What a coup if Bret could land him twice when the “Podfather” Joe Rogan whiffed on getting him once.
Jon A.
2019-04-07 04:34:56 +0000 UTCA great episode. The rapport between host and subject was authentic and the discussion was both interesting and often very, very funny. Loved the focus on literature. Totally agree on the power and enduring allure of the great 19th and early 20th century masters. Recently discovered Ford Maddox Ford and read everything, would be fascinating to hear what Ellis and Shields would make of the sexual psychodrama and meditation on marriage and relationships in his work. Shout out to the editing as well. Smash cut to the contemplative theme music after Shield plaintively asks if it’s not odd that his wife doesn’t want to talk about his book on her was a laugh out loud moment.
Lydia
2019-04-06 21:14:03 +0000 UTCOne reason why Bret reigns supreme is because although his guests are well-read and articulate, Bret is still one of the few great thinkers who explores and takes seriously social media. The fact that his guest is able to write a Trump book but doesn’t take the time to see what’s going on on social media means he’s taking an academic and snobbish point of view of things. Bret understands that social media is where common folk dwell and that is where the action and truth happens.
Brian Rooney
2019-04-06 20:49:02 +0000 UTCThanks for clarifying the mystery of “Us”: I had plans to see it, but was confused by friends’ low opinion by comparison with movie critics’ high one. Critics –real ones- are thin on the ground now, and the woke ones can be relied upon for nothing. And as Shields points out: people are sick of leftist Puritanism.
Michael Walsh
2019-04-06 17:29:06 +0000 UTCBrilliant episode. Though I thought the sex talk was much more interesting than the Trump talk. As usual, loved the disagreements on art and literature too. If we're going to bring back old guests....how about a return of Owen Gleiberman? And I'm still hoping for a Peter Biskind pod.
Billy Vega
2019-04-06 14:46:36 +0000 UTCBret explains: <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/bret-easton-ellis-notes-on-charlie-sheen-and-the-end-of-empire" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.thedailybeast.com/bret-easton-ellis-notes-on-charlie-sheen-and-the-end-of-empire</a> <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/charlie-sheen-winning-66173" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.newsweek.com/charlie-sheen-winning-66173</a>
John Webb
2019-04-06 05:03:08 +0000 UTCI confess that I was hoping that Bret would like "Us." I didn't care too much for "Get Out," an interesting idea, but I kept wondering all through it was it was really trying to say. My fault for being unable to meet it half way, and my loss too, perhaps. "Us" struck me as a brilliant example of Dream Logic. So much is set up and later paid off. The camera is never where it shouldn't be. The actors are all excellent. And I was in its grip from the beginning to the end. I saw it a second time and, knowing the reveal, nothing was out of place. I thought it beautiful, and I'm sorry Bret did not. It achieves a rarity among films I've seen this millennium: an ending which is above the range from obnoxious to aesthetically repulsive. Bret's review is at least half about the media and Correct Thinking and Expected Opinion, which is not the creation of Peele. I would not want to fall in line with Correctness - but also, I wouldn't want to let Correctness shove me into a contrary opinion. I thought "Us" was excellent. I also heard a different story than Bret did from Peele: that it was a metaphor for the criminal justice system. I am not on the Left, but I thought that this was interesting and not objectionable at all. And even if Peele was serious about not wanting to make a movie with a white lead - why would or should he? P.S. Still hoping for Bret's thoughts regarding "Lost in Translation."
John Webb
2019-04-06 04:59:22 +0000 UTCNo Eagles question? And Mike Pence is a “DILF” is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard! Great episode.
Keith Harmon
2019-04-06 00:38:18 +0000 UTCThanks Bret. I thought Us was kind of dumb too (the best horror comes with no explanation).
Mark Cleary
2019-04-06 00:34:27 +0000 UTCExcellent podcast - David Shields is always fascinating and sounds like he got a lot out of Bret too. Also I had no idea you were visiting Manchester (UK) Bret - just bought tickets for it. Looking forward to hearing you speak in person - any chance of a signing after ?
Bazayer
2019-04-05 22:38:16 +0000 UTCbut what about the Eagles?
Steve
2019-04-05 22:18:54 +0000 UTCIn one interview, he describes it as the empirical attitude and appearance of being without problems versus being yourself and showing the reality. On a larger scale, I think it may apply to status quo versus the shedding of expectation.
Damien Smith
2019-04-05 19:42:33 +0000 UTCThis last two years would make a great season of American Crime Story.
Jasper
2019-04-05 19:03:00 +0000 UTCPossible dumb question alert: what does Bret mean when he talks about empire/post-empire?
Alex Kazam
2019-04-05 16:39:57 +0000 UTCWill there be an audiobook version of White? And if so will Brett be doing the reading of it?
Anthony Sisco
2019-04-05 16:18:08 +0000 UTC
