The B.E.E. Podcast - 3/22/19 - Lili Anolik - SILVER
Added 2019-03-22 21:23:34 +0000 UTCAuthor/Journalist Lili Anolik and Bret Easton Ellis discuss Leaving Neverland, writing about Eve Babitz, the aggressive passivity of Joan Didion's journalism and the illusion of objectivity as a biographer.
Comments
Agreed! I keep losing interviews and then have to endlessly scroll. There is no search function either.
AshSebash
2021-06-11 20:00:01 +0000 UTCI really loved this interview - I’m playing some catch up. There was a real synergy between BEE and his guest. I enjoy the dynamic of BEE’s self proclaimed “old gen x” to the guests “youngest Gen x” with her bday being in 1978. Though she is on the cusp of millennial, she is very much Gen X in her sensibility. I’m not into generational disputes or ideology, but this dynamic really worked well here. The best BEE interviews work when there is a shared understanding or lens in which they see life. I felt like Lilly was someone who I wanted to hang out with and swap sordid stories as in the interview. Well done!
AshSebash
2021-06-11 19:57:55 +0000 UTCJust catching up listening - what a great guest and captivating listen - I love finding great novels to read - cheers!
Nick Strange
2019-05-29 23:08:47 +0000 UTCReally enjoyed this . Thanks .
Richard Seabrook
2019-05-03 02:17:11 +0000 UTCI guessed that you were not a native English speaker. I think that countless articles in the New York Times on a topic qualifies a view as mainstream. I've been listening to this podcast for years and there hasn't been a guest on who has disagreed. Plenty of guests have still been enthusiastic about their own work and the work of peers (I guess that makes up a film scene). These things aren't mutually exclusive. You can acknowledge that film has fallen from a more central place in our culture, relative to the 70s, yet still be enthusiastic about film in its more niche cultural position.
BUtterfield8
2019-04-01 23:25:43 +0000 UTCUse pocketcasts. It even saves your place across platforms. There is a small fee, but you can trial it for free. It is working well for me.
BUtterfield8
2019-04-01 23:14:38 +0000 UTCI'm coming late to the show, but, wow, the conversation was sensational (one of the very best episodes imo) and helped me to understand how Ellis' trifecta (Kael-Babitz-Didion) influenced his aesthetic as a writer. As I said, top shelf!
Raúl
2019-04-01 20:45:46 +0000 UTCI might sound stupid for asking this: What are "the dregs" that BEE keeps referring to? Great episode once again.
Ethan Perritt
2019-04-01 18:07:50 +0000 UTCI thought it was just me! Absolutely sucks.
Asa Oliver Skinner
2019-04-01 13:47:39 +0000 UTCGreat episode
Chuck
2019-04-01 13:45:53 +0000 UTCAgreed
Chuck
2019-04-01 13:45:21 +0000 UTC{BTW - that above is meant to be - 'could NOT have those transitions in three days'{Oh - I first read Eve Babitz in Esquire circa '91 when she wrote a piece about knowing Jim. I thought she was great. What is this thing, Bret - 'Jim the Neanderthal'? Previously you commented how you didn't like his 'jock' image. Well - he basically did invent the concept of the (doomed?) rock star. But - apart from that superficial stuff - this idea that Jim's 'work' is maybe not that great? Michael McClure (SF Beat poet extraordinaire) said: 'There is no better poet of Jim's generation'. Just saying.
JEREMY ROBERTS
2019-03-31 17:44:57 +0000 UTCYeah. For somebody who read my Dad's NYer mags in the 70's and got the Kael collections out of the Auckland Central library in New Zealand and fell in love with the way she looked at movies, this chat was heaven. Can't say I agree with all the 'Last Tango' opinions - of course it is 'appalling' behavior by the Brando character in a #metoo world, but this is a time capsule piece, now. Brando himself said that you could possibly have all the transitions in three days. I think the best of Brando in this movie is among the very best work he ever did. There is still nobody to touch him, really. De Niro? - not even close. I lost a lot of respect for DN after the 'Fuck Trump!' posturing. Get a life.
JEREMY ROBERTS
2019-03-31 17:38:10 +0000 UTCThis player in the app is THE WORST! .. loses place in episode when paused for more than about 10 mins and goes back to the start
Joe Sangre
2019-03-31 12:06:16 +0000 UTCThis felt like casually listening in on a late night after dinner conversation, it just might be the best episode to date.
Jasper
2019-03-28 07:05:27 +0000 UTCFor me, what ties Joan Didion and Pauline Kael together is that they were both fired from their first magazine jobs because they both trashed The Sound of Music
Joseph Angier
2019-03-28 02:38:00 +0000 UTCBoth so articulate, a joy to listen to!
Asa Oliver Skinner
2019-03-27 18:41:35 +0000 UTCSo good and it reminds me that there's a simple algorithm for what makes a podcast great: 2 interesting people talking about interesting things, while pointing the listener to other great content. So simple and yet I can't seem to find any other podcasts that are one tenth as interesting as this one. Concurrently reading the David Lynch book, "Room to Dream," and loved the overlap as far as the whole LA gestalt. Now off to savor Anolik's VF article on Mulholland Drive.
