You will be hard-pressed to find another episode of this or any other show biz-centric podcast that covers as much ground thematically OR temporally as this installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! Silent film legends John Gilbert and Harold Lloyd both made transitions to the sound era and Dean and Phil, with the help of a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU) dig into this history. Dean’s live streaming sci-fi adventure series “Gravity Hole” is back and Dean will tell all! Last week, Phil waxed rhapsodic while singing the praises of two female performers of Asian-American descent. This week, he reveals a startling personal connection to one of them, while previewing a potential “Live Event of the Week” and celebrating another actor he believes is due great things. The actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA held a contentious (possibly contested) election and your friends in podcasting will try to make sense of it. In a jam-packed installment of “Celebrity Deaths” a multi-Emmy-winning TV star, a modern-day “robber baron”, the “king of puns”, a pioneering animator, a “Star Trek” actress, a comic book artist, and a counterculture icon of the late 60’s and 1970’s all get remembered. 

Dean previews this weekend’s X-Fest convention all about “The X-Files”, and discusses the latest on his streaming comedy series “Gravity Hole”. In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil celebrate the great singer Leon Redbone, the last of the Mohawk code talkers from World War II, and the socialite whose conviction and subsequent acquittal of murder formed the basis of the Oscar-winning Reversal of Fortune. Phil hips Dean to the breaking news about the Canadian genocide of indigenous women, and they commiserate over the latest mass shooting in the USA. They share an email about the (non-existent) Bowling Green Massacre. They assess the current state of movies in theaters, on HBO, via Netflix, and more, especially through the prism of reviewing two new comedies, a western revival, and one of the longest-developing projects in recent Hollywood history. Because next week’s show might be a mostly a pre-recorded interview, this week’s show is an extra 12 minutes long, offers something for almost everyone, and is jam-packed full of podcasty goodness!

On the agenda in another action-packed installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour is a full report on Dean and Phil’s movie The Lady Killers  at the historic BAL Theatre, and a full report on what makes that theater so darn historic, the aftermath of the devastating California fires, Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, movie pacing, and in “Celebrity Deaths”, an innovator in motion picture title design, a country music and television icon, a screenwriting legend, a beloved television villainess, and a Shakespearean actor who gave one of the all-time great big screen performances without actually appearing on-screen are all remembered.

Seven important notes about this week’s show:

1) It’s our 600th episode!
2) It features a brand new version of the theme song appropriate to Dean’s relocation to the Motor City.
3) A horrible recording problem leads to a few choppy transitions at the start of the show and to an extremely bad electronic hum during the first 25 minutes or so of the show.
4) We have done the best we can to get rid of the hum and to at least make these first 25 minutes listenable, and you will want to bear with us as those minutes contain very personal conversation between Dean and Phil about things they love lost in the current SoCal fires, what they love that is seriously threatened by those fires, and about a great Canadian actor of Dean’s acquaintance who died this month. There is also a great story about baby diapers!
5) Several amazing movies get discussed – including the Sandra Bullock starring post-apocalyptic, action-horror vehicle Bird Box, the Coen Brothers rather amazing Western anthology feature The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Alfonso Cuaron’s seminal black-and-white memory piece Roma and Dean and Phil’s very own The Lady Killers, which Dean has finally seen!
6) The show is 72 minutes long, with about 45 minutes of that boasting clean audio!
7) We wish you all a “Malkovich Hug”!

Now that Dean once again lives in the USA, he and Phil will be recording YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour on Monday mornings! This week, they compare notes on the Steve Martin-Martin Short touring stage show, and share thoughts about the recent spate of re-booted television series of yesteryear and those reboots recently announced. The lives of a “swamp rock” legend, a WW II “Monuments Man”, the inventor of green bean casserole, the greatest trumpeter of his generation, and Phil’s all-time favorite baseball player will be remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Then, grab the popcorn because your friends in podcasting have a bunch of disparate cinematic offerings to discuss, from horror classics like Nosferatu and The Wolf Man to such contemporary releases as Bohemian RhapsodyBoy ErasedA Private War, and Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind.

Dean tells stories about the Sydney Opera House. Phil tells stories about an amazing interview he did for his “other” podcast and tells an hilarious story about his upcoming bachelor party. Dean and Phil then share “What We’re Reading” and compare notes on the healing nature of live classical music in the “Live Event of the Week”. A little good news about HBO’s terrific “Barry” is shared in discussion of the Emmy Awards and Dean sings the praises of the Canadian adventure series “Frontier”. Then, your friends in podcasting tackle a wide range of cinematic efforts, from Elia Kazan’s classic film noir Panic in the Streets to the Jack Lemmon vehicle The Days of Wine and Roses, from John Carpenter’s masterful (and initially rejected) The Thing to a current release that has met with praise and promising box office, even though it’s all sorts of awful. Finally a legendary and groundbreaking dancer is remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Oh, yeah, and if that wasn’t enough, no actor, editor or filmmaker will want to miss the discussion inspired by an email from a loyal listener …

From May 26 through 28, your friends in podcasting converged in Dallas for a Famous Monsters Convention. While there, they filmed interviews and footage for part 2 of their documentary The Truth Is Out There, AND they recorded an entire podcast with special guests Bruce Harwood and Tom Braidwood! It’s a reunion of The Lone Gunmen on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

A show ten years in the making …

The tenth “Top Ten” show of year ten …

It’s our 10th Anniversary Show!

Join Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness as they count down their Top Ten Most Memorable episodes of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. Featuring special appearances by Erynn Petrulis, Jamie Kaler, Gary Anthony Williams, Suli MCullough, Alexandra Barreto, Ilana Rein, Tom Braidwood, Bruce Harwood, Vince Gilligan, Jon Lawlor, Tucker Smallwood, Philip Newby, and Lily Holleman, there is truly something for EVERYONE in this action-packed trip down memory lane. In fact, SHARE THIS SHOW with your family, friends and colleagues, so that they can hear for themselves why and how your friends in podcasting continue to change the way people listen to the internet!

Following up on last week’s milestone (and VERY bizarre) episode #500 (where Dean and Phil took a road trip to a cemetery) is no easy task, and this week’s show proved to be torture in its production, so please forgive the (slight) delay in getting it to you and the (frequent) technical problems during it. This being 2016, there are, of course, new “Celebrity Deaths” to discuss. There is also an email from a listener like you (yes, YOU!). There is the return of “What We Are Reading”, several “Live Events of the Week” and New Year’s Eve plans get compared. Then, the subjects of year end critics’ lists and award nominations get discussed and a handful of new and recent films get analyzed, including Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryPatriots DayLion, and Lights Out. Is it possible that the best film of the year is also one of the best TV shows of the year? Find out NOW on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

The great film theorist André Bazin described the genre of the movie western as “the American film par excellence.” Your friends in podcasting could not agree more! That’s why on this week’s show (their 2nd of 10 “Top Ten” shows commemorating this, the 10th year of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour), Dean and Phil count down their Top Ten All Time Westerns.

What films will make the list? What films won’t? Will Dean have difficulty numbering 10 to 1?

These questions and many more will be answered during the next 75 minutes. Enjoy!