Beth Coll
2019-03-27 13:26:26 +0000 UTCThis episode was soooo good. Lili was such a good guest.
Florence
2019-03-27 12:32:33 +0000 UTCSuperb episode
Guy Lewis
2019-03-27 10:11:05 +0000 UTCAs a Joan Didion fan (who's hyper-aware of how studied and calculated her "image" was), I've come to accept my ultimate kink is people throwing shade at "Saint Joan, Mother of Our Sorrows" - great guest!
Stephen O'Flynn
2019-03-27 08:06:52 +0000 UTCBrilliant episode. Great to have a smart, interesting guest not afraid to step into controversial subject matters and go against the crowd. Loved it.
David
2019-03-26 23:35:19 +0000 UTCThis episode is really a treasure. Listened twice already!
Zachary James
2019-03-26 21:41:32 +0000 UTCHaha, I'd much rather watch him act like a posh jerk anyway. For an American from the west coast, it's such a different world and kind of a mind fuck. Honestly I don't think The Hills compares to Made in Chelsea, but I'm no expert in bad TV. However I am completely loyal when I find an intriguing/terrible new show, ha. And I do sometimes listen to Jamie's podcast, another one of my favorite cast members. Also, a shocker I'm sure.
Phoenix
2019-03-26 17:56:16 +0000 UTCYou've mentioned Armond a few times in the past, Brett. Please consider having him on.
Christopher Webster
2019-03-26 17:12:21 +0000 UTCYou're welcome.
Brent Minder
2019-03-26 16:17:01 +0000 UTCBrilliant episode. Might be my new favorite.
Chris Baccus
2019-03-26 15:44:07 +0000 UTCAnd enjoyed it pretty much
Sebastian Abascal
2019-03-26 15:04:20 +0000 UTCLol, I did actually see Gaspar Noé’s Climax
Sebastian Abascal
2019-03-26 15:02:51 +0000 UTCAnd Brent deserves a free dvd of something.
Juan Ortiz
2019-03-26 00:32:05 +0000 UTC: Programme Bee : ♫ 1. 0:52 - 33:01 Monologue "the dregs": Paul McCartney's latest album, new suckiness of music scene, good millenial novels? Jan Michael Vincent, Ted Bundy on Netflix, Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club/House, Pamela Adlon's "Better Things", loneliness, "What unites us as a culture?", progressive agenda of Brie Larson in "Captain Marvel" (accent on 2nd syllable "vel"?), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's "Never Look Away", "You don't care." [about seeing movies in a theater], "Leaving Neverland", psychology of Michael Jackson ♫ 2. 33:32 - 1:14:25 Bio of Author Joan Didion and "Play It as It Lays", "True Confessions", etc; Bio of artist and author Eve Babitz and her masterpiece "Slow Days, Fast Company"; Bio of Lili Anolik (40:18), "Hollywood's Eve", celebrity profile ephemera, quotes/descriptions about "Hollywood's Eve", INTERVIEW (45:10), Eve Babitz, love of LA, Joseph Heller (Catch-22), Jim Morrison, Joan Didion and "The White Album", Hollwood High, speed and drugs, Nathanael West ♫ 3. 1:15:02 - 1:46:06 More with Lili: Janet Malcolm, writing celebrity profiles (and yourself?), F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Crack-Up", influences, tall tales and storytelling, acknowledging the "inevitability of subjectivity", Al Goldstein (1:26:26), writing in the porn world, discovering Bret's novels, "The Canyons", Paul Schrader, writing for Vanity Fair, compensation, writing celeb profiles ♫ 4. 1:46:40 - 2:42:48 Ending with Lili: genres, empire/post empire, pop culture, born 1978 in Boston, bio, Milton Academy High School, Princeton, Fredric Brandt, reviewer Pauline Kael ("Last Tango in Paris"), James Toback (2:08:55) and our cancel culture, David Thomson and "Sleeping with Strangers" and PoundMeToo (2:15:13), Pauline Kael and Veronica Cartwright, Hollywood and PoundMeToo (2:22:00), Donald Trump (2:25:50), next book?, Eagles? ♫
Brent Minder
2019-03-25 21:52:04 +0000 UTCFranzen. Get Franzen!
Brian Rooney
2019-03-25 20:47:42 +0000 UTCBret, check out "Peaky Blinders" if you're looking for another good tv series.
Brent Minder
2019-03-25 18:31:21 +0000 UTCP.S. Would love to hear Bret's thoughts on the new Motley Crue movie on Netflix. Is it a "good" movie? No, but it's entertaining and fun and ridiculous. And it's seemed to piss off a lot of people that are now offended that the 80s actually happened. My favorite review on Rotten Tomato? "It's as if the film arrived to the streaming service in a bubble, unaware that the culture has moved on and that Netflix is brimming with content written, directed and starring strong women." Bret...? 😁
Phoenix
2019-03-25 18:13:02 +0000 UTCDef one of my favorite episodes to date! It's obvious you two have great rapport and it was very, very fun to listen to. So much in this one I want to revisit that I'll have to listen to it again and will be checking out Lili's work as well and Eve's. Also, Bret, have you seen Made in Chelsea on Hulu? It's just like The Hills, but it takes place in London. I'm not that into reality TV anymore, but I binge watched about 9 seasons of that show. Talk about escaping to another world. So many good characters on this one...including another narcissistic Spencer who drinks tea and then goes on all night benders, cheating on all of his girlfriends and saying ridiculous things in a proper English accent. Great fun.
Phoenix
2019-03-25 18:06:26 +0000 UTCUSC?
James Reeves
2019-03-25 16:59:38 +0000 UTCGreat episode. A note on one of your long-running themes, Bret—not only does no one read novels anymore, but the college students I teach now no longer know what a novel is. They will refer to any work—a philosophic treatise, a work of non-fiction, an autobiography—as a “novel.” I have investigated this trend slightly by asking them about it. To them, "novel" is just another word for "book." They manage to get through high school into a relatively good university without ever being taught the concept of literary genre. It’s depressing as hell.
Audrey Rouget
2019-03-25 13:34:31 +0000 UTCOne of my favourite episodes in awhile. Love that you're having more and more authors on here
Mike Ward
2019-03-25 01:50:31 +0000 UTCGreat episode as always - would you consider having Armond White on the podcast? Bret has brought him up several times and despite often not agreeing with him, he is, by far, my favourite film critic - analytical, insightful, opinionated, and civil, witty and conversational in podcasts - and I think the two of your would have a great conversation.
That Ross Chap
2019-03-24 21:44:28 +0000 UTCMaking out during the movie. “Jerry, how could you?!”
James Reeves
2019-03-24 18:21:57 +0000 UTCBobby Goes Nuts
James Reeves
2019-03-24 18:20:11 +0000 UTCThe book is out of print but used copies are out there
Darren Ankenman
2019-03-24 15:40:43 +0000 UTCRe: Didion... Hawaii... divorce papers... the documentary... rough patches in the Didion/Dunne marriage. John Dunne wrote a “memoir” of sorts about a dark period in their marriage when he decided to go to Vegas (early 70s) for a few months and hang with prostitutes, pimps, opening act comedians, private dicks... the book is called “Vegas”. Kind of a fun read.
Darren Ankenman
2019-03-24 15:40:15 +0000 UTCLoved this episode. Many interesting points especially her comments on Hollywood and how trying to scrub the dark aspects of human nature will ultimately destroy it.
Mary Walker
2019-03-24 15:01:56 +0000 UTCGood point about how movies and tv shows used to be a cultural moment. One example is the episode of Seinfeld where they were talking through Schindler’s List around the time everyone was talking about the Spielberg holocaust epic while millions of Americans were tuning into Seinfeld on a weekly basis.
Reservoir Frog
2019-03-24 09:51:04 +0000 UTCWould love to hear Jon Hamm on the podcast. He’s one of the few articulate actors who doesn’t hide his opinions.
Reservoir Frog
2019-03-24 09:46:31 +0000 UTCyeah, I know the word, professor... i don't think its that mainstream of a view, and while I think Bret is super interesting I think it would be refreshing to hear someone push back on this view a little, there's cool stuff that comes out all the time, which to his credit Bret acknowledges, but I do think it would be a nice change of pace if someone came on who was genuinely enthusiastic about the film scene as it is now instead of yet another person being dismissive of it
Alex Waller
2019-03-24 07:51:59 +0000 UTCThe word is "passé". It is a mainstream view at this point and a common thread of this podcast in general.
BUtterfield8
2019-03-24 05:28:02 +0000 UTCAppreciate the mention of Pamela Adlon. Was a big fan of BETTER THINGS; however, she was unnecessarily very rude to me at an opening at the Fahey Klein gallery. Agree, this season is the best, especially #3 with Sharon Stone.
Richard Luna
2019-03-24 02:25:10 +0000 UTCGreat Podcast but It'd be great to hear big statements like "Movies are Pass-A, used to be better" backed up with some damn good reasons as to why they feel that way, otherwise it just seems hipsterish
Alex Waller
2019-03-24 01:59:51 +0000 UTCI knew Earl McGrath! But, I certainly didn't know his whole backstory. I could swear that I visited him when he moved to NYC or back to NYC in the 90s. I think it was an apartment on 57th Street. Great episode.
BUtterfield8
2019-03-24 00:20:10 +0000 UTCWhat’s the music on this and the last episode?
Andrea Michelle
2019-03-23 19:51:18 +0000 UTCAre you fucking kidding me? EPIC EPISODE. Best guest in a string of great guests. Have her back. Thanks!
Mark Russ
2019-03-23 16:52:49 +0000 UTCHoly shit this is a great episode!!! I've not finished it yet and I've already bought, started and loved 'Slow Days..' . This podcast is like a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in the infantilized cultural desert of 2019. THANK YOU BRET & ADAM!
Sam Willis
2019-03-23 07:41:17 +0000 UTCThe dregs, the dregs - ha! Love how much effort you put into these intros.
Paul Kwiatkowski
2019-03-22 21:54:14 +0000 UTC